NeoTokyo MUCK - User contributions [en]

2016-12-19 - A very Grimm Christmas

2016-12-20T05:01:54Z

Skeeve: Created page with "{{Logsummary| Title = A very Grimm Christmas |Summary = Skeeve, Ari, and Miriam get some help finding a Christmas tree. What's going to go wrong this year? |Who = Ar..."

{{Logsummary|
Title = A very Grimm Christmas
|Summary = Skeeve, Ari, and Miriam get some help finding a Christmas tree. What's going to go wrong this year?
|Who = [[Ari]], [[Fluttershy]], [[Minerva]], [[Miriam]], [[Skeeve]]
|Date = December 19, 2016
|Where = The Usual Restaurant / Forest of Silence
|Log=

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The Usual Restaurant
You walk into a well lighted room, it's high ceilings lit by dozens of fluorescent lamps hanging from the ceiling. To the south and west are windows, which you would normally expect to see the outside world from, but looking out of them, you see only a misty gray haze. On the walls to the north and the east of the inn are an eclectic collection of paintings, photographs and even holographs of many cheap 1970's to 1980's B-movies. The bar on the east side is made out of hardwood, it's surface polished and shiny. Behind the bar, the various beverages that are served here are kept in relatively neat containers on wooden shelves. There is a large stage in one of the corners of the restaurant with a impressive sound system and a few microphones strung about it. Multiple round wood tables are in this room, near the north wall, is a double swing door that leads to the kitchen. On the east wall is a door leading to the UR's dance club and on the west one leading to the Gym. To the south, is the exit to the outside. A recent addition to the UR is a large fireplace against the west wall, it matches well to the rest of the restaurant and looks like it should have been there all along.

Skeeve is standing by the bar near Miriam, with the following things in his arms - a sled, several axes, a cask, and a small bag. Fluttershy is at a table nearby, and Ari has left to get pants. "Sure, if you wanna take some of this. The cask is full of hot chocolate with some 'endure elements' potion mixed in."

Miriam nods and takes the cask and sets it on the bar, then starts unloading axes. She finishes off her cider, then grins, "Excellent, what's next?"

Ari finally comes back, this time in pants. "Much better!"

Minerva walks in, and looks from Skeeve, to the contents of his arms, and back. "You know what? I don't want to know." Mina shakes her head in bemusement, and looks towards the bartender. "Could I have a pot of earl grey and some lemon, please?" she requests before sitting at a table near Fluttershy. Ooh, Pony! "Erm, miss... Fluttershy, wasn't it? How's the pony with the snowflake on her flank?"

Fluttershy says, "Hello, Miss Minerva; yes, I'm Fluttershy....Snowflake has woken up, but, shes' still very weak; we've been keeping a close eye on her...she's a little confused, of course..."

Skeeve just chuckles a little bit at that, shaking his head lightly. "Hey, Mina. NO big mystery - we're going after the Perfect Christmas Tree." The capital is audible. "Either of you two wanna come? We're just waiting on Ari before we get going." And that's when she walks in. "Well, speak of the devil, and she appears before you."

Miriam grins and nods, "Always an exciting hunt, you know..."

Ari smirks at Skeeve. "The devil? Flattery will get you ... well, everywhere." she grins. "Hi Mina!" she waves as she walks over and decidedly leans on Miri.

Minerva nods. "Let me know if there's anything I can fetch that'll help her. Even if it's just a type of food that's out of season right now." She tilts her head towards Skeeve. "You might be setting yourself up for failure, looking for perfection," she points out, then pauses. "You know, I've never actually had an 'alive' christmas tree. It's always been plastic. I've never gone on a hunt for one before."

Fluttershy says, "They're quite easy to track....." she jokes a little."

Skeeve chuckles a little bit at that, winks in return at Ari. "Well, usually it starts out looking for Perfect and by the time the monsters have finished attacking or the storm blows out or whatever, we usally settle for 'good enough'." He can't help but snicker a little bit at Fluttershy. "Good one."

Miriam grins and puts an arm around Ari's shoulders, then turns toward Mina, "Actually, I suspect he's got a pretty good track record on finding perfection..." She winks, then turns her grin to Fluttershy, nodding, "Exactly!"

Fluttershy says, "My friend Tree-Hugger, um...doesn't really approve of Hearth Warming tree...well, the cutting down of them anyway....."

Minerva blinks. "There's actually a pony named...?" Mina shakes her head. Gah. This world is rediculous at times! "Well, at least the tradition of lighting the tree with candles and decorating it with candy has passed. I can't imagine that being very hygenic when using a real tree."

Fluttershy says, "Yes. Tree hugger...one of my good friends," she smiles, "I know our names don't always sound right to people..."

Skeeve just grins broadly at that, biting back his light laughter. "Yeah, runs a little dangerous with the open flames and all. So, wanna come with?"

Ari kisses Miri's cheek. "Well yeah, he got you." she winks.

Miriam winks at Ari before she blinks, caught up in what was said, "Wait, people used to put... fire. Open *fire* in trees? And thought this was a *good* idea?!?"

Minerva nods! "Yep! Trust me, if you start digging into the legends and traditions around it, Christmas gets -weird-. I mean, in one tradition there's a yule cat who eats naughty kids, but won't eat the kid if the kid got clothes for christmas. It was only fairly recently that ghost stories stopped being a major part of the celebration too."

Ari rolls her eyes a bit. "You want weird? Try being the only elf in the world during the Christmas season. I got bombarded at the mall with kids asking if I could deliver something to Santa.

Fluttershy says, "Oh my, yes...we have a lot of similiar traditions for Hearth's warming...even the Wendigo I was talking about, um...have a lot to do with that..."

Minerva says, "That's adorable, not weird Ari."

Skeeve chuckles lightly, slinging the sled over his back, knocking the bobble on his santa hat free from it, then picking up one of the axes. "Maybe the first time, but I bet it gets old quick. Anyway, shall we get going?"

Miriam nods, "And there I'm with you one hundred and fifty percent. Can you imagine the fanmail the tooth fairy gets?" She makes a face, "Anyway, yes. Let's get, before the elusive tree gets away!"

Minerva coughs. "Though to be fair... as a kid I wouldn't have asked about Santa. I'd have asked about Rivendell." She smiles a bit wryly. "Well, why not? Let's go find this tree of yours."

Ari nods. "Absolutely!" Then she grins at Minerva. "I cried when I found out Rivendell wasn't real."

Fluttershy says, "Um..well..to be honest, there's a godo change Rivendell does exist...um...just not here...."

Miriam nods a little, "Actually, that's a fair point. If the Zelda game really exists somewhere, why not Rivendell?"

Fluttershy says, "Or Ponyville...."

Minerva looks up towards the ceiling. "Because we're no longer in that Age. The elves have all gone West. if we were to find Rivendell now, it would be nought but ruins."

Skeeve pulls his D-hopper out of his pouch, and with a few quick twists, sets the device. "Alright, Miri, grab the hot chocolate if you will, and everybody grab an axe." He glances over at Fluttershy. "You wanna come with?"

Ari starts smiling when they say that Rivendell could exist, then visibly deflates when she says it would be in ruins.

Fluttershy says, "Oh..um...well.....sure...thank you"

Fluttershy says, "But...um..someone from Rivendell could show up here...I don't think time has anything to really do with it...it's all relative...."

Miriam thinks a moment more, "Actually, knowing this place? It's entirely possible everything everywhere exists at every time it's ever existed. This place is really *really* weird like that..."

Ari grabs an axe, but is still pouty.

Miriam grabs up the hot chocolate!

Minerva nods. "True. I always kinda thought though that the point of the story was an alternate history of Earth. That the events of those books lead to today, to Now. That we are all the heirs of Numendor and it is ours to govern wisely and well and take care of things."

Skeeve twirls the D-Hopper in his hand, sets one last dial. "Alright, next stop, the deep forest!" He jams in the button on the end of the device, and the world disappears in purple smoke.

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The Forest of Silence
Dimmed light barely illuminates the quiet forest around you. Neither wind nor animal seems to touch the stillness of the eerie forest about you. Mottled pine needle patterns are brushed across the dark floor, shadows sweeping across the silent landscape in disconcerting shapes. Up ahead, the pattern of the forest trunks seems to be slightly misaligned, almost illusionarily shimmering..
[Exits : (O)ut of the Forest(#9719E) ]
[Things : None ]
_

When the smoke clears, the forest it reveals is quiet, and still. A light blanket of snow carpets the ground, a light dusting of flakes here and there drifting down from the sky. The sounds of the city are entirely gone.

Ari smiles. "Hey... I remember this place! Been a while." She looks around at the snow, marveling for a moment.

Fluttershy flaps her small wings and lifts upwards, looking around, "I don't think I've been in this place yet..." she says quietly, flexs of snow vivid against her pink mane. "It reminds me of the Everfree forest back home....

Minerva coughs at the smoke of dimensional travel, waving her hand to clear it from around her face faster. "Never travelled in a cloud of smoke before, interesting." She tilts her face up to the snow, closing her eyes briefly. "This... is nice."

Miriam smiles quietly, choosing to enjoy the quiet, the snow, and the contrast of the purple smoke against it.

Fluttershy says, "Um...this place seems aware...I'm not sure it's a good idea to cut a tree down here..."

Skeeve drops the sled onto the snow, where it glides in a circle to heel at Skeeve's side, drawn by his unseen servant. RUbbing his hands together, he says, "Nah, it'll be fine. We just have to find a tree the forest isn't attached to, hm?" He grins. "And, by the way, watch out for slimes, okay?" After a moment, he starts off in a random direction, sled following behind him.

Ari blinks. "The.. slimes... oh no.. nonononono... I just remembered why I haven't come back here..." she starts turning around, looking to make sure something either is there or isn't.

Fluttershy says, "Um....slimes?"

Minerva eyes the sled by Skeeve's side. Please tell her that's not a Luggage variant. She shakes her head. What're the odds? "Slimes? No one said anything about slimes. If that happens you're paying my drycleaning bill!" Mina stomps her foot once for emphasis.

Miriam grins and hefts the hot cocoa cask, following gamely along behind Skeeve, "Well at least it's slimes and not dire bears."

Skeeve nods cheerily at that, heading towards where the snow seems to be getting a little bit thicker, as the trees start to get a little smaller and more thinned out. "Yeah, little blobs of acid jello. Ari's got nothing to worry about, but they like to eat just about anything, and they can survive just about anywhere."

Off in the distance, there's the howl of a wolf, accompanied by several others, but Skeeve continues on undaunted.

Fluttershy says, "Oh my...." she's never dealt with that kind of thing before; Wolves, though...well...this Pony has a way with animals...."

Minerva shakes her head. Is she gonna end up with a fur coat of wolf? Mina glances towards Fluttershy. Probably not... "Well, just remember. Trees can always be cut smaller, not so a small tree cut larger." Mina pulls her coat a bit closer around herself, and follows Skeeve.

Ari wrinkles her nose, as she does. "Screw it." she starts climbing a tree, then as the group walks, she stays in the branches, literally leaping from tree to tree. "No poring shall hump the queen's leg today!"

Miriam nods a little, "If slimes are all that's out here, we're getting off relatively easily!" She smiles cheerily, "Should I make with the passing out of cocoa, Skeeve? Some of us aren't exactly dressed for a trek..."

Minerva shrugs. "If it gets too harsh I'll make a sled of ice, and wrap the interior in a shield of warm air." Mina waves a hand in the air. "But I'd rather save my magic in case we do come across something nasty."

Skeeve can't help but laugh cheerily at Ari's climbing antics, and says, "Sure, that sounds like a good idea, Miri. There are mugs in the satchel on the sled." Going ahead to blaze a trail through the snowdrifts for some of the shorter members of the party, he adds, "This is one of those things where I usually know it when I see it. And I'm sure we're gonna run into *something* out of the ordinary. Always do, after all."

Fluttershy says, " Getting a Hearth's warming tree is never such an adventure back home..um...usually...."

Miriam unloads cups for everyone and starts pouring cocoa. She grins at Minerva, "That's exactly why cocoa. It's got endure elements in it, which makes it many kinds of warming, and not at all draining." She winks, then smiles at Fluttershy, "I don't think it is for most people here, either, but most people here aren't us."

Minerva isn't trudging through the snow, mind. She's pulling a legolas and walking on top of the snow crust. No special shoes, just... a tiny trickle of mana to pull this trick off. TOTALLY worth it to keep the snow from getting into her... erm... suede ankle boots with a two inch heel. "Well adventure's more a state of mind than events that happen around you, I've found."

Ari stays on her guard, perching on branch after branch. The wolves? Meh. Wendigo? Bring it. Porings? No way.

Skeeve chortles a little bit at that, as the forest thins out enough to reveal a small cliff face, maybe a fourty foot drop, looking out over a large clearing, a few scattered pine trees here and there. He points with the axe, takes one of the cups from Miriam. "Thanks, Miri. And I think one of those is what we're here for. I have a good feeling!"

The sound of the wolves' howling echoes through the forest again, somewhat louder this time.

Fluttershy accepts the offered cocoa, "Thank you," she says, then, "Oh...my...I think the wolves are getting closer..." she rises up a bit, listening and peering with her large blue eyes.

Miriam passes cups around, and floats one up to Ari as well. She looks over the clearing, then nods, "I think so... Maybe third from the left?" She mostly ignores the wolves other than taking note of the basic direction they're coming from.

Minerva takes the cup of cocoa, and sips. "Please stop taunting Murphy." Ooh, the warmth feels good on her fingers. Mina looks down at the clearing and grins. "Shall I make a slide for us to get down there with?"

Ari looks around trying to see if she can spot any sign of any wolves nearby, just in case. Right. Wolves. Totally not amorous porings.

Skeeve takes another sip of his drink. "Sure, if you wanna flex your muscles, Mina, go for it. Could be a fun sleighride." He grins a little bit, then adds, "I'm sure everything is going to be fine, Fluttershy. No matter what happens, we're going to keep you safe, okay?"

Although partially obscured by the steam rising from a floating cup of hot cocoa, Ari can indeed see, just at the edge of her vision.. not wolves, exactly, but wolf-*like* creatures, black as night against the white of the snow, running through the forest.

Miriam blinks, "Murphy? Who's Murphy, and when did she get here?" She grins and turns to Skeeve and Mina, "Really?!? A real ride on the sled down the giant hill?!?"

Minerva grins, cracks her knuckles, and waves her hand. A wide ramp of, at first horfrost, then solidifying into smooth ice, curved upwards at the edges to help keep people from going over the edges. "Yep! And as it's my magic, it'll be less than a moment's thought to reshape it just enough to make it an easy climb back up if we want. Have fun! Snow should be nice and soft at the bottom." Mina's grin is impish.

Fluttershy says, "Um...just...if they do attack, let me try and talk to them first...I'd rather not hurt them if we absolulety don't have to...."

Miriam grins, "So. Cool!" After a moment, she blinks, "Actually, dual purpose! If we're down there, are they likely to make a forty foot drop worth of a jump just to get after us?"

Ari takes out her PDA, and zooms in on the creatures to get a picture. She hops down out of the tree and walks over to Skeeve, showing him the picture. "I'm sure we'll be fine. I've heard of your... command of animals, Fluttershy. I'm kind of jealous!

Minerva takes a few steps back, then goes for a running jump at the ramp, hitting it belly first and letting momentum and gravity take over. "WHEEEEEEE!"

Miriam takes this moment or five to finish off her cocoa. Ari's cocoa, which has been floating at her elbow since it went to the trees, becomes more insistent, nudging her arm with its handle. Miriam pauses, "Wait, animal command? That sounds like interesting..." Her attention is caught, and she watches Mina sail down the slide, grinning broadly.

Skeeve's sled slides up over towards the edge of the slide, just waiting for someone to get on it. "Sounds like it would come in handy quite a bit, actually." He peers a little bit at the picture that Ari provides him with. "I know those... but I don't remember. Either way, they look pretty nasty... maybe we better be quick about this?"

Minerva stretches out her hands just before hitting the bottom of the ramp to catch herself, doing a handspring to land in snow that's suddenly much thicker than it was when she started down the ramp. Her delighted giggles can be heard up at the top of the cliff. "Come on down, guys!"

Fluttershy says, "Ummm...it's not really a command...it's talking to them...though I do, um...can, use the 'stare' if I really need to, um..but I don't like using it...." she just flies down, not using the ramp."

Ari blinks at the cocoa that she only just notices now because it's tapping her elbow. She takes it and smiles, sipping before heading down the slide herself.
Miriam grins at Skeeve, watching Ari head down the ramp as well. She winks, "Together?"

Skeeve drains his cocoa before sliding onto the back of the sled. The creatures, whatever they are, are still a fair distance off. He grins lopsidedly, holds out a hand to Miri. "Let's go!"

Miriam grins and hops on the sled, gathering up any discarded cups as well as the cocoa cask as she does.

Skeeve kicks off, and with a whoop, Skeeve and Miriam's sled starts careening down the slide at a rate of speed that can clearly only be described as 'far too fast'.

Ari turns and watches Skeeve and Miri, smiling softly at them... then blinks at the sled goes zooming, making sure to bolt out of the way.

Fluttershy is happy she didn't get on! That looks scary! She sips the rest of her cocoa, still being a bit wary, but, not touching the ground she has a nice vantage point.

Miriam whoops with laughter as the sled takes off. She's clearly enjoying this far too much to care about physics or forces.

Minerva, when they get down there, is sitting on a chair of packed snow, leaning back and relaxing. Monsters? Who cares! She's out having fun with an extended family by choice and wedding vows rather than blood, which... is a great way to spend the holidays, ja?

Skeeve shrieks like a maniac, clearly having too much fun, when the sled overshoots one of the gentle curves on the ramp and drives straight into a snowdrift, sending a spray of snow everywhere... not that you can really tell from the landscape, but whatever.

Ari just shakes her head, drinking her cocoa. It's strange how she's used to this.

Miriam's laughter is horribly muffled by the giant snowdrift, but she's obviously not at all distressed.

Fluttershy giggles just a little, floating above the others and polishes off her cocoa.

Skeeve slowly picks his way out of the snowdrift, before spitting out a giant mouthful of snow and reaching in to peel Miriam out of the snow as well. "Haha, that was *way* too much fun. Okay, let's go get those trees before we get eaten by wolves, huh?"

Minerva shakes her head. "Why am I not surprised that Skeeve plus sled equals Calvin and Hobbes?" She's smiling though. "Well, we can find a hill much closer to civilization to sled on later once the tree's secured, how about that?"

Miriam emerges from the snowdrift managing to look artfully mussed and like a child in a Rockwell painting all-grown-up. She's beaming, and she nods, "So much fun, Mina, that was the best ramp *ever,* thank you!" She giggles a little, "Wait, does that make me a giant stuffed tiger?"

Minerva tilts her head, grinning. "I don't know, are you the smart and competent part of the relationship?" she asks teasingly.

Ari keeps sipping her cocoa, looking around at the trees to see if there's a suitable one nearby.

Miriam laughs outright, "Maybe? Depends on your definitions."

There is in fact a small grove of trees in the clearing, perhaps five of them, all of them around seven or eight feet tall.

Skeeve chortles just a little bit at that. "Well, it's definitely not me, so you're probably right." Still with the axe in hand, he wades through the snow over to where Ari's inspecting the trees. "Well? Got a favourite?"

Ari shakes her head. "Um, not really." she says quietly. "I don't actually know what I'm looking for."

Minerva walks over to one of the trees, and places the palm of her hand against the bark. "Well, not this one at least. There's a squirel nest. Wouldn't want to bring that into your living room just to have them warm up enough to wake up out of hibernation."

Miriam grins and shakes her head, "There you have it, then." She looks out at the trees, still obviously thrilled with her sleigh ride, "We could get any one of them, actually, if we put it in the corner where the bookcase is - you know, where it opens up onto the study?"

Fluttershy floats around like a pretty balloon, happy at least that squirrels won't be made homeless. The poor things have it rough enough after all.

Skeeve shrugs a little bit at that. "Nothing specific - just whatever grabs you, you know? Not too bald on one side, mostly straight, not too many dead branches." Passing by the one with the squirrel's nest in it, he prods it a few times to see if there's anything living in it.

It's at roughly this point that there's another piercing howl, this one much closer - and six shadowy wolf-like figures appear, looking out over the edge of the cliff. They cut a very intimidating figure, jet black save for the mask of bone on their faces and the spikes that jut out from their bodies.

Skeeve swallows once, hefting the axe. "Maybe we should hurry faster."

Miriam blinks, "Well, that's unsettling." She picks a tree - sure enough, the third from the left - and sets about inspecting it.

Ari narrows her eyes, then turns. "This, I do know how to handle. You guys get the tree." She reaches into her bag and gets her combat knives out. "I'll keep an eye on the Twilight rejects over here."

Minerva reaches to her back, and pulls out from along her spine a yard long pole. She taps it to the ground, and it unfolds into a large spear. Very minimalist, really. "Awww crap on a stick. I think I RECOGNISE those. Fluttershy, go higher, these things can JUMP." The head of her spear she wraps sharp ice around. "You and me, Ari?"

Fluttershy says, "Oh...my....you people realy take tree hunting seriously..." she looks at Ari oddly at the comment, what does twilight Sparkle rejecying anything have to do with it? O.o "No! Wait!" she actually flies closer and lands, "We're sory you're so hungry," she says in her way with animals, 'We mean no hard and really aren't good to eat. Once we get a sacred tree, we'll leave you in peace.""

Almost as one, the creatures of Grimm turn to look at Fluttershy with eyes that glow red with malevolence. After a silent, tense (for those on the ground, anyway) second, they howl again and leap, arcing thirty or fourty feet into the air to hurtle down towards the waiting forms of Ari and Minerva.

Skeeve hefts his axe, murmurs a quick spell, and the blade starts to glow with a white shine. "Looks good to me, Miri!" With quick, powerful strokes, he starts chopping into the trunk of the tree, the sound of metal thwacking into wood echoing through the clearing.

Fluttershy says, "Oh...my..please stop!" she implores the wolves, "These people are very dangerous! You have cubs and families to worry about!"

Minerva yells, "FLUTTERSHY GET BACK! LITERAL SOULLESS CREATURES OF DESTRUCTION HERE!!!!" She would have lept up after Fluttershy, but then... the grimm leave the pony alone and come diving at her and Ari. Mina braces herself, dropping down to one knee.

"Hold it Mina, hold it... DUG HAUT!" Her glowing fist slams into the ground, and large, pointy spears erupt from the ground, right where the grimm are supposed to land. The land shakes from the force of it being reshaped into weapons.

Miriam rolls up her sleeves, figuratively speaking. She nods to Skeeve, "I'm glad!" she says, with the cheer starting to fade from her voice. She makes an odd little gesture, and the air around both Mina and Ari shimmers briefly, then clears as her shield forms.

Ari, being Ari, runs towards the Grimms with knives out, ready to pounce at any that miss the spikes Mina made.

The lead Grimm crushes straight onto one of the spikes chest first, immediately starting to bubble and melt into blackness, and another's leg is clipped by one of the spears, causing it to yelp and throw itself to one side, snapping through several more. The other Grimms' leaps fall somewhat short of the spike field, and they rush forwards to press the attack, claws slashing towards elf and mage, sparking off of Miriam's barriers.

Skeeve is swinging that axe for all he's worth, and whatever he's done to it, he seems to be making some pretty significant progress - almost halfway done! Still swinging away, he yells out, "Do either of you want a tree? Mina, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy jumps into the air, she's not sure WHAT kind of wolves they are, but they seemed to listen to her at least...before going after the others...maybe that's what's triggering their agression? More...agression? She doesn't know, BUT, she has another trick...she flies around and behind the battle-girls and tries using the STARE on the incoming wolf-creatures. ((((o.o)))) "Stop right now! GO HOME!" she says with no little authority in her voice.

Minerva yells back, "I'm good!" Still crouching, the snow rises up behind her feet in a wave, and Mina surfs it, using the snow and ice to propel herself forward, spear tip fixed on target at the nearest Grimm. If it hits, the spear will be ripped upwards through the Grimm's body and spun around. "An ice user... on a snowy plane. Do you hate humanity that much, to loose all wit and sensibility?"

Miriam keeps her focus. Calm, cool, reinforcing. She keeps an eye on Ari, trusting Mina to be able to reinforce the shielding faster than she can anyway, and knowing Ari's penchant for hand-to-hand.

Ari finds the closest one to her that's still up and moves to kick its legs out from under it, knives still in hand. She says something rather angrily... in Russian. Which honestly makes it sound even angrier.

Mina's spear rips through one of the Grimm, wrenching it up and away from the ground, even as Ari kicks the legs out from another one and it sprawls into the snow, easily visible even in the dim light due to the contrast. The other two stop in the face of Fluttershy's imposing shouting and staring, and after another few moments, start to growl and slowly, slowly advance towards her.

Skeeve cries out in a bellowing voice, "TIMBER!" And with one more mighty swing crashes the axe right through what's left of the tree trunk, tipping it over onto the sled. Tossing the axe onto the sled after it, he hurriedly fishes out his D-Hopper. "Alright, ladies, time to go home! Back it up over here and I'll get us out of here!"

Fluttershy pours it on! "I really don't want you to get hurt! GO AWAY! GO HOME!" she reiterates, holding her ground; well, holding her stance in the air anyway. She's stared down dragons and a cocktarice, a Minotaur....she's not gonna back down from these! Besides, it's really for thier own good!

Minerva thrusts an arm up, and a wall of ice snaps upward between Fluttershy and the grimms. "Fluttershy, fall back!" Why, of all times, now? "If we run, they'll be left safe and alone!" She pulls her spear free from the Grimm she was fighting, unwilling to fall back until Fluttershy reaches safety first. She's fine. She can fight like this ALLLLL day. It's okay if she gets left behind. The pegasus, however...

Miriam curses, loudly and ridiculously rudely, as she realizes what she's done. Keeping her shielding over Ari in place and as much as she can keep on Mina from the other side, she steps backward toward Skeeve, throwing everything she can up at Fluttershy as well, the air around the pegasus shimmering for a moment, then clearing at roughly the same time as the ice wall springs into being.

Fluttershy meeps, the ice wall breaking her focus...she decides she'll take Mina at her word and flies back towards Skeeve and the sled...

Ari tackles and tries to keep the one she tripped down, but isn't hurting it. She doesn't want Fluttershy to see that! She too isn't going anywhere until her friend is safe.

Minerva turns and runs after Fluttershy, more watching the other's retreat than running for her own safety. "Ari, get clear, time to bug out!" Rather than dive at Skeeve, she goes to sit on the exposed trunk of the fallen tree. Mostly figuring Skeeve won't leave the tree behind really.

The Grimm that's hurled off of Mina's spear crashes into the one who's leg got clipped, shoving them back into the spikes, where both of them start to melt. The Grimm that Ari's tackled struggles with her with an almost absurdly incredible power, almost able to match the elven woman's raw strength. Spikes and protrusions glance off of the shield around her. The last two bound upwards, landing on top of the ice wall with a crunch...

...just in time for one of them to be blasted backwards by a bright bolt of lightning. Wiping a bit of charged mana off of his fingertips, he calls out, "Ari, time to go!"

Ari gets up and gives the Grimm a good kick for extra measure before bolting towards the sled, leaping to land on it and probably on someone.

Miriam continues backing away, though when Ari bolts for the sled, she disappears, suddenly appearing with a pop behind Skeeve's right shoulder.

Minerva watches over the back of the sled, small darts of ice forming in an arc above her head as she prepares ranged attacks, JUUUUST in case she needs to guard their retreat. "Grimms, here..." she growls. "Why us? Filled with happy feelings, riding high on the holiday spirit... that's the opposite of what's supposed to draw them in."

Skeeve tangles one foot in the rope attached to the front of the sled, leans back against Miriam, and reaches out to take one of Fluttershy's hooves. As the last Grimm on top of the ice wall leaps for them, claws outstretched, Skeeve squeezes his eyes shut, and slams the D-Hopper's button against his chest. The world disappears in a burst of purple smoke.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plowsehold: Main Floor
The ground floor of the house is essentially open concept, with only a half-wall toward the corner of the L shape to divide the floor into its two use-specific spaces. Directly to the right of the front door is a closet, and the house immediately opens up into a large living room on the right, with a couch, a few easy chairs, and a coffee table. The far wall is covered, floor to ceiling, with bookshelves, complete with library ladder for reaching the uppermost shelves. The floors, doors, and shelves are a heavy, berry-stained oak, giving the impression that the house is actually considerably older than it might seem to be.

To the right is the large plate glass window, opening onto the front yard, allowing the sun to shine on the dark oak dining room table and chairs. The dining area is furnished with heavy and sturdy furniture that is, possibly, older than the residents of the house. There are large paintings on the walls that depict various literary scenes, from Arthur removing the sword from the stone, to Bilbo facing Smaug, and several unfamiliar pieces, the primary subjects being fae.

At the back half of the L, ahead and slightly off to the left, is the kitchen. It continues in the deep red oak, and is filled with appliances built to match the cabinets. There is an island for food preparation, with a limestone surface to brighten the room a bit. There is a black and brass candelabra chandelier above the island, and stools are lined along the back of the island to make a breakfast bar. There is another door to the far end of the kitchen space leading to a small bathroom.

At the inner corner of the L is a carpeted spiral staircase that leads up to the second floor. In the floor at the middle of the spiral of stairs is a heavy trap door, complete with brass ring, which presumably leads to a basement. The remainder of the back wall is split between a large sliding glass door, with heavy, deep purple, curtains and several more bookcases and accompanying library ladder.

_

Skeeve enters, with Ari, Miriam, Minerva, and Fluttershy walking along next to him.
When the smoke clears, Skeeve takes a seat on the floor, looking remarkably relieved. "Well, *That* was bracing!"

Fluttershy says, "Oh..my...they're much like the Wendigos I was talking about..." she blinks as she's suddenly someplace else...O.o"

Miriam looks around, taking a head count. After a moment, she nods, "Bracing, indeed. Shall I break out the drinks?"

Ari managed to land bent over on the back of the sled. "Yup... that was fun.." she coughs before kind of sliding backwards onto her rear on the floor.

Minerva falls off the tree and onto the carpet in the middle of purple smoke, coughing once more. "Well, it was definitely that." She grins, and collapses her spear once more, sliding it back down the neck of her coat. "Yeah, they are at that Fluttershy. Grimm, here..." Mina reaches up to run a hand back through her hair. "Whoda thunk?"

Skeeve picks himself up off the ground, chuckling wearily. "Probably my fault. Finely honed paranoia and all that, not so good when dealing with things that eat negative emotions." He doffs his hat and cloak, hanging them up by the door. "Anyway, welcome to our home, and sure, drinks sound nice, Miri. You okay, Allie?"

Miriam nods and heads for the kitchen. She starts rummaging in the fridge, then calls, "Mina, what do you drink? We've got a lot of stuff in here, but I don't know what you like..."

Fluttershy says, "Back home, it was the Wendigo who caused Pony kind to unite, Earth Ponies, Pegasi and Unicorns didn't get along at first; but when the Wendigo attacked, trying to freeze everything, it was the joining of friendship the drove them away.....and that's why we celebrate Hearth's Warming, it's a celebration of friendship..."

Ari nods a little. "Fine love. Just a bit dazed. And chilly." she hehs.

Minerva asks hopefully, "I know it's a bit weird, but... grapefruit juice cut with sprite? Grapefruit juice can be a bit thick on it's own." And after some casting extra calories would be nice. Not neccisary right now, as she had recently had a big meal, but, nice.

Skeeve takes a moment to crank the thermostat up a few notches before offering a hand down to help Ari up. "You were pretty impressive out there - those things, if I recall correctly, are supposed to be really strong."

Miriam pauses in her digging, then resumes. As she comes out of the fridge, she's got entirely too many bottles, and as she heads for the living room, a tumbler pulls itself from the cabinet and follows along behind. She passes an apple cider to Fluttershy, a beer to Ari, a strawberry soda to Skeeve, and the bottles of both grapefruit juice and sprite to Mina, along with the tumbler. She keeps a bottle of cider for herself, but disappears for a moment or two, returning with a blanket, which she drops over Ari's shoulders.

Ari takes Skeeves hand and stands up, kissing him on the cheek, then hugs Miri after getting her beer. "Thanks." she smiles.

Minerva takes her bottles with a sheepish grin, and goes to mixing her drink in the tumbler before taking a long chug, then pouring the rest of the bottles into the cup. "Thanks for inviting me along, that was fun," her voice is full of good natured cheer before looking to Fluttershy. "Thanks, that does provide a bit of context as to what happened the other day."

Skeeve shoots Ari a wink, takes his bottle from Miriam, gives her a lopsided grin. "Why thank you." Cracking his own open, he adds, "It was fun, wasn't it? In a 'terrified for your life' sort of way." Taking a sip, he adds, "So apparently there's a whole *lot* of weird stuff wandering through the forests out there."

Miriam nods, shooting Ari a wink before cracking open her cider, "Somehow, I'm not at all surprised. Though after sled ride of amazingness, I'm surprised we got 'feed on negativity' beasties."

Fluttershy says, "Thank you very much, you're home is very nice," she smiles, making herself comfortable. She nods to Minerva, "We're a little concerened that with all the strife and anger, if the Wendigo got loose here, it would be...very bad...they'd have so much to feed off of..."

Ari takes a sip of her beer, blinks, and finally gets back into 'not fighting for your life' headspace. "Yeah, hi." she smiles a little. "What are we talking about?"

Minerva grins. "That was fun, wasn't it? We should find a hill in town that I can set up a run like that for us to play all day on." She looks back towards Fluttershy. "I think you're underestimating people. Spread the information around so when the wendigo show up, people know to calm their hearts."

Skeeve drops onto the couch, kicks his feet up. He'll worry about setting the tree up a little later. "Um, sledding, I think. That and negativity monsters."

Fluttershy says, "Um...it doesn't quite work that way, I'm afraid...."

Minerva tilts her head. "Doesn't it?"

Miriam grins and nods, "Oh, we should, that would be wonderful!" She plunks herself down on the couch as well, "Still one of the least catastrophic tree events ever, though."

Fluttershy says, "People have to keep happiness in thier hearts all the time....not just when they're worried about the repercussions."

Ari takes her spot on the couch as well. "Trust me, Fluttershy, that's easier said than done."
Fluttershy says, "Oh, I know...people get angry at so much so often...it'd be really hard to stop the Wendigo if they got a foot-hold here. Maybe that's why we ponies have appeared here, to help stop that? I don't know...."

Skeeve sips his drink lightly, stretches his arms across both Ari and Miriam's shoulders. "Well, it's my experience that there are reasons for everything, even if we don't have the tools to understand what those are."

Miriam nods and curls up against Skeeve's side, sipping her cider, "That's entirely too true, actually. And yes, much more easily said than done. Very much more."

Minerva remains comfortably sprawled on the floor, leaning back against the sled. She takes another sip of her drink. "Fluttershy, sometimes just knowing a threat exists is enough to drive it back. But to cut out our negativity... that'd be just as bad as depression in its own way. Humanity cannot sustain that. I don't think that particular problem's why you're here."

Ari snuggles into Skeeve's other side, the chill finally fading. "Personally I think I'm here to cause problems." she chuckles.

Fluttershy says, "Hmmm...and, um, sometimes knowing a threat exists makes it worse...." she sips her cider. "I'm just speculating, though...there's a lot that's going on after all, and even Twilight doesn't seem to know, um, just what it is...."

Skeeve grins cheerily at that. "Well, you sure solved some tonight, Ari, that's for sure." Giggling a little - he's somewhat punch drunk, it seems - he adds to the conversation at large, "'Secrets man was not meant to know' and all that. Familiar with that concept."

Miriam nods a little, then smiles lopsidedly, "Existential tonight, huh?"

Minerva smirks. "So, if they're secrets ~man~ were not meant to know... does that mean it's okay for Ari, Miri, and I to know them?"

Fluttershy says, "or a Pony?" she giggles"

Ari snickers. "I like the way you think, Mina."

Skeeve rolls his eyes a little bit at that, with a smile. "Hey, if you want to dig into the cthulhu-esque horrors, be my guest. Just don't come crying to me when the thing with tentacles for everything comes looking for you."

Fluttershy meeps a little.

Miriam pauses, "Depending on your definition of man, Fluttershy and I get to know either way. Otherwise, it depends on whether you're defining 'man' as male or as human. Plus, if we're *meant* to know it, it's not going to hurt us. Just the folks that aren't meant to know." she nods sagely.

Fluttershy says, "Oh...um..please excuse me....I should be getting back home, it's quite late and I don't want the other tro worry...

Minerva nods. "Have a good evening, Fluttershy." She takes another sip of her drink.
Miriam smiles, "Get some rest, Fluttershy, it's late - and say hello to Dash for me, too, okay?"

Fluttershy says, "I will! God night all!"

Skeeve waves lightly in Fluttershy's direction. "Have a good night. Safe travels!"

Fluttershy goes home.

|}}

2016-08-25 - Panic at the Kraken

2016-08-26T05:45:51Z

Skeeve: Created page with "{{Logsummary| Title = Panic at the Kraken |Summary = The Kraken is the hottest new club in NT. But why would assassins want to attack it? |Who = Alice Arisaka, A..."

{{Logsummary|
Title = Panic at the Kraken
|Summary = The Kraken is the hottest new club in NT. But why would assassins want to attack it?
|Who = [[Alice Arisaka]], [[Ari]], [[Gonfei]], [[Skeeve]], [[Tifa]]
|Date = August 25, 2016
|Where = The Kraken Nightclub
|Log=

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The Kraken Nightclub

You step into a rather large area that looks like it may have been a warehouse at some point, but who knows? Now though, it is a rather packed night club with pumping music: everything from pop to heavy industrial. On the right hand wall is a large LED screen covering pretty much the entire span that shows abstract and some actual footage that fits the theme of the song playing at the time. In the wall on the opposite side of the room from the entrance is the stage, set up for live performances occasionally, but is usually not in use. To the left of the stage, up a short spiral staircase, is the DJ booth. In the center of the room is the large circular dance floor. It's a bit different, as above it rests a series of shower heads that is literally making it rain on the dance floor, soaking the rather happy patrons. As dancers exit the floor however, they step over a series of runes and immediately become dry again, as if by magic! To the left of the front door is bar that looks like a sine wave, and each part of the wave has its own bartender to tend to the thirsty masses. Catching your eye above the bar is a rather large figure of the mythical Kraken! Its eyes seem to glow red, and its tentacles swoop down to wrap around the bar with two hovering above the bar a bit, and attached to those two are the handles for the beer taps. No matter where you look though, a series of holographic fish of various types swim around and through things in time to different parts of the music.

Ari is sitting on the edge of the stage, tuning a rather red electric guitar. Every once in a while she plucks a string, and it can be heard through all the speakers. Since the place is closed at the moment, it's still quiet otherwise.

Skeeve uses the super secret back door entrance! Which is to say, he simply teleports into the room in a burst of smoke, with a covered platter in one hand.

Ari blinks and smiles as she sees the puff of smoke. Like she doesn't know who that is. "Hey handsome." she chuckles, standing to put the guitar back on its stand.

Skeeve smiles in return, heading over towards the stage, idly twirling the covered platter in one hand. "Hey there, hot stuff... hard at work, I see?"

Ari grins, hopping back down to sit on the edge of the stage again. "When am I not? Come on." she chuckles. "Okay, I'll bite, what's on the platter?"

Skeeve smiles cheerily. "I brought you lunch. I figured you'd forget to eat if I didn't."

Ari chuckles. "You know me too well, love. I did in fact forget to eat."

Skeeve reaches out to take Ari's hand, with a smile. "C'mon. So, getting set up to get some live music in here, huh?" He'll lead her up to the bar.

Ari squeezes his hand and follows along. "Yeah. I'm trying to get hopefully some local talent in at least, and maybe if I get the guts I'll get up there and play myself." she wrinkles her nose at that. "Been years since I've done that, though."

Skeeve smiles a little broader at that, as he leads Ari up to the bar to one of the stools. "I think I'd like to see that... but yeah, perhaps some practice might be in order." Deftly, he slides the platter he was balancing on one hand in front of her, pops off the cover. "General Tso's cashew tofu. Enjoy!" And there's a lot of it, noodles and vegetables piled high.

Ari grins. "You DO love me!" she chuckles. "And I get plenty of practice, I just.. it's been a while since I was on stage, is all."

Gonfei taps on the door once before opening it and stepping in. "Hello, folks. Hope I'm not too early today!" He looks over to Skeeve and Ari. "...Or interrupting?"

Skeeve smiles a little bit at that, resuming spinning the dome lid on one finger. "Well, I for one would like to see that." As Gonfei opens the door, his head snaps up and around to look at him, then he glances curiously at Ari. "You're the boss, is he interrupting?"

Ari waves Gonfei in. "Come on in! Skeeve just brought me lunch, 'cause I usually forget to eat." she chuckles, starting to dig in on the plate. Ari adds "Yeah, one day I will. Somehow I managed to get stage fright, which I've never had before.

Gonfei chuckles and walks on up to the bar, hands in his pockets. "Stage fright? What, you're thinking on going on up to the stage up there?" He motions with his head towards the stage.

Skeeve nods cheerily at that. "Yeah, seems like! I know I for one am looking forwards to it." He leans in to give Ari a quick kiss on top of the head. "I like your dress, by the way. The colour suits you."

Ari blushes a bit. "It's been a while, I don't know. I'd like to, but... eh." she sighs. "And I just kind of threw this on today. Wasn't feeling the whole dress up thing."

Gonfei steps up to the bar and sits down on a stool. "Well, what is it you do? I missed the beginning of this conversation, of course." He chuckles and looks off to the stage again momentarily. "I used to be able to play a mean fiddle. I don't think that's what you'd want for this place, though."

Skeeve leans back against the bar, lightly resting a hand on Ari's shoulder, and he smiles. "Yeah, somehow I think that fiddle music, while definitely lively, quite fits the aesthetic here."

Ari smirks. "That depends on the music. There's lots of dance music with violin featured. As for me, I sing, of course do electronic music, but play a bunch of guitars, drums, violin, cello, keyboard, and a bunch of other stuff. Ask Skeeve, my home studio is covered in instruments."

Skeeve nods a little bit at that. "She's got tons of 'em in there, most of which I can't even identify."

Gonfei shakes his head. "I don't even own one anymore, actually. Well, I probably have one in one of my stashes somewhere in my home universe, but... yeah, anyway..." He pauses, and tilts his head slightly with a raised eyebrow. "Is there anything you /don't/ do, Ari?"

Ari thinks about that a moment. "Sleep?"

Gonfei just looks at Ari for a moment, then turns to look at Skeeve. "You know sleep spells, right?"

Skeeve replies wryly at that. "I do. And yes, I have had to use them on occasion." He smiles cheerily down at Ari, then kisses her on the forehead.

Ari mutters something in, randomly, Russian, then keeps eating her lunch.

Skeeve chuckles a little bit at that. He has no idea what the hell she just said, of course, but he kind of gets the gist of it. "Anyway, how's it going, Gonfei?"

Gonfei laughs again and stands up, walking around to behind the bar, setting himself a glass of ice and tap water. "So anything new happening tonight? Or just the unexpected as usual?"

Ari grins. "The usual not a clue." she chuckles. "Still more practice for the crazy that will be the weekend."

Gonfei frowns slightly, then shrugs. "Ehhh... Annoyed at myself for some stupid things. Other than that, I guess I'm okay." He winces slightly in anticipation of the weekend.

Skeeve nods a little bit at that. "Well, stupid comes to us all in time. Trust me, if anyone knows that I do." He hops up to sit on the bar. "And yeah, this weekend is going to be crazy for you guys, huh."

Ari nods. "Not even kidding. We were packed on weeknights. Imagine when people don't have to get up for work in the morning?"

Gonfei sighs and nods. "Yeah, Skeeve... And no matter how old and wise you may become... The stupid always shows up again." He nods to Ari. "I think I'll probably need to take actual breaks when that hits..."

Skeeve does look mildly concerned at that. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Ari blinks at Gonfei. "You haven't been taking breaks? Bad! you need to take at least two fifteen minute breaks if nothing else."

Gonfei laughs. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I just get so caught up in the press I forget sometimes." He shakes his head, looking over at the bartending stations.

Skeeve smiles just a little bit. "Seems like overwork is pretty common around here."

Ari hehs. "And now I get to add making Christmas presents on top of that. It's only a few months away!"

Gonfei blinks. "Christmas? Oh, jeeze, I forgot about that." He frowns slightly. "Not that I've had to really worry about it since the 2040's, mind you, so it can be forgiven, right?" He laughs, that apparently being funny to him.

Skeeve can't help but sweatdrop a little bit at that. "You've got months, Ari, months. It's gonna be okay."

Ari sighs. "Yeah, but think of it this way: I'm here six nights a week at least. I still have to practice music and psionics, work out, design and sew, design and build, not to mention keep up with my programming and find a corp to topple 'cause I haven't done it in over a decade and I'm going through withdrawl!

Skeeve is notably keeping silent on this one, just raising his eyebrows lightly, interested in hearing Ari's response to that.

Ari blinks, genuinely confused. "I did! I cut out assassinations, hired a housekeeper, and I don't babysit Raven's kids anymore!"

Gonfei sighs and hangs his head. "When you try to fit so much into life, you tend to end up missing it."

Skeeve reaches out to lightly rub one of Ari's shoulders. "He's right, you know."

Ari wrinkles her nose a bit. It's cute, though. "Well, it's how I keep my life... fulfilled." she says quietly. "Make it mean something."

Gonfei says, "If you leave no room for something unexpected to happen... Then the good unexpected will pass you by, while the bad will be made worse."

Skeeve rubs Ari's shoulder again, lightly, before putting the cover back on the tray in front of her. He's sitting on the bar next to her, near Gonfei. Concentrating a moment, he murmurs a few words of magic, and seemingly 'compresses' the tray in between his palms.

Ari shakes her head. "Bad unexpected happens whether or not you're ready for it. As for the good unexpected... I think I've pretty much exhausted any of that in my life. I think I'm good." she shrugs, hopping off the bar stool to go open the doors.

Gonfei sighs and shakes his head, then straightens up as he sees Ari heading off to open up. Professional face is now on!

Skeeve watches Ari go for a few moments, expression falling, just a little bit. He takes a deep breath himself, then looks down. "I guess I'm kind of underdressed, huh."

Gonfei raises an eyebrow at Skeeve. "Eh, I'd still serve you a drink even if you weren't, well, you."

Skeeve blinks a few times at that, entirely unsure how to take that. As the doors open, he hops off the bar - it's unseemly, after all. "I probably shouldn't ask, but I have to know - what does that mean?"

Gonfei says, "I mean if a normal customer came in dressed like you I wouldn't have an issue with serving them an ordered drink? And that, since you're the boyfriend of the boss, I'd probably give you leeway for looking scruffy?"

Skeeve chuckles a little bit at that, rubbing his chin lightly at that. "Oh, well, yeah, I guess that makes sense. But seriously, you don't need to give me any special treatment or anything. If I'm being annoying, tell me to screw off or whatever. Just. You know, professionally."

Gonfei nods sagely to Skeeve. "Yeeah, come to think of it, Ari probably would prefer I give you a harder time than a normal customer." He grins after saying that.

Skeeve is leaning up against the bar, chatting cheerily with Gonfei, while Ari does club-openy things. He grins a little bit. "Yeah, actually, I think you're right. It'd cheer her up considerably, as long as you weren't too mean about it."

Officer Arisaka steps inside the club, brushing a few bangs aside with one hand. She's not even bothering to try not to stand out, as she already does. Hello!? Cop!! Not that she's on duty, or anything, at the moment. Time to see what this new place is about!

Skeeve grins a little bit at that, folding his arms across his chest casually. "I'll have a strawberry s-oda." There's only just a slight hesitation that might give away that's not what he meant to ask in the first place. Of course, the officer's entrance into the club does not go unnoticed, and he can't help but raise his eyebrow a little bit at that.

Ari finishes her rounds, and hops behind the bar to get herself a bottle of water. "So, what were you boys talking about?" she smiles.

Skeeve returns Ari's smile with a dazzling one of his own, still clearly amused. "Oh, just about how Gonfei's not going to give me any special treatment or anything like that."

Ari laughs a little. "That's a first." she says as she serves some customers. "Some of the folks here think you're the boss!"

Gonfei nods to Ari with a grin as he gets the strawberry soda for Skeeve. "In fact, we've decided I should give him less slack than a regular patron."

Skeeve frowns, just a little bit at that, ducking out of the way to let a couple get their drinks. "I hope you set them straight on that, this is your baby. Plus, I don't want anyone coming to me when something goes wrong, 'cause I don't know what the hell I'm doing when it comes to clubs." He rolls his eyes, just a little, taking the drink from Gonfei. "Thanks."

Ari notes the drink that Skeeve, got, heads over, leans over the bar and kisses him on the cheek. Then she scoots back where she was. "Hey, I have no control over how you treat customers." she grins at Gonfei.

Gonfei nods to Ari again. "Exactly. This is why we needed to have the discussion."

Skeeve blinks a few times, surprised, as Ari leans over and kisses him. He's certainly not going to admit that he doesn't know why, though, so he just shoots her a smile, sips his drink and looks thoughtful as he turns back to stare out over the slowly growing crowd.

Gonfei looks over the crowd as well. "I think the initial burst of public interest may be over... This might be a more normal night for the future." He pauses, taking a sip of his water. "Maybe."

Ari chuckles. "It's still early yet. Tomorrow's a whole other story, though." she smiles. "It's going to be awesome!"

Skeeve grins a little bit at that. "I suspect, that if that's the case, your stress levels will thank you, and your tip jar will not."

Gonfei nods to Ari. "Oh... yeah. Tomarrow we're going to see... chaos, I suspect. It's going to be our first real test of how well things got." He turns to look at Skeeve. "Do NOT buy a round for everyone tomarrow."

Officer Arisaka plants her hands on her hips, taking a deep breath, and looks around her. Nice and spacious! First, though, she's taking note of emergency exits. A girl needs to know where those always are in a pinch. Her attention is claimed by the mythical beast grasping the bar. Wow. Smiling to herself, she gives her hair a toss back, and marvels at the fish holograms swimming through the air. Wow! She looks like a kid in a wonderland, now, if the look on her face is any indication. Er, this cop doesn't look the least bit serious. Maybe she's a cosplayer? No, really, at least Skeeve might know that she's the real deal. Turning her attention back to the kraken and its glowy eyes, she steps towards the bar.

Ari is behind the bar, which isn't too common since she's the owner, but why not? She takes a cloth and wipes down the bar as the cop approaches. "Officer! How can I help you?" she smiles.

Skeeve looks totally innocent, taking a sip of his drink. "I just wanted to make sure that everyone was having a good time! You can hardly blame me for wanting to do my part, right?" Grinning lightly, he offers an amiable wave over to the Officer Arisaka. "Good evening."

Gonfei points a finger at Skeeve. "You damn near gave me a heart attack when the crowd rushed the bar! We don't need me bursting into flames on the job here, Skeeve." He glances at the police officer, but if there's an issue, there's no one better to deal with it than Ari.

Officer Arisaka eyes Gonfei briefly as she approaches the bar. Okay, not him so much as his hair. That's a pretty neat style. Nothing she'd ever like to try for herself, but neat nonetheless. She hopes it's not related to bursting into flames, anyway. Smiling politely to Ari and Skeeve, she claims a seat one seat down from the latter. "Good evening. I would like a Bloody Mary."

Ari smiles. "Sure thing!" she starts making the drink. "And yes dear, definitely don't need a stampede, but it was fun at the time." she laughs a bit.

Skeeve still grins a little bit, sliding his empty glass over the bar, and replies, "Well, that's fair enough. I suppose I'll have to restrain my ebullient generosity to nights when you're a little less busy."

Gonfei shakes his head. "That or just tell people one at a time instead of announcing it to the entire crowd. But I suppose that wouldn't be as fun, would it?" He raises an eyebrow with a grin.

Ari chuckles. "Or you know, not at all. Can't have people expecting it."

Skeeve rolls his eyes again, smiling. "Oh, alright, I'll behave myself."

Gonfei nods to Skeeve. "Good. It's much nicer to have the patrons come one or a gaggle at a time, rather than one mad rush."

Ari laughs. "Exactly." she looks at Skeeve. "You? Behave? Believe that when I see it."

Skeeve looks vaguely put upon at that. "It *might* happen... you never know."

Gonfei peers at Skeeve. "Hrrrm. I'm thinking.... not betting odds."

Ari winks at Skeeve, placing the drink in front of the officer. "Maybe miracles do happen?"

Skeeve just shakes his head a little, chuckling lightly. "Well, you know, maybe. Can I get another one? Don't want to take up bar space if I'm not a paying customer, after all."

Gonfei chuckles again as he fills a fresh glass with the strawberry soda and slides it over. "You are being a barfly again. Although, since your girlfriend is behind the bar..." He pauses, then smirks. "Get out of the way so you stop distracting her."

Ari chuckles. "I don't have to be, I just like to be, is all."

Skeeve rolls his eyes a little bit at that. "Well, maybe I am just a barfly, huh?" He eyes the dance floor with no small amount of trepidation. "Besides, I don't want to inflict myself on the dance floor... no one needs that."

Officer Arisaka is silent for the most part. She's busied herself watching the holofishies in wonder and had started searching for koi when all of a sudden her drink is ready! "Oh! Thank you," she smiles to Ari, glancing between her and who she remembered as Officer Plowse. It was such a long time ago for her. Well, anyway, connection made! She tries not to smirk at Skeeve's dance floor comment and is marginally successful. Siiiip.

Gonfei sighs overdramatically and shakes his head. "Well, you're not really blocking the other patrons yet, I suppose. You can stay."

Ari smiles at the officer with a "You're welcome!" before she chuckles a little at Skeeve. "You are so lying about your dance skills, don't even." she grins.

Skeeve replies to Gonfei wryly, "Thanks. And yeah, I can dance... you know, like, ballroom dancing, in a ballroom. But nobody needs to see me get up there and go all spastic. Trust me, your bottom line appreciates that I stay right here." He shakes his head a little bit at that, smiling lightly. "How've you been, Alice? It's been a long time."

Gonfei nods sagely. "Sounds about my skill level, as well. All right, all right, you get a pass."

Officer Arisaka is watching the totally not real aquatic life again while she casually enjoys her Mary, wondering if she should have asked if it could be made with the real thing, so to speak. This is NeoTokyo, after all. It didn't feel appropriate, though, especially when she's still in uniform. She almost doesn't notice as Skeeve calls her name, which snaps her out of it, and she looks surprised for a moment before she smiles a little ashamedly. "Yes, yes it has," she nods her head slowly, blinking and reaching to straighten her glasses. There. "It has been... a number of years. I am surprised that you remembered me." Well, she is in AMP, after all, as the patch on the uniform so conspicuously announces.

Ari lets Gonfei handle the bar as she grabs some bottles of water. Time to hydrate her managers, bouncer and the DJ. Ari, awaaay!

Skeeve watches Ari go, apparently a little distracted for a moment, but he's quickly snapped back to the conversation. "Hm? Oh, right. Well, you go into battle with someone, you tend to remember them, right? This is Gonfei, Gonfei, this is Alice, with the NTPD. I'm assuming still with the NTPD?" I mean, she's still in uniform, so it's a good bet, right?

Gonfei offers Alice a wave as he's introduced. "Hello, Alice. Nice to meet you."

Ari is still handing out water bottles, almost on her way back to the bar.

Tifa arrives for work~ She hmms as she steps in, smiling at the few customers she recognizes and others that greet her. At least one invites her to stay on this side of the counter tonight, but she waves him off as she moves to her spot behind it instead. She stretches a bit, and then gets to work, not yet introduced to those present tonight "Hi Skeeve, Gonfei~"

Officer Arisaka only barely managed to place Skeeve among her memories from over a decade ago for her. However long it has been, she doesn't look like she's aged a day, but then if she's with the AMP spooks... "That is true," she smiles to Skeeve, glad to have come across another familiar face from times past. "Pleased to meet you," she nods politely to Gonfei. Turning back to Skeeve, she nods to him, as well, "Yes. Still serving and protecting." Okay, so she isn't merely in a costume. Taking another long sip of her Bloody Mary, she glances toward's Tifa's entrance.

Gonfei smiles to Tifa as she arrives behind the bar. "Evening, Tifa. How've the last couple of days been for you?"

Skeeve offers Tifa a casual, if distracted wave, still watching Ari weave her way through the crowds whilst doing her rounds. He says something quietly, not audible over the beat of the music. A little louder, he adds, "Well, that's good to hear. We need *someone* reliable looking out for us, and it sure wasn't gonna be me."

Tifa smiles to GOnfei "It's been quite fine, not too much to report, which is good no?"

Ari whips around for a moment, looking for.. something, but then blinks, smirks, and gets back to work, making her way back to the bar.

Officer Arisaka tries not to make a face at Skeeve, or roll her eyes, and is marginally successful. Saving throw versus smirk failed, though, and she just shakes her head, too. She doesn't say that she's currently off-duty, but as she's still in uniform, she'd only have herself to blame if she unexpectedly had to get back to work, so to speak. Then, before she knows it, her straw is a-slurping; her drink is done.

Gonfei looks up, thinking about it for a moment, and nods. "Uneventful can be very relaxing for a few days, I suppose. Or for a year or twelve." He chuckles lightly, then raises an eyebrow as Ari makes her way back. "Hrm. Why do I get the feeling it's about to be eventful?"

Skeeve grins a little bit at that, leaning over towards Gonfei, although he's still watching Ari as well. "Well, it is NeoTokyo. Eventful is par for the course."

Gonfei says, "Don't worry, Skeeve. I'm a side character. Nothing ever really seems to happen directly with me. Oh, wait, you still have to worry, don't you?"

Ari is about halfway back to the bar when a customer cuts her off, and he strikes up a conversation, it seems.

Tifa shrugs her shoulders, not sure what's going to happen, she doesn't know some of the actors in this play after all. But she's giong to take care of the customers at least!

Officer Arisaka doesn't quite know what to make of what Gonfei just said, if it was meant to be taken at face value. Side character? What would that make her, she wonders. She does enjoy being in the background, for the most part. Looking at her empty glass, she decides to set it down before she starts looking around for a camera, then feels a little silly in doing so.

Skeeve blinks a few times at that, looking perplexed. "Did... you just call me a protagonist?" He shakes his head a little bit, chortling lightly.

There's a camera! Wait, that's a security camera.

Gonfei shrugs to Skeeve. "Well, if not protagonist, I'd say at least main cast?" Gonfei glances at Ari. "In the story of this place... She's probably the protagonist."

Ari is obviously saying no repeatedly to the guy talking to her about something, then he does something incredibly stupid. He grabs her arm and tries to drag her off. Oh no, that doesn't fly. She easily twists out of his grip, and he advances again. She simply grabs his shoulders and kicks him well, let's just say the nearby guys cringe. After the kick comes a clean uppercut, and the guy lands sprawled on the floor. Ari easily (and surprisingly calmly) picks him up by the belt, carries him over to the door, and literally throws him out. The crowd cheers!

Gonfei says, "Yyyyyyyyyyup. She's the protagonist."

Tifa whistles "Impressive boss~

Skeeve winces a little bit at that kick, but then cups his hand to his mouth and calls out, "Atta girl!" He sits back with a grin at that. "Yeah, you're definitely right. She's the protagonist."

Gonfei looks back to Skeeve. "And as the protagonist's romantic interest, that means, what... that you're going to get kidnapped?"

Ari gives a couple of the patrons a high-five as she starts walking towards the bar, smug smile on her face.

Officer Arisaka, deciding it was silly to look for a camera, only finding part of the surveillance system, turns her attention back to the exchange between Skeeve and Gonfei. That is, until Gonfei prompts her to look and catch the exchange between Ari and a soon to be evicted customer from the corner of her eye. Oh no, this just won't do, and as she watches the first part of the exchange, she grips her nightstick, starting to get up out of her seat. She stops as Ari scores a clean KO and merely watches as the bad customer is unceremoniously discarded. Okay, she likes this girl, now. Grinning, she claps while the crowd cheers as she settles back down. Oh, wait. Her ear twitches in Gonfei's direction and the mention of kidnappings. Plowse? Kidnapped? Hah, that will be the day. She instead then nods to Ari approvingly as she approaches.

Skeeve laughs outright at that, almost tipping backwards off his barstool at that. "Sure, I suppose I can pencil in getting abducted by ninjas for some time around eleven o'clock." Statistically, it's bound to happen to someone in town by then, so it might as well be him. He grins a little bit as Ari approaches. "I see you took out the trash while you were gone."

Ari bows a little as she reaches the bar. "Thank you, thank you. My first ejection of the new place. Brings back memories." she chuckles. "Felt pretty good!"

Tifa grins "That was a good show too.

Gonfei nods in agreement with Tifa. "Well, we're officially a night club now. We've had to bounce someone."

Officer Arisaka was poised to reach over and keep Skeeve from tipping over, but all seems well. Sliding her empty glass away from her a few inches, she again wonders if they serve vampires here, and if she should ask. There's bloody Mary, and then there's Bloody Mary.

Skeeve chuckles a little bit at that, grinning. "Is it a rite of passage in these sorts of places? Bad luck if you don't have to throw some sort of asshole out?"

Gonfei shrugs. "More like it's an inevitability."

Quietly, amidst the influx of patrons, several dark figures slip in through the doors, vanishing amongst the press of people.

Ari shrugs. "Sadly, he was sober. Glad he picked me to pick on first. Save some poor innocent chick from it, you know?"

Tifa chuckles "What did he say anyway? Was he crass? I think he might be the one that tried to stop me from getting to work earlier.

Officer Arisaka nods slowly in silent agreement with Ari. Also saves her from having to arrest him and haul him in. Saves her from work when she is off-dut... Pausing, she suddenly realizes just what a bad influence Rio is being! No! That is no way to thi- wait. Her eyes drawn to the entrance, she spies several dark figures. She decides to make nothing of it, for now. Maybe it's just her imagination trying to get her back to wor- see, there goes the little devil on her shoulder again, the one in skimpy lingerie who looks too much like the deputy chief. She reaches for her glass, only to remember that it was empty. Okay, time to perk up and try to get a barkeep's attention.

Ari doesn't actually notice the dark figures, but shudders at Tifa. "Something about his tongue being better than any tentacle in this place. Creep."

Tifa shakes her head "Yeah, definitely a creep.

Gonfei recoils slightly, lowering one eyebrow. "Wow. It amazes me that some guys actually think that will ever work."

Skeeve can't help but bust out laughing at that. "What? No, you have got to be kidding me. That's a *terrible* line. Who would *ever* think that would work?" He reaches for his glass, intent on finishing it off.

Officer Arisaka grimaces at Ari's recollection. Yeah, total creep. Not funny or hot at all. She's really glad Ari got rid of him, now. She'd have to actually be professional about it herself, otherwise! She tries not to snicker at Gonfei's comment, too.

Ari snickers. "Desperate douchebags." she smiles, turning and leaning her back against the bar, looking over the crowd.

Tifa spotted the few shadows that slipped in though. She keeps an eye on them without really looking too attentive about it, chatting with the othres "You get plenty of those as a barmaid too."

Gonfei nods with a frown. "I can't imagine how bad it must get... I suppose I'm lucky to be a guy in that case." While he noticed the dark figures, he doesn't really seem conerned with them. Who said ethereal shadows can't have fun dancing in a club? This is Neo-Tokyo, afterall.

The figures, when they can be seen amidst the crowd, do appear to be sticking to the shadows, but moving in such a way as to cover all exits from the bar area. Suddenly, there's a glint of steel, as one of them flicks a shuriken towards the group at the bar!

Skeeve nods decisively, as though he's an expert on such matters. "Take it from me, guys *definitely* have it a lot easier when it comes to this sort of thing." His glass, halfway from his mouth to the bar, shatters as the shuriken crashes through it, sending strawberry soda everywhere, and Skeeve himself jerks away, looking out into the crowd wildly. "Oh, for fuck's sake, I wasn't *serious*!"

Gonfei winces at first as the glass shatters, though he recovers fairly quickly. His vest suddenly extends down his left arm and past his hand into a katar like blade as he vaults the bar and takes to a low stance, looking around for the threat.

Tifa quickly ducks another of the projectiles, and uses that momentum to jump straight over the counter, lying an elegant flying kick at one of the nearest shadowed people that came closer. Those heavy boots hit pretty hard.

Ari blinks, then dives behind the bar, coming up with a katana. It's Ari. Of *course* she has sharp pointy objects hidden in the place. She jumps up on the bar, unsheathing it, and tossing the sheath back behind her, jumping off the bar to hunt down one of the bastards.

Officer Arisaka's eye catches a telltale glint, and her hand is on her nightstick- but too late to intercept! Dropping off her seat into a low crouch, her eyes quickly scan the vicinity, back to where she opening projectile originated from, and she reaches for her radio, only to realize that she left it in the car because off-duty! Wait, she didn't use to do that before... she's going to have to have a serious talk with Rio about personal responsibility and how she is being a bad influence! Oh, this is going to get her into trouble, no doubt.

Some of the patrons, the ones nearer to the bar, start to shriek and scatter, although it seems that no one on the dance floor or up by the DJ booth have even noticed anything's gone wrong. Tifa's kick catches one of the figures, cloaked all in black, right in the face before it can even draw its blade, and it sprawls to the ground. Five more ninja practically melt out of the shadows and the crowd, charging the bar with long knives drawn. "You will *die*, wizard scum!"

Skeeve's hand flashes down to his bracer, and as he stands, with a crackle of light he draws... ...not his sword, but a bouquet of roses, brandishing them for a moment before he realizes what's happened. "What? *Damn*!" Hurriedly, he throws himself backwards over the bar just in time for Ari to intercept the blade aimed at his throat with a clash of steel on steel.

Tifa says, "What? Wizards?" I think there's some misinformation here, but she won't let them approach the bar either. She quickly moves forward as the five charge forward, taking a ready stance. And then it's like she blinks out of existance, for a brief second. Instead she seems to literally appear from the side of the leftmost attacker, elbow crashing into it's chin and trying to send him flying into the one closest to him into a domino effect."

The back of Gonfei's vest hardens and turns red as the five make their presense known far too much. He leaps forward to meet one of the five, his left hand drawn back for a strike, when an explosion of fire erupts behind him, propelling him forward. There's no outcry of effort, no demanded surrender... there's barely any expression on his face at all, except perhaps contempt, as the katar blade makes its way towards one of the ninjas' heart.

Ari narrows her eyes at the sword-weilding ninja and advances on him, pushing on his sword with her own, clearly not looking amused. "One chance." she practically growls. "Get out before I take your head and hang it from my DJ booth as a trophy."

Officer Arisaka's job may have just become all that easier now that the assailants, the visible ones at least, make themselves known! Gritting her teeth at Skeeve's close call, and on account of her proximity, she instinctively rolled away. Seeing that Ari, who's well proven herself, is handling that one, she turns her attention to the other five, following Tifa's lead to dart and likewise blink in and out at the ninja lines' other flank to swing her body and whack the rightmost's leg from under them at the knee. Must not go lethal. Must not go lethal. Think of the paperwork, Alice.

There's a few sparks as Ari physically forces the ninja back, and it grins, the darkness veiling its face parting a little to reveal rows on rows of far too sharp teeth. "We decline your gracious offer." Twisting, it slides its own blade out of the way, trying to get Ari to lodge her blade in the floor so it can backfist her in the face unopposed.

Tifa's strike clearly catches her target off-guard, and it does indeed go flying - halfway through the air to his nearest buddy, there's a burst of scarlet smoke - and empty clothes drape across it, as a streak of scarlet light makes a beeline for the door. The distracted ninja drags his ally's tabi out of his face just in time for Gonfei to slam into him, running the ninja through in one deft movement and carrying on forwards, unslowed, as though he didn't hit anything at all.

There's a sharp crack as Officer Arisaka's nightstick crashes into the kneecap of her chosen target, and it cries out in unexpected pain, crashing to the floor, and lashing out with its blade at her legs in retaliation. One of the other ninjas, halfway through vaulting over the bar, seems to distort a little before vanishing entirely from sight, while the last one does try to slip past Ari to flip over the bar after Skeeve.

Skeeve scrambles backwards, crabwalking away from the ninja in a hurry, the point of its blade barely missing and sinking into the floor as he scrambles to get his hands up. "Repellatur!" There's a flash of light, and a blast of force lashes out point blank.

Ari is taken aback by the teeth. Definitely not expected, and they're what end up throwing her off. While her sword doesn't get lodged, she still does stagger and the fist meets her face, sending her now unbalanced self backwards on the floor.

What looked like black leather before is quickly spreading over Gonfei's upper body, hardening into armor and turning blood red. He spins to take stock of the remaining situation and, with a low growl, raises his right hand into the air. Above it, a fire starts to burn brightly. Very brightly. He knows enough of ninja to know that they often rely on the cover of darkness, so he's going to take that cover away.

Tifa watches as the one she knocks out scurry away, and she turns toward the others still around. When she's in this state, she's more intimidating than 'pretty', that serious face is completly different than when she's bartending. She catches Ari going down on the corner of her eye, and she quicjly zips over to body slam the assailant from behind, hopefully to catch him offguard and away from Ari.

Officer Arisaka, using her momentum to roll behind and past her target, having expected some kind of retaliation, brings her nightstick down to slam the arm wielding blade meant for her squarely into the floor at the forearm and to attempt to immobilize. Fast, too fast, and unnaturally strong, like a large boulder just came down on that arm and not what looks like but a teenage girl. Her other hand is already brandishing her sidearm and pointing at her attacker to unload a stun bolt into them. She had at least brought her gun. Forgetting her radio was bad enough, but her gun? Yeah, no. Maya would never let her live that one down. She needs to neutralize this one ASAP before the other still in the fight hurt anyone.

Ari is still kind of dazed as she tries to stand up, and there's a fair bit of blood coming out of her nose. In fact, when she takes her hand away, her nose really doesn't look right... but she's still out of the fight for now.

The fire spreading through the air is enough to catch the attention of the rest of the patrons in the club, and there's some more general panic, although at the sight of the flames a fair contingent start to huddle away, but still underneath the water falling amidst the dance floor. Thankfully, there don't seem to be any more of them than those that have already shown themselves, and that streak of light shoots right out the door and into the night.

The ninja standing over Ari levels its blade down at her, still with that evil grin with far too many teeth. "If you want to live, call of your do-" It's cut off when Tifa slams into it from behind, smashing it into the bar, its own sword tumbling uselessly to the side.

Arisaka's nightstick lashes down with unnatural force, bending the ninja's arm in a third place, and there's an inhuman, high pitched squeal, like the sound a boiling teakettle makes, right up until the stun bolt catches it in the chest, and it falls back to the ground, silent and twitching.

The last ninja is struck full on in the chest by Skeeve's spell, sent catapulting back up and over the bar, where it lands in a crouch. Taking stock of the scene in a single glance, it shouts in a high-pitched, squeaky voice, "The hell with this!" Melting into the form of a black housecat, it takes off for the door, sprinting at clearly augmented speeds.

Skeeve slaps a hand on the bar, pulling himself up to a barely standing position, casting his gaze wildly about to try and figure out what the hell's going on. "Ari!? Ari! Are you okay?" Seeing her stagger to her feet, dazed, he reaches out to her, to try and pull her away from the fracas, maybe even over the bar.

Ari really has no choice but to get pulled out of the way, muttering something along the lines of "I think he bwoke my nothe..."

Gonfei lowers his right hand and and points with it at the cat streaking for the door... Then blinks, shaking his head and letting the fire die out as he looks around at the panicking people in the club. He curses under his breath and takes stock of Skeeve and his coworkers, clearly releived to see everyone is still moving. He pauses as he sees the blood around Ari, however, and rushes over to make sure she's okay. He stops, however, as Skeeve pulls her away. After looking around once again, he looks down at the bloodied blade on his left hand and curses under his breath again. The armor fades and shrinks into his vest again, though there's still the extension down into a long sleeve whose cuff is still bloodied.

Tifa phews as the rest flee. She moves over to Ari though, kneeling down "Time for a bit of magic, I think." She fishes one of her materias in her sash, holding it in her hand as she puts a hand on Ari's shoulder, transferining some healing energies to her "Cure."

Officer Arisaka curses under her breath as a streak of light appears to escape off the corner of her eye. Her suspect for the moment confirmed down, the last one's shout draws her attention, and her aim to it. Nevermind that it's a cat when it's in her sights. "FREEZE!" she calls out, giving it that split second chance to comply before she fires, a split second later, as it doesn't look like it's going to comply. Leading her target, compensating for its speed, she unloads another stun bolt. Let's see if she's at least close to being as good a shot as Maya after all these years.

There's another brief shimmer, and the corpse of the ninja that Gonfei killed - as well as the blood on the bartender's sleeve - both shimmer, distort, and vanish as well. The one struck by Tifa, sprawled over the bar, shifts briefly, spits once. "This is not over!" It vanishes in a burst of scarlet smoke, leaving a sharp tooth and some blood behind in its wake.

The 'cat' doesn't even seem to hear Officer Arisaka call out, but it sure feels the stun bolt. Letting out an ear-splitting howl audible over even the music, it tumbles as its feet are blasted out from under it, and it careens out the door, before managing to get its feet underneath it, scampering off at a somewhat lower speed.

The ninja behind the officer, the one on the ground that was thought to be stunned, snatches its blade out of its ruined hand, and with lightning reflexes plunges it... into its own chest. It lets out a choked gurgle, then slumps back to the ground, unmoving.

Skeeve, as the rest of the ninjas flee the scene, slumps against the bar, letting out a deep sigh. He clambers over the bar to check on Ari, even though Tifa's already casting a healing spell on her. "That's gonna sting for a while, I think... thanks for saving my life back there." He shoots her a crooked grin at that.

Gonfei frowns down at his sleeve for a moment before it retracts back into being just a vest. "Well... that came out faster than I would have throught," he mumbles then looks about to confirm the absense of his target entirely. He looks over at the other group, again confirming that everyone seems to be at least mostly okay, then turns back to the crowd.... And bows.

Ari attempts to do her patented nose wrinkle as Tifa heals her, but cringes. "It tingleth." she says, but the bleeding has stopped (she's still covered in blood, though), and the swelling is going down. She gives Skeeve a thumbs up instead of trying to talk again.

Tifa chuckles "Don't wriggle your nose too much even if tingles, you don't want it to heal crooked, don't you?" She seems back to her own kind self at least, after that bout of fighting. "We should tie up the ones we knocked out, we got questions, don't we?"

Officer Arisaka has one eye twitch in a wince. She can handle the loud music, even with her sensitive hearing, but that howl was a little more painful. She's more surprised, though, by the fact that the... thing is still moving! By then it's out of range, and before she can engage in pursuit, she's instead having her attention redirected back towards the one she'd just broken. In her defense, she had acted instantly to try and take down an attempted escapee, so couldn't have kicked this other one's weapon away without missing the opportunity. Besides, she didn't expect them to recover that soon! "Shimatta..." she hisses, glaring at the suicidee as she drops back on one knee. This is going to be a very long night. First things first! Now that the threats seem to be gone, she calls out, looking around her, "Is everyone alright? Is anyone injured?" Her attention is drawn towards Tifa and Skeeve tending to Ari, and she knows a healing spell when she sees one, so decides they've got that covered. As for any knocked out assailants, she redirects her attention toward any that she can cuff tonight! Not to mention that if she has at least one she can bring in, she's not keeping at least one hand off them. Not. Getting. Away. ....she does need to go back to her cruiser to get her radio, though. Then take statements while backup arrives, and think of how she is going to explain this, how was it that she didn't call in earlier. Backup might have been able to stop those getting away. Uuuuugh.

Unfortunately enough, there don't seem to be any left over to handcuff - one teleported away, two fled out the door, two vanished into thin air, and the last is lying dead next to Officer Arisaka. The crowd, on the other hand, seeing that the fight is over, cheer with relief, and that's when more phones come out, cameras flashing. Many of the patrons go back to enjoying the party - it's NeoTokyo, after all, they're used to this sort of thing.

Still in a bowing position, Gonfei sighs. He's not sure how well he sold this having been a show or not, but he'll take the reaction of the crowd as a good thing either way. He now walks fully over to the rest of the staff. "Hey, uh... Is everyone okay?"

Skeeve looks out over the floor in front of the bar somewhat glumly. "Tie up who? There's none left." He rubs the back of his head simultaneously as he rubs Ari's back. "Ah, Ari took a knock to the face, and I hit my head on something jumping over the bar, but I think everyone else is alright."

Ari sighs in relief as her nose is pretty healed up. She smiles at Tifa. "Thanks. Appreciate it." She leans back into Skeeve's hand a bit.

Tifa hms "I thought I knocked one against the counter. Guess he wasn't knocked out.

Officer Arisaka reaches to check for a pulse anyway, to the one that offed itself. Taking upon more of a grim frown as Skeeve confirms that there are no live suspects to take into custody tonight, for now, she slowly rises, looking around her again for any sign of injury, and finding none, she nods to Skeeve in passing as she heads at a quick pace to the exit. "I will be right back. I am calling for backup," she says to him, then to everyone else in general, "Don't touch the body or any of their weapons unless you want to be charged with tampering with evidence!" Yeah, time to go call this in. Hopefully the stiff won't also somehow pull a disappearing act on her, too. Back on duty it is, then.

Gonfei nods slowly as he sees everyone is okay. "All right... I'm going to go back to the bar then," he says, then silently move back to his station. He's a lot quieter than usual now, and is a bit slower to smile to the patrons... but he puts his all into the work for the rest of the night.

Skeeve wraps his arms around Ari's shoulders. "Seriously, I really appreciate that, Ari. You saved my bacon back there." He shakes his head a little bit, nodding to Arisaka as she heads past. "Really would love to know just what the hell's going on, though."

Tifa hms "They said 'wizards', I wonder if they misunderstood what the holograms are about, or maybe the whole sand and water repelling stuff you placed around."

Ari chuckles. "What else was I going to do? Sit there and watch you get skewered?" She points to Skeeve. "He's the wizard in question." She then looks down at the blood on her skin and dress. "Ugh, I need a shower."

Officer Arisaka is back inside the building within moments, in the middle of an exchange with her radio. "Negative. No remaining injuries. We have one suspect down. Going to need the coroner for this one. Suicide." She turns away briefly. "Copy that. Over." Sighing, she steels herself for she bad news she has to deliver, really wishing Rio or Yuji were here right now, as she walks back to the bar, "Guys, I'm sorry, but we're going to have to put up a crime scene here." She glances back at the body. "Which means," she straightens, "you will have to close until forensics has come and done what they need to do." She quickly bows, deeply, "I am very sorry." She doesn't look like she likes this at all. After all, this place has only recently opened, and something like this happens? Bad for business! But then, this is NeoTokyo, still.

Skeeve scratches the back of his head, chuckling weakly and wincing when he rubs over the bump on his head. "Yeah... usually I have to actually piss someone off before they send assassins after me." He sighs a little bit at the officer's news. "Well, good news is, at least forensics here is really quick? I bet you can just move operations out to the patio for now, be back inside in like an hour."

From outside, there's the squeal of tires as a newsvan screeches to a halt, and the newscrew gets out and starts filming, obviously eager to get the scoop.

Ari looks at Skeeve. "I don't have a patio. Yet. That was a maybe in the future. So, yeah, closing. New dress is blood stained. You were almost kebab'd. What else can go wrong?" She hears a ding, and gets out her PDA. "... my sister's engaged." She quietly puts her PDA in her bag, grabs a bottle of whatever happens to be the closest to her, and pops the top.

Tifa tilts her head at that "... Is that, bad news?

Skeeve winces a little bit on that. The timing really, really, could have been better on that. Squeezing Ari's shoulder lightly, Skeeve calls out, voice amplified by magic, "Okay, everybody, we're closed for the night! Go home, tell your friends how awesome this was, come on back tomorrow!"

Ari looks at Tifa. "It's to my ex-husband, who managed to get her pregnant on the first date not even two weeks ago." And whatever it is she's holding, which happens to be some sort of vodka, starts getting chugged.

Tifa doesn't seem to know the entire story here "Err... are you angry about it?

Officer Arisaka bows again! "I am so sorry!" then nods to Skeeve's addition, "Yes, it should not take very long. You can reopen as soon as they have vacated the premises." Well, at least she's familiar with that part of the procedure, given how long she had been gone (not that anyone should know she was in MU as non-cop civvie for more than 10 years). The telltale squeal of tires, the kind that can only come from a newsvan of all things, brings forth a mildly horrified look in her face. Where. Is. Rio. At. A. Time. Like. This!? Breathe, Alice. Just start taking statements from the witnesses. She can start with the owners! Ari and Skeeve. Question about assassins, possible motives for an attack, recent encounters that might be related. She will proceed to try to blend into the backgound taking statements, notes, and dealing with her police cohorts and whatever questions they will have. Then, when she gets back to Policetown, which is inevibably her next destination, oh goddess why the paperwork.

Officer Arisaka also does pay her tab at some point before she finally has to leave.

People start to stream out the doors, chattering excitedly about the events of the evening, and as Alice starts taking statements, Skeeve interjects. "Ari's clearly in shock, so I'm going to take her home, alright? If you want the surveillance footage, here's Raven Von Tilsen's number, she has access."

Ari shakes her head. "Not angry, no." She goes back to the bottle. Sadly it would take more than this to get her drunk, though.

Tifa doesn't really know what's going on... but she chooses to give Ari a hug from behind, arms around the elf's upper chest.

Skeeve squeezes Ari's shoulder again. "C'mon, sweetheart, let's get us home and cleaned up, huh? It's been a rough night."

Ari hugs Tifa's arms around her, then gets up, nodding. "Yeah, that sounds good."

Skeeve fishes his D-Hopper out of his pouch, and scoops Ari towards him in a quick hug. "Try and have a good night, okay, Tifa? Thanks for the help back there."

Tifa nods "I'll take care of the place here, don't worry." SHe phews a bit as she looks at the cleaning job, but hey, no customers to server means she gotta keep busy. "You two relax.

Ari nods a bit. "Thanks, Tifa. I appreciate it." And more of the bottle goes down.

Skeeve hits the button, and both Ari and Skeeve disappear in a burst of purple smoke.

=============================== Neo-Tokyo Times ===============================
Message: 1/8 Posted Author
Panic at the Kraken Thu Aug 25 Staff_Reporter
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clubgoers were shocked Thursday night at the Kraken Nightclub when ninja assassins seemingly targeted some of the patrons. They were driven off, however, thanks to the combined efforts of the club's owner, Ari Icara, her bartending team, and one Officer Alice Arisaka, of the NTPD.

(There's a picture, obviously taken from a bystander's cell phone, of Tifa and Gonfei both rushing a black-clad ninja, Ari crossing katana with another, Alice striking one in the arm with her nightstick, and Skeeve falling backwards over the bar with a bouquet of flowers in his hand)

The only casualty in the fight was one of the assailants, and at least three more fled the scene; amongst the victims, there were only two injured. Police currently have no suspects in custody; anyone with any information regarding this incident are encouraged to approach police.

For NTChannel 4, this is Vicki Vale reporting.
==============================================================================

|}}

2016-08-17 - Fun with Magical Theory!

2016-08-18T03:38:37Z

Skeeve: Created page with "{{Logsummary| Title = Fun with Magical Theory |Summary = Where do magic nerds go to meet and mingle? Why, the same place as everyone else, of course. |Who = Ari, [..."

{{Logsummary|
Title = Fun with Magical Theory
|Summary = Where do magic nerds go to meet and mingle? Why, the same place as everyone else, of course.
|Who = [[Ari]], [[Azusa]], [[Skeeve]], [[Zelan]]
|Date = August 17, 2016.
|Where = The Usual Restaurant
|Log=

Skeeve is sitting at a table not too far from the bar, a small pair of spectacles perched on his nose, and appears to be reading through some kind of law book. There's another heavy-bound tome, really stereotypical magic stuff, on the table in front of him, entitled 'Faire Folke Customes and Lawes', and all the way at the corner of the table is a forgotten sandwich.

The door opens, and, with a yawn, Zelan enters. The red-head makes her way towards the bar without really looking around her surroundings, and takes a seat. She momentarily lays her head down on the bar top, though this is rather breif as she sits back up again and orders a cup of coffee from the bartender. With that done, she turns around to get a look at the people out in the restaurant, a fairly bored look on her face. She tilts her head as she spots the man reading what appears to be law books. "'Faire Folke'? 'Lawes'?" She pronounces 'lawes' more like 'laywes' as she tries to sound the word out quietly.

Skeeve, although he does often get quite absorbed in his reading, is fairly distractable at the moment, and there are a few almost sure-fire ways to catch his attention. Zelan has touched on just about all of them. Chuckling lightly to himself, he sets the book he's reading down - it appears to be a copy of some local statutes - and offers a wave over to Zelan. "Good afternoon."

Zelan waves tiredly as her coffee arrives. "Oh... sorry, don't mind me. Just... a long day trying to get something to work when I just... don't have the information I need to do it. Trying to figure the way things work in this place from scratch can be frustrating... So I'm a bit loopy, I suppose."

Skeeve nods sympathetically a few times at that, taking the spectacles off of his nose. "Trust me when I say I know *exactly* how you feel some days. I'm Skeeve, Skeeve Plowse. It's nice to meet you."

Zelan's heard of him! "That stuff I've been trying to figure out is how all the magic here operates!" She flicks her eyes about oddly for a split second. "I was told you might be able to help me out with that."

Skeeve has never seen anyone's eyes light up quite that way, and he looks a little taken aback, if somewhat pleased, by Zelan's reaction. "I see my reputation precedes me... and for the better this time. I do know a fair bit about magic, yeah..." He gestures lightly, and one of the chairs at his table slides out, and he moves the books away from that side of the table. "Please, feel free to join me if you'd like. What are you working on?"

Zelan takes the invitation to take a seat at the table, bringing her coffee with her. "Well..." she says as she pulls out her cell phone. "I've been hired on as a... well, I suppose as a one woman design and build team. My specialties in my home universe were in the field of utilizing both magic as well as conventional technologies, typically in a military contractor role.. Oh, do forgive me. I am Zelan Darkflower, former head of Design Team Petal of Magus Spaceworks. Currently working under Raven von Tilsen in a more or less freelance setting. My first goal, however, is to update my current sensor suite-" she taps her cell phone "-with the full array of magics that occur here. I keep getting error messages as it is, due to the amount of magic that doesn't seem to exist where I'm from."

Skeeve blinks a few times at that, trying to take in the enormity of the problem that Zelan has just presented. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Zelan, you know, I think Raven's mentioned you once or twice..." he says absently, his mind already whirring with the possibilities. "So... essentially... you're looking to catalogue every possible extant system of magic? That's one hell of a herculean task. You might be better off looking for commonalities and then adding in exceptions when and where they pop up."
The wizard fishes a spiral bound notebook out of his stack of books, plucks a pen literally out of nowhere, and says, "Why don't you tell me a little bit about how magic works where you're from? Just the broad strokes."

Zelan nods to Skeeve as she takes a sip of her coffee. "Well, yes, that was more or less what I was thinking as well... Raven's mentioned me to you? And forgot that she suggested I find you for this purpose?" She sighs, shaking her head. "Well, at any rate... For the most part, magic in my universe works through a process many teachers liken to, well, baking. You have six primary ingredients, but it's the quantities and the methods used to prepare them that cause the different things to happen. For instance..." She makes some quick motions of her hand, and the image of a fighter craft appears over her palm. "An illusion like this... Just light? No... There's a significant amount of shadow, as well as traces of wind, fire, and water. Were I to add earth in just the right way, I could make the same illusion tactile." She closes her hand and the image vanishes. "This is the primary method of spellcasting used in my universe. There are a couple of other ways of teaching magic, but I've still been able to analyze the work and found that the underlying principles are the same, if the exact methods aren't quite. I'm still able to analyze it using the same methods... But here, I feel like there's dozens of unknown elements."

Skeeve scribbles down a few hasty notes, nodding a few times. "So, an elemental based system, then. Thank god it's one of the sane ones - you can always tell when a universe's magical system was intelligently designed, because they're invariably this mish-mash of unconnected elements that are supposed to be a coherent system somehow."
Chuckling lightly, he takes a sip of his water. "So, I'm guessing then that your scanner here analyzes the levels of those six elements present in a spell, and extrapolates effect and power from known principle? Alright, then, question two: where do these elements come from? How do you draw on your power?"

Zelan nods to Skeeve. "Exactly, an elemental based system using Fire, Earth, Water, Light, Air, and Shadow." She then nods to Skeeve's deduction. "More or less, yes. There's more t it than just the elements, of course, but the sensors primarily detect those levels." The last question, however, gets a frown from Zelan. "Honestly? No one has figured out just where it comes from. I suppose if we did, we'd call it 'the so-and-so effect' and stop referring to it as magic. Or are you talking about Laylines?"

Skeeve waggles the pen a little bit. "I might be talking about force lines, or laylines, not sure yet. I mean where does it come from on a local level. When you cast that illusion of the fighter, you said it was primarily light and shadow, with traces of fire, water and air. Where'd you get those elements from?"

At some point during the conversation, a lone figure must have slipped inside the restaurant with nary a sound. Nevermind the dark sunglasses, the woman's hair makes her stick out like a sore thumb no matter where she goes. Plucking said sunglasses by one hinge, slowly pulls them off, her eyes narrowed as they scan the place from her own place by the entrance. Obscured from view by a gaggle of entering patrons as she folds up her shades and tucks one of its arms into a jacket pocket, to emerge wearing her usual specs. That done, Azusa suddenly finds herself at a loss, undecided as to where she would like to sit. She's haunted the bar several times by now, but she doesn't care to be seen sitting alone at a table or booth. Hrm, self conscious. She taps a finger to her chin impatiently, frowning at her own indecision. It would have been easier if she'd broght a sister or a niece along. Maybe she should have asked Ayika if she felt up to an outing. That girl needs a holiday, she thinks.

Zelan nods. "Like I said... Laylines... this place seems to be covered with them. I mean, with your own metabolism you can generate the energy, but it can really be exhausting if you don't have a layline to draw from nearby, as well. Finding convergences of laylines is actually a part of how we get... nevermind, I'm getting ahead of myself there. But there's always the nexus of both Light and Fire lines in any system's star, bodies of water usually have a water line flowing through them, areas of high tectonic activity tend to be crawling with fire and earth lines, a jet stream is typically a planet's strongest air line... but those are just the predictable ones." She frowns. "Magic is... Not quite the science that engineering is. There's far too much we don't understand about how things work. We just know it does." The platinum hair by the door does manage to catch her attention, however, and she turns to look in that direction. With a flickering of her eyes to confirm, she waves a hand to see if she can get Azusa's attention.

Skeeve nods a few times at that, making a few more notes, idly chewing on the end of his pen - it's not the first time, either. "Well, this definitely - and fortunately - sounds pretty compatible with a lot of magical theory out there. Mana flows from the astral plane, and its resonance is determined by the material echo that helps generate it - as you say, fire and light for a star, water for an ocean, etcetera."
He grins a little bit, adds, "One of the nice things about magic, at least around here, is the conservation of detail. A lot of times I'll find that magical systems from two completely unconnected universes are nonetheless operating on pretty much identical principles." As Zelan waves over towards Azusa, he asks, "Friend of yours?"

Azusa is not too distracted by her own thoughts and indecision to not notice that somebody seems to be waving at her, and she recognizes that head of red hair right away. Her sudden wide smile indicative that her attention has been thereby claimed, she is then seen making her way over towards the two magic users comparing notes. "Hello, dear," she tilts her head as she regards Zelan pleasantly, "Fancy meeting you here." Skeeve, without the hat, though, she has a little more trouble recognizing. "I hope I am not interrupting."

Zelan sighs in releif, relaxing her shoulders visually. "Good... I was getting to the point where I was fearing the systems were just... completely incompatable." As Skeeve asks her about Azusa, Zelan gets a slightly pensive look on her face. "I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. We only met once." She smiles and waves again as Azusa clearly recognizes her and approaches. "Interrupting? All you've done is walk up, Miss Kurihara. We're discussing magic theory, for the most part, as I'm trying to make sense what I'm seeing here in order to properly update my sensor suite." She taps the phone that's on the table in front of her.

Skeeve offers a pleasant smile to Azusa. "Not at all, not at all. Have we met before, in passing? You seem familiar, but I'm afraid I've misplaced your name. Please feel free to join us, though, if you'd like." He waves over a waitress to come clear off the dishes from the table to make room, orders himself another drink. "Anything for either of you?"

"Please, call me Azusa," she insists. She is, on the other hand, fairly certain she has walked into an ongoing conversation, and something reminescent of what she's heard her sisters talk about from time to time, at that. "Aah, magic theory," she then sounds genuinely intrigued, one hand reaching up to adjust her glasses. That explains why the conversation sounded so familiar, setting aside the fact that the talks she's used to are far more technology oriented. Turning her head to regard Skeeve, first taking note that he must be able stand a full foot over her, she would look rather familiar. The face, the mole to the lower right of her mouth. It's Akiya's face, or his other form. Or Akina's, or even Ayika's! Okay, so she is probably related to them, not to mention that Zelan had just addressed her by their family name. "I do not believe so," she answers, however. She has been told about Skeeve by her brother, but again, no hat so no regocnition. "Azusa Kurihara," she smiles, regardless, "Pleased to meet you. And you are...?" Tilting her head as she is then offered a place at their table, she nods graciously, "Ah, thank you." Eyeing the waitress' approach, she is quick to decide, "A Long Island iced tea for me," at the same time claiming the nearest vacant seat at said table.

Zelan tilts her head slightly. "I'm thinking perhaps just whatever soup they have today. I'm not feeling particularly adventurous tonight. At least not in a culinary sense." She offers Azusa a light smile as she takes a seat nearby. "Well then, I'll be sure to do so in the future," she says before taking another sip of her coffee. She pauses a moment, the mug warming her hands, before she asks Skeeve, "So do you think I will be able to continue to use the same general theory here to analyze magic, or are there going to be too many fundamental differences that will require mostly an entirely different sensor suite?"

Skeeve ahhs lightly, smiling a little bit. "That would explain it, then. My name's Skeeve, Skeeve Plowse, it's nice to meet you, Miss Kurihara." To the waitress, he asides, "Just a soda for me, please."
Jotting down a few more notes, he replies, "Well, Zelan, the theory itself is sound as far as the scanner goes, but you may have to drop a level of abstraction. There are more than six main harmonic resonances of mana, so just measuring your levels of the six elements you're used to likely won't be enough here. But the basic principles are sound. The lookup table for all the exceptions and weird stuff is going to be aggravatingly large, though."

Ari strolls in, looking a bit tired or aggravated. Maybe a combination of the two. She sighs, heading right to the bar and ordering a beer.

Skeeve looks up as Ari strolls in through the crowd, picking her out unerringly despite the other patrons. With one sweep of his arms and a hastily murmured spell, he shoves the stack of books off the table, where they disappear with a small *pop* and a puff of smoke. That done, he waves over in her direction. "Hey, princess, over here!"

Zelan nods, frowning. "I was afraid of that. I'll need to... create an exception catcher, or something along those lines. Perhaps some time when I can get together some more equipment you can show me the rest of the common resonances? I've already built a more robust sensor array at the workshop, one that will hopefully be able to get better data resolution out of-" She blinks as suddenly Skeeve clears the table of all the books, clearly not having caught his look towards Ari. She looks off in the direction of the 'princess' with slightly widened eyes, though she returns to a more neutral but happy expression as she recognizes Ari.

Ari thanks the bartender for her beer, then smiles as Skeeve calls her over. She heads over to the table to have a seat. "Hey guys." she says, relieved to see some happy faces.

Skeeve nods a few times at that. "Yeah, I'd be happy to take a look once you get your gear set up. I'm actually really interested in magical technology, I just... don't really have the background for it. I've studied a little bit of physics since I got here, but that's really about it. I'll warn you now, some of those exceptions are real infuriating." He smiles cheerily at Ari, and conspicuously does not pull out a chair for her, just holds a hand out in her direction. "Hey yourself. Everything okay?"

Zelan nods. "Well, that's why I need some sort of way of... catching the exceptions. Maybe to be filed later with manual classifications?" She frowns, then looks over to Ari. "Hey, how are you doing, Ari?" she asks after a quick flickering of her eyes.

Ari stretches a bit, then takes Skeeve's hand, setting herself down in his lap. "Not bad. Started training my employees today and already fired someone. On the first day!" she sighs.

Skeeve chuckles a little bit at that, slipping his arm around the half-elf's waist, the one without the pen. "Sucks to have to be the one that's the responsible adult, doesn't it? What happened?" Settling back in his chair and getting comfortable, he replies to Zelan, "Some of those exceptions are just infuriating. Remind me to show you the spell that has been utterly mystifying me for years one of these days. It's just the dumbest thing ever."

Azusa's eyes blink with recognition just then, at the mention of the name, "Ah, yes! I have heard much of you from my brother. As he recalls to me, you were all quite the team back in the day, and just Azusa, please. No need for such formalities." Very distinct British accent there, by the way. Smiling again as she returns her attention to Zelan, she takes to listening for the time being while she waits for her drink to arrive while listening to the ongoing conversation. Quite fascinating, she thinks to herself, at that moment wondering where her particular subsection of magic would fall. Mm, perhaps a question for another time. This is sounding to her more and more like something akin to a software issue, which of course makes perfect sense in the sense that Zelan's scanner software is in need of a definition update, so to speak. Like a virus scanner, only a magic scanner. Now she truly wishes she had brought her sister Ayika along! Her attention redirected towards Skeeve's table clearing gesture followed by Ari's arrival, she then turns to smile politely to the new arrival, "Good evening," then glancing to Skeeve with the expectation that they will be introduced. It seems like she and Zelan have already met, at least.

Zelan nods slowly. "Sure, when we meet up for the analysis later. It'll be a good test of an updated system, I suppose." She looks over to Azusa and says, "I do hope the conversation isn't boring you?" Though she's guessing from the look on her face that it isn't the case, and Zelan smiles. She then tilts her head to Ari, curious about what as well.

Ari takes a sip of her beer before responding. "Well, Raven's going to be helping with operations for a bit until everything is up and running smooth. I told the bartenders that if they need help, they call me, and Raven is not allowed behind the bar during open hours. Then this smartass responds 'It's not our job to look after your alcy sister.' Guy lasted an hour." she sighs.

Skeeve grins a little bit at that. "Alright, Azusa, I'll do that. And yeah, we certainly got into some scrapes back in the day." As the waitress comes by with drinks, he adds, to Zelan, "Honestly, if your scanner can decipher this incomprehensible mess, I'll... I'd say 'buy you a beer' but it seems pitifully insignificant compared to how much this has been aggraving me." He pauses for a moment, then says, "I'm sorry, where are my manners? Ari, this is Azusa Kurihara, she's Akiya's sister. Azusa, this is Ari Icara, nee Von Tilsen." He shakes his head a little bit at Ari's story. "Man, what a jackass. He couldn't resist mouthing off to the boss for an hour?"

"Not at all, dear," Azusa's features soften, a hand reaching to brush a lock of hair from her cheek that was threatening to hover over one eye. There, much better. Her eyes returning to Skeeve and Ari, taking particular note of the former's accent, she nods cordially to Ari as they are introduced. Ahh, another Von Tilsen. "A pleasure." She doesn't feel the least bit guilty, given the slight turn of the conversation, about having ordered an alcoholic drink. In fact, her player might indulge herself with some hard cider in a couple of moments. Speaking of moments, she takes one or two to sample her newly arrived drink. This brings her to realize that she has been drinking a lot of iced tea in its many forms as of late.

Zelan offers Azusa another smile before lookin back to Ari. "Is it not... rule 1 that you don't insult clients or new supervisors? What in the arm where they thinking?"

Ari smiles at Azusa. "Nice to meet you, too!" she raises her bottle a bit then nods. "I set him straight about Raven's allergy. He apologized profusely but I wasn't going to put up with it."

Skeeve shakes his head a little bit, sipping at his cola. "Not the wisest of choices for him. Hopefully he learns, but I'm not going to hold my breath, if we're being honest. Hopefully that was the only real setback today?" For the others, in case they don't know, he adds, "Ari's opening up a nightclub on the beach, called the Kraken. You should check it out once it opens."

Zelan grins lightly. "I'm already planning on it."

Azusa returns Zelan's smile in earnest, most of her attention gravitating towards her now, as does her proximity as she moves her chair closer. Continuing to listen it, she takes a nice, long sip of her Long Island. Okay, they can make decent drinks here, at least. Something has to keep the patrons coming back, given this establishment's... volatility. She has been told that the bar is indestructible, too. She purses her lips in brief thought, wondering what must have possessed someone to badmouth their employer, and she resists the urge to just shake her head. That poor, insolent fool. Mention of Raven's allergy does bring her to ever so slightly raise an eyebrow, but she makes no inquiry on it. She's just barely met this pair, after all. Then comes the mention of a nightclub, and the first thing that comes to mind is how her sisters will want to flock there to check it out, "Oh? I certainly shall." She glances sidewards towards Zelan.

Ari grins a bit. "It's definitely unique, thanks in part to this guy." she kisses Skeeve's cheek. "But yeah, that was the only real hiccup today. The others seem pretty good so far."

Skeeve flushes just a little bit at that, ducking his head a little when Ari kisses him. "Ah, I just put a couple of simple wards down, it's not like I did any of the hard work."

Zelan catches the sidewards glace with a smile. "It would be nice to go dancing. I may not be... particularly proficient in it, but sometimes that doesn't matter." She blinks at the mention of uniqueness, and looks between Skeeve and Ari. "Oh? Did you set up an array of illusions or some other such special effects?"

Ari chuckles. "I could tell, but it would kind of ruin the surprise." she grins. "It's too good to spoil."

Azusa's own smile only brightens at the mention of dancing. "Not at all," she quietly asides to Zelan, then peering at Skeeve and Ari from over her glasses. "I am quite curious, now," she admits, "I shall have to see this for myself." Ideas dance through her head as to what would make such a place unique, and when it comes to magic, there are simply so many possibilities. It does sound to her that it must be something special, and this intrigues her all the more.

Skeeve, on the verge of launching into a highly technical explanation of what exactly he's done, clicks his mouth shut before he can spoil said surprise. "Like she said, it's a surprise. All I'm going to say is, it's a beach club.... so bring a swimsuit."

Zelan recoils ever so slightly. "Swimsuit? Uhhh... Great." She frowns slightly, but smiles again with another quick glance at Azusa. "Well, I may have to invest in a new one, then. I've not been much of a swimmer for most of my life... I didn't have one in my suitcase when I arrived."

Ari takes a sip of the beer, nodding. "Even if you don't have one, it'll still be fun." she smiles, snuggling into Skeeve.

Skeeve nods a little bit at that, sipping his drink. Matter-of-factly, he adds, "Yeah, it won't be *necessary*, thankfully, but it will be more comfortable. There's a mall just north of the boardwalk, you should be able to find one there."

Azusa, on the other hand, brightens at the mention of swimsuit. Oh, her sisters are really going to be interested, now! Seeing that Zelan doesn't appear nearly as thrilled about the idea as her, though, she tilts her head towards her, "That will not be a problem, dear. I am sure that we can help you find one," nodding to Skeeve in agreement. She imagines that it's something the likes of Akina or Natsuki would jump at. It's sounding more and more fun, the more she learns about it.

Zelan shudders at the mention of the mall. "I'm... aware of it. Beleive me, I'm aware of it." She sighs dejectedly, but perks up at the mention of help finding one. "Well, that sounds like it could be fun. A... girls night or day out shopping, as it were? I'm not sure I've done that since I was a teenager! I do have the money to spare now, finally, as well."

Ari grins at Zelan mentioning she has money. "Oh! Did my sister get off her ass and finally hire you?" she grins.

Skeeve blinks in confusion at the idea that the mall could be a terrifying and disturbing place. As far as he knows, it's just the Bazaar with escalators. Shaking his head lightly, he adds, "See? There you go. Double your fun."

Azusa is getting the sense that perhaps Zelan might not be particularly fond of shopping. Certainly, it's not for everyone, and there are many girls who don't particularly care for it, despite some stereotypes. Seeing that perhaps she has been able to lend a bit of encouragement, though, she forms a somewhat more foxlike smile, "Indeed." Coupled with the added insight as to why Zelan did not sound particularly in favor of the idea initially. "It will be fun." Quirking an eyebrow at Ari, then, though, she glances back and forth between the two, taking this moment to reduce her drink to one quarter glass left, thereabouts. No sign of tipsyness as of yet.

Zelan sighs again. "Yes... but only when I happened to run into her on my own. She... didn't seem to take the initiative herself... I'm noticing she tends not to do that so much." Noticing Skeeve's confused look, she explains with a slightly pained smile, "I... had to work there to make ends meet until Raven hired me. It was not a good time." With that said, she chugs the rest of her coffee.

Ari wrinkles her nose a bit. "To her defense, my sister has been through quite a bit. So please don't hold that part against her." She finishes her beer and puts the bottle on the table, slipping an arm around Skeeve's shoulders.

Skeeve nods a few times at that, finishing up his own drink, and waving for another round. "Ah, say no more. There are a few kingdoms out there that I can't show my face in for precisely the same reason. But I think you'll find that Raven's..." He pauses for a moment to look for the right word. "...shall we say 'reliability' will be vastly improved going forward."

Azusa's eyes narrow. She hasn't met the elusive Raven, though one of her nieces has, at least, or so she believes. She bites her tounge, though, not wishing to say something untoward, especially of someone she has yet to meet. Especially in the presence of her sister. It is best to keep an open mind for the time being, instead, she decides. Swirling the remaining contents of her drink while she continues to listen, she does offer to Zelan, "It will be alright." See? Even Skeeve's backing her up, on that.

Zelan shakes her head. "Of course not. Not everyone takes the initiative that often." She puts a hand in the center of her own chest. "Case in point, usually. Desperation has lead to it being a necessity recently. I'm afraid I'm playing a bit outside of my comfort zone in this universe." She glances between everyone and sighs again. "Look, there's just one store I don't want to go into, and they don't even sell swimsuits anyway. I'll be fine. Just some stressful memories is all."

Ari thinks a moment. "If you really hate the idea, I can just make you one." she shrugs.

As the waitress comes by with another round, Skeeve replies reasonably enough, "Ari's quite the talented designer, don't let the shrug fool you." He grins a little bit at her, chuckling faintly.

"A solution shall always present itself," Azusa leans back in her seat, setting her old drink down in favor of the newly arrived one. She tilts her head in Zelan's direction, she smiles, "I will admit that I am now rather curious as to what Miss Ari can make for you." Don't mind how her eyes momentarily wander, giving Zelan the onceover, her eyes disappearing for that moment behind a conveniently bright reflection off her glasses.

Zelan sighs in exasperation. "I have no aversion to shopping! I was looking forward to it!" She tilts her head slightly, considering the new option. "I'd... not say no to a custom design, however. It sounds like it could be fun, as well." It does sound like she might be warming up to the idea.

Ari grins at Skeeve, kissing his cheek again. "Flatterer." she chuckles. "Yeah, I can make bathing suits easy That takes, like not time at all really."

Skeeve, noticing Azusa's lightning-quick glance over at Zelan, can't help but grin just a little. It's like he has a sixth sense for these sorts of things. Giving Ari a comforting little squeeze around the midriff, he replies, "Always. And yeah, custom is always nice. Now you just have to decide what you're looking for." On a whim, he murmurs a quiet spell, an illusion, and there's a small image of a female clothier's dummy, more of a black silhouette really, in the center of the table.

Ari chuckles. "Showoff." she winks at Skeeve, taking out her PDA from her bag. "Okay, are we talking one piece, two piece? Color?"

Azusa feels compelled to suggest that shopping online is not at all beyonf the realm of possibility, but with Ari's offer now on the table, it sounds by far the most favorable choice. "I must say," she must say, "that I myself am a little spoiled. One simply can not go back so easily after going custom, so to speak." She does sound like she has some experience in that regard. "And, yes," her smile brightens, "It can become quite fun.." her words softening towards the end. It looks like a preview is being made possible now, even! Both eyebrows raising in interest, her gaze then falls upon the illusionary doll.

Zelan sighs and hangs her head slightly. "I've not put any thought into it yet, of course. Ummm... well, let's see..." She peers at the doll for a moment, then makes some motions herself to attempt to alter Skeeve's spell to be her skin tone and adding her hair to it, as well. "Well, I suppose if you want to have an interesting design, it's generally more easily done when more material is involved, isn't it? Not that I'm opposed to a two-peice, mind you." She tilts her head slightly at what Azusa says. "Oh, you think it's bad with clothes? I don't think I'd ever own a starship I didn't design myself, anymore."

Ari chuckles. "Well, it's all up to you. I can pretty much work with any idea you give me, honestly."

Skeeve grins a little bit more at that. "Again, always. If you're going to do something, you should do it with style." Sipping his drink, he adds, "No, I think it's that once you have custom clothes made, they'll be so good you won't want to buy off the-" He'd just gestured again, adding a plain one-piece suit in white to the dummy, but his mouth hangs open when he feels the image shift. He turns to stare at Zelan, wonderment and curiosity in his voice. "That's not just a second illusion, you... you... *edited* my spell! I didn't know that was possible, *how* did you do that?"

Zelan blinks, tilting her head. "I... changed the way the light, shadow, and water flowed through it? I mean, it was a simple illusion spell, and you didn't seem to be protecting it, or that wouldn't have worked. The, uh, energy was just out there to be changed?" She actually seems surprised at Skeeve's surprise.

"Oh no. Quite the opposite, my dear," Azusa gives a slight shake of her head, "My sisters are clothing designers, and there isn't quite anything like wearing exactly what you want and made just for you." See? Skeeve can back her up on that. Of course, that particular moment takes a shift for the curiouser as she too seems surprised at, well, Skeeve's surprise. As far as she knew, herself, it is possible to alter others' illusions under certain circumstances. Of course, she and illusions... oh, nevermind that. She looks particularly pleased with the choice of a one-piece on the doll.

Ari takes her PDA, puts it in front of Skeeve's face, and takes a picture. "He doesn't get shocked like that often." she grins, tapping a few things and hitting 'send'. "So enjoy it." she laughs.

Skeeve still looks fairly surprised, enough so that he doesn't think to make a stupider face and ruin the picture. "I mean, sure, you can modify a construct, that's fine, but you did it without assuming control, or disrupting mine, at least as far as I could tell." He shakes his head lightly. "This is like..." He pauses, trying to find an analogy. "It's like that game Jenga, with the wooden blocks, right? As far as my own grasp on the theory is concerned, something like this would be the equivalent of trying to add new layers to the tower... from the bottom up... without touching the tower itself... while someone else is pulling a brick out, and not knocking the thing over." He leans back, mind awash with the possibilities. "If I'd tried something like this without at least bracing the tower against something, I'd have knocked the whole damn thing over. Either there's a trick I'm missing here or you have a *very* deft touch. Either way it's quite impressive."

Zelan pauses a moment longer as she looks about with a blush in slight embarrasment at the sudden wonder at her ability. "Umm... Well, it's more like... inserting a prism to alter light peering through, in this case. That's where the water element comes in on illusions, right? Really, if it wasn't an illusion, it wouldn't have been nearly so simple." She then peers in on the illusion, trying to determine what she would want, hoping to change the subject some. "Well, ah... I suppose high cut on the hip... keep it off the shoulders, or at least close to the neck? Ummm... Ill trust your judgement on color, you're the specialist in this field... I've really not looked into swimsuit fashion at all, so I don't know what kinds of patterns, or if it's fashionable to have, I don't know, openings at the midriff or something?"

Skeeve, maintaining the illusion but now making absolutely no moves to alter it, shifts his perception into the astral plane. Still staring at the image, he says in a distracted, almost distant voice, "Show her what you mean on the doll. I wanna see exactly what you did there."

Azusa can't help but be increasingly amused by Skeeve's reaction, despite herself, and Ari taking a picture is total icing on the cake. She does not laugh, though, instead managing to preserve her manners, and that energy is instead redirected towards pride for Zelan's ability. Very, very promising indeed, and she does fail to catch notice of her own noticeably more suggestive smile turned her way. So much that she nearly misses the suggestions being put forth. Her head nods in approval at the high cut. Yes, very good. Close to the neck, yes. As for color, she thinks a spash of green would look lovely. "I myself prefer to keep it simple," she actually adds, finally. Glancing back towards Skeeve, she begins to think his attention may be elsewhere at the moment.

Zelan frowns slightly at Skeeve's request, then peers down at the illusion and starts to alter it. Shifting the body form now to more match her body shape at first, she then raises the cut at the hip to show the side of the legs, and at the top changing the straps over the shoulder in towards a single peice of cloth that rises to the neck. She can't seem to figure out even what she meant with the showing of the midriff, however, and gives up after just a basic circle being removed around the navel. "I don't think that worked as well as I was thinking..." Concentrating on her spellwork, she completely misses Azusa's look again. "Yeah, forget the cutout, I suppose," she says in response to keeping it simple. She's not changed the colors at all, however, unsure of where to send that direction. "Well, that's what I've come up with, I guess?" she says as she sits back in her chair, looking slightly tired again. With a breath out, she shakes her head. "I think... I'm going to head back to my apartment, though, and get some sleep for tomarrow's work." Before she does that, however, she flickers her eyes about slightly, and another illusion appears over her phone, which is still on the table. This is, however, a contact number. She looks at Azusa now with a light smile. "You left so fast last time... I don't think you caught me trying to get you this."

Ari looks over to Skeeve with a 'are they doing what I think they're doing?' look, smirking.

Skeeve's sixth sense is, regrettably enough, otherwise occupied for the moment, and as Zelan alters the illusion again, he tilts his head a little. "Well, fuck me sideways, it really is that simple..." Shaking his head, he misses out on Zelan passing her number over to Azusa as he snaps his perception back to the material. He looks a little confused at Ari's look. "Hm?" A quick glance back at the other two, and enlightenment crosses his face for a moment. Apparently, enlightenment looks a little like a smirk of his own. "Well, I must say it was nice to meet you, Zelan. We'll have to arrange a time to look at your scanner sometime soon, talk shop."

Observing the changes being made to the illusionary doll, reminding her far too much of the holographic version that she's more used to, she nods softly, visualizing not only an opening over the lower abdomen, but another to match on the other side, although she decides that would best be left for another time, another suit. Tilting her head back towards Zelan, she blinks, noticing the fatigue, "Are you alright?" She is then reminded to look at the time, and is surprised at how it has just slipped away so quickly, "Oh dear. I should take my leave, as well. The hour has become rather late." Her attention redirected towards Zelan's phone, though, she is suddenly overcome with a bit of embarrassment, "Ah, yes. I do apologize for that. Thank you." No later is her own phone in her hands adding this new contact. Ding!

Ari waves to Azusa. "Nice to meet you!" she smiles.

Skeeve nods a few times at that, offering a polite wave as well. He'd stand, but, well, lapful of Ari. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Azusa. Don't be a stranger, okay?"

Azusa rising from her seat after watching Zelan go, smiles appreciatively to the pair, bowing her head politely, "It was lovely meeting you both. I hope that we shall cross paths again soon, as well." Straightening and making sure everything is in order, she nods her head one more time, "Have a good night."

Skeeve, with a bit of squirming, pulls his wallet out, flags down a waitress to take care of the bill. "You too, Azusa." Leaning in to give Ari a light kiss on the cheek, he adds, "C'mon, let's head home, hm?"

|}}

2016-07-25 - There's Always a Bigger Fish

2016-08-14T08:45:44Z

Skeeve: Created page with "{{Logsummary| Title = There's Always a Bigger Fish |Summary = Insane god in your girlfriend's sister's head causing trouble? No problem!! Just find a bigger one! |Who..."

{{Logsummary|
Title = There's Always a Bigger Fish
|Summary = Insane god in your girlfriend's sister's head causing trouble? No problem!! Just find a bigger one!
|Who = [[Ari]], [[Raven Von Tilsen]], [[Skeeve]]
|Date = July 25, 2016
|Where = The Usual Restaurant
|Log=

Rave is sitting at a table, flipping through something on her PDA while sipping from a glass full of apple juice.

There's the usual burst of purple smoke that precedes Skeeve's arrival, and the mage hops down, as though stepping down from a height, with his hands in his pockets. It takes him a moment to notice Raven, as he wanders through the restaurant towards the bar, and the first thing that runs through his mind when he notices her is 'why did I skip the magical protections today?'.

Rave doesn't look up from her PDA. "Hello, Skeeve. Been a while. You just going to stand there and stare? Or are you going to ask me about sparing the dandelion eater's life?"

Skeeve strolls over towards the woman's table, making sure to keep the table between him and Raven, despite seeming casual about it. Giving her a once over with his own magical senses, he replies dryly, "Actually, I was going to ask why you'd bother to warn anyone. The Raven I knew had much better sense than that."

Rave shrugs a little. "I like playing with my prey." she puts her PDA away. "And you're right, of course. The Raven you knew did have better sense than that. Hell, Raven doesn't want her dead at all. Never has. But sadly she's nearly gone so it doesn't matter."

Skeeve, without taking his eyes off of Raven, picks up one of the salt shakers from a nearby table, starts twirling it in his fingers. Sure, he's getting salt everywhere, but it keeps his hands occupied. "You know it's not going come to that, right?" Casually he starts a slow circle at a respectful distance, still trying to keep other tables or chairs between him and Raven. "There's no end game here where you come out on top."

Rave watches him, smirking. "Sorry, she has to die. Just the way the whole thing works!" She opens her palm and a ball of lightning forms. "She dies, which will kill off my daughter's spirit, and her part of this whole deal will be complete."

Skeeve reaches out with his magic, hooks into the force line that runs through the Usual's bar, and puts a quick, if sloppy, defensive ward around himself. Still keeping up his circling, he replies, "'Deal' implies some kind of even trade. What does Raven get out of this that's worth her life and her sister's life?"

The ball in 'Raven's' hand gets bigger. "In return, my grandchildren survive the coming onslaught. Seriously though, you should just let this happen. Make it easier on everyone. If you're really nice, I'll even spare you and that winged chick you hang out with. Just give me the little slut." she smiles almost sweetly.

Skeeve, still flipping that salt shaker around with one hand, circles back to his original starting position, still drawing power out of that force line. "Tempting offer, really it is. But we just got a custom nameplate for our mailbox, and, wouldn't you know it? They don't do returns." He shakes his head sadly. "I'm sure you can understand the dilemma I'm in."

Rave sort of tosses the lightning ball onto a random nearby table, pretty much setting it on fire. "Well, you can cross it off, or I'll even make a little additional plaque that says RIP for right next to her name. It would only take me like, an hour." she laughs almost unearthly. "Please, Skeeve, Raven considered you a friend at some point. Don't make me have her watch you die with her hands too. She's already hurting enough."

Outwardly, Skeeve doesn't flinch as the nearby table bursts into flames. Inwardly, Sarah mentally curses up a storm as the sprinklers set off, raining down on the table, the two mages, and the floor... washing away the salt circle, oh so casually placed, that represented Plan A. Still drawing in power, Sarah replies, "I have a counter offer for you. Let Raven go, leave this plane and never return, and I won't scatter you to the astral winds. How's that sound?"

Rave chuckles, the water from the sprinklers bending so they don't hit her. "Yeah, no. Sorry. I like it here. The rules of my world don't really apply! There's so much life just... waiting for me to end it!" she stretches a little, standing. "The deal is still on the table. Bring me the little Keeb you've been slumming with, and you live."

Sarah shakes her head lightly, tossing strands of damp hair out of her face, and the sprinklers stop as the table stops smouldering, still smoking a little bit. "You don't honestly think I believe you'd let me stand aside, do you? I mean, I know you've got that whole 'villainous overconfidence' thing that you're rocking, but honestly now, how stupid do you think I am?"

Rave smirks. "Oh, I don't think you're stupid at all. I figured you'd see reason. I'm sad to have been proven wrong." She reaches down to her holster and quickdraws her gun, leveling it at Sarah. "So prove to me you are a reasonable man.. or apparently woman. Last chance."

Sarah still draws in power from that force line, narrowing her eyes just a little. As far as she's concerned, the rest of the room just doesn't exist, and everything's narrowed down to Raven, Raven's passenger... and the gun, of course. Which is puzzling, really. Big bad spirit, Mother Serpent... and she draws a gun? Something doesn't add up here, and Sarah gets the feeling she's not going to like it when she figures it out. "Just because I ate the apple doesn't mean I believe you when you say you have my best interests at heart."

Rave smiles as her hands start sparking with electrical energy. The energy travels from her hands to her gun, fusing with the bullet. "Honestly I don't care about your interests. I just want her, and I want her dead. Not that hard to understand, is it? I really don't care if you survive it or not. Though granted if I kill you it would easier to draw her out, now wouldn't it?"

Sarah raises a hand in response to the electrical charge, starting to pour some of that stored energy into her defensive ward. "It really would... in fact, it's such an obvious ploy that I can't believe you only just thought of it now. WHich really begs the question... why haven't you shot me yet, exactly?"

Rave narrows her eyes. "Because you weren't supposed to be the one. She is. She has to be the first." she sneers. "But if you're /that/ insistent..." she squeezes the trigger, firing at Sarah.

The bullet crashes into Sarah's defensive ward with a peal of sound like a hammer striking a bell, concentric ripples of force in the air radiating outwards to mark the point of impact. Sarah shakes her head lightly with a nonchalance she really doesn't feel, pouring in more power from the forceline to bolster the damaged ward. "I should know better than to give you a straight line like that..." Inwardly, she sighs. 'You're oh-for-two here, Skeeve. DO BETTER.' Her hand dips into one of her pouches, coming up with a flask, filled with a swirl of yellow and black liquid. She starts moving slowly to one side, keeping most of her focus on that ward. "So, what, your plan is just to start murdering indiscriminately until someone banishes you back to whatever sorry realm you call home?"

Rave rolls her eyes, firing off a few more charged rounds, but at different parts of Sarah, such as arms and legs as well. "Were you not been paying attention? I'm a death totem! Killing is what I do! But here? I don't have to be summoned! I can just /be/!"

It takes a lot of effort, but that defensive shield barely holds up against the onslaught of charged rounds, and Sarah is starting to regret this whole 'nonchalance' plan. Rather than snap back with another witty rejoinder (not that anyone would hear it amongst the din), she gestures sharply, snatching up the still smoldering table with a telekinetic grip and launching it right at Raven at a rather oblique angle, cutlery and plates flying everywhere.

Rave definitely did not see the table coming, and gets blindsided. She hits the floor, covered in tableware and well, table. She lies motionless for a brief moment, then moans a little, standing and shirking off the table. Her gun is on the ground, and she doesn't look interested in picking it up. She blinks and looks at Sarah. "Go." she says. "Now. I can't hold her off for long."

Sarah really, really hopes this isn't a suck play, but it's not like she's going to pass up the opportunity. She'd never forgive herself. Dashing forwards to close the distance, she waves her hand once, and the gun goes skittering across the restaurant. Using her telekinesis to try and pin Raven down, she skids to a halt next to the fallen shaman, sliding to one knee, and dabs Raven's forehead with some of her asphodel potion, speaking the sharp word of a banishment spell. Off the cuff and quickened like that, it probably won't drive out Raven's possessor entirely, but should hopefully buy her a little bit of time. "I'm not giving up on you, Raven, but I'm sorry, this is going to suck for a while." Forcefully pressing fingertips to the bridge of Raven's nose, she starts chanting. "Dormius, dorme..." She pours as much magical poewr as she can into the sleep spell, trying to put Raven into a magically induced coma.

Rave initially resists as she has no clue what's going on, but the spell works, and she closes her eyes.

Sarah was, to be honest, kinda not expecting that to work. It takes her a moment to remember what her next move is. As the bartender peeks up from over the bar, Sarah calls out, "Uh, sorry for the mess, just put it on my tab!" Slinging Raven over her shoulder, she fishes her D-Hopper out of her pouch and hastily sets it before hammering away at the button.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skeeve's Secret Lair

The room you currently inhabit is spacious, and hexagonal in shape. At the 'top' of the hexagon, away from the wall, is an inscribed pentagram, carefully dug into the hard, smooth stone floor. There are little slots for candles on each point of the star, and at the head of the pentagram is a bookstand. To its left, at the next point counter-clockwise, is a very large wrought-iron cage that hangs from the ceiling, and seems to emanate some kind of magical field. Counterclockwise again, against the wall, are two bookshelves, with various texts filling the shelves, all magical in nature. Set up near the shelves is a futon that looks like it came from some 'assemble it yourself' furniture store.

The next point of the hexagon counterclockwise is directly opposite the summoning circle, and by it is a glowing blue circle, about eight feet across, on a raised platform; clearly a teleportal of some kind. Counterclockwise from that is a desk with a complicated computer setup, and several large spherical objects, that seem to emanate a muted magical glow when looked at properly. Finally, the last point on the hexagram is obviously the workstation, with a large altar, a positively baroque alchemical setup, and a series of large shelves containing a wide variety of spell components and raw materials. Finally, a ladder leads up to a trapdoor in the ceiling, that leads back to the rest of the house.

Sarah is already moving as the smoke clears, setting Raven down in the center of the inscribed magical circle just gently enough to avoid bashing her head against the concrete, and pours enough power into the circle to hold a minor god... ... ...which, on reflection, it may just have to. Pacing back and forth a few steps now, the basement lit by the glimmering glow of the magic circle, Sarah takes her phone out of her pouch and hurriedly dials Ari's number.

And Ari picks up the phone! "Hey hon! Where are you?"

Sarah says, in an overly casual chirpy voice, "Hi princess! I'm at home, have your sister restrained in the basement. How was your day?"

The half elf responds in a cheery turning to not so cheery tone. "I just walked in the front door and you WHAT??" With that, the trap door opens and Ari rushes down the stairs, dressed in her combat gear, hood down.

And there stands Sarah, looking thoroughly bedraggled, with the glow of the magic wall lighting the basement, with something of a sheepish expression on her face. She hangs up, replies, "I, ah, ran into her earlier this evening. She tried to shoot me a few times, but it didn't take, so I whacked her with a table, then doused her with enough asphodel to give me time to put her to sleep. And so here we are."

Ari just stares at Sarah as she listens to her story, then she looks at Raven, narrowing her eyes. "She... she /shot at you/??" she growls, taking out one of her combat knives and moving to rush her sister. Again, she does have impulse control issues...

Sarah shouts a panicked, "NO!" and rather than intercept Ari to try and hold her back, just gestures with her telekinesis, attempting to lift the half-elf off the floor bodily. "Under *no circumstances* do you cross that line! You do that, Mother Serpent gets free and we all go take a nice long swim with the fish."

Ari flails in the air, scowling. "I can forgive a lot of things, hon. A /lot/. Trying to kill you is sure as fuck not one of them!!" She stops flailing and crosses her arms over her chest, looking rather pissed off.

Sarah lowers Ari enough that she can look her right in the eye, and steps up towards her. "Look, there's more. Good and bad. Raven's definitely possessed, has been for months. I had a rather lengthy chat with the rotten bitch that's taken up residence in her head." She lets out a sigh. "I know this will be hard to believe, but it's not Raven that wants to kill you, never has been, and it wasn't Raven that tried to shoot me, either. She actually took control for a moment there, told me to run. That's when I hit her with the sleep whammy."

Ari's expression softens, a lot, as Sarah explains. "But.. then why is she so gung ho about killing me, if it's not Raven being pissed at what I did?" she asks, really confused.

Sarah sets Ari down on the ground, gingerly, as though ready to snatch her back up into the air at a moment's notice. "Raven made a deal with the metaphorical devil. You die, Raven's spirit is tossed to the astral winds, and in return Raven's kids get to survive the, and I quote here, 'coming onslaught'." She shakes her head. "Pompous, isn't it?"

Her anger gone, Ari suddenly throws her arms around Sarah, sighing. "Damnit." she says. "Can we get rid of her? Without losing Raven?"

Sarah smiles cheerily, and with a bravado she doesn't quite feel, says, "That's the plan! I'm gonna need a lot of caffeine, though. This may require an allnighter." She slips an arm around Ari's shoulders. "But I promise you that I will do literally everything within my considerable talents to make it happen."

Ari looks up at Sarah. "Thank you. And I'm really glad you didn't get hurt. I don't think I would have forgiven myself if you had."

Sarah smiles, but replies dryly, "Trust me, it wouldn't have been your fault. I tend to get rather insouciant in the face of overwhelming power, and I think at one point I actually asked her why she hadn't shot me already." Somewhat reluctantly, she lets Ari go, then turns back to survey the magic circle. "I've definitely got some work to do, though... would you be willing to go get me a couple of energy drinks? They're on the bottom shelf of the fridge, on the left."

Ari nods a bit. "Of course, anything." she leans in and kisses Sarah on the cheek, then disappears upstairs.

Sarah watches her go for a moment, then turns back to watch Raven somewhat dispassionately behind the magic circle. After checking to make sure the circle's integrity is still good, she heads over to the altar, picking up a flask of water. A moment's concentration to heat it up, and she splashes herself in the face with it. Turning just slightly green, Skeeve strips off his sodden overshirt, tossing it to one side, by the futon. Another few moments of study, watching Raven, and he interfaces with the magic circle. "I wonder if I can't get this done in a hurry..." Extending his magic senses through the web of magic already constructed there, he tries to get a sense for just how badly Raven's been possessed by this entity.

It's pretty bad. As in she's always been there to some degree, for all of Raven's life. Back then, it was a sliver of the totem and more Raven, but now, it's about 97 percent entity and Raven is barely hanging on.

After a few more moments, Ari comes back down with a tray full of energy drinks and a tall glass of strawberry lemonade, complete with strawberry bits floating in it. "Sorry it took so long." she puts the tray down on a nearby table.

Skeeve takes a seat down at the front of the magic circle, crossing his legs, and setting the asphodel potion down in front of him. This one's going to be a doozy. He smiles a little bit as Ari comes back down. "No, that's okay." floating one of the energy drinks over, he cracks it open and practically inhales the whole thing in one gulp. Setting down the can, he adds, "Alright, so, I'm not entirely certain what's going to happen here, but the important part is to, no matter what, under no circumstances are you to cross this magic circle, got it? Instead, I want you to hold your memories of your sister clear in your mind, and the love that you hold for her." He lets out a deep breath. "I might need to borrow that."

Ari nods a bit, taking a seat cross-legged on the futon, wrapping the blanket they keep on it around her. "I'll try, but.. it's been hard lately." she says softly. "Just, please please please be careful." she looks at him, obviously worried.

Skeeve nods a little bit at that. "I will. I promise." He takes another deep breath, and then closes his eyes, marshalling his power, and after a few moments, finally murmuring, "Step one; stem the bleeding." Interfacing with the magic circle again, he reaches out and attempts to connect with Raven, to build a shield around what's left of Raven's personality, to protect her from this invader.

Easily done, as there's not much left. Ari bites her lip pensively as she watches.

Skeeve takes a moment to reinforce that, then delicately reaches out to touch Ari's mind, looking for those memories, and feelings of love, to pass them along to Raven, along with a message - 'we know you're there, and we will never stop fighting for you, so just hold on, okay?'. THat accomplished, he takes a moment to rest.

Ari blinks, and offers a bunch of memories from when they were kids, when Raven's kids were born, their parents, whatever she can muster.

There's no response from Raven's mind, but the tattoo of the curled up snake on her left shoulder begins to uncurl itself.

Skeeve smiles a little bit. He's trying not to intrude, but it's difficult. Trusting, for now, that the barrier will hold up against the snake tattoo, he holds his hands out, resting his fingertips just against the magic circle, and begins to chant.

"Darkness beyond darkness, deeper than pitchest black.
Buried beneath the flow of time..."

A dreadful sense of power begins to manifest in the air, the lights seeming to dim.

Ari kind of looks around wide-eyed. She doesn't say anything as to not interrupt, but kind of curls up on the futon, hiding all but her face under the blanket. Will it help, no, but it makes her feel better.

The growing tattoo curls around Raven's left arm, the head of the white and black snake resting on her upturned palm. The body of the snake disappears under Raven's shirt.

Skeeve, with arms spread, starts to float up off the ground, a whistling wind starting to swirl through the basement, ruffling hair and rattling the shelves and futon, just a little. His eyes closed, he continues to chant.

"From darkness to darkness, your voice echoes in the emptiness,
Unknown to death, nor known to life"

A ghastly blue light starts to fill the room from... ...somewhere.

Ari winces, grabbing onto the futon mattress. Again, doesn't help, but the futon is her personal safe space, so whatever works for her she'll do.

The outline of the snake tattoo lifts, and the outline is formed into electricity. The formed snake lifts its head up, looking right to Skeeve. It begins to hiss, and it sounds less like a snake's hiss and more like electrical current.

Skeeve, with his eyes closed, can't see the spirit's transformation. Which is good, because it would probably be making him more than a little nervous that it can get that much power from inside an active circle. He lifts up enough off the ground to straighten, the swirling wind taking on a terrifying howl, Skeeve's chant barely audible above the din.

"You who know the gate, who are the gate, the key and guardian of the gate:
"I bid you open the way for her, and scatter her power before me!"

With a guttural cry, Skeeve shoves his hands forwards, and there's a blinding flare of light as he pours an immense amount of power through the circle, obliterating the magic of his sleep spell in its attempt to simply shove the totem out of Raven, and into the slavering grasp of... ...something else.

The totem was right in one respect: the rules of her magic simply don't apply. She failed to remember, however, that her discovery also applies to everyone else and there's always magic more powerful or something that if you don't know it's coming, you can't defend against it. The electrical snake looks like it's about to strike, but instead screams a combination of hiss and a woman. The body of the snake gets shoved, and in that blinding flash of light she simply vanishes.

Ari watches the scene in horrified fascination, shielding her eyes from the light. Raven is still unconscious on the ground, but her hair is no longer purple, but back to the black she was named for.

There's a hideous slurping sound, and then all the light, and the glow, and the wind, and the magic circle, stops abruptly, as though it had never happened. Skeeve drops from the air and collapses onto his hand and knees, barely conscious himself.

Ari jumps up, shedding the blanket and running right to Skeeve, kneeling next to him. "What can I do?" she asks. "What can I get you?"

Rave groans a little, but is still out.

Skeeve is heaving for breath, looking simultaneously pale and flushed at the same time. He gestures vaguely in no direction in specific. "'m... I'm ok... check..." He groans a little, pushing hismelf back to a seated position. "...check on... your sister..."

Ari nods a little, kissing him on the cheek before standing and very hesitantly stepping over to Raven. "She's alive... and her hair's back to normal.." she kneels down by her sister, kind of poking her on the shoulder. "Hey, sis.. you alright?" After a few pokes Raven very slowly opens her eyes, but after a moment of realization she bolts upright, and tries to back away, and ends up backing right into wall.

Skeeve, after a few more moments, reaches over to grab the pitcher of lemonade, and, not bothering with a glass, simply pours as much of it into his mouth as he can, spilling rather a lot of it. Not that he cares about the mess. Gasping for breath, he sets the pitcher down, and says, "Raven... you back with us?"

Rave looks around a bit, honestly a bit unsure, and she gets to her feet with some effort. "I think so... well, if you can hear me I am... please tell me you can hear me."

Ari doesn't move towards Raven, and just nods. "Yeah, we can. Honest." she offers a hopefully reassuring smile.

Skeeve nods a few times weakly at that. "Yeah... yeah, we can hear you." He offers her a weak smile, then flops backwards to stretch out on the floor, chuckling weakly.

Rave puts her head in her hands and sighs. "Oh thank god. I've been screaming for years."

Ari looks back between the two, then walks over to Skeeve. "Need more lemonade or anything, babe?"

Skeeve shakes his head a few times at that, sitting up and getting back to his feet with a light groan. "No, no, I'll be okay... how are you, Raven, how do you feel?" As he waits for her to answer, he gives Raven another once over with his magical senses, trying to determine what, if anything, remains of the totem's presence.

Rave takes her time to think about that. "Awake, but... empty?" she pauses a moment, then lifts up her sleeve on her left arm. "Holy frag.. my tattoo is gone..." Between that and the scan, Skeeve

Ari nods to Skeeve, but for some reason doesn't move to him at all. "Alright."

Skeeve glances back at Ari at that news, looking a little confused as he steps over to her. "Well... there's no trace of the totem, Raven, so I'm guessing that's a good thing." Reaching out to lean on Ari, just a little, he says, "How about you, Ari... you okay?"

Rave nods a little. "Yeah, I just.. I need to go home, meet my kids all over again.." she says, obviously still not at full strength. "See what other damage control I can do."

Ari nods a little. "Yeah, I'm okay." she lets Skeeve lean on her, but doesn't put an arm around him, just stands there.

Skeeve blinks a few times at that, turning to look at Ari full on. "Are you sure? You're acting kinda str-" He trails off, face paling again as he realizes what it might be. Reaching up to touch a hand to the side of Ari's head, gently, he projects himself to see what's happened with the link between the totem and Ari, the link that he SHOULD have remembered in the first place.

Ari looks at Skeeve quizzically, but the link is gone. She blinks as well as she realizes what he's doing, then offers a little smile, shaking her head slightly.

Rave looks between the two of them, then down at the ground. "So, how do I get out of here?"

Skeeve lets out a great shuddering sigh of relief as it becomes clear that he didn't screw everything up. It takes him a few moments to pull himself together to look back over at Raven. "So... what, that's it? This has been going on for years, you finally have a chance to put things between you to rights, and you're not even going to talk to each other?"

Rave considers this for a moment, then lets out a long sigh. "Look, we should, but... I'm not angry. Hurt, yeah. Alone, sure, but.. as far as I'm concerned, we're even. I mean yeah, we got a bit of healing, but.."

Ari blinks at that, looking at Raven. "Even? How are we even?"

Skeeve puts a hand to his head for just a moment, shaking it lightly. "Raven... you don't have to be alone. Ari's here for you. *We* are here for you."

Rave shakes her head a little. "Not that kind of alone, Skeeve." She looks at Ari, and is about to say something, but doesn't.

Ari nibbles her lip a bit. "Sis, the stuff I was going through wasn't you. I'm really, really sorry about Jack, and if I could change it I would, and I know I can't bring him back, but I will do what I can to try to make it right somehow."

Skeeve has to bite something back when Raven decides not to say something. oO(..Must be a family trait..)Oo Shaking his head lightly, he says, "Should I give you two some time alone to talk?"

Rave shakes her head. "I want to go see my kids. Allie, we're even. Can we just leave it at that?"

Ari slips her hand into Skeeve's, squeezing a bit. "I.. I guess."

Skeeve squeezes Ari's hand a little as well, and gestures, the trap door in the ceiling opening with a dull thump. "Beach is east of here, but... try not to be a stranger, okay?"

Rave looks to the stairs and nods, making her way. "Thanks, and I'll visit, I promise. See you later, okay?"

Ari nods a bit. "Yeah, say hi to the kids for me." she manages a smile.

Skeeve manages to raise his hand in a wave, still looking like he got hit by a truck carrying lemonade. "If there are any side effects, let me know and I'll see what I can do to help. Stay safe, Raven."

Rave offers a half wave as she heads up the stairs. "Yeah, thanks. For everything." She heads out the trap door.

As soon as Raven's gone, Ari turns to Skeeve, letting out a massive exhale and wrapping her arms around him.

Skeeve staggers a little bit as Ari throws her arms around him. chuckling lightly, he says, "Didn't I say everything would turn out okay in the end?"

Ari nods a little, not letting up her embrace. "I know, and I'm sorry if I ever doubted you. Thank you."

Skeeve, still smiling lightly, strokes Ari's hair, just a little bit. "Don't worry about it. It's all part of the service, princess." He's quiet for a moment, then adds, "I should probably go get cleaned up. I'm covered in sweaty lemonade."

Ari blinks, then pulls back a little, her body armor now also covered in sweaty lemonade. "Probably a good idea." she chuckles a little. "I love you." she smiles up at him.

Skeeve lightly scrubs the back of his head a little bit. "I love you too, sweetheart... sorry to have sprung all of this on you, but I just kind of ran into her and one thing led to another. It was all spur of the moment."

Ari shakes her head. "I'm glad it happened, then, but mostly I'm glad you didn't get hurt." she smiles softly. "I don't know what I would have done if you got hurt.. or if I lost you."

Skeeve slips an arm around Ari's waist. "Ah, you'll not be rid of me that easily, princess." He starts towards the stairs, wearily. "C'mon, I need to go hit the hot tub, and I need someone to make sure my head stays above water."

Ari smiles at him. "That I can do, love."

|}}

2016-06-21 - Family Matters

2016-06-22T05:42:19Z

Skeeve: Created page with "{{Logsummary| Title = Family Matters |Summary = The assembled crew discuss the rivalry between the Von Tilsen sisters. |Who = Ari, Jack Karrde, Lee, Skeev..."

{{Logsummary|
Title = Family Matters
|Summary = The assembled crew discuss the rivalry between the Von Tilsen sisters.
|Who = [[Ari]], [[Jack Karrde]], [[Lee]], [[Skeeve]], [[Violet]]
|Date = June 21, 2016.
|Where = The Unusual Restaurant
|Log=

Lee without comments to the contrary, Lee hops over to take a seat next to Karrde, sitting on the edge and angling to let their tail hang off the end and around the side of the booth. Lee grins at the introduction. "Storyteller in paint and spare parts!" Lee confirms, but shakes their head at Violet's further words. "Haven't heard anything more from Minerva 'bout that. Figure Gloria must've gotten cold feet. Or uh... landing struts?" Lee looks curiously to Karrde as he shares history.

Violet laughs at Jack's comment about his time in the Star Wars universe. "Yeah, that totally sounds like you." She then frowns at the news that the mural deal apparently fell through. "Oh, bummer... Sorry to hear that..." She then looks to Jack, then back to Lee again. "Uhhh, Jack and Minerva are siblings. Aaaaand Jack's ship, Falcon, is... kinda Gloria's parent?" She looks to Jack for clarification on that one.

Skeeve chooses this particular moment to push open the door to the Unusual, making his way through the restaurant, and passes the jungle zone on his way to the bar. He offers a casual wave on his way past. "Hi, Violet. Evening, Lee, Jack." He's halfway to the bar before he stops, slowly turns to look back at the booth.

And Jack hmms, "Gloria is kinda Falcon's daughter. Back in the war we ran into a frigate, heavily damaged, that was running advanced AI systems. The AI was damaged but Falcon managed to salvage it, but due to the 'mental' damage, we set her with the mentality of a child as to help her with the trauma." he says with a shrug. "As she gets older she can unlock more of her abilities and slowly recover the memories she lost as she gains the ability to cope with it all." and as Skeeve walks in, the Outlaw looks at Skeeve and nods in greeting. Okay, he looks familiar and he searches his memories, "Skeeve, right? You're Skeeve Plowse?"

Lee nods in reply to Karrde, giving Violet an unconcerned shrug of the shoulder. "Still hoping to visit sometime. Maybe I can ask personally 'bout decorating." Lee looks back to Karrde curiously. "Commander of a space battleship?" Lee surmises, "with your own private fighter?" As Skeeve speaks up, Lee salutes with the beer bottle and smiles.

Violet waves back to Skeeve. "'Sup, Skeeve?" she says before turning back to Lee. "Well, that would describe me too, now." She then pauses. "Or it will describe me when all the bugs in Phoenix have been ironed out. I swear, if it's not one thing, it's another..."

Karrde nods slowly to Lee, "Yeah...Battlestar. A fusion of a Battleship and a carrier. A mile long and with the firepower to ruin someone's day." and he hmms, "Yeah..I do. Haven't flown it yet. Just assigned to me."

Skeeve nods a few times, strolling back to the booth. "Yeah, that's me alright. It's been a while, Jack, how've you been? When did you decide to come back?" He grabs a chair, pulls it up to the booth uninvited, and waves over a waitress.

Karrde hmms as Skeeve's questions. How best to answer. "Well..I guess I'm okay. If by okay I find I'm the alternate that spent 12 years trying to find his way home, and found out there was another version of me that got stupid drunk on power and knocked up a couple girls and decided to leave me to clean up his mess." and he sighs, "I really came back down to drop off something with Violet and maybe..maybe..start easing myself back into a life here. Such as it is."

Lee listens intently as Karrde explains Gloria, but blinks at the description of his ship. "A mile long? Well /that's/ a good-sized canvas! Also, there's gotta be a small army of janitors!" Lee glances cheerily to Skeeve as he sits. "What'd describe you, Violet?"

Violet raises an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah, just dropping off a little something, nothing of any consequense, just a multi-billion dollar variable fighter." She sighs and shakes her head before looking to Lee. "The whole 'Captain of a warship with a private fighter' thing."

Skeeve can't help but chuckle a little bit, as he orders another round for the table. "Yeah, must be tough, Vi, having a capital ship and a pimped-out ride at your disposal." He shakes his head lightly, grinning. "Well, you've always been good at making trouble for yourself, Jack. Either way it's good to see you again. You need any help acclimating, let me know. As long as it doesn't involve a place to sleep, anyway."

"Uh..." Lee remarks, looking from Karrde to Violet. "So he's actually 'close enough Dad' who comes with fewer half-siblings?" Lee adds, "Anyway, congrats on the command!"

Karrde looks at Lee for a moment and hmms,"Falcon might complain about that Lee," but he hmms and nods "I should introduce you to my Air Group Commander. I allow most of my pilots to customize their fighters. Perhaps a deal can be struck there." and he looks at Violet, "Well, you weren't complaining when you started petting the nose." he says in a teasing tone. And to Skeeve, "I got a place...my ship's in orbit now." and at the mention of trouble he rolls his eyes, "Honestly, after ending up in a Neo Style dimension that was in a state of war and fighting in it, I'd much rather just not start trouble and just focus on as I said 'picking up the pieces'." and he nods to Lee's comment, "Close enough. But I never had any kids..hell, I haven't dated in.." and he does some quick figuring, "Well..if you count the one date with Raven, before that..11 years. Closest I went on was when I had to infiltrate a party held by a corrupt senator. But my date was a agent as well."

Violet blinks and looks between Jack and Skeeve a moment. "Huh. I just realized you two are dating sisters. Um... Not that they're talking to each other, but..." She then frowns, apparently considering talking about something when Lee gets her attention again. "Huh? Uh, I wouldn't put it like that. He's my Pops, even if he's not from this dimension." She then looks back Jack. "Who said I wasn't incredibly thankful?! Or unhappy about this in the slightest? It's freaking awesome!"

Karrde hmms at Skeeve's offer, "I might take you up on it. Honestly save for Violet and Raven everyone's still convinced I'm the Jack Karrde you all knew for years. Tired of being judged."

Skeeve raises an eyebrow at that, as he accepts his drink from the waitress, who's come by with another drink for everyone. "So... you've seen Raven, then." He's quiet for a moment, staring down into his drink. "How'd she seem, to you?"

Lee grins at the remark about Falcon, then nods as Karrde explains his background. "Gotcha," Lee says to Violet. "Sounds like a pretty sticky situation, overlapping univserses and all."

Violet bites her lower lip lightly, then looks up to Skeeve, then to Jack, then back to Skeeve again. "Um... Yeah... About... uh, nevermind..." She blushes slightly and looks down at the drink now in front of her with a frown, torn with herself.

Karrde looks at Lee and Skeeve, "That's the response I was waiting for." he says with a familiar smirk appearing on his face. At Skeeve's comment, "Save for having a panic attack when Lishra drug me to her place. " and he takes the drink with a nod and also makes his order for some fries...he's paying for that by the way. "Decent..I can tell there's some major problems going on. I've seen it before during the war in people about to snap." he says with a grimace, "Right now I convinced her to get the kids and get off planet for a while. They're on the Athena having a blast and Raven I think has forgotten her problems for now." he tilts his head, "...I think she wants to marry my ship." and to Lee, "It is Lee, it's a hassle finding out someone else lived your life. LAst I remember I was dating Arikami. Skeeve and Kawatta were helping with that, then she vanishes and I go after them. Next thing I know..I'm in another world, and when I come here." he makes a vague gesture, "...What life? I got kids I never had. A bad reputation..and well..yeah. Sticky isn't the word for it."

Skeeve looks up at Violet, as though encouraging her to continue, but when she doesn't, he takes a sip of his drink, wishing there was alcohol in it. "Well... the last time I spoke to her, she was ranting a little, waving a gun around. Talked about some kind of faustian deal she'd made, but broken. Got into her sister's head." He sighs lightly. "I'm hoping she's doing... better."

At those words something in Jack changes, it's a outward change. He sits up a bit straighter, his eyes narrow and he looks at Skeeve, "Details now." he says in a tone that only Violet and maybe Skeeve have heard when they were around Kawatta, the voice of a commander. "I need to know everything about this situation. Both sides of it. All I got from her is that her sister drugged her and ran off with her and her kids. LEaving the other Karrde alone which caused him to fade away. I'm missing intelligence on this and I need to know all I can." he says as you can see his eyes flicker a bit, as he goes through all he knows and was told and is working up plans. Yep, this Jack is a new existence. More a thinker than raw power.

Lee looks curious, if confused, at the talk about Raven, busily inspecting the beer bottle meanwhile.

Violet bites her lip again, then looks up. "It's... Yeah, okay. I've kinda... been really bad at keeping an eye on her, I kept forgetting and..." She looks over at Jack, then back to Skeeve. "I was... kinda thinking about moving out... and in with Alexa, but, I don't know... I mean, then I'm spending even less time at the warehouse and..." she trails off, feeling guilty about possibly abandoning Raven but clearly very much wanting to move in with Alexa.

Skeeve sets his drink down, lacing his fingers together and steepling them, elbows on the table. "Alright, here's what little I know." He takes a deep breath. "Raven makes a deal; save her family, in exchange she's gotta kill a lotta people. She makes the deal, declines to honor her half. After shit went down, Ari drags Raven and the kids to France, with some highly questionable methods. Raven gets in the habit of using her sister for magical target practice when she's frustrated. About ten years later, they come back to NeoTokyo. At some point in this intervening time, either Raven or her totem has a spell hooked into Ari's head, feeding her all this poisonous stuff in her own voice. And it's been done delicately enough that I can't get it out, not without risking hurting her. We've taken steps to isolate the damage, but I for one would like to lift whatever geas Raven's under so maybe the two of them can reconcile."

With a nods Jack leans back crosses his arms over his chest as he mulls this over, "...I see." he says simply as he closes his eyes. "The biggest problem is it seems that Ari was the trigger that caused the...degeneration of her state. According to what I know, she was fighting it for years and Ari's stunt caused the situation to collapse in on itself." and he sighs slowly, "Putting them into the same room now would be a disaster waiting to happen." and he hmms, "Unless..we make it so Raven can't do anything to her." he says with a thoughtful look on his face.

Lee frowns and rubs at the back of their neck, remaining uncharacteristically quiet. With condensation from the beer bottle, Lee doodles something like a tree seen from above on the surface of the table.

Violet adds quietly, "The way Ari put it to me... She's been purposefully antagonizing Raven to be an outlet for Raven's anger... so it doesn't build up. If you... put them in the same room and made it so Ari couldn't get hurt... Then it might just piss Raven off to the tipping point."

Skeeve nods a little bit at that. "Yeah, I think pushing them together would be unwise. Vi's right, I think." He drains his drink, says, "What I'd really like to do is see if Raven will let me take a look at her, to see if I can break the geas, or even just determine that's what's really going on. She's not too fond of me right now, I'm led to understand."

Karrde nods, "Agreed on all points." and he looks at Skeeve as he orders another beer for Lee, "Sorry Lee, didn't expect this to get serious." he says with a shrug and a apologetic grin. And the Skeeve, "I could talk to her on your behalf. I'm the neutral party here. So..maybe."

Lee looks up at Karrde and grins weakly. "So... don't suppose anybody knows a family counselor who's a magic expert. And maybe indestructable?"

Violet nods slowly to Jack, still not making eye contact with anyone. "And I'm afraid if Raven found out I was still friends with Ari, she'd flip out on me..." She sighs, shaking her head, then groans. "I hate the whole sneaking around behind someone thing. I want this whole mess done and over with!"

Skeeve nods a little bit at that. "Well, if she seems stable for now, maybe it's better to let her and the kids have some peace before we start poking the metaphorical hornet's nest." He shakes his head lightly at that. "I don't blame you, Vi. It's a pretty untenable situation."

Karrde looks at Lee, "They need it..and the counselor needs to be armed to the teeth." and he grimaces a bit. "And yeah..I hate to say this but the situation, even from my outsider standpoint is..it's pretty horrible."

Skeeve has pulled a chair up to the edge of the Jungle booth, where Violet, Jack, and Lee all sit. There appears to be conversation going on.

Violet sighs and slumps significantly. "I feel like... like I've got three people pulling me three different directions in all this. And I'm afraid I'm being pulled in a direction that's... the least honorable."

"As another neutral party, I'm gonna have t' say the folks who're the most stable," Lee taps the side of their head, "probably ought t' be the ones taking most of the emotional hits so the ones who look like they're 'bout to lose it, don't. 'Specially if kids're involved." Lee adds, "By the way, I'm totally cool with moving on over there," Lee says, motioning to the other room, "if ya wanna talk about even more private stuff."

Skeeve shakes his head a little bit at that. "Follow your heart, Vi. You deserve some happiness after everything that's happened." He smiles at her. "Move in with your girl. Make each other deliriously happy." He shakes his head lightly, glancing over at Lee. "No, don't worry about it. I apologize for bringing this up, it was rude of me."

It's about this time that a certain half-elf literally dances into the place, earbuds blaring as she's doing who knows what on her PDA, making a beeline for the bar.

Karrde nods to Skeeve as he glances to Violet, "I'm with Skeeve here. Be happy. Not everyone gets that chance, and you'll kick yourself for not taking it." he says as a shadow passes over his face. Yeah, he's thinking of the life that he feels was taken from him. And he grimaces as he goes to dig out a cigarette. Yeah, he only smokes when he needs to think. "Not one word..I don't even drink anymore so allow me this."

Violet doesn't look too happy about the cigarette, but in the end just nods in response to the both of them. She definitely looks like she feels guilty about it still. She should be happy about having this kind of blessing to move in with Alexa, but she can't quite summon a smile yet. She finally looks up, about to say something, but then completely freezes up as she watches Ari walk past. "Uhhhh..." She then motions towards the aforementioned half-elf.

Lee shrugs a shoulder at Skeeve's apology. "Eh, sounds like a family talk was waaay overdue. I'm not gonna get in the way of that." Lee doesn't seem to notice Ari's arrival until Violet gestures toward her and also looks a little uncertain about what to say to her.

Skeeve chuckles a little bit at that. "Far be it for me to deny a man his vices." He turns, as Ari enters the room, and can't help but smile just a little. "I'll be right back." He hops up out of his chair, makes his way through the restaurant to come up behind her and pop one of her earphones out. "Hey, hot stuff!"

Ari jumps a little, then grins, taking the other earbud out. "Hey handsome!" she leans over and kisses Skeeve on the cheek. "Didn't know you were gonna be here." She smiles before ordering a beer.

Karrde looks at Skeeve and Ari, and to Skeeve he nods, "Ari, right?" he asks as he arches his eyebrow. And he notices Vi's look and puts the cig away and shrugs. Well, smoke later. He's sure he's still got a cigar on the Athena. One Falcon hasn't found yet.

And meanwhile, on the last Battlestar, Falcon grins as she flips down a panel on the planning table and pulls out the cigar, "Gotcha." and she crushes it with a satified smirk on her face.

Violet sighs and sits up. "I... probably should get myself back home, I... should get some sleep and think on this..." No, she's definitely still feeling guilty about it, despite what the two have told her.

Karrde nods to Vi, "...All right. I'll get with you later." he says with a look at his firstborn, "We can talk more if you want Vi. You know where to find me."
"I'll let ya know if I find that well-armed and immortal and non-judgemental family counselor," Lee says to Violet with an encouraging smile. "Catch ya later!"

Skeeve laces his fingers in with Ari's. "Well, neither did I. Out for a walk, wanted to try something new." Still holding on tight to Ari's hand, he offers a light wave to Vi and says, "Get some rest, then make the right choice, ok? Remember, happy is good." Glancing back at Ari he adds, casually, "Anyway, as a favour to me, no immediate pummeling, okay?"

Ari arches a brow at that. "Wait, what?" she notices the squeezing of the hand. "Pummeling? Who or what would I want to pummel?" she grabs the beer with her non-held hand.

Violet nods and waves to the others as she stands up. "I'll... I'll see you all later..." She then makes her way to the exit.

Karrde looks at Ari, "Hi..Ari right, Jack Karrde." Yeah, different aura..totally different look. "Remember Skeeve, I'm not him. Even you had to do a doubletake to make sure I was Jack Karrde." he says with a idle shrug.

Skeeve slips his other arm around Ari's waist as Jack reintroduces himself. "Maybe I'm remembering an outdated threat?" He smiles disarmingly at Ari, then glances back at Jack, "Oh, I recognized you alright."

Lee isn't sure what Ari and Skeeve are talking about over there, but still leans out from the booth to offer a smile and a wave to her.

Ari immediately tenses, and she puts the beer back on the bar before she slips her hand into her bag, and would try to hide behind Skeeve, but the whole arm around the waist thing prevents that.

Karrde looks at Skeeve, "Huh..I was told I looked different. What with the shorter hair..the fact I stopped wearing a long coat about 3 years ago." and he does some quick math, "About the time I woke up and decided being a hero was so not worth it. Better to be practical." and he notes Ari's reactions and you can see him give a long suffering sigh, "Skeeve, don't tell me, I can guess. She hated the other me, and as such she's scared of what he'd do to her or something like that." and he looks down into his drink and munches on his fries softly. "Let me finish this and I'll leave."

Skeeve just shoots Ari this look. "Ari... please don't do anything..." He pauses for the right word. "...hastily. It's really not the same guy, and he is trying to do the right thing." He glances sideways at Jack. "Long story, not sure it's for me to tell."

Ari takes a deep breath, and her hands slips back out of her bag, empty. She kind of narrows her eyes at Jack. It's not in a threatening way, but like she's trying to read him. "You... you're not the same Jack, are you?" She seems to relax a little.

Lee looks from Ari to Karrde with an uncomfortable expression after noticing her reaction. While Karrde is still eating, Lee stays on the end of his seat, unintentionally providing some more barrier between him and Ari than the distance between the bar and jungle-themes booth provides.

Karrde sighs and looks at Ari, "No." he says simply. And he grimaces, he knows that sounded short and tense but he's had to deal with this a lot. "Sorry, since I got to MU a couple years back I've been dealing with the crap he left in his wake. You didn't deserve that." he says softly. As for read, well..he's a walking tense nerve. He just now seems to be able to relax but yeah...frustration is his middle name.

Skeeve, still with one arm around Ari and the other hand in hers, looks back at the bartender. "Another round, please?" He starts meandering through the restaurant, back towards the booth.

Karrde says, "..Whiskey here. I think I need a drink...a strong one."

Ari thinks about this for a long moment, then actually smiles a little. "Well, then it's nice to actually meet you. I did hear of your existence, just well, nervous about running into you, is all." She leans into Skeeve.

Skeeve takes a seat on his chair, at the end of the booth, and pulls Ari down into his lap, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Sure, whiskey for everybody. A bottle, four glasses please."

Lee, for their part, is still hanging onto their original bottle of beer and hasn't yet gotten around to the second round that Skeeve ordered. "So's Violet the only one who's interested in how much ya /do/ have in common with the other guy?" Lee asks Karrde.

Skeeve interjects after Lee's question, "Hey, speak for yourself. I already played this game once - we've actually met before, this Jack and I."

Karrde looks at Skeeve, "When? This is the first time I was on planet for any length of time. Usually I looked around and shot outta here. Falcon's been planetside more than I. I've been..well..on the rim of the known galaxy." and he tilts his head at Lee, "Not really, she's more interested in well, rebuilding our relationship. The other me I heard was a bastard." and he gives Ari a look, gauging her almost. "From all I heard...I can understand. Here." and he reaches into his coat and pulls out a familiar blaster (Han Solo style), pulling the power cell he sets it on the counter and slides it to Ari and Skeeve, "Only weapon I got.."

Ari blinks at the blaster, then kind of pokes it back towards Jack. "Er.. don't need that. You haven't given me a reason to not trust you. Full disclosure, I have two combat knives on me. I haven't drawn them, so.. truce?"

"/Re-/building?" Lee says to Karrde with a confused look. Lee doesn't seem to have enough experience to worry about him reaching into a pocket, but does look mildly worried when they actually notice him putting it on the table.

Karrde nods and grins, "Fair enough. I just been dealing with people passing judgments due to what the..Phoenix did." he says as he picks up the blaster and slides the clip in place and holsters it in his coat again. "...I normally carry a arsenal but well, packed light. I was just dropping Violet's fighter off for her." and he looks at Lee, "Oh." and he pulls out notepad and writes something down and offers him the page, "Contact info for my Air Group Commander. Maybe you and him can work out a deal for custom paintjobs for the fighters in my Squadrons." he grins, "I have over 1000 fighters." he says with a smirk. And at Lee's comment of rebuilding. "In my timeline, Violet and I..our relationship was not the best. After well...all that happened I felt I should take the chances given to me and well..fix things. Violet's one of them." and he nods to Ari, "Seems she's another one that hated his guts."

Skeeve chuckles lightly at that, shaking his head lightly. "Yeah, I remember the conversation you and I and Kawatta had right before you took off. It didn't go well. There are some... issues, when it comes to your alternate self and Ari, but nothing unresolvable, I think." He sighs a little bit, rolling his shoulders. "Either way, tomorrow is a new day, full of more opportunities to do things better, right?" He murmurs a quiet spell, and his drink floats up off the table to his mouth, before setting back down.

Ari gives the patented von Tilsen nose wrinkle as she thinks a moment. Jack would notice that well, Raven wrinkles her nose in the exact same way. "I was nineteen, I did something extremely stupid." She sighs softly. "I've been paying for it for a decade." She takes a glass of the whiskey and chugs it.

Lee blinks at Karrde's employment opportunity. "Woah..." Lee takes the piece of paper, looking from it to Karrde. "Thanks!" Still somewhat distracted by that, Lee mentions, "Maybe it'd be better to say you're starting something new even with her? I mean, I'd be really glad to have even someone sorta like family here, so I can see where Violet's coming from. But I dunno about claiming some alternate-universe-twin's relationships as your own, 'specially when a lot of people aren't too thrilled with the guy."

Karrde looks at Skeeve and his eyes narrow as he remembers that, "...Yeah. I think I remember that. I'm wishing you guys HAD stunned me or knocked me out." he sighs, "Sorry Skeeve, I know I screwed up now. Back then..bad place. UN dismissed me, 'Kami went missing. I wanted to go." and he shakes his head, "And look what it got me. Twelve years fighting someone else's war. And when I finally get back. Well, what life. I find the Phoenix took over my life and hell nuked every bridge he could. I heard Kawatta hated my guts. I'm banned from working with the NTSDF in any official capacity." he looks at Ari, "Seems we're both paying for things. Me, the sins of someone else and you, for being young and stupid." and he tips his glass in her direction. And he looks at Lee, "..Lee, it was my life before he ruined it. I.." he sighs, "I feel I have to fix it or else I'll never be able to HAVE a life. Call it stupidly naive and idealistic. But...it's me. A lot of these people used to be my friends. And also..Violet is my daughter. Like I said, it's rebuilding it. As Skeeve put it, I am from Neo..but my timeline is skewed as I left some years back. Well, I managed to return and well..you can guess the rest. Some other version fucked up everything. And again, some of these people were friends so I feel I should try to fix it."

Skeeve shakes his head a little bit. "Well, I remember some of that too. It was a tense time, but, it's in the past. As far as I'm concerned, Jack, you and I, we're still cool." He shrugs lightly, says, "We've all done stupid things that we regret. But we're still around to fix our mistakes, right?"

Ari kind of runs her finger around the rim of the glass. "Yeah, but there's no fixing what I did. Fairly sure I'm not done paying my due on that." she bites her lip a little.

And that's about the time a wad of paper goes to hit Ari between the eyes. Yes, Jack threw it, "None of that. You're alive so you have a chance." he points out. "And as for stupid stunts. Talk to Falcon and my fleet, they have a list of dumb things I've done." Yes, he said fleet.

Skeeve catches the paper before it can hit the ground with telekinesis, flicks it back towards Jack. "Hey... no sense losing hope until it's impossible, right? You're both still alive, so there's still hope." He leans in to kiss Ari lightly on the back of the head.

Ari shakes her head at Jack. "You don't know my sister. Once she's got her sights on someone..." she sighs. "It's kind of what she does. I'm fairly sure the only reason I'm still breathing is because of the kids. Though she hasn't threatened me lately, so maybe there's a chance." she leans back into Skeeve.

And Jack catches the paper and hmms as he stuffs it into his jacket. "Well, if it helps she's off the grid now. Thanks to Lishra pulling a stunt I met her." he shrugs, "I saw someone with a lotta problems so right now." he points up, "Off planet on my ship." he sighs a bit and slumps, "I think Raven wants to marry my Battlestar. She took one look at it and I swear I saw hearts in her eyes."

Lee frowns slightly at Ari's theory, but then looks over to Karrde. "Guess the important first question's whether your Battlestar's single and into humanoids," Lee remarks amiably.

Karrde looks at Lee, "....Lee, for my sanity I am not going to say much save my ship is sentient. It's a woman..and due to the fact she has a holo avatar so she can look like anyone and yes, even give the right equipment." and he downs the whiskey in a single gulp. And he winces as he looks at the bar, you can see him debating how much he's gonna have to drink forget that mental image.

Skeeve chuckles a little bit at that... well, really, it's more of a snicker, or even a giggle. "Remember when Arikami thought you were cheating on her with your spaceship?" He snickers some more.

Ari blinks a little at Jack. "Wait... Raven's been with you this whole time?" She takes a moment to process that. "You were the one Lish was excited about hanging out with. Her blog doesn't name names."

Lee looks intrigued by Karrde's remark about the ship, but at least for the moment respects his 'not going to say much'. And apparently Skeeve has some details of his own to add. Lee asks Skeeve curiously after Ari's question, "Lish's one of the kids?"

Skeeve, still giggling a little bit, nods at that. "Yeah, one of the twins." He seems to be mostly calming down.

Ari nods. "The selfie loving, blogging, mechanically inclined preteen." she smiles a little. "She will take your picture if she meets you. It's just what she does. That and trying to sneak in the Usual."

Skeeve says, with a tone of fond reminisence, "I haven't seen the twins since they were toddler little... hope they're doing okay."

Karrde looks at Skeeve, "Yeah, she didn't know who Falcon was at that point." he chuckles a bit, "God that was just wrong." and she nods to Ari, "Yeah. From what Falcon and I gather, she wanted to do a selfie on a space ship. Well, it took off with her in it. Thankfully the crew worked for me so they contacted me and told me where she was. She almost ended up getting caught by slavers had Falcon and I not interceded on her behalf." he shrugs. "After a out of nowhere glomp and figuring out what was going on. I took her home, which led to me meeting Raven." he sighs, "Poor woman thought I was gonna cuss her out when she saw me."

Ari frowns slightly, hunching her shoulders and adverting her eyes. "Yeah, that was my fault. Completely."

Lee looks curiously to Skeeve trying to suppress laughter, then grins at Ari's description. "Not supposed to be in the Restaurant?" Lee guesses. As Karrde tells the story, Lee leans in to listen.

Karrde looks at Skeeve, "Skeeve..bop her upside the head please." he sighs, "Listen, saying this now. I don't know what happened..and yes, later on I might ask so I have the full picture so I know how to help fix it." and he looks at Lee, "Raven made her recite the rules of going into the UR, which sometimes, unless that changes. Is a place you don't go into unless you have body armor and are armed to the teeth." he grimaces, "Most of my plans involving going to the UR on a bad day start with 'After the strafing runs and orbital bombardment are done'.

Skeeve squeezes Ari around the waist in a hug. "It happens, Ari. But it's not to say that we can't make amends." He leans in to kiss her upside the head - he figures that's technical enough to count. At Lee's question, he adds, "If I had a kid, I wouldn't let her in the Usual either..." He's quiet for a moment, then, after staring at it just a moment too long picks his glass of whiskey up off the table and drains it in one go.

Ari wrinkles her nose a bit, still frowning. "I grew up with Raven. Once she wants someone... taken care of, it'll happen. Even if it's the long game." she blinks at what Skeeve says, then snuggles back into him, hugging his arms around her.

Karrde looks at Ari, "Yeah..well, you forget something. You're not alone.." he points out as he finishes his drink. "Anyway, I need to get on. I need to check my fighter over before heading back to the Athena." he sighs, "Dammit..I promised Em a flight."

"Huh," Lee remarks thoughtfully Karrde and Skeeve's assessment of the restaurant. "Guess I've been lucky." Lee frowns at Ari's characterization. "Maybe delegate some worrying?" Lee suggests. As Karrde excuses himself, Lee slides out of the seat and hops to their feet. "Nice meeting ya." Lee waves the paper. "And thanks!"

Skeeve sets the glass back down on the table. "And besides, Ari... she didn't kill him, did she?" He angles his head towards Jack. "So it's entirely possible she could change her mind." Looking up and over at Jack, he adds, "Don't be a stranger, okay? I've lost enough old friends for one lifetime."

Ari sighs. "It's not him she's mad at." she looks at Jack. "Nice meeting you. And please... tell the kids I said hi? I miss them."

Karrde nods as he gets out of the booth, "No problem. Like I said, get with him and work out something." and he nods to Skeeve, "I'll be around." and he pulls out a comlink, "Here..satcom link. Even if I'm at the Outlaw Base as Laconis Prime you can reach me via that. When we get settled in I'll show you both around." and he looks at Ari and nods at the comlink he's offering, "Any messages just let me know and I'll pass them along." and he hmms, "As for Raven..I'll keep her occupied."

Skeeve takes the satcom link thoughtfully, tucks it into his breast pocket. "Thanks. And Jack... it's good to have you back."

Ari nods a little. "It is... and thanks." she says quietly.

Karrde nods, "Well..I would say it's good to be back but..I don't wanna jinx it. I have 12 years missing. It.." he sighs, "It's gonna be interesting." he grimaces, "...Skeeve, if you see Akiya and them, don't tell them. Not ready yet." he says as he reaches into his coat and drops some bills on the table, "Covering the bill. Anyway." he gives a nod, "Later." and like that he heads on.

Lee plops back down on the edge of the seat after Karrde vacates it and curls their tail over the end. Lee smiles and nods at his reminder about the job tip. Lee looks from Ari back to Karrde with Ari's request.

Skeeve lets out a sigh, then smiles lightly. "Well, that went better than I expected. But..." and here he stands, scooping Ari up enough in his arms to avoid dumping her onto the floor. "We should probably get home, should we not?"

Ari eeps! and blinks from the sudden scooping. "Er.. okay?" she chuckles a little, then looks at Lee. "We need to get together and talk about color pallets for the club. Catch up with you later?"

Lee grins at Ari's surprise. "Sure thing!" Lee replies to her. "And catch ya later, Skeeve!"

Skeeve, still holding Ari rather close, pulls out his D-Hopper, and, saluting Lee with it, hits the 'return' button, and the two disappear in a burst of smoke.

|}}

Skeeve

2016-05-10T00:14:56Z

Skeeve:

{{Profile|
|Image=Skeeve.png
|Name=Skeeve Plowse... or Sarah Plowse...
|Series=Mythadventures
|Class=Wizard
|Alignment=At a Jaunty Angle
|Gender=Depends... is it raining?
|Species=Klahdish
|Age=Mid 20's, maybe?
|Birthdate=December 23rd
|Height=6'4" or 5'11"
|Weight=Around 180 lbs
|Short=Sometimes a tall, slender man, sometimes a tall, curvaceous woman. Often dresses in a lot of purple and black.

|Desc=The man before you is tall enough that he has almost a full head of height on most average people, perhaps 6'3 or 6'4. His windswept brown hair looks a little mussed, a few wisps of it hanging down over his bright, forest green eyes.

His clothing, however, is what makes him really stand out. Sitting atop his head is a large brimmed purple hat, tilted at a slight angle. Tucked into a band wrapped around the hat is a black feather. Draped about his shoulders is a flowing cape, the same deep purple color as the hat. A half inch or so around the edge is gilded with a gold fabric. The cape itself is fastened around his neck with a pin, fashioned of purest siver with a beautiful emerald set square in the center. He's wearing a nearly form-fitting, pitch black breastplate, that all light just seems to fall into. Around his forearms, he's wearing a pair of black bracers. Underneath that, he's wearing a black, somewhat billowy tunic. The sleeves are rolled up to mid-forearm, and gilded with that same gold material. It's cinched about his waist with a broad belt, and his black pants are hidden at the shins by a set of black shinguards. All of his armor is edged by a mithral silver gilding.

Slung over his shoulder and tucked under his cape is a black travel bag, tightly buckled closed. At his waist he has a large two handed bastard sword, with a curious looking crossguard. The sword looks hefty, but he moves as if it's not even there. On his opposite hip is a pouch, filled with strange objects. When he moves, he does so gracefully, with confidence.

Sarah looks surprisingly similar to Skeeve, almost like his twin sister. She's shorter, maybe six feet at the most, and her hair is much longer, falling in a cascade down to the small of her back. Even though she's four inches shorter, she's about the same weight, and it shows in her build, much more curvaceous and rounded than his male form.

|Skills=Skeeve is, first and foremost, a consummate wizard. He's spent decades studying magical knowledge, from dozens of different dimensions and traditions, and makes a point of accumulating knowledge. He thinks of magic as something of a science, and it shows in his approach; he's capable of dimensional warping, elemental magic, divinations, transmutations, enchanting items, and even summonings. Admittedly, healing magic is not his forte.

Skeeve is also capable of projecting his consciousness into the astral plane; either momentarily, in order to see auras and magical power, or at length, in order to project his astral self out of his body. As someone who routinely channels magic, Skeeve enjoys the benefits of mana's anti-agathic properties; a vastly extended lifespan, and good health. Although it doesn't translate into a mutant healing factor or anything like that, as long as he survives a wound he will eventually heal it.

Skeeve is also an accomplished adventurer; he's a great fencer and fighter, although well within physical norms for a human. He's in good physical shape, and enjoys picking up mundane skills and knowledge when and where he can; he reads, is a competent cook, and has never met a pop-culture reference he didn't like.

Not really a skill, per se, Skeeve has also fallen victim to the cursed waters of Juusenkyou, specifically a dousing in waters from the spring of Nyannīchuan, before it was paved over. The curse turns him into a female version of himself whenever he's doused with cold water, and will change him back when doused with hot water. Changing back and forth too often tends to make him a little queasy.

|MusicEmbed= See [[Theme_Music]] for help with this section.
|Logs={{Template:Logs}}
|}} 
==Background==
First rising to any notability as the court magician of the Kladish kingdom of Possiltum, Skeeve then segued from there to becoming the President of MYTH Inc., a corporation of magical troubleshooters. After a wildly successful run as president, Skeeve left in order to get back to basics, and increase his magical knowledge.

Skeeve spent a long ten years travelling dimensions, learning magic whenever and wherever he came, until he found himself in the dimensional dumping-point that is NeoTokyo. After many misadventures there, Skeeve's continued adventures showed him a way amongst the web of interconnected dimensions, where he found a way back to the freshly restored NeoTokyo. Maybe there he can find what he's looking for...

==Notes==
<references />

[[Category:Active]]

Skeeve

2016-05-10T00:13:42Z

Skeeve:

{{Profile|
|Image=Skeeve.png
|Name={{Skeeve}} Plowse... or Sarah Plowse...
|Series=Mythadventures
|Class=Wizard
|Alignment=At a Jaunty Angle
|Gender=Depends... is it raining?
|Species=Klahdish
|Age=Mid 20's, maybe?
|Birthdate=December 23rd
|Height=6'4" or 5'11"
|Weight=Around 180 lbs
|Short=Sometimes a tall, slender man, sometimes a tall, curvaceous woman. Often dresses in a lot of purple and black.

|Desc=The man before you is tall enough that he has almost a full head of height on most average people, perhaps 6'3 or 6'4. His windswept brown hair looks a little mussed, a few wisps of it hanging down over his bright, forest green eyes.

His clothing, however, is what makes him really stand out. Sitting atop his head is a large brimmed purple hat, tilted at a slight angle. Tucked into a band wrapped around the hat is a black feather. Draped about his shoulders is a flowing cape, the same deep purple color as the hat. A half inch or so around the edge is gilded with a gold fabric. The cape itself is fastened around his neck with a pin, fashioned of purest siver with a beautiful emerald set square in the center. He's wearing a nearly form-fitting, pitch black breastplate, that all light just seems to fall into. Around his forearms, he's wearing a pair of black bracers. Underneath that, he's wearing a black, somewhat billowy tunic. The sleeves are rolled up to mid-forearm, and gilded with that same gold material. It's cinched about his waist with a broad belt, and his black pants are hidden at the shins by a set of black shinguards. All of his armor is edged by a mithral silver gilding.

Slung over his shoulder and tucked under his cape is a black travel bag, tightly buckled closed. At his waist he has a large two handed bastard sword, with a curious looking crossguard. The sword looks hefty, but he moves as if it's not even there. On his opposite hip is a pouch, filled with strange objects. When he moves, he does so gracefully, with confidence.

Sarah looks surprisingly similar to Skeeve, almost like his twin sister. She's shorter, maybe six feet at the most, and her hair is much longer, falling in a cascade down to the small of her back. Even though she's four inches shorter, she's about the same weight, and it shows in her build, much more curvaceous and rounded than his male form.

|Skills=Skeeve is, first and foremost, a consummate wizard. He's spent decades studying magical knowledge, from dozens of different dimensions and traditions, and makes a point of accumulating knowledge. He thinks of magic as something of a science, and it shows in his approach; he's capable of dimensional warping, elemental magic, divinations, transmutations, enchanting items, and even summonings. Admittedly, healing magic is not his forte.

Skeeve is also capable of projecting his consciousness into the astral plane; either momentarily, in order to see auras and magical power, or at length, in order to project his astral self out of his body. As someone who routinely channels magic, Skeeve enjoys the benefits of mana's anti-agathic properties; a vastly extended lifespan, and good health. Although it doesn't translate into a mutant healing factor or anything like that, as long as he survives a wound he will eventually heal it.

Skeeve is also an accomplished adventurer; he's a great fencer and fighter, although well within physical norms for a human. He's in good physical shape, and enjoys picking up mundane skills and knowledge when and where he can; he reads, is a competent cook, and has never met a pop-culture reference he didn't like.

Not really a skill, per se, Skeeve has also fallen victim to the cursed waters of Juusenkyou, specifically a dousing in waters from the spring of Nyannīchuan, before it was paved over. The curse turns him into a female version of himself whenever he's doused with cold water, and will change him back when doused with hot water. Changing back and forth too often tends to make him a little queasy.

|MusicEmbed= See [[Theme_Music]] for help with this section.
|Logs={{Template:Logs}}
|}} 
==Background==
First rising to any notability as the court magician of the Kladish kingdom of Possiltum, Skeeve then segued from there to becoming the President of MYTH Inc., a corporation of magical troubleshooters. After a wildly successful run as president, Skeeve left in order to get back to basics, and increase his magical knowledge.

Skeeve spent a long ten years travelling dimensions, learning magic whenever and wherever he came, until he found himself in the dimensional dumping-point that is NeoTokyo. After many misadventures there, Skeeve's continued adventures showed him a way amongst the web of interconnected dimensions, where he found a way back to the freshly restored NeoTokyo. Maybe there he can find what he's looking for...

==Notes==
<references />

[[Category:Active]]

File:Skeeve.png

2016-05-10T00:13:00Z

Skeeve: Art by: http://foxfirestorm.deviantart.com/

Art by: http://foxfirestorm.deviantart.com/

File:Skeeve-icon.gif

2016-05-10T00:08:25Z

Skeeve: Art by: http://foxfirestorm.deviantart.com/

Art by: http://foxfirestorm.deviantart.com/

Skeeve

2016-05-09T23:53:39Z

Skeeve:

{{Profile|
|Image=skeeveicon.gif
|Name={{Skeeve}} Plowse... or Sarah Plowse...
|Series=Mythadventures
|Class=Wizard
|Alignment=At a Jaunty Angle
|Gender=Depends... is it raining?
|Species=Klahdish
|Age=Mid 20's, maybe?
|Birthdate=December 23rd
|Height=6'4" or 5'11"
|Weight=Around 180 lbs
|Short=Sometimes a tall, slender man, sometimes a tall, curvaceous woman. Often dresses in a lot of purple and black.

|Desc=The man before you is tall enough that he has almost a full head of height on most average people, perhaps 6'3 or 6'4. His windswept brown hair looks a little mussed, a few wisps of it hanging down over his bright, forest green eyes.

His clothing, however, is what makes him really stand out. Sitting atop his head is a large brimmed purple hat, tilted at a slight angle. Tucked into a band wrapped around the hat is a black feather. Draped about his shoulders is a flowing cape, the same deep purple color as the hat. A half inch or so around the edge is gilded with a gold fabric. The cape itself is fastened around his neck with a pin, fashioned of purest siver with a beautiful emerald set square in the center. He's wearing a nearly form-fitting, pitch black breastplate, that all light just seems to fall into. Around his forearms, he's wearing a pair of black bracers. Underneath that, he's wearing a black, somewhat billowy tunic. The sleeves are rolled up to mid-forearm, and gilded with that same gold material. It's cinched about his waist with a broad belt, and his black pants are hidden at the shins by a set of black shinguards. All of his armor is edged by a mithral silver gilding.

Slung over his shoulder and tucked under his cape is a black travel bag, tightly buckled closed. At his waist he has a large two handed bastard sword, with a curious looking crossguard. The sword looks hefty, but he moves as if it's not even there. On his opposite hip is a pouch, filled with strange objects. When he moves, he does so gracefully, with confidence.

Sarah looks surprisingly similar to Skeeve, almost like his twin sister. She's shorter, maybe six feet at the most, and her hair is much longer, falling in a cascade down to the small of her back. Even though she's four inches shorter, she's about the same weight, and it shows in her build, much more curvaceous and rounded than his male form.

|Skills=Skeeve is, first and foremost, a consummate wizard. He's spent decades studying magical knowledge, from dozens of different dimensions and traditions, and makes a point of accumulating knowledge. He thinks of magic as something of a science, and it shows in his approach; he's capable of dimensional warping, elemental magic, divinations, transmutations, enchanting items, and even summonings. Admittedly, healing magic is not his forte.

Skeeve is also capable of projecting his consciousness into the astral plane; either momentarily, in order to see auras and magical power, or at length, in order to project his astral self out of his body. As someone who routinely channels magic, Skeeve enjoys the benefits of mana's anti-agathic properties; a vastly extended lifespan, and good health. Although it doesn't translate into a mutant healing factor or anything like that, as long as he survives a wound he will eventually heal it.

Skeeve is also an accomplished adventurer; he's a great fencer and fighter, although well within physical norms for a human. He's in good physical shape, and enjoys picking up mundane skills and knowledge when and where he can; he reads, is a competent cook, and has never met a pop-culture reference he didn't like.

Not really a skill, per se, Skeeve has also fallen victim to the cursed waters of Juusenkyou, specifically a dousing in waters from the spring of Nyannīchuan, before it was paved over. The curse turns him into a female version of himself whenever he's doused with cold water, and will change him back when doused with hot water. Changing back and forth too often tends to make him a little queasy.

|MusicEmbed= See [[Theme_Music]] for help with this section.
|Logs={{Template:Logs}}
|}} 
==Background==
First rising to any notability as the court magician of the Kladish kingdom of Possiltum, Skeeve then segued from there to becoming the President of MYTH Inc., a corporation of magical troubleshooters. After a wildly successful run as president, Skeeve left in order to get back to basics, and increase his magical knowledge.

Skeeve spent a long ten years travelling dimensions, learning magic whenever and wherever he came, until he found himself in the dimensional dumping-point that is NeoTokyo. After many misadventures there, Skeeve's continued adventures showed him a way amongst the web of interconnected dimensions, where he found a way back to the freshly restored NeoTokyo. Maybe there he can find what he's looking for...

==Notes==
<references />

[[Category:Active]]

Skeeve

2016-05-09T23:50:15Z

Skeeve:

{{Profile|
|Image=Missing.jpg
|Name={{Skeeve}} Plowse... or Sarah Plowse...
|Series=Mythadventures
|Class=Wizard
|Alignment=At a Jaunty Angle
|Gender=Depends... is it raining?
|Species=Klahdish
|Age=Mid 20's, maybe?
|Birthdate=December 23rd
|Height=6'4" or 5'11"
|Weight=Around 180 lbs
|Short=Sometimes a tall, slender man, sometimes a tall, curvaceous woman. Often dresses in a lot of purple and black.

|Desc=The man before you is tall enough that he has almost a full head of height on most average people, perhaps 6'3 or 6'4. His windswept brown hair looks a little mussed, a few wisps of it hanging down over his bright, forest green eyes.

His clothing, however, is what makes him really stand out. Sitting atop his head is a large brimmed purple hat, tilted at a slight angle. Tucked into a band wrapped around the hat is a black feather. Draped about his shoulders is a flowing cape, the same deep purple color as the hat. A half inch or so around the edge is gilded with a gold fabric. The cape itself is fastened around his neck with a pin, fashioned of purest siver with a beautiful emerald set square in the center. He's wearing a nearly form-fitting, pitch black breastplate, that all light just seems to fall into. Around his forearms, he's wearing a pair of black bracers. Underneath that, he's wearing a black, somewhat billowy tunic. The sleeves are rolled up to mid-forearm, and gilded with that same gold material. It's cinched about his waist with a broad belt, and his black pants are hidden at the shins by a set of black shinguards. All of his armor is edged by a mithral silver gilding.

Slung over his shoulder and tucked under his cape is a black travel bag, tightly buckled closed. At his waist he has a large two handed bastard sword, with a curious looking crossguard. The sword looks hefty, but he moves as if it's not even there. On his opposite hip is a pouch, filled with strange objects. When he moves, he does so gracefully, with confidence.

Sarah looks surprisingly similar to Skeeve, almost like his twin sister. She's shorter, maybe six feet at the most, and her hair is much longer, falling in a cascade down to the small of her back. Even though she's four inches shorter, she's about the same weight, and it shows in her build, much more curvaceous and rounded than his male form.

|Skills=Skeeve is, first and foremost, a consummate wizard. He's spent decades studying magical knowledge, from dozens of different dimensions and traditions, and makes a point of accumulating knowledge. He thinks of magic as something of a science, and it shows in his approach; he's capable of dimensional warping, elemental magic, divinations, transmutations, enchanting items, and even summonings. Admittedly, healing magic is not his forte.

Skeeve is also capable of projecting his consciousness into the astral plane; either momentarily, in order to see auras and magical power, or at length, in order to project his astral self out of his body. As someone who routinely channels magic, Skeeve enjoys the benefits of mana's anti-agathic properties; a vastly extended lifespan, and good health. Although it doesn't translate into a mutant healing factor or anything like that, as long as he survives a wound he will eventually heal it.

Skeeve is also an accomplished adventurer; he's a great fencer and fighter, although well within physical norms for a human. He's in good physical shape, and enjoys picking up mundane skills and knowledge when and where he can; he reads, is a competent cook, and has never met a pop-culture reference he didn't like.

Not really a skill, per se, Skeeve has also fallen victim to the cursed waters of Juusenkyou, specifically a dousing in waters from the spring of Nyannīchuan, before it was paved over. The curse turns him into a female version of himself whenever he's doused with cold water, and will change him back when doused with hot water. Changing back and forth too often tends to make him a little queasy.

|MusicEmbed= See [[Theme_Music]] for help with this section.
|Logs={{Template:Logs}}
|}} 
==Background==
First rising to any notability as the court magician of the Kladish kingdom of Possiltum, Skeeve then segued from there to becoming the President of MYTH Inc., a corporation of magical troubleshooters. After a wildly successful run as president, Skeeve left in order to get back to basics, and increase his magical knowledge.

Skeeve spent a long ten years travelling dimensions, learning magic whenever and wherever he came, until he found himself in the dimensional dumping-point that is NeoTokyo, later MU. After many misadventures there, Skeeve's continued adventures showed him a way amongst the web of interconnected dimensions, where he found a way back to the freshly restored NeoTokyo. Maybe there he can find what he's looking for...

==Notes==
<references />

[[Category:Active]]

Skeeve

2016-05-09T23:49:46Z

Skeeve: Created page with "{{Profile| |Image=Missing.jpg |Name={{Skeeve}} Plowse... or Sarah Plowse... |Series=Mythadventures / The World Is... |Class=Wizard |Alignment=At a Jaunty Angle |Gender=Depends..."

{{Profile|
|Image=Missing.jpg
|Name={{Skeeve}} Plowse... or Sarah Plowse...
|Series=Mythadventures / The World Is...
|Class=Wizard
|Alignment=At a Jaunty Angle
|Gender=Depends... is it raining?
|Species=Klahdish
|Age=Mid 20's, maybe?
|Birthdate=December 23rd
|Height=6'4" or 5'11"
|Weight=Around 180 lbs
|Short=Sometimes a tall, slender man, sometimes a tall, curvaceous woman. Often dresses in a lot of purple and black.

|Desc=The man before you is tall enough that he has almost a full head of height on most average people, perhaps 6'3 or 6'4. His windswept brown hair looks a little mussed, a few wisps of it hanging down over his bright, forest green eyes.

His clothing, however, is what makes him really stand out. Sitting atop his head is a large brimmed purple hat, tilted at a slight angle. Tucked into a band wrapped around the hat is a black feather. Draped about his shoulders is a flowing cape, the same deep purple color as the hat. A half inch or so around the edge is gilded with a gold fabric. The cape itself is fastened around his neck with a pin, fashioned of purest siver with a beautiful emerald set square in the center. He's wearing a nearly form-fitting, pitch black breastplate, that all light just seems to fall into. Around his forearms, he's wearing a pair of black bracers. Underneath that, he's wearing a black, somewhat billowy tunic. The sleeves are rolled up to mid-forearm, and gilded with that same gold material. It's cinched about his waist with a broad belt, and his black pants are hidden at the shins by a set of black shinguards. All of his armor is edged by a mithral silver gilding.

Slung over his shoulder and tucked under his cape is a black travel bag, tightly buckled closed. At his waist he has a large two handed bastard sword, with a curious looking crossguard. The sword looks hefty, but he moves as if it's not even there. On his opposite hip is a pouch, filled with strange objects. When he moves, he does so gracefully, with confidence.

Sarah looks surprisingly similar to Skeeve, almost like his twin sister. She's shorter, maybe six feet at the most, and her hair is much longer, falling in a cascade down to the small of her back. Even though she's four inches shorter, she's about the same weight, and it shows in her build, much more curvaceous and rounded than his male form.

|Skills=Skeeve is, first and foremost, a consummate wizard. He's spent decades studying magical knowledge, from dozens of different dimensions and traditions, and makes a point of accumulating knowledge. He thinks of magic as something of a science, and it shows in his approach; he's capable of dimensional warping, elemental magic, divinations, transmutations, enchanting items, and even summonings. Admittedly, healing magic is not his forte.

Skeeve is also capable of projecting his consciousness into the astral plane; either momentarily, in order to see auras and magical power, or at length, in order to project his astral self out of his body. As someone who routinely channels magic, Skeeve enjoys the benefits of mana's anti-agathic properties; a vastly extended lifespan, and good health. Although it doesn't translate into a mutant healing factor or anything like that, as long as he survives a wound he will eventually heal it.

Skeeve is also an accomplished adventurer; he's a great fencer and fighter, although well within physical norms for a human. He's in good physical shape, and enjoys picking up mundane skills and knowledge when and where he can; he reads, is a competent cook, and has never met a pop-culture reference he didn't like.

Not really a skill, per se, Skeeve has also fallen victim to the cursed waters of Juusenkyou, specifically a dousing in waters from the spring of Nyannīchuan, before it was paved over. The curse turns him into a female version of himself whenever he's doused with cold water, and will change him back when doused with hot water. Changing back and forth too often tends to make him a little queasy.

|MusicEmbed= See [[Theme_Music]] for help with this section.
|Logs={{Template:Logs}}
|}} 
==Background==
First rising to any notability as the court magician of the Kladish kingdom of Possiltum, Skeeve then segued from there to becoming the President of MYTH Inc., a corporation of magical troubleshooters. After a wildly successful run as president, Skeeve left in order to get back to basics, and increase his magical knowledge.

Skeeve spent a long ten years travelling dimensions, learning magic whenever and wherever he came, until he found himself in the dimensional dumping-point that is NeoTokyo, later MU. After many misadventures there, Skeeve's continued adventures showed him a way amongst the web of interconnected dimensions, where he found a way back to the freshly restored NeoTokyo. Maybe there he can find what he's looking for...

==Notes==
<references />

[[Category:Active]]

2016-03-25 - Tron Bonne's First Robbery

2016-05-08T06:09:38Z

Skeeve: Created page with "{{Logsummary| Title = Tron Bonne's First Robbery Attempt |Summary = Tron tries to mug everyone in the Usual Restaurant... with hilariously predictable results. |Who = [..."

{{Logsummary|
Title = Tron Bonne's First Robbery Attempt
|Summary = Tron tries to mug everyone in the Usual Restaurant... with hilariously predictable results.
|Who = [[Bridget_Lake]], [[Katsumi_Liqueur]], [[Kibi]], [[Kotal Kahn]], [[Mecha-Crab]], [[Miki]], [[Tron_Bonne]], [[Violet]], [[Yuji]]
|LogMonth=March
|LogDay=25
|LogYear=2016
|Where = The Usual Restaurant
|Log=

Kibi smiles at Violet! "hi!!! umm... Violet right?", she makes her way to the bar hopping up on a seat. "oh! Kibi hope you are feeling better now."

"Not familiar?" Kotal Kahn blinks in ever growing confusion. "We are the local law enforcement." He sounds utterly convinced this is the truth and that he's not making this up at all! The tall warrior shifts slightly as a thought occurs to him. "Are you perhaps a new convergence?" That must be it! Though it seems odd to him as his Second in command usually reports that from her Welcome Center march. "One moment." He excuses himself and turns around, fiddling with a highly advanced bracer that seems to clash with his Mesoamerican attire. "Come in, Rayne." A pause as he hears static. That's not good! "Rayne? Minu? .. Anyone??"

Miki looks pretty unimpressed by the name of both the person and his organization, "Ms. Karrde, I cannot tell you what to do, I can just offer what little I can." she says, "It's rough, it sucks, but you get through it. If the arena is open, you could still challenge people if I remember correctly, you could work off aggression and pent up energy that way." she suggests.

Bridget_Lake walks into the UR, bag of knitting dangling from one shoulder, and settles herself at a corner of the bar, looking over the menu. She really shouldn't be having dinner out, but... she's been baking ALL DAY. "Someone else can cook for once," she mutters under her breath before, louder, "Chicken fried rice, please, and some sprite."

Violet growls slightly. "Ngggrrrrr.....Maybe I will, just to let off steam." She grabs her orange juice fairly quickly, but slows down when bringing it to her lips... She does not want to spill it on herself, of course. She does raise an eyebrow as the blue guy thinks the law enfocement is called 'Task'. After a swallow of the juice, she shakes her head. "What, is that like NTPD's heavy hitters or something? When the regular cops can't handle it, but before the military gets called in? Never heard of it."

It's at about this point that the front door to the restaurant is kicked in, and a dozen Servbots - robots that look like lego men - come streaming in the door, followed by the notorious Tron Bonne. Half the robots are holding giant sacks, the other half giant bombs. Tron herself just fires her pistol - some kind of energy weapon - at the ceiling; there's an explosion, probably just something inconsequential.
Tron, still brandishing her pistol, shouts, "Listen up everyone, this is a stickup! Just put your belongings in the bags and no one has to get hurt, as long as no one tries being a hero!"
One of the servbots, one with one of the bombs, says, "Oooh, and something to eat!"
Tron thinks about that for a moment, then says, "Yeah! And fourty-two orders of curry rice!"

A sigh at the new entrant, and Miki looks up from her book, and then just back down to it, reading while looking up everyonce in awhile, and of course sipping her coffee.

Kibi looks over at Tron and the servbots "Can this wait till Kibi has her ice cream?"

Kotal is too busy fiddling with his apparent radio to wonder what does Violet mean by TASK being another branch of the local police. TASK /is/ the local police, there are no other branches! That's always been a big problem in Twisted actually which needs to be resolved at some point, though not now clearly, considering there are so many things happening at the same time.
For instance, the arrival of a criminal and her gang. As he said before.. focusing on his job always takes his mind off problems. In a flash, the giant turquoise skinned warrior is no longer next to Violet, but diving into the group of little lego men. A massive serrated macuahuitl blade appears in his hands and he uses the flat of his blade like a cricket bat to try and slam as many Servbots out of the way in one blow, particularly the ones that are carrying bombs. "Halt, evildoer!!" Kotal Kahn's imposing voice booms out to Tron Bonne. "You are under arrest!"

Bridget_Lake pinches the bridge of her nose. There are so many things she could say, so few of them in polite company. This has not been an easy day for her. "Do you really want a half finished sock, three balls of yarn, four wooden knitting needles, and a small bag of macadamia nut cookies?" She pulls out the small handful of coins she -was- going to use to pay for dinner. It could barely cover what she was going to eat, much less a tip... Aaaaand then a hero shows up. "Fuck. Me. Sideways." Her head slams down onto the bar. "This day has been too long."

Violet slowly sets down the glass before turning to Tron with a bit of a wicked grin. "You wanna take this ou-" But no. Someone else has very much beaten her to the punch... or rather, swing. So instead she picks up her glass again and takes a swig, watching to see how this unfolds.

Mecha-Crab walks in from outside, and looks around, and shakes it's eye stalks and heads for behind the counter to start his shift

Kotal's flat bladed swipe sends servbots flying through the air, squealing and bouncing off of walls and tables. The bombs scatter and bounce, starting to flash bright red as they roll under tables and chairs. One of the servbots that wasn't hit runs in circles around Kotal, its sack over its head. "Miss Tron! Miss Tron! They're fighting back somehow!"

Tron looks remarkably taken aback by this development. "W-well, don't just shout about it, *do* something!" She starts running along the side wall, pushing buttons on her wrist watch. "I knew I should have brought the Gustaff in here!"

There's a loud *slam* as something shakes one of the walls of the Usual. The servbots, most of whom look no worse for having been thrown across the room, jump up and try to dive at Kotal, attempting to cling to him in a very annoying fashion.

Mecha-Crab just blinsk and clamly clicks, the noises being translated to "pardon me, but please desist this course of action or I will have to call the Police" in a voice that is a british accented mix of ALfred and Morgan Freeman

Violet says, "Awww, crap...." She jumps from her bar stool and dives under one of the tables... one that has a red flashing bomb. She kicks at the thing, her aim to kick it right at Tron."

Bridget_Lake is just... going to stay still. She doesn't know how to fight. "I don't have enough cookies to handle this kind of crisis.." she groans and puts her handful of change back into her pocket.... only to look down and see a bomb starting to flash red next to her chair. She looks up at the sky. "What did I do to offend you, God?" she asks before diving over the bar and taking shelter behind it.

Kibi uh-ohs as a bomb rolls close to her... She kicks it back at one of the sevebots. ..and somehow she has a bag of popcorn now.

Corporal Nariwasa saunters in from the street about to call in off duty for coffee, when something catches his eye.

A wave of her free hand and one of the servebots by Miki rises and flies towards Tron, Miki closing her book, and closign her eyes tightly.

Though his attack seems to have been highly successful, the brightness of those bombs rolling under furniture worries Kotal. He's no expert on explosives but something tells him those are armed. "Damnation!" Curses the Aztec warrior as he moves to try and kick them out of the way, though he finds himself intercepted by a dozen or so Servbots trying to dog pile him. "Quick! Kick those explosives out of here!" He says just as he notices Violet doing just that. "Like that! Yes!" As for his current predicament of being surrounded by Servbots, a bolt of sunlight shines through the roof of the UR causing energy to explode from his body and push the Servbots out of the way. "Unhand me, you curs!!" Again with this talk about calling the 'police', don't they know that that's him??

Mecha-Crab just sighs somehow as this goes on, and Yuji enters, as he clicks some "Ahh, excellent timing Coporal, would it be possible to attempt to contains this escalataing situation?"

Corporal Nariwasa reaches down onto his belt and activates a tiny black box. Almost instantly his figure and features are blurred by a boxy force field. the figure reaches up to some blurred object on his shoulder and Yuji's voice can be heard speaking urgently to his dispatcher.

The servbot hurled through the air by Miki cries out in joy as he goes flying through the air, bashing Tron in the head and knocking her over. "..ow..." She picks herself up just in time to see the bomb Violet kicked heading straight for her. Screaming, she holds up the Servbot as a shield, and looks a little singed from the explosion, coughing out a cloud of soot. The bombs explode with no particular synchronization, sending barstools and tables - and in one case, a servbot (the one Kibi kicked a bomb at) - flying through the air, accompanied by a big green robot busting a hole in the wall. When Kotal bursts out his blast of energy, the rest of the servbots go tumbling through the air, some of them screaming in pain, the others in glee.

Tron herself hops up into a hatch on the robot's front, and slams it shut behind her. Her voice is piped out through a loudspeaker on the 'bot. "Oh crap, it's the cops! Okay, everybody, new plan! Grab what you can and let's get outta here!"

The servbots collectively (and dizzily) chime out, "Yes Miss Tron..."

She slams a hand down on the table as she rises, "You know, you get out and you tell yourself, you're not going back, you're not going to use your powers, you're going to be good, and then...then people like you come in and make it damn near difficult for people like me, people who are trying to be good, to be good, and to stay out of trouble..." Miki's head turning, eyes looking for Tron. Sighing as the woman makes her escape into the bot, a low growl in her chest, flinging any servbots at the larger one, that near her.

from Yuji's radio comes the voice of the dispatcher assuring him that backup will be there in three minutes. The man himself runs around trying to catch bombs before they explode and failling. He flies around the room a lot.

Kibi tires to hand one of the sevebots one of the bombs. "Here take this! I don't need it anymore!"

"Hahah! Well done everyone!" Kotal Kahn cackles once he sees that the natives put up a good fight against this bandit and her group. If only he knew that the people he's suddenly filling swelling pride for aren't actually /his/ people. "Push her forces back!" Like a commander leading an army he points his massive serrated blade at Tron and her retreating army. "No!" The Aztec suddenly roars and flash steps towards the presumed Gustaff bot. "You will not escape my wrath, criminal!!" Cries out the warrior who still vehemently believes that he's that law around here and swings his serrated blade at the bot's hull. The blades, though obsidian in nature, are laced with Huitzilopotchli's chi and fully capable of slicing through reinforced metal.

Bridget_Lake peeks up over the edge of the bar, really just the top of her hair and her eyes are rather visible. It... seems to be getting resolved? At the Corporal's arrival? Not yet though. "EEK! Look out Yuji!" She grabs a coffee mug from behind said counter and flings it at one of the bombs a bit too close to the police officer, trying to knock it away from him.

Violet, now that the bombs have blown up and the cops... well, /a/ cop, has shown up, seems significantly less concerned about the situation. Well, until she sees that Yuji isn't doing so well. "Should I call in for my mech to counter hers, officer?" She grins a bit ferrally towards Tron.

Kats walks thorugh the front door of the Usual, the red and blue lights of the light bar on her Spinner flashing through the window as she looks very non plussed, in full uniform

Mecha-Crab dips his eyes again and turns to Violet, clicking "It will be quite alright Miss, the Coporal is very adept at handling these situations with a minimum of personal injury" and then looks back as Katsumi walks in "Ahh, the Chief arrives, the situation shudl be handled shortly. Woudl anyone care for adrink"

Violet says, "Awww... you guys are no fun..." She mock sighs and makes her way back to the bar and to her.... now shattered glass of orange juice. Damn bombs. "Uhhh..... can I get another orange juice?""

Mecha-Crab nods "Of course madam, one moment" he clicks and scuttles off to gt a glass of OJ

There's a shower of sparks as Kotal's serrated blade slices right into the Gustaff's chest plate, tearing off the first layer of armor. Tron's voice echoes out, "Hey! That's my robot you're trying to bust up! Stop it!" Its right arm transforms into a giant drill, which makes a clumsy swipe at Kotal, more to get him to back off than really hurt him. Of course, this is when servbots get hurled through the air by Miki, clonking and bashing into her armor, causing the robot to stumble towards the hole it made in the wall.

One of the servbots takes the bomb from Kibi. "Thanks!" Another takes her bag of popcorn. "Yeah, thanks, miss!" They turn to run, maybe getting ten steps before the bomb explodes and popcorn goes flying everywhere, catapulting the 'bots towards the door.

Kats gets hit by flying popcorn "ok...been a while since this has happened" as she tires to figure out what is going on

Corporal Nariwasa sits up off the floor still looking like he's being eaten by a bunch of gelatinous cubes. "Hey isn't that coffee cup MINE?"

No worries about hurting Kotal Kahn with a drill. Where mere mortals would be turned to bloody chunks when having a giant drill pushed on them, the god of war brings a glowing palm towards the Gustaff's drill and stops it with his bare hand. Sparks flying as Huitzilopotchli's skin simply refuses to budge against the metal. "And these are /my/ people you are trying to rob!" Counters the warrior god. Unfortunately, he gets distracted by the explosion and popcorn being scatted everywhere which ends with Tron's escape. Rather than pursue, Kotal abruptly turns towards the UR with glowing bright eyes. "Is everyone all right!? Any injuries!?" Blast, this would be a really good time to have Silencia around.

Mecha-Crab returns with a glass of OJ, setting it down for Violet "Your juice Ma'am" he clicks and turns to teh main room "Chief Liqueur, I do not know all the particulars, but I believe the genetleman with glowing eyes is new to NT, and is unclear of how things operate. As for the rest...I regretfully am unsure" and he shrugs, and produces a fsh bag of popcorn for Kibi
Bridget_Lake eeps and ducks back down behind the bar that she took cover behind. Not clear yet. She thought she had thrown just a regular coffee cup, honest.

Kibi yahs and she get popcorn happily munching it. "Kibi is fine and has popcorn again!", she looks at the mecha-crab. "Kibi woudn't mind a lime soda either...

Kats turns and nods "Thanks Bob, like the new voice, bout time you got one." as she turns and addresses he of glowing eyes "Sir, please take a seat" as she looks around "ok, Yuji's scrambing for coffee, no flames...lots of soot, hole in the wall. No dead bodies, so more or less things are back to usual...."

Corporal Nariwasa turns off his velocity sheild ceasing to look all Dune-ish and resuming a normal appearance.

Bridget_Lake asks, "Is it safe yet?"

Violet says, "Yyyeah, I think he thinks he's police." She glances over the bar at Bridget. "Looks like the bombs and mini-bots are all gone, yeah.""

Mecha-Crab nods and reutns a few moment later with a lime soda "Your soda Miss." as he sets it in front of Kibi

The rest of the servbots pick themselves up and grab whatever's nearest - discarded bags, a jar of jellybeans, and in one case a table, and stream out of the restaurant through doors and holes in the wall. Outside, there's the hiss of rocket jets, and Tron's voice over the loudspeaker, getting quieter as her plane takes off. "You haven't heard the last of Tron Bonne!"

Corporal Nariwasa nods to Bridget. "Good thinking getting behind the bar. IT's been specially remade after the first few times this place was trashed."

|}}