453/The Lance of Kresnik - Resummon

The Lance of Kresnik - Resummon
Date of Scene:	19 August 2014
Location:	Rieze Maxia <RM>
Synopsis:	Jude and a few friends accompany Milla to her shrine to resummon the Four.
Cast of Characters:	Crys Gattz, 13, Arthur Lowell, 106, 307, 542
Tinyplot:	The Lance of Kresnik

---

Milla Maxwell (13) has posed:
    Nia Khera - The Sanctum of Maxwell.

    A village few even remember exists, hidden behind an area filled with all manners of hostile creatures. Fortunately there's no need to go there! At least not today. Nia Khera has its own Warp Gate, near the entrance of the village.

    Looking a bit backwater, it must not house more than a hundred people, if that. Villagers are dressed in simple clothes and seem rather happy here. The buildings are made out of wood, which grows directly out of the ground into complex patterns, shaped by the wind to form houses, mostly dome-shaped. A small, pure river flows through the center of the village.

    http://www.bandainamcogames.es/static/2013/03/20/nia-khera-sanctum-of-maxwell-1-jpg?d8316800e5ad57f166d4f8623436dccc96ac7bb1136377861213272acff1df404bc1beb35f4b5fa3bb&ab1e5967327e314917492bbcece9df20&adc640e360

    Near the back, two archways lead to two areas; one towards a forest, and one towards a peak, ceremonial stairs leading all the way up to a single house, just like all the others. The decorations on the way up and around the stairs seem to be offerings of various natures.

    Milla has invited her allies and others, ESPECIALLY JUDE, to come to Nia Khera. She believes she is able to resummon the Four here, and those sensitive to magic and spirits can tell this is a place of high purity, where magic would come easily and with great effect.

    As soon as Milla crosses the archway leading into the village, she is immediatly confronted by an old man, whose clothes seem just a tiny bit less peasant-y than the others here. She immediatly falls to his knees in evident worship. "Lord Maxwell! You have returned. How was your journey?"

    "It was unfortunate. The Temporal Stones are still safe, correct?" she asks, and the man nods his head. "That is good. Thank you."

Yuri Stinson (106) has posed:
    Yuri looks intensely uncomfortable at being around an intensely pure area. Not pained or inconvenience, just uneasy. This is mostly due to his inherent nature as a Creature of Darkness. He scuffs a foot on the ground and keeps his hands in his pockets, face faintly furrowed into a scowl while he walks around. He eventually sits himself down on one of the fences, "I hope your friend Don'tKillGuys McBuzzkill got real medical treatment, otherwise he might be dead. The stage three version of that disease he got involves all your organs exiting your body as a liquid."

Allyn (307) has posed:
A large wolf makes his way out of the waygate and glances around for a few moments and lifts his head to sniff the air. Then glances off in the distance beyond the village. Hmm, maybe there are tasty things to hunt out there, well, maybe he can go have a look sometime, always good to look for new hunting grounds. Even if its in a place he's never been before.

At least it doesn't seem to be too large of a city and he wanders around a little aimlessly for a few moments and then heads for the center, or wherever people might be.

Jude Mathis (542) has posed:
    Jude almost literally falls through the warpgate, stumbling a bit when he gets to the other side. He exhales and stands still for a moment once he's regained balance. 'I don't know if I'm ever going to get used to those things,' he mutters. But speaking of things he's having a hard time adjusting to, his eyes soon find Milla, who is literally being publicly worshipped like some sort of statue of Buddha. He just shakes his head. Even -they- seem to think she's Maxwell. I mean, he knows that she had the four. And said that she had Undine doing odd jobs for her. /And/ had an avatar of Sylph right freaking beside her. But still! His inquisitive nature, as well as his status as a 'honors student' (which is a prominent part of his title even if the first bit is more easily played for laughs), compel him to be curious and proddy.

    For now, though, he approaches Milla - mindful of the man who probably still has his eyes glued to the ground - and nods a hello. Riiight in time for him to hear Yuri's statement. More than insulting him, though, it just confuses that heck out of him. "McBuzzKill?" His head is tilted and he has the most adorably sincere look on his face. "I'm... assuming you're talking about me, but I have no idea what that second thing meant." The guy freaking smiles. Genuinely, too -- he's not being passive aggressive or anything. "So I guess I can't be upset!"

    He doesn't linger on that topic for a second, either. "Wow. You live here, Milla?" He focuses particularly on a building in front of them. "The architecture here is so... different. Is it because we're in Auj Oule?"

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz also falls through she looking to be rather dazed and it's also clear her eyepatch ahs come off she looks up and she's trying to pick it up. It would be also plain as day to see the ruined flesh about her empty eye socket. She bends over to recover the patch and reattach it.

"Your organs are going to melt if you don't get tht looked at..."

She notes before looking about and whistling.

"Damn..."

Milla Maxwell (13) has posed:
    "Well, different parts of the world use spirits differently to build their housing. Here, earth spirits and wind spirits work together to grow the buildings and give them this look. People enjoy a simple life and need nothing else," Milla tells Jude, before glancing to Yuri. His words also confuse her, but she thinks she's getting the hang of it now. He means Jude! Even if she has no idea what those words meant either.

    "We were in Njorun's medical for a day. They were very thorough ensuring I had no side-effects from losing the Four and would not let me out until they were certain. You seem uncomfortable. Is something wrong?" As for Jude, well, he probably got quite the treatment too, considering that disease is no joke.

    The wolf gets a glance from the blonde young woman, and she reaches down to pat it on the head. "Oh, a wolf! Ivar will be happy, we do not have many of those around here." He must get tired of talking to chickens, cows and rapigs after a while.

    "Ah, thank you for coming, nonetheless. Jude, I sent a message here ahead of time," she starts, before the old man, from his still uninterested bow, finishes with: "We would be honored to house one of Lord Maxwell's guests here permanently, of course. She has informed us that your own home is no longer available."

    Then to Jude, directly, Milla says: "You should stay here from now on. There's no need for you to get mixed up in my mission. It has already done enough damage to your life."

Jude Mathis (542) has posed:
    Jude nods along with interest to Milla's explanation of the buildings, and to the small caveat about culture. Swiveling his head around a bit, he idly adds, "/Wow/... just looking around here... yeah. It's so different from the city." He turns to face her and Yuri again. "It almost reminds me of Leronde, the place I originally come from. It wasn't -this- simple, though!" To the next bit, he nods as well. "Yeah. Haus made me go see a doctor almost as soon as we found Njorun." He slips a hand around the back of his neck. "Probably a good thing, too. My skin was starting to..." He stops there, and swallows. "... actually, I think I'll leave out the details."

    Milla instantly has his full attention when she mentions a 'message', though. Attention that she certainly keeps. His expression straightens, and he turns to face her more fully. His eyes begin glimmering.

    "I said no before, Milla. And I'm not going to take that back now." He exhales. "... I may not know what I'm getting in to, and I get that. But like I said before, I know now that there's a problem. I can't just look the other way." He shakes his head along with his words. "... that would be even worse than getting hurt physically. When I would just be a burden, I'll stay back in Njorun and help aid the wounded. Maybe I'll even be able to continue my training since Haus is there, but..." One more effectual pause. "... I /will/ help you whenever and however I can." He smiles. "And if you try to leave without me, I'll just find you and follow you anyway."

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn should get used to being patted on the head, but he's not a dog, besides he doesn't even know the person patting him, but well, he takes it well enough though. He tilts his head at Milla after the patting and perks his ears, "Who is Ivar?" he blinks, well maybe it is another wolf or something. He glances to the others for a few moments and then sits down to see what is going on.

Yuri Stinson (106) has posed:
    "Oh," says Yuri to Jude, "I forget a lot of people don't really know Creation. Uh, you're alive, so you clearly got it treated. See, what Green Sun Wasting does is first it's like a rash or a sunburn. Then you break out in hives and boils and cancerous lesions all over your body. Eventually, all your organs turn to a sluice that you defecate immediately before you die. Or posthumously. Really depends. Either way, I thought you might die from it. That chick we fought almost certainly did, barring a miracle or external intervention. It is arguably one of the most horrific ways my world has to die, and even animals won't scavenge a corpse that died from it."

    He doesn't respond to the wolf that's hanging around, but he does give it a slight nod. Instead he answers Milla's question, "Places of purity don't settle well when your conceptual allignment is... what mine is. Don't worry about it too much."

    He turns back to Jude and tilts his head at him, "Are you willing to kill for what you believe in?" He asks to Jude when he seems so adamant about the right thing to do and helping Milla, "You should consider this carefully, because your enemies will be willing to kill for their beliefs. This will not be a bloodless operation that we engage in."

Jude Mathis (542) has posed:
    Hang on, Jude will respond to Yuri's counters in a minute. Right now he's too busy staring him down with his jaw open to say anything.

    Maybe it was something about his whole body becoming organ soup, but you never know.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur Lowell is more injured than he was last time. Apparently he god in another fight shortly after that whole debacle at the lance. He's got a couple Anime Brand(tm) Bandages on over his mage robes though, so no big deal.

    "See, now THAT'S a good policy. This kid's 'bout to get his HEROISMS on up on this WHOLE motherfuckin' SPYRIX problem." He says. Where's he been? He's floating somewhere over Yuri Stinson's shoulder, weightlessly, like some kind of astronaut. "See, THIS kinda question's the sort you GOTTA ANSWER at SOME POINT, but, y'know, doesn't gotta be NOW. Just get your CONVICTION in a COMFORTABLE PLACE and then don't get that shit OVERESTIMATED. SERIOUSLY, though, THINK ABOUT IT. Still think you oughta JUMP IN on that shit, do some HERO WORK."

Milla Maxwell (13) has posed:
    "I see. You humans are so..."

    Milla hms. Word choice. How bothersome.

    "Unbelievable, sometimes," she says to Jude.

    With a resigned sigh, she nods. "Very well. If you will follow regardless, then I will be happy to fight alongside you, Jude. It is good to see those of Rieze Maxia will fight against Spyrix, not merely those from other worlds."

    At the rather graphic description of the disease, Milla decides to... not heed it attention! Holy shit that's disturbing, even for someone who isn't going to get disgusted by human anatomy, raw or otherwise, due to not being human, and not having the same taboos on... well, seeing that stuff. On the other hand she gets kind of horrified at spirits getting mangled, something that'd look completely innocent to regular people, so...

    "Ah, Ivar is my handmaid. He speaks to animals, it is one of his few gifts. He ensures the animals here cooperate with humans, just as spirits do."

    Finally, Milla glances towards her shrine, atop the peak. That's probably a solid ten minutes of climbing stairs, really. "If you do not mind, I will go ahead and prepare my shrine. There are four stones in the village, Temporal Stones; they are anchors for the Four. If you could take them off their pedestals and bring them to the shrine, that would save me some time," she asks of the group, before heading off towards the peak.

    Unless stopped, and if the task is accepted, there are indeed four large stones, a bit bigger than a head, within the village, atop pedestals. One is yellow-brown, one is green, one is red, and one is blue. They seem to be minor embodiments of the elements of the world, so they probably feel rather powerful to hold. They are however completely safe to carry.

Yuri Stinson (106) has posed:
    Yuri looks over at Arthur and nods, "He is correct. It is not a question you have to answer today, but it is one you should consider, for it will define your worth in all this, as well as who you truly are." Yuri says vaguely, looking over and simply listening to Milla while his player idles to cook dinner.

Jude Mathis (542) has posed:
    Jude gently rubs at his head and swallows again, attempting to calm himself. He also glances at his arm just to make sure there aren't any marks or bubbles. I mean, sure, he's cured -now-... but psychology works in strange ways when people get paranoid. When he finally regains his cognitive faculties in earnest, he nods fervently to Yuri, adding a meek 'Yeah' on at the end. He may be a doctor, but he's never witnessed anything that grotesque. Though lamentably, it does give him just enough knowledge to be able to visualize it painfully well.

    Yuri's inquiry makes him snap out of it a bit, but his reply is anything but immediate. Putting a hand to his chin and even closing his eyes in contemplation, Jude is silent for a good 30 seconds before finally linking eyes again to respond.

    "If it came to it," A brief pause, "yes." He lowers his hands back to his sides. "There's no right way to kill someone, and no matter what, I won't take it well. But I swear I will do everything in my power not to kill those who fight us, even if they are trying to kill me." Some tension slips out of his muscles, allowing his shoulders to relax to the end of his dialogue. "Everything short of letting Milla get hurt, or letting someone ruin her mission. That would cost even more lives." He glances to Milla briefly before looking to Arthur. As he speaks, he smiles.

    "Yeah. I think so, too." A nod, and he looks back to Yuri. "... I don't think I'll have to kill anyone right away. At the most, maybe I'll have to kill a few monsters. I'll have time to let the ideas cement themselves in my head, and to psyche myself up for the possibility in the future, but for now..." He lowers his head in a final, resolute nod. "Right now, that's enough for me." And when Milla says he's okay to come along? Well... he tries to hide it, but he looks pretty chipper. That's to say, his smile is even more wide than it was before. "I just want to do what I can." And right now, doing what he can constitutes a fetch quest and elemental stones. It's like he's part of a JRPG or something! Regardless, he enthusiastically agrees. "Sure! I'll be right back." He doesn't even take a moment to consider the distance, naturally. For now, he just goes to a nearby bridge, spotting a miniature wooden structure housing a peculiar blue stone - has to be the one he's looking for, right? - lies. He quickly finds a spot in the grass nearby where he can jump down and hops along a path of natural stepping stones, returning moments later with the object in question. If she's still around and in plain sight, he would return to Milla. "Is this what you meant, Milla?" He holds the stone out to her.

Milla Maxwell (13) has posed:
    Wow, he's fast.
    Milla didn't even have time to walk past the archway leading up to the shrine. "That is one of them, yes. I'll need all four and they'll a little big to carry more than one," she says, and then adds: "I cannot touch them, either. Their power would resonate with me and potentially unbalance the ritual." Hence the fetch quest. That's the only way the player can justify it otherwise.

    She has no particular comments about the morality stuff; for her it's all quite clear. Kill bad guys, save world. Black and white. One might consider it a flaw.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur takes a long, hard look at the stairs up to the shrine. He peers and squints at the peak, high up.

    "It keeps happening." He says, concisely.

    With no explanation of what he just said, he gives a quick thumbs-up to Milla. "Gonna get your STONES then, sure!" And he's drifting off with the group again! Probably along with Jude, floating around him like a weirdo spaceman.

    "Gonna have ENOUGH STRESS to deal with without THINKIN' 'bout THAT shit too much AHEAD OF TIME. Just, y'know, MAKE DECISIONS when it comes time to MAKE 'EM." Then a longer pause. "So YOU jumped the fuck at THIS CALL. What's up with THAT? JUSTICE for the PROF? Just got that ADVENTURING SPIRIT? What's YOUR DEAL, bro?"

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn perks his ears as he listens about Ivar and blinks again, "Interesting a human that can talk to animals." then again, he can as well as a human, but that's not very often. Stones? stones are needed? He looks around for where they might be.

Though he can't carry anything very big as a wolf. Ah well, that'll be easily solved he's sure. So he wanders around to look for one of those stones that Milla mentioned. Once he has reached one he shifts to his human form, seeing as wolves don't have hands and that large stone is too big to carry in his mouth. He supposes that form can be useful sometime. He grunts and takes the stone and heads where they need to go with it.

Milla Maxwell (13) has posed:
    For the sake of flavor:

    Jude is currently carrying the WATER stone. It seems to cool the body to the perfect temperature and he can vaguely sense the presence of all nearby water sources. Mostly that means the river, and a few rudimentary pump systems around the village. The usefulness is kind of limited here. If he were underwater he'd be able to swim and waterbreath to perfection, though!

    Arthur grabs ahold of FIRE stone. Sparks and tiny flames dance at his fingertips. Nothing quite major, but it's a new sensation if he's not used to having fire powers.

    Allyn has grabbed the EARTH stone. He is able to sense the location and nature of anything touching the ground within Nia Khera. It is nowhere near as advanced as, say, Toph's earth-sight, but it's unusual. He could probably control the ground just a bit too.

    This leaves the WIND stone.

    Predictably it grants flight and limited wind control.

    The inconvenience of these stones, obviously, is their size, so they are hardly something you would want to carry into battle. They also look like they're made of mundane stone and could break if hurled hard enough (don't do that).

    "That leaves one then."

Jude Mathis (542) has posed:
    Jude... laughs a little at Arthur's comment. "No, no... I'm not mad or anything. I was pretty steamed at the time, but now that I know Professor Haus is safe, I'm not that upset any more. I'm not really that adventurous either." He shrugs. "I'm not really trying to be a 'hero' either. I just... can't leave things alone if I know I could help with them. If someone fell down in front of me, I would have to help them up before I could move on. That's sort of what this is like now." His expression relaxes a little. "A lot of people make fun of me and call me a 'do-gooder honors student' because of that, too. And maybe I am."

    After finishing, Jude goes over to Milla. Again, he listens to her explanation. "Alright. I'll let the others handle the rest, then." And with that, he begins to walk with her to the shrine. And then...

    ... and then his stomach rumbles.

    He sets a hand over it. "Haha... I guess I haven't eaten since yesterday. I'm pretty hungry!" He glances to Milla. "If you're hungry, too, we could stop and eat when you get to the shrine." Blink. "... you have food there, right? You live there, after all."

Milla Maxwell (13) has posed:
    "Hm? No. I neither eat nor sleep, so the shrine is not used for that. It mostly contains a few books at the moment, and an altar for me to meditate on. There is not much else I require to live, so I have not asked for anything." Definition of 'a few books' forthcoming.

    Food, food, though... THEY need it.

    She motions towards a townsfolk, who immediatly rushes over. She also motions for him not to immediatly fall to his knees. "Could you find Ivar? I require a meal and tea sufficient for ten, preferably soon." He nods and runs off.

    Presumably someone is going to grab the wind stone so we're not going to wait up on that too long. Instead Milla starts leading people up the stairs. It's a good ten minutes of climbing to reach the shrine, unless Arthur cheats.

    "That's a commendable outlook, Jude. So to you I am no different from anyone else who falls and needs help?" There's nothing negative in her voice; if anything it sounds like a compliment. In that 'it's nice not to be pampered because of who I am' way.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur resists the urge to dribble the fire stone. He also resists the urge to put it in his sylladex, lest it find itself buried under a carefully constructed house of cards (literally!) and get stuck behind some sunglasses or a stack of ammo magazines or something.

    "DON'T WORRY! Being a BIG NERD is totally okay if it means you get into HEROISM too." Arthur gives his trademark tooth-gleaming grin, but when the sun gleams off his teeth it makes a quick gush of fire and he briefly flails a bit, swearing.

    Then, ascending! "HELL." Arthur says. "NO WAY, bro! Stairs are DANGEROUS." A quick snap and he tries to link the top and botton of the climb with a quick Gate so the group doesn't have to go up those DANGEROUS STAIRS.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz is just keeping back andf ahs been for a momne she oddly seems to ahve taken a liking to Jude and is happy Haus is also safe the numan for a moment and she tilts her head for a moment.

"The unierse needs more people like you. People like my self are in every sense of the word mass produced in some places."

She shrugs a bit and then look to Arthur for a moment.

"You know as odd as you are Arthur? Your likely the most down to earth god I ever met Arthur."

Seriously a god that would sometimes drop into troll people sometimes was far bette rthan say being like Zeus or some such in Crys' book.

"So Milla are you holding up all right?"

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn follows after the others, whichever way they are getting to the shrine, climbing stairs, or other ways. He does blink though when he feels thing because of holding the stone. Well, that's interesting. "This is a rather interesting place." he comments as he walks along.

Jude Mathis (542) has posed:
    Jude's eyes widen just a minute... before he settles back down. "Oh, that's right. Of course you don't need to eat. You're Maxwell!" He smiles. When he stops thinking of it for a while, it's kinda easy to forget all about the whole 'I'm talking with God' thing. He's just glad that she doesn't take offense to it, honestly. Though the next thing she says makes him -jump- back, waving around a hand wildly. "N-No! Not like that!" He shakes his head fervently. "I was just giving an example. You're not -actually- like someone who had fallen on the ground, but..." And now he's blushing. Faintly. "... but I would help them if I saw them. Just like I'm helping you since I happened to meet you in the middle of your mission." Brreeaatthee, Jude. "It just feels like the right thing to do."

    Arthur makes him laugh again. "Big nerd? That's... not much better than being called a 'do-gooder', but I guess I'll take it as a compliment." He bows slightly to Arthur and is just about to thank him for being here and helping out too, but then he makes portals. So Jude just stops.

    And stares.

    "Uh... what is that?"

Jude Mathis (542) has posed:
    And Crys makes Jude blush. Again. He looks down slightly. "Haus and I are both just helping out where we can. We aren't on some sort of world-changing mission like Milla, and we aren't kings like Nachtigal, but we try our best."

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "Hey, THANKS!" Another grin from Arthur to Crys Gattz. "I try! The whole PITIFUL MORTALS and I AM ETERNAL thing, that shit's HELLA TACKY. I gotta keep it REAL, y'know?"

    Then a quick gesture to the spirographic, floating Gate thing. "That's a GATE, bro. Jump IN, get out SOMEWHERE ELSE. C'mon." Arthur flits right through quickly! Just demonstrating it. "Stairs are MAD FUCKIN' RISKY yo."

Milla Maxwell (13) has posed:
    "I'm doing well. It is a bit odd not to have the Four with me. This is the second time only that it happens. I usually always had at least two of them with me at any given time, and only went out alone once as a child, when all four were off to scout various locations."

    Milla shrugs a little bit, not making much of it.

    Arthur's display is rather impressive-- no matter how simple the task. Milla oohs a bit, and then turns to Arthur. "Thank you, that's very handy. Would you mind leaving it open for a while? It will be easier for Ivar to carry meals up."

    To Allyn: "Nia Khera has existed since the birth of Rieze Maxia. It is where Kresnik, the first human to cross over, and myself, decided to build the first settlement. Everyone here descends directly from his line. That was about two thousand years ago now. As a result it is a place of great spiritual power."

    Right then, moving on.

    Milla steps through.

    Atop the peak, her shrine stands lonely, with several archways leading to it and offerings of flowers and hand-made symbols. It is a round house, like all the others in the village. She opens the door in, and...

    It's filled with books!

    From across the Multiverse. Piles and piles of books. There's nothing otherwise. An altar, big enough for one person to sit on it. No table, no chairs, nothing else. Just books, an altar and a backdoor leading further up the mountain.

    "Please place the four stones in a circle around the room. I will require a moment to trace the arte circles, but this should not take very long."

Milla Maxwell (13) has posed:
    And to Jude, because he's being so adorable, Milla just pats him on the head. "There there, there's no need to be so formal. I have no authority over you, after all. Just don't feel forced to help me up if I fall. I have more than enough strength to rise on my own, and if I do not, this mission won't go very far."

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn nods s he listens to Milla's explination about this world. "That makes it even more interesting then." e ponders over the information for a few moments. "I suppose humans are useful for something after all, at least when they aren't being selfish or greedy." he chuckles and little and shrugs.

When told what to do with the stone, he nods and heads over to set it down as she has said to do., "This should be about right, right?" and raises an eyebrow slightly.

Jude Mathis (542) has posed:
    Jude is patted on the head. By pretty lady God. That earns another blush, and another few moments of stunned silence. In the end, all that he says in reply is "R-Right." Poor, sometimes shy do-gooder. But I guess it is his fault for being so reactive to things like this. And willingly sticking by the side of someone who has social incompetence as an explicit flaw.

    But. WELL.

    Next, he hesitantly approaches the portal. 'Is this some kind of spirit arte?' is the first thing that runs through his mind, but considering its user... it probably isn't. So what is it then? Safe, he hopes. That's all he could really ask for. He sticks a hand through to test things like someone would test cold water before jumping in, but eventually, he works up the nerve to step through.

    And then the next thing he knows, he's at the shrine, boggling. He glances back at the portal he just came through and reflects on its usefulness. He considers its value as a potential economic stimulant if a similar spirit arte could be made available to the public, but... he would probably want to wait until after the looming threat of war has passed to consider that. So for now, he just steps inside the shrine, lending an ear again to Milla as she tells them what to do with their stones. He nods, sets his down on the left hand side of the room, and takes a step back.

    "Okay!"

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz looks over to Jude and them Maxwell for a moment. She seems amused at Jude's response.

"IT's true, look my people were originally planned for lab testing or to be weapons. It was someone like you that made the project question it's goals and chose to realse my people rather than enslave us."

She looks back to Arthur and laughs.

"Keeping in touch is a good way to keep it real, Arthur."

She looks back to Milla now as she replies.

"I get how that is, the Hunter team that's the cloest thing I have to family has left the multiveral stage I don't ... see them much anymore."

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur's requested to leave the portal open! So of course he does, he's not rude. He also CHAOS DUNKS the fire stone very gently into its proper place in the circle after entering the shrine and doing his best to resist nerding out about all these books.

    "ALRIGHT, let's get these fuckin' things RE-SUMMONED." He says firmly. "So hey, any OTHER help you need from us? Anything you want us DOIN' to make this WORK?" He drifts back to the main group, rubbing his hands in an eager sort of way.

Milla Maxwell (13) has posed:
    "Like that is perfect," Milla says, before she sits down in the middle of the room. She closes her eyes, and starts by answering things briefly:

    "Nothing else should be needed. This is a very basic spirit arte-- for me. Though a few humans over the course of history have learned the rites to summon the Four individually, Maxwell is the only one with an arte capable of pulling them from wherever they are, even against their wishes. The Temporal Stones are perfect anchors for them."

    She lifts her hands and starts tracing circles; bright white light trails her fingers. First a big circle, then four circles connected to it. Then runes, to fill the entire thing up. The circle she traces in front of herself mirrors on the ground of the entire shrine. Slowly the smaller ones light up; red, blue, yellow, green, and the one around them, bright white.

    "I, Lord Maxwell-- bid you to come forth!"

    A blinding flash of multicolored light fills the room, and then four distinct cracking noises, before the Temporal Stones explosively shatter, leaving only large chunks of them where they had been placed.

    Milla has been knocked onto her back when the light recedes, and the Four are definitely not present. It doesn't take a genius to figure out it didn't work. To Arthur's senses, the rite sure did reach out across space to yank the Four, but it's like it slammed into a wall and fell flat once there.

    "What...? That's impossible. No human technology could possibly..."
    Impossible or not it sure looks like the Lance isn't going to let go of its prize spirits, now. Milla seems... pretty damn discouraged, now.

Jude Mathis (542) has posed:
    Jude watches the ritual, mouth opening slightly in amazement as the 'summon circle' is formed. But he doesn't have much time to be impressed before something goes wrong. The spell fades with no apparent changes, and Milla starts plummeting to the ground. Jude immediately gestures in her direction in an effort to catch her, but can't make it over in time. And she falls. "M-Milla! Are you okay?" He paces closer and offers her a hand up.

    At the second thing, he blinks. "You mean... you think they're still in the Lance of Kresnik?" He puts a hand to his chin. "That would explain why they're not showing up, but... are you sure? They wouldn't have become spirit fossils, right?"

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz watches as the ritual starts nd she stares with int4rest her one good eye with a lot of intrest she leanrs a good bit of information about summoning and her mind turns back to an old friend who could summon very similar spirits. She then pauses staring for a moment as they dont' show up.

"Magic's not my storng point so I can't ... take a guess...Milla...?"

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn watches the ritual and blinks, really sure what is going on, or really what was expected to have happened anyway. It doesn't look like whatever it was supposed to do didn't work though. He frowns some as Milla is on her back and he shakes his head. "Are you alright up there?" he asks, since he's not sure what else to do." though he does peer around alertly and is paying attention.

Milla Maxwell (13) has posed:
    "No, I... if they were dead, I would know. And I would have been able to summon their replacements in their stead." She sighs. "The Lance must still contain them. That means... I'll be unable to use their powers until we return to Fennmont. Well, no matter. I do not need the Four to challenge the whole of that kingdom if I need to," Milla says, addressing the concerns before getting up, catching Jude's hand to do so.

    And then she-- wobbles, and falls onto Jude.

    Her stomach makes a loud, unpleasant noise.

    "...? Jude, my body is refusing to move easily."
    That tone implies 'you're a doctor, do something'.

    To make matters MUCH WORSE, it is at that moment the doors of the shrine burst open, and Ivar-- a dark-skinned man in white clothes, with white hair and looking like a smug bastard-- comes in screaming. "LADY MILLA! I heard you had returned and--" Well, she's on top of Jude.

    "W-W-What do you think you're doing to Lady Milla?! And-- is that a summoning arte? Why would you need to use the ritual to bind the Four again? What the hell happened?!"

    Milla mutters, "Hello Ivar. Crys, Jude, Arthur, wolf, Yuri, please meet Ivar. My handmaid." He seems extremely angry and vexed right now, but what's new?

Yuri Stinson (106) has posed:
    Yuri Stinson has been, up until now, quietly watching while he ate one of those comically large sandwiches the size of your entire arm. He says to Ivar through a mouthful of sandwich, "Waf-fep?"

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "And they can't UNSUMMON wherever they ARE, I'd guess? Oh MAN. That shit is actually really bad, uh oh." Arthur makes a brief, distressed sort of noise, actually breaking character for a moment. "Well SHIT." He says. "That's straight fuckin' EXPLOITIVE, yo. Fuckin' SPYRIX." Then he observes the falling. An eyebrow goes up briefly. "Well I ain't DOC JUDE over there but it's my HELLA PROFESSIONAL OPINION that you need some FUCKIN' GRUB yo. Maybe something about the SPIRITS?"

    Arthur's head then swivels around to Ivar. "He's CATCHING HER. And YES. C'mon bro! Let's KEEP UP here, stick with the TIMES. WHAT UP, I'm ARTHUR and we're here to be doin' some HELP." A very casual wave for such a serious situation. Arthur's managed to re-achieve character.

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn blinks as the doors open and he peers at the man who enters, shifting back to his wolf form, seeing as he doesn't really need to be human anymore. He should have done that a while ago he figures, but ah well. "Ah, the man who can speak to animals?" He gives a nod to Ivar and watches him for a few moments, tilting his head. Not often you meet someone who can understand the animals.

Jude Mathis (542) has posed:
    "So you're sure that's there's no other --" Crap, crap! She's falling again! He goes to catch her, but... plonk. His head slams against the wooden floor, hard. But... at least Milla is okay? He doesn't even have time to consider the awkward position or to answer Milla's question before Ivar throws the door open.

    And /then/ he considers the awkward position, though 'consider' here more means 'flips out of the way in the most uncoordinated manner ever conceived whilst probably hitting himself on the floor numerous times'. He somehow manages to set Milla down gently before he engages hyper fluster explain mode extreme, though.

    "I-It wasn't...! We weren't...!" He's waving his hands like crazy, and the blush came back. Probably the worst thing he could probably be doing right now, but he's doing it. Staying true to JRPG style, yo. "The four were absorbed by a massive spyrix, and now she can't resummon them! And trying expended all that was left of her energy, so she collapsed." Pause. "Also, I think she's hungry! -Really- hungry!" My lifetime of being taught medicine has qualified me to discern when someone is hungry based on stomach growling.

Then Milla introduces them.

And Yuri suddenly appears with a sandwich.

And Arthur says something in a foreign language.

    Jude lays a hand on his head. You know what this situation desperately needs? A straight man. DO-GOODER POWERS: ACTIVATE! Jude hesitantly nods to Arthur. "Yeah. If I understood what Arthur just said correctly, he's right. Milla needs some food." He looks to Yuri. "Would you mind getting her a sandwich since you seem to know where to get some? Or maybe sharing some of your own?" Pllleeaaaseee?

    Oh, and eventually, his eyes wander back to Ivar, too. "I'm really sorry about all this, but I'm Jude Mathis. I'm here to help Milla."

Milla Maxwell (13) has posed:
    "What?"

    It takes Ivar a few long seconds to really catch up here.

    He does, though!

    "Lady Milla, why would you go out on a risky mission again without me?! These... PHONIES obviously weren't suited to protect you!" He puffs his chest, glaring at everyone else. "As Lady Milla's personal handmaid, I am the only one ordained to serve her! All of you can just--"

    "Go home," Milla says, coldly.

    Ivar grins. "That's right! All of you phonies go home and let the real pro handle this! Don't worry Lady Milla, I'll--"

    "You, Ivar. Not them."

    "W-What? Why would I--"

    "Bluntly? You're annoying."

    Soulcrushed. Ivar just... slowly slumps back out of the shrine. That was quick. And oddly cold for Milla, but considering the situation, well...

    "I apologize for his behavior. He is extremely protective, but he means well." That doesn't quite solve the hunger issue, but Milla looked distracted enough she forgot about that for now, besides being more or less a ragdoll in Jude's arms.

    "How vexing. First I lose the Four, and now this body is failing."

Yuri Stinson (106) has posed:
    "Hey dude, I tend to tolerate a lot," Yuri says to Milla, eating the sandwich in his hands, though noticably gripping it tighter than he was a moment ago, "Mostly because I tend to personally invest in very little. But I have a lot of pride and valor in what I do here as a conceptual being." He's not being accusatory, just factual as he watches Ivar leave.

    "If he ever talks to me like that again, he might die. Or at least I'll put my foot so far up his ass it becomes a hereditary problem akin to the Diabeetus." He holds his sandwich out to the fallen Milla, offering her a bite.

Milla Maxwell (13) has posed:
    "I understand," Milla says to Yuri, grabbing ahold of the sandwich. She smells, looks at it curiously, and then takes a bite. Her eyes light up like she's discovered some secret treasure nobody'd heard of for centuries.

    "So this is food! It's no wonder you humans are always eating." MUNCH. She starts devouring the thing like she hasn't eaten for-- oh, she hasn't eaten ever. Technically a fully literal fact here and not just an analogy.

    "Jude!" Her mouth is full, she clearly has not read about table manners yet. "If we are to travel together you simply have to teach me where to acquire food!" No use being down about the Four, she discovered food. All's well.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz says "Food's a wonderful pleasure just don't eat too much. You do so you'll really pack it on aqnd you got figure to kill for right now Milla."

Crys seems in a bit better spirits then tears into the food herself.