Riverside 22: Better the demon you know?

[Meowmai]

[Skate Park]

"Sure if you want to. I'd be down to see what you can do on it." Eliseo replies readily.

Skate Park

Anastasia nods in agreement. ”Yeah! It’d be like, super cool getting to see you- uh, yknow, get some air. I’m sure you’re a natural at it.” I mean, she does have bird wings, as Atsede has so helpfully pointed out. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad for her image if she ends up having to bail.

[Skate Park]

Alright. Deep breath. Showtime. Don't screw this up.

Atsede leapt into the air and flew up to the top of the ramp, where she landed and dropped her board. Like Eliseo had, she hit the slopes and began building up speed, but she didn't start with the same aerial tricks as he had. Instead, she came up on one side of the ramp and turned her board, grinding it across the lip of the ramp before coming back down on the other side. She did this a couple of times, switching up her boards position to make it interesting such as using the tail rather than the middle of the board, before building up speed again. She shot up one side, doing a backside 180 just as Eliseo had- although admittedly with less airtime. And then, for her next trick, she decided to similarly follow up with a 360, but adding in a board grab- just to mix it up a bit. As she went up and began the trick, all seemed well, but on the way down, there was a fateful wobble, and she realised with horror she had lost her balance.

Oh no.

Her board touched down with the ramp again, and unfortunately, so did Atsede, as she tipped forwards and rolled the rest of the way down the ramp. Her wings spread to try slow her momentum, and it sorta worked, but it also meant her wings weren't tucked nicely inwards to avoid getting hurt as she bailed. A multitude of curses could be heard from her lips as she finally came to a halt, lying on her back. Ow. That had hurt. Nothing too serious though, she didn't think- although she wouldn't be flying for the rest of the day, that was for certain. Still on her back, she weakly stuck up one arm to give her watchers a thumbs up.

"I'm okay. Just some bruises." And a seriously bruised ego. She pulled herself to her feet, retrieved her board, and stumbled rather sheepishly back to where Eliseo and Ana were standing. "How much can I pay y'all to pretend you didn't see that?" she added, trying to play it off.

[Lord Magtok]

Undead by Daylight

Saint Lazarus hates patrolling through Riverside. Aside from the giant artificial sun, it's so ugly and awful on this side of the river, and the people here are just...ugh. The snobby modern vampires in their ugly McMansions, the weird sorta-vampires-but-different with their floating castle, the aristocratic scumbags who commute to Skyside every weekday to manage their mindless thralls because slavery doesn't get you weird looks up on airborne ancap avenue...it's not all vampires, of course, but there's enough here to make Jen's skin crawl, and the idea that she's supposed to be protecting these bloodsuckers, it's just...I mean, it was one bomb. Her elementary school in Inside did drills for AMEN invasions, they were warned about staying out of alleyways and certain streets and neighborhoods and public parks...and Riverside is going bananas over a single bombing. If she had Vigil's resources and wanted to do some real good for Nexus society, those parks would be where Jenette would start, or failing that, maybe firebomb certain penthouse apartments in the Cloudtops. This comfy little river town where nothing ever happens to anyone? Not even in her top ten of places to worry about. Still, a mission is a mission. Getting paid to walk up and down a few blocks and watch for demons and anti-demon unrest while listening to her music is better than lying around in the apartment, waiting for Fi to get back from her training because Jen's too nervous to visit Fi and face all those scary and important Vigil authorities in their own home.

[Arkhosia]

The Trickster and the Executioner

Saint Lazarus isn't the only one feeling a little iffy about hanging out in Westside today. Anastasia Bellamy is also on the moderately busy street, looking somewhat disappointed. There was a new café a block or so away that she and a couple of her friends had planned to meet up at for lunch today - try some new drinks, chat about things, maybe gossip a little... at least, that's the kind of thing Ana had been looking forward to. But both of them had flaked. One girl thought it was next week, and the other had a strict family that read a lot of tabloids and thought she shouldn't be running off so much with all the demonic murderers and worse about.

Not that Ana was too worried about that at least. She'd always been safe whenever she stuck to streets like this, it was only really the seedier alleys and gutters that things seemed to actually get dangerous most of the time. Besides, she had her family sword slung over one shoulder. Sure, the two-hander was a little unwieldy and she wasn't exactly trained with it, but it was better than nothing and looking armed could do a lot of work sometimes.

Still, now that all her plans had fallen through, the kitsune wasn't really sure what to do. Eliseo was still off at volleyball practice for at least an hour, and she'd already spent some of her allowance on the train ticket over. She glances down the street, noticing all the bustling strangers and strolling pedestrians. Hm, maybe she can get some practice in a crowd like this....

- - -

Saint Lazarus might well find her patrol interrupted by a jostling bump and a surprised exclamation of "Oh! Uh, sorry, pardon me!" as a young teen with orange hair moves to avoid someone and ends up colliding into her instead, complete with the light ring of metal as the hilt of a greatsword knocks against a steel shell of armor. The two-tailed kitsune steps backwards to get out of her way - and she might even notice the feeling of a hand leaving her belt with a wallet in tow.

[Deathkeeper]

The Toy Tinker

"Well, that seems like a practical thing to ask at least." Jim says with a nod. Though he shakes his head at Jaahlyn's comment.
"I hear you on that. Though I think that you get it worse than I do." Most of the time if Jim gets stereotyped for his faun-like appearance people just assume he's a lecherous partier or at worse a fey aiming to make scummy deals. Jaahlyn seems to get all of that plus even more things. Maybe it's the eyes? They're a little spooky. Or maybe it's the circumstances people see her? She does seem to have a lot more jobs that involve running into people in worse circumstances, between the mercenary work and the whole psychopomp stuff.

[Ironsmith]

[Hell Bend]

"It's not as awful as it sounds. I forget most of my past lives remember?" She replies without stopping this time.

She imagined her mind would have been pretty ****ed up otherwise considering what little she did remember.

Then her digging slows down for a moment as she seems to consider this. "Well... sometimes I think I just selectively forget the more awful things I've experienced." The kind of stuff people couldn't fully recover from mentally.
She turns to Siana. "But you're the one struggling with despair right now, Siana and I don't think you will be able to forget this, unlike me. So once we've been to MERC we can go to Inside together if you want to."

[Hell Bend]

"...That sounds helpful." Siana admits, with regards to Jaahlyn's forgetfulness of past trauma. "It's kind of the same way with how I remember my old home. Sort of. It's more that I can't properly remember than that I don't." She frowns and watches Jaahlyn. "...Which isn't something you have context for. Remind me to explain what a moroi is sometime."

"But anyway... yeah. I'd like it if we went to Inside together. It'd... it'd make things much easier." She gives the satyr an unsteady smile.

[Earl of Purple]

Beauty from Ashes

As Leah releases the hammer, Matilda will try to knock it as far away as she can. She'll also release Leah's ear and head after the hammer, growing larger as she does until she's covered in fur and feathers, with massive claws and a vast hooked beak. Her brown feathers are bleaching to grey, and eyespots are appearing in her hide, along with flowers and vines twisting and writhing about her limbs. She's aiming to land on the hammer head with all her weight, hoping that her mass will destroy it without her needing to touch the foul thing too much.

Leah's left behind; if she's stepped on by the owlbear, it's accidental and not deliberate. She should focus on the catgirl, and part of her knows it; the hammer is too hideous to suffer in such a beautiful place, yet by itself isn't dangerous and Leah- as Matilda has learnt the hard way- is. But she can't stop herself; Leah is, though also not as pretty as the surrounding shrine, far less repulsive and therefore more tolerable in such a holy space.

[Reinholdt]

Spoiler

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[Beauty From Ashes]

Leah is no longer holding the hammer.

This is far from ideal for her, as it happens. The shard of Colour in her mind can still protect her from the intruding tendrils of Paarel seeking to devour her hopes and dreams and leaving her body a hollowed out shell filled with the arcane horror's intent but...

Before the hammer and the inspiration from Ohlamel, though they were opposing forces without question, were reinforcing each other's efforts to bulwark against the outside force. But now that the shard is Leah's only defense there's only one option. It has to devour the intruding mental tendrils, steadily swelling fat with power as it does. The alien voice that is somehow Leah's own returns stronger than ever.

I can't die here. I CAN'T. I can see the myriad ways before me and with each moment, each action, the options wither like vines eaten by worms as those possibilities cease. There are still choices that could lead to the Correct Path. There are secrets I know. The flow of time and stone are so alike. Imperceptibly slow and implacable. Matilda is going to try to kill me but I can use the secrets to stop her.

Light.

There's a light.

It was always there, but somehow I never saw it before. A light that glistens with liquid colour and song. I could reach for it and grasp it and use one of these secrets I always knew.

Time. The river carrying me ever on. But it has currents. Eddies. Cast Matilda into a temporal gyre and leave her frozen within a perfectly crystalline moment.
Perception. To see, to feel, to know, a window into without. Seal her senses and leave Matilda insentient. This way has dangers, she might fly into a rage.
Quality. Not perfection, no, not in the malign sense Paarel wields it. But purposefulness. How well a way meanders to the One Way. Quality can be given and so to can it be taken. Mar the claws, blunt the beak, wither the muscles.
Will. The truest, purist of intent manifested upon the world. Once a Way has been decided upon it is through WILL that it is followed. Crush the alien intent intruding upon Matilda and she will be a puppet without strings.

If I combine this Invocation with earth-bending I should be able to incapacitate Matilda. Then I... I just need my hammer. Then I can destroy Paarel's anchor and I'll be a step closer to the One Way.

Matilda, meanwhile, is having her hopes and dreams steadily eaten away at. And in their place is the alien purpose of Paarel. To create beauty above all else. The process would be progressing at a terrifying pace if not for the fact that she got clubbed with Leah's hammer earlier. As it stands now it is a steady burn rather than a raging bonfire.

The impulses are clear enough, though.

Leah is too full of the song of another Saint to be useful to Paarel. She will continue to be a danger to this shrine to Paarel's beauty even once the desecrating hammer is destroyed. The dictum flowing into Matilda's mind are simple. Mar the blasphemous symbol upon the head of the hammer until it is utterly ruined. Once that threat has been dealt with splay Leah open with claw and beak and Paarel will show Matilda how to fashion the remains into something of transcendent beauty.

Beauty from Ashes

As Leah releases the hammer, Matilda will try to knock it as far away as she can. She'll also release Leah's ear and head after the hammer, growing larger as she does until she's covered in fur and feathers, with massive claws and a vast hooked beak. Her brown feathers are bleaching to grey, and eyespots are appearing in her hide, along with flowers and vines twisting and writhing about her limbs. She's aiming to land on the hammer head with all her weight, hoping that her mass will destroy it without her needing to touch the foul thing too much.

Leah's left behind; if she's stepped on by the owlbear, it's accidental and not deliberate. She should focus on the catgirl, and part of her knows it; the hammer is too hideous to suffer in such a beautiful place, yet by itself isn't dangerous and Leah- as Matilda has learnt the hard way- is. But she can't stop herself; Leah is, though also not as pretty as the surrounding shrine, far less repulsive and therefore more tolerable in such a holy space.

[Beauty from Ashes]

Leah rises from her position on the floor, bleeding from the hole in her ear. She takes a stout stance and cries out a mighty yowl. "THERE. ARE. FOUR. WAYS!!!" She proclaims, stomping the ground hard as she both accepts and rejects the alien her inside her head in a paradoxical covenant. Her subconscious, her element, reaches out to seize the secrets of Will, drawn naturally to its allure and unable to resist its one way intermingling with her earthbending. Perhaps her three sisters can reach the other three ways. Bring about the one true way. Together apart.

Leah channels this invocation of Will into her stomp, which causes a piece of earth under the hammer to jut up suddenly, violently. Demanding and relentless, filled with purpose. This was not to retrieve her hammer, but to fling it into the source, liable to pound Matilda in the process. Even if Matilda reached the hammer first and shattered it, Leah with fling the broken pieces through the air and let each wrench Paarel from this world and back to the hell it spawned from.

Hopefully.

[Shadowcaller]

[The Toy Tinker]

"Generally speaking?" Sticks looks rather grave. "I suppose we could ask them for all that they know about the current state of the tunnels. What creatures are active, where they might reside, what dangers might present themselves.

The Toy Tinker

"Well, that seems like a practical thing to ask at least." Jim says with a nod. Though he shakes his head at Jaahlyn's comment.
"I hear you on that. Though I think that you get it worse than I do." Most of the time if Jim gets stereotyped for his faun-like appearance people just assume he's a lecherous partier or at worse a fey aiming to make scummy deals. Jaahlyn seems to get all of that plus even more things. Maybe it's the eyes? They're a little spooky. Or maybe it's the circumstances people see her? She does seem to have a lot more jobs that involve running into people in worse circumstances, between the mercenary work and the whole psychopomp stuff.

The Toy Tinker

"Good questions, sir Sticks." Jaahlyn remarks as she nods to the mechanical man. "If we're fortunate it might even give us that without even asking more than getting rid of whatever's down there as it didn't seem to like the presence of the Rat King's minions so close to its domain. Though it might also have been since the Rat King was using it as a obstacle for us which I felt was pretty insulting." She too spend time ended up serving the Rat King as an 'obstacle' but she rather not get into that. That was all behind her now anyway.

"But... if we're actually starting an expedition down there how should we prepare? We should probably bring along climbing equipment and light sources at least. Food too as we're probably going to be down there a while." She gestures to herself and makes a motion that looks like the start of a bow. "I am something of an expert on descending into the underworld though so I'd be delighted to guide you, should it be needed. Comes with my job." Guiding souls into the underworld actually took quite some spelunking knowledge.

[Hell Bend]

"You should probably do it soon as we might not see one another for a while." Jaahlyn points out without looking at Siana as she's continuing to dig until the dim red glow the orb she's digging for suddenly grows a lot brighter.
Though she does pause if only to smile back at her. "I'm glad that you feel that way." That moment the glow suddenly fades as the satyr holds up the bauble which now have returned to its original state. It's dirty and covered in dust but it does seem to be unscathed.

Her smile quickly fades though once she gets on her hooves and stands up. "But... it's time to head to MERC and face the music. You ready for that, Siana?"

[Rebonack]

[Beauty from Ashes]

Normally an owlbear jumping on a piece of stone imbued with such potent authority would do nothing to it.

But this is an owlbear likewise filled with the malign strength of an utterly alien cosmic entity.

The hammer, without a hand to wield it, is weakened.

A mere tool.

And it shatters.

And in shattering it is hurled toward the anchor, a shotgun blast of stone still flickering and crackling with the intent to repair the broken world. The King's Crown, still intact from the back face of the mallet, pierces the abomination at the garden's heart.

Reality shifts.

There is no sealed abomination here.

No foothold in the world. No threshold half open. Just a sewer system full of dry, withered vines.

And an Icon.

A fragment of divinity, shining and perfect.

Leah will know that it could be used to repair her hammer.
Matilda will know that it could be used to become more like Paarel.

[Ironsmith]

[Hell Bend]

"...I guess so. As ready as I can be." Siana replies quietly, shuffling forward in the general direction of the MERC office.

Things are going to be okay. Jaahlyn's got her back. There will be consequences, should be consequences, for what happened here today, but Jaahlyn's going to help her every step of the way.

Though speaking of steps, hers are... slow. And small. Even with Jaahlyn's assurances, she's dreading the slowly-diminishing distance between herself and the office. It feels to her like her boot is filled with lead, a heavy weight to lift and the rests between each pace all too short. Part of her still wants to turn and run now; it would be preferable to having to face her bosses and explain what she did.

No. None of that kind of talk. She's going to be brave, and she's going to be responsible.

Right.

...

She's gone all of ten feet so far.

[Earl of Purple]

Beauty From Ashes

After the reality shift and things are cleared back to a normal stretch of sewer, Matilda growls and turns back towards Leah, aiming to interpose herself between the catgirl and the Icon. Matilda doesn't know that Leah could reconstitute her hammer with it; she just knows it'd make her more like Paarel, and Leah was trying to destroy Paarel's shrine and apparently succeeded. She doesn't have surprise on her side any more, which is a slight issue given her prior encounters with Leah, but that's also fine.

[Lord Magtok]

The Trickster and the Executioner

Saint Lazarus might well find her patrol interrupted by a jostling bump and a surprised exclamation of "Oh! Uh, sorry, pardon me!" as a young teen with orange hair moves to avoid someone and ends up colliding into her instead, complete with the light ring of metal as the hilt of a greatsword knocks against a steel shell of armor. The two-tailed kitsune steps backwards to get out of her way - and she might even notice the feeling of a hand leaving her belt with a wallet in tow.

"Sorry," Saint Lazarus answers. It's more out of habit than any recognition of fault lying with her; she didn't even see the fox girl before they'd bumped into each other. Barely felt it, too, since her armor took the brunt of the impact for her. She hopes the teen wasn't moving too fast when she collided with her plate armor, that would-HEY WAIT A SECOND, LOOK AT WHAT SHE'S CARRYING! WHY DOES SHE HAVE ONE THAT LOOKS LIKE YOURS?!

"Oh, nice sword. Is that a claymore?" Jen asks, unable to tell much more about it than 'looks big, hilt is long enough for two hands' from here, but willing to take a random guess since there's only a handful of proper names for two-handed sword and maybe this time she'll get lucky and look like she actually knows what she's talking about. Not a whole lot has gone on with this stupid patrol she's been on all day, so she diverts course to take a closer look at the mystery blade the stranger is hauling.

[Arkhosia]

What Have You Got? A SWORD!

Anastasia jumps as Jen addresses her once they part - the knight might pick up on the fact that she's surprised to be spoken to as much the fact that it's not negative attention. "Oh! Um, yeah!" She smiles a little awkwardly. "Well uh, Iiiiiiii think it's like, a zweihänder?" Looking further at the blade, St Lazarus can most likely tell it's a fairly well-made weapon. The hilt isn't particularly elaborate or decorated, but what she can see peeking out from the hilt of the long blade itself is the pale and bright sheen of silver. It doesn't have a second handguard like Jenette's weapon, but there is a ricasso decorated with a wrapping of leather.

[Shadowcaller]

[Hell Bend]

It takes Jaahlyn a little bit to realize that Siana wasn't following, or at least not keeping up her pace. "You rather stay here with the bodies then?" She inquires with a gesture at the dead demons.

It wasn't a fair question, but nothing about this situation was fair.

[Reinholdt]

[Beauty from Ashes]

Leah starts to laugh from relief, but that laughter fades in the light of Matilda's imposing intent. "You... Paarel is gone! You're free! And you still stand in my way?!"

The catgirl brushes some hair out of her eyes, wincing as it brushes against her damaged ear and shaking with an anger at the lewd wereowlbear's stubborn apathetic cruelty. "I... am... SO DONE WITH YOU!"

Leah slams her arms downwards, conjuring earth from above, this underground chamber a weapon in Leah's hands. A pillar of earth to smack the owlbear into the ground with the aid of gravity and weight.

[Ironsmith]

[Hell Bend]

"No!" Siana chirps, stepping after Jaahlyn as lively as she can. Maybe going to MERC scared her, but it's better than staying here.

Having recieved that metaphorical kick in the pants, she follows Jaahlyn back to the MERC base.

[Gullara]

Skate Park

Anastasia nods in agreement. ”Yeah! It’d be like, super cool getting to see you- uh, yknow, get some air. I’m sure you’re a natural at it.” I mean, she does have bird wings, as Atsede has so helpfully pointed out. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad for her image if she ends up having to bail.

[Skate Park]

Alright. Deep breath. Showtime. Don't screw this up.

Atsede leapt into the air and flew up to the top of the ramp, where she landed and dropped her board. Like Eliseo had, she hit the slopes and began building up speed, but she didn't start with the same aerial tricks as he had. Instead, she came up on one side of the ramp and turned her board, grinding it across the lip of the ramp before coming back down on the other side. She did this a couple of times, switching up her boards position to make it interesting such as using the tail rather than the middle of the board, before building up speed again. She shot up one side, doing a backside 180 just as Eliseo had- although admittedly with less airtime. And then, for her next trick, she decided to similarly follow up with a 360, but adding in a board grab- just to mix it up a bit. As she went up and began the trick, all seemed well, but on the way down, there was a fateful wobble, and she realised with horror she had lost her balance.

Oh no.

Her board touched down with the ramp again, and unfortunately, so did Atsede, as she tipped forwards and rolled the rest of the way down the ramp. Her wings spread to try slow her momentum, and it sorta worked, but it also meant her wings weren't tucked nicely inwards to avoid getting hurt as she bailed. A multitude of curses could be heard from her lips as she finally came to a halt, lying on her back. Ow. That had hurt. Nothing too serious though, she didn't think- although she wouldn't be flying for the rest of the day, that was for certain. Still on her back, she weakly stuck up one arm to give her watchers a thumbs up.

"I'm okay. Just some bruises." And a seriously bruised ego. She pulled herself to her feet, retrieved her board, and stumbled rather sheepishly back to where Eliseo and Ana were standing. "How much can I pay y'all to pretend you didn't see that?" she added, trying to play it off.

[Skate Park]

"Ooooh..." Eliseo winces as she takes the fall. He starts to move over to her, but she gets up and meets them in the middle. He laughs at her remark. "Eh how 'bout you owe us?" He suggests with a cheeky grin. "But you gotta learn to take those falls better. Trust me, if you wanna start doing 360s you're gonna take a lot of falls first."

[Arkhosia]

Skate Park

While Eliseo winces, Ana gasps. "Oh no!" She moves quicker and sooner than Eliseo does, reaching the changeling by the time she's started to get up. "Are you alright?" the kitsune asks, offering Atsede a hand up. She looks genuinely worried, although the confident response she gets alleviates most of it. Eliseo's comment earns him a giggle. "Yeah, that sounds like a fair trade."

[Meowmai]

[Skate Park]

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Atsede tried to assure Ana- although admittedly through slightly gritted teeth. The changeling gingerly spread her wings, just a little, and winced in pain. "...Maybe just mostly fine. Ow. But I've had worse." She looked at Eliseo, expression still a bit sheepish. "You're probably right there, that wasn't exactly my most graceful landing." She sighed."Alright, deal."

[Earl of Purple]

Beauty From Ashes

The only reply Leah receives in response to her assertion that Matilda is free is a low, rumbling growl, one nearly felt more than it's heard. She's not expecting the ceiling to hit her, however, and is caught by surprise there. She roars as she's pinned to the floor, and strains against the earth keeping her low, before shrinking down and losing the fur and feathers as she reverts to her half-elf form. She's still naked. "Paarel might be gone but that's my path to beauty and I won't let you defile it!" Once she's slim enough to crawl free, she will and try to tackle Leah again.

[Reinholdt]

[Beauty From Ashes]

Leah was tackled once already and that went poorly for her, so she's not eager to repeat that situation. It's unlikely her ear will ever recover or be the same. Fortunately at least Matilda crawling free from the pin gives her plenty of time to react.

Even if half of that reaction is squeezing her eyes shut so she isn't horribly desecrated by Matilda's overwhelming lewdness. "You're beautiful based on what you do and the path you take, not based on what some alien entity in your head tells you!" Leah exclaims, flinging a flurry of fist sized rocks in front of her to repel any would be tacklers. Admittedly, her aim is poor, hence why she's throwing so many in such a wide spread.

[Shadowcaller]

[Midnight in Moth park]

The park is supposed to be closed for the day. Since of course the authorities can't let homeless people use its benches to sleep. They might make it dirty and that just wouldn't do, would it?

Yet tonight the gates to the park are mysteriously unlocked and there's a mist covering the ground. It isn't more than up to the knees of your average adult human but its so thick that one can hardly make out the roads going through the park.

The mist is spooky enough to make most of the homeless stay clear of the park. After all, they remember all too well what has happened there. Both mundane murders and more supernatural ones have taken place here and it wasn't like the police of the city would lift a finger to help them. Quite the opposite in fact as they were responsible for some of those more mundane murders.

But there are a group of people who have been invited here tonight and the park itself seems to long for their arrival.

The first guest is already here. A young redheaded girl with two fox-tails finds her walking through the park. She isn't really sure what she's doing here but she's also pretty sure that this is a dream.
She has seen this park before as its next to the skate park so it makes sense that it might be in her dreams.

As she makes her way through the mist two figures, no taller than Annie, suddenly raise up from it and takes her hand. They're human-like but seemingly made of the same mist that they rose from as its nearly impossible to distinguish where the mist ends a and their bodies begin.

Their facial features features are childlike, with those characteristically large heads children tend to have, but only a starving child would be as lanky and frighteningly thin as they are. Yet there are no ribs showing through their milk-white skin, no skull-sockets visible in their smiling faces, just perfect smoothness.

Indeed, there aren't even features one might expect in a healthy child, such as nipples and other organs one would expect in a human. Just long billowing hair and friendly-looking faces who invites Ana to come along with them.

She was expected wherever they were leading her.

[Arkhosia]

Midnight in Moth Park

It's perhaps accurate to describe Anastasia as seeming to be in a bit of a daze when she first appears in the park, wandering through the fog in confusion. As a psychopomp, Ana's started to grow used to more lucid dreaming, but... something about this seems different.

She's wearing red, for one - a rather nice knee-length dress with understated patterns of lace along it, the skirt dipping down to the calves in a transition to more transparent fabric. The cut of the top leaves her shoulders bare to the misty night and she dimly realizes she's wearing a lace domino mask of a matching style, as well as a pair of fingerless gloves. In addition, her hair has been done up in a slightly fancy bun.

"Ah!" The fox jumps up in shock and instinctually tries to pull herself away as spooky figures spring forth and clammy hands wrap around her own. The action doesn't go much beyond the notion, however, and the starved figures will have very little trouble leading Ana by a lace-clad hand. "Um, where are we going?" She tries asking after a minute or two.

Anyone looking on won't find Anastasia too difficult to pick out in the mist. A brilliant orange-and-yellow scarf of silk has been wrapped loosely round her neck, lending a fiery touch to an otherwise rather quiet outfit and drapes over one shoulder.

[Earl of Purple]

Beauty from Ashes

"Hah! You think I'm so hideous you won't even look at me!" Matilda yelps as the rocks collide with her and she's thrown back by the force, hitting a wall and growling as she slowly stands back up and grows larger, the fur and feathers spreading back across her body as she bulks back up into an owlbear, albeit one with far more influence from a peahen than usual. This does mean she's safe for Leah to look at, whilst she's preparing another attack by swinging her clawed paw back.

[Ironsmith]

[Midnight at Moth Park]

It's strangely fitting that the first person to come in behind the psychopomp would be a walking corpse.

Not that anybody would know it to look at her. Jaahlyn's glamour is still in full effect, so the vampire making her way down the misty path looks to be just that; a vampire, in the classical movie sense. Pale skin, raven-black hair, slight protrusion of her canines, all of that sort of thing. She leans discreetly against her cane as she walks down the path, her left leg too twisted to touch the ground, and so she has to hobble slowly down the path. As she walks, she turns over the stone in her hand, musing over the intricacies of the invitation. It can't be coincidence that she was given (well, "given"... someone obviously translocated it into her pocket without her knowledge) the stone at the exact time and under the exact circumstances that she was. Providence, perhaps?

...She has no way of knowing, aside from following through.

With that, the sweatsuit-clad strigoi approaches the... party, or whatever it is, at her own leisurely pace. Maybe she'll run into a guest before arriving.

[Recaiden]

[Midnight in Moth Park]

A long black car glides up beside the vampire, window rolling down. It's quiet, no rumble of an engine, just the sound of the tires against the pavement.
"Going to Moth Park?" asks the chauffeur, a sharply-dressed green-skinned orc whose left hand is clawed and covered in red scales.

Should Siana answer affirmatively-

Spoiler

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she'll be offered a ride, with the orc commenting "You're the third person she's had me stop to ask."

The car's heater is running on full, but that just brings the temperature up to 'fine', somehow.

Also in the passenger area is The General of the Fifth Legion, ruler of Southside, a fairly tall and unfairly slender human woman. She's wearing a tan-and-red dress uniform with badges and medals aplenty, her pale brown hair (no longer kept military short) in a spiky style that must have taken a lot of hair gel to accomplish.
"Good evening."

If not, the window rolls back up and the car zooms off to the gates of the park.

[Morty]

[Midnight at Moth Park]

Another guest arrives at the party. A tall, thin figure clad in a suit of gleaming black scale armor - what are the scales made of? It's hard to tell. But the armor is worn and battered, gashes cut in it by blades and claws. Over the armor is draped a light grey cloak, also looking like it has seen better days, and lined with black threads. The figure's face is invisible, hidden behind a mask of bleached wood, which depicts a stylized, sardonic smile. The only visible feature of the figure's head is a pair of curved ram's horns.

[Murkus]

[The Toy Tinker]

"Well, I have more than a few things I can prepare that might aid us. I shall don all my pouches, slings, sheathes, vessels and wizardly vestments. I suppose if it's really to be the three of us, we might want to pick a time and a place to meet as well." Sticks looks between them. "Insofar as mundane equipment, we should consider rations, climbing gear and light, yes. As well as mapping materials, weapons, some digging or rock-breaking tools, and spares for everything, as well some means to stay in touch if possible. I may be able to concoct something but long-range communication is not one of my main magical talents. Do either of you have any suggestions? Bearing in mind that the cave rock can make certain technological devices unusable."

[Ironsmith]

[Midnight in Moth Park]

A long black car glides up beside the vampire, window rolling down. It's quiet, no rumble of an engine, just the sound of the tires against the pavement.
"Going to Moth Park?" asks the chauffeur, a sharply-dressed green-skinned orc whose left hand is clawed and covered in red scales.

Should Siana answer affirmatively-

Spoiler

Show

she'll be offered a ride, with the orc commenting "You're the third person she's had me stop to ask."

The car's heater is running on full, but that just brings the temperature up to 'fine', somehow.

Also in the passenger area is The General of the Fifth Legion, ruler of Southside, a fairly tall and unfairly slender human woman. She's wearing a tan-and-red dress uniform with badges and medals aplenty, her pale brown hair (no longer kept military short) in a spiky style that must have taken a lot of hair gel to accomplish.
"Good evening."

If not, the window rolls back up and the car zooms off to the gates of the park.

[Midnight in Moth Park] (In Limo, En Route)

Siana blinks in surprise as a limo pulls up to her and the driver asks her if she's going exactly where she's going. "Um... yes?" She replies, not having the time to consider whether she should answer honestly.

And then she's offered a ride.

Now, good sense tells Siana not to get into a strange car like that. But she's on her way to a "party" with a mysterious host, at midnight, located in a (temporarily) abandoned park. Good sense has long since left the building.

"Thank you." Siana agrees, climbing into the limo, clicking the door shut behind her.

"Um... hello." She greets the spiky-haired woman. "Are you, um... Nye Trued?" She asks, holding out the stone and turning it so she can see the invitation.

[Recaiden]

[Midnight in Moth Park] (En Route)

Picking up random dead ladies walking to a mysterious party is also not a sensible idea, but here we are.

Window up and off they go.

"Oh, I am not. I'm not 'F' either."
The General reaches into a shirt pocket and get out a matching stone to show to Siana.
"Was this as much of a surprise to you as it was to me?"