[b][h3][color=ABABAE]Rhy̢thmia L̛ap̢şe҉u͘s[/color][/h3][/b]
[i]In what remains of the Grand Hall[/i][hr]The appearance of the woman in the hall wasn't that surprising, but her sudden attacker was. There were certainly people out there that would take advantage of situations like this, times of confusion and crisis, but to be so [i]brazen[/i] about it? Having already been instructed to speak with the redhead, the Lapsean bodyguard Vati wasting no time rushing over to her while Rhythmia considered the state of the tower. In the hall, there were a few other house lords and heirs though they seemed to mostly be gathered on the other side of the wide room. She met Reina's eyes but didn't call out to her nor any of the other individuals on the far side of the hall. With just that look she could tell they didn't have the information she was looking for. 

There didn't seem to be much noise coming from below the hall, in contrast to above it where loud thrashing could be distantly heard. What exactly did that information mean? Was no one in the basement levels, or were they completely collapsed? Or perhaps the shifting of the tower itself moved the lower levels up above? The whole situation was stonged either way. The sounds of crashing from above were getting louder and louder, and Rhythmia looked up and braced herself for whatever was coming down.

Vati had only just made it over to the redheaded woman, putting himself between her and the scavenger, gun drawn, when the ceiling collapsed. The force gate bore down on the hall's occupants, and Rhythmia grit her teeth and narrowed her eyes as she planted her mechanical leg firmly into the floor and steadied her own weapon even as her flesh halves were being pressed upon. Through the cloud of dirt and dust that the ceiling's collapse had kicked up, the white haired woman could see the two figures who'd fallen, although the identity of one would have been easily assumed from the gate above them. They were Lord Pachel and Lord Kothlin, locked together.

Rhythmia was not happy. This trip to Harrow's Tower was one she'd already been loathe to attend, but now a mana bomb had gone off, her sister was missing, she felt woefully unprepared, and these two prideful buffoons were threatening to destroy what was left of the tower with whatever squabble they were having. It wasn't unlikely that the bomb's origin was the source of their fight, but the men were acting like adolescents instead of diplomats - very unbecoming, not to mention dangerous. Rhythmia brought the muzzle of her gun up, focusing it on the form of Pachel. It was charged and ready, all she had to do was pull the trigger and it would kill him and disrupt the gate overhead. Kothlin was in his armor, he'd probably be fine. Still, though the Lapseus Lord had a mind to do just that, a cold thought gripped the back of her mind.

She didn't want to drag Lapseus into a war that, despite the best efforts of the house heads voting earlier, was much closer to becoming a reality. If Pachel, a pillar of the Southern houses, was killed now in cold blood... 

[b][i][color=ABABAE]"Pachel!"[/color][/i][/b] Rhythmia shouted out, her normally low voice crackling with the volume she'd used. Her single word was a demand and a warning. If he didn't dismiss his gate and calm down, talk out whatever had happened, then how could she not assume that he or his cohorts were the culprits? Of course she had no knowledge of the mens' argument upstairs or what had led to [i]this[/i] now, but the conflict and his gate was a detriment to the relationship between the North and South and perhaps the tower's stability as a whole... and Rhythmia was resolute. Cut it out or die. Hell, at this point if she had to sacrifice Kothlin too she very well might do it.