2746/World of Demons

World of Demons
Date of Scene:	06 August 2015
Location:	Earth-490 <49>
Synopsis:	People meet a cactus, fight some harpies, and win an island.
Cast of Characters:	Kirito, Kotone Yamakawa, 342, 470, 650, Starbound Flotilla, 756

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Eiko (650) has posed:
    Tokyo, Japan, Earth (designated #490). The coordinates given by one Kono Eiko lead to the flat-topped roof of an ordinary office building. While still highly urban, this is outside the heartland, leaving the streets only moderately crowded and the buildings closer to four stories than eight. The raw coordinates don't provide any information on a clandestine route, so whether and how much attention to attract is up to each responder. The office building is occupied, and the occupants have no idea about the pair on the roof, but that's otherwise an easy, obvious way up.

    The time is late afternoon, but the summer sun's still shining high and bright, and the evening rush won't come for a bit longer.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Parking in Tokyo is kind of a pain, even for someone with just a mtorcycle. Eventually, Shin finds a place to park the slightly scratched up vehicle and feeds a whole bunch of yen coins into a parking meter before leaving it there for a bit. He takes his backpack off the bike to head to the rendevous point.

    "Oh, cool, perfect. Meeting on a rooftop. Right in line with this sort of thing. Great location," Shin says, nodding his head, "Shin Tokuyama, Combat Vagrant. Nice to meet you."

Eiko (650) has posed:
    Anyone with that kind of sixth sense can tell that George's warning was correct. On entering the city, there is that 'being watched' feeling, arriving pretty quickly and staying there at least as far as getting to the meeting point. Once there, it becomes less clear whether there are watchers in addition to the blonde girl at a conversational distance from Eiko. Both are standing a wary distance from a point in space that, possibly about the size of a baseball, is burning and wavering in utter silence. You could almost think it's just a trick of the eyes, but moving around will confirm that it definitely occupies a point in space, several feet of the roof and close to the building's center.

    Eiko's carrying a backpack and a sheathed katana. Along with the sleeveless shirt, it's standard fare, and apart from the sword there's nothing too remarkable about that. The blonde, though--red eyes, oversized newsboy cap, black sweater--there's a dozen things off about her, especially in a racially homogenous Japan, and that's without getting to the six-foot-long futuristically-styled beam cannon butted to the ground and leaning against her shoulder. She doesn't say anything, just watches. Eiko's the one to wave and animatedly greet the group.

    "Heya! Heyyy. Eiko here. And this is, uh... Sika? Yeah. She's with the Watchers. I'm not clear on the rest, but seems like somebody did that," a thumb is jerked toward the spatial anomaly, "and now they're keeping an eye on it."

Pinkie (470) has posed:
    Bright sunny day on another world, with promise of loot and plunder?
    This sounds like a great opportunity to get out of the perpetual murk, gloom, and dreary unhappy and friendless world of Equestria. And it looks like somewhere along the way.
    Stepping right out from behind the Combat Vagrant, as though she were a very part of his shadow, is a slender woman in a pink track suit. With her pink hair done up in a curly pony tail and a flit of loppy ears, Pinkie Pie emerges, pink porcelain mask etched in a permanent happy smile.
    "I'm here! Believe it or not!" Blurted as Pinkie throws herself into her believed approximation of a dramatic and cool ninja pose.
    "Ninja Assassin Hero of Justice, Pinkie Pie has arrived!" ...
    "Nin nin nin!"
    She's totally legit.

Kirito has posed:
    Hearing that a Syndicate member needs help with some dangerous stuff, Kirito - newly reborn into his Spriggan self, thank god - has come to help.

    He simply flies in low across the skyline onto the meeting roof, carried by translucent black fairy wings. The Black Swordsman lands near Eiko... and once he does those wings vanish into nothingness. "I heard you needed help? The name's Kirito, Spriggan swordsman."

    He ends up taking a few moments to examine the others gathering, but finally puts a hand on his sword. He doesn't draw it though. Instead he forces that hand away from.

    "Something's up in this place. That feeling... of being watched..."

    He's tired of it, too. If he could just pin down where it was coming from!

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    The FLOTILLA come into orbit somewhere around Earth-409.

    This means they can beam onto its surface fairly simply. It might seem like the building was struck by freak lightning, but six -- or possibly eight? -- teleportation beams strike the surface!

    The STARBOUND FLOTILLA are here, in their standard Durasteel exploration equipment! Moonfin, the fishman, is in elaborate full-body durasteel armor that looks like a powered cross between a diving suit and a samurai's armor, glowing cyan at the faceplate. Biteblade, the humanoid plant, is in durasteel plating with elaborately carved wood and bone ornaments over glowing powered components that glow an intense green. Pavo the bird-girl wears a pirate-aesthetic set of mesoamerican-style armor, with yellow bands of energized fabric linking the pieces and powering them. Albert the monkey-man is wearing elaborate dystopian commando armor reconstructed with a 'rebel spy' aesthetic: A sleeker faceplate, a slimmer form, and a more chaotic design that integrates thin, resilient plates of durasteel, and lines of bright white. George (just plain human) wears a set of futuristic EVA-combat and exploration armor in a suit that glows a gentle red at the faceplate. Seft, the robotic Flotilla member, is wearing full-on medieval knight armor with a soft energized blue glow below the plates on her body, and especially around the eyes. Each has a heavy industrial-yellow two-pronged plasma-cutter-like tool strapped to their side, a Matter Manipulator.

    They may have had Nozomi and her own companion in on that too! They immediately approach Eiko, intending to speak casually...

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin has a lot to cover here. The first order of business is to wave to Pinkie, mostly because she was totally the crazy bard that was at his protagonist debut! So he does just that, "Yo! Pinkie! Good to see you again!" Sometimes a story needs a Bard-Who-Isn't, and Pinkie fills that nicely.
    After that, he turns skyward and waves upwards, "Yoooo! Crazy shadow observers! What'p? I'm Shin! I use Martial Arts! I have a mysterious backstory featuring a non-descript Sensei! Please tailor your meddling accordingly!" George said they were up there, so he might as well greet them.
    Then back to Eiko and Sika, "Right. Crazy anomaly. I'm here to help, though my skills are kinda limited to kung fu related things, mostly. I have some other stuff."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Polite. It's good to see you again, Eiko. I hope we can help you more." Seft says, giving a very gracious sort of greeting, but that doesn't last long. She investigates the anomaly almost immediately, drawing a heavy industrial sensor array from her Matter Manipulator. "Concerned. The previous anomalies were localized to a specific structure, but this appears distinct. Will it function as the previous anomalies did?" She gestures with her own talisman, briefly, at the pair.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa was here suited up in her light stealth armour and seemed ready. How she'd get her? She beamsed in much like the Flotilla did save her beam was teal in colour. She takes a note to look over Kirito for a moment. She nods to Kirito noting.

"We likely are given what's going on here."

She takes note of the others nbodding a bit and greeting. "Eiko, good to see you."

She looks to Shin and Pinky whom she doesn't have much experiance with.

"Hello to you as well."

She also looks over to Seft for a moment nodding to her.

"Your right this one's different."

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    This place still carries some sense of hesitation for Nozomi. General Matsumoto was not happy about her coming out here to help some random unaffiliated person. But at the same time, she's gotten involved; she feels responsible for what happens. She finds herself unable to just stop caring. So she finds herself heading out to Eiko's world again, but not in any kind of transport from her homeworld, or even a Union shuttle. Those things have a chance of getting her direct boss, Commander Kuroyama, in trouble.

    So she's here on a Flotilla ride. Despite their strange and varied nature, she at least knows the Flotilla crew is safe.

    Of course, as they disembark, they're treated to a few people who aren't so assuredly nonthreatening. "Aah... n-nice to meet you, Sika," Nozomi mumbles, edging her way towards Kirito and sort of sidling behind him a bit. Sika is scary, and so is Pinkie. "I'm... Nozomi. Nozomi Houken." Taiga simply ambles right up to Sika, ears tilted forward, as if sniffing at her... which isn't really far from te truth. He's giving her a sweep with his magical sensors. "Hello." The anomaly can wait. New, possibly magical person first.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    George nudges Kirito's elbow with his own. "Take it easy, kid." He says, casually. "You're feeling that because we're being watched by an ambiguous but mostly not-menacing shadow organization of a mysterious nature, s'all cool." Then he laughs at his own joke and does a quick wink and fingergun at Sika. "Nice seein' ya. Sweet gun there, kiddo. Why's Eiko runnin' around with literally just a sword again? I feel like there's some inconsistencies."

Eiko (650) has posed:
    Eiko waves it off. To Kirito, "Don't worry about it. These guys are just too paranoid to let people in the sandbox without stalking 'em. They probably won't do anything, even to lend a hand." Sika says nothing to this, even when it looks like Eiko's intentionally baiting her. Totally expressionless, Sika's face shows about as much animation as Pinkie's.

    Shin and Pinkie will each get an offered handshake from Eiko just before the Flotilla show up, and she waves with appropriate drama for the entrance. "Yo. Hey, you got some new equipment? Nice. And negative to that, Seft. I think it's some new kinda thing."

    Sika finally says something, and it's to the robotic crew member. "The rogue intended the door to open without consuming the area. The portal may function without Convergence." That was kind of an explanation, maybe? She doesn't seem inclined to say more, unprompted. Definitely a Capital Letter on that last word, you could hear it clearly.

    Shin gets no answers from the heavens, but that would be just like mysterious meddlers, to not even acknowledge they heard your introduction. Kotone gets a nod and a "Hiya," from Eiko. Nozomi gets Sika's attention, a blank pause just long enough to be awkward, and then a "Hello." She also gets an endless stare afterward, or at least until something distracting happens.

    On cue, the anomaly starts growing. It's up to basketball-size by the time Eiko looks over. Visually impressive, there's a bit of wind, but still no sound at all, apart from that. "Huh."

Pinkie (470) has posed:
    The handshake from Eiko is met! And returned with a firm squeeze. And a loud BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ-ZAK!
    Briefly, the garishly-dressed clown's skeleton becomes visible as her whole body racks with a terrible electric shock. It lasts for a few seconds before a smoldering Pinke releases Eiko's hand, smoke wafting from her ears, and a small croaked cough to follow as she holds up her hand and shows the smoldering hand buzzer attached to her glove.
    "Wh-whoopsie. Forgot I had that on."
    She seems fine though, ripping off her orange track-suit and tossing it away, pink jester outfit wholly and completely un-burned beneath, a quick pass of a rag cleans up her mask, too, and she's as good as new. "HI AGAIN!"
    That's to Shin. Before she announced an all too important fact: "I have no idea what convergence is!"

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Well that explain sssomething to sssomeone, but not to Floran." Biteblade says, looking to poke at the borders of the spherical shape. "Floran guessss, that mean not 'overwrite' local ssspace and ssspatial content. We ssstill bussst into, kill everyone, break portal-maker? Or no?" The leafy plantgirl seems to be putting a lot of thought into this, doing her best to ignore her leaves rustling in the wind! She answers Pinkie! "Floran think that word meansss, think where other reality overwritesss local ssspace violently. Isss converging of other reality on thisss reality, maybe?"

Kirito has posed:
    "'mostly-not.'" Kirito echoes, making a face at the same time. Yeah he's not so happy about that, but what's he gonna do just now? "What's wrong with just using a sword? Anyways... let's get on the same page. What's the mission? All I heard is help was needed and there might be demons."

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin shakes Eiko's hand firmly and nods his head, "Good to meet you," He says before taking out a small book and writing down her name in it: 'Eiko - Other Story's Protagonist'. He then snaps the book shut and nods his head, putting it away.
    Shin rubs his hands together, "So it's my first time at this rodeo, but I'm definitely down to help out. And deal with some Convergences or whatever," He adds, cracking his knuckles as he rolls his finger into his hand.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "It's an invitation." Moonfin says. "Or perhaps a trap, but they are one and the same. A gate that functions without harm to this reality. Our readings are the knock upon the door, and the lacking harm when there could be as much is a beckoning." The samurai-armored man seems to contemplatively approach the anomaly. He begins activating his BLINK teleport tech, but doesn't directly teleport himself. Instead, he casts its energy and superspatial interface towards the growing anomaly. He wants to see if the magical mechanisms seek out a response, to determine if whatever is forming this anomaly wants people to go through without causing harm to the surroundings.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Still hiding behind Kirito to a degree, Nozomi fidgets under that piercing stare from Sika... until the anomaly grows. "U-um... it's... it's growing." Congratulations, Kirito, you are now absolutely Designated Meat Shield. Because that weird anomaly does not reassure the poor girl in the least. Taiga, meanwhile, seems as if he'd be perfectly willing to engage in a staring contest with Sika on Nozomi's behalf, but the change in the anomaly puts that notion to rest rather quickly. Instead, he pads over and takes a seat beside Kirito, where he can more easily protect Nozomi, and angles his ears and nose towards the strange hole in space itself. It's getting a much more thorough scan, now that he's reassured himself about the new person.

Eiko (650) has posed:
    Sika seems less inclined to answer George's question, though Eiko does say, as soon as she's done starting at Pinkie, "Hey, I got a gun! It shoots plasma. S'nice. Didn't work on that super-future-robot thingy that came after me, though. Man, that was so disappointing. Surprise equipment upgades aren't supposed to--"

    She cuts off to look again at he anomaly. It's both growing and thinning, and looks more like a bizarrely screwed-up water tension effect than a white-hot fire. The center-point is the same, but now the bottom edge has almost touched the rooftop. When it does, even the flashing ripples freeze in place. Another moment, and it begins to cave inward at the sides, until the sphere has reduced itself to just a standing ring.

    "Well, that's certainly... something." Eiko gets that out, before looking between all the people who could use an explanation at this point. To some extent, herself included. "Eh."

    "The rogue has already been apprehended," Sika says to Biteblade, "but not their accomplice on the Otherside." More Capital Letters.

    "Yeah, so, I guess we can go through it now. It is starting to look door-ish." Eiko starts edging around to get a look through the ring, but it's like a film of water with a cloud just past. Nothing much is distinguishable through it. Moonfin's readings will show that it's quickly stabilizing, and at least doesn't appear to be anything more than a connection between two spaces. If there's anything else going on, it's too subtle to read from here.

    "It should now be navigable." Sika picks up her beam cannon, and walks over to where she can face directly into the circular gateway.

    Eiko gives a short laugh. "Anybody wanna go first? I'm not exactly wearing the heavy armor this trip, but if no one else does..."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is carrying a bit more firepower than her last trip here, she's got several weapons on her person from the looks of things. She had learned her lesson from the looks of things. She now makes to fall in with Seft and looks over to the Glitch for a moment with a bit of a smile. She seems to wonder about Kirito but his name's popped up before and he's got some serious connections to Arthur, he should not be a problem to work with, right?

"Seft you ready for this?"

She notices Nozomi is falling in with Kirito, and she seems to approve of the idea.

"If that's the case Eiko we best get moving, as for going in first? I might as well."

With that Kotone cameo actives and she heads on in.

Kirito has posed:
    With no real information apparently coming besides crossing a portal, and with a fidgety young woman depending on her, Kirito does the natural thing. She shifts his stance slightly. He draws one of his swords - both of which are black and about the same length, but the one he draws is from the right scabbard, one bearing a white wyvern emblem. The sigil of 'Liz's Smithery' for those in the know.

    "Looks like this one's by the seat of our pants. Stick close!" He's not sure WHAT's going to happen, but if he's playing tank for someone, he'll wait and see what this portal ends up meaning...

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin only knows like... one person here, more or less, and it's Pinkie. So he sticks relatively close to her as things get moving. The others seem to know eachother better, but that's probably his own fault for coming into the narrative partway. He adjusts his backpack on his back and then moves to take a few steps towards the anomaly.
    He looks over to Pinkie and says, "So. Ninja Assassin Hero of Justice? What's the story there?"

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Uneasy. I hope so." Seft replies to Kotone, slipping her sensor array away and drawing her Power Battleaxe.
    "Aye, don't ye split from yer crew." Pavo mutters to Kirito, drawing her Power Cutlass. Seft and Pavo are the first to go through; Albert, equipping a heavy grenade launcher, is shortly after. The trio will be the vanguard for the Core Fleet captains! They're prepared to deal with hostility, but they've followed Moonfin's advice, they're also prepared for the possibility of something more unusually peaceful.

Pinkie (470) has posed:
    Pinkie is fine! No worries! Nothing wrong! Not even sizzling anymore! But the Floran explains exactly what the pink party-pony-person was bewildered about, and that gets a rapid and head bobbing nod. "Ooooooh so it's like a place that isn't a place but is a place, places itself over a place in a place."
    Yeah that's about the gist of it.
    Pinkie, however, opts to not go in first.
    She slinks back behind Shin and... Just disappears.
    "I'm still here! Shhh. I'll just be a surprise in case of STUFF."
    There's silence for a beat before she replies to Shin: "I HAVE NO CLUE! Also try not to move too suddenly and I'll shadow you. ... Heehee. Shadow. Get it? GET IT?"

Eiko (650) has posed:
    Eiko isn't too far behind Kotone. Sika doesn't start until everyone else has moved up.

    Even up close, it doesn't look like there's anything through but the sky.

    On stepping through, one finds that that is, in fact, a sky. It is a sky through which the explorer is now falling, wind and cloud whipping past, the speed uncertain without any frame of reference. This does give a sense of 'down,' which turns out to not be precisely the same as the 'down' on the other side. It's closer to what was 'forward.'

    The unobstructed view in all directions reveals much more once the cloud thins, which it does suddenly enough for the sunlight to glare. Falling (forward) down, the sun is (behind-and-down) up-and-West, while the clearest view of continent is not straight down, but at a steep angle (up) to the East, and you could probably hurt yourself thinking about it to hard. Gravity is not behaving to spec. The acceleration isn't even constant, but slowing and ebbing.

    The tilted(?) continent could certainly be interesting to describe for several more paragraphs, especially with so much of it seeming to consist of tall, black iron constructions and far-distant lights and motion, but the more immediate sight is a field of broken rocks, moving and slowly tumbling, some forming what are probably orbits around others. As soon as anyone gets close to one, the tug of gravity can be felt. Even mounds of dirty mere yards across exert a barely-noticeable pull.

    Eiko was not screaming anything intelligible as she went through, which spares everyone most of the sound of her cursing as she plummets. When she finally does get anything out, it's "Grab something!" Too bad she has no way of maneuvering effectively in freefall. If nothing else, she'll have to wait until she's actually on a collision course with something, and strike it to move herself.

    There is a fairly large asteroid-island ahead. Still just rock and dirt--mostly dirt--but it's a point of reference. It's also more or less in the course of everyone that went through the portal, though hitting it without slowing down first might hurt a bit.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Huh." George says, watching a holo-display as it relays data back from his crew. "Watch out on that first step." He asides in a humorous tone to those who have stayed behind for a moment.

Kirito has posed:
    Kirito does step through after a few others do. Likely when Nozomi's ready. And his reaction is to flail around at the sky for a few moments before deploying his wings. There's a sun, so he can fly no problem!

    But below him EIKO is tumbling. He goes full DIVE after her, hoping to catch her and slow her fall.

    He'll likely try to snag Nozomi too if she steps through too!

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Alright, well, hang on to my shadow tight. This might be a bumpy ride," Shin says to Pinkie as he heads towards the portal. He'd been intending to hang around with her, but now she's gone and decided to become his shadow. This puts the responsibility back on him for setting the pace of it all. Adjusting the backpack on his back once again, he takes off towards the portal and hops in.
    Moments later, he finds himself falling out onto an open sky. He tumbles in the air for a few moments before righting himself with a faint, "Wooooah!" Sort of noise. He sort of flounders in the air for a few moments before he abruptly decides to make due with what he can in turns of 'surviving a freefall'.
    As he accelerates towards the ground, a red energy starts to surround him. He'd already seen a few people fly by projecting their ki in alien ways and that is absolutely... not what he is doing. Instead, he hits the ground full force and tries to make it buckle under him from the impact, cratering around the spot where he lands to cushion his fall and slow him down.
    This is only... slightly successful, as evidenced by the fact that while he's calmly adjusting his tie and suit jacket, he's also limping more than a little as he steps out of the crater. He doesn't say much about the pain, but an impact like that definitely did some damage.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Avast, ye sky dogs, hold tight and stick together!" She calls out to her companions. Her long coat flares out in a sudden rush of brilliant yellow light. "YE GOT 'EM, BOY?" She calls out, up to Kirito. She has her own people to focus on! Diving quickly, she scans for Kotone. "LASS, TURN OFF YER INVISIBILITY!" She calls out, and then, assuming Kotone does, she dives! She'll go to catch the girl in one arm, and snag Albert in the other. She's gotta focus on Flotilla people to save! And once she's gotten that, she'll activate her AVIAN ARMOR TECH, allowing her to begin a rocket-guided glide that lets her slingshot around a few of those heavy rocks before going for the ground a bit more non-lethally slowly. She'll probably try to land somewhere near Shin, or any place that looks like it's meant more specifically for landing.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    There is only one thing Nozomi can really say after stepping through.

    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

    Taiga seems to have little issue with taking the hop through, but as soon as Nozomi's on the other side, a startled shriek from the intial fall becomes an alarmed yell when the falling doesn't stop from getting faster. Eiko does not have to tell Nozomi to grab something, and Kirito does not have time to snag her; the instant he's in reach, she is clinging to Kirito as if her life depended on it. Which, as far as she can tell, it does. She might not even remember to let go once they reach the floating chunks of rock.

Pinkie (470) has posed:
    One hand pokes out of Shin's shadow. It's a white gloved thumbs up, when told to hold on, and then when he strps through--
    "AWAWAWAWA!"
    It must be a rough ride. But Pinkie makes do, unitil the landing.
    From within Shin's shadow there's a CRASH, like the sound of saucepans being dropped, and a rattling clatter. "Owie." Muffled as a brightly colored ball rolls out of the crater. Shin's probably trailing colored scarves like toilet paper stuck on the bottom of a shoe, and playing cards go everywhere.
    "I'm okay!"
    ...
    "I broke my rubber chicken though. RIP rubber chicken."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is well for all her boldness wary given how things have been, yet? Someone had to go in first. What was not not expecting ws the contient being in such a state. She does have the presence of mind to turn off her cameo however as Pavo calls out. She does have the sense to also use her techs to slow her own fall to hopefully let PAvo catch her. Thouhg Kotone is far hevier than a organic humanoid of her size would be.

"I was not expecting anything like this!"

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Seft, meanwhile, also went through. Unfortunately, this caught Pavo's problematic tension with the robot, meaning she has to deal with this on her own. Since she shared an approximately equal trajectory with Shin, she wound up falling from the heavens alongside him. Her buzzing synthetic tone of fear is loud, and her eye-visor displays a simple but intense ">_<" emote on its screen while she desperately gets the few rocket-boosting energy jets on her suit to try to cusion her fall a little.

    She doesn't come out of it much better than Shin does; after landing in a heap with a heavy, metallic thunk. Parts of her body are sparking, as if bruised and bleeding. "Dazed. Rest in peace. The sacrifice will not be forgotten." She asides to Pinkie as she tries to stand. Then she makes a surprised synthetic "eek!" noise when her battleaxe plunges down from the heavens blade-first and plants in the ground right where her head was a moment ago. She'll pick that up as she stands, using it to prop herself up like a walking stick.

Kirito has posed:
    Kirito's wings are only powerful enough to carry one person, and that jsut barely. With Eiko AND Nozomi in tow, it's all he can do to just slow the fall down towards the nearest big asteroid. DOWN he goes. All he has to do is set people down really fast then he can ascend again and catch more, right?

    "Stagger those entrances! Don't be so impulsive--!" And now there's MORE people falling. He can only look up and down swiftly, hoping to land in time to snag MORE falling people now...

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    As soon as she's guided to a rock, Nozomi clings to it for dear life.

    Taiga sets down lazily a moment later, digging his claws in just enough to keep his place next to her.

Eiko (650) has posed:
    When Sika goes through, which she does without excitemen, she clutches her gun to her chest and moves as if on jets, though without the engine noise. The wind takes her cap, but she quickly snaps thumb and forefinger over the brim, then pushing it back down onto her head. She doesn't seem to be in much danger, otherwise. Her impact raises a lot of dust, bu she picks herself back up without fuss.

    "Hey, thanks!" Eiko has her sword in one hand, and grabs onto Kirito's arm with the other. That should be enough to slow her down. All the better if they get close enough to some of the other rocks to slow down, without hitting them.

    The ground does prove to be malleable enough to soften under Shin. It's a good thing there was more dirt than rock in there, though it would probably have at least been survivable either way--probably. Just not much fun.

    For people standing on the island, which from this perspective seems to have consistent gravity and to actually be an island, floating in the air at its own angle, there is definitely a city overhead. Huge, sprawling, though far enough off for even skyscrapers to just be massive constructions rather than dominating. It's not quite upside-down from here, but close to it. The first sign of life, flocks of birds, also seem to be off in that direction.

    The second sign of life comes after a rocky mound close to Shin's crater crumbles. Excavated via secondary shock, now unburied from the dirt and rock, is a large, potted cactus.

    "Hello!" So it says. "Are you the human representative party?" On closer inspection, there are depressions near the top that look kind of like a face, not that they move or anything. A few strings of Pinkie's scarves, caught by the wind, flutter down until they impale on the cactus' spines below the 'face,' wrapping and sticking there.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Ssso... Maybe rappel down? With grapplesss hook?"

    "Too short."

    "My teleportation technology is superior to any meager inconveniences that their poor arrangement of entrance could create."
    "Yeah, you and like nobody else."
    "Floran build retrieve elevator? Ssso can help friendsss get out too, if needsss it!"
    "You know what? I like that idea."

    The three remaining Starbounders start working on fashioning together a haphazardly-constructed elevator and tether system to slowly lower themselves through the portal more safely. They'll be a round or two, but they keep giant winching engines, miles-long heavy-duty carbon nanotube lifting tethers, and elevator parts on-hand for this sort of occasion.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "System report. Rebooting visual drivers." Seft's synthetic feminine monotone speaks up there as she looks at a potted cactus of all things, talking to them. For a moment, her eye visor is replaced with a 'processing' spinny, before she seems to squint at the cactus with a '=_=' emote. "Warning. A visual processing error occurred. Additional uncaught exception thrown while handling exception."

    There's a long pause before she seems to stop trying to resolve the visual confusion of the situation. "Polite. Greetings. We represent the reality to which a link was just established. Please stand by for additional arrivals." Her voice is a bit glitchy after that fall, stuttering and buzzing erratically. "Polite. Please clarify the nature of this current meeting."

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Yo," Shin says to the Avian when they set down next to him. He's still rocking a wicked limp, but seems to be taking a 'play through the pain' strategy to the aftermath of his landing. After all, girls are watching, so he has to look cool. Plus, mysterious narrative shadow organizations are watching, so he has to look double cool. There's a lot of effort he puts into managing his image.
    "Well! RIP Chicken, but as long as you're okay in there," Shin says as he looks at things falling out and trailing from his shadow, "Hey, try to clean up my shadow before you go, if you can. I can't clean it myself, so yeah, you know."
    "Dude, awesome, a cactus! Haha, so should we get right to the point?" He grins, "Oh oh! Do you want to stick to a single topic? Are you an enemy plant?" He's grinning like an idiot, "Sorry about the scarves, let me clean them up. Don't want this to be a sticking point in negotiations," He notes as he tries to remove the strings and fabric from the cactus.

Pinkie (470) has posed:
    RIP Rubber Chicken. But...
    That is... A cactus.
    From inside Shin's shadow Pinkie can be heard wihspering not very subtly at all: "... That's a catcus."
    Pause.
    It is here that Pinkie gives the most important and valuable expert opinion she can on the matter at hand, still whispering really loudly, like Keifer Sutherland in 24: "Nobody drink the juice."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Pavo will set Kotone down a heavy thump before landing. "Lass, ye best lose some weight." She says, panting as her pirately longcoat calms down its air maneuvering gear. "We have everyone survivin', mateys? Sound off if ye be dead!" That last part was probably sarcastic. Albert, meanwhile, is set down and moves to accompany Seft. He doesn't entirely understand why they are talking to a potted cactus, but his grumpy expression seems to indicate that he does not approve of talking to cactuses.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    That... is a talking cactus.

    Once she's sure she's not going to float or fall away, Nozomi slowly releases her death grip on the ground and pushes herself up to a kneeling position to get a better look around. That's about when a cactus talks to them, and she's left staring at it, blinking. That's... that's a cactus in a pot. And it's talking.

    Taiga simply turns and looks upward towards it, sweeping with its sensors. "We are perhaps a representative party, but I'm not sure that 'human' is a correct descriptor for this group of individuals."

Kirito has posed:
    MONSTER!

    Kirito's hand goes towards his sword on reflex even as Nozomi clings and cowers to sweet soil. His eyes are on the strange cactus. He again fights the reflex to draw his weapon. He turns then to Eiko, hoping she has an answer. He's strangely unbothered by a talking cactus-thing. All that creature gets is a slightly wide-eyed glanceover.

    So the Spriggan crouches near Nozomi. "You're looking really under-equipped for an adventure like this. Will you be alright?" He asks quietly.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is well hopefully in good hands for now as the party comes into the strange crazy landscape. She's trying to make sure they come in all ruight. She looks to Pavo and seems to be quite dismayed.

"I can't I'm afraid not anymore. I don't feel like hacking limbs off or being in a brian box unit."

She makes a bt of a face now and she looks about seeing the team had made it.

" Sorry about the entance and ... I think we need to get some better gear for situations like this."

Eiko (650) has posed:
    Eiko leaves Kirito to do more rescuing as needed, and spends only a few moments making sure she's in one piece before heading over and backing Seft up. "RIGHT. That's us." Have to make sure people don't think you're jumping into someone else's quest line. It could get all kinds of complicated. For Kirito, she unfortunately lacks further answers.

    "We have several topics to cover!" The cactus continues on excitedly. "And oh, no, I'm here to help." At the offer of assistance, "Oh, thanks, brother!" The cactus looks(?) happy. "These colors would look much better on someone with a darker complexion, I think. Not that they aren't nice on their own!" It almost manages to give the impression of waving arms through vocal tone alone.

    Sika still isn't saying anything, but she is watching. The cactus continues, "Oh, let me introduce myself. Please call me Code-tack! I represent the Merchant Cabal, and am here in response to your agent's request to open friendly relations. The Merchant Cabal is pleased to honor this request, and begin fulfilling all of your acquisition, delivery, transportation and construction needs!"

    On Code-tack's arm(?), an enormous flower suddenly sprouts and blooms, a rolled-up piece of paper then poking up through the blossom. "I have been given this initial contract for your perusal. Of course, accepting the contract is fully at your discretion, but this one is practically free!" The spines shimmer in the sunlight in Code-tack's excitement, before it responds to Taiga, "Oh, that's no problem, so long as you're the appropriate representatives. Do you have any further questions, or would you like some time to consider?"

    Taiga will find that Code-tack is, indeed, a magical creature of some kind, though it's not registering as anything too impressive.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Dude, okay, so I'm gonna just come out and say this:" Shin says, holding his hands out to the Code-tack as if to say 'I'm not here to insult you, but I have to say this'. He takes a deep breath and then says, "Setting aside the contract, the mysterious nature of your talking plant-ness, and the weird planet..."

    "Merchant Cabal? Really? /CABAL/?" He scowls a bit, "Did you guys have a meeting and try to like... find the most obliquely villainous name? Did Industrial Illuminati not roll off the tongue right? What about Stonemason Storekeeps? The Trader Templars?"

    "Merchant Guild sounds way more trustworthy, I'm just putting that out there," He concludes.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    "...I'll be fine," Nozomi murmurs to Kirito after a moment, ducking her head a little. "I... I'm here for Taiga, mostly... he won't show up, if I'm not. A-and in an emergency, we can transform..." Something in her voice makes it sound as if transforming is not a possibility she looks forward to. Taiga himself, satisfied that Code-tack is not some drastic threat to keep an eye on, turns and parks next to Nozomi.

    Nozomi herself uses the chance to stand up finally, brusing herself off carefully. She's not quite at the point of trusting gravity yet, but she'll at least give it the benefit of the doubt. More curious is that contract. "Ah... maybe we should actually read that? It's... it might be a magical contract, or... something..." Those are supposed to be dangerous, after all.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "FINALLY! PEOPLE WHO MAKE SENSE!" Pavo says, wringing her hands in the air a little. "Cactuses who make sense. Whatever!" She immediately strides forward. As the Core Fleet's resident GREEDY, MONEY-GRUBBING PIRATE, she probably knows enough to analyze an agreement for its probable points of risk and benefit; she'll immediately take Code-tack's offered contract, unroll it, and begin reading, letting anyone else who wants to take a look at it do so as well. "Ye spiny lil' baby-Floran, ye have yer answers soon enough! Not lettin' a chance for a deal slip by me."

Eiko (650) has posed:
    Code-tack sounds uncertain for the first time. To Shin, "Really?" Pause. Firmly, "I'll write a memo, and make sure my boss sees it."

    The contract is easily pulled from the flower holding it up. Pavo will find it written in no-doubt air-tight legalese, but the intent seems pretty straight forward. The MERCHANT CABAL makes several binding promises subject to mutually-agreed termination in exchange for the SIGNING PARTY performing certain services or supplying mutually-agreed monetary compensation. This contract is not especially long despite the language, and can be summarized almost entirely in three points.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Concerned. Our agent." Seft turns to look at Sika, giving her an incredulous '=_O' look. A member of the Watchers, most likely? Maybe the ones who apprehended that rogue. "Query. Code-tack, Sika, please clarify the following points of confusion: Identity of previously contacted human representitive, relation to previously identified 'rogue', any previous contact with the Merchant Cabal, relation of Merchant Cabal to any previously encountered instances of Convergence-initiating entities."

Kirito has posed:
    With Nozomi alright, Kirito rises and dusts himself off. "Oh, don't be like that! Come now, I've heard some weirder terms!" Granted, those were mostly in MMORPGs, but anything can happen in the Multiverse, right?

    Kirito's only saying that to lighten the mood, however. He's very interested in seeing the specifics of this contract. "We CAN see the details, Code-tack? By the way, I'm Kirito."

Eiko (650) has posed:
    "I can answer that." Eiko says to Seft. "The 'rogue' is the Watcher who set this up, which he wasn't supposed to do. But the rest figured it was better to go along with it and make contact after all once it was done, so I guess if that was his goal, he succeeded." She shrugs, glancing over to Nozomi and Kirito, but they seem alright paired up. Less so if Nozomi were on her own, a point Eiko files away. Then she looks up. "Hey. Those birds're getting closer." She's leaving the contract analysis to Pavo, though she'd sure like a look, herself.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Yeah, Cabal has some crazy sinister notions and sounds pretty villainous," Shin cautions to the Cactus. That said, he has no real more to contribute to this and takes out a cell phone as he begins to play the new android port of some game or another. He looks up a few moments later and starts glance around as he hears word of an advancing military force from somewhere, "Oh, is there a fight coming?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is trying to keep her footing more of less at the moment and she's still trying to get an idea about the cactus as it respond with talk about fashion? That was not what Kotone was expecting, at all. She wonders about the more serious matter of just who they are. So this Code-tack is with a group of merchants? She's starting to see what's going on here or thinks they do. They see a chance to do business of some sort.

"So your working for a Merchant Cabal? Shin's making a very good point here."

She looks to Pavo and does get the Pirate is now in her element.

"Well this is certainly in your area of skills Pavo."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Seft's eye-visor displays that 'processing' spinny again, then her eyes are back to normal. "Affirming. I understand. Current situation necessitates combat response." She sparks a bit, but seems in mostly fighting condition, drawing her power battleaxe into both hands after reaching into her Matter Manpulator and tossing a heavy-duty laser pistol off to Albert.

    "Can't promise these other landlubbers are gonna agree, but I'll sign it on behalf of the Starbound Flotilla Core Fleet." She quickly signs it with a futuristic signature ID system built into her Matter Manipulator and hands it off to whoever else wants to get in on this deal! And then she draws a Laser RCW rifle from it, exchanging it with Albert. This leaves Seft on melee, Albert with that rifle and backup grenade launcher, and Pavo with a pistol and a cutlass. From above, Moonfin and Biteblade are doing a controlled descent as well! They seem to have left George behind to finish the elevator system.

Eiko (650) has posed:
    Eiko sends a quizzical glance over to Sika, but the latter still isn't making a move. Eiko shrugs, then goes over to stand by Pavo and take her turn at the contract, with a pen from her backpack.

    "Understood!" Code-tacks says, "You are hereby acknowledged as appropriate representatives of the other world." The tone seems like it's trying to sound officious more than perfectly succeeding.

    It doesn't take too much waiting after this point before the birds come into sharper focus, at least for anyone with some kind of telescopic vision. (The rest will have to wait a bit longer.) The figures are somewhere between humanoid and avian. Two legs, two wings, roughly human height, which hadn't been visible from further off. They're wearing dark-colored harnesses with hanging odds and ends, but the equipment held in their talons is more concerning.

    The first of the harpies make their intentions known by raking the ground with highly inaccurate fire from their carried gatling cannons. The ones with smaller arms dive in screeching, from bayonet-equipped rifles to jagged, but industry-manufactured combat knives. There are plenty of all types to go around, and some, but scant, cover.

    "Ah... ah, sh--someone give me a boost! Throw me at that one!" Eiko points up not at any figure in the army, but at one of the large, floating rocks in orbit over the island. She's muttering something about sitting ducks.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    No sooner has she spoken than Eiko finds the back of her clothes just below the neck grabbed in Taiga's teeth. Scruff. "A moment."

    And then the cat leaps.

    Eiko will find herself deposited on the rock, and in the next instant, the robotiger has left again, leaping from there to a different rock, and then to a third. Moving quickly, making his position harder to track. Forcing them to focus on him as well as those on the island, split their attention, leave themselves vulnerable. Divide and conquer.

    Without warning, he suddenly leaps from one floating rock straight towards one of the harpies, claw-first, uttering a completely tiger-like growl of attack. Though he targets only one of the harpies physically, his shoulder cannons each pick a separate target to track, opening fire on the way in. He wasn't kidding - if he can hop from rock to rock like that, he really does have a mobility advantage here.

    Nozomi, meanwhile, dives for cover. There isn't much cover to be had. That means 'cowering on the ground' is about all she can do for now.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Aw. Aerial combat. I guess I have no choice but to use my secret move," Shin says as he adjusts his tie and fixes his jacket a bit. With a running of his fingers through his hair, he makes a mini-speech, "I only use this power-up during desparate times, or whenever I really feel like it. The best move in my arsenal," He snaps his fingers and a red aura appears around him.
    His stance shifts and he plants both feet on the ground, taking a power-up stance, "HOOOOOOOAH! COBRA KAI TIMES TEN!" There's an explosion of red aura around him, crackling with power and a whipping wind that surrounds the martial artist.
    Of course, that's all it does. He deemed the original version 'too dangerous and dumb', so he only kept the parts that looked cool and not the parts that overclocked his body. So other than just looking REALLY cool with his red aura and independant wind system, he's mostly just jump-kicking and trying to roundhouse harpies out of the air.

Kirito has posed:
    Kirito draws both of his blades as the monsters approach, fairy wings emerge from his back... and UP he goes with a single leap. He can't stray too far from Nozomi and so he doesn't, but he DOES execute a swift fly-by at rocket-like speeds, hoping to intimidate and shake up their formations. He loops around, ending up back where he started with both of his swords at the ready.

    It's all about seeing how these creatures REACT! ... Then responding appropriately.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    The Starbounders, for their own partleave the management of Eiko to TIGER. They launch into their tandem tactical maneuvering, working in their traditional perfect tandem with the other Flotilla members. First, of course, is Nozomi. Her need for cover is most urgent. Albert makes a dash for her, dropping his grenade launcher long enough to swipe his Matter Manipulator over her prone form, quickly generating a thick sheet of metallic prefabricated terrain for cover while also covering any stray bullets with his body. He then takes careful aim with his rifle and begins to fire on the harpies in bursts of laser fire, targeting those with the gatling guns. He will have to accept any attacks against him while using this more deliberate attack approach, and this means his grenade launcher stays at his feet.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Seft, meanwhile, moves to cover Kotone. She's a ranged combatant, so Seft will act as her tank while Albert acts as Nozomi's. Though still damaged from her fall, she can swipe that heavy Power Battleaxe at any of those melee foes that come near Kotone, primarily making it too dangerous to divebomb her. She also keeps a wireless link; any time Kotone needs to re-activate her cameoflage, Seft can disengage just enough to be ready to get back any time Kotone re-engages combat.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Biteblade is still descending from above. This time she had the chance to prepare extra energy for maneuvering, but ideally she won't need it. Biteblade intends to tackle one of the harpies out of the air on her way down. The idea is that their talons are the dangerous bit. If Biteblade can attack from above and behind, she can get right to... Plunging her teeth into its neck and biting out chunks to fuel her regeneration and extreme movement energy, yikes.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Pavo meets Biteblade somewhere in the middle. The Avian's superior air mobility comes in the form of titanic leaps, dozens of feet into the air, and tremendous rocket boosts. With a pistol in one hand and a cutlass in the other, she intends to bounce between and off of aerial combatants, slicing and blasting laserfire everywhere. Bird-person against bird-people! She tries to work in tandem with Shin especially, going to finish off anything that's dazed or damaged... As well as cutting away those harnesses and their valuable gear, if possible.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    And then there's Moonfin. He doesn't really do anything at all once he lands. He craters the island a bit as well, using his GROUND SMASH tech, then drawing his elegant Power Katana in a defensive stance. "First Sea Hylotl Style: Unbroken Shores." He means to wait to see who needs defending, even if that's himself, and quickly move to slice in a way that punishes proximity brutally.

Eiko (650) has posed:
    Eiko gets her boost, going "Woah, okay," along the way, but not quite complaining since it gets her where she wants to be. And once she does make it up, it's time to pull that REPCONN Model A17 out of her pack, lay flat, and start picking targets for bursts of coherent radiation. Things tend to turn green and melt when hit by this gun, which she counts as a bonus. "Hey SO, lessee, gatling cannons high, knives low, cover lacking." ZAP. "One cannon down, keep 'em coming." Screw moving targets in a rotating reference frame, though.

    Sika is well-equipped for long-ranged combat, judging by the beam cannon that's taller than she is. It's therefore unfortunate that she barely has time to fire it before half a dozen harpies slam into her, and two lift her off the island. There seems to be some stabbing in the process, though the site is frenetic and confused.

    While they have a lot of guns, the harpies seem horribly inaccurate at longer ranges, which puts the majority well within Taiga's range once they do become a focused threat. The harpies can hover, but they don't have the speed to deal with those lunges, nor can they dodge accurate fire in turn with any reliability.

    Enough of the army gets low that Shin has his fair share, too, though these are only the knife-and-pistol section. The bird-people aren't so sturdy that they can do much more than go 'crunch' with powered-up kicks slamming into them, and the ones that do survive getting hit still get knocked down.

    Kirito has pure choice of targets, and if he keeps up the flight power, can manage to keep out of reach of any counterattacks while still getting his swords in. The weapons they carry are very sturdy, but the soldiers themselves are unarmored and easily sliced.

    Up close, a few things are made clear. One, the harpies are all wearing masks of one kind or another, made of metal. Two, they're all extremely unhealthy-looking. None of these creatures have been feeding well. They scatter when they're charged, but show little organization, though also little in the way of surprise or fear. Once through, Kirito has several harpies with knives after him, and some of the stragglers with rifles, at their higher altitutde, are trying to snipe him out of the air. Shin has a diving bayonette charge to deal with. Nozomi's cover is being raked by gatling fire, even as it diminishes with each cannon-user knocked out. Taiga has concentrated small arms fire to deal with--though not skillfully used, the weaponry packs a surprising amount of punch compared to the Earth tech it resembles.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa gets things sorted out over the comm again. She now cloaks once more and is going to take more and take to waylaying he enemy she's got an array of grenades thanks to her various connections that should start to cause some havoc in the enemy ranks. She's daring about cloaked now leaving flash bangs here and there on timers which will go off an hopefully. She then starts to open up shots with her SMG trying to take shots on the enemy thankfully she's got some help from Seft to give her cover fire.

She's also now taking to snapping off more shots at the harpies trying to thin out their numbers.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin's got a few things in his repertoire, but it's mostly variations on punching, jumping, and kicking. So he'll stick in that field of specialty. He's pretty amazed by how frail the harpies are, or maybe his aura has a placebo effect, who knows? Either way, he continues to leap upwards and deliver heavy kicks, following up with the occasional punch or elbow to try to bring the harpies out of the sky.
    "You guys should just retreat now! This is a slaughter!" He shouts to one of the harpies as he jumps up towards it.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Nozomi is covered by Albert. Quite literally covered. She raises her head just enough to realize that she's being protected by a sheet of metallic terrain that wasn't there before, and then relaxes... a little. Hard to relax completely on a battlefield. Especially when /holy shit they're shooting at her cover/. Nozomi hunkers down again quickly.

    On the other hand, one person on this battlefield that CAN relax is Taiga. Taiga was quite literally built for this. Exterminating supernatural threats comes as easily to him as breathi... oh.

    Well, regardless, it comes easily! Leap and shred and fire cannons and dart and dodge and fire again. The harpies' shots glance off his armor, scoring it here and there with superficial damage but not managing any kind of proper hit. He's about to go for another, more solid attack, when the cannon girl suddenly gets carried off. His planned course changes in a fraction of a second, and on his next landing he begins darting and leaping across rocks in a completely different direction; as soon as he's up above the harpies trying to steal Sika away, he turns and hurls himself at them like a missile filled with magically-enhanced, super-sharp claws and teeth.

Kirito has posed:
    A glance over his shoulders before he stops tells Kirito that his buzzing of the gang didn't go without notice. And that their behavior is pretty savage. No attempts to communicate in a form he can understand as even being LANGUAGE, but using weapons does say something...

    it says he really doesn't want to kill these creatures. At the same time he has to protect Nozomi down there!

    "Uweh... doesn't she have ANY combat skills?!"

    He decides that all he can do is tank the rifle shots. They're coming from too many different angles! Each bullet shaves a good amount of HP off, but he just considers that a writeoff. Instead of worrying about THAT...

    "UUUUUROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAOOOOO!!!"

    Belting out the biggest, loudest, fiercest warcry he can imagine, Kirito focuses his battle fury at the knife-harpies and SWINGS in at them in a fury that he's hoping will be intimidating enough to unsettle them all.

    Then... IN he goes, swerving from one target to another. Using the flat of his blade to deliver high-speed beatdowns and slam wings from above and below, bouncing from one target and diving in for another with elbow strikes or kicks! Blunt damage is his goal... enough of it to just incapacitate the assailants!

Eiko (650) has posed:
    Kotone's guns work as well, though it takes either multiple hits or some good stopping power for firearms to work effectively here. At the least, her tactics make it very hard for any part of the enemy to focus on her, so she can keep working as she wishes, with Seft helping.

    Biteblade gets a harpy, and will probably not find the result too tasty. These things taste like they're full of poison, and there's barely any meat. They do, at least, die when you rip at them hard enough, and if their talons are full, they have to drop their weapons to fight back. Moonfin may get a few into melee combat, but will also have to deal with those that charge pistol-fire-first--or would, if they weren't targets for Kotone and Eiko, who's now shifted her aiming low to see who needs the support. Pavo makes sure that Shin's dazed targets don't get up again, and the two are well-situated to deal with those that come after them in turn.

    Incapacitating works as well as killing up in the air like this. At the least, knocking out their weapons drastically reduces the threat, and while some weapons get pulled in by the local gravity, others fall seemingly forever. Kirito should have enough HP to finish working, at least until things are under control.

    Taiga rescues Sika, scattering the harpies that had started to congregate on ripping her apart mid-air. The Watcher-girl descends more unevenly than the first time, and has more trouble picking herself up. She'd taken some damage before Taiga's entry, but at least the blood dripping off those blades isn't hers.

    (Reference now applicable: http://imgur.com/otZGaQT )

    Finally, enough damage is done. Whether it's because they were actually listening to Shin or otherwise, the harpies that are still alive begin their retreat, and they don't bother to grab their weapons on the way back up. That leaves a hell of a lot of dead behind, along with--

    "Hey, where'd the cactus go? And can anyone get me back down?" Eiko waves her plasma caster.

    Code-tack bursts from the ground in a shower of dust, then again ceases moving in any discernible way. It's still in its pot.

Eiko (650) has posed:
    "Hello!" Code-tack says, then pauses a moment, as if looking around--though it still doesn't move. "I've confirmed the completion of the contract terms. The Merchant--that is, our side will now fulfill our terms." Another pause, then the cheery voice becomes uncertain again. "Oh, but this littering is awful. Should I clean up the land before you accept it? It wasn't in this state when originally offered, but if you're fine with it, of course there's no problem." Cheerfully again, "It's up to you."

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Awww, yeah, baby. Special Effects budget comes through again," Shin says as he watches the harpies begin retreating. He adjusts his suit, while still glowing and rippling with a red aura and wind. Eventually, though, he deactivates the purely-for-show 'Aura Flare' with a flick of his hand through his hair for extra cool guy effect.
    As he dusts his hands off, he shrugs at the cactus, "I dunno, it's up to the people who signed your contract really, just don't become a thorn in their side or anything," He cautions, still sticking with cactus jokes.

Kirito has posed:
    Kirito finally lands back on the rockball everyone's so eager to claim near Nozomi. Any remaining stray shots... he manages to tank and parry to the best of his ability. Being a meat shield is at least a valid strategy for his case, despite having little armor! All leather gear, really. Light stuff...

    "Still hanging in there?! That was a bit tougher than I expected..."

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    "Are you seriously damaged?" Taiga asks Sika, seating himself casually on the ground once they touch down. Now that the danger is passed, he doesn't seem particularly fussed about getting Eiko back to the main island in a timely fashion.

    Nozomi finally peeks out from underneath her shelter, and gives Albert a grateful look, before standing up properly and giving Kirito a little nod. "I'm alright. I've... I've kinda gotten used to this sort of thing. I end up in danger a lot so that Taiga can help..."

Eiko (650) has posed:
    Sika looks up at Taiga. "The flight system is not field-repairable. Other damage is minor." With the Starbounders elevator functioning, that should be less of a problem for everyone. Sika looks down. Without changing tone, "I liked this shirt."

    From above, "No, no, don't clean up! We need to loot 'em first. THEN we can get rid of 'em. Damn, never had to deal with bodies when they invaded Earth. This is gonna get messy."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Albert quickly reclaims the material. He's taken a few bullets, but he still seems to be in fighting condition. He helps Nozomi to her feet, if she accepts it, but remains utterly silent in his interactions with her, except to ask, "Are you wounded?" As long as she answers in the negative, he'll immediately and wordlessly just get to work on collecting loot.

Kirito has posed:
    Kirito looks relieved when Nozomi reveals herself, seemingly unscathed. "But you keep jumping into the situations without any weapons or special skills? That's..." He hesitates to say crazy but the way he's gaping a bit makes it pretty obvious.

    "You should get some kind of armor or defensive capabilities besides just ducking for cover." Nope, he cannot believe she'd consider this course of action to be totally okay!

    The SAO survivor tendencies are just not going to permit it.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Pavo lands a corpse on the surface, sword planted in the body, with a heavy crunch. Laughing and swinging her blade, she shouts to the retreating harpies. "AYE! Ye best know who the top bird is now, get OUT!" She calls out, before soon turning back on Code-tack "I'll take this rock as is, /we'll/ handle the swabbin'!". And by cleaning she means TEARING ASS around the rock to take anything that fell. She'll distribute the loot fairly, of course, but she's not going to wait for anyone else to find it!

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is keeping with Seft as she make use of her firearms to bring down the monsters. She's not broken out the reaper rounds due to the accurasy issues then again maybe that wouldn't be a problem with how thick the hordes of enemies are. She keeps shooting and now she's lobs the odd grenade that she can into their tanks. Hopefully she can keep at it. She's also making use of her moblity as well pulling off some inhuman feats of agilityh before she even starts using the tech's buildinto her body.

But finally the creatures are now done soon with the batlte over Kotone now lowers her weapon and shoulders it.

"We should be quick about things before another wave shows up."

She's going to look into looting them once they have sorted out eveything else. She looks over to Seft for a moment

"Thanks for the support Seft and it seems Pavo's no longer got her feathers ruffled over these harpies."

Kotone will start picking through the bodies as well where she can to help. She'll worry about the little details on loot once everything else is done.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Hey guys! Gonna need a couple trips on this one, sorry. But we're ready to head up!" George calls from 'above', waving down, which is probably not quite above. He's had to use a few thrusters to maneuver the elevator down the cable correctly. Albert disengages from his scavenging work and begins attaching the elevator's base cables too. "Check it, kids, we can head back now! Just, for real, don't let this thing get shot. Let's set up some auto-defenses for this place in a while, in case they come back." The elevator itself is a welded-together glorified basket with slapdash holopanel controls and not a lot of material. But it works! It'll get a handful of people up and down at a time, in a minute or two.

Eiko (650) has posed:
    "Oh, alright." Code-tack says. "As you wish! The island is now yours, your claim recognized by all affiliated merchants. This next part is a free service. Please enjoy!"

    There's a soft rumbling before something obviously magical starts pushing dirt around. It's light, but in a clear pattern, spanning a good few hundred feet of the area. When it's done, there's a large, X-shaped print on the island, as viewed from above--looking like a well-beaten dirt road, with Code-tack just to the side of center. There's the unmistakeable sound of hammers and saws without apparant source as, piece-by-piece, a square, wooden shack forms around the cactus in the span of a few seconds, with one side having only a counter in place of a wall, for the potted plant to look(?) over. A hanging sign above it has its letters burned in while anyone who cares to watches: MERCHANT.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Taiga looks skyward briefly, curious. Then back to Sika. "There are times where I find myself grateful to have no need for clothing."

    "Ah, it's... it's alright," Nozomi replies to Kirito, with a little shake of her head. "I have Taiga. He'll protect me himself, and... well, if things get too dangerous for me or him, we can transform." She folds her hands in front of herself; there's that tone in her voice again that suggests transforming isn't the favored option. "...in Rampart Mode, we're much stronger than he is on his own."