Thanqol

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

Princess Adila stands up as tall as she safely can. She's surrounded on all sides. Strength flows through her muscles and her eyes move smoothly from target to target. Assessing. Processing. Preparing.

Of course it's doomed. Of course she has no chance. She doesn't need a legendary work of military strategy engraved on her soul to know that. She's not powerful enough to win, of course not, not in the face of these numbers, this evil, his strength.

But... it's not always about winning. It's not about power either. She has enough strength and ferocity within her heart to fight, even now, even if it's futile. She can't stop this, but she can get Princess Hornet to safety - and maybe if she's very lucky, Princess Alina and Princess Kazelia as well. The proud little flame in her heart that one day dreamed of dragons can at the very least manage this.

+Princess Hornet,+ said Adila, spreading her wings causing the vibrant oranges of her dress to cascade, glittering with firedust in the colours of the rainbow sands of Jedad. +No matter what happens... I trust you to fix things. Okay?+

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

"Gk-erk-Hlp-ack"

The robots are silent for a second as they both run vocal clarification filters. The results are inconclusive, which they fortunately take as evidence for action. Prometheus severs the chains with a precisely applied laser beam and Bode puts a mega-lozenge in your mouth and makes you swallow. Breath starts to return.

Hang on. If Prometheus is in a Martian Kingbot does that mean that Doctor Sylvanius' forces have already...

The main doors are dramatically kicked open and the figure outside is backlit in a spectacular halo of laser light fire. She raises a finger and yells, "I OBJECT!"

@Sarahphim!

On the one hand, Dominus is a bio-scientist with a variety of organ enhancements that give her superhuman abilities when it comes to processing toxins. On the other hand she has a pretty significant head start when it comes to getting smashed. She's already pretty unsteady when the door comes down and Angel-IKA strides down the aisle, glowing golden. In the backdrop you can see Vault moving like a katana through a crowd of robots, a lifetime of learning to perfectly dodge your laser patterns manifesting itself perfectly as he tears through the machines - here, there, slamming a Repeater down so that Ferraphim1tp (sunk ships never die) can jack a bot and turn its firepower against her foes.

But Angel-IKA is having none of that right now. She's coming down, radiant, eyes like fire. If you did one good thing in your life it was help her redesign her costume. Home-made wolf-hoodies are in the past, now she conveys the aspect of primal savagery alongside her angelic appearance and looks entirely herself.

"H-hey, Angelica," said Dominus, having spilled the champagne all over her biker jacket. "I mean. Ha ha ha! It is too late for you to stop my evil plan!"
"Where the hell have you been, Pasey? I've been worried sick!" said Angel-IKA.
"Oh please, like you care," said Dominus. "We're professionals. Professional rivals. We always knew our jobs would come first."
"Our what!? Our jobs?! Is that what this is about? Pasey, do you have any idea how many laws I broke trying to hunt you down!?"
"You - what? No, Ange, you shouldn't -"
"I blew up a biker bar when they wouldn't give me information!"
"Tell me that wasn't the Crimson Roadhouse -"
"I hijacked a train so that I could steal a spy satellite!"
"You stole a -"
"I dangled the CEO of Crown and Slate off a building for information!"
"Mr. Blutcher? You threatened Mr. goddamn Blutcher!?"
"Of course I did, Pasey!" said Angel-IKA. "And then I crashed a stolen car through a robot army on my way in so I could get here in time to stop you from doing something stupid!"

Dominus stands there, absolutely flabbergasted. You're right there besides her, @Sarahphim - what do you say?

Fellowship: The Heart

"See?" said Ailee, punching Lucien in the shoulder chirpily. "We're getting somewhere now! We've gone from being smack-talked by a waiter to getting a conversation with something that at least has the self respect to pretend to be a god. This is progress, Lucien, don't look so bitter! Maybe it'll be interesting enough to write a Monstrology paper about? The Deeper Journal can't get enough papers on creatures that think they're gods."

Chuubo's GMD: Love and Shattered Alchemy

After far, far too long she moves again. Takes a deep breath, putting her hands in front of her, clasped together, pointer finger touching her chin. Lets out her breath, takes another deep, calming breath. Points the fingers towards The Sun.

"No."

Oh dear this was a terrible terrible plan and she did not introduce herself properly and please don't be mad.

@eldest

"O-oh."

It looks like you just kicked her in the chest. Jasper's face falls, her shoulders slump, her courtly pose dissolves. Now she just looks lost. She takes a moment, holds up one finger in a regal gesture for time, and then starts pacing back and forth and talking out loud to herself.

"Stone giant. Capable of enduring pain and inflicting it in turn," she's not, like, muttering either. This is completely normal talking volume and she's got great projection, like a stage actor. "Strangely cold. Greeted by an entity that is not a god and not performing proper courtly greeting rituals. Refuses to give it's name. Has some sort of... facial expression that indicates fear or panic, and punctuates certain sentences with a shockingly high energy discharge of breath..."

Her eyes go wide. She spins about, and points at Mila dramatically with an outstretched finger.

"I know where I am!" declares Jasper with a brilliant smile on her face. "I am in the Consuming Hells, and you are a devil!"

Chuubo's GMD: Love and Shattered Alchemy

Jasper stares at you. Her eyes are pits of bottomless gold, all seeing, all-knowing. Her nose is crinkled in concentration. She watches for a long moment and then squares her shoulders in resolution - and gives a soul-crackingly cute sneeze in response.

"I am Jasper Inkra -" tsink! She frowns and looks at her nose a little cross-eyed. "Did I do that right?" she murmured to herself before continuing with the stately presence of a Roman orator, one hand dramatically raised, the other folded behind her back. "- and I am honoured to," tsink! "greet you. I am The Sun. Are you the" tsink! "god of these lands?"

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

"Shut up. Who said we're arguing?" said Dominus. "You're just projecting - you're-you're-you're-" is she drunk? "I'm as free as a bird. Do you remember freedom, America? Huh?" she's drifted up onto stage just in time to be dramatically backlit as Errant yeets Comstar directly into the centre of her exploding device at @Sarahphim's direction. There is a flash of energy and a shriek as Comstar is sent on a magical journey to the farthest distances of the cosmos. Legend says that you can watch her stream to this very day, performing puppet shows in a backwater Felorian town for the entertainment of small children.

"That's right, freedom," said Dominus, taking the stage, accepting a microphone from a waiting goon. "You know about that, right? Just you, your motorbike, your company of pro-government terrorists and the open road? Having a goal and working towards it every day? Guys, keep her busy a sec," Errant, you suddenly have a whole bunch more targets as the cast of a dozen action movies swarms you all at once. "You know? And then suddenly people - rude people - keep bringing up your girlfriend and it's like - and it's like, she's trying to change you, but not like, nagging but just by being like insidious and cute and shit and then one day you wake up and you realize that your priorities are all upside down and you're having second thoughts about blowing up the Golden Gate Bridge? Fuck that! It's been my dream since I was five to blow up the Golden Gate Bridge! And I'm going to do it! Because that's what freedom means!" is she crying? "Anyway do you know what the divorce rate is like? It's crazy! How do you know anything would last, that's all I'm saying, you give up your freedom and what do you get? Why do people want to put labels on everything anyway? You know what you can trust? Your own two fists and hard cash. That's all I'm saying. Anyway, it's not like any of this means anything to me, like, I'm a total badass. I'm going to prove how little it means, it's all just about money anyway. @Sarahphim's like the original material girl, you should learn something from her, and from me, when I marry her just to steal her money and prove that marriage is just, like, a contract man. Thank you for listening."

At this point she finally gets around to pointing a gun at you, @Sarahphim. "Shut up. Sign the thing."

Brainstorm!

At no point during this has Dominus loosened that chain from around your neck. You're choking, gagging, vision blurring -

And then your vision is filled with robot lenses - one set familiar, one set the glowing red multiplex eyes of a Martian Kingbot.

"We should help him," said Prometheus.
"Sometimes humans like being choked," said Bode.
"Why?" said Prometheus.
"The adrenaline hit can assist in coupling." said Bode.
"That seems evolutionarily suboptimal," said Prometheus.
"Nevertheless," said Bode. "I ordinarily wouldn't bring it up, but this is a wedding, which is itself an elaborate coupling ritual and what are called 'meme weddings' are a human trend these days."
"I see," said Prometheus. "So we shouldn't help him?"
"We should ask him first," said Bode. "We don't want to make it weird."

The robot lenses swivel down to you as you gasp on the edge of consciousness.

"Would you like us to help you?" said Prometheus. "Or is this a sex thing?"

Chuubo's GMD: Love and Shattered Alchemy

Jasper feels empty.

Her face hurts. Her chest hurts. Her stomach hurts. Hurts. What a concept! Like there are mountain ridges inside her that she grinds against, like she's swallowed the void of space as it continues to expand in all directions, like the dying days of a star as it puffs red and bloated, burning toxic fuel. Hurts. She's never felt anything like this before. It's... ah!

Ah. She understands.

She steps back from the lighthouse. She bows, fist in palm. "I accept this punishment," she said. "I will carry this pain as penance. Thank you for the curse you have bestowed upon me." She smiles through the tears. She can do this. She can take on his burden. She is glad for the opportunity - she feels proud, even! She'd do this even if she wasn't being punished, just think, removing this suffering from the world!

She turns about like a fire in autumn and smiles at the newcomer through tear-soaked joy. What other sorrows can she burn away?

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

The rain beats down.

Adila has been here before.

She's holding Princess Hornet's hand still but it's cold and limp and it feels like they couldn't be further apart. I don't know the way home. She's watching a heart freeze over, a despair that has been growing for years and years beneath a mask that's finally slipped. There's no place for me in Hyperborea anyway. She didn't know - nobody knew, nobody cared to look. There is something wrong with me for wanting what I can't have. And worst of all, Princess Hornet doesn't even have a little light to guide her through the storm. This is how it was always going to happen.

Her vision flashes with blinding silver.

BE HER LIGHT.

Their fingers had been drifting apart - so close to being lost. And then Adila's grip tightens, full of determination.

+I have been a terrible friend,+ thought Adila. +I've always been so lost in my own head and my own problems that I haven't noticed anyone around me. I wanted friends so badly while somehow not ever seeing that I was blessed enough to have a best friend besides me all along. I've been selfish, Princess Hornet, and distant, and mean - and the worst of all the princesses. I thought I had a duty and that meant putting rules above people...+

She finally picks the silver Watch badge off her cloak. She holds it for a second, looking at it - all the emotions, the ambitions, the striving for a piece of metal that didn't mean anything any more. She held it like she might crush it - but instead she gently lowered it down and put it in Princess Hornet's other hand.

+I don't know what I'm going to do now that I'm free of it all. But I know that I want to be a better friend to you, if you can forgive me.+

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

You already knew how Comstar was going to react, Errant. The first time you met her she let you punch her in the face because she was in love with the visuals of the shot. This is a person with absolutely no survival instinct. Some part of her brain has noted the extremely specific threat, reported it and cc'd the secretary, but it's been automatically sorted into the same mailbox as the Building Services weekly reminders and all staff updates.

"Then a demonstration of my seriousness is in order!" Comstar said. "Fire the device!"

The energy cannon howls to life, crackling cosmic pink, laser rays directed towards the audience. Comstar's minions are standing by between you and the lady herself. There's no way she can possibly lose.

*

Victor!

You've just gotten back into your seat when you are dragged out of it by a chain thrown around your neck by a lady on a motorcycle wearing aviator sunglasses and a slashed open leather biker jacket. Dominus has a new look and it's as muscular and deadly as a snake. She pulls you close as she parks her bike at the stairs leading up to the altar, giving you a full taste of her hypnotic perfume. Your emotions, already compromised by the day, begin to spiral and swim. "Hey, Brainstorm," she said, voice crack adding a fascinating edge of cuteness to all of the danger signs. "You want to help me, don't you?"

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

Adila sits for a moment and watches it work. It's got a different energy when viewed without adrenaline. The churning machinery, the multiple looping slides, the prefabricated market-stalls dropped in afterwards... When she'd first seen it she'd thought it was the most terrible thing to be unleashed on the Bazaar, but that seems almost quaint now. The new Labyzaar could actually use something like this. Actually...

+I think I understand... I know a thing or two about trying to make friends by helping people,+ thought Adila. +I thought that if I could just be the best Watcher of all the Watchers, and that was how I'd earn my title of princess. I wanted to be useful so badly... and then I got too big and started causing more problems than I solved. And then I wasn't useful any more, and...+ she wanted to trail off into a vague gesture but Hornet didn't actually know - and leaving it as inference wasn't fair to her. +I was asked to leave. And then, kind of... we all were.+

Adila turned her head to look down at Hornet. +Gratitude isn't the same as friendship, Princess Hornet.+