Powder Miner

Perlita had cringed a bit upon being teleported in -- this place was honestly a bit of a disaster. Reminded her of Mexico City in a couple of ways, too, now that she thought about it, even though she'd only been there a couple of times. A disastrously ruined building, pollution in the air, that awful burning plastic smell... even if two out of three of those were almost certainly just the result of this "Brave" and the evidently robotic minions that he was using, it was still pretty unpleasant all in all. Of course... the entire massive huge swarm of robots that was coming towards them didn't honestly do a lot to boost her confidence for other reasons, and Perlita let out an "Eep!" quietly. She wished she had the stereotypical healer's staff, at the moment -- she could clutch it, that way. Still, though... if she just stood around and hung back it would turn out very badly for her and (remembering what had happened to 6D) probably everybody else too. She let out a sigh, and then looked at the robots. In this moment right now, where all the combatants were coming together and nobody was hurt yet... Perlita was going to use a Hama, going to let out her best burst of light magic to do as much damage as she could manage. She figured, too, that she wasn't exactly going to be getting a lot of chances to sling these around willy-nilly: this was a lot of robots, and Perlita suspected that she was going to be kept busy healing from here on out. So... Perlita figured that she would do her best to make this one count -- she'd choose one of those purple orbs for a target, since they looked back-line and probably relatively fragile, and there were only four. "CRAWFORD, HAMA!" An orb of light coalesced around one of them, and glowed brighter and brighter as its magic went into play, to see if it would successfully go off and collapse down to hit the robot with a focused blast or not... Perlita uses Hama on Item Jammer no. 27, dealing 1d4+SYN (12) damage with a 30% chance of doing twice that instead!

Once the hanging corpse resolved in his vision, Navin's expression immediately hardened into one of steel, unflinching and unmoving. Death and blood had been constant companions for a decade now -- to be a superhero was not always a job of shining white glamour, and when you fought evil, you had to deal with both the consequences of fighting and the consequences of evil. Navin had discovered across many fights, many crime scenes, many hideouts... and in war. He was not going to back down, not by a long-shot, no matter what he might find down below that hatch, no matter what he might find in this warehouse, no matter if this was even the bioweapon after all. The only flickers in his facial expression now, were a quiet sigh at Heidrun's words and then a steely glare at Solomon's. "The police may investigate this, as you put it they may not -- but are we simply to turn and run, and to drop danger onto their heads and pretend we never saw this place? No. We will not. There is something that has happened here, and it needs to be uncovered, and it needs to be stopped. I am a superhero, and we are all those who fight to protect the multiverse; we are defenders, all of us. It is our duty to do this." Navin began to walk towards the hatch, ignoring the familiar stench as he spoke. "Even if there is only death and despair there, there must be people who are willing to face up to it. It is the creed of the International Union of Heroes, and one which most of us abide by: we fight when others can not, we fight where others can not, and we fight what others can not. We step into these dangers ourselves because it is the right thing to do, and we are those best suited to do it. That is what it is to be a superhero, at its core. It is also my dharma, my duty, my destiny -- the path I walk, even aware of the costs I may pay, because I must, because I will. I am a faithful primarily of the aspects of Vishnu -- a god who acts as the preserver of the universe in my universe. As a faithful of God, I cannot turn my back on its cause and the destiny I have been provided." Navin got his hands on the handle of the hatch, now. "And finally, we are all here as those playing his role for other universes -- if we were not here to protect and to defend, we would not be here at all. This role has been placed on us, but it is a worthy role, and it is one that must be taken on and pursued to its fullest extent. To cower the moment we come upon horror would be to turn from that. Heidrun, I thank you for your participation in this. Solomon, I will not force you to come with us -- you can stay, if you would like, but your participation would be appreciated as well. But as a superhero, as my dharma, as a faithful of God, and as are we all, a defender of the multiverse, I will continue." Navin opened the hatch -- and if it was locked, he poured all of his muscle into it in an attempt to open it anyway.

Now that LOTUS was actually playing out her part in the plan, she found that she had some sudden second thoughts that she hadn't previously considered about the whole thing. For example, "--aaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa--" was a really big one that she just found herself coming back to until she abruptly made contact with the loam, at which point the thought on her mind was primarily "Hrgh!" After a long moment, the tiny fairy, feeling frankly a little abused, pulled her head out of the loam, squinting out as she adjusted to this new sensation called "being fucking yeeted into the god damned ground", until the blurs around her resolved into sky, terrain, and a pink-haired blue-clothed spooky woman. Well, this was her, then. LOTUS gave the twine a couple of sharp, firm tugs (or, well, they were sharp and firm to her but she was very small and not very strong so they were kind of just small fairy tugs) to the twine, and then waited. "...well, now I just get to hope it doesn't get screwed up, huh?"

Crash stared out as Sting picked up the rather unfortunate bee girl, her eyes narrowing. "Ah, fuck." Next was a long sigh, and then Crash trotted out to jog after Sting. "Sting, put the bee down! Sting-- oh, for the hunters' sake, let the poor girl go!" Meanwhile, the ants and the other bee... "Yeah, no, nevermind, I think he's just waiting for us to say something." "I have to establish strength, Unbending." "...sure, Bright, whatever you say. Hey, bee, hold up for a few minutes and we'll finish the briefing and send you off."

Isobel just sent a glare Masako's way, not terribly impressed with having had her glove... souped up, no matter what justification the tengu provided. As for LOTUS, she crossed her arms but adopted an expression of focus as she began to get engaged in Masako's plan. "Not quickly. If that's something your plan is relying on, you're going to have to adjust it. Not only am I still adjusting to this form and frankly barely capable of flying, therefore slow in that, but as I'm very small, any walking or running I am going to do is going to be very, very slow. However, if your plan works in spite of this, I am willing to listen to the task you would have me perform."

Isobel watched with an increasingly blank expression as Masako tipped over the container onto her glove... a flow of fucking soup soaking her glove and leaving sad little piece of noodle on the top. She blinked, frozen with shock for another moment, feeling the uncomfortable warmth of her wet glove around her hand, and then she turned her head towards Masako. It was then that she provided her answer to Masako's riddle. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" she sputtered at the tengu, seeming to be unable to decide whether her voice should be deadpan or outraged. "Why?" LOTUS steadfastly ignored Rory (biting back an insult but saving it for potential further use) and then crossed her arms looking at Masako. "Alright, so you're likely intending to bait her with food, but I have a followup question to that -- once you do, what is the plan exactly? I have to assume it's some sort of trap set up, in order to avoid being seen and killed by her, but I'm going to want to know exactly what the plan is for this trap, and what the plan is once it actually triggers, since that may not be a guarantee that she will be sufficiently prevented from using her abilities, unless you have a particularly clever trap thought up."

Coyote Crash just watched Sting with a bemused expression as she burst into her typical storm of excitement and chaos. "Goodness, Sting, show a little mercy to these poor people, will you? I can't imagine that they can keep up with you." Meanwhile... "That bee is just... staring at me, Unbending." "Don't break eye contact with him. That's how they take your respect from you." "Pfah, what do you take me for, red, a weakling?" The two ants stared silently back at Pinecone.

Satomi found herself lashed by a wave of chains, and each one seemed to slam into her calves, her hips, her forearms, places that weren't covered by her armor -- no matter how tough it was, it wouldn't help her then. But the saving grace was the shield she was packing -- she raised it, and it was only after whipping around after an initial impact that drained strength from the chains that she was repeatedly hit after that. Still she was hurt... but that had never stopped her before and it wouldn't stop her now. Holding the shield to the side with her upper arm and straps, she sheathed her sword and fell into a stance of Void... and then she whipped it out in a single lightning movement at the large, wounded skeleton! Satomi busts out an Iaijutsu Strike on the Slasher, doing 2d6+3 damage with first strike!

As the large mantis spoke down to Bend, an imposing presence with his face nearly entirely covered in that visor and with what could be succinctly be described as a big-ass bird, the black ant's expression actually changed, from nervousness and fear to a distinct flash of hot frustration, but a flash of frustration that the ant clearly wasn't going to openly express, gritting his teeth and then forcing his face into a calm expression. "I do have some experience." His hand swept down to where a sword would be were one on his hip, whiffed through the air, and his expression changed to one of frustration again. He couldn't keep it fully out of his voice the second time. "But-- ah, whatever." As for the councilors, the old red ant crossed his arms as Ebon spoke, leaning on his cane with an elbow, while the armored black ant frowned, and the mosquito band leader raised an eyebrow. Once he'd finished his piece, the last of these spoke. "Well now, I think you're being just a little harsh, Mr. Mercenary. Lets see, you're what..." She appraised him, looking him up and down thoughtfully. "Domain? Yes, I definitely get a Domain look off of you. The Redoubt's about what you'd see down there I think, maybe a little less locked down. So in other words, it's not exactly the plains down in Wasp Hell down there. Not to say that there's nothing, though." There was a short, clipped sigh, the old Council member regarding the other older man there with an expression quite unimpressed at the mercenary's theatrics. "It's true that we cannot totally guarantee your safety on the journey. There are still some bandits, and especially foolhardy Marauders still come up between hives every now and again. There can also be animals to contend with. You'll want to be very careful about the latter, but the former will at least be in pretty small groups --larger ones always get caught-- and probably won't be the cream of the crop. You'll want to keep on your guard, but we also aren't exactly sending you to war here."

Isobel grimaced a little as Masako asked her to hold out her hand, with absolutely no indication as to what she would be getting her hand on. It could be something entirely disgusting, for all she knew... but at least in that particular case, she WAS wearing her gloves. She guessed that made her uniquely suited to holding whatever craziness Masako plopped right onto her hand. "I... have been wondering, yes. I am pretty invested in, uh, not dying on the spot." With a shrug, she extended her hand towards Masako.

LOTUS let out a sigh -- and even in her fairy voice, at this sound there were little crackles of electronic modulation, a remnant of her artificial-intelligence origins, and perhaps now her soul. (It did raise the question: what the hell was going to happen with that after all this?) "Masako, trying to understand just what goes on in your mind is an ever-complicating enigma. But suppose that even for those of us who could catch up to some degree, the details may escape them if you don't bother explaining. And consider that we're dealing with life and death here -- this is no time to be holding out this kind of information. But perhaps you ought to just rely on me to facilitate this plan when it gets into action: that's what I do, after all. But you're just going to have people wandering blindly around if you just leave them totally in the dark. If that comes to pass... are you willing to accept responsibility for the consequences, Masako?"

Lizaveta clearly hadn't expected Shin to ask her the same question, and she paused for a moment as her grandiose speech sort of came to a screeching halt. Still, though, it didn't take all that long for Lizaveta to pick up just enough steam to give him an answer. "I did, Shin. I did find something to live for. I told you the truth... I really was the same way for a long time, and... I... admittedly don't like to dwell on it. But I found my think, and now I really am going forwards, I'm running forward, and now I'm here in Virtuous and I'm going to topple the evil people of the world, Shin. So... the grey sea is gone for me, now."

Lizaveta's eyebrows raised rapidly after Shin made that promise, pulling himself together in a surprisingly rapid amount of time. She hadn't expected that to happen quite so fast, though she of course couldn't say that it was any sort of bad thing that she had. So, she nodded resolutely, centered a little herself by the gravity and initiative of Shin's response. She gently put her hands on the sides of his head, staring at him intently, as if to bore the somber triumph she was feeling into him purely by the power of her gaze. Her being was filled with an intensity in this moment, something pure that electrified her and turned her into an undeniable presence that could not be ignored. Maybe this was the spark behind her Charisma on the battlefield, but instead of a mere energy of triumph, as it was now it was like a blinding corona, that couldn't be seen, but could be felt, pure intent and confident belief welling up to give each one of her words a sincerity and purpose that may --or may not-- have eclipsed how suddenly she had moved to pouring this tidal wave of intensity onto Shin. "Good! Remember that promise, Shin. Really remember it. Let it stick in your head so that it's always there when you're tired and sad. Let it drive you. It... might take you a while to find something to really live for, something to make yourself run with, not just walk. That's not something I can just... drill into you. But remember that you promised to not let yourself die -- that can be your final line to lean back on, when things seem direst. For now, walk, or even crawl, instead of just lying down and waiting."

If Shin couldn't find it in him to do anything other than apologize... well, she knew she was right, then. There was no need to belabor that question further. "Shin, please, it's okay, don't worry abou..." Lizaveta trailed off, and then remained silent for a long moment. She let out a long sigh, and her face slowly set as her thoughts came together. "Actually... Shin... there's one thing that isn't okay. It's okay to feel like you do, because I understand that it -- it seems like it will never leave you. But... what you did wasn't okay. That wasn't okay, it wasn't okay at all. To... just... DO that to yourself. Shin... that's the one thing I won't accept. It... it just... it just spreads that grey cloud elsewhere, is all it does. It's not your fault that you're-- that you're drowning in the grey, but I won't accept you getting yourself killed, Shin. That was..." Lizaveta shook her head. "Maybe... maybe it doesn't have to happen quite right now, Shin, but I want you to promise that you'll never do that again. Everything else is okay. I don't hate you. I don't think anyone does except for that piece of shit who hates everyone he isn't sucking up to. I really don't hate you at all. But that thing wasn't okay."

One of the members of the group -- the remarkably dinged up black ant, stepped back a little at the remarkably intimidating little spiel that came from the man with the, errrrh, rather large bird. He gaped for a decently-sized moment, before finally clearing his throat to respond to the roll call. "E-er, Recruit Bend, reporting in! From... um, from Fort Vigilant, sirs." After a long pause, he turned to the Ebon Knight. "And, uhhhh... I'm... not sure... there's really any need to worry about us... "getting in your way"?"

Satomi's face pulled into a grimace as her volley of bolts merely grazed the skeletal structure of her foe with very little discernible effect; that was a trump card pretty much wasted, and she really wasn't terribly confident that her katana would do much better against the creature's bones -- she also didn't relish the thought of throwing herself face-first into the spinning one; it was a whirl of weaponry that would make even one of those Dragon Bushi proud. Still, she certainly wasn't going to stand around and do nothing, and she put her shield up as she advanced in the direction of the skeleton that she'd had such trouble with, moving with stance of Fire as she at least made the attempt to slash at the skeleton. Now would be the time to see if she even could effectively harm the thing with her sword. (She barely resisted letting out a kiai, looking up at the sleeping creature.) Satomi uses her Katana on the Slasher, dealing 2d6+STR (3) damage to the Slasher!

Fire Emblem on Forums: Tiny Steps Prologue: Redoubtful Beginnings Redoubt, Scholars' Redoubt As one of the two capitals of the Scholars' Redoubt (itself one of the very few regions of the known world bustling and organized enough to even have those), even in normal circumstances the area outside of the Redoubt is a flurry of activity, with various traders and civilians going around their business in what is a fairly lively city despite its military purpose, not to mention the soldiers and messengers flitting around in order to carry out and communicate their leaders' wills whenever said leaders are at a meeting of the Council of Leaders that lies within the walls of this former human house. Were one to be inside that house, they would find in the lower floor scores of little structures along the floors of most of the house's rooms, as well as holes and ladders in the walls, or converted spaces in the furniture -- the varied and ad-hoc kinds of spaces for bug habitation that mark any bug city, a residential mess where a rather staggering amount of bugs inhabit a space designed for beings far, far larger than them. Going to the upper floor through the ramps and climbs carved painstakingly into what humans had used as stairs, one finds the commercial rooms and workman's rooms, where scattered across the space in a better-organized but still somewhat dizzying manner are shops and artisans' workspaces, a constant noise of many bugs talking and creating and living a taken-for-granted companion in every room except for, here at the Redoubt, one: what had been a place where humans had once hung their garments, lanterns on the walls, seats arranged in the center of the space, various guards standing around the rest of the room at most times. This was the Council of Leaders itself, the place where the mightiest and most important military and commercial leaders of the Scholars' Redoubt met in order to discuss the relationships between their cities, towns, companies, and bands, to discuss the outside world, and to organize their collective obligations. This was where much of the process of organizing the delegations that were being sent to the Scholars' Redoubt had taken place, with bugs grouped up and sent out mostly north to the Scholars' University. But the Council of Leaders had become pretty sick of all of this happening in their chamber, so that's not where the bugs of the last delegations to be sent out were. No, these last delegations were outside, on the paved path from the house out to the small (if only relatively, considering bugs' size) human street that connected many of the ant cities of the Scholars' Redoubt, with various bugs out in the grass and along that pavement. One group was on the path itself, currently, containing no fewer than nine bugs. Six of these bugs were various foreigners and low-level bugs of the Scholars' Redoubt, mostly formed into a group facing across from the three other bugs, all high-ranking officials of the Scholars' Redoubt -- movers and shakers in the region, but right now merely three of the few leaders of the Council who cared enough (each for their own reasons) to personally oversee the efforts to get the delegations going. One of these was a purple-haired woman with a large proboscis sticking notably and rather awkwardly right out of her face, terminating below it where it met with her cheekbone. She was dressed in red and grey clothing, loose and rich-looking, but still quite easy to move in. This was Coyote Crash, leader of one of one of the more powerful mosquito bands of the Scholars' Redoubt, the Roadside Band -- her graceful looks belied an unyielding strength that had allowed her to accept the charge of a much, much larger animal during her youth. She was the most recent arrival among the bugs of this group, with a young and rather excitable-looking mosquito trailing behind her. "Here, I'm now present with..." she looked around. "who looks like the last member of this particular delegation. I apologize for our tardiness -- my band has been hunting in the northeast recently, so it took some time to travel." She lacked a speech impediment because her proboscis was on her cheek just high enough to avoid seriously disturbing the movements of her mouth, but it was a close thing. "It doesn't help that my band-member here can... make it hard to places quickly." There was a sigh here -- the woman had been exposed to too much of her younger compatriot's energy for far too long. "Come on, Sting -- why don't you get into the group there? That's the delegation you'll be traveling with." Another one of these three leadership figures was Hierarch Unbending of the City of Industry -- he was the leader of one of the larger red ant cities of the Redoubt, one which may have admittedly lagged behind some of the other red ant cities in terms of raw military might, but which was a powerhouse of craftsmanship that produced many of the goods used in the Redoubt, even (begrudgingly) by the black ant cities, carried by both red ant traders and fly companies. Hierarch Unbending was himself known as a rather stubborn and sometimes ornery man (his name had not come from nothing, after all), but that stubbornness backed an insistence on actually getting things done, even if he had to involve himself -- something not always easy, because he had the legs of an ant, and the lack of feet required him to lean on a cane to keep his balance whenever standing. "I suppose that it's better late than never, but I would like to have had this process completed two days ago. I know that..." here, he searched for his words carefully, "some of us may have other priorities with this than strictly efficiency, but this has been reaching the point of being frankly unreasonable. Some respect must be paid to these obligations." He moved somewhat awkwardly for a few moments, then, turning towards the now-fully-assembled group of six standing in front of him. "Right. General Bright is going to be explaining to you your mission, but I am going to ask for a roll call, to ensure that there are no mistakes here -- I've been told that six of you were taken from... various sources, so that does match, but I want your names and who sent you once the General finishes." The third leadership figure was General Bright, leader of the black ant city of Bastion Black-on-Black, renamed during the Peace Wars ten years ago as it had been a major point of the heavy warfare between the black ants of the Scholars' Redoubt and the Loyalist black ants of the east. Nowadays, it was one of the premier military cities of the Scholars' Redoubt, with its soldiers well-equipped and extremely well-trained as a result of the experience and resources it had gained from its enemies and allies respectively. General Bright was named (actually, had named himself upon taking leadership) off of the gleaming armor that he proudly wore -- metal armor, and not just that, but a high-quality set of armor purchased from The Smiths... and he was known for being rather vain about that, despite the leadership talent he really did have. Two extra legs jutted from his back near his ribs. "Alright, bugs! Listen up -- you are going to be sent by this illustrious Council," he shifted his pose to make the light gleam off of his armor in different ways, almost subtly, drawing a long-suffering eye-roll from Hierarch Unbending, "to be one of the delegations to the Scholars' Redoubt. We have been told that a scholar by the name of "Brilliant Deduction" is requesting one of our delegations help her with a project, and you are the delegation that we will be assigning to this duty. For now, you are simply to head up north to the Scholars' University and report there, and receive further instruction from the scholars there, finally doing whatever task Brilliant Deduction has in mind. There is not time for this to be a sluggish process, so you are ordered to make a quick pace there, but not so fast that you are unable to attend to your own safety from criminals, raiders, or animals. Feel free to take some time to introduce yourselves to each other now, however." Now, then, it would be time for Hierarch Unbending's roll call, among the six other bugs on the scene -- an imposing mantis in black armor on a bird (he attracted quite a few eyes), a smaller and pinker mantis archer, a large and armored bee and a smaller, younger, and less armored bee, the terrifyingly energetic mosquito who had just arrived, and a rather dinged-up looking black ant. Ebon Knight, Lotus, Pinecone, Stardust, and Sting are in! (And the NPC Recruit Bend.)

Perlita shrieked as she abruptly ate a bolt of lightning; thanks to her Persona, she wasn't exactly on the verge of death, but getting hit by electricity was never fun no matter how many times it happened to her. "Ah!! Ow! I'm gonna get this thing off of meee! U-uh--" Or, well, she was going to try at any rate -- Hama was absolutely her most potent attack spell... when it worked. And, sure, she'd been pretty lucky with it, but there was really no guarantee that it would. "Cr-Crawford!!" She guessed she kinda just got to hope it worked! "Hama! On that, uh, cloud!" Maybe that last bit was unnecessary, but she was feeling pretty emphatic about this. Perlita flings a Hama at the cloud on her, doing SYN (12) damage but with a 30% chance to do 2*SYN (24) damage instead! Active Cooldowns: Media (Last Turn)

With Shin not saying a word and turning away from her so she couldn't see his expression, she was left rather awkwardly waiting for a response for a while, before she haltingly ventured forwards a few words of her own, uncertain. "Because if you did... um... I'm saying I understand. Um... for a long time, I-- I, uh--" She fell silent.

Navin's lips formed something of a grimace as he felt the floor stick against his shoe. "I do not like that. But... if this is in fact the hideout of the people we are looking for, it would be a bit off if this place were the most sinister possibility. Animal sacrifice seems not impossible... I cannot claim to know what is in here, though." Navin sighed, and then gestured for Solomon to follow him. "I think that the thing we are going to want to find out first is just what is up there, then... but in case there is something prepared there, or some... variety of supervillainous device, I suppose, I will be in front to make sure that you are not hit with it." Navin raised his fists to block if anything was incoming, advancing with Solomon to check just what the hell had the meat-hooks hanging from it. "We cannot afford to just let this go uninvestigated, though. I need to see if it is... something that shows a need for justice, or not."

LOTUS sighed and looked at IP. "We have no real control over who shows up and who does not -- whatever outside force is sending us people doesn't always pick them... sensibly. We've had some..." LOTUS paused for rhetorical effect, "interesting teammates, certainly. Still, the worst of them don't tend to last. Sometimes, I'm not frankly sure whether they're being taken back by the same outside force or just... going and getting lost somewhere, but how thoroughly we don't hear from them again I suspect it's the former. I'm not actually certain that's going to happen to Masako, though -- she may be as much of a liability as she is an asset, but that also means she's as much of an asset as she is a liability. I am just going to have to figure out how to reel her in when she's being a liability, and how to harness her when she's being an asset." Isobel tugged at her collar, frankly rather nervous about the idea of dealing with a ghost that just... straight-up killed you. But she didn't really want to dwell on that and make herself a wreck, so she chose to instead comment on Masako. "I wonder what the hell she's up to. I mean... she definitely seems to have SOME sort of mostly concrete plan this time around... I guess that we should really try to get her to explain to us... from what I've seen of her so far, she's almost certainly going to not tell us and either assume that we just somehow know what she's doing, or enjoy holding us in dramatic pause to show off. But, uh, you know, this is a really bad time for that, so I'm gonna... I guess try to wheedle it out of her."

Lizaveta didn't miss the man's eyes opening -- even as they only remained half-open, his body yet terribly still as he still appeared to be too utterly bone-weary to even move his head. He glanced at her... and then looked away. She stayed crouched over him, looking down at him for a long, long moment, before she finally spoke up again. "Did you hear me, Shin...?"

The following characters have been chosen for entry into Fire Emblem on Forums: Tiny Steps: Prologue: The Council's Delegation 1. Lotus (Raindrop Valkyrie), Archer Trainee 2. Ebon Knight (krim), Rider Trainee 3. Pinecone (RedMageCole), Soldier Trainee 4. Stardust (EXLink32), Light Trainee 5. Sting (ctsun), Sword Trainee Chapter 1: The Scholar's Assistants (and one early arrival): 6. Secluded from Illumination (Trash), Dark Trainee 7. Life-Recorder (Unlurking Sentinel), Thief Trainee 8. Faithful Diligence (ElfCollaborator), Anima Trainee 9. Soggyshanks (Yours Truly), Axe Trainee 10. Mercy Harefoot (kj1225), Priest Trainee I know that everybody says this, but there really were sheets that I was sad got cut off by the deadline/that I had really intended to pick but just couldn't find the space for... but I really don't want to take on extra people, I'm afraid, since I want to be conscious of my workload. I do apologize to everyone that I couldn't put into the game. I'll be sending out PMs with the Affinity choices, pretty much because I thought it was cool when it was done in Scarlet Crown.

Lizaveta was sitting in Shin's tent. Lizaveta had been sitting in Shin's tent for the better part of the night, in fact... at first, she had been kneeling over Shin, sitting on her calves, but as time wound on she had to sit down normally -- that hurt, and he didn't seem to be waking up. Gods, he didn't seem to be waking up. Hours, now, and he didn't seem to be waking up. What if he didn't? When he did, would he be the same? Hours... she guessed that hours didn't necessarily mean a real coma, but it was still terrifying and she couldn't help but worry as she sat by him. What was going to happen? And what the hell could compel him to do something so awful, so-- so-- utterly, terribly, self-destructive, no, beyond that, self-maiming? "Shin... what were you thinking? What could you have been thinking...? Why? Why would you do that?" She let out a sigh and then shook her head mournfully, letting one of her hands go to Shin's face, almost idly brushing his hair out of his eyes and sweeping across his browline and cheek in the process -- she had been here for hours, so she'd thought all of these same thoughts, had all of these same worries, said all of these same words again and again by now. She had nothing to do but worry, and even as these worries magnified every time she thought about them, they were her only respite from boredom. After all, it wasn't like some sort of insensate haze of grief was going to settle over her and make the hours fly by, as terrified as she was that he might have killed himself. Insensate haze... insensate haze... that thought... "Oh, Shin..." "That's how it is for you, too, isn't it? I thought it was just... the mentality driven into you thanks to your class, the hate they want you to feel for yourself..." "And maybe it is, in part..." "But it's more than that, isn't it? The... the haze, that settles over everything, thick and choking-- and it weighs on you too, and everything is hard, everything is so hard, and you don't even have solid footing, because that fog is also a hole under you and it opens up and swallows you hole and it goes forever and ever and ever, and your whole world is just grey, and... and you start to think, what's the point, if it's all grey, what do you do, what are you even, you're just a little gray smudge in a sea of it, where everyone else is this-- this vibrant and beautiful whole human being it seems impossible that you could ever be..." Lizaveta out a breath, long and shaky... shakier than she'd expected, even, she could feel the tremble in it. "So that bastard comes along, threatens Mim and..." "And you think... maybe if a little gray smudge like you can put your life into something, if you can maybe help one of those vibrant, beautiful people, then it doesn't matter if you go away forever, right? That it would be... easier, even, to not be lost in that hole and stumbling through that haze anymore. That maybe that's all you can really hope to be good for... that's what you've been thinking isn't it?" "Shin... oh, Shin!" Tears gathered in her eyes now, threatening to fall... it wasn't just the horrible realization that now threatened to overwhelm what emotional composure she had managed to muster up, but the memories, oppressive memories, whose incredible weight leant against the back of her eyes. How had she not seen it? How could she not have? She knew how, she supposed. She'd been so obsessed with Baldur, that she hadn't seen her own past right in front of her eyes.

Nader sighed. "Nothing else from these papers, for now. But I've about got what I need, I think... at least from the public portion of the lab. There's no fucking way this is the entirety of this place, not with the shit they've got going on around here. This isn't anywhere near big enough for the kind of work I've been hearing about... especially considering the kind of shit the previous doctor made... the CORE or the ascension. I guarantee you that there's more to this place." Nader lapsed into silence before he looked around the lab. Computer... desk... fridge... bathroom door. Oh, wait a minute... "Monsters don't poop... what the hell... why did they tell me that? That's... a blatant hint. They want me to see this, then. The whole thing! Why?" Frowning, Nader clanked over towards that bathroom door. With Lucine out of the way of the door, Nader elected to make his own attempt at opening the door. And as a very large, very strong man in full, heavy armor, his method of trying to get that "bathroom door" open was rather different than Lucine's. "Let's see if I have to end up fucking with any keys at all, huh?" Specifically, he walked up, roared, raised a leg, and proceeded to drive his entire weight (in the high 300s with all his gear) into his foot, kicking the door as hard as he possibly fucking could -- a real heavy metal blow. "HYAH!" To hell with subtlety, they were already watching him, right? So he was going to do one of the things he did best.