Skyside 7: The Big Pizza in the Sky

[Ironsmith]

[Tempest Row]

There appears to be nothing there. Just an empty, smelly staircase. And yet, Breen continues babbling in mortal terror even as he's kept incapacitated by Klaus' baton.

[Tempest Row]

"...Hm." Klaus withdraws his baton and produces a set of restraints, tying Breen to the railing. Then he messages Fifi and Sammi, telling them to bring this man in for... questioning. By now they should be somewhat familiar with the euphemism.

With that taken care of, he heads down the stairs to investigate, baton folded back inside his jacket; concealed, but ready to go if he needed it. Which he probably would.

Klaus' Minibus

"Not well. I can't remember his name; he just told me to call him Doctor, or Master. He was quite distinctive, though. He was really tall, and thin, with really spindly fingers, six on each hand. I always saw him with a mirrored dome over his head, and he wore a mostly skin tight dark blue costume. I... When I left his lab, for the first and last time, he flashed a blue light in my eyes, and when he took it away again I was in a cage belonging to the Guild. Sammi was in the cage next to me, she might know something. He taught me how to pole dance in a similar way, blue flashes in my eyes every day for about a week. My earliest memory is of having blue light flashed in my eyes; I'm naked, and slimy from the waist up. My hips and legs are encased in this thick gel stuff, and I'm sat down. He says my name is Fifi, and he was my Doctor, and I didn't need to remember anything else. I... I don't think I had a tail, but it's hard to be sure." Fifi can't say how far back her memories go, because whoever the guy was, he had some sort of memory-editing technology.

[Klaus's Minibus]

"...And you remember absolutely nothing before that?" Klaus scowls. The fact that this man had memory-editing tech was, by now, obvious... as was the fact that he basically deleted all of Fifi's life before her enslavement. Cruelty didn't come much more brazen than that.

"Abelle." Klaus calls sternly, prompting the tiny disc-shaped robot to zip to his side, flicking on the holo-image of... well, himself.

"You called?"

"I need you to recreate an image for me." Klaus starts relaying Fifi's description of the Doctor, which the little robot responds to by projecting a figure matching his description, in what seems to essentially be a high-tech version of a police sketch. He'll consult with Fifi to get the details down, if she's willing, before finishing with the following command:

"Distribute this to all our agents. Tell them we're bringing him in. Offer him a job, tell him to bring his equipment, and keep him restrained when he gets here."

[Earl of Purple]

Klaus' Minibus

"I... don't think so? It's... a bit confusing. I don't doubt my tail in any of the other memories." She'll confirm the description, and add a few other details. He's tall, really tall and thin. About two and a half metres tall and not much thicker around than a normal human, giving him a very stretched and lanky appearance. "I thought I was grown in that tank. He put me back in it, after he named me Fifi." She's also not looking forward to getting injured, because the idea of Klaus' sleep pod makes her a little nervous. Hopefully it's not filled with thick clear gel, though, and it's probably better at the medical side of things.

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Bruce understands the culture of Skyside! Calling them tips is the fastest way to get a gang of hyper intelligent lab mice to invade your place of business and throw you over the edge of the island. You can't be lax about these kinds of things.

Rose must really like cake. It was the second time Rose had sprung for it. Raven takes note as she accepts the friend request with a ping.

"Ahhh, presents! I'm sorry, I didn't get you anything." Was Raven supposed to? She didn't expect gifts this early! Was it this early? Wait, that means the kiss was more than friendly right? This was definitely a more than friends thing wasn't it? Raven definitely should have gotten Rose something. Raven accepts hers with a blush, eyes lingering on Deathkiss, purely out of curiosity. Probably. Definitely. Maybe. Boy they really weren't dressed at all were they?

"W-well, thank you anyways. I love them." Raven assures Rose. "The-the gifts I mean! Not the band. That I've surely never heard of! Ah-hah..." Raven fidgets.

And freezes when Rose suggests they listen to heavy metal erotica at Raven's place. "Ah-ah-ah, I-I don't think you want to go there. That's, umm, that means, err... what I mean is umm, we... wouldn't want to rush into those things we might regret, especiallyifweseethingsweshouldn'tseeoneachother's bodiesorsomethingbycompleteaccident." Raven looks around for some sort of escape mechanism but there is only the mecha-zombie and he's of absolutely no help. Stupid mecha-zombies, what doesn't she pay them for! "Th-th-that is to say... that's a-a third date thing, yeah?!" Raven squeaks out.

[Searching for Truth]

Riding around town at unsafe speeds, Ilpholin hit another sharp turn just to enjoy the way the wind changes and stings. She didn't know exactly where she was going, more enjoying the company of the druid Anika than seeking out a solid tech spot to hit up. Anika would surely point one out of she saw something and they could stop then. Until that point, the curve-hugging, catsuit-wearing phyrexian nymph continued to abuse her glowing hoverbike for cheap thrills.

[Ironsmith]

Klaus' Minibus

"I... don't think so? It's... a bit confusing. I don't doubt my tail in any of the other memories." She'll confirm the description, and add a few other details. He's tall, really tall and thin. About two and a half metres tall and not much thicker around than a normal human, giving him a very stretched and lanky appearance. "I thought I was grown in that tank. He put me back in it, after he named me Fifi." She's also not looking forward to getting injured, because the idea of Klaus' sleep pod makes her a little nervous. Hopefully it's not filled with thick clear gel, though, and it's probably better at the medical side of things.

[Klaus's Minibus]

Not to worry, it's more of a runny green sort of fluid.

"It would only be slightly less unethical if he did." Klaus points out. "Creating a whole person for the singular purpose of... labor of that sort..."

Is exactly why Galatea-class drones like Abelle exist, really.

"...that sort of behavior will not be tolerated in this city." Klaus finishes. "Did you see anybody else with him? More captives?"

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Bruce understands the culture of Skyside! Calling them tips is the fastest way to get a gang of hyper intelligent lab mice to invade your place of business and throw you over the edge of the island. You can't be lax about these kinds of things.

Rose must really like cake. It was the second time Rose had sprung for it. Raven takes note as she accepts the friend request with a ping.

"Ahhh, presents! I'm sorry, I didn't get you anything." Was Raven supposed to? She didn't expect gifts this early! Was it this early? Wait, that means the kiss was more than friendly right? This was definitely a more than friends thing wasn't it? Raven definitely should have gotten Rose something. Raven accepts hers with a blush, eyes lingering on Deathkiss, purely out of curiosity. Probably. Definitely. Maybe. Boy they really weren't dressed at all were they?

"W-well, thank you anyways. I love them." Raven assures Rose. "The-the gifts I mean! Not the band. That I've surely never heard of! Ah-hah..." Raven fidgets.

And freezes when Rose suggests they listen to heavy metal erotica at Raven's place. "Ah-ah-ah, I-I don't think you want to go there. That's, umm, that means, err... what I mean is umm, we... wouldn't want to rush into those things we might regret, especiallyifweseethingsweshouldn'tseeoneachother's bodiesorsomethingbycompleteaccident." Raven looks around for some sort of escape mechanism but there is only the mecha-zombie and he's of absolutely no help. Stupid mecha-zombies, what doesn't she pay them for! "Th-th-that is to say... that's a-a third date thing, yeah?!" Raven squeaks out.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Oh dear. Another classic Raven Ebondark stammering fit (TM). Rose gives the poor girl another hug.

"Hey, whoa, it's okay. That's my mistake. I meant that I'd go back and grab Deadtime for you and we could listen to that. Not, you know, succubi screaming sweet nothings." She reddens. "(You know, now that I say that out loud, I kind of get where they're coming from.) But... that was a bit of miscommunication on my part. I... may or may not have spent an hour rehearsing asking you out this morning, which may or may not have run on the assumption that I grab the right CDs." She gives Raven a reassuring smile. "If it's still too much too soon, I understand. I don't want to make you uncomfortable." She gives an awkward little smirk and bobs her head from side to side. "Kind of the opposite, really."

Still, Raven's reaction gave her a few pieces of useful information. First, her showboating during their first date last night had worked... Raven was clearly attracted to her, enough so that a third date and subsequent activities were on the table, somewhere, and more a question of timing and not actually knowing Rose very well than difficulties with orientation.

Second, she was super awkward about the prospect either way... presumably, much like she had minimal experience with friendships and romance, physical and/or emotional intimacy was new to her, and Rose likely represented a prospective first time. Rose never liked handling that... the stage was set for some serious psychological harm if she wasn't careful.

Rose smiles and turns the Deathkiss CD over, to the much-less-provocative song list and album credits. "Either way, I want you to have them. The right two albums, I mean." She takes a deep breath. "See, I... I like you, Raven. You're talented and pretty and clever and... and, well, I really just wanted to do something nice for you." She giggles a little. "Well, you know. Again."

Then, showing a little more hesitancy than before, she gives Raven an affectionate peck on the forehead, followed by backing off and waiting for the reply, suddenly having no idea what to do with her hands. Ball's in your court now, Empress Ebondark.

[Earl of Purple]

Klaus' Minibus

"I... I think he had six pods? At least. I remember Doctor opening me up to flash some light in my eyes and test my dancing, and there was one opposite the pod he took me out of, one opposite and to the left, and then two more on the right, one next to mine and one opposite. I'm guessing there was one opposite the one I could see to the left of my pod, since there was one opposite all the others I could see. There could be more, that I didn't see." She smiles and moves to sit down nearby. "I hope one day we can make that true."

[Morty]

[Tempest Row]

"...Hm." Klaus withdraws his baton and produces a set of restraints, tying Breen to the railing. Then he messages Fifi and Sammi, telling them to bring this man in for... questioning. By now they should be somewhat familiar with the euphemism.

With that taken care of, he heads down the stairs to investigate, baton folded back inside his jacket; concealed, but ready to go if he needed it. Which he probably would.

At first, Klaus sees a mundane, grimy corridor between two buildings. Nothing out of the ordinary, just some fast food packages. Only some lights are on, dimly.

...

And then, the lights turn on, brightly, all at once, and in the middle of the now-lit corridor stands an apparition. It's motionless, but the branches on its back sway in an invisible wind. Or... is it a wind? It seems more like a rhythmic breath. One Klaus can't hear or feel, only see in the movement of the branches. It slips through the cracks from some other place.

"Salutations," the being says. "I see you have been able to capture your quarry, after I have sent him back in your direction."

[Ironsmith]

Klaus' Minibus

"I... I think he had six pods? At least. I remember Doctor opening me up to flash some light in my eyes and test my dancing, and there was one opposite the pod he took me out of, one opposite and to the left, and then two more on the right, one next to mine and one opposite. I'm guessing there was one opposite the one I could see to the left of my pod, since there was one opposite all the others I could see. There could be more, that I didn't see." She smiles and moves to sit down nearby. "I hope one day we can make that true."

[Klaus's Minibus]

"And of course, no guarantee that was the only batch of pods he had." Klaus elaborates. "...Yes, I think we'll prioritize this man. Right after we find a good place to hold him." He smiles. "In the meantime, let's work on those forms of yours."

This would also be about when the sleeping pod would revive Sammi, if there's anything of note she would do afterwards.

[Tempest Row]

At first, Klaus sees a mundane, grimy corridor between two buildings. Nothing out of the ordinary, just some fast food packages. Only some lights are on, dimly.

...

And then, the lights turn on, brightly, all at once, and in the middle of the now-lit corridor stands an apparition. It's motionless, but the branches on its back sway in an invisible wind. Or... is it a wind? It seems more like a rhythmic breath. One Klaus can't hear or feel, only see in the movement of the branches. It slips through the cracks from some other place.

"Salutations," the being says. "I see you have been able to capture your quarry, after I have sent him back in your direction."

[Tempest Row]

"Thank you very much for that." Klaus replies politely. "I probably still could have caught him without your help, but it's always nice to receive assistance." If he's at all fazed by the creature before him, he doesn't show it; he's been in Skyside long enough now to have seen some weird things, so a ghostly being cordially congratulating him on apprehending a slaver wasn't too far out of the ordinary. "Sorry, I don't believe I caught your name...?"

[Earl of Purple]

Klaus' Minibus

Fifi grins at Klaus, glad to hear that they've got a target. Earl now needs to work out more about this guy, however. She'll stand up and work on her martial arts.

Samantha does exit the sleeping pod, trying to look around. "Um, guys? You can turn the lights on now. Guys?" She's not aware- yet- that the sleeping pod was unable to fix her magical blindness, and is assuming it's simply dark or something. Which also means she's standing naked in front of a window with absolutely no idea about it. The mermen are quick to avert their eyes, however.

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

"Aahh, no. I mean yes. I mean, I don't want you to trouble yourself going back and everything. These are fine, honest," Raven says trying to pull the cds over to her and clutch them like they were precious gifts. Which they were! She doesn't get many gifts, except when she's Santa at Thanksmas. And honestly the peasants should be showering her with so many gifts! All the gifts! Things like this should be an every day occurrence for the Empress.

But these ones would be special.

"I just meant being in each other's rooms... alone... together... W-w-well someone might see some top secret completely unfinished evil plan! Yeah! There's nothing more embarrassing than an unfinished scheme. Nothing at all! O-Ohhohhoh!"

The difference between the planning phases of a dramatic plot and the finished product are substantial. A lot of work goes into these!

Raven wrings her hands a bit. She can't just leave it at that. "Cause I l-l-like you too and wouldn't want you thinking any less of me..." Raven trails off a bit towards the end, feeling like her heart might explode it was throbbing so hard.

[Ironsmith]

Klaus' Minibus

Fifi grins at Klaus, glad to hear that they've got a target. Earl now needs to work out more about this guy, however. She'll stand up and work on her martial arts.

Samantha does exit the sleeping pod, trying to look around. "Um, guys? You can turn the lights on now. Guys?" She's not aware- yet- that the sleeping pod was unable to fix her magical blindness, and is assuming it's simply dark or something. Which also means she's standing naked in front of a window with absolutely no idea about it. The mermen are quick to avert their eyes, however.

[Klaus's Minibus]

It doesn't take Klaus very long to notice this. If nothing else, the fresh deluge of minty green smoke tells him his pod has been opened, and he'll be able to piece together the rest from there. He'll let her be like that for a few minutes- it was hilarious, at least to him- before he'll nod Fifi in that direction. "Look who's awake."

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

"Aahh, no. I mean yes. I mean, I don't want you to trouble yourself going back and everything. These are fine, honest," Raven says trying to pull the cds over to her and clutch them like they were precious gifts. Which they were! She doesn't get many gifts, except when she's Santa at Thanksmas. And honestly the peasants should be showering her with so many gifts! All the gifts! Things like this should be an every day occurrence for the Empress.

But these ones would be special.

"I just meant being in each other's rooms... alone... together... W-w-well someone might see some top secret completely unfinished evil plan! Yeah! There's nothing more embarrassing than an unfinished scheme. Nothing at all! O-Ohhohhoh!"

The difference between the planning phases of a dramatic plot and the finished product are substantial. A lot of work goes into these!

Raven wrings her hands a bit. She can't just leave it at that. "Cause I l-l-like you too and wouldn't want you thinking any less of me..." Raven trails off a bit towards the end, feeling like her heart might explode it was throbbing so hard.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Rose gives Raven a healthily skeptical smirk. On the one hand, it was clear that wasn't at all what Raven was worried about; not primarily, at least. On the other, an unfinished evil scheme was exactly the sort of thing she really did want to see... the irony of which was not lost on Rose.

"Think less of you?" Rose smiles. "Oh, Raven..." She giggles. "Really now. Putting aside that I just handed you an album full of naughtiness and should be a lot more worried about what you think of me, I... I kind of want to see your 'schemes'." She puts her arms over Raven's shoulders, in what is almost but not quite a hug. "I mean, everyone gets to admire the finished product, all wrapped up in a neat little bow. But... what goes on underneath is almost always much more interesting, isn't it?" She walks her fingers up Raven's arm, smirking in barely-contained amusement at the extended innuendo. "I understand if you don't want to show me right away... they are, after all, private. But I've found devious plots are much more enjoyable when you have a partner to bounce them off of, and... well, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested." She gives Raven's nose a playful boop and backs off just a bit. "So, you know, maybe not your bedroom yet. But, an aficionada like yourself probably still has a CD player in her living room, right? And, just as importantly... not as much in the way of schemes. Why don't we start there and see how things go?"

[Shadowcaller]

SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE!

Minerva had half-expected this and had a short speech in mind which she stands up and starts to deliver. "I am sister of battle Minerva Livius and I've commendered a group of heathens and a tech-priest to purge the xeno-infestion which taken over the Hammer of Commerce. Due to my limited options and the lack of living imperial citizens on board the ship I decided that the only option was to destroy the entire ship rather than let the infestation spread to the nearby heathen planet. The planet can still be made to serve the emperium."

She made no illusions that servants of the highlords cared for the lives of imperial citizens but they might still care for the resources this world might provoide them.

[Searching for Truth]

Ilpholin was trusting Anika to point out high-tech stores? Then her high-thrill ride might get interrupted a lot as the druid keeps pointing out places that while high-tech aren't what they're looking for.

This includes a beauty parlour advertising sythethic skin, a mechanic specializing in robots, several commercials for movies that happen to involve cybernetics (which are a lot of them) and finally a toy store. And this is just for the last half hour.

"Everything here looks like what we're looking for. Is there anything more specific I should be looking for?"

[Morty]

[Tempest Row]

"I am called the King in Rags." The apparition's eyes glow with a steady, blue light and the jaws of its skull don't actually move. "And I think we can help each other. You are a man who understands the power and value of fear. I have need of such people. And your goals could be furthered by what I can offer."

[Earl of Purple]

Klaus' Minibus

Well, if Klaus finds it funny but doesn't gawk, Fifi probably won't protest. "Sammi, you're awake! Um, the... you're still blind. We, uh, can see you." Fifi smiles, and is happy to see Samantha awake and alive, but the squirrel-girl is less sanguine. The moment she realises she can be seen, she squeaks and pulls her tail in front of her, to act as a large and bushy red shield. "O-oh. That robot thing said it would fix my eyes. Why hasn't it? Is Klaus back? Oh, can you help me back into my clothes? I don't know where I put them." Fifi will go over to help, because Samantha's her friend.

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Raven kind of leans into Rose as the latter wraps her arm around the catgirl, as if being sucked into Rose's energy and pace. She bites her lip as Rose extends her innuendos past evil schemes and has to twitch her nose after it's booped. Then stares at Rose for a moment of confusion before realization sets in.

"Oh! I see the issue now. I don't actually have a living room for us to go to. I live here in a studio apartment upstairs. Honestly just a bedroom slash kitchen. It's relatively common for businesses around here, but, uh, I guess you didn't have any way to know that, huh?" Raven rubs the back of her neck, almost embarrassed by the mix-up. After all, she deserves a palace, not the few bare minimum square feet she's got. Some day. Some day...

But she also honestly never considered needing a living room before. Raven doesn't exactly host guests. Rose is the first to even be considered for such a thing. "Sorry. What about the roof of that hotel of yours? We could set up some chairs up there. Disturb the neighbors." Raven suggests as an alternative.

[Searching for Truth]

Right. Better stop Anika early, yikes. Though Ilpholin should have known. The druid fights with a staff and swims around with sharks. She is perhaps the least tech-savvy person Ilpholin knows.
Huh.
...
That gives Ilpholin an idea.

Something she'll have to mess with later though. For now... well ok Ilpholin wasn't much of a better choice. She left most of the tech stuff to Mister Squiggles and Tauron who knew so much more about it than she did. She just knew how to get her hair to interface with things in ways it shouldn't and the rest of her own body functions.

Ilpholin turns down the sound of the engine until it's a near silence, the roar almost entirely a cosmetic choice for her hoverbike. "Lie detectors are those things police and governments use right? So we're looking for used police equipment or some kind of spy shop. Umm... look for a place offering a lot of sketchy cameras," Ilpholin suggests. Any place with a ton of cameras probably has some other stuff in the back room that they can't readily display for the unsuspecting public.

[Shadowcaller]

[Searching for Truth]

"Cameras? Like... those boxes with little artistic imps inside of them? I heard they can steal your soul." Maybe Ilpholin had underestimated just how little Anika knew about technology.

That or she would soon go on a crusade against all cameras too since Anika had actually seen imp-cameras.

[Ironsmith]

[Tempest Row]

"I am called the King in Rags." The apparition's eyes glow with a steady, blue light and the jaws of its skull don't actually move. "And I think we can help each other. You are a man who understands the power and value of fear. I have need of such people. And your goals could be furthered by what I can offer."

[Tempest Row]

Klaus frowns. Naturally, he'd heard the name before, or at least, he thought he did; rumors abounded in Skyside, and Klaus made it his business to collect them, even if most turned out to be nonsense. As such, he wasn't entirely sure how much weight the name was supposed to carry; presumably quite a lot, given the nature of the title. Similarly, he didn't have any way of verifying that this spirit was who he said he was, even on a basic level; he didn't know what the King in Rags looked or sounded like, or what manner of supernatural powers he may or may not have. Even now, he couldn't even be entirely certain that the man was real and this ghostly being wasn't just borrowing a legandary title for intimidation purposes.

But that all didn't really matter. The King in Rags, or whoever this being was, wanted to make him an offer. As long as he makes good on whatever deal he puts together, his identity is irrelevant.

"...Go on."

Klaus' Minibus

Well, if Klaus finds it funny but doesn't gawk, Fifi probably won't protest. "Sammi, you're awake! Um, the... you're still blind. We, uh, can see you." Fifi smiles, and is happy to see Samantha awake and alive, but the squirrel-girl is less sanguine. The moment she realises she can be seen, she squeaks and pulls her tail in front of her, to act as a large and bushy red shield. "O-oh. That robot thing said it would fix my eyes. Why hasn't it? Is Klaus back? Oh, can you help me back into my clothes? I don't know where I put them." Fifi will go over to help, because Samantha's her friend.

[Klaus's Minibus]

Klaus sees no need to gawk. He's not really into... any aspect of this, really. Except the embarrassment.

Klaus hands Sammi a freshly-printed outfit, finding this to be more efficient than laundering her old one. "It seems the source of your blindness is beyond modern medicine's ability to treat." He says. "You may have to live with your condition for a while. I'll assign you to a duty-light routine while you adapt."

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Raven kind of leans into Rose as the latter wraps her arm around the catgirl, as if being sucked into Rose's energy and pace. She bites her lip as Rose extends her innuendos past evil schemes and has to twitch her nose after it's booped. Then stares at Rose for a moment of confusion before realization sets in.

"Oh! I see the issue now. I don't actually have a living room for us to go to. I live here in a studio apartment upstairs. Honestly just a bedroom slash kitchen. It's relatively common for businesses around here, but, uh, I guess you didn't have any way to know that, huh?" Raven rubs the back of her neck, almost embarrassed by the mix-up. After all, she deserves a palace, not the few bare minimum square feet she's got. Some day. Some day...

But she also honestly never considered needing a living room before. Raven doesn't exactly host guests. Rose is the first to even be considered for such a thing. "Sorry. What about the roof of that hotel of yours? We could set up some chairs up there. Disturb the neighbors." Raven suggests as an alternative.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

"...Oh." Rose grins sheepishly. "Yeah, that... that does kind of cut down on the number of intermediate steps we could take, doesn't it? With that in mind, the living room equivalent would be..." Rose glances at the door into the "Employees Only" section. "...Why don't we just go back there? I'm sure you still have some work to do, and listening to music you like helps make the time go by, doesn't it?" She smirks. "And we can just save Deathkiss for after hours, if you're comfortable with that."

Rose rather pointedly ignores the suggestion to go back to "her" hotel, not being especially keen on letting that particular detail fall under scrutiny; she could gather up a lot of resources for her ruse, relatively quickly, but the deed to a condemned building wasn't one of them. Besides, the whole point of this endeavor was to get into Raven's private places... giving her a place to hang out with Rose that wasn't one of them would be counterproductive, at least until she'd been welcomed in properly.

"Besides, this way we wouldn't have to walk across town and print our chairs and a boom box." She adds, hoping that made a convincing case. There was something to be said for practicality here.

[Earl of Purple]

Klaus' Minibus

Sammi puts it on, with Fifi's help- the two girls are quite close. "Well, I hope we can sort it soon. I'm not sure I like being blind." It also looks quite freaky, given the fact her eyes are just covered with blank skin. Her eyebrows are still there, but her eyes don't seem to be.
"How's the search going for a better headquarters? Somewhere with maybe some more privacy, and more shelter?" Or Klaus could maybe set his HotBox to making prefabricated structures; surely the technology has some plans for such a thing. Even if it's only a shed.

[Rebonack]

[SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE!]

Zee does a passable job of not looking offended when she's called a heathen.

Because let's be real here.

Totally not a heathen.

She doesn't live in a heath or anything!

Though, granted, she doesn't worship the Emperor mostly because that would be dumb. What's the point of worshiping a guy who's mostly dead? Especially a mostly dead guy who did not, in fact, want anyone to worship him. This gets Zee pondering her life before all the crazy absolutely consumed her. She must have been a worshiper of the King before, right? And the Way of Royalty? Because that's more or less who everyone worshiped back home, aside from the crazies who venerated... well... monsters like what she is now.

Why is it so hard to recall those details?

Like... there are the seven Church Orders, right? She remembers that. And she must have been a member of one of them. But which? It's like trying to nail pudding to a wall. Why was this part of her memory of her life before so porous?

Hmm...

Well.

Zee is mostly going to be sitting there looking vaguely contemplative. Or maybe hungry? It isn't immediately clear what's on her mind.

[Earl of Purple]

SPAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!

"The planet below is Quarantine Extremis. Imperial contact is forbidden. Several semi-stable uncharted warp routes terminate upon the planet itself, heretics and xenos appear without warning. The Inquisition has judged Exterminatus too risky. Their investigations have concluded that enough individuals claim to be from pre-Dark Age Terra to believe such a link is possible, and do not wish to deal with the potential ramifications of destroying it." Well... that's probably not good for Minerva's chances to get home.

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

"I don't mind walking across town if it's with you," Raven says quietly with a gentle smile. "Plus carrying stuff is what the Mecha-zombies are for. They can handle a few chairs."

The catgirl looks at the employees only sign with a raised eyebrow. "Because the garage? Kind of a mess. Not really a good place to hang." Raven even pushes and holds open the door for Rose to look through so that Rose can see how unsuitable it is for making oneself comfortable and listening to music. Rose has seen the place before once and it is indeed a greasy pit of fumes, metal, and zombies. Zombies that loudly bang on vehicles, getting them to 'work' or painting them over in black.

"Workshop's honestly worse." Presumably Raven is talking about that door on one side of the garage that leads to the other half of the building. There's no sign on that door, but it is somewhat ominous.

Raven pulls back her hand and lets the door swing shut on its own. "Ah! You know what, we're going about this all wrong. I have just the thing!" A grin takes over her face and a dark gleam reaches her eye as she snaps her fingers. "Meet me out front in five." She giggles a little and goes to duck into the garage.

[Searching for Truth]

Ilpholin had indeed underestimated the Night Elf. Surely not for the first time, but usually it was a compliment!

"... What? No, you're thinking about television. Cameras have circuits and reels and other tech things inside them." Ilpholin pulls up a picture on her phone of a spy camera. It honestly just looks like a black circular dot.

[Shadowcaller]

SPAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!

That the planet already was already under quarantine didn't surprise Minerva at all, the fact she got told why it was did though. Did the weight of the words of an unconfirmed battle sister really carry that much weight with the inqusition or was it the circumstances that loosened their otherwise so tight lips? Perhaps they simply assumed she already knew what she was being told?

Whatever the case that did not bode well for her. She could ask to be let on their vessel but then she would at the very least be throughly searched for contaminents and that would likely give away things that would lead to a swift but justified termination.

Perhaps it was best to somehow deal with her problem on the planets surface and then attempt to escape it? It certainly wouldn't hurt her chances which were already slim at best with this new information.

So after this moment of consideration she nods, grimly accepting her fate. "I understand. I will steer this vessel down to the planets surface and continue the Emperor's work to the best of my ability and resources then. Are there any final commands that the lords of Terra have for me?"

[Searching for Truth]

Anika peers suspiciously at the lens. She had seen things like that before but she hadn't realized they were like cameras until now. "But I heard that they're really small and can turn... immaterial or whatever. That the cameras are like those bags that are able to contain way too much stuff for their size. They could fit a whole imp art studio in there for all we know." The druid gestures at the lens.

But she didn't think she had provided enough evidence for this theory and scratches her head in resignation. "...but I'll look for those things then. Got it."

[Rebonack]

[SPAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!]

Zee perks up a bit at the explanation of why glassing the planet isn't an option.

Semi-stable warp tunnels to pre-Dark Ages Earth?

Huh.

Sure?

That's a way to describe it, probably. Though, granted, Zee hasn't the faintest clue what a modern era Warhammer world would look like. She knows about Warhammer fantasy but those are supposed to be different settings, right? In spite of the fact that they share a bunch of common elements.

Except dwarfs/squats.

Well! One way or the other she's pretty glad that a fleet isn't going to try to melt the surface into slag. That would be the sort of troublesome situation where she would have to act on a large scale which wouldn't be... great. That would be practically inviting others of her host to begin meddling in an active fashion which likely wouldn't turn out pleasant for anyone involved.

Zee raises a hand in the background. "I'm from Earth," she helpfully points out. "Early twenty first century, if that matters. Thanks for not blowing up the planet."

[Ironsmith]

Klaus' Minibus

Sammi puts it on, with Fifi's help- the two girls are quite close. "Well, I hope we can sort it soon. I'm not sure I like being blind." It also looks quite freaky, given the fact her eyes are just covered with blank skin. Her eyebrows are still there, but her eyes don't seem to be.
"How's the search going for a better headquarters? Somewhere with maybe some more privacy, and more shelter?" Or Klaus could maybe set his HotBox to making prefabricated structures; surely the technology has some plans for such a thing. Even if it's only a shed.

[Klaus's Minibus]

"We've narrowed it down to a handful of candidates." Klaus reports. "We should be ready to move out of this bus sometime tomorrow." He smirks and produces his pad again. "In the meantime, I have some other business to attend to. While I'm away, keep an eye o- stand guard over the bus. We don't want to lose it too soon."

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

"I don't mind walking across town if it's with you," Raven says quietly with a gentle smile. "Plus carrying stuff is what the Mecha-zombies are for. They can handle a few chairs."

The catgirl looks at the employees only sign with a raised eyebrow. "Because the garage? Kind of a mess. Not really a good place to hang." Raven even pushes and holds open the door for Rose to look through so that Rose can see how unsuitable it is for making oneself comfortable and listening to music. Rose has seen the place before once and it is indeed a greasy pit of fumes, metal, and zombies. Zombies that loudly bang on vehicles, getting them to 'work' or painting them over in black.

"Workshop's honestly worse." Presumably Raven is talking about that door on one side of the garage that leads to the other half of the building. There's no sign on that door, but it is somewhat ominous.

Raven pulls back her hand and lets the door swing shut on its own. "Ah! You know what, we're going about this all wrong. I have just the thing!" A grin takes over her face and a dark gleam reaches her eye as she snaps her fingers. "Meet me out front in five." She giggles a little and goes to duck into the garage.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Well. Rose is inclined to view that a little ominously. At least Raven seemed to abandon the idea of going back to the motel. And while she hadn't been in the workshop proper, Rose inferred that Raven probably used it to make her zombies and was therefore glad to see that option leave the table, too.

Of course, she still had no idea what to expect. Raven wasn't entirely... stable. For all Rose knew, she was going to come driving through the wall in a tank and insist that Deicide was the perfect background music for demolishing this block of Skyside. Which it probably would be, but that was beside the point.

Rose smiles and shakes her head. Nah, she's worrying about this too much. Raven tended to tone down her psychopathic tendencies around her, and her mood seemed to lean more enamored right this moment. She was probably going to return with a shareable set of headphones or something.

So, Rose does as she's told and waits outside.

[Earl of Purple]

SPAAAAAAAAAACE!

"See? Even one of those aboard your vessel claims to predate the Dark Age of Technology." Oh, that dark age. Although I think technically maybe the twenty-first century is just the start of it? Hard to be sure, so little survives to become canon.

"For you? The High Lords have no idea you're here. Stay, do what the Emperor wills. I need to stop talking and return to the Temple for another assignment. I'll let them know you're here, if you can prove your identity with an ID code or something I will pass it on. Your mind will be cleansed if retrieval is authorised, probably after interrogation. Not much sense doing it before." There's a pause. "I should really stop talking. Don't try to leave. This planet is quarantined but it's still important enough I was sent to prevent it from xenos infection."

Klaus' Minibus

"Right, got it. We can do that, right Sammi?" Fifi hugs the squirrel-girl, and smiles to reassure her. They'll both wave at Klaus as he leaves, if he looks back.

[Shadowcaller]

SPAAAAAAAAAACE!

Minerva had no idea why Zee had chosen to speak up and gives her a glare. All she would have needed to do was being quiet for a few minutes.
She moves in front of Zee and then continues as if nothing had happened. "Understood. But one last thing before you go. If someone asks me whose orders I'm following, what should I tell them?"

[Rebonack]

[SPAAAAAAAAAACE!]

Oh come on.

Are we seriously expecting Zee to just stand around and not say anything for a whole scene?

That's honestly pretty unlikely. What's more likely is Minerva's glare being answered with a kind smile. Zee's helping!

She's getting some weird vibes from this guy for sure. While she might not know a while lot about the context, there's definitely something going on here. He doesn't seem like an official. He doesn't seem nearly self-important or imperious enough. The leadership in 40k anything really take their dystopian authoritarian nonsense seriously. This guy seems more like...

Hmm.

He had said he was the one who attended to the infection.

Was he the guy who created the toxin, maybe?

That definitely seems in line with the misanthropically wasteful tactics the Imperium likes to employ.

[Morty]

[Tempest Row]

"This city is of great interest to me," the King continues. "My domain is fear, and Skyside reeks of it. It seeps into every nook and cranny. Fear rules it. I can use it, but I need agents here to direct it. This is where you come in. You can be such an agent, striking down targets of my choice. And being rewarded in turn."

[Earl of Purple]

SPAAAAAAAAAAACE!

The Imperium in this instance sees that it killed nearly twenty thousand hybrids, cultists and carriers at the cost of thousands of loyalists, a couple hundred tech-adepts, a Navigator, three Astropaths and several thousand servitors. That is far more efficient than most of their other options.

"The quarantine was instituted by the Senatorum Imperalis in M.37. I am not here to enforce it, as such. I was sent to eliminate the threat posed to Imperial space by the cult aboard The Hammer of Finance. Twelve seperate sub-cults have been discovered, annihilated, and traced back to that rogue trader, and its route was to take it into a vital sector producing material for the Sabbat Worlds Crusade. I have eliminated the threat, and now I should return to Terra." Probably not answering the question, since Minerva probably wanted to know to whom she was speaking.

[Reinholdt]

[Searching for Truth]

Ilpholin can't help but shake her head at Anika. "It's no studio in there! It contains Data. Data is... umm... it's..." Ilpholin rolls her hand a little trying to figure it out, causing the bike to turn sharply again. "It's a bunch of information and pictures and stuff all made very tiny until you need to make it big again. So cameras copy and shrink things with shrinking magic." Or something like that. Except the magic is technology.

Along the way they'll pass an aging, faded sign that suggests 'Q's Questionable Qadgets' has cameras based on how the old man in the advertisement he has not one, but two black lenses affixed to his eyes! Even better, the store seems to be conveniently located in a nearby dark alley just half a mile ahead.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

A few moments later one of the black garage doors loudly opens up, rolling its way to the top. Out comes Raven in her tank and it's very cute but also a little scary her palanquin with a small cadre of mecha-zombies. About twelve in total if you include the ones carrying her. Definitely more than is necessary for Raven and Rose to merely share headphones with. Raven's eyepatch is glowing red as they start to mobilize, the door behind them shutting.

"Ah-hah! This way!" Raven calls to Rose, practically jittering with excitement. "Oh, do you want to walk or be carried? It's not very far so..." Raven doesn't mind at all if Rose needs a mecha-zombie or two to carry her, but it sounds like the trip will be short either way, with excitement waiting at the end.

[Shadowcaller]

[Searching for Truth]

Anika doesn't protest Ilpholin's explanation but if there was shrinking magic involved then why was it so outlandish to think that an imp might be hiding in there?

But it could also be a pixie or something which she supposed made things better.

Then she spots the sign, aha! Cameras!

"There! Look at the Q's!" She gestures wildly at the sign.

SPAAAAAAAAAAACE!

Well, Minerva was in no position to demand anything of this person.

She was not a fan of the lords of terra. Being a group of people from organizations with mostly secular roots, how were they supposed to rule an imperium founded by their most sacred Emperor? Though that in itself she might have accepted if they weren't doing such a terrible job.

However, there was one thing to disagree with how they handled things but quite another to commit outright heresy by disrespecting their authority.

"...very well. I wish you a safe journey back to Holy Terra then. May the Emperor guide you back to his Throne safely."