[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/1DWx27B.png[/img][/center]

Well there went one candidate out of the equation with Leon’s abdication. She was a little surprised, with how he acted yesterday she thought he might have leapt at the opportunity to lead in the way he wanted the captain to. Perhaps he simply wasn’t the leading type then, but had high expectation of his superiors. 

She was touched by Esther suggesting. She might have stepped up to the roll were it not for her duties as a doctor. However:

[color=FFC1B3]“As our medic I cannot also be the leader, because if someone is hurt I will be unable to help them and have suitable battlefield awareness to give orders simultaneously. If I am second in command and the leader gets hurt the same problems apply.”[/color]

At this rate it looked like they were in relative agreement with the idea of Gradon being in charge being a good idea. Most of the other sane options either did not want to apply or where not well know enough to be evaluated by the original group. Unfortunately Gradon himself didn’t appear to be up to the burden of leadership just yet and recommended Iris lead and he serve as her second in command. It irked her a little that this was taken as the final decision by the princess however. That hadn’t exactly been a vote.

There wasn’t enough time to voice her concern however as the rocs announced their presence and swooped towards the group. She could definitely see why setting up settlements up here was impossible, even with Vessel she did not think their odds of surviving this unharmed where high.

One of the cadets who had joined them with the princess seemed to have her head squarely on her shoulders at least, yelling for them to get to cover. While those with pole mounted weapons might be able to fend the beasts off she worried that those with shorter blades would have a lot of difficulty. She added to the girls shout:

[color=FFC1B3]“Get inside or they’ll just carry you off into the sky!”[/color]

Lacking any orders from their actual leaders she hurried after the person she believed was known as Regina into the relative safety of the housing. She watched as Regina unveiled some kind of rifle as her Vessel, heading upstairs to snipe the birds. Judging by the wind blasts coming from another building Esther had had a similar idea.

Althea meanwhile needed a it more space to take her shots and so stuck near the ruined entryway to Regina’s building. She channeled manus, green lines of power circling the gem on the back of her hand, weaving their away up her fingers and flowing into her palm. All this magic resulted in a vial of mercury forming in her hand. She wasn't going to use acid or gas this time, as there was the danger of it coming down on her comrades, instead she was going to take the old idiom about birds and stones a bit literally. Only it was a vile of mercury weighing about the same as brick being used instead of rocks and the birds were the size of elephants. She probably wasn’t going to take down two with a single throw.

Her projectile compleat she ducked out the door, took aim and hurled the vile like a baseball pitcher at the closest bird before ducking back inside and prepping a second vial. 5 seconds later she popped out and threw another. She kept doing this as long as she wasn’t attacked. Some missed, some thumped into the bird’s torsos, causing minor annoyance at best, but some managed to thump into a wing, breaking the shafts of the enormous feathers with their impacts. The Rocs didn't exactly fall from the sky as a result, but the ones hit where slower and wobblier in their flight than the others.