FujiwaraPhoenix

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

Anything further to be gained from talking to Lazirha was immediately put to the side as Misaki watched Nobunaga and Novak fell the crazed beast, and though she instinctively winced as it unceremoniously fell to the earth, the victory that the two of her companions had brought forth was ample enough opportunity to give them some clout to those who had watched. Of course, the subsequent flight of the young girl who had guided them here meant that pulling any further information would have to wait, had the apparent leader of the hunters not introduced himself to the three of them. The foxgirl nodded her head as she watched the former run off, a half-smile on her face as she turned towards Akando. Of course, simple inference allowed her enough room to assume that Enli was the 'Kadisht' that Lazirha had mentioned, and though it was likely that Nobunaga was much more apt at any manner of diplomacy than either of them were, there wasn't any reason for all three of them to not go.

"I... Well, that's a bit blunt, I'd think," she said in response to Novak before scratching the back of her head. "Of course, I see no reason why we shouldn't go meet with them, so..."

Maybe it was a good thing that she looked as young as Lazirha; the possibility that the residents of the village could jump to conclusions about the three of them and their relationship dynamic could easily work in their favor. Of course, it was mostly up to Nobunaga to take the reins, but given who she was, that part wouldn't be too difficult to sort out.

@VitaVitaAR@Crimson Paladin@Rune_Alchemist

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

"To the north, a canyon... To the south, a mountain... Okay, then I suppose that there are some natural barriers in place that might help us out if we set up base here..." the foxgirl mumbled to herself quietly as she listened to Lazirha's half-explanation before shrugging and returning the comments with a weak smile. Talking her way out of this by means of half-truths seemed to be getting less possible as things continued on, which only served to feed the small seed of worry that had nestled itself in the back of Misaki's mind. But given how the rest of the people she was traveling with were, it did honestly seem like concealing information would be the only viable way of sidestepping any of the big issues at hand.

More interesting than the possibility of getting outed, though, was the idea that the 'Kyrnith' was simply rampaging about. Lazirha's own comment about the creature with respect to her tail (however poorly concealed that was) also made it clear that the two shared some sort of connection. Prying into it and stopping the sporadic attacks upon the village obviously seemed like enough of a basic plan of action to be debated upon later, but that could likely be handled after they weren't being stared at by the residents of the village.

Or, well, handling the attack of a rampaging beast, but that was something else entirely.

As much as she wanted to help in the battle in front of her, Misaki herself was less than incapable of actually accomplishing anything—or maybe it was the fear of messing something up and making the situation worse than it already seemed that caused her to simply remain a bystander. In the end, being protected in a situation like this gave her a bit more time to think, at least, but the way that the beast seemed to be fighting back made it seem like that much would take a bit of work.

Seeing Novak jump into the fray only seemed to rub salt in the wound, though; if she was going to help out at all here, there had to be something she could do that didn't necessarily involve throwing herself into the fray... Or, at the very least, being able to afford help without necessarily being relegated to the role of 'useless baggage (carrier)'.

"Hm... Well, in that case," she began, lowering her voice so that only Lazirha could hear, "once this has all blown over, I'd like to hear a bit more about the situation. Killing a rampaging beast without knowing the cause might only delay the arrival of a new problem, so if we could look into things, maybe..."

Trailing off as she spoke, Misaki made sure to let the young woman's mind fill in the blanks for what they might accomplish. Of course, she'd have to get the other two on board for an investigation, but as far as she knew, that didn't seem wholly impossible...

@Rune_Alchemist@VitaVitaAR@Crimson Paladin

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

Lazirha's apparent lack of the concept of 'personal space' was a bit concerning to Misaki, who subtly slid back ever so slightly as the girl moved closer to her. As far as she could tell, Nobunaga had the situation under control—all the better, really, given how she was almost wholly incompetent as a combatant herself. She might have been able to mimic the motions of people in videos she had seen while wandering the internet, yes, but with lives at risk, it was far more logical to stand back and watch.

Of course, the young woman's comments about her only seemed to highlight her own inability to do... Well, much of anything. Putting the matter off for later, at the very least, would give her some more time to think of a proper set of excuses to feed Lazirha for as to why she was traveling with the combat competency of a child.

Not like she needed to with Novak's own quips, though. In a way, that honesty was fine—she didn't exactly have any face to lose—but it was still a little embarrassing to have it said out loud like that.

"I... Well, I can't deny that, but I'd rather you not generalize me as someone only good for having fur," Misaki added, flicking her tail away from Lazirha as she glanced at the beast Nobunaga was taking on again. "But... Usually docile, you say? Is there any reason as to why they've decided to lash out, then...?"

It was a long shot to see if Lazirha had any information about why they were agitated, but maybe if they found out the source of the problem, they could try to resolve it.

Maybe.

@Rune_Alchemist@VitaVitaAR@Crimson Paladin

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

Being used to the social structure of the modern-day globalized world did not make things any better for Misaki as she followed Lazirha into the village; the odd stares from those who lived here made it obvious that they were foreigners, and some part of that irony was not lost upon her given how Japan usually was. Of course, being aware of that which was 'foreign' was but human nature, and so she couldn't necessarily fault them for much of anything. Rather, given the current situation (and how they didn't seem to be going after them in any meaningful way), it seemed best to let sleeping dogs lie.

At least, for the moment.

"Your house? Well, if it wouldn't be any—" she began to say, only for the arrival of a massive beast to stop her mid-sentence. Of course, it wasn't like she could do much of anything about it; the arm that fell from its maw only solidified that idea within her mind. Going after it for the moment would be tantamount to suicide, and though the various spoils of previous hunts adorned the village, the exasperation from one of the apparent hunter at seeing one sent mixed signals. Regardless of that, though, it wasn't as if there was much she could do regardless.

"Sorry, but I've never held a weapon in my life," she said, taking a step back as she shook her head. Seeing Nobunaga move so confidently forward to take on the beast, though, gave her a bit of reprieve in that regard. Escaping death thrice over in a single day was already insanity enough, given how she had already crossed that boundary once already...

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist@Crimson Paladin

Fate/Eternum — Reboot

Oh, I forgot to mention when I posted last night: the Waver set will be updated when we have an update from Artoria (just so things flow a bit more easily). Everything else should be more open after that follow-up post, too, so please wait warmly until things are done preparing.

Fate/Eternum — Reboot

Uehara Mitsuki

"No phone number, huh? That's a bit unusual, but..."

The young man trailed off as he took in the blonde girl's words, considering the best way to find someone who might teach a class here. Of course, given the aforementioned Mystic Code at her side, it didn't take much for Mitsuki to presume that the target of their pursuits was one more inclined towards teaching magecraft. The way she spoke of the Clock Tower's Lords in so casual a manner only gave further credence to his assumptions of her status being higher than he had expected, but that didn't exactly change the current situation in any meaningful way.

His Servant's words (and reaction to the blonde girl's teasing) were not left unnoticed, though, and a slight frown and furrowed brow crossed the young man's face as he gauged the Archer's reaction. It wasn't anything to call out, per se—and if she didn't want to finish her earlier thought, then so be it—but it seemed that their thoughts were as one with regards to finding the girl's relative.

"Well, I guess we should just head to the center of the city, then," Mitsuki stated simply, shrugging his shoulders. "It's probably the best place to start, given how many colleges and universities have set up shop there."

Even so, there was a sinking feeling in the young man's stomach that this matter wouldn't be so simply resolved by finding that girl's 'elder brother'...

@KoL@VitaVitaAR

Alter Ego — Meltryllis

The sight of the Shadow Servants recovering so easily from her own strikes was nothing too jarring for the Alter Ego, given that she had experience dealing with a few who had much of the same constitution before. It was almost comedic, how much damage they could take from a Servant before falling apart at the seams.

Not like it really mattered at the end of the day, though; in the end, what had piqued her interest was the word 'sister'. There were only a few people that matched such a description (if they could even be called people), but as far as she could tell, two of them were far too distinct and naturally destructive to even consider as being the ones in question. It would, however, explain BB's directive to send them here in the first place.

"Hmph. Is that all?" she asked, tapping her foot for a moment as she glared at the Servant in front of her, the slightest of smiles appearing across her face. "I suppose insects like you only exist to be a nuisance. No matter; swarm all you wish, but the result will not change."

With that, Meltryllis leaped forward, planting her knee into one unfortunate soul's face before he promptly melted into nothing more than a puddle on the ground. A simple sweep of her leg took out two more, sending them crashing with force into the nearby wall. The bullets and blades, she simply danced around, their own speed as wielded by a human nothing more than a feeble attempt at resistance.

The sadistic grin that had begun to spread in turn as she cut through the opposition as if toying with them said more than any words could.

With that said, though, the ghosts that had risen from the opposing Servant's shadow seemed to be doing nothing except posture aggressively and move forward, which made them far less worrisome to the Alter Ego at the moment. The fact that they were ghosts and not giving her much in the way of amusement didn't exactly give her inclination to strike out at them. The same could not be said of the shadow Servants, however, as they once again attempted to charge at her despite their grotesque deformation from her earlier strikes. Given that she did not wish for their presence to continue to attack her eyes as they did now, Meltryllis did what she assumed would be the best usage of their own ill-gotten existences: crush them, completely and utterly, and turn them into 'experience' for herself.

Of course, that could come back to bite her later, but it wasn't like she was so foolish to strike out at stationary targets when she had others aiming to strike out at her in the first place. Of course, their growing number beyond the few that had already spawned were slowly causing them to become a bit more worrisome in the back of her mind...

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist@Pyromania99

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

The lack of any incidents en route to Lazirha's hometown came as a pleasant surprise to Misaki, who would have much appreciated a bit more time to examine the entire situation regardless. To the young girl's questions, though, the foxgirl could only find it within herself to respond with a slight half-grin. Given what she could see regarding the current state of the world, such curiosity was nothing if not admirable, but describing modern Japan and everything it (and the world at large) had to offer might sound too outlandish compared to what little she could make of the settlement in the distance. Even so, given that she planned to tell Nobunaga everything once they had actually reached the village (or, to be accurate, that she expected to have to tell everything), it seemed more useful to find more time to figure out how to describe everything in the simplest of terms.

"I'll tell you more once we sit down. There's a lot more to explain than you'd expect, but I'm not sure if you'd believe half of it," she said, shrugging her shoulders. If anything, though, starting in a location like this with at least some semblance of livelihood already meant that they wouldn't be floundering about aimlessly in pursuit of the basic necessities of life. So long as they could make themselves useful here, then it was possible to establish this location as a temporary base, if only for a short while...

Novak's question came before Misaki's own, but if anything, it was aimed right where she had planned to target anyhow, and so the young woman simply continued on quietly as she waited for Lazirha's response in turn. Asking about any problems that the village had would have to wait until they got to look around the place, but with the sudden influx of knowledge planted in her brain, development wasn't entirely out of the question so long as the villagers wanted it.

@Crimson Paladin@Rune_Alchemist@VitaVitaAR

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

With a pensive gaze, Misaki quietly considered the girl's words as she seemed to circle about. That childlike curiosity, if anything, was a bit refreshing after a few brushes past death, and if she was giving out all this information freely, then they would likely be all the better for it.

Of course, that natural curiosity had already given them enough to work with—a nearby village, travelers, and other people like herself further to the north—which already provided a starting point. Lazirha, as she had introduced herself, was already curious enough about them, after all; pulling out more information was probably the only thing they could do at the moment, anyhow.

"Lazirha... Was it?" the foxgirl asked, nodding her head before smiling. "You can call me... Right, I suppose family names might be a bit confusing for now, so Misaki it is, then. It's a pleasure to meet you. For now, though, uh... I'd be happy to answer your questions, but at the very least, can we move somewhere a bit warmer? The chill in the air is a bit..."

Of course, shelter took a bit more priority than information, but there was nothing saying they couldn't get both at once...

@VitaVitaAR@Crimson Paladin@Rune_Alchemist

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

As the group proceeded along their escape route, Misaki slowly found the strength to not need to rely upon Nobunaga for further support. Given that the worst of things (for her ears, at least) had come and gone, the foxgirl, having regained her full retinue of senses, began to observe the land more closely. Though the colossus at their backs was still a bit of a pressing concern, the three of them were still essentially foreigners to this land, which made at least trying to orient themselves a more pressing concern.

Of course, the briny smell of the coast gave at least a little away in terms of what sort of location they were in now. If anything, though, proximity to the ocean would prove valuable regardless of what they planned to do.

"Hm... I suppose this is our cue to..." she trailed off as the sound of something nearby immediately caught her interest. Of course, she herself was not aware that her ears had twitched the second they had caught wind of whatever that was, but it was an obvious enough tell to the source if they had deigned to look.

After a moment, Misaki turned towards the sound and, after motioning to the others to follow, walked forward to speak with the young girl. Nobunaga taking the lead in doing so was probably for the best, though, but given what she could see so far...

"I'd also ask if there's anywhere nearby where we can warm ourselves up a little. This place is a bit..." she trailed off, tail flicking back and forth as her gaze panned towards the blanket of white that seemed to cover everything in sight.

@VitaVitaAR@Crimson Paladin@Rune_Alchemist

Fate/Eternum — Reboot

Sorry for the delay; things are fine now. Ended up distracted by a myriad other things. Post up, all good. I think.