Froppy

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

Shuten Douji, Foreign District
-Atop a Mountain of Loot with her New Best Friend Zeus-

Shuten tossed another bottle down from her makeshift throne to smash noisily against the ground."...Do they not have that expression in Greece? Fufufu, it means to...!?" She stopped, interrupted abruptly by an unimaginable cacaphony.

It was the sound of a horn, overpoweringly loud, so loud it shook the soul. More importantly, the strapping lad that had been bringing the next bottle of wine up the lootpile turned tail and fled, shrieking and straight into one of the burning buildings as the bottle shattered on the cobbled road... When had the fire turned black? But no, it wasn't just their serving boy, the loot train headed towards the forest with all her un-earned loot had been equally dissarrayed. Every single one of them dropped everything as they broke and ran from the noise, shattering a small fortune worth of pots and booze, dirtying silk, and tearing canvas.

Shuten stared for just a second, mouth agape in disbelief, before she turned towards Archer and forced a smile. "Sweetie, I have a better idea for our date... Something to get the blood pumping now that we've limbered up a little." She reached out and placed his hand in hers as she whispered sweetly into his ear with that heavy alcohol-sweet voice... Before yanking him into a full body hold and leaping off into the distance, carrying the other servant bridal-style as she traversed towards the source of the noise at top speed.

---

Zig-zagging from rooftop to rooftop, street to street (as well as street to rooftop, and of course rooftop to street) the incredible speed of the Oni carried them away from the fire and delivered them to the source in just a handful of seconds. On the very next rooftop, a lone servant standing on top of a building with a horn practically still pressed to his lips, a clearer culprit could not possibly exist. Shuten's smile had grown to absolutely inhuman proportions, but the glint in her eyes was anything but happy.

One more jump, right towards the obvious harbinger of her shattered wealth on a collision course, with Archer still in her arms. "Fly high sweetheart, and fall like lightning~!" She threw Tesla straight up into the air with a one handed toss, with a trajectory that would put the apex of his arc directly above the... Saber? Yes. Saber. At the same time Shuten drew her sword with the other, immediately following through into a broad sweeping slash, aiming to bisect her chosen nemesis from hip to shoulder with every ounce of her monstrous strength. "...AND YOU JUST GO AHEAD AND DIE!" She shrieked like the demon she was as the blade followed through.

@floodtalon@reflection

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

Shuten Douji, Foreign District

-From Street to Street-

Shuten's followers had exceeded their carrying capacity in short order and by the time Tesla approached she had instructed them to pile it all up in the middle of the street for her and to... Well she whispered that part, though everyone seemed excited about it. Thus when she turned to face him, to answer his inquiry, the backdrop of their conversation was a rapidly growing mound of illicitly obtained treasures.

She turned to face him though when he called out, and she reached up to touch her horns, feigning surprise when her hands 'found them'. Her anger at him had already withered away to nothing, once she had found the source of the calamity she had no trouble deducing that even if he had been conspiring against her life he most certainly was not working with her most hated enemy and so Shuten Douji wore a smile and spoke in a jovial tone. "Oh, so they are~! I hadn't noticed~fufufu."

As he went to clarify his intentions and introduce himself she turned away and clambered up her mountain of ill-gotten gains and lounged upon it, turning back around and staring down at him with a befanged smile. At some point during the climb her kimono had come unbound, her poorly tied silk obi joining the loot pile as it flapped open. "Well, something like that. My groceries are currently paying tribute to the king of mount Ooe." She hefted her gourd and pulled her drinking vessel from inside of her sleeve as she spoke and by the time she finished she had poured it full. "With them going through all this trouble to please me it would be very rude if I were not here to see it through, no? By the time we are done here though I am sure I will have worked up quite the appetite but in the meantime would you like to share a drink and watch the festivities?" She downed the contents of the bowl and poured again, leaning way forward and holding it down to him from atop her precarious perch, her own impeccable balance being the only thing that kept the pile of pottery and silk from dethroning her via gravity.

At about exactly that time, as if she knew, as if it were rehearsed, the cry of "FIRE! FIRE!" echoed through the streets, in one direction then another, and another, as the streets grew full and hectic. Smoke broke out along the skyline, followed quickly by fire, as the servants of Berserker diligently followed the orders of their king. Left to spread naturally the foreign district would likely burn down by nightfall.

Or it would have, but they weren't leaving it to spread naturally. Berserker's minions were running through the streets throwing stolen oil pots wrapped in flaming linen through windows and putting torches to roofs. As the terrified denizens ran out of the ignited buildings the mob ran in. Adrenaline high, drunk, and bolstered by the unstoppable charm and charisma of their new king, the mob knew no fear of fire or retaliation. With reckless abandon they ransacked the blazing buildings of anything obviously worthwhile and dumped valuables in the middle of the street free from the reach of the flames before moving to the next house, spreading out in every direction from the market and to the residences.

Shuten just kept smiling that fanged smile and holding the bowl out towards Tesla as if nothing in the world was wrong. For her that was after-all the truth, a banquet of destruction was a proper celebration fit for a king among Oni.

@Floodtalon@kyoka@Seirei No Hai@vocab@ManyThings@Reflection@Sageage
The workshops of the listed parties or their direct allies are currently under fire by a drunken mob.

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

Shuten Douji, Foreign District
-From Street to Street-

Last night after she finished 'Assisting' her darling's work Berserker had ate well of her catch and the fruits of the grove, drank well of her own stock, and had a nap to boot. There was only so much sitting still she could do though and harassing the boy too much too soon would take all the charm out of their companionship.

Without so much as asking she had strolled down the path of (now substancially less- thanks Ana) destroyed trees and into town, sword reformed as gourd and kimono tied tastefully shut to mingle among the populace properly. The image of a refined little lady in decorated silk, with perfect posture and a charming smile strolled through the markets of the foreign district.

Wait... Did she forget about the horns, or just simply not care? That was hard to say but the onlookers certainly took note, not that she minded at all. Gawk, flee, scream in terror, as long as no one was foolish enough to try and vanquish her it just made it easier to just pick up and take things that she wanted... At least until the angry mob showed up later, but that was later and later wasn't now.

Each time she found something that caught her eye she smiled, looked the one tending the shop in the eye, and asked sweetly "You don't mind if I take this do you?" or something to that effect. Whether fear of retribution from the little demon or the oppressive aura of her alcohol soaked charm, in such a way the arms of the little oni rapidly grew full of foreign goods.

Such perfect posture and balance as was possessed by the woman who could turn a flip with an open drinking vessel and spill nary a drop allowed her stacks of pottery, silks, foreign drink, and other such frivolities to more than double her height. If word of the little devil hadn't already spread across the market place she would have no doubt been a crowd drawing absurdity. A shambling pile of treasures meandering from shop to shop so tall it could no longer fit under the awnings or through the doorframes was not exactly a common sight.

Of course, that wasn't exactly convenient either, and before long she had used her charms to press-gang a handful of followers to help in her cause, a near even split between comely women and burly men, all increasingly tipsy by the moment due to the circumstance therein. As she progressed further through town the shambling pile became a great zig-zagging centipede of silk and spice that could be followed right to Berserker's location. She decided that once she finished her 'shopping' she'd have them deliver her acquisitions home for her and then wait while she explored elsewhere, and then when she got back she'd eat the ugly ones and keep the pretty ones to play with until she broke them... Her darling wouldn't mind entertaining a bunch of drunks in the meantime right?

This was a very productive day so far, and there was still plenty of town yet!

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

Shuten Douji, Outskirts- Lucus "Workshop"

Took the chop right between her horns, bonk! She dropped the lobster and went to grip her head, rubbing at the point of impact with a pout as she feigned discomfort and cowered back away from him. "Owww... Darling that hurts... Are you really going to be that kind of husband? Fufu~" She failed to keep the smile off her face, flashing her little fangs past her lips as she lapsed into a giggle. "It's okay though, I forgive you~!"

She looked down at him with that same laughter in her eyes and her smile spread wider. "Oh my my~! A man who would ask a demon for her blood? Maybe I was wrong about you darling~! Striking me without hesitation and now this, you're seriously full of surprises! Those bones may have some worth in them after all~!"

And with that he was yanked back to his feet, face to face with the maddening fanged grin of Berserker. She whispered, barely above the sound of the trees "...And when I'm all worked up from playing with Archer and Lancer too..." Her tongue ran across her lower lip, and then around across the top, across those fangs to draw blood. Her hands on his shoulders tightened into an inescapable vice grip, almost threateningly, before she leaned in and...

...Well, some of the blood ran down his chin before she was done. He could probably use that. If not she'd gladly give a more reasonable sample once she was finished teasing the poor lad. Just teasing, even if he had impressed her with his boldness Ana just simply wasn't her type. Once he recovered from it there would be lobster at least.

@Art of Fun

Master of Gatekeeper

Koume "Baba" Kurojishi, Edge of Shinto Town- Pelion's pub

The preservation of older mysteries into the puppets. Intriguing, and not an idea foreign to her either. That a god would re-affirm the failed works of her predecessor as not only valid but fruitful however might warrant a revisiting of their experiments.

It was almost as intriguing as the quality of the drink she held in her hand. the aroma of it was more pleasant than the actual taste of most anything she'd ever had. Of course the taste itself was several magnitudes beyond that, but even such an ascendant pleasure was incapable of getting more than a dry smile from the hag. Still she drank as he spoke, and without any subtlety or reservation. A little extra help pumping through her blood would help her tolerate the antics of her guests far easier.

She offered a nod of without any further words before turning to Chiron and Gin. "Archer your friend is quite presumptuous with his advice, I can see why he is your friend." It was a quality both admirable and annoying in equal parts, though one that was hard for her to knock given how she had often conducted herself before she had withdrawn from society wholesale.

She finished her glass and started to ask for another, and to try and strike up a proper conversation with Archer and Gin about where they would go from here, but a voice over her karmic link flung her attention elsewhere in a hurry. She had no anticipated that Troilus would simply leave unattended, and so she had not bothered to pay attention to his whereabouts during her trip to the pub. By the time she reeled herself back in and stomached the conflicting concern and anger to a manageable level he was already in danger... At least as far as she could tell.

She spoke twice at once, with mind and voice. 'Be very careful sweetie, remember that those other servants may want to hurt you and Baba' over the karmic link, in that sweet little granny tone, and "Archer. If you intend to keep your place here you had best go assist Troilus, before the roof falls down on your head." aloud, barked like some terrible hybrid of bosses order and crone's omen.

A few seconds later another order followed suit, "Donny, keep'em comin'."

@SSW@Paradox Witch@Cu Chulainn

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

Shuten Douji, Harbor- At Water's Edge

Where was it? Where was it!? Berserker furrowed her brow and stamped her foot again, shaking the pier she stood on. "Did it sink already? Awww... But I don't want to get my Kimono will all wet!"

She pouted, before dismissing her sword into its glassy gourd, before shrugging out of her layers of purple silk and setting them aside next to the booze. "No rolling off now!" She chided the container with a giggle, which of course did not respond. She gave it a loving little pat, as if it had, before turning back towards the water and stretching.

A second later she had vanished into the water, using her excessive mana quantity in a surging dive that sent her rocketing straight to floor of the harbor. Her feet kicked back and forth and her whole body kind of wiggled side to side as if she was more of an eel than a person... Which may well be the truth, since she was a sorry excuse for a person and all being an oni.

Even in the blackness of the depths it didn't take long for her to spot the bright red bowl. As she closed the distance towards her target and she wondered if her master was watching and if he could make out anything at all down here. A thought that was interrupted as she sensed another presence beside her- hostile!

A second later she rocketed up out of the water, breaching like a surface to air missile with her prize held triumphant overhead in one hand and an enormous lobster that was nearly her own size in the other. She landed in a crouch, with such force as to send most of the water from her form via the sheer momentum."Master, I'll be returning now. Please be ready to warm me up personally, as the water was oh so cold~Fufufu! I even brought us dinner~!"

With that she tied her kimono up around the gourd like a sack, slung it over her shoulder, and made back for home with bowl in hand and lobster squirming under her arm. The whiplash of traveling at full speed back to the forest would certainly 'calm it down' by the time she arrived. It was certainly not very lively when she walked into the clearing and dumped it at Ana's feet, smiling ear to ear.

Moved to Outskirts, Lucus Workshop
@Art of Fun

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

Master of Gatekeeper

Koume "Baba" Kurojishi, Edge of Shinto Town

The Clockwork Fortress of Troy, Central Keep

Baba entertained any fielded questions about her craft with short terse answers, teetering on the very edge of politeness with her mannerisms. It wouldn't do to be rude to an ally, but she was not particularly endeared to him either. He was green as could be, but he had an aptitude for asking the right kinds of questions, it was a shame she was too bitter to give the helpful kinds of answers. Likewise she had to show a stony face to Troilus in this time, metaphorically speaking given that her face was quite covered by the monstrous cloaked clockwork puppet she inhabited, but his own demeanor quickly showed that to be an entirely fruitless endeavor since he himself was so welcoming.

When they reached the workshop proper she again disembarked from her great wooden shell, and upon hopping out of it set about to putting on tea. After preparing the cups and the tea itself she stared like a hawk at the kettle, waiting for it to boil. As she had been quite thoroughly ignoring the window the sudden light show that put pause to Gin's question didn't peel her eyes away, though it did cause one of the tiles on the giant mechanical map of the area to turn over, displaying possible servant activity in that sector.

"Once Gatekeeper and I win the war you will be rewarded for your loyalty, do not concern yourself with that. In the meantime you sho-" Her voice was interrupted by the appearance of Chiron, unbidden and uninvited despite the agreed upon terms.

There was any number of things she wanted to say about that to both ARcher and his Master but instead she bit her tongue. In her own workshop and with her servant close at hand he was not a concern, and he only wanted to drag his master off. As it were, letting the two of them unattended was a poor idea for a number of reasons, so she re-invested into the Black Lion and followed suit.

"Troilus, sweetheart wait here. I'll have sweets aplenty upon my return if you behave." The contrast between the statement and the cold echoing metallic voice of the puppet would be amusing if it weren't so eerie.

---

Edge of Shinto Town

The Gates of Troy, Pelion's Pub

The massive form of the puppet slumped and shouldered through the entrance to the bar directly after two less imposing but similarly intimidating figures and two more followed suit after. Despite the wide brimmed straw hats and the long sack-cloth cloaks the clicks and whirs that accompanied their movements as they went to properly flank their apparent boss confirmed they too were karakuri, though they stood only a little over half the size of the greater puppet. A lord should have an entourage, even if it's just for show.

There was certainly a lot to unpack here. It truly was just a bar to the eye but that was only to the eye. More importantly though. "THE Dionysus?" Even with the heavy mechanical filtering there was a tone of incredulity, such was the sheer weight of disbelief. A cranking, ratcheting noise filled the bar as the Great Black Lion threw its arms wide open, tattered black cloak all aflutter to reveal...

...The little old lady grinning ear to ear, showing all three teeth. "If that's true then you had better pour me a drink and prove it." She pulled a long pipe from one of the many hidden pockets inside her haori. "And while you're at it, got a light?"

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

Shuten Douji, Shinto Town, Harbor

Inside of Caster's Bounded Field

That explained it, that explained everything. Without ever actually knowing he was under suspicion to begin with Lancer confirmed all of her suspicions through his deeds and words. The thing in the bowl had been too large to be a rat, it must certainly have been one of the cats from his bag, and he demonstrated clearly the might required to throw it. He also was completely un-phased by her otherworldly charm, which was somewhat troublesome.

Regardless as the disgusting new weather pattern emerged due to Lancer's mighty sack Shuten snatched one of the flying vermin out of the air. Holding it firmly by the neck Shuten turned it over for a moment, examining it, before turning again to watch Lancer make his departure. He, like her, was something that wholly defied the expectation of the eyes.She heaved a sigh of disappointment, it seems she had been wrong about nearly everything she had assumed. Perhaps this whole mess with Archer, and now Lancer and Caster, had been one big misunderstanding.

She spoke again, with that same honeyed voice that reeked of alcohol and sounded like a mandate from the depth of the heart. "Well this has all become really boring hasn't it? Boring and ugly. Everything about this is disgusting really, and you bard... Your bones are so soft the idea of dining on them makes me want to vomit." She punctuated that last sentence with the loud crunch and pop of her decapitating the rat in her palm, using nothing but the raw pressure of her fingers closing around its neck, and another heavy sigh. "All of it should just be torn apart and eaten, eaten by those disgusting creatures." Her eyes flashed with a sudden cruelty, and her lips curled into a smile. "Especially you."

And so it would be, a sudden surge of primal bloodlust and cannibalism erupting among the ranks of the vermin as they turned on each other. For the rats created explicitly by his noble phantasm resistance may have been possible, but for all those mundane that merely heeded the piper's call the overpowering command of the words of the king of Mount Ooe were as the beating of their very hearts... And perhaps for Piper as well, for he had already allowed lowered his guard and let her voice in once before.

Berserker merely turned to walk away, slinging her headless rat into one of the many converging piles of chittering death. "Enjoy the feast, Caster." Whatever happened from there was not her concern, the revel of rodents was not a party that warranted the attendance of a king. She was off to retrieve her bowl from the sea, and then go whine to her darling about helping her track down Lancer.

@Argonaut@Art of Fun

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

Shuten Douji, Shinto Town, Harbor

Entering the Bounded Field

Berserker's leg stopped mid-kick, hanging there in the air as she tilted her head to the side. "...Eh? It's open?" She didn't understand why anyone would in fact just let her in but hesitation was like sobriety, an entity wholly foreign to Shuten douji. She lowered her foot, slung her sword over her shoulder, and walked right in through the newly formed hole in the barrier.

From there she gleaned the whole of the situation pretty quickly, the nature of this unnatural world created by Caster quickly apparent on at least some level. "Oh me, oh my!* such a scary scary place!" She tried and failed to feign a look of shock as she looked around further, doing her best to sound afraid despite the inability to stop grinning. It was like a kid in a candystore trying their best to look like they didn't want to be here.

Her gaze stopped on the two other servants though. "Ohhhh and there are others here too? Well, of course there are, but neither of you is the Cow are you? No, no, none of you are that disgusting by half." She sounded disappointed, but she was smiling despite that. The boy with the sack, the man covered in rats, both were certainly interesting but there wasn't a proper candidate for a heavenly king between them. No, not even remotely close, they were an even worse fit than that soft-boned thundergod she had nearly mowed down... Though the boy looked strong at least.

She placed a hand on her hip and jutted her posture out to the side in a way that, with her draping robe, exaggerated her figure and evoked a certain idea of the shape of a woman far more endowed than herself. "I don't suppose you boys would be willing to help me find her, would you?" That same quiet languorous tone but heavier, deeper, almost hypnotic. Her breathy words hung almost visibly in the air, sweet and hot in a way that overpowered the stench of the plague. Sweet and hot in a way that was almost Fascinating. "...Or maybe, if that's too much to ask, you could just kill each other for me? Fufufu~!"

It was time to see how firm their bones, or at least their minds, were first hand.

*Translators note, "Oh me, oh my!" means "Ara Ara!"

@Argonaut@Sageage

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

Shuten Douji, Edge of Shinto Town, Path to the Harbor

Amidst Burning Trees and The Reek of a Coward.

She couldn't tell how narrowly she had missed by, thanks to that brilliant flash, only that she had missed. The feel of her sword carrying through the air without meeting flesh and crunching through bone was like bile in her throat, but it was only a fraction of the raw emotion elicited when the flash faded and Archer was merely gone. Berserker looked around, head whipping back and forth as she tried in vain to locate any trace of Archer through the burning trees, all in vain.

"COWARD! WEAKLING! BASTARD! AS IN LIFE SO IN DEATH, A TERRIBLE WHELP WHO DEALS IN TRICKS! CURSE YOU AND CURSE YOU AGAIN! LET THE POISON IN YOUR VEINS ROT YOUR WORTHLESS HEART IN YOUR CRAVEN CHEST!" She shrieked to the heavens so loud her throat hurt. Thud. Thud. Thud. The ground shook in the ferocity of her tantrum, stamping her food like a child- the angry child of an angrier god. "AGHHHHHHH!" With her free hand she tore the nearest tree from the ground and chucked it bodily into the forest with that overwhelming strength, and then another, and anotherm flinging them in random directions as if she believed one of them might strike and crush the hiding insect, but to no effect.

It wasn't until the fourth tree was uprooted that she stopped, holding it idly over head as the realization dawned upon her. That lightning, it had glanced off her flesh and left little more than paltry burns, and when she closed the distance this man retreated. This was not the strength of the one who threw her drinking vessel. No, whoever had returned her favored vessel had bones much firmer than this coward... And yet he had stood in her path, as if waiting. She tossed the log over her shoulder like one might discard a piece of trash, and began to walk the path again. "...So then Cow of Heaven you would send your subordinate in your stead? Did you only bring one helmet to this war?" She had spotted the barrier, where the cup should have landed.

She never once thought to ask her master's permission for even a second... Such a troublesome servant.

@floodtalon@Art of Fun

Shinto Town, Harbor

At the edge of the Bounded Field.

Kick. Kick. Kick. Kick until it breaks. How long could it possibly hold up against the terrifying strength of an oni?

She hoped, no she prayed, in her terrible little heart of hearts that when the barrier finally collapsed there would be three more heavenly kings inside... and that they would stand much taller than the pathetic imitation of the blue eyed boy from her days on Mount Ooe. She was calm enough now to look forward to a fight, to plan her revenge properly and revel in the idea of it all.

"Come out now, come out, come out! Don't you know? If you play hide and seek with an Oni it will only be more hungry by the time it finds you!" That playfully languorous voice had returned, a startling contrast to the deafening THUD of her sole repeatedly impacting the barrier as she spoke.

@Sageage@Argonaut

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

Shuten Douji, Edge of Shinto Town, Path to the Harbor

Amidst Broken Trees and The Sound of Thunder.

A blaze from below, a veritable feast of light and sound that drowned all other senses, followed by a force that carried her into the air against her will and a heat that seared the perfectly milky skin on her legs in erratic streaks of pink and red.

It was not enough to deter her frenzy, and as she was lifted Shuten swung her blade with every bit of power she could muster- towards that outstretched arm. Even a tiny nick from that sword would be enough, and she shifted her momentum forward with the force of her swing to scrape the very tip of the blade across the back of his hand- shearing through that gaudy gauntlet and drawing the barest hint of blood. "THERE WILL BE NO TRICKERY THIS TIME, SCION OF THE MINAMOTO!"

This was not enough for Berserker, she would not even reach the apex of her arc before she cancelled the rising momentum with another burst of mana. "NOW." She barreled through the air at mind-numbing speed just before she reached the intended ceiling of her climb, evading the bolts loosed in anticipation of it in the process... and right back into range of the Archer. "YOU." Her speed was better than his by such a factor as to render such pursuit child's play, and her fury allowed her to hold nothing back.

Again the blade would fall, to bisect cleanly of her hated foe from shoulder to hip. "DIE!" The shriek would easily cover up the sound of splitting bone.

@floodtalon