Inside 73: Holiday Rush

[Shadowcaller]

Midnight Park

Artie nods with a smile.
”That is almost certainly who I’m looking for. I should go seek her immediately. We’ve only met once before but I certainly hope we’re at least almost friends. You have been a wonderful help.”
If the gardener doesn’t have more to add Artie will head further in to investigate this court and its Princess’ seneschal.

Midnight Park

As the two are moving towards the court they might notice a small group of rats by the side of the road which are staring as menacingly as they can (which is not very) at Artie.
Indeed, they might find this an adorable sight despite that one rat is even pointing at Artie with its little paw.

[bc56]

Fox Pox Outbreak
"I can make a little fire and turn into a fox. Beyond that, I don't really know what I'm capable of. Not swimming, though. If I'm submerged in water, my powers are negated," Jade offhandedly mentions. She clearly doesn't think any of that is relevant. But she also doesn't know anything about magic.

[Vahnavoi]

[Glass Lake Penitentiary]

Hazel didn't really keep much in her cell. She doesn't seem to be the type to care much about worldly goods; it's essentially as empty as it was when she came in, with two exceptions. First, "Hazel" will find a dirty magazine under the pillow, which seems to draw an implicit connection between the ability to draw in and graphically bed attractive women, and the ownership/good maintenance of a beefy motorcycle. One of the guards goes to confiscate this item, only to have his hand slapped away by the other. It's risqué, but not quite contraband and "Hazel" can keep it if she behaves herself.

The other thing she'll find is a folded-over piece of notebook paper and a pen, with the words "[Poop] List" scrawled across the top and a number of names, most of them crossed out and a few repeated, written beneath it. The guards will permit this as well; Hazel's idea of getting revenge on someone in this prison generally amounted to putting sand in their trousers; irritating, but harmless and ultimately unactionable. Between that and having a shiving epidemic, the warden seemed to prefer the former.

"Hazel" laughs out loud both at the contents of the dirty magazine and the guards' reactions to it. She eventually puts it right back where it was, wiping tears from her eyes. It's amusing, but useless.

The "poop list" is slightly more interesting. She goes through it several times, trying to memorize the names. Many of them say nothing to her, but it doesn't hurt to check if there are any familiar ones there. Once done, she crumples the list and throws it in the trash.

Then she just lays on her bunk and stares at the roof. Real Hazel's disregard for trinkets has left her with little to work with. It means she'll have to gather materials herself or repurpose some of the cell furniture. Difficult, almost certainly annoying, but doable, unless the detective comes back with some new crazy trick in his bag.

[Rebonack]

[Midnight Park]

The pony will wave as Artie departs.

Equestrians waving always looks kind of weird.

Typically involves them sitting on their haunches like some sort of weird dog and waving with one of their front feet. They're uncannily flexible. Some insist it's because they're made of marshmallows but that's obviously a stereotype. Most equestrians are made of meat.

Anyway!

Hometree isn't hard to find, what with it being the largest tree in the center of the park by no small margin.

The thing is huge. Sky scraper sized, easily.

And as always it is quite busy here! Lots of equestrians busy with their own little tasks. Artie will receive more than a few friendly hellos since she's a new face here and they don't get that many non-equestrian visitors. She may be able to inquire of the secretary in the lobby. Or who knows! Maybe The Goat just so happens to be nearby. This is the Nexus after all and coincidences like that happen all the time.


[Skyway Zoo]

Khannie turns away from the food cart to go check out some animals from Alpha Centurai only to pause abruptly when she discovers her path is being blocked by that ginormious cow lady again. She's pretty sure it isn't intentional. The cow lady is just huge. Man, she probably hits her horns on things a lot, doesn't she? The girl eyes the minotaur for a few moments, grappling with the notion that she's seen her somewhere before.

Then it hits her like a sucker-punch from a really rude Sneasel.

"Wait, you're the lady from the parking lot video that got uploaded the other day on Paragon," Khannie declares, her voice just loud enough for the minotaur to probably realize that she's talking to her. "Your costume was really bad. I wouldda guessed that you had a hero transformation or something but just your horns look different."

Strictly speaking Khannie's Olympia alter-ego shouldn't disguise her that well, either. But there's magic involved. Magical Girl Magic. People just don't recognize her.

[Deathkeeper]

Midnight Park

Artie waves to the rats, completely oblivious to anything that they might indicate. Clearly friends of the ponies. And pointing, how cute. Don't think about how they taste.

She continues on to the tree though. If the rats were supposed to deter them she does not piece that together.
Once inside she'll be inquiring about Jaahlyn and the Princess' seneschal for whom she has a message for.

Skyway Zoo

The lady turns to look down at Khannie. She sure is big alright. And yet somehow she still isn't even in the running for biggest cowperson in the Nexus. The tauren from Azeroth can still beat her (if they're the ones from the comics and books and not the ones from the MMO who are shrunk down for player convenience) in that.
She raises an eyebrow at Khannie's insight.
"You always start a conversation by insulting people? What's bad about it? It's not supposed to be a disguise or anything. It's just a gi and some bindings, really." It's actually not a gi because that's a very specific article of clothing but the idea is close enough.

[Ironsmith]

[Skyway Zoo]

Besides, it's not like you're trying for a disguise. You're not one of those heroes that needs a mask to get things done. Neither was Tarr.

...Actually, did I ever ask about that? I don't think I actually asked. Whoops.

[Shadowcaller]

[Midnight Park]

One of the rats make a throat-slitting motion across its own throat before the tiny swarm scatters into different directions.
How weird!

[Rebonack]

[Midnight Park]

Huh.

That's some really odd rat behavior.

Anywho!

Secretary time!

"Oh, hello there!" the pony behind the desk says, smiling sweetly. "Welcome to Hometree. Could I get your name and the purpose of your visit, please?"

The unicorn lights his horn, floating a pen up in the air as he eagerly awaits Artie's answer.

Gotta write down information on all the visitors. The people of Midnight Park need to know why all their friends are stopping by. Also this really helps the secretary direct said friends to where they need to go!

What will Artie tell the secretary?


[Skyway Zoo]

"Not always but I'm a super-hero connoisseur," Khannie retorts, trying to sound as fancy and refined as possible, striking a little pose of what she imagines a connoisseur would stand like. Then she drops the act and smiles all huge, bouncing her little balled fists. "What's your super-hero name? No one at Paragon had seen you before. What sort of powers have you got? I can update your profile on the site if you want!"

Man, this sure is cool.

Sure, Khannie does super stuff.

And she personally knows some super heroes, too.

But that doesn't halt her fangirling over super heroes. Not even slightly.

"Oh, right, I'm Khannie!" she says

"I'm Maridia!" the fairy dragon on her shoulder adds, spraying churro crumbs everywhere.

[Morty]

[Fox Pox Outbreak]

"Hmm. Interesting. Unfortunately, submerging you or the patients in water to see if they change back to their natural shape would be impractical." Dorota taps the glass in which the potion is being prepared. "But it could be a clue. And if this place has a bathtub, maybe it is worth a try."

[bc56]

Fox Pox Outbreak
"I didn't think of that. We can try it." Jade shudders. She really hates being underwater, but just this once she can subject herself to that for the greater good. "You can bathe me in a good-sized sink." It seems unlikely that the restaurant will have a bathtub though.

[Deathkeeper]

Midnight Park

Hm. Time to put things diplomatically.
"Recently your Princess accepted a new member into her Court. It is very urgent that I speak with your new member, as a friend of hers is in danger. I ah, also have a message to deliver to the Princess, but it is less urgent."
That should be clear enough without setting off a million rumors.

Skyway Zoo

Alright, there it is. The girl clearly means no harm, just being a (slightly judgmental) kid. Mina bends down a little.
"The other day was my test run. Prove to me and Sai that we could do it. So I haven't picked a name yet. Especially because we didn't actually try to disguise me. You think I should do that?" she's actually asking her sapient weapon, but Khannie might think she's being addressed.
"My name is Mina Tososora. I punch things really good, and Sai can control everything related to storms." With more than a few weeks' practice Mina will likely be able to slowly unlock more of her body's potential as she can learn the finer points of Sai's martial arts. But she won't be able to Jump Good or do any Stunning Fists without Sai just yet.

[Rebonack]

[Skyway Zoo]

"YES!" Khannie replies, eyes wide. "A good costume and a good super hero name are REALLY important! If you haven't got those then you aren't a super hero. You're just some weirdo who like punching jerks."

And while there isn't always anything wrong punching jerks there is a BIG difference between a super hero punching super villains and a regular person just going around and punching people.

"Secret identities are really important. What if a bad guy figures out who you are and tries to hurt people who know you? That's the sort of thing bad guys will do sometimes so you don't want to give them the chance."

No one has tried to hurt Khannie's family, that's for sure.

Honestly they would probably have a pretty bad time if they tried.

Her dad and her uncle aren't exactly defenseless.

"So you do storms and punching? Hmm... what about... Storm Fist! Or Tempest! Or Thunder Hoof!" Khannie suggests.

"Were you talking me?" asks a pegasus pony who happened to be winging past. She's got a big grey storm cloud emblazoned on her flank.

"Umm... no, sorry. Just talking about super hero names with my friend here," Khannie replies.

"Oh! That's fun! Thunder Hoof is a pretty great name, if you ask me. You two have a nice time!" the pony says. Then she's off!

"Maybe not that last one," Khannie reasons. "Someone might think it's a pony name."

[Morty]

[Fox Pox Outbreak]

"In a sink... oh. You mean in your fox form. But wouldn't you revert to your human form if submerged?" Dorota asks.

[bc56]

Fox Pox Outbreak
"Nope. Believe it or not, the fox is my true form." She pauses. "I should warn you, I'll be stuck in that shape until I dry out, so I won't be much help." Not that Jade is much help in her humanoid shape either.

[Morty]

[Fox Pox Outbreak]

Dorota folds her arms across her chest, thinking for a moment.

"Hmm. That's true, but it might be a risk we need to take. It would take some time to administer the potion to all the patients, and we would have no idea how to make you stop spreading the transformation."

[bc56]

Fox Pox Outbreak
"Okay then. Let's do it," Jade answers. Her voice comes from much closer to the floor. In a moment where she wasn't being watched, Jade transformed completely into a nine-tailed red fox. She pads towards the kitchen. "You'll have to help me up."

[Morty]

[Fox Pox Outbreak]

Well, that's awkward. But she said it's necessary so she can't back down now. Dorota will fill the sink with water, pick Jade up and lower her into it. Now let's hope it works.

[Deathkeeper]

[Skyway Zoo]

"YES!" Khannie replies, eyes wide. "A good costume and a good super hero name are REALLY important! If you haven't got those then you aren't a super hero. You're just some weirdo who like punching jerks."

And while there isn't always anything wrong punching jerks there is a BIG difference between a super hero punching super villains and a regular person just going around and punching people.

"Secret identities are really important. What if a bad guy figures out who you are and tries to hurt people who know you? That's the sort of thing bad guys will do sometimes so you don't want to give them the chance."

No one has tried to hurt Khannie's family, that's for sure.

Honestly they would probably have a pretty bad time if they tried.

Her dad and her uncle aren't exactly defenseless.

"So you do storms and punching? Hmm... what about... Storm Fist! Or Tempest! Or Thunder Hoof!" Khannie suggests.

"Were you talking me?" asks a pegasus pony who happened to be winging past. She's got a big grey storm cloud emblazoned on her flank.

"Umm... no, sorry. Just talking about super hero names with my friend here," Khannie replies.

"Oh! That's fun! Thunder Hoof is a pretty great name, if you ask me. You two have a nice time!" the pony says. Then she's off!

"Maybe not that last one," Khannie reasons. "Someone might think it's a pony name."

Skyway Zoo

Mina waves cheerfully to the pony.
"Well, my previous incarnation was named She Who Grapples the Heavens but it's a bit of a mouthful." she says with a chuckle.
"I'll work on it. And maybe we can add a mask or something." If Mina tried she'd probably find out that she doesn't need to see to fight.
"So...you're a fan of this stuff?"

[Rebonack]

[Midnight Park]

The secretary raises his eyebrow at the reply.

"Our newest member? That would probably be somepony down in the Gloom. Or, no, you said accepted. I think I know who you mean," the secretary replies, jotting down information in his little visitor's log. "I'll still need you name, miss. Rules are rules."

And rules are important!

They're the glue that holds society together.

Even societies of pastel ponies.

Wonderful horse-free social glue.

"The Princess isn't in today. If you like I can transcribe the message for her and have it delivered to her."


[Skyway Zoo]

Khannie opens her mouth.

Then closes it again.

Maridia begins stretching toward Khannie's churro to sneak a bite of it while she's distracted, but the girl is wise to the fairy dragon's trickery.

"Yeah that's not a great super hero name. I don't remember you doing much heaven-grappling in the video. Mostly just punching stuff. You want something catchy! Something that rolls off the tongue and people will remember! Like The Spectacular Spiderwoman! Alliterative names are great if they've got more 'n one word in 'em," Khannie explains enthusiastically. "Or just one word names that have got impact! Like Tempest! That one's good since it's a stormy name AND kind of a punchy name."

Khannie's moving while she's talking, heading toward the next animal enclosure.

"Am I? Super heroes are the BEST. I spend a lot of time on Paragon watching videos and doing discussion especially since I'm thirteen which means I'm allowed to use the forum for real now," Khannie says before stopping in front of an enclosure and peering over the double fence into the habitat below. "Is that even a real alien? It just looks like a baboon with a squid for a head. Like someone made it up."

[bc56]

Fox Pox Outbreak
"On second thought, maybe we shouldn't... YIPE!" Jade splashes into the water. She paddles to keep her head above water long enough to take a deep breath and then dive under. She comes up a moment later, but doesn't say anything.

None of the infected in the room appear to be affected.

[Ironsmith]

"Hazel" laughs out loud both at the contents of the dirty magazine and the guards' reactions to it. She eventually puts it right back where it was, wiping tears from her eyes. It's amusing, but useless.

The "poop list" is slightly more interesting. She goes through it several times, trying to memorize the names. Many of them say nothing to her, but it doesn't hurt to check if there are any familiar ones there. Once done, she crumples the list and throws it in the trash.

Then she just lays on her bunk and stares at the roof. Real Hazel's disregard for trinkets has left her with little to work with. It means she'll have to gather materials herself or repurpose some of the cell furniture. Difficult, almost certainly annoying, but doable, unless the detective comes back with some new crazy trick in his bag.

[Glass Lake Penitentiary]

Most of the names do look familiar; Ellie appears a couple of times, culminating in the last instance of her name being circled, with the word "TRUCE" scrawled next to it in bold letters. Jackie's name appears exactly once, and never again. Mandy's name seems to be every other entry; Hazel had it in for her, it seems. Almost as frequent as a Lieutenant Ambil; apparently, the two butted heads quite frequently. Then there's someone just listed as "Amber", who appears twice, near the top of the list, and never again; unique in being the only person to come up more than once who still seems to square things with her quickly. Apart from them, the rest of the names seem to be a myriad of people around the prison; most prisoners, but the occasional guard, too.

While she's staring at the ceiling and trying to form a plan, "Hazel" will likely find the layout of the prison to be pertinent. Hazel's cell (and by extension, "Hazel"'s) is in the western wing of the C-shaped building that houses all of the prison cells. The building has four exits; three that lead out into the yard, and one that leads out back toward the prison entrance. The southern part of the building, that bridges the two wings, also contains the visitation centers and interrogation rooms, one of which "Hazel" has already been to multiple times. Each cell block also has a designated shower block, at the far end of the wing.

Meanwhile, the interior portion of the "C", surrounded on three sides by the building itself, is the prison yard; a square-shaped space with a few barebones amenities designed to promote fitness, including a basketball half-court, a fenced-off area with weights and benches, and a quartet of tetherball poles.

Then there's the cafeteria, a hexagonal building just outside the "C" area, with six entrances facing out into the yard, designed to minimize the time needed to move a large number of convicts in and out of the building. "Hazel" will also know that the prison's laundry, janitorial services, kitchens, and wood and metal shops are located in this building, all of them below ground, but since she's never personally been down there, the exact details of where each of those rooms are and their contents won't be well-known to her.

Finally, this part of the complex is surrounded on three sides by a large body of water; the "Glass Lake" after which the facility is named. "Hazel" will have heard rumors that the lake is enchanted, and anyone attempting to swim across it to freedom will summarily be frozen; non-lethally, as only magic can do, but it makes for an effective isolation barrier from the rest of the world... assuming, of course, that the rumors are true. They could just as easily be a psychological deterrent.

"Hazel" will also know that the natural land bridge where the lake doesn't surround the prison leads up to staff-only areas, including the entrance she was brought through. The prison's offices, barracks, armory, garage, and other such facilities are all located here, but much like the employment section, "Hazel" won't be privy to the details, having never walked around the inside.

Of course, that's all more of the big-picture sort of information. Hazel's cell is more what she'll see immediately; a small room with solid walls on three sides, the fourth wall being composed of steel bars with a sliding door. The door is locked electronically at night; picking it won't be an option, but it can be opened if "Hazel" gets her hands on one of the guards' keycards (which are obviously tracked, and their usage logged). She doesn't have a lot of furniture in here; there's the bunk bed, which is bolted to the wall, her desk, which is bolted to the floor, and the contents of a water closet in the back of the cell, which has a pull-over curtain for privacy. The desk can be locked, and "Hazel" will have the key, but the warden and staff will all also be equipped with a master key that can open it; she won't be able to hide anything in there from anyone but the janitors.

Knowing that, perhaps "Hazel" can piece together an escape plan?

[Morty]

[Fox Pox Outbreak]

"On second thought, maybe we shouldn't... YIPE!" Jade splashes into the water. She paddles to keep her head above water long enough to take a deep breath and then dive under. She comes up a moment later, but doesn't say anything.

None of the infected in the room appear to be affected.

"Well, that didn't work." Dorota can't hide her disappointment. "We could try if submerging them would reverse the transformation... but that presents obvious logistical problems."

[bc56]

Fox Pox Outbreak
Jade tries and fails to climb out of the slippery sink. She looks and smells like a wet fox. She nods. She hopes Dorota realizes she can't speak in this form without magic.

Sewers
A small pile of rubble is pushed aside. A head pokes forth from the revealed hole, small, scaly, and brown. "Oh! Vikk's safe place goes to new place? Vikk not been here before!" The kobold pulls herself out of the hole completely, and drags a patchwork satchel out after her, full to the brim with bits of plant and fungus, dead insects, and other such items. "Maybe Vikk find more tasty mushrooms?" She starts walking down the old sewer corridor, humming to herself along the way.

Abandoned Hospital
Carmen remembers she can just remove the cursed statue from the robot's chest compartment. If she does so, it will be dormant again.

But more pressingly, as she follows the way the robot came from, she arrives at a large, round room. A pair of very large reinforced double doors stand at one side. Lining the walls between there and here, however, are more of the robots, 5 of them. They seem to be inactive, hanging in complex mechanical cradles... But appearances can be deceiving.

[Rebonack]

-DQF Array Spooling
-Target Location Locked
-Initiating Jump In Three Two
-WARNING! Unknown Error!
-ABORTING Jump Protocols
-ABORT Failed

And then it felt like reality fell over sideways, vomited all over its shoes, then got eaten by a duck.

It's not a great feeling, really. Probably one of the worst. Uncontrolled jumps really are terrible.

"Alright, SAL, where did we land and what's broken?" Regiji groans as he eyes the displays inside his over-armor. The multitude of errors flashing at him makes his stomach drop. "Or what isn't broken. Maybe that'll be faster."

He's met with wheezing from his armor and SAL's always crisp voice from the middle of his head.

The hatch is still operational. Bio-aetheric power core is damaged but functional. And we still have two-

A small plume of magnesium white flames erupt from one of the armor's upper limbs as a capacitor bank catastrophically quenches.

-make that ONE functional arm.

"What a panoply of useful tools," Regiji sighs, popping the hatch so he at the very least doesn't have to be subjected to the acrid smoke filling the armor's pilot cavity.

He's immediately subjected to a deluge of water instead.

Ugh.

Really?

Really?

That's how we're starting things?

Sputtering, indigent, but largely unharmed Regiji drops out of his over-frame and deftly flails his arms impotently at the cascade of sweet Shepherds that's cold! water raining down on him. Apparently he's found himself in some sort of-

[Sewer]

Or, at very lest, some aqueducts. It doesn't smell nearly as nauseating as a sewer should so maybe he lucked out.

"Have we got a bead on where we landed, at least?" Regiji asks aloud as he finds a mostly not wet place to stands. "And why is the frame stuck half way inside the wall?"

Not yet. And materialization displaced local matter on arrival. Typically-

"Typically the safeties prevent that, ouch. Glad we didn't telefrag anyone. If you manage to get an uplink established let me know right away, SAL, I want to know where we landed," Regiji says as he sets off down the tunnel in search of a passage that leads up. A quick peek should let him know if they ended up on an allied world, a neutral one, an enemy stronghold, or some undeveloped backwater. Unless the folk here just happen to enjoy stonework sewer systems for aesthetic reasons he's betting on the last one.

Which would be swell.

Then he rounds a corner and manages to avoid a stereotypical running into new person scenario only by some deft one-footed hopping and treading on his own tail.

Now, Regiji might seem a little odd to Vikk. For one? He's wearing an outfit that doesn't look like it was scavenged together from bits of discarded cloth and hide. Instead it's some kind of dark grey fabric with thicker sections over vital areas like some kind of cloth armor. There's a symbol in the middle of the chest, a partial circle with a vertical line passing through the open top. The whole symbol glows with dull, muted white light. There are several other little bars of color on the left shoulder of the outfit. He's pretty standard for a kobold, otherwise. Reptomammal with a little doggy nose and dull purple scales. Though maybe a bit on the short side, even for a kobold. His utter lack of scars or any obvious injuries might seem strange, though. Even his ears are completely without ragged edges.

Regiji is immediately relieved.

"Oh thank the Shepherds another Person," the kobold says to the other kobold. Then he actually begins taking stock of her. Nearly naked, save for a belt and a satchel full of... scavenged stuff? A forager? That isn't... unheard of. The People of some worlds like to stick close to the roots of their kind. "Can you point me in the direction of the nearest Temple? My jump got knocked off course."

[bc56]

Sewers
"Oh! Hello!" Vikk turns and sees the new kobold. She blinks in confusion a couple times. He's a real fresh-face, nothing to show for hard living, and he's wearing very strange clothes and asking about temples? He must be some mage or priest of some sort, trained from a very young age.

To him, Vikk probably looks like a primitive savage. Her belt is leather and chitin, and a simple iron dagger hangs off it. Her patchwork bag shows no sophistication whatsoever. Her scales are a muddy brown and marked with numerous small scars, especially around her hands, but also several, including bite marks, on her ears.

"Temples on surface, Mehra? Rissl? Ixl? Wuc?" Vikk cycles through the different draconic honorifics she knows, in the hopes of finding one that her new acquaintance accepts. Given the vast cultural gulf, it's unlikely any are correct. "Vikk can bring there, yes?" She starts heading back the way she came. "Tribe Mudscales. Vikk." She belatedly introduces herself.

[Deathkeeper]

Midnight Park

Artie nods.
”Artesia, of the Court of Orobou. Yes, I’m speaking of Jaahlyn, the satyr. Ah, in case the Princess wasn’t in I wrote the message down.” she presents an envelope to the secretary.
Inside details the grievance of the snake chains that once bound Jaahlyn Hesperos that were “assaulted" by the Princess (though from her reputation Artie is convinced that if she actually did so they would not be around to tell about it) and demanding a formal apology including an offering of food and a piece of the perpetrator's body. Artie makes a note that she's fairly sure a hair would suffice for this, but that she was not given information on what foods they like or even if they had a name to be addressed by.
"Ah, if possible please emphasize that I am but the messenger on that one. Should she find the terms contained unreasonable, she need merely not respond."
From Artie's face it's clear that she thinks that the Princess will find the terms unreasonable. But she was also all but told that the Orobou don't know much about how mortals do things, so she's not expecting them to gather that from her face even if her superiors were watching her.

Skyway Zoo

Mina actually looks somewhat bashful as she looks to the side and asks quietly.
"Um. What did they...say about me on the board? It was my first time trying it and I just had a growth spurt so I was a little bit unsteady about the whole thing." she admits. She pretends she won't be offended if everyone commented that she looked like a total rookie out there.

[Rebonack]

[Sewers]

Huh.

She's speaking a particularly ancient dialect of Yipyak.
No she isn't? Her syntax is pretty weird but I understood her just fine.
You shouldn't have? I need to run translation protocols still.
...we're in a transnational field. No way. This might be a longshot, SAL, but see if you can't hail the Nexus uplink node we set up. I've got a hunch about where we landed.

All that mental conversation took a grant total of less than a second to process. While SAL is trying to get the stubbornly non-functional over-frame's communications equipment to start working again Regiji focuses on interpersonal relationships. If Regiji is right about where he is, then there's a good chance this person doesn't know anything about the Flock. Tribal folks still living in the Bad Old Days when passing giants regularly provided the People with a bad old time. None of those gods are familiar to him. No surprise there if this is parallel universe nonsense.

"Yes, that would be great, Vikk," Regiji replies. "Lead the way."

He's not sure how useful said temples would be but HEY it's a start right? If he's right and this is Town then it might be kind of interesting to see how things have progressed there over the past decade-ish since his scouting mission ended.

Oh. Tribes, right. Makes sense that social progress would still be tribal. Thank the Shepherds that the People overcame that particular obstacle. Inter-tribal conflict helped none of the People. But he still needed something. Maybe the carrier group he was assigned to?

"Tribe Dauntless, Regiji," he replies.


[Midnight Park]

The secretary dutifully jots down Artie's reply.

As for the letter, that's taken and filed away. "I'll see that the letter is passed to the Princess' majordomo. She'll determine if it needs to be addressed by the Princess directly."

After all, the Princess is very busy.

She has other ponies who take care of things for her.

"I'm uncertain if Lady Hesperos is in at the moment," the secretary says as she levitates out a map and quickly traces a path on it with his pen. "You're here. Follow these directions and that will take you to Lady Hesperos' quarters. Don't stray into these areas marked in red, they're off-limits for visitors. I hope you have a pleasant time at Hometree."

Artie has acquired a map!


[Skyway Zoo]

"Mostly just that you didn't seem very coordinated yet," Khannie replies as she scrutinizes the squid-baboon that's lounging in the sun. "No one had seen you before so everyone thought it was probably your first time doing hero stuff."

Then she frowns.

"Ivory Tower said some stuff about pugilists being the lowest form of super hero. But he's kind of a jerk who doesn't know what he's talking about. Strong heroes who just punch bad guys really hard are the purest form of super hero. Like Captain Marvel! He can do some other cool stuff besides punching but mostly he punches bad guys. He's the coolest super hero but he's just from comic books. But this is the Nexus so maybe he's real, too? I don't think anyone has ever spotted him here. If someone DID I would know about it."

Khannie would be all over that.

[bc56]

Sewers

Those aren't gods at all, so it's easy to not recognize them. They're titles for a mage, a priest, a noble, and a knight respectively.
"Vikk not heard of Dauntless tribe. From far away? Why come to Roaringwater warren?" She clears dirt and rubble away from the hole she crawled through to reach this tunnel. "Is through here. Elfses should be gone now, safe to go back."

[Deathkeeper]

Midnight Park

Artie bows.
"In that case I wish you and the Majordomo a very pleasant afternoon." Which does imply that the complaint won't get past the Majordomo, doesn't it?
And of course it won't. That Artie is sure of. Jaahlyn should never have been bound in the first place. And even if the sapient bonds were only following orders placed on them, she's fairly sure the leader of an Intersection partner would not have done more than threaten them.
Regardless Artie goes slithering off to find Jaahlyn.

Skyway Zoo

"Oh. Okay." Mina can't really fault people for having entirely correct ideas about her experience. Even if it stings a little that it was so obvious.
"But anyway, we don't just punch people. We also shoot lightning. And wind. And sometimes I bludgeon people with my pointy metal partner." she taps Sai, still tucked into her belt.
"If he's so sure martial artists are lame, he's welcome to try time-traveling and outdo my predecessor's world-saving routine. She was younger than you, even." Mina finds that fact rather horrific but she's sure this kid won't.

[Rebonack]

[Sewers]

Oh, well that makes sense then, doesn't it? Why didn't Nexus Translate pick that one up?

SAL, however, is kind enough to pick up the cosmological slack for Regiji. What would he even count as? He's a scout. So probably none.

"Oh, I'm nothing so prestigious. Just a scout for my tribe," Regiji explains somewhat belatedly. "We're from pretty far away, I'd reckon, judging from any reasonable definition of 'far away'. I didn't come here intentionally. My tribe was sending me somewhere far away with a teleportation circle, but some elves attacked and ruined the ritual. I had to land somewhere and I landed here."

Would the Kilaaks count as elves? Shaped more or less like humans? Check. Pretty by human standards? Check. Basically immortal and very sparkly? Double check. Sure, sounds like elves.

And it wasn't a teleportation spells but Regiji is guessing that's the terminology that Vikk will most likely be familiar with.

Then what's this?

Scrambling through tiny tunnels in the dark?

Wow, this is going back to your roots day, isn't it? Ah well. Thankfully Regiji's uniform will see to keeping itself clean in spite of crawling around in the mud. He'll follow Vikk.


[Skyway Zoo]

There's an easy way to fix this problem, Mina.

Get good.

"Shooting lightning is a good one. That's why I think Tempest is a great hero name for you," Khannie concludes. "And don't worry about what any jerks who just do magic and wear a costume and call themselves super heroes say. So long as you're doing good you're a good super hero, it doesn't matter what your powers are."

Some super heroes don't even HAVE powers!

Like Batman!

Well.

Unless you count 'All the money' and 'plot armor' as super powers.

"Wait, what do you mean your predecessor? Someone else who had your magic weapon before?"