They go on board. Bettrys very diligently and seriously goes over maritime safety rules and net operation with Nix. The ship sets out, deck lights on. It's cold, but she doesn't seem very bothered in that short-sleeve collared shirt. Once they're sailing out to sea, silence falls for a time.

Would it be weird to talk about the RP server? Would Nix want her to? Engaging with it might lead to repeat business, after all. It's not real and it feels a little - cringey, to be honest. But she's curious, though. The conversations in the server have a sense of weight and reality to them, and that's neat. Will it be the same in real life?

"Do you know where one would get, uh, morning dew grass? I couldn't actually find any to buy under that name."

"Spring Mountain Grass, you mean? It mostly grows in the Chinese mountains. The sects there cultivate it and trade it for other ingredients. You should ask Butterfly Dancer to send you some, she has extra and it's mostly useless to her, she's past the need for such low-level stuff."

"A-huh. Makes sense."

And then they have work to do getting the nets ready and hauling things up and down, and there's not much time for talking.

They catch some fish. Lots of fish, hundreds, even if the nets could easily hold thousands. Hardly any of them are black dragonfish. Bettrys and Nix both have their hands full digging through the piles of fish- pushing any that aren't the one she wants into a hole that leads to a holding tank.

Eventually, they catch two female black dragonfish in the same net, carefully separated out from the rest of the catch and put in a plastic cooler.

"Do you want to keep trawling for more?"

"No, these should be sufficient. I don't want to spend more time out here than necessary."

"-If you say so. We'll just get the nets in and then head back to shore, then."

She uses her walkie-talkie to talk to the skipper and finishes clearing the nets.

Well then, while the skipper's distracted - 

Black Cross pulls an aquarium out of her purse, and fills it with dragonfish and seawater. Then she pulls out a sword, spucks the aquarium down on top of it, taps a star at the base of the sword, and lets go. 

The sword shoots off into the night at considerable velocity.

What.

She stares momentarily, then goes back to tidying the nets. Maybe shaking slightly.

Nix doesn't seem to have noticed, or maybe she's just being polite. She occupies herself with her work and stays quiet all the way back.

They end up standing quietly with no more work on the way back.

No guts no glory.

"...So, it's all real? Really real, not some kind of elaborate RP? I didn't just hallucinate a bag of holding and a flying sword?"

Nix wordlessly extends her purse so Trys can see inside it. 

Her wallet is about the size of a thumbnail. There's a collection of paper seals next to it, equally tiny, along with a centimetre-long bottle of black nail polish, and a similarly sized nail file and compact makeup kit. There's also a compressed hand mirror, an itty-bitty smartphone, and a scattering of tiny red beads.

"I would humbly ask for your wisdom, far greater than mine in the hidden powers. I admit... I don't actually know anything. Nothing besides what I've read in that chatroom."

" - fuck, I thought you were at least Beyond Mortal, what was Senior Starlight thinking -" 

She rubs her forehead. "Later. We can get breakfast somewhere private." 

"I know I'm weird- Fischers are weird as hell and there's only, what, a couple hundred of us? Never really - thought anything more of it... Yeah, breakfast."

"Monster bloodline. Later." She pulls her phone out of her purse and starts tapping at it.

Abyssal Bride is mortal, saw me send Winter's sword home. Advise?

Standard protocol.

Tell her about me!

Read her in and let her make her own decision. Remember my lots.

Yes, Silver Starlight.

"Careful with that, no way you're getting it back if it goes over," she says. Then sighs and looks out over the dark sea.

Nix nods and puts her phone back in her purse. 

"Senior Starlight says I can tell you more. Glad I can do it without risking the wrath of the group."

"So it's a secret society, masquerade type thing?"

"Sometimes there are incidents but it's kept quiet usually."

"Mm."

She's silent until they're pulling in under the marina's lights. It's still the dead of night - 1:35 AM. She helps tie the ship down. The skipper gives Nix about half her cash back. Bettrys carries the cooler from earlier off the boat, to disguise the fact that the fish are already gone.

"There's a 24 hour diner down the street. I'm extremely curious but maybe it would be better for us both to sleep first?"

She fishes a red pill out of her purse. "Take thi- Wait, you're not a cultivator. Fuck. Okay, I'll get a hotel room and we'll reconvene in the morning. Nine o'clock? And I'll pay for your breakfast."