STEAM LONDON: Realms of Aether Game Thread

[MWBailey]

Esmeralda's breath caught. The St. Elmo! This man flew with her uncle? In what capacity? She had thought that Uncle Jaisen was the only magic user on his ship, but if this gentleman was telling the truth, then he also lived on board.

"Mr... Leyton?  I don't think I've heard uncle Jaisen mention you... but then I havent spoken with him more than once in the past three weeks... A "nexus point?" I'm sure that I don't know what that is, but Headmaster O'Landry might."

[Nigel Wetherby]

"Hiroshi Tanaka. This is Musashi, he's my big brother." The young man proudly patted the grey side of the samurai's helmet. The construct replied with a deep, formal bow. "He does not talk, I have yet to figure out a vocal set, but O'Landry Sensei will teach me very soon."
Cain scratched his head "Did you say Big brother?" He asked shocked.
"Oh yes, He was very, very sick so I moved his body to a suit of Papa's antuiqe armor, or at least the mechanical mannequin that wore it. I built around it to make him more versatile, but he liked being a samurai, so I guess it stuck."
Zoradysis admired the boy and the giant construct and could not help but be reminded of Talos, a fond tear trickled down her pearly face.

Sigmund's stomach rumbled and groaned needily, it knotted and urged to be filled.
"Hmmm, some food sounds wonderful right about now."

[T.Taylor the Third]

(OOC:im not sure what is happening but....im just goin try and join back in anyway)
Trip had gotten board with most everyone away from the ship, so He got his wings out and set off toward Patricks School.

[Stella Gaslight]

"Musashi is big and nice because he is pushing Zoradysis so gently.  Zoradysis had a friend like him but he crashed in to the water.  Maybe Patrick can find him and make him all better."  Angel didn't notice but Patrick himself had come to see what the commotion on the lawn was and was standing right behind her.

"I could make you some Fuba cake it is a bit like a corn meal cake or we could have Canjica it is a corn porridge and I think I saw some papayas too. My mother used to cook breakfast like this and my father made dinner most nights.  He was a good fisherman so depending on what waters we were in we sometimes caught dinner over the side of the ship." Helena smiled the dream had put her in a very good mood.

[MWBailey]

Mariana Cloude-Miszte had finished the last of the superficial wounds from the Lafitte's crew a couple of hours before, but she didnt mind waiting, because her rogue of a fiancee was in the same hospital, recovering from his ducking in the bay after the hulk of the Lafitte fell apart into it. She was proud of him and his heroics, of course, but she was beginning to wish that she hadn't agreed to share him with that Zarate girl. What was she, anyway, a gypsy?

Why should I tolerate one of the Roma? she wondered. The man was hers, by right of length of ownership if nothing else! And how dare he claim the girl was like a daughter to him? I'm not blind, she thought. I can see how he longs to touch her when she's in the room.

Her rage mounted as she waited for Jaisen, wondering how long he would have to be here, making her wait like a chattel. When Julia passed close by her on an errand, she asked the girl about her fiancee.

"Oh, you mean Dreyfuss?  He left about three minutes ago. Let me tell you, Last night me 'n' him had a long talk, all about everythin' and I told him about my da and his airship and he invited me onto the Elmo! You two sure are nice people, Miss."

"HE did WHAT?!" Mariana exploded. "Two are not enough? he has to collect a THIRD!? Who is he, the bleeding MAHDI!? Thanks, Julia, I'll go set him straight! What an idiotic, lecherous old Bastard!"

She continued wiith more and more virulent invective, until even the hansom drivers waiting at teh curb fpr potential passengers cringed and blocked their ears. And then she roundedthe corner, and there he was, about to enter that old Haberdashery Shoppe. She'd show him!

"Maybe I shouldna' told 'er about me n Dreyf," Julia muttered aloud.

[Duellist]

Leyton allowed himself a small smile as he turned to look at the girl.

"Uncle Jaisen?  You must be the young prodigy he mentioned.  He seems very fond of you, even if his manner might not permit him to say as much."

His eyes returning to the sky, Leyton pondered the phenomenon above.

"I am a civilian advisor to your uncle, a scientist in spite of my 'talents' for the aesoteric.  More than that, as I am sure you can appreciate, I am not at liberty to discuss.  Suffice to say that I 'know a trick or two' in the arts taught here, but I am by no means the equal of any students here."

The self-confessed scientist began to laugh at himself, amused by his effusive and utterly pointless monologue.

"Up there, upon the invisible path, there is a crossing to another world for those who know how to use it.  It is probably a natural occurrence, but that doesn't mean that it is any less of a problem.  You should probably tell the head-master, but then again...  it does provide an opportunity for concealed egress to a student with the right mind-set and mischievous nature..."

[Nigel Wetherby]

"If it Ain't me favorite constructs? Gettin' ta know one of me students eh?" He placed a hand on Musashi's shoulder as if he were the hull of an airship. "The kid's a prodigy at Technomancy, he's already suceeded in spiritual trasnplanting, it's only a matter of time 'till he's puttin' tagether entire airships! Tha kids gunna go places."
Hiroshi blushed with embarassment.
"Oh, and who's this little darlin'?"  He leaned foreward giving a long, sharp grin. Zora stood up and shook just a little, wishing Talos were here to help her not be afraid.
"M-my name is...Zoradysis..."
"Ahah!!" His cry caused Zora to leap backwards.
"I knew ye'd be here eventually! Glad ta meet ye, sweetheart. I'm headmaster Sir Patrick O'Landry."

Sigmund wondered at the idea of each different little concept of these exotic foods. The rice porridge sounded a bit unappealing. He had enough mushy food in his service days.
"The cornmeal cakes sound good. And it's been a while since I had a good papaya."

 Clawing and grappling its way up one of the wooden poles that held up the dock, a construct determined to be reunited with its charge moved with mechanical persistance. His joints were wearing and his parts were being crushed and flooded, but it did not care. It needed to see her again.
"Zoradysis Zoradysis." The construct chanted over and over.

[Stella Gaslight]

"Don't be scared he is loud but nice."  Angel gave him one of her famous tackle hugs.  She was full of happiness today and was quite determined to spread it around.  "Hi Patrick." She chirped  "Zora's airship crashed and she lost her friend in the water.  Can you make him all better please?"  Angel was sure he could after all he was Patrick and he could do anything.

They walked together to commissary to get the ingredients.  "I think we have Patrick to thank for the papaya's.  The cooling system he rigged on the Boheme combined with the new faster airships they are coming up with these days is making it possible for food to travel all over the world.  I just wish it wasn't so expensive. If I didn't get it from the commissary I would blow through most of my pay on food."  Helena waved at the cooks who seemed to know her quite well and walked back in to the kitchen.  "I wanted to make some Bolo de fubá for my friend here, can I barrow a an oven?"

The head of the cooks was a large formidable lady named Mary.  She looked like she would deny the request for a moment but the smiled widely.  "Only if you promise to give me the recipe this time.  My Walter ate the whole cake I brought home before I could even have a bit myself."

They both laughed "Sigmund this is Mary Sims she runs this place."

[Nigel Wetherby]

"She lost him in the ocean? I'm afraid I don't have any crafts that can endure that much pressure. Though I red an article about a chap named Nemo who made a boat that could swim under tha water Perhaps I could create somethin' like that. If tha diggers tha cold ones made could withstand the weight of thousands of tons of earth pressin' down on 'em they gotta have some water withstanding capabilities. I'll need ta make a few prototypes..."

"Er...Hello miss sims. My name is Sigmund Ky'Thur. I'm the gunnery officer of the APF boheme." He gave her a customary greeting bow followed by a posture so straight it would make a lamp-post jelous.

[MWBailey]

Dreyfuss walked on down the row from the bordello, looking for the haberdashery that he thought was located down around the intersection across from The Hammer and Anvil Pub; the Morning sun beat down on his graying head, finding its way between the wetted strands of hair and nigh boiling his brains, or so he thought. He finally found the haberdashery, and went inside. He didn't realize that, far back behind him, there walked a very angry and fed-up lady, one with a head of flaming red hair that exactly matched her mood, her white and cream bustle skirt and snug black woolen skulking-sweater top contrasting oddly in the morning sun.

Dreyfuss found the proprietor, and told him what he wanted. it turned out that he had exactly the hat that Dreyfuss felt that he needed, because they had become fashionable for men upon the return of the Boheme and the tough old man who had been knighted with the rest. The proprietor would have simply given the hat to Dreyfuss, but he insisted upon paying for it, and had just done so and was admiring it and shaping it to his liking in the counter mirror of the shop, when in strode the red-headed thundercloud who then burst upon the indomitable J.S. Dreyfuss.

This thundercloud, of reddish hue, called him an inconsiderate ass, and spoke of working with the wounded of the RTAF Jean Lafitte for nine full hours, and then she learned that he had tried to escape, but given himself up. "I will wager you did give your self up, you LECHER! All night long to that golden -haired FLOOZY! and that cur of a girl with her mass of wild curls!" She railed at him, she cajoled, and she scolded, and finally broke down in tears, but when Dreyfuss tried to comfort his lady-love, she would have none of it, and flung both him and his hand away; Dreyfuss picked himself up from the floor, scarves and ascots and hats and handkerchiefs falling away, but some adhering to his coat, as she then continued for some minutes, and then came the final word.

Dreyfuss stood there, as the Bard once put it in the mouth of one Sir Benedict, "like a man at a mark." and took the brunt of the sentence passed upon him.
"Jaisen Santiago Dreyfuss, a fine and handsome man you may be, knighted by Victoria Regina and acclaimed by Her Service, and beloved of the people,  but you shall not trifle with me ever again. I give you this gift, Jaisen: Time. Time enough to keep track of and take care of your OTHER women, and may they give you a fine thrashing when you forget them! With this ring, I thee SPURN!!" And she flung the ring so that it struck him on the left brow, deeply bruising and cutting the skin there, a scar he would bear for the rest of his life -- in many more ways than one. As she whirled and strode to the door, Jaisen said, in a stricken voice, "but, Mari! Mariana? she went out and stormed away back the way she had come. Jaisen ran after her, but then she whirled and drew a pistol she had concealed somewhere on her person, and shot at him three times, actually hitting his coattails, and narrowly missing his left cheek, which burned from the heat of the bullet as it passed.

"But... Mariana, it was always you!"

She stopped, turned, and fired once more, the bullet hitting him in his left abdomen. as he crumpled, more from sudden heartache and mortification than from the bullet itself, he heard his former love...

...Laughing, as she walked briskly away.

[Stella Gaslight]

"See Patrick will find Talos and fix him up so don't be sad.  The school is pretty inside do you want to go see it?"  Angel was hoping for snacks at some point during the tour.  Jen lady made really good cookies with jam in them and Angel was hungry.

"Just call me Mary, Sigmund.  Now lets see about getting some food in to you.  You look like you could use some fating up."  She laughed and set about greasing a pan and setting up an oven to warm.

Helena handed Sigmund a large bowl with some sugar and butter in it. "Mix this until you can't tell the difference between the butter and sugar."  She took a hammer to a coconut and made a hole to drain the milk then broke it completely open to grate the white meat within it.

[MWBailey]

TEH crowd at the Wrench and Hammer heard the shots, and a few rushed out in time to see Mariana, across and a little way up the street, shoot Dreyfuss in the midsection, and then turn around and walk, laughing, around the corner, back toward Madame Arachne's Bordello. Five airshipmen rushed across the street, and laid Dreyfuss on his back, examining the wound; They found that, although the bullet had not pierced the several layers of cloth and mail, the sudden impact had broken the skin and severely bruised the flesh beneath it.

Dreyfuss pushed himself free of the hands of well-wishing acquaintances, saying it was nothing, that he had had worse by far, and would patch himself up on his ship. He staggered away, laughing, acting as if there was not a thing in the world wrong, but deep down inside knowing that this was the start of a long, lonely time, and that for at least a few weeks, every agent's hand would be against him. After all, he was the foreigner here, wasn't he? why would they believe him over her? Best to get to the Elmo and never leave it again for a while, he decided. I've lost Nadya and Mariana both, now, he thought, and I havent seen Cleo for days. He chuckled, darkly, "Life is just peachy, ain't it..."

[Nigel Wetherby]

Patrick tried not to tell her how long it might take to assemble such a resilient submersible. It would definately be a while. He feared she would not be reunited with her construct for a very long time, and if it were even able to stay functional beneath the water it would not be for very long before it succumbed to the pressure of the water.
However, no-one told Talos this.
Talos emerged from the water, dented and bent terribly. His rickety body trembled as he clawed his way across the dock, alarming several sailors and traders, who gave the machine ample room to claw and release strained, water-gurlged cries.
"ZOOOOORAAAAAAAAAAA" it screamed.

"Er, fattening?" He decided it best not to question her as he began to stir.  The egg whisk was practically a blur in his finely trained hands whipped the eggs and sugar into a fine yellow paste. Thick ribbons of protein and sugar clung to the whisk as he finished the last of the vicious beating.

[MWBailey]

After what seemed like an eternity, Dreyfuss found his way to the dock and on board teh St. Elmo. He wasn't eager, at that point, to meet up with anyone from the crew., so he let himself into the Officer's country storeroom, and went to the corner of the room, the very place, in fact,where Nadya had at first appeared. Dreyfuss sentimentally touched teh slightly-dented rim wher eshe had impacted it. was it just his imagination, or did he feel a warm tingle, as if she had left part of her spirit behind, there?

Floozy. Thats what Mariana called Nadya. She obviously had not even bothered to try and get to know the girl. And then she had shot him, her fiancee, when he tried to run after her, to show her how deep his devotion ran. Well, thats all gone downriver hethought, No use ...   

"AWWWW Marianaaa!"  he simply sat on the deck and cried, let the tears flow as they would. How could she do this to him? throw the ring at him, and then SHOOT him?
He stayed there for a few tearful minutes more, and then opened the trap door and slipped down into the closet behind the medicine chest in Arachne's Sickbay, to start his raid of the Medicine Locker.

[Stella Gaslight]

Angel put her hands behind her back and bounced on her heels.  "Patrick can we have cookies please?"  She gave him her best puppy dog eyes.


"Your thin as a rail love. You could use some more meat on your bones.  Can't let them think you aren't being fed right."  Mary was a large happy woman and tented to think a bit of extra cushioning made for happier people.

Helena deftly cracked an egg on to the bowl Sigmund was holding followed by two more.  "Set the bowl down and measure out a cup of corn meal and I will add the flour, milk and baking powder.  I wish we had mango jam but Angel keeps eating all of it as soon as it comes in."

[MWBailey]

Esmeralda pointed to Headmaster O'Landry where he stood in teh garden, watching the goings-on at the swing."thats the headmaster there, Mr. Leyton, would you like for me to introduce you?"

[Nigel Wetherby]

"Well, me and tha Missus have cooked up some of Jennifer's famous chocolate biscotti!" He invoked cheers within Zoradysis and Hiroshi. Even the constructed samurai raised its hand into the air in a classic "Me me me meeeeee!!" Style emulated by a thousand young students before him.
"Well then, let's off to tha kitchen then!" He chuckled.

"Er, I don't quite mind being thin. As a soldier I tended to find my thin form rather useful." Indeed it was, besides, he had never known a fat cold one in his life. Most became bloated on something other than food. He had seen generals grown fat upon the deaths their soldiers caused, and nobles grown grotesquely wide upon their extravagance and indulgence.
This round and happy chef seemed to summon a smile onto his face. Her jovial nature seemed a welcome change to the terrifying grin of the ship's cook on his service days. He recalled tales of finding tentacles and fingers in the soup.

[Stella Gaslight]

"Yay cookies!" Angel cheered and took one of Cain's hands and one of Zora's and swung them both while humming a happy little song.


"We are almost done."  Helena said adding the coconut shreds.  "My mother always added a bit of lemon to keep scurvy at bay. Have you ever zested a lemon?"  Sigmund just shook his head He didn't really know what she was talking about.  "Here we will do it together."  She put a lemon in one hand and an odd metal thing in the other then she reached around him and used his hands to demonstrate. Her arms wrapped around his middle and he could feel her warmth on his back.  "See it is easy and it make the cake taste nice."

[Vancouver Air Privateer]

Elisha managed to find Trip and Emma within the School. He greeted both of them as warmly as he could.

"So, Emma." he said. "From what I've heard, it's going to take a few world hops to bring back George, isn't it? On the other hand, we now know so many people who could be useful in any sort of situation. So, I was just wonder who's going to be making up a team for another round. If he's in trouble...I would like to volunteer." He was upset of the idea of leaving Ella, but he knew that he couldn't back down when people might be getting hurt.

"I just want to know...just what sort of things might we come up against?"

[MWBailey]

Chalky, you and Bill watch the pub for a bit, willye? Malcolm Harcourt Creedlowe, the publican and owner of the pub the Wrench and Hammer, had had enough of worry. Dammit all, Jaisen Dreyfuss would try to doctor 'imself; the man absolutely hated surgeons,the airship lads always said.

Well, Creeds decided, H E wasnt goingto let teh old cuss kill hmself with a catgut needle; he walke dout of the pub, and into the street,apron still on and coachman on his head.HEwalked up and aeround the corner, and proceeded right up to Madame Arachne's door and went inside. There he found the redoubtable Madame making her rounds of the Medical establishmant portion of the bordello.

"Malcolm Darling!" Arachne said as he walked in, "What brings you to our establishment in your formal apron? She said teasingly.
"Madame Arachne, it's Jaisen Dreyfuss," HE said gravely, noting a slight change in her expression. " him and his wife-to-be had a fallin' out, and she shot 'im." Creedlowe saw the incredulous look on the Madame's face, but pressed onward, 'is coat and mailshirt stopped most of it, from what a couple of the airshipmaen who ran out to help him said, and he got up and pushed past the people who was tryin' to help him up, and said he'd had lots worse on the Boheme."

He said he was going to doctor hisself, Madame. I 'm afraid for 'im Madame, he's not as young as he were before, and he said he was goin to stay on teh ship for a long time, or something like that.  if'n you could go and take a look, or send some of us to haul him here...

[Nigel Wetherby]

madame Arachne held her forehead.
"Dreyfuss...That old man will be the death of me, I swear it." She sighed and turned to one of her girls who was entertaining another guest."Jessi!"  The girl lept to attention, pulling herself from the soldier's lap. Her place quickly replaced by a woman in leather. "Keep one of Patrick's old fly drones near Dreyfuss. If he even sneezes I want you and the other girls on him like stink on lumburger. Bring him back here lickety split."

Cain couldnt help but sing along, Zora giggled and did her best to sing along. Hiroshi followed close behind, Musashi's footfalls clanked against the cobbles as its armor rattled.
Talos watched the scene. He had been replaced.
"Zora..." he sobbed weakly.
"A pity isn't it?" A voice like liquid darkness asked. "You did all you could to defend her, you saved her from an explosion and how does she thank you? She runs from you, lets you sink to the bottom of the ocean, and replaces you."
"Zora...." Talos dragged its hand weakly across the cobbles.
"If you side with me i will change you from a little broken toy to her perfect guardian. You can be a family again!"
"Family. Zora.Yes."
"Goooood boy." The voice chuckled, taking the machine's hand and vanishing into a puff of black flames. Talos stood up, fully repaired with a few...modifications. His once gentle hands which cradled Zoradysis as she slept were now cruel, scalpel-like claws. His artificial skin now hard metal armor.
"Kill the constructs, little broken toy...Become Zoradysis' family. All she needs is you."
"Zora. Needs me." Talos marched to the courtyard of the academy just as they went inside.

Sigmund felt a terrible pain in his chest just as the lemons had finished zesting. He doubled over and fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. He felt something terrible and familiar buried deep within his chest. Like an old friend tearing an old scar wide open with an old knife.

[Stella Gaslight]

Emma was bundled in to a chair with blankets covering her legs. The purple splotches had faded a little but she still looked tired and made sure Elisha kept his distance.  "Thanks for the help Elisha.  To tell the truth I have no idea how many parts George might be in.  I can tune in to his location but other than that I don't even know where they are.  The first world we went to had a horrific version of myself and the second one had cat people and talking buildings. I think this may only be the tip of the iceberg. Who knows how many worlds there are we could be looking at near infinite possibilities."

Angel felt something wrong and stopped singing. "Cain I don't like this. Something is all twisted up out there."  Angel clutched at her chest, what ever was out there made her heart hurt.   She cradled both Zora and Hiroshi very close to her and spread her wings around them.  She refused to let anything hurt these children.

"Sigmund! What's wrong."  Helena pulled him in to her arms.  "Oh god this is my fault isn't it. I didn't even think that you might be allergic to the ingredients.  I keep forgetting that you some from another world, my dammed thoughtless self could have poisoned you.  I am so sorry, do I need to take you to the hospital?"  She was babbling with fear and self loathing.

[MWBailey]

Dreyfuss had decided to leave the supplies in the sickbay after all, and use them on himself there as well. He found a magnet in the forceps box, and gripped it with the ratchet-jawed forceps, and laid that on the table, and got out the other bits and pieces, and set to work, soon having pulled out several pieces of metal with the magnet.

He pushed and flexed the muscle around to see if he could feel more pieces, but there was no indication of any more, so he put a wad of gauze over the wound, and then wrapped the bandage cloth around his midsection, finally tucking and tying it, then putting his upper clothing all back on and straightening it, and then going to the small bit of desk beside the supplies cabinet, putting everything away, and then getting a sheet of paper and a fountain pen from the drawer and penning a note to Madame Arachne:

Madame Arachne:
Well, you have probably already heard the news; Mariana not only spurned my troth, she also shot me, and I have used the supplies from the cabinet here to doctor myself. I do not wish to offend you, Madame. You are still the ship's surgeon, if you still want the job; I just have for many years had a horror of Medical people with sharp objects. So, I learned early on how to sew up a wound, or pull out a bullet, or treat a sabre cut.

As I said above, Mariana left me. I therefore both long for and fear romantic contact. I do not mislead myself that I hold any more interest for Miss Nadya; I still love her, as unlikely as it may seem knowing how short a time I have known her, but I think I hurt her more than even she realizes.

I do not begrudge the two of you your relationship one with another. I never have, my protective instincts of the other night notwithstanding.
I cannot explain my regard for her; mainly it seems to be caused by a feeling of responsibility for her since she did happen to fall through on my ship, but there's more to it than that. I ask you to please take good care of her, not because I think you would not, but because I do still love her. I dont know for certain what my own reaction will be, but when my cousin James had a similar disaster, all rapport (head-talk) sparks became severed;she'll probably understand all that intuitively.(hopefully she won't think ill of me for it. It might come as a relief.

Perhaps someday I will be willing to try again. For now, I think it best if I simply let things be.


Jaisen S. Dreyfuss

Dreyfuss left the note on the sickbay's desk and shambled out of the sickbay. "Jock, leftenant, Sergeant, all of you, I need to speak with you for a moment." As they gathered around, Dreyfuss told them what had occurred, and and told them he wouldnot be surprised if Madame Arachne sent sopmebody over to fetch him.
"Your-all's job is to keep em from reaching the fo'c'sle cabins. Thats where I'll be in any case. now, DON'T hurt or or "bother" them in any way, ESPECIALLY if they try their wiles on you. I'd go with them to avoid their getting hurt, but only as a last resort.any questions? Good Men, all o' you! he went up the fo'c'sle spiral, and exited at the cabin deck, opening the door, stepping through, almost locking the door, but instead, thundering out," Captain Ishmael!"

"oi, sorry, love, but he decided to let us take care of you."

Dreyfuss froze. How in the bloody blazing blue black purgatorian pools did they get up here already? he raged inside his head.

HE turned around and said quietly, "I will most certainly not  be the death of Madame Arachne, or any other woman, if I can possibly help it. He sighed and held up his hands."come in, Dreyf," another girl said, hoilding open the door of his cabin. HE walked in and saw the drone on the chart table. "She doesnt miss a thing, does she...."

[Duellist]

For a moment, Leyton was disappointed by the girl's response.  She seemed ready to give up the knowledge he had given her without a single thought.  It seemed to him, on reflection, that perhaps there was more to lose than to gain.  She might have been a victim of Dreyfuss propriety, but she may just be a good gambler.

"Yes.  I think that it may be wise that I were introduced to the headmaster.  It would not do to be seen wandering about with a young lady like yourself alone, for fear of the damage it may do to your reputation."

As he allowed himself to be led to the headmaster, he considered the name.  He was sure that he had heard of a certain Paddy O'Landry in the days before his exile.  Given his current line of work, Leyton could easily imagine in which gentleman's club he might have heard that name...

[Nigel Wetherby]

Sigmund head was screaming, his nerves burned as if every atom in his body were blazing.
The pain stopped as mysteriously as it appeared, leaving nothing but a terribly ragged looking sigmund who had a look about him as if he had just been tossed into an aetheric stack turbine. His eyes were glazed with pain.
Sigmund sat up, every part of him shaking.

Cain held Angel's hand. "I feel it too..." A dread encroached upon his voice, darkening his tone and causing his eyes to narrow. Patrick's hands began to spark tounges of white flame. With a wave of his hands, two automatic watering automitons reshaped and reconfigured themselves into lightly armored defensive drones. The two metal defenders stood at either side of Zoradysis and Hiroshi, both prepared for mortal combat.
Talos approached them. It did not see defenders, it saw captors. A fire-spewing demon, two winged monsters, a two-headed giant, and a pair of merciless metal mercinaries.

"No she don't" The cockney lass at the table aside the drone giggled. Madame Arachne herself appeared in the doorway. "Now lDreyfuss, what is all this about?" She demanded, her voice sharp with an authority that had gotten her several clients in the past.