2016/New Blood: Lord of Famine

New Blood: Lord of Famine
Date of Scene:	13 April 2015
Location:	Terra Majora
Synopsis:	The Terra Majora alliance goes after another Shajem: The Lord of Famine
Cast of Characters:	92, 134, 168, 253, 299, 340, 546, 707
Tinyplot:	New Blood

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Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    The province of Amber. That is where it turns out that the next Shajem is located. The province is actually not well-populated at all... and this is likely thanks to the origin of the name. No, not the mineral, but the coloration of much of this province, so named due to the abundant fields of grain that grow upon the land. Grain and crops from this land are especially high-quality and nutritious... which makes it odd that the Shajem is buried beneath the most healthy and abundant of the crops.

    Naturally the Windward Empire, which holds this land, is not going to be pleased with powerful foreigners making a strike into their breadbasket. The mobility of those in the Union and Confederacy can't be matched, yet, by the Empire... but they are on their way. This puts a hard time limit on capturing and sealing the Shajem. This is on top of avoiding mass-devastation of the surrounding area, which will starve hundreds of thousands of the very people Elliana has set out to help.

    It is for this reason that Elliana has not brought the Drasillum, but instead the mostly-repaired airship that was captured with the city. IT's more like a small yacht than something made for attacking, but it provides transportation for the Confederates, and she can dock it some distance from the supposed point of contact. A few scattered farmhouses will see the descent, but she is fairly confident they will stay back once the fireworks start.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Union-side transportation will be handled by Psyber. It's a small, black helicopter that darts across the countryside. It might be a bit cramped to ride in, but it's fast and that's what's a bit more important. The vehicle makes a quick circle and then comes to hover not too far away from the airship that the Confederates brought.

    Gently, it touches down onto an empty field and the blades slow to a stop. Psyber climbs out of the pilot's seat and grabs some of his gear before hopping out, "Alright. Here's hoping this one goes smoother than the last couple of runs we took at a Shajem."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Well, you've got me here this time," Xiaomu comments to Psyber as she slides out of the helicopter; besides her staff and her vest (and presumably her guns), she's got a carry-pack slung across her back for ... whatever reason. Maybe extra grenades, or more ammo for her guns. Or maybe it's all snacks.

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    The lens is still fractured.

    Nathan appears to have not replaced his glasses, but that's fine, he can mostly see. As for what he's been doing, he's attempted to work in a diplomatic capacity as always, trying to sew dissent among Empire military staff by informing them of how the Union halted some form of attack on the Windwards by the Starshine Kingdom. One hopes that this will buy them appropriate time and maneuvering space for this.

    He slowly exits the helicopter with his traditional deliberate, slow, robotic motions. "Mmm." Is all the reply he has for Psyber's commentary about this going smoother Xiaomu's statement seems consciously ignored, for some reason. And of course, he'll point to where he was informed the Shajem would be, assuming he can gauge the landmarks properly and use the helicopter's basic navigational tools. "This way." And continuing to speak very little, he'll head on that way, intending to find the entrance. Has to be a door somewhere around the location he's got, right?

Nox (546) has posed:
    If someone didn't know better, they might say that Nox has taken a liking to riding on airships, given his growing history of doing so, and the fact that he currently occupies the top deck, completely immobile save for the flutter of his tabard in the high altitude wind. Logically however, it's simply better to be present for the entire journey, just in case any kind of unforseen complications come up. Fairly importantly, Nox has a vested interest in seeing this improved form of binding work, due to its close relevance to the matter of extracting the energy stolen from the previous Shajem without its core essence seeping into everything he could potentially use it for. Close examination of it has lead to him revising his specifically tooled device for a 1.2 version, and so there is the further motivation of wishing to test it. For now however, he seems uneasily content to wait until the Drasillum reaches its destination, though by then he'll have little tolerance for delays; especially knowing of the pre-existing time pressure.

Sakura Haruno (134) has posed:
    Flowers had gotten a pet out of the last time she'd made an attempt, but she was coming this time for more nefarious reasons. Which is to say, she wants to watch out and make certain there's not some sort of awful thing going on with Hall and Psyber beyond the obvious, and observing in person may help that.

    She's taken the helicopter for that reason, with her traditional reaction to flight of wrapping her arms around her head and trying to pretend that giant gap between herself and Earth wasn't there, hurrying off the device once it lands. She's mostly subdued and quiet for the moment, which might be a relief to all involved, as she follows the General.

Charity Whiteheart (299) has posed:
    Himei must be busy tonight, but you know who isn't? Charity Whiteheart. She's standing near to Elliana, holding onto the railing as she watches the ground come in close. She's out of the ship in an eyeblink, floating lightly down to the ground to greet all the others. "General. Psyber. Miss Haruno. Nice to see you again."

    This time it should be easier to recognize Charity, because she's in her combat gear, though she's left the hood down on her cloak. No need for such discretion, here.

Mir (340) has posed:
    Mir is here as well. She's treating this a /little/ more seriously than some other things she's done, and is thus in her skin-tight but revealing suit. In order to keep from drawing too much attention, the pale girl is wearing a cloak with the hood up, and she steps down from the ship when it lands without any fancy moves.

    The Reyvateil stays quiet for now, approaching the others with a thoughtful assessment. It's not hard to tell WHO she is when she gets in close, but she offers no friendly greetings.

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    It's... well, pretty boring. The whole area is incredibly boring, being just field after field of grain. It's pretty rich in content, and in the distance the nearest farmhouse has shut itself up, shutters closing and the occupants assuming trouble as the loud deathspinning bird and the battered Faranelian airship land in their fields. They might be willing to defend their lands, but not against overwhelming odds like that.

    Elliana joins the group shortly, nodding to Nox, and Psyber, and Nathan, and Mir, and then to Flowers. "Hello again... Ah, Lady Haruno is here. Her talents might be /particularly/ useful. The Shajem is likely beneath the earth." She claps her hands, then levels a look at Xiaomu... but does not protest. She's going to presume the Union brought someone useful today.

    And indeed, the fertility of the earth is obvious here, teeming with life that sets off both Sakura and Nox's senses. The buried presence of the Shajem /is/ there, but it's hard to pick out amongst everything else. Perhaps the sheer health of the land is helping to keep it sealed?

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "You can handle sealing as well as your partner, right?" Psyber asks to Xiaomu, giving her a curious look as she trails along with him. Nathan receives a much more terse response which simply is: "Nn." In counter to his verbose 'Mmm'. See Haruno? They're fine.

    Charity gets a nod of Psyber's head and at least a friendly smile, "Miss Whiteheart. As ever, no meeting will ever be quite as fun as the second time we met," He says in a vague tone. She'll probably never stop getting teased about that, but it's all in good fun. Mir gets a nod of Psyber's head, but he can tell she's serious.

    "Nathan. Elliana," Psyber begins, looking to them both, "I know very little about the method of sealing Nathan used. Therefore, I will defer to your joint opinion: If the Shajem fear Sovereign, should I take it out of my Sylla-whatever as leverage during negotiations? Or should I leave the talking to Nathan purely?"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu grins at Psyber's question. "Considering that I taught him a lot of what he knows - maybe not all, you can never be too sure - and I've been in this line of work about seven centuries longer than Reiji ... yeah, I'd say I can handle sealing as well as he can."

Then the groups link up, and Xiaomu regards the assortment who's gathered here, Union and otherwise alike. Elliana's look is answered by a slight nod, and other Confederates get similarly mild but polite acknowledgments. She hasn't been paying quite as much attention to the Terra Majora situation as she could have been, so the sage fox is staying alert and keeping track of whose lead she should take her cues from.

Mir (340) has posed:
    Mir lowers the hood of her cloak to stare at the grain. "Mn... so this is what it will look like..." What a cryptic comment! She glances over toward Psyber, but that seems to be all the greeting she needs to give, and she walks up next to Charity for now. "I will need protection of some sort, as those of you who work with me know. I will work from here to try to mute the aggression of the Shajem as best I can." She sighs heavily.

    Quietly, she also adds, "I have not used this song in over three and a half centuries, so I can't be sure if it will have any effect."

Nox (546) has posed:
    Though he waits until the airship lands, Nox doesn't make the effort of floating down the ramp. He zips through intervening space with a spark of blue light, reappearing a short distance from the gathering Elites with his back turned to the Unionites, closing his eyes so he can focus on the flow of energy that surrounds him, and more importantly, surges beneath his feet. The sheer amount of life here is a tempting prospect, but scouring it off the face of Elliana's world would be a bad idea, and completely unnecessary so long as he can reach their target deep below. It's irritatingly difficult to place a precise location on it though, as if it the lush growth overtop of it were some form of destructive interference on its wavelength.

    "Whatever is necessary to keep the Shajem busy." he says, plain and curt. "Songs, sealing, Sovereign. I will be taking my usual role at the front, and operating the first stage of the process. I trust you're all familiar with how to deal with entities like these."

Charity Whiteheart (299) has posed:
    Charity gives Mir an odd look, but she steps in front. "Eh, I'm not sure how much help my powerset will be unless it starts animating the crops to come and attack us or something. So I might as well guard Captain Mir." She opens her cloak and raws out her knives, twirling them with a lazy look over the rest of those present.

    Charity rolls her eyes at Psyber, then waggles the point of a blade at him. "Careful about that, I might have to make your life interesting." She then turns to Xiaomu with a suspicious eye-narrowing, but Nathan gets another look. "Are you sure you can handle this? Even with it weakened?"

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    "Charity." Nathan says, to, well, Charity. "Mir, salutations." Here's someone more familiar and less antagonistic! "Good to see that you are still well. Making agriculture plans, I hope." He won't foist more conversation on her than that, though. "Lady Fairchild is right. Haruno. Disturb the energies of the land as little as possible, but if you can make a passage, I believe it will be optimal. Please attempt to do so, and create an opening to any potential structures below. I can assist if necessary."

    Then he turns to Psyber. "It may help. It may not. I believe it might, if Lady Fairchild accepts it. Coercion and pressure to accept the Negotiation." He says, but he doesn't seem to commit one way or another. Nox gets a... Odd look, and for a moment, Nathan seems nauseous for some reason, and there's a weird sparking noise, but it's gone as soon as it was here. Ideally around now Ethan and company will be getting here, if they're still necessary. Assuming Elliana can't do the thing herself now, anyway, in which case Nathan won't be risking Ethan for obvious reasons.

    For now, he stays stepping to one side, giving the others room to work. His duties come later, obviously.

Sakura Haruno (134) has posed:
    Sakura is not exactly falling for the everything's good act, but she'll perk right up at the feel of the soil here, even managing to seem borderline cheerful in spite of Elliana talking to her. Of course, it seems to demand a response; she won't quite look at Elliana as she speaks, instead looking over the land. "You want me to try to dig to wherever it might be? I'll try to scout ahead first, then."

    'Ahead' is a relative term. She's going to try and sink like a rock in water into the ground, just leaving a trail of disturbed dirt for the moment, not an actual passage - she'll have to come back and carve that once she finds the place, but if it's relatively smooth to do so, that's what she'll be doing.

    It's certainly an escape from the social tension, at least.

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    "Keep Sovereign nearby. Sheathed," Elliana answers. "The Shajem have an instinctive aversion... that could hurt us in 'negotiations' but if we need to herd him, that could be useful. Backbiter is not quite so powerful an effect, now, but being Sovereign's twin..." She trails off, then shakes her head. "Right. Lady Whiteheart, please protect Lady Mir. I do not know what she has planned, but I trust that she knows what she is doing. Nox... be ready to do your own thing. I will provide you with plentiful chances. Psyber... it will be up to you and Lady Haruno to keep him busy."

    Ethan's arrival with the binders causes her to stop. Too bad Sakura probably won't see it, because it's... something of an emotional moment. The two stop very close to one another, staring for a long and tense period... before Elliana leans in and gives Ethan a very firm, tight hug. They don't exchange words, but the wan smile Elliana holds says that the meeting isn't entirely joyful.

    Meanwhile... the power of the Shajem can be easier to feel for Nox. This is because Sakura nears it rather quickly. It's not hard to find, because she can feel the faint 'wrongness' in the earth around it, sealed in stone. It doesn't look like it's corrupting the land, or anything, and the actual Shajem is sealed in a simple clay pot, with only a hairline crack along it. This particular seal should hold for some time yet, perhaps a few decades.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Good to know," Psyber says to Xiaomu, "Did you bring something to store the energy in, like a crystal? I can provide one if not."

    Psyber then smiles at Charity, "I may hold you to that Miss Whitehe-" And then he cuts off mid-step, pressing two fingers to his ears and listening with a scowl on his face. He murmurs a bit and then drops his hand away, a much more baleful look on his face after he does so.

    "Affirmative. I understand the objective," He says to Elliana more stiffly than he was just a moment ago. He reaches into his jacket and pulls out the Order Modus, ripping off a page and Sovereign appearing (sheathed) in his grasp instead of the slip of paper.

    Now in a much quieter posture, he simply trails along with the group. Not much else for him to say at the moment.

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    Nathan had considered that this would be Elliana's first meeting with Ethan in some time. He leaves them to it, though it's an oddly bitter sort of way, where he wanders off a while as if not trusting himself to stay tactful around what's going on here. Nothing sparky about it this time, just quietly wandering a few yards off until everything's resolved. Odd, but at least not disrupting anything.

Sakura Haruno (134) has posed:
    Flowers is going to very definitely not touch it herself, though she'll get rather close. She can't make earth completely vanish, so it's going to be obvious where she's going to be resurfacing, with a claustrophia-inducing smooth tunnel left behind as she comes up towards the surface at an angle, spreading the dirt across the area a little bit.

    In her haste, she missed both the reunion for Elliana and the discussion of what she's supposed to do during the encounter; presumably, someone will catch her up. Remarkably, in spite of her diving about in the ground and all, her clothing and hair come through remarkably clean. This is because she's cheating; anyone else going down without cheating methods of their own may end up very dingy.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Yeah, Reiji and I worked together on it," Xiaomu answers the chief of Heaven or Hell. "Should work fine, I primed it with a basic sealing sutra while we were purifying it for containment."

She doesn't seem to pay any particular mind to Psyber's abrupt shift in mood, although she does tighten her grip slightly on her monk staff, glancing around almost idly. The reunion between Elliana and Ethan doesn't seem to draw particular notice from Xiaomu, although one of her ears does twitch slightly at the display, and a faint smile comes to her lips before fading back to her businesslike demeanor.

Mir (340) has posed:
    Mir's reaction to Ethan is to glower for a long moment, but she shakes away her distaste and takes a deep breath. "Mn... I suppose I should begin my own preparations. With any luck, this will help greatly."

    Mir clears her throat... and when she opens her mouth, no words pour out. Instead, a few lilting strains of violins and woodwinds float out around her, then fade away without an effect. "I am ready."

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    The dirt erupts and Sakura emerges. Elliana smiles, "Thank you, Lady Haruno. Be prepared for trouble," she notes. The former priestess steps forward to the edge, peering downward. Now, it's easy for everyone, not just Nox, to feel the power emanating from that cracked clay pot. It's some distance down there, but anyone who wants to peek in can probably see it. "Perfect. It is much smoother than if I had used my own abilities, and without agitating the Shajem."

    It only takes a moment to do what she needs to do. Concentration, a couple whispered words, and while she's doing that Ethan and the binders spread out, giving a nod to the others there.

    "Ready," he finally says, the first clear word he's stated.

    Elliana steps back with a small gesture of her hand. The shattering of the pot can be heard inside, and the roar of something escaping up the tunnel follows it. A massive purple serpentine body erupts, toothed maw open wide and with a glowing, whispy aura about it.

    The Binders, and Elliana, are already attempting to wrap it in a complex series of wards. These are mainly meant to keep it trapped inside a small area, but they can't stop the warping, rippling effect that begins to spread out. The grain instantly crumbles to dust, the stalks withering and drying out, but the Lord of Famine does not transmit hunger for physical food as he 'eats' the surrounding crops.

    No, the power that pulses out from this being is simple hunger. HUNGER. For anything that is craved in general. Power, love, security, acceptance... whatever is a desire suddenly becomes a NEED, something that is more important than anything else to the point of tunnel vision.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber steps forward after the group. Ethan gets a pleasant nod once Elliana's done greeting him. He watches as the Shajem rushes up and out of the ground, unsure how to react at first.

    He can feel it, though. Hunger. What does he hunger for? Many things... He wobbles on his feet a bit, trying to steady his mind. But his eyes fall to several people present for individual hungers. Haruno is one. Nathan a second. Elliana a third. He can feel his mind becoming pre-occupied by that hunger.

    To focus his mind again, Psyber opts to punch himself in the upper leg, using the sharp blast of pain as an anchor point to break his momentary obsession before he pursues one of them. He blinks several times and then looks really annoyed.

    "Let's tag him and bag him," Psyber says, brushing back his coat with his free hand and firing a trio of blessed bullets at the Shajem.

Charity Whiteheart (299) has posed:
    Well. Looks like it's time for Charity to get to work! Her job is protecting Mir, but that's getting to be difficult when the Lord of Famine makes his presence known! Which means she starts to /hunger/ for... what? She had her vengeance not long ago, and thus she's sort of without purpose. This works out for her, since it means she has a hunger for PURPOSE more than anything else. Right now, her purpose is protecting Mir.

    Which is why her blades lick out, sending sharp razors of vacuum through the air. She's trying to slice open the sides of the Shajem, to keep it coralled and away from Mir now.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Hunger, the most basic of all desires, common to pretty much EVERY living creature ... and 765-year-old sage foxes are no exception, a gurgling grumble rising from the vicinity of Xiaomu's stomach as the Shajem rises up and starts emanating raw hunger.

Xiaomu doesn't even seem to think about what she's doing as she unbuckles her carrypack and drops it to the ground, planting her staff in the ground-

*jingle!*

- "Kh ..." Xiaomu shakes her head to clear it, then unzips her pack, revealing her precious cargo. Plastic bags of fried tofu, for the most part; also several handheld video game systems, and a portable DVD player with quite a few disc carriers. She honestly doesn't seem entirely sure what to pull out first, her right ear twitching a few times ...

Then her staff topples, rings jingling again as the falling staff baps Xiaomu on the side of her head. "Oi!" she snaps, grabbing the staff -

*JINGLE*

And then the rings jingle louder as she jams her staff deeper into the ground, so it WON'T fall over this time. Her free hand dives into the bag, pulling out a small silk-wrapped package; unwrapping the silk reveals the bright gleam of a polished bronze mirror, which she skims across to the ground neaer the worm-like Lord of Famine. "Nice try, I'll give you that," Xiaomu declares as she stands up straight again, her stomach growling again. "Takes more than that to get the best of me, though!" She shifts her staff to her left hand, freeing up her right to thrust out towards the Shajem. "XIAOMU .... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVE!!!"

The mirror glows - or maybe it's just catching the light better, for whatever reason - and a sealing circle appears, Xiaomu's own magic forming a spherical ward to try and entrap the Lord of Famine - although the Binders will probably take precedence. Xiaomu's ward is focused specifically on draining energy from the Shajem - and now that she sees other approaches in action, she understands what's going on: drawing power out of the Shajem to weaken it ...

Although she's not quite sure what happens AFTER the weakening.

Nox (546) has posed:
    'Negotiations'. There's a word for it. An extremely ironic one, all considered. Nox finds it amusing, but has neither the time nor the care to express it, letting any kind of joviality die before it begins. He does exhibit the decency of letting Elliana and Ethan have their moment, seemingly a little out of character for such a ruthlessly schedule-driven person. He only opens his eyes as Sakura reappears, or more accurately, a moment before she does, his head swivelling with a distinctive mechanical click as she bursts from the earth. Teleporting over he leans over to examine the hole, before immediately discarding the idea of actually climbing down it. A couple of noxines go down instead, though they quickly return after finding nothing but the clay pot and the obviously marked Shajem, leaving him to simply wait until Elliana makes the first move.

    The Lord of Famine is not the Shajem he should have come to face. The Lord of Rage had coaxed a measure of long-repressed wrath out of him, kept in check by the voice of the other he hears in his head. The Lord of Cowardice had little effect on him, having lost almost all notion of fear at least a century ago. Hunger however -- in the form of a driving, overwhelming, insatiable and unignorable desire -- is something that he lives every day. The anticipation of having the Shajem's energy becomes too much; self-control suddenly crushed under the weight of what he /needs/ it for. The complex strategems and tactics go out the window as soon as the feeling hits him, discarded in favour of playing the second stage of the operation immediately. The noxines draw their portal, and the clock hand comes through, sized down to the dimensions of a spear rather than a telephone pole after the last iteration. He grasps it in both hands, grip visibly shaking as he waits for it to make the spatial transition, before instantly warping with it into direct, close proximity with the newly released Shajem, reappearing just behind it and plunging it into its back, attempting to drain its energy well before anyone has had a chance to sufficiently weaken it.

Mir (340) has posed:
    "A variant, then," Mir mutters, before she feels that powerful slam of HUNGER gnawing at her mind. Mir has greater control over that than many others, though the temptation to simply cause a few casualties amongst her human allies rises. It is fortunate, then, that one of them is protecting her, and the others are known well to her. The temptation is there, and rising, but her focus is on something else. It is less fortunate that this mind-affecting ability is making her emotions roil, which dulls the effectiveness of what she's about to do.

    Once more, the Reyvateil opens her mouth... but this time, it is a chorus of voices that rise from her, and the music comes later.

    "Faura yerwe murfan anw sol ciel."
    <The little bird chirps her feelings to the world>

    "Faura sonwe murfan anw sol ciel ee."
    <The little bird sings her feelings to the people.>

    "Hymmnos oz faura pomb na omnis, den accrroad"
    <But, the little bird's song won't give birth to anything, because it's being given>

    "Sos yor, yanje revm, na endia revm, yehah revm..."
    <to you, to send to you to an eternal dream, an endless dream, a happy dream...>

    The song continues, rising in volume and with the addition of musical accompaniment, voice soft and calming rather than the violent, anger-filled tones that she usually has. It's a soothing song, and any feelings of anger or displeasure in the listeners will feel the music attempting to put away that rage, to pacify the injured spirits.

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    This intense amplification of 'need' seems to hit Nathan pretty hard. He needs, hungers for something, definitely. Whatever it is, we won't say much. But we will note that his power is getting in an odd way again, a way Psyber might recall. He looks nauseous again, and there's that odd sparking sound a few times again. There's a rather abrupt gush of purple fire and yellow light that erupts from his mouth as if he were sick, and it evaporates before it hits the ground. He looks ill, essentially.

    He's trying to shove down the urges, though. A familiar history with disregarding his own hunger means that he can do so with a certain sort of apathetic dignity, even if this is hitting him pretty hard. As if he weren't having any trouble at all, he'll initiate his Negotiations again. Like before, the Hastur magic comes up, acting as a centralized interface through which he can interact with the magic of the Binders here. As before, he'll try a pair of abstract configurations, as a yellow spellcircle inscribes itself in the air in front of him. The outer ring of the circle rotates as he attempts first to determine core motivation, just as he did with the Lord of Cowardice. First, does it wish to INDUCE HUNGER, or does it wish to SATE HUNGER? He will try configurations that test its compatibility with Negotiations that involve it sating its own 'hunger' or causing 'hunger' in others, Which instinct is more important here?

Sakura Haruno (134) has posed:
    Sakura's a helper! And it's really a good thing that she's able to help out now, because she's totally not the person you want handling your emotions-affecting monsters. The good news is that her desire for revenge isn't actually the thing that she hungers for the most of the people here, on either Elliana or Nathan, in spite of what they might think.

    The bad news is, whatever it is, she looks like she might actually start crying on the spot, and she doesn't really seem as soothed as she might otherwise be by Mir's song. It doesn't seem to have induced rage, but she's not going to contribute much until she gets herself together, and were she alone she'd probably have quite a hard time dealing with the Shajem at all from here.

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    This is getting to be complicated. A group of binders is trying to hold the writhing worm in the middle of the withering field... it looks vaguely similar to Nox's normal work! Hey NOX! He's stealing your schtick! Elliana's hands tremble slightly, but whatever it is she desires, and now NEEDS, is not something that is immediately obvious. Indeed, whatever it is has caused a sudden eruption of spires of earth upward, wrapping together in a cage that may be all-too-familiar to Psyber, given what he's seen before. The rest of the Binders are attempting to weave their power with Nathan's, and fortunately have themselves shielded. They're made to fight these things, and are fully-trained in keeping the effects away from themselves. Or are they~?

    Xiaomu's attack slams into the pinned Worm, as does the slashes from Charity. Gaps open up from the mystical attacks, and when the bullets from Psyber rip through its body, the Shajem shrieks and twists, preparing to burrow into the dusty, life-sapped earth.

    It is ironic that Nox, the villain, whose own greed jumped the gun here, saves the day. That clock hand pierces the Shajem's body and PINS it in place, the cage keeping it from moving to either side and the clock hand keeping it above ground. The lashing tail swats at one of the Binders, possibly crippling if nobody stops it, and the angry roar starts to bubble up-

    But anger is what Mir is nullifying, and the lashes are weak and confused, the Shajem's head darting back and forth more sluggishly. Nox gets a sudden RUSH of power, burning hungry power that saps from the struggling being of concept, rapidly filling the storage he brought.

    Nathan's spell begins to work, and the obvious draw is toward the second: despite the desire within it, the creature needs to /cause/ that hunger. A difficult thing to 'seal' away.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber manages to tag it a few times with handgun bullets while seals and bindings are being dropped into place. Mir's song is helping him, in its own way. At least one of his three or four hungers is rooted in anger, closer to two. So Psyber manages to let out a hand exhale and holster his gun.

    For NOW, it looks like things are falling into place. Nox's particular method has Psyber worried, and he resolves to keep an eye to watch for overdraining or something else that could cause another one of these missions to fall apart.

    More than that, though, Psyber wanders over to Haruno and places his hand on the center of her back. He gently rubs a little, trying to reassure her but not saying much of anything.

Nox (546) has posed:
    Nox has exceedingly little concern for the binders at this point, or even the whole idea of sealing the Shajem for that matter. For the time being, he is consumed by the battle to maintain some semblence of rationality as the Shajem's power floods through the siphoning device and bleeds into him by proxy, the hourglass at the far end spinning like a dynamo as it rapidly fills with so much glowing fluid, distilled from the malevolent god-thing's core essence. No matter how it might thrash, he holds steady to his target, eventually regaining enough sense to fire a pulse of stasis into it at point blank to try and slow it down, refusing to let his fangs out of it now that he has it in his metaphorical jaws.

Charity Whiteheart (299) has posed:
    A flash of motion carries Charity forward. Her hunger is to protect... which is uncharacteristic of many, but proves useful here, if a little... troublesome to her. That's because she dashes in front of the Binder, stopping the lashing tail from connecting to the priest in progress.

    "HNGH!" Unfortunately she can't block it with her blades, entirely, and is slammed hard enough to be sent flying, with the sound of a few snapping ribs. She plows into the dusty, consumed stalks of grain, shattering the dried-up husks like twigs, and lands pretty hard.

Mir (340) has posed:
    So that is how this works? Mir sees Charity defending like that, startled that her Confederate ally would be so... selfless? Is that the word? She lets her song fade, eventually, and takes a deep breath as she allows her energy to replenish. "I know what to do."

    The next song she begins is... discordant. Screeching instruments at the beginning, slowly lining up with one another into a sharp, upbeat tune that floats over the battlefield. There's some of her natural anger in this one, making it easier to sing, and the effect is simple:

    Freedom.

    The song is meant to UNBIND, to throw off the shackles of another's influence. She is attempting to counter the Shajem's influence.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu's stomach growls again, but she stays focused remarkably well, her eyes narrowing and the glow around her upraised hand brightening. The light from her sealing ward is brighter as well.

Trying to exacerbate her hunger is probably not going to help the Lord of Famine so much right now, given how Xiaomu is focused like a planet-busting superlaser on helping contain this thing.

Sakura Haruno (134) has posed:
    That whole reassuring thing may or may not work out for Psyber, given her overwhelming need for friendship and acceptance and... well, on the bright side, at least she's not looking for romantic love or this could be even more awkward! It's going to be bad enough, really, that she tries to throw her arms around him in what could be described as a 'crushing' hug, plant her head onto his shoulder, and cry.

    At least... possibly up until Mir's song takes effect. Then she'll be likely to blame him for this.

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    Nathan is still grappling with the hunger. There's a rumbling at his feet and more strange light dripping from his mouth, a gently sizzling cyan light now that quickly evaporates. He looks really goddamn ill by now, even with the power waning, but Mir's counter-spell to alleviate the effects, hopefully, will deal with this.

    For now, he focuses. Okay, INDUCE HUNGER. Is it more desirable to INDUCE HUNGER in those who experience very little hunger, or is it better to induce hunger in those who experience much hunger already? The outer circle has locked into place; Nathan now spins one of the inner circles of the yellow spellcircle he uses to interface with this, trying to find an appropriate configuration there, and to test the waters for his theory. He's desperately, desperately hopeful that the former is true here.

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    Thanks to Charity's efforts, the Binding can continue uninterrupted, and the Seal around the Shajem begins to take form. A lattice of supportive magics builds out, linked into Nathan's attempted negotiation, allowing him to choose the final configuration. Elliana too is helping, though her Sealing is a temporary attempt to hold back the Shajem's power.

    This, combined with Mir's song, lessen the hunger dramatically. While still plucking at the mind, it's no longer an overwhelming wave of need. It is, instead, a reminder, a gentle nudge.

    Is this gentle nudge too much? Because Nox is getting some REAL POWER here, and if he doesn't cut off, he'll take more than the third he was promised. That rush of pure conceptual mystical power is... easy, so easy to tap into, isn't it? Easier than the last one, to be sure. It would be so simple to just take a little more, they wouldn't miss that much. Nobody would notice that it was 42% instead of 33%... right?

    The rapid weakening is having a great effect though. Xiaomu's sealing is joining the others, and she's drawing some of that power away into the crystal if she desires. It's just a matter of keeping Nox from taking more than his fair share.

    Nathan feels some resistance, but the spell circle does finally 'click' on one... on the Induce Hunger in those with none circle.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Uuurgh!" Psyber grunts as Sakura hugs him that tightly. The half-angel stiffens up a bit, looking awkward as he's overly hugged. A hand is raised up and he gently wheezes out a breath while trying to pat Haruno on the back of the head gently. He doesn't really DO hugs. He only gives out three a year and he already did that once in February.

    He doesn't force Haruno off of him. Instead, he grunts out a reminder to the Confederates present, "Remember. Even thirds. That's the deal here." Mir's voice is at least keeping him calm, and Haruno's hug is placating some other famine of us, likely.

    So he just opts to gently remind the Confederates of their deal.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
It's a mirror rather than a crystal, but the effect is basically the same - a 'clear' object, pure to begin with, capable of containing the energies that are being drained away from the Shajem.

And to judge by the look on Xiaomu's face, this is not as easy as she makes it look. Normally her sealing work is done pretty quickly - but then, first off, this is a *dark god* she's helping to bind, and second, she doesn't have Reiji weakening the target further with sword slashes or gunfire. Psyber's comment to Nox about 'even thirds' seems to spur her on, though, and she ratchets the intensity up a few more notches - trying to actively drag more power away from the Lord of Famine and fold it up into the mirror.

She is going to absolutely MURDER her supply of fried tofu when she's done, though - and not just because of the forcibly-induced hunger that Famine-sama was hitting everyone with earlier (and presumably, still is).

Nox (546) has posed:
    There is absolutely no chance that Nox will actually stick to the rule of thirds out of a simple agreement. Not after going this far. Not under these circumstances. Not with so much to take. He is, however, not a sloppy man. After the last venture out to seal a Shajem where the terms of even divisions were decided, a great degree of the way he has miniaturized the device he currently holds was by cutting its maximum storage capacity down to a third of what it was before, designed to contain an entire Shajem's power and then some; seeing no reason to waste space and material on something that needs to be brought in with space altering magic.

    As a result, the mad rotation of the hourglass at the clock hand's base abruptly jolts to a half as both halves are filled to completion, causing coruscating lines of electricity to run down its length and retract the point with a shower of sparks. Careful planning has played to Nox's advantage here, as he is forced to return the device to Horologium. Though he is finished long before the others, he realizes that he won't have the energy offloaded and the equipment returned before they are done, and so finally he is able to suppress that gnawing hunger with common sense, teleporting out of the bounded field before it fully activates.

Charity Whiteheart (299) has posed:
    Charity is kind of out of the fight now, at least without hurting herself more. She spits out some of the dust and grit before pushes herself up... and wincing. "Ugh..." She slumps against the ground, wheezing heavily and watching the sealing. "At least it looks like we're winning."

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    Nathan chooses the final Negotiation. He's not vomiting magic anymore, thank goodness. So he has the clarity of mind to establish a proper finalized agreement. The secondary circle clicks into place. There's a rather dramatic shockwave to it as the innermost spellcircle begins to reconfigure in multi-layered ways. The titanic worm may wander to where the most hunger is concentrated -- which Nathan attempts to focus on SOCIETAL hunger, to target lower classes, rather than INDIVIDUAL hunger, so it doesn't charge down ambitious nobles -- and gather data of the hunger they feel. It cannot touch them, harm them, go to close, linger too long, or otherwise affect humanity, besides being a bit visible, and it should flee if pursued, and only defend itself.

    But that's only the limitations. Not what's allowed. He used geographic limitations for the other Shajem, he'll use temporal ones for this one. It's an animal, it will choose something that leaves it free for now even if it's limited later. So he picks tomorrow as an annual trigger. For 24 hours, it may blast all the hunger experienced by the most famished social classes directly into the minds of the least famished, which is to say, the social classes of the nobility, or at least that's what Nathan tries to optimize it into being with his skill here. It's meant to be a tantalizing treat to hold in front of the horrible monster, to motivate it to immediately take the deal and disregard the fact that for the rest of the year it has to do nothing to humanity. Always the most unfair negotiation tactics, with Nathan.

Mir (340) has posed:
    Time for Mir to switch songs again. This one is simpler. As the mind-affecting counter fades, Mir catches her breath and lets her energy ramp up again, giving several seconds of silence. She's casting her Song at roughly half-power now, but that's likely all that she needs, really. The song that floats up is lighthearted and soothing, very soothing... aimed at her allies.

    The H-Waves condense into a materialized being, giving shape to a piece of Mir's subconscious. The fairylike being that forms is wearing a nurse's outfit, complete with high heels that are totally unnecessary. She also begins flitting around and violently shoving giant gel-caps down into everyone's mouths. These do work, though.

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    Diminished as it is, the large worm of a Shajem is thrashing about much less. Ethan wipes his brow, suddenly stepping back and sagging to his knees. Why? Because as the others drain off the power, it gets far easier... and Nathan has managed to lock in a deal. The creature isn't really sapient, after all, and it grabs onto that deal without fully thinking about it.

    Elliana shakes her head, gesturing again. The spires retract, drawing into the ground once more, and the great worm dives into the ground. She takes a deep breath, announcing in a dramatic voice, "It is done."

    This is somewhat ruined when a fairy flies in front of her and crams a pill down her throat, causing her to fall on her ass with a few gagging noises. She coughs, sputters, then mumbles to herself, "I think it's time we should go, before the Empire gets here and wonders about the crop circle we have left." She turns to head toward Charity, pausing only to flash a smile to Ethan and the Union. "Thank you all for the help. We should talk more when we are not so pressed for time."

    Where she was standing, the wheat was shielded from the Shajem's effects. Except it's some type of corn now.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu finally lowers her hand and cuts the 'power' to her own sealing efforts, only focusing enough to close the seal around the mirror she was using, now stuffed to the brim with HUNGER. So much hunger, you can hear an empty stomach growling for food if you listen --

Oh wait, That's XIAOMU'S stomach the noise is coming from.

Mir's Medical Fairy just barely manages to chuck a pill down Xiaomu's throat before the sage fox drops to her knees, pulls out a package of fried tofu, and *DEVOURS* it. Not messily, mind you - just a brutally efficient *om nom nom nom nom nom nom* that lasts until she's on the last piece from the second packet.

"Well," Xiaomu comments, starting to pull her dignity back together. "That was ... new." She eyes the last piece in the bag, shrugs, and scarfs it down as well. *nom* Then she starts gathering her stuff back up, including wrapping the mirror up very carefully and tying the silk in place with a silvery cord. Or maybe it's a finely-wrought chain ... ?

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber is really just getting bombarded with the worst affections today. Between the pink-haired ninja tightly clinging to him and the fairy cramming pills down his face, the half-angel begins to question the woman he keeps company with in a bit of an internal monologue.

    "Ri-mmph. Right." Psyber notes around a wad of pills in his mouth, "We should get going. We'll mark this one a success and then get out of here. It was as good working with you all as could be expected."

    Still, as he tries to walk-shuffle-drag Haruno out with him, he makes note of something that happened. His eyes narrow a bit, and then he gets back to trying to leave.

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    Nathan wasn't wounded, thankfully. But you know, that might not stop the whole nurse-pill-thing. If he's not that lucky, he'll choke on it a while before he swallows it down, but he's very quiet and just generally not particularly resistant.

    He lets that finish off while he locks in the final layer, and it's done by the time he locks the final circle, and the circle disappears in a sudden shockwave, a prompt for the remaining binders to apply the finalized Binding, and for the Shajem itself to hopefully begin powering, and get out of here. Nathan, himself, doesn't... Seem to celebrate in any way. In fact, he seems a little bit lacking in any kind of reaction. He looks a bit ill for a moment, adjusts his glasses, and looks at Elliana when she smiles at the Union here. The corn isn't noticed, or maybe it is and he just doesn't react in any way. All he gives is a quiet sort of agreeing "Mmmm", looks down a bit, and begins walking back towards where they parked the helicopter. Normally he'd be sticking around to give everyone thanks and welcomes, and generally politely celebrate, but for now he's just... Leaving.

Mir (340) has posed:
    Mir huffs, flicking her hair back. She eyes Nathan as he shuffles off, then murmurs to Psyber, "It was a pleasure working with you again." That's surprising. As she walks off with the Feds, she grabs an ear of corn and shucks it curiously, to see how raw corn tastes. Someone might want to warn her.

Nox (546) has posed:
    Fortunately, Nox has a solid metal mask in front of his face, and so is spared the indignity of having a fairy shoving a gel cap at him. More genius planning has allowed him to keep his dignified, villainous air. The same mask also hides the intense displeasure he struggles to dispose of as the Shajem disappears, finally winning the war on himself to master his own priorities. The Union gets their third now, and he gets much, much more in the end. There is nothing to be angry about. Nothing he hasn't done a hundred times before.

    "And this proves the viability of the method, no?" he finally says to Elliana. "Or is this not /quite/ what you were looking for?" He looks to Nathan momentarily before the Librarian starts to trudge away. ". . . no matter. We will have all the time in the world to discuss it later. For the time being, I bid you all adieu." He teleports out; a sudden and understated exit instead of something unnecessarily flashy.

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    As Mir shucks the husk off the corn, it splits open as normal... but it isn't corn in there. A bright red bird of some kind leaps out, fluttering with loud trilling chirps and flapping off into the distance.