Skyside 7: The Big Pizza in the Sky

[Vahnavoi]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Aiden gulps and throws his hands up as Sandals forces his way into the Master's Suite, and shudders as well when Hana's finger runs down his spine. He's close to wetting himself, he's that scared- of Sandals, and of the consequences of helping him. "Aiden doesn't know! Aiden's a valet, nobody talks to the valets unless they want something! Same with maids. Aiden doesn't know anything about any guests, not when he's doing maintenance. Go threaten the receptionists, scare them. Aiden can't help you, Aiden is valet." He's quite emphatic that he can't help, and is close to crying.

The man pushes past the valet and takes a quick look around the suite. "No-one talks to servants. That doesn't mean servants don't see anything. Nor that they don't know anything", he says. "You could get here to do maintenance. I suspect that means you hold keys to most places in this building. Or at least know someone who holds those keys. So, either hand the keys over, or tell me who has them. That way I won't have to, ah, threaten anyone unnecessarily."

[Deathkeeper]

Larouge Library

"Family business." Anri says simply, gazing warmly at the walls of the place. Jason might have noticed the occasional antique tapestry and painting that dot the walls.
"This place is as old as the city. Which isn't as old as some other places, but it's old enough."

[Ironsmith]

Trust-Worthy Hotel

Aiden gulps and throws his hands up as Sandals forces his way into the Master's Suite, and shudders as well when Hana's finger runs down his spine. He's close to wetting himself, he's that scared- of Sandals, and of the consequences of helping him. "Aiden doesn't know! Aiden's a valet, nobody talks to the valets unless they want something! Same with maids. Aiden doesn't know anything about any guests, not when he's doing maintenance. Go threaten the receptionists, scare them. Aiden can't help you, Aiden is valet." He's quite emphatic that he can't help, and is close to crying.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

The man pushes past the valet and takes a quick look around the suite. "No-one talks to servants. That doesn't mean servants don't see anything. Nor that they don't know anything", he says. "You could get here to do maintenance. I suspect that means you hold keys to most places in this building. Or at least know someone who holds those keys. So, either hand the keys over, or tell me who has them. That way I won't have to, ah, threaten anyone unnecessarily."

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

...Oh dear.

Hazel might have overestimated this guy's ability to put up with frightening customers. And while she's no stranger to beating answers out of people, this... well, this seemed like a bit much.

She kneels next to Aiden and puts what she hopes is a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Um... look, bud." She starts. "We don't wanna hurt ya. But what we're doin' heae is kinda impohtant. If ya know anythin' dat can help us, please say somethin'."

SSGTV

It takes a while, and the foxlad doesn't realise he's being baited- he can see Hana's dots, at least enough of them to know she's a new fish, and so underestimates her. He grunts when she does attack, the razorwire-clad bat slashing at his ribs and side, cutting at his flank and opening a lot of small wounds that bleed profusely. It's a pretty brutal injury, and he does seem quite winded, and can't get the air out to scream- because he's winded- when she breaks his elbow and cuts his arm open. He drops the hammer and collapses, holding his arm and desperately wheezing for breath. He's also crying.

A klaxon sounds, though if Hana wants to hit him again she can- it's just the match is officially over. Two gates also open in the wall; from one, two attractive and naked young women walk, carrying a stretcher. They'll walk over towards the fallen fighter, whilst a naked young eunuch waves at Hana from the other, trying to get her to come to him.

[SSGTV]

Hana tosses the bat aside, a disgusted grimace on her face. Maybe she didn't like the idea of hurting someone who seemed to be just as much a victim as she was. Maybe she was annoyed at how much of a non-fight this turned out to be. Maybe she just didn't like how unnecessarily brutal her weapon was. Or maybe the sight of blood was getting to her. In any case, she wants to put this match behind her quick-like.

She turns and makes her way to the eunuch, a little dismayed to see that they still weren't very big on clothes around here. Studio heads are probably a bunch of pervs.

In any case, she wants to get out of here now. She hopes Abbi held up all right.

[bc56]

LaRouge Library
"What sort of family do you have? Siblings, parents, cousins, all that? Come to think of it, what's it like growing up in the Nexus?" Jason is one of numerous castaways who found themselves here. Growing up with all the weirdness is almost unimaginable to him. But Anri must have done it, for her old family library to be located here.

[Deathkeeper]

LaRouge Library

"Just me and my brother." Anri explains.
"It's a chaotic place. It's hard to tell kids they can't do something when anything can happen. And sometimes it can really scare the pants off you. But you manage." she says, with a bit of a sad smile.

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

The middle zombie crumbles backwards, hitting the pavement hard with a caved in chest as Mina metaphorically floats past to land between the Mechazombies and the looming lair of doom before.

The other two mechazombies groan in distress. Mechazombie 1 was two days from retirement! He had a wife and kids! He was going to say something very important to his young protegee in secret just one hour from now!

At least maybe they're groaning that. They are, however, turning around and their groans are delighted as Mechazombie 1 starts to get up again. Moving slower, admittedly, but it's pretty clear that they're actually really quite durable with all that metal reinforcement. And the chest is their like... least important piece. Mina can punch it all day it won't slow them down. Ok, well, it will slow them down and all day is definitely just going to pulverize them.

Ah, quibbling. The two mechazombies still standing aren't going to wait for the third to recover and get off the ground before chasing after Mina, hands outstretched and grabby, mouths hanging open in vengeful mecha-groans.

[Ironsmith]

Black Abyss Body Shop

Mina feels the wind at her back and decides to go with it. She puts her bulky legs to good use and leaps forward to deliver a flying knee to the lead zombie's center of mass. If she can she'll try to land past it so that she doesn't get gnawed on the back by its friends.
She doesn't think her outfit is gnaw-proof even if it is part of Sai.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

The middle zombie crumbles backwards, hitting the pavement hard with a caved in chest as Mina metaphorically floats past to land between the Mechazombies and the looming lair of doom before.

The other two mechazombies groan in distress. Mechazombie 1 was two days from retirement! He had a wife and kids! He was going to say something very important to his young protegee in secret just one hour from now!

At least maybe they're groaning that. They are, however, turning around and their groans are delighted as Mechazombie 1 starts to get up again. Moving slower, admittedly, but it's pretty clear that they're actually really quite durable with all that metal reinforcement. And the chest is their like... least important piece. Mina can punch it all day it won't slow them down. Ok, well, it will slow them down and all day is definitely just going to pulverize them.

Ah, quibbling. The two mechazombies still standing aren't going to wait for the third to recover and get off the ground before chasing after Mina, hands outstretched and grabby, mouths hanging open in vengeful mecha-groans.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Speaking of slowing them down, Sai's formulated something of a plan.

Well, for a loose definition of "plan".

Without any further prompting, he starts gathering up a globe of water around his tip, using his magic so that it'll follow him around. It will continue to grow in size and weight until Mina sees fit to use it.

Then, he cedes control of the globe over to Mina. She can use it right away if she wants (it's basketball-sized now) or she can keep it in reserve until she sees a better opening. In either case, it will respond to her commands.

[Deathkeeper]

Black Abyss Body Shop

Mina has absolutely no idea why Sai is suddenly handing her a ball of water. So without a better idea she throws it right in the caved-in chest of zombie 1, hoping that maybe the water might short out some of the wires running through it. She's not really sure what the plan was with that one.
With that out of the way, Mina tries going low, lashing out with a leg to slam into the legs of the zombies chasing her. If nothing else her size means she has a reach advantage. Maybe her MIGHTY BOVINE STRENGTH will let her sweep both of them. Even if the zombies are tough to kill they can't chase her without functioning legs!

[Earl of Purple]

Trust-Worthy Hotel

The valet does not answer the questions. He's far too busy limping as fast as he can out the door and towards the stairs, where he'll start crying out for assistance about an intruder. He's got a fair bit to travel, however, and given his limp he shouldn't be too hard for Sandals to catch and bring back. It might still attract notice, but maybe the security footage isn't watched in real-time; maybe it's only reviewed if somebody makes a complaint or something unusual happens.

SSGTV

"Congratulations on your first victory! You get five tokens for winning, two for not being injured, and another for defeating your opponent without permanently crippling him. You should get your bat, eight tokens isn't much and everything- except medical treatment and basic nutrition- comes at a price. Take heart, however, freedom is possible. Gather twenty thousand tokens, and you can walk out that door- if you want to." The eunuch is not completely naked; he's wearing a headset and a pair of sandals. "By then, some people come to enjoy the thrill of combat and instead choose to stay, continue to fight. You can fight as often as you wish, just find a keyholder- like myself- and let them know. They'll call up to head office and let you know if there's an opponent. You won't get to choose an opponent, most of the time. If you have a dispute with another gladiator, let a keyholder know and we'll set up a fight in the ring for you. Do you understand all I'm saying?" The eunuch- keyholder, apparently, though he's not holding a key- speaks quite quickly and exuberantly, and if Hana fetches her bat- or the sledgehammer, before the stretcher-bearers put it with its wielder and take it away- or makes it clear she's got no intention of keeping it, will head to what looks like a cash machine and stare into a camera whilst pressing his thumb on a print-reader, at which the machine spits out eight plastic discs, which he hands to Hana.

[bc56]

LaRouge Library
"I can't say I blame them. It's a wonderful, if strange, world." Jason laughs. "I can be glad my sister and I got dumped here together, or I'd have been completely alone starting out. And she wouldn't be getting hit by all the weird things and keeping them off of me," he adds as a joke.

[Ironsmith]

SSGTV

"Congratulations on your first victory! You get five tokens for winning, two for not being injured, and another for defeating your opponent without permanently crippling him. You should get your bat, eight tokens isn't much and everything- except medical treatment and basic nutrition- comes at a price. Take heart, however, freedom is possible. Gather twenty thousand tokens, and you can walk out that door- if you want to." The eunuch is not completely naked; he's wearing a headset and a pair of sandals. "By then, some people come to enjoy the thrill of combat and instead choose to stay, continue to fight. You can fight as often as you wish, just find a keyholder- like myself- and let them know. They'll call up to head office and let you know if there's an opponent. You won't get to choose an opponent, most of the time. If you have a dispute with another gladiator, let a keyholder know and we'll set up a fight in the ring for you. Do you understand all I'm saying?" The eunuch- keyholder, apparently, though he's not holding a key- speaks quite quickly and exuberantly, and if Hana fetches her bat- or the sledgehammer, before the stretcher-bearers put it with its wielder and take it away- or makes it clear she's got no intention of keeping it, will head to what looks like a cash machine and stare into a camera whilst pressing his thumb on a print-reader, at which the machine spits out eight plastic discs, which he hands to Hana.

[SSGTV]

"...Twenty thousand?!" Hana asks incredulously, retrieving her bat. "Bearing in mind that a flawless victory, plus a little mercy, only earns me eight? That's ridiculous!" She does a quick bit of number-crunching in her head; if she did a fight like this every day, never got hurt and never permanently injured her opponent, she could be out in a little under seven years. That's assuming she didn't find some other money sink in the meantime- which, if she had the right measure of this place, would be a horribly erroneous assumption.

She wasn't going to escape by playing this fairly, that much was certain.

[Vahnavoi]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

The bandaged man curiously notes the valet's heading for the stairs, instead of the elevator. Sadly for poor Aiden, the man does not have a limp and catches up to him with few long leaps.

The man catches the valet by the shoulder to pull him off balance, then puts him in a loose rear chokehold and begins dragging him back towards the master's suite. If the valet tries to scream, the man will tighten his hold, choking the valet unconscious if need be.

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

"Would you prefer to be a keyholder, and lose that option of getting out? Because if I could swap places with you, madam, I would. Although I am at least self-aware enough to realise I would not have won that fight." Meaning for him, it'd be more than seven years to earn enough tokens to get out. "I also said you can fight as often as you wish. If you want, you could go back out there, see if you can get another eight tokens, or more." Or potentially less, given she's got very limited control over her opponent. She could pick another woman in the cell block to fight, but for the other to agree she has to think she has a chance to win.

The keyholder will lead the way to the female gladiator's quarters. There's a canteen area surrounded by rather small cells, each with a bunkbed and two wardrobes in. There's a lot of scarred women wandering around, and quite a few more keyholders- also mostly eunuchs, a few women amongst them, all basically naked. Most turn to look at Hana as she arrives; the population isn't so large newcomers aren't noticed. There's some staircases up to a metal walkway with more cells on it. There's also a pair of counters in the far wall, with some more keyholders standing behind with various items on display- clothing, armour, weapons, food and drink. "You're new, so you will get one of the ground floor cells. You can buy a cell upstairs, which are larger, more private and aren't shared. That would be a thousand tokens, if you are interested, but you can pool your tokens with another to buy a room together. Your fight finished first, so you get to pick which of the empty places you want." There's seven places free, but only one empty cell. Hana can pick that, or she can choose to share with one of the following- a completely bald dwarf lady covered in runic tattoos; an Amazon like the person who brought her here, albeit a younger one, with a scarred face; an elf kneeling before an altar she's set up in the cell; an orc with a hook for a hand and a machete; or a nervous looking human wearing a tattered wedding dress splattered with blood.

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

The water gets on and in MZ1. It's... not particularly effective by itself, but that zombie is now quite vulnerable to being electrocuted! More vulnerable than his friends at least. A solid shock will take him down for good! If... that's the plan? Or maybe it can flash frozen, that'd work pretty well too.

Reach is always a good thing to have when fighting zombies and the Mighty Mina^TM completely wrecks the legs of the MZ2. MZ3 fairs a little bit better, just having the cushion of MZ2 between him and doom, but while MZ3's legs remain functional, it doesn't stop it from collapsing into a heap with MZ2 and that's just messy.

MZ1's up now though and charging for... oh now, he just stumbled into the mess of limbs and mechanical parts that are MZ2 and MZ3. That's the problem with their quasi-pincer attack strategy. They should have spread out more! Now they're just a jumbled mess, working to untangle themselves.

[Ironsmith]

Trust-Worthy Hotel

The valet does not answer the questions. He's far too busy limping as fast as he can out the door and towards the stairs, where he'll start crying out for assistance about an intruder. He's got a fair bit to travel, however, and given his limp he shouldn't be too hard for Sandals to catch and bring back. It might still attract notice, but maybe the security footage isn't watched in real-time; maybe it's only reviewed if somebody makes a complaint or something unusual happens.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

The bandaged man curiously notes the valet's heading for the stairs, instead of the elevator. Sadly for poor Aiden, the man does not have a limp and catches up to him with few long leaps.

The man catches the valet by the shoulder to pull him off balance, then puts him in a loose rear chokehold and begins dragging him back towards the master's suite. If the valet tries to scream, the man will tighten his hold, choking the valet unconscious if need be.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Hazel follows along behind, instinctively moving to lift the man by his feet and not realizing the problem until her hands pass through his ankles.

Oh. Right. Ghost.

"Well, dis is goin' about as well as expected." She snarks, following alongside Sandels for now. "Is dere any way we could set dis up so I can talk ta him?"

SSGTV

"Would you prefer to be a keyholder, and lose that option of getting out? Because if I could swap places with you, madam, I would. Although I am at least self-aware enough to realise I would not have won that fight." Meaning for him, it'd be more than seven years to earn enough tokens to get out. "I also said you can fight as often as you wish. If you want, you could go back out there, see if you can get another eight tokens, or more." Or potentially less, given she's got very limited control over her opponent. She could pick another woman in the cell block to fight, but for the other to agree she has to think she has a chance to win.

The keyholder will lead the way to the female gladiator's quarters. There's a canteen area surrounded by rather small cells, each with a bunkbed and two wardrobes in. There's a lot of scarred women wandering around, and quite a few more keyholders- also mostly eunuchs, a few women amongst them, all basically naked. Most turn to look at Hana as she arrives; the population isn't so large newcomers aren't noticed. There's some staircases up to a metal walkway with more cells on it. There's also a pair of counters in the far wall, with some more keyholders standing behind with various items on display- clothing, armour, weapons, food and drink. "You're new, so you will get one of the ground floor cells. You can buy a cell upstairs, which are larger, more private and aren't shared. That would be a thousand tokens, if you are interested, but you can pool your tokens with another to buy a room together. Your fight finished first, so you get to pick which of the empty places you want." There's seven places free, but only one empty cell. Hana can pick that, or she can choose to share with one of the following- a completely bald dwarf lady covered in runic tattoos; an Amazon like the person who brought her here, albeit a younger one, with a scarred face; an elf kneeling before an altar she's set up in the cell; an orc with a hook for a hand and a machete; or a nervous looking human wearing a tattered wedding dress splattered with blood.

[SSGTV]

That's not really a contest at all. Hana goes to the empty cell and sits on the bed, internally claiming the top bunk for herself. She's holding out hope that Abbi wins her fight and ends up in here with her, in which case she doesn't want the poor ratgirl to have to take her chances with any of these dubious-looking characters. Hana said she'd look out for her and she intends to do just that.

Black Abyss Body Shop

Mina has absolutely no idea why Sai is suddenly handing her a ball of water. So without a better idea she throws it right in the caved-in chest of zombie 1, hoping that maybe the water might short out some of the wires running through it. She's not really sure what the plan was with that one.
With that out of the way, Mina tries going low, lashing out with a leg to slam into the legs of the zombies chasing her. If nothing else her size means she has a reach advantage. Maybe her MIGHTY BOVINE STRENGTH will let her sweep both of them. Even if the zombies are tough to kill they can't chase her without functioning legs!

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

The water gets on and in MZ1. It's... not particularly effective by itself, but that zombie is now quite vulnerable to being electrocuted! More vulnerable than his friends at least. A solid shock will take him down for good! If... that's the plan? Or maybe it can flash frozen, that'd work pretty well too.

Reach is always a good thing to have when fighting zombies and the Mighty Mina^TM completely wrecks the legs of the MZ2. MZ3 fairs a little bit better, just having the cushion of MZ2 between him and doom, but while MZ3's legs remain functional, it doesn't stop it from collapsing into a heap with MZ2 and that's just messy.

MZ1's up now though and charging for... oh now, he just stumbled into the mess of limbs and mechanical parts that are MZ2 and MZ3. That's the problem with their quasi-pincer attack strategy. They should have spread out more! Now they're just a jumbled mess, working to untangle themselves.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

A trio of mechazombies in a pile, one of them soaked through their insides and very ready to be shocked.

Little arcs of electricity jump between Sai's prongs, a high-pitched whine building up as a charge accumulates. Mina probably knows what to do with that.

[Earl of Purple]

Trust-Worthy Hotel

Well, the valet won't have to wait for the stairs, which he would for the elevator. He's easily caught and dragged back. He tries to scream, but the chokehold persuades him otherwise; Sandals won't need to choke him unconscious.

He can be dragged back to the Master's Suite quite easily, and probably this time kept on the other side of Sandals to the door.

SSGTV

First of the other fish to return is the dwarf. She's wearing a halter top made of metal scales and a pair of hot pants, and carries a bloodied hatchet; she's holding a bloodstained ear as a trophy of her first victory. She joins the other dwarf, though they eye each other up quite hostilely. Next is the ganger, wearing a thin white halter top and red knickers, though the top isn't as modest as it was- she's been cut across the chest, and it's been hastily patched with safety pins. She's also flexing her hand which also bears new scars. She's carrying a metal meat-tenderiser, and joins the Amazon. Finally, Abbi arrives, looking rather stunned and accompanied by a pair of keyholders. Abbi was able to find a one-piece swimming costume with large cut-outs at the front, back and sides, that fit and had space for her tail, but one of the keyholders carries her weapon- a hockey stick with an ice skate blade lashed to it. Abbi's had some magical healing, though not as good as that offered by the Guild- her arms are bruised, and her face looks a little lopsided as her cheekbone has broken and set improperly by the healing magic. Her eyes fasten on Hana's cell, so the keyholders bring her over and put her on the lower bunk.

[Ironsmith]

[SSGTV]

As soon as the handlers are gone, Hana hops down and pulls Abbi into a gentle hug; tight enough to show affection and concern, but not so tight as to aggravate any lingering injuries. "Are you okay?" She asks, somewhat redundantly. "You look like you got metronome'd by a giant. You didn't, did you?" They probably had those here, but hopefully they didn't pit newcomers against them.

[Deathkeeper]

Black Abyss Body Shop

Mina does her best to have some pageantry, looking confident as she raises her weapon aloft and calls down the electricity he's gathering.
Mentally of course, she's wondering if the zombies are quite conductive enough, as generally you need salt water to do what Sai is pushing her towards. Then again Sai spontaneously generated that water so who knows it might have been salted.

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

They do not, as it happens. They don't have an enclosure large enough for them, and even if they did it's tricky to keep them in said enclosure. They might have an ogre or two, though.

Abbi hugs back, quite a bit tighter. "I'm fine, they healed me, I think. No, not a giant, exactly. Eight foot orc with a big hammer, far quicker than I thought he'd be. Broke my jaw, I think." She's also lost a few teeth, and was knocked out briefly. The bruises are from landing on the arena floor afterwards. "How about you? What did you get?" Abbi, should also be noted, doesn't have any tokens.

[Ironsmith]

[SSGTV]

"Some kind of anthropomorphic canid. Fox, I think. I guess it could have been a jackal or a dingo or- you know, it really doesn't matter. He didn't last very long." Hana holds up her hand, displaying the eight tokens she'd earned from her victory. She hefts them in her hand, mentally debating the merits of what she's about to do.

She presses four of them into Abbi's palm, closing her fingers around them. "We're not going to last very long in here if we don't stick together." She says. "Hold onto these. See if you can get any treatment with them. I want you to still be able to smile when we get out."

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

The electricity works well enough because Mina did a lot of prior damage to MZ1, leaving enough components exposed to add the extra oomph she needs in addition to the water. And it travels well enough to cause MZ2 and MZ3 some real issues. MZ1 stops moving altogether and MZ2 and MZ3 are going to have trouble extracting themselves from each other and catching up with Mina in their damaged states.

That said, this also has the unfortunate side effect of being extremely similar to electrocuting and burning a living person. Their flesh melts, there's burns, and quite frankly it smells far, far worse than the decaying formaldehyde smell they were already exuding. Thankfully Mina did this outdoors. If it were inside, Raven would have to kill them. Oh wait, she's already trying to do that. Raven would have to kill them and NOT zombify them. And that's a fate worse than death. Clearly. Or... no, that's a fate exactly equal to death.

Well whatever, the stench is Mina and Sai's alone to deal with.

[Ironsmith]

Black Abyss Body Shop

Mina does her best to have some pageantry, looking confident as she raises her weapon aloft and calls down the electricity he's gathering.
Mentally of course, she's wondering if the zombies are quite conductive enough, as generally you need salt water to do what Sai is pushing her towards. Then again Sai spontaneously generated that water so who knows it might have been salted.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

The electricity works well enough because Mina did a lot of prior damage to MZ1, leaving enough components exposed to add the extra oomph she needs in addition to the water. And it travels well enough to cause MZ2 and MZ3 some real issues. MZ1 stops moving altogether and MZ2 and MZ3 are going to have trouble extracting themselves from each other and catching up with Mina in their damaged states.

That said, this also has the unfortunate side effect of being extremely similar to electrocuting and burning a living person. Their flesh melts, there's burns, and quite frankly it smells far, far worse than the decaying formaldehyde smell they were already exuding. Thankfully Mina did this outdoors. If it were inside, Raven would have to kill them. Oh wait, she's already trying to do that. Raven would have to kill them and NOT zombify them. And that's a fate worse than death. Clearly. Or... no, that's a fate exactly equal to death.

Well whatever, the stench is Mina and Sai's alone to deal with.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

It's nothing a steady breeze in the right direction can't fix. Sai can produce one with a trivial amount of effort.

"Not bad, Mina. Not bad at all." Sai chortles. "Minions handily dispatched, minimal injury to yourself. I believe the next step is pursuit of the villain?"

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

"Fox like I'm a rat, or more canid? Because... Because he might be like me. I used to be human, I think. I don't remember getting this, anyway, and I can't read but nearly can, sometimes. I woke up in a vat of gel, four years ago, with the tail and ears, and then a light was flashed in my eyes and a voice called me A Eighty-Eight dash first, and told me to get out of the gel and into a cage. I was given my first clothes- not much, a white t-shirt- and taken to the Guild, who kept me in the warehouse for a month before taking me to the hotel. I think... I think the light killed who I was before, the human girl who could read. He was a tall man, with a mirror for a head and too many fingers." At the 'don't remember getting this', Abbi's hand slips down to rest over the appendectomy scar, which shrank in the bath of healing nanites but didn't disappear.

Whilst Hana mulls that revelation over, someone else is approaching. A woman in her late thirties, dark hair just starting to grey, wearing a bronze breastplate and a silk loincloth hanging to her knees paired with thigh-high boots. She's carrying a spear with a steel point at both ends, and a small shield is buckled to her arm.

[Deathkeeper]

Black Abyss Body Shop

Unlike Sai, Mina actually has a nose. In fact her head is mostly nose by volume. She gags, putting a hand to her mouth to avoid losing whatever breakfast she might have had in this new, confusing timeline.
After taking a few moments with Sai’s breeze helping her nausea she stands up straight and turns around to face the building itself.
”Right. Villain. Okay.” she shakes her head and tries to look powerful as she struts menacingly into the shop.

[Vahnavoi]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

After dragging Aiden back to the suite, the bandaged man lets go for long enough to shut the suite door, before grabbing the valet by the shoulders.

"Let's start over. Keys. Do you have keys to other suites? Do you know where they are kept?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Searching for Truth]

Bellena focuses her attention her attention on the goblin who is asking all the questions, leaning forward just enough to keep her cleavage tight and visible. Though it helps that she actively motions to the entirety of her body. "I jumped. It was scary as all hell," Hopefully the goblin will chalk this up to the Nexus because... well it wouldn't be particularly wrong actually. Still her hands trace her skin and the minimal amount of clothing covering it to point out the lack of a place to hold stuff. "Do I look like I have papers on me? Look, I was sent by Juril to make sure that I'm acceptable for what the Lady Tellysandra needs. Otherwise Juril's got to pick another girl to use and I'm out a gig and a paycheck. So this is like... the pre-interview? I don't know. He was supposed to handle all that. I was just told to show up, look pretty, and dance my heart out." Bellena moves her hand to atop Anika's head and starts petting it as if to remind the goblin that she is wonderful to look at, but she also has a pet that could eat him at any moment. She also feels bad about throwing the romulan she just met under the bus, but it probably will never get back to him.

Probably.

"Do you want a... demonstration?" Bellena asks, clearly not adverse to dancing for this goblin as she smiles sensuously.

[Searching for Truth]

The goblins eyes widen several times during the conversation and it doesn't look like he's even pretending to look anywhere than the dancer is trying to direct his gaze. "...you bet. Holy crap you're hot."

His companions seem to agree and one of them even seems to call over more of their co-workers to watch this.
There seem to be some arguments regarding this from guards with a stronger worker ethic but it seems a lot of them have simply been standing around here doing little to nothing so they're a restless bunch. So soon a sizable crowd have gathered around the dancer. There are even some that doesn't seem to have any sexual interest that want to see this.

Even Bellena's pet seems to be interested, giving her longing glances as she's petting her on the head.

[Ironsmith]

[SSGTV]

Hana's eyes widen as Abbi gives her story, then promptly narrow when she finishes. This mirror-faced man took Abbi, effectively murdered her, and turned her corpse into something less than human he could sell for profit. That's beyond messed up.

Hana's fist curls into a ball as she marches over to the keybearer who brought her here. "You said a fight could be arranged with another gladiator if we had beef, right?" She begins. "Well, I've got beef with one. Orc, eight feet tall, the one you made my friend fight. How soon can I get in the ring with him?"

She might not be able to do anything about the mirror-headed man, but there's other people who hurt Abbi she can do something about. May as well channel this new surge of anger at them.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Hazel just kind of drifts nearby, before realizing she can do a lot more good as a lookout. She'll poke her head through the door, elevator, and the like at frequent intervals, to make sure their meeting goes uninterrupted.

[5a Violista]

[Aimless Drifting]

Coincidentally, as Tetra contemplates how to avoid being used to end the world, Sirena thinks about the opposite.

Tetragrammatok. That definitely sounds familiar. "Nice to meet you. It's okay if you don't have a plan yet, I'm also trying to figure out for myself what to do." Like...trying to decide if she should search out another time travel device and cannibalize its parts to fix her watch. But even if she does that, that won't solve everything.

"By the way," Sirena says. She looks down. "How much do you know about frog biology?"

No, wait, that's a less useful question. She could be using Tetra for more important things.
"Also." Sirena taps her watch to draw attention to it. "By chance, do you know a place with a lot of tech? I need to find parts for this and also trace back a signal."

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

Wow, Hana. Don't tell Abbi you think she's less than human; Doctor Master thinks he's made her more than human. And the Guild tends to agree, since there's a reason why Doctor Master is able to make a profit despite buying slaves and then selling them back later.

"I'm sorry, Miss. Those rules are for fighting others in here, girls you might fall out with. It's to stop grudges from forming and festering, since everyone has a weapon and the masters prefer it if you try to murder each other where the cameras are watching. I have no immediate way of communicating with the male barracks. That would take a few days at least to arrange, if it's even possible. You may wish to fight in the hopes you find yourself against him sooner, but I can't guarantee it. For now, though, I believe Seline the Stabber wishes to introduce herself." The woman with the double-ended spear is standing nearby, waiting for Hana to finish talking with the keyholder.

He's also honest about it, he can't communicate directly to other keyholders. His headset talks straight to a control room that monitors all the keyholders, he can't talk to anyone else with it.

Trust-Worthy Hotel

The valet reaches into a pocket and pulls out a small metal key, a master key to most of the doors in the surface part of the hotel. He's panicking and pale, gasping and hyperventilating following the choke hold. He seems like he's obeying.

Nobody is approaching, at least not yet.

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Mina struts into the waiting room/front entrance, where she encounters the most dreadful thing a hero can - an ethical dilemma! Behind the counter is a mecha-zombie in ill fitted mechanics clothing, nametag a little bloodied indicating that this was Brent.

"Braaaaaaakes?" It asks as it slides forward a form regarding cars and the work one wants done on them.

Mina could simply take the employee only door and continue deeper into the villain's lair, but doing so would leave a quite dangerous Mecha-zombie at her back that could ambush her at a very unwelcome moment, sealing her doom. On the other hoof, it is not aggressive like the other Mecha-zombies have been. Doesn't it have the right to unlive in peace as Raven's corporate minion for all time? It's not harming anyone.

What kind of heroine is Mina?

[Searching for Truth]

Bellena frowns at the growing crowd before looking back at the goblin, her eyes pleading. "That wasn't an open invitation. I was thinking something more... private." She clarifies. This is her livelihood, she can't just hand it out for free to the help! "Besides," She glances upwards for a moment. "I need to get out of the sun. This tan is carefully cultured and I won't hang around and let it get ruined just before a major interview. You're not going to force me to stay out here are you?" She asks the goblin, promising him a great deal if he just brings her somewhere quiet indoors. Sure he might take one or two of his close friends to help diffuse the flak he's probably going to catch from his co-workers. But she'll be worth it. And presumably they'll understand, however reluctantly.

"Plus it's so much nicer if you're seated."