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[Powder Miner]

Faith stared downwards evidently somewhat ashamedly at the look that Minato fixed her with, shuffling her feet a little. She really hated to think how everything else was going to go down if he reacted like this to what was really just the beginning of it. Oh well. There really wasn't much of a choice she had but to just barrel through it, she guessed... as was the case with most of her life in general recently.
"R-right, um... please don't go to Florida and start beating people up. Um... I guess maybe there's not much you can do except just... be there for me? Well... actually, in this case, yeah, you could help. Just... give me a little help if people start shoving sexual things in my face or making a big deal of my... you know. That sort of thing has been happening here sometimes and it'd be easier to deal with with a little help. Other than that though... we'll just have to be slow about some things."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"Of course. I'll be here if you need me."

[Empiricist]

Shef
Combat passes are generally tied to some kind of support system to gather data, presumably in your case it'll be your comms unit and the AI. As for the shops, well, judging by the images you find on social media, you're pretty sure you could get away with wearing just about anything. There should be some cosmetic salons and the like who could conjure up a wig or apply an illusion if need-be, though you note that the illusions will probably break during combat.

Participant lists are not published, so for people you're stuck looking at figures who might be in Kingshaven. You quickly rule out previous tournament competitors given that they probably have more pressing matters to attend to than some rando's training. Looking into the obvious you learn that the current headmaster of Kingshaven Military Academy is one Admiral Jaroslavas Ignatov. Given his place in overseeing the festival and all the resources at his disposal, it seems quite likely he'd be more than capable of organizing some sort of training exercise. There's also S. L. Hawking, Captain of the Guard, and their secretary Roksana Connolly who basically holds all the actual power behind the title on account of y'know, having all the communication and leadership skills that comes with not being just a conglomeration of blackholes and sea monsters sharing a trenchcoat.

Then, there's Princess Patricija Kovacs, descendent of Maximilian and Sigrun, and y'know, a princess. Naturally most of the information on her you can find just comes from gossip magazines, there's articles about her published, just this morning? You take a look and find yourself staring at a photo f her being literally swept off her feet by a mysterious blue haired girl in a dashing suit.

For a brief moment, you thought it might've been Noriko, but then you realize it couldn't be her - the girl was actually smiling. Y'know that thing Noriko never does, at least not genuinely? Oh wait nevermind Yuki's there too.

Uh... she didn't seduce the princess did she? A couple of angry suitors the could could probably handle, but if daddy dearest doesn't approve they could very well be up against all the king's horses and all the king's men, and well, put it this way, knowing the Awakened world you're not terribly convinced it will have the courtesy to stay a mere figure of speech if it come to that.

Noriko
The girl just looks over to Yuki sort of expectantly for about a long half second before speaking "<Could you translate again Yuki?>"

Princess Patricija Kovacs
Noriko's Date

Faith and Minato
Aight it's morning you're on the weird lotus-like mobile monastery. Minato, your training is apparently going to be in a chamber deep within the lotus, Faith, you'll be training outside on its petals.

[Strider03]

". . .Excuse me?" Shef stared at the photo, initially not comprehending it. But when it dawned on him, he let out a small confused chuckle. That was new, and it confirmed that the girls had been in Kingshaven for a few hours at least now. He quickly saved the to his phone, and then began to scan the photo for any information that might indicate time and location, and following that attempted to confirm any information gathered with the actual articles. Though, Shef knew quite well not to place any stock in them.

Shef wondered for a moment about sending the picture to anyone, he just felt deep down somewhere that he should share it. But Noriko and Yuki were out of the question until the mission was over, and Minato and Faith would be busy. He shook his head, flinging the thoughtless idea away. For now he had business. His next direction of investigation was, into the father of this princess. Any relevant local politics might be of use too.

Finally, he took to marking down potentially interesting locations on the map. Garrison, a place to make up some illusions, transportation methods that might prove relevant to a quick traversal of the city, or to the extraction, a few other locations that might catch his eye and a couple of restaurants and bars somewhat near any of the previously mentioned locations. Shef would of course, check any online information available about these locations.

[Empiricist]

Shef
The photo was taken at night, area was well-lit, not that it says much for a city of magic, still you have your doubts photographers and royalty would be in the same place if it were quiet. Hard to get any details from street itself - the shot is below, of Noriko crashing through a window, not a glass one mind you, it's some sort of force field or something, one she must've broken through to get out. Yuki is wearing some kinda armored dress and diving out after her, probably held aloft by Noriko's wind magic like that time in the mansion. Guess you could try looking for the building? Wait no, the article has info on the general address, you got the location down at least, eye witness reports on social media back that info, the time is apparently just past midnight.

As for the matters of the royal family, the current king of the Republic of Drakenvald is King Tadeas. He's not particularly prominent politically, the royal family serving a role similar to that of well, the British royal family. The fictitious one that is, the written by that panel of screenwriters, not y'know, the actual one. He's well-regarded in academic circles having taken it upon himself to promote and bankroll various scientific endeavors and makes it a personal principle to distance himself from politics as much as possible. The identity of his wife is, unknown? Apparently she doesn't like the spotlight or something. Well... at least he doesn't sound like he'd sic an army of breakdancing horses on Yuki and Noriko? At least, not unless he needs it for a research paper?

Politics-wise, Kingshaven is governed by a council. The head of this council is elected by popular vote and holds a level of executive power, but each remaining seat in the council is appointed by an administrative body representing the interests of one particular facet of the city. For instance, one chair is held by the military, another by the tourism association, another by civil maintenance, and so on. In essence the chairperson and their chosen advisors hold the balance of power in the city rather than direct power. The current chairperson is one Zemfira Cole.

Garrisons, there's well garrisons everywhere, it may not be a dedicated fortress city anymore but Kingshaven has a strong military presence. Transportation-wise, the rail system is probably your best bet, so you mark that down, there's no actual roads for cars or anything here, though apparently emergency services have aerial vehicles that can be used to swiftly navigate the city. You save the addresses of a few cosmetic salons with good illusion options.

[Strider03]

On a whim, before finishing, Shef checked the gossip websites for any further information regarding the princess. Specifically previous relationships, since websites like these would obviously be all over that.

In any case the information was good, and Shef was confident that he could collect any more that might be necessary in the field. He strolled over to the Lotus to await departure.

Really though, this was quite odd. The events that he could backdate to last night didn't appear to be part of the mission--they seemed to be having fun-- so what had actually happened?

[Empiricist]

Shef
Not much, just some will-they-or-won't-theys with a few friends of both sexes, which kinda just always wound down to "nope".

[Twinwolf]

Yuki groaned as she sat up and tried to think about what happened. She was a bit quicker to get up than Noriko, mostly due to being a morning person, but that didn't mean she liked getting up so quickly. Why didn't she remember anything? Those drinks had no alcohol, she'd been sure of it! As she blinked the sleep from her eyes and Noriko started asking stuff and then the lady said something in english...

"Huh? What... oh, oh ok. <Uh... Noriko asked what happened last night.>" Not exactly a precise translation, but she figured it would be helpful to ask?

[Empiricist]

Yuki
"<Oh.>" She sounds surprised, a bit concerned too, and a touch disappointed. "<I didn't know you two were that drunk. I went on a date with her, you were helping translate.>"

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Minato, with the events of last night still on his mind, just waits around for whoever should be training him inside the lotus.

[Empiricist]

Minato
The door is not a door, but a great mural inlaid in a roughly door-shaped indent, a lotus emblazoned upon it. As you approach it crumbles to sand. The wall behind it too crumbles into sand, a tunnel digging its way through the monastery for you, leading straight into your destination. It is now that you realize the entire building is a great sand mandala, forming and unforming, at times for a purpose, at others simply to remind you of the impermanence of al things. The path before you is uniform, sterile, a perfectly straight path illuminated by strips of arcane luminescence placed at perfectly regular intervals. Deeper and deeper you walk, from your position out on the petals to the depths of the interior. You walk out into the  massive cavernous chamber at the heart of the monastery, the air reminds you that of a hospital - cold, clean, and laden with a certain tension. The room is tall, really fucking fall, with large pillars rising all the way up to its top, space here must be distorted somehow, it wouldn't have fit otherwise. It's dichotomous too, monochrome, plunged into darkness except for the bright white of its very center, the center you find yourself walking into. Arrayed around you at the edges of this bright center are figures, crematic statues of sort with forms reminiscent of fencing outfits, though noticeably lacking in any armaments. They stand at attention, sightless gazes staring emptily forwards.

Striding out of the darkness from the other end of the chamber is a young boy dressed in light loose robes.
"It is an honor to meet you Minato Kumon."
Kumon, people normally don't use that name for social calls, they used it when they have an interest in your family, and its connections.

[Chevaleresse]

Noriko glanced between Yuki and the girl with her own increasingly concerned look. "We went on a. . . But I'm not. . ." Had she really gone on an actual date with this girl? What would people think? "Look, I'm sorry, I don't even know your name, much less why we would have. . . dated." She tried not to sound too harsh as she spoke; she wasn't really upset at the girl. "The last thing I remember is having a couple 'non-alcoholic' drinks with Yuki last night." The bluenette shot an accusatory look at the white-haired girl.

[Twinwolf]

"I swear, they weren't! I specifically asked if they had any alcohol in them!" Yuki said with a frown. "Maybe it was something else that I didn't think of? They said it was fine!" Then she turned and translated it back. "<I'm, uh, sorry... we had way too much to drink last night (after the people said there wasn't any alcohol in the drinks...). Noriko... really doesn't remember most of last night.>" Yuki said apologetically.

[Empiricist]

Noriko and Yuki
"<I don't there was.>"
Huh?
"<I mean I don't think there was? Alcohol doesn't work too well on a lot of people so we normally use something stronger. If anything, adding alcohol would dilute most drinks.>"

Faith
Minato heads off, so you figure you may as well be on your way too. You take the path out to the exterior, a railed stretch of sand forming before you to carry you onto the outer petal of the monastery, from here you can see the full expanse of the monastery, intricate murals and buttresses, archways and monuments rising and falling with each passing minute. The petals themselves grow and wither in turn, each layer expanding outwards and crumbling, their place taken by the next wave. Below you can see Kingshaven, the city stretching out from your docking point, the streets busier than you remember with bustling crowds weaving amidst lights and stalls, an opulent festival filled with color and activity, magic and gunfire. Oh yeah, the gunfire. Yeah uh, it's probably good you're fairly high up because there's gunfire, spellfire too. The clash of swords, the crash of explosions, random people in all sorts of attire duking it out to the delight of the crowd, people diving out of windows or having running gun battles along the rooftops.

Above this whole mess you stand, upon a cloud-like expanse of luxurious white sand, what appears to be the technomagical equivalent of a volleyball net set at its center. The twins are there too. Great.

A bullseye forms on the side of the monastery.

"For safety reasons, all of us will need to limit our output; please shoot the target with a beam and lower your output until it remains intact."

[Powder Miner]

Faith stared at the bullseye on the wall (the weird sand-shifting wall), and then at the twins.
"Um... I wonder if maybe you're underestimating..."
She winced at the idea of starting out with a full-power beam -- maybe it would pierce through and blast somebody with a beam and that would... well... be really really bad! It... kind of risked killing somebody! That... that... Faith was going to avoid that!

"Um," she considered, "Maybe instead I should do this." She started off with her beam as low power as she could get it, and then ramped it up slowly from there, stopping and toning it back down again when it finally managed to break the wall.