Overlap [IC/PG-16/Accepting]

Chaos Sonic · August 1, 2022

A message was presented to us this morning with promises of training with those who call themselves our seniors at 4 PM today. Truly an interesting thought and idea…I have seen my colleagues in the heat of battle, so I am aware of the styles they have within their repertoire of skills, but I’ve truly had success in a team scenario with Fen and Aduain…perhaps this will encourage more use of joining forces with other techniques?

Alas, not everything can be as entertaining and exciting…as we found ourselves grocery shopping, after finishing a delightful breakfast provided to us by Fen and Aduain…quite the remarkable pair of chefs those two make. However, it seems we’ve met some rather unusual individuals on this trek to shop…a light blue haired girl, Dora by what Melissa just said, and a young man with an eye-patch and two swords at his side with a white wolf. At first glance, the young man’s whole demeanor made me think of Olli…but alas, the glaring difference between them is stark…considering Olli had both of his eyes, this one doesn’t as well as Olli had protruding horns on his head due to the Undecided side of himself, this one doesn’t. But what does this trio present to us…?

His grimoire now shutting, as Trevor had the quill vanish from his hand. That last paragraph finished, when he found out that Fen happened to know two of the three here, namely the wolf...aptly named Snow, and the eye-patch boy named Percival. This was impressive that Fen was able to recognize some individuals from her own multiverse and world...but this did register a question in his mind.

...would it be possible for those allies I met within the Ever make an appearance here? Trevor thought, his hand to his chin as the look he wore on his face was an inquisitive one. It might've been blatant on his face, to the point that the Cabanomicon lifted up and flipped it's pages before revealing some text.

There is always that possibility, my young sorcerer. More-so, there may be a chance your master could make an appearance.

Trevor lulled that thought in his mind, shaking his head with a small sigh. "Honestly, I guess that hope could always be there...but let's keep an open mind if anything." he said to the book specifically, having the grimoire land in his hand before closing it once more. "Thank you, however." Trevor then began to clear his throat and approached the group along with the others. "I highly doubt the man is a pirate, Aduain...after all, he doesn't have the proper attire befitting a pirate." he explained, before looking at Fen. "So these two at least are from your own world? Fascinating...well, any friend and comrade of the ice princess here is a friend of ours, I'd like to say. Trevor Masters, apprentice sorcerer, at your service!"

LordCowCow · August 2, 2022

“Hi, Dora,”

"Hi!" Dora said, waving from her awkward position on the dog's back. Even when the dog moved forward and practically stood up on its hind legs to greet Fen she didn't seem to be bothered. "I don't think you smell bad!"

"oh, but I don't think I know you."

"I'm Dora! I'm a Quagsire!" the girl responded to Fen before slowly, slowly, sliding down the dog due to the force of gravity. Despite sliding she lose any cheer. "Are you a new friend? Or an old friend? I'm fine with both!" While saying this the girl finally slid all the way off the dog and landed in a heap on the ground.

Without missing a beat she sat back up and raised her arms to the sky. "I'm on the ground now!"

All this seemed to get the young man's attention from his cursing the gods for long lines and he started towards the group. "Greetings, I....Fen??" He seemed surprised for a moment then thrust out a hand.

"My glorious past
Ally from a time long gone
Now in a new world"

"I didn't really get what you were yelling about but it sounded funny. Was that pirate code? Did Mauvache let you bring your ship here?"

Percival glanced over towards Aduain. He shook his head, and wagged a finger, with a smile on his face. "No, no, no, I am no pirate! Though I have fought a few in my time."

He seemed to get more excited as more people were turning their attention to him. "My name is Percival Crimson!" With every few words he would thrust his arms and pose his body in different ways. "Cursed with a dark power I used it to fight evil and become a hero to all people." He pointed over at Fen, "She is indeed a comrade of mine and accompanied me as I defeated villain and monster alike!"

Dora got to her feet by now and hurried towards Percival's side. "He likes to eat on the floor with Snow!"

Percival blushed at the statement but, clearing his throat, hurriedly spoke to defend himself.

"My boon companion
Unable to sit at tables
A fair sacrifice"

Dora didn't seem to be paying attention to this. Instead she made her way over towards Morgan. "Who are you? You don't look like me. Even more than Percy doesn't look like me. Does that mean you're not a Human or Gijinka? There's so many different people here! I met a guy who was a cat! Or was he a cat that was a guy...." She seemed to ruminate on this a bit before going back to her original, "Who are you?"

As they all spoke the line grew shorter. However in their distraction several people had also slipped ahead of them. A voice called out from the store. "Only an hour remains until the collab deal ends!" which caused everyone in front to surge forward in an attempt to push through despite all the security at the entrance.

yui · August 8, 2022

Shopping! Again! And dogs! Morgan's experience with dogs was highly mixed. Some were good. Very friendly creatures, very pettable, they kind of made her want one for herself during her Lemuria adventures. Others did things like take her arm and run away with it. So Morgan tended to keep a close eye on man's best friend until she discerned if they saw her as friend or food. Luckily, this one hadn't made any moves that looked like they would escalate into arm-napping, so the girl was confident she could at least trust it for now.

And then there was the girl riding the dog. Who had slid off, commented about her new low-ground position, then got up, then went up to Morgan for a lively chat. And lively she certainly was! The first thing that stuck out to Morgan - only partly thanks to it being among the first things this girl had brought up - was how very different Morgan looked from her. I get that a lot.

"Does that mean you're not a Human or Gijinka? There's so many different people here! I met a guy who was a cat! Or was he a cat that was a guy.... Who are you?"

"I'm Morgan. I'm not a human, and I'm not... whatever that other thing was. People usually settle for calling me a zombie, but if my master was here he would talk about how it's not that simple. What about you?"

"Only an hour remains until the collab deal ends!"

The crowd began surging forward with that announcement, everyone in a rush to get one of whatever the fuss was about. Morgan saw this as beneficial. It presented the zombie girl with an opportunity to push forward herself. That shopping wasn't going to do itself, and she didn't want to get stopped just by some crowd geeking out over some plants in pants. What a silly thing to obsess over. Plants didn't have legs; why would they need pants in the first place?

radio414 · August 9, 2022

“But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal. Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.”
-Exodus 11:7 (NIV)

A few different sensations hit Melissa at once: Embarrassment at the fact that, despite the store’s helpfully provided distraction of concert promotion, she still ended up as part of “a scene”, embarrassment at having roughed up one of the few people she knew in all of Prana over a misunderstanding, embarrassment at- okay, so maybe it was all just the one sensation, but it was certainly a lot of it from a lot of different angles. She certainly felt like a connoisseur of all of those.

Your actions were understandable if lacking in information, the voices said, which she believed was supposed to help assuage her guilt even if it didn’t really. Better was the fact that nobody outwardly seemed to care, even if they all still definitely did.

Except maybe Dora. Even after spending a few hours with her and generally getting the gist of how to follow along with her idiosyncratic trains of thought, she still was never positive the way she was with most anyone else. “I didn’t ask if I smelled bad, I asked if I smelled like a Slakoth,” Melissa said, trying to get a word in among all the introductions and chatter. She ended up just sort of tossing that thought out into the crowd and listening to it scatter like an errant breeze.

“I’m on the ground now!” Dora said, as if that answered any sort of question at all.

Melissa was more comfortable listening, anyway. She could focus on the conversation and less on how stupid she had been. And, like, okay, she couldn’t have known that Fen actually knew the wolf and the person attached (or, well, not the person attached attached, that was Dora, but, you know), especially since it was all the more likely that nobody knew anybody. She tried to imagine if she saw Gabby riding atop a skeletal horse or something, would she have been upset if Fen pushed her out of the way of a charge?

Would she see Gabby?

She’d resigned herself to doing whatever nebulous job that Mauvache needed doing, with the normal-ish life relegated to the “afterwards” (however normal a life that could ever have meant now that her scope of what “normal” meant had broadened significantly), but the appearance of old allies threw a wrench in that. Now there was the chance -- a small one, but still a chance -- of seeing anyone. The universe was big enough for that. With just an introduction, Melissa became homesick all over again.

Maybe, she thought, maybe there was some sort of way she could know for certain. She already was looking for information today at the behest of the beings in her head, so why not just expand that? Maybe there were some public records she could find. It was fine if there wasn’t anything waiting for her at the other end of this rabbit hole, but she had to get there, first.

As soon as Melissa had made her resolution, the crowd surged forward again, pushed on by some ill-advised announcement. One of them hit her in the back, and she stumbled forwards as well. She might have had an angel catch her, but that would have caused more of a scene. Instead, she just sprawled out prone. It hurt, but only as a brief stinging sort.

“You’re on the ground now too!” Dora said.

Skaia · August 18, 2022

Fen giggled a little as Aduain had asked if Percival was a pirate, but couldn't correct him before the boy introduced himself properly. Smiling, the girl stood up as she looked towards Trevor. "Like he said, we're both from the same guild, and I guess by that'd also mean we're from the same 'world'. Well, he's very enthusiastic a lot of the times but also very reliable. So, I'm sure you'll both get along with him well."

Turning back to Percival she said, "so, uh Percy, how have - or well, how long have you been here? Did you just get here?"

"Nay, I've been here for quite some time and have fought many a legendary battle in this strange world."

Fen will pause, blinking a bit in surprise. "Some time? But I'm sure you were..." Fen trailed off for a bit, before snapping back. Smiling she said, "well, uh, I just got here myself. It's been something of a shock and getting used to but, well, it's interesting. How, uh, have you been adjusting - or I guess adjusted?"

"A great hero must never falter even in the face of the unknown, I would never let something like this get the better of me!"

The girl giggled saying, "well, I'm glad to see you're still as confident as ever. " Thinking about it more she said, "you know, when we were in Cherry Heart I was there before you were but well, I guess I'm the newcomer this time. So I look forward to - " the girl lurched forward as the crowd surged ahead, stumbling but keeping her balance saying, "look forward to learning from you."

He seemed excited at the prospect and nodded, "Yeah! Er, I mean...."
"Teaching my allies
Using knowledge for others
That too is 'hero'"

LordCowCow · August 30, 2022

"I'm Morgan. I'm not a human, and I'm not... whatever that other thing was. People usually settle for calling me a zombie, but if my master was here he would talk about how it's not that simple. What about you?"

Dora had been briefly distracted by Melissa's tumble to the ground but then she turned back to Morgan with such speed that she seemed to get a little dizzy after. With a giggle and a stumble she waved energetically at the zombie. "Hi zombie! I don't know what that means! I'm Dora! I'm a Gijinka! I don't really know what that means either. But look I can do this!" She then looked upwards, opened her mouth, and launched out a column of mud. "People ask if it tastes funny but I don't notice!"

Percival had gotten excited upon meeting Fen, and the prospect of being a teacher to her and the rest there, so he continued speaking more quickly than before. "There are so many things here that are different, it was a bit sc- er, exciting! You're very lucky I came here first to scout, well, I guess I didn't come here first really..."

He paused, as did Dora, as the watches on their wrist lit up and made a chiming noise. Percival looked down and frowned a moment before standing up straighter.

"Call to arms arrives
Our battle never over
Groceries must wait"

Dora ran up to stand next to Percival and declared, "We're going to go beat up bad guys now!"

Percival nodded in an exaggerated solemn manner. "Aye, it's true. Our comrades are calling for us. Alas this wait proved too long, I hope you fare better with your shopping. It was..." Percival paused and looked at Melissa, still on the ground "Er, are you okay?"

"She's on the ground!" Dora helpfully explained.

Spoiler

So yeah the two of them are going to go, if anyone wants to speak with them now's the time. Feel free to get dialogue from me. If timing is awkward we can work it out. Don't worry about waiting for a host post just as long as you don't make any major changes/time jumps without asking me and the others.

Chaos Sonic · September 2, 2022

"Like he said, we're both from the same guild, and I guess by that'd also mean we're from the same 'world'. Well, he's very enthusiastic a lot of the times but also very reliable. So, I'm sure you'll both get along with him well."

"Wonderful!" Trevor clapped slightly, smirking. "Perhaps I'll get to see him in action after a while. After all..." he proceeded to make hand gestures and poses, similar to how Percival was. "Someone like him seems like an interesting individual to be sure. And being named after a knight of old, least from my world, truly a treat!"

As they met, they were seeming to be called away...at least from what Percival's watch was depicting. Which, if he had to think, it was a good thing too...especially with there only being an hour left in this sale, which Morgan was already beginning to push through. This was the only time they had at the present, so they had to make it count. If they waited too long, they'd lose out on the sale and that wouldn't be good for morale, least in his mind.

"Well, Percival, Snow and Dora...for the time being, we'll bid you adieu, but here's hoping to seeing you appear later on during our tenure here!" he said, giving the group a small two fingered salute. "In the meantime, I'm fairly certain Morgan is going to need help there. After all, only an hour left of this little sale!" Trevor turned on his heel, making his way to help Morgan out through the throngs of people.

radio414 · September 6, 2022

John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
-Luke 3:11 (NIV)

Melissa thought it was a little weird that nobody from her group seemed to notice her collapse, but perhaps what was even weirder was how Percival and Dora both noticed and didn’t do anything about it besides gawk. Maybe that was to be expected from Dora, but still. “I’m alright,” Melissa said. “It’s just a stumble is all. Maybe some bruising but nothing broken.”

She pulled herself up and dusted herself off. “I’m alright,” she said, this time addressing nobody in particular. In fairness, she’d felt the voices inside her springing to act and had to mentally hold Zadkiel back from manifesting, willing to strike her foot against a stone (as it were) just to avoid attention from literally everyone else in the crowd, especially the people who had knocked her down in the first place. She might have said more but Dora and Percival’s watches went off, calling them away from their spot in line to wherever they were needed.

Melissa felt a little bad about that, about all that wasted time queuing, even if some of it was spent on universe-shattering revelations about how not-alone they might be. “Do you want us to, um, do you want us to get your groceries while you’re off? You can text me your list if you want real quick and then also text me your address or I guess we could ask, like, Mauvache or something or-”

Percival cut her off with a wave of his hand. “That will not be necessary,” he said. “Our list is complicated and it would be best if I get it all myself.”

“He doesn’t want Mister Leader to know about allllll the cheese puffs he’s gonna get!” Dora chimed in. “Oh, but I do have this!”

Dora turned around and showed Melissa a piece of paper that already had her team’s address on it. In retrospect, Melissa thought, it would have been helpful to actually know the city before looking at how the addresses were organized, but she entered it into her watch all the same. She didn’t even think about why Dora had such a leaflet on her until she noticed the “IF LOST, RETURN TO:” at the top in big, friendly letters. “Okay, thank you, Dora,” she said. “Good luck out there.” She turned back to her own team and took a deep breath, not quite ready for her own personal battle of navigating a crowded grocery store, but, now that she had one additional goal, accepting of the challenge all the same.

This had to be some sort of fire hazard, Melissa thought. The situation of the grocery’s exterior did not magically improve once they were all inside. In fact, the existence of walls and stalls and shelves made things feel even more claustrophobic. Still, now Melissa was on a mission, so that kept her going.

The layout, besides the “U” shape, was basically what she had expected. On top of the Plants in Pants marketing materials some unfortunate staff was desperately taking down now that the promotion was ending, there were actual plants in the front to attract the eye, followed by the produce (which was really more plants when you thought about it), then presumably the meats and cheeses, then all the box stuff, before the freezer section at the end. It was all standard to Melissa, though she wondered what the people to whom it wasn’t standard thought.

“I guess we should buy your friend some cheese puffs,” Melissa told Fen. The amount she had in mind was like a dozen bags if she took Dora at her word, though that was probably dangerous and Melissa deliberately obscured the number anyway. “But the berries are… oh here are some.” She didn’t recognize the type of berries they were but she did recognize that they were berries. “You’re the cook and our leader besides, what all do we need?”

The vegetable misters started spraying and she hoped beyond hope that Aduain didn’t notice.

Skaia · September 11, 2022

As Percy explained excitedly about how things were different here, Fen nodded. "It is all a bit overwhelming but now that I've had some of my teammates help me out I think I'm finally understanding how it works. Like, did you know about the stove?" As Percival's attention was then taken by his watch, telling them they had a fight to go to, Fen said, "well, I wish you both well on your fight. And I can't wait to catch up more with you later Percival." Her attention was then turned towards Melissa as Percy looked at her, the girl looking at her as well feeling a bit embarrassed that moments after nominating herself as leader she had somehow missed one of her teammates falling on the ground. The girl couldn't help but feel that, in general, she had been generally getting more distracted more easily since coming to this world and in the time that she was thinking about this her embarrassment at this only grew as Melissa had picked herself up as Fen did nothing to actually aid her. Nonetheless, the group had managed to wade their way through the crowds and get into the store proper.

Fen had been to many a market place in her life, and she knew just how hectic they could get. Most were generally outside and the ones that weren't were in fairly large and open buildings instead. While this one was by no means small, the amount of actual stalls in it were relatively low. Similarly the marketplace was filled with walls and shelves everywhere and food seemed to be more openly on display and up for the taking. The girl didn't quite know how such an operation went by without people just stealing the food, and the experience of being in the building wasn't particularly comfortable itself, feeling somewhat congested both due to its layout and the actual crowd of people that occupied it. All in all it was a bit of a sensory overload for the girl and might've taken her a while to not just stand there frozen trying to process everything were she not with company.

Thankfully, Melissa seemed to be rather familiar with these things - or was just much better at adjusting to foreign situations then she may have given her credit for - and already started heading towards the produce in the store. Fen nodded at Melissa's comment about Percy, mentally refocusing herself as she nodded. "I'm sure he'd appreciate it." The girl briefly imagined the boy receiving the gift and returning with one of his poems in appreciation, bringing a smile to her face before breaking way to curiosity. "Though, I can't say I've ever heard of a "cheese puff."" The girl tried thinking about it for a moment and figured it was probably some kind of cheese stuffed pastry before moving on to Melissa's next comment.

Putting a finger to her chin she thought aloud, "well most basic things like bread, butter, salt and pepper are already taken care of for us so we don't have to worry about that. But, as far as actual essentials go we are heavily lacking in vegetables. We might have lettuce on hand but diversifying what kind of leaves we have to pick from would be good. Not to mention an utter lack of broccoli, carrots, onions. And then we're missing out on fruit too which wouldn't be good to neglect. Lemons in particular are good for flavoring too. I'm also not sure what our stock of meat is like either, but Chicken is always a good place to start. But just eating chicken for a long time might get boring for some so we could also look for different kinds of red meats, fish, other poultry - "

As Fen rambled about this she started to trail off even more saying, "oh but wait I wonder if we even have the same kind of meats between worlds. I never saw that rainbow fish before in my own world, so it stands to reason the market here would be pretty unique too. Which means at the very least we can find something unique and new to try out. I wonder if they've brought any familiar monster from my own world too? But people treated eating monsters over livestock as pretty exotic though if they aren't wild monsters here would they just be considered another part of the local cuisine? But even if we got all those we're lacking in too many things to make proper seasonings or sauces and I wouldn't just want to serve plain manticore with salt and pepper to a customer and call it a day. I might as well just be telling them I don't work in an actual restaurant at that point. So if that's the case then -"

The girl paused in the middle of her stream of consciousness, looking back over to Melissa, a flush of embarrassment crossing her face as she realized she had been speaking aloud. Clearing her throat, the girl said, "well, um, that is to say. Uh...Produce, is a good starting point."

yui · September 20, 2022

"Hi zombie! I don't know what that means! I'm Dora! I'm a Gijinka! I don't really know what that means either. But look I can do this!" She then looked upwards, opened her mouth, and launched out a column of mud. "People ask if it tastes funny but I don't notice!"

What an interesting trick! Morgan couldn't help but wonder if there was a way to learn it herself. Unfortunately, she didn't have much time to ask, as soon the watches of Dora and her companion whose name escaped Morgan lit up, and by the sound of what they were saying, they had some bad guys to beat up. Hearing that felt like a weight being lifted off of Morgan's shoulders. It was good to know hers wasn't the only group actively assigned to this kind of work. While it was always a safe assumption, there was now living, breathing evidence, happening right in front of her. Which left the other thing right in front of her. The sale, for which only an hour remained!

On the subject of food, Fen had an awful lot to say. Vegetables and meat, and the presence or lack thereof of creatures people might be familiar with depending on their world of origin. What was a manticore? It didn't sound particularly appetizing, whatever it was. Eventually, Fen came back around to the starting point of produce, to which Morgan nodded in agreement. "A healthy diet starts with a healthy garden. Or something."

While she was no master chef or anything herself, Morgan did know a thing or two about produce. "I recommend potatoes. They are hardy, and incredibly versatile crops. They can be boiled, mashed, baked, fried, and more. I also recommend mushrooms. They are a nice snack."

radio414 · September 27, 2022

When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony. Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.
-Proverbs 23:1-3 (NIV)

“Okay, well, we can do that.” Melissa didn’t entirely follow along with the long list of items she had just been provided, especially once Morgan chimed in and added more, but she could manage it. She had help from her angels, after all, and most of the stuff was right in front of them as Fen said it anyway. There was a little bit of trouble as one of the produce bag dispensers didn’t seem to have been appropriately perforated so she just pulled out, like, one long string of bag that just didn’t tear off, but they managed eventually. The deli section was a bit harder since you had to interact with other people to get the exact meats you wanted, but that was what people who weren’t Melissa were for. Was that why she didn’t have as much experience with meats in general? Probably, now that she was thinking about it.

But the thought didn’t last long, as they pushed the cart further into the store and started running into the myriad snack and prepackaged foods available. Melissa recognized most of them -- there was everything from canned beans to pasta to oatmeal to granola bars to boxed dinners to baking supplies -- and the ones she didn’t recognize still marketed themselves with the same pizzazz as anything else. They were eye-catching enough that she made a mental note to look some of them up later.

At one point, Melissa looked over the cart and commented, “With all this stuff it feels like there could be a pretty good stew,” but the thought, despite being out loud, wasn’t really to anyone in particular, it was just an observation. She didn’t know how to make a stew, unless stone soup counted and even that was more of a metaphor for cooperation than an actual meal. The more relevant vocalizations came later, first when they reached the section with all the chips and crackers and cookies and, most relevantly, the cheese puffs. There were so many different kinds! “Do you know which of these Percival might like?” she said, but she still tossed one of each bag into the cart, not wanting to pick the wrong one without knowing.

The other was when they got to the freezer section, where Melissa discovered yet another multiversal constant. “Oh, they have ice cream here!” she said. “Should we put it in the cart or should we see if there are ice cream shops nearby and get some there?”

yui · October 10, 2022

So far, the shopping trip was most definitely and undeniably a shopping trip. Various pieces of produce, one noteworthy inconvinience with one of the bag dispensers, and eventually the deli section. Morgan elected to leave that to someone else. In her past experience, the walking dead strolling up to a deli requesting meat had a tendency to put others on edge, and that was like, the polar opposite of what Morgan was supposed to be doing in this world. As the group proceeded through the different sections of the store, Morgan took note of anything that looked familiar to her, picking up a few odds and ends here and there as suited her fancy. Eventually, the team found themselves in the frozen food section.

“Oh, they have ice cream here! Should we put it in the cart or should we see if there are ice cream shops nearby and get some there?”

"We should look for an ice cream shop nearby," Morgan suggested. Then her eyes locked upon another apparent universal constant. That most sacred of meals. Melted golden decadence resting atop a disc of the finest wheat, with an irresistable layer of sauce trapped in the middle, as if begging for somebody to feast upon it. It could only be pizza! As much as she would have loved to get some frozen pizzas, it seemed unfair to do that instead of looking for a pizza place immediately after suggesting that approach for ice cream, but that didn't stop her from pausing to strongly consider it anyway. Plus, there were more important things to deal with here. Like the countless forms of frozen, oven-ready potatoes. Wedges, fries, tots, more fries, hash brown, fries in even more shapes, and more! Weren't wedges just fat fries, come to think of it?

Whatever the case, Morgan perused the various forms of frozen potato on display. "Any preferences on potatoes, folks?"

Skaia · October 12, 2022

After her rant and going to pick out some fresh produce to use for any common place meal, Fen swiftly followed along after the others as they entered deeper into the store. She continued to be in awe, having never seen such a variety of foods already packed in colorful boxes and crinkling bags. As the question came to what kind of cheese puffs that Percy would like, having now found them in this store, the girl still hadn't the faintest idea. She had thought them to be some kind of pastry but they felt surprisingly solid in the bag for something she knew was called a "puff." Add to that she wasn't exactly sure what Percy's preferences with cheese even were to begin with, not that most of these labels made her think of cheese to begin with at all. Seeing Melissa take one bag after the other and putting it in the girl said, "that uh, probably works best."

After walking a bit further into the store, the girl's eyes went wide as they entered a section that was much colder then the rest of the store. Though the actual look of it was a bit different, Fen figured that these were the same kinds of contraptions that was in their own kitchen only much larger and wide scale. The devices themselves weren't what had the girl astonished, though, so much as what was inside of them. Looking at all of the packaging and the labels on them it seemed to imply that there was a large supply of ready made meals stocked on the shelves. Fen had been no stranger to using her power to store food for the sake on longevity, but that was normally directed towards ingredients. She had never actually froze and store a whole meal before. "I still have a lot to learn about this world's cuisine," the girl muttered to herself.

As Melissa was directed towards the Ice Cream, Fen nodded along with Morgan as she suggested getting some ice cream from a shop. "We'll uh probably be out for awhile already, and it'd be bad if it melted on us before we got back, right?" Thinking on it a bit more the girl added, "oh and uh, if we wait until later, like after training, it could be a nice way to end our day." Not least to mention that there were so many different unique flavors here that Fen would simply have too hard a time picking just one to settle on for now. Looking at the potatoes the girl was, again, met with cuisine she had never seen before, looking at the various forms of frozen potatoes arranged into varying shapes and seemingly all prepared in different ways. The girl pulled out a package of hash browns, and with it calling itself a great addition to any breakfast Fen decided to take it at face value. "Um, this should work." Looking back, the girl couldn't help but still be curious about the "Fries" and "tater tots," simple though they might have seemed. As she put the package away, she then thought about what was in their cart more and what Melissa had also said earlier.

"Hm...I think I'll go back to the produce to get some more potatoes there too. You, uh, you were talking about stew right? Well, our cart is full of a lot of stuff that could be used to make it. All we need left is the meat." Usually chicken or beef made for good stew, though Fen was a bit hesitant to say anything on that matter. It wasn't as though she had anything against using common ingredients - she made dishes like that all the time in fact - but being in a foreign land with so many foreign ingredients made her feel like it would be a waste to just stick to those. Though there was still the matter of getting used to the cooking appliances, and her own teammates preferences at that, so she didn't want to just dive straight into the deep end, especially with this being a standard supply run. "That uh, that should probably be everything we need - food wise. Then we can get whatever else we need and head straight back. Does that uh, work for everyone?"

LordCowCow · October 12, 2022

Once the time came for them to meet with the group they were intended to train with a mini-bus arrived in front of their place. It waited for them to get in and, without asking any questions, took off in the direction of the arena. Despite the time there weren't any people about. It seemed that the place had been closed for the next several hours. The young bunny-eared boy from the reception desk was waiting outside to let them in. Saying that they had closed down temporarily as to not disturb the Guardian groups.

"And don't worry, if anyone tries to sneak in, the security team is....somewhere, probably." He told them with a nervous laugh.

They then were directed to the floor which held the simulation rooms that the usual arena activities took place in. However they didn't go into the main stage but instead were led into a side room that was labelled as "Practice Stage". It was smaller than the main area that they had first talked to Mauvache and the floors and walls seemed more ordinary but it had several large objects that looked like some sort of egg-shaped pods attached to the wall across from the door.

There was already a group of people in the room when they arrived. Four of them in total.

Three girls, either young adult or teenage years, and one incredibly serious looking older man wearing armor. The old man was at the front of them and the other three were fanned out behind them. The girls didn't seem to be paying much attention until the group came in and even then only one really perked up as they filled in.

The man spoke first, "You were supposed to be here two minutes ago. I know you're new to this place but you'll have to be more punctual in the future." Behind him the girls all, almost in sync, rolled their eyes.

The man, not noticing this, continued. He raised a fist and put it to his chest and declared, "I am Grigoriy, I lead this squad and have been tasked with heading this training session. We are called Squad Grand."

He paused as the girl who had been watching the group started to snicker. Without looking back he spoke louder, "Just Grand." with more emphasis than seemed necessary.

"We were given information on you all and I was told to assign each of you with a training partner for today. I should warn you I did so with the goal of making it difficult for you so don't think of this as just a friendly get together. We will be using these devices to simulate a real battle situation and I expect you all to do your best." He glared at one of the three girls in particular, "on both sides."

He gestured towards the girl who had snickered and indicated she step forward. The blonde girl for the most part seemed to be an average young girl, possibly around Melissa's age, except for that one of her arms was clearly metallic. She waved said arm at them and, before Grigoriy could introduce her, spoke up. "Yo! I'm Kelsey, don't mind the grandpa here this isn't some military exercise, honestly I'm just hyped to see what you guys can do in person. Especially you, we're gonna have a good fight you and me!" she said, pointing Fen out with a wide grin on her face.

Grigoriy sighed but decided to just carry along. Next up was the girl that he had glared at who, even when indicated, didn't step forward. She was much smaller than the others, barely over five feet tall, and had a pair of headphones over her ears which she reluctantly slipped down. Her white hair gathering up around her neck as the device wrapped around it.

"This is Rei, she will be your opponent, young lady." Grigoriy said to Melissa. "And she WILL actually try this time."

The girl frowned as she looked at Melissa. "Alright, alright, fine. But I don't really think that I'll have to do all that much anyway. You don't want to try that hard for something as silly as this either do you?"

"And this," Grigoriy said, continuing despite the lack of enthusiasm, "is Fiona. She will be up against...Aduain."

The third girl, despite being the tallest, and likely oldest of the three, hadn't stood out as much as the other two. She wasn't particularly bland yet they hardly would have even noticed her until she was pointed out. She smiled at Aduain and gave a short bow of her head, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I hope that we both learn something from this."

Once again Kelsey began to snicker and then let out a yelp as Fiona stepped on her foot. Still smiling the purple-haired girl said, "don't mind her she seems to think everything is funny."

As if sensing that an argument was about to break out Grigoriy cleared his throat and spoke up again, "Which means that I shall take on both of you." He looked at Trevor and Morgan. "Do not think that you are at an advantage because of numbers. I assure you I will give you a more than acceptable fight. Now, any questions?"

Spoiler

Sorry for what is basically in info dump but, there ya go. You can still wrap things up beforehand but yeah all roads lead here anyway. I want some input on if you want to go one at a time or all at once but other than that feel free to interact/ask/etc. This is the first full squad you're meeting and all.

Chaos Sonic · October 14, 2022

"You were supposed to be here two minutes ago. I know you're new to this place but you'll have to be more punctual in the future. I am Grigoriy, I lead this squad and have been tasked with heading this training session. We are called Squad Grand."

Unfortunately, they WERE late...but what was one supposed to do in a moment of trying to get all their groceries in order and put away? Least, that was Trevor's thought anyway. They were basically shopping for a small army, they had to make sure their supplies were high.

But nevertheless, it seemed like this was the team that would be their opponents for this mock battle. Grigoriy, Kelsey, Rei and Fiona...each one was strange in their own right, but unique at the same time. Trevor was interested to see each one in action...and truth be told, each of the three were cute...though Grigoriy himself made him reminisce of Balthazar himself for a little while. A small sigh escaped as he thought of his former mentor and master, he did pray that he was still in good health.

But at the same time, Trevor was intrigued by the man's attire and armor. Two blades, an ivory colored armor adorned with red crosses. It would seem that in his world, he would've been very heavy in religion perhaps...perhaps a Knight's Templar? Those he read about in Balthazar's books during his tenure as his apprentice. That along with all those myths and legends he ranted and raved on about something called the 'Prime Merlinean', whatever that was. But his mind was soon brought back to the present.

At the same time, Squad Grand? Intriguing name... he thought, his hand being placed upon his chin. It does seem to have them in high regards if they're that good...

"Which means that I shall take on both of you. Do not think that you are at an advantage because of numbers. I assure you I will give you a more than acceptable fight. Now, any questions?"

"So we fight you, sir?" Trevor asked, nodding slowly, glancing at Morgan. Hmmm...so myself and the zombie Morgan...an interesting duo to possibly work against a knight as this. Interesting indeed...

"I would say that this would be an unfair fight and unfair advantage...but, that would be insulting to you, I'd assume. I suppose this would be a fair fight for someone like yourself...after all, you are the leader of Squad Grand, by your own admittance." The young sorcerer nodded again, before figuring he'd ask one important question. "However, I do wish to know. How is this mock battle going to work out exactly? Is this in tournament ruling of one paired match at a time or would it be taking place all at once? Furthermore, what is allowed and not allowed? I'd rather know all the rules presented in this moment before we all get down to brass tacks."

radio414 · October 18, 2022

Praise be to the Lord my Rock,
who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for battle.
-Psalm 144:1 (NIV)

They were late and it was Melissa’s fault. It was her stupid fault, deciding to go off on her own to get the food she needed for Bartleby and then getting stuck trying to decide just how much she could afford to spoil him without engaging with the pet store employee in any meaningful capacity. She ended up getting “The Good Wet Food With Both The Chicken And The Tuna In It™” that said it was multiversally enjoyed by pets of all shapes, and though it would probably have been smart to just buy a little and make sure the Slakoth actually liked it, the bulk amount was cheaper by volume and she still had some money left (a budget probably would have been a good idea…), so the maxi-size got shipped straight back to the apartments.

It was her fault because even after that -- and, by the way, she had insisted on staying behind and helping unload groceries too, which cut into even more of the intervening time -- she had resolved to go to the library and at least start looking into Pranan technology at the behest of Zadkiel and Sandalphon. She hadn’t been able to get through too many books, and that was even as the computers read them through her eyes, just signaling when to turn to the next page, because as she was putting a text called “Your Computer and You: A Suspiciously Convenient Guide” back on the shelf, she spotted a King James Bible and got sidetracked examining that, wondering exactly how such scripture ended up completely outside the realm in which it had been written. Melissa spent more time leafing through that than any other book she might have wanted to go through. It wasn’t even her favorite version of the text!

Another reason was that, when wondering how to properly pronounce Prana’s computer systems’ power source, she kept saying “æthercrystals” and her own computers had to correct her to “aethercrystals,” which got her sidetracked into a linguistics hole she was only able to climb out of when she just happened to glance at a clock. She’d allowed herself enough time to check out the Bible before she had to dash off back to where everyone else was waiting for her to get on the bus.

This was the third time Melissa had been to the arena, and it was still different every time. The receptionist’s desk was the same, though while the receptionist did recognize them, it seemed more like he recognized everyone as a group than he recognized the people who had been back multiple times since then. Whether that was due to exhaustion or just the convenience of a crowd, Melissa wasn’t sure, but she hoped it was the latter. She hadn’t exactly done anything to rectify it if it was the former, and she felt a little responsible for it. Still, it wasn’t worth dwelling on too hard when there were other things she could dwell on just as easily, such as the introduction of Squad Grand.

It was easiest to focus on Rei, especially once they were introduced. They had to be about the same age, though Rei’s body language was much more relaxed, so either she didn’t share Melissa’s neuroses or she was simply more used to Pranan life. She said something about not particularly wanting to put in much effort, which earned her a reprimand, but before Melissa could actually respond to her question, Grigory had answers for Trevor.

“This is no tournament,” he said briskly. “It is just a single sparring match and, in the interest of not being here all night, we will be going in all at once. As for what is allowed, anything goes. If you can do it, it’s fair game.” He gestured to the machines peppered all through the area. “These devices work much the same way as in the Arena in that no lasting damage will be done, but if you fight as though you can’t be hurt this whole training session would be made pointless.”

If her angels could stare a burning hole into her skull from within it, Melissa was pretty sure they would have been, but she resisted the urge to fight back against it and simply went over to Rei to introduce herself properly. “I don’t know if my name came up when you got our matchups, but my name is Melissa,” she said. “Um, I don’t care much for fighting either -- until, like, a week ago I would just accept card games as an alternative to violence -- but if fighting is what we’ve been asked to do and it won’t hurt anyone, I do want to do at least okay at it. It's nice to meet you.”

Edited October 18, 2022 by radio414

LordCowCow · October 26, 2022

"but if fighting is what we’ve been asked to do and it won’t hurt anyone, I do want to do at least okay at it. It's nice to meet you.”

The girl raised an eyebrow and looked Melissa up and down. Then she shrugged. "Yeah I guess that's how it always is, isn't it? Can't be a hero without beating up the bad guys right? Uh, not saying that we're heroes or anything." She gave Melissa an annoyed look as if it was Melissa that had mentioned it instead of herself. "Guess I can at least help you not get yourself killed. Come on, let's get in these dumb pods."

With some help Melissa would be able to figure out how to, as Rei had said, get into the dumb pods. It wasn't much different from laying into a bed except that it was slanted vertically instead of being horizontal on the ground. As the doors to the pod closed in front of her it was dark for a moment before a blue light surrounded her. A screen lit up in front of her face as letters and numbers, perhaps some sort of code, flashed before her eyes before suddenly everything went dark again and she had a sensation of slowly sinking down.

Suddenly she was elsewhere. Standing in the middle of a dark forest. There were many trees, some large with thick trunks, but many more thinner and twisted. There was no light except what seemed to come from moonlight yet she could still see around her fairly easily.

The leaves had mostly fallen from the trees and created a carpet along the ground which crunched underfoot. A light fog filled the area and made it hard to see far into the distance but as far as Melissa could tell it was just trees and more trees. Far off she could hear the occasional bird sound, oddly mournful caws piercing the eerie silence, and at first it seemed she was all alone.

Then she saw something approach down a weaving path between trees. Once it got closer she saw that it was Rei. Standing between a pair of especially twisted trees with her hands behind her back. She stopped when Melissa noticed her and looked around. "You know, I heard that these things were haunted. Something about them malfunctioning a long time ago. So I figured it might be fitting to have a bit of a spooky atmosphere for this." She looked over at Melissa and then there was a noise from behind Melissa and to her right. It sounded like branches being snapped off a tree and dropping to the ground. Rei gave a crooked smile at the noise and said, "well, would you look at that, seems we're not alone in here."

Spoiler

Aight so obviously this is mostly just radio (as Chaos's questions were answered in radio's posts and no other posts are up atm) but this is your go ahead for starting your combat stuff if you want.

Basically if you want lines yet let me know and if you want to get info for your area I can give it. If you want me to write it out like this you'll have to at least give me a post beforehand I don't want to just write out each without you posting first.

The pacing and how long this takes really is up to each of you but please don't drag it out for too long and get info when you can.

radio414 · November 1, 2022

“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.”
-Matthew 12:43 (NIV)

Melissa dutifully followed along with Rei’s instructions, not really comprehending them until she reached the point where she was already locked in. The code that flashed right in front of her face almost made her ask Zadkiel and Sandalphon if they understood it, if they could interface with everything in some way that could be beneficial to her, but alas, by the time the thought fully formed in her head, it was already gone. It probably wouldn’t have worked anyway, she reasoned. They weren’t about to suddenly understand complex machinery after absorbing the equivalent of a “For Dummies” book. Maybe she could ask if they’d interface with her watch or something, though.

She was thinking too much. In fairness, the dark and claustrophobic interior of the pod made it difficult to do anything but. Even as she started sinking into whatever state of consciousness the pod needed her to be in to work, she was still thinking, still worrying. It felt different here than when she’d been summoning her angels, for example, but indescribably so. Just, like, if someone asked her, she’d say, “It’s different.” That was a weird sentence by itself, of course. Again, she tried to recall everything that had happened to her in the last few months, everything that might have led her to this point, because she’d just been an ordinary girl then and now… all of this. She didn’t get very far, though, before the machine took ahold of her.

It had to be a dream. It was similar to dreams she’d had, anyway, and perhaps she had even constructed something similar in her last few dream-filled nights. Maybe that was why the machine had chosen such a location, though she had to be careful not to associate this with dreaming. Despite the surrealities, she was supposed to act like this was still real life.

Rei was just ahead of her, having apparently just remembered a sordid history involving the training pods if they were haunted so hard. Melissa wasn’t particularly afraid of ghosts -- at least, she wasn’t more afraid of ghosts than she was, say, needing to buy something for a church youth group activity, navigating a long line of people also buying that thing, and then disappointing dozens of people buy buying the last one -- but it wasn’t ideal. “I probably should have asked this sooner, then, like, before we got in the pods at all, but how do we get out?” Melissa said. “Like, if this pod is haunted, shouldn’t we get another one?”

The intended reaction was- okay, Melissa, in all her overthinking, wasn’t actually sure what reaction Rei would have to that sort of question, but ambivalence was not it. Rei simply shrugged. “Oh, I'm sure it'll work out. I mean it was here for use right? Of course, these things aren't actually used that much but still.” Like, you’re the one that brought it up! Why bring up an occurrence that Melissa easily would have just chalked up to the already spooky atmosphere of the place if it wasn’t such a big deal?

It only led to more questions. “Okay, but is there, like, a safeword or some way to tap out or is that all covered by the pod reading our brainwaves or something?”

That was the wrong question to ask, but at least “if I keep asking questions they’ll get annoyed at my pestering” was an expected reaction, one Melissa worried about all too often. “What the heck are you on about?” Rei said. “Is this really something you should be asking now that we’re already here?”

The environment was similarly annoyed. Melissa could hear the rustling of branches overhead already even if she didn’t look to visually check for ghosts. She wondered if the trees were stable enough to handle all that poltergeist activity. If this were her dream, where she’d been given total control over everything, they probably wouldn’t be. It wasn’t, of course, just a simulation, but maybe? She took a step forward all the same. “I’m just saying, um, and don’t take this the wrong way or anything, but you seemed annoyed about the prospect of fighting out there in the real world but now that we’re here it seems like the opposite, so…”

“I just want to get this over with. I’m entirely over these kinds of training missions. What’s with these places and deciding that the best way to practice was to beat each other up anyway?”

The rustling continued and Melissa moved another step or two. “How long have you-” No, she didn’t actually want to know the answer to that question. “What would you rather do?”

Rei threw up her hands. “I dunno, anything else? Unlike those other weirdos, I’m not really itching to fight people. It’s just what I’m told to do. So we should just get to it or whatever. Don’t you have some kind of superpower or something to be busting out about now? Or do you think we’re gonna be a couple of pals chatting it up in here?”

Maybe that did answer the first question. It certainly helped, anyway. She kept moving, both avoiding any anxious poltergeists and getting closer to try and, as Rei put it, “chat it up.” She did also ready herself to “bust out her superpower,” but that was more because she was pretty sure talking was about to go nowhere. Past experiences on Prana had demonstrated that talking it out when someone had made up their mind would end with a rock to the face, and while that didn’t mean she was going to stop trying, she was trying to heed the voices’ concerns.

“We’re not fighting for the sake of fighting, are we?” Melissa said. “If we’re useful to Mauvache, then eventually we can go home and, uh, not fight for the rest of our lives.”

“Well aren’t you little miss optimist,” Rei said. “Alright then, you can talk a lot, that’s something.”

“I don’t know about all that,” Melissa said. “I guess I’m just more okay doing things I don’t want to do but feel I have to.”

She hears a branch crack and the response she’d readied just moments ago fires off before she even has a chance to complete a thought. The cherub erupts from her body behind her and it is already moving towards her opponent, smoothly scooping up the girl’s collapsing body with two arms and two wings as it continues its charge forward, flaming sword extended out in front of it with one of its two remaining arms.

Chaos Sonic · November 2, 2022

“This is no tournament. It is just a single sparring match and, in the interest of not being here all night, we will be going in all at once. As for what is allowed, anything goes. If you can do it, it’s fair game. These devices work much the same way as in the Arena in that no lasting damage will be done, but if you fight as though you can’t be hurt this whole training session would be made pointless.”

"Intriguing...please make a note of this..." Trevor nodded, speaking to the Cabanomicon as a pen materialized itself and began to write into the pages of the grimoire. "The technology here truly is a wonder, as well as it's touch of magic. It does my heart good to see it in such a state."

Nevertheless, he watched as Melissa already entered the pod...there was no time like the present...it was time for this sorcerer to show his stuff. He glanced over to the zombie before smirking. "Now don't keep me waiting, partner." he said, giving a two fingered salute as he and the grimoire that now landed in his hand made their way to a pod and like Melissa, were shipped off to a different locale.

From the dark, Trevor saw now the protruding light poor into his vision...and what he saw, was quite something he wasn't expecting. The most obvious sight is the building. It was fairly large, two stories, and had a rather simple porch in front of it. Beyond that the most unique part of it was how it seemed like it was practically falling apart. Rotting wood and a multitude of cracks and holes peppered it periodically. It looked essentially like the corpse of a house.

Which was fitting as the area around said house appeared to have been turned into a graveyard. Graves rose up in even rows in the front yard of the house.

Grigoriy stood to the left of the door, which was ajar, and he seemed to be looking around with an annoyed frown on his face. As Trevor got his bearings he would notice he could feel a faint sense of magic around the area.

"Impressive..." Trevor muttered, taking in his surroundings and truly feeling the sense he got of this place. And truly in my element...this may go as well as I'm hoping... he thought, before, snapping his fingers, allowing the grimoire to float into his hand as it opened and began to flip it's pages. "I believe an introduction is to be had here, Grigoriy sir. As you gave us you and your team's names, but alas, we didn't truly reciprocate that."

A slight tip of his hat was presented, before he proceeded to take a bow. "My name is Trevor Masters, I hail from the world known as Arcana Cabana. I am the apprentice to Balthazar Blake, sorcerer of the 777th degree."

The older man raised an eyebrow and shifted silently. "Alright." He rumbled in response. "I'll assume that means something important then, good for you." Then he drew a long sword from its sheath at his side. Suddenly electricity crackled around his body and he kicked off the porch. The armored man raced towards Trevor at high speed.

"Indeed it d-...WHOA!" Trevor shouted, immediately taken aback by the sudden burst of speed that the older gentleman displayed. "AERORA!!!" The grimoire reacted in-tandem with his casting, as a shield of wind began to swirl around the young sorcerer and with a quick movement, he did his best to pivot away from the knight. "Electricity? It seems there's truly more to you than I anticipated...and if you control electricity in the manner that you show...one can hazard a guess that you may be immune to electrical attacks. Are my assumptions in a proper direction?"

He just let out a grunt as his blade came down on the wind. The electricity surged through his body and through the blade, coming out as a bolt of lightning that struck the wind and scattered it. Trevor felt a tingle of static as the electricity faded. However Grigoriy doesn't stop there and immediately pulled a knife from his belt to throw at the magic user.

Trevor noticed the lightning scattering the wind around him, before noticing the glint off the knife the older gentlemen pulled out, throwing it at him. With a forceful slam close of the Cabanomicon, he threw it before him and it began to have it's chains wrap around it and with the now chained up grimoire, he blocked the knife. "Now...FIRAGA!!!" Trevor pulled the chain of the Cabanomicon out of the way once the knife was blocked, now holding his free hand forward as he pointed towards Grigoriy, his red gemmed ring glowing brightly as he fired off the fire blast spell he had.

Grigoriy raised an arm in front of is face as the flames strike him. He grunted again and electricity surrounded his body before he took a determined step forward and flung his arm to the side. Electricity danced around him and seemed to react with the fire, causing the magic to explode between the two men. Through said explosion Grigoriy charged in and swiftly brought his sword down upon Trevor.

"Whoa...this is unreal!" Trevor said with excitement in his voice, the look of enjoyment as he watched the magic explode between the two of them. Though Grigoriy was still on the charge, as he rushed in. "Aerora!" he said, putting up the shield just in time, though he just barely and narrowly dodged the strike. "I must say, your usage of magic is truly remarkable!" he said, though he glanced to his sides for a split second. ...c'mon Morgan...where are you?

Skaia · November 4, 2022

With their shopping done the group made their way to the arena for the training session. Fen stood at attention as the older man of the group, which had gotten there before their own squad, chided them for being late. The girl mumbled out an, "um, sorry," feeling like the man had a natural sense of authority to him. As he stepped back the other members, three girls, had come up to introduce themselves. The one Fen was to fight, Kelsey, greeted her with a great deal of enthusiasm and curiosity at Fen's own capabilities. Fen herself was curious about Kelsey as well, eyes going towards the girl's metallic arm, but not really sure the proper way to respond the girl simply deferred to giving a polite greeting. With a small bow she said, "oh uh, nice to meet you. I'm Fen and um, I hope for a good fight too." As Grigory went on to explain how things would be going from here, a sense of relief came over Fen as they were told that they wouldn't actually be dealing lasting damage to each other and were still able to fight as they pleased. Though she had doubted such a training exercise was meant to be lethal, she still had been feeling apprehensive about actually fighting those who shared their occupation with deadly force. All the same, with everything cleared up, the groups all split up and were sent to their respective areas.

At first glance Fen appeared to have been suddenly transported into a steppe. A large area covered in dry grass. The land was largely flat, with some hills now and then, except for a large rocky crag off towards the east. With the sun just barely cresting over it. However the more she looked the more she’d see it wasn’t quite all there was to it. She could see just from where she stood several craters that broke up the mostly even terrain. A second look would show that it seemed to have been caused by some sort of small explosion.

The girl's eyes were wide with awe as she looked around and marveled at just where they were now. It bore no similarity to where they had been previously. "Oh, wow. This is - what incredible magic." She had heard of magic that could transport people before yet had never actually experienced taking a trip like this. As such, the girl was curious about just went into those machines - oh they were machines so perhaps it wasn't magic? - that allowed them to come here. Though, another thought crossed her mind as she looked around for an apparatus to return with, seeing nothing. Eventually, as the sun rose further in the craggy steppe, Fen's eyes looked a ways back to see Kelsey standing with her fists on her hip, a confident expression worn on her face, in contrast to Fen's own shock and awe. Calling out to the girl asked, "have we transported somewhere else? And how do we get back?"

"We're still in the arena actually!" Kelsey shouted. "I dunno how it works really but its just a thing this place has. We had something like it back at school but most of the training was in the real deal. Actually this place is modeled after that, though its smaller."

"Ooooooh, I see!" Fen will shout back. The girl then mumbled, "what a fascinating world you come from." Clearing her throat, she shouted back, "so do we just um, fight now!?"

"That's the idea! I'm aiming to be the first one to finish so soon as you're ready come at me!"

"Okay! Then, um, I'm ready to start!" Given her enthusiasm, confidence and a need for speed Fen couldn't help but be reminded of some of the more hot headed people that had been from her guild. As a result, both with her personality, wording and metallic arm Fen figured that the girl probably excelled at fighting close range. Fen, being more of an all rounder, didn't want to get into her enemies area of expertise, and so she instead conjured a bow of ice. There was a brief pause between her forming an arrow and firing it, feeling a bit awkward for responding to the girl with such an attack in addition to just feeling odd still about fighting another person in general.

"Oh so that's how it's gonna go down, got it!" Responding to her attack Kelsey began to form a long metallic object in her more fleshy hand, one that Fen hadn't ever seen before. A loud sound emitted from the object and a flash appears in front of it, and what Fen could barely tell were projectiles seemed to be launched from the weapon, shattering her arrow mid flight. With the attack cancelled, Kelsey began to rush towards Fen, who in turn retreated and fired yet another volley of arrows towards the girl. Shattering them with just as much as ease as she previously had, Kelsey then called back, "Ah come on, don't just run away!"

"Alright then..." Fen stopped in her tracks. Figuring that she had no means of dealing with that ranged weapon in the current situation, she instead opted to see how things would play out close up. Tossing her bow, which was shot down before hitting its target, the girl conjured a shield and glaive, taking up a defensive stance. Once Kelsey had closed the distance, Fen took a swing at the weapon. However, her opponent simply flashed her a grin as metallic plating was conjured around her legs, shooting out fire from them and propelling Kelsey to the side faster than Fen could have expected. Taken by surprise, Fen could only barely turn to face to see the grin of her opponent close up, before she fired her weapon once more at Fen. Feeling the projectiles pass into her, Fen winced in pain, then looked in surprise again before saying, "oh, that...that didn't hurt as much as I thought it would."

yui · November 9, 2022

Squad Grand! Or just Grand. Morgan wasn't sure which one, anymore, but what mattered was they would be the team's sparring partners for the day. Of particular note was their leader, a tall old man named Grigoriy. He was to not just be Morgan's opponent, but Trevor's as well! Despite his insistence that two fighters would make it a fair fight for him, Morgan couldn't help but worry some for the old man.

"Now don't keep me waiting, partner."

Morgan simply gave the acclaimed sorcerer a nod in response. This technology was certainly something. Far more advanced than anything back home, for sure. When Morgan "woke up" within the arena, she was met with a crumbling old husk of a building. Wooden, that could be useful if it was the real stuff and not just some mass-produced knockoff. But even more interesting was the surroundings. Graves. And plenty of them. And where there were graves...

For the time being, Morgan slipped away from the action. She had something much more important to do. Dig up graves. She didn't want to take too long, though. For the time being, she dug up a pair of graves near the house itself, where the soil seemed the least disturbed. Although, what she was doing wasn't "digging" so much as "shoving her hand through the earth until it hit something". It was fairly successful though. The first grave had a fully-intact skeleton, and the second was only missing some few bones she didn't care about. Sticking bones onto her body, Morgan took the time necessary to gift herself a small edge in battle.

Two extra pairs of arms, made longer than normal by creative application of leg bones as well. An outer ribcage to reinforce her own body, just in case. And of course, the two skulls, tentatively mounted on Morgan's shoulders. She could figure out what to do with those later, but it seemed useful to bring them along. Now then, to the action. She could hear the boys fighting already, and didn't want to leave Trevor hanging for too long. And so, with the aid of the new arms, Morgan rather effortlessly climbed up to the top of the house, to get a better view.

And with the old man focused on Trevor, Morgan took this as an opportunity to jump down from the roof, in an attempt to catch him by surprise.

LordCowCow · November 9, 2022

Melissa vs Rei

Rei looked surprised a moment at the angel's sudden appearance and attack. She opened her mouth as if to say something and then she was yanked to the side and let out a gasp as she was pulled away from the attack and into the deeper part of the treeline. The girl had vanished from sight as she seemed to have been dragged away and behind some of the larger trees.

Melissa, or rather the cherub, didn't have much time to respond when suddenly the angel felt something at its back. A strong force as though from a large blunt object slammed into it from behind. Not just once, but twice, and with potentially more such blows to come. They couldn't tell what it was that was hitting them but it seemed very much to be something solid yet invisible.

Trevor and Morgan vs Grigoriy

"I must say, your usage of magic is truly remarkable!"

"Hmph." Grigoriy grunted in response. Trevor's shield had saved him but just barely. Grigoriy's attacks were only becoming more aggressive and, without help, it was a matter of time before the mage was overwhelmed by the close quarters fighting.

Trevor would notice Morgan then. A rather unusual silhouette that stood out against the moon behind her. And at first it seemed that Morgan would be able to strike at Grigoriy before he even got a chance to defend himself.

But it didn't seem like it would be that simple. "You're decent, but not nearly enough to distract me that much." Grigoriy said. He half turned in Morgan's direction and raised a hand towards the zombie girl. As she closed in she'd feel the tingle of electricity in the air above her and then a bolt appeared out of nowhere to strike her midair.

Grigoriy was already on the move. Dashing past Trevor and turning on his heel as he moved behind the mage. He then drew his second, shorter, sword and swung both of his blades at the young man.

Fen vs Kelsey

"oh, that...that didn't hurt as much as I thought it would."

"Well we wouldn't be much of guardians if we couldn't take a few bullets am I right? But guess I need to crank up the heat then, eh?" The girl had a smirk on her face and around her other arm the same metallic armor formed as the other and she was now wielding two of the strange weapons.

The flames shot from her leg armor again and she suddenly dashed backwards a few feet as she brought both weapons to bear on Fen. "Lets see how you handle two of em!" She said as she pulled the triggers and unleashed twice as many projectiles towards the girl.

Fen would become aware of...something. She wasn't sure what exactly what it was bit it seemed to be some sort of gauge that she could somehow make out in her peripheral vision. One that seemed to have drained somewhat after taking the hits from before.

radio414 · November 14, 2022

Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.
-Leviticus 19:31 (NIV)

Melissa needed a moment to process what happened. Thankfully, in the state she was in, there wasn’t much else to do but think. She could delegate the rest to Zadkiel.

What struck her most about Rei’s retreat was the exact way she avoided it. Melissa had expected the attack to miss, or not connect in some way. There wasn’t a world where the fight would have been so easy after every other conflict so far had not been. Technically, this was still on the more positive side of things. Imagine if Zadkiel had struck true and Rei didn’t react at all, where would she be then? Probably getting thrown through several trees, Melissa reasoned, and while she technically had experience having her body thrown around a battlefield, it wasn’t an experience she was about to repeat without good reason.

She could feel the computers scorn her for that particular thought, so she backed off and tried again. Rei didn’t leap back and away out of sight, she was pulled. There was more to Rei, literally, than met the eye. Between this and all the talk about being haunted, things were starting to make a bit more sense. At the very least, she could understand why she’d been assigned this particular fight. They weren’t the same, but they were similar enough.

Still, what was she supposed to do, then, exorcise Rei’s ghosts? Was that really the plan? Like, she knew enough about exorcisms that she could probably do one, but there was a particular sticking point called “had to be sponsored by the church,” and if Mauvache was unwilling or unable to sponsor even the simplest of sacraments, Melissa was pretty sure that was off the table as well. Besides, maybe that wasn’t how ghosts worked in Rei’s world. One could probably argue Melissa was possessed as well, though she didn’t sense any other telltale signs of corruption about herself. She could still think the Lord’s Prayer if she wanted.

Our Father, who art in Heaven-

A pair of blows that even Zadkiel with its four faces couldn’t detect struck the cherub in the back (or the non-holding-Melissa side, anyway, it was hard to tell even while she was technically part of it), and Melissa dismissed the angel, stumbling forward. She still wasn’t completely sure what Rei was doing, and it wouldn’t do to give complete information on her end for free like that. A less-intended side effect of the blow was a flash of red in the corners of her eyes. That hadn’t happened the other times the angels had taken hits, had it? It was worrisome whichever the answer was. But it was also not something she could worry about now. Not with more fighting ahead of her.

She was at a disadvantage, she realized. Rei still knew where she was, while she only had a vague idea of where Rei had gotten pulled off to. Going searching was likely suicide. Whatever was going on with Rei was invisible, while both of Melissa’s angels literally emitted light as a mere symptom of their existence. She needed something else. She needed a way to get Rei to come to her, somehow.

The girl summons the cherub again and collapses into its arms. As she had thought, instead of giving chase further into the woods, the girl has the cherub fly upwards, up past the treetops where she can get a full view of the area. The cherub’s four faces play an important function here; they limit the amount of maneuvering it has to do in the air, and with the computers’ help, the girl can even process every direction she and it are looking.

There is a house off in the distance. It shares the same demeanor as the forest that surrounds it: dark, ominous, and old. But already the girl is thinking of uses for the place. It is certainly better than where she was. A part of her wants to use the ophan to direct her opponent to the place as well, but that would again reveal more information about herself than she needs to. The cherub streaking across the sky does a good enough job of that on its own. “Catch me if you can,” she thinks, and the cherub is already on its way.

Skaia · November 19, 2022

Fen, seeing that Kelsey had conjured yet another weapon to fire the small projectiles at her quickly and released her shield from her arm. Then, pressing both of her hands into the ice shield she quickly expanded it into an ice wall. Though the weapons smashed against the wall, chipping it and sending ice shared flying, due to Fen's constant channeling of magic into it the wall held firm. Glad that her defense was able to hold still, the girl's ears perked up as she heard the footsteps of her opponent rushing around to the side. Taking her hand off the wall, Fen conjured an ice dagger and, as soon as Kelsey had appeared her view, tossed the weapon at the girl.

"Haha!" The thrusters on the blonde girl's legs ignited as she jumped launching her up into the air and over Fen's dagger. "Too slow!"

"Eh?" Fen was caught off guard, yet again, seeing the vertical movement that the leg implements provided. Figuring that another flurry of projectiles was coming from the girl's weapons Fen quickly summoned a shield to her arm and put it up to guard.

"You really like to play defense don't you? Sucks for you I'm made to rip and tear!" Around her shoulders bulky metal objects formed. An opening appeared and out of it streaked several oval-shaped objects. When they struck Fen's shield they exploded on impact.

Her shield shattering from the impact, Fen was blown back by the force of the attack and tumbled across the ground. Quickly picking herself up though, she looked at the girl's shoulder weapon saying in amazement, "wow! You are full of surprises Kelsey."

"You're dang right I am, why don't you give me some of your own?" She said as she landed and right before she dashed forward.

"Ah well, uh..." Fen knew her own limits fairly well at present and knew that she had very little in way of surprises. Her abilities were as they appeared - creating constructs of ice - and the best she could do was form different weapon shapes. And though they could take on the form of any weapons, be it swords, axes, bows, spears, ultimately they were just physical constructs that had nothing unique to them minus their chill. And thus far, every simple weapon she could think of had been thwarted by the weapons that Kelsey had managed to conjure as well. As such, Fen was sure that no simple weapon she could make would actually manage to hit her opponent. Then, as she tried to figure out what to shape she was reminded of the ice box that she made for Aduain and the hat rack she made in front of Julian. "Oh!" The girl exclaimed, as she focused on Kelsey now running towards her.

She knew that no normal attack would work still, and if she were to take her by surprise she would have to add some more pressure to it. And so, she conjured a longsword in one hand and two daggers in the other. Swinging her arm up, she lobbed one of the daggers into the air, the weapon spinning in an arc towards Kelsey. Then, immediately she tossed the second one in a direct line towards the girl before readying her sword and swinging.

Kelsey shot down one dagger and winced as the other came down on her. "Don't bring a knife to a gun fight!"

As Kelsey readied her guns at Fen the girl shouted back, "well uh, what about a sword!" Kelsey was too far for the sword to reach normally. However as the blade was swung, a pulse of magic came from Fen's hand and coursed through the blade, rapidly extending the end of it. Kelsey had already begun firing towards Fen and hadn't seen the attack coming, and as such, when she had tried to do a quick dash back the blade managed to bite into the heavy weapons girl. Fen still winced, as the projectiles of Kelsey managed to still pierce her and she grew a bit more concerned as she saw the strange bar continue to lower. Yet still, she didn't pay too much mind to it as she had managed to mount a proper offensive comeback against the girl, having a bit of smile on her face as she managed such a thing.

LordCowCow · November 23, 2022

Melissa vs Rei

"Tch, running off, what a pain." Rei had an idea of the layout of this area. She wasn't the one who programmed the battlefields in but she had specified a few things. Honestly she only added the building to mix it up yet now that it seemed her opponent was heading right for it she was regretting it. "I was hoping she'd just stay put, but guess I got to get a move on."

She proceeded to essentially swing from tree to tree underneath the cover of the canopy. Just high enough to be able to make out the form of the...whatever that thing was that was holding Melissa.

It took some effort but she managed to pull a bit ahead. Bracing herself in the boughs of a sturdy tree she looked up at the approaching flying thing.

-

As the angel streaked across the sky it would feel something grab onto it. More specifically feel two of its arms being gripped by the elbow and pulled back in the direction of the forest floor. The force behind it was similar to that of the blow from earlier so it was logical to assume it came from the same source. It gripped its arms tight and yanked back. As though trying to bring it down closer to the trees.

Fen vs Kelsey

"Heh, you got me there, not too bad. But you know, I don't really think you're putting enough into it." Kelsey smirked as she shook some hair from her face. "Then again I guess I wasn't really either. So how about I just go all out for the rest of this."

The girl boost herself into the air again but didn't fire on Fen right away. Instead there was a glow that surrounded her and her entire body became encased in some sort of armor.

When she spoke again her voice was a bit muffled, and hollow, but Fen could still hear her clearly. "Alright, let's do this, Scrapmaker Full Throttle mode engaged!"

After saying this she dashed forward. Instead of firing her weapon the girl lowered a shoulder and rammed it into Fen. Pushing her back before dashing to the side and bringing one of her weapons up and firing once more.

...However before she could fire there was an explosion under Kelsey's feet. A short pillar of flames engulfed her for a moment. When it settled Fen could hear the girl laughing. "I can't believe I forgot about the mines! That was the whole point of coming here! Ah, well, let's try that again!" She then would attempt to fire her weapon at Fen though with less speed as before due to the interruption.

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Overlap [IC/PG-16/Accepting]

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