2020-01-24: The Unbeatable Love We Share
- Log: The Unbeatable Love We Share
- Cast: Kamui, Clarissa Arwin, Acacia Saitani, Seraph Clarine, Zhang Xiumei, Dash Caskett, Tio, Marivel Armitage, Gami
- Where: Great Sea
- Date: January 24, 2020
- Summary: After so long, Kamui returns to the Ruins of Lab -Tishrei- with her friends in ARMs, in hopes of once again seeing the one she loves. Will they find the person they seek, in the depths of the laboratory? And what memories will it bring to the fore...?
===============================<* Great Sea *>================================ The Great Sea lay at the very heart of northern Aquvy. The islands, great and small, of the continent are clustered around it. This is one of the most active trading regions on Filgaia. Ships come and go frequently. There are numerous small islands throughout the Great Sea. These offer both places of respite and promises of riches. Small villages offer a place away from the hustle and bustle of great cities like Meria Boule. Diggers flock to the many ruins -- and yet-to-be-found ruins -- scattered across uninhabited islands. Sometimes peaceful, sometimes fraught, the Great Sea is never without adventure to be found.
DG: A party led by Acacia Saitani is now entering Ruins of Lab -Tishrei-. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=========================<* Ruins of Lab -Tishrei- *>=========================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - EXPRESS UG *>=========================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The Ruins of the Laboratory -Tishrei- take you to the coast of Meria Boule's
southern peninsula, far from being an obscure ruin in the midst of
wilderness. There, you all see it -- the wreckage of an ancient, massive
metal building is plainly moored between large crags where the beach ends
and a sheer cliffside begins.
Inside, the air is chilly and still as a panel pops into place as if
detecting your presence. Streams of data filter through the panel monitor,
and you can read the following words--
-DETECTING-
Biosignatures Detected: -Drifter- Designation C2A2
Constructing Appropriate Challenges...
-READY-
--and the very world seems to reconstruct around you, altering data cube by
data cube into a highway from a far-gone civilisation, replete with tall
skyscrapers in the distance. The sky is burning, and spotlights are
everywhere.
Any further awe will have to wait, however. The very highway is also the
scene of a battle -- terrified motorists in cars and trucks are headed your
way, as they flee the incoming bombs of massive mechanical bees!
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
It's been a long time coming.
A long while ago - possibly more than six months now, Marivel Armitage first met and dragged Acacia Saitani and several other drifters when the ARMS team was still young and untested. There, they uncovered an inert Reploid who promised to sleep for all eternity... and yet, fate intervened and her eyes awoke to the world once more.
And now--
They've returned.
The Ruins of Lab -Tishrei- is a high-tech wreckage, composed of rusted metal panes in the shape of what we might know as some kind of refinery or other off-shore site. The path there is no less treacherous than before, where it's stuck on craggy rocks, but... they've dealt with that before.
Kamui leads the way, entering towards a single data panel as she stretches and psyches herself up. "Okay, I'm going to just tell the panel to bring us to the inner laboratory--"
-DETECTING-
Biosignatures Detected: Kamui
User Kamui has ERROR: INTEGER OVERFLOW homework tasks incomplete since ERROR:
TIMESTAMP OVERFLOW
Overriding Teleport Process, Assigning Exercise Tasks...
"N-nooooooooo, muiiiiii--"
*FLASH*
The world constructs around you, light-blue datacubes constructing a virtual environs around you.
For some, this is familiar -- but this scenery is new. For Marivel, however, this is an unforgettable day.
Tall skyscrapers are burning in the distance. The sky is crimson; smoke and gunpowder sharply stings the nostrils. Spotlights flood from dark clouds, massive mechanical bees seeking--
Seeking prey, as they launch bombs and gunfire on terrified motorists fleeing in cars and trucks.
A number of traffic is headed your way.
*WHIRRRR*
The Kamui complaining about homework has disappeared, and yet not far... there is a dark-skinned housekeeper running down the highway, rushing headlong into danger.
She looks whole and intact, not battered and damaged like the Kamui of today.
She also doesn't look to have seen a day of battle before, frantic and fearful as she runs past cars and nearly gets clipped. She doesn't respond when called to -- it looks like she's a hologram and part of this memory.
This is the day.
The day the housekeeper named Kamui chose to fight.
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
"It's a little cold," Clarissa murmurs, pulling her blue coat around herself more tightly as if to seek comfort and warmth in proximity. It doesn't do much.
The girl's quiet wonder at the ruins before them and around them is contrasted with the far less readable expression permanently lodged in the features of Felius Arwin. Glaive in one hand, the laconic man glances from place to place. A faint frown soon breaks his stoicism, but it's gone soon enough.
It's not his first time seeing this place. They were, after all, here for Kamui.
The error pops up. Clarissa gasps and cups her hands to her cheeks. "Oh no, Kamui! Do you need help with your homework...?"
The world... shifts.
Widening her eyes, Clarissa ducks back a little and snaps Strahl Gewehr from its holster at her waist. It's just in the nick of time. Bombs fall - and traffic speeds.
The Kamui Clarissa spots isn't the Kamui she was quite expecting. "Kamui!" she calls out - to no response. She opens her mouth to try again.
"She won't hear us." Felius begins to move forward, breaking into a dash down the road. "This is a memory, Clarissa."
"Felius...?" The blonde girl's eyes are wide, but she takes off after her brother nevertheless.
The course Felius is charting follows the image of Kamui. Behind them, an engine rumbles, then another. Motorists are gaining on them.
A horn blares as a vehicle bears down on Clarissa. With a squeak, she dives and rolls away, only to duck away from another vehicle. Yet another car barrels at her.
"Yeek!" Acting more on instinct than logic, Clarissa lunges - and her boots hit the roof of the car with a thump. Her hair whips behind her like a battle flag as she finds herself car-surfing through a nightmarish memory of the past.
DG: Clarissa Arwin has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, EXPRESS UG.
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
Acacia stares at the ruins, a thin frown set on her face. It feels like a lifetime ago since she was last here, and she supposes that in some ways it really has been. Even if she considered herself fairly worldly-wise before, she's learnt so much about Kamui's capabilities and her own, not to mention the state of Filgaia and Spira in general, that she can't help but feel like a different person.
There's something reassuring in that thought, but also something introspective that she might have to sit down and work quietly through later. At the very least, there's comfort in knowing she has an inkling of what's waiting for her inside, which is a hell of a lot more than she can say for most caves and complexes.
Jogging her shoulders up and down, she checks the inner pocket for the 'Mana Egg' she still clutches onto as if it had any importance at all. At the same time she brings one wrist to her mouth, using her teeth to tug one glove more securely into place. "Okay. Let's go," she says solemnly to Kamui. Last time, she'd been scared and running, in a panic through the ruins - this time, she reminds herself to watch.
* * *
She's obviously ready when the world breaks apart around her, keeping her footing as the scenery around them tears itself apart and puts itself back together. She hadn't exactly been expecting to appear with a vehicle bearing down on her, but she'd already been tensed up and at the ready. Whether it's real or imagined, she's not going to take the chance - and a diving roll pulls her out of its path, letting her rise to her feet at a run.
"Kamui--" she calls - but even as the name leaves her lips, she's certain that the figure she can see racing along the road isn't the Kamui she knows. The Reploid's demeanour, the wear and tear of ages, her whole aura is gone - so true to her promise to herself, Acacia freezes and stares, etching the sight of this undamaged Kamui on her own memory.
"We're going after her!" she calls sharply, only interrupted by the blare of a lorry's horn as it skids and jack-knifes towards her; she swears under her breath, then pushes down at the ground, feeling a swell of etheric power push her upwards and to one side in a rather haphazard burst of energy. She only has to scrabble a little for a little more distance, then forces her legs to pump. "If there's a goal, it's-- probably the epicentre!"
DG: Acacia Saitani has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, EXPRESS UG.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Clarine wasn't there for the initial visit to Tishrei. At that time, she was still trapped deep with the ruin known as the Shadow Vault. It felt like so much time had passed since then. So much had changed. In that time, Kamui had helped her face her fears in the Shadow Vault. And now, Clarine wished to return the favor - to accompany her on her visit to Tishrei.
From the outside, it looks... a little sad. Rusted and damaged from time. Clarine drifts across the rocks along with the others, until eventually they reach the Lab itself and come across a data panel.
It's chilly on the inside, but that doesn't bother Clarine any.
"Ah... that would be most conven-" Clarine starts as Kamui begins to access a data panel...and is then interrupted as a flash engulfs them, and the world rearranges itself around them.
"M-My goodness... what is happening?" Clarine says, breathlessly. This is her first time experiencing technology like this - she doesn't realise that it's a virtual enviroment. "And...where did it take us...?"
She looks up, at the new environment surrounding them. It's advanced beyond anything she's seen before - she's never seen a city and skyscrapers so advanced like this, now the vehicles and machines headed their way. She is, for a moment, stunned.
But up ahead...there's a familiar form that shakes her from her trance. Familiar, yet different - it's Kamui, but not Kamui as she remembers her. Whole and intact.
"Kamui...!" Clarine calls out, at about the same time Clarissa does. And Clarine's expression falls, as Felius points out that it's just a memory.
She's quiet for a moment...and then nods, as Acacia asserts that they're going after her.
"...Yes, absolutely. We should not lose her." She agrees, and flies forward. With a gesture of her hands a familiar set of prisms fly out of her sleeves. They form rainbow walls to gently divert vehicles from the party, and intercept explosives as they fall toward them.
DG: Seraph Clarine has used her Tool Prismatic Projector toward her party's challenge, EXPRESS UG.
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.
Zhang Xiumei has never been to this ruined laboratory. She joined ARMs months after the fateful journey here; after that team came here, and located Kamui. It was a different string of events that led her to them. But, the chance to go back is something that Xiumei can't well pass up.
She is connected to this place. Or, more accurately, the person she carries with her is. Xiumei's green eyes are on Kamui's back; she has the violet-and-green armor of Model V on, and the helmet obscures most but not all of her hair. "It's... different than what I expected," she admits, quietly. "Varius says it's familiar."
A moment passes. A flash. "Kam--"
--and they are in a different time and a different place. "...mui," Xiumei finishes, with a sigh. She glances, sideways, at Clarissa then. A data cube drifts by her face, before winking into part of the background. She looks at Clarissa, then ahead. Her eyes are on Acacia's back.
"All right," she says. "Did this happen last time?"
She runs -- and leaps, jumping into the air, then jumps again. She comes down, landing next to Clarissa as she runs.
In her mind, Varius speaks a warning: <I'll be ahead.>
DG: Zhang Xiumei has used her Tool Model V Boots toward her party's challenge, EXPRESS UG.
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
Dash was here at the sound of adventure, to see an ancient lab mysteriously linked to Kamui. Of course he would come! Both to help out his new team, and to learn about this place. The likes of Tio, Xiumei's armor, and Kamui herself are the closest beings comparable to who he is, and helping one of them find answers could lead him to his own.
Plus, he can never get enough of ruins! Always some desire to see everything and everywhere.
"This place is...!"
Oh, Data decided to actually tag along this time for some reason. Like, actually ride with the party. No mysterious appearances. No sudden scares due to a shiny little monkey in a corner. He is clinging to Dash's back on this trip.
For what reason, not even Dash knows. "Promise if anything goes bad to find shelter, okay?" "Promise!"
As usual, some members of the party only hear squeaks. Kamui, TIo and Varius on the other hand...
He remains contemplative at the ruins of mankind's achievements. What befell this great place? "You have been here before, you say?" Dash asks from behind his helmet and mask. The Active Buster has been left in trade for the Drill Arm. As much as he would love to carry both, there is no damn way that would work. The Blade Arm and Shield Arm are small attaching modules. A missile launcher would definitely compete for space with a massive dirll. He is otherwise armored in the Volnutt Suite, and ready for action, should any present itself.
"Kamui, you have a password for--" Is about as far as Dash gets before the world around them is torn apart and reconstructed by ancient dormant algorithms.
What is built around them is the proverbial rock in the river, the starting point of so many past actions that still affect today. Not that Dash would know it. "What is this place? Why is everything burning??
The monkey on his back does, and trembles for it, looking worried for once. He eeks once quietly. "You okay back there?" A pause. No answer. "We should locate Kamui and get back where we were!"
And then, cars and bees. Robot bees? Some kind of drone. Many filled the air. Though they would need to wait, as fleeing motorists fly towards the group! "Evasive action!" he calls, moves back and forth for a moment to figure out trajectory, times it right, and attempts a jump over a vehicle!
DG: Dash Caskett has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, EXPRESS UG.
<Pose Tracker> Tio has posed.
The ruins of Tishrei were a new sight to Tio. She follows along the treacherous path to this place where her sister was found. The thought of having been locked away in such a place is all too familiar to Tio's mind. This was important to Kamui, so it became important to Tio. If she's affected by the cold, the tiny automaton isn't showing it.
That said, Tio tilts her head as the message to Kamui pops up. "You have incomplete duties here, Sister?" She doesn't get time for an answer, as the world is surrounded by blue, and becomes somewhere else. Tio looks around, somewhat startled by the change. This is all new territory to her. Dangerous territory, it seemed. The vehicles moving at speed, the giant machines hunting for prey. "What is this place?" She asks, hands going her chakrams.
And then a housekeeper reploid runs past, and it takes Tio moments to recognise her. Like something deep in her memory banks is trying to come to the surface. "That is... Sister?" She asks, with a genuine uncertainty in her voice. She looks familiar, but not like anything in her memories.
As vehicles careen out of control, Tio takes evasive action, attempting to flip away from the vehicle. The order is given to keep up, and Tio nods. "Acknowledged." There will be time to question what few memories she has later. For now, she runs full tilt.
DG: Tio has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, EXPRESS UG.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Tishrei... It's been a while.
Marivel walks along, ending up strangely enough near the rear of the group as she takes in the sights. She has a lot of memories of this place. She made many visitations. For a time, she even lay down her head here.
But it's in such a state now. She needs to make a project of this place again, fix it up nice, it's just...there is always more work to do, and tending to a tomb--well--someone else who is present may be best suited for such a task. As it stands, Marivel can't lift the world on her shoulders just like nobody can. Even ifshe has gotten very good at balancing her portion of the weight.
"So we return, Lumen." Marivel says quietly. "Wherever your spirit has gone, I hope you don't mind my bringing friends."
She slows down a bit and sees the error message.
"Kamui..." Marivel says, eyes slowly widening. "Did you... skip out on doing your homework last time?"
OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Marivel seems less worried about Kamui herself when the exercise starts. Instead she looks up at the burning sky and sighs, ever so faintly, knowing that this battle is a fight that happened back when she still had a world. "Even with the robot bee attacks," Marivel reflects. "I still wish--"
Suddenly another pair of forms materialize in the battle, running after Kamui.
One is a dark blue haired woman wearing an armored dress with her hair in a pair of braids that look like a higher level version of what Marivel tries to wear when she is wrapped up to protect herself against the sun. Actually come to think of it, Marivel sometimes wears her braids almost exactly like this now but back then--
--the other woman that appears is long blonde haired woman wearing a long CRIMSON AS BLOOD dress with DARKER THAN THE DARKEST NIGHT trimmings and a long flowing BLACK CAPE OF DESPAIR.
The blue haired woman sniffs faintly, "Oh Mari...our daughter is growing up so fast...! Woops watch out for that bee there."
"Daughter? What are you on about?" Past Mari says, crossing arms. "She's a school project--" She ducks under the robot bee. "Or Lumen's robot? It's not that easy to become one of the great Crimson Nobles!"
Current Marivel watches this and says, "Oh no..." in horror. "My...awkward teen years...! Noooo!!! Lumen how could you immortalize this?? I thought we were friends...!!"
She promptly turns into a bat and drops down to land on Clarissa's shoulder. "Just pretend they aren't there!"
The past versions of her and Ana help out coincidentally (but not intentionally) by cutting down (or blasting) robot bees.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Tomato Juice For Grownups toward her party's challenge, EXPRESS UG.
=========================<* Ruins of Lab -Tishrei- *>=========================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - EXPRESS UG *>=========================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The Ruins of the Laboratory -Tishrei- take you to the coast of Meria Boule's
southern peninsula, far from being an obscure ruin in the midst of
wilderness. There, you all see it -- the wreckage of an ancient, massive
metal building is plainly moored between large crags where the beach ends
and a sheer cliffside begins.
Inside, the air is chilly and still as a panel pops into place as if
detecting your presence. Streams of data filter through the panel monitor,
and you can read the following words--
-DETECTING-
Biosignatures Detected: -Drifter- Designation C2A2
Constructing Appropriate Challenges...
-READY-
--and the very world seems to reconstruct around you, altering data cube by
data cube into a highway from a far-gone civilisation, replete with tall
skyscrapers in the distance. The sky is burning, and spotlights are
everywhere.
Any further awe will have to wait, however. The very highway is also the
scene of a battle -- terrified motorists in cars and trucks are headed your
way, as they flee the incoming bombs of massive mechanical bees!
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
====================<* Ruins of Lab -Tishrei- - Round 1 *>==================== ===========================< Results - EXPRESS UG >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Acacia Saitani 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Tomato Juice For Grownups 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Clarine 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Prismatic Projector 1 Agility Effects: Fanfare and Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tio 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Clarissa Arwin 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dash Caskett 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zhang Xiumei 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Model V Boots 3 Agility Effects: Rally ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Acacia Saitani 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Acacia Saitani has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Felius cottons on to the nature of the memory, slipping past the motorists. Clarissa ducks away with instinct, landing ontop of a car headed Kamui's way as the motorist keeps driving -- they can't seem to really react to the Drifters, being part of this enormous memory.
Acacia solemnly readies herself to watch, empowered with wizened experiences over her journey before. No longer a rookie.
She darts up with ether and empowers her legs with them, avoiding past a lorry; she manages to swerve just so, avoiding the fearful rush of fleeing motorists.
Clarine dwells a little on how it's her turn to return the favour. She absorbs the sight of a city more advanced than she's ever seen, but proceeds with the familiar prisms, diverting cars to harmlessly bounce as impromptu guardrails.
Varius noted to Xiumei that it's familiar. He too, had a place in this chaos. Indeed, the scene should be fairly intimately familiar to many...
Xiumei ponders if this happened the last time -- and double-jumps up to the same car to surf as Clarissa.
Data looks quietly concerned about what he sees, but says nothing. Dash ponders about mankind's achievements, and how despite everything that's been achieved... people fear in the exact same way.
Regardless, he weaves through traffic like a boxer would and leaps to another vehicle -- at the same time Tio simply races through at full tilt, using similar evasive manuevers and mechanical precision to flip up and around a vehicle.
Marivel ruminates upon her return to Tishrei, a tomb for her in more ways than one... and--
Oh no!
It's her young, teen self! It's okay, we've all been there before, Marivel. And perhaps it's not Lumen to blame but someone who keeps replaying this memory...
A blue haired woman, whose appearance may look a bit familiar. Maybe, maybe not. They're battling the robot bees, however -- and protecting the housekeeper from being too direct a target.
The group make ample time giving chase -- the holographic Kamui isn't terribly fast, after all; she struggles even with lesser mechaniloid monsters. She doesn't seem comfortable at all with fighting.
But then...!!
*SWOOP*
A Ride Armour -- the likes you might've seen in the Crimson Castle's outskirts -- appears and seizes Kamui by its arm!
A vile laugh erupts from the helmeted Reploid piloting it.
"You worthless piece of scrap metal, did you think you could escape me?"
Kamui's in danger! And YET...!!
<Pose Tracker> Gami has posed.
There is a sudden burst of light and a blur of red, before the road shakes with impact and there is a noise of something moving too fast to be seen--before the beam glaive in a huge warrior's hands gleams visibly again, and Kamui falls loose thanks to the armor's arm being sheared off by the gigantic weapon.
Before it, pulling Kamui behind her, is a powerfully tall figure facing away from her. Some seven and a half feet tall, she is in red plated armor, yellow accents and fabric in places but unmistakably the armament of a Reploid. "Kamui," she says first, and looks ahead. "Don't think about it, gami." She lunges forward with brute force, about as tall as the armor itself already, driving off the laughing Reploid with powerful strokes of her polearm.
Then, she turns. "Kamui," the woman's voice comes as she looks over her shoulder, brown hair fluttering in the wind, and it is gruff but gentle. "You're going the wrong way, gami..."
Gami looks over Kamui thoughtfully, her eyes passing over battle damage, exertion, and the look in the smaller Reploid's eyes. "Are you sure this is what you want? Mii..."
The much taller Reploid looks worried.
DG: Seraph Clarine has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Ruins of Lab -Tishrei- *>=========================
======================<* CHALLENGE - High Speed Lift *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
With the stage cleared, the mysterious panel shines and renders... the sky!
Bright blue skies await you. The scenario is a "New-type Airport", as signs
around the airfield helpfully point out, albeit one under construction...
because no so-called brand new airport should let its customers go through
dangerous, unprotected high-speed lifts.
Like you will have to in order to proceed through this high-altitude area.
And there are no railings either. Perhaps you will need to file a complaint
later.
But at least the view is marvelous!
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
*SLASH*
The Ride Armour's arm shines with a red-hot gash for but a split second before it splinters, Kamui dropping and being pulled behind her as the warrior in red and yellow drives the laughing Reploid back. Cornered and outpaced, he leaps onto a nearby robot bee and makes his escape with a curse.
"Gami, I..." Kamui speaks quietly, leaning against the broken arm.
She looks to the distance, where Marivel and the blue-haired swordswoman are still fighting and getting closer to them.
"I... I've made a decision, Gami..."
She lowers her head, and lifts her arm. There's a loud click, and her hand retracts as the dormant and unused 'Buster' function finally sees its first utilisation.
"I want to fight... alongside all of you...!"
*FLICKER*
And yet, at that moment, the image dissipates--
"Muiiiiii!" Kamui exhales. "Where did you all go? I was waiting for so long..."
Ah, this is... very definitely the Kamui you know, now. She doesn't seem to have been aware at all of the memory that transpired. She's standing next to bright blue skies -- the 'homework' task is one of an airport under construction.
"The objective this time is to climb up to the top, using these lifts! Let's go, everyone!"
She cheerfully hops up and lets her dash-boots skim her forward onto one of the lifts.
This definitely does not meet occupational safety and health compliance!!
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
"Ah-- no, Xiumei, this is new!" Clarissa exclaims, wide-eyed, with a look back as Xiumei joins her in car-surfing. "It must be reacting to Kamui being active...."
Then Past Marivel and SOMEONE ELSE make their appearance. Clarissa's mouth hangs open just slightly before she sets a finger beneath it and pushes it closed.
The landing on her shoulder causes her to nearly bolt off the car in surprise. "Uwaah!" she gasps before realizing who it is. "I- I will, Marivel! I'll try!"
And true to her word, she does her very best not to marvel at how incredibly goffik Past Marivel really is. Or was.
Someone more attention-grabbing makes their presence felt. As the Ride Armour bursts into view, Clarissa clicks her teeth together and snaps Strahl Gewehr up - but the past Kamui is grabbed before she can squeeze off a shot. "Tch, Kamui, no--"
There's a burst of light. Clarissa blinks at the sight of someone new and tall streaking onto the scene. "...Then that must be...!"
Before she can say anything more, the image flickers. Waiting for them is the Kamui they all know and love, and Clarissa dashes towards her, a couple of little tears beading at the corners of her eyes. "Kamui...! We're sorry you waited... ah... are you alright? You were really brave...."
Before them, blue skies wait, lifts slashing through them in ways OSHA would never be alright with. Clarissa begins to move after Kamui, all too aware of her lack of dash boots.
There's a crackle of dark coattails as Felius bounds past Clarissa, flipping through the air and catching himself on one of the lifts by dramatically hooking it with the haft of his glaive. He flips once before landing in a crouch.
Clarissa's rush is rather less dramatic. She just times one of the lifts mentally, then glances back at Xiumei.
"Let's take good care of Kamui, okay...?" She smiles, eyes sunny.
With a little pat to Marivel on her shoulder, Clarissa dashes, then lunges, trying to grab one of the lifts in midair and pull herself up onto it. "Nngh--!"
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
"Something like that!" Acacia calls back over her shoulder to Zhang Xiumei as she straight-up vaults over a particularly low car, and only afterwards bothers to spare a thought for how exactly she managed to do that. Maybe that's the trick to it, she thinks wildly, but maybe it's better not to test that thought too closely. "But the scenes were different! I think it's--"
For an instant, she chews at her lip. She's not Dr. Lumen, nor is she a certain Crimson Noble. She can't say anything for sure about technology this old - but she can definitely hazard a guess based on sheer common sense, especially given who she found in these ruins. "--drawing from Kamui's memory. Or at least reacting to her presence?"
But is Kamui actually remembering this? That's the part the reporter isn't certain about, and the thought brings with it a quiet anxiety. Or at least it does until she catches sight of the two figures that are chasing after the racing Kamui, focuses in on one of them, and hears Marivel's wail. The sound that comes afterwards is a 'snnggghh' of held laughter, and her hand itches for her camera.
Doubly so when 'Gami' appears. Acacia's never seen this Reploid before - she was safely asleep the first time the reporter came through these ruins - so all she's got to go off is Kamui's quiet awe whenever the name is brought up, and the absolute confidence it inspires in the smaller girl. It isn't hard to see why.
--and then she yelps in surprise as the floor almost seems to fall away from her as it reconfigures, and the next moment--
One day, maybe she'll remember to ask someone from this era as to why they decided to replicate vertigo so accurately. Her head swims with both relief at the sight of Kamui and nausea as she simultaneously yells at herself not to look down and instinctively does so anyway. "Sure," she mumbles, and then: "Great," as she decides that maybe her knees could do with a five-second rest.
That's enough for her mind to catch up with the sudden shift and realize that maybe this isn't the best time to blurt out what they just saw. That conversation can come later - perhaps, with Gami there to fill in the gaps. It's also enough time to look up at the sheer height of the tower they have to climb, and she feels her heart drop into her stomach even as she pulls herself up. "I want to go get my Gear," she sulks openly.
DG: Acacia Saitani has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, High Speed Lift. DG: Clarissa Arwin has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, High Speed Lift.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
PAST Mari's eyes widen when the Ride Armor seizes up Kamui. She darts forward, "Kamui!!" But then a new reploid arrives in the form of Gami and PAST Mari coughs slightly and looks away. "...She's got a point, Ana. I know she asked for this but..."
PAST Ana makes a :3 face, "Awww...you do care about our 'school project'...~"
PAST Mari's cheeks gain a faint blue blush. "It's not like that... I know you hate fighting too."
PAST Ana clasps PAST Mari's hand and says, "It's not that I'm happy she's fighting..." softly to her. "I'm just happy she sees our home worth protecting. She loves our home... Because she knows she is loved." They look over to Kamui as their image dissipitates.
Marivel continues to be embarrassed and hides on Clarissa her one true friend unlike that treacherous Acacia sniggering at the foolishness of her youth!! She'll get her revenge, Acacia!!
"I'll remember this...!" She shakes a tiny bat paw at Acacia.
She is totally cheating on this homework assignment by making Clarissa do the work but maybe she'll be less mortified next round, as relieved she is to see Kamui herself once more.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Tomato Juice For Grownups toward her party's challenge, High Speed Lift.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Past Marivel... Clarine very politely tries to suppress a chuckle at the sight of her. She's cute! Not that the present Marivel isn't cute in her own way, of course. The woman with her gets a glance, too. There's only one person that can be...
But, she doesn't let herself be distracted for long - they still have to catch up to Kamui. And catch up to Kamui they do, but suddenly, a Ride Armor appears to sieze her.
"K-Kamui...!" Clarine call in surprise... but, before she can act - not that it would change the course of events - a tall, powerful figure appears, cleaving straight through the machine's arm and rescuing Kamui!
Clarine gasps.
"...So, that is Gami... I can see why Kamui is so taken with her." Clarine comments, observing the scene as Kamui expresses her determination to fight. "She truly cuts an impressive figure..."
The image before them dissipates revealing... Kamui herself!
"I apologize... I did not mean to leave you..." Clarine replies, shaking her head. "Let us try not to get separated again."
Like the others, she decides now might not be the best time to bring up what they just saw - not when they have a series of lifts to jump through.
"I am uncertain we could fit a Gear in this building..." Clarine comments to Acacia, taking it completely seriously. "However, this may be able to help."
Once more she disperses some of her prisms, conjuring shimmering rainbow platforms to help make the act of reaching the lifts in time a little easier.
DG: Seraph Clarine has used her Tool Prismatic Projector toward her party's challenge, High Speed Lift.
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
Evading the incoming vehicles is a cinch-- where Dash isn't as fast as some of his other robot kin, he makes up for in a mighty number of high leaps! Though Roll may be working on something to help him with speed considering the problems the lack of it caused on the other planet. Moon? He is still trying to figure out which it classifies as.
A more whole Kamui appears nearby during the scuffle. Also someone possibly like Marivel? Sounds like her. Is that possible?
Considering the powers she has, he would believe it.
A scene recorded i nthe simulation plays out. She is running? But is met by someone in a familiar color scheme.
Data begins to freak out. "No! Get away from them! Run!" he begins to screech. "Whoah, calm down! This is some kind of recording or simulation I think. I don't think she is really there..." As much as he would love to see Kamui whole. He has to physically hold Data still for a small time.
A much larger robotic individual arrives, and saves them. Words are exchanged between the grateful and the dutiful. "That name, Kamui has mentioned it before, I think..."
It isn't long before the world around them shifts, defrags, and installs a new environment. As the location changes, Data begins to calm down and assumes the spot on Dash's back. "Mega Man... these places are important." Data squeaks. "I know, I know! They wouldn't be recorded otherwise, right?" They are clearly tied to something great happening in the past and Kamui! The mystery of her memory is unraveling here!
"Oh hey!" Dash calls out toward Kamui as she re-appears. A small pang of sadness to see that it is back to current condition, though. "Climbing, huh? Alright! Race you!" She will clearly win, but competition is fun! "This place seems so high up! Who would traverse these platforms like this all the time?" More high jumps are to follow, with careful timing and placement. poit-poits are heard at each platform loudly, as shock absorbers catch landfall on each travelled.
DG: Dash Caskett has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, High Speed Lift.
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.
"That's strange! I wonder what did it. Was it... really... homework?" Xiumei asks.
Instinct makes Xiumei's hand extend outward, and a trio of cubes of data light dance, swirl, and begin to elongate. They wink out, though, as the helmeted Reploid is driven back by the newly arrived one. Xiumei watches, for a second, and her mout opens.
"Ah, then... that's..."
She trails off, but Varius finishes the thought in her mind: <Gami. Kamui's partner. She's probably worse off, without her here.>
Xiumei glances down at that.
When Kamui -- the Kamui they all know, not a memory produced by this place -- reappears, she breathes a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you're okay, Kamui," she says. "We were a little worried about you."
She glances upward. Her eyes blink, though, when Clarissa speaks to her. Her eyes track to the side, to her, and she gets a smile on her face. She bobs her head, once. "...Yeah," she agrees. "Let's make sure we do."
She looks up again. She watches Marivel and Anastasia of the past -- wonders for a moment -- then she follows Dash's lead, leaping up in a blur of green and purple.
DG: Zhang Xiumei has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, High Speed Lift.
<Pose Tracker> Tio has posed.
It's strange to watch a conflict from the past play out, which you can't interact with. Even as Tio evades the worst of the damage, she can't help but gasp as Kamui is grabbed by the Ride Armor. Even as she hears Data panic, she begins to worry herself. "Sister!"
And then she watches as the huge red and yellow reploid cuts through it, and drives the attacker off. Are these really Kamui's memories? The battlefield fades away, and they return to the Kamui of today. Tio blinks a few times. And yet, many here seem to have familiarity with the experience to some degree. "What... just happened?"
Kamui seems unaffected by the experience, and is already running along the path of the many and varied types of dangerous elevators. Dash calls out for a race, and Tio blinks. "What purpose does racing here serve?"
Still, the only way is up, and Tio waits for an elevator to be in range, and leaps up to grab onto it. No fancy tricks, just good old fashioned platforming.
DG: Tio has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, High Speed Lift.
=========================<* Ruins of Lab -Tishrei- *>=========================
======================<* CHALLENGE - High Speed Lift *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
With the stage cleared, the mysterious panel shines and renders... the sky!
Bright blue skies await you. The scenario is a "New-type Airport", as signs
around the airfield helpfully point out, albeit one under construction...
because no so-called brand new airport should let its customers go through
dangerous, unprotected high-speed lifts.
Like you will have to in order to proceed through this high-altitude area.
And there are no railings either. Perhaps you will need to file a complaint
later.
But at least the view is marvelous!
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVpmS2BISm8 )
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
====================<* Ruins of Lab -Tishrei- - Round 2 *>==================== ========================< Results - High Speed Lift >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Acacia Saitani 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Tomato Juice For Grownups 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Clarine 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Prismatic Projector 1 Agility Effects: Fanfare and Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tio 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Clarissa Arwin 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dash Caskett 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zhang Xiumei 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Acacia Saitani 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Injure(2) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Acacia Saitani has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Indeed, Kamui doesn't seem to have an inkling of what the group just saw. Felius hops on after her, and Clarissa times her jumps well...! The passage of the lifts isn't impossibly fast -- after all, this is designed to be a training exercise.
A training exercise for Reploids, but still.
"I'm okay! Hmm... of course I'm brave... because I'm going to do my homework for once," puffs up Kamui with pride. (For once in the course of several human eras, whence empires have risen and fallen.)
Acacia hops on as Kamui gives her Master a cattish look and says, "If you rely on just your Gear, Master, you won't be able to burn off the calories that Marina is imposing on you anymore. Just as Sal says: Hup hup!"
She seems in really good spirits. Is it because she's going to see Gami? Clarine apologises and Kamui shakes her head. "Uh uh! I knew we'd find each other again," she holds up her pendant. Clarine's prisms help her negotiate by moving up on her own, much more rainbow-coloured terms!
Data helps Dash process what he's seeing, enigmatically mentioning that important things are recorded for a reason. He leaps on with spring boots and Kamui gasps, with a laugh.
"Whoa! You can jump as high as Xiumei, Dash! For some reason, all my Foot Parts upgrades don't really like going up... it's curious, isn't that?"
Xiumei smiles and nods to Clarissa and gives her assurance in turn; Kamui's waving at her and the automaton to call, "Xiumei! Tio, Sis! Jump up here! Hehe, this is just as fun as Mushroom Rock Road, isn't it?"
Tio also doesn't seem to have that much trouble; in a way, much of the party is well suited for this challenge!
MISSION SAVED! Good job, Awkward Rushers!
DG: Seraph Clarine has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Ruins of Lab -Tishrei- *>=========================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Deadzone *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 4 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The panel stops as it returns you and your team to an actual hallway within
the laboratory Tishrei. It seems to be computing, leaving you some time to
explore your surroundings...
Though it seems like you don't have a lot of space to work with, as someone
has left an enormous pile of broken-down helmets (and lots and lots and lots
of helmets, especially construction ones), shattered pieces of armour,
mounds and mounds of junk weaponry, and other kinds of clutter!
A note reads: 'Clean Up Sometime!! -M.A.' and
A much newer note ontop: 'She Never Cleaned Up!! -M.A.'
This annoyed M.A. may not be around (or maybe she -is-), but if you want to
see what's beyond, you'll have to sort an irresponsible person's mess out...
who just /dumps/ their entire inventory after each adventure?
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip0oC63RTEo )
(OOC: If your group passes this challenge, you may discover a single,
pristine high-tech weapon or armour! Alternately, if you don't pass this
challenge, you may leave an annoyed note ontop. Please mail Kamui for more
information.)
=Dungeon Conditions: Madness==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Kamui's laughter and mirth rings through as the group reaches the top and--
--immediately stops as the group lands in what seems to actually not be an exercise task but... a storage room. No, calling this a storage room is an insult to the act of storage. For there to be storage there needs to be a modicum of order, some method in which one stores items and inventories them.
What ARMS sees before them is...
...
It cannot be described as anything less than the pure, primordial chaos, the base concept of clutter.
It's the kind of clutter that defined the word clutter, like how ancient gods inspired myths inspired the heroes of today.
And there's a pile of notes:
'Clean up sometime!! --M.A.'
And a newer one on top: 'She Never Cleaned Up!! --M.A.'
Kamui stares at the notes and has a stiff laugh. "A... aha ha ha... mui... muiii... let's... just go around this, mui...?"
She stares sheepishly at the group.
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
Bright-eyed, Clarissa smiles after Kamui and calls, "If you need a study buddy, I'll do my best to support you!"
If only Clarissa knew what that would entail. What awaits them is nothing less than a mui-cave.
Covering her mouth with one hand, Clarissa swallows a growing lump in her throat as she gazes first at the notes, then at the absolute pile that has accumulated here. There's horror dawning behind her soft blue-green eyes, and her normally fair complexion has somehow grown even more pale.
And then, just like that, she clears her throat and turns to Kamui, smiling and giving her a little pat on the shoulder. "Ahah... it's alright, Kamui! Sometimes things get ahead of us. When that happens, I think about what my mother always told me at times like this." She leafs through her weathered old notebook and flips to a dog-eared page.
imp't: CLEANLINESS
right next to godliness
or, uh
guardian...liness
bluh
"And that's why we're gonna help you clean up!" Clarissa says with cheer as she whirls into the room, beginning to collect spent Metool helmets and deposit them in a neat little stack. "Come, come, let's get all these helmets organized by type, and then we can start making some decisions on which armours to keep and which we can put away! We've got some big decisions to make!"
DG: Clarissa Arwin has used her Tool Melissa's Notebook toward her party's challenge, Deadzone.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"She wasn't homework." Marivel protests. "More like...extra credit? I--" She is distracted by Tio. "Oh uh, that was a simulation of Kamui's first time fighting. I'm trying to get a similar holographic system working up in the Castle somewhere but a TIME EATING WOLF has been lurking around and causing trouble so I'm not able to get it done."
"Look I don't think any of us, not even Lumen, really knew we were getting into when we made Kamui." Marivel finally flutters off of Clarissa to land on the floor and POUF back into her humanoid form. "Lumen, all of us--we had to learn hard lessons about what it means to bring life into this world. We didn't have a perfect mindset going into it, but... Kamui charmed us. I'd like to think we learned those lessons quickly and even if she started out a bit naive, I couldn't think of a more devoted mother in this world. Even in the end, she was thinking of her lovely daughter."
As the group come to the storage room, Marivel's lips thin into a thin line. Last time they came here, Kamui wasn't with them so Marivel left that post-it note.
This time, however, both of her notes are still there and Kamui still didn't clean up.
"I almost forgot about this atrocity." Marivel says, crossing her arms and looks to Kamui.
Is she going to give in and help clean up????
Nope. She's the TOUGH TSUNDERE MOM OK?
"Kamui," Marivel says "I won't stop your friends from helping you, but you better work hard at cleaning this up. I know you have the capacity--you were literally made with house-keeping skills."
She crosses her arms. "And if you work real hard at it..."
Her eyes gleam. "I'll get you a sticker."
Ok but she is also the mom who has to bribe their kid so there's that too.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. Armitage toward her party's challenge, Deadzone.
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
Acacia has to get victories over Marivel when she can, after all. Besides, as far as the reporter is concerned, Marivel's already getting her own back - she can fly right now, whereas Acacia is stuck hopping awkwardly from platform to platform, a lot less able to deal with unprotected heights than she'd like.
"Can't you add railings, at least? Maybe a nice big conveyor belt?" she grumbles towards Clarine, because even if she's obviously grateful for the platforms, she still has moments where she can be rather fearful. Closing her eyes for a moment, she tells herself that they're not really in the open air - right? They're in a small room which is projecting images of places. If she falls, she'll just look real dumb as if she's hovering on mid-air thanks to hitting the floor.
That's what she tells herself, but there's enough uncertainty her feet still have trouble moving.
She glances towards Xiumei for a moment, because the question's honestly a good one. She'd been prepared to take the word 'homework' at face value, but-- could Dr. Lumen have foreseen her memory degrading? Could it actually mean 'attempt to jog her memory'? It seems like a stretch, she decides after a moment. But it's honestly hard to be sure. "... it's a long story," she sums up towards Tio, glancing more solemnly towards Marivel. "I'll tell you more of it later. Promise."
It takes her a few moments to even realize that Kamui's teasing her, because it's so unexpected after everything they've just witnessed. She blinks twice - and then huffs hard. "Hey! You are not one to talk, young lady!" she calls up after Kamui. "You're the one who gets most of the freebies when she's had a really good day!"
At least it spurs her onwards. She might be the last up to the top-most platform, but she pulls herself up to it with a noise of triumph, just in time to catch her breath before the world shifts again around them and the reality of the ruins restore themselves--
--and she doesn't even have time to process what she's looking at before her hand instinctively snaps out to catch Kamui by the collar. For all of the Reploid's ability to break into bursts of speed, it can't beat the sheer acceleration of someone who's found one too many hoarder spots around their too-small apartment.
"Ka-mu-iii..." declares a voice laden with the threat of organization. 'Rubbish first!' is its dread promise. There is no tsundere here, only cold hard reality. Soon, it will be categorising pens and pencils into similar colours. There is no escape.
DG: Acacia Saitani has used her Tool Thrifty Drifty toward her party's challenge, Deadzone.
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.
"Oh--ah--I meant... did this simulation happen because Kamui didn't do her homework? I, um--making a person like Kamui seems..." Her nose wrinkles. "...that would be a very difficult school."
She leaps alongside Dash. Then she glances back down at Kamui, and she looks a little hesitant. "It's okay. I guess Varius is... um... this is what he is good at, y'know?"
But, they reach the top. Her feet skid, armor sliding over the metal, and then she comes to a stop and looks past the doorway. Xiumei sees a storage room in disorder.
There is a flicker of her eyebrow, over one green eye. A slight twitch. That green eye, ordinarily calm and subtle in its expression, seems to darken with some emotion most unlike her. She draws in a soft, sharp gasp. "This..."
She is still for a long moment. Varius nudges her, in the privacy of her mind: <Kid?>
"...this is..."
<...Uh. Everything all right, kid?>
Then Xiumei wails. "Aaaah it's all out of order and everything is a mess and we have to fix it all now, where does it all go, someone get the inventory, oh my god what's the filing system, how did it get like this, aaaAAAAAHH!!"
Xiumei wails the entire way through organizing. The studious clerk has met her nemesis.
DG: Zhang Xiumei has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Deadzone.
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
Clarissa freezes in mid-cleansing, a duster in one hand, a stack of Metool hats in the other and a spray bottle of water hanging from her collar. She stares at Acacia with visible horror.
"...Acacia is scary, mui...."
"Clarissa, I didn't realize that you said 'mui,'" murmurs Felius.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Uggh it was really difficult. This one time Lumen had the NERVE to give me an A- though considering it was about the construction of neural net structures and I still don't know how to make or repair an AI as clever and wonderful as Kamui's, I suppose it makes sense I was a little less perfect in that field," Marivel complains as she fans herself with something that almost assuredly was originally in that pile. "But only Ana beat my score so maybe it wasn't material we were ready for and she could have given us a break?? But then she's like 'Everybody else's A+ is my A-. Mari! Want to play video games?' and then I was like 'NO I HAVE TO STUDY SO I NEVER GET A MINUS AGAIN, DOCTOR."
Marivel pauses. "What were we talking about? Oh, yeah, schools nowadays are just depressing. That's why I'd sometimes spend a decade having an evil lair near one so I could rescue a kid here or there from having an unacceptable learning experience."
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
Dash and Data seem to be enjoying themselves jumping from platform to platform. It felt natural. "Maybe you were supposed to go really fast or something with them!" he says towards Kamui. A look towards Tio. "Like a friendly competition! Like, getting somewhere first for bragging rights, or just doing it for the sake of doing it!"
Tio would probably beat everyone here if she actually participated. He saw her on that highway! Shes faaaast.
THe world once again degrades from highrise cloudscape to an old lab room. And the ywere clearly researching the rarest creature ever seen.
The packrat.
"Whoah!" Dash lets out, looking all over. "Buncha stuff! Were the scientists researching this? Wait-- no, some of this looks familiar-ish." Data hops down and starts to poke around too to help out! He seems unusually invested in this outing!
"Huh. I bet Roll could help! Lemme see if I can reach her." The boy kneels down by some belongings and begins to gloss through it. a Female voice cuts on from inside the helmet.
"Yes, Dash? What is it?"
"Hey Roll! Hey, we found a buncha stuff someone left behind i na room, and need a hand finding out what some of it is!"
"Really? It isn't junk, is it?"
A look back to the room. THere are a few moments of silence.
"...Nnnnnno?"
"Okay, fine. Just don't bring back a vacuum thinking it is a collapse-age weapon, okay?"
DG: Dash Caskett has used his Tool Roll Call toward his party's challenge, Deadzone.
<Pose Tracker> Tio has posed.
Well, Kamui seems happy and that's a good thing. As she is called, Tio looks up and gives an affirmative nod. "Acknowledged!" She shouts back up, and continues climbing, until she reaches the point of meeting up, and she nods to Acacia. "Very well. I will wait." There's a pause. "...A Time Eating Wolf?" She asks, tilting her head in her usual confused look. The it's through the door into...
Oh. Oh dear.
Tio's antennae blink to life, and the move gently as she looks around the room.
"My sensors are unable to detect clearly where the disposed items end and the edges of the room begin." She says, as the sensors dim down again. "At best, I am able to detect where items may collapse due to improper support." Which might be helpful, because risk of collapse seems a real clear and present danger. "I will assist as well."
And with that, Tio starts moving in to try and assist with reorganising things. There's a pause.
"Would it not be more efficient to destroy the debris here and then rebuild the room later?"
Musing that aloud, she returns to helping clean up.
DG: Tio has used her Tool Sensor Antennae toward her party's challenge, Deadzone.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Clarine listens as Marivel talks about some of what went through their heads as they raised Kamui. ...It's interesting, she's never really heard anyone talk about anything like this before.
"...I cannot imagine what thoughts must have gone through your heads..." Clarine murmurs.
Acacia's grumble breaks through her thoughts, though.
"A-ah, my apology... I do not have quite that fine a level of control yet..." She apologizes.
Meanwhile, in response to her apology Kamui shakes her head and holds up the pendant and Clarine can't help but smile.
"...Yes, it is true!" She agrees, pumping her fists. Kamui's in high spirits, and it's a little infectious - she can't help but be cheered up by that, too. And so it's with a bright smile that she joins the others at the top.
What they find there is...a storage room? No, it's... a frankly absurd amount of clutter. Clarine freezes in place, taken aback.
"...M-my goodness... did something break...?" She asks, her head tilted to the side. Everything up to this point was...clean, and orderly, but this...!
This is a Mess on a scale she has never seen.
And, the culprit is none other than...Kamui herself!! Marivel and Acacia descend on Kamui with a terrible, terrible Mom Aura.
"It is alright, Kamui...! I shall assist you." Clarine promises. She reaches into her sleeves, bringing out a familiar pure, clear crystal sphere.
They...may need a light in order to help them get through all this.
DG: Seraph Clarine has used her Tool Brilliant Sphere toward her party's challenge, Deadzone.
=========================<* Ruins of Lab -Tishrei- *>=========================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Deadzone *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 4 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The panel stops as it returns you and your team to an actual hallway within
the laboratory Tishrei. It seems to be computing, leaving you some time to
explore your surroundings...
Though it seems like you don't have a lot of space to work with, as someone
has left an enormous pile of broken-down helmets (and lots and lots and lots
of helmets, especially construction ones), shattered pieces of armour,
mounds and mounds of junk weaponry, and other kinds of clutter!
A note reads: 'Clean Up Sometime!! -M.A.' and
A much newer note ontop: 'She Never Cleaned Up!! -M.A.'
This annoyed M.A. may not be around (or maybe she -is-), but if you want to
see what's beyond, you'll have to sort an irresponsible person's mess out...
who just /dumps/ their entire inventory after each adventure?
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip0oC63RTEo )
(OOC: If your group passes this challenge, you may discover a single,
pristine high-tech weapon or armour! Alternately, if you don't pass this
challenge, you may leave an annoyed note ontop. Please mail Kamui for more
information.)
=Dungeon Conditions: Madness==================================================
====================<* Ruins of Lab -Tishrei- - Round 3 *>==================== ============================< Results - Deadzone >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Acacia Saitani 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Thrifty Drifty 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Clarine 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Brilliant Sphere 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tio 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Sensor Antennae 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Clarissa Arwin 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Melissa's Notebook 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dash Caskett 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Roll Call 3 Wits Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zhang Xiumei 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Acacia Saitani 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Madness Effects: Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Acacia Saitani has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Kamui twiddles her thumbs and lets out a similarly nervous laugh at Clarissa. "T-that's right, sometimes things... get ahead of us, mui--"
Then she gasps and has comical tears as Clarissa aims first for the Metool helmets. "N-no, my precious Metool helmets...!" Even though they're busted and therefore has no Metool protection left!
And then Marivel and Acacia and Xiumei perform an Immaculate Triple Team.
Kamui gets yoinked on the collar as Acacia starts chewing her out. She definitely knows that tone when she goes 'Ka-mu-i!' like she just used her full name!
Kamui shrinks into a little chibi form as Marivel and Acacia and Xiumei lecture her out. She doesn't seem to know what a filing system even is! What's an inventory, other than something you press X to bring up?? But where there is tough tsundere love, there's also a sparkle of hope at the end!
"A sticker...!"
She starts burning up with passion.
"I'll do it for a sticker! Let's go!"
She looks towards Tio and Clarine and pumps her hands up. "T-that's true! We can destroy some of the debris first... and with your Brilliant Sphere...!"
Well, disposal is part of the whole process, one supposes.
Dash contacts Roll for some much needed assistance... will he be able to discover something of value in here? One can only tell, but perhaps not leading Roll to this room would be wise... for the sake of the world...
...
...
It was a tough job. But thanks to ARMS, we did it! I had a good feeling! This is the way!
Kamui is lying sprawled on the floor around a sparkling, immaculate and glimmering storage room. Fortuitiously, they even managed to refurbish a single piece of high-tech gear that no doubt Kamui used a long, long time ago...
...
But one thing remains incredibly true, doesn't it? For someone who was built to be a housekeeper... how did this truth come to pass???
A LONG TIME AGO
"Master, how should I clean the table?" Kamui asks eagerly.
Dr. Lumen, lounging on her sofa in shorts and labcoat and busy with her videogames, looks over her shoulder and goes, "Oh, just dump everything aside or something! It'll be fiiiiine."
black and white times new roman title card:
THE CULPRIT
WAS
DR. LUMEN
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"And then she's like 'it's fine it's fine, A- is a perfectly acceptable grade, you shouldn't be too hard on yourself Mari' and I'm like 'I am a Crimson Noble and blah blah blah pride blah blah blah honor' and she's like 'Well maybe I'm doing this secret master thing where by playing the video game you learn what I'm trying to teach you' but no it was just a video game about saving the world from giant flying cats that hated humanity but needed to learn that not all humans were bad and you saved the world by petting and if you did really well you got a PURRFECT score and--"
Marivel blinks her eyes a few times, noticing the area is nice and clean now. "Oh," She removes the second 'She Never Cleaned Up!!' post it and replaces it with a newer 'Sometimes is not Every Five Hundred Years!' post-it note.
Then she passes out stickers of sweeping cat with the words 'PURRFECTLY CLEAN' around for everyone since everybody helped.
DG: Acacia Saitani has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Ruins of Lab -Tishrei- *>=========================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Reborn Mechanics *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The panel doesn't seem to discriminate from areas you've been to prior -- as
you find yourself in another segment of the Central Highway from before.
There are no terrified motorists to avoid this time, however you are up face
to face with one of those enormous bee assault crafts, the Bee Blader.
It gleams and launches a violent spray of vulcan fire -- and also drops
reinforcements in the form of white pods that sprout legs! You'll have to
take it down quick before you get overwhelmed...
And also mind that it doesn't land and take out the highway you're on
either!
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuRBS8MlSDQ )
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Reckless, Maim=================================
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Eventually, Kamui regains enough of herself to press on -- and there's another flash and a swarm of data cubes that brings them to... the Central Highway, once more.
Mysteriously, Kamui is still with them this time, and she blinks a few times and looks a bit frozen on the spot as one of those many, many Bee Bladers from before actually turns tail and attacks you this time.
"... ah ..." Kamui seems somewhat hesitant, though she does at least leap back to avoid getting showered by gunfire.
"Uh... can we just skip... this one? Haha..." She sounds somewhat nervous. This time, the housekeeping Kamui and the dashing crimson Reploid is nowhere in sight.
This seems to be another segment of That Day.
But your opponent, despite being a hologram, seems very real.
Fight!
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
"Not all of this is debris, Tio," Clarissa explains with a kind smile. "I think some of this might have sentimental value to Kamui and her friends - or it might have, in this time period."
The piece of technology left behind draws her attention. Crouching beside the gear, Clarissa gathers it with care. Her smile is soft as she looks up to Kamui. "It's really cool how much you were able to save... ...huh?" She trails off and lowers her hand to Strahl Gewehr.
The ARM pulses in her hands. Raising it, she blinks - and then something within it flares with a small burst of light.
The light extrudes itself in the form of a thin beam that sweeps over the piece of gear quickly. Clarissa widens her eyes and looks down at the weapon, then up at the piece of gear. "...Are you saying we can synchronize with these...?" she murmurs to the gun.
She's fallen behind the group as she looks the device over. When the flash comes, she's not with the rest of ARMS. Neither is Felius.
The Bee Blader buzzes overhead. Vulcan fire fills the area. A couple of white pods descend, skulking around to flank the group.
And then something blue flashes past. There's a sudden screech of a laser firing. Both podstalkers vapourize as the golden beam carves through them effortlessly.
A second later, Clarissa skids to a stop not far from Kamui. She's got Strahl Gewehr in hand, but she's not wearing her heavy boots anymore. They've been replaced by a pair of metallic boots that flare out in the back to a set of outlets. "Kamui," she calls, "do you mind if I borrow these? Strahl Gewehr seems to want them...!"
Vulcan fire rips past her. With a squeak, Clarissa jukes to one side.
There's a pulse from the outlets on the boots. When Clarissa leaps away, it's a long, fast leap, ending only when she hits the ground and rolls into a position to open fire.
GET STRAPPED WITH
BURST DASH BOOTS - VER. ARWIN
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
"Aah, you even broke Xiumei..." Acacia laments to herself with a pile of variously-blasted and pitted helmets stacked in her arms. For someone who might come across as being rather lackadaisical when it comes to keeping things tidy given the way she carries herself bustling around Meria Boule, she's actually remarkably fast and organized when focused on cleaning up, patting her hands with a sense of satisfaction. Maybe it's just a matter of having to know how to use the space.
... it also gives her an opportunity to gloss over what Marivel's saying. She's not trying to be rude or anything, really - she's just got a dangerous feeling that if she paid attention to it a little more closely, she might end up getting tempted into researching mysterious sightings near schools, charting out patterns and routes and histories and down that way probably lies madness and a little more exposure of Crimson Noble activity than would be entirely diplomatic.
"That's okay," she promises Tio, and even if she sounds more satisfied and refreshed by the way the pile is slowly disappearing, there's an edge of mischievous amusement and danger to her voice. "I'd rather not break anything here. This is a pretty important place." She hesitates. "I'll just tell Gami to keep an eye on Kamui when she wakes up."
Thus, Acacia has become truly evil...!
She lets it go the next moment, offering Clarine a quiet smile. "No, it's okay. I'm not-- I'm just being me. It's not a serious suggestion, I promise. I wouldn't be that rude," she adds with a grin, rubbing at her hair. The last of the pile is cleaned, and she places a hand in Kamui's hair, patting the Reploid on the head. "Good job," she says with genuine pride.
"See, the computer system agrees," she adds with a snigger as the room begins to change around them once more - but her humour dies away when the first vista repeats itself. At first, she looks around to try to sight the past Kamui once more - but then freezes when she realises her hand is still atop Kamui's head.
"... it's okay," she says after a moment, trying her best to be gentle. "It might be scary, but it's just an image. Everyone's here with you, okay?" She takes some care not to add 'this time'; that feels like it would be a little too presumptuous. Instead, she takes a step forward to cover the Reploid, driving a straight punch into the first white pod that comes for them.
There's a resounding -clooong-. The pod is sent flying, but Acacia's left wincing as she rubs her knuckles. You can't just punch metal, Acacia!!
DG: Acacia Saitani has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Reborn Mechanics.
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.
Marivel explains, and Xiumei hears but she doesn't listen. Through the whole explanation, there is simply the low-pitched whine of 'aaaaaaaaaa' that makes a sort of cosmic background radiation of stress. She shifts, she moves, adjusts, and cleans. And in the end, she stands in a pristine place, and lets out a held sigh of relief.
She stands up straight, and then there's that flash of data cubes. They all vanish. When they reappear, they are on the highway -- and then a flash of light can be seen. A beam saber explodes from Xiumei's hand, and cleaves up through the Bee Blader on her. Quite real.
"Skip it?" Xiumei asks. "Why? Is it--"
Another Bee Blader appears floats down, and its underside opens -- a six-slot pepperbox missile launcher starting to extend downard -- before two beam blasts slam into it from the back.
And there, standing in the distance, is a second Model V -- except different. Varius, when he was alive, stood taller than Xiumei did. His shoulders are broader, too; his hair snaps out, in a tight ponytail, but it falls to nearly his hips and is a pale blonde. The Pulse Cannon in his hand shimmers. "Ugh. Too easy. Can't they throw something at us that'll be a challenge?
There is an animated, almost musical sigh from behind him. The Reploid that steps up next to him has white and teal armor. She looks sideways -- winks at him -- and then looks ahead. Her dark hair flutters out behind her. "Oh, don't complain so much, Varius! Look, it's brought all these people out! No telling who we'll meet, right...?"
"...yeah, guess you're right."
She throws something -- a cross-shaped piece of metal, which spins up -- and then ignites with a teal energy, before it slashes through the descending Bee Blader, bisecting it in an instant. "Trust me. I have a good feeling!"
DG: Zhang Xiumei has used her Tool Pulse Saber toward her party's challenge, Reborn Mechanics.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Clarine receives... a sticker! Her eyes sparkle, and she accepts it gently. She looks toward Acacia, then, offering a nod and a smile.
"Ah... I see. It is alright, then." She replies.
And then, they move forward. The environment changes once more - perhaps it had just wanted someone to do some cleaning up before they continued with their mission.
They find themselves back in the highway scene and Kamui is, understandably, nervous as the robot bees turn their sights on them. Clarine doesn't blame her for that.
"...It is alright. We are here for you, Kamui." Clarine says, looking in her direction. Clarine draws a lengthy of silvery cloth and offers it to her - the Lightbending Veil.
And then, she turns her attention to the Bee Bladers themselves. With a gesture of her hand, a single ray of light falls down, looking to pierce right through one of them.
She is distracted briefly, however, the sight of two figures in the distance. One of them is familiar, but different, and the other is one she's never seen before...
"...Who...is that?" Clarine asks, surprised.
DG: Seraph Clarine has used her Tool Lightbending Veil toward her party's challenge, Reborn Mechanics. DG: Clarissa Arwin has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Reborn Mechanics.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"I would..." Marivel admits to Kamui. "But I don't know how to skip it from here. I could maybe change the programming once we get to the end but..." She shakes her head. Honestly after her tirade she kind of forgot to answer the question about the time eating wolf. She must not think it too important.
Even if it frustratingly remains unbanished.
In the next area---more battle to be had and, more unnerving, two dead peoople. Of course, Marivel is rather accustomed to seeing the dead. She sees them whenever she closes her eyes.
She lowers her head. "...Lumen... why are you showing us this...?"
Strangely reminders of loves lost, even if they aren't her loves, distresses Marivel. She looks to Xiumei for a moment and then adds, "Enough."
Perhaps she intends to make it a little easier for Kamui when she channels her modern power into her hands and unleashes a crackling wave of thunder from her hands, intending to devestate robot bees quickly so they can move on before any more healed wounds reopen.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool My Mike toward her party's challenge, Reborn Mechanics.
<Pose Tracker> Tio has posed.
Clarissa's explanation causes Tio to pause. "There are items of value here?" It's a little hard for her to see it as more than junk. Acacia seconds this thought, and Tio nods. "Understood. I will be careful."
Operation cleaning is a success! "I no longer detect any debris in the area." Tio says, as her antennae light up and then dim again. And then she is offered a sticker, which she just sort of looks at as she holds it in her hand. "What is the purpose of this item, Marivel?" She asks, genuinely seeming baffled.
And then the next hallway reveals the threat. "These enemies again!" Tio draws her chakrams, which flare to life with their laser edges, and there is the glint at the footwear she's wearing- a pair of glass slippers that make her even lighter on her feet than before. Tio dodges and weaves, and moves with a dancer's grace as she tries to avoid machinegun fire and throw her Chakrams at the enemy.
There is one odd trait to the way she fights, that might be hard to notice.
The whole time, she aims to keep herself between the Bee Blader and Kamui.
DG: Tio has used her Tool Glass Slippers toward her party's challenge, Reborn Mechanics.
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
Organization is hard! But teamwork isn't!
When the cleanup is done, the party finds themselves with a satisfactory feeling of doing a good job, and hey, at least the yaren't in any danger here! "Well that mess won't haunt anyone else in the future again!" he says, dusting his hands. Clarissa seems to have found something as well that is useful among the discarded belongings!
Though she disappears for a small time as the world goes blurry, and chooses to reconstitute the burning cityscape again. "Oh boy, back here!"
A foe draws near overhead! "Is that... a giant bee? Really? A bee? Couldn't choose something more menacing?
Vulcan machine gun fire silences him for a moment. "I stand corrected!" One hand quickly reshapes into the Mega Buster. "We got this!"
First though, the podlike marching foes are marching in quickly. No telling what they do! Best not to let them get close. Dash takes aim, but the repeated buster fire flies between their spindly legs! "I can't hit them!" he complains.
"Aim for the core! They don't mave much armor!" Data says, in his mixed communications to the party. "Uh... okay!"
He resumes fire. Data begins to dart his eyes around wildly in this strange facsimile of a place. Dash can see figures nearby, also remniscent of people with the group. Is that really Xiumei-- or rather, akin to her armor? Seems like so many have ties to this ancient event. He hopes they all find answers, if it is what they seek here as well.
DG: Dash Caskett has used his Tool Helpful Bit of Data toward his party's challenge, Reborn Mechanics.
=========================<* Ruins of Lab -Tishrei- *>=========================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Reborn Mechanics *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The panel doesn't seem to discriminate from areas you've been to prior -- as
you find yourself in another segment of the Central Highway from before.
There are no terrified motorists to avoid this time, however you are up face
to face with one of those enormous bee assault crafts, the Bee Blader.
It gleams and launches a violent spray of vulcan fire -- and also drops
reinforcements in the form of white pods that sprout legs! You'll have to
take it down quick before you get overwhelmed...
And also mind that it doesn't land and take out the highway you're on
either!
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuRBS8MlSDQ )
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Reckless, Maim=================================
====================<* Ruins of Lab -Tishrei- - Round 4 *>==================== ========================< Results - Reborn Mechanics >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Acacia Saitani 0 --(0)--> 0 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass My Mike 4 Combat Effects: Efficient and Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Clarine 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Lightbending Veil 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tio 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Glass Slippers 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Clarissa Arwin 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dash Caskett 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Helpful Bit of Data 2 Combat Effects: Cleanse and Liability ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zhang Xiumei 0 --(0)--> 0 Fail Pulse Saber 2 Combat Effects: Resilient ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Acacia Saitani 60 --(15)--> 75 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Madness|Maim|Reckless(2) Effects: Cleanse|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Acacia Saitani has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Kamui's nerve is undercut when Clarissa reappears behind her, equipped with metallic boots. She's familiar with those boots. They're her old Foot Parts from an earlier adventure...!
"Clarissa, you were able to...?" Kamui speaks out with wonder. "Sure! If it'll help you, I'm happy with it...!"
Clarissa's newfound mobility gets her past the vulcan fire; it's with deftness that she returns fire, catching the flank of the Bee Blader as it starts erupting in flame.
Acacia reassures her as well, as she tells her -- it's just an image. Master covers her for a moment, as she smashes that pod rolling for them.
"I can do this..."
She's more surprised than ever, however, as she sees the 'second' Model V. She gets distracted again, staring towards... Varius...
That's right. That's why this memory exists. Because she can't forget him.
Nor... her. The Reploid in the white and teal armour, dark hair fluttering out. Her heart tightens for a moment longer. She can't forget her either. Not again. Never again.
She looks to Xiumei for a moment, as she says to trust her. "Xiumei..."
Kamui's throat is a bit dry as Clarine protects her with the Lightbending Veil and asks who that is; she answers softly, but audibly enough:
"... Varius. Avile."
Marivel helps them, however, as she channels her power and shatters the pods with a thunderwave; the pods scatter where Acacia's smashed them away, giving them more room.
And Xiumei rises up to slash that Bee Blader, bisecting it in half! It still threatens to aim its vulcan in its throes, however...
Dash takes it on with some buster fire, and Data assists him--
But Data's not the only one to help him out.
Kamui finally takes the courage to stand beside him, looking towards the Blue Bomber.
"Let's do this together, Dash."
Her Buster is aimed alongside his!
"On three. One, two... three! Fire!"
The resulting explosion consumes the rest of the creature.
DG: Acacia Saitani has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Ruins of Lab -Tishrei- *>=========================
================<* CHALLENGE - The Unbeatable Love We Share *>================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Through the almost-sacred hallway, you come across an ancient laboratory, as
tall as it is wide; hexagonal in shape, it has been tossed into complete
disarray over the ages. Computer panels, server racks and other such
technological apertures are strewn about the room, little better than debris
and junk now.
"Meet! Meeet!!"
A charming, floating little figure with a construction helmet looks
overjoyed to see your party. This is Mettie, a helpful little Cyber-Mettool.
It bobs excitedly, before flying back towards a tall, armored Reploid, more
human-seeming than Kamui, sitting on the now-open capsule where you first
discovered Kamui.
The other Reploid of legend, who has slept through the passage of time with
her partner...
Gami.
But before the reunion between soulmates can truly take place--
/
_ _ _ _____ _____ __ _ _ __ _ ____ /
\ \ \ /_____\ \_____\ \\ \ \ \\ \ / / ___
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ --*----
\_/ \_/ \ \ \ \ \ \\ \ \ \\ \___/ \
___________________________________________ / \
/
--a great pistoning noise and a release valve of steam accompanies a
rupturing tremble of the earth. A massive cylindrical chamber emerges, and a
giant, stocky Reaverbot emerges from within!
(Image: https://i.imgur.com/9tfWZiB.jpg )
It seems like the Lab's sensors have malfunctioned and have considered at
least one of you as an intruder. You'll have to gently put this aggressive
piece of home security back in its chamber.
It is time for two Reploids to join as one again...!
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqQwWQZtf1U )
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Injure============================================
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.
"I'm not... making them appear," Xiumei answers Marivel, with a shake of her head. She swings her Pulse Saber down into the concrete, turning to look at those two distant figures for a moment longer. When Clarine asks who they are, she hesitates.
For Varius, the answer is easy: Model V resembles his armor greatly. The other, though, she knows. She hesitates to say as much, though. But, Kamui confirms it. She hesitates, then nods. "...yeah. I've never seen her before..."
<...>
The Bee Blader falls. As it comes down, Varius looks down -- and his eyes start to narrow, until a teal-gloved hand lands on his shoulder. "C'mon, Varius. Let's keeping moving, okay?"
"...yeah." The two Zeboim Federation-built Reploids turn -- and leap off into the distance.
<Pose Tracker> Gami has posed.
Finally, the panel stops bringing places about and everyone to those places; it quiets, a simple
ACCESS GRANTED
the reward. As the door opens, there's just a short hallway before them, empty of dangers or... a lot else.
A quiet, quiet hallway; ahead, an ancient laboratory rizes, hexagonal in shape, as tall as it is wide... and through the door, it's clear that it's in complete disarray. A line of server racks is strewn, black plastic chipped with bare metal in places; computer panels sit with wires hanging out. Technological apertures are just strewn about; it's little better than debris, here. But the charming, floating little figure chirps its "Meet! Meeeet!!"
Mettie comes towards the party and bobs excitedly, before flying back towards the open capsule where sits... Gami. Tall, and armored, she looks much worse for wear than she did in the vision before; she holds no weapon, and some of her heavier armor plating has been removed. She turns her head, slowly blinking towards the group. But suddenly--
HIssssss. The WARNING blares and Gami, the other Reploid, blinks suddenly, looking to the nearest console. "Oh--"
"The sensors have malfunctioned!" Gami shouts to the group, her eyes tearing away again from Kamui for a moment as she tries to tap some keys. "It's an intruder alert! You'll have to deal with the security system, I--"
She shudders lightly as if from a spasm if she were human, and shakes her head. "Mui, I need your help."
That warning? It's for the massive cylindrical chamber that partway blocks view of Gami now, and the gigantic stocky Reaverbot that now moves to attack the group!!!
<Pose Tracker> Gami has posed.
Finally, the panel stops bringing places about and everyone to those places; it quiets, a simple
ACCESS GRANTED
the reward. As the door opens, there's just a short hallway before them, empty of dangers or... a lot else.
A quiet, quiet hallway; ahead, an ancient laboratory rizes, hexagonal in shape, as tall as it is wide... and through the door, it's clear that it's in complete disarray. A line of server racks is strewn, black plastic chipped with bare metal in places; computer panels sit with wires hanging out. Technological apertures are just strewn about; it's little better than debris, here. But the charming, floating little figure chirps its "Meet! Meeeet!!"
Mettie comes towards the party and bobs excitedly, before flying back towards the open capsule where sits... Gami. Tall, and armored, she looks much worse for wear than she did in the vision before; she holds no weapon, and some of her heavier armor plating has been removed. She turns her head, slowly blinking towards the group. "Mettie? ...Mii, what is it...? Oh!" But suddenly--
HIssssss. The WARNING blares and Gami, the other Reploid, blinks suddenly, looking to the nearest console. "Oh--"
"The sensors have malfunctioned!" Gami shouts to the group, her eyes tearing away again from Kamui for a moment as she tries to tap some keys. "It's an intruder alert! You'll have to deal with the security system, I--"
She shudders lightly as if from a spasm if she were human, and shakes her head. "Mui, I need your help."
That warning? It's for the massive cylindrical chamber that partway blocks view of Gami now, and the gigantic stocky Reaverbot that now moves to attack the group!!!
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Kamui gestures towards the group as the doorway opens for them. "It's just down there now, like last time you found... me," she looks to Marivel, Acacia and Clarissa.
It's a short hallway down, and--
'Meet! Meeet!!'
"Mettie!" Kamui exclaims with the kind of mirth of someone running into their pet dog or cat once more. Because, much like last time... this is basically who Mettie is -- and they stayed behind loyally to take care of the still-sleeping Gami.
Yet this time, the excitement in Mettie's voice informs her of something--
Something that's very visible to everyone now, as her breath is taken away from her as she looks towards the open capsule.
She was expecting to visit and pay her respects, perhaps murmur something about yet another promise broken but how something important still awaits her out in the world;
She wasn't expecting the capsule open. She wasn't expecting Gami to... sit there, awake. She blinks.
Kamui doesn't miss the way her eyelashes flutter, the way her mouth opens as she asks who Mettie found--
"Gami..."
Yet suddenly--
*HIsssssssss*
Kamui blinks and looks towards the sensors and the enormous, stocky Reaverbot that's emerged from within the cylindrical chamber inside.
This... may have also happened once before. Does Marivel have a remote for the security this time? Kamui sure doesn't, but...
She doesn't need one.
"Gami! Gami, you're awake!" Kamui sounds excited as she hurries by her side, thoroughly overwhelmed; her breath bated, her voice lilted as if carried on wings through the clouds. "Gami..."
The Reaverbot moves to approach them. A sensor starts to beam over them as it detects its targets.
"Okay. Let's do this together. Everyone! We need your help too! Careful about its laser from the mouth!"
She still takes a moment to reach--
And squeeze her hand to Gami's. Despite the size difference, she still manages to lace their fingers together for a tight squoze. Because love finds a way.
"Just like before... we'll be forever together again... Gami..."
And with her other hand?
She has her X-Buster lifted up. A light hums from within it. A light whose love surely won't be beaten!!
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
Braking, Clarissa dropes into a crouch and gazes off towards the second Model V. The girl gasps and curls her fingers into the neck of her turtleneck. "Oh wow...." Her eyes drift to Xiumei, and she swallows lightly, but offers her a small, reassuring smile.
The battle blazes on. When it's all said and done, Clarissa looks to Kamui, catching her breath. "Ah... yeah! Strahl Gewehr showed me how... somehow. THank you! I promise I'll do the best I can with them."
Clarissa, too, is now a little 'mui. It's not a bad thing.
She follows Kamui through the hallway, unused at first to the metallic sound of her new foot parts against the floor. The arrival of Mettie is met with a gasp and a cheery smile as she cups a hand to her cheek. "Oh, Kamui! A friend, is it? And--"
And an open capsule, containing someone a little more familiar now. Stepping forward, Clarissa opens her mouth to say something - but she trails off and leaves it to Kamui. It's the tiny Reploid's past, not hers. From behind her, Felius merely lays a hand on her shoulder and looks on, stoic.
"Kamui," murmurs Clarissa, smiling gently at the sight of the little Reploid rushing to her friend's side. Something's hissing - approaching. A huge Reaverbot. Clarissa puts it out of her mind at first. Kamui's more important.
At least until the Reaverbot stomps towards them. Setting her jaw, Clarissa dips one shoulder--
*FWOOSH* - *KTANG*
A gasp bursts out of Clarissa as Felius suddenly leaps past her, glaive in both hands and driven towards the core of the Reaverbot with simple, lethal force.
Glancing back, Felius nods to Clarissa simply. "Kamui's right. We need to work together," he says quietly before leaping back from the Reaverbot. Snapping his glaive in the air, he unleashes a powerful shockwave from the blade, slamming towards the huge machine.
Surprise at her brother's forward actions passing, Clarissa nods emphatically. "--Mm! Okay!" she calls as she bursts into motion. The thrusters on the foot parts she inherited from Kamui blaze in a short burst as she lunges into the air, flips and lands on top of a pod, swinging Strahl Gewehr forward.
"Gami," she whispers, her voice intent. "Even though we haven't met, I feel like Kamui's love has connected us a little already... and I won't let that connection break now."
The barrel of her ARM shines. Radiant light halos around the oddly-shaped bore. Then it bursts forth, the golden light seeming to swallow the room. Clarissa slumps visibly as she pours her own energy into Strahl Gewehr's massive blast, a supercharged shot that ought well to tear through anything before it.
DG: Clarissa Arwin has used her Tool Dandelion Sacrifice toward her party's challenge, The Unbeatable Love We Share.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Sorry I was talking to the security system." Marivel explains to Xxiumei.
She quiets down again after. This isn't the easiest experience for her either, even if for Marivel this is a happier time when her friends were alive. But Marivel can't just enjoy it, she has to remember that events like this day were the beginning of the end. Or the medium of the end? Regardless, it makes Marivel wonder aloud, "You know, the cataclysms have been happening more and more frequently. Sometimes, I wonder if it's inevitable, just part of the cycle of any world that has living beings on it."
But then a gift is returned to her, someone she had thought would never move again.
"Gami..." Marivel says, eyes wide. "You're....you're alive." A tear dribbles down her cheek and she quickly wipes it away because devils only cry while it's raining.
And then she reaches into her pouch and draws out a camera and--"Waiiit! Look over here real quick!"
--snaps a picture of Gami and Kamui standing next to one another. Possibly blurry if they are moving while she's taking them. She takes a bunch anyway.
"Okay good to go." Marivel quickly puts the camera away before, naturally draws out her mike and--
--wait no, that's an Electel. She darts forward and attempts to zap the giant reaver with it, perhaps hoping it might either stall it--or give it enough a jolt it remembers that there are plenty of non-intruders here!
"
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool My Mike toward her party's challenge, The Unbeatable Love We Share.
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
"... are you sure this is just the computer system doing the programming?" Acacia asks Marivel quietly, her expression drawn in uncertainty. She can't shake the feeling that this behaviour isn't something that should be erased, even if Marivel and Kamui might feel they want it to be. Removing all access to it--... she's fairly sure that bad memories exist for a reason, even if just to learn from them.
She continues to run distraction more than anything, moving around Kamui to support her. Occasionally she throws a punch if she needs to get one of the pods out of the way immediately, but most of the time she'd rather pull what ether she can around herself, twisting it into sweeps of flame or sudden, sharp jolts of lightning.
When the two names are mentioned, the reporter snaps her head up, making sure to catch a glimpse of them. Again, her camera finger itches - she trusts her memory, but there's still something to be said for getting images down on paper. The only reason she's not pulled it out yet is because she doesn't have it with her - she'd brought it along the first time she came to these ruins, but that was before she knew what they were. Taking photos of someone's resting place... she'd like to think she's the sort of reporter who wouldn't do that.
So instead she watches, not moving until the scene falls back away and they're back at the panel as it dings with finality. The passageway beyond is familiar; she's walked it once before at the side of some of the others, her head filled with dazzling images of Reflectors dancing around her. It only seems right to let Kamui lead the way, and she finds herself quietly holding her breath as she follows.
What she absolutely wasn't expecting was the sight of Gami awake; she blinks twice in sheer surprise, her mouth falling open as she looks towards Kamui and sees the same surprise mirrored there. What should she say here? her mind suddenly wonders, stuck on the question as she tries to process the rest of the scene. 'Hello, I've been looking after your sister'? Are they sisters? 'Hey, I stole Kamui'?
In the end, she decides not to spoil the moment. As Kamui races forwards to Gami's side, Acacia lets out a quiet little chuckle, another note of pride - and then firms a determined stare towards the Reaverbot that's encroaching upon them. One hand deliberately searches in her jacket pocket, closing around the lump of glass; a light glints within it as she starts to focus, a glow of raw power eddying around her.
"Keep her safe," is the only command she offers, and even then it hardly counts as one. The other hand draws out a pistol, but it's no longer a melted lump of slag and iron - this looks significantly more high-tech, recovered and tucked away during their cleaning spree earlier in the ruin. It's not like she knows how to use it, exactly - but that's not why she's pointing it at the Reaverbot.
It's simply a matter of focus. A barrel is a barrel - and completely independent of the weapon's own firing mechanism, she sights along it and squeezes the trigger, sending a lancing bolt of etheric light out towards the machine.
DG: Acacia Saitani has used her Tool Trusty Friends toward her party's challenge, The Unbeatable Love We Share.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"I'm not sure of anything! But it isn't my fault!" Marivel snaps back to Acacia. "I did my homework."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Varius and Avile... Clarine things on this for a moment, going quiet. She looks, briefly, toward Xiumei. She considers saying something, but before the words come out...
'ACCESS GRANTED'. And, a door opens, revealing a hallway. And at the end of it...an old friend!
"Oh!" Clarine remarks in surprise as the Mettool waddles up to them. "They seem happy to see you..."
...But, the Mettool is happy about something else, it seems. Clarine looks toward Kamui, and then toward the open capsule. The person there is unmistakably the same as the one from Kamui's memory, but heavily damaged. Gami is here, and awake.
...But, the reunion is halted by the machine's security system, taking the form of a large Reaverbot.
"I have been looking forward to meeting you... But, it would seem that introductions must be put off for now." Clarine offers to Gami, and then to Kamui, Clarine gives a determined nod.
"I will give you my support! A laser... that I can do." She says. With a flourish, a series of mirrors begin to spin about Clarine's person before flying off. They move at Clarine's bidding to protect others and intercept incoming attacks.
After they've come all this way, to a reunion that seemed like a miracle, Clarine wasn't going to let it be dashed like this.
DG: Seraph Clarine has used her Tool Lightbending Veil toward her party's challenge, The Unbeatable Love We Share.
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.
Xiumei looks at Clarissa, and she returns the smile -- but it's hesitant. Her eyes look back ahead, and she takes a deep breath, then keeps moving. She tries to keep the doubts and worries back. Her eyes drift, though, to the capsule.
The... open... capsule.
When the Reaverbot slams down, Xiumei leaps backward, and lands crouching. She looks up -- spotting Gami, and when she shouts to her, it's unfamiliar. But, the surprised noise from Varius in her mind speaks volumes. "Gami..."
She grits her teeth, then stands up. There is a crack and snap of light, as the Pulse Saber explodes out -- and the blade curves a little as she spins the cylindrical handle, between her fingers. Then, Xiumei leaps; she jumps, airborne, and rises. The Pulse Saber swings back.
She comes down, slashing at the top of the Reaverbot. "Just a little more...!"
DG: Zhang Xiumei has used her Tool Pulse Saber toward her party's challenge, The Unbeatable Love We Share.
<Pose Tracker> Tio has posed.
There is so much here that Tio lacks context for, to try and understand. It might be difficult even if she weren't lacking so many crucial elements of how things work. She watches silently as the memories play on. As they enter through the door, Tio hangs back behind the group a little. She continues to follow. As Mettie appears, she stares at it, but doesn't comment. Her eyes widen slightly, at the presence of Gami, but it's not too long before the Reaverbot makes it's presence known. Tio dashes back from it, slippers glinting, and looks up.
This is a present danger, threatening Sister and her friends. This is something she can help with. She raises her hand into the air, and rings of light appear above it, forming a larger ring. "Lotus Flower. Bloom."
She fires the ring forward, aiming to join her attack with everyone else's, and destroy the machine.
DG: Tio has used her Tool Glass Slippers toward her party's challenge, The Unbeatable Love We Share.
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
Dash takes aim, shooting at the pod walkers, but there are just too many! But someone comes by to assist him in a wicked cool team attack! "Kamui!" he exclaims, and fires his blasts alongside her's! "With two busters, you can take on anything!" says the cute little mechanical monkey to the fellow constructs.
The blast of superheated plasma is a sight to behold. Barrels are left steaming, and not much else is"That was... super cool..."
These weapons they have are surely powerful. And quite alike.
Their goal remains just ahead, an old chamber opening to reveal someone in wait for a long time. Kamui seems so happy to see them. Surely this is the person she told him about. "Guess they were here! Great!"
Nothing comes quite so easily though. Alarms and klaxions activate, and out dispenses...! "A Reaverbot! Look out!"
Dash has to quickly sidestep and ready his weapon. "Any good ideas how to defeat this one, Data?!" he asks quickly.
Data just looks right at him and furrows his little monkey brow. He climbs down on Dash's shoulder, grabs his arm, and points the Mega Buster at the Reaverbot, and points at it with a small round hand.
So then Dash started blasting!
DG: Dash Caskett has used his Tool Helpful Bit of Data toward his party's challenge, The Unbeatable Love We Share.
=========================<* Ruins of Lab -Tishrei- *>=========================
================<* CHALLENGE - The Unbeatable Love We Share *>================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Through the almost-sacred hallway, you come across an ancient laboratory, as
tall as it is wide; hexagonal in shape, it has been tossed into complete
disarray over the ages. Computer panels, server racks and other such
technological apertures are strewn about the room, little better than debris
and junk now.
"Meet! Meeet!!"
A charming, floating little figure with a construction helmet looks
overjoyed to see your party. This is Mettie, a helpful little Cyber-Mettool.
It bobs excitedly, before flying back towards a tall, armored Reploid, more
human-seeming than Kamui, sitting on the now-open capsule where you first
discovered Kamui.
The other Reploid of legend, who has slept through the passage of time with
her partner...
Gami.
But before the reunion between soulmates can truly take place--
/
_ _ _ _____ _____ __ _ _ __ _ ____ /
\ \ \ /_____\ \_____\ \\ \ \ \\ \ / / ___
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ --*----
\_/ \_/ \ \ \ \ \ \\ \ \ \\ \___/ \
___________________________________________ / \
/
--a great pistoning noise and a release valve of steam accompanies a
rupturing tremble of the earth. A massive cylindrical chamber emerges, and a
giant, stocky Reaverbot emerges from within!
(Image: https://i.imgur.com/9tfWZiB.jpg )
It seems like the Lab's sensors have malfunctioned and have considered at
least one of you as an intruder. You'll have to gently put this aggressive
piece of home security back in its chamber.
It is time for two Reploids to join as one again...!
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqQwWQZtf1U )
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Injure============================================
====================<* Ruins of Lab -Tishrei- - Round 5 *>==================== ==================< Results - The Unbeatable Love We Share >================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Acacia Saitani 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Trusty Friends 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass My Mike 4 Combat Effects: Efficient and Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Clarine 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Lightbending Veil 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tio 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Glass Slippers 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Clarissa Arwin 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Dandelion Sacrifice 4 Combat Effects: Fanfare and Sacrifice ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dash Caskett 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Helpful Bit of Data 2 Combat Effects: Cleanse and Liability ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zhang Xiumei 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Pulse Saber 2 Combat Effects: Resilient ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Acacia Saitani 75 --(35)--> 110 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Injure(2)|Reckless(1)|Wound(2) Effects: Cleanse|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Acacia Saitani has successfully explored Ruins of Lab -Tishrei-!
=========================<* Ruins of Lab -Tishrei- *>=========================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Together *>==========================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
With a thunderous clash, the Golem stills as its security system goes
'bweep' and turns off. Its thrusters carry it into a nearly-invisible slot
on the wall.
The laboratory is swept in a pleasant silence. Then--
"Meet! Meeeet!!"
Mettie the Mettool crashes head-first into anyone and everyone she finds,
overjoyed at the reunion -- and the introduction, in some cases!
A panel at the back opens and reveals a teleporter that you could use to
escape. But first... there is the matter of a reunion that has been waiting
for far too long...
=Dungeon Conditions: Wonder===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Gami has posed.
"Kamui," Gami repeats, and this robot, at least, seems capable of at least gathered tears. Her voice is full of the many things that she can't say all at once; indeed in many ways she seems so different from Kamui at first look. But there is little time for that first look to last long--the terrible alarms are blaring, after all. But... it's not quite too quick for one thing.
Kamui laces her fingers with Gami's, and Gami smiles like there isn't any danger there at all. "You were in danger... I could feel it." She presses her lips together--and squeezes Kamui's hand back, gently even with the presumable gap in their grip strength. "Together," Gami answers warmly, and puts off the explanations and questions for later.
Clarissa is intent on preserving the connection she sees, and feels a tie to, such that she pours that feeling itself into the radiant light of Strawl Gewehr, and that shot scorches across and partway through the Reaverbot's armoring with a devastating crash and seems to still be interfering with its targetting systems a moment later as it fires on the others.
Marivel takes photos!!! Gami blinks through one, but there's a bunch of them, and after a moment she tilts her head a little in Kamui's direction because it's Marivel and photography is important. Also important is the serious jolting that sends lightning coiling around the giant reaverbot to stall it for an instant and maaaybe jog its memory banks a little.
'Keep her safe', Acacia says, and Gami finally moves to place her other hand over the ones the two of them are still holding. Acacia sends out a powerful jolt of Ether, and it shines brilliantly until it slams into the Reaverbot, popping off another layer of protection outright that spins to crumple to a useless heap on the ground.
Clarine was looking forward to meeting Gami. Gami marvels a little at her briefly, clear surprise in her expression, but it's hard to keep looking because the lasers Clarine brings forth to blast away at the giant bot are too bright to stare at face-on. So when she looks away and finds Xiumei, Gami blinks in something like confusion at Xiumei's armor and the face within it. Xiumei, meanwhile, swings her Pulse Saber in for a raking slash straight through the thing's armor, ripping what seems like something important.
Tio's Lotus Flower blooms beautifully--and powerfully, both. The giant Reaverbot is forced backward by this last blow, and can't quite manage to make its way forward in the midst of Dash's many blasts just all crashing back into it as it moves. Frankly the group has done quite a number on it. And a moment later--
The red lights turn off. The Reaverbot creaaaaaaks with all its damage and begins to backtrack with a few clanks, moving backwards a noisy step at a time back into its cylinder. If Reaverbots had expressions, this one's might be apologetic. But it does not burst into bits that each say sorry. The cylinder just closes and it descends again with a whirring noise, and in moments it's almost like it was never here.
"There. That's better," Gami says, tapping a few more keys to make sure it stays off and then smiling to the others briefly before--
Hup--
She kneels down and wraps her arms around Kamui, rising in a hug of the smaller Reploid that whirls around in place. "Kamui!" Gami cheers, relieved and happy and with much to say but with something that doesn't quite take words.
...She doesn't set Kamui down as she comes to a stop, though. "You've made so many friends!" she observes, "And brought back some old ones... Marivel." Her gaze lingers on Xiumei again, but then on all of them. "They're quite the group, gami..."
Pause. "Did someone say homework...? Mii. I did turn back on the homework module. Mui needs to clean up her messes." Gami nods twice, for emphasis. She still hasn't put Kamui down.
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Much like Gami, Kamui's expression is one of so many feelings all at once; too many feelings for words, or even expressions. All that she can convey is the light in her eye, as Gami says that she could sense that she was in danger.
A quiet pang of guilt.
She smiles towards Clarissa as she says that she feels that her love connected them already...
And she turns towards Marivel as, for once, she becomes the subject of the photograph, rather than the photographer. "Thank you, mom." You gotta leave it to mothers to take pictures during important moments, even if you might whine when they show others your baby album!
Acacia ponders if they're sisters. If they're sisters, they're totally smoochin' sisters, Acacia. This ain't no Sailor Moon dub.
Clarine declares her support as well. Just as she was there during her most trying time... she's glad that the Seraph is here too, at this time!
And Xiumei -- she can sense Varius' surprise, and she can't blame him. She, too, is quite surprised. But Xiumei takes the charge to slash...!
Dash gathers as well, and even if she doesn't unite her buster this time, he's got her support as well!
And Tio--
She's so happy to be able to introduce Gami to her sister, now. In many ways, her family is coming together, stronger than ever; Marivel, as she starts to really connect on what it means for her to be her mother; Acacia, in the way she reflects her Master upon her; ARMS, who has been her found family since she awoke...
It truly is an unbeatable love they share.
Hup, hup!
Kamui gets drawn up and twirled about in a romantic hug that she's probably dreamed of a lot, as she exclaims, "Gami!"
She wants to say that name over and over again until language ceases to have all meaning.
"I know... I have so much to share with you, so many people to introduce! But I should let them introduce themselves, because they're all my important and good friends!"
And yet--
Did someone say homework?
"Mui--"
Kamui scratches her cheek, pouting quietly. "I did some homework! And I even... I even cleaned up, thanks to ARMS!" She beams, as she leans forward and... gives her a smooch for her troubles!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Working together, they manage to subdue the Reaverbot! Clarine can't help but smile warmly as Gami gives Kamui a great big hug. It's nice. She thought that when she did finally see Gami, it would be while she was still asleep. But, she's awake, and it's clear how happy that makes Kamui.
She is certain, when her turn comes around, to give Mettie a friendly pat of greeting, too.
And then, she looks back at Gami, as she comments on all of Kamui's friends.
"Kamui has been a brilliant light to all of us... And, she has told us so much about you. I am glad to finally meet you in person. I am the Seraph of Light, Clarine..." Clarine says, bowing her head politely. ...She then pauses for a moment, as she realises something. "...Ah, I am uncertain if you know what a 'Seraph' is, but I would be pleased to explain it later..."
They would, after all, have a lot of time to talk now. It's a wonderful thought.
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
A visibly weary Clarissa boosts herself down from her pod-perch. Her face is paler than it usually is, but there's a smile on her face and a couple of tears gleaming at the corners of her eyes at the sight of the two metal companions reuniting before them all.
The light fades within the outlets of Clarissa's new boots as she moves to rejoin the group, sliding Strahl Gewehr back into its holster. When Felius rejoins her, she looks up at him and reaches for his hand, giving it a squeeze. "You seemed really motivated, Felius," she says softly. "Did something occur to you?"
Felius bows his head a little. "...My dream's always been to help you realize your dream. Helping Kamui is just part of that."
Clarissa grips Felius's hand a little tighter before letting it go, her smile faint. "Someday I'll help you fulfill a dream that's a bit more selfish," she murmurs before turning back to the little gathering.
"My name's Clarissa," she says with a kind smile as she approaches Gami and Kamui, clasping her hands and inclining her head. "Kamui has spoken so nicely of you. She's really been a wonderful friend... I owe her my life, you know!"
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
Acacia's still grappling a little with feeling guilty over waking Kamui up in the first place. Perhaps it was better on the whole for the Reploid to go out into the world, considering the way in which she's reconnected with her family and made new friends - but there's been a lot of hurt along the way, and it's Acacia's position as 'Master' not to take something like that too lightly.
So she shuffles her feet for a moment, and digs a hand into her hair to rub at it, and she's just about to open her mouth to try to say something reponsible when Kamui straight-up kisses Gami and her brain kind of shorts out all over again. "Ah--" she finds herself starting to say as she has to very hastily readjust her view of Kamui. The one currently being whirled around seems so different from the sleepy Reploid that eats her way slowly through the bakery's stock.
Is she blushing? She's not sure, but for good measure she rubs at her mouth with an arm as she lets out a quiet, amused breath and lets the pair have their moment. Of all the possible thoughts she could have right at this moment, the one that stands out is the awkward suspicious she might need a bigger apartment.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Gami," Marivel smiles. Her mouth briefly forms an 'o' shape when Gami CONFESSES to turning HOMEWORK back on. She quietly glances away, whistling a little before Kamui hits her with the MOM and Mari's cheeks color again as she says, warmly, "Any time, sweet child. I know how important it is to you." The recorded memories that is. Regardless, Marivel has come a long way from 'school project' here. Perhaps it's a nice thought that after a few millenia, even stubborn people like Marivel can change a little.
She doesn't so much as blink at the smooching so if it's smooching sisters, then Marivel is surely open minded. But regardless, Kamui's family is as ever Marivel's family, and she says, "You were very well behaved today, Kamui," before turning to make her way back to Tio to answer a question she had neglected to answer earlier.
"Stickers... They are for helping you remember moments you should be proud of." She smiles. "Carry yours with pride, Tio, and greet your sisters. Just a suggestion."
No orders for Tio, not even of this sort, it seems.