Skyside 7: The Big Pizza in the Sky

[Deathkeeper]

The Last Time They Talked About This

Mina knows a statement with history behind it when she hears one.
"Of course Sai." her eyes widen in surprise again as he coughs. Again and again. It hasn't gotten any easier to witness.
"Are you sure you've gotten that looked at?" she asks, going through the motions. It's not like it matters. The guy's a hundred and twenty. What is a doctor going to do for him at this point?

[Reinholdt]

[Searching for Truth]

"Yeah? Sounds exciting! I'd love to meet Lumine," Bellena says, taking the two humans hands and pulling them up out of their chairs until her face is between theirs and she's whispering in both their ears.

"If you take me to her, I know allll sorts of kinky things we can try with a ritual circle... together."

Alas, the other two mercs that got into this show are looking like they'll have to settle for having just gotten a really good dance.

[Vahnavoi]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Hazel advances on the fat man, thrusting her hand toward the iron lung; if she can reach it, she's going to try to turn it up to dangerous levels, such that the man will be choked out by his own machine at a minimum or violently crushed at worst. Her hand stops when it hits the trail of flame and she finds herself unable to push past it.

Hazel's gaze snaps over at Sandels as she draws a helium gun (still ectoplasmic, of course) from under her jacket. "What do ya think youhe doing?!" She demands furiously. "GET OUT OF MY WAY! I'VE GOT RED MIST TA MAKE!"

Trust-Worthy Hotel

The valets wince at the increased heat, but keep working and slide the man out of the archaic medical device. He'll stand; he's completely naked, morbidly obese, and looks like he's not been outside in years. He stands, cracks his knuckles, and smiles at Hazel. "My dear, I have never raised my hand against a woman. You are completely and utterly wrong." He snaps his fingers. "Help me out of here. There's a pair of sticks in the wardrobe. You, stay here and contain it. If you can put it in a jar or bottle I can keep on a shelf and look at, you'll be rewarded." One of the valets stays with the fat man, wincing at the weight as Master Trust throws an arm over his shoulders, whilst the other opens a hidden door in the wall and retrieves two aluminium walking-sticks, adjusted for Master Trust's height and hands them over. He points at Sandals at 'you', addressing the man he's assuming to be an ally in this.

"Stopping you from becoming an evil spirit", the bandaged man replies bluntly to enraged Hazel. "Thought I explained. My job has two parts. When you cross that line, I move from one part to the next."

Through the dancing flames, Hazel can see the man hold the blazing ember on his left hand, while pointing his right index finger upward. "Crimson Flame Bullet!" There's a bright flash and an ear-ringing sound akin to a gunshot and part of the roof is blasted apart, raining shrapnel and dust on people below. "Oh, would you look at that. Finger guns ARE real!"

[Ironsmith]

Trust-Worthy Hotel

The valets wince at the increased heat, but keep working and slide the man out of the archaic medical device. He'll stand; he's completely naked, morbidly obese, and looks like he's not been outside in years. He stands, cracks his knuckles, and smiles at Hazel. "My dear, I have never raised my hand against a woman. You are completely and utterly wrong." He snaps his fingers. "Help me out of here. There's a pair of sticks in the wardrobe. You, stay here and contain it. If you can put it in a jar or bottle I can keep on a shelf and look at, you'll be rewarded." One of the valets stays with the fat man, wincing at the weight as Master Trust throws an arm over his shoulders, whilst the other opens a hidden door in the wall and retrieves two aluminium walking-sticks, adjusted for Master Trust's height and hands them over. He points at Sandals at 'you', addressing the man he's assuming to be an ally in this.

"Stopping you from becoming an evil spirit", the bandaged man replies bluntly to enraged Hazel. "Thought I explained. My job has two parts. When you cross that line, I move from one part to the next."

Through the dancing flames, Hazel can see the man hold the blazing ember on his left hand, while pointing his right index finger upward. "Crimson Flame Bullet!" There's a bright flash and an ear-ringing sound akin to a gunshot and part of the roof is blasted apart, raining shrapnel and dust on people below. "Oh, would you look at that. Finger guns ARE real!"

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Hazel yelps and instinctively covers her face as debris from the roof rains down on her, only to quickly realize she doesn't need to, as it passed through her without harm.

Passes through her...

Hm.

Hazel gives Sandels the mother of all death glares and flips an obscene gesture his way. No, not that one. Different one. It won't be invented for another four hundred and fifty years.

Then, since it doesn't seem likely that Sandel's flame barrier extends below the ground, Hazel jumps a little in place, hopping down into the floor, phasing through it like it doesn't exist.

She's going to get that back-stabbing bastard. The fat lying bastard who hurt her wife is first on her list, but Sandels has definitely gotten on the wrong side of her.

The Last Time They Talked About This

Mina knows a statement with history behind it when she hears one.
"Of course Sai." her eyes widen in surprise again as he coughs. Again and again. It hasn't gotten any easier to witness.
"Are you sure you've gotten that looked at?" she asks, going through the motions. It's not like it matters. The guy's a hundred and twenty. What is a doctor going to do for him at this point?

[The Last Time They Talked About This]

Sai holds up his hand in a placating gesture."I'm fine. It's just a dry throat." He lies, in his usual transparent way.

"I wish we could help you, miss, but as far as we can tell, other than the obvious, there's nothing wrong with him. We can't explain his symptoms. For now, keep an eye on that fatigue and call me if it gets worse. And make sure he's getting plenty of iron."

Sai pours himself a glass of water and shakily raises it to his lips, as though taking a drink will prove his point. He makes a face as he swallows, smacking his lips and grinacing. Ugh. He never did understand how people could be fine with this whole "eating" thing.

[Deathkeeper]

The Last Time We Talked About This

Mina rolls her eyes but says nothing. She's used to his denials at this point.
"Alright then. So what now? I know you're not going to train me on a full stomach." she says, finishing her bowl (again). And that's right. Sai doesn't risk her getting cramps from working out after eating. Or is that just swimming?

"He's just not what he's supposed to be. I can't say I'm surprised it's weird."

"I'm sure you've got something you want to talk about." she insists.

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

The keyholder nods, before leaving. Abbi isn't in the shared cell; she might still be upstairs, but she'd finished up there before Hana left to fight. She might be over by the canteen or the general store, or somewhere else. One of the cells downstairs, or one of the bigger, single cells upstairs.

Trust-Worthy Hotel

The ceiling explodes, flimsy plasterboard ceiling tiles falling down. The lights flicker, and in the space between the ceiling and the upstairs floor there's some pipes and cables, one of the latter being severed. The valets and Mister Trust make it out of the room, shutting the door behind them.

They're on the bottom floor of the hotel; if Hana can go through the floor, she'll find the concrete slab the hotel is built on, and under that there's some drainage pipes. They aren't intended for human access, however, very narrow and also quite poorly maintained.

[Vahnavoi]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

While Hazel's ghost sinks through the floor and Trust flees with his valets, the bandaged man waves his left hand in a wide circle, the crimson flames forming a ring around him, eating at the walls and floor of the basement room. While gesturing, he begins to chant:

"From heaven you were born,
struck by hand of God,
fell down in arc of light,
sundered the skies and earth"

Hazel can hear the words through the floor, like whispers coming from afar. More, she can hear something echo the words back, as if something is responding to the man - something not of the material world.

"Slumbered in the soil,
sleeping in the marshlands,
unknown to Man,
now revealed to all"

"Through words of origin,
by song of your birth,
in name of the Reaper,
I call and command you!
Grow! Warm! Illuminate! Blaze!
Grow! Warm! Illuminate! Blaze"

The chant goes on and on. The bandaged man isn't moving all that much from the spot he was in. It wouldn't be hard to jump back up through the floor and try to get behind him. Whether Hazel wants to get back in there where the crimson flame burns is another matter.

[Shadowcaller]

[Searching for Truth]

"Yeah? Sounds exciting! I'd love to meet Lumine," Bellena says, taking the two humans hands and pulling them up out of their chairs until her face is between theirs and she's whispering in both their ears.

"If you take me to her, I know allll sorts of kinky things we can try with a ritual circle... together."

Alas, the other two mercs that got into this show are looking like they'll have to settle for having just gotten a really good dance.

[Searching for Truth]

"Yeah." The mercenary laughs dumbly as they don't seem to be able to think of anything to add to that. It was hard to think of anything than what the dancer had just promised them.

"Just wait until you see her~"

The goblin gets up from his seat, waving his arms in protest. "Because she's a freaking pixie!" He feebly protests as he sees all his curtainous dreams go up in smoke. "With a thing for dead things, I mean, come-on!"

"Someone's jealous~"

The question is if Ilpholin recalls something about a certain pixie necromancer being involved in the Riverside invasion. They had captured and interrogated her, but what had become of her then? If Ilpholin even remembers this pixie then surely they couldn't be the same person, right?

They start following her out of the room but the other mercenaries are still in tow as if hoping they can still get something out of this.

[Ironsmith]

The Last Time We Talked About This

Mina rolls her eyes but says nothing. She's used to his denials at this point.
"Alright then. So what now? I know you're not going to train me on a full stomach." she says, finishing her bowl (again). And that's right. Sai doesn't risk her getting cramps from working out after eating. Or is that just swimming?

"He's just not what he's supposed to be. I can't say I'm surprised it's weird."

"I'm sure you've got something you want to talk about." she insists.

[The Last Time We Talked About This]

Sai gives a little smile and pats Mina on the hand. "It's less what I want to talk about and more what I've been putting off talking about." He begins wearily. "...I'm not exactly getting any younger, miss Tososora. While your training takes priority, at some point we need to make arrangements. Things will need to be able to continue smoothly when I'm gone. Someone will need to run the house. You may need another teacher to pick up where I've left off. And of course, while we both understand this house is yours, we need to make sure the legal system sees it that way."

SSGTV

The keyholder nods, before leaving. Abbi isn't in the shared cell; she might still be upstairs, but she'd finished up there before Hana left to fight. She might be over by the canteen or the general store, or somewhere else. One of the cells downstairs, or one of the bigger, single cells upstairs.

[SSGTV]

Hana sighs and makes her way back to her cell; Abbi will probably turn up eventually. Seline seemed to be perfectly capable of taking care of her, and she doubted anyone wanted to annoy her. For now, she should just focus on resting between fights.

After all, she's going to be having a lot of them in the foreseeable future. It could be a while before she can even think about anything else.

Trust-Worthy Hotel

The ceiling explodes, flimsy plasterboard ceiling tiles falling down. The lights flicker, and in the space between the ceiling and the upstairs floor there's some pipes and cables, one of the latter being severed. The valets and Mister Trust make it out of the room, shutting the door behind them.

They're on the bottom floor of the hotel; if Hana can go through the floor, she'll find the concrete slab the hotel is built on, and under that there's some drainage pipes. They aren't intended for human access, however, very narrow and also quite poorly maintained.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

While Hazel's ghost sinks through the floor and Trust flees with his valets, the bandaged man waves his left hand in a wide circle, the crimson flames forming a ring around him, eating at the walls and floor of the basement room. While gesturing, he begins to chant:

"From heaven you were born,
struck by hand of God,
fell down in arc of light,
sundered the skies and earth"

Hazel can hear the words through the floor, like whispers coming from afar. More, she can hear something echo the words back, as if something is responding to the man - something not of the material world.

"Slumbered in the soil,
sleeping in the marshlands,
unknown to Man,
now revealed to all"

"Through words of origin,
by song of your birth,
in name of the Reaper,
I call and command you!
Grow! Warm! Illuminate! Blaze!
Grow! Warm! Illuminate! Blaze"

The chant goes on and on. The bandaged man isn't moving all that much from the spot he was in. It wouldn't be hard to jump back up through the floor and try to get behind him. Whether Hazel wants to get back in there where the crimson flame burns is another matter.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Hazel recoils away from the demonic chanting, quickly resolving that she wants nothing to do with whatever Sandels is conjuring up back there. If she were smart about it, she'd be using this time to get as far away as physically possible; it sounds an awful lot like he's calling in help from another dimension or something, which would result in a lot of problems if she stayed near.

But, at the same time, Trust is getting away. So screw the smart thing.

Hazel phases through the concrete in front of her, in the direction Trust and his valets went. Once she's reasonably certain she's out of the room, she'll pop up back through the floor, seizing ahold of his walking sticks in an attempt to throw him off-balance again. "YOU AREN'T GETTIN' AWAY DAT EASILY, YOU BASTAHD!" She shrieks, aiming her weapon at him. She has no idea if it will work; she's a ghost and he isn't, it could easily turn out to be harmless to him. But she's certainly angry enough to try.

[Deathkeeper]

The Last Time We Talked About This

Mina nods.
"Last one is a non-issue. This is Skyside. If you say it's mine, it's mine. No one can dig deeper than that.
Honestly, I was planning on inviting Mom here anyway. Even if she isn't quite on theme." Mina jokes, gesturing at the paper screen decorated with- what else?- minotaur figures.
"Gwas can't help me with the martials arts unless I want to learn about swords and bows. But I'm sure I can find someone to teach me if all else fails." "All else" in this context means Sai's lungs.

[Ironsmith]

[The Last Time We Talked About This]

Sai gives a little start at how quickly Mina addressed all of those concerns. In a way, that was a good thing... she was ready in case he dropped at any moment. That's exactly what he wanted, wasn't it? All the same, the fact that she could do all of that without talking to him... it almost made it seem like she didn't need him in the first place. Not that that was true, of course; she never would have even known about her destiny without him.

...Right?

Sai forces a smile and sits back in his chair, letting out a shuddering sigh. Away with those thoughts. Mina's a smart girl; she saw the signs and she acted accordingly. He should be proud. And he is! Just... not just proud.

"Well... well, good. Glad we've got that all straightened out." He wheezes. "...If you don't mind, I think I'll retire early tonight. I'm a little under the weather, as the saying goes."

[Deathkeeper]

The Last Time they Talked About This

Mina shuffles a little on her hooves.
”I’d call it less straightened out and more that I’ve at least figured out where to start hammering. It’s not like I know where to find the Nexus’ martial arts masters. I just know they exist.”
She looks around, scratching at her main with one of her thick fingers.
”Before you go to bed or whatever you call it…how am I doing, Sai? I know I’m not the goddess of battle you wanted your partner to be but we’re doing alright for just a few weeks, right? Do you think I’m fitting into her shoes well enough? The shoes and the hooves both. I know it must be weird, seeing us grown up. I hope it’s a good sight at least.” she adds with a wink. She knows it’s probably a pretty surreal thing for him so she’s trying not to make him dwell on that too much. As for the shoes well, even if they’re artisan- crafted and magically bonded to her hooves she’s not quite used to the concept of these little silver things just stuck to the bottom of her feet.

[Reinholdt]

[Searching for Truth]

"Yeah." The mercenary laughs dumbly as they don't seem to be able to think of anything to add to that. It was hard to think of anything than what the dancer had just promised them.

"Just wait until you see her~"

The goblin gets up from his seat, waving his arms in protest. "Because she's a freaking pixie!" He feebly protests as he sees all his curtainous dreams go up in smoke. "With a thing for dead things, I mean, come-on!"

"Someone's jealous~"

The question is if Ilpholin recalls something about a certain pixie necromancer being involved in the Riverside invasion. They had captured and interrogated her, but what had become of her then? If Ilpholin even remembers this pixie then surely they couldn't be the same person, right?

They start following her out of the room but the other mercenaries are still in tow as if hoping they can still get something out of this.

[Searching for Truth]

Ilpholin wasn't involved in the pixie madness and Wenomir has been exceptionally tight lipped about it. She may have read about it after the fact perhaps, but the thought to connect the two here isn't particularly going to occur to her.

"Oooh. A pixie. I bet she can make things real interesting." Bellana says, sliding her arms around the hips of the two mercs she's chosen and walking between them. It's very clear from her body language alone that the others aren't going to get anything but trouble if they follow her much further. Might even end up in an unwanted date with the sabre's teeth.

"Take me to her."

[Earl of Purple]

Trust-Worthy Hotel

The walls and floor are concrete beneath the wallpaper and carpet; they'll burn, but won't easily catch alight. The door is wood, so won't stop the fire spreading, but there are metal doors down here that might. Sandals is now alone in the room, as Hana follows the hotelier and his slave-workers.

In the corridor outside, Master Trust stumbles as Hazel grabs the end of his walking stick and pulls it away from where he was leaning on it. His weight brings one of the valets down with him, and the worker screams as he's crushed under his owner's weight. The other turns, looks at Hazel- his face is terrified, and he gulps and then grabs the obese hotelier's arm and tries to haul him upwards. The fat man himself is too surprised and winded from the fall to react.

SSGTV

Abbi will turn up, after about fifteen minutes. She's walking a little awkwardly- there's nothing wrong with her feet or legs, but she's so used to limping that sometimes she does so out of habit- and she's carrying a bowl and a spoon. "Oh, you're back! I gave another massage, an orc lady upstairs. And then I went to get some food. It's... not as nice as the burger in the hotel," which was probably the last thing either girl has eaten, "but I've eaten worse by far. It's got egg." She'll show Hana the contents of the bowl, which is a thick and gloopy looking porridge with several fried eggs mixed into it.

[Ironsmith]

The Last Time they Talked About This

Mina shuffles a little on her hooves.
”I’d call it less straightened out and more that I’ve at least figured out where to start hammering. It’s not like I know where to find the Nexus’ martial arts masters. I just know they exist.”
She looks around, scratching at her main with one of her thick fingers.
”Before you go to bed or whatever you call it…how am I doing, Sai? I know I’m not the goddess of battle you wanted your partner to be but we’re doing alright for just a few weeks, right? Do you think I’m fitting into her shoes well enough? The shoes and the hooves both. I know it must be weird, seeing us grown up. I hope it’s a good sight at least.” she adds with a wink. She knows it’s probably a pretty surreal thing for him so she’s trying not to make him dwell on that too much. As for the shoes well, even if they’re artisan- crafted and magically bonded to her hooves she’s not quite used to the concept of these little silver things just stuck to the bottom of her feet.

[Last Time They Talked About This]

Sai starts to nod, but has a bit of a double-take when Mina winks. Was that... no, probably not. He's not always great at reading body language, so he must have misinterpreted what Mina meant by that. Because if his first instinct is right, and she's flirting with him? That would be... so wrong. He's old enough to be her great-great-great- who knows how many greats? He trained her great-some-odd-aunt, even! Even now, his biological age was still at the point where there could reasonably be three generations between them, and he's her instructor besides, which adds a whole new layer of wrongness to the notion! It's unconscionable! It's- it's-

Sai's hand flies to his chest as he collapses to the ground, breathing raggedly.

SSGTV

Abbi will turn up, after about fifteen minutes. She's walking a little awkwardly- there's nothing wrong with her feet or legs, but she's so used to limping that sometimes she does so out of habit- and she's carrying a bowl and a spoon. "Oh, you're back! I gave another massage, an orc lady upstairs. And then I went to get some food. It's... not as nice as the burger in the hotel," which was probably the last thing either girl has eaten, "but I've eaten worse by far. It's got egg." She'll show Hana the contents of the bowl, which is a thick and gloopy looking porridge with several fried eggs mixed into it.

[SSGTV]

Hana raises an eyebrow. By the culinary standards of her era, this... is definitely not food. Not in the sense that it's something someone would make on purpose. She's staring at an accident, a freak collection of foods that were never meant to go together. How desperate would someone have to be to eat this stuff?

Hana takes a seat on the bunk bed, patting down a seat next to her, as an invitation to Abbi. At this point, Hana's stomach rumbles rebelliously, demanding sustenance that probably isn't coming; if the porridge Abbi got is typical of the food around here, Hana doesn't want any. She might feel differently after a few more skipped meals (and more importantly, when malnutrition starts affecting her performance in the arena), but as it stands, she has nothing but disdain for the stuff.

Still, Abbi seems to be enjoying it. And Hana's going to make sure she can eat in peace. Among good company, ideally.

[Vahnavoi]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Once it becomes clear Hazel will pursue Trust rather than him, the bandaged man moves to the door, opens it and walks into the corridor. The crimson flames make way for him and then follow in his wake like a well-trained dog. The flames still inside the room change into less uniform, more common colors of fire and continue to burn as long as it can. The fire may suffocate or extinquish tself due to lack of fuel, but at this point it might spread into the ceiling and from there set fire to the floor above. Depends how well this place has been built to prevent such a thing.

It doesn't take long for the man to catch up to the valets, Trust and Hazel. His coming can be both seen and felt due to the fire and smoke following his footsteps. "Oh no you don't!", he shouts, making a throwing motion towards Hazel with his left hand. The flames jump towards her like a chain, trying to wrap around her and pull her away. She might still manage to shoot Trust - it's a much smaller motion to pull the trigger of her ethereal gun.

[Deathkeeper]

The Last Time They Talked About This

Mina would be rather horrified at that interpretation. Especially given that Sai has always seemed about as ace as you can get to her. She was entirely joking about obviously fishing for a compliment knowing their history of Sai’s comments.
With both a concerned cry and half a groan Mina returns to her usual role of trying to resuscitate him. She keeps her face away from his mouth this time.

[Ironsmith]

Trust-Worthy Hotel

The walls and floor are concrete beneath the wallpaper and carpet; they'll burn, but won't easily catch alight. The door is wood, so won't stop the fire spreading, but there are metal doors down here that might. Sandals is now alone in the room, as Hana follows the hotelier and his slave-workers.

In the corridor outside, Master Trust stumbles as Hazel grabs the end of his walking stick and pulls it away from where he was leaning on it. His weight brings one of the valets down with him, and the worker screams as he's crushed under his owner's weight. The other turns, looks at Hazel- his face is terrified, and he gulps and then grabs the obese hotelier's arm and tries to haul him upwards. The fat man himself is too surprised and winded from the fall to react.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Once it becomes clear Hazel will pursue Trust rather than him, the bandaged man moves to the door, opens it and walks into the corridor. The crimson flames make way for him and then follow in his wake like a well-trained dog. The flames still inside the room change into less uniform, more common colors of fire and continue to burn as long as it can. The fire may suffocate or extinquish tself due to lack of fuel, but at this point it might spread into the ceiling and from there set fire to the floor above. Depends how well this place has been built to prevent such a thing.

It doesn't take long for the man to catch up to the valets, Trust and Hazel. His coming can be both seen and felt due to the fire and smoke following his footsteps. "Oh no you don't!", he shouts, making a throwing motion towards Hazel with his left hand. The flames jump towards her like a chain, trying to wrap around her and pull her away. She might still manage to shoot Trust - it's a much smaller motion to pull the trigger of her ethereal gun.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Hazel looks back and forth between the two as the Sandels emerges from the room, her priorities changing quickly. True, she could shoot Trust now and handle Sandels later... but again, she's using an ectoplasmic weapon, it might not effect him at all. On the other hand, Sandels is much more mobile and a bigger threat to her, so it'd be in her best interests to gun him down first. That, and thanks to his dual nature, she can be sure her gun will affect him.

With a furious growl, she opens fire on Sandels, aiming three bullets for his chest, in the hopes of either killing him outright or blasting him off-balance enough for a lethal follow-up. If they all miss and he keeps his concentration, though, she has no defense against the fire-chains; she's a sitting duck in the hall like this.

The Last Time They Talked About This

Mina would be rather horrified at that interpretation. Especially given that Sai has always seemed about as ace as you can get to her. She was entirely joking about obviously fishing for a compliment knowing their history of Sai’s comments.
With both a concerned cry and half a groan Mina returns to her usual role of trying to resuscitate him. She keeps her face away from his mouth this time.

[The Last Time They Talked About This]

Unfortunately, whether it's from the collective strain of a few hundred other such episodes or because this one is just somehow worse, Mina's going to find the usual resuscitation methods aren't working. His breath's gotten more shallow and his pulse is still very erratic.

It might be time to call an ambulance.

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

It's got protein, carbohydrates and all the energy and nutrients one needs to be an effective and valorous gladiator! Which is really the important thing. "At the hotel, if I wasn't fed by a guest I was serving, I ate leftovers from the kitchen and stuff they couldn't feed the guests for whatever reason." Because it was stale, out-of-date or mouldy, most often. "They've got a salad you can have instead, but... I didn't fancy today's meat. It's rat." Abbi's tail twitches slightly. It wouldn't really be cannibalism- she's too human for that- but... it still really didn't appeal to her.

Trust-Worthy Hotel

Mister Trust struggles to his feet, the valet standing up afterwards. It looks like the valet dislocated their shoulder when Mister Trust pulled them over, and is whimpering. He screams when the hotelier puts his hand back on the injury, and again when the obese man massages the shoulder back into place, before pushing him to one side and grabbing the other valet instead. They're not heading towards the stairs or lift that Hazel or Sandals have seen; they're going in the wrong direction, towards a set of stairs with a chairlift attached, leading straight outside.

[Deathkeeper]

The Last Time they Talked About This

Mina gets up to get her phone out and start dialing.
We all know how this ends.
Though this might cause a time paradox, as they Didn't Actually Talk About This.

[Vahnavoi]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

There are three flashes of crimson light, and three additional gunshots in the same short moments as Hazel's. Then the chain of fire loops around her wrist and is pulled taut, ruining her aim.

In front of her, the bandaged man stands, pointing his right index finger at her. She can see his finger is still smoking like the barrel of an old gun, the bandages around his hand having burned off, revealing shriveled flesh and darkened skin. His left hand holds what is now the other end of the chain binding Hazel.

"That was pretty good - for a first try", he says, jerking the chain around to keep Hazel from making more shots, "before you give it a go again, I warn you: our souls are linked now and mine is Hell-bound. Should this body run out of life, I will literally drag you down with me."

The flames and the smoke keep creeping along the walls, floor and ceiling of the corridor, slowly surrounding Hazel. She could still try to run away from them, but now it would mean dragging the man with her. Or she could ignore the warning and keep attacking the man anyway, if surrendering doesn't suit her. Choices, choices.

[Ironsmith]

SSGTV

It's got protein, carbohydrates and all the energy and nutrients one needs to be an effective and valorous gladiator! Which is really the important thing. "At the hotel, if I wasn't fed by a guest I was serving, I ate leftovers from the kitchen and stuff they couldn't feed the guests for whatever reason." Because it was stale, out-of-date or mouldy, most often. "They've got a salad you can have instead, but... I didn't fancy today's meat. It's rat." Abbi's tail twitches slightly. It wouldn't really be cannibalism- she's too human for that- but... it still really didn't appeal to her.

[SSGTV]

Hana's face twists into a disgusted grimace. Yeah, that didn't really appeal to her, either... though definitely not for the same reason. Looks like she's skipping this particular meal.

"...So... how much are you charging for those massages?" Hana asks, changing the subject somewhat abruptly. "I just got back from squaring off against that orc that beat you up. He, ah, kind of jacked up my arm." And while they might have healed the injuries from his biting her, her elbow and shoulder still don't feel quite right. It might be a psychosomatic thing, though, in which case a massage would work wonders.

Trust-Worthy Hotel

Mister Trust struggles to his feet, the valet standing up afterwards. It looks like the valet dislocated their shoulder when Mister Trust pulled them over, and is whimpering. He screams when the hotelier puts his hand back on the injury, and again when the obese man massages the shoulder back into place, before pushing him to one side and grabbing the other valet instead. They're not heading towards the stairs or lift that Hazel or Sandals have seen; they're going in the wrong direction, towards a set of stairs with a chairlift attached, leading straight outside.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

There are three flashes of crimson light, and three additional gunshots in the same short moments as Hazel's. Then the chain of fire loops around her wrist and is pulled taut, ruining her aim.

In front of her, the bandaged man stands, pointing his right index finger at her. She can see his finger is still smoking like the barrel of an old gun, the bandages around his hand having burned off, revealing shriveled flesh and darkened skin. His left hand holds what is now the other end of the chain binding Hazel.

"That was pretty good - for a first try", he says, jerking the chain around to keep Hazel from making more shots, "before you give it a go again, I warn you: our souls are linked now and mine is Hell-bound. Should this body run out of life, I will literally drag you down with me."

The flames and the smoke keep creeping along the walls, floor and ceiling of the corridor, slowly surrounding Hazel. She could still try to run away from them, but now it would mean dragging the man with her. Or she could ignore the warning and keep attacking the man anyway, if surrendering doesn't suit her. Choices, choices.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Did he just?!

"Well that's naht vehy [hecking] faih!" Hazel snarks, her rampage momentarily stopping so she can gawk at what Sandels just accomplished.

Yeah, okay. She's not going to hurt him. Not very easily, at least.

Which means her near-top priority goes back to getting away from him, beat out only by making Trust pay for what he did.

The first thing Hazel does is simply pull out another gun, in her other hand, and try to execute the man then and there by emptying the clip on him. Eight shots, even if they all only partially affected him, would not be anything to sneeze at.

The Last Time they Talked About This

Mina gets up to get her phone out and start dialing.
We all know how this ends.
Though this might cause a time paradox, as they Didn't Actually Talk About This.

[Mina's Manor] (Present day)

She brought it up, and he responded. Actions speak louder than words. Especially when that action is a heart attack.

...That was it, wasn't it? The inevitable flashback? Sai prompts. I hope it was. You got all glassy-eyed for a minute there. I'm hoping you didn't just suddenly go blind or something.

[Earl of Purple]

Trust-Worthy Hotel

The bullets prove to be solid enough to put Master Trust out of everyone else's misery, or so it seems. The bullets pass straight through him, leaving no wounds, but he collapses to the floor and starts bleeding from his mouth and nose anyway. The two valets yelp and turn to flee, limping as fast as they can. The wooden door to Master Trust's bedroom and office catches light, though fortunately there's no carpet beyond that room so the bare concrete floor shouldn't burn... the wallpaper on the walls, on the other hand, may still catch light.

SSGTV

"Five tokens, but don't worry. I won't charge you; you gave me four already. You get a cellmate's discount." Abbi smiles and quickly goes to finish off her eggy porridge, wiping a finger around the bowl when she's done to get as much as she can.

[Ironsmith]

SSGTV

"Five tokens, but don't worry. I won't charge you; you gave me four already. You get a cellmate's discount." Abbi smiles and quickly goes to finish off her eggy porridge, wiping a finger around the bowl when she's done to get as much as she can.

[SSGTV]

"That was when I was providing for both of us." Hana replies quietly, laying on her stomach. "Those first four were pro bono and I intend to keep it that way." She rolls her shoulders a bit and puts her head to the bed, turning her face to the side so she can breath properly. "But you're paying your own way now, and this is how. It wouldn't be right for me to be the one person in this cell block who isn't helping you escape but still demanding something of you. I wouldn't be much of a friend if I did that."

Even without touching her, Abbi will be able to see that Hana's shoulder is the least of her problems; she's more tense than a warforged's mainspring. It'll briefly get worse when Abbi does touch her; Hana's still not used to the particularities of her hands, and it's doubtful Abbi has a way of warming them much down here.

[5a Violista]

[LFW Labor Solutions LLC Headquarters]

A slimegirl arrives at the Labor Solutions Headquarters.

Why?

Nobody really knows; she doesn't have lungs so she can't really talk.
She just...showed up. And started making gestures at people in some kind of weird charades-like attempt at communication: pointing at things, making movements, jiggling, . . .

[Deathkeeper]

Mina’s Manor

Mina shakes her head.
”I guess? I’m sure all the details of the last few weeks will be trickling in steadily so this won’t be the last. What’s our plan now? We’re all alone with the house and my blood on the floor.” she snorts, mostly trying not to look at the bloodstained bandages or the small mess she made of the bathroom. And trying to push away the memories floating around her head of Sai fading away.

[Shadowcaller]

[Searching for Truth]

Ilpholin wasn't involved in the pixie madness and Wenomir has been exceptionally tight lipped about it. She may have read about it after the fact perhaps, but the thought to connect the two here isn't particularly going to occur to her.

"Oooh. A pixie. I bet she can make things real interesting." Bellana says, sliding her arms around the hips of the two mercs she's chosen and walking between them. It's very clear from her body language alone that the others aren't going to get anything but trouble if they follow her much further. Might even end up in an unwanted date with the sabre's teeth.

"Take me to her."

[Searching for Truth]

"Ha, you bet!" The mercenary then turns to her coworkers. "See you later, boys~"

"But, uh-"

But if her body language wasn't enough the saber baring its teeth and letting out a low roar certainly is for the goblin to stop following.

Now they were along with the two mercenaries off to see the pixie.

After a bit of looking around they are told by what seems to be an animated suit of armor that Lumie is at the tennis court at the moment so that's where they're heading.

As it turns out the tennis court is about as big as everything is in here. You could play six games of tennis in here simultaneously.

Of course, now every one of the courts are being occupied by skeletons in white polo shirts and shorts who are playing rather stiff games of tennis. Barely moving anything but their arms as they bat the ball between each other.

"Well, well, well, we got some new challengers!" A squeaky voice can be heard coming from the seat that normally would be reserved for the judge. Its owner is so tiny that they can barely make it out from here but it looks like their voice is being enhanced by a megaphone held by a zombie which is unusual in how traditionally attractive it is. Sporting a similar figure to the 'dancer'. "You gals up for a game of tennis? Winner gets a grand prize!"

[Vahnavoi]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

The bandaged man sighs when Hazel turns and shoots Trust instead. Combat precognition is a double-edged sword. Sometimes, it means going to battle knowing exactly what to do to escape unscathed. At other times, it means knowing someone's going to get shot no matter what you do. In this case, he knows exactly where Hazel's bullets will land, but he can't shoot them out of the air like he did a second ago without shoot Trust and Hazel both.

So, he resigns to just yanking Hazel's chain to pull her on her back, once the deed is gone. "You don't understand what you're doing, woman! Vengeful killing is enough to condemn a soul to Hell when you're alive! Doing it when you're already a ghost is worse! We don't call your ilk evil spirits for ****s and giggles!"

In the world he's from, a ghost succesfully killing a living being typically only sends them spiralling further into madness - especially if the killing doesn't actually resolve the ghost's grudges in any real way. Here, killing Trust won't do much to help them find Hazel's wife - it might actually make it harder.

[Ironsmith]

Trust-Worthy Hotel

The bullets prove to be solid enough to put Master Trust out of everyone else's misery, or so it seems. The bullets pass straight through him, leaving no wounds, but he collapses to the floor and starts bleeding from his mouth and nose anyway. The two valets yelp and turn to flee, limping as fast as they can. The wooden door to Master Trust's bedroom and office catches light, though fortunately there's no carpet beyond that room so the bare concrete floor shouldn't burn... the wallpaper on the walls, on the other hand, may still catch light.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

The bandaged man sighs when Hazel turns and shoots Trust instead. Combat precognition is a double-edged sword. Sometimes, it means going to battle knowing exactly what to do to escape unscathed. At other times, it means knowing someone's going to get shot no matter what you do. In this case, he knows exactly where Hazel's bullets will land, but he can't shoot them out of the air like he did a second ago without shoot Trust and Hazel both.

So, he resigns to just yanking Hazel's chain to pull her on her back, once the deed is gone. "You don't understand what you're doing, woman! Vengeful killing is enough to condemn a soul to Hell when you're alive! Doing it when you're already a ghost is worse! We don't call your ilk evil spirits for ****s and giggles!"

In the world he's from, a ghost succesfully killing a living being typically only sends them spiralling further into madness - especially if the killing doesn't actually resolve the ghost's grudges in any real way. Here, killing Trust won't do much to help them find Hazel's wife - it might actually make it harder.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

In the process of pulling Hazel back toward Sandels, she slips one of her arms free of the chain, such that when she's close enough, she attempts to give Sandels a full-handed slap across the face.

Just a slap across the face. She seems to have forgotten her gun exists, and it therefore does likewise.

"I wahned ya neveh ta call me dat." Hazel growls. Though apart from that, she seems to have settled down... is she genuinely satisfied, or is this the calm before the storm?

"Ya know somethin', dude? We've got a sayin' back home; 'bite back or get bit hahdeh'." She gestures to Trust's presumed corpse. "Yew heah what dat slimeball was sayin'? Da [poopstain] lied like a dog. My Hana's not da fihst gihl he's huht, an' if nobahdy stepped in, she wouldn' be da last." She stiffens and strains a little against her chains. "Ya tink did was just abowt gettin' even? No. Dis is abowt justice an' seein' it done."

Mina’s Manor

Mina shakes her head.
”I guess? I’m sure all the details of the last few weeks will be trickling in steadily so this won’t be the last. What’s our plan now? We’re all alone with the house and my blood on the floor.” she snorts, mostly trying not to look at the bloodstained bandages or the small mess she made of the bathroom. And trying to push away the memories floating around her head of Sai fading away.

[Mina's Manor]

The plan now is for you to rest and recover. Sai replies nonchalantly. I'll worry about the cleanup. That is, after all, part of my job. A weapon-spirit's work is never done, apparently. If you need to do something, Miss Ty-Maldwyn was here earlier this week. It seems likely you've forgotten. She brought over something called a pee-ess-three. I don't understand the appeal, but it's not especially strenuous and you two seemed to enjoy it enough. It's in the master bedroom.

[Vahnavoi]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

The man lets himself be slapped - it's painful, but vastly preferable to Hazel continuing to shoot people. Hitting him is sort of like hitting a statue cast of iron, but given Hazel's ghostly nature and angry demeanor, she might not even notice. "Justice between the living is business of the living", he says matter-of-factly, like someone who's had this conversation many times before. "It's not business of ghosts and Reapers. My kind enforces a completely different form of justice - one under which people like Trust will get what they deserve when their time comes."

He twirls the chain, trying to loop it around Hazel's torso - he might accidentally catch her neck, or she might slip under it, depending on how she moves. "Don't get me wrong - I can kill people. I could kill him. Just not for that reason."