Inside 73: Holiday Rush

[Deathkeeper]

Midnight Park

Artie does not know how to respond to that.
"Did my what? You mean my predecessor? Or my administrator? Because the former told me very fragmented things besides the memories I have been shown, and the latter mostly told me of the basic facts. Not the details, just the cause and the effect."
She is aware it doesn't answer the latter question.
"He made it sound like I'd have to explain why some of them are so worried about this, but it sounds like you already have most of the details."

[Shadowcaller]

Midnight Park

"Yeah, yeah... whatever they call it." Jaahlyn points at the side of her head. "The criminal they put inside of you. What they made you into."

She now gestures at Artie herself.

"Well, in my case I made those demons together with my brother. I even recall loving them like children before the other fey decided they had to be exterminated." She rubs her eyes, suddenly looking a lot more tired than she did a moment ago. "It is... a strange feeling. If you're new you probably don't know your own memories that well yet but for me they're stronger than a lot of my actually lived life. They're the same demons that invaded Riverside that one time. My 'children'. Isn't that funny?"

[5a Violista]

[Silent Night]

Yuvan was the one who asked for the story, so he only has himself to blame.


The pixies begin telling stories, with one essentially repeating June's story but injecting clowns into the story, another talking about a horse in a lake and pirates getting dragged down by seductresses and a giant monster that came out of the sea, and another talking about a giant spider, another complaining that another pixie stole her story, one talking about making a marketplace explode into air bursts and then getting captured in a jar for healing magic purposes, and one that ends up interrupting another, trying to tell the same story but better and asking to get praised for how good her story is.
It's hard to really follow what's going on. Luckily, they're not that loud individually.


June, having already heard the stories, just pays attention to Yuvan.

She blinks.

"Um."
She considers nodding and then replying with gibberish, but then decides against that because it might be rude. "No espeekie," she replies. "Never learned, um..."
June looks up and down Yuvan, and decides his armor looks buglike enough. "Never learned bug language."

[Deathkeeper]

Midnight Park

"Yeah, yeah... whatever they call it." Jaahlyn points at the side of her head. "The criminal they put inside of you. What they made you into."

She now gestures at Artie herself.

"Well, in my case I made those demons together with my brother. I even recall loving them like children before the other fey decided they had to be exterminated." She rubs her eyes, suddenly looking a lot more tired than she did a moment ago. "It is... a strange feeling. If you're new you probably don't know your own memories that well yet but for me they're stronger than a lot of my actually lived life. They're the same demons that invaded Riverside that one time. My 'children'. Isn't that funny?"

Midnight Park

"Right, yes. That would be the reason they're upset." Artesia gazes out the window. "No, I don't remember many things at the moment. I don't think my predecessor fought against me much." The two minds impossibly melded mostly into Artie's benefit without as much of her counterpart forcing their aspects into the conglomerate. Perhaps they wanted to decide what their successor was rather than who? "But I'm here and you know what that means my predecessor probably thought of it. All I remember is hearing about the creation of the demons and the response the Court had. I wasn't there." Artie's predecessor was just another panicking orobou at the office.

[bc56]

Fox Pox Outbreak

When the hostess comes back, the bad news can be given. She's understandably disappointed, but she'll live and maybe find a better way to be foxed.

With all that done, Jade goes to Siana. "I'm sorry about all that. You okay?"

[Rebonack]

[Spirit Bomb]

"You have to stop! You'll kill everyone!"
"No! It's alright, I can control it!"

As it turns out, he couldn't control it.

The flash comes first.

Everyone unfortunate enough to be looking in the direction of the warehouse in one of Inside's industrial districts is blinded by the searing light burning their retinas.

The heat comes second. Roaring flames racing through the neighborhood as the very air itself bursts to flame. Everything that can burn, does. Paint, wood, plants, clothing, flesh.

Finally the shock-wave hits, reducing nearby buildings to burning rubble and shattering windows more distant. Those who were close to the epicenter are blasted into a spray of ashes and dis-articulated bones.

This spasm of violence lasts for only a few brief seconds, but the results are devastating. A boiling crater of glass has been punched into the middle of inside, surrounding by shattered wreckage and ash. Further out buildings burn and sirens blare. The only small mercy is that the nature of Inside has kept the spread of devastation relatively contained. For all the world it looks as if a nuclear bomb just detonated.

Unlike a nuclear bomb there's no fallout.

Instead?

There are ghosts. Shades wracked in the agony of their final fleeting moments, raw manifestations of fear and pain.

And at the center of it all?

A wound in reality roils.

The emergency response teams of Inside are already on the move. This is going to be a long night.


[Arkham Street]

"I don't really do the magic," Regiji replies, declining to try to explain that no this isn't magic. It's just Type III civilization technology. Honestly for all practical purposes it may as well be magic. "I have artifacts that do the magic. I just know how to use them."

That said?

He heads inside.

It's...

A house!

Sort of?

Just looks like a very small, spartan room. Very small for a human, anyway. Pretty good sized for a kobold. At the moment it looks featureless. Just a cylindrical slate grey chamber with a band of softly glowing white light where the walls meet the ceiling.

"Oh, right. Probably reabsorbed all the furniture while I was gone," Regiji muses as he heads over to one of the walls and places his paw against it. A white glow traces itself along the wall and floor, segments rising in little columns of light until a chair has formed! Regiji hops up onto it. "So! Vikk. Here we are. Safe Place."

Standing atop the chair, he pulls open a drawer that definitely wasn't there before and pulls out a little bracelet sized just right for a kobold.

"This if or you. It'll let you get into the Safe Place if we get separated."


[Skyway Zoo]

How would Khannie even know that?

She hasn't ever read a Dragonlance book.

"Well, my dad's a sorcerer too. I got my magic from him. Sometimes sorcerers start getting their magic when they're just kids," Khannie explains. Hers really started being magic-y back when she was ten or so.

Pretty early!

But not totally unheard of.

"I'm really good at illusions! And sorta okay at charms. And mostly bad at transmutations. But I can still do transmutations! Can't get elemental magic to work AT ALL though. That's what my dad is best at."

Khannie moves on the to the next animal enclosure!

The animal in question is a REALLY weird looking one.

But weird as it might be-

"That's just a giant blue water bear," Khannie observes, a little disappointed by it.

[Ironsmith]

[Silent Night]

Yuvan was the one who asked for the story, so he only has himself to blame.


The pixies begin telling stories, with one essentially repeating June's story but injecting clowns into the story, another talking about a horse in a lake and pirates getting dragged down by seductresses and a giant monster that came out of the sea, and another talking about a giant spider, another complaining that another pixie stole her story, one talking about making a marketplace explode into air bursts and then getting captured in a jar for healing magic purposes, and one that ends up interrupting another, trying to tell the same story but better and asking to get praised for how good her story is.
It's hard to really follow what's going on. Luckily, they're not that loud individually.


June, having already heard the stories, just pays attention to Yuvan.

She blinks.

"Um."
She considers nodding and then replying with gibberish, but then decides against that because it might be rude. "No espeekie," she replies. "Never learned, um..."
June looks up and down Yuvan, and decides his armor looks buglike enough. "Never learned bug language."

[Silent Night]

Yuvan gives a little chuckle and replies in a third language, being one very few people in Tamriel who can speak and understand it, thanks to close study with Calcelmo of Markarth. "[No, no. I wouldn't expect you to know this one.]" Yuvan explains in a much softer, gentler, almost sing-songy tone. "That would be the language of the people who originally wore this armor. What I said before was in Dovahzul... the dragon-tongue. It seemed reasonable that you may know a few Words." He tilts his head toward the campfire and takes a deep breath.

"FUS!"

The shockwave sends the flames into a brief fit of chaos, dancing around wildly as they lose their hold on the firewood and frantically try to reclaim it, spitting up burnt bark and boiling sap.

[Morty]

[Fox Pox Outbreak]

Dorota and Sizewell set about to packing up all their equipment and discarding disposable tools and parts. Since the infection is gone, Dorota also takes off her helmet, revealing tussled blonde hair.

[Ironsmith]

Fox Pox Outbreak

When the hostess comes back, the bad news can be given. She's understandably disappointed, but she'll live and maybe find a better way to be foxed.

With all that done, Jade goes to Siana. "I'm sorry about all that. You okay?"

[Fox Pox Outbreak]

"Hm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." Siana smiles up at Jade, looking up from the doodles she's been drawing on a paper placemat to pass the time. "Are you okay? You sound a little less stuffy..."

[bc56]

Arkham Street
"Ooh..." Vikk takes the bracelet. "Vikk gets a magic treasure?" She looks appreciatively at her hand. "Thank you thank you thank you!"

Fox Pox Outbreak
"All this excitement must have cleared up my sinuses a bit. I'll be fine." She looks embarrassed. "Sorry my fox magic nonsense messed up our meeting. There's one more thing we need to do though."

Spirit Bomb
Everyone in a great distance sees that.
For a humble barmaid on her break, it's terrifying. Selekhael watches and finds herself torn.
On one hand, she doesn't want to get involved. It looks dangerous. On the other hand, the rift grates on her supernatural senses, and her quest tracker insists that this is an important thing to fix. She sighs and jumps 5-dimensionally closer to take a look.

[Ironsmith]

[Fox Pox Outbreak]

"Hey, as long as you're willing to put up with vampire nonsense, I'm okay with it." Siana smiles. "I just wish there was more I could have done to help with this. But, um..." She pauses and looks around furitvely before continuing. "What exactly is that other thing we need to do?"

[Shadowcaller]

Midnight Park

"Right, yes. That would be the reason they're upset." Artesia gazes out the window. "No, I don't remember many things at the moment. I don't think my predecessor fought against me much." The two minds impossibly melded mostly into Artie's benefit without as much of her counterpart forcing their aspects into the conglomerate. Perhaps they wanted to decide what their successor was rather than who? "But I'm here and you know what that means my predecessor probably thought of it. All I remember is hearing about the creation of the demons and the response the Court had. I wasn't there." Artie's predecessor was just another panicking orobou at the office.

Midnight Park

"I know more." Jaahlyn confirms with a glance up at Artie. "Things they would love for you to get out of me. But... I or my mind-buddy, I can't really tell the difference anymore, swore to keep it a secret. There are other things I can tell you though if you feel up listening. They've hurt me in so many ways and this is the only way I can hurt them back. Spouting their little secrets to whoever I can tell them to. Which isn't many by the way. Since they told you about the Laws, right? The way we can't tell mortals certain things?"

[Deathkeeper]

Skyway Zoo

Jace can also do transmutations sometimes. Most of the time if he wasn't blowing things up he was casting Haste, though. Good ol' Haste. Nothing beats Haste.
"That's pretty cool. My mom tells fortunes. But she's never done anything extravagant with it." Eh, it's a living.
"And yeah, that's definitely a giant water bear." Mina makes a face of distaste. It's clearly not something she finds terribly pleasant to look at.

Midnight Park

"I was told of the Laws, yes. Though not too many specific. To be frank I wasn't given much information on the ones that could possibly apply to me. Being manifested here makes many of them not apply." She shakes her head.
"And I've already told a few mortals things that they said fey have refused to tell them before. They didn't even know there were Courts, really. So I suppose I haven't hit anything classified yet." She smiles again, this time more mischievously.
"But if you're willing to trust me with gossip I'm game."

[Earl of Purple]

Spirit Bomb

Close enough to hear the blast is a spa. Outside the spa is an ornate carriage pulled by four large horse skeletons, driven by a bulky man wearing a suit and a bowler hat, a plain bronze mask bolted to the front of their face, with only two glowing red eyes to relieve the plain metal. The carriage has not been here long, just long enough for an eight-months pregnant tiefling to be helped out. She's wearing a loose white dress, and she has deep purple skin, pure white eyes with no sign of iris or pupil (she's able to see just fine despite this, however), and six fingers on her left hand. She's being helped out by a young man, slightly older than she is, with dark skin and piercing blue eyes. He's wearing a finely tailored suit and a dark purple tricorn hat, and he has a belt about his waist with a bone-hilted sabre hanging from it.

At the loud noise, he frowns and turns to look. "I'm terribly sorry, my dear, but I fear something has occurred. I will not be joining you immediately; I wish to ensure it remains safe for you here. Go to the spa, relax, and enjoy yourself without me, my dear. Hans, stay outside and keep an eye on what's happening, will you? Make sure Libertine does not follow, and if the road starts collapsing or people start screaming in fear, get her back to the manse safely, will you?" The tiefling sighs at the restrictions, knowing full well they are entirely necessary, as the bronze-faced man climbs down from the driver's seat and pulls a silver-studded cudgel down after, nodding at his master's words.

Happy with his instructions, Benedict turns to the carriage and pulls out an antique plague doctor's mask, a pair of delicate silk gloves, and a bulky modern backpack. Putting the mask on, he heads towards the source of the disturbance.

[5a Violista]

[Silent Night]

June doesn't understand that language either.

"The dragon I spoke to and rode was just speaking this language." Pretty obvious, but...yeah.


When Yuvan uses Unrelenting Force, all the pixies stop and grow silent.
Well, except for the couple that get pushed around from the air.

Then, all of a sudden, they start twittering among each other, saying things like, "He did the fwoooosh!" and "Fwooooooooooosh!" and "Did you see that? He fwoooshed too!"
to which June adds, "Yes, he did fwoooosh."



[Spirit Bomb]

Seraphina coughs out the smoke that's gotten in her throat.
She looks around, notices her leg is under some rubble, and starts removing it from her leg. As she does this, she tries to remember how she got here.
There was a flash of light, insanely bright, reflecting off all the buildings. Then it felt really hot and everything hurt and couldn't breathe, and...luckily, it seems she passed out before anything else happened. She looks up at the sky, trying to see through all the smoke. Drat, she can't even tell how long she was unconscious.

Seraphina looks around.
Literally everything around is destroyed. She can't even see anybody. In the distance, it looks like places are on fire. . .and her leg's almost out.
So, how did she get here? Well...simple. She got lost. The train didn't go to Riverside. Instead, she found herself in Inside. Ended up meeting a homeless person who lived around here...came back to her place, along with her brother, their dog, and one other person. Asked about a map, went over this way with the guy - Bruno - to a stash, he went to check in the building, he brought the dog, and...
And!

Seraphina stops. She looks at the building.
Completely destroyed. No possible way he survived it. "Bruno? Bruno! Can you hear me?" But she survived.
Quiet.
Ugh.
It is unnaturally quiet. Even the burning buildings are too far away to hear. "Bruno! Are you okay? Tap on something if you can hear me!"
She pulls her leg out.

But if things got this bad, how did she even survive? Seraphina starts to wonder. "Bruno!" She digs through some of the rubble, but it's still hot to touch.
Maybe she's just lucky, happened to be far enough from the epicenter and had a building in the way, barely saving her? "Charlemagne? Dog? Can you hear me, boy?" But in every direction, there's destruction. If she had to guess, Seraphina's closer to the center than the edge of the destruction.
Maybe the building was made of a magically strong material? "Bruuuuno! Say something!" But the building's just rubble now. Can barely tell there was even a building here in the first place.
Maybe it only destroyed nonliving things...? But then you'd think she'd see someone. "Hey, is anyone around?"
Maybe Carlotta's prayer earlier somehow helped? "Bruno? Charlemagne?" But then wouldn't it help them, too?
He might've regained consciousness earlier and went back to Carlotta and Bruna for help. June takes a moment, and, giving up on looking around here, goes back to where she thinks the makeshift shelter was.
Maybe it was some kind of...magic? That somehow helped her? Bruna used to be a magician..."Bruna! Carlotta? Can you hear me? You there?"
Maybe she's...extraordinarily lucky? Maybe a combination of reason? "Brunaaaaa!"
Ugh! What's even the point in thinking about this? Why she's okay isn't as important as what happened and is anyone else okay.
"CarLOTta!" Ugh, smoke. Seraphina coughs.

Seraphina continues calling out, until she gets close to the shelter.
Well, it's pretty clearly not a shelter anymore. Just rubble.
"Bru-"

Seraphina spots something.
She freezes.
She covers her mouth to quickly silence herself.
And then, she ducks behind some rubble.
She saw someone. Two someones. Looked like Carlotta and Bruna.
Except...
they were ghosts.
And definitely didn't look like the nice kind. One felt very much in pain and one felt very much like terror.
As nice as they were alive, Seraphina isn't interested in running into ghosts.

She hopes they didn't spot her.

[Shadowcaller]

Midnight Park

Jaahlyn doesn't seem nearly as amused. "'Gossip'?" The inky pools that make up her eyes narrow dangerously. "I suppose that's all it is to you. You're not even from their, my, world, so why should you care? It's not like you can do anything about it." She let's out a small sigh. "Since you do know that their 'demons' are mortals, right? Or were mortals at least, they made themselves more than that. Which is coincidentally how I wanted them to be. Refusing to accept the status quo and their own limitations. To be so much more than what I could make them into." The satyr smiles as if remembering an old memory.

They say the color of melancholy is black so mood goes quite nicely with Jaahlyn's eyes right now. "But..." She shakes her head. "Sorry about that. Whenever I talk about them I just get invaded by these strong loving memories. What I really wanted to say was that because of what happened back then they think the mortals of my world might do the same thing as the demons did. As in, raising above their station. I might not recall much from my previous lives but I've seen the evidence all around me of them attempting to suppress and control mortals. Though if that fails, which I think it might, they will likely strangle the baby in the crib before it has a chance of becoming a threat against their order again." Jaahlyn sits down and makes a dismissive gesture. "So how's that for 'gossip'?"

[Deathkeeper]

Midnight Park

Artie crumbles again as she did in HALO.
"Oh, well. Th-that's..." her eyes drift to the floor, but after a few moments something seems to snap, and she looks back up.
"Let's get a few things straight. That joke was in poor taste. I'm sorry about that. But I am from your world, just like I'm from Atrox. That's what happens when you mash two people together, memories or not. And if you haven't picked up on what I've been hinting at over and over, I've already suffered the utter annihilation of my being for the sake of your children. So not only have I done that, I'm also putting my tail on the line to risk it getting done again because as I've already said, my plan here was to show up and try to help you and your brother despite senior Court members much preferring I put you back in chains. Do you think they're going to take me telling them that the Destroyer made good points well?

I say again, you have every right to be angry. But could we maybe not spend this whole conversation jabbing each other?"

[Ironsmith]

[Silent Night]

June doesn't understand that language either.

"The dragon I spoke to and rode was just speaking this language." Pretty obvious, but...yeah.


When Yuvan uses Unrelenting Force, all the pixies stop and grow silent.
Well, except for the couple that get pushed around from the air.

Then, all of a sudden, they start twittering among each other, saying things like, "He did the fwoooosh!" and "Fwooooooooooosh!" and "Did you see that? He fwoooshed too!"
to which June adds, "Yes, he did fwoooosh."

[Not-So-Silent Night]

And that's another point in the "these pixies are just like his daughters" column. "Yes. Yes, I did." Yuvan confirms. "And that is not all I can do."

After taking a moment to breathe in, Yuvan lifts his head to the sky and bellows:

"YOL... TOOR SHUL!"

A gout of flame pours from his mouth and into the air, bathing the immediate area in a warm orange glow, briefly outshining the campfire. Waves of heat roll over their little campsite, which die away almost as quickly and abruptly as they came, leaving things much the same as they were before.

"...And many more." Yuvan adds, looking back down at June with a smile. "So, too, could you, I suspect. I am willing to teach you. Are you willing to learn?"

[Shadowcaller]

Midnight Park

Jaahlyn falls silent, which might be a good sign here as at least she seems to be considering her next words rather that blurting out some angry rant back at Artie. "I'm not- I wasn't..." She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

When she opens them again they seem to carefully study Artie for a moment. "You remind me of someone. Not in personality but in appearance. Can't say I liked that person after what happened but I shouldn't let that influence my attitude towards you." A beat. "And don't worry, it wasn't your 'predecessor'. Then I'd recognize you instantly. Just one... of the same court." She's being oddly cryptic here.

"So I'm going to tell you the same thing I told them during my trial. I'm not the 'Destroyer'. Me and my brother created the taureh, the 'demons', yes. But it was never our intention that this would happen. They were our children, why would we want to put them in harms way like this? I'm just saying that this is bigger than me and you should probably learn that there's a lot of schemes going around in the world you're about to enter. The fey have a lot of secrets, even to their own."

[Deathkeeper]

Midnight Park

Artie nods slowly.
"I understand that. I was only ever supposed to be a backwater doctor. I didn't ask to come to this place, or get saddled with these Masks. I've only ever done what I thought would help people, both of me. That's why I came here. There are plenty of fey still terrified of you; that's why your brother is suffering for your freedom. I thought perhaps we could find a way to cut off some of that hysteria. If they know that you only did that because your bonds were unfair and not because there's some world-shattering scheme in the works enough might calm down for the remaining to be overruled."
She glances down at herself.
"Well, my past self did like this color scheme if that's what you mean. I don't know if they had any siblings or partners who'd look similar. I haven't really tried to remember what that Me looked like. I would have thought I'd be rather different, having kept my skin and mammal parts." It took a LOT of effort to get her mammal-reptile hybrid biology going in a practical way. And even then it would never work for an actual wide-spread species.

[bc56]

Fox Pox Outbreak
"Remember, my brother is also infected, and in a whole office building full of people. We've got to go help him... After we visit a toy store for some water guns." That probably isn't the answer that was expected.

[Ironsmith]

[Fox Pox Outbreak]

"...Water guns." Siana echoes incredulously. She seems to have missed the part about ordinary water working as a cure for the Pox, so Jade's proposed course of action sounds like absolute lunacy to her.

Buuuuut this is still Jade she's talking to. And it IS the Nexus.

"...Yeah, all right." She concedes with a shrug, standing up and leaning on her cane. "Ready to go when you are."

[Rebonack]

[Spirit Bomb]

Selekhael will notice a few important things right away.

First?

Her objectives.

>Rescue five trapped Critters from the blaze.

She can tell there's something at the epicenter of the explosion, but it's... wrong. Deeply, nauseatingly wrong. Her gaze just sort of slides off it, as though her mind doesn't want to process whatever it is. That will probably be addressed later, but for now there are more immediate concerns to attend to. Selekhael's senses are even kind enough to nudge her in the direction of people who are trapped in burning rubble that she can potentially free.

Well.

Mostly people.

At least one of them is probably someone's kitty.

Within this context sapient and non-sapient Critters aren't really being resolved.


Benedict begins heading into the conflagration. At the outer reaches the damage is minor; a few broken windows here and there. A few minor lacerations from shattered glass. But as he moves deeper into the disaster zone the situation grows increasingly dire. Buildings are badly damaged. Some of them are on fire, the flames threatening to spread. It isn't difficult to ascertain the source of the explosion; just follow the increasingly ruined ruins. What Benedict finds is going to depend largely on what he's looking for. If he wants to help people, there are plenty of those. People burned or dazed from being hurled to the ground by the explosion.

Or.

He could head deeper.

There's clearly some sort of significant spiritual disturbance at the center of this disaster.

No telling what useful things the occultist may be able to glean from it.


Seraphina will quickly discover that the ghosts are dimly aware at best. In spite of her shouting they don't appear to have noticed her. Silently, flickering, they go through the motions of their last few moments of life. Talking. Fetching something? Then blasted over as their forms jitter and distort like a DVD artifact before snapping back to where they started and beginning all over again. A broken memory of people. A recording. And echo. But in spite of that something deep and primal is telling Seraphina that they're something to be afraid of.

How did she survive?

There's nothing but devastation around her.

If she strains her eyes through the smoke she'll be able to make out more phantom shapes flitting through their final seconds.

It would appear as though she's surrounded by nothing but ashes and ghosts.

Then the pile of rubble she's crouching behind shifts.

There's a groan from within.

Considering that all the ghosts have been silent as the grave, maybe this means there's someone alive buried in the rubble?


[Skyway Zoo]

Khannie doesn't know how to cast Haste.

Haste is pretty far above her skill level.

She can manage Mage Hand but that's about it.

"Tells fortunes like real divination or tells fortunes like tricks people into giving her money?" Khannie asks.

She's a clever one, that Khannie.

Anyway, on to important topics. Khannie gestures at the water bear.

"How does this even count as an alien? It's just a regular animal except really big and really blue."


[Arkham Street]

The 'magical treasure' is a matte grey color intersected with lines of white that glow with dull radiance. The make really isn't terribly dissimilar from the outfit Regiji is wearing. Or the building they're in. It seems to be something of a theme with his people, really.

"Yes. Yes you do," he replies, trying his hardest not to smirk at the other kobold's antics. "Just slip that onto your wrist. It's a key, more or less. It'll let you get back into the Safe Place."

He isn't going to trust her with anything more serious than that.

Reason here is pretty simple.

Would you hand a weapon to child?

No?

Then Regiji isn't going to be handing weapons to someone who is, by his standards, a child either.

[bc56]

Fox Pox Outbreak
Jade laughs. "Of course. We've got to get the cure onto any infected we meet somehow. Let's go." One pair of high power water guns later, the pair is standing at the base of a high-rise office building. "I'm a little worried that without supervision, the infected might go feral." Jade, you've never been feral in your life.

Spirit Bomb
See? This is why Selekhael is uncomfortable with all this. Calling people critters is weird and dehumanizing. Also why just 5? Why not all of them?
But she'll follow the tracker to the nearest marker, drawing her khopesh to start digging, one cube at a time.

Arkham Street
That's okay, Vikk already has a weapon! It might not be much by Regiji's standards, but her dagger is both useful and deadly (albeit no more so than any other knife). "Okay! Okay! Vikk keep treasure very safe!"

[Ironsmith]

[Fox Pox Outbreak]

"Then it's sort of fortunate that we're both immune." Siana points out. "All we really have to worry about is... well, everyone else."

Yes Siana, that is the crux of the problem.

"Do you want me to go in first? Since I'm both immune and can grow back anything that might get bitten off?"

[5a Violista]

[Not-So-Silent Night]

Another Shout.
Pixies pause their talking to pay attention
And then, as expected, they start repeating what he said, basically: "You're too cool!" Which makes sense, because after shouting at someone that they're too cool, they warm up. Although, what a few others say he really said was "You're too chill!" which is obviously more correct.

Reacting to the heat, June rotates her arms - making it tough for some of the pixies who were on the arm - to heat up the other side of her arm.
There's a mouth on one of her palms. One that almost certainly wasn't there before.
Of course, she clenches her fist, and it's no longer visible.

"It would be -" June says, pausing and thinking, and then obviously going with the former interpretation of what he said, "cool to learn."
She nods.


[Spirit Bomb]

Seraphina has, in fact, met a ghost before. It made her feel incredibly sick once she got too close to it. The feeling telling her that it would be bad to get close to them is definitely one that she understands. Something's definitely wrong with these ghosts, and getting close won't do anything good.

Trying to be quiet gives her time to look around, which lets her get a better look at the everything around. Seems like she's surrounded by these ghosts. Really, she does start to wonder what happened and how she's okay. There's definitely ash and rubble on her - is any of this ash actually made out of somebody? she wonders - but she doesn't look nearly as singed or torn up as she'd expect. Her legs feel exhausted, but they were feeling that way before. If it wasn't magic, then something miraculous must have happened, but normally miracles still can be explained one way or another.

Seraphina is shaken out of her thoughts, with the noise immediately behind her (and the groan). Did the ghosts notice her and start coming towards her? she immediately wonders. She looks, and sees...no, it's coming from the pile of rubble by her.
"Bru...no?" leaks through her mouth, because (as it turns out) her hand wasn't as good at stopping her voice as she had initially thought.
She turns her body to face the rubble, on her knees. She pulls her hood tighter and sticks her hands in her sleeves, hoping that hiding her skin will somehow stop the ghosts from noticing her as quickly. If they just see person-shaped clothes, maybe they won't recognize that as a person.

Not as loud as she was before, in a more constrained voice, she calls down at the rubble: "Bruno? Please tell me that's you and that you're not a zombie." Ghosts, and then someone started groaning? High likelihood of zombies.

Regardless of the chance of zombie swarms pouring out of a hole that this rubble was covering, Seraphina starts digging and moving rubble off the pile. "Um...groan once if you're a zombie, make some other noise if you need help!" She first focuses on the larger pieces of rubble, and the debris that's on top of other pressing down the most.

[Earl of Purple]

Spirit Bomb

What did these people do for Benedict? Not enough, apparently; he walks past and ignores them all. It's not his job to rescue them; so he won't.

He strides through the rubble, crunching over broken glass and around patches of fire. Some of the smaller ones he'll extinguish by drawing a series of circles and curves in the air, blue light following his finger; when complete, the glyph freezes and flies towards the flames, shattering and scattering cold water over it. The ice isn't much, only working on literally the smallest fires, but there's plenty about. He's quite a threatening figure; a man in a double-breasted waistcoat over a white shirt and straight trousers of the same material as the waistcoat, a tricorn hat and a beaked plague-mask covering his face, hand on a sabre whilst the other occasionally swirls and dabs at the air, leaving a trail of coloured light which then puts out a fire.

[Ironsmith]

[Not-So-Silent Night]

Another Shout.
Pixies pause their talking to pay attention
And then, as expected, they start repeating what he said, basically: "You're too cool!" Which makes sense, because after shouting at someone that they're too cool, they warm up. Although, what a few others say he really said was "You're too chill!" which is obviously more correct.

Reacting to the heat, June rotates her arms - making it tough for some of the pixies who were on the arm - to heat up the other side of her arm.
There's a mouth on one of her palms. One that almost certainly wasn't there before.
Of course, she clenches her fist, and it's no longer visible.

"It would be -" June says, pausing and thinking, and then obviously going with the former interpretation of what he said, "cool to learn."
She nods.

[Not-so-Silent Night]

Exactly like Britte and Sissel, Yuvan thinks to himself.

"Indeed it would." The altmer smiles and tosses another long on the fire, slowly standing back up, his mace clinking against his armor. "In any case, I had best be on my way. Thank you for your hospitality, miss."

As Yuvan turns to leave, he'll stop and scratch something into the cobblestones with his foot; a going-away present that would cost him nothing and likely mean quite a bit to June:



If June stops to read these cryptic scratches, she'll quickly pick up on their meaning; Yol, the dragon-tongue's word for Fire, and the first word of the Fire Breath shout Yuvan had just demonstrated. It seems like a useful word for her to know, even if she'd need to get her hands on another dragon soul before she can use it.

[bc56]

Fox Pox Outbreak
"You say that, but you're still mostly a kid to me. I can take it." That's probably not what Siana wants to hear. "Let's go in at the same time, the doors should be wide enough."

[Ironsmith]

[Fox Pox Outbreak]

"I'm not a ki-" Siana begins indignantly, before letting out a little sigh and dropping the subject. Jade's offering to not have her be a meat shield going in; if not for the motive, she wouldn't have a problem with that. "...You know what, never mind." She leans up against the door, holding her super soaker up against her chest. "On three? On three. One, two..."