[right][color=1462ba][i][h2]Mariette[/h2][/i][/color][color=57a345][h3][i]and Eli[/i][/h3][/color][/right]

Eli was a pool in the ground and Libby came and leaned over her.

[color=57a345]‘Teh-heh, yeah,’[/color] Eli giggled in the pain. [color=57a345]‘I’m a puddle~!’[/color] 

Then the trip happened. Mariette stood silently, watching with small portals attached to the sides of the Bastion to look in all directions so that they weren’t ambushed, but it seemed this wasn’t necessary. So, eventually they approached Justine’s castle. Mariette stood gazing at it with an empty expression, contemplating what they were facing up against, feeling numerous strands of hesitation…

[color=57a345]‘Ah!’[/color] Eli jolted in surprise as Amber reached through her slimy body and took her notepad and pen from her during the planning phase. Visible panic etched into her face as she stretched a wing to try to retrieve the notebook, but stopped on a distance as she knew Amber had tactical use of using an empty page, but that didn’t stop that the pirate had Eli floating around her waving her wings in notable panic and distress all the way through explaining the tactics all the way to giving the notebook back, upon which Eli once again stuffed it in her stomach and wrapped her wings around it in a self-hug as if to keep it safe with a sulking expression on her face.

Mariette listened to the plan they were drawing out. There was an issue with it, wasn’t there? Nevermind that Mariette fundamentally didn’t like being ordered around, this time those orders could get her killed. She knew she had to speak up eventually. Amber said where she was needed, Makoto gave an alternative impression, and then Alicia asked what Sonia’s powers were. Alicia got a perhaps underserved annoyed glare, due to Mariette’s current mood, before Mariette started talking aloud.

[color=077ae6]‘… Sonia is capable of sudden dimensional travel. She has displayed the ability to add or remove herself or others to a scene from nowhere with a simple touch, with the addition that she can call objects into existence from nowhere, this “nowhere” probably being an alternative dimension she keeps around. Helga can probably expand on that and correct what I got wrong, she worked with her,’[/color] Mariette said. Then there was that major part… [color=077ae6]‘Sonia can use this power to neutralize me and Eli instantly. At any point Sonia still exists, I might become a liability.’[/color]

She didn’t use the word “bane”, but they should know. Justine knew her bane, and Sonia could summon it instantly. Mariette REALLY didn’t like the chances of that bane being revealed in this battle, because all things considered, Justine probably had candles hung everywhere inside the castle just for Mariette’s consideration. It was also very simple for anyone present to procure if they knew of it. She originally had only intended to guide everyone here and then leave them behind, but now they were including her in the planning… She couldn’t deny, her portals were a tremendous asset to any team. However, as long as Sonia existed she could suddenly vanish from the equation, therefore…

[color=077ae6]‘Relying on my portals and my leadership is therefore relatively unwise. With your suggested teams, should Sonia appear before the winged team, it would be down to Libby and the girl who hasn’t entirely accepted to join in battle to defend us.’[/color] Obviously, that was no good. Mariette turned quiet there, feeling useless and embarrassed enough by having to admit that she’s got this massive flaw right about now.

Meanwhile, having been given back her notebook and relaxing a bit, Eli felt relatively ready to get going. She wasn’t very good in a fight, but she sure had the stealth abilities needed to scout out the place for whatever group she was in. Then, Libby jumped at her. Oh, it seemed like she had made a friend. In a way, having this energetic a friend was comforting, slightly filling the space of Deni disappearing.

[color=57a345]‘Oh, you sneak, too? Alright, then let’s-’[/color] Eli smiled, turning to Libby, when suddenly Libby leaning made Eli catch that mark. However, catching that mark would not have been enough to make Eli quieten, being the servant of a horror is but a note in the notebook and something to remember for the future. No, what stood out were…

The fangs.

Eli froze dead in her tracks, smile vanishing, eyes widening and pupils narrowing, a ripple going through her body as her body partially hardened from Reinforcement magic in uncontrolled reaction. Eli wasn’t the kind to become angry, so all that filled her was fear, [i]terror[/i] for the being before her. The harpy took a step back and held aside a wing to harden into a blade and strike, but stopped mid-way in realization to how useless that would be. The next instinct was to announce this revelation to the others, but that was hard to commit to when the target of the terror was filling the majority of her field of vision. The third thought was that perhaps this could potentially be taken advantage of to set a trap if only Eli could keep her cool…

But that was a really tall order right now.[h3][color=57a345]‘[i]IIIIIIH![/i]’[/color][/h3] 
Eli shrieked in fear, when she finally came to move she stumbled back and fell. That shrieking perhaps wasn’t good for a group that partly intended to sneak inside didn’t entirely occur to her right about now.

In immediate reaction to the shriek which she recognized as Eli’s, Mariette spun to open a portal beneath her remaining underling, to quickly displace Eli somewhere safer behind their other allies, closing the portal as quickly as possible should this be successful. Then it was a question of [i]what had she shrieked at[/i]? She’d likely realize in moments, but that was also long enough for a reaction to happen. In fact, there was long enough that Mariette might not even had the time to be successful with the displacement.