Polaris North

Magus Reaver: Sorcerous Hunters

S H A V I S N A M I S T A

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^{Mission: Croc Crush | Interactions: @Enkryption @AzureKnight @The Irish Tree}

Her body stiffened at Keith's answer— toxic magical waste. That answer solidified the theory that it was the reason why the makaras had become more and more aggressive— they were losing territory to whatever this was. Lapis was quick on the draw, anger flashing as she began to interrogate the mercenary before stopping and gagging at the stench. She scrunched her nose. "I'm trying to hold my breath as long as possible." She muttered as an answer. "It's best to get this over with as quick as possible."

She fell back to Lapis's side, the events taking a toll on her mental state. Shavis couldn't blame her. If she hadn't been handling Scarlett for a while now, even she would have been shocked at the sudden turn of events. "Let's just say that Scarlett is a bit different from us." Shavis wasn't personally privy to too much information and she wasn't sure if she was even able to share it with anyone else. It was Scarlett's choice to tell anyone about it and she was going to respect that.

Now her attention was split.

Lapis was actively pressuring Keith and the situation was quickly devolving into a fight. Normally, Shavis would have been all for it. The moment Keith said that it was him who had dumped the waste and his disregard for the ecosystem, Shavis was ready to punch the living daylights out of him. However, another problem had arisen. Her ear flickered for a moment when the sound of something being fired invaded her senses and she quickly moved out of the way, not that it was aimed towards her.

The blade had gone straight into Keith and she blinked. "Oh... fuck."

Like Scarlett, or the Malfested Cat, had mentioned, Keith was regenerating at a faster rate than normal. Way faster rate. Before them, the wound began to stitch itself back together. "Lapis, Hector, make sure Keith over there doesn't get away." Shadar had stalked inside, sensing the danger that was now even more present. "If I start getting beat up... please help." She told her companions before extending a hand towards Shadar. Slowly, the familiar began to fade and its magical energy began to fuse with Shavis's.

While Scarlett got closer to the ground, fully adopting a feral cat's form, Shavis placed herself between her and the others. She wasn't sure what this so-called Alpha Dominance was. She had thought she would never have to use this knowledge. But hey, if it's anything like subduing animals, then she just had to make sure the other party knew she wasn't terrified of them.

"Stand down, Scarlett." Shavis commanded, summoning all of the authority she could muster from inside her as she stood firm and tall before her feral charge, exuding the combined magical energy of both herself and her familiar. She studied Scarlett's movements, ready to defend and retaliate at a moment's notice if she decided to do something.

Magus Reaver: Sorcerous Hunters

S H A V I S N A M I S T A

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^{Mission: Croc Crush | Interactions:}

The onslaught of makaras didn't quite end with the first wave and Shavis called her familiar back to her side for extra claws on the case as her repressant began to fade which led some of the makaras to finally pay attention to her. As bubbles began to surface near the lake, Shavis prepared a strike before pulling back when a man emerged from the waters. Electing to ignore him for now, she turned her attention fully back to the makaras to aid her own familiar with holding them back. Thankfully, Lapis had come to aid them but even with their added numbers, the beasts were quickly overwhelming them.

"I appreciate a sense of humor in these trying times!" Shavis commented to the peculiar man. She stayed behind the group, making sure that none of the makara would grab someone from behind. A shack soon came into view and she rushed inside with the others and immediately let out a cough as the stench of chemicals assaulted her senses. She began to wave the air in front of her in a futile attempt to expel the smell.

Scarlett immediately went to work. She was much more familiar with these things but Shavis also kept in mind that she was likely doing this for her own sake— did Scarlett even properly feed? While she was doing this, Shavis walked over to the mysterious man. "So, what's your deal? What are you doing, all the way out here with these aggressive makara around?" She asked, crossing her arms and eyeing the man warily.

As Hector said, these chemicals might as well be the reason why the makara were rampaging. This was a laboratory in the middle of a swamp. Could some chemicals be leaking into the swamp? If that was the case, then whoever owned this laboratory was at fault and they were honor-bound to put this entire operation to a stop. "And how'd you know about this place? You mentioned this being a... 'home field advantage?'"

Before she could even continue with that train of thought, Scarlett had dunked her head into a vat of chemicals, and Hector immediately moved to get her out of there. It took a moment for Shavis to process what was happening and she couldn't help the smile that cracked on her face, removing her from the serious matter on their hands. "Scarlett, you know you shouldn't be sticking your head into mysterious vats of chemicals!" She attempted a reprimand but her tone was more amused than anything. Still, she made sure to keep herself close to the man to be able to quickly move onto him if he did anything suspicious.

Magus Reaver: Sorcerous Hunters

S H A V I S N A M I S T A

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^{Mission: Croc Crush | Interactions: @The Irish Tree @Enkryption}

As Scarlett began to take the lead for everyone, Shavis merely listened. She had always been delegated to the role of a follower and the Belua was more than happy to continue on that path. She took a step back as the table was spawned before taking a closer look at the vials presented to them. Repressants. Aha, so this is what Scarlett was so busy doing. "Right-o. Wish we could somewhat avoid having to kill them but if worse comes to worse, glad I can avoid getting attacked immediately." Though it might actually be useful if she wanted to scout out into their breeding grounds if ever.

Shavis studied the elder for a moment as Scarlett made her way out of the house to go fish. Before she could get out of earshot, however, Shavis shouted out. "Her name's Lapis you know! And damn it, get some for me too!" She let out an amused huff as she turned back to the others.

"I suppose having the villagers focus mainly on defense would be for the best since they don't have a lot of manpower to trade around." Shavis turned to Lapis, giving her a small shrug. "And yeah I guess so. I sent out a couple of scouts earlier and uh-" She moved to the door, peeking out into the village before extending her arm out. One of the few birds had returned and dissipated in her hands. "Yep, looks like we're in the clear for now. We have a bit of time. Let's go, Hector?"

Preparations were being made for a defensive perimeter but Shavis patrolled around with Hector to at least be close by to Scarlett. Thanks to Hector's quick thinking with his wisp, tracking her down wasn't all that difficult. "You think fighting the makaras would be hard? I never really threw hands with a bunch of crocs, you know?"

And maybe it was almost fate that when she had claimed that, fighting from a distance could be heard. Her posture stiffened as her head snapped towards the sound. One of her spirit scouts landed on her shoulder. "Looks like Scarlett's in trouble. I'm gonna go ahead and you find a perch?" She asked, already popping open the repressant and applying it to herself. "See you around. Stay safe."

With a crackle of lightning, Shavis turned heel and rushed toward the direction where Scarlett had both been sensed and seen. Her ear twitched, picking up movement from somewhere else as the makara's cries seemed to have alerted its brethren. She slowed down to a stop, motioning for Shadar to make his way around the perimeter. Her familiar would be capable of escaping the makara's clutches if it ever came to that. With ease, Shavis climbed up to one of the trees to get a better vantage point only to spot that Scarlett had not only managed to take down the beast but was actively feasting on it already.

She sat there for a moment to continue observing Scarlett. Shavis was hardly surprised. Her worries shifted from Scarlett's triumphant battle to the incoming makara backup. She kept herself atop the trees, scanning the area carefully and waiting for a moment to strike. A downward force added with her magic should be enough to take down one of them in one swift strike and thanks to the repressant, they will be none the wiser. Considering the makara naturally used lightning-based magic, Shavis decided to forego its usage aside from aiding her own physicality.

Magus Reaver: Sorcerous Hunters

S H A V I S N A M I S T A

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^{Location: Marsh | Interactions:}

From what she could gather, it would seem like they had a rather solid group. Scarlett wasn't used to being in a team, as far as she could remember, but it shouldn't be too hard to work around her moves. It wasn't long until they had all reconvened. She snickered when Scarlett alerted them that all of the information she had gathered was personal and not something they should be interested in knowing. "That's our team player right there." And maybe teasing the mage people warned you not to piss off wasn't the best idea, but Shavis never claimed to be full of good ideas.

Tilnak had also returned and showed them an imitation of the map and the breeding grounds of the Makara. "That's good information to have. We probably need to look into the breeding grounds so we're going to rely on you to help us get there, Tilnak. Thanks!" He then displayed his powers— earth magic and what seemed to be shields... thaumaturgy? Shavis was about to comment on it when Scarlett began her transformation, as Shavis saw it as, and it seemed to have been activated by the shield that Tilnak had formed around them for but a mere moment.

Once it was gone, she seemed to be staring at Tilnak but made no move to attack. Shavis gave a small, apologetic smile to Lapis before moving to Scarlett. "Alright Scarlett, you need to take a breather. Out we go. Come on." Because she had been used to it. Injuries incurred from trying to keep a ballistic Scarlett in check but feeling no remorse for the actions. And even if Scarlett harmed her then, she just bore it with a chuckle and waited for her to calm down before following the rest of the group.

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The travel being as uneventful as it is, Shavis mostly exchanged idle talks with the others or played with Shadar during it. Hours passed by and the sun placed itself on the horizon and it didn't look like they would have a lot of time before nightfall. Shavis wasn't too keen on traveling in a bog during the night.

When they arrived at the town, they were ushered into the elder's home with urgency. As they traveled through the town, it was clear that the Makara had done their damage. Even if they didn't want to harm the makara, there was no doubt that the destruction they can bring was substantial. They had to solve this and quickly. As they were walking, Shavis summoned three small avian spirits before letting them fly off with the intention of scanning the immediate area around the town. Shadar, back to his full size, padded behind the group.

The town had become dreary and heavy with hopelessness and Shavis couldn't blame them.

They went into the elder's home and Shavis nodded in gratitude to the man who led them there. She put Shadar outside the elder's home to, once again, stay alert if something ever happens all of a sudden. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like the elder had any insight as to why the makara had started encroaching into human territory. "Haven't had visitors come through your town? Cause it's either a more powerful predator moving in or some folks carving up a piece of the marsh that's causing the makara to leave."

Alter Ego: Transported to Another World because of a Celestial Mix-Up!

Mako reached her room and let out a sigh. It would be good to get out of the armor, she thought to herself as she began to disarm herself. She would have been fumbling around had it been just her but the body itself seemed to know what to do by instinct and Mako just followed whatever Alexisa's body told her to do. As she laid down the armor to the side, she gazed outside the window. It was beautiful. She would never see a sight like this back in the city with light pollution dimming the night sky.

But even then, the payment to see this was quite heavy. She would miss the comfort that Tokyo brought her. Even though she had led a dull life that likely led to a decline, having to sleep and rest without the hum of electricity in her ears would prove to be a little difficult. Just knowing that she had to pretend to be someone else for the rest of her life would likely also keep her up at night.

She moved for the bed, her body far too tired to even think about bathing for the night, when a voice piped up.

Mako's hand instinctively went to the sword resting by the bedside table as she turned to face the order of the voice that was sounding more and more familiar with every passing second. "Sigridelle. It's just you." She breathed out in relief, feeling more at ease knowing that someone who knew her was around. Her grip around the sword's handle slackened as she sat down on the bed. "How was... business I guess? Handled everything?"

Magus Reaver: Sorcerous Hunters

S H A V I S N A M I S T A

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^{Location: Morgenröte | Interactions: @The Irish Tree @AzureKnight @Enkryption}

She nodded at Hector's decision to stay back, allowing Tilnak and Scarlett to move however they want to and meet up with them back here. She doubted they would take a long time to get said information so Shavis was more than happy to be able to talk with her teammates. She had already known how Scarlett operated, though only through hearsay as she neve went on any particular mission with her before. Tilnak was a bit more of a mystery but she was sure that her fellow Belua wouldn't mind sharing such combat information with them.

"Long-range combatant, huh? I'll be counting on you a lot then." Shavis said with a nod, feeling safe knowing that someone had a better scope of the battlefield than she did. She knew that she had a tendency to hyperfocus on enemies in front of her and have trouble keeping up when there were too many angles to focus on during a fight. "And simple healing can go a long way in a fight. I'll thank you in advance for taking care of me." She flashed him a toothy grin. Her eyes fell upon the familiar as it stared at her, unblinking. She stared back, tilting her head to the side. "He seems like a cute little guy. Not off-putting at all!" She reassured him.

She then turned to Lapis as she excitedly commented about them being Invokers. It was a pleasant surprise that there were so many of them and Shavis wasn't going to complain about having more combatants on the playing field. "I'm sure we can think up of something on the fly for those combination attacks. Like a jet stream of water pumped full of lightning, that'll get 'em!"

"Oh, my familiar Shadar here helps me out on the field. If you're seeing two of him, I promise you're not hallucinating. He can split himself." She snickered, reaching up to pat the familiar's head as he lounged on her shoulder. He was deceptively small as he laid there, gazing at the other mages. "Got a couple other tricks with spirits but I'll show you guys as we go. Can't ruin all of the surprises now, can we?"

Lapis admitted to both of them that she was an esper. Oh, then it did make sense that she would want to go on this low-ranking mission instead of going for a different one. Shavis nodded, turning serious for the moment. "I do. I lived in the forest for most of my life and co-existing with beasts has been our way of life. Anything that upsets the ecosystem is something we seek to stop." She reached over to give a reassuring pat to the younger Reaver. "We'll get to the bottom of this and get those Makara back into their territory."

She stood back, pressing a hand to her chin in thought. Shavis wasn't much of a planner or a logical person overall. That was what Patia was for. Still. "I'm not very familiar with espers such as you though. Mine is more of an instinct. Could you... somehow communicate with creatures? Or is it just a one-way street?"

Her ears twitched, hearing footsteps coming down the hall. So she checked, peering over one of the corners to see that one of theirs had finally found their way back. She let out a sharp whistle to snap Scarlett out of her head, something Shavis had grown accustomed to doing around the reaver. She wouldn't want to be on the opposite side of her magic after all. "All done with your preparations?"

Alter Ego: Transported to Another World because of a Celestial Mix-Up!

Mako looked at her, trying to fight back the look of surprise and shock. She cleared her throat and nodded. "Thank you for your kind service." She gave the matron a nod before returning to her food. Whether it was because she was a warrior or it was because this person somehow recognized Alexisa as a Githameire, Mako didn't really want to think too much about it right then and there.

When she finished partaking in the meal, she tidied up the plates and made sure the plates were on top of each other. With that, Mako stood up and approached the matron when she saw that there was a lull in the activity. "Ah, I've finished. Might I have the key to the room?" Surely, they had keys in this time. Or something along those lines.

Alter Ego: Transported to Another World because of a Celestial Mix-Up!

"Room 3 would be nice. Thank you." She figured it would be the one room that was at least the most isolated. She wasn't sure how well Alexisa's body took fatigue but Mako wanted to give as much time as she could for the body to rest. If that meant she needed peace and quiet and sleep all the way to noon, then so be it.

After a few bites in, she looked back up— a little bit of clarity in her eyes. "Oh, how much will it be for the room and food? I have some sparse amount of coins that I've brought with me and I hope it's enough to cover it." Well, she didn't exactly know how much she had.

Alter Ego: Transported to Another World because of a Celestial Mix-Up!

For the most part, Mako got what she wanted. She was left alone by the people inside the tavern. She wondered what kind of status the armor she wore. What did it mean to be a warden? She let out a breath, placing her head against the back of her hand. She closed her eyes and let herself rest for the moment.

She could hear what sounded to be a couple of children talking about a soldier. Probably her. Before being corrected, Alexisa was a warden. A higher position than most soldiers. She supposed a noble wouldn't have settled for a lower position. However, the children were soon silenced by other people.

The smell of food overpowered everything else and she looked up, opening her eyes, to see that the matron had served her the meal. She spoke about there only being very few survivors. So there were some? They likely already moved on from this tavern. She gave a small, grateful smile to the matron. "Yes, it was an unfortunate... battle. And thank you for the offer. I wanted to ask if I may rent a room for the night. I'll... I'll follow up tomorrow."

After the matron's response, Mako finally set her gaze on the food once again and her stomach growled. Aside from the fish, she wasn't exactly quite sure what the meal before her was but at this point, she didn't really care. It took every single bit of her dwindling willpower to not just wolf it down. Some part of her reminded her of manners and a rational part of her brain reminded her that Alexisa was a noble and should act like one.

It might have been her hunger or it might actually be the cooking, but by all the gods of this world, this meal was by far one of the best she had had.

Alter Ego: Transported to Another World because of a Celestial Mix-Up!

Civilization.

Mako was beyond relieved to finally see actual people after hours of walking. Finally, a chance to properly rest without having to worry about wild animals snatching her from the sky. The village seemed to be somewhat peaceful aside from a few villagers who possessed some form of weaponry. Though it looked more like hunting equipment than proper, army-grade weapons. Not that Mako would know anything about what a proper weapon was.

That wasn't something she should be worried about right now. She was more concerned about the heaviness of her feet and how she would likely pass out as soon as she hit the bed. There was a tavern of sorts in the middle of the town and Alexisa was just thankful that none of the villagers seemed to pay her any mind— or if they did, they didn't immediately approach and talk to her. She wasn't sure how to carry a casual conversation yet. She hoped that the tavern owner wasn't much of a chatterbox. Spare her for the day.

The smell of fish reminded her of her mostly empty stomach. Sure, she had grabbed a few of the dried meat but Mako couldn't quite convince herself to be desperate enough to eat such rations. She was sure Alexisa's stomach could handle it but Mako's mind thought differently. Alright, eat first then pass out on the nearest bed and maybe wake up somewhere better. If not, well, she'd burn that bridge when she got there. Her feet dragged her to the tavern, pushing open the door and making a beeline straight for the counter.

"Hello, excuse me. Can I get a meal? Some fish? And water." She said once she caught the attention of anyone who looked like they worked there. With the tiredness and hunger, Mako could only spare some of her original politeness in favor of being straightforward.