Izurich

Grimoiric Heart

Who are we waiting on for posts.

@TheWendil

Everyone except me. :P

Symphony of Espers

Silmeria Magnusson
Jacqueline Leroux

---

@Izurich @SilverPaw

At night following this.

Matrix2077, the stylistic letters and numbers emblazoned on a futuristic neon sign attached just outside the building, and inside...

Dim lighting combined with strobes of colorful spotlights, an all-encompassing beat assaulting the ears, a dance floor occupied by a mosh pit of people randomly shaking about, a pool table at one side, and... one confused young-adult standing in befuddled silence.

What... am I doing here?

Silmeria questioned herself, questioned her own judgment, a part of her starting to be convinced that she might have bitten more than she could chew. She had never gone to a bar before, let alone this kind of bar. This was the place where people waste their money and body away, right? Forking over their hard-earning money for drugs and alcohol that'd fuck up their insides, make them age 30 years, and all with a drunken smile on their faces.

...and she was about to subject herself into such a fate.

Ah, maybe she was overthinking this. It was time to live a little, right?

Entering the club's main lounge floor, she started scanning the place for Jacqueline, a difficult task in normal circumstances considering the crowd and strobing lights, but alleviated by the fact that her line of work required her to spot people even through a myriad of obstacles.

Jacqueline was perched on a barstool, with her back to the counter, partially leaning on it as she chatted to some of her neighbours. Every once in a while, her gaze swept across the premises; she was plainly waiting for someone. Given her good vantage point, and the fact that anyone entering the premises had to descend into the locale - either via the stairs or the ramp - she had a good view of all the newcomers entering. Someone like Silmeria, who stood out as a discomfited newbie, was especially easy to spot. Once Jacqueline's gaze landed on her coworker, she knocked back the drink she'd held in hand, left it on the bartop, and sauntered her way.

She weaved her way through the crowd expertly, not minding the press of bodies she had to squeeze through here and there. The two met on the periphery of the main floor, where the number of people was lesser. Upon Jacqueline's approach, Silmeria would see the woman's choice of dress; artfully ripped denim shorts in black, silver sequin halter top, an unzipped sleeveless leather jacket over it, strapped platform shoes, and a small black purse slung over her shoulder.

When she was close enough, she offered a short greeting. "Hey, there," she smirked. Jacqueline was in a better mood than the last time they'd seen each other, and clearly comfortable in this kind of environment, carrying herself with confidence. "Glad you've found your way here." There was almost a predatory glint in her eyes as she reached for Silmeria, linking arms with her fellow agent. "So, let's get a drink or two in you first, hm? My treat on the first round." Saying so, she led Silmeria through the throng of people, heading back to counters.

It was only a matter of time until she spotted someone who fitted Jacqueline's face and build, and the fact that the person in question was making eye contact while walking towards her confirmed that she had found her. Unlike the other agent, Silmeria's choice of apparel clearly showed that she was playing it safe, a white shirt, black shorts, and a long-sleeved dark hoodie, a conservative route that'd fit in all but the most thematic of establishments. As a result, while the brunette didn't look like a circus clown in the club, her inexperience was plain to see. This extended to her general behavior too, those subtle nuances in a person's demeanor that showed how unused they were in whatever place they found themselves in.

That realization that she didn't really know anyone from work on a personal level reared again when Merry took in Jackie's current attire, a far cry from how professional she dressed for work. "Hey..." The technically-taller girl worked up a smile, through her eyes occasionally made quick darts as if watching her surroundings for any funny business, "Aaah... yeah, I couldn't believe it myself either." She murmured, half-hoping that her voice was too low to be heard. Jacqueline's low laughter immediately dashed that hope.

She stiffened up for a brief moment when Jacqueline linked her arm with hers but relaxed soon after, not protesting as she's led through the party people, "Oh yeah, about that, I turned 21 just last month so no worries ‘bout that." … Aaaaaaaah! What the fuck?! "I turned 21", really? Who the fuck cares?! Seventeen year olds drink beer all the time and no one gives a fuck, especially not in Pax Septimus where they had far bigger things to worry about than underage drinking. Her face red - thank Odin for the dim lighting - she sat down on one of the stools next to Jackie.

As Silmeria blushed, Jacqueline had the fleeting thought that she was surprisingly cute. Though it was a 'my kid sister' type of cute rather than a 'could go out with' type. Not that she had siblings or anyone else that'd fit the description, but the feeling was close enough. Rather than growing weirdly protective of her, though, Jacqueline just thought that the woman could use some loosening up. "So, can I take that to mean you've at least had some alcohol in that time? Or should I get ready for any and all inadvertent reactions?" she teased.

"I did, technically illegally... hehe..." The younger one of the pair attempted some amount of humor, but that sure sounded a lot better in her head, "I think it's better to be safe than sorry so just treat me as if this is my first time." ...which was technically true if by first time meaning having an alcoholic drinks in a nightlife bar.

"So, what can I getcha, ladies?" A 20-something Japanese-American young man dressed in a similar fashion as Johnny Silverhand - minus the prosthetic left arm - placed his arms on top of the counter, his name tag read 'Gen Watanabe', "Tonight's special is the Arasaka Augment, a cocktail of Japanese sake and American whiskey, invented by yours truly."

Jacqueline nodded at the bartender; she'd been there enough times to recognize him by appearance. "Sure," she confirmed, raising two fingers, so he'd get one for each. She'd not bothered checking in with Silmeria, because she doubted her coworker would know what to get anyhow.

"Two shots of Arasaka Augments coming right up!" Gen announced, noticing that one patron was a regular while the other was clearly fresh meat, but he's a professional, no need to point that out. Instead, the bartended did what he does best, concocting two cocktails, a blend of Japanese and American drinks, just like his heritage. Soon enough, two shot glass filled with clear golden liquid were served before the contrasting duo. "Enjoy." He then went over to serve other patrons.

Once they received their drinks, Jacqueline warned, "Slow, small sips." To ensure the other one wouldn't do something ridiculous like spew out the alcohol because she'd underestimated how sharp it'd be, she showed her how to go about it by drinking cautiously herself. Anticipating a potentially funny reaction nonetheless, Jacqueline watched Silmeria's face.

"Thanks..." The brunette gulped once as she received the glass, turning at Jacqueline for some points as the older woman seemed to read her mind. Inhaling once, she took small sips, slightly wincing with closed eyes as the cocktail stimulated her taste buds before swallowing as it warms her throat. She found it... surprisingly delicious. "I... I like it..." She took more sips before pausing, remembering something she said earlier in the day, "Also uh.. I have to say that I've never actually gotten drunk before... but you already knew that, didn't you?"

"Wonderful news," Jacqueline smiled at Silmeria's pronouncement of approval. It looked like at the very least, things wouldn't be difficult from the get go. "Yeah, I could guess you haven't. I'll watch out for ya if that's what you're worried about," she rose her glass at Silmeria, and finished it off easily. Since her companion was still drinking, she just ordered an energy coctail for herself. It'd be a good way to get a boost for the hours of dancing and related activities she was anticipating.

"Thanks, Jacque... Jackie." Silmeria curled a small smile as her calloused fingers fidgeted slightly with the tiny glass in-between them, "You can just call me 'Sil' by the way since my name is kinda a mouthful, or Merry works if 'Sil' sounds too close to Silhouette, hehe..." She's... feeling good, yes, that rising feeling of genuine joy. Oh man, had she been missing out? She could do with a more... 'sophisticated' music, more lighting, and less shaking about though, but other than that, this is... fun, something that she had never felt for a while.

Jacquelien didn't mind the shortening of her name. Wasn't the first time someone called her Jackie, wouldn't be the last one. "Yeah, think I'll go with Sil. Not like I'd use a nickname for him on the job," she commented.

Thus, more drinks were served and after half-downing another shot of hard liquor, Silmeria blinked twice as she mentally decided to be one of those 'nosy' people for once, "So... what's your story, Jackie? What brings you here?"

Jacqueline threw her head back and laughed, startled at the question. "Story? Where'd you learn that corny pick-up line?" she wondered, shaking her head in bemusement. "For real, though, no story. Just a gal looking to have some fun." While there were folk out there trying to drown their sorrows or forget their worries, she didn't consider herself to be one of them. This just happened to be one of the things she liked to do. "Never mind that, I think we've warmed up enough for some dancing, hm?" she forked over several bills to the bartender, standing up as she invited Silmeria to the dance floor.

"Huh? But that's now what I-... eeeh?!" Tangerine eyes widened in authentic shock as Jackie completely misunderstood what Sil asked, which was then followed by the latter being invited onto the dance floor. She didn't even know how, nor like, to dance! She was a sniper for Loki's sake, she was meant to not move around too much if she could help it, wait, wait, what did that have anything to do with a leisure activity? Aaaagh! The point being that she didn't want to dance, but against her better judgment, she followed the dark-haired off-duty agent just so she could straighten things out.

Once at the dance floor, Silmeria's body looked to be mostly focused on staying out of anyone's way instead of actually dancing, "I meant what brings you to Pax Septimus, doing what you do!" She inadvertently raised her voice to compensate for the loud music, oh god, she changed her mind... oh no wait, she did mention that she'd prefer a quieter, brighter place to hang out in!

Jacqueline disregarded Silmeria's flustered state, tugging her along as they moved. Once they joined the dancers, her coworker decided to voice her correction. Jacqueline nodded to show she'd heard, and understood, but just shouted, "Later! Now move!" Since Silmeria was just about the only person there standing so awkwardly, Jacqueline decided to assist. She put one hand around the agent's waist, and wrapped the other around her back, and did her best to encourage some movement on the other woman's part. "C'mon, try and follow my lead!"

"Eeeh?!" It was painfully obvious that the sniper was truly out of her element here, she'd do a better job at engaging monsters in melee than... whatever this was. They called this “dancing” but the first thing that came to her mind when thinking of the word was ballet or tango, coordinated sets of movements performed by trained actors, not these random seizures! If they were trying to emulate a stroke patient, they were doing a convincing job. To make things worse, Jacqueline seemed to be one of them, so that meant it exponentially harder for Silmeria to simply scoff off this kind of “‘dance” as anything but a sham; if her coworker was enjoying it, then that meant it had to have something, right?

"Nnngh..." Frowning her blushing face and pursing her lips, Silmeria broke eye contact but tried her best to just follow along, like someone who was riding a bike for the first time, being assisted by another person holding said bike steady from behind. The ride would be incredibly awkward and stiff, but it was moving, inch by inch. "Is there some kind of rule for this?! Like a waltz?!" She wasn't expecting much, but no harm asking at this point.

There wasn't really a discernable pattern for Silmeria to follow. Jacqueline moved a few steps here, a few steps there, swayed her body, shook her hips, and even twirled them around when she felt like it. Since she was holding onto her coworker, there wasn't much for her to do with her hands except do her best to guide Silmeria. "No rule! Listen to the music! Find the rythm! Do what you like - no restraint! See?" She pointed out to the crowd around them. Some had a blast rubbing against each other in what was, despite everyone involved being more-or-less clothed, a pretty explicit manner. There were just as many who simply did whatever else they liked on their own, or even in groups, though. Essentially, the point was to have fun, which was what Jacqueline was hoping to convey.

The "dance" was getting Silmeria uncomfortable as she's rocked back and forth, but at least Jackie was being gentler than the others around her. "T-... then that's not danciiiing!" The brunette protested, that's just randomly shaking your body, just like rules are also the difference between singing and incoherent screaming into the mic! Was this no-fucks-given principle what allowed those mumble "rappers" to claim themselves as artists?!

When the younger agent saw the crowd around them, she had an opposite reaction, yep, she was sure that she wouldn't have a good time doing what they do right now, especially those who were grinding on each other like a malfunctioning pair of gears. "Mmmgh..." Not being able to 'get' it but also hesitant to risk upsetting Jacqueline, Silmeria decided to bite the bullet and just endure this until the other woman was satisfied. Surely she couldn't dance forever, ...r-right?

In the end, they stayed there for about three songs. When Jacqueline determined Silmeria's silently suffering disposition wouldn't improve by staying, she slung an arm over Sil's shoulder, and departed for the pool tables. They took one in as quiet of a spot as possible, given they were in a club during prime time. "That part's not for you, huh?" Jacqueline concluded, referring to the dancing. "Let's go a few games instead," so saying, she set up a table.

Finally, finally the purgatory was over. Silmeria groaned as she hobbled over to one of the vacant spots around a pool table. A feeling similar to workout relief washed over her, like someone who had just pushed themselves to run 40 kilometers and succeeded at it; she felt exhausted sure, but that joy of success at beating the challenge was enough to balance it out. The brunette was content to watch Jackie set up the balls while she caught her breath. Once the older agent was done, the junior would fetch a cue stick. Now this was a leisurely game that she could enjoy without treating it like a gauntlet.

As the host, she'd let Jacqueline have the first move. "So uh, like I said before, what brings you to Gem?" Silmeria returned to where she was so rudely interrupted even as she lined up a shot once it's her turn.

"Hm, mostly they just contacted me first. Told me what's what. Saw no reason not to join them," she shrugged. "But if you're asking my ideals, or whatever? I'm not really as - dedicated," this was a politer way of saying obsessed, "as you are. Still...It's pretty clear monsters are invaders in our world, so. Pretty natural to want 'em gone," she said. Jacqueline didn't mention that she also enjoyed using her esper powers to go against them. It might be obvious anyhow, but to openly claim it as a reason seemed in poor taste. "I feel like I already have a good idea about your reasons, but still...Tell me about it," she added. Jacqueline did hope Silmeria wouldn't be too eager to go on about it, though. She didn't particularly want to talk about their work all that much.

"I see..." The brunette lent her ear to what Jacqueline had to say, the older agent didn't say much, but there was really no reason to splurge words when a few could already convey the message. So in some ways, they had a similar history when it came to GEMINI, they stumbled upon a grimoire then got contacted by the organization, and here they were. "Oh, well... it's a... long story..." Silmeria murmured at Jackie's quip about her dedication to the job, but the more she thought about it, was it really a long story? Couldn't she just condense it into a few sentences like what Jacqueline just did? Well, there's no harm trying.

"Well, basically... monsters killed my sister, crippled my father, and fucked up my future... I was dumpster-diving when I found my grimoire, a few hours before GEMINi contacted me." Silmeria dryly chuckled once, "Basically, y-yeah... if I could save others from the same fate, it'd be irresponsible of me to not do so." She ended the story at that. Hey, she did it after all. Good job, Sil.

"Anyway, do they have one of those liquid nitrogen ice cream thing here? Now that's a 'futuristic' dish if I ever heard one~"

Thus, the two coworkers continued their night of leisurely fun, drinking, cuing, and conversing, although no more dancing for sure. Silmeria felt that she could get used to this, a good method to reaffirm her convictions that there were still good people in the world, that not everyone was willing to sell out their own kind for personal gain. Thus, in order to make this world a safe place to live for those who were worthy, she must banish those who weren't for as long as she drew breath.

To Become a Knight! ~ A Chivalric (Mis)Adventure

--Settling In--

@Mcmolly

The sheer bravery of this girl, evicted from her homeland, carrying nothing but the clothes on her back, likely no more family to call her own, and then still possessed enough willpower to try her hands at being a knight despite the patriarchal bias of the order. Well, never underestimate the tenacity of someone who had nothing to lose it seemed. Liese wasn't conceited enough to not realize that Dot had far harsher circumstances than his; at least he had his family's wealth, reputation, resources combined with his personal talents and gifts. Dot's mere existence pushed Liese to become aware that his conditions were far from being the worst of the worst. Therefore, it would be discourteous of him to not offer assistance, from one 'girl' to another.

"I see... well, there's a first time for everything, aye? And the feeling is mutual." Merely speaking from their short experience together so far, it seemed things were kicking off to a good start, but to say that they wouldn't face issues in the future would be delusional as even the most well-adjusted families had conflicts from time to time. "You're welcome, part of common courtesy since we'll be comrades, and also because I too have experienced loss and grief due to factors outside of my control." He curled a small empathic smile.

Liese's mind was in deep thought when Dot was staring outside of their room and examining some of their squadmates, he debated whether to show that to Dot now or later, however, when the dark-haired girl mentioned the enchantments, he made his decision. "Though I know not for certain the purpose of this enchantment, I may have an inkling to why it has been engraved here... and I have to show you something in order to explain myself." The blonde the proceeded to close the door and lock it, sequestering both himself and Dot in their own slice of sanctuary.

That done, the slightly taller trainee took a step back, "Please, do not be alarmed, I'm not doing this out of any indecent motivations." He spoke firmly, blue eyes locked right onto Dot's lavenders. Once he was sure that she understood him well, he would begin... undressing.

One by one, articles of fine noble clothing fell off his toned frame, his coat, tunic, undershirt, breeches, and everything else until Liese stood as bare as when he was born in front of Dot. There, the Alexandrian could see that the blonde possessed the exact same set of primary and secondary sexual characteristics as hers. Though the noble's bust was modest for his size, they were clearly breasts of feminine shape, and even if she doubted that, what was between Liese's legs shattered any other notion except one, Liese was physically female.

"..." He exhaled once with closed eyes and then opened them slowly, "So now you see, I know very well..." His voice was a pitch higher too now, lower in volume. A slight rosy tint colored his cheeks as the Absolute began dressing up once more in silence.

Symphony of Espers

--Tiger Hunter--

@BrokenPromise @Izurich

Later that afternoon following this…

While most agents were fairly diligent, there were others that lived and breathed to exterminate. Monsters, terrorists, mobsters, they were all equal, and all deserved to be laid low.

Silmeria had learned her lesson from hunting the weretigers. GEMINI was interested in getting the biggest bang for their buck. If she was going to justify to Fritzi that scum like Tony and Viper needed to die, she needed to tie them to something bigger. Something that her superior could use to get uncle sam to invest more in their operation. That wasn’t going to happen taking out ground level criminals. But Silmeria knew there was more at play here. She just had to uncover it.

There weren’t too many leads to follow. Viper wore a disguise over her esper form, so she was notoriously hard to track, and she knew little about Lenore. But what she did know was that the weretigers used magic circles to transport goods into the elemental chaos. The one at the dock had been carved into the asphalt.

Just like the one in this defunct parking lot.

It wasn’t hidden in plain sight. Two trucks had been parked over it. Or perhaps rolled is a better term, as neither one had an engine in it. But what did this mean? Where should she go from here?

Perhaps deep in her heart, Silmeria knew that there was something wrong with her, that the combination of Helena's death, dad's crippling, and the disintegration of her college hopes and dreams shattered everything, and then at her lowest point, working at a shitty job, literally so since she cleaned toilets among other things, the crumbled pieces of her self-worth were mended together by this grimoire that she found when dumpster diving. Only she never really came back, at least not exactly like before. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, let alone a woman scorned given supernatural powers. But it's fine, if her existence could have a meaning, if she could make others avoid the same fate as herself by culling those responsible, then it's a life worth living.

Tony the Tiger's pack might've been nothing but small fries compared to Justin and his coven, but the fact remained that women and their families suffered because of his human trafficking operation, actual living people subjected to a fate that no good citizen should ever experience. This gross crime against humanity perpetuated by creatures who didn't belong, it would claw at her conscience if she didn't do anything about it when she had the power to do so. And by the Allfather, she had the power.

Hmmm... Crouched down near a magic circle carved into the parking lot's asphalt, concealed by a pair of motorless trucks, Valkyrie engaged a self-targeted Magic Sense melody to ascertain any clues from the location. Magic circle, magic residue, wouldn't take a Sherlock to put those twos together.

Unfortunately, the magic circle had little to reveal to Silmeria’s magic sense. Much like how espers are only magical when they hold a grimoire, Magic circles are only magical when they are containing magic. But that did tell her something. These deep groves in the asphalt were not made with a spell. They were also too perfect to be made by a weretiger's claws. It had been grinded, given the abrasion marks deep inside the asphalt.. Something physical was used to cut into the asphalt and make such marks. They had to buy or rent something.

Peculiar, so the magic circle hadn’t been active recently or else it’d still contain some traces of magic at least. However, the close examination still unearthed a clue, the grooves weren’t a magical construction, and she imagined weretiger’s claws weren’t built for fine engravings; which meant these xeno scum used some kind of tool… now if only she could identify its location.

Standing up, the esper-formed agent decided to examine the trucks first, looking in the driver’s seat, under the hood, underneath it, and last but not least, their cargo.

The trucks hadn’t been driven in a while in addition to missing engines, they had their transmissions, catalytic converters, drive shafts, and axles pulled too. The pricer electrical components had been pulled too, such as the body control module. It looked like the vehicles had been raided for parts. There were also no plates, and any registration assigned to the vehicle had been scraped off the windshield. There were some wooden pallets that could be erected into a crate with a few nails in the bed of the trucks. They looked to be just like the ones Silmeria saw the weretigers use at the harbor.

The fact that they went so far in stripping the vehicles into nothing but its frame and going the extra mile of filing off the numbers told her that they were serious, a deliberate move to get as much profit as possible for their makeshift magic circle cover. Subhuman scum... Silmeria mentally growled as she examined the wooden pallets, they looked awfully similar to the ones used to pack up the hostages. Yep, as if she needed anymore confirmation that Tony's gang was behind this. This is definitely going into her "evidence" album.

Hopping off the bed of a truck, the brunette perused the pictures she had taken so far with her phone: the magic circle, the trucks, their missing parts, and the wooden pallets. However, this didn't seem to be enough to make her case against Fritz, especially after the stunt she pulled earlier. Scanning the vicinity once more, Valkyrie used her marksman-trained eye to scour any details she might have missed previously.

Aside from some marking here and there that may have belonged to a weretiger, it seemed like the scene was pretty clean. But surely Silmeria wasn’t going to give up now. There had to be somewhere else she could follow this. Whatever made those groves in the asphalt was no hand held grinder. It was likely made specifically for a job like this. If she could figure out what it was and where she could buy/rent one, that would go a long way in getting a break, maybe.

Putting a hand to her chin, she deduced that there's nothing more in the immediate area, thus she pulled out her phone to use the service of Totally-Not-Spyware-Company's search engine to have a visual reference to what kind of tool is capable of creating an asphalt groove of this size. "Oh..." That is definitely a big boy alright, yep, no way they'd store it here in plain sight, but then again, those xenos might have rented it. Now let's see if a businessman or two had been playing naughty with monsters...

Thus, she used Google Maps to search for the nearest "Asphalt Grinder" rental location.

Asphalt grinders are the sort of thing that you don’t need to use often, and are expensive. But if you need one, you need it. In all of Pax Septimus, there was a single heavy equipment rental shop that specialized in paving equipment. It looked like Silmeria’s next stop was decided.

---

The shop for “Joseppi's Equipment Junction” was pretty small, but was only because the bulk of the equipment was stored outside under a pavilion guarded by a chain link fence. The store front in comparison was just big enough for a store clerk and a seating area. There was a tiny play pen to keep kids engaged while the adult patrons asked about equipment, some vending machines, and a table set up for free coffee. Free to paying customers at least.

At this hour, the only person there was a skinny Italian man sitting behind a counter. His hair was jet black, and there were some stains on his hands from servicing some of the equipment. He was flipping through a newspaper when Silmeria walked into the store front. He must not have heard Silmeria, or was intentionally ignoring her. He held a cup of coffee in one hand and read the paper with the other.

It was a bit peculiar that there was such a thing as a heavy equipment shop - in itself a specialized establishment - that further specialized in paving equipment, was there really enough people renting paving equipment to make a viable business out of it? Regardless, the fact there was only one such shop in this shithole of a metropolis could be saying something. Fortunately, she wasn't here to wonder about such things.

The untransformed brunette entered the shop and immediately beelined for the clerk, who also seemed to be the owner, and place one of her hands on the counter, "Excuse me, I'm looking for Tony the Tiger, and in case you don't know who he is, he's a human trafficker who might've rented one of your asphalt grinder machines, I'm currently tracking him down." No use beating around the bushes, her cause was just and she's working for a legitimate agency, unlike that Maiden bitch on both accounts.

The counter man turned to look at Silmeria as soon as she started speaking, and raised an eyebrow as she concluded. ”Tony the tiger, eh?” The man set down his paper. ”Yea, I saw him, we meet up pretty frequently.” He made a pouring gesture with his hand. ”Every mornin’ he fills my bowl with frosted flakes. Always smilin’. Had no idea the son of a bitch was into that shit.” The mechanic folded his arms. ”You a cop or somethin’?”

Huh, well, what do you know? The xeno filth kept his cover well, and of course she's thankful that - presumed - Joseppi was being cooperative. At his inquiry, she simply leaned ever so slightly forward and lowered her voice to just above a whisper, for effect more than anything else, "Detective. Keep it clean, okay, sir? Someone out there missing their daughter and it's all because of him."

"Now then, Mr. Joseppi?" She leaned back and took out her smartphone with her Notes app active, "What do you know about the suspect?"

”That ain’t my name on the building. That’s my dad. I’m Angelo.” He set down his mug. ”Got no idea who this Tony Tiger is, but there ain’t too many folks who rent the asphalt grinder.” He tipped his head. ”What was ya name? I didn’t see a badge either.”

Silmeria had an inkling that the man was trolling, what with the Tony the Tiger mascot reference, but she treated him seriously in a deliberate move to assert the point that she's not fucking around, the ball had always been in her court. The brunette glared at Angelo, waiting until he's done speaking, then paused some more to really let him know that there's no amusement to be had here. "Are you done? Good. I'm Silmeria, GEMINI, monster control bureau…" She put her GEMINI badge down onto the counter...

...then suddenly slammed one fist on the counter while using her other hand to yank his collar towards her, her face contorted into a murderous stare as she channeled part of her hatred towards Tony to fuel her tone, "Listen here, chicken shit, I ain't going to have someone's kid's death on my conscience because a cunt like you decides to be funny. If your dung-covered brain can't remember the suspect, then you better have some kind of ledger and you will show it to me, or would you prefer to be accused with Obstruction to Criminal Investigations? Your move, creep."

The man hadn’t taken his eyes off Simeria the entire time. Though the edge of his brow dipped towards his nose as she screamed in his face. ”Assault, threats, impersonation’ an officer, and invasion of privacy are also against the law.” Angelo stood up slightly, just enough to pull Silmeria’s waist into the countertop. He might have been skinny, but it was clear he was stronger than Silmera was, at least out of the esper state. ”I’m enjoying’ an afternoon coffee, and you come bargain’ in here talkin’ about cereal mascots and slavory. When I don’t know nothin,’ ya assume the worst. He probably doesn’t tell everyone he’s ‘Tony the Tiger?’ Maybe he had someone else get it for him? ” He shoved Silmeria away from the counter. ”Never said I wouldn’t cooperate, but ya actin’ like a nut job. Ya think this is the movies or somethin?” He picked up her badge and flicked it back at her. Angelo kept his left hand on his mug at all times. ”You gunna make me call the police, or are ya gunna leave peacefully?”

Holy shit... this goomba motherfucker was in on it!

The thought raced through the impatience and annoyance running in her mind even as Angelo pulled her forward. Right... that made perfect sense, renting such a big equipment without the help of an inside man would be less than ideal, but not like this surprised her. If most of the citizens in this goddamned city were decent, it wouldn't have been such a shithole in the first place. As if to further home it in, monsters were attracted by negative emotions and Pax Septimus was a hotbed for them, yeah? Exactly.

Silmeria's widened eyes only lasted for barely a second before she 'relaxed' into a small grin, stepping back after he pushed her, "Don't bother, I get it." There were plenty of reasons to presume that the PSPD were also a bunch of corrupt fuckwads, who got a slice of the pie for turning a blind eye to Tony's operation, huh? She had to admit that subhuman scum was smarter than his goons. The brunette caught the badge and left back where she came from.

Once she was gone, Angelo placed a hand on his head. ”Christ on a crutch!”

If the people here couldn't be cooperative, then she just had to do it herself. Time to stake this shop out until closing time, see if something juicy happened, and then once they closed, infiltration. Yep, that's what she'd do. To that end, Silmeria rented herself a motel room with a window facing the shop.

---

Fortunately, the rental didn’t stay open much longer than it had to. A few hours later, five O’ clock rolled around and Angelo was ready to go home. He locked up the front of the store from the inside, then went deeper inside before emerging from the back of Joseppi's Equipment Junction. He had a shallow box, likely containing the businesses earnings for the day and keys to all the equipment, and drove off. The building itself was left unattended, save for a few aging security cameras that had to have been out in the elements for at least a decade or two.

Peeking through the blinds using a binocular, Silmeria saw the idiot son packing up and leaving with a car. Good, very good.

It was only until an hour or so after the sun had truly set that the brunette set out from the motel, in esper form of course, as she traversed through the streets and using her speedster-fueled enhanced body to jump over the fence. From there, she'd find a way to enter the office first, either through a window or the back door. All while doing this, the sniper made sure to keep herself out of sight from the security camera's viewing angle as best as she could, but nevertheless, she was going to do something about the recordings once she's inside anyway.

The security measures outside were barely enough to deter a serious criminal, and the inside didn’t have any security at all. Silmeria didn’t even trip an alarm when she smashed a window to climb into the place. Though with the bulk of the equipment outside, and the keys and cash safely home every night, was there much reason to invest in interior security?

Silmeria would have a hard time finding a security room. There was an old IBM computer that looked like it was as old as the cameras were, and was plugged into a box that might contain security footage if it was being recorded. It didn’t appear to be functional. Touching the power button did nothing, and the wires going to the cameras themselves looked worse for wear.

Alright, the sniper didn't exactly expect bleeding edge security measures ala GEMINI HQ, but this was just... sad. Silmeria frowned as she absent-mindedly tapped the power button of this fossil of a PC. Damn, this Joseppi person might think that there was nothing here worth taking, nothing that didn't need heavy duty equipment to move anyway. That's fair though, that useless son of his brought all the smaller valuables with him, most likely a routine procedure instead of a specific one he did just today. The security cameras were a non-issue then, nor were there even alarms when she 'opened' that window.

Of more interest to Silmeria would be the storefront computer, which looked far newer by comparison. Silmeria was not familiar with the software they were running on it, but some poking around did reveal that they kept records on all rented equipment. It was simple enough to locate the asphalt grinder and look at the logs. It had not been rented very many times, but in the past year, it had been rented by one individual.

Now the PC that Angelo was manning proved of more immediate value as the esper searched through the business records. Grinding equipment... asphalt... aha. Simple enough, no need for Mr. Robot here. Orange eyes perused the logs for a moment before she decided to copy the document into her phone. Pax Landscaping, huh? Let's see how legit you actually are...

No, not an individual, a company.

“Pax Landscaping” made good use of the machine this year. This “Pax Landscaping.” was likely a cover for the weretiger’s operation.

With that done, she left back where she came from and out of there, only detransforming once she's in some dark backalley.

---

20 | Female | G.E.M.I.N.I. | The Faceless
Teslic Gauss | Long Gun | Physical | Nibelung Valesti
Northern Sentinel | Government Agent
Electromagnetism | Lightning | Static Shock
[Paralysis (4), Speedster (4)], Damage (2), Damage X (6), Push (2), Pull (2), Piercing (2), Bend (0)

DAMAGE: B | SPEED: E | SENTINEL: C | Max Mana: 500

PHYSICAL: D | ARCANE: E | CHAOS: D | Current Mana: 500

Advent of the Dawn —A Mecha Musume/Tokusatsu-Inspired RP

--The Land Down Under--

@PKMNB0Y @Medili

After the misunderstanding was cleared, things surprisingly progressed quickly for the two frame pilots of opposite temperaments. The fact that Teodora went out of her way to explain everything and apologize cemented all but one path for Pyra to go to, anyone - including herself - could see that it'd be Pyra's fault now if she maintained her hostile disposition towards the older girl, not to mention delusional. If Teo was willing to accommodate her noise preference, then the least Pyra could do was do the same in return so they could meet at a sweet spot in the middle. Although it'd still be difficult for Pyra to be naturally comfortable around such boisterous people compared to being by herself, at least she and Teodora are cool now.

That said, the event turned out to be the best as Pyralis found herself being assigned in the same squad as Teodora and Elise this time around. Although the brunette was willing to postpone any personal beef with her squadmates during missions, it'd make things a lot easier if she didn't dislike any of them in the first place. Looking out towards the deceptively calm waters of the Sydney Harbor, the sea reflected in her blue eyes, the Japanese-Greek was well-informed that twas' a mere ruse for something sinister was lurking underneath the waves, this thalassophobia-inducing leviathan of the deep.

Therein lied one conundrum that Pyra had about this particular assignment. Her Chi-Mechframe was designed around incendiary attacks... and this creature was submerged in the ocean; although Infernus' flames were no ordinary fire, the fact remained that her weapons would be less effective against submerged targets. To make the most use of her dragonfire, she had to employ fast-moving projectiles, such as jets of flames to give the attack enough oomph to pierce through the water without letting the cold liquid doused too much of its power. This meant techniques such as Agni Enfilade and similar long-ranged arcing projectiles would be unwise to pick over its more direct fire counterparts such as Infernal Buster.

Regardless, she had a job to do and right now, it was scouting; an artilleryman needed to locate her target first before firing after all. Taking a step forward, Pyralis held out her left arm, where the wristband was latched onto her wrist.

"Infernus, ignite!"

A short baptism of fire later, an armored dress formed over the brunette's black leotard and a dragonlance on her left arm. Infernus immediately vaulted off the railings as feet-wings of flames carried her diagonally up into the air. "Conducting a scan on the perimeter now, over." Pyra reported as she began to do exactly that. She didn't expect this to be easy, but wasn't that why Horizon assigned three flight-capable Frame Pilots to the task?

Grimoiric Heart

--The Verdict--

@Sonnambula @Ponn @Villamvihar

Though the verdict request was quite rhetorical, Lumiere wasn't surprised by the blonde's answer, in fact, she expected it, she was Ethereal Rose after all. The seraph didn't reply directly though, for the Pageless already did more than enough to show just how feasible it was to engage diplomacy with these creatures. Aye, try talking to something that was both non-sapient and actively malicious, it'd go as well as attempting to pet a rabid fox. Also as expected, Lady of the Lake and Captain Goodhope's reactions were more inline to what was proper, through these things might seem obvious, one must also remember that these girls were quite new compared to herself, inarguably so for Nessie, this being only her third day since a grimoire came to her. Again, the Pageless unwittingly answered the redhead's question. Truly, there was only one way to deal with dangerous pests, extermination.

Lumiere took a step float back to let her students deal with the trapped Pageless as according to their verdicts. The Witch of Loch Ness commanded the aquatic aspect of the storm to form a veritable spear of water as it was flung into the clawed reaper's chest. At the same time, the Captain of the Flying Dutchman seemed to awaken... something within her core. Lumiere's veil and dress fluttered in the chaotic winds and if the angel could feel the blossoming radiance of hope from the twintailed blonde, she didn't show it, content to just stay in the background. And then in happened, a burst of thunderous power as Goodhope commanded the ionic aspect of the hurricane to summon multiple bolts of lightning.

Fortunately for Lumiere, being blinded by light was never an issue, for the Light of God could never be outshone.

Between the aqua lance and hail of lightning, the already-wounded Pageless was turned inside-out, utterly destroyed down to the last atom. Another foe of mankind put down, as it should.

The seraph returned her obelisks to form into wings behind her back after, feeling the foreboding atmosphere clearing up following the alpha pageless's demise. "Excellent work, girls, you have done well." She gave an appreciate nod at each of them, Ethereal Rose & Xolys, Captain Goodhope, and Lady of the Lake, all received one, "We complement each other's abilities and as mankind have shown us throughout our history, camaraderie is the greatest tool that we have, against any and all odds, remember that you're never alone."

She paused for a moment to let her words sink in before turning her gaze to another part of her English metropolis, "Speaking of which, let's see if our comrades need assistance." before accelerating toward the other patrol squad's location, expecting her own squad to follow suit.

Grimoiric Heart

Wilhelmina right now:

Hider

Camelot right now:

Hider

Symphony of Espers

@Izurich @SilverPaw @BrokenPromise

An event happening simultaneously with another.

The detransformed Silmeria would've already joined Samuel and the rest of the squad for some ice-cream, but it was then that she noticed that a certain someone was missing. Normally, she'd just live and let live, but fuck it, after all the shit that had happened today, she was feeling like being nosy.

Thus, it was how Jacqueline found her shoulder being cordially patted from behind by a certain squadmate that was an exact centimeter taller than her.

"Want some ice cream...?" She paused, "I insist." before curling a barely-perceptible mischievous smile.

"Hm?" Jacqueline turned around when she felt someone touch her. She'd been too involved in her thoughts to have noticed her coworker's approach, so the interruption had startled her. "Oh...Silmeria," she smiled, but it was a strained gesture. "I didn't really intend to, but," she shrugged, sighing, "well, as long as I don't have to transform back any time soon, I guess it's fine." She seemed resigned to the idea. It wasn't that she minded spending time with her coworkers, but due to Justin's escape, she knew she was in a sour mood just then. Thus, she'd simply intended to decompress at home, or elsewhere, outside of the immediate working environment.

Even though Jacqueline wasn't as stone-faced as Dr. Moller, the ex-businesswoman wasn't the type to wear her heart on the sleeve like Orion either, falling somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, where most adults are in general, but even if the older woman was more stoic than she was, Silmeria could ascertain why she was quieter than usual, what with how the operation went and all, the brunette was sure that no one was exactly in high spirits after their prey got away, especially after he had killed so many innocents right in front of their eyes.

...and that was precisely why a bit of sweet treats could serve as a little consolation prize, minor it might be. "Well, to be fair, it was Samuel's idea and he only said it after you had left." The orange-eyed dropout shrugged, "Hmmm... who knows, Justin might decide to show up and chat, you never know with monsters, right~?" Giggling exactly once, the long-haired sniper turned around, fully believing that her coworker would follow.

As Jacqueline didn't care whose idea this was, she didn't comment. At Silmeria's playful line, though, she snorted. "Sure," she retorted dryly. "Ya know, I had no idea you could be so cheerful," she commented. Granted, they hadn't known each other long, and hadn't really interacted outside of missions, but still. The other woman didn't give off that impression.

Since Jacqueline wasn't that far away yet - or else Silmeria wouldn't have bothered to fetch her - they rendezvoused at the ice cream truck sooner than later. It was there that they could see Su, Samuel, and Ashley hanging together, while Binky was all by herself, an unamused frown on her battered face. Fritzi was no doubt still inside the mansion, coordinating the clean-up crew as she said, and Wukong... likely went somewhere. Well, time to bother the cabbage-haired esper then. "Hey Bink, I dragged Leroux back against her will," Her gaze then turned towards the fridge-on-wheels, "What flavor would you two like? Also, cup or cone?"

Binky must have seen the paramedics, because the side of her face was lined with a few butterfly stitches as well as a full sized bandage. A neck brace had also been installed, which looked a bit cumbersome on the cabbage-haired girl’s small frame.

She pulled out her phone, opened a note app, and started typing. It was clear Binky wasn’t used to texting. Though given her position as a lab assistant, she was probably far more accustomed to typing on a full sized keyboard. But it didn’t take her more than a few seconds to type out “STRAWBERRY MILKSHAKE” and show it to Silmeria.

Jacqueline followed after Silmeria languidly. She huffed at the manner in which she was introduced, reluctantly entertained. "If it were against my will, you'd have to employ more force than this. Shouldn't it be, 'against her better judgement, I bribed her to return'?" Smirking, she added teasingly, "Speaking of, do feel free to treat me," she nodded at the ice cream truck. Given Silmeria was asking for orders, it looked like she was more than willing to do so. "Just some mint with choco chip. Cone is fine," she relayed.

After her fellow agent departed to get them their treats, she turned a considerate gaze at Binky. "So, what's the story? You should be getting bed rest, shouldn't you?" Her tone was curious rather than worried, though.

Jacqueline wasn’t wrong. Binky was not in fighting condition right now. The Binky chose to sit down on a park bench instead of stand like everyone else was no mystery. She hadn’t spoken a single word since she left the hallway. It was likely her jaw bothered her too much to properly speak, and her slow typing speed meant that she couldn’t keep up with conversations as easily. But that didn’t stop her from trying. After typing her next message, she showed it to Jacquiline, which was “NEED MY MILKSHAKE.”

Seeing the difficulties Binky had with writing, Jacqueline nodded, and sat herself next to her. "And you'll get it," she added, more so to fill the silence than anything else. She leaned on the backrest, lounging as she waited for their orders to get taken care of.

"One choco chip mint cone and a glass of strawberry milkshake, got it." Silmeria nodded, amusingly realizing that Binky chose milkshake because it was a drinkable dessert, easier on the jaw movement and all that. The stitches and neck brace combined with her green hair certainly made her look as if she was cosplaying a petite feminine version of Frankenstein's Monster, but Merry figured it'd be in poor taste to mention that outloud.

Soon enough, the brunette returned with two cones of ice cream - one mint with chocolate chips and one with vanilla creme brulee - and a tall paper cup of strawberry milkshake complete with a striped straw; she handed the cup to Binky, the mint cone to Jackie, and kept the vanilla one for herself. Silmeria simply enjoyed the dessert for a few moments, watching Binky out of the corner of her eye to see if she needed assistance with anything.

Up until she remembered something that the hammer knight said back then, and decided to address it to at least avoid any misunderstandings, they'd be working together in life-and-death situations for the foreseeable future after all, "Oh, Jacqueline, about earlier, well, we haven't really talked with each other outside of missions, and during missions, well... no one will disagree that it's difficult to be cheerful when facing against those xeno scum, right?" Human trafficking, brainwashing, slavery, mass murder, pediatricide, the list goes on. Right now though, Silmeria curled a small genuine smile, enjoying the brief moment of respite with her teammates, "However, I certainly will be more cheerful once I put a bullet through Justin, Billy, and everyone who swears fealty to them, yes."

"Yeah, yeah, it'd be more disturbing if you were happy-go-lucky while on the job." She waved dismissively with one hand, while tackling her ice-cream with another. There was perhaps a certain irony to Jacqueline saying so, as she generally felt pretty good when going against monsters. As long as things were going well, of course. "Mmm-hm. It's a long road to success," she said, disinterested in continuing that line of conversation. Instead, she tilted her head at Binky, more inclined to listen to what she might tell.

The only sound Binky made was a long, seemingly endless slurp as she took her frozen treat through a straw. She hadn’t spoken a word, so it must have been impossible or uncomfortable for her to speak. Though it clearly wasn’t uncomfortable to slurp her shake, which was just a bit louder than the wind that occasionally blew through the street.

Binky only had her hands to communicate with, so she needed to multitask between talking and eating. It took her a moment to notice Jaquiline was looking at her, which caused the assistant to stop. She gave her a thumbs up and was about to resume slurping when she noticed something in Jacqueline’s features. She set down her milkshake and picked up her phone again. Though she backed out of the note writing app. Instead she booted up google and started to type. As slow as Binky’s typing was, the auto fill function meant that she didn’t have to type everything to form a complete sentence. She pointed at “What are you doing tonight?” which was sandwiched between “What are you doing today” and “What are you doing in spanish.”

It was a good thing Binky hadn't chosen to ask her agenda for the whole remainder of the day, because it was pretty vague and liable to change. Late night hours though? "Most likely going out somewhere. Getting inadvisably drunk," she drawled. Raising a dubious eyebrow at the injured woman, she added, "Why? Interested?" Her proposition wasn't really a serious one, for more than one reason, but it's not like she couldn't be convinced.

It seemed that Jacqueline was one of those that was more indifferent to the tireless task of purifying the earth from the extradimensional aliens or she hid it well, but Silmeria's guts believed it was the former. It was likely that the dark-haired agent never lost a close family member to one of those creatures, twas' undeniable seeing your own child being murdered was far more harrowing than seeing a child subjected to that fate. Regardless, Silmeria didn't really mind as in the end, they all stood together as humanity's first line of defense against the xenos. Besides, the sniper knew that she wasn't alone in this, a certain Orion was with her.

Tangerine eyes shifted to the female Frankenstein's Monster as the older agent addressed her, amusingly replied via text typed on Totally-Not-Spyware-Megacorp's search engine query bar. Funnily, Binky seemed to have no issues drinking the milkshake though... perhaps the dopamine infusion from the sweet treat motivated her body enough to ignore any discomfort in the process. "Oh... hmmm..." Merry had to think about that too, but then shrugged, "Sure, let's do that. Girls' night out?"

It looked like Binky might have been considering her offer, but then she typed up a short message. “Might drink at home.”

"Might be for the best," her lips curled into a minute smile. "Maybe next time," she said offhandedly, though the offer was genuine this time.

Then Binky understandably decided to keep things in-house, so she just nodded at the green-haired esper before turning back to Jackie, her ice cream almost finished, "Let's do it. You only live once, right?"

"You want to...?" Jacqueline was taken aback, but quickly recovered. "Sure. Let's exchange numbers, and we can arrange the time and place later," she briefly turned to Binky, "You too, if you ever feel like getting drinks once you're back in shape."

The green haired esper fret her brow, but said little else. If the two were ready to leave, she would probably have one of the armored trucks drive her back to the base.

Silmeria took a moment to reflect at Jacqueline's reaction, starting to believe that she may have put too thick of a mask when it comes to her 'work face', but she's sure that she wasn't the only one to do this, right? Especially in an occupation where one wrong move could mean your literal death, that and she had never hung out much with her fellow agents. ”...” She supposed it's time to fix that, huh? Starting with Jackie. "Yeah... I... uh..." She decided to keep it for later and just nodded, "Sure." Fishing out her phone to exchange numbers with both Leroux and Binky.

That done, the brunette gave a sympathetic nod at the only mundane-form wounded esper among them, "Get well soon, Bink."

To Become a Knight! ~ A Chivalric (Mis)Adventure

--Home Sweet Home--

Unlike the dark-haired Alexandrian exile, the taller blue-eyed blonde kept his emotions mostly neutral when the prince addressed him for one specific reason, he already knew who Rossweine was beforehand, have met him before during one of the balls held by the royal family, and though they clearly had no meaningful personal relationships beyond knowing each other's name, face, and general reputation, they clearly knew of each other's existence. Thus, despite the young prince being one of those nobles that Liese firmly believed was preventing Grayle from reaching its fullest potential, he wasn't taken off-guard, he expected to encounter him sooner or later, proven to be the former now that they were squadmates.

"I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunities to do so in the short future, Your Highness," This was just typical banter of the nobility, he and Rossweine knew it, in fact, the prince was a natural at doing this, empty words and platitudes that had no deeper meaning behind it other than fulfill the old Noblesse Oblige, "I certainly hope that you will do your older brother proud as well." If Rossweine had the spine to turn himself from an indolent hedonist into a true noble warrior just like Prince Manegold, then credit where credit's due, Liese would genuinely reframe his image of him.

Just as they were departing for the barracks, two things happened at roughly the same time. One was that the Baker commoner boy threw a little tantrum, being self-conscious of his lacking size it seemed, although he certainly wasn't making things any easier for himself by standing in the immediate vicinity of Signar, anyone would look small when right next to him. Liese shrugged, the matter not even worth anything beyond a simple notice, although the second event was... since he was directly subjected to it and all.

Liese quirked an eyebrow as the blue-haired swordsman-brawler wildling approached him - just as he did to everyone it seemed - and excitedly introduced himself. He had to admit that his sheer enthusiasm for the prospects of training and eventually knighthood was something he could readily appreciate, the blonde allowed himself to curl an approving smile, similar to the one he gave Dot, "Most certainly, Sir Sauvage, and may the best man wins."

With that, off to the barracks they went...

The Eastern Barracks, purpose-built and designed to house soldiers (or would-be soldiers in this case), and thus was unsurprisingly quite uniform with its siblings. Liese had been here before amongst many of his tours through the kingdom's capital, and it looked like things hadn't changed much, why would they really? He had dreamt of one day taking residence among one of these dorms, as one of the knights, and it looked like it'd be coming true today. He received the key to his assigned room from the veteran eye-scarred knight without any issues, the blonde didn't even register the death glare as anything particularly special, some older soldiers - not just knights - tended to have that air about them, something about being so used to battle and war that they were always in "fight mode".

Key received, Liese made a beeline to check his room and store his personal belongings, not much, just the essentials such as functional spare clothes and such. He carried no personal heirlooms or other frivolous things, those belonged in his family's estate, not here. Hmmm... Though one thing he immediately noticed was the enchantment present on Room 1, her assigned suite; none of the other doors had this. peculiar, what was it for? Fortunately, it only took Liese for a moment to put two-and-two together, he was assigned with Dot, and well... as much as he hated to admit it, it was reasonable to think that the higher-ups pulled some strings to place the two girls together and, in all of their 'chivalry', decided to 'protect' the girls with this security measure. He didn't yet know the exact effects of the enchantment, but it didn't really matter, its purpose was clear.

Well, just goes to show that things really needed to change in this bigoted kingdom, one step at a time...

Entering his room, Liese deftly set up his half of the room, setting up his things and such. He did see the uniform but decided to wear it tomorrow when training began, the sensible thing to do. Right now, he figured it was time to acquaint himself with the squad, and what better person to be the first pick other than his own roommate? After done with his personal belongings, the blonde would approach the Alexandrian exile, wherever she might be, and cordially greeted her, "How do you like your accommodates, Sir Auferrum?" He paused, "Since we'll be living in the same room for the foreseeable future, I must express to you that if there's anything you need, just tell me, I will at least listen to you and if it's within my power to assist, then I will do so." Dot was an exile here, and as her roommate, this was the least Liese could do.