2018-05-13: Bruised Dragon Way

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======================================<* Meribia - Blue Dragon Way *>=======================================

Blue Dragon Way is the name given to the area where Meribus's governor used to make his home. Several years earlier, the governor and his entire line were slain by a group of cultists who ravaged the city; it was only the arrival of a wandering martial artist named Lunn that saw their reign of terror end.

In the time since the cult's defeat, the administrative buildings of Meribia have been replaced by dozens martial arts dojos, each operating independently. The dojos attract students from all over Lunar, and the resulting competition (which is /generally/ friendly) has given Meribia a secondary purpose as one of the foremost repositories of martial talent on the planet.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3jru8_hq_s

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<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida was here in Meribia to meet a dear, beloved someone at the dock.

It's a little difficult to do a slow walk down a street, hand in hand, when one member of the couple is wanted for questioning--but Ida is trying to do just that. She strides down one of the side-streets near Blue Dragon Row, traveler's cloak providing insurance against someone casually noticing her. She hasn't said much to Kalve since their reunion at the dock, and she seems to be enjoying the moment.

Then, she overhears someone shouting from afar.

"She couldn't have gone far! Spread out and find her!"

The unmistakable sensation of Malevolence brushes against Ida's thoughts, tinged with sorrow, frustration, and failure. It's not hers, because hers is suppressed, but it's familiar enough that it makes her frown with worry. "This way," Ida says, turning to Kalve. "I sense something." She follows the sensation, and the shouting. It doesn't take too long to find the source, a narrow little alley out behind some of the dojos.

At the far end of the alley is a young woman--at least, that's what she looks like to the uninitiated. She's wearing a grey uniform, bearing the logo for the Dancing Mountain Fist School over the right breast, and it's stained with blood. She's barefoot, and it looks like she literally just escaped from a fight. Ida, though, sees something more. She sees a figure that looks like a shattered statue that someone glued back together imperfectly. The young woman's body has the texture of granite, and a cool, clammy aura settles in around her--a Malevolent Domain, igniting for the very first time.

"Who are you?" the newly-minted Hellion says, her voice a low, dangerous hiss. Her eyes widen. Ida raises both hands, and takes a step back. "I didn't hurt anyone! Well, I--he'll be fine, right?"

"Still no sign of her!"

Then, another voice, low and commanding. "Come out, Aisha. Whatever vile art you've embraced, it will not help you."

Ida's eyes narrow. She turns to the young Hellion, her lips thinning into a line. "Run," she says. "Run as fast as you can. We will meet you at the crossroads." The commanding man's voice is getting louder. He's almost upon them. "We'll keep them busy."

The dojo master of the Mountain Fist School steps into the mouth of the alley, and Ida steps forwards, interposing herself between him and his errant student. "I could use a bit of light exercise, love," Ida says, looking back to Kalve. "What about you?"

NOW

Blue Dragon Row is the scene of a brawl, to put it mildly. It started out back behind the Dancing Mountain Fist school, and spread to envelop a square of dojo-fronts a stone's throw from Master Lunn's headquarters. It's not entirely clear, on close inspection, how it started--but towards the epicenter is a young woman who looks far too frail to be fighting anyone, much less the groups of aspiring martial artists swarming like piranhas going after an unlucky animal.

In this case, the piranhas are not faring terribly well. Ida Everstead-Rey grips one by the ankle, and swings him in a single, thrashing strike at his colleagues before throwing him. The lot of them tumble over in a heap, struggling to get up. Someone else rushes Ida while her back is turned, only to be met with the back of her fist. He slumps to the ground, and yet another challenger approaches.

This has kind of been the tenor of this entire fight.

DC: Ida Everstead-Rey switches forms to Martial Artist Ida!
DC: Ida Everstead-Rey switches forms to Unchained Devil Ida!
DC: Kalve switches forms to Kalve of the Method!
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.

Boy, Hellions!

Virginia Maxwell knows a thing or two about it. It really sucked. She got cured by someone that looks like Satan, and even then, it's debatable whether or not she really got cured.

But as with all things Virginia Maxwell and Violence, she's usually not looking actively for it, but sure enough, when the currently witch-like Drifter turns the corner with a pocket-size pancake stuffed on her lips--

"--GHFHFNGHGNG--"

--a Blue Dragon disciple gets bodily thrown against her. Time slows down... to a crawl.

The pancake falls from Virginia Maxwell's softly gasping lips.

Descend, descend, oh freshly birthed quickbread...

A drizzle of maple syrup scatters off the beaten cobblestones of Blue Dragon Row.

The loud, resounding, concrete-like 'THUD' of fried batter on the road.

A destiny of deliciousness, forever denied.

Time resumes.

Virginia's eyes can't be seen below the brim of Hat.

A dangerous (but not Malevolent) aura builds around her.

<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.

Kalve does not seem at all bothered by Ida's apparently-wanted status. He's perfectly content to take a relaxing stroll with her and utterly ignore any sort of weird, nervous looks that they might get. As far as anyone else can tell, they're just a particularly martially-inclined couple out enjoying one another's company. It's honestly refreshing to be able to do that, even if he must on a totally different planet. Maybe he needed an offworld vacation.

Kalve, in the spirit of not getting stared at too much, has replaced his extremely loud poncho with some kind of somehow more subdued lightweight red robe, draped over his shoulders rather than worn properly, with a mantle of smoke-grey cloth looped around overtop it. It distorts his silhouette enough to make it hard to pick out the oddly hunched shape of his back. He just looks tall and broad at the shoulder, and a bit more armored than most fighters around here. Must be a foreigner.

"Hm." Kalve looks to Ida, nodding. He follows a step behind her, trusting her sense of the place to pick out what he's only distantly detecting. He's become gradually more sensitive to the presence of Malevolence for... some... reason, but it still doesn't compare to her.

He stays quiet as Ida offers the other Hellion succor. Kalve quirks a brow, watching her go, and then turns back to Ida with a questioning look. Her comment draws a smile to his face, and Kalve steps up alongside her, facing the master of the dojo. "I could not think of a better way to spend the afternoon."

"I am Kalve of the Method," he begins...

NOW

A Mountain Fist disciple crashes through a decorative arch adjacent to the dojo. The hot-headed young man starts to push himself back up, but the top of it slides over and falls on him, setting him down and out. Kalve, feet wide and open palm extended, gradually slides back into a neutral stance. He turns to the next to move into position to face the two of them, a particularly rare expression on his oft-stoic face.

Kalve is grinning. He laughs. "Spirit without skill will only carry you to the scene of your fall! Return in a hundred years, child!"

Today has been a really good day.

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Half an hour ago, Talise ducked inside a perfectly innocent-looking restaurant in search of some flavoured water.

Now a now ago, Talise is leaning out the front door of the shop, blinking a couple of times as she realizes a fight has broken out. She frowns a little, tucking her bottle full of... coffee... away in the pouch at her side. "Geez, you run a few errands and suddenly the entire city goes to hell," she murmurs, pushing a hand through her hair.

A quick look into the fight, however, reveals what's actually happening: Ida and her boyfriend randomly beating up a bunch of street thugs.

Not gonna lie, Talise's first inclination is to grab one of the attackers. She resists the impulse. "Damn it, Ida," she curses, shaking her head and beginning to storm towards the scene of the fighting.

Wading into the battle isn't easy. Talise could easily pull her weapon out and start slashing, but you can't really un-sever someone's body parts if things go awry. Fortunately she's got other options. "Excuse me!" she shouts over the noise of the fight, reaching for one of the Dancing Mountain Fist disciples to shove them aside.

She catches some guff for it in the form of a fist - which she blocks by the simple expedient of picking the young man up by the collar and lobbing him several metres before continuing to shove past disciples en route to wrestling her way towards her wayward Hellion friend.

"IDA!" she shouts over the din of the battle. "Ida, what the hell happened?!"

<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.

On a more serious day, Virginia Maxwell may have things to express to Ida, about her Hellionisation, about everything that's been going on with her and the world. But this isn't one of those days, and besides...

She has someone to avenge.

That same Mountain Fist disciple that Kalve throws through suddenly-- gets lifted and seized up to the G-rated Necromancess' shoulder, in a display we call an impromptu human projectile.

The aura of menace that Virginia Maxwell wields is palpable. Even Hat seems terrified by it.

"Give."

She stomps forward.

"Me."

She rears back with the body of the well-muscled, easily 180-pound young man held in her fist.

"Back."

She takes aim.

"My."

She throws.

"PANCAAAAAAAAAKEEEEeee--!!"

GS: Virginia Maxwell has attacked Kalve with Ginny's Cake Rage!
GS: Virginia Maxwell has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

Claude C. Kenny - or as he is known around these parts, CLESS AL'VANE of the mighty mercenary company BRAVE PHANTASIA - has spent much of his time upon Lunar on the Glenwood continent, recruiting mercenaries, which is much harder than it looks when you can't afford to pay anybody. What would possess him to spend his scant resources on a ferry ticket and come all the way to Meribia?

TEN-TON TSO'S NOODLE NOOK
Ten-Ton Noodle Soup.......::: 100s
Beef and Noodle Soup......::: 160s
Pork and Noodle Soup......::: 160s
Ten-Ton's Won Ton Bomb....::: 230s
TAKE THE TEN-TON NOODLE CHALLENGE!
10 TEN-TON NOODLE SOUPS FOR 1000S
FINISH THEM ALL AND EAT FREE!!!

"Man, I'm so glad I heard about this place," Claude/Cless says happily as he stands in line next to a young blonde princess who is probably more of a threat to this poor man's business than he is. "This dude doesn't even know. He doesn't eve---"

"NEXT!" roars Ten-Ton Tso, whose name is an exaggeration. He is probably a half-ton at most.

Claude steps up happily and pulls a small handful of silver coins out of his purse, slapping them down on the counter. "Two for the Ten-Ton Noodle Challenge!" he says, smiling brightly. "If you've got a couple extra eggs lying around, can you maybe grill them and slap them on top of it? It would be---"

A strangled scream echoes out from the skies, presaging the arrival of Wolf's Claw Wilhelm, who falls from the sky and smashes into the counter, scattering coins and patrons alike. Claude gapes at the groaning man, then turns in the direction he flew from, narrowing his eyes as he spots several kung-fu-lookin' dudes running in the direction of the harbour. The young man's eyes narrow. He turns back to the sign.

TAKE THE TEN-TON NOODLE CHALLENGE!
10 TEN-TON NOODLE SOUPS FOR 1000S
FINISH THEM ALL AND EAT FREE!!!
**ABSOLUTELY NO REFUNDS**

Claude's shoulders droop, and he sighs. "God damn it," he groans as he breaks into a run.

'MOMENTS LATER'

"WHO'S THE JARK THAT RUINED MY LUN---wait, it's Ida?" Claude blinks. "How is she...." He sighs as the hairs on the back of his neck start standing up. "Damn it, she's in the funions again."

GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Royal Rumble Entrant Number Whatever!
GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Talise Gianfair's Royal Rumble Entrant Number Whatever for 95 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

Lanval, that drunken layabout of a Water Seraphim, is just along with some other Fox Company sorts, doing what he does best. Which is to say, doing nothing but drink, pass out in a puddle of crystal clear water, slur out unhelpful things, laugh, and just have as leisurely a time of things as anyone.

...

He opens one of his eyes, gazing off in the direction of Blue Dragon Way. He has himself a(nother) sip of whatever is in his gourd, and lounges around less as he staggers off in that direction ahead of Talise and Layna without saying much of anything. His staggering is less clumsy-looking than usual, as though he were compelled to carry himself as someone who might actually be able to walk unassisted and not be a portly collection of silly falls and unbalanced steps that is an affront to the very concept of locomotion itself.

WADING PAST WAY TOO MANY BROKEN PEOPLE LATER

Both eyes open half-lidded to the sight of a defeated martial artist initiate slamming into a wall next to him. A hand strokes at his long, silvery beard contemplatively, almost too nonchalantly for the next one that flies overhead - not that he usually has to worry about direct physical contact with mortals for the most part. "Haven't sheen one of theshe in a--"

His eyes open wider. Before he can state anything that might be interesting for the audience for him to murmur, he catches wind of Talise shouting a name. Ida? Who's Ida, is that--

Yeah. It is. Friend of hers? He doesn't ask, but he can feel all the churning negative emotions in the air. Pain. Anguish. Helplessness. Fury. It's not a small amount of Malevolence building up here. Really, as of late, it feels like there's just been more of it in the air, but then again he--

Ah, never mind that thought, he has himself another drink as he staggers past a flying body who would accidentally lariat him had he not just bent back juuuuuuust so. He leans forward again to duck another bit of debris, then leaning waaaaaay to the left on one foot just to avoid another flying body as he pirouettes forward. These are all needless gestures, since most probably can't physically interact with him.

"Yyyyyep. Sthill got it. Ha ha ha," he has himself a good-natured laugh as he sneaks in another drink. "Shupposhe I'd better do shomethin'," he eyeballs Talise, "'n quick."

Lanval navigates through more flying bodies, broken bruisers, and the like. Ida's radiating Malevolence is... thick. This may be the strongest Hellion he's encountered in some time. He's just a silly, goofy drunk the future Fox Company tripped over. What can he do? What good is he, really, faced with something like this? As he draws closer towards the muscle-bound Hellion, unchained and unyielding...

One Seraphic Arte later, he flicks a wrist and just summons a bitingly cold splash of water - the equivalent of just flicking a bucket's worth.

"It'sh time ta cool off," he says, eyes closed with a silly little cat smile on his face.

GS: Seraph Lanval has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Seriously You Gotta Chill!
GS: Seraph Lanval has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei is with Cless, whom he is squinting at a fair bit, and Cecilia. He is about to engage in the yum challenge of a lifetime when the screams start.

"Truly, Lunar isn't the paradise we were led to believe." He bows before the lost meal.

AND THEN

FEILGAIA LAW OF KUNG FU

If a kung fu fight begins, there's odds Fei will be there. The bigger and dumber the kung fu fight, the more likely those odds are.

The odds here are nearly one hundred percent. Fei originally showed up here thinking that it might be the shadow dragon cult causing the commotion but upon arrival he relaxes upon seeing its just a kung fu metal demon with his kung fu girlfriend. And an enemy dojo attack.

Let it be known that it is easy to mistake Fei as someone who hates martial arts, or hates martial arts matches but the secret is this. Fei hates fighting, but he loves martial arts and sparring.

He grins widely. "You two made up?" He asks. "That's...good!" He thinks for a moment. The Shadow Dragon may be watching. If he shows his prowess now, maybe he'll get lucky and find their master, or at least an agent to interrogate.

"Think fast!" Fei ducks under Ginny's javelin throw before popping back up and saying, "Want to spar? It'll be nice to fight and not have a life or, hell, a soul on the line."

And that's when he throws a kick since by then Kalve probably accepted his challenge.

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Kalve with Hagan!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

It was a peaceful day outside. The sky was clear and the sun was shining, the sounds of a bustling city were wafting in, men clad in martial arts uniforms were being hurled through buildings...

Wait, what?

To most people, that last bit might be enough to realize 'whoa, I should probably clear out'. ...But not Layna. No, even as a fellow flies through the window and lands right on top of the table in front of her, she does nothing more than lift an eyebrow.

"Whoa, did someone start a brawl without me?" She asks, sliding the man into a sitting position on a nearby chair before standing up.

She moves to take a look out the door to find...

Chaos.

Beautiful, beautiful chaos.


A wide grin spreads over Layna's face.

"I had a feeling today was going to be a great day, y'know?" She says to no one in particular, though she does glance back at the unconscious fellow who burbles incoherently in response.

"Aye, ain't that the truth!" She laughs in response, before stepping out to see what's going on. She figures she might as well catch up with Talise and Lanval, who have probably gotten themselves wrapped up in this in one way or another.

If they weren't responsible for it. Hey, she wouldn't be upset - she'd be proud.

The culprit, though, seems to be someone else entirely...a familiar friend, and a not-so-familiar acquaintance.

"Ida, Kalve. Everyone havin' a good time?" She comments with a grin, a wave...and an absent-minded backhand toward a fellow who's trying to take advantage of her apparent distraction.

Everyone knew a brawl was a good place for a pleasant chat.

GS: Kalve guards a hit from Virginia Maxwell's Ginny's Cake Rage for 74 hit points!
GS: Kalve guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Hagan for 120 hit points!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Seraph Lanval's Seriously You Gotta Chill for 50 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.

Kalve hardly gets to punch another cocky young would-be protagonist-type when he gets one of them flung back at him. That... doesn't happen much, actually. Usually they just stay down, and somebody leaps over the groaning body.

The fury-fueled projectile smacks into Kalve and folds like an accordion. The young man hits in exactly the right angle to curl up into a ball as all his momentum is transferred into Kalve. Kalve himself rocks back, feet grinding across the street from the heavy impact. He sticks out one arm and ends up with the beleaguered young man laid out across it like a towel draped over his forearm. The tiny cuccos spinning around his head are out in force.

"Pancake?" Kalve echoes. He looks down at the man. He mouths 'pancake' again, then looks back up at the furious source. He shrugs, hefting him in one hand. "If you insist. PANCAKE! RETURN FROM WHENCE YOU CAME!"

Kalve promptly up and flings him right back.

(His name is not pancake.)

He turns to Fei, bowing very slightly. "Fei. Yes, we have. We thought it would be nice to spend some time together, doing something we both enjoy." Behind him, someone only tangentally involved in the brawl gets flung through a window with a Wilhelm scream. His smile grows, inadvertantly in time with the shattering of the windowframe. "I would be happy to. Come, then!"

Fei's kick connects with Kalve's upraised forearm. He backs off a step, swinging an arm out wide and smacking aside a particularly sneaky martial artist from some school with a stereotypically ninja uniform. When he comes back around, he's spinning in with a light chop from his other hand, and rotating into an palm strike with an arm that seems to extend a bit further than it maybe should.

"It has been an excellent afternoon," Kalve calls to Layna, mid-swing. "Have you come to add to the festivities, as it were?"

<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

Cecilia is positively sparkling at the thought of eating ALL THOSE NOODLES. So many noodles. Every noodle. She didn't know they had places like this here and she's been here for like months now. This is the best. Claude is going to fail because he's Claude and he does that sometimes, but it's OK because it just means more noodles for Cecilia. She did extra magic training this morning to make sure she would have extra room for noodles. Please give her noodles. She can take Fei's extras too. It'll be so great. Noodles.

A DISTURBANCE.

Cecilia's smile fixes in place. "Yes I agree completely," she says to Claude, and follows.

SOON:

"What CORPSE interrupted my lunch!!" Cecilia Adlehyde says, with her traditional diplomacy, her staff already in hand.

She discovers Ida, looking like she hasn't eaten since the last time Cecilia saw her, at which time she looked like she hadn't eaten since the previous time - and pitching men around with her hands. Cecilia glances to Claude. "I think we have to beat her up," she asides.

Fei starts with Kalve. Cecilia does not, although Leyline light starts to flash around her.

GS: Kalve has attacked Virginia Maxwell with Mass Driver!
GS: Kalve has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Liquid Metal!
GS: Kalve has completed his action.
DC: MISS! Virginia Maxwell completely evades Mass Driver from Kalve!
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

Cecilia is positively sparkling at the thought of eating ALL THOSE NOODLES. So many noodles. Every noodle. She didn't know they had places like this here and she's been here for like months now. This is the best. Claude is going to fail because he's Claude and he does that sometimes, but it's OK because it just means more noodles for Cecilia. She did extra magic training this morning to make sure she would have extra room for noodles. Please give her noodles. She can take Fei's extras too. It'll be so great. Noodles.

A DISTURBANCE.

Cecilia's smile fixes in place. "Yes I agree completely," she says to Claude, and follows.

SOON:

"What CORPSE interrupted my lunch!!" Cecilia Adlehyde says, with her traditional diplomacy, her staff already in hand.

She discovers Ida, looking like she hasn't eaten since the last time Cecilia saw her, at which time she looked like she hadn't eaten since the previous time - and pitching men around with her hands. Cecilia glances to Claude. "I think we have to beat her up," she asides.

Fei starts with Kalve. Cecilia does not, although Leyline light starts to flash around her.

Then she holds up her staff, a Graph icon splashing itself across the air, and there's a CRACK of lightning as rakes of electrical power claw across the gap between Ida and Cecilia, because Cecilia is not that good at kung fu but very good at lightning bolts.

GS: Cecilia Adlehyde has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Spark!
GS: Cecilia Adlehyde has completed her action.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Cecilia Adlehyde's Spark for 99 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

---EARLIER---

Taking a break from another successful delivery, the beast that is a certain courier's stomach growls, demanding a suitable sacrifice of delicious calories. "Aw, man..." Dipping into her pocketbook for the appropriate silver, Gwen sighs. "I just got paid, too..."

Spotting a familiar face going to a pancake stand, Gwen taps her chin thoughtfully.

"... Man, that sounds real good 'bout now..."

---NOW---

A full forkful is stuffed into Gwen's mouth as she comes across the battle, watching with the same casual curiosity as one would, being born and raised in the Badlands. A fist fight in a public spot, in broad daylight, with little to no context to how or why it started, and people are just joining in?

Ahhh, just like home~~

And there Gwen is, eating her delicious pancake, stepping to the side as a martial artist nearly falls back against her. Dazaedly, he apologizes, and receives a thumbs up from the cheery courier, her mouth too full to offer any verbal response back.

And Gwen then resumes watching, marveling at a 180 pound man get thrown by a young Virginia, who is much lighter than he is, while screaming about pancakes. Well, of course she's lighter than him, she hasn't had her Pancakes. There is clear evidence of starvation here!!

And besides, they are pretty delicious. There's even *butter* included, each square of dairy goodness just oozing down the flat expanse of golden brown goodness, forming rivers of yellow against the dark sugar of the syrup.

And yes. Gwen put on sprinkles.

Because screw you, she's an adult.

Spotting the familiar faces of Ida and Kalve just beyond, Gwen considers. Well, sure, she should investigate, but these pancakes, on the other hand, are delicious. And Ida *is* doing pretty well there, and does Gwen really need to get in the middle of this and try to mediate? Because, well, pancakes.

<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

"Probably," agrees Claude, but then because he doesn't really want to cut Ida, he reaches down to his belt and pulls off a pair of heavy leather gloves with metal strips laid into the knuckles. The young man tugs on the cestuses (he doesn't know how to conjugate Latin) and clenches his fists; they make impressive creaking noises. "Maybe if I punch her in the stomach she'll barf out the funions," he muses.

<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.

Claude and Cecilia have joined the fray for similar reasons: Their food outing is ruined. Virginia hears Layna barge in with a cocky introduction of her own, and expresses, "I am not having a great afternoon, but thank you!!"

Gosh, so polite. Just like an heiress from Boot Hill.

Talise and the others are engaging Ida, but her concern is more immediate as she backfistss poor Pancake, sending him flying in a ricochet strike to crash into another arch of the poor Mountain Fist dojo.

"hungry..."

Virginia's terminator walk continues unabated.

"I HUNGER..."

Her one visible eye underneath Hat is perhaps identical to a Metal Demon's murderous eye at present.

"HANGREEEEEEEEEE!!"

Virginia's form has blurred forward in a manner that's far too fast for her own good, and she raises her left arm up for a chop strike at Kalve--

--but it's a feint, because she's instead thrust her head forward to chomp into his arm instead.

Lydia Seren is a bad influence on people.

GS: Virginia Maxwell has attacked Kalve with Hangry Strike!
GS: Virginia Maxwell has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Kalve's Liquid Metal for 40 hit points!
GS: Cover, Hyper, and Shield! Statuses applied to Kalve!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida, likewise, is wearing an expression she doesn't wear too often these days--a smile, bright and confident, if a little predatory. "Ah--!" Ida says, as Fei mentions 'making up.' "I suppose you could say that..." She'd flush a little, if she weren't already starting to redden with exertion. Talise asks a very good question, next. "We challenged them!" she says, and then Talise flings yet another martial artist at her--honestly, a solid strategy, and a popular one. Given that Talise is stronger than average, the man goes flying. Ida doesn't have much of a chance to dodge, and the martial artist ends up slamming into her shoulder, rocking her back on her heels and almost bowling her over. Ida lets out a solid whumph of breath, but recovers, quickly. (The martial artist, meanwhile, collapses onto the ground. He is probably regretting major life decisions.)

"Of course," Ida says, "I could use something a bit more challenging than these welterweights, don't you agree, love?" Ida rolls her shoulders, even as bruises start to well up where Talise's improvised projectile hit her. Her body shifts, changes--muscles cord and knot beneath her skin, and bone lengthens. To the spiritually sensitive, the woman at the center of the melee is suddenly a hell of a lot more impressive, a tall, powerful-looking figure with Malevolence-radiating rents tracing out the scars in her flesh. Long silvery-white hair flows out behind her like a war banner.

Of course, to Claude, she still looks desperately like someone who needs to eat a meal, and then lift a weight, in that order. The aura of danger is the only sign otherwise.

Icy-cold water sprays into Ida's face. Normally this would be welcome, but there's something off about it, something strange and potent that Ida can't quite put her finger on. It's undeniably magic, though, and Ida turns to smile dangerously at the drunken sot who just threw water on her. A woman with a goddamn zweihander tries to take advantage of the distraction, swinging her weapon at Ida with a ferocious battle-cry--but suddenly, Ida's form comes apart around the blade, dissolving into shadow and reforming just behind her. Ida raises both hands, and brings them down in a double axe handle at the woman's back. She crumples.

Then, a tongue of lightning snakes across the battlefield, chased by a violent thunderclap. The lightning hits Ida low in the stomach, and electrical fury crackles up her torso. She jerks back, her head snapping upwards, her body spasming. She bites the inside of her cheek hard enough to hurt. "I suppose we can step things up," Ida says, tendrils of smoke curling off her singed flesh. She blurs towards Lanval, striking low, trying to kick the drunken Seraph like a stray can. She twists on her other foot, turning the kick into a graceful little pirouette, and swinging a wild haymaker at Talise's midsection.

Ida doesn't stop there. She flows through the crowd like a shark through a school of fish, smiling brightly as she grabs for Cecilia's arm. "How have you been, Princess?" Ida says, even as she starts to swing, feinting a punch at Cecilia's jaw before striking low, launching into a drumroll of quick, fast little jabs. All conversational, even as violence happens.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Cecilia Adlehyde with Devil Fist!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Seraph Lanval with Devil Fist!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Talise Gianfair with Devil Fist!
DC: MISS! Seraph Lanval completely evades Devil Fist from Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Talise Gianfair guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Devil Fist for 72 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei says, "That's sweet. It's always important to have mutual hobbies along with a deep empathic connection." He is not using it in the sense of 'being empaths'. Probably.

Fei gets his guard up in time but he is surprised by the palm extending farther than it ought. It slams him backwards, hard but he rolls with the strike, flipping back and then diving in in a blurred motion sending several blurred fists for slightly varient points along Kalve's chest.

"So you get here the same way as everybody else?" Fei asks.

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Kalve with Hoten!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: Kalve guards a hit from Virginia Maxwell's Hangry Strike for 74 hit points!
GS: Kalve guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Hoten for 66 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna overhears Kalve's comment to Fei and grins.

"Aw, that's sweet. Good on you two, aye? Doin' something constructive together, I can appreciate that." She says with a nod of approval. ...Of course, at the moment she's thinking the 'thing they both enjoy' is beating up random martial artists, but hey!

"Hey, sure, why not? I've got some time to kill and I could use the exercise." She replies with a shrug and glances toward Virginia.

"Well, that's a shame, lass. Why don't you-" Before she can get any further, Virginia unleashes the full power of her Hunger Mode. Layna whistles appreciatively.

"Well, I don't wanna get shown up. Here I come, lad!" With a wild grin Layna rushes forward. She doesn't do anything particularly fancy - she just starts off with a good, solid punch. The classics never really went out of style, after all.

Not too far away, Layna can see that Lanval and Talise have started to tangle with Ida. She hoped they were having a good time too!

GS: Layna Manydays has attacked Kalve with Pillaging!
GS: Layna Manydays has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

Claude C. Kenny is roughly as magical as a cross-eyed squirrel, and he sees Ida much as she has described herself. But after nearly a year in the company of the Guardians' chosen Shaman, after several months living in what his mother would describe as practically a high-energy field of magical energy... he's still pretty blind to it all, honestly.

But somewhere, deep in the backbrain where his mother pounded the value of fear into him, something is telling him to be worried about what he's facing.

The young man darts in to intercept Ida's assault on Cecilia, but she's faster than he expected - another sign that something weird is going on. Gritting his teeth, Claude steps inward, moving a little slower than usual thanks to the armour plating, but still quick enough to snap a rapid three-jab combo toward the scion of the Rey school. "Ida, what the heck are you doing?" he asks, launching a whirling backfist that misses; Claude backsteps quickly to evade a counter. "You've got to settle down," he warns her, chi building in his fist as he cocks back a punch.

"AIR---"

(you're in disguise, remember)

"---uh, I mean DEMON FANG!" he shouts, punching the ground and sending a blade of energy flashing toward Ida's legs.

GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Air Slash!
GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action.
GS: Kalve guards a hit from Layna Manydays's Pillaging for 60 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

The good news is, Talise is probably not coming to deck Ida!

The bad news is, there are a whole lot of young martial artists.

The good news is, Lanval is here! He's even splashing Ida in the face.

The bad news is, Talise has to explain all this. She sighs. "Ida, meet Seraph Lanval. Lanval, meet Ida."

She wasn't really aiming at Ida, but she got Ida anyway. "Well, that ended well," she sighs, before making a face as her erstwhile bud hulks out on her. She quickly does a little bit of mental calculus.

She is probably going to need her sword to beat Ida if Ida's going to hulk out all Malevolent-like.

Using her sword would probably kill Ida.

She does not want to kill or mangle Ida.

She doesn't go for it. She just grunts and brings her arm up, catching part of Ida's swing, but it's still enough to throw her back. She slams back-first into a couple of barrels. They tumble free and roll into the fray of martial arts goons.

"I'm fairly sure I don't want to take a big knife to you," she remarks with a sigh. "But alright. Alright, let's play." She reaches into the pile she just crashed into, and comes up with something.

It's a large wooden pole of about ten feet long. Talise sets one end against the ground, braces it at a certain spot, then twists the rest off with a snap, leaving a length of wood about the size and length of Rastaban. Hefting the makeshift sword-club, she twirls it testingly a few times.

A mook martial artist promptly attempts to jump-kick her. Talise sidesteps and proceeds to club the poor goon in the face.

Then she takes a couple of steps forward. "So Ida," she calls in a casual tone over the dubiously-silly din of battle. "Where you been holing up these days? We keep meaning to come say hi."

The words would be a lot friendlier were she not swinging her big ol' chunk of wood at Ida in an attempt to sock her in the gut a couple of times.

GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Infinitely Rippling Waters!
GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action.
DC: MISS! Ida Everstead-Rey completely evades Air Slash from Claude C. Kenny!
GS: Cecilia Adlehyde guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Devil Fist for 70 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

To watch someone seem to melt and reform around and past a goddamn zweihander, and to hear the resulting crunch of bone from that double axe handle. Both these signs, alone, should be enough to dissuade anyone from daring approach her. Especially a fellow like this old(?) silver-haired, long-bearded wastrel in worn-down blue clothing and no shoes on. He is so doughy and round about the gut. He can't possibly compare in might to... almost anyone here, some sort of out-of-shape drunken fellow whose alcoholic intake has imparted a heightened opinion of his ability to handle a dangerous situation to greatly lowered inhibitions.

One of Lanval's eyes open half-lidded to the strike of lightning that happens a bit closer than he might like. He relaxes when it becomes apparent that's not something happening from the Hellion, but to. That's the only sign he seems to acknowledge any sort of ready danger. Ida's follow-up low strike starts to come in just as fast as that lightning bolt to her. A fellow this sluggish-looking, this uncoordinated-seeming...

Ida can feel the foot make contact just as he sways back, but it's not... weighty. He does more than just sway backwards like he might fall down - both hands plant against the ground, raising a foot as her kick comes in.

The bottom of his foot seems to high five her own as he kicks off of it, canceling out the kick's force and momentum through a series of no less than three backflips. He flops onto his back at the end of it, less as an accident and more as a conversion to a casual lying on the ground, propping himself up with one arm as he overhears Layna being all smiles, all happy. Ahh, she's okay. Talise introduces him at some nebulous point in the exchange.

"Hello~" Lanval waves hello from where he lies, but he goes quiet as Talise internally debates how she wants to deal with Ida. He can't read her mind, but there's the sighing, the being 'fairly sure.' He lets Claude's Air Slash just glide right by him before he thinks to come back up. That cat-like smile never leaves his face.

"Shure sheemsh like ya got a lot on yer shouldersh," he slurs. He comes forward again, remaining upright by Lanval standards as he moves through the oncoming blows and attacks all about...

Before spinning, turning his back to Ida, and bending backwards to... headbutt her?

Nope. He swings his gourd up behind him as if to backhand her with it before taking a quick gulp of whatever the hey is in there. He has himself another chortle. Sure, he has proven surprisingly limber and capable of working with a powerful blow, flowing with it like water itself... but a being of such flabby, weak stature doesn't seem like the sort to strike with any real force.

Can they?

GS: Seraph Lanval has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Leisurely Lunge!
GS: Seraph Lanval has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.

"Absolutely," Kalve tells Ida. "And I'm pleased to share the joy of an excellent fight!" He stays in her vicinity, remaining largely in orbit around her while the fighting spreads up and around the street. They're the epicenter of it, no doubt, judging by the crumpled bodies, the property damage, and the way people just keep coming. Even if they're largely staying out of one another's way, being in proximity keeps most of these fighty fellows from trying anything... untoward.

Fei gets knocked back, and Virginia charges in, stalking him like some kind of UNDEAD MENACE. Kalve gives her a weird look that turns to alarm at her sheer speed, sweeping an arm towards her to ward her chopping strike off -- and then gets it promptly chomped. "Gah! I returned your 'pan-cake', but if it is a fight you want --!" He tastes... not great. He's a Hyadean, after all. He's made of metal, and his blood might very well be mercury. It may be a bad idea to latch on without Lydia's extreme tolerance for weird things going into her mouth.

Layna promptly steps in and socks him one. Kalve rolls with it, twisting his upper body, swinging Virginia around by her teeth if she doesn't let go. The hit might make her fingers tingle. He's a lot more solid than a human of his size would be. It's like punching a slab of metal more than a man. His robe flutters, and two more arms, appearing to be made of corded muscle formed of gleaming cable, snake out from behind him. One jabs towards spots on Virginia's shoulder, upper arm and neck, trying to disrupt energy flows and, helpfully, make her jaw slacken so he can get her off of him. The other joins his right arm in an alternating one-two one-two, high and low, to turn back Layna's cheery offense.

While Fei hammers his chest like he was performing a drum-roll. There's a dimly metallic 'whunk' with every impact, Kalve exhaling slightly, his shirt and, apparently, torso indented where he was struck. His free main hand curls and suddenly shoots upward in a quick uppercut, followed by a forward kick to toss Fei clear of him again while he wards off attacks from three sides. His body gradually un-deforms in the process. "Yes. I was performing triage at the time. It was very disconcerting."

Kalve tilts his head briefly over towards Claude, asiding, "Please do not --" He summons up his inner Zed, face screwing up in concentration as he tries to think of words to resonate with the favored rival of his companion. "-- 'harsh our vibe, man.'"

Kalve leaves Zed to saying weird things. He's really no good at it.

GS: Kalve has attacked Layna Manydays with Hundred Handed One!
GS: Kalve has attacked Virginia Maxwell with Hyadean Ha-Ki!
GS: Kalve has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Fifth State!
GS: Kalve has entered a Reflect stance!
GS: Kalve has completed his action.
DC: MISS! Ida Everstead-Rey completely evades Leisurely Lunge from Seraph Lanval!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Talise Gianfair's Infinitely Rippling Waters for 133 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Layna Manydays takes a solid hit from Kalve's Hundred Handed One for 91 hit points!
GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to Layna Manydays!
GS: Hyper and Shield! Statuses applied to Kalve!
GS: CRITICAL! Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Kalve's Fifth State for 56 hit points!
GS: Hyper and Shield! Statuses applied to Kalve!
DC: MISS! Virginia Maxwell completely evades Hyadean Ha-Ki from Kalve!
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

Cecilia was not entirely expecting to get punched, somehow.

Fortunately, the Abbey teaches a young sorceress many valuable life skills. Ida grasps her, lashes out with a powerful blow that slams into the air in front of her, stopped short by mystic defense.

Cecilia meets her gaze, confused. Obviously she wasn't entirely expecting that flip, conversational tone.

Which is why the second punch rips the barrier clear out, socking Cecilia in the gut and sending her flying backwards, where she hits the ground and rolls to a stop and groans.

~Wizards~

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei grimaces in sympathy and also because he just got uppercutted in the face and kicked in the gut. "That's the worst. I fear the worst for your patient." As if you would know about that Fei! He thinks he sees a dead child for a moment. He pushes through it thanks to be uppercutted. He takes in a deep breath and focuses his breathing, taking a moment to close his eyes. That's never good.

Fire ripples along Fei's left arm, and frost mist ripples around his right. He is kicking it up a notch, it seems.

Fei's eyes open. "This isn't enough but..." He twists his body around as if to throw a double palm strike...

Before launching a strike with his foot for Kalve's chin instead before bringing both arms down in an attempt to catch Kalve from both sides.

"Ceci you..." He begins but doesn't get the chance to finish that.

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Kalve with Yin Yang Strike!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Oh, they even have cute banter. Adorable. Layna herself just cracks her neck and gets started.

Punching Kalve is...a lot like punching solid steel. Her fingers definitely do tingle a bit, but she's been hardened by many fights before - it's not enough to deter her.

What might, however, is the flurry of blows thanks to Kalve's additional arms. They strike with expert coordination, breaking Layna's momentum and forcing her back. Even so, she grins. She's clearly enjoying this.

"Good, good! I like that, a fight's no good without some amount o' surprise." She comments jovially. The next words she says are incomprehensible. A magic incantation. Wind begins to swirl around her fists and she rushes in before feinting to the side and punching at him again.

Her fist wasn't the dangerous part, however, but the blades of wind that erupt from it as she moves.

GS: Layna Manydays has attacked Kalve with Cutlass Gale!
GS: Layna Manydays has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.

Virginia continues to proceed unabated, with a kind of unnatural rage that just simply isn't possessed within the usual cheer and frame of Virginia Maxwell. Kalve may not taste great, but if there's one thing Lydia's taught Virginia, it's to not complain about weird things that you bite which may or may not inflict mercury poisoning within you.

Layna socks Kalve, and she just lets go in time as she--

--somehow, somehow, despite having no formal training compared to Kalve's years upon years of martial discipline--

--parries one jab with a wrist-swat; another gets twisted through into empty space, and she wheels inside with a knee-pivot as she manages to match him move for move, even if her body is nowhere near the same calibre as the Metal Demon's.

She dives in with the distraction, and vaguely hears Kalve try to use Zed's words.

"You're strong, but..."

Curiously, her hand isn't going in for an ARM or any kind of Crest Graph or anything as conventional as a weapon. No, it's going in as she activates her Mystic power, channeling herself into the verve of the natural strand of power within an item...

And whips out something that should never have been uncovered.

It's small.

It's round.

It's fuzzy and pink and has a terribly cute, vaguely cat-like face, with a bright red bow ribbon behind it.

Its eyes glow with an ominous power as it squeals out, animated briefly through Virginia's nigh-necromantic power:

"I love chuuuuuu sooooooooo much!"

The doll jumps off Virginia's palm and attempts to latch herself onto Kalve's face.

GS: Virginia Maxwell has attacked Kalve with Mystic - Chu-Chu Doll!
GS: Virginia Maxwell has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei suddenly freezes, terrified. And he thought nothing would make him question his sanity.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

A twinge of satisfaction and regret ignites in Ida's heart as Cecilia goes flying. 'Good on you two, aye?'

"We don't get to spend much time together," Ida admits, even as something, deep down, squirms in discomfort and horror at the thought of being so open. The rest of her could care less. The dissonance makes the sun in her chest flare with a slow, steady burn, ejecting Malevolence like coronal mass.

"Oh, we found a little place," Ida says, as Talise comes at her with something that was probably someone's laundry pole. Ida swings an arm up to block, but ends up taking the end of the pole square in the gut. Wood connects with tender, still-smoking flesh with a solid thwack. Ida's breath hisses out from between her teeth, and her whole face contorts in a grimace. "...it's not really," Ida continues, as soon as she can breathe again, "suitable for visitors." She strikes for the center of Talise's chest, fingers curled up above an open palm. Malevolence-tainted chi lances out, root-like, at Talise's own meridians, the force behind it sudden and shocking.

'AIR--!'

"A moment please!" Ida says. Claude's tried-and-true protagonist projectile comes racing at her, churning up cobblestones and kicking up clods of earth. It could easily knock Ida down, or wrench her ankle-joint if it connects. At the same time, Lanval lunges for her, swinging the gourd of indefinite contents at her head. It could easily knock Ida off-guard, opening her up for Claude.

Ida twists out of the way, Lanval's strike flying past her face--it misses by inches. She draws back a hand, and strikes for the small of the Seraph's back, trying to help him on his way. At the same time, she rests a heel on the edge of the storefront window behind her, and once Lanval's outof the way, she hops up, and grabs hold of the sign swaying in the breeze above her. Claude's Demon Fang Honest smashes through the storefront window, sending shards of glass flying--Ida, meanwhile, swings on the sign, which is designed to do precisely that. "Not bad!" Ida says, grinning down at Claude. "Not bad." She lets go at the apex of the swing, and while she should not have enough momentum to go flying like she does, she soars off into the air, flashing past the building's second-story windows. Ida twists, and comes down at Claude with one leg extended, the heel of that foot aimed more or less for his head.

From two stories up.

Talise gets a moment of respite. When Ida lands, though, she turns to the woman, looking her in the eye without needing to look up. "Are you certain he's not a drunk who claims he's a Seraph?" she says. "I mean, I can smell him from here."

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Talise Gianfair with A Good Question!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Raging Thunderbolt!
GS: CRITICAL! Claude C. Kenny takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Raging Thunderbolt for 119 hit points!
GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Seraph Lanval with Reversal!
GS: Talise Gianfair guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's A Good Question for 0 hit points!
GS: Please react targeting the attack number in +queue.
GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Lanval takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Reversal for 118 hit points!
GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Kalve guards a hit from Layna Manydays's Cutlass Gale for 90 hit points!
GS: Kalve critically Guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Yin Yang Strike for 28 hit points!
GS: Kalve enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Kalve takes a solid hit from Virginia Maxwell's Mystic - Chu-Chu Doll for 0 hit points!
GS: Break and Slow! Statuses applied to Kalve!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

This is on the verge of becoming something serious. Especially if the Guard were to stop in, or if Ida shows interest in more than just a random tussle for reasons unknown. Ah, isn't that Cecilia who's gotten into a fight with Ida? Could Gwen count on Ida to hold back appropriately?

But on the other hand, these pancakes are really good.

Yeah, everything's going to be just finnnn n n e

There's a blur of movement as yet another martial artist threatens to crash against Gwen, making her side step onto one foot, her pancake delight held protectively close to her chest. "Whew, close call."

She doesn't even get a celebratory forkful as yet another artist comes flying at her from another direction.

...... ow.

....

Man her face feels all sticky

where's her panca- oh.

oh, yeah, that's going to be a stain, she can feel it.

Lunars laundry technology really isnt up to par to Filgaias, really, if Gwen were to compare planets. Shes really not looking forward to this, especially due to the raspberries she had put as yet another topping.

Yeah. Itll suck. Shes kind of angry about this.

WATCH WHERE YOURE FALLING YOU IDIOT!

The fist of laundry-keeping wrath is flung at the martial artist, full of surprising speed and fury. It's just that Gwen's blinded not only by rage, but by hot syrupy anger and sprinkles, so the martial artist does his own scoot back, allowing the courier to sail past fist first, straight towards Kalve.

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Kalve with Rocket Punch!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Kalve critically Guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Rocket Punch for 16 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

Claude C. Kenny sees Ida's descending heeldrop coming from two stories away; he raises his arms, crosses them over his head, and braces himself for the impact, focusing his chi into the block. It's a perfect defence.

Unfortunately, Hellions don't care a damn thing about that, and the kick carries through the block and into Claude's left shoulder; the heavy plate screams in protest, as does Claude, who is driven down hard to one knee, pain shooting through his lower legs. Claude grits his teeth and rolls his shoulder - neither it nor the collarbone are broken, but it is a damned near thing.

Claude mentally scales the threat level up higher. What the hell is Ida on, anyway?

Exhaling forcefully, the boy from Earth clenches his fist and leaps back to the attack, unleashing a pair of rapid punches as he closes on Ida. This leads into a half-dozen more, then a score, and then Claude's arms are blurring in and out of sight, blue-yellow light flickering around his fists as he punches again and again and again.

And because this is a kung fu fight

"WAAAAAAAAAAATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA--"

GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Meteor Palm!
GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action.
DC: MISS! Ida Everstead-Rey completely evades Meteor Palm from Claude C. Kenny!
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise would feel a lot better about this if Ida weren't throwing hands at her that were full of something gross. She sweeps her borrowed pole back to try and bat Ida's arm aside, but what she's doing isn't physical; it's tainted chi. Stepping back, she tracks after the woman for a moment.

Her urge to chit-chat dampens rapidly.

Of course. Of course. You're sitting here chit-chatting with her like this whole situation isn't your own fault. Dumb idiot. You should've saved Ida just like you should've saved Rosaline. But you couldn't, because you're a fucking joke. No wonder Ida hates you. No wonder no one respects you. Just kill yourself. Go ahead--

You know what, Purple Me? Your shit is tired and your lines are repetitive. Go demand perfection of someone else.

Talise bludgeons down that momentary surge of dark thoughts - thoughts she's largely been able to silence since getting to Lunar - and steps back into the fray of lesser martial artists. A couple of them lurch at her but she manages to take ahold of one of them by the arm, flinging them through a nearby storefront. Glass shatters, along with priceless pottery.

"You hoodlums had better pay for that!" shrieks the store owner from inside. "I'll call the Guard! I'll call them right now."

Ah, fuck, Talise sighs internally before stepping forward again - only for Ida to land near her.

Talise actually doesn't go for her throat. She just lowers her eyelids a little and shakes her head. "No, he's a Seraph. Actually he's been helpful, in his own way. We've run across some interesting finds. You'd probably like to hear about some of 'em."

Looking Ida in the eye without having to look down several inches is weird, she realizes.

"But," she says, before shifting her shoulders a little.

With a quick sweep of her big ol' stick, she attempts to give Ida a firm whack on the arm, then another. "Not gonna lie," she comments as she steps back from there and shifts into a ready stance, "we kind of miss having you around! We actually kept your biscuits."

She even fishes one out and tosses it to Ida. Mmm, biscuit.

GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Gathering Tide Stance!
GS: Talise Gianfair has entered a Reflect stance!
GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

Lanval slurrrrrrps that sip of whatever he's drinking in that gourd of his. He doesn't feel that tap of impact of gourd to Hellion face. He opens one of his eyes half-way, a peek of a brilliant aquamarine color that peers out to the Unchained Devil herself.

A third of a second later, her palm lands dead center at the small of his back. His eyes squint shut tightly into a cartoonish X-like cross, a wide grimace on his face as his entire body shudders violently from an impact that should void the existence of a mortal spine.

A shockwave of power exudes from the point of impact as he is summarily launched further down the Blue Dragon Way. He does not land gently against the wall of a beseiged dojo, splatting up against it like a jet of water finding itself sprayed against a hard surface that just won't give. (To those who lack Resonance, it kind of looks like that.)

He slumps down the wall, slumping down into a puddle of crystal clear water that pools around him as he dazedly looks back to where Ida has just gotten done with an acrobatic maneuver. He grumbles, rolls, rests a hand up against the dojo wall, doesn't quiiiite get back up. He wheezes. A hit like that...

"There ain't no one elshe around," he reasons in the face of so many Drifters throwing themselves against a very potent Hellion and a very strange-looking man of some skill he's only capturing glimpses of. He doesn't recognize their technique at all. 'Ain't no one elshe around,' huh? Ida, off-handedly, asks if he's really a drunk who just pretends to be a Seraph.

He has a bit of a laugh at that. Laughter helps with the pain. A little. It doesn't help him so much with getting up. He does get up, just as some blonde-haired guy starts really going at her. He hears Talise defending his honor - he can see her sadness that punctuates her. They were close friends, then... he assumes until she became a Hellion.

"Mmmmph." He struggles, slouching as he drags his feet back towards the fight. Talise's best Seraphim friend comes close to the assist, as Talise looks to share a biscuit. "Don't ya worry... ha ha ha...!"

Then he trips and falls flat on his face. Which is... not that helpful an assist at all.

He starts to snore. It's loud. Seraphim technically don't need to breathe. This is the worst possible mortal thing any Seraphim could have picked up and adapted to themselves, because snoring is loud and it sucks. He turns while he rests, nose pointing upwards as magical energies surround his prone form.

Then there's a giant bubble that suddenly appears from his person. A big, silly bubble like people might draw in children's entertainment to denote someone sleeping soundly.

Then the bubble leaves his nostril, growing in greater size as it floats closer, closer, and closer, drifting towards the Unchained Devil as it drifts to and fro about some of the other fighters present.

The snoring continues.

GS: Seraph Lanval has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Sleepy Bubble!
GS: Seraph Lanval has completed his action.
DC: MISS! Ida Everstead-Rey completely evades Gathering Tide Stance from Talise Gianfair!
DC: MISS! Ida Everstead-Rey completely evades Sleepy Bubble from Seraph Lanval!
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.

Kalve is not entirely certain what he did to anger this small, furious girl, but he's starting to appreciate the kind of effort humans put into fighting while possessed by 'the hangry.'

Also the sharpness of their teeth.

Ow.

He's spread thin, though, and so she gets clear before he can deflect her. He's too occupied to interrupt whatever it is she's doing, and has yet to experience the terror that she's about to uncover... so, he'll get to that.

A different but familiar kind of magic erupts from one side. Kalve glides across the street to his right, circling Layna's wind-wreathed strike, only for the blades of air to slash out past it. Cuts manifest across the sleeve of his shouldered robe, grazing his side and tearing into whatever material that black shirt he's wearing is made of. There's a sound like chain links breaking in staccato on a small, almost minute scale. One of his hands briefly touches his side, fingertips coming away silver.

"Hnh." Kalve quirks a brow. He smiles -- and then, abruptly, swings two sub-arms up from his back in parallel, catching Gwen's explosive entry with a thunder-like 'CRACK' as fist meets Hyadean steel. There's a ringing that resonates through the street, and Kalve's eyes turn to meet Gwen's, his grin growing fierce. "Gwen! Good of you to join us! Now, please --"

His right two sub-arms twist unnaturally, fingers reversing direction and turning to grasping claws. One goes low, to sweep her feet out from under her, while the other flips her towards Layna. Kalve's right main hand, clad in that black gauntlet of his, flashes with yellow-white light, a blade lashing out right past them... and into the bottom of the sidewalk pastry vendor, dumping the entire cart on top of the two of them in an avalanche of laundry woes.

"They --" Fei's intensified assault meets Kalve's other three(!) hands at the same time, the Hyadean abandoning any pretense of humanity to properly engage his opponents. He dances back with light-footed steps and then lunges in, ducking below Fei's foot and letting his heel graze his shoulder. He slides forward in a crab-walk that should not be as fast as it is, legs flexing unnaturally as he swiftly closes the gap. Two of his sub-arms intercept Fei's simultaneous blows, while his main hand thrusts extended fingers for his chest, jabbing for a chakra point with strength to bruise bone. "-- should live. We aren't so weak as all that!"

And then...

...Chu.

The horrible abomination clings to Kalve's face. He disentangles himself from Fei with a pivoting step, standing straight. There is a weird sense of calm that comes over him. It's as if he's a man who has accepted that his soul has been damned, and it is this creature that has come to take it to Hell.

Kalve turns to Virginia. He reaches up to try to pull the doll off his face. "I think," he says, mustering a calm detachment to not scream a battle-cry in raw defiance of the horror that has been unleashed, "this is yours."

Kalve spikes the Chu-Chu Doll at her like a volleyball. There might be a 'chu~!'-like sonic boom. It's awful.

GS: Kalve has activated a Force Action!
GS: Kalve enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Kalve has attacked Virginia Maxwell with Oh Now Chu Gonna Get It!
GS: Kalve has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Giant Metal Spider Style!
GS: Kalve has attacked Layna Manydays with Method II - Force As Instruction!
GS: Kalve has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Method II - Force As Instruction!
GS: Kalve has completed his action.
GS: Layna Manydays takes a solid hit from Kalve's Method II - Force As Instruction for 163 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Kalve's Method II - Force As Instruction for 200 hit points!
GS: Hyper and Shield! Statuses applied to Kalve!
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Kalve's attack becomes clear!
GS: Virginia Maxwell takes a solid hit from Kalve's Method III - The Tempered Blade for 265 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida's lips tighten as the shopkeep starts screaming. Did the other Hellion make it out in time, or is this all for nothing? Is the Guard going to double down on her for it? Why, even, did she feel the need to do this, aside from--

"Hah," Ida says, the star in her chest brightening as Talise admits she misses her. Of course she does. "I'd be lying if I said the same weren't true." Talise steps in closer, and Ida sees the subtle shift in her footwork, and the way she positions her blade. She's setting up for reversals of her own--Kalve taught her how to look out for that sort of thing. Rather than retaliate immediately, Ida catches that blade with an open palm, applying just the right amount of force to steer it away from her. She's not so much blocking as gently guiding it, which is itself a sharp contrast to how she's typically fought like this. It's difficult. Talise is a skilled swordswoman.

"But you're better off without us," Ida says. She hangs on to that spark of self-reproach, that frustration, that sorrow. Malevolence flows down the meridians in her arm, illuminating them in brilliant violent. Her other hand moves forward several inches in an open-palm strike with enough force behind it to splinter a good-sized tree trunk. The biscuit appears to be respectfully declined.

And then: Sleepy Bubble. Ida... stares at it for a good second or two, and at Lanval. "I suppose there's evidence to back it," she murmurs, as the strange orb of drunken slumber wobbles ever-closer. It's about two feet away when Ida launches another open-palmed strike, the air surging forwards from the force of the blow. The bubble goes *pop* on the broken glass of the storefront. The shockwave rushes at Lanval, whose balance is precarious, shall we say, at the best of times.

And then, Claude. Something resembling fierce joy ignites in Ida's heart as she realizes he's not holding back, even as the rest of her is horrified. The star in her chest glows brilliantly, and the Malevolent light boiling from her scars follows suit. "Kalve!" Ida cries, as the Metal Demon scuttles bonelessly beneath Fei's kick. Watch!

Ida plants her feet and stands her ground. Claude falls on her, his fists a blur--but as she focuses, Malevolence-laced chi takes effect, and seconds seem to stretch out before her. Her hands move towards Claude's, open and careful, flowing with him and redirecting his considerable might. To outside observers, Ida's arms are moving as ridiculously fast as Claude's are, and anything beyond that is uncertain.

"Let me show you something, Claude," Ida says, her smile wide and fierce. She blurs forwards, driving an open palm towards Claude's chest.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Talise Gianfair with Raging Thunderbolt!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Open Palm!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Seraph Lanval with Devil Fist!
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Ida Everstead-Rey's attack becomes clear!
GS: CRITICAL! Claude C. Kenny guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Corpse-White Lotus Banquet for 86 hit points!
GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey drains Claude C. Kenny! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 43 temporary hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Talise Gianfair guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Raging Thunderbolt for 80 hit points!
GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Seraph Lanval takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Devil Fist for 140 hit points!
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Kalve's attack becomes clear!
GS: Fei Fong Wong critically Guards a hit from Kalve's Method IV - Freedom's Lie for 22 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.

To be fair, if you asked Virginia a day later about what he did to anger her, she'd probably already forget about it. But that is the Virginia of a day later, not the Virginia of the Now--

The Virginia that is still moving even after Kalve throws the abominable spawn of Hell back towards her.

The two meet in furious contact with one another.

The soulstuff that the Chu-Chu Doll is made of makes contact with the untenable, unknowable stuff that composes Virginia's unknown sense that just 'wings it' without respect to instruction, training, and knowledge.

AN EXPLOSION CONCHUUMES VIRGINIA MAXWELL

It's horrible, chu. For a moment, a nauseous, noxious cloud of aura envelopes a small patch of Blue Dragon Way-- such that even the fallen martial artists are beginning to twitch and gasps:

"Chu cannot escape..."

"Chuu..."

"My life for chu..."

As if in an intoxicated fervour.

For a moment, it seems over for the hangry girl, who's collapsed ontop of a pile of rubble, chu. But... but...

She rises, still.

"Han...gry..."

She raises an object which should be clear to Kalve by this point -- it's a Stone Medium, like Shamans and Zoa Priests have wielded against him, like the Baskar tribe have revered and blessed... like that which has been exposed at the Guardian Temple.

Except...

"Come... Guardian...!"

Nothing happens. Virginia Maxwell shakes the stone tablet a few times.

"... eh?"

She stares at it.

"Oh, it's upside down!"

She flips it up, and shakes it again like it's a protein shake.

"Come out... Guardian of Fire -- Moor Gault!!"

The effect, at the very least, is a little more localised than most; mystic flame begins to dance and ensconce her entire Medium-holding arm, and in a wellspring of energy--

A small firebird rockets across the space and leaves a blazing trail of fire, aimed straaaaaight at the martial artist.

GS: Virginia Maxwell has attacked Kalve with Material - L'oiseau de Feu!
GS: Virginia Maxwell has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise resists the urge to facepalm when Lanval falls over and snores. Lanval, it's hard to defend your honour when you keep falling asleep in the middle of the fight!

Ida shuttles Talise's big stick aside with a bit more grace than Talise might've expected from her six months ago. She sweeps it back around, giving the wooden length a brisk whirl as she eases to one side a little - but her attention is less on the fight than it is on what Ida's saying.

"That's not true," she says with a shake of her head. "I learned a lot from you. I would never have survived on Filgaia if you hadn't shown me so much. I'd never be able to even figure out half the things I find in the old ruins without things I learned from you, Ida." It's an earnest admission, and it comes with a little blush.

Ida punctuates her argument by palming her in the chest. Talise throws her arm across her body to try and catch Ida's forearm with hers. It doesn't quite work, largely because Ida's faster than she used to be.

There's a thump, and Talise winces as she's hurled off her feet and back towards the same storefront she'd collided with something in front of earlier. She slams into a support beam holding up the awning over the building. It cracks, the awning beginning to slouch perilously.

"You little brats!" the shopkeeper shrieks through the broken window. "I'll have all your faces on wanted posters!!"

Talise lowers her eyelids slightly.

"Look, the point is I like you, okay!" she finally calls back at Ida as she starts forward again.

She attempts to prove this to her by dropping her pole, balling up her fist, powering into range and attempting to sock her in the face with a great deal of latent half-Beastwoman strength coupled with the fact that she's actually a pretty good fighter with her bare hands. Enough so that she follows up with a couple of body blows and has her right arm drawn back as if to hit Ida should the woman punch her again.

GS: Talise Gianfair enters a Counter stance!
GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Roaring Wave Stance!
GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

Claude C. Kenny would really have preferred that Ida Everstead-Rey dodge all of his attacks; indeed, all things being equal, he would really have rather hit her with at least one or two or twenty of those punches. But evade them she does, slipping through the air and time with a grace that Claude has seldom seen before; she's faster than he is, he thinks with incredulity. With the exception of two individuals - Lady Harken and his mom, and it's even odds as to which of the two wins out - he's never seen anyone faster.

But as Ida slips through, preparing to attack, Claude has a single advantage - he's been trained for almost a decade by someone faster and stronger than he is. Trying to figure out how to time his moves consciously a half-beat faster to account for super-speed would be hopeless. Planning out how to twist to slip past the worst of a thundering strike would be impossible, in the heat of the moment.

Which is why Ilia Silvestri-Kenny has beat it into him, over thousands of spars - so he doesn't have to think.

Which is why when Ida's palm strike comes in, two things happen in the same fluid motion. The first is that Claude twists his left side back, the palm strike glancing off the side of his abdomen - a bloody painful shot, but not a crippling one. The second is that Claude's right boot slips up and tries to hook Ida's left foot out from under her, and spill her onto her ass if he can manage.

"Neat trick," Claude wheezes, his expression pained. "Here's mine."

The young man repeats the punch barrage, blasting rapid-fire strikes down toward Ida; only this time, when each blow lands, a blast of flaming red energy scorches the cobblestones.

GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Rolling Thunder Overturns the Sky!
GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

"Well, that's a shame, ain't it?" Layna replies, as Ida comments on her own response to Kalve. And then Talise mention that they miss having her around, and Layna nods.

"Aye, lass. It'd be great if you could stop by every now and then, y'know?" Layna says. Ida says they'd be better off without them, but... "Hm..."

Layna didn't believe that, but she wasn't about to stress the point. Right now, it was time to focus on the fight.

Layna focuses back on Kalve once more. It looked like she was able to make an impact...but Kalve is able to leave in an impact of his own as she finds Gwen suddenly being introduced to her at high speeds, along with a bunch of pastries.

Thanks to this, Kalve is mercifully spared Layna being able to spot him with a Chu-chu Doll attached to his face.

Layna catches one of the falling and swallows it down pretty quickly as she stands to her feet, a manic grin crossing her face.

The fact that she is covered in the remains of countless innocent pastries does not diminish this. It might even enhance it, depending on who you are.

"Fancy meeting you here, Gwen. How're you doin'?" Layna comments with a grin toward Gwen before looking back to Kalve.

"Damn, lad, you sure pack a punch! I like it!" She says with a raucous laugh, and then clenches her fist. At this, the bracers around her wrist ignite into flame. She then charges at him, an incantation causing the wind to pick up around her. It sweeps the flames up into itself before Layna sends herself rocketing toward Kalve as a flaming projectile, foot-first.

This is approximately at around the same time as Virginia invokes a Guardian on him, and she doesn't exactly have time to turn back.

It's fine. It'll be fiiine.

GS: Layna Manydays has attacked Kalve with Swab the Decks!
GS: Layna Manydays has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

Snnnnoooooooorrrrrrrre. The Seraphim's face looks too peaceful for the environs, but a much more careful look reveals little changes in his facial expression as he doesn't just sleep-cast - he seems to be sleep-eavesdropping. His lips tighten as Ida further wallows in her negative feelings, that feeling that maybe they'd be better off apart. He can feel that coming from here. His eyes aren't open, but it's not the sort of thing one picks up with sight.

She throws an open palm. He lazily rolls a bit off to the side. Were the shockwave just to be contained with that singular linear direction, he'd be in the clear. He appears to underestimate just how much power that shockwave packs by proxy. From where it strikes into some other storefront, the entire building violently shudders. The ground shakes ominously, like an earthquake, as its power courses through the earth and rattles him wide awake - tossing him up and down against the cold hard stone ground as a piece of debris himself. The morbidly obese manifestation of a water-elemental bounces along with the dispersing aftershock of the nearby shockwave impact, coming to a stop just to watch some mystical firebird - a Moor Gault? What the heck is a Moor Gault? Just fly overhead. His head turns a bit as he hears a name cry out from the Hellion - a Kalve. Oh, is that one there with the odd martial art style named Kalve? Huh. Well... more importantly.

Even after being tossed aside like a ragdoll a few times over, the Seraphim finds it in him to at least sit up as Talise struggles to reach out to her friend with as many heartfelt words as she can find. The way Ida previously dismissed it all with the idea they're better without...

"Mmmmpmhrhhmmhhrrrr." He aches all over. He can't remember the last time he's been that worked over. He holds up his gourd contemplatively. Rocking back and forth, standing back up is a challenge. How can someone fight if they can't seem to stay on their feet - that awe-inspiring feat of agility from that first kick aside?

"Talishe, hey... Talishe." Lanval speaks up. "Ida. If both of ya will kindly give yer Sheraphim friend, Lanval, a shec..." He hiccups, turning to face back. Uh. If he's talking to them maybe he should look them in the eyes, and not talk to the shards of glass on the ground angled in such a way he can catch their fight with one another.

He takes another quick sip of the gourd. For the short amount of time it makes contact with his lips, he gets a solid drag off of it. He swishes his mouth and gulps it down.

"I'll be right with you in just a moment..."

And then he takes another, longer drink. With his back turned, his position vulnerable, distracted with drinking, he seems vulnerable. Another good hit like the two he just took might be enough to put him down, but...

...The very air around them, though it does not overcome the ambient Malevolence, does seem to be getting, shall we say...

...mirthful.

GS: Seraph Lanval enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Seraph Lanval has attacked Seraph Lanval with Quick Swing!
GS: Seraph Lanval has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei continues to feel unnerved by chu presence. He isn't looking in chu direction but he doesn't need to chu understand, chu feel, chu fear.

Kalve deflects his strikes and hits back easily as Fei's guard is broken and endeavours to turn Fei's chi against him. To disrupt it. To bruise his bone. But Fei breathes in andinflux of new oxygen revitalizes the wound. Kalve's strike doesn't get past Fei's abs.

"Never skip core day." Fei says.

And then the power of a guardian is summoned. "Oh geeze..." Fei murmurs. "That's a bit much..." She must be very very hangry.

Fei crouches down, throwing a kick for Kalve's chin and then hops up from his other leg and tries to drill both feet into Kalve's face!

"How long have you served?" Fei asks. "Your style feels familiar for some reason..."

GS: Riposte! Statuses applied to Seraph Lanval!
GS: Seraph Lanval heals Seraph Lanval! He gains 100 temporary hit points!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has activated a Force Action!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Kalve with Tenbu!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: Kalve has activated a Force Action!
DC: MISS! Ida Everstead-Rey completely evades Roaring Wave Stance from Talise Gianfair!
GS: COUNTER! Kalve strikes at Virginia Maxwell with a counter attack!
GS: Kalve guards a hit from Virginia Maxwell's Material - L'oiseau de Feu for 225 hit points!
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Kalve's attack becomes clear!
GS: Virginia Maxwell takes a glancing hit from Kalve's Counter Attack for 93 hit points!
GS: Poison! Statuses applied to Virginia Maxwell!
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Claude C. Kenny's attack becomes clear!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Claude C. Kenny's Freestyle Combat Arts for 84 hit points!
GS: Kalve critically Guards a hit from Layna Manydays's Swab the Decks for 31 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Kalve critically Guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Tenbu for 33 hit points!
GS: Kalve enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

*CRACK*

That was far, far harder than Gwen expected a martial artist to be. Sure, this is Lunar, and shes kind of new to a lot of things here, but the human body is the human body, and...

Gwen! Good of you to join us! Now, please --

Well, that voice explains it real well. Uh, hi, uh, Kalve. Stunned by sugary goodness and the fact that shes punching Kalve, Gwen is picked up, easily enough. And thrown just as easily, too!

Thankfully Layna seems to be a good sport about it. Uh, sorry bout that, Layna, lemme juussst wipe this of- guardians, this is sticky! Barely managing with a stray handkerchief, the redhead sighs wistfully.

And looks at a spiderKalve, doing what a spiderKalve can do. Well, sort of. Its still freaky.

Also, Virginia is trying to summon a Guardian!

Oh, huh, I was wonderin if Guardians could be summoned on Lunar. I guess they-

Oh. Its upside-down. Huh. Well. Guess were all learnin new things today.

Layna moves back into the fray, leaving Gwen back, stunned by the turn of events. Uh. I guess... Ill... punch him again... She starts into a run towards the friendly neighborhood Kalve, her attacking pattern turning out to be far less flashy now that shes crashing from that sugar high. Hey Kalve-

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Kalve with Special Delivery!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has entered a Reflect stance!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Tabitha deVriese has posed.

Amid the burning spirits and glorious powers afoot, there comes a call.

"Oh, child. I did tell you to watch your temper, yes?"

And then a new combatant appears! From...above!? Standing atop the rooftop of the nearest dojo, she leaps down, drifting a little too long in the air before rather suddenly lashing toward the ground, crashing into the cobble behind Ida.

Tabitha deVriese, Etone priest, her skirt flaring with the suddenness of her descent.

She snaps a foot up, a heeled boot hooking around Ida's neck and swinging her toward the ground, whereupon Tabitha produces a GOD DAMN GUN and just, pelts the woman.

It's OK, they're magic bullets. It's just HP damage, not cutscene damage.

"I did warn you that God asks us to have mercy, young lady!" the Etone chimes.

GS: Tabitha deVriese has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Angel Sequence!
GS: Tabitha deVriese has completed her action.
DC: MISS! Ida Everstead-Rey completely evades Angel Sequence from Tabitha deVriese!
GS: CRITICAL! Kalve guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Special Delivery for 76 hit points!
GS: Jam! Statuses applied to Kalve!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida manages a weary little smile. It would seem out of place in the middle of a fight, but this is a very strange fight. "I don't think that was ever in question," Ida whispers, even as the storekeeper threatens her with more punishment. She wants to make it up to them. She wants to tell them to go sit and spin, and that the Guard can do the same for all she cares. The star in her heart flares from the dissonance--there is an honest-to-God Malevolent aura building around her. As Lanval takes a moment to fortify himself with illicit spirits, Talise gets right to the point.

Ida's arms suddenly snap into a guarding position. Talise's fist smashes into her left forearm, the impact carrying through to her other forearm, and traveling down her shoulders. Even then, Ida pushes back with all of her considerable strength. Talise can see large, ugly bruises welling up beneath Ida's flesh, but the Malevolence seeps into them, erasing them only a little more slowly than they form. Ida steps to the side, twisting on a heel. Talise's follow-up punch glances off her side. It stings, but it, too, starts to regenerate. "I didn't know you practiced open-handed," Ida says, sounding calm, if surprised.

Claude comes in from above. Projectiles smash into Ida's shoulders, chest, back--the impact knocks her breath from her lungs; already strained from keeping up with Talise, her regeneration can't quite shrug that off. Ida sags, a little, surrounded by smoking craters made by Claude's fists. "I never got the hang of that," Ida remarks, "I--"

'Guardian of Fire -- Moor Gault!!!'

Ida's remaining good humor fades like dew before the sun. Her eyes widen, and teeth snap together with an audible clack. Her heart leaps into her throat. She remembers receiving a Medium oh-so-very similar to the one Virginia is now using to try and set Kalve on fire with Guardian-flame. She remembers Moor Gault watching in open disgust as she helped Kalve across the floor. Her hand closes into a fist.

"Corpse," she says, turning to Virginia, "what is your na--"

And then, a voice from above. Tabitha's boot hooks around Ida's neck, and the Etone's weight all but hauls her off her feet, sending her sprawling to the ground. Tabitha lowers the gun as Ida struggles, and pulls the trigger.

Ida surges upwards in a headbutt. Malevolence-laced chi surges in front of her forehead, flaring golden--and the bullet stops cold, flattening itself against Ida's skin. A little indentation, a little blood. "Forgive me, Sister," Ida says, her voice tight. She goes for Tabitha's waist, trying to wrap an arm around her and then slam her bodily into the ground. This is something of a distraction, though--because Ida's body melts into shadow again, blurring forwards, reforming behind Virginia. Malevolent chi hisses from between her lips as she balls up her fists, jumps up, and tries to slam yet another double axe handle into the back of Virginia's head. She does not stop there. Barely-restrained fury animates her as she flows into a sequence of brutally efficient punches.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Tabitha deVriese with Reversal!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Virginia Maxwell with Gleeful Cessation Of Restraint!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Virginia Maxwell takes a glancing hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Gleeful Cessation Of Restraint for 131 hit points!
GS: Virginia Maxwell loses a Combo from Interrupt!
GS: Tabitha deVriese takes a glancing hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Reversal for 52 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

Claude C. Kenny sucks in desperate breaths, chest and shoulders heaving as he struggles for oxygen. His cestuses crumble and fall away into ash, because apparently they weren't designed to chew on fire explosions. He starts to take a step toward the fight, then...

....

"Oh man, I am the worst bodyguard," Claude mutters as he scrambles toward Cecilia and then, shortly thereafter, to safety.

(just kidding, it's to noodles)

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise isn't a classically-trained martial artist - Ida can tell that much - but she's a pretty damn solid pugilist. She throws a wolfish grin at her Malevolence-choked friend. "I grew up on a pirate ship, you learn how to fight pretty quick!" she reveals, eventually dropping back with little fanfare and cocking her right fist back as if expecting Ida to come after her. The counterpunch hangs there.

Hangs there and waits.

Haaaaaangs there.

And doesn't get to come, as someone drops a Guardian on Ida's boyfriend. "Hoooo boy, this escalated quickly," Talise sighs as she instead turns her counterpunch on one of the few initiate martial artists still stupid enough to think she has a chance.

Ida dodges the fist-shaped bullet. Instead, a young kung-fu guy goes sailing through the storefront window. Something shatters loudly. "Oh Goddess, the priceless china!" shrieks the store owner. "You little punks won't get away with this!!"

Talise doesn't chase Ida right away. She stops as Ida takes a swing at Virginia and Tabitha - she knows one of those two, but not the other, and right now she kind of can't help but feel Ginny deserves it. For all that Ida's purple and nasty right now, Kalve ain't the worst Hyadean on the block. She steals a glance towards Lanval, as if to check if he's alright.

"At this rate we're all going to wind up on wanted posters," she sighs, before giving her right hand a brisk shake. She clenches it into a tight fist.

As Ida attempts to pound on Virginia, Talise moves forward. She launches herself across the square, dropping her right shoulder and swinging her arm back as she builds momentum. In front of her, Ida's taking a big ol' swing at Ginny's dome and continuing to punch.

Talise doesn't make conversation this time - but she does suddenly explode into Ida's field of vision, almost uncomfortably close. She snaps her right arm out.

Talise grunts as she attempts to punch Ida square in the gut with an enormous blow, aiming to double her over - and if she can do that, she'll swing her other arm up.

And with a shout, she'll attempt to give her a literal fucking suplex.

Onto Ginny.

Because of course.

GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Cascading Steel Dragon!
GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

"Ha ha ha..." This laughter doesn't really have a place here, here within this emotional swamp of misery and injury. Contradictory emotions are running wild. The Malevolence exudes rising flecks of purplish-black underneath. Beyond the power that the Unchained Devil can bring to bear, she is allowing it to spread from her very core - from that star that beats within her chest.

...But the air, also, feels... mirthful. It's kind of intoxicating, in a somewhat different way. Celebratory, perhaps. Maybe just annoying, but there's something about the cheerfulness that is infectious. But... where did Lanval go? The laughter is everywhere, but where did he--

"Talise," Lanval comes up behind the half-Beastwoman, raising a hand up to pat her broad shoulder. Lanval's eyes are all the way open, the brilliant aquamarine piercing through the spiritual darkness that pervades this part of Meribia, "it's all right. She's decided she's not ready to reconcile." There's a laugh inside his throat that wants to escape. The peaceful smile on his lips seems less that of a carefree drunkard just wasting away their days in alcohol, and more like a...

"But what she's had is enough for today." Laughter escapes him. His smile widens as he throws the gourd up into the air. More liquid splashes out of it than seems like it should contain, as he thrusts it up into the air in a toast to pretty much no one. The water that pools where it lands is sparkling clear. Though the ambient Malevolence will eventually overtake it, one could see their face unblemished in a reflection. He breaks away from Talise as he moves closer to Ida.

"Hellion Ida...!" His voice is booming. It carries as far as it needs to for her to hear, even wrapped in her rage towards Virginia, in the misery that churns within the star that is inside her chest. She will know that someone is talking to her. This isn't exactly a simple Seraphim shouting at her. The tone of his voice has too much mirth to even be considered much in the way of shouting. Cheering, maybe.

He takes another drink from the gourd, as bubbles fills the air. They build over in incredible numbers, as great sorcerous power exudes from him - the element of water, channeled through a potent focus for the element that water holds strength over (fire).

The bubbles are everywhere, surrounding Ida. Reflections of a grinning, cheerful, laughing, mirthful Lanval are everywhere. It's like being stuck in a fun house maze, but all the people in the reflection are Lanval, laughing and moving along while having himself another drink...

"Be on your way in good health!" So says Lanval, as he wipes away some of the sparkling water on his very lips, back facing the mass of bubbles that explode at once as he calls out the very name of the Mystic Arte in question!

MYSTIC ARTE: Revelry Labyrinth

"Ha ha haaaaaaa... ha ha ha... haaaaah... hic!" Lanval hiccups, and falls to his seat.

GS: Seraph Lanval enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Seraph Lanval has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Revelry Labyrinth!
GS: Seraph Lanval has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.

Kalve, mid-strike, spies Ida out of the corner of his eye. His head turns, slightly, to see her furious, blisteringly-fast strikes. If she has an instant to look, she'll see him smiling in clear approval.

Kalve spikes the spawn of the Devil (not Mother; Devils, not Demons, learn your lower planar entities) back at its owner. He thinks, for a moment, that the girl who controls it is down for the count. He breathes --

-- and laughs at Fei's pithy comment. He raises his main hands, four extra arms surrounding him like a steel cloud. Fei leaps at him again, and he clips his chin this time, head jerking upwards. All four of his sub-arms sweep in and cross, barely intercepting the drill-kick aimed to make him see the inside of his own skull.

"Since my creation," Kalve tells him easily, much more conversational in the heat of battle. "Two centuries, by Filgaian reckoning. The Method is much older than that, of course --"

The medium comes out, and Kalve steps away. He braces himself, curling his arms around his body in a defensive screen. Yellow light plays across his black gauntlets, solidifying in rows of rapidly-erected ablative plates, formed like a blast shield.

The firebird touches him, and it's like a spark landing in an oil slick. Fire explodes across his body, hungry and all-consuming. He clenches his teeth and utters a low, pained growl, rising in volume as the fire rages. The sorcerous flames send his thoughts back to the Temple and the disgust and disdain the Guardians showed him for even setting foot in their domain. Then, to Arctica, and to his first encounter with such magic, vividly remembering the very nearly deadly blow he took when he underestimated such power for the first time.

The barriers crumble. Two dissolve into dust, blown away by hot wind. Another is shattered by the sudden kick from Layna off to one side of him, the force collapsing the hovering shield inward and sending bits to scatter over his body like burning embers. Gwen's follow-up hits him from behind, whether she intends it or not, staggering him and dropping him to his knees.

Something like needles erupts from the shell, glittering oddly and rendered in yellowish light. They curve outward, a direct and painful response that cuts through the blaze and homes in on the hand that holds the Medium, trying to force her to drop it. The fire parts in a wave, the Metal Demon caught beneath stepping out, a wave of ash rolling off his shoulders as his new robe is left to burn. The Silhouette Engine works in overdrive, and there's a

CRACK-THOOM

as summoned and instantly-detonated explosives turn the air around him in every direction into a solid wave of fire and force. The carefully-orchestrated display of martial skill dissolves into chaos, with fallen combatants and shattered scenery getting sent tumbling in every direction. The fires flicker and fade -- and Kalve crosses the gap between them with a bellowing shout, taking two long strides, his whole body a mass of gleaming, molten steel.

Kalve stops short of her. His four sub-arms, fully exposed and anchored to a curving piece of metal affixed to his spine, swing upward and outward. His two hands swing forward, coming together with a thunderous noise that echoes weirdly and causes the air between them to twist and roil as if revolted by whatever he'd done to it. A haze of nearly-invisible Malevolence billows off of him, blanketing the air with a stench that refuses to really touch him. It isn't him creating it, but there's just so much --

It follows that channel towards the summoner, though, a roiling, poisonous cloud that somehow singularly expresses what he's feeling: Pain. Fury. Hate.

No wonder the Medium worked so well.

GS: Kalve has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Method II - Force As Instruction!
GS: Kalve has attacked Layna Manydays with Method II - Force As Instruction!
GS: Kalve has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Method II - Force As Instruction!
GS: Kalve has activated a Force Action!
GS: Kalve has attacked Virginia Maxwell with Mother's Malevolence!
GS: Layna Manydays has activated a Force Action!
DC: MISS! Layna Manydays completely evades Method II - Force As Instruction from Kalve!
GS: Layna Manydays used the Force Action Protect! She takes Kalve's attack on Virginia Maxwell on herself!
GS: Layna Manydays has activated a Force Action!
DC: MISS! Layna Manydays completely evades Mother's Malevolence from Kalve!
GS: Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Kalve's Method II - Force As Instruction for 114 hit points!
GS: Gwen Whitlock critically Guards a hit from Kalve's Method II - Force As Instruction for 60 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei says, "Well I," An explosion happens. Fei is launched backwards though he manages to land on his feet throwing a hand down to maintain balance.

He grunts and stumbles away from Kalve by a few more feet, partially because this has gone from spar, past rumble, and into a dire firefight. He looks towards Ginny for a long moment. He was right to be a little terrified of her, he thinks.

Fei cricks his neck and then cracks knuckles, grunting faintly.

"Guys maybe we can...take a break here? This is getting kind of real for a fight I...am not really sure what happened to start this in the first place?"

<Pose Tracker> Tabitha deVriese has posed.

Tabitha's eyes widen, fractionaly, as Ida defends herself with raw chi power. The bullet, if Ida has the heartbeats of attention to spare, looks more like a thin wire of metal, somehow infused with magic. That's not a normal ARM...

It detonates itself when it touches her, a blast of raw fire. Tabitha's surprised enough that Ida gets the drop on her in turn, thumping her into the ground. The Etone throws herself back into the air, kipping up swiftly. She doesn't, actually, really move to rescue Virginia. She takes her time, checking her weapon, holstering it.

She doesn't see the Seraph acting with something like divine authority. She might be fascinated if she did. Instead, she merely benefits from it, finding herself smiling a bit too widely as she draws up toward Ida, as she savages Virginia.

An unseen power swirls around her fingertips as she draws up the last step, and then snakes herself into Ida's stance. It's swift, too swift, as she suddenly lashes out with a sinuous, too-quick series of kicks. One snaps up, falls down, and turns immediately into the pivot for the next. One, two, on the fall back from the second she pivots fully around so her heel comes in for the third hit, then her leg kicks down for a sharp knee to the chest, then with both feet on the ground she sweeps loosely with one fist.

She says, "To be forgiven you must try to change."

She has a strangely calm smile as she then thrusts forward with both arms, and releases that power - sending out a rippling wave of SOMETHING that makes the stomach turn. "Go with God!" Tabitha declares.

And if Ida can't exert her chi stronger than this power, she will; finding herself not merely thrown away, but as if she were suddenly falling up, at about a forty degree angle. Enough to crest a rooftop and send her entirelyl out of the battle.

GS: Tabitha deVriese has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Ascension Sequence!
GS: Tabitha deVriese has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

It's only once her foot makes contact with Kalve that Layna realizes exactly what it is that Virginia has done. She curses mentally.

She doesn't think that she did it out of any sort of malice - this was Virginia Maxwell, after all. Sure, she could be stubborn, but there wasn't a malevolent bone in her body - not to be confused with Malevolent, which was an entirely different thing.

She can't do anything about Ida's barrage. It gets a wince out of her, but she can understand the fury Ida must be feeling right now. Lanval has that taken care of. Kalve, though...

With a quick incantation, Layna's body is surrounded in a green glow. The wind picks up around her, roaring wildly. All around her, there are explosions. It's The shockwave from the explosion and all the parts around her as she practically flies through debris in Virginia's direction, separating her from Kalve just in time to take the brunt of his attack.

It's an awful, terrible assault - a combination of a devastating physical attack with all his current limbs and Malevolence bent to his will. His pain, his fury, his hate, she takes it all upon herself.

An ordinary person would've been killed by it. ...Even Layna herself might've been, if it wasn't for the protective aura. Even so, it downgrades it from a fatal strike to merely 'oh Goddess, my organs'. It's enough to drop her to one knee.

As for the Malevolence...well, this wasn't the first time she'd taken on a mass of Malevolence for Virginia Maxwell. It seethes from her body, and for a moment it seems like it might take hold...but she manages to shake it off. Her will remains strong.

"...Lass, you alright...?" Layna murmurs with a cough, glancing back at Virginia with a grin that takes a bit of effort to maintain. And then she forces herself to her knees, turns her attention to Kalve...and raises her hands.

"...Come on, lad. Let's calm down, aye? She's had enough. She didn't know what she doin'." She says. Her smile is a bit forced at the moment from the injury he'd inflicted.

<Pose Tracker> Virginia Maxwell has posed.

Virginia is barely down from the channeling of her Medium's power when Ida suddenly rushes to her side. She barely whips her blue eyes towards her before she hears her, and is briefly distracted by Tabitha.

No matter, because Ida blurs into shadow and slams into her fist, smashing brutally against her head.

Hat falls to the ground, with a little DX expression on its face and a panic.

There's an unnatural convulsion from the young, small girl's head; something caves, and blood drips in and mixes with her chestnut-brown hair as she slumps forward with a gurgle.

That... really should have been the end of her. But no--

She turns--

And Ida batters her, again, and again. Her punches rain down upon her small frame like the stings of a vicious hornet bee on prey; with each accentuated jab and hook, her very clothes get shredded and battered, skin broken with each strike.

And Kalve--

Kalve charges forward with his four sub-arms unveiled. Virginia can sense it, just as much as she can sense it in Ida. It's Malevolence... and it's ensconced him. No, he's not the source, but invisible to it...

Her thoughts are interrupted. The roiling, poisonous cloud that subsumes her, consumes her like it did before in the Hollow.

But it isn't all despair. The drunken Seraph, friend of Talise, rises as he surrounds the air with what could only be called as the very spirit of revelry; he moves forward and splashes the air with liquid, and she stares upon her face for a moment--

The girl in the black dress laughs...

Virginia stares wide for a moment-- and it all coalesces within her in that very instance.

Something... something gorges out of her hand. Clawed, twisted... familiar. But in the midst of the Malevolence that so chokes this area, as the manifestation starts to enlarge... Layna takes an attack that was meant for her. Mirrors what she once did for Maya Schrodinger.

Her eyes widen as her pupils shrink. She she nearly loses it--

... Let's calm down, aye?

And with those words, those that are around her can see... white hair quickly returning back to her chestnut-brown colour. Cracked, pale skin becoming healthy again... the red gleam of her eye returning back to blue, as Layna reassures her.

That whisper in her ear... at that moment...

She shakes her head. "... yeah... I've-- had enough," Virginia murmurs rather faintly, as she holds onto Layna's shoulder, indicating that they should go.

DC: MISS! Ida Everstead-Rey completely evades Cascading Steel Dragon from Talise Gianfair!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Seraph Lanval's Revelry Labyrinth for 203 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Tabitha deVriese's Ascension Sequence for 74 hit points!
GS: Quick! Statuses applied to Tabitha deVriese!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey loses a Combo from Interrupt!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

The memory replays itself, over and over, in the back of Ida's mind. Malevolence imbues it with a sort of perverse clarity that brings out all the horrible elements--the exhaustion, the fatigue, the confusion, the rage at those bizarre heathen gods. Gods who had the temerity to declare her unworthy for being unable to answer an unanswerable question to their satisfaction. Gods who judged her and found her wanting, just like so many people back home. Her heartbeat hammers in her ears. She wants to do nothing more than to take the woman who hurt her lover and break her.

And she knows there's a part of her that would never be able to live with herself if she did.

Talise swings. There's the heavy thunk of a fist hitting flesh, and she can feel Ida's body give around the blow, but it's like it doesn't even slow her down. She just lets out a heavy hiss of breath, twists back at the waist in a movement that is too graceful and flowing to come from someone with a normal human skeleton. Her eyes meet Talise's, glittering with violet light. Does she hear what Talise is saying, or is she too badly lost in the memory?

Tabitha grabs her with something she cannot see. Ida feels herself being torn free from the ground, and from Talise's grip, before the Beastwoman can suplex her. She reaches out, grabs the edge of the roof as she flies upwards in blatant defiance of gravity. Slate shingles give beneath her weight. Magic, Ida thinks, and the bizarre nature of it is enough to give her pause. It looks, for a moment, like Tabitha's magic worked--that Ida has been knocked free of the combat zone. Or has she?

A glimmer of violet light. Ida comes roaring down from above like a meteor, fists drawn back...

Then things happen. The air around her becomes lighter, more mirthful. Images surround her, one after another, the face of the drunken man Talise claimed was a Seraph. Ida blinks, in mid-air, and when she lands a few seconds later it's merely a hard thunk, and not the earth-shaking slam she had planned on. Her breath quickens. Lanval tells her she's had enough. Ida cannot see her bleeding lover through the haze of bubbles. She can't think straight. Moor Gault's voice comes back to her, with a mocking tone it might never have had in reality.

You have been found wanting, but we have no other choice. We share with you our blessing, and our deepest grief.

"Stop it--!" Ida hisses out. Bits of the memory leak out, flickering through some of the pools near Lanval and Talise. Several figures standing in the company of... god-monsters, for lack of a better term, entities unlike anything Lanval has ever seen. Someone much like Kalve is there, on his knees with pain. Ida is desperately trying to help him to his feet. They've failed.

If it is in your nature to do anything but murder, we would have you do it. If not, you will be swept aside, as ash.

The bubbles burst. Ida is on her knees, wide-eyed, breathing hard.

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise hits Ida but of course it doesn't actually do anything, because Talise is fucking weak and useless. The people who mean something take over from there.

"WHOAHdamn," Talise gasps as Lanval suddenly bubbles up behind her, nearly jumping out of her boots with surprise.

But once again, her drunken ghost friend surprises her with some words of wisdom. Talise blinks as Lanval says his piece. She takes a step back, giving her hand a shake and biting down to her lower lip.

It would be nice to try and persuade Ida back from the dark side right now. But Lanval's right. She's not ready yet. And if Talise is being honest, she's not ready for it either - she's still awfully bitter about a few things, with no end of guilt following her around.

"...Yeah," she says, exhaling heavily. "Yeah, I'm done."

Ida goes down. Talise starts to move towards her but is probably intercepted or preempted or something before she can actually do anything.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

It happened far faster than Gwen could really comprehend. It just... went from a fight, to something worse.

And Virginia is there, suffering a counterattack far more violent than Gwen would have guessed.

It was understandable. Kalve and Ida had a special sort of relationship, one that Gwens glad has survived, even now. It just comes with some consequences, now that Ida has more power, and Kalve being... Kalve. Ida may seem like shes fully in control of her new state, moreso than any Hellion Gwens really come across, but shes still ultimately a Hellion. And subject to being far more true to certain aspects of herself than others, along with a healthy degree of supernatural power.

And again, Kalve is Kalve.

Hahahaa, yeah, that was a good ol callback to the Badlands, alright, Gwen says with a nervous laugh, a bit louder than she should have, but she wanted to get peoples attention. But I think everyones right. Were gettin outta hand, n if we were gonna get any real fun outta this, it cant be out here. N not while tempers are beginnin to flare. The redhead looks at Fei, then at Virginia. And besides, Im kinda... am sticky right now? N while I wouldnt mind a good spar, I cant do it here, for obvious reasons. She motions to the impressive Kalve, trying to signal his attention. Um, hey. Tmake up for this whole, uh, part of me fallin into this n makin things worse, how bout we meet up sometime n do a good spar? Ive gotten stronger, n youd probably like the data youd get from that, right? Like, a spar, n not an actual serious fight, so that I know I can go all out n not have to worry about runnin away.

She looks to the struggling Ida.

What would be best here?

What would be the thing Gwen wanted to be alive for, if not to protect someone? Since, well, that kinda got by her quick.

What would be the kind thing to do?

Quietly, she walks over to Ida. Hey. She extends a hand, trying to ignore the broiling pools of Malevolence, seething in her minds eye like sizzling poison. Um. Things got away from us. Maybe we should all take a break, n come back at a different point. For apologies, n the like.

Well, the kindest thing would be for her to go first, wouldnt it?

Im sorry. For, uh, punching your b... good friend. Twice. The first time was an accident, but I cant say that for the second, n... yeah. The hand, if not accepted, is still held out.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

It happened far faster than Gwen could really comprehend. It just... went from a fight, to something worse.

And Virginia is there, suffering a counterattack far more violent than Gwen would have guessed.

It was understandable. Kalve and Ida had a special sort of relationship, one that Gwens glad has survived, even now. It just comes with some consequences, now that Ida has more power, and Kalve being... Kalve. Ida may seem like shes fully in control of her new state, moreso than any Hellion Gwens really come across, but shes still ultimately a Hellion. And subject to being far more true to certain aspects of herself than others, along with a healthy degree of supernatural power.

And again, Kalve is Kalve.

"Hahahaa, yeah, that was a good ol callback to the Badlands, alright," Gwen says with a nervous laugh, a bit louder than she should have, but she wanted to get peoples attention. "But I think everyones right. Were gettin outta hand, n if we were gonna get any real fun outta this, it cant be out here. N not while tempers are beginnin to flare." The redhead looks at Fei, then at Virginia. "And besides, Im kinda... am sticky right now? N while I wouldnt mind a good spar, I cant do it here, for obvious reasons." She motions to the impressive Kalve, trying to signal his attention. "Um, hey. Tmake up for this whole, uh, part of me fallin into this n makin things worse, how bout we meet up sometime n do a good spar? Ive gotten stronger, n youd probably like the data youd get from that, right? Like, a spar, n not an actual serious fight, so that I know I can go all out n not have to worry about runnin away."

She looks to the struggling Ida.

What would be best here?

What would be the thing Gwen wanted to be alive for, if not to protect someone? Since, well, that kinda got by her quick.

What would be the kind thing to do?

Quietly, she walks over to Ida. "Hey." She extends a hand, trying to ignore the broiling pools of Malevolence, seething in her minds eye like sizzling poison. "Um. Things got away from us. Maybe we should all take a break, n come back at a different point. For apologies, n the like."

Well, the kindest thing would be for her to go first, wouldnt it?

"I'm sorry. For, uh, punching your b... good friend. Twice. The first time was an accident, but I cant say that for the second, n... yeah." The hand, if not accepted, is still held out.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

It happened far faster than Gwen could really comprehend. It just... went from a fight, to something worse.

And Virginia is there, suffering a counterattack far more violent than Gwen would have guessed.

It was understandable. Kalve and Ida had a special sort of relationship, one that Gwen's glad has survived, even now. It just comes with some consequences, now that Ida has more power, and Kalve being... Kalve. Ida may seem like she's fully in control of her new state, moreso than any Hellion Gwen's really come across, but she's still ultimately a Hellion. And subject to being far more true to certain aspects of herself than others, along with a healthy degree of supernatural power.

And again, Kalve is Kalve.

"Hahahaa, yeah, that was a good ol' callback to the Badlands, alright," Gwen says with a nervous laugh, a bit louder than she should have, but she wanted to get people's attention. "But I think everyone's right. We're gettin' outta hand, n' if we were gonna get any real fun outta this, it can't be out here. N' not while tempers are beginnin' to flare." The redhead looks at Fei, then at Virginia. "And besides, I'm kinda... am sticky right now? N' while I wouldn't mind a good spar, I can't do it here, for obvious reasons." She motions to the impressive Kalve, trying to signal his attention. "Um, hey. T'make up for this whole, uh, part of me fallin' into this n' makin' things worse, how 'bout we meet up sometime n' do a good spar? I've gotten stronger, n' youd probably like the data you'd get from that, right? Like, a spar, n'not an actual serious fight, so that I know I can go all out n' not have to worry about runnin away."

She looks to the struggling Ida.

What would be best here?

What would be the thing Gwen wanted to be alive for, if not to protect someone? Since, well, that kinda got by her quick.

What would be the kind thing to do?

Quietly, she walks over to Ida. "Hey." She extends a hand, trying to ignore the broiling pools of Malevolence, seething in her mind's eye like sizzling poison. "Um. Things got away from us. Maybe we should all take a break, n' come back at a different point. For apologies, n' the like."

Well, the kindest thing would be for her to go first, wouldn't it?

"Im sorry. For, uh, punching your b... good friend. Twice. The first time was an accident, but I can't say that for the second, n'... yeah." The hand, if not accepted, is still held out.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

Whatever it is that got in that Seraphim, he's back on his seat looking a little less not pathetic, and more not whatever it was he just did, and with this confusing swirl of negatives that might just be the Malevolence leaking into one's reading comprehension, a tantalizing jump of subject moves towards the pool of water nearby. Images of...

Lanval's left eye opens half-lidded, hand stroking his beard as he catches glimpses of things he's never seen before. He casts a look back over to the kneeling Hellion as if to make sure there's not a reflection of other weird things that might be here, what's he looking at...?

Before he can ruminate for much longer on this, he can feel the bitterness and sorrow off of Talise.

"Hey. Talishe... Talishe," Lanval might be pre-empting her verbally, but he hasn't moved to pull her away from Ida. For what might he may command under the power of his Seraphic Artes, there is no way he could physically restrain her. (There are not many among mortals who ever could, either.)

"It'sh okay." It's hard to say this when there's clouds of Malevolence built up in such concentration in this part of Meribia, but he says this with as much conviction as there is slurring. He stands back up, staggering back towards Talise's direction. His gaze, or what little of a gaze he seems to be giving, tracks across Blue Dragon Way. Like he's expecting something else to be here...? Someone or something that should be here, but isn't.

One thing at a time, he supposes.

"Take it eashy, Talishe," he says, "let'sh jusht... get outta the Malevolence. Mmmmmph. It'sh more than I'm ushed to... sheein'." He lets that thought hang. It really is a lot more than he's used to seeing, up here within the Boundary.

Kind of like that other place they saw from the heights of Mt. Zulan. What's it all mean, he wonders? There's a bunch of interesting faces here. He's sure seen a lot of those, over the years, even if he couldn't ever put many names to them.

For now, there's at least two he has good cause to be much, much more concerned about in the short term.

"Heeeeey... Laynaaa," Lanval's words trail as he waves an arm to her, recognizing she might not be in the best health physically, she looks like she took a nasty one, "we oughtta go."

And, at last, back over to Ida. What can he say to her? She's got it baaaaaaad, if all the Malevolence built up here is any indication. "Talishe... she really caresh 'bout you." That is the undeniable truth. "Ahhhh, tell ya what... jusht leave yer friendsh to li'l ol' me, 'n... when yer ready... hm, hm, hmmm..."

He puts on a little smile. "...I'll drink away yer worriesh, too. 'Till then ya... gotta go." That's the best he can do to convince her to leave in peace, as he takes another look about the area again - who or what is he looking for?

<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.

Stubborn, foolish courage and a will to avoid the worst stops this already-reckless battle from getting well and truly out of hand.

Kalve staggers, extended hands dropping to his sides. He takes a step backwards, and his sub-arms become long and spidery, bracing him on the ground. He looks about a half-step from falling over... which isn't surprising, since it also looks like the now-exposed skin up his arms and partly on his midsection has been burned off. Fortunately(?), what's underneath looks like hot, pitted metal, creaking as it cools, gaps steadily filling and turning him into something more... solid.

Kalve stares straight ahead. He tenses his jaw. The Metal Demon takes a slow step towards the side of the road, where a barrel of rainwater is still inexplicably standing. He thrusts one hand into it, and a cloud of steam erupts from the interior. He holds that position for a few seconds, then yanks his arm out, flexing his stiff fingers as joints pop back into the proper alignment.

"Next time," Kalve says, keeping the awful ache out of his voice for the most part, "I would rather our excursion not escalate so suddenly. I..." His eyes turn to Virginia. He stares at her for a long moment. "...apologize... for briefly attempting to kill you. It is, unfortunately, a reaction I will continue to have to the presence of those stones." A little bit of that anger creeps into his voice. He reins it back in. "I will calm myself once I have cooled down."

He means that literally.

Kalve's head jerks in a short nod at Layna, and then a less sudden one at Gwen. "Yes. I would like to see that. Once we've..." He gestures at the chaos. Then, he starts across the street, longer sub-arms withdrawing as his feet get back under him. He's moving towards Ida, to do his best to help her up with his cooler hand. It's probably best they went.

Kalve thinks the air is still a little wet. He absolutely does not see the Seraph floating around.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei's thigh feels like its burning. A voice whispers, 'Knight of Fire' to him. Fei rubs at his forehead. He barely, barely avoids a breakdown, in no small part thanks to everyone agreeing to the ceasefire.

"Thanks for the match," Fei says but he doesn't stick around for long. He gives one last look to Ida before going off to look for Cecilia.

<Pose Tracker> Tabitha deVriese has posed.

Tabitha's power sends Ida flying away. She lightens up, as if it were all so simple. A little touch from the hand of God, and--

And that didnt' do shit. Ida roars back down among them, and Tabitha's eyes are widening even as the girl swoops down.

And crumples. Tabitha watches this.

She all but fades away; lurking back and away, rounding a corner to think. She produces her little notebook, jotting down a few observations.

She triple underlines the word Malevolence, then claps it shut and saunters away.

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna glances to the side at Virginia for a moment as she holds onto her shoulder before turning her attention toward Kalve. She doesn't want to take her eyes off of him for too long, lest he do something else. If this goes any further, well...

...Fortunately, it doesn't seem like that's the case.

Layna returns his nod with one of her own. She can understand why he had reacted in the way she did, and she could respect that he was able to pull himself out of it.

But even so...Virginia and Lanval were right. Sticking around here would probably do more harm than good. It would probably be better that they leave.

"...Aye. Aye." Layna agree with a nod toward Virginia and Lanval both. She turns around.

"You staying somewhere, lass? We can walk you back." She offers, and gets moving. She's...a little unsteady on her feet, and'll probably need to stop somewhere to rest along the way.

And maybe a gel or two.