FujiwaraPhoenix

Fate/Eternum (Take 3)

Kitchen

Still with a smile on his face, the apparent bomber leaned forward, relishing in the frustration that he could see upon the other Master's face. If the old man didn't want to do more than throw words at him, then all he would have to worry about was getting out of this mess.

Or rather, it would have been, had the third person present—the one who had yet to speak a word this entire time—not slipped his mind. With the sudden gust of wind and sharpened steel barely pressed up against his throat, the blonde man's eyes panned down. The realization of what sort of predicament he was in now showed quite easily upon his face, and though he attempted to refrain from showing his fear, the slight quiver in his lip and beads of sweat starting to form upon his brow gave away his true feelings.

"H-hey, I think you'd better give me some room," he stammered, gripping the countertop tightly. "O-otherwise, I can't guarantee that the people outside won't be left intact."

@KoL@Raineh Daze

Outside the Restaurant

The sound of the bombs exploding overhead would draw the attention of a few more bystanders, but for the most part they had all done so well out of the range of anyone who could actually be harmed by them. By this point, the Lancer had managed to regain her bearings, bashing into the few bombs that remained scattered about with her shield to soak up the explosions before turning back towards Artoria.

"Tch... Hate sneaky bastards like that," she said, lightly dusting herself off before nodding her head. "Well, if you're so intent on getting involved, do me a favor and cut that dumbass off from behind. I'll just run him down from here."

Before the knight could give a proper response, though, the tanned Lancer broke off into another sprint, shield at the ready in case of any other traps meant for her.

@VitaVitaAR

Alter Ego — Meltryllis

"You don't have to look that annoyed, senpai," BB said, pouting as she leaned towards the screen. "I just wanted you to go and pick up something for me. Nothing too problematic, see?"

With another play of that all-too-familiar jingle, Nanako's phone would promptly ring, showing their future destination on the map—a nearby warehouse, not that far from their current location.

"See? Nothing too intense for you after your downtime, right~? The package won't be there for long, though, so I'd like it if you could hurry up and get out the door. BB-chan, out~!"

And with that, the TV turned back off, with nary a trace of the AI's interference to be seen. With a sigh, Meltryllis leaned back into her seat on the couch before shaking her head.

"Even I can tell that she was lying through her teeth. Let me know when you're ready to go," she said, crossing her arms. "And don't do anything stupid this time, okay?"

@VitaVitaAR

Final Fantasy: After the Ashes

As soon as the first volley of bullets had been fired, Derrick trained his gaze on the remaining mecha. It was easy enough to tell that they had refocused their barrels away from Freyja, and it seemed that his companion had noticed likewise.

"Switching!" he shouted out, the Conduits near Freyja quickly abandoning their barrier before flying over towards Cadenza. There were a scant few moments before the bullets would begin to fire, if their retargeting was to be believed...

But if he wasn't able to ward off the shots aimed at the mercenary, then all he could do was try and recover the damage afterwards.

Shaking his head, Derrick quickly poked his head out from behind his current piece of cover before aiming his two remaining Conduits at one of the further machina. A single Ruin would ideally be enough to offset the barrel should he fail to stop the damage in time, but in this case, it was likely better to cover as many bases as he could.

@VitaVitaAR@Wayward@Pyromania99

Fate/Eternum (Take 3)

Kitchen

In response to the old man's provocations, the blonde Master could do little but force a smile. Being called out as an 'amateur', while by no means untrue, left him slightly aggravated.

"That's rather rude of you to say, old man," he replied through a forced smile, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the wall. "Though I guess you wouldn't really get it in the first place. If I've got to get six other Masters out of the picture, then the fastest way to do so has to be the best! Heck, none of the people I'm aiming for are any less guilty than I am, either; like I said, we all signed up for this, so—"

"That doesn't mean you have to blow up a restaurant in the middle of the goddamn city, you dumbass!" the thug injected, almost taking a step forward before the blonde man shook his head with a smirk.

"If you had just died the first time, then this whole incident wouldn't have happened. I'm no 'dumbass'; I'm just pragmatic."

@KoL@Raineh Daze

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

Misaki's eyes widened ever so slightly at Mie's initial response, the foxgirl having realized her blunder as soon as the shopkeeper mentioned what she was using to keep records. The scrolls that were in Enli's house had led her to expect otherwise, but the fact that Mie was using bamboo to keep tabs on her sales meant that technology on that front had likely regressed the the point of nonexistence—doubly so, given how Mie was surprised that she even knew of such a thing.

Before she could give a proper response, though, Mie left for the storehouse, and Misaki found no real reason to stay behind when she was offering to show them to her. As much as she desired to keep herself out of the spotlight, lacking something as fundamental as paper (or, well, fundamental from her point of view) was not something she could accept.

The bamboo slips that the shopkeeper revealed to her were about what she had expected while processing the matter mentally on the walk over. Compared to what she was used to, they were far from ideal; workable, yes, but given the high cost associated with them, Misaki was a bit disinclined to use them. As much as she wanted something to work with, these were still fundamentally a last resort for her.

With that said, this chain of conversations had put a spark of an idea into her mind.

"Ah... Thank you for the offer, but I must decline," she said, returning what Mie had given her with a smile. "Recordkeeping is essential in this line of business, and something like this is a bit too valuable for me to accept at the moment. Even so, I must thank you for the opportunity; you've given me a bit of inspiration for the rest of my time here."

Assuming that Lady Mie did not press her any further, the white-haired foxgirl would promptly leave the premises, making her way off to the side before deciding to take a detour to the beach. She needed somewhere to organize her thoughts, and even at this time of day, she could use light to illuminate the sand as she charted out what she needed to handle.

It'd be a troublesome road to make paper, but if she succeeded, then the theoretical return would be insanely high; if her cover as a person from another world was gone anyways, then there was really no point in trying to play coy, right?

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

Visiting the herbalist again was quite valuable, as Misaki soon found out; the old lady seemed more than happy to indulge her in her efforts to understand the flora in the region, and the presence of something that did fit her criteria for bamboo immediately put her on track for something useful. Even if she couldn't make paper out of wood pulp or something more in line with papyrus, scrolls made out of bamboo (or in this case, a bamboo-equivalent plant) would serve just as well for her purposes.

That was the emergency backup plan, though; as she dropped off what she had collected and bid the old lady farewell, Misaki made a swift beeline towards Lady Mie's entourage—and towards the woman herself.

"I apologize for my late visit, Lady Mie," the white-haired foxgirl began, bowing out of instinct as she spoke, "but this is less of a direct question regarding your wares. Do you by any chance have any paper or ink on hand I could look at? This is an odd question, I admit, but..."

Really, understanding where that set of things was technologically was just as important for the sake of production. There was no way to make massive amounts of paper in a village like this, especially given the situation, but if bamboo pulp paper made with screens was a viable option, then there was really no reason to not emulate that process. Even if the result was of lower quality than she might have liked, it was still better than nothing.

Ink, on the other hand... That was probably doable with charcoal or soot, but using quality control in situations like this never hurt.

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist

Fate/Eternum (Take 3)

Uehara Shou

Restaurant Entrance

"A-ah... Yeah, probably."

Shou's words wre somewhat unfocused as he continued to center his attention upon the group of Servants entering the kitchen with the long-haired thug before shaking himself off. His classmate was right, regardless of his own curiosities; there were injured here, and given what he had caught from the exchange between the Lancer and her Master, whoever had caused the explosion hadn't been reserved about getting more civilians involved than a bomb already would have. It left a bad taste in his mouth, but as she had said, the only thing he really could do was try to help stabilize the injured before proper staff arrived.

Shaking his head, the onmyoji carefully made his way over towards the ruined counter and opted move people away from the kitchen; it wasn't unthinkable that the source of this carnage would use them again, given the Lancer's earlier quip, which meant that keeping them from further harm was the only proper course of action to take. With a deep breath, Shou began to drag the unconscious victims closer to the entrance of the building, taking care to not injure them further along the broken glass and debris scattered about.

One of the injured—a woman whose body was covered in dust and blood from the explosion, it seemed—clutched at her arm in silent pain as she slowly pushed herself off of the ground. Despite her apparent injuries, though, it seemed that she was forcing herself to move about. Though she seemed to take a moment to steel herself mentally, her choice to try and help the Masters who were attempting to help the injured seemed a bit less productive—doubly so, given the blood streaming down her injured arm and from the gash above her left eye.

@VitaVitaAR@KoL@Rune_Alchemist@Pyromania99

Kitchen

The explosion had originated from within the kitchen, which made the fallout all the more apparent. A few sinks had burst, leaving water to spray out across the now-dirtied floor, and the stainless steel equipment that had lined the area was left blackened and warped from the damage. But what stood out the most in the middle of all of this carnage would be the blonde-haired teenager sitting casually on top of one of the assembly tables. His cheeky grin was by no means fitting for the scene, and his clothing—a brown jacket over a black t-shirt—would most certainly out him as someone who wasn't meant to be back here in the first place.

"Ah, guess that one was a bust too," he complained, spinning a key ring around for a moment before catching it and glancing back towards the massive hole in the wall. "You and your Servant are seriously way too..."

The teenager's words slowed down as he watched a small girl fly into the room, only to be followed by his target and, eventually, an old man. There was no doubt that at least one of them was a Servant, but...

Really, he couldn't help but hold back a laugh.

The thug glared at the person on the countertop, his fists clenched as he attempted to take a step towards him, only for the person of his ire to hold out a hand for him to stop.

"Take one more step, and that explosion's not going to be the last one you see today," he said, smirking as he hopped off of his seat. "Same goes for your new friends over there. But... Come on, now. The rules made explicitly clear to fight your own battles. What's up with the cavalry here? Cheater."

"Stuff it with that shit! With all the bombs you've set off, someone was bound to come after you sooner or later!" the thug shot back.

"Ah. Hm. You know, I guess that's fair. But what's the point of signing up for something like this if you're not going to have a little fun, right?"

@Raineh Daze@KoL

Outside the Restaurant

The Lancer had given Li little more than a slight nod of acknowledgement as she ran outside, the blonde Saber following after her as she swung around the restaurant's entrance and into a nearby alleyway. As both she and her apparent companion for this hunt would soon discover, though, the 'clown' seemed to have expected resistance. Just as she took a step past the restaurant's entrance, she would find something jumping off the wall towards her face. Out of hand, she swatted it to the side, but the moment that it made contact with her shield, whatever it was blew up. The recoil was enough to catch her off guard and cause her to blow her back into the wall, which in turn ended up revealing a few more as they came crawling out of the woodwork.

All the while, of course, the shadow of something purple sadistically staring at them from a distance with a smile on its face seemed to run further in.

"Shit...!" the Lancer swore under he breath, shaking herself off before rolling forward to dodge the bugs attempting to jump on top of her. "When I get my hands on you, I'm going to tear that stupid grin off your face with my bare hands——!"

@VitaVitaAR

Alter Ego — Meltryllis

Shrugging her shoulders at her Master's lack of response towards her remark, Meltryllis chose to make herself a bit more comfortable on the couch...

Or, rather, she would have done so, had that all-too-familiar jingle not started fading into the room from the television's speakers. As soon as she heard the words 'BB Channel!' chime in, the Alter Ego closed her eyes and sighed. It was about time for that stupid AI to come and make a mess of things; in fact, it was probably more of a relief that she hadn't up until now, given her Master's injuries.

Whether or not it actually was because of that or because of a lack of work to handle, though, was up for debate—one she was most certainly not interested in getting involved in.

"From the digital ocean straight to your little home, BB-chan is here to give you a news flash~!" a sickly-sweet voice chimed in as the TV seemed to turn itself on. "Senpai, I hope your arm's fully healed by now~! Seeing you be stuck in bed all day is sort of depressing, even for me, you know? Though I'm sure you kept yourself occupied on your phone, your devilish little kouhai has got a new request for you~!"

Of course, given their 'deal' this was less of a request than it was an order, but arguing that point with BB was an exercise in futility by now.

@VitaVitaAR

Final Fantasy: After the Ashes

The sounds of conversation from inside the waiting room had caught Derrick slightly by surprise; he had expected the call to action to have been the cue for everyone to start gathering, not to have already been waiting in the wings prior to them. It was, admittedly, a bit embarrassing to arrive last. He was the youngest person on the team, after all, and the young man was fairly certain that at least one or two of the others with him would treat him as such. For what it was worth, though, he didn't actually know any of them all that well beyond their names and whatever little introductions they had been given during the briefing... And given how he hadn't actually spent much time socializing, getting any feel for them would have to wait until after they hit the battlefield.

Trying not to draw too much attention to himself, Derrick slipped into the room and took a seat as the airship began to descend. There had clearly been an invite of some sort, given what little he had caught from the tail end of their conversation, but he simply pushed the thought out of his mind as the door outside slowly opened up. The Conduits at his side moved into position as he rose back up, nodding towards the rest of the group before following Freyja outside.

With wary steps, the young man kept his distance from the woman in front, his eyes darting to and fro as he watched for any sort of ambush. The immediate activation of some automated turrets as the vanguard slowly pressed forth at least confirmed that there was someone trying to stop them, but as to whether they were recently activated or not...

Well, that required disabling them first.

Without missing a beat, Derrick ducked for cover before sending four of his Conduits towards Freyja; immediately, they began to glow, forming a cylindrical barrier around her.

"I'll handle the defense," he said, looking around to make sure he wasn't going to get flanked from his current position, "so just clean up here and keep pushing forward."

Hopefully the others would take that as less of an order and more of a suggestion.

@VitaVitaAR@Wayward@Pyromania99@thecatinaction

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

"Paper, huh...?"

Misaki quietly stared at the scrolls splayed out across the floor, mentally chastising herself for not realizing that their presence didn't necessarily imply the ability of this settlement to create paper. She couldn't exactly create anything to leave behind without something like that, but with five days left to go before their (supposed) departure, that became a higher priority than it might have been otherwise.

"I'll see what I can do, then; I wish you the best of luck in your negotiations," she said, bowing towards Enli before exiting the building. Of course, the only thing at the front of her mind at the moment was figuring out what method of papermaking to pursue... Which, as far as she could tell, could only be ascertained once she knew what sort of plants lived in the area. A trip to the herbalist would be prompt, at least—she could drop off her haul there for the moment, provided the owner was willing. More importantly, though, maybe she could see if there was anything suitable for making paper in the first place; wood pulp methods were likely out of the question, but if there was something more akin to bamboo...

Maybe a trip to Lady Mie was in order as well?

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist

Final Fantasy: After the Ashes

Unlike how he usually was on a longer mission—that is, to say, completely nonplussed about the job ahead—Derrick was actually fairly intrigued by the job set out in front of him this time around. An Alvadian research facility was seldom a place to visit without any reason, and most of them had likely been stripped of anything valuable by this point in time. In other words, being sent to visit one and retrieve something meant that there was just as likely a chance for something equally valuable waiting besides their quarry.

That being said, if it was a simple retrieval mission, then they wouldn't have needed to ship a team out in the first place; beinging him along meant that injuries were to be expected. Neither was a sign of anything good, but a clean job was rare, and safe, rarer still.

Derrick had spent the last hour reading—a familiar pastime since his younger years—but the announcement from the Blue Lily's pilot swiftly brought him to attention. The young man wordlessly slipped his bookmark between the pages of the book he had been reading before setting it aside on his bed and standing up. Without any sort of flourish or fanfare, Derrick took a hold of his bag and promptly left the room. It was, admittedly, rather empty—other than his tools, most of the empty space was reserved for seeing what else he could... 'Recover' from the site beyond their objective.

With deployment imminent, Derrick raised his hand as he walked towards the staging area. A set of five prism-like objects soon slipped out of his bag and took their positions at his side, each floating in tandem with one another as if they were a single object. With a cursory glance towards each one—Conduits, as they were called—the young man gave a nod to himself before proceeding.

Ideally, the others were prepared for fights to break out once they touched down; Derrick had no doubt that they would be ready to fight, of course, but being prepared and being ready were not one and the same.

@VitaVitaAR@Pyromania99@thecatinaction@Wayward

Final Fantasy: After the Ashes

• Name: Derrick Errance
• Age: 21
• Gender: Male
• Appearance: "Nope, not here."
• Personality: Preferring to take a more methodical approach to problems, Derrick tends to sit back and observe before acting whenever possible. He is rather reserved when it comes to dealing with people and tends to be rather blunt, which can occasionally come off as standoffish or rude to those not used to dealing with him. With that said, he cares quite a lot about those close to him, often prioritizing their health and well-being over his own (and occasionally even those of others).
  Interpersonal relationships aside, though, Derrick is intensely curious about the wider world, and has a non-insignificant number of documents and books scrounged up from traveling around in his room. This has given him a surprising amount of knowledge that one might not expect for someone with his upbringing, and maybe even less so someone of his profession. With that said, his own curiosity may rarely override his tendency towards analysis, which... May or may not be a good thing.
• Brief Backstory: Derrick was born to a young Embrian woman in the midst of the war; he never knew who his father was, but the bitter look on his mother's face whenever he had asked gave the young child more than enough reason to stop asking eventually. The town where he would have grown up—Kalan—had been razed to the ground by the invading Alvadians, which left a young Derrick next to no time to be a child. He spent much of his childhood away from the ruins that were slowly being rebuilt; few of the survivors (if any) wanted to have anything to do with him, and though the village had since begun to be rebuilt, Derrick had been left with little else besides his mother and the clothes on his back.
  
  As the war finally drew to a close, Derrick found that the gap between himself and the rest of the townsfolk had only widened. More than a few seemed to dislike him—for what, though, he could only wonder. His mother seemed to receive only pity where he found scorn, but the fact that she continued to give him her affection despite all of this only further question his place here. If it was any solace, though, the young boy found a few books to keep to himself, hidden away from judging eyes in the safety of his home
  
  Things changed, however, when a wanderer passed through the region. Most of the other townsfolk seemed to pay him no heed, but the young Derrick could not help but be intrigued by the odd-looking case he kept with him. When he collapsed on the side of the road, it was Derrick who acted out to help, if only out of sheer curiosity; though his mother disapproved of the wanderer's presence, she could not well refuse the earnest (if not somewhat self-serving) desire of her son to help.
  
  Said wanderer, as Derrick would soon learn, was a man by the name of Arden. He introduced himself (however hesitantly) as a researcher from Alvad to the young boy. He explained that he had escaped from his home country once his heart could not in good faith help the war any longer, and that he had taken his equipment with him to assure that he could prevent it from continuing further in what little way he could. Though Derrick's mother seemed less than pleased with that sort of information, the young boy, curious about what that equipment was and about the only other person who treated him with something other than disdain, begged for him to stay—at least, for a while. He wanted to learn, and if nobody else would teach him, then a stranger and a refugee could at least help bridge that gap.
  
  Eventually, if only through sheer perseverance, Derrick succeeded. Arden had initially been less than receptive to the idea (he would have liked to have sought asylum with what he had and left as soon as he could have), but a few days of rest was probably for the best, given that he had collapsed on the road. Those days soon began to extend, though, as he learned of Derrick's aptitude for knowledge.
  
  Days turned to weeks, weeks into months; before long, Arden had become more than just a stranger to Derrick; he was a teacher, someone to look up to who he had never had before. But those days soon came to an end; news of a group of hunters seeking him eventually met Arden's ears, and the researcher knew that what time he had left was fleeting. To the young man who had insisted on keeping him around, though, the researcher gave unto him one thing before leaving: the Air Grid, the tool that Derrick had been so curious about until now. There was no guarantee that his work would make it out, and given that it was him they were after, losing the Grid for all the goodwill he had been shown was not much of a loss.
  
  Arden leaving meant that Derrick was once again left with just his mother, who would continue to work herself to the bone trying to make ends meet. Meeting the researcher had changed Derrick, though, and the young man found himself working to try and understand what it was that had been left in his hands. He succeeded eventually, if only through sheer force of will; understanding everything.
  
  Having been long since aware of his status as a pariah, Derrick chose to leave Kalan and pursue work elsewhere once he came of age. A single letter to his mother was all he had left behind as he travelled to the border, and the young man eventually found himself employed as a mercenary at Wild Rose. Even if he didn't have any direct combat experience, the group accepted him so long as he was willing to put in the effort—something he was more than willing to do.
• Skills: Rather than being specialized for combat like many of his peers, Derrick has placed more of his effort into making sure that everything remains running smoothly. In other words, things like gear maintenance and medical work are a part of his usual activities. As a result of using the Air Grid, Derrick is also uncannily apt at multitasking, leaving him able to flick between multiple jobs at once without losing track of himself in the process.
• Abilities: Derrick's spells mostly focus around supporting and reinforcing his allies, mitigating the damage they take and keeping them alive enough to continue fighting. The method for doing so—the Air Grid—allows him to use Cure and Protect where it might prove dangerous for most other medics, though it may take up his concentration in the process. He can also cast Ruin with the Grid, but as it is not optimized for offensive spells, doing so may put unnecessary strain upon its equipment.
  The number of Conduits from the Grid that he uses to cast spells also affects their output; while a Cure may be cast with one, for example, two would be optimal; similarly, while he could cast it with two Conduits, three would be optimal for a Protect.
  
  • Limit Break — Aegis of Heaven: Derrick overclocks the Air Grid, pushing it beyond its usual capabilities to create a massive barrier in front of him. This barrier is able to protect him as well as anyone behind him, and is able to deflect or absorb an absurd amount of damage before faltering. This ability is not without drawbacks, though; the barrier is incredibly taxing upon the Grid, and the heat damage that they sustain can outright put Conduits out of commission if not damaging the mechanisms within.
• Equipment:
  
  • Air Grid: A prototype tool 'relieved' from Alvad in the years prior to their collapse. The Grid itself consists of five 'Conduits', prism-like structures with a refined Lumo core at their center. Each Conduit is able to fly about according to it's user's commands independent of any physical command, and unlike most other magitech objects, does not need to be refueled with Lumium to function. Conduits can also be used to cast spells—a function that would have in theory made Alvadian combatants all the more problematic should the project have reached fruition.
    
    With that said, the Grid itself is not without faults; in exchange for not requiring Lumium to function, each Conduit requires a near-constant stream of mana when in use, and that amount only increases when used to cast spells (hence the term 'Conduit'). Despite the high barrier of entry to being able to use the Air Grid, its versatility and maneuverability allows Derrick and any of his allies a lot more breathing room in the heat of battle.
    
    The Air Grid can, in theory, be upgraded, and the Conduits increased in efficiency and power; that would, however, require finding someone who could create the components necessary to do so. Derrick himself understands the fundamentals of how the Grid works and has learned to use it effectively (enough) in the decade or so to be able to maintain and repair it, but the possibility of him screwing something up in the process has given him enough pause to at least find someone who has more 'professional' experience before attempting anything.