Personification Life: EPIC (IC Thread XI) [CLOSED]

[Tiltjuice]

"Oh I-I am Akagi." She said smiling at her and nodding as she remembered the meeting yawning as she looked for her apartment.

Elevator doors slid open on the appropriate floor (Demens, again, knew as he ever did) and at some point two doors clicked open, ready for their new Residents.

MB held up both ears at angles, like a human might hold up their hands in an "I dunno" gesture. One yours - he twitched his nose at Sid - and one yours - to Akagi. Both your things inside. Meeting still at 6, though. Big meeting - not to be missed! Hopefully with food. Delicious motor oil.

[Giovenith]

"Oh, thank you," Giovenith smiled and took a moment to nod in greeting to the soldier newcomer as well. "Welcome to our little home in the universe as well! I hope you're brave."

She smiled as pajama girl introduced herself. "Akagi, huh? Also pretty! Is it Japanese?"

Once the elevator doors opened with a ding, the young lady was quick to urge Akagi out. "Quickly, there is much to tell you before the meeting..."

[Giovenith]

Giovenith looked nervously to MB, gently taking him down from her shoulder and setting him loose.

"Well, I wasn't just trying to flatter you when I said you were special," she said, hesitantly. How was she going to approach this subject? Even for her, it wasn't easy to make sound comfortable. She decided to rip it off like a bandaid, looking Akagi in the eye and spitting it out: "Miss Akagi, we brought you here because we need your help to save the universe."

Her face conveyed no jest.

[Giovenith]

Giovenith pointed at MB with her thumb.

"And MB over there is a teleporting rabbit," she said. "Who can change colors. We don't know why Demens chooses who he does, but he would never bring you into his domain if you were useless. Demens, by the way is this Building's owner. He is also one of the Greater Beings, Beings higher than gods who have existed forever and helped fashion the universe as we know it in the beginning..."

Realizing that she was laying it on pretty thick, Giovenith crouched down on one knee and propped her arm on the other, looking up at the newcomer.

"Akagi, I know this must all sound very confusing and scary," she said gently. "But it is true. Our home is filled with all walks of life who have been brought here for the same purpose as you. A war is coming, and we only have a little time to prepare. It is a war where losing is not an option. This meeting at six will be discussing it. I wanted to make sure you knew..."

The lady's face was clearly sympathetic but also a tad frightened.

[Giovenith]

"Heh," Giovenith stood, crossed her arms, and shook her head. "If only it were that simple. You want something to eat?"

She glanced at MB to make sure he hadn't destroyed anything yet.

[Holy Lykos]

OPERATION: LAST CHANCE
DIMENSION: 4590K
LOCATION: Xo Research Base, Veraka, Xo'Lokako orbit, Vim System, HZSC space
TEAMS: SECRET OMEGA TENTACLE

---

Of Reunions and Briefings
Or, We Finally Get to the Fucking Point of This Adventure
Previous Collab

"You are correct, I could go back...or stay safe here...somewhat safe..." Upon the tattoo's mention, Rmwtyliin's shoulders straightened. "Yes. It indicates my status - Naaliasz - at home, I was the..." Eyes wet, she dabbed at them. "My mama was our leader. I really miss her. As her second daughter, I was to one day handle foreign relations... I wish I knew what she or even Venmii would do. I can certainly guess, but... I haven't seen them for…” How many years had it been? "Far too long. And it has only now occurred to me that I could just ask - ask to visit, ask for a week at home - and... They likely would listen! I am scared of never seeing them again...but...what if they hate... Red poop."

"They would be horrified if I quit - relieved that I was safe, yes, but horrified. And...I doubt I could -" "Luukk maheesssellf in thu mmee-rror -" if I chose not to help... Thank you for telling me that 'scared' is okay. Thank you. I do feel better. It amuses me to think that my being so young and new to this might actually help..." . The chuckle wasn't too forced. An embarrassed laugh followed. "Wwaht is yo-ur nnehm, madtdam? Ah-ee ahm Rmwtyliin." A sudden sparkle in her eye. "Nicknames are fine, but I keep telling people that and almost ALL of them insist on using "Rmw"...not easy on foreigners. The whole intent is to find an easier name! I never know whether to laugh or squirm, so I settle for a blank expression."


“Oren.” The woman replied, with a nod. “Rmw-twil-leen? I’m not getting that right. Never been an expert with language like Venla. Rmw-twi-lyn... Is that closer?” She tapped at her chin as she tried getting the name pronunciation correct. It was proving rather difficult!

“I’ll get it someday. I’m the one who runs communications here, so I’ll be helping you out if you go with Venla down to the surface.” It was around then that the large windows facing the planet were rather abruptly filled with the sight of sleek metal spaceships. They had rather organic shapes, unlike the blocky and scrapheap-like ship the raiders had taken. The aesthetics seemed to match that of the station around them, so it would be fairly safe to assume they too were Huvidu-Zaani. They were almost like frozen metal leviathans, moving through the void over the moon slowly. A small, almost insignificant shape flew out of an aperture in the underside of the largest ship, the speck growing as it moved towards the moon’s surface.

“Oh, Bandar’s Fleet is here. They’re the local garrison.” Though Oren thought Rmw might not quite know that word. “Proper warriors and soldiers, you know? We called for them to secure from any further pirate incursions. Skritarii, those rats, tend to swarm isolated places like us, so it’s likely for there to be more coming soon.”

A few knocks on the bulkhead door Romulus, Kale, and Nex had left through rung out next. Another good sign. “I think your friends have returned, too! Thank the gods, the monster’s been dealt with.”

“Monster?!” Kale’s plants get out of control sometimes...I did not think enough. “Please tell me it wasn't a plant, Ohrren…”

“Sadly, yes. It did more damage to the pirates than we did, actually. Kale’s extremely strong, but not so good at control it seems.”

“Red poop, red poop! I GAVE her seeds, she needed some and we were in danger, but -” Rmwtyliin sighed. “Red poop. Whatever happened, I HELPED do it.” She felt nauseous.

Romulus, Nex, and Kale eventually came through the bulkhead door, after managing to open the door. The General was first to head back in, being the first one of the trio up front. “The pirates are dead, the plant beast is dead too. As you can see through your windows, your reinforcements have finally arrived, and were completely late to the party. I’m guessing one of you technicians are trying to give them a status report now?” He reported in a asked as soon as he walked through.

One of the human techs merely grunted and nodded at Romulus, before returning to speak into his headset, in the same language the HZ used. Oren glanced up at the returning fighters, before glancing back at Rmw. “Kale, The girl could use a bit of reassurance. Since you know each other better than I know her, you might be able to help with that. At least more than I can.”

Venla stood up from the spot she’d been sitting, the wounds from earlier having largely vanished. “Romulus, We do have a mission on the planet still. Nex can bring up the briefing we give to new arrivals about the planet below for you three. We also need to get you three fitted for the camouflage. Oren mentioned coming down with us so we have the manpower in case things go south.”

Nex raised up an arm, about to speak but Venla interrupted. “And before you ask Nex, no you can’t come. You have to report to the Commander, and run the station. If we run into trouble we’ll call for the away team.”

“Oh yeah, we had a mission, right, of course.” Romulus said as he casually leaned on the foremost wall of the room, remembering why they were here again. It felt almost forever ago, maybe he simply lost track of time with all the pirates and the plant monstrosity? He only hoped they’ll simply get done here soon and return back to the building before something comes up.

Venla rolled her eyes and let out a gruff noise. “C’mon follow me.”

---

The two huvidu-zaan, Nex and Venla, led the group to a briefing room. It happened to be opposite of the Mess hall they’d arrived in, so it wasn’t that long of a walk. Hell, nothing was a long walk in this base. Venla instantly went over to a computer, bringing up what seemed to be a premade briefing for heading down on the planet.

Mostly because on a holoprojector in the middle of the conference table, the words “Briefing for Away Missions to Xo’Lokako”. At least it was in English instead of Huvidu-zaani script. The image of an alien showed up under it, with a slight blue tint to it.

The alien looked very insectoid, with mandibles, compound-eyes, antennae, and two pairs of legs. The body seemed to even have the three divisions of traditional insects too, with a head, thorax, and abdomen. But the thorax stuck out of the front top of the abdomen much like a centaur’s human half did, with the head having a neck with a similar setup to a human’s. A pair of wings fluttered(apparently the hologram was had moving images), before flattening against its back again. It seemed to be a mix of ants and moths aesthetically, with most of the chitin hidden by ‘fur’. It looked built to handle the cold, along with rather rough terrain. Must be the aliens they were supposed to save.

“Take a seat everyone, I need to go over the basics of the Xo before we go down to investigate.” Venla nodded softly, glancing over the group of humans that were going to go along with her.

Romulus promptly took a seat, to which he thankfully managed to fit into it quite nicely, thanks to these seats being designed to hold HZ. “Venla, I hope your people had figured out their language by now and have translators for them. Because the last time I tried to speak arthropod without one, it was to an auxiliary Lieutenant, and I had accidently insulted his aunt.” He asked, and chuckled from having remembered his mistake from a year ago.

“That we do. The translators are almost a necessity, as most of their languages have sounds mammals can’t copy accurately enough. Human is hard enough for me as it is. We did have a base on the surface for a while too, directly interacting with locals. The old base will be our first stop, given we know the most about the village near there.”

The General nodded, “Any local customs we should get to know right away so they’re not the least bit suspicious about us when we arrive?” He then asked her.

“For one, the larger ones are females. I know for humans it's the other way around. Given their arthropodal origins it's not surprising they also are organized into matriarchies. Given the overall size of yourself, You’ll have to pose as a female Romulus. Customs vary from region to region, I can brief you on anything vital before we get to each one. For the first, nothing very important. They were friendly to us, and we won’t have to go around in disguise unless things have changed in the few years since we’ve visited them.”

The General chuckled some more, and eventually fell into the full hearty laugh. “This won’t be the first time I’ll be in drag you know, my Captains of years before just loved to haze us when we were Cadet Officers. Those were some fun, embarrassing times I tell you!” He wiped his brow from the absurd yet memorable memories. “I think just to be safe, we should enter in disguise, as I doubt the village nearby will be untouched after years of these problems starting.” He then suggested.

Venla nodded and grunted. “Yep. I do have old friends there though, who should be reliable for getting information about that area. If nothing else it's that group we’re most likely to evacuate if everything goes south. Good news for you too, it's just a hard light projection. You won’t have to actually dress up, just look like one outwardly. Luckily for us they aren’t very advanced yet. Few if any will notice the difference.”

Rmwtyliin, meanwhile, had been mumbling phonetics quietly, and smiled as she succeeded in deciphering “Away Missions Xo’Lokako.” Briefing, probably. Hate to admit, but “Rommuluus, your question about Xo culture is sensible. Are there any customs we need to know to avoid offending…” She frowned in thought. “Or do the Xo have enough cultures so any small stuff will be attributed to us being foreign? Is pretending to be from a different Xo culture safe, with all the bloodshed?”

The large alien made a soft grunt, and nodding in response to Rmw’s addition to the question Romulus had posed, “Not exactly safe, but it is the best we can do. Like most species, especially planet-bound ones, the Xo are rather culturally diverse. The female rule is one of the few overall constants, along with generally having a caste system based on heritage and breed. Romulus or myself likely will be seen as the leader of our little group, given size. Shorter Xo are lower on the hierarchy. They’re descendants from the drones, when the Xo used to be a hive-mind race. They developed individual intelligence at some point and started building past tribal roots as a result.”

Venla tapped a few buttons, and the little image grew to be more ‘full size’ on the table in front of them. It stood at about 6 feet, according to the scale next to it, and a few other members of the species appeared on the table. The females were more on Romy and the Huvidu-Zaan’s scale as mentioned earlier, with the males more like Rwm and Kale. They’d obviously have to pose as males of the species much like Romy would have to pose as a female.

A few different modes of dress started cycling over the holographic Xo as well. The styles ranged from extremely primitive to more elaborate and fancy. The basic coverings trended to cold and wind protection, including some full body covering that looked suited to desert travel. The material seemed similar to wool in some examples, flax and cotton in others. It was largely in natural colors, rather than rare dyed color.

As for the more elaborate dress, it was obvious those Xo were higher up in social hierarchy or from richer states and cities. Headgear was common, along with some military-esque dress for at least one example. Colored and dyed clothing was common among these too. The most advanced it seemed to get was in similar patterns to Late Roman or early medieval in style.

“They’ve spent more time with that level of technology than most species, from what we can tell. Upwards of a few hundred thousand, versus the few dozen thousand for my own. A few of Xo nations have started adopting the use of what humans term as ‘Gunpowder’ in recent decades. Its one reason that the conflicts between the various forming nations are getting bloodier. They seem to be advancing at an increasingly rapid pace.

“Nothing dangerous to the world itself, but the concern is they’ll wipe out their civilizations before they reach a more stable societal form naturally.”

Rmwtyliin made a face, but nodded. “Okay. However, Venla, you should act as our leader.”

Kale nodded along as the details of the plan were hammered through. Disguising herself as a male of this species was interesting. First it was disguising as another species, an now a different gender of said species. Crossspecies crossdressing. A mouthful but described the plan.

“Is there any social norms or customs beyond the gender hierarchy that we should know about? We should fit in as well as possible. Cultural customs, greetings, that sort of stuff,” Kale asked.

“For social norms, it depends on region. Most do a similar gesture to humans for greetings though, the ‘wave your forelimb’ thing. Never quite understood where it came from. The areas we’ll be visiting should be fairly diverse though, so a bit of cultural ignorance won’t be that out of place. Be respectful to the higher ups though, and stick with our group. Given I or romulus can pose as a rather high up Xo on the social chain, they may assume you and Rmw simply are slaves or servants.

“We’ll try to stay focused though. The quicker we figure out what has changed, which I should be able to identify or locals point out, the quicker we will be able to head back. It’s dangerous to spend too much time there, especially with their societies in an unstable state.

“There’s also really no worry necessary about not being able to speak their language. We have translator devices keyed to Human languages, and Rmw has her own already. Along with the disguises it should be fairly easy to blend in. The devices are able to in a way speak for you, converting your words into the local dialect or language. We’ve spent enough time with the Xo that it’ll know the languages in the areas we visit.”

With a brief glance upward to make sure everyone was still following along, Venla brought up both a globe and a map of the planet’s surface. Most immediately obvious was the large ice caps, covering lower than on most habitable planets. It was obviously a cold place. Three primary continents, an interior sea, along with island chains across the wide ocean on the other side created an interestingly shaped world. The continents were in the shape of a horseshoe almost, with equator passing just north of the south continent.

Four locations lit up on both the map and the globe: one on the rightmost continent, one on the isthmus between the left and the south, and one on the southernmost part of the lower continent. The last was on the largest island in the broken up archipelagos of the other side of the world.“The locations we’ll be visiting, at minimum. Following leads might have us visiting more than just this of course.”

The map also had faint colorations, along obviously non geographic lines. “The colors show the major powers in regions, along with political borders as we know them right now. If you notice, the Holy State of Qri’Tal takes up the largest portion, along the coast of the interior sea, and deep into the leftmost continent and a good bit of the southern, with its capital at the isthmus between the Interior and Exterior sea. Our name, not local. They’re an aggressive empire too. Much like Lykos, or from what I’ve heard the empire that Romulus hails from.” Nex, who’d been fairly silent up until now glanced over to the armored human with a bit of disapproval fairly obvious in his body language.

“The others are major cities, or trading hubs. The island one is a largely seafaring group of the Xo which we spent the most time with due to isolation. If they’ve changed something is definitely up. The most they interact with the continents is brief trading visits.”

Venla tapped a few keys, a locker that was previously hidden in a wall sliding out and opening up with the devices mentioned inside. The large alien made a sweeping gesture, as if inviting them to go and collect the pieces of technology.“You may want to take a bit of time to select what the outward appearance of your disguise will look like. There’s a good amount of variety among Xo, especially in colors. You’re free to choose their form of dress too, think of it like an avatar for yourself on Xo’Lok. A personification, even.”

---

Kale, Rmw, Romulus included thanks to their excellent players.

[Monfrox]

Brit stepped back as her expression soured further. The audacity of these dark creatures was staggeringly frustrating and infuriating. She couldn't believe they thought she'd fall for this. Change of tactics, sure, but when she figured out their game, it was kind of useless. She looked at Willow's injuries, the way he cowered with fright before her. It all made her sick at how well-played the whole attitude was, but she wouldn't fall for it. Oh no no no no, she was smarter than that. You had to get up very early in the morning to fool her.

"Shut up! You shut the fuck up!" She snarled, taking deep, seething breaths. "You don't think I know your game!? You think I'm gonna just let my guard down?! Huh!?"

[Northwest Slobovia]

RAIDERS of the LOST BOOK

OPERATION: BIBLIOPHILE
LOCATION: Ashkelon, Judea, Dimension 257P
RotLB

The Baron pointed stoically at a shop built into one of the walls that looked more established than some of the others. “That one looks to be a jewelry shop of some kind. The people frequenting it seem to be well off, and I saw someone walk away with something sparkling.”

Sandy looked in the indicated direction, nodded and set off for it. The store seemed ever more well appointed as the group approached, and details of the interior became visible: the floor was set with a mosaic depicting a ship at sea, and the business itself was lit with unflickering lamps. One didn’t need the Sight to guess that they were magic, though if Nick bumped into Sandy, he’d know that for certain. There seemed to be other magic at work inside, too, though Sandy made no attempt to Listen to it, taking it to be part of the store’s defenses against robbery.

In one front corner stood a bored looking armored man leaning on a spear. Sandy glanced at him, paused, and Listened while his eyes adapted to the store’s darker interior (even lit by magic lamps was not full desert sun). A guard suggested the store might not be as well protected as he thought. The magic resolved to just two things: a paralysis spell of significant power, waiting to be discharged; it seemed to emanate from something behind the counter, but Sandy couldn’t determine what, nor the trigger that would release it. The other spell seemed to be some sort of warning spell, but Sandy could make out nothing more about it.

No other customers were in the store, but there were several people behind the counter. Counters, plural, forming an L with the back and side walls. Perhaps several jewelers shared the shop’s defenses, or perhaps it was simply a family business with as much counter space as they could staff. A young woman greeted the Baron and Sandy in three languages as they entered: Greek, Latin, and Aramaic.

Having noticed that the room was rather dark, Nick focused on a single moment’s sight and pushed that image at Sandy - enough to get his bearings while his eyes adjusted. <Should I stay here?> Sandy knew Nick's reasoning; he was posing as a stray. Well-behaved pets might be welcome inside, but ones off the street? Then again, he was curious. <The plan has its downsides… Maybe you could ask if I could come, probably not...>

Sandy hesitated for only a moment before responding. You’re a cat; do what you want. The humor in his ‘voice’ was practically laughter: the owners might object to Nick, but how could a feral animal know that in advance? His mind went back to business, and he walked to the back counter, the carrying disk and its owner following him.

As he approached, he got a good look at the merchandise: jewelry, some of which bore gems. He gave it a cursory inspection; if he’d been more confident of looking casual, he would have taken a holo of it. Instead, he spoke. “Do you buy as well as sell?”

An older man answered, rather than the young woman. She turned to look at him as he replied in Greek, a bit halting, but still understandable. “Sometimes. It depends… with the offer.”

“We have loose gems: onyx, peridot, amethyst, carnelian, and um, others.”

The man’s eyes lit with interest, and he moved to stand near the young woman. “Show me, kindly.” The woman reached behind the counter to pull out a clear disk, which she handed to him. Sandy caught its Music, but he couldn’t tell what kind.

Sandy turned away from the counter to fish out most of the gems from his luggage; he’d merely packed them between garments. The old man watched eagerly as he laid them out on the counter, then examined them through the disk, while the younger woman looked over his shoulder. Their initial reactions were guarded, as one would expect, but the old man gasped when he inspected one of the peridots. After that, he had difficulty concealing his desire to purchase the stones. He offered a number of staters for the lot.

Sandy gazed upward as he tried to calculate that offer in terms of prices he knew from a bit earlier in history, and immediately regretted not checking prices in the market first to try to calibrate them. He made a higher counter-offer. The haggling continued for several rounds, and Sandy was pretty sure he wasn’t getting a good deal. Not surprising, as the jeweler knew the local market, and Sandy didn’t. But Sandy knew of more distant markets, and tried suggesting that different buyers would pay better for certain stones, while asking for substantially more money. Two more rounds of bargaining later, Sandy had sold everything but the largest amethyst, and had a heaping handful of gold coins to show for it.

As he and the Baron left the store, Sandy gave into temptation, and gave the holocam’s tail a quick squeeze, starting video recording. He turned back to get a holo of the shop’s interior, then led the others into the market. The rest of the shopping went quickly: leather purses for money came first, with Sandy showing Primordial how to tie the cords around his waist, then food for the short sail to Alexandria. A short stack of rounds of flatbread made up a big part of that, along with some fruit and a hunk of hard cheese, all wrapped in cloth bundles. He bought wine, too, including some pricey Naxian and Khian wines.

We’re so much taller than everybody! That led to a conclusion Sandy couldn’t avoid: both he and the Baron would always stick out in a crowd, even individually. Together, they couldn’t help drawing attention. On the other hand, Sandy found enough native Greek speakers to correct the worst of his mispronunciations; he now sounded like he spoke an unusual dialect, which would have to do.

Sandy realized how he must look: a wealthy man carrying bundles. He hired a porter, and finished his shopping: spices, dishes, a drinking cylix, and utensils. Totaling up the prices they paid, Sandy realized that he could have gotten much more for the gems. He’d have to do better next time, but they had more than enough money for now.

[Cerillium]

MB'S GROUP

Amaranth didn't reply. In part, he was busy brooding over the Nazi-not-Nazi's words. And, in part, he wasn't yet ready to let on that he could hear Sid's mental communication. He shot a sullen glare at Volker and followed Sid.

The elevator wasn't much to his liking. A bit cramped. The glittering haired girl caught his attention however. "She's potent, the Giovenith" he cautioned Sid but didn't explain beyond that. "The rabbit is infused with his own brand of power, too, perhaps."

Of course, the only ones that could hear this running commentary were Sid...and the godling. The Stand remained unaware of it. The doors opened and 'the Giovenith' and her companion stepped out.


HECTAROS

Delighted that the babblefish had worked, Naomi clapped her hands together. The elevator was already crowded so she opted to take the stairs.

"Communal Dining Room," she pointed the area out to Hectaros once they reached the second floor. Already people were gathering within, slowly clustering around tables and striking up conversations. "The recreational room is just across the hall from it. But let's get you to your apartment so that's out of the way."

Naomi pressed on, and they climbed up several flights before arriving at Hectaros' door. The process behind the magic was simple enough. He simply needed to insert his key and imagine his ideal living space - the apartment would conform. She offered a reassuring pat to his arm as she gently instructed him to go inside and freshen up. She would meet him downstairs in the Dining Room.

"You should find oil lamps instead of electric lights, but I can stick around if you have questions about plumbing and toilets," Naomi rocked on her heels and tilted her head. Really, it wasn't any trouble and the little god enjoyed being useful.


DINING ROOM

"We could always clone it to find out," Thaddeus withdrew from his private thoughts over Sandy's message to offer a suggestion to Henry. "The lizard. Not a pegasus or the Pegasus. Although that would be interesting. We're now deficient of flying horses now that he and Willow are both gone. But one is not like the other. I have a feeling we'll need both soon enough."


Poor Vader, Myra thought. His life sounded like a trial, and one which he seemed to claw his way through. But at least he had redeemed himself. Perhaps that was what mattered most? To fix the mess before it was too late?

The Jedi moved on, his hands clutching hers and shaking her from her thoughts. "Oh, I'm not always goo-" But Maghrl's eagerness clipped her words as he breathed out his Jedi code. Once more, she found herself fascinated by a new treasure from his dimension. Finally, they had stumbled upon a common manthom together!

"My father's people follow something kinda similar," her mouth widened into a grin. "The Old Code, I mean. The balance between. Tobor zklaen tepoha Fere. Mobi ui thric jennuilt Fere loupon ekess ehtah coi. It means, Life must have balance. There is no greater purpose than to find it." She tucked a stray hair into place and nodded at the Squib. "Mr Skywalker's Code doesn't match it so much. The People are the guardians and must use their abilities and knowledge to defend and protect those that live under their wings' mark. The People's strength is knowledge and one must amass as much as possible. And the People must rule their lands with balance in mind - this is balance different from Balance, with a capital B - in order for the lands to sustain themselves and those within them."

She crinkled her nose. "I don't think the word 'people' is an accurate translation to English. The closest is maybe 'darastrix', but that's Classification and not really the word for it either."


KATYA

"I've never wiped anyone's mind," Ogoti finished off the last of his scone before smiling at Katya. "Demens plans to use that enchantment, I believe, for those that wish to return home. Also, I wasn't offering a history lesson."

He set his cup and saucer aside and affixed patient eyes on Katya. "My dear, you need to learn to think before you speak. Why should you care enough about this place to help? Because everything you know will vanish if we don't succeed. Your actions have always been self-motivated and so, when asked to represent someone or something, you only think of what you can get out of it. This leads people to mistrust you as a leader. They know you only look out for your best interests because you tell them so. You have become so withdrawn that you haven't taken the time to get to know your neighbors. And, because you've become accustomed to being withdrawn, you don't look around you to see who might be affected by your words."

The old man sighed. "You alienate people and then seem to blame them because they avoid you."

Ogoti rose and folded his hands in front of him. "If you can't stand me, then please do not allow me to take up any more of your valuable time," he gently spoke. "It would be rude of me to subject you to my presence or keep you here."

[Holy Lykos]

MB's GROUP

Sid did agree with the assessment of the two. He'd been getting odd vibes from the platinum haired woman and MB... Well it was a 'talking' rabbit. That was an easy 10 on the oddness scale, and he'd seen a Vampire who decided the best way to avoid the sun was to walk around constantly in winter clothing. In Spain. During Summer. Fucking weirdos.

Sid blinked, looking around for the room he'd been assigned. "Uh, Rabbit? MB? Which on is my room?" He questioned, fiddling with the room key in his hand. The old Soldier stepped out of the elevator to let the Stand get past him too. He could always have Amaranth disappear for now, but he seemed to prefer being able to wander and do his own thing. Plus no one in their group had really mentioned or acknowledged him. Though if this Giovenith was as odd as Amaranth was saying, that could be a possible person who would perceive it. Luckily the apparition seemed intangible enough to the general populace. So far at least.

DINING ROOM

Maghrl seemed to grin even wider from Myra's description and the Old Code. It was so much like the old Jedi one, with its focus on Balance. It was something Maghrl greatly admired of the old jedi, those who would seek out balance within the Force, and what that meant. It lead some to break with the Order to pursue what they believed to be Balance of course, but those who wished to leave were always welcomed back should they wish. Not a very relevant thought, though so Magrl kept it to himself. He nodded vigorously to Myra and sighed.

"Basic use word 'Being' for member of all species. People sometime... Mag think Old Code Koovy. Squibbish word. Basic equivalent hard figure out, yes yes. Cool, neat, amazing, interesting, fascinating, E-T-C." He actually spoke out the letters. He'd never heard the phrase spoken, only written. "Many Squib words hard find Basic Equivalent, you bet. Much depth, Squibbish Language. Surface, deep meanings, sometimes even more. Many squib struggle langauge-wise 'cause this. Aren't used plain-talking languages, Myra get?"

Maghrl gave a sniff, his nose wiggling a bit. "Myra non-human? Or human? Mag not tell. Too many scent here. Anyone foodmaking? If no, snackmaking good idea, maybe?" The squibs brain obviously worked rapidly, and oddly tangentially. Whether that was typical to his species or not was up in the air.

[Chedastan]

Dining Room

Nivea simply nodded towards Amanda as she explained who Sandy was. And from realizing from what the lawyer said that there was only one Pegasus of a kind, Nivea began to be a little more reaffirmed that perhaps some myths and legends of her people were a little exaggerated from the truth. Which wouldn't actually surprised her, given that those stories have been kept alive through only word of mouth or slowly rotting scrolls for two thousand years, so obviously they'll be some inaccuracies.

When Amanda then showed the courier her phone, Nivea was more fixated on it rather than the pictures themselves that Amanda was showing her, having never seen such a thing before. The device itself did indeed looked like a technological marvel in its own right to her, and she wondered how exactly it worked for something that was so small that could fit in her palm! She assumed it must've been some kind of magic that made it work, after seeing the rest of the other weird and advanced devices she seen thus far since coming to the Building, she wouldn't be that surprised if that were the case.

She then remembered again that Amanda was in fact showing her pictures of people on her wonderful device, and she almost didn't notice the blatantly darkly skinned man in one of them. To think she had thought the people she met so far were as dark as surface dwellers got, but apparently she was very wrong, and still scratching only the top of what the surface world was like. Before she could say anything to Amanda though, another person had joined them, with intent to talk to Amanda about the box she had.

She was only half listening to what they were saying though, as she was still fixated on Amanda's odd device she showed her pictures with. She then recalled that Amanda said her people must've live underground near Olympus, which wasn't entirely true, given that her people had since migrated all over Terra through the use of massive subterranean caverns that span large distances underground, and her City was settled at least thousands of miles away from where Olympus would be at.

"Um, my people actually didn't stay near Olympus for long when we moved underground, we actually migrated around essentially the entirety of Terra's Underworld and settled our cities all over the place. If I recall, the people that would settle the city where I'm from had to trekked at least thousands of miles westwards before settling down. And they had pass through a perilous mantle wall that was underneath a ridge to get to the next continent over, and I think they and many other groups with them were underneath an ocean during that part of the journey too." She then explained to Amanda to tell her the scope of what her people along with many others that went west had to endured to find a place to settle down.

[The BranRiech]

Drova

Looking like someone fresh out of the trenches of Verdun (Without all the grime and mud), Drova walked over to Maghrl and Myra. Both of whom he recognized quite quickly. Myra was present on the island, if only in the mysterious role of one of the "natives" they had to kill the boars for, and Maghrl, from said boar hunt. They seemed to have been discussing some sort of moral code? Drova figured it would be worth his while to listen in, and it didn't seem like much of a private conversation. He approached from near the entrance where he'd been lurking for most of his time there.

"Are you guys talking about languages?" He asked, setting his rifle down by his feet, letting it lean against his thigh. It was unloaded of course, serving no purpose beyond a wooden club. The ammo was held in Drova's pockets, a testament to how much he could pack, and hopefully enough to be useful to Neste, after all, she'd called the meeting in the first place.

"Sorry if I'm butting in, but it sounded interesting." He looked apologetically, shaking his head at the Jedi, and Myra.

[Torsiedelle]

Clinic

"No...no, I won't be leaving right now."

Katya sighed. She hadn't even touched her tea. She took her cup into her hands and sat back. "I just needed to get that off of my chest. I need to be a bitch sometimes. Excuse me; I'm...I'm just going to be casual for a bit.", She said. She swirled the tea around in its cup, took a sip, and continued.

"I don't see when something I say seems self-serving. I'm not really that good at knowing when to pull back with the offensive stuff...it's...my people aren't like others. We're not really inclusive people...but that's no excuse, I know!", She said. "Especially for me. I try to be better, but even I have my flaws. My sister had flaws, for sure. I'm no good at policing others. It's just that, well..."

She glanced up the Ogoti. She couldn't be mad at him; he was a nice man, and she didn't see him arond enough. She didn't see a lot of people enough. It was her fault, too, to an extent; she didn't give many people a chance. She had been stubborn abot it before, but she had never been so withdrawn, and when did she get so comfortable with annoying people? She didn't want to, but it happened.

"I don't hate you.", She said, after a long pause. She sighed and placed her tea back down. "Far from it. I look up to a lot of people here, but it gets frustrating. We all have different beliefs and opinions and motivations, and then there's all this stress over "this war" and "that war", and why even call it a war? It's a conflict, sure, and...I'm just sort of worried. Whenever I get the impression I can't help here? I worry about everyone. I mean that as in fighting. I can help with nursing, that's no problem, but surely you understand that me and my sister? We're...well, I am...eager to fight. We're fighting people."

Oh god, she was botching this horribly. "Look, I don't know how to say this, since I'm sort of backed into a corner here. I messed up. I messed up big time, and I don't think I'll be able to win this one...but I'm not ready to turn the towel in. I want to, I really want to quit badly, and I'm not going to lie", She chuckled, "I'm really frustrated, but you know what? I'm not going to be done in. Sorry. So, uh...look, how can I help? I want to pretend like this drama never happened, and I want to do good. Nursing? Healing? I'm not very good at it, but we need healers, right? I want to put my best foot forward...and I don't want to be as abrasive."

[Giovenith]

She nodded excitedly. She also instantly looked less sleepy and wiped her drool from her mouth. Coincidentally, her stomach rumbled.

Giovenith smiled. "Excellent! And it won't do to have you attend the meeting in your PJs, so we'll have to get you some new clothes too.

She reached into her pockets and pulled out a soup can, which was odd, since they didn't seem like pockets big enough to hold a can without bulging. It got even weider when she pulled out a spoon, a bowl, oven mitts, a t-shirt, a pair of jeans, some socks and shoes, and finally a full-blown microwave oven.

"You go change into these, my dear," she said, handing the clothes to Akagi. "And I'll prepare you a quick lunch!"

[Torrocca]

Finally arriving to the door of the apartment, the legionary took in a deep breath; he'd been used to such steep climbs before, from his many years living on a mountain, but the addition of his armor and the shield he had to carry, plus his general tiredness from... everything, even in spite of Ogoti's magic. Setting aside the shield at the wall, Hectaros said to Naomi, "I must thank you for all your help, truly; it is much appreciated." He took the key to the door from his pocket and put it into the knob, unlocking the door. "You can stay if you wish; your company is much appreciated as well," he added on, with a smile.

Taking his shield and walking in, Hectaros was met with an image that surpassed his actual idea of home - the candle-lit apartment, with its many windows, finely crafted furniture, and spaciousness, told the tale of the interior of a noble's villa rather than the small, humble home he, once a peasant, was born into. It was a welcome change, though; although he never knew such a place as home, it gave him more comfort than the compact, single-room house with its unfinished wood floor that housed his family. "This is rather... pleasant," he muttered, taking in all the beautiful sights of the room. "What time did they say we should be down, Naomi?" he asked to the goddess. "Six, right? What is the time now; do you know?"

[Cerillium]

UNICORNS + RACHE

Two evil foes, or two working together as one? Rache couldn't be certain of anything at this point. It wasn't in his being - this was Plotter's field of expertise. Rache was incapable of fathoming the twists. He wasn't designed to. However, if these forces weren't working together, perhaps they could be pitted against one another?

"One is malevolent. The other feeds on negative emotions," he mused. "The Princess is part of Willow's story, thus vital."

His ears flattened. Had Chrys just addressed him as Hans? Once again, he found himself humbled by the mistaken identity. She should have spotted him. The fact that she hadn't meant he was actually doing things...right? Rache's lips pursed at the thought. He wasn't some nefarious blob of hatred. He was an individual. Willow treated him as such but now Chrys confirmed it.

Or else she hadn't paused long enough to catch her breath and realize her lover was still taking a powder.

No matter. Somewhere in the caverns a young pegasus was enduring only Plotter knows what horrors. Willow. A friend. Rache's first, in fact. And what Willow needed right now was a daemon and not a mortal. The Umbrum sought to destroy him (and Chrys, sure) and thus the Umbrum would fall. Fuck the Windigo. They could have the scraps.

"Dark magical energy isn't a problem," the ears pricked up once more. "The more there is, the more I devour. Yuna can handle the byproduct." His eyes fastened on Chrys' own. "Trust Fate to toss a Chaos Daemon and budding cultist into the mix. There are only two problems. One is Aegis. We don't want them tapping into his own insanity. And the other is Manifestation. The more I devour, the stronger I become until there is no need of a host to keep me anchored in the material world. I walk in both the Void and the Reality simultaneously. You might need to find Aegis at that point."

The very notion made him giddy. Then again, why be contained when Chaos and Cthulhu could team up? It would be magnificent. They could feed off the Umbrum for an age, if it was powerful enough. They could force a square peg into a round hole and give Willow the perfect end to his Hearthswarming Eve story. The ending he wanted, and the ending that would make Equestria happen exactly as it was supposed to.

It was at that point that Rache realized the maniacal laughter ringing throughout the cavern was his own. He promptly stopped and offered a small, polite cough.

"Do lead on, Miss Clover."


GROUNDTOWN

Yuna's pains were swept away by the sheer horror that was Aegis, and the malevolence that was Rache as he slipped into a primordial mindset. Well, fuck it all, who said life would be sunshine and roses? And now that the hole was complete, they had an objective to finish. But not quite yet. She had won this bout with the splinter, but just barely. She needed her wits about her.

"Aegis?"

Trembling at her own daring, the princess approached her depleted companion. Her haunches rested upon the still-warm ground in order to draw his face toward her with her hooves. And then her supple lips pressed into his to impart raw emotional energy: Dominance. Triumph. Glory.

Finally! The yammering died back to a soft grumble! In one fell swoop, she had managed to purge enough to remain in control.

"You should be grateful I'm not one of Lust's cultists," she eyed Aegis steadily. "If you touch my butt, you'll regret it. This is just to keep you going and me in charge of my own body. I'll bite your member off if you come near me with it, got it?" Equine teeth chomped together for emphasis, and then Yuna swished her tail in defiance and followed the Chancellor in.


HECTAROS AND NAOMI

"Oh!" Naomi followed Hectaros into his new space. Her eyes took in the furnishings and windows, and she inhaled the aroma of candle wax. "Oh, this is lovely!"

How silly of her to worry about modern furnishings. Obviously Demens would have arranged a proper bathroom. And who needed electric lights when they had all this? Satisfied that everything was in order for their new Resident, she smiled.

"It's a little past noon now. Twelve hour clock, two passes on the dial to mark a full day and night. So we have six hours until the meeting."

She lifted her eyes to take in the high ceiling. "Do all warriors have homes like this where you come from? This is the perfect place to come to after a rough battle."


DINING ROOM

"Squib are koovey," Myra concluded with a curt nod. "E-T-C? Oh, et cetera."

She was about to answer his question about her species, and food, when Drova turned up. "You're not butting in at all," she assured the newcomer. "In fact, why don't I grab us all more coffee. I think there's some toast and more coffee by the kitchen door."

Of course, she hadn't overlooked Drova's appearance, either. "You look very princely today. It's a nice change. Well, not that your old clothing wasn't good. This just seems - nobler, if you know what I mean."

The teen gestured for them to wait, and then she found her way into the kitchen. She returned with a tray bearing a coffee carafe, an extra cup, and a plate of lukewarm toast, and some odds and ends.

"Some pig snagged all the butter," she set the tray on their table, "but I grabbed the last jar of jam. Sausages, too. You'll have to fight over the orange."

Myra laid these out before reclaiming her head. "Oh, and yup - we were talking about languages and the Jedi code. Maghrl was just telling me about that. It's a beautiful thing."


CLINIC

Ogoti settled onto the couch once more. "Miss Katya, you should go casual more often," he smiled. "It's one thing to be a noblewoman with airs, but it's quite another to be an ordinary woman with ordinary flaws and self-doubts. None of us are perfect. All of us mess up. The question is: are you willing to learn from your mistakes? When we do that, we tend to not repeat them. We become stronger as people. Just think of how weak you'd be if you never messed up at all!"

He crossed an ankle over a knee and considered her willingness to put her best foot forward. "Abrasiveness has a purpose. Don't let it become a shield to hide behind. I tell my brother that all the time and he ignores me. Bah!" Ogoti shrugged. "What we need to do is find what foot is your best one. And then we take the first step with it. I'm not ready to throw in the towel with you. There's something about you that is very important. Once we find it, we can hone it."

His fingers drew a tin from his pocket, and he plucked a rolled cigarette from within before offering the case to her. A flare of a match, and then an exhale of sweet tobacco smoke. "Miss Katya, if you could do anything - and I do mean anything - in this upcoming war, what would it be? Forget for a moment that there are any requirements such as magical powers or military knowledge or medical training. What would you be if you could be anything?"


SID AND THE TREE MAN

"Third door on the left, Sid" Amaranth had paid attention to the lease as well as the numbers along each hall. (Pet deposit, indeed!)

The Stand ghosted his companion, taking in the organic hall fixtures and forest floor under his feet. In his eyes, mushrooms lurked in the dark corners (no doubt waiting for Monfroxians to walk by). The ceiling rustled as gently as a woodland canopy. The fresh scents of earth and water mingled with various cooking smells from the apartments along the way. It was, to be honest, very peaceful.

"What strange force imbues this building, that it becomes a living wood?" Amaranth paused to brush his hand against a painting - the flowers within moved as though stirred by a breeze. Humbled, he rested the hand on his companion's shoulder. "Where are we, Sid? Ask them, won't you. Ask them why the plants sigh, and why it feels like the beginning of spring?"

[Torsiedelle]

Dining Room

"Anything?", Katya jumped. She thought about it, accepted a cigarette, and settled in. "Well, barring any abilities...I can fight, no problem, and I'd wager I'm the best swordsman here, but fighting isn't my passion like...like it was with my sister...and I find healing interesting, but it's hardly interesting to me."

She reached out to grab her cup again. "Personally? I like being social. Speaking, acting, I like being a diva. I volunteered to help back in Bielefeld during the elections, but I guess nothing ever came of it.", She noted. "And then there was modeling, when I worked a bit with the Nikanors, and then my music, and all of that..."

Katya whirled her finger. "I don't know. It was fun. I wouldn't mind doing stuff like that...or fighting a bit...I'd tried prodding the German fellows, but I don't think I'm wanted. It's sad, but not much I can do. Oh, back home my mother works with a high-level defense corporation, but I'm not as smart with that stuff as the rest of my family. I always enjoyed arts and people. "

[Holy Lykos]

DINING ROOM

Myra laid these out before reclaiming her head. "Oh, and yup - we were talking about languages and the Jedi code. Maghrl was just telling me about that. It's a beautiful thing."

Maghrl claimed a sausage for himself, the piece of food seeming much larger than it was in his hands. The squib closed his eyes, rolling over the sausage in his hand for a bit and rubbing over it, before taking a bite. "Yes yes. Jedi Code:

"Emotion, yet peace.
Ignorance, yet knowledge.
Passion, yet serenity.
Chaos, yet harmony.
Death, yet the Force.

"Jedi Code, Myra say short timego. Oh! No Caf Maghrl. Squib no have." He drew a finger across his throat to get the point across. "Sou-sage goodie-good though. Mag check." He beamed brightly, before chowing down the rest of his little snack. He glanced over to the newcomer, nodding in assent to Myras observations. "Regal, you bet!" But then his face screwed up into a confused expression, and he let out a short huff.

"Scrawny-Prince... Drova! Right, yes yes." It took him a minute to catch Drova's name. "Magh tell 'The Tragedy of Darth Vader' yes yes." It was a term being used as more was learned about Vader's whole life and the hardships of it. It had become a whole field of study of late in the galaxy. "Longwise story-tale though. Mag-diction poor, yes yes. Tell other time, Or Myra shortsum up." He glanced over to her before shaking his head.

"Nah, Nah. Not 'less Drova-Scrawny-Prince wish hear. What Drova? Birdish, yes yes?"

---

Sidney nodded, heading for the door mentioned by Amaranth. glancing back towards Giovenith and MB "I ah... Remembered." He excused with a faint smile. He whistled softly as he stepped up in front of the door he was designated. He spun the key around a finger for a moment before preparing to turn his key in the lock. But the mention of 'Living Wood' made him halt and try to process what was all said. What wood was here? Only trimmings and a few desks.

"...Living wood? You mean the building? I don't see any moving wood but you, Amaranth." He sniffed, before rubbing at his nose and upper lip with his sleeved wrist. "... Wait, maybe this building has some sort of magic in it too. I see something else. For me its an older apartment or hotel in a New York Style. Regal and stately. Has a few flourishes in the styles of Egypt and Spain for some reason though. Vases, Windows, et cetera. Rather odd, considering I've never seen a mix of styles like that. It does look nice though. Bright and welcoming. I see a bit of plantlife though. Vines curling around windows and doors, a few flowers here and there in pots. Accents, oddly enough. No idea who would use vines as accents." Sid sniffed again, glancing around Amaranth. To those who couldn't see him it would appear like Sidney was leaning waaay out of the way to look at them.

HE would make sure to pass along Amaranth's queries without sounding like a lunatic of course, "Hey! MB! Giovenith! What's up with this place? Where is it? What is it? You've said this Dimension is owned by someone named Demens, and its his pocket. But what exactly is this Building itself? And is it spring outside? It was Thanksgiving this morning when I woke up."

[The BranRiech]

Drova

"I'd love some more coffee."

He scoffed, lightheartedly as he looked down at himself, brushing his sleeves off. "My old Army uniform. I haven't worn this since before we moved to the apartment." a slight chuckle came at the thought of a mere Corporal's uniform being considered "regal". Drova had to sort of agree with them a little though as well, he liked the crisp look of the grey military outfit, and the wool it was made from was as warm as clothes could be.

"Neste, right? She said to bring all your equipment, so I packed everything into my uniform."

He stopped before he derailed the conversation, and contemplated what Mag was saying. The accent didn't help, at least not for someone who didn't think in English to begin with.

He smiled after the diminutive alien finished explaining. "It sounds like a noble cause. I wouldn't mind hearing that story either, if we've got some free time after the meeting?" He pointed over in the vague direction of the community recreation room. The Jedi code reminded him of some of the things that Priests in his own religion lived their lives. It wasn't the exact same code, and a few of those ideas were missing.

"What is the Force?" The Prince asked, cocking his head. He'd gotten used to being called "Scrawny-Prince" back on the island, but it was still off-putting to have to put up with.

[Saldinado]

Dining Room

"I've always wanted to know the answer to this: Exactly how did you guys manage to take a mythological creature such as the Pegasus and create a living, breathing...well creature? Did you use some sort of genetic engineering with a commonplace or rather rare animal that might've been found on Earth? Or are they just naturally here on this planet? And if so, how did evolution make them the way that they are now? I can only wonder what their ancestors were in order for them to have the animal to have the distinct phenotype that it has now." Henry inquired out loud as he continued to look at the specimens of the fire-breathing lizard.

"Hm. I wonder...If its possible to clone this type of lizard as well as the Pegasus if you suggest it, if its possible to clone the reptilian creatures that once inhabited Earth around sixty-five million years ago? Or maybe even the majestic mammals that walked alongside our...Well some of our early ancestors around the Pleistocene time period maybe one hundred to two hundred thousand years ago? Although I do wonder if those movies do turn out to be true? I mean...there are some risks to cloning itself, yes, however I wonder what would be the result of having such creatures with us now?

Hmph. I'm no John Hammond, but I'm also not any Ian Malcolm...I think. I mean, I got the body for it sure, but I can't just 'go faster'. That's not how it works I think. I dunno...I'll have to try it out." The young man said to himself as at this point in time, he just was having a rather idle and casual conversation with himself about what was going on.

[Torrocca]

"Thank you," Hectaros replied with a light smile to both of Naomi's statements. He went to setting aside some of his gear and removing his helmet, putting it, his shield, and his sword, still in its sheathe, against the wall near the door. He gave the apartment another, more thorough look-around; embedded the smooth, white marble floor, in the center of the apartment, was a mosaic made of a palette of warm colors, that depicted the image of the disembodied head of a man, staring up at the ceiling with his reddish-brown eyes - the pale face had a beard and long hair of black, and a face almost as long itself; a warming smile on his face gave a comforting tone to the otherwise neutral appearance of the man. In each "corner" of the image was a four-pointed star with each point running diagonal, colored red in the arms and white in the center, representative of the five gods and goddesses of the Eterridone faith of Astelleros: the man depicted in the center was the God of Gods, Antaros, and at the same time, his first messenger - Corinos Bavos of the Southern Desert, as he was known.

Beyond that, most of the apartment was somewhat simplistic despite being the ideal image of a noble's home. Orange-white clay blocks created a lovely border that seemed to connect the marble floor and the white ceiling to the orange clay walls; both doorways and windows had excellent arches to them, giving the sense of a master mason's workings on the building. Several glass windows on the ground floor, that doubled as doors, led out onto a simple balcony with a railing of iron bars; flora of vibrant greens and a plethora of bright, lively colors to the many blossoming flowers dotted the balcony. On the wall opposite the windows was a massive, impressive mural reminiscent of Renaissance artwork; it depicted what Hectaros knew best: in the center, a battle between two opposing forces took place; warriors clad in steel, with faces of iron, brought swords together and clashed - those to the left cast in the light of the heavens above, while those to the right were shrouded in darkness. Further left, an ideal image of hope, peace, and prosperity; children playing and laughing, men and women tending to wheat fields, an obviously Eteridone city in the background, and to the far left, a man on his knees, tears rolling down his face, looking to the skies and praying. The right cast a clear contrast to this: the people were despairing, their fields of wheat dead, and their city burning. Yet, one thing remained as true in the dark half of the image as it did the light: the praying man.

Stealing himself away from his awe at the beauty of it all, Hectaros, still gazing into the mural, replied to Naomi, "oh, no. Perhaps the warriors of our barbarian neighbors in Aldere might, for they are freer and humbler than us; us legionaries, though? Our homes were tents and camps and, sometimes, the cities we protect or the cities we conquer. Most of us before then were born peasants, living in the slight comfort of more modest, simple homes. It wasn't the best of lives, but it was never the worst. No... this type of home was reserved for the nobles. Perhaps the more lowly nobles, but the nobles all the same."

[Northwest Slobovia]

When Amanda then showed the courier her phone, Nivea was more fixated on it rather than the pictures themselves that Amanda was showing her, having never seen such a thing before. [...] She then explained to Amanda to tell her the scope of what her people along with many others that went west had to endured to find a place to settle down.

Nivea's amazement at her phone kept Amanda's attention on the newcomer and her explanation. She nodded along with it, increasingly interested. At the end, she shook her head. "I'm not sure I've heard of any society quite like yours. You should talk to Sandy when he gets back; he'll be fascinated. There were a few societies in our world that worshipped their gods underground, but none that lived their entire lives underground." The corners of her mouth turned up. "Or perhaps there are, and we've never heard of them. Magic exists in our world, but very few have heard of it, and those who have keep it a secret."

"I take it your world doesn't have phones like this. They're new in my world too: ten years ago, they didn't exist. Now, we can't live without them. We'll have to get you one. They're not only for pictures: we use them to talk and send messages over long distances."

Wait! Thaddeus said... Uh-oh. "Pardon me for a moment, Nivea." She turned to him and Henry to catch the end of what Henry was saying.

"Did you use some sort of genetic engineering with a commonplace or rather rare animal that might've been found on Earth? Or are they just naturally here on this planet? And if so, how did evolution make them the way that they are now? I can only wonder what their ancestors were in order for them to have the animal to have the distinct phenotype that it has now."

"Henry?" Amanda's smile showed more than a touch of humor. "There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Pegasus is a supernatural animal. He didn't evolve, his parents were Poseidon and Medusa. And Sandy becomes Pegasus by magic, not technology."

Parts of what he and Thad had said before filtered back to her consciousness. "That's also part of the answer to a question you asked a minute ago. The fire lizards have magical organs that let them spit fire. Sandy and the Baron wanted so many things from a store trading in magic that they had to barter them away. Sandy said the lizards spit something like napalm, but whether that's a mundane substance or a magical one isn't something we know."

And then on to the most important part of what she'd half heard. "Thaddeus, you said we'll need Pegasus and Willow soon. Do you mean that in general, because of the God War, or do you know something that Sandy and I should know?" She no longer had a face full of humor, but one of concern.

[Fvaarniimar]

OPERATION: LAST CHANCE
DIMENSION: 4590K
LOCATION: Xo Research Base, Veraka, Xo'Lokako orbit, Vim System, HZSC space
TEAMS: SECRET OMEGA TENTACLE

---

Venla tapped a few buttons, and the little image grew to be more ‘full size’ on the table in front of them. It stood at about 6 feet, according to the scale next to it, and a few other members of the species appeared on the table. The females were more on Romy and the Huvidu-Zaan’s scale as mentioned earlier, with the males more like Rwm and Kale. They’d obviously have to pose as males of the species much like Romy would have to pose as a female.

A few different modes of dress started cycling over the holographic Xo as well. The styles ranged from extremely primitive to more elaborate and fancy. The basic coverings trended to cold and wind protection, including some full body covering that looked suited to desert travel. The material seemed similar to wool in some examples, flax and cotton in others. It was largely in natural colors, rather than rare dyed color.

As for the more elaborate dress, it was obvious those Xo were higher up in social hierarchy or from richer states and cities. Headgear was common, along with some military-esque dress for at least one example. Colored and dyed clothing was common among these too. The most advanced it seemed to get was in similar patterns to Late Roman or early medieval in style...

Venla tapped a few keys, a locker that was previously hidden in a wall sliding out and opening up with the devices mentioned inside. The large alien made a sweeping gesture, as if inviting them to go and collect the pieces of technology.“You may want to take a bit of time to select what the outward appearance of your disguise will look like. There’s a good amount of variety among Xo, especially in colors. You’re free to choose their form of dress too, think of it like an avatar for yourself on Xo’Lok. A personification, even.”

After some fiddling with the device and cycling through most possible Xo appearances, Rmwtyliin was fairly confident in her ability to adjust it and set to picking a color. Although she considered tan (a Fvaarniimarn male color) and deep brown, the teen eventually selected what she considered a rather nice muted leaf green.  The more vibrant hues had strongly appealed to her, but it seemed that they were reserved for females. Their ruse would not fail merely because she wanted to look pretty!  Besides, green neutralized blood-hues - Xo seemed bathed in blood - and this particular shade was the sort of color she would have used to gain an edge in hide-and-seek. If things go wrong, that could be useful...

A simple shift/tunic in a linenlike fabric and "old linen" color completed the disguise - quite similar to what the girl would have worn in cooler weather, she found to her delight. Assuming that a full "wardrobe" would be necessary given the various regions, she turned to selecting an item or two of each sort, starting with almost the same tunic in near-black "wool" and finishing with a rather elaborate early medieval outfit, complete with headgear, in yellow-green and yellow. This latter was in linenlike fabric, too. In fact, it predominated.

Feeling a bit nervous, the girl started to reach for her hair, and found herself staring at a leg. Will fiddling with it look unusual...I could ask Kale! With a smile, she switched back to her original garment, and turned to her friend excitedly. "Kale, how do I look?" Realizing that Duncan would need to be near mouth level, she absentmindedly reached for her hair, only to drop the hand, fiddle with her pockets, and then start. Zipping up the coat quickly, she tucked the critter in the collar. "Perfect! You are hidden and warm, Duunkin."

[Tiltjuice]

MB eyed the microwave oven with a speculative twinkle in his eye. Lunch was always welcome; but he couldn't exactly do that to Giovenith, even if he hadn't destroyed anything in a while.

He stayed on her shoulder, ears flicking this way and that, with an occasional chuff. Whiskers brushed the top and side of her head.

Building is...Building. Everyone sees different. And snowtime. No green growy things. Only white growy things. Rain not good for fur. An indoor rabbit was a bored rabbit. Which led to a lot of destroyed things.

What is an Amaranth?

[Chedastan]

OPERATION: LAST CHANCE
DIMENSION: 4590K
LOCATION: Xo Research Base, Veraka, Xo'Lokako orbit, Vim System, HZSC space
TEAMS: SECRET OMEGA TENTACLE

---

Romulus only sighed, as despite it being the nature of the plan, he still felt at least somewhat odd about it. Not for the fact that he was going to have to pose as a man-sized arthropod of the opposite sex though, that part didn't bother him as much, it was much rather that he was essentially doing a scout's and intel agent's job for this mission. Those critical members of the Impeirum's war machine were made up of the most elite in subtly in the Wilhelm Imperium, and were always many years ahead of the Imperium's main forces when they were set out to gather intelligence of lands far beyond.

The General on the other hand was chosen for quite the opposite reason, in the sense that he wasn't supposed to be subtle in the slightest, and was meant to be front and center on the battlefield at the army's main vanguard. The covert nature of this mission worried him somewhat, if only for mostly himself in his own ability, as he feared that he could be the one to undermined the whole operation if something were to happen. He could only hoped that wouldn't be the case, because otherwise they'll be surely set back by a large amount. He just needed some more faith in himself surely? They had a plan didn't they after all?

When it finally came time for them to select their Xo disguises, Romulus used the device to try and come up with something that was at least modest or simply fair, but what options there were seemed to want him to be quite the opposite. And it didn't really helped that he never really was that creative or artistic to begin with, but he would dabbled if he must to make up an appearance and presence for this disguise.

After a minute of two, he finally came up with something. His facaded exoskeleton was several shades of bright green and red that glittered in the light like it was metallic. And his height still stood as prominently tall, and his powered armor was disguised as a large gown and dress that was lightly colored but still looked very militaristic, with pauldrons being included heavily. His collared piece was appropriately quite massive, and his headgear was just as large and prominent and fitting for an higher up the chain ranking member of Xo’Lok society.

He felt completely ridiculous with his choices, seeing how the image given to him looked like an dumbly dressed aristocrat or an armchair general. But he could only sighed again and look at Venla for approval, "Is this what I picked okay? I'm assuming I need to go as a member of their higher society in order for us to get far down there, right?" He then asked Venla to see what she thought.