The Tale of An Chéad Toshi: Uruk IC Thread

alatartheblue42

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This is a sci-fi/fantasy RP. The Players are young Mages who have been brought to the Academy in order to develop their magical talent and protect their city. They will fight monsters that roam in the wilderness, investigate nefarious plots against King and Country, and so on. But that is all in their future. For now, after a bit of general plot setup, let us have the characters meet up, get to know one another, etc. We can feed them to monsters later.

The plot so far:
The students meet their teacher, Professor Yuki Okamoto, and have their first few days of instruction.

About a week into their Academy life, they are unexpectedly sent out on a mission to investigate the town of Normaden. They learn that a Witch, a powerful monster that sometimes grows from humans with magical potential, has developed in the region. Their Professor takes on the role of exterminating the Witch itself, leaving the students to handle some of its Familiars. During the students' fight, though, they are unexpectedly brought face to face with an Angel. After a fierce fight, the students are victorious and return to their homes safely.

Back in Uruk, the plots grow thicker. A massive force of Angels has gathered near Babylon, and the head honchos discuss plans of how to deal with the threat. The Academy's Headmaster learns that the Angel that the students encountered was sent by the Chief of the Galileians. What could Chief Herschel be plotting, and why involve these young Mages?

Completely unaware of these plots, the students are assigned another mission: to resolve an incident over who should possess a valuable research subject. They will be escorted and monitored by Essence Parker, one of the academy's Student Council members...

To chat, give feedback, watch us fool around OOC, etc, please join the Discord

For a brief bit of worldbuilding or to create a character, please refer to the OOC thread

This club prides itself on having a very detailed combat and character system. For more information on said system, please refer to the System Info/Extra Lore thread.

To see a list of some detailed NPC sheets, please view this thread.
 
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Rina Zephyr
158

If Londo and Caoimhe were to turn, they would see a blue-haired young woman carrying bags walking through the docks in the direction of the floating airship. Her equally blue eyes also had bags, the sign of someone who stayed up far too late. ”Can’t believe they woke me up for this…” She muttered too quietly for the average person to hear. Then her eyes widened in recognition of the redhead with headphones.

“You’re that crazy kid from TV!” She glanced to Caoimhe, then back to Londo with a frown. "And the pervert. Caoimhe, is this guy bothering you again?” Tired as she was, she wasn’t about to let a classmate be harassed.

Depending on their response, she’d react accordingly. Assuming they cleared up that both of them had apologized, she’d look at Londo somewhat less judgmentally. She sighed. ”Fine, if she forgives you, so do I.” If he was insane enough to boast to the king then maybe he just didn’t understand social boundaries well.

After time traveling to the future that was over with, she’d give Caoimhe a resigned look. Perhaps it was fitting she was the last classmate she saw before leaving considering their similar fighting styles. ”Look, I have to leave. They said I have to go on this airship with the other class, and I don’t know when I’ll be back. I think it’s stupid to send novices on a mission like this, but orders are orders...” She paused. “You know, I'm gonna miss you guys....well, except Bozo. And Artemisios. And…ugh, never mind, don’t tell them I said that!” She facepalmed, then ran a hand through her messy hair. She was barely thinking straight. There was something else she wanted to say, but couldn’t quite remember…ah, right.

”One more thing: tell Susanna I said to take a break.” She’d tried to make friends with one of the few other girls even remotely near her age in the class, but she spent almost all her time training, and others had told her the same thing to little effect. She held her chin thoughtfully. Maybe if an emotional appeal didn’t work, a logical one would. ”It’s been proven that working for too long kills your productivity, so she won’t get any stronger if she doesn’t give herself time to recover. You know what they say: work smarter, not harder.” A classic motto she tried to live by, definitely not out of any laziness.
 
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August 3rd, 199 NWC, 1:00 PM

Londo goes investigating a few rumors on the afternoon after the Gate incident.

After a stressed-filled hour and a half with Hibiscus and his own demons, Londo decided he’d take a break and relax. That is to say, he spent the rest of his time looking into rumors he heard while he was walking with Hibiscus. He pulled out a small piece of paper that had on it a list of stuff to do-

  • The Rumor of the Dueling Bartenders: Tavern owners beat the crap out of each other for some reason at night, better go see what they do it for.
  • The Rumor of the Silent Prince: In the wilds outside the city, some guy can turn off sound and tech. Ask Alice if she knows sign language.
  • The Rumour of the Blood Harvester: Someone is going around stealing blood from people. It’s a spirit apparently. Hibby met her and the spirit was interested in her blood, but I still want to see this spirit.
  • The Rumor of the Silver-Haired League: Mysterious organization yada yada yada, silver hair and stuff.
  • The Rumour of the Strongest Student: Sona Báthroy is the strongest student, with Saral Spitz being a close second! However, Morana Agenent might be even stronger still!
  • The Rumour of the Gymnasium Invader: Some guy sneaking into the gym at night.
  • The Rumor of the Failure Librarian: People say Hibby caused the accident. She totally did, but was it a total accident, and it woulda happened sooner or later.

Out of all of these, the ones Londo could do at this immediate moment were few, but maybe visiting the strongest student would be beneficial to him, maybe they could give Londo some tips!

First thing was first, however, and that was Londo getting Alice back to him. So Londo pulled out his phone and texted his spirit, Yo, meet me by the dorm room.

No response, but Londo didn’t really care, so he walked the length of the school back to his dorm room, which had Alice waiting outside, “You finally done with whatever the hell it is?” She asked, turning into her spirit core form for Londo to hold and shove into his pocket. He shrugged at the question, but answered, “Eh, who knows. I helped Hibby out, she helped me out, hopefully that’s the end of that. By the way, do you know sign language?

Yea, but I assume you mean USL, so not much. I only have a basic grasp of it. Luckily sign language seems to be sort of universal across regions, countries, and worlds, with some differences in meanings, but I still need to relearn pretty much an entire language. Don’t expect me to hold any deep conversations… Why?

Londo stretched his arms upwards and behind his head as he walked towards a place with a lot of people, the cafeteria, “Oh you know, some rumor hunting today. Last time I heard of the rumors I met Yune, so I was wondering if something exciting was gonna happen this time.

Alice merely sighed at this, still wondering why she needed to know sign language.

Once at the cafeteria, Londo looked around for a chatty group of students, making his way over to them. Once there, he raised a hand in greeting, “Yo! You guys seem chatty, heard of any rumors concerning the strongest student, named Morana?

-------------

The 'chatty' group of students Londo approached turned out to be a group of three girls in their fifth year. They were talking about some new fashion styles that were up and coming, and whether not it would be a lasting trend or just a passing hype. Londo's interruption wasn't overly appreciated, but he did get a reaction, as one of the girls repeated the name, just at a more questioning tone.

“Morana?”

A second one gave an actual answer. “I'm pretty sure that's the class rep for year eight.”

“I thought that was Celestia?”

“No, she's the from the seventh year.”

The third interrupted. “Talking about Celestia, did you see how she dresses? It's quite ridiculous.”

The second one agreed. “Totally. Most people don't look that ridiculous even after transforming.”

“Oh that reminds, have you ever seen Xavier transformed? I heard some rumours that he's wearing less clothes than should be legal when he does.”

“Isn't he like, totally hot though?”

“Yeah, I'd totally want to see that.”

“Oh, me too!”

By now, they'd completely forgotten about Londo.

-------------

By that point, Londo had gotten all the information he needed. Year eight rep, huh? Perfect!

Now all Londo had to do was find her, or him, Londo didn’t really know who they looked like at this point. So maybe he didn’t get the info he needed, but these girls probably weren’t gonna be much help. So Londo turned away and went to another group that was slightly less chatty, but still looked like they would hold a conversation and asked, “Yo! Any of you know where Morana is? I heard he or she was the year eight student rep. By any chance can ya point me to the right spot?

-------------

The 'less' chatty students Londo encountered were two guys in their seventh year, who were talking about how upset they were that one of their teachers wanted them to make a test this short after all the events that transpired. They were glad to talk about something other than the impending doom of what was likely going to be a very low grade, but neither of them could immediately help Londo.

The first of them spoke up. “Nah, I'm sorry kid, but she's like a ghost. I've been here for seven years, and I don't think I've ever even seen her. Sometimes I wonder if she's even real at all.”

“Dude, she's the chick with the blue-ish hair we saw during the festival, she was there with the rest of the student council.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah, I thought you knew that.”

The first guy shrugged. “Anyhow, she's still pretty difficult to track down, unless you're willing to wait for another event that requires the full student council to be present.”

“No, wait, I think she's said to be pretty close to professor Eszes.”

“The guy that gave us advanced theoretical magecraft?”

“No, his wife. She should have an office somewhere, but I'd suggest not visiting it. She's pretty weird. Maybe that's why she's in contact with someone as strange as Morana.”

-------------

Hmmm…” Londo said to himself, “That’s two leads… Oh well, probably the best I’ll get for now! Thanks for the help!” Londo said, giving a small wave before heading out of the cafeteria.

Two leads for Londo: Student Council, and Professor Eszes. Londo didn’t know who the professor was, but at least he had some familiarity. So Londo first made his way to the student council. Who knows, maybe they had some info on the rumors?

After a bit of a trek, Londo found his way to the student council room, and knocked on the door. If there were any sound at all on the inside indicating a welcome, Londo would burst in saying, “Yo! I am a junior detective going around investigating some rumors! I heard you guys knew of a Morana! Can ya let me know if you know anything about them?

-------------

Charon Eszes

There was only one person present in the room, sitting behind a desk and working on some sort of spatial magical formula for a thaumaturge project. She sounded a bit annoyed when she replied.
“Come in.” Upon Londo's arrival, she gave him a good stare-down. It was enough to give her a headache, so she was about to dismiss him again, but he was already talking. Putting two and two together, she figured Essence had inspired the first year students a bit too much.

After a deep sigh, she shrugged. “She's the representative for year eight, has long blue hair, blue eyes and wears glasses. That's about the most anyone knows about her, and that's how she seems to like it.”

She stood up from the chair, and looked down upon Londo from her new position. “Now it's your turn. Who told you these rumors?”

-------------

Londo made a, “I ‘unno.” Sound, shrugging all the while, not knowing if he was supposed to be intimidated by the maid towering over him, “I just heard stuff going through the hall. I got one about bartenders fighting, some silver-haired people, one about a bloodsucker that Hibby apparently talked to. This is another one that I heard. I wanted some pointers from them for fighting, and apparently this Morana person hangs around the student council sometimes, and around a professor Eszes. So if you don’t know anything about where that student is right now, can you point me to that professor instead?

-------------

Charon Eszes

Another deep sigh arose from Charon, but then a devious grin appeared. “Oh, Morana won't be of help to you if you're looking for pointers. She won't be of help to anyone for anything, for that matter. You couldn't find a a bigger loner in the entire academy. Instead of looking for her or for my mo...” She paused to recover. ... for professor Eszes, I suggest you go look for the fourth year's representative, Jun Armstrong. He's probably in the gymnasium right now, and he's always pretty enthusiastic about anything fighting related...” She didn't add more, but she surely thought about it. '...and the more you keep him occupied, the less I'll have to deal with him later.'

She then came up with another brilliant idea. “Oh, and do me a favor. Tell everyone that's spreading rumors in those mysterious hallways of yours that the third year's representative tries to attack any younger students that enter the council room. That should give me a bit of calm to get this stuff done.”

-------------

Londo bit his lips, this was more dire than he had realized! This was bad, “I can’t believe Morana is a loner! That’s bad! She must be very lonely! I gotta go help her! Tell me where I can find Professor Eszes! If I can find that professor, then I can find Morana!

Londo gave a bit of thought to the rumor that the third year representative attacks students entering the student council room. Surely if the student council knew about it, then they’d stop it, so it must not be true!

He also started writing another note into his notebook paper: “Look for Jun Armstrong, Fourth Year Representative, for fighting tips.”

-------------

Charon Eszes

This kid was hopeless. It didn't take a genius to figure that out, but the discovery was still peculiar. “Some people prefer to be alone. You'll only annoy them if you try to 'help' them.” That was all the warning he'd get from her though. “If you still want to go on, you can find the professor...” She'd give him a short description of where to go to Eszes' study. On his way out, she'd add; “And don't forget to spread that rumor!”

-------------

As Londo walked out, he realized the attack of students really was just made up, the student council person even said so! A rumor! Londo shrugged, walking down the hallway towards the teacher’s study, having no interest of spreading rumors, only investigating them.

After following the instructions that the student council member provided, Londo knocked on the door, going in if there was anyone inside.

-------------

Nuha Eszes

Londo got a quick reply after knocking on the door. “Just a second!” However, as this was a clear sign that someone was inside, Londo ended up walking in. He'd soon spot the professor in question trying to hide away a partially disassembled sniper rifle, while simultaneously being greeted by a heavy scent of incense the moment he opened the door.

Upon noticing the student had already entered, Nuha was quick to adjust. “Ehm, right. I don't think I know you. What can I do for you?” As she was talking, Londo would soon start to feel an odd sense of familiarity towards this woman. Like she was some sort of old friend or acquaintance.

-------------

Londo noticed the teacher hiding a sniper rifle away, with the smell of incense possibly to hide the mask of gunpowder or oil used to clean it. She also felt quite familiar to him, so he’d probably have to be careful to not accidentally call her “mom”, like the student council member almost did.

He raised a hand in greeting, “Yo! One of the student council members told me where your office was. I’m investigating a rumor! I wanted to find the student Morana, as I heard she was the strongest, and I also heard you knew her! I just wanted to know where she could be found so I could go and see her!

-------------

Nuha clicked her tongue. “You're not the first to ask me about her, and I fear you won't be the last either. However, I'll have to give you the same answer as the rest. That girl doesn't like to be found, so I don't know why I should tell you where she is.”

-------------

Londo raised a finger towards the ceiling in an “eureka” sort of moment, “Aha! But that’s exactly why she NEEDS to be found! I heard she’s a social recluse, and that’s a bad thing! She must be lonely. I don’t want someone to be lonely just because their power is too vast for a normal mortal to comprehend. However!-” Londo said, strutting about the room while talking, “I have been blessed by Gods you see? I have a blessing from Cadwgan himself! I have personally spoken to uh…” Londo quickly counted on his fingers, “5? Gods?.... I am good friends with one of them, having played materialization Shiritori with them. So I can handle any sorta power she can throw out!” Londo said, smugly crossing his arms.

-------------

Nuha was debating whether or not to solve this the 'easy' way. She decided against it, for now at least. That's when a far more fun sounding idea came to mind. “Do you know the second year's representative? He told me the same thing, along with something about wanting to make her wish come true. However, once he actually found her, she straight up told him her wish was for him to leave her alone. I don't think your connections with the gods will make her change her mind. Are you really going to deny her wish to be left alone?”

-------------

Londo made a ‘hmmm’ sound to himself, “True, her wish to be left alone can’t be denied, HOWEVER!-” Londo said once again, “I’ve had people tell me that before, but then later told me they wanted help, but didn’t want to involve others! I will gladly involve myself in something like this if it means someone can be truly happy!

-------------

She sighed. This was a tough crowd, but he might not be entirely wrong. Even so, she couldn't just let him barge in on Morana, that'd be irresponsible as her counselor. She came up with a new idea. “How about this, pretend that I'm Morana for a bit. What would you say to me?”

-------------

Londo thought about it for a moment, “I dunno, I didn’t think I’d get this far to be honest!” Londo said truthfully and shrugging, “But I’m sure I can figure it out when I get there!

-------------

Nuha shook her head. “That won't do. She'd only close herself off more if she starts getting pestered by random kids trying to bother her without even knowing what to say to her. You'd just make my job a lot harder. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to refrain from trying to look her until you can give me a better answer to that question.”

-------------

Londo nodded, “Hmm, hmm, you’re absolutely right! Maybe-

Maybe you can say how you know what it’s like to be lonely at the top.” Alice said, speaking up from her spirit core.Londo

Londo smacked his hand into another hand, “That’s it! Wait, but she wouldn’t believe it, that’s a problem. Aha! I can tell her I also know loneliness and don’t want it on her as well! Having graced various skies and worlds, loneliness can be a harsh and cruel mistress.

-------------

The kid was getting closer, thanks to his spirit, but he didn't strike a gold vein yet. “There is a difference between loneliness and solitude. ” She also wasn't sure what to make sure of the latter part, as it mostly just reminded her of the reason that she only taught in the upper classes. “Tell you what, if you give me your name and class, I'll tell her you're looking for her and see if she wants to meet you the next time she comes here.”

-------------

Londo nodded, crossing his arms and smiling, “Perfect! That’ll work! She can come to me instead! Anyways, the name is Londo Sperry, the GREAT!, from class 1B. Anyways, thanks for the help Professor, I hope to see you soon!” Londo said, leaving the room to leave the professor to her gun-making devices and such.

After leaving the room, Londo checked off his list:


  • The Rumor of the Dueling Bartenders: Tavern owners beat the crap out of each other for some reason at night, better go see what they do it for.
  • The Rumor of the Silent Prince: In the wilds outside the city, some guy can turn off sound and tech. Ask Alice if she knows sign language.
  • The Rumour of the Blood Harvester: Someone is going around stealing blood from people. It’s a spirit apparently. Hibby met her and the spirit was interested in her blood, but I still want to see this spirit.
  • The Rumor of the Silver-Haired League: Mysterious organization yada yada yada, silver hair and stuff.
  • The Rumour of the Strongest Student: Sona Báthroy is the strongest student, with Saral Spitz being a close second! However, Morana Agenent might be even stronger still! Morana is apparently a loner, and I have to wait to see her. I won’t give up on this, but for now I gotta wait on it.
  • The Rumour of the Gymnasium Invader: Some guy sneaking into the gym at night.
  • The Rumor of the Failure Librarian: People say Hibby caused the accident. She totally did, but was it a total accident, and it woulda happened sooner or later.


Londo bit his tongue and thought about what to do next, two of the rumors were at night, and one of them was pretty unclear. Only one to do really, “Alright Alice, into the wilds! I should probably text Ryan to let him know I’m going though, just in case…

I'm going to the wilds outside the city to investigate a rumor, if I don't return I died in glory

Aaaaand send! There, that should be good! Now if I do happen to be lost, Ryan can find me and take me back!

Alice scoffed, “You mean if we die-

Ah, details, details. We just just gotta not do that!” Londo said, waving away Alice’s worries with a wave of the hand, and making his way to the outer parts of the city.

Of course, with the way he was going, there was going to be a bit of difficulty, namely the guards stationed there. Londo gave a small wave, acting natural as he tried to simply walk through no questions asked.

---

Guard
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As Londo approached the gate and tried to pass nonchalantly through, one of the guards called out to him. ”Halt, young man! Where are you headed?”

---

Londo gave a small wave to the guard, and pointed in a circular motion somewhere where he thought the rumor was located, “Somewhere out there! I am investigating a rumor, and heard there was a silent area somewhere out there and I wanna see it!

---

Guard
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The guard frowned a bit at Londo’s answer. As if a young teen trying to leave the city alone wasn’t weird enough, he also didn’t know where he was going? ”Hey, don’t you know its dangerous outside the walls? Why not try to find somewhere to play here in the city?”

---

Londo shrugged, then flexed off to show off to the guard, “Well I would, but you see-” Londo said, wriggling his eyebrows, “I am unwilling to be bound by rumors within the city. As a disciple of the great Cadwgan himself, I wish to expand my glory, and see what lies beyond the city! I am strong enough to defend myself if something shows up, and Alice has the common sense to let me know if I can’t, so I’ll be fine!

---

Guard
f2AgqYt.png

The boy was a disciple of Cadwgan? That explained a bit, certainly. ”Still, I can’t permit you to just go out and wander around when you don’t have any idea what you’re looking for. Could you-” The rest of the guard’s sentence was interrupted by the sound of approaching boots from behind Londo, causing the guard to straighten up and salute.

???
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”What seems to be the trouble here, Soldier?”

”Sir! This young man is attempting to leave the city to go to an unknown destination. Out of concern for his safety, I stopped him and am attempting to persuade him to stay within the walls.”

The man in red nodded his acknowledgement of the guard’s answer before turning towards Londo. ”Well then, what is it you are seeking? Perhaps I can be of assistance. I am Captain Lorne Hughes, of the Inquisition. Its a pleasure to meet you, Mister -?”

---

Londo pointed to himself with his left thumb in a proclamation of glory, “I am, Londo, the GREAT!, disciple of the great Cadwgan himself, here to make a journey into the wilds to investigate a rumor of silence, an area where no sound at all happens! I will see to the source of this, and what it’s all about, captain Hughes!

---

Captain Hughes
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Captain Hughes nodded along in understanding as Londo spoke. "Ah yes, I know that area. A pretty strange place, certainly. I don't mind giving a Mage such as yourself a lift as far as Caer Pokara, but it might be a bit dangerous to go alone. And unless you have some other transportation, it wouldn't be possible to get back home before nightfall." He gestured to a nearby truck as he spoke of the proposed lift.

---

Londo gave a thumbs up to the guard, “I’d really appreciate it! Thanks! I don’t need a ride back though, cause the other rumors I was gonna look into take place at night!” Londo said, making his way to the truck if the captain did so as well, to take a ride to wherever he needed to.

---

Captain Hughes
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”Well, so long as you’re certain,” Captain Hughes replied. Captain Hughes got into the passenger side seat of the truck’s cabin, while gesturing for Londo to ride in the back. As Londo hopped into the truck, he found some space on the end of one of the benches. Otherwise, the back of the truck was filled with a variety of people in matching Inquisition uniforms.

PqG685F.png

They seemed friendly enough, at least among themselves, as they kept up lively conversations as the truck rumbled and bounced its way down the road. Finally, a couple hours later, the truck came to a halt at the outer gate of Caer Pokara, a small city that had grown up around a fortress meant to protect the border back when the kingdom was much, much smaller. Captain Hughes got out of the truck and circled around to the back to speak with Londo. ”Well, Mister Londo, this is your stop. The silent region should be about five kilometers south-southeast of here.” In addition to naming the cardinal direction, Captain Hughes also gestured in the appropriate direction. ”While you might be a Mage, still, do remember to be careful wandering around in the wilderness. There are still monsters out there, despite best efforts.”

Captain Hughes gave a small salute to Londo, before turning to get back to his seat. The truck would then start up again and drive into the city of Caer Pokara, leaving Londo on the road outside the walls.


Current Time: 4:10 PM. Sunset is at approximately 8:00 PM

---

Londo saluted to Captain Hughes, after the enjoyable car ride, “Don’t worry! I can handle them! And if I DO die, I got friends who know where I am!

He gave a wave to the car as it drove off, and Londo looked in the direction that the captain had pointed, and started his trek that way. Alice remained silent, hoping he wouldn’t get the both of them killed, while Londo carefully made his way that way. Hopefully no too powerful monsters would show up, but he definitely wouldn’t mind a slime or two, just to see if he had gotten powerful enough to learn any new techniques.

---


Despite Londo's hopes, he encountered no enemies along the way to the silent area. Indeed, he didn't even realize he had reached it until the world abruptly fell silent.


The wind blew, but it did not whistle. The grass crackled under his feet, but the crunching was not to be heard. Londo could feel his heart beating, but the sound never reached his eardrums. Even Londo's AMB seemed to start acting up, displaying a warning that communications could not be sent or received at the time.

---

Londo couldn’t hear a word, or a single sound. He jumped in joy realizing he had made it to his destination, then started saying something to Alice, but then realized his mistake. So he took out his notepad and started writing a message for her, Think this is the place?

Alice appeared physically, and signed something that roughly translated to “No shit sherlock”. Then returned to her spirit core.

Londo started making his way to the middle of the area, looking around carefully, while crouching low and trailing his fingers along the ground. He couldn’t rely on one of his major senses this time, so now he would have to make do with sight and sound: feeling for vibrations in the ground, and seeing any sort of unnatural twitch in the trees or bushes around him…

Well, he was about to, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, Alice was there, and she was pointing her thumb behind her, back outside the anomalous zone. Londo nodded, following her.

Once out, she said to him, “How about instead of a blind trek to the center, we at least try to figure out where it is?” She said, and drew a circle in the dirt, with a smaller circle around where they might be, “If we find another part of the circle, if this thing even IS a circle, then we can triangulate where the center is based on that.

Londo folded his arms and thought for a moment, “Hmmm, Yup! Sounds good, let’s do that!

So then, Londo and Alice made their way around a supposed circle, walking a good distance, about 20 feet, apart, going into the area 3 times, trying to find where the circle started. Once they found their three spots, they entered back into the spot in the middle, using the other two spots as guiding points to point their way to the middle, and continued their trek that way….

---

After doing their best to calculate their heading, Londo and Alice set off into the silent zone. Londo did his best to maintain a steady pace, but trying to keep his fingers on the ground meant that his posture was neither comfortable nor effective for swift movement.

After about 15 minutes of discomfort, Londo spotted something unusual off to one side. Through the trees off to his left a little ways away, sunlight could be seen reflecting off of brilliant white metal of some sort. It wasn't on the path that Londo had calculated earlier, but only a closer examination would be able to reveal whether Londo's math was wrong or whether it was merely something unrelated within the anomaly.

---

Londo’s face lit up, and he exclaimed with a small “Aha!”-

That couldn’t be heard because of the anomaly, Londo hurriedly pointed towards it rapidly, looking back at Alice, to find her glaring at him, bringing her finger to her lips and zipping them up rather harshly.

Londo quickly looked back at the metal, realizing alice meant business, and slowly made his way over to the metal, hiding behind trees as he did so to hide from any suspecting person or thing hiding there.

---

As Londo slipped around a tree, he felt some relatively recent damage to the bark next to him. Here and there on other trees as well, chunks of bark had been taken out by something slicing along the tree. One even still had the bullet embedded in it, though the bullet was far larger than any normal gun would be firing.

Now that he was closer, Londo could better make out the metal's shape. It was far larger than he had likely expected, as significant amounts had been partly buried by earth and foliage. From the distant corners of half-ignored school lessons, Londo could surmise that this was the wreckage of a Lacertan mechanical soldier.

Dz9D8w8.jpg

Both arms and the left leg had been removed and were strewn about the area, and the body had been dented and split open in countless places. A massive firearm lay on the ground, still clenched within the right hand. All things considered, it didn’t seem functional anymore. But it did seem to be a relatively recent wreck, seeing as how much of it still seemed untouched by the passage of time, so perhaps some sort of jamming system was still running and creating the silent area?

---

Oh hey, these are the alien thing the mages fought in the apocalypse! Londo mimed with his mouth, before realizing no sound was coming out. Londo squinted at the wreckage, and signed a “head out” motion to Alice, pointing two fingers up, then forwards. He moved from the left, and Alice moved from the right, towards the wreckage. Upon moving upon it, Londo made sure it wasn’t moving, before touching the gun, and poking and prodding at the creature to make sure it wasn’t operational anymore.

---

The only motion that came from the wreckage as Londo approached the gun was a small lizard scuttling away from the arm. Presumably it had been using the arm as shelter from the elements and predators. Likewise, there was no reaction from the machine or gun when Londo poked at it. Other than being designed for a 5-ish meter tall mech, the gun seemed relatively conventional in that someone would need to be pulling it's trigger before it could go off.

After a brief stop at the severed right arm, Londo and Alice advanced toward the main body and it's one intact leg. Again, there was no sign of anything reacting to their presence, even as they stood beside it. From up close, the dents and holes in the armor were a lot more evident. In addition, the mech had been decapitated, and the head nowhere to be seen. Whatever fight this machine had been in, it had clearly not gone in it's favor.

Exterior inspection complete, Londo began to carefully climb up the torso. The armor was quite smooth, but thanks to the natural gaps in its plating and the various dents and breaks from it's combat, it was a relatively easy climb still. Finally, he had reached the top, where the largest damaged section was, as well as the largest hole to look through.

Londo was not known for his Great! electrical engineering skills. Even if he had been, an extraterrestrial machine probably would be beyond his abilities to analyze. That said, Londo didn't need to be an expert to notice the small black cube that pulsated every few seconds with a soft, light blue glow. It was connected to some of the countless cords within the machine, and it was somewhat covered by other cords, so if Londo wished for a closer inspection, he'd likely need to take a bit of time to pull it out. That said, it was difficult to spot anything else of obvious note within the machine.

---

With nothing of interest to note, Londo climbed up the machine, while Alice stood idly by, both watching for other threats and just not wanting to do any work. Inside the machine, Londo saw an amazing, pulsating cube. He REALLY wanted to touch it, but who knew what would happen?

Londo looked back at Alice and pointed into the machine and then shrugged. Alice made an inaudible sigh, and climbed up the machine, looking into it. Londo pointed at her and shrugged with a questionable look, and Alice shook her head in reply. She didn’t know any more about it than Londo would.

Londo also let out an inaudible sigh and stared back at the cube, putting a finger on his chin, thinking. Alice tapped him on the shoulder, then pointed at him, the cube, and then made the sign for “Yank it out.”

Londo gave her a “What? Why?!” Look, before Alice just glared back at him with a “Just do it.” look.

Londo then braced himself, and Alice jumped off the mech without him looking, going to go hide behind some nearby trees, picking up a rock in the meantime, while Londo set to it to start yanking on the cube to try and release it from the robot’s cold icy depths.

---

Alice ducked behind a tree, picking up the largest rock she could see around her. A nice baseball-sized chunk of stone in hand, she prepared herself.

Londo plunged both his hands into the machine, forcing his way past the cords to reach the cube. Some of the cords above his arms dropped down as he touched the cube, as if trying to pin his arms down and prevent him from moving. If that was their intent though, it wasn't very effective; the cords weren't heavy enough to even slow him. Was it a last ditch effort by the machine to protect an important piece of circuitry? Or did Londo just bump some loose cords? It was impossible to say which was true.

That incident aside, Londo was now firmly grasping the cube. He yanked once, and then a second time, but the cord actually connected to the box was too firmly set to dislodge just from that. Londo snaked his right hand around the cube, finding the cord in question and unscrewing its locking mechanism. Then, one final yank, and the cube came free. Londo pulled it out through the mass of cords, lifting it into the evening sunlight.

Alice braced herself to react, but surprisingly, there was no change in anything. Save for the fact that it was now even more damaged than before, the machine showed no activity. In addition, as far as they could tell, nothing had changed in the vicinity. The silence was still just as deafening as before.

Within Londo's hands, the cube still slowly glowed on and off in its pale blue light. However, a single small green light had appeared on one side, next to the port where the cord that Londo had unplugged had been. The green light remained on and steady, regardless of the pulsating of the rest of the cube.

---

As soon as Londo got the cube out from the robot, he noticed a strange green light. He immediately pushed it, but found his finger hit resistance. It seemed to be an indicator of some kind, rather than a button. Londo’s shoulders slumped, dejected, before Alice came over and looked at the cube, then at the robot, then back to the cube. She signed, “Battery?” And Londo shrugged. Whatever it was, it wasn’t doing anything. Londo grabbed the rock from Alice’s hand and quickly set the cube down on the ground, raising the rock above his head to smash down on it-

But Alice’s hand quickly grabbed Londo’s wrist, and she gave him a look as if to suggest “What the FUCK are you doing?!” Londo pointed to the cube and zipped his lips, and Alice still gave him that same look. She put her hands together, her fingertips touching, and then quickly moved them explosively apart, to which Londo’s lips pursed in an O shape and he nodded.

Alice sighed then started to walk away, motioning that Londo should do the same, so he did, following her and keeping the cube next to him. Next stop, back to the city! If possible that was.

On one hand, the scientists might be able to study this cube, on the other, a total silence falling over the city might lead to some untold mayhem, if the cube really WAS the source of the silence. So Londo would need to stand back with the cube while Alice made her way to the city. But that was still a few hours away, so all they could do now was walk, taking the same path out that they took in..

However, if they made it out of the original area of the silence, they would walk back into the area. They, or rather Londo, wanted to find the source of the silence, and if this cube wasn’t it, then they needed to check around some more.

---

Cube in hand, Londo and Alice set off the way they came, using memory and their footprints to retrace their trail. The walk back was much quicker, what with Londo walking upright this time. Within a handful of minutes, they had returned to the world of sound.


Well, the fact that they could hear again would seem to indicate that at the very least, the cube was not the center of the silence. That still didn't explain what it was, though.

But the mystery of the silence would not be solved by milling around. The shadows were growing longer, and Londo's AMB clock said it was about 5:30 PM. There was still plenty of light left, but they'd probably only have time for one or two more trips into the silence if they wanted to make it back to even Caer Pokara before sundown. And unless they had some sort of transportation, making it back to Uruk before nightfall was already a lost cause.


The pair and their alien machinery plus one traveled through the silence once more. They soon passed by the point where Londo had veered off to inspect the ruined mech, and they continued walking in the direction Londo and Alice had calculated. Until, finally, they found something.

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They had found the other end of the silence, evidently. And, to go with it, there was a small lake nearby. A surprisingly scantily clad woman sat on the trunk of a tree growing next to the lake, her voice filling the air with song. In addition, a few seconds after Londo stepped out of the silent area, the cube stopped its periodic pulsating, though its small green light remained on still.

---

Surprisingly, they had gone straight out of the silence once again, maybe that robot really WAS the source of it, or at least the center. However, a strange sight filled both Alice and Londo’s sight and ears upon getting out of the silence, a scantily dressed woman who wore even less clothing than Alice-

Shut up.

But I didn’t SAY anything!

I know you’re thinking it… HEY!” Alice suddenly shouted to the girl singing, “What are you doing here? Do you know anything about that silence?” And although it may have been unwise to shout out suddenly, it wasn’t like Londo was going to keep his mouth shut either, so Alice had spoken before he did to avoid any unnecessary complications from his shouting.

---

???
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The girl stopped singing as Alice shouted, a look of mild surprise on her face. She hopped down off her tree trunk, and walked a bit closer to the pair, not wanting to be constantly shouting. After looking the pair over for a moment, she spoke up: "A stray spirit and her Mage, huh? I was singing while I wait for a friend to arrive, that's all. If you're looking for the way back to Uruk, I'm sure she wouldn't mind giving you a lift to the Academy."

Notably, the girl did not say anything about Alice's silence question. Had she not heard it, or had she intentionally declined to answer? Meanwhile, the cube showed no signs of resuming it's pulsating glow, even as the green light remained steady and unchanged.

---
Londo noticed she didn’t answer the question Alice asked her, about the silent area, so he opened his mouth to speak, only to be shot a stern glance from Alice. So Londo shrugged, and stared at the cube, trying to unveil its secrets.

As Londo tried poking and prodding at the cube to see if it would continue to glow, Alice crossed her arms and sighed, “Alright, I’ll bite. Who’s this friend you’re waiting for, and why would this be a spot to be looking for them? That silent area isn’t exactly the best rendezvous point for a casual meetup.


---

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The girl stared at Alice for a moment, confusion obvious on her face. "Because this lake holds personal significance to us and we know it well? Certainly, that area is a bit unusual, and mildly troublesome for magic users, but it's never hurt anyone. And she's my friend; what does our relationship matter to you?"

Londo rotated the cube in his hands, seeing if he could make it glow as it had before. None of his actions seemed to restore the blue pulse, though the green light was still steady. However, there had been some changes to the cube.

The most obvious was that the port that he had removed a cord from now seemed to be missing; there was only smooth cube surface where it had been indented before. In addition, the edges seemed like they were a little less sharp than they had been, and the corners were definitely more smooth and rounded than they had been when he was first pulling it out.

Finally, for someone as Great! as Londo, it was certainly not uncommon to feel the eyes of people staring at him. That said, it was more than a little unusual to feel like a cube was watching him, especially when it didn't have any obvious eyes, cameras, or other ocular viewing devices.

---

Although Londo loved having adoring eyes focused upon him, a cube that didn’t have eyes felt a bit unnerving, so he pocketed the cube instead of examining further and joined in on the conversation, “Sooo, who’s your friend?

Getting annoyed, Alice also added, “And why are you not concerned about the silence area?...

---

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Well, if it made Alice feel any better, she clearly wasn't the only one getting annoyed. She flicked her silver hair back over here shoulder and straightened her hat as she spoke, frustration evident in her voice. Londo's question was ignored, presumably because she has just told off Alice for asking about her friend.

"I'm not bothered by the silence because it's never done anything to me and I can take care of myself. But, since all you seem to do is interrogate someone you only just met, without even so much as introducing yourself, I'm just going to have to ask you to leave me alone. You're welcome to share the lake with me though; civilized people know how to respect each other's privacy while sharing a communal space."

After that, she went back over to her perch and lightly leapt back up to it. Too lightly, in fact. Normal people didn't just casually leap up to a spot that was farther off the ground than they were tall. But this girl didn't even take a running start; it seemed effortless for her.

In the cube's case, putting it in a pocket certainly seemed to stop it from staring at Londo. Of course, that didn't explain why or how it had been staring in the first place. But maybe some mysteries were better left to be answered by the scientists back in An Chéad Toshi.

---

Alice glared at the woman, and started to open her mouth to speak, but instead Londo spoke again, “So what’s your name? And your friend’s name? I wanna meet them! Are they cool? Are they a mage?” Londo asked excitedly, “Do you know what the cube I was holding earlier did? I felt it staring at me, felt weird.” Londo said shrugging.

---

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The girl sighed and began braiding her long silver hair as she heard the interrogation switch from the unnecessarily endowed spirit to the overly energetic child. Well whatever. At least he had the decency to ask for her name as one of the questions, though neither of them had given theirs yet.

"I'm Erin. I'm waiting for my friend Ashera to arrive. Yes, she's cool. Yes, we're both Mages. I don't know why I'd know anything about some cube you have. Maybe it wants to be your friend."

---

Londo pointed to himself with his thumb and proudly stated, “I’m Londo, the GREAT!, and this is my spirit, Alice! We have come from Uruk to solve the mystery of the silent area, but it looks like you don’t know anything about it, so darn…” Londo said pouting, while Alice groaned, crossing her arms and looking back into the silence.

Londo shrugged and said, “Oh well, that could be a mystery for another time, mind if we wait with you? I wanna meet your friend!” He said, and if Erin allowed them, Londo would wait.

---

Erin
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Erin sighed and facepalmed as Londo asked a question that she had answered not five minutes ago. "As I just said, this lake is a public space and you are more than welcome to wait here." She was decently fed up with this duo, so she wouldn't bother trying to talk to them unless something came up.

As Londo waited, doing whatever he wanted to pass the time, he noticed that there was a small rip on the front of his pocket. That tear definitely hadn't been there a few minutes ago, and a bit of investigation would reveal that one of the bizarre cube's corners had become sharp again and pierced through the pocket material. Only the one corner had sharpened though; the rest of the pocket and Londo himself remained puncture-free.


The temperature slowly began dropping and the shadows lengthened during the roughly 15 minute wait. Eventually, a soft whoosh of wind announced the arrival of another young woman riding a broomstick sidesaddle. The broom skimmed over the ground for a moment as she landed smoothly. Erin hopped down off her trunk as the new girl landed, and the two of them hugged each other in greeting.

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After embracing for a moment, the new girl turned in Londo’s direction. ”So Erin, who’s the kid?”

"Some Mage who was checking out the silence,” Erin said with a small sigh. "You’re heading to Uruk next, right? Wanna drop them off at the Academy? It’s rather late for a kid to be walking all the way back to Uruk.”

”Yeah, I’m cool with that.” The new girl walked over to Londo and Alice, offering each of them a handshake and a smile. ”I’m Ashera. Nice to meet’cha.” She smelled slightly of a floral perfume, and the broom in her left hand both looked and smelled like good, solid oak wood.

---

As Londo was poking at the sharp tip of his cube, Alice glared at him, and walked toward the new mage, Ashera, “Nice to meet you. My name’s Alice. That idiot right there is Londo.” Which prompted a “Yo.” From him before continuing to examine the cube more.

Alice ignored him and continued, “We’re here to investigate the silence, I don’t suppose you know anything about it, do you?

---

Ashera
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The corner of the cube was incredibly sharp; even a casual touch of his finger was enough to make that clear. Except, a moment later, it felt significantly duller. And a moment after that, it was a blunt, rounded corner again, like the other corners. There could be no doubt that the cube was changing itself somehow, but whether it was random or if the cube somehow had intelligence remained to be seen.

Ashera pondered on Alice's question briefly. ”Hmm, I think it was about two weeks ago that Old Bill said he found this area and asked me to check it out. I couldn't find anything dangerous about it, so I told the locals to be cautious but not worry too much. The Galilean dudes that came by to check it out said that they couldn't see any issues either."

---

Alice pursed her lips in annoyance, but Londo shrugged, “Welp, looks like we tried our best Alice!” He said to her, then turned to the other two, “Mind if we take you up on that broomstick ride back? We don’t have one ourselves!

Alice tsked in annoyance, but returned to Spirit form, to ensure Londo wouldn’t have to share a broomstick with 2 girls.

---

Ashera
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Londo seemed to give up on the questioning pretty quickly, as did Alice. Maybe they were just tired. Or maybe they assumed she wouldn't be of any more help- a fair assumption considering that she didn't have much else to share on the topic. ”Sure thing. We'll leave in a few minutes."

Ashera began taking care of the other things she had to do here. She pulled a letter out of her purse and passed it over to Erin. In turn, Erin took off her hat, held it upside down, and reached into the hat. Perhaps it served as a magical storage container, as she pulled out a decent sized chunk of bluish-purple crystal and handed it to Ashera in exchange for the letter. Ashera also pulled out an empty flask and filled it with water from the lake, and then used a piece of chalk to inscribe some sort of sigil on a stone near the edge of the silence.

After finishing her tasks, Ashera returned to Londo. She tapped her broom on the ground and it magically expanded, nearly doubling in length and girth. Ashera hopped on to perch sidesaddle at the front of the broom, and it hovered horizontally about a meter off the ground as she waited for Londo to mount. Since they would be largely flying in the direction of the setting sun, Ashera pulled out pairs of sunglasses for her and Londo. Then, with a wave to Erin, Ashera would guide the broom up into the sky and they would begin to fly off towards An Chéad Toshi.


Skimming about 150 meters above the ground, the broomstick was far faster than Londo could have managed to travel on foot, and flight allowed them to outpace most automobiles even if their actual speed was lower. Even traveling by broomstick didn't let them outrace the setting sun, but the many lights of Uruk lit up the night to guide them in. A sharp chill would flow through Londo's body as they crossed over the Bastion, though since there were no alarms or soldiers shooting at them, it was safe to assume that they were authorized to pass.

Ashera wouldn't particularly engage Londo in conversation as they flew (unless he or Alice spoke to her first), though a speaker in her purse did provide pop music for the ride. She did casually pull out her phone and send a text to someone as they approached Uruk, but thankfully, texting while driving flying didn't cause any incidents.

The broom swooped down to land in one of the Academy's courtyards, stopping a little less than a meter off the ground again so its riders could disembark. Ashera hopped off and glanced around the area, searching for someone. ”Hmm, my daughter was supposed to meet me here, but I guess she's running late or something. Well anyway," she turned back to Londo and gave him a cheerful smile. ”I hope you enjoyed the flight."

---

Londo briefly wondered what exactly had occurred here, but he wasn’t an actual detective like that purple-haired girl, so he didn’t have the power to eavesdrop or use his eyes to look more closely, nor did he seem to recognize whatever that sigil was. Maybe something to stop the silence? Either way, Londo knew he wouldn’t get anything out of them, not while Erin was around. Londo perched himself onto the broom after Ashera, maybe he’d get to ask her along the way.

Along the way, Londo kept an arm around Ashera, making sure he couldn’t fall off, his other hand in his pocket, making sure the cube didn’t fall out. He mostly kept in silence along the way, partly because the roaring of the wind wouldn’t carry even his own thoughts along. The big reason why he didn’t talk was because he enjoyed the flight. This was something he always wished he could do as a child, just hop on a broom and soar the skies! Unfortunately he had not been a mage and could not do that. And now that Londo WAS a mage….

Wait, why DIDN’T he just get a broom to fly here in the first place?!

While he contemplated all this, they finally landed, and Londo got off the broom, feeling slightly sore and unused to flying a broom. He gave a wave to Ashera and smiled, “Thanks for the ride! We really appreciate it! By the way…” Londo said keeping the side that the cube was in facing away from Ashera, keeping his hand in his pocket and acting like he was about to ask her a big secret, “What was that sigil you drew back in the woods?

---

Ashera
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Londo had a slightly odd stance as he spoke to Ashera in the courtyard, but being a little sore after your first flight wasn't uncommon. ”Ah, that? It's a simple charm to ward off monsters. It won't stop something powerful, but it keeps the lake a little safer without me needing to constantly be an anti-monster lifeguard."

With his hand in his pocket, Londo could feel a slight hum and a soft warmth from the cube within. Not only the corners, but also the edges now had smoothed themselves out to avoid accidentally hurting something.

---

Londo gave her a thumbsup after hearing her explanation, “Alright! Coolio! Let’s go Alice, it’s been a looong day for me.” He yelled to Alice, despite the fact that she was still in spirit form. He then put a hand on his chin, trying to figure out something, “Although I really wanted to see those fighting bartenders… Oh well!” Londo said with a shrug, and starting walking back to the school, heading towards his dorm room, “See ya Ashera! Thanks again for the ride!” He said, giving a small wave.

---

Ashera
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Ashera saw Londo off with a wave of her own. She lounged against her broom as Londo departed, pulling out her phone, presumably to message the daughter she was waiting for.

---

Londo stretched and yawned, as he opened the door to his room and starting stripping into his pajamas. Alice appeared, looking away as she did so and collapsed into her own bed, tired from Londo’s antics for that day.

Finally, Londo grabbed his pants from the floor and took the cube out, still a cube, yup. Londo nodded to himself, placing the cube on the dresser next to him. Tomorrow he would go to Roland and ask him what the cube was all about. But for now…

Londo opened up his list from earlier:

  • The Rumor of the Dueling Bartenders: Tavern owners beat the crap out of each other for some reason at night, better go see what they do it for.
  • The Rumor of the Silent Prince: In the wilds outside the city, some guy can turn off sound and tech. Ask Alice if she knows sign language. Mission Unsuccessful. We might have found the source of the noise, but we don’t know how it works. Got a sweet looking cube from it though.
  • The Rumour of the Blood Harvester: Someone is going around stealing blood from people. It’s a spirit apparently. Hibby met her and the spirit was interested in her blood, but I still want to see this spirit.
  • The Rumor of the Silver-Haired League: Mysterious organization yada yada yada, silver hair and stuff.
  • The Rumour of the Strongest Student: Sona Báthroy is the strongest student, with Saral Spitz being a close second! However, Morana Agenent might be even stronger still! Morana is apparently a loner, and I have to wait to see her. I won’t give up on this, but for now I gotta wait on it.
  • The Rumour of the Gymnasium Invader: Some guy sneaking into the gym at night.
  • The Rumor of the Failure Librarian: People say Hibby caused the accident. She totally did, but was it a total accident, and it woulda happened sooner or later.


Londo frowned at the list. He wanted to explore the gymnasium and the bartenders, but this collab had gone on way too fucking long already he needed time to sort out his thoughts, especially with his new cube…

---

As Londo set the cube on the dresser beside him, he noticed a far more drastic change than before…


| |



A smiley face of blue light looked back at Londo from the cube. It stared at him, “blinking” every so often as it looked at him.

---


Londo blinked back at the cube, then rubbed his eyes, “Wow, I’m way more tired than I thought!” He said, jumping back into his bed, throwing his head back and letting the god of sleep take him for the night. During his sleep, he received a message on his COMB, stating he would go see the king with his class the next morning, interrupting his plans of talking to Roland…

Londo sighed when waking up the next morning, “Oh well! Guess I can go see Roland later!” He said, after getting ready to look his best for the king, “C’mon Alice! Let’s go!

Londo finally had a day to show off his impeccible talents and skills! Hopefully... Maybe not, but Londo still had to try. After he and Alice took a shower, Londo stated his intent to transform, transforming into his normal transformed transformation.

Alice scoffed, "Are you REALLY going in that outfit?" To which Londo shrugged, "Dunno, I don't have anything else to wear. Your shopping for clothing left me in the red for money!"

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Alice crossed her arms, "True, but then again that didn't matter."

"Wait, why?"

"Nevermind, I mispoke, let's go."

Londo gave her a thumbsup, then left the room.


---

When Londo and Alice awoke, the cube they had acquired was no longer on the dresser. Somehow, it had found its way across the room and was now resting against an electrical outlet on the wall. A small power cord extended from one side, the indicator light had changed from green to yellow, and the blue face had been replaced by a simple pictograph of a power cord. Since the power cord was just resting on the floor though, it probably had not been able to plug itself in.


---

Alice took a second to stare at the cube in the corner, which had definitely not been there the previous night.



Ok, that’s creepy.” She said out loud to noone, “How the hell did Londo not notice you through the night?” She said, not knowing that Londo noticed it but chose to ignore it, thinking he was just tired. Random thoughts crossed Alice’s mind as she started moving towards the cube and picking it up. Maybe this cube was something special after all. Maybe if they held onto it, then going to see Roland wouldn’t be necessary.

For now, Alice set the cube down and plugged it into the wall. What would happen if they left it here to charge while they were at the ceremony? Would it leave? Alice scoffed, wondering why she was going through this effort for a damn cube in the first place.

She walked over to her dresser, picking up a pen and paper, writing down a note to the cube

Heading out for a bit, stay here and help yourself to the juicy power outlet. We’ll be back soon.


No doubt Londo would forget about the cube after their visit from the king, who was pretty much his idol.

Aliiiice? Are you coming?” A voice shouted from the hallway.

Alice stared at the cube on the floor, hoping it wouldn’t run off somewhere, and if it just sat there charging, left and walked out the door, “Just trying to make your side of the room not a total pigsty, let’s go.

---

The cube's display changed to what was most likely a smile of happiness as Alice plugged it in. It gave a soft Boop as Alice departed. When they returned later, the cube would be waiting where Alice had left it, still plugged in.

---

The door to the room opened, and in entered Alice, who was alone. Londo was nowhere to be seen, as he went off to the gym to train, proclaiming his greatness and that he needed to train because of it.

Alice went over and sat on Londo’s bed, staring at the cube. She didn’t say anything for several minutes, before sighing and standing up, walking over to the cube, “I can’t believe Londo already forgot about you. I guess I need to take care of you until he does, and decides what to do with you.” She said, unplugging it and holding it in her hand, seeing what it would do.

---

The cube hummed softly, a pleasant warmth emanating from it as Alice held it in her hand. The power cord retracted into the cube and disappeared from view.

---

Alright then…” Alice said, pocketing the cube, “Guess you’re staying with me until Londo remembers you. But don’t worry, I won’t hand you over to anyone else, who knows what they’ll do, poking and prodding. Huh, guess that means you’d be the same as Londo, at least, from another life.

After pocketing the cube, Alice went to lay on the bed, still tired from before, and now wondering how to take care of an advanced piece of technology like this…

Over the next few days, Alice tended to its needs, which basically meant she charged it in the socket next to her bed, and took it with her whenever she went out, making sure it could at least look around in the outside world. Whenever she didn’t leave her room, she talked to it, wondering if telling stories of her life and Londo’s would influence it in any way…
 
Hannah Lorken
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Unsurprisingly, Hannah couldn't help Almeida all that much. "Yeah, sorry. All I know is that supposedly Bonded Spirits are stronger the more connected you are. Maybe you could, I don't know, try talking to it? Or seeing what would make it happy?” But that was really all Hannah could offer on the matter. Maybe she ought to pick up some books on Spirits and Mages when they were in Elnai.

Janus wasn't too interested in a new firearm; he simply wanted to keep his own. ”Suit yourself. Check back tomorrow morning and I should have the attachment ready.” She chuckled lightly as he departed awkwardly. It was always fun to see how flirtatious men reacted when she told them that.


Hibiscus seemed interested in losing more blood rather than having anesthesia. Well, that's not something I ever expected to think about, but to each their own. Regardless, it was Hibiscus's blade (and blood) here, not Hannah's, so she'd make the product as requested. Hannah sighed before she answered: "I'm certain that Jenna would have something suitable for making people bleed more. We can go ask her if you'd like." Hannah would then head out of the armory and into the hallway...




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The woman happily handed the flask over to Almeida and pulled out a stopwatch and a small microphone from a pocket of her coat. She eagerly held the microphone up to her lips with her left hand while her right hand activated the stopwatch when Almeida began to drink the fluid. "Subject is beginning the trial.” She didn’t seem to have any interest in what Janus was saying at the moment.

Perhaps it was the electricity within the fluid, or perhaps it was the chaotic flavoring, but Almeida lost any sense of taste almost immediately. That was probably for the best though; it was even less appetizing than it smelled. Almeida did her best to keep drinking it though, finishing it off in a handful of seconds. "Subject has completed consumption,” the girl spoke into her microphone.

Results were just as swift as they were unpleasant. Jolts of electricity raced through Almeida’s body, driving her down to her knees. The roiling fluid in her stomach threatened to make her lose the bit of lunch she had eaten not long ago. Her vision was clouded over by darkness. Specifically, blueberry-scented darkness. Finally, about 15 seconds after it had all begun, Almeida finished collapsing and passed out.

Almeida is now unconscious. Her Aura, Prana, and Stamina are all set to 0

"Slightly longer duration of symptoms than desirable. Primary effect is still being timed.” The woman circled around Almeida’s body inspecting without touching so as not to disturb whatever data she was collecting.

”Jenna! What did we tell you about experimenting on people?” Hannah shouted at the woman, having seen Almeida’s body lying in the hallway as she came out of her armory. ”You can’t just take advantage of new crew members like that!” Jenna didn’t really seem to notice Hannah’s remarks either though.

About 30 seconds after she had passed out though, Almeida began to stir again. The thick, horrid taste of the liquid still lingered on her tongue, but somehow, she felt perfectly fine otherwise. Better than fine, actually; she felt greater than ever! The hairs on the back of her hands, arms, and so on tingled though, as if every inch of her was charged with static electricity.

Almeida’s Aura, Prana, and Stamina have been set to 175

"Subject is recovering significantly faster than anticipated. A side effect of being a Mage? Further investigation required." Jenna held the microphone out to Almeida's lips. "Tell me how you feel. Oh, and this is for the sake of science, so please be honest." Hannah could only heave a sigh as Jenna showed no indication of changing her ways.


Caoimhe Mallon
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Londo seemed confused by Caoimhe apologizing, though he offered an apology of his own. ”Ah… Yeah… I know.” She fidgeted for a bit before continuing. ”I uh, was actually there most of the time. I asked my friend Cilla to turn me invisible ‘cause I wasn’t brave enough to speak to you directly yet. So, I heard how much you wanted to apologize to me, and I’m sorry for hiding for so long.” Her right hand continued to fiddle with something in her pocket as she spoke to Londo.

Well, Londo seemed to want to be friends, and Caoimhe herself had come here to try and patch things up. But just as Caoimhe was reaching out her hand to accept Londo's handshake, she heard a somewhat familiar voice behind her. ”Ah, Rina. It's ok. We're working things out." Rina then explained that she would be departing as well, and she gave a few comments to Caoimhe, some of which were expected to be relayed on to others. ”Sure, I'll pass it along."

It seemed like today was not Caoimhe's lucky day for not being interrupted though, as Weaver's voice called out over the intercom again. "All hands, report to stations. Mages please join us on the bridge." While that announcement was being made, Caoimhe, Londo, and Rina could see for a moment a flurry of dark fabric sprinting past them, rushing across the gangplank and off to the bridge.

”Well, I guess it's time for you to go then, huh?” Caoimhe started to turn away to walk back towards the Academy, but was stopped as Hurik elbowed her leg. ”Ah, right.” She paused and turned back towards Londo, her face rapidly blushing more and more. ”Hey, uh, Londo? I uh… I…” Caoimhe paused for a moment to take a deep breath.


”Iwantyoutohavethis!ImadeittosaythatI’msorryforhowItreatedyou!” Caoimhe’s right hand, which had been fiddling in her pocket, suddenly pulled a small box out of said pocket and hurled it towards Londo without warning as her words came out in a torrent. Before she could even see if the box had connected with Londo, she had already turned and was sprinting away.


Hurik sighed loudly as his Mage dashed off. ”Ifn dat wee lassae dinae have great tallen, ah’d’ve left ‘er long ago. She mean well dough. Hope dat present helps.” Hurik tipped an invisible hat towards Londo and Rina before turning to follow Caoimhe back down into the Academy.

If Londo were to open the box Caoimhe had thrown his way, he would find a silver anklet set with a small ruby.




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Five people waited on the bridge for the Mages to arrive. Standing at the captain’s chair in the center was a young lady wearing what could only be described as a pirate captain costume. She gave a cheerful wave as she called out to the newcomers. "Yahallo!~ This is your captain speaking~ My name is Yurika Shakespeare. Thank you for choosing Academy Airlines~" She also tossed out a peace sign towards the Mages.
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The floor creaked ever so slightly as Weaver shifted his weight. "As I mentioned earlier, I am Weaver, First Mate and Tactical Officer. If you are ever in need of the ship's armaments, it would be my pleasure to assist you." Viewing the bridge from the front, his station was positioned slightly in front of and to the right of Captain Shakespeare's chair.
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Farther in front of Weaver, a girl around the Mages' own ages was seated with a small headset on. "Ruri MacGregor, Communications." She simply spoke, neither turning towards nor waving at the Mages.
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"Now now Ruri-Ruri, you gotta be nicer when you're greeting people." The tall, lanky man opposite Ruri stood and made his way over to the Mages. He offered each of them and their Spirits a firm handshake and a broad smile. "Reuben Hoshiyomi, Helmsman and gentleman of fortune, at your service."
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The final crewmate on the bridge was a woman seated across from Weaver's position. She waved gently to the Mages from her chair. "Hello. I'm Melissa Magbaredge. When I'm not piloting one of the Little Pioneers, I'm usually up here, helping with breaks and small tasks."
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Not long after the crew (and any Mages or Spirits) had finished their introduction, Ruri held her hand up to her ear, listening to something on her headset. "Captain, OPS reports that large-scale magical signals have been detected in the vicinity of Elnai. We are requested to depart immediately and make haste to the town to provide any necessary assistance."

Any playfulness that was present on Captain Shakespeare's face earlier disappeared almost immediately. "Reuben, how long to Elnai?"

"If Leon can keep the engines running smooth and I can catch a current, we can be there by dawn."

Captain Shakespeare nodded in acknowledgement as she activated the ship's intercom. "All hands, prepare for immediate departure. We will arrive at Elnai around dawn; be prepared for potential combat. She then turned towards the Mages still on the bridge. "Sorry to cut introductions short. Unless any of you have business to attend to, we will cast off immediately. I must ask you to be prepared to assist when we reach Elnai around dawn."

If there were no objections from the Mages or their Spirits, then the Royal Pioneer would immediately get underway, flying through the afternoon and night to reach its destination...
 
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Londo Sperry THE GREAT!



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Londo started to raise a hand in greeting towards the new lady, ready to boast loudly about how the king acknowledged him personally, but froze in shock when she labelled him the pervert. Damn, reputations travel fast these days, in both good and bad ways. Fortunately, Caoihme broke the tension and said it was fine, which caused this Rita person to become infinitely warmer to Londo, and wanted Caoihme to pass on a message to the rest of class. So it seemed like this girl was a previous classmate of Caoihme, and she knew Artemis! Maybe she'd also pass along a message to Londo if he asked aaaaaaand she's gone, but not before throwing Londo a small box, "H-Hey wait! Tell Artemis- Ah nevermind..." Londo said dejected. Oh well, maybe he'd prepare himself upon hearing that Londo was returning sometime in the future. He didn't understand a damn thing her spirit said, and Londo merely shrugged at it before it left.

He tilted his head at the box, "Weird though, she's giving me a gift even though I wronged her in the first place." He said, opening the box and checking out a small silver anklet inside, "dOoo, pretty!" He said, before putting it on his ankle, feeling a warmth emanating from the ruby, "Oho!" He said, swinging his leg around in a few kicks, "I can tell someone's gonna be mad when I show off this bad boy later!" Before turning to Rita, finally greeting her, "Yo! Sorry about all that! Rita, right? The name's Londo, the GREAT!, and I'm gonna be the greatest mage Uruk has ever known!" He said sticking out a hand, if she wanted to shake it, "Now come on! We gotta get to the bridge! Wherever that is... Let's go!" Londo said, running off into the ship, god knows where as he had no idea where the bridge was...

Hibiscus Oswald



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Meanwhile, Hibiscus nodded at Hannah, "See Jenna, got it! Thank you!" She said, following Hannah into a room, where she saw Almeida's unconsious body on the ground, "OH MY GOD! S-SOMEONME HELP!" She yelled in a blind panic. Lyka, popping out of the shirt to see the commotion, angrily told off Hibiscus, "Don't just yell, you're a fucking healer aren't you?!"

"Y-Yea! But I've never revitalized Auras before!" She yelled, still wondering what to do. Fortunately, Hibiscus's AMB read that Almeida was now fine, albiet a bit supercharged, "Oh Thank god..." Hibibscus sighed, before leaving with everyone else to head to the bridge now that Almeida was fine. After seeing Jenna harm Almeida, Hibiscus wasn't too sure herself if she wanted to see her right now...

At the bridge, Hibiscus met the various persons of the crew, shaking hands with those who wanted to shake hands, introducing herself and her spirit. Meanwhile, Alice stood back, waiting and not socializing. It was at this time that Londo finally arrived, having gotten slightly lost in the ship, after everyone had finished introductions, "What'd I miss?" Londo whispered to Alice, who replied, "Boring shit, Almeida almost died, the usual. What about you?" She said, whispering back.

"Well, Caoihme came to see me, gave me this sweet anklet, I'll tell you about it later!" He said, as the communications woman announced something.

It seems like they would have their first mission soon, exciting! Hibiscus got a determined look on her face, ready to protect her classmates now more than ever, while Londo grew an excited look on his face, "You smell that Alice?"

"Old sweaty men'stuck-in-an-enclosed-space' smell?"

"That's adventure!" Londo said, turning around and pointing towards the entrance of the bridge, "Onwards to our room Alice, I have much to tell you about what happened!" He said, leading the way, quickly getting lost, and then needing Alice to show him the way to his room.

Hibiscus went up to Almeida, still worried about her, and asked, "Are you ok? Your aura kinda went, uh, badly there..."
 
Almeida

Interactions: Jenna @alatartheblue42 | Hibiscus @LondotheGreat

Hannah's advice on Valerius had been pretty worthless. She'd already talked with him about anything of relevance, like what polish he liked best and how he'd even come to be. If anything, him being a weapon made him a very uninteresting conversation partner. He couldn't go around by himself, so he didn't exactly get into anything that Almeida hadn't also gotten into, which meant there was pretty much nothing to talk about. He didn't read or watch movies either, with the lack of eyes and all that. He did somehow manage to start enjoying music, but he was content just having the radio turned on regardless of the genre of music. Trying to start an interesting conversation with a rock might be less challenging at the rate they were going. 'Maybe I can ask someone else to bring him along for a day... then we'll have something to talk about afterwards.'

Valerius wasn't the most relevant at the moment, however, as she felt a slight shred of concern when the medic was starting to use a microphone and described her actions with the vial. The weird fluid didn't taste like anything. Or maybe it did? In any case, she didn't taste it. It didn't take long for her to feel like she was getting electrocuted. “Fu...” That's when all went dark.

Before seeing or feeling anything, she tasted something, waking back up to a horrible taste on her tongue. She expected to feel horrible, but to her surprise, she didn't. Conversely, she felt like she could electrocute someone just by touching them... It was also the first thing that came to mind when she was asked how she felt. “Electrifying.” As she said it, the desire to test her theory grew, so she reached out to poke the nearest other person, which happened to be Hibiscus. If she truly was electric somehow, that'd probably cause a spark of sorts, otherwise it'd just be a light poke in the cheek.

Regardless of outcome, she'd give the medic the rest of the 'results'. “Other than that having been a horrible experience and that I want to get rid of this taste in my mouth as soon as possible, I have to admit I feel better than ever...” That's when the fact that she'd just been knocked out by a weird drink from the medic fully sank in, which immediately made her question her current condition a bit more sceptically. “This... isn't going to have any weird side-effects... is it?”

Once that conversation was over, Almeida quickly went to rinse her mouth with water and headed to the bridge. The captain was quite a surprise. If anything, it felt like she was just participating in the real captain's 'bring your daughter to work' day, but Almeida had learned not to question these things. The girl in charge of communications was the least talkative, which was ironic. Something about the helmsman struck her in a worse way though. Maybe it was the fact that he attempted to shake Valerius' hand, despite the fact that the spirit didn't have one, or maybe it was just his introduction as a gentleman of fortune, whatever that was, but he hadn't made a good impression. She did accept his handshake (possible zapping him with some left-over electricity in her system). The last to introduce herself was a woman that didn't stand out too much other than her facial proportions feeling off even by anime standards, but in this oddball crew, that was probably a good thing.

“I'm Almeida Magnhild and this is Valerius. It's a pleasure to meet you all.” Not long after introductions, things were already heating up. It looked like they were going to end up jumping straight into the fray of things.
 
Rina Zephyr
158

Caoimhe cleared up her misunderstanding and agreed to pass along Rina's message, but didn't say much else. Rina looked away in shame, she'd just interrupted something, hadn't she? And Caoimhe was interrupted once more by an announcement telling them to report to the bridge. Hearing rapid footsteps, Rina turned with eyes widening at the sight of someone in dark clothes blurring past them and up the gangplank. "What the...who was that?" No one around her seemed to know or care, though. Whoever it was was in a hurry, probably one of the ship's crew...hopefully not an enemy or stowaway. Rina took a few steps after them, then shrugged. This wasn't her problem, was it?

Meanwhile, Caoimhe said goodbye and gave Londo a gift in an adorable way, blushing and stammering. Somehow, even while this tired Rina managed to smile and wave while Caoimhe ran off as fast as she'd talked. Must have been her big sister instincts. She squinted at the gift Londo got, just as surprised as him that he'd gotten it. "You're right, it is weird." He didn't pay much attention to that though, too busy showing off his anklet with a few kicks. Then he got her name wrong and did his usual boasting. What a chuuni.

"Rina. It's Rina, not Rita. And do you have any idea how many kids have said that before?" Then seeing the look on his face, she sighed and shook his hand anyways. "But who knows, maybe you’ll be different, 'Mr. Great'." She said sarcastically. None of it curbed his enthusiasm as he ran up the gangplank to the ship with no idea where the bridge was. He hadn't paid much attention in school, had he?

She walked up there slow enough for him to have left her behind by the time she reached the deck. While she could go to the bridge right now and show up early, it wouldn’t look good to show up still carrying her bags. Rina made her way down through the ship, possibly passing by some others on the way, until she reached Deck 3 where the rooms for Mages awaited. But something else also awaited: a delicious aroma of fried rice drifting through the hallway. There were fainter scents too, including one she knew well.

”Oh thank god, they have coffee.”

”You should thank the chef instead. The gods receive more than enough unearned praise.”

Rina rolled her eyes at the voice in her head. ”It’s just an expression…” She looked down the hallway and checked the doors until she found a room that no one had picked yet, then promptly dropped all the luggage she carried next to one of the beds. She only unpacked her staff from which she removed a light green orb that turned into a green-haired girl.

Electra
158

She sat on the other bed and rested her head on one hand while gazing around the room. "Hmm...how quaint. A little small, but I suppose it will have to do." She looked back to Rina. "Go on, treat your substance addiction. I'll be waiting at the bri-"

"I'm not an addict!"

She smirked. "Is that so? Then prove it by going one week without caffeine."

Rina's face paled. "That's not happening. Besides, I could stop, I just don't want to." She walked away with a frown to not see Electra smile wider and chuckle.

"There, there, everyone has their needs...even gods depend on prayers. Just be quick about it: it wouldn't suit a lightning Mage to show up late!"

They parted ways outside the door, Electra heading upstairs while Rina walked off to the cafeteria with a huff. Her mood lifted the closer she got to the source of the scent. The room was full of every cooking implement known to man and then some, with several types of food already prepared by the chef. Including a pot of black coffee with several mugs nearby. It was even already brewed.

"Can I have some coffee? With a pinch of sugar, please?" Hopefully he'd understand why she didn't want to show up to the meeting exhausted. Once it was ready she would pick up the mug and gulp it down in one go. The effects were immediate from the second she put down the mug. Her eyes lit up, everything came into focus, and she felt not only awake, but full of energy!

"Ah, now that's more like it! Thanks so much, you're a lifesaver!" She ended up thanking the chef instead of the gods after all. The alertness reminded her of the time pressure, so she ran off in a hurry to the bridge.

With any luck, she'd make it there on time thanks to not getting lost like Londo. Up on the bridge were five crew members led by a surprisingly young and energetic captain in a black pirate costume with yellow lines and a red cape. No capes! Rina squinted...she was the same stranger in dark clothes she'd seen before! What was the captain doing taking so long to show up on her own ship? Unfortunately the others were no less eccentric, including a stoic metal man, a quiet Communications officer, a tall helmsman fond of handshakes, even with the rather short Electra whose hand tingled with static. Only the last crew member was somewhat normal.

After the crew introduced themselves, they gave some time for the Mages and Spirits to do the same. At some point it would be their turn.

"I'm Rina, Rina Zephyr. I'm a student from Class 1A, and I use lightning magic."

"And I am Electra, lightning spirit and veteran of Armageddon." It didn't sound like a boast, but a statement of a fact. She gauged the others' reactions, would any of them recognize her? Probably not, human lives were short and their memory was even shorter. Hopefully they wouldn't mistake her for a child.

The introductions continued, with one making Rina raise an eyebrow. Hadn't she heard that name before? Bad news arrived once they were over. Large magical signals indicated the city they were flying to could be in danger. And only a few days after the monster invasion of Uruk! Rina sighed, so much for a slow escalation in mission difficulty like her parents had gone through. She'd even have to wake up at dawn.

She needed something to distract herself and settled on talking to one of her new teammates, but Electra beat her to the punch in approaching Almeida.

"Oh my, that's quite the static charge you've built up. However did that get there?" The short girl stared as if seeing through her to the electric currents and magic within...no, she didn't seem to be producing it through any spell of her own, so the cause was something else. It didn't appear harmful at least at the moment.

Once Almeida was done talking to Electra, it would be Rina's turn, this time making sure she didn't interrupt anyone.

"Almeida Magnhild, right? As in the famous Magnhilds, or just another family with the same name?" If she confirmed it, Rina would go on. "I'm into engineering too, so I've heard a lot about them. It's a shame what happened to the family business...you guys were some of the best." Even though her specialty was in electronics and technology rather than architecture, there was some overlap and she agreed with their philosophy of function over aesthetics. What good were fancy designs if they fell apart under stress? If bringing up old woes upset Almeida she'd look away and apologize. "Sorry, didn't mean to touch a nerve..."

Either way she would change the subject to a less depressing one. "But enough about that, it's nice to meet someone my age who isn't a teacher!" There were the students in higher classes, of course, but in her own she was easily the oldest, and was almost certain Almeida suffered the same problem given the typical ages of new Mages. She smiled and offered a handshake, and if Almeida accepted, Rina would find her grip was quite strong even for a Mage. Not that it was much of a surprise with how revealing her outfit was of her muscular build.

After more time traveling they were done talking about that, one particular question had her curiosity. One she'd heard answers to before but not from a direct witness.

"So...how exactly did your class kill that Angel?"
 
Janus Hindemith
Interactions: Hannah + Jenna + Crewmates @Alatar | Almeida @Elvario | Rina @Sho

Janus seemed fairly nonplussed at the woman's lack of response- even more so when Almeida started to convulse due to the mysterious liquid, upon which he immediately sprinted full speed down the corridor to distance himself away from the scene. He'd only rejoin the group when Almeida stirred and voiced her relative safety, walking back towards them with a confident gait and smile as if he hadn't just scurried away like a coward.

Since the scientist seemed to only be interested in her "test subject", Janus voiced his question at Hannah, who had entered the hallway to reprimand her. "Does your colleague normally make test subjects out of newcomers? Should I be concerned?" With a slight frown, Janus turned to Almeida, who was seemingly more than fully recovered from the experiment. "And Almeida, I certainly hope that you don't make a habit of accepting suspicious liquids from strangers you just met."

On the bridge, Janus took stock of the rather colorful members that made up the rest of the Royal Pioneer's crew. After they'd finished introducing themselves, Janus would walk up to each of them with a polite smile and shake their hand, speaking to each: "Janus Hindemith. I look forward to the rest of my time on the Royal Pioneer."

The energetic redhead made his appearance on the bridge for the announcement, and made a few greetings before essentially bouncing away towards his room with his spirit. Janus made to move towards them before seemingly thinking otherwise. Instead, he walked towards the new mage in the group- a blue-haired girl who introduced herself as Rina. During their introduction, Rina's spirit would have noticed that her introduction drew very little reaction from the young mage- only a polite nod and smile.

"Hello! I'd introduce myself, but I believe the introductions we gave to the crew would suffice, Rina Zephyr?" Janus drew back his hand behind his back outside of Rina's view, and drew forth an acanthus flower which he offered to the mage. "You and I appear to be the more green members of this particular class, though you certainly have more experience in the art of magecraft and in the workings of the academy. Please, accept this flower as a gift from a fellow classmate."
 
Almeida

Interactions: Janus @TubaPope | Hibiscus @LondotheGreat | Rina @Sho-the-Mage

Janus suggested her to abstain from drinking suspicious liquids, but the way he stated it was one that she couldn't take serious for the life of her, so she replied in kind. “Don't worry, I only accept them from pantless ladies. I've got to have standards, after all.”

Apparently Hibiscus was still worried about her, as she asked her again how she was doing, despite having been there when Almeida gave Jenna a status report. “I'm still doing great, no side effects so far!” While she tried to cheer Hibby up, the 'so far' would naturally sound a bit ominous, mostly due to Almeida being legit worried she could just drop at any second due to feeling too good for it to be true. That's when she got another idea. “Oh, on another note. Would you like to hang out with Valerius until we arrive at Elnai? Hannah told us to talk more to strengthen our bond, but we've got nothing to talk about, as all he ever experiences is whatever I bring him too, so it might be nice for us to do something different for a change.” She then addressed the spirit himself. “Would you be up for it, Valerius?” After a bit of silence, the spirit replied. “It could potentially be an interesting experience.”

As for the new girl, Almeida was glad to see someone close to her age, although the spirit had addressed her first. “Believe it or not, it's a result of the medic's drink I tested.” She was more surprised when Rina knew her family. “Yep, the one and only.” Rina's latter comment was less needed, but Almeida shrugged it off. “Don't worry, once I'm done being a mage, I can try to build it all back up again.” There was one thing she immediately agreed with, which was the age gap. “Definitely. I've been hanging out with some of the older later-year students back at the academy, but it always felt weird being in a class so far below them despite being the same age.”

Almeida wasn't sure how to answer the last question. “Lots of luck and a few bits of skill. We were mostly lucky it was a weaker one.” She'd have said more if the OOC writer had been more willing to reread the actual fight and recall it. She decided to change topics. “I think I've seen you before in the academy. Were you from class 1A?”
 
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Hibiscus Oswald




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Luckily, Almeida was ok, and Hibiscus sighed in relief, but still wary, "That's... Good, I guess..." But was caught offguard by Almeida asking if she wanted to take care of her spirit, "W-Wait, your spirit? Valerius?!" She said, staring up at the monstrosity that was the weapon Almeida wielded.

Hibiscus gulped, and then stammered out, "I-I ca-" "Can TOTALLY do it!" Lyka said, appearing from under Hibiscus's jacket, flying out and taking a good look at the weapon.

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Hibiscus stammered out to Lyka, "I-I can't carry that! That's way too heavy!"

Lyka gave a dismissive wave, "Aww, doesn't matter, don't you want to help out Almeida? 'Sides, I think we could bond better too if I went with Almeida, right?" Lyka said, and without awaiting an answer, flew over to sit on Almeida's shoulder.

Hibiscus stared once again at Valerius, "O-Ok... I'll try it. If it can help you and Valerius bond better, then I'll hold onto him!" Hibiscus said, giving a determined look and taking a hold of Valerius. It was way heavier than it looked, and Hibiscus barely managed to not fall over from the sheer weight of the creature she now possessed.

"I-I think I got it!" She said, before started to tilt backwards, and falling over, stumbling backwards. Luckily, she hit a wall with a small, "Oof" sound, before bracing herself against it and holding Valerius up, "I-I'm ok! Y-You're a bit heavy, Valerius..." Lyke watched in glee, a sadistic smile on her face watching Hibiscus struggle with this simple task.

After that, Hibiscus slowly made her way to the new student, trying her best not to fall over, introducing herself after everyone else, "My name is Hibiscus Oswald, my spirit's name is Lyka," And if Almeida hadn't removed the spirit from her shoulder, Hibiscus would continue saying, "She's that one sitting on Almeida's shoulder. As for the angel..." Hibiscus put a finger to her chin to think, but when the giant axe hammer started tilting towards the ground, she quickly took a hold of it in a panic, luckily, she managed to stabilize it before any harm was caused, "W-Well, we had more classmates back then. A summoner, another gauntlet user. I think there was another summoner as well, but I don't remember them too well... And speaking of gauntlet user... Where'd Londo go? He wouldn't waste an opportunity to introduce himself, would he?" Hibiscus asked. Lyke shrugged in response, not caring about some brat with an oversized head.
 
Rina Zephyr
158

Electra was disappointed, but not surprised that nobody recognized her. So she turned her attention to the electrified woman who explained how she became so. "Hmm, so you turned yourself into a science experiment? Well then, do let them know when the effects expire so you weren't a test subject for nothing."

Before Rina could approach Almeida, a blonde guy talked to her first. He offered a flower, yet otherwise didn't act like he was flirting and called it a gift to a fellow classmate. Because of that she accepted it. A little thorny, but it had a sweet smell. "Janus, right? You could say I'm greener than you think. Let's hope we both get used to being here, then." She pocketed the flower not knowing it would fade away once she stopped paying attention. After she was done talking to Janus, she'd go on to talk to Almeida and time travel back to the present.

Rina and Almeida had a lot in common considering Almeida also sought to continue her career after her Mage days and had the same problems with starting academy life at this age. "I know, right? It's strange seeing kids miles ahead of me too." She said, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly. It was embarrassing knowing some moody teens could wipe the floor with her if they so chose.

Then came the question of how many stones it took to kill the birdbrain. "Oh, that's a relief. I don't mean to insult your skills, it's just...er..." Her gaze went to the floor. "If it was just dumb luck that you won, maybe the headmaster won't think his methods work. This is hard enough even for me, but I'm an adult, and the others are just kids..." She trailed off with a frown. Winning by chance was the only middle ground between proving him right and dying horribly, neither of which were appealing.

Luckily, Almeida would also change topics to something less depressing. "Yeah, I said that earlier. I would've gone to that dinner if I had known this would happen...oh well." She shrugged.

But before Rina could say any more, a purple-haired girl walked up to talk to her while struggling to carry Almeida's giant hammer. How cute. She introduced herself and her spirit, who for some reason was on Almeida's shoulder. One couldn't exactly trade spirits, yet they seemed to be trying...Hibiscus also tried answering the Angel question, but hilariously almost let the hammer fall down as she did, causing Rina to hold back laughter. Then Hibiscus asked where Londo went. Rina glanced around, not seeing him anywhere.

"I don't know, he must be below decks." Not caring where he went, she thought back to the rest of what Hibiscus said and held her chin. "So they didn't send everyone in your class on this mission? No wonder they sent us to back you up. I still don't think this is enough people, but I'm not in charge, so we'll just have to make do. That's why we'd better come up with a plan. Except, I don't know much about your class...all I heard is that you use healing magic while you just swing your hammer." She said to Hibiscus and Almeida respectively, then glanced at Janus. "And I haven't heard anything about you." Then she realized something. "Oh, right. As for me, I already said I use lightning, but to be specific..." She briefly explained her three spells.

"She's only a novice, so she electrocutes herself a little every time she casts."

"Don't tell them that!" Rina glared at her, then looked back to the others with shoulders slumped in shame. "...She's right, but I'm working on controlling it better. And it's not bad enough to need healing." She quickly changed the subject. "Anyways...does anyone have any ideas?" She already didn't like the description of their mission. In the best case scenario, it could be an easy scouting mission to check the seals. But what if they found those seals had degraded or broken? Then they'd have an army of monsters on their hands and a city to defend simultaneously, with no professor to assist them...
 
Janus Hindemith
Interactions: Almeida @Elvario | Rina @Sho | Hibiscus @Londo

"Exactly!" Janus nodded knowingly at Almeida's agreement of his sage advice. "It would not befit any lady to be entrapped by such an obvious ruse- especially not a mage at your level. I am glad to hear that my words did not fall upon deaf ears- wait, was that sarcastic? Oh, dear! No one takes me seriously," harumphed the boy who had just flirted with basically anyone who had come within earshot.

On the bridge, Rina accepted the flower, to which Janus responded with a slight bow. After the exchange of introductions, there seemed to be a congregation of the mages in the class, with Janus naturally among them. Upon Rina's explanation and Almeida's confirmation of the Magnhild name, Janus muttered to himself, "Ah! I knew I'd heard that name from somewhere..." If the outburst garnered the attention of the Magnhild present, Janus would scratch the back of his neck and state, "My apologies. I knew the family name but I thought it a tad insensitive to inquire. Your family did work on the Bastion, did they not?"

The younger girl, Hibiscus, had just introduced herself and her spirit. She also seemed to be managing Almeida's weapon, which Janus reacted to with some concern, visibly eyeing the height of the hammer and comparing it to the height of its current caretaker. Hibiscus was recounting a battle which the class had previously partaken in, involving some of the mages currently present including the red-haired boy who had run off, the whereabouts of whom Hibiscus then inquired. "You killed an angel? I'd love to hear the tale at a later date, when we have more time. As for Londo, I'd like to get to know him myself, but I from what little I've seen of him I suspect he's the type of person who waits for no one."

Rina inquired upon everyone's abilities in combat, to which Janus shrugged his shoulders. "To be frank, I've only recently awakened my magic capabilities. Outside of conjuring flowers..." Janus opened his left hand to reveal a rose blossom, which begun to levitate and rotate a few centimeters above his palm as he spoke. "I've not tested anything, certainly nothing of combat level. I didn't expect to be in such a dangerous situation so quickly... Do not worry! I promise I will carry my weight in the field. I'm fairly confident in my skill with a firearm, and perhaps..." Janus stared at the levitating rose in his palm. "Perhaps I could find a way to make this useful."
 
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Almeida

Interactions: Janus @TubaPope | Hibiscus @LondotheGreat | Rina @Sho-the-Mage

Almeida could hardly suppress a smile upon seeing Hibby struggle with Valerius. Was she becoming a bad onee-san? For better or worse, she knew that Valerius would likely sort it out, which he did by changing form, so she knew there was no serious bullying going on. For some reason Lyka decided to go for a full exchange and went to sit on Almeida's shoulder. Considering the difference in carry-weight, Almeida had little to complain about. She knew the spirit had her quirks and bad moments, but she figured it'd probably not get too bad.

As for Valerius himself, he eventually made up his mind and changed into his core form. “My weight is a necessity for me to fulfill my duty, but I believe this form would suit the current task a fair bit better.” For him, there wasn't too much of a difference in how he experienced things between his normal and core form, although this definitely felt far less natural, especially as he didn't even use his core form in battles like other types of spirits often did.

Almeida and Rina were already bonding over being the only ones on the older side. That said, Rina apparently also thought that meant she had to take charge of discussing magic and powers, but it was probably a good idea to do so, so Almeida didn't mind. That said... “Yeah, I can't really seem to get any magic down, so I'll just stick with what I'm good at. There's not much more to know than what you already know about me.” As for the mission itself, she shrugged. “We don't know just how bad the situation in Elnai is until we get there. If we can help them out, I believe we should do so before continuing, but otherwise we might need to focus on just getting the drone out.”

Her name apparently rang familiar to Janus' ears as well, as he'd inquired about it. “Yes. It's kind of a tough one to compete with for fame though, big shoes to fill and all that.” She wasn't entirely convinced about his plan to use magic flowers in a fight, but she didn't want to discourage him from trying.
 
Hibiscus Oswald




====================================================================​

Hibiscus sighed in relief as Valerius shrunk down into spirit core form, "T-Thank you..." Although she hadn't know that he could do that. Weapon spirits were weird for sure. Lyka groaned in disappointment upon seeing that Hibiscus's plight was now stable, "Dammit. I was wanting to see Hibby struggle more."

Hibiscus, now carrying the very-light Valerius in both hands, was able to start holding a conversation without worrying about falling over, "I'm a healer. I uh..." Then Hibiscus looked away, a bit embarrassed, "I heal with, blood... So when that time comes, you're gonna have to let me mark you with my magic." Hibiscus said, purposefully not saying exactly HOW she marked people, but scratched her cheek embarrassingly while Lyka let out a laugh.

"A-Anyways, I'll be doing that, but please don't TRY to fight head-on... Like someone else..." Hibiscus said, visibly annoyed and looking away from the group.

She then returned to her cheerful demeaner, "And I can tell you about the angel fight if you want Janus! I don't remember THAT much, but I can tell you the specifics later if you want!"
 
Rina Zephyr
158

The others shared the basics of their own skills in Rina's impromptu strategy meeting. Almeida didn't have any spells, but if the rumors were true she was surprisingly fast and strong swinging that huge hammer as if it was something lighter. Although they were near opposites in combat, Rina could relate to having big shoes to fill. Janus had little confidence in himself, so hopefully his magic flowers weren't as harmless as they seemed and could back up his gun skills. But most importantly, they had a healer, even if she was a little embarrassed by using blood to do it. "Don't worry, I'd rather get blood on my clothes that way than the other one." Hibiscus went on to ask them to be careful unlike a certain someone she was almost certain was Londo.

Rina took a moment to put a finger to her chin thoughtfully and piece what she knew together. Why exactly had she taken it upon herself to come up with a plan? Part of it was being one of the oldest and not wanting to put the burden on the kids. The other part was that the stories of her parents' academy days gave her some ideas of what tactics did and didn't work.

"You're right, we don't know the situation there...so for now let's just focus on the basics. You and Londo fight up close, so you can handle the front lines while Janus and I stay back and cover you. Hibiscus can stay wherever it's safest; protecting her and the drone should be our top priority. Other than that, it would be nice if we could get the enemies to stick together so I can hit them all at once." She wasn't sure what else to add.

"Ahem! Aren't you forgetting something? That prison is full of powerful monsters and spirits. What happens if you find one out of your league? I can't count how many idiots I've seen die from thinking themselves invincible..."

Rina sighed. "If that happens, I'll try to paralyze them so we can retreat." Hopefully the seals would remain intact enough for them to fall back if necessary and not be chased. "If you have any more brilliant advice, please enlighten us." She said sarcastically.

"Why, I'd love to! Have you ever heard the saying that no plan survives first contact with the enemy? It's true! That's why you always have a backup plan. And another one. And if all of them fail, then you need to adapt instead of freezing up like a deer in the headlights. Trust your instincts...unless they tell you to do something stupid, then don't."

"How is that helpful advice? I've heard all of that before."

"That may be so, but hearing something and putting it into practice are two different things."

"Fine, whatever you say." She turned back to the others. "That's all I've got for now...we'll have to figure out more once we know what's going on in Elnai." After that, she'd wait a moment to see if anyone else had any suggestions. If not, or once they were done talking strategy, she'd make her exit. "I guess I should go tell Londo what we talked about..." She wasn't exactly eager to talk to him, but it had to be done or else his recklessness might doom them in the upcoming battle. Perhaps Electra had a point about needing to hear something multiple times for it to get through.

She would leave the bridge and head to the lower decks in search of him. Electra would follow along, at least until they reached Deck 3, where she would return to Rina's room and lie down on one of the beds. Being in core form so long wasn't the most comfortable. Once Rina got to Deck 3, if she found Londo wasn't in the cafeteria, she would try to figure out if he was in his room. None of them had names on them, so she would knock on the doors of each room that wasn't her own one by one. Hopefully he was in his room and would bother to answer.
 
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Londo Sperry THE GREAT!



  • Aura: 150 / 150
  • Prana: 100 / 100
  • Stamina: 100 / 100
  • Gauntlets: Unsummoned

  • STRENGTH: D
  • VITALITY: D
  • WILLPOWER: E
  • RESISTANCE: D
  • SPEED: D
  • DEXTERITY: E
  • PERCEPTION: E
  • RECOVERY: D
  • Lion's Heart: Ready for Activation
  • Touch of Death: 2 / 2 uses left
  • Ruby Anklet: ???


====================================================================​

After being guided to the private rooms by Alice, Londo opened the door to his own and walked in. He smelled the sweet air of his own personal room and hopped on his bed, landing face down. Alice walked over to the bed in soft surprise, "Huh, weird they give the mages who just got here better quarters than the crew, but I'm not complaining." She said, sitting down on her own and pulling out a small cube. It hadn't been charged all day, the poor thing. Alice hovered it near the outlet near her bed, plugging it in and watching it smile at her.

"Huh? What the heck's that thing Alice?" Londo asked in confusion. Alice took a glance at him, walked over to him, and smacked him on the head, "Ow- Hey! What gives!?" Londo asked Angrily, before Alice glared at him, "It's the cube we took from that giant Robot you forgot about!" She said back angrily.

Londo looked confused, then looked past her towards the cube, "Huh. I thought I was just sleepy... Well, you know that's not my fault! It was a long day!" "Yea, I know, but you can't go blaming any wizard about it now." Alize replied, crossing her arms, "Anyways, I kept it safe until you actually remembered it. I'm not bothering to give it a name either-"

"Kyubey!" Londo shouted happily, prompting an angry glare from Alice, "Y'know, because-" "Don't you dare explain the joke." She said, just about prepared to slap once again, "Onto an actual subject, why were you called to the front of the ship?"

Londo looked as if he suddenly remembered something important, "Oh right! You see...-" Londo said, explaining everything that had happened.

"I see... And she just gave you that anklet?"

"Yup!"

"And you don't know why?..."

"Nope!"

"Do you know what it even does?"

"Yea! It-" Londo started, but was interupted by a knock on the door, "Ah, someone come to see my brilliance? I knew it couldn't be contained!" Londo said, moving towards the door, while Alice scooted towards the end of her bed, keeping the cube out of sight.

Londo opened the door to see Rina standing in front of him, "Oh hey Rina! What'sup? Come to see how glorious I am again?" Londo said, smoothing back his hair with his off-hand while he did so.
 
Rina Zephyr
158

The door opened to reveal Londo, who naturally assumed she was there to see how glorious he was. At least he got her name right this time.

She sighed. "No, of course not...I'm here to explain what you missed. The rest of us tried coming up with a plan after you left." Rina would then attempt to explain the basics of what they discussed, but she had little confidence he'd actually remember it all. So she looked at his spirit who sat on the edge of one of the beds. "Alice, right? Can you remind him of all that if he forgets?" If Alice agreed, she'd say "Thanks." But there was still more to say.

"One more thing: have you learned anything new since that tournament battle? Anything that might help in the mission?" Then her gaze went to his feet. "And just what does that anklet do?" It definitely wasn't just cosmetic based on what he said before. If he would explain, she'd be relieved. "Great, I'm sure that'll come in handy." If he refused due to not wanting to spoil the surprise, she'd roll her eyes in annoyance. "Ugh, fine, have it your way. Just don't get killed out there." Even as annoying as he could be, he was only a kid and didn't deserve a painful death.

Either way she'd prepare to leave, only to stop just before she'd closed the door and peek through it to talk to them. She'd forgotten Londo's spirit was probably much smarter than him. "Alice, do you have any ideas?" Maybe a spirit of death would know how to help them avoid it.
 
Ezio Aldron

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Ezio smiled gently at the young man's apology "None taken. And you can call me whichever you prefer, I have no particular preference". As strange as it may sound, both names had a place in Ezio's heart. One as the name his beloved parents gave him at birth, and the other one as the one provided by his peculiar foster family. Ezio turned his attention back to Almeida, who's voluntary extra years caught his attention, but left that interest for another conversation. Instead, answering to her own question "Orphaned, uncle introduced me to the profession" he said in a very low tone, while leaning towards Almeida's ear. Sure, these kids were mages, but they were still kids in his head to some extent.

Once at the cafeteria, he saw everyone wolfing down their food to continue exploring, at least compared to him and Xiao. This was food of quality they hadn't seen in a long time, so they were determined to enjoy every last bite of it. "You guys go on ahead, I'll take my time with my meal". Having said so, both Ezio and Xiao exchanged a quick glance, and happily started to dig in. Slowly savoring every bit of flavor they could extract from each bite. Having the luxury of enjoying a meal at your own pace was something Ezio had just rediscovered, too. Their plates were not infinite, and though the pair made some conversation to extend their time eating, they eventually finished. Extremely satisfied, the pair left their empty plates in the designated area, and thanked Johnny extensively for the meal. Saving exploring for later, Ezio and Xiao headed for their room to rest for a bit...

Or so he would've liked, but while he was in the middle of unpacking, Weaver called the to the bridge. As expected from someone with a military-ish background, he was there at a moment's notice. But both him and Xiao kept to themselves during most of the interaction, only providing their names whenever the chance presented. Ezio ears twitched upon hearing the report being given. Pretty sure knowing how this would unfold, Ezio just waited for the formalities to be over to head back to his room, preparing for whatever was to come at Elnai.

Ryan Gamaris

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Tidrog seemed completely distracted as he ate, so it took him a couple of seconds to register what Almeida asked. He lowered his head, and sighed, slightly frustrated. "No. No, he's not. And I don't know how to... Well". Tidrog pinched the bridge of his nose as he stood up "Could you talk to him when you get the chance? I'm positive you will have better luck than me". Having said that, he headed for where they came from.

Purposefully passing by the slightly open door of Ryan, Tidrog leaned in and slowly tried to push open the door "Ry-" "Leave me alone!" said the boy, throwing something at the door pushing back the door to its original position. The spirit opened his mouth, but no words came out. He was simply not prepared to handle this. It was very strange, Ryan always seemed so calm and easygoing, despite his shortcomings. Defeated, the spirit headed for the top deck, where he leaned against the guardrail, thinking of ways to approach his friend.

When the time came for them to be summoned at the bridge he went in Ryan's name, just in case something important was discussed. At first, it was only introductions of some of the rather colorful crew members, including the captain. Making Tidrog feel a bit abashed when he introduced himself without his mage. Then things took a concerning turn, as their parting was rushed due to an unexpected event in Elnai. He saw some of Ryan's classmates talk a bit with a new face as he passed by, but he didn't feel like talking at the moment, so he went back to his previous spot and resumed his planning on how to aid Ryan on his problem.
 
Jenna
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Jenna nodded in excitement as Almeida gave her report, evidently not caring about Almeida’s suffering just a moment ago. "No no, there shouldn’t be any unexpected side effects or long term harm. At least, nobody’s reported any so far." The last part was muttered quietly, though still plenty audible to Almeida due to how close she was.


Hannah Lorken
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Hannah sighed again as she continued to watch Jenna’s bizarre actions. Turning to Janus with a look of defeat and exhaustion thrown in a blender, she replied to his question: ”She has a habit of targeting newcomers, mostly because they are less likely to know to avoid her experiments. To be fair, her ‘sports drinks’-” Hannah made little air quotation marks as she said “sports drinks”. ”-do legitimately help. Assuming you survive drinking them, of course.”

Hannah glanced at Jenna, sighed again, and then turned towards Hibiscus. ”I’ll get that substance you wanted from her a bit later. She’ll be too caught up in her ‘research’ right now to bother. You can swing by tonight or tomorrow, and I’ll take care of coating your knife.” Like before, Hannah added air quotes for emphasis on “research”.

After approximately ten minutes, Almeida’s Aura, Prana, and Stamina had returned to normal levels, and she was no longer electrically charged.




The next morning…

At 6:05 AM, the Mages were woken by Weaver's voice sounding over the intercom. "Good morning, Mages. We are approximately thirty minutes away from Elnai. Please take care of any morning routines you have, and report to the bridge in twenty minutes." If the sound of the intercom didn't wake them up enough, perhaps the smell of coffee, bacon, eggs, and pancakes from the cafeteria would encourage them to get out of bed.

Captain Yurika Shakespeare
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Weaver
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Ruri MacGregor
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Reuben Hoshiyomi
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Melissa Magbaredge
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The bridge crew was already at their stations when the Mages started to arrive, though in various states of attention. Melissa was in charge of the helm, while Reuben was conked out on a foldable cot in the back corner of the bridge. Ruri was seated in her chair, holding a mug with cat ears that matched the ones on her onesie. Yurika was at least dressed “properly”, but with her fashion sense and the way she was yawning, it was debatable if she was doing “better” than Ruri. Well, at least Weaver seemed to be his usual self.

"Elnai is still sending out what seems to be regular communications traffic, but there are no responses to our calls, Captain.” Ruri seemed to be tasked with trying to contact their destination, though it was not yet visible given the distance.

"Well, just keep trying. Maybe they’re on their lunch break or something.” Yurika yawned as she spoke to Ruri, before turning in her chair towards the Mages. "We should-” Another massive yawn interrupted whatever she was saying. ”-be there pretty soon.”

It only took a few more minutes before Melissa spoke up. "Hey. You all need to see this…” She flipped the display of the external cameras that were normally on her console over to a main display at the front of the bridge, causing at least Yurika to gasp in shock.


Even from this distance, Elnai was clearly in ruins. The town should have been a roughly square shape, with each side of the square facing a cardinal direction and all of the town surrounding a tall, cylindrical tower at the center of the town. Elnai had been roughly divided into four sections by whatever disasters had befallen it, though, with each section extending outwards from one of the corners of the square.

The largest section was the southwest quadrant and some surrounding areas, which glimmered brilliantly in the morning light as the sunlight reflected off of crystalline surfaces. From what could be seen at this distance, bluish-purple crystal had spread throughout the town, consuming both structures and land alike. The crystal had even spread across the exterior of parts of the tower at the center of town, though it had certainly not covered it entirely. The outlines of roads and structures could still be seen clearly through the crystal though; were it not so obviously out of place, one might have imagined that it had been intentional on the part of the city planners.

The remainder of the tower and much of the southeast section had shared a similar fate. Namely, both had been clearly ravaged by some sort of battle. Rubble filled the streets from damaged buildings and crashed vehicles, parks had been burnt, and in some places the city itself had been stained red, likely from the blood of the victims.

The northwest section of town was by far the smallest, but it had fared far worse than even the southeast. It looked as though the gods had seen fit to use this side of the city to test out the new wrecking balls and bulldozers that they had acquired. From what could be seen, almost every single building had been reduced to rubble, with one notable exception. A sizable manor stood tall in the center of the area, with not even a single brick out of place on its structures or in its garden around the property. Furthermore, despite the devastation, there was clearly some level of control to it; the carnage was contained within a nearly perfect square, as though only the area within these four streets was scheduled for demolition.

Finally, the northeast section remained distinct not because of its abnormality, but from how perfectly ordinary it seemed. If one looked at no other parts of the city, then they would believe it to be any other town in the early morning. Had it merely been spared the fate of the other sections by chance? Or was there something else at work in this area?

After a few moments of Yurika staring in shock, Weaver gently put his right hand upon her left shoulder. She shuddered as she inhaled deeply, finally remembering how to breathe again. "All crewmembers to battle stations. Helm, take us in closer. Mages…” Captain Shakespeare turned towards the Mages and their Spirits before continuing. "I leave it to you all to decide what course of action you might take. For ourselves, we will examine the area from the air a bit longer before trying to land and assist survivors in the northeast section. Though we would appreciate any magic you could offer to help us, we understand that you have your own mission to attend to, and that may take priority over helping a decimated town. Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves, and if you have a course of action you would like to take, we will do our best to assist you.” She then turned back to face the front, watching the display of the city while trying to maintain her composure.
 
Londo Sperry THE GREAT!


  • Aura: 150 / 150
  • Prana: 100 / 100
  • Stamina: 100 / 100
  • Gauntlets: Unsummoned

  • STRENGTH: D
  • VITALITY: D
  • WILLPOWER: E
  • RESISTANCE: D
  • SPEED: D
  • DEXTERITY: E
  • PERCEPTION: E
  • RECOVERY: D
  • Lion's Heart: Ready for Activation
  • Touch of Death: 2 / 2 uses left
  • Ruby Anklet: ???


Mentioned: Rina @Sho-the-Mage

====================================================================​

Yesterday

Londo shrugged in response to Rina, but listened intently to the plan. He nodded and gave a thumbs up in response, "Got it! Be at front and punch stuff!" And Alice pursed her lips, but simply said, "Sure." In response to Rina asking her a question.

Londo crossed his arms and thought about if he had gotten any stronger since the tournament, but shook his head, "Not that I can think of, and as for my anklet..." Londo looked outside the room, both ways, "It's-" He said, before leaning in to Rina and whispering the rest. Afterwards he leaned back and laughed, giving her a thumbs up, "It'll be more clear during the battle!" He laughed off Rina's dismissal of him, "It's fine, I died plenty before!"

Alice, who had already dismissed herself from the conversation, was only watching the cube, still hidden from sight from Rina, glanced back at Rina, then back at the cube, "None whatsoever." She said in response, "Londo and I need to talk." She said, and Londo pouted, "Aww, I wanted to talk with Rina. Oh well! See ya tomorrow Rina!" Londo said, before closing the door in her face.

Londo walked over to Alice, sitting on the bed next to her, "So, what'd'ya wanna talk about?" He asked innocently, and Alice simply responded by saying, "The box."

"What about it?"

"What are you going to do about it?"

Londo thought about it, "Hmmmm... What am I?... Uhh, how about you keep it with you Alice!" As Alice raised an eyebrow to this thought, Londo explained further, "You see, if I ever get captured and us seperated, I can probably fight my way out! Kyubey might be able to help you! You hear that Kyubey? Stay with Alice and keep her safe!" He said, giving her a thumbs up, while Alice simply sighed. She didn't say more to that, and Londo went to his bed, praying to Cadwgan for a good fight tomorrow as well as getting some pen and paper, drafting a letter to his parents, to let them know he was safe and willing to continue fighting...


Today

Londo and Alice woke up, Alice depositing Kyubey in her pocket, and Londo marching towards the cafe, getting some breakfast along with Alice, then making their way to the bridge. There seemed to be some kind of commotion going on, so Londo and Alice watched as chaos ensued. The town was in ruins. Something was up. Londo and Alice didn't know what to say, but Londo held an angry look, "Are there any people left? We gotta look for survivors first!" Londo said, not knowing whether or not this was futile yet. But if there was a chance that someone was alive, he HAD to take it.
 
Janus Hindemith

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Interactions: Yurika @alatartheblue42 | All mages present

10 minutes after the announcement went out, Janus entered the bridge, wolfing down a poppyseed muffin as he walked. He found a seat near the back and sat down to finish the rest of it. Janus raised his hand to greet the rest of the mages as they trickled in, holding up the pastry in his hand with a wide-eyed, contented expression that said, "Have you tried one of these? They're quite good!"

Janus's expression slowly morphed from a smile into a blank and stony frown as they neared the town of Elnai. He cleaned the remnants of his breakfast off his face with a handkerchief and stepped forwards towards the screens to get a better visual of the situation. Londo suggested searching for survivors, after which Janus voiced his own thoughts.

"If memory serves, Elnai... has a population of eighty thousand. Attempting to mount search and rescue with the resources currently at our disposal would be highly inefficient. I would suggest that the crew send out a call for assistance to any who could give it, so that we may conduct a rescue operation at a level higher than what we currently can. As for us mages... Our talents would indeed be better suited on the ground." Janus pointed at the cylindrical tower partly encrusted in crystals displayed on one of the screens. "Captain Shakespeare, could you make contact with the communications tower?"

Janus turned to face the rest of the mages present. "Although I know that we would be far more useful on the field than we would be in the air, I know not what should be done when we arrive. Obviously rescue operations should be a priority, but I was hoping that those among us with more seniority as a mage than I could deliver some guidance..." Janus frowned.

In the corner of the room, a brown rat stood up on its hind legs, sniffing the air. If it was spotted by anyone, it would immediately dart back into the shadows and disappear.