1326/Cogs, Dolls, and Glorious Moustache

Cogs, Dolls, and Glorious Moustache
Date of Scene:	13 January 2015
Location:	Ivalice
Synopsis:	Alexandria sends a party of Black Mages and the mercenary Goffard Gaffgarion to seize a few engineers from the Clockwork City Goug. They run into some trouble along the way however... Meanwhile, Fuki becomes embroiled in the battle amidst a part scavenging run!
Cast of Characters:	129, 151, 152, Fuki, 319, 493, 513, Ziggy Grover
Tinyplot:	Of Stones and Sins

---

Ultima (129) has posed:
The sun is high against a canvas of endless azure in the firmament - higher even than the tallest buildings in the vast island city of Goug nestled near the western edge of Lionel territory. The city itself, a patchwork quilt of wooden and stone constructed buildings new and old littered across ancient cobblestone roads, is alive with the activity of plain folk going about their daily lives. The sounds of hawkers crying out against the dissonant noise of city life penetrates the senses in that practiced fashion for which they are known.

Soon, another noise begins to break: the sound of mechanical rotor blades spinning quickly, and the dissonant city noise quietens to a murmur as a shadow from on high begins to swallow the masses. It is small, at first, but it quickly grows... and as it does, the murmurs and whispers become panicked cries.

...then come the explosions.

The second floor wall of large building in the heart of the city explodes violently, bursting into flames before collapsing in parts to the streets littered with panicked civilians below. The force with which the building tremors quakes knocks free a massive iron gear it had been bearing upon its face as well.

- Inside the building in question -

Fire erupts from a sidewall, suddenly, engulfing part of a room and charring the stone floor black as a resounding THOOOOOM rocks through the entire floor. The white hot flames swallow several tables littered with machinery and workman's tools and several people nearest them are sent to their maker near instantly as a result.

- Upon the attacking airship... the Red Rose - The sound of many feet moving on deck resounds from above... echoing loudly into the interior hull where five figures stand. Amidst the brightly lit, lavishly decorated, redwood interior room - a tall figure wearing dark blue and black robes - with ebon-feathered wings - stands silently clutching a steel staves with ornate rings and various brightly-colored gems. It towers high above several other similar garbed beings... all deathly silent. Beneath their steepled hats, naught but yellow orbs penetrating darkest shadows can be seen.

The figure casts its right hand, encased in hardened brown leather before it... and dull, pink, glowing pools of shimmering mana erupt from the floor.

"...Are we ready...?"

"...The imposing, winged figure turns to stare over its shoulder as if to check for someone or something. "...Human."

Goffard Gaffgarion (493) has posed:
    Amongst all the Black Mages and the Black Waltz, there is one person there who is definitely not a black mage. Though he's just as dark, so perhaps it fits. Goffard Gaffgarion stands with the group headed up by the Black Waltz. Having remained on the airship while the explosions took place, the Fell Knight can't keep a smug smile off his face. He does, however, refrain from twirling his mustache. He's not evil. Just selfish.

    The Black Waltz is very likely looking back at HIM as it says 'human'. Gaffgarion rolls his eyes, and then pulls the visor of his helmet down to protect his eyes. "Yes, of course." Maybe the Black Waltz is made of solidified melodrama instead of solidified hate like the others? Either way Gaffgarion just heads through that portal. Where are those engineers...?

Faruja (152) has posed:
Faruja Senra just wanted a bloody cup of tea. He'd been sitting at this quaint little cafe before the building not a block down quite literally explodes. Teacup dropped, and people panicking, the Inquisitor stands.

"/INSIDE/!" He yells to the panicked populace about, for all little it might do. The nezumi swiftly makes a call upon his linkshell. His gaze drifts up, and he snarls as a familiar shadow is cast above the city.

Then, the Inquisitor starts using every connection and channel he can to begin alerting what forces near that might be available. For once more, Alexandria has come calling.

Fuki has posed:
    Fuki's taking a 'minor vacation' in the city of Goug at the outskirts of the city with a hulking purple beast nearby, snarling and looking generally imposing. Strapped the the ebon horned Behemoth, is quite a few bags that seem to be holding some stuff in there right now. Inside the warehouse, the noises of the tiny Ninja rummaging through contraptions and various clockwork parts and gears echo in the empty building.

    "Glad I ran into that Nu Mou again for this city... these parts should help with the Shinki Van. I still wonder what they need these odd parts for." she shakes her head, smirking some as she pulls out a huge gear, heading back towards the Behemoth. She may have been at this for a while.

    The explosions sound as soon as she's out of that building, the Behemoth and Mistress look up to see the airship, a smile upon her face, "Well, this got interesting quick..."

Ziggy Grover has posed:
Charing in to the rescue shortly after, with an alarm going off is the Tail Spinner. Unfortunately, it being what it was, a motorcycle-ish green fish zord...

"DOC, THEY'RE USING AN AIRSHIP!"

One could almost feel the audible mental facepalm from Dr. K. "Get. Out. Of. My. Zord."

"Right, right!"

Boing...! Out goes Ranger Green, wielding an axe. Landing in next to Faruja, Ranger Green responds, "Here I am! Fear not, citizen! Together, we'll stop them!" he says, lowering his axe just enough to give Faruja a thumbs up, for great justice. And then Ranger Green turns, and charges towards... well... the dark robes! Because someone wearing all black must be evil.

... okay, Black Ranger excepted. Sometimes.

Finna (513) has posed:
    A shape bursts from a warp gate far too fast for any to get a solid view on it. Only a few feathers drift to the ground near the warpgate as any indication of what it might've been.

    The Red-Tailed Hawk that's appeared is just TOO DAMNED SPEEDY, far moreso than any bird has a right to be. The raptor ASCENDS as if rocket-propelled, wings flapping with hummingbird-like rapidity. Up, up, and UP it goes like a blur. Somehow, despite all the speed... it circles a large part of the city in under a minute and then beelines straaaaaaaight up towards the Red Rose.

    As the bird of prey nears the airship, it lets loose with a terrifying, echoing, blood-curdling screech that will turn bellies to churning mush and soil the pants of the weak-hearted.

    Faruja has called, and Finna has answered.

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    Trouble? someone needs help? Well... it has been awhile since he's done the hero thing...

    Fayt comes barreling throug the warp gate behind the others, Staff at his side as he surveys his surroundings. He gives a quick nod to Faruja as he spots him. "You called for help? Just let me know what you need me to do, and I'm on it."

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley, similarly, bursts out of the tea shop, but she's instead focused entirely on the crowd and not the source of the chaos. She tries to help Faruja in managing the panic and directs people with arm movements down the road toward a direction she remembers as particularly safe for a stampeding crowd of pedestrians. She directs them away from the airship's likely targets and from there she just trusts them to figure it out themselves, because she can't herd the entire crowd with her meager social ability.

    Once she has done this for a second, she draws the longsword out from its scabbard, and looks to Faruja. "It's never just a bombardment, is it," she says to him, rhetorically, as old wounds ache from previous engagements against enemies that would be inclined to use airships. "Is this a familiar sight to you?"

Ultima (129) has posed:
The imposing figure of black hue, garbed in hardened leather, silently watches as Gaffgarion retorts in its direction before promptly heading through the portal. Not so much as a whisper slips through the veil of darkness beneath that steepled hat... not even the sound of breathing. It merely follows at a measured pace behind, one long stride before the other, and its shorter companions follow along in toe. The smaller ones move as a unit almost in lock-step, like mannequins controlled by some invisible commanding will...

...Soon, Gaffgarion and company step across those same shimmering pools again... as if through the veil of space itself... appearing amidst the dusty air of the half-exploded workshop room. Before them, the panicked flee and the injured crawl... or lie staring in horror on the floor. Whichever! There appears to be six individuals, any arriving heroes aside by doorway or sky, left inside the second floor of the workshop. Three of them are young, with hands uncalloused and clothes unsoiled, likely apprentices. That leaves three aging men against a far workshop table to possibly by their targets.

"...Come... hammer-bearers, wheel spinners, and metal smiths... lest you die by fire in obscurity."

Finna's shrill, piercieng, cry draws a momentarily glace at the collapsed wall behind and toward the sky. "..." But it quickly looks away, once more, motioning towrd the elderly men across the way with a damning finger. At this, the smaller robed beings at its feet begin to walk across the floor toward with intent to seize them. The shady figure with ebon wings speaks then to Gaffgarion again, "...Meddlesome things are coming. ... Do what you do best. ..." And then... with a wave of its hand... a field shining blue mana expands outwards... penetrating the room before vanishing again.

Goffard Gaffgarion (493) has posed:
    Gaffgarion takes in the scene-- as soon as he can get his head to stop spinning; teleportation never did sit well with him-- and comes to that conclusion. The younger ones being apprentices, would probably be only just slightly better than useless. Well, time to end useless lives!

Looking to the apprentices, he hefts his sword. "Now, hold still little ones... this will not take long..." Yeah, he's gonna kill them, unless he's stopped....

Faruja (152) has posed:
Faruja's smile to Ziggy is far, far too weak, lined with the fear and anger of one whose homeland is neatly being violated once more. But he tries. But the presence of an ally, only bolstered as there's the sound of a hawk upon the air and Finna's voice upon the radio, is enough to have him pause. A deep breath, and he looks somewhat calmer.

"Not again." He mutters, either to Ziggy or himself. Ainsley burst forth alongside, and he nods to her.

"Nay. They shall lay down an opening volley, and they shall come their troops. Be they Alexandrians, or...difficult to say what they might hath brought. Be ready for bloody anything."

A few words, and the floating form of Shiva appears beside him. Meanwhile, the rat remains badgering as many military officers as he can into action, as well as alerting Lionel.

"And there art our targets. KNOW THE WRATH OF GOD YE DAMNED..." His rising wrath dies on his throat as he makes his way into the now flaming building via a quick teleport spell, taking any allies who hop along for the ride, only to spy Black Mage hats and those damned yellow eyes.

He pauses, casting an eye beyond.

"Let them go ye heartless wretch!"

Shiva then snaps her fingers, and quite simply attempts to freeze Gafgarion into a solid block of ice...or at least his sword-arm. This, perhaps unfortunately, leaves him quite open to any Black Mages.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Once Faruja moves to strike, Ainsley is not far behind. The man who spoke so rudely to her and her rat gets a look of daggers pointed right him... and then she floats up off her feet and above the chaos of panic, and toward the building itself. She slips around the building with a certain grace toward the hole they blew open in the window, and clears her throat to get their attention.

    "Cutting you would be cathartic, but let's be practical about this."

    And then she swings her arm back, creating a vacuuming-like noise as she builds up air around her arm, creating a distortion around her hand. She moves /into/ the room itself, and then tries to position herself opposite of Goffard and the nearest window... and she fires a blunt blast of wind at him to try and eject him from the workshop. She's attempting to preserve the people these folks are trying to kill. Meddling, as best a hero can.

Ziggy Grover has posed:
"... wow..." is Ziggy's response as the red-tailed hawk swoops in. Still, Ranger Green has work to do!

Waving the axe around menacingly, Ziggy goes for the simplest, most expedient thing that all rangers do: fight the minions before the very last monster! Which means... wading through all the robes. A leapfrog here, a swing of the axe there, trying to clear the area to make it easier to do the best thing... pile on the big boss!

Finna (513) has posed:
    Seeing that the ship is... not attacking further, Finna diverts her charge and instead DIVES down towards the hole in the wall. It'll be quite a trip but she knows where she's going!

    Or rather, she'll find out fast. At first she's moving at speeds that make her nearly impossible to target by the Black Mages. The moment anyone gets a glimpse of her and she's past them.

    Even navigating the room doesn't seem to be a problem at these speeds though. All that added up...

    Is why whe she spots the Black Waltz in all of her situational scouting, she does the most obvious Finna-logical thing.

    She swooooops over towards it... and tries to grab the thing's hat in her talons and pull it DOWN with all her might over...

    ... whatever this thing considers its head, really. Does it have a head? She's not really sure. But it probably won't appreciate THAT sort of distraction. Sorcerers NEVER love those kinds of distractions.

    She'd know.

Fuki has posed:
    So, the Ser is okay with her getting some of the Union pests off his back and Fuki hasn't had any fun in a while so in her eyes, this is a win win situation! Fuki takes a quick scan, grabbing her lightning crystal rod from its sheath on the behemoth, "Alright, time to behave and listen up. Cause as much damage as you can, get the Union beasts off his back and perhaps I'll treat you to some finer chocobo." a thwack of the lightning crystal rod on the back of the Behemoth's neck sends a loud, angry and bestial roar out, shaking buildings and cracking windows as Fuki tugs the behemoth's mane towards some of the ones entering the building. Namely, Ziggy's group.

    "SURPRISE!" she shouts, the Behemoth roaring once more with another thwack of that rod, a tail coming to lash out towards Ziggy and his group, hoping the force will slam them into a building or worse, something spiky!

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    The second floor? Good thing Fayt can fly! Fayt's scarf suddnely vanishes in a blur of motion, in it's place, Fayt now wears a harness, with what appears to be blue and gree wings attached to it, The wings start to flap frantically as Fayt takes to the air, charging for the second floor. As he nears the hole, Fayt takes aim at the first target he sees, the Black Waltz, and with a quick mutter of the words "Force bolt." sends a bolt of energy flying towards the black Waltz, hopefully catching him while Finna has his attention.

Ultima (129) has posed:
The soulless march of the Black Mages heeds neither the eruption of new voices in the vicinity, nor the cold blast of air that comes from the direction of Shiva and her arriving summoner. Mindlessly determined they are, even as one gets caught in the attack - boots frozen to the stone floor - they continue forward... with the one falling shortly behind. Their march toward the aging engineers situated at the back of the room ceases, however, as Ranger Green goes flying overhead. The whirling, violent, blitz with an axe scatters their number... knocking one down and forcing the other three to turn their glowing eyes away from their target.

A hiss is emitted from beneath the steepled cap of the Black Waltz, a sound vaguely communicating something resembling annoyance. "...Do not...!" It begins, before the tipping of its cap into its vision forces it to cut off its words and reach to right its gnarly leather hat! No sooner is a hardned, brown, leather glove lifted to its brim however and Fayt's magical bolt strikes true! The Black Waltz is sent staggering, several feet into the room, before stumbling against a charred wooden table.

Soon it pushes itself up again, hat tilting upward with a violent shove, and then lifts its opposite into the air. A single finger dances swiftly into a circle as arcane words flow forth from in a whisper from beneath the cap. An aura of flames erupt from the creature, before coalescing in the air before it in the form of massive fireball. "...Fira!" The flame flies forth through the air, directly toward Finna before the other hand is brought to bear... and lightning lances forth from its splayed fingers. "...Thunder!"

Goffard Gaffgarion (493) has posed:
    Gaffgarion had raised his sword to the probably very rightly terrified apprentices. The blade had begun to crackle with dark energies. It looked like it was at least going to be a quick death for the apprentices-- if nothing else was to his credit, Gaffgarion rarely made targets suffer if he intended to kill them.

And then suddenly there's a shouting rat... and ice. His sword arm is frozen! Not only that but shortly following that, before he can get his arm free, a blast of air impacts his chest, knowing the wind out of him. And knocking HIM out of the building! It's only the second floor, and not a very long fall. But it's still surprising.

    Well, the apprentices are safe. For now. But Gaffgarion's also quite pissed, and the fall knocked the ice off his sword arm. He whistles, and a black chocobo flies down. He quickly mounts up, gets back into the building, and growls, "A mistake, dear Inquisitor." A look to Ainsley, "You as well, /dear/ lady."

    Then he's letting his shield hand rise, into a clawed motion. Magic gathers around it and as he clenches his hand into a fist-- fire explodes in the space around the Inquisitor and his Lady.

Ziggy Grover has posed:
Charging for the black mages, intent on, well, dealing with the usual minions, the greetings from Fuki and her... Behemoth was... surprising, all right.

"What... OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooof!"

The very large tail sends Ziggy flying into a wall, and he flops off it onto the ground, landing facefirst.

"Oooo... what was that... a Behemoth?" The radio was yammering about this and that, and it takes him a bit to get his bearings, as he graps for his Power Axe. Staggering to his feet, Ranger Green postures, one hand to his hip. "You're making a mistake, lady! We're the good guys, and we're going to WIN THIS!"

... Wince. Ow, that hurt. Don't mind him rubbing his back (not backside, not back side, BACK).

So what was it they were supposed to do... attack the head, and the body falls, right? That's what Ranger Red would say. So what was the he... damn, that Behemoth had a HUGE head. And fangs. And...

"What are you doing, Ranger Green? Attack the girl!" Dr. K's voice crackles in.

... ahhh, the sweet voice of reason. MUCH, MUCH more sensible...

"Heads up, coming through...!" Jump, up... the good plus was the behemoth was slower. The girl...?

Finna (513) has posed:
    TRIUMPH! Finna's shrilly shrieks in the air, whips around and--

    And then, if she had a proper face, one could imagine it twisting into an impish 'ooops!' and also HORRIBLE PAIN. The Fira ravages the hawk's feathers. At that speed there's NO stopping without working wings, even for a Lunar. She goes slamming into a wall and topples to the ground with a thump.

    But then the bird rises... except it's no longer a bird. The feathers melt away, instantly 'dousing' the flame as what was on fire no longer exists. Clothes replace the feathers, just simple leathers for a huntress. Wings become bare, lean arms and silver flashes down her arms and into her nails... making them grow into WICKED claws.

    Finna rises up to her full height, tosses her scorched hair back over a shoulder... takes a single step forward... and then...

    Torrents of Lunar Essence flood her body. The room's blasted with a sudden cool breeze like the refreshing, dew-laden night air. Silvery light illuminates the place to chase away shadows. The Crescent Moon is visible upon the young woman's forehead and indeed every inch of her that isn't clothed glows faintly from within. Tattoos of Moonsilver gleam and shine as the power of savage, primal beasts is compressed within her human form.

    She brings a glowing claw up to her face, licks it while showing a cruel and vindictive expression the Black Waltz's way just for show, and states...

    "My turn."

    And then... she's gone. Her image simply phases out as a blur zips across the walls and springs off. Faster than the eye can see she flashes down at the Black Waltz, hoping to VICIOUSLY enlighten him to what the Claws of the Silver Moon feel like.

Faruja (152) has posed:
Faruja suddenly gets a face full of burning thanks to Gafgarion's spell. Squeaking aloud in utter suffering, the rat tosses off his robes. The smell of scorched ratfur fills the air even as Shiva does her level best to douse the flames. She succeeds, but the rat's armor is scorched.

"...Shouldst hath worn the Lady's work." He mutters. Then, the Esper is doing much the same for Ainsley.

But he doesn't have words for Gafgarion, not immediately at least. He turns towards Finna.

"Mine Lady! Get the elder bloody well gone! They art after the civilians!" Comes the rat, after spying just /where/ those horrid Black Mages are marching. The more intelligent one is eyed. He seems far different from those fought in Burmecia. But they certainly make his blood run cold.

His urge to annihilate the horrid creatures is ended as Finna transformed. The Inquisitor gives a laugh.

"Ahh, how the Lord works in odd ways! LOOK YE ABOMINATIONS, UPON THINE DOOM! FOR FARAM'S SILVER ANGEL OF DEATH SHALL REAP THINE SOULS!" Faruja almost envies Finna her power, before focusing on Gaffgarion properly.

"Speak such words when ye stand over our corpses, or naught at all ye bloody traitor. Allow me to give ye the wages of such!"

It's then, that inexplicably, Faruja Senra casts a haste spell on Gafgarion.

Faruja isn't your typical time mage. Instead of the man's body, this spell is far more specific. Should he not resist it, the man might find his brain functions flying faster...then faster, and then even faster, as the Inquisitor quite literally means to speed up his brain to the point of cooking its flesh from within.

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    ZOT!

    Fayt twittches as he takes a lighting bolt to the chest, wings suddenly locking up as he drops like a stone... he suddenly flaps back into view a moment later. looking slightly annoied as a burn covers his chest. he then goes just a bit pale as he notices Finna. "...glad I'm on your side."

    Diving into the room proper, Fayt once again takes aim, wings blurring as they turn back into his scarf. "Elemental spells eh? I can rock that. Shock bolt."

    Fayt's staff fires a small bolt of electricty back at the black Waltz.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley flits through the air, turning her head distractedly to keep track of the rest of the battle. She looks back over toward where Goffard was, however, the man's presence making her frown quite prominently, especially when he attacks her! She lets out a cry of surprise and discomfort at the fire spell, and lands just to try and put it out, but Shiva has that handled.

    Her feathers scorched and her body a little stiff from Shiva's cold -- she's gonna yell at Faruja about that -- she prepares a spell of lightning. It courses down her body, and then... she sheathes her longsword. She holds that hand ahead of her now, using the fresh memory of the sword in her hand to generate a blade of lightning like the longsword, which hums and crackles ominously.

    She twists her body back, and then whips her whole body around, sending an arc of electricity crashing toward Goffard!

Fuki has posed:
    Fuki smirks, "Well done. Keep that up, Behemoth." she pets down his head some before smacking it once more with the rod, "Now, go claw them up, rip them to shreds. Show me what those large paws are made of!" she laughs, the Shinki's head looks up a bit, hearing the 'heads up' comment. "How can that person jump so high?" and down comes the axe! Fuki barely dodges out of the way there, her thigh cut off and a big gash in the Behemoth's neck is made, another pained roar coming from the humongous purple beast.

    Fuki emits a light flash, her scythe appearing out into the air. "You made a grave mistake... " the behemoth shakes its head, hoping to smash Ranger Green between the bone hard obsidian colored horns, trying to skewer the sentai hero as the large paws crash into the ground, stomping at everything in its range, working for the other rangers too! Another smack with the rod and it turns around once more, leading that muscled tail to crash into whatever is in its way.

Ultima (129) has posed:
"..."

The Black Waltz stares silently toward the wall where the injured Finna began to change - to morph into a shape entirely foreign. The silence and motionlessness might cause one to think it were malfunctioning or, perhaps, stunned. But then, the slow shifting of yellow orbs - burning like miniature suns in the shadow of its wide-brimmed hat - toward the Black Mages indicates that it is still very much animate.

The Mages themselves glance to one another, before splitting apart just a moment later. Two at the fore after the engineers in the back, and the one behind turning to run toward the Black Waltz!

....Before unceremoniously throwing itself into the path of Fayt's magical bolt - whereupon it is fried and left to clatter lifelessly upon the stone.

The Black Waltz itself, meanwhile, doesn't even afford the aparently self-sacrificing automaton a glance. Finna's sudden and entirely too fast attack send it staggering once more, shreds of black leather and feathers flying loose into the air as it does so.

...And black fluid not at all resembling blood, more akin to oil, splashes upon the ground

...As it catches its fotting, steepled hat rocking precariously atop its head, sparks begin to dance across its wiry frame... causing the smell of burnt leather to waft from it as well. Soon, sparse sparks becomes a torrent of electricty... that shoots off from its shadowy figure in every direction! "...Thundara...!!!"

Goffard Gaffgarion (493) has posed:
    Suddenly Faruja's... casting Haste? But this doesn't feel like Haste. It feels like... like... PAIN! His brain fires too fast, his steps stumble, and he falls to a knee. He concentrates on slowing his thoughts, letting them match up with his body's un-Haste'd movements. The skills of the Dark Knight require discipline to learn... else one does not use them, but rather is used BY them.

    However, the hesitation is enough for Ainsley's lightning to crash into him and send him tumbling. This time not quite out of the building, though. But the combination of 'mind too fast' and 'body seizing up' is enough to seriously mess with his equilibrium. It's enough that he takes a moment to collect himself.

    However. Once he gets up? He is TICKED. Ticked enough, in fact, to try to rush forward, grab with Ainsley or Faruja-- whichever he can get hold of first-- and try to use that one to BLUDGEON the other! Actually he's just throwing them into each other, but still...

Ziggy Grover has posed:
That beast was bigger than -Ziggy- could handle, and... oh boy, the 'head' was starting to come back at her, with a scythe. "What are you, a mini-grim reaper?" Ranger Green asks.

"Get back in the zord!" Dr. K shrieks, her calm demeanor gone. "It's a behemoth!"

"What, how bad can it be...?"

Dr. K told him.

"... TAIL SPINNER ZORD!"

With the swipe from Fuki grazing him as he beats a hasty retreat, Ranger Green tumbles back into his Zord.

"Ow ow ow... man, c'mon, let's try this again, shall we?" Ranger Green comments, rubbing his backside this time.

Pulling out the Shark Engine Cell, Ziggy plugs it into the Zord. "Okay, time to take her out for a spin...!"

Finna (513) has posed:
    "the hell is--" Finna's just starting to get weirded out at the strange gunk on her claws when ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORCH!

    Countless ZAPLOADS of electricity slam into her, driving her to her knees and sizzling through her body, right to the bones! She staggers and stumbles but somehow keeps her balance... and senses. "Alrighty, we'll try it that way!" A single flick of her wrist, her hand goes behind her back and...

    FWOOOOOOSH!

    Like a tornado gale she backflips ALMOST ENTIRELY HORIZONTALLY, sailing over the heads of Black Mages and allies alike. As soon as she's got enough altitude though she WHIRLS about in midair like a cat and a tiny SOMETHING goes flying at the Black Waltz.

    It's just a throwing knife.

    Not really enough to threaten him, but hopefully enough to knock him off his groove and allow Finna to reposition herself.

    Because she realigns for the landing in a hurry and aims to come down on more Black Mages on all fours and use them, and her claws, as a convenient two birds with one stone solution for brakes!

Fuki has posed:
    "Why, yes. Thank you for noticing. NOw die please." as the Behemoth tries to swipe at the be-mecha'ing of Ziggy, the hulking monstrosity turns around and grunts, bracing itself against the ground as the horns shimmer, preparing something as those yellow eyes show how much malice is in this large beast. Fuki starts to analyze the Zord, bring a mecha to a giant beast fight with a robotic 'head'... "Aim... there..."

    The crashing of the spinning Zord into the purple beast cuts it quite good, the direct strike against the Behemoth's side, red seeping out of the beasts wounds, the loud roar coming up once more, shaking buildings around it and people on the ground. The beast stomps hard, the tail thrashing about as it tries to gore the Zord with its horns, only to try and heave it up and over, wanting to throw it from its position, with no care what its throwing it INTO!

Faruja (152) has posed:
Faruja Senra, if he survives this, is likely to sleep on the couch. Even Shiva is looking at him like an idiot. There's a little fan in her hand, made of ice. BAP! Frown!

Faruja has to hand it to Gaffgarion, the man's reputation is well deserved as a mercenary merely by the fact he hasn't collapsed. Nevermind when he's flung bodily into his lover! While the rat isn't exactly /heavy/, plate mail of any form makes an excellent bludgeon indeed.

The impact of the taller lizardess has the rat lightly dazed, but only so-much so. He also now has a lovely shiner on his good eye. Who knows how well Ainsley comes out of the metal-clad rat's swatting into her!

Faruja looks highly annoyed by this.

"I AM NOT A DAMNED MACE TO BE USED AGAINST THE WOMAN I LOVE!" Snarls out the rat, trying to hold his sweetheart upright even as he gestures towards Gafgarion.

Shiva's gone, in place of a tall, lioncloth adonis of a man. Muscle upon muscle makes up the epitome of physical strength of Espers, as Titan peers down at Gafgarion, barely able to fit inside of the building. Rather than destroy everything, the Esper reaches out with a single finger.

And pokes Gafgarion on the forehead with potentially enough force to slam him upwards into...and possibly through...the cieling. Bird and all, before fading away.

As his head clears, the Inquisitor whispers into his linkshell.

~Elsewhere~

A bunny-eared, dusky skinned woman races past side streets and alleyways with a briefcase in hand, making her way over to a building opposite the one where the fighting is occuring. She stealthily makes her way up to the rooftop, before finding a piece of cover. Opening the case, she swiftly begins to assemble a rifle. Rather than that of Ivalice, it's a modern one, very nearly military grade. Then, Acolyte Strawberry looks down the scope after kissing her ajoran cross, awaiting her superior's signal.

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    There's a scream as Fayt gets zapped again. The little mage twitching uncontrolable as the elctricty runs through him. "O... ow..."

    Shaking his head clear, Fayt blinks as Fina backflips away towards the engineers... the engineers... the engi-oh gods damnit!

    right, can't have him focused on that! Almost immeidatly Fayt stars to move around the Black Waltz, namely, he's moving around to it's other side, not to get behind him though, instead he starts talking. "OI! You! Yeah, in the obvious villian getup! You know they got a Vizine for that eye probem of yours?"

    Yes, Fayt is prodding at the damn thing! Fayt's probably going to regret that soon enough, but if it gives finna a few moments to clean house and make sure those people are safe? Totally worth it. Maybe.

    "Really, I'll sell ya a bottle. Force wave." This time, a massive shockwave fires from Fayt's staff, quickly fanning out to cover a large area in front of Fayt, and hopefully knock the Waltz over in the process.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley was grabbed and sent flying. This was quite a feat, because she was holding a bolt of lightning like Zeus himself. She squawked in vicious protest, and then got THROWN into Faruja with violent force, bruising her pretty harshly. While she's getting up and regaining her composure, her dear Rat Priest is casting ... Omega Bodybuilder, which gets her to look with wide-eyes, baffled that he would summon something like that, and not even sure what Titan would do.

    It quickly demonstrates, and Goffard is sent up toward the ceiling. When this happens, she gathers herself up and charges up some lightning into her hands, forming a bolt again, quite like the aforementioned greek god.

    Then she throws it at Goffard with a CRACK-BOOM effect, shouting with the effort of the spell!! She could probably snipe a plane out of the sky with that bolt, if she got her aim just right, with how fast it goes! If it hits, it will slam him with electrical charge just like the whip strike!

Ultima (129) has posed:
As Finna departs, the Black Waltz affords her an empty momentary glance befoe turning its attention to Fayt. ...And turning ts back toward her as well.

The whirling sound of a thrown knife comes lower than a whisper, as it zips through the air toward the Black Waltz. A moments later, a scathing hiss is emitted from the foul thing as the thrown knife sticks and more oily black fluid pouring forth from fresh wounds! Lightning arcs across its frame again as its annoyance reaches a crescendo! "...Kkkkssss...!!!" Errant lightning shoots off erattically, shattering stone and burning through anything else it happens to touch. Fayt's taunting works... but too well. The demonic automaton turns, slowly, eyes like burning embers tracking Fayt's movements in near deathly silence. Fayt's quick spellwork pays off, crashing into the Black Waltz and senading it sprawling across the stone. It flies so far out, in fact, that it very nearly falls out through that GIGANTIC hole in the wall!

It's not for long, however...

With a ROAR of mana, flames explode forth into the air around its gloved right hand before being flung across the room toward the retreating source of its furious anger!

Meanwhile, the Black Mages stumble as Finna collides with their steepled hats... knocking them free... before one atempts to seize her by the legs... and make her more acquainted with the ground!

Goffard Gaffgarion (493) has posed:
    First a Titan-ic forehead flick, and then a lightning bolt chaser. Definitely not Gaffgarion's day. The third floor of the building is also destroyed by the attack, though the Fell Knight falls back into the second floor with a clang and an "Uuf!" But damned if he doesn't get right back up. At least his brain has stopped screaming by now, so he can concentrate on his magics.

    Which he demonstrates, not by snarking or lobbing sarcasm. Gaffgarion is past the point of talking now. Now he's all action. He raises that sword in his free hand. Again it begins to crackle with those dark energies.

    There's a heaviness in the air suddenly, and it seems to get darker. An eye appears in the air above both Ainsley and Faruja, opening to spill energy down underneath it. If either of them should be caught under it... they may find a blade of energy snapping up, to drain a portion of their lifeforce away...

Ziggy Grover has posed:
"I really don't think I like being reaped around by a pocket reaper," Ranger Green says, mostly to Dr K.

Any response by Dr. K goes unnoticed as the Tail Spinner is sent skyhigh vertically, creating a bit of a chaotic situation as the zord spins around in mid-air like crazy.

Stabilize, stabilize, landing was going to be a bitch, especially since he needed to be at least able to land on his wheels. C'mon, where were those gyro stabilizing thingamabobs...? Did it even -work- in mid-air?

Throwing his weight towards one side to try and get it straightened up enough, Ziggy accidentally hits a button and...

"NO, NO, NO, I didn't ask you to turn into an arm...!"

Finna (513) has posed:
    "Awa--" THWAM! Finna finds herself caught and brought almost face-first to the ground. She absorbs the impact mostly through her arms to resist it, looks over her shoulder... and grins.

    Grins VERY CREEPILY.

    The white-furred fox tail changes first. It bursts open wider into segmented, chitinous parts and grows a nasty, poison-drippy stinger. This tail whips out with blinding speed to jab and thrust at the nearby BLack Mages, knock them back, give her room. Slapping her hands she rises up to her feet... and huge wings sprout from her back. Leathery bat wings. Then nubs appear on her head... three of them. The antlers of some great moose burst from her flesh and skull, while while her forehead similarly sprouts a RHINOCEROS HORN. All her exposed skin bulges weirdly, turning rough and thick. Her nose elongates into the trunk of a Wooly Mammoth while SPIDER MANDIBLES emerge from her mouth, also dripping some awful venom. As if this was not enough, both her arms rip open into a weird shade of green chitinous structure, developing the snatching sstriking arms of a preying mantis. Her lower body ripples slimily and then splays out into cephalopian flesh... the ten grasping limbs of a GIANT SQUID, impossibly functioning just fine out of the water, now comprise much of her lower half.

    The beast she has become now is an unspeakable, horrific Chimaera that FAYT RAVUS DEFINITELY DOES NOT WANT SMOOCHING HIM AS THREATENED.

    Silvery light BURNS through the room now as Finna's Caste mark shines at full force. The phantasmal image of a dashing fox appears in moonfire over her body... and it's dashing, because she's moving the instant it appears.

    EVERY LIMB, TENDRIL, APPENDAGE, EXTENSION, or NATURAL WEAPON glows with uncanny force while Finna herself becomes a WHIRLING DERVISH of limbs and pain and venom and agony and destruction just as likely to terrify allies as enemies. A Black Mage is grabbed at by the trunk and, if nabbed, swung about and IMPALED on her horn. The dozens of squid legs wrap around necks and bodies and turn more into bludgeons. She plows through lines with beast-like abandon while roaring with the glorious voice of some VERY large feline creature.

    In jsut a few moments, things over there have gotten very, VERY SAVAGE.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley is ready to draw her sword when Goffard plummets back down to their impromptu arena. Her eyes squint at him as he gets up to a stand, suspicious of what the rather rude mercenary had up his sleeve. When he raised the sword, she expected him to make some sort of strike with it, and subsequently held up her own weapon at the ready. Unfortunately, the effect is most certainly not physical.

    When the eye appears above her, she gasps in surprise-- and the energy blade spikes up from the ground and THROUGH her, at an angle! Impaled by the energy blade, she retreats with a panic, and lets out a strangled noise like she really did get stabbed in the gut. She staggers up against Faruja, her scales actually going a bit pale around her face. It was a very solid hit.

    She soon steadies herself, and lets out a building howl of pained fury when she replies to the attack. She approaches with the longsword in one hand and raises it above her head, and grabs the hilt before a vicious overhead slice is given, with a stance that suggests she has practices this very attack enough to flow through it naturally.

    She's not aiming to hit him with the sword, but it'd be a nice bonus... because the blast of wind that follows it is what she's really doing, using her very pronounced body movement to cast a blast of whirling wind after the sword swipe. "HHHHRRRAAAAAAH!!"

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    "Oh crap it worked too well."

    This is followed by a pianed scream as Fayt lights up, the poor littel goy dropping to the floor to put himself out. After several moments of frantically rolling around ot put himself out, Fayt staggers to his feet just in time to hear Finna... well, let's not try to describe what that might sound like ok? "...She's on our side... jsut remember she's on our side..."

    Looking both burnt and stragely enough, DEALTHY PALE, Fayt shudders a bit before picking his staff up, and taking aim at The Black Waltz. "Angry? Got your attention? GOOD! Let's boogie. burning hands." This time, Fayt's staff fires out a wave of fire. at the black Waltz.

Faruja (152) has posed:
Faruja gets little satisfaction in the twin attacks upon Gaffgarion, as he has his own menace to deal with! That horrid blade of darkness bites into the Burmecian, the male losing his recently ingested tea as his sensitivity to the corrupt energies summoned by the Dark Knight assails him! He falls to his knees, clutching his stomach now rent by the blade itself. Blood, horridly dark now thanks to the effects of that sapping energy, spills upon the ground.

But for all he coughs, sputters, and bleeds, the Inquisitor is nothing if not stubborn. The rat similarly uses Ainsley to simply manage to get himself up, the pair a bulwark against the pain they suffer from this powerful opponent! Ainsley uses her skill with blade and wind alike to rush towards the man! Reaching into his coat, the nezumi pulls out a timepiece to aide his lover. Squeezing, he crushes the object.

A ten foot sphere of time-halting magic erupts around the rodent, a grey aura of eerie silence and stillness entering into being. Curiously, it seems to hardly effect the rat himself, nor his allies should they be caught within!

But its full effects center upon his enemies; any of the Black Mages that are caught within, and especially Gaffgarion himself!

Five seconds of which very nearly ruin the rat's battle plan, as Finna transforms into a horrific monstrosity. Faruja's muzzle drops open, all pain forgotten as he /stares/. There's a little squeak of dismay, girlish and utterly embarrassing. Later, he shall pray that Gaffgarion didn't hear it. The rat clutches his cross as he tries to regain his senses, and /not/ look at his disturbing ally too much, lest he give into the urge to draw his Blaze Gun at the image of Wrongness.

But with a man so solid, so strong as Gaffgarion, Faruja Senra isn't going to take chances. Rather than allow him time to adjust and resist the spell? Faruja calls upon an ancient and deadly art known to Ivalicians since time immemorial.

-> Actions

-> Fundaments

-> Throw Stone

Fuki has posed:
    Fuki smirks slightly, watching the Behemoth's work as it throws the thing up into the air... "Hehe, that'll show that..." she turns to face the area where everyone else is, scythe at the ready to do some reaping. Suddenly... a shadow is hovering over the Shinki. "Eh?" Looking up... "MOVE!" as she smacks the rod into the beasts neck. A loud roar once more as the arm comes flying down! Fuki makes a run for it, hiding under the behemoth as the arm smashes right down into it. "Holy... what in the world is that thing?"

    Once more, the Behemoth tries this time, chomping at that finger and the arm at a whole, using the hard claws to try and gouge it to rip it apart and do some serious damage... or at least she hopes...

Ultima (129) has posed:
The Black Mages are entirely unprepared for what follows in the wake of Finna's face meeting floor! The slow, sickening, transformation into the literal stuff of nightmares is met blank, soulessly empty, stares of burning yellow orbs on not fully-formed faces. In fact, now that their steepled hat cover is off it is plain for all to see that... they lack defining features upon their faces. Synthetic skin, charred black, and a simple crudely fashioned mouth... just like the dolls they are. Though there does not appear to be anything resembling human fear in them... for what it's worth it gives them great pause...

...and that pause is sufficient to render them all helpless before the whirling, violently savage, desruction that follows! The dolls are tossed, stabbed, and slammed about and into their surroundings - breaking everything they contact.

That oily black fluid flows like wine upon the cold stone of the workshop floor in their wake, or rather Finna's wake...

...and Fayt's rertaliation, too, finds crippling purchase against the Black Waltz - still barely having clambered to its feet before the flames come crashing against its frame like waves upon the shore! It practically sets the floor, and he easterly wall, aflame even as it utterly consumes the fined.

The very room they are standing in has, at this point, been either badly destroy or set ablaze. And it's because of this, that a groaning complaint is emitted by the floor... before it simply gives way... dropping the fiend into the shadows below...

...only for it to appear again a moment later in FURIOUS haste... its form a mere burning spectre of what it was. By now, almost all of its robes have been burned off and the ebon feathers of its wings too have been nearly razed completely off. The fiend's blackened flesh is soaked in its own bodily fluids, a single burning eye remaining to stare penetratingly at Fayt before archaic words spring forth from its lips in a torrent... followed by a literal explosion of deathly frigid air from seemingly nowhere that howls through the workshop... turning the very room to pristine crystal...!

Ziggy Grover has posed:
Yeah, YEAH! See, that's what happens when you're both good -and- lucky. Okay, maybe just lucky. You get a FLYING FINGER OF POKING DOOM coming down at you!

Although, of course, there was just one tiny problem- the Tail Spinner Zord was good and stuck, finger down in the ground. What was he supposed to do now?

"Hey, get away! Get away, go away!" Ranger Green flails his arms at the Behemoth, before frantically searching across his board. "Oh... what the hell!"

"Ranger Green, what are you -doing-?" Dr. K's voice crackles over the comm.

"SPINNING MY WHEELS!" Ziggy exclaims, setting the large green portion of the Shark Zord into a spin, trying to whack the Behemoth with the tail. Hopefully it didn't moooove...!

Goffard Gaffgarion (493) has posed:
    Ainsley's blast fo air-- possibly her sword too-- throws Gaffgarion well out of range of Faruja's thrown stone, unfortunately for the ratpriest. Fortunately for Gaffgarion it also conceals Finna. His back is to her. Which is just as well; he'd probably freak RIGHT THE HELL OUT if he saw her. Bad enough he's hearing it on the radio. What even the hell? And these people are calling HIM a monster? The idea!

    However, Gaffgarion's got a dilemma. He's running low on strength. And if they don't get at least ONE of these guys out, he doesn't get paid. NEVER stand between Goffard Gaffgarion and his money. One may not live to regret it. However, in this case, the blizzard erupts in the area, hopefully taking care of the duo that had been attacking him. And Goffgarion's never one to waste effort if he doesn't have to.

    With the blizzard making it harder for the others to engage him, he sheathes his sword, darts across the room with surprising speed for someone so armored, and grabs one of the engineers by the arm. "You come with me, good sir... else you forfeit your life," he says, almost conversationally. He's not quite strong enough to heft the man, so instead he places the engineer between himself and the heroes. Will they go THROUGH the engineer to hit him?!

    Hissing under his breath, he notes, "Black Waltz! I have one. If we stay, we may lose him. Let us away!" Oh, but he's not done yet. To Faruja, he notes merrily, "Mayhaps one day you may receive me as an alley... provided those you serve shan't be so greedy when opening their purse strings next time." A merry wave.

    He's backing up, towards the Black Waltz. But... he presents his back to the hole in the wall, thinking no one to be there...

Faruja (152) has posed:
It's bad enough that the Black Waltz covers half of Faruja's body in clinging, freezing ice. The horrid numbness of hypothermia sets in, and only through quite a bit of struggling and general abusing of Gravity spells gets the rat out in time to save his limbs from pure suffering. Stiffly, he falls to the ground, shivering and glaring hatefully at the Black Waltz.

"Bloody...soulless...ABOMINATIONS!" Screams out the rat.

Then Gaffgarion grabs one of the Engineers, and Faruja's in a bind. Scowling, the Inquisitor glares over to the mercenary.

"The only thing ye shall receive from mineself is absolution when I toss thee to the mercy of the Lord!"

A merry wave from Gaffgarion...and then a claw tapping upon his cross.

~Elsewhere~

Cursed with a hostage, Strawberry does only what she can. Her scope lowers, from the center of the back, down to the man's knee. BLAM!

Then, barely able to move, Faruja summons up Ifrit to deal with the cold...especially around his lover! Much as his previous mistake, he'll hardly let his enemies freeze his sweet to death!

Finna (513) has posed:
    Howling, snarling, trumpeting, biting, slashing, stabbing, strangling and making an AWFUL oily mess in her corner of the conflict, Finna is caught with her pants... well... nowhere to be found at this point by the time the frigid air comes galing her way!

    Almost comically the Nightmare Chimaera's buffeted by the winds, frosted over, frozen in place, encased in a huge growth of ice...

    Of course, she struggles through it all. Ice shatters as soon as it forms when she slams her weird limbs into it to keep from being totally frozen up. Each shatter rips flesh from her body. Blood and chunks of flesh fly everywhere as she turns from offense to defense. The antlers shatter, the wings are ripped to shreds and one torn off. Some of the squid legs freeze helplessly and seperate... leading her to tumble forward and through the blizzard. With a mighty SLAM she knocks floorboards loose and up into an impromptu barrier, but this lasts only a few moments. Soon the floorboards freeze, shatter, and... aid no more. She's blown backwards into a wall and stuck fast to it by ice... only to break free with a ferocious screaming howl that ends up...

    ... ends up tearing her left arm clean off and leaving a bloody stump in its wake.

    She lands on the floor with the squid legs retreating and reforming into human ones, but EXTREMELY SHAGGY MAMMOTH FUR sprouts all over her body to shield her from the worst of this assault as an afterthought.

    When all's said and done, Finna's left gasping, panting, dazed, dizzied, and suffering from some amount of shock from the pain and bloodloss and hypothermia. She wobbles around left and right, stumbles into a wall and then over a chair. THUMP.

    ... Oddly, though, the bloodied parts of her body ain't bleeding any further. They've staunched themselves in seconds... how?

Fayt Ravus (319) has posed:
    From fire to ice? oh dear...

    There's an odd whimpering sound from Fayt as his body freezes up, ice covering his limbs as he's frozen to the wall. Between this and all the burns, Fayt's not looking so good right now. "Might of... overdone things a bit..."

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley is about to follow up her strike upon Goffard Gaffgarion, careless of anything approaching banter or the idea that anything but killing this man is on the table at that second. She is stopped dead in her tracks by a powerful blast of cold. A blast of cold that cuts into her body, and she just grows so weak that her body collapses, too weak to attack when her muscles grow lax like that. Her vision distorts as she feels herself starting to pass out...

    It's only halted by a prompt action from Faruja with Ifrit's help. She sluggishly drags herself over to the creature of fire and kneels there, breathing lightly, looking very out of it, and incredibly tired.

    "Hnn..."

Goffard Gaffgarion (493) has posed:
    Gaffgarion doesn't see Berri lining up her shot. But he hears it though! However, he hears it far too late! Plate armor is no barrier to modern firearms, as Gaffgarion finds out as the bullet from the high-powered sniper rifle tears through his knee. He gives a surprised cry of pain that he bites down on viciously, and his leg abruptly goes out from under him. It takes the engineer down too, though-- not the bullet, merely Gaffgarion's weight. And he takes a moment to shift his shield so he can use it to support himself with his shield arm.

    If the Black Waltz is going to get the out of there, right about then would be a good time...

Fuki has posed:
    Fuki and the Behemoth get knocked back skidding into a couple of buildings as the whirling hand of Shark Zord makes contact with the two, the buildings crumbling under the weight of the behemoth. Though with a grunt, it gets back up, dripping red from the multitude of wounds on it, the behemoth clutching the ground with its obsidian claws. "Your friends may need to watch out..." she comments to herself as the behemoth charges the arm, once again, trying to gore it with its horns.

    Teeth gnash and claws try to rip and shred at the robotic arm, trying to thrash it about before trying to slam it with its tail to send it into the building where everyone stands!

Ziggy Grover has posed:
"... it... worked?" Ranger Green replies, bringing the tail spin desperation move to a stop, and stares at the monitor. Throwing his hands up in the air in a celebration, Ranger Green does a very exuberant "WOO HOO!"

That lasts for all of about a second before the Behemoth rams into the Tail Gunner zord, flaying it about, before executing its CRITICAL COUNTER move.

When the BEAST MODE rampage is done, Ranger Green finds himself dangling upside down in the cockpit, held in place by the seat belt suspenders that deployed automatically, building material crumbling about him, staring upside down at a giant hole in several walls.

"Uh oh, I really hope that wasn't a load-bearing wall..."

Ultima (129) has posed:
After unleashing that last burst of furious cold, the fiendish abomination seems almost out of energy. In fact, it's everything it can do to stay aloft in the air and not simply collapse into the hole again! It's battered body hangs limply in the air, even as that one burning eye continues to stare with concentrated hatred at the 'interference' they had run into. But as Gaffgarion comes running toward it, with only one engineer in tow, that eye burns ever more furiously as a hiss escapes its mouth... the rage is audible, making the stark contrast with its ubroken emotionless visage possibly all the more horrifying!

"Ksssss!!! Failure... failure isss... intolerable!" Its frame shudders, before beginning to glow and throb with a violent red mana. Gaffgarion might be given a few moments to consider the worst possible meanings of this before.... an arm fans out and his world would be consumed by the same crimson flood.

...And a moment later, they would both be gone from the room. Whisked away as if by the wind... leaving those broken dolls behind.

Ultima (129) has posed:
... And just as the pair of them away, Ziggy Grover comes sailing trough the wall... flying straight through where the burning spectre of the Black Waltz had been before crashing to the floor.

"Uh oh, I really hope that wasn't a load-bearing wall..."

...As if jinxed by his very words, the ceiling groans... and the building shudders suddenly... causing paicked engineers and apprentices to flee for the stairways!!!

... And then the center most part of the roof caves, leaves a skylight through which moonlight spills and highlights the fallen Ranger Green.

From somewhere outside the building, the sound of a neighboring window opens. "...HEY!!! SHUT UP, I'M TRYING TO SLE..."

..

*SLAM*