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

[Chevaleresse]

Something about the hand on her shoulder put the final crack in Mitsurugi's rapidly disintegrating facade of control. She didn't shy away from it, though she did seem somewhat surprised at its presence in the short moment before she broke down into. . . well, the woman would never describe it as such, but bawling. Somewhat quiet bawling, but bawling nonetheless, the tears starting to flow continuously and messily. It grated at a part of her to lose control in front of someone at all, much less someone she had only recently met, but a greater part of her simply appreciated the release. Of finally being able to speak with someone that seemed to understand. After a solid minute or three of this, she finally managed to wrest control of her voice enough to say "I'm sorry . . . it's just so difficult . . . everything and everyone just reminds me of my failure. . ." The goddess broke down into another series of sobs.

[Powder Miner]

Navin Mhasalkar

Perhaps predictably, Navin was a little stunned once the metaphorical floodgates and Mitsurugi just began to cry and cry and cry. He had, he found, been totally unprepared for this -- the goddess had been crying earlier, but that was nothing compared to how the woman was completely breaking down now. In fact, Navin was once again panicking internally (and failing to keep this entirely off of his expression): he had been trying to make things better, but something about his hand on her shoulder or something he'd said seemed to have made things a lot worse, to make her like this. However, despite looking somewhat like a deer in the headlights, Navin didn't end up removing his hand from her shoulder, and he didn't end up saying anything for the minutes where Mitsurugi just let everything out, her messy sobs being the only sound in the room.

 

When she spoke again, Navin's initial waver revealed that he was still a little bit shaken by the effect he seemed to have had on her, but nonetheless his words were genuine: "You... you do not need to apologize for having difficulty, not with that."

 

Isobel Low

At this time, the botanist entered the barracks, pulling Sachi behind her as she guided the younger (but not actually shorter) girl into the building. Isobel brought Sachi to a corner of the barracks that looked out of the way (specifically, a smaller training room of some variety that didn't appear to have had much use), figuring that in her current condition someone just barging in would probably make things a lot worse. She closed the door (which this room actually appeared to have, at least a thin sliding one) behind them, and then she sat down on the ground, expecting Sachi to join her. "...here, you needed someone to talk to? I'm here."

[Projeck]

Snow quietly allows Isolbel and Sachi to pass, as she was standing in the doorway to the barracks (unless there's more than one set of doors?). Her armor clanks, and she watched the two short girls disappear into the depth of the barracks emotionless. She looked back to the girl doing maintenance.

[Chevaleresse]

Mitsurugi's sobs seemed to finally trail off, as she sniffled and wiped at her face; at least it seemed that her robes were rather resistant to being soiled. "It is not your burden to bear," she said, finally. "This behavior. . . it's unbecoming, for a former deity such as myself. I should not be allowing my discomfort to become yours. But. . ." She turned her head to meet Navin's eyes directly. "Thank you, Mhasalkar. You may not have said much, but your being here was. . . comforting, in a way. I appreciate it." She cleared her throat, shaking her head slightly. "I should try to ready myself for the next battle," she said, voice still a bit quavery. "If you wish to speak with me again, I will be practicing my forms." And with that, she stood, offered a bow to Navin, and disappeared further into the basement.

[Powder Miner]

Navin sat there for a while as Mitsurugi finished crying her eyes out, and then as she turned to him and spoke. He looked at her tear-reddened eyes and shifted a little nervously when she locked gazes with him, but her words actually did help reassure him that apparently he had helped, which was a relief -- the entire encounter had been something of a difficult experience, but if he had done right by the unfortunate goddess then, well, the difficulties were worth it. "Ah, it is fine, Miss Saigai. I am... satisfied to be of help." Wording wasn't always his strong suit in English, but that was probably fine.

 

Still, Mitsurugi was heading over to another portion of the basement to try to compose herself for the rest of the battle, and Navin took that as his cue to leave -- he doubted that his presence would be particularly copacetic to her getting into emotional shape to be fighting. So, he stepped out the doorway, and left the basement, before leaving the barracks totally... then just kind of hovering outside, thinking about the whole encounter.

[ElfCollaborator]

Empi Powderbelle
Empi finally shimmers back into visibility right next to Navin, looking rather exhausted. 

"You don't want to know just HOW difficult it is to get around this place without bumping into people. Sorry about that. I'll explain later.

 

Sooooo.....how did it go? Did you two get your issues sorted? Was I right to get you to apologise and explain? Is that a little spark of luuuuurve I see?"

Sachi Honda

Sachi breathes in deeply as she sits down, staring at Isobel for a while as she tries to collect herself.

"I......I just need.....can you....will you listen? I....I need to get this off my chest. Please."

Edited October 30, 2017 by ElfCollaborator

[Powder Miner]

Navin Mhasalkar

The very sudden appearance of someone right next to him initially gets a sharply surprised look from Navin, but he calms down when he sees that it's just one of the others, and one of the more familiar ones, at that. "Hello, miss Powderbelle. Come to check in, I see. I... do believe that things went well. I did have some difficulty at certain points (though I do not believe I will be sharing the specifics), but miss Saigai said that I seemed to have helped in some way, and I do have to thank you for the advice to actually go and apologize to her. It was... a very meaningful conversation.

 

As to your other question, uh..." Empi had gone and twisted that word to the point that Navin actually hadn't understood her. "...I am honestly rather confused by what you are trying to ask."

 

Isobel Low

Isobel winced when she got the warning message from LOTUS, but spoke to Sachi in as comforting a tone as she could manage anyway.

"I'll listen, don't worry about that -- I wasn't known back home for ignoring people, and I'm not planning on starting now. That said, and I apologize for this, you may have to hurry. It sounds like preparations are about to start for the next battles."

[ElfCollaborator]

Empi Powderbelle
Empi rolls her eyes. She'd explain later. At least he got one thing right.

"See? You can trust me when it comes to matters of the hearts of women. Well, if you didn't, you'd look kinda stupid anyway. Soooo....you two good again? You two doing anything later? As friends?"

Sachi Honda

Sachi shakes her head as she sees the expression on Isobel's face. She stands up, offering Isobel her hand to help her up.

"I-If we need to go, I s-shouldn't be bothering you about my problems. B-besides, y-you're important to strategy, right? I-I shouldn't be bothering you right now then. S-sorry..."

[Powder Miner]

Navin Mhasalkar

He raised an eyebrow at Empi. "The two of us have more pressing commitments to deal with here than going and planning outings, such as fighting the beings consuming the multiverse, and all. We are not exactly in a situation where I can go 'oh, I have Saturday off', even moreso than being a superhero tends to destroy that sort of thing back home. But, yes, I do think I succeeded in clearing things up between miss Saigai and I, miss Powderbelle."

 

Isobel Low

Isobel sighed, something of a regretful look on her face. "I'm not really involved in strategy, but I think that LOTUS is going to need me. I'm sorry about this -- perhaps we can talk later, though? At the very least, don't feel the need to apologize here, it isn't as if you've done anything wrong." Isobel extended her hand and grabbed onto Sachi's extended one. In her normal form, Sachi was hardly the heaviest girl, but nonetheless levering a girl as tall as she was did elicit a grunt from Isobel as she helped Sachi up.

[rustytengo]

Once Bridgett arrived back to the castles she headed to the quietest place she could find. this time it happened to be the barracks given that the courtyard was having a group just meeting what looked like a new person and Dracky was there. she avoided it because that would probably lead to something crazy. Besides she had something she needed to do. Once she found a relatively empty area she pulled Mornings Arrow off from around her neck "Going into reconfiguration mode. Are you sure My Lady?" It asked her in its monotone voice. "Yeah, I think it will be a great assistance to the group. After all, I can't do much more than fight so I should at least bring out as much of my power as I can. So reworking my spells and release the restraint on that is going to be a big step for doing that." She said to Mornings Arrow. " All right My Lady. Entering reconfiguration mode." Morning Arrow replied as a blue magic circle appeared underneath her and different symbols started appearing on the jewel of Mornings Arrow. Brigett Closed her eyes as she concentrated on reconfiguring her abilities and releasing a restraint on a certain ability.

[StormLord]

Spicy HG climbed off of Magnum's bus after a long and somewhat awkward trip with the beginnings of a killer headache.  She quickly made her way to the Barracks, looking for somewhere quiet, dark, and peaceful to sleep out her now throbbing head.

She found a nice empty bunk to lay down in and take a nap, one of her bigger mistakes to boot.  As soon as she closed her eyes she became trapped by a rush of visions, thousands of voices whispering in her ears, glimpses of hopes, dreams, happiness, sadness, and tragedy flashed before her eyes.  A thousand or more prayers flowed in the second she let her guard down the slightest bit.  She tossed and turned in the bed for several minutes as more visions flew past until they all came to focus on the same image, a battlefield, or more like scorched earth littered with dozens of bodies, and a woman floating a few inches off the ground in the middle of it all.  She was tall, at least a foot and a half taller than Spicy HG and wore a tight pale grey bodysuit with matching thigh-highs and arm length gloves, she had long white hair with the occasional streak of grey or silver and a single streak of brilliant red, her skin was almost as pale as her clothes from her back sprouted wings of cinder and ash.  Blood poured down her face from her eyes and mouth staining her nigh pristine form, her hands too were bloody up to her forearms, and the occasional smear of blood could be seen elsewhere.  In her hands was a long glaive, its blade glowing brightly and trailing white flames.

The woman turned to face Spicy HG's mind's eye with bloodshot eyes and pupils in the shape of power symbols, the moment eye contact was made the trance broke and Spicy HG shot awake in a cold sweat and heavy breathing.

She pulled herself up in the bed and started looking to see if anyone was around when something dripped from her eyes, tears maybe?  She didn't feel sad, though her headache was just as bad and she now felt sick at her stomach.  She glanced down to see two tiny crimson circles on the sheet, she quickly reached up to wipe at her eyes, only succeeding in smearing the blood dipping out of them.

[Powder Miner]

Much like more than one person other had done, immediately after he had arrived back at the castle from the fight that he had been in, Navin had made his way to the Barracks in search of a quiet place. He knew exactly where he wanted to go, too -- Mitsurugi had found a quiet place for them to talk before this last round of fighting, and now he could make some use of that serenity himself. So, from the very moment he opened the door to enter the Barracks, Navin beelined down to that room deep in the barracks, and then once he had made it, he closed the door behind him carefully, with a quiet clack.

 

After that, Navin closed his eyes, sighed, and leaned against the wall of the room. Every now and then, Navin was forced to stop himself and wonder, really wonder about what he was doing. The aftermath of the previous battle had been one of those times: the mindset that he had been placing himself into finally just came to be too much, too much all at once, and he'd just... been overwhelmed. What was he doing to himself? What was he always doing to himself every time he allowed himself to become like this, whenever he got involved in something he could classify as a war and turned himself back into more of a death machine than a superhero? Why did he never learn his lesson? God, he was an idiot. 

 

Navin continued to lean against the wall, and slid his hands up to his head as he closed his eyes, fingers on his eyes and thumbs hooked around his chin as he covered his face and contemplated just how stupid he was.

[Yours Truly]

Solomon nodded in response before he turned to leave the understocked armory with Lena in tow, and he spent the entire trip over to the barracks by giving her a short explanation for how terribly the war was going for house Asterlux. Along with a completely and utterly unrelated explanation about how terrible the food situation here is on a regular basis and how he had bravely fought against his own armor with the help of a woman who could inexplicably enough handle molten gold with her bare hands.

He was just finishing up that story when he opened the door to the barracks and quickly started to float inside as he said, "But anyway the barracks here are where people theoretically go to sleep after a battle, except the thing is most people apparently settle for having a nice chat in the courtyards, or a short jaunt to the armory for a spot of crafting that quickly goes out of hand." He then turns his throne around to face Lena as it continues to head deeper inside of the barracks, and he gestures at the mess hall before he said, "And quite frankly I have only seen three other people eat inside of the mess hall, and they were both with me so that doesn't really count." He slowly turned his throne around again to face towards the rest of the barracks as he said, "But chances are they probably just do that when I am n-," He then slowly noticed the presence of Spicy as she arose from the bed and wiped her eyes, and his smile faded once again as he said, "Oh...is this a bad time?."

[Ragnarok97071]

Lena, for her part, listens dutifully to Solomon as he explains things about how wars were going, presumably back in the place he came from, nodding along as she takes in the fact that apparently every world is like hers... wars all the time, really, whether with monsters or other people. She's honestly rather nice to talk to, not really talking, but listening very well, and not just because she can't interrupt.

 

Then they reach the barracks and the crying woman inside. Part of Lena wants to run up to her even though she's a stranger, try to comfort her or help her feel better or something just from the fact she was crying... but she doesn't. That's not her place. She doesn't make people feel better, she kills people. Well. Sometimes she does try to make people feel better, but this probably wasn't the time, and really this person would probably just be upset at some stranger trying to baby her, so she just... stands there, looking kinda like a sad puppy.

[StormLord]

Spicy HG looked up at Solomon and the new girl.

"I-I'm not sure."

The few tears that had fallen seemed to have stopped now and she looked down at the smears of blood on her hands.  She reached up to rub her temples with the clean palms of her hands.

"Ow my head.  It feels like someone is pounding on it with a sledge hammer--" She cut off for a second as she winced in pain, gritting her teeth, "And on second thought the sledge hammer wasn't this bad."

She took a couple short breaths then looked up at Solomon.

"You wouldn't happen to have a recipe for divine strength headache medicine in one of those books would you?"

[Chevaleresse]

Mitsurugi headed back into the barracks; she'd passed Spicy during her sleep disturbances, and elected to leave the woman to it; her presence would likely only unsettle Spicy further. Instead, she headed down to the area she'd moved to for privacy before; she wanted to attempt to meditate again, despite how. . . unproductive her attempts had been thus far. It surprised her somewhat to see that the door was closed upon her arrival; was this room for some purpose she was not aware of yet? She considered it for a brief moment, and decided that it was worth the slight rudeness of opening the door to investigate. At worst, she would stumble upon some young couple who hadn't been properly cautious when seeking some solitude.

 

She opened the door with a light touch, and it swung open slowly to permit her entry. She slipped inside before it swung all the way open, and pressed one hand back to close it; she would have turned to secure it quietly, but her attention was drawn by the person who had, evidently, shut the door originally. "Mhasalkar? Am I intruding?" He seemed to be distressed, but she was unsure whether her presence was desired. "I can find somewhere else, if you wish." Her tone sounded less convinced of such, though; after all, the man had made an effort to comfort her in his own awkward and stumbling way, and she felt the urge to repay him.

[Yours Truly]

Solomon randomly took out an alchemical recipe book from one of his pockets and flipped it open for a bit after he heard Spicy's presumably rhetorical request, and he had a slightly disappointed look on his face as he shrugged his shoulders and said, "I am pretty sure that one exists somewhere in the multiverse, simply because it is in all honesty highly improbable for there to be a nigh infinite amount of worlds with absolutely no divine hangover cures, and there is a very good chance of it existing in a book somewhere. Although I could use some more pointers to find one that would work for someone from your world that won't take some arcane ingredient that doesn't exist here or something...do you know of any hard partying or hard drinking deities from your world that enjoys spreading knowledge in the form of books or something?"

[StormLord]

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Just, forget I said anything about it."
She just kind of...sat there for a couple seconds, trying her best to concentrate on something before suddenly looking back up at Solomon.

"Wait, can you get a copy of my Oracle's notes on condensing Sharicite?  I think that might actually help me here."

[Yours Truly]

Solomon nodded slightly after he heard Spicy's reply, and he pocketed the recipe book he was reading through just before he started to quietly back himself and his throne away from the situation he was in no way shape or form equipped to handle. But of course he apparently didn't manage to get far away enough as Spicy asked him to find her another book, and he obliged by simply handing her a note book with claw marks on its cover while he said, "I have no idea what Sharicite is or what your oracle is, but I think that this might help."

[Powder Miner]

Navin started when Mitsurugi entered the room, twitching from his position leaning on the wall, his eyes jerking open as he spotted Mitsurugi and brought his hands down from his face to attempt a somewhat more neutral position. ”Erm... no, you can stay, if you want to. It... doesn’t bother me, I suppose, considering our previous conversation.”

 

Navin had, it seemed, nothing more he was able to summon the words to say for a while after that, and several seconds passed in silence that was at least clearly awkward on his part, until eventually the man looked down and sighed softly. With that gentle introduction, Navin spoke, but only spoke a single, simple, sorrowful sentence: ”I... am not a very smart man, Miss Saigai.”

[StormLord]

Spicy HG nodded in thanks as she took the notebook, smearing a few mostly dried flecks of blood on the cover as she did.  She opened the book and flipped through a few of the pages revealing various archaic diagrams and what look like lots of math.  She finally flipped to a page with a large diagram of a octahedral gem and quickly began reading.

After almost a minute of occasionally wincing while she read Spicy HG closed the book and set it to the side.

"Alright, let's hope this works."

She leaned forward a bit to straighten up then cupped her hands together, one on top of the other.  She took a breath and closed her eyes, slowly a light began to grow from within her hands, brighter and brighter until it was easily lighting up most of the Barracks and casting dark shadows all around the room.

The light slowly started to fade, and once it was nothing but a dull glow Spicy HG opened her eyes and hands, revealing two small octahedral gems very similar to the ones in the notebook.

"Wow.  That actually worked."

She looked down at the two glittering, multicolored stones in her hands before reaching up to the side of her head again.

"And my headache is almost completely gone too."

Despite still being a little nauseous she turned and climbed out of the bed to greet the two a little more face-to-face.

[Yours Truly]

Solomon quietly munched on a pork rind for a couple of moments as he waited for Spicy to finish her ritual, and he leaned in slightly to get a better look at the result before he said, "What is Sharicite used for actually? I was afraid to ask earlier as I didn't want to interrupt your concentration...also how does it help you cope with your headaches?"

[Chevaleresse]

Mitsurugi's expression shifted slightly, betraying her confusion. Clearly something was distressing the man, and from his words it seemed to stem from his own actions. . . but what? "May I ask why you would say such a thing?" While she had to admit, he did not seem particularly quick on the uptake, at least when it came to her interactions with him, but that did not mean he was an unintelligent man in other respects. She couldn't think of anyone who had been hurt recently - other than the enemy soldiers - and he seemed to be more or less physically well, so blaming himself for such a thing did not seem to be the case.

[StormLord]

"Sharicite is crystallized Share energy.  It's useful for most thing's you'd think crystallized energy would be good for.  As for why it helps with my headache, that's a long story I'd rather not get into right now."

She looked down at the small multicolored gems in her hand.

"These aren't terribly large or high quality, but I'm sure I'll find a use for them somewhere.  Thank you, by the way."

She took a softer breath and looked around  the Barracks.

"So what are you up to now?"

[Yours Truly]

Solomon quickly pointed at Lena with his right hand; which caused a hand shaped mound of books to poke her left shoulder before he said, "I was just showing the new recruit here the lay of the land, the two of you should probably introduce yourselves.". The hand quickly disappeared when he leaned back to his seat, and he waited for Lena and Spicy to introduce themselves to each other before he asked, "Also I was actually going to ask if you kept the hopefully no longer molten remains of the....entity we dispatched earlier, as I may or may not want to use it for something."