REFURBISHED [Morbitia Renovarse]

[ThreadLurkingComorant]

[image description: A woman stands at a doorway. She is tall, with a spider-web patterned dress and long messy black hair. She has a cat-like mouth, 4 unusual cartoonish eyes, and a tail that matches her hair.]

Despina sat to the side, taking a breather while Diver took initive in wrapping up the details of the briefing. 

Diver: So the short of it is, we want you both to look for stray entities, get in contact, see if we can get a good thing going. 

Savvy: I mean we got one right now. 

Romero: Yeah, don't think he really has anywhere to go.. 

Roost: Nope! I'm living off residuals from licensing my likeness out. Turns out I'm quite in right now.. 

Diver: Yeah? In what way? 

Roost: What do you mean? 

Diver: Haven't seen you around, is it overseas or-

Roost: Online, many opportunities there these days for those like myself who've struggled to find a good client. Unless.. one of you would like to sign? 

Romero: Styx would kill me.. 

Savvy: I thought I had a thing with Santana but.. 

Diver: Yeah I wouldn't recommend that. 

Roost turns toward Despina with a silly look on his face.

Despina: Got my hands busy, know how it is. 

Roost: The mask thing does make me want to just give it to you for free admittedly. I've never heard of such magic before being in the hands of a mortal like yourself.

Despina: You're a little too sweet for that. Looking for real bastards. 

Roost: You would be quite surprised. I have to say though, I'm curious who's face that is right now. Might have known her in the past. 

Despina made a mock hiss at him. 

Roost: Not even a hint?

Despina: Maybe one day but not today.

Roost: Suppose we all have our secrets to keep... 

Despina: Not forever if you play your cards rigt. Prove you can behave... 

They slipped a finger under their snake mask. 

Despina: And you'll get to learn a bit more, maybe even some burgers? God knows I'm craving lunch after today's job.

Roost tugs on Romero's arm.

Romero: H-hey-

Roost: This is a group effort, the entire squad. I expect a large table.

The snake snickered. 

Despina: That's the spirit. You behave and I'll take ya'll out for burgers later. Sound good? 

Diver: Does that include-

Despina: You're paying for yourself today, but you're invited too. 

Diver: I'll take it... We both handling comms today? 

Despina: Mm, you're hosting though I think. You've got a more secure network than anything I can get started. 

Diver: Do I? 

Despina: You and Savvy both had your bodies made by Once_More. Should be able to link up just fine. 

Diver: This body is also modeled after a sapient plague, there's going to be random passerbys and stragglers there.

Despina: Any of them gonna bother you? 

Diver: Well no... but Romero? Can't really hook him up-

The fish holds up a little floating diamond, both as thin as paper and glistening as glass. 

Romero: I got ways to keep in touch, I'm good. Besides.. if it's just gonna be me, Savvy, and Roost going out I think we'll be fine. Savvy could just pass along the message, yeah?

Diver: Not if seperated from you.

Romero: I got proxy who can find 'em in a heartbeat. 

Diver: Do you? 

Despina: Mm.. not sure what its full capacity is but it seems reliable. It's uh... bit of a helpful mole. Bit selective on who she talks to, but Brass is reliable.

Romero: She likes to keep things closer to the vest than that..

Despina: She can scream at me later all she wants. For now... 

Despina looked you straight in the eye.

Despina: You feel up for giving Diver's network a shot?

Savvy: I can try. How do we uh... hook things up? 

Diver: Usually there's a specific guy for the job built to handle communications but both of us are cut off from the main network... but my body's technically part of a hivemind so... we'll borrow that one. 

Despina: Is that safe? There's no worries it'll try and override you or-

Diver: This one's polite thankfully, she usually leaves me alone. Guess she cause a bit of a eruption in one of the facilities, still stuck with piles of her doppelgangers roaming around. 

Despina: But she is part of a hivemind. Sounds shady.

Diver: Yeah. All of them willing of course but uh...  

Despina: Cult? 

Diver: Sorta? Not intentionally. They're harmless, promise. 

Diver offered his hand to you. 

Despina: Savvy-

Savvy: I'll be fine, if anything bad happens I know you'll fix it. 

Despina:.. Yeah, always.. 

The fiend grinned at that. 

Diver: You two are adorable. You ready then? 

Savvy: Lets do this. 

You reached out for his hand only to find yourself standing under the night sky in front of a large castle among many brightly lit tents. It was almost like a carnival, spreading across the horizon. A few endless towers surrounded, so tall you couldn't see where it ended... 

Diver: You settle in alright?

You nearly jumped out of your skin before you realized who it was. 

Savvy: Think so. Lot... fancier than I expected. This normal for you? 

Diver: Eh.. it comes up. We should get you initiated. 

Diver stepped up to the gate without any hesitation and knocked.

There was a moment where you could hear someone yelling on the other end, followed by the noise of footsteps that approached slowly. 

???: Who's visiting?

Diver: Secondhand guy, got a friend with me. Not a entity or a fiend just like.. a guy. A shrimp? 

???: I don't know what that is but..

The door creaked open, another fiend with a bit of a resemblance to Diver. Perhaps of the same production?

You waved at them.


Savvy: Hey, here about the whole... hivemind thing I guess?

Diver: They're not here to join, they're borrowing our link so we can communicate on the job. Witch work, know how it is. Cabby around?

???: She's on tour with her friends. 

Savvy: Band?

???: Not this time, theater troupe. It's a whole thing I don't really need to get directly into right now but.. maybe you'll be fortunate enough to catch her at some point. Think you'd like her... come inside? 

Diver gives you a little nod, letting you take lead on this. 

The fiend tilted her head at you. 

???: A Chimera body? 

Savvy: Yeah.

You offered your left hand, perpetually stuttering and glitching like a broken tv.

???: Your connection is damaged, you'll have to let me repair you before I can give you proper access to the network. Might take a bit.. 

Savvy: I've got a job today so... maybe I should ask if that's fine-

Diver: Time in here works different, a few hours is minutes out there. 

???: Mmhmm! Technically not even in the same time period as yourselves. So... perhaps be careful what you say of the future. 

Diver: You already know plenty... 

???: Yes well.. nothing that'll tempt me to intervene. 

Savvy: So like, I can't mention the updog incident? 

???: What's... updog?

Diver gives you a loop. 

Savvy: I had to try. 

???: Is this something I should worry about-

Diver: It's a joke. 

???: Bit terrible at them unfortunately, I don't get it. 

Savvy: Must be a generational thing, I dunno. 

???: Perhaps? 

They gave you a awkward attempt at a smile, kitty mouth and fangs and all. 

Savvy: I got no clue... your proxy around here? Gotta talk to her on something. 

???: In her room, she was supposed to answer the door but she's probably reading with her headphones on... 

Savvy: It's no big deal. Be back quick. 

He walked off, leaving you alone with the spider-like Fiend. 

Savvy: So like.. you two related? 

???: His body is based off my mentor, almost a exact clone. I myself being spared by her after my initial hostilities chose to adapt my form to bare resemblance, figured she was someone to take after if I wanted to blend well with the people. It's... a bit of a long story. 

Savvy: I mean I got time, right? Name's Savvy by the way, should've probably opened with that.. 

???: Malette, Malo for short.. 

Savvy: You don't seem that bad?

Malo: You'd be surprised, used to be awful but seeing another fiend who seemed to make friends so easily made me want to move away from that. So I wanted to be just like her and uh... we linked. 

Savvy: Right.

Malo: And I accidentally made a bunch of her through some rather convoluted means so-

Savvy: So like a vampire or-

Malo: No, I mean identical. You might see a few fiends who look just like your friend pop in and out of here on occasion. 

Savvy: Ahh... 

Malo: Gave me every reason to change things up a little. Still kept some elements I'm fond of but needed to really distinguish myself. Became close friends with Cabby's familiar, took up some duties to help her after I accidentally created this network, got a proxy as a attempt to get to know myself better. She's.. a bit more eccentric that I expected. 

She gestured for you to turn around.

Savvy: Something up? 

Malo: Tail, have to make sure that's synched up. 

You turned around exposing your full shrimpy nature. 

Malo: Ah..  you're a form of shellfish? 

Savvy: Yeah, I guess? Not sure what the benefits are but-

Malo: We'll find out soon, don't worry. Once your link is restored we'll have access to your schematics, quite handy when going to a medical professional. 

Savvy: You know, you're pretty good at this. 

Malo: Me? Well.. I'm alright. 

A tint of golden plush on their pale cheeks.

Savvy: Nobody's even explained this much to me so... 

Malo: Mm.. That's fair. Still have a bit to go, might want to get seated somewhere. I'll have my proxy notify Mr. Dive where we're at. 

Savvy: Sounds good. 

She made a little gesture to follow her, heading straight down the halls.

Her fluffy tail stood like a happy cat, catching your eye admittedly. 

Malo: Do you want some hot chocolate while you're here? Cookies? Turnip always makes sure to stock up... 

Savvy: Uh... sure? I thought this place was like mental or something though-

Malo: Don't think about it too hard, might accidentally break the connection. 

Savvy: Yeah? 

Malo: Existentialism, like seeing the pencil touch your lines. 

Savvy: Uh.. 

Malo: You'll understand in time. 

She held open the door to a dimly lit lounge. 

Malo: For now we may as well get comfortable. This process is tedious. 

Savvy: Yeah, alright.