Vigil 8: Try jumping

[bc56]

Dragpies
<Yes, I have only recently arrived,> Kothar confirms. He seems confused by the talk of grounds problems. <Not at all, nothing of the sort. I was merely curious.> The old adventuring habit of searching for treasure dies hard. <Do you need a hand with that box?> He can't place her accent, but he's not speaking the standard dialect either.

[Rebonack]

[Dragpies]

<Then I'm glad you came to VIGIL I like meeting all the new adventurers have you got any good stories?> Lapis asks curiously.

Then!

Talk of boxes.

<Oh! Um... okay! I'm too big though there's not a lot of room and I don't know how to open the box I think it's locked but I don't want to break it because it's really pretty and breaking it would be sad okay I'm going to be smaller.>

A storm of words.

The dragon pulls her head back into the patch of trees and when she speaks again she definitely sounds much smaller.

<Okay you can come in now Mister Kothar!>

Should he do so?

He'll find that there is, within the little grove, carefully shaped wood above a large circular opening to prevent the rain from flowing down into it. Should he climb in he'll discover quite a sight! A cavity lined in wood reaching down into the ground, the main chamber just big enough for the dragon to curl up in with a number of little niches protruding from it. There are quite a few colorful little baubles down here. Trinkets of silver and brass and polished wood, mostly. A few packages of cookies sitting atop ornate furniture that definitely doesn't seem like it should belong in a hole. A few precious coins assembled in neat piles. And carefully crafted, realistic pencil drawings of various adventures from VIGIL with short stories written below them.

Also?

A half-drow child wearing a VIGIL support staff uniform.

<This is my secret lair do you like it?> Lapis asks excitedly before scooting the chest she recently discovered across the floor. <See this is the box! I don't know what's in it I think it's supposed to be a surprise. But it has this latchy thing on it.>

Sure enough, it has a key latch holding it shut.

[Morty]

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

Thariza follows in the easy stride of a (former) soldier. Being much bigger than the other two women helps.

"Must be handy," she says.

[Training Grounds]

Wenomir shakes his head.

"No, I've seen enough. You did well, Kothar. Welcome to Vigil."

[bc56]

Training Grounds
"My thanks." Kothar bows again. "I take leave to learn your island of flies." Hopefully that comes across well enough.

Dragpies
Kothar has found lots of ornate furniture in holes. Usually, the hole belonged to a halfling or it was some ruin of somewhere that used to not be a hole.
<I have many stories to tell, but this isn't the time.> Kothar bends down and looks at the chest. <Hmm. I'm no good with locks, but I have an idea. Did you make all these wooden walls yourself?"

[Rebonack]

[Dragpies]

Lapis' chest falls into that latter category.

She actually has a really good story about it, too!

<Aaww... it's always a good time for stories,> Lapis laments.

Look at that.

You just made that half drow child sad, Kothar.

How could you?

Asking about the secret lair brightens her up immediately, though.

<YEAH! Do you like it I worked really hard on it and I've had to make it a little bigger since I got bigger and it is a really nice lair and I was thinking maybe I could put some more things in it but I'm not sure what.>

Probably a good thing she's speaking in Draconic because otherwise Kothar would probably be having trouble keeping up with Lapis' rapid-fire speech pattern.

<Are you thinking I should just Shape it I thought about that but I think that counts as cheating and I was thinking it would be more fun to figure out how to get it open other ways like my daddy was teaching me different tricks and things and one of them was how to open locks if you haven't got the key and I was thinking I could use this box to practice since I haven't got one of those?>

[bc56]

Dragpies
<After this then,> Kothar promises. Hopefully he won't regret that. <It is not cheating to use the gifts you have been given. But practicing your skills is a noble goal." He'll let Lapis choose how to proceed.

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell]

The goal was to get Shanti to lay off of Anika. Shanti herself couldn't even tell the difference and she was supposed to be the expert here. If she couldn't bother with due diligence before such a specific ritual, she has no right to call out Anika for the mixup. But Ilpholin has nothing else to add about the issue as it is addressed, remaining still and in place, waiting to see if Ava's life is forfeit. Even if that wait will be a half-hour.

"Y-yeah. Yeah, whatever you need, of course," Ava says before going to climb back out of the moonwell and sit on the edge, shivering slightly as the water cools while they wait.

[Nerd Talk]

Geneva seems to pick up on the 'in search of a chair' look and gestures at some chairs at a nearby table.

There!

Seat acquired!

That'll make the conversation a little easier.

"Gwen and her siblings are about a year and a half old," Geneva replies, smiling fondly. "Griffins and equestrians both mature faster than humans do by a not inconsiderable amount, so my children are quite a bit more active than a human of the equivalent age would be."

Also quite a bit more bitey but she has mostly trained them not to chomp people. Those beaks are sharp.

"Gwen specifically is quite shy. The first time she saw me like this she hid under the bed."

Both heartbreaking and adorable.

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

"Oh, yes. It's an ability all of my people possess." Utayo explains. "It's said we're descendants of a great spirit of the moon, and that unlike other peoples we are of the sky not the land."

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

Thariza follows in the easy stride of a (former) soldier. Being much bigger than the other two women helps.

"Must be handy," she says.

[Moonwell]

"I'll help! It's the least I can do after screwing up like that."

"-of course." Shanti replies after a moment of hesitation. "Just get me the blue vials from my satchel over there while I start mixing the herbs."

Despite Shanti's initial hesitation the two seems to work pretty well in tandem. While Anika might not have her sisters theoretical knowledge its clear that she have at least assisted with rituals like these before as she have a pretty good clue what to do. Shanti simply needing to mention the what never the how when it comes to the preparations.

So in less than a half-hour they're done and Shanti once again sits down in her meditative position as Anika pours the reagents into the pool. "Now, before we start again let me warn that you that there might be some lingering traces left. For instance, you might have dreams of the fey that infused itself into you and occasionally recall some of its memories, which might be hard to tell apart from your own. But physically you should be completely clear of it." The druid explains in a slow tone as to make sure that Ava takes it all in.

"But with that said, let's start shall we?"

And so she enters her meditative trace once more once Ava has presumably taken her position within the wells water.

Once about ten minutes have past the liquid around Ava starts to glow a bright white like before but this time it starts to envelop her and she can feel an odd coolness settling over her. Like she's underwater yet can still breath. The water might be cool but not cold, like when you jump into in during an unbearably hot summer day. It's comforting and she can feel a calmness settle over her as all her worries suddenly seem insignificant compared to the peace that she simply exists in at this moment.

Then slowly she starts to come out of it as she realizes that her eyes have been closed this entire time since she closed them the moment the light started to envelop her. It was like falling asleep as she can't exactly recall when it happened. But as she opens them again she can see that she's back to her usual self once more. The intrusive second self that was with her all but gone as her thoughts only seems to be her own again.

To Ilpholin this only took about a minute as Ava was enveloped by the soft white light like a cocoon and once it dissipated she seems to be human once more.

[Nerd Talk]

Judging by Ambrosia's expression it feels mostly heartbreaking to her. "Poor girl, its frightening to see your parent as something so alien." Again, she could certainly empathize. "How does she react to other humanoids though? Since I know that I had a hardest time adjusting to them until I took a deep dive with this body." She gestures down at herself.

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

"Fascinating." If she only had that kind of body instead. Humans were many things but ground bound was unfortunately one of them. To not be able to fly at will was a tragic really. "And what did your people call themselves? Since if you mentioned it before I've forgotten, my mind is a mess right now."

[Rebonack]

[Nerd Talk]

"I had hoped to get the cubs accustomed to being around humans but I believe Gwen was just distressed over mother disappearing and some strange creature replacing her," Geneva sighs. "I take them to the daycare at Glog while I'm here at work. They've all grown attached to the people who work there, and they're all humanoids of various kinds."

See?

They just needed to make some friends.

"Gwen is just very shy and sensitive. It takes her quite a while to open up to someone and even then she's a bit skittish. For her it's less the shape someone takes and more the fact that they're someone new."

Gwen spends most of her time at Glog in one of the day care cabins coloring and occupying herself with other quiet activities.

She's a good griff!

Just a very introverted on.

"Gilda is largely unconcerned with new people, in so far as she has new targets to try pouncing on. Glory is happy so long as someone will play with her and Gabriel is largely content to explore given the opportunity."


[Dragpies]

<I don't have any of the tools I need for the picking things right now though so I would have to bother some of the other adventurers and ask if they have any like Miss Elva she knows how to do locks and things I think but I'm not sure if she's here at VIGIL today maybe I should ask if someone has seen her?> Lapis rambles in reply. <But if I just Invoke it open then I'll know what's inside and may I can show you some of the coin tricks daddy tought me those are lots of fun and I've gotten really good at them! There are cards tricks too I guess but I'm not as good at those cards are hard.>

Uh oh.

Lapis is still being indecisive.

And coin tricks?

Did Kothar ever have any allies that were skilled with slight of hand?

If so he probably knows what Lapis is referring to.

[5a Violista]

[CATastrophe]

"...Right. Okay. We still have time. We can get this under control." The tech gives a shaky nod and gestures to Awen and Lapis. "All right. I'll, um, leave this in your capable hands, I guess. Both of you." He sighs. "I suppose it doesn't really matter too much which one of you goes after which 'morph, except for the whole flying thing. In the meantime, I'll just, um, make sure the others are secure." He reaches out and gently grabs hold of one of the foxes, guiding it toward one of the now-empty enclosures in the center of the room.

The fox does not like this. At all.

In a few moments, the lab tech finds himself on his rump, knocked over by the shenanigans of six rowdy vulpines and two equally-excitable beagles. None of them have actually made any efforts at harming him, of course, but the former have turned to panicked scurrying at the thought of being locked up, and the latter chase them around as the impromptu game escalates into what will likely be a very long night for Max.

Meanwhile, the OTHER fox is going to find that the squirrel it's looking for isn't very physically distinct from any other squirrel; it still smells, looks, and sounds like an ordinary arboreal rodent. Tracking it down may prove difficult, but with the right methodology, it's still possible.

[CATastrophe]

Seeing the foxes tackle the lab tech makes Awen think, for now, it's probably best to not step out until it looks like things are at least slightly under control. If they can tackle the tech, they can escape out the door too.

"So, yeah, my fox is looking for it right now," she says. "Anything I can do before stepping out to help here?" she asks the poor tackled person.
...
Oh. Yeah, she could probably also scry for the squirrel, too, in the meantime. To save time. She really only needs one arm to do the same scrying thing, really. While waiting for the lab tech's answer, she starts taking off the bandage and her blades in her mechanical hand pop out again, and blood starte flowing down her wrist again to pool in her hand.


---------

Clearly! The only thing Awen's fox has to do is just catch every single squirrel that's around, and bring all of them in together.

He's imagining Awen's look when she'll have to sort through a dozen different squirrels running around just to find the right one.

The fox starts looking for a first squirrel.

[Ironsmith]

[CATastrophe]

[CATastrophe]

"Okay I'll go right now I'm good at finding things especially birds and I have a secret weapon for bird finding!" Lapis assures the others.

And what secret weapon is that?

A definitely normal magpie that you probably shouldn't pay much attention to takes off from VIGIL.

Hah!

This is Lapis' secret bird finding weapon!

Being a bird!

No bird would suspect a fellow bird from spying on them!

Probably.

Lapis is pretty sure that's how birds work.

Now... What sort of bird was she looking for? Oh right a little yellow one! But since this is one of those strange not animals it might not be that again when she finds it, which makes this harder. But! That just means she can drift every now and again to try to spot all the extra stuff the not-animals keep inways and outways! All she has to do is slowly fly wider circles around VIGIL looking for the not-bird!

Easy!

Definitely it wouldn't have gone very far since they were hovering over that nice little sprawling farming community right now and there are probably lots of people down there the bird might like right it's probably down there singing for someone harvesting grain or something.

[Word Among The Birds]

A cunning disguise indeed.

Fortunately for Lapis, to some degree, it does indeed work like that. Fellow birds do not, in fact, suspect she is anything but a bird.

Probably.

It would help if she found any, first.

Fortunately, in looking for things that poke outways, that canary is basically a beacon, with so much excess material being pushed into outways directions that it can be seen even from as high up (relatively) as Lapis is compared to it.

The trouble is, that's a distance if several thousand feet.

Apparently it took the "not welcome at Vigil" message to heart.

[CATastrophe]

Seeing the foxes tackle the lab tech makes Awen think, for now, it's probably best to not step out until it looks like things are at least slightly under control. If they can tackle the tech, they can escape out the door too.

"So, yeah, my fox is looking for it right now," she says. "Anything I can do before stepping out to help here?" she asks the poor tackled person.
...
Oh. Yeah, she could probably also scry for the squirrel, too, in the meantime. To save time. She really only needs one arm to do the same scrying thing, really. While waiting for the lab tech's answer, she starts taking off the bandage and her blades in her mechanical hand pop out again, and blood starte flowing down her wrist again to pool in her hand.


---------

Clearly! The only thing Awen's fox has to do is just catch every single squirrel that's around, and bring all of them in together.

He's imagining Awen's look when she'll have to sort through a dozen different squirrels running around just to find the right one.

The fox starts looking for a first squirrel.

[Foxhunt]

"No, no, I'm fine, they're just a little upset is all." The tech replies quickly, trying and failing to get his hands on one of the zoomie-possessed animals as they race around the room. "Oh, dear..."

---

The fox will quickly find a first squirrel.

And also a second.

Third, fourth, fifth...

They all go about their business rather quickly and industriously, momentarily oblivious to the presence of the crafty canid.

By a not-quite-coincidence, this is exactly what Awen will see in her scrying, too. Busy squirrels, obnoxious fox.

[Shadowcaller]

[Nerd Talk]

"I had hoped to get the cubs accustomed to being around humans but I believe Gwen was just distressed over mother disappearing and some strange creature replacing her," Geneva sighs. "I take them to the daycare at Glog while I'm here at work. They've all grown attached to the people who work there, and they're all humanoids of various kinds."

See?

They just needed to make some friends.

"Gwen is just very shy and sensitive. It takes her quite a while to open up to someone and even then she's a bit skittish. For her it's less the shape someone takes and more the fact that they're someone new."

Gwen spends most of her time at Glog in one of the day care cabins coloring and occupying herself with other quiet activities.

She's a good griff!

Just a very introverted on.

"Gilda is largely unconcerned with new people, in so far as she has new targets to try pouncing on. Glory is happy so long as someone will play with her and Gabriel is largely content to explore given the opportunity."

[Nerd Talk]

Ambrosia smiles. "Well, I'm glad to hear that they're adjusting well. It's quite a little flock to take care of by the sound of it. I do assume you're going have to be the one that teaches them how to control the weather though. Not a whole lot of teachers for that unless you found one in Carousel Court."

[Rebonack]

[Word Among The Birds]

The bird is a really really long ways away!

But that isn't a problem for Lapis!

Definitely not.

Because Lapis is really fast when she needs to be! Like, ZOOM! sort of fast!

Her motions are quick and precise just sort of by default thanks to the Motion Sphere she has access to but she can do more than that! If she wants to she can go REALLY fast!

But she doesn't need to right now, nope!

She just needs to catch up with the not-bird. So that's what she's going to do! Just fly as fast as she can with regular flying in order to catch it! She isn't totally sure what she should do once she DOES catch it, though. Bring it back to the lab, maybe? That would make sense. She'll figure out that part once she gets to it, probably.

For now?

Bird intercept!


[Nerd Talk]

"I've been teaching them the basics of weather magic, yes. Griffins typically aren't very proficient at it but with two parents with particularly potent natural talent both Gilda and Glory are unusually adept. Not as much so as Gabriel and Gwen, but that's to be expected. Hippogriffs tend to get the best of both worlds from both parent species. It's an interesting case of hybrid vigor that was studied in some detail in the bunker my family lived in."

It was, in fact, the reason for the bunker's existence.

Aside from a small number of 'control' stables all of them were meant to carry out experiments with hopes of preparing the occupants for the harsh world they would be released into.

[bc56]

Dragpies
Kothar knows exactly what sort of tricks she's talking about. He can't do them himself though. He had an old friend who did.
<The choice, and the treasure, is yours> He won't get in her way here. Dragons are to be treated with the utmost respect, even strange birdish ones.

[Rebonack]

[Dragpies]

Aaahh!

This choice is too hard!

It's kind of silly, really.

Lapis is usually really decisive about things that matter.

But with things that DON'T matter it is MUCH HARDER!

She waffles a few moments before she finally settles on just using an Invocation to cause the top of the box to blossom like an opening flower.

It's... actually really pretty.

Inside the chest? Wooden trays packed one on top of each other with strongly smelling cedar shavings as padding. And in those trays?

Potion bottles.

LOTS of potion bottles.

All filled with mysterious colored fluids and zero labeling. That's a very irresponsible way to store potions.

[Earl of Purple]

Word Among the Birds

There's another bird flying around, though rather awkwardly; hoatzin are quite bulky birds and don't rely on their abilities in the air to avoid being eaten. It's a large bird, with a blue face, a scruffy-looking orange crest, orange wings, red eyes, and it's black with white bars on the upper feathers and orange-yellow underneath. It has quite a long black tail tipped with white, which it uses to balance when landed. It's probably harder to spot whilst Lapis is flying up to gather the not-canary, though she may spot it nearby when she lands afterwards.

[Gullara]

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

"Fascinating." If she only had that kind of body instead. Humans were many things but ground bound was unfortunately one of them. To not be able to fly at will was a tragic really. "And what did your people call themselves? Since if you mentioned it before I've forgotten, my mind is a mess right now."

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

Utayo hesitates. She tends to avoid fielding questions about herself. It makes things a touch inconvenient. "No, I hadn't mentioned. My people are the soratami."

[bc56]

Dragpies
<Interesting. That is a lot of potions," Kothar comments. Unfortunately that's probably not the type of shinies Lapis wanted. She can't demonstrate her coin tricks...

Plink.

A gold coin drops into the chest. Where could it possibly have come from... Oh who am I kidding. There's no way Kothar could hide that he did that. It's not really his skill set.

[Reinholdt]

[Moonwell]

Ilpholin watches Anika prepare the ritual with one eye, the other staying on Ava. She had to give the bear credit, Anika sure knew a lot about magic. Well she did use it quite a bit, so even for someone as martially trained maybe it wasn't that unusual. Ilpholin might have to ask Anika where she found the time to learn all she had.

Ava doesn't look exceptionally happy at the news that the monster might linger in her mind, if not in her body. But she also had no recourse in the matter for now. Maybe she'll stop sleeping later though. If that helps keep it out of her head. "Alright..."

The girl gets back into the moonwell for the ritual. A cool peace, like ice cream on a hot day. When she's released, she looks herself over for a few stunned moments before gripping herself and laughing joyously. "It worked! It worked!" There was enough doubt in her mind that the possibility it wouldn't gnawed at her. But she's free! "Thank you, oh thank you!" Ava exclaims emotionally, crying a little as she climbs out of the moonwell, hand gripping the rocks.

The nymph is silent with thought. "How difficult is it to procure those reagents?" Ilpholin asks Shanti.

[Shadowcaller]

[Nerd Talk]

"I've been teaching them the basics of weather magic, yes. Griffins typically aren't very proficient at it but with two parents with particularly potent natural talent both Gilda and Glory are unusually adept. Not as much so as Gabriel and Gwen, but that's to be expected. Hippogriffs tend to get the best of both worlds from both parent species. It's an interesting case of hybrid vigor that was studied in some detail in the bunker my family lived in."

It was, in fact, the reason for the bunker's existence.

Aside from a small number of 'control' stables all of them were meant to carry out experiments with hopes of preparing the occupants for the harsh world they would be released into.

[Nerd Talk]

Bunker? Hmm...

Best to not to touch that subject right now.

"That's a interesting quirk of heritage." And something she had to note down. "But what do you teach them exactly? Since I haven't actually seen any of your weather magic in action yet." And judging by her tone she very much wanted to.

[Moonwell]

Anika will hurry to help Ava climb out of the well by given her a hand. Simply thrilled to see someone so exalted about something. "Watch your steps now. We don't want you to fall over now that you're cured." She remarks with a wide grin, her sharp canines at full display.

Meanwhile, Shanti stands up and turns to Ilpholin. "Depends on how much of it you need. You can find it out in in environments like these relatively easy enough if you know what you're looking for and how to get it." She explains with a gesture at the woods around them. "But as soon as you're planning to do it on a larger scale its going to be difficult to find enough. Since if you just harvest everything you find you'll run the risk of it going extinct after all. So either you would have to start growing the reagents on your own, which is a challenge in its own right, or you would have to go far and wide to find enough while simultaneously not wipe out the specimens that are required at the same time. I believe my Shan'do would refer to that as 'balance in nature' and its an unfortunate requirement that we must learn to live with."

[Reinholdt]

[Moonwell]

Ilpholin frowns. So... high value targets only. Until a way to synthetically reproduce the ingredients has been discovered. She'll have to take some back to Tauron and Mister Squiggles to study. "Then I suppose we save it for only those truly deserving." As hilarious as she'd find just knocking Sargon over the head, force a purification on him and turn him against his own people. She honestly doubts he would fit in the well though.

Ava smiles back at Anika, holding on with one hand. "Of course. Thanks. I owe you everything. Anything. I... wow. That VIGIL would rescue me from the demons, it... it has really been an honor. I might- I think maybe I'll join one day. Just... after my aunt says it's ok. I really should get back to her and let her know I'm all right. Or... should I hide out somewhere for a few days in case that demon is trying to find me?"

What does currently hero-worshipped Anika think Ava should do?

[Rebonack]

[Dragpies]

Lapis...

Can't help but be a little disappointed here.

The bottles are pretty and the potions are lots of different colors but this really isn't the sort of treasure she was hoping for.

See, Lapis likes beautiful things.

Things that people have Divided Forth from something else especially.

Artwork of wood and stone and metal. These potions probably took lots of work to make but they're things to be used not things to be admired.

<The box is pretty, though! I really love the box it's so smooth and glossy and someone must have really loved this box and worked really hard on it maybe I should take the potions to the quartermaster and just keep the box?> Lapis reasons. The quartermaster can probably figure out what the potions are for then they can be handed out to adventurers on their missions! Lapis is pretty sure that's the best thing to do with the potions and-

Oh!

A coin!

Lapis picks it up, furrowing her brow a little.

<Mister Kothar you dropped you coin,> Lapis says, offering it back to him.

Where would he even keep it?


[Nerd Talk]

"So far only basics," Geneva says as she stows away her equipment and begins heading for the elevator back to the island's surface. "Cloud walking and enchanted cloud assembly, thus far. The former being the most basic prerequisite for the latter. If you don't know how to interact with aerosolized water it's pretty hard to make use of any of the more advanced magic!"

Makes sense.

"Equestrian weather magic is very hooves-on. Direct interaction is largely required for it to function properly. There are a few tricks for more indirect interactions but those are much more advanced. I imagine you would like to see a few examples?"

As Geneva nears the elevator she does a very interesting thing. She kind of... goes out of focus? In the form of rough colored squares as though she were being viewed through a filter of some kind. Then they squares change color and rearrange and when she comes back into resolution there's the hippogriff standing there. As she said, she's quite large.

"Ugh. These elevators are so tiny," she complains as she turns around and backs up into the elevator, sitting down on her haunches once she's inside. The hippogriff takes up most of the interior.

[5a Violista]

[Foxhunt]

Awen wonders how easily she could grab one with her hair again, or if they'll just knock her over.
Her hair extends downwards in case one runs next to her.

Meanwhile, she looks at her runes. She sighs. That's not exactly helpful. She tosses it again, asking the runes where the fox should go to get it - but it's really futile, her fox probably won't bother listening.


Meanwhile, meanwhile.
Her fox heads to the south of one of the the squirrels. Sees it moving back and forth, predicts where it's going, and then, when the world aligns, it leaps, and...tries to catch a squirrel in its mouth.

[bc56]

Dragpies
<You keep it,> Kothar replies. <Show me the coin tricks you mentioned.> That should be a good distraction from the fact that the treasure was a bust.
Kothar has no way of helping identify the potions either. Best to just leave them be.

And he has pockets. And pants. And belt pouches. And a backpack. He can carry lots of stuff.

[Morty]

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

"I'm a Charr." Since Utayo mentioned her own people and they all know Ambrosia is a dragon, might as well introduce her kind. "Which... well, we're what you can see. Big, horns, four ears, tails."

[Ironsmith]

[Word Among The Birds]

The bird is a really really long ways away!

But that isn't a problem for Lapis!

Definitely not.

Because Lapis is really fast when she needs to be! Like, ZOOM! sort of fast!

Her motions are quick and precise just sort of by default thanks to the Motion Sphere she has access to but she can do more than that! If she wants to she can go REALLY fast!

But she doesn't need to right now, nope!

She just needs to catch up with the not-bird. So that's what she's going to do! Just fly as fast as she can with regular flying in order to catch it! She isn't totally sure what she should do once she DOES catch it, though. Bring it back to the lab, maybe? That would make sense. She'll figure out that part once she gets to it, probably.

For now?

Bird intercept!

Word Among the Birds

There's another bird flying around, though rather awkwardly; hoatzin are quite bulky birds and don't rely on their abilities in the air to avoid being eaten. It's a large bird, with a blue face, a scruffy-looking orange crest, orange wings, red eyes, and it's black with white bars on the upper feathers and orange-yellow underneath. It has quite a long black tail tipped with white, which it uses to balance when landed. It's probably harder to spot whilst Lapis is flying up to gather the not-canary, though she may spot it nearby when she lands afterwards.

[Word Among The Birds]

The canary is, of course, rather perturbed by the sudden appearance of another bird-that-isn't-a-bird, particularly one with no empathic signature at all. In its limited existence, the only being it has encountered that meets that description would, again, be Lapis herself, who isn't exactly a threat... but its instincts are telling it that a fast-moving animal without empathy is a predator and it needs to get the heck out of there.

Fortunately, there are other creatures nearby that might be willing to drive the not-magpie off... like that large bird over there. Maybe it would assist a potential mate?

Anyway, that's how Lapis will find herself positioned above another hoatzin, which is screeching out a cry of distress.

[Foxhunt]

Awen wonders how easily she could grab one with her hair again, or if they'll just knock her over.
Her hair extends downwards in case one runs next to her.

Meanwhile, she looks at her runes. She sighs. That's not exactly helpful. She tosses it again, asking the runes where the fox should go to get it - but it's really futile, her fox probably won't bother listening.


Meanwhile, meanwhile.
Her fox heads to the south of one of the the squirrels. Sees it moving back and forth, predicts where it's going, and then, when the world aligns, it leaps, and...tries to catch a squirrel in its mouth.

[Foxhunt]

Squirrel caught!

The small tree-rodent struggles and squirms in the fox's mouth, squeeling in protest and trying to inflict some form of damage with its tiny claws. Maybe it can reach the fox's nose or eyes or something if it pivots right. The point is, this little animal isn't going down without a fight, however futile and one-sided it may be.

Awen's runes tell her that the creature she's looking for is, in fact, near her fox, but beyond the vulpine's reach.

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell]

Ilpholin frowns. So... high value targets only. Until a way to synthetically reproduce the ingredients has been discovered. She'll have to take some back to Tauron and Mister Squiggles to study. "Then I suppose we save it for only those truly deserving." As hilarious as she'd find just knocking Sargon over the head, force a purification on him and turn him against his own people. She honestly doubts he would fit in the well though.

Ava smiles back at Anika, holding on with one hand. "Of course. Thanks. I owe you everything. Anything. I... wow. That VIGIL would rescue me from the demons, it... it has really been an honor. I might- I think maybe I'll join one day. Just... after my aunt says it's ok. I really should get back to her and let her know I'm all right. Or... should I hide out somewhere for a few days in case that demon is trying to find me?"

What does currently hero-worshipped Anika think Ava should do?

[Nerd Talk]

"So far only basics," Geneva says as she stows away her equipment and begins heading for the elevator back to the island's surface. "Cloud walking and enchanted cloud assembly, thus far. The former being the most basic prerequisite for the latter. If you don't know how to interact with aerosolized water it's pretty hard to make use of any of the more advanced magic!"

Makes sense.

"Equestrian weather magic is very hooves-on. Direct interaction is largely required for it to function properly. There are a few tricks for more indirect interactions but those are much more advanced. I imagine you would like to see a few examples?"

As Geneva nears the elevator she does a very interesting thing. She kind of... goes out of focus? In the form of rough colored squares as though she were being viewed through a filter of some kind. Then they squares change color and rearrange and when she comes back into resolution there's the hippogriff standing there. As she said, she's quite large.

"Ugh. These elevators are so tiny," she complains as she turns around and backs up into the elevator, sitting down on her haunches once she's inside. The hippogriff takes up most of the interior.

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

Utayo hesitates. She tends to avoid fielding questions about herself. It makes things a touch inconvenient. "No, I hadn't mentioned. My people are the soratami."

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

"I'm a Charr." Since Utayo mentioned her own people and they all know Ambrosia is a dragon, might as well introduce her kind. "Which... well, we're what you can see. Big, horns, four ears, tails."

[Moonwell]

"There's probably other ways to save people from demon-hood than our way considering this is the nexus." Shanti points out. "So I wouldn't be too concerned about that."

"Uhh... well, I figured that you should hide out in VIGIL actually. Since there will be people looking for you, not to mention that goat-demon. I mean, sis did say that its presence might linger in your head, right? So it might still be able to track you down. That would put your aunt in danger too which would be awful." Anika grin is looking increasingly awkward at this point and starts to tap her index fingers together while looking away. "I won't even be able to protect you as I will probably be serving time or whatever punishment I get for assaulting those officers. So while we, ah, clear that out you'll be safest here." A beat. "I'll totally tell your aunt where you are first though so she won't have to worry."

[Dragon Storm - An Aside]

They were all sharing their origin now? Very well. "Well, if you can't tell, this body is human despite the mutations I've caused to it. But I take it you're both already familiar with them." Humans were spread across time and space apparently, not to mention humanoids as a whole. Just the name suggested a certain human-centrism.

Ambrosia looks to Utoya. "But would you mind tell me more about your people? I've never heard of a people capable of flight without wings before."

[Nerd Talk]

As soon as Ambrosia sees Geneva's true form she knew that she simply had to make a sketch of it at some point. Not before asking of permission of course though.

"...ah, yes. Of course." A beat. "Though I could have waited until after we had taken the elevator." She remarks with a smile as she follows her into the elevator. "I thankfully don't have the same issue even as a dragon since I can shrink and enlarge my form to some degree. What you saw there was far from the largest I've been though it takes a lot my energy to maintain. Not to mention that gravity starts getting screwy once you reach a certain size."

[Reinholdt]

[Moonwell]

"Obviously," Ilpholin snorts. "That's never been in question. It's always been a matter of practicality and efficiency. The fact that there are cures out there just prove that most demons don't want to save themselves and we can't waste the time and resources to help those that don't want the help. Not while they pillage and ravage the Nexus and its soul." This was nice. It had a good ending. But it is not the solution they need to cleanse this land of the scourge.

Ava pulls away from Anika, eyes narrowing and growing suspicious at Anika's behavior. "But... Vigil is the first place they'd look for me. They all saw you take me." Anika's right that it's too dangerous to contact her aunt though. Ava hadn't considered that and that grants Anika just a little reprieve.

"You didn't do anything wrong though! Why don't they understand that?!" Ava exclaims growing mad for a second. A thought comes to her though. "Why don't you come with me then? We can escape together."

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell]

"Ava, I can't run away. I gotta fight the bad guys and I do that best if I'm a part of VIGIL." Anika let's out a sigh. "Besides, I shouldn't have attacked those guards. I should just, uh, have explained the situation better." She was sure of it!

"As for why you should stay in VIGIL, of course people will know you're there. But if the goat-demon knows where you are regardless then it's best if you're somewhere safe, right? I mean, I don't know if that's how it works but I rather not take that chance. Also, hiding freaking sucks. Imagine to do a disguise all the time, not being able to go out and hang with people. Not to mention getting money for food n' stuff while hiding. It's the worst. In VIGIL you'll get meals, cool people to hang out with... all that's a billion times better hiding away like- uh, well, my point was that it's much better to face your problems head on, okay? That's my philosophy and I'm sticking with it." Anika nods sagely.

"Speaking of facing consequences, I'll be facing some if I don't get back to my daughter soon." Shanti remarks as Anika finishes her little speech. "So I'm going to go back to VIGIL. Are the rest of you coming or not?"

[Rebonack]

[Word Among The Birds]

Oh.

Now the bird is a different bird.

A really funny looking bird.

But that's okay most birds are funny looking.

Lapis the magpie gives chase! With the pretty major benefit of being significantly more speedy and agile in the air. Once she gets close enough she'll unfurl into child-shape with the addition of great big magpie wings and a shiny black disc reminiscent of a large number of inward pointing swords? teeth? behind her head like a halo, arcs of lightning crackling through the glass.

Mom calls this sort of thing 'traditional angel' mode. It's what people usually think of when they think of angels and it's a useful thing to do! That way no one gets scared if they as much if they see her doing things from down on the ground.

"Got you!"

She tries to grab the bird.

Lapis is swift and good at catching things! She has lots of practice! There's no way she'll miss!

Then there's a sizzling sound from her side and she hisses in pain and totally misses.


[Nerd Talk]

Geneva is pretty sketchable. She's a very interesting looking creature, to be sure. Though her personality really doesn't seem to match up that well with what one might expect from a flying apex predator.

"I... well, yes. I could have waited until after the ride, but I wanted to give my wings a bit of time to warm up," Geneva replies.

It's pretty subtle, but Ambrosia might notice that the hippogriff's wings are shaking a little? Sort of vibrating?

"Taking human form interferes with the natural crystal thaumatics in my wings especially. So when I change back I need to prime them for a few minutes before they'll actually be functional. Without magical support I can't actually fly, my body is much too heavy to be supported by the lift my wings can produce alone."

Science!

Geneva pokes the elevator controls with a talon and up they go!


[Dragpies]

Yeah...

This definitely wasn't the sort of treasure Lapis was hoping for.

Maybe it'll still be useful somehow? That's all Lapis can really hope for.

Anyway!

Coin!

Lapis smiles at the offer to show off, which she is always one hundred percent okay with.

"Alright!" she chirps back, placing the coin in her palm. "Now it'll disappear!"

She curls her fingers around the coin, slaps the fist with her other hand, and opens her palm to reveal-!

Gone!

Magic!

"Where did it go? It's mysterious!"

She is, in fact, holding the coin gripped between her fingers facing away from her palm so it can't be seen from where Kothar is standing. Pretty standard slight of hand. And then, rather abruptly, Lapis gives a little yelp of pain and drops the coin, her hand going to her side.

[bc56]

Dragpies
<Very impre...> what was that? <Are you hurt? What happened?> Kothar has his shield at the ready in a flash, preparing to repel any attackers that might be hidden nearby, should they reveal themselves. At the very least, he can interpose himself between Lapis and the seeming direction the attack came from.