Chevaleresse

Lucine just shrugged and, after making sure her firing range was clear, took a few shots. It was a bit therapeutic, blasting apart sandbags with the shotgun (even if the recoil was going to leave her arms sore later) even if it didn't take her mind completely off of things. (+1 DEX) She stopped a few times to ask for more ammo, but eventually the appeal of shooting targets that didn't move wore off, and she didn't quite feel up to dismantling it and making her own modifications at the moment. She sighed, flicking the safety on the weapon back on before turning back to Tim. "I, um, think I'm ready to go talk to him." She went back to holding the shotgun like it was a child's doll and started in the direction Law had went, her steps slow and reluctant but still making forward progress. She slowly slid into the room, peeking around a corner as if the ottsel would eat her if she made any sudden movements. With a last glance back at Tim, she let out a hesitant "Um, hi" in Law's general direction.

They were going to talk to a person they had tried to assassinate? That was. . . questionable, but the man had to have some reason to work with them, right? "Well, I'll do my best. . . but I do think I have a reason to worry already. Maybe there's something I could say to get in his good graces? I don't know if asking if I could help with his recovery would be a good idea, or just draw attention to the cause of his injury in the first place." Good impressions. She could do that, right? She just had to stay calm. This wasn't the most relaxing situation, and the idea of what might happen if she couldn't relax, somewhat frustratingly, made it harder to do so.

Lucine nodded, appearing at least somewhat comforted by Tim's efforts. "That would be nice." She glanced up at Tim as she spoke, then back down at the shotgun. She didn't really want to keep talking about this subject. It hurt, the implications of it even more so than the reminders of what she'd already heard. "Can I shoot some targets first, though?" She knew it was bad for her ears, but she didn't really care at the moment. Any form of distraction would be welcome.

Kusuke rolled his eyes. He was tempted to just say no, but after a moment of thought he figured that he would be rid of this particular nuisance faster if he just read the damn thing. "Fine, I'll skim it for you. Just do whatever you're going to do with it well away from me or anything important."

Kusuke looked at Leo blankly. And he thought he was bad at being diplomatic. "So. . . You're not going to apologize, you're not even going to ask me to translate it, you're just going to barge in while I'm working on something and assume that I'll do it for you out of the kindness of my heart?" He snorted. "Given your track record you'll probably blow a hole in the side of the ship with whatever information is in here, regardless of how useful it actually is."

Lucine stood up without speaking yet. She took the proffered cloth and wiped at her face again before rather noisily blowing her nose into it. A couple more moments to breathe and she moved over to pick the object in question back up, patting it as if it were some sort of pet she'd mistreated accidentally. Lucine stared down at it instead of looking back up at Tim. "I know." She took a deep breath. It was only common sense. Mages weren't the friendliest sorts, and were just as likely to try and steal your secrets as turn their noses up at them and call them crude. You didn't want anyone using your magical tools without permission, so you put safeguards in them. User ID checks, stops to ensure it was never used on someone with a particular crest. . . and self-destructs. "I know." Quieter. "I already heard what he thinks of artificial life. I don't know if he'd even want to help after he learned I'm. . . just some doll." She sniffled again.

"I. . . don't know," Lucine said weakly. She didn't really think that anyone in the party would let anyone else do anything . . . at least until more of them found out what she was. A doll. An expensive project, possibly even a good proof of concept, but just a fancy doll, according to some people. She let Law walk away, not having any answers for the ottsel that she wanted to admit to herself. Did she wish she didn't know? A little. The girl told herself that it was good for her to know, but it didn't make her feel any better. They weren't supposed to be there at all, and what was she supposed to do about it? If Law could access it, an actual mage could probably figure out how, if they knew anything about alchemy, not to mention whatever other skillsets might exist around the multiverse. Knowing mostly just made her feel scared and alone. And who was responsible. . . ? Her father had overseen every single step of the process. Unless an Einzbern spy sabotaged something, there was nobody else it could be. Lucine wiped at her face with a sleeve, clearing away tears and snot that she hadn't been aware she was accumulating.

Kusuke looked up at Leo with clear displeasure. "I can. It's something about a guy named Gilgamesh." He unscrewed another part on the motor in his hands, causing the miscellaneous pieces to fall apart onto the floor. "So you're going to just walk up and expect me to translate texts for you after everything you pulled on that last world?"

"I mean, um, I, I don't. . ." Lucine went quiet as Law spoke, unable to find words to respond to the precursor before he continued. She shook her head. She didn't want to think about what he was saying, what it meant for her and her family. Or, well, the people that were supposed to be her family. She sat on the floor, bringing her knees to her chest (and her eyes much closer to Law's level.) "I. . . Dad never said anything about it, but he wouldn't do something like that." It wasn't clear who Lucine was trying to convince. "He always talked about how proud he was of me and how much better I was than the stupid Einzberns and how special I was supposed to be, that's why I have to be careful about other mages. He wouldn't. . . I don't wanna be a cup. . ."

Kusuke (some time after his encounter with Satomi) had set up shop in his own little corner, surrounded by various spare parts and a couple working examples of small Magic Element motors. Engines which continued to frustrate him, for various reasons, not the least of which that he couldn't figure out how to get them to turn off. Sure, wondrous creation of energy from a toxin, great, but an off switch was beyond them. He irritably tossed one of the working examples away from himself, causing it to roll to the feet of someone he wasn't exactly overjoyed to be seeing turning the corner: Leo. "Do you need something?" he asked in a clipped voice.

"How was I supposed to know that? You were just saying all of this stuff about functions that aren't even supposed to be there and then waving your weird crap around at me!" Lucine took on a rather petulant tone. "I don't know how your stupid staff works, I just wanted to get away from it so some weasel guy I didn't know wouldn't decide to turn me into a cup! I don't want to be a cup," she repeated. The girl breathed heavily for a moment, trying to avoid breaking down into tears again; catching her breath afforded the opportunity to think about what Law was actually saying. "I didn't know you actually wanted to help, you were just talking about stuff like the mages Dad always warned me about."

Heidrun did her best to keep a close eye on her bag as they stepped into the streets. Their group was. . . eclectic, to say the least, and to some people that meant they would have valuables for the taking. Of course, there was also the factor of intimidation, but she wasn't so naive as to totally rely on that keeping the various undesirable elements out of her purse. The streets didn't bother her unduly; sure, they were unpleasant, but living on the outskirts of Midgar (and having experienced a bit of everything the city had to offer before it collapsed into a radioactive crater) had toughened her nostrils a bit to this sort of experience. That didn't mean she was comfortable, per se; it was still a strange town and her safety relied similarly on almost complete strangers, one of which seemed to have some kind of unfortunate history with their contact. "So, er, Solomon, who is this man that we're meeting? And. . . to bits, she said?"

Lucine continued her retreat, taking a few steps to place herself behind Tim (which might not have been the most comforting thing, given she was still clutching a military-grade breaching weapon.) "I didn't chase him into the woods! He w-waved that staff at me and kept talking about all the functions he could activate using it, like 'terminate' and activating the Grail!" Her voice was quickly becoming one of severe distress, though she wasn't quite as upset as she'd been on the medieval world where the incident had occurred. "And then he pulled out this weird stuff while talking about all the changes he wanted to make to me. I don't wanna be a Grail for weasel people. . ."

J27 dance for Baldur

Kusuke was rather concerned. This was continuing to be a situation he wasn't sure how to respond to. Should he say something? Should he just, keep waiting? She seemed fairly content to keep clinging to him, which wasn't unpleasant. Possibly too pleasant, even. . . He mentally slapped himself. Just, don't think about how close she's pressed to you. He remained where he was for a moment, his hand nearly rising up to pat her on the head, at which point it froze. Would that offend her? He let it drop to her back once more, choosing to let the silence drag out for just a bit longer. A deep sigh. It wasn't really shocking that someone had broken down like this. All of the fighting, the abject insanity the group had been subjected to, it was nice to just. . . hold someone for a bit. Eventually, though, he spoke up. "So, uh, Satomi. . ." he started, rather lamely. "Do you think you can talk now?" --- Lucine held the shotgun in her arms as if it were a small child as her and Tim proceeded to the docking area of the Weatherlight. She questioned the presence of what appeared to have once been a schoolbus, but quickly decided that it wasn't even close to the oddest thing she'd seen thus far, and had something to distract her besides. The girl was positively bursting with excitement as Tim prepared some targets for her to shoot, excitement that turned to indecision as he failed to also produce a set of earmuffs for her to wear. "Dad always said to make sure to wear earmuffs. . ." Fortunately or unfortunately, her deliberation was interrupted by the appearance of a certain furry orange creature as he left the bus, an appearance that immediately caused her to take a few steps backward, suddenly overcome with fear. "I-it's him, he was the one talking about turning me into a cup!"

Lucine gave Harry a very leery look that she failed to completely banish from her face as the doctor continued to speak. "Umm, Uncle Hildebrand said I was perfectly health for, uh, someone my age." She shook her head, as if to emphasize that no, there was nothing whatsoever unusual about her. "And he knows a lot about that kind of stuff." There. That was convincing, right?

Kusuke Lucine

Justine M28 dance Kane Kane G27 attack Nomad

Mitsurugi landed smoothly after being sent flying by the monster's blow, betraying little hint that she felt it. It was tough, perhaps tougher than she was expecting - or she was simply still weak from starvation. Regardless, she still had work to do. Thunder cracked overhead, and water swept up around Mitsurugi. Arcs of lightning swept down from the heavens, swirled around the goddess, then leapt back outward, carrying the tidal surge with them as they crashed into her foes. The smells of rain and ozone filled the air as Mitsurugi demonstrated her true nature, smashing the area around her with the force of nature. Storm Sign "Furious Tempest," centered on the Dead Fish, striking every enemy except for the Green Imps for 1d4+DEX (12)+35 = 1d4+47 damage.

BGM A massive beam lanced out from the object in Marisa's hand. Rather than a blinding flash of light as one might expect, the path of the beam seemed to invert and then wash out the colors of what laid behind it, painting it in shades of twilit blues and grays. Whether it be by quick reflexes, fast thought, or in Rory's case, sheer, unadulterated dumb luck, the beam goes careening off into the forest without causing anyone to encounter a critical existence failure, though the slightly delayed sounds of trees crashing to the earth indicated that it hadn't exactly stopped just after passing the party. The miss didn't seem to faze Marisa, though. The witch turned to face the Gensokyo resident, aiming her strange relic at Masako once more - this time, without the Mini-Hakkero, blessedly. Strange pale lights traced rings and lines around her, spreading out into loose collections of tiny motes that seemed to form some kind of seal. Masako is afflicted with Dark Seal "Salt Circle," disabling all of her non-equipment actions for two rounds! Satisfied that the biggest nuisance was defanged for the moment as she felt the spell complete, Marisa turned, abruptly darting through the air. Isobel finds herself spinning and suddenly bruised as the witch tears through the air past her, while LOTUS is in the rather alarming position of having been swept out of Masako's hat and into midair, the pair taking [26] damage. Isobel, despite the blow, does her best to evade any further damage, and manages to catch LOTUS. Empi also does her best to dodge. The remaining danmaku from the fairies flies past Isobel harmlessly as she weaves through it. Masako finds it difficult to focus through the spell Marisa placed upon her, and fails to get a good read on what, exactly, is going on with the magus. (Swift Scan not used, and does not go on cooldown.) She is, however, still able to maneuver around clumsy fairy danmaku. Marisa fires a spray of colorful stars as she sweeps around the clearing, the astral magic feeling rather less pretty than it looks as it slams into Ritsu and Walmond for [18] and [21] damage. . . Though it does still look quite pretty. Rory, though still having a hard time moving, realizes she can evade the danmaku by simply dropping down towards the clearing, and does so, the paralytic finally (mostly) leaving her system as she does. Hikari initiates a Session! Her, Masako, Rory, and Ritsu all make a coordinated attack on Marisa, dealing a total of [45] damage; the witch managed to juke Hikari's pulse rifle fire. Walmond casts another wave of powerful healing magic, allowing Isobel, Rory, Empi, Hikari, and Masako to recover [19] HP, while Lambda pulls her charge out of the way. Marisa strafes, releasing another burst of bright, cartoony stars that smack into Empi and Masako for [12] damage apiece. More rays of light start to form about the battlefield, swirling around Marisa and generally serving to look rather ominous. She declares Condition: Upon someone passing Marisa in initiative, she will activate Black Magic "Event Horizon!" Her Condition Master perk allows her to sustain channeled effects using condition cards! Ritsu extends a barrier between herself and Rory, shielding them both from assault. She recovers 8 HP. Initiative Status

Kusuke Lucine

Lucine perused Tim's offerings with interest. She made a little face at the Glock, passing over it fairly quickly while muttering something along the lines of "seen it." The little gun nut murmured to herself, half-complete phrases of jargon falling out involuntarily as she drifted between the assault rifle and the shotgun. She didn't seem deterred by the cheapness of the former; in fact it almost seemed to add to the draw. The latter, though, was less familiar, and after a seemingly agonizing moment of thought, she made little grabby hands at the shotgun. "I wanna mess with this one! Oh, um, but do we have a target range? And earmuffs? These things are loud and Dad always yells at me if I try to play with them without earmuffs."

Kusuke found himself at a loss once again. He was fairly certain he'd made the correct decision, but where was he supposed to go from here? He sighed slightly; he'd been right, things had been wearing at Satomi pretty badly, but he had underestimated just how much. The time traveler elected to stay quiet beyond that, simply letting Satomi sob into his chest; he was fairly certain he would have messed up anything he tried to say, anyway. He'd never been great at comforting people, barring promising to beat the tar out of the source of the problem, arrest it, or both, but he didn't think that would help much in this moment. Kusuke just let his grip relax slightly, letting Satomi pull away whenever she felt like it and patting her on the back lightly for good measure. . . and trying to ignore how hard the girl was pressed into him.

Kusuke doesn't raise any more issues. Lucine

Kusuke Lucine