Chevaleresse

"I wouldn't give the good lady all of the credit. As Johan said, you fought well out there. I've got a feeling in my gut that it won't be the last time this particular mission runs into people who'd rather see it fail, either." She would have continued to what she had in mind, but something Johan said seemed to have piqued her curiosity. "I can't claim any real fondness for the Paxi right now, but you sound like you've had more than just this encounter with them." She nodded at the large, red man. She was curious about him. A foreigner, of course, but he seemed to be a warrior without a weapon, which was nearly a contradiction.

"The voyage? Well enough, all things considered, though there's only so many times you can pace around a ship before you get bored." She raised a hand in greeting to Bradwr at his approach, and turned it into a solid handshake when he extended his. Perhaps too solid, really, though it didn't seem like the woman was trying to crush his hand. "If you didn't catch my name, it's Alwine Siekert." She swept one hand across her torso as she bowed, as deep as she could manage in plate. "At your service. As for the mission, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you what I know - not that they bothered to tell this soldier much. We were there for Elizabeth, and seems it was a good thing we got there when we did."

"Damn right it was a good shot! And you can expect more where that came from, 'specially when we're done playing around here." She waved off the vulnerary, tossing it back to Argos. "I'm gonna lose my focus if I stop to down this damn thing. Tastes awful."

A pause. "Don't worry, young. . ." Man? No, if that were what he meant to say, he would not have stopped. Butler, servant, et cetera, no terms that would naturally follow in that sentence would warrant stopping, except one: Elias. This man knew who he was. Not that remarkable; it was possible that he'd been introduced by Sebastian during some prior conversation. Then, though, he wouldn't bother hiding it. . .This Augustus knew Elias, or at least knew of him, and wasn't supposed to. Curious. Worrying? Elias returned the bow, making it somewhat deeper; there was a difference in status, after all, even if servants tended to garner a fair amount of respect in the country. "Elias. Pleasure to meet you, sir." He couldn't keep the curious glint out of his eyes as they briefly met Augustus's, before glancing back toward Sebastian. "Well, we would have time later to catch up, but if you insist. . . I didn't know you'd entered Priscilla's employ, my friend. Does this mean I should expect to see more of you in the future?" A question with more than one layer. Of course, being an employee of the same family would mean more chances for them to meet, but both butlers likely knew that Elias was asking about more than just social visits.

Arturia jumped at the shock, more out of startlement than actual pain. "Whaaaat the fuck." It was a declaration, really, not a question. She supposed she couldn't fault Lilith for passing out, but this seemed like something other than a stress-related faint. She took a deep breath, and adjusted her hold on Lilith a bit to make it less stressful on her arms before speaking. "Uh, I have no idea what that was, but I do have a couple ideas I want to try." Mostly because she didn't know what she would do if Lilith was carted off to another country. She didn't want to leave her home country, even with as many issues as it had. Not yet, anyway. She didn't want to abandon Lilith, either, even if chasing this girl had nearly gotten her killed or worse. "I was going to take her back to my dorm - my roommate will understand - and then try to arrange things so she can stay there or in another dorm while we figure out a long term plan. There's some staff at the Institute that will probably help if I ask."

Rhian whipped her bow around to face her foe for this combat, not even taking a moment to aim as she drew. She loosed her arrow with a roar, and it whistled toward the soldier at an alarming speed. The blunted practice arrow struck his breastplate with enough force to shatter on impact, actually physically lifting the man slightly as it threw him backward and down to the earth. "HAH! You thought you could stand up to me? Rest of you should just give up now, it'll hurt a lot less!" Exhausted as she was, she still pumped a fist victoriously at her shot.

"You got a deathwish, or are you just that damned stupid!?" Rhian raised her bow angrily, as if she were about to shoot Kris for her insolence, but stalked southward a bit instead and loosed at the unfortunate soldier instead. O15 shoot soldier

Shoot Cavalier

Kyou nodded, but remained in place for a bit, still catching her breath. She had to keep reminding herself that she wasn't actually hurt, and that it was just a simulation. A very real-feeling and painful simulation, but still false. The idea of a shower was a good one, but she didn't particularly feel up to another public shower. This whole thing just continued to be overwhelming. The Evangelions, this training, the Angel attack. . . Her mother. . . She needed a moment. Or several.

Elias watched the red-suited man out of the corner of his eye. A curious one, that. He didn't seem to be a servant, quite the opposite, so why was he speaking to one? He wasn't Sebastian's employer, either, and it didn't seem that the butler had been delivering a message. Curious. . ."It has, yes. Valentine" - he had to stop himself from referring to her as Val - "can be a handful at times, but I feel I've managed well thus far." He briefly weighed his conversational options. He could ask about Sebastian's employment under Priscilla, or the red-suited man. He didn't know the latter; would he be offended at being ignored, or more offended that a servant dared to question his presence? Curiosity eventually got the better of his caution. "If you don't mind the question, who is this?" He gestured to the one in question, turning his head towards him. "I haven't been in Masquerade for some time, so I'm afraid I don't recognize you."

Hiroki glanced at the stranger. She almost wanted to tell him that she did what she wanted, to defiantly continue to stand there (despite having no actual reason to do so,) but her ego was rather squashed after the events of late. The instinct to run and hide, to get away from anything else that could hurt her mentally or physically was flaring up. She started to turn away, but stopped, turning her head toward him slightly. "You know, then? Are you on his side?"

A familiar face, and one that hadn't fully been expected here. He wondered what Sebastian was here for; him, or someone else? He wasn't the only servant at the party, and it'd been a while since Sebastian had anything for him, but it still bore investigating. Besides, it would be rude to ignore him after being waved down. Elias would simply have to pry Val away from the exuberant clutches of Pris later. He mentally shrugged, and began to weave his way toward the older butler. He gave a small wave of greeting when he arrived. "Ho there, Sebastian. What brings you to this little party?"

"I don't know about killing all of them if we don't have to. . ." Lucine wasn't exactly a hardened soldier, despite her mechanical behavior in combat - in fact, that was the reason Opal had that function in the first place. "Has anyone actually tried talking to them?" It was, perhaps, a silly question, but sometimes even silly questions lead to valuable answers. "I know they're evil, but maybe we could convince them to stop somehow."

Mitsu raised a hand, and thunder boomed overhead in response. A flurry of magical bolts, reminding one of an artist's rendition of a hurricane devastating a harbor but far more directed and deadly in purpose, burst outward from her, striking every monster surrounding them yet neatly evading her allies (sometimes by only a hair's breadth.) Storm Sign for 14+1d4+23+12=49+1d4 damage on all enemies! Stats and Loadout

Elias was watchful as usual, standing aside and doing his best to look unobtrusive in his butler's suit while he surveyed the crowd. He doubted anyone would try anything during a gathering such as this, but he was lacking any other distractions and it was his job to watch over the young heiress. The other servants seemed to be occupied in their own pursuits (which was part of why he stayed concerned) and the nobility were typically either uninterested in conversation with him, or simply uninteresting in it. The spectacle of these parties had awed him when he'd first started this job, but by now it was routine, and he'd seen what lay underneath the glaze of festivity and splendor, all too closely at times. They were quite boring, if he was being frank, and a small part of him almost wished someone would justify his watchfulness to give him something to do. Though, the fact that he'd lost track of her at the moment was slightly concerning. . . He did his best to sidle around the party, skirting the edges of the activity as he scanned the crowd for - ah. That aural assault could only belong to Pris. Well, at least he knew where to find Val. He started to push through the crowd, as unobtrusively as one could do so, anyway. He put his best "I'm busy with something important" face on, hoping that it would allow him through.

N12

"In my sleep. . .?"Rhian was distracted from watching Sharon go down like a sackful of bricks by trying to parse through what exactly Kris had just said. Her expression soured rapidly. "I swear by my birth rune, I'll take parts off of you until I think you've learned your lesson if I find out you're watching me in my sleep." She jabbed a finger at Kris like she was impaling her with it for emphasis. That dealt with, she turned to the fallen apprentice, wiping some sweat (and a bit of blood) from her face, then towards Ceridwen and Johanna. "Hope you two realize that this could easily be you if you don't watch yourself."

"The hell are you on about?" She shot a glance (it was too brief and too confused to be a glare) at Kris. Talking to the air, and then whoever she talked to said she needed the medicine? . . . Granted, it had helped her stay on her feet, but it was still bizarre. She shook her head as she stepped back, nearly bumping into Ceridwen as she tried to aim a shot. L12 after Ceridwen moves, shoot fighter

The office looked as likely as anywhere, and there weren't any cops around for the time being. He shrugged, and walked inside. Dusty old papers in a dusty old building, pretty much exactly what he'd expected. Maybe the lost and found had something? Even if he didn't find any hints as to where the witch was, there might be some old collectible nobody left behind. Or not, he didn't really know.

L13 shoot soldier

"Pah. Worry about yourself. Or the guy who insists on screaming every single time he attacks. I've been fine so far."

Rhian glanced back toward the healer after helping fell the cavalier, her expression souring slightly from the satisfaction it'd been displaying at landing a good shot. "What, you want me to not do my best here?"

L11 shoot cav

Rhian spoke without turning her head to the healer, her eyes still on the "enemy" to the south. "I fight hard. What about it?" Too hard, really, not that she'd ever admit it. Especially since this was a practice battle. That Ceridwen being around was putting her in a bad mood, though, making it hard to rein her temper (and therefore the excessive amount of energy she put into combat.)

"I see. Well, I'm glad for your assistance. It's always good to know that there are people around that will put themselves at risk to protect strangers. Other people, anyway; that's sort of my job." She laughed slightly at that, before her expression settled back into a more curious one again. "So you've been traveling for a long time? Are you headed anywhere? And, is it physically or. . . spiritually, I suppose?"