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

[Stalkerkain]

Magna Sigyl

"Rizu is you!" Magna exclaimed in disbelief, still all riled up in a jiff. The nerve of this lass! She hadn't noticed the robot due to the lack of organic and/or living matter within Ritsu. This is why she preferred the living, as they were far easier to see with Magna's innate ability to visualize a representation of their souls. "My eyes just aren't what they used to be!" Which was true in a sense, considering she didn't have organic eyes. 

 

 

Soryn Éclaire

"Unfortunately dear, my name still remains to be Soryn," He didn't do so much as blink during Sachi's flailing, having perceived the motion before it happened. He would never understand mortals and their eternal distress. Their desperate attempt to struggle for their few years of life seemed so alien, as it was just a drop in time to him. "I was going to invite you for some tea, as I managed to procure some from the soldiers. It's unfortunately not of very good quality, but I find it more of the act of doing so to be relaxing in and of itself. Perhaps you'd like to join me. I believe it would do you some good in calming the nerves, unless you not prefer company at the moment."

Edited October 20, 2017 by Stalkerkain

[Zetaark]

Ritsu

At her comment, Ritsu ran a quick scan of Magna, and was somewhat amused by the results.

"Your eyes aren't what they used to be? Does that mean that you had them at some point?" Ritsu asked in a bit of a joking tone. "At any rate, I never agreed to being called Rizu, but I doubt I can stop you. Anyways, what were you doing before you tripped over me?"

[StormLord]

Spicy HG looks around for a few seconds, scanning the courtyard for any sign of the person described.

"I'm not seeing anyone who looks like that here, maybe she went into one of these side buildings?"

Once they finished floating towards the Barracks she would get up off the throne and walk over to the door, opening it slightly and starting to look inside.

"Maybe in here somewhere?"

[Powder Miner]

Isobel Low and LOTUS

Isobel blushed a bit when Lexiel spoke and complimented her -- though to be honest, that particular choice of compliment was a little bit troubling even if it was praise, what with knowing her limits kind of being a little bit depressing. She frowned and actually spoke first after Edmond spoke, too. "Uh... if I'm remembering my history right... isn't Jeanne D'Arc that one French girl that got burnt at the stake? She has a lot of fire? Wow, that's... that's honestly really messed up, if you think about it." Whatever was responsible for doing whatever was happening to these historical figures had a really really sick sense of humor.

 

LOTUS spoke after taking in what all of the various squad leaders had said. "No, that's a quite sufficient amount of information Edmond. I may be someone who doesn't like being kept in the dark, but that's far more concrete, usable information in one dose than I've been given for a while. Not that the earlier briefing wasn't useful, as it provided me enough context to genuinely understand the situation, but it's nice to have something to actually work off." Well, sometimes LOTUS felt like he'd start seeing a decline in his personality functionality if he didn't get information to help fill the void left by the lack of the uplink, but THAT was why he wanted Edmond to stay anyway. "Anyway, unless any of you have other topics or questions to discuss, I believe that I have all of the intel I need now. If you want to leave, you may, except that I'm going to want Edmond to stay for a moment to talk to him privately."

 

Perlita Diaz

Perlita groaned quietly and elbowed Gabriel again when he proceeded to put on his usual routine. "Oh my god, Gabriel, you do not have to hit on people, you know. Uh, my apologies for my being rude, it's just that it was a little surprising at first to see how strong you are." Perlita awkwardly halfway extends her hand for a handshake, slightly withdraws it as she wonders if that's being overly formal or something, and then realizes that that in turn would be even more awkward so finally finishes extending her hand, and then winces ever so slightly. "Uh, my name is Perlita Diaz, I'm part of the... group of reinforcements, I guess I could put it. Uh, I'm a healer more than anything else. He," Perlita nudges him again once for good measure, "is Gabriel Kowalski."

[Strider]

Edmond:

"Good. I'm glad to hear it." Edmond shuffled his feet a bit as he waited for the others to depart. Rather than just stand in silence, it occurred to him to ask this,"So, how did things go with you two? I'm guessing there weren't any casualties, or you would have mentioned it. Was there anything of any note?" Edmond addressed this question to both of them.

 

Liliya:

"Don't worry about it since it's a bit chaotic here. No one dead on your side then? We were scraping pretty close at the end, but that Servant, Nobunaga? Finished things up for us." Liliya turned to the man who had addressed them."I'm Liliya. And yeah, with the bigger group. I think I was still one of the later ones though, since the group already had that interdimensional castle tank thing we were defending."

[Projeck]

Snow quietly chuckles at Perlita's awkwardness, primarily because she's used to it, and gives her a small smile. Her face steels once again when going back to Samantha.

"I sense a... strong presence of power in you. Almost... like you have an entity inside of you. What exactly is it?"

[Powder Miner]

Isobel Low and LOTUS

LOTUS emits an electronic little chuckle. "No casualties, but we got very very close. I had to make use of Nobunaga's support at two separate points, because those skeletons were absolutely ferocious. I brought multiple people who could treat injury, and even then they, especially Aurora, had to balance quite a lot on their shoulders to get us through the battle alive. Honestly, I sincerely hope that Assassin's death means that Shienar only has their human soldiers to rely upon; those skeletons were a larger threat than the woman herself, even if her usage of the mist on all of our medics was... problematic."

 

Isobel shudders at the memory. "That... was pretty bad. I didn't even mind slinging my poppies around, but when she hit us with that mist and messed with our heads... eesh..." Isobel shook her head, not particularly pleased with the memory. She'd been pretty much fighting with herself as Assassin's awful mist filled her with all of that paranoia and hate...

 

LOTUS spoke again, however, breaking Isobel out of it. "Alright, here's the deal, Edmond. I wanted you to stick around because I think I might be able to get some use from you. I don't know that this necessarily matches your specialty, but considering that you're an engineer and closer to my technological level than anyone else, I think you have the best chance of helping with the matter of the uplink. I... look... I have had a lot to work on, and that helps, but I'm frankly getting a little desperate. Things have been empty, I suppose I shall say, without the connection to my similar AI. So I want you to take me for a while, and discuss the matter with me."

 

Isobel's surprised expression gave away that LOTUS had probably not mentioned this to her before. "W-wait, but then, what do I..."

[Strider]

"Oh, your team got the full dose of the paranoia mist then? That must have been unpleasant. Are you feeling better now then?" Harry asked Isobel.

 

Edmond looked pensive for a moment before responding. "I'm alright with that, so long as Isobel is. I can't make any guarantees whatsoever, and my tools and the parts I picked up in the last place are all in the castle, but I can certainly talk it over. I suppose. . . this also hinges on the assumption that you have blueprints or at least knowledge of your own design? I wouldn't really be comfortable fiddling around in a blind attempt to fix your problem."

 

"It's probably going to require some form of multiversal comms, I expect? We'll have to ask Mar about that, I think. Even if he can't help, I think he knows most of the people who could help. Tesla and Alexandria are also options. I haven't seen any of them though, so I'm guessing they're stuck in the castle."

[Powder Miner]

LOTUS' expression display gained two flat little eyebrows. "A reminder that Isobel is my holder, and not my owner. So long as I am working in her interests, I am fulfilling my function, as well as working in the interests of a few other people on my homeworld that I hold loyalties to - and I do believe that restoring my full function qualifies for both. I'd move myself, but, you can clearly see the difficulties with THAT particular approach. She doesn't need to worry, either, because this is just a temporary arrangement and I'd expect to be handed back for the next battle. And, yes, I'm aware of my own schematics."

 

Isobel shifted with clear discomfort written on her face, but nonetheless she spoke: "Um... I don't see any clear problems with it on my end, especially because it sounds like LOTUS has thought this through on his end, and I'm not, like... trying to prolong his discomfort, or anything." The idea of being left alone bothered her kind of immensely, because she didn't what she would do with herself, but LOTUS sounded right to her. So she grabbed the personal AI, unclipped him from her belt, and extended him over towards Edmond.

[Stalkerkain]

On 10/20/2017 at 4:28 PM, Zetaark said:

Ritsu

"Your eyes aren't what they used to be? Does that mean that you had them at some point?" Ritsu asked in a bit of a joking tone. "At any rate, I never agreed to being called Rizu, but I doubt I can stop you. Anyways, what were you doing before you tripped over me?"

Magna Sigyl

 

"Well naturally, Rizu! What else would I be using to see?" Magna fumed. If she had bodily functions, she was sure she'd be positively steaming by now! "If you so hadn't abruptly interrupted me, I would have been doing very important things! I was- was...." Magna stopped to pause mid-sentence. "...Eh, I forgot. It had something to do with something or some other, but I'm sure it'll be fine."

 

"You also mentioned you were repairing yourself? With what? Can you also shoot laser beams?" Magna asked excitedly.

[UrbanSamurai]

Rampart:

 

Unit #0429 leans against the side of the sleek Cadillac, tobacco smoke and graphite filling the airspace around them.

 

"You wanna' go talk to them?" Lucky rolls his cigarette to the corner of his mouth, using his teeth to point it at the largest gathering of mismatched people in the center of the courtyard. "I'd feel better knowing names and badges."

 

"Just give me one second..." Press furiously recreates the immediate scene in the courtyard within his sketchpad, the drawing capturing all of the details from the curves in the armor of the soldiers to the individual cracks in the walls. 

 

Lucky looks over at the drawing and gives Press a nudge, breaking his concentration. "You'll have plenty of time to doodle, let's try and meet some people and figure out what the hell is going on."

 

Rampart walks over to the semi-organized mass of folk in the courtyard, edging more towards the people hovering near LOTUS, whom they had noticed leading the discussion earlier. The two officers flip their badges out in synchronization, as if they had done so a thousand times. "Officers Press and Lucky, N.O.P.D., Unit #0429 / RAMPART. We're here for the same reason as everyone, to catch these Trespasser punks before the Western Hemisphere goes belly up a second time."

 

"Right now we're buzzed on these so-called 'Servant' hoods, and if anyone knows what their exact connection is to the 'Trespassers' gang, we'd want to know. We have our own suspicion that the Servants are a subset of the Trespasser gang, maybe even the youth version of it. My partner has the evidence we've recovered."

 

"Exhibit A," Lucky says as he throws one of the spare swords from the previous battle onto the ground. "They were will carrying something like this, maybe some spears or bows, you know, real jungle sorts of shit. These are straight swords too, not the Samurai kind that the Japs love. We spent the last few months out of state fighting through Guatemala, and even their swords weren't like this. So we can guess two things: One, the Servants are too broke to afford real deal firearms or zipguns. That's why you see kids running around with baseball bats and switchblades, easier to get. Two, they don't use six-shooters for religious reasons. The cults out in California, they've got boners for medieval shit like this."

 

"If we can book one of these Servants, or one of their associates, we can figure out who they are and what their relationship with the Trespassers is exactly."

 

Magnum:

 

The BOOMTOWN EXPRESS rattles every half-minute or so with either short blasts of music or Magnum's loud verbal expulsions. "....BUT! BUT BUT BUT! THAT, THAT RIGHT THERE IS WHY WE SEE TEAMS HAVING TROUBLE GETTING DOWN THE FIELD. IT'S A PASS HAPPY GAME NOW ADAYS, PASS ALL DAY, PASS ALL NIGHT, PASS UNTIL YOUR SOCKS TURN WHITE. EVERY WANTS TO PASS BECAUSE PASSING IS COOL, IT'S THE HOT THING. YOU WANT TO THROW THE BALL WAAAY OVER THE MOUNTAIN TOPS LIKE YOU'RE PLAYING CATCH WITH A DOG YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE AGAIN. BUT IT'S THE RUN, RUNNING IN THE TRENCHES THAT SEPARATES THE WINNERS, FROM THOSE SUCKY, BAD LOSERS. YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING SONNIE BOY, RIGHT FROM THE BRAIN OF OLD BOOOOOMTOWN?!?!...Wait, where's my pretzel?"

 

Some neon lights begin to flash ostentatiously on the side of the bus, stating:

"BOOMTOWN: BOOM OR BUST - THE WORLD'S BEST GREATEST PODCAST FOR FOOTBALL, LIFE ADVICE AND GOOD OLE' FASHIONED AMERICAN GRUBBIN'" RECORDING SESSION LIVE. INTERVIEWEES WELCOME. 

 

[Powder Miner]

LOTUS

With the handoff completed (and with Isobel slightly-dejectedly wandering off to another part of the Courtyard), LOTUS was in Edmond's hands when Press and Lucky arrived to the scene. He listened to the police officers talk, and then was silent for a long time. Press and Lucky would watch the small, rectangular device in Edmond's hands suddenly changed the dots on its screen to look like a face looking in their direction, with a singular raised eyebrow. "I am the Logistical, Operational and Tactical Uplink System, or LOTUS. And I suppose that the first question I have to ask you is...

 

...are you out of your minds? Let me... let me get this straight. If I'm understanding you correctly, you literally think that this is part of some operation to bust gangs in the Western Hemisphere? And that the Trespassers are a gang? And that the Servants are another gang? That's so unbelievably wrong that I almost don't even know where to begin. Wow. I... wow. Look around you. We're in an actual medieval castle. All of the normal soldiers in this castle are medieval soldiers, and the land outside of this castle is invariably hellish and wartorn. This could actually not possibly be Earth. And that's not even counting the absurd variety of the people here. We have what looks to be futuristic people to you, we have people slinging magic, we have blatantly non-human creatures, like me, the actual Artificial Intelligence, or the giant spider woman over there. How could you make this mistake?

 

Here's what's really going on. First of all, Trespassers are, so far as the intel I have received goes, some sort of dimension-eating monstrosities that are trying to destroy the multiverse, which is a collection of different universes. We travel between these universes, and we fight the Trespassers, or at least those they're influencing -- and Trespassers are far above the scale of a gang. The specific world we're on is a medieval one, with an ongoing war between House Asterlux, that's who we're fighting alongside, and House Shienar. Servants are a recent addition to this conflict, a bunch of apparently reincarnated historical figures that have wild powers.

 

One of them, Oda Nobunaga, is on our side and has been helping us. One of them, Lu Bu, died before we got here. The other five are or were corrupted by some strange happenings with the thing that spawned them, and are helping Shienar kill everything. Of those five, Assassin summoned a bunch of skeletons, and had this mist. I don't know who she actually was, but we fought and killed her. We also fought and killed Cu Chulainn, and now we have some sort of thoroughly altered Jeanne D'Arc, King Arthur, and Gilgamesh left to fight. This may sound crazy, but to be frank it may actually be less crazy than what you came up with. How do you make this mistake?"

 

Isobel Low

Isobel may have separated herself from LOTUS once that had been what he'd asked for, but now that she was in the middle of the fort without the busybody little tablet clipped to her apron to bark various pieces of sarcasm at people or to ask for information or to something... well, Isobel was kind of lost. She didn't know what to do with herself. She was barely useful aside from being some sort of... of... meat palanquin for LOTUS, anyway. So she kind of just stood there, and the other people in the courtyard would kind of just see the freckled, bandanna'd botanist standing there with her arms crossed, looking vaguely forlorn. Not in some sort of crisis state and not in tears, just looking kind of... dejected.

[ElfCollaborator]

Sachi Honda

"I.....I need some space.....excuse me. I'm sorry."

Sachi runs away from Soryn frantically, terrified of her own outburst.

 

She needed somewhere to go. She needed to calm down. She needed to stay put. She needed to cry. She hadn't felt right since that mist had made her relive her sister's death, and the battle hadn't helped her one bit. Sachi needed something, someone, anyone.

 

She is so utterly lost in her thoughts that she almost runs into Isobel, almost plows directly into her.

 

Gabriel Kowalski

Gabriel lifts an eyebrow, impressed. He seems totally at home here, as opposed to his awkward friend or his standoffish companions. He rubs the back of his head, laughing a little.

"Susmariosep, it seems we've gotten ourselves into a bit of a mess. Not that we're not used to messes, it's just that our messes are usually a fair bit smaller. So , uh, you got anywhere we could rest at? What's the game plan?"

[DragonRage]

Lexiel considers going and talking to the new arrivals, but decides that LOTUS' blunt style might be better for getting the point across to those two.  So instead she extends her wings and flies over Lucky and Rampart, aura on full blast healing (in case there are any wounded in the area it might stabilize, and also to drive home how they aren't in Kansas anymore), and lands in front of the Boomtown Express.  She takes care to turn her aura down to its usual levels before heading inside.  "Hello in there?  I hear you like football.  I also like football.  Oh, Urza's bones that sounded awkward."  

_______________________________________________________________

"You can feel it?  I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.  A lot of people have since I got here," Samantha says, "Uh, you're probably feeling the Phoenix Force.  It's this uh, cosmic fire bird thing?  And it's obsessed with redheads it thinks are part of my family for reasons nobody knows.  So it connects with us, sometimes, and makes the special powers we already had stronger.  Before it decided it liked me better than my cousin and my alternate reality time travelling niece (don't ask), the only powers I had were enough telekinesis to lift a pencil and enough empathy to read people's emotions even if they were trying to conceal them.    Now..."  Samantha concentrates briefly, and several nearby rocks levitate, surrounded by a burning aura, before dropping back to the ground, smoking slightly.  "Way more power, and less control than I'd like.  I've only been in a few fights so far, but I've taken point in all of them.  So stick with me if things get violent, and I'll keep you safe.  Just... not too close.  Fine control is kind of a work in progress."

Edited October 22, 2017 by DragonRage

[Strider]

Edmond:

Immediately after the handoff had occurred, Edmond frowned. "You misunderstood me. I didn't mean to imply that you were in any way subservient, simply that since you work together with Isobel, it was necessary to at least get her opinion on the matter. Which we did. I'm sorry that I didn't make that obvious." Edmond then held the AI rather gingerly, as it began to rant at the two newcomers.

 

Liliya:

"I dunno about a place to rest, but if you asked around, they could probably find you a spot in this castle? And game plan, well again, I'm not the best person to ask. But I think there were a bunch of corrupt servant things, and there are three left that we have to defeat, to end this war. If you want actual strategy, you'd probably have to go talk to those people." She pointed towards LOTUS and Edmond, frowning. Hadn't there been more leaders? Well, there wasn't any law saying they all had to congregate together. . .  She shrugged. "So you said you do healing stuff, Perlita? That's pretty cool. Magic, or tech? And what about you, Gabriel, what do you do?"

[Projeck]

Snow calmly listened to what Samantha had to say, and simply replied with a nod. She understood what was going on now, and that was all she needed. She didn't particularly care that Liliya kept her out of the questions of what she does. She'd honestly rather prefer to keep to herself, but she didn't have much choice here, with all of these people... nevertheless, Snow stood still, her large weapon humming loudly at her side, without a hint of it's weight or noise bothering her. She looked over the various faces in the courtyard as she stood, as well as some of the objects. A rather beaten up bus with flashing lights about a sports podcast, the panicking short girl with some sort of flower-shaped broach, some sort of tablet which seemed to be processing what people said to it... this was certainly a diverse group, like her own. From there, she zoned out, observing everything besides the interaction happening right in front of her.

Edited October 22, 2017 by Projeck

[Powder Miner]

Isobel Low

Sachi might not have been paying attention as she ran (evidently bubbling with all kinds of emotions) in Isobel's direction, but thankfully for perhaps the both of them, being a little dejected about what to do with herself didn't prevent Isobel from doing so. As Sachi barreled towards her, Isobel nimbly stepped out of the way, preventing herself from slammed into by the fleeing, evidently traumatized girl. Then she turned on her foot with the same motion and reached out, a hand brushing Sachi's shoulder and hopefully slowing the girl somewhat. Concern for the teenage girl dispelled Isobel's insecurities, for the moment; she'd talked at the troubled girl earlier, but seeing her like this even between battles did in fact make Isobel's heart bleed. 

 

"Hey," Isobel began, speaking at a moderate volume that hopefully wouldn't overwhelm the panicked girl, but that would hopefully serve when combined with the contact to at least be noticed, "What's wrong?" No point in asking if she was okay when she clearly wasn't, but Isobel figured that if she could get the girl talking it would slow her down and maybe let her start helping out. Isobel did want to help out, after all.

 

Perlita Diaz

"Uuuhh," Perlita first intelligently responded when Samantha talked about and demonstrated her powers, but after a few moments the most clearly adult woman in the group spoke, and that poked her attention back to actually speaking towards the group. First she actually did respond to Samantha with a "Uh... I guess that helping not get attacked is welcome from me, heh..." Perlita searched for another thing to say but didn't find it so she kind of just felt silent for a moment, her face reddening with embarrassment before she seized on answering the actual question, turning to the woman with the brown duster. "Umm... Liliya, you said, right? Yes, I'm a healer. Uh, the way I heal... I guess it's magic? I don't know if it technically counts? I'm not sure I should demonstrate right now because I don't know if it'll startle people, but basically..." Perlita fell silent for a moment or two midsentence and formulated how to explain, before she began to talk, looking upwards as she thought out her explanation.

 

"Okay, so, basically how this works, and it's the same for Gabriel too 'cause we're from the same place, is that we both have things called "Personas". Uh, it's a lot to explain, but basically they're, it seems, these representations of historical figures kind of representing some of our personality, but not, like sentient, just kind of extensions of us even though they look humanoid. And we bring them forth to use abilities and stuff. I have mostly healing abilities or spells or whatever they are. I can use Diarama to heal a single person for a bunch, Media to heal multiple people for less, but that takes a lot of energy out of me, I can use Patra to take care of, like... things like poison or concussions or burns. I also do have a couple of attack spells to use if I'm not busy healing, but they're not as good. Kouha slings a bolt of light, and Hama does this weird light thing where it really messes something up if it hits, which isn't super often.

 

Oh. Gosh. I'm really really rambling, now, though." Perlita wilted a little bit and turned a bit redder.

[Projeck]

Snow calmly walks off, stumbling upon the Barracks.

[Zetaark]

19 hours ago, Stalkerkain said:

Magna Sigyl

 

"Well naturally, Rizu! What else would I be using to see?" Magna fumed. If she had bodily functions, she was sure she'd be positively steaming by now! "If you so hadn't abruptly interrupted me, I would have been doing very important things! I was- was...." Magna stopped to pause mid-sentence. "...Eh, I forgot. It had something to do with something or some other, but I'm sure it'll be fine."

 

"You also mentioned you were repairing yourself? With what? Can you also shoot laser beams?" Magna asked excitedly.

Ritsu

"Forgetful and inattentive. I'm just glad none of my co-workers have that combination. Well, maybe that isn't entirely accurate," Ritsu muses, thinking back to her time at the mansion. "Also no, I do not shoot laser beams," she answers in a flat tone before seeing how crowded it is in the courtyard. 

 

"Seems like things are getting busy out here. At the unlikely risk of someone else tripping over me, I'll be relocating to the barracks," Ritsu tells Magna before warping to her destination.

 

Ritsu warps to the Barracks.

[UrbanSamurai]

Rampart

 

After LOTUS was finished with his latest explanation, Lucky took the lit cigarette out of his mouth and held it between his fingers with enough force that the wrapping paper began to crack and come apart. "Listen here Captain-o, I have to school you in how we do things up there in the Red, White and Blue. See, we don't give officers a hard time like that when they're gentlemannly enough to introduce themselves like we was doing. We treat each other with respect, and maybe that's the way you get your kicks, but we don't know you well enough to know if you're just ribbing us. You're making it sound like we're punks, and unless one of us has spilled your morning coffee or shagging your wife, you don't have the right to jab us like that. Are you some sort of big shot where you're from, a commander or something? Well I want to see your badge if you're going to pull rank. But you're not, because you're not even here. You're just sitting behind a desk somewhere so you can talk to us through this weird little radio. If you're going to insult the N.O.P.D., you're going to grow some balls and do it in person!" Lucky thrusts the lit cigarette about an inch away from LOTUS's screen. Before things can escalate, Press jumps in front of Lucky and shoves him away with a hand to the chest. 

 

"We're getting off on the wrong foot here, fellas. What my partner is trying to say is that we aren't going to necessarily understand each other at first, or how we do things. What's important is that we have the same goal in the end. We all have homes, families and friends that we want to get back to, and to do that we have to stop these Trespassers. We're going to give it everything to bring them down, and if we can agree on that then we're set like Chet."

 

Lucky tosses his ruined cigarette on the ground. "I don't care if these Trespassers are gangsters or gestapo. You can call them Dimension Eaters, Wife Beaters, Reef Dealers, whatever you please. They're crooks and damn scum in the end and they're getting the hook!"

 

"Lucky's right, we don't need to get caught up on the semantics and translation of everything, just so like as we have an organized system. On that note, do we have any established Commanding Officers in charge out here? Or is this more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants situation?" Press thinks for a moment and scribbles a few notes down. "Would it be possible to take a Servant alive for interrogation purposes and figure out what they're doing here and how they're related to the Trespassers? I'd also like to know why they choose to identify as old historical figures, although that's a secondary concern."

 

Lexiel's aura spewing flight catches the attention of Lucky, his mouth agape slightly as she passes overhead. "Look at that, the girl's turned herself into a goddamn crop duster! The fellas back in the Bayou won't believe this, huh Press?"

 

Magnum

 

Lexiel enters the BOOMTOWN EXPRESS to find that the interior has become more...thematic. In its normal state the bus does have a trophy here and a signed ball there, but now the inside looked like a representative from each team designated the party vehicle as the place to hold a goodwill orgy, and now she was standing in the aftermath of bacchanalia (lacking the copious amounts of organic fluid staining everything). Banners, flags and paraphernalia from every team filled the walls and each countertop was the home to a bobblehead or action figure of a specific player or mascot. The most prevalent of these team symbols appeared to be of the Oakland Raiders, signified by the signature black and silver colors and portrayals of Mad Max-esque vehicles and post-apockalyptic drivers wearing armor in a crossover style between "Steampunk Knight" and "Gimp Freak". Streamers and confetti coated everything as if a parade organizer had just gone postal in these walls. 

 

Magnum, for his part, was dressed slightly more casual in a vactioners's t-shirt and khaki short, but otherwise totally recognizable. He sat at a round table in the middle of the central area, tableclothed and surrounded by chairs. On the surface of the table was a set of microphones, a laptop, and a soundboard. Additionally there were bags of snacks, drinks, and even more miniature figures set up as if a tabletop war was about to commence.

 

When Magnum noticed Lexiel he beamed and waved her over hectically to the table. "Folks, you know I've worked for the mighty Oakland Raiders. I've worked for NFL Operations as an Intelligence Consultant, hell I've worked as an Earthern Ambassador for the Fourth War of Andromeda. And now I'm working for a group, a very special group, one that I'm not even sure what to call. But the thing is, we want to save the multiverse, or at least do our damn best. We've got folks big and small, nice and mean, old school and hyperfuture. They're magical, tragical, fanatical and radical, and some of the most interesting and hardworking folk I've gotten to meet. And right now, one of my pals has come to join me to talk to you. Give it up for..." Magnum checks something on the laptop, "Lexiel!" Magnum presses a soundboard button when she takes a seat, and it creates a mix of audience clapping and big band music, a typical entrance for a midnight talk show. "Why don't you introduce yourself, Lexiel, for all the good people at home? And do you want a pretzel?" Magnum shakes a half-empty industrial sized back of salted pretzels at Lexiel as enticingly as he can. 

[DragonRage]

"A healer!  Great!  We can always use more of those," Samantha grins at the other woman, "My powers can be hard on my body sometimes, and I don't think a lot of the people around here are as cautious as they probably should be.  But you sound like you're much better equipped than some of us.  ...I kind of just throw cosmic fire at problems until they stop being problems."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

"Thank you," Lexiel accepts a pretzel, and it vanishes into the same place everything else a being without any digestive system, internal organs, or indeed metabolism puts what they eat.  "I am Strike Captain Lexiel, of Overwatch, former Boros Sergeant, former Izzet Chemister, and one of what passes for commanding officers in this group.  Huh, I don't think we ever settled on a name.  Basically, I was a wizard, then I became a wizard cop, and I now serve with a peace-keeping organization dedicated to preserving freedom and innocent lives wherever we can reach.  Being 'in charge' around here is more about giving tactical advice than anything.  We don't have an established chain of command, and there's too many strong personalities for a traditional military approach to end anything but poorly.  That said, we got pretty pasted in our last fights.  Maybe people will be more interested in listening to a plan of attack now that they've come so close to defeat.  Not that I'm entirely blameless; I keep expecting lone wolves and big shot heroes, where they come from at least, to react like trained soldiers.  I'm not used to working with so many amateurs, and it shows.  I guess we all have something to learn, eh?

 

"So what do you bring to the team, Magnum?  In the interest of tactical cooperation, it's best to share.  I'm one of our best magical adepts, and to my knowledge the only one with a formal education on the subject.  To that end, I have a wide variety of spells to protect, enhance, and heal my allies.  I'm more focused on versatility than raw power, but I find having the right tools for the job is generally better than brute forcing things.  My specialty, however, is summoning.  I can create magical constructs to fight for me, follow my orders, and take hits for allies.  They aren't actually alive.  Even the self-aware ones are being remote controlled by one of my friends from somewhere safe, though those are still a work in progress.  I'm sure you can see the advantages to a large supply of expendable bodyguards.  I also have a powerful artifact called the Doomfist, but I shouldn't need it unless my entire team blocks a flash grenade with their faces.  Again."

[Powder Miner]

LOTUS

LOTUS couldn't resist one additional quip. "Threatening the tablet with a cigarette, that's a productive path if I ever saw one."

 

Perhaps thankfully for all involved, LOTUS mostly decides to hold off after that, sighing again and then speaking a little less blatantly insultingly. "Just to clarify, I'm not behind some desk somewhere, I literally am this little device. Alright, look. I'm going to answer your questions, first, but then I'm going to re-emphasize my point.

 

The command structure isn't a formal one, but we more or less seem to have an informal structure right now. We've had a few squad leaders. I'm one, though I'm not being carried by my usual holder right now, Edmond here is one." The display on LOTUS' screen turns into an arrow pointing in a 2D approximation of backwards to try to denote the man holding him, "Then we have Lexiel, that's the woman who just flew over us, and we have another woman named Ghost. We've each just handled a different fight, though I did most of the organization into teams. 

 

As for the Servants, whatever is corrupting them seems to make them pretty much impossible to take in alive, though if we don't instantly blow them to smithereens, from what I've been told there is a short window to ask questions. I'm not sure why they're bizarrely altered historical figures, but that's probably just a function of the magic that brought them here. They have the powers to supposedly match, too.

 

But here's the problem with just translating whatever I'm saying to whatever worldview you seem to have -- if you don't know what's going on, the basic outline of what the situation actually is, you're not going to be able to react accordingly. If you're operating off of the assumption that you're fighting gangs, when, say, a man suddenly starts firing these magical spear throws that pound everyone with energy, or when our healers start slinging their magic (or at least when Aurora does) you're not going to be able to respond precisely accordingly, and this presents a problem even if you don't intend to get involved with the tactics. If you do, well, you just can't be running off of incorrect assumptions. You see how that woman just flew over you? That's not even the most outlandish of her capabilities, let alone the group's. You need to get used to the fact that you're not in the "red, white, and blue", and things aren't necessarily going to be believable from your homeworlds perspective."

Edited October 23, 2017 by Powder Miner

[Strider]

Edmond:

"Yes, we did ask the last servant we encountered whether there was a way to break them from their enslavement without killing them. I don't think there's anything special we can do to interrogate them, unless you think you could do something by just shouting at them while you fight them." It hadn't worked for him, so he doubted they would have success. "What does the NO stand for in NOPD?"

 

Liliya:

"Don't be stupid. We're here to fight people, so anything we need to know about your powers is good." It really sounded like she was one of those types who always thought they were a nuisance to other people, questioning themselves way too much. Which could actually get annoying in it's own right, of course. "So, uh, who's your persona, I guess?"

[ElfCollaborator]

Sachi Honda

Sachi simply stares at Isobel, trying to calm herself down by breathing deeply and calmly.

 

This was the lady who'd pulled her out of that hallucination, that nightmare, in the fight. She was looking at her with concern (thankfully not pity; Sachi was vulnerable, but she would never, ever be pitied and she would never let anyone dare pity her).  She breathes deeply, trying to calm her nerves.

 

She stares up at Isobel. Her mind's eye flickered, placing Mio's visage over hers, just as it had placed her voice over Isobel's. The girl shook her head.

 

This wasn't the time to break down. No, she had to pick herself up. She had to.

"I.....I just need......I just need to calm down."

 

Gabriel Kowalski

Gabriel shrugs as he continues rubbing the back of his head casually and a little awkwardly.

"Can't say I'm nearly as useful as Perlita here; she's saved our bacon more times than we can count, even if she won't admit it. Me? I got one thing I'm good at; blowing things up. You need it nuked or set on fire? I can do that. Mostly."

Edited October 24, 2017 by ElfCollaborator

[Powder Miner]

Isobel Low

Isobel watched the younger girl stare at her, and though Sachi did eventually speak up, Isobel's face twisted into a grimace. Yeah, that stare did not seem like a good one, just judging from the length, the moment of unfocus, and Sachi's clear distress. Isobel took a hand and traced it up the edge of her own bandanna, thinking for a moment. Sachi probably did need to calm down, if the repeated attempts at deep breathing and the earlier almost-slamming-into-her were to tell, but Isobel didn't figure it was particularly likely to happen on its own at this rate. Maybe Sachi would end up dwelling on it without actually getting anything out of it, maybe Sachi would press whatever was panicking her (probably something about the battle) down for a bit and then just have it resurface later. 

 

Isobel couldn't claim to be a psychologist or a counselor or anything, but maybe she could help. After all, even if she was aware that it probably didn't seem like it, Isobel had had some experience with blood and gore and violence (and some pretty horrible instances of it, at that), and though she hadn't been the one to deal it out, Isobel had had a chance to collect herself when faced with that sort of thing. She put a hand on Sachi's shoulder again, a light but persistent contact that would hopefully keep the girl a little grounded. "The barracks might be good for that, I think. There are a lot of different rooms, and I could help you find somewhere to be undisturbed."

 

Perlita Diaz

Gabriel spoke, and Perlita... evidently found what he'd said literally groanworthy. Giving Gabriel yet another nudge with her elbow, she leaned in towards him and muttered at him, but juuust a little bit louder than she'd intended to -- still quieter than normal, but plenty audible if one of the others listened. "Oh Dios mio... Gabriel, we are not going to do this thing where we stumble over ourselves to say we're not as useful or the other or something, I swear. Also, yes I will admit it, just waaatch." That out of the way, Perlita turned towards the others. "Actually, we're just as important. Uh, I do a lot of the healing like I said, with my Persona Crawford (uh, as in Joan Crawford) and that keeps us up when the Shadows -- those are what we fought are called -- attack us, which they do, and then with his Persona Oppenheimer (that's Robert Oppenheimer) he either radiation blasts the Shadows or sets them on fire and then radiation blasts them, and he's really good if he gets the chance to work with some of our other (but they're not here) companion's attacks, like freezing or shocking." Perlita paused and appeared to be trying to think of something.

 

"Ummm, um... I guess I can list off his abilities too, if that's useful. Freila is his most powerful kind of attack, where he just hits one targets with a concentrated blast of nuke, then he has Mafrei where he hits a few with some nuke, and then he has Agilao where he hits something with a burst of fire. It's not as strong as Freila, but it does make them a bit less tough. Also, he has a tendency to kinda set things on fire when he hits them with any of these spells, and then that also makes Freila and Mafrei stronger. Yeah. Uh."