Lords of Creation, The Second Age

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

When he turns back he see's a familiar figure, hands behind her head, lying across the back of the Auroch. The beast didn't even look like it noticed.

"What's up, doc?" said the Babysitter, smiling brightly.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Two of the Fomor-Gravi dive to the side but the middle one just braces and takes the force, throwing her completely off the building and into the street behind it. The other two land on either side of Koneko. "Whooo, now it's a real party!" one shouts, rusting forward with a shoulder tackle.

Behind the giant buy, she can just make out blue being rushed by the red claws. He catches the nearest one with a clothesline and introduces him intimately to the dirt.

[Zaleramancer]

He couldn't help but smile at the greeting. Rather apt.

Paean had long since forgiven the Babysitter for her outburst. Four hundred years was a long time to stay angry at anyone.

"I'm just plotting my surprise. I made something special for the four hundred year spectacular." He looked around, "I really like the decor. I'm glad you went with awnings. I remember the first few. So many sunburns to treat."

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Using the still heightened strength and speed from the three Strides, Koenko quickly moves right in front of one Fomor-Gravi and introduces him to two open-palm strikes at the chest while forming a barrier from mana behind her to block attacks from the remaining Fomor-Gravi.

[Zaleramancer]

"On that note.." He turns and calls back into the carriage. "Are you alright, Amani?"

A girls voice calls back, "Fine. A bit cramped, with the new wi-"

Paean shushes her quickly.

"Don't give it away!"

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking there." she said,scratching her head and pretending to not have heard a thing. She loved surprises, and she wasn't going to spoil one."Oh man, it's good to see you!" she said sitting up on the balls of her feet and hoping over onto the seat beside him.

"There's something I want to run by you, if you've got the time. Check this out: I've been fooling around with magic again, and I think I've simplified a fortune telling ritual to the point where even a child could perform it." She reaches into her cloak and pulls out a piece of careful folded paper.



"Pick a color." she tells him. "Yeah, I know, 'another BS invention,' but I'm sure this one works."

[Zaleramancer]

Paean regarded with paper with deep suspicion.

The last one of her inventions had set him on fire. Twice.

Cautiously, he chose a color.

"Red."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The big burly bug stumbles back, her armor visibly cracked by the blow. Meanwhile, Koneko feels the other attack repelled from her backside.

"Oh man." Coughs the one she hit. "This is awesome!" She takes another step forward, bringing her arm down on Koneko. The stone under her back begins to glow, and that same feeling of pressure is felt. Except this time it seems to be in a smaller area.

Behind the FG, two of the Red Claws have succeeded at taking blue to the ground.

(I'm using Gravity Control (3) to add weight to the fist and make it hit harder.)

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

She moved the paper three times. It had numbers on the inside.

"Okay, pick a number."

[Zaleramancer]

"Ah, four."

No evil shadows so far..

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

She moved it 4 times.

"Okay, pick another number then open that flap and tell me what it says. You have to open it, something about showing you're actively seeking knowledge. Don't worry, this won't be like the Watchers Ferry thing."

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

The fist strikes Koneko right as the Strides' duration end and she gets pushed into the ground while blocking with her arm, up to her ankles in the street, her feet damaged badly and her arm merely bruised thanks to the bracers forged for her by Sora and enhanced with magic. Wincing slightly from the pain, Koneko pulled out her dagger with her other hand and slashed increasing its length and bludgeoning power with mana.

[Zaleramancer]

Paean cautiously flipped open one of the flaps, after deciding on the number two.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The Gravi is thrown through one of the alley walls, and you can see in front of you the Blue guy has somehow gotten the advantage of the two that had born him to the ground. He was on top of them and pounding with every limb he had.

An attack from behind never comes. Instead, the Gravi behind Koneko is thrown over her head and land in a heap in front of her.

Once again, everything in the alley freezes, and all eyes drift to something behind Koneko. A Witness, clothed in regal purple instead of the usual watcher gray walks into her view and extends it's hand to her. "Ms. Koneko, are you quite all right?"

It turns it's attention to the Blue Lycan on top of the Reds. The final one Red Claw had been sneaking up behind with a barrel raised over his head. "Ah, young master Loki. I certainly hope you were teaching these boys some manner of elaborate traditional folk dance."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The Babysitter bends down to look.

"You will bring good cheer to everyone around you." She reads out loud. Then she whoops so hard she leaps right off the seat and into the air, carrying the devise with her. "Hahaha! It works! I've haven't gotten one right since the sheep."

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

"Yes, I am quite alright, thank you for asking," Koneko's face switches from calm to questioning with her next sentence. "May I ask whom this Loki is? Considering that he seems to be well known by you."

[Zaleramancer]

Smiling, Paean nods.

"It's good to see things are looking up. So, any new developments on the truce debacle?"

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Tsubasa & Wen Tien wrote

"Yes, I am quite alright, thank you for asking," Koneko's face switches from calm to questioning with her next sentence. "May I ask whom this Loki is? Considering that he seems to be well known by you."

"Well, we'll just have him introduce himself. Loki? A visiting dignitary is asking you a question."

The Lycanthrope in blue, Loki, lets go of the Red Claws he was brutalizing and stands up, dusting himself off. He looks behind him at the one with the barrel, and the Red Claw immediately drops it. He bows politely to Koneko. "My name Loki Pawns, I'm and leader of the Stormhunter Pack."

"That's what they call their gangs." The Witness says, dismissively. "You can tell by the color and iconography. Stormhunter, Red Claw, Drowning Dog, mostly young hot blooded fools hoped up on their grandparents war stories. Master Loki has actually managed to keep his "Pack" mostly above board."

At this point, more people start to show up. Mostly other Witnesses, but also a pair of Goliath, a Vandal, a Milteo, and another Imp, all dressed in dark Witness grey. They seem to be closing off the area, and the Goliaths immediately start to dig the Fomor-Gravi out of the pile of rubble that used to be the backroom of a bakery. The last conscious Red Claw gets down on his knees and put's his hands behind his head.

"Ah, so sorry Ms. Koneko, I don't believe I have ever had the opportunity to introduce myself." The purple Witness says, bowing like a butler. "My name is Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes, Steward and Sheriff of Spectropolis. I would like to know very much what happened here."

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Zaleramancer wrote

Smiling, Paean nods.

"It's good to see things are looking up. So, any new developments on the truce debacle?"

She sighs and lowers herself back down onto the seat, propping her head up in one hand.

"Honestly, I don't think there really is any change. They're trucing now for the same reason they've always truced: they need time to re-dig all their tunnels so they can keep collapsing them on one another!"

An awkward silence passes, and the girl sighs. "Okay, that's way to pessimistic. The Gravi have this new queen for the first time in 300 years and the Watchman is really hoping that this time he can make the ceasefire stick. And I hope he can, because, honestly, it's eating him up inside. I can tell."

She shakes her head. "Look at me, being a downer. What about you? How are things at home?"

[Zaleramancer]

"I don't stay.. there much. You know me, always wandering." He looked down a bit, nervously, "I was planning on going later on this week."

A sudden tapping noise from the inside of the carriage caught Paean's attention. A muffled voice called out, "Are we here?"

"Not yet!" The young god turned to the floating Babysitter. "I did find two more people to join my priests. They're nice. One of them is rather young but she's very smart. Oh, and you told me about those children who were afraid of the dark, so I thought I'd make something.."

He whistled a strange tune and a shimmering light popped out of the carriage window. Under the ferocious light of the desert sun, it quickly resolved itself into a glowing purple butterfly. With a few flutters, it landed on Paean's outstretched finger.

"I'll try to work the kinks out of the metabolic strains light production causes. Might offset it with a touch of sorcery, if I have too. Once I set up a breeding population, you can give a let a bunch loose. I can train them to follow children. Probably."

Shrugging, he let the butterfly float over to the Babysitter.

"An early present, at least."

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Koneko quickly described what had occurred from the point in which she had heard the noise in the alleyway up until Custodes had broke into the fight.

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In another area of Spectropolis, two female humans and a male Dragonborn, wearing a set of blue armor, stood in an empty arena that they had taken great pains to find. All of their clothes had a pair of crossed flowers, the symbol of the Twin Flowers emblazoned upon them, though the Dragonborn's was in gold. The Dragonborn spoke slowly and calmly, making sure to enunciate so that the two would not misinterpret his words and do something stupid later on, "Ok, Corona, Blodwen, when you're fighting in the tournament remember that all of Spectropolis' laws apply to the tournament which means you can cause grievous injuries, but do NOT kill. We don't need another representative of Suzaku to get put into jail. Understand?"

Corona, a young woman wearing a purple yukata, replies back, "What if they try to kill us? Can we kill -"

Blodwen, wearing not much more than bandages and shorts, injects in, "Yeah, yeah, why can't we just not follow the laws of Spectropolis during the tournament? It would be so much easier!"

Sighing, Terr 'Rhogar' Shardskin began to explain why they couldn't for the fifth time. It was the problem of having to explain things that made him hate having people born and/or raised in Suzaku participate in the tournament during the Festival of Dancing Monsters.