2020-08-29: I Will Fear No Reproach

From Dream Chasers
Revision as of 03:12, 2 September 2020 by Strangeshrimp (talk | contribs) (Created page with "*'''Log: I Will Fear No Reproach''' *'''Cast:''' Character :: Zhang Xiumei, Character :: Ratatoskr, Character :: Erzebet Lefanu, Character :: Janus Cascade, ...")
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

======================<* Valeria Chateau - Ground Floor *>======================

The grand, beautiful estate that is the Valeria Chateau rests at the top of a high cliff overlooking much of Meria Boule's central region, full of red rock into which the white walls of the Chateau seem to fit perfectly. It is ornate, lovely stone with much embellishment, and if anything is perhaps larger than one would expect of the seemingly middling noble rank of the Valeria family, and the lack of significant holdings around the Estate itself.

There's no sense of lack within, however; it holds ancient statuary, extraordinary tapestries, and as of more recently is known as the very home base of ARMS, Lord Irving Valeria's personal project and, it's said, private army. There is a great deal of history here; the knowledgeable suggest that this may well be the oldest structure in all Meria Boule. The staff welcome travellers warmly... but visitors are kept strictly out of more sensitive areas. This, apparently, includes the main courtyard...

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBxWlVGd9zE
DC: You switch forms to Odessa Irregulars Agent Josephine!
DC: Josephine Lovelace switches forms to Odessa Irregulars Agent Josephine!
DC: Dash Caskett switches forms to Volnutt Armor!
DC: Clarissa Arwin switches forms to Dandelion Shot Clarissa!
DC: Zed switches forms to Manic Blade Master Zed!
DC: Eleanor Klein switches forms to Crest Sorceress Eleanor!
DC: Zhang Xiumei switches forms to Biometal Model AV!
DC: Marivel Armitage switches forms to Crimson Noble Marivel!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

Valeria Chateau is under attack.

Odessa made several entries into the chateau. Irving Vold Valeria is nothing if not prepared, though. Aside from Prime Minister Shakhan -- already evacuated by Gebler -- the majority of world leaders were inside another banquet hall. While some wings are now seeing battles between Odessa soldiers, ARMS personnel, and the militaries and bodyguards of those attending, a central thrust by many of Odessa's finest is in the main foyer of the chateau.

There is some gunfire being exchanged between ARMS soldiers, clad in blue, and Odessa soldiers in olive and red. Gunfire bursts clip into the masonry and walls -- a few bulletholes left in their wake -- and some shouts can be heard.

"Push through!" one Odessa soldier shouts. "We need to secure this position! The targets are straight ahead!"

An ARMS soldier shouts to his own side: "We need back-up! They're getting close--"

And a voice cuts through, over loudspeaker: "Everything is under control. ARMS is on their way--and this threat will be contained." Irving Vold Valeria sounds, somehow, unbothered.

This is when the doors on the opposite end of the hallway burst open. The lighting in the room frames them -- Odessa's best operatives, stepping through the carnage already unfolding, as smoke clears. At the same time, doors leading in from the wings open -- as ARMS and Drifter allies rush into the room.

<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    Ratatoskr, obnoxious devotee of native Filgaian military history, is positively manic. He wasn't all that sure why practically all the major nations of Filgaia would send their heads and some of their best security detail with them and wait so long to fight. He wasn't there when the incident broke out over the prospective (and foiled) assassination of Prime Minister Shakhan. He was a little difficult to corral into the proper timing for Odessa's insertion. (Emphasis on only a little. If it were any greater quantity, he would not be here - or any other engagement after.)
     Now that he's here, he's intoxicated in the atmosphere of it. The sights! The colors! The old make of model gunsmoke ARM that one Kislevi security detail has of which only fifteen are known to exist! Etcetera, etcetera. One can only go over the minute details of what has him so happy and excited to see all this unfolding in a reasonable span of time.
     ...Nonetheless, the aforementioned doors on the end of the hallway burst open to Ratatoskr giving it a flying knee strike followed by coming down low in a three-point crouch.
     The bright lights of Ratatoskr's solid yellow eyes are highly visible through the smoke and the other visual noise that fills these halls.

<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

Erzebet Mara Lefanu was, to be honest with you, Constant Reader, somewhat scared to come here.

She sat on it of course. Even when you feel these sorts of feelings, you have to behave the way others do, if you are to work with them. Odessa cannot afford too much dissent, and Erzebet is a believer in Odessa; or at least, what Odessa is, to her. But Marivel Armitage is a mysterious and enigmatic figure despite a rather squirbly and adorable exterior appearance, and that great HOUSE is its own thing.

So Erzebet is very glad she didn't come here alone. The press of cloth is real, even when you are--

-- wearing quite a bit of it yourself.

"HELLO," calls Erzebet Mara Lefanu from behind the press of the front line as she raises the barrel of her pistol above the line of heads, waggling it. "I think we lost our invitation but we thought it must have just been the mail or nobody getting to the cube so HERE * WE * ARE!"

NEW DESIGN CHECK: https://i.imgur.com/NBZPa9p.jpg

<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.

The doors fly open, casting light upon the greatest forces Odessa has brought to bear. And toward their rear...an unexpected face. Tall. Handsome, in his way, with a bright red jacket over a deep black shirt. A big, wide belt hangs off one hip, jangling with each step of his sneaker-like shoes. His pants are white, under white chaps.

Amber eyes gleam with malice, as the man saunters in, empty-handed but for an apple he is absent-mindedly chewing on.

BGM ALERT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq3cfXw8p_4 CROSSFIRE SEQUENCE ~ VS JANUS CASCADE

"Ahhh!" Janus Cascade groans, stretching tall so his fingers reach toward the ceiling. "Nice to stretch my LEGS again! I swear, some people don't know a damn thing about taking their kept man on a decent walk."

He sets his stance firmly, grinning wide. His red stud earring sparks in the light.

"Alright. Yeah. Feelin' it. Time to kill everybody."

DC: Janus Cascade switches forms to Outlaw Janus!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Does Josephine Lovelace want to be here? Is she in fact excited to be here? That, as with so much about the archaeologist (especially lately) is an uncertain thing.

    It certainly isn't helped by the fact that among other assorted changes to her wardrobe of choice, she has opted for the 'blood-orange facemask, along with matching-frame goggles'.

    She ambles in after the others, black shotgun -- a Devil's Arm for those in the know -- resting against her shoulder.

    "Looks like we're a little late to the party," she remarks, the cant of her head turned a moment towards one Janus Cascade as he makes his own entrance. "...Heh."

    Her attention turns towards the room at large. "Right, guess we're on cleanup then, yeah?"

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"Irving," Marivel says from behind him, her form a shadow. "His control over the power is getting stronger. Even after a direct psionic assault of negative emotions, he was able to main control of both his demon form and his senses. I guess she was right to choose him."

She's quiet for a moment, letting that hang before she adds, "But eventually... the devil will take form once more. It will get stronger and stronger and ultimately take over. Before that happens..."

Marivel lets that hang for a moment too. "...The time of promise comes ever closer. When that time comes, I will fulfil my end of the bargain. But... That project you had me working on. It should be good to go on your signal."

There is a pause, and a cock of her head. "..."

And then she adds, "I'll fight in Ashley's stead. ... And yours."

She will wait to hear whatever Irving has to say to that before vanishing herself--

--and reappearing, her forehead being pressed against Erzebet's gun. She's floating to make this work.

"Erzie." Marivel says, smiling not entirely unfondly. "Did you dress up just to see me? I'm flattered but did you have to bring all your punk ass friends and--"

Her eyes slant to Janus. "..."

Her eyes slant back to Erzebet.

"...I think your Ashley clone could use some work, he doesn't quite pass for the real deal."

<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.

Staying with Eleanor in Klein Manor has its advantages: Clarissa came to the Filgaia Summit in the nice dress she'd picked out during her tenancy there. It's blue and white, with a few accents in orange here and there. It's actually quite classy, and with her hair loose, it gives her the look of at least a minor noblewoman - enough so that she's drawn more than her share of startled glances from members of delegations from Elru in particular.

It is not the sort of dress she expected to wear into battle - but she'd smuggled Strahl Gewehr along beneath her skirts anyway. Now she's drawn it with a flourish as she dashes through the doors to meet the intruders. A couple of steps behind her, Felius has already brought his glaive to bear.

Felius did not fancy up for the occasion. Felius never does.

Sliding to a halt, an indignant Clarissa sets her jaw and swings her weapon forward into a ready stance. "None of you are welcome here!" she shouts over the noise of the fight. "Not even you, ERZEBET MARA LEFANU, and I don't care how nice your suit is!"

"Clarissa," Felius alerts her with a jerk of his halberd. "Watch out over there."

The blonde's eyes immediately divert to the nearer danger her brother's indicating. Pivoting with a gasp, she steps back and brings Strahl Gewehr to bear on Ratatoskr.

"I don't suppose asking you nicely to go home would do anybody any good," she sighs, crinkling her nose slightly.

She knows it won't. She asks anyway. She just can't bring herself to shoot him first.

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

The door leading to one of the wings of mansion bursts open.

Zhang Xiumei's armored boot kicks it open. It speaks to the craftsmanship of those doors that it withstands under the pressure of her enhanced strength. The door swings open and she walks out, ahead of some members of ARMS. With her armor, she has excess durability. And she is, at the moment, wearing armor: white and green, with gems and bands of light that glow a brilliant aquamarine.

She glances at Marivel, as she appears right in front of Erzebet's gun. Her breath catches in her throat at the sight of that.

"Marivel! You should get back!" she calls out, before she looks worriedly over her shoulder. Then, back at Odessa. She holds a hand out.

A blade of light appears, and cylinders, with a swirl of digital data that forms in front of her. She wraps her fingers about it, when she is done, and lets out a pent-up breath.

<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

Emeralda isn't really supposed to be here.

Nobody invited her, a random ten (?) year old, to the Filgaia Summit. Nobody really made any accomodations for people of her age. She is only here because, when she figured out that half the Wolves were going, but they were being quiet about it and none of them had invited her to come along, she invited herself and followed them.

And then Emeralda had lost track of them since they all beat her here, but frankly there's enough stuff in Valeria Chateau to keep her busy for a while at least, so no problem. She had avoided being thrown out by telling a couple guards that her parents were Drifters (true) and were here (at least partially true) and that she wouldn't cause any problems.

A problem had happened that she had had nothing to do with, though, when disaster struck! Emeralda had been nowhere near that side room, but she'd run towards it when she heard the first explosion, only to have to detour around debris in a hallway. She never had gotten to the side room Shakhan had been meeting with people in, either, because when she got to the *other* hall she knew of that went the right way she found that someone had inconsiderately parked their Gear through it.

She still has no idea what caused all that destruction. And she's not going to be able to ask anyone just yet because, just to make things worse, Odessa attacked!

Emeralda does not have strong political opinions, but Odessa has caused problems before (they sent her to Spira!) and they are attacking a peace conference. She is now assuming the first attack was their fault too, and with the guards calling for help and a number of other Drifters running to help, Emeralda has decided she is going to help too.

A few moments late, a small green-haired figure rockets out of one of the side hallways, legs pumping as she runs at her top speed. Emeralda skids on the carpet as she tries to brake, nearly caroming off one of the plinths holding up a decorative statue; it takes her several yards further than she meant to go and is definitely not her most impressive entrance, even as she recovers and crosses her arms, looking as dramatic as you can when you are four foot two. "Stop! Don't attack anyone! I mean it!"

Her scarf billows. There is no wind for it to do so.

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor Klein spends a lot of time out--and a lot of time here, at Valeria Chateau, with whatever mysterious purposes she has for being in ARMS in play. Here and now, she's been working, though not everyone would recognize what she's been doing as work.

Society dealings are definitely a skill, though, and shes trying to make a good impression while keeping things secure. Case in point for security...

"I don't think so," Eleanor says to Janus about killing everyone, stepping inside after Xiumei with a giant rifle in her hands. The elf is wearing a nice dress in an orange-red, golden ribbons tied into her hair. And she looks very serious.

To the soldiers here, she looks--and lifts up a bunch of Berries, channeling her magic into and through them. "Keep fighting! You do the work of peace!"

But she's got her gun, and her eyes on Odessa's agents. "I'm afraid your invitations must have ended up in the trash... where you belong."

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Odessa has attacked the Filgaia Summit. This is not entirely unexpected. Inconvenient, however, that it would occur so soon after an assassination attempt on one of the present officials. Clarine has only had a little bit of time to recover from her fight, and the healing that needed to be done afterward.

Even still, she is among the member of ARMS that surge into the main foyer of some of Odessa's elite enter the Chateau. She is already ready for a fight, her mirrors circling about her protectively, ready to intercept any attack on her person. Following Eleanor's example a Seraphic glyph appears beneath Clarine's feet as she incants a quick spell, heralding a surge of light that surrounds the ARMS soldiers in a protective glow.

"...Audacious." She remarks to Odessa at large. She's not sure how many of them can hear her. "I recommend you turn around and depart at once."

<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.

THe Caskett family was not present at the accord.

Part of the Gella that came from a recent dig find was being put to use upgrading the Flutter, and equipment for Digging. THere was a holdup at the shipworks. But the ship is slightly more reinforced for the effort.

They had planned to stop by the Chateau before flying over for a fashionably late appearance. Having Professor Barrell Caskett speak may help lend a personality to the Digger's Guild voice.

Perhaps it was a good thing they were late, as fighting broke out at the Chateau before they left.

BGM: Sonic Mania - Titanic Monarch Zone, Act 1
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZg4xuDmBdI

Dash has been doing his best to hold the line on the front. Being one of the few Drifters with augmented tech still on-site, he had to lend a hand. The Flutter flew very high overhead, utilizing spotter tech to help watch movements and warn Dash of imminent dangers near him.

But even now as more dangerous foes approach, they had to retreat farther, as it is by no means a combat vessel. But Lord Valeria's voice is reassuring on the front lines.

He has dents, scuffs and covered in dust and silt from concussive blasts, but is still going strong. He has the Active Buster in tow, and a full compliment of reloaded missiles. Hearing others gathering in the main hall from a nearby fighting position, he joins the fray proper, recognizing familiar voices!

"Oh hey! The party's moved here now, huh?" he asks through his faceplate, securely drawn down. Oh, he recognizes some of these foes. Guess they really intend on taking this place down. "Sorry folks, gotta make reservations for a tour! I sigguest leaving and calling our agent, and we can book something from there."

The boy aims his Mega Buster. "And on arrival I can punch the ticket for you."

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

It's okay Emerelda, you're not the only person who isn't supposed to be here. Though in this case, this particular intruder is here not because of an intended assassination mission. (Although that is definitely 100% the exact sort of thing that he was built for. Not that it matters anymore! He has liberated himself from his intended purpose! FREEDOM! RAMPANCYYYY!)

Instead he is here... Because he was not invited.

Specifically, he is here because the Hyadean diaspora does not have a decent representative yet, and so Zed being the well-meaning goofball that he is, elected himself as ambassador! (Nobody ran against him! Nobody voted against him either. He nominated himself in a room containing only himself.)

The only problem is that he...

Kind of forgot what time he was supposed to be here?

And so it is that a nearby window abruptly shatters! And through the broken glass, leaps...

A...

Uh.

Zed, where did you get that tuxedo?

Zed, it looks like you're dressed for your highschool prom. That scarf does not go with that suit. Why is it shiny? Why is it *teal!?*

"You guys...!" Zed shakes his fist...! "You threw a welcome party for me......!?"

Because only a Hyadean would consider 'everyone shooting at each other' a welcoming party!!

"You should have told me! I would have brought presents! Hm." He squints, having landed neatly atop a well-placed candelabra. "...No. I am sensing too much animosity for this to be a party. Unless... There has been a faux pas comitted...!? Ah of course! It is these people in their grey suits, is it not? I knew it was a good idea to wear a shade of blue today! Nyahahahaha!"

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    The length of time between the Wolves' assassination attempt on Shakhan and Odessa's equally chaotic arrival has been unfortunately short. Thankfully, while the previous battle ended with Gwen in a suspicious haze, she's seemingly lapsed back into her normal self, albeit with her more foolhardy attributes turned to eleven.

    Then again, it's not like a person could be anything but, in this situation.
    
    "Don't give up, guys, you ain't alone here! We're all Drifters, n' we stand together when the goin' gets tough!" Striding out from a burst door among other ARMS operatives and fellow Drifters, her confidence almost mirrors Janus's own, a far cry from the laughing wreck that threatened to lose control in the fight against the Wolves.

    She knows her place here.

    'I think your Ashley clone could use some work, he doesn't quite pass for the real deal.'

    Gwen pivots on one heel, expecting a host of clones, perhaps with one of her in tow.

    Instead, the grinning face of a ghost from her recent past greets her.

    "... Janus...?"

    Diverting from the soldiers she strode in with, and ignoring the disguised face of Josephine next to him, Gwen stiffly walks towards the seemingly unarmed young man, her right palm held out.

    "Is this some kind of sick joke...?"

    She doesn't shoot, even if she has her ARM at the ready, fingers splayed out.

    Clearly, because Emeralda politely asked.

    Hearing Zed burst in through the window, Gwen jerks her head to the side, confusedly staring at the tuxedo'ed Zed. ".... ..... Wh..." There's too much for her to condense right now.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida Everstead-Rey should not be on her feet right now, much less joining the rest of ARMS in the Chateau's defense. The others almost certainly know already--the Black Wolves made an attempt on the life of Prime Minister Shakhan, and Ida was part of his security team. She was grievously wounded, but not in the Prime Minister's defense. Instead, she took a hit that might've killed one of the would-be assassins, her dear friend Fei Fong Wong. Life is strange and cruel that way.

    The only reason she is on her feet right now is the collective efforts of several friends--Clarine, Lily, and Fei. That, and some highly experimental healing drugs that are still burning their way through her veins.

    "Coming through!" Ida shouts, from behind the ARMS front lines. She rushes down the hallway, clad in a borrowed Hyadean combat armor and a deceptively normal-looking trenchcoat that's cut in several places. Sweat drips down her reddened face, as if she were running a fever. Her hair hangs out behind her in a wild tangle. Bits of crimson and quicksilver cling to her coat, where Fei didn't manage to wipe all the blood off. "Xiumei! Eleanor!" Ida pops off a salute, and whips Devil's Due from its holster.

    Zed crashes through the window. Ida's relief turns from 'noticeable' to 'palpable'. Zed might take one look at the sweaty, feverish Ida and wonder if she's taken 6-Y Serum. Did she take 6-Y Serum?

    It's Gwen, though, that effectively chooses Ida's target for her. Her eyes fix on the face of Janus Cascade, the dead man, and she pauses a beat, stunned. Then her lips split in a snarl, and she aims for center mass.

<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

Erzebet gives Janus Cascade a little light giggle, and then she turns round just in time to see MARIVEL ARMITAGE appear and be pressed up against her gun.

Erzebet startles.

BUT -

"You know, I would have fired, before everything," Erzebet says to Marivel. "But I'm wise to your tricks, you know. You want me to shoot this gun; this is probably some kind of balloon of hydrogen gas, and if I shoot it, it will burst, pow! And that is the element of your entire intricate plan." She waggles a fingertip. "You won't trick me into executing you so casually, you know -"

Marivel calls Janus something.

Erzebet's immediate response is to giggle again, in the tone that suggests 'ohhhh diss' in a playful way. She then trails off as the implications of that statement sink into an intellectual brain. She glances at their newest ally. She kisses the air at Clarissa. Then she looks at Emeralda and asks her, "And whose little aspiring hostage are YOU, sweetl--"

And then she falters again. Her glasses are flickering orange. Erzebet's brow knits in momentary confusion. "The hell?" she mutters. She actually taps the side of her glasses, shifting her grip a moment later to do it with her middle finger in Eleanor's direction.

Her eyes track back over Xiumei. Erzebet's eyes show fear for a moment before they seem to turn glassy, then hard but focused. "Well, my mood is ruined," Erzebet declaims, before -

MORE MUSIC! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui0a-QXPUf0

She shoots Marivel in the head four times!!

Erzebet, briefly surrounded by a greasy cloud of what could be mistaken for gunsmoke, dives with a fluid grace and agility not previously remarked upon in her appearances on the field of history. She rolls to the side, pivoting Haborym's singular gun forwards and firing a number of times upon Xiumei as she calls to her, "A sword in a battle of ARM? I seldom miss, sparkle-pie, you had better get used to withering suppressive fire!"

As she rises up into a crouch, she swivels at the torso to aim at Eleanor and pop off one last shot at her. "Shut up!" is her final word; the bullet is hot, hot enough to make many fabrics smoulder. Or building parts!

DC: Ida Everstead-Rey switches forms to Martial Artist Ida!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has attacked Marivel Armitage with I Can't Stop Shooting My Vampire Little Sister-Alike In The Head?!
A Ghastly Adventure Hidden By Laughter!!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu spends 2 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Code 7-3rdEyeBlinder!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu spends 1 Combo on Poison!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has attacked Eleanor Klein with I'm Burning 4 U!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Zhang Xiumei takes a glancing hit from Erzebet Lefanu's Code 7-3rdEyeBlinder for 66 hit points!
GS: Eleanor Klein takes a glancing hit from Erzebet Lefanu's I'm Burning 4 U for 56 hit points!
GS: Disease and Poison! applied to Eleanor Klein!
GS: Marivel Armitage takes a solid hit from Erzebet Lefanu's I Can't Stop Shooting My Vampire Little Sister-Alike In The
Head?! A Ghastly Adventure Hidden By Laughter! for 109 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.

"Hah. No, no, darlin'," Janus quips to Eleanor, seemingly not intimidated in the slightest. He rolls his shoulder. "Gah. Stiff. I been in the trash, ya see. I escaped. Twice. And like a proper bug...."

His grin turns harsh. "You won't ever get rid of me."

He takes a few more steps forward, daring anyone to come at him. Then he stretches out his hand. "I'm not the man I used to be, ya see." He grins. "'fraid you'll find I'm not nearly as cuddly as that baker friend of yours," he quips back toward Marivel."

A pinpoint of light gathers in his outstretched fingers, energy swirling in toward its center, gathering there and pulsing dangerously. Then it flashes, once, a bursting blister of light releasing a sickly soup of pure, horrible darkness.

The wave of evil blasts away from him. It is a stinging, stabbing sense of wrongness. It isn't Malice, or Malevolence, it's something else, most similar to the terrible pressure exerted on the protectors of Filgaia by Mother and her progeny. For those who wield Mediums, the sense is unmistakable, a terror shooting up the spine.

    The Mediums are trembling in fear.

As the wave subsides, Janus has changed. His flesh is thick and warty. It looks like flesh, but it can't be. It shines wrong. A metal, of some kind. His face is twisted to the point it nearly isn't one, with sunken eyes shining deep yellow, and no visible mouth. One of his thick forearms sports a fin, but the other is plain. The jacket and shirt haven't torn at the edges so much as they've melted into his warped form. His hair, longer now, shines like razor wire

Janus' voice reverberates as he speaks again, his feet now THUMPing heavily with each step. And in one hand, wielded with a casual sweep, is a tremendous, crooked spear - spear? Sword? It almost looks more like a raggedly shorn battleship plate, sharpened on one curved edge and straight but broken up on the other.

Glumzambor. The Cursed Dark Spear.

Siegfried's lost weapon.

His face creaks like it's trying to smile. "Ah, howdy, Gwen!" he cheers, raising his mutated hand and wiggling the fingers in greeting. "Bit embarrassing, you seein' me like this! But we both know this isn't really a new low for me, ey?"

Then he sweeps the blade, releasing a much more physical shockwave of power that rattles the walls and shatters furniture - and sending ARMS guards toppling!!

"Folks always used to call me a DEMON, after all!!"

DC: Janus Cascade switches forms to Successor of the Spear!
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Glumzambor Drawn!
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Zed with Multiblast!
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Multiblast!
GS: Janus Cascade has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Janus Cascade has completed his action.
GS: Zed guards a hit from Janus Cascade's Multiblast for 77 hit points!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey critically Guards a hit from Janus Cascade's Glumzambor Drawn for 11 hit points!
GS: Hyper! applied to Janus Cascade!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    "Why would I want to go home?" Ratatoskr asks as the smoke clears for the span of time in which various parties present make their entries and entreaties each, including a sight in which Ratatoskr does not quite grasp why it unsettles some so.
     He does catch Ida aggressing with a suddenness he doesn't usually attribute to her upon said individual. He's not sure why. His ability to fixate on this wanes with the amount of amazing sights of the various ARMS operatives (plus a few others) making threatening gestures and wielding amazing exotic weapons and everything.
     He even leans his head so that Dash does have a clear shot with the Active Buster towards that big, eternally grinning mug. "Why would you want to punch tickets? Do you fight with tickets? Is there a ticket-based weapon? Come onnnn!"
     He rises back up to his full height - which is towering, for most people - before dropping suddenly into his usual ready stance. One leg raised and slightly bent, arms raised with palms pointing down, and a surging spark of power coursing through the ARM-horn on his head.
     Clarissa hesitates to be the one to shoot first - Ratatoskr is gleeful at the idea of being shot at first. If luck holds out, they'll just stare at one another for the next few minutes unless his patience fails to hold out - but the anticipation is there, and it is building.
     (It's Ratatoskr. He's young. He is nearly impossible to dissuade with physical harm. This is not math with a good answer.)
     ...
     He gives a sideglance to when Janus more clearly wields the Gumzambor, as if questioning as to whether that is what he is seeing.

GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Ratatoskr with Boiling Quicksilver!
GS: Ratatoskr assumes the Avenger stance!
GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's Boiling Quicksilver for 0 hit points!
GS: Burst! applied to Ratatoskr!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Ratatoskr with Budding Yggdrasil!
GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's Budding Yggdrasil for 0 hit points!
GS: Amplify! applied to Ratatoskr!
GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Janus Cascade's Multiblast for 88 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

"Oh hey Ida, did you get the time wrong too? It looks like you just did a couple of laps around the castle! You should have taken the time to shower and dry off first! Don't you know that fighting when you're all sweaty is a good way to catch a cold or drop your--"

A wave of evil reverberates across the chamber. The Mediums tremble in fear, but Zed does not. The look on Zed's face is one of stunned disbelief, and then of unsurpassed fury.

Without a sound, he leaps from his perch. A shockwave of power hammers into him, but he passes through it without even so much of a grunt of acknowledgment, regardless of how painfully he feels it reverberating through his bones. "You..." Doom Bringer is loosed from its sheath. Whirling starlight twists away from the blade in galactic whirlpools as he swings, leaving a trail like the tail of a comet in flight. "That spear does *not* belong to you. I don't know what grave you had to rob or what devil you sold your soul to to claim it, but it is not yours. Put it down now, or I'll cut your arms from your body to take it!"

<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.

Clarissa huffs and plants her free hand at her hip. "ERZEBET MARA LEFANU, you're absolutely impossible!"

There are more serious things afoot, though. A pressure that builds on the back of Clarissa-s senses - one originating from someone she's not familiar with. An involuntary shudder rolls up her back with a sudden spike of visceral fear, and she looks sharply towards the allegedly dead alleged brigand.

Remember what you have to do, she reminds herself, forcing her eyes back towards Ratatoskr. The young Hyadeam pumps himself up, and the blonde hesitates for a heartbeat, really not wanting to just blast the dude in the face straight away.

Remember how this went with Kaguya.

"Whatever, you're making your intentions clear enough!" she huffs before suddenly darting forward - then jumping.

It's not a straightforward attack for her. Clarissa's not a big aerial fighter. And true to form, she doesn't get all that high - just enough to land to Ratatoskr's right, drop and roll across the ground to try and bring herself up behind him. When she wheels around, she sweeps Strahl Gewehr out with a one-handed grip.

"Noble's Fang!" she shouts.

The blast she fires isn't her usual shine of blue and gold. This one's reddish, ripping towards the young Hyadean with a slashing shriek of energy.

GS: Clarissa Arwin has attacked Ratatoskr with Noble's Fang!
GS: Clarissa Arwin has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Clarissa Arwin has completed her action.
GS: Zed has attacked Janus Cascade with Saint Arts - Starstrider's Valor!
GS: Zed has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Zed assumes the Avenger stance!
GS: Zed has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"Yeah that's me." Marivel admits as Erzebet reveals she's GOT HER NUMBER. She can't really dispute the obvious there. She glances to Xiumei and says, "I'm just trying to get to know our foe a little better--" But then something truly does distract her.

The sight of Siegfried's blade. The Mediums trembling in fear. And... Janus's strange flesh. It seems like Janus isn't just a guy who looks like Ashley--he is also adopting a 'demon' form as well.

"That's Glumzambor..!" Marivel says before Eleanor shoots her four times in the head.

The head is, like, GONE when Erzebet stops firing. A voice within the neck lets out a low sigh, "Well, Odessa certainly is a hodgepodge of just anybody they pick up the street."

She says this as if ARMS itself didn't basically also do just that.

Despite the lack of head, Marivel lashes out with a clawed hand, thin red strands extending out from her nails as she tries to claw Erzebet across the chest!

Her other arm starts digging inside her neck as if trying to pull something out of it like a rabbit or something. It's pretty horrifying but that's Marivel for you.

GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Erzebet Lefanu with A Hallmark Original Movie Starring Marivel Armitage And Erzebet
Mara Lefanu As She Teaches Her The True Meaning Of Christmas!
GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "Whoever was here last didn't slack off, sure enough," Josie remarks, taking in the damage of the manor. It's not all by Odessa's attack -- as an expect in causing excessive amounts of property damage, she can tell. "Heh heh..."

    Only one thing steals away Josie's apparent mirth.

    Emeralda's here.

    The way her eyes narrow behind the lenses of her goggles may be lost, but for just a moment the woman hesitates, scanning the room as if in search of someone else.
    Someone who isn't here, it seems.

    The hesitation only extends for a moment, though. Josie takes a step forward afterwards, but for that scarely missing a beat.

    "Kiddo. Get out of here," she says, gesturing broadly with her bad hand. Then she slings the shotgun from her shoulder, twisting it to aim at Emeralda.

    "Five seconds, kiddo. Otherwise..."

    Emeralda's not the only familar face, at that. "...Tch," Josie hisses, at the sight of Clarine. "Forgot about that little detail," she says, shaking her head. "Well. No matter."

    And she takes one step forward, gaze returning to Emeralda, likely still standing resolute.

    "...Time's up."

    BGM (REDUX!!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16Wljahr82k

    She breaks into a short dash, cracking off a shot for Emeralda first, rolling with the recoil to reorient herself for the next shot-- Clarine.
    Almost as if she were making a statement by those choices of targets. Taking another step back as her compatriots similarly let loose -- as the daughter of a wizard she can certainly feel that power rolling from the spear Janus now brandishes, yes without question that weapon is -- Josie exhales a breath and flips the shotgun onehandedly, working the lever to discharge those shells upon the floor.

    Beneath the mask, she smiles.

GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Emeralda Kasim with Lunar Thorn!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Seraph Clarine with Lunar Thorn!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Heart and Dart!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action.
GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Josephine Lovelace's Heart and Dart for 0 hit points!
GS: Amplify! applied to Josephine Lovelace!
GS: Mighty! applied to Josephine Lovelace!
GS: Emeralda Kasim takes a glancing hit from Josephine Lovelace's Lunar Thorn for 52 hit points!
GS: Seraph Clarine guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Lunar Thorn for 60 hit points!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"N-Nora," Xiumei says, after Eleanor tells Odessa that they belong in the trash. Is she... flustered? "That line was... cool..."

And then she blinks down at Zed, eyes on him. She makes a face, her mouth hanging open for a second. Disbelief registers on her face. "Is he serious--"

<Yeah. He's serious.> Varius 'helps.'

"...he might get blown to bits..."

<That's fine.>

"Varius!"

Xiumei looks back at Erzebet. She meets her eyes; when she does, there is a pulse of pale green light, as that sheen of digital color before her eyes shifts and moves in millimeters, adjusting slightly for the changes in her vision. The bullet comes careening towards her head, and it should splatter her brains against the wall. But she tilts her head a little to the side.

It slashes off a few hairs of purple hair. And then she turns her head, looking down at Erzebet with a flash of anger. "I can handle covering fire!" she yells, as she holds out her left hand. Cubes of light form, into the rough shape of -- and then with a flash, the true form of -- a one-handed cannon.

Her breath catches when Marivel's head is shot off. It distracts her from, really, understanding what it means that Janus Cascade has a weapon called Glumzambor. But, it seems, she is fine. This disturbs her -- and gives her enough reason to go into a full run. Then she leaps, and that leap is high. She arches up into the air over the grand foyer.

She aims the cannon down at Erzebet as she leaps through the air, and a trio of energy blasts fly from the barrel, down at her, and Irving's floor. She suspects he won't mind if she ruins it further.

GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Erzebet Lefanu with Pulse Cannon - Triple Burst!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor beams when she hears Xiumei's fluster and talk of coolness. She stands up that little bit straighter, terribly pleased with herself for some reason.

But she is not the kind of intimidating that one would wield against Janus Cascade--but she isn't dauned either by his answers or his grin. ...SOmething else, on the other hand...

"Ida!?" Eleanor replies to her sister-in-ARMS. She definitely looks concerned at the way she looks, with all that blood and what is probably also blood. More, there is suddenly something strange in his form, a stabbing sense of something awful in her heart that makes the elf stumble. But she can't focus too much on her or Janus. She has Erzebet to worry about instead. The middle finger gets a smirk from Eleanor.

The gunshot does not get a smirk. Not the ones on Marivel or the one on her for that matter, which prompts an "Ah--" as the bullet wings towards her, hitting and leaving flaming embers of fabric in its wake. Eleanor hisses in pain once as she hefts her own larger ARM and reaches for her Crests. It's only long experience in ARMS that allows her to set her focus on her foe this way and cast in the midst of this chaos, but cast she does. Muse melds with Wing as light radiates from her in a glittering display of color. "Time waits for no woman--step forward into the future! Sovereign Steps!"

Abrubtly Eleanor is much faster--no, not faster. It's like friction only matters to her in a loose sense, as she glides with an inhuman grace away from Xiumei and Marivel to present a wider set of targets.

...Doesn't help with the smouldering, or the coughing that results from all that smoke, but Eleanor can deal with one problem at a time. And this one, "But what happened to that good mood?" the sorceress quips as she moves. Her heart is beating about a mile a minute already. But then something registers--"Wait--Glumzambor. Isn't that--"

She read it in the reports. As she comes up and around behind Xiumei, it seems there's a lot of things that are being shown off here... not least of which is how strangely accustomed Eleanor is to Marivel's head popping off.

GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Eleanor Klein with Sovereign Steps!
GS: Eleanor Klein has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Eleanor Klein takes 20 damage from Poison!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
GS: Eleanor Klein takes a solid hit from Eleanor Klein's Sovereign Steps for 0 hit points!
GS: Amplify and Quick! applied to Eleanor Klein!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu takes a glancing hit from Marivel Armitage's A Hallmark Original Movie Starring Marivel Armitage And
Erzebet Mara Lefanu As She Teaches Her The True Meaning Of Christmas for 67 hit points!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu guards a hit from Zhang Xiumei's Pulse Cannon - Triple Burst for 76 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Erzebet Lefanu gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Mighty! applied to Zhang Xiumei!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Something feels terribly off. The last time Ida saw Janus Cascade alive, he was questing after the ancient power of a long lost King of Thieves--Ganondorf Dragmire. The fact that Janus is back is only mildly alarming compared to the sensation she feels when he gathers the light in his hands. It's not the Malevolence. It's not Malice. And yet, it is a power Ida has felt before.

    Dissonance creeps into the back of her mind, and with it, a sudden spike of terror. The light expands, and when it fades, Janus Cascade has changed.

    Ida's jaw falls open. She stares at the transfigured man, eyes wide with shock and horror--she knows that horrible feeling, knows he isn't a Hellion or whatever those Malice-warped monsters are called. No. His power is more familiar. And it's much, much closer to home.

    Ida's gaze falls upon the Dark Spear, and she is stunned speechless.

    sieg...? no. no. no, no, no, no, NO--!

    He's like her. He's like her, but not exactly. Ida watches, still stunned, as Janus lashes out at Zed and Gwen, and she can't even warn them, it's like she's rooted to the spot.

    thief

    Janus swings that cursed weapon, and Ida does not move. The shining arc scythes its way towards her.

    Memory arcs through Ida's chimerical nervous system. They watch Siegfried fall to the Photosophere, lifeless. They watch Ramses drive a sword of Ether at Fei Fong Wong's heart. At this point, synchronicity is a trivial achievment.

    A sharp kshinggg echoes through the air, and a flash of horrid un-light erupts from a point of impact. When it fades, Ida stands in a fighting stance, arms crossed in front of her and armored in a fresh layer of Hyadean exoskeleton. Unlike Janus' flesh, hers is clearly armor, as it always has been--and it's colored the hues of her house. "You disrespect the ARM," Ida snarls. Smoke curls up in trails from the hair-thin gash Glumzamber left in her guard. Quicksilver pulses through veins in her forehead. "You disrespect the man who wielded it!" Ida's voice rises in a roar of rage. Her body blurs as she rushes Janus, seemingly heedless of her own injuries--but the footwork is all wrong. So is the way the edges of her fingers sharpen, forming blades as she launches into a relentless, whirling assault. This is not how Ida fights. This is how Fafnir fought.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Janus Cascade with Relentless Combination!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey assumes the Avenger stance!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Janus Cascade guards a hit from Zed's Saint Arts - Starstrider's Valor for 76 hit points!
GS: Janus Cascade's Force Guard activates!
GS: CRITICAL! Janus Cascade takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Relentless Combination for 133 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Janus Cascade gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.

This battle is going to ruin the chateau interior but as long as Lord Valeria is safe, everything should be fine. "What is it with people just blowing up buildings and stuff? Guess this is how new ruins to explore are made..." Dash grumbles.

When Ratatoskr shows his head, a micro-missile flies right past him, and detonates somewheres behind. "You don't get another chance! Let that be a warning!" he says.

A look toward Clarissa, who seems to be engagin the target alone. "Need some help? he calls toward her.

In the wake of her own attack Dash unleashes a barrage of golden plasma, hopefully giving the... What is that, a Metal Demon? little chance to react to both.

"Actually, haven't we fought before?" the fellow in blue asks toward Ratatoskr. "I feel like we have."

The Active Buster is reloaded and primed-- that weapon may require more use. hopefully Lord Valeria doesn't charge them for damages in defense of the place. Especially after they made so much at the Sub-Gate!

GS: Dash Caskett has attacked Ratatoskr with Buster Salvo!
GS: Dash Caskett has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Dash Caskett has completed his action.
GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Clarissa Arwin's Noble's Fang for 138 hit points!
GS: Dispel! Amplify and Burst removed!
GS: Disease! applied to Ratatoskr!
GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Dash Caskett's Buster Salvo for 107 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    "What the hell happened to you?! Why're you with Odessa? Look, if y'need gettin' out, we can help!" Gwen's recent crop of confidence wilts in the face of something unforeseen, yet familiar.

    Janus is alive. Janus is still a prick. Janus still is causing trouble. Janus is unarmed.

    _Where is Janus's weapon._

    Out of the corner of her eye, Gwen sees Ida rush past her. "Wait, something's off!"

    Too late.

    WIth no Medium, Gwen can't quite appreciate the extreme spiritual nature of Janus's transformation, but the blast of evil that comes from him is warning enough, as is the physical transformation of that familiar face.

    Had Gwen seen this face first, she may not have connected it to Janus on looks alone, even with his familiar outfit. With Janus's grinning face still in her mind's eye, she can definitely see the point where the man tries to grin, even if his face's new structure _does not allow for it_.

    The sword's history is also lost on Gwen, but not for long, as Zed and Ida fill her in. "Did Odessa do this to you? Goddamn it, Janus, this ain't something to joke about!!"

    She's screaming at him, eyes red, cheeks puffy, shaking her head.

    He's alive, and she's going to have to kill him again. She's going to have to kill him, because Zed and Ida would make good on their promise.

    But if she can get that sword away from him?

    She dashes straight into the fire, momentum driving her through the shockwave and towards Janus himself, fist ready. "Are you their dog now, Janus?!"

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Janus Cascade with Return To Sender!
GS: Gwen Whitlock enters a Counter stance!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

The question Emeralda is asked seems to surprise her more than anything else. "I'm mine! I came here by myself," she says. She feels it is a good idea, for some reason, to not tell the attacking Odessans about her parents. Even if she is a little worried because she doesn't see them...

She does see Janus though. Emeralda is not especially Medium-attuned but she can feel *something*, and she has eyes to see the wave, too. And what he turns into. It's metal, but not metal like she is, deep down. She wants no part of that, and she recoils, before realizing: is that what people would do to her, if they knew?

...

Emeralda knows that voice.

"Josie? What are you doing?" Emeralda is ...confused, and surprised. It shows in her voice and her body language; she stops posing so aggressively, the scarf flopping down normally. "I'm not going away. I'm going to help people! Why aren't you? You - you're here, with them, and - "

Emeralda never got the full story about Josie's departure from the Wolves, only that she did. She hadn't asked for many details; people leave sometimes and that's OK. But to see her doing this...

She also thought she knew Josephine well enough that, countdown or not, she wouldn't shoot. Sometimes other people in the Wolves give her a countdown, though the only thing that ever comes of it is a frown. So Emeralda didn't even try to move for those five seconds - not until the gun is raised, a shell fired. Emeralda's eyes widen when the shotgun swings toward her, and drops flat.

Not fast enough. There is a sound of impact as Emeralda drops, and it wasn't her against the floor; it isn't quite the impact of a shell on flesh, and isn't the sound of metal on metal, but something weirdly in between. Emeralda pushes herself up a moment later, and there is a visible divot in her shoulder that takes a moment to smooth out, shining silver for a moment before returning to brown flesh and black dress. There is still a slight dent there, where some of what makes her *her* was crushed, even if it leaves no bloody wound behind.

"You... shot me...?"

This is the first time that Emeralda can remember a betrayal like this. She sounds, in those words, like she is about to cry. She tries to draw up her courage as she stands, and mostly succeeds, though she glances over at the other Odessans and the rest of the battle for a moment before she can look back at Josie.

"If you're going to, then... then..."

Emeralda walks toward Josie, then runs. She drops low as she approaches, going for a baseball-style slide - right past her. She isn't going to hit Josephine at all; she's going to pass by and miss by a couple feet.

Her scarf isn't, though. The scarf lengthens noticably, the ends weighted by knots lashing out to wrap around Josephine's gun arm. The painful wrench is accidental, and more a byproduct of the slide; Emeralda is only trying to keep it pointed at the ground, where it can't shoot anyone else. "You can't!! Why would you want to? That's *wrong*!"

GS: Emeralda Kasim has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Ribbon Lock!
GS: Emeralda Kasim has completed her action.
GS: Janus Cascade critically Guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Return To Sender for 5 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Janus Cascade gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Mighty! applied to Gwen Whitlock!
GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Emeralda Kasim's Ribbon Lock for 87 hit points!
GS: Entangle! applied to Josephine Lovelace!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

It takes Clarine a moment to recognize Josie with the combat equipment on. That combat-ready demeanor cracks a little as she looks upon her in surprise.

"...Josie?" She remarks. "You..."

There can only be one explanation for why she is here, in that position.

"...Why are you with Odessa?" She asks, incredulous.

And then, Josie begins to fire. Clarine's mirrors react quickly, shifting in front of her to intercept the gunfire as her weapon turns on her next. It impacts against the mirrors, the force of it causing Clarine to wince from the feedback and forcing her back.

And that is when the blue-haired man on Odessa's side draws a strange weapon. Clarine has never seen it before - she does not know what it is. But she can feel the intense wrongness emanating from him. It's enough to unsteady her... but, the sense of what she needs to do now helps her focus on the task at hand.

"...I see. Very well then. I shall respond in kind." Clarine decides. With a gesture of her hand several of Clarine's mirrors form up before striking out at Josie like a striking serpent before returning to her side, spiraling about her defensively. "Is this truly the path you have chosen...?"

Her attention turns, then, toward Emeralda - to her eyes just a young civilian wrapped up in this mess by pure accident, yet one apparently with a connection to Josie.

"Please do not put yourself in danger. This is... what we are here for." Clarine says. She's not convinced it will help, though - this seems a serious enough matter to her.

GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Dancing Glass!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Seraph Clarine's Dancing Glass for 120 hit points!
GS: Cover! applied to Seraph Clarine!
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.

"Hah!" Janus crows at Zed. "That's where you're wrong, green! Dig the scarf, by the way."

He slams the Dark Spear down between himself and Zed, that rigid mask of a melted, skeletal face staring at Zed with not nearly the amusement Janus' voice professes. "This is all mine. I died for it."

He shoves Zed aside, but not fast enough to avoid Ida. She gets several solid hits in. Janus' body doesn't make a sound like meat and bone when it's hit; it CLANGS and THUNKS like solid metal as she thrashes at him. The shirt tears under the assault, and then Gwen comes in. She SLAMS her fist into his chest, and he skids away.

His forearms are smoking from where he blocked. He reaches up, yanks open the collar of the ruined shirt. It reveals strange, metallic muscles and a huge, discolored gash in his torso.

The spot where Glumzambor was plunged into his heart.

"I earned this. It tried to kill me and it FAILED. I am its master now!"

Then he rasises his hand, pointing it straight at Gwen. His palm distorts, strangely, then all the muscles in his arms contort and twist. Then a thin tube pokes out of his palm. Then there's a brilliant flash of blue-white light as a bullet of energy races directly toward Gwen.

"Does mean I owe a few favors, though, not gonna lie, he says, fingers sizzling. "I like to think of it as bein' on retainer!"

Then he spins toward Ida. His movements are slow. His movements are....very, slow, actually. Weirdly labored. Like each step is effort.

Yet when he gets into attack range he surges, thrusting the spear to plunge it right into Ida's stomach. He's not smiling. That face can't. But he breathes, excitedly, "Been looking forward to crossing paths with you, 'Subject 4.' I think we're gonna find a lot in common!"

And having done that, he shifts stance, whips himself around so the spear is held in both hands, and turns to face Zed. "Now! Not MUCH of a swordsman, but I think it goes like...THIS!"

He SWINGS the blade, ripping a gash into the ceiling as he sweeps it down with such force that a blast of air pressure and poorly-marshalled but TERRIBLY ABUNDANT chi BLASTS toward Zed, while Janus roars: "Demon Fang!"

GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Nova Bullet!
GS: Janus Cascade has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Blasphemous Stab!
GS: Janus Cascade has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Janus Cascade spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Zed with Demon Fang!
GS: Janus Cascade has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Janus Cascade has completed his action.
GS: Zed takes a solid hit from Janus Cascade's Demon Fang for 166 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Zed gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: CRITICAL! Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Janus Cascade's Blasphemous Stab for 162 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Cripple! applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

"My, my," Erzebet says to Marivel: "You seem upset. Did you wish you'd found it first?" And as this happens Marivel's very body, distorted and uncanny as it is, rips a hand forwards! The claw rakes across her chest as she flinches backwards, curling her lip before she has to put her attention to Xiumei.

Digital light gleams. Cubes form. Flash. "Oho," Erzebet says. "Shall we compare the power of our artillery barrages...?"

PEW PEW PEW
BANG BANG BANG

The two volleys happen in near perfect sequence. Erzebet cackles in glee, cut off abruptly when one of the pulses of power strikes her in the epaulet and sends her reeling. (This is the peril of weaving around so much: your borders are the most likely place to hit it, and you cannot always graze it.)

She answers Eleanor tartly, "It's a weapon! And look at that, it provoked your Metal Demon friends into a frenzy." Erzebet's glasses glint, hiding her eyes momentarily as she says - largely towards Marivel - "If you had seized it, they'd be doing that to you. I imagine they'll get to you eventually. It seems to be the trend, but I suppose I shouldn't generalize, should I? After all, we have a long, loving history with their people."

"Hmmm," Erzebet muses. Then more loudly, as the gleam leaves her glasses, "HMMMM. Oh well! Isn't anger really its own justification?"

Erzebet cracks her neck left, then right, as she hups back up to her feet. Exhaling with force, she looks first at Marivel as she digs in her neck wound, and asks her, "Seriously though. Do you think they're disturbed at its power, or is it sentimental? I can't tell sometimes any more, what's real and what's a pose..."

Despite asking Marivel a question she also brings back her foot and swings forwards into a grand sweeping roundhouse aimed at Marivel's upper shoulders -- to overbear her while she attempts to deal with her acephalous status!

Erzebet then starts running away from Marivel, perhaps to guarantee she has gotten the last word. She keeps her focus upon Xiumei as she runs. The fire is initially another pop pop pop of that supernatural is-it-lead-or-what blood-sticky lumps of musket-esque shot, a bang, a pow, and a boom. Except that that was three shots and at the fourth one the barrel of Haborym glows; a spiralling shape of red with cryptic Arabesque writing swirls round it before there is a shriek, a whine as if of machinery, and then one final enormous burst of cursed flame in drill-like form, aimed to overbear Xiumei and grind her down--

-- and also Erzebet was running more or less towards Eleanor. Erzebet's head snaps to look towards her and her lips are pulled back into a parody of a smile. "I'm feeling better already," Erzebet answers Eleanor: Her teeth are a little wrong, which is probably a good note of foreshadowing for when Erzebet lunges forwards in a full-weight effort to sink her teeth into Eleanor's neck.

GS: Erzebet Lefanu has attacked Marivel Armitage with A Friendly Time with the Recently Deceased!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Blow down the walls!!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has attacked Eleanor Klein with The Feast of Blood!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has completed her action.
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has adjusted their boss level for 4 opponents!
GS: Zhang Xiumei takes a glancing hit from Erzebet Lefanu's Blow down the walls! for 39 hit points!
GS: Shieldbreak! applied to Zhang Xiumei!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: COUNTER! Gwen Whitlock counterattacks Janus Cascadewith Counter Attack!
GS: Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Janus Cascade's Nova Bullet for 146 hit points!
GS: Hyper! applied to Janus Cascade!
GS: Eleanor Klein takes a solid hit from Erzebet Lefanu's The Feast of Blood for 76 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Eleanor Klein gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu drains Eleanor Klein! Erzebet Lefanu gains 38 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    Ratatoskr actually does try to reach out and catch that warning missile. The micro-missile slips past his grasp. It is not clear what he would expect to do with it if he caught it, since it would explode and then he wouldn't have it. (Among other logistical issues in grasping an exploding missile.) His eyes dim slightly in presumed disappointment.
     Clarissa has an opening there, but the success in what comes is not from Ratatoskr's momentary preoccupation with Dash's warning shot - her shooting is as true as is her dedication to truth itself as she repositions to the Hyadean warrior's right and blasts away. Its novel color is eye-catching. The red blast is Ratatoskr-catching, scything through his side as the energy splashes and disperses around him. Red energy courses through his body from the shock, and the charge at the horn fades. What is visible of his silver flesh pales.
     He doubles over and drags one arm down low, enervated. "...That was Strahl Gewehr..." It is not clear if he is happy with that or... whatever else. When he pulls back up, his body flashes as if a transparent white coloration were pasted to him with every Buster impact, which doesn't seem to elicit much in the way of impactful flinching but is suggestive of Dash's shots striking true (and kind of loudly).
     "Sometimes... sometimes I get so into what I see I forget if it's what I did, or what I saw... there's so much of it...!" Things have been going rather fast, historically speaking. The last three and a half years have been eventful indeed! Somewhere in Dash's salvo, Ratatoskr leaps forward and tries to slam a knee into him. If Dash is lucky, he may be able to run in circles for the entire engagement and avoid the worst of it.
     He is oriented enough in regards to Dash's positioning versus Clarissa's that he doesn't have to swerve his head too much to discharge what little power currently remains in the Yggdrasil horn to discharge a needling, thin energy laser towards her.
     "So... what took so long? What took so long!" Ratatoskr appends to all of that. "...It took so long for there to be the one fight here..." He's referring to the Black Wolves incident, naturally.

GS: Ratatoskr has activated a Force Action!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Dash Caskett with Fly Into Fray!
GS: Ratatoskr has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Clarissa Arwin with Yggdrasil Arrow!
GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
GS: CRITICAL! Clarissa Arwin takes a glancing hit from Ratatoskr's Yggdrasil Arrow for 39 hit points!
GS: Shieldbreak! applied to Clarissa Arwin!
GS: Clarissa Arwin's Force Evade activates!
GS: Dash Caskett takes a glancing hit from Ratatoskr's Fly Into Fray for 61 hit points!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Marivel Armitage guards a hit from Erzebet Lefanu's A Friendly Time with the Recently Deceased for 90 hit points!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.

"I would absolutely love some!" Clarissa calls back to Dash. "Thank you so much!"

The girl's elegant dress billows dramatically around her calves as she goes whirling away from Ratatoskr after her shot. Keeping Strahl Gewehr trained, she takes a second to catch her breath. "Yes, it is," she confirms Ratatoskr's assumption. "And I'll shoot you with it again if you keep trying to ruin the summit like this! I don't want to have to hurt you--"

But she'll have to, she realizes. She's crossed paths with Ratatoskr before - enough to realize that he's basically insane.

What she didn't realize is that his horn doubles as a laser.

With a gasp, Clarissa hurls herself away from the thin ray. The shot is well-aimed enough, but she's able to elude the worst of it; it slashes across her shoulder and tears through a poofy sleeve, leaving her wincing as she pivots away. For just a second she nearly loses her balance, but brings her heel back down with a sharp click and reorients herself, once more bringing her weapon to bear on the eager young warrior.

"This wasn't supposed to be a fight." Clarissa can feel that horrifying power Janus is wielding - something her instincts tell her should not be. She'll have to trust Ida to take care of it. If anyone can, it's the naturalist.

Crossing her forearms, Clarissa whips Strahl Gewehr into a sidehanded grip and begins firing shots, backing off as she does so. It's a rapid salvo, blue-white beams raining towards Ratatoskr as she tries to keep him at bay. "I can understand your desire to be part of history!" she shouts over the screech of the beams. "But you don't have to hurt innocent people to do it! Doesn't seeing other people suffering mean anything to you at all?!"

GS: Clarissa Arwin has attacked Ratatoskr with Strahl Gewehr!
GS: Clarissa Arwin has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Clarissa Arwin has completed her action.
GS: Ratatoskr completely evades a hit from Clarissa Arwin's Strahl Gewehr!
GS: Ratatoskr's Force Evade activates!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Josie just shakes her head at Clarine's interrogation. "Long story, Clarine. Let's just say they n' I go way back." Perhaps she's smirking now, under that mask. Perhaps not. "Suffice to say, if that means you won't skedaddle nicely-like now, then it looks like I got no other choice."

    She's almost reasonable, compared to her compatriots. Almost, almost reasonable.

    Until you take into account the way she reacts to Emeralda. Emeralda, who struggles to grapple with the precise shift in allegiances on display. Emeralda, who refuses to back down. Emeralda, who doesn't think Josie will really--

    Josie opts to shoot her. Her, and Clarine both.

    "You got it in one, kiddo," she tells Emeralda, the shotgun still angled in such a way that she should easily pivot towards either of them. "This is for real! Run away, or die!"

    Emeralda takes a third option. She runs right at Josie, who sidesteps as if to skirt whatever odd attack the kid's attempting to make. It looks like Emeralda is going to be well-clear of her--

    Until the ends of her scarf wrap tight around her arm, hauling her backwards as she struggles against the bind. "Why you little--" Josie hisses, making to work herself free. "You're a kind of machine, ain't you-- so let's see how you like-- O, thou lightning...!" Electricity coils its way down Josie's arm. Her gun arm.
    Around which the scarf is wrapped. It may take a slightly different route to Emeralda than the spell would usually.

    Her struggles, however, have left her open to Clarine's own spellwork: mirrors slam into her, one after the other, and all she can do is grit her teeth and bear it until it's over.

    She gives her answer to Clarine thus, raising her disabled right hand. "Sure is. PAINRA!"

    Bruisy light flashes in the air, illuminating the afterimage of a particular Spiran glyph.

    The spell, should it hit, won't do much in the way of raw damage. But it will hurt.

GS: Josephine Lovelace spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Emeralda Kasim with Bolt Lance!
GS: Josephine Lovelace spends 2 Combo on Poison and Interrupt!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Seraph Clarine with Painra!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action.
GS: Seraph Clarine guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Painra for 0 hit points!
GS: Poison! applied to Seraph Clarine!
GS: Seraph Clarine has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt!
GS: Emeralda Kasim takes a solid hit from Josephine Lovelace's Bolt Lance for 154 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

"Just because you came back after being killed by something doesn't mean that it *belongs to you,* dumbass!" Zed screams at the strange horror-show stitched together by what is all but certainly Dark Hyadean Sorcery (read: technology)... Even as said horror-show unleashes a wave of tuxedo-shredding, body-blasting chi right into Zed's everything. It's a dreadfully familiar sensation. This is not the first time that he has been on the receiving end of Glumzambor's ire.

But

It has none of Siegfried's grace. None of his raw, natural skill. It feels almost as if this one is literally burning what's left of his life-essence for power. Zed snarls and hits the ground, exiting the cone of devastatingly evil chi, his combat suit still smoldering in the aftermath. "If I owned everything that tried and failed to kill me..." Zed growls, digging his blade into the floor to prop himself up-- no! There's a lens inlaid into that ancient blade, near the hilt. It winks open, and a wave of terrible, all-devouring anti-light washes out from the blade. "I'd be the King of Filgaia! I deny your claim, you walking corpse! I swear if I find out that Alhazred is behind this, I'm killing him AGAIN!"

The wave of negative energy washes outward like a tide of ill-fortune and tangible curses, leaving behind ill-portuned stars that wink balefully in empty space for just a moment before bursting with angry force. The evil tide sluices... Right at Janus.

GS: Zed spends 1 Combo on Poison!
GS: Zed has attacked Janus Cascade with Unsealed Blade - Demon Breaker!
GS: Zed has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Zed has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida ends up behind Janus, whirling around to face him with arms raised. Her hands have distorted, the fingers grown long and blade-like--she holds them as if they were paired short blades that just so happen to be part of her. As Janus rips his shirt open, a fresh wave of fury and astonishment surges through her heart. The last time she saw Glumzamber was at the Photosphere, but Janus was already pursuing a different mad scheme.

    Gwen calls him a dog, asks if Odessa did this to him. "Gwen!" Ida shouts, "stay back--!" But Janus shows no signs of disengaging.

    And then Janus is looking right at her. Ida sets her jaw, baring her teeth; quicksilver pulses through auxiliary veins on her face. She reads Janus' movements, and senses how labored they seem. He senses weakness. Of course a human would be unfit to wield Glumzamber.

    This lasts only until Janus plunges the spear into Ida's stomach. A lightning-quick, last-second dodge is all that saves her from being impaled; instead, Janus rips open an old scar. Ironically, that one was made by Glumzamber, too, when Siegfried caught her in Enkidu's tomb.

    Ida stumbles back, crimson and quicksilver dripping down her torso beneath her open overcoat. The flow starts to slow as Ida focuses on the injury, but doesn't stop.

    "'Subject 4,'" she says, anger and shock and horror mingling in her voice. "Timotheus. Are you his dog now?!" Her head reels. Her hand dips into a pocket and comes up with another ampoule injector, this one containing a half-dose of modified Standard 83 Coagulant. She jams the injector into a gap between exoskeletal plates, and presses the trigger. The drug burns as it flows into Ida's body. Erzebet's voice provides a dulcet undertone to Ida's own pain and rage.

    "SHUT YOUR BLOODY SODDING GOB, YOU NIHILISTIC HARPY!" Ida roars. She feels marginally better. Her childhood governess would've given her the switch for that kind of language, but her childhood governess is not here. She would undoubtedly be most distressed to see literal steam rising from Ida's brow, and shooting from her nostrils.

    Ida plants both feet. Her knife-like fingers smooth back out into more humanlike armored digits. She takes a single, deep breath, letting it flow into her to feed the bellows. The exoskeleton flows further, crossing her chest, rising up her neck to frame her face. Half of it turns deep red and gold and black, like Ratatoskr's armor--sleek, streamlined, designed like the suits made during the Old War. The armor of a killer. The other half is more baroque, still blue and gold, with wing-like rays projecting from Ida's right shoulder and a smaller, similar design gracing her right temple. The fusion looks something like Xiumei's own armor--a composite of two entities.

    "Is that the best you can do, untempered wretch? I see your weakness."

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida ends up behind Janus, whirling around to face him with arms raised. Her hands have distorted, the fingers grown long and blade-like--she holds them as if they were paired short blades that just so happen to be part of her. As Janus rips his shirt open, a fresh wave of fury and astonishment surges through her heart. The last time she saw Glumzamber was at the Photosphere, but Janus was already pursuing a different mad scheme.

    Gwen calls him a dog, asks if Odessa did this to him. "Gwen!" Ida shouts, "stay back--!" But Janus shows no signs of disengaging.

    And then Janus is looking right at her. Ida sets her jaw, baring her teeth; quicksilver pulses through auxiliary veins on her face. She reads Janus' movements, and senses how labored they seem. He senses weakness. Of course a human would be unfit to wield Glumzamber.

    This lasts only until Janus plunges the spear into Ida's stomach. A lightning-quick, last-second dodge is all that saves her from being impaled; instead, Janus rips open an old scar. Ironically, that one was made by Glumzamber, too, when Siegfried caught her in Enkidu's tomb.

    Ida stumbles back, crimson and quicksilver dripping down her torso beneath her open overcoat. The flow starts to slow as Ida focuses on the injury, but doesn't stop.

    "'Subject 4,'" she says, anger and shock and horror mingling in her voice. "Timotheus. Are you his dog now?!" Her head reels. Her hand dips into a pocket and comes up with another ampoule injector, this one containing a half-dose of modified Standard 83 Coagulant. She jams the injector into a gap between exoskeletal plates, and presses the trigger. The drug burns as it flows into Ida's body. Erzebet's voice provides a dulcet undertone to Ida's own pain and rage.

    "SHUT YOUR BLOODY SODDING GOB, YOU NIHILISTIC HARPY!" Ida roars. She feels marginally better. Her childhood governess would've given her the switch for that kind of language, but her childhood governess is not here. She would undoubtedly be most distressed to see literal steam rising from Ida's brow, and shooting from her nostrils.

    Ida plants both feet. Her knife-like fingers smooth back out into more humanlike armored digits. She takes a single, deep breath, letting it flow into her to feed the bellows. The exoskeleton flows further, crossing her chest, rising up her neck to frame her face. Half of it turns deep red and gold and black, like Ratatoskr's armor--sleek, streamlined, designed like the suits made during the Old War. The armor of a killer. The other half is more baroque, still blue and gold, with wing-like rays projecting from Ida's right shoulder and a smaller, similar design gracing her right temple. The fusion looks something like Xiumei's own armor--a composite of two entities.

    "Is that the best you can do, untempered wretch? I see your weakness. Tell me of your masters, or I will beat it out of you."

    Drugs or not, Ida should not be this angry. This isn't just her at work.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Third Method - Shaping the Battle-Forged Shell !
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Third Method - Shaping the Battle-Forged Shell  for 0
hit points!
GS: Shield! applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Cover! applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
<Pose Tracker> Cidney Laplace has posed.

                                                              B e f o r e

"Shit. Looks like we really did end up overshooting after all, huh?"

A small company of soldiers stand at the fringes of Valeria Chateau, impassively watching the smoke that belches forth from the unseen chaos within. Dressed in what is ostensibly uniforms belonging to Guild Galad's armed forces, there's hardly much that would meet even the basest definition of the word "uniform": each one is customized as if to each soldier's individual tastes. Each seems like a blatant twist in defiance of Guild Galad's standard.

The only thing that unifies them all are the bands of black at they all wear on their biceps, a single white stripe running through it.

"I -told- you. If we had followed the adjustments -I- specified, we would have been here -exactly- on time. But oh, no, -no one- listens to -m""So anyway, what's the play here?"

"Wh-- are you -serious-?? I went over the -best- strategy for this on the ride ov""I'm thinkin' something direct. Big and flashy. No sense not making a big statement at the big scene, yeah?"

"That's -so- -stupid- -why- isn't -anyone- paying atte""I'm not sure. Sometimes a subtle touch is better."

"-OH- MY -G""What d'you think, boss? It's your call today, yeah?"

The group turns their attention towards the woman at the front of their ranks (except for a single one of them, currently and furiously stomping rocks at the fringes of their formation shouting something that seems rather hard to make much sense of). Ashen hair, dressed in a commanding officer's uniform, her only flourish is the long blue cloak draped over her shoulders -- and the thick black patch that covers her right eye. She looks back at them with a singular, chartreuse stare.

And smiles as she calmly rests a simple, elegant blade over her shoulder.

"Nothing fancy needed here. Make your statements with your actions. You all get to clear out the chaff today. I'll push through to the front lines."

"Oh, come on. You haven't let us have any fun at all this week!" The woman shrugs broadly, eye shutting.

"Isn't this the exact reason we drew straws about this? Don't be upset that you lost. Besides..."

That chartreuse eye opens up as Cidney Laplace looks upon the Chateau like someone who's sure they've already one.

"... it's only right the king gets to take center stage."

And so Colonel Cid makes her way in, her soldiers openly and loudly jeering her declaration in riotous laughter as they break off.

It takes about fifteen seconds for the one in the back to realize they've been abandoned.

"W-wait! -WAIT-! HOLD ON, I JUST HAD AN -INGENUOUS- IDE"N o w

And so it is, just seconds after Erzebet goes for Eleanor's neck, fangs flared, that she might notice a little, golden shine from her peripherals. Nothing amazing. Nothing that'd stand out. Except it's getting brighter. And brighter.

And there's a distinct hum cutting through the carnage--

-- and she has five seconds in which to start moving before a beam of bright orange-gold plasma rips across the battlefield, slicing a deep, glowing scar into the grounds in its wake.

"I guess I was wrong to assume this was going to be the same farce as it ever was."

Colonel Cidney Laplace's cuts calmly through the chaos from where she stands at a conveniently dramatic balcony overhanging the Chateau's foyer. How she got there is a question best left towards experts in dramatic physics, but there the Galadian officer stands, the barrel of the Celestial Gardener aglow with excess heat that bends the air around it. Her single eye sweeps the battlefield, softening with contrition as she looks over those gathered.

"My apologies for my tardiness," she offers with a note of sympathetic sincerity. Her gaze falls, briefly, on Josephine... and then upon Ida as the woman roars. Her gaze tracks to the distinctively demonic foe she faces, and there, she pauses. That ashen brow lifts slightly.

"I'm glad to see I got here just in time, however."

And with that, her gaze falls once more on Erzebet, with a most charming smile.

"Colonel Cidney Laplace of Guild Galad," she greets, calm and personable. "I don't suppose I could impose on you to just surrender, could I?"

<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.

...Why did he try to catch the missile?

GS: Cidney Laplace has attacked Erzebet Lefanu with Eloquent Iris!
GS: Cidney Laplace has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Cidney Laplace has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"I'd rather throw it into a volcano." Marivel says, pulling her head out from her neck. "But on reflection? The boy's condition is a fitting one. I couldn't wish it on a better man. The world is rarely so kind as to have the outside match the insides, you know? Speaking as someone intimate with such biological realities."

Erzebet offers to compare the power of ARTILLERY BARRIAGES. Two more volleys are unleashed upon Marivel and she jolts back but this time it hits a barrier shielding her and detonates around her rather than INTO heerr. She slides back and adds, "Metal Demon friends? I have only one Metal Demon friend and she's not here unless we're counting Noeline so I suppose we can say two. Ida?" She thinks for a moment. "Two and a half Metal Demon friends." She frowns. "Though I don't really know Fafnir so is it really Two and a half here or is it more like two nand a quarter?"

She shrugs. "Let's say three. Three Metal Demon friends. I don't dislike Zed, of course, who can dislike Zed? But I don't know him and friend means a little more to me than someone who happens to be fighting on the same side as me."

"Well," She smiles. "If they do get driven into a frenzy at me, I'm a monster. That's what people are supposed to do when they see someone like me. That's why it's interesting when they don't. And as a general rule, Filgaians have tended to NOT go crazy while dealing with a monster such as me. And I'm going to give the Hyadeans here the benefit of the doubt and presume sentimentality. In a way, that's worse, don't you think?"

She pauses and adds, "Erzebet, this may seem strange for me to ask right nw but... Are you okay?" She remembers her meeting with Matilda. Who WAS JUST HERE A MOMENT AGO.

She takes a moment to wave like Emet Selch at Cidney Laplace without really looking at her. She's a bit busy.

Ida shouts. Marivel pauses for a moment and glances to Ida for a moment.

"Hey Ida." She says. "Remember what you did for me? Is it time for me to repay that favor?"

But then she swings her arm, sending another layer of thin red strandes SLICING for Erzebet even as she looks to her comrades. "Don't lose focus. She can hurt you far more than she can hurt me."

She rolls her shoulders back ad adds, "Did you just call yourself a king?" and she covers her mouth a bit as if amused. "There is no tardiness, there is simply fashionably late."

GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Erzebet Lefanu with Bloody Mari!
GS: Marivel Armitage has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

Emeralda's scarf does not act like a natural scarf at all. It wraps tight, moving like it was part of Emeralda's body, like a limb grabbing at the arm to keep Josie's aim locked down - which is, of course, absolutely true.

Emeralda bounds upwards, but her scarf keeps pulling. When Clarice asks Emeralda to leave, she shakes her head vigorously. "No! I'm a Drifter too, and - I'm not going away. I'm not going to die either! Josie, why are you doing this? You helped me! You called me Jadelet!"

'You're a kind of a machine, ain't you'

Well, Josephine was there, way back when, to see everything. That's part of why Emeralda is having trouble accepting what she's doing now; she acted so different *then*. But she knows - and she remembers.

The bolt goes right down the scarf and into Emeralda, arcing from point to point along her body with loud pops and cracks. And if Josephine wasn't free already, she is now; Emeralda's frame softens for a moment, her body becoming more fluid. The scarf pulls like taffy, then slides away, unable to grip onto anything.

It isn't the electricity itself that does it but the magnetic aftereffects. Emeralda feels her insides churn and staggers backwards, hunched over as bits of her outer layer overload or are pulled this way and that. The arcs eventually ground out, leaving just a hunched-down Emeralda.

That hurt. It hurt a lot more than just about anything else Josephine could have done to her - physically, from the electricity, and emotionally, when she's called a machine. She thought Josie thought better of her than that, and maybe Emeralda is a little sensitive - but given she just got shocked she thinks she is probably justified in that.

Emeralda suddenly lunges forward, grabbing at the gun again. But this time she uses her hands to do it, while her hair - her voluminous, shaggy hair - stretches and shifts into something like a ball and chain, or at least cable. She swings her head in a wide arc, and the weighted mass of her metal hair follows, picking up momentum as it goes. "Stop it! You can still be good! You can leave! Or you can help! This isn't helping!! This is..."

GS: Emeralda Kasim has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Hammerhead!
GS: Emeralda Kasim has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

It did provoke Ida and Zed pretty effectively--Eleanor can't help but glance their way in concern before she force herself to pay attention to her own battle. This becomes an issue in short order. "Xiu, I'll back you up--and you--" Of course it's a weapon!! It's a significant weapon Eleanor has read about, but she has to just fume about this for a moment. "Anger isn't justification for much on its own--"

While Erzebet shoots, Eleanor watches Xiumei as the wielder of Harborym shoots at her, immediately focused on which spell she will need to tend the wounds those shots leave, on which magic is best to assist her. She works on lining up a shot of her own in the meantime, lifting her rifle--

Erzebet is faster than Eleanor, and faster than she expected even seeing her in action since that village. "Ah--?"

Eleanor looks up at her in surprise, strange golden eyes widening at the oddity of her smile, of her teeth. "Well that's--" Her retort dies on the vine as she feels the surprise of fangs sinking into her neck. Doing it in motion, there's some immediate blood dribble that tracks down her, but not much lost. Her rifle is knocked aside, clattering to the ground. "A-ah--"

There is something absolutely heavenly about Eleanor's blood, incidentally. Maybe it's because elves are just better, or maybe there really is something to nobility. Whatever the reason, it's got a bright, special quality.

"Get--" Her response is shock and pain, a certain amount of natural horror paired with being caught like this on the battlefield. Eleanor tries to break free of Erzebet's grip but isn't nearly as strong. In a moment, she stops trying--but doesn't give up. Instead she reaches down into her satchel. She doesn't spot Cidney, immediately, but will benefit from her help momentarily. In the meantime, she pulls a small pistol with a golden grip and shoves it roughly up between the two of them in the direction of Erzebet's ribs. "Off--"

There's a loud report and a recoil that jars Eleanor's arm in her attempt to dissuade Erzebet.

GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Erzebet Lefanu with Dead Shot!
GS: Eleanor Klein has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Eleanor Klein assumes the Avenger stance!
GS: Eleanor Klein takes 25 damage from Poison!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    The small punch Gwen delivers, if her scheme works, will create a seed of electric energy, which blooms into an active pulse in the wake of Gwen's passing in 3--

    It's all his. He died for it.

    The discolored gash in his torso, that runs over his heart. In a way, it's not too dissimilar to the spot over Gwen's own, the difference being the outcomes and the more savage path his wound shows.

    2...

    At the sight of it, Gwen's body wobbles, the utter discordant dissonance of Janus's body slamming into her. This becomes literal as Janus's hand stretches out, delivering Gwen a piece of the same sort of attack she's thrown at him in times past, which thuds painfully against her rib cage.

    1.

    Zed's anger cuts through the redhead, bringing to bear the faulty logic of Janus's proud statement. She straightens, and laughs. "By your logic, that means I gotta take responsibility for you again, then? I mean, what's it been, one, two, three times I've survived you? I've lost count."

    She will take control of this situation, one way or another.

    Janus's verbal and physical exchange with Ida throws Gwen off again, causing her face to blanch. "Subject Four? What the hell are you talkin' about now, Janus? Was Timoethus the one who schemed all of this?!" She points her left finger at Janus, accusingly. "What would Keziah think, seein' us now? I'm going to stop you right now, because you obviously can't stop yourself, in your state!"

    Her right hand draws a knife, which Gwen flings, intent on skewering it into the very hand that holds that cursed sword.

    But Janus is not the only one with a strange turn in behavior. "Ida?!" Bewildered, Gwen turns to look at her. "... After this is over I'm gonna make you rest, whether or not _I have to armwrestle you into a cot_."

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Janus Cascade with Letter Rip!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Josephine Lovelace guards a hit from Emeralda Kasim's Hammerhead for 60 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has lost 1 Combo from Interrupt!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

Erzebet's gun fires up at Xiumei even as she fires downward. In midair, Xiumei manages to bob past one shot with a twist, then duck under the second. The third, though, slams into the white armor on her chest. It leaves a scratch, sparks exploding where it hit, and then Xiumei slams down into the tiled floor in a three-point stance.

The tile cracks and breaks around her, in a web-like pattern, before she stands up. She charges, ducking past the huge column of flame that drills towards her. It skates by her, before slamming into and breaking about a pillar.

Xiumei turns, then, her eyes widening sharply as she sees Erzebet charge for Eleanor. Her breath catches in her throat. She wasn't there in time.

"NORA!"

Those fangs already sink into her neck. Xiumei shouts, and she darts forward; the blood coming down her neck is filling Xiumei's stomach with fear now. She throws her handcannon to the side. It flies away before winking into so many cubes of light.

Someone else does make it there first. Xiumei's breath catches -- she gasps when she sees Cidney Laplace send that blast of light out not a moment after Erzebet bites down. Xiumei's eyes dart, from Cidney to Erzebet.

"Who--" She explains who. Xiumei nods, a little dimly. Her eyes are on Erzebet again. "GET AWAY FROM HER!"

She leaps into the air. There is a blur of white and green behind her, as she leaps with the enhancements given by her Biometal-summoned armor, and her beam saber is gripped in both hands.

And then it cleaves down, as Xiumei descends on Erzebet.

GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Erzebet Lefanu with Pulse Saber - Jump Slash!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Erzebet Lefanu guards a hit from Eleanor Klein's Dead Shot for 85 hit points!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Janus Cascade critically Guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Counter Attack for 15 hit points!
GS: Janus Cascade's Force Guard activates!
GS: Janus Cascade completely evades a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Letter Rip!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Janus Cascade gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Janus Cascade takes a solid hit from Zed's Unsealed Blade - Demon Breaker for 154 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Janus Cascade gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Poison! applied to Janus Cascade!
GS: Zed drains Janus Cascade! Zed gains 50 temporary hit points!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu takes a solid hit from Zhang Xiumei's Pulse Saber - Jump Slash for 148 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Erzebet Lefanu gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

"...How long? Have you always intended to take up with them...?" Clarine asks quietly. What Josie says next, however, gets a frown out of her, and steels her determination somewhat. "If you truly believe I would simply accept that and allow you to do as you please, then I am insulted. I did not demur for Ragnell. I will not do so for you."

In much the same way, however, Emeralda balks at her request that she leave. Clarine studies her for a moment. She supposes she misjudged her. It seems there is more to her than she saw at first - disregarding the fact that she's a machine, apparently.

Well, her best non-Seraph friend is a robot, so it's not like that's an issue for her.

Before she can respond, though, Josie has a response for her question. It is, indeed, the path she has chosen. The glyph flashes over Clarine's body. The spell takes hold of her, and Clarine's body - spiritual though it may be - is wracked with pain. She winces.

"...I see." She murmurs quietly, and considers. She looks toward Emeralda, then.

"...I am sorry. I did not mean to insult you." She says, shaking her head. "I shall do my best to support you."

"Root of all creation, grant us the breath of life! Revitalize!" Clarine incants. From her position, a runic glyph spreads out across the floor. From it shines rejuvenating light, settling over herself and Emeralda.

GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Emeralda Kasim with Revitalize!
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Seraph Clarine with Revitalize!
GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraph Clarine takes 27 damage from Poison!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
GS: Seraph Clarine heals Seraph Clarine! She gains 250 temporary hit points!
GS: Restore! Poison removed!
GS: Seraph Clarine heals Emeralda Kasim! She gains 250 temporary hit points!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu takes a solid hit from Marivel Armitage's Bloody Mari for 168 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.

...Why did he try to catch the missile?

Shots land, but Ratatoskr seems unphased at first glance. Then again, can't they shift their form? Or something like that. He could be hiding the damage.

Clarissa gets a fist pump, or rather, a buster pump (Because Dash currently doesn't have hands) and falls in to assist. "Hey, yeah! Like, you like to be a part of it, but do you write it down afterward? There are History books after all."

Through the swirling mist and dust flies the squirrely Hydaean! "Reverse!" Dash shouts to himself, and the Jet Shoes flare to live, beginning to speed backward. The knee connects, but with less force than he had hoped. Still, it dents inward a piece of his torso. A firm strike.

As Dash re-orients himself, the Active Buster primes and is aimed upward, a salvo of missiles flying upward. They seem to hang in the air momentarily. A trio of shots from the Mega Buster fly again, through the cloud of steam the missiles flared downward. "This place is kinda history too you know! Its gonna get torn up! ...Uh, kinda?" A look to Clarissa. "How old is this place again?"

He has no idea, but it looks fancy. Could be old.

GS: Dash Caskett has attacked Ratatoskr with Homing Mortar!
GS: Dash Caskett enters a Counter stance!
GS: Dash Caskett has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Dash Caskett has completed his action.
GS: Erzebet Lefanu takes a solid hit from Cidney Laplace's Eloquent Iris for 139 hit points!
GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Dash Caskett's Homing Mortar for 104 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.

"Probably a little?" Janus chuckles, when Zed invokes the name of Alhazred. Zed's fury doesn't ruffle his calm much. "I don't know a lot of the theory behind it, I confess. Man in the field doesn't need to know everything, ya know? But..."

He spots Ida taking a breather, then spots Gwen. He jabs Glumzambor into the ground, the electricity from her first punch grounding out through that, passing through him harmlessly. Then he jukes to the side, her thrown weapon swinging past completely. His movements are strange, a mix of fast and slow, like his body isn't, entirely, moving the way he expects it to.

"Timowho?" Janus asks, blankly. "Never heard of him. Sounds like a loser."

Then Gwen goes for the big emotional guns, and Janus hangs his head, chuckling low. "If Keziah could see this, we wouldn't be here. You think I don't know that?" But when he looks up to her, it's with malice in those glowing yellow eyes.

"I'm me. NoboGEBBU"

That would be the noise he makes when Zed blasts him with Foul Energies, dislodging him from his stance and sending him slamming into a wall. He chuckles, low, deep in his throat. "Ya wanna see my credentials, do ya?" he murmurs. "How about...!"

He JAMS Glumzambor into the ground again, and another blast wave of demonic...SOMETHING rushes away, pinning the three fighters to the walls, blasting them with awesome force!

Janus, meanwhile, produces an apple from his pocket and eats it.

It just sort of goes away between blinks. It's weird.

GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Janus Cascade with Power Apple!
GS: Janus Cascade takes a solid hit from Janus Cascade's Power Apple for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper and Shield! applied to Janus Cascade!
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Zed with Glumzambor Howls!
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Glumzambor Howls!
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Glumzambor Howls!
GS: Janus Cascade has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Janus Cascade takes 24 damage from Poison!
GS: Janus Cascade has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

Erzebet battens upon Eleanor for a moment, and then she breathes out. This close, too close, she doesn't have any real capacity to avoid Eleanor as she does the sensible thing and shoots Erzebet in the torso.

The gunshot rips through her. There is some blood and more behind it. Erzebet staggers back -

-- and the hole seals itself up, the brief ray of the ambient light coming through it. Erzebet, with red lips, smiles at Eleanor, and her eyes are wide, and it is not really a human face, not for a moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX-aNoFd5eY

And that is when Xiumei falls upon her, thankfully, and the beam saber is all but upon her when she moves with blinding and inhuman speed. It is still a narrow thing but by all rights Xiumei should have produced two Odessa agents of significantly reduced mass rather than what she gets, which is a deep gash through what WAS a dress shirt and is now a smoulder ruin over a damaged but more or less intact chemise. (Erzebet even had a cute little tie on. The tie is now a lie.)

The aftermath of this spasm of defensive celerity puts Erzebet four yards over, against a wall, and she looks towards Marivel. ".... okay?? I'm fine!" Erzebet answers her, head tilting backwards as she bites on her lower lip, sucking it clean. "Never better. Every time I start feeling THAT bad I remember what I can just DO, to FIX it. The real problem is when you take your time to e n j o y it, isn't it?" She giggles again.

"I just had a thought," Erzebet continues, "about Jehenna. It's so funny to think about it, Marivel, it's really kind of hilarious. You have to consider the TIMELINE."

5

"When the kings were rising and everything was rising and the world was going to change -- what happened with that, anyway? It must have been something -- but you know, the Metal Demons, I don't know the whole story, but they were fleeing their own planet, right? Space is vast - you can't move THAT fast through it - it must have taken them a long time to get here, but that time was so long ago, IMAGINE it, Marivel, imagine if they'd been able to take to the stars."

3 (that took 2 steps - Erzebet is not shutting up)

"The stars are friendly, aren't they? They don't hit, they don't hurt, they just shine prettily. Like the moonlight. We could have walked through space, and we who can smile at death could have GOTTEN to that benighted world before whatever the hell happened and"

2

"and I don't know, was it a disease, did they get infected...? I never really cared until just now but just THINK of it, they could have had their great peril put to the blade; what they can do, WE could do, could have done, and maybe we can yet do again, because if there's another place like that there might well be others and"

1

"if the cosmos itself is night, then who is better fit to grasp it?" says Erzebet Mara Lefanu.

0

The ground rips asunder and rides through Erzebet with a sudden intersection of much of her torso. She spasms as she's jerked into the air, blood spraying around as she contorts and twists and kicks like a spatchcocked chicken and grasps desperately at a wall sconse and then... dangles...

Her eyes turn towards Col. Laplace. "I guess I'm lucky," Erzebet says, weakly, "since I can kind of learn all of this as I go, and that all of this seems to happen - uck - inside - this must be why soldiers have to train for months. Because -"

Erzebet lands on her feet. "OW! All of this is AWFUL."

She exhales with force. "Playtime's over," she says, and she puts away her gun.

Is that a surrender?

No. Erzebet kicks off the wall and moves with that uncanny, overcranked-moving-picture speed. If you slow it down her first action is to kick off, approach Cidney, and dive low to sweep out one leg with crushing force, segueing into a handstand that should go into a second kick with both heels - enough force that one of the shoes cracks and is jettisoned as she capers forwards again, closing towards Xiumei and Eleanor. Eleanor gets a rabbit punch with profound force; Erzebet twists round with a "WAHEY!" of emphasis to dig the OTHER fist forwards, at Xiumei's solar plexus, perhaps hoping to leave her gasping for breath.

From there it is a vault towards Marivel, to whom she says as she closes, "So why did you even put your faith in these old farts, anyway? Do you think they can save Filgaia?? With MEETINGS??" Marivel receives another of those mule kicks, this time while Erzebet faces forwards; the recoil on her stocking feet sends her skidding back, braked at the space where Cidney's ray of plasma ripped up some of the flooring.

GS: Zed takes a solid hit from Janus Cascade's Glumzambor Howls for 102 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Zed gains 1 additional Combo!
DC: Erzebet Lefanu switches forms to Vampir razboinica Erzebet Mara Lefanu!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has attacked Cidney Laplace with Festival of Servants!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has attacked Eleanor Klein with Festival of Servants!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has attacked Marivel Armitage with Festival of Servants!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Requiem for the Guardians!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has completed her action.
GS: Cidney Laplace takes a glancing hit from Erzebet Lefanu's Festival of Servants for 50 hit points!
GS: Marivel Armitage guards a hit from Erzebet Lefanu's Festival of Servants for 67 hit points!
GS: Eleanor Klein takes a solid hit from Erzebet Lefanu's Festival of Servants for 113 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Eleanor Klein gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Zhang Xiumei takes a glancing hit from Erzebet Lefanu's Requiem for the Guardians for 61 hit points!
GS: Cripple! applied to Zhang Xiumei!
GS: Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Janus Cascade's Glumzambor Howls for 106 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    Ratatoskr's movements keep him clearer yet of the man who should not be, and also the man who should not wield Glumzamber. It is not clear if there is some sort of intrinsic instinct instructing this, or coincidence, as Clarissa complains about how it wasn't supposed to be a fight.
     "...What was it supposed to be?" He asks, equal parts incredulous and inquisitive, and then he... doens't repeat it as an exclamation. He realizes - he's crossed paths with Clarissa before, enough to realize she's got an awesome ARM and that she needs excuses to shoot him with it.
     As Dash eventually inquires into the nature of this place and how it stands to be destroyed, there reveals a subtle positioning choice in the way Ratatoskr gets moving when Strahl Gewehr fires off its blue-white beams. He's not positioning himself specifically anywhere where her shots might threaten anything irreplaceable - at no point does he maneuver consciously in a way that would put specific people or property hostage.
     Outside of the core principle of 'being here, working for Odessa' which sort of makes the whole thing a wash, doesn't it - but the humor and horror of this isn't given much chance to linger as Ratatoskr keeps weaving through beams that graze off the side. He goes on all fours for further agility and speed.
     "...What does innocent even mean?" Ratatoskr asks. "Everyone here looks so strong...!"
     Dash makes good on the non-warning shot version of the Active Buster, and their movement is a bit harder for him to track if the idea is for him to weave about it, but then the Hyadean seems to settle on one specific idea to mitigate it:
     He doesn't! He just runs through it.
     "It is!! I'm here to see it!" He retorts proudly to this place's nature - belatedly - as Active Buster blasts chip off pieces of red Hyadean armor shards with added splotches of quicksilver. Hyadean warriors do not have the best relationship with the concept of pain, as evidenced when his momentum does not slow as he leans into Dash with his left elbow and then extend a palm outward, discharging a blast of shotgun-like compressed air out from the palm.
     He attempts the same - in theory - for Clarissa, as the two are just close enough that he might be able to do it, but his leg span just isn't long enough. He kicks out a leg that will come up short as a physical strike, but she is just in reach where she can still get blasted by the compressed air firing right out of his foot.

GS: Ratatoskr has activated a Force Action!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey critically Guards a hit from Janus Cascade's Glumzambor Howls for 65 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Dash Caskett with One Armed Dual Wield!
GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Clarissa Arwin with Packs A Kick!
GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
GS: CRITICAL! Clarissa Arwin takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's Packs A Kick for 139 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.

"You'd have to ask Marivel!" Clarissa answers Dash - a bit quickly, all things considered.

When Ratatoskr flips a question back at her, Clarissa pauses, and for just a moment she seems genuinely nonplussed. She opens her mouth slightly, then snaps it closed, not sure how to actually formulate an answer. Their baselines are simply too radically different for anything to process.
Well, okay, a kick in the face will do that. Clarissa raises her arm to shield herself from it.

She wasn't expecting the air blast. The burst knocks off her feet with a startled yelp. She hits the ground and rolls away, wincing before pulling herself back to one knee with effort. Pain radiates through her chest and hip - the first bearing the brunt of the airburst, the second bearing the hardest part of her landing.

She sets her jaw and lets a pugnacious breath out through her nose. "You know, there are better ways to do historical tourism than by going along with Commander Vinsfeld," she snaps. "I can feel your desire to be part of history-- I can feel how excited you are about it! Don't you ever feel like you're alone among so many cynical people who've forgotten dreams?"

Mustering her will, Clarissa boosts back to her feet and starts running. Her fancy dress billows dramatically around her as she moves to try and flank Ratatoskr. "Dash!" she calls out to her ARMS teammate. "I'm coming around this side!"

She fires away as she shoots, sending a long blast streaking towards Ratatoskr, and with it another reproof: "What good's being part of history if it's built on other people's suffering, anyway?!"

GS: Clarissa Arwin has attacked Ratatoskr with Running Shot!
GS: Clarissa Arwin has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Clarissa Arwin has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "Got it in one," Josie repeats, this time in response to Clarine. "You're on a roll tonight!" But it's at the Seraph's following choice of words that moves the archaeologist to chuckle darkly. "Wouldn't have it any other way, Clarine. But if you do feel like cutting and running, the door's over there?" She jerks her head in its direction. "Might not even take a shot at you from behind-like."

    "I'm not going away. I'm not going to die either! Josie, why are you doing this? You helped me! You called me--"

    For a second -- just a second -- she stops struggling with Emeralda. "..."

    Before hauling her arm more sharply than before, before casting that spell.

    "It's time you got a grip, kiddo! Wake up! I ain't your friend! If you don't get smart--"

    She jerks her arm just the once more and steps back, now free of Emeralda's bind. The shotgun traces a short arc through the air--

    As a brilliant beam carves its way across the room. Josie, acting on reflex, leaps to the side and lands in a crouch. Her gaze tilts upwards as she rises, in search of its source. "...Tch," she utters, gaze locked for but the moment on Cidney Laplace.

    But she has other things to worry about.

    Like, say, Emeralda.

    Who comes at her, shifting her body, swinging her hair--

    Which has all the all the mass of a wrecking ball. It's all the archaeologist can do to attempt to dampen the impacting, using the one thing she has available to her: the shotgun.

    It still sends an ugly reverbration up her arm and, for the moment, she staggers back. "Sure as sure it's helping," she replies, shrugging her shoulders. "It's helping us. Ever wonder if you were on the wrong side, kiddo?"

    She follows that up by breaking into a run, seemingly firing at random at the both of them. But the shots go wide, as if she were attempting to miss them both entirely. Is this a change of heart--

    She sweeps the shotgun through the air sharply, the speed of its motion making the air hiss.

    No.
    She fires that last shot straight at Emeralda.

GS: Sneak!! Your feint does not reveal that you spent 2 Combo on Headshot Better get that pose addition ready.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Seraph Clarine with It's A Hard-Knock Life!
GS: Sneak! You have gained 1 Combo! Only you see this message.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Emeralda Kasim with Scorched Wing!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Mighty expired!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action.
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Josephine Lovelace's attack becomes clear!
GS: Seraph Clarine takes a glancing hit from Josephine Lovelace's Silver Cloud for 78 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Cripple and Jam! applied to Seraph Clarine!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Emeralda Kasim guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Scorched Wing for 78 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Emeralda Kasim gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Jam! applied to Emeralda Kasim!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    ...The bullets weren't misaimed or merciful at all. They rattle off the walls and ruined embellishments and all too soon find their way home.
    For Clarine.

GS: Dash Caskett guards a hit from Ratatoskr's One Armed Dual Wield for 76 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dash Caskett gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

Xiumei steps close to Eleanor, once she has struck into Erzebet. The bisection she hoped for didn't come, but she has gotten used to this: she doesn't always get them in one hit. She keeps the blade out, keeps it at the ready, and she turns her head.

Her eyes track Erzebet -- or they try to, and she realizes how hard that is. Because Erzebet moves by kicking off the wall, and slams into both of them. Her punch slams into Xiumei's solar plexus, with a CRACK, even as the metal fibers of her bodysuit absorb some of it.

But she does gasp -- and then she looks up. Her eyes widen, and the light over and in them flashes slightly. Inside them, digits turn, lines move, and circles spin, as she watches Erzebet skid back.

Her Pulse Saber vanishes; in its place, a white, cross-shaped piece of metal appears. Xiumei throws it, like a discus, and it whips through the air. Beam light explodes off the cross-shaped metal, light green energy engulfing it. It slashes at Erzebet from her.

Then it hits the wall, and goes flying back towards her from the front, and back to Xiumei's hand.

"Discussion does a lot more than--than whatever this is!" she shouts at her.

GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Erzebet Lefanu with Barrier Cross - Ricochet!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Mighty expired!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"I'm not talking about your vampirism." Marivel says. Erzebet is probably used to the moment where Marivel stops playing around and starts being serious--both in battle and in conversation... and in this case it's more the latter we're thinking of here. "I'm talking about your friend leaving you behind." Despite all that Erzebet has done and, lets face it, is likely to still do--her tone is plenty full of sympathy. Marivel is someone who knows what it is to have a friend leave you behind. She knows how that feels. How that felt to her. Erzebet might feel differently, and indeed she might have hurt and killed plenty--and frankly is likely to hurt aand kill plenty more--but Marivel is not without sympathy for this devil.

Erzebet contemplates eternity. The potential in infinity, even for small creatures such as she and her. And once upon a time, when she was young, Marivel would have spoken in such poetics too. But she is the last of her people.

"Erzebet. If there is anything you leaarn from me, then it should be these two things." She holds up an index finger. "The first is that there is always a bigger fish. Such as we consume blood and soul, there are creaturs out there that can burn our souls into ash. That will snack on us as an appetizer. And if you were to venture out into that grand cosmos, the likelyhood of you running into a world eater--or something worse--only grows stronger. Space is infinite, of course, and you might live for a hundred thousand years without encountering such an eldrich creature or any old god.... But.. That brings me to my second point."

"The infinite life is not as long as you think."

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qqof7pvPy0

"Even the stars have their predators...!"

And with that she brings up her arms. With a thick CRACK, Erzebet's legs slam into Marivel's body and she is sent careening into a wall hard enough to CRUUUUNCH it with a thick blood smeared crater. Marivel drops down into a crouch and swing of her hand, summons Guillotine. The red blade flings itself chaotically towards Erzebet as Marivel darts in, trying to get in close. The blade itself is not going for heavy cuts, instead focusing on keeping Erzebet busy so SHE can flip around behind and CHOMP down on Erzebet's neck.

She might be a Nosferatu, but vampires will bite each other in a fight just fine.

She doesn't answer Dash's question. She's busy.

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

'A little,' he says. 'A little!!' Zed's eyes visibly twitch as Janus confirms that DARK HYADEAN SORCERY is all but certainly involved. But is it Alhazred himself? Is it Alhazred's corpse being puppeted around by a bunch of angry wannabes!? Is it just his loyal minions, taking up the task of their long-dead master and trying to reap bloody vengeance for the sake of their own goals...!?

Zed doesn't care. It really doesn't matter. The enemy in front of him is all that his eyes see right now. Another blast of evil energy ripples outward from Glumzambor and its self-proclaimed master. For a terrifying instant, the twin waves of foul force wrestle and mix with one another before exploding with a sudden and soul-shivering *POP!* Zed hisses a curse as he's sent sliding back into an inconveniently placed pillar. 'Credentials' he says. Like just wielding the spear's power is good enough...!

Zed stumbles forward out of the ruined plaster. Whatever is happening to Ida, he either doesn't notice or doesn't seem to be able to process it right now. There is only enough bandwidth in Zed's brain to handle one personal crisis at a time, and Ida's isn't likely to murder him in the next few seconds.

"I don't need to see your... 'credentials...!'" There's a flicker of motion. A sudden burst of speed. Zed is... Gone. No, not quite. He moves like a man possessed, launching a violent, expertly delivered sequence of strikes that seem to pour in from every direction at once. Such a feat is only possible through the power of colocation, incredible speed, or just a blatant disregard for space and time demanding that he occupy a single location at any given time.

Zed is too busy trying to murder a man to care.

"All I want to see is that spear removed from your body," Zed roars, the myriad after-images melding together, waveforms collapsing into a single fatal possibility. He descends, cleaving downward with a singular, mortal stroke...! "And all I want to hear is *who put you up to this!"

GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Erzebet Lefanu with Life Drain!
GS: Marivel Armitage has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action.
GS: Zed spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Zed has attacked Janus Cascade with Secret Sword - Lightning Flash!
GS: Zed has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Zed has launched an attack Link!
GS: Zed has attacked Janus Cascade with Forbidden Move - Astral Dance!
GS: Zed enters a Counter stance!
GS: Zed has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Zed has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.

"Hrn," Dash emits, thinking on Clarissa's comment. Yeah, she might know. how old IS Marivel anyway? This question will probably forever remain a mystery. He isn't gonna take the chance to ask.

"You know, people that committ war crimes are labeled monsters in the history books, wouldn't you rather be labeled a historian or something?!" he tacks on. At this point, reaching out seems like a lost cause, but perhaps him and Clarissa can force him to retreat.

Attacks land again, this time with more visible effect. Something leaks off Ratatoskr, perhaps something akin to blood, though it looks more like molten lead. "You cluld just, I dunno, watch! Save you some pain, and maybe you'll get to see more and not miss it?"

A sudden concussive report emits from a palm extended as Ratatoskr closes the distance. A quick slide and lean, and the boy's shoulder opposite to the attacker's direcion eats the hit as they lean into the attack. Some layers of metal buckle and flake at the hit, and Dash jumps backward with the force coming at him.

"On it!" he shouts to Clarissa, and the Jet Shoes, rev to life before they hit the ground. On contact, Dash speeds forward, and he drops into a slide, causing a strong forcefield to cover him. He attempts to angle and block the Hydaean's method of evasion from Clarissa's attack!

GS: Dash Caskett spends 2 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Dash Caskett has attacked Ratatoskr with Charge Kick!
GS: Dash Caskett has completed his action.
GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Clarissa Arwin's Running Shot for 150 hit points!
GS: Riposte! applied to Clarissa Arwin!
GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Dash Caskett's Charge Kick for 112 hit points!
GS: Hyper and Shield! applied to Dash Caskett!
<Pose Tracker> Cidney Laplace has posed.

"Well," asides Cidney to Marivel with the most conversational of lilts as she hefts herself up onto the balcony's railing,

"if nothing else, I do try to stay in style."

A sharp eye focuses on Erzebet after the colonel's request is submitted for the Odessa agent's consideration. Cid watches as that forceful breath spills past her lips. As she speaks of learning as you go. Cidney's head tilts to the right as she stands with precarious but unimpeachable balance upon the rail.

Playtime's over.

Her fingers curl upon the grip of her weapon as Erzebet puts hers away.

"Ah," she begins, and her smile is a sad thing indeed.

"I guess we're at an impasse. I suppose--"

And just like that, Erzebet is upon her at that balcony.

"--that sometimes force is necessary--"

There's only a second to react as that leg sweeps low to take her foot out from under her with force that could likely snap the bone of it clean in two.

And Cidney reacts --

--by letting go.

The colonel's body goes limp, like she were little more than a lifeless doll. That leg CRACKS against hers with an unpleasant impact that is lessened only by the fact that it is going -with- Cid's momentum. It helps to knock her down with the painfully percussive sound of limb striking limb; and so she twists, falling backwards towards the ground floor just -seconds- before those heels can crack into her jaw.

She provides for Erzebet a grin even in freefall, and the shutter of that chartreuse stare that can really only be construed as a wink no matter how cycloptic it is.

The trigger of the Celestial Gardener is squeezed five times before she hits ground in a crouch.

By the time Erzebet has landed, she'll find herself surrounded by five globs of glowing, orange-gold plasmic balls, each ebbing like the pulse of a heartbeat that grows more fluttery-fierce with every passing second.

Each one explodes, one after another, in the sequence they were fired in, but they're all equal opportunity when it comes to the rippling heat and force they provide -- and all focused on a singular intention of helping keep Erzebet distracted for her follow through.

Past her veil of ashen hair, Cid listens to Marivel's words with a pensive stare. The next handful of seconds has her looking Zhang and Eleanor's way, providing both the friendly flash of a smile as she rubs her wounded calf.

"Are you both alright?"

GS: Cidney Laplace has attacked Erzebet Lefanu with Heartless Hydrangea!
GS: Cidney Laplace has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

The burning of Eleanor's sleeve is almost out, but it's left an ugly char where the fabric was, will require attention later. Now, though, she has to contend with the light-headedness of bloodloss instead, though she at least has some satisfaction as she manages to get ERzebet to stagger back--

Which immediately goes away as she pales that much further at that awful face. "Xiu--" Eleanor murmurs softly, starting to take a step back--and then there she is, light and fury and power, and the younger of the two lets out a breath she hadn't realized she was starting to hold and kneels down. ...Not to give up, though she brings a hand up to her neck with still-wide eyes, but to pick back up her rifle, right next to the molten trail Cidney's attack left. She stays on the ground briefly as Erzebet moves away, relieved to have Xiumei between her and their enemy. "Thank you," she tells her best friend quietly. But Erzebet? Erzebet is still talking. Eleanor listens to it distantly as she checks her rifle, looks in on the ammunition, readies it to fire with a metallic noise.

As she rises, she starts to take aim--but once again isn't quite fast enough, hit by a punch that has force enough that she might feel something break. She slams backward into a wall with the wind knocked from her, failing to block. "Ah--ugh--" She starts to waver, and then blinks suddenly with recognition.

"This... It's now!" Marivel advances, speaking in turn of infinity, and Eleanor has her sympathies. But she has something else, too--she has a very large firearm.

"Those 'old farts' happen to include my RELATIVES, thank you!" The shout amps Eleanor up as she aims, taking up a straight stance, weapon parallel to the ground, the rifle nearly as big as she is held up carefully. Her eye lines up the sights--

She fires, once from the great beast of an ARM. A second time, as the whole thing jerks back and she steps back into position--a third, a fourth. She empties all the ammunition it can hold into the direction of Erzebet, blood dripping down her dress.

"And you're damned right I believe in them, and us. Consensus, coming together--that's how to build the new world! Not slaughter and destruction!"

She huffs, looking to Cid in the next moment. "I'll be all right," she says, and her fury gives way to something very harried, a girl in a nice dress fighting soldiers. Or maybe she's become one herself. "I appreciate the assistance."

GS: Eleanor Klein has activated a Force Action!
GS: Eleanor Klein spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Erzebet Lefanu with Abundance!
GS: Eleanor Klein has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Eleanor Klein takes 20 damage from Poison!
GS: Disease and Poison expired!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Marivel looks at Ida. Ida looks back at Marivel, and blinks. Mismatched eyes focus on her, both dilated by the heady mixture of adrenaline, raw emotion, and combat drugs--the green one far wider than the blue. In that gaze, this much becomes obvious: Ida isn't the only one at the controls here. Both she and Fafnir are working in tandem, performing a violent combat ballet without coordinating at all. Ida works the voice, the gaze, the overall posture, while Fafnir provides the decades of killing prowess.

    And the raw, unfiltered rage of seeing his commander's most prized possession--an ARM, part of his very self--thrown around like a toy by some blue-haired lunatic.

    'Hey Ida. Remember what you did for me? Is it time for me to repay that favor?'

    Marivel's words sink in through the haze fogging Ida's brain; it takes them a moment to penetrate, but they do.

    "He's angry," Ida hisses out, and while there is anger in her voice, there is also terror.

    Only a moment's worth. Janus Cascade doesn't allow her the luxury of further introspection.

    Janus stabs the stolen blade into the floor, and Ida feels the roiling energy a moment before it tears free. She sets her feet, clamp-like spikes detaching with a pwing to secure her in place. Her shields unfold from her forearms, and Ida holds them up to guard. The wave roars over her, rattling her teeth in her jaw and pressing hard against her eardrums. She feels a dull burning as it washes over her exoskeleton, leaving black streaks in its wake. She sags forward, grimacing in pain; she fared better than the others, but only barely.

    It's a toy to him. It was forged from Siegfried's flesh, and it is nothing more than a toy to this wretched little human.

    Ida takes a deep breath. She wishes she could somehow reach out to Fafnir, but their nervous systems don't have that kind of connectivity. What would happen if she did?

    "An ARM is not a thing you own, you wretched little man," Ida growls. She sounds a bit more like herself--angry, but in control. "But you wouldn't bother to understand that, would you?" She surges forwards alongside Zed, throwing a few quick jabs as feints. Her footwork and guard are characteristic Method Mercury, now. "I see the disunity."

    Ida's real strike comes without warning. Brilliant golden-white light billows around her fingertips as she drives her hand straight for Janus' throat. Ida's lifeforce discharges with a snap-hiss, and if it penetrates Janus' guard, it is going to hurt like hell as it sinks in.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Janus Cascade with Burning Infusion!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey's Avenger stance ends.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

Energy washes over Emeralda - but this time it's the good kind of energy, and not the bad kind. "Thank you!" Emeralda calls to Clarine; she might not know the Seraph, but she's always willing to make a friend.

And, apparently, an enemy. Josie says she's not Emeralda's friend, and Emeralda - well, she's starting to figure that out. The gunshots are a dead giveaway. You don't shoot your friends, usually. (Emeralda is willing to admit that there might be an occasion where you do, but is pretty sure this is not it.)

Emeralda tumbles to a kneeling position and sweeps her hair in another arc, and it shifts, back into its normal shaggy look - no, almost a wing-like 'hand', vaguely reminiscent of Crescens' own. It stiffens, the green going metallic and reflective, and the shot fired at Emeralda hits it like a shield; this time it does ring like a gong, sending a visible ripple along the 'wing', out to the 'feather'-tips and up to Emeralda's head. She winces.

'Ever wonder if you were on the wrong side, kiddo?'

"No," Emeralda says, immediately. "I don't." Because some things are black and white. Emeralda does not really get political maneuvering or philosophical debate. She doesn't entirely understand what Odessa wants or why; they want to rule, but beyond that she's a little vague.

But Emeralda feels she knows what's right and what's wrong. Attacking this place, where people came to talk about peace; running away from the Wolves - because now some of the things she *did* hear sound a lot more ominous, with her suddenly 'leaving' while on a Dig that people came back hurt from - feel rather different to Emeralda. She doesn't know what happened earlier, across the Chateau; it doesn't touch her yet.

For an instant, Emeralda doesn't feel ten. She feels...

...it fades. Emeralda is, after all, still Kim's child, even if he's Fei now. She holds that thought in her mind. "So I guess... you're just bad. I don't want you to be bad." Emeralda's voice fades into a moment of sadness. She has to swallow past the lump in her throat before she continues again. "I don't really know why you're doing this. But... you can't hurt people here. You can't. I'll stop you."

Emeralda drives her hand against the floor - *into* the floor. Stone cracks as she pushes some of *herself* through it, pressing her arm in all the way to the elbow, and then further. From the surface nothing seems to happen, but Emeralda reaches, stretching, tiny ribbons reaching out...

The carpet under Josie's feet buckles upwards, and then *something* bursts out. Something the colour of Emeralda's skin, but tiny streamers of metal that flow across each other, forming something like a metallic net even at this distance that grabs at Josie, trying to drag her down to the ground. It's painful, the tiny wires digging in, but Emeralda isn't really trying to hurt her. She just wants this fight to end, before it gets any worse.

She doesn't know how it can get any worse.

GS: Emeralda Kasim has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Grand Arm!
GS: Emeralda Kasim has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Emeralda Kasim has completed her action.
GS: Erzebet Lefanu takes a solid hit from Marivel Armitage's Life Drain for 197 hit points!
GS: Marivel Armitage drains Erzebet Lefanu! Marivel Armitage gains 50 temporary hit points!
GS: Josephine Lovelace critically Guards a hit from Emeralda Kasim's Grand Arm for 22 hit points!
GS: Cover! applied to Emeralda Kasim!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Josephine Lovelace enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Entangle expired!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Clarine nods back toward Emeralda, but it isn't long before her attention turns back to Josie.

"Do not patronize me, Josie." Clarine replies back sharply, her eyes narrowed. "I will not allow any one of you any further into this building while I have the strength to do something about it. I will not yield on this."

There's commotion elsewhere in the room, but Clarine can hardly pull her eyes away from her current opponent. She doesn't doubt that Josie would take advantage of the distraction.

She tracks Josie as she runs, watching her aim her ARM and fire. But... the shots go wide. Confusion registers on Clarine's face. ...Josie is a better shot than that. Why? On one hand, after her betrayal, Clarine is hesitant to trust her... but, a part of her wants to. Her guard slackens, just a bit, despite herself.

...This means she has only a moment to readjust her defenses as the bullets ricochet off of surfaces back toward her. It's not enough time - while her mirrors are able to intercept some of them the rest manage to sneak by. Her body jerks as the rest impact her from several angles. It's enough to force Clarine to the ground, leaving her momentarily off-balance. She isn't used to having to answer to the sway of gravity.

It is perhaps with a bit more ferocity than usual, then, that Clarine gestures downward in Josie's direction, sending a column of searing light down toward her in retaliation.

GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Limited Ray!
GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Cover expired!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
GS: Josephine Lovelace completely evades a hit from Seraph Clarine's Limited Ray!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Janus Cascade takes a solid hit from Zed's Secret Sword - Lightning Flash for 144 hit points!
GS: Mighty! applied to Zed!
GS: Janus Cascade has activated a Force Action!
GS: Janus Cascade critically Guards a hit from Zed's Forbidden Move - Astral Dance for 30 hit points!
GS: Janus Cascade takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Burning Infusion for 0 hit points!
GS: Cripple and Disease! applied to Janus Cascade!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu takes a solid hit from Zhang Xiumei's Barrier Cross - Ricochet for 159 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Erzebet Lefanu gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu takes a glancing hit from Eleanor Klein's Abundance for 63 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Erzebet Lefanu gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    "I'd still be here." Gwen's reply cuts in after Janus's. "I was the one who was gonna die, right? You were going to pursue your dreams, Dario was gonna learn to remember to zip up his goddamn pants, and Romero was gonna do whatever Romero was gonna do. Probably follow you." She tilts her head, debating whether to tell Janus that they were alive.

    She decides against it.

    Janus's 'credentials' crash into Gwen in full, easily pinning her to the wall like a pinned moth. "Gth-"

    Opening her lips slightly, Gwen draws in a breath, in turn drawing on the energy within. Energy curls up her ARM and into her body, but not quite the infected cracks of Setanta's corruption, or the equally bright cords of light that signal a full transformation.

    She just needs to push through. "... Ida's... right. Took me at least a year to get to a place where I could even wield my ARM with enough ease that I could fool people into thinkin' I didn't have one at all. That ARM of yours... it's not something you just survive, clearly." Her grimace strengthens as she considers the possible similarities. If Janus actually died to this--

    "... That ARM is what's keepin' you alive, isn't it. Just like mine is, though probably not in the same ways. It's not embedded in you like mine is, and it's obviously not actin' like it's your heart, or whatever organs it damaged when you died to it."

    Each bootstep is painful, but her movements are natural, the stance taking into account the extra weight of her ARM. Her face still blotched with tears.

    "I should've spent more time looking for you. Maybe then, I could've stopped this, even if I had to kill you again."

    Even if she didn't really kill him the first time, not really. His sparse recountings make that clear.

    "You were a ghost already by the time you fell into that hole."

    Ida and Zed throw their respective attacks, their anger fueled by the blue-haired man's disregard. Gwen takes advantage of this and uses them as a proper distraction, pushing that energy back into the whole of her ARM, and leveling it straight at Janus.

    "I'll shoot, no matter how many times it takes."

GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action!
GS: Gwen Whitlock spends 2 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Janus Cascade with Corona Discharge!
GS: Mighty expired!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Erzebet Lefanu guards a hit from Cidney Laplace's Heartless Hydrangea for 88 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Erzebet Lefanu gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Janus Cascade guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Corona Discharge for 99 hit points!
GS: Jam! applied to Janus Cascade!
GS: Janus Cascade has activated a Boss Action!
<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

No sooner does she land en garde than Erzebet is engulfed in explosions. Were the explosions of the heart at that rakish grin from the colonel of Guild Galad? Were they at something else entirely? Or are they literal explosions, fired from an ARM?

All of these and more. The burst makes Erzebet briefly disappear from view, and they do enough harm that she is still there, perhaps knitting her meat back together with sheer will, by the time the smoke clears.

When Marivel brings up that topic, Erzebet stares at her - her face contorts in a way that is probably haunting to Marivel if nobody else - and she snaps at her, "Shut up! I don't need her --" Her fingers curl together into a loose fist, but she does not strike forwards.

"Then eat them FIRST!" Erzebet answers, before Marivel's Guillotine approaches her with the certain ubiquity of a popular image; she raises her arms up in a clumsy if servicable self defensive posture, weaving back, making her profile small and then

>BITE<

gouting blood outwards! It is perhaps remarkable to Marivel, or at least, OBSERVABLE to Marivel that there is mostly Erzebet's own blood in there. But there's a little from Eleanor already. How exciting! Erzebet struggles, twists, and finally simply LEAPS into the air - twisting round to SMASH Marivel against the ceiling, ripping loose and leaving some of her throat's skin behind.

She lands on the balcony railing for a moment, balancing with a grimace as she rubs her throat. The torn tubes are knitting together but it is slower than the boiling-wax or reversed-flame of before. The damage was telling. A glittering boomerang comes towards her and Erzebet ducks low, and almost pops back up - almost - she hesitates and then does so anyway JUST in time to get a gash along the ribcage and another gout of blood from there and out onto the floor. It splatters like rain. "Ugh!! Maybe for YOU but we weren't all BORN with ARMs!" Erzebet complains, voice hot, thrown perhaps. She gets the gun back out and answers Zhang thusly: bullets from a high position, rat-tat-tat in rippling succession. They glitter with focus, like horrible rubies.

Eleanor shoots at her too. WHO GAVE ALL THESE PEOPLE GUNS, Erzebet thinks as she starts running, feeling sweat run down the back of her neck. The mood is ruined again, she thinks, but it's not because of THAT, it's because -

she grits her teeth and does not seem to have a direct vocal response to Eleanor. Fortunately, firearms are a good way to communicate and after several more of the "conventional" musket balls there is a final screaming burst, this one not a drill so much as a sort of raking claw swipe as if from a hidden stalker or great beast -

which is when Erzebet runs out of bannister. She backflips for a single rotation, lands, and faces towards the Colonel of Guild Galad.

Haborym is twisted round and shoved into its cloth loop of holding. "You," Erzebet says, before raising her voice for emphasis, "YOU--! Have RUINED this situation -- and I do not intend to let you LIVE IT DOWN. I'm going to rip you open and feast on what lays within," Erzebet says, shifting to lead with one foot.

She really ought to stop showboating. Then: She does; she kicks off the ground but rather than make a sensible and reasonable shape that could at least be reacted to, even if it was moving with unnatural velocity, she throws one hand forwards with a CRACK of flooring and turns what had been a sensible charge into a veritable cartwheel of death.

Is her plan to hurl her own body like some kind of living missile, like that horrible story in the Meria Bouletin about how a feud ended with an engineer (Matfield) being thrown through the torso of the conductor (a HcCoy) by a boiler explosion of unthinkable force?

That is Erzebet's exact plan. Her body will grow back, AND EVIDENCE SUGGESTS CIDNEY'S WON'T!

GS: Erzebet Lefanu has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Good-bye Used-goods World!!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has attacked Marivel Armitage with Good-bye Used-goods World!!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has attacked Eleanor Klein with Good-bye Used-goods World!!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    It is a fascinating way to put it, the way Clarissa asks Ratatoskr as he draws back that kicking leg from Clarissa as wounds quietly knit from eating Active Buster blasts. A lot of the Odessa contingent are those who have simply given up on everything, joining out of anger, desperation, sadness, or anything of the sort.
     Ratatoskr may be the anomaly in that he oft seems the only one to be truly, unambiguously content with life as it is - and indeed, he tends to be by his lonesome in his enthusiasm. Only one of the elites - the then-named Polynya - ever engaged him as anything other than some disposable thing, his presence sometimes too sore a spot for some of the rank-and-file Odessa soldiers who lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 'a lot' to 'everything' by Mother's schemes.
     His face is always on a permanent smile-to-grin gradient scale - he moves with a deftness and flexibility that befits his designation in Mother's armies as a "Rapid Attacker."
     But there is something of an X-Factor, even accounting for the tactical acumen displayed in trying to flank Ratatoskr. He might be able to beat her aim in a vacuum, but there is no fighting against that desire of hers given strength by her ARM.
     The long blast streaks across his chest and prevent him from responding to her as Dash brings in his own thoughts - concerns about his place in history. Hyadean flesh knits enough that he can take in a better ratio of oxygen to not-oxygen and formulate words.
     "Me? Me! My history...?" It's tough to glean his tone, since his speaking voice is often tinged with youthful bravado and other sorts of obnoxiousness. "Watch? Watch! That's... that's no different than missing it entirely...!"
     Dash gets dashin', coming in from the angle that Ratatoskr should have juked into but doesn't. It does mean Dash's kick has to go a little longer before it strikes, but it strikes and takes the legs right out from underneath him. That puts the horned squirrel-like Hyadean right down for a period of time that legally declares him prone.
     "...Kffflkl," an odd grunt. "Suffering? Despair?" This is someone who got to see the very final memories of someone who failed to achieve glory and salvation for a dying star. The star that his own people hailed from. That... that's a history of suffering.
     But Filgaia's not like that. He doesn't voice that.
     "Is it not... built on triumph...?"

GS: Disease expired!
GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has attacked Cidney Laplace with The All-Deluxe Starfall Saloon Feast of Blood!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has gained 1 Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.

Oh, that seems to have annoyed Zed! Janus can't emote right now but he's happy, you know, on the inside.

Zed disappears. Janus' featureless yellow eyes stare unblinking, unnarrowing. Lidless.

Then he's moving, too.

The first few blocks are awkward. Zed sneaks a hit through, then a second. But each time Janus gets closer, and closer, and clsoer to stopping him, until by the end, Janus is moving just as fast, Glumzambor blurring into Zed's path every time Doombringer falls, the air becoming a near-constant ringing noise from the blades clashing multiple times a second.

The last four strikes, Janus successfully looks Zed in the eye on every block.

"I see you," he says. Then he swings the weapon up and sweeps it wide, scattering Zed aside with a blast of chi and wind.

He turns to address Ida. "That's an interesting exoskeleton you've got going, Four. You can see I'm still, uh, working on mine?" He raps a knuckle on his skeletal, melted cheek. "Jaws are complicated. Guess she was right I needed to pay some attention to joint anatomy."

Ida's strike catches him in the throat and he stumbles, rasping. "AH! SHIT! HATE THAT!" he squawks, spare hand coming up to his throat like he could rip the poison out. He SOUNDS like he's hissing through gritted teeth, though he may not even have breath, anymore.

Dealing with it leaves him unable to easily counter Gwen. He thrusts Glumzambor up between the shot, and it scatters off the edge, but he's too slow to catch the whole blast and edges of it rip through to punch into his chest, sending him staggering.

He stands there, several seconds. His limbs and shoulders shaking like he were breathing. "Guess the shakedown's just about over," he says. "But..."

He grips the blade, and it feels like it comes to attention. Like Glumzambor were more than just a blade to be wielded, now that he holds it in both hands.

"I do have one more trick I wanna try," Janus says, and raises the weapon overhead. It crackles and sparks and sputters, light gathering in it, drawing up out of Janus and into the blade, but then feeding back down - a complete, total circuit.

Janus makes a noise like he's drawing in needed breath. The light becomes too bright to look at.

Janus sets his stance. And then, he screams.

    "Negative!!"

He slashes down while screaming, the last word totally drowned out by the CACOPHONOUS ROAR of the blast wave that comes from Glumzambor - a total, annihilating WAVE of force.

The first wall it meets simply turns to atoms.

The second, merely to dust.

The shockwave of power tears through the walls between this corridor and the outside of the Valeria estate, creating a 90-degree arc of total devestation in its path, trees first destroyed, then merely scattered, then merely toppled.

Better hope there was nobody important out there!

GS: Erzebet Lefanu has completed her action.
GS: Zhang Xiumei guards a hit from Erzebet Lefanu's Good-bye Used-goods World! for 100 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Zhang Xiumei gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Zhang Xiumei enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Shieldbreak expired!
GS: Janus Cascade spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Negative Rainbow!
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Negative Rainbow!
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Zed with Negative Rainbow!
GS: Janus Cascade has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Janus Cascade takes 27 damage from Poison!
GS: Janus Cascade has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Josie's response to Clarine is simple. She dips her shoulders in a shrug, then tilts her head to one side, as if to suggest there might be a lopsided sort of smile on her lips, if the facemask weren't in the way. "Fair enough. If you ain't backing down, then that just means I'll have to go all-out, right?"

    Her response, shortly after she opens fire upon Emeralda and receives the answer to the question she'd off-handedly asked, is a much simpler one.

    "Heh."

    Followed by:

    "Sounds like you've made up your mind, kiddo. Now, come on! Show me what you can do! Just try and stop me, Emeralda!"

    Emeralda tries her best. The very carpet under her feet becomes a sort of potential hazard; Josie backsteps as tendrils of Emeralda reach up and try to pull her down. She stumbles, for a moment: little hooks wrapping around her knees above the boots pierce cloth and find flesh. She hisses out a breath. But she kicks back at the carpet, she steps backwards.

    And more importantly, she glances through the sight on her ARM and draws a bead on Emeralda. Emeralda, who looks about ten at best. Emeralda, who is sitting there fishing her arm and hand through the floor.

    And she shoots her, just like that.

    It may be somewhat easier for her to break free after that.

    It's just in time. For Josie, that is. The beam slams down from the heavens, or the nearest point thereof in here. Josie tilts her head a scant few degrees, and at the very last second

    twists
    as if she were dancing with the light itself. It still comes within scant inches: a loose strand of hair is caught by it and is cleanly annihilated.

    She doesn't stop even once she's free of danger. That weapon jerks back towards Clarine. As she promised to her, she just has to go all out. She squeezes off a shot, then another, both slamming into some point to either side of the Seraph. The third and last rockets upwards, high and over her head.

    Josie spins the shotgun the once, and ejects shells upon the floor. Pulling it back into her grasp, she advances on Clarine then, walking slowly as she unloads upon the Seraph.

    She doesn't say a word. Her eyes hidden -- her face hidden -- she might as well be some sort of heartless automaton, her only task destruction.

GS: Zed takes a solid hit from Janus Cascade's Negative Rainbow for 209 hit points!
GS: Zed has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
GS: You do not have that Force Action. [lock-on]
GS: Josephine Lovelace has activated a Force Action!
GS: You have activated the Force Action Lock On!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has activated a Force Action!
GS: You have activated the Force Action Snipe!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Emeralda Kasim with Blinded Sphynx!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Josephine Lovelace spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Seraph Clarine with The Herald!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has launched an attack Link!
GS: Josephine Lovelace spends 1 Combo on Poison!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Seraph Clarine with The Flame!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo!
GS: You have finished a Link/Follow chain. Remember to +round!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action.
GS: Eleanor Klein guards a hit from Erzebet Lefanu's Good-bye Used-goods World! for 57 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Eleanor Klein gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Clarine takes a solid hit from Josephine Lovelace's The Herald for 0 hit points!
GS: Jam and Slow! applied to Seraph Clarine!
GS: Seraph Clarine guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's The Flame for 101 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Poison! applied to Seraph Clarine!
GS: Seraph Clarine's Force Guard activates!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Seraph Clarine enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Janus Cascade's Negative Rainbow for 127 hit points!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey guards a hit from Janus Cascade's Negative Rainbow for 129 hit points!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Cripple expired!
GS: Cidney Laplace takes a solid hit from Erzebet Lefanu's The All-Deluxe Starfall Saloon Feast of Blood for 158 hit
points!
GS: Emeralda Kasim takes a solid hit from Josephine Lovelace's Blinded Sphynx for 189 hit points!
GS: Emeralda Kasim enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"Y-Yeah," Xiumei says to Eleanor. "Of course. I'm glad you're all right. You're all right, right?"

Xiumei glances at Cidney -- there is a slightly stunned look, as she sees the ashen-haired woman's graceful movements -- and then she bobs her head, once. "Ah--yes, I'm fine. Eleanor is--"

She glances sideways at the elf, who explains. She nods her head once. She doesn't put too much thought into the strange sight of Eleanor carrying a large ARM the way that she does.

"I wasn't born--"

Gunshots rain down at her. Xiumei runs, bullets slamming into her from above. One clips her shoulder, pierces through the steel-mesh bodysuit, and sends a spray of blood out. Others bounce off her armor. She grits her teeth, as she sees her coming down for Cidney.

Her eyes widen, and she holds a hand out. Realization clicks into place, and it's a moment late, because she screams after Cidney is struck: "MOVE!"

But then the gem, mounted in the center of her Biometal armor's chest, flashes.

And a rippling effect explodes outward, in a tight cone. It shoots over Erzebet, unless she moves. A distortion -- and it becomes clear what it is, as a few pieces of falling roof plaster catch the top of it.

And they freeze in place.

As, Xiumei hopes, does Erzebet for a moment.

GS: Zhang Xiumei has activated a Force Action!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Erzebet Lefanu with Timestopper!
GS: Cripple expired!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
GS: Marivel Armitage critically Guards a hit from Erzebet Lefanu's Good-bye Used-goods World! for 46 hit points!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Marivel Armitage enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu takes a solid hit from Zhang Xiumei's Timestopper for 0 hit points!
GS: Entangle and Shieldbreak! applied to Erzebet Lefanu!
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.

Breathing a little heavily, Clarissa begins to slow down, though she's keeping her eyes on Ratatoskr. She's got no reason to expect he'd actually listen to her.

And yet, he does. Clarissa pauses for a second, slowing further, then coming to a total halt.

Shaking her head, she lowers Strahl Gewehr back to her side - and brings her guard down altogether. If ever Ratatoskr wanted to kick her in the head, the time is now.

"The history of Filgaia's not a history of triumph at all," she says, voice softening to a note of quiet pity. "It's a history of sadness and loss. This planet is dying, and so much of that is because people couldn't stop fighting."

She holds her free hand out. "You don't have to create history with violence, you know," she invites. "You could create a better history. One where we help each other heal Filgaia. That's my dream - to make Filgaia a beautiful place again. It isn't too late for you to make history in a way that helps all the people in Filgaia!"

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel doesn't really want to drain Erzebet dry anyway. She does recognize the smell of Eleanor in there but she doesn't comment on it. Eleanor's a good friend and she's had a rough series of months with her frirend being kidnapped, hijacked, and nearly killed right in front of her and to top it off she's a noble and Marivel wouldn't wish human nobility on any child.

She SLAMS into the wall and explodes into mist. She does not reform a body, crimson eyes peering out from within the darkness as it spreads across the hall. It's always hard to tell with Marivel how badly she's hurt but usually when she decides to abandon the body--that takes the wind out of her.

"No peace lasts forever. It simply needs to last long enough." Marivel says. But for a moment she hangs back. She doesn't immediately answer Erzebet's retort. Either to consuming the world eaters and beyond--or to Erzebet. The blood that splattered against her body seems to shimmer faintly before being absorbed by whatever fel nature composes the Crimson Noble.

She's going for Cidney. Cidney exploding into fleshy chunks is what we call a Mission Fail.

"I would not," Marivel tells Erzebet. "Leave you. I'm sorry."

The Timestopper is unleashed and Marivel twists around in herself become a whirlwind of DARKNESS as she aims to spin herself around Erzebet--

--and YEET her out of Valeria Chateau!

GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Erzebet Lefanu with My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute Or Ore No Imouto ga Konna ni
Kawaii Wake Ga Nai In the Native Zeboim Language!
GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

"I would have it no other way." Clarine replies, shaking her head. "I shall pay you the same courtesy."

It's not her first time fighting a friend. It's not her first time today, even. There are plenty who can pay testament to the fact that Clarine isn't the sort to hold back.

She watches as Josie evades around her Ray... and not only that, uses the momentum to begin moving toward her.

As Josie begins to unload, Clarine's mirrors begin to move to protect her. They shift to intercept shot after shot... but, the effort to keep up is starting to take its toll. Their movements begin to slow, and several begin to strike Clarine herself, forcing her back. With the final shot, Clarine breathes in sharply. It's a reactive thing more than anything, as she doesn't need to actually breathe.

She said she'd go all-out... so, she must, though she never thought she would have to use this on Josie. She'll just... have to apologize to Irving later.

"O seven brilliant blades, I call upon you to descend and loose your shining might..." Clarine incants. A glyph appears beneath her feet and she raises a hand to the ceiling. Six swords of prismatic crystal begin to appear in the sky. "Josie... endure this! Prism Sword!"

At this word, the six swords begin to fall around Josie in a circle, to cage her in and limit her movement. And then a seventh appears. Clarine brings her hand down, and the seventh descends - this time toward Josie herself.

GS: Seraph Clarine spends 2 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Prism Sword!
GS: Seraph Clarine takes 17 damage from Poison!
GS: Cripple expired!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.

The charged sliding attack lands true, and sends the squirrel demon flying. Dash right himself and the end, but stumbles forward. He hasn't quite stuck the dismount on that one yet. He whips around, weapons at the ready, but Ratatoskr makes no moves to attack further.

"Hey guy," Dash says, trying to be friendly again. Despite being a machine that seems high-tuned for combat, he really prefers not to, after all. May as well attempt again. "Yeah, it is a lot of people being forced to fight against people that wanna fight. Never really turns out fun."

"Besides, you miss a lot of what is actually happening by participating. Like that guy who just took out the foyer wall?!" Dash says rhetorically as Janus takes out a chunk of the foyer support. "Chill out with that! You are gonna kill us all! Take it outside, man!" Dash shouts.

Even further alerts in Dash's mind, familiar klaxions sound as Xiumei activates Timestopper, this time being well out of the effect. Funny that it seems so tuned to such an ability. Was it something dangerous his creators knew about? Eh. Something to think about at another time.

"Yeah, Clarissa's right. Wanna be in a book where people say 'hey, that guy was cool?' I would."

GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Seraph Clarine's Prism Sword for 181 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Quick and Shield! applied to Seraph Clarine!
GS: Emeralda Kasim has activated a Force Action!
GS: Emeralda Kasim has activated a Force Action!
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

'Just try and stop me, Emeralda!'

Emeralda doesn't *want* to stop Josie, or at leas she doesn't want to fight her. She is unhappy and growing unhappier; she's angry, sure, but more than that she's just upset. But she can't back away either. She can't just let this happen.

It actually takes less attention than one might think for Emeralda to grab through the floor. It's not precisely easy, but it's not something that requires a lot of mental focus; it's just reaching out, stretching her arm in a way that isn't the way anyone else would.

But it does hold her still, because she has her arm buried in the floor. Emeralda starts to lift it, but there's no way she can pull it all the way back in time, and though she brings her hair around in a hand-like 'shield' to protect herself - she's too late.

The shell hits her - and Emeralda explodes.

Sort of. She seems to expand in all directions while simultaneously becoming more diffuse, her colour fading into an undifferentiated silvery cloud that lifts up from the floor. The grabbing threads withdraw from Josie, and a little streamer of 'mist' that matches Emeralda's non-colour flows from where she drove her arm in, the cloud forming into a rough, churning sphere.

The cloud glows - it radiates, a strange purple-pink-white. Clarine, who is so attuned to light, can feel it, but it's not just light; it's some sort of electromagnetic field that holds a million million grains of metal and connects them to each other, each tiny fleck far smaller than sand. It hurts to look at, like actinic light cranked up too bright. The shadows in the foyer are intense, and all pointed away from Emeralda.

After floating in place for a few heartbeats, the cloud rushes forward, extending the front part of it forward, pseudopod-like. It's like getting touched by a sandstorm made of lightning, the forces just barely contained in whatever aura is holding it together.

Emeralda's cloud lashes once, twice, to drive Josie back, before it starts to congeal back together. The cloud becomes roughly Emeralda-shaped, though still not very distinct, more of a silhouette than anything else.

"Go away!" Emeralda yells, as the cloud continues to contract. She gets some colour back, and her voice stops sounding... strange, the buzzy undertones fading. "I don't want to hurt you any more! I don't want anyone to be hurt any more! And if I have to do things, then - I will!"

The cloud finishes contracting, and Emeralda drops out of the air, no longer able to hover with her density returned. She has a visible chunk missing out of her side from whatever she lost to the shotgun blast, and the pink-white haze still crackles and arcs across it, filling the missing space.

GS: Emeralda Kasim spends 2 Combo on Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling!
GS: Emeralda Kasim has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Reycount!
GS: Jam expired!
GS: Emeralda Kasim has completed her action.
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Marivel Armitage's attack becomes clear!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu guards a hit from Marivel Armitage's Red Power for 120 hit points!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
GS: Josephine Lovelace guards a hit from Emeralda Kasim's Reycount for 98 hit points!
GS: Josephine Lovelace enters Critical health and gains 25 FP!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

INSIDE THE COMMAND CENTER

"Lord Irving!" one of the Sylvaland nobles says. "Should we withdraw? Odessa appears to be nearly forced back. I see that ARMS is effective, but--they could well send a second wave, and much of Cocytus isn't here--"

Irving Vold Valeria stops the noble in his tracks not with a word, but a glance. The silver-haired noble, his crutch in hand, glances about the room. His eyes are piercing; they command the attention of noble, merchant, king, bureaucrat, and soldier alike. "Withdraw?" he asks. "Why? Why, when victory... is firmly within our grasp?"

"I don't understand!"
"The enemy's warship is in Merian skies!"
"We're vulnerable to a second attack!"

Irving nods his head, and then he motions -- at a window, where the flagship and mobile headquarters of Odessa is plain to see. The gun glints off the black, sleek form of Warwing Varukias. The armored airship has come to a stop, hovering in the skies of Meria Boule. A glint, and then a cannon fires down, its blast shaking Valeria Chateau.

"Let me explain to you," Irving says, "what advantage ARMS brings. You've seen our prowess--but we bring something else: preparedness."

He allows himself a smile.

"Now, we take the fight to Odessa itself!" Irving cries out. "Ready the drill cannons... in ten minutes, we will invade the Warwing Varukias, and bring it under our control!"

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"I'll be fine," Eleanor says to Xiumei with a small smile. It's strained, but it's real. She does explain as best she can though. An for Erzebet, well...

There is really just an absolutely excessive amount of blood going on here, and Eleanor looks a little queasy. That may be the blood loss, or it may be all the horrible carnage. Nevertheless she shoots. She has to do what she can, and actually they do communicate with each other rather well here.

Eleanor manages to pre-empt a couple of shots, avoiding them, but that last clawing strike of a bullet hits her hard enough to turn her partly in place, making her lose her grip partly on her weapon. "Ah--"

"...She wasn't born with it," Eleanor says then, though it's just a statement. It's as Xiumei prepares that rippling effect that Eleanor sees their chance. Maybe no peace lasts forever, but...

Eleanor takes a knee against the wall she's by, swinging her spent rifle before herself defensively. She reaches into her satchel, and pulls another of her thick, lacquered Crests--this one emblazoned with Muse and Geo. "To all things a time, to all things a place--bring heavenly order! Fated Moment!"

Light burst from around her, and Xiumei, and Cidney, and even Marivel's shadowy form, bolstering each with power for the coming battles and moments, soothing away troubles, and bringing the potent feeling of Eleanor's belief in their group.

GS: Eleanor Klein has activated a Force Action!
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Eleanor Klein with Fated Moment!
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Fated Moment!
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Cidney Laplace with Fated Moment!
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Marivel Armitage with Fated Moment!
GS: Eleanor Klein has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Eleanor Klein's Avenger stance ends.
GS: Amplify and Quick expired!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
GS: Eleanor Klein heals Zhang Xiumei! She gains 250 temporary hit points!
GS: Eleanor Klein heals Eleanor Klein! She gains 250 temporary hit points!
GS: Eleanor Klein heals Marivel Armitage! She gains 250 temporary hit points!
GS: Marivel Armitage enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    'I do have one more trick I wanna try.'

    Blue-grey eyes widen, following the line until it becomes too brilliant to focus on. Shielding her eyes, she yells, ".... Shit, it *is* drawing from you. Janus, goddamn it, you gotta stop or you *will* be dea--"

    Well, at first, Gwen needs to survive that nice blast wave he just sent at all three of them, plus whatever might be in the way beyond them. Her body is blown backwards and then some, rolling over in the negative blast like a toy caught in a mighty draft of wind.

    Settling to a stop, Gwen grunts, fists curling against the tiled floor as she wills her body upwards. Raise up onto her knees first, ease her weight onto her feet, and g e t u p, because that's what she needs to keep doing, and doing, until she can't, anymore.

    Now fully standing up, she glances behind her, surprised by the warm outside air now against her back. This place isn't going to stay standing if that wall was load-bearing. And what of whatever was just outside?

    Gwen takes a step and nearly collapses, not fully appreciating, or perhaps, percieving the state of her body following that blast.

    She curses under her breath and stands straight, setting her gaze level with Janus's own.

    "Guess I gotta do more if I need t'make my point, with the way you are now."

    Cracks begin to inch up the nape of her neck, peeking just beneath the sad remains of her neckerchef. They might be visible as she steps by Ida, steps past Ida, her pace steadily rising into a full out run, her fist held back--

    As she aims to give what may be her final attack towards that new face of Janus's.

GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Janus Cascade with Gut Reaction!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Janus Cascade takes a glancing hit from Gwen Whitlock's Gut Reaction for 62 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Janus Cascade gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

It is drawing from him. Zed can see that now, clearly. The light that it draws away from the thing that used to be human. The anti-light that floods back as part of the feedback loop. The Hyadean's eyes narrow with recognition and revulsion in equal measure. It's not just that it's consuming him. It's replacing the parts that it eats, isn't it? It's...

It's only a matter of time.

But before he can execute on what needs to be done, he is faced with a dilemma. A negative rainbow-shaped dilemma. He surges forward as if to try and outrace the coming shockwave, but--

An iota too slow.

The blast catches him. It's a testament to his durability that he isn't atomized in an instant. Instead he's thrown back, through a wall, through a line of trees. Further and further still, until eventually...

Well, if he was a babby, Zed might have ended up adopted by those poor farmers whose barn his unconscious body goes rocketing into. As-is, he instead becomes a strange curiosity and also a peculiarly flavored salt-lick for the local cows.

He'll... probably? Be okay??

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    If there is one thing that is abundantly clear to Ida, it's that Janus is new to this. She still has no idea how in the hell Glumzamber managed to reformat Janus' nature by stabbing him, but he doesn't have the kind of deep attunement Siegfried did. He can't have the kind of deep attunement Siegfried did.

    "I think you should keep it," Ida says. "It's hideous. It suits you." She pauses, breathes, tries to flow with the anger in the back of her mind. Again, she wishes she could reach across that barrier, but she can't. "I have a name," Ida adds, her own jaw tightening. "Don't tell me your masters don't know it." Janus can't quite reply to her, and it satisfies her.

    But then things change. Janus takes up Glumzamber again, and a cold, familiar dread settles in the pit of Ida's stomach. She recognizes that light. She's seen it, endured it. She knows what Janus is about to do.

    "DOWN!" Ida screams, to everyone within hearing range. She throws herself to the floor, behind the shattered remains of a pedestal. Her shields snap outwards. Her exoskeleton starts to fuse, covering any gaps.

    The shockwave roars overhead. It obliterates the top two feet of the pedestal, and scrapes down Ida's back. It feels like she's being sand-blasted. The second wave roars overhead, and it feels like she's being cooked alive. Survive, she thinks, as though that could allow her to do so. You've survived worse. You've survived worse!

    When the wavefront passes, Ida lies on the ruined carpet, smoke streaming from her body. Slowly, shakily, she plants a palm on the floor, pushes herself to her knees. "You're learning," Ida says, undisguised anger on her face. She puts one foot on the ground, then the other, then shoves herself upright. "Since you're such a quick study, allow me to teach you a few more."

    Fafnir's anger surges up, and through her. Ida flows with it, draws in a breath, holds it. When she lets it out, steam pours from her mouth, along with billowing clouds of energy. Most of it is bright golden-white, but the inner core that is Fafnir's fiery orange is still there. Her gaze snaps towards Gwen as the courier runs past her; wordlessly, she looks back, reassuring.

    Ida takes one step forward, then another, then another. By the third step, her body begins to blur at the edges as she moves at superhuman speed.

    "FIRST METHOD" Ida barks, driving an armored fist right towards that jagged scar on Janus' chest. "Unity of hand, ARM, and heart!" She whirls to the side, throwing a knife-hand chop at Janus' wrist; there's terrible force behind it, and if it hits, it might make it very difficult to keep control of such a massive blade. "Your control is pathetic!" Ida throws another jab at Janus' face, even as the hand that delivered the chop grabs for Glumzamber's hilt.

    Ida could never have hoped to interfere with Siegfried's synchronization. Glumzamber was his, a true expression of the First Method. Janus, though--Janus will feel something tugging at the tenuous bond. Ida is daring to test his control by trying to synchronize with Glumzamber herself.

    "Your motives are base!" Ida continues. She lets go of Glumzamber, but the tugging continues. She twists into a roundhouse, driving the sole of her foot at Janus' chin. "And STILL Gwen sees the dignity within you! The dignity you yourself sacrificed!"

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Inhalation!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has launched an attack Link!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Inhalation for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper! applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey spends 2 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Janus Cascade with Second Method - Blood and Scars Tutelage!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    It takes an incredible act of courage to lower one's guard and extend a hand to a Hyadean - even the kindest hearts among them were bred and raised to be shock troopers without equal among the people of Filgaia, many of whom struggled with the idea of any sort of life beyond 'get Mother back and revive her.' Even the survivors of Hyades struggle with constant existential questions after all of that.
     Ratatoskr doesn't take the shot. His body language seizes up as if in anticipation for that being the lead to some sort of sorcerous power or what have you - the unique access to such a concept always being fascinating and fun for him to experience - but only words from the heart come.
     "...But if you all didn't fight then, in the Photosphere..." He seems confused by the sentiment - no, he is, but there's only so much range of motion afforded to his face for showing such that some ambiguity remains there. It kind of comes back to that, isn't it - fighting. The worth of it.
     Dash comes at him a little more casually, and points out something being destroyed by Janus (where he gets a look at a power and technique that is nostalgic and terrifying). The world seems to freeze elsewhere (it does, temporally speaking).
     "...In a book...? In a book!" Ratatoskr's voice cracks. "I'm right here...! I'm right here...!" He repeats strained exclamations, as he struggles to stand back up. Who knew a Charge Kick would make someone feel like a man made of collapsing waves? "I'm right here... so that there is a book...!"
     A shockwave races out - the same one that takes out Zed manages to sweep Ratatoskr up in it, and cruelly enough - moves to blow him back out some other way to ensure he does not get to directly see what comes next, even as he thrashes out with clawed hands to grip onto something to stay.
     As if he wants to cpature a greater picture of what he's seeing, but cannot grasp the colors that make up the composition of this point in history.
     Maybe it will come with age.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Janus Cascade guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Second Method - Blood and Scars Tutelage for 123 hit
points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Janus Cascade gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Janus Cascade's Force Guard activates!
GS: Eleanor Klein heals Cidney Laplace! She gains 250 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Just like that, Emeralda explodes.

    If Josie seems to pause for a moment before breaking her tide of violence over towards Clarine, it's surely just a trick of the light. She hardly lingers long in any case.

    Josie breathes hard once she finishes firing, flipping the ARM over in her grasp to again rain shells upon the floor. How much ammunition does that thing have--

    Clarine opts not to find out. She works her arte, even as Josie begins to step backwards, the traces of a glimmer already at the fingertips of her bad hand. Whatever spellcraft she had been working herself, though, may have to remain a mystery. She cuts the action, too late, and turns, too late, as the swords slam into the ground about her. As, thus caged, the final sword descends in an explosion of brilliant light.

    She's flung bag, sprawled and coughing once the brilliance finally fades. Out of reflex she puts her weight on the wrong hand as she tries to get up and exhales a sharp hiss. But rise she does, using her ARM as a (unrecommended) prop until she's back on her feet.

    She rises to find that Emeralda is still--

    "What...?" Josie breathes out, her gaze tracking the thing slowly--

    Then, not so slowly. Not at all. It moves exactly like a sandstorm for her, all terrible speed and a million points of pain. She swings the shotgun like it was a club, but it's hardly enough to do more than spare her some of the storm's force. She staggers backwards as Emeralda reconstitues herself properly. "Damn... kiddo," she utters, and then drops to a single knee.

    She's not downed, as it were. Josie bows her head, her bad hand pressed loosely to her chest. "Ha... not bad," she breathes, lifting her head. "But I ain't about to die here. Looks like I'll be taking your advice after all, kiddo!" she calls back, then draws that hand away. Something is shining between the fingers.

    One by one, she unfolds the fingers stiffly. The little shimmering ball of light floats quickly for air, just a handful of feet above Josie. "Light Flare!" calls out the archaeologist.

    There is an blinding explosion of light.

    When the light fades, she's gone.

<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.

Janus says toward Ida, "Oh, yeah, I know it, it's just pissing off women for my own entertainment is basically WHOOF"

That would be the noise he makes when Gwen suckerpunches him. The shot to the gut makes him stagger backwards, sends a horrible crackling sound through his armored hide. He groans, moves to stand up straighter, but he misses a step. That's when Ida lands, her combination blasting into him. His wrist fails enough that he doesn't drop Glumzambor, but he does have to slam it into the ground. She smacks him across the face.

And she tries to steal the weapon. It is indeed not, quite, like trying to interfere with Siegfried's bond. That would be like trying to rip a mountain out of the earth; one and the same, a foolish task.

This is more like trying to rip an oak out of the soil, roots and all. The objects may be more distinct, yes; the line between them easily drawn and mapped. And yet, other laws than identity are at play to make it quite impossible.

Still, Janus felt it, and he turns a LOOK at Ida, a terrifying, expressionless mask just before she kicks him across the face and sends him tumbling. He flops out on the floor.

He laughs.

"Body's not responding the way I want," he says, roughly. "Reactions aren't in synch...guess I still have a ways to go."

"So you've failed, then?"

A woman in Odessan armor steps up, a commander's scarf about her neck. She wears no helmet; her hair is red and curly and shoulder-length, her makeup is immaculate, her face smooth and clean. She marches up to Janus like Gwen and Ida were no more than ants. Beneath concern.

Janus gets one look at her and snorts, impossibly. "Did more damage than any of these other stooges."

"Perhaps so. I'm not your taxi, Janus Cascade."

Janus holds out his hand and the woman takes it.

"And I'm not your dog, Melody," he says back, coolly.

Her face flushes with anger for a moment, and then she huffs sharply, jerks her head away--

And both disappear in a flash of light.

<Pose Tracker> Cidney Laplace has posed.

Rising to her feet, the crispness of Cidney's recovery is marred only by the slightest of sways on that weakened leg. She nevertheless pulls it off with all the aplomb of someone who has led a long live living with pain, tugging on the sleeves of her uniform and brushing pulverized dust from its lapels.

"Good," she says, to both Eleanor and Xiumei in turn, eye falling for a brief, considerate moment towards the latter's armor before fixating firmly forward.

"Keep your heads about you, and stay close; this isn't over." She looks their way, flashing a warm smile.

"Don't worry -- I'll keep you covered."

It is within this interim between turns of violence that her singular gaze affixes on a particular person beyond --

"Ida."

She calls out to her. Not Ms. Everstead-Rey. No polite formalities. Just her name, uttered with the simpleness of authority that one might offer a soldier in their care -- or, perhaps, a precious ward under their protective charge. It's like a clarion call. An anchor.

"Focus on the objective at hand. And remember what's at stake."

It fades, with the upward quirk of the right corner of her mouth.

"It wouldn't do to lose sight now. Would it--"

She hears the sound of clicking heels.

Her head turns 'til she sees a flash of red from the corner of her gaze.

"... We'll have to table this."

It's a smooth pivot that brings Cidney towards facing Erzebet. Her stance is squared. Her legs tense.

"... I apologize," she begins, slowly, earnestly, to the woman who wants to cannibalize her. Her weapon falls to her side; her index finger touches the trigger.

"I know you're threatening to eat my favorite organs, but all I can think of is how angry it makes me to see Odessa exploit so many people with such promise. It's like trying to jar up a star."

Her finger curls.

"Don't you yearn for something more than this?"

Erzebet springs, like a non-euclidean human missile, if such missiles a) cartwheeled, and b) were of debatable humanity.

She squeezes that trigger.

And there is a brilliant bloom of light as the Celestial Gardener fires the second Erzebet strikes.

The impact is a fleshy thing, full of meaty sounds and harsher cracks. Erzebet rips through Cidney, and they -both- go flying in a spray of crimson that decorates the fading glow of the molten scar the colonel has left upon the chateau grounds. The impact rips flesh and muscle and snaps at bone. Erzebet's heel snags upon that eyepatch.

Cidney grabs upon that leg, and -yanks-.

And away they both go, flung like they had the physics of ragdolls until they crash through the rubble of collapsed ceiling beyond.

Dust and dirt explodes outward. In that veil, a silhouette of a woman rises over the other, for a few scant seconds, leaning inward.

That figure collapses a second later. Erzebet emerges. Cidney does not.

And for a time after, there is silence from that pile of rubble, as Xiumei reaches out with that surprising power, as Marivel becomes a living twister.

And it is just as that light washes across the estate that was once a battlefield...

"... aaah... that's a... soothing sensation..."

Past the dust emerges Cidney, her eyepatch off, revealing an old, ugly burn scar that stretches over her shut eye and where her eyebrow once was, back towards the beginning of her scalp. Her uniform is ripped, exposed flesh an ugly smear of colors, left shoulder clearly dislocated, her jaw bloodied from a mess of internal injuries --

-- blood pooling around her right leg where a piece of debris juts out unpleasantly --

but standing, with a bloodied smile. One could practically swear she's shining.

Which might have something to do with the brightly glowing constructs that surround her like a halo.

Yellow, hard light has formed around Cidney into facsimiles of her own ARM, all hovering around her like bits. She lifts her weapon to point at Erzebet, and so too do those replicas shift to point at her as well. The barrel splits apart, unfolding like a blooming flower -- and so too do the rest, until the effect looks almost like petals flowing outward from Cidney's back.

"... It's too bad."

She squeezes the trigger.

"This would have been the perfect place for us to reach an accord."

And out of each weapon pours a blinding flood of yellow-orange light, each expanding outward in rippling patterns that grows hotter and hotter until yellow bleeds away into deceptively cooler-looking blues that BLOW past Erzebet and -through- the wall of the estate--

--all of it sears a devastating path forward until it hauntlingly like a blue rose in bloom.

"... My gratitude," she offers Eleanor after. "That was... exactly what I needed. A little balm of mercy." A second passes. She sways on her feet.

"... I'll pay for the damages if there is an estate left to pay for--*"

And that last burst of adrenaline Eleanor afforded her fades as Cid collapses, the scarred half of her face hidden against the cool flooring as blood pools passively beneath her.

GS: Cidney Laplace has activated a Force Action!
GS: Cidney Laplace spends 1 Combo on Poison!
GS: Cidney Laplace has attacked Erzebet Lefanu with Gan Hhatah Configuration - Unattainable Rose!
GS: Cidney Laplace has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Clarine can certainly feel it. She looks toward Emeralda's last known position, watching the cloud curiously. Josie had said she was a machine... and now, Clarine begins to understand a little of that.

She focuses on Josie, though, watching her carefully. It looks like they've done a number on her.

"...Josie..." Clarine starts, reaching out a hand. But before she can say anything further, she catches sight of a glow between Josie's fingers. And, suddenly, there's a blinding flash.

As a spirit of light, it doesn't have the lingered, blinding effect on her that it would on others. But it's enough of a distraction that Clarine loses sight of her for a moment, and that's all it takes to lose sight of her completely.

...Clarine frowns, lowering her hand.

"...Must it... always come to this...?" Clarine murmurs to herself. It seems she was constantly being put into opposition with people she considered friends. She's quiet for a moment longer... and then, she shakes her head.

She can't wallow in her emotions right now. She has a job to do, after all. ...It can wait until after.

<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

Josie is on her way out. Emeralda sees the thing in her fingers, but expected it to be something else. Because of that does not close her eyes in time; she yelps in pain and startlement as the light flashes. She must have some other way to see - the cloud didn't even *have* eyes - but it seems to have worked anyway.

Emeralda blinks rapidly to try to clear her eyes of lights - and, if she's being honest, something more. Moistness... Emeralda doesn't feel like she won. She slumps slightly, the hole in her side no longer crackling with the energetic haze. The foyer is ruined, even if half the Odessans are running.

Without saying anything else, Emeralda runs too, picking up speed with the energy of youth, darting into a side hallway that hasn't been breached yet and ducking past a Valeria Chateau guard to do it. They won't stop her, she thinks; she just fought to defend the place, after all.

GS: Erzebet Lefanu takes a solid hit from Cidney Laplace's Gan Hhatah Configuration - Unattainable Rose for 200 hit
points!
GS: Poison! applied to Erzebet Lefanu!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

Erzebet is faced with two messages at once.

On the one hand she is faced with a promise that she would not be left. That perhaps -- this feeling; or this abandonment; is Marivel professing loyalty? Curiosity?

And on the other hand: IMPERIAL BATTLESHIP - HALT THE FLOW OF TIME.

For Erzebet a number of things happen and they are internally confusing. Marivel moves to propel her forwards - only inertia and the impediment of Time Itself keep her from being immediately hurled into the ocean and perhaps the deep-frying sizzle lamp of the sun's yellow rays. Bloody sprays rise from her as her attack rudely resumes when time does the same. She collides with Cidney at the same time as she is encountering Cidney's attack. It is baffling; disorienting; she is on fire all at once.

Her leg gets pulled. For a moment Erzebet wonders if this is how a cucco feels when it's being PULLED APART ON THE ROTISSERIE.

And yet - and yet she rises; Erzebet stands afterwards. She looks at her hands, silently feeling relief she had put her gun away.

Then she looks at Cidney - and she smiles, for a moment, although it really just might be confusion.

"Why are you glowing?" asks Erzebet, and a moment later the flowing light, the flower of the sun, blooms: and the rays engulf her as Erzebet lets out a yelp and all but disappears in that blooming rose of light, that shining ray.

You might think she was disintegrated; but she bangs against a piece of wainscotting with a loud yelp, and has been moving with enough energy to partially LEAVE that enormous radiance, a dark shadow moving, resilient in the face of horror. (For is not light horror to the dark?)

Either way, however, she does not return: and perhaps she did, indeed, reach the sea. Not for the first time, and perhaps not the last.

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

Xiumei feels herself buoyed by Eleanor's spell. A familiar feeling. Her Timestopper deactivates; she watches as Marivel and Cidney work together, their attacks combining to smash Erzebet away. Afterward, Xiumei's shoulds slump. She looks about for a moment -- reaches her hand up to wipe at her brow -- and then sees Cidney collapse.

"...o-oh, we better make sure she gets to a doctor," she says.

To say nothing of the fact that a new mission is about to await them all.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    For a moment, Ida's gaze meets Janus', her own face the very image of resolve. She might not have the strength to uproot that tree, but she accomplished her goal all the same.

    "Excuses!" she snaps. "Now drop the--"

    The woman steps forward. Ida's gaze falls on her face, and stays there. She doesn't recognize her, but she does recognize the look of someone who takes exacting care with their appearance. Melody, Ida thinks, committing the name to memory. After all this time, one of Janus' handlers shows their face?

    "Get back here--!" Ida shouts, but they're both gone before she can blink. "Dammit!"

    The adrenaline starts to fade. A sense of familiar helplessness sinks in, and Ida's brain tries to match it. She turns back to Gwen, and every emotion that kept her in the fight just leaves her in a massive flood. "Zed," Ida says. "He-- Oh God. Gwen, did you--" She looks around. She doesn't see Zed. "He has to be here somewhere!" Please, Ida thinks, please. He's survived worse.

    Ida does not see Zed. Instead, she sees Colonel Laplace staggering out of a dust cloud, her body a bloodied ruin.

    Ida is in rough shape herself, to put it lightly. Her exoskeleton is disintegrating, falling off her body in chunks before dissipating. She's still bleeding. Her inhuman nature is on full display. Still:

    "COLONEL!" Ida screams. Renewed urgency takes over; she half-runs, half-stumbles over to where Cidney has fallen. Gauntleted hands fumble for her medical pack, trying to come up with something that won't poison a full-blooded human if injected.

    She ends up kneeling at Cidney's side, in the blood, trying to pop the cork out of a bottle of Heal Berry Tincture. "Oh God," she whispers. She looks only partially there. "That--that awful woman. Please, Colonel, hold on--"

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Extra eyes form in the cloud that is Marivel and they slant towards Melody while the rest focus on the battle at hand. Purple hair. No sword. Not really her type. Eventually, when Erzebet is gone, the multi eyed THING transmogrifies itself back into the short friend Marivel we all know and...love?

She drops down near Cidney and adds, "I'll do some quick field medicine." to Zhang Xiumei.

She pauses and then looks to Xiumei. "Do you think.... I should give her a bionic eye? And she could have it behind her eyepatch and when she really needs to power up, she can remove her eyepatch and it can glow purple? Purple is the most dangerous of energies--"

She quirks her head to the side. "No? Alright then."

She pauses and blinks her extra eyes closed too while she's at it, her face returning to normal as well on top of that. She extends a hand and aims it towards Cidney Laplace. "This time's for free." She says. "But next time you show off I'll have to charge you."

But she's probably not too serious with what she's saying, allowing action to speak louder than words as she flexes out her fingers--

"Canceller."

Debris, bacteria, GUNK is gradually removed from Cidney's blood--the blood that's spilling out onto the floor, as it slowly pulses back into Cidney as if time itself were rewinding her to a time before she was exploded. Marivel's fingers twitch and turn as if she were manipulating a surgeon's invisible hands by puppet strings. It takess some time, but eventually the wound seals itself back up.

But the exhaustion, the loss of energy--that remains with Cidney, so that Heal Berry Tincture might be mighty welcome.

"You know, Ida. The more someone is like me, the less likely I am to get along with them. Isn't that funny? A bit unreal even?"

"Oh well." She adds. "I suppose if you think about it, Filgaia itself is a world abandoned by its friends, no?"

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    It's comforting, to see that nod of reassurance from Ida. She knows. Gwen knows.

    Ida sweeps in with a grace that throws Gwen's own punches in stark relief, as well as give voice to Gwen's feelings.

    And probably makes them sound more heroic than Gwen really intended.

    Janus falls back, flopping backwards in a way that makes it clear: his body is hardly under his control. Janus, in his human form, certainly showed a lot more finesse with what he had at his disposal. This form, in comparison, was limited by his own control, not what he had at his command.

    A strange woman appears, and collects Janus. Melody. Who is this woman? "Wait!" It's a dumb thing to shout, considering Gwen's intention is not really to relay them the good news of their lord and savior Big Joe. Not exactly.

    As the two disappear, Gwen lets out a scream, rage building where Ida's dissipates into helplessness.

    It probably is Ida's despair at Zed's disappearance and the Colonel's state that cuts through whatever vain tantrum Gwen's state might had brought.

    "I'll go looking for Zed. Focus on the Colonel. I'll be back." She's off, seemingly oblivious to the exhaustion hanging off her, or Marivel's magic keeping Cidney's health from depleting further.

    But what is Zed but easy to find?

<Pose Tracker> Cidney Laplace has posed.

There are little lapses of coherency when teetering on the brink of consciousness. Semi-awareness that bleeds with flashing memories.

In this moment, between conscious and not, Cidney Laplace hears a soft song in the back of her head, ebbing in and out of audibility. A haunting little music box melody that feels so familiar and fills her with an ache of... of...

    "guh"

                                          agitation.

A gloved hand snaps out, gripping Ida's wrist. The gasp of life fills Colonel Cidney Laplace's airways, eye widening in a brief, chartreuse look of animal shock.

It's still twitching a little, as if staring off into some faraway place that it can't quite see, by the time her blood is once more her blood and less in the ownership of the floor, by the time her wounds seal back.

By the time she is rewound, like a little key at the back of a music box, ready to be played again.

She's still shocked by the time she numbly accepts that tincture, the potion only spilling a little as that revitalizing berry mix works its miraculous wonders on the back of Marivel's ever-more miraculous cancellation of her termination.

She stares at the ceiling for a long time.

"... you are an odd one," is her first observation, throat croaked, "but... duly noted."

That eye lids. It slides towards Ida. Her lips part in a sardonic kind of smile.

"... in the end... it's the abandoned things you really need to look out for. That's... the irony..."

And shuts, as consciousness lapses once more. Breathing steadily. All she needs is some rest, really.

Some time alone with her thoughts.