Spooktober 2021!

[Ironsmith]

Snack Table
"It's nothing that can't be fixed without a little ingenuity and elbow grease." But skyside? Disability friendly? Unless there was a sudden influx of mermaids, it seems unlikely. "I'm sure I could make an improved version with my tools and some time."

[Snack Table]

Naturally, there was such an influx. Sort of. There was a sudden increase in the number of freed merfolk, at least. Not that Siana would know that.

"You could?" Siana asks, intrigued. "I... don't suppose you'd be interested in actually doing that, would you? I mean, I can fight with my cane just fine, but contract holders tend to take a dim view of a teenage girl with a limp offering her services as a sellsword. It'd be nice to be able to sidestep that."

Braon and Mina

Mina shakes Braon's hand, ignoring the outburst.
"Well, he can't really get any kind of skin as he's a talking object. He'll open up some time. He just needs more time to think of himself more instead of defining himself by his owners." Mina admits. She needs some way to get through to him. She just hasn't found it yet. Maybe she should tell him he's okay to make cow jokes around her if he stops actually insulting her, but maybe he would just abuse that.

[Braon and Mina]

"...That..." Braon facepalms. "...Please tell me you just aren't used to dealing with enchantments. Because believe me, that is the literal opposite of what you want." She sighs and runs her hand down her face.

[Deathkeeper]

Braon and Mina

Mina shakes her hand from side to side.
"Eh, it's not really an enchantment per se...He's got that 'forged by the gods' thing going on."
Actually Sai might have literally been forged by a god. She should ask him about that.

[bc56]

Snack Table
"You're a mercenary?" A rhetorical question. "Then a mechanical brace is what you want. The dress is a bit much for fighting in, don't you think?" Jade considers. "I could definitely make something like that. I'm not sure about a control mechanism though. If you don't mind me asking, how was your leg paralyzed?"

[Ironsmith]

Braon and Mina

Mina shakes her hand from side to side.
"Eh, it's not really an enchantment per se...He's got that 'forged by the gods' thing going on."
Actually Sai might have literally been forged by a god. She should ask him about that.

[Braon and Mina]

Braon shrugs. "Six of one." She says nonchalantly. "The point is, if you want it to work for you, you have to get it to sync up with your wants and needs. Letting it get too much of an ego is how you get magic daggers that stab you in the back. It's why so many enchanters back where I come from don't usually sell their stuff; too much conflict of personality." She sighs. "I mean, I get the sentiment. 'Ooh, it talks, that must make it a person!' But they aren't people. Nobody is stupid enough to put the whole of their being in a hunk of metal, so whatever comes out is less than human by definition."

Snack Table
"You're a mercenary?" A rhetorical question. "Then a mechanical brace is what you want. The dress is a bit much for fighting in, don't you think?" Jade considers. "I could definitely make something like that. I'm not sure about a control mechanism though. If you don't mind me asking, how was your leg paralyzed?"

[Snack Table]

Siana smiles. "I know. I don't exactly look the part, do I? Hence the dress." She giggles.

"My leg? Well, I... I was born, really. It's been like this my whole life." She lifts the hem of her skirt enough that Jade will be able to see it properly; her leg isn't "just" paralyzed, it's twisted grotesquely, like someone took a freeze frame of a bad car accident and decided that's what her leg should look like. "Don't worry, I've long since learned to live with it."

[Deathkeeper]

PMD & CB

"They can be used for labour, yes. Or they can be bodyguards, they can salvage from shipwrecks, and do whatever else you tell them to. Personally, I just build them and sell them." And still ensure they've got a command so they obey him, so if somebody tries to use one of his golems to rob his house or shop, Pontius can stop them. "My magic is also very focused, on building and maintaining animated objects to a mimicry of life." Pontius might be able to make a full-on Warforged, or something similar, but he doesn't because he doesn't like robots and the idea of a golem that can think for itself strikes him as too close to robotics. "What's your speciality? Do you mind telling me?" Codebreaker may want to keep it secret for whatever reason, after all.

PMD & CB

"Ah, it's in the name, really. I run a shrine to a spirit named α who has bestowed upon me his mathematical prowess. Codes, accounting, science advanced enough to be magic, it's all very simple for me. Which ah, has already gotten me into a little bit of trouble. I might need one of those bodyguards some time." CB taps his middle nervously. So far no one has come to follow up on Hana's potential threat but he does know that it might happen. His mysterious benefactor also hasn't contacted him again.

[Braon and Mina]

Braon shrugs. "Six of one." She says nonchalantly. "The point is, if you want it to work for you, you have to get it to sync up with your wants and needs. Letting it get too much of an ego is how you get magic daggers that stab you in the back. It's why so many enchanters back where I come from don't usually sell their stuff; too much conflict of personality." She sighs. "I mean, I get the sentiment. 'Ooh, it talks, that must make it a person!' But they aren't people. Nobody is stupid enough to put the whole of their being in a hunk of metal, so whatever comes out is less than human by definition."

Braon and Mina

Mina smirks.
"But if he was made by a god doesn't that assumption go out the window? A god is more than a person; they can pour just about anything into what they make if they want to." she mentions.

[Earl of Purple]

PMD & CB

"That... does sound quite useful, and I can also see how it would garner enemies." Pontius nods, and thinks a moment. "I might be able to give you a discount, if you'd look over some of my books, make sure there's no money going missing. Do you offer services as a forensic accountant?" If not, that could be something he could do to make some legitimate money. Still make some enemies, though, from employees scooping from the top and such.

[bc56]

Snack Bar
Jade winces. That's particularly bad. "I'm not sure I can help with that. That's pretty bad. Those joints don't even all face the right directions." Her tails droop a little. "Sorry if I got your hopes up. I'm not a miracle worker. I can give it a shot sometime, but I can't promise anything."

[Ironsmith]

Braon and Mina

Mina smirks.
"But if he was made by a god doesn't that assumption go out the window? A god is more than a person; they can pour just about anything into what they make if they want to." she mentions.

[Braon and Mina]

Braon scowls. "...Listen, kid. Nobody likes a smartass." She grumbles. "And I would know. I'm a smartass and nobody likes me."

She takes a moment to seethe before continuing.

"You might not want to get too invested in that theory. A god is several orders of magnitude 'bigger' than us mere mortals, metaphysically speaking. That would leave open the disturbing possibility that your friend is more real than you are. And if you're already having ego problems with him, try pointing that out."

Snack Bar
Jade winces. That's particularly bad. "I'm not sure I can help with that. That's pretty bad. Those joints don't even all face the right directions." Her tails droop a little. "Sorry if I got your hopes up. I'm not a miracle worker. I can give it a shot sometime, but I can't promise anything."

[Snack Bar]

"Eh, they wouldn't be miracles if everyone could do them." Siana shrugs and smiles. "It's still sweet of you to offer. So... thank you, miss." She stops and giggles. "Oh, wow. I just realized I almost contracted you for a leg without even telling you my name first! Wouldn't that have been embarrassing!" She extends her hand. "Siana Redmont." She greets, using her MERC alias. She seemed to be leaning on it more the longer she was away from home.

[bc56]

Snack Bar
"Jade Fisher," Jade replies, using her real name. She shakes the offered hand. "Don't worry about it, I almost made a leg for you without knowing your name!" She laughs along with Siana.

[Deathkeeper]

Braon and Mina

Mina shrugs.
”Real is relative. He’s already called the celestial bureaucracy to ‘help’ once. At least I mostly got an apology for that. Either way I’m stuck with him so I’m not going to start treating him like a slave. That’s just not right.”


Pontius and Codebreaker

Codebreaker blinks but considers the possibility.
”I don’t, but I certainly could. If you don’t have that many workers and you mostly sell a limited number of expensive items it likely wouldn’t even be that much to go through.”
CB has more money than he could ever need but he has found himself being bored with that. A task couldn’t hurt him.

[Morty]

[Pontius and Codebreaker]

Codebreaker is approached by a very small, fuzzy child in a black dragon's costume. Tuskfang doesn't often see Wolfen who aren't his dad, so he's curious. But for now he doesn't intrude on the conversation yet.

[Ironsmith]

Snack Bar
"Jade Fisher," Jade replies, using her real name. She shakes the offered hand. "Don't worry about it, I almost made a leg for you without knowing your name!" She laughs along with Siana.

[Snack Bar]

"Ha! I guess you did!" Siana giggles. "...Ah. That would be nice, though. Just being able to walk like anyone else does." She taps the shaft of her bident to the skirt of her dress, producing a hollow clacking sound as the wooden weapon hits up against the hoops in her skirt. "...You mentioned an option that was too elaborate for a costume, but what about day-to-day stuff? What did you call it, 'cybernetics'?" She frowns, being unfamiliar with the term for the most part.

Braon and Mina

Mina shrugs.
”Real is relative. He’s already called the celestial bureaucracy to ‘help’ once. At least I mostly got an apology for that. Either way I’m stuck with him so I’m not going to start treating him like a slave. That’s just not right.”

[Braon and Mina]

Braon scoffs. "Well, of course you don't treat him like a slave." The fiendling waves her hand dismissively. "Slaves rebel. Slaves are kept in line only through the threat of violence. Are you going to threaten to break him every time he disobeys you? How stupid would that be?" She shakes her head slowly. "No, no, and no. You have to treat him like an extension of yourself, not a slave. If you go somewhere, take him with you. If you love something, show him how to love it. If you hate someone, let him see why. Your end goal is to sync up enough that he does what you want as you want it, because in a sense, he's you."

[Earl of Purple]

PMD, CB, TF

"Seventeen workers, and I don't sell much. Isn't much demand, which is a pity. I love the act of creation, shaping the raw materials to see what lurks within, and then animating it to walk around, do whatever it's told... artwork, moving and self-articulating artwork." Pontius really does enjoy what he does. To demonstrate, he produces a piece of paper- standard sized printer paper- and starts to fold it. He's quite a good paper-folder, and a lion is quite quickly taking form. His chair is lowering as he folds it, and when complete he'll blow into its mouth. Its tail starts to lash, and it wiggles its legs around.

[bc56]

Snack Table
"It's beyond what I can do, but cybernetics would be to replace your leg with a mechanical one, hooked up to your nervous system so it functions just like a normal leg." It sounds to Jade like Siana might be interested in that. "But it's very expensive, and, as I said, I can't do that."

[Lord Magtok]

Arrivals - Knights of the Ark

Arrivals - Immutable Exuberance

Meanwhile out at the castle's grand entrance, the doors to one of the carriages burst open as a white-haired catgirl steps out with a great deal of cheer, purple eyes glittering with excitement. She's an older woman, clad in a pale green dress whose skirt only extends halfway down the thigh while the top connects to a black choker and leaves the shoulders bare. A doctor's coat hangs loosely off the shoulders as she looks around and back behind her, waiting for her partner to follow along.

"I can't explain why, but it really feels like ages since I've been out to one of these! Seems you folks haven't lost an ounce of spirit for em." Caelynn smiles back at Magtok. There's a mischievous little glint in her eye. "I think whoever's hosting this year could probably rival your flair for the dramatic."

"Eh, if you've seen one spooky magical castle you've seen them all," a familiar voice hidden deep within a strange helmet answers dismissively. We might not be able to see his face in there, or really anything at all but the faint glow of his left eye, but even so, his bruised ego couldn't be more transparent. The very idea of somebody equaling his showmanship, how dare she! Heresy, blasphemy, madness! Maybe he'll call dibs on Spooktober next year, just to prove her wrong!

A hand reaches out for the catgirl's own, as a cyborg dressed as a certain faceless mobile game protagonist steps forward, and the hooded helmet turns to survey the landscape around them. Okay fine, the animated orchestra is a nice touch. The headless suits of armor, too. Floating candles and jack o'lanterns are fine as well, I guess. Okay, maybe it'd take a little bit more effort than we expected to match this level of spectacle. There's plenty of people who've never hosted even one Spooktober though, so it wouldn't be that fair to snatch it away from them. Bette to not call dibs after all, especially for such a petty reason. We could obviously do better, it'd just be a chore to go out of our way to prove it. Yeah, that's why we're not doing it, out of magnanimity and laziness, not because this spooky castle is actually good.

"Still not sure how to feel about this costume idea, by the way. On the one hand, from afar, nobody will be able to tell it's me, but on the other hand, nobody will be able to tell it's me," he remarks. It should be so much easier to avoid weirdos like Ithuriel and the other MagClones, sure, but how are the commonfolk supposed to look at him and immediately feel an overwhelming sense of inferiority and humility like they usually do? Then again, how many other spooky hooded people always seen in the company of catgirls are there in the Nexus? Even the dumbest plebeians should know enough about the world's greatest supervillain to have a good guess at to who's hidden within that helm.

[Deathkeeper]

Pontius and CB

CB doesn't notice the child nearing them. "Well, that's a shame. It's a beautiful talent." he says with a nod, grinning at Pontius' little trick.

Braon and Mina

Mina tilts her head.
"Now that sounds like slow brainwashing. Still, I'll think about it. I need to go look for snacks." Mina tries to go looking for anything from the snack bar she's capable of eating.

[Ironsmith]

Snack Table
"It's beyond what I can do, but cybernetics would be to replace your leg with a mechanical one, hooked up to your nervous system so it functions just like a normal leg." It sounds to Jade like Siana might be interested in that. "But it's very expensive, and, as I said, I can't do that."

[Snack Table]

"...Ah." Siana sighs, a little put out by this response. Jade just gave her what sounded like the ideal solution to her leg problem, then promptly explained why that wouldn't actually work. Hopes up and crushed in ten seconds flat. "...It's just as well. Even if you could afford it, I kind of... can't." She shrugs. "Money's tight and getting tighter." It didn't help that she was spending most of it paying off a percieved debt, even though someone else had agreed to take it on for her and the person she was indebted to cleared it. She might be a fiendling now, but she was still going to do the honorable thing, dammit!

"...So, um..." She shuffles nervously, before hastily re-balancing on her bident, as the gesture was nearly enough to knock her over. "What do you do for a living, Miss Fisher?" She asks suddenly, changing the subject. "Is it more of this, or is making legs for crippled girls more of a hobby?" She jokes.

Braon and Mina

Mina tilts her head.
"Now that sounds like slow brainwashing. Still, I'll think about it. I need to go look for snacks." Mina tries to go looking for anything from the snack bar she's capable of eating.

[Braon and Mina]

"Slow enchanting." Braon insistently corrects. She sighs and watches Mina wander off, internally berating herself for her terrible conversation skills. She's not used to talking to people just... normally. She was usually insulting or flirting with them. Sometimes both. Whenever she tried something else, something like this usually happened, and...

You know what? No.

Braon frowns and picks up a nearly-bare grape cluster from a little bowl on the table. This is a party, she's here to meet people and have fun. She can put a little more effort in, just this once.

The tiny vine seems to agree. By the time she reaches Mina, it's miraculously started to bear fruit again, each of which is covered in a tantalizing dew to emphasize how large and sweet they must be. "Need something like this?" Braon asks, holding it out to her.

[Earl of Purple]

PMD, CB, TF

"Indeed, it can really bring a smile to people's faces." Pontius smiles himself, before turning to Tuskfang. His chair takes a few steps towards the woblin and Pontius holds out his hands with the paper lion on them. "Here you are, lad. A kitty, made of paper." The paper lion hops off Pontius' hands and takes a few steps towards Tuskfang, a little wobbly, and opens its mouth to roar. It is unfortunately plain white paper, though maybe Tuskfang or somebody could colour it in. "Try to keep it dry, cats don't like water." And also it's made of paper.

[Felandria]

Felandria has arrived at the party, this year she decided to see What If she came dressed as Captain Carter.

Spoiler

Show

And walking next to her is Reginald, wearing a little false beak make out of felt, along with little felt wings and felt webbed feet slippers, because he is dressed as the Goose.

She brings Reginald over to the snacks to find him a little something to nibble on.

[Zefir]

[Arriving of the mice]

Mr. C has decided to dress up, even if he choose a slightly strange costume. He decided to go as a mice, using grey paper and a pink ball for the nose and some mice ear from a questionable store. (Who sells XXXXXS mice ears?). That took most of his budget away so he shoos to take a tail from a stuff animal mice and put it on. The skin was the easiest part. He is a cameleon after <all so he just changes to a grey color.

Instead of taking the front door, Mr C finds himself entering through a rathole, which defnitly was there a moment ago. For some unknown reason he has to say "squek" all 5 seconds which sure draws attention. A few NPC woman shriek up as they hear it, might not be the best choice.

[Morty]

[Pontius and CB]

Tuskfang gasps when he sees the paper toy move. He picks it up, carefully, afraid he'll crumple it if he's too quick.

"Wow. Thanks mister," he says, grinning. His tail wags under the costume. Then he looks at the person he came here to see. "Are you a Wolfen, mister?"

[bc56]

Snack Table
"I guess you could call helping people a hobby. But I don't actually have a job anymore. My brother and I patented some tech which will give us a pretty steady income for the next 15-ish years, and we spend a lot of time working on more stuff to extend that." That probably makes even less sense to Siana than anything else which has been described.

[Ironsmith]

[Snack Table]

Siana blinks as she tries to process that. They didn't have a patent system where she came from; it wasn't needed, with new technology being relatively rare and most people generally honest enough to not steal each other's work. More importantly, royalties were something of a one-definition term there, so she might have trouble grasping how they could have a steady source of income from-

"Oh! You guys are inventors! Cool!" Siana grins.

Okay, maybe not that hard a time. She has been in the Nexus a while, she knows what "tech" means and she can kind of guess at the rest from there, at least enough to keep up the conversation.

"So... what did you make that's got you set up for fifteen years?"

[Deathkeeper]

Pontius, CB and Tuskfang

CB blinks at the question. Right, wolfen. That's what it says on his paperwork.
"Yeah, that's right. Any reason in particular you wanna know?" he asks. Something tells him that there's definitely going to be a follow-up question.

Snack Table

Mina seems unsure of the grapes being held in her face, particular due to the costume of the person offering them.
"Uh, maybe? I was thinking of looking at the sugary stuff first. I can still have that as long as it's not too crazy."
Being herbivorous stuff. Chocolate doesn't seem to be on the table. Complex carbs are fine, sugars are fine. Sai barely paid attention to cuisine since Tarr was mostly eating travel food so he's barely any help and a lot of Nexus minotaurs are omnivorous so finding information on the subject is surprisingly difficult without trial and error.

[Earl of Purple]

Pontius, Codebreaker and Tuskfang

The paper is quite stiff, a bit like thin card than printer-paper, and also magically reinforced to make it tougher.

"You are most welcome, young man." Pontius smiles as the paper lion (tiger would have been punnier; Earl did not think of that sooner) is scooped up, and it roars in Tuskfang's arms.

[bc56]

Snack Table
In response to Siana's question, Jade begins fiddling with her watch. It projects out a holographic display with the time, a login page, and the other things you might see on the lock screen of a smartphone. "More the hardware than the software. Reactive light projection. It's solid enough to touch and detects stimuli well enough to use as an interface."

[Morty]

[Pontius, CB and Tuskfang]

"My dad is a Wolfen," Tuskfang says with all the innocent earnestness of a young child. "But his family live far away and I don't meet other Wolfen often. Um, I'm Tusfkang." He reaches out his hand towards Codebreaker hesitantly, as if repeating something he's been taught.

[Ironsmith]

Snack Table

Mina seems unsure of the grapes being held in her face, particular due to the costume of the person offering them.
"Uh, maybe? I was thinking of looking at the sugary stuff first. I can still have that as long as it's not too crazy."
Being herbivorous stuff. Chocolate doesn't seem to be on the table. Complex carbs are fine, sugars are fine. Sai barely paid attention to cuisine since Tarr was mostly eating travel food so he's barely any help and a lot of Nexus minotaurs are omnivorous so finding information on the subject is surprisingly difficult without trial and error.

[Snack Table]

Braon shrugs. "All right, more for me then." She says, trying not to sound too insulted. She reaches out and plucks a grape off the vine, then pops it into her mouth.

And immediately makes a face.

"Adea above, that's awful." Braon spits, sending the half-chewed grape to the floor. "Eugh. It tastes like mold and desperation." Unsurprising, given who the grapes take after, really. Braon tosses the remaining vine into the trash can, thoroughly disappointed in how they'd turned out.

"...So. Sugary stuff, you say." Braon begins again, her hand gravitating toward a plate of pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies.

Snack Table
In response to Siana's question, Jade begins fiddling with her watch. It projects out a holographic display with the time, a login page, and the other things you might see on the lock screen of a smartphone. "More the hardware than the software. Reactive light projection. It's solid enough to touch and detects stimuli well enough to use as an interface."

[Snack Table]

In her time in the Nexus, Siana had ample opportunity to see magic at work. She'd also gotten to see a lot of advanced technology, and owned a phone herself. This was the first item she'd seen that did not fit neatly into one category or the other. "...Whoa." She gawks, reaching out to run her fingers along the clock in the display. "...That... is pretty cool. How does that even work? It's not magic, is it?"

[Deathkeeper]

Pontius, CB and Tuskfang

”My family is far away, too. There’s some other wolfen where I live but they’re not very nice people so I don’t talk to them much.” Except Surfrider. He’s not a bad person. Just kind of annoying.
Still, CB doesn’t have too much problems bending over to shake the boy’s hand.
”You’re not here all alone, are you?”

Braon and Mina

Mina winces at being proven right like that.
”Yeah, so far butter seeeems to be fine for me? I really wish I’d gotten instincts and facts with this body but I didn’t so I’m winging it.” she says, shrugging her big shoulders as she goes for some ghost shaped cookies.

[Earl of Purple]

Pontius, Codebreaker and Tuskfang

"I'm going to leave you fine fellows to it and grab a drink. So long, and have a good evening." Pontius nods his head and his chair dips forward in a sort-of bow, and then he'll go over to the snack table.