Seaside 6: Six at the Beach

[Purple Eagle]

Silver Sand Stretch

"Uh..." Sekhmet just looks confused. "How?" It doesn't make any sense to her. Even with all the colorful symbols, she doesn't know what any of them mean or do. Prumathe's had to help her use her phone on a few occasions.

[Silver Sand Stretch]

"Technology! Here, I'll show you!" Zabb motions for her to sit down, then sits beside her and starts showing her the basics of how to use the phone, if she wants. "Futuristic by your standards, I guess. In that case, you'd find what it can do really cool."

She's just like Mirai's wife, Zither, with the difficulty learning new tech. "Unless you're what people call a Luddite?"

[Chidi and Olvisin's Fun Night]

"I do go to the Den pretty often," Olvisin says as she steps out of the car and thanks Chidi with a nod. "It's better to go to somewhere different fro a special occasion. This looks like a nice place."

[Chidi and Olvisin's Fun Night]

Chidi takes her arm, locks the car and then leads her into the establishment, where they find a seat in the corner closest to the best beach view. The place has a wooden decor, even items not made of wood are made to look as wooden-like as possible. The staff are wearing blue uniforms, and one of them is on standby near their table, once they're done scanning the menus on their table.

"So, what'd you like to eat?" He says, scanning the menu. "You like seafood?"

[bc56]

Silver Sand Stretch

Luddite. There's a word Sekhmet actually knows. "I, uh, don't see what textile factories have to do with it?" She'll sit and watch, but she's definitely not understanding what Zabb is doing very well. This is so far beyond the technology she's familiar with, it might as well be a very strange form of magic.

[Lord Magtok]

A Real Mag Never Dies, Even When He's Killed!

"I guess you were right about the guy in charge around here being terrible. Vigil probably would've dispatched a team to beat me up by now if he wasn't, huh?" Magtok remarks, instead of answering any of Rachel's questions. He sounds awfully disappointed for someone who's supposedly getting an entire coastal neighborhood added to his corporate empire for free, but none of that is really Rachel's business, is it? She's here for the cosplay, not the politics.

"I could make the arm cannons look like they're charging up to fire, or maybe bury an antigrav panel in the sand below you so the air and ground beneath you is dramatically fluttering upward," he offers, finally showing something vaguely resembling interest in this project he's been roped into. To be fair, posing dramatically isn't that much different from what he was already planning to do with his afternoon. No point in getting snooty and uptight about this when your own hobbies are at least twice as weird and nerdy.

[Reinholdt]

[People Die When They Are Killed]

Rachel watches Magtok's disappointed face for a little bit. "Oh... did... did you want to be stopped? Cause this place is pretty terrible. A new government would probably be a welcome improvement. I thought you were doing charity work." Rachel rubs the back of her neck. This is a little awkward.

"I mean, I could stop you if that's what you want. Your robot doesn't look too hard to take down." She clasps her hands together. "But yeah! Those ideas are really cool. You should do that."

[Morty]

[Chidi and Olvisin's Fun Night]

"I sure do. I grew up near the sea, you know." Olvisin scans the menu. "Not at a beach like this one. Our home mountain range bordered the sea. Grilled calmari used to be my favorite. I could try the ones they have here."

[Purple Eagle]

[Silver Sand Stretch]

Textile factories? "It's become a word used for those against new technology, or those who plain can't understand it!" Zabb explains, doing his best to help her understand all the cool things her phone can do. Unfortunately, it's going as well as a cat learning to walk with shoes... so he focuses on the basics, instead.

"What was the newest technology back when you're from?" He asks her. Somewhere around the 18th century, perhaps.

[First Date Night]

"I should try that, myself. Usually, I order something else. Felt like some 'ukwang' today, see... but tonight's too special to warrant just the usual." Chidi says, waving forward their waiter, who smiles a knowing, mischievous and genuine smile back at him. "The usual?"

"No, two grilled calamaris and two beers. We'll have appetizers, too." He says, and the waiter bows before walking up to attend to their order, leaving the dates to themselves for a while. Another man comes to deposit two glasses of non-alcoholc punch in front of them.

"So, you grew up around the sea, eh? How was it like, did you get to swim all the time?" He asks as he takes a sip of his drink.

[bc56]

Silver Sand Stretch

The word "Luddite" originally referred to a movement following a man named Ned Ludd, which formed to protest the increasing use of automation in textile production and protect the jobs of trained weavers. That was in the early 19th century.

"Uh, there's a lot of trains. And people communicate with telegrams. I think I heard something about a boat that goes underwater? But it sank, I think." Sekhmet answers. That's probably not super helpful, but it does place her somewhere in the 19th century.

[Morty]

[First Date Night]

Seems like Chidi is a regular here. And Olvisin is probably not the first date he brought, either. Not that she terribly minds; it's nice to meet someone who knows how to entertain you.

"Not as often as you'd think. It took some waking to get to a place where it was safe for little goblins to swim. For the most part, it was..." She pauses as she recalls memories of her childhood. "Imagine an enormous cave, washed out by the sea over the years. It's the hub of our colony. Ships come and go from it. It takes us some time to get used to the sun, so the harbor itself is underground."

[Purple Eagle]

[Silver Sand Stretch]

Eagle got the century wrong, then.

"So, the 19th century, it explains a lot! Smartphones come out two centuries later. I learnt!" From other celestials, he means. "People move about with personal cars, communicate with smartphones and laptops. Though centuries after that, if they develop like my home, it becomes much more advanced."

"Would you be more comfortable with the technology of your time?" He offers.

[First Date Night]

Chidi listens and nods in understanding and wonder, thinking it's a good topic: talking about their childhoods. "Wow, an underground harbor? I'd not seen many of those. I can tell your colony will be a sight to behold, though I'll probably be too tall for it." He grins at her with his totally normal teeth, discounting the slight opalescence. "What was your childhood like, Olvi?"

[bc56]

Silver Sand Stretch

"Uh, it is the 19th century?" Sekhmet answers, confused. "It's 1865, isn't it?" That's when she thinks it is, given when she left her home, and how long she's been in the Nexus. "I, uh, guess I might be? Why do you ask?"

[Morty]

[First Date Night]

Olvisin grins back, with her characteristic toothiness.

"Goblin tunnels aren't that small. Human-sized people can fit in them alright." She drums her fingers on her glass. "My childhood was... crowded. There's always a lot of us goblins and we live underground. So there's almost always someone around. Some of us adapt to it well, others try to find solitude as they can. I was somewhere in the middle, I guess. Me and my siblings stood out a little once we started growing up. Our mother and matron had their hands full with us."

[Lord Magtok]

You Are (Not) Worthy of My Grace

Spoiler

Show

[People Die When They Are Killed]

Rachel watches Magtok's disappointed face for a little bit. "Oh... did... did you want to be stopped? Cause this place is pretty terrible. A new government would probably be a welcome improvement. I thought you were doing charity work." Rachel rubs the back of her neck. This is a little awkward.

"I mean, I could stop you if that's what you want. Your robot doesn't look too hard to take down." She clasps her hands together. "But yeah! Those ideas are really cool. You should do that."

"No no, I'm not some weirdo masochist," Magtok insists, hurriedly waving his hands to dissuade Rachel from trying to beat the tar out of him out of pity. "I'm just used to struggling to get what I want, to scheming and warring and feuding just to stay alive. To just have this place handed over on a shiny platter without argument feels...cheap. A mockery," he scowls, turning back towards his Janus Engine with a narrowed eye.

"Would this have worked out better if I claimed to be some heroic avenger fighting for justice?" He winces, not too keen on the idea of getting back in spandex again. Heroes are too reactionary for his tastes; fighting on some other villain's schedule and in their chosen environment stinks.

"Whatever, forget it, I'll figure something out later," he shakes his head, stepping back into his giant robot's palm to be lifted up and away to the cockpit once again. Stupid Nexus, can't even be bothered to send one measly hero to fight off his attempt at conquest. Just for that, maybe he'll hit something actually important next, like Inside or Skyside or maybe even Trog's!

[Reinholdt]

[Magtok's Greatest Fear is Magtok Himself]

"Uhh... sure. I guess. If you say so." Rachel frowns a little at the strange man as he hurries back into his robot. She'd have to fight him on behalf of the citizenry or something. Just because of how sad he was that it didn't happen. He clearly wants to earn this town, not own it. Which is respectable. Things are always better if you have to put in some effort to get them.

That can wait however! First and foremost is... a photo shoot!

"Alright. Stand there. Do that." There's a lot of choreography involved, but Rachel will happily guide Magtok and his Janus engine into all the necessary poses for the best pictures. Or Rachel will relay what the photographers suggest. They're better informed than she is. It's a little silly, but possibly a lot of fun too! And can be safely glossed over unless Magtok does something particularly Magtokian.

[Purple Eagle]

Silver Sand Stretch

"Uh, it is the 19th century?" Sekhmet answers, confused. "It's 1865, isn't it?" That's when she thinks it is, given when she left her home, and how long she's been in the Nexus. "I, uh, guess I might be? Why do you ask?"

Silver Sand Stretch

"19th century!" Zabb repeats with a series of nods. "That's from 1800-1899." To the reply to his second question, he just beams at her. "Well, I wanna help you understand this thing, and make it more like something you can use. There's apps for that though, so yay! Want me to get one on NexusNet for you?"

[First Date Night]

Olvisin grins back, with her characteristic toothiness.

"Goblin tunnels aren't that small. Human-sized people can fit in them alright." She drums her fingers on her glass. "My childhood was... crowded. There's always a lot of us goblins and we live underground. So there's almost always someone around. Some of us adapt to it well, others try to find solitude as they can. I was somewhere in the middle, I guess. Me and my siblings stood out a little once we started growing up. Our mother and matron had their hands full with us."

[First Date Night]

"Oh? My bad, then." Chidi swishes the liquid in his own glass as he listens to her talk, hanging on to every word. "Oh, I can quite imagine!" He says with a knowing smile. "I'd have loved to experience it though, see? My own childhood was much more modest."

[bc56]

Silver Sand Stretch

"Uh..." Again, Sekhmet has no idea what any of those words mean. "...Okay?" She hands the phone over to Zabb to see what he does with it. But she doesn't understand what's going on at all.

[Morty]

[First Date Night]

"You haven't mentioned any siblings, yeah," Olvisin observes. "Were you a single kid? They... happen among us, but it's pretty rare."

[Purple Eagle]

[Silver Sand Stretch]

Zabb does his stuff on the phone, downloading a couple of apps and doing what he can to enable all the relevant accessibility settings that would help Sekhmet most. Of course, to her it'd just look like he did some random tapping before handing over the phone.

"See, the keypad is now rotary, the theme is meant to evoke memories of the time, your ring and alarm tones are bells..." He pauses to see if she's getting any of that. "... I made the phone easier for people unused to technology like you to use, by making it behave more like the technology of your time. Meaning, you should like it now!" He squees, happy with himself for helping.

[First Date Night]

"Yeah... I'm an only child. Single mom, see?" Chidi looks wistful as he remembers his own childhood. "My mum was a teen when she got pregnant, and her parents kicked her out. The poverty was really bad those first few years... but my mum was a hard worker... still is. She made darned sure I had an education. Of course, I helped out too."

He takes a sip of his drink, and ducks his ear to the side. "We'll be getting our food soon." He adds, as an aside.

[bc56]

Silver Sand Stretch

Sekhmet stares at the phone. The simpler interface and darker colors are more soothing, and she's not so confused by everything. She thinks there's one problem though, looking at the circular keypad. "Uh, how does this work?" She's never seen a rotary phone, or any telephone before coming to the Nexus. The smartphone is the first such device she knew.

[Morty]

[First Date Night]

Olvisin seems positively stupefied by what Chidi said. Not surprised or upset - it just clashes severely with her assumptions about what's normal.

"They... threw her out just like that? And she had no other family to take her in?"

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Magtok's Greatest Fear is Magtok Himself]


As Magtok and Rachel finish up their photos, a new mecha arrives on the scene! Well, at least, he looks like one, though only being about 10 feet tall, he's not quite as impressive as Magtok's Janus Engine. He drops from the sky to land on the beach, before crossing his arms over his chestplate, looking around.

"Just what is going on here?"

[Lord Magtok]

This Is The Tale Of A Mag Who Continues To Fight Against Destiny

Ten feet tall. Not even ten stories tall, ten feet. Disgusting. Vigil...no, not just Vigil, the entire Nexus owes us greater opposition than this. Magtok will not be forced out of the public spotlight again, rendered retired and obsolete, not without a fight this time. Gritting his teeth and narrowing his eyes, he kicks the Janus Engine's cockpit door open, leaping all the way down to face the new foe with just his mech pilot uniform and his boundless contempt for the world around him.

"Conquest is what's going on here," he retorts, giving the mecha a mad grin even if he has to crane his head upwards just to look it in the eyes. "This filthy, disgusting den of slavers and pirates is now mine to mold into the perfect little MagCorp company town. Everything you see before you will be remade according to my vision. Clean, efficient, beautiful, the crown jewel of a resurgent empire in a bold new Nexus," he explains, hoping he's hammed it up and made his little speech just sinister and megalomaniacal enough to convince this newcomer to shoot first and ask questions later. It's been so long since anyone's actually tried to kill him, but this stranger looks unfamiliar enough they might actually make the effort, and Mag can finally flex those combat instincts that have grown creaky and rusty with disuse and neglect.

"By the way, Rachel, if you are who I think you are, tell your mom Mag said hi. Or dad? Whichever one has the blue hair," he conversationally directs towards the catgirl, as if he isn't in the middle of goading a ten-foot mech to take a shot at him. He even takes his eyes off the new arrival for a moment to address her, which is either the most flagrantly disrespectful hubris he's shown all day, or additional bait to lure the stranger into some kind of trap.

[Reinholdt]

[If You're Scared, It's OK To Run]

"Also a really good photo shoot. You just missed it." Probably for the best. Two mechas would be pushing it. People would think Rachel was being a try hard. But there were plenty of great shots!

The Yoko dressed catgirl gives Magtok a funny look. The kind of odd look a kid would give to an old timer who is being weird about some social thing. "Uhh... yeah. I'll do that."

She clears her throat and faces him more properly, posing with hands on her hips. She does remarkably like Reina when in that stance. "Anyways! On behalf of the citizens of... this town, we deny your offer of alternative authoritarian rule! You'll never take this town without a fight!"

[Nova_Eclipse]

[The Locus of Victory and Defeat]

Quin eyes Magtok for a moment, one glowing pick eye in his faceplate growing larger than the other for a brief moment, as though he'd raised an eyebrow. An eyebrow he doesn't have, mind you, but then, there doesn't seem to be much other than eyes in the dark void behind his faceplate. His arms remain crossed, as he listens to Magtok's speech, and then Rachel's declaration that the town refuses Magtok's offer of alternative rule. He ignores Magtok's goading for the moment. The cyborg hasn't actually attacked him, at least not yet, despite his blustering, but that doesn't say much.

"I see," he says evenly, before looking to Rachel. "Do you live here, ma'am? I take it you weren't the one who called VIGIL about this, given the photo shoot, yes?"

[Lord Magtok]

The Beast of Bayside Beach

"Someone called Vigil? For this trash heap's sake?" Magtok scoffs, as if that's not exactly what he was hoping for fifteen minutes ago, desperately pleading with fate to send some kind of hero to struggle against. Shaking his head, he reaches into his sleeve and produces a deadly assassin's blade small bag of chips. It's as if he's pulling the bag from thin air, since no such bag-shaped deformation existed on his costume, no obvious bulge where the chips should've been a moment ago. Some sort of teleportation trick, maybe? Why waste it on a thing like a pre-fight snack, though?

"Bizarre. If I was a resident of this eyesore, I'd sooner be caught dead than invite Vigil's scrutiny upon my distasteful domain. Like calling Intersection to report someone for stealing your slaves," our cyborg remarks, taking a small handful of chips from his bag, as the Janus Engine standing along the shoreline quietly shifts backwards, pulling back a massive boot surely meant to obliterate Quin once it's gathered the necessary momentum to swing its leg forward and punt him into space. Hahaha, this'll show him! This is what you get for asking questions first, instead of impetuously shooting right away without any idea what's going on! Just have to give Quin one last second to notice first, so nobody can say we weren't giving the foolish robot a fair chance. Besides, it wouldn't be very fun to just insta-kill the first hero to show up to stop us, would it?

[Purple Eagle]

Silver Sand Stretch

Sekhmet stares at the phone. The simpler interface and darker colors are more soothing, and she's not so confused by everything. She thinks there's one problem though, looking at the circular keypad. "Uh, how does this work?" She's never seen a rotary phone, or any telephone before coming to the Nexus. The smartphone is the first such device she knew.

[Silver Sand Stretch]

"Do you prefer the other one? I thought you might prefer a rotary interface, but I can change it back to a keypad." Zabb flies up and peers over her shoulder at the screen. "Lemme show you how to do it... hold this two keys together and choose 'keypad'..." He shows her the entire process and then moves back to watch her get used to the new interface in its entirety.

[First Date Night]

Olvisin seems positively stupefied by what Chidi said. Not surprised or upset - it just clashes severely with her assumptions about what's normal.

"They... threw her out just like that? And she had no other family to take her in?"

[First Date Night]

Chidi isn't fazed by her reaction, it's not the first time he's seen it. He knows what it means, as well. "The father was her dad: molested her and refused to take responsibility. Her mother took her husband's side, and they kicked her out for insisting on keeping the baby. Abandoned at 16, she had to start over from scratch."

"Of course, it was my father's word against hers, see? Thus, she was powerless to resist being slandered as some sort of troublemaking slut, ensuring no one would take her in." He takes a sip of his drink, studying Olvisin's reaction. "Bittersweet ending: she never reconciled with her dad, but she did with her mother and family after they revealed the truth during his funeral. I was 16 and had just graduated from high school when I first met them. They proved remorseful enough that I felt comfortable leaving for the army, a few years later.... Damage was done though... my mum didn't consider a relationship until a couple years ago."

The waiters come and serve them their meals, which look delicious and enticing. "Please, ennjoy! Ring the bell if you need anything." The maitre'd says, pointing to the bell at the centre of the table with a gloved hand, before leaving the couple alone once more. "Those experiences made me the man I am today. Yes, I have a lot of casual fun like you and I are having now, but I'll never put a woman through what my mom went through, all those years."

[bc56]

Silver Sand Stretch

Sekhmet follows the directions and gets the phone back how she wanted it. She looks at it a little more before deciding. "It's better now, uh, thank you." She puts it back into her purse. She doesn't need it out anymore.

[Reinholdt]

[Peace is Nothing But the Result of War]

"Ahhh... well, no... I'm just here because I heard they had excellent beaches here." Geeze. Why'd Quin have to call her out like that? "And it wasn't me who called you." Could be anyone! Maybe Magtok sent an anonymous tip. Rachel doesn't know.

Oh look. Magtok's stepping back. Everything's fine now. That is what that foot movement means, surely. Probably easier to walk backwards than to turn that whole thing around after all.

[Demon Prince]

It had been a few days since Valentina had found out about the Nexus, so she'd decided to explore around the place. So far she was amazed at how big the houses were--but even moreso the huge amount of water. It was something she'd only heard of in stories, or seen in really old videos. She approached it, just to look at it, and wondered what they could use all this water for back home. The underworlds could grow food, but maybe with this there could be more...

She noticed some boats floating on the edge of it. Was that how it was used here? She realized it'd be a lot easier to make a boat than a landship, now that she thought about it. And cheaper in the long run than a car.

As she was looking around, she also saw how few people were here, at the beach. It must be completely normal for them to see something like this. They probably used it all the time. She was almost a little jealous...

...however, something interrupted her thoughts. A person. Looking...well, she couldn't see him too clearly yet, but it seemed like he was very afraid.

[Deathkeeper]

Butterfly Bay

Well, he could be afraid. But it also could just be stress. Lots of stress. The person walking by is a very portly wolf-man wearing lace-trimmed priestly robes and a red-and-blue mantle. Despite his impeccably kept coat and trimmed, braided goatee he's leaning on a rough walking stick which really is just a tree branch. And despite their obvious quality his robes look a good bit dirt. Not in the sense that they haven't been washed but like he's fallen in the dirt recently. He looks like he's going to hobble past but stops at Valentina.
"Ah, you're an adventurer, right? Um, can I hire you for the day? I just need an assistant, really. I'm moving back in after a while but I got a little dehydrated on the trip and my knees are weak and I think I might fall over from time to time." he leans in, "And I've been gone for over a year and I don't actually remember how to get to my street and it's going to be really embarrassing if I go around wandering looking lost."

[Demon Prince]

Butterfly Bay

Well, he could be afraid. But it also could just be stress. Lots of stress. The person walking by is a very portly wolf-man wearing lace-trimmed priestly robes and a red-and-blue mantle. Despite his impeccably kept coat and trimmed, braided goatee he's leaning on a rough walking stick which really is just a tree branch. And despite their obvious quality his robes look a good bit dirt. Not in the sense that they haven't been washed but like he's fallen in the dirt recently. He looks like he's going to hobble past but stops at Valentina.
"Ah, you're an adventurer, right? Um, can I hire you for the day? I just need an assistant, really. I'm moving back in after a while but I got a little dehydrated on the trip and my knees are weak and I think I might fall over from time to time." he leans in, "And I've been gone for over a year and I don't actually remember how to get to my street and it's going to be really embarrassing if I go around wandering looking lost."

Butterfly Bay

Valentina looks at the wolfman with a little bit of suspicion. She checks to make sure her cloak wasn't any more open than she'd thought it was, and draws it closer to her just in case. Had she been so mesmerized by the bay that she'd stopped paying attention?

"I...don't really know this place myself." She settles on. "Sorry." Feeling a little bit of pity for the clearly ragged wolfman, she adds "...I could help with the dehydration, though! Here..." Valentina fishes through her cloak, ears swiveled to either side in case the wolfman tries anything, and eventually pulls out a vial. "It doesn't last too long, but it should give you some extra energy for the way back."