(no subject)

[becomeanwarrior]

Sssssso, uh, good news, bad news.

Bad news, didn't find Kiko on the trip with Gina.

Good news, definitely needed the vacation. Feel a LOT better. Better than I have in a while.

Bad news, found a weird obviously-experimented-on-monster in the ocean. Possibly something to look into later. Definitely warp-tainted.

Good news, no one was severely hurt, we all made it back safe and sound.

Badgood news: We know what not to do next time!

Goodbad news: Gina uhhhh. Transformed? And I think she hit her 'Monster Puberty', so to speak.

Comments

[remarkablerain]

I think I'm gonna have to kill you.

[becomeanwarrior]

I'm an accessory to the crime! Blameless in the eyes of the law!

Also if you kill me you WILL inherit the Chief of OOPARTS role, I never found anyone better who I wanted to supersede me.

[remarkablerain]

...

Okay, but you're super sturdy, right? You can take a real beating and all that?

[becomeanwarrior]

I am uncomfortable with the direction this conversation is trending but in the interests of honesty between friends, yes.

[remarkablerain]

Okay. Meet me outside.

You'll survive.

[becomeanwarrior]

...Okay.

This is gonna suck but, as you wish.

[ancient_prophecy]

YOU FORGOT THE PART WHERE YOU AND GIGI HUMILATED ME.

[becomeanwarrior]

Listen, in our defense, "dangling you by a fishing line to try and attract your girlfriend who has turned into a mindless monster" is at minimum plausible enough logic for something my cousin would do, so I figured it would pass muster here.

And it... ttttechnically worked? I think?

[ancient_prophecy]

I am so going to kick your ass.

[becomeanwarrior]

Yeah, yeah, get in line, I think Suguru has dibs.

[danse_etoile]

I'll stomp on the remains.

[becomeanwarrior]

Ahhh, now I see the family resemblance to your brothers and sisters.

Well, I had a good run, at least.

[ancient_prophecy]

If you don't die, I'll make sure you wish you did!

[autumnswarm]

I'm glad you found your vacation relaxing. You and miss Briar are quite a team, and I do hope now the incredibly obvious thing that would happen if she was pushed has happened she can be a more robust member of the field team.

Well, when you're through being thrashed I have updates. In the likely case of your demise, I'll prepare my reports for Miss Samasu, who terrifies me enough that I cannot and will not intervene and will respect her claiming OOPARTS in ritual combat.

[becomeanwarrior]

Speaking professionally I have absolutely no qualms with Gina's conduct beyond the fact that we definitely should have probably had someone at least a little more sober help call the shots. But she seems to be taking the transformation well.

I will keep you updated as of my status. Assuming I survive (and don't perish to the subsequent thrashing by Diana) I would very much like to hear your updates, Sullivan.

[autumnswarm]

It wasn't meant to be an official operation, as far as I can tell, drinking with your best friend and fishing up Kiko, should in fact, have been mostly relaxing. Unfortunate that you encountered something out there.

I am glad that her body was still able to transform. Very heartening to hear actually. It was my first working of that kind, and being the child of who she was, the transformation was going to be inevitable. It's wonderful to hear my reshaping of her form did nothing to stop that. I was mildly concerned I had done a poor job.

If Diana kills you, do I report to her seeing as she claimed the mantle?

[becomeanwarrior]

[ Sullivan does not get a response to this until like several hours later. ]

no, d's got enough on her plate.

still alive, btw

[autumnswarm]

Oh, excellent.

[Private Message, all OOPARTS staff can see it]
Your German girl has come unglued, but she isn't a danger. And gave express permission if she goes further down the rabbithole of Illusion Magic that she can be put stopped and glued back together as best as we can.

I technically signed NDAs about what she's working on and as far as I can tell her projects have no relevance to the cases at hand. And I would like to not have to fend off LeoCorp lawyers to prove that they do in a court of law in a country that's crumbling, so judges could easily be bought off.

I got access to their labs under a vaguely similar NDA and am fascinated... but that's neither here nor there. While going to 'retrieve' only 'three' of the stones that have been making monsters, I encountered a Tengu named Karasumaru and who was crow themed, because fate loves cruel irony. He was attempting to steal all that LDS had. I hated him. I didn't think I could feel hate anymore.

This clouded my judgement and so he and one crony technically escaped my attempt to rot them all into nothing but fine goop. He is still likely dead for fae tax purposes, I believe. Officially, he managed to make it off with most of the stones and I only have three for my studies into them.

They also don't make myself or my homunculi into monsters, further testing is required and I am accepting volunteers, I have e-mailed the staff with waivers and can reward you with a 'pizza party.'

[Further filtered, Onni's Eyes Only]

Unofficially, the tengu only have one stone. We have everything else that LDS gathered. I plan on returning the three that I am on paper 'borrowing' but the rest are yours to decide what to do with after my rounds of testing are done.

[OOPARTS Filter]

[becomeanwarrior]

[ ...my german girl...? ]

Well, 'unglued but not undone' is as best we can hope for given the circumstances. I will let you keep tabs on that, Sullivan, and if a worsening of her condition occurs we can discuss it then.

I'm... fascinated by the idea that these stones didn't transform you. But I'm going to chock it up to good fortune. And one less of those bird-brains, even if it's by technicality, is a victory for us, so good work.

...Three should be enough to do whatever research you need, I assume? In which case I give you the green light to continue whatever work you're doing on them.

Genuinely appreciate the work, Sullivan.

[For Sullivan's Eyes Only]

All remaining crystals, once research is complete, should be sealed in an Anti-Magic Crate according to Handling And Storage procedures, and placed in B3's Hazardous Artifact & Supernatural Materials Deep Storage until we have a better idea of what to do with them. Clearance for that part of the building is currently given only to you, me, and Katie, so it'll be on the recordbooks but should be secure enough, and if someone sieges us and gets to B3, we've both got bigger problems.

Re: [OOPARTS Filter]

[autumnswarm]

I'm terrible with names. Frankenstein? Fran-kin-steen? Franny?

It's VERY fascinating but I think it has also given me a mild existential crisis, because it may mean I have lost all traces of being human. Oh, and the Tengu rapped some of his boss's overarching plans at me. Vanilla Ice seemed to be a big inspiration for him.

Of course. It's been fun to be out and about in the wide world again, making people scream when they meet my eyes or wildly uncomfortable in general.

[Private-er]
Absolutely. Some seem... Hm, I'll have a better assessment in the coming days, I hope. Since it seems this body can be held in reserve until the Illusion Witches truly get more active. So further fieldwork and all but the most important communications will be testing one of my homunculi. I'll have a list of the six other bodies with my other notes sent up so you can pick one out.

[lanceandram]

Hello.

Some discussion might need to be had, once your glorious displays of combat have completed.

[becomeanwarrior]

[ ...And this one is like 30 minutes after the one he sends Sullivan. ]

I'm not sure if I should be relieved or regretful that my destined date has not yet come.

Anyway, against all odds, I'm still alive. So, shoot.

[lanceandram]

Ah, so you have returned. I hope your battles were marvelous.

You mentioned a Warp-tainted creature in the ocean. The entire ocean is starting to stink of that. Chakram and I have begun seeing those creatures on our regular searches.

[becomeanwarrior]

They were... certainly a spectacle. Let's call it that.

Oh, great. Well, that's... a huge problem for us both, then.

I'd say the monster we fought definitely looked intentionally corrupted - like someone exposed it to the Warp while augmenting it, rather than a natural hole in our universe in the bottom of the ocean.

Does that match up with you and Chakram's excursions?

[lanceandram]

Indeed. The problem has gradually been ramping up, enough that we have been having to speak with the others about the problem, since our land is nestled right in the middle of this.

The ocean is vast, however, and our tactical skills are more geared towards...

"Come at us, first." Which, given our numbers... we can't exactly mount a grand crusade.

[becomeanwarrior]

Unfortunately, OOPARTS doesn't exactly have the manpower to do monster hunting expeditions, either, and these things, as I'm sure you both know, are tough. While we took down the one we encountered, the idea there are more is... troubling. They could easily grow into an unchecked problem.

In an ideal scenario, we would bring one back dead but intact enough to try and trace who is doing this, because if the problem's gradually been ramping up then someone is doing this by intent.

[lanceandram]

We can attempt such an endeavor on our next search of the ocean's floor.

Though our MO is generally to decimate all traces of these vile creatures.

[becomeanwarrior]

Don't put yourselves at unnecessary risk to do so. I'm not sure if we can trace it back to whoever's doing this, but it's a problem we need to look into and that's my first impulse.

There has to be some way to read whose magic warped these creatures, or where they're doing it. I'll talk with my in-house sorcerer about it.

[lanceandram]

We already search the ocean in the chance that any of our fellows may still be down there, like Scythe was.

We will inevitably cross blades with whatever lurks below. This is simply an additional thought for us to keep in mind.

[becomeanwarrior]

Right, but if it's the difference of capturing one in a mostly-intact condition to trace versus eliminating one and keeping yourselves safe, I'd rather you prioritize the latter.

If for no other reason than I don't need more reasons for Failnaught to rant my ear off.

But if you do kill one and it's mostly intact, do let me know. Ideally I'll have a solution by then.

[lanceandram]

Failnaught will inevitably be upset. It's a universal constant until we can find a way to help his mental processes.

But yes, we will try to keep it in mind, at least.

[becomeanwarrior]

...I should get back to talking with Labrys about ways to help with that. But I think we've both been preoccupied with, well. Many other things.

Please give her my regards and tell her I haven't forgotten about it. And stay safe, you two.

[lanceandram]

Of course, we appreciate the concern.