Seaside 7: Seven's the Shark

[Rebonack]

[The Great Tail Caper]

Leona's expression softens a bit, ears perking up when her voice changes from cold to not. She lifts her paw off Jade's chest.

And Aries?

Looks very concerned.

"Jade what h-happened to you in there? You were acting like we didn't matter," the ram says.

"It was pretty crazy," Drakaina adds. "You were floating? Tossing around magic willy nilly. Using a big imperious voice like that elf lady from Fellowship of the Ring. And you threw a fireball at us, which was about as heartless as it was pointless."

Since.

Y'know.

Fire-proof.


[Butterfly Bay]

Wow.

This place is really ritzy.

Also really...

"I guess jogging on the beach isn't popular here," Khannie comments under her breath, locking eyes with one of the wolfen glaring at her in a very 'won't back down' sort of way. Every now and again those old aggressive instincts bubble to the surface and she finds herself falling into old habits. Thankfully they were mostly erased with the wish. Also thankfully they get out of sight and down on the beach itself. Red sand crunches under her boots as she strolls down the beach, easily matching Arthfael's pace.

"Oh, right. Use to talking to other Magical Girls on Paragon. A labyrinth is this crazy fever dream lair Witches make for themselves with their magic. It's like this pocket of space all twisted in on itself. If... that makes any sense," Khannie sort of explains. Honestly it doesn't make much sense to her but hey that's what smarter people told her so good enough, right? "Jellymoon is what we've been calling the big Witch. Since she's like... a big jellyfish moon thing."

Nice and straight forward.

"Kind of like that."

Khannie points at a moon jelly that has washed up on the beach, a three foot wide disc of transparent goop.

[bc56]

The Great Tail Caper
As soon as she's released, Jade rolls over to the edge of the trail and spills her guts.
Looks like she really was feeling sick.
"After you got thrown off the mountain, one of those tentacles hit me with its spikes. I was dying. But something gave me the opportunity to live. I had to choose an aspect of myself to embody, or something. I chose poorly." That's not a comfortable thing to think about, that that cold, vicious monster is part of Jade. "We need to go back. The guy who stole my tail, he might still be alive under the rubble." She stands, turns back, and starts up the trail. She's not floating this time.

[Ironsmith]

[Butterfly Bay]

"Oh. Okay, I guess that sort of makes sense." Arthfael concedes, mentally debating scooping up some of that moon jelly on the way home and deciding against it. The ordeal in Inside left him a little low on reserves, but just straight-up swallowing an animal (even one as unsympathetic as a literal blob on the beach) in front of Khannie seemed like a good way to disturb her.

"Wait, wait, hang on a second..." Arthfael frowns, coming to a sudden realization. "When you say she's a big witch, and compare her to the moon... you're, um, exaggerating, right?" He grimaces. "You're not actually trying to fight a crazy ghost thing the literal size of the moon, are you? That, um... that sounds like it might be beyond you. Like it might be beyond anyone, I mean..."

[Rebonack]

[The Great Tail Caper]

Fox barf.

Gross.

Chimera takes off after Jade!

They can move quite a bit faster than she can, as it happens. Drakaina will aim to pluck up Jade and deposit them on their back to hurry things along.

Hopefully before the old guy burns to death.

So!

Up the trail!

By the time they reach the fortress facade the whole thing is an absolute inferno.


[Butterfly Bay]

Don't eat the moon jelly, Arthfael.

It probably wouldn't be any fun.

What if it stings you right in the mouth?

"No idea," Khannie admits with complete honesty. "When it does its thing it kinda super-imposes over the moon? Girls all over Inside saw it. So even if it isn't as big as the moon it's still gotta be really big."

Disturbingly big, really.

"Mostly I was just thinking, you know, punch it really hard."

She baps one fist into her palm.

[bc56]

The Great Tail Caper
Jade is out of her element now. She isn't strong enough to go digging through debris, even if she is immune to the flames (only because they're her own). She points to roughly the spot in the wreckage she thinks that guy was at when the ceiling collapsed on him. "There, I think?" As a firefighter, Chimera is better equipped to take it from here.

[Zefir]

[Expedition into the dark]

Calm Reed listens intently. Many questions buzz inside her mind, but she needs to apply them with care. The intelligence behind this structure is cooperative and candid... for now. Their goals may not remain aligned for long.

"We have encountered a blind creature of large size but a child-like mind, on the shores of an island some distance from here. It claimed to have come from 'the dark' and we traced its steps here. Has anyone escaped from here recently?"

[Expedition into the dark]

Mia doesn t relly know who those two people are. She might have heared Vulpan befor but that is as deep as she could go.
Mia also is less happy about Khafirs offer to give the dangerouse artifact back. Still not saying anything since as Calm Reed noticed the entity is cooperative and she shouldn t sabotage that.

"It said something about guiding. What exactly did that mean?"

[Ironsmith]

[Butterfly Bay]

Don't eat the moon jelly, Arthfael.

It probably wouldn't be any fun.

What if it stings you right in the mouth?

"No idea," Khannie admits with complete honesty. "When it does its thing it kinda super-imposes over the moon? Girls all over Inside saw it. So even if it isn't as big as the moon it's still gotta be really big."

Disturbingly big, really.

"Mostly I was just thinking, you know, punch it really hard."

She baps one fist into her palm.

[Butterfly Bay]

If Arthfael were a bit more mathematically inclined, he could probably estimate the Jellymoon's actual size based on that, assuming it physically eclipses the moon. Then again, maybe not... Khannie probably would have already tried that, if only to be sure that the fist she intends to punch it with is well and truly big enough.

As it is, Arthfael can only glance nervously up at the sky as they talk, as if expecting their discussion of the Jellymoon to summon it above their heads. "...I just have to wonder, that's all." He says finally, as they round the dune physically obscuring his home from the rest of the beach.

If Khannie is expecting that Arthfael has a ritzy beachside home of his own, she's going to be sorely mistaken. It would be generous to call the place a shack, even... more like a brick-and-mortar minibunker of some mind, or possibly the remains of an obsolete sewage treatment plant. It's a smallish, rectangular structure, cobbled together from large blocks of sandstone, windowless, shabby and featureless apart from a rickety door in the center of one of the walls. Nearby, there's the cold, ash-covered remains of a chronically-used firepit, which has a set of four lawn chairs set up next to it; one larger than the others and bent slightly out of shape, one covered in faded floral designs, one with an extra pillow propped up against the foot-end, and one with a beat-up looking stereo next to it, with a pair of brand-new headphones plugged in and resting on the butt of the seat. Several paces away, out of the way but not an inconvenient walk from the front door, there's a little sandpit with a wooden frame around it, as well as a smaller, hand-sized frame in the interior, with a number of red, sandy blocks nearby, wrapped up in cardboard boxes to hold their shape while they waited for the sun to dry them. A discarded keg labeled as coming from Trog's Tavern sits near the door, one end carefully sawed off and turned upward to form a sort of rain-barrel. Khannie and Arthfael will make their way up an unpaved, beaten-down path from the beach proper to the front door, marked along the edges by little shells the family's found on their trips to and from their little home.

Arthfael tenses as they approach, voicing what he's sure Khannie is thinking. "...I know, kind of a dump." He cringes. "But for a place built by a guy with no construction experience and no proper tools, it's not that bad."

[Rebonack]

[Butterfly Bay]

Wow.

This place is a real-

Oh wait.

Arthfael said it already.

Like a hobo shack hidden out of sight so the neighbors don't complain about it lowering property values.

Because with the looks they were getting on the way in?

"If this spot were controlled by the local home owner's association they definitely would have demolished it already," Khannie comments encouragingly. The only reason she knows what a home owner's association is happens to be because she's heard her dad complaining about the one that rules their neighborhood with a tyrannical fist of iron.

She moves toward one of the chairs, running her hand along the back as she examines the surroundings curiously.


[The Great Tail Caper]

Chimera lets Jade down and hurries into the wreckage. They're both large and strong and neither heat nor smoke inhalation bothers them at all, which are both pretty helpful traits of have in situations like these.

Several tense minutes follow.

And then, miraculously, Chimera emerges from the blaze with a badly burned old man on their back. They set him down, revert to human shape, and begin applying CPR immediately. The guy isn't breathing and Tristan needs to do what he can to fix that.

"I brought a first aid kit with our supplies," Tristan says, nodding toward the backpack nearby

[bc56]

The Great Tail Caper
"I've got it!" Jade rushes to the bag and digs through it. Once she finds the kit, she runs back. "That looks bad, there should be some antiseptic in here." Jade begins applying the stuff to the worst of the burns with a cotton swab. She looks very upset. "I didn't want this to happen. I didn't.

[Vahnavoi]

Spoiler

Show

[Expedition into the Dark]

...The eagle-man is amused? Huh. Khafir's almost certain that's just more subconscious wish fulfillment on her part, but it's still a welcome change of pace.

"...That does explain quite a bit." Khafir begins, stepping off her prayer mat to more closely examine then images being shown, before she stops and looks back at it, wondering if she should really just leave it there. It's not real, leaving it alone won't make a difference.

She stops and takes a moment to roll up the little rug, tucking it under her arm before resuming her conversation with the eagle-man.

"Some time ago, we acquired an artifact from a similar structure to this one, by way of a wolfen." Khafir points out, tapping the image of the wolf-headed man and recalling Codebreaker's appearance from her remote observation of the event. "The artfiact in question contained an AI that uses many of the same symbols and descriptors you are using now. One of our researchers, Doctor Eun-Jung Bu, was able to create a successful translation guide from her interactions with the AI. If you like, I could have a copy sent down here, which may aid in future communications." She pulls her scarf around her head a little tighter. "I will also put in a request with my superiors to have the artifact returned, if that is your wish. We have two copies of the onboard AI, which should forestall any objections on their part." She gives the eagle-man her best attempt at a diplomatic smile, which through the filter of her subconscious, will come through as either surprisingly genuine or cold and hollow. "A gesture of good faith, as it were. In most cultures, it is considered bad form to run off with another's body parts."

Another joke, of course.

"What was the original purpose of this structure?" She continues, her eyes flicking back to the screen-wall in anticipation of another illustrated response.

Spoiler

Show

[Expedition into the dark]

Calm Reed listens intently. Many questions buzz inside her mind, but she needs to apply them with care. The intelligence behind this structure is cooperative and candid... for now. Their goals may not remain aligned for long.

"We have encountered a blind creature of large size but a child-like mind, on the shores of an island some distance from here. It claimed to have come from 'the dark' and we traced its steps here. Has anyone escaped from here recently?"

Spoiler

Show

[Expedition into the dark]

Mia doesn t relly know who those two people are. She might have heared Vulpan befor but that is as deep as she could go.
Mia also is less happy about Khafirs offer to give the dangerouse artifact back. Still not saying anything since as Calm Reed noticed the entity is cooperative and she shouldn t sabotage that.

"It said something about guiding. What exactly did that mean?"

[Expedition into the dark]

The eagle-headed being nods at Khafir. "I thank you for your offer to return the Lantern. However, you should not return it for my sake. I cannot use it. If it is not lit and remains so, it is of no consequence where it is stored. If you did bring it here and lit it, that would open a lot of possibilities, but..." The being holds its hands to the sides, palms up, as if physically weighing different options. "... I would recommend you think carefully of what you'd want to do with such a thing. Lanterns, within this structure, warp observable reality fiercely. You would not have to dream to see what you see now if you had one in hand. The artificial intelligence is just a part of the device. A communication protocol, an interface for making such a device usable to humans, if you will. It is possible your reverse-engineered copies are already wildly divergent from the intelligence within the original, in personality if nothing else. Their behaviour might not be predictive of the real thing."

They place their hands behind their back again and ponder of Khafir's next question. "Shortly? This place was made for raising humans. To elevate children of humanity to the level necessary to face their future. But that purpose was fulfilled a long time ago. I am certain the last person this structure was meant to raise left a long time ago. They may have been the one who turned off the lights, so to speak."

On the walls, the hieroglyphs decipt large numbers of humans carrying their babies into a pyramid, where they are placed into... vats? Cocoons? The glyphs are somewhat unclear. All of the children have multiple tubes connected to them, which intertwine and form a large fractal-like pattern which looks somewhat like a tree, or perhaps circuitry. It grows and grows across the walls, untill suddenly it starts to approximate a humanoid shape again.

Then it's turn for Calm Reed's question.

"I am quite certain nothing from the inside broke through after Miss Vulpan and Miss Wright left. However, the entrance was open for a time while they were exploring this structure. Some creatures, rats, mostly, escaped during that brief window. The creature you encountered may be of same origin. It is unusual that it could talk in a way comprehensible to you. Many who are lost in the dark cannot. They were brought and left here before they learned from their parents. They only communicate with their own tongue now."

The glyphs on the wall change in response to this. Most of them are erased, those that aren't are reduced to simpler or abstracted forms. New glyphs of new humans, decipted in a different, reddish color to contrast with blue hues of the older glyphs, appear. They depict the new humans looking at the old glyphs, apparently confused by their meaning. They, too, carry children into a pyramid, but the vats are absent, as are the tubes. Some of the children are ritually sacrificed. Some are simply abandoned inside. Those that survive crawl deeper into the pyramid, where they begin to grow and warp, eventually becoming misshapen, eyeless creatures walking on their knuckles.

If Mia's question is relayed to the being:

"I am a guide, in the most literal of senses. Imagine me as a shadow on a wall or a signpost partially revealed by a ray of light shining into a dark building. I show where the passages are and give people directions for where they want to go, to what limited extent I can. I have no other purpose."

[Purple Eagle]

[Submarine - Interior]

Olvisin is briefly surprised by the change in topic, but then, it's a pretty normal thing to ask someone.

"I don't. I'm not sure if I have the right temperament. We had some pets when I was younger. A molerat, two small tunnel-cats, a vent-spider. But they were more like family pets or the whole warren's pets. Not mine, as such."

[Submarine - Interior]

"A pet spider? Interesting... I have a pet of my own. A Siberian Husky named Igwe. It basically means chief, see?" Chidi smiles when he thinks of his pet dog. "You'll soon get to meet him, I left him to play with Doc's pet fox."

The submarine slowly comes to a stop as the two chat, and an announcement indicating their arrival blasts out of semi-hidden speakers.

"Well then, we should keep moving, Olvi." He gets up and offers her his hand, all gentleman-like.

[Deathkeeper]

Codebreaker's Home

Codebreaker manages to stay up for an hour or two. Just in case she's acting. He ain't falling for any tricks this time.
Up until the exact moment Owena arrives to relieve him. Then he will immediately pass out unless she has anything to say to him.

[Ironsmith]

[Butterfly Bay]

Wow.

This place is a real-

Oh wait.

Arthfael said it already.

Like a hobo shack hidden out of sight so the neighbors don't complain about it lowering property values.

Because with the looks they were getting on the way in?

"If this spot were controlled by the local home owner's association they definitely would have demolished it already," Khannie comments encouragingly. The only reason she knows what a home owner's association is happens to be because she's heard her dad complaining about the one that rules their neighborhood with a tyrannical fist of iron.

She moves toward one of the chairs, running her hand along the back as she examines the surroundings curiously.

[Butterfly Bay]

"That's... not entirely inaccurate." Arthfael replies, shifting back and forth on his feet. "My uncle's had to run a few jerks off before. Our house is a, quote unqoute, 'eyesore' to some of the people around here. I don't really get how all of it works, but uncle Kyrie says we're protected by something called 'squatter's rights', which annoys those people like crazy. They've left us alone recently, though. I think mister Codebreaker... my sister's boss... bailed us out again somehow. Uncle Kyrie won't talk about it, he just says we should be grateful to have such a generous family friend."

Khannie's examinations are going to turn up a few other discoveries. For instance, the one she's chosen, with its extra pillow, has an S scrawled over the tag on the back, in sharpie, and an extra catch on the side that looks like it was cannibalized from another chair, slightly stretched out to accommodate something a bit bigger around than the steel rods that form the chair's supports.

"...You, uh... probably ought to leave that alone." Arthfael cautions. "That's Siana's chair. Uncle Kyrie doesn't like anyone to mess with it."

[Expedition into the dark]

The eagle-headed being nods at Khafir. "I thank you for your offer to return the Lantern. However, you should not return it for my sake. I cannot use it. If it is not lit and remains so, it is of no consequence where it is stored. If you did bring it here and lit it, that would open a lot of possibilities, but..." The being holds its hands to the sides, palms up, as if physically weighing different options. "... I would recommend you think carefully of what you'd want to do with such a thing. Lanterns, within this structure, warp observable reality fiercely. You would not have to dream to see what you see now if you had one in hand. The artificial intelligence is just a part of the device. A communication protocol, an interface for making such a device usable to humans, if you will. It is possible your reverse-engineered copies are already wildly divergent from the intelligence within the original, in personality if nothing else. Their behaviour might not be predictive of the real thing."

They place their hands behind their back again and ponder of Khafir's next question. "Shortly? This place was made for raising humans. To elevate children of humanity to the level necessary to face their future. But that purpose was fulfilled a long time ago. I am certain the last person this structure was meant to raise left a long time ago. They may have been the one who turned off the lights, so to speak."

On the walls, the hieroglyphs decipt large numbers of humans carrying their babies into a pyramid, where they are placed into... vats? Cocoons? The glyphs are somewhat unclear. All of the children have multiple tubes connected to them, which intertwine and form a large fractal-like pattern which looks somewhat like a tree, or perhaps circuitry. It grows and grows across the walls, untill suddenly it starts to approximate a humanoid shape again.

Then it's turn for Calm Reed's question.

"I am quite certain nothing from the inside broke through after Miss Vulpan and Miss Wright left. However, the entrance was open for a time while they were exploring this structure. Some creatures, rats, mostly, escaped during that brief window. The creature you encountered may be of same origin. It is unusual that it could talk in a way comprehensible to you. Many who are lost in the dark cannot. They were brought and left here before they learned from their parents. They only communicate with their own tongue now."

The glyphs on the wall change in response to this. Most of them are erased, those that aren't are reduced to simpler or abstracted forms. New glyphs of new humans, decipted in a different, reddish color to contrast with blue hues of the older glyphs, appear. They depict the new humans looking at the old glyphs, apparently confused by their meaning. They, too, carry children into a pyramid, but the vats are absent, as are the tubes. Some of the children are ritually sacrificed. Some are simply abandoned inside. Those that survive crawl deeper into the pyramid, where they begin to grow and warp, eventually becoming misshapen, eyeless creatures walking on their knuckles.

If Mia's question is relayed to the being:

"I am a guide, in the most literal of senses. Imagine me as a shadow on a wall or a signpost partially revealed by a ray of light shining into a dark building. I show where the passages are and give people directions for where they want to go, to what limited extent I can. I have no other purpose."

[Expedition into the Dark]

Intriguing.

Khafir watches the glyphs recreate the events of this presumably long-since-gone civilization, finding that answer to be... disconcerting, particularly given the context of her own background. "...Implying that there was an event in the future for which this 'ascension' was necessary." She wonders out loud, pacing back and forth in front of the wall. "Would I be correct in assuming that you have minimal internal monitoring? Or is it just a matter of turning it all back on?"

Codebreaker's Home

Codebreaker manages to stay up for an hour or two. Just in case she's acting. He ain't falling for any tricks this time.
Up until the exact moment Owena arrives to relieve him. Then he will immediately pass out unless she has anything to say to him.

[Codebreaker's Home]

The remainder of the night passes uneventfully, provided Codebreaker doesn't engage in any tossing and/or turning that might have ripple effects downstairs. Now that he has guests that lack an edit lock again, that might be a concern.

Nevertheless, when morning comes, he's going to find two abnormalities; first, that Owena does not come to wake him at the usual time, and second, that both women are still here when he does awake, even if he sleeps in a few hours.

[Rebonack]

[Expedition into the dark]

Hmm.

Thus far Geneva isn't observing much here that's suggestive of an evil spirit living in the walls.

There's this artificial intelligence that apparently over-sees the function of this device, or rather over-saw it when it still functioned, but it doesn't seem particularly malevolent.

The glyphs of the ape-like hominids definitely catches Geneva's attention. Without question those creatures resemble Alto. This has some curious implications...

"The one 'lost child' that we encountered adapted rapidly after escaping from this structure," Geneva points out. "He's at Glog now and acts more or less like the young of any sapient species would. Within the span of his departure he's quickly developed functional eyes and language skills, which leads me to wonder how else exposure to the outside world will cause him to adapt over time."

How does Geneva know this?

Because her cubs attend Glog while she's at work. She encountered Alto when she picked up her children.

"This would imply that a similar process might take place if the rest of the 'lost children' here are freed. Though I'm not sure if Glog would be able to handle such a large influx of residents."


[Butterfly Bay]

Ugh.

Now Khannie feels kind of bad about living in a nice house in a nice neighborhood while her friend lives in this tiny sad dump on a beach.

But what could she possibly do about something like that?

"Well... I guess it's good that you guys have somewhere right?" Khannie offers a bit lamely.

The cautions about chairs get an eyebrow raise from her. Seriously? He gets possessive about chairs?

Whatever.

"So... I guess I got you home," she says, just as lamely as that previous comment. "It's really late for you, right?"

Just look at that bright shining happy sun making its way higher into the sky!

"Should I just head back to Inside now or...?"

Or did he want to introduce her to his family or something?


[The Great Tail Caper]

"I know you didn't," Tristan reassures her. "Whatever was going on with you, that wasn't you. Even when you were the kumiho you still agonized over hurting people. Whatever that was just... didn't care."

He continues applying CPR and- success!

A few coughs and the old man begins breathing again, though he doesn't wake up.

"We need to get this guy to a hospital. Is he the one that stole your tail?"

[Ironsmith]

[Butterfly Bay]

Ugh.

Now Khannie feels kind of bad about living in a nice house in a nice neighborhood while her friend lives in this tiny sad dump on a beach.

But what could she possibly do about something like that?

"Well... I guess it's good that you guys have somewhere right?" Khannie offers a bit lamely.

The cautions about chairs get an eyebrow raise from her. Seriously? He gets possessive about chairs?

Whatever.

"So... I guess I got you home," she says, just as lamely as that previous comment. "It's really late for you, right?"

Just look at that bright shining happy sun making its way higher into the sky!

"Should I just head back to Inside now or...?"

Or did he want to introduce her to his family or something?

[Butterfly Bay]

"...Um, yeah, it looks like you did. Walked me all the way to the front door and everything." Arthfael manages a rueful smile and a nervous scratch at the back of his neck. "I'll, uh, see you tonight, unless I'm grounded..." He shuffles nervously and reaches for the door, before stopping and turning to face her again. "Unless you want to come in? I, um... it might make that grounding a little less likely. If my uncle knew I was with a friend and not just hanging out in an alley somewhere." He offers, hand still on the doorknob.

[Deathkeeper]

Codebreaker's Home

CB is not so big that you can hear him turn over from forty feet away!
Still, sleep he does. And well. Though he's still tired the next morning.
"So. How was your night?" he asks, plodding back to the main room.

[Ironsmith]

[Codebreaker's Home]

"Terrible." Owena and the lady in red chorus. After a brief bout of "no, I insist, you elaborate first"s between the two of them, Owena lets out a deep sigh and explains.

"I spent the night jumping at every sound in this damn house." Owena begins shakily. "I kept thinking that... thing came back and was going to try to hurt me again. I know I shouldn't worry, that she's gone and we're all safe in here, but..." She shudders and rubs at her arms worriedly. "I hope you don't mind, I want to spend the day here, too. It didn't seem safe to go walking home last night."

"...I just meant the couch was lumpy and I couldn't get comfortable." The lady in red admits, producing a cigarette from under her coat and pressing it between her lips.

[Deathkeeper]

Codebreaker's Home

"That's fine, Owena. You know your family is always welcome here." Codebreaker assures the strigoi, gentleness in his eyes.
Which is broken immediately as he snaps over to his guest.
"Don't you dare light that; I'll be smelling it for ten years." Lumpy, his tail. He knows exactly how much that couch costed. OCB saved receipts.

[Morty]

[Submarine - Interior]

"Husky? I've never heard of an animal like this." Olvisin appears unaware that it's a breed of dog. She takes Chidi's offered hand. "But yeah, we keep spiders. They live near heat vents coming from deeper underground. Natural ones, but they adapted to our artificial vents. They're more personable than other spiders."

[Expedition Into the Dark]

"What precisely caused the transformation of that creature? If they were once human?" It is good to hear it's doing well, at least. "If your purpose has been fulfilled long ago, as you say, then whatever happened to them and their kind is unintentional on your part."

[bc56]

The Great Tail Caper
"Yeah he was, for some kind of ritual. I guess the beachside vacation will have to wait," she jokes. "I've got his legs if you've got his shoulders." They don't have a stretcher, so this is probably the easiest way to carry him down the mountain and back to the plane. Unless Tristan wants to utilize super strength and do a fireman's carry.

[Ironsmith]

Codebreaker's Home

"That's fine, Owena. You know your family is always welcome here." Codebreaker assures the strigoi, gentleness in his eyes.
Which is broken immediately as he snaps over to his guest.
"Don't you dare light that; I'll be smelling it for ten years." Lumpy, his tail. He knows exactly how much that couch costed. OCB saved receipts.

[Codebreaker's Home]

This wildly divergent response garners its own divergent responses. Owena gives Codebreaker a little nod and a grateful smile, before getting up to open a window in the event that the lady in red refuses to comply.

Which, of course, she does.

"I didn't take you for the sort to have a problem with it." The lady replies, smoke curling from the end of the cigarette as it lights itself. "Or are you used to the primitive tobacco-based cigarettes of yesteryear that seem to be so horribly commonplace here in the Nexus? Never touch the stuff, myself." She blows a cloud of smoke toward Codebreaker's face, giving him a snoutful of artificial peach scent and flavoring; the extent of how artificial likely only being apparent to him. "Regardless, now seems like the time to have a frank discussion about how to move forward. My precognition, as you would percieve it, has hit a wall in terms of its effectiveness, thanks to desynchronization. As of today, I can no longer offer my assistance in that capacity. Which leaves the question; what do you intend to do without me?"

[Zefir]

Spoiler: Expedition Into the Dark

Show

[Expedition Into the Dark]

"What precisely caused the transformation of that creature? If they were once human?" It is good to hear it's doing well, at least. "If your purpose has been fulfilled long ago, as you say, then whatever happened to them and their kind is unintentional on your part."

[Expedition into the Dark]

Intriguing.

Khafir watches the glyphs recreate the events of this presumably long-since-gone civilization, finding that answer to be... disconcerting, particularly given the context of her own background. "...Implying that there was an event in the future for which this 'ascension' was necessary." She wonders out loud, pacing back and forth in front of the wall. "Would I be correct in assuming that you have minimal internal monitoring? Or is it just a matter of turning it all back on?"

[Expedition into the dark]

Hmm.

Thus far Geneva isn't observing much here that's suggestive of an evil spirit living in the walls.

There's this artificial intelligence that apparently over-sees the function of this device, or rather over-saw it when it still functioned, but it doesn't seem particularly malevolent.

The glyphs of the ape-like hominids definitely catches Geneva's attention. Without question those creatures resemble Alto. This has some curious implications...

"The one 'lost child' that we encountered adapted rapidly after escaping from this structure," Geneva points out. "He's at Glog now and acts more or less like the young of any sapient species would. Within the span of his departure he's quickly developed functional eyes and language skills, which leads me to wonder how else exposure to the outside world will cause him to adapt over time."

How does Geneva know this?

Because her cubs attend Glog while she's at work. She encountered Alto when she picked up her children.

"This would imply that a similar process might take place if the rest of the 'lost children' here are freed. Though I'm not sure if Glog would be able to handle such a large influx of residents."

[Expedition into the dark]

The eagle-headed being nods at Khafir. "I thank you for your offer to return the Lantern. However, you should not return it for my sake. I cannot use it. If it is not lit and remains so, it is of no consequence where it is stored. If you did bring it here and lit it, that would open a lot of possibilities, but..." The being holds its hands to the sides, palms up, as if physically weighing different options. "... I would recommend you think carefully of what you'd want to do with such a thing. Lanterns, within this structure, warp observable reality fiercely. You would not have to dream to see what you see now if you had one in hand. The artificial intelligence is just a part of the device. A communication protocol, an interface for making such a device usable to humans, if you will. It is possible your reverse-engineered copies are already wildly divergent from the intelligence within the original, in personality if nothing else. Their behaviour might not be predictive of the real thing."

They place their hands behind their back again and ponder of Khafir's next question. "Shortly? This place was made for raising humans. To elevate children of humanity to the level necessary to face their future. But that purpose was fulfilled a long time ago. I am certain the last person this structure was meant to raise left a long time ago. They may have been the one who turned off the lights, so to speak."

On the walls, the hieroglyphs decipt large numbers of humans carrying their babies into a pyramid, where they are placed into... vats? Cocoons? The glyphs are somewhat unclear. All of the children have multiple tubes connected to them, which intertwine and form a large fractal-like pattern which looks somewhat like a tree, or perhaps circuitry. It grows and grows across the walls, untill suddenly it starts to approximate a humanoid shape again.

Then it's turn for Calm Reed's question.

"I am quite certain nothing from the inside broke through after Miss Vulpan and Miss Wright left. However, the entrance was open for a time while they were exploring this structure. Some creatures, rats, mostly, escaped during that brief window. The creature you encountered may be of same origin. It is unusual that it could talk in a way comprehensible to you. Many who are lost in the dark cannot. They were brought and left here before they learned from their parents. They only communicate with their own tongue now."

The glyphs on the wall change in response to this. Most of them are erased, those that aren't are reduced to simpler or abstracted forms. New glyphs of new humans, decipted in a different, reddish color to contrast with blue hues of the older glyphs, appear. They depict the new humans looking at the old glyphs, apparently confused by their meaning. They, too, carry children into a pyramid, but the vats are absent, as are the tubes. Some of the children are ritually sacrificed. Some are simply abandoned inside. Those that survive crawl deeper into the pyramid, where they begin to grow and warp, eventually becoming misshapen, eyeless creatures walking on their knuckles.

If Mia's question is relayed to the being:

"I am a guide, in the most literal of senses. Imagine me as a shadow on a wall or a signpost partially revealed by a ray of light shining into a dark building. I show where the passages are and give people directions for where they want to go, to what limited extent I can. I have no other purpose."

[Expedition into the dark]

Mia seems to be less convinced that this building isn't possessed by an evil spirit. Even thought it seems to cooperate, she can't shake of a feeling that somethin is odd here. Like the machine isn't lying, but keeps informations behind. She might use something like zone of truth, but that would require her to go into the machine and at best be close to the heart of it or more the mainboard. Right now she can just tell the suspicion to Geneva.

"Those tubes do look strange. It seems like this building still has informations we didn't manage to tell us or it didn't want to tell us." She says befor turning back to the radio to asks more. But befor that she uses a spell on herself to understand the glyphs.

"What were those tubes about? It seems that without them the people had a different understanding of this building."

[Vahnavoi]

Spoiler

Show

[Expedition into the Dark]

Intriguing.

Khafir watches the glyphs recreate the events of this presumably long-since-gone civilization, finding that answer to be... disconcerting, particularly given the context of her own background. "...Implying that there was an event in the future for which this 'ascension' was necessary." She wonders out loud, pacing back and forth in front of the wall. "Would I be correct in assuming that you have minimal internal monitoring? Or is it just a matter of turning it all back on?"

Spoiler

Show

[Expedition into the dark]

Hmm.

Thus far Geneva isn't observing much here that's suggestive of an evil spirit living in the walls.

There's this artificial intelligence that apparently over-sees the function of this device, or rather over-saw it when it still functioned, but it doesn't seem particularly malevolent.

The glyphs of the ape-like hominids definitely catches Geneva's attention. Without question those creatures resemble Alto. This has some curious implications...

"The one 'lost child' that we encountered adapted rapidly after escaping from this structure," Geneva points out. "He's at Glog now and acts more or less like the young of any sapient species would. Within the span of his departure he's quickly developed functional eyes and language skills, which leads me to wonder how else exposure to the outside world will cause him to adapt over time."

How does Geneva know this?

Because her cubs attend Glog while she's at work. She encountered Alto when she picked up her children.

"This would imply that a similar process might take place if the rest of the 'lost children' here are freed. Though I'm not sure if Glog would be able to handle such a large influx of residents."

Spoiler

Show

[Expedition Into the Dark]

"What precisely caused the transformation of that creature? If they were once human?" It is good to hear it's doing well, at least. "If your purpose has been fulfilled long ago, as you say, then whatever happened to them and their kind is unintentional on your part."

Spoiler

Show

[Expedition into the dark]

Mia seems to be less convinced that this building isn't possessed by an evil spirit. Even thought it seems to cooperate, she can't shake of a feeling that somethin is odd here. Like the machine isn't lying, but keeps informations behind. She might use something like zone of truth, but that would require her to go into the machine and at best be close to the heart of it or more the mainboard. Right now she can just tell the suspicion to Geneva.

"Those tubes do look strange. It seems like this building still has informations we didn't manage to tell us or it didn't want to tell us." She says befor turning back to the radio to asks more. But befor that she uses a spell on herself to understand the glyphs.

"What were those tubes about? It seems that without them the people had a different understanding of this building."

[Expedition into the dark]

"If all Lanterns were lit and full power was restored, I'd be able to know the position of every room within this structure, everything that is within those rooms, as well as change position of any room", the eagle-headed being replies to Khafir, "as it stands, majority of rooms are completely dark to me. I can track current and past positions of living, thinking beings that enter this structure, as long as they don't pass into one of those dark rooms. I can also see and sense living, thinking beings some distance outside the entrances, but only when queried by one of them." Such as by some hapless wanderer wondering how they're supposed to get into the "pyramid" with no doors.

"I also have records of what was the purpose of each room and what was in them, but I'm no longer conversant with entities that kept most of those updated. To count something, I have to look at things myself and this has made it... difficult, sometimes impossible to give conclusive counts of many objects within."

Next, there is Calm Reed's questions: "I do believe these hominids were all human or at least human-like once. The specific mechanism of their transformation escapes me, I'm afraid. These blind creatures evolved from, to my best knowledge, exclusively from those that failed to directly connect to an entity such as myself. Just as well, none of them have ever been directly connected to me after their metamorphoses. I see that they've adapted to the dark. I don't know why they haven't just died." As a commentary to Geneva's words, should they be relied to them: "For similar reasons, I cannot tell what is causing the creature outside to adapt to the light. If this has happened before, I do not know of it, as it must by necessity have happened beyond limits of my perception. The direction of change appears positive, so I would consider it a hopeful sign."

If Mia's question is relayed to them: "Those tubes are connectors, like the one connecting your body to this structure right now, Miss Khafir. For your purposes, you only need one, but those that were meant to be raised from childhood to maturity within this structure were also meant to be more extensively connected. They also had modifications made to them to make interfacing with this structure easier."

The previous hieroglyphs in Khafir's vision fade and are replaced by a new wire-drawing of human shape. At first, it looks like religious imagery, with light emanating from a human figure standing with their arms spread, but the longer Khafir looks at it, the clearer it becomes that it is actually a technical schematic overlaid on a picture of human body and nervous system. Smaller hieroglyphs depict Khafir herself being strapped to an operating table, with animal-headed surgeons standing around her, poking her with needles, sawing her head open, disassembling and reassembling her brain, so on and so forth, in surreal distortion of what may or may not have really happened. Near the corners of the temple, decorative vines bloom into existence. The form double helix patterns, with leaves of four colours in varying sequences.

Outside the vision and the structure, looking at the blue glyphs moving back and forth on the black walls through drone video feed, Mia can make several observations. First, these streams of glyphs are effectively computer code. She is looking at the structure transcribing Khafir's neural activity to machine language, and vice versa. Some of the easier-to-follow parts are straightforward transcriptions of the dialogue Khafir is having in her vision. The structure may also be recording the vision as it is being generated. Second, Mia can tell this eagle-headed being did not specifically ask to look like that. Instead the program is triggering certain mental associations that can be summed up as "mighty, fearsome, authoritative". If someone else than Khafir was connected to the structure, it may have looked entirely different. In fact, if Mia brought this to Khafir's attention and Khafir focused intensely, Khafir might be able to change the eagle-headed being's apperance to anything else she might consider "mighty, fearsome, authoritative".

Third, the eagle-headed being is not a person. Or rather, anything in it that could be said to be a person is derived from Khafir's own mental processes, overlaid on a guidance protocol. Put differently, without a human connected to it, this artificial intelligence does not have a soul. On some level, it can be said Khafir is talking to herself.

[Deathkeeper]

Codebreaker's Home

"Oh, I have some connections at Vigil, maybe to a god or two. I'll be fine." He can get Atreyu to do some druid nonsense, probably. It's not like he has any proof that this lady actually did anything, so he's not going to lay all his cards in her lap for nothing.

Hey Absum, you know I've never asked or expected anything in return for all I've done for your followers, but I'm just going to point out that Kyrie would PROBABLY be sad if someone blew a hole in my head. And you seem to monitor him enough to rumble every time he digs his paws in.

[Rebonack]

[Butterfly Bay]

Khannie considers the offer?

Request?

"Okay," she eventually concludes. "I can tell him you were late because you were hanging out with me and our bus got used as a projectile by a super villain."

That's a pretty good reason to be late, right?

"Don't think we should mention the part where you took a bite out of me, though."

Bites, Khannie.

Not bite.

There were several of them.


[The Great Tail Caper]

Tristan COULD take advantage of his enhanced strength to carry the guy on his own BUT that would offer less support than a two person carry.

"And here I was hoping we could get some nice tans," Tristan laments as he takes the old man by the shoulders. "Do you have any idea what that... other thing was? It wasn't the kumiho or the kitsune it was... something else. Something cold..."

As terrible as the kumiho is they're creatures of passions deep and terrible. The kitsunes are tricksters by nature. But that thing...

It was nothing but cold intellect and pitiless intent.

[bc56]

The Great Tail Caper
"Me too." Jade can't swim, but she had packed a towel and a swimsuit for exactly that reason. "You know, we could load him into the plane, tell the pilot to fly him to a hospital, and then get picked up later." Is that a good idea? Who can say? They'd effectively be stranded on this island for a while, but they'd get some time to relax after everything that just happened. "I have no idea. I don't know how we could find out either, magic isn't my thing." She probably needs to see a specialist, but what kind of specialist would even be able to diagnose this?

[Ironsmith]

[Expedition into the dark]

"If all Lanterns were lit and full power was restored, I'd be able to know the position of every room within this structure, everything that is within those rooms, as well as change position of any room", the eagle-headed being replies to Khafir, "as it stands, majority of rooms are completely dark to me. I can track current and past positions of living, thinking beings that enter this structure, as long as they don't pass into one of those dark rooms. I can also see and sense living, thinking beings some distance outside the entrances, but only when queried by one of them." Such as by some hapless wanderer wondering how they're supposed to get into the "pyramid" with no doors.

"I also have records of what was the purpose of each room and what was in them, but I'm no longer conversant with entities that kept most of those updated. To count something, I have to look at things myself and this has made it... difficult, sometimes impossible to give conclusive counts of many objects within."

Next, there is Calm Reed's questions: "I do believe these hominids were all human or at least human-like once. The specific mechanism of their transformation escapes me, I'm afraid. These blind creatures evolved from, to my best knowledge, exclusively from those that failed to directly connect to an entity such as myself. Just as well, none of them have ever been directly connected to me after their metamorphoses. I see that they've adapted to the dark. I don't know why they haven't just died." As a commentary to Geneva's words, should they be relied to them: "For similar reasons, I cannot tell what is causing the creature outside to adapt to the light. If this has happened before, I do not know of it, as it must by necessity have happened beyond limits of my perception. The direction of change appears positive, so I would consider it a hopeful sign."

If Mia's question is relayed to them: "Those tubes are connectors, like the one connecting your body to this structure right now, Miss Khafir. For your purposes, you only need one, but those that were meant to be raised from childhood to maturity within this structure were also meant to be more extensively connected. They also had modifications made to them to make interfacing with this structure easier."

The previous hieroglyphs in Khafir's vision fade and are replaced by a new wire-drawing of human shape. At first, it looks like religious imagery, with light emanating from a human figure standing with their arms spread, but the longer Khafir looks at it, the clearer it becomes that it is actually a technical schematic overlaid on a picture of human body and nervous system. Smaller hieroglyphs depict Khafir herself being strapped to an operating table, with animal-headed surgeons standing around her, poking her with needles, sawing her head open, disassembling and reassembling her brain, so on and so forth, in surreal distortion of what may or may not have really happened. Near the corners of the temple, decorative vines bloom into existence. The form double helix patterns, with leaves of four colours in varying sequences.

Outside the vision and the structure, looking at the blue glyphs moving back and forth on the black walls through drone video feed, Mia can make several observations. First, these streams of glyphs are effectively computer code. She is looking at the structure transcribing Khafir's neural activity to machine language, and vice versa. Some of the easier-to-follow parts are straightforward transcriptions of the dialogue Khafir is having in her vision. The structure may also be recording the vision as it is being generated. Second, Mia can tell this eagle-headed being did not specifically ask to look like that. Instead the program is triggering certain mental associations that can be summed up as "mighty, fearsome, authoritative". If someone else than Khafir was connected to the structure, it may have looked entirely different. In fact, if Mia brought this to Khafir's attention and Khafir focused intensely, Khafir might be able to change the eagle-headed being's apperance to anything else she might consider "mighty, fearsome, authoritative".

Third, the eagle-headed being is not a person. Or rather, anything in it that could be said to be a person is derived from Khafir's own mental processes, overlaid on a guidance protocol. Put differently, without a human connected to it, this artificial intelligence does not have a soul. On some level, it can be said Khafir is talking to herself.

[Expedition into the Dark]

Outside of the vision, Khafir's unconscious form twitches, her pulse quickening as she inhales sharply, turning over a bit in her sleep. She lets out a little groan that sounds vaguely distressed... the sort she might if she was relaying a story to Calm Reed and wanted to briefly emphasize someone else's reaction.

Inside the vision, Khafir stares at the hieroglyphs and the depicted alteration procedure, the temple around them briefly coming alive with the sound of medical monitors and distant conversation, indistinct but anxious-sounding. The image of Khafir's head being cut open and her brain messed with is just a bit too vivid, closer to a photograph than a hieroglyph. The AI had stumbled across a genuine memory, rather than a synthesis of concepts for her benefit.

Khafir turns her attention away from the wall and back to the eagle-headed man, who might look a bit more like a doctor now. "Are there any Lanterns active within your structure now?" She asks, not seeming to notice or care that her clothes have turned into a backwards-opening hospital gown.

Codebreaker's Home

"Oh, I have some connections at Vigil, maybe to a god or two. I'll be fine." He can get Atreyu to do some druid nonsense, probably. It's not like he has any proof that this lady actually did anything, so he's not going to lay all his cards in her lap for nothing.

Hey Absum, you know I've never asked or expected anything in return for all I've done for your followers, but I'm just going to point out that Kyrie would PROBABLY be sad if someone blew a hole in my head. And you seem to monitor him enough to rumble every time he digs his paws in.

[Codebreaker's Home]

"All of which were a terrific help last night." The lady in red replies with a sarcastic clap. "And while I'm no exception to that statement, it bears mention regardless. All the resources in the world aren't going to be much help if you fail to use them properly." She takes a deep drag from her cigarette and sighs, rolling over the trail of smoke with her fingers. "So what's the plan there, exactly? Call them up and ask for a few bodyguards? Get a cleric assigned to your home? Pray one of those gods sees fit to smite any home intruders with a lightning bolt, much like they didn't last night?" She continues to stare at Codebreaker, fully expecting an answer. "And before you blow that off, recall that your safety is not the only one at risk here. Your maid's been through a traumatic experience. Would you like for her to have to repeat it, or god forbid, for the next intruder to have a better idea of where to aim?" She strokes her sternum as she says this, indicating she knows full well how to kill a strigoi. "My offer still stands. But if you still refuse, at least give me some assurance you will be better prepared in the future."

[Butterfly Bay]

Khannie considers the offer?

Request?

"Okay," she eventually concludes. "I can tell him you were late because you were hanging out with me and our bus got used as a projectile by a super villain."

That's a pretty good reason to be late, right?

"Don't think we should mention the part where you took a bite out of me, though."

Bites, Khannie.

Not bite.

There were several of them.

[Butterfly Bay]

"...Yeah, probably best to keep that bit to ourselves." Arthfael agrees, pushing open the door.

The interior of the house is, rather predictably for a vampire's home, very dark, especially in contrast to the increasingly sunny day outside. The doorway illuminates a small, cramped central room with a second door on the far side, which Khannie will be able to see leads back out, behind the house... or is the front and they came in the back way? There's not much delineating the two.

In the center of the room, there's a stone bar, about chest height to Khannie, with a freshly-installed wooden top over it, and a set of hinges in the center; the countertop flips up to allow access to a cellar under the house. On the far side of the counter, there's an open letter and a number of loose bills held down by polished rocks. If Khannie's in a snooping-type mood, she'll likely be able to read it from here.

Along the other two walls, there's two other pairs of doors, flanking the main room. The one nearest Khannie on her right has its door slightly ajar, displaying what is either a roomy closet or a very small bedroom. There's barely enough room in there for a bedframe (stripped of a mattress and any blankets, sheets, et cetera) and a foot locker, against opposite walls. There's a poster hanging over the bed, held in place with masking tape, advertising the occupant's strong like for Ashes Remade, an alt-rock band Khannie might have heard Arthfael listening to every now and again.

But, for the moment, the bigger issue might be the occupants of the other two rooms; a crimson-coated, overweight wolf-man that can only be "uncle Kyrie" and a pale, raven-haired young woman in a midnight-blue robe that Khannie might recognize as Owena, the eldest of Arthfael's two older sisters.

Both of whom look absolutely miffed.

"Arthfael Percival Ty-Maldwyn, do you have any idea what time it is?" Kyrie growls, crossing his arms over his chest. "The sun has been up for several hours now, you haven't been answering your phone, and... why are your clothes all torn up? Lovers above, what's happened to you, boy?" Before he can get an answer, his eyes flick over to Khannie, noticing her for the first time. "And who is this?!"

Owena's expression softens as she recognizes Khannie, giving the girl an apologetic smile. "I know her. She's that girl he's always talking about, remember? She must have walked him home." She shoots her uncle a quick glare, silently adding "and you shouldn't yell in front of her, it's rude".

Kyrie scowls and stares down the pair of teens. "I'm still waiting for an explanation."

[Deathkeeper]

Codebreaker's Home

"My precautions were about as much help as you were last night." Codebreaker snarls.
"I'm not sure you understand how this works. I gave you a place to sleep because you were on the verge of tears. But you calling me on the phone a few times to sass me doesn't make you my friend. And frankly, I don't owe you a thing, let alone give detailed information of what I'm going to be doing to someone who has still yet to provide me a single piece of proof that she isn't actually helping the people trying to kidnap me."

[Ironsmith]

[Codebreaker's Home]

"Which ones? GIN or the Systerhood?" The woman shakes her head. "I'm on their respective 'most wanted' lists for a number of reasons, which boil down to, as you've no doubt guessed, being a right pain in the [butt]." She takes another drag from her cigarette and waves her hand dismissively. "If I was working against you, you'd never know it. There would be no reason to let you know I even exist, let alone that I wanted to harm you. What would be the purpose? Bait you into a trap I could set with knowledge of the future anyway? Gather information from you I could find on my own? Distract a being with localized omniscience?" She taps a few granules of ash off the end of her cigarette and frowns. "Or do you suspect me to be a fraud and none of those considerations truly matter?"

[Rebonack]

[The Great Tail Caper]

They WOULD be stranded on the island for a while, though they brought plenty of supplies.

That's definitely one idea, however-

"If we head back right away we can start looking for... I'm not even sure. A fox expert?"

Is there even such a thing?

Jade sort of defies all classification at this point.

Jade is Jade and that seems to be about the extent of it.

"I'll admit I really wouldn't mind an actual vacation."

They'll have time to figure it out by the time they make it back to the plane for sure.


[Butterfly Bay]

Dark house.

Just like vampires like it.

Stern parental figures.

Just like vampires like it?

Khannie immediately takes the blame. "It was my fault, sir. Arthfael was hanging out with me and I wanted to show him some of my favorite spots around Inside, but our bus got caught in a cape-fight. A super villain threw it at a hero."

That's... sort of partly true?

"We got a little banged up and it was a while before it was safe enough to leave. It took a bit to make it to the nearest Riftline Station."

Sounds like Khannie is taking this one straight on the chin for Arthfael.