[b][s]Silsila[/s] Om![/b]

Om prepared herself for the duel. Back into her element. Back into fighting! She'd take this mission thrust upon her and Birsi--she was going to have to fish Birsi out of the Heavens, wasn't she--succeed with flying colors, earn the undying affections of Hai Lin and Ruz and Rosethal, who'd free her from her bindings and make her the mistress of the Fire Wheels, and then she'd rule as a tyrant queen with cute artists like this little painter girl strewn out over her lap. Oh, there was Grace in her fantasy! Tied up and dangling from the ceiling! Hi, Grace! Glad you could swing in!

All she had to do was succeed beautifully, which would be tough, but not impossible. She pointed her massive blade down at Bowlyn, locking her golden eyes with the blade-toting thief queen. Things had gotten a little weird, but it was nothing a little battle clarification couldn't help.

Someone started yelling at her from across the street. Om turned towards her, looking down at a girl she... er... sort of vaguely recognized. "...Foul Spirit?" Om said to herself, sounding somewhat offended, rolling her eyes. "At least it's not `Teapot` or `Kettle` or something like that. I've heard that over and over." She said in Bowlyn's direction, turning back to her. "You first. Her? Maybe later."

And then Soot leapt between them, hands up, preventing the hulking giantess from doing proper battle with the much smaller thief queen. Om's eyebrows shot up, double taking at the sight. Really? Seriously? Truly? That was so [b]stupid.[/b] But... it was also... sort of...

Sweet? She was cute. Really cute. Om just couldn't say no to that face. Something shifted inside her, like her foundations were sliding on mud. She was going to have to find out who this girl was. It was suddenly very important to her.

"...Alright. Alright! I won't fight. But I need you to pretend to fight me, and it needs to look good, or everyone will know. I need an excuse, because Merov Ekh won't take 'A really cute girl asked me not too, and I just couldn't resist her charms!' as an answer. So, Thief Queen..." Om reached out, stiffly moving to brush Soot aside, before swinging the slowest, clumsiest, most telegraphed overhead chop of her life, traveling so high that it would probably miss even if Bowlyn didn't even pretend to duck. "...Humor me and your paint-tossing girlfriend, for a minute, at least! And tell me why you're even bothering to try to resist. You can tell you're outclassed, so why the nightly struggling!?"


[hider=My Hider]
Silsila Om is now [b]Smitten[/b] by Soot. Darn cute girls making her feel funny!

Silsila is also going to try to figure out Bowlyn, in her clumsy, rough way. I rolled a 2 and a 3--with a -1 to Wit and a -2 from my condition, that brings me down to... 2. A very dramatic failure, unfortunately.
[/hider]

[hr][hr]
[b]Birsi![/b]

Well this was bound to happen sooner or later, but she had expected maybe an angry shopkeeper or one of the City Guards, not this veteran whose looks and armor were so strange to her. Still, Birsi knew better than to underestimate this person, for a smart person knows to be wary and scared of a senior in a profession where people die young. Her best bet was diplomacy… 

“Are the heavens supposed to be off limits, or is it supposed to be a suggestion?” She would ask in a genuine, yet still trying to sound tough, tone of voice. She couldn’t let her disguise drop, for if word got out that there was a Palace Guard roaming the 78 Heavens, it could be trouble for more than just her. “And as for how I got in, isn’t it obvious…? I walked inside.” If conversational density could be turned to gold, Birsi would be richer than the Sultan.