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

[DragonRage]

A dark shadow looms over 'Lucky' along with the faint scent of ozone as Lexiel leaves off her curiosity about Magna's summoning methods for a more pressing concern.  "I do not like the way you talk about my friend," She informs the crass policeman, intentionally letting her accent become more prominent than it usually is.  Reddish sparks crackle over the Doomfist gauntlet and her glowing halo as she stares down at the man with a stormy expression, her feathers fluffed in an unconscious display of anger that makes her look even bigger.  And even without that, she's still 6'6", very Russian looking, and built like a professional MMA fighter.   "You will apologize to my friend, yes?  I am sure you did not mean those things you said, so is best to clear the air.  We would not want there to be misunderstanding, would we, little man?"

[Stalkerkain]

"My, my, ever the dutiful Master you have, Nobunaga. Almost makes me feel like I should be a better Master like Lexiel," she grinned. "Almost."

 

"Incorruptible, hm? Well you're certainly right about how devout she is. Though it seems that your Grail works in mysterious ways," she said in puzzlement. Just how powerful an item was the Grail that it could steal one's autonomy without an external prerequisite? Such trifles were better off in no one's hands. Or better yet, destroyed. Her attention refocused back onto Nobunaga, more curious about the capabilities of Servants and their origins. "Just how much of your capabilities are retained by this... Grail? I ask, because I wonder if Servants could become stronger not by feeding them Mana, but say, by learning new techniques and abilities? Or are your strengths always defined in the moment you're summoned?"

[Chevaleresse]

"Well, let me put it to you this way. You're not really talking to Heroic Spirit, Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, Unifier of Japan, the great Oda Nobunaga! A Servant container couldn't hold that many titles anyway. No, technically I'm just a copy of the original shoved into a magical vessel of a sort. I would advise you talk to a mage, if you want all of the specific nonsense that goes into it." She nodded. "It's not like I can't learn anything new, now, though; in fact, maybe I should try my hand at magery. Or not, multiclassing doesn't always work that well. Anyway, if you were to summon me again, I may well remember nothing of the previous war. So, if your question is whether our capabilities are defined by summoning or if we can learn new ones, the answer is yes."

 

Marisa, for her part, seemed to take the comments in stride; a flash of irritation in her eyes showed, but she laughed the commentary off. And then resisted the urge to giggle even further at Lexiel's support. She watched the interaction, elbowing Isobel a bit as she commented. "You think I should threaten to curse him, too? I mean, I can't, really, but you'd be surprised how easy it is to spook people by just waving your arms around and mumbling."

[Strider]

Since he'd finished introducing himself to Empi, Edmond hadn't done much. He'd thought to go talk to LOTUS, but that AI appeared to be in the midst of another conversation. So, in the mean time, he'd simply stood around, fiddling awkwardly with his helmet. He had no reason to interject into any of the conversations taking place, so he didn't.

 

When the policeman made his rather rude comment, Edmond perked up, though he didn't do anything Lexiel had moved in quickly enough. For now he would observe, as in his life he'd noticed that the type of people who generally made those comments had very little respect for authority. This would be a chance to see how that man reacted, and what would be the best way of dealing with it. However, when Lexiel spoke, Edmond choked slightly, in a mildly failed attempt to hide a laugh. Simple joy at how much. . . better Lexiel was, and at how willing she was to consider Marisa a friend. He called out to Lexiel from about ten feet away, "Try not to make it permanent if you need to rough him up a bit!"

 

He then set off to wait patiently outside Magnum's bus to talk to LOTUS.

[Powder Miner]

The sudden wave of annoyance with Lucky was a brief one, at least in the level with which Isobel had held it. He had been crude and vile, of course, and she still wasn’t happy with the way he was acting, but, well... Isobel wasn’t usually a particularly aggressive or even outspoken woman, and a lot of what had caused her to speak up so quickly had admittedly been the guy dashing the mood of the conversation she’d struck up. With that initial surge of frustration gone, and with someone else stepping up way more angrily than she had, Isobel’s usual timidity raised its head and she suddenly blushed with some embarrassment at how she’d spoken up like that.

 

Then Marisa elbowed her and spoke to her, and Isobel’s eyebrows raised a little bit — the blue-haired beauty’s plan was devious, but also harmless, which Isobel felt she could appreciate. ”Eheheh...” she began a little sheepishly, ”I’d have the instinct to warn you to be careful about it, but with her menacing him like that,” (Oh, and a super tall angel lady with muscles glowering angrily down at someone? Kind of super hot, but out of respect for the woman she was literally just flirting with, Isobel didn’t let her eyes linger,) ”I don’t think we need to worry about him trying anything. So, yeah, I think you could totally get away with it.”

[UrbanSamurai]

Magnum

"So Mr. Robot-o, you're a smart guy then? A real Harvard boy? A thinker and a clinker? Sounds like you want the inside scoop on how my bus works. That's not information I give around for free! And since you can't cook me up a Shepard's Pie on account of your no-limb-itis as you have said, you'll have to prove that I can trust you with this information. You say that your a strategy guy, a student of the game. There's only one place to see if your salt is worth your grain then: the football field. We step inside and load up a simulation game, your brains against mine, and if you put up a rough-and-tumble effort like I used to see in the old days, I'll let you do your schematical business. Do we have a deal?" 

 

Rampart

When Isobel confronted Lucky for his behavior, the police officer didn't give her so much as a glance before returning looking back towards Press with bemused pursed lips. "See Press? You start talking with that sweet mouth music and you get them running up to your doorstep. Take it from a pro...hey Press? Do you smell  that?"

 

Lucky paid more attention to Lexiel as she made a dramatic appearance from above. He squinted his eyes as she put on a display of shining force, clearly stating her demands. The officer stood up straight, flicking his cig off to the side and rolling his shoulders. "Apologize for what, having some fun? I swear, you people have no fuckin' fun. Did someone come through and shoot your family and piss in your cereal?" The threats and mockery leveled at Lucky that bounced around the courtyard were getting into his head, piercing his ears, a mat of sweat lining his brow. "HEY! I don't know how they teach you morons down at El Police-a Academy-a, but in the States we learn about a little something called respect! If anyone wants a lesson then step right up! He points at Lexiel, "If you think you can scare me by being a big cunt, then you haven't met my mother!"

 

With the tension in the air as thick as an Atlanta stripper, Press makes a move with lightning agility before a single new development could transpire. In a split second, Lucky is on his back, limbs sprawled out, his hat spinning through the wind before settling on someone's head. In the spot where Lucky was just standing, Press stands firmly, his stance stable and his right fist extending in front of him at a right angle, replicating the posture of a heavyweight boxer. He relaxes into a normal stance, sighing deeply as he turns to Lexiel, his cheeks scarlet with shame. "He's a good guy deep down, and I really truly mean that. He saved a drowning dog in a river, stopped an old man from choking on his food in a restaurant. Lucky has a funny way of expressing himself, but that's how they all are. Think about it, if you got rid of every cop with sexist and racist tendencies, you would have two cops left in the country. And both of them would hate the gays." Press looks up at her now, more comfortable with his wit displayed. "I don't know if we've formally met each other. Detective Press, happy to be working with you." He extends his open hand to her. 

[Chevaleresse]

"Well, that's taken care of. I'll have to threaten him with impotence or something later. Actually, I think I might remember some of the components to that one, I remember reading up on it for fun. . ." She took on a pensive look for a moment, before shaking her head slightly. "Anyway. I wouldn't worry too much about him whether Lexiel was here or not. As you saw earlier, I do know my way around bindings." Her expression stayed on the vague amusement it had already had, save for a quick wink with that last. 

 

[DragonRage]

"I am Strike Captain Lexiel, of Overwatch.  I am well aware of what officers of the law are like.  I walked a beat for the Boros Guild for ten years, and I have no doubt I paid closer attention at the police academy than he did," Lexiel informs the detective.  She considers his hand, and shakes it with her right.  The one that isn't carrying the Doomfist, "And while I would refute your statement that all of us subscribe to racist or sexist thought, I cannot deny that my old comrades did not always behave with honor befitting their badge and station.  Bah, at least police where you come from can throw a decent punch."

[Powder Miner]

LOTUS

"I..." LOTUS was brought to wordlessness for a long moment by the combination of Magnum's way of speaking and what exactly it was that he was proposing... something of an achievement considering both how much LOTUS liked to hear himself talk and how seasoned LOTUS was in snarkily commenting on things. LOTUS did manage to put away his disbelief in order to formulate a response, though. "...uh... yes, I am not really in a position to be refusing, I suppose, so I'll participate in your... football simulation. I may not know much about the sport itself, but I do know it is highly strategic, and I am built to be able to learn in strategic scenarios on the fly... so, yes, I imagine I can do this. Erm... go ahead and plug me in, then." The talking tablet extruded a length of orange cable.

 

Isobel Low

Lucky's responses got, in order: an incredulous and none too pleased headshake for his implications about her, now, a growing nervous rictus as his reaction started to go sourer and sourer, and then an abrupt jaw drop paired with raised eyebrows as the other police officer suddenly knocked him right out. "Uh... wow." Isobel couldnt help but utter those two syllables of surprise, but as the situation seemed to be under control, she drew back. It even ended with a bit of levity -- at Press' mention of "the gays", Isobel let a knowing smirk cross her face. So Isobel let her attention turn back to Marisa... only to be once again a little gobsmacked at Marisa's word... specifically the last bit.

 

A blush spread across Isobel's face as Marisa's flirt hit more dead on than even Marisa herself had probably anticipated, and Isobel shuffled her legs a bit as she fought to get the blush off of her face. She then tried to play it off and act cool, with a "E-eheh, well, um, it's certainly nice to know that I'm working with people who can do all sorts of things," but there was a litany of things that made it pretty clear Isobel had been thrown off of her game as far as being extra smooth went: first of all, the initial reaction had been impossible to miss, especially for someone as perceptive as Marisa, secondly she hadn't managed to clear the blush all of the way off, and third of all, there was the brief loss for words until she actually got her counter-flirt into gear.

[ElfCollaborator]

-snip-

[Stalkerkain]

"Hmm... so the Grail only captures an instance of a Servant at a particular moment. How very... interesting," said Magna. It had turned out Magna's summoning methods worked differently from the Grail's system, as Jeanne had immediately recognized her upon her revival. Meaning, Jeanne was able to retain her memories, and theoretically, her experiences after being defeated. Judging by what Nobunaga had told her, it would then be possible to strengthen Jeanne's capabilities. Magna would just have to find an interlude to make Jeanne more powerful. There was another point that Nobunaga had said that made her rather curious. "Does it bother you, knowing that you're a copy? Some would say that one's existence is defined by their past, like the Grail seems to do. Or do you consider yourself every bit as real as the original, simply by existing in the present?"

[Chevaleresse]

A broad grin grew on Marisa's face at Isobel's response; that particular comment had been a shot in the dark, but apparently it'd hit the figurative goblin right between the eyes. The grin was the result of her trying hard not to laugh at Isobel's consternation; evidently the witch was better at guessing people's preferences than she thought. She nodded her head once Isobel regained her capacity for speech. "Yep. I can do all sorts of things," she repeated back at the herbalist, with a touch of added emphasis.

 

"You tell me. I have my own memory, I feel pain and pleasure, I can be happy or sad and as far as I can tell those aren't just constructs. Or am I just programmed to tell you so? Either way, to be a Servant is to be defined by your past. It cannot be helped! However, that doesn't mean I'm not real. Aren't you affected by your past, too?" She gave Magna a moment to ponder this. "Besides, it's not as if I'm the same kind of being as the original Oda Nobunaga. I certainly couldn't transform myself or summon an entire firing line at will on my own. It would have been incredibly useful, though!"

[Powder Miner]

Isobel let that blush redden again for a moment (oh God, Marisa was both really hot and a really effective flirt, and she was getting some entirely pleasant mental images), and she actually giggled a little girlishly in embarrassed delight at what Marisa was saying, but she recovered much faster this time. As pointed — and no longer remotely subtle — as Marisa's implications were, the shock from the direct hit to her preferences was only going to happen once. Even if it had been a pleasant surprise, nnf. What it did do for Isobel, though, was confirm effectively beyond a shadow of the doubt that Isobel was in fact incredibly lucky and Marisa did in fact swing the way she'd hoped she would, and that meant that the first phase of Isobel's flirting was over and that the botanist could get down to business.

 

...not that "business" actually meant propositioning Marisa. As incredible as Isobel actually did find the idea, she didn't know that she was actually ready to go quite as far as that anyway. ... ...uh, unless Marisa asked her convincingly enough, anyway. In fact, Isobel wasn't quite sure what she wanted from this as a whole, but, hell, she was going to figure it out. It'd be a huge waste if she didn't! So, the freckled woman's expression turned from briefly and suddenly pensive to a grin spreading across her face as well, as Isobel managed to get her smoothness all the way back. "So, Marisa, I was thinking... you and I might want to head to a quieter corner of the courtyard, or maybe inside somewhere. Doesn't have to be in a closed room or anything," because Isobel didn't want to come off as actually trying to do something with Marisa that she wasn't currently actually trying to do, "but maybe we can both get more out of this conversation if we are a little bit more out of the public eye, yeah?"

[Chevaleresse]

"Probably, yeah. As much as I love being harassed by random strange men - really, it's a great hobby of mine - it does tend to put a damper on conversations." She was still resisting the urge to giggle at Isobel's reactions; it was strange, but in a good way. Usually, if she was flirting with somebody, it was because she wanted to get something accomplished; she wasn't one for trysts for the most part, a mixture of caution and trust issues from previous experience prevented most of those. This, though, was mostly just for fun, and she was quite enjoying herself. "This place have a library? Gotta have a library, every self-respecting noble keep has one." 

[Powder Miner]

Isobel let out a little chuckle at Marisa's first sentence. "Right then, getting out of here it is!" The fact that Marisa wanted to actually go somewhere instead of some corner of the Courtyard was a good thing -- better privacy, for one, so Isobel could feel more comfortable actually figuring out what she wanted to do with this woman (really just not the sort of planning to be done in a public place, Isobel thought, too embarrassing) and Isobel felt like it might give her a bit of direction to actually be somewhere with an activity in it. It was honestly embarrassing for Isobel to be so unsure about this sort of thing -- normally she'd be way better centered than this.

 

But as for the place that Marisa actually wanted to go, that would require a little bit of thinking. So the botanist pulled at the fingers of one of her leather gloves, looking upwards as she tried to remember, then she looked back down as the memory sprung to her head, smiling at Marisa. "I think I do remember a library, actually! It's near the area where we do our war planning, or at least where we did initially... we just ended up doing it in the courtyard thereafter, heh heh." Gesturing for Marisa to follow her with an intentionally over-artsy gesture, Isobel started to make her way over to the War Room...

[Stalkerkain]

"Hah! I like you already, Oda Nobunaga! Yes, that's precisely how it should be; enjoying life in the present! That is what it truly means to be alive! It's a shame that you already serve Lexiel, as I'd love to have a Servant like you, but I supposed it cannot be helped. Oh, but don't tell her I said that. As for being affected by my past? You can't be affected by it if you don't have one," Magna said, before letting out a laugh. "There was a time where I existed before who I became today, but I don't remember any of it. I was told not to worry about it, for there was no use worrying about something out of your control. And for once, I could agree on that. I am 'Magna Sigyl' precisely because I didn't cling to my past, and may become someone entirely different should those memories ever return."

 

"So why did the Grail decide that you can transform yourself and summon an entire firing line?" Magna asked with amusement. "It certainly does seem like quite the upgrade from when you were first alive."

[Hal Henderics]

Grant, arriving in the courtyard, looks mostly confused at the boisterous conversation taking place in front of him right now.

 

Hands in pocket, he wanders in with the general air of someone who owns the place.

 

"She wasn't fooling, huh."

 

"This really is something else."  He says, stunned and more intrigued than ever.

[Powder Miner]

Indeed, in front of the new arrival is a certain Mexican-American persona user, whose face is still locked into an expression of embarrassment and anger (she really couldn't believe this guy would just say something like that the moment he met her, in the middle of being confused, no less! Some people...), her gait appropriately stomping enough and when she spoke, her tone appropriately brusque enough. "Yeah. I wasn't "fooling". It's magic like I mentioned and more. The future, the past, vampires and skeletons, whatever." Perlita sighed, clenched and unclenched her fists a bit and then let out a long exhalation, calming down somewhat (though she still wasn't very happy).

 

"Alright... well, here's what's going on. We, uh, well actually I don't really know what the main group here things because my group just recently merged with theirs but anyway, what we know as far as I know is that there are a bunch of beings of some sort called Trespassers. They can possess people and turn them evil, and they want to destroy everything. We're a team that's been formed up to stop them. There, erm, there was this guy that explained it to us, he was some sort of supernatural being and he looked stabbed by all these weapons, and he really made it a lot more ominous... but basically, we're supposed to go around a bunch of worlds and help fight. We're... apparently not that strong in the scheme of things at all, but right now we're on this world where... there are a bunch of historical figures but they're super magical and powerful and also corrupted now, and it's also in the middle of a gigantic horrible war between two medieval factions. And... yeah. That's the situation."

[Hal Henderics]

"Well, I guess there's no point waiting on it then."

 

"I'm Grant, I'm 28 Years old, and have a terrible Gambling addiction.  In the year 1935, Every single wager made on earth was honored.  A few years after that, they figured out that it doesn't matter what you bet any more, and a few years after that, they figured out it doesn't matter who you bet against either."

 

"I bet my life 20 minutes ago on a game of cards.  I don't really plan on doing it again, but here we are."  He finishes.

[Chevaleresse]

"Well, you see, it's less summoning a person and more summoning their legend. So, the story of the battle of Nageshino became one of my Noble Phantasms, as well as the title of Demon King of the Sixth Heaven. They did take that temple a little too seriously, honestly. The monks had to go, it couldn't be helped! Still, fear is a valuable tool." She gave the necromancer a knowing glance with this. "But yes, the woman standing before you is not quite 'Oda Nobunaga, the warlord of the Sengoku,' but rather 'that person's legend.' Does that make sense to you?"

[Powder Miner]

He... was here because he was a gambling addict who had made and lost some sort of gamble? Perlita often tried not to be judgmental, after all she was not a fan of getting judged for things herself (like that one time she tried on a miniskirt... or, way less severely, this guy literally a couple of minutes ago), but really this was a bit much. "Ohhhkay... well, my name is Perlita, uh, I'm sixteen, and I guess that even though I'm not a leader or anything, 'cuz I'm just a healer for a smaller group that recently kind of merged together with another one here, the question I should probably ask is what you can do, in battle, you know? Or maybe you could tell that to one of the squad leaders -- a tablet, a kind of engineer guy (oh, he's right there), an angel lady (oh, she's right there), and this... I don't know, I think she's a woman with a goddess of some sort. Either way, if you just came here with some sort of gamble... well, uh, sorry to be asking about violent stuff so quickly, but given the circumstances, can you fight?"[/color=yellow]

[Hal Henderics]

Grant lifts the  thick revolver from his jacket, pointing it in the air.  This time, it fires on the first try, sending six bullets flying with a much louder than normal crack of gunpowder.

 

"Roulette Pistol.  One in Six chambers has a bullet in it.  I win the lotto, it fires 5 extra."

 

"A fun party trick or not, they're real bullets, I can promise."  He grins widely.

 

"I can bet on anything, M'am.  And I'd bet on me any day."

[ElfCollaborator]

Gabriel is probably stalking nearby Perlita, his eye on her new conversational partner. He tilts his head, hands in his pockets, trying to study him, trying to figure out what he did or who he was. Place was pretty crazy, and he didn't think he'd go from fighting with Perlita and the others to fighting with what looked like an angel lady and, if he wasn't hallucinating, a fairy who apparently didn't like wearing too many clothes.

 

Then the guy starts firing off revolvers into the air, instinctively causing him to cringe for safety. Even after fighting with a Persona for a while, it wasn't like some instincts ever went away.

[Powder Miner]

Perlita watched as he took his weapon out from his jacket, and then when he suddenly fired it into the air with an exceptionally loud and startling noise, Perlita reflexively shrieked and jumped about three feet straight backwards. She tried to regain her composure, of course, but that was pretty difficult to recover from, so her voice was still infused with some shock. ”Um, wow. So. Yeah, that’s definitely something. You, uh, you probably shouldn’t be shooting a gun in here, but yeah, I think that does kind of answer my question... um, however much answering my question actually means. I can’t really do a whole lot more to introduce this place, unless you have any specific questions or anything.”

[Chevaleresse]

The gunfire did in fact get some amount of attention from the nearby soldiers, including at least one who aimed a bow at the man for a moment before deciding that it was probably this group being. . . eclectic.