The bemused look of Lucien as most tucked into a meal only grew as more joined the number. He ignored the existence of Neptune for a moment, though it reminded him of Nyx. While most of the interactions were of course caught by Otto, answering some questions, the room suddenly turned very tense when Alina decided to pick up the Fae. He folded his arms and snapped his fingers, a very loud thunderclap echoing through the room to catch the attention of all. "Alina, if you could take a seat right over here and settle down-" He gestured to an empty chair as far away from the Fae at the table as possible. "I think you are spooking the Fae member of our group with unsolicited hugs." His tone left nothing to be argued with. Once they took their seat, and the rest finished eating, the plan for the test job would be explained. It was simple, they were all stealing from the offices of the Inquisition tonight. The building, a three story stone administrative building nestled tightly into the business district. Surrounded on all sides by a ten foot stone wall topped with iron spikes that made a clear field twenty feet in every direction. It was brightly lit on all sides, manned by at least thirty guards at all times. Ten of them at least had crossbows. The others were equipped with swords and axes. If they were having a bad day tonight, then there might even be two of the inquisition leaders on sight, but their intelligence showed that they were out of the city investigating a nobleman accused of having halfbreed children. The plan was to breach into the keep, knocking out any guards along the way, and make it up to the third floor where the architectural archives were. Once in, they would steal the plans to the Palace and a number of mansions that various noble families held throughout the city. There were two gates into the office, one team would breach in through the East one while another team breached in through the west. If all went well, they would make it look like a group of thieves was trying to get the information for a heist into noble mansions. Afterwards, all questions the group had would be answered over the course of the next three hours, after which they were taken to a large room in the mansion to equip themselves properly with whatever they felt they need, with an addition of black cloaks and wooden face masks being provided to every one of them. Lucien and Daisuke went with them.
Now at the front gate, tucked into the stone wall and hidden in the darkness of it's shadow, two guards already taken out, both teams prepared to enter into the keep. Lucien cursed as he looked into the keep and saw a large wall seperated the interior as well, which would prevent the two teams from meeting up in the courtyard. He'd just have to trust in Daisuke to lead the other team.
As Alina squeezed the life out of Melania (or at least that's what some might think), she felt a prick on her arm like that of a needle. Well, a large needle. A custom Fae dagger sized needle, to be precise. It was far from the most painful thing Alina had experienced, but nobody liked scarred skin, so he wanted to keep any unnecessary poking to a minimum. Besides, only villains didn't listen when seriously asked to stop doing something. Therefore, Alina released Melania quite rapidly, though not before lowering her towards the ground a bit. Wouldn't do to drop her from high up.
Alina gave a gleeful laugh and applauded a bit at Melania's show of her scrolls' powers. SO COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL! I wish I could turn invisible! Upon hearing Melania's words though, even Alina couldn't help but frown for a second. Mel Mel didn't remember her bestest friend in the whole wide world, Alina Diarmund Lucius? How could this be? They had met, uhhh... How many times had they met? It was at least once, that was for sure! But then realization dawned on Alina, and his frown turned upside down as she burst out laughing, as if he had just heard the best joke in the world. "Ahahahahahaha! I forgot you were such a prankster, Mel Mel! You don't know me! Haha, great one! Sure, I'll play along for a bit!" Had Mel Mel been a prankster in the past, or was Alina just making things up again? Only God knew (assuming God was a werecorgi, that is).
Of course, Cloaky seemed bothered by the commotion they were causing, using a bit of magic to create a thunderclap and get everyone's attention and call Alina away from the Fae. "Hmm, you aren't really my type, but since you gave us such a nice dinner, I suppose I don't mind cooperating. Besides, she doesn't know me, *wink*, so I must've been mistaken *wink*." Alina had already finished as much as she wanted to eat anyway, so he just dropped into the indicated chair and bided her time.
As the meal wrapped up and the focus turned to actual planning, Alina nodded along. Hm hm, they were planning to attack the Inquisition Office and steal some palace blueprints. Alina nodded sagely. It was an excellent idea, the Offices contained all sorts of info like that. There was just one teeny, tiny, itsy-bitsy question Alina needed answered. "Mister Lord Cloaky Sir, why exactly are we stealing plans for the Ruby Palace? I've got no love for the Empire, of course, but it hardly seems like a good target for future robberies."As per my agreement with Con Lucien would then go on to explain that Alina had missed the part where they said the next mission would be to assassinate the Tzar. Alina's mouth dropped open in utter shock, but after a couple seconds, he burst out in maniacal laughter.
"Hahaha. HAHAHAHA! Oh, that's great! That's golden, that is! You may not look the part, but I can tell your heart burns with Justice just like mine! Very well! I, Alina Diarmund Lucius, pledge my blade and fashion sense to your mission!"
They discussed the current raid plan for a little longer, but sadly, there were still a number of OOC questions to be answered before the plan was satisfactory. Finally, they were dismissed to prepare for the raid. A decent assortment of equipment was offered up, including cloaks and masks. Ugh. Alina hated masks. What was the point of hiding your radiantly sparkling face of Justice? Well, Cloaky wanted everyone to wear them, evidently, so Alina would tolerate it for now. The cloak, she was happy to take Cloaky up on the offer for. Hmmm, that could be a problem, what with everyone wearing cloaks. Ah well, it can't be helped.
As Alina was donning his new cloak, she also picked up an extra belt and strapped on a quartet of knives. Knives weren't Alina's go-to, but extra weapons on an infiltration mission never hurt. Plus losing a knife or two was far better than losing Alina's favorite sword. There, almost perfect. Only one thing left that Alina wanted. Alina approached Mel Mel, walking over at a perfectly normal human pace. After all, Alina totally didn't know Mel Mel. Clearing his throat, Alina asked her question: "Mel M- er... Lady Sullivan. I loved that vanishing act you pulled off earlier in the dining room, and I was wondering if I might be able to borrow that power during this mission? Being able to sneak right under the guards' noses would surely be a great help. Even if it only allowed for me to get the drop on them, not avoid them completely, that would still help things go smoother." Alina obviously hoped Mel Mel would say yes, but if he was rejected, she'd simply say "Ah well, it can't be helped!" and move along. Either way, after that conversation, Alina was as ready as he'd ever be to head off for the mission site.
At the Inquisition Office
The time has come, the walrus said, to steal many things. Well, perhaps not. Their plan seemed to have stalled out already, given the existence of an extra wall that somehow Cloaky the First hadn't known about. Seriously, how did one not notice an inner wall? Well, fortunately, open air walls were rarely a problem for Alina, and rare was the wall Alina's BFF Aliza couldn't deal with. Since Cloaky the First seemed to be having trouble, Alina would quietly suggest her own plan to Cloaky the First, moving his mask slightly out of the way first to speak better. "You know, I could always just drop down onto the roof and sneak in that way. If you guys make a commotion down here to keep them occupied, I wouldn't have any trouble disposing of a few guards on the roof and getting in. I could even get someone else up there with me if you wanted. Maybe two, if one's Mel Mel. She's small enough to carry."
Melaina could only glare at all those present, although her mild murderous intent was specifically reserved for Alina and Lucien. Whatever insanity ruled the minds of these people was far beyond her comprehension. Being grabbed from behind was a bit more than receiving an unsolicited hug, and claiming otherwise was like saying that murder was merely pausing someone's continued existence indefinitely. So much for being relatively safe among 'trusted' companions. Most of these fools didn't even act, and when they did, it was an act of confusion at best. It made her realise that if any of these people was an infiltrator, they'd be able to just pick her up and be off with her without anyone here trying to stop them. Even so, she figured she shouldn't make these idiots into her enemies. Idiots were probably more dangerous than those with a brain, as someone with a brain would at least act according to some sort of logic or reasoning. She hoped there was enough reason left in Alina's head for her words to reach through. "Stop giving me that weird nickname, and don't try to pick me up again. I doubt these kinds of common decency are too much to ask, even for someone such as yourself." If there was something Melaina still trusted, it was reason alone. Right now, she hoped people like the clown that called her a prankster still had enough of it left to at least pull off these plans.
On the topic of 'reason', she still had a few questions to ask. They'll be answered OOC and/or in a collaboration post from what I gathered, but I'd still like to put them up IC, so that those whom aren't active on Discord know the topics that were asked about by Melaina and because I value the way things are asked IC as much as the topics that are asked about themselves. There was one question in particular that needed answer. "You said this job required me for my size. I don't see how. Although I think I'm repeating myself, I'd like to remind you that, unless this requires me for something only I can do, I'll only drag people down by coming along. I'm by no means a combatant, nor do I have the slightest desire to pretend to be one."
There was another thing she didn't understand. "Do you know why the Inquisition keeps plans of all these buildings? Especially for them to have the plans of the palace itself seems incredibly odd. I can't see enough reason for them to have these that would outweigh the benefits of having them, unless they are overly confident in their ability to guard it, or unless they are setting up a trap. It is worrying at best, and a deathtrap designed for people like us at worst."
Whether or not Lucien was able to explain why this wasn't clearly a trap, there were more questions. "Wouldn't burning down the archives be smarter than trying to make it look like we're only after the noble mansion plans? The moment they realise the plans to the palace are compromised, they'd be more on guard. However, if everything is burned down, they might think we were just there to get rid of some files or that it was an act of terrorism. They'd have a very hard time figuring out whether or not we even knew that the palace plans were among the files to begin with. Besides, this place might be better guarded than the mansions for which we'd steal the plans, which would make it odd for simple thieves to go after the more difficult target first just to make an easier target even easier."
Other than those questions, there wasn't anything that Melaina was bothered about enough to ask. After all, the fact that the big boss himself was coming along was fairly reassuring. What wasn't reassuring was the fact that she'd been put in the team of the most idiotic of the four people in charge. With some luck, he'd get himself killed by his own stupidity before the rest of them were compromised. For now, Melaina figured she'd play along by putting on a cloak and a mask. It reduced the possibilities to whom she was to maybe two possible people in the entire capital, herself included, considering how many Fae there were with a missing eye... 'It's great to be totally incognito...' As for other equipment, she figured she'd look around for three things. The first was a flammable liquid such as oil, the second was something to easily ignite it, just in case the firefoxes gave out and they still had to burn the archives later on. The third was some kind of poison that worked quickly enough to be useful in combat when rubbed on her knife. It'd upgrade it from almost entirely useless to maybe a slight bit useful.
With that out of the way, there was an idiot to reply to. "Melaina will do." She sighed. Was this idiot really the first one to see the usefulness of her scrolls? It seemed like that was exactly the case... It offered her little options other than to go along with it, even though she'd rather handed them over to someone more competent looking. "Alright, but make sure you listen carefully to how they work, so you won't waste them. They're too much of a pain to make to be wasted."She proceeded to explain (to Alina and to anyone else whom seemed interested in them) how her scrolls worked in detail, which is basically an IC version of what's up on the OOC 'Magic' part of her character sheet.
In order to create them, she has to write down the specific runes (in blood) to create a magic formula, through which someone can channel mana in order to activate the scroll. Although she has considerable knowledge about the various usages of runes, she is still limited by whether or not she can write this knowledge down accurately enough to form the correct formula. Furthermore, the effects of a scroll are decided upon by four main factors:
First and foremost, the quality of the scroll is decided by the amount of mana someone invests in activating it. The more mana that gets invested, the stronger the effect is.
Secondly, the quality of a scroll is decided by the amount of detail that was put into the runes and formulas on the scroll. Something that was written on the go will always be far less effective than something carefully crafted over time.
Thirdly, the amount of time someone takes to activate the scroll is decisive towards how well the scroll achieves its desired effect. Channelling mana through it in a sudden burst of magic has a higher chance of disrupting the formulas than channelling mana through it in carefully and deliberately way.
Finally, the amount of magic that is already present can be of importance towards the effect of the scroll, as some other forms magic might interfere with the formulated magic on the scroll.
The fourth type of third scroll allows users to temporarily cloak themselves in darkness, making them far more difficult to spot. This invention had turned out to be particularly profitable, especially when she traded them for a share in the profits of the thieves whom loved to use them.
The fourth type of scroll is, by far, the most difficult to make. It allows the user to temporarily turn into shadows and become intangible, unable to interact with their surroundings, but also making anything in their surroundings unable to interact with them, with the sole exception of strong forms of magic and light magic in general.
She'd have enough scrolls to give everyone a single intangibility scroll and cloak scroll each, but considering the effort it took to make them, she wouldn't hand them out to those whom didn't ask, and she wouldn't hand out more than one scroll of a type per person, unless people offered to start paying for more.
With her questions, her equipment and two types of useful scrolls settled, it was time to bring up the third type of scroll, for which she would approach Lucien in particular. After giving him a short summary of what the particular scroll did (the second on the sheet, the swallow one), she'd end on a question.
Her second summoning scroll has a lot more practical usages, as she created it specifically to scout out areas. It's a small swallow with which the user of the scroll can share senses, although it comes at the cost of not being aware of their own surroundings. The swallow deteriorates after the scrolls effect wears of, and the time it lasts depends on the above mentioned four factors.
"We can use it to scout the area, if anyone is willing to trust the others enough to be without senses of their surroundings. Unless they've got something that detects magic, it would allow us to scout out quite a bit of the location if handled well."
With these final things settled, she'd be ready to head off for the mission site.
--------------------------------
Mentioned: Anyone willing to listen to her scroll-talk. Interacted with: Alina @alatartheblue42 Lucien @conman2163
Otto White
Interaction: Aliza @Elvario
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(Before Lucien post) Otto looked to the Dragonic woman as she spoke to him, asking about her own eyes as she molded her power, he wasn't gonna complain about being asked questions by any of the newcomers but this one struck him as odd. He had never given it much thought, his eyes had always changed while he used his power so when he observed Aliza's eyes.
"You have very charming red eyes Ms. Aliza but they do not change color like mine do when you use your power."
Otto was about to speak more to Aliza until chaos erupted in the room when Melania was grabbed but chose to ignore it.
"After the task, we have for you all we can speak more about your powers and what not Ms. Aliza."
Caela moved closer to the groups she'd been assigned. She listened to the way of the scrolls and with a slight tip of her head and a noticeable lift of her right brow she gave a look of acknowledgement and a slight bow of admiration to the one called Melania. "I would be willing to accept the risks of using the scroll," she said after the lecture was complete. "Usually I use the wind to carry voices and scents to my attention, but I can wells ee the advantage to being able to get closer and move about freely."
She had no idea if anyone else would volunteer, so she waited for the one who was leading them to voice an opinion or set some kind of assignment to each. Though she was used to working alone, she was capable of working as part of a team and doing her expected part. She could only hope the others were as well, but some seemed to be uncomfortable in a group. She well understood their trepidation, since being discovered together in such an endeavor would mean certain death. Still, the gain was worth the risk as far as she was concerned.
Just wrapping some stuff up before the google doc stuff. Aliza was rather confused when her friend suddenly seemed to get the Fae to stab her, as she couldn't imagine how someone could ever imagine Alina to be dangerous. Maybe it was a small-sized creature thing? She was ready to interfere, but Lucien beat her to it. It was quite interesting to see how some of the group barely reacted while others, like one of the foxbro's, got confused and panicked. However, the fact that her eyes didn't quite change colour was a let-down, no matter how charming the Viking considered them to be.
As for the plan, she had some questions, which were soon answered by Lucien. Apparently he was afraid she'd bring down the building and/or raise alarms if she'd just break through the walls, but wasn't that exactly where the fun was at? It was also a bit mean of him to force Tasarla along, despite the fact that Lucien had started out by saying that nobody would be forced to participate. After asking about it, it turned out that was a lie, as Lucien was willing to force people along after all. Finally, she wondered why Lucien seemed careful with his words. If they were to do this, they needed to be prepared to die, so why make it sound like they wouldn't need to be equally prepared to kill? In the end, it wasn't all that clear to her, except for the clarification that killing wasn't necessarily to be avoided.
On to the more fun part; gearing up. With cloak and mask, she would definitely be unrecognisable. Just one of the many horned, tall and well-endowed enough for a cloak not to hide too much of it women in the capital. To that extend, she figured she'd expand her equipment by wearing some gauntlets. It had been a pain to find ones that fitted her well enough, but somehow they were present here~ She also decided to accept the little Fae's offer, listen to the explanation and picking up a grand total of three scrolls, one of each of the explained categories. The Fae seemed oddly reluctant to give out so many of them though, but Aliza just shrugged it off. In turn, however, she figured she'd go along with the Fae's plan to burn the archives the old fashioned way, with fuel and tinder. After all, she could easily carry the stuff along for their team, while the Fae managed to find another volunteer on her own team. With that, she was ready to head off for the mission.
Daisuke was in the corner next to Lucien and Tyler who just joined them. She started complaining about Otto who couldn't stop showing off, "yeah and he's flirting too." He said so bluntly. "I don't know, I've been thinking but most of these guys don't seem suited to the task at hand. I mean look at them they are busy flirting, trying to fling rocks at me, fight with Tyler and question Lucien." he said to them both not looking up just continuing to speak to them nonchalantly in the corner of the room. "If this were back then we would have got chocked out for talking to you like this Lucien, are you losing your edge?" he said teasing. Tyler started talking about her clothes and burning Him, "yeah, yeah, i'll return them. Sorry for trying to get you to look nice every now and again."
Lucien finally started to explain the job / test for the newbies. He explained the details as closely as possible, Daisuke looked at their faces secretly judging how they were going to do on their mission. Daisuke stood there serious for once, as he watched these fresh faced recruits getting ready to put their lives on the line for something like plans. He didn't say anything as they were divided into two groups, Daisuke got Kth, Cain, Melaina, Caela and Lysithian. He didn't know what to expect but at least they were getting ready, they were to enter a stronghold of information and needed to be ready. It sucked that this was the only way to weed out those that just couldn't cut it and the price to find out was Their lives. He smiled to them as he passed them individually to get his gear ready. He donned the black cloak, the wooden mask and his custom made full body holster for his many blades.
They made it to the building, it was fully lit and full of the sounds of guards on patrol. He faced the others and motioned them in close. "Listen up, this is go time. I don't want any of you to go rogue on me, we move as a unit and hopefully we will all leave with our lives." He approached the gate and held his hand up as he did the lights in the courtyard on their side started to flicker. If anyone bothered to notice Daisuke's hands were starting to change, his finger nails grew sharp and tufts of black hair started to appear. He crouched down and a tail suddenly appeared behind him. "On my signal we move out" he whispered to the group. "One." the lights dimmed further, murmurs were heard yelling to check the light source and so one. "two." He started motioned them get out their scrolls to phase through the wall, those that didn't take the munchkin up on her offer he had to take with him. "three." The lights completely went out and a small commotion popped up in the far right hand side of the compound, which made it so that the left side was almost all clear as guards rushed over to get the lights back on. "good luck" he whispered under his breath as he disappeared reappearing on the other side of the wall.
((In reply to Aliza {Prior to Cain's interaction with Tasarla} (@Elvario )
Cain looked shyly at the curious woman, cocking his head confused and curling his tail at its mention. He knew people liked petting foxfolk, so he paid little heed to the comment, but such things were frowned upon by his brother, so he did little to attend to the woman's words, wishing to say something, but holding back due to potentially angering his brother. But he couldn't simply leave her with nothing, so he responded to both of her questions.
"Uhh...Why yes! We do have fluffy tails!" He gave a bright smile, his tail standing upright as it was proud to be mentioned. "And I have uhh, never seen a place like here before, so I'm not gonna say yes to that."
Unlike his younger brother, Cain really taks a liking to headrubs, his ears twitching at Tasa's touch. He closed his eyes and purred in a high-pitched tone. Whoever she was, she seemed to be an expert at headrubs, and with an expression as friendly as Tasa's, he couldn't help but be alright with it. The cloud, neptune also was equally adorable, and as it sat on cains head, he reached a hand up to pat it gently.
As Tasa Introduced herself, Cain smiled just as warmly, "and I am Cain...uhh...Karian.Yeah, I think that's my last name. Nice to meet you, Tasa!"
Cain thought only lightly of the petting, but was more or less worried if his brother saw it. Judging by the small scowl on his face, it seemed like he did indeed notice...oh well...
Cain's ears perked and went to attention as Lucian grabbed the room, follwing his every word, he was eventually placed in a group with a whole bunch of new people, most notably was the leader of our group, a woman named Daisuke, who directed us toward a wall, grew fur and a tail (although he likes to think his is fluffier) and teleport through a wall. It all happened so fast,which is not how Cain was, despite how speedy his brother was. At least he knew how to use the scroll, by unrolling it and using the words on it, right?
So few things seem to stick to Cain, mostly coming and going, but if he sticks to his leader, it should all be good. Or so that's the plan right now.
Tasarla absolutely adored the noises that Cain made when she pet his ears and would have gone back to pet them more if Neptune hadn't of been guarding them. She really couldn't tell if the cloud was loyal to her or not, she created the fluffy thing in the first place. Sort of... maybe she thought it into existence. Whatever it was fucking adorable that's all that mattered.
Lucien announced the groups which made her suddenly curious towards the people she was with, although she didn't agree at the there wasn't any other place she could go. Alina, Kain, Aliza, Raymond.... and of course the scary looking leader, Lucien. She stared a bit too hard at him for a moment in curiosity. Maybe he wasn't scary, maybe it was just because he was mostly in charge. That was probably it.
Before they left to go do what was planned Tasa shoved some food in her mouth and brought some bread with her while Neptune seemed to absorb some as well. Who knows what the cloud did, it did whatever the fuck it wanted and it had only existed for a solid 20 minutes. It was worth it as they left, staying toward the shadows.
She ended up following everything Lucien did, having no experience being a criminal or being sneaky at all. Though when he stopped she ran straight into his back and apologized profusely.
"Sorry!" She squeaked quietly as to not alert anyone, she had that down at least. The girl definitely wasn't an idiot in anyway. Neptune floated out a bit and pretended to be a tiny cloud.... a bit too close to the ground but no one would really suspect it.
As the two teams separate and prepare to attack the inquisition archives, things already begin to go awry.
Alina Diarmuid Lucius Post 1
Alina Diarmuid Lucius
In Lucien's Mansion
As Alina squeezed the life out of Melania (or at least that's what some might think), she felt a prick on her arm like that of a needle. Well, a large needle. A custom Fae dagger sized needle, to be precise. It was far from the most painful thing Alina had experienced, but nobody liked scarred skin, so he wanted to keep any unnecessary poking to a minimum. Besides, only villains didn't listen when seriously asked to stop doing something. Therefore, Alina released Melania quite rapidly, though not before lowering her towards the ground a bit. Wouldn't do to drop her from high up.
Alina gave a gleeful laugh and applauded a bit at Melania's show of her scrolls' powers. SO COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL! I wish I could turn invisible! Upon hearing Melania's words though, even Alina couldn't help but frown for a second. Mel Mel didn't remember her bestest friend in the whole wide world, Alina Diarmuid Lucius? How could this be? They had met, uhhh... How many times had they met? It was at least once, that was for sure! But then realization dawned on Alina, and his frown turned upside down as she burst out laughing, as if he had just heard the best joke in the world. "Ahahahahahaha! I forgot you were such a prankster, Mel Mel! You don't know me! Haha, great one! Sure, I'll play along for a bit!" Had Mel Mel been a prankster in the past, or was Alina just making things up again? Only God knew (assuming God was a werecorgi, that is).
Of course, Cloaky seemed bothered by the commotion they were causing, using a bit of magic to create a thunderclap and get everyone's attention and call Alina away from the Fae. "Hmm, you aren't really my type, but since you gave us such a nice dinner, I suppose I don't mind cooperating. Besides, she doesn't know me, *wink*, so I must've been mistaken *wink*." Alina had already finished as much as she wanted to eat anyway, so he just dropped into the indicated chair and bided her time.
As the meal wrapped up and the focus turned to actual planning, Alina nodded along. Hm hm, they were planning to attack the Inquisition Office and steal some palace blueprints. Alina nodded sagely. It was an excellent idea, the Offices contained all sorts of info like that. There was just one teeny, tiny, itsy-bitsy question Alina needed answered. "Mister Lord Cloaky Sir, why exactly are we stealing plans for the Ruby Palace? I've got no love for the Empire, of course, but it hardly seems like a good target for future robberies." As per my agreement with Con Lucien would then go on to explain that Alina had missed the part where they said the next mission would be to assassinate the Tzar. Alina's mouth dropped open in utter shock, but after a couple seconds, he burst out in maniacal laughter.
"Hahaha. HAHAHAHA! Oh, that's great! That's golden, that is! You may not look the part, but I can tell your heart burns with Justice just like mine! Very well! I, Alina Diarmund Lucius, pledge my blade and fashion sense to your mission!"
They discussed the current raid plan for a little longer, but sadly, there were still a number of OOC questions to be answered before the plan was satisfactory. Finally, they were dismissed to prepare for the raid. A decent assortment of equipment was offered up, including cloaks and masks. Ugh. Alina hated masks. What was the point of hiding your radiantly sparkling face of Justice? Well, Cloaky wanted everyone to wear them, evidently, so Alina would tolerate it for now. The cloak, she was happy to take Cloaky up on the offer for. Hmmm, that could be a problem, what with everyone wearing cloaks. Ah well, it can't be helped.
As Alina was donning his new cloak, she also picked up an extra belt and strapped on a quartet of knives. Knives weren't Alina's go-to, but extra weapons on an infiltration mission never hurt. Plus losing a knife or two was far better than losing Alina's favorite sword. There, almost perfect. Only one thing left that Alina wanted. Alina approached Mel Mel, walking over at a perfectly normal human pace. After all, Alina totally didn't know Mel Mel. Clearing his throat, Alina asked her question: "Mel M- er... Lady Sullivan. I loved that vanishing act you pulled off earlier in the dining room, and I was wondering if I might be able to borrow that power during this mission? Being able to sneak right under the guards' noses would surely be a great help. Even if it only allowed for me to get the drop on them, not avoid them completely, that would still help things go smoother." Alina obviously hoped Mel Mel would say yes, but if he was rejected, she'd simply say "Ah well, it can't be helped!" and move along. Either way, after that conversation, Alina was as ready as he'd ever be to head off for the mission site.
At the Inquisition Office
The time has come, the walrus said, to steal many things. Well, perhaps not. Their plan seemed to have stalled out already, given the existence of an extra wall that somehow Cloaky the First hadn't known about. Seriously, how did one not notice an inner wall? Well, fortunately, open air walls were rarely a problem for Alina, and rare was the wall Alina's BFF Aliza couldn't deal with. Since Cloaky the First seemed to be having trouble, Alina would quietly suggest her own plan to Cloaky the First, moving his mask slightly out of the way first to speak better. "You know, I could always just drop down onto the roof and sneak in that way. If you guys make a commotion down here to keep them occupied, I wouldn't have any trouble disposing of a few guards on the roof and getting in. I could even get someone else up there with me if you wanted. Maybe two, if one's Mel Mel. She's small enough to carry."
Kain Karian
Within the small group a furred hand was raised near the center. The hand belonged to none other than one of the Karian brothers who had been separated during the planning phase. It was Kain, and judging from how his gaze drifted around he was rather uneasy with the unfamiliar faces that surrounded him, but regardless he looked willing to do what needed to be done. "I can take lead, us foxfolk are naturally quiet with our step and I've learned a thing or two during my courier days." Kain nodded with confidence after his recommendation, pausing for a second before adding "am I to merely silence them or do you all want me to kill them?"
Aliza Post 1
Pre-mission Q&A recap;
For as far as debating the plan went, she had asked some questions. They had soon been answered by Lucien. Apparently he was afraid she'd bring down the building and/or raise alarms if she'd just break through the walls, but wasn't that exactly where the fun was at? It was also a bit mean of Lucien to force Tasarla along, despite the fact that Lucien had started out by saying that nobody would be forced to participate. After asking about it, it turned out that was a lie, as Lucien was willing to force people along after all. Finally, she wondered why Lucien seemed careful with his words. If they were to do this, they needed to be prepared to die, so why make it sound like they wouldn't need to be equally prepared to kill? In the end, it wasn't all that clear to her, except for the clarification that killing wasn't necessarily to be avoided.
Gear-up recap;
On to the more fun part; gearing up. With cloak and mask, she would definitely be unrecognisable. Just one of the many horned, tall and well-endowed enough for a cloak not to hide too much of it women in the capital. To that extend, she figured she'd expand her equipment by wearing some gauntlets. It had been a pain to find ones that fitted her well enough, but somehow they were present here~ She also decided to accept the little Fae's offer, listen to the explanation and picking up a grand total of three scrolls, one of each of the explained categories. The Fae seemed oddly reluctant to give out so many of them, but Aliza just shrugged it off. In turn, however, she figured she'd go along with the Fae's plan to burn the archives the old fashioned way, with fuel and tinder. After all, she could easily carry the stuff along for their team, while the Fae managed to find another volunteer on her own team. With that, she was ready to head off for the mission.
On-site reaction;
Aliza was casually stretching a bit by means of warm-up, as they came to a halt at the front gate. "Do you guys want me to use the Fae's swallow scroll to scout the place?" She figured she might as well ask, as it seemed like they were already running into surprises, such as unexpected walls. "Or do you want to use it to check out the roof, Alina? I think that'd be a lot safer than just dropping down on it, as I think these guys had their fair share of crossbows~" Aliza wasn't too big on planning and plotting, but she was even less fond of recklessness. It'd be a bit of a downer to see her friend fall down from the sky like a freshly shot duck.
As for Kain's suggestion... "I'm not great with stealth, so feel free to go ahead, although I'd wait on making use of the scroll first. Oh, and I don't particularly care about how you deal with them, do whatever comes natural~" It was pretty much how Aliza battled. If someone survived her punches, she'd leave it at that, if they died they died. Simple as that.
That said, she was a bit worried about the other two members in their team. Raymond had been a nervous wreck, and Tasarla had clearly not been feeling all that up for a 'test' of this kind, so with a bit of concern, she'd turn towards the both of them. "Are you guys still holding up?" There was still a going back at this point, but once they were on the other side of these walls, it'd be do or die. If these two were to break down, they'd be far more of a hindrance than an asset. Surely even Lucien knew that. "I still think we shouldn't bring anyone that isn't ready. It'll only endanger everyone more than how in danger we already are." It wasn't an ideal time to start up an argument, but she would feel even more wrong if she didn't at least bring it up a final time.
Alina Diarmuid Lucius Post 2
Alina twirled around upon hearing Aliza speak up. The swallow scroll was a good suggestion; Alina only wished she had remembered to ask Mel Mel for one before they split up. Well, if Aliza had one, it would probably be ok. "That's a great idea! But you know, I could just go up, take a look myself, and then come back down if there's too many of them. They're all lit up, and this cloak blends right into the night sky, so there's no way they'd be able to see me until I enter their light." Besides, not like they'd look up. Guards were easy to dupe, especially rooftop guards. When they're on top of the highest part of their building, they spend almost all their time checking the ground. Or maybe the walls. But none of them ever pause to wonder whether someone might somehow be above them. "But if you don't think the scroll will be useful later, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to use it."
(the following may or may not occur. I haven't heard back from Con yet, but this is my only chance rn to use google docs (can't edit google docs on mobile) so I'm writing it now)
All of a sudden, shouts could be heard, first coming from the far side of the compound but quickly spreading throughout the entire compound. "Well, it sounds like the other group has already started. Boss, time to go. What's the plan?" As she spoke though, Alina was already formulating a plan of her own just in case. Cloaky the First didn't seem like a bad guy, and his heart was in the right place, but a hero of Justice sometimes had to take the lead, even when someone else was supposed to be in charge.
Raymond Arcen
In Lucien's Mansion
Sitting at the table he kept to himself. Listening to the entourage of people, even if there may have been questions. It was not the time he thought. It would come soon enough. Or hopefully so he thought at least, as then though not alone he had less of a crowd such as this.
Those crude things, those he would not need. Not the daggers or knives, only the necessary. A piece of leather armor for his chest and stomach, forearm guards for his arms and a black cloak and wooden face mask would be for the best. Donning the armor was cold, without the comforts of his normal clothing. But more important now it would be not on him, that he could not have. So he immediately forced his red woolen sweater into his bag, he could not leave it so far away.
Outside at the Inquisition's Office
Standing at the precipice of the opening which stood between the office and the remaining buildings. The ground of which stood bare without any men around it and unprotected it seemed almost. As the team began discussing the matters he would begin to look around to gain an understanding.
His attention affixed itself. His head turned to look at Aliza as her words reached him. To which he gave a slightly nervous smile. ''I em. It's elright, I shal get results. I donn know what ya knowst what I can do Lucien, Lucien riight? But I shall show either way, if ya could, could ya look what the courtyard itself looks like? I can use that.''
Taking off his backpack being cumbersome and could pose a problem. A thing he could not ignore and decided to take it off. But would lay it onto the ground aside in the alley with care. Before squatting at the ground as he looked for any loose lying stone and gravel he could pull away from the alleyway to get to wide surface of a more soft dirt underneath.
''I am good at sneaking arround, learrned it from me work. But I can do more, if ye can see any loose diert tell me where, direction and distance. But I'ma be honest heere, I ain't killing. I know if I do it'be too much on me mind. I do't to animals and it's already too much if I don't pay respect.''
Lucien Post
Lucien peered into the courtyard. The commotion caused on the other side by Daisuke's shadow magic suffocated the flames of the lamps, causing the lights on the other side of the courtyard to go out. The guards panicked, and of the some six men in the area, two moved back into the building to relight their lamps, though none were raising the alarm at the moment. This left only four men in the courtyard. Lucien turned back to Alina. Thankfully, the commotion on the other side of the wall drew all of the attention of the unspecified number of guards on the roof, it was basically a perfect chance to take whoever was on the roof down, as well as anyone in the courtyard. "Alina get onto the rooftop, take Kain with you if you can. The rest of us will deal with the exterior. Tasarla and Raymond, stay behind if it's too much to handle. Aliza, you're with me, take the guards on the left side out, i'll take the ones on the right, and we'll meet back at the door. Go!" His quick but precise orders were extended to everyone, then he moved into the courtyard, sword drawn, at a dash, moving quickly towards the two men who were his targets. The first was unawares, and easy to catch. He looked up only at the last moment from trying to relight his lamp. In one quick slashing motion he killed the first man by opening his throat. The second shouted in surprise as he noticed his fellow guard fall to the ground, gurgling in panic, but was not fast enough to draw his weapon. A short stroke saw his hand lopped off and then a second saw his head gone from his shoulders, blade slicing through the boiled leather armor and chainmail as if it was butter.
Aliza Post 2
Alina suggested saving the scroll for later, and considering how nobody else seemed to care about using it, Aliza figured she might as well do so. On the other hand, Raymond seemed to say he was good to go, or that was what she figured his words translated too. He also asked for someone to look what the courtyard looked like, but he seemed to be addressing Lucien. He was also talking about 'diert' and being vegan, or something along those lines. At this point, she figured it'd be best to leave him to his own devices and hope for the best.
Not long after, the big-shot himself started commanding them. She was to take out the guards on the left side, while Alina and Kain would take for the rooftops and Lucien would go right. Raymond and Tasa were told they could stay behind. Aliza considered using a cloak scroll for a moment, but where would the fun be? She'd better save it for later and take out these guards the old-fashioned way. There were two guards, which meant she could use an old trick of hers.
After closing in on them as far as she'd get without being spotted, she kicked up a rock, then she sent it flying towards the head of the guard further to the back. Upon impact, the guard closest to her was extremely likely to be distracted by it, which meant she'd be free to close in on him and give him a gauntlet based hit to the head strong enough to hear something crack. If he wasn't distracted enough, or if he was still able to react, she would cause the ground to shake just enough to make him lose his balance, so she could still pull off a nice skull-breaking punch without risk of retaliation. Once that guard was down, whether that meant he was dead or unconscious enough to no longer be a bother for the rest of the night, she'd head over to the second. If the previous rock had already taken care of him for the night, he'd be in luck, if not, he'd get a stomp to the face that would have quite a cracking and crunching sound to it.
Once the two guards were dealt with, she'd continue onwards to meet up with Lucien. Once there, she'd give him a thumbs up to indicate her side had been dealt with, after which she'd gather dirt around her to form an armour. With that done, she'd give him the type of 'puppy eyes' that suggested a strong desire to break through the door full-force and to tenderize everything that was moving through skull-breaking kicks and punches.
Cloaky the First's instructions were more or less satisfactory to Alina. If nothing else, it was pleasing to see he could keep a level head when things went south. The fur-lined coat, er, the fox guy was designated as her partner; not his first choice, but Aliza would be needed to help the main group, Cloaky the First was leading, and the foreigner and the… other woman didn't seem like practical choices, so the fox it was. Though Alina would really need to stop thinking about how he could contribute to the world of fashion.
"Alright, Kain me boy, here's how it goes." Alina placed both hands on Kain's shoulders, directing him to position himself in front of her facing 90 degrees away from the main facility. "Run straight forward, but run up. Like you're running up stairs. Keep at it until I tell you to stop when we're high enough. Hope you've got endurance. Don't worry about falling; my magic will keep us up. Once we're at the right height, we'll move back over to the roof and descend from above. Take out any guards, keep them from ringing the alarm. We'll figure it out from there. If there's too many up top for us to take, we pull out and regroup. Sound good?" Assuming Kain didn't have any objections, Alina would nod. "Start running on the count of three. I have to be able to see your feet to make platforms at the right time so you need to lead."
This was where the fun would begin. And by fun Alina meant the incredibly mentally draining process. It was bad enough having to make platforms at a distance, but having to cycle through them while also moving would be a real pain. Plus, they had to keep a relatively stable pace, since Alina had to be able to time the platform creation and couldn't just call out when to move (that would probably create too much noise). Yup, lots of fun. Well, at least Alina had been working on her magic, so he was reasonably confident he could pull it off. She'd be pretty drained when they reached the top though.
"Alright. One, two, three!" Following behind Kain, Alina would begin climbing into the sky. One hardened-air stair after another, they ascended. First one story, then the second, then the third. There was the roof. A little farther. Alina's breathing was growing more ragged from the combined toll of the physical and mental exercise. Finally "We're high enough. Slow up." The pair was now approximately four stories above the streets below, high enough that they wouldn't be noticed unless someone was actively looking up. Even if someone did, their dark cloaks would blend right into the clouded night sky. From here, though, Alina had a decent vantage point over the roof of the Inquisition office and would (presumably) be able to see the guards. (However, since I don't know what Alina can see, I'll have to stop here).
Kain Karian
Kain patiently listened as Lucien gave the game plan for the small team, his gaze shifting over to Alina the moment he was told to pair with her. His last encounter with her made him slightly uneasy, his natural tendency to question one's motives finding its way to the front stage for a brief second or two. Hearing her relay their plan to handle the roof guards eased the young fox's tension, but even then the plan felt very uncanny only because this would be his first time trusting someone else's magic. Regardless, his brother was in the other group. If he wanted to make sure they both got out of this safe he'd have to trust these people. . .
"If you say so… I believe I can run for a good while. I would have been a bad courier if I couldn't." Kain smiled and winked at his battle buddy, a nod to the clever comment he made or so he thought. He waited for Alina's signal then began his ascent. At first he looked to be rather startled, despite being warned of what they were about to do. He was pretty much climbing in the air! It was a rather amazing feat that he wished he had long ago. Perhaps this girl was a lot more gifted than he had anticipated. He slowed down like instructed then peered down at the numbers beneath. The fox quickly calculated the numbers, his eyes darting rather quickly like a predator hunting for game.
"Four." Kain muttered, his gaze becoming less critically concentrated as he gestured towards the alarm system. "I can cut them off at the alarm, take on whoever goes for it while you deal with the rest." He looked to Alina, his ears wiggling beneath the hood of his cloak. "Or if you wish I can swap places and take the majority. How do you want to go about this?"
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Team two breaches the walls, causing a bit of commotion for both sides
Daisuke
They made it to the building, it was fully lit and full of the sounds of guards on patrol. He faced the others and motioned them in close. "Listen up, this is go time. I don't want any of you to go rogue on me, we move as a unit and hopefully we will all leave with our lives." He approached the gate and held his hand up as he did the lights in the courtyard on their side started to flicker. If anyone bothered to notice Daisuke's hands were starting to change, his finger nails grew sharp and tufts of black hair started to appear. He crouched down and a tail suddenly appeared behind him. "On my signal we move out" he whispered to the group. "One." the lights dimmed further, murmurs were heard yelling to check the light source and so one. "two." He started motioned them get out their scrolls to phase through the wall, those that didn't take the munchkin up on her offer he had to take with him. "three." The lights completely went out and a small commotion popped up in the far right hand side of the compound, which made it so that the left side was almost all clear as guards rushed over to get the lights back on. "good luck" he whispered under his breath as he disappeared reappearing on the other side of the wall.
Melaina
After having given a scroll to anyone that requested one, in some cases with more reluctance than others, Melaina had even found people whom were willing to go along with her arsonist plan. She still didn't get how her size was so extremely crucial to this entire operation, nor why plans of the palace itself were just laying around in this building, but at least her plan to burn it all down so they could hide their tracks and intent was taking serious, even the part where using fuel and tinder to hide their magic abilities was acknowledged, all of which meant surprisingly much to her.
Another thing that was taken serious was her suggestion to use the swallow scroll to scout the area, which both Caela (and Kth, potentially) offered to do. Considering how useful this would be, and how their team leader Daisuke had all been talking about moving as a unit, surely Daisuke wouldn't suddenly have ignored it all, and would've only entered the area after either Caela or Kth had used to scroll to scout it and had informed them of what was on the other side.
After either Caela or Kth (or potentially both) had scouted around using the swallow scroll, they'd be ready to move in, as prepared for what was on the other side as they'd ever be. Needlessly to say, Melaina was happy to let the others go first. There was next to nothing she could do in a fight, so she'd happily wait for the others to finish up with that and/or to use the others as shields if they were ever spotted by enemies. She'd stick close enough to them to use them as shields, yet far enough to have them be the live bait for any traps first and foremost. She also made sure to use a cloak spell on herself, taking a fair amount of time and concentration to make sure that it would last a while, as it was even more useful than normal due to Daisuke taking out the lights.
Kth
If she took notice of the strange physical changes taking place in their leader they didn't seem to startle her. At least, not outwardly. She had remained mostly quiet, speaking briefly to ask for a Cloak spell from her fae teammate. At the mention of the Swallow scroll, as well as Caela's response to it, it took only a few moments for Kth to come to a decision. As their team leader was giving them the countdown to advance, Kth moved so that she was standing next to Melaina, kneeling down momentarily and reaching out with her uncovered hand.
"Whether or not I trust you is currently irrelevant. I shall make my way to you as best I can, should I be left behind."
It was meant more as a means to say, I won't get mad should I be left. Kth was, perhaps, not the best with words. Receiving the scroll from the fae, she held the parchment out and did something she honestly hadn't expected to be doing that night. She rolled the sleeve up, revealing a gnarled and blacked hand in which she placed the scroll delicately. Almost immediately the scroll began to crumble away into a pile of ash. There was only a small moment of shock as the small bird sprung to life in her hands seemingly from the ashes, before her view of the bird and everything around her faded. Suddenly she was looking at herself, then Melaina, then Daisuke, before taking off into the air and heading towards the sudden commotion.
Cain
Cain's ears perked and went to attention as Lucian grabbed the room, following his every word, he was eventually placed in a group with a whole bunch of new people, most notably was the leader of our group, a man named Daisuke, who directed us toward a wall, grew fur and a tail (although he likes to think his is fluffier) and teleport through a wall. It all happened so fast, which is not how Cain was, despite how speedy his brother was. At least he knew how to use the scroll, by unrolling it and using the words on it, right?
So few things seem to stick to Cain, mostly coming and going, but if he sticks to his leader, it should all be good. Or so that's the plan right now. Once on the other side of the wall, Cain looked around, then towards his comrades, waiting to see how they react.
GM Post
The distraction of lights going out provided ample time for all of Daisuke's group to get inside the walls though it did cause a noticeable shift in the alertness of the guards at the moment as individual lamps came alight and torches began to manifest themselves. The guards on the right side would now be looking harder around the courtyard but would be leaving the right side of the first floor much less guarded.
Melania's cloak spell along with her diminutive size would prove useful in the infiltration and make her near unnoticeable even to the guards in their heightened alert state. Her minimal lack of physical skills would certainly be made up for by her newfound stealth in the current situation if she chose to act.
Kth's use of the sparrow spell would allow her to spot the locations of the guards patrolling outside as well as the best way to enter the first floor but the spell would leave her lagging behind as her body was still sitting motionless on the opposite side of the wall.
Meanwhile, Cain would find himself following in the path of Daisuke being second to the inside of the compound among the group.
Daisuke and his team needed to make it into the first floor before the guards reorganized and started looking for the means to which the lights were extinguished.
Kth
It was the strangest sensation she'd ever experienced, and perhaps the strangest one she ever would. It was as if she had lost all genuinely connection to her own body, instead truly becoming the sparrow that soared above them and, most importantly, above the guards. She genuinely didn't know if there was anyone else around her other than the fact that she, as the sparrow, could look down upon where she and her team stayed hidden.
Quickly, and as best she could, Kth attempted to convey the locations of the guards that she could see, as well as the best way to enter the first floor. Her mouth, however, did not move. Instead, from high up above, the group being lead by the man Daisuke would hear the soft chirping of a sparrow as she circled overhead, watching the guards as she did so.
Even as Alina and Kain would reach the top of the tower, things would start to go pear shaped on all sides. First, the four on the rooftop had been attracted to the shouts of surprise echoing from the other side, and as they turned around to rush to the other side, one guard looked up, shouting in surprise and quickly raising his crossbow before letting off a shot. The missile would go flying through the air straight towards Alina and Kain, however it would pass over their heads. The other guards were similarly poor shots, as their bolts flew but missed the pair floating. This left the four struggling to reload. Next, the two guards who had disappeared into the keep to relight their lanterns came out at the sound of the commotion, blades drawn. Lucien was over to them in a flash, making quick work of them, but a small cry of alarm from inside saw the door slam and the screech of a bolt being thrown in the door could be heard. Lucien turned to Aliza and pointed at the door, nodding in a way that indicated that now was the time to smash it down and say hello to anyone inside.
Two guards rushed out of the building, but they were finished off by Lucien in some undetermined way. The door was shut and bolted behind them, but doors were of little meaning. After all, the door was framed within the walls, and walls were within her limits to toy around with. Aliza gathered enough dirt around herself to form an even more considerable armour, and proceeded to kick down door and door-frame alike by crumbling down the parts of the wall that held it all in place.
The moment the door fell down, she sent a rock straight through the freshly made opening. If someone was in the line of fire, they'd have a bad day. If nobody was, she'd still be able to use the distraction to enter the building herself and make her way to the nearest person she could introduce the the magical wonderland of being knocked down with enough force to hear your skull crack. Assuming that Lucien would follow-up and cover her back and/or flanks, she'd focus on defending herself against retaliation through using her dirt armour and made a quick head-count of what they were up against (unless there were few enough guards for them to have already finished them).
With Kth chirping out the locations of the guards, assuming she'd be smart enough to chirp in a way that indicated their direction at the very least, and with the cloak spell and lack of light covering her, and her height-deficiency problem pitching as well, Melaina was pretty sure she'd be able to sneak across the place. That said, there was little else she could do. After all, she was barely able to stab someone in the knee-cap from her height, and even using poison wouldn't work fast enough to kill them before she'd be hacked into oblivion as the result of a counter-attack. If she'd have had any form of training, she'd possibly be able to move in, stab a poisoned blade into the enemies leg, and get out again in time to prevent such a retaliation. Without any form of training whatsoever, that'd be impossible. 'Why am I even here...' Well, with Alina and Cain distracting the guards by being spotted while in the air, and with the sound of some commotion happening on the other side, Melaina figured she'd be best off trying to find an opening. She did recall Lucien mentioning something about her size being useful, so maybe there was an opening in the building she could use?
At any rate, her teammates were distracting enough for her to sneak up to the building and check it out. Of course, she'd avoid the door itself. If someone would rush out and spot her, she'd be scrambled Fae in no-time. Instead, she stuck to the sides and shadows. If we go by previous successes, she could technically use another intangibility scroll to phase through this wall as well, but it was never meant to work that way and I was told not to use it in such a manner as often as a result, so that's not an option.
Meanwhile, back at the mansion, Tyler was able to watch the two teams begin prepping for their mission. She wasn't going to be taking part, her wishes among the reasons why she wouldn't be there helping and/or leading the recruits. She honestly wasn't too interested in being a team leader, and these newbies were a little too uptight for her to personally get along with at the moment. Tyler didn't have the patience - even after all this time. Otto had been left behind as well, though the reasons for that were unclear, so after the building had been emptied despite the two of them she looked his way. From the slouched position she had taken up in one of the chairs around the table, the woman eyed Otto for a moment.
"You look like you're having fun."
Otto-
"What's the point of these powers if we can't be showy with them?" Otto spoke back to Tyler assuming she was referencing the rather generous display of his powers earlier in the night. He sipped more wine as the servants had brought more for him both through the meal and as the teams were planning, several empty bottles sat nearby but he didn't seem very inebriated.
"How are you Tyler? We haven't had much time to speak since...since, since forever it seems." Otto looked over to the woman. "Seems just like yesterday but also so far away when we first met eh?" Otto finished speaking as he looked at the servants clearing away dishes and food still while thinking on his words. "And now we got Lucien and Daisuke leading a bunch of civilians on a new mission. What a world." Otto took another large drink of his wine.
Tyler-
"You know what the original reason for these powers was. So showing off I guess could be part of it." The woman let out a long, slow breath, eyeing the glass of red wine in front of her. What type of fruit it was made from, she had no idea. Her glass; however, was completely full. A stark contrast to the empty bottles surrounding her friend. "Oh, you know… same shit, different day. Overthrow an empire here or there. Rinse, repeat. So I can't say good or bad. We've been here how long now and it's still hard to get used to. But if you're going all the way back to when we met, I'm gonna have to stop you from drinking any more." She said so with a bland expression, but her tone was mildly teasing. It was kind of nice to think about. As the servants cleared away dishes, she kept a hand on her wine glass to keep it from being taken away, despite having not drunk any. "Yeah, those two scare me. In the 'how many are we gonna lose?' type of way. Do you think Daisuke is ready for that kind of leadership?"
Otto-
"Oh? Shouldn't bring up the first meeting between us eh?" A small smile gripped Otto's face before it dropped at her words on Daisuke and Lucien. "Daisuke is a pervert of the highest magnitude but it's just a cover and you know that, a mask that he can't take off and when push comes to shove he'll pull the newbies out as long as they do their part. What about Lucien? You two were together for a while and I haven't been able to get a read on him since we all met back up. It seemed like he threw himself into this plan rather fast." Otto brought up his concerns towards their leader. "Also seems odd I wasn't sent along instead of Lucien don't you think? Or in Daisuke's place. I know you had reasons not wanting to go but seems pointless keeping me here." Otto again spoke as he pondered why he had been passed over for this mission.
Tyler-
Tyler glanced Otto's way, still touching her full glass of wine while he spoke. He was right. Daisuke would do his best to pull everyone out in matter what it cost him. That's just how he was. Despite his strange and perverted demeanor… "He's always been the do what's right type, hasn't he. Even back then." She considered his words about Lucien next, thinking about it for a minute. "We never really talked about what happened after we were separated from you. Lucien has his reasons, more than ever now, to want to tear down people-oppressing regimes." She paused for a second, biting into her bottom lip. "And I feel the same way. The E.I. aren't here but we probably still feel the need to fight evil where we find it." Clearing her throat, Tyler finally took a sip of her wine, following up with water simply because she preferred it. "We recruited a lot of dark users. So Daisuke is best to lead them for that reason. And Lucien wouldn't start a mission with newbies without being involved himself in some way. Even if he naps on the job, he wants to be there."
Otto-
"But still, it seems odd to have both of us just sitting here doing nothing." Otto spoke as he sipped the final bit of wine from his cup and leaving it to be taken away to be cleaned rather than having another glass. "As for what happened when we were separated...dark time for us all it seems." Otto looked away for a moment. "It must be hard for you two to see me in any familiar way after all that eh? Didn't get told about all this extracurricular bullshit when we were voluntold for all this." Otto mused on the situations leading them to their present course. "And while I have every confidence Daisuke will pull people through the mission I do see those perverted tendencies leaking into his teaching style, don't you? Also, those two fox folk brothers and the half-elf intrigue me, can feel the fire in the three of them but it feels much different than your fire or mine." He rested his fist under his chin in thought at the recruits they had roped into this new endeavor.
Tyler-
"I like sitting here doing nothing… personally." Tyler looked Otto's way, taking her eyes off her glass for the first time in a while. "I actually thought you'd have trouble seeing us familiarly. You two were gone longer than we were. But you're not wrong… about dark times, I mean." The woman looked down, biting her tongue to keep from saying anything more about it. "We knew from the start that nothing would be the same again. From the moment I met you in that white room. Still… it's good to have a kindred soul to share this… time… with." She looked up at his words about the fire users, staring off into space. "Well… they're different from us. They didn't have this shit forced on them the same way we did. They have magic and we have….the First. Nicholas, Cal, and Lucien. These people here all feel different. Nothing like how I feel you and Lucien. They feel organic in a way that we don't. Your fire feels chaotic and unnatural in comparison, though still much stronger. I guess I hadn't considered it until we had something different to compare it to."
Otto-
"Oh don't get me wrong I still don't see you all the same but it's mostly ignorable now, I don't expect one of you to try and knife me or drown me anymore but...I don't know I guess since we never got to talk about any of it that much we still carry it. Maybe we need a big group hug session to work things out." He said the last bit only half-jokingly. "To kindred souls I guess." He held up his hand as if to make a toast with a glass. "You know what I always wondered about, would our powers pass down to any offspring we have?" Otto questioned with a look on his face. "I always wanted a family but it'd be kinda chaotic if an infant started throwing fireballs when hungry or causing small earthquakes when upset." Otto stood and stretched, his torso was still shirtless. "Should I just walk around from now on without a shirt? That water user didn't seem to have much control and I don't need to keep losing shirts, not to mention I have no clue as to the control of the fire users either and that'd be even more problematic. How'd you deal with it? You have the most experience teaching out of the four of us." Despite Lucien teaching the two of them, well teaching was a strong word for smoking and watching them figure it out on their own so the title of most experienced with to Tyler in the end.
Tyler-
The woman arched a brow at Otto's comment. "You thought we might knife you? What the hell, man…?" She was still concerned about the comment when he tried to make a joke about it and then offered an empty toast. It was a little too worrisome for her to even enjoy the humorous thought of the four of them in a group hug. his next line of questioning threw her off, and though her concerns didn't end, she offered what answers she had. Which were really none. "I asked Lucien that once. He said he didn't know. Same about getting tattooed, don't know if it'd stick. I guess no one has tried either." She looked at him, strutting around shirtless. "Put on a shirt. You're distracting me and you know how the guys will take that." Obviously meaning Daisuke and Lucien. "And teaching people who control the elements is different than teaching brats not to touch their junk during class. I could normally just chuck a ball at them or something. I'm not even sure we should be teaching anything. Our powers come from different sources and I'm not about to be babying anyone who can't take a hit. We've gotta keep in mind that these people are not like us, so it'll be that much harder - for both sides. Our "magic" was forced and they came to it naturally. Plus… I can't even be sure anyone will want to learn from me when you and Lucien are around."
Otto-
"Tyler they used my memories against me, people with your, Daisuke and Lucien's faces tricking me constantly to lower my guard only to do...horrendous things to me shortly after, frankly when I saw you all again I thought it was another elaborate trick, still not sure some times." He then became quiet as he thought about her words on the other questions he had asked her. "I'll put on a shirt when the others get back if it makes you feel better." He again grew silent. "I just don't know if we should free form it or make a plan also don't put yourself down like that, you'd be a better teacher than me or Lucien but you are right that the fact our magics come from two different sources may provide a difficult obstacle." Silence reigned again as Otto relaxed into his chair and merely looked on at Tyler.
Tyler-
The woman listened to his responses without any of her own at first. They had not talked much about the details of their time apart, though they knew the most about Otto and Daisuke's since they had spilled almost immediately upon meeting again. Lucien and Tyler had said much less about their own experiences. But she did not yet know about their images being used against Otto. Out of the entire conversation, she felt the thing most worthy of following up on was the threat of trickery. "We would never hurt you. We've been through far too much together. Us four… were the only family any of us has left." She thought for a minute. "Do I need to tell you something you didn't previously know to make you feel better about who we are?"
Otto- "I mean...if you want, it's not that I don't know you three are the real deal but it's more like I catch myself...watching you three more closely. The ones that used your faces had tells you all didn't and that eventually led to my escape. Tyler I trust you with my life don't doubt that and I trust that it's you but like I told you and Lucien, I was in that pit for a long time and it takes a bit to break that kind of mentality." Otto paused for a breath and held a thoughtful look on his face. "I can see and feel your power in relation to mine whenever I have those moments of doubt Tyler, it brings me a great deal of comfort to feel the wind you control to remind me I'm safe again."
Tyler-
She couldn't help but smile just a little. It made her feel better to know just where he was at mentally. More at ease. She had to admit that she had her own hangups about Otto and Daisuke as well. "Where we were… there were others of you, too. Just not hallucinations. And that Otto was always trying to feel out my fire like you used to back in the day. So I still have times of nervousness around you, too." She shrugged a little, taking one more sip of her wine before handing it off to someone who took it away. "It's nice to be with the originals again."
Otto-
"Nothing like a bit of PTSD to superpowered magic beings to spice things up right?" He said in a sardonic manner. "It's...damn, to be perfectly honest I haven't felt much at ease since coming here at least until now and actually sitting down and just talking to you Tyler, can't believe how much I missed it, to be frank." Much of the tension that Otto held onto in his body had slowly faded the more he spoke to Tyler and why that was Otto wouldn't comment on because frankly he didn't know but was just happy to be talking to her like this again.
Alina and Kain made it above the roof, where they floated for a minute. Good, their part, at least, was going according to plan...
Assuming the plan involved getting shot at. Like, what the hell? Alina and Kain had hardly been loud, and there was all sorts of stuff going on below, so why would the guards choose to look up? Well, the one saving grace was that they were lousy shots, but still, how dare they ruin Alina's dramatic entrance? She'd just have to improvise.
Alina took a couple steps on his aerial platform before leaping off and down to the roof, hoping to land about ten feet away from a guard and preferably in a position in which all the guards would be on one side of her, rather than surrounding her. As she fell, his right hand dropped down to her belt and pulled out one of the four knives she'd picked up before heading out. Upon landing, Alina bent his knees to absorb the shock as her right hand hurled its knife towards the nearest guard. Obviously, Alina hoped it would be a decisive blow, but really, having a knife in any part of you ought to be a good distraction.
Drawing his sword with her currently empty right hand and a second knife with her left, Alina rushed towards the hopefully injured guard and swung his blade down towards the guard's neck. Ideally, the guard would now be most assuredly incapacitated, but there would be no time to check. The next closest guard would need to be taken out as swiftly as possible too. Rush closer, a swing of the sword to drive the guard back, thrust out with the knife in the left hand, and pivot over her right shoulder to spin around and deliver another slash. If that were enough to take down the guard, Alina would turn back towards the survivors to avoid getting attacked from behind; if the guard was still capable of fighting, then Alina would have to keep his attention on the guard and trust Kain to take care of the others.
Kain's gaze had been focused on Alina while waiting for a response to his plan. Unfortunately for the two of them their luxury of time would be cut short. Upon hearing a shout that was suspiciously directed towards the pair the fox almost 'froze' in place for a split second, his ears becoming erect and still before his eyes shot down towards the source of the yelling. Only when the threat was evaluated did the foxfolk resume a less instinctive response. He quickly glanced towards his newfound battle buddy only to see her bravely leap into the fight. So much for the cautious approach that the fox was hoping for.
"Dammit-" Kain followed Alina into the fray, his jump in-sync with hers as they made their acrobatic entrance. His time as a foot courier found its place during their approach. Combined with his natural agility and his experiences Kain was able to tuck and roll with the landing, minimizing the pain and damaging effects of jumping from such a height. Naturally there was a sting of pain, one that was minimized just enough to cause the fox to let out a mere grunt. He didn't stop though… He couldn't, every second it took to close the distance was another second for the guards to reload their crossbows. Once on his feet Kain pushed off the ground into a full sprint, his crimson red eyes locking on the two guards he was approaching. Once he was upon them he'd reach back and draw his long sword with a swift slash so to disrupt their lines!
Daisuke Was on the other side when he noticed a few of them were stuck. The fear of impending death may have taken a hold of them. He teleported to the other side, grabbed them all and teleported them to the side of the building as a small bird continued to chirp the direction of the enemies. Daisuke was sure to have those that could proceed quickly and quietly, they were all members of the Dark element this is something that most of them should excel at. He watched them approach, they were all just about to his side hugging the side of the building. He peered up through the window he could see a single person standing at a desk. He decided that this was a perfect opportunity to test something out. He looked at the shelves of books across the room and closed his eyes, the shadow of the book shelf stretched up and pulled the book until it dropped. the guard or receptionist looked annoyed and stood up.
Daisuke used this opportunity to motion to them to sneak in quietly through the window, take cover while someone takes out the guard. Daisuke saw as they were just at the book shelf, he spread his darkness around and pulled several books out of the bookshelf off to the left, this would keep the receptionist busy for the next couple of moments. Daisuke created a pitch black sphere around a small part of the window. He reached back and punched through the sphere, the others would notice that no noise was made. This was his pitch black vacuum where nothing not even sounds exist. He had his sphere dissolve as he opened the window and had them all pile in. He jumped in last just as voices were heard rounding the corner. He closed the window behind them and motioned them to hide. He pointed at the guard and motioned that someone should sneak up and knock them out.
