Crowvette

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

Alexandria

Alex unpacked Michael's lunch. The feeling of guilt for taking up his lunch was overpowered by her hunger, and she already had taken up enough time wandering the halls and encountering strange foreign students. She opened up the case, nearly spilling its contents in the process.

"Huh...?" The plastic case contained a colorful lunch salad with white chicken meat as the protein and a light dressing. In other words, it was a perfect salad for a growing student. It looked just like the meals they showed for her health class.

'I-Is this what Michael eats every day?!' Alex's jaw nearly dropped. 'Where are the chips?! Or the chicken nuggets?! What is this!?' Taking the fork, she hesitantly speared some of the salad. Her stomach growled. She didn't have a choice - and Michael was nice enough to give it to her. She took a deep breath and took a bite.

---

Alex somehow managed to eat the lunch salad Michael gave her, though the experience somewhat changed her view of Michael. 'Is Michael undergoing some kind of intense training? I need to make sure he's not hurting himself with these radical dieting measures...' She thought over how she'd bring it up to him naturally as she gathered up her things in the classroom.

She didn't really think of a good way to bring it up, even as she walked through the hallways of St. Laurel's to meet her counselor. Her train of thought was somewhat hindered by a feeling of worry about the future: What her counselor might say, perhaps, but more importantly... Her meeting with Wolf.

---

Alex nearly stumbled out of the office, exhausted. It was clear that her counselor thought she was present for the Midnight incident, and was trying to make it clear that there would be serious issues if Alex ever did something like that again. Alex didn't really feel like the lecture was necessary - she was scarred enough from the experience as is. Of course, there were the standard papers Alex was to bring to her parents, which would never get filled out, and ignored entirely.

She pushed those thoughts out of her mind. The exit to Laurels lay just beyond her. She had to keep up a brisk pace, but she had a good amount of time to get to Clausewitz before the grounds were completely deserted. Worst case scenario, she would have to ask around to see if anyone knew where Wolf was.

The entire walk had her wracked with worry, imagining the different ways Wolf might react to her. Would he be as cold as Vera? Each time the thought crossed her mind, she wanted to stop in her tracks. 'I-I just want this to happen already so I can stop worrying about it!' Alex thought to herself, rubbing her temples. 'Wolf, you better not be the type to go home the second the bell rings!'

After what felt like an eternity of being holed up in her own head as she walked, Alex found herself at the gates of Clausewitz's Academy. There were a few stern-faced students walking out, as she expected, but she didn't immediately recognize Wolf. Not that she expected to find him within moments of arriving... But she secretly had hoped so. "W-Well... I got here, but now what...?" Alex felt like she stood out with Laurels' clean white uniform compared to the Clausewitz students, and suddenly realized that she may be crossing some kinds of rivalry-related turf without realizing it.

'W-Wolf! Just show up so I don't have to talk to these scary people!!' Alex silently prayed to herself - an event that was becoming more common as of late.

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

Internship started this week so you can all skip me, sorry. Should have said that I'd have trouble getting a post out earlier

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

Alyona

@Dezuel

The lance managed to land true, but it didn't seem to affect the boy at all. 'Some kind of immunity? I didn't feel anything absorbed from the hit...' Alyona's mind raced. 'Water control and magical immunity? Which spirit did his harlot of a mother please to get all of these-' Her train of thought was interrupted when he sent her lance right back towards her.

'-gifts?!' Alyona dodged out of surprise more than anything: Her lances were extensions of her in some way that she didn't fully understand; they seemed to be unable to harm her in any way, and she had tried... Extensively. She could grasp them, and even stand upon them, use them to play with her own hair, or twirl them in her hands, yet if they were thrown straight upwards in the air and landed back on her they simply were reabsorbed by her body or aura. It was something that her mentor remarked as a wonderful upside to her power, which had always irked Aly. It was a silver lining in the most trivial of ways; normal people couldn't grasp the lances anyway, and if a particularly gifted individual managed to, they'd be suffusing their hands with curses the entire time.

She didn't let the reminiscence distract her as she readied another wave of knives, but before the first arrived the boy had simply popped out of existence. She didn't see him duck behind any nearby cover - he had disappeared entirely. 'He's gone? Did the gods agree with me?' Alyona didn't understand what happened, but she turned to run - and the youth was back, this time blocking her escape route.

"[Teleporting too?! Your whore mother certainly got around-!]" Was all Alyona managed to say in Yekaterinan before being grabbed by the vortex. Being thrashed about was one thing, and being submerged in icy water against her will was another, but even a proud maiden of Yekaterina such as Alyona hadn't experienced both at once. As she held her breath and tried to keep herself from getting whiplash, she half-consciously, half-unconsciously began drawing out lances, the bolts of negative energy being whipped around and launched out of the vortex by the motion of the water. It wasn't any kind of plan in her mind - if they landed on someone, somewhere, she may gain precious seconds of consciousness. As if the lances were extensions of her own spirit, they lashed out in every direction, seeking for a way out - or at least another living thing to inflict the same pain she felt.

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

Io at Terauchi Temple

[ @Smellgate peeps]

Io returned to her body (more literally than the others may have realized) when she realized she was being directly talked to. Skar had proactively answered a question of hers... Question number six, to be exact, in her ordered list. Her pallid skin flushed ever-so-slightly as she worked through the information, and the grimoire quickly glowed as the information was recorded. "Noted." She said quietly, before Liliana diverted her attention back to the greater problem with a touch.

Io cocked her head at Liliana's request - partially due to the request, but partially due to her usage of 'everymono.' "There are plenty of spells that can clean all evidence of that, though I don't have any prepared. It seems like a waste of 'essence' to simply remove it..." Io plainly stated her stance on the matter to Liliana, wondering if her choice of words were too blunt. "I can prepare something quickly if needed. This kind of cleaning is elementary magic." She looked past Liliana, to Ayu, then to Takeshi, then back to Liliana. "Should it be taken care of now?" It seemed to Io that Takeshi was going to admit what happened, so covering things up may be a foregone conclusion. At the same time, the task force could convince him to hide things if they had the right tools... She would let the others decide, as Io was notably out of her element in predicting the behaviors of the townsfolk.

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

Alyona

@Dezuel

The boy wasn't as bright - nor as dim - as Alyona had hoped. She didn't expect the sword to be a feint, though it didn't matter either way - it wasn't like her lances interacted with physical objects. It was a bit of a coin toss if the sword he had created was magical enough to physically interact with the lances, and Aly was never one to take a coin toss unless it was her only option. It was up to her agility now.

Aly sprang from her resting position on the wall, narrowly dodging the attack and tumbling. The various scrapes she incurred from the dive-tumble were better than whatever he had planned for her with that. She loudly swore in Yekaterinan - a classic curse that should not be translated.

In the split second decision she had instinctively dodged away from the boy, which seemed like the right thing to do considering what he had conjured. She didn't skip a beat before taking off into a sprint, quickly sliding around a dumpster deeper in the alleyway. She hoped that the bit of cover was worth stopping for - the rest of the alley was long enough she couldn't likely run the distance without leaving herself open for whatever he had for her.

Or maybe that was fine? Aly grit her teeth. She could run for it, enough to get near the edge of the alleyway, and simply take whatever he threw at her. Then if she was laid out or not, she could at least scream for help. 'No chance of that working.' She didn't have time to waste thinking of useless plans. Knowing what she did, this would be the one time no soul was travelling the street when she called for help.

At the very least she could buy some time. Drawing out a lance, she seized it firmly, and peered out for a brief moment to toss the black, etheral spear right at the boy. Moments after she let it fly, she drew out smaller, thin ones - more akin to knives than lances - and quickly whipped them down the alleyway. Alyona aimed to at least cause the boy to retreat, or find cover, and then use that opening to flee. She could press the advantage if he foolishly took cover behind something, given that her lances passed through physical objects... but getting clear of the scene seemed far more important than 'winning' the fight. Especially since if she bothered to actually enjoy the win by teaching the kid a cutting-edge lesson in pain, she'd definitely get caught up in some kind of trouble with the law. What was the point of winning in such a case?

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

Io's clearly such a late bloomer that even death wasn't 'too late' for her!

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

Io at Terauchi Temple

@The Irish Tree (LIL), @Restalaan (SKA), @Rezod92, @Nakushita, @Hammerman, @AzureKnight (ATS & HIN), @Enkryption

Io gave a small nod to Hinami. A comrade in undeath was always worth having, even if she did not have the magical inclinations that Io had. Lunatea was a task force member she had not met before, either, but she seemed rather collected compared to the ones Io had already encountered. Io couldn't help but consider Luna's conspicuous bunny ears to be cute, but she stifled the urge to touch them.

However, far more demanding of her attention was Skar, who had more or less been confirmed as an astronomically rare specimen in Io's eyes. "I do have questions." She said to Skar, her calm voice failing to reinforce how much of an understatement that was.

She began sorting out the questions she would ask in her head. Soon she stopped in place, merely blankly staring ahead as her thoughts began to overrun everything else for her. 'There are far too many to ask... How do I find the ones that will cut to the heart of the question?' Despite her lack of movement, her grimoire gently glowed as lines upon lines were entered into it magically, directly from Io's thoughts. Io had to consider that there may be factors that lead to his creation that could explain why he was such a rarity, but they may be hard to formulate questions around. Plus, there were questions about his current existence as well, such as physiology and abilities... Even a perfect question could be answered incorrectly, due to faulty memory or bias as well.

Her deadpan expression and sudden, complete stop may have been a cause for alarm, if most of the task force members weren't busy turning their attention to Takeshi and Alice. Of course, she was certain to not let the secret slip - she was sure that there were several task force members that would do that far before she did. Of course, Io had a trace of jealousy for Alice's part, but she could lock that away easily. There would be a time and place for that... Hopefully. She would let them handle the interactions and gossip in the meantime.

At the same time, Io didn't consider how it may have looked to the others: Suddenly stopping and standing in rigor mortis, as though her soul had left her body, at the mention of Takeshi's... 'indiscretion.' She was simply too engrossed in her own thoughts to consider how the others may interpret it.

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

I'll try and get a post up soon! The spooky halloween season has scared me so much I couldn't leave my room, or something...

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

Alexandria

Alex wasn't really sure what was going on with the girl, but the teacher handled it and walked her away. 'All's well that ends well...?' Something about the entire encounter gave Alex the feeling of a headache coming on, though that could also be considered a symptom of being low on sleep and food. In fact, Alex now had a remedy to one of those things, thanks to Michael. She nearly tore into it right then and there, but she paused for a moment. 'I-I feel a little weird eating in front of him, especially since it's his own lunch...'

"Um... Well, new students aside... I should get back to my own class before lunch period ends!" Alex blamed the somewhat awkward atmosphere on the foreign girl speaking a different language entirely at them, though she had a suspicion it would have been awkward no matter what. She was essentially taking his lunch from him, after all... Alex began to turn, trying to keep those thoughts out of her mind. "I-I'll see you later, Michael!! I-I mean, probably not afterschool later cuz I'm going straight to Clausewitz, but-" Alex realized she was saying too much for a farewell, and cut herself off. "Um. Bye!"

Alyona

@Dezuel

Alyona's eyes narrowed, her expression unamused. "I think that is my line here. I was not the one who followed someone into an alleyway and threatened them." If he was telling the truth, Aly might be able to simply let the boy pass. Of course, since he pulled out a weapon so readily, she didn't like the odds. "But by all means, pass. I have no need for anything you own. She leaned against the alleyway to let him pass.

Of course, her eyes followed him closely. She kept her left hand open as a gesture of keeping nothing hidden from him - though she had the wellspring of curses in her body ready to form a lance in the moment it would take for her to close her hand around it. It was a trick she had learned not from the mercenary guardsmen of Yenina Manor, but from Yekaterinan folklore: A classic gambit of appearing unarmed yet having a weapon ready at a moment's notice.

Of course, it was entirely dependent on the boy, regardless of if he understood what she was doing. She preferred if he took the foolish interpretation and just thought she was making an offering of peace, but also seeing the gesture as a sign that she would fight back if attacked was fine too.

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

Io at Terauchi Temple

@Hammerman @AzureKnight @Restalaan @The Irish Tree

The new arrivals seemed like an interesting lot, and Liliana likely needed to do other things. Io nodded at the invitation, standing to join the small group that was forming. Io didn't have a particular taste for any food in particular, but she wasn't immune to a need for energy. She gave Liliana a small wave - that is, unless Liliana followed along with her.

All the while, Io was doing what she did best - listen and pick up information. There were a few little pieces that her hearing was finding - Alice had also returned. Her charge seemed to have some... reservations about sharing what happened, which was curious. Io didn't need much thought to have a hypothesis as to what actually went on there. It wasn't something Io was going to barge in and ask about, though. She tucked that fact of information away in case it came up later.

She also noticed the way the jorou-gumo referred to the goblin. Io was unsure, but given the things she shouted, the goblin may not have been a girl at all - An unthinkable possibility. Io second guessed her own powers of observation - she should have seen through a disguise. Perhaps it was due to the new situation of dealing with Liliana that made her lose the focus, or perhaps she considered another male mamono such an astronomical rarity that she didn't even consider it. That being said, it could be some kind of strange nickname, or joke, or even misunderstanding... There was only one way to tell. Io would have to check. Preferably in a way that would not espouse any strange misunderstandings, given the potential relationship those two had. That being said, joining with that group would give Io a chance to observe up close whether or not this was true.

Io upped her walking pace to meet up with the sisters, Skarsneek, and Luna. "We've not met. I'm Io." Io quickly threw out an introduction to those she had not talked to before in the group, while sneakily glancing at the goblin. Her curiousity was going to be hard to contain, but it was only a matter of time before she observed damning evidence either way. She resisted the urge to have her grimoire at the ready to take notes.