Equestrian Radio Show's Adventure Variety Hour: Explorers of STOMP

Hector started to protest; and stopped himself. Gearing was right, after all. "Okay. I'm gonna go take a bath then. I must look pretty nasty by now," he said as he walked away to find a bathtub...

Back at the Caballuston base, a burly earth pony responded to Grease's question. "Gearick and the others made the jump to Neighpon.  Dusty Winds is waiting for you in the teleport chamber.  Said that when you finished your naptime, she'd need to make the jump with you since she needs to speak with the Chief Director.  A lot of crazy stuff happened today...glad you're all okay."

Meanwhile in the Neighpon base, Muse connected to Gearick telepathically.  "If you're not too busy, I'd like to talk in private." To the rest, Brisk Iron addressed their concerns. "One of the nurses can direct you to the bathing quarters, Hector.  Professor Fields, you'll be in charge of going over the travel visas since I figure you'd be good at spotting any issues with them.  Stout Spirit, I may be able to help with the identification but for the moment you may want to converse with Tensai since he likes oddities like that.  Regardless, he's an engineer so he may be able to discern any applied theory to it."

"Of course we made it out okay." Grease says with a grin as he turns towards the teleport chamber. As he turns a corner he stops to survey damage to the area, mutters "Something bad indeed." then looks around for Dusty Winds. "Hi Dusty. Thanks for taking me back to my room. Didn't this room look elegant once?" He says as he spies her. "Are we set to go? Do you have any idea what we're walking...magicking into?"

Grease spotted Dusty Winds standing in the center of the room with a saddlebag full of papers. "I have no clue what's on the other side.  I just know that Brisk needs to know a few things that have happened.  The situation feels like it went from bad to not good.  Oh, and congratulations on the promotion.  Seems like you've had a crazy first day." The two feel a familiar sensation as they are hurtled to the other side of the planet.  Upon arrival, there is a tangible melancholy in the air.  A worker leads the duo down a corridor to the infirmary where they see Princess Silver Swirl barely clinging to life and Brisk Iron watching over her.  Dusty solemnly hands over the saddlebag then steps to the side. "Glad you recovered so quickly, Grease.  Base wanted to talk to you when you got the chance.  Muse actually has a plan so crazy it may save Silver Swirl. Rest up and you'll be briefed."

Grease blinked for a few moments upon seeing Silver Swirl, his smile momentarily frozen. "I'm as rested as I can be, ma'am, but I do have things to tend to." he says, his grin returning to a properly animated state. He then turns to Gearick. "Quite. How many people did I manage to offend after we jumped to Callabuston? I generally lack self-control when I'm that tired, and it's all a bit of a blur. I meant to give you all these documents to fill out once we got back," He says, extracting a sheaf of papers from his cube and offering them to Gearick. "but it seems I didn't last that long." He then looks past Gearick, focusing on Muse. "Ah, right, Muse. Can we talk somewhere? I have a question for you, and I could use a proper explanation of what happened back in the Callabuston base. And here, for that matter."

OOC:

Muse responded a little weakly to Grease's request.  "Um, maybe later?  I need to finish something first.  Plus, didn't Brisk Iron say Base needed you for something?"

"Right. Where is he, anyway?" Grease said, blinking twice before spinning to look around the room again.

"Well, Tree and I will go ahead." Stout leaves his comrades, preparing to see what lies ahead.

"Look, just take half of the papers and hand them out to the team as you see them. If they want to fill it out, they can, and if not, they can burn it. Muse, you might want one too." Grease says, leaving half of the forms on a nearby table walking down the second hall to the left. Six doors down, he knocks and pokes his head through. "Base? Are you in?"

ZamuelNow wrote:
Meanwhile in the Neighpon base, Muse connected to Gearick telepathically.  "If you're not too busy, I'd like to talk in private." To the rest, Brisk Iron addressed their concerns. "One of the nurses can direct you to the bathing quarters, Hector.  Professor Fields, you'll be in charge of going over the travel visas since I figure you'd be good at spotting any issues with them.  Stout Spirit, I may be able to help with the identification but for the moment you may want to converse with Tensai since he likes oddities like that.  Regardless, he's an engineer so he may be able to discern any applied theory to it."

Fields nods takes the papers and gives a look promising success before stepping out.

Hector easily found the base's bathing quarters.  It wasn't fancy but it was suitable.  Very clean with both a shower and a separate tub that were sizable enough to fit creatures of varying sizes.  The towels were relatively soft while the air had a subtle scent of natural lemon.  

Professor Fields found that the visas had the right credentials and were without error.  However, this didn't mean they were without oddities.  The travel visas were regarding them as ambassadors as opposed to researchers or some other profession more appropriate for what the Keep was.  Plus, in his years as a teacher, he knew that travel visas to foreign countries usually had more backlog than this near instant turnaround they were getting.

Meanwhile, Muse led Gearick to a secluded library area.  Locking the door, she sat warily as she started a telepathic conversation.  "Thank you.  I'm really worried about this.  The fact that we have to break in is problem enough but I'm worried we might not make it out.  I'd hate it if in attempting to save Silver Swirl, I got everyone else killed.  But...this is possible.  I've seen what you guys can do.  As the two telepaths, we can split up to cover more ground.  There's four paths that loop onto each other so two and then another two should hopefully allow us to get in and out quickly.  Hopefully.  I hope.

Um, but the reason I wanted to talk to you alone is, well...could you summon your fire giant?  I-I need to get something off my chest."

In following Brisk Iron's directions, Grease managed to find Base in a room.  Apparantly the young dragon had been making soap.  Lots of old fashioned soap bars strewn all over the place. "I'm glad you're here. Just...just let me talk for a bit okay.  With what happened to the Princess, I needed time alone.  Didn't want Muse to be the first one I saw since I'd say something I'd regret.  Remember that question you asked me about how I met the Princess? Well, some dragons channel their natural greed into hobbies and I chose to make mine seeking out artifacts that can be used for good.  Rebel against destiny and all that.  Don't have a hoard since it all goes to the Keep but it keeps me sane.  Or it used to.  Grease...I heard it.  When whatever you guys were fighting on the other side of the world roared, I heard it as if I were right there.  Even more...I liked it.  It's like whatever destiny to becoming a creature of destruction that got averted was trying to assert itself.  I really wanted to talk to another dragon about this.  I don't want to become some sort of monster and hurt those around me."

Grease blinks a few times, then doubles over laughing. "BUAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I swear absolutely none of this is directed at you." He says, trying to stand up and look serious. "I'm just the absolute worst dragon in the world to discuss this with. I'll spare you the details, but I wasn't raised by dragons, and everything I want is quite intangible, so I never came up with anything like that." He lets out a final hearty chuckle before successfully reigning himself in. "Well from where I'm standing, this is fascinating because we were fighting a mechanical dragon, and you don't seem to have noticed the stone lion we dealt with earlier. But there will be time for that later. Hmmm..." Grease stared at Base blankly, without really scrutinizing him. "First off, if it's any consolation, the thing is asleep, and hopefully won't be waking up for a long time. I suggest you never learn where they put it, just for good measure. Next, while I might not understand greed, I understand destruction. What sort of thoughts jump to your mind unbidden, automatically, when you see things? For example, when I walked in, did you think Hamstring--" Grease flicks a claw down to his thigh, "Jugular--" his throat, "Innards?" and finally draws a claw across his belly. "Or something else entirely?"

Base gave Grease a long vacant stare. "Get out."

"I'll stay until I have enough information to actually give you advice." Grease responds firmly. "I used to take ponies apart in my head. Muscle by muscle, bone by bone. It just happened naturally. It took me years to realize exactly what I was doing, and several more years to repress those thoughts. Viewing ponies as prey is as much a part of our DNA as greed. Now, I'll ask you again, what came into your head when you saw me? Better yet, what jumped into your head when you first looked at, say, Brisk Iron, after you heard a mechanical dragon roaring halfway across the world?"

Base gave a heavy sigh. "While I didn't do so out loud, I-I wanted to cry out for help.  Brisk Iron has sorta been like a distant aunt so she's given me advice on how to cope with these things.  I think growing up with Silver Swirl muted any predatory instincts I'm supposed to have.  I know for a fact that I am incapable of hurting her.  My desires for destruction aren't the same as seeking violence.  I don't want to claw or maul anyone.  Rather it's daydreams of burning buildings, acid rain, earthquakes...that sort of thing."

Grease blinks a few times. "Hm. Well, I'm still the absolute worst dragon to ask for advice about this, but I probably am better than anyone else you know. The only judgement I can really make here is that as long as you still have that feeling of disgust in your gut? As long as you're terrified and horrified by the idea of becoming some avatar of destruction? You should be fine. As long as the daydreams remain just daydreams, and you dismiss them as soon as you 'wake up,' there's probably nothing to worry about. If you feel something worse, or if you start to daydream for longer, talk to Brisk Iron or Silver Swirl about it. We're not the first baby dragons to integrate into pony society. I'm sure there's something that's been developed to help you deal with it."

ZamuelNow wrote:Hector easily found the base's bathing quarters.  It wasn't fancy but it was suitable.  Very clean with both a shower and a separate tub that were sizable enough to fit creatures of varying sizes.  The towels were relatively soft while the air had a subtle scent of natural lemon.

Hector glanced around as he thought of how to go about cleansing himself of the filth of battle. Clearly a shower wasn't going to hack it; he needed to soak. He sighed audibly at the thought; his muscles were quite a bit more sore than he had thought. He turned the tap on the tub all the way to hot. As it filled, he started looking through cabinets until he found a feather-and-fur soap that suited him; like the rest of the room it smelled of... lemons. He shrugged as he poured a liberal amount into the now steaming tub. He had done worse than lemons. He eased himself in, turning the water off as he did so. Having finally found some time to relax, he reflected back on the events of the day.

He really couldn't make heads or tails of the changeling and the Mad Hatter (as he decided to call the mare who made her head fall off; she reminded him of The Mad Hatter of Alice In Wonderland for some reason.) What where they doing? And why? It was quite above his head.

He recalled meeting Dusty Winds underneath the table. Hard to imagine the Big Boss was her aunt. Wasn't she just a janitor? Or was she? Complicating the issue was a growing infatuation in his heart; which, judging by her reaction upon their return, was mutual. He recalled a similar instance from the Royal Guard when his squad mate had unwittingly fallen for a General's daughter. That hadn't ended well as he recalled.

He shifted to allow his wings to unfold as far as they could underneath the water. He had saved a griffin. A female, no less. Granted, it was a decision made in the heat of a moment; in griffin territory, done by a full-fledged griffin would've been an almost assured marriage proposal (Proposals were done by the lady with griffins.)

But Hector wasn't a griffin. Just a lowly half-breed; he had known a few who would've shunned him for it (more so than normal anyways.) And yet, he had to admit, he might have reacted the same if he and Muse had been reversed. And yet she hadn't seemed to mind at all; even seemed appreciative.

His question was A: Was Muse genuinely grateful, or playing him for some reason? And B: What was there to do about it?

He decided, cynically, that A: She was likely playing him, and B: all he could do was try not to play along. He had not yet met a female griffin - beyond his mother - that had genuinely given two feathers about hippogriffs. And even she had been sneaky and ruthless in her non-violent dealings with the opposing gender, as most females were inclined to do.

But then what about Dusty? Many of the conditions were the same; how did he know she wasn't after something?

He shelved the thought as he decided to ask someone about it; later. He turned his thoughts to the mission he faced, and the team he would face it with. He felt a bit awkward; he suspected they had already done a number of great things together, and he felt a little out of place. He wasn't sure how to go about proving himself to them. He shrugged; he had been through this with the Royal Guard; he'd do it again. He leaned his head against the edge and settled into a light doze...

After thinking it over, Base nodded his head. "You make a good point...thanks.  Brisk Iron got me started on making soap on my bad days.  Since I produce, well...bases as opposed to acid, she pitched it as a way to do something constructive instead of destructive.  Speaking of which, um, you need any soap?  It's a little on the harsh side but better than nothing."

Elsewhere in the base, everything was running smoothly and quietly until...

"What do you mean Tilde got out?!?"

Hector suddenly heard the door to the bathing quarters bust open.  Brisk Iron was standing there with a gravely serious expression.  "I'm going to need an immediate report of exactly what happened back in the Caballuston base.  NOW."

"I think I might cover a few in nail polish and leave them in the shower room..." Grease says with a grin, leaning down to gather up a few bars. Suddenly, Brisk Iron's shout rings out, and he jerks upright. "That's possibly the most worrisome thing that I've heard since I got up." He says before bolting out the door and looking for Brisk Iron, soap still in hand.

Hector merely stared with a deadpan expression. "Bath time used to be sacred," he grumbled as he stood up in the tub and stretched. He started to shake himself off, thought better of it, grabbed a towel instead. "Let's see... Shortly after my interview and approval, several large explosions were heard through out the Base. Tracing the source I saw a changeling, and a mare that made her head fall off. The mare disappeared before anything could be done about it; I chased the changeling through a tunnel series and apprehended him. On returning him to the Keep, I elected to explore the tunnels further. I discovered that two of the generators had failed, and restarted them along with... a mechanic who had also discovered the failure," he said. Technically true; Dusty apparently qualified as a mechanic, and she had discovered the failure in the first place. "Another group arrived and helped disarm a security spell on the second generator and restarted it. I was told to inspect a series of lanterns on the surface to confirm our success; at which point I saw the giant dragon, which I'm sure you've been briefed on already."

He draped the now wet towel around his neck. "My turn. Who is Tilde, and what does he or she have to do with the Caballuston?"