Chevaleresse

"W-Well, pardon me for being nervous on opening a dubious case that I've already been told is designed to destroy its own contents, by a suspicious man I did not at all like and would rather not be within a mile of, in a strange city full of criminals!" Heidrun's irritable tone contrasted her shuffling away from both the case and Friedhold. She was almost less worried about what would happen if she was killed by the bomb - though she wasn't exactly eager to die, to say the least - and more about what might occur if she survived and was grievously injured. "And pardon me for looking like I'm concerned about dissection around someone such as yourself." She realized slightly belatedly that the statement was a bit uncalled for, given what the man had told her so far - but that didn't make Friedhold unsettle her much less.

Scarlet shook her head at the man's reaction. He'd learn, or he'd die. Maybe it was hypocritical of her, but things would have been much better if she'd been tossed out an airlock a century ago, and she wasn't the greatest believer in the good nature of people. Of course, the appearance of the creatures didn't give her a whole lot of time to ponder what to do about Jack - there was a rather less controversial target in front of her. Not quite the creepiest thing she'd seen, but she still wasn't fond of the horror movie act, and demonstrated her displeasure through the traditional method of directed energy weaponry. Shoot Neoshadow A with Laser Rifle for 2d6+DEX (5) damage.

Hiroki felt oddly calm as she stepped into the arena; perhaps it was simply the comfort of being in her mech again. She felt an undercurrent of nervousness, of fear that everything she'd done to this point coming to nothing, as the heavy footfalls of the mech echoed dully through the fog, but she held it to just that. The fighter watched her opponent. Arcturus's figure through the fog almost looked like an apparition of death itself - or, maybe that was just her nerves surfacing after all. Regardless, she was as ready as she would ever be for this fight. The fog split apart at his slash, showing who she fought. A man. A powerful man, exceeding even the gods in strength. . . but Arcturus was no force of nature or higher order of being. He was just another opponent, and she'd crushed all but one set before her until now. "We'll see," her voice rang out, clear and unmodified save for the slight tinniness of it passing through her mech's comms. He raised his sword, and she fell back into that familiar rhythm. Thrusters green. Armor integrity nominal. Targeting systems showing perturbation, but that was manageable. She was ready. Arcturus charged, and the Knight flared to life once again. He was making a frontal charge - a questionable move, but underestimating him for a moment would spell the end of her. She kicked sideways, the back thrusters firing as the mech ponderously began its evasive maneuver. She set her guns to fire in a tight spread centered on Arcturus, the mech's front turning as she moved to keep focused on her target. A mass of scorching plasma roared out from her weapons, both shoulder cannons firing blasts directly at the man as the auxiliary guns fanned the air around her with fire. Hiroki swept her main cannon across his path, a burning line lancing out from the end and slashing through the fog.

The silver-haired girl resisted the urge to shrink back again as the assembled gods all turned their eyes to her. Waiting for her to speak. Somehow, she felt like that should feel better than it actually did. Hiroki took a deep breath while trying to make it look like she wasn't bracing herself for speech. Really, it shouldn't actually be that big of a deal - the decision was all but made, all that remained was for her to agree to it. Yet, it still felt like it all rested on her for a moment. Hiroki nodded once, then spoke as firmly as she could manage. "Let's do this."

M6

Kusuke frowned, slowly shaking off the effects of his little jaunt (not that it helped how deeply unsettling the situation was.) "It's. . . hard to say. My explanation wasn't quite complete - using a Drive consumes seithr, or Magic Element. In lieu of that, it will burn off layers of your soul - which can be manageable if you don't do it much, but it's very dangerous to overuse. Especially since, as I've mentioned before with that snake, souls don't recover from deep damage like that without scarring. But, the point is, I can use it in a pretty self-contained way, and it hasn't been an issue so far." Finding sufficient seithr to use his Drive hadn't been an issue thus far; some places had more than others, but even in places where it was sparse, he hadn't had to use enough to cause anything more than some fatigue. "Though if this place has some sort of warped connection to the Boundary, that could affect things, I suppose. I've never heard of anything like that, but nothing is impossible." He thought for a moment longer. "Maybe we should ask him?" He gestured at Tim, who seemed to be doing something with what looked like a magical device of some kind. "If magic works differently here, then it should affect his, too."

Lucine made a faint "aww" sound as the story reached the prince's passing. It took her a moment to notice the creature digging through the fridge, a creature which up to this point seemed to have had a similar issue with perception. "Oh- um, hello?" she said hesitantly, glancing back at the rest of the group to watch their reactions. Nader had promised not to shoot unless he had to, but the look she gave him didn't exactly display a massive amount of trust in that regard.

Navin's words did not seem to reassure Heidrun in the slightest; the aura of tension radiating off the woman was almost palatable. The process being smooth likely just meant the man would expect some sort of favor out of them later, as payment for his graciousness; that was how these corporate types seemed to behave. At Alexandria's insistence, though, she gave a quick glance about the room, then gingerly finished unlatching the briefcase. Her hands darted back to her chest as if it there was a viper in the case, or as if she expected it to detonate on prolonged contact.

The girl took a break from scanning the crowd to glance back at Danielle, nod, and then look back toward where she indicated. She didn't like going off of feelings, but evidently feelings were this girl's specialty, and it's not as if she had a better lead to pursue. The absolute worst case scenario was her asking a group of strangers questions they wouldn't understand; even if by some strange coincidence they were agents of the sorcerer they were dealing with, that just meant she wouldn't have to search any further to find them. Thunderlord took another brief moment to figure out her path through the crowd, and off she went without a word. The T-doll was confident that the other two would be able to make their way over on their own. A short time later, Aquila felt a tap at his elbow, and beside it appeared a hooded girl with electric blue eyes and an intimidating-looking machine gun. "Do you know a man named Strange?"

Hiroki took a moment to backtrack and look for anything resembling a button or lever near the pit, on their side (i.e. opposite the entrance to the place.) It was possible that the builders assumed that whoever could cross the pit wouldn't have an issue getting back, but it could also be a simple matter of only wanting to test once. Plus, there had to be a way out for whoever built the place. That taken care of, she returned to the hall, trying not to look slightly out of breath with her hurrying. "It might, um, be a puzzle. Maybe we're supposed to do something, um, as a team? Show unity in doing our duty, um, to reach our destiny, or something." She peered at the tile for a moment. It might be some kind of trap, too; this place didn't seem too invested in not killing potential challengers. After a short deliberation, she summoned her mech about herself, then stepped out onto the tile. If nothing happened, then she would try stepping on the "duty" tile.

Hiroki visibly shrunk back in her seat, again fighting back the urge to summon her mech to give herself that layer of separation she wanted. It was almost reassuring to watch the other gods do the same, even if that also represented a clear issue. She felt her feet drift back toward the ground; she'd drawn them up toward herself without realizing. This meeting was giving her mixed feelings on the gods; on the one hand, doing things as impressive as defying death itself certainly seemed to elevate them above simple humans. . . but this bickering was maybe a little too human. At this point, her image of the gods had completely fallen to pieces - but it occurred to her that this was a good thing. You couldn't deal with an opponent if you only saw what they projected. They weren't her opponents (even if Lord seemed to be searching for one,) but the principle was the same. Still, she stayed quiet for the moment, simply glancing between Griffyn, Queen, and Lord, with the occasional look spared for Bear.

Nemesis, on the other hand, elected to do the opposite, scrambling further back into one of the nearby cabins (separate from Henrietta) and waiting for the explosives to go off. The shock wave, if it didn't blow the train apart entirely or dislodge Tohl, might present an opening. As soon as the report of the explosion reached his ears, the mysterious marksman leaned out of the cabin with his rifle and began sending rounds downrange, aiming to strike Tohl in the head or heart while the protective layer of molten metal was reduced or absent.

Hiroki couldn't help but let her eyes widen a bit as she nodded. Dying and being able to tell the story afterwards was pretty far beyond what a normal person could do. She couldn't help but feel like it highlighted her lack of belonging even more; she hadn't overcome much of anything except other, regular people. The one chance she'd had to overcome a god, and she'd been crushed. She glanced at Lord at the thought, the sting of defeat rolling back into her mind for a moment before she attempted to shove it backward. Attempted being the operative term; they still needed to figure out what to do about the challenge, and with that thought came considering a fight with Arcturus. Coupled with that was how unfamiliar this territory was; she was used to keeping her strategies to herself, for fear that her opponents would learn of it and counter it. The girl took another deep breath, glancing at Griffyn for a moment, if only to reassure herself. At the very least, she wasn't the only one feeling uncomfortable. "So, um, how much do we, um, know about how Ares's, um, team fights?" It was an awkward and rather heavyhanded subject change, but perhaps it would go unnoticed for bringing the meeting back to its actual purpose.

Justine gave her own laugh in return. "Well, if nothing else, turnabout is fair play. Even if it bothered me, I wouldn't have much room to complain about that. Though, in my defense, talking ears off was half of my job before I joined Virtuous." She chuckled again. "But no, it's always good to hear someone speaking about a craft they both know and enjoy. I can't say that forging weapons is a talent I've mastered, but that doesn't seem to be case with you." She paused a moment, then added in a slightly more serious tone: "Thank you, though, I really do appreciate your helping me with this."

"O-Oh, you do?" Justine couldn't have hidden her surprise if she tried. She hadn't quite meant to go off like that, but she wasn't the type to defy inspiration when it struck. She recovered quickly, however, giving a quick bob of her head that almost became a sort of small curtsy in thanks. "Well, then, I anticipate seeing your craftsmanship, master blacksmith. And. . . I'm not so concerned about it being 'fancy.' Steel is much like a heart; it can be dressed up however you want, but the true value of it is that it is strong and pure."

"Well, I need something to replace my old sword. It wasn't a special blade, just a bit of steel between myself - and the honor of many a fair maiden - and my foes. Still, I was fond of it, but it was sadly lost in a debacle a few towns ago involving the town guard and a man who seemed to be very unappreciative of my being a better dancer than he was." She smiled at the thought of the incident; Cecily had been practically tearing her hair out over it, but everyone had escaped unscathed (except for perhaps that man's pride) and she'd enjoyed herself... probably more than I should have. "So, I find myself in need of a new blade. But! Not just any blade. I need a blade that will help me weave my own thread through the myriad tapestries of fate. A blade that sings through the air, a weapon to protect the weak, strengthen the hearts of the meek, and bring justice upon those we seek." Justine's voice rose as she spoke. "A sword worthy to be wielded under the name of Virtuous, a tool to free the land from the accursed tyranny it has suffered beneath for so many long years. A breaker of shackles and a slayer of tyrants, delicate as the finest porcelain yet stronger than the most rugged mountain. A legendary weapon that will leave it's mark upon history for ages to come." Abruptly, it was as if Justine physically fell down from the heights her thoughts seemed to have fled to for a moment, and she coughed, blushing slightly. "Ahem. Or, just, you know, a sword." She glanced aside awkwardly, avoiding eye contact for a moment. "My last one was a rapier, they tend to work better for my style of fighting."

Justine briefly wondered what Kane was up to in the back, but figured it probably wasn't something to concern her with now. She was humming under her breath, partially to actually try and sort out a decent-sounding tune and partially to distract from the lingering feelings of earlier. She didn't plan on letting it keep her down for long. . . but this thing with Baldur had been simmering for a while, and it was still hurtful to find the truth of how he thought of her. It just made her wonder how the rest of the group spoke of her when she wasn't around. . . Justine shook her head. No point dwelling on that. Whether it was happening or not, continuing down that road would only make her feel worse. The dancer thought of a convenient distraction just as she reached the doors, and she turned to their newly acquired blacksmith. "You know, it occurs to me, Simeon, I should ask before the rest of the group overwhelms you with even more requests: do you think I could make a request of you?"

Introductions were happening, and Justine figured she may as well take part. Seeing the others inspired to join anyway inspired her in turn, lifting her mood a bit from where it'd been earlier. She took a breath, then abruptly did a backward handspring, and nearly seemed to fall over - until it became clear that she was simply sweeping back into a classic bow and scrape, "Justine Wagner, the wandering Minstrel, at your service." She popped back up to a standing position after she finished speaking. "Good to properly meet you all."

BGM The mass of magic flying through the air only continued to grow more and more intense, yet what felt like a chaotic mess from within still managed to hold a certain sense of grace - not that it was easy to see it, as most of the team was still occupied with trying to weave through it or brace for the impacts. Impacts that continued to mount as the storm of magic built towards a climax, energy swirling around Marisa until it finally burst outward. Masako takes the brunt of the shockwave unassisted for [12] damage. Empi's various wards seem to help a bit, the magic pinging against them for [7] damage. The layered barriers about Rory prevent her from taking damage entirely. Hikari has the magic intended for her intercepted by Ritsu, who harmlessly absorbs and disperses the energy. Lambda intercepts one hit for Walmond as well as taking her own, suffering [16] damage, but one shot manages to slip past her and strike Walmond for [6] damage. Finally, another pair of stars collides with the herbalist, Isobel taking [12] damage. The shockwave strikes the party, and the magic clinging about them seems to pop, leaving them feeling strangely drained in its wake. Ritsu finds herself utterly drained despite the amount of energy took up, and is stunned! The field of darkness in the area seems to have faded with the spell. Isobel eats one of her own medicinal poppies immediately afterward, while LOTUS continues to rattle off targeting data; she recovers [24] HP. Empi gives Masako some new advice on showing off to pretty girls, increasing Masako's Intelligence by 7. The mental exercise of trying to find good advice for the tengu grants her the same. Rory manages to move in on Marisa during her recovery, striking the witch for [16] damage. She loses 3 initiative, and feels like it'll probably be hard to land any hits on the witch being left this far behind - unless she's assisted, of course. Marisa rolls with the hit, using the momentum to swing around and blitz Masako, but the tengu deftly weaves beneath the strike with a smug expression. The tengu then replies with her own burst of danmaku, sharpened with Empi's assistance. The bolts track the magician-thief and strike for [20] damage. Hikari calls another Session! She fires her own weapon to start it off, but once again, the witch weaves around her gunfire. However, she's not able to avoid the followup strike of Rory (who barely manages to make contact) for [23] damage, and Ritsu, who snaps out of her daze long enough to swing her chainsaw for [19] damage. Walmond fires of a set of lightning bolts at Marisa, and [29 vs 29 - Defender wins tie] the witch barely manages to shrug off the lingering effects, while taking [6] damage. Lambda, meanwhile, resets her Defensive Modifications. Marisa splays her hand outward and fires a burst of danmaku at Isobel. It strikes her despite her attempts to dodge for [17] damage. The stars bounce off of her and strike Empi for another [14]. Ritsu recovers from her stun. Initiative Status Note: I forgot to apply Empi's damage buff during the turn. Damage numbers are lower than they should be, but the actual damage dealt is still correct.

Justine sighed. "Thank you, Kane," she said quietly. If she didn't know better, she would have thought the man had feelings for her. The thought wasn't a welcome one; there was nothing wrong with Kane, but her heart was set on another, and it wouldn't be fair to the man. Though she supposed that thinking of it that way immediately only proved Baldur's point, in a way. She stayed quiet as Kane spoke to Ferdiad, chiming in after he was finished. "Knight, it's not as if you could have seen this coming without being able to see the future. And, while the story of a clairvoyant knight burdened with solving the conflicts in the world would be an interesting one, you don't have that ability to my knowledge. Unless you've been hiding something from us." She attempted a smile. It was a bit weak, but it was there. "You've been the rock that our enemies wash over, you can't be expected to protect us from ourselves, too."

Justine's eyes widened in anger, but evidently the provocation wasn't quite enough for her to make a liar of herself just yet. She wasn't quite ready to let the man walk away without a retort, despite Kane's words. "Of course that's what you'd think of me. A woman can't make a joke without proclaiming to the world that she's free to use, that's always how it is with your sort. Fine, then, sequester yourself in your thoughts, hide from the knowledge that you have real people and not paintings on a wall surrounding you." Still, she let the man walk away, even if her hand kept trying to grip a nonexistent blade. "I'm sorry. . . Phoenix." Again, it was difficult to remember to use the code name. "I've tried so hard to leave that word behind, but it seems to have followed me."

Justine promotes to Dancer! HP +1 STR +2 SKL +1 LUK +2 DEF +1 SPD +2 CON +1 New Preferred Stats: LUK, STR New Personal Skill: Until The World's End: +15 Evasion for one round after defeating an enemy. Perform replaced with Dance: The Dancer is able to perform a dance for any 2 allies within 2 spaces near the user who have already used their actions. The characters can act again. In addition, when using performance items the Dancer can affect 2 units within 2 spaces with them. Proficiencies: Sword (D), Performance (D) +5% LUK

Justine glanced toward Crimson, aware that she should be giving the man more attention. She made her best attempt to bow graciously in the most hurried manner possible towards the man. "Water under the bridge, then. I appreciate it. . ." She couldn't help but sound distant, though she heard it in her own voice. "Excuse my lack of eloquence, I'm. . . trying to figure out how to respond to this." She gestured in the vague direction of Baldur and Lizaveta. "This isn't a regular thing. If it was I. . . Well, there's plenty of stories about lone heroes out there. And speaking of them, there's a fair maiden in need of rescuing from a villain." Her tone of voice rose in an odd way; she meant to joke a bit even as she started to move toward Baldur, but she couldn't entirely keep the rising anger out of her voice. The minstrel-turned-vigilante was missing the weight of iron at her hip; she still hadn't found a replacement for her previous weapon. It hadn't been entirely her fault that it was lost. . . but she probably could have chosen a more opportune moment to show off for that girl. "Orchid." She spoke the codename deliberately. It was hard to resist calling the man out by name. "Do you think that you're somehow proving something here? By punching a woman in the face, a woman whose main occupation was lifting books previously? A woman who has just finished fighting and killing alongside you for the sake of an ideal you claim to share? Do you think that it somehow, what, proves you're right? You couldn't answer her with words, so you answered her with fists like a playground bully?" She walked closer to the man. "It's the weakest kind of man that responds to words with violence. Not that you'll listen to some Ulux whore, right? I suppose that's what I am to you; I'm neither deaf nor blind nor an imbecile, though you may as well be all three with how you're acting. I suppose it must be difficult to see past your own nose, walking around the way you do, but I don't see an excuse for the rest." Justine pointed at Lizaveta as the woman knelt. "Now are you a man, or are you a misbehaved brat? Apologize, or I'll discipline you myself." She didn't glance at Kane; she already knew she was overstepping herself, but at the moment, she didn't particularly care.

Justine watched the abuse of the corpse without comment, though her expression made it clear she thought it was a bit unnecessary. "Maybe I'll just leave it as the prisoners getting their revenge on the tyrannical warden, as an analogy for Virtuous defeating the greater tyrants. . . Well, hopefully. Oh, or I could turn it into a ground duel after the man was shot out of the air. . ." She pondered how to weave this into a decent verse for a few moments, before her attention returned to something else that needed taking care of. "You," she started, pointing an accusatory finger at the red-cloaked man as she walked slowly but purposefully toward him. "I tolerate neither threats to my person or slights against my character, and you've made both. I expect an apology."

H7