Sutoratosu

Minutes passed. Minutes that seemed to drag on into hours, in Tesla's eyes, and hours extended into days, and days extended into weeks, weeks into months. Months became years. Years of darkness, years of being a plaything for the sake of science. Years that stretched on into eternity. She didn't even know how long she'd been focusing her fire, by the time the warnings began to flash across her cerebral connections. She'd gotten to the point where her rate of her fire was vastly exceeding the rate at which the storm core could even generate juice to replenish the supply, and as a direct result, the mech itself was slowly losing more and more power with every shot. And even worse, inbetween the hail of thunder and fury, countless electrons halted by favor and projected out as insanely deadly bolts that carried just as much raw impact force as they did heat and light... she could already tell... "Nothing." nothing at all. The stones of the entryway itself were utterly devastated, pockmarked with thousands of deep holes burrowed by the electron beams, warped and melted in countless places, some spots still red hot and dripping. But the barrier was totally unscathed. She had might as well have fucking sneezed on it, for all the response it showed. The violet light died down, as she gave the impulse, and the suit halted it's ungodly assault on both everyone's ears, and their eyes. The castle stopped it's shaking, her hellish scream faded, until finally, the Mirrored Virtue became visible again. It simply hovered there, silent, blazing with pure white light as it's own heat compensatory worked overtime to cope with the steadily mounting intensity of her now-ceased attacks. There was a flash of violet once more, and the mech was gone- in it's place, Tesla. Standing there, glaring at the barrier, at the utter destruction it had somehow survived. Parts of her still wanted to attack, to break this thing that had dared made her a slave and a guinea pig again, but slowly and surely, the more rational parts of her mind took control once again. She was capable of exerting hundreds of orders of magnitude more destructive power in her mech than she ever could outside of it- going at this thing again would be foolish, futile. And it was that part of her mind which forced her to turn, and walk away... accepting the situation for what it was at this moment. Futile. "By all the gods... enough destructive force to easily disable an opposing mech, wipe its pilot and everything standing within a good hundred meter radius around them off the fucking face of tempest without leaving so much as the shit stain they made in their final moments, and this thing takes it like it's nothing..." She muttered as she began searching for wherever mar had hidden, calling out to the orc "I'm done, Mar! The damn thing is tougher than one of the fucking gods of tempest..."

"Stand back, Mar." A soulless, dead voice commanded in crystal clear audio quality from the mech. It barely even sounded like the woman at all It was the only warning she gave, as the charge finished. She gave a few moments for the Orc to follow her advice and get somewhere he'd be safe from any backlash. Everything she was, everything she might've been, every person she had killed and the reason she had killed them, it all culminated in that one moment as memories flashed before her eyes like water spewing from a broken flood gate. But strongest among them was the memory of being a imprisoned. The memory of living her life as a caged animal, to be poked and prodded and cut up as her captors so desired, to be used, abused, and finally cast aside when they had no more need of her. The memory of being rendered less than human, time and time again, nothing but a letter and number, restrained on the examination table, those god forsaken fucks hovering over her with no end of tools. And then the day when they, all of them, were tossed out of the facility like trash, those who were not already dead from the experiments and already lay motionless in the dust, now left to the wasteland, left to meet a far crueler demise than anything the scientists could've conjured. And in that one moment, for the first time in her life, she finally understood the type of emotion that gripped David and Solomon when they became one with their demons, the type of emotion that could turn men into beasts.and then with an utterly furious, nigh primal shreik of malice, the world around her vanished in a violet blaze of glory as every ounce of power she could spare was unleashed at once in a directional burst centered immediately in front of her, at the barrier. In that moment.... She understood what it meant, to bare the name "Ryke" The mere sound of the assault alone would've been enough to shake the castle's very foundations and carry through it's ancient halls to every room and every space- the sounds of a mad woman's unbridled, unfiltered rage and the subsequent explosive peel of thunder it preambled.

Tesla Having borne witness to the battle beyond the gates and the subsequent departure of the party, Tesla could only stand there, eyes twitching. The bastards had left without even trying to lift the barrier. They had left them all trapped inside of here.... all of them, all of a gods know how many of them (in all seriousness though, she had no idea how many were even alive in here, given she'd only been able to find a handful). Motherfuckers. God damn motherfuckers... As their forms faded in the far distance, she ground her teeth, as it become quite clear that indeed, they weren't going to help fix this mess, and at last she gave up trying to hold back, summoning her mech and leveling every once of focus she had on the damn surge of purple energy and ethereal chains before her. And with the amount of raw power she began to charge up, filling the air around her with deafening static and the stench of burning ozone, it would've been clear to anyone who happened upon her to know what she was doing. They'd yet to try actually breaking it by force, and well... if the bloody barrier bounced her own assault right back at her, it wouldn't matter, her body had become immune to her own power long ago, and all it would do would feed right back into her mech's power supply...

(Boardwalk Mall Theme) After a quick break to get food from one of the vendors, the place the girl and the cats visited was the shop selling what Lucille could only guess were playthings for children. Curiosity had driven her inside, more than anything else- she didn't know what even half this stuff was, as Do peered out from the satchel at the many shelves. Who knows though, maybe she'd find something interesting to fuse later on. Certainly didn't hurt to at least look. She picked a random aisle and started heading down it, and as she walked with Do sticking his head out, Lucille couldn't help but wonder, just maybe, if her scrying might prove useful here. It wasn't like the thing was actually restricting to Thaumic matters, if anything it was meant to be used on one's surroundings in general- that was how the Thaumist of old had gotten past the age of mere Incantations, at least. Taking a few deep breaths, she cleared her mind and let her consciousness float above the confines of the physical world, feeling a boundless flow of information surging by her as she peered through metaphorical eyes of crystal clarity, right into the realm of Animus itself, overlayed over top the material realm: And with the floodgates of knowledge cast wide open, she moved her focus all around the aisle, as the cat shifted his gaze, focusing on the many different products lining the shelves. Just as she'd thought, all of them were meant to entertain children. One particular thing grabbed her attention however- a package containing a good five or so small wind instruments.... "Kazoos", her scrying managed to deduce; apparently they weren't true instruments, but merely small playthings capable of making a few notes. Thinking it over for a few minutes, she eventually reached up and grabbed them off the shelf. They would have their use yet, that much Lucille was certain of... As they continued walking and she kept scrying, Do reached out as they passed one display, pawing at something dangling on a small string. Before Lucille had even known it, the Cat had leapt out of the bag, grasping onto the fluffy little bauble with both paws and pulling it out of the display and to the floor. She turned on a time at the disturbance, only to find him playing with it. She focused on the toy and almost instantly, a basic idea of it's purpose formed in her head- apparently it was meant to entertain cats, nothing more than a small metal rod with a strong line and fluffed or feathered trinket attached. Sending a quick few clicks down either side of the main aisle to ensure no one had been around to see Do jump out, she scooped the feline bag up and put him back in the satchel as she picked up the toy. He mewed in protest as the thing was taken away, to which Lucille sighed and dangled it over his face, and went right back to batting at it "Alright, alright... just stay inside the bag from now on. We're gonna get kicked out if someone sees you..." Why she was even talking to him like he would comprehend the meaning of her words, she didn't know. She could've easily commanded him to stay in through the bond, and as she heard someone- an old granny voice coupled with two other, far younger ones, coming from behind her, she did just that. Do stopped playing with the thing and sunk right back into the satchel, as the old woman and her grandchildren passed by and turned into one of the aisles up ahead. Lucille simply stared blankly at where she held the toy in her hand, before shrugging and putting it with the kazoos "well, not like it hurts anything... and we've got more than enough money, so..." He poked his head back out as she relaxed her hold on the command, and they went back to browsing the aisles. The only other thing that caught her notice was a package containing some type of spinning top... looked like it was heavily advertised and perhaps had some tie in with... a tv show(?) she didn't really know, the information was there to be scryed, but without the full context of how media was in this world, some of it was lost on her. Luckily however, a boy also in the aisle, no more than maybe 11 or 12, was more than happy to explain a bit more, after she came up with the story that she was buying the things as a gift for her younger brother. What he told her was vexing in parts, explaining that yes, the tops were indeed tied into a popular show or "anime", and laying out the full premise of it- apparently the characters in the show would have full on battles in special arenas with the tops, and they would call upon the....spirits(?) residing within to aid them in said battles. But no one got injured, most of the time, and it was mostly for sport in setting. At that point, a woman's voice down the aisle called out the boys name, and he left, apologizing for not being able to explain more and suggesting Lucille watch it herself, waving farewell. Though Do was the one who saw it, and not her, she returned the gesture, just to keep up appearances... it seemed very few people she'd run into at this mall thus far had actually noticed she was blind. She was quite certain she wouldn't be seeking the show out at any point, but she did put the tops in with the cat toy and the kazoos. They were tops afterall, and one way or another, she could probably find some use for them. And though she... didn't want to admit it, something about the fictional story behind them involving sapient spirits taking refuge in the things also peeked her curiosity. Nothing else interested her, and so eventually she found her way to the front counter and checked out. The Total Came out to around 30$, with the "Beyblade" top making up the majority of the cost, given both the cat toy and the kazoos were selling for a mere pittance. Lucille buys the following items, sent to her reserve: She paid the man behind the counter, stowed the plastic bag in her satchel, and walked out. Just as with the clothing store, the other 2 cats fell in line after her, and they began searching the next place to visit. In all honesty though, it was becoming more and more apparent that perhaps she didn't really need three felines, considering how well she'd gotten by in the stores with Do alone. She supposed at this point, it would make more sense to just break the bonds and release them, though.... part of her didn't want to just break it off and shoo them away. They'd been rather useful kitties, and she had more than enough money judging by the general scope of the prices around here. Why not do something nice, the three of them had certainly earned it. Perhaps a little fair well gift was in order. She walked back to the area where the food vendors gathered, the same place she'd fed herself earlier, and stopped at one vendor in particular. The sign above it had images of fish and strange text that was actually quite different from most of what she'd seen around here, like it was in another language compared to whatever was the standard. Didn't matter, she could smell the scent of the sea, among other things coming from the vendor. She called the man over, slid him a five, and when he asked what she wanted to order, how she'd like it prepared, she simply gestured at the cats and told him to bring something out for them. 2 minutes later, he came back with a small platter with 3 filets of vibrantly pink, raw fish, and handed it off to her. Nodding in thanks, she went and found a secluded area in the food court to sit, and put the tray on the ground in front of her. Almost immediately, the cats eagerly rushed up to the plate and began to dig in. She sat there, leaning back against the table, and poked through the minds of each of them, as she listened to their feast. Just as she'd always gotten, there was the surge of wild instincts, a few vague concepts that made up the basis of emotions for all beings, the strongest among all of them in the cats right now being happiness and content, but beyond that, there was nothing more. She could see through their eyes, smelled what they smelled, taste the fish they were eating, or even peer back through their memories, if she really wanted to. She could send emotions and receive emotions from them, calm them down or rile them into a feral rage, and just everything in between.... but just as she'd come to aceept over the years, the one thing that was impossible, was to have an intelligent discourse with any of them. They could feel, they could act and respond to stimuli based on how natural instinct wired them, but there was nothing in these minds that could ponder the reasons behind why they felt as they did, or why they were wired to react in certain ways. there was nothing but an empty spot, and in truth, she was lucky it was this way, for it was the entire basis of how her power worked. Beasts lacked sapient minds, and so all she had to do was reach out, split a part of her own mind, and place it into theirs, forming a link through which she could perceive through their senses, view their memories, and even remotely control them with relative ease. The fact that she'd been able to bind and control these three in the first place meant that there was nothing worth talking to, inside those cute little heads of theirs. She didn't even know why she kept wishing there was- it wasn't gonna change anything. And she most definitely wasn't going to use the Thaum to try and grant Sapience to lifeforms which did not already possess it. That was a mess, if not potential disaster, just waiting to happen. Sighing as they finished, she finally did it. She called Do up onto the table, to stay by her side, but turned her attention on the two females- Re and Mi, she'd named them. She exerted just a little bit of mental pressure on the bonds tying them, and like that, she rescinded the small parts of herself she'd instilled in them, severing the connection and leaving them to their own feral devices. "Welp, it's been fun I guess...." she said, "Go on you two, get out of here, go do.... whatever it was you were doing before. I'm afraid I don't need your services anymore" They looked at her for several moments, but stayed right where they were, tails swaying. Then they walked up and started nuzzling her legs. Lucille sighed, before reaching out- this time not to establish a bond, but peer into their minds, and she sent the memory of the docks, where she'd first found them. And with the memory, she sent the strong emotions of home and the awkwardness of being so far removed from it for all these years, a type of basic, simple desire that even the animals with their lack of higher functioning minds, easily took to heart. And before lucille knew it, Re and Mi had given reluctant mews, withdrawn from nuzzling her, and wandered off, heading in the direction of the docks. Lucille releases Re and Mi! Once they'd gotten far away enough to where she could no longer hear their pitter patter, she turned to Do, the only one remaining "Well, guess it's time for the next place. Come on, lets see what we can find-" She stopped, and turned her attention to the horizon, where the massive burst of sound had just resonated from. It sounded fairly close, maybe a few blocks at the very least- which would put it right in the docks... but too far away for it to have been in the direct vicinity of the warehouse. She let the tension in her muscles relax, sitting back down and sighing. Whatever it was, it probably... hopefully didn't involve any of the others, or the supposed firebombing that had been attempted and failed last night. Probably just some demolition work... or a few indigenous gangs fighting each other. And even if the others were involved, she was.... decently certain they could handle it. Maybe... Okay, well if Lilly happens to be there, and be involved, things might be dicey buuuut.... what could she really do? Run over, all those blocks, only to find out that she was wrong and they weren't even aware there was an explosion cause they were off somewhere else? Yeh, no. She couldn't let simply paranoia move her to do something stupid like waste so much energy for something she had no evidence of. "Uh.... anywaaaays. Come on, Do, time to get moving again..." She scooped the cat back up, and they set about walking again, searching the store fronts.

As an answer, aurora held up her hand before Venus, and their in her palm, countless furious lances of light collided in a blinding burst of heat and divine power, and as the brilliant flash they created faded, there in it's wake was a small, floating orb of soft, gold-white light. She promptly dropped the small, glowing orb of golden radiance into his hands. It was perfectly round, smooth to the touch like a pearl, and pulsed with the warmth of a miniature sun. "I made them because certain fleshbags can't be arsed to learn about healing," She said, still a bit miffed about whatever had happened, judging by her expression "You know how close some of them who were with me came to dying? I was one of the only things keeping most of their sorry hides alive, and then after I went and obliterated that damn witch, I try and get a few of them interested to learn how to channel positive energy so they take care of themselves, and do you know what happens once we got back here?" She waited, for several seconds, as if expecting venus to actually answer. The question was actually rhetorical though, as she started right back up "Not even one of those damn squishies took the opportunity to learn. NOT EVEN ONE! I sat there for I don't know how long, waiting, watching, until finally...I decided to go about this a different way. If they don't want to learn, fine... but I'm not going to continue letting them put the burden of preservation on my shoulders. Thus I made these," She held up one of the Life Anchors "That orb in your hand is merely the basis from which the others were created. I condensed a bit of light magic and my own divine energy until it took on solid form, then I instilled each of them with it's own direct connection to the positive energy plane- all some squishy would have to do to receive instant healing is to activate it.... of course, assuming their smart enough to figure it out, or have enough raw magic to simply brute force it. As for the offer of your gold," She looked him up and down for a moment- though Venus would not it was nothing like how a hungry predator would, but rather a very shrewed, discriminating consumer inspecting a peice of product, trying to find even the smallest fault to justify lowering the price to more desirable levels "hmmmmm... No, while I may be able to make these baubles from my own power and nothing else, I have no domain over gold or other minerals- except crystals, such as what the energy condensed into these trinkets ultimately became. If you want me to make you yet another orb, you will have to provide the materials yourself, aaaaaand....you will help me test these baubles to ensure that they will indeed work, so long as a squishy is smart enough or has enough raw power. I would do this myself, but.... I created them, I have full power over healing, and truth be told, I could channel far more restorative forces without them. Of course they would work if I tested them...but they aren't for me, they're for you lot. Hence, one of you must test them, to be sure."

It didn't very long or walking very far from the docks before Lucille stumbled upon someplace that seemed suitable for her purposes- bustling with sound, people walking and talking, sitting on nearby benches as they rested, the scent of something that smelled like food wafting from over yonder. She had turned and walked towards the source of the liveliness, having the cats peer around the place, and come to find out, she'd gotten rather lucky- this wasn't merely a single store, from what they saw, but it seemed that it was actually many smaller stores housed within the same structure overall, all connected by the central boardwalk. Walking in with the cats in tow, she let the felines roam free for a few moments, deftly avoiding ankles and walking feet as they maneuvered the light crowd and peered up at the many establishments. Though she couldn't read what their signs said, from the wares the cats glimpsed within each, she was able to create a fairly decent idea of their inventories. And while the cats did that, Lucille couldn't help but overhear some of the conversations in the distance turn their subjects towards the strange girl standing near the entrance dressed in furs... nor could she ignore the subtle turning of people's heads she sensed on the sonograph, as they passed her by. She had the cats turn their attention to a few of the strangers wandering about, and upon comparing their attire with her own, guessed that... perhaps it was a bit strange to be standing here in full fur vestments. At the very least, it drew more than enough unwanted attention to make lucille shift a little under the brunt of it all. And so it was that the store that seemed to sell clothing was the first place she decided to visit. And was promptly denied entry when the sales associate saw the cats following behind her. Well.... five minutes later, with 2 of the cats waiting outside on the boardwalk and Do smuggled inside of her shirt, she was inside, and as she passed through the racks she searched for the tags on each peice of clothing, letting the cats eyes gaze upon the prices and committing them to her memory. For the most part, the store associates seemed totally unaware, and she was free to browse as long as she wanted. Some of the fabrics felt particularly... cheap, as if they'd been shat out in massive droves with little care for quality, most of these cost somewhere between 10-15$, with some of the very.... knackered fabrics going for as little as 5$ a pop. There were also quite a few pants, made out of quite the tough material, far superior to the fabric of the upper body wares, though oddly enough they were generally in the same range of 10-15$, with a few ones that felt like they had special adornments- smooth rocks or special embroidering on the pockets, serving as outliers at 20$. That however, was simply the basic stuff. Going deeper into the storefront, she gradually began to find things of higher quality, silken textures, warm wools, and other textiles bearing exquisite feels, all of them ranging anywhere from the upper 20s all the way to over 100 dollars, in some of the more isolated cases. Ultimately, lucille felt it was a good and worthwhile reference experience for her- she'd at least learned that, in this world, a mere 5-20$ was apparently enough to easily buy one a single article of decent feeling and made clothing, while the more luxurious pieces could easily go for over 5 times that amount.... interesting, just as on arganor they seemed to place quite the discrimination on the quality of clothes, enough that the prices begin to wildly vary, depending on the echelon of quality one chose from. At the end of her foray, she'd gone back to the cheaper sections ((for there was utterly no way in hell she was spending half of the money she'd brought on a single peice of clothing, or even a full outfit, when she could easily buy a cheap one for somewhere in the ballpark of 20-40$)) and chosen a few articles whose textures she found pleasing and through the cats eyes looked functional and non discrete enough: A vest with some sort of splotchy design on it, alternating between olive green, dull brown, and black, obviously tailored for a woman's figure at the waist and bearing a generous amount of pockets both on its front face and it's interior; a pair of the pants that were made of the tough, durable material stronger than common fabrics (and a few pairs of less than mentionable items); a simple black t-shirt; and last but certainly not least, a strange type of satchel she'd found in one of the accessory aisles, made of some fancy material that felt reassuring tough, like it could survive the apocalypse. One trip to the changing rooms later after convincing one of the associates she was merely lost rather than a little blind girl, and she had changed out of the fur garments she'd made so long ago and altered as needed, and was sporting the new attire, with Do the cat stowed away in her satchel, quietly mewing before she told him to quiet down, lest they be found out. She left the changing rooms looking for all the world like any ordinary american high schooler... well, except for her eyes. But Lucille didn't really like to cover them up, why bother? Her sense of thermal changes was acute enough that she could easily tell where the sun was, it wasn't like she was going to accidently stare into it, and even if she did- what would be the real consequence, losing her vision? Ha.... as if she had anything to lose to begin with. Besides, not hiding her eyes forced people to actually notice them, acknowledge her as she was, blindness and all. And she preferred to keep things that way. Besides, Mavens know how long it would take before she lost a pair of those little dark tinted glasses somewhere or simply forget about them because of how used she was to going without. Really no point wasting the money on something she'd neither want nor keep track of. "60 dollars, kid," said the clerk manning the register, an utterly, miserable woman who sounded to be in her mid 20s, probably pursuing a philosophy degree and working this dead end job to try and fend off the mounting weight of the crushing student loans she had to incur simply to get a higher education in her country. The crushing, futile defeat she carried in her voice actually made Lucille feel somewhat sorry for her, despite the two of them being perfect strangers... and the fact that she could feel the vibration of the woman's jittering even from where she was standing. It was minor enough for most customers to likely not even notice, but not lucille... "well, c'mon, you're not the only customer to deal with...God I need a fucking smoke break." "Ring the girl and the other customers on the floor up, finish taking inventory in the back," a mans' voice form farther behind the counter, coming from an adjoining back room according to lucille's sound map, answered her gripe "then you can have five minutes for a smoke break... and not a minute before. We've gone over this-" "Yeah, keep your fucking panties in a bunch ronnie, you might be assistant manager, but you're still the biggest asshole I know." The cashier turned back to her "You gonna pay kid, or do I have to call mall security. They're not sheepish about strip searches you know." And with that, any sympathy for the woman vanished, as lucille pulled out the stack of cash from the satchel, held the bills up for Do to see on the way out, and deftly dropped 60$ exactly onto the counter, giving the woman a venomous glare "Yeah, I bet you would know all about their searches, hell, you're probably an expert on them... you definitely sound like it's been a good while since you had your last pick-me up. Wonder what they might find if they searched you right now~" and turning and leaving the store as the woman sat there, mouth agape at how a little girl not even out of highschool had just told her off, and Ronnie proceeded to laugh his ass off in the back office, loud enough that just about everyone outside could hear it. Do started mewing almost immediately after they were out, and she opened the satchel, letting him poke his head out into the sea air. He purred rather contently, as she scratched him behind the ears and collected the other two. It was time to determine which shop they'd go to next- this had been a decent learning experience, but there was still cash on hand, and plenty of more places to gather information from... plus she was starving.

"Hwat?" the terror knight asked, voice resounding from his helm in a confused echo "Are you quite sure about that, fellow? There is a reason why I merely officiated the recruits, never took them on personally... except when they got their heads stuck too far up their arses and needed a lesson in humility-" "What's the matter, my child, fearful you will break this man like a toothpick? Come now, if you're so certain of your power to resist me, then surely you can restrain my gift enough to avoid fighting as if this is the killing field... unless of course, you've come to accept that such restraint over this power is foolish, and wish to sub-" "On second thought my good man, you have yourself a deal..." The knight had practically done a heel face turn, with how quickly his tune had changed. He could... do this, yes, certainly, he knew it. Though there was very strong truth in there being a reason he never took on new bloods unless their arrogance proved likely to get them killed on the battlefield, he'd managed to reign this in many times before, when it was needed. The Dark God's prodding now was merely meant to try and knock him off balance, as he always did when such opportunities arose... but Stellio had never fallen to him before, and he would not let himself now. "Now, I assume we will be doing this unarmed and unarmored, hand to hand techniques only, no blasts of magics or other ranged trickery, correct?"

"....Oh? Well.... I do suppose you've just wasted any opportunity to attack us you just had , or to even defend yourself against us at that, were we to attack preemptively..." she paused, obviously weighing the pros and cons of the situation for a moment, before turning to the others "Well.... what a pleasant surprise, especially after the past few weeks we spent just getting here. Nevermind, everyone, forget my previous statement, for now; I suppose this man does not need to be taught a painful lesson at the end of the lance or a sword or a spell....hopefully, it will stay that way." She turned back to the man "For now, sir, I will take your words and your actions in tossing aside your blade in good faith. And I will continue to unless you give us reason to defend ourselves, as we've had to do too many times already, thus far. Now pray tell, where precisely do you have in mind to wait this storm out? Quite literally anywhere but the open desert is better than that ruined shack of a house behind you."

The knights blows had grown faster, ever faster as the bag took each one of them with a resounding slam as the material became further and further distressed, flying backwards till it hung in the air nigh horizontally before pivoting back down only to be met by another furious fist. Darkness was beginning to surge around his physique, tendrils of it entwining his limbs like countless serpents born of the abyss, their malevolent hiss audible to any standing near by. The very light around them was drawn in, as if peering into a void from which no life could escape... until at long last, the Ogre unleashed one final punch, bare fist impacting the bag with such force that it sent the swinging on it's chain right into the ceiling, landing with a resounding boom as a great downpour of dust was knocked loose from the tiles as the nearby area shook. "You know you want this gift... accept it boy, become mine...you've done well to resist all these years, but you could be so much more... think about it, mortal..." "No." It was all the knight said to the voice, before he retrieved his gauntlets and walked away from the bag. The darkness that was by now coating his hands and trailing up and down his arms gradually began to fade, giving way for the light to return as he strapped his gloves back into place. Despite the fact that he had probably struck that punching bag with enough force to leave a lasting indentation in the ceiling, if not the bag itself, he mostly acted as though it was nothing, as he passed by the others. Ignored it, as he always had, for when he ignored the old demon's voice, it tended to give up and go silent, at least for a time. As he passed by the other knight from earlier, now stripped shirtless, and the stranger who had met them upon arriving in this world however, he could not help but take notice in the conversation "A Sparring match, is it? Well, if you two are so inclined, I suppose you may need someone there to officiate. I've done it too many times before for young recruits, just say the word when you're ready to begin"

"Klaren please, ghosts or no, it's better than staying out here in this." She responded with a slight sigh as the group walked "Besides, as if I'd be afraid of ghosts at this point... compared to the true undead we've already encountered, Ghost are harmless. I would know." she turned to look at freyl "Well... almost harmless...Most of the time...." "What, no, oh cooome oooon. "..." Gaaa, fine, fair enough I guess. I did say I was sorry though, ya know..." Before she could say much more on the subject though, or explain what the hell she was even looking at though, there from the ruins emerged a figure.... great, juuuuust great. A figure who spoke pretentious greetings and carried an Axe on their shoulder. This was certainly going to go well... "oh look, everyone," she called to those behind them, "some foolish bandit here who probably thinks he's strong enough to pick off a few weakened travellers. Either that, or an agent of the king with a mind to kill us, but not before he bores us with his pretentious little riddles" "Either way, doesn't matter... which one of you is going to break the very painful news about how wrong he is? And do be sure to make quick work of him, please... the storm isn't getting any slower, afterall"

She approached the briefcase from yesterday and popped it open with a click, feeling around and pulling out a single stack of bills out of the ten or so contained within. Stowing it into one of the pockets of her garbs, she snapped the container shut once more and put it back in its hiding place behind the crates, called the cats over to her side, and headed out of the warehouse with the three felines in tow. Where she was going, she didn't precisely know- in all likelihood she would stop at the first place that looked like a store and check it out. For now though, she let the sounds of the early morning docks filter in and gradually map out the world around her, clicking her tongue a few times to speed up the process. With her own bearings in check, she channeled one of the cats sight, taking a look around the area, and settled on a particular path that looked like it led away from the docks and into the city proper. Without a word, the girl started walking, the cats following behind. She occasionally took control of the sight of each of them, as they went, having the felines browse the building facades they passed.

Lucille awoke to the mewing of the cats and a decently hefty, warm weight on her chest, purring with obvious content at its position. Reaching up to pet the thing before she rose to a sitting position, the memories of the day before groggily began to filter back in- cheif among them all how the damn rock had nearly killed her some reason that, try as she might, she could find no discernible reason for. The method she'd used to examine it before that point had been precisely the same as when she had that time, and it hadn't gone ballistic then. She had briefly considered that maybe it had something to do with the miniaturization, but with the utter mess it had assaulted her smell and taste with, that theory made no sense- the runic formula had absolutely nothing to do with it... even now, the running hypothesis was that somehow, for some reason, the thing was sapient. She shook her head free of the thoughts. She wanted nothing more to do with the thing, didn't even want to ponder what it might be capable of, what she had done, what she had made. It was gone now, anyway, shrunken back down, wrapped up in some spare cloth one of the cats had found around the warehouse, and pocketed. And in all honesty, if Lucille never had reason to ever take it back out again, she would be perfectly happy. The synesthesia still gave her chills, as the mere thought called back a similar sensation in her mouth, the feeling of about to wretch right where she was, a feeling that only be quelled by taking a few deep breaths to keep the vomit down. Not like there was anything left to vomit up at this point though. Where the food that had been brought last night came from, or what was even in most of it, she didn't know. But it had smelled more like chemicals than anything actually edible, and in the state she'd been in- and still was a bit now -she doubted she would've been able to keep any of it down, from how the smell alone had begun to trigger a nasty response. So she hadn't even tried, just curled up and went to sleep. Infact... "Did I even tell him about the money?" She muttered, before turning to the source of the mewing on her lap. It was simple to peer into its memories, and from what she could tell, no one else beside her even knew it was here, considering the cat had neither seen nor heard anyone messing with the case. Cutting off the flow of past events, she gave the feline the order to go and get it, if it was still where it had been, and lo and behold, mere moments later Do leapt off her lap and came back dragging the case behind him. She didn't have to jack into his vision, the sounds of the metal scraping on the concrete, and the way said sounds reverberated throughout the case itself was confirmation enough for her that it was indeed still there, and still full. So much for 'letting him know'. "Well... whatever..." She sighed, resting her head on one of the crates. It really didn't matter in the end. And at least the light bruising she'd gotten had stopped hurting, infact it had probably faded away by now. She finally got up, and walked around as she took care of a few things, overhearing the talk of people apparently.... firebombing them.... in the middle of the night... while they slept in a structure than even a blind girl like her could easily tell was metal. She didn't know whether the criminals around here were touched in the head, or simply so focused on trying to intimidate that they were fine with wasting perfect opportunities to march into where they knew someone they had beef with was sleeping, and slitting all their throats. One way or another, didn't matter. The only thing they had accomplished was ruin whatever element of surprise this knowledge had given them. "Fucking morons..." she sighed, shaking her head upon hearing the news. Soon enough, the others began to leave out for the day, where they any of them were going, she had no idea, but... she didn't really care to ask either. They apparently had capital now, after all, and she still had no actual idea how much $2000.00 actually was here. Back home it would be a mere pittance, the type of thing a parent might give as an allowance- could get you a few trinkets, some food and tat, but not much else beyond that. But she doubted the authorities would've handed out so equivalently little, in return for odd tech they seemed very intent on deciphering (which lucille already had, at least for armsmaster, but.... well she prefered not to dwell on that outburst). Not like she had anything else to do... so why not take a small amount, maybe a single stack, at the very most, and try to experiment, see what the prices were like in this world, maybe pick up a few supplies if it turns out the cash was a generous amount here. It was better than staying in here all day, at least waiting for the others to come back from doing... whatever... and dwelling on her many failures yesterday- being blasted into a wall by something she'd never even intended to create being chief among them.

G20

By the time Lucille had finished, there were several miniature crates scattered along the ground, as if some of the full sized boxes above had somehow given virgin births but then deemed their offspring unfit to uphold the long, noble lineage of a cargo container, and had so decided to dash them upon the stones instead, tops knocked aside and their innards hollow. And in the center of them lay a black stone and a staff, side by side.. The shiny, black disc she had somehow conjured earlier, and promptly shrunk down to be able to carry... just there, full sized yet again. The miniaturization trick... yet another case today of something being "Adequate" but nowhere near as "Good" as she preferred. First the damn plant, the oddities that had created the stone in the first place, and now this. The spell... it worked. It didn't work well, but it worked, period. Even drawing upon what vast reservoir of information regarding the sigil she had and trying to leverage it as much as she could during the scribing process, somehow the damn things kept coming out nowhere near what she knew she'd been capable of in the past, no matter how many times she tried... evidenced by the scattered mini-crates. Eventually, she had given up on it, stopped toying with the containers, and turned instead to examining something she had already put through the ritual- the stone and her own staff -to scry them to see just what she had been doing wrong and somehow missing every time that she'd gotten right before. And there, as she had been examining the stone, she sensed it... something... off, well, even more off than the things whole existence already was. The bits and pieces of information filtering in were enough to shake the foundation of what she had thought before however. This...this thing... it didn't absorb or radiate heat, no, this.... felt far too different, now that she wasn't touching it and scrying it at the same time. Had it been an illusion, earlier? Had whatever power this stone held, and she found so difficult to penetrate the secrets of now, been so complex as to manage to trick her own senses into detecting a temperature flux that was never there to begin with? ... ... ... "It was..." She muttered to herself... and couldn't help but smirk, ever so slightly at the idea. She concentrated even now, and lo and behold... she didn't feel any of the tell-tale pressure changes on her skin that indicated a nearby shift in temperature. This thing, whatever it radiated, couldn't be heat. And at the same time as the prospect intrigued her, it did just as much to terrify her- what in the Maven's name had she created here? What was this thing truly capable of, if manipulating the senses was just the obvious tip of the iceberg? She'd come too far down this rabbit hole to stop now. Gathering herself, honing her focus once more, she again began to scry into the stone's true nature... And for her trouble, Lucille was shoved, shoved hard enough to lift her right off her ass as she sat there, pick up her like a ragdoll, and dash her against the far wall after colliding into a few crates on her short, but very disorienting flight, all culiminating in a loud, ungodly crash and the sound of a 15 year old girl screaming in utter terror that would've resonated throughout the entire warehouse. Or at least... a shove was merely what the logical side of her had deduced the most likely explaination to be, accounting by the amount of force felt on impact... what she had actually experienced however, was beyond words. A cacophony of odd tastes and smells she'd never known in her life up to that point, shifting, intertwining, evolving, like a mass of snakes breeding in the bottom of some moist, dark pit. A cacophony that was equal parts sweet and bitter, pleasant and wretched... as if she had suddenly walked into a field of rotting corpses left over from the atrocities of the state, left their so long that eventually the most heavenly of flowers had begun to bloom, their sweet, alluring scent mingling with the stench of death and decay to form a sickening, insidious soup. Sickening in quite the literal meaning, as it had happened. For though the flight itself had only last mere moments, the sensation lingered far longer, and already bruised, disoriented, and quite frankly terrified of whatever the hell had just happened, there was little lucille could do to keep the venison from last night in her stomach, as she turned and wretched for a good few moments, until the gods forsaken assault on her senses of smell and taste finally fade, and the sense of nausea it had helped push over the edge with it. She stood, shakily, wiping her mouth of the bit of bile still clinging to it. And she listened... listened closer than she ever had before in her life. Listened for any sign of danger, anything approaching, anything else being fired at her. But she heard nothing besides the usual sounds of the warehouse. Whatever had attacked her, whatever had picked her up and tossed her with enough force to easily send her through the air, yet somehow also enough restraint to prevent her walking away with little more than what felt like a minor bruise or scrape on her elbows... it was gone... or hiding... she didn't know. She didn't care. A shaky step forward, and another. She kept an incantation ready, just under her breath, the blades of sound practically already conjured and ready to end yet another life, just encase something leapt out at her. But it didn't. Nothing did. Eventually, she found her way back to the area she'd been practicing, back to the scattered, shrunken crates on the ground, where her staff, and the stone- oh that wretched, horrifying stone, sat. And once she did, she simply slumped against a crate, sliding down to sit on the floor, facing it... the stone, no, the thing that had somehow, for some reason, outright attacked her when she had merely tried to examine it- which, by the way, she had done just fine when it was originally made, and mere moments before it had reacted so violently. And, as well as a blind girl could, she "stared" at it... contemplating her decisions up to this point, the queasiness she still felt in her gut, the minor ache where she'd landed. But most of all, she contemplated how she would destroy this bedamned artifact. Or perhaps more aptly, if she could destroy it... whatever it was, it had become very obvious, nothing good was going to come out of it... if that was the type of reaction it apparently gave just from a simple scrying. She could only thank the mavens that despite her utter fuck up regarding... just about everything related to the stone, she had at least been prudent enough to try to examine it first, instead of recklessly turning right around and combining it with something. If it hadn't been for that, who knows... she might well have been dead right now, instead of merely stunned, disoriented, and slightly sore. "What am I even doing anymore?" She closed her eyes in defeat, after a long day of fucking up one thing right after another, and sighed inwardly "What have I done? What did I make- How did I make it? You... you shouldn't exist...you hear me? I don't know if you're... somehow sapient... but either way, you shouldn't exist..."

"You don't need to thank me dear...." was all the woman said, before the haze and the mist began to fade, and slowly but surely, the noise of the conversations and other nonsense going on in the area filtered back in. Again, that same something from earlier flashed in her eyes, and this time it stayed a bit longer before being replaced.... long enough for hiroki to have possible caught it; the weariness they held, the countless events they had borne witness to, the many regrets from said events and the few triumphs scattered in between, as if in that one single moment, the past five decades were all reflected at once. But more than anything, there was doubt. Not doubt in regard to Hiroki though.... not that at all. Doubt for the one who possessed those slightly shimmering, crimson eyes that were looking back at her, even as the face they belonged too smiled reassuringly. "It's the least I can do. I'm afraid I have a few other things to see too though. And like that, the look in her eyes was gone, and so too was the strange, alternate version of reality they had occupied up until then. The colors now returned in full, the mist totally gone, and the others voices continuing in full blast in the background as if nothing had ever changed. "Remember, you can always come find me." With that said, and a single nod to the girl, Clearly intended as a farewell for now, Ghost turned, and, true to her namesake, not only began walking towards the entrance of the armory to take her leave, but walked right through some of those gathered there who happened to be in the way. One had to wonder, was she even really a true part of any world they visited, for her to be able to ignore their physical boundaries so easily?

Aurora Aurora entered the room looking.... well, displeased was an understatement, as she carried several shining stones with her, each one about the size of a ping pong ball and radiating a constant white light. After she'd finished the batch, there had been no reason to persist out in the courtyard, where no end of nonsense was taking place... and besides, she needed to find a flesh bag who was both magically adept, and actually smart enough, to help her fully test the things. Of course, technically she could've done it herself, but well... she was a goddess with an entire aspect devoted to positive energy, the results would've most definitely be skewed in a certain direction if she'd personally gone and done it. Of course they'd work for her, she'd made the damn things- but they weren't for her, that was the problem. They were for the squishy flesh bags, and none of them could use them, then this would just end up a waste of her time.... Hence, as she scuttled through the doorway, she took stock of who else was already there, trying to find a suitable guinea pig... and upon seeing the crazed bookish fleshbag who had started a fight long ago, in the barren world, with one of their own party members.... she instantly decided he would most definitely not be it and continued her search around the relatively spartan banquet hall.

With the gems finished and having grown relatively tired of the drama and nonsense going on in the area, Aurora leaves her corner and heads to the War Room.

L20

"Wait, she was his...?" "HIS SISTER!" his voice erupted beside her, as he clamped a jovial hand on her shoulder, the joy etched on his face something she had not seen in literal years "Oh by the goddess, this is too damn good... we killed that SWINE'S FUCKING SISTER! HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, DAMN. MAYA, CAN YOU FREAKING BELEIVE THE BEUATIFUL IRONY OF IT- HIS SISTER! HIS GODDESS DAMNED SISTER, OF ALL THE PIG RELATIVES WE COULD'VE RUN INTO IN THIS DESERT!" "Hmph....hehehehe, yes I suppose it is rather.... poetic. And the pig himself will be next, in due time..." just as they were in the middle of their rejoicing however (which, in all honesty, to anyone watching would simply seem like Maya was apparently talking to herself at this point), the winds picked up with far more ferocity than they had before, and before they knew it dust and debris began to fly all around, quickly cutting down on the visibility as the storm grew closer and closer. Hissing at the not-quite-rain on her parade, Maya tugged her hood back up and turned to freyl "We can celebrate later..." and then she turned to the others, as talk of hunkering down began "what about the house south of here? It might be nothing but ruins, but I don't see anything else nearby, and I doubt we can outrun this. It's better than nothing..."

That was one path to nigh assured agitation avoided. Good. As the other girl and the dragon began to hammer away at their visitor with their battery of questions, Lucille collected the case containing the group's compensation and excused herself from the whole scene. She'd made sure the "drugs" were gone and had collected what they were apparently owed- her job was done here. Catching the cat's attention as she walked further into the warehouse proper, she called the largest of them, the black male Do, to her side as she walked. Coming to around the same area where they had eaten the night before and she first found the rest of them, she set the case down behind one of the nearby crates- in fact, it was the very one she had sat upon, for her helm was still there, undisturbed. "Just make sure no one pokes around here," she said to the cat, to which he immediately leapt up on the crate and made himself comfortable in position as sentry, though his eyes still held all the predatory alertness that bespoke so much of his feral nature. Giving the feline a far more comprehensive set of conditions as to how to guard the money (Lilly was most definitely not allowed anywhere near it, nor was anyone the cat had not seen since she came across him this morning) over their link, she went about making sure that if any of said conditions were violated, She'd immediately know what was happening via the bond. With that done, she left Do to carry out its watch. And as she walked away, she began searching for an empty crate, clicking her tongue at several of those nearby before settling on one....

After they arrived at the safe house, Stellio had taken some time to look around the place. Most notably at the strange, magic tablets that placed with light and were situated in one area, and the armory which was filled with yet even more advanced fusils than what he had seen and heard on the battlefield earlier and even a few.... orbs(?). Impressive though they were however, he knew next to nothing about actually wielding one of the devices, and so he had instead opted to find a place and maintain his own equipment. Adjusting the Plate was easy enough, loosening and tightening straps here and there as necessary, and much to his surprise, the thing felt far less restrictive than it ever had before, why... not even on the day after it had been forged and completed had it allowed this much maneuvering. Focusing the ring he sported upon his finger, was just as easy. As he channeled a bit of dark element mana into it, the thing responded almost immediately, sucking up the proffered energies and radiating with a pale blue light in the artificial darkness that had been created. And by the time it faded and the light returned, Stellio felt the flow of the magic running wild all around them grow yet stronger... And it was with that increased flow that he decided to experiment. Drawing his blade and holding it at the ready, away from any who might be caught in the results of the test, he focused his mind, body, and soul, and once more got work practicing the one, and only, technique he had gleened from the Dark Knights during all those many times they had met on the battlefield. The Mana he pumped into the weapon responded to the magic already inherent in it's structure, and as Stellio made a might swing with both hands, a violent shock wave of crackling, screeching black thunder and miasma emanated out, but soon stopped before it could potentially destroy anything or anyone, as he exerted his will and suppressed the very energies he had channeled and released. Glancing down at the thing and nodding, he knew the attunement had stuck, as he sheathed it. With naught much else to do aside from wait, he found his way into the training area next. And it was there he found something at least that was quite familiar- there hanging from the rafters, it was just like one of the bags filled with sand and other such grainy materials to train pugilists back in the Isles. Almost on a whim, he gave the thing a quick jab for old times sake, and nodded approving as it went it swinging back quite a ways before finally rebounding, only to be stopped by his waiting hands. He still had it, even afterall all these years.... he still had it because he'd never been allowed to lose it. Letting the bag settle, he unfastened his gauntlets and set them down nearby, before taking up a fighting stance- the same one they had taught the new recruits of His Majesty's Royal Guard, all those years ago, and he took another jab, and another... Stellio Trains Strength

"He has a point," the knights voice came from his helm a bit muffled, on account of the big, gauntleted hand that had he had firmly placed on his visor himself as he shook his head, sighing internally "The beast is gone, and it is not like it attacked unprovoked. Let us leave it be and continue on our way, lest more foolish.... incidents occur with the local wildlife."

"What you are," Maya retorted before the woman had even finished "is a delusional wench who's done nothing this battle but stand here and watched as her men were slaughtered one by one, who couldn't even hit the blindside of a barn even if she was stood right in front of it. You may not be the one I seek, but you will die here nonetheless, cloudbreaker, Scream all you like, you dug this grave yourself. And now as reward for your efforts, you will bleed out upon these sands like the dog you are, and the last sight you will ever see in this world will be a barren sun in a foreign land, not the rest of your household of shit-eating swine back home." Perhaps even more venomous than her words was the look in her eyes as she stared the woman down, moving closer to Terrin and beginning to weave a lattice of pale light over his wounds B9, Heal Terrin

Lucille did nothing, as the dragon stared at her as if it expected the blind girl to pick up a visual cue. Do and the other cats had wandered off a bit, after the money had been counted, and with nothing there at her side, she seemingly just... sat there, staring blankly ahead at Dragon's suit of armor. Nor did she really look as though she was going to call any of them back to have a look; even now she left them to their own devices, as they began to chase each other among the many crates in the warehouse. Of course, that was simply how things appeared to be on the very surface. In truth the girl didn't need sight to tell which way an object was oriented, if it's profile wasn't perfectly symmetrical on all fronts. And she may have been inept socially, but no so inept as to miss a very obvious audio cue coupled with something changing its positioning to directly face her. But given the general disdain the drake's master, and the drake himself, had consistently shown her whenever they so much as talked, she didn't particularly appreciate the idea of potentially opening a direct channel to have yet more self-righteous shade cast upon her this day. For she was all too sure that was where it was going to lead. And so she didn't give it the chance to go there, right now, simply remaining silent, both mentally and verbally.

There was a moment of silence, after she answered. Though she was taken aback by the answer, Ghost only nodded. Something flashed in her eyes for just a moment- almost like a knowing type of sadness, but before Hiroki could even question it, it was gone. As fleeting as a mid-summers dream. For just as she had seen those who had been overwhelmed by the flames, so too had she met the ones who tried to be strong, tried to bear the brunt of the inferno despite how mercilessly it scorched their bodies and souls. And it was always those youths that brought her the most worry... always left her guessing when the deeds were done and it was time to set off again, how they would hold up... where the path that, in at least someway, she had presented and never should've appeared before them, would take them. "very....very well then," the old commander said "if... you truly feel this strongly about continuing... I will respect your decision. But just know, if you ever feel the need to talk again, about anything, you can come find me...alright? Don't feel like this is something you have to bear alone..."