There's definitely things to do instead of crying or feeling victimized. You could calmly digest the nice advices people gave you 14 hours ago, for example.
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Seriously, pineapples are, like, miracle fruits. Pineapple jelly? Yum. Pineapple juice? Ooooh. Pineapple cake? Yesss. Pineapple cookie? Godly! Pineapple salad? Ambrosia. Pineapple pizza? The best pizza there is, fight me. Got nothing to do with pens though, so I wonder what that one Japanese guy was all about...
Place(s): Near the southern border of Ersand'Enise Time: Pandes, Vardes 29, Dami-Zept 54, 1:30 HD - 3:30 HD Interaction(s): The Mysterious Magusjaeger@Force and Fury | Indirectly, all those who witnessed that certain wide area thing that she had cast
Mirage of Lotus
Unbeknownst to seemingly all but Eun-Ji, Flavius, and the mysterious Magusjaeger, the battle was not yet over. Away from the celebrating king and the other members of his honor guard, Flavius had an encounter with Avrael himself while Eun-Ji continued her attempt to find and eliminate the enemy. Whoever this was, Eun-ji knew that they were dangerous. Noticeably more than the rest of the assassins that had been sent to finish off the King of Perrence. It made her even more assured that she cannot let this person go. It was too risky; one with such skills can likely kill the king all by themselves, turning the seeming victory into a disaster with a single fatal bullet. No, it was her mission to protect Rouis, and she will fulfill it even if it meant facing a potentially superior opponent and risking her own life.
Eun-Ji hid behind a tree. A reckless move will likely mean death. This had became akin to a lethal game; a game of tricks between two illusionists and also a game of precision and speed between two kineticists. She took her time to concoct a plan while remaining vigilant, her senses both mundane and magical sharpened to their limits. Whatever her next move is, it will likely be crucial in determining who will come out on top between them. Failure is not an option. She recalled the words of her instructors in the Lotus Sentries. You should be death before you fail. Your life is worth nothing compared to your mission.
And with those words echoing in her mind, she made her move.
There were much to draw from, what's with the flames raging through the forest. These flames also helped with obscuring what she was about to do. Drawing as much heat as her capacity allowed from the flames, she prepared to cast something at four different points. About five meters away from herself to the north, east, west, and south. And then without hesitation, she cast it while keeping her eyes closed. Intense flashes of lights immediately emerged from those points, covering a wide area in their blinding radiance. Ultimately harmless to all but the eyes, yet definitely far more than enough to temporarily blind a person nonetheless. The Light of Ahn-Shune, even though Eun-Ji herself didn't actually know that this spell had a name.
Yet this was but the first part of her plan, intended to both potentially blind the mysterious attacker while also alerting to the others that the battle had, in fact, not ended yet.
She opened her eyes as the flashes of lights faded way. Even for a burning forest, moisture and water can still be found in the air and more significantly within the soil. It was with these that the second part of her plan shall be executed. Using the Liquid Telekinesis that was her specialty, she swiftly gathered water, enough water to resemble the shape of a person her own size. As the water took on its humanoid shape, she imbued upon it as advanced of an illusion as she could, causing the water to turn into a clone of herself. And then, she moved it, making it seemingly run to hide behind a rather thin tree, the clone's head peeking out as if looking for the enemy with its right arm and leg exposed. In short, Eun-Ji had deliberately made the clone looked vulnerable; as if a combatant that was not aware that she had made a mistake by hiding behind imperfect cover that will not protect her.
This technique was the Mirage of Lotus, Eun-Ji's own original spell that she painstakingly created and continued to endlessly refine. And now she can only hope that it shall be enough to draw out her enemy while she waited and observed, a kinetically empowered dagger in her right hand ready to throw as soon as she can locate the enemy by the origin and trajectory of the gun that they will hopefully expose to her.
All things considered, the standoff ended rather well. The dragon, while still not pleased with what Catherine had done to the body of her kin, did not turn hostile. Anki watched it all in silence until it was over. For the most part, she didn't thought of anything much out of it. Although she did wonder about a particular point, and not seeing anything wrong with it, mentioned it openly to Srikandi beside her. "I do not understand what the dragon meant by treating the corpse with respect. What is the difference between letting the body rot and be consumed into naught but bones by nature, and harvesting its body so that it might be used for useful scientific or magical purposes? In the end, it will be the same. Rotten flesh, and then bones, and then nothingness." Her expression as she asked the question was one of true curiosity. Earnest innocence without the slightest bit of sarcasm.
Anki then turned to look at Almira and her crews again as the strangers from beyond the stars approached the party. It seemed that it was finally time for proper introductions, and thus Anki proceeded to do just that. Her Pataliputran was half-baked however, and thus she kept her own introduction simple. Very simple.
"Khaltesh Anki du Oberia. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." Then her gaze flicked over to the armored security crews and the one actual robot also with them, her own artificial eyes brimming with curiosity. Anki seemed to scrutinize them for a full minute, looking over the details, the shape, and the materials of their armors. Then, she turned to look at Almira again. "You made these automatons? You, alchemist? Wizard?"
Place(s): Battlefield - Saitama Prefecture Time: Afternoon @Mole@Izurich "And that is a point for me!" Teodora remarked confidently as she pulled her beam rapier back after landing the stab at the creature's right foreleg. The creature fully revealed itself after that as it realized that it couldn't rely on being stealthy anymore. "Oh my. With some of the other Warped I can kind of identify what they're trying to look like as... But you? What are you supposed to be? Oh well, it doesn't matter. Ready to frag this one, Seraphima?" Teodora reset her stance as she prepared to continue her assault on the creature, while the creature itself; or rather its tail, seemed to watch both her and the now arrived Seraphima.
The Warped then seemed to charge up an attack using its snake-like tail, aiming it at Teodora. "Oh. I'm afraid I cannot allow you to do that, fufu." In response, both Chi-Mechframe pilots quickly reacted. Seraphima flung a dagger at the creature's one prominent eye, while Teodora performed two moves in quick succession. First, she swiftly fired off a single shot from her beam rifle at the creature's snake tail. Then a split second after that, quick blasts of flames from the engines of her wings propelled her forward in an instant as she rammed the creature in the torso, her beam rapier held in front of her to stab the creature again while also hopefully pushing it back away from the allied soldiers even further.
The beam from her rifle will hopefully stop whatever attack the Warped was charging up. If not, then Teodora was sure that her barrier can hold up to the attack. Thus why she made no effort to evade at all, counter attacking instead. It was a decision Teodora made almost by reflex in response to Seraphima's own actions. Hopefully, with both her own rapier charge and Seraphima's dagger and claws combo, it will be enough to push the creature back. Enough so that the incoming firepower that should be coming from above won't cause any friendly fire casualty to the Japanese soldiers, so to speak. "All yours, Infernus! Light 'em up!"
And thus with Teodora protected by her barrier and Seraphima by her force field, to stop the creature from moving away the two were ready to risk staying in the danger zone of the incoming aerial bombing.
Perhaps the claustrophobic, throat-choking fog that rolled in from the sea would be unnerving when met alone. Perhaps the shadows of the chaotically-designed buildings or the unseen side streets and alleyways would provoke suspicion and paranoia as one stepped into an environment where sight and sound offered no true clues as to what one could do. But in the presence of another, all fears were halved. Venturing out of Jeanne’s apartment and into the unknown of post-curfew Bermuda, Nazca and Ryuuko stepped out, their destination the island’s Inner Circle. If the manbat had ended his journey there, perhaps they would encounter him once more whilst heading in the same area?
It was flimsy logic, based only off the presumption that their prey was an individual who either enjoyed revisiting the scene of a crime or who had a particularly strong reason for invading libraries after-hours. But while they had gathered ample information, they had nothing that could truly synthesise into a motive. So they went, perhaps sharing a comment or an observation as they travelled, if only to break up the suffocation of silence, the little thoughts that teased at their minds.
And as they went, so did something else. In the corner of their eyes, at the boundary of certainty and psychosis. A flicker of movement. A shadow of a ribbon, dancing without wind. There was a third presence in their area. Was it just a third?
As the lesser capable combatant of the unlikely duo, Nazca had brought as much useful equipment as she could reasonably accommodate to shore up her position against whatever lurked in the fog. As she left the dorms, she had released several other birds, as well as another clockwork facsimile that would follow the two of them and provide close overwatch –as much as it could in the fog. With a wireless earpiece and a customised telegraph key attached to her finger and inside one of her boots, she could remain in contact with her creations and coordinate actions. With luck, they wouldn’t all crash and burn in the fog with herself as a radio location beacon.
She dipped her head in agreement with Ryuuko as they started walking. “Yes, let’s.”
It didn’t take too long, though, for them to be joined by another presence, and one that was distinctly not one of her birds. There wasn’t enough for her to go on to make a concrete judgement of who, what, and where it was, but she immediately keyed her birds to begin a conservative search pattern. As an egoist, she was sure Ryuuko had noticed long before her, but nonetheless, she leaned in towards the dragon girl and whispered in a low voice, hoping it wouldn’t carry in the fog. “We’re being shadowed. You should know, I’m also a dynamist with an affinity for wind. I have doubts it can effectively clear the fog considering the nature of it, but if we coordinate, it’s possible we can reveal whoever’s out there…”
“Yeah. That was pretty fast.” Ryuuko replied back to Nazca in whispers of her own. When she first became aware of the third presence that seemed to be somewhere nearby, she had also suddenly felt a rather peculiar feeling of unease. Quite like a strong sense of disgust, just like what she would feel if she were to see and smell a particularly putrid cup of natto.
Yet the worst thing about it was not the feeling itself, but the fact that they were inexplicable. She knew not the cause of this feeling, and all she could do was to try to control the chemical reactions within her own body in an attempt to lessen the disturbing sensation. “Something’s definitely close by…” She sniffed deep, trying to catch some kind of scent, though the effort was made difficult by the mist. She also flicked her eyes to where she thought she saw movements, trying to see if she could perceive it more clearly. “Let’s hope it’s nothing unpleasant… Or if it is unpleasant, that it will be beneficial nonetheless, heh…”
“Faster than I expected,” she replied, before muttering, “Almost as if it was waiting for us.” Although Nazca didn’t feel nearly as much of a visceral reaction towards their stalker as Ryuuko had –or natto, for that matter– it was still unsettling knowing that they were being very much followed by a presence with little she could do about it but to keep walking. Well, she could, but she didn’t want to play any of her cards yet.
“Like medicine? Doubtful. If it’s unpleasant here, it’s not going to be beneficial at all.”
“Beneficial for our purpose of being outside, I mean.” Ryuuko replied, adding a chuckle at the end of her whispers. Like Nazca, for now she decided not to do anything about the presence. Attacking first will probably be unwise, and she didn’t feel like becoming another Jeanne. She kept walking toward the Inner Circle while trading low, mumbled words with Nazca.
“I suppose we’ll see if anything at all happens… If not, maybe I’ll do something about it. Just to provoke a reaction.”
“Mm,” Nazca nodded, as she twitched her finger, coordinating a more thorough search pass of the assets around her. If any of the instruments on them presented an anomaly on their sensors (aside from the fog, something she’d adjusted for) then they’d alert. So far, nothing yet.
“Keep the destruction to a minimum, if you please.”
Ryuuko grinned widely as she replied “Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. I wasn’t planning on doing anything even remotely violent. After all… We can’t give whatever or whoever it is an excuse that we attacked first.” She kept walking alongside Nazca, silent for a few seconds. “You ready?”
Then, without waiting for an answer, Ryuuko stopped walking. She looked around, trying to spot anything once more. Then, she called out. “Whoever’s out there… Care to make yourself known? We don’t bite, you know.” She chuckled at the end of her words. And then waited to see if there’s any response.
Silence, once more.
But the streetlamp closest to them darkened, then shut down entirely. They were now in penumbra.
Nazca tensed. She whipped around in the direction of the failed light, keeping her focus there as she immediately ordered one of her circling birds to converge on the area.
“......” Ryuuko’s eyes flicked at the lamp that had completely shut down. Alright… What the heck is this all about? She then turned to look at Nazca, whispering to her again. “So… We’re either facing a creep… Or something not entirely sentient to begin with, if at all.” The most annoying thing about it all was that the presence doesn’t seem to be the manbat they’re looking for.
She clicked her tongue, mouth slightly open in an annoyed grimace. “You got any idea, Nazca? I’m starting to think we should just either start moving faster to the Inner Circle or try to flush out whatever or whoever this is…”
Nazca shook her head. “Ugh, I think whatever it is, it’s toying with us.” Keeping her guard up, she continued, “I don’t think moving on to the Inner Circle is a good idea anymore. I’d rather not give up the initiative like that… Since we’re being followed, let’s find somewhere where damage can be kept to a minimum and then flush them out.”
Then she frowned, followed by a twitching of her finger and a tapping of her foot. The bird that she had ordered to the lamppost was not appearing. Yet, she could still contact it, as its radio signature came back loud and clear on her headset. “Stop. Something’s not right. My birds are acting strange. Be on your guard.”
She sent out another set of commands, ordering another bird to immediately converge on her own position. Then, she had them all call in their positions, and…
They were all frozen. They reported, they were in the air… but they were stationary. A perfect contradiction. That scared her. “Ryuuko… all of my assets have frozen in mid-air.”
Still, she was undeterred, and caught the coordinates of her overwatch bird. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’m going to check.” It was still close by; she needed to get a look at it, and began to move towards it. At the same time, she released one of her birds from her reserve– making sure to keep it in visual range to observe any changes to it.
“A good idea as any I guess.” She nodded at Nazca’s suggestion of bringing things over to somewhere with less possible collateral damages. Then she started walking, but stopped not long after due to Nazca mentioning that something was off. “Your birds are acting strange?... Huh.” Well that sounds even more annoying.
Ryuuko waited, continuing to keep her senses as sharp as she can, sniffing the air while her eyes flicked from place to place to make sure nothing’s going to suddenly jump her and Nazca. Soon enough, all she got was more bad news as Nazca remarked that her clockwork automatons were all somehow frozen.
“Frozen? What do you mean frozen? How’d you freeze things- multiple things, midair?” Then she followed as Nazca moved to check on the one that was close by. They can’t risk getting separated now, not when she had no idea whatsoever of what the thing messing with them was.
“I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense to me either. They’re literally not moving, but they’re still in the air, according to what they’re saying.”
As immensely thick as the fog was, Nazca’s clockwork bird hovered shakily just a meter or two away from her, unable to utilise any real speed to maintain a smoother flight. It did move though, and as far as she could tell, nothing had stopped it from doing so.
It simply continued its flight.
And so did the facsimile she had sent on overwatch.
Arriving at the destination that her bird had pinged, Nazca and Ryuuko would both look up to see the brass imitation, flapping its wings steadily, yet suspended where it stood. Locked in place. Gears creaking, springs whining, entirety unmoving.
Then, plummeting. Falling towards the two.
Ryuuko blinked once as she looked up at the bird literally just suspended where it was, continuing with an eyebrow quirking up at the sight. “Uhh, wh-” She wasn’t able to finish her words when it suddenly plummeted down and fell, upon which she then caught it by reflex.
Afterwards, she just held it while looking at Nazca. “Alright… So… Yeah.”
Nazca stood there, momentarily stunned at the bizarre scene of her bird flying in place. At least the new bird seemed to move, but the fog was still doing something very strange to it. She was only shaken out of this when the overwatch bird suddenly fell out of the sky, and was caught by the Japanese girl.
“That’s… physically impossible.”
Worried, her eyes darted about, looking for the source of the impossible phenomenon. It had to be an ability from somebody… A dynamist, or an egoist? Throwing caution to the wind –literally– she boosted the other bird’s flight with a gust of wind. If she couldn’t keep her birds in the sky, then she was blind, and without many more cards to play. She glanced back over at her companion.
“Ryuuko, I don’t like what’s going on here. We may be in over our heads on this…”
“... Tsk.” Well this is going wrong really really badly now… “Tell me somet-”
In relative darkness, her eyes drawn to Nazca, her senses stretched out to her surroundings, her body still afflicted with that bothersome nausea, Ryuuko didn’t see it. A sliver within the chassis. A black ribbon, dancing in a non-existent wind, writhing out from the inner workings of the clockwork facsimile like a parasite And as fast as rainfall, it shot into her open mouth, slid between her teeth, rolled over her tongue, and stuck onto her uvula. The taste of saltwater and seaweed, of her motherland’s cuisine distilled to its most awful constituents, bloomed in the prodigal dragon’s mouth almost at the same time as she became to choke.
“!” Ryuuko’s eyes opened wide at the sudden intrusion into her oral cavity, not expecting in the least that she will be attacked by a freaking animate seaweed-like thing out of all things. Trying hard to fight off against both the nausea and the panic from the sensation of being choked, she pushed Nazca away from herself as she let go of the clockwork facsimile, mind immediately deciding the best way to eliminate the intrusion. The toxic sack in her throat instantly expelled some of its content, some of it landing on the intruder stuck on her uvula while the rest flew free towards her teeth.
She grinded her teeth, but unlike the usual, kept those teeth gritted shut while inhaling through them. Immediately the venom was ignited, intense flaming raging within her own mouth as it scorched the black ribbon. Some licks of flames escaped her mouth regardless, making it looked as if a furnace was burning strong within her mouth.
With flame, shadow was purged, the tender insides of her mouth roasting with the weight of her own fiery might. With her move, Ryuuko had turned her head into a furnace, and in an instant, had vaporized whatever had initially snuck into her throat.
The danger of choking had passed, and the taste of the sea had gained a charred, bitter taste too. But as her gaze shifted, the prodigal dragon realized.
In the thick fog and the oppressive silence, she was alone.
“Keh… What the heck?!” Ryuuko remarked angrily, face twisted into a furious glare with her shark-like teeth in full display. She looked around rapidly, on guard as if expecting that further sudden attack awaited her. A few seconds passed before she relaxed… and finally realised that Nazca was no longer near her. “Uhh….”
She looked around while standing in place a bit more, confusion overtaking whatever residual smell or taste remained in her mouth. “Nazca? Dang, where the heck did she- Oh. Uh-oh.” It then dawned to her what might have happened to her companion. ...Did I?... Well, this is gonna be awkward. Unless I accidentally offed her… Then it’ll be even worse than awkward. Hoooo boy... She scratched the back of her head with her left hand, expression turning from anger to an awkward grin. Then she remembered the device that Nazca had given to her in case they were separated, and used it to locate the missing, hopefully still alive, Abya Yalan girl.
Without any instructions given as to its usage, it took a few moments for Ryuuko to figure out how the transponder worked. But while she still sensed the presence of something in the back of her mind, of something in the corner of her vision, that exchange had proven that whatever it was, it couldn’t face her flames head-on, and that gave her the confidence to continue on.
So she did, walking in the fog, following the blip that responded to the interrogations of Nazca’s device. It was only a short distance. It was all fairly close by. Just a couple dozen of meters away from where they were. A greater distance than how far Nazca should have been pushed, but not so alarming otherwise. And soon, she stood, centered on the blip that she had followed.
There was no one there. Not even any sign of a discarded transponder. Yet, the blip continued to blink.
“..... What the heck?...” Ryuuko blinked, and then looked around her. Nothing. She checked the device again, confirming that yes, Nazca should be exactly where Ryuuko herself was. Yet nothing. “Nazca?? You around??” She shouted out in confusion, hoping that the other girl would respond. Just for good measure, she crouched down to touch the ground. With how bizarre things were, she’s not entirely sure she can trust her vision.
No response, but the ground she touched felt like the ground she was used to, at least.
“Nothing. Ugh… What the heck is all this??” The whole situation started to really frustrate Ryuuko, with the ever present disturbing presence not helping the matter as it forced her to keep herself on full alert at all times. Think Ryuuko, think… She has to be somewhere around here… In the sky? Underground? With that thought in mind, she looked around on the ground, hoping to be able to find a manhole nearby. Aside from that, she also looked up to see if she could spot anything above in the air.
It was difficult to find a manhole anywhere nearby, and as she scoured her memory as well, Ryuuko would realize that, while she had seen gutters lining the streets of Bermuda, she had yet to see anything that could actually serve as an entrance to the sewers beneath the city. The sky itself was also a problem, with the obscuring fog preventing Ryuuko from looking up any higher than three or so meters above her. Had it thickened since they last saw that suspended clockwork drone?
She could jump though. It would simply have to be a matter of controlling the speed of her ascent, in case she flat-out missed Nazca on her way up…or hit her head-first instead. If only she had wings.
Tsk. Right, I’m getting a pair of wings next. It was long overdue anyway. But for now… Ryuuko concluded that up was easier than underground to check given the situation. Finding a manhole or other such entrances to the sewers can be attempted later… Not to mention it seemed less likely considering the short time frame of Nazca’s sudden disappearance. So Ryuuko bent her legs, preparing for a jump to the air.
Alright, here goes… And then she took the leap, trying to go as high as she could. If it turns out that Nazca is really up above and directly in her route, then Ryuuko will just have to do her best to catch her as fast as her reflex can manage to avoid a collision.
What was an Egoist but a monster of physical aptitude. While even the most prodigiously powerful human athletes couldn’t even crest two meters of height, Ryuuko leapt five meters up into the air without even exerting her full power. Fog streamed through her hair and her subhuman parts, and within the accelerated thought processes of an Egoist, she saw it.
A cocoon of black silk, suspended in the air in the same uncanny fashion that those clockwork birds had been. It was the size of a human, the size of Nazca. And it was drawing ever closer. Ryuuko only had a fistful of milliseconds to decide what she’d do next.
Crap, so it came to this huh. There was barely any time to think, any time to react to what she saw. She had to take action immediately, and thus almost reflexively she primed the venom sac in her throat again. It was a risk, there was no way to know how much power and intensity she needed to put into it to destroy the silk without roasting the girl enveloped by it. There was the other alternative of touching it and bringing it down to the ground first, but then she risked getting herself entangled by it as well.
Regardless, she had to make a decision fast, and that’s what she did. Well, here goes… And she spewed the venom from the sac, ignited it with her teeth, and a gout of intense flames came roaring out of her mouth to burn the cocoon.
800 degree Celsius flames, hot enough to match lava that had just spewed out from a volcano, blasted out of Ryuuko’s mouth with force enough to reverse her flight. The intense heat alone drove back the fog, while the blast of fire impacted the opaque cocoon above…
…and near-instantly melted through it.
Whatever had made up the cocoon was undoubtedly much weaker than what Ryuuko had presumed, and she saw Nazca’s form unfurl from the cocoon for a split second before the princess of clockwork life was reduced to a silhouette against the brilliance of flame. If there was any mercy, it laid in the fact that the blast of flame itself was just that: a blast. No continued stream to reduce her partner to ash, just a wave of ignited fluid washing past. And so…
Nazca fell. Ryuuko caught her. It was not a pleasant sight.
“.... Shit.” Ryuuko stared at Nazca, carried in her arms. She gritted her teeth, grimacing as she looked at the very badly wounded girl. Nazca was still alive even if barely at least, so in that part she kind of succeeded. Yet still…Things had gone very wrong tonight. She wondered briefly if it would have been better if she had gone alone instead. After all, whatever was happening on this island during the nighttime, it felt to Ryuuko like only egoists like herself should ever dare to attempt braving it, and even then it will be a risky endeavour.
Ryuuko remained standing in silence for a few more seconds. Then, she was a blur, sprinting at great speed to return to the Incan style apartment. It was a balancing act between getting Nazca and herself to safety as fast as possible while at the same time making sure her speed and movement won’t worsen Nazca’s condition.
Her expression had turned from a grimace to that of calm concentration. This is just all sorts of fucked up. The curfew… No, this entire island. The bastards in charge around here are keeping way too many secrets. Really, what’s the true purpose of this island? This ‘Academic City’ thing feels like it’s just a cover for a much more messed up purpose…
With such thoughts swirling within her mind, Ryuuko continued dashing through the streets with Nazca in her arms. As for how she will bring herself and Nazca into the now locked up apartment, she already thought of just getting to a window in Jeanne's apartment and breaking the lock; and only the lock. No need to give Jeanne’s place a seaweed flavour to it like what happened with her and Franz’s ryokan room.
Even as everything was going on, Anki continued with her administration of the Healing Touch to treat the unconscious Fei. Her head followed Galmira as the now in human form dragon walked over to speak to Catherine. Anki's gaze, unlike Srikandi's or Dumas', was not one of fear. It was one of curiosity and fascination. This dragon had brought with her a group of very peculiar individuals after all, and she have yet to become hostile unlike the dragon that they had slain. So curious she was, that she had forgotten to turn her body along with her head, and thus now had her head rotated a hundred and eighty degree.
Soon enough she was fully finished with her healing of Fei, putting her hand down after. And yet with her head remaining backward, Anki continued watching as Catherine answered Galmira's question, wondering what the dragon's response will be. As far as Anki was concerned, Catherine's answers were fully reasonable, as it was honest despite the added provocation.
I suppose we shall see if this dragon will be more reasonable than the last... Of course, Anki did not in reality pick up on the provocative nuance of Catherine's answer.
Place(s): Battlefield - Saitama Prefecture Time: Afternoon Interaction(s): Other members of the Defense Team Oh, this one's good! Teodora mused in her mind as the beams she fired at the near-invisible Warped all missed their mark. To be exact though, she didn't exactly miss. Her aim was true, it was just that the creature had managed to evade the beams with its great speed and erratic movements. Of course, that it was near-invisible to begin with probably contributed to the attacks not landing as well. More importantly however, was how the creature then proceeded to ignore her and continued on to try to attack the Japanese forces instead as if it deemed her as a no threat. Teodora grinned excitedly once more. It was easy to conclude that this creature's definitely a boss level just like the komainu Warped.
She'll let Lousia and Xuan-Yu frag that one. She'll take down this invisible one instead.
Teodora pretended a few soft coughs to the intercom before beginning to speak. "Yes. About keeping my eyes peeled while keeping my beams blasting, Mr. Lang... I'm afraid I will not be able to fulfill. The invisible one's headed straight to wreck havoc on our allies, you see..." She swung Uragan to the side once before taking on a fencing stance. The engines of her wings began to hum louder and louder as blue light once more can be seen gaining intensity within the exhausts. See, Uragan. I told you that your time to shine will yet come in this battle. Well, that time is now, fufu.
"As for coordinates, Seraphima... Follow my flames! Supplice, moving to close quarters combat!"
Right after that exclamation, powerful bursts of jetfires exploded from her wings, propelling her straight toward the near-invisible threat. Teodora abandoned overwatch duty in favor of engaging the imminent threat, one that she has concluded must be met with her rapier and rifle at close range, her beam rapier poised for a high speed jet-propelled stab right at the Warped reaching out with its forelimbs at the clueless Japanese forces' soldiers...
"Yes, yes. We shall. Let us begin!" Out of all people, Ryuuko didn't quite expect that Nazca would be the one to accompany her in the search for the slimy manbat. Still, Ryuuko didn't mind the company. Who knows, maybe this occasion will really proof to Ryuuko that despite the Abya Yalan's poor brunch choice, she'll be a capable companion out in the field. The devices Nazca lent to Ryuuko were already going to be of great help if they ended up really finding the manbat- or any other things that might prove to be useful in the search for evidences that can strengthen their defense of Jeanne's in court.
One minor worry at the back of her head was about the one who ended up keeping watch of Jeanne. Hopefully, the Frenchwomen really will behave and stay put as she were asked to and thus not giving Bang a lot of trouble to deal with.
The two girls had left the Incan-style apartment before the curfew began, avoiding the need of forcing their way out. As for breaking their way back in later on... Ryuuko's plan was simply to stay outside until the end of curfew. Anyhow, nothing that needs to be worried about now. Heh... Ryuuko looked around at the surrounding, now well and truly engulfed in the annoying seaweed scented mist. "Wonder if anyone else broke the curfew as well aside from us and potentially our enigmatic manbat, haha. Anyways..." She looked at Nazca as she paused, a wide toothy grin on her face. "Guess we should just start walking now. Let's stick together closely, eh?"
And with that, she turned around and started walking, expecting Nazca to follow closely after herself.
Place(s): Ruined City - Outskirts Time: Feb 23rd, 2057 - 11th Hour Interaction(s): Members of the Forward Team Walking through the outskirts of the Ruined City along with Erik, Akaia, and Poppy as part of the Forward Team, Cerise briefly stopped to look up at the dust-colored sky, Lariat held in her hands at the ready. It always feels a bit sad, walking in this city... she mused in her mind. It was far from the first time that she had entered and traveled through the city. Cerise had some now very vague memories of being in this city even before she joined the Commune. The city, after all, held within it many things to scavenge, and though most of it had been picked clean over the years it was very likely that some usable things yet remained that have not been looted yet. "I often wondered how it was to live here before things... went wrong." she mumbled softly mostly to herself.
She focused on being aware of her surroundings after her musing were done, continuing along with the others. It was soon after that that the whole team stopped, becoming aware of the horde of Losts that were not supposed to be there for half an hour more. Yet there they were, horrible once-Revenants that had became devoid of sanity, moving only according to their endless hunger. "....." Cerise observed them, sighing softly at the sight of the creatures. She didn't hate the Lost; they're miserable things victim to their own condition. Even though she had seen countless of them over the years, she remained feeling a bit sad at the thought that these creatures were once Revenants just like her and the others.
Still, she also knew that once a Revenant became Lost, then they remain Lost; no going back. She steeled herself, nodding as Poppy explained her plan and asked for Cerise to provide her with cover. "Got it, Poppy. Big Bro, Kaia, I'm moving up top... Be careful, everyone." Without missing a beat, she then started nimbly climbing up a nearby tall building, one with a faded out billboard on top of it. It was tall enough so that it will provide her with a clear line of sight of Poppy and the horde of Losts, while the billboard should be usable as cover to conceal her from immediate sight by the Losts. For this kind of building, she didn't even need to use her power to quickly get up to the roof; it was easy enough just to find the nooks and edges she needed to climb up.
Finding the rooftop clear of hostiles, Cerise quickly got in position, crouched low to the ground and peeking out from behind the bottom of one of the billboard's thick legs. She focused fully on the task of providing cover for Poppy, closing one eye while looking through Lariat's scope with the other, scanning the area while tracking Poppy's and the Losts' movements. It looked easy enough, and Poppy seemed to manage just fine with her first opium bomb, managing to neutralize some of the horde...
But then it happened very quickly. Cerise spotted the chain and sickle first before the Lost who wielded it. She quickly followed the chain back to the wielder just as the Infernal Lost slammed Poppy down into a car. It was then very obvious to Cerise what she needed to do. She adjusted her aim just as Poppy shouted out for her to take the Infernal out, all calculations such as the distance to the target and the strength and direction of the wind done nearly instantly out of an abundance of experiences and skill slowly honed over the years. She got it, the Infernal's head right in her sight, and all she had to do was to squeeze Lariat's trigger.
Then she heard the groaning noise behind her. Cerise's eyes widened as she gasped and promptly disappeared into a pool of shadowy tendrils just as something swished through where her head was just the moment before. She reappeared near the top of the billboard, eight tendrils resembling shadowy spider legs emerging from her back and attaching her to the billboard's back. She had Lariat already aimed at the attacker that had ambushed her, traces of shadowy tendrils still on the creature itself... It was a Lost, one that evidently used to be a Revenant that possessed powers similar to her own.
Cerise did not hesitate. She squeezed the trigger, firing a bullet right at the head of her attacker while shouting as hard as she can. "I'm ambushed! Big bro, Kaia, get Poppy out of there!"
Ryuuko listened to the others talk while finishing up with her meal. Information were exchanged, some new and some were confirmations of what she already knew. Good progress were definitely made in this first day that marked the start of their investigation. Things remained inconclusive, and a defense still needed to be made... But they still have two more days for that. And besides, there was still time yet to do more today, even in the lateness of night. It was something that Ryuuko had been considering to do depending on what information were discovered by the team.
"Alright then. I have an idea of something to do to possibly get us even closer to nailing this thing." Ryuuko grinned wide while pushing her eyeglasses up by the bridge of it with the middle finger of her right hand. "It's pretty obvious, but what the heck I'll state it nonetheless. As we all know, that Robespierre kid's prosecution focus is on making out this whole thing as if it's the fact that Jeanne's the only one that's guilty about what happened. So, we really need to bag this manbat person or at least find more evidences of their involvement with the incidence, thus allowing us to call bull on that kid's primary point of argument." She paused a bit as she considered her next statements. "Now, we also know that this manbat themselves claimed that they're an opportunist... Yes, we don't know exactly what they meant by that, but I feel that we might as well do a gambit by baiting this opportunist with an, well, opportunity. A bait that they will hopefully take. That is to say... I'm going to break the curfew tonight and see if the manbat will show up again or not."
"Now, of course, this doesn't necessarily mean there will be a fight or some other such... dramatic happening. To that end, I'm wondering if any of you have an audio recording device that I can borrow. Nazca maybe?" She looked at the Abya Yalan girl as she spoke so, continuing "If not, then even just a camera will do. Anyways, in the end, the point is to collect potential evidences to build our defense... So I am open if anyone have more ideas of what I should do or bring with me while I'm out breaking the curfew. To make the most out of it and such. Or hey... Maybe any of you would like to accompany me on this endeavor? Haha."
Ryuuko then sipped on some drink as she finished speaking. However, she soon spoke up again after remembering a certain thing that she had forgotten to mention. "Ah, right. One more thing." She turned to look at Jeanne, giving the Frenchwomen a friendly smile as she addressed her directly "Jeanne, I'd like to ask you to please stay put for tonight. After all, we need to keep you out of trouble for the sake of us all. Surely you understand, yes?"
Place(s): Battlefield - Saitama Prefecture Time: Afternoon Interaction(s): Other members of the Defense Team
The Naughty Komainu & The Sneaky... Something
Looking good. Looking good indeed. Fufu, these Warped doesn't stand a chance! Teodora smiled as she continued surveying the battlefield while taking out of some of the Warped that were getting too close to the Japanese forces' defensive line. Things were far from over, but it really did seemed like the situation was starting to turn for the better. And add to that the decent number of Warped that she had personally fragged! She was getting quite giddy of her rising kill count. One thing however, was starting to bother her. Still... This is getting a bit boring, isn't it? It's just more of these oni-like Warped... Are there not supposed to be more variations? I'd love for some bigger target to show up right now...
It was then that the creature showed up, fulfilling Teodora's wish for a tougher foe. The truck-sized creature was anything but subtle, boldly announcing its presence to the entire Defense Team. It looked rather like a komainu, though unlike the komainu of the legends, this one was a rather naughty and destructive one. It definitely looked much tougher than the small fry Warped that had been charging at the Defense team; very much like a boss-class enemy. Of course, with its entrance being as bombastic as it was, Teodora immediately spotted it. An excited smile grew wider and wider on her face as she saw the creature charging at Louisa. "Oh my, finally a big one! Heads up, everyone! We got a big, big naughty dog attempting to breach through, heading straight for Grendel!" Teodora then pointed her rifle at the creature, ready to provide fire support. "Supplice, engag- Nggggg? Waaaait a minute, what-...?"
Her words were cut off as she caught a very out of place shimmer out of the corner of her eyes. It was enough to cause her to fully turn to face toward the direction where she saw it. It was brief, and she couldn't seem to immediately spot anything that might be the source of the shimmer, causing her to wonder if her eyes had simply played some tricks on her... That felt veeery very wrong though. Like something reaaally fishy is going on. Her guts were telling her otherwise. And thus she decided to give it a better look, focusing her sight on the area as she looked through the holosight of her rifle. For a few moments, she scanned the area without any result, causing her to start doubting her gut feeling. Then, just as her mind were telling her that she's wasting her time when there's a big and juicy target to frag... "Oh!" She gasped as she spotted it. Whatever it was, it wasn't perfectly invisible; it left faint traces, an almost transparent outline betraying its position along with its movements. And judging from the trajectory of its movement... While the komainu was being completely blatant and explosive with its advance, this one was the exact opposite. It was very obviously trying to go for a sneak attack against the soldiers now attacking the komainu.
Teodora wasted no time. She was already looking down the holosight of her rifle anyway, with it pointed right at the sneaky near-invisible creature. Without hesitation, she fired three streaks of beams from her rifle in quick succession at it while at the same time notifying her teammates of the threat. "Watch out, everyone! We have another quirky Warped trying to flank our Japanese forces allies here! Kind of invisible, not sure what it is! I'm engaging!"
Seriously, pineapples are, like, miracle fruits. Pineapple jelly? Yum. Pineapple juice? Ooooh. Pineapple cake? Yesss. Pineapple cookie? Godly! Pineapple salad? Ambrosia. Pineapple pizza? [s]The best pizza there is, fight me.[/s] Got nothing to do with pens though, so I wonder what that one Japanese guy was all about...
Now on to actual info:
[s]1. I love pineapples[/s]
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Seriously, pineapples are, like, miracle fruits. Pineapple jelly? Yum. Pineapple juice? Ooooh. Pineapple cake? Yesss. Pineapple cookie? Godly! Pineapple salad? Ambrosia. Pineapple pizza? <span class="bb-s">The best pizza there is, fight me.</span> Got nothing to do with pens though, so I wonder what that one Japanese guy was all about...<br><br>Now on to actual info:<br><span class="bb-s">1. I love pineapples</span></div>
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