Outside 47: [Insert seasonal phrase that will be outdated when this thread ends]

[Shadowcaller]

The Triple B - Some Other Time

She is willing to wait both for the tea and for Lydia to be done, which she imagined could take a while. She will ask the staff for the possibility of meeting her though. Explaining that she is a scholar and wishes to have an interview with the owner, for her research.

[Infiltrating New Inside]

"No." Easily answered.

Also, one little detail which Zee have yet to encounter yet. Tourists in New Inside use these electronic passports to get around in the city, in particular if they want to use the various automated public transports which are quite common in the city. Zee probably saw quite a few of them on her way here.
The issue is of course that she doesn't have one of these tourist passes as you are supposed to get them when you pass through the tolling stations. She's lucky no one has yet to ask her to show her pass.

"We could give you a lift out of the city." Captain Rodas offers. "Just drop you off anywhere you desire. You have a particular location in mind?"

The armored woman glances at Zee, did she?

[Earl of Purple]

Chapel

Small teddy bear. But also a pretty big pocket, considering it's most of a plastic bag.

Cortina follows Arkangel out, looking a little nervous but trying to hide it. The guards won't stop them, although the man in the suit with the bird on his shoulder will try to stop them. Or at least, query Arkangel about what he's going to do about Wrattleham. "You will discuss things with... Whatever it is, that shot down our gyrocopter?" Technically it was not a gyrocopter, but this guy's homeworld calls all such devices 'gyrocopters', so he doesn't know any better.

[UncleWolf]

The Triple B - Anri

Lydia gives a snort, amused by the reaction, but she does stop and hops back to sit on the bar. "You're in a club with raves that go on practically nightly. My mouth is going to be the most sanitary thing that touches those taps tonight. Besides, not like anything I've got would jump species even if I had something." She points out with a shrug. Finally, she offers her hand. "Call me Lydia. You can either plop yourself up here on the bar for ease of use by patrons, or you can wander around. Your choice."

The Triple B - Ambrosia

Ambrosia is advised that it'd be a few moments at a minimum, but when the dancing hits its peak, she'll find the tea delivered by Lydia herself. The woman has a few lipstick prints on her neck and waist from those she'd been dancing with, but her own makeup is nearly immaculate. "I was told you wanted to talk to me?" She asks, sounding a bit skeptical as she sits down and wipes the sweat off with a towel.

[Recaiden]

Small teddy bear. But also a pretty big pocket, considering it's most of a plastic bag.

Cortina follows Arkangel out, looking a little nervous but trying to hide it. The guards won't stop them, although the man in the suit with the bird on his shoulder will try to stop them. Or at least, query Arkangel about what he's going to do about Wrattleham. "You will discuss things with... Whatever it is, that shot down our gyrocopter?" Technically it was not a gyrocopter, but this guy's homeworld calls all such devices 'gyrocopters', so he doesn't know any better.

Arkangel slows down but doesn't entirely stop walking.
"I will speak with them and persuade them to travel elsewhere. It should be fairly convincing, don't you think?"

Clearly (to the super) gyrocopter is just a name for this specific kind of flying machine. Their homeworld didn't have any rotary-wing vehicles at all, so the distinctions are lost.

That said, they'll attempt to scoop up the slave girl and jump them both back over the wall, using their jets to make a softer landing out of consideration for Cortina.

[Shadowcaller]

The Triple B - Ambrosia

"Yes." A pause. "You have the time? You appear to be pretty busy and I had some questions regarding your, ah, species. Do you care to discuss that here?" The scholar gestures out at the dance floor. She might hardly be heard over the music and the dancing.

[UncleWolf]

The Triple B - Ambrosia

Well, that certainly seems to get a reaction out of Lydia. She raises an eyebrow and lowers her voice. "We can discuss it, yes, but not here. Let's head up. Bring your tea. Though I've a question of my own before we begin. Am I talking to the body or the thing possessing it?" She asks, getting back up from her seat with a gentle-yet-predatory smile.

[Shadowcaller]

The Triple B - Ambrosia

Ambrosia first nods in agreement and then quirks her eyebrow, not at Lydia's question in itself, but at that smile of hers. "Both." She replies somewhat cryptically as she smiles back. "And I assure you, I am no 'thing'." The scholar will then get up from her own seat and follow Lydia.

[Deathkeeper]

[The Triple B]

"I, uh, I think I'll just walk around. I'm really, really heavy. And I haven't tested if I can climb up stuff and stay there without falling." She's part spider; of course she can!
"You look like you've already got a better sound system than what I'm packing, so just let me know if you need a projector or light or something. And I come with taps and cups but no mixes so if you want me to mix anything you're gonna have to supply me." Anri doesn't even know why she's telling Lydia all this. She's not being compelled to. Maybe she's just a naturally thorough person. Or she's thinking about that cash she was offered. Half of a whole night is plenty...

[UncleWolf]

The Triple B - Ambrosia

Lydia will lead her up the stairs and outside, giving the bouncer a nod before walking towards the woods where a large clearing is near by. "Pardon my attitude, but I am not used to being called out so easily by people I don't know. The circle of those who know what I am tends to be small, though I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised after so long. But since you seem to know who I am, what about you? Why are you interested?"

The Triple B - Anri

"Nah, keep it simple, Parfait. I'd say try to keep beers or other non-mixed drinks on tap if you've any control. Otherwise they won't buy from the bartender himself." Lydia points out with a small frown of thought before flopping back to lay on top of the bar. "Storytime though. Why are you here? And what the hell are you? I've never even heard of a booze golem before."

[Deathkeeper]

[The Triple B- Anri]

"Oh, it doesn't do mixed things. Just straight." Anri smiles at her host. She asked.
"Well, since you asked, some lowlife held a gun to my head a time or two and then found out my djinni blood meant I can sometimes grant wishes. But I couldn't like, do it on purpose. So when she made a big wish, and the fact that I hated her (a lot) she got an unfortunate result. Well honestly she's adorable now and can fly so I don't think being more social and not being able to curse is that big a deal. But yeah she got pissy and sicced some demon on me which stuck me in this thing. Which has some caveats. I don't have a clue how it works or what it is, but I gotta follow its stupid rules until I break the stupid curse on me. Gonna need to find someone big for that, I think." Sadly she doesn't know any magical people. Well, besides her brother. But Aran and his weird bear husband aren't up to something like this.

[Shadowcaller]

The Triple B - Ambrosia

Ambrosia follows, trying to keep herself walking beside Lydia so they may talk easier. "No offense taken, miss. I understand being called out like this must be somewhat of a shock. I figured it was best to cut past the small-talk though as you have others things to do. Now, your staff might have mentioned this, but I am a scholar. However, what I omitted was my particular field of study, namely dragons. So I'm actually here on business in a way. I mean, you are unique in many ways Lydia. I've yet to meet one that spends so much time in another form like you do. Or so I assume considering that you're running this bar. Must be a lot of work while you're not enjoying yourself." She casually observes. "Most dragons are... considerably more easy to find. You just find their lair and hope they don't eat you once you want to conduct an interview with them."

[Earl of Purple]

Chapel

"I hope so. It's not your life they're threatening." He mutters as he goes off to rally his guards, make sure they have all loaded their guns with lethal ammunition and have plenty of ammunition. His bodyguard follows, still pulsing with that unusual magic. The cleric has already left to offer blessings to any guards that need it and protect her shrine.

At least the governor of Chapel didn't try asking for Arkangel to pay for Cortina.

Cortina gasps and doesn't struggle as she's picked up, but pukes after landing. The momentum made her stomach lurch quite unpleasantly. "Sorry. That was... Sorry."

Wrattleham

The small traction-town is parked nearby. The inhabitants are quite good at quickly scavenging things, so they've ripped out all the easily accessed bits- the chairs, parts of the controls, and as much of the engine as they can get- and loaded it up into carts and are ferrying it to the elevator lowered nearby. Currently a load of electronics and a machine-gun are being hauled up whilst some other people are still at work. Two dead bodies, unfortunate crewmembers, lie on the ground nearby; they've been stripped to their undergarments. The ten scavengers are armed, with a mix of knives, swords and bludgeons with here and there a pistol. On Wrattleham's decks and gantries are more people, mostly middle-aged unlike the teens and twenties of the groundsmen, and they're pointing an eclectic mix of rifles, muskets and crossbows in Chapel's direction.

A man will approach Arkangel before he- and Cortina- arrive at the helicopter's wreck. He's tall, quite pale with ginger hair, and his eyes are green. He's in his thirties, and wears thick black trousers and a steel breastplate, with heavy boots on his feet. Unlike the others, he carries a longarm, a triple-barrelled drilling; two side-by-side rifle barrels with a shotgun underneath. "Ahoy, there. I'm Chief Constable Jason. You the meteor man? If so, the Lord Mayor would like to speak to you." He'll lead them to the lift, and waits for it to come back down.

[UncleWolf]

The Triple B - Anri

"Well, I can't say that doesn't almost top the list of the weirdest stories I've heard while running this place. Figured it would be complicated but I hadn't expected it to be that complicated. Then again, petty revenge does tend to be." Lydia admits before downing her Peachy-Butt in one go, peach included. She follows it up with a sweeping gesture at her club. "Well, if you need a place to hold up for a while, be my guest. Just be prepared for dancers to be bumpin' and a grindin' and a feelin'. But you won't find a safer place to stay, I can promise that."

The Triple B - Ambrosia

"That's because most dragons are stupid. I'm not." Lydia says, completely sure of herself. "Oh, I was at one point, rest assured. Nearly got beheaded because of it too, but I learned real fast to keep my head down. No one sneaks up on me anymore." She rubs her throat at the memories as they get close to the clearing. "The fact that you tracked me to the club instead of my home is testament to that. Running the place isn't much work though. I have some talented workers who do nearly all of it while I enjoy the benefits of getting to dance and party to my heart's content. Before that though, aren't you forgetting something?" Lydia asks, turning around to face Ambrosia while she continues to walk backwards into the clearing. "You haven't even told me your name. If I'm to answer more questions, I would know who I am talking to."

[Deathkeeper]

[The Triple B- Anri]

Anri stares at Lydia, most notably that last thing she said.
"I. Um. Well. I.

Maybe I'll just stick to the bar, then..."
She's way, way too prude to dance on that kind of floor.

[UncleWolf]

The Triple B - Anri

"You severely underestimate the areas people dance, let alone whether or not they'll mind if you're dancing either." Lydia says with a snort before offering her hand upside down to Anri. "Deal then? Don't worry about a contract or anything. A shake is good enough for me."

[Deathkeeper]

[The Triple B]

"A sh-sh-shake? Lydia I d-d-didn't know how to dance when I had a reasonable number of legs. I don't have the s-s-slightest idea how to do any of that and I-I-I-" Anri stammers out, more embarrassed than she's ever been, despite the fact that she seems to have taken Lydia's hand when she wasn't paying attention. Being dressed this way certainly wasn't helping.

[bc56]

Darkness Falls

Nothing interferes with the party further. They are free to make plans, explore the ruins, and leave as they see fit.

[Reinholdt]

[Tauron's Temple]

It takes a moment for him to process her request. "Oh. Of course. They can make electronic calls too, can't they? Fascinating devices, brilliant really..." He hands over the phone to her. "I apologize for posing so many theories to you..." A beat. "Are you going to call VIGIL? I should probably have done that myself. I visit them once to offer an alliance against the demons while you were under. They declined however so I wasn't sure I could share that kind of information..." He rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm terrible at this, aren't I? It's just not in my nature to trust those who aren't phyrexians." Then he stops talking as Ilpholin is likely busy making a call.

There does seem to be a reception here so she can call whoever she likes.

[Tauron's Temple]

"That so?" Ilpholin asks, eyebrow raised, only half paying attention as she operates the phone with her fingers. She would go much faster if she just used her hair, but the idea to do so doesn't yet come to her naturally.

There's a sigh of frustration and a redialing of numbers as the first call fails to connect. When the second call also doesn't work, Ilpholin starts to move again, walking as she begins to dial a third number. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave much sooner than expected," She's not even fully recovered yet. "Do you happen to have a set of clothes I could have? I can't promise you'll get them back. I failed to return the last ones I borrowed."

[Shadowcaller]

[Tauron's Temple]

Tauron scratches his head. "Ah, clothes... yes! I actually considered this and I made clothes that are just like- eh, they adapt after your body that is. Just give me a moment and I'll fetch them."
And in a fervor Tauron is scrambling back to his workshop.
If Ilpholin waits, the golem eventually returns carrying what at first glance is grey-white robe but as he holds it up, it actually looks like more like skin than fabric. To be specific, it looks like garment made out of Ilpholin's own skin. "This is, ah, an addition to your body. As long you have physical contact with it, you can change its texture and form and even move it across your body by absorbing it into your skin and emit it to other locations. It's actually made by a slightly modified version of your skin which also could work as a light armor in addition to clothing." He pauses as he runs hands across the strange skin-like material. "It can't gain magical attributes of other materials of course, but otherwise it could potentially become nearly any other artificial fabric as long as there is enough material for it." He holds out the robe for her to take. "It could potentially be used to emit spikes and such things from your body, but always mindful of the limits to its mass. It can't become more than just a robe unless you thin it out." If she does accept it, it does feel all too familiar. Just like her own skin, just without without the heat of her blood underneath it.

It does have the qualities Tauron promised. As long she has skin-contact with it, she can alter and absorb it as she wishes.

The Triple B - Ambrosia

Ambrosia blinks and then hurries to catch up with Lydia and jogs up in front of her, extending her right hand. "I could have sworn I told your staff my name. But either way, I apologize. My name is Ambrosia Ithil, dragon scholar." Her grip won't be as strong as Lydia's, purposefully so, but she will endure the handshake no matter how much Lydia might attempt to crush her hand. "And not as stupid as you might think, miss. Just the arrogance that comes with being such powerful beings. Dragons of less power don't tend to be nearly as 'stupid'. Not that there aren't dragons like you that enjoy the sensation of other forms and enjoy the occasional romp among other cultures."

[UncleWolf]

The Triple B - Ambrosia

"There is a great deal of difference between hearing my staff tell me your name, and you telling it to me, Ambrosia." Lydia says, shaking the hand with a smile. "You may want to stand back at the edge of the clearing." She warns, giving a shooing motion before backing away some more. "It is not that I am ashamed of what I am or feel any true desire to hide being powerful, but there is a reason I take this form so often. When you have scales as thick as armor plates and hide even thicker, you can't feel anything apart from pain and pressure. For all the power and strength I have, I couldn't enjoy anything as slight as a breeze or a caress. Mating was such a cumbersome and unwieldy and painful act that I loathed it when it came time to produce a clutch of offspring. It was so easy to look down upon lesser beings, but until I took this form I had no idea what a world I had been missing." Despite continually backing away, Lydia's voice sounds like it is coming from right in front of Ambrosia regardless.

If Ambrosia can see such, she'll find a gravity enchantment suddenly snap from Lydia's body before the partygirl just sinks into the earth. Her shapeshifting was great, but she wasn't able to get rid of her mass from her greater size. Calling her dense would have been an understatement.

But just as quickly as she sinks into the earth, it erupts once more as the real Lydia bursts forth. Dozens of meters of snake-like neck rises from the ground, followed by the rest of her body. She's long, lean, and almost entirely serpentine apart from her legs and split-tipped tail. Despite the clearing being the size of a sports stadium, Lydia's viper-like head is almost back to Ambrosia, staring at her with bright yellow eyes. Lydia's body is covered in glossy black scales that shimmer with neon colors whenever she moves, giving a lightshow meant to bewitch prey and warn off predators. She gives a full-bodied shiver, flexing her muscles, and the shiver causes her tail to crack like a whip when it reaches the tip. "You wished to speak with a dragon, did you not?" Her voice asks. "Speak away." She adds before attempting to use her long tongue to wrap around Ambrosia's body just to get a bit of a taste. She didn't look like she was going to eat her.

The Triple B - Anri

"What? Oh, no. I'm not asking for a dance. I'm asking to make a deal. In trade for your services for a night, you keep half of what you make and all your tips. Plus you can come back any time. Deal?" Lydia clarifies, not letting go of the hand until Anri understands.

[Deathkeeper]

[The Triple B]

”Oh.” Anri sounds completely mortified even if she can’t show it. How embarrassing! She can’t help that she’s been worried about someone asking her to dance, and this woman just seemed the type. Well, uh...
”Yes. Um. Okay. Very good. I- sorry about that.”

[Rebonack]

[Ruins of Sunshine Valley- Museum]

There were more things made of stone.

But this time they weren't shaped like remains. This time they were shaped like humans. None of them were attacking her, which was unsurprising. None of them had barrels of hidden fire attached to them. They simply sat. Motionless.

And without any purpose Choir could ascertain.

Why were they here?

Obviously they were important, somehow. But what importance they could have was completely lost on her. Why did the humans go to such trouble making a hive to house stones?

The obvious answer was that humans were inexplicable. They did things that made no sense.

The closest thing Choir had to an idea was that, like singing and dancing, putting rocks inside buildings brought humans satisfaction somehow.

With more questions than answers, Choir left the building and gave her tiny bodies a command to spread out and search. Not to consume, but to find. Maybe if there was a still living human in the ruined village, they could answer her questions. Thousands of her locust-sized aggregates spread gossamer wings and rolled over the village like a crimson fog.

[Ruins of Sunshine Valley- Homes]

Choir shoved the wooden thing aside and crouched down over the remains to examine them.

The other remains she had found, they had been strange, too. Human shaped, vaguely. But the skull was wrong. She traced a finger along one of the eye sockets.

Maybe the others that lived here simply weren't human?


[Darkness Falls]

"Alright, I'll contact you if I find anything," Myriam says before heading off.

...frankly she has no idea where to go.

Hopefully the device the kind robot had given her would be helpful.


[Infiltrating New Inside]

Obviously passes are for lame people who come in from outside the city.

Clearly Zee isn't a tourist and is just another citizen or something.

Anywho!

She ponders that question. "Could be helpful. I was thinking either Skyside or the Skyway over in Inside. They both have starports and it sounds like our friend here-"

She gestures at the armored woman.

"-wants to get off-world."

Which is understandable. Especially if someone is from a setting where space travel is really common place. Being stuck on one planet would be a drag.

[Recaiden]

[Chapel => Wrattleham]

"I hope so. It's not your life they're threatening." He mutters as he goes off to rally his guards, make sure they have all loaded their guns with lethal ammunition and have plenty of ammunition. His bodyguard follows, still pulsing with that unusual magic. The cleric has already left to offer blessings to any guards that need it and protect her shrine.

At least the governor of Chapel didn't try asking for Arkangel to pay for Cortina.

Cortina gasps and doesn't struggle as she's picked up, but pukes after landing. The momentum made her stomach lurch quite unpleasantly. "Sorry. That was... Sorry."

Wrattleham

The small traction-town is parked nearby. The inhabitants are quite good at quickly scavenging things, so they've ripped out all the easily accessed bits- the chairs, parts of the controls, and as much of the engine as they can get- and loaded it up into carts and are ferrying it to the elevator lowered nearby. Currently a load of electronics and a machine-gun are being hauled up whilst some other people are still at work. Two dead bodies, unfortunate crewmembers, lie on the ground nearby; they've been stripped to their undergarments. The ten scavengers are armed, with a mix of knives, swords and bludgeons with here and there a pistol. On Wrattleham's decks and gantries are more people, mostly middle-aged unlike the teens and twenties of the groundsmen, and they're pointing an eclectic mix of rifles, muskets and crossbows in Chapel's direction.

A man will approach Arkangel before he- and Cortina- arrive at the helicopter's wreck. He's tall, quite pale with ginger hair, and his eyes are green. He's in his thirties, and wears thick black trousers and a steel breastplate, with heavy boots on his feet. Unlike the others, he carries a longarm, a triple-barrelled drilling; two side-by-side rifle barrels with a shotgun underneath. "Ahoy, there. I'm Chief Constable Jason. You the meteor man? If so, the Lord Mayor would like to speak to you." He'll lead them to the lift, and waits for it to come back down.

Who knows? They could be threatening Arkangel soon enough.

They put Cortina on the ground, sure enough that she'll follow.
"You aren't used to it." It's fine.

The super strides over towards the chief constable, nodding up at him and looking over his bizarre weapon.
"Correct. The Lord Mayor is in charge here?"
That'll do then. Onwards to the lift.


[Hamleton Impact]

Now, as far as Spike knows, the ghosts are no danger to this child themselves.
But Calm Reed seems to think differently, so she races away towards the town.

The kid has basically no chance of getting out of her grip, no matter how eel-like his wriggling. Indeed, with every step away from the crater, she feels better, stronger.

Meanwhile, the hound hops into that odd building and tries to tear the metal cover away from where it was. Some things aren't making sense yet...

[Earl of Purple]

Ruins of Sunshine Valley- Commercial

No living humans, but there's a bunch of non-humans in the basement, labelled 'Club 202'. They're humanoid; about five of them, a canine, an amphibian, two ungulates and a tailed primate. They're shuffling around a basement decorated with odd things, strange devices that move and make noise, ignoring the fact they're waist deep in heavily irradiated water.

Ruins of Sunshine Valley- Residential

Doesn't look human. The bones are old and brittle, and also hollow. The skull is massive, with a wide mouth, flat head and eyes perched on top of it. The ribs don't form much of a cage, being more spurs that project from the spine, and the rear limbs are much longer than the forelimbs. Clutched in its hands is an old photograph frame, though the picture once within has rotted away.

Wrattleham

The lift arrives, and three men get out. One carries a heavy pair of boltcutters, another a circular saw and the third pushes a large toolbox with a pair of wheels mounted. They'll head towards the helicopter, to start cutting into scrap or disassembling it further, depending on who gets where first.

Jason holds the door open and motions for the two to get in first. Cortina does, and after Arkangel's gone in too Jason joins them. There's enough room for ten people, if they got cosy, and it travels reasonably fast up. "'Course the Lord Mayor's in charge. Every town's got a mayor. Ours calls himself a Lord, as well, 'cos he led the build team that made this place. The wheel came from an ice-town that converted itself into a raft-town. They sold it after they'd converted entirely to propellers, and didn't need a waterwheel. The engines were salvaged from a different raft-town, one that capsized and washed up after a storm. Most of the plating comes from there, too. None of the population, though. Near as we could tell, there weren't any survivors. We're a disparate lot, us. Some outlanders born on the surface, some escaped slaves, some youngsters who grew up in semi-statics but who wanted to live their lives like their ancestors did, got a merchant's son whose airship crashed, some criminals exiled from some urbivore or another... We'll take anyone willing to work." It's powered at the top by a generator that pulls on a pulley, and they stop on the engine level, which is low-ceilinged and cramped, with two large engines powering the town's single great wheel, one on either side. They're on half-power at the moment, the near engine cold and dead. Jason opens the door and leads them out, to a nearby staircase onto Wrattleham's top deck. There's a ring of shacks, mostly metal, wood and tarpaulin, going around the edge of the town whilst the centre is dominated by the framework around the drive-wheel and a small shed for the city's lookout balloon. "Lord Mayor's in the Town Hall, up there." He points to the top of the wheel's framework, where there's a large shack of slightly better construction, with a multiple barrelled rocket launcher on its roof. The launcher's angled to defend against aerial attack; it likely wouldn't help much against Chapel. He'll lead them to another lift, climb in first and haul on a chain to pull them up. It'll be slow going unless someone else helps out.

[Shadowcaller]

The Triple B - Ambrosia

The floating tome and pen following the scholar seem particularly active as Lydia explains how she feels. So busy is it that it stays behind even as the scholar herself, at Lydia's advice, backs away. "Did you feel forced to produce offspring, Lydia?" She inquires even as she continues stepping back, knowing full well how large some dragons could be.

As Lydia changes to her true form, the pen only writes with increased fervor. Even as its owner is being attested by the dragons tongue. There certainly isn't anything stopping it from wrapping around the scholar though she will likely be disappointed by the metallic taste. "Is this how you greet everyone?" She asks with a smile as she stares into the dragons eyes. But despite her calm attitude towards all this, a deep fascination can be seen in how she looks at Lydia. "Afraid I can't return the gesture, but I doubt either of our scaled exteriors are all that tasty."

[Infiltrating New Inside]

"We have been advised to not get too closed to Inside at the moment due to the continuing situation there so Skyside, as much as I hate to admit it, probably is your safest bet of the two. However, I would still advise you to not to set your foot in that city. I know people who been robbed just taking the roads past groundtown, and more importantly, our foreign ministry actively advises people not to go there." He warns.

"It's of no concern for me. Take us there." The armored woman seems adamant on this point.

"Alright, I suppose you're dressed for the occasion. But we're only dropping you off near groundtown. We're not going into the city itself."

Unless Zee then has anything to add, that's exactly what will happen...

[Rebonack]

[Hamleton Impact]

So three things are going down here.

First?

Calm Reed mashes her fist into the incoming specters, sending the distortions wheeling away from her. Given that they can only be sensed by the physical impact they have on the world around them, it's difficult to tell whether or not they've been injured. However, the pall of alien color one of them is casting suddenly looks noticeably less sickly. That's... probably a sign that they can be hurt? Two of the ghosts move to occupy Calm Reed while the thing tries to slip around and dart toward Spike and the child.

Second?

Spike runs!

Runs and grips the wriggling child pretty well. Thus far Calm Reed seems to be doing an admirable job of holding the ghosts off, so no great threat there.

Third?

Spot pulls the iron shutter off the fireplace! Pull Spot, pull!


[Infiltrating New Inside]

Well!

It sounds like Zee and the as yet unnamed lady in power armor are being taken to (a point near) Ground Town!

Zee will use the duration of the trip to try chatting amiably with the as yet unnamed lady in power armor. Get to know her a bit? See if, perhaps, she'll be more talkative once it looks like things are working out alright?


[Ruins of Sunshine Valley- Residential]

Not human.

Choir is almost sure now. The others that lived in this place weren't human. They built things like humans. And they wrote word symbols like humans. And they wore clothing like humans. But they weren't humans. They were something else. She added the ball to her collection of interesting trinkets, left the non-human's hive to check the next, and set her swarm of tiny aggregates upon the building to strip it of everything edible. Choir was pleased with her progress thus far. She had found several interesting objects and ample food to help herself grow. It had been a good day.

Probably a very bad day for the not-humans that had left their dwellings in this state. But their selves had gone extinct and there was no one around to harass her while she fed.

Well... not no one. She could feel the fact that her other self had called on her heart's power to strike down a threat. But that conflict had ended quickly and she can hear her other self exploring again. She was curious what her other self had encountered, but for now she had her own foraging to attend to. She would learn of the battle when she took communion with herself later.

[Ruins of Sunshine Valley- Commercial]

More non-humans.

Like the corpse she had found in the basement of the mart.

Choir was starting to suspect that there weren't any humans in this town at all. She moved toward the place with the word-symbols 'Club 202'. Club was one of those words that she inexplicably understood thanks to whatever force had snatched her here from the maw of oblivion. It was puzzling, though. Club meant a blunt object for hitting things. It also meant a place for people to gather for the purpose of recreation. It could also refer to the action of going TO a club. It ALSO meant a sandwich.

Choir wasn't sure what a sandwich was.

But she WAS sure that having a single word mean several different things based on the context was confusing.

However, based on the context, she surmised that this club was the recreational kind.

She moved into the building to investigate. Her small aggregates were highly mobile, but their senses weren't as acute as the human-like body she had assembled. Hopefully the non-humans would be willing to answer some of her questions, as she had many.

[Earl of Purple]

Ruins of Sunshine Valley- Residential

The next building is across the river, also made of brick like the others. It's also brick, with a rusty metal door. It's old and locked, but a good tug and it'll fall off its hinges. Inside, there's another abandoned house. There's an asteroid floating in the corner; a tall gyroid made of metal and bearing a little antenna; it wiggles as it makes a noise, repeating every ten seconds, next to a window; a metal bed with rotting orange bedding is opposite the door; and finally, there's a metal lamp that's fallen over. The floor and walls are both covered in orange tiles, though they're cracked and some have fallen off the walls.

Ruins of Sunshine Valley- Commercial

The body wasn't in the basement of the mart; it was upstairs, on a bed that was originally on sale.

Reaching the club requires climbing down some stairs into the water, and there's a pile of rusty metal bins and decaying rubbish at the base of the stairs, in front of the door. It's not locked behind that pile, however, and it can be pushed aside quite easily.

When Choir enters, the room's inhabitants are revealed! They look diseased, or dead. The mammals have patchy fur, and they've all got patches of bear muscle where the skin has sloughed off. The dog, a former white-furred male, has a broken wooden guitar on a strap over his shoulder. The amphibian has pink skin and feathery gills, where they haven't rotted away, and wears a ruined suit. The tailed primate has patchy brown fur and wears a ripped blue jacket. One of the ungulates, a striped equine creature, is missing both cheeks, revealing teeth that look in shockingly good condition, and wears a rotting dress. The other ungulate has horns, and like the equine, is female; she's also naked, her clothing totally disintegrating in the dirty water. There's a rotting wooden stage at the far end of the room, and some stainless steel bar stools have been knocked around the room. When they see Choir, they start groaning incomprehensibly and advance, reaching out with hands bearing a mix of broken nails and bare, chipped bone phalanges.

[Rebonack]

[Ruins of Sunshine Valley- Residential]

Choir yanked the door free without too much trouble. There were far too many doors here that didn't serve their purpose, in her opinion.

Once inside, her attention was immediately drawn to the floating rock. That struck her as very odd. Rocks don't float, typically. She experimentally pushed against it to see what it would do.

The odd little spinning, warbling thing was also interesting. But for the time being the anomalous rock has her focus.

[Ruins of Sunshine Valley- Commercial]

Choir shoved the ruins aside and stepped into the basement. The irradiated water doesn't bother her, of course. It's slightly invigorating.

The people, though, are concerning.

"You appear unwell," she informed them as they shuffled toward her. "I have questions regarding the state of your village and the purpose of the stones shaped like people."

Choir was still holding out hope that her inquiries would be answered.

[Earl of Purple]

Ruins of Sunshine Valley- Residential

The rock bumps into the wall and bounces back. At no point does it stop gently spinning on its long axis, so the top and bottom don't remain the same.

The tall sputnoid continues beeping and wiggling, as it has for a very long time.

Ruins of Sunshine Valley- Commercial

They're all getting closer, but the axolotl ghoul is closest, and shrieks as it lunges forwards, mouth agape and hands splayed as it tries to latch onto Choir and bite with its tiny teeth. It probably doesn't do much damage, but the monkey's next closest and will jump at Choir shortly after, and its teeth are more formidable. Fortunately, the dog is still too far away to attack at the moment, but it's next closest, with the zebra and the cow following very close behind.

[Rebonack]

[Ruins of Sunshine Valley- Residential]

Choir found herself fascinated by the mysterious floating stone.

This was a problem.

But not necessarily a bad problem.

Her arms are already full of interesting trinkets and she has found even more.

Thankfully she has a ready solution to this problem. Choir sends a signal to her foraging bodies nearby, calling them to herself. They had already consumed a significant volume of organic matter and were busy multiplying themselves. There would be enough for her purpose. The tiny aggregates swarmed over Choir like a crimson tide, merging together to form a chitin plated cocoon. The process was quick. It always was. The shell sloughed off and rapidly disintegrated into a greatly diminished number of tiny bodies. And left behind? One humanoid Choir and a second in her more traditional human-sized aggregate shape.

To anyone else, she would appear to be an arthropod-like demon, all crimson chitin, bony white spikes, and hideous teeth. Four crab-like limbs circle her lower body, and four more limbs stretched from her back interconnected by a tough membrane. Her face was utterly inhuman, flanked by wide crecent-moon crests. The monstrosity spread the limbs on its back and-

-the humanoid Choir began loading her various treasures onto it. They were, of course, both her. And since she had just taken communion with herself, both of her knew what the plan was. The humanoid Choir would use her delicate fingers to collect interesting objects and the bulkier Choir would carry them.

Human Choir had shed much of her armor, having sacrificed the mass to build the second large body. She was only clothed in a flexible, thin outfit of reddish black chitin. She knew that 'wearing clothing' was an important thing to humans. And, it would appear, to non-humans as well. As she had various trinkets loaded onto her back, Choir wondered if maybe she should be wearing something as well. Her body wasn't the right shape at all for clothing. Did that matter? Another question to be answered.

The human Choir next moved to collect the spinning, warbling thing. She turned it over in her hands, trying to divine some purpose.

[Ruins of Sunshine Valley- Commercial]

They attacked her.

Of course they did.

But they were slow and soft and hardly a threat and either unable or unwilling to answer Choir's questions.

It was exasperating.

Choir flexed her torso, causing the eight plates on her chest yawn wide, revealing a cavity full of grinding teeth and hooked tendrils burning. Lavender light flooded the room and the radiation level spiked as the tendrils aimed to ensnare the amphibian and draw it into the maw where it would be messily devoured. She stood her ground as the ape approached and lashed out with the cerci on the end of her tail, aiming to clamp the pincers around one of the shambling other's legs and yank it off balance.

"Do not be aggressive or I WILL devour you," Choir warned the others. It seemed to her it was best to give them at least some warning. Except for the one that already bit her. She would eat that one for daring to touch her.