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Ellestaria     The volcano fortress has a lot of rooms! And one of them... well, a lot of them are in use as laboratories of some kind. Some are simple rooms, others have been refurnished and refinished. This, Lab 6, is one of those.

    The door is closed, and is a high-tech one with a biometric lock. It's registereing as an error, but Ariel's biometrics can override it and open it with ease. Doing such spills open a rotting pumpkin or three, splattering on the ground, and reveals some spooky chirping and distant howls... which then turn into a rendition of the 'Monster Mash,' revealing the source of the sounds to be a Halloween album on repeat. The lab appears choked with vines and pumpkins, with an upturned table near the entrance, and a very rough 'path' through the vegetation which largely seems to be growing from troughs.
Guest Psyber     Psyber didn't really have much issue finding the volcano fortress. He's a friend of the family and has been here more than a handful of times. Out of respect for someone else's home, he's not smoking today. Instead, he has a lollipop in the corner of his mouth that he's idly consuming. Across his back is a huge sword, almost as tall as he is and nearly as wide as well. Aside from that, he mostly has the handgun he carries everywhere in a holster at his side.

    "Yo Ariel. I'm here to help."

    And then he peers into the door, "Well that's... thematic? Ish. She took decorating a little far."
Sakura Haruno     Flowers is also here to help, of course. She's stopped off for the ultimate weapon for fighting overwork, naturally.

    That is to say, she's wearing a lab coat and she's carrying a doctor's note mandating Lest take at least twelve hours off.

    She didn't have much trouble finding her way, but she'll mostly seem nonchalant and smile as she enters. "Hopefully there won't be any kind of horrible creations or anything in here." The medic will state, all but guarenteeing that there will be. She doesn't seem very well armed for dealing with one if there is one, though.
Heaven's Armory     Ari is here, following after Psyber. She has a cheeseburger. Did she get it from him? Did they stop for fast food on the way? Has she been mail-ordering cheeseburgers? The scene may never know.
    Regardless, she's in her armor, but otherwise not looking especially wary of anything around. (It's questionable how much worth that armor has, for that matter.) She takes a bit, and leans around Psyber, and then wrinkles her nose. "Slow conversion from fruit to gas and mush."
Ariel Opening the door was something Ariel waiting for the others to arrive before doing, so she wouldn't have to go it alone. And... when the pumpkins spill out, she's not that surprised. "Huh... guess she was working on something for the holiday." She doesn't have any weapons drawn, but that shouldn't be surprising for those who know her. Al isn't with her, however, which means she must not be expecting anything TOO terrible.

"Thanks for coming, everyone... I guess we'll see what she's cooking in here," the unicorn says with a sheepish smile. She peeks in, poking around the entrance and at the troughs to see how long the plants have been unattended.
Devon-7     Ding dong. Ding dong.

    "Oakley are ya sure this is the right place?"

    There is a space cowboy ringing the doorbell to a giant volcano fortress. Tall and wreathed in the remains of what used to be a duster coat, now so tattered and worn by time and travel, it's little more than a cloak, at best. He has a cowboy hat worn right over his helmet; a mashed mix of headgear that looks like a cross somewhere between ski goggles, a gas mask, and a ballistic helmet. Devon-7's clawed bone-gauntlet presses the button again. Ding dong.

    The blocky little construct floating at his side taps itself against his helmet.

    "Devon, she said 'the volcano fortress with the doorbell'. Do ya see any other volcano fortresses around here, and iffin' ya do, do they have doorbells?"

    "Well no. I reckon I don't."

    Ding dong ding dong!

    That was roughly 'a few minutes ago'.

    Now there's a space cowboy among the group, spurs clinking as he follows into the labs. As he is in the home of a lady, he is courteous, respectful and proper.

    He takes off his hat.

    "Little lady." He greets the tiny unicorn child, good and proper. Though the significance of the Monster Mash is lost on him. Hist Ghost though, goes dead still in the air, that glowing cycloptic eye locking on Ariel.

    "Oh. Mah. Stars." And then Ariel is beset by some kind of strange baseball sized blocky techno fairy. "You are THE most ay-dorable thang I have EVER SEEN!" Oakley squeals. Devon, on the other hand is much more business-like. "Li'l lady. Heard ya couldn't find yer momma. I couldn't rightly sit by and not do somethin' about it."

    Okay all the greetings and stuff aside. Pumpkins spill out of the door.

    "What's with the pumpkins?"
Setsuko Kaminagi     Much like Psyber, Setsuko has been here more than once, and getting here isn't much difficulty for her. And of course, if Ariel is asking for help, Setsuko is there; not even an army would stop her. She does give Psyber's new companion - the girl with the cheeseburger - a curious look, but other than that, she's all business, giving Ariel what she hopes is a comforting single pat on the head. "It looks as if she had something in mind for Halloween..."
Lin "Sooooo... maaaaaaaaaaany..... PUMPKINS!" Karal Rei Lin gasps out the moment she reaches the destination. Which is something she does on foot through a hell of a high-speed jaunt from the nearest warp gate. Running and leaping quick as any vehicle might go, without needing to worry about roads. She float-falls down to the group from her final leap and adjusts her ruffled and wrinkled outfit as she rises... only to make that amazed exclamation in pure double-take.

    The redhead tosses her ponytail back over her shoulder and regards the others here carefully. Some she's worked with before, but many not so much. Psyber's insanely huge sword gets eyeballed heavily though. She eyes it almost hungrily in fact, so curious is she...

    But her attention turns back to the door. The Solar folds her arms, lips pursed in thought. "This place feels weird... so much... hrmngh. A manse?"
Ellestaria     Well, the room is... large. And choked with vines and pumpkins of various sizes. In fact, it looks pretty cramped and narrow, until anyone poking in realizes that the left crowded 'wall' is actually just a REALLY BIG pumpkin. Some of them are odd colors, too. The troughs are pretty badly damaged, but not entirely burst.

    A good estimate would be that they've been growing at an accelerated rate, probably for about... five days, maybe six? The upturned table doesn't have any notes on it, unfortunately. It DOES have what appears to be Lest's radio, which explains why she hasn't checked in.
Heaven's Armory     Ari ends up returning Setsuko's look. Hmm, swordswoman. Any mysterious dignity to the expression is lost due to cheek full of beef patty. Devon's appearance gets a quick look, but this one seems more a... gunslinger? She only knows of this sort from wiki-hopping and movie collections. Ariel is already slightly familiar to her. Flowers is less so, though she knows of her.
    The girl-form of the sword walks into the room. "This smells like more than a week of neglect." She's giving the largest pumpkin a poke, then tracing part of a jack-o'-lantern face on it. This doesn't have any mystical or otherwise immediate effect; it seems more an idle gesture.
Sakura Haruno     "Hmm. This is kind of gross, isn't it?" Flowers will ask, rather rhetorically. She'll pull her lab coat up and over her face, trying to shield from the smells and fumes. And starting to head further back, even if she's tiptoeing just a bit to try and get past all the pumpkins without getting too much mush on her shoes.

    "I hope they're giving you enough in allowance to make it worth the effort to clean this up, Ariel." She'll add, because in the position of needing to clean this sort of thing up she'd completely be looking for someone else to do it.
Guest Psyber     Psyber is moderately used to people staring at the sword. It's a big sword and gets stared at a lot. When he takes her on stealth missions, he has to wrap her in a cello case to disguise her, "If Lest has them growing at an accelerated rate, they're decomposing at the same rate. It'd only make sense, right?" He replies to Ari, regarding her observation about age.

    Devon gets a polite nod of Psyber's head. He doesn't have anything against the space cowboy, the guy is here to help and seems nice, "Welcome. I'm Psyber." He introduces himself briefly in passing before they're moving on.

    Eventually, though, he agrees with Sakura, "It does seem rather gross. I've never known Lest to let her lab get so untidy. As a researcher, I could have sworn she valued sterile environments for tests."
Ariel "Thanks for coming, every... one..." Ariel looks a little fidgety at being called adorable again, making for nervous laughter, and she honestly is peering at the burger curiously too. But shaking that off, she brushes some of the vines away to take a better look at these pumpkins, and... well, move in a little more.

"Mom isn't normally very festive," she notes. "I wonder if this was a gift or... something." She squints at the face traced. "Nn... let's push on and see what else is in here. Oh yeah... nice to actually meet you, Devon and Oakley. I'm Ariel. Al probably let you in, or maybe Lila. Depends on how rude they were."
Setsuko Kaminagi     Setsuko's stares hold a fairly different context than most people who would dumbly gape at Ari, to be fair. Hers is more appraising, as if some deep scrutiny were being applied. Finally, she bends slightly at the waist, respectful towards the girl. "Setsuko Kaminagi," she introduces, then rests a hand on the blade sheathed at her side, and adds, "Zanjintou." The swordswoman has a fair bit of scrutiny to give the room, but her first instinct still ends up being the most obvious one - and the aforementioned sword clears its sheath soon after. "Does anyone have a particular reason not to start cutting away some of these vines?" Pause. "...other than the mess it would make?"
Devon-7     Haw haw, joke is on all of you. Devon still has a full face helmet on. The smell is lost to him.

    It is his Ghost, though, that starts actual investigations, between the apparent gunslinger and weird blocky techno-AI critter that lingers around Ariel a few moments more before she gets to actual work. Floating over one of the pumpkins and shining a strobing light over it, soaking in data and information with a long hard stare.

    "These are only a few days old." Oakley points out. "Darn, what was she feedin' 'em?" She says.

    The Guardian remains conspicuously quiet about who answered the door and what rudeness he may or may not have endured. "They were angels, li'l lady."

    Yup.
Heaven's Armory     Ari, on being greeted, swallows her food, and returns Setsuko's slight-bow with a moderate-nod. Bowing might not be a thing for her. "Ari." Only one name needed, since only one being is introduced.
    "Quickly overgrown," she adds to Psyber, "and perhaps hiding what we need to see," half to Setsuko.
Ellestaria     It is quickly overgrown. And pushing on even a little further reveals that... well, the plants aren't entirely plant. Most of them are just overgrown, but just around the 'bend' of the 'path' comes the stirring of leaves. A plump pumpkin, deformed and with an oozing split down the middle, thumps down on the path and quivers. The stem pulses, and several smaller pumpkins writhe forward, the entire mess slowly twisting its way toward Ariel and Sakura.

    It's not much of a threat, at least by motion alone. But the split opens up and 'horks' a sticky blob of mildly acidic seeds and goop at Sakura.
Lin Lin isn't interested in chopping everything up EXACTLY because of the mess. Imagine if this could be harvested and distributed! So much FOOD!

    Not that she's a fan of pumpkin, not THIS much...

    "There's enough here in this one... wall? .. to feed whole villages..." She's a bit awed at the feat anything like it could grow to begin with. Makes it rather distressing to imagine chopping it up wastefully!

    "I suppose she must be further in."
Guest Psyber     Internally, Psyber is jealous of the man with the full helmet. He will never admit this publically.

    He reaches up and grabs the sword off his back, "I guess we should get to wor-"

    "Sakura watch out!" Psyber shouts abruptly, lunging towards the ninja. For all the years they've worked together, she knows his reckless nature and need to protect people. And it shouldn't surprise her at all that Psyber is willing to jump in front of her and shield her from the vile, acidic onslaught as he drags his sword behind him.

    There's a sickening, gut-wrenching splat as the acidic ooze hits Psyber square in the chest. He staggers a bit and lets out a cry, "AUUUUUUUGH. AAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH. UUUUUUUUUGH." It almost sounds like he's in pain.

    Instead, a few moments later he's trying to scrape the gunk off his shirt with the sleeve of his jacket and looks only very lightly damages, "Ew ew ew. God this smells SO bad. This was a much more heroic idea in my head. It smells like swamp ass had a child with pit stink."
Sakura Haruno     Flowers will certainly be every inch the ninja in dodging the pumpkin acid spit by moving behind cover. She'll be SO MUCH the ninja that she manages this in spite of not moving at all or really even noticing that she's about to get sprayed or anything.

    Sakura's such a badass ninja that the cover moves in front of her.

    "Are you alright?" She'll shout at Psyber, even though he's like two feet away, moving in to try and heal him or clean him off. At least until he starts complaining about the smell; that's a sign everything's okay. She'll look to Ariel, though. "..Do you think it's okay if we crush that or will it make things worse?"
Setsuko Kaminagi     Setsuko is about to step in alongside Psyber to get cutting, when-

    Well now she's just kind of staring silently at him. It's rare for the demigod to wear a look on her face that says '.../really/?' but boy howdy he's brought it out of her this time.

    "...Let's start making our way through," she finally says with a frown. The sword in her hand flicks once, and a slender 'blade' of blue-white light is unleashed at the spitting pumpkin. A single, sharp 'divine cutter' that should carve the pumpkin quite neatly.
Heaven's Armory     Ari's fascination turns to... surprise? Whatever her prior experience with pumpkins is, it doesn't involve them spitting acid at any point in her long history, even in the embellished versions. She's torn between an instinct for personal safety and uncertainty as to how much threat this constitutes. Getting her vulnerable half out of here would also cut down on the smell. Tempting.
    She stays where she is--apart from the bit where Psyber moved her--and settles for holding a hand over her nose and making a face. It's a good thing she already finished her burger. This really isn't good for the palate.
    Her true body is unconcerned with the sort of mess that may cover her, given her intended purpose as a melee weapon.
Ariel Ariel scratches her head at what just happened. "I don't... the only worry I have is maybe there's some self-defense in here. They don't really look all that dangerous though. Maybe we should take it easy."

Not like she's going to object to Setsuko making that slice though. The group needs to progress SOMEHOW after all. Ariel is tempted to just charge through, but she'll go slowly. "What was she doing? I don't really come into the lab often..."
Devon-7     Meanwhile, back at the ranch... That sure is a nice jacket that feller's got.

    But reciprocal internal jealousies pushed aside, when the mobile death squash waddles menacingly at them the Guardian sort of stares at it.

    And then it hacks the mother of all death loogies.

    Psyber steps in the way to protect others and oh god the horror, the humanity, it's like watching a horror film where faces get melted off-- except no face melting happens and it looks like the pumpkin did more damage to the man's shirt than to Psyber himself.

    So that happened.

    There is a shift though. A change in the Hunter's stance. He has gone silent. There is a jagged knife in his left hand, a gleaming revolver in his right. Both were drawn soundlessly, and the swaggering cowboy gait is gone from his step. Now when he moves, smooth and predatory, there isn't even a clink of the space-spurs on his space-boots.

    He keeps to the back and remains silent, sparing the unicorn child his conjecture on terrible pumpkin related science.
Lin EXPLODING PUMPKINS.

    Lin's left gawking and freaked, a bit frozen in place while Psyber panics and goes guardian angel. She makes stammery, bewildered noises. HORRIFIED.

    THE FOOD IS EVIL.

    A hand goes immediately to her weapon. "What HAPPENED?!" But chopping them now promises to release toxic goo immediately... she glances at the surroundings... "Fire? Controlled fire? Slashing and hacking won't... go well..."
Ellestaria     Well, there are some slashes going. And Setsuko's sword does cut right through it! Pumpkin juice splatters, but... more than that. It isn't acidic, not this one, but when the pumpkin splits open, jagged eruptions of serrated bone blossom out, slicing pieces of the pumpkin out and shooting out toward Setsuko's flesh. They're blind, unaimed, and calm a moment later... but it looks like the entire core of that huge pumpkin was made up of some kind of bonelike growth.

    Other than that, though... it's plenty easy to slice through, letting the group see more vines and more normal pumpkins along the way. It's a writhing mess though... and Devon, Karal, and Ari's humanoid body are going to have to deal with thick, woody vines attempting to wrap around them and yank them away. They're VERY slow though, so it's trivial to stop them. They don't appear to be trying to actively strangle, either.

    A bigger concern is how the foliage opens up to show a massive cluster of pumpkins, with what looks like a face carved in it. A cluster that shifts and turns, with an unconscious Ellestaria dangling in a mass of vines on the far wall.
Heaven's Armory     Ari is already moving behind Psyber and Setsuko before she even notices the creeping vines. When she does, however, she stops, watches one move for a moment, and then kneels down to point at it. If it's not magically warded somehow, this is the part where it goes up in a remarkably well-controlled fire, though only the specific vine she pointed at.
    Oh, and then there's a... person she doesn't recognize and a giant face. Ari looks to her wielder. There are several options available, here.
Guest Psyber     "Bluuuuh, yeah, I'm fine," Psyber says to Sakura in a somewhat annoyed tone as he looks down at his shirt and frowns, "Just really grossed out and sticky. I'm gonna take a super long shower when I get home." He grumbles before gripping the sword tightly in his hands.

    "Ugh, come on, Ari. I see Lest. Let's clear a path with the others. Burn our way through." He tries to focus less on the gross, sticky loogie on his shirt and more on the whole 'lots of vines and foliage in the way of their objective'.

    He steps forward and tries to cut a fiery slash through the vines and plantlife so other people can move in to rescue Ellestaria.
Heaven's Armory     On command--more specifically, 'at will'--Ari burns the foliage. The same sort of power her human form exhibited is far, far stronger from her blade, but she's carefully controlling both the output and the spread. It's less a proper 'fire that burns things' and more 'things bursting into flame because they are being burnt up,' giving little time to spread, but making short work of what's in the way.
Sakura Haruno     Sakura will sigh, stepping back from Psyber as she spares a glance about. And there, naturally, is who they came for. "Well." Sakura will start, before showing that good judgement she's known for. Which means letting Psyber try to be a distraction, as she sprints forward, trying to avoid letting the vines sweep her up.

    If she can getthere, not having any cutting implements with her, Sakura will instead start trying to yank the vines holding her friend apart, utilizing her strength. It's probably going to be gross, presuming she can even get there without being snagged up. Hopefully, others will help in trying to retrieve Lest, so Flowers can get to trying to wake her up instead, possibly to give them the keys to defeating the vile pumpkin spice menance without simply waiting until December when the seasonal items rotate.
Setsuko Kaminagi     "Gh-!"

    Well, Ariel, bad news. Setsuko is now bleeding all over your mom's lab.

    The demigod reaches down to pull out one of the bone projectiles out of herself, tossing it aside, followed by another. One in her arm, one in her abdomen... it's enough to make one wonder just what sort of Halloween festivities they had in Atlantis. But aside from the pain, Setsuko seems to be fine.

    "Don't worry about me," she says pre-emptively in Sakura's direction. "If they haven't healed by the time we reach safety, you can tend them then."

    She easily settles back into the act of cutting and slicing, at least until the moment she spots Lest in among all that. "...Let me see if I can hit the central cluster." Rather than go after the damsel in distress, the demigod decides to aim for the monster. Her feet lift off the floor; the swordswoman floats, turns, and begins flying right through as much of the dense foliage as she can - and cutting apart what she can't dodge. She intends to hit the mass of (or is that 'massive') Jack-O'-Lantern, full force.
Devon-7     There is a long, soft, whistle as the shrapnel pumpkin goes off. A whistle that clearly conveys a single, simple sentiment.

    'Dayum'

    The Exo's knife is plenty sharp. And that's a good thing, when vines slither, trying to coil and loop around the galactic cowpoke. They are a nuisance at best, but one that holds Devon-7's attention, even little Oakley showing some fighting spirit in trying to headbutt a vine with her entire blocky little body ineffectually as he cuts them away, takes a few steps, has to cut more.

    But then they find who they came for. The little unicorn-child's mother looks... Nothing like her. The Hunter makes no comment. Actually, the Hunter is gone. He was there a moment ago. Then he just up and vanishes. A second later the air ripples. Something moving like a chameleon, light bending around it, before several knives are seemingly flung from the thin air, hurled end over end with daringly close, but unerring skill, to sever vines and cut Ellestaria down for someone to catch.
Ariel Oh... there is mom. "MOM!" Ariel squeaks, a little bleat of surprise there. Well at least she seems okay? She looks at Setsuko with some concern too... but if the warrior is okay, then she'll just force herself and Sakura upon Setsuko later, and do horrible medical things.

For now, the little unicorn shakes her head and bolts forward, the horn lowered to charge through anything that gets in the way, on her way to grab and catch Ellestaria once the Atlantean is freed. "I've got her!"
Lin BONE PUMPKINS.

    Lin's disbelieving expression just gets even more frowny and gobsmacked. Even as SPLATTER on her face and outfit... she shivers uncomfortably.

    Vines start snaking towards her though and with one brushing up against her she reacts with a yelp, LEAPING backwards, somersaulting and dropping down with a hand on her sword. She lunges forth in broad strokes to slash through vines with plenty of growls, heading with the group through the mess...

    All the way to...

    "... Did the local pumpkin god lose his temper over something?" She can only stare at the pumpkins-with-a-face.
Ellestaria     The flames and slashes blast through the vines, fairly easily, though they're wet enough that the flames don't spread much. They do leave a choking smoke that smells... actually quite pleasant, full of pumpkin. Not bad.

    It gives Setsuko plenty of room to swing her sword, the demigod slicing through a lifted vine, then making a wet splut noise as the pumpkin is cleaved open. That doesn't seem to be what animates it, but... well, it's strong, but fairly slow. Really, the things here would only be a threat to civilians, and even then a well-prepared one would likely be okay. how they caught Lest is something of a mystery.

    It is easier to see how they HELD her though, as those vines are VERY strong and tough. Fortunately the knives slicing at them make it easier for Sakura's massive strenght to tear them off the wall, allowing Lest to tumble out and atop Ariel, groaning softly. "Mmf... my head."
Devon-7     Clink. Clink. Clink.

    Those are spurs. They can be heard again as Devon steps from concealment, the Guardian's light bending cloaking sputtering before it depowers and he steps as though emerging from a shadow.

    Unfortunately with his helmet on, he misses the pumpkin scent. But it looks like the issue is dealt with. "Ma'am. You doin' alright? Looks like you had a bad run in with some nasty squash. Li'l lady here got worried and rounded up a posse to come look for you."
Guest Psyber     Thunk.

    Psyber embeds the tip of the sword into the floor and uses it as a leaning crutch, gripping by the handle and shifting his weight a bit.

    "That's more or less what happened, yeah." He agrees with Devon, shrugging a bit and then looking down at the front of his shirt, "Your gooey pumpkins are nasty, Lest. Just nasty."
Heaven's Armory     Ari naturally supports Psyber, and Ari also walks through the holiday-appropriate destruction to pat his back. Peering around, she asks, "Is she alright?" Though Haruno and Ariel are rather better equipped to both ask and answer that.
Ariel "Wow mom," Ariel declares, helping lay her down somewhere to recover. "These are a lot of pumpkins. Why were you growing them? You were missing for days?" Ariel is already working to see if Lest is injured, and injects a mild painkiller from her tail if she looks hurt.
Ellestaria     "Mmmn..." Ellestaria mumbles, looking more exhausted than injured. "Ah... you killed it. My prototype..." Sigh. Rubbing her eyes, she tries to answer with a mutter...

    "I never thought making a self-carving pumpkin would be so difficult."
Setsuko Kaminagi     And that is what Setsuko hears as she walks back over to where Lest has been freed, cleaning Zanjintou off with a flick of her wrist. Her clothes, unfortunately, will not be so easily cleansed.

    "...why not simply create a machine to do the task?"