The World

Symphony of Espers

Marrie Knight

Marrie jumped back in surprise as the coin flew out of her hand and transformed. She drew her Instrument immediately, ready to fight. Soon came the butler and schoolgirl, throwing off her guard. She didn't know what she expected, but it wasn't them. Then a rather handsome man followed with a... armoire? Or was it technically a dresser? No time to get into the specifics of finer home design.

Wait, monologue? Von Carnage? Justin? She'd heard those names before. Or rather, read them. GEMINI was after someone with that name, she saw it on Shimr. Was he a bad guy?

...

Then again, it was GEMINI who was after him, so all that really meant was that he wasn't human. She was about to say something when the girl pointed a sword at Pac-A-Fist. That wasn't a very good first impression. Given how beat up the wardrobe was, and that they seemed to arrive in a hurry, they had probably just been fighting GEMINI agents. Hopefully they were all okay; being a GEMINI agent didn't make someone bad any more than being a monster did, after all.

And then Justin opened his eyes. Marrie was mostly used to the smell of the area by now, but that vision made her throw up. There seemed to be a trend of that in her career as an Esper... By the time she regained her composure, the girl had Pac in a compromising position and the three were getting ready to leave. Justin turned to Marrie and asked if she was the person who had found what seemed to be his coin.

”I was the coin collector, and you did well to protect it as long as you did. Maybe you’d be interested in serving me?”

... Another bad sign, but he did have an aristocratic air to him, so maybe he just didn't know common sense. The blood thing was disturbing, but deformities aren't evil either. Marrie thought for a few seconds before replying.

"I guess if I'm not getting paid for the coin... If you were the one who was going to pay up for it, you probably have enough to hire me, since you technically already did, but..." Marrie pointed at Pac-A-Fist. "You gotta let her go, first. I try not to judge people, but kidnapping is a bridge too far. So let her go and I wouldn't mind teaming up, I guess."

Marrie looked over the other two people and then back to Justin, waiting for his response.

Causal Truth (i.e. Justin plays along)

As soon as Pac-A-Fist was let go, Marrie sighed with relief. She had been hoping that giving these guys the benefit of the doubt would work out, and it seemed like she was right to do so.

"The name's Ma-... Er... Right, aliases. Call me... Shit. I can't think of a good one. How about... Hmm... Tsube?" Now there was a reference these people wouldn't get. But it would work, she doubted there were any other 'Tsube's in Pax, so it should avoid any confusion with other people.

She made sure that Stacy's body was in a safe but out of the way spot and that Pac was going to stay with it, and then got ready to follow Justin and co. to their destination.

Fated Ideals (a.k.a. Justin is a bitch)

Well, she tried. She sighed and shook her head. "Sorry, but no-can-do. I don't help kidnappers, but I'm not stupid enough to try to fight three people who have a hostage. But if you hurt her, I'll hunt you down." Marrie spat with enough venom to make an Inland Taipan keel over dead. Then she stepped to the side to allow the four to get by, making sure to step the opposite direction from Stacy's body in the hopes they wouldn't notice it.

---

19 | Female | Freelancer | Misty Steps
Apex Predator | Dagger | Physical | Mirror Shine
Wind-Carved Glacier | Masking
Step of the Hurricane | Wind | Riding the Currents
[Storm (4), Flight (6)] Damage X (6), Slow Fall (4), Blink (4), Magic Sense (6), Heal (16), Portal (8), Rain (2), Bounce (0), If Foe (0)

DAMAGE: E | SPEED: D | SENTINEL: C | 426

PHYSICAL: E | ARCANE: D | CHAOS: C | 426

Symphony of Espers

Marrie Knight

Marrie knew what she should do. It wasn't the most economical thing, but... It would have to work. As quickly as she could, she fired a Bronze Projectile Portal at the ground, then jumped through it with the coin and Stacy's body before closing it behind her. It was time to put her plan into action. She waited where she came out before carefully placing Stacy on the ground and pulling out her phone. She took a picture of the coin, a picture of Stacy's body, and sent out a special message to the two flaming twins in a group chat.

-Hello.
-You probably don't know me, unless Pac-A-Fist told you about me for some reason.
-I doubt that but maybe.
-Anyway I found the coin.
-[Picture Attached]
-So uh...
-I have a proposition.
-I haven't decided what to do with it yet.
-But I know you guys have.
-So here's my offer.
-If you guys can get the head of a zombie girl that the giant snake ate.
-[Picture Attached]
-That's the girl. Her body is safe.
-So if you can get it and bring it to the entrance to the sewers.
-I'll let whichever of you brings her back there decide what happens to the coin.
-I'll even give you a fourth of the reward for your choice.
-(I'm taking a fourth, giving a fourth to the zombie girl, and a fourth to Pac just so you know)
-Otherwise, I might hide it somewhere. I'll ask Pac if that's feasible or not.
-If not I'll flip it to decide, IDK.
-So I hope you'll help me and the zombie.
-And sort of by extension the goblins who live there?
-BTW her name is Stacy/Stacie (not sure how it's spelled)
-Oh that reminds me I need to think up a good moniker.
-That's irrelevant sorry.
-Good luck, I bet you two can take down the Highway pretty easily.

Marrie sat down next to Stacy's corpse and waited to see what would happen.

---

19 | Female | Freelancer | Misty Steps
Apex Predator | Dagger | Physical | Mirror Shine
Wind-Carved Glacier | Masking
Step of the Hurricane | Wind | Riding the Currents
[Storm (4), Flight (6)] Damage X (6), Slow Fall (4), Blink (4), Magic Sense (6), Heal (16), Portal (8), Rain (2), Bounce (0), If Foe (0)

DAMAGE: E | SPEED: D | SENTINEL: C | 506

Melody: Bronze Projectile - Portal = 80

PHYSICAL: E | ARCANE: D | CHAOS: C | 426

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by The World>

Thank you. What should I do?

@Warwick

Well. I don't really know. Do you want to play the RP or are you asking for more generalized advice?

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Nimda>

I don't know.

@Warwick

No worries. Sorry that you felt ignored, we just didn't really know what to do either.

Symphony of Espers

Marrie Knight

Marrie wasn't going to let the world get away with this. She picked up Stacy's body, slung it over her left shoulder carefully to make sure the chainsaw was pointed away from her, and aimed at the wagon the goblin with the coin was on. She cast a silver blink at the goblin itself, adjusting slightly just in case they started moving. She had a plan, and it was a good plan, but the conditions had to be just right. When she arrived at the goblin, she'd grab it with her right arm and jump out of the wagon with it. Or if she couldn't get a good enough grip, she'd just have to ride the wagon with the goblin and try to reason with it while it moved instead of once it was restrained. She didn't plan to let go of Stacy's body either, though she was tempted to take the chainsaw out, she was relatively certain that doing so would kill the poor girl by making her transform back to mundane form while her head was being digested.

---

19 | Female | Freelancer | Misty Steps
Apex Predator | Dagger | Physical | Mirror Shine
Wind-Carved Glacier | Masking
Step of the Hurricane | Wind | Riding the Currents
[Storm (4), Flight (6)] Damage X (6), Slow Fall (4), Blink (4), Magic Sense (6), Heal (16), Portal (8), Rain (2), Bounce (0), If Foe (0)

DAMAGE: E | SPEED: D | SENTINEL: C | 566

Melody: Silver Projectile - Blink = 60

PHYSICAL: E | ARCANE: D | CHAOS: C | 506

Symphony of Espers

Marrie Knight

"Hey, girl! Over there!" Marrie shouted at the giant snake as she ripped one of the goblins off her leg and threw it at the far wall. It hurt like hell, but it was better than letting them slow her down. She repeated this with the other three, smacking them on the back of the head to stun them just before pulling them off to make them open their mouths. Once they were all in a pile at the other side of the snake, she ran to get Stacie's head and turned on heel to run after her body.

"Get back here you little shits!" came from her mouth as she cast a simple Heal melody.

---

19 | Female | Freelancer | Misty Steps
Apex Predator | Dagger | Physical | Mirror Shine
Wind-Carved Glacier | Masking
Step of the Hurricane | Wind | Riding the Currents
[Storm (4), Flight (6)] Damage X (6), Slow Fall (4), Blink (4), Magic Sense (6), Heal (16), Portal (8), Rain (2), Bounce (0), If Foe (0)

DAMAGE: E | SPEED: D | SENTINEL: C | 614

Melody: Bronze Self - Heal = 48

PHYSICAL: E | ARCANE: D | CHAOS: C | 566

Symphony of Espers

Marrie Knight

Marrie didn't know you could thrust a machete until now. Granted, it was mostly just like cutting with a knife, only in reverse, sort of? Regardless, it hurt, and it was annoying. But her plan, if it could be called that, was working. The goblins were centered on her and Stacy was... Not rushing past them like she expected. Great. Still, they were making a lot of noise and hitting the stalagmites above her in an effort to crush her. She waited another moment, parrying the attacks that continued coming, before jumping back and running forward, jumping onto the shield of the foremost goblin and hopping over it.

Twisting in midair she landed behind the goblins, facing them, and began backing up towards the door.

"Hurry up, Stacie!" she shouted at the other girl before kicking at the door behind her with her right leg.

---

19 | Female | Freelancer | Misty Steps
Apex Predator | Dagger | Physical | Mirror Shine
Wind-Carved Glacier | Masking
Step of the Hurricane | Wind | Riding the Currents
[Storm (4), Flight (6)] Damage X (6), Slow Fall (4), Blink (4), Magic Sense (6), Heal (16), Portal (8), Rain (2), Bounce (0), If Foe (0)

DAMAGE: E | SPEED: D | SENTINEL: C | 614

PHYSICAL: E | ARCANE: D | CHAOS: C | 614

Symphony of Espers

Marrie Knight

'Stacy Stiches'? That was a bit too on-the-nose to not be an alias. As she walked towards the goblins, she thought on how to respond, eventually settling on something far out in left field. After all, there was Knuckles, who unlike Sonic did not chuckle, and there was Sonic, who was the Knight of the Wind. Why not borrow the mantle of a hero? Though it was a bit of a mouthful... She opened her mouth to say something before realizing that she'd be giving half her name if she went by "Knight," stopping herself. Maybe something equally abstract, though? Marrie had a little lamb, and the -apex predator- of lambs was a wolf, right? Unfortunately, there was no wolf in Sonic lore.

... Why the hell was she obsessing over Sonic the motherfucking Hedgehog as her alias' origin? There had to be something easier. Let's see... She was running from Jörmungandr, so if she took inspiration from Norse, she could replace it with Nidhöggr, which would make the perfect match with Vedfolnir. "Wind-Bleached" indeed. It was this thought that occupied her as she nearly bumped into the foremost goblin, so deep in thought that she forgot her surroundings. In the end, she didn't give an alias to Stacy. She merely looked to the goblins, raised a hand, and waved at them.

"Hello. May we borrow your... Wagons?" She turned to Stacy. "It was wagons you're after, right?"

She resolved to come up with an alias once this mission was over. After all, "MKUltra," while the username she went by on Shimr, wasn't exactly something that rolled off the tongue.

---

19 | Female | Freelancer | Misty Steps
Apex Predator | Dagger | Physical | Mirror Shine
Wind-Carved Glacier | Masking
Step of the Hurricane | Wind | Riding the Currents
[Storm (4), Flight (6)] Damage X (6), Slow Fall (4), Blink (4), Magic Sense (6), Heal (16), Portal (8), Rain (2), Bounce (0), If Foe (0)

DAMAGE: E | SPEED: D | SENTINEL: C | 614

PHYSICAL: E | ARCANE: D | CHAOS: C | 614

Symphony of Espers

Marrie Knight

Marrie turned the corner and ran into a girl with a chainsaw in her stomach. How it was stuck there while running was beyond her, magic presumably. Otherwise it would cut through her thanks to gravity, right? So the girl must not just be a zombie, but likely an Esper as well. She managed to procure that much before the zombie made her final lap around her, stopping too close for comfort with the chainsaw in relation to Marrie.

"Can't we, like... convince them to let us through? And why do we need... oh, right, the giant snake. Alright, sure, let's go talk to them."

If nothing else, if the goblins started a fight, Marrie was confident she could get past them and that they'd then distract the HFIL out of the HFHL.

... Maybe the fact that she made dragonball jokes in life or death situations had something to do with why god hated her enough to send the serpent after her. She began walking towards the goblins, turning the light off.

---

19 | Female | Freelancer | Misty Steps
Apex Predator | Dagger | Physical | Mirror Shine
Wind-Carved Glacier | Masking
Step of the Hurricane | Wind | Riding the Currents
[Storm (4), Flight (6)] Damage X (6), Slow Fall (4), Blink (4), Magic Sense (6), Heal (16), Portal (8), Rain (2), Bounce (0), If Foe (0)

DAMAGE: E | SPEED: D | SENTINEL: C | 614

PHYSICAL: E | ARCANE: D | CHAOS: C | 614

Symphony of Espers

Marrie Knight

Huh. Looked like the goblins were more scared of her than she was of them. Which to be fair, wasn't much on her end. And she was going to offer them some advice, too. She stood for a moment as she watched them flee, before beginning to bounce while standing still like a cartoon from the ground rumbling. She turned around, and that's when she saw it.

That's fucking cheating.

Silver Projectile - Bounce - Blink

She immediately launched a magic missile ahead of her, angling the shot so that she Blinked just past the visible range of the right tunnel. As much as she'd love to not have to, it seemed like her best bet would be to let the goblins play bait. They lived here, they probably knew how to avoid the Jörmungandr bastard, right? Right. As soon as she landed she bolted down the tunnel, towards whatever was making that mechanical sound. She hoped this snake didn't have heat vision, or at least would consider the bigger meal down the other tunnel more enticing.

---

19 | Female | Freelancer | Misty Steps
Apex Predator | Dagger | Physical | Mirror Shine
Wind-Carved Glacier | Masking
Step of the Hurricane | Wind | Riding the Currents
[Storm (4), Flight (6)] Damage X (6), Slow Fall (4), Blink (4), Magic Sense (6), Heal (16), Portal (8), Rain (2), Bounce (0), If Foe (0)

DAMAGE: E | SPEED: D | SENTINEL: C | 686

Silver Projectile - Bounce - Blink: 72

PHYSICAL: E | ARCANE: D | CHAOS: C | 614