Phoe

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

Euna watches the scene play out with a curious expression on her face. Ugh. What an idiot she's being. Here she is, getting all mad at Victor, when he's just... ugh. She's got less social graces than Locker. This is embarrassing.

A-anyway. Any idiot can see she's not needed here right now. Maybe she should go? She really should, uh, oh right. Wow. Yeah ok she hasn't eaten anything since... Jesus, what? Yesterday afternoon? Ok yeah let's just leave deprogramming to the experts here.

She turns to leave, and that's when she notices Sara. Staring at her. Not in one of those alpha posturing streamer ways, just... staring. She stares back. They have a moment like this. Maybe it's even nice, she's not sure. God she's hungry. Out of nowhere, Euna leans forward and pulls Sara into a tight embrace, buries her face in her shoulder and then... leaves. Out the door without a word.

Ok so. Yeah if she just. Alright. Hm. It's been a while since she's visited the Gears Foundation. Professor Gears always came to AEGIS whenever she wanted to mess around with Errant, but still. She's pretty sure the break room is, uh. That way? Yeah. That window looks familiar. Urgh, she's still thinking about idols. Idols wear hats sometimes, right? No, stop it! Stop it! You hated that stupid program Mom signed you up for way back then and you haven't changed your mind since! Just! Go eat, you idiot girl.

If you're feeling charitable, you can agree that Euna's got a lot on her mind when she manages to find the break room and stumbles blindly to the coffee machine. The Gears Foundation, for whatever reason, used one of those old-timey vending machine designs that made you push a physical button before it shot a cup out at you and squirted the black death liquid into it, plus whatever cream and sugar you requested (your options were: too much, or not even close to enough. Euna always went with too much). She punches in the buttons and stands there like an idiot, waiting.

Ok so if she remembers right they've got a sandwich machine in here too somewhere. Right over by, uh. Oh! That's... Angel-IKA, right? And that one is definitely Dominus. They're awfully close to each other, aren't they? And they're... oh. Oh! Um. Ok yeah. No. Sandwiches later. She'll just... just, you know, go now and...

BZZZZT! Coffee's ready!

"OH JEEZ I AM SO SORRY JUST IGNORE ME! SORRY! SORRY!"

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

"Dare! Dare!"

Mittens is a blushing, giggling, swoony mess right now. The icy air between her teammates should be worrying her right now, but honestly? Honestly, she feels gooooood, hehehe!

"Hi Rita! Hiiiiiiii~"

She blows a kiss through the air and falls into another venom-induced giggleswoon and almost misses the booming command of:

"[b]IN FRONT OF ALL WHO GATHER HERE... REMOVE YOUR BOOTS! AND PRANCE!"

Whaaaaat? That's easy! Mittens drops delicately onto her cute little behind and starts unlacing her super pretty boots. Such a shame to pull the outfit apart, but the nice sphinx said she had to, and... wait. What's that squirmy cold feeling in the pit of her stomach?

Off come the boots. Out comes the laughter, and none of it's coming from her. Mittens' ridiculous, calico print socks are bared for all to see. She blushes, and this time it's got nothing to do with web viper venom. It's because of her suit! Her super pretty, empowering, princess-slaying suit! Everyone knows beyond a shadow of a doubt what Eupheria picked out for her, and it's just as super obvious that she's the only one who's been allowed to dress herself since. The math is inescapable even if you did tend to fall asleep during that class in the Solarium: there's no way, simply no way, that she didn't pick them out specifically.

Her shameless, silly triangles wiggle happily to hear all the joyful noises echoing around her. Her goofy bean-clad toes(ies) wiggle to celebrate their release from Boot Camp. She stands up, feeling like she's shaking like a leaf. Glances at the Sphinx. Gosh what a pretty... eep! Mittens jumps with fright and prances all about the stadium as she blushes like the dawn. Her form, as always, is so faultless that the only conclusion you can draw from watching her is that she's doing it intentionally. Her catlike grace is worthy of the Island of Askaia! Yay, Mittens! Yay, silly kitten!

When she comes back and starts hastily re-lacing her boots, she notices Rita out of the corner of her eye. Those eyes unmake her. She laughs, breathlessly.

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

Mittens sits cross-legged on the Command Platform, looking out over the chess battlefield with a little pout stuck on her face. Her ears are permanently flattened against her skull, and her tail is pulled in tight against her body. Even her normally good posture has left her for slumpy grumpy kitty witty-- rrrrgh!

"What are you doing, you brat? Our left flank is exposed!"

"And you're giving up like thirty chances to crush your pup, hag!"

"The battlefield is chaos! The only winning strategy is patience!"

"So, what, we just sit here until I'm as old as you?! Ugh, you don't know the first thing about conquest!"

"...Hey, you know I think we should try--"

"Be quiet, Cascade!"
"Shut up, kitten!"

...Murble.

The worst part is not the constant arguments, or not being allowed to participate, or having to watch their army slowly get swallowed up while their pieces awkwardly shuffle back and forth between aggressive and turtle positions. No, the worst part is the petting. Mittens am pat. She am pat lots. Azora showers her in attention every time she loses an argument, or a piece, or feels slighted, or gets bored, or... basically, it's constant.

And she has no idea how to treat a cat! Mittens has spent her entire life hanging out with Askaians so she is an expert at this, even if she shouldn't need that information right now. And this? Is completely wrong! Why did fluffy Adila get all of the good rubs and Mittens had to put up with all of these skull crushing headpats? Bap! Bap! Bap! Right on top of her sensitive ears, smooshing them with what is possibly the least pleasant sensation she's ever experienced in her life. Mittens' throat is caught in a constant low growl.

With a quiet whistle, Mittens shuffles around behind another shouting match before Azora can abuse her therapy kitten again and heads onto the board, where she can at least hear herself think. She's never been good at chess anyway. Just ask Helya!

Though, that doesn't mean Mittens has no strategy. It's just... not the same as anybody else's. Thank goodness she has more than one game to work with. Mittens feels herself get plucked up into the air and set down seven spaces to her right. Princess to G-8; now she's guarding a rook. Yay? A moment later she gets shunted ahead to fight with a Grimalkin. Not so yay.

The game itself doesn't matter. Even winning the title at the end of this is pretty unimportant, Mittens thinks to herself while she flips overtop of Euphie's weird little demon thing and kicks it down a hill. Right, anyway, where was she? Oh, right. No, it doesn't matter who wins. They're all just playing Eupheria's games right now. Win, lose, draw, she'll just keep looping everything until she gets bored. And then she'll think of a new game, and it'll start over again. No, she needs... what she really needs is a chance to get her team to trust her. Yes, you heard that right. This entire thing is just a Princess Trust Exercise.

Her true goal is as simple as it is impossible: she has three different matches to figure out how to trick Azora Howl and the immortal traveler Adila of the Watch into having fun with her. Everything starts with that. So what's the best way to--

"Oooooooh, penalty square!" Eupheria's singsong voice chirps out across the entire arena, "Dance of the Thousand Web Vipers!"

Hiss. Hisssss!

"EEEEUUUUUPHEEERRRIIIAAAAAAAA!"

[Game roll, Sense with Despair: 6, 2, 2: 5.]

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

Deep breaths, Euna. Deep breaths. You are Good Cop. You are supposed to be Good Cop. You can't play Good Cop Bad Cop if Good Cop goes bad. Just breathe. Offer him another out. Sooner or later he'll have had enough oxygen to leap for one and then you can have your friend back. Remember that word? That's a good word, focus on it. There's positive signs in his rambling, if you really think about it. So just calm down for his sake, calm down and...

Eunicorn. Message boards. Idol.

...Idol.

NOPE!

Nobody sees her move. First she's standing by the door with her arms folded over her chest, and then immediately after that she's grabbed Sara by the collar at the back of her neck and dragged her out of her chair. There's no filler frames. Snap, snap. She frowns, possibly unsure who to hit. She settles for ramming both their heads together with a satisfyingly dully clunk.

Then she yanks Sara back again and stands as straight and tall as she can manage, cracking her neck to hide how deep her blush is.

"Not! In! Front! Of! The! Prisoner! You! Moron!"

[Errant's backfired Assess question turnaround!
-What is Victor most vulnerable to right now?
-Is it possible to gag a man with his own nanite limbs?]

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

Mittens winces when her team is announced. Three spoiled brats? That stings almost as much as the lineup itself. She pans around the room, trying to project calm but mostly (she's pretty sure) just looking like she's pouting. But could you blame her? If you handed her a list of names from all across Hyperborea and told her to make the worst possible Princess Games team for herself, she's not sure she could really do any worse than this. Honestly! Let her do this 1v3v3! You could even put her on a team with Eupheria! These would both be better than... this. Whiskers. Rivers. Whatever!

On the plus side, it seemed like Eupheria was a fan of Heist!, which was Mittens' favorite Princess Game as well. Or, well, no. Her favorite was Gymnastic Jousting, but that was a solo game and Mittens didn't see any jousting platforms or pools for them to be hiding in anyway. That left Hesit!, which was still pretty ok as far as silver linings went.

The idea of the game was simple in theory, but deliciously creative in execution. Every team on the field represented a Kingdom (usually a made-up one to keep any bad blood down, but for the official Princess Games you obviously represented your own home), and each Kingdom had its own set of Treasures they needed to keep safe. To win, you had to infiltrate the opposing Kingdoms across a variety of fun obstacles and terrains, find their Treasures, and safely bring them back to your own Treasury to add their value to your total. Whoever had the highest value Treasury when the timer ran out was the winner.

Heist! had three positions you could play, and had to declare who was what at the beginning of the match, but there was no limit on how many players you could assign to a given role, and no rule anywhere saying you needed to have every role represented. Princesses were the actual thieves, whose job it was to go in and collect Treasures, but other than self defense and basic sabotage they weren't allowed to fight. Knights existed to capture Princesses with traps and cunning, but they were honor-bound to return any Treasure they captured in the line of duty to its proper Kingdom. Queens had free reign to fight and take whatever they wished, but couldn't leave the confines of their specific Kingdom's zone. No player on any team could hold more than one Treasure at a time, and the traditional rule was that you had to work your way up a Treasury's score card: you had to secure all the lowest value Treasure before you could attempt a Crown Jewel play.

All-Princess teams were popular, but Mittens knew it wasn't the best way to play. The ideal setup, as far as she was concerned, was solo-Princess, multi-Queen, but that only worked when everybody wasn't doing it, so you had to be willing to adapt your strategy to whatever was popular at the time, and... well. It didn't really matter. She didn't want to play today.

Mittens prances across the field to her team's designated zone, feeling uncomfortable and self conscious about the bounce in her step the entire way. Azora Howl, and the woman who waged a war against Ourania. Adila's namesake. The intelligence, apparently, behind the fiasco in the defense of the Bazaar that crippled the Snake-Husband and made Adila a nervous wreck for weeks afterwards. She sighs, and looks across the space to where the dragon-turned-puppy was standing. She turned and stared up at Eupheria in her elaborate Konkon wedding dress. For some reason, it makes her heart beat a little bit lighter in her chest, and her ears wiggle hopefully on top of her head.

She turns her attention back to the statuesque starry-eyed woman standing rigidly in front of her, and forces her face into a smile.

"You're very lucky," she says with poise and then immediately starts fumbling for the right words, "To... hm. To have the love and admiration of so many special people. I think there's still hope, don't you? For a happy ending to this, I mean."

Yes, Mittens, there is hope. If your Adila has taught her predecessor anything at all, there's hope. Her tail flicks happily back and forth, even as her shoulders slump forward in misery.

[Speak Softly: 13
-What does Adila I want, and how could I help her get it?
-What should I be wary of when dealing with her?
-What can Adila I tell me about the feelings in her heart?]

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

You stupid bastard. You stupid bastard! Say it again! Just try saying that again you selfish, arrogant genius-level prick. You think there's rules, here? You think she wouldn't punch a cripple? Say it again and she just might! God damn it Victor, you are too smart to be this stupid! How do you do it? How do you always find the dumbest shit to say, even when you're jumped up on Sabrem's zombie gas? God. God! Geniuses are the stupidest motherfuckers on the planet!

You know what the cure for this is? It's violence. Who cares that Angelica already hit him upside the head with a chair and he's still like this on waking up? He just didn't get hit hard enough, that's all. Well she can fix that. She will fix that. Jesus fucking christ Victor, do you ever hear yourself when you talk? With your encyclopedic knowledge of every stupid fucking thing capitalist-adjacent society has ever said, do you replay these conversations in your head on a loop while you jerk yourself off? Stupid little... ok yeah no, that's it. The calendar thing, that's the line. We're doing violence now. Violence is the sweet and simple solution to all of life's problems and it's time to let it do its thing. I call this trick cutting the Gordian Di--

...Euna frowns, and sighs. For the first time since coming back from Hyperborea, she runs a hand through her hair. Then both at once. She steps slowly, very carefully, off to one side. Out of the line between Victor and Sara. She takes a deep breath through her nose.

And smiles as sweetly as she's ever managed in her life.

"Victor?" she chimes, "Maybe you'd like to stop talking before one of us says or does something you'll regret~"

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

This is the second time she's had to watch this happen. The second time she's seen unnatural, twisting arms grabbing at Adila. The second time she's listened to her making those sounds mixed somewhere between pure pain and absolute terror. The second time her heart screamed at her in its loudest voice to do something to stop it, and the second time her body wouldn't listen at all.

It's actually worse than it was with Oberon. At least back then her mind had been sunk inside the crystal song, and her body had less failed to move as it understood it wasn't really supposed to move in the first place. This time she has a body that's made to move and it just... won't. She strains. She tries to scream. Nothing. Her soft, vibrant, graceful body refuses to budge an inch, not even to strain her muscles and at least register the effort she's putting into trying to help. Even her expression is stuck in that same contented kitty bliss she'd been purring into the room from Momma's ear rubs. She can only use her eyes to express her horror.

Then the world lurches back into motion all at once, and if Momma hadn't been clinging to her for dear life, Mittens would have shot off like a bullet. Even then, if she hadn't also been holding Adila she might have abandoned her Momma to cross the space between her and her friend so quickly you'd think she had touched the Time Dragon. But they're held together, so Mittens' motion is more restrained. Her tail flicks aggressively. Her ears pop up straight and strain for sounds. She winces when Dandy gets spun around and winds up socking Adila in the face. And then her eyes pulse that gentle green light for a moment before they dim again.

It's only for a moment Adila, but in the space of that tiny flash you feel like someone just gave you the perfect bath. There's a brief sensation like someone's gone over your body with a gentle hose full of the sweetest, warmest water imaginable, and then when that's gone it's like being patted dry with a fluffy towel that feels like nothing so much as pats and hugs and love. I can't say if it's enough to undo the horror of what you just went through, but heal your Courage anyway.

Mittens blinks and looks away. She squeezes her Momma to reassure both of them while her eyes find and then stick to Eupheria. She'd like to be looking at something else, someone else, anything else, why don't we go feel weirdly jealous of Azora's hair or join Kazelia in staring at Kyouko's skirt, or better yet watch Rita and feel for a moment that sense that everything will be perfect in just another second? Let's do that, hm? But Eupheria is like a magic eye puzzle: once she's been seen, she won't be unseen. Her eyes try to wander, only to slide right back onto those swirling eyes, that magenta hair, those sickly lights, that absurd corset.

She feels like she should say something. She wants to say something. Something powerful and defiant! Or something to cut through all of the hurt and belittlement that's choking the air everybody (Eupheria included!) is breathing right now. But instead she blinks and notices the first Adila. Really notices her for the first time.

And all her stupid brain thinks is: Oh. My great-grandmother and I have the same taste in women. Ourania explain to her why that seems helpful to notice.

[This is a new scene, so Mittens is damaging her lights to heal Adila]

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

"Oh! Oh! No, it's cause--" Errant briefly loses her train of thought punching out a gunman, "Think about it, right? When was the last time you saw somebody wear a hat in a movie with a big city scene? Never, right? Well, there was Imperium Nova 3 with that weird Fedora Cult scene, but those were the villains. Also nobody, like, saw that movie. Anyway yeah, you know? Uh... Stars Over Halcyon? Three Midnights Till We Part? Seventy Four? With the big scene where she's the only one not under the rain shield and she's crying her eyes out while her lover vanishes into the crowd in the park? It's rain chic! Everybody wants to look like that! You've gotta get soaked, let your hair cling to your forehead all... erm..."

Errant flushes, and turns her back on Sabrem in a way she wouldn't have dared even twenty minutes ago. Posture rigid. Arms straight. She yanks an electro-sword out of a fried suit of armor, because maybe if she looks cool enough she'll stop wanting to sink into the floor. She turns and looks over her shoulder again.

"Anyway. Yeah. I just. Yeah. Thank you. For the... for the advice. And the, um. This is my contact info. Check in so I... know you're not breaking parole. Stay. No, right. Going now."

With a hop and a flourish, Errant hops over a barricade and zips back out into the field, zipping this way and that through Sara's rainbow hellscape with the grace of a certain princess. She dances between safe spaces, practicing those alien, fluid motions and seeing how she can push herself to... not push herself. A good soldier always takes the good ideas she finds on the battlefield. While she runs she flips through her commlink and presses dial on the number for her bank.

"Hello, yes? This is Euna Kim, I'm calling because I was hoping to..."

She goes sailing over the top of Sara's head with a placid half smile on her face as she somersaults onto the back of the nearest trooper trying to claw their way onto her beautiful star. She stomps, twists, and flips off of them to the ground so that her hair does a full mermaid's flip behind her.

"Mhm, yes that's right I'm looking to upgrade my account. Yes, of course I'm fine with that fee..."

The sword sings in her hand, cutting wide, crackling arcs through the air and delivering full system shutdown levels of voltage to one suit and then another. She slashes, flips the blade over her wrist, and smashes somebody in the face with the flat, then tosses the sword over her head, does a half-spin on the balls of her feet, catches it with her other hand, and completes the spin with another wide slash across the chestplate of a woman who'd decided that standing up was the power move after all.

"Mhm... mhm... ok, great! Thank you so much! Yes of course, you have a nice day, too. Ok bye!"

She comes to a halt in front of Sara. And now she's still. And now she's silent. There's a look of concentration on her face, like she's trying to burn this moment into her memory forever. The joy on Sara's face as she works. The colors playing all around her. The battle that neither one of them for a single moment has a thought of losing. The...

She flicks her wrist behind her and tosses the sword through a power cable of a charging heavy trooper. She dips into a wide bow, flourishing her hands to either side for the camera drones flitting all about as the clumsy suit of armor skids to a halt just behind her.

"So, I uh," she stumbles, ruining the shot yet again, "Was wondering if... hey, um... do you... like hats?"

Fucking really, Euna?

[Defend: 7. Errant takes Influence on Sara again and escalates the situation]

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

"Don't worry, Kazelia!"

Mittens flashes a dazzling and hopefully reassuring smile from her dog-free safe space inside her mother's embrace. It's easy to feel confident with her around, right? She's not making you feel self conscious about your fashion choices just by existing, right? She's in your corner, just like Rita is!

"We're a team. We can't get so caught up in hoping to make a wish that we forget that. That's why, if we get the chance, I think you should be the one to win for the rest of us. After what you did in Illumina, I trust your wish to be what saves everybody more than anyone's. Even if you decide to pass it back to one of the rest of us, I'll trust in you to the end."

So yeah, there's a lot of telltale signs of classic Mittens "being strong for everybody else in the room" right now. But that strength doesn't come from thin air, you know? It comes from you, Kazelia. It comes from you, Adila. It comes from Isolde, and from Dandy, and of course it comes from Rita. So trust it. If you ever thought that she was a cat worth looking up to, then trust the strength she's using for you right now.

Mitten's leans her head against Isolde's shoulder, and subconsciously starts nuzzling her Momma. There's a thing that Rita's always told her, since way back when they were little kittens: nobody gives better ear rubs than a mom. Her eyes drift shut for a tender moment, and she realizes for the first time how true that really is. This warmth? This love? This soft little massage across her sensitive little floofers?

This purr is the sound of Argossa itself.

[Kazelia, Mittens is choosing to Reveal the Way to you: roll with Hope the next time you do something that follows her advice, or the next time you do something that spites her if you think she's a spotlight stealing, tuna-breath having... silly cat!]

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

Don't buy in, Errant. Don't buy in for a second. Saving a life is one thing, but don't let her into yours. This is a trap. This is absolutely a trap. Remember who she is. Remember what she did. Re... remember who it is she must be working for now. This is a trap and Victoria's the mastermind. Block it out. Block it out. This is all just noise and you need to focus on this bomb so that nobody dies. Then you need to get ready to fight her, so that nobody dies.

...Here's a confession. And it's a disgusting feeling, but that doesn't make it a lie. Errant's had a lot of heroes over the years, and if you put a gun to her head and told her to pick her biggest one she'd still without hesitation say it's the Shogun. Nobunaga has saved countless lives, and she did it in a way that made Errant think that she could do it too, even though she couldn't fly or summon muskets or cripple people with her stare the way Nobunaga could. But the person she... what's the word? Admired. Yeah. This is gonna sound fucked up, but the person she admired most was Sabrem.

How could that be? That's the woman who killed her parents! That's the woman who ruined her life! But she can't help it. Even now, she can't help it. Do you see the way Sabrem moves? Look how shockingly, terrifying fluid her form is throwing that sword, shifting her body, turning and firing that gun. See the way she pilots her body. That is exactly the way that Errant tries to move. That's the form she's been reaching for her entire life. Nobody understands what it takes to be able to do that. Victoria certainly doesn't. Buddy and Bargain have no clue. Commander Warren thinks he does, but the way he talks you can tell it's beyond him too. Even Sara, Victor, and Ferra process it differently than she does. There is one person in the world who saw her run that race and understood exactly what it meant.

Sabrem.

Errant frowns as her fingers untangle and delicately pluck wires from the backpack in a very precise order she neither understands or has any need to. With a last yank, she pulls a full half dozen connections loose and all at once the blinking red lights shut off. Instantly, she raises her fist for a fight. Now it's time to make a decision. AEGIS... that is to say, her AEGIS taught her that rehabilitation came after capture. AEGIS was gone, now. Maybe Victor was even right and it never actually existed the way she thought it did. But still. But... still.

Her hand comes down on Sabrem's shoulder. She pushes the larger woman down, just out of the way of a burst of rifle fire, then vaults over the top of her and flies across the intervening space like a missile. BAM! She grabs the rifle with one hand, yanks it out of the Spiral Trooper's hands, and then smashes them in the face with it like she's swinging a sword. Face plate and rifle destroy each other. She throws the useless lump of metal at another trooper dropping in, then throws the useless lump of a human being against the door.

"Hats?" she asks, "Never thought about them. A friend of mine gave me a tiara recently, if that counts. But I could... you know, give them a try. Expand my horizons, I guess."

She halts. Her mouth falls slack as her brain forcibly reboots.

"Wait! You wear hats?"