Skyside 7: The Big Pizza in the Sky

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Raven's rage subsides for a moment and she raises an eyebrow. "Jimmy? That nerd on the basketball team? Eww, no. Yuck. I'd never have anything to do with Jimmy, what're you on about?" Rose isn't making any sense!

But Raven can possibly let that slide since she's admitted to not sleeping with Raven's mom. Which is far more important than anything else in this conversation.

She finally waves her hand in a peace settlement, some viscera flicking through the air. "You don't have to worry about meeting her. I ran pretty far and though dad's here in the Nexus, I haven't heard anything about dear mother. As far as I'm concerned, she's dead to me."

Raven jabs her scalpel into the final corpse, slicing it open with expert ease. "A shame that's not literal."

[Ironsmith]

Mina's Manor

Well, Mina is happy to have a robe to wear either way.
"Sounds like you've been busy, yeah. So, how's it been, having limbs? You been doing okay, being mortal and animate?" she asks, clearly testing the waters to see if he's positive or negative on not being an inanimate object anymore.

[Mina's Manor]

"Honestly? It's been exhausting." Sai replies. "Before, if I wanted to go down the street, I'd just do something like say 'Hey Mina, let's go down the street', and you'd either carry me there with no bother or it just wouldn't happen. But now I can do all this bending and lifting and stretching and so I can go down the street myself, but it's so much effort to do it, and because I can do it myself, everyone expects me to." He gives a little shrug. "I miss the old days of being able to just sit on your belt all day. So much less complicated."

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Raven's rage subsides for a moment and she raises an eyebrow. "Jimmy? That nerd on the basketball team? Eww, no. Yuck. I'd never have anything to do with Jimmy, what're you on about?" Rose isn't making any sense!

But Raven can possibly let that slide since she's admitted to not sleeping with Raven's mom. Which is far more important than anything else in this conversation.

She finally waves her hand in a peace settlement, some viscera flicking through the air. "You don't have to worry about meeting her. I ran pretty far and though dad's here in the Nexus, I haven't heard anything about dear mother. As far as I'm concerned, she's dead to me."

Raven jabs her scalpel into the final corpse, slicing it open with expert ease. "A shame that's not literal."

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Well. That just about clinched it, then.

Rose has more or less figured out the routine by now, and her hands quickly find themselves wherever Raven needs them to be in order to facilitate the process of converting this last corpse into a zombie. "...Because then you could make her corpse do humiliating things for your entertainment?" She jokes, flicking her gaze over to the zombie that just left. With as messed-up as Raven's family dynamic seems to be, she half expects to get an honest "yes" from that.

"...One other thing." Rose begins, pointing at the ceiling. "Do you have a bathroom up there?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Searching for Truth]

"I'll be ducking into a shop and coming out a construction worker. Keep your eyes open," Ilpholin tells Anika as she begins to soar off.

Indeed, that's the first step. Ducking into a donut shop. Using their bathroom for privacy. Coming out of it just slightly taller, leaner, and with definitely more defined muscles. Those are visible from the sky. Her hair's been shortened significantly and it's almost hard to tell she's a brunette under that hard hat. The reflexive orange vest is standard and the rest of her clothes match what passing glimpse she got of the workers previously. To top it all off, she buys a bag of donuts and six coffees that she juggles on her way to the fence. Hopefully she hasn't lost Anika, but Ilpholin's glances upwards just get her sun and she doesn't want to turn on her flare adjusters or the moving mechanical parts in her blue eyes might give her away. She'll just have to trust the druid's perceptive skills.

In the meantime, she'll head for the fence area intended for people. The idea is to look like she works here and look like she's carrying too much so someone will get the door for her. Especially if they want the foreman to get their coffee!

[Searching for Truth]

Anika can't reply of course, but the hawk nods in understanding.
Sure enough, once Ilpholin emerges from the shop the hawk is still circling above.
Maybe this would have gone along more smoothly if they had agreed on a signal. But hopefully Anika will get a clue once Ilpholin approaches the construction area.

As she does the cameras that are mount nearby focus in on her. This isn't unusual however as she might have noticed them doing that on every worker that has approached. They might have some kind of recognition technology which makes them track people dressed as workers. Or they're magic. Either is a possibility with Tellysandra.

It takes a while until what appears to be a guard approaches her (considering they are wearing the uniform). An tall slender humanoid being with four arms. Insectoid eyes seem to be looking over her for almost a minute before they finally speak up. "Who're you?" They hiss out in a low voice. Not terribly helpful are they?
However, by this point a group of workers have noticed her and actually stop as they're walking by to take a second glance at this seemingly new worker in need of help.

[Deathkeeper]

Mina's Manor

Good to know. Mina was wondering if his perspective would change.
"Have you been able to contact the celestial bureaucracy? Maybe they can send you back as another weapon when your body gives out." If they could give her the body of her last incarnation she doesn't see why they couldn't put him in another weapon.
Oh man, what if they sent him back as an actual knife or a spear or something? He'd probably hate it.

[UncleWolf]

Manor Labs

At first, nothing happens. In fact nothing seems to happen after that either. Anri's eyes just sort of stare off into the distance with an odd look.
"I get the strangest sensation that that one's on hold for a bit. Would you mind making that last one sooner rather than later? I feel oddly...liminal at the moment. Is that a word for a person? Like one foot's in the door and the other's off somewhere else entirely." It's rather a difficult sensation to pin down. Like a welling of potential but somehow knowing as sure as anything that there's something to be done first.

Manor Labs

Norael has a quizzical expression at the description, which is far more easy to read now that she's got a mouth and lips to see, but she seems to at least understand in part as she gives a small nod. "Of course. This one will be easy though. Even if it is a fair bit technical." She promises as she flips through her tablet to find a page. It seems she came prepared ahead of time for this wish at the very least. "I wish that KABAL and myself to recoup five times the retail monetary value of the synthetic body and all the parts and favors used in its construction and research, including manhours of labor, in an easily liquidated physical medium that has neither been stolen nor counterfeit." Sure, there was likely a loophole in there somewhere, but it was hopefully tight enough and profitable enough to be worthwhile. She had contemplated wishing for more than just five times the value, but she believed that too much more than that and it would possibly put a strain on it. Once she clearly states the wish, she watches Anri carefully, hoping that it wasn't too much.

[Deathkeeper]

Manor Labs

Anri gives Norael a look at the wish but after a moment makes another small hiccup. She needs to work on her presentation.

Immediately a pair of boxes appear, one labeled KABAL and one labeled NORAEL. Inside the boxes are an amount of pure copper, aluminum, and titanium roughly equal to the amount Norael asked for. Neither Anri nor her magic are that great with complex math on figures not even known to her.
"Is that...okay?" she asks tentatively.

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

"What?! No! You don't do that to family." Raven says, shaking her head disapprovingly at Rose. That's Raven's mother you're talking about! Not cool. Maybe Rose's family was different or something. Rose did mention being disappointed with them.

"Yeah. Just don't touch anything if you go," Raven warns as she sets about finishing up, cleaning up, putting away that excessive amount of formaldehyde. Cleaning tools so they don't get too rusty. Etcetera.

[Searching for Truth]

Ilpholin takes brief note of the cameras as her stance switching to jut out her hips a little more, seemingly using them to help her carry the large load of goods. Any enticement this might have on bystanders is purely intentional. Though she doubt it'd matter for this lug, it might for those watching. "Tammy Jackson. Started here yesterday? Foreman asked me to pick up some coffee so here-" She shifts suddenly to keep one of the cups from spilling.

"... Here I am. W-would you mind?"

[Ironsmith]

Mina's Manor

Good to know. Mina was wondering if his perspective would change.
"Have you been able to contact the celestial bureaucracy? Maybe they can send you back as another weapon when your body gives out." If they could give her the body of her last incarnation she doesn't see why they couldn't put him in another weapon.
Oh man, what if they sent him back as an actual knife or a spear or something? He'd probably hate it.

[Mina's Manor]

"Nothing but metaphorical dial tones." Sai replies with a shrug. "I'm sure they could turn me back into a sai, but for some reason or another, they seem to be disinclined to. Presumably, they still need me mobile for something." Gods are funny like that.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

"What?! No! You don't do that to family." Raven says, shaking her head disapprovingly at Rose. That's Raven's mother you're talking about! Not cool. Maybe Rose's family was different or something. Rose did mention being disappointed with them.

"Yeah. Just don't touch anything if you go," Raven warns as she sets about finishing up, cleaning up, putting away that excessive amount of formaldehyde. Cleaning tools so they don't get too rusty. Etcetera.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

So she did have limits. Good to know.

Rose gives an embarrassed little smile. "Sorry. Might have been leaning a little too hard on the evil overlady thing when I said that." Regardless of whether she'd be okay with it, surely Raven agreed that motorizing her mother's corpse into a proverbial dancing monkey would be pretty damn evil. Just not necessarily her brand of evil.

With that, Rose makes her way upstairs, into Raven's little apartment. She peels off her gloves and wraps them up into a little ball, taking in the room(s) and its/their layout. Raven said not to touch anything, and as a professional familiar with the dangers of leaving behind incriminating fingerprints, Rose is inclined to listen. Though, funnily enough, "don't look around" wasn't part of Raven's mandate.

[Deathkeeper]

Mina's Manor

"Well, you can tell them that their chosen heroine of destiny is getting fed up with their bureaucracy and might take her next reincarnation elsewhere if they keep snubbing her and her partner's calls." Mina says indignantly, patting his shoulder. How dare they do that to Sai! They've already treated her like garbage so she expects it but Sai has been sitting around doing their dirty work for millennia! Maybe now that she's around to carry him maybe they'll answer him.

[Ironsmith]

[Mina's Manor]

"Telling them that might be a smidge difficult if they don't accept my calls." Sai says with a little smirk, pointing out the obvious catch-22. He gives Mina a little placating gesture as he continues. "I wouldn't worry about it so much. They must have a plan, and it'll all eventually end well. For now, we should be doing our part." He gives her arm a little poke. "Like getting you trained up to face off against that demon army that's supposed to show up soon. I-" He pauses, brow furrowed. "...Wait. Didn't you have a teacher when I left?"

[Deathkeeper]

Mina's Manor

Mina nods. She's going to lodge her own complaint if that's the case, then. Even if her prayers go similarly unanswered, she wants her complaints on file.
"Yeah, whatever magic that hit you also split her consciousness between two bodies. It was a lot to process so she had to take the rest of the day off.
Um, if you've been here a century did you manage to do any digging on that whole issue?"
Surely with that much time he'd have noticed something amiss?

[Ironsmith]

[Mina's Manor]

"Quite a bit, actually." Sai replies. "It's complicated, but the layman's version is that our mysterious stranger was an extremely powerful spirit who, for some reason or another, took an interest in you. She tried to magic you up a couple of boons, and by the look of things, I would say she succeeded. It's... a bit off her style, though, so I suspect there were others involved, including our Friends Upstairs."

[Deathkeeper]

Mina's Manor

Mina resolves to do something about this. The Friends Upstairs are being jerks.
"Is that the idea of a boon? A bunch of money and my friend got stuck alone for a century? That's like...not even one net boon." Mina insists grumpily.

[Ironsmith]

[Mina's Manor]

"...Is that not enough money?" Sai asks quietly. "Well, I'm sorry. I'm sure there's some way I could have made more, but I did my best." There's a bitterness in his voice that implies he was sort of expecting that reaction, and not too pleased to see it realized.

[Deathkeeper]

Mina's Manor

Mina gently bops Sai on the nose.
"No, you dolt. It's more money than I've ever dreamed of. I'm saying what they did to you isn't worth any amount of money. And is it even really a boon if they just made you earn all of it yourself? They didn't give me anything. They just cursed you and forced you to get all this stuff yourself only to give it to me."

[Ironsmith]

[Mina's Manor]

"And that's different from the rest of my existence... how, exactly?" Sai replies. "I'm an implement of our Friends Upstairs. I do what they ask of me. And what they asked of me, over the past hundred years, was to have this ready for you." He gives her a little pat on the shoulder. "I could have refused at any time. I could have said 'screw this, she's on her own', taken Riftline down to Inside, and started up a life for myself. But I didn't, and I won't." He gives an amused little chuff. "Are you going to tell me that isn't a boon?"

[Deathkeeper]

Mina's Manor

"No, Sai. That's not fair. You're a thinking, feeling person. Even when you say things that make me want to punch you. Especially now that they went and made you mortal. A boon is supposed to be a gift, freely given. It isn't forcing someone else to put in the work. If you really want me to have this, I want it to be because you want me to. Not someone else. What happens if they let you die and they don't do anything with your soul? What are you going to do in your next life? You're you, not just a tool. Even if they zap you into a knife right now." Mina seems pretty insistent about this.

[Shadowcaller]

[Searching for Truth]

Ilpholin takes brief note of the cameras as her stance switching to jut out her hips a little more, seemingly using them to help her carry the large load of goods. Any enticement this might have on bystanders is purely intentional. Though she doubt it'd matter for this lug, it might for those watching. "Tammy Jackson. Started here yesterday? Foreman asked me to pick up some coffee so here-" She shifts suddenly to keep one of the cups from spilling.

"... Here I am. W-would you mind?"

[Searching for Truth]

The guard looks down at a clipboard they have on hand when one of the workers, a Romulan (though Ilpholin might believe he's some kind of elf), walks up to the gate and uses his keycard to unlock it.

It slides open before her.

"You can't make a pretty lady wait like this, Zag." He chides his coworker with a wide grin which seems more aimed at Ilpholin than who he's addressing.

The guard looks up from their clipboard with a frown. "The management will hear of this."

The romulan seems to have the support of his coworkers though who all seem quite interested in Ilpholin.

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Raven's studio apartment is pretty messy. Technical components litter the floor, along with balled up papers, blueprints, and sticky notes. Her black bed with black sheets and black heart pillows is completely unmade. The kitchen area is actually clean by contrast, suggesting that its her work area that takes the brunt of her sloppiness. In particular, her desk is covered in papers placed in some ramshackle pattern only the owner would understand. Atop those is a carefully wrapped box with velvet ribbon and deep red and black stripes, like some kind of dark Thanksmas gift waiting to be unleashed. Underneath the papers seem to vary from outfit designs to schematics of a potential arm upgrade to a receipt for a subscription to EVIL Magazine Monthly.

Next to the desk, there rests an oversized whiteboard separated into a few segments by marker lines. In the first segment are some diagrams of a humanoid, a footnote suggesting that 'cannot use just anyone' and a list with a number of entries crossed through.
Mechazombie Mk. II
SuperMechazombie
Hyperintelligent Mechazombie
Ubermenschzombie
Mechazombie Ultra
Free Will Zombie
Player Character Mechazombie
Ebonzombie
Raven Runner
Empress Personal Guard

The next section over is not too dissimilar though this one has no diagrams and is mostly list.
Allies for the consolidation of power Potential Pawns:

AMEN - Dead
PEACE - Dead
KABAL - Competition? Eww, goblin. Cool, edgy warlock. Goals??
CAVE - YES! - Dammit

CAVE has been circled a few times excitedly before being crossed through.

The finally section is more of a chart really.
EVIL PLANS - Making an EVIL Splash!

PLAN	PRO	CON
Capture a Hospital	Decent ransom money. Some zombies.	Have to hold it. No one cares, there are other hospitals.
Kill everyone in a Hospital	Everyone's dead! Lots of zombies! Very evil.	Old, sick people make the worst zombies.
Attack GLOG	A HUGE splash! Everyone will notice for sure. Literally nothing more evil?	Kids make worse zombies than old people. Babies crying in fear is annoying.
Rob a bank	Easy money.	Boring. No one cares. No zombies.
Destroy Vigil	Instant win. Guaranteed Empress recognition. Falling Islands are fun to laugh maniacally to.	Kinda scary. Requires better zombies. Requires more zombies. Might also require a giant ray gun. I don't have a giant ray gun.

Rose can find the bathroom to the right.


[Searching for Truth]

"S-sorry," Tammy says apologetically to the guard as if afraid to get in trouble.

But she takes the opportunity all the same to slip through the gate and flash the 'elf' a grateful smile, as well as to nod to his friends, her face slightly flushed at the compliment. "Thank you sooo much. You're a real lifesaver Mister... ?" She appears to be looking for a name!

[Ironsmith]

Mina's Manor

"No, Sai. That's not fair. You're a thinking, feeling person. Even when you say things that make me want to punch you. Especially now that they went and made you mortal. A boon is supposed to be a gift, freely given. It isn't forcing someone else to put in the work. If you really want me to have this, I want it to be because you want me to. Not someone else. What happens if they let you die and they don't do anything with your soul? What are you going to do in your next life? You're you, not just a tool. Even if they zap you into a knife right now." Mina seems pretty insistent about this.

[Mina's Manor]

Sai gives another amused snort. Having a snout was great for that. "I was wondering when you were going to start sounding like Tarr." He says, giving her a proud little smile. "All right. Let me just say that yes, I do want you to have it, and agree to disagree from there." He could be just as stubborn when he set himself to it. Better to leave the matter be.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Raven's studio apartment is pretty messy. Technical components litter the floor, along with balled up papers, blueprints, and sticky notes. Her black bed with black sheets and black heart pillows is completely unmade. The kitchen area is actually clean by contrast, suggesting that its her work area that takes the brunt of her sloppiness. In particular, her desk is covered in papers placed in some ramshackle pattern only the owner would understand. Atop those is a carefully wrapped box with velvet ribbon and deep red and black stripes, like some kind of dark Thanksmas gift waiting to be unleashed. Underneath the papers seem to vary from outfit designs to schematics of a potential arm upgrade to a receipt for a subscription to EVIL Magazine Monthly.

Next to the desk, there rests an oversized whiteboard separated into a few segments by marker lines. In the first segment are some diagrams of a humanoid, a footnote suggesting that 'cannot use just anyone' and a list with a number of entries crossed through.
Mechazombie Mk. II
SuperMechazombie
Hyperintelligent Mechazombie
Ubermenschzombie
Mechazombie Ultra
Free Will Zombie
Player Character Mechazombie
Ebonzombie
Raven Runner
Empress Personal Guard

The next section over is not too dissimilar though this one has no diagrams and is mostly list.
Allies for the consolidation of power Potential Pawns:

AMEN - Dead
PEACE - Dead
KABAL - Competition? Eww, goblin. Cool, edgy warlock. Goals??
CAVE - YES! - Dammit

CAVE has been circled a few times excitedly before being crossed through.

The finally section is more of a chart really.
EVIL PLANS - Making an EVIL Splash!

PLAN	PRO	CON
Capture a Hospital	Decent ransom money. Some zombies.	Have to hold it. No one cares, there are other hospitals.
Kill everyone in a Hospital	Everyone's dead! Lots of zombies! Very evil.	Old, sick people make the worst zombies.
Attack GLOG	A HUGE splash! Everyone will notice for sure. Literally nothing more evil?	Kids make worse zombies than old people. Babies crying in fear is annoying.
Rob a bank	Easy money.	Boring. No one cares. No zombies.
Destroy Vigil	Instant win. Guaranteed Empress recognition. Falling Islands are fun to laugh maniacally to.	Kinda scary. Requires better zombies. Requires more zombies. Might also require a giant ray gun. I don't have a giant ray gun.

Rose can find the bathroom to the right.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Rose wordlessly snaps a picture of the whiteboard and makes a tactical retreat to the bathroom, locking the door behind her as she changes out of her scrubs and considers the implications of what she saw.

Damn. Raven might not necessarily have a plan, but her ambitions were a little more fully-formed than Rose had realized. It especially bothered her that she'd been willing to attack GLoG, of all places; to her knowledge, the daycare didn't represent any kind of obstacle to Raven's rule, and yet she was considering attacking for... what, street cred? That's messed up.

Rose sighs and pushes those thoughts out of her head. She had what she came for. When she leaves again, this information is going straight to Dipsnig's desk, and it looks like there isn't much that could realistically get between her and there. Mission basically accomplished. What was left now amounted to extraction, ideally the kind that would let her come back as things developed.

Forty-eight hours, she thinks to herself. Forty-eight hours to disassociate her first being given access to Raven's room and her departure. She should have plenty of time to put together an excuse during that, too. Some reason why she had to be out of town for a while. Relatives? Unlikely; she'd already told Raven she hated them. Work? Pointless; she was fabulously wealthy already. Maybe some other opportunity. She'd have to think about it.

Once she's done, she flushes the soiled outfit out of her Hotbox and steps out, heading back downstairs if Raven hasn't already made her way up.

[Deathkeeper]

Mina's Manor

Mina glares down at her with arms crossed.
"I always sound like Tarr, just post-puberty. I have her vocal cords, remember? Well for as long as they gave you you're going to have to listen to me giving you self-worth lessons. You better be careful. If your bosses let you stay not needing food and air they might have actually made you as immortal as you were before just letting you age enough to match the aesthetic they shoved me into.
Actually wait, the first thing you did before was fix my eyes. Did that get taken away from you? Maybe I'll get to return the favor." Surely finding something to help Sai's eyesight is doable, even if she'd honestly prefer to give him a few years back in general.

[Earl of Purple]

[Slavers' Guild Acquisition Route]

Well, that window of opportunity closed fast. Hana busily sets about trying to look like she hadn't really been making an escape attempt, which at least shouldn't be too hard, given how far along it wasn't. She looks up at the sobbing girl, and for a moment, she'll forget about how much more cramped the cage is getting, opting to comfort the poor woman instead. "Hey, hey... it's okay. We're going to get out of here. All of us." Her shoulder moves forward as she goes to offer her hand, but finds it restricted by her bindings. Right. "My name's Hana. Hana Jane Reeverman. This is Abbi. What's your name?"

"Of course it can." Korvin smiles, though it obviously doesn't show under his mask. "And just as well it should, I suppose. I'm due for a date with the bed, myself." He stretches and yawns, the sound reverberating eerily in his mask. "We can discuss what I had in mind in the morning."

Nobody seems to notice Hana's movements or check her shackles. The younger woman is quite well-built, healthy and fit; she's about twenty-three, so not much older than Abbi, with ochre skin and two-toned hair; it's a mix of golden blonde and coppery red, both a little metallic. The older one has pale skin, short brown hair growing from a scalp which was shaved not too long ago, and delicate blue tattoos around her eyes. She's suffered more; skinny and undernourished, with a few old scars. The younger girl swallows and tries to stop crying, mostly successfully. "Snydv. I'm Snydv. I never should have come here." She starts to cry a bit more, though at least her shackles are in front, making it easy to take her hand.

Alecto nods in agreement, happy to have come to some agreement over the meeting with Korvin, as she gets the wagons moving again. Their next stop is the warehouse.

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop - Forty-Eight Hours Remain]

Raven's still downstairs, largely overseeing the new mechazombies as they clean up in order to ensure that they're functioning properly. That organ refuse pile doesn't dispose of itself. The body bags have to be spread out and aired out for the next time they go on a collection run. And someone's got to wipe that table up. This place isn't filled with barbarians after all!

Raven does glance to Rose when she returns though, searching her over. "All good?"

[Ironsmith]

Mina's Manor

Mina glares down at her with arms crossed.
"I always sound like Tarr, just post-puberty. I have her vocal cords, remember? Well for as long as they gave you you're going to have to listen to me giving you self-worth lessons. You better be careful. If your bosses let you stay not needing food and air they might have actually made you as immortal as you were before just letting you age enough to match the aesthetic they shoved me into.
Actually wait, the first thing you did before was fix my eyes. Did that get taken away from you? Maybe I'll get to return the favor." Surely finding something to help Sai's eyesight is doable, even if she'd honestly prefer to give him a few years back in general.

[Mina's Manor]

"Not as such, no." Sai replies evenly. "I just got old. Our Friends Upstairs did not see fit to grant me a body that ages gracefully." He snorts. "Either that, or my habits have not been conducive to it." Knowing both of them, it could go either way.

By now, Sai will have noticed that they've spent an extensive amount of time just talking in the bathroom, enough so that Mina's probably most of the way dry. "Come on, then. Let's get you something to eat." He offers.

Nobody seems to notice Hana's movements or check her shackles. The younger woman is quite well-built, healthy and fit; she's about twenty-three, so not much older than Abbi, with ochre skin and two-toned hair; it's a mix of golden blonde and coppery red, both a little metallic. The older one has pale skin, short brown hair growing from a scalp which was shaved not too long ago, and delicate blue tattoos around her eyes. She's suffered more; skinny and undernourished, with a few old scars. The younger girl swallows and tries to stop crying, mostly successfully. "Snydv. I'm Snydv. I never should have come here." She starts to cry a bit more, though at least her shackles are in front, making it easy to take her hand.

Alecto nods in agreement, happy to have come to some agreement over the meeting with Korvin, as she gets the wagons moving again. Their next stop is the warehouse.

[Slaver's Guild Acquisition Route => Warehouse]

Hana offers the poor girl her shoulder, in lieu of hugging her (it's difficult to do with her hands behind her back). "No, you probably shouldn't have." She concedes. "But you'll get out of here. I can promise you that."

For his part, once the caravan is underway, Korvin just stares ahead in stoic silence. He doesn't react when they finally arrive at the warehouse, and might need some prompting from Alecto before he does much of anything. If she listens closely, she'll be able to hear his breathing behind his mask; slow, deep, even.

[Black Abyss Body Shop - Forty-Eight Hours Remain]

Raven's still downstairs, largely overseeing the new mechazombies as they clean up in order to ensure that they're functioning properly. That organ refuse pile doesn't dispose of itself. The body bags have to be spread out and aired out for the next time they go on a collection run. And someone's got to wipe that table up. This place isn't filled with barbarians after all!

Raven does glance to Rose when she returns though, searching her over. "All good?"

[Black Abyss Body Shop - Forty-Eight Hours Remaining]

Rose yawns and stretches, acknowledging the lateness of the hour, nodding through it in response to Raven's question. "Yeuuuuuuuaah, all good." She smiles, before looking down at her wat-

Her wrist.

Now that wasn't right.

"Um..." She holds up her bare arm to Raven, tapping where the watch would be. "I think one of your boys might have some spare parts rattling around." She grimaces. "That... that's not going to mess up their systems, is it?" She didn't really care about the watch itself. She's already printing off a new one.

If Raven doesn't go for that particular antic, Rose will check her phone for an exact time and promptly give Raven a wide-eyed look. It got late in a hurry, and she hadn't seen the nekomancer eat in all this time (but then, given the presence of dead bodies, how could she?). "...Well." She smiles. "How do you feel about dinner?"

[Deathkeeper]

Mina's Manor

Bold of you to think fur dries in any reasonable amount of time.
Still, that confirms it for Mina. Whatever magic Sai used to fix her vision (which was rendered entirely pointless by the subsequent cow-beam) he either didn't retain the ability or can't use it on himself.
"Do you keep any food in the house if you don't eat? Did you ever even learn to cook?" Mina asks him incredulously. She certainly wouldn't fault him if the answer was no both ways.

[Earl of Purple]

Slaver's Guild Acquisition Route --> Warehouse

If Hana asks around, during their journey, the older of the two newcomers claims to be an Obligator, of the Canton of Finance, who found her way to Skyside after fleeing a catastrophe on her homeworld. She'll spend a lot of time praying to 'the Sliver of Infinity' and 'the Lord Ruler', though under her breath. The halfling, the only other girl in the back of the wagon with dots on her chest, is gagged and cannot speak; she also wears shredders. The half-elf is named Ehequi, she claims to be a gang leader for a group called the Sky Stealers, but her lieutenant in the gang carted her off to the Guild in order to promote herself. The grimlock is Jesfani, and says she was caught by dark elves during a raid on her family's camp. The other human is named Patience, and was sold by her landlord after she missed a rent payment.

There's no further stops, but somebody might interfere before their arrival at the warehouse and sorting.

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Raven shrugs a little. "They're dead. Won't be a problem." It's unlikely they're going to complain about an extra watch in the mix and the components aren't so delicate as to be bothered by the device.

Her eyes follow Rose's hands as she uses that hotbox once more to print out a fresh watch. When it's completed, they flick up to Rose's face and the Empress provides a mild smile. "Sure. We finished an hour or so earlier than usual. I won't say no to a good dinner. What were you thinking? Seafood?"

Raven's always thinking seafood.

[Ironsmith]

Mina's Manor

Bold of you to think fur dries in any reasonable amount of time.
Still, that confirms it for Mina. Whatever magic Sai used to fix her vision (which was rendered entirely pointless by the subsequent cow-beam) he either didn't retain the ability or can't use it on himself.
"Do you keep any food in the house if you don't eat? Did you ever even learn to cook?" Mina asks him incredulously. She certainly wouldn't fault him if the answer was no both ways.

[Mina's Manor]

"Of course I learned to cook." Sai replies with a smile. "I knew you were coming back someday. What good would it do to not be prepared to feed you when you arrived?" He wobbles out of the bathroom, still leaning on his cane. "Granted, until my next run to the store, food options are going to be limited. I've been stocking the pantry with non-perishables for the past few months; I didn't know exactly when you were meant to return, but I have a wide margin of error. All of that to say, I hope you like crepes."

Slaver's Guild Acquisition Route --> Warehouse

If Hana asks around, during their journey, the older of the two newcomers claims to be an Obligator, of the Canton of Finance, who found her way to Skyside after fleeing a catastrophe on her homeworld. She'll spend a lot of time praying to 'the Sliver of Infinity' and 'the Lord Ruler', though under her breath. The halfling, the only other girl in the back of the wagon with dots on her chest, is gagged and cannot speak; she also wears shredders. The half-elf is named Ehequi, she claims to be a gang leader for a group called the Sky Stealers, but her lieutenant in the gang carted her off to the Guild in order to promote herself. The grimlock is Jesfani, and says she was caught by dark elves during a raid on her family's camp. The other human is named Patience, and was sold by her landlord after she missed a rent payment.

There's no further stops, but somebody might interfere before their arrival at the warehouse and sorting.

[Warehouse]

If any of the slaves-to-be in the cart had heard of Klaus Quire and his liberation unit, and were counting on them to intervene, they were going to be disappointed. This was one shipment he needed to have go well.

Hana would ordinarily love to get to know her cagemates a little better, but it didn't sound like they were going to be together very long. It'd be a waste of time. At least they'd need to keep her near Abbi, or so Korvin had previously implied. She'll keep her focus on staying close to the ratgirl for now.

When the caravan finally stops, Korvin doesn't seem to respond at first. Then, with the momentum having changed so dramatically, he starts slowly teetering forward, before his head snaps upright. "Ex nihilo ver- oh." He coughs awkwardly and steps down next to Alecto. "I was awake for all of that." He lies, badly.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Raven shrugs a little. "They're dead. Won't be a problem." It's unlikely they're going to complain about an extra watch in the mix and the components aren't so delicate as to be bothered by the device.

Her eyes follow Rose's hands as she uses that hotbox once more to print out a fresh watch. When it's completed, they flick up to Rose's face and the Empress provides a mild smile. "Sure. We finished an hour or so earlier than usual. I won't say no to a good dinner. What were you thinking? Seafood?"

Raven's always thinking seafood.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Rose smiles. Raven had some expensive taste; fitting for an Empress. Then again, she already knew that, given their first date at Odie's. "I'm glad you said that." She giggles, popping open her Hotbox to count out an appropriate budget. "I make a mean baked lobster tail. Unless you'd prefer fish?" She looks up from her "purse" and waits for Raven to answer.

Despite her rather obvious intention to further woo Raven with home cooking, Rose makes it a point to not actually ask for permission; Raven had already let her upstairs once, and seemed reasonably comfortable doing so. Rose didn't want her second-guessing that particular extension of privilege. On the other hand, Rose would also be out for a while to gather ingredients... which should give Raven plenty of time to anticipate the meal and/or brace herself for Rose to make a second incursion upstairs. With any luck, this would be the meal that would lead to Rose staying over, and therefore having a chance to document what she saw more thoroughly.

Although she did worry slightly about sleeping over. Raven's room was not big enough for a pod.

Rose quietly shakes her head. Bah. She was getting a little ahead of herself here.

[Earl of Purple]

Slaver's Guild Warehouse

A large shutter door is pulled upwards so the two wagons can enter the warehouse. Jasper's load of men peel off, headed somewhere else, whilst Alecto drives her own cargo into the women's section. She chuckles at Korvin's bald-faced lie.

Jasper and Alecto split up here, each leading their little cage-wagon off in other directions. They're both headed to sorting areas, but not the same sorting area. Jasper leads his load of men to the right, whilst Alecto goes left with a cage of women. Both stop in an alleyway between two rows of cages, with walkways up to more cages. Guards- orcs, all of them, though Hana may feel a little reassured to see that the orcs working on unloading her cage-mates are all women.

Hana, Abbi and the halfling- who is simply picked up and carried- are simply grabbed by orcs with shock-poles and dragged towards cages before being hurled roughly inside. The other women are held briefly, and marked with dots of their own. Stylv gets four green dots, Patience gets five. The Obligator gets three green and two orange dots, whilst Jesfani gets four green dots and two orange ones. Ehequi gets only one green dot, two red and two orange ones.

The cages in question are small, just long enough for a rather cramped bed and a bucket for a toilet, with plexiglass walls on the sides, brick at the back and iron barred doors at the front. Abbi is thrown- with Alecto's command- into the cage which Hana is being dragged towards.

Meanwhile, Jasper does the same for the men, except none of them have any dots yet. There's nine men, including the two Korvin bought himself. The others are a bearded dwarf, a naked and bald elf, a hairy Orsimer with a broken tusk, a pair of goblin twins with large ears and eyes, a lanky blue-skinned Vedalken and finally another human, this one covered in gang tattoos.

[Deathkeeper]

Mina's Manor

Mina doesn't tell him that he wouldn't have had to wonder when she'd return if he had looked at a calendar at any point after she got him. That's rude, and for all she knows he couldn't read since he was a piece of metal without eyes at the time.
"Um, crepes are fine as long as I can eat them. I hope you've figured that out. Just because you don't have to eat doesn't mean you can't, I assume. Otherwise you couldn't have tasted when you made while learning to cook."
It would be annoying if Sai had been a minotaur for a century without ever finding out what they can eat.