I'm gonna go ahead and say it... you are not getting on Damon's good side.. XD
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Well that's just silly.
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That was the longest post I've made in a while. I was considering tagging everyone mentioned, but I kind of...mention...everybody.
I'm working off the assumption that we're relatively isolated from the rest of the city or at least obviously alone so all this talk will go unnoticed since we're throwing around words like "KILL DONAT" "BRING DONAT'S HEAD"
Unless the point is to get caught and this takes a WAY darker turn, which is still cool.
Cassie grinned at Astarte's back. Guess she touched a nerve. As the siblings began to act all sibling-like with each other, a shapeshifting mage became extremely excited over her cannon. While the constant shifting would probably be slightly jarring, Cassie grew up in the land of the mages. This sort of stuff was too common to really bat an eye at, even if the mages seemed to think everything they did was some grand display of amazing power. She grinned, putting one gloved hand on the boy's...girl's...thing's head with a ruffle.
"It is a cannon, it's the Howler in fact. You can touch it, but as for getting one, you'll need to spend a small fortune. I don't know many gunsmiths who still make them that don't belong to the military."
She gave a wink with another hyena grin.
"I've modified it to Hell and back. Military grade is fine for small jobs but if you want something done right, gotta customize. Won't find another like it. But it should make that spider explode like a big slime-filled bubble. Boom!"
She gave a short bow of sorts, adjusting her monocle as the mage said it's name.
"Wonderful to meet you Nex, I'm Cassie. And if you like explosions as much as I do, we'll get along famously."
Then she heard Hazael openly announce her plans. And the resulting reactions. She tapped her chin for a moment. Cassie wasn't the sharpest sword in the armory, but even she could see the flaw of just about every plan that was just announced. Years of working on bringing large scale problems down had taught her to look for smaller details that most would miss. She looked around, relieved to see that the gate was MOSTLY deserted except by some civilians who weren't particularly interested in a large group of military people.
"Okay, step by step I'm seeing some flaws here. First off, Knight Lieutenant, though honestly openly admitting to rebellion sort of removes your rank, as our happy Lord Captain here has stated, you may have already gotten the royal family killed by announcing your intention. If the Minister, and I'm only saying this as a for instance, heard of your intents and was indeed guilty, then there's no reason to hold off on his plan until the Arachnoblast arrives, but rather speed it up to prevent our intervention."
She made a slight bob over to Bristlebane with a grin.
"Which relies on us killing the monster to avoid it being used as a living siege weapon, oh I like that, can I be referred to like that? But yes, I do believe we are going to go kill a giant spider."
She then focused on the assassin with an ego.
"And let's, again just for fun, pretend you DID manage to bring down the target, as every member of your occupation claims they're the best and I'm sure you're no exception, so an entire castle of guards, mages, and people trained from youth to stop your kind clearly makes nooooo difference. Then what? There's now an entire nation with no leader, fired up over expansionist ideals, and someone with less subtlety than the Minister takes control and makes the situation worse. Or someone who supports the current way of doing things takes over and does an inquisition to find MORE traitors. Or you fail, you're head is piked, and he once again speeds up his plan since he knows he's been outed. You're asking for a lot of money for a bad outcome either way."
She slid the cannon off her shoulders, letting it thud into the ground as she leaned on it, eyeing everyone from behind her monocle.
"Now, doubling the guard doesn't make sense either. Doing so would make the Minister suspicious of why you're doing it. How many of your guard support Donat and how many oppose him? You could just make things worse. You're all shooting at the wall, hoping to break it down, when you need to hit all the foundations at once. If you're goal is to stop a coup, you need to make them unable to move forward but unable to pull back. Or at the very least, force them to start from a weakened position."
She pointed at the assassin.
"A fake attempt on Donat's life, not to kill him, but to let him think something unrelated to his plan was at play. You could stage a fight with the Lord Captain here pretty easily, which leads to..."
Her finger draped over to the Lord Captain.
"Doubling the guard due to this assassin's attempt on his life. Hand choose a select few for duty around the royal family, only ones you KNOW don't support the minister's current plan. No one will question why they have extra protection, and will assume you just picked your elites to do so."
Her finger rested at Hazael's direction.
"Kill the Arachnoblast, as he can't announce that the beast is supposed to arrive alive. He needs it as a surprise. An open conflict with just his supporters could probably go either way, that thing is his trump card. You have orders to kill it. It wouldn't be hard to say the battle became too heated and the body was destroyed in the process. Along with the mage controlling it, who remarkably, had a contract on his body for the assassination of the Minister."
The folded her hands under her chin, tipping the cannon slightly as she grinned.
"Stop the beast. Double the guard. Avoid a power vacuum. In theory, this would hold Donat in place until he finds a new card to play for an advantage. Or, if he makes a move with limited support, the royal family is surrounded by loyalists who get them out of the city, and your coup begins anyway. His power struggle begins with less resources and ahead of his schedule, putting him in a weaker position. No matter what you do, people are going to get hurt and people are going to die. Mostly the innocents. But as I said, this is all just a for instance."
"Right, sorry Sir."
Cassie backed off on the teasing, slowing her pace to let the young man take the lead. While she was fully willing to fluster and annoy, she wasn't willing to ACTUALLY undermine a superior officer's pride and authority in public. Despite her attitude, she was a soldier, and a good one at that. Plus, Astarte seemed surprisingly innocent and full of idealism. She didn't have the heart to crush that. At the mention of her wages, however, her thoughts turned to Donat as she puffed her pipe quietly. Expansion of the empire would cripple, rather than bring power. The other nations wouldn't just stand around and let themselves be pushed back. They'd fight. The grand dream of a mighty empire would fracture. Internal power struggles, the poor get trampled, civil war, suppression...Cassie's mind flicked back and forth. Not so much on the potential war, not even on whether or not the nation would survive...but on which side she'd find herself. On one hand, she disagreed heavily with the idea of expansionism. The other nations were allies, there was peace. Living in poverty had let the bombardier learn many things, the least of which being that no matter what's happening, it's the weak and poor who suffer for the strong and rich.
But on the other hand, her family relied on her own military wages to stay above the water. If she opposed Donat openly, assuming she wasn't executed on the spot, she'd be discharged from the military. Her family would crumble. A matter of pride and principal versus family and necessity. She had time to decide. She would see what the Knight Lieutenant was planning. It could be a ruse to sniff out those who opposed Donat and kill them. See how things go. Make a decision then. For now, focus on the fact that she'd got to unload her Howler into a living monster, instead of another damn training dummy. The thought filled her with glee as she adjusted the straps to her massive harness, already measuring the charges in her head. Judging by the name and the mention of silk, this thing was a spider of some sort. Hard shell. Squishy interiors. She couldn't help herself at the thought of seeing gore filled explosions from each shot she'd let loose. Puncture slugs would do amazing things to such a beast.
"Don't suppose we'll be getting paid for this hunt sir? I could use some extra money, and I AM using my personal powders for this. The stuff the treasury springs for just doesn't have the oomph or the flare that makes every shot so damn beautiful. Gotta tinker a bit to give it that extra burn."
She bit her lip, picking up the pace to match Astarte's as they neared the gate. Looked like quite the crowd had gathered actually. She wiped at her monocle, adjusting the cravat on her coat and cracking her knuckles happily, the massive Howler Cannon dwarfing just about everyone in attendance.
Astarte is adorable, just saying. I envision this really young knight tripping over his sword that he desperately tries to pull out to defend his honor.
Then going HAM when the situation actually calls for it.
So what's the ETA on this thing? Just curious.
Name: August Battaglia
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Personality: August is easily excited and gets caught up in the heat of the moment frequently. Passionate and always thinking at a breakneck pace, it's amazing she hasn't gone insane or gotten herself killed. A hopeless romantic with an overpowering logical streak, she's broken more than a few hearts in her life, both boys and girls. Her train of thought, sometimes, makes little to no sense when she's in one of her brainstorms. She's deathly afraid of drowning, and cannot swim. It is exceptionally hard for her to not tinker with something and try to modify, streamline, fix, or enhance it, often with disastrous results.
Appearance: Despite standing at a minimal 5', August is hard to miss. She has wild, vibrant red hair reaching down to her hips, often braided or tied back in intricate designs meant to control it's inevitable frazzles, frizzles, and tangles, but still make it presentable. Sharp green eyes stare over thin circular glasses in silver frames, sitting atop a perky nose. Her lips seem to almost always be pouting, except when they're being bitten in concentration. Often wears simple sweaters with jeans and brightly colored shoes of some sort, her favorite having a nebula painted across the top, alongside a worn beanie with googly eyes sewn onto it, looking like some kind of blob monster eating the top of her head. Weighing in at around 105 lbs, her figure is incredibly modest, with no chest or behind to really speak of. Her voice tends to squeak and crack when it hits a certain volume, especially when frustrated or annoyed, or when she inevitably gets shocked by one of her quick-fixed electronics.
Tether: A near death experience has made August not only more appreciative of life, but also brought her closer to the spirit world. Something came back with her from the other side, and though she doesn't fully understand it, she's desperate to learn all she can about it.
Ability: Empathy - August can read emotions in a given area or object. The stronger the emotion at the time, the easier they are to read. Complex or convoluted emotions, or areas with many different emotions, are jumbled and wild, something akin to a kaleidoscope in her head where she can't settle on one before another shoves it's way in. Particularly powerful emotions, like trauma, can give her headaches and leave her dazed or confused. This can't be used to read emotions in living people.
Talents:
Electronic Repairs - There are few electrical systems that can stay broken under August's fingers. Broken radios, flashlights, fuses, she can fix or at least temporarily jerry-rig almost anything that has wires and a current.
Hotwire - A part of her life she'd rather forget, though definitely a useful skill to have, if she can get into a car, she can make it drive, keys or not.
Recent history: August is a bit of an odd duck in Oakenheim. Shipped to the town suddenly to stay with her brother due to "legal issues", the girl has made a name for herself by "fixing" things that were never broken. Locations the locals actively avoid she seeks out with great zeal, mostly for disappointing results, but occasionally it pays off. She's often seen at night riding her bike to some new location or off into the woods. The local sheriff makes it a habit of picking her up on sight during these runs, since her brother almost never knows about them, and they often end with the power in the town going out from her tinkering.
"Technically, sir, what I'm doing is disrespecting authority, not insubordination."
She considered adding Lieutenant Cutie, but opted instead to not push her luck just yet. Though it would be rather amusing to watch the knight explain why he punished Cassie for calling him cute. Astarte was known for being easy to push off the deep end, what with all his pride. Like a puffed up baby owl trying to swagger. Still, he DID outrank her, and was a skilled knight from what she overheard. She puffed the pipe again, then shifted the Howler across her shoulders with another jackal grin.
"Giant targets you say? Sounds like a perfect place for me. I guess I'll go meet the Knight Lieutenant and join the mission. See you there Lieutenant..."
As the bombardier turned around, she puffed the smoke through her grin, giving a wink to Astarte as she headed off towards the gate.
"...Cutie."
I couldn't resist having Cassie interact with Astarte, plus it helps me segue into the thing somewhat easily.
A white gloved hand plucked Astarte's cigarette out of his mouth, putting the tip into a skull headed pipe clamped between sharp grinning teeth as Cassie eyed the young boy, monocle glinting in the sun before she handed the cigarette back. Such brazen behavior towards a knight, let alone one of the Triumvirate, was something most would never dare. But then, few dared what Cassie dared. She puffed the pipe, letting a trail of smoke bleed out from her teeth as she cocked her head, the massive Howler Cannon strapped to her back clanking against the ammo bag. She smelled heavily of cordite, smoke, gun oil, and black powder. Odds are she'd just finished morning drills with her platoon, or maintenance on the Howler, or any number of things involving her beloved cannon. She spoke way too loudly, causing several passerby to give curious glances as her voice carried across the square.
"Goooood morning Sir Astarte. Isn't it a bit early to be getting worked up over your sister's little event? Actually, keep going. You're pretty freaking cute when you're ruffled."
The bombardier's jackal grin widened as she gave a salute, still 'technically' following protocol. As a sapper, she was quite low in the military, after all. She took a long drag as she eyed the piece of paper, having already seen about 16 others around the city. You'd have to be deaf and blind to not pick up the hidden message that was so absolutely poorly hidden within the letters, or to hear the whispering from the citizens who had noticed it. While Cassie was most definitely deaf in her left ear from the Cannon, she was certainly not blind. Especially since the subject had been on her mind for days now. Still, it would be best to avoid bringing the subject up, especially around Hazael's brother. Her amber eyes flitted back to Astarte, the grin remaining as she puffed the pipe.
"I take it by the grumblings and threats of assault upon your sister that you will NOT be joining the event? You wouldn't happen to know anything about it? I'm curious myself."
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