Hex in Wonderland (IC)

Thuro Pendragon

Thuro Pendragon

Location
United States
The video flickered with a VHS aesthetic. "Daniel… Just, hit the button on the side. I know it's an outdated machine. I just like the aesthetic, OK? What? What do you mean you broke the VHS player? All of them?" A moment of silence and you wonder if the tape was over. Then, "How??? That's literally the only hobby I have time fo-... OK, you know what? Forget it. It's fine. It's fine! It's on? It's recording. We're recording? Good. Finally. Also make sure you edit this part out."

A man with curly hair, horn rimmed glasses and dark circles under his eyes sat behind a desk, his 'office' located in an open jail cell. "My name is John. Assuming we have time to meet in person, I'll get the basics out of the way for that hopeful day. John is not an alias, I do not actually have a last name, and yes, the reason the base is a prison is classified."

"You won't have access to this tape unless you signed all the legal release forms, but to reiterate, everything in this file is classified top secret under the Many Worlds Military interplanetary security act, and any breach would result in the group losing its unique legal and political privileges. More importantly, we'd lose our ability to act efficiently and promptly."

"As of 16 AR, the Holy City of Judgement ceased all televangelical broadcasts across the universe. With riots threatening to break out and unrest on the horizon, the Military quarantined the city and we were asked to investigate. What the Shield found was a city of monsters. And I'm not just talking about the priests. The inhabitants were turned into an arcane energy source, and those that survived became monsters. After averting a second crisis initiated by a third party, the Shield returned home and we began looking for how the terrorist got his hands on the spell that caused the disaster."

"An informant stepped forward, you will be part of the newly formed Hex unit to back up Agent Jen on site. If everything goes right, you'll be in and out. If not, you'll be well suited to handle the rigors of the planet."

John looked past the camera, and nodded for him to cut the recording. The tape kept rolling. "OK, I think that's good. I never should have let Jen write the briefing though, even reading it I got bored halfway through." He shrugged. "One shot though, that's pretty good. I'm hungry, let's head for lunch. I'm thinking burgers."

John left the room, Agent Daniel briefly passing in front of the camera as he left the room. Though it was doubtful anybody bothered to watch it, there were several more hours of an empty room on the tap.


The disguised troop carrier cut a path through the corvettes trailing the sky above Memento Mori, it's unharassed path provided by the ship's fake identity as a group of too well off frat kids.

Nothing could be farther from the truth, really. Jennifer looked in the back. Four unfamiliar spirits, five unfamiliar faces. A pyromancer with an unusual aura, a street urchin with a habit for divination, one of the lost dragon siblings, a monk of all things, and Gabriel.

She scratched the side of her head, her finger tangling in a lock that had gotten too long. The Hex had been shunted to the front of worryingly small number of candidates, selected for their talents so that they might fare better on Wonderland than the Shield had on Judgement. More importantly though, their averaged psych profile showed-...

The shuttle, masquerading under the name "the Friday Party Liner", jerked hard to the side, ripping the witch out of her thoughts. She faced front, only to see the ground facing them from the top and the underside of a much larger frigate racing by.

"Daniel." She said calmly, in her voice that revealed she wasn't calm whatsoever. "Why are we upside down?"

"I'm sorry!" He cringed, not from expected punishment, but from a staggeringly meek demeanor. "They came out of nowhere. They weren't part of the flight path. But I've changed our course to compensate."

"Good job." She said in a flat tone of voice. Realizing how sarcastic that sounded, she added in awkwardly. "At the not getting us crashed. Thing."

The upside down view was breathtaking. The rain was pouring, a thousand flickering neon signs lighting the ground beneath passerby feet like the purple flames of hell. Beyond what she could see, she could feel slipstreams of pure mana racing among the rooftops, turning and tangling amongst themselves like charged electrons.

The Friday Party Liner dropped lightly on a landing pad, the only one at it's location. Some slum owner had converted the roof of their tenant block into a landing pad for a single ship, just for the extra few bucks it would bring in. The landing pad was barely bigger than the ship, just enough to lower the boarding hatch and carefully walk out.

Jen and the others unstrapped. Slamming her fist against the control on the door, the landing gear dropped down. The Hex got their first breath of the paradise known as Wonderland.

It fucking stank. Jen put a hand up to her mouth, then forced herself to lower it. Lead by example. "Don't worry guys. As long as we're out of here in a week, the smog will have no lasting negative effects." She gave an awkward thumbs up. "Good to go?"
 
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Kal Kakoneiros nodded, gently unstrapping himself and standing up before smoothing out the wrinkles on his new, fancy cloak. "Thank you, Jen." He said softly, giving the suited woman a respectful nod. "I'll be sure to cleanse myself regularly." He assured her.

He stepped forwards, adjusting his cloak so that it covered the dulled metal armor he was wearing underneath as he turned to look at the other members of Hex. "It is good to meet all of you. My name is Kal Kakoneiros." He bowed slightly. "My specialties are Pyromancies and Deific Lore."

He smiled, red eyes squinting. "Please take care of me." He asked. "And I am unsure if Jen has told you, but while on this planet and traveling as a group it would be wise to keep a Dreamcatcher on you at all times." He told them, pulling out a small one on the end of a necklace.

He let it dangle for a moment before speaking. "I have this one for show. Jen should have others that actually work." He told them all. "Be sure to keep them on your person, and when sleeping to place them so that the feathers dangle above your head, preferably in the sunlight." He explains.

"There, that is all I have to say."

Kal gently handed the Dreamcatcher necklace to Jen, walking over to the exit of the transport and waiting for the others before wrinkling his nose and pulling out a small metal tin to sip from. "Unpleasant smell, this 'Smog'." He muttered.
 
Helen stood excitedly and practically slid down the ramp out of the faux party ship. Mere moments before she'd been marveling at the massive city through the window of the ship, unable to take her eyes off the largest, and most beautiful, city she'd ever seen.

Unfortunately, Helen's lack of previous experience with such locations immediately led to her making her first mistake, and she took a deep breath of Wonderland's rancid air through her nose. A violent "Hurgk!" followed, along with a ten-second coughing fit that caused her to keel over. Clearly, her lungs raised on country air and the filtered atmosphere of the monastery were not suited for a city like Wonderland.

"Goddamn," she managed to squeak out between coughs, wiping the tears from her watering eyes. "Usually pretty places have pretty smells to go with 'em, but here reeks worse than cigarettes dipped in pig shit." Even a year later it still felt good to talk like a normal human being again. Not like at the monastery.

After recovering from the attack on her sinuses, Helen takes a good look at her new teammates. Quite the… odd bunch, weren't they. She knew their names and their basic gist but little else, and as such listened to the the pyromancer introduce themself and their specialties (whatever the hell 'Deific Lore' meant) and was only a little relieved when he said Jen would be passing out the dreamcatchers instead of him. To be honest, Kal gave her the creeps.

"Well, if we're introducing ourselves, I'm Helen, and my specialties are punching things and getting punched by things." She said, palming her fist to back up her statement. "It's nice to meet you all."
 
Yuuki sat back in the rear of the transport, face staring into a well-work notebook filled with all manner of scribble and scratch, a certain type of shorthand combining the languages she was familiar with into something likely only herself and a few select others could understand, much as one might review their own notes before an exam. Upon glancing up, she noticed their decent to the landing point was beginning, and she carefully stowed the notebook in a satchel fastened to her side.

Standing up, she was undoubtedly amongst the tallest there, and she looked out at all of the quite-plain magical energies outside. Where the others may be surprised at the stench, it wouldn't have the same effect on her, unpleasant as it may be, but with her sense of smell being heightened over that of a standard humans, it would be quite understandably distasteful, in several ways being a far worse smell to her thanks to the stronger senses.

As two of her companions moved to approach the door, however, she paid attention to what they had to say. the words of the first person, this, 'Kal,' drew her thoughts back to her younger brother and his own skills with flame, wondering if it would be beneficial or detrimental for the two to meet when all was said and done. Upon the second stumbling, however, she would instinctually wrap her tail around to the front of the individual and leave it there in case they needed it for assistance returning upright. 'Helen,' she claimed to be, and a fighter by the sounds of her own introduction. Fair enough, that'd likely keep foes off of herself.

Waiting a few more moments, Yuuki also stepped towards the exit once she was sure Helen wouldn't spontaneously fall over. "Introductions are a fine Idea. I am Dr. Yuuki Kunigi......errr, Med student Yuuki Kunigiri, as I haven't taken, let alone passed my licensure tests quite yet. As for what makes me unique, aside from the obvious, I am capable of seeing and, on a basic level, interacting, with mystical energies. Quite useful for speedy recovery of patients, less useful for things like combat."

As she came into the light, anyone that hadn't been aware of the presence of the dragoness would suddenly get a good view of her, modified lab coat and all, and she would give a slight, respectful bow to the present company at the end of her introduction, quietly fastening a medical mask to her face, in an attempt to mitigate some of the scent, glancing to Jen. "That depends what's in the air, in what quantities, and how long we will be exposed to it. You are probably correct, based on what I can see thus far."
 
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Tansy finally figures out how the buckles work and undoes the webbing that was keeping her in her seat, then lurches out of the ship with a yawn. Her nose wrinkles for a moment as the smell hits it, her eyebrows furrow, but then it passes and she just lights her cigarette with a quick snap of her fingers. She takes a long, slow drag, then blows the smoke out of her nose.

"Smells like home," she mutters. "Tansy Smith," she adds, louder. "Diviner. And probably the only one of us who knows how to keep all of you from being shanked in a dark alley around here. Or robbed. Or scammed out of something valuable. There's a lot of bad things that can happen to you in a place like this."

The cigarette dangles, almost dropping, from the corner of her mouth as she speaks, little flakes of ash dropping to the floor as it burns down. She takes another drag and stares into the smoke as she exhales, falling silent after her brief, terse introduction.
 
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Feeling somewhat frazzled after the rough landing it took the young harpy in the back of the craft several long moments to regain control of his dendrite implants so the fine metallic tendrils could undue the various strap and buckles of the seat. It took a moment but he was able to get out with only minimal difficulty from his wings and tail. It was such a good thing that this organization was quite experienced in accommodating all types of beings. Once that was over Wren nervously smoothed his coal-black feathers as he hesitantly made his way out of the craft with the soft clack of rough talons meeting hard ground.

From the air this entire place had looked like some mad fever dream of what magitech society could be at its worst and the view from the ground didn't make it any better. The implant in his lower back hummed soundlessly as it spun up, faint lines of circuits running up his body to his eyes as he studied the mana in the air, faintly visible to his magitech-enhanced eyes. It was all such a mess...Who knew what sort of pollution existed here with stuff like that just drifting in the air without any flow or reason?

It was as bad as the smell! And that was already making Wren feel like his nose was going numb.

Though...he was stalling wasn't he? This entire time he was trying to work up the nerve to talk to the people he would have to work with.

"Ah...I'm Wren Clearwater." The harpy started after hesitantly clearing his throat. "A last-minute addition to this group I'm afraid though I'll do my best to be of use. My specialties are in the direct interfacing of magic and technology as well as basic arcane craft. Though unfortunately I'm not really a fighter of any sort."
 
Jen pulled her trench open to the side, revealing a bundled-together cache of dreamcatchers, far sturdier than the one Kal carried around, and etched with an unfamiliar script. She unhooked the bundle from the inside of her coat, undid the clasp, and began handing them out to the team. "Like Kal said, put these around you when you sleep and your nightmares may abet some. If that doesn't work, we'll move on to salt circles, and then wards." Realizing just how grim that sounded, she added. "But don't worry about it. It'll be fine."

When she got to handing Tansy her dreamcatcher, she added. "Uh, keep an eye on the pyromancer. He's not good at keeping his money."
 
Gabriel

Gabriel took a deep breath and took note of everyone in the group, making a note of his name. "My name is Gabriel, I can. Actually, if I'm going to be entirely honest, I can't remember what I can do. I believe I can take energy from people and somewhat revive the dead and there are some consequences to both of these things, but the actual nature is a bit lost on me. Huh-Wren, I feel like I knew someone with that name," he replied, looking over at the group, trying to find some more words.

"Okay, that does seem to be helpful, considering this does seem to be a very... unique place to be. Thank you, Jen," he replied as would take the dream catcher, wondering if it would truly abet his nightmares, but not wanting to question her too much.
 
"Just be careful. We're all adults here, all magic wielders to different extent, but that doesn't make us infallible. In fact, in a place like this it might make us more vulnerable." She nodded to herself, hoping the warning got through to them.

She led them down off the top of the roof, careful not to look over the side. There was a walkway wrapped around the side of the building that gradually descended to street level, thankfully protected on the side by a railing, unlike that death trap of a landing pad.

The streets had looked glamorous from the skyline, but on the ground that illusion was ripped away in favor of grimy streets and littered trash crumpling underfoot. The rain overhead had stopped, leaving behind dirty puddles that got everywhere as the group splashed through them. The riffraff of society scattered like rats as they walked through the back alleys, though some followed from a distance behind, eyeing them hungrily. The ones that didn't get out of their way were a sadder case.

"We're almost there." Jen announced after a fair bit of travel. "I hope we don't spook the guy with so many people, but I think Daniel would have had a breakdown if Kal was left with him. If Kal gets to stretch his legs everyone does."

They stopped outside an abandoned factory, one too derelict for anyone too dare squat in, and Jen gave one final piece of advice. "Let me do the talking. This goes well, we could be in and out of here in under an hour."

Jen ducked inside ahead of anyone else, and the only sound that came out was the deafening sound of silence. Followed by a, "Well, shit."


For anyone that followed the aging woman inside, they'd see something not immediately recognizable. Frozen in place curled up was something vaguely in the shape of a human form, but far too thin and blackened. Half of the factory was affected by what looked like a miniaturized inferno, and at the center was something that had probably been their informant, the only part of him left being his pearly white teeth.


"We're not gonna be out of here in under an hour."
 
"Huh," Tansy says, and lights another cigarette as she peers around the doorframe into the factory, the butt of her previous one disappearing into one of her pockets. "Well, that's awkward. What were we meeting this guy for? I can see if I can track it down."

She pauses, scratches her chin, and very obviously tries not to breathe unless it's through the cigarette. She might look unaffected to the casual observer, but on closer observation it's clear that she wasn't expecting this and is far more shaken up than the front she's putting up.

"And maybe we can get pyro-guy to take a look at the fire damage," she adds. "Seems like his thing?"
 
Kal stepped forwards, walking past Jen and Tansy and over towards the body before crouching a little bit away, eyeing the corpse curiously. "It would take quite a lot of heat, in a very short amount of time to do this." He observed. "This was definitely a quick burst, since the body had no time to burn all the way through"

He hummed, swiping a bit of the soot up off the ground and rubbing it between his fingers. "You can see that the flesh and organs have completely blackened but the bones have been left untouched along with the teeth, I'd say that this wasn't a Pyromancer considering the damage seems to cover the entire corpse." He explained to the group. "With a pyromancer the damage isn't so even."

He stood up, brushing his hand against his cloak. "This seems quite like a localized firestorm. Targeted not at the corpse, but at their position, which means that either the caster is a very powerful fire mage or they had time to prepare a spell beforehand."

Kal smiled, eyeing the burned surroundings in interest. "This is quite exciting already." He commented. "Quite interesting how much of the surroundings are burned though. Why a firestorm? A simpler, more efficient spell would have worked just the same if the goal was simply to kill."

Kal shrugged, walking back over and patting Tansy on the shoulder. "It was most likely a trap, and even then it was likely the target had some warning, else he wouldn't be curled up." He reassured her.

He turned to Jen, adjusting his armor and cloak. "There's likely very little risk of a second trap, but if you believe there is a chance, I suggest allowing me to take a closer look, as I can use my Pyromancies to resist fire." He told the woman.
 
Yuuki would find the decent down the stairs simple enough, if slightly more challenging given her stature and size, as well as the traction she may find on each of the steps on the way down. Of course, that's not going to slow her down enough to cause any issues, as if she really couldn't traverse, she could have just glided down to meet them. This time, though, she followed the rest of them, being sure to keep close enough in case something happened and for her senses to cover the group as a whole, but not too close either.

As they travelled, it was clear just how different the city looked from above than from within, and the smell did not seem to be improving. As her thoughts wandered, going over the potential causes of a smell like that, one contributing factor, if not the sole source, became evident upon peering through the entryway Jen had headed into. Their informant had been barbequed, likely alive from the position they had been found in. Whomever did this had a sick sense of humor. Lucky for her, the man best-suited to fire and pyretic environments headed inside first, and she watched and listened. "So, it's a surface level burn. Enough to kill or maim our contact, but not enough to convert them into a full pile of ash...."

The more she thought about this, the angrier it made her. Her clawed hands bunching up into fists, her tail and wings tensing in place, the medical mask over her face doing little to obscure the snarl that was developing, her eyes narrowing. But then there was was Kal had said. A targeted attack would have been less even, more precise, and burned overall less, things she had seen when her brother had gotten angry enough to lash out as well. "It's not a trap, then. It's a warning. A warning to all of us to leave. Someone does not want us here, Which I'd imagine means they have something to hide, and aren't against maiming or killing others to see it stay that way...."

She pauses for a moment, teeth grit and a seething rage burning that she's doing her best to conceal. "Kal, Are you able to cover me? I can't discern anything about the magic used or the lingering Aethereal Signature from here. I need to get closer, but I'm not inflammable." she pauses, thinking to herself, before muttering, barely audibly. "......Always attack the medic first...if this isn't a trap, if they're still around it'll be damn tempting......"
@Lazy Coyote
 
Gabriel

Gabriel would nod, understanding the sentiment that they were all adults. Yet, he felt that wasn't the advice she was going to give. There was a brief flash of a moment remembering her once telling him to not die. Why was that not what she said here? He didn't want to question her.

He took a look and nodded. "Yeah, this doesn't feel like a thing that would be done in under an hour now. Normally I would say I could try to bring him back, but it doesn't look like that is possible. There's not enough of him left and even if there was, I remember that bringing back injured people doesn't heal them.... and I don't have a way to do that anymore. I'm unsure as to why that is though."

Gabriel would scan the room, wondering if there was something else out of place.
 
"Well...I'm not sure of either of those options actually." Wren offered as he studied the scene nervously.

Carefully making his way up to the corpse he poked at the charred remains with a wary talon before fanning out his array of dendrites to start studying the area. The way the charcoal material crunched was enough to make him feel rather nauseous.

"I'm no expert in fire or medicine but...well...this seems more of a way to destroy evidence or information." Wren began as he turned away from the corpse to study the area instead.

"The fire left the teeth and bones behind so it was likely around the intensity of a crematorium oven and the position of the body suggests it took a while. This person might have even died from smoke inhalation or heat exposure before them flame..."

"It might be a warning but it might not be, rather just a case of denied information. I doubt sudden industrial fires are uncommon in an area like this." The harpy offered as he continued his scans.
 
Kal hummed, stepping towards Yuuki and eyeing her languid form. "I'm reasonably certain I can use my Pyromancies to grant you temporary Fire Resistance. It is rather unpleasant, but will be over quickly." He told her.

Kal stepped back, rubbing his hands together before one burst into flame. He visibly focused, the flame in his hands turning a dark red, and the heat from it nearly vanishing and leaving a calm, gentle orb or rolling energy that only somewhat looked like fire.

He walked over to Yuuki and put his free hand on her shoulder, before swiftly pushing the orb into her chest. "Here we are!" He said finally. "You should feel uncomfortably warm, and might sweat quite a bit, but you are now fireproof for..." He tilted his head. "A minute, give or take." He told her.

Kal blinked, snapping his fingers. "Almost forgot! Even when the immunity fades, you should be fire resistant for nearly five minutes, so no need to rush." He reassured her, before turning back to the body.

Kal smiled, conjuring another sphere of fire and pushing it into his own chest. "Ah, now shall we examine the body?" He asked Yuuki, nodding politely for her to go forwards.
 
Helen winced and looked away as she saw the burnt factory and charred corpse. "That's awful." she said out loud, at a loss for deeper words to give her associates. "The smell's starting to match up a lot better now," she mumbled dejectedly shortly afterward. Seeing the filthy, impoverished streets of Wonderland up close seemed to have impacted her previously golden morale.

After recovering from the initial shock, however Helen watched the others intently as they discussed the situation. Clearly, they were more qualified than her at this and she was happy to let them figure it out. She made a mental note to ask about Gabriel and his deal and also wondered why, as a dragon, she needed a fire immunity spell.

Before long, though, she couldn't hold herself back from chiming in. "Don't see why it couldn't be all those things. Kill the informant, try to scare us off, get rid of the evidence…" She tapped her chin. "Real question is if they knew about us or were just getting rid of a blabbermouth. Given how fast we were shuttled here, and how secretive it was supposed to be, I'm leaning- and hoping- toward the latter but… I dunno. We'd need to know how long ago this happened."
 
Yuuki turns to Wren for a moment, giving a soft smile, before she nods at his input. "Wren, was it? Thank you for your input, it's definitely possible. I'll let you know what I find out, it may or may not shed some light on what happened here." Of course, he did have a point. It could be just that, and not what the others and herself had theorized, but the only way to know for sure was to get more information and then to use said information to revise their working theory.

Striding towards Kal, she nods a bit, before snickering after the process is complete. "So first you're gonna touch a lady in the chest, then you're going to send them into a potentially hazardous situation first? How gentlemanly." A soft chuckle escapes her lips, before she nods to his mention of how long, or short, a time they have to analyze the body without concern. "I see, 5 minutes, then. Not a large time to do anything, so no sense wasting time when the clock is ticking."

At this point, she'd make her way to the body, giving it a visual inspection, before checking for any signs of life so that she doesn't cause them any more pain and suffering, if they were somehow still alive. Upon being satisfied that they aren't, she'd take a deep breath, and gently place a clawed hand atop the victims chest, allowing herself to openly analyze the flows of Aether, within and around the body. This would last for a few minutes, before she opens her eyes, and looks around at the burning complex.

"Wren is the closest to the mark. None of the aethereal signatures within or immediately around our corpse show any signs of being from any spell or incantation of any kind. This may have been a freak accident, or someone might have lit the facility on fire through non-magical means, and our friend here got caught up in it. The cause was not a directly magical one, at least, as far as the victim is directly concerned." She would pause for a minute, lifting her hand off of the victim and holding it out in front of herself, frowning a little, making an attempt to redirect some of the energies, but being unsuccessful in her endeavor, returning to the rest near the entryway. "This isn't adding up....If it wasn't an attack, nor magically influenced, why didn't this person just leave the way we came in? It's not like the door was locked...."
 
Kal hummed, walking around the corpse and poking it in random places. "Checking for traps." He muttered, before leaning over and narrowing his eyes mere inches from the corpse. "I was wrong." He told them all. "It's not evenly burned. The lower part of the body still has some non-carbonized pieces, so it was a directional fire."

Kal paused, leaning forwards even more and smelling the corpse before frowning and recoiling. "It smells off." He said after a moment. "This isn't how a burned corpse is supposed to smell." He leaned forwards again, nose nearly touching the burned flesh of the corpse. "Past the usual smells of burned flesh and clothes it's..." He scrunched up his face. "Sweet? And kind of like... chemically?"

He reached forwards and dug around where the corpse was curled up around, before pulling out a thin sheet of... something. "Paper?" He asked questioningly, blinking. "No, paper would have burned. I don't know what this is." He said, interest spreading across his face.

Kal stood, brushing off a bit of ash from his nose. "Jen! Come look!" He called, flipping the thin sheet of something over in his hand curiously. "I found a thing that I don't understand. Is this one of those technology things?"
 
Yuuki thinks on the whole situation, walking slowly over to Wren and offering a soft smile. "Hey, Just wanted to thank you for your input earlier. Turns out you were a lot closer to the mark than I was, at least, if not all of us." She offers a soft, genuine smile, removing and storing her mask now that she had acclimated to the abysmal stench. Glancing back to Kal as he continues to investigate, content to let him work unimpeded, until that is, he mentioned chemicals. "Chemical smell? Any idea what chemicals it might be? I imagine you may have more knowledge than I in that respect."

She'd remain by Wren for the moment, just in case he had anything further he wished to say while finding it the best chance to avoid getting in anyone else's way. She had done what she could do, and shy of whine about something she could not control, there was little more she could do for the dead, aside from an autopsy, which in this particular case wouldn't be the most revealing thing, given the condition of the victim.

Looking to the others around the warehouse, she once again retrieves her notebook, not hiding anything from view, but even to anyone else that saw it as she thumbed through it it'd likely be hard to understand, if not impossible. Doctor's shorthand is messy at the best of times, and that's when it's not a mix of multiple languages and linguistic systems, like her notes seem to be. As she thumbs through, it'd seem that she'd be looking for something, anything, that could help them in some way with the predicament they found themselves in. Her discomfort with the situation would bleed through via her expression and the frequent shuffling of her wings and twitching of her tail. "......I thought I had a list of chemical agents and their properties somewhere in here....."
 
"I mean, it's 'a' technology for sure." Gently, she took it from Kal. "It's paper reinforced with some of the same materials found in cheap armors. Ironically not cheap, but pretty resistant to most damage."

A glowing series of symbols in written the same unknown script as the ones inscribed on their dreamcatchers wrapped themselves around Jen's fingers. The fabric of the picture held in her other hand began to ripple and flicker like a very old television with poorly aimed rabbit atop. Motes of multicolored light swirled around the room, being picked up off the bodies, off the brickwork, even off the Hex, coming to rest on the photograph.

A look of intense concentration was screwed across her face, and she appeared to be having some difficulty controlling the spell, an oddity for a woman that lived and breathed magic.

The image slowly resolved into... a picture of the Hex, looking about as eery as early AI art from the 21st century. Jen gave the attempt a look that could best be described as pure hatred.

"Look. You're all adults, ok?" Jen phrased it as a question for some odd reason. "Your combined essences are screwing up the contents of the photograph." Realizing she wasn't actually explaining anything, she tried her best to break it down simply. "When something is destroyed, spiritual pieces of it are left nearby. Kind of like if you throw a ferret into a wood chipper, pieces of it are left everywhere. Like, it gets everywhere, allegedly. And the ferret was actually an evil fae in the appearance of a ferret." Moving past the suspiciously specific example , she went on. "It's impossible to reverse arrow of time on the photograph, but I can reconstruct by putting those little pieces back together into something close to what it looked like. Unlike the ferret. Thank god."

"Instead of picking up the photograph, I'm picking up pieces of you. So you're going to have to leave while I do this." The witch pulled up a piece of rubble and sat on it. "Providence is willing to provide a shopping stipend as part of it's benefits, as long as you keep the receipt. So, have some fun with it, it's a free shopping trip on a planet with counterfeit everything. As long as you stay out of trouble. That's the one condition."

And then the Hex were unceremoniously dumped back onto the streets like a group of misbehaving children on a bus.

Outside the alley, just a half street ahead were a series of stalls and booths selling everything from Wonderland specific cigarettes to counterfeit dragon apparel that wouldn't quite fit right when tried on.
 
Tansy lights another cigarette, looks back at the warehouse, and sighs.

"We're definitely going to get into trouble, aren't we?" she says, as she absently bats away a hand reaching for one of Kal's pockets and gives the pickpocket a sharp warning look. "On the bright side, free shit."
 
Kal blinked his ruby eyes, before smiling. "Ah! This sounds like a rather fun distraction." He said cheerfully, before looking around. "Only I am unsure of the various things for sale."

Kal hummed, walking over towards the more inhuman members of the group. "Ah! Wren, and Yuuki!" He nodded his head to each of them in turn. "It is a pleasure to meet you. I was wondering if you both had some time to answer some questions I had about your physical differences."

He smiled down at the shorter winged man. "I have yet to meet a winged species with the capacity for thought, and I was curious if you had any interesting facts to share about your biology and experiences." He admitted.

He hummed, rocking on his feet slightly as he scratched at the bite-burn mark on his neck. "Not to mention, Yuuki is a member of the dragon species yes? The one with the 'Empire', correct?" He asked. "I was wondering what you could tell me about your people."

He bowed. "Of course, you are free to ask or request things from me in exchange." He offered. "I've collected many trinkets over the years that you might find interesting."
 
"Uh. Alright." Helen said, looking a little surprised. "I suppose I'll stick around with you lot, since I left my money on the shuttle. And if we need to fight someone we can just punch them like normal people 'stead of-'' she looks over at Kal- "burning them to a crisp."

"Anyways," she hurriedly said, "I need to find a yoga mat. Can't stand meditating on a hard floor."

She continued walking but slowly drifted towards Tansy (@Kadmus ) "Hey," she whispered. "You know the deal with…" she was tempted to say 'Everyone else' but that seemed a little too blunt. She decided to just go with "Gabriel? That was his name, right?"
 
Yuuki'd let a surprised yip escape as the group is shuffled out, not having expected to be ushered out like a hatchling, and the surprise naturally manifested itself. It would just be unfortunate that the sound would play into the thought that she was that young. Of course, she wasn't exceedingly 'old' by any metric either, but with almost 2 identical degrees under her belt, she was far from a child. Dusting herself off, she'd lean against the nearest wall, glancing to everyone before pulling a smaller pad of paper out of her satchel, accompanied by a pen, and started to scribble some notes down on what had happened thus far. once satisfied, they'd be returned to where they had come from, and she'd close her eyes, thinking to herself a bit.

Of course, this shifted a little when she was approached by Kal, and she'd listen to his query without movement for a moment or two, before narrowly opening her eyes and staring at Kal for another several moments, formulating her response carefully. "I take it, with your lack of knowedge of technology and seeming lack of experience with creatures like me, that you don't hold my kind nor my civilization of origin with the same level of contempt as many others do?" Her gaze would remain fixed, analyzing, almost interrogating in it's intensity, before she closes her eyes once again and took a deep breath in, letting it out as a sigh, before fully opening her eyes to look at him, her expression once again back to it's usual softness. "The information I can give regarding my people is..........Out of date....really, but I'm open to answering what I can. is there anything in particular you may wish to know, Kal?"

@Lazy Coyote @ZeeBat
 
Tansy squints up at Helen (@Goob) and shrugs one shoulder, takes a drag on her cigarette, and slowly exhales, then turns back to keeping an eye on the group before speaking quietly.

"I got bundled in with everyone at the last minute," she says. "So I don't know anyone. Don't think any of us do? He seems like he probably took a head injury, though. Or did too many drugs. Or caught some nasty brain disease. Or did the wrong drugs. There's all sorts of things that can mess up your memory." She shrugs again, this time with her other shoulder. "So long as he's here to help and not too hazy, it should be fine, though. The group-" and here it's clear she means 'Providence', not 'this cluster of weirdoes' "-doesn't take on lost causes, right?"

From the look in her eyes, it's pretty clear she's not entirely sure of her answer.
 
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