VVVVVigil: Valorous Veterans Vanquishing Venal Vermin

[Shadowcaller]

[Seeking Cessie]

Cessie gestures at the seat. "Please sit down while you speak, Wenomir. I can tell this is weighing heavily on you, but before you get too closely attached we need to find out what exactly happened." The sorceress closes her eyes for a moment. "Is there... any way we can try to back up any of her claims with other types of evidence? For instance, her new body must have come from somewhere, right? That's something we could check up."

[ELVES!!!]

"You can magically clean your clothes? That's awesome. I wish I had that kind magic. Cleaning is such a chore and the clothes get all washed out eventually." She holds out her leg for Rain to see even as she continues the massage. Clearly encouraged by the sounds the bard is making. "I mean, look at these. I just got a few pair of pants right now and they're all washed out. No wonder your clothes are so pretty." A beat. "And does that mean you could clean other stuff as well?"

[Morty]

[Seeking Cessie]

Wenomir sits down and breathes deeply.

"I know what this sounds like, Cessie, and you're right to be concerned. I'm trying to avoid blundering into doing something really stupid here." He rubs his forehead. "Her new body must have come from somewhere, yes. I didn't ask her about it, but I can the next time I meet her. If she is Kr... or was, or whatever... then she must have spent some time as that figure we saw enter our safehouse. If I ask her about how she went from that to being an elf, her answer can tell us much."

[Ashen Lilies]

[ELVES!!!]

"I think it only works on... stuff." Says Rain, uncertainly. "At least, when I fell in some mud I could get it off my clothes, but I needed to find a stream to wash off in," she says, blushing a little at the memory. "I'm not a fancy sorceress or anything, I don't know how it all works."

[Shadowcaller]

[Seeking Cessie]

The sorceress nods. "Then return to me once you're talked to her a bit more. But even if she truly was KR, I still feel you shouldn't rush your relationship. You've also changed a great deal since KR disappeared so it might take time to come in tune with one another again. While I'm asking you to find out more about her as a member of VIGIL, you should also do so as a person. But you of course know your own feelings best, Wenomir. Just don't try to rush things, alright?"

[ELVES!!!]

"Welcome to the club. I don't know how shapeshifting works either but I certainly got a talent for it." Anika remarks as her massage gets a bit more focused in Rain's lower back. "But if you managed to learn all those cool tricks from someone else I bet you could pick up quite a few more from the members here. Probably not from me though, I barely know what I'm doing myself." She giggles.

[Morty]

[Seeking Cessie]

Wenomir leans back in his chair and stares at the ceiling.

"I know. She does, too. She protested when she felt I was treating her too much like Kr. This is nothing like I expected, hoped or feared. I don't know what will come of it. I just felt like you needed to know, as my friend and co-commander."

[Purple Eagle]

[Ferry to Skybase]

Holly the Half Elf^TM arrives to the ferry location, getting off the train to go up. Unless something happened, a certain person named Swetlana, who wants to join Vigil, is accompanying her.

Holly, of course, looks like a normal half-elf. Dark skin, black hair in a braid, floral-patterned skirt, pointy ears, a mask on her face covering especially the scarring on the right side of her face, and a long glove going over her right hand (but not her left) to protect her hand and prevent whatever contamination from spreading - she had got some weird mutagen on her hand while investigating the skinwalkers.

She'll be fine, right?

"So unless you can fly, this is the best way up," she says, as someone who has gotten on the skyship ferry. "Even if you can fly, I'd still recommend taking this up in case they think you're an intruder or whatever."

[Ferry to Skybase]

Swetlana looks like a normal pale-skinned woman who's only flesh is exposed from the neck-up, with some seam lines on her cheeks that look more like tattoos. She's dressed in a long buttoned overcoat, black boots and gloves, plus sunglasses. Her hair is short, and even with the 'incognito' look, one can spot her Polish-Japanese ancestry if they look long enough at her.

"Thank you, Holly-san." She replies, having followed the half-elf closely. "I have to ask: why the glove?" She asks, pointing to Holly's gloved hand. "On just one hand, I mean?"

[5a Violista]

[Ferry to Skybase]

"Oh." The half-human looks down at her gloved hand. "That's...See, in some parts of my job, having a free hand is very useful," she says, "and if I had one on each hand, they might get mixed up sometimes."

Then, recognizing that she hasn't completely explained everything, Holly adds: "While investigating skinwalkers, I got some dangerous mutagen on my hand. I'm working with HALO to look into it and discover what exactly it is, but I'm almost certain it has something to do with those things. The glove's to keep it from spreading around."

Seems like a pretty reasonable explanation, right?

Actually, though.
Now that she thinks about it.
If this stuff really is tied to the skinwalkers, won't Vigil be able to sense it and maybe get a dangerous impression? She never did find out how they detected skinwalkers last time...

[Purple Eagle]

[Ferry to Skybase]

When Holly explains her reason, including the skinwalkers, Swetlana nods, accepting the reasonable explanation. "Does VIGIL know about the skinwalkers, and how much? They should have the facilities to look at that mutagen, however. You should get it checked out, I would like to know its full properties." She replies. "I hope we meet the famous Wenomir, though. I wish to learn from him, possibly test his martial arts and fighting spirit."

[5a Violista]

[Arriving at Skybase]

Holly shrugs. "All they know is how dangerous they can be, and how to kill them," she says. "I imagine you'll fit right in." Considering how Holly thinks Swetlana overreacted by killing a criminal, it's clear what she thinks of Vigil. It's a good thing, though! You should be with the groups that you fit in with best.

Anyway.
Subject change.
Holly remembers that she's never met Wenomir with this persona. It was invented just weeks before meeting him, in fact, but she came here as herself to prevent any links between them. "The stories about him are pretty cool, but I'll bet he probably doesn't live up to the hype," she then says. "He's probably just an average guy who gets through life on the power of friendship and intimidation alone. I imagine you'll be disappointed, because that's how most legends are."

Of course, Harley has met him and knows how terrifyingly strong he is, but...that's only something someone who's met him would know. Holly the disinterested-yet-busy Half-Elf^TM, who has clearly never met Wenomir, wouldn't know that.

[Rebonack]

[VIGIL Grounds]

Lapis Lazuli is pretty much completely stoked about existence in general.

Being existent is great!

She gets to patrol the grounds of VIGIL for gross pod-people (not that she has ever found any)!

And she gets to watch Mister Wenomir teach people how to fight (which is really awesome)!

And she gets to make sure that the grounds are clean and none of the bushes are getting too overgrown (which is tasty)!

Some might say that her existence is fairly one dimensional, but she doesn't think so! Mostly because she has only existed for a few months. How many several-month-old people have an existence as detailed and multi-faceted as hers, huh? She read a thing about what humans are like when they're as old as she is and they basically just lay around, eat, poop, and sleep.

Boring!

They don't get to prune bushes or patrol for skinwalkers or chase butterflies or build forts in that one tree behind the armory or meet cool new people or ANYTHING!

Yes sir, existence is pretty great!

The seraph nips a few more stray leaves off one of her favorite bushes. Her brother Sardus had told her about this movie he watched with his friends about this person who had scissors for hands who made bushes shaped like animals and she thinks making bushes shaped like animals would be so great but she's worried that Mister Wenomir might think that's a dumb idea so she hasn't asked him about it. What should she do? She isn't sure. Maybe once she's older making decisions like this will get easier.

[Purple Eagle]

[Arriving at Skybase]

Holly shrugs. "All they know is how dangerous they can be, and how to kill them," she says. "I imagine you'll fit right in." Considering how Holly thinks Swetlana overreacted by killing a criminal, it's clear what she thinks of Vigil. It's a good thing, though! You should be with the groups that you fit in with best.

Anyway.
Subject change.
Holly remembers that she's never met Wenomir with this persona. It was invented just weeks before meeting him, in fact, but she came here as herself to prevent any links between them. "The stories about him are pretty cool, but I'll bet he probably doesn't live up to the hype," she then says. "He's probably just an average guy who gets through life on the power of friendship and intimidation alone. I imagine you'll be disappointed, because that's how most legends are."

Of course, Harley has met him and knows how terrifyingly strong he is, but...that's only something someone who's met him would know. Holly the disinterested-yet-busy Half-Elf^TM, who has clearly never met Wenomir, wouldn't know that.

[Arriving at Skybase]

Holly's meaning isn't lost on Swetlana, but that just causes her to smile. "So do I. I picked VIGIL for a reason, after all." She simply replies, smiling to herself.

"Hmph." Swetlana replies to Holly's dismissal of Wenomir's legendary status. "I suppose, we're about to see for ourselves." She simply says, in a tone that says she doesn't believe the half-elf. Afterwards, she doesn't say much until they arrive at the Skybase proper and get off the ferry, where she'll try and drag Holly towards anyone in the receiving area.

[VIGIL Grounds]

Lapis Lazuli is pretty much completely stoked about existence in general.

Being existent is great!

She gets to patrol the grounds of VIGIL for gross pod-people (not that she has ever found any)!

And she gets to watch Mister Wenomir teach people how to fight (which is really awesome)!

And she gets to make sure that the grounds are clean and none of the bushes are getting too overgrown (which is tasty)!

Some might say that her existence is fairly one dimensional, but she doesn't think so! Mostly because she has only existed for a few months. How many several-month-old people have an existence as detailed and multi-faceted as hers, huh? She read a thing about what humans are like when they're as old as she is and they basically just lay around, eat, poop, and sleep.

Boring!

They don't get to prune bushes or patrol for skinwalkers or chase butterflies or build forts in that one tree behind the armory or meet cool new people or ANYTHING!

Yes sir, existence is pretty great!

The seraph nips a few more stray leaves off one of her favorite bushes. Her brother Sardus had told her about this movie he watched with his friends about this person who had scissors for hands who made bushes shaped like animals and she thinks making bushes shaped like animals would be so great but she's worried that Mister Wenomir might think that's a dumb idea so she hasn't asked him about it. What should she do? She isn't sure. Maybe once she's older making decisions like this will get easier.

[VIGIL Grounds]

Asher's flying over places in the Nexus like he does sometimes, humming a tune to himself with a smile on his face, when his flight path takes him close to Felandria's House, and the VIGIL Skybase parked there. Even though he looks down at the cool base, he senses Lapis and his head jerks in her direction, purple eyes staring at her.

"Ah!" The angel boy makes an excited yell and spiritually calls out to his mother, Ruth. A few seconds later, she materializes beside him, all four wings out, and follows the excited celestial's pointy finger to Lapis nipping off some bushes. Taking her ward's hand, she leads him closer to confirm what she already knows: she's looking at kin.

Well, not exactly... they're from different worlds, after all... but an angel is an angel. Why she's not in a less conspicuous form, however, is anyone's guess.

'Must be a young one.' She surmises.

Lapis Lazuli's worrying about whether or not Wenomir'd think she's dumb is interrupted by the two angels landing in front of her, all smiles and friendly faces. A big angel and a little child angel, with fluffy wings and the latter looking like he wants to play! Lapis might even be able to sense their unbound and unveiled forms, in the extrasensory sense.

"H-Hi, I'm Zuriel! Y-You can also call me Asher!" The little angel announces before Ruth can open her mouth, not that it stops her from continuing where he stops. "And I am Eliora, also called Ruth. How old are you?" That might be rude in human terms, but then, neither party is human, are they?

[5a Violista]

[=> Skybase Receiving Area]

Did she say 'intimidation'? Holly wishes she had said 'name recognition' instead. Intimidation implies she believes the stories about how intimidating he is. If she had said just name recognition, instead, it would have flowed better with the sense she was trying to give off: that she's just some gal who has only ever heard about Wenomir and thinks they're seriously over-exaggerated. It's too late, though. Unfortunately she does not have the power to go back and change the past.

"I'm just saying, don't get your hopes up too much. You know what they say about meeting your heroes, and all that."

The half-human is dragged off the ferry.

She doesn't resist, obviously. It's not that big of a deal; nobody's going to recognize her, anyway. She's never been here in this form, she's wearing a mask to cover her scars, she has pointy ears, and if all else fails she could show her ID to prove that she's different.

[Rebonack]

[VIGIL Grounds]

Lapis just finished up the bushes here and started off on her patrol route toward the armory when sudden she noticed A THING!

Well, maybe not a thing.

A someone!

Now, Lapis meets lots of someones at VIGIL. Meeting new someones is one of her favorites. And some of the someones are pretty unusual.

But these someones?

Oh wow!

Would you just look at these someones! They're so bright and shiny! They're so bright and shiny the rude matter of the Game can hardly keep all their shininess contained! That's so great, Lapis just loves it!

She cranes her neck a bit to watch them, her curiosity and wonder quickly growing into scarcely contained excitement when she realizes that they're heading toward her! Maybe to say hello! Maybe to fight! Maybe to something else! Who knows? It'll be great, she's sure of it.

And she was right! They're saying hello and it's great!

"I'm Lapis Lazuli! You can call me Lapis or Lazuli or Lapis Lazuli!" she replies, doing her best to reign in her own glow. She's so excited! If she doesn't contain herself then WAY too much light starts bleeding out between her scales and then the mortals start complaining. Oh no, Lapis, you're too shiny. You hurt our eyes. You need to shine less. But shining less is so hard! Because shining is what stars do best, isn't it? "Mom made me about six months ago to help protect VIGIL from gross pod-people. I haven't found any YET but I would really show 'em what for if I ever find one!"

Lapis quirks her head to one side, peering at the angels with more than a few pairs of eyes.

"You guys aren't from inside the Game I don't think. But you're not from the Dreamlands or the Empyrean, either. So you must be from somewhere else! You're really pretty I love your wings they're so fluffy!"

Lapis wings aren't that fluffy, by contrast. She still likes them, though, they do a great job of being wings! Even the silly little ones she's got in place of ears. What are those for, anyway?

[Morty]

[The Academy]

The two newcomers will pass through a gauntlet of Vigil staff and members, but eventually they will find themselves before the commander they are looking for. Wenomir is inspecting some weapons brought for the members' use. He turns around from the delivery to face them.

"New candidates, I'm told. Or a candidate, rather," he says without much other introduction.

[Shadowcaller]

[Seeking Cessie]

Cessie smiles. "Well, not telling me would have been quite neglectful so I'm glad you did. I will eventually have to talk to her of course, once you've worked things out that is. How is she taking all this? I assume she broke into your home to tell you this?"

[Morty]

[Seeking Cessie]

Wenomir thinks about the answer for a while, before shaking his head.

"She did, yes. Made a pretty good job of it, actually. As far as how she's taking it... not very well, I think. If what she said is true, and given how she acts, she seems to be really conflicted about having Kr's memories. Like she doesn't know if they're really her memories too or if she just has them."

[Purple Eagle]

Spoiler: Rebo

Show

[VIGIL Grounds]

Lapis just finished up the bushes here and started off on her patrol route toward the armory when sudden she noticed A THING!

Well, maybe not a thing.

A someone!

Now, Lapis meets lots of someones at VIGIL. Meeting new someones is one of her favorites. And some of the someones are pretty unusual.

But these someones?

Oh wow!

Would you just look at these someones! They're so bright and shiny! They're so bright and shiny the rude matter of the Game can hardly keep all their shininess contained! That's so great, Lapis just loves it!

She cranes her neck a bit to watch them, her curiosity and wonder quickly growing into scarcely contained excitement when she realizes that they're heading toward her! Maybe to say hello! Maybe to fight! Maybe to something else! Who knows? It'll be great, she's sure of it.

And she was right! They're saying hello and it's great!

"I'm Lapis Lazuli! You can call me Lapis or Lazuli or Lapis Lazuli!" she replies, doing her best to reign in her own glow. She's so excited! If she doesn't contain herself then WAY too much light starts bleeding out between her scales and then the mortals start complaining. Oh no, Lapis, you're too shiny. You hurt our eyes. You need to shine less. But shining less is so hard! Because shining is what stars do best, isn't it? "Mom made me about six months ago to help protect VIGIL from gross pod-people. I haven't found any YET but I would really show 'em what for if I ever find one!"

Lapis quirks her head to one side, peering at the angels with more than a few pairs of eyes.

"You guys aren't from inside the Game I don't think. But you're not from the Dreamlands or the Empyrean, either. So you must be from somewhere else! You're really pretty I love your wings they're so fluffy!"

Lapis wings aren't that fluffy, by contrast. She still likes them, though, they do a great job of being wings! Even the silly little ones she's got in place of ears. What are those for, anyway?

[VIGIL Grounds]

Asher's grinning widely as he takes in Lapis' features. Oh, she's so pretty, with all of her different parts! And he lets her know this, too! "Hi, Lapis! You're so pretty and so bright!" He excitedly replies, wishing he could show himself but not wanting his mother to disapprove.

Ruth, on the other hand, also agrees with Asher! "You're so perfect and well-made, Lapis Lazuli, every inch of you. We're from different worlds, I could see that on first glance. Our true form appears more like this..." She says, gesturing and creating a light construct. It's to both see if Lapis recognizes any of the forms, as well as to answer the general question of why the veiled form of the angel boy that's older than her (Lapis) looks smaller.

"Asher is 7 years old, and thus he was born like this." She creates a putti construct, a child of about 2-3 with wings. It starts aging as she speaks, turning into an 18-ish being with two pairs of wings, then looks older, up to 25-ish, with some armour. "He'll gain his second pair of wings in a matter of decades, and then his armor, then wheels, like I have." After a while, golden fiery armour clothes the construct, then soon two wheels lined with eyes appear to orbit the angel, and then finally Lapis might get the sense it's getting really old as the body gains the appearance of a traditional cherub, complete with the 4 heads, though this time it's of a man, a harpy, an elf and a dwarf. Where the angel gains armor, Ruth stops and points to herself. Of course, she shouldn't have to tell Lapis that in addition, they're also several sizes larger than they are at present.

And then it's over! Ruth's gauging Lapis' reaction, though. Asher, however, takes this time to run to Lapis, smiling up at her. "You're b-bigger than me, b-but I'm older, so I can show you stuff about existing, it's awesome!" Finally, an opportunity to teach a younger angel stuff, this is going to be great!

And maybe she can help whenever he starts crying. Being around other angels always helps.

"W-We're celestial nephilim from The Sky Coin, the 2nd sphere! Momma's watching over GLoG and we're watching over Skycoiners in Seaside, too! C-can we play?" He says all in one breath

Spoiler: Violist and Mort

Show

[=> Skybase Receiving Area]

Did she say 'intimidation'? Holly wishes she had said 'name recognition' instead. Intimidation implies she believes the stories about how intimidating he is. If she had said just name recognition, instead, it would have flowed better with the sense she was trying to give off: that she's just some gal who has only ever heard about Wenomir and thinks they're seriously over-exaggerated. It's too late, though. Unfortunately she does not have the power to go back and change the past.

"I'm just saying, don't get your hopes up too much. You know what they say about meeting your heroes, and all that."

The half-human is dragged off the ferry.

She doesn't resist, obviously. It's not that big of a deal; nobody's going to recognize her, anyway. She's never been here in this form, she's wearing a mask to cover her scars, she has pointy ears, and if all else fails she could show her ID to prove that she's different.

[The Academy]

The two newcomers will pass through a gauntlet of Vigil staff and members, but eventually they will find themselves before the commander they are looking for. Wenomir is inspecting some weapons brought for the members' use. He turns around from the delivery to face them.

"New candidates, I'm told. Or a candidate, rather," he says without much other introduction.

[The Academy]

Svetlana just shrugs and continues dragging Holly into the academy, looking for Wenomir. They find him inspecting weapons, and the battle-hardened man turns to face them.

Instantly, Svetlana's face turns into one of awe. Momentarily starstruck, the woman stands there taking in his features before she snaps out of it. Bowing forward once, she addresses him. "Ojej! Dzień dobry, Wenomir-sensei. I am Svetlana and I wish to join VIGIL in kicking people who need to be kicked. I also wish to spar with you, and then learn from you." As she reveals her desire to spar, her clothing dissolves into nanites that recede into her now-exposed bleeding-edge cybernetic body, revealing her to be a cyborg from the neck down… and even her head appears to have been internally modified. Without sunglasses covering it, her eyes are revealed to be heterochromic, with one coloured hazel-green and the other a brown colour.

[Rebonack]

[VIGIL Grounds]

Lapis watches the light construct curiously.

Wow!

They sure are different huh? They really aren't much like Mom or the other angels from the Empyrean.

But they are sort of?

But not really!

That's one of the things Lapis has been learning out.

Life is full of things that are the same but different.

"Oooh, you get spinny things like ophanim! But you get to keep your heads so I guess that's probably better. My Mom's a seraphim of the bronze host. A Glory! She's even shinier than I am but she keeps herself veiled in flesh all the time since she's waaaay too bright for mortals to look at," Lapis explains. "I might get that big eventually but I dunno! Being small is cool too since you fit inside cupboards better."

Fitting inside cupboards is VERY important.

Though to be fair Lapis is a bit big for most cupboards. Don't tell her that, though.

"I love learning about stuff! And playing! They're the best!" Lapis agrees enthusiastically, pronking sideways a few steps. "I built a fort in the tree behind the armory you wanna see it? It's pretty much the best fort I've ever made."

Lapis hasn't made many forts so that's a pretty small sample size.

[5a Violista]

[The Academy]

Holly, having been dragged into the academy, nods. "I was just showing her the way," she says. She pauses, then as explanation and introduction she adds, "I'm working with HALO."

...

But, to be honest, she wouldn't mind watching. If the masked woman watches Wenomir fight someone else, that might be useful for future reference. As long as she's here, she might as well watch, right?

So she backs up so that Svetlana is more prominently standing there.

[Morty]

[The Academy]

Wenomir is used to people being sometimes awestruck when looking at him. He doesn't quite get it, but he gets on with it.

"I see. We welcome any recruits who can prove themselves. And quite a few people want to learn from me. Are you a warrior, then? What have you accomplished in the past?"

[Purple Eagle]

Spoiler: Angels play

Show

[VIGIL Grounds]

Lapis watches the light construct curiously.

Wow!

They sure are different huh? They really aren't much like Mom or the other angels from the Empyrean.

But they are sort of?

But not really!

That's one of the things Lapis has been learning out.

Life is full of things that are the same but different.

"Oooh, you get spinny things like ophanim! But you get to keep your heads so I guess that's probably better. My Mom's a seraphim of the bronze host. A Glory! She's even shinier than I am but she keeps herself veiled in flesh all the time since she's waaaay too bright for mortals to look at," Lapis explains. "I might get that big eventually but I dunno! Being small is cool too since you fit inside cupboards better."

Fitting inside cupboards is VERY important.

Though to be fair Lapis is a bit big for most cupboards. Don't tell her that, though.

"I love learning about stuff! And playing! They're the best!" Lapis agrees enthusiastically, pronking sideways a few steps. "I built a fort in the tree behind the armory you wanna see it? It's pretty much the best fort I've ever made."

Lapis hasn't made many forts so that's a pretty small sample size.

[VIGIL Grounds]

"Yes, we of the second sphere, that is, the silver host, are the most diverse. The Ceaseless are golden, and I suppose you would call them seraphim. They remain the same throughout. The last sphere are the Celestial Messengers, and they're what mortals generally think of when they hear the word 'angel'. Only our sphere undergoes such changes throughout our existence." Ruth explains further, smiling at Lapis' eagerness to learn, and how well she and Asher are getting on. "I'm 6 centuries old, in another 4 centuries I'll get my 'spinny things', as you call them." She adds, having to chuckle at the phrase.

Spinny things, indeed!

"Your mom's a seraphim? I shall like to meet her, very much so!" It's Ruth's turn to get excited. "I and Asher need to be veiled, since it's not so much our appearance as our aura that can be harmful to mortals. And size, too! It's nice to be able to fit inside a cottage with a lot of space to spare. If I could, though, I'd like to see her unveiled form, it's sure to be very glorious!"

Asher's focus is less on exchanging info about how their types of angels differ, and more on playing with his new angel friend. He giggles as she pronks, and gasps loudly when she reveals her fort.

He likes forts, they're cool! And if Lapis built one, then it's sure to be even cooler! And if it needs improvement, he'd be happy to ensure that it's truly awesome!

"I w-wanna! Show me, Lapis!" He'd even drag her there if he knew the way. "W-We nephilim have domains, since w-we watch over the cosmos... mine is e-earth, so I can c-control sand, so I c-can help you make more f-forts!" He offers.

Spoiler: Meeting your heroes

Show

[The Academy]

Holly, having been dragged into the academy, nods. "I was just showing her the way," she says. She pauses, then as explanation and introduction she adds, "I'm working with HALO."

...

But, to be honest, she wouldn't mind watching. If the masked woman watches Wenomir fight someone else, that might be useful for future reference. As long as she's here, she might as well watch, right?

So she backs up so that Svetlana is more prominently standing there.

[The Academy]

Wenomir is used to people being sometimes awestruck when looking at him. He doesn't quite get it, but he gets on with it.

"I see. We welcome any recruits who can prove themselves. And quite a few people want to learn from me. Are you a warrior, then? What have you accomplished in the past?"

[The Academy]

Svetlana nods, her focus entirely on the man standing before her. "Yes, sensei. I was once a figure-skating champion until a criminal T-boned my vehicle, killing my mama and necessitating full cyberization by my dad to save my life. Obviously unable to compete anymore, I focused on my other job of monster-hunting. I've killed otherworldly creatures, giant creatures and mutants; I've enacted violent justice on criminals who ruin the dreams of others - which is most of them."

Her kitsune ears twitch. Like her head, they look mostly normal. "Since I arrived here, I've gotten jobs bodyguarding, and killing both monsters and men, Wenomir-sensei. I share the organization's disdain for AMEN."

However, Svetlana is still a fan of Wenomir, having heard about his exploits while researching VIGIL. Her serious, methodical and business-like tone gives way to awe. "Ojej... I'm a huge fan of yours, Wenomir-sensei. Your reputation precedes you. If I could, I would present the head of a former AMEN leader to you, as a gift! It will be an honour to spar with you." She doesn't shift all the way to a fighting stance, but her body positioning changes to indicate her readiness. "Holly, there, thought you weren't much, but not me." She adds, drawing attention to the elf standing to the side and watching.

[5a Violista]

[The Academy]

What? Why is she being mentioned? the Half-Elf^TM wonders. No, just being mentioned isn't a problem - what the real problem is is that she was the last thing mentioned. That means Wenomir's probably going to feel like he has to say something about her to just keep the conversation going.

Holly needs to interject and give him a new direction to proceed.

So, the shapeshifter suddenly says, "From what I've heard, all former AMEN leaders have gone missing shortly after stepping down." Wait, but there was Ilpholin. "Except one, but I heard she was also working for Watchtower at the time, right?"

There.
Saved(?) it.

[Morty]

[The Academy]

Wenomir smiles a little. He does like earnest enthusiasm in recruits. However...

"She's not wrong," he says. "I'm aware I have a reputation, and it's largely an accurate one, but it might not be. You can't be sure until you've met someone, spoken to them and at least seen them fight. As far as leaders of AMEN go... leading that pack of backstabbing schoolyard bullies with superpowers isn't exactly a job with a future." He makes no comment about Ilpholin's tenure as leader of AMEN. "Magtok is still around, though he's cut all ties by the looks of it, and Gordon... he did vanish from sight." He shrugs. "But if you do want to spar, I can spare some time for that. I don't usually test new recruits myself, but exceptions happen. And both of you can see if what you've heard and thought was correct."

[Rebonack]

[VIGIL Grounds]

"I don't really know that many things except the stuff Mom put in my head when she made me and the stuff I've learned since then! Like don't eat the fuzzy caterpillars 'cuz they make your mouth itchy," Lapis replies as she begins bounding off toward not particularly well hidden fort. "Six hundred years sounds like a long time but time gets weird once you're outside of the Game. I haven't been out of it yet but that's mostly 'cuz I'm here making sure no gross pod-people sneak in."

Gross pod people are just the worst.

"I think maybe your words for things and the words Mom taught me for things are different things? That happens a lot in the Nexus because it's lots of different places all smooshed together sort of like fish cakes if you made the fish cakes out of different types of fish."

Lapis likes fish cakes. Though, frankly, she isn't that picky as the fact that she has tried to eat caterpillars suggests.

"Like a nephilim is what happens when someone from the Game gets Empyrean stuff in them? And that way if they die in the Game they get to get translated into the Empyrean instead of not-existing! I've got two siblings like that my Mom invested in since they would have died from awful faerie stuff otherwise. And dying from awful faerie stuff is just the worst!"

Literally the worst.

"Mom's SUPER big. The only time she unveils herself is when she's waaaaaaaay out in the wilderness where she won't hurt anyone by accident. Mom really loves all the people who live in the Nexus, even the ones that are jerks sometimes."

Not the faeries, though. They don't count as people since they don't exist.

Past the armory, around some bushes, and there!

A tree!

A pretty good sized oak tree. Branches have been woven together, along with a few discarded boards, to create something that resembles a bird's nest more than a traditional fort. Here and there something akin to silver shaped like the inside of bone has been used to lash various components together. Within the hollows of the bone hums a gold-white light that burns with brilliant incandescence.

"That's my fort, isn't it great? I thought about just using artifice to build it but then I thought that would probably spook critters so that probably isn't a good idea so I mostly just used branches and stuff with a little bit of Truth to help hold things together since nothing holds stuff together like the truth, you know?" Lapis rambles as she rather deftly climbs up the trunk of the tree and vanishes into the large, round hole in the face of the 'fort'.

[Shadowcaller]

[Seeking Cessie]

Wenomir thinks about the answer for a while, before shaking his head.

"She did, yes. Made a pretty good job of it, actually. As far as how she's taking it... not very well, I think. If what she said is true, and given how she acts, she seems to be really conflicted about having Kr's memories. Like she doesn't know if they're really her memories too or if she just has them."

[Seeking Cessie]

"I can't even begin to imagine what that must be like." If it's true of course. "I never knew KR all that well so I would have to trust on you do take the right decisions here." She pauses. "I'm going to try to see if I can get some help with this."

[Morty]

[Seeking Cessie]

"What sort of help, and from whom?" Wenomir asks. He's rather reluctant to bring in more people into this matter, but he can't just tell Cessie what to do or not do.

[Gullara]

[Investigation]

Kirk Locke arrives at the Vigil base early one afternoon. He's shuttled onto the island and informs someone that he needs to speak with someone among Vigil's leadership. He's not specific and he's willing to wait for someone to be available.

[Shadowcaller]

[Investigation]

Brave man, Kirk. Coming to VIGIL undefended like this!
Something stalks the skies above the base. Following his every move as he goes off the shuttle until it suddenly dives towards the unexpecting drow.

With one fell swoop the beasts's talons... attempts to steal his hat.

[Gullara]

[Investigation]

Kirk reacts a bit quicker than Anika might have expected. He ducks down,hand touching the ground to stabilize him as he turns his body toward the threat. By the time his eyes are following the departing bird one of his knives is already in his hand. He relaxes and straightens though when he sees what's flying away with his hat.

"Since when did Vigil let oversized magpies nest in their base?" He says as he straightens. The knife is stowed away as quickly as it emerged.

[Shadowcaller]

[Investigation]

The thieving bird is pretty distinct. There are few birds that reach that size and can fly at that backbreaking speed.
But it soon turns back around and flies back, though instead of swooping down once more the "bird" is shrouded in a spontaneously appearing puff of green swirling smoke. Out of it emerges Anika with his hand carried over her right hand. She lightly jogs over to Kirk, grinning widely. "Hey there hot stuff. What'cha up to?" She inquires while twirling his hat around her finger.

[Jezzy Tour]

Has Jezebel actually ever been in VIGIL's new base? Well, if not this is her chance to get iniminate familiar with it. As they arrive to the island by the shuttle Cessie walks ahead of Jezebel, smiling widely. "First impressions are important, so what do you think? I can't actually recall if you've been here before, but things change quickly around here. For instance, I burned down my own office now long ago. So that's a thing."