Chevaleresse

Lucine turned to look back towards the new arrival. The monster looked and sounded a bit familiar. . . "Hey! You tazed me!" She looked back to Asgore, pointing back towards the individual in question. "She tazed me earlier."

Well, he had been correct. Despite knowing that this was the monster that had collected six human souls thus far, the idea that he was willingly marching to his death was a depressing one. "I. . . Are you sure? I really think we can find a way to solve all this without anyone dying. And I don't think any of the people with us would want to kill you if they got to know you." She privately wondered if a few of them wouldn't let Asgore get that far; Rachel seemed to be very. . . enthusiastic, and Nader had been acting strange. Stranger than usual. "There's a power I have. I can't, like, make souls or anything, but I can summon something that's kind of like one." The homunculus glanced down as she considered the nature of the things she called. They weren't even really proper Class Cards, though they shared many traits and did still contain a sliver of the essence of the original Servant container. "They're copies of copies of copies, but the originals are really powerful."

throw an axe at the bowaton

Lucine looked down for a moment. "I've heard a lot of things that made me sad lately. One more thing won't kill me." And unlike the other things she'd been told, she might actually be able to do something about this one.

"It is natural for a youkai to destroy a place of refuge." Mitsurugi nearly flinched at the memory of what she'd done to the temple earlier. Please, forgive me, or forget that I was even present. "We should continue moving. This place must be restored at once." There was nothing to do but continue forward. Fate had led her along a path of many trials and cruelties; it seemed that she was due for more. She only hoped that if the corruption that seemed to be creeping forth once more overtook her, that her teammates would have the heart to destroy her before she did any further harm.

The homunculus glanced between the two monsters as they walked in different directions. She hesitated in place for a moment before taking a few hurried steps to catch up to Asgore once more. She opens her mouth to speak, then closes it after a moment, realizing she hadn't actually thought of what to say. What did she say? Was she just supposed to. . . ask whether he was going to eat her friends? It didn't seem likely, but this entire place was strange. In many ways, stranger than either of the previous worlds she'd been to. "So, um, when you asked her to escort them, did you mean. . . ?" The end of the sentence was obvious. Was he actually going to just talk to them, or was it so that he could take a soul for himself?

"I think those chains might still be cursed, but I, er, I really don't want to go near them." She eyed the hatch suspiciously as well. The odds of it being another ambush were low. . . but she was still very riled up, and Heidrun didn't want to risk anything making her feel threatened at the moment. Or, at least, more threatened than she already did, what with the whole "standing in the middle of an old organ harvesting operation after being attacked by a Lifestream-eating monster" thing. "Navin, I hate to ask, but could you, um, check the hatch again? I'll be here to help if something goes wrong, but, um. . ." Her voice wavered, removing the need to complete the sentence.

Lucine blinked. Asgore? As in, the guy who was planning on absorbing all those human souls? But he seemed so. . . nice. "Umm, all that stuff about taking the souls of humans. . . i-is that really what you want to do?" She glanced between Undyne and Asgore, nervousness painted clearly across her face. She pulled at the neck of her hoodie as she tried to figure out where to go next. Would they hurt her if she said she was with them? "I-I mean, I heard you yelling earlier, you said you thought humans were cool. And I think I could maybe work out something that might act like a soul but wouldn't actually need to, um, come from anyone."

Shoot the Plague Marine for 3d10+DEX, then use Akimo to hit him with a Throwing Knife for 1d4+DEX with a 25% crit chance.

"Of course. I mean, technically you still shouldn't be in the netherworld, but with Lady Yuyuko and Lady Yukari both inviting you in, I don't think anyone will bother you. It'll be nice to talk to someone who knows this kind of stuff." Youmu paused to bite off a surprisingly large chunk of a rice ball while her ghost half made as if it were nibbling at it as well. "There's plenty of people in Gensokyo that will fight you for fun, but not that many people who know how to keep a flower garden. Well, except for Yuuka, but she's. . . well, I don't really recommend that you go and find her. And be polite if you do run into her. She's got a very distinctive air to her." "Yes, that should be fine. I do expect regular tribute, though." "She means snacks." Yuyuko nodded. "Whatever. I'm used to it at this point." Reimu continued to pick at her food, the sullen expression on her face remaining as if carved in stone. "At least you actually thought about it." Yukari gave the miko another concerned glance, but she had other things to deal with at the moment. The gap youkai stood up, then motioned as if she were pulling back a curtain, except the curtain in this case seemed to be the fabric of reality itself. Beyond was a space not unlike the one they'd first arrived in, full of swirling darkness and eyes that seemed to watch everything. This gap was tall and wide enough to be a doorway. "If you'll allow me to show you to the third of your rewards. Your second, of course, has been entry into the contract for residents. As long as you stay within the rules, no youkai shall be permitted to eat the humans among you. We can continue to speak once we're there."

Brave? Was she really? Lucine didn't feel particularly brave. Mostly, she was just scared of not being able to see people that had been nice to her again. Not that nobody had been nice back home, but there was always a layer of separation that didn't exist here. "I- Um, okay. Thank you," she said, as she followed the monster that towered over her head. "My friends, they're, uhh, a little weird, though. So, um, expect the unexpected?" She wasn't sure if she should actually tell him they were human. This place seemed like it could turn at any moment. After all, there was that museum, or whatever it had been. Very innocuous, until the bit about killing humans and taking their souls.

"I've studied Water Breathing before, but it's not as literal as it sounds." She shrugged slightly. "I can keep watch here." Knowing her luck, there were more eager bloodsucking creatures waiting in the lake, and while she wasn't a terrible swimmer, she didn't relish the thought of aquatic combat. Relish. I don't think I've had it before. I wonder if I'll have any chances to try Western food during all this Trespasser hunting. The swordswoman found herself a rock to perch on, in lieu of actually sitting down.

Lucine takes the hand and pulls herself up, momentarily dazed. "Um, thank you, sorry for that." The question clicked in her head, reminding her of what she had actually been doing. "Um, I-I'm a homunculus, and if you don't really know what that is I can't really explain it to you. But, uhh, I'm trying to find someone that will listen to me." She glanced around, trying to decide exactly how much she was going to explain at once, when something else that the large monster had said fully processed. "You mentioned Undyne? She wouldn't listen to me, and now she's chasing my friends, and I just. . . Everyone needs to stop fighting, because I think I can help work everything out without anyone getting hurt!" She stopped to catch her breath; she still had more to explain, but needed oxygen in her lungs to do it, and she'd never been the most athletic child. . .

". . . You know, I think I agree with what you said earlier. Exploding is useful." She was quite aware that Hikari had been nettling her during the experiments with the mask, but she'd given it some thought during the height. Mostly to avoid thinking about how she was currently wishing she'd trained in Flame Breathing instead of dabbling in Thunder and Water. Tsubasa peered across the gap, eyeing the bridge dubiously. She didn't particularly fancy her odds of managing a leap across with this level of wind, and the "bridge" was. . . dubious. "Don't think it helps here, though."

"But I just wanted to. . ." Lucine reached out towards Undyne slightly as if it would somehow stop the guard captain from chasing after Jun and the others, before letting it drop to her side with a defeated expression. "I just wanna help, or. . . something. I don't know." Her voice dropped a bit further. "I don't even know if I want to go home." "Why would you need to go home? You can always just keep lying to all the people in this group." Opal, seeing that she wasn't needed, had evidently decided to kick Lucine while she was down. "I didn't lie to Tim. Or Law. Or Vitor." "Well, I'm sure that's going to help Jun when that monster gets to him." Lucine started, then looked in the direction Undyne had gone. She shook her head, then started to run back towards the lab. It was a long shot, but maybe. . . ?

Heidrun shied away from the spray of oddly colored gore that burst forth from the. . . thing. . . they had encountered in the warehouse. She shakily dispelled the energy that bound them all together, causing the strange echoed sensations to come to a halt. The healer swallowed nervously and tried not to let her eyes wander back to the horrible creature (or what remained of it.) "That woman. . . is she. . .?" This place got worse by the second. She had thought a corporate ruled hellscape was bad, now there were corpse creatures that fed on life energy? Would she have to watch for more of them? Heidrun shivered.

Lucine took another deep breath. She was a little calmer now, but unfortunately hadn't planned this out nearly as well as she could. "I'm, um. . ." She sighed. "It probably sounds super crazy, but none of us are from this world at all. We're here to help get ready for these -" she carefully avoided the term "monster" given her current conversational partner and the terms they used "- things, that go around eating worlds and stuff. I promise I'm not making this up. So we're trying to make things better for everyone. I know some stuff about making magic devices, and the Cards I use are sort of like copies of human souls, so I think I could maybe help with the barrier thing. Nobody has to get hurt over it."

Lucine glanced nervously between the direction she came from and the spear in front of her. "I, um. . ." She forced her dull red gaze up back towards Undyne. "I'm not l-lying. I wish I was." Her hand crept through the air towards the spear in front of her, though she still stopped short of actually grabbing it. "I-I really don't want to fight, but I'll do it if I have to. I'm sorry for sneaking around and scaring that person, but I don't want my friends to get hurt."

The girl instinctively recoiled from the thrown spear with an involuntary squeak. "U-um, we don't need to fight! I think we, uhh, can work something out." She took a slight step back, hands twitching towards Opal but not quite grabbing her yet. "A-And you don't want to fight me anyway, because, umm, w-well. . ." She took a deep breath, trying to conquer the various sources of fear and anxiety swirling about in her mind. "I'm not human."

Lucine glanced between Jun and the point in the distance where the ominous clanking came from. She wasn't even sure if Ignia got away, though the fact that the guard was coming after them seemed to indicate that she had either done so, or the worst had happened. "W-well, I'm not going to leave without trying again. I think I can talk to her, but you can't be around." Her voice shook with nervousness. "I'm going back. I w-want to help and I think I can figure something out." She nodded once, more to reassure herself than anything else, then took a deep breath and headed back towards Undyne.

Lucine squeaked in startlement as she was unceremoniously lifted and carried off in a less-than-comfortable carry. "H-hey, we can't just leave her behind!" She flailed uselessly a bit; this loosened her grip enough that Opal was able to free herself, clicking back together and following along through the air. "Of course we can. What did you think you were going to do?" "I was gonna help fight! Or convince her to stop, or something. I don't know, but I was going to be more useful than you." "You're only useful with me around. Doesn't that make you the useless one?" ". . . Why are you so mean?" Lucine seemed legitimately upset. It wasn't clear whether Opal was actually regretting her words, or had simply gotten the reaction she wanted, but the device fell silent once more.

"There is always room in Gensokyo for more gods, even if most are more of a headache than they're worth." Yukari let a flash of exhaustion through her numerous masks, though she went back to her mysterious persona just as quickly. "You should know as well as I do that things from outside the world itself are another matter entirely. Those sorts of problems require more than simple debate or payments of coin to resolve. But, with your acceptance. . . I believe it can be arranged." Another gap appeared behind Yukari as she fell backwards into it, dropping into her original lounging position as if no discussion happened at all. When Masako looked down at her plate, she would find that a fair portion had ended up in various places, including the dishes of Youmu (who seemed bemused,) Yuyuko (who seemed amused,) and Reimu herself (who appeared to be quite done with the shenanigans surrounding her serving.) "Once you've all finished your meal and thanked our lovely host, I do have some gifts for the rest of you. It was a fine show, after all; sometimes amateurish gracelessness is more intriguing to watch than a duel of masters." Youmu shrugged at IP. "I understand. I was really worried at the time and I shouldn't have been that aggressive." The swordswoman looked thoughtful for a moment. "There's not really that much to apologize for, but I suppose if you really wanted to, you could help out in the garden sometime. You would think there wouldn't be that many weeds in the Netherworld, but. . ."

"Pud?" Justine shook her head. "I'm almost past the point of being angry. To think to use that man as your example, you must be even more pathetic and depraved than I thought." The minstrel gestured at the four women. "I know not what poisoned words he has whispered into your ears, but I have less than no quarrel with you. Please, I beg of you, step away from that man." She brought her sword up before her face. "For the sake of all those who were less fortunate than me. . ." She swept the sword down and to her side, the tip whistling audibly as it moved through the air. ". . . King Darcy, your depravity will meet its end here, one way or another."

"Saigai Mitsurugi. . ." Yukari concealed it well, but there was a definite hint of a question in there. She rotated in midair until she could drop into a standing position, facing Masako directly. "You know that playing this game is not safe." The youkai's voice took a far more serious-sounding turn. "Even I cannot say what might happen if one introduced a foreign god to a world. The boundaries between existences can be fickle and far less distinct than one would assume at first glance. Are you prepared to accept the responsibility of such a choice? Damage can be repaired. . . but it always comes at a cost, and you would be the one to pay first."

"Keep talking like that and you'll have more than the demons to worry about!" Korinna angrily swung her axe at another skeleton, still incensed by the first. Whack Bowaton D