Having fulfilled his daily chumminess quota,
Dave decides that his secondary priority of obtaining some pants should be addressed now, particularly since his ability to entertain people with magic is... unpredictable, to say the least. And so he heads off to look for a thrift shop! He's pretty sure there aren't any in this neighborhood, and so breaks into a jog - after all, no better way to warm yourself than with some movement! And running through the streets of the city with no pants on is quite liberating, if Dave has to be honest. Even a police officer he passes on the way dares not stop him. His journey culminates at the somewhat renowned 'Git Ur Things' thrift shop, located next to the rather picturesque (if slightly more ruined and covered in gore than Dave remembers it) Mills High. Known for working at unusually late hours for those special midnight needs that people get, Dave walks in and instantly feels at home, a whole warehouse of cheap, highly varied things stretching out before him. Having been here before, Dave immediately runs to the pants department, getting a weird look from the cashier on the way.
And within minutes, Dave is there! Pants everywhere, of all sorts and applications, going for two dollars a pair, with a special "buy 2, get 1 free" deal in effect for at least the next hour!
Back at the alley,
Eta enacts plans of her own, and coincidentally they seem to involve going somewhere as well. But in this case the endeavor is altogether more selfless.
"Great! Let's go!" she says, grabbing Lois by the arm and going off on a magical restaurant-hunting adventure. In a fit of wisdom she immediately forsakes any thought of finding a place that's open around here - if what she's heard is correct, any place aside from Chez Ronardo's doesn't let anyone in without a reservation, and the maitre d's have taken to carrying guns to enforce that rule. So they wander out of the neighborhood and eventually reach a rather charming-looking cake and tea shop on Raymond Street - it's even got a giant cupcake sign. Eta's heard good things about the place from her friends. And it does look to have quite a few people inside currently, so presumably it'll be a great learning experience for Lois to dine here. They head right in, basking in the slightly retro atmosphere. Few of the people here seem all that young or exciting, but at this hour one has to take what they can get.
Speaking of hours, Eta quickly checks her matches. They seem to be visually unchanged, though they do appear to smell quite different now than they did before - the have a strong scent of cinnamon now, which is quite unexpected, since that's pretty much a diametrically opposed scent to the rather toxic smell her original match had. But it hasn't even been a full hour yet, so who knows what's going on there.
"So, what are we supposed to do now?" Lois asks when the two of them enter through the front door. The place isn't particularly packed, and there seem to be quite a few seats available, some further from company than others. A few eyes in the room, mostly from polite-looking gentlemen who look like law-abiding regulars of the place, turn to them for a few moments, but no longer than would be considered strictly appropriate.
* * * * *
Larry is thankful for the aid provided him - he hasn't done nearly enough cardio, strength exercises or wild magic infusions to make his body ready for another extradimensional journey.
"Thanks, guys. Saved my bacon, there. Let's step back a bit before we keep going, yeah?"The others,
Halesey especially, seem to agree, and they all back up more than a few bits before the next wave of vortexes.
[Larry's affinity roll: 6-->6+1]
[Halesey's affinity roll: 2]
And Larry, in a single, highly inspired hand motion, creates an immense vortex of sweaty champignons slightly off to the side of the other ones. The interplay of the vortexes is somewhat fascinating to watch - it's as if the fabric of reality itself is beginning to shiver in the area. If one looks closely, one can almost see the space around the church get hit with dozens of tiny little ripples, as if something was punching the framework of matter in a friendly fashion, or at least poking it with all sorts of instruments.
It's so entrancing, in fact, that Halesey forgets to provide the requisite final vortex entirely, and the next minute or so is filled with a fair bit of nothing, with Larry glancing at his buddy, then deciding that poking him might be an endeavor too dangerous to attempt right now. For all Larry knew, Halesey could explode into potatoes suddenly if someone did that.
* * * * *
John feels he should be the voice of reason and endorse the safest course of action.
"Relax, kids, none of us are going to die any time soon. Because we... are just too pretty to die. That being said, you're not looking too good, Trey. But, I'll defer to Luz's judgement, let's get to the roof then. Lead the way!" he says, and Trey looks doubtful for a moment, but ultimately follows without any audible words on the matter. They head out into the third floor hallway, and carefully look around to check for yetis - none are present, fortunately. Though sounds of battle are audible from the next room - evidently something is happening over there.
"Right, let's stop for a moment and... urk... get new spells, huh?" Luz says, getting out her book. John guesses that's an agreeable proposition, and gets out his magazine, and Trey joins in on the fun as well.
[John's mind roll: 2]
Sadly, though, his fractured arm proves a bit too distracting to give him a very good chance at doing well on a mind-intensive task such as this one. And Trey seems to have a similar problem - only Luz seems to be able to concentrate on anything, paradoxically enough. Moments later, she raises her eyes from her spellbook, looking quite purposeful.
"I got Sabotage Hair. What did you guys get?"The others manage a slight shrug.
"Doesn't matter. Let's keep going, roof access is not too far off," she says, and leads the others to a reinforced metal door that seems to be very locked as well as highly unlabeled.
"Yeah, this is the one. All we gotta do is get past it now," she adds, confirming with a push and a pull that it hasn't been by some stroke of luck left unlocked.
"Any ideas aside from... ugh... hitting it with a washing machine wave? I don't really feel like doing that one point-blank."
Author
Topic: The Forgotten Art: Approaching the Nexus (Read 248833 times)