HALO 184: Red and Grey All The Way

[5a Violista]

[Fish Watching: Pool]

Manja looks up at Reinholdt, looking as cute and non-naughty as she can muster. She then rubs her head on him.
See? Not doing anything wrong yet!
She's innocent, she swears.


"O-oh, right, that makes sense," Venus admits. Just...stand up. Yeah. She must be really tired if she couldn't think of something that obvious.

She carefully gets into the shallow end of the pool, and finds a decent place to kneel underwater.

Seems to be going fine! Eventually no bubbles surface but the deer-lady isn't flailing.

But, then, suddenly she panics and tries to breathe in only to find water and panics more and starts flailing a little, only to stand. She coughs out water and rubs the pool water out of her eyes, and then says, "Sorry, I panicked a little."


Which is what Manja takes as a sign to stop looking cute and to start looking naughty.
She leaps off the bench and starts running towards the pool.

[Reinholdt]

[Library]

A flash of recognition in Maria's eyes! She could have sworn there were two people she briefed. Well no matter. Losses were to be expected in expeditions such as this one. That gentleman will be missed... probably.

"Oh you are referring to the culturally universal story of the Banished King! Yes, yes, of course. One unit of time if you would." Maria all but scoops everything she was working on away into a separate pile where it will lie forgotten for days. She pulls out her notebook on the topic and flips to an unused page. "What information did you discover? Are you suggesting the Banished King's actual nomenclature is more accurately portrayed as the King in Rags?"

[Fish Watching: Pool]

Well if she's going to give him head rubs, Rein's going to have to bend down and give Manja ear scritches. It's impossible to resist.

"It's ok," Rein says. "You're trying to do something that most people can't normally do, so pan-Manja no!" Bad kitty! Rein steps after her, cautious of running, but still concerned about how well she can actually swim at this point. Not to mention she was told not to go in the water! He's not going to be able to catch her in time though. Venus distracted him too well.

[Shadowcaller]

[Library]

"Yes, that one." Zhareen nods sagely. Finally they were getting somewhere!

"Erm, yes. According to the fey we interviewed this King in Rags somehow spread his story all over the place through fey magic. He did this in order to accumulate more power which he needs to unite this realm with the fairest lands. He's also not a very nice person." Zhareen summarizes.

[Beans]

[Laboratory]

"Hmm." Dorota considers the problem for some time. "A fairly practical idea, yes. I can't think of anything off-hand that would achieve it, but with some research we might get there. The biggest challenge will be keeping the solidity of the cement. It will probably require some specific ingredients. But if we want to use it widely, it can't require anything rare, expensive and difficult to find. A conundrum."

She nods. "That's what I've thought about---unfortunately, my idea of a super-strong, super-fast cement might end up being more of an ideal we try to approximate. I still expect we can make a better cement, it's just a question of how far we can go while keeping our advancement accessible." Siiva frowns slightly, then shrugs. "But even if we just manage a cement that's moderately improved, that's not nothing. And if we can improve other things, we'll still be making an impact---especially if we're able to capitalize on the gains already made."

[Rebonack]

[Totally Normal Escort Mission Nothing to Worry About Here Guys]

Two people will enter the HALO grounds through the portal from a compound not too far away!

A compound where some sort of horrible arcane ritual to call upon an entity from beyond space a time certainly wasn't just performed.

Stepping through the portal is someone who is... vague.

She looks like a young woman right at the edge of adulthood, the sort that one might expect to see at the little fishing villages that dot the coastline around the Nexus. She is completely normal, unassuming, and unworthy of great scrutiny. If one starts feeling concerned about this definitely normal young lady who conforms to one's assumptions about what a fishing village peasant girl might look like then the sources of those concerns may quickly be forgotten.

As if they never were.

Clearly she is wholly harmless.

Do not think about it.

Do not remember.

Neshi smiles as she steps through the portal, running her fingers along the walls and admiring the interior lighting.

"It's been so long. Your kind has learned so many beautiful ways to inflict violence upon the world. I approve. These lights," she asks, reaching up to touch one of the lighting fixtures. "What have you coerced power from to illuminate them? When last I walked the world oil lamps were the greatest works of light yet wrought."

[Gullara]

[Normal Escort Mission]

Along with the the very normal, totally harmless woman arrives a second woman. This one is much more familiar. It's Onyeka. She appears to be dressed to travel, with a satchel on her back and some practical clothing. She appears a bit perturbed by Neshi's remarks, though she otherwise takes it in stride. "I'm afraid in my homeland these sorts of marvels don't exist either. My understanding is that it involves some sort of captured energy which is then directed into various purposes." She looks slightly at a loss trying to summarize the concept. At least interfacing with it is a lot easier than understanding it.

[Rebonack]

[Normal Escort Mission]

"That's the way of things; to touch is easier than to know," Neshi idly remarks, her eyes tracing along the lights as if following some unseen path hidden from all others. Eventually she seems to grow disinterested and continues on toward the shuttles. "But there are things you wish to know, yes? That's why you volunteered to accompany me."

That thirst for knowledge.

Some mortals feel it more keenly than others.

A thirst Neshi can comprehend.

She thirsts, too, for secrets.

Known by her alone.

But some mortals seem intent on spreading knowledge rather than growing fat on it.

She finds it lovely, then, that the world could be filled with such wonders of knowledge and yet so many are utterly ignorant of the workings of these wonders.

That means it would be a simple thing to transform that knowledge into a secret.

Far few minds she would have to touch.

[Morty]

[VIGIL call]

"Ambrosia? The same one I met in your house?" Dorota is surprised to hear she's involved too. "We'd like to assist if we can. So we can set up a meeting and see what we can come up with. I'll pass it on to the leaders."

[Laboratory]

"If we do end up with only a limited supply of fast cement, it can always serve an emergency function. When we need something built really fast." Dorota folds her arms across her chest in thought. "We might experiment with limited transmutation. There are ways to transform one material into another. We might be able to dilute it so that it alters the state of cement rather than its nature... it's a very theoretical idea."

[Shadowcaller]

[VIGIL call]

"Great, we'll have to do it on short notice though as time might be of the essence here. What about early tomorrow in HALO? I'll be there in person." Which wasn't always a guarantee.

[Gullara]

[Normal Escort Mission]

"That's the way of things; to touch is easier than to know," Neshi idly remarks, her eyes tracing along the lights as if following some unseen path hidden from all others. Eventually she seems to grow disinterested and continues on toward the shuttles. "But there are things you wish to know, yes? That's why you volunteered to accompany me."

That thirst for knowledge.

Some mortals feel it more keenly than others.

A thirst Neshi can comprehend.

She thirsts, too, for secrets.

Known by her alone.

But some mortals seem intent on spreading knowledge rather than growing fat on it.

She finds it lovely, then, that the world could be filled with such wonders of knowledge and yet so many are utterly ignorant of the workings of these wonders.

That means it would be a simple thing to transform that knowledge into a secret.

Far few minds she would have to touch.

[Normal Escort Mission]

Onyeka guides the way, quite familiar with the Halo base by now. "You could say that, yes. It's an opportunity to cooperate with an entity such as yourself. It's my trade to make deals like this." She explains.

[Reinholdt]

[Library]

Maria pauses to stare at Zhareen for a moment. That was her scientific analysis, huh? Not a nice person. She resumes taking notes on the slightly more objective observations. "Such warping magic must have taken a ritual of great power to enact, even if under the fey purview. Do you know the process in which it occurred? The King in Rags must expect a great deal in return to make up for whatever he expended in the ritual. How is it exactly that he accumulates power from the story? What are the topological features of the Fairest Lands, or is that simply a cartological term for whatever territory he seeks to conquer? Who is this fey that you sourced your information from?"

[Vigil meeting]

Rein had to dress up in an extremely embarrassing maid outfit and dust the meeting room from top to bottom overnight. It just hasn't been used in so long. Fortunately, he's somewhat nocturnal and the dreams have been keeping him up anyways so he didn't lose too much sleep. He definitely didn't let anyone see what just transpired and all cameras in that area have strangely malfunctioned and lost their footage, oh no.

But the meeting room is ready by morning. There's even coffee and scones for those in need of one or the other. Reinholdt is dressed in his nicer leather and sits in a chair, waiting for those interested in an active mission and those who wish to explain the details of said mission.

[Beans]

[Laboratory]

"If we do end up with only a limited supply of fast cement, it can always serve an emergency function. When we need something built really fast." Dorota folds her arms across her chest in thought. "We might experiment with limited transmutation. There are ways to transform one material into another. We might be able to dilute it so that it alters the state of cement rather than its nature... it's a very theoretical idea."

She perks up a bit. "Oh, that's a thought! Perhaps there's some combination of components we could employ to catalyze a faster solidification... see, this---right here, this is why I wanted to be able to work with more people. As to your earlier point, that also makes sense. If we're very limited in our ability to produce and deploy our ultra-quick concrete, we can still use it for priority targets and settle for normal or perhaps just moderately improved material for the rest."

[Morty]

[Vigil meeting]

Dorota arrives at the meeting, holding a folder full of some documents. It's hard to say what's inside or what she could even have that would be useful. She might have just brought them to look professional.

[Laboratory]

Dorota turns away from her failed experiment and picks up a notepad from a nearby desk.

"We're going to need to catalogue all possible transmutations that could serve our purpose. I do remember a way of turning living tissue to stone... I just never pursued it because I never had a reason to. Also, concrete isn't exactly living tissue."

[Shadowcaller]

[Vigil meeting]

Cessie joins in later with two ladies in her company. One is Ambrosia who don't look too enthusiastic to be there though otherwise looks pretty much how Dorota remembered her. The other is someone neither Rein nor Dorota have seen however so her player will have to introduce her.

"It's nice to be here in HALO again." The commander remarks with a smile. "You know, you should try to recruit these two into fold. They're pretty much made for the organization." She gestures towards Ambrosia and Khafir though is probably joking.
Ambrosia nods politely but doesn't seem to want to add any commentary right now.

[Ironsmith]

[VIGIL Meeting]

Khafir just doesn't respond to the joke at all, not seeming to find it particularly amusing or relevant. Like Dorota, she came to this meeting with a folder tucked neatly under her arm. Until now, she'd been stealing the occasional glance at Rein, quietly debating the merits of making small talk before the meeting began. Perhaps by picking his brain for good tailors; anyone who could make a maid outfit look natural on him could doubtlessly handle the task of making a dress for her, and there are a few formal events coming up which she is socially obligated to attend.

But, now that the meeting has started, there's no point in considering it. She'll quietly take her seat and set her folder in front of her, adjusting it so it lay neatly flush with the edge of the table. She'll still watch him expectantly, waiting for an official call to order or some equivalent.

[5a Violista]

[Fish Watching: Pool]

Venus squints so that she can see without her eyes hurting from the pool water, since she just heard Rein shout. She looks around, trying to see where the baby is, first looking over by the bench where she was earlier.


Manja is, of course, running towards the pool. The reason why her father's 'no!' is less effective now than earlier is because back then he was firm and calm, but now it's probably more like a game. It's different.

She manages to avoid his grasp and leap into the pool.

...
She isn't the best at swimming and it's a little awkward and shaky but at least she can keep her head above the water.


"!" Venus says, when she realizes what happened.
Hearing the splash helped.
"Omigosh!"
Since she's already in the water, she moves towards the kitten and reaches out to her and sticks her hand under the kitty's stomach so that there's no chance of her sinking. (She was mostly swimming fine, anyway.) ((Since Manja doesn't want to be taken out just after she got in, she starts to struggle and rebel against Venus's hand, so Venus looks over at Rein with a 'what should I do?' look on her face.))

[Shadowcaller]

[Library]

Maria pauses to stare at Zhareen for a moment. That was her scientific analysis, huh? Not a nice person. She resumes taking notes on the slightly more objective observations. "Such warping magic must have taken a ritual of great power to enact, even if under the fey purview. Do you know the process in which it occurred? The King in Rags must expect a great deal in return to make up for whatever he expended in the ritual. How is it exactly that he accumulates power from the story? What are the topological features of the Fairest Lands, or is that simply a cartological term for whatever territory he seeks to conquer? Who is this fey that you sourced your information from?"

[Library]

That was a lot of questions at once which makes the merfolk hesitate. Which one would she even answer first? The first question or the last one?

"We believe the whole story-sharing ritual thing happened at some point during a scourge of rats that took place within Riverside. The King in Rags have an association with rats and there was also what I believe to be one of his priests, thinkthatstheterm, there." She raises her palm. "But let me drag the story back to the start before I go any further. So we found the village we were to investigate and it was filled with all these pointy-eared humans who were not a fan of the king in rags. Then there was this fey, Sky-Cutter, who appeared before us while we were talking to the villagers. She was their patron and believed that the King in rags was up to no good. I even had a prophecy about it but- uh, I'll get to that later."

She glances at her notes and suddenly wishes she was better at note-taking. It was just so hard to listen to someone and write it all down at the same time.

"That's when we found out about the fairest land and all that stuff. My prophecy gave us a clue to go to Riverside next though so that's what we did. We came to MERC's headquarters in the city and they were actually nice enough to help us out. There was a fey there who we've hired on occasion. Jaahlyn is her name and she does all sort of odd jobs for us.
Apparently, according to her, there had been a powerful but twisted fey in the city called a 'rat king' which was controlling all those Riverside rats. We're not quite sure what their motive was, but it seems like some kind of deal was struck between it and the King in Rags which caused his story to spread. Fey gather power from stories through recognition, so the more people that know and respect it the more powerful he gets." A beat.
"I think. It's not a very specific science, alright? The point is that him gaining power would eventual lead to opening a door of some sort. Like a literal door into this fairest lands which I believe would be bad since..." She holds up her finger in the air as she seems to wait for the answer to come to her.
"-well, opening supernatural doors is usually not a good thing so I say it's in our best interest to stop him. Especially as he's willing to walk over a lot of corpses to achieve this goal."

[Beans]

[Laboratory]

Dorota turns away from her failed experiment and picks up a notepad from a nearby desk.

"We're going to need to catalogue all possible transmutations that could serve our purpose. I do remember a way of turning living tissue to stone... I just never pursued it because I never had a reason to. Also, concrete isn't exactly living tissue."

Siiva starts to gaze into space at a point somewhere above Dorota's head. "I'd think that concrete would be easier to turn to stone than flesh... but again, I'm not an alchemist. We could also look into a way to speed the rate at which water leaves the concrete?" She glances at Dorota again. "By the way, if there's ever any of your own pursuits I can help with, feel free to ask---though maybe we'll have a better idea of what I could help with once we've worked together more and have a better grasp of each other's capabilities?"

[Reinholdt]

[Library]

Maria finds no difficulty at all with listening to someone and taking notes! She's doing it right now at a furious pace. Even making little annotations, the letters OP being scribbled in a few margins. But she's a special kind of focused. And she doesn't have to take notes over a year and a half!

"Fey... you refer to the Taarik elves that worshipped the story? They have ironically turned against its source, fascinating. Perhaps they too have discovered its abnormalities and manipulations of reality." That might get a culture to turn. Hard to say. Cultural identity can be fluid at times. Hmm...

"So you have no indications as to what the Fairest Lands actually consist of, just that it is located discretely behind a door the King in Rags wishes to open. I will conduct some research to see if there's any references to these lands in relation to Rags or rats. It would be an ideal measure to get said information from the sources if possible. Are you familiar with the fates or locations of this Rat King and King in Rags?" Maria could just go and ask them. Many questions. Nonstop.

[Vigil Meeting]

"Reinholdt, Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire," Rein gives his flourish as he greets them, going around and give handshakes or slight bows as seems appropriate. "If you have any interest in HALO, by all means, I'll be happy to show either or both of you around and tell you what we have to offer. We're always on the lookout for fresh intelligence and curious minds." Reinholdt gives what he hopes is a professional smile as he returns to his seat. The two accompanying Cessie don't even look like they want to be here, so Rein's got to do what he can to put everyone at ease.

"I've been told you're looking for assistance in capturing someone whose implants are malfunctioning? I'm a tad surprised you'd contact us with this. We're more the type of organization to handle fixing said implants or removing them safely, than we are retrieval. Were you looking for assistance in that area as well...?" Reinholdt begins, digging a little for more information as he looks at Cessie for details.

[Fish Watching: Pool]

How do lifeguards watch so many children at the same time? This is impossible! Rein can't handle two drowning people. Fortunately one of them is trying not to. He comes to a stop at the pool's edge and scowls, crossing his arms.

Manja was too cute.

"Just... let her, it's fine," He says, giving in even if he knows he probably shouldn't. If she really wanted to swim that bad, then he wasn't going to stop her. He definitely doesn't understand this abnormal and unhealthy desire, but he has to give her room to grow and experience things herself too right? What if swimming ends up being her dream or something? Ugh... please goddesses, anything but professional swimmer.

It's entirely possible he's just letting her get away with it to avoid getting wet himself. But now he's sitting down beside the pool and watching her intently. "... Thanks. Sorry about this," He tells Venus for helping out a little. "Probably should wait on your drowning experiments." He's not taking his eye off Manja for a moment while she's in that death trap, so he would be terrible at helping out Venus if she got herself into trouble.

[Shadowcaller]

[Vigil Meeting]

Cessie nods in response and raises from her seat as if she was about to make a speech. Then she gestures at the woman in the lab coat besides her. "Yes, but Khafir is the expert on these kinds of implants as she comes from the same place as this man. Therefore while we love to use your facilities she should be the guiding force behind this project. In fact, she can probably tell you more about than I could." She pauses, but not enough for Khafir to take over.

"But before I give the word over to her I should give you some crucial context to why we like to hand this operation over to you. See, the man we're trying to apprehend is extremely resourceful and is related to a woman working at our headquarters. He's even been in contact with Khafir on occasions to discuss his implant. But then he suddenly cut both of them off as he seems to have surrendered himself completely to his new identity. Therefore, he has some insight into VIGIL and their operations during his last call with Khafir he already seemed to think that we were out to get him. Therefore, I believe any VIGIL member showing up anywhere near Skyside might make him take extreme steps to avoid capture which I want to avoid at all cost." Cessie looks between Dorota and Rein as she continues.

"Furthermore, I'd like to recognize the weaknesses of my own organization. VIGIL is at its core a military organization meaning that we go in with a lot of force and in this case I'd like to try to avoid using force entirely. Any kind of trauma to his head could kill or radically alter the brain chemistry of our target so it would be best to subdue him in a more elegant manner."
The commander gestures at Dorota. "As an alchemist, I'm sure you could make something towards that end for instance, Dorota. "So what I'm saying is that we need a scientific approach to this. To go in covertly, subdue without harming him and then just get out."

Finally, the commander turns to Khafir. "And for the rest, I turn to my scientific advisor and leader of this operation, Doctor Khafir." Cessie will then sit down.

[Library]

Zhareen nods sagely. "Yes, it seems like they've turned against it in a way. It serves more as a tale of caution now. A story about a villain that has no place in their modern society." She remembered all this, somehow.

"But from what I gathered the, uh, 'fairest lands' are an idealized world of sort. It's a world of great heroes and beasts of myths where some are capable of doing extraordinary feats as long they put their mind to it. Kind of a 'lost paradise' sort of thing which the King in Rags wants to return to." She strokes her chin as she considers answering the final question. "As for their fates, the rat king's physical form was destroyed by adventurers in tunnels leading underneath Riverside but that wouldn't actually kill such a fey. Pretty sure we could contact it if we were to journey down there, but it sounded like those tunnels were pretty dangerous. The king, I'm not so sure of but he shouldn't be too hard to reach either now that we got his name. Could do a calling ritual and see if he turns up."

[Morty]

[Laboratory]

Sophie sighs.

"Yes, well... unfortunately our practical mindset isn't shared by all alchemists. There are many recipes who are vanity projects, curiosity or just plain crazy. But as for my own projects... I'm researching divinity. It's a lofty goal, as you can imagine. But I've made some progress."

[Vigil Meeting]

"I probably can devise some way to subdue him safely," Dorota admits. "Especially if I have some samples of his body, to tailor the substance to him. But delivering it would still be the kind of mission I'm not really suited for. I'm... not a subterfuge kind of person."

[5a Violista]

[Fish Watching: Pool]

In order to stop Manja from struggling and maybe falling in wrong, Venus carefully releases her and just keeps her hands nearby, just in case. "Okay. Um...okay."

As the kitten swims around, Venus makes sure to follow her and keeps her body between the kitten and the deep end. "On the plus side, it didn't really feel like I needed to breathe until I started thinking about it. So. It seems promising."


Manja, meanwhile!
Yeah, she's just liking swimming around, partially because someone else is in here and partially because it's fun worrying her father like that. She wonders why he's not coming in, though. Can't he see how much fun she's having?

[Ironsmith]

[VIGIL Meeting]

Khafir stands and opens the folder in front of her, which it seems did, indeed, have a practical use. Inside are a number of packets of paper, containing several diagrams and maps. With the exception of a brain scan highlighting the implant (it looks something like somebody planted a tree in this man's brainstem) and a mugshot of Klaus, most of them appear to be hand-drawn, or rather, copies of what was originally a hand-made drawing. She hands these out to each of the attendees, including Cessie for completeness's sake.

"If your intent was to form a psychoactive compound, allow me to remind you that this man's neurochemistry is in a delicate state and such tampering would be ill-advised, as well as add that such a method is unlikely to be successful." Khafir holds up the scan of Klaus's brain. "This implant allows the user to consciously alter his brain in a number of ways; suppress or fabricate emotional responses, compartmentalize memories, ignore pain, and so on. Any attempt at externally altering his neurochemistry is likely to be met with a compensatory effect the moment he's aware it's happening."

Her gaze crawls around the room as she talks, without settling on any of the attendees. The way she moves and talks (which is to say, "barely" and "with minimal inflection") gives the impression of someone rehearsing for a speech, rather than someone delivering one, acknowledging the abstract concept of an audience but not the individual members. Between that and her bizarrely immaculate clothing and hair, HALO's members would be forgiven if they thought Cessie had brought in an animatronic to attend the meeting on the doctor's behalf.

"It bears mention that overuse of this mechanism is also what created this problem." Khafir continues. "The subject has been known to use the implant to enforce a sort of method acting, altering his brain patterns to fit the profile of whatever disguise he may be using at the time. In this case, the persona in question is this:" She holds up the next page, showing Klaus in full priestly vestaments, with the raven-like mask on his face. "Korvin, Witness of Asthenia. A sadist and a scoundrel, who works with the Slaver's Guild for fun." She lets that sink in for a moment before continuing. "The weakness of such a method is that it typically requires a handler to be done correctly; otherwise, the subject may be insufficiently motivated to change back out of a given mindset when the need arises. The end result is Korvin pretending to be Klaus as much as Klaus pretends to be Korvin. For a given definition of 'pretend', of course."

[Reinholdt]

[Fish Watching: Pool]

"So it's possible you can do it... so long as you don't think about it. That seems too risky. You're going to have to convince yourself you can do it even while you're thinking about it." If Venus has to hide from cultists out in the ocean, she won't have the luxury of 'just don't think about it and you won't die'. It'll probably be the only thing on her mind.

Manja's dad can see how much fun she's having! It's quite clear and also the only reason she gets to stay in the pool after being told not to go in. But he can see perfectly from over here in the not fun zone of outside the pool.

[Library]

Talking about it probably helps!

"Destroying the Rat King's physical form did not disperse the story of the Banished King, so either they would have to be eradicated on a more spiritual level or the story has grown beyond the Rat King's bargain and can subsist without its progenitor. Fey are also loathe to providing information about themselves, without a substantial bargaining chip to offer them in exchange." Probably not worth calling on fey just to ask them prodding questions.

[VIGIL Meeting]

Well the differences in organizations were definitely clear. Why was everyone standing up to talk? This must be part of that military culture Cessie was referring to. Or was it a human thing? It might be a human thing. Well Rein finds sitting down while discussing a mission just fine, so he makes no move to stand to get the floor or anything.

"Soft and quiet. Yeah, that can be done. Can't promise quick though. Obviously, we'd make this a priority, but subterfuge can require extra time." The main drawback to it over force, admittedly.

Rein raises an eyebrow, but doesn't comment on Khafir's robotic like speech. So this is what androids look like now. Fascinating. "So what you're saying is no sedatives." Reinholdt frowns. Makes it much more difficult to subdue a person without force. He glances over at Dorota, brainstorming alternatives and wondering if she has any ideas of her own to offer. Was it time to break back out the green goo glue?

"If you have an alternative, we're all ears. Otherwise, who is Asthenia? And what more can you tell me about Korvin? What does he want?"

[Shadowcaller]

[VIGIL Meeting]

"There's also Ambrosia's part in all of this..." Cessie points out once Khafir is finished, this time without standing up. "But I will leave that to her. It is relevant to all of this however."

The scholar raises her hand but then waves it dismissively. "Let Khafir answer their questions first then I will speak." She promises.

[Library]

Zhareen nods. "Uh, yeah. Fey are pretty tricky Very difficult to deal with. Jaahlyn has been pretty open about things, but- uh, let's focus on the rag king." There were details she could share but those weren't relevant and she know of the librarians tendency to zoom in on new information brought to the table.

"If we don't ask the rat king there was something else. I had another prophecy involving the king of rags sending a dragon to attack Vigil, I think. I had Reina the catgirl deliver a warning to them since she seems to have developed a seer's gift after encountering the king in rags during a merc mission. So it would seem he's turning up all over the place right now and apparently has control over at least one dragon? I've yet to follow up on Reina's visit to VIGIL."

[Beans]

[Laboratory]

Sophie sighs.

"Yes, well... unfortunately our practical mindset isn't shared by all alchemists. There are many recipes who are vanity projects, curiosity or just plain crazy. But as for my own projects... I'm researching divinity. It's a lofty goal, as you can imagine. But I've made some progress."

Siiva blinks as she looks at Dorota, seeming to study her a bit more. "Divinity? Well, that's... unexpected, but I won't say it's that odd to think about, even to pursue. I really would be interested in hearing about your progress in that regard. I'm somewhat empowered in that direction myself, though for me it was something offered and accepted as opposed to the fruits of study." She lights her Horizon caste mark on her brow, its green light glinting on things in a somewhat unnerving way.

[5a Violista]

[Fish Watching: Pool]

It does seem incredibly risky.
Venus considers how she could do that, and has the random thought: "Maybe it's possibly less not needing to breathe unless I think about it, and more that I only needed to breathe because I thought I needed it?" Honestly, sounds like a distinction without a difference, but it seems to make sense to Venus.

She continues (slowly) following the kitten around. "So, like, what if I can just convince myself that I don't need to breathe? Wouldn't even need to go into the water for that. And if that's true, then I wouldn't even have to not think about it and would just know." Or something like that.

Since her father clearly isn't going to join in on the fun, Manja decides that she's starting to get bored.
Seeing that Venus's back legs are actually a deer body and they're now completely in the shallow end so it sticks up a little, Manja chooses that as the best place to rest. So she swims towards Venus and climbs onto her back (using her claws, so Venus winces a little) and stops swimming once she doesn't need to.

[Morty]

[Laboratory]

"My progress has been rewarding in some ways and disappointing in others." Dorota studies the symbol on Siiva's forehead. "My original goal was to find out if the gods I'd been raised to worship as a child ever existed. I've yet to find an answer to that, but I've learned about other deities of the universe. Some are like people, if powerful ones, others are more conceptual. But the more powerful a deity is, the less they tend to actually do. And the definition of what a deity is or isn't seems to be in the eye of the beholder. Has a deity empowered you?"

[VIGIL Meeting]

"If we can't sedate him, then we'll need to non-lethally subdue him in another way. And that won't be easy." Dorota frowns. "Physically binding him in some way, maybe. But that will likely require the kind of skill we don't have."

[Ironsmith]

[VIGIL Meeting]

Well the differences in organizations were definitely clear. Why was everyone standing up to talk? This must be part of that military culture Cessie was referring to. Or was it a human thing? It might be a human thing. Well Rein finds sitting down while discussing a mission just fine, so he makes no move to stand to get the floor or anything.

"Soft and quiet. Yeah, that can be done. Can't promise quick though. Obviously, we'd make this a priority, but subterfuge can require extra time." The main drawback to it over force, admittedly.

Rein raises an eyebrow, but doesn't comment on Khafir's robotic like speech. So this is what androids look like now. Fascinating. "So what you're saying is no sedatives." Reinholdt frowns. Makes it much more difficult to subdue a person without force. He glances over at Dorota, brainstorming alternatives and wondering if she has any ideas of her own to offer. Was it time to break back out the green goo glue?

"If you have an alternative, we're all ears. Otherwise, who is Asthenia? And what more can you tell me about Korvin? What does he want?"

[VIGIL Meeting]

"There's also Ambrosia's part in all of this..." Cessie points out once Khafir is finished, this time without standing up. "But I will leave that to her. It is relevant to all of this however."

The scholar raises her hand but then waves it dismissively. "Let Khafir answer their questions first then I will speak." She promises.

[VIGIL Meeting]

"If we can't sedate him, then we'll need to non-lethally subdue him in another way. And that won't be easy." Dorota frowns. "Physically binding him in some way, maybe. But that will likely require the kind of skill we don't have."

[VIGIL Meeting]

"You may have some luck if you attack an organ other than the brain." Khafir offers. "A topical paralytic, for example. Or somehow inducing a form of oxygen deprivation. His brain is unusually resilient due to the implant, but it's still in the body of an ordinary human."

That aside complete, she turns her attention back to Rein. "According to my research, Asthenia is a minor goddess with minimal supporters among the people of Skyside. A literal cult following, if you will." She flicks to the appropriate page in her packet before continuing. "Her followers preach to sapients, but the church itself is mostly dedicated to disease-causing microbes. Understandably, they have a sort of marketing problem." She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, completely stone-faced. "Korvin does not appear to be a proper member of Asthenia's religion, but rather, an imitation of one, using technology to replicate her most known blessings. In particular, he uses a combination of dermal agitation techniques and careful applications of fast-acting poisons to replicate their propensity for killing whatever they touch. Nevertheless, he seems to align with them philosophically, insisting on a mix of social Darwinism and sadism for sadism's sake. So long as the Guild provides him with victims, he seems happy."

[Beans]

[Laboratory]

"My progress has been rewarding in some ways and disappointing in others." Dorota studies the symbol on Siiva's forehead. "My original goal was to find out if the gods I'd been raised to worship as a child ever existed. I've yet to find an answer to that, but I've learned about other deities of the universe. Some are like people, if powerful ones, others are more conceptual. But the more powerful a deity is, the less they tend to actually do. And the definition of what a deity is or isn't seems to be in the eye of the beholder. Has a deity empowered you?"

Siiva waggles a hand. "It'd be more accurate to call them... titans, the creators of the gods of their realm, deposed and imprisoned but still able to reach out and offer their patronage. I was... well, before I got this Exaltation, my life was not great. I had the same desire to fix things and help people, but I had very little in the way of money or support to get the education to act on that desire. I had to cobble together an understanding, and anything I had to say was disregarded based on the informality of my education." She smiles a little bitterly. "It was... a stifling time. I think my patrons, those titans, saw something of their own situation---of feeling stifled and trapped. They offered me this power, and I accepted. There weren't any strings, not really... though it does have quirks that take getting used to."