[hr][hr][center][h1][b][i][color=F2541F]Atkin Bowman[/color][/i][/b][/h1]
[/center][hr][center][color=F2541F][b]Location:[/b][/color] Palace: Lawn[/center][hr]
	Atkin had no clue how he was supposed to react to this entire situation. First the guy's explanation was a fairy tale. Not just a fairy tale, but one that he didn't even go through the effort to actually connect to the situation at hand? What, was some divine half-breed supposed to be the root cause of all this? Were one of them supposed to be the one who actually did the kidnapping of Princess Luna? Was this just the work of some crazy cultists? He had no clue what exactly he meant to communicate with that.

	He [i]had[/i] to know that even if a story like that had some basis in truth, a story continually retold, especially orally down generations, was going to end up warping into something entirely different. Hell, he had seen that happen in the span of mere minutes earlier that day. And he was *this* close to telling Buyler exactly how he felt about him wasting all their time when a dragon showed up.

	An actual dragon.

	So this was just his life now, wasn't it? Wrestling little furry men, throwing pillows in the face of the Queen and having to deal with actual dragons. Oh yeah, also some old [b]Queste[/b] that had a 98% kill rate or something. Marvelous. At least he got to learn what the Darke Week was, even if he still wasn't sure what exactly Darke Magyk was. Rowland only made vague allusions to it. Maybe it was like what witches did.

	But, regardless, the most important thing to deal with was the dragon and the guy that decided to roll in riding it. Apparently this was a Tyme Dragon too. Whatever that was supposed to mean. Was there like Space Dragons too? Who cared. Everyone seemed to be more or less frozen in place, aside from Puck. Fuck it. Since nobody else seemed willing to make the first move, he would. His day had been fucked up enough already, that even if he made it worse, it wouldn't affect too much.

	[color=F2541F]"Afternoon,"[/color] he called out to the dragon and its rider, waving to them. If they were hellbent on killing everyone here, they could have easily done as the illusion had and just torched the place from the skies. So at the very least they wanted something and were willing to talk about it.

	[color=F2541F]"Care t' introduce yourself?"[/color] Although his word choice was casual and friendly, his tone was not. The most apt term would most likely be "cautious neutrality." They certainly outgunned any one of the people here, aside from potentially Asha, but he had no idea what the upper limits of either of their abilities were, nor did he care to try finding out. And he didn't know what they wanted either. They could be here to help or hinder. And until they revealed their motives all he could do was hope for the best, but be ready for the worst, and that carried over to his actions.
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	Magyk was such a troublesome thing. A [URL=https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/399741085276045313/460657945454313482/1118full-grace-hartzel.png?width=266&height=375]woman[/URL] clad entirely in black held aloft a small, well-worn [b]Counter Charm[/b] in her hand and once more, spoke aloud the words inscribed there-on. She had managed to remain hidden so far, but there was no doubt in her mind that she was bound to get caught. It was fortunate that this time, she managed to form the words in her mouth in just the right way that caused the Charm to briefly vibrate in her hand as a hole formed in the ward ahead. She couldn't see it, but experience had taught her such was the case. She just needed to move forward while the breach remained.

	Now that she had infiltrated the Coven's magical defenses, it was a dawdle to get to where she needed to. As terrible a power as Magyk could be, it didn't allow Witches and Wizards to be omniscient. And she found that their defenses made them complacent. Confident that whatever they had set up would surely protect them. As long as she stuck to the shadows, she could get to where she needed to be. Thanks to that witch, she knew just where to go as well. The others had already arrived, so the ability to complete the job cleanly was likely out the window.

	These suspicions were confirmed when she actually made her way into the room itself to find the coven mother and her consort already there with the princess. She didn't speak, but let her shoulders sag a bit in disappointment. It looked like she wouldn't just be able to leave this as an extraction. She'd need to get her hands a bit dirty.