there's nothing left in the bottle keeping me scored (part LXXII)

(Roleplay entry. Continued from part LXXI.)

The Duchess looked around frantically. "Can STAN scan the house?"

Deebs huffed out a breath. "I'm running out of concentration to channel..."

Emilly blinked largely. "I don't know how effective the backup on the Prometheus is..." She looked over at Deebs, seeing the exhaustion drawing her face. "I bet," she murmured.

Deebs shook her head. "I'm having to go older school, and actually use projectors."

She watched Deebs get out a gun that was far less futuristic. She breathed in and nodded. "So...okay. Break this down. Energy weapons usually work, but not on this one. Came through the rift, which I thought I'd stabilized so Zack could cast his scrying whatever..." She sighed. "Zack threw up a dome around it, and it held until it broke out...right?"

Deebs thought. "Does it keep part of itself out of phase, so it can pop up at will?"

"Well, that's an unnerving thought," Emilly muttered.

Justine lifted her comm unit. "STAN, please scan Steamopolis for presence of unknown lifeforms?"

/me looked at the floor of the arcane library in confusion. "There's nothing but dirt under this floor..."

Deebs nodded.

"So....if I'm right, and...I really, REALLY hope I'm not right..." Emilly worried at a corner of a nail. "Then things are escalating again."

Deebs arched a golden brow. "As in...?"

Emilly shrugged. "I have no idea."

She looked down at her comm unit. "And I got a comm from Hiro asking if the dark carnival could arrive in the spring? But when I called to ask what he meant, he was asleep again." She rubbed her forehead. "I don't want the carnival back...We barely got rid of it LAST time."

Justine's comm unit pinged, and a mechanical voice said, 'Lifeforms present in Steamopolis: Emilly Shatner-Orr, Deebs String, Justine Amethyst, Rosedrop Rust, Wine-squid, Mrs. Winston, Dead Jenny. No unidentified lifeforms found."

Emilly watched the door to the arcane library open, then Rusty walked away from it, and turned to walk up the stairs.

Justine shrugged. "Well, wherever the tentacle thing is now, it isn't here."

Emilly stepped to the door, looking out. "Okay, that's odd...I thought he was coming down here, but then...he turned and left."

Deebs holstered the gun, rolling her shoulders. "Oh?"

Justine grinned. "Which bit? Rusty not being able to find the arcane library, or that the monster is gone?"

Emilly turned back to face the room. "Mostly just walking back up the stairs." She walked over to Justine, looking at the scan. She pointed out the last name. "Who's Dead Jenny?"

Justine blinked. "Dead...Jenny?"

Emilly nodded. "That tiny note under the rest of the list. Says she's here? Who is--"

They watched as STAN erased that line, letter by letter.

Emilly blinked again. "She disappeared? That's strange, right?"

Deebs shrugged. "Perhaps Jenny is...well...dead." She started breaking down the light bow.

Emilly shook her head violently. "We don't need zombies on top of everything else!"

Deebs made a gesture, and the Mythoclast vanished.

Justine turned to her. "Aie...I don't suppose...could Dead Jenny be...the owner of the arm in the laboratory?"

Emilly's eyes widened. "We DEFINITELY don't need zombies coming back for their body parts."

They both watched as the poet walked past the door again.

"Rusty!" Justine called out. "No--"

Deebs took a long, deep breath, watching.

"Behind you, honey," Justine said. Rusty stood, staring straight forward.

"Justine, is he okay?"

Justine shrugged. "Maybe he's drunk. He's...dressed for a gig..."

They watched him turn and walk away again. Justine made some frustrated sound, chasing after the discombobulated bard. She grabbed his arm and tugged him into the library.

"Okay..." Emilly said. Then jumped when Rusty yelled.

"HA!" he said.

She peered at him as he stumbled into the room, concerned. "You're not, uh...glowing, anywhere, or...anything, right?"

"I am having a walking problem," he said calmly.

Emilly blinked again. "That's not good." She paused, then asked the other question just to be sure. "No new--tentacles? Anywhere?"

"Not as far as I know," he said. Then he grinned at the Martian. "Deebs!" he yelled.

Deebs waved, techno-arcanely.

"Nicetameetcha!" he said.

Emilly looked at Justine. Justine just shrugged.

"I've been trying to help with pest control," Deebs said. "With, it must be said, limited success."

"She's been doing a grand job," Emilly protested. "It's not here!"

Rusty turned to Justine. "You okay, Justine?"

Justine nodded.

Emilly walked back to the where the tentacled thing had been, seeing slight dings in the floor from where the bullets had ricocheted, but no other signs. She frowned. "Or, it...left, or...something."

"So what did you see?" the poet asked.

"There was a new monster," Justine said. "In the tower by the rift?"

"And was there a rift manifestation?" he added. Emilly slowly turned to look at him.

"That's...awfully precise phrasing...for someone not temporally trained..." she murmured.

Justine didn't notice. "Zack contained it in an energy field. But it phased through the floor into the science lab."

Rusty turned a wide, glittering smile at her. "Hi, Em..."

She stared at him. "Hi..."

Justine went on. "And Deebs HAMMERED it with everything she's got!" She made firing gestures at the floor. "It was amazing." She looked back up at Rusty. "And then it phased through the floor of the lab down to here."

"We may need a bigger hammer," Deebs murmured.

Emilly corrected Justine. "And then it phased through THAT floor," she said, pointing at the ceiling, "grabbed me on the way through, and we BOTH ended up down here."

Justine nodded. "And then Deebs shot it some more and it went POOF."

"Yes..." Emilly murmured. She patted herself down, making sure everything that was attached before, is still attached now. She felt...zingy, and said so.

"I 'magine so," Deebs said. "Unexpected apportation is a little 'discombobulata'."

Emilly blinked, but then nodded. "Yes."

Rusty nodded. "Deebs, did anyone see a source for the monster?"

Emilly breathed out, thinking at least that sounded closer to Rusty's norm, until he turned to her, flashing her a wide, edged grin, and she started peering at him again.

"Deebs," Rusty said. "Hope to see you again soon."

"And Zack said it came through the rift," Emily added. She pointed at the ceiling again. "The one up there."

Meanwhile, Deebs nodded at Rusty. "And so, you are belike to. Might even see me on Mont Nuit. It's lovely there." She finished putting away her equipment and made her way to the door of the arcane library. "But, for now, a lovely night!"

"Good night!" Emilly said. She thought, brow furrowing. "So, doors need to be fixed on the science lab, and...there's now an energy dome in the rift room, but...I don't think any other major harm was done?"

She turned to Justine. "Maybe to Justine. How do you feel?"

"I'm all good, thanks. Despite the grabby grabby." She angled a thumb at the stairs up to the next floor. "I'll go fix the doors on the lab." And she walked out of the library.

Leaving Emilly with the poet. The smiling poet. She smiled back, tremulously, and edged towards the door. "Justine," she murmured. "Wait up."

(Continued in part LXXIV.)