Skyside 7: The Big Pizza in the Sky

[Lord Magtok]

[Aimless Drifting]

"By the way, how much do you know about frog biology?"

The moment Sirena finishes asking that question, Tetra's eyes glow, and she begins mumbling something. Chanting under her breath, muffled Latin, barely discernible mutters of ancient curses. She reaches out her hands expectantly, palms up, as if waiting for something to drop out of the sky and-

"Ribbit!" says a frog that just fell out of the sky and into her hands. It squirms and tries to get away, but she was ready for it, and has a firm grip on the amphibian and no intention of letting it go just yet.

"Not a whole lot, honestly, but if you have any specific questions I could ask one for you," she offers, smiling as she gives the helpless little guy a wiggle, and making its foreleg wave hello to Sirena. This frog wasn't the only one to fall from the heavens, however. Several dozen rained down all around the neighborhood for the brief few moments Tetra was chanting, a veritable flood cut short the moment she got what she was waiting for. She doesn't seem to notice (or care?) that this has happened, or even stop to think about how unusual it is to be able to just change the weather with a thought and rain frogs on everyone.

"And I know of a junkyard not far from here, if that counts. There's some very angry animals already living there, though."

[Deathkeeper]

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.

LaRouge Library

"I would recommend neither of you get hit by weird things if you can help it. But I understand that you generally can't. Are you going to be okay? I'd offer to fix things but it sounds like that would only get more tangled."
Jade is already about four things don't get djinni magic tangled up in it.

[Ironsmith]

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.

[SSGTV]

"Well, arrange it." Hana replies coldly, before turning to face this new lady. She's either about to recieve the welcome tour or a "hazing", she's sure of it.

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.

[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?

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

"Ooh, can't leave that behind." Sai points out. "He might not look like much, but we can't risk having him jump us from behind at a critical moment. You'll have to take care of him. I'd check for a closet you could stick him in for a while if you aren't comfortable with smashing him up."

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

"Hello. I'm Seline the Stabber, I'm queen of this barracks. You don't like it, arrange a fight and we'll duke it out in the arena. Rules- talk to your neighbours, get to know somebody other than your cellmate, no fighting, no stealing. Break those last two rules, you'll face me in the arena. Last queen took half of everyone's tokens, I don't do that. I don't need to- I've got thirty thousand, and I'm sticking around to look after you lasses. In fact, here." She reaches out with a hand, and if Hana accepts it, will deposit three tokens in her hand.

[Ironsmith]

[SSGTV]

Hana looks at the woman's outstretched hand skeptically. That... she can't be for real, can she? Everything since she got to Skyside has been horrible and awful and the people here were generally only interested in looking out for themselves. There's got to be a trick to this. Seline's basically trying to buy her loyalty, isn't she? If that's the case, three tokens is a very low asking price. She can do better.

"If you want me to believe you're looking out for us, prove it." Hana scowls, nodding toward Abbi. "You see my friend over there? This is her first fight. Her opponent went beastly on her. Big fella, orc with a hammer." She twirls her bat in her hand. "I want to make sure he doesn't do it again. And neither does anyone else. Veteran like you has to have a few strings you can pull. Any way you could get me in the ring with that guy?"

[Deathkeeper]

Black Abyss Body Shop

Mina responds by tromping straight up to the desk and leaning on it despite how much the zombie offends her nose.
"Hey buddy, I'm looking for the boss. You gonna stop me?" she asks.
Now that she's actually inside of a building, her floor-plan power activates and she is suddenly made aware of every door and window in the place (or at least every door that could feasibly serve as a path to the exit). This is a bit overwhelming, but it does allow her to glance around the room to look for doors that don't have windows behind them.

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

The mecha-zombie clerk looks up at Mina and responds with an overwhelmingly blank stare as it makes zero moves other than with its jaw. "Braaaaaaaaaaawn?"

Within this depressing room there's really only the door she came in and the door leading further inside. On the plus side, the room that leads to appears to have several garage doors that could be opened and escaped through in a pinch (or smashed). The mecha-zombie mechanics have to get the vehicles inside somehow, so reluctantly this place gets aired out every once in awhile. Not for nearly long enough as there is still the overpowering stench of general decay, heavy chemicals, oil, and paint coming from that direction. It's quite likely that Raven Ebondark's nose no longer actually functions and cannot smell things anymore. Or she's one of the weird villains who likes the smell. Maybe her behavior can be explained by all the fumes. It can't be healthy to live in this environment.

[Shadowcaller]

[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."

[Searching for Truth]

"Erm, of course not." Though Bellena isn't the only one that's staring at him now as the gathered guards seems to have considered this a promise of some sort. The dancer hearing audible groans and 'come on's from the crowd.

He seems well aware of this fact due to his suddenly nervous disposition. "...how many of us could you entertain at once if we go somewhere a bit more private?"

But if Bellena happen to still have any silver on her it suddenly starts glowing as a flying imp can be seen approaching the group. This demon is flanked by two tall imposing figures shrouded in colorful robes which a real life person would associate to japanese culture. Bellena is getting as strong demonic vibes from these two as the actual demon in-between them however so they're likely dangerous.

[Ironsmith]

Black Abyss Body Shop

Mina responds by tromping straight up to the desk and leaning on it despite how much the zombie offends her nose.
"Hey buddy, I'm looking for the boss. You gonna stop me?" she asks.
Now that she's actually inside of a building, her floor-plan power activates and she is suddenly made aware of every door and window in the place (or at least every door that could feasibly serve as a path to the exit). This is a bit overwhelming, but it does allow her to glance around the room to look for doors that don't have windows behind them.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

The mecha-zombie clerk looks up at Mina and responds with an overwhelmingly blank stare as it makes zero moves other than with its jaw. "Braaaaaaaaaaawn?"

Within this depressing room there's really only the door she came in and the door leading further inside. On the plus side, the room that leads to appears to have several garage doors that could be opened and escaped through in a pinch (or smashed). The mecha-zombie mechanics have to get the vehicles inside somehow, so reluctantly this place gets aired out every once in awhile. Not for nearly long enough as there is still the overpowering stench of general decay, heavy chemicals, oil, and paint coming from that direction. It's quite likely that Raven Ebondark's nose no longer actually functions and cannot smell things anymore. Or she's one of the weird villains who likes the smell. Maybe her behavior can be explained by all the fumes. It can't be healthy to live in this environment.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

If it's the former, Sai can relate. The only indications he has that this place is dirty would be the decaying corpse in front of him and any vicarious sense of disgust he can pick up from Mina.

Which is plenty, really.

Still, he doesn't really have much to say at the moment. He'll chip in when it seems relevant.

[Deathkeeper]

Black Abyss Body Shop

"Brawn? Yeah, I got lots of that." Mina hasn't seen herself in a mirror but from the size of her arms she's pretty sure she's huge now. Also given that she's bordering on eight feet tall before her impressive set of horns are factored in, it's entirely possible that the ceilings here are a bit low for her.
Regardless of the zombie's "answer" she'll move towards the employee door, ignoring the zombie for now. She expects to have to knock him over and block the door to keep him from whacking her on the back of the head.

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

"Unfortunately, whilst I am queen of the barracks, I'm still a slave. I don't have that pull. I can set her up with training, or... Hey, lass. You don't look like you were always a gladiator or fighter. You don't have to fight to earn tokens. You got any skills? Not cooking, we don't get access to food." The barracks-queen looks Abbi up and down, assessing the skinny physique of the ratgirl.
"I was a maid, at the Trust-Worthy Hotel. One of their best masseuses. Is... is there a market for that?" Abbi looks a little hopeful at the possibility that she might be able to work her way out without getting hurt.
"I think there might be. Come with me, give me one, and I'll pay you. " Abbi gets up and glances at Hana to see what the older woman has to say about the possibility.

[Ironsmith]

[SSGTV]

Hana glances back and forth between the two of them. "...Go ahead." She says finally. Abbi's probably not going to get hurt being a masseuse, even in a place like this. But just to be sure, she's going to stop Selene on their way out. "Let me be clear. If you try anything funny, I don't care if you're queen of the city, you will come to regret it, understand?" She growls.

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

Seline looks a little confused at the warning, before she smiles and pats Hana's hand. "Don't worry, I don't lean that way. I won't make the moves on your girlfriend." And another person confusing the two for lovers.
"U-uh, Hana's married. Never met her wife, she's not in the city I think." Abbi blushes as she glances at Hana and stammers slightly. Seline looks between the two, and nods.
"I hope you meet her out there some day." Seline's not going to wish for Hana to meet Hazel in here; that would be wishing another person into slavery.

[Vahnavoi]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

The bandaged man grabs the key and closes his fist around it, shaking it before the valet's face. "There. Wasn't that hard, was it? Here's what's going to happen next, Aiden: you will return to fixing this suite like a good servant should, and you will not tell anybody you gave your key away, because if you do, your masters will punish you, because I reckon they are nasty people. And if everything goes fine, you won't have to tell anybody, because I will do my thing, return your key to you, and you'll never see me again."

He slips the key into his pocket and prepares to move out again. He's just taking his time, watching that the valet at least pretends to return to his task.

[Ironsmith]

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.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

The bandaged man grabs the key and closes his fist around it, shaking it before the valet's face. "There. Wasn't that hard, was it? Here's what's going to happen next, Aiden: you will return to fixing this suite like a good servant should, and you will not tell anybody you gave your key away, because if you do, your masters will punish you, because I reckon they are nasty people. And if everything goes fine, you won't have to tell anybody, because I will do my thing, return your key to you, and you'll never see me again."

He slips the key into his pocket and prepares to move out again. He's just taking his time, watching that the valet at least pretends to return to his task.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Hazel kneels next to the valet and gives a little sigh. Yeah, this went more or less how she expected. No, she still didn't feel good about it. She's used to dealing with some real scumbags this way... old earth globalists, criminals, and terrorists. Even the one time in recent memory she abducted civilians, they made themselves enough of a pain in the butt that she didn't feel too bad lording it over them. A frightened slave, though?

Even if they didn't do anything else to him, poor guy's got it rough.

Hazel glances over at Sandels to see if he's watching, then quickly decides she doesn't care. She kneels next to Aiden and wraps her aetherial arms around him, giving him the tightest hug she can manage as a ghost.

Hopefully he can feel it.

SSGTV

Seline looks a little confused at the warning, before she smiles and pats Hana's hand. "Don't worry, I don't lean that way. I won't make the moves on your girlfriend." And another person confusing the two for lovers.
"U-uh, Hana's married. Never met her wife, she's not in the city I think." Abbi blushes as she glances at Hana and stammers slightly. Seline looks between the two, and nods.
"I hope you meet her out there some day." Seline's not going to wish for Hana to meet Hazel in here; that would be wishing another person into slavery.

[SSGTV]

Every time. It seems like every time someone meets Abbi and Hana, they assume they're a couple. "If it helps, picture us as sisters. Maybe aunt/niece. I wouldn't go as far as mother/daughter, that'd just be weird." She gives Seline an insincere smile; to show she's amused, but still isn't giving the barracks queen her confidence.

[Earl of Purple]

Trust-Worthy Hotel

Thoroughly cowed, the valet lets go of the key and limps off to get back to work repairing the door. He shivers as Hazel wraps her immaterial arms about him, and walks through into the cupboard-like space beyond the broken door, which is just large enough for the bed, sink and wardrobe in the room and opens the wardrobe to look for something to warm himself up. Might just be the fear, but it feels as though it's gotten awfully cold in here.

SSGTV

Abbi's smile freezes a little at that, and she turns away from Hana rather abruptly. She knew Hana didn't feel quite the same way, but... it still hurts a little. "Um, Miss Seline, or your majesty, shall we go to your cell for the massage?"
"Just 'Seline' will do fine, miss. What should I call you? 'Fish' is quite demeaning, though you should get used to it. After a week or so, someone else will arrive, and then they'll be the fish." The gladiator smiles, and will take Abbi's hand to lead her away.
"Um, A Eighty-Eight dash first, but usually I'm Abbi." It's more humanising, which is one reason why the hotel used it- another being somebody misreading the paperwork- but... she's not at the hotel anymore, and A88-I is all the name she remembers.

[5a Violista]

The moment Sirena finishes asking that question, Tetra's eyes glow, and she begins mumbling something. Chanting under her breath, muffled Latin, barely discernible mutters of ancient curses. She reaches out her hands expectantly, palms up, as if waiting for something to drop out of the sky and-

"Ribbit!" says a frog that just fell out of the sky and into her hands. It squirms and tries to get away, but she was ready for it, and has a firm grip on the amphibian and no intention of letting it go just yet.

"Not a whole lot, honestly, but if you have any specific questions I could ask one for you," she offers, smiling as she gives the helpless little guy a wiggle, and making its foreleg wave hello to Sirena. This frog wasn't the only one to fall from the heavens, however. Several dozen rained down all around the neighborhood for the brief few moments Tetra was chanting, a veritable flood cut short the moment she got what she was waiting for. She doesn't seem to notice (or care?) that this has happened, or even stop to think about how unusual it is to be able to just change the weather with a thought and rain frogs on everyone.

"And I know of a junkyard not far from here, if that counts. There's some very angry animals already living there, though."

Sirena blinks as she stares at the frog that suddenly appeared.
And the other frogs she can see out of the corners of her eyes.
She didn't really expect it to happen this way. But, considering this person managed to instantaneously age a robot to death and teleport, it puts it into perspective.

"Oh. Um." She thinks. "Well, frogs have permeable skin, right? I need to know how that works and how it's different from normal skin," she says. "And the way their organs are situated, if there's anything unusual about it." Also something to do with eggs, but that's something she's only comfortable talking about while teasing someone, not during a serious conversation. Sadly, Sirena hasn't had the opportunity to start a teasing, so far.

She waits to see if that's something Tetra can answer or not.

And, "Probably doesn't count. I doubt a junkyard has the most important parts I need." Might have a couple tools she needs, though. And some parts.

[Reinholdt]

[Searching for Truth]

"Hmm... three... four at most. After that it stops being... personal. And I," Bellana says drawing a finger up to her chest and pushing into it. "Like the personal touch."

She tilts her head a bit. The dancer doesn't have silver on her to glow, but the silver nanites in her system give her plenty warning that demons are coming. "We'd better hurry before the fun police say my moves are for Tellysandra only," Bellana suggests, hoping this goblin would forget reason to get his hurry on and secret her away. Honestly though, she suspects it's already too late and their opportunity has been lost.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Brent makes no move to attack from the rear! Not yet at least. Will he show up when Mina least suspects it? Quite possibly.

The next room is where the magic happens. Where mecha-zombie mechanics transform cars into black cars. So it's only fitting that mecha-zombies in mechanic outfits reside here. A group of four of them, more menacing than their friends outside. Largely because they hold things in their hands. Heavy metal things. Wrench. Lead pipe. Candlestick. Car jack. And they're slapping it on their other hand in an intimidating fashion, causing bits of their own flesh to scrape off and fall to the floor.

Wrench in particular strikes first, jumping forward and swinging the weapon with mechanically enhanced strength, slightly negating Mina's reach advantage.

There are the garage doors here for a fast exit and one door leading further into the lair just behind Car Jack MZ.

[Vahnavoi]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Satisfied by the valet's actions, the bandaged man slips out of the master's suite, closing the door behind himself. He moves carefully through the corridor, trying to spot cameras before they spot him, either sneaking past them or moving through their field of vision as quickly as he can. It's unlikely anyone is watching the feeds all that closely before he makes a ruckus, but he suspects all the feeds are recorded somehow. He hopes he'll be far away whrn someone next watches those records.

He opts for the stair instead of the elevator, heading for the ground floor. If he hears someone coming towards him, either from below or from above once he's a few stories down himself, he'll do his best to stay out of sight, using his climbing skills to hang from a railing or hide in some obscure corner if necessary.

[Ironsmith]

Trust-Worthy Hotel

Thoroughly cowed, the valet lets go of the key and limps off to get back to work repairing the door. He shivers as Hazel wraps her immaterial arms about him, and walks through into the cupboard-like space beyond the broken door, which is just large enough for the bed, sink and wardrobe in the room and opens the wardrobe to look for something to warm himself up. Might just be the fear, but it feels as though it's gotten awfully cold in here.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Satisfied by the valet's actions, the bandaged man slips out of the master's suite, closing the door behind himself. He moves carefully through the corridor, trying to spot cameras before they spot him, either sneaking past them or moving through their field of vision as quickly as he can. It's unlikely anyone is watching the feeds all that closely before he makes a ruckus, but he suspects all the feeds are recorded somehow. He hopes he'll be far away whrn someone next watches those records.

He opts for the stair instead of the elevator, heading for the ground floor. If he hears someone coming towards him, either from below or from above once he's a few stories down himself, he'll do his best to stay out of sight, using his climbing skills to hang from a railing or hide in some obscure corner if necessary.

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

Hazel sighs and follows Sandels out. Damn. She was hoping she could be more of a comfort than that.

Since she can move at top speed without risk of being seen, and she doesn't get winded from running anymore, it's trivial for her to catch up with the bandaged man again. "Whehe we goin'?" She asks. "Wha's da plan? ...You do have a plan, right?"

SSGTV

Abbi's smile freezes a little at that, and she turns away from Hana rather abruptly. She knew Hana didn't feel quite the same way, but... it still hurts a little. "Um, Miss Seline, or your majesty, shall we go to your cell for the massage?"
"Just 'Seline' will do fine, miss. What should I call you? 'Fish' is quite demeaning, though you should get used to it. After a week or so, someone else will arrive, and then they'll be the fish." The gladiator smiles, and will take Abbi's hand to lead her away.
"Um, A Eighty-Eight dash first, but usually I'm Abbi." It's more humanising, which is one reason why the hotel used it- another being somebody misreading the paperwork- but... she's not at the hotel anymore, and A88-I is all the name she remembers.

[SSGTV]

Hana will follow them to the cell, mostly to keep a watchful eye on Abbi. She believed Selene when she said she doesn't swing that way, but that doesn't necessarily mean her intentions are benign.

...Hana hasn't quite yet figured out how they couldn't be, but she'd rather not take the chance all the same.

Black Abyss Body Shop

"Brawn? Yeah, I got lots of that." Mina hasn't seen herself in a mirror but from the size of her arms she's pretty sure she's huge now. Also given that she's bordering on eight feet tall before her impressive set of horns are factored in, it's entirely possible that the ceilings here are a bit low for her.
Regardless of the zombie's "answer" she'll move towards the employee door, ignoring the zombie for now. She expects to have to knock him over and block the door to keep him from whacking her on the back of the head.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Brent makes no move to attack from the rear! Not yet at least. Will he show up when Mina least suspects it? Quite possibly.

The next room is where the magic happens. Where mecha-zombie mechanics transform cars into black cars. So it's only fitting that mecha-zombies in mechanic outfits reside here. A group of four of them, more menacing than their friends outside. Largely because they hold things in their hands. Heavy metal things. Wrench. Lead pipe. Candlestick. Car jack. And they're slapping it on their other hand in an intimidating fashion, causing bits of their own flesh to scrape off and fall to the floor.

Wrench in particular strikes first, jumping forward and swinging the weapon with mechanically enhanced strength, slightly negating Mina's reach advantage.

There are the garage doors here for a fast exit and one door leading further into the lair just behind Car Jack MZ.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Wow. You know, I was really expecting more baddies. I guess she's just giving us the minimum today. Sai would shrug if he were able. Well, they're all coming from the same direction and they're all a little dumb. I'd say you've got this.

[Earl of Purple]

Trust-Worthy Hotel

Down the stairwell he goes! Keeping out of sight of cameras is tricky; there's a fisheye camera on every little landing halfway down the stairs, where it can see the faces of traffic in both directions- though distorted. There's not really many obscure corners on the stairwell; it's a short flight of stairs down to a landing, then a small landing with more stairs down to the floor below. The top floor has only three doors, and one of those looks to be a cleaning cupboard; the second floor has five doors, things are a little more worn, and the landing is a bit larger. Fortunately, in the late morning, there's not much traffic in the hotel, and Sandals can go all the way down to the first floor before he has to think of hiding. There's a creak on the stairs and the sound of voices as a group of people- four, maybe five- start coming up from the ground floor. There's nine doors on this floor, five of which are clearly shut, one marked with a 'do not disturb' sign, one being ajar, one being an empty doorframe into a dark cleaning cupboard, and the last being open to show a small, cheap suite of rooms where a pale human maid wearing a collar and uniform like those on the floor in the bathroom is changing some sheets. The cleaning cupboard is closest to the stairs, but it's hard to tell how much room there would be inside; after that, a closed door and then the maid's room or in the other direction, the ajar door- although going that way risks being seen, as it's on the other side of the stairs down.

The people coming up the stairs, if Hazel looks or Sandals doesn't try to hide, are four orcs in bodyarmour, carrying taser-poles, and a bald maid with vertically slit green eyes, holding some a folded pile of slightly nicotine-stained linen. They aren't trying to be subtle, the orcs tromping with heavy boots and thumping their taser-poles against the floor and ceiling as they tell each other crude jokes in Orcish about the receptionists. The maid, meanwhile, is limping behind awkwardly and trying not to be noticed- though if Hazel stays on the corridor, the snake-eyed woman does look directly at Hazel. Unlike the other servants the two have seen limping, the serpentine human (?) has a bandage wrapped about her left ankle, which looks like it should be changed soon.

SSGTV

Seline leads Abbi and by proxy Hana upstairs to another cell. It's larger than the ones downstairs, and quite nice, too- there's a fluffy green carpet down, rather than bare concrete, the bed is a double rather than a bunk (although it's still got a metal frame, and Hana might realise it's made from two single beds pushed together), there's a magical mirror in an ornate, gilt frame hanging on the wall and reflecting a view of Groundtown from the edge of Skyside, and the wardrobe is larger than those downstairs. There's also a comic display rack, like those found in shops, filled with magazines and comicbooks. Seline is apparently a fan of a chap called 'Grognak the Barbarian', judging by the sheer quantity of her collection. The cell even has three real walls, rather than bars like those downstairs, though the front of the cell and the door are still barred.

Seline opens the wardrobe, putting the spear and buckler inside before unbuckling her breastplate, pulling off the sleeveless shirt she wore underneath- just thick enough to stop the cold metal from resting on her skin, not adding any further protection- and then adding her loincloth. She seems totally relaxed to be naked, despite the fact there's two armed strangers in her room, and she lies on her bed. She's got a lot of scars; she's been brutally whipped at least once, judging the thick welts over her back, a scar on her left breast has replaced that nipple, another scar stretches across her abs, and there's a matched pair of scarred dimples front and back, where she's been impaled; that one seems like it could have killed her, and probably damaged her kidney.

[bc56]

LaRouge Library
"She's happy; I don't think I want to mess with her and risk ruining that." Jason understands not to chance making things worse if they're currently okay. "Again, no offense, but I don't think I can trust a wish to solve my problems without making anything worse." Really, he's jealous of how happy Jade is even despite all the weirdness. How does she manage that?

[UncleWolf]

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.

Manor Labs

Norael peers over the boxes, looking more than a little surprised that her wish appeared to be successful. She reaches into the box of metal, shifting it around a bit to dig deep and make sure whether or not that it was just on the surface or truly a box full of copper. "Uh...y-yeah, yeah, I think that works. And I'm sorry if that wish wasn't particularly inventive or special and a bit underhanded, but this is a business and I will always admit to being more than a little in love with money." She adds, giving an apologetic smile at the entire display. "Though perhaps working with other desk jockeys for so long has twisted me a bit. So many people try to weasel around their words and contracts that I might be assuming the worst inside them. I think all that's left here is some interviews and studies, but those can be handled some other time."

[Ironsmith]

SSGTV

Seline leads Abbi and by proxy Hana upstairs to another cell. It's larger than the ones downstairs, and quite nice, too- there's a fluffy green carpet down, rather than bare concrete, the bed is a double rather than a bunk (although it's still got a metal frame, and Hana might realise it's made from two single beds pushed together), there's a magical mirror in an ornate, gilt frame hanging on the wall and reflecting a view of Groundtown from the edge of Skyside, and the wardrobe is larger than those downstairs. There's also a comic display rack, like those found in shops, filled with magazines and comicbooks. Seline is apparently a fan of a chap called 'Grognak the Barbarian', judging by the sheer quantity of her collection. The cell even has three real walls, rather than bars like those downstairs, though the front of the cell and the door are still barred.

Seline opens the wardrobe, putting the spear and buckler inside before unbuckling her breastplate, pulling off the sleeveless shirt she wore underneath- just thick enough to stop the cold metal from resting on her skin, not adding any further protection- and then adding her loincloth. She seems totally relaxed to be naked, despite the fact there's two armed strangers in her room, and she lies on her bed. She's got a lot of scars; she's been brutally whipped at least once, judging the thick welts over her back, a scar on her left breast has replaced that nipple, another scar stretches across her abs, and there's a matched pair of scarred dimples front and back, where she's been impaled; that one seems like it could have killed her, and probably damaged her kidney.

[SSGTV]

Hana internally winces as she sees the injuries on Selene's body. Even without trying to picture how she got them, the arena seemed to be predisposed to make them look just wrong, beyond merely "hurt" and going full-on into "mutilated" territory. The realization that she could end up like that over the next few years didn't exactly calm her down, either. Eugh.

Hana steps against the far wall and lets Abbi get to work; she's near enough now that she can help if Selene tries anything, but for the most part, watching a scarred gladiator get a massage is going to be pretty boring. If more than five minutes go by without something else happening, she'll pick up one of those comics and start reading it, curious what the appeal is.

[Deathkeeper]

Black Abyss Body Shop

Mina is slightly intimidated but she can't back down now.
"Sai, small shock please." she requests, and goes about parrying the blows with him. She's fighting defensively because she doesn't have a ton of experience fighting against people swinging bludgeons at her (or any, really) but she's hoping maybe if Sai electrifies himself then they can use the zombies carrying and being implanted with metal against them! She might not even need to attack directly at them if their arms stop working.

Manor Lab

"Oh, I guess the wishes are all taken care of, then." Anri says with some amount of relief.
Norael might not be watching her at the time, but immediately after Anri says this she makes a face and gives another hiccup as the floodgates open on the first wish Norael made. Having wished Anri a free djinni, Norael's wish is granted as Anri vanishes from the room, leaving the body behind as promised.

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

Hana may already have some scars like that- on her wrists, from struggling with the shredder manacles.

Selene doesn't try anything, just groaning a little and sighing as Abbi gets to work with her massage. Hana knows how good she is, and the answer is 'very'.

Hana picks up a comic book! It's title is Grognak the Barbarian- Enter Maula: War Maiden of Mars. On the cover is a four-armed red-skinned lady wearing a gold and lapis bra and a skull belt, holding a sceptre with a khopesh-like blade on the bottom. In the background, the eponymous barbarian is holding an axe. Flicking through, it proves quite informative; for one thing, the stances and styles used by the main character and the bad guys are quite accurate. In addition, there's lots of scantily-clad figures running around, though it's never quite nudity, and Grognak manages to defeat Maula, the four-armed lady. Hana might learn how to better use a melee weapon, if she notes the stances; or if she studies how characters hold their weapons, it would make her bat- or any other melee weapon she might get- easier to handle.

[Ironsmith]

[SSGTV]

Though the difference is likely negligible; there's not a lot she can pick up flicking through a comic for ten minutes that she hadn't already learned from several months of mandatory combat training. Granted, she trained with a shock baton and not a baseball bat, so there are some finer points to be had in that regard, at least.

Hana quickly comes to the conclusion that this comic isn't her type. The main character's might-makes-right philosophy doesn't appeal to her. The villains are all tired clichés. And the artist was clearly a dude writing for other dudes; even as much as she appreciated the female form (obviously), the near-nudity still isn't doing much for her.

Still, no accouting for taste. She sets the comic back after a while and waits for Abbi to finish.

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

Well, The Jungle of the Bat Babies is next, also a Grognak comic, and it might be more interesting. Then again, maybe not.

Abbi is as thorough as she was with Hana, so it'll probably be a while before Seline gets up with a groan. "Now that was great. Thank you, Abbi." She stands up and walks over to the wardrobe, pulling out a robe, putting it on and producing some more tokens, which she hands to Abbi. "That was very worth it, thank you."

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

The electrocution worked so well last time because Mina set it up with damaged parts and copious amount of water. This time, well, it still hurts mind you and the smell of sizzling flesh is probably apparent, but it doesn't seem to be damaging the mecha-zombie nearly as much as the minotaur hopes. It's probably that wrench is now affixed into that Mecha-zombies hand for good now though.

It's also apparent that attacking wildly is getting Wrench MZ nothing but pain and suffering. And if it kept going that electricity was going to get through to something important after it was done with the rest of his flesh. With a pained groan, it backs off into the crowd of other mechanic MZs. They all eye Mina warily, keeping their distance for the moment, not willing to jump at her solo. If she goes further into the room though they can attack all at once and try to get her that way.

[Vahnavoi]

[Trust-Worthy Hotel]

"The plan is to find a computer, ideally unattended, from which to watch security tapes, and pray to God we find a clue to follow. Then we sneak out, back the way we came if possible", the bandaged man responds to Hazel as he sneaks downstairs. He stops when he hears those footsteps from below and his head whips to count the doors of the first floor corridor.

Not having all that much time, he hastily walks into the room where the maid is cleaning. "I'm not here, you never saw me, don't say a word and do your job", he says to the maid, hoping they take the hint. Then he presses himself against a wall next to the suite door, hidden from direct view of anyone walking in the corridor. He waits, hoping things go in his favor and that who he presumes to be hotel security walk right past without noticing.