4282/4th of July Cookout

4th of July Cookout
Date of Scene:	04 July 2016
Location:	Boston-666
Synopsis:	Bostong-666's traditional yearly 4th of July BBQ, done by Heaven or Hell.
Thanks to:	Compliments to the chef
Cast of Characters:	253, 992, 316, 92, 985, 637, 847, Ayako Hasekawa, 12, 707, Shigure, Athela Valemore, 342, 513, Kotone Yamakawa, Wo, Rebecca Chambers, 186, Priscilla

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Psyber (253) has posed:
    It's no secret to most people who hang around him that Psyber's patriotism is only a couple degrees below 'Michael Wilson' levels of US Patriotism. Thus, as per the 4th of July would dictate, the half-angel is holding a huge cookout on the front plaza of his office building, as has become his great yearly tradition.

    According to the holiday and the relative size of his office, he rented one of those huge barbecues that are generally meant to grill or cook for dozens of people (Or a couple Servants) and has set up outside grilling. It's sunny and hot out today, as one would expect from Boston in July, but not oppressively so and recent rain has made the humidity mostly tolerable.

    There's a pretty wide array of food put out. Standard stuff like potato salad, chips, sodas, and beer (for those legally allowed to drink) are on long tables along side numerous grilled meats such as fresh foil-wrapped steaks, burgers, hotdogs, beef AND pork ribs, and one side of the grill has been converted into a smoker where people can pull fresh pork for their sandwiches.

    Psyber, himself, has a beer in his hand and is mostly milling by the grill and working on some last cooking or helping to fill up whatever people are devouring particularly heavily from the meat array.

Sigrun Stem (992) has posed:
Thundering winds announce Sigrun's chariot approaching the cookout at breakneck speeds, and it comes to a halt with a big circle, screeching sounds as the wooden wheels come to a sudden stop. The monster exterminator has a US flag attached to her chariot, and it's blowing in the still flowing wind that comes from the magicked chariot.

She hops off and takes off her mask, revealing the face of a woman in her mid-twenties, with enough scars to show she's not new to the monster extermination business. She heads straight for the beer, and struggles to open it. After a moment, she gives up and approaches Psyber, "Excuse me sir, but how do you open one of these?"

Sarah (316) has posed:
  Sarah is quiet and understated in her arrival, as she usually is. One moment the pale woman is not there; then she is, lingering somewhere in the outskirts of the gathering.

  The air is a little colder and mistier than usual around her, though, and magically sensitive people might be twitching a little. It's like someone just clicked on a great big floodlight radiating 'cosmic power of water.' And then cranked it up to eleven.

  Contenting herself with perusing the party's periphery, she examines the various foodstuffs, filing away both what they are (different from the Toran Republic's cuisine) and whether there's anything sweet to be had (Luc has a raging sweet tooth).

  Psyber is given a polite nod, really almost more of a half-bow. She may not talk to him too much, but she has a deep and abiding respect for the half-angel. Meanwhile, she'll keep an eye out for anybody she might know.

Duet Fortuna (92) has posed:
    Some people are already here. Psyber is working on the barbeque, maybe, but there's someone else, wearing a mask and... a pair of very short shorts and a sleeveless purple top also working the grill, turning over some kinds of birds on the grill. Wings, of some sort?

    Of course Duet, the young girl, also wears a mask still. She glances up at some of the showier arrivals, gesturing with tongs in a little wave. She's also fixing a LOT of food because... Mordred is here somewhere.

Nina Windia (985) has posed:
It might be a surprise that Nina's chosen to come, and for more than one reason; she doesn't seem to really like crowds all that much, she's not American, and she doesn't eat a whole lot.

And yet, here she is. She's easy to spot if you look up, because she's flown; rather than a long flight that will tire her out, she's gone building to building, stopping on occasional balconies or window ledges because she doesn't realize she's probably not supposed to do that. Skyscrapers are a new thing to her; she's seen tall buildings before but they tend toward 'windmill'.

Now she's descending at the side of the plaza. One hand stops her robe from flapping around her legs too much while she descends almost straight down, wings beating to control her descent until she drops about five feet and touches down, lightly.

Kongou (637) has posed:
    Assisting Psyber by handing him items to cook or accepting items that have been cooked, to serve, is a small-bodied teenager with long black hair, bangs covering one eye. Her red and white uniform identifies her as a member of the Yuugumo class destroyers, of the Fleet Daughters, and her quiet demeanor is unmistakable: Hayashimo, of the 4th Mobile Unit. She says nothing as she works, merely accepting things from Psyber or Duet with a brief dip of a bow as she scurries about, assisting the service to the best of her ability.

    There's a very faint rumbling. While it grows more noticeable, it's not much more serious than perhaps a large truck passing by on the road. As the vibration increases, Hayashimo's movements come to a stop and she glances up and about the grounds, the ribbons in her hair wabing on the breeze. After a moment, her single visible eye returns to Psyber in silent worry.

    "AD~MI~RAL~!" The vibration becomes a rumble, as only a battleship charging through the streets of Boston could produce. Gathered revelers part mercifully before the warpath of a woman in white, running at high speed for the grill. Kongou throws her arms out as she draws near and throws herself at the half-Angel, "Burning~ Love~!"

    Immediately Hayashimo is there, and it's the destroyer that is captured and taken for a tumble, smothered in battleship arms but at least not disturbing the food. As the pair come to a stop in the grass, Hayashimo's unsteady hand raises from behind Kongou, in a thumbs-up. Disaster averted.

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     Konoe Kanno hasn't shown hide or hair of herself in a long while. And only spoke up on radio rarely. For what reasons? No one knows. But today, she arrives at Pysber's big ol' cookout, looking left and right slowly. She's wearing civilian clothing consisting of a pair of jeans, a white button up blouse, and a gatsby cap, which seemed to be for the sole purpose of hiding her ears. Hair tails are missing.

     In a stark contract from last year, the girl doesn't look completely and totally lost, or out of her depth. She just quietly plods into the barbeque grounds, and over to where the food was being piled, grabbing a plate. And then she began to pile on everything she could reasonably fit. And while doing so, she greeted the cooks.

     "Hello, Psyber. Duet. It's been a while since we've seen each other face to face. Thank you for holding this event. Though I guess this is a yearly thing." She tilted her head aside as she paused, "Well, I won't bother you two. I'm sure you're going to be extra popular conversation pieces in a few moments." She bowed, and then backed away with her plate, just in time to avoid HIGH SPEED FLYING KONGOU, before going off to sit in a corner somewhere and begin chowing down like a ravenous animal.

     Some things don't change.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako is here, as usual for Psyber's barbeques. Also as usual, she's in the cooler with the drinks, with her head poking out of the pile of ice. What? The ice has to come from somewhere and keep the drinks cold. Besides, she hates summer with a passion. Even if it's not oppressively hot, the heat still isn't so agreeable to her.

    She curiously watches Psyber grilling (and beering), wondering what sort of thing he will grill next.

Mordred (12) has posed:
    Mordred is posted somewhere between Psyber and Duet, patrolling the two food sources with a paper plate already full of it. The rate at which it disappears whenever anyone takes an eye off the small blonde knight is probably the oddest thing about it. For someone who looks like she can't be older than sixteen, and not a very meaty or healthy sixteen either, more like 'noodle people' sixteen, she's eating like she's a hot dog eating contest enthusiast.

    Given the heat, she's wearing the bare minimum she can get away with. A small white tank top with a necklace, and a pair of very short denim shorts, with biker boots to match. Somewhere, her red vest is hung.

    Her eyes trail to Sigrun, as she asks Psyber how to open a beer bottle. Since Psyber is busy narrowly dodging BURNING LOVE thanks to another battleship's intervention, Mordred provides the answer.

    In a flicker of red mana and fire, Clarent appears in her hand, the silver two-handed sword immediatly swung with blinding speed and precision for Sigrun's bottle. It could cut the tip of the bottle off, before being twirled and stabbed into the ground to rest against.

    "Like that. Modern humans hate convenience, so you gotta take it in your own hands."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Konoe, good to see you again!" Psyber says, giving you a bright smile and a wave, "I THOUGHT that grilling up some meat might get you out of the hole you've been hiding in. Yeah, it's for a yearly American holiday."

    Psyber then gives Sarah a polite and subdued wave and a grin, welcoming her but not wanting to intrude too far into her personal space before he leans over to Duet's side of the grill, "Is that Flycorn? I'm surprised you're able to still get ahold of it. I thought they were in migration this time of year." He wonders aloud.

    He braces his footing and expects to take a tackle hug from Kongou, but Hayashimo makes the noble sacrifice and removes a battleship from the sortie. Psyber laughs a bit and gives them both a wave, "Good interception, Hayashimo. And Kongou, good to see you again."

    He turns his attention towards Nina when she arrives. She'd mentioned her black wings on radio to him at least once before, so that's how he recognizes her. He gives her a cheerful wave, "Hey hey! Thanks for coming!" He says cheerily, "First time in America?"

    Ayako is a handy cooler. But even more interesting to him is her and Sarah. He's not sure they've met, "Hey Ayako, have you met Sarah? I think you two would get along."

    He's about to get out a bottle-opener for Sigrun, but Mordred shows off her Level 99 Adult Responsibility and cuts the bottletop off with a Noble Phantasm, "Well. You can do it Mordred's way or just ask for a bottle opener. Either-or works well."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
A lightcycle pulls up to the curb in front of Heaven Or Hell, and de-rezzes, its passenger not so much 'dismounting' as 'putting her feet on the ground as the lightcycle vanishes from underneath her' ... and rather than the rider taking off her helmet?

Xiaomu just transforms, a cloud of gold-colored smoke obscuring her long enough for the snug-fitting riding suit (and helmet - don't ask how she actually wore that) to be replaced by the sage fox's normal zippered black qipao and red vest, shaking her hair out - or rather, the 'tails' that comprise most of her hair. "Hey everyone!" Xiaomu calls out cheerfully, taking up her staff and striding over to join the party. And she does, in fact, have something to offer for the party: a case of Japanese beer, and a large box of onigiri and inarizushi. Presumably there's enough room for her to park those with the other foods ... although she'll certainly help make room by starting to help herself to some of the munchies that are already out.

Shigure has posed:
    Ships about? Well there's a new girl in the crowd. Blonde with piercing red eyes, and a black serafuku that might make someone thing of a certain /other/ Destroyer that's been here before.

    Yuudachi is happily making her way through the group, munching on something or other from the food area. One might even swear that the two feathered hair style things are /flapping/ as she moves. Probably just a trick of momentum or something.

Sigrun Stem (992) has posed:
"What's wrong with good ol' fashioned cork?" Sigrun asks with a smile, taking a step back to watch the other people and taking a deep sip of her beer. "Thank you, both of you, and happy independence day. Do you guys do independence day pyromagics here too, or is that an antichthon only thing?"

She seems distinctly aware of what Sarah is doing, or at least that there's power coming from her. As her gaze is firmly settled on Sarah, though she looks aside to Mordred. "I'm not sure we've spoken before, I'm Sigrun Stem." She knows she has spoken to Psyber.

Athela Valemore has posed:
Athela Valemore has absolutely no idea what this holiday is for... But that is probably exactly why she is here. If she is going to serve the fight against injustice with these people, it wouldn't hurt to get to know some of their culture and traditions better.

That and she heard the mention of it being food, and free. That in a social gathering is hardly difficult to turn down, even if one has no idea what the reasons for it be. Likely someone will be happy enough to explain it eventually.

Needless to say, the young woman riding up to the gathering is hard to miss. Hard to miss because she's riding up on a giant, armor-clad sealion hydroplaning across the pavement, with the goblin-like Timburr and sluggish Goomy along for the ride, while her Eevee as usual is sitting upon one shoulder. "Good afternoon! I hath heard there be some kind of celebration going on?"

Nina Windia (985) has posed:
Once she's landed and arranged herself, Nina looks around. This whole city is /huge/ compared to someone who grew up in a castle and then a boarding school. It makes her feel small... well, smaller than usual. And a little lost.

She feels a flicker of elemental energy and tries to find it, spotting Sarah and looking in her direction thoughtfully for a few moments before Psyber attracts her attention by speaking to her. Nina is at least easy to recognize even from a minimal description. "Ah, second, I think," she says, thinking back. "I was invited to Malibu by Toph Beifong once, but that's so far away from here it may as well be another country... Thank you for your invitation."

They do share the heat, though. Nina is beginning to question wearing mostly dark colors with long sleeves.

Stepping in from the edge of the gathering, Nina stays well out of the various fighting ships' way and begins to investigate items left around. This draws her to the cooler, which means she looks down at Ayako sitting in it. "...? Ah, sorry to bother you?" She can't figure out why someone is in the drinks.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Nozomi Houken is Japanese. The American holiday celebrating their independence is something that will always be foreign to her. But it means good food, especially when Psyber grills. So it's probably no surprise that once again the girl braves a crowd of people she may or may not know to show up. She's not going to turn down a chance for authentic American-style burgers! They just don't make them the same back home.

    But at the very least, there will be /some/ people here she knows, including Psyber himself - one of the safest of 'safe people' Nozomi has met. So she's not as nervous as she might otherwise be when she rides in on Taiga's back, wearing... not her school uniform, for once. No, she's actually put on a floral-print yukata done in light blues in pinks, well-suited to summer feasting. Naturally, she makes a beeline for the grill and the half-angel operating it, where... some woman she's not familiar with is having trouble with a beer bottle...? -oh god Mordred what are you doing. "Aaah-!"

    Well. Nozomi is now /hiding/ behind Psyber.

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     Before she totally retreated, she gave Psyber a response in passing. "Yes, well... " Pause. ...Pause. .......Pause. "...I got hungry." She really was bad at this. At least she managed to work up a smile. Odd looking as it was. And then she was out of his hair.

     The cat does spot Ayako... in the cooler. ...Again. And she just pauses on her way to escape the impending cluster of people about to bumrush the proceedings. "Hello, Ayako." Konoe greets, reaching into the cooler despite the water spirit's presence to grab a drink. "Try to stay cool. It's getting hotter these days."

     And with that, she sort of plods off aimlessly.

     Xiaomu's arrival is met with a nod as she comes closer. "Hi, Xiaomu. I guess Reiji is stuck with last minute paperwork again?" Poor guy. Missing all this delicious food.

     She'd eat enough for the both of them.

Sarah (316) has posed:
  Sarah's wearing a dress that's entirely too hot for this time of year. Three layers, at least, in a subtle teal colour with white trim. Sapphire earrings glint at her ears, and she carries a war staff of black wood and silver a few inches taller than her. The weapon also oozes magic.

  "Hm?" One pale brow rises, and she shakes her head, earrings clinking softly as she looks over to Sigrun -- good instincts, to know she's being watched. A polite nod is given to her, albeit somewhat reserved from a distance. Hmm, new faces. Or at least a new face. Worth investigating. She closes some of the distance, but unhurried; cirling around to where Nina and Sigrun are, loosely, and inclining her head.

  "Greetings. I do not believe we have met. I am Reserve Captain Sarah." Faint, faint smile. Don't blink; it might be imagined. Up close, the sensation of 'water' about her is monstrously powerful, to the magically sensitive -- whatever she's got going on (because she looks like a stiff wind would break her in half) it must be absurd. Sigrun earns a thoughtful look. "You are somewhat new to the Union, yes?"

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber doesn't know every ship in the fleet, but Yuudachi does get a wave from him. Xiaomu, too, when she shows up to bring Japanese flair to the American Holiday. There's plenty of room on the table, and plenty of room for her to grab what she wants.

    "Ah," Psyber looks over to Sigrun a moment later, "Small pieces of metal are cheaper to use in large quantities to seal beers, I think." Psyber mills it over and then says, "Right, right. I'm Psyber, owner of Heaven or Hell and all that jazz."

    "Oh right, Tony's place. I've only been there the once, but it's nice. Way more upscale than my office," He admits, scratching the back of his head and then saying, "Welcome, though," And letting her go off to meet Ayako.

    Athela gets a response next, Psyber turning towards her and saying, "Yeah. It's American Independence Day. It's a fairly major holiday." He explains, "Birth of the nation and all that." He grins, "Welcome. And chow down."

    Psyber knows how to coax Nozomi back out of her fear, though. He reaches over to one side of the grill and piles some pulled pork on a bun, adding sauce a moment later, "Hey Nozomi. If you like my burgers, try this pulled pork." He adds a bit of coleslaw and hands it over towards her."

Mordred (12) has posed:
    "Boy we better or I'm going to set something on fire myself," Mordred answers Sigrun, glancing towards Psyber. "We ARE having fireworks, right? I hear the more illegal they are the more patriotic it is to set them off."

    She idly turns to look at Nozomi, evidently confused. She either looks more threatening than she thought, leaning on the big ass sword, or someone's really easy to scare.

    "You shouldn't hide behind the chef, there's nothing more sacred than a cook's mobility and freedom. Especially when they're looking." Nothing more sacred.

    And because Sarah reminded the player, the magically sensitive can tell Mordred is functionally made 100% of mana and also ghost. It would be really hard to hide, even here.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "I promise we'll have fireworks. I think they're setting some off out in the harbor. Or you can just grab flare guns from the garage and fire em in the air for all I care." Psyber isn't actually going to battle Mordred on the fireworks issue. It's the Fourth, Psyber's willing to pay the fines, and it's a holiday!

Duet Fortuna (92) has posed:
    "It's not flycorn," Duet replies belatedly. "That isn't in season, you're right. This is a hunting bird used in the southeast for sport and game. It's not quite as sweet but less greasy." She laughs lightly.

    "It's a good day for this, no?" The masked girl is being... laid back but not approaching others, even if a lot of them get some stares. "A lot of new faces about, today."

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako looks over towards Psyber and inclines her head to the side. It makes her look goofy since she just dunked her ear and a part of her face right into the ice water. "I've talked to her on the radio, but... never in person before... so!" She moves to get out of the cooler and then smiles at Konoe. "Hello Konoe! Yup yup... it only seems to get hotter each summer." And then blows air out of her lips in irritation. When Nina looks into the cooler also, she smiles cheerfully.

    "Eh heh heh... don't worry! You weren't bothering me! I was just helping to keep the drinks cold." Ayako giggles brightly and climbs out of the cooler. Despite being neck-deep in ice and water, her clothing isn't drenched at all. As expected. "I'm Ayako Hasekawa, a water spirit!"

    She then quickly turns towards Sarah, matching radio voice to person. "Ah. Nice to meet you in person, Sarah!" Cheerful exuberance to calmness. Different facets of water, maybe?

Shigure has posed:
    Yuudachi grins, and waves enthusiastically back at Psyber. "Poooooooi~!" she calls out at him. Whatever that means.

    She sidles on over to Duet though, peeking with a tilted head at the mask. "Like, hi? I'm Yuudachi, fourth ship of the Shiratsuyu-class destroyers."

Sigrun Stem (992) has posed:
"Yes, I am. Sigrun Stem." Sigrun replies to Sarah, and some red runes briefly glow in the air in front of her eyes, before fading. There's now less magic coming from her, "Sorry, just dispelling some of my passive scrying spells, you're a little overwhelming."

As far as fireworks go, Sigrun looks to her chariot with the flowing flag, "I bright some arrows that can put up a bit of a show if I want to." She's clearly glancing at the quiver slung over the chariot's side. "Nothing too fancy, but we'd better have some."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Oh, hey Konoe!" Xiaomu greets the catgirl miko. "It's not actually paperwork for once; Reiji had to tend to some things at his family's home, and I'm on call if any emergencies come up, so I figured I'd swing over here; Psyber's cooking is a lot better than my own, and even if it's not a holiday I celebrate, it's still free food that tastes good and a fun chance to hang around folks I know, plus some that I don't yet. How're you doing these days?"

The sage fox looks briefly between the grill and the cooler, then heads towards the grill, arranging a couple of pieces of fried tofu on the plate she's mostly-loaded. She's keeping an ear perked for Konoe - and presumably, expecting her to tag along for continuing conversation.

Sarah (316) has posed:
  "Ah. Yes, I remember your voice." The Runebearer inclines her head deeply and respectfully to the water spirit, earrings clinking softly at the movement. "A pleasure to meet you in person, Miss Ayako. It is good to finally have a face to put to voice."

  In light of Ayako's cheery exuberance, playful surf or a babbling brook, this woman is the very definition of self-control and calm; the still surface of a lake, or the ocean on a fair day.

  She turns slightly, inclining her head the same to Sigrun, chuckling very softly. "I am sorry. If it is too much, I can attempt to mask the presence of the True Water Rune."

  Fireworks? "I am familiar with them. While I cannot simulate them, illusions are my specialty." And boy could she put on a show if she saw a one-time example. All without violating any ordinances! /Technically/, anyway.

Nina Windia (985) has posed:
"It was... nice," is Nina's best description of Malibu to Psyber. It's kind of understating it, but she wasn't there for that long so it's not like she saw very much of it. "So is here. They certainly build tall here... I wouldn't have expected it if people don't fly here." And they don't, or at least there weren't any conveniences she expected for flying people.

Ayako climbs out of the water. "Oh. Oh!" Nina has never seen a water spirit before but the concept is intuitive enough to her that she understands it. She wouldn't have expected a water spirit to look so human, but who is she to object? "Hello; I'm Nina. Don't let me get in your way, please."

Like Sigrun, Nina is fairly new to the Union - not quite as new, but only just barely. She has never met Sarah before. She gives her a slight smile, but stays out of her way - if Sarah's a captain, she doesn't want to annoy her by talking too much.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Food. Food is quite successful at luring Nozomi out from behind Psyber, especially when it smells sweet and... is that brown sugar in there? She's pretty sure it is. "Aah, thank you..." She's still eyeing Mordred suspiciously. But she does take an experimental bite of her pulled pork, and her eyes go wide. "...it's good."

    Taiga, meanwhile, ambles casually over to Mordred, sits down a couple of feet away, and stares right at her. "Hello."

Athela Valemore has posed:
See, that didn't take long for someone to explain at all. If in the barest of details. Athela tilts her head a little to one side, followed by a nod as Psyber finishes and nods with a smile. "Certainly a thing worth celebrating! And quite the feast too. Bless you and your generousity for putting this forth, good sir."

Food. Food is easy. Most of her little entourage are either carnivores or ominvores, or just eat whatever they can get their pseudopods on in the case of the slug-dragon. They're also left to their own, don't worry, they are as well behaves as one would expect a knight's charges to be.

Once she's gotten something for herself Athela wanders from the tables a bit, and after a moment notices a familiar face to proceed towards. "Ranger Sigrun, greetings! It is good to see thee someplace other than the field of battle." It's followed with a bit of a pause as she looks to the woman Sigrun is talking to. "As for your friend, I can feel the familiar prescence of the calm tides amongst her."

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     Konoe tilts her head, blinking a few times. "...His family's home?" A moment after, she straighened up and nodded. "....." Well, maybe she could stick around and do that whole TALKING TO BE PEOPLE thing. Ugh. "I forget sometimes that he has to deal with those matters." Her lips curl into a bit of a sheepish smile as she slowly follows after Xiaomu. "I don't know much about his family situation. ...And it's not my business either." It's why she never stuck her nose in and asked. Likee why is his hair two colors? And what's with that scar?

     But nevermind that. Something else stuck out to her from everything the sage fox had said. "...Better than your own?" Konoe's hat twitches briefly, her ears struggling to escape their prison. "...Are you the type to make pots explode?" She asks with a faint bit of apprehension in her tone.

     Inquiry about how she's doing these days is met with silence. ".................." A large gulf of silence. And then the cat averts her eye. "I'm ....okay."

     Yes. Very okay.

Finna (513) has posed:
A shrill SHRIEK echoes from the skies as a BALD EAGLE OF ALL THINGS swoops down from the heavens and makes for the grills, claws extended as if going for prey. With uncanny coordination and precision it snatches up two hot dogs in its talons and flies on its merry way -

    Oh wait.

    'Its merry way' is to bank hard around and spiral freakishly around Psyber, bleeding off its speed in an upwards spiral climb no bird should be able to pull off... or endure.

    A few here with PARTICULARLY sharp minds and eyes might see that the eagle's tail is a bit too fuzzy and white, and tiny tufts of feathers extend in a vaguely fox-ear style from its head.

    The bird showily spreads its wings at the peak of its climb - about three feet above Psyber - then in a flash of rippling flesh a (somehow clothed) young woman drops down onto Psyber's shoulders, using him as a kind of seat.

    "FIREWORKS DAY! Fireworks day! I've heard so much about these! Can't wait to see them!" The foxgirl cries out ecstatically in a squeaky and hyper voice. She stuffs one of the hot dogs in her mouth (just the dog, no bun) and starts munching it down. The other she just holds onto and waves around like some kind of flag.

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     And to Ayako, Konoe blinks as she gets out of the cooler. Gasp. "...It gets hotter, and the weather seems to be unable to make up it's mind recently. ...Winter was a joke on a lot of earth worlds this year. ..." She smiled and reached out, patting the water spirit on the shoulder. "Whatever you do, please don't melt."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Oh, okay. That makes more sense, yeah," Pysber says to Duet, leaning over her side a bit more and patting her on the shoulder a couple times, "It's a great day for this," He agrees with her, "And yeah, lots of new people. Never underestimate the social expansion you'll garner with offers of free food, Duet."

    He grins at Nozomi, "I know, right? I've had that pork shoulder smoking all day, it should be perfect," He cheerily states, clicking his tongs a couple times and then turning back towards the grill, "Mordred's pretty scary, I know, but she's a knight. She won't hurt you during a meal." It's a gross simplification of the rules of hospitality, but still.

    "Thank you for coming!" He says to Athela, turning to Nina a moment later, "Elevators mostly. Only a few people, including me, are able to just fly in the city. Mordred can jump a building, though. I think." He looks over his shoulder, "Yo Mord! Can you jump over skyscrapers?"

    This is shaping up towards being a 'Hold my beer' moment, but moments later, he wobbles due to a Lunar perching on him, "Erk! Hey! I'm not a chair, gedoffame!" He chides. Then realizes, "Taiga. Chase her for me."

Duet Fortuna (92) has posed:
    Psh. "Of course she can," Duet says suddenly. "Mordred is able to leap tall buildings in a single bound." She shoves some of the meat onto Mordred's plate before setting the tongs down. "In any case... it's good to see such a turnout! It's been a while since I was social. My parents were a little more reclusive."

Mordred (12) has posed:
    "So you DIDN'T buy illegal fireworks to celebrate with? Psht, and you call yourself a patriot," Mordred rebukes Psyber, before cramming her mouth full with half a hotdog. Food soothes her, at least, so people couldn't be safer from her than here.

    To Sarah, she frowns. "Illusions? Ugh, who wants fake fireworks, though? I guess it's better than nothing, but I'm gonna go get those flare guns later too."

    Mordred's attention is taken off Nozomi when Taiga just sort of plops down. The fact it's not a human at all doesn't seem to bother her. "You sound like you could be a priest. Can you say 'Rejoice.' for me? I gotta make sure."

    To Psyber, she idly answers: "That's a stupid question, I'm a Saber. Of course I can. Like master says. I'm also a ghost, so I don't technically need to." A pause. "Hey, you have an animal girl infestation again, you should get that looked at."

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako raises her hand when Psyber brings up fireworks. "I've got a permit to set some fireworks off!" She smiles awkwardly and scratches a cheek with her finger. "Because... well... in case of Riva." As if that explains why. It does. Really. "Although I don't have any myself. Unless you want aurora fire." A golfball-sized pale blue flame winks into sight by Ayako's head. She giggles softly.

    On a side note Ayako, to those who can sense magical energy, is basically a huge ball of water mana; one far bigger than the human she appears to be.

    Ayako smiles brightly at Nina, "Don't worry, you're not in the way!" And then pauses in thought as Konoe reminds her not to melt. Serious thinking. Her amber gaze moves upwards as she nods her head slowly. "I'll try not to." And then giggles brightly.

Nina Windia (985) has posed:
Sarah may not bite, but Nina isn't willing to test that. She seems a little nervous in general, honestly, either because of the crowd or the attention or both. She gives Ayako a slightly hesitant smile back, but does not interrupt her chat with Sarah.

"I understand that. At the boarding school I stayed at, not many people were able to fly, so I was used to it; but generally those buildings tend to be lower. A handful of stories at most, not..." She looks back, over her shoulder and wing. "Not some of those."

When Finna dives in, Nina takes a couple big steps back even though she is not actually in any threat of being slammed into herself. Or having a hot dog waved in her face. She doesn't want to get involved in that! Nina does frown slightly at hearing 'animal girls' in the background, from Mordred. She doesn't count, does she? She's not an animal!

Duet Fortuna (92) has posed:
    Well then! If people are being social, Duet will do the same. Nina's wings get a curious look for a moment, but then she's being... socialized with. Hey! "Ah... Duet Fortuna, it's a pleasure to meet you. A destroyer? That-"

    Oh right. She pauses and realizes what that means. "Ah, one of the Fleet girls, yes. I know a little bit about you. Would you like some macaroni salad? It's my first time making it, but I think it came out well."

Sarah (316) has posed:
  Sarah flicks a pale hand to Nina, beckoning her over. Maybe it's personal experience or maybe it's just her ability to read other people, but she can tell the girl is shy. The pale woman herself is about as non-threatening as it gets, if one puts aside the monstrous aura of water magic that clings to her.

  She even offers a faint smile. See? Doesn't bite.

  Calm tides? She looks up to Athela Valemore, and this time her half-smile seems more amused than anything else. "I have heard that, before, yes. And if you prefer the real thing," she adds to Mordred, "very well." Yeah, you're welcome for the offer. But Sarah keeps that faint smile on. If she's insulted at the brush-off, she doesn't show it.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Taiga is not equipped to make facial expressions. Nevertheless, by sheer body language and the cant of his head, he somehow manages to convey that this is by far one of the oddest requests ever made of him. "A... priest?" Tailswish. "I am dubious of the notion that there are those who would rejoice when implored to do so by a robotic tiger." Well, at least he managed to work the actual word into the sentence.

    Nozomi is just kind of looking on with confusion. And trying the cole slaw.

    But Psyber gives a request. Practically an order. "As you wish." He lazily comes up to his feet, turns around, and leaps straight at Finna. Leap.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber tries to extract Finna from his shoulders, or hopefully she evacuates when Taiga gives chase. That mecha-cat was truly reliable, at times. The half-angel sighs tiredly.

    "If I could figure out how to deal with an animal girl infestation, I'd probably make a mint in the Multiverse by expanding my business's scope." He points out to Mordred and then rubs the back of his head at both hers and Duet's replies regarding the Servant's abilities, "Well yeah. But I doubt one of those nerdy Caster-classes could jump a building, so I figured it would be worth asking."

    He briefly imagines Mordred as a wizard, but can only see her spell being 'Sword' or 'stab'. He dismisses the thought and then looks back to Nina, "Ah. A lot of them have these like... boxes inside, pulled by rope. They let you get to the top quickly and without tiring yourself out, so people just made bigger buildings."

    "Oh good," He interjects, "If Ayako has a permit, that saves us some hassle. Perfect."

Finna (513) has posed:
YIPE! "H-hey! C'mon! It's party day!" With a freaky ROBOTIGER-THING leaping at her... Finna HURLS her spare hotdog at the thing... although there's a chance it might splat on Nozomi's face instead.

    She doesn't wait to find out. Am-SCRAY! She's in fox form before even hitting the ground. SCAMPER SCAMPER SCAMPER!

    Psyber may regret giving that order if the chase gets out of hand, given the speeds these two can move at. But for now she's going to lead him Taiga on hell of a MERRY and confusing chase around the grounds outskirts.

    He just... might want to watch his step if he focuses too hard on her. Chasing her directly is PERILOUS, it's somehow incredibly easy to step in the wrong place and trip or plow into a bench...

Shigure has posed:
    Yuudachi blinks a little, peeking down at her half eaten burger, then back up at Duet. "Poi?" she vocalizes with a tinge of confusion... then then blinkblinks again, then seems to 'get' it. "Oh! Uh, like, okay... I'll try anything once!"

    She beams a big grin, that somehow manages to look predatory, even though the Destroyer isn't sporting her fit-out right now. It could be considered 'creepy', as she's perfectly normal seeming, but has this odd 'air' about her.

Mordred (12) has posed:
    It's not like Sarah did anything wrong. Mordred just doesn't like spellcasters very much. It's her mother's fault, really. Elliana (and Duet) mostly dodge that due to having been around each other for so long. She'd rather real explosions over conjured tricks any day. Kind of like prefering a real battlefield to a war movie. She'll watch the later but would rather be at the former.

    "Oh, I don't know, but that voice could probably pull it off. So what's a robot tiger doing at a feast, can you even eat?" Someone'll have to teach her basic social etiquette someday.

    To Psyber, she answers: "Oh, fair enough, yeah. Casters and their stubby noodle limbs would probably break their legs trying." She's not very well placed to judge on that but that's Mordred.

    Mordred stuffs her face with Duet's latest meat dump. One would presume she'd be full eventually. One would also be wrong.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Going that well, huh?" Xiaomu asks Konoe, ears flicking casually. That lengthy silence did *not* go unnoticed. On the other hand, exactly how to question further - particularly at a cheery social gathering - is likely kind of delicate, moreso than she wants to get into during a big cookout. Still, this might be a better setting than some ...

But she wants some food first. And while Taiga is chasing Finna away from Psyber, Xiaomu strides up to the grill. "Brought fried tofu for a couple of fried tofu hot dogs," she says with a big smile. "Can I get two while I'm here, or do I have to come back around for the second one?"

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Boy howdy does the TIGER unit chase. And there's a case or two where he doesn't so much go /into/ a bench as /through/ it, but other than that he's surprisingly agile, and doesn't so much move to /directly/ chase her as he does to chase her like a predator might; turning early to intercept her trajectory, anticipating and trying to forestall her movements. He never quite gets around to making any real pounces, though. He was ordered to chase, not to catch!

    Taiga does have an answer for Mordred as he runs, however, in the form of a brief, "I am here to escort my user, Nozomi Houken," as they pass by.

    Nozomi looks at Mordred again, and gives sort of a half-hearted little wave. She actually seems more interested in Nina, now that she gets a good look at the older girl. Those wings keep drawing her eyes.

Athela Valemore has posed:
"Burr!" Mizzen yelps with annoyance as the two critters go on a high speed chase through the gathering, jerking his plate of food off to the side to keep it from being knocked out of his hands. He glares after the fox and robotiger for a moment, then turns back to eat... and finds the plate empty anyways.

Turns his head the other way to -glare- at Goomy sitting on Samurott's head. The small pink slug does its best to pull an innocent look, but it's tiny body doesn't hide the huge cheek-bulges from gulping down the food while the plate was held close to him. Mizzen huffs, frustrated, and goes to refill.

Back to the main focus of the gather, Athela... takes a moment to situate so she can give a polite short bow to Sarah without disloding her own barbeque. It's a bit tricky but she's good enough with her hands to pull it off. "I too hath a calling to a higher order with ties to the watery ways. Athela Valemore, Knight of Keldeo, at thy service." This is suppose to be casual, so she doesn't spin off into the whole 'proper' title.

Not that it stops Sprite from giving an adorable eyeroll from her perch on Athela's shoulder. "Veeeee." That almost sounds like a sigh. Stop being so formal when you don't need to be formal, silly girl!

Nina Windia (985) has posed:
Nina Windia has seen, and even used, elevators; she knows what they are. She's not used to seeing them used in construction, and it's not exactly feasible to build in stone as high as a skyscraper, anyhow. But she's learning! Travelling in the multiverse is good for that.

"I see," she says, anyhow, almost gravely. "I suppose it's just a matter of time and place... if you've been in one place a long time, you may want to build up if you don't want to build out anymore." She isn't really aware of how young America is as a country, apparently - she comes from an older, slower-moving time - but her point is made anyway, more or less.

Nina almost takes off when a fox and a (robot) tiger dart past her again. She does take a couple steps to make sure she's not going to get bumped into, though honestly she was far enough away that she's in no danger, but it lets her catch Sarah's gaze again.

She still looks slightly off balance - mentally, not physically - but she smiles back, unbitten. She's been beckoned over, so she says to Psyber, "I won't keep you." Lots of other people seem to want his attention too, so she heads over toward Sarah, with a minor detour to see if there is water or something similar in the cooler. (Nina is too young to legally drink in the United States, is unaware of this, but safe anyway because she never drinks much except sometimes wine.)

Nina tries a slight bow when she comes to speak to Sarah, and that at least is less awkward than her words: "Ah, hello again, Captain." She can tell she's getting looked at by Nozomi and it's starting to put her even more on edge; being looked at for her wings is something she is very used to, and not always in a good way.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa was Canadian but a portion of the Amer Russio Alliance was made up of a protion of Americaand July 4th ws still a very big day there so here she comes she's come to party to have some fun and she's got a some things under her arms, one side has a two four of beer, the other has what seems to be wrapped meat, she's intending to go do some cooking she paues looking at Finna for a moment.

She watches Finna now and pulls out a smart phone and turns on the video to record all of this insanity she'll get Finna later, and she ponders for a moment.

"We seem to have a fox problem...."

She also looks about at many of the party goers and there's some she knows but very many she does not.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    He gives Nina a gentle half-wave, "I won't keep you either. Have fun." Not much else to say to her at this time. She seems like a nice girl, though. He should keep an eye on how the Multiverse treats her in case she ever needs a helping hand.

    He looks back to Mordred, "Yeah, see. The nerd-classes can't do it, but you can. It's important to draw the distinction." He points out before looking to Xiaomu, "Sure. Gimme a couple minutes and I'll whip em up for you." He replies to the fox girl. He never liked Tofu much, himself, but he's happy to accomodate.

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     "Yes. Very well." Konoe responds in kind to Xiaomu's comment. Things were going super well. So so well. So well that she was here stuffing her face instead of being home dealing with the family. But as she reached into her plate for another chunk of meat, she realized she was out. Ugh.

     She wasn't satisfied yet. And so, Konoe returns to the table with all the gathered food, beginning pile everything back up again. With every meat she could conceivably fit onto the plate without causing it to bend from the sheer weight.

     Free food was good to have. Who knows when she'd get to have it again?

Duet Fortuna (92) has posed:
    Duet hands Yuudachi a helping of macaroni salad... which is going to be 'pretty good but not fantastic' in this case. Don't ask how many other things Duet tried to fix before she got that right. It's not a good question to ask. Duet is observing the Destroyer quietly for a long moment before shrugging. "Well, enjoy the party. I'm sure we'll work with one another in a less pleasant way soon enough."

    Also, Psyber forgot one spell. The 'snark' spell would be the third Noble Phantasm.

Mordred (12) has posed:
    "Oh, I see. Yo, shy little girl," Mordred answers Nozomi, with all the social grace she can muster. It's not very much, but the fact she makes an effort is probably worth half of something.

    Since Taiga has decided to run off chasing a fox, Mordred turns towards Nina Windia instead, mostly because those wings have been hard to ignore. "Y'know, a lot of people want Psyber's attention, if you let that stop you you're never going to get to talk to him. Like, ever. I'm pretty sure even when he dies he's going to get hired by whatever afterworld he goes to to fix their problems for them and won't be able to catch a breather." Might not be untrue.

    A side-glance back towards Psyber and Xiaomu. "Tofu? Isn't that the blobby thing that doesn't taste like anything? Like, the exact opposite of what food should be? If you're gonna fry that you might as well just drink the oil, that's all you'd taste anyway."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu's ears twitch hard as she gives Mordred a decidedly dirty look. "Don't knock it until you've tried it." She holds up one of the rectangles of fried tofu she's got waiting on her plate to put a hot dog in and wrap the tofu around; it's flexible - as it should be - and nicely browned from when it was originally fried. "But then, I guess a *human* wouldn't appreciate the appeal of good fried tofu ..."

Her tails (that is to say, her hair) are noticeably twitching as well. Where on Earth is Reiji when somebody needs to keep Xiaomu under control ... ?

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Nozomi has been spotted by Nina. She doesn't realize she's staring until after she has gotten a look from the winged woman, at which point she immediately begins to turn red and bows her head apologetically. "A-ah, sorry! I- I didn't... s-sorry..." Well, at least she doesn't seem to be offended by Nina's presence? If anything she's worried that she herself has caused some grievous degree of offense.

    Though she is kind of side-eyeing Mordred. And fighting back a frown. That girl just insulted tofu.

Duet Fortuna (92) has posed:
    "Ah, excuse me for a moment," Duet says to Yuudachi. She hands the spoon to the destroyer girl and peers at that malicious grin for a moment... then perhaps decides to check somewhere more safe. Overhearing her Servant's conversation, she strolls that way and just barges right in.

    "Oh are you all talking about tofu? I know a little bit about that," Duet blurts out. "I had a friend about two years ago who knew a lot about tofu, was really good with it. Offered to teach me! I think they were a... sixth degree black belt in tofu?"

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "That is..." Psyber says, thinking over Mordred's assessment as he puts a hotdog on the grill and adds a bit of sauce to them, "... probably surprisingly accurate. It'll be like in Serpentsphere FS, when Flute died and went to Hell, and all the villains were there, and he was like 'Perfect, this'll be good practice'." He scratches the underside of his chin and considers that.

    Moments later, he's dropping the dog into the waiting rectangles of Tofu for Xiaomu to consume as she desires, "I was never a tofu fan myself, but I think it's a pretty big deal over in japan. I can only really like that Mabodofu spicy stuff. Or Miso soup. The rest is all kinda bland to me."

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
Konoe reaches aside and tugs Xiaomu's arm. "Don't fight. Or Reiji will spank you when ge gets back."

     ...It's probably true.

Wo has posed:
There isn't much fanfare for the Wo-class aircraft carrier's entrance. Perhaps if she were in her original body, it would be more of a cause for notice, both from a size and occasion standpoint. As it stands, she's now a proper resident in the city of Boston, so she's a bit more comfortable with the surroundings, as well as one of Psyber's social gatherings that he likes to host. They always gather a diverse crowd, so no shock shows through her deadened expression, though she does pause close to the street for her mutedly glowing eyes to scan over, before continuing on. Midway, she removes her cover, somehow placing the enormous, bulbous hat beneath one arm, while supporting her other's hand with her command staff.

    Though the Tsu-class is shy about these kinds of encounters and opted to stay home, an I-class destroyer, a sort of whale-shark looking creature with search lights for eyes and a sleek, black body, is tagging behind. Its method of locomotion on dry land is an inefficient sort of hop-hover, but it works. Though it doesn't stray too far from the humanoid carrier it is 'escorting', it does sometimes pivot to look at someone more closely. As well as the other, ahem, 'pets', especially, as a high-energy being itself. Fleet daughter presence, even though they are oil-sworn enemies, is note, but in this neutral place, the I-class is just as likely to bound up to one of them and socialize, insofar as its buzzing and hissing vocalizations allow.

    "I have a-rrived, for so-cialization," states Wo, simply, as several diminutive beings, sensing the coast is clear, begin to clamber out of her cape and onto various points on her person. What was once only one pilot fairy has somehow become an entire aircrew, dressed appropriately. Those that had met her before, might notice that her speech is just that fraction more fluid.

Sarah (316) has posed:
  Ignoring the high-energy happenings around her with admirable patience, Sarah fixes her attention on Athela, studying the young woman. Her calm scrutiny might well make the other uncomfortable, if Athela isn't used to being stared at very intensely. She might project calm, but she also has all the focus that comes with that kind of stillness.

  "I do not have a calling so much as it is simply a part of what I am," Sarah finally explains. Interesting choice of words, that she says 'what' rather than 'who.' She sure looks human, but then again, Ayako is a water spirit, and /she/ doesn't really look abnormal. Sweeping forward in a graceful formal bow, Sarah balances her greatstaff in the crook of an elbow as she does, mindful not to accidentally clonk anybody with it. "Lady Sarah, at yours. I am a magician and a scholar; and as you have most likely guessed, water magic is my focus."

  Duh. Her faint, wry half-smile suggests she knows she's stating the obvious, though.

  Her atteniton turns then to Nina. "Just 'Sarah' will do. Lady Sarah, if you are more comfortable using a title--"

  Suddenly there is a fox and a robotic tiger barreling towards her. Sarah neatly side-steps as though nothing happened; Finna streaks past, leaving a few white hairs on the hem of her dark skirt, rustling it. A larger step sideways takes her out of the way of Taiga, which would probably destroy her if he collided into her.

  "--and it is a pleasure to meet you," she finishes serenely, as though nothing had happened. Perhaps to her credit, she keeps her eyes fixed firmly on Nina's face, and not her wings. Winged people exist in her world, and they aren't horrifically uncommon enough to merit staring at.

Finna (513) has posed:
RUSH BEASTY RUSH! RUN FOX RUN!

    If she wanted, it may be that no force present today could hope to catch Finna on foot. Running away is her biggest specialty. But that would be too flashy. Too exhausting. She cranks up the speed though, working to stay ahead of Taiga. It's quite tough - she's rarely had to compete with an actual competent, speedy BEAST before. Her's far faster than a REAL tiger... and that's saying something.

    ... Eventually, Finna turns to RUNNING STRAIGHT UP THE HEAVEN OR HELL BUILDING.

    ... Somehow.

    ... SOMEHOW.

Nina Windia (985) has posed:
"Well, as he's the one who invited people..." Nina makes a kind of wobbly gesture with her hand in Mordred's direction. "I'm sure he has better things to do then spend the whole time with me, if he'd like to say hello to everybody."

Having no strong opinions on tofu one way or the other (she tried it and found it not unpleasant, which puts it ahead of some things she's tried in the Multiverse) Nina very deliberately does not join that conversation. She does reply to Nozomi, "Ah... no, it's all right, I thought... never mind." She thought she was one of the people staring because of the colour; it didn't occur to her, until just now at least, that she might simply never have seen a Windian or someone built like one before. "It's fine."

Slightly pink herself, she turns back to Sarah. "Lady Sarah, then. It's a pleasure. My name is Nina - Nina Windia." It is a last name, but the way she says it implies it might be Nina /of/ Windia, which is also true; Nina never brings up her family but in a technical sense she is still of noble blood. It shows, actually; given the opportunity to be polite and fall back on formality, she does, and seems more at ease now than she has the whole time at the barbeque.

Mordred (12) has posed:
    "Joke's on you, I'm not human. And even if I'd been I'm just a ghost now." Can that even be felt? Well, if it can be, Mordred is distinctly 'not human'. Not in the sense she's a ghost, more in the sense that she's a ghost of a not human. Something that definitely looks human but wasn't really.

    Still, she can't say no to offered food. She grabs a square of tofu and smells it, then sticks it in her mouth in one go. She chews, swallows, and then huhs. "That tasted a lot less like oil than I thought it would. Guess I gotta withdraw the objection."

    She's still pretty sure regular tofu must be awful, though. If anything this is a statement that frying anything can make it better.

    She looks back to Duet as her master draws near, and then laughs. "PLEASE. Tell us more, I'm curious about that now."

    Wo's is a voice Mordred recognizes, then. They never talked much, but sharing a faction for a while does mean she'd heard her. Insofar as anyone can 'hear' Wo. She's not very chatty! "Yo, speedboat. ... what'd you eat at a barbecue, anyway?"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"That does very little to slow me down, Konoe," Xiaomu replies to the nekomiko, possibly far more calmly than the twitching of Xiaomu's hairtails should suggest. "And ghosts aren't immune to various forms of clobbering, maiming, and execution."

There *IS* one thing that spares Mordred from imminent vulpine wrath, though - and that's the serving of a hot dog onto the remaining rectangle of fried tofu. Xiaomu quickly wraps the tofu around the hot dog, slips a toothpick through to make sure things stay wrapped, then goes to add mustard and relish and a bit of ketchup. Then she starts eating.

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ..."

Mordred would seem to be safe, at least for now. Besides, she recanted her dismissal of fried tofu's goodness, so yeah - unless she ticks Xiaomu off over something unrelated, Mordred (and her Master) can rest easy.

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Taiga doesn't slow down one bit when Finna decides to go straight up the side of the tower. But then something occurs to him, and he skids to a stop - which actually takes a few seconds, due to sheer mass. Less than a foot from the wall, he comes to a stop, and then turns his head to address Psyber. "If I pursue further, it will require use of my claws. The marks I leave would probably be expensive to repair. Would you like me to continue?"

    His user, meanwhile, is straightening her yukata a little while she stands back up properly, only to catch Nina apparently being embarrassed herself? Well, Nozomi feels like she did something wrong, even if she's not quite sure what it is. In a show of bravery, she takes a few steps over to Sarah and Nina, just catching the introduction. After a second or two of hesitation, she decides to reciprocate, and murmurs, "Nozomi. Nozomi Houken. We... I-I don't think we have people with wings, back home... o-or, at least, I haven't met any... they're... they're kind of pretty."

Athela Valemore has posed:
Being use to both the wild pace of battle and the peculiar antics of pokemon Athela is nonplussed by the two animals (one of them mechanical) bombarding through the gathering. She just as easily sidesteps when she needs to, prehaps even a bit quicker than one might expect a person who typically goes tromping around in armor.

The 'what' doesn't seem to phase her. She's already met plenty of people whom are 'not quite human' despite their appearances. The scrutiny, well she's been stared at with everything from admiration to distrust for what she is, so that's hardly new either. "Aye, my attunement with the element can sense it, as well as the spirit there yonder." Interestingly enough she's probably more use to dealing with things closer to what Ayako is than another 'human' with such abilities, but that's minor details.

"While not a mage as it where," Athela pause to give the hand not holding her food a twirl in the air, a few swirls of watery whisps forming with the motion, and then she gives a snap of her wrist to disperse the collecting element harmless into the air, "my commune with the will of the ocean is quite close."

Then she gives a glance in Nina's direction as she speaks to Sarah, and a short bow to the girl as well. "It is nice to meet ye as well, Miss Windia."

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     "........"

     Konoe sighs and turns away. She's too old for this. And Xiaomu was supposed to be the older one here. "That may be true, but it doesn't look very good on your record if it reads 'Clobbered, Maimed, and Executed a ghost for insulting tofu'." The girl deadpanned before biting into a burger.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
To some it might look like she was blending in with the rest of the crowd, but in reality, Rebecca Chambers is a late arrival. Still, it's better late than never, right? Especially since Rebecca gets to take her mind off of work and enjoy things for a change. Which is why she's in a more casual attire instead of being in her usual S.T.A.R.S. uniform.

If this were a smaller party, she might walk in and yell, "HEEEEEEEERE'S BECKY!" But it's a larger party and she's not in the mood for jokes. Instead, she simply makes her way in and stops to greet Psyber. "Thank you for hosting this, sir," She says politely as she greets the host, before going to look for something to eat.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber watches as Finna runs up the side of the building. He squints a bit and sighs, "Fucking Exalts." He grumbles in frustration and then looks down towards street level again. Someone he hasn't seen in a while is here, and that is a more pressing concern than Finna running up the side of his building, "No, good job. Let her go, Taiga."

    "Wo! It's good to see you!" Psyber comments, smiling cheerily at the arriving Abyssal Ship. He hadn't seen her in a while, so getting her to come out again is a fun surprise, "And your little friends are dressed so festive. Please, have some ribs and whatever you want. You and your crew," He welcomes her to the event.

    He does look over his shoulder towards Konoe, "I doubt it would be that one-sided. Mordred's about as strong as I am." But Mordred withdraws her objection a moment later, prompting Psyber to addendum, "Oh. I guess that solved itself."

    He nods his head to Chambers and says, "Thank you for coming out. Feel free to have as much as you want. Take leftovers if you like."

    And a final call to Nina, as wings come up, "I have wings like those! They're just not... out right now! I can show you later if you want."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa keeps tracking Finna with the camera she watches iwth intestr and looks over ot Pysber for a moment sighing.

"They really do that don't they and the food's starting to smell pretty goo dna leftov er I will totally do so, this all smells fantastic!"

She grins widly and seems to be in a good mood, Finna's antics are forgot about for the moment.

Wo has posed:
Not chatty, that essentially sums her up. Even now, in a social setting, Wo seems to be taking her time about things. It helps to avoid exhausting her abilities of conversation. A vaguely familiar voice, from another time, seems to be addressed toward her, and a pivot of the head follows. It's a fair question, and one she's quick to answer, if in her brief manner. "Bauxite...brought some, and shared. With Zui-hou." She doesn't see that smaller carrier girl around anywhere, at the moment, so it's just as well that she didn't bring any this time. It would have been only her eating it. "Psy-ber, tries to get me to eat...surface food, though," is added, after a moment. Despite the monotone, she doesn't sound annoyed by that. Perhaps even amused?

    Some of the air crew fairies climb down to ride, and maybe annoy, the I-class. With the new, uninvited passengers, it begins to wander around a bit further, coming up to the tables set with food offerings. It seems to recognize things as edibles, if its close inspection and its hinged jaw hanging slightly open is any indication, but it's a polite thing, so it doesn't begin chomping away immediately like a Pac-Man with suspiciously human-looking teeth. "Ee-ee--," it strains out, distorted by static, before bobbing up and down again, "Eeeeat." It spoke! AH!! Psyber's go-ahead is all it took, heard loud an clear, as the I-class claims a bowl of junk food snacks (probably cheese puffs), clasping the edge in its jaws.

    Caught staring at the destroyer's forwardness, Wo turns to Psyber next. His smile is returned in kind, and while he'd noted before she didn't have to go to the trouble, she nonetheless upturns the corners of her mouth with her fingertips. "The fairies...wanted, to," she notes, as if she needed an excuse. The tiny air crews indeed seem to be into it, though, the ones remaining with her giving friendly waves, and the ones that went 'ashore' on the I-class seeming to be enjoying riding on its back. "But...it is good, to see you, as well. May-be, I'll try some-thing."

Sarah (316) has posed:
  If the name of Windia garners any recognition, Sarah doesn't acknowledge it at all. She does continue to study her, though... gently, in a way that wouldn't be taken as staring. Maybe she can sense something of Nina's skittishness. Once upon a time, she used to be the same.

  So she offers a faint smile. Well, a water mage can try, anyway. "You are new to the Union, correct? I've been with the Union for some years, now, and I look forward to working with you in an official capacity. I'm certain you'll be a valuable ally to us."

  Her attention turns then to Athela, nodding at the explanation. There are many who lay claim to the same element as her, and though their connection is never quite the same -- it's not something she can do so much as a literal part of her soul at this point -- she can still understand kindred spirits when she sees them.

  Sarah seems about to say something more about that when Nozomi, in a fit of bravery, marches right up to the gathering and introduces herself. Those pale, pale eyes turn over to the girl, studying her somewhat myopically. Unexpected, yes; and also not someone she's personally familiar with. But hey, Sarah's all for meeting new people! So Nozomi gets one of those faint and calm smiles, too. "I'm glad to meet you, Nozomi. My name is Sarah. Welcome, welcome." To their little gathering of water-y people, that is.

  ...Huh. They do kinda seem to be gravitating over to the corner together, don't they?

Cecily (186) has posed:
     Another face that Psyber hasn't seen in a while, and perhaps a long one at that, takes her time walking barefoot towards the festivities. Cecily's hands are clasped behind her back, tails reigned in to not be flailing about everywhere to get in the way of partygoers or snacking Wo-friends. She surveys the tables, the guests, and finally lays eyes on Psyber as she nears him proper.

     "Long time, no see, dear," she says as she looks up to the man-gel. Her ears lay flat, timidly, and she glances at the food again. "Ah, I feel as if I should have brought something to eat. Did you want any help cooking?" she asks almost timidly.

Mordred (12) has posed:
    "Well, you'd certainly be free to TRY," Mordred says with a grin, which is a much more natural expression on her face. It's cocky, and given the way she feels it's probably pretty obvious she's not someone Xiaomu could just off-handedly smack. What's certain is that the area would regret it, though.

    Wo gets an incredulous glare, though, distracting the Servant from challenging angry tofu-loving foxes. "Bauxite? I'm pretty sure that's a rock, not food. That, uh... actually taste good?" She just had tofu, she supposes she could stand to taste bauxite if it's actually in edible format and not actual chunks of it.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber looks towards Wo, "I gotta get you to try American cuisine. It's my goal in life, really," He teases her back, regarding his nagging her to try foods. She's a good friend of his and he's had a lot of personal satisfaction from helping her grow as a person, so wanting to expand her horizons a bit is a personal project.

    "Ah, Cecily. Long time no see, indeed." He smiles welcomingly to the fox girl and waves around a bit, "Come on in, get settled, have some food. You don't need to cook anything, just have a good time and get to know some new faces."

    He looks over towards Mordred and says, "Bauxite is like... sorta aluminum. It's hard to describe," He muses, pondering it over, "It's a metal. I know that the Abyssals eat it. I'm not sure if the Fleet Daughters do too, since Kongou also cooks, so it's kind of hard to tell."

Nina Windia (985) has posed:
There may be a little knot of water-aligned people over there, but Nina isn't one of them. She's a mage, yes, but her skills are more multipurpose; she knows a variety of elemental spells, and is fairly evenly matched with all of them.

All except earth, anyway. She never got the hang of those. But the time she said 'rocks are hard' in class, everyone laughed at her, so she never said it again.

"I am," Nina agrees with Sarah. "I've been around for only perhaps two months, and I haven't done very much on the Union's behalf yet, but I hope to be of use." She can be useful, she just has to keep telling herself that some days.

She does seem a little nervous with the people. But not completely indrawn or paying attention to nobody else; she automatically steps to the side to allow Nozomi easier access to the conversation, for instance, instead of shutting her out by failing to notice her creeping up to join it. "I hear that most worlds don't have any members of the Wing Clan in them," she says to Nozomi. "So... I suppose that's not unexpected. I don't know about pretty, though... they just are."

Psyber, though, is the one that surprises her the most. "You do?" she asks, forgetting her politeness. "They're not?" HOW DO YOU DO THAT, is what she wants to grab him by the shoulders over, shake, and ask. What she actually says is: "I would like to see that, sometime."

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     Konoe glances at Psyber and shakes her head. "Oh. I wasn't saying that Xiaomu would actually execute Mordred. I mean..." She sighed and hung her head in exasperation at Mordred. "Ahhh forget it."

     At some point, Konoe found herself staring at that I-Class as it wandered over to the tables to eat. What in the world was that thing? She was curious enough to creep over and peer at it closely. "......" She reached out wit a hand and poked it in the side.

Athela Valemore has posed:
"I am still rather new myself, yes," Athela adds to the conversation. She picks a small piece of meat off her plate and flicks it into the air, upon which the Eevee on her shoulder snatchs it up and noms happily upon. "There is no shortage of need, and I am sure you will find your chance to be useful many a time over."

What's this, another newcomer to the conversation? Poor girl seems a bit on the shy side though, so Athela gives her a nice smiling greeting and hopefully she won't be at too unease. "A pleasure to meet you as well, Miss Houken." Then she turns her head a little to look in the direction of where Taiga stopped its pursuit of the fox. "That is a most... interesting companion you have."

Honestly the only reason she's not twitching at the robo-tiger is because Taiga has already displayed a level of advancement, not to mention sentience, above the constructs she has had to fight on more than one occasion.

Kongou (637) has posed:
    Kongou is At Large. Hayashimo has disappeared somewhere, possibly to recover from whatever's been going on since Kongou's explosive arrival and the destroyer's heroic sacrifice.

    However, the 4th Mobile still has a presence in the Psyber's Barbecue theater of operations. This presence is announced by a trio of Zero fighters, each one the size of a model plane, largely a forest green with white undersides and lime green stripes on the tailfins, soar out over the park in a V-shaped formation.

    The lead plane waggles its wings, and the two followers follow suit. Afterwards, the trailing planes break off in graceful arcs. The lead plane banks into a sharp turn, with the other two falling in behind it, creating a circle of evenly spaced aircraft. It's a fairy airshow?!

    The source of the fighter acrobatics wanders in on her own, the pale-haired Fleet Daughter carrier Zuihou. In both hands, she carries a lime green bucket filled with ... well, chunks of raw ore that bear a passing resemblance to donut holes in size and shape. With her ever-present smile, Zuihou sets her bucket of bauxite on the snack table, then turns to watch her airplanes perform.

    She's aware of the friendly Wo class and her destroyer escort, but is keeping her distance. Maybe she doesn't want to come off as a stalker or something. Even if every fiber is telling her to excitedly say hello!

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Nozomi can't really be called water-aligned either, but she's sure not gonna say it. She probably doesn't even realize Athela and Sarah are. And in fact, now that she's here, she's not quite sure what else to say. Athela and Sarah have introduced themselves, and they get brief, polite bows of greeting. Nina doesn't seem to have much confidence in her own looks - or at least in her own wings - which actually draws a bit of sympathy out of the quiet girl. But even that, she can't quite figure out how to put into words.

    For once, the TIGER saves her, ambling over to his user again now that his solemn fox-chasing duty is discharged. "You bear a resemblance to a kind of holy being from many worlds called an angel. They are generally revered as good, kind beings of protectiveness and light. Most likely, Nozomi finds your appearance reassuring for that reason." Nozomi immediately ducks her head, turning pink all over again. Right on the nose, apparently. The robotiger, having satisfied his 'embarrass Nozomi' quotient, then turns his head to address Athela. "I am the Technology-Integrated Gensou Engine Rampart. You may refer to me as TIGER, if you wish. I am an anti-supernatural weapon, and Nozomi is my registered user."

Cecily (186) has posed:
    "Thanks, dear," Cecily says with a small smile. "It's good to be welcome, still." The vixen's hands unclasp and her arms hang from her sides. She visibly relaxes, even if only a little bit, and waits for Psyber to be momentarily unoccupied. Or probably more appropriately, sufficiently distracted. It gives her the opportunity to try and give him a big and probably awkward hug, even if she's just using her arms, and not her tails for the time being. So many fluffy tails. They're likely to drown someone. Wo should be careful.

Wo has posed:
One of the fairies comes to the rescue of having to explain for Wo what bauxite is for. She's wearing glasses, so you can tell she's the smart one. Unfortunately she can't exactly talk, so she'll just have to point. First to the enormous maw of Wo's hat, her 'flight deck' as it were. Then she gestures out from it and extends her arms like wings, miming an airplane. The host carrier lowers her head just slightly to watch the show, then furthers Psyber's and the fairy's explanation, "It's...an ore, yes. Rock...and metal. Turns into aircraft. Not as important, for ones like Kon-gou." Mordred's own line of dialogue does open something interesting about it, though, "...there are, recipes. For food. Wonder if, they're surface person ed-ible." Unlike one of Kongou's sisters, she's not willing to experiment with cooking on unwitting humans.

    For today, it seems like the mood is good enough that Psyber's gentle nudge is heeded. She gives a slight lowering of her head to excuse herself, and wanders over to the table of food. One of his things was getting her to eat the steak, so today, as a matter of being a proper guest, it looks like she'll oblige, even if she doesn't opt for a full portion. It's progress. It's also to make certain that I-class isn't going to cause any trouble, though it seems, aside from making off with an entire bowl instead of getting a portion doled out, it's behaving itself.

    That is, before Konoe poked at it, and it lightly jumps. It's only the fairies' quick reactions that keep the bowl from being dropped from its surprised mouth, as they rush to support it. After the shock wears off, it pivots around to float-bob and stare back. It seems to ponder for a moment, then glances down at the bowl of cheese puffs, then back up at Konoe, before nudging the bowl halfway between them with its bow section. It seems it's offering to share, how nice! The fairies also come in handy, seeing as it lacks hands and arms, as they climb to the edge of the bowl and tossing orange snacks into the I-class' mouth. There might or might not be 'omnomnom' sounds.

    The fairies, and Wo herself, all pause what they're doing for a moment, as 'model' planes buzz the place. That is, before the carrier notes the source. "Zui-hou," she says, evenly. Even when they were at the fever pitch of war, she never felt any malice from the smaller girl. "...so you were here." And she brought that most precious of ores, worth double its weight in steel. She'll just load up on some of that, too. Sorry Psyber.

Priscilla has posed:
    Truth be told, the last, and first time Priscilla was here for one of these outdoors events, she didn't expect any of those promises of making it to a fourth of July to amount to anything but consolation. Being both available and, well, still alive after all of that somehow strikes her as improbable, in a way that makes the stated obligation to go to an American holiday-themed barbeque feel even more surreal than it actually is. It's probably for the best, or else she might start thinking of who she had come here with last time, and then not show up at all.

    As if determined to keep the balcony as frozen in time as possible, she's also shown up in a long familiar, white fluffy dress that looks /abominably/ hot for the weather, her hair is fully down, and that uncanny pendant is tucked somewhere below her collar. If it weren't for sporting heterochromia somewhere less visually appealing than would be desirable for a true chuunibyou, one could be fooled into thinking the last year and change had never happened. There's a not-insignificant chance of that being something blatantly psychological, but also a bigger chance that she can't excuse getting steak sauce on royal clothes.

    Additionally, anyone wanting to cry wolf will be disappointed, as she hasn't spent the last several hours lurking about invisible, but has legitimately just arrived; probably due to procrastination. Short of actually disappearing like that though, there's very little she can actually do to look small or unassuming in a crowd, and so she allows Nozomi to retain full control of the outing's Wallflower Quotient, maneuvering around a head or more taller than everyone else but Psyber, whom she doesn't have to poke to get attention from with the feeling of AC running on his back.

    "I believeth I had sworn to partake of something more 'robust' this year, did I not?" Priscilla sounds surprisingly less . . . tired, than she has for the past few weeks, right now. She also apparently remembers that she had whimped out of eating any of the spicey things Psyber suggested she try last time.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Of course. That can be arranged! Just drop me a line some time," He notes to her, producing a business card and indicating she can come pick it up from him whenever. She could also probably just reach him on Union radios, so it's mostly for show.

    Hugging him, as Cecily wishes, is not an impossible feat. The impossible feat is getting Psyber to hug you back. So when she manages to get ahold of him, he stands there awkwardly but reciprocates by ruffling the top of her head between the ears a bit to acknowledge the affection. r
    "A lot's changed lately. A lot of new hires you should meet some time. People like Duet and Mordred," He points to the two ladies as his first callouts, due to them living in the building, "Along with a lot of other contractors."

    And then Priscilla arrives, "Ah, Priscilla. Welcome. Hi. Yeah, hold on. Lemme make you a pulled pork sandwich." Psyber replies, shuffling along and getting her some pulled pork shoulder with a medium-heat spicy sauce and handing it to her on a bun, "Welcome. I'm glad to see you outside of, you know, tragic and awful occurances for once."

    Wo has, for the moment, been directed away from eating surface food. Internally, he resolves to get her some day. Some day.

Sarah (316) has posed:
  "Is that so? Good." Sarah dips her head in acknowledgement, jewelled earrings clinking softly. "I look forward to seeing you in action, in that case."

  The water mage listens in silence, acknowledging Athela's statements with a faint nod; they're not directed at her, but she can at least show she's listening. Her eyes slide away from the Knight of Keldeo and over to Nozomi when the girl speaks up again.

  So, the mechanical creature is a piloted thing in some manner or another. Sarah can't pretend to understand those specifics, being from a world with considerably less sophisticated technology, but Taiga's introduction does lend a certain explanation in and of itself.

  Sarah seems to hesitate for a moment, before glancing at the rest of the gathering -- that sure is a lot of people -- and offering a faint smile. "I'm sorry to introduce myself and leave, but there are matters I really must be attending to. If you will pardon me? It was a pleasure to meet you; Lady Valemore, Miss Houken, and Miss Windia." Hey, she's going to assume it was a surname. "I hope we meet again soon."

  She'll... not teleport away right away, though, instead offering Psyber a faint wave, wherever he might be at this point; no sense disturbing him unduly, he's probably busy (and mobbed for attention too).

  With that, provided nobody seems to need anything more from her, the pale woman utters something in a bizarre lanugage that doesn't translate. A half-second later she vanishes in a bloom of blue-white light, leaving behind a faint sensation of cold mist.

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     ....Oh no.

     This thing was cute.

     In a morbid sort of way.

     Content to just stay here, Konoe knelt down and partook in cheese puffs with the I-class. Yes, this was fine. Munch munch. "Say...do you have a name?" She asked the thing, eyeing the fairies riding on it. Oh no. Those were cute too. Why is everything cute all of a sudden!?

     "I'm Konoe. I do things."

     Very descriptive.

Athela Valemore has posed:
Athela Valemore briefly rubs the back of her head with one hand. Pretty much everything Taiga says goes over her head, up to the point that it states being an anti-supernatural unit. That, she can at least grasp. "You serve a similar purpose that Pokemon do to soldiers and knights in mine world, then." That is the easiest way to put it.

Then Sarah exits herself from the gathering, and waves after here. Though still a little awkward feeling. For a moment she's about to explain how 'Lady' isn't quite appropriate, but then seems to realize that's only in Bayern's social structure that she's only considered a Dame, and decides it's not worth pointing out when the other is leaving. "May the tides see they well."

Kongou (637) has posed:
    The Zero fighters break off in separate directions at the exact same instant, spiralling outward from their circle point. Each one comes about, synchronized. Puffs of colored smoke-- red, white, and blue-- start emitting from their wings as the three planes pass each other in the center. They roll to avoid one another, drawing spirals of smoke as they fly. After the maneuver, the trio forms up again in a diagonal, echelon formation, still trailing smoke.

    "--Ah! Miss Wo is here too?" As if Zuihou didn't notice that hat immediately. She bounces lightly in place, "It's good to see you! We haven't really met up like this in a while!" Her hands fold behind her back as she glances towards Psyer, "I hope I didn't interrupt something with the Admiral just now?"

Wo has posed:
After the fairies pause in shoveling junk food into its mouth, the I-class is left only with Konoe and her questions, for the moment. It begins to try to mouth something, though its vocalizations only come out as something like squeaks and what might be speech, but it's so heavily distorted that it's hard to tell. After a few moments, it, for lack of a batter term, begins to visibly vibrate in frustration, before it dips its body forward and gives a sigh-like sound. It seems that it used up its speech quota on one word for the evening, but it's a good one for the event. "Eeeat," it says agreeably, if still in a clearly non-human tone, its mood quickly recovering from the not-quite-tantrum. Just like a kid. The fairies, by now, have turned their attention back to the task at hand, one giving a salute to Konoe.

    Fairy overboard! As Wo was separating from Psyber, just ahead of a crash of tails, one of the fairies didn't make it, and is washed away in a sea of fluffiness. The other fairies quickly come to her rescue, throwing out a suitably sized life preserver on a twine-scale rope, before pulling her back to 'safety'. Phew, it was a close call. Once they're all back safely on Wo's shoulders and cape, they begin to discuss something silently between themselves, before one lightly tugs on one of the carrier's hair strands. "Hmm?" The same sort of unspoken inter-fairy dialogue seems to be happening between them. "...if you - want. Don't cause, trouble." They give firm nods, and several climb down her cape to wander off elsewhere. She returns to looking at Zuihou, after.

    The light carrier's cheerfulness is met by the same dull monotone, as usual, but she's no doubt accustomed to it. "No, it's o-kay. Psy-ber is, a busy man." She's putting it lightly. To the observation that it's been a while since they'd met like this, Wo gets a somewhat distant look in her eyes, even by her standards. "--hasn't been, much time lately." What with the fleet daughter offensive and all, though in the interests of not stirring up anything, she leaves that part unspoken. "...is Kon-gou also here?"

Cecily (186) has posed:
    Awkward hug is awkward, but even the pat on the head seems to make the rest of Cecily's tension melt away. She sighs, clinging for a moment, and then pulling away. "Oh? I'll have to step around and meet some of them. I'm just glad to know I'm still welcome," she says kindly, clasping her hands again. "I think I'd rather partake in food before socializing too much, however. I've... spent a little too much time under the mountain to... really mingle with too many new faces, for the moment." She gives Psyber a lopsided smile and blinks as one of those fairies gets lost in her floofy tails.

     She turns her head, watching the ordeal unfold, her sea of white pausing as best it can to aid the extraction. And she promptly makes her way over to Wo proper. "Ah.. sorry about that, dear. Are.. they.. alright?" she asks, looking around as the little group seems to wander off. "My tails have a mind of their own sometime," she smiles gently, before bowing her head politely and carefully making her way over towards, well. Some meaty treat to nibble on.

Nina Windia (985) has posed:
"I'm sure we will," Nina says to Sarah with a smile. It looks professional rather than personal and authentic, but baby steps! She's perfectly fine when she's doing nothing but being polite; she took in etiquette as a young child...

When Sarah vanishes, Nina looks after her. She wishes she could learn something like that. While she does know one teleportation spell, it's erratic enough that she wouldn't care to use it to get away from a gathering like this; she's done it to get free of dangerous regions, and that's really the only time she does.

She does accept the card from Psyber. "Thank you," she says, tucking it away somewhere in her robe. Does it have pockets? (spoiler: it does have pockets.) "I'll be sure to do that.

But it's Nozomi - or the TIGER, actually - that gets the most honest reaction from Nina. Nina has never been close to a robotic animal before, anti-supernatural weapon or not, and that alone would be worth something, but it's the explanation of angels that draws the confusion.

"Really?" she asks, startled. "Well, it - there isn't any relation. The Wing Clan is just another group - I wouldn't call any of us 'holy', except perhaps a priest and I'm not one." As for light... That gets an uncomfortable feeling.

"I think I'd better go soon," she says, awkwardly, taking a step back. "It was, ah, a pleasure to meet you all." Maybe something about the topic hit a nerve?

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    Nozomi is not a terribly socially-aware person, but even she can sense that she or Taiga have said something to make Nina uncomfortable. She is entirely too withdrawn a person in general to insist the winged woman stay, though; if anything, she knows that kind of discomfort all too well herself. So all she can really do is give a tiny nod. "A-alright. It... it was nice meeting you." With Sarah gone too, that just leaves Athela. Who has Taiga's attention for the moment. "Something to that effect, yes," the robotic tiger replies. "I cannot detail my functions and capabilities in mixed company, but I am equipped to deal with numerous types of supernatural being or ability. Especially in tandem with my user, Nozomi." He's not gonna say it here, but without her, he wouldn't be able to reach his full potential.

Konoe Kanno (847) has posed:
     Oh.

     This one had trouble speaking. But it definitely understood. Best to leave it at that. Don't want to stress the thing out.

     And so with a wave to the fairies, Konoe stood up and brushed herself off. "I'll let you be then. Good day." She bowed slightly, then turned and began to wander off, away from the barbeque.

     Ultimately, this little outing was a minor detour.

     ...It was time for her to go.

     Where?

     That remained to be seen.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber's card is actually pretty neat. It reads as follows:

Psyber
Prof. Of Occult Studies at Miskatonic University
Owner - Heaven or Hell Paranormal Investigation Firm
666 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02108 (Corner of Beacon and Joy)
617) 555-8782
Dissolve Me In Water!

In small text on the back: This card is pressed blessed salt and inked in holy oil. Dissolve in 1 cup or more water to create holy water.

    Psyber nods his head to Cecily, "I understand. I haven't seen you in a while, so do take your time around all the new people. But don't be too shy, then."

    To Wo and Kongou, Psyber shakes his head, "No, nothing interrupted. Just trying to expose Wo to surface dweller food and get her to expand her cuisine." He notes, not seeming too upset or even disturbed by Wo immediately flocking to bauxite for sustenance.

    He looks back towards Nina and gives her a wave, "Do take care. And feel free to stop by again."

Kongou (637) has posed:
    "Mm." More than aware of the hostilities created through Operation Rei-Go and the abyssal navy that hasn't been acting like this familiar foe, Zuihou recognizes the mutual understanding in Wo's seemingly unemotive tone. As such, she doesn't pursue that at all. Instead, she closes her eyes with a bright smile, "Yeah, he is! But that's why time with him is precious, right?"

    Her eyes wander to the airplanes dancing in the sky, then back to Wo, "I didn't know you'd gotten more fairies, they're cute!" Leaning forward a bit, the light carrier gives the little humanoids a closer look, even as they disembark their mothership, "Is it an aircrew, or do they fly more planes?" Eyes closing again, Zuihou lifts a hand to point upwards, "You see the Zero with the blue smoke? She wants to fly with your Wildcat again, some day. I don't know if they really can be or not, but do you think fairies can make friends too?"

    The question prompts a blink, though, and Zuihou straightens up. Glancing to either side through the crowd, she hums, "I thought she got here before I did, but I haven't seen her." Head tilting, she touches her cheek with a fingertip, "...Wasn't Hayashimo here, too..?" She glances towards Psyber, a confused look on her face, "Admiral, have you seen them?"

Athela Valemore has posed:
Athela Valemore on the other hand grew up in a rather rural but close-knit community, so the socializing back and forth comes easy enough to her even if she doesn't understand half the things the people of other worlds talk about. Nina's increased uneasiness isn't hard to miss, making her wonder what triggered her needing to back out. But she is much too polite to prod, and simply nods back to the young girl. "It was nice to meet you." Best to let her retreat to where she is most comfortable.

Instead she shifts her attention back to Nozomi, and moreso, Tiaga who is actually speaking to her. "Indeed," she replies with a nod of her head. "Working together brings out the best in those involved. Bayern would not be what it is today without Man and Pokemon working hard together ."

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
Meanwhile, Rebecca has been getting some food and is nibbling on it. The food is rather tasty, and Rebecca's enjoying herself quite well. She's trying to find someone she might recognize, but is having a bit of trouble right now. Hopefully someone should pop up.

Wo has posed:
Cecily gets a glance from Wo, whom is just now popping what looks to be a chunk of rock into her mouth. Without any signs of distress or difficulty, she easily begins to chew it, though physics at least bows enough to give it a crunchy sort of sound. She gives a subdued shake of her head, "Fairies - are fine." They certainly all seemed to be healthy, at least, as they tromped off, as well as one of them that still remains sitting on her shoulder, that gives a friendly wave. This one looks to be a pilot, judging from her aviator cap and flight jacket, and clutched in one gloved hand is an American flag, which she waves around a bit, as well. "Might be...al-most indestructible," she further muses; she's seen plenty of fleet daughter equipment lost, but the fairies at the controls seem far more survivable. It makes sense, since they're sort of like spirits, maybe.

    Psyber hopefully understands that Wo is still very much a creature learning how to experience things that are wants, not necessarily needs. Her priorities are clear. If it's any help, though, she does offer one last thing to Psyber, before he once again is likely dragged off by one of his affectionate and close friends: "Psy-ber...that research you did. ...thank you. It's in-spired me. I have, a wall of memories, now. Books, al-bums. ...it's nice." Hopefully, even if he didn't get to see her eat steak immediately, that will brighten his evening a little bit more.

    The I-class, after the moment, does seem quite happy with Konoe's company and attention. But then she seems to lose herself in her own thoughts, and it makes an inquisitive sort of sound. It stares at the back of the departing girl, pivots back to the gathering at large, as well as the carrier it was escorting to the party in the first place. A slightly indecisive shake is given of its body, before its emotional impulses win out. It begins to hover out, slowly at first to avoid disturbing or alerting anyone, then begins bounding after Konoe. She seemed sad, somehow. The world is a dangerous place to be sad! It will just follow her for a while, to be certain she's safe.

    The pilot fairy with the flag from before jumps a little, as Zuihou indirectly mentions her. Her mouth quirks into that impish but good-natured grin, shaped like a V, nodding her head. "...seems, she's up for - it." As for the others, she seems to consider it for a moment, before responding, "Think they wanted it, to be a sur-prise." One that, judging from her link to them and the equipment, will likely be shown off soon enough. "Mm...may-be, she's avoiding me." They have quite the strange relationship, unlike the one that she shares with Zuihou. "--thank you, for the bauxite."

    What the fairies that had wandered off were doing is soon made obvious, as accompanying the sounds of the Zero fighters, a lower, propeller driven drone can also be heard. Moving far slower and less acrobatically, the ponderous frame of a twin-engine medium bomber soon comes into view. To those that may recognize its shape, it's a B-25 Mitchell, and it begins dropping its own payload of colorful smoke munitions. It seems these patriotic fairies wouldn't be outdone. They don't directly interfere, though -- they did promise!

Kongou (637) has posed:
    "I don't think she's hiding from you!" Zuihou assures Wo immediately. The fairy's response brightens her face, though before she can express her excitement, the thrum of heavy engines draws her attention to the sky. Wo's Mitchell, it seems, has finally shut up the energetic carrier girl and she watches in astonishment and admiration as the smoke munitions fill the sky with color.

    Without seeming to need a prompt, the three-Zero airshow scatters as the bomber arrives, the aircraft ascending above the heavier plane's altitude. After circling for a moment, the leader dives down, followed by the subordinate aircraft, and before long the B-25 has itself a classic escort, one behind either one, with the lead off-center from the bow. Like an X missing an arm.

Priscilla has posed:
    A pulled pork sandwich is pretty up there, but as long as she isn't being handed anything with the words 'New York' in its descriptor while also being a hamburger, Priscilla can probably avert detonating into red white and blue stars for now. "I consider thee the control factor in such circumstances, and and willing to shoulder no blame mineself." She replies in a clearly facetious tone, though that might jab a little close to home regardless. "If thou art desirous of it, thou hast only to visit, or else perhaps simply to ask."

    She has to pull those big sleeves back a little bit to take a bite out of sandwich, and when she does, it's with the very clear expression of someone who likes what they're tasting, but is currently having to fight a sweat to keep it in their mouth long enough to get used to it. Wavering on that edge for a few embarrassingly pink-faced moments, the crossbreed heroically wins out over medium heat, and meanders off with a well barbequed sandwich, probably leaving the question of what anyone actually eats in Lordran now that chugging estus isn't the national pastime.

    She winds up tailing Nozomi just as Nina leaves, clearly wondering what she had said to drive her off as well in the time it takes her to swallow, having to break briefly in order to sidestep Japanese planes and pilots showing off their American patriotism. "What, precisely, was such concerning?" a.k.a. 'what was that all about?'. "I am not one who knows thee as particularly offensive."

Nozomi Houken (342) has posed:
    "Well. It isn't quite the same, but I suppose that comes close enough," Taiga replies. "If there is any issue of a primarily magical, paranormal or psychic nature that you need assistance with in the future, please feel free to contact us. As a fellow Union member, Nozomi and I are happy to help." With little else to offer the conversation for the moment, Nozomi nods in agreement, then quietly goes about finishing her food. At least she gets to try something new and tasty every time she comes here. There might be a burger on the menu next, if she has her way. Maybe.