2017-08-19: I'd Rather Drown
- Log: I'd Rather Drown
- Cast: Virginia Maxwell, Asteroid the Kid, Maya Schrodinger, Kaguya, Matilda Whitehead
- Where: The Guardian Temple
- Date: August 19 2017
- Summary: A Veruni, a compounder, an asteroid, and two giant dorks walk into a temple...
=====================<* CHALLENGE - A Clash of Beasts *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The Metal Beasts have forced their way into the foyer of the Temple, along with other members of the Metal Demons. For those who seek to push in deeper, there is a battlefield to be crossed. Gunsmoke ARM shots shoot across the way, scarring the ancient stone of the foyer. Spells occasionally hurl across, lightning and ice scarring the very ground that they walk on. The Metal Beasts are ill-inclined to let others pass. As you make your way through the confusion, a pack of armored hounds begins to lope after, anger visible in their steely green eyes. They leap -- fangs bared, claws raised, and the battle is joined before you can reach the door that leads deeper into the Temple. =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Fright===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
The Guardian Temple.
Virginia Maxwell has slipped in just in the nick of time... though it isn't under the auspices of a Hellion that she does so -- no, even Virginia knows that would be foolish. So it's under the guise of--
--well, a regular brown-haired young lady from Boot Hill that she steps towards the entrances of the Temple, which have been blasted fresh open by one of the artillery shells, with too blase a reaction as she places a hand to a nearby column.
There's a curl of a smile, seemingly sinister and knowing.
Then she turns her head to her companions.
"... what's a Guardian again?"
Ginny........
But there's no time to lament Ginny's unstudious self!! Metal Beasts have risen from the holes and are springing towards the party at record speeds! They're armored, they're bestial, and they haven't been patted to obedience by Riese like some of the others have!!
"G-Gwehhh?!" Ginny yelps and draws her ARMs rather inexpertly and starts firing blindly, at the hip. Great job, Virginia.
DG: Virginia Maxwell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Clash of Beasts.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Asteroid the Kid clears her throat since Virginia asked. There's always time to lament Ginny's unstudious self.
"The Guardians are the spirits of Filgaia. They are tired to a single element or concept. There are numerous types, ranging fromSchtudark the Guardian of Water to Luceid the Guardian of Desire to Rigdobrite, the Guardian of THE STARS!" She spins around on her foot and comes across the metal beasts. Virginia is firing blindly.
Asteroid summons rocks from space and drops them on the metal demons. That's probably not an efficient use of your mana, Asteroid the Kid.
She is foolish enough to still have an asteroid head upon traveling to this battlefield because she feels a great affinity for the Guardians. She has put 25 stickers on her head, each one a cute cartoon version of a Guardian. "Wheee!"
Yes she brought that damn cart with her.
DG: Asteroid the Kid has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Clash of Beasts.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
It's not so much that Maya Schrodinger places a lot of stock in ancient religions and Guardians, or was even advised in advance of the madness that would be going down here. The family scion has been on the move, which generally involves wrangling Virginia to some degree to keep an eye on her, and most of what drew these two in (and others with them) is sheer circumstance. Once the battleships show up and the Quarter Knights start bopping giant robots, the only safe path is to probably flee further inside.
So with that out of the way, now you know why the blonde girl in the black cloak is drawing an invisible bow with her hands as if expertly miming, and then loosing a whistling arrow of billowing scarlet flame into a rampaging beast of fluid metal. She's standing in Asteroid's Cart, unless Asteroid objects to such things, but it's a good vantage point. Okay? Okay!?
"Yeah, there's statues of them... like, in places. They're usually really old. Todd knows more 'bout this than I do--'scuse me!"
An explosive burst of concussive force and flame pierces an enemy hide. Welcome to the Jungle, kids.
DG: Maya Schrodinger has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Clash of Beasts.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya is really, really worried.
She doesn't have a snappy complaint as she rushes across an artillery-shelled battlefield around Metal Beasts that know already to leave her alone, though Matilda behind her may have one. She has a worry for people who have gone into this awful place.
A temple to the Guardians. Kaguya's antipathy isn't something she can use to reach out with, but if she could, it wouldn't be pretty.
But that's moments ago. Now...
Kaguya rushes forward and jumps up onto the cart, a bit more athletic than she should rightly be to look at her. Her cane is hooked to her belt, but her ARM no longer is. "Meg!?" she says to Maya, in shock. "Asteroid! Janey!" In further shock. But... They're all here.
Kaguya shakes her head, and pulls somehing from a hidden pocket. She's dressed today in darker clothes than usual, sturdier, and now she's taking a deep whiff of a little pouch before she puts it away, pupils falling to points. "Heh heh. Your mistake for coming after us..."
Jumping down so she can shoot better, Kaguya starts blasting these things with colorless light from her shotgun, a boom with each shot. "Hi everyone!" Bang.
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Strange Potpourri toward her party's challenge, A Clash of Beasts.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
To Matilda's great chagrin, she's been separated from her nominal allies in the CaraKin by sheer chance. The Honeybee needed new guidance -- and then everything went pear-shaped. Matilda has no interest in losing the Gear just yet, but can't really justify keeping it with her, either; instead of guiding it to the Carakin, though, Matilda has had to send it back -- back to the nearby village of Milama.
It's safer to go on foot, in some respects, anyway. Aveh and the Metal Demons are less likely to swarm a compounder than a Gear.
Besides -- it leads her in turn to the cart, and to a familiar face. ... two familiar faces, given the recent soccer match. Rather than spend too much time introducing herself, Matilda immediately gets to work dealing with the Metal Demons that pursue her and her acquaintances; she moves hastily to the cart, offering Kaguya a brief, "It's good to see you again," before tossing a bottle of a pungent compound out of her coat. She then draws Freischütz and opens fire on the Metal Beasts. She isn't sure who the other two are -- but any number of familiar faces is better than being out here alone. There'll be time for introductions later, surely.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has used her Tool Succubus Bottle toward her party's challenge, A Clash of Beasts.
DG: The party led by Virginia Maxwell has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
"Ohh, that's right! It's the cool dinosaurs on the sticker on your head!"
This thought gets Virginia very proud. Proud enough that she just gets pounced on by a Metal Beast, who decides it wants to go and play with her-- "Weeeh!!"
The succubus bottle doesn't appear to do too much for the Metal Beasts, though Freischutz's shots start to push them back -- at the same time Kaguya drapes out her pouch of potpourri...
...which gets the Metal Beasts attracted as some of them sit and wag their tails in front of Kaguya. Ooh!
The invisible power bow and the meteorites do the rest, pushing the Beasts back... barely! They'd best run the heck inside if they want to get away while they're attracted by potpourri!
DG: Maya Schrodinger has drawn a new Challenge.
====================<* CHALLENGE - Grasping in the Dark *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- As soon as your entire party walks into the door leading into this room, the doorway behind you slams shut. That presents two problems: the heavy stone door blocks the way off that you entered from. However, it has also obscured all sources of light. The room inside of here is pitch black. There may be a torch or a fire pit, but you can hear something else. A faint sound, like a hiss. And the sound of scales, slithering across the floor. It seems that you are not alone in here -- and you will need to think of a way to light the room quickly to escape and avoid a bite from whatever creature slithers along the ground. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Bad Luck========================================
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
'Janey!' is a call that takes Maya a moment to recognize, even though the voice is familiar. It's the flower girl from Lacour, and her stalwart pal, Matilda! She's a-springing from the back of Asteroid's cart, in case those two need to hitch a ride, and goomba-stomping across Metal Beast heads as she goes. "Hey, girls! Get onboard and hold on, we're gonna blow this place!"
The Metal Beasts are hardly, or at least barely, held at bay as Team Tequila Theories skedaddles deeper into the Guardian Temple's interior in a very obvious trail of thundering explosions, sorcery, flying stellar matter, and panic. When the door behind everyone shuts, it means no more metal beasts. Suc-cess!
On the other hand, those with sharp ears can hear the hiss of snakes being released from little cubbyholes in the wall, and then they can hear the sound of Maya Schrodinger's teeth chattering.
"Uh--hold on, heh heh, I got this--I'll just cast us a little levitation spell and we'll be totally okay."
Will they--actually be okay...?
DG: Maya Schrodinger has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Grasping in the Dark.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya laughs as Matilda says it's good to see her, but it's not a very pleasant laugh. "Hi, Atida!" She keeps going as suddenly a number of Metal Beass sit and wag their tails in front of Kaguya. "Ooh," she says, and reaches down to pet the one closest to her. "Hello," she says pleasantly.
Then Kaguya shoots all of them.
Soon she's wobbling a little and starting to have some amount of awareness again before she grabs onto Maya and takes her help in getting back on board. Once they're there...
"Atida!" Kaguya says warmly, smiling at her despite her obvious trouble. "When did you get here?"
Did she miss the greeting...?
Now now she's in the cart and they move on down, move on down, and eventually... As a matter of fact, Kaguya does have sharp ears. They're pointed, it's how it works. So she hears the hiss of snakes, and she hears--
Actually she misses the teeth as she leaps immediately into Matilda's arms with a shriek. "Aaah!" Then her breathing is sharp and she goes, "Aaah torch! Torch one meter forty-five degrees left torch!" That's... really specific out of Kaguya. "In front of cart!" she adds.
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Grasping in the Dark.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia climbs onto Asteroid's cart as she rubs at where the Metal Beast totally just bit into her dress on the side. "This was expensive!" That's your concern, Ginny!? Geez...
She sighs. "Um-- I'm not Janey... oh whatever. Jane's fine. I'm sure there isn't some famous Drifter out there I'll get mistaken with."
Ha ha ha. Ha.
She winces as she peers towards the room and says, "I'll-- take care of lights then!"
Pro: It's now very, very bright in this room.
Con: Ginny just kind of spewed a lot of fire all around the room, channeled out of the Tindercrest.
DG: Virginia Maxwell has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Grasping in the Dark.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Asteroid brightens upon seeing Kaguya and waves excitedly towards her. Matilda Whitehead won the soccer match so she gets a friendly rival shake of the fist.
"They're not all dinosaur, Ginny!" Asteroid the Kid protests. "One's a turtle, one's a phoenix, one's an asteroid shrimp--that's mine! That's my head too!--and then there's the actual cat..."
She runs in just in time, spinning her cart around so folks can ride it if they so choose. It's not filled with stuff and looks more secure than before.
"I have an idea too!" Asteroid shouts unhelpfully as she opens up her eyes and--
--yeah her eyes glow. She just sort of looks around using them as impromptu flashlights. "Heh heh heh... I can always see in the dark, that's the power...of the stars!"
DG: Asteroid the Kid has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Grasping in the Dark.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Now that Matilda has a slightly better sense of the room and who she's with, she manages to recognize Virginia, too. (The hair colour change made it difficult!)
By the time she's no longer reeling and Kaguya is re-greeting her, she's a little disoriented; she's gotten nipped at by more than her share of Metal Beasts, and part of her thinks it's just adrenaline messing with Kaguya. ... or cognitive decline but that's not a happy thought, so Matilda says, "During the fight with the Metal Beasts," shortly before they're plunged into darkness --
-- and before she finds her footing, Matilda has a Kaguya in her arms. "I -- wh -- I don't have a torch!" Matilda insists, panicking. Fortunately, Team Crucible seems to be on it, but -- mostly what she does is wrangle Kaguya for now while Maya casts spells. ... it's the best idea she's got.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Grasping in the Dark.
DG: The party led by Virginia Maxwell has failed this challenge! The party gained 5 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
Well, between the flames Virginia is hurling around the room from her tindercrest and Asteroid du Kid's glowing peepers, the pitch-black room isn't quite so dim and dreary anymore. There's still the issue of the snakes, however--an issue the gang are doing their best to deal with, now that they are revealed.
"Ray Wing!"
Maya's levitation spell is, actually, single-target only. So she bobs into the air and wails, "Wait! Wrong one, wrong one! Run for it!" and at least in the bloody din of panic that ensues, those who stick to the cart are probably spared too many venomous bites.
A bundle of snakes leap through the air with speed lines, and sink their fangs into an Asteroid-head. Or they try. I'm not going to dictate how well it goes, but ancient snakes might not possess the power to penetrate that dome.
"It's lit up, it's lit up! There's a door! Run for it!"
Maya is, to her credit, actually communicating important information on how the group might make it out of this alive as she awkwardly bobs across the room and gesticulates wildly at an open doorway in the wall, trying to get Kaguya to notice this and not her panic about snakes. But can Matilda princess-carry her the rest of the way!? And why isn't Virginia princess-carrying Asteroid?!?
No justice in this world.
DG: Asteroid the Kid has drawn a new Challenge.
=====================<* CHALLENGE - The Hidden Switch *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The door at the end of this hallway is closed. A push won't open it, and some examination indicates that it must lift up into the wall above it. There isn't an immediately obvious way to make it do so. However, a large set of reliefs are carved into the wall around the door. They depict the Guardians in stylized form, each surrounded by elements of their domain. Perhaps, they provide a clue -- or hide the way forward. =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Asteroid the Kid says, "Caution is for the weak!"
She takes one step forward and a bunch of snakes slam into her skull and start biting. Most of them don't actually manage to pierce her rock hide but she actually has an eye up there and one starts licking it with their tongue.
"AGHHHHHHHHH!!" Asteroid the Kid says. "MY ONE WEAKNESS! EYE COULDN'T HAVE ANTICIPATED THIS!"
She runs like am aniac, trodding over a whole bunch of other snakes on the way and getting bit more for her trouble.
She wobbles into the next hallway. A hallway that ends in a door. A door that shows a set of reliefs of the Guardians!
Asteroid's lower eyes widen and she jogs towards the end. She raps the door lightly with her fist. "I remember this...You need to hit them in order."
a pause.
"...What was the order again? Let me think. Does Fire beat Earth or Water? Or was it Water beating Wind?"
DG: Asteroid the Kid has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Hidden Switch.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia hops onto the cart as she yelps and pulls away at some of the snakes seizing Asteroid's head, shouting, "Heyyy! Get offa Astie!" and remembers, a moment later, that she has fire.
She uses some fire to burn off some of the snakes off. "I-- hey! I got that joke! Nice one, Asteroid!"
She pats Asteroid on the head as she stares towards the door. "... uh-- Fire burns Grass, and Grass soaks up Water, right?"
Ginny.....
DG: Virginia Maxwell has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Hidden Switch.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"You're not?" Kaguya asks Virginia, staring at her. "...You are or you're not?" she asks, and then sighs. She's... a little tense, to look at her, fairly obviously. "Whatever, Jammy."
The talk of the stickers gets nothing rom Kaguya , but Matilda gets... something. It could be cognitive decline. Kaguya blinks at Matilda. "We--Oh! Oh. That must've been while I was on my combat suppressants. It was--"
Matilda panics. Kaaguya is panicking. and Maya is helping. For the door... Kaguy doesn't notice her at first, but she does let Matilda carry her the rest of the way. Until, finally... With the snacks, they reach... Reliefs.
"You remember this?" Kaguya says to Asteroid. "I don't know, what are these things? Reliefs...? But of what?" Pause. "...No, they..." She sighs again, and this one is annoyed. "Of course. Way to have pictures of yourselves in your temples." Kaguya grumbles. "Fire burns whatever burns everything burns." She kneels and starts feeling out for pressure plates. "Stupid..."
At least she's out of the cart? And out of Matilda's arms. She does glance over her shoulder finally to say, "...Sorry Atida."
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Hidden Switch.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
The relative quiet of the next room, bereft of things like snakes and metal beasts and artillery barrages, is kind of welcome to Maya as she wipes the sweat from her cheeks and feels her very 1990s-anime headband do the rest of the work for her, in that regard. "Oh, are there switches on these reliefs? Ha-ha, classic design. I've seen this kind of thing before!"
The adventuring scion smugly folds her arms, still hovering slightly off of the floor with cloak billowing, as she helpfully begins to lecture. "Rainfall occurs because of a gathering of precipitation in the atmosphere, and the pressure causes... uh... I guess, I don't know how Earth figures into that..."
As it turns out, being book-smart about the processes of the upper atmosphere doesn't translate into solving puzzles at all. Maya shoots everyone else a clueless look as she depresses a switch with her floating foot. Kaguya's explanation probably just confuses her even further, but hell if she's ever let good information from her party interfere in the past.
DG: Maya Schrodinger has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Hidden Switch.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Kaguya... is terribly light, Matilda notices. Even knowing what she knows, that's a little sad to think about. She elects not to think about it too hard, accordingly, once she gets Kaguya out of her hands. ... at least she doesn't have any significant snakebites? When Kaguya mentions her stimulants, Matilda notes, "... let me take a look at those later. Or give me a sample." She almost sounds worried.
They come to the door, and Matilda's given pause. "Hmm... well, there are really only two ways this can work," Matilda muses to the asteroid-headed woman to her side. "Elements tend to be considered to have higher and subordinate elements, so presumably we're working in either ascendant or descendant order, in a circle. ... That said, I'm not actually certain what spiritual elements are intended to be subordinate to what... symbology was not a part of my studies."
She cants her head slightly to one side, saying, "If any of you know such a chain, that would be ideal, of course... failing that, we can always brute-force the puzzle." Looking into her coat, she appends -- with a slightly wry smile -- "Or, we can brute force the door."
DG: Matilda Whitehead has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Hidden Switch.
DG: The party led by Virginia Maxwell has failed this challenge! The party gained 5 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Matilda Whitehead has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Engulfing Slime *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- As you move down this hallway, the path becomes narrow and difficult to maneuver through. Soon, you are forced to walk single file, for the hallway will fit no more than one person at a time -- and that is being generous. Which, of course, might make the suspicious suspect a trap. The suspicious are correct. As you walk, a huge glob of bright green slime drops down from the ceiling and tries to land in your midst! Those it lands atop are suddenly engulfed in choking, burning fluid -- and have to be extracted before they become the slime's next dinner. Those outside of it find its pseudopods lashing out, trying to draw the others in as its next prey. =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust, Wound===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
"The Guardians!" Asteroid says. "That's Fengalon and that's--" She pauses, frowning. "I knew that nobody really believed in our religion, but I figured they knew about it." She sighs, shaking her head. She can hear Kaguya talking shit about the Guardians though, and that makes her turn around and pout. You can't tell she's pouting because she has an asteroid for a head, really, but she crosses her arms to make it a bit more obvious.
"Thanks," She says morosely to Virginia.
Maya presses a switch with her foot. This elicits a loud buzzer noise. Wrong switch, apparently!
Asteroid rubs at her head before looking back to Matilda. She listens intently to hre. She says, "Huh?" Pause. "Sorry, a snake licked my eyeball so I'm kinda, you know, a little out of it."
It's Kaguya who apparently understands the Guardian's will because she pokes a hidden switch and the door opens.
"Ah! You accepted the will of the Guardians into your heart!" Asteroid says, looking better already. "Good work, Kaguya! That's what we needed to do all along I bet! Opening your heart to the Guardians opens all doors! Duh!"
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Once Kaguya finally just does the puzzle out of sheer cussedness, Matilda looks down the hallway. "... Hm. No more than a meter on either side," she notes, after a moment of careful study. "There's either a trap in the hallway itself, an entry point for monsters or automata, or a chokepoint at the other side that's used the same way." She pulls up Freischütz again and notes, "Be cautious. I'll take point."
Just a simple country doctor.
As she heads down the hall, there's a small squelching noise -- and as Matilda shouts, "Above!" a mass of slime drops right down from the ceiling. Matilda herself elects to hit the dirt going forward, which has the unfortunate effect of ruining the soles of her boots as the slime lands on them; the people behind her, of course, have their own exciting experiences.
"Burn it!" Matilda shouts back to them, as she rolls over and chucks another of those pungent bottles -- this time, though, she just throws it at the slime. Maybe she hopes to use it as an accelerant for someone else's fire. ... maybe Virginia, given all the fire.
DG: Matilda Whitehead has used her Tool Succubus Bottle toward her party's challenge, Engulfing Slime.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Yeah," Kaguya says sourly to Asteroid, "I guess it's the Guardians." She pauses. "...Um, I..." She trails off, and thinks of the shittiest excuse that she can, "I forget about things, because I'm sick."
Maybe it works?
It's a good thing Maya's seen all this, because Kaguya sure hasn't. She's seen a few things, but she's not an experienced Drifter by any stretch. The small Veruni glances over at her, lifting an eyebrow as she starts to lecture. Kaguya studied this process.
But she is light, as Matilda noticed, and she is able to talk with her. She answers, "...Sure, you can have a look. No big deal. Bu..." She trails off, "Sure. Later."
Whenever later is. aguya doesn't like thinking about that. It makes her worry more for Riesenlied and Noeline, even if maybe Noeline can look out for them, but...
No. It's nothing she needs to worry about.
"I don't know shit about spiritual whatsits," Kaguya says to Matilda. But eventually--after a gross statement from Asteroid--Kaguya gets the hidden switch. And Asteroid says--
"GROSS!" Kaguya answers Asteroid at her assertion. "I didn't accept anything into my heart! I didn't open anything! Ugh!"
Kaguya shakes her head and stands right up. "Don't say things like that. I don't want anything to do with your religion." She's angry enough to have to steady herself on the wall with a hand, and keeps supporting herself that way as they continue on. She stays on foot this way though.
"...Right," she says to Matilda. "I'll be behind you." And they walk, and walk, and suddenly there's a drop as Kaguya jumps back. "Agh!" Her awkward silence is done with as she pulls that little pouch again, "Augh the smell--" She jams it into her face hard enough to hurt, but shortly thereafter nothing hurts at all. Kaguya's eyes narrow suddenly.
"Stupid slime," she says, and pulls her ARM and loads a special cartridge that seems to loose some kind of... powder... into the slime when she fires with a bang, and fires again, ignoring the pseudopods wrapping about her arms.
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Engulfing Slime.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
"I'm-- well-- no," Virginia just kind of bluntly tells Kaguya as she claps her hands and watches the door open with a rather lovely grin on her face. "My name is Virginia Maxwell. Not Jane. I'll accept 'Ginny', though."
She looks towards Maya, then towards Asteroid again with a faint chuckle-- then her eyes widen as the slime comes down upon them.
"You just said the two words I do best."
The poor, overworked Tindercrest, which really ought to become a Combat tool at this point, scorches away with an excessive gout of flame that strikes the bottle, and she hopes that it'll result in a gigantic explosion.
DG: Virginia Maxwell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Engulfing Slime.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
"Right. Brute force it is." Maya confirms Matilda's way, only to hear the game-show buzzer of failure for her efforts. A little trapdoor opens up beneath her feet but does nothing, because she's currently under the effects of Float. Kaguya, on the other hand, finds the gang a way forward--and Maya looks at her own hand with wrinkled nose and little ?'s dancing above her head. Is she losing her touch?
"Look, I'm no scholar on Guardians and worship." the blonde sorceress quips as she holds one hand aloft with fingers curled around an invisible javelin. It becomes less invisible as a whorl of pale cyan and white gathers in her palm and a lance of magical ice constructs itself in short order. The talismans and amulets hanging around Maya's neck and wrists also glow a kickin' rad vermillion, proving that they're more than just jewellery as they amplify her spell.
"But this place is giving me a real, real serious vibe... like something's watching every step we take in here." and there's a pause, as a slime falls from the ceiling and Matilda points out both where it is--helpful!--and what to do about it. Nevermind that Maya summoned the wrong element.
"Oh--fire! When it comes to explosions, the Schrodingers never lose!"
I'm not sure that's precisely the right message to take away from this but Maya has to think fast on what to do more than what to say about it--so she splays her other hand wide and yells, "Fire--BALL!" like a character from one of Alhazred's animes, and swiftly hurls an impressively large and wobbly ball of flame at the slime. The kind that might explode on contact. Contact with flammable liquids.
Uh--how enclosed was this space, again?
DG: Maya Schrodinger has used her Tool Tankbuster Cartridge toward her party's challenge, Engulfing Slime.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
"Eh?!" Asteroid jumps up, startled at Kaguya's assertation. "B..b..but...."
MORALE DROP
She doesn't start crying or anything. She kind of stares at Kaguya and then slowly reaches back and pulls her hood over her head again. "..."
She lowers her head, tightening the hood to near-Kenny levels of terror.
"Okay..." She says. "I mean. I just thought, maybe..."
She keeps her head down for ra while and then, well, there's slimes. Fireballs! Slimes!
Asteroid raises a foot into the air. Is she going to cast a mighty spell to do battle with the slime?!
No she's just going to give Kaguya a push into the slime with it.
Wellp.
DG: Asteroid the Kid has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Engulfing Slime.
DG: Matilda Whitehead is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party led by Virginia Maxwell has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
Virginia jolts to exclaim, "Hey! Astieee! Foul!" She crosses her arms into an X, and says, "No kicking your friends, even when they're being mean!" This... kinda opens her up to slime attack, though. Oops.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda does not prove very tacti-cool after all. Despite her correct intuition and mostly-correct assertion of what to do with that intuition, Matilda doesn't have a solution herself and most of the other solutions require more space than the party actually has. Matilda gets the worst of it; hitting the dirt was a mistake, as it allows the slime to creep up on her, burning her feet and her legs. Everyone else does slightly better, but the sheer amount of fire and shoving in a tight space ends up mostly creating fear, uncertainty, and doubt for the slime to move in. Everyone gets some exciting chemical burns.
Then Maya sets the slime *extremely* on fire and it melts into a mostly-harmless puddle.
"... I can't -- I can't stand like this," Matilda notes, a little weakly. "I... I think I need someone to carry me...?" She looks horrified, but more than that, she looks *ashamed* -- a feeling that's clear on her face even over the pain.
DG: You have left Virginia Maxwell's party. DG: Matilda Whitehead has left your party. DG: Kaguya has drawn a new Challenge.
=====================<* CHALLENGE - A Sudden Rubble Pile *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The battle still rages outside. Sometimes, it has an effect on those inside. As you walk down this hall, there is a sudden and powerful rumble that tears through the whole of the Temple. The force of it might knock you to your feet and send you sprawling. That isn't the only thing it knocks. Up ahead, part of the ceiling collapses. A huge slab of stone falls down, then shatters into dust and huge chunks of rock -- which then block the hallway up to three-quarters of the way to the ceiling. The rubble will need to be cleared away, because that is certainly a very tight fit. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Tire========================================
DG: You don't have a party leader right now! Start a party yourself with +party/create, or go make a friend with +party/join.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Virginia," Kaguya repeats immediately after Ginny. "Sure, that's fine. Not sure why you didn't say so in the first place," she says with a sigh before she continues on. She spotted Virginia's lovely grin, true, and maybe she'll even remember her name now that she's been given it again.
Kaguya says nothing back to Asteroid. Not about all this, while there are slimes to be had, and Kaguya is shooting. And then Kaguya is... not shooting, as she tumbles half-into a slime thanks to Asteroid kicking her, yelping and hearing a shout as she hits the ground. She can't... breathe for a few moment as she tries to extricate herself, shooting harder to try to rocket herself back and... no, mostly to kill the slime. Eventually she falls backward and hits the wall hard, dizzied. "What...?" She complains suddenly, "O-Ow... How... How did I end up in the slime!?" she says, and sounds... legitimately upset. No one would be able to tell if she were to cry because of the goop, though. It hurts, though.
And then she looks to Matilda, and sees her horror. She bites her lip. "Atida..." Kaguya sighs, and nods. "Just hold on..." She clips her ARM back down and gets herself to her feet, tired, before she looks nervously to the rest of the group, slides in front of Matilda and, "Clasp your hands in front of me. I'll support your legs while I can." A pause. "Trust me, okay?" Those murmurs done, she lifts up, and somehow--somehow--carries Matilda as they go, at the head of the group.
There's no way that she should be that strong, but she makes it look easy. ...For now, anyway.
The truth is that as they progress, Kaguya only has so much stamina, but she grits her teeth and keeps trying, not even walking with her cane at the moment.. Although walking quickly. THe hall gets wider as the group approaches though, and there's a nice, clear approach ahead for a ways until a door.
Until a rumble tears through the temple. "...Shit," Kaguya says with a sight. "Okay Atida, hold on. I can do this." She steps out of the way of the others and pulls her weapon, putting it between her knees to load the cartridge she needs and approaching closer... closer...
Kaguya aims and fires, letting loose a concussive wall of force in ring form, rings and rings radiating to try to pulp what stone remains.
"We're not done in here! We still need to keep going! I have to find..." Huff. Huff.
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Concussion Rounds toward her party's challenge, A Sudden Rubble Pile.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
There's a resounding wince as Virginia gets all kinds of nasty chemical burns on her, which... ...will probably be okay since she's still a Hellion in the end, and she has freaky mutant regeneration powers or something. It's kind of hard to tell with her, sometimes.
She walks towards the two and-- shows that cheerful side of hers, the side that left Boot Hill, as she throws Matilda's arm around her other shoulder. "Let me as well!"
She's trying, at least. Better for two of them to help than one!
A pause, as she stares towards the rumble up ahead. "Yeah, I'm going to..."
Focus.
"Burn it!"
The Tindercrest whines low as it shakes... shakes...
...
... and roars out with a gout of flame that's rightfully too powerful for a Crest Graph to be able to handle, probably.
DG: Virginia Maxwell has used her Tool Tindercrest toward her party's challenge, A Sudden Rubble Pile.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
For all the lighthearted chatter going on, there's a thudding intensity to Maya's pulse borne of the screaming danger-sense in the back of her mind that she's working hard not to let show. Behind them all is a literal warzone, and no matter how slowly everyone tries to take it in this rotten labyrinth, it's clear that no amount of messing around in ruins in the low-level zones of the world have prepared her for an actual place that forces unknown want you to stay out of.
So, what's Maya to do? Shield herself with her cloak against the splashing wave of digestive chemicals, grimace, and harden her nose against the smell of sizzling ichor. "We've been in here for a while, we must surely be getting pretty close." she pipes up, not letting the tension and fatigue drag her tone down too much. Not that she needs to, because the resulting rumble of explosions from above soon drowns the way forward in shattered stone.
There's a pause, as the young adventurer glances sidelong at the troubled-sounding Kaguya first, and then Virginia and her most powerful and loyal minion afterwards. "Yeah, we're not done. Just--take a breath and let us help out, okay?"
Wow, getting serious. Maya rolls one of her weird fantasy-lycra sleeves up and her talismans begin to glow a brilliant gold, as a spell of physical swoleness ripples through her form. Okay, sure, physically lifting the pulverized stone out of the way is going to be hard now that it's all half-melted, Virginia, but there are enough explosions in here to deal with already.
DG: Maya Schrodinger has used her Tool Schrodinger Special toward her party's challenge, A Sudden Rubble Pile.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Asteroid the Kid is kind of pissed off. Her religion just got called GROSS. "It's not new, you know," Asteroid says. "People calling it gross. People calling it gross even though I know it's real. I'm a scientist, I've seen proof. Ocular proof."
She is angry enough that even Virginia can't get her to immediately apologize, though she feels guilty and horrible and crummy. She summons a large asteroid ball into her hands, it actually kind of looks like her own head. She doesn't do anything with it just yet.
"But the best thing about the Guardians isn't that they're real." She says. "The best thing about the Guardians is that it doesn't matter that you called them gross. They don't care, you see? That's the best part about them. They don't care."
She then lets her asteroid ball drop and she snap kicks it into the rubble. It glows with power. It radiates heat. Asteroid the Kid has a powerful kick.
"So they won't care about that, when I ask them to heal you which is why I'm even here, so maybe they'll still do it. And then you'll see I'm not gross."
DG: Asteroid the Kid has used her Tool Asteroid Ball toward her party's challenge, A Sudden Rubble Pile.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda's able to focus enough to listen to Kaguya and comply, at least, but not too much past that; she's in intense pain -- and besides that, she just... feels helpless. She stays quiet -- this isn't the kind of thing that she can contribute to in her present state, so she just hangs onto Kaguya.
... Trust her...?
DG: The party led by Virginia Maxwell has been fully Exhausted by The Guardian Temple! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
====================<* CHALLENGE - The Guardians' Burden *>===================== |Type: Escape |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 4 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Try as you might, the Temple of the Guardians is made of sterner stuff than you were prepared for. As the last of the fight goes out of you, and as things look their most grim, there is a shimmer of light before you. Soft blue light erupts upward, and then a twisting, turning sea serpent floats there. Its scales are in purple, with fins of gold and blue. It looks down at you with soft eyes. "You have been pushed to your very limits... and you have failed our trial." Lucadia, the Guardian of the Sea, sounds sad about this fact. "And yet... these are times in which we cannot be as exacting as my brethren would wish. The Metal Demons seek to destroy our statues." The serpent shakes her head. "They cannot. You are not the hope we sought. But you are the only hope we have. Go with our blessing -- and with our burden -- so that we do not lose our precious Filgaia." The ghostly image of the Guardian vanishes. However, a collection of stone tablets -- one for each of you -- appears where she vanished, and are yours for the taking. OOC: You have acquired the Stone Medium for one of the Elemental, Terrestrial, or Celestial Guardians. You can pick which you receive. If your character is not a Zoa Priest or a Shaman, their use of a Medium will be limited. Please refer to recent +bbposts for information. Thank you for playing at Dream Chasers MUSH! =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya looks over to Virginia as she moves to help, burns still on her cheek where she looks to her. "...Thank you," Kaguya says, surprised and touched by Virginia's assistance, and glances away immediately before she shows more of some kind of an emotion to her.
She prefers not to think of Maya's idea that they are being watched. She prefers not to think about that at all. But Maya says that they're close, and... seems to try to say something nice. It kind of works. Kaguya inclines her head. "All... All right... I'll... I'll keep trying..." She's not ready to give up despite her fears. But Asteroid... She has something important to say.
Kaguya finally looks to her, narrows her eyes a moment. "I know you're a scientist," Kaguya says to Asteroid, the nonhuman here who is her friend and her strangest friend in some ways. And yes, she's angry. Kaguya is angry, too. She listens, as that kick is sent off. And she hears Asteroid--
Say she wants to heal her...
Kaguya stares, wide-eyed, and then something cracks in her expression, pain in her chest as she chokes out "You're going to--For me." She stares. "I don't think you're gross. I never said that!" She blinks back more tears--because she was crying earlier, and tries not to show it. "You don't understand. You can't understand. They won't help me."
The conversation happens as their efforts happen; a crash through into rock by concussive force breaks down rock. A grand gout of flame melts down more. Raw magically-augmented strength begins shifting ruin, and an asteroid kicked in blasts apart still more.
But there is more rubble still, and more after that. Getting through is a nightmare... Until eventually it's just too much. The group has no more strength than Matilda to go any farther. The fight goes out of them. The Temple of the Guardians is too strong. There's no way out; there's no way forward.
And there is a shimmer of light. Blue light, erupting upward, and a twisting and turning sea serpent floats there.
Kaguya's eyes widen where she was falling to the ground in exhaustion, trying to let Matilda down gently, and she freezes. "'Our' trial..." The Guardian of the Sea looks sadly, with soft eyes.
"You have been pushed to your very limits... andyou have failed our trial." She sounds so terribly sad as she looks upon Virginia, Asteroid, Maya, and Matilda. "And yet... these are times in which we cannot be as exacting as my brethren would wish. The Metal Demons seek to destroy our statues."
"Wait--" Kaguya starts, dragging herself to her feet, moving forward. "It's really you. Please--you have to tell me--tell me why--"
The serpent shakes her head at her last statement... and doesn't even look in Kaguya's direction once. Ignoring her completely she continues, "They cannot. You are not the hope we sought. But you are the only hope we have. Go with our blessing -- and with our burden -- so that we do not lose our precious Filgaia."
"Wait! I said wait! I'm right here! Why--I know you can hear me! I know you can!"
The ghostly image of the Guardian vanishes, and in her place is a collection of four stone tablets, the party's for the taking... Except for one member.
Kaguya stumbles forward and rushes into where the Guardian was, shaking. "You can't... You can't just leave without saying anything to me! You can't!" But there is no answer from the empty air, either. She feels it choke into bile... and then...
"GET BACK HERE YOU BITCH!" Kaguya screams. "GET BACK HERE! GET BACK HERE AND FACE ME!" She falls and hits her knees hard, loud against the stone, shivering. "If you're going to kill me... You can at least look at me..."
"You could at least..."
Kaguya falls forward to her hands and knees and screams, wordless and mourning for her own life as she breaks into sobbing.
In the Guardian's wake, there is now a way out of the Temple, and one of relative safety. And all of the group save one now feels well enough to take it.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
"Yeah duh!" Asteroid shouts back. "Of course I'd ask them to help you, you're my friend! I don't normally even care about what happens to people! I just want--" She is cut off as Kaguya says she never said she was gross. She looks away because it's true, Kaguya never said that. She manages a, "Y-you said, you said--" To her it's nearly one and the same.
But only nearly. Kaguya says something shocking before she can formulate a response to that. Because Kaguya is crying and she feels bad about that. She doesn't normally feel bad about upsetting people, but she reached out to Kaguya more than she does most people in such a short time. It hurts.
"You're right!" Asteroid admits so easily. "I don't understand! Why wouldn't they help you!? They should at least give you a chance... Ugh, I just... I just..."
She sits on her cart and crosses her arms. Her morale exhaustion has surpassed 100 if nothing else. "I'm going to pray now."
She closes her eyes and thinks of the Guardians. It seems all too quickly that they appear. They didn't respond to the prayer.
She looks up towards the Guardian of the Sea, sensing her presence first.
"Lucadia! Ooh! That's a good one! I bet she can help! Lucadia! Please help my friend! She doesn't believe but she's a good person. She'll help. She knows BOTANY! She can help Filgaia!"
But all the sea guardian talks about is trials. That's all she talks about.
All too quickly the Guardian is departing. "...Hey, wait... wait. What about..."
She slumps back into her cart, stunned. She notices the tablets.
She notices one is missing. She doesn't reach for one yet. She's too stunned.
"No way...No, no no no!" She grabs at her head. There's a flareup of malevolence inside of her as a contradiction between her actions and feelings are crash against each other. She wants to help Kaguya but by her very beliefs, if the Guardians want her dead...
...they must have a good reason for it.
"How could they..." Asteroid is shaken, flopping onto her side. "...How could they do that to Kaguya...?"
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
There's a faint grump and a sigh as Virginia keeps blasting, but especially she just finds herself... out of reserve. Tapped out. She slumps onto her knees. "Darnit... how does that rubble keep respawning?" A pause. "Where's Skeleton and Alraune when you really need them?"
She looks between Kaguya and Asteroid, and then-- pumps her hands as she at least smiles quietly between them. "Yeah, that's--"
But she stares towards the light, and the voice that speaks upon them. "W-whoa--"
She jitters just for a moment, as that light starts to wash around her. To those that know of her condition -- Maya -- it seems as if a small amount of that Malevolence is starting to wash away, ever so slightly. "Aack?!"
There's a gasp as Virginia backs away just for a moment... and she reasserts herself. That dangerous glow is back in her eyes, more than ever...
... and then she seizes one of the Mediums instantly, grumbling as she pats to Kaguya on the shoulder.
"... s'okay... c'mon. I know how you feel." Do you really, Ginny? "... it's like Asteroid said. ... they're pretty selfish, aren't they?"
She stares at it with something approaching disgust, though there's a tinge of flame and heat upon it as she does so. Wow, flame just really does call to Virginia, huh?
"Ugh. Astie, Atida, Kags, let's beat this joint... this turned out to suck real bad... feels awful to just get browbeat like that..."
She looks towards Maya, and kind of just -- lazily slumps onto her side.
"Ma-yaaa, pamper meeeeee..."
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
Beyond the sea of smashed rubble is no light of freedom or breath of fresh air, because the undulating waves of pulverized stone are endless. No amount of technological, magical, or physical might seems enough to find a way out. Soon enough, joining the others, Maya Schrodinger parks her legging-clad rear on the tunnel floor and gathers her breath unsteadily. Yes--this is all... hard.
It's so damn hard, without her family here to carry her. Harder than she knew it could ever be. Maybe if she just closed... her eyes for a bit, and caught her strength. "Just give me one second, and we'll..." she mumbles, eyelids unnaturally heavy. However, what soon transpires forces them wide open once more.
A messenger of the deep, whose message y'all can read up there, appears before the group. An apparition passing mournful judgement on unworthy students. In the flickering navy light that washes over everyone in the hallways of the Guardian Temple, Maya's form briefly flickers, like a television image on a bad signal.
"Maybe I failed... your Trial," the blonde murmurs unsteadily as she clenches a hand around her arm and glances upwards to the Serpentine Guardian. The notion that this is all a very uncomfortable dream (she's had a lot of those, recently) is not lost on her. "But I only set foot in here to keep these people safe, and, hell..." she gives an Ashita no Joe finale smile, which would normally mean she's about to die, but luckily that's not the case here. "They're still here. I'll take your judgement."
Maya's indistinct flickering ceases, even before the light of Lucadia fades from the hallway. Her own hand has found Virginia's, at some point, the traditional yuri show of strength. She is silent for a time, as Kaguya's anguish consumes her. As Asteroid's confusion, and panic, rise to the surface at the realization of what the number of stone treasures truly mean.
Maya Schrodinger is not used to failure. She reflects on its taste, as Asteroid sinks onto her side. Kaguya's tears spatter against the stone.
"Arrogant..." she whispers, not at all happy with the Guardians' way of doing.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda, left by the wayside for the moment, sits -- and sees a real, honest to goodness miracle pass over the party's heads. ... or is it? On the one hand, she's literally bestowed the mark of a real, authentic Guardian -- a stone medium. On the other, though... she's failed, and she's been told as much.
Her hand strays into her coat for the moment, coming to rest. It clenches -- and as the serpent turns and begins to vanish, Matilda draws Freischütz. She aims it squarely for where the serpent had been, a bitter expression on her face. She doesn't shoot, though -- even she isn't that foolhardy. ... she thinks about it, though.
"... How dare you," she hisses under her breath. "To come into the same room as a suffering child and show her no compassion, no mercy, no hope!" Matilda's whole body quakes, and tears streak down her face. "For one like you, no doubt healing the sick would hardly require a touch -- and yet, you -- you -- you!!"
Despite her burned feet, Matilda staggers up to a standing position. "I was right. I was always right. The Filgaia you want -- it's not just the plants that wither, not just the animals that starve." She looks down at her patient -- her friend -- her confidant. "It's not even just those like Kaguya that hurt."
She takes up the Medium offered to her, as Asteroid clutches at her head and cries out. "It's trust, love, compassion, safety -- it's those things that die on the vine." With one hand, she tosses her Medium into the air, the heavy tablet flipping end over end like a coin. As Maya whispers that one condemnatory word, as Matilda's legs wobble, her stance stays square as she flips up Freischütz and shoots the relic square-on.
"It's our Filgaia we'll save -- not yours. Die unmourned. Kaguya, Miss Virginia is right -- we're leaving."
Even with her wounds, Matilda moves toward Kaguya, trying to help her up and get her moving. There's a white-hot anger that lets her ignore every agonizing step, every painful touch of blistered skin to bare stone, every drip of blood from her leg to the ground.
She refuses to say a word about the whole affair the entire way out.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya has completely broken down, falling even from hands and knees to curl into almost a ball upon the floor in here. She's still crying, still here and there making awful noises of pain. ...She'll have to be carried out to leave now. The vision lingers in her heart, but there are other things she sees that she just can't bring herself to say anything to. That's all; she's lost for now.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Asteroid the Kid thinks of the last time she felt such pain.
She had been tortured for days on end, days on end by people from another world. It had to be from another world. Their language was so strange and alien, who else could it be? The man with the long white hair and that strange tiara. He couldn't forget what he looked like. What was his name? He never caught it. He did experiments on her. He injected her with things. She understood that much. He forced her to summon the Guardian again and again but she never knew why. And eventually, she must have messed up or something, because the Guardian became her face. And then, after that, after all that.
She was discarded. She was thrown off their ship and to the ground. She was like a meteor, crashing to Earth. If it hadn't been for Rigdobrite she would have shattered into dust and blood.
She thought she was going to die. She knows what it's like, to think that you're going to die. To KNOW you are going to die, she imagines, it has to be worse. She eventually stands up, swallowing to herself. She approaches Kaguya quietly. Life isn't fair, she remembers. For a moment she forgot that. For a few months. She met Ginny, she made a wonderful friend, she met Kaguya, she made another wonderful friend. She met Maya whom, despite all her attempts to dislike her, is actually a wonderful friend. She doesn't really know Matilda, but she thinks she likes Matilda, for what she's saying now...even though it's blasphemous, why is it making her kind of happy inside?
They made fun of her, you know. They made fun of her for her horns. She hid away in her room. She hid in there for so long. They got her name wrong. Over and over. They kept getting her name wrong. They didn't have a disease killing them like Kaguya did. Kaguya is dying and has an actual disease that makes her bad at remembering names, but she remembered. She made the effort to remember. And it wasn't even her second name, it was her third name. Both her second and third name count, she supposes, she supposes that's true.
She crouches by Kaguya. Her faith is shaken. It might even be broken, she's not sure, but in this moment she can at least say or do something, right?
They didn't even look at her. They didn't even tell her why. It would have been so easy, even a Guardian could have done it. Was it the wrong Guardian? Should she have gone for Ge Ramtos?
She hugs Kaguya.
"You know what?" Asteroid the Kid says after her reflection. "Fuck 'em. We'll find another way. With science. We're going to use science and we're going to save you."
Her teeth twist into a smile which is her attempt to be reassuring "Even if we have to go to the moon and leave Filgaia behind. Or beyond."
Lydia, the Fallen Star, has a new mission.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.
rginia has a newfound resolve as she holds onto that Stone Medium, finding herself the only one still holding onto it... ... and then tosses it back on the pile. "... Fuck 'em!"
While Virginia's mind is rebooting from the half-second-later realisation that she just swore, she has time to dwell on both Matilda, Maya and Asteroid's words. This was exhausting. This was awful. They-- came here, amid flame and rain and sand, and were punished and taxed to their limits... and then given pity, their disdain shown so starkly.
"We'll find a way to save you, I know it!" she pumps her hands. "We'll fly to the star ocean and beyond!"
<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.
The sole bark of a weapon's report doesn't even make Maya's eyelids flutter. She's staring dully at the stone tablet in her hand, fingers closed around it. Arguably, value adjustments not made for the fact that an awful lot of these things are being handed out in this 24-hour period, this is the most precious thing the Drifter has ever found.
"Or was my journey here, and failure, part of your plan, too...?"
The light from outside filters dimly across Maya's face, no answers to be found on her new treasure. The dull crump of distant weapons is a reminder:
Filgaia is at war.
And you are not exempt.
Weary eyes fill with life again, and Maya's gloved hand closes around Virginia's, warmly. Strange allies are nothing new to her: but Asteroid, and the departing Matilda and Kaguya, were all brought here together for a reason. Maybe like whatever, kinder twist of fate brought her into the same company of Hiro, Jean, Lemina, and friends.
"Virginia," the older girl cautions her as they stand. Find their feet. Pick up and carry on.
As they always have, and always will.
"Language."