Chevaleresse

An interesting move, but not an optimal one; that would catch me off guard were this a decade after my awakening. Let's see how she reacts to this. Her blade was extended past the point where it could threaten, though just barely, and Snow's blade was aiming to remove her ability to threaten entirely. Mitsurugi would have tried something a bit more daring, but her opponent was still largely an unknown factor. Trying to do anything to her or her blade directly would likely stop a mortal warrior in their tracks with frostbite. She brought her blade straight to the side, angling it just enough to keep the tip of Snow's pointed at the air behind her instead of at her arm; this also placed the edge of her blade toward Snow's body. Pressing the attack from here could end in either swordsman's death, were this a real fight; the strike would either fall on her opponent, or the opening would result in her being cut down - or both. Instead, she retreated back outside of Snow's reach with a slash, more meant to ward off the chance of a followup than to actually strike with lethal intent.

Hiroki ignores the man for now, trying not to embarrass herself further. I knew this would happen. I knew it. As soon as I took off the cloak the respect vanished. All of it, all at once. Why does it have to be so hard to get people to take me seriously? Haven't I fought hard enough? What about all the people I had to beat to get here? I beat some of the best fighters in Tempest without breaking a sweat. I even had that bastard pull that horrible trick on me and still won. But of course, a fragile little girl like me couldn't do anything, right? Her reaction to seeing Halley already in the kitchen is. . . somewhat less than pleasant, with her making an irritable noise and immediately looking for a place where she wouldn't be in her line of sight, eventually settling for a slump against the side of a cabinet.

Mitsurugi drew her weapon with a slow motion. It might have seemed like a motion intended to cow an opponent, to seem more threatening, but her eyes weren't fixed on her opponent; rather, they focused on the blade itself with an odd reverence. Only for the moment, however; their golden surfaces quickly returned to Snow. Feel out your opponent. She radiates an aura of ease that a less competent fighter would not. It wouldn't do to show her entire hand immediately to the woman. She brought the blade into a medium guard, well-balanced for both offense and defense, before circling the Divine Knight for three steps. On the fourth, she made an exploratory thrust, aimed at Snow's right hand. Aelia's champion would discover one thing very quickly; Mitsurugi was fast, incredibly so.

"So. . . you basically have miniature stars for powering your ships, which sail between worlds instead of over the water. And there's a kind of matter that, if it touches other matter, turns into a ton of pure energy? Does it have to match, or can it be any kind of it? I wonder, if I could find a spell to create some of that, I could get something even more efficient than the Eternity Beam. . ." She seemed to be sketching out some sort of plan in her head already, before Edmond continued his explanation. "Oh, thinking machines. Yeah, I get that, you just use electricity instead of magic to run them, right? I've never bothered with golems or anything, personally; usually I have the issue of things thinking too much already, I don't need to go making more things that are going to be wandering around and getting me into trouble. But, you use them in everyday life? Huh. I wonder what you'd even use them for all the time. I guess they'd probably be able to look through a library or something for you, or maybe just remember all the information you'll need. . . Interesting. So, book prices. Hum. Well, do you have anything that'd be worth trading for this?" Apprentice's Tome

Hellfire Knight vs. LOLI_HUNTER Shit, she's too fast! I have to just take this hit, and then try to catch her on the recovery with a blast - huh? Kagari's blow had stopped a breath away from impact. The automated barrage flicked off as Hiroki herself froze entirely. Is this some kind of trick? The halberd clattering to the ice rang in her ears. Is that her special ability? Does she have a signature attack that activates when she's disarmed. . .? The apparent lack of any followup to this action stumped her utterly. The bulky mech rotated slightly in place, to face the opponent directly. "Kagari? What are you doing?"

Mitsurugi nods. "I agree. I believe I saw one that one of these rooms was entirely empy; shall we move there?" The woman didn't seem to be upset; the goddess was glad. Most people's idea of meditation was peace and quiet - or, at least that was the idea of those who didn't practice a martial art. This prospect also provided another distraction to think of; she'd never fought someone who had trained in the Western tradition. Though Snow wasn't from her world, she resembled the paintings she'd happened to have seen of the Western knights to a degree; perhaps the resemblance ran deeper than that?

Marisa frowns in concentration as she tries to absorb Edmond's explanation of his world. "I think I get the general idea. . . There's a lot of terminology in there I don't understand, though. I've never heard of antimatter, deuterium, or computers, to start. I think I get what you mean about the chemical weapons, though. . . that's guns, right? Metal tubes that you put blasting powder into, and then they fling a little piece of metal out the end. . ." She pantomimes this with one hand going forward, as if to demonstrate her understanding. "I've run across them a couple times, but I don't think I'd ever trust one over a bow or a spell. Hmm. . . I don't suppose you've got a book that would explain things in a more digestible form? That'd be a fair trade."

"I don't want your stupid drinks. I want you. . . whatever. You'll see how funny I am." She stalked off - as well as someone her size could stalk while barefoot, anyway - in the direction of the kitchen. If Halley didn't get out of the way, she'd soon have a door crashing into her.

"I realize that you came here to meditate, but. . . may I ask you to spar with me?" Trying to meditate and clear her thoughts would only result in a loss of composure; it didn't do for a lady to let herself be reduced to a sobbing wreck in front of others, much less a literal force of nature. She really did feel ashamed of causing further disruption to this avatar's routine, but she seemed to be the only viable opponent; the others were either unskilled in melee combat or quite frankly too strange to deal with in her mental state. Regardless, having something to focus her mind on had always helped her; she didn't doubt the same was true now.

"Gold works. If you've got anything interesting on-hand, barter works even better." Good, he didn't seem to be too bothered by the bit about summoning demons. "I'd give you a good deal, especially for the first time; you guys seem to be up to something important here and the tome I've got in mind has exhausted its usefulness to me. "Chances are, if you're working with a demon, you're either brainwashed or it's very different from mine, yeah. I'd be able to tell if you were brainwashed; they tend not to be too subtle with their compulsion spells, so that just leaves the latter. I hope. Anyway, about your world. . . what's the technology like? Planes without a lot of magic practitioners tend to have better tech to compensate."

"I have an issue? You're the one who threw me around and made me look like an idiot! And now you're just going to dismiss me like that?" She stands up, tossing off the cloak as she steps down off of Eon's tail. "You think I'm that weak? I'll show you who's weak. At least pay attention to the person that's about to kick your ass!" It wasn't a question of whether Hiroki was quivering any more, she was outright shaking with rage - though she hadn't armored up yet, which was probably a good sign.

Marisa shakes her head, shooting Edmond a look with a lopsided smile and a raised eyebrow. "You know, I could charge people for this much information. Really, if you've got that many questions, I could probably sell you a tome that'd be at your level of understanding. But, anyway, I'll take this last barrage of questions in order, and then you can tell me a bit about your world. One. Ravnica. To make a long story short, cops and bureaucracy turned an outing and an inquiry into an unusual item into an unreasonably long stint in jail for something that wasn't even my fault. That explosion was completely unrelated to me. Two, liches. Lichdom is often the ultimate goal of necromancers; they're undead beings that are still capable of casting spells and thinking for themselves after death. Usually, the necromancer does it by slapping his soul into a container that it can manipulate the original body from; this is called a phylactery. Smash 'em if you see 'em, generally - liches aren't usually nice people BEFORE they turn, and afterward they lose touch with humanity completely in most cases. Third, interplanar messaging. Technically possible, hard as hell to actually do. I haven't bothered. As for my talents, other than magic tutoring in castle basements and not dying in crash landings, I practice a pretty wide range of magic that's good for survival and combat. My real specialty, however, is summoning and binding demons." She stops, searching Edmond's face for a reaction and subconsciously getting ready to hit him and then sprint away if he blew a gasket.

"Keep talking about that and you'll see what a mech can do to you!" Hiroki responds with sudden vehemence. She almost seems to be quivering beneath her cloak.

Mitsurugi inhaled deeply, then exhaled. Calm down. Inhale, exhale. A troubled mind can't face the troubles of the world. Inhale, exhale. It is not the time to dwell on the past. Inhale, exhale. It is not the time to grieve for those passed. Inhale. . . exhale. It is not the time to mourn the loss of your home. Inhale. . . exhale. It is not the time to curse yourself for not being strong enough. Inhale. Strong enough to save the lives of the people who'd depended on you. Exhale. To think of all of the lives and lineages cut to an abrupt end. Inhale. To remember the feelings of flame on your skin as your shrine burned. Exhale. The sight of the entire landscape burning, because your own attempts at fighting had set it aflame. Ex-hale. . . The feeling of reality itself collapsing around you like the feeling of your own utter and complete failure to protect everything you loved . . . In-h-hale. . . She stood up, clearing her throat. "Lady Ashford. I apologize, but may I make a request of you?"

"I didn't ever fall asleep." She looked at the angel for a moment. An angel? She supposed that wasn't too strange, given the fact that she was currently reclining - she pushes herself upward - sitting on a space dragon. "Are you okay?"

"Conservation of energy? I mean, it lets you do things you wouldn't normally be able to do physically, but I don't know if it breaks that law. You do need there to be at least some mana around to do a whole lot with it, though in a crisis you can use the mana that you make yourself. Seasoned magic users generate more of it, and some people just naturally make all sorts - that's where sorcerers come from, by the way, and why I'm technically not one." She winced at the question of where the tomes came from, ever so slightly. "They come from, uh, lots of places. Some of them were just written a long time ago, lots of them are made by wizards, that kind of thing. I usually chase the more esoteric ones; the one I'm currently after is supposed to have something good for dealing with liches. Or creating them. One of those two, but either way it should help. . . Technically, traveling between worlds doesn't take all that long, but I usually take my time." She winced again at the mention of Ravnica. "A plane ruled by ten guilds. Few of which are that great to hang around with, though the Izzets aren't bad, I suppose. I had a. . . less than fun time last time I visited." She waved off the offer of food. "I always eat before I walk between planes. Never know if you're gonna be able to find food on the other side."

"I just said I didn't get to sleep. . ." The big guy was new. She though she'd seen him walk up earlier. . .? "Don't call me little lady."

I was hoping no one would notice. . . "I never fell asleep. It's, um, noisy in here." And not in the good way, she mentally added. The presence of sound wasn't the issue, not strictly; but there were too many people around, too many strangers to have to prove herself to, too many to assume that she would just be a hindrance.

Hiroki peeks at the man sitting next to her and at the sparring match, one eye. Everything was so strange today. . . There wasn't a good chance of her sleeping given a quiet room and a nice bed, let alone in a room where two people were sparring while she was on top of a space dragon and pretending that her cloak served well as a blanket. The fact that the space dragon seemed to have the most normal personality of them all was the most bizarre thing out of it all. . .

Marisa shrugs. "I don't mind the questions. I don't want to jump anywhere while we're moving, anyway, so it's good to pass the time. You seem to be overestimating both the power and quantity of magic users, though. . . Certainly, there have been tyrant wizard-kings and stuff, but it's not like you're a second class citizen for not being able to sling a fireball whenever you want or something. And strong spells mean lots of preparation, practice, or both. You saw how much effort just went into a simple short-range divination; if a guy's gonna fire a disintegration ray at you, it's a perfectly valid solution to just punch the bastard in the face. Of course, usually I've got someone to do the punching for me, but that's another topic."

"Usually I just read up on them and move on. I sell them to people that can use them better than I can, usually, or trade 'em in for something else. I don't really live anywhere in particular so it's not like I can maintain a library or anything. Gotta get me a Bag of Holding sometime, chaining these things to my waist isn't the most practical thing ever. . . Book guy sounds like he might be more of a pain to deal with than he's worth, by the way." She continued to weave her magic, and a few lines started to appear in the air before her, shifting about and arranging themselves before breaking up. "Huh. . . A dragon? No, it's a little different, what is that. . .?" She muttered to herself for a bit, still manipulating her magic. "Sorry, getting some really weird readings off of this spell, so I'm trying to sort out all the distortion. . . Anyway, magic is something that follows its own rules, separate from the normal rules of the world. Such as, normally I wouldn't be able to slam into a wall like that and breathe normally, much less stand up and walk around. Or jump between worlds. So I guess it's an organized way of breaking the rules? I dunno. Um, witch is probably an accurate term. Demonologist would be another, but they've both got unfortunate connotations that I'd rather avoid. I usually just use 'mage.' 'Sorcerer' works too but it's not strictly accurate. Aha! I think I've got it figured." Her expression was triumphant for a moment, and then quickly faded to something rather more irritable. "Great. That's definitely an angel. Bastards are so annoying. . . And that dragon-that's-not-a-dragon doesn't seem to be distortion, either. . . Who did you say you were traveling with again?"

"There are a couple different ideas on what a plane actually is, but those are both valid theories. You normally can't get between them - let alone build a huge castle that can fly through the Blind Eternities. There's a lot of fishy stuff going on here. . . Hey, mind if I do something quick?" She didn't wait for Edmond's consent, instead starting to make some hand motions as if she was manipulating something in midair. "These are magic tomes. Well, I dunno if the one I'm after is actually magic, but it's probably got some interesting lore in it. They contain spells and help you focus on casting them. I take it there's not a lot of magic where you come from?"

"Gods? Well, if there's a bunch of people running around trying to save the universe, having gods show up isn't unreasonable. I know that bad things have been happening all over the planescape, so I guess this makes sense. Sort of. Anyway, I heard there was an unclaimed tome with some choice lore that no one had actually on another plane, so I tried to jump there. Wasn't really expecting to hit a castle." She pats one of the books she's got hooked to her; this one's got chains all around the cover, which appears to be made of rock. "Just picked up this one out of a dungeon."

"Marisa. A castle flying between worlds? That's, um, a little crazy, not gonna lie. But weird things have been happening lately, and you don't look insane, so I believe you." She stretched her arms out above her head, wincing slightly. "Yeah, that's gonna be sore for a bit. . . Sitting down sounds fantastic."

"Huh? Whuhhh, I'm fine, I think." Not seeming to notice Edmond's offer, she hoisted herself up off the ground using the bricks of the door frame, looking a bit unsteady. "Rough landing, must have miscalculated something. . ." She mumbled to herself before making an odd gesture and spinning on her heel to face Edmond, the new creases and wrinkles in her black dress smoothing themselves out without her touching them. Her face was almost stunningly beautiful, even if one found the coloration of her hair - a dark blue - or eyes - a color that looked like polished brass - strange or offputting. "Um, if you don't mind the question, where is this? Please tell me it's not Ravnica."