• Nobles of Null is a forum based roleplay site where sci-fi and magic collide. Here, Earth remains fractured and divided despite humanity reaching out to the stars. Worse still, the trans-human slaves of one major power have escaped, only to establish their own Empire, seething with resentment at abuses of the past. Even the discovery of aliens, though medieval in development, has failed to rally these squabbling children of Earth together with its far darker implications. Worse still, is the discovery of the impossible - magic. Practiced by the alien locals, nearly depleted and therefore rare, its reality warping abilities remains abstract and distant to the general populace. All the while, unseen in the darkness of space, forces from without threaten to press in. For those with eyes opened by insight, it is clear that an era is about to end, and that a new age will dawn.

[The Gentle Breeze] Chapter 3 - Psychadellic Boogaloo

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Lobby

"Why?" Despite her voice being as deadpan and emotionless as it always was, the way Sif's feline ears drooped, tail between her legs, said plenty about how the white haired Tigress felt. However, as Mac only incensed Jayden further, her eyes glanced at him, only to look at the Liger's departing form before glancing up to the ceiling in thought. She nodded to herself just once. As Brigid figured out that the new-girl was part of their squad however, their squad leader couldn't help but utter it again. "Why?" she asked, her lips and brows furrowing in uncertainty. "Why is Jayden the only one looking around for clues?" the woman asked herself more than anyone else. Sighing, the Tigress slid into one of the chairs behind the reception desk. "Rikka. Dante. You two may cease overwatch, but stay on guard for hostiles. Same with the rest of you. I want you all to begin searching for any clues as to what has happened here." Accessing the computer systems, Sif's ears suddenly shot up along with her tail.

"The security footage is gone."

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Female Laundry

As Mac followed on after Jayden, he rounded around the doorway, only to find the tall Chongwu staring at the machines. The dryer was running, a heavy 'Thunk, Thunk, Thunk' sounding from deep within its confines as it ran. It seemed like there was something big and heavy inside. But it was the washers that held their attention. They weren't running, but one of them was different from the rest. Crimson red prints were all over its exterior, the markings strangely devoid of finger markings. But, perhaps far more ominously, was the vague shape.

They looked like large paws.
 
Mac gets on his earpeice. "Bridget, i request a forensics kit and possibly a body bag in the female laundry area." Mac says before glancing at jayden looking before looking to the dryer as he walked closer to it to turn it off and check inside.
"jayden can you do me a favor and watch my back in case whatever made those prints comes back?"
waiting for the dryer to stop heunholsters his pistol aiming it at the dryer while the other hand opens the door of it to see whats inside.
 
Jayden looked at the print on the wall, then at her own hand. "Don't worry about it," She said finally, placing her hand next to the print. "It's mine. Which means," She said, walking over to the Dryer. "Whatever is in there... I probably put it there," She said, turning the machine off. "And, if it was alive, then I know it's not anymore. I've seen what these things can do to someone. Imagine all your bones being broken as you tumble around being cooked alive," She muttered, pulling the door. "I just hope whatever reason I did it, it was a good one."
 
Dante furrowed his brow as he looked down the hall, listening to sif dismiss him from overwatch was both relieving and worrying for the demon, on one hand he was desperate to investigate whatever was snoring at the end of his hallway, on the other hand with no memory of the events leading up to this point and no magic to help him out in a pinch he was at a serious disadvantage if there was a threat out there in the halls.

Unholstering his weapon and cocking it, dante stalked down the hall slowly, careful to check every corner and room for hostile and friendly alike. Dante already had a finger half squeezing the trigger as he moved closer to the snoring and anticipated a battle with whatever produced it.
 
Brigid raised an eyebrow at Mac's request. She turned her back on the elf to glance over at Viz. "First of all, it's Brigid." She said haughtily over her helmet comms. "Second... I have none of that stuff on me, and the blue-haired bimbo is blocking the way to the storage unit. Which I don't have the key to. I'll see if she can help."

She walked around the station barrier to Viz and poked her head with a finger. "Wake up, damn you. We might need a healbot in the woman's laundry." She said impatiently, giving her a few seconds to wake up before trying a different tactic. "Wake up! The demon boy is about to deflower you!" Brigid yelled dramatically.
 
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Female Laundry

As Mac and Jayden talked it out, the dryer continued to run, it's contents thumping every time it turned over within. Like a drum, it seemed to thump-thump-thump away to a rhythm, the thing inside well cycled within the machine by now. However, they couldn't put it off forever, no matter how ominous the red paw-print was. Reaching over, Mac grasped the handle, only to find it wouldn't turn, and when Jayden pressed the power button, and it wouldn't turn off. Red showed on its display, "Laundry Load Owner Not Recognized", making it clear that neither of them put the laundry into the machine to begin with. Just as it finished flashing this message though, the machine stopped, and the contents within could be heard getting sucked out. Behind it, mechanisms built into the facility itself moved as the 'laundry load' was deposited in a locked container, rapidly sliding over to a waiting area with various other laundry loads locked to whoever had loaded their contents.

Someone had helped Jayden by putting the 'load' into the machine, and it wasn't Mac.

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Lobby

Sif slowly blinked her eyes in stoic disbelief as she heard Mac over the comms. She didn't bat an eyelash at Brigid's reply though. "Mac. Report. What did you find that would warrant a forensics kit?" she sternly asked over the comms. "I've found that all the residents are accounted for. According to this unreliable computer," she added. As the Tigress continued to try accessing the computer network on one end of the desk though, Brigid soon found that her words had no effect on the sleeping priestess that was blocking off access to the storage unit under the table at the other end of the desk. The woman simply continued to snore away, undisturbed by the promise of unholy molestation. But what really stood out, was the hair-tingling sensation that came as she poked Viz. The succubus could feel her own magical force being tugged on and drawn away!

This place had little to no magic to begin with, but what little there was, Viz was practically sucking it all up!

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Electrical/Maintenance

Walking down the male hallway alone, and past the numbers on the floor, Dante found the doors to the black, sleek facility all closed and locked. Behind them, one could assume all manner of things were lurking out of view, ready to spring out and pounce, but none did. Sif did say that they were going to protect students after all. Chances were, they were here, sleeping and blissfully unaware that something was wrong. Looking at them, his HUD sensed his focus on them, and immediately informed him that they were indeed all occupied. Walking past one of the compact rooms in the male side, the incubus could feel the faintest of spikes in his magic reserves, but it was so little it might as well have been nothing. Nearing the Electrical and Maintenance room in the back, the ever so faint snoring grew just a bit louder. A trigger warning popped up on his HUD, telling him he was squeezing the trigger too much. But after taking a moment to steady his nerves, the young man aimed his gun and willed the door to open.

It was a janitor's room, cluttered with all the things a janitor needed as well as the various utilities for the dorms. Eyes darting about, they settled on a few droops of what had to be dark blood on the floor, which all lead right up to the source of the snoring. Out of a small vent near the ceiling was the blue coverall clad bottom of some strange, fat, grey furred creature with clawed, yet almost hand-like feet.

It snored.
 
"Fuck you too," Jayden muttered as the machine denied her and Mac entry. There was a lot to unpack with this situation, so Jayden opened the door to the now empty dryer, after the contents had been loaded into a locker. IF they had automation like this, why did they even fucking need Chongwu? They could make mindless robots that didn't have feelings to do this. She looked into the now empty dryer and... It really was empty. No blood, no bits of charred flesh. It didn't even smell like cooked meat, and that wasn't exactly a smell that went away with a half second sanitation. She may not have a good enough nose to sniff out bombs, but she could definitely smell bacon even under chemicals. Though, now she really wanted to know what was in that locker.

"You wanna play that game huh?" She asked, walking over to the only locker that indicated having anything inside. "You think your stupid fucking lockers are going to stop me from getting whatever's inside??" She asked, no one in particular. She started pacing back and forth, looking at the locker, her lips pulling back in a rage. "You think I give a shit if a bunch of second class fucking Empress bootkissing wannabes being upset I saw their clothes is going to stop me from ripping that door the fuck off the wall?" She stopped, taking another step back. "Well, guess what. Your stupid Daqin door can go fuck itself!" She snapped, digging her left foot in to give her the power to kick the door as hard as she could muster.
 
Mac Keyed his coms responding to Sif "Well we got a possible murder scene here, with info pointing at a accomplice" Prints on the walls match a chongwu's Hands, were as objects that seemed to be in the dry before being sucked into a locker could be the murder weapons being compromised by the heat. were looking at two possible murderers." Mac said looking at Jayden in a fuss.

standing up slowly the thought raced threw his mind. *did i do the right thing saying it was a chongwu and not Jayden?*
*Even if she did given the circumstances she probably didn't do it on her own accord*

As Jayden kicked the locker Mac instinctively ducked as her foot impacted with the metal locker "Jayden calm down okay well get threw this and find your stuff but going at this half cocked wont get us anywhere OK? once we find whoever took your clothes feel free to gut them but until then i need you to keep a level head okay." Mac said walking up behind her and reaching up to place a hand on her back
 
Brigid jerked back from Viz as if she'd been slapped in the face. She had little magic left and this greedy bitch was trying to suck her dry. Frowning, she ruminated on that thought for a minute. Why would Viz be sucking up all of the magic nearby? Did she have to bring someone back from the dead and exhaust herself to the point that she was automatically sucking off everyone's supply?

She didn't want her last drop of magic to be stolen, but she wanted to get in that unit. Sighing, she walked over to Viz's chair and dragged it out of the way with her still in it. Brigid groaned as she pulled. "Jesus, how much do your useless tits weigh?" She complained once she was done. With the obstacle to the storage unit under the desk removed she recalled the key she didn't have. She searched the reception desk's nooks and crannies for the key and then did a cursory examination of Viz's pockets and cleavage.
 
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Lobby

Her voice started off low, "Two possible...WHAT?" Sif's voice harshly rose. Taking in a deep breath to calm herself, the Tigress closed her eyes, only to open them moments later. "So that's what he saw," the snowy haired Tigress began. "That little punk. Trying to hide things," she matter-of-factly spoke. "Deal with the Priestess," Sif glanced at Brigid, unconcerned about whether or the redhead noticed this. "I'm heading over to - " the thundering crash of roughly 500 pounds of angry Chongwu, crumpling metal and a klaxon made one of her eyes begin to twitch. " - laundry." With that, she stood up and left the front desk.

Viz however, remained soundly asleep despite the noise. As she was laid back in her chair and rolled away from the storage unit under the table, it was clear that the security uniform the blue haired woman wore over the bodysuit didn't have any cleavage for stowing things in. The succubus quickly found her pockets stuffed with things such as brushes, dry paper-mache and snacks. There was no key. But then again, looking at the safe? It wasn't a human design, and was purely Daqinese. That meant there wasn't a keyhole in the front to begin with. It was on the bottom of the safe, meaning any would-be thief have to drag the thing out and flip it over in order to pick it. Something the owner had time to do, but a thief wouldn't, an extra middle finger to them from the Daqinese if anything. Even then, it was likely one of those nightmarish Buddhist-Swatstika keys that radiated out in four different directions. That aside, the armored brick of an EMP shielded storage unit was complete overkill, but it was touch activated, responding to authorized users only.

As she pondered this, the sweet scent of fruity booze wafted across her nose. Viz had left her flask of alcohol open on top of the table.

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Female Laundry

As the door crumpled inwards, an alarm began to loudly blare, its harsh sound echoing through the entire facility. They were closer. Oh so much closer to opening the locker! But moments after the noise began, it stopped. Standing there, looking at the locker, the two could feel it. Eyes boring into their backs. "Why did you two try and hide this?" Sif asked, her voice as cold and emotionless as it usually was. Standing there in the doorway, there was a sword handle in her hand. Stepping into the laundry room, the door smoothly slid closed.

The Tigress's expression as emotionless and borderline bored as it always was.
 
Jayden only growled as the alarm went off, looking at the buckled door. Yeah. Like this stupid metal door was going to stop her. She snorted, even as Sif walked in, grabbing what edge she could of the door and taking a few breaths as Sif spoke. "Yeah, totally tried to hide it," Jayden muttered, bending the corner down to get a better grip. "We asked for a forensics kit, and I'm taking... what's the word?" She asked rhetorically as she began to pull, fighting the lock and trying to get the door open. "Where you start trying to solve a problem without being asked?" She growled through the strain. It was in there for sure, and Jayden pulled even harder before the hinges popped and she had to take a few steps back to keep herself upright. "Initiative. That's the word I was looking for..." She growled, more out of annoyance than anything, dropping the door, looking at the contents of the Locker.

It was Jayden's body suit. She walked up, pulling it out and showing it to Sif. "See?" She asked, looking it over and splaying it out so she could begin putting it on. "Nothing that needed to be fussed over. Just my suit, which I would like to wear since I'm naked and everything," She explained, stepping into the high tech suit. "Bonus, at least now I smell nice."
 
Mac looked over his shoulder to Sif as he mildly rolled his eyes. "no ones hiding anything ma'am, i asked for a forensics kit because how would you respond to red liquid in hand prints on the walls and something heavy being in the dryer...the reason i said two possible is at the moment there's no way to definitively prove the paw prints where Jaydens since the fingers on the prints were missing on top of which using reason as correct me if I'm wrong but Chongwu are basically pets so who's to say someone who also uses the women's laundry room dosn't have a service Chomgwu with them." standing up and beginning to walk out of the room. Mac would stop to look at Sif

"I wasn't about to accuse my teammate without definitive proof that they did something based Soley on speculation alone. now we know there's no body and its just her suit, but i still require that forensics kit to test the red residue on the wall for any abnormality. So if your done jumping the gun Ma'am I have a job to do as were still on mission and arguing over hearsay isn't getting that job done now is it?"
 
As soon as dante saw the hand like paw in the vent he was transfixed, completely silent and unmoving as he stared at it. A few thousand thoughts rushed through his head quickly as he decided to do, dwelling on the tiny spikes in his magic where there had been nothing as well as the mentions of a forensic kit. The incubus could only imagine what Jayden and Mac had come across so he carefully stepped around the dark patches of blood and opened up his comms to the squad. "I got a live one, someone bring a med kit" he quietly hissed across the line to them as he got to the vent and tried to pull it away to get at whatever was hiding.
 
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Female Laundry

Sif quietly stood there as the two spoke, only to finally break her silence once they were both done.

"Boy," she sternly began, glancing out at Mac from the corner of her eyes. "You're trying too hard. Follow Jayden's example. Stop vomiting words," the white haired Tigress instructed the young man. Taking her steely gaze off of him, she proceeded to flick her wrist, the Daqinese jian sword unfolding from the handle before skewering its target. "I cannot help you if you don't tell me," Sif began, holding up the remains of the locker door as though her sword were a garbage poker. "You could have hurt yourself trying to open it on your own," she continued, voice stoic. With another flick of her wrist, the door was tossed into the garbage chute, sword instantly folding away before she turned her attention to the paw print. "We at least have your suit Jayden. But your pistol and ammunition remains missing," Sif observed, still eyeing the crimson mark

As Dante spoke, the Tigress tilted her head to the side ever so slightly as she saw something they didn't. At least, not without their helmets. "Go help him. Or something productive. I will monitor your progress through your suits," she urged the two on, still fixated on Jayden's red print.

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Electrical/Maintenance

Looking at it more closely, Dante couldn't help but feel that the foot-paw thing was only hand-like in the most vague of sense. The bottom of it was dark skinned, and its so-called thumb was stubby and thick. Worse, what would have been the index finger looked more like a single digit that didn't quite split into two yet, the tips of each digit topped by a sharp curved claw. Still, opening up the vent all the way, the Incubus was able to pull the heavy, snoring form out.

It was a Koala clad in a janitor's uniform. One stained red from face on downwards.
 
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"What in hell are you doing in a vent?" Dante asked rhetorically while he pulled the koala out and held it in one arm. He still didn't trust the koala even if it was knocked out, all that blood gave him pause and there was only one other place he'd seen so much.

At least the koala was alive after whatever happened to its face, now he had to wait for it to wake up for an interrogation. He sat down in the centre of the maintenance room to search through the bloody janitors uniform for clues on what happened for them to get there, even if it was a long shot.
 
"Your people made me, to do work like this," Jayden said, pulling the arms of the suit over her shoulder and starting to seal it up. "That's why I exist, remember? So I can do all the heavy lifting, and you can stand there, coming in at the very end, telling me how you can do it so much better," She said, snorting and shaking her head. "And you tell me you're concerned for my well being? Don't be. I might not have some fancy Daqin education, but I'm not stupid. I know all too well what I am capable of, and I didn't even scratch the surface with this. Awkward, that's all it was," She said, stepping past Sif and ducking under the door. "But yeah, sure, I'll go be productive while you watch," She finished, leaving Sif in the laundry room with Mac, and heading towards where her HUD said Dante was.

Jayden looked at the scene within, and if there was any amusement or happiness in her face, it was gone once she saw what was in the room. "Oh this is some kind of sick joke..." Jayden groaned, looking at the Koala. She swept a work table clear, tapping on it. "Put him down here, let's make sure the damage isn't too serious..." She sighed, a frown dominating her face. "I've seen how bad even small cuts over the eyes can bleed, so maybe he just got lucky, huh?" She asked, wanting to look over the Koala quite a bit.
 
Dante twisted his head in the direction oof Jaydens, glad to have someone else on scene just in case, plus she was a chongwu too so she could probably help with interrogation "no shit, this is bad" He replied lifting up the koala and placing it on the cleared work table.

"glad you found your suit" He commented as he stepped back for her to take a look at the injuries "I figure one of us must've done that to him before he climbed into that vent" He pointed across the room where he had torn the cover off "or something is fucking with us"
 
Mac looked to Sif with a look of mild annoyance on his face "a wise man once said that those who dont learn from their past are doomed to repeat it, people made your people to do the work they didn't want to do you rebelled and won independence who's to say the chongwu wont do the same thing if you continue walking in the steps of your past."

After saying his piece he moved out the door to regroup with Jayden and the rest of the group. he would notice Dante and the unconscious new person "this day just keeps getting better and better..." remembering what Sif had said about Jayden's sidearm going missing he got a bad feeling he needed to confirm. "Mac to Sif I'm going to see if i cant link up with one of the other squad sections see if i can get up a bigger picture of whats going on here ill keep you updated if i find anything how copy over?" looking to Jayden and Dante he asked "you two gonna be alright here?"
 
Jayden sighed, looking over the Koala. She was keenly aware of her own strength as she pushed around the janitors face, keeping a close eye on things. "Not as bad as I thought," The liger said absently to Dante's comment about things being bad, walking over to the sink and grabbing a cloth. She ran in under the water and walked back over to the work bench, sitting the Koala up and starting to clean his face. "Yeah, we're fine," She added in when Mac asked, continuing to focus on the Koala until she got most of the blood out of his fur.

"He just had a nose bleed," She finally said, looking at Dante. "Nose isn't broken or bruised, there's no cuts anywhere else," She said, standing up, slightly hunched over to avoid hitting her head. "Honestly, I have no idea. Maybe he was cleaning the vents? Nose got dry, started bleeding pretty bad and he doesn't like blood. Panicked, try to get out of the vents, and fainted before he got out and thankfully didn't drown," She offered, leaning back down and pressing a finger against his chest. "I used to do this for one of my Masters. Used to get fucked on drugs, I'd have to wake him up," She said frowning. "If I didn't the paramedics would, and if he found out, I'd get in trouble," She muttered, continuing her sternum rubs.
 
The concubus listened silently until jayden was finished speaking, his face ahd dropped from alert gritted teeth to a pitying frown, he went up on the tips of his toes to pat her hunched back with sympathy "that's . . . Real fucked up jayden" Dante may be dumb but he isn't an idiot, he knows what getting in trouble means for a Chongwu.

"Anyway uhm no bruises?" He tried to move on quickly, retracting his hand and stepping over to look into the vent, under his suit his tail curled up a bit tighter. "he didn't get beaten up then, so it can't have been us" Dante sighed in relief, the cogs turning in his head about what could've happened "theres got to be a lot of powerful magic at work here, and some tech too probably" he groaned turning back around and staring into the drops of blood on the floor "cause my magic reserves have been feeling all kind of weird, I mean when I walked down the hall it was doing something weird"
 
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