Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Empiricist]

Noriko
"Er yes, that's not a bad idea." She seems to almost flinch at the suggestion. Well, that's a fucking landmine right there.

So at this point Patricija is just poking Kouta, really really gently, and wihh the kind of caution and worry someone would regard a unexploded shell more than a person. "<Well, you said he wasn't Awakened so I wanted to make sure I wouldn't hurt him by accident... He won't catch anything from standing near me would he?>"

Well, given that Kouta is a reasonably healthy boy and not a malnourished sparrow with brittle bone disease it seems unlikely she'd just accidentally snap his spine like a twig. Plus he has been equipped with protective wards to avoid harm and illness, a real shame they only work off-realm though (apparently most realms are like Sanctuaries and rich in ambient spirit energy, Earth's just a fucking magical dustbowl apparently).

[Twinwolf]

Yuki received the text, and nearly said something about it out loud but remembered not to. She showed the text to Faith to tell her where she was going then went in the indicated direction.

[Empiricist]

Yuki
You know that girl with the two swords? The one talking to Shef? She moves over to you now as you turn to leave.
"<Miss Instructor, could we begin the exam now?>"

[Twinwolf]

Yuki looked at her for a few seconds without blinking. "<Wow, you're being way more polite about it than everyone else has been. The others just kinda attacked us out of nowhere. Are you like distracting me for an ambush or something?>"

She also texts Shef back about what's happening. Even though he probably sees it.

[Empiricist]

Yuki
"<Look I'll level with you here, I would love to ambush you, but your spanish-speaking friend over there is going to be filing a restraining order if I don't wrap this up quickly.>"

[Strider03]

Alright, good, they were adversaries. It would have been a little more concerning if they weren't, honestly.

With that in mind, Shef walks up back to join Yuki. He'd been staying apart in the case that things were less than what they'd seemed. For now though, he wouldn't say anything. Keep caching portals.

[Twinwolf]

"<Huh, ok then. You mind giving me a second to tell my sister that we're going to fight? I'm fairly sure she's not part of the exercise but I figure it's good to give her a heads up so she doesn't freak out and like, nuke you guys on instinct or something.>" Assuming an affirmative she turns to Faith and basically shouts, "Hey, Faith, I'm gonna be fighting these guys for a bit, you should probably stand back since you're not supposed to be in the fight I think so don't freak out and delete them!"

[Empiricist]

Faith, Shef, and Yuki
"<Of course.>"
The rest of her squad forms up behind her, that shadowy boy who bumped into you, that elven archer with the short tabard, and that well-dressed boy who was yammering on about llamas or something.
"<Actually, I'd like to up the stakes if your friend doesn't mind - if we win, he has to go deal with whatever the hell Sebastien wants. If we lose, Sebastien isn't allowed to chase him.>"
"<Hark! I have not agreed to these terms! The risk, the opportunity, to simply let it->"
That's probably the first time you've seen her smile, a sinister cynical sort of smile.
"<Oh, but think about the reward, and besides, what's a fight without some stakes? That's gotta be some kind of writing rule right?>"
He kinda just making this sort of strangled choking sound.
"<Relax, I'll crush them. >"
The archer draws an arrow from her empty quiver, firing it straight up. The velocity's nothing to scoff at.

[Strider03]

Well that was a terrifying prospect. The thing about it though was that Shef wasn't certain that the benefit was all that good, considering that he very well could file a restraining order if he really needed. There would be no significant benefit to him with these stakes, and a great deal to lose, if he honored them. However, the battle was somewhat inevitable, so he simply continued to prepare for it, checking the area around to get a feel for the path of the coming fight.

For now, he said nothing, drawing his weapon.

[Empiricist]

Shef
You've the sinking feeling the bet is less against you and more to restrain Sebastien more than anything. Anyway putting that aside let's go over the situation again shall we?

You're out on one of the larger platforms, back to a row of stores, cornered effectively, and you're staring down that swordswoman well within her lunging range. That shadowy boy brushed past Yuki earlier and passed it off as an accident, so he's probably set something up. He might've planted something on her. Or poisoned her. Or cursed her. A lot of possibilities really.That archer fired an arrow up just now too, it'd be naive to assume it isn't some kind of set up. A deployment? A deployed threat? Maybe a sort of aerial cache? All possible. Why's she so close anyway? Seems awfully near to stand for an archer. Well unless she's planning on going all Equilibrium of Wrestlemania on your ass with that shortbow of hers. Plus you dumped whatever the fuck that glowy thing was nearby. Probably a tracker given that you aren't dry retching or suffering the aftermath of an explosion right now. So Ignis knows where you and if he comes here, he'll find you. Assuming he hasn't already anyways. He can't interfere with the fight sure, but there's no rule stopping him from swooping in immediately afterwards. Faith's a potential asset in that case, but you've established that he doesn't have a "real" body. He caps you and gets nailed by a beam in turn and it's still his win.

Point is your current position is shit and you need to get the fuck away, the sooner the better. You got ten cached portals, those new expulser rounds, and Yuki. Oh and they still think you only speak Spanish. Should be doable.

[Twinwolf]

"<I'm sure that's fine!>" Yuki says cheerfully without noticing Shef's (lack of) consent. Then she got ready with her chainsaw-from-nowhere.

[Powder Miner]

Faith's response to seeing the lady draw something that seemed rather based on her was at first an outburst of enraged sputtering, but then a finger jabbed in Fiona's direction and a "<You had better NOT make anything based on me, do you understand??>" At that point, Faith whirled around, her teeth grit, and stomped over to watch whatever absurdity Shef and Yuki seemed to be up to. Really, though, this just meant that she was an extremely, extremely irritable-looking spectator, sitting down nearby with her arms crossed.

[Empiricist]

Faith
"<Of course! Not after what happened last time...>"

[Strider03]

This was an awful position. Good bait maybe, but a bad enough position that it might not be worth it. Thus Shef's first move would be to open a series of portals to strafe to the side, and hopefully open the distance.

[Empiricist]

Shef and Yuki
And so it begins.

Yuki, the Eclectic Summoner raises a gauntleted hand and on its back the crimson rune burns to life. A high pitched whine pierces the air and a ring of energy pulses outward.
"<O rider in white, sower of legends, reaper of futures, I beckon thee. Lay waste to the girl.>"
The outermost of the three sections burns away to naught and he pantomimes shooting you. Bright lights shine and rushing forth from him fingertips, appearing from wisps of blue is a fucking truck. Oh also, the Effervescent Archer next to him has summoned another arrow from her empty quiver and is now aiming it in the space between you and her, though she seems to be waiting for the right moment to loose the shot.

Shef, the Exasperated Adventuress' hand rushes to her side pulling a trigger as you exit the first portal. There's a bang, flash of flame, and the scent of gunsmoke. Her first blade, well, "blade", a rolled up newspaper with a sword's hilt comes rushing out of its scabbard aimed on an interception course with your throat. She holds her other sword at the ready, a massive brutal blade colored a chalk white.

Heh, nice try, but that won't work. No seriously, that won't work engineering wise.That scabbard of hers is nothing but a party trick. Look, you're not gonna rule out Awakened engineers making some godawful gun scabbard that fires swords hilt first at people, but if this was one the shot would've looked different, this, this is just pyrotechnics, whatever launched that sword at you wasn't the scabbard. That being said, probably wanna not get nailed by it in the throat either way.

Spoiler: World Lines (click to show/hide)

Shef
Status: Fine, 10 cached portals
World Line: 5 4 6 6 5 5 4 1 4 4
Alterations: 5
Resolve: 2

Yuki
Status: Fine, FULL AEGIS
World Line: 5 1 5 5 5 6 4 5 5 1
Alterations: 5
Resolve: 3

Exasperated Adventuress
Status: Fine
Details: Launching a newspaper sword at Shef

Effervescent Archer
Status: Fine
Details: Taking aim at the space between Yuki, her, and the Eclectic Summoner

Eccentric Novelist
Status: Fine
Details: Doing fuck all

Eclectic Summoner
Status: Fine, Unidentified Rune (2/3 uses)
Details: Summoning a truck to run Yuki over

Spoiler: Notes (click to show/hide)