~Cynthia~

@Crusader Lord@VitaVitaAR@PKMNB0Y

---

The distraction wouldn't have worked as well as she would have liked on Phi and Rho. The mechanical mouse was an oddity to be certain, and did distract them for a moment - however, it was difficult to trick robots specifically built for scanning analyzing, and information gathering. The flat, oval machines beeped in communication with each other, both quickly deciding this was an act of their quarry to produce some sort of distraction to throw them off. As the smoke began to fill the doorway, Phi zipped upwards, returning to Cynthia.

"Front door?" It didn't take the small robot long to reach the Automata, though it was definitely long enough for the thief to bolt from the premises. "Roger roger!~ Come on Phi!" Her body was enveloped in magic once again, becoming incredibly light as she lifted off the ground, bolting into the sky and continuing to pursue the thief, Rho joining them along the way after continuing to track their target - who was going right towards a group of people.

A series of frantic beeps from Rho caught the Automata's attention.

"E-eh? Princess? Pfft, what would a princess be doing out here. Besides, she looks nothing like a princess." Now that they looked though, they did look familiar, but she couldn't place it. She couldn't really be the princess, could she? No, that was just silly. Why would a princess be here, of all places? It seemed she got her answer soon enough, however.

One of the people in the group confronted the alv, doing something she had never quite seen before. A number of knives had been thrown, only to be halted in their flight paths. High level magic of some sort? He was certainly a skilled mage then. They didn't appear to be allies of the theif's though...so did that make them her allies instead? She began to slow her speed at Phi's urging, stopping her flight entirely before landing on the ground at a running pace, quickly coming to the group as the thief claimed she was being pursued by a crazy Automata.

R-rude!

"H-hey, I'm not crazy." She pouted, poking her lip out a bit as Rho chimed in with a few beeps as he floated next to her head. "I'm just over-exuberant and you're the bad-" Of course, whatever she was going to as the princess introduced herself, finally registering what she said.

"A-ah! You are the princess!" Cynthia pointed at the girl in a shocked manner. Phi beeped a few low sounds. "N-no Phi, I wouldn't believe anyone who just walked up and told me they were a princess! A-anyways!" She turned back to Vashti. "Hey hey, thief just stop running alright?"

---

Vashti had almost been about to respond to the curt white haired butler, but the Automata's response and pout to being called "crazy" left the half-Alv turning around to face her.

"You literally said you were going to explode me while chasing after me, remember? That is not exactly an 'un-crazy' thing to say to someone over a matter of petty theft. And i didn't know if you were serious about that or not, really," the half-Alv said to her now former pursuer, crossing her arms with the broken mirror in one hand, [color=gold]"Besides, i left the stuff i grabbed from that perverted shopkeeper back in that other shop i just came out of. In return, that gave me a couple broken things they had in the back to bribe me to leave the premises."[/gold]

Letting out a sigh to herself, Vashti wondered how the situation had gone so wrong. Or at least, how she had run into a random Automata who'd threaten to explode her and then got into this mess with a princess whom she thought was just some noble's kid running about. That and the knives. Yes, many knives looming in front of her like the dangerous pointy objects that they were. To be fair, she was not used to every way in which Felbar worked in matters like this, nor had she expected to see a princess.

"Still, running into an actual princess like this is new for me," Vashti said, after turning around back towards the butler and the small teenage princess who had demanded Vashti not be allowed to run, her trademark grin returning just as fast as it had formerly disappeared, even as she pondered the unique nature of the situation, [color=gold]"And hey, your butler has some cool-looking time-freezing magic! Ooh! I wonder if that could be applied somehow to an Altered Machine....mmm, maybe something that fires homing projectiles, which are frozen in time for a moment before tracking a target? Oh! That could work well for a sniper's enchanted bullet, actually! So cool..."

For a moment after addressing the princess, the half-Alv seemed to fall back into her more eccentric side, the tinkerer from Grandia who loved to ponder on these thing and tinker with machines. It also seemed to appeal to her other side, though, that of the woman from some nation called "Russia" who had worked on robotics and similar things throughout her life. To even accentuate her curiosity, she reached out and touched one of the knives floating in the air, prodding it and looking at it like a curious specimen had come before her eyes.

"To be honest, though, that perverted shopkeeper owed me for what he tried to do," the half-Alv continued after a few moments of silence, looking back up at the princess and butler as she stood back up from inspecting the knife, "Eh, but at least you two didn't shoot first and ask questions later. Felbar must be nicer here, since Granadian police tend to shoot if you run too much."

@Rune_Alchemist@VitaVitaAR@PKMNB0Y@Polaris North

He set her down at the base of the tree and shrugged.

"It's hardly an army. I was joining warbands and hunting parties at 9. Now might be a good time to figure something out. Use your imagination. Now hold still and be quite if you aren't going to be useful."

With any luck some of them would have stayed at the camp. Grimlit took off back the way they had come at a job until he found a suitably large tree. Digging his claws into the bark Grimlit climbed up into the lower branches of the tree. He slowed his breathing and reached out with his senses while slowly drawing one of his pistols. They would be looking for him, the threat, and not the useless girl.

Soon enough he heard and then saw a half dozen horses. the paranoid part of his mind decided that there were a scouting group. Maybe they assumed that he was just a one man rescue mission but in reality there really was no reward in him rescuing the girl. What paid his bills was bounty hunting. An ambush, expecially when they were making a clean getaway might not be expected.

So, Grimlit waited until the lead rider was just past him and opened fire. By the time his pistol was empty the rear four riders were down. He leapt from his perch and tackled the second rider from his horse, raking a handful of claws across his throat even as he crushed the man against the ground.

Instead of staying to fight the lead rider had wheeled his horse around by now the fled back the way he came. Grimlit stood and shook the dripping gore from his claws. Protection work was a much easier paycheck. He made his way back to where he had left the girl.



Alto sat on the ground of the empty building, wrapping together a bundle of explosives with it's time before dropping it into a dirty canvas satchel with the others.Of course it didn't exactly look like Alto Pederson. THe man in the warehouse was well dressed with light blond hair and a matching beard.

A part of his mind wondered at the insane situation he had found himself in. A sabateur on the eve of international war. Potentially the spearhead of an invasion. Alto paused in his work and pushed these thoughts out of his mind. This was instead to perfect, most right situation for him. No more blowing up bridges that would easilly be rebuit or trapping abandoned equipment. This one was going to be the big one.

Another charge was dropped into the satchel that was steadilly growing heavier.

There. There was the man she was looking for. The saboteur who was her target. He was packing some form of explosive away, which meant that Chisame had no time to lose. Quickly putting her spyglass away, the diminutive assassin took a step back and swiftly looked over her options. The doors and windows were too obvious, and someone skilled with sabotage would almost definitely have trapped them... but the old building had one avenue of entry that was difficult to address.

The chimney.

Taking a deep breath, the black-haired girl sprang into the air. Her hands moved swiftly, blurring as she performed the required motions. As far as Chisame knew, the origin of this method of casting the spell had been found in kuji-kiri, and she had taken to it quite quickly. With a barely-audible sound that sounded just like a slight gust of wind, a grey, shimmering platform appeared beneath her feet at the apex of her jump, for just long enough for her to jump once more.

After a second casting of the spell, the girl alighted on the roof without a sound. Perfect.

After only a moments pause, she made a beeline for the chimney and sprang into it, her tiny frame easily slipping down the narrow path of entry. She braced one foot against the wall and her back against its opposite, allowing her to slow her descent and land easily. It was a narrow, dark space, but it was a difficult one to address when it came to setting traps.

She had entered and empty living area. There was nothing left here, but certainly that didn't mean there was nothing hidden.

Chisame unsheathed her katana. She had to be ready...!

@TheFake

---

Orion took back the necklace and placed it in its box once she has shown more interest with the notebook, though she hadn't said anything yet. The Beastkin crossed his arms and waited for her to say something, but he kept the smile on his face. He was a patient man. He's waiting an hour and a half for someone to decide once before, a few minutes isn't really a long time for him. She looked back to him and then asked for a demonstration.

A brighter smile spread across his lips. There was absolutely no reason for him to deny her a demonstration. He had nothing to hide as he had been telling the truth. People may doubt that, but he was an honest merchant. He prepared to tell her the instructions for activating the magic of the notebook when he caught the scent of smoke and the sound of crashing. He turned his head towards the incoming woman yelling for them to get out of the way.

However, the princesses's butler, Mister Silverwood he would soon learn, had taken action. He seized the woman quickly by using some form of time-freezing magic. Orion wasn't very well-versed in terms of a person's magical abilities. He wanted to step in and help the Alv, if anything because she was half of his kind. Though how could he have possibly helped at a time like this? Pay for whatever she had stolen? He was pretty sure that his family would be thoroughly displeased with that kind of act and increase the amount of money they would get from him. As much as he wanted to help, he could not.

Another sound came to his attention coming in form of what seems to be robotic beeps. It was faint, though. Orion turned his head upwards just in time to see the automata land and then began running towards them before quickly pouting when the half-Alv mentioned something about her being 'crazy'. She then looked at the princess, surprised, blurting out that she was actually the princess, muttered something beneath her breath before turning back to the thief. Orion leaned back on his carriage, awaiting for what would happen.

Surprisingly, the thief was taking this... very easily. At this point, you would expect them to be on their knees while begging for mercy or maybe struggling to get free. She, well, she was doing neither of those things. In fact, she was more impressed with the magic the butler was using to halt the knives heading directly at her. However, in the end, she did reason out and then mentioned the Grandian police. Oh, so she was from Grandia? Or was she a traveler? Nevertheless, his curiosity was piqued. What was she doing here then?

"If I may say something, princess, it would seem that she isn't the only one in the wrong. Though her actions are still wrong, unwanted sexual advances deserves a punishment of its own yes? Or is that not how things are here?" Perhaps adding his two cents wouldn't do much or it might even steer it into even more mess, but he had said it before leaning back once more. There was really little he could do to change their minds if they choose to imprison the girl or give her a minor punishment.

The butler nodded at his mistress' words and stared at the two miscreants, a cold pair of eyes glancing between the two of them as he collected the knife that had been used as a momentary platform just moments prior. With that blade in hand, the two bickering girls seemed to not pay him any mind. That half-hearted attention to detail irritated him to some extent, though not as much as the half-alv girl deciding that poking at his knives was a more interesting subject than the possibility that they might injure her.

The automata's comments made clear that the one blocked off by his blades had been lying through her teeth, which only served to further his distrust of the girl. Lying in and of itself wasn't an issue, but the consequences that could have come about as a result if there wasn't anyone else to defuse the situation might have led to...

Well, paying reparations, yes, but more than that, there was the chance that someone else could get injured and that the blame might fall on them. That would most certainly not do. But even so, considering that everyone had stopped running around like headless chickens, the butler had enough leeway to walk forward, knife still in hand as he approached the two young women.

"A thief is a thief. Sexual harassment is something that I will prosecute on my own time, if the princess so wills it, but until then I am acting as she commands. The automata, I presume, is free to go, though I request you refrain from such vague and dangerous threats in the future; the police force might implicate you for destruction of property if those wanton threats become reality," he stated, turning to the half-alv as he continued. "Returning stolen items does not change the fact that you have stolen. To maintain public order, I suggest you not act as such in the future. As per my master's order, though, I must request that you stay put unless she decides otherwise."

With a slight twitch of his right pointer finger, the knife that the girl was examining shot forward a quarter of an inch before stopping again. The other knives, steady as they were, did not move.

"Otherwise, I cannot guarantee you will remain unscathed."

@VitaVitaAR@Polaris North@Rune_Alchemist@Crusader Lord

The alv-girl bit her tongue, wanting to point out the key difference between teaching a nine year old to fight and teaching them dangerous battle magic vis-a-vis putting a stop to them if they used that knowledge, but now really wasn't the time to do so. Nope, she was just going to sit tight, and think of all the reports that were no longer due and all the dull meetings that she'd escaped having to take part in by this unexpected change of location and body--much better than paying any heed to what the sounds she could be hearing through the underbrush.

Though if anyone did come, maybe she could put the few spells she knew to use just to buy time to run a bit. Magical soap in the eyes might help, right?

@TheFake

~Cynthia~

@PKMNB0Y@Polaris North@VitaVitaAR

---

"But it wasn't vague..." Cynthia replied with a quiet pout. "...and I don't exactly have any other methods of stopping people." Well, she supposed she could somehow create a localized field of condensed mana around a person. In effect, make a giant dome-shield around people but make it smaller and meant only to stop someone from advancing forward. Actually, that was a great idea! She'd try it later. "But hey hey, you've given me a great idea to use next time! Thanks!"

Now that the issue had been resolved though, what was she supposed to do?

"Uhm, uhm! I'm Cynthia by the way. At least, that's what the guys who made me called me instead of some silly serial number like Rho and Phi here." She gave the group a friendly smile, not seeming to fully grasp the mood of the situation here. The two robots beeped in recognition, but for the most part remained silent as they hovered just behind Cynthia.

Grimlit wasn't long in returning. He wasted no time in scooping the girl up and taking off at a run. "We're going to have to run now. They won't fall for that twice."

Well, they might, one should never underestimate idiocy. But it was much more likely they would stay as a single group, slowing them and giving him a perfect chance to escape. The lizardman drew his unfired pistol with his still somewhat gore spattered hand.

"You must be an orphan. I can't expect any common bandits to be willing to take on a pair of Alv parents for just a girl unless there was a whole lot in it for them. What's your name anyway?"



Alto stood up, dropping the last charge into his bag. The first step was complete. Next came the hard part and finally the loud part. A segment of his mind, the portion that he considered insane with its conflicting memories shouted about the risk and likelihood of people getting hurt. he reminded himself that that was the entire point and they would shortly be at war.

One by one he moved around the perimeter of the room, removing the traps set on the ground floor. Once fighting broke out defenders might seek to fire from the upper levels. With that deed done he pushed open a side door to peek outside.

A grin formed on his dirt covered face as Dustin and his men trudged back into the camp after finishing their trench. He looked to the Greatarmor unit with crates of food strapped to its legs and laughed as he turned to his men. "Looks like we finished just in time to unload our prize boys!" the men all chuckled and grinned in excitement for the rewards for their hard work. Others from around the camp cheered and hooted in joy as they quickly went to unload the food from the Greatarmors legs. Dustin gestured to his men with a heroic pose as he pointed to the Greatarmor. "Lets move men, before they take all of the good stuff! Charge!" Dustins men let out a roar of agreement as they all charged towards the Greatarmors legs with watering mouths and large grins. Most of the crates had been taken by a few other groups, but Dustin and his men were able to secure a rather large looking crate for themselves.

Dustin stood atop the crate and looked up to the Greatarmor unit before grinning and giving a two finger salute. "Thank you for the fine delivery sir, we'll make sure to give a toast in your name!" he yelled up to the pilot before looking back to eager looking camp of men. "Isn't that right boys!? Lets hear it for the corporal!" the camp shook as the men roared in agreement and thanks to the Greatarmors pilot. Dustin chuckled and spread out his arms. "Lets celebrate men! For the glory and pride of our Empire!" the camp was now full of laughter and cheers as the men began to prepare for a very much needed break.

@HumanMusic

Though there was a good chance that she was orphaned--not that Sif could remember seeing anything that would conclusively point to such a thing--she didn't feel the need to correct her rescuer on it. For some reason, the lizardman was firmly convinced that being an Alv meant being a magical powerhouse of some description. Admittedly, if you took a very broad view of herself rather than her parents, that was potentially true... except her father was a chemist and her mother a housewife. Neither profession called for being the living equivalent to an artillery barrage.

"My name is Yamada Ji-" she said, catching herself a little too late after giving the long-ingrained response, "I mean Sif. My name is Sif."
@TheFake

Seeing as how his mistress looked as if she was at a loss about what to do, the butler took the initiative to wave one of the nearby patrolling guards over. When he came close enough to speak with, the Butler (quite succinctly) made clear the situation at hand. Conveniently leaving out the fact that the half-alv girl was from Grandia, Byron simply stated the chain of events as they occurred; no more, no less. The guard, of course, seemed to get the gist of the issue and moved to attempt to arrest her in turn.

With that issue having apparently been handled, Byron promptly collected the knives that were still floating in the air before returning to his mistress' side. There was the underlying feeling that he was 'missing' something, but it wasn't worrisome enough for him to warrant any sort of activity that might cause a ruckus.

"Princess, I apologize for the delay. If your business here is finished, I suggest we return for you to eat something," he commented, showing no reaction towards the automata's words. It wasn't as if he didn't want to respond in turn to the gesture, but a job was a job, and acting unprofessional right now was not something he'd much prefer to do.

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist@Crusader Lord@Polaris North

@VitaVitaAR@TheFake
A princess? In this town? Dora accidentally swallowed her bread upon hearing about a princess from the crowd chatter. A member of Royalty outside the Capital is something that she doesn't hear very often. Leaving her stall for a while, Dora squeezed herself into the crowd, trying to find a suitable vantage point to get a glimpse of the Princess. Despite her efforts of tiptoeing, her short height made it difficult to see anything that was in front of her.

She turned back, feeling frustrated and glum. Just when she was about to go back tending on her weaponry business, the corner of her eye caught notice of the nearby abandoned building. There wasn't anybody living in that building for years, and borrowing that place for some sightseeing on the Royalty wouldn't hurt anybody. She thought. Dora took a detour around the streets, creaking open the main door of the 'empty' building. Hopefully the staircase inside would be usable at least.

A person? As if seeing traces of light in a supposedly abandoned building wasn't surprising enough, Dora had almost let out a gasp when she saw a shadow casted out by Alto from the evening sun.