[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/vzxvCpR.jpg[/img]
[h3][b][color=DAA520]Camelot[/color][/b][/h3][/center]

After leaving the tour group behind, Chinami's pace through the halls of Marrywell Academy could have best been described as a "power walk", her strides rapidly eating up the space between herself and her dorm. Admittedly, this was hardly unusual for her; Chinami was the sort to always be in something of a subconscious rush in between her various responsibilities. But the Goth would also admit that she might be a bit too hurried at times, to the point of impatiently leaping short stretches down stairs rather than take the time to walk them. Chinami spared a curt greeting for a friendly face or two she passed in the halls; however, even the Alters were being made fairly well aware without explanation that her time was valuable today, as the ravenette reached her dorm and entered without fanfare.

Closing the door behind her, Chinami sighed and then started slightly in surprise at the sight of her roommate currently flopped into their bed, bags tossed carelessly to the floor. [color=DAA520]"Bonnie? So, this is where you disappeared to."[/color] At the relative silence she received in response, Chinami frowned and strode over to her own bed, sitting down with a light "umph" and grabbing her laptop from where it sat atop her bedside writing desk. Setting the mobile computer atop her thighs, Chinami booted it up impatiently, her eyes flickering back towards her roommate occasionally.

Her mouth opened to say something, only to shut a moment after. There was an energy here that she... wasn't sure how to respond to. As much as they were roommates, they'd never gotten all that close. They were friendly sure, but not necessarily [i]friends[/i], and admittedly, a large part of that was probably Chinami's fault. Between her nigh-obsessive training back when she had first arrived killing much of first impressions, the seemingly distinctly different interests the two held, and Chinami's own dedication later on to her personal projects, like feeding the homeless and watching over the Alters... well, despite being roommates, they had remained almost uncomfortably distant.

And that was only natural to be disquieted. Most of time, one would expect to grow close to anyone they spent excessive time with, even if only for Stockholm syndrome reasons. Humans were at their core social creatures, but... Chinami hadn't been providing that, remaining a stranger that happened to sleep in close proximity to her fellow. On one level she felt bad doing that to her senior, someone who seemed genuinely good natured, but as their interests had never particularly aligned, Chinami had never seen the point in befriending her, especially given all the social energy she'd devoted to putting on her best face for Wilhelmina, the other Alters and [color=DAA520]her people[/color].

Because at heart, Chinami was an introvert. One wouldn't typically know it, given the energy she managed to pull out of her ass while on the job and when interacting with those she protected, but she didn't exactly... like other people in general. For her, being able to let all that energy seep out of her in her room -in her downtime- was all too valuable to her personal mental health, and if she suddenly had another "friend" to manage during the time that was normally devoted to herself? Well, long-term, Chinami didn't see anything good coming of it.

And all of sudden... what was this guilt she was feeling? Chinami struggled to place exactly why now felt so different to all the other times she'd simply... [i]existed[/i] silently within the same room as her senior. She felt like she should be saying something, but still... Bonnie looked tired. So, she was probably better off doing something quiet and leaving her be. After all, were the positions reversed, Chinami knew she'd have been a bit peeved at her quiet solace and decompression being invaded.

As her laptop's home screen came into view, Chinami expanded a few minimized tabs and refreshed them, humming quietly. Unfortunately, despite being fully rested and several of her followed stories being updated, Chinami... couldn't find the energy to read them. Something simply continued to nag at her mind.

Opening a new tab, Chinami typed "solidus gold coin" into the search bar and quietly browsed several related Wikipedia pages. Around thirty minutes later, she frowned and minimized the window and its small collection of tabs, digging the gold coin out of her pocket. The divot that had been casually sliced into one end by Excalibur glimmered under the light of the laptop screen within the dim room, and Chinami weighed the coin with her hand, turning it over in her fingers idly and mulling over the results of her research.

Supposedly brought into use in the early third century, the coin remained in service for many centuries afterwards, remaining of the same relative purity and worth until the 11th century. Supposedly, it should weigh about 4.5 grams, but without a scale, Chinami couldn't say if the one she held matched up... aside from the way her dulled instincts seemed to be... drowsily contented with it. That wasn't even accounting for anything she might have accidentally shaved off with Excalibur; though... On second look, it appeared the precious metal had merely been depressed and severed by the enchanted blade. Only way to tell for sure what she was dealing with would be to visit the chemistry labs and borrow the use of one of their scales, and if she was lucky, maybe she could find someone who could help her determine if what she was holding was actually real gold... along with its purity.

Sighing, Chinami placed the coin in her jacket's inner pocket alongside her Grimoire, which momentarily almost seemed to... hum appreciatively. Frowning, Chinami rapped her short fingernails across the surface of her laptop, before setting it back atop her desk.

There was something even more vital to handle.

Reaching beneath her Grimoire, Chinami drew forth a small, cheap and almost junky flip-phone... along with an ejected battery. With a couple practiced motions, the battery was returned to its home within the phone with a quiet "click", and Chinami booted it up, cycling over through the very small and exclusive list of contacts within. Bringing the burner phone to her ear, Chinami exhaled quietly, as it rang for several moments, before going silent. Frowning, the Goth rolled her eyes and dialed again, tapping her fingers impatiently.

While she was sure Marrywell had some level of magical protections, there was no telling how far they extended when it came to electronics. Even that potential lack of protection aside, there was no sense letting herself be potentially tracked if law enforcement or a snitch got involved or lucky. Thus, when it wasn't in use, she ejected the phone's battery, hopefully preventing any patterns of movement from being established.

Chinami restrained a sigh of relief, as she heard the sound indicative of the line connecting.

"Camelot?" came the surprised and somewhat wary voice of Jonathan. "Wasn't 'specting to hear from you so soon. What's the issue?"

The worry was understandable. In general, Chinami had scheduled call times for her discussions with her "generals" among the homeless community, the people she trusted to help organize things and keep any notable bad apples uninvolved. Though, she insisted that everyone was welcome at her feasts and was to be given at least a single chance, even with a history of trouble-making. Her Scabbard's ability to heal gave her a lot of leeway to cover for any injuries that might be incurred by someone especially stupid, and her inhuman speed and strength let her prevent most incidents to begin with.

But that was digressing a bit. Jonathan's worry was justified, given that Chinami was not normally the type to make surprise calls.

[color=DAA520]"Johnathan, good to hear from you,"[/color] Chinami said, her eyes flicking towards where Bonnie was laying in bed. Pursing her lips, Chinami nodded to herself and then flipped the sound to speaker mode, ensuring that both sides of the conversation could be heard clearly within the confines of her shared room. [color=DAA520]"Don't worry, it's nothing too serious... [i]yet[/i]. I suppose I just allowed a little bit of someone else's paranoia to get to me, despite our vast experience with the contrary, but these are changing times."[/color]

"Changing times?"

[color=DAA520]"Sorry, that's diverging a bit,"[/color] Chinami shook her head, even though he couldn't see it. [color=DAA520]"No more of the Pageless showed up after I left, right? My senses didn't indicate any more were coming, but things were a bit muddled by the presence of an especially powerful one."[/color]

"No, Boss, you got 'em all," Jonathen replied.

Chinami was torn between rolling her eyes at the title she had oft' firmly rejected and sighing in relief. [color=DAA520]"Good, good."[/color] Chinami nodded. [color=DAA520]"As an aside, did the property damage from the battle clear up? I'm not personally quite sure how that works or what the limits are, but as long as it did..."[/color]

"Come to think of it, yeah," replied Jonathan. "The collapsed wall and all the damage to the street cleared up shortly after you left."

[color=DAA520]"That's a relief,"[/color] Chinami said, running her free hand through her hair to tuck some of her ebon locks behind one ear.

"You're telling me," Jonathan continued. "Was worried we were going to have to change locations."

Chinami grimaced. [color=DAA520]"We still will."[/color]

"What? Why?" Jonathan asked, a frown in his voice.

Chinami sighed. [color=DAA520]"Simply put, if the Pageless have gotten aggressive enough to challenge me directly, I can't afford to gamble on my people's lives."[/color] Frowning, she decided to be blunt. [color=DAA520]"I said a lot of big words and made big promises, but in the end, I almost wasn't able to keep them. With my Scabbard's healing, no-one would have died, but a child almost got hurt, even with all my speed. Jonathan, I won't stop the feasts, but if I am to expect more enemy incursions, I cannot be put in a position that stretches me so thinly again."[/color]

After a moment, Jonathan grunted an assent. "Okay... alright." She could hear a scratchy sound, like he was running one hand over his stubble. "Then, what are we going to do?"

[color=DAA520]"Unfortunately, we're going to be implementing some changes,"[/color] Chinami replied firmly. [color=DAA520]"For starters, I hate to ask, but I need you to start spreading out some feelers for a new location. And while you're at it, spread the word that our attendees should keep an ear out for the news of when we find an appropriate spot."[/color] Listing off with her fingers, Chinami continued, [color=DAA520]"It naturally needs to be large enough to contain the Round Table as it was today with plenty of room for inevitable expansion. Secondly, we must avoid being in the open any longer. An inside location is best to prevent the Pageless from surrounding us like they did again. I want to be able to funnel the enemy through select directions, so a warehouse of some sort may work."[/color] Glancing to the ceiling of her dorm, Chinami hummed. [color=DAA520]"Thirdly, if at all possible, I want this to be done legally. We have contacts, Jonathan. We [i]know[/i] people. Whether it's one of our wealthier guests or someone a guest knows, I want feelers out. Ask what we can do for them as compensation. In terms of trade, we have the Round Table and its unending food, and we also have plenty of unused manpower. If the legal end doesn't work out, however..."[/color] Chinami grimaced. [color=DAA520]"I know some members of the underworld have got some fingers in the pie as it were, some regular ears at the table, but for the most part, they do appear to have been polite enough to leave us be. If the legal end doesn't work out, we'll discuss those options, but only in such a case."[/color] Sighing, Chinami flopped back on her bed.

"Not asking for much, eh?" Jonathan inquired dryly.

Chinami snorted. [color=DAA520]"If I had any other choice, I wouldn't be asking at all, but I'm not prideful enough to stubbornly push a lost cause."[/color] She crossed her legs. [color=DAA520]"That aside, I'm not even finished yet. These are just the preliminary and absolutely [i]necessary[/i] aspects I want managed. I'm sure others will occur to me in time, but I want the search started as soon as possible with the initial three in mind."[/color] Rolling her jaw, Chinami frowned. [color=DAA520]"The move is about as urgent as it can be without being an emergency, but try to avoid jumping for the first possible option or making any immediate promises. I still ideally want multiple qualifying locations presented before the final choice. Until then, the feasts will be held at the usual location. However, I won't be starting them as laxly as before. With the Pageless more aggressive, I'll be avoiding the night as much as feasible, starting the sunrise feast at the last possible moment and the sunset feast as soon as feasibly possible. Sorry to ask more, but if you could make sure that unfortunate inflexibility is clear to our guests?"[/color]

Jonothan sighed in turn. "All right, all right, I gotchya, Miss."

Chinami's tone was openly thankful and relieved. [color=DAA520]"Thank you, John. I know this is rather more than you and the other organizers are used to putting up with. I hate to delegate so heavily, but my duties as a magical guardian call strongly as of late."[/color]

Jonathan chuckled somewhat self-depreciatingly. "Hey, it's not like we've got much else to be doing. If nothing else, this'll be a good cure for boredom."

Chinami shook her head fondly. [color=DAA520]"Thank you again, Jonathan. Please pass my thanks and well-wishes to the others as well?"[/color]

Jonothan chuckled slyly. "They've already heard. I had you on speaker the whole time. After all, a surprise call from you is the sort of thing that turns heads, don't ya' know?"

Flushing and pinching the bridge of her nose, Chinami snorted at the muffled chorus of other greetings, as Jonathan's background observers chimed in. [color=DAA520]"You guys... are such a mess."[/color]

"We're [i]your[/i] mess, Lassie."

Rolling her eyes, Chinami smiled. [color=DAA520]"Thank you. [i]Really[/i]. And see you tonig- No, rather, this evening now."[/color]

"Till then, Camelot."

Chinami hung up, turned off the phone and ejected the battery, returning both to her jacket's inner pocket. With a groan of relief at checking off -or rather, beginning to check off- one of the issues on her current pile, Chinami settled back against her bed, enjoying the cool feel of her pillow against the back of her head. Folding her fingers atop her stomach, Chinami found her gaze drifting back towards Bonnie.

Pursing her black-painted lips, the Goth exhaled quietly, before finally addressing her roommate. [color=DAA520]"The offer's open, you know? I know we haven't exactly... talked much... or done much of anything together outside of fighting Pageless, but in my experience, a good meal and good company tend to ease most ails. Just let me know, you know?"[/color] Shifting, she grunted and sat up, taking up her laptop again to open up several minimized tabs. [color=DAA520]"No need to answer right away. Just know that my Table is always open."[/color] With that, she set to her self-mandated decompression. No more work. No more stress. Just fanfics and gaming with some earbuds in for the next... She glanced it the clock. Four hours? However long it took her to be able to doze or become peckish. Eating Round Table food beforehand tended to leave little room for snacking.

[hr]

Mercifully, the rest of the day and following night passed relatively without incident, as did the sunrise hours of the day after. Chinami, despite being well on her guard, found that either her new precautions were already starting to have an effect... or the Pageless were still simply too worn down by their bum rush of strength and numbers the day before. Either way, Chinami was hardly complaining; that gave her more time to prepare for things to get worse... as they slowly seemed to be of late.

The next day in and of itself, however, brought tidings about which Chinami had mixed feelings.

She was being assigned a team, assumedly one she should expect to retain long-team, which was rather unusual. Most of the time, Magical Girls tended to gather a team on their own terms, picking up whoever they needed to fill the various roles one might need to balance such things either through choice or something akin to fate. Granted, Chinami could admit her lack of initiative in this area was what had likely prompted her inclusion. Without a regular established team to "reserve her" from such things, she was naturally delegated to this task, which was... Well, she wasn't necessarily [i]opposed[/i] to it per say, but having yet another responsibility added to her plate at this particular time was rather decidedly inconvenient.

That aside, it seemed the "early bird gets the worm" saying was coming round to haunt her. Because she had spread herself out across so many different projects and disregarded composing a proper team of her own, the Grand Minister had seen fit to take the decision from her hands. In all honesty, that was the thing that peeved her the most about all of this, but she somehow managed not to show any of it in the Minister's office. It was unfortunate, but she could deal with this. That said... there was a fair bit more about this situation she'd be having to "deal" with long-term.

The sub-team compositions were... Well, honestly, about the only good thing about them that Chinami could say was that she wasn't paired with Lumiere or, worse, placed directly under her. That... would not have gone well. Personally, however, Chinami didn't particularly crave leadership for herself, and having it granted to her made her both uncomfortable and satisfied in a way she couldn't quite describe. In a team, under ideal circumstances, she preferred to treat everyone involved as equals, where the worst there was to be had as far as "orders" was merely strong well-informed suggestions.

In theory, as presented to them, the experienced Magical Girls were to act as teachers for the newbies, not just in terms of how to potentially best utilize their abilities against and slay Pageless, but also to get them more familiar with the city of London proper and the best patrol routes to navigate it. In this respect, Chinami could understand pairing Lucette, Olivia and the Scottish Gir- Nessle(?)- [i]Nessie[/i] was her name(!), since they could all effectively fly, but in every other aspect?

The teams were a bit [i]unbalanced[/i], to say the least, with one dedicated almost entirely to melee and the other to mid-to-ranged combat, that left both sides with a fairly distinct gap in their capabilities. In all honestly, Chinami would have vastly preferred to swap Tesni for Wilhelmina, not because of her personal misgivings towards the former (although, admittedly, it factored in) but simply because her mobility and staff extension would let her cover the same routes as the three fliers without aid, unlike Wilhelmina. In addition, she could provide the frontliner melee that said team was also sorely lacking... aside from whatever it was that Olivia's eldritch hubby did. They'd lose out on some healing support, but frankly, Lucette's own healing was far more flexible than Chinami's... which meant the latter's team was getting doubly gypped by the current composition.

Certainly, from a caution standpoint, she could appreciate giving the group with more newbies two healers, but they were all ranged fighters. If Lucette was teaching them right, they shouldn't be needing that healing as often.

As far as range for Chinami's team? Well, Tesni could extend her staff, but that was basically it unless the fox-girl's whole fire-setting thing had anything to do with range. Chinami honestly couldn't say for sure, since she'd been so far away from the battle when the Japanese girl was fighting... and arrived late to boot. Her team also had very little magical utility. Their powers were generally straight-forward blunt instruments. They all ran forward and hit things through various means. In terms of roles...

Well, they had Chinami to be a speedy tank. Bonnie was very finesse-oriented from what she'd seen; though, admittedly, she didn't quite understand her full capabilities aside from the fact that her fights were... visually pleasing? Tesni was obviously their mid-to-close-range dps, even a full long-range dps if she cared to be creative with her staff... which Chinami unfortunately couldn't bet on. In terms of raw power, she was matched by few, however, and Chinami honestly wouldn't have bet on herself in a fight against the wannabe Monkey King. In terms of speed, stamina and possibly durability, Chinami outclassed her, but Tesni would win out in raw strength and potentially skill as well, considering she was supposedly channeling the kind of martial ability that would come to surpass the heavens. This, of course, was completely disregarding the utter bullshit that was her staff.

Point being: Tesni was honestly their most flexible member... but her personality was likely to overshadow that flexibility, thus reducing or removing it as a factor.

And then there was Suzuya... Chinami was finding it hard to describe her as anything other than "quiet". However, the Goth wasn't quite sure how much of that was down to the fox-girl having a reserved personality and how much was simply her unfamiliarity with English stifling her ability to communicate as quickly or fluently as others. A little bit of both, she eventually figured. Perhaps the Grand Minister was hoping some of the rather "larger than life" personalities in her sub-team would help pull her out of her shell, but given exactly who they had...? Unfortunately, that task would likely be relegated to Chinami as well, given her ability to fluently speak the poor thing's mother tongue... which, come to think of it, may have also factored into her placement. Chinami had no idea what the fox-girl could actually [i]do[/i] yet, combat-wise, but hopefully, she could find out without too much trouble.

Now then, gripes about her team composition aside... What the actual hell was she supposed to do with a team?

She wasn't sure what she was supposed to be helping Bonnie with... Presumably, nothing at all, since the other girl was her senior and supposedly had experience as an independent Magical Girl beforehand, complete with a team. That was what she'd gathered from those she'd asked about her roommate, so she wasn't sure how trying to teach her much of anything wouldn't come off as a bit condescending. Chinami had long seen Bonnie as someone who could handle herself just fine.

Tesni... Frankly, she didn't think the other girl even [i]wanted[/i] to learn from anyone else, and Chinami wasn't willing to try and teach an unwilling student. It was a waste of time and energy, especially when dealing with someone who hardly valued anything but strength. And Chinami couldn't even offer martial arts advice... Although, maybe... Hmm, a thought for later.

Suzuya? Well, until she saw her powers in action, Chinami couldn't do much but offer to help her train her base form and act as a translator when necessary.

The only thing she could think of that she could really offer to the whole team was her... frankly rather selfish patrol routes. In terms of hunting Pageless, Chinami had long since forgone doing much but the bare minimum when it came to patrolling for a simple reason: magic senses. Every Magical Girl had them to one degree or another, and once they'd been trained and cultivated, there was almost literally no point in wasting time patrolling anymore. After all, Chinami, herself, could sense the vile corruption of a Pageless incursion from halfway across the city if her senses weren't drowned out by the ambient magic of her fellow Magical Girls. Once you reached that point, the most you had to do was make a small ring around the center of the city while paying attention, and you'd catch pretty much everything there was to find.

With that said, Chinami instead preferred to properly patrol the slums and the general area where she held her Round Table feasts. All else was effectively irrelevant. After all, she was just one person, and she'd be delusional to think she could protect everything and everyone everywhere; all that kind of thinking would do is ensure she couldn't save much of anyone or be satisfied with what little she did save. However, if she had time, between protecting her people, furthering her education and training, performing her Round Table feasts and taking healthy mental/physical breaks, then she sometimes branched out into patrolling the larger city.

So, if she [i]were[/i] to actually patrol properly long-term, where would she do it...?

As they left the Grand Minister's office and Lucette's half of the group split off, Chinami pondered the issue, one that she'd not thought would be quite so significant until she was presented with it. Despite all her preparations in so many other areas, she'd never really looked at herself as a leader material, especially for a small tight-knit team. She was too much of an isolationist for that to pan out long term, she'd always thought, more suited to be a general advisor and distant trainer. Getting personal... putting her heart out there... That was something she saved for the people that needed it most. It wasn't a side of her she felt she could muster all the time.

Lucette's group was long gone, as Chinami lead the remaining three girls out the Academy gates and into the city proper, struggling to decide where she was supposed to go with this. Where was she even supposed to start with this group? They all needed such vastly different approaches. It was all so sudden, and she had no plan! She didn't know how to deal with Tesni and someone even more introverted than herself! Speaking of which...

As they walked down the sidewalk, Suzuya thankfully seemed to be taking some initiative and talking to Bonnie. Her dialogue was a bit clunky and rather accented, but that was hardly anything Chinami would begrudge her. Even better, her words had sparked the beginnings of an idea in the Goth. While a large part of her wanted to have them all transform and get right down to business, it was clear that the best thing to do was to keep this friendly dialogue going. She needed to learn more about the Japanese immigrant... and Bonnie as well before she started making any long-term plans.

Just as she was about to ask if anyone knew a good ice cream or coffee parlor to visit (western fast food seemed like it would be a bit much for a fresh Japanese immigrant to handle), a clearly aggravated Tesni began to speak, and uh... Wow, she sure had a lot to say.

Chinami nodded empathetically to the twin-tailed girl's gripes about patrols, before frowning and raising a single brow. [color=DAA520]"I would generally agree, and it's not actually something I often do myself, nor would I particularly expect more than the bare minimum from anyone else, especially not someone who can... 'see evil' was it? Patrols are a complete waste of your time, when all you need is a periodic three-sixty glance, right? As for myself?"[/color] She shrugged. [color=DAA520]"I've invested time into learning how to sense magic. My so-called patrol routes are barely worth the name, when their entire purpose is to pass my sensory range over everywhere important."[/color]

Humming, Chinami placed a hand against her chin, a veritable lightbulb pinging over her head as she addressed Bonnie and Suzuya. [color=DAA520]"I suppose if I'm going to be showing you guys how I patrol, I can't very well do so without helping you with your sensing skills. Rather, I should first be asking if any of you can already do that...? Without using a unique power of your Grimoire,"[/color] she tacked on after a moment.

Whatever answer she received, Chinami's attention was quickly dragged back to Tesni, whether she liked it or not, eliciting a roll of her eyes at the 'Arthur' comment. Her brows furrowed at the far less reasonable gripe over the choice in leadership, which... Well, Chinami had her own misgivings, but if the other option was Tesni? That was a bullet the size of California dodged. Dryly, she responded, [color=DAA520]"Despite what you might think, I would actually tend to agree... to a point."[/color] Folding her arms, she nodded and began to idly glance around for somewhere isolated to move this increasingly loud conversation. [color=DAA520]"In all honesty, I'd have initially selected Bonnie from our number as a leader to test the waters. She's the most senior of us, has experience in a team outside Marrywell even. I'll admit that I don't know her very well, but she's got good energy in the field, a certain charisma... and isn't known for pissing anyone off. At the very least, I'd be willing to give her chance, and I feel it's one she should have been offered."[/color]

Frowning at the comment on her indecisiveness, Chinami's jaw rolled, but she acknowledged the accusation was valid... in this particular scenario anyway. This was something she'd been thrust into with no warning or plan, so yes, she could admit to being somewhat inadequate for the task. That said... [color=DAA520]"Tesni, we both know it would have to be the end of the world for you follow orders you truly opposed, not that I'd be much inclined to give them to begin with. I can't imagine what possessed the so-called 'all seeing' Grand Minister to put you in a subordinate position to me, when all that's liable to do is breed spite and resentment, but unfortunately, it's something we're both going to have to put up with so Lucette and the other big-wigs don't pitch a fit."[/color]

Unfortunately, Tesni still seemed to be getting more and more worked up, like she was playing the hype-man to her own frustrations. As the wielder of the [i]Journey to the West[/i] violently crushed a moments prior filled soda can and punted it into a trash can, Chinami made the executive decision to take a sharp turn off the sidewalk, leading the quartet down a wide alley and into a mostly empty lot, occupied by a single beat-up car of a name Chinami could not remember and a pair of large dumpsters.

Tesni's language was getting more antagonistic, more mocking. It was almost like she was stabbing at every possible chink an outsider might perceive in the Goth, hoping to strike gold and provoke a reaction... What sort was the question. A fight? Chinami really wished that didn't make so much sense. For someone who seemingly only valued strength and personal improvement, ensuring that her leader was stronger than her made sense in a twisted "might makes right" sort of way... Of course, that was hopefully merely speculation. Unless Tesni came right out and said it, Chinami had no intention of indulging her, nor sinking to her level. [color=DAA520]"Chivalry had nothing to do with my acceptance, nor did obedience. Given the allowances the Grand Ministry has objectively allowed me, it was inevitable that I would have to repay the favor. Whether or not they acknowledge this task [i]as[/i] said favor, however, I will be treating it as such... as the apparently 'all-seeing' Grand Minister will assumedly know."[/color] Suzuya was unfortunately starting to look rather uncomfortable, and Chinami hoped the apologetic look she briefly shot the Japanese girl appropriately conveyed her embarrassment at the shameful display.

[color=DAA520][s][i]Another King challenges you with diplomacy devoid from their heart... Shall you stand your ground or retreat I wonder?[/i][/s][/color]

Tesni, meanwhile, was [i]still fucking going[/i]. Could she not see that this was neither the time nor place for this? Chinami would admit, a few of Tesni's blind accusations were scarily close to the far more nuanced marks, and that irked her more than her poker face would reveal. But she didn't crack. Rather, what irked her the most was the idea that this little shit was going to tarnish her reputation with false accusations and -perhaps less importantly but currently immediately relevant- [color=DAA520]undermine her authority[/color] and image of competence in front of someone she was supposed to be teaching things that were important to survival.

[color=DAA520][i][s]The troops must witness true strength in their King. Strength of character, not merely arms.[/s][/i][/color]

Defending herself was useless. The only thing addressing these out of line grievances right here and now would do is make her look weak, like she couldn't take criticism and had to nit-pick any that came her way. And worse, it would lend a pretense of legitimacy to the accusations in that twisted reverse-psychology "thou doth protest too much" way and -as a result- also give a metaphorical stamp of approval to the idea that this [i]bullshit[/i] was an okay stunt to pull on the job. Tesni was clearly looking for an emotional reaction, a sign that one of her verbal barbs had struck true, which would allow her to stop firing as blindly and focus her efforts in specific areas. Therefore, the only thing to do was to refrain from giving her one.

[color=DAA520][s][i]Wise are they who avoid war until all other options have been exhausted. The application of this principle is what separates a good King... from a great one.[/i][/s][/color]

Sighing, Chinami crossed her arms with a deadpan expression plastered across her face, as she blandly asked, [color=DAA520]"Are you about done... with this?"[/color]

She utterly rejected the [color=DAA520]Monkey King's[/color] verbal barrage, spared it not even the courtesy of remembrance. Such things were only a threat -only had value at all- if you allowed them to, and already, she was deliberately mentally putting aside the majority of what had been leveled against her. After all, how was any reasonable person supposed to expect her to commit brain cells to such a disjointed collection of nonsense while on the job? If the [color=DAA520]Monkey King[/color] wanted her to pay [color=DAA520][i][s]his[/s][/i][/color] her words any mind, then she would propose a proper meeting to discuss such matters.

Chinami's lip downturned minutely at Tesni beginning to visit her not-so-tender verbal mercies upon the newbie instead, and despite her resolve to remain unfazed, was unable to help the abrupt curdling of genuine anger in her gut. From within the confines of her jacket, her Grimoire almost seemed to warm up against her chest. She was about to intervene -and damn the undermining of her own efforts, when suddenly, someone else moved in for her.

Suzuya's alarmed yelp had Chinami's head snapping around, only to pause at the strange trio of beings. Her magical senses weren't quite as acute without being transformed, but this close, it was clear that they weren't Pageless... or Magical Girls for that matter, which set Chinami's teeth on edge. Sure, she'd seen projections before, but it was never exactly the best sign for someone to send their minions ahead while staying out of sight. Perhaps it was merely her paranoia roaring in her ears at the slightest provocation, but-

The new voice appearing directly beside her without even the slightest warning from her mundane or magical senses was the final straw for her hair-trigger Grimoire. Between her own inclination to "transform first, ask questions later" at the slightest indication of danger and her Grimoire being so worked up, Chinami almost couldn't have stopped the change if she tried. She barely paid attention to the familiar feeling of diving into a pleasantly warm lake, cast in sunlight, whispers she could barely comprehend echoing all around and drifting with the smell of apples, as her Grimoire's magic bloomed out from her chest in a golden ripple and shower of light. Taking a step back from the mysterious voice -and thus, a step closer to Suzuya, Camelot's azure eyes narrowed briefly at the statuesque Magical Girl in eastern garb.

And indeed, it was only the fact that she could clearly sense this [i]was[/i] a Magical Girl that halted her hand's movement toward her blade from being anything other than a momentary twitch... for the time being. Granted, that didn't necessarily mean the rabbit-eared newcomer was well-intentioned, but it made the odds drastically higher. There were several bad apples out there, after all. Camelot would admit a particularly petty gripe of hers was that the eastern theme indicated that the girl's Grimoire was not one she would likely be able to extrapolate, given her relative unfamiliarity with anything but western tales, barring a couple stellar examples, but that was mostly just the paranoid Batman in her all but frothing at the mouth for her to have a plan to defeat everyone she met.

The woman introduced the projections as her "Celestial Attendants" and herself as "Moonlight Tsubasa (Wings)" with a certain refined poise and tone akin to a traditional Japanese maiden. Camelot would admit the weeb in her found that somewhat appealing, even as her wariness both lowered and increased in turn. Even though they were masked and fully concealed, the "taste" of this person's magic and presence was... similar to the feel that people like Lumiere and the Grand Minister gave off. It was that sense of refinement and confidence in their aura that indicated a vastly experienced Magical Girl, which indicated that the one before her was... rather old... while also being unknown to her. That combination had her hackles up more than anything else, but Camelot squashed the feeling with great effort for the time being and exhaled slowly and quietly, bleeding the tension from her body as best she could.

And "blind angel"? [color=DAA520]"Lumiere?"[/color] she asked, before rather diplomatically continuing. [color=DAA520]"I don't know that I'd call her... 'blind' exactly. As best I can tell, she genuinely wants to do good, but with her age... Maybe her grasp of what we're really fighting for has eroded a bit."[/color] Camelot found herself with mixed feelings regarding Tsubasa's claim to have met... her(?) before. [color=DAA520]"Ah, my apologies, but I can't recall having made your acquaintance properly yet either. I'm Camelot, but I suppose you already knew that."[/color] Camelot glanced back at the Attendants, who seemed to have relinquished their... petting of poor Suzuya at some unseen prompt from their mistress, and frowned at the reserved girl's rather overwhelmed state, which, admittedly, could be seen as humorous under a certain light.

Camelot's attention was drawn back rather sharply by the presentation of a very familiar-looking coin. [color=DAA520]"That was your doing?"[/color] she couldn't help asking. A moment later, she held back a flush from rising to her cheeks at the entirely unnecessary words of praise. [color=DAA520]"I- Uh..."[/color] her brow furrowed at the implications that she'd had a hidden Magical Girl at her Table... possibly multiple times in a row, and her teeth briefly worried her lower lip for an entirely different reason. [color=DAA520]"It's not really anything that remarkable honestly, and I don't do it expecting rewards. Simple appreciation is plenty, and also... I don't want to be rude, Tsubasa, but I feel like there's something... I don't really have the words, but I wouldn't feel right taking compensation for something that costs me nothing but time."[/color] She struggled to find a way to reject the offer politely. [color=DAA520]"I'm sorry, I really don't mean to offend, but..."[/color] She half-grimaced. [color=DAA520]"If the way I found your first coin is any hint, then I doubt I could stop you from doing this more, but... If this is something you insist on, then at least don't compensate me in advance. Call it Pride or Principles, but I don't want to be rewarded for something I haven't done yet, especially if there's even the slightest chance that I'd be interrupted from paying it forward after the fact."[/color]

Shaking her head, Camelot made a noise of remembrance and snapped her steel-clad fingers. [color=DAA520]"Oh, and also, if you are meaning to attend more of the feasts, then you should know to keep an ear out for news of a new regular location, not too soon most likely, but preferably not all that long either. We're not exactly in a rush, but we'll be looking to obtain a new venue for sure."[/color] She scratched the back of her neck. [color=DAA520]"After the Pageless attack the other day, it's come to my attention that I've been a bit overconfident, so I'll also be summoning the Round Table at far stricter times to avoid the night as much as possible. The feasts will continue as normal, but there's no sense putting people in unnecessary danger."[/color]

The sheepish smile on her face dulled a bit at the talk of "conspiracy". Pursing her lips, Camelot raised a reluctantly skeptical eyebrow. Over a year, she'd engaged in this activity, and aside from discouraging words, she'd not been overtly opposed on the matter. And it wasn't like she was exactly hiding or tip-toeing around speaking of it, having casually mentioned her feasts in conversation when the matter was relevant. She didn't boast about or advertise it, but she'd answer truthfully if asked directly.

"Prison" seemed a bit of a strong word to use for Marrywell, but Camelot refrained from commenting on it one way or the other. After all, as unfortunate as the situation was, objectively, she'd put herself there willingly to avoid facing far more annoying problems. She didn't agree with everything the Ministry did, but it wasn't like she could offer productive alternatives in her current position. She liked their results, even if their methods left something to be desired. Then aga-

[i]Oh shit.[/i]

Moonlight Tsubasa had started verbally poking at Tesni, and here and now was... not seemingly the greatest of days to be doing so with the latter so worked up.

Regardless, Tsubasa plowed onwards, and Camelot had found herself mentally juggling far more lines of thought at once than she'd prefer, split between worrying over the potential volcano that was Tesni and trying to parse the flowery and ominous implications of Tsubasa's following statements. It took her a moment of brows furrowed in thought to decide the latter string of dialogue was not directed at her for the most part... but instead her three companions. Practically from the moment they'd approached her, Camelot had already worried the Ministry wasn't as altruistic as they seemed on the surface and that their means and ends alike weren't so kind, but she had -at least, in part- remained objective enough to relegate such thoughts to the realm of paranoia, while remaining alert for any sign that her suspicions had merit.

(Un?)fortunately, what she was hearing was merely a bunch of baseless accusations. To be clear, Camelot would personally have been delighted to ultimately be proven wrong about her paranoia, but unfortunately, the rest of real world had long since proven not to be so idealistic. So why should the Grand Ministry be any different? That said, she tended to agree with the concept of "innocent until proven guilty". A trend and a pattern wasn't in and of itself proof of anything, and it wouldn't be right to let such blind accusations go unchallenged.

Crossing her arms, Camelot's brow furrowed. [color=DAA520]"Assuming you aren't exaggerating, those are some rather hefty and... [i]sudden[/i] claims you're leveling against the Ministry,"[/color] she said carefully. [color=DAA520]"I hope you'll pardon me for playing something of the devil's advocate, but I can't help but inquire if you've got some sort of evidence to share."[/color] Grimacing at being put in a position where it would be unreasonable to [i]not[/i] defend the Ministry, Camelot continued, [color=DAA520]"Personally, I may not see eye-to-eye with them on several of their methods, but against all reasonable odds, they get [i]results[/i]... have been for centuries. On an objective scale, they are a... [i]sufficient[/i] support group for Magical Girls, and they don't exactly have any competition that I've aware of." [/color]

Panning her gaze across Tsubasa, the Attendants and then her charges in turn, Camelot rolled her jaw and then nodded resolutely, addressing all of them. [color=DAA520]"As for 'growth'? I've not noticed them to stifle it, but admittedly, they don't really encourage it either. And also admittedly, I'm a rather driven sort when it comes to training, so I'm as like as not to completely miss any such attempts by accident. Growth isn't something you can typically force on others. Change -[i]real[/i] change- will only ever occur for someone who wants it, who is willing to let it in and put in the work. I will grant you, the Ministry has, intentionally or not, cultivated a culture that encourages being 'good enough' rather than continuing to push the limits, but we aren't soldiers."[/color] She spread her arms. [color=DAA520]"To those that seek more, I personally commend and applaud them, but I [i]do[/i] truly understand those that don't. None of us chose to become Magical Girls, warriors that fight monsters and risk their lives, and most girls just want to continue living normal lives I'd think, even if they get to... play around with magical powers on the side."[/color]

But then again... [color=DAA520]"That said, physical growth is hardly the only kind either, and in the mental respect, I can't say I've much perspective on that, only speculation. After all, I've only been at this for two years, and I might as well be an infant compared to the likes of Ozma or Lumiere."[/color] Sighing, Camelot ran one hand through her golden locks. [color=DAA520]"To be clear, I'm not dismissing your claims out of hand, but I hope you understand why I have to take this stance, especially given the rather abrupt nature of... all [i]this[/i]."[/color] She gesticulated with a general sweep of her arm at the whole group and present situation.