Skyside 8: Base Violence and Unnecessary Change

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

The builder isn't interested in biting Hana's chest; they're too far away. The machete bites into the zombie's wrist, clangs against the spike lodged in it, and... doesn't sever the hand. Though the fingers lose quite a bit of strength, they're still tangled in her hair.

The bunnygirl zombie stumbles closer and falls over again, dragging itself forward with its hands rather than struggle back to its feet. Unfortunately, it's somehow faster like this.

The one-handed crawler is also trying to move, but can't. It lacks the arm strength with just one hand to pull itself forward, and the severed wrist can't grab anything.

Street of Slavers- Outside SSGTV

The door opens, revealing a muscular half-orc wearing a pair of prosthetic hardwood legs, a black loincloth, a bronze lamellar arm-guard on his right arm, from shoulder to wrist, held in place by leather straps across his torso. He's armed with a steel gladius. "You here for Namnarius?" That's not the name they were given; it's a test. If they name the person they want, they'll be shown through properly. If they do go to Namnarius, however, they'll probably shortly find themselves in the arena.

[Vahnavoi]

[Outside SSGTV]

If the bandaged man knew saying the wrong name would get him into the arena, and if he was at full strength, he might say they're here for Namnarius just to speed things along. Alas, he doesn't know, and it's been a rough day, so the new name just surprises and confuses him. "What? No. We're here for Itotia... Iotitia... something starting with 'I' and lot of 'T's in middle.", he answers, waving his right hand frustratedly. "Say General Sandels and Garlic are here."

[Ironsmith]

[Coming Up]

"I am second to none when it comes to the matter of logistics," the Volus replies proudly. He definitely a hundred percent did not want Rose to give him any more kisses. There's no way he's going to flirt with death like that. Well... more so than he's already being forced to do. But when it comes to what he does, he does it well and enjoys the praise.

Rose can find Raven in the 'Executive Suite', Raven's office being large and unfinished. There, Raven is working some complex mathematical equation on the fourth whiteboard in a line of six. The whiteboard with all her evil schemes that Rose took a picture of is still in the room, just over in the far corner, tilted at an angle on the floor with some papers. If whiteboards could feel, this one would feel discarded, at least, momentarily. There is also a mahogany desk and a workbench as Raven claimed, both covered in tools.

[Coming Up]

Aw. That's almost sad. Poor whiteboard.

Though the implication that Raven's ambitions have expanded along with her resources was a little disconcerting, given that they already encompassed eventual rulership of the entire Nexus.

...Nah, she's jumping to conclusions too quickly. This probably has more to do with the plans for conquest getting more complex instead of larger in scope. Compared to what she's doing now, Raven's vision of an empire while she worked in an auto shop were something of a daydream.

"Knock, knock." Rose greets playfully, lifting a hand it putting it over her eyes to indicate she's not especially interested in getting the details on the whiteboards. Not that she actually isn't, but this works better for getting the empress's guard down. "Acquis and I got our business sorted out pretty quickly. Anything I can help with up here?"

She's got to be careful how she phrases that. Raven probably wouldn't take kindly to the implication of needing help, but having a willing servant it a whole other matter.

SSGTV

The builder isn't interested in biting Hana's chest; they're too far away. The machete bites into the zombie's wrist, clangs against the spike lodged in it, and... doesn't sever the hand. Though the fingers lose quite a bit of strength, they're still tangled in her hair.

The bunnygirl zombie stumbles closer and falls over again, dragging itself forward with its hands rather than struggle back to its feet. Unfortunately, it's somehow faster like this.

The one-handed crawler is also trying to move, but can't. It lacks the arm strength with just one hand to pull itself forward, and the severed wrist can't grab anything.

[SSGTV]

"[Poop]!" Hana hisses, tugging at the machete and finding it still firmly lodged in the zombie's arm. That hadn't gone well at all. Now she's still entangled and she's down a weapon, which was her primary advantage in this fight. If she doesn't find a way out of this mess, and quickly, she's probably going to end up dead in the next minute or so.

Fortunately, the zombie's only got her by her hair, and she's embedded a sharp object into its arm. There's an obvious solution here.

With a cry of pain (she is getting a lot of hair pulled out), Hana snaps her head to the side, slicing at the part of her hair the zombie has in its grasp, with the intent of giving herself enough of an impromptu haircut to set herself free. Even if that doesn't sever her hair from its grasp entirely, hopefully it still leaves a small enough amount connected for her to rip free the rest (unpleasant though that may be). It'll look awful, but that's less of a priority than getting out of here alive.

[Morty]

[Outside SSGTV]

"Garrick. But aye." Michalson will let Sandels (or whatever his actual name is) take the lead. He's playing the part of a creepy pervert. Sandels seems to be more open about his agenda - he admitted that he's here to protect Hana. Which makes it less likely things will go poorly once they reach her. After all, he has no interest in harming her.

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

Hana cuts and rips her hair free of the zombie's grip, and then moves away from its hand. The zombie's left holding a bloody hunk of hair, which it promptly drops to try grabbing again. The good news is that the muscle movement involved in this loosens the grip of rotting flesh on the lumber nail embedded in its wrist, the one Hana's machete is lodged against. If she gives a good pull, she could probably free the weapon now and have another swing. She really needs to, as the builder tries grabbing her again and the bunny girl drags itself close enough to try grabbing her ankle.

Outside SSGTV

He'd be sent to a different arena, and another fight. And then, if he survives, he'd be shown to a different set of barracks to the one where Hana stays when she's not fighting. Giving the correct information is, in fact, quicker.

"Lady Itotia? OK. Come in." The half-orc pulls the door open wider and gestures for Sandals and 'Garlic' to come in. He's stationed in a very small room, with an old CRT television showing a live deathmatch- a now-topless Hana cutting at the wrist of a builder and getting her machete lodged- a table, wheelchair, telephone and a half-eaten sandwich on the table next to a bottle of water. There's two doors here, one metal and heavily bolted and the other wood. "Go through wood door, up stairs. She's the one-eyed Amazon, can't miss her." He walks over the wheelchair and sits down, rubbing his right knee before picking up the sandwich.

If they open the wooden door, there is indeed a staircase beyond it. Quite a steep one, and rather narrow. It leads up to a control room, with several other exits. There's several monitors and screens in here, and telephones too, as well as windows looking down at three seperate arenas with two fights going on below. There's people, as well; a mix of naked keyholders both female and eunuch wearing collars, usually sat at a screen typing or working on repairs or fetching or carrying something, and ex-gladiators marred by severe, career-ending injury. Amongst the latter group is a massive, muscular Amazon, two and a half metres tall, with deep red skin and short crimson hair. Her body's covered in scars, and her left eye is concealed behind an eye patch. Her right eye is piercing green. She wears a padded tunic with a breastplate over the top and an armoured kilt about her legs. She's sat in front of a window overlooking Hana's fight, in a large armchair with her feet resting on the back of a naked man on his hands and knees in front of her chair, whilst a naked woman holds a bowl of damsons which the Amazon is eating. There's also a male ruddy-skinned dwarf wearing tight trousers, both hands replaced with vicious-looking serrated blades, arms and torso covered in vicious scars, clean-shaven and with dark purple eyes. A muscular human holding a large hammer, their left arm totally missing and draped in silk robes. A female elf with pale skin, a featureless bronze mask tightly fitted to her face- the mask has no eye holes, nor does it have a nose- wearing a literal chainmail bikini, holding an urumi.

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Up]

Six whiteboards of math might not have anything directly to do with her convoluted evil schemes. Though it's probably impossible to tell either way unless Rose was particularly fluent in reading and understanding equations.

Raven makes a few more strokes. "Hmm... doubtful. Unless you can reconcile Godel's Incompleteness Theorem with Moigno's Fifth Dimensional Paradox." She puts her marker down and sighs. "At least there's already proof positive of a more efficient space-time-matter compression." So she's not working completely blind.

Turning to face Rose she smiles a bit. "I'll figure it out. For now though, I do believe we have to make up for some lost time..." Raven says, stepping up close to Rose and affectionately placing her hands on Rose's hips.

[Ironsmith]

SSGTV

Hana cuts and rips her hair free of the zombie's grip, and then moves away from its hand. The zombie's left holding a bloody hunk of hair, which it promptly drops to try grabbing again. The good news is that the muscle movement involved in this loosens the grip of rotting flesh on the lumber nail embedded in its wrist, the one Hana's machete is lodged against. If she gives a good pull, she could probably free the weapon now and have another swing. She really needs to, as the builder tries grabbing her again and the bunny girl drags itself close enough to try grabbing her ankle.

[SSGTV]

The bad news is that Hana feels another wave of fatigue coming on as the builder approaches her again. Wonderful timing on her body's part. She stumbles backwards away from them both, trying to take a moment to catch her breath. While she's like this, she doesn't trust herself to be strong enough to rip the machete back out, so she'll need to get her hands on a new weapon, or find some way to make do without.

Fortunately, there are a number of discarded zombie parts she can use. Like the head of one of the first-wave zombies, for instance. It's going to be unwieldly and unreliable, but it's a bludgeon she wouldn't otherwise have.

[Coming Up]

Six whiteboards of math might not have anything directly to do with her convoluted evil schemes. Though it's probably impossible to tell either way unless Rose was particularly fluent in reading and understanding equations.

Raven makes a few more strokes. "Hmm... doubtful. Unless you can reconcile Godel's Incompleteness Theorem with Moigno's Fifth Dimensional Paradox." She puts her marker down and sighs. "At least there's already proof positive of a more efficient space-time-matter compression." So she's not working completely blind.

Turning to face Rose she smiles a bit. "I'll figure it out. For now though, I do believe we have to make up for some lost time..." Raven says, stepping up close to Rose and affectionately placing her hands on Rose's hips.

[Coming Up]

Rose lowers her hand and grins, leaning forward just enough to touch their foreheads together. Heh. Someone's come a long way from needing to be led upstairs by the hand. "Well, then." She giggles, walking her fingers up Raven's arm. "In my experience, there are two things that help with a difficult problem like that; talking it out, and getting some exercise. Maybe we could... multitask?"

In the short term, that might be helpful. But in the long run, Rose is quietly hoping it slows progress down a bit. If Raven ends up reminded of Rose every time she has to think about Tesseract Theory or the Force-Thought Equivalency Postulate, her focus is likely to suffer. It probably also won't help that they'll be all over her workspace (by design, naturally), and therefore she'll be surrounded by visual and tactile reminders of what they got up to together. Or, alternatively, Rose might be called in on occasion for relief, which would let her closely monitor Raven's progress. Either outcome works out for her.

Or, if she declines, they'll still have a bit of an experience. The kind that'll probably end with a trashed "office" and Rose resting languidly on the desk. This is one area of their relationship where Rose absolutely refuses to be subtle.

[Vahnavoi]

[SSGTV Control Room]

Sandels glances at the TV when they get in. "Hey, she's still alive! Looks like we aren't too late!", he notes, more for Hazel's benefit than "Garrick's" - the disguised detective probably didn't need it pointed out.

Sandels follows instuctions given by the half-orc, groaning when he sees the stairs. He really doesn't cherish climbing them up with his injured leg. When they reach the control room, he takes a while to soak it all in. "Oh great. The whole circus in here", he mutters, trying to not be distracted by all the naked and half-naked women - he really doesn't have the blood to spare for that right now. He doesn't quite succeed, ending up staring at the woman with the featureless bronze mask. "Oh, hey. That brings memories to mind", he says absent-mindedly. Maybe "Garrick" should take initiative about the thing they came here for.

[Morty]

[SSGTV Control Room]

Michalson has to fight back a wave of nausea and anger at this sight. Powers and their mothers, this is... isn't it his duty to just set this place on fire and be done with it? This distracts him enough that he can't really pretend to be interested in the women, as would befit the role he's playing. Right, stay calm. He can't fix this place. He has a job to do...

"Aye. We're 'ere to rent the gal fightin' on this screen."

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

The zombie head tries to bite Hana's fingers as it's picked up, though it only matters if she's unlucky enough to put her fingers in its mouth in the first place. The builder reaches out with its one and a half hands, the machete working its way out of the injured wrist with every movement of the fingers, and bites the air as it gets closer. The vacant, blood-filled eyes are staring straight at Hana, and the plastic hardhat on its head will likely protect it from blows to that. The bunnygirl is slowed as it passes he one-handed crawler from earlier, which is now getting a ride as it has grabbed the fresher zombie's broken ankle and is being dragged along behind. The bunnygirl is still far too close for comfort, however, and the prisoner- though pinned in place under the dead cop- is also nearby.

SSGTV Control Room

The elf turns to watch Sandals, though it doesn't have eye holes. It's tight enough to suggest she doesn't have a nose, either, though the mask is held in place by a strap around the back of her head.

"You wish to rent her? She's busy. We've got others. Some just as pretty." The Amazon turns to look at the two men, standing from her chair and striding over to a filing cabinet and pulling out a folder filled with mugshots of girls. "Most of these are free. Some photos might be outdated. Scars happen- when we got Razor down there we also got a dwarf that likes to take trophies. Ears, so far. If you want Razor, you can wait, see if she lives. If not, I'll sell you the corpse. It'll be cheaper, and you get to keep it. We'll need to put it down first. Those things are contagious. She's got three more rounds to go; end of that, if she's alive, it's eighteen gold an hour. If she's dead, her body's six gold. I suppose... We could end the match early, if you offer enough." The Amazon turns to look at Hana, who seems to be struggling more now.

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Up]

Raven's primary concerns stemming from her own body have been addressed, so she feels more liberated around Rose, certainly. Maybe not so liberated that discussing science while physically entangled would ever come to mind, but... if it's what Rose is into, Raven will humor her.

And despite all of Raven's expectations, Rose is right, talking it out and getting some exercise did help. Inspiration strikes during one of those post-workout clarity moments and the dots connect a little clearer. One of the three problems/limitations she was facing with Bruce Almighty^TM has been figured out. Excellent! One step closer to EVIL domination of the planet(s). Raven makes her appreciation extremely clear and affectionately rewards Rose.

Admittedly the office is far messier than when Rose first arrived. Raven's never exactly seemed to be the clean genius type, so littered parts are normal, but this is definitely a step above and beyond. At least the desk is no longer covered with anything, except perhaps with people.

[Ironsmith]

SSGTV

The zombie head tries to bite Hana's fingers as it's picked up, though it only matters if she's unlucky enough to put her fingers in its mouth in the first place. The builder reaches out with its one and a half hands, the machete working its way out of the injured wrist with every movement of the fingers, and bites the air as it gets closer. The vacant, blood-filled eyes are staring straight at Hana, and the plastic hardhat on its head will likely protect it from blows to that. The bunnygirl is slowed as it passes he one-handed crawler from earlier, which is now getting a ride as it has grabbed the fresher zombie's broken ankle and is being dragged along behind. The bunnygirl is still far too close for comfort, however, and the prisoner- though pinned in place under the dead cop- is also nearby.

[SSGTV]

"Oh, put a sock in it." Hana grumbles to the head as she slowly backs away from the builder zombie, holding it by the hair to use as a sort of flail. She doubts she's going to get another second wind, so now she has to figure out how to win, even as tired as she is. For this wave, at least that's not so bad; when the builder finally goes down, she'll only have two crawlers to worry about, and she's still got a solid maneuverability advantage there. She'll have this in the bag.

The obvious caveat being that she's not at that point just yet.

Hana hefts the head and takes a swing at the builder, whipping around to hit it in the face from the side, hopefully avoiding the hardhat in the process.

[Coming Up]

Raven's primary concerns stemming from her own body have been addressed, so she feels more liberated around Rose, certainly. Maybe not so liberated that discussing science while physically entangled would ever come to mind, but... if it's what Rose is into, Raven will humor her.

And despite all of Raven's expectations, Rose is right, talking it out and getting some exercise did help. Inspiration strikes during one of those post-workout clarity moments and the dots connect a little clearer. One of the three problems/limitations she was facing with Bruce Almighty^TM has been figured out. Excellent! One step closer to EVIL domination of the planet(s). Raven makes her appreciation extremely clear and affectionately rewards Rose.

Admittedly the office is far messier than when Rose first arrived. Raven's never exactly seemed to be the clean genius type, so littered parts are normal, but this is definitely a step above and beyond. At least the desk is no longer covered with anything, except perhaps with people.

[Coming Up]

Raven's probably going to want to bleach that when they're done. Unless she likes the idea of all her stuff smelling like sweat and junk.

Getting a clear head doesn't really do Rose any favors. At first, she thinks she's being clever about what she's doing; for all the aforementioned reasons, spending quality time with Raven seems to be as much a good strategic move as it is anything else. But after the fact, the tactical implications seem to be a hundred miles away. Maybe it's just because she's been using her brain for something else (as a sounding board, mostly; all of this stuff went a little over her head back during her Academy days, too, and Raven uses a different set of terms from her professors). Maybe it's because Raven's been surprisingly generous, and doing a good job bringing her back to the moment.

Or maybe she's just stuck on having ulterior motives around Raven. She's still on a mission of her own design, still working, even as she assured Raven otherwise. Hopping onto that desk for its own sake just wouldn't feel right; like trying to sleep without a pillow for the first time.

It's things like that which are running through Rose's head while she's running her fingers along Raven's back. She can keep them to herself, of course. She kind of has to. It's her problem to deal with.

Maybe she needs a distraction of her own.

"Heh. Look at us." Rose smirks, somehow finding a way to lay out on top of a hardwood desk without it being a horribly uncomfortable, splinter-riddled hell. "I mean... did you see this coming, like, five years ago? Getting a massage from your girlfriend on the top floor of your office building while the two of you plan your takeover of the Nexus?" That part, at least, had not gone over her head; Rose knew what Raven's sudden interest in the fabric of space-time actually meant. "I mean... it's a little surprising how quickly things changed, is what I guess I'm trying to say. This time last month, you were telling me how much you didn't like the idea of taking over the way you are now. And yet here we are." She giggles and resumes rubbing her thumbs against the back of Raven's neck, in her equivalent of a post-workout stretch. "No objections on my end, though."

...Dammit. Can't have a fricking conversation without going back to double meanings amd innuendo. Ugh.

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Up]

Mahogany desks are just better that way. "Five years ago?" Raven considers for a moment, idly tracing her finger along Rose's body. There's probably a moment of recognition where Rose sees Raven comes up with an answer. An answer Raven does not share.

That's ok, because Rose continues on and explains in a little more detail what she's getting at. "I said that? I don't remember saying that. That doesn't sound like something I'd say." Raven is definitely going to take over the Nexus, something she was surely certain about a month ago as well. "You must be forgetting that I'm your god queen," Raven says lightly kissing Rose's neck to remind Rose.

"Speaking of, if you're going to help with this, we're going to need to get you a new outfit. Something more in theme with dark princess necromancer, you know? While still elevating you above any lackeys or henchmen. Hmm... I need to work on corporate uniforms as well now that I mention it. The mecha-zombie mechanic outfits gotta be replaced with something corporate and soul sucking." There's nothing more important to being evil than evil fashion.

[Ironsmith]

[Coming Up]

Rose lets out a little snrk when Raven starts talking about fashion for her zombies. "Mecha-zombies in three-piece suits." She quietly elaborates, apparently finding the mental image hilarious.

"Ah, I was talking about your methods more than anything, though." She adds, twirling a lock of Raven's hair around her finger. "Taking over was a given. You just weren't very keen on the idea of just buying everything. I seem to remember you saying something about it being boring." She grins and gives Raven a playful boop on the nose. "Besides that, even without the regalia, there's no mistaking you for anything but my god-queen, yeah?"

Eugh. That felt a little weird to say. But she'll keep massaging Raven's ego anyway.

"Hm... and as far as the outfit goes, I'm thinking... I dunno, somewhere between tank-commander-chique and cheerleader. Little skirt, little top, big jacket and hat." She smirks. "Something that says 'cute, with a "friend" in a high place'."

And she's always wanted one of those hats.

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Up]

"I wasn't keen on you buying me everything," Raven clarifies, her nose twitching in response. "It's different when I manufacture my own means and use it to destroy an entire class of people economically in the process." It's evil, and she can be proud of it cause it's her own project! "Besides, a lot of people won't sell, so it's less buying up everything and more establishing production for larger, more dynamic projects."

The ones with the bigger booms.

"Hmm... I'd bet you'd look good in that," Raven says, letting her imagination wander briefly. "What're you thinking? Black and green then? Could work. Certainly would stand out. Especially if we make a tank for you. Do you want a tank? It'd be a good first impression, rolling through a wall then popping out in that outfit and making your demands."

[Vahnavoi]

[SSGTV Control Room

Sandels wonders if the masked woman has some degree of supernatural sensitivity - but that line of thought is cut when the matter he came here for calls his attention.

"As tempting as your offer is", he says, beckoning at the folder of images, "it really has to be that specific girl fighting the zombies right now. Razor, you called her? That her stage name? We're big fans, you see. Really big. We'll wait if necessary, but don't keep us waiting for too long." He pulls out the remaining spheres he stole from a certain swordsman and puts them down on the arm rest of the chair. "I hope you accept these." If they get lucky with conversion rates, Michalson might not even have to hand them more money.

[Shadowcaller]

[Searching for Truth]

Lumine's screaming is getting all too tiresome. So Ilpholin squeezes down tight, cruelly so, hoping to crush the pixie's wings before flinging Lumine free directly into the mist demon. A sacrifice in the hopes to buy them time, or an experiment to see what'll happen if the mist does get them, or both.

Either way, it doesn't seem like the undead have any muscle behind their bones, other than the one zombie that just tried to devour her. So Ilpholin turns to the door, letting Tina take over wing flapping. "Feel free to holy smite it any time," the exotic dancer suggests. Holy smiting things would solve a lot of problems.

But in case it doesn't or Tina won't or can't, Bellana's arms join together to form a heavy looking two-handed fireman's axe that she starts swinging upon the door with excessive force. Maybe she can weaken it enough that a Bear can smash through. It's meant to hold a summon, but not necessarily three... maybe.

[Searching for Truth]

"Yeah, I guess!" Fettina squawks back at Anika. "I'm not exactly flush with options here! What, you want me to be happy about it? I don't like that bitch Telly, but I'm not obsessed with revenge either! I'm not a crazy person! Maybe we oughta just think about getting the hell out of here, instead?"

"Hi," Tina grumps offhandedly to Ilpholin as magic flies around and the three of them settle into position. She glowers into the mist, trying to ignore the sultry presence behind it. "I'm not exactly too experienced with the whole smiting thing. And what little I can do, I need to be able to see something to smite at it. I can't see anything in all this pink garbage!"

She glances behind her once, twice. "Okay, if we're going through the door, I'm gonna turn and smite that on three. Gonna have to be fast!"

If the ladies don't have any better ideas, Fettina is going to shout 'Three!' in a couple of seconds and whirl to shoulder charge the door. Aiming herself squarely at where a lock would be, using her strength and durability to crush it open.

[Searching for Truth]

There was that 'I guess' again. Tina sure had a hard time making up her mind even before the metaphorical gates of hell which unbeknownst to Anika these 'doors' were actually styled after. Or at least an artists interpretation of them. See, these were more akin to fortified gates which was why even a whole skeleton crew of tennis players wasn't doing as much of a dent in them.

While Anika considers her next move, which is probably to bash down those aforementioned gates, she can't help overhearing Tina admitting to not being good at smiting. Aw, come on! Not in front of Ilpholin!
This had been an unexpected opportunity to have her cool friends meet but now Tina was ruining it all by telling Ilpholin how much she sucked at fighting. The nymph probably thought she was a total loser angel now!

But there was still time to prove her otherwise, right? Tina just needed to do something really awesome and Ilpholin would respect her. Starting with this stupid door.

Anika shifts into her bear form as the other two prepares to force it open and starts to charge on 'three'.
But despite the two of them giving it their all, the only thing they managed to do is denting the decorations.

It all seems rather hopeless for a moment as the gas is now pouring in even faster and it seems unlikely that even Ilpholin's whip is going to be able to keep it away for even a moment. Lumine's scream even goes quiet as there is a moment of ominous silence before they are all to be drowned in demon gas.

But then that is broken by a second announcement by their favorite caster, Tellysandra herself.

"I'm sorry everyone near summoning chamber 3b. As the artwork of its security doors are worth more than you are, the security system is now going to let those outsiders loose. Please evacuate to the closest safe room."

And so the doors flicker and then fade away. Causing them to now be face to face with the skeletons on the other side.

[Morty]

[SSGTV Control Room]

"Aye. We're men with specific tastes," Michalson says, smiling lecherously. Or... affecting a lecherous smile, anyway. It's a good impression but it's still fake. He lets "General Sandels" barter for now, indeed hoping he won't have to put any of his own money on the table. That would lead to some seriously awkward paperwork...

[Ironsmith]

[Coming Up]

"I wasn't keen on you buying me everything," Raven clarifies, her nose twitching in response. "It's different when I manufacture my own means and use it to destroy an entire class of people economically in the process." It's evil, and she can be proud of it cause it's her own project! "Besides, a lot of people won't sell, so it's less buying up everything and more establishing production for larger, more dynamic projects."

The ones with the bigger booms.

"Hmm... I'd bet you'd look good in that," Raven says, letting her imagination wander briefly. "What're you thinking? Black and green then? Could work. Certainly would stand out. Especially if we make a tank for you. Do you want a tank? It'd be a good first impression, rolling through a wall then popping out in that outfit and making your demands."

[Coming Up]

Rose opens her mouth to say "of course not, don't be ridiculous", but stops and taps her finger to her chin. That's... that's not necessarily a bad idea, is it? Maybe she won't end up using the tank that often, but having it as an option can't really hurt. "...I mean, it's not my usual approach to social situations, but now that you mention it... yeah, I think I want a tank." She giggles. "Might be a good place to mount one of those chainsaw lasers, too, actually. If that's somehow not distinct enough, slap a couple of those decals on the side, and that should make it pretty clear who's wearing the pants in this relationship." She glances down at Raven's hips. "Figuratively more than literally. I'll probably be in skorts. Do those count as pants?"

They probably don't count as pants.

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Up]

"Right? My tank general has to have a tank. Theming is super important!" Is... it a promotion or a demotion to become tank general? What's the hierarchy here? Or is Rose doomed to become first of three to four WACKY EVIL lieutenants? All legitimate questions!

Raven pushes herself up, forcing herself to get going. Can't lie around all day, no matter how comfy! "I had better get to work on those tank schematics then. And no, skorts aren't pants." Everyone knows that!

Raven sure does go go go a lot. Her breaks are never drawn out. Rose has yet to ever see her sleep.

[Searching for Truth]

The pink garbage is exactly what Ilpholin wanted Tina to smite. But at least Tina is able to suggest something palatable as an alternative. That is... effective? Sort of. The results leave a bad taste in Ilpholin's mouth but she's not going to turn down opportunity.

"Come on!" She encourages the other two unnecessarily as she flips up to land upon a skeleton and then run across the tennis players' heads and shoulders without their consent, each step but a light, dexterous moment upon her foes.

She... probably should have cut the mercs free that she led into that room, but eh. That'd take time and the mist didn't stop existing or anything. They'd live. Or not. Either way, she's gotta figure out their next move. This angel might not be the best to actually take on Tellysandra with, they've failed to find a lie detector unless it was that pyramid thing they picked up, and they're in a giant house maze. Best option might be to backtrack the way they came and wreck stuff on their way out.

[Ironsmith]

[Coming Up]

"Right? My tank general has to have a tank. Theming is super important!" Is... it a promotion or a demotion to become tank general? What's the hierarchy here? Or is Rose doomed to become first of three to four WACKY EVIL lieutenants? All legitimate questions!

Raven pushes herself up, forcing herself to get going. Can't lie around all day, no matter how comfy! "I had better get to work on those tank schematics then. And no, skorts aren't pants." Everyone knows that!

Raven sure does go go go a lot. Her breaks are never drawn out. Rose has yet to ever see her sleep.

[Coming Up]

"Whoa there, highness." Rose plops her hands down on Raven's shoulders in an attempt to get her to stay put for a moment, applying some gentle encouragement in the form of a massage if necessary. "You know what time it is, right? And knowing you, I'm sure you've put in a full day and then some. You're going to have to sleep at some point, right? Maybe call it a night before you start putting yourself at risk for burnout. (Seriously, what is it with you career researchers and running on Crimson Minotaur^TM anyway?)" She giggles just a little. "I know you've been away from work for a whole thirty minutes already, but while that was fun, it sure wasn't restful. And nothing's going to ruin the evil empress image quite like passing out in the middle of a dramatic speech." Especially if it's from someplace high up, as dramatic speeches from powerful rulers tend to be. That's a good way to end her career on a sour note.

"Besides, I've still got other things to share with you, some of them sleep-related. The Hotbox might have been the primary attraction, but I'm sure you'll enjoy having a sleeping pod."

[Murkus]

[Searching for Truth]

"Hey!" Fettina exclaims. "There are skeletons out here!"

The belly-dancer starts hopping over the skellingtons, as pretty as you please. Fettina has to look at that in shock for a second before she just plows forward, still holding onto the stuff from the cabinet. "Scuse me - sorry - sorry! Move!" While she can't push or smash the skeletons with both hands, her heavy metal wings make an effective screen to swat, smash or slide the skellies with. God, un-dead thingies were gross!

She'll follow Ilpholin as much as she's able.

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

The head-flail claps into the side of the builder's head, knocking it slightly off balance. The hard hat is slightly askew, and teeth are loose in both heads. The builder stumbles, flexing its arm and the machete falls out, followed by the spike it had lodged against. They clunk against the floor, and the zombie kicks the machete closer to Hana with its steel-boot clad foot.

The heads didn't hit hard enough to kill either of the heads, though it might have been different if neither head could move as much on the rebound.

SSGTV- Control Room

The Amazon picks up one of the spheres, and contemplates it, holding it up to the light, tossing it into the air and catching it, and so on. Fortunately, gemstones are a bit rarer here than on Roshar, which is why most worlds don't use gemstones as currency. "All of 'em? They might help sway things. Was lookin' forward to seeing the clunker, but she's not doing as well as she should. She's prob'ly used to softer food than what the gladiators eat." 'Softer' in this case meaning 'more spices and herbs, less rat'.

The Amazon stands and stretches her arms out, muscles popping. "I'll show you the clunker. In a special cell, stop it escapin'." The keyholder she was using as a footrest also stands up. Itotia walks over to a bank of screens and leans over the keyholder working at the monitor. The girl gulps nervously, and clicks some buttons. A dark cell is visible on a bigger screen, something moving in the darkness.

[Vahnavoi]

[SSGTV- Control Room]

"Yes. All of... them", Sandels confirms, almost stopping in the middle because he gets distracted by Itotia standing up and stretching. That is one really big woman. He has to shake his head to get his mind back on track. When the subject moves on to the mysterious "clunker" instead of furthering their deal about "Razor" AKA Hana, he turns to give "Garrick" some worried glances. "Do you have any idea what she's talking about? 'Cause I have no idea what she's talking about."

[Ironsmith]

SSGTV

The head-flail claps into the side of the builder's head, knocking it slightly off balance. The hard hat is slightly askew, and teeth are loose in both heads. The builder stumbles, flexing its arm and the machete falls out, followed by the spike it had lodged against. They clunk against the floor, and the zombie kicks the machete closer to Hana with its steel-boot clad foot.

The heads didn't hit hard enough to kill either of the heads, though it might have been different if neither head could move as much on the rebound.

[SSGTV]

That's all the opening Hana's going to need. Now that she has weapons available to her again, she lobs the head back over to the spikes on the edge of the arena, before bending down to retrieve the spike and machete. Thus armed, she turns her attention back to bringing down the builder; she doubts she's strong enough to do it all in one blow, but she can certainly make the attempt. She waits until he's close enough, then dashes forward and attempts to stab the spike through his neck, in such a way that it'll bury itself in his spine if she does it right. Not a decapitation, but it should shut down enough of his nervous system to accomplish the same effect.

[Morty]

[SSGTV- Control Room]

Michalson shakes his head.

"Is it some kind of special monster? To finish off the show with?" That's the best guess he can make right now.

[Earl of Purple]

SSGTV

The halfling Hana fought earlier had a broken neck, the head hanging slack and flopping from the method of execution. Whilst the spike does penetrate the builder's neck and cracks his spine, it's not enough to drop the thing. The head flops, so biting is no longer an issue, but now it's in close and can try grabbing and scratching, and try to bite with a head no longer firmly attached to its torso. The muscles that would move it don't have proper anchoring, so it can't easily get a bite in.

SSGTV- Control Room

Itotia flicks a switch, and light comes on in the clunker's cell. It's another zombie, but not like the ones Hana's fought before. This one's grey, and looks quite rocky. The feet are obviously why it's called 'the clunker'; they're encased in concrete, clunking against the metal floor of the cell. The whole thing looks like it had a dip in wet concrete and then climbed out before it finished setting. What's visible of its skin is badly burnt and abraded by the cement, though there's not much of that- mostly near the joints, where it's cracked and flaked slightly from movement. A keyholder walks past the cell on the screen and the clunker stumbles towards them, arms stretched out. "Behold, the clunker! The halfway mark of the death match, only opponent for round three because it would be very difficult for Razor to kill it with her machete." The concrete isn't very thick all over the zombie, but it's thick enough to make a full decapitation tricky.

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Up]

Raven pauses as Rose puts her hand on the Empress' shoulder, looking back at the spy. Vacantly. There was a raw emptiness there, like the subject matter just did not compute. "Sleep? I... dunno, I guess I'll sleep on Tuesday if it comes to that. That's usually when I get my four hours." Tuesday is three days away! "Besides I can't stop NOW, I just cracked a major hole in Bigby's Postulate." Who could sleep after that? Apparently not Raven who just suggested she only sleeps one of the days of the week.

There is a raw enticement in new technologies however, even if this particular one sounds useless. The catgirl turns around away from the workbench for a moment to give Rose her full attention. "Well I can't imagine needing a pod, but you say there's more?" Raven asks, looking at Rose curiously, wondering exactly where Rose came from and why whoever lives there hasn't conquered the Nexus yet with their superior technologies. Raven might have gotten lucky and been an early contact.

[Vahnavoi]

[SSGTV- Control Room]

"Uh huh." Sandels looks at the big screen with a half-grimace on his face. "Very interesting. Hmmm. May I ask you a question?" He glances out of the window to check Hana's alive, before returning his attention to the large amazon. "You said these things are contagious. What kind of living dead are they, exactly? Professional curiosity."

[Ironsmith]

SSGTV

The halfling Hana fought earlier had a broken neck, the head hanging slack and flopping from the method of execution. Whilst the spike does penetrate the builder's neck and cracks his spine, it's not enough to drop the thing. The head flops, so biting is no longer an issue, but now it's in close and can try grabbing and scratching, and try to bite with a head no longer firmly attached to its torso. The muscles that would move it don't have proper anchoring, so it can't easily get a bite in.

[SSGTV]

...Uh-oh.

That wasn't the result Hana was expecting.

And it's probably too late to backpedal out of the zombie's waiting arms, so Hana's going to be in for the most awkward hug she's had since her first visit with Hazel's mother.

Eulgh.

At least she still has the machete. When the zombie closes in, she takes a wide swing with it, in the hope of clipping the corpse's arm.

[Coming Up]

Raven pauses as Rose puts her hand on the Empress' shoulder, looking back at the spy. Vacantly. There was a raw emptiness there, like the subject matter just did not compute. "Sleep? I... dunno, I guess I'll sleep on Tuesday if it comes to that. That's usually when I get my four hours." Tuesday is three days away! "Besides I can't stop NOW, I just cracked a major hole in Bigby's Postulate." Who could sleep after that? Apparently not Raven who just suggested she only sleeps one of the days of the week.

There is a raw enticement in new technologies however, even if this particular one sounds useless. The catgirl turns around away from the workbench for a moment to give Rose her full attention. "Well I can't imagine needing a pod, but you say there's more?" Raven asks, looking at Rose curiously, wondering exactly where Rose came from and why whoever lives there hasn't conquered the Nexus yet with their superior technologies. Raven might have gotten lucky and been an early contact.

[Coming Up]

"...Holy [crap], you're serious." Rose's eyes widen as she processes what Raven said to her. "Four hours a week? Damn, girl! I'm... honestly, that's impressive. No way in hell is that healthy, but it's impressive."

The rest of that seems pretty familiar, though. The eager chasing of new ideas and breakthroughs, mixing work and play into an total obsession over whatever caught her eye today, and of course, the sort of mad brilliance that powered it all.

Yup.

Rose knows now what she's dealing with.

"Anyway... yeah, sleeping pod. It's more impressive than it sounds, I swear." She adds, hopping down from the desk and looking around for her shirt. She knows it's around here somewhere, she definitely- oh, there it is, just over the window. "You ever go to take a warm bath and end up falling asleep in the tub? It's like that, only there's no risk of drowning and the water's full of nanites that give you the best spa treatment you've ever had. And helps with any injuries you've got, too." She points at the spot on her leg where Raven stabbed her with a scalpel. "See? Not even a scar."