James grimaced in response to Tom's rather bloodthirsty comments but said nothing. When it came down to it he felt too guilty to say anything. While he'd been sitting around in the safehouse for the past three months, his friend had actually been out there fighting for his life; that wasn't even taking into account what had happened to his mother. Maybe eventually he would feel like his moral standing was high enough to pass judgement from, but not now. There was much more too it though, James would never admit it, he was keeping his silence for reasons that mostly had very little to do with ethics. Quite frankly, he just didn't want to widen the gulf between Tom and him. He didn't want to lose his friend, not so after so much had already changed.

"I'm not necessarily against taking on the Eye, but ultimately we're just part of a larger group. We should figure out how we can be most useful to the resistance and the 317th rather than decide to go off on our own."

Seraphina Twilight - The Mall - Two Weirdos in the Bookshop

"...Alright," Seraphina responded to Kyle; she noted his... eccentricities and decided to take everything he said with huge piles of salt. She hopes to find proper answers from someone more sane.

Is that guy in a cult not too dissimilar to the one my sister ran?

She then heard the white haired woman announce herself and requested to come in. Seraphina glared at her, analyzing her top to down. The way she spoke that sentence was quite unnatural, as even those learning English as a second language would've said something that flowed better and then there's her appearance; her imposing height, her sharp red eyes and her unnatural white hair.

Seraphina tightened the grip she has on her tommy gun, eying the woman suspciously.

However, looks can be deceiving. For example, her sister, Ophelia, was dressed like a saint yet was far from one despite her delusions.

So, after Veda lets the woman in, Seraphina loosens her grip, deciding to make a proper judgement once she gets to know the woman better. Perhaps she's a total sweetheart who happens to not have a proper grasp on English.

"Hey," She says towards the woman in a somewhat deadpan tone and softening her glare. "I'm Sera; I suppose you're here to get away from the shitstorm that's going in within the town?"

Edited by Cutegirl920fire on Jul 25th 2023 at 9:37:38 AM

Cendrillon: The Mall (Bookstore)

"Merci bien," Cendrillon said as the door was opened to her, noting the spectral hand that did so before carefully stepping into the bookstore. She had to crouch to pass through the doorway, but she stood up once she was inside. She wasn't so tall as to hit the ceiling, but she was definitely close for comfort. She nodded at Ross, looking down at him. "Name? Yes, of course joli. Cinder Blanchette, mon amis. Yours?"

Odd. Her voice was still a little stilted, but she hadn't possessed a French accent while she was asking to come in. Then again, her words had been a little muffled due to being outside the shopfront at the time. Maybe they'd just misheard her, or her accent was mixed.

She cocked her head to one side at Kyle's words, taking in his claims silently. 317th by Two Schools Area. In combat with Gibbs Militia. Conspiratorial addition: supernatural boost in power? Worth noting.

She mimicked Luke's smirk when she saw it out of the corner of her eye, and her gaze flicked over to him until he knew she was watching him. She held it for a moment before choosing to rest her back against one of the bookshelves, and it creaked slightly as she pulled a cigarette out of her pocket and put it to her lips. She was midway through trying to light it with a mini lighter before she caught herself and glanced up at the group.

"Merde... no smoking inside. Désolé... pas désolé. Yes, I'm here for shelter, Madamoiselle. I woke up from a coma not long ago. Pauvre de moi... so I was looking around. Military presence, hmm...? Exciting. So to speak, oui...?

Edited by Enirboreh on Jul 25th 2023 at 6:01:03 PM

Shinyfield Mall - The Bookstore - Ross Chase

"Ross," replied Chase, looking up at Cinder. Truly imposing. But, that accent of hers is interesting, and Ross's curiosity got better of him "How long have you been in France, by the way? Ever driven a Peugeot? Or a Citroen? Heard Citroens are ultimate comfort machines, and the only Peugeot I've seen was driven by Lt. Co-"

...Right. There are more pressing matters to talk about now. Shelter. Resources. French automotive industry has to wait. Seems like Sera is looking for one, as well as Cinder.

"So, how's your, em, shelter situation going? Do any of you already, have a place to stay in?" He asked, turning to the others. While waiting for an answer, he pulled out the key to his oldest companion, and pushed some mana into it.

Katie, Lil' Katie, how's the situation on your end?

Somewhere nearby - 1984 Toyota Pickup, licence plate: L1L K80.

Ross's truck sat parked nearby. While she was covered in a tattered tarp in Ross's attempt to make her inconspicuous, you could see the outline of the larger offroad tyres. You could see the yellow paintjob peeking through the holes. Most importantly, Ross made sure one of the holes revealed a dashcam affixed to the windshield. For right now, Lil' Katie was not just a car. She was not just a friend. Right now, she was a lookout, and this little camera was her eye to the world.

Edited by JackCossack on Jul 25th 2023 at 9:03:40 PM

Veda - The Mall

"Veda Valentine." He greeted, closing the door behind her with another motion of the violet hand.

He closed his book, observing the enormously tall woman as she moved and spoke. She was strange, but as far as he could tell wasn't intending them any immediate harm.

"Is there a particular reason you're affecting that accent?" Veda asked. His voice wasn't accusing at all, merely curious. "It seems odd to try and change your voice given your rather distinctive appearance. Unless you can change that as well? Not to pry, but it is fairly obvious that magic has altered your body to some extent. Humans don't have naturally red eyes, after all."

He met her gaze, and she'd note his own eyes were unnatural purple. Clearly, he was speaking from experience.

Glancing over at Ross, Veda put a hand to his chin, his usual thinking pose. "I have a house. I've been bunkering down in my basement whenever trouble comes, and have been mostly secure, though food has been an issue as of late. I was hoping to find gardening supplies; one of my talents is enchantment, so I'm certain I could create something to accelerate plant growth. Additionally, if any of you has a better shelter, I am capable of reinforcing defenses. Amongst other things."

Seraphina Twilight - The Mall - A Peculiar French Woman

"So, you're French, huh?" Seraphina asked Cinder. "I'm pretty much here for shelter too, although temporary, and I take that you're ESL, but I'm not sure if it has anything to do with your changing accent."

As Veda pointed out, Cinder was definitely magical of some kind but Seraphina wasn't able to tell what kind of magic she has just by a glance. All she knows that it isn't the Grand Magitex Gunslinger magic type as it's exclusive to her, Ophelia and their father.

She then hears Veda bring up his house, his bunkered up basement and a request of sorts for anyone with better shelter.

"I do have a house," She responded to him. "But I left it alone when I was on my vacation and outside of locking the doors and windows, it's defenseless. By now, it probably got raided and unsafe to stay. I'm sure as hell not going to my ramshacked house."

While trying to think of something, Seraphina runs her left hand through her bobbed auburn hair, where everyone can see the noticeable abstract black birthmark on it. To the locals, it's her tattoo, which was her go-to explanation when someone asks about her birthmark.

Edited by Cutegirl920fire on Jul 25th 2023 at 2:23:19 AM

Pablo gave everything that was being said a thought, looking grimmer as things get piled on, he could only close his eyes to keep himself together at Tom's words, but as things were, he had to keep himself from breaking down.

"There are still a lot of people I need to find, at least one on the outside of these walls" He noted, "Gotta deal with all the bullshit around to keep me busy for now"

"As far as these things go, I'll just see what I can do"

Rebecca Weathers - Safe Zone

"Going to the shop may not be necessary," Becca told Heather. "I've got my own way of checking." With that, she held out her hand palm up, and closed her eyes.

Light swirled above her hand, and suddenly an old looking, leather bound book with several colored tags marking certain pages appeared in her hand. This was the Weathers' Tome.

"Lets see, never practiced teleporting, so I don't what pages would have what we need," Becca murmured as held her eyes closed in concentration. "Teleport Spell." As she spoke these words, the book started flipping open until it reached the page she desired. Becca opened her eyes.

"Alright, how does this work...?" she said as she looked over the page.

What the Car Saw - Shinyfield Mall

Because Ross' partner in the business of ferrying supplies was indeed a car, the Militia Forces saw no reason to be particularly careful about openly working nearby. They likely just assumed this was a vehicle that hadn't been scrounged up at night by the Forge's Scavengers as of yet. For that reason the car would be able to see and hear a number of people - some speaking with a pronounced Russian accent, others speaking with a very heavy American South drawl - all operating their own vehicles.

Strange bipedal "walker" devices, two long legs plodding on the ground, connected to a cup-like body holding the rider. The walkers also had what looked like a long, segmented catch pole at the front - the end sparking with electricity as they herded something toward the mall...

Ah. And what a "something" that was! The catch poles were working on a snarling, enormous gargoyle. Tall and powerful-looking at least, a 25 foot tall and statuesque creature. Made of black and gold stony skin, a leonine mane around a draconic face, wings seemingly made of lacquer. One arm held on to a long twinblade made for its scale, yet the poles seemed to keep it from making use of that very well.

From how the bipedal walkers were moving, they seemed to be guiding the Gargoyle in toward the grand entrance of the mall. One particular walker seemed to have some extra equipment set up. Those familiar with Magitek would be able to tell that it was all for setting up a barrier.

It seemed the Militia wanted something else to deal with their foes for them.

Safe Zone

"If anybody's got a walkie-talkie..." Tom stated, "I could probably get a message to the 317th. See if we could get some support for taking on the Eye. It's not called that just because it's got that big single eye. It's also an intel machine..."

He glanced over at the others trying to work a teleportation spell. Not that they were the first to have that idea.

The spell seemed simple enough. With a good location and an array of mana, they would be able to theoretically open a Hazard Gate to lead somewhere else. Theoretically.

Inside Green Wall

Indeed it seemed like for whatever reason there was a certain area that had a possible way out. An opening at a sharp L intersection where, possibly, some internal maintenance was being done - but everybody doing the maintenance left to their rooms at night, and at roughly noon or one for meals.

Going by the structure, it should be possible to use that entry point to escape down through Green Wall and emerge back out in Sandfield.

It was just a question of getting through the internal mechanisms.

Edited by NickTheSwing on Aug 5th 2023 at 10:30:23 AM

Rebecca Weathers - Safe Zone

"Seems simple enough," Becca remarked after reading about the spell. "But I'm not from this town. Any of you know a good spot to open a Hazard Gate?"

Shinyfield Mall - Bookstore - Ross Chase

"Right, Veda. My situation is similar, especially after the Militia seized my parents' auto shop. Really hope the 317th gets to seizing it back in a grand counteroff-" Ross's face suddenly went pale, sweat drops appearing on his forehead. We need to go. Poor thing. Treated like a goddamn circus animal. The responsibility in on you to tell them.

...There was a bit of a wait, while Ross gathered his thoughts. (Feel free to declare your character to be the one to go 'what is it ross')

"D-damnatio ad bestias. They're bringing in a lion slash dragon thing. My lady told me. About four times my size. Grand entrance. Fuckers got, like, stun batons to goad it in. Unsure if the wings are for show or not."

Try your best to be collected.

Putting the key ring on his finger, and nervously twirling it around, Ross mentally prepared for a shitshow that was about to go down.

"I do know some earth magic. We could try tunneling out of here..." he suggested meekly.

Edited by JackCossack on Jul 27th 2023 at 10:31:12 AM

Billy Slate- Safe Zone

Billy observed the picture closely, mentally committing both faces to memory and smiling at Kat's words about her mother, "Heh, sounds like my ma, she never looked it, but when her lil bubelehs were gettin' picked on, she'd raise more hell than you'd expect from a 5'2 woman who painted houses for a livin'." He chuckled a little bit before taking another look at the picture.

"Who's..." Billy began to say before stopping. He took another look at the other girl in the picture before looking back at Kat, the inexplicable sense of familiarity that came from the black-haired girl suddenly began to make sense- The attitude on display in the picture, the similar clothing, the ankh that seemed to have changed from the gold it was in the present to the bronze it is now, it all added up in his head that the girl was Kat. He decided not to press on it, he knew firsthand how traumatizing being suddenly transformed into something non-human is, and given how she was trying to keep her distance from the others, she definitely wasn't ready to talk about it yet, "...Nevermind." he said finally, "Though I'd make sure news girl gets a look at that picture too, if she's gonna run a missin' person's report."

He turned his attention to Tom's statement of 'kill em all' and pumped his fist in support, "Here here, man! My grandad had the right idea 'bout how to deal with fascists- 'don't leave a single one standin'!" He put a hand on Tom's shoulder gently- well, what he thought was gently, not having a sense of touch anymore really messed with your perception of that sort of thing, "I'm sorry about your mom, kid. I met so many who lost people to these bastards, s'only fair we don't show em' any mercy."

Edited by bestmand902 on Jul 30th 2023 at 3:56:16 PM

Cendrillon: The Mall (Bookstore)

"I've never driven any of those things," Cendrillon replied to Ross, mentally noting down his car obsession with the minimal effort she could care to use for it. She then glanced at Veda. "Which accent am I affecting, monsieur...? The French one, or the one I used at the window? All of you seem like you've never met a French person before..."

Ross had stopped mid-sentence, and Cendrillon frowned. She offered him a curt "Oui, Monsieur...?" but otherwise waited for him to continue of his own volition. Once he'd finished explaining himself, Cendrillon's foot had started tapping anxiously as she turned her head towards the window.

"...Non, non... je veux le tuer..." she murmured to herself, before raising her voice to address the others. "Mon amis... I can offer to fight them alone, to give you all time to escape. It would be my utmost pleasure to."

She began to take off her hoodie, to reveal that she wore a simple black tanktop underneath, but she paused as she held it slung over one arm and looked back at the others for confirmation. She didn't elaborate on why the hoodie had to come off in this situation, but she was evidently asking for approval from them. Which showed at least a... modicum of trust or respect. That or she knew her plan sounded unhinged, and she wanted to see their reactions.

Perhaps it was a mix of all of this.

James was hoping that his invocation authority would get Tom to be a little enthusiastic about immediately taking on the Eye. Unfortunately it seemed from his response that the 317th was more than alright with this sort of spontaneity. If such behavior was considered the norm, then there would be much cause for concern. Militaries were dependent upon discipline after all. Giving up on being able to simply veto the idea, James decided to appeal to the majority.

"Why don't we take a vote on whether or not to attack the eye? Personally I'm against, but I'll go along with either outcome. That is assuming we can get backup."

Colt Griese - The Mall

In truth, Colt had almost checked out of this conversation after Cinder made her way inside. He was still readjusting to being…in control. It still felt like he wasn’t, at least not entirely. Before all this, blackouts were few and far between. And Colt always woke up in basically the same place. And now he was in a different country surrounded by strange people he didn’t know and didn’t really care to. And yeah, he knew that was really rude and all but at the moment he didn’t really care. Everything was slightly annoying. And the new girl was just full of antics that he could not be bothered to think about.

But talk of the gargoyle was enough to get him back in the loop.

“If we know it’s coming, we’ve already got the upper hand. No reason we couldn’t just take the back door.”

Katerina — Safe Zone

"I've said my piece. I'm not unsympathetic, but we shouldn't get ourselves killed on account of an overblown sense of vengeance."

She reached into her other pocket, pulling out a Nintendo DS. It didn't have much power, but it helped make her less anxious. She pulled out a cartridge for Wagon Vest XXX. It was your typical RPG, but it made for an apt demonstration.

"Do you see this? This is Wagon Vest XXX. By my reckoning, it is one of the only games that allow you to rush towards the final boss like a blazing dump truck before you get out the door. Doing so is an easy way to get yourself barbecued. If we go rushing in where fools dare to tread, without proper preparation, that will be us. So forgive me for being a touch sceptical."

She snatched back the photo, handing it to Mina. She wasn't happy about it, but Billy hadn't said anything. He had some sense of tact at least. She pointed towards the archaeologist, singling her out.

"And this is the woman who raised me. Miss Minerva Kato, archaeologist extraordinaire. For your sake, you'd better not wrinkle it.

Edited by kkhohoho on Jul 30th 2023 at 4:42:45 AM

Veda - The Mall

"I can't say for certain which accent is your real one, if either, but I can tell that it changed when you entered. Given you have no reason to lie about something so trivial, I can accept that this accent is your real one." Veda explained. Despite her deflection, he still didn't show any signs of concern.

He listened intently to Ross, humming in thought as the situation with the monster was presented. "Those 'stun batons' are, I assume, something like cattle prods. Which implies they cannot directly control the creature they are bringing in. This presents an opportunity: if we can interrupt them, the creature is likely to turn on them. They are using pain to force it into compliance, after all."

Rising from the floor, Veda stretches his back a bit and looks back towards Cendrillon. "Given your stature, I assume you have significant combat ability. If you intend to fight, I'd suggest pre-empting them and targeting the handlers. This chimera might not even be actively hostile, at least not moreso than a wild animal. I'd have to get closer to analyze it better."

Then he turned to the others. "I can't force you to fight, but for the record, I'd feel rather bad if it turned out there were other innocents in this mall. That being the case, I'm going to do a bit of scouting, at least, before turning tail. I'd advise making an alternative exit with your earth magic, Ross. If I find any survivors, I'll lead them to it. And if worse comes to worse, well."

A purple forcefield briefly shimmered into existence over his body, glowing a moment before fading.

"I'm not entirely useless in a fight."

Pablo hummed as he thought about what to do. While looking too eager to tackle an unstoppable robot is likely to be the same as writing their own obituaries, the truth is that he did want to see and probably get some of that stuff.

"Still would be good to get a big ass weapon off our backs" He commented "But if anyone has half a plan, better speak now unless you feel like digging your own graves beforehand"

Rebecca Weathers - Safe Zone

"If getting rid of the eye will make it easier to get out of here, I say we go for it," Becca said.

Jayden

The issue with that escape route was that Jayden had no idea what the internal mechanisms were, much less how to get past them. Going during the day was a no-go—everyone would be awake and able to notice his absence.

As such, his plan was thus: check the route while the workers were on break to puzzle out the mechanisms, figure out how to get by them, and escape. If only for a night. He didn't want to put himself in anyone's crosshairs.

Issue was, it was 11:30 AM. Which wasn't noon. Or one.

So he had some waiting to do.

"I have some comics in my room," Amy said, breaking him out of his thoughts. "You, uh, wanna kill some time, or...?"

Jayden shrugged. "Sure."

That was convenient.

Mina Parker—Safe Zone

Mina nodded as the photo was presented and had one of her bird drones scan and upload it to her private mobile database, which stored the material she used in her broadcasts. She frowned as she considered the question of why she was fighting, even though she was so young. There was a somewhat long history here, but in terms of ideology, she knew who she was and what she believed.

"I can't let the invaders destroy my town and my home," Mina confessed. "Before this happened, I was just so shy, you know? Being a sheltered rich wallflower will do that to you. And then the Gibbs people came with the intention of flattening everything and everyone. Now I've got magic and skills and things I can actually do and do well, and I can't let myself lie down and get walked all over by people on their way to genocide, like I might have before."

"Nevermind that, though, you all just need to let me get close to that Eye thingy," she continued, holding up a thumb drive. "And I can try to jack it to our side or fry it, if that doesn't work. And if all else fails, maybe it has a nice black box I can crack open for tasty intel if it's too broken up to operate. Even if we do end up having to retreat, it'll be with the knowledge that we might have weakened the enemy."

"I'm Mina Parker, by the way," Mina finished, holding her hand out to shake. Her last name might be identified as belonging to one of the oldest old money families in the region. Even her bearing had a touch of stiff upper lip indomitability. "Literal mudslinging firebrand and rebel radio host. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Edited by JumpingFruit on Aug 28th 2023 at 1:46:18 AM

Store Shoproom

"So yeah, portals exist. If you want out, we just need to learn that and get whoever's keeping you here and... Presto."

Heather waves her arms a bit, still holding the phone she's watching the video on.

"I could probably do that portal thing in a much cooler combat way if anyone knows where I can get a red cloak. Maybe we can like, cut limbs off the Eye like that? Anyways I'm in on the Eye attack, whether that's through portals or I invoke the dragon."

Heather raised an eyebrow at the example being made of Wagon Vest XXX. She wondered just how much Kat's pithy example held up under the weight of the speedruns.org leaderboards before shaking her head.

"If we're doing introductions, I'm Heather Smythe. If you want to do the magic I do, I'm open for giving lessons."

Shinyfield Mall - Ross Chase

Ross watched as Cinder took her hoodie off. She looked like she meant business. How in the hell...?

"Holy shit, that is some off-the-charts confidence," He said, astonished, "Are you going to be alright, though? There is a lot of them, enough to surround the building..." He trailed off, going back to his initial warning... Oh.

"Right, they are trying to surround the entire mall... The creature kinda took my attention away from that tidbit, so it might not be as simple as going through the back... Sorry 'bout that." He explained sheepishly.

Veda's plan, however. Getting the creature to revolt against its oppressors? Sparing it from pain of those electric shocks? "I'm, I'm definitely up for it. Everyone deserves freedom." And so, he started shaping the earth, starting with an entrance just outside the bookstore, near one of its front corners.

The prospect of getting out outside, and being met with a large number of the militia member, and being there alone was not very comforting however. He glanced around looking for help. His eyes stopped on the gun Sera was holding onto. It was like one of those guns they used in gangster film, but much smaller. Ross couldn't help but wonder...

"I'm going to guess this thing packs much more punch than its size suggests...?" He asked Sera, "I mean, things might get hairy once I surface. Some fire power could come in handy."

Edited by JackCossack on Aug 6th 2023 at 3:55:13 PM

Shinyfield Mall

"Maybe..." Kyle cupped his chin as he paced back and forth, hearing the proposals. He assumed that the tunnel might mean people wanted to simply vacate, this impression increased due to Colt (who got the absolute most possible negativity from Kyle - a disapproving glance), and considering there were definitely other people here, he wasn't fond of abandoning them. El Riveille certainly didn't honor cowards in Heaven. "Some of us can undertake different missions! Division of duties!"

Luke however shook his head and stated, "Consider that we don't know what in all the enemy is equipped with. We could be marching to our deaths. Colt has the right idea. When things are as they are, our own survival is the top priority. Maybe once they've expended themselves in the mall a bit we can circle back around from the back entrance and deal with them."

Safe Zone

Tom - not exactly being experienced as of yet with that kind of magic - shook his head. He was still rather wary about the dragon thing that Heather could do now, but he figured they would need every bit of help if they did go after the Eye. After all, that thing seemed a cut above some of the other mechs.

Malcaba for his part cupped his chin and sighed, "I've seen a few people try and make a Hazard Gate work in Sandfield since the Walls went up. But none of them did very well with it. Going by the noises I heard before the gate went shut, the destination was not what they thought it was."

James stifled a sigh. By the terms he had established, he was now beholden to Tom's plan. Even if he hadn't made such a promise, the fact of the matter was that they were going to need all the help they could possibly get to attack the eye. If his teammates (his friends?) or Tom got hurt while he was absent, he doubted he would be able to forgive himself. Still, hopefully he would be able to steer their plan of attack in a direction other than "run screaming at it and hit it really hard".

"Before we develop a strategy, can somebody give me a quick rundown of the Eye? How is it different from other Gibbs mechs?"