Yankee — Roleplayer Guild

⤛ Varlam ⤜

Early Morning.
Location: Courtyards
Interactions: None directly / Alphonse, Eilidh, and Miyuki mentioned
A shadow passed over the condominium grounds, broad and swift. No sound accompanied it, at least until the being that cast it alighted on the roof of the area's middle building. Large hooked talons scrapped against the building's concrete lip, followed shortly by a drawn out yawn.

It wasn't that often that Varlam left the condo's magic bubble, but sometimes the feeling of being too cooped up grew and grew until he needed to stretch his wings and just fly. Get away from everyone and everything for a bit and feel the wind caress his face and weave through his feathers. At times like that he left in middle of the night and only returned hours later, when the sun starting rising again. A precaution against being spotted by any humans, a situation which he definitely didn't want a repeat of. Regardless, he was back home now. Tired, but always unable to go right to sleep after getting back from a long flight. 

Luckily, there were people out and about even during that early hour. Being around so many people all of the time contributed to the build up of that stifling feel, but it was also part of the reason living in the city was so fun. Watching the other monsters was a... pastime of sorts for Varlam, so when he heard the sounds of conversation from below he turned so that he could easily peer down at the open space between buildings, perched and leaning over like a dark gargoyle.

He took notice of three people initially. The first was the mothman, which was unusual. He didn't recall ever seeing that one while the sun was out before. Then again, after the first time meeting him led to a scolding by the property's manager due Varlam trying to touch the man's mesmerizing wings (claws should not be used in situations like that he was told), the sirin hadn't seen much of him at all. Beside said mothman was the centaur woman, whom Varlam did often see making laps around the area. They even chatted sometimes - Eilidh was very open and sociable, and from what she'd said of her early life it was similar to Varlam's own up until recently. The third person was... wait, who was that?

Varlam cocked his head to one side, bright yellow eyes staring at the fox woman seated on a bench. Was this a new resident, or had he just not run into this person before? He normally made it a point to know who all was living in the complex, more out of curiosity than anything else, so the fact that hers was seemingly a new face intrigued him. 

He continued blatantly spying on the three of them, watching Alphonse head indoors and Eilidh go speak to the fox-person. Varlam was nearly as still as a statue up there on the roof, only the soft breeze ruffling his feathers while he soaked in the morning sun. He hardly even blinked. 

Ace Cadet, Pit,
Primrose, & Therion

Level: 9 - Total EXP: 257/90---------Level: 8 - Total EXP: 159/80
Level: 11 - Total EXP: 184/110------Level: 10 - Total EXP: 112/100
𝙱𝙿●●●●●----------------------------𝙱𝙿●●●●●
Tuesday Morning.
Location: The Avenger ➜ The Dead Zone
Word Count: 2589 (+3 exp)

Following breakfast the Seekers went into their final preparations. Most swung by their quarters and the armory, including the Ace Cadet. He'd intended to accompany Nadia, but after popping back into the line for a little extra food to quickly scarf down (which coincidentally Therion did too, though he tucked the fruits into his bag instead of eat them immediately) he found they'd ended up going opposite directions. He swung back by the stockpile first before heading to the living area.

Although he trusted that the field emitter would work, it was always better to be safe than sorry. He'd learned that way too many times in the past. So in order to take the shieldpack alone with him, his deceptively spacious square backpack would have to stay behind. That also meant that he wouldn't be able to take along any excess weaponry, something he'd been kind of taking for granted for a while.

Choosing which to bring with him turned out to be harder than he initially thought it would be. Since he would be holding the field emitter, the greatbow would be impossible to use until they got to the Qliphoth - which meant it would just be taking up space compared to, say, the Master Bang whose blade could be wielded in one hand. Even the breechshot he'd spent some time tinkering with would be a better choice, as he'd be able to steady it against his shoulder and hold the emitter at the same time while firing, if need be. So while leaving the bow behind was a quick decision, his other options proved to take a lot more thought - especially since he'd only recently swapped out the trusty Nightsky Ripper for another beautiful long sword he'd discovered in the Avenger's armory. It even had what looked like slots for jewels and other augmentations. Though he'd love to use it right away, it had the same issue as the bow.

"What to pick..." he murmured to himself, the options laid out in front of him on his bunk. He wanted to get to the hangar soon so there would be enough time for a crash course in how the emitter worked if it was needed, so he couldn't spend too much longer deciding. 

Unsurprisingly, other Seekers were much quicker with their arrangements. Having already offloaded a lot of his spare items and equipment, Therion didn't have much inventory to reorganize prior to the mission. He did leave behind his simple shortsword (with his smaller, more compact weaponry he figured he wouldn't need it, especially since he could now summon a wraith blade), but otherwise everything he usually kept on him could easily stay even with the extra protective backpack they'd all be taking. The weapon laid next to two bottled spirits that he wasn't sure would even still be there when he got back, the wrestler he'd fought and the monster Primrose had, whose spirit she'd given him to hang onto. Therion did seriously considered taking that big umbrella along but ultimately the rain would not be harmful, just very unpleasant, which he could deal with. 

...well, so long as these experimental devices actually worked it wouldn't be harmful. Here's hoping, he thought, making his way to the hangar where most of the Seekers would deploy from. 

With no preparation to be done, Therion was one of the earlier people to arrive. It gave him a little extra time to fiddle with the equipment he was taking, that being only the bubble pack and raincoat. The latter he wrapped around himself tightly, letting his ears lay flat under the hood and tucking his tail up inside. The pack he slid on over top of it. 

Another early arrival was Pit, who had pretty much went right from the mess hall to the hangar. Everything that the angel relied on he could summon at will and he'd just finished fighting through a mini-war before this, so he didn't have anything else to do but wait and mentally prepare. At the time that Therion was suiting up in the raincoat, Pit was wrestling with one himself. 

Unlike the other winged Seekers that could use their wings to actually fly, since Pit couldn't use his third pair of limbs for that there wasn't a need to cut a space for them out. Not that he would want to in the first place. Having seen the timefall firsthand and how fast it worked to age whatever it touched, he planned to keep his wings under as many layers of protection as possible. That emitter was one, the shield pack (which it looked like he was sort of right about being similar to the bubble-like shield he thought it would be) was another, and the final portion would be the coat that he was currently struggling to properly fit his wings under now that they were larger than before. Thankfully the solution was easy enough - just swap to a slightly bigger coat. Though a little oversized everywhere else, the extra synthetic fabric made it much more comfortable to close his wings inside of and still strap the shieldpack on so that it laid in the space on his back between each feathered appendage. 

Primrose entered soon afterward, having left her ice lance behind. The devout beads she'd picked up were swirling in a slow circle at her back, unimpeded by the coat and shieldpack she slipped on. For this mission she would focus solely on support - looking after the BB she'd be carrying, keeping watch for the BTs on behalf of the larger group, and helping them out with her dancing when she could. Of course she still had her magic if needed in a pinch, and the rosary as an easy back up. 

As she was outfitted with the device designed to the hold the BB, Primrose listened intently to the explanation of how it worked. The sensor would deploy automatically, and so long as the BBs themselves were kept safe the whole thing would function autonomously... the carriers would just have to pay attention to how the sensor, and the BBs, reacted to the environment. It seemed simple enough to her ears, but whether that was the case in action she'd soon find out. The dancer glanced down at the BB, and the little Peach looked up at her at the same time. That big crown in the pod on top of the baby's head made her look a bit comical, and Primrose smiled despite the gravity of the mission they'd be taking on. 

"I'll make sure you're alright," she told the BB quietly. She had hardly known Peach, only meeting her briefly a few times before they'd ended up in different areas of the world, but she clearly meant a lot to some of the Seekers. This Peach wasn't the same person really, but even if their survival didn't hinge on the BBs looking after her was the least Primrose could do. "Ready to go?"

Baby Peach smiled around her pacifier, curling her little hands into fists and nodding. 

After deciding on his load out, the Ace Cadet appeared in the hangar as well. In the end he couldn't resist bringing along the new sword, so it sat on his back over the raincoat where it would wait to be used until they arrived at the location of the Dead Zone's guardian, the smooth amber gem called Fervent Fang fit into one of the grooves on the blade. The hunter's rigging was present now, extending out from his waist beneath where the shieldpack would rest. They were too useful to leave behind - part firearm, part sword, and with their size they could even function as makeshift shields. Probably. He hadn't tried that yet. He also had the makeshift bowgun, along with what ammo he'd been able to make with his alchemy barrel after dumping a lot of his extra little items into it. The thought had popped into his head that the increased grip of the leg armor he'd picked up in Edinburgh might help with a rain soaked environment, so he'd changed that out as well. 

He was about as ready as he could be, and though it looked like there wouldn't be time to talk with Nadia beforehand there would be plenty of it after they got back. While Tora, Poppi, and E. Gadd worked on last minute fine-tuning of the emitter, the Cadet went over to greet them. They gave him a run down on how to turn the device on and off, a much more simple affair than expected. He did question them a little about any quick fixes he could do in case the field failed at any point, but otherwise he left them to focus on the task at hand. At least until they deemed it ready and pressed the pole into his hands. 

They piled into the Pelican then, only a couple Seekers opting (or needing) to take a hellpod. The ride was a bumpy one, but it wasn't too bad until Sandalphon checked in with them. Her listing of side-effects made Therion raise an eyebrow as he muttered sarcastically under his breath about the 'good news.' In the grand scheme of things he wasn't that learned, but if the chiralium was atmospheric wouldn't it get to them on the ground too? Or was the machine that the Ace Cadet held supposed to protect them from that too?

Speaking of Ace, he glanced down and flipped the emitter on when instructed, which was when the ride got even rougher. He didn't feel any different whatsoever once the emitter was on, but it was easy to see that a lot of other people had felt some kind of change. That poor Neopteron was completely laid out. And though initially a little confused about Nadia's comment, the black and pink suited woman's afterward (which he now knew must be the infamous Juri) quickly connected the dots for him. 

She's...? In hindsight, it made total sense that the power that let her split herself up and heal from pretty much any injury must have had some kind of supernatural basis. He's just never really thought about it. So that meant the field emitter would weaken that same ability? Since the feral seemed nervous, she obviously thought that was the case.

"You'll be fine," he assured her, his firm voice hopefully counteracting Juri's ominous words.

When the Pelican completed its descent, everyone shuffled off to wait for the pods to drop from up above. Now that they were actually here there was no turning back now. The Seekers gathered briefly, getting a good example of the emitter actually working while they prepared to move out. At that point Ace found himself, or more accurately the emitter he was carrying, surrounded by the group's toughest guys, which kind of amused him. At the very least if something happened to him, he could pass the field emitter off to one of them. 

Following Edward's suggestion of how to move about, Primrose gestured for Goldlewis or Roland to move up ahead so that she could keep a position in the rear. Whether they went with Edward's plan or Juri's spontaneous one didn't matter to her much, so long as she could effectively do her job. 

She did end up drifting a little to one side as though to form the square, but before everyone spread out too much within the field she made a suggestion of her own. "If it comes down to us needing to run, a few of us can speed everyone up," she said, nodding toward Zenkichi whom she knew also had a speed amplifying ability. "Or if we get our footing and just want to move faster, let me know. My dancing won't be as... potent, in this field, but if it can help to get us to our destination sooner..."

She left the offer on the table. She could see that more than a few of their group was suffering from the magic-dampening, those whose very existence very likely hinged on their magic or other such power. Of course she was far from the only one that could see that. At the center of the group, the Ace Cadet had opened his mouth to reject that suggestion off the bat. But he hesitated, seeing the state that some of his comrades were in. The Qliphoth wasn't that far away, but ultimately their pace would be set by him - and if he decided to drag things out for his own comfort it would just cause unnecessary stress for everyone else.

"...sure. Let's see how things go first, but the sooner the better, right?" he said, his grip on the field emitter tightening. 

Though Therion agreed with the sentiment, he had to point out, "too fast and we'll run right into something though."

They'd definitely need to get a handle on the terrain and their equipment before even considering picking their pace up. For now, when the Seekers moved they did it slowly. And tried to follow Juri and Roland's questionably helpful advice.

"How quiet do you think we actually have to be?" Pit asked, his voice sitting somewhere between a whisper and his regular speaking voice. The rain itself was pretty loud after all, and it didn't seem like anything had been drawn in by the noise of the Pelican. Maybe the Goddess of Light knew more, or could remotely view the Seekers and help point out any BTs if she could see them.

Lady Palutena, have you heard of anything like these BT things before? Any extra tips?

...

...? Um. Lady Palutena?

...orry, Pit. ...nnection is pretty bad ri... now.

Pit hadn't once considered that the emitter would affect Palutena's divine powers, so he paused in shock. Sure he'd gone most of the whole time since being un-Galeemified without her guidance, but he still would much prefer to have it than not. He skipped ahead a bit, checking in if the divine cell service was better in certain spots versus others - and then repeating the process. 

As he moved up, Primrose quietly called out any action the oradeck picked up on just in case. So far so good, at least at the very start. With Pit's connection to Skyworld still spotty he kept flitting around to find a spot within the field that would better let him talk with his goddess, eventually his boot catching on a slick piece of stone. Far from the storied guard captain some of the Seekers had seen in the previous days, Pit slipped with a bit off sound of surprise - though before he hit the ground Therion caught the angel by the scruff. The thief roughly set Pit back onto his feet, and Pit gave him a sheepishly grateful look in return.

Not everyone was fortunate enough to avoid a dip in the mud. When Edelgard went down the whole group stopped and waited with bated breath, prepared to jump to her aid even against the deadly, unseen enemy. Thankfully it didn't come to that, as Geralt's quick thinking lured it away. When they all moved on, it was even more cautious than before. That thing, assuming it had been a BT, had made nary a sound, and the hand prints it left behind were difficult to spot in the rain and shifting mud... so if nothing else, the misstep was a good demonstration of why the BBs actually were needed for anyone that had been doubting them.

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