[IC] TFW Chapter 1: Sloth

[Shamitako]

Team Illusionists Suck

 

Cutting the floor and breaking the symbol on the floor still did nothing to deter the flaming bars. Exile began to think that maybe the symbols didn't matter now that the spell was active.

 

Mega Star Cannon

 

"Pfahahahahahahaha!" Blink burst into laughter, literally falling to the floor and rolling around, "Pf- You- Pfaha- That's the best fucking thing thing I've heard all month."

Merlin rolled her eyes and said, "No, we are not lovers. And I would certainly not consider her my friend. Rival at best."

"Heehee. Yes, riv- ha- rivals. That's a good word for it. Hahaha."

Blink's legs wheeled in the air as she clutched her belly in laughter. It didn't seem like she intended to stop anytime soon.

"Anyways," Merlin continued, trying to ignore Blink, "There's nothing wrong with collusion, it's mixing magic and mechs together into one that I've got an issue with. I have nothing against mechs themselves, maybe a little disdain for the fact that they're just straight up better than magic, but it's not like I have a vendetta against everyone who's ever used a mech. So when the gods started popping up, I figured it was a good idea to introduce myself and do my best to stay on good terms. If I'd stayed secret then they'd have found out eventually and I'd have to explain myself, they'd all be suspicious forever."

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Mega Star Cannon, Anemone

Damn, headcanon... ruuuuuuined. Kinda makes the fantasy cuter doe... Anemone was a bit bummed at that. An interesting wrinkle turned not interesting. The clearly best narrative for this situation totally dashed. She wanted to live in the universe that was true. She really couldn't help herself but to wonder about it. It was more interesting than the reality. It was such a good love story. A Mech user and a magic user. AHHH! She sighed though, letting her disappoint loose into the world. It always felt good to release it, rather than let it well up. She moved on from the thought though. 

"That is rather sound. Hard for one to trust somebody who's been intentionally hiding from you. Tends to start things off on a bad foot. Best to make the first move in a situation such as that. Though, initiative... not my forte. I prefer to react, can't always though I guess." it was rather true. She wasn't the best at making the first move in anything. She preferred to have information, some grasp of the situation before blindly doing something. She preferred for the other person to act first and then react to that, than to start things herself. She wasn't much of a mover or a shaker. ((much preferred to watch other things shake.)). She never really thought of it as a bad thing though. It was who she was. She preferred to observe. It's a lot easier to deal with people if learn first, talk second. Though... she wasn't sure many saw it her way. Honestly... she wondered if anyone really cared she existed. Often she was left to do just what she always had been, observe. Rarely did anyone seek her out. She felt like she... was invisible at times. She wasn't... invisibility was a myth, it didn't even work magically. But she couldn't help but feel... lonely.

She tried to push the subject from her mind by furthering her inquiry. Seemed to always work. "I imagine, there's a reason for that. If magic and mechs can coexist separately... what is the danger of them being merged? There must be some reason if you oppose it so highly."

[Twinwolf]

Forge is quiet, focused. She's not making a show of it, but she's concentrating, bringing the drones she had sent out a while ago towards her. She was thinking she may be able to use them to break Ansuz's focus, give their cavalry a clear shot and maybe break them out. 

[Empiricist]

Exile - Team Mega Star Cannon - Cage of Fire

 

"Maybe~" Sticking her head out from around the corner, Exile summons and phase-shifts a small bolt of darkness, aimed at the lowermost bar, then a snowball, and then, a spray of dry ice, keeping a, careful eye- well, some manner of eye at least, probably not too careful, at the bar's behavior at the points of impact.

[Strider]

To hell with this. Sense had held back his frustration long enough. Damn this effeminate boy, and his oversized magical cannon. Sense hadn't seen this side of Ansuz before, but there had always been something off about him; Sense had just thought it to be the awkwardness of his slightly too feminine appearance and demeanor.

"Well, I certainly won't be handling negotiations in the future," he grumbled under his breath. Fighting seemed to be the chosen course now. With a slight effort, Sense did his best to send forth a burst of wind. Ansuz was already being overwhelmed, and any sort of sensory distraction could assist in his defeat.

[Chevaleresse]

Ice simply tilted her head at Anemone slightly, indicating that she, too, would like an answer to that question. She steadfastly ignored the god of Envy dying of laughter on the floor before her, though if one was paying attention, they might be able to detect the faintest reddening of her cheeks. . .

[Shamitako]

Illusionists Suck

 

Exile's first attack caused an explosion of fire, forcing her to duck back around the corner and Feardorcha to shield himself from the flames.

 

Those Guys

 

A chunk of the swarm broke off and intercepted Bellona's attack, as well as firing a warning barrage of lasers and bullets over her shoulder. They stayed, milling about in the air. The message was rather clear: Whoever Gypsy's help was, they didn't want interference. A small piece of plastic jettisoned itself from a launcher attached to Ansuz's wrist, flying out of the swarm. It struck the ground and there was a bright red glow followed by a blast of air, sending the swarm and Ansuz flying away from each other. Another piece of plastic, another flash of red, and Ansuz was gone. With their initial target gone, the swarm then turned and formed a circle around the group.

Gypsy sighed, "He says he's coming to sort this out in person. Might be a little bit. Also don't attack the bees."

[Strider]

"Alright." So their help was of the stubborn type. The type who preferred to work alone. That, or they perhaps were simply anxious about their bees. Sense decided that in any case, their still anonymous aid could do whatever he or she liked. Ansuz had deserved what he had received, though Sense would have preferred to deal out the retributions himself.

With nothing else to do, Sense turned around slowly, and sought out a seemingly empty piece of ground, where he sat down. It would probably be a bit until their benefactor arrived. According to Gypsy. Gypsy had been wrong already though today.

And so, Sense remained somewhat alert, although fairly bored. He contemplated the others, observing their actions, and searching out their habits. The way a person acts during boredom or suspense could tell a lot. Sense himself absentmindedly traced some small patterns in the dust. In time, as his finger moved through the dirt distractedly, something resembling a delicate flower emerged. He looked down, and smirked, half amused, half surprised. With a flick of his hand, he brushed away the sketch.

Edited February 17, 2017 by Strider

[Yours Truly]

Feardorcha sighed and said "You know, perhaps it would be a better idea to call Merlin, I fear that your next attempt may end with our deaths".

[ElfCollaborator]

Bartek looks around suspiciously at the 'bees', placing himself between them and the party. He was grateful for the save, but he was still a little jumpy from the confrontation with Ansuz.

[Empiricist]

Exile - Team Mega Star Cannon - Cage of Fire

 

Popping her head back beyond the corner, Exile examines the bars for half a second before "On it!" Bringing the "Not Merlin" sign back above her head, she begins skipping back down the hall. 

[Shamitako]

Mega Star Cannon

 

Merlin lets out a long breath, indicating that she wasn't quite ready for the question. Blink stifled her laughter and sat up.

"You want me to do the grand expose, not-assistant Cloud?" She asked semi-teasingly.

"You know full well it had nothing to do with Leonard, and he offered a lot more than assistant." Merlin snapped.

"Calm your bazongas, I'm just teasing."

Merlin ignored her and finally answered the question, "So, first off, I confess a bit of this is just me. Magic was my dream when I was little, though it seems so long ago now, and after humanity came to the Planes I wanted to keep my dream alive, and pure. So part of it is my own want to maintain magic is a separate entity. But there's also the fact that magic is simply different from mechs. At their closest, mechs are a sort of martial art, a discipline of self-control and training, which might not be the worst route for magic. But now that they've become more mainstream, and I knew from the beginning that they would, there's a lot less discipline. For all I know someone could end up being a top fighter with some garbage like grapple hands, and who knows how someone like that might try to abuse magic? And having seen magic abused before, I'd rather not risk it again. Mechs are simply to accessible, it's much safer to watch over a small group of mages on my own."

Merlin didn't have to voice her concern that she'd been wrong about that. She had only had one failure, but that failure threatened to ruin centuries of secrecy.

 

(OOC: For the record, y'all do know that Merlin claims to have lived through humanity's relocation, although she doesn't share details)

[Sutoratosu]

Cheryn

With a light sigh, Cheryn closed the e-book flashing across her HUD, as the conversation still seemed to be going on.  "Daaaaaaaamn, come on, with the time you're wasting with all this stuff, I could've written a damn book and found a few people to pass the file along to. Wasn't saving a few kids at least part of the reason we're here to begin with?"  She honestly couldn't recall exactly, but she was fairly sure. Just like with the chatting back and forth right now, when she'd received the request, she'd only been half listening to any of it at best. Still though, this kid right here, the Elder Mage may have said they'd worry about helping the children once they'd gathered more data on the facility's progress, but... well, something didn't sit right just leaving him there like that, hooked up to all this bullshit in some coma...

       She stepped over to the machine, its screen still open to some of the datalogs Anemone had found earlier. Read through em, looked back over at the kid. "huh, bet it probably feels like shit...man, what the hell would that even do to the other parts of his head?" She looked a bit closer at the kid- Tallow? Odd name, but it could've easily been some random designator chosen by the egg heads -none of it looked comfortable, none of it looked pleasant, all the wires and shit. The damn thing didn't seem to be keeping him alive though, from what she could gather, just tracking his vitals and helping in this experimental... mind pump? was that a good term for it?

 

Either way, it didn't matter, the guys who put him here could fuck off as far as she cared. She turned her attention back to the screen, and with it, began to hone her concentration, staring into it's ghastly glow and the data and figures presented onscreen. Not that she cared about what lay on the screen, but what lay beneath it... circuitry, electrical components... components that relied on semiconductors...components that, if not already Radiation Hardened or made out of materials resistant to rads(Which she bloody doubted, given where they were all standing now), could easily be fried or severely damaged by a good dose of it...

     she visualized the innards of the machine, or what her imagination could conjure as a decent representation of it... a representation that in her mind, took the form of a small city, people milling about like ants... people who represented electrons. Orderly, neat on the sidewalks, all single-file like little automatons, flowing just like the electricity flowing through circuits. And in an instant, that city was engulfed in hellish fire as tall stacks in the distance, looming titans of destruction disguised as mere utilities, bloomed with massive force. Panic, trampling, death- some from the trampling, others from the sickness they soon felt falling over them, even more from injuries by being too close to the epicenter.

 

Though honestly no one but Anemone would've been able to see it, she had formed a miniature shield within the inner circuitry, small enough to easily fit in one's palms several times over, and let it pour it's radiation through the damn thing like water through a strainer as she started small, a single bubble shield, then layered another, and another atop it and merged them into one. She was going to fry this thing, one way or another.

 

Fuck the eggheads running this joint, and fuck their experiments too.

[Shamitako]

Those Guys

 

The ground shook as Gypsy's help slowly approached. Blinded by their gold and black cage, the group could do little besides wait. After what felt like an eternity, the shaking finally stopped. A voice exploded into their ears. Not through their comms, whoever it was must still have been out of range for that, but from a loudspeaker.

"Sorry for the delay, this thing isn't built for speed." It said in a low, rumbling tone, "If you would, please send out a representative for me to speak with. I'd like to know what you're doing here and who that girl with the cannon was. The bees will open to let one individual through if you come peaceably."

 

Gypsy seemed incapacitated. After him the one who had been around the longest was probably Bellona, although due to the infrequency of Merlin calling the Round Table together in one place, it was impossible to know for certain if she or Charity had actually showed up first.

"Um, so... Gypsy is hurt." Charity spoke up, "I mean obviously, but I just mean he can't go or decide who to send, so we have to."

It was apparent that Charity had no intention of taking the reigns here and was more willing to leave it to a group decision.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Mega Star Cannon, Anemone

 

She wasn't really buying it. That answer was pitifully weak coming from someone like Merlin. Anemone knew there was a lot going on in this situation and she might've have been pressed for time but it as flimsy at best. Anemone knew it would collapse under the slightest amount of scrutiny. If she probed further, she knew she'd find something. Something Merlin omitted... or something. She didn't really believe it was something as simple as "I personally don't want it to." it had to be more than that. Perhaps... perhaps it wasn't though. AHHHHHH!!! it was bugging her so much. The disappointment was readily clear on her face, a rarity from the tiny purple mage. it'd have been one of few times Merlin saw what she could call something more than a vague expression on Anemone's face. Her ponytail from it's previous jovial state was now hanging much lower, drooping just a bit low.

 

She was about to blurt it out and express what she was feeling, when she saw out of the corner of her eye, something move. She turned slightly enough to focus on what it was. It was Cheryn... doing something to the medical equipment. Was she... casting her magic into it? If Anemone recalled the only thing she remembered Cheryn being capable of was... Radiation...

 

"What are you doing?!? We have NO idea if that's the only thing keeping him alive right now!" she'd not be able to cast quickly enough to stop her with her magic so instead Anemone leapt at her. Trying to get her to stop the reckless course of action, she dive tackled Cheryn trying to bring her to the ground, though without hurting her or breaking the equipment. it'd probably not go quite as planned she as she couldn't account for Cheryn's actions.

[Sutoratosu]

Cherynoble

2 hours ago, Hukuna the Undying said:

 

"What are you doing?!? We have NO idea if that's the only thing keeping him alive right now!" 

"Oh, so now you guys are ready to pay attention, eh?" She scowled a little, splitting her focus ever so slightly to glance at them. It was already enough of an effort working on a scale this small and self contained when she was used to far bigger ones, and being yelled at certainly wasn't a welcome addition to the task. When the Seer started after her though, Reflex took over as Cheryn took the concentration she'd put into frying the machine and instead channeled it into a rectangular barrier of translucent, crackling red that manifested itself in the space between her and the other mage, letting the Seer throw herself smack into the field and in that same moment Cheryn's spark flared with a rebounding force that would've sent Anemone backwards in the opposite, though given her own restraint with her charge she probably wouldn't have gone that far or even landed that hard. 

     "If this is keeping him alive, it must be a fucking miracle then," she retorted from behind the crimson barrier, her features slightly distorted looking at it from straight on, though the purely ornery expression she wore was clear as day, "Cause all I see here is a bunch of electrodes and tubes, the former is probably to just monitor him and the latter to pump him full of sedatives or some other stuff to keep him controllable. It takes a bit more than just that to keep someone on life support, last time I checked. Besides, you all were so busy shooting the shit and wasting time, I figured at least someone should get to trying to accomplish part of the reason we're here to begin with. The other group is supposed to be buying us time with a distraction right? Might be nice to not shit all over their efforts by chatting around when we should be making progress...just saying."

[Shamitako]

Mega Star Cannon

 

Amelia detected Anemone's attempted tackle and reacted instantly, suddenly appearing between the pair with her arms outstretched to keep them apart. Cheryn's barrier actually appeared around her, shimmering against her personal field.

"Okay, how about we not start infighting and you both explain to me what just happened." She said sternly. It seemed rather hypocritical considering she had just attacked the group.

But meanwhile, Cheryn had successfully ruined the machine. But instead of a slow, groggy awakening from being sedated, Tallow's eyes darted open and he was instantly alert. Whatever the machine had been doing, it must have stopped. His eyes widened in terror at Cheryn's shield and Blink within it. Orbs of electricity about the size of a baseball began forming slowly in the air above him, moving between him and the threat. Merlin's jaw practically broke through the floor.

"But, how?" She mumbled, dumbfounded.

She didn't stay dumbfounded for long, however, as she quickly blasted several of the wisps out of the air with a storm of fireballs. Tallow screamed in fear. And then he was gone, in his place was another wisp, this one made of blue wind energy. The wisp darted out through the wall. Amelia removed herself from the barrier and dashed out the door after it.

"And that is why we are waiting to help the children." Merlin said somewhat angrily, "However, I do admit I was wrong, apparently they can teach an unwilling child magic in such a short time."

 

Exile

 

Exile, just arriving outside in the hall, heard the scream and saw this strange swirling orb of blue dash out through the wall. It seemed to spot her and flew off in the opposite direction, heading for the building's exit. Amelia dashed out the door and chased after it. Apparently Merlin's plan had failed, seeing as Amelia was still running around freely.

 

Fedora

 

Feardorcha remained alone in his cage, looking for his would-be rescuer to return with help. Suddenly, a small girl in a white and black jumpsuit appeared on the other side of the cage. Feardorcha recognized him of course, it was Ansuz, the very traitor they were searching for.

"Oh, I wasn't expecting you." Ansuz said, observing his capture, "Well, it's not like it matters who it is. Come on."

Ansuz tossed down a piece of plastic with another symbol scrawled on it. The symbol glowed red and a green blade of wind ashed out and sliced open the cage, freeing Feardorcha to head deeper into the facility.

"And for the record, I know you're terribly equipped for combat." Ansuz said, "Try to escape and we'll see exactly how terrible. Now start walking."

Ansuz's girlish voice seemed strained and there were the remains of tears on his face, making him sound desperate. And that sense of desperation made him seem all the more dangerous.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Mega Star Cannon, Anemone.

Anemone... just retreated into herself. She didn't respond to anything that just happened. So much happened in that small span of time she couldn't process it all. It overloaded her senses, and in defense, she recoiled from the world. She collapsed, her knees slamming into the floor. Her face full of some kind of emotion. Or perhaps, so many of them that it was impossible to tell what she was even feeling. She was feeling to much herself to even understand it. As if she was feeling several intense emotions as one. She felt heavy as if a weight was crushing her downward. She looked on the verge of tears... but also the verge of screaming, laughing, and many other things as well. She wasn't sure how to react to this, she didn't know how she was supposed to feel.

[Chevaleresse]

Ice's eyes narrowed slightly; for her, this was tantamount to a disapproving glower. Infighting was bad enough as it was; they were supposed to be united against a common enemy that Merlin directed them against, not squabbling. Infighting in front of the people they were intended to rescue was another thing entirely. To make matters worse, that Anemone had seemingly gone from having her head in the clouds to having it firmly stuffed into the metaphorical sand. 

 

"Merlin. Plans?"

[Yours Truly]

While following Anzus, Feardorcha bravely (read: idiotically) asked "So why did you do it man? Respect? Power? Did you just get bored of Merlin beating you in games of Go-Fish?".

[Sutoratosu]

Cheryn 

 

"I-" before she could say much of anything, their was a stirring behind her as the boy woke up, and even more of one when Merlin attempted to suppress his would be lashing out and he vanished-"did he... just transform in that ball of wind?"  -seeing the god remove herself from the barrier- she still didn't really like the chick and her continued fuckery with her barriers wasn't improving her opinion of her -and Anemone sink to her knees and looking about to go on a miniature meltdown though, she sighed and let the barrier slowly dissipate into nothing. No point keeping it up, if she wasn't gonna try and charge her again.

3 hours ago, KosherKitten said:

"And that is why we are waiting to help the children." Merlin said somewhat angrily, "However, I do admit I was wrong, apparently they can teach an unwilling child magic in such a short time."

    "Shit... guess I didn't really consider that part... gah..." "Alright, fine," she muttered under her breath, mostly more to herself than anyone else "I fucked up a bit here. Guess the eggheads are a bit better at their jobs than they sounded..."

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Super Star Cannon, Anemone

 

"No duh you fucked up. We already have enough things to deal with and you do that. You had no idea what could've happened and now he's on the loose out there on his own. This situation wasn't under control and you've introduced a new element of risk to it. We need to secure the area before we can save people. That boy might not have died because of you frying the machine... but he's on his own now, with a power he doesn't understand. People are going to get hurt, whether it is him or other lives that will be lost. YOU NEED TO THINK BEFORE YOU DO SOMETHING!!! There's consequences for being reckless. You should know this, you practice magic. If you just do and don't think bad things happen. If this boy ends up dead... it's your fault, and I'll never forgive you for it." she burst out all of a sudden. She caught up to the stream of information being brought back by Cheryn's words. "We still need to help our allies, we still have 2 members that are out there somewhere... we didn't need another element out of our control. So it wasn't a bit... It was a lot."

 

She was steaming mad. "Let's get going... we have even more problems to deal with now thanks to carelessness." Anemone said storming out of the room. Her small size didn't really hamper the impact. The fact she was angry... would've been alien enough to the rest of them. She'd never reacted this way to something before. She never confronted someone before. One would think she was incapable, or she was never paying enough attention... but... it seemed she was quite capable.

[Shamitako]

Fedora (OOC: MSC coming later. Also you are a prisoner, thus you are in front of Ansuz)

 

Ansuz grabbed Feardorcha's shoulder (which definitely did not require any standing on tip-toes, nope) and made him stop and turn around.

"I was saving this for Merlin, but it seems like you're going to be a pest." He said, "It's a shame to reveal this to someone less than her, but alas, it must be done."

Ansuz's arm moved with blinding speed and suddenly Feardorcha's mouth was adorned with some kind of sticky grey plastic.

"This multipurpose device has been reverse engineered from a powerful piece of ancient technology." Ansuz boasted, "According to the Carls scientists, it was used for everything from restraining prisoners to sealing holes in watercraft. Some have even said it was the single most transformative influence of human civilization. So don't bother struggling, you won't succeed."

The pair continued on in silence, following the hall deeper into the facility. Eventually they entered a rather large room with a metal table in the center next to some eerie looking surgical tools.

"Ignore those." Ansuz said calmly, "Carls just has a killer dental plan. Look over there instead."

Ansuz pointed over at a strange cylinder with a glass front.

"Get in that. Don't worry, it won't do anything to you besides lock you inside. Just looked captured and afraid and I'll let you free when this is done."

 

(OOC: I'm so, so sorry for leaving you captured for half the plot, Cronos, I was intending for Exile to get you out, but, uh, that sort of didn't work out. Oops :c )

[Strider]

"...so we need a representative then?"

 

For obvious reasons, Sense had no intention of volunteering. His diplomacy skills seemed to have gotten rusty; whether he had ever had diplomacy skills was not a question he cared to ask. He made a quick survey of the team, and settled upon Bellona and Charity. And Charity didn't want the task. He kept his eyes fixed on Bellona. She had seemed fairly meek earlier. Would she be willing to take charge in a situation like this?

 

"Bellona? Will you, you know, be our representative? Most senior and all that..."

[Shamitako]

Mega Star Cannon

 

Merlin rubbed her temples in frustration. She wasn't really the best at dealing with stressed companions. If she were she wouldn't be in this situation in the first place. Then Anemone had her outburst, and that was the last straw. This was serious. Merlin hated serious, but this was it. And if her students were going to spend more time fighting each other than helping her, then she would let them and clean up the mess later. The tips of her fingers and toes started to glow orange and purple, as did her shoulders. There was a flash and suddenly her outfit was a whole lot more complete. Long black gloves with purple designs on them ran over her arms, almost all the way to her shoulders. Matching heeled boots climbed her legs to just underneath her skirt. The skirt itself had become attached to her top, forming a short dress with an open back and the same black and purple coloration. To cover this opening was a short cape which ran just past the edge of her skirt, once more using the black-with-purple-trim scheme. Also her hat got recolored slightly so the brim and the base where the point went up were circled by purple.

 

Now properly dressed, Merlin headed for the exit. The door to the room flew open with such force that it nearly knocked the storming Anemone off her feet. Merlin ignored her and walked past Exile without even glancing in her direction. This was a side of Merlin that none of them had seen before; they certainly hadn't seen her wear so much clothing. She seemed distant, as thugh she wasn't even a part of the same world as them. And the way she walked was powerful and rigid, she looked as though every step could erupt in flames and kill them all. One word perfectly described her in this moment: Furious.