[IC] TotMV:G^2: Clash of Fate: The War Room (Social/Prep Phase)

[Chevaleresse]

Marisa offered up a smile at the compliment; it's not like it was anything she hadn't heard before, but it was still nice to hear. And it was coming from someone that, well, wasn't some greasy taverngoer or a slightly more frequently washed but equally slimy noble. "Marisa, as I said earlier. I guess you could call me a professional adventurer and demonologist." She frowned for a moment. "That doesn't bother you, does it? I mean, I assume it doesn't, since you still walked up and talked to me after you saw me throwing them around, but. . ."

[Powder Miner]

Isobel’s first instinct was to be a little bit coyly humorous at first, and so she responded with: ”I can’t say I’ve had any negative experiences with professional adventurers, so I don’t have a problem with that at all!” She grinned at Marisa, but then of course she did understand that it had been a rather vulnerable question, so Isobel then let that grin settle into a much more reassuring smile, leaning forward and looking at Marisa as she spoke more seriously. ”But, no, don’t worry, I’m not especially bothered by the demon summoning. I won’t lie, the demons themselves are pretty scary, but there’s only one thing close to demon summoning where I come from, and you’re nothing like them, plus you’ve not done anything but be helpful, so I’m not scared of you at all, if that makes sense. More than in the sense of being nervous talking to a pretty woman, anyway, heh heh.” Isobel was actually Catholic, but to be frank she hadn’t really believed in demons and the like back in her universe, so she didn’t have much reason for reaction.

[Chevaleresse]

"Good to hear. People get weird, you know? Well, uh, you probably don't, actually. . . Anyway. It's not the most popular occupation." Marisa shrugged. "Just wanted to lay that on the table. Speaking of things that get put on tables, it would be great if we could raid the wine cellar around here, but I'm not sure there'd be any left, going off the little I've heard of the situation. Suppose I could try to conjure some, but for some reason none of the food I summon ends up tasting like it should."

[Powder Miner]

Isobel put a finger to her chin and began to consider something. "Can you conjure basic ingredients like sugar and flour and have them work out?" She grinned. "Cause, you know, if you can... I'm actually a pretty good cook, and I can bake too. You know, not here because, well... you know." Isobel gestured at the castle around them. "But, heh, maybe sometime after we get out of this place, we could go and make something that way. It'd be nice to get something a bit more mundane where I know what I'm doing to do." Isobel caught herself short of actually asking Marisa on a date, or rather referring to that idea as one -- it was essentially their first meeting outside of literal battle, so Isobel realized that was way too forward, even for the way she got sometimes. Still, she really did like the idea of baking something. "It'd be pretty sweet~" Isobel then tried to keep a straight face after a joke that bad, but found herself not entirely succeeding.

[Chevaleresse]

Marisa made that expression that combined pain and laughter in such a way that only a terrible pun could elicit. "A little more like that and I'll be cursing you with something," she said faux-threateningly, before turning her attention to the actual question. "If I've tried that before, I honestly don't remember. Given the results of all the other food conjuration I've tried, I'd probably get sulfur instead of flour, but I've always been the type to try something at least once." She let that particular statement hang in the air for a moment. "Come to think of it, I haven't got a lot of obligations coming up in the near future, so yeah, we could probably go bake cakes or something."

[Powder Miner]

The "I've always been the type to try something at least once" line, and the way it was emphasized, was another one of those lines where Marisa's attempts to arouse Isobel worked well enough to render Isobel at a loss for words for a moment. She opened her mouth, closed it, and then shot Marisa a very frank look, a blush but also a dryly knowing look to go with it, or at least as close to one as she could manage while blushing and shifting her legs a bit. You know you're doing things to me, as she was trying to communicate nonverbally. Still, Isobel continued on.

 

"Eheh... yes, it'll be nice. We are coming up with very appealing things in this conversation, aren't we?" Not Isobel's best, but maybe it would escalate things a bit more anyway -- the sexuality of their flirting clearly wasn't going to go away, so the lesbian botanist figured that maybe she ought to simply see where it goes now that she'd also got some less lewd conversation with the demon summoner and was finding her rather likable (honest, but as she was finding, irresistably clever).

[Chevaleresse]

Marisa's smile turned lopsided; she almost regretted the effects she was having on Isobel. 

 

Almost.

 

The comment about very appealing things almost demanded a response in kind, too. It was nearly an offer, really, all it was missing was "to do," but an offer that she still wasn't certain she wanted to take quite yet. . . though she wasn't certain she didn't want to take it, either. "Indeed we are," she said, giving her a slightly longer period in which to consider her next conversational move. A thought occurred to her, prompting a frown to flit across her expression for a moment before it reset. "I should really see if I can find a way to get a pair of sending stones to connect across planes. Might need an anchor point, though I'd bet that castle of yours would do just fine. . . Anyway. It'd be good to get ahold of each other," she said, looking right at Isobel.

 

She had to stop herself from apologizing for that.

[Powder Miner]

Isobel grinned at Marisa -- not because of her innuendo, which was really not that charged compared to some of the things she had said, but because of Marisa's suggestion to get "sending stones" (what Isobel assumed to be some sort of magical message device) working. Perhaps they were really stretching the limits of how far they were actually willing to go, sexually, as Isobel was starting to suspect (even though she was probably still going to be rather worked up after the conversation, good God), but even as is this was basically Marisa not only doing the equivalent of giving the botanist her number, but suggesting that she'd actually go to the effort to figure out how to do so.

 

The success of her conversation so far sank in, and Isobel blushed, putting her cheek against her hand. This wasn't an overlewded blush like she had had at points in this conversation, but rather a blush from being honestly rather touched that Marisa would put in the work to do that. "Wow... yeah, that'd certainly be nice. It's really nice that you had that idea, even. Um, LOTUS is also trying to figure out interdimensional communication. Maybe if he does, a tip or two will be usable for you, even if he is based off of technology and not magic. I figure, you know, however dimensions work is probably above both of those, you know?" Isobel's expression turned a little bit more pensive, and then softened again, a satisfied smile now on the freckled brunette's face. "You've made my day a lot better, you know. Whatever in particular ends up coming from this, I want you to know that I really appreciate that. It's good to be able to have a conversation like this." She'd been looking for familiar ground, and in a way she supposed she'd found it.

[Chevaleresse]

"That's good to hear. It's been a while since I sat and talked with someone like this, myself, 'less you count the last time I met up with your group." She giggled a bit at the thought. "And this time nobody exploded. It's not usually this peaceful." She frowned momentarily. "Well, for a certain definition of peaceful, we are in the middle of a war zone." Her expression returned to an easy smile, with a blend of curiosity. "Anyway. LOTUS is uh, the talking tablet thing right? I'm not sure how compatible the two systems would be, but who knows? Maybe some of the principles are transferable. I suppose I should look a little more into astral projection, too, always kind of ignored it. . . Sorry, it's an interesting problem. It really is nice to talk to you, and even better to hear that you've enjoyed it too." 

[Powder Miner]

Isobel flashed another grin at Marisa. "Yes, LOTUS is the angriest PDA. But, really, I'd be the last one to criticize you for talking about something you're passionate about. Goodness knows I've talked enough girls' ears off talking about plants or tea or wine, so it'd be unfair if I were to be annoyed by a little magic talk." Isobel curled a finger in her hair for a moment, suddenly contemplative. "Hmmm..." It might be time to wrap up the conversation, soon, being fine with the magic talk -- they'd spoken about a nice few things, introduced each other, and she'd even basically got an offer of the magical equivalent of Marisa's number, but Isobel sensed that they were going to start running out of topics very soon.

 

Isobel remained silent for a couple of moments before visibly coming to a decision. She'd already BASICALLY asked the blue-haired sorceress out on a date, and even if she was suddenly stricken by the fact that she was moving rather fast, if they were already dancing around with innuendo, she could probably afford to be honest. "It's hard to settle on an exact date when I'm zipping around in a castle between strange dimensions and all," Isobel was a smart woman and had drawn the connection that Marisa had a less permanent situation from some of the things she'd said. She took s breath, and then finished her sentence: "...but can we call the cake thing a date, anyway?"

[Chevaleresse]

Marisa smiled, and then nodded. "I don't see why not. Time's a bit screwy when you're skipping around on the planes, yeah, but it's still a date." Huh. She hadn't expected to get started on this sort of thing so quickly, really. Maybe easing into it, finding a few people to hang out with for more than once every. . . well, they'd just established time was odd, but she'd been a drifter for a very long time. Lots of acquaintances, but nobody all that close since she'd been to hell. She winced a bit, remembering the experience. She really needed to track those guys down for her own sake. Thanks to that Laver kid, she didn't hate them any more, but. . . Still, that was another thing. This, this was a new beginning for her. "I'm looking forward to it."

[Powder Miner]

Isobel's face spread into a grin: she was very visibly very proud of herself. Damn, she was smooth. Plus Marisa seemed to be a really nice girl anyway (and the fact that she really was smoking hot didn't hurt), so she was genuinely looking forward to having that date! She had to admit to herself in the back of her mind that she was clearly a bit desperate right now, and that that was probably a symptom of her deeper issues at the moment, but for now she was just going to let herself have this very nice thing with Marisa. No point in beating herself up over it. At the same time that Marisa was wincing, Isobel was shaking her head just a little and nodding to herself, and when Marisa spoke to her Isobel replied with her smile still in her voice. "Oh, and you had better believe I'm looking forward to it too. I--"

 

Isobel paused and raised an eyebrow as she moved her hand to the ear with her radio headset on it, listening for a moment. Then she sighed and spoke into it with a slightly annoyed tone. "Yes, yes, I'll be right there." She rolled her eyes, and then shot a sheepish smile Marisa's way. "Ehehe, sorry about that. LOTUS wants to move things forward, I think, because he wants me to go pick him up. It's probably my responsibility to actually go and take care of that, but it was really nice meeting you, Marisa. And it'll probably be really nice getting you alone again later~" With that parting flirt, Isobel winked salaciously at Marisa, and then finally turned to walk out of the library and towards the courtyard.

[Strider]

From courtyard to War Room.

Upon entering the castle, Edmond made his way to the war room, searching for either Silef, or someone to lead him to her. Once he was in her presence, he began to speak carefully after a short bow.

 

"Lord Silef. Through questioning of some of the Servants, we've obtained some information about the last Servant, Caster. It's vague, but here. The title 'The King of Heroes' was used to describe him. His strongest ability is called 'Gate of Babylon'. He can create artifacts, and has great magical power. There was also the implication of him having prepared his territory in some manner."

[Chevaleresse]

It didn't take long to find a liveried and rather harried-looking servant to guide him to Silef; the young man seemed almost glad to find the distraction. Silef herself was in the war room proper, and batted away a healer at Edmond's approach; it seemed that the previous battle had left the lord rather worse for wear. "King of Heroes? A lofty title, that one. That should be enough information for my diviners-" she gestured at a robed and hooded woman, who nodded "-to track down his exact location, though I doubt he's moved from the mines. Not nearly as much information as I could have hoped, but expect a minimum of an exact position soon." Her emerald gaze remained intense. "Did you have anything else for me?"

[Strider]

"No, not yet, they said they'd send someone else. . ." Edmond trailed off as his earpiece activated, and he listened for a moment, before quietly saying "Ah. Got it." He was. . . vaguely aware of the name Gilgamesh, and the fact that there were some stories written about him, but nothing else.

 

"My apologies. They found someone immediately after I left. The name is Gilgamesh. And Gate of Babylon apparently is the ability to have gold versions of every treasure known to man. He'll prefer to summon magical artifacts, given his Caster nature. Hopefully that makes things a bit easier."

 

"By the way Lord Silef, care to join us for this last battle? It looks to be more difficult, for the obvious reasons, along a dragon that must be dealt with."

 

[Chevaleresse]

Silef's expression twisted in irritation at Edmond's question, and almost immediately a voice rang out from across the room; the healer who had been shooed off just a little bit ago. "Lady Silef, you haven't fully recovered yet, you can't-"

 

"Enough!" the lord said, her head whipping about to face the mage. "I've made my decision already, and your continued insolence is beginning to try my patience."

 

"Milady, I'm only doing my best to preserve you and your family. You're the only one left." Tired patience, and more than a bit of sorrow echoed in the man's voice. 

 

"I know that. You think I haven't considered that? Tell me; if this battle is lost, what is going to happen?"

 

"We regroup and plan another attack. Please, Lady Silef, you can't keep risking yourself like this." 

 

"Silence. I've made my choice. If this battle is lost, so too is the world. You know this as well as I." No response came from the healer save another mournful look. The lord turned her attention back to Edmond. "You can count on my assistance for your battle. I will pass along this information to my diviners. Deliver my thanks to your lords."

[Strider]

Edmond raised his eyebrows at the exchange, but didn't comment. Internal squabbling wasn't his problem, and it seemed unlikely that Silef would die. The team had healers of it's own, and there'd been no casualties in any of the previous battles. Perhaps optimistic, but it was his read on the situation, and he knew not to let it make him over confident.

 

"Thank you. I'll see you on the field then." With that, Edmond gave another bow, and stepped away to call LOTUS over the comms. "I gave the info, and Lord Silef will be joining us. She thanks you for the information. We should be ready to go as soon as the scryers are done."