Scene #9754: I'm on a Boat

Owner	Pose
Lilian Rook	The only thing more cringe than building a houseboat under these circumstances would be formally inviting anyone to it, so it's a good thing for Ash that they didn't; everyone else invited themselves in instead. Ignore that part where they were filtering people by Treat Tribute back when Nika demanded special entry, though. What had begun as a mat of hastily thrown-together bamboo in the midst of a confused and angry tantrum about Petra's allegedly dangerous pheromones has matured through on-and-off weeks of tireless Ash-hours (worth thirty or so man-hours) of fiddling. It's still not all that much of a boat, but rather a surprisingly sturdy square of hewn (and finished?) carpentry that floats atop a giant metal bubble wrap design welded into it from beneath; probably using scrap that they simply decided to bend into shape and shine up. The closest it has to an engine is just a huge collapsible propellor blade on a reel mount for net fishing that can be picked up and put on a different side. But it's very much a house. Not an absurd little white picket fence recreation, but a surprisingly cozy notched-timber building that managed to get to be a floor-and-a-half before Ash had enough, including thick-set shutter windows actually capable of keeping out the wind when closed, a 'loft' that covers half the floor plan (notably lacking a ladder), interior walls in the space under it, and enough wide open space on the other side to actually have a circular fire pit made of stone that Ash apparently just squished into a smooth bowl shape. At some point they got enthusiastic enough to properly treat and seal the wood with supplies acquired (shoplifted) from some offworld home depot, realizing it was all going to rot inside a year if they didn't. With the fire going in the big 'room' the loft floor overlooks, the air is surprisingly dry, no doubt helped by the thick layers of hanging screens on the inside of each outward-opening door, not all of which are actually finished. There's nothing so pretentious as tiles or carpet, but there are a couple of fur rugs apparently placed just for looks. Some of the furniture is clearly assembled pre-made, but some of it is the result of carpentry, and it's difficult to tell which one is replacing the other over time. The table (in the open space) is conspicuously only sized for four. For some reason, there's a futon, sleeping bag, fluffy rug, and hammock in the warmer back part of the loft space. One of the walled-in rooms actually contains what appears to be a hand-crank generator, mainly powering a flywheel the size of an entire person, copper wiring into battery banks that then run through numerous wall-braces that've been screwdrivered in to let them reach electric lights, a microwave, an induction stove plate, a minifrige, a chunky radio, and a frankenstein charging dock with no imaginable use beyond smartphones and Nika's game consoles. One room menaces with barely-sorted, half-unpacked crates, some of which contain fishing gear. Another menaces with beanbag chairs and cold drinks, as well as most of the gear Ash carried here. A third constitutes an actual closet for (also shoplifted) clothes and towels, and a fourth vaguely looks like a survival-crafter hole with tool benches and everything. The small room that's just a rubber-sealed hatch to the water 4 feet below is probably for retrieving water in general, given the bucket and desalination still.
Lilian Rook	Lilian claims to be sufficiently busy with the Kepler aftermath and her studies at Laplace that she doesn't feel like leaving the manorhouse. Nika has insisted on coming right over with more bags of snacks to add to the growing, unfinished pile already in the 'living room', next to likewise unfinished board games and even less finished . . . homebrew tabletop game? The process of getting there is as simple as Ash nudging the stupid propellor wheel and leaning on it, which causes it to spin frictionlessly and extraordinarily quicky, and then dropping the big fucking rock that serves as the anchor. "OSHA jokes banned by the way." Ash says, first thing. "If I hear 'forklift certified' I drop you." Nika, already scampering onto the broad outdoor flat, lugging a school-sized backpack, scoffs. "That's so ¶dadrock¶. Nobody says that." Ash leans against the side of the building, pointlessly fidgeting with a window corner from outside, and says "Yeah well we're acting like this shit's an inspection, so I gotta get ahead of it."
Xion	Xion arrives in black leggings, shorts, and a black t-shirt tied at the waist into a little ball, over which she wears a purple and black flannel shirt, having brought a six pack of glass bottles that seem to be low-rez or otherwise unadorned, like they came from a fake storefront and are almost eerily unlabelled, but seem entirely legitimate -- and Xion is extra careful with until she drops them off. There seems to be Red, Purple, and Brown flavor, two each. "You made all this? Like, by hand? That's really cool, actually." Xion answers, to the OSHA jab. Then, to jab around anyway, grins. "I read an article, on people who apologize when people enter, as this whole psychology thing. Do you think anyone qualified participated in writing it?" She asks, grinning like she knows something but doesn't press. "Are we acting like that? Are you going to show us around, Ash?" Xion asks, actually interested, holding bicep from behind own back, and rocking forward to Inspect at Ash. "You must do everything by hand here, with a high capacity battery, since the crank, right?" She asks, curious.
Tamamo	Tamamo has invited herself over, presumably because Nika is going to fish. Being Summer and out on the water, one might have expected this to be a swimsuit trip -- but no! She doesn't plan on getting wet at all, though she's prepared for knee-deep. Today's wear is more of a slightly ruffly , shoulderless sundress in cream-white, a wide, straw hat with a messy fringe that's been fitted for her ears, and thick-soled sandals. They have a good grip, though they look like they'd be easy to slip out of. Lilian's not here to see any of that, but she'll see it sometime today. There's never a day unsuited to trying things on, if she has anything to say about the schedule. "Please pardon the intrusion." That's rote. "Well, well." While she tries to remember if she's familiar with what an OSHA is or not, drawing a mental thread around 'forklift' and seeking outward, she latches on to Nika's judgment. "'Dadrock' is the soul of fathers, yes?" In the sense that Regulus might speak of soul. "The getting-about I can see, now, though 'rowing' might have been a different term. Oh, but an oar would be better for turning it, surely." She has minimal knowledge of boating, as such. That's explicitly not her domain! The storms and ocean god is a whole different guy, and her interest in beaches is primarily for more modern reasons. Cold drinks? "Oho, so you did prepare drinks, if not tea." Xion bringing more doesn't require a remark, because she hasn't claimed apathy toward courtesy.
Angela	Roland and Tiphereth have come along to the house boat. It's strange to be around any of the Blooms, honestly, without Lilian being present but what're they gonna do? Refuse to go to a houseboat? Never. Angela, of course, is busy with Library Stuff and the two of them are in their Librarian uniforms when they arrive. "Never been in a houseboat before." Roland asides to Tiphereth. "I've barely been outside LobCorp--or the Library--since I was a child." "Well you are a--ow!" Tiphereth pulls back her fist after jabbing Roland in the arm, throwing a wave and offering Ash a smile. "Don't worry, it's not like I have any room to talk about ''that''." "Jeeze, was it really that bad?" "It was a death trap." Tiphereth quips monotonally. "Though to be honest I don't even know what OSHA is outside of the ... sort of ... context from the way it was used just there?" Roland gives a nod to Xion. "Hey Xion." Roland says. Then he blinks twice like he's trying to figure something out. "How've you been? Guess it hasn't been that long but." He's trying to make converseation.
Petra Soroka	Petra is here sort of because she was invited! Because she's a whore and nagged for permission until it was granted, over top of a bicep! Let me into your house! There is a degree of villainous horndog that Petra's fashion extends to that can only be interpreted as open threat by Ash, and so Petra stays short of that. Today, Petra's midriff remains covered, by an arrow pointing directly down at her dick, labeled 'I'M WITH STUPID'. Her half-worn flannel and gay little beanie armor her for the potential adventure of fishing out on the water, if the whim happens to strike the two attending Blooms, and besides her usual draping of accessories she's basically normal. Except for the mechanical dog tail made of the Silver that she hasn't been able to undo since Underived Conviction's fruit stuck it to her body. It's partially covered by the hanging flannel, and yet. "If I literally ever invoke OSHA, I think all my accumulated workplace violations will suddenly catch up to me at once and turn me into a fine white mist." Petra hops onto the raft with a simultaneous both-feet landing, immediately springing into scampering around while her guitar case swings its wait around. "What the fuck? This is awesome! What's the fucking, weight tolerance on this thing? Is it actually all that insulated? Wait, is that where the power comes from? You straight up crank it? I guess since there's no TV that's actually pretty easy. Oh, hell yeah." Petra bounces around for a bit until circling back around to, "Oh, yeah, I keep having to work on stuff because of building Hydrochoeria up."
Tamamo	'Don't worry, it's not like I have any room to talk about ''that''.' Tamamo almost asks. She wants to know! But she won't ask, because asking about 'that' is so gauche. 'I think all my accumulated workplace violations will suddenly catch up to me at once and turn me into a fine white mist.' "Is that how that works?" She appears to give some serious thought to the matter. "For the weight of your sins against OSHA to be so great..." It'd be bad if circumstances arranged for her to comment on that shirt. Fortunately, Petra's new tail is right there -- which Ash didn't see her get, but Tamamo did. She makes a certain assumption about it. "So, you decided to keep 'that,' after all."
Lilian Rook	'You made all this? Like, by hand? That's really cool, actually.' "It's been five months. Running errands for DD only happens every so often, and even Nika gets bored." Ash says, meaning 'taking the place of Himorogikage agents on high-risk missions who might otherwise be killed or maimed and require Sakura to heal them' and 'themself, actually' respectively. "Actually kinda a lot of time. I still go fuck around through the Warpgate too. Really convenient having one here." "NEET." "Hey what the fuck?! From you?!" "Yeah." "I had a job last year! Was there like ten years too! And it sucked total ass and made everything worse for everyone! We went to outer fucking space and we're throwing around jobless now?!" "No no. It's 'not in educatio, employment, or training'. I'm ¶getting learned¶ and ¶getting good¶ so that's two. You're like ¶on summer break/backpacking europe¶.")] "Get off my ass. 'Finding yourself' shoulda been a mandatory end of the year thing for every fuckin' college ever. And you keep hanging out here, so this is building public amenities actually." "Okay then I'm your ¶state commissioner/floating cursor¶!" "Girl I'm the one who cranks the gen. I'm the noble labour here. You could say thank you instead." "Okay! Thank you!" 'I read an article, on people who apologize when people enter, as this whole psychology thing. Do you think anyone qualified participated in writing it?' "I read an article about a guy who got dumped in the ocean and a shark bit him and he just tread water all day and all night on the miracle chance some boat would find him while he bled out too bad to keep it up and drowned anyways." 'Are we acting like that? Are you going to show us around, Ash?' "Throw those stones gamer but I know how lame your friends are." "It's okay. The radio ¶mealworms¶ can't come here." ". . . They are kinda ¶dadrock¶ though." 'Dadrock' is the soul of fathers, yes?' "It's soul of ¶dads¶. But being a ¶dad¶ when you're not a father is kind of the lamest thing ever." Nika says, gripped with a completely undeserved conviction. "Except ¶cheated on in highschool¶." "Yeah like constitution lady." "You get me!" 'You must do everything by hand here, with a high capacity battery, since the crank, right?' 'The getting-about I can see, now' "Having to care about the continued existence of industrialized society shifting fucking product around is--" Ash weirdly stops themself and chooses to rephrase. "Lugging around gas and refilling is annoying. The banks can run everything for two weeks and all I gotta do is babysit the flywheel for an hour."
Lilian Rook	'Oho, so you did prepare drinks, if not tea.' "The rule is that if one of the girls ask for something on three different visits then I figure out if I can put it in." Ash says. "Unless it's a really good point; then I do it the first time." Nika adds "Are you gonna add a freezer for the fish? From fishing." "Undecided. Don't want to clean them here. Then it smells like fish." "Okay I guess." "Upgrade your boat and do it there if you want." "I want little sticks to grill them on by the fire." 'Though to be honest I don't even know what OSHA is outside of the ... sort of ... context from the way it was used just there?' 'If I literally ever invoke OSHA, I think all my accumulated workplace violations will suddenly catch up to me at once and turn me into a fine white mist.' "Workplace safety ¶peddlers¶ from the internet." Nika says, nodding sagely at Petra. "White." says Ash. 'What the fuck? This is awesome!' Pulling the door open and dragging the alternating woven and wooden-mesh hangers aside, Ash brightens up practically immediately when Petra runs inside and starts glazing. "Twice what's on it right now. If its needs more then I just add to the outside deck. I thought about tolerance to carry around a few weeks of shit if we ever needed to, like, go somewhere. And it wasn't insulated until Nika wanted sleepovers, so it is now. Traditional methods though. Try cranking it yourself even." They follow her in smiling a little about it. "I'd get bored so fast if I just kept it off-limits y'know? Having to, like, test it on other people is an engineering challenge. Did I ever say much how of that I learned on the road from just random-ass people? This kind of shit is lingua franca out there." Then they stop dead when following Petra entails 'seeing a dog tail'-- 'So, you decided to keep 'that,' after all.' No. No that's . . . no it's definitely about the tail. Ash laughs out "Damn! It's growing back! I thought it was gone for good if it got 'shot off in the war'!" Nika, however, stares at Tamamo for a little while before trotting on in.
Lilian Rook	Once the door can close behind, the first thing Ash does is take the six back off Xion's hands, take it over to the minifridge, and say "Good shit grasshopper. Help yourself to whatever." in exchange. 'Whatever' mostly turns out to be 'the last forty-odd snacks and soft drinks that caught their eye', surprisingly non-shitty alcohol, and enough ingredients to throw together a big sandwich', thus begging the question of why there's a microwave and stove plate. Then, "I could put a TV in here or whatever, but like, why bother? What is there to watch? What was there to watch, even?" Nika opens her mouth to agree, stops to consider something, and then says "Did any of us ¶get to know¶ TV?", which slows Ash down in a considering haze. "You know what. I think I've been around a million hours of shows and never found an hour to try it out. Huh." Nika drops her backpack in the 'living room' (still bigger than anything but a penthouse suite in terms of living rooms, because it's half a house, which is much smaller than a penthouse suite), unzips it, retrieves a smaller bag from inside of it, which takes a third of the space, then "Hup!" just kind of jumps twice to the loft? As in, she jumps, gets halfway, then jumps on the air, so she can pull herself up over by her elbows. "Sleeping bag is mine!" she calls down, as if anyone plans to stay here that long. "Comfy bug bed." Ash takes a few minutes to open the half-dozen rooms under the loft roof, only four of which are really 'room-sized', demonstrating that everything that isn't 'work' takes place in the common area. "I was thinking I gotta get on cabinets or shelves or something. There's so much shit I could use but I fuckin' hate unboxing and organizing. It looks better when you fill up the walls, right? Bare wall sucks. Oh and the fire isn't gas. That's magic. No smoke that way, and magic is free."
Angela	''Workplace safety peddlers from the internet.'' "Ahhh..." ''White.'' Tiphereth manages to stop herself from asking if they meant ''White'' or not. Roland's experiences with Petra weren't as tinged with the kind of terror she's inflicted on other former or present Librarians or other denizens of the City, but he still does a doubletake at her shirt, and bluescreens mentally for a bit before his brain manages a workaround that tells him it's for the houseboat fishing vibe. "It's been a minute since I've visited Hydrochoeria." He says. "How's it been holding up? All the former agents doing well? Love still rat hunting?" ''Is that how it works?'' "It's better to not tempt fate too much. The best case is nothing happens, the worst case is that people speak of the irony for years to come." Tiphereth surmises. Both Tiphereth and Roland have jobs and although Tiphereth is arguably a nepotism hire, she seems to have chosen to make up for it by being the person who can handle the most work and is most consistent of all the other Librarians. "Well I--uh..." Tiphereth has stalled out because she has just noticed the dog tail. She tugs on Roland's sleeve furiously. Roland slowly olooks over, then dips his gaze a bit, and he says, "Sometimes I feel like reality is melting." in a bit of a mutter. "How new is it?" Tiphereth is a bit worried she managed to overlook a dog tail for years now.
Xion	'Oho, so you did prepare drinks, if not tea.' Xion nods, solemn. "I've brought the fizzy bev from the promised land, from a brewery Mog gets it from. There's no packaging or labelling because there's no need, he says, but I think it's just hipster microbrew. Any way of it, it's cherry, grape, and cola flavored-" She ticks them off on her fingers, pinky first, middle last, then nods. "They're from my dimension, which means the sugar's right." Xion is from the candy dimension and there's a whole half-dozen precious sodapops. "I've got plenty of other canned drinks, they keep great in my inventory, but this is sort of a rare treat getting the good stuff. Finding a supplier makes it even better!" 'How've you been? Guess it hasn't been that long but.' "Oh!" Xion begins, switching to Roland. "Hey, Roland. Uh, I've been... Soul searching? It's hard to find someone as maneuverable as me, but I need to figure out a way to or learn where they've gone. It's sort of a difficult quest, but Sakura said it mattered, so I'm doing a lot of searching between events?" She tilts her head. "What about you? Get to do anything interesting recently?" She asks Roland, that sort of black-humor interested in the latest wildness off of another person who went on Quests. Petra's tail gets Xion to turn and bite lip, grinning around the motion and nasally 'heheen'-ing. "You look really good, Petra." Xion notes, thinking about going further and then backing off, stable as the deck wobbles with her jump-upon and grinning in her goofy posture. She turns as Ash and Nika engage in banter and sling out cooperative attacks where they can. "Well, there's some pretty cool things going on here, even if it's definitely an Ash living space. Can't help but need to crank it regularly, huh?" She asks, both out of humorous teasing as well as the true facts of few others being able to live in this place as much as Ash could. It was, in a unique way, theirs. 'Try cranking it yourself even.' "Oh? It's not got an Ash-weight draw? It's crankable by others? You're inviting?" She wonders, faintly egging Petra on at the same time. "You could make a super cool airship if you got a sort of derigible top and then floated around. Or maybe Gummiships just work completely different, but I feel like you could go flying style just as easily. Landing on water is just a premium option, especially when combined with settling in any lake of sufficient size for you to call large enough to call home. It's got such a... feeling!" Xion suggests, animated.
Lilian Rook	'How new is it?' "Petra was always ¶ouppy¶. I think that's just 'personal growth'." "Oh man. You really used an English loan word while speaking English." "I'm so sick with it." "You're so sick with it!" "My English is so good now!" "It's so good now! Say 'fuck'!" "Fuck!" "Yeah! Let Nika say fuck!" "Oh nobody stops me or anything. I just ¶finished a model with pieces left over¶ I guess." "That's so hard to imagine. 'Fuck' is like the flex-joint of the entire English language." 'It's sort of a difficult quest, but Sakura said it mattered, so I'm doing a lot of searching between events?' In-group mutual brainrot bonding aside, Nika pokes her head down from the loft edge, immediately getting all her hair in her face, and says "Then it's for sure a big deal. If Sakura said so and it's hard then that's like ¶secret route/discovering mathematics/taking the damn pills¶ for sure for sure." 'Well, there's some pretty cool things going on here, even if it's definitely an Ash living space. Can't help but need to crank it regularly, huh?' Ash throws an accusing pointer finger at Xion. "I knew one of you was gonna do it. You just can't help yourselves. You're animals." They sound like Xion activated a trap card, despite there not actually being a card placed anywhere. "But your fatal mistake was forgetting that a truly wise philosopher cranks it wherever they please. Diogenes said that. Look it up in the Bible." 'You could make a super cool airship if you got a sort of derigible top and then floated around.' "Shit that'd be cool. But that's like a totally different romance, isn't it? The S.S. Fuck Off is a big ship but the S.S. Fuck This is a super-blimp. You know what I mean? You can't just slap 'em together or it gets real twee real fast." "You liked Lilian's ¶traditional delicacy¶ word huh?" "It's a good word."
Tamamo	'I'm ¶getting learned¶ and ¶getting good¶ so that's two.' Tamamo makes 'hmhm' noises of approval around Nika as she steps in and looks around. "Though I would not say that it is necessary to be doing many things, as one may instead do one thing well, it is good to be having new experiences, and to be growing that which is possible for one to do. As to the warpgate... it does make 'new experiences' rather easily gained, to travel, after all." '...so this is building public amenities actually.' "If it does become 'front porch fishing,' perhaps." There's no ladder, so Tamamo makes as if to step up, then jumps from the opposite leg, landing quietly just past the apex. From here, she can go look at the hammock, sleeping bag... rug? Why a... 'But being a ¶dad¶ when you're not a father is kind of the lamest thing ever.' "What an unusual thought. To be a 'dad,' like so, I wonder..." This might be one of those things she'll never fully understand. 'I want little sticks to grill them on by the fire.' "I wonder if I should grill... no, I would rather sear fish for tonight's meal, I think. To make the rub for it, all the spices are available. Well, I should like to have my new peppers, but that will take quite some time. It has not yet been three months, though it has been nearly so. Oh, but there will be nothing novel for at least another three, of course." She's chattering a bit. 'Damn! It's growing back!' "The fruit..." Of course the forbidden fruit that encourages you to take 'your' 'truest' form would give Petra a tail. Of course! ...is what Tamamo doesn't say, but allows to be read from her expression. 'Did any of us ¶get to know¶ TV?' "I suppose that I have not." Even in this modern era, Tamamo's not had much occasion for it, since Lilian got her a smartphone pretty early. This was not the timeline in which Tamamo-no-mae would be found to have binged Hell's Kitchen and sappy Korean dramas, even if that possibility is out there, somewhere. She was summoned some decades too late. 'Comfy bug bed.' That makes her imagine something, and almost-quietly-enough giggle. 'Bare wall sucks.' "An opportunity to decorate, then, or else, to organize items that may be needed. I see you have these set aside for their own areas, however. This is good. I was just telling Lilian that all work should be kept to its proper rooms."
Tamamo	'I've brought the fizzy bev from the promised land, from a brewery Mog gets it from.' "I am sure you have mentioned this Mr. Mog before, though I am not sure I have asked. A friend, perhaps?" Or an acquaintance. Or a partner. "A finder of rare goods?" 'Petra was always ¶ouppy¶.' "Hmm. I did not understand that one." She kinda glazes over for the rest of that exchange.
Angela	''Uh, I've been... Soul searching?'' "Caught any yet?" Roland quips before rubbing at his neck. "Yeah, nah, I guess I've been doing the same. I've had a lot on my mind, but I think I know where I'm going, at least. But it still feels like it'll be a long journey before I know for sure." He hrms a little, deciding conciously not to start talking about the main thing he's been involved in, which was a war, and instead settles on something a little bit sillier. "I'd been helping Malkuth and Angela out during this whole Ultraman Belial craziness, though Angela herself went to the last big events that went on there so I might be a little behind. She's been a little quiet about it." "Don't be afraid to push her a little." Tiphereth suggests. ''Petra was always puppy'' Tiphereth opens her mouth to say 'yeah I know she's always puppy but I meant the tail' before she realizes this metatext is wrong and what was actually said was ouppy. "I'm mostly worried I somehow missed it for years." Tiphereth says. ''What an unusual thought. To be a 'dad'.'' rRoland runs his hand down his face and doesn't look directly at Tamamo for a moment. "Yeah, it's good to have some space to grow into right? That includes bare walls."
Petra Soroka	"'Dadrock' is the soul of fathers, yes?" "It's 'music that's old enough for your dad to like'. Except, like, it's music that your dad likes for pretty much the sole reason of it being old, because nostalgia is like a fucked up precognitively averted tantrum about not being a child anymore because you've metasticized your memories into a safely lame status quo. Regulus's music is dad rock, but it's also good music, so it's only really dad rock if it's invoked for the sake of the cultural moment rather than for the actual qualities." Petra gets a little bit out of breath by rambling until she finds her actual point. The little Silver tail, mechanical plating surrounded by a 'fuzzy' halo of morphmetal, catches and tugs at her flannel in its wagging, and she has to pull it back up onto her shoulders. "It was a death trap." "It sort of was literally a death trap. Given the death, and the fact that we were trapped. Well, sort of trapped." Many of Petra's most grim transgressions against OSHA's code occured at LobCorp, and yet, that was also the most protective she ever felt towards people's safety in the workplace. These things resolve together in a similar cognitive dissonance that a construction worker has when bragging about how unsafe his worksite is, but approached from the opposite direction. "It wasn't even that bad though. Like, it was mostly intentional, when people died. It's not like we sent clerks into cells to change the lightbulbs or anything." "I read an article about a guy who got dumped in the ocean and a shark bit him and . . ." Everyone's sharing fun facts now! "I read a book about a bunch of British fuckups who crash their ship south of Tierra del Fuego and spend six months arguing with each other and fucking more things up and pissing all the indigenous people off so much and then they end up shooting and cannibalizing each other out of desperation like an hour away from a village where people lived." "The rule is that if one of the girls ask for something on three different visits then I figure out if I can put it in." "The rule..." Petra echoes, entranced by this for some reason. She eventually decides that she's satisfied about something she doesn't share out loud, and nods. "Yeah." "White." "Look. The Red Mist is a person. And I know what I'm made of." "Try cranking it yourself even." "It's crankable by others? You're inviting?" "Gosh, I just got here." Obviously, when shown a Mechanism with a gripping-point, Petra must immediately grip it and engage the mechanism. She continues to crank the flywheel battery with her whole body weight rocking back and forth with the lever while chattering, excess energy being poured into the crank rather than scampering around, like a hamster wheel. "That's, like, exactly what I would've expected though. Like, right? I mean you didn't say but that's what I expected, learning it from people, 'cause the basis of what everyone needs to know when they're not trapped in an urban center is 'how to stay alive'. Like, you live on a boat, you learn how to fix the boat. You live in a house, you learn how to fix the house."
Petra Soroka	"And, like, I know you and I specifically get this-- since whenever I'm just sleeping around somewhere in the Beauty of Ash, it's kind of self-sufficient? Like, it stays warm enough, it's comfortable pretty much anywhere that there's grass or dirt, there's no infrastructure or anything needed to just set up a fire and cook food for just yourself for just one meal, and then for you, you're just, like that. But then the moment there's one other person-- I remember when I still had the Kana and this random guy was showing me how to cut down trees properly instead of just running them--" "So, you decided to keep 'that,' after all." "Damn! It's growing back!" Petra stalls in her lever-cranking, bodyweight thrown back in a way that incidentally makes the mechanical tail the most visible possible. It sways attentively while she freezes for a moment with her mouth half-open, and then successfully avoids saying whatever it was she was about to blurt out by snickering instead. "I-- okay, look. I maybe took, like, one-tenth of an indirect bite of the Fruit, and then this happened. I--" While explaining, the tail starts wagging again, and Petra reaches both hands behind herself to hold it in place. "It's not a big deal. I'm gaining and losing limbs practically weekly. I mean, really, if you think about it, it makes me a really useful research subject." Eyes closed, voice faux-solemn, "Even the greatest tragedies of war can be overcome with time. Isn't healing beautiful?" "I could put a TV in here or whatever, but like, why bother?" "I've got movies? I've probably got movies." Joining in the living room, Petra plops herself onto the ground with her legs crossed, and plops the guitar case across her lap right after. Popping the top to the extradimensional storage inside, she digs for a minute before withdrawing... mostly weird retro monster movies in VHS. "Did any of us ?get to know? TV?" "I don't think Lilian's mentioned it even... Sakura probably knows something? Oh, but urban center programming probably sucks shit, and cultural revival reruns are, like, inherently evil." "You look really good, Petra." "Everything that ever happens to me suits me," Petra responds, as if this means something. She scrambles to her knees, carefully avoids getting on all fours at any point, while getting to her feet again so that she can double-jump up to the loft after Nika to scurry around and inspect the space. "Petra was always ¶ouppy¶." "You literally might have manifested this," Petra sits on the edge of the loft, babbling over her shoulder to Nika without any accusatory tone. The tail scrapes and thwaps against the wood of the loft while her feet dangle over in a restless swing. "The 'ouppy' might've stuck. Like, the Silver does remember, and it's nearly identical to what happened when you did it. Either that, or, well--" Thwap. "Incontrovertible mymbol on my soul. But I feel like the Beauty of Ash is more like a cat, sort of?"
Tamamo	Tamamo tries understanding 'dadrock' from Petra's explanation, but... no, this, too, is well outside her experience. She doesn't even have a significant number of acquaintances who talk about their dads. Maybe Sotheby? Should she ask Gwendolyn Sotheby what music her father likes? No, she can't do that. They never managed to confirm if her parents were safe, even if it seemed like they would be in good standing to find shelter. Oh, no... Petra reaches both hands behind herself to hold it in place. Tamamo manages to clearly communicate 'oh my god' using solely her expression and the way she holds her hands. 'Look at her' and 'don't look at her' are entwined in the subtext.
Lilian Rook	'As to the warpgate... it does make 'new experiences' rather easily gained, to travel, after all.' "Yeah. I kinda want a better one but I get why this place has to fly under the radar." says Ash. "That shit uses a ton of energy every time, so I try bring whatever back." "¶Cleaning the kitchen¶." "Yeah." 'If it does become 'front porch fishing,' perhaps.' "I'd rather just set up a boat join on one side." "So we can ¶beam down/the floor is lava/dilly dally¶ on the high seas!" 'I wonder if I should grill... no, I would rather sear fish for tonight's meal, I think. To make the rub for it, all the spices are available. Well, I should like to have my new peppers, but that will take quite some time.' "Seasonings are in . . ." Ash points, then moves back and forth within ten degrees uncertainly. "Oooone of the crates. Fuck." 'The fruit...' "Really?" Ash says, with sudden intensity. "Petra ¶special evolution/long-lost princess¶?!" Nika says, with sudden excitement. 'An opportunity to decorate, then, or else, to organize items that may be needed. I see you have these set aside for their own areas, however. This is good.' Ash counts off on their fingers. "I know a spell for keeping stuff from falling off shelves, a spell for making stuff stick to floors, a spell to keep moisture out of electronics, a spell to keep containers locked, a spell to keep stuff room temperature, a spell to keep dust and smoke from getting out of bounds, and a spell to keep surfaces dry. I also learned a spell to make stuff always be the thing at the top of a container if you say its name before reaching in, but I never really got it right more than half the time. It's all whatever; top if off every six months at most." 'I am sure you have mentioned this Mr. Mog before' "Holy shit. There's a guy called Mister Mog?" "Hey explain!" "Oh man. Oh fuck. Where do I start?" 'Hmm. I did not understand that one.' "She's a sappy lil' ¶minion/hanger-on/childhood friend¶ when she likes your ¶smell test¶ and a snappy snarly ¶hater/sheepherder/bewareof dog¶ when they have bad vibes." Nika says, taking on an informative tone that belies her use of 'you' and 'they. "Plus she's ¶simple/rugged/easy-clean¶ about needs and ¶press star to repeat this message¶ whenever you want. She fetches stuff, does tricks, and if you ¶kick¶ her by accident and say sorry she ¶oh okay! yay!¶ right?" Ash pauses in the process of gathering more beanbag chairs and mats. "Damn. That's kinda . . . Like I know the golden retriever bit is so easy, but that's kind of a really good read of her?" "Gay." "Suck me." "You first!"
Angela	''The tail starts wagging again.'' She's got her hands in every little aspect of The City, Roland thinks, she's probably had more influence on its fate than any other Outsider. People are terrified the moment they see her if they know even half her reputation. "Healing's beautiful." Roland says. ''It sort of was literally a death trap.'' "Yep." Tiphereth agrees. "You all really made the 'last loop' as Angela puts it bearable. I don't know exactly what happened, but..." There were times when it wasn't even the worst sort of thing to be in LobCorp's Main Facility because relief came from outside all the same, even as the daily horrors remained. "I'm really grateful for all you all have managed to do for us." Even in spite of the conflict at the end, but Tiphereth wasn't exactly a hold out vote at the end. "Lately I've started to think we might end up more than just damned souls trapped with one another. But maybe it's just because I was younger, I can still look forward to some future, even if I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking for just yet."
Lilian Rook	'Regulus's music is dad rock, but it's also good music, so it's only really dad rock if it's invoked for the sake of the cultural moment rather than for the actual qualities.' "Regulus is the lady Sakura was talking about right?" Nika says, 'hup!' double-jumping back down once her bag is laid out. Tamamo, up on the loft, where there is at-minimum a dresser, kotatsu, checkers board, and beach ball still thrown into a corner for now, can see pretty easily that the smaller bag just contains pajamas, a reading light, a brush, cleanser, and moisturizer. Not clarifying anything about the preponderance of ladies involved, Nika says "The 'arcanist' thing right? That's why she got a ¶hairpin/clade-identifier¶. I kinda wanna see too but I don't wanna ¶and a pony!¶." 'I read a book about a bunch of British fuckups who crash their ship south of Tierra del Fuego and spend six months arguing with each other and fucking more things up and pissing all the indigenous people off so much and then they end up shooting and cannibalizing each other out of desperation like an hour away from a village where people lived.' "Give that to me right the fuck now. I'll read it. I'll sit down and read a book." 'Look. The Red Mist is a person. And I know what I'm made of.' "¶Sin¶!" 'And, like, I know you and I specifically get this-- since whenever I'm just sleeping around somewhere in the Beauty of Ash, it's kind of self-sufficient?' "No you totally do get it. I think." Ash says, now having set spots around the cozy fire pit rather than at the too-small table. Without thinking, they end up laying out slightly curved trays, of some 'winged' sort, out near each, seeming to serve no purpose but be a clean surface elevated five inches off the floor and with three organized lengths. As promised, the fire emits no smoke, and doesn't even spit real embers, though you could swear it was burning something like cedar by the scent. "Tradesmanship is through the roof out there. Nobody's paying taxes or scrolling posts. If you want something, you can literally just make it, and that's exciting and not a huge pain-in-the-ass inconvenience, because it's not distracting from the hours of slop you have to do first. Like it's not even just survival, but like, the whole 'community dream' of 'we'll all have this thing in a year, and next year there'll be another new thing to look forward to', and the kids grow up being excited to make stuff and fix stuff because that's a constant stream of novelty and change in their lives and it always feels like their hometown is growing, and taking care of the last generation's hand-me-downs is really important because that shit is a gift and it's built to last." "It's like that. I could fuck off into the desert and lie down and stare at the sky and just wait until the sun swallows the Earth and be fine, but there's just more to life than breathing, y'know? Other people, like if they're worth a shit at all I mean, are always kinda like the weird traveler or trader or human aid group or whatever showing up in town and teaching you something new just by watching and hanging out with them and then you go 'Damn I wanna have that here too' and all the village kids get together and build a bike so they can deliver mail."
Lilian Rook	'It's not a big deal. I'm gaining and losing limbs practically weekly. I mean, really, if you think about it, it makes me a really useful research subject.' "Nice. Break the limb binary." 'Even the greatest tragedies of war can be overcome with time. Isn't healing beautiful?' "Not when you do it." "Gay!" "Kiss my ass!" 'I don't think Lilian's mentioned it even... Sakura probably knows something? Oh, but urban center programming probably sucks shit, and cultural revival reruns are, like, inherently evil.' "Holy shit." Ash looks to Nika. Nika, wide and glittery eyed, looks back. "We've gotta see that! I bet it ¶sucks so good¶! We've gotta get ¶popcorn/our finest heckles¶ and sit down and ¶bitch you live like this?¶ about it!" The big stupid crank is surprisingly light to push. It coasts with a minimum of friction and glides for a while after she stops. It's easy to get going, and continues its own momentum just fine. It's only that it has a ton of resistance, which very much locks how fast Petra can make it go. She doesn't need half her education in robots to know the general principle here, when it comes to copper wire and magnets. Ash obviates the obvious mechanical downside by saying no and makes it a push-powered turbine at 1000rpm. 'You literally might have manifested this' "I hope so! That makes me so special and cool! That makes hanging out with me ¶evolution stone/internal alchemy/the one minute mile/lesbian awakening¶!" It isn't long before Ash and Nika have both divided the Treats of Their People semi-arbitrarily-evenly, Ash has turned on the radio, set it to pick up some broadcast from the mainland that certainly shouldn't be reaching here, and backed the crackle of the campfire and the vintage-quality old music with some salt breeze from a cracked window, casting a thin god-ray over the loft that doesn't quite spill down to the cozy orange den. Nika has already whipped out her handheld the moment she's sat down, wiggling her toes by the fire. Ash decides they've explained enough to justify sitting down with a timeworn kabar and a bundle of greenwood, slivering off the outer layers into a stone bowl. Before too long, they get up, retrieve a surprisingly nice copper pot from the 'kitchen', setting it out with a grip of definitely non-local fired ceramics, and saying "Didn't say there was no tea. All I've got left is niramaya though." 'You all really made the 'last loop' as Angela puts it bearable.' "Do it again. Dare you." 'Lately I've started to think we might end up more than just damned souls trapped with one another.' "You too huh."
Tamamo	'...and cultural revival reruns are, like, inherently evil.' "What is a 'revival rerun'?" Tamamo isn't sure which set of words out of that to ask about. It occurs to her that there's just never been a reason for her to talk about 'TV,' in stark contrast to 'movies,' which she views as things that go in a library, if not a theater. 'I'd rather just set up a boat join on one side.' "A boat with its own boat... makes it a <ship> in English, I think." There was something there to draw out, after all. 'Seasonings are in . . .' Tamamo spends a little while poking about, but not so much literally. She's just looking around, and not playing the snooping mother-in-law. Presently, she hops back down, putting one hand to the floor of the loft first to make the leap, the other hand limiting fluttering. "Oh, do you have fish to cook, as well? I had not brought some." Partly -- mostly -- because there'd been no specific plan for how long she'd be over. 'Really?' "Truly." She nods. Nika explains, and Tamamo thinks that 'ouppy' may be a kind of dog. "There are so many breeds..." is a mysterious line without context. "Well, now, all of that is true, though I suppose I have never taken on the duty of cleaning her." That definitely wasn't the point. 'Lately I've started to think we might end up more than just damned souls trapped with one another.' "Oh, goodness, I should hope so. Even if you are still living within the City, you at least managed to put in all that effort," a lot of it really by other people, "to escape the corporation. You should continue to hope for 'something better' so long as you have the strength to act on that hope, or otherwise, to ask for help. You are even able to travel away from that place, like this, no?" 'Regulus is the lady Sakura was talking about right?' "Oh? What did Sakura-chan say of Ms. Regulus?" She's not actually mixing languages, but the Understanding still comes out that way. "Yes, she is 'an arcanist.' The people of that world claim them to be 'other than human,' even if most of them look identical to humans, have a human's lifespan, physical capabilities and commonly discernible characteristics, and do regularly marry and have children with humans." Tamamo might think there's something a bit silly going on about this. "They each have some sort of magical talent, however." She will, of course, have tea. "Mm, thank you." She's not even vocally picky about it.
Angela	''Arcanists'' Roland sighs. He doesn't say why, but the topic seems to sour his mood due to a related thought. He shakes his head like he's trying to throw it off of him but it doesn't quite go away at all. He wasn't close at all to Schneider, he doesn't have anywhere to get off by being upset by her passing or by the Concord still having an alliance to the people who decided she was a traitor. He has no idea if that's even true or not, but it feels deathly familiar. The offer of protection rescinded. For some reason or another and then some random fluke of fate still takes you out of this world. It's the most normal way to go that he knows of. But, man, Tamamo's right isn't she? The distinction feels real arbitrary. And like most arbitrary things, it can still get you killed. But Roland is uneasy about anyone who can mask better than he can as a general rule so he says, "A bit peppy." Tiphereth also got along well with Schneider, she thought, though it was only one or two meetings. She wonders what Angela is thinking. She has no opinions about Regulus. ''You too huh.'' So Tiphereth focuses on what she can. "Yeah it's hard to lament your dark fate when it seems like it's been spread around." She actually smiles. "Good company is good company, and now I get to be on a houseboat for the very first time in my life. Never once expected I'd be on the water at all."
Lilian Rook	'There are so many breeds...' "You're the expert." Ash says, ominously. Fortunately, the tea is actually pretty good. Very faintly medicinal, but the complex blend masks it very well and makes it sort of warm and minty. 'Well, now, all of that is true, though I suppose I have never taken on the duty of cleaning her.' "Well yeah. That'd be weird." 'Yes, she is 'an arcanist.' The people of that world claim them to be 'other than human,' even if most of them look identical to humans, have a human's lifespan, physical capabilities and commonly discernible characteristics, and do regularly marry and have children with humans.' Nika, after staring in complete earnestness for the entire length of time the information is shared, says, "Oh. That's ¶races¶." and then thinks to clarify on the wrong subject. "Every ¶race¶ is made up. Every human basically looks kind of the same and live mostly the same length and are just kind of the same in every way and have kids. That's even more ¶races¶ than 'Enlightened' and 'Unenlightened' since those at least kinda have ¶statblock changes/fun facts¶ different with the magic and all." 'Good company is good company, and now I get to be on a houseboat for the very first time in my life. Never once expected I'd be on the water at all.' "If I ever go on an epic cruise across the world and leave land far behind, I'll call you." Ash says, ironically performing the phone hook gesture. 'Yeah it's hard to lament your dark fate when it seems like it's been spread around.' Having unpaused her game, Nika speaks over the rapid clicking of buttons and the hushed sounds of politely lowered sound. "I guess you're right. I just thought about how Sakura and Lilian have been in that house ¶with only each other/unsupervised¶ for like four hours and how that probably makes it way easier to get over ¶The New Fruit¶ stuff."
Petra Soroka	"So we can ÷beam down/the floor is lava/dilly dally÷ on the high seas!" "Oh my god, I would love that so much." Petra kicks her legs wildly from where she dangles down from the loft, like the hamster wheel spins beneath her feet. "Like I mean I thought it would be a little too ÷lash the sun in place/one song on repeat÷ for me to say after, like, the space cruise, but it's such a difference to be stuck in the ocean! And you'd be there personally! I'd have so much fun having to, like-- well you already said it. If I leave behind the transteam gun and the Beauty of Ash, then I can't leave the boat! I wanna go sailing." "÷Sin÷!" Petra closes her eyes, swaying from side to side. "Young, dumb, and full of ÷Fruit÷." "Petra ÷special evolution/long-lost princess÷?!" "Oh, yeah--" With it actually being the topic, Petra very nearly shuffles around to present her new Silver tail as the object of conversation, but that aforementioned verb strains her sense of composure so dreadfully that she realizes that she can't be sticking her butt out for people to inspect. She's just gotta do something other than that. "Er-- well, the Fruit was doing stuff to everyone else, and we were all fucking around with it in Laplace. But I kinda wasn't getting anything. So I ÷poked the hole÷ and now I figure we can be pretty sure it's a ÷question/challenge/boon÷ and it... well. I do kind of love my machines and I do carry the Silver around and I do kind of bark on command, so I guess it thought it's only ÷it's only natural!÷ that I don't have a fucking, mechanical tail. And I-- er, can sort of live with that conclusion, but I hope it's not there forever...?" Petra reconsiders something. The tail wags back and forth. "Well, if nothing else, it's a conversation starter with Unvic." "Holy shit. There's a guy called Mister Mog?" Petra cups a hand around her mouth to hoot down at Ash like she's in the bleachers. "They must have amnesia, 'cause they forgot that I'm hiiiiiiiiiim!" "She fetches stuff, does tricks, and if you ÷kick÷ her by accident and say sorry she ÷oh okay! yay!÷ right?" Petra enjoys being talked about positively to a near-delirious degree. And yet, she has basically nothing to contribute to the conversation at all, and in combination, this serves to produce a passive attentive basking glee precisely reminiscent of the dog in question, looking between the two of them while they go back and forth. Made more explicit than metaphor is how the tail wags furiously-- she tries to muffle it with the sleeping bag and fails.
Petra Soroka	"That's why she got a ÷hairpin/clade-identifier÷." "Oh, yeah. Arcanists all have a bit. It's, like, genuinely so refreshing. Everyone should be like that and they should have to wear a piece of clothing about it." "I kinda wanna see too but I don't wanna ÷and a pony!÷." "I've got a ÷time trial÷ moving slowly towards her wherever she is every hour of the day. She'll probably get captured again soon." "Give that to me right the fuck now." Petra hops down from the loft and squats next to her guitar case, rummaging around before pulling out a copy of The Wager by David Grann. Handing it over, "You knowwww, I'm at the house reading or writing shit, like, three or four times a week now. It's a good place to read." "If you want something, you can literally just make it, and that's exciting and not a huge pain-in-the-ass inconvenience, because it's not distracting from the hours of slop you have to do first." "It's so fucked to feel like theres 'slop you have to do first' before building an obvious thing to improve your life. It's, like, corrosive. That's why I'm always fucking off into the woods. Can't make good decisions about prioritization if you're not in the woods." "Other people, like if they're worth a shit at all I mean, are always kinda like the weird traveler or trader or human aid group or whatever showing up in town and teaching you something new just by watching and hanging out with them . . ." "It's so fucking cool to ÷ride a motorcycle/emerge from a dungeon pass÷." Petra nods fervently in agreemet, then twists around to look at her own silly little tail. Judging something-- either the look, or the fit-- she concludes, "I need to build a motorcycle." "Break the limb binary." "Godddddd, suck my taiiiiil! You're spending too much time on that damn phone! I was literally saying months ago how often it happens to me, and now here I am! It's interesting, it's interesting!" "What is a 'revival rerun'?" "Oh, it's 'cultural revival', 'rerun'." Petra points up her index finger on either side of her head, miming out the two rectangles that the separate semantic pairings exist in. "Since there was definitely a lot more TV being produced before 2035. And you know how everyone's so hip with bringing back that early 21st century or late 19th century stuff nowadays?" Back to Nika and Ash, sleepover-greedy, "I could find a projector and bring it. I know I had one back at L-Corp, it's probably still somewhere." "That makes hanging out with me ÷evolution stone/internal alchemy/the one minute mile/lesbian awakening÷!" "Well..." Surely the collar from Lilian had an effect on this particular arc too, but Nika's also had an, intentional hand, directly. Petra isn't someone with a tendency to argue strongly about a difference between an intrinsic trait or one inherited from people's treatment of her. "Well, hanging out with you does make me better. And ÷purer÷. And my stats higher. And, uh, you are pretty."
Petra Soroka	"Lately I've started to think we might end up more than just damned souls trapped with one another." Petra ends up stretching out on the floor in the living room, sprawled across the zones of control of as many people as she can reach with her arms and legs extended like a cat's. With the warmth, and the snacks, and Nika playing on her own, every conversational trail is just a fun little treat to play with as a bonus to the company. "Well, hopefully. Ange already likes you a lot. ... Really, it's never been possible for me to see any of you as 'damned', not even Angela. In the end, you're all alive, and the world's still there for you, and you're not really subject to the world. Even Lobotomy Corporation wasn't really 'the world'." "Do it again. Dare you." Petra gurgles, upside-down, "Third time...." "I just thought about how Sakura and Lilian have been in that house ÷with only each other/unsupervised÷ for like four hours . . ." Laying face down as she is in the fur rug, Petra's tail begins energetically swishing back and forth, thwapping Nika's knee where it strays close. It's oddly warm and soft for being metal, with the surrounding pillowy blob of morphmetal 'fur' trailing a quarter-second behind its movements. "Ehehehe. Well, they're both completely reasonable adults. I'm sure they've got tons to talk about with everything that's happened."