561/Ice Cream Social

Ice Cream Social
Date of Scene:	08 September 2014
Location:	Urbania
Synopsis:	Amalthea treats everyone to ice cream. Elites are there. The expected happens.
Cast of Characters:	2, Arthur Lowell, 135, 219, 253, 274, 395, 545, 553
Tinyplot:	Project C

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Herbert West (274) has posed:
ARKHAM CITY! Again. Only THIS time no apparent crisis is ongoing, is it? No, this time... it is time for an ice cream social! It's a new ice cream parlor in town, and pretty popular, but as always the tide of customers ebbs and flows. For the most part, anyone who shows up will have the place to themselves. Mostly.

"We shouldn't be here when it's been so quiet! I'm CERTAIN that something is going on! It's been too quiet and the last incident was just strange."

"We're off duty, Stone."

"A REAL police officer is never fully off-duty! It is in his very being to protect the public, Ness!"

There are a couple customers, it seems.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber is being offered icecream on someone else's dime. This means that he is going to absolutely spend the hell out of Amalthea's money before she even has a chance to stop him. He triumphantly walks up to the counter and notes, "I'll have the Two of Every Flavor Noah's Arc Fudge Flood Whipped Cream Cloud with Sprinkle Downpour Sundae."

Pause.

    "And a Diet Coke."

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Amalthea has a fair amount of money. This is because she lives in a mountain fortress with no taxes and has very little expenses to pay. Just like... TV and cable and shit.
    She's here. She has money for everyone.
    This time she is NOT without her sword in case something goes terribly wrong.

Nurse Joy (553) has posed:
     Nurse Joy hasn't been to Arkham before. Honestly, she hasn't been to a lot of places. But, the call of 'Free Icec Cream' is something that few people can resist.

     Honestly, it's probably worse than the song of the Sirens. The Union probably should put in some things to help resist against that siren call were it to come from an enemy. But at the least, it is unlikely Amalthea will have any EVIL ALTERIOR MOTIVE to Ice Cream.

     ...Right?

     Either way, Nurse Joy comes in, still in her nurse outfit, smiling as per usual. She casually pulls out several Pokeballs, releasing her Pokemon. A Sylveon, a Spearow, and of course, her starter. A Chansey.

     She is almost immediately followed by another Nurse Joy. This Nurse Joy releases her Pokemon as well. A Wigglytuff, an Espurr, and Honedge.

     Oh god this might get confusing.

     Either way, they order, of course. Nurse Joy gets strawberry with sprinkles, and not surprisingly, Nurse Joy gets the same.

     The Chansey, though, hears what Psyber is having.

     "Chansey!" <Each of us Pokemon will have what he's having.>

Ariel (219) has posed:
"You know, mom," Ariel is pointing out, "I do have like millions of credits. I can pay if you want." She's following Amalthea in while holding Lila's hand, and waiting to order. While waiting, she spots Ness and Stone and gives a friendly wave. "Hey! It's you guys! Nice to see you when things are crazy, huh? We're trying to keep the trouble out of Arkham City for you, sorry for earlier."

Oh right, she needs ice cream. "Oh, I'll have the double berry buzz. Are you sure you don't have spicy taco ice cream?"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Homura is not far behind Psyber.
    She is not in fact physically packing guns.

    Good thing too considering the cops here.

    Dressed in her very standard and generic attire of 'black formal pants and a dress shirt', with a red hair ribbon and glasses, the almost-an-adult girl stops at the counter and considers.

    "Just strawberry."

    She is kind of boring, yes.
    She idly adjusts her glasses.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Amalthea holds her head. Where has her pride gone when her daughter can offer to foot the bill?
    "No, Ariel. It's fine. It's on me." She mutters. She already has a bowl of vanilla ice cream in front of her. No one can go wrong with vanilla. Nothing can go wrong with tonight. Let the unicorn have her pride. She will be paying for all ice cream that will be happening from here on in.

Lila (545) has posed:
    "I will have a triple scoop of cheesecake-caramel with strawberry and hot fudge topping, plus nuts," Lila says when it's her turn. She smiles warmly, "Oh, really now, what are the chances that another giant robot will appear and wreck the city? It's only been a few days since the last one. Not that I'd know anything about that, since Grandma was carrying me away as fast as possible."

    "OH HELLO OFFICERS!" WAVE WAVE!

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    Al is right behind Lila, and she says, "I'll have-" The silver-haired book-girl stops, glaring at Lila, then lets out a heavy sigh. "I'll have what she's having." What was that about? It's like Al was angry she liked the same thing as Lila.. At least she is staying WELL AWAY from the officers, unlike a certain bratty girl.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "You guys got TRAUMATIC COOKIE CONCUSSION? The one with the DOUBLE DOUGH, and the OREOS, and the CHOCOLATE CHIPS, and..." Arthur's here and rambling. Probably followed Psyber in! "No? How about the DIABETIC CURBSTOMP? No, you don't have nearly enough SPRINKLES in stock. DOUBLE DEW PRODUCT PALACE? Wait, that promotion ended last year. Fuck, gimmie one of those MUNCHIES ones, with the PRETZEL. Rad, let's do it."

    Psyber gets a raised eyebrow. "Well SHIT, that motherfucker was BIBLICAL right up until the END there." Ariel gets a fingersnap of recognition! "MAN, that's RIGHT, you ARE totally loaded now, aren't ya? MAN, those were some RAD FIGHTS. Good t'see'ya SINCE!" Lila's the only one he hasn't recognized. "And who're YOU?" He says, gesturng to her, but beaming in a friendly way.

    Arthur nods to the Nurse Joys. He's sure ONE of them, at least, is the Syndicate Network one, so he just sort of pretends to know which and gives an acknowledging greeting in their general direction.

Herbert West (274) has posed:
"Sure, hold on!" The clerk is saying, scooping out ice cream as fast as he can. By the time he is serving the fifth pokemon, he's looking a little ragged though, and is having trouble getting everyone in a timely manner. "Seriously, where has that boy gone? I sent him to the back twenty minutes ago, it can't take that long to get more vanilla!"

But there's not much to be done, because he's got a lot of serving to do! He's doing pretty good for being alone right now.

Stone sighs, "Youth today really needs to learn dedication to the job!"

Ness notes, "You know, the kid didn't really look like a slacker..." He lifts a hand to wave at Lila and Ariel and any of the others, casually. How does he SEE with his bangs like that?

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    "The youth of today have no honor, no valor, nor soul." Amalthea notes to the clerk with her face down on the table. Between getting her very life sucked away by Nox, and the Wolkenritter and Anticross being exhausting all in one weekend; it's a wonder she's not drowning with her face in her ice cream bowl right now.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber has what can be described as somewhere between a basin and a tub of ice cream. He is digging into it with a spoon, though does give Arthur a nod of his head in greeting, "Arthur, you know saucy nurses? You dog." He comments idly, between bites of ice cream.

    "Hey where'd you send that guy? I'll go get him, if you throw in an extra chocolate chip cookie to my order," Psyber offers to the guy working the counter. There's a non-zero chance that he will be taking his giant tub of ice cream with him wherever he goes. Still, he's also polite enough to greet the many other people here that he knows.

    Amalthea, Ariel and Lila get a wave. Al gets a casually asked, "So how's your gun doing?" And Homura gets the embarassingly fatherly hairmuss before she can dramatically bang flick. Of course, she might escape that with her crazy powers, who knows?

Lila (545) has posed:
    "Oh, hello," Lila says to Arthur as she takes her ice cream aside, ignoring Al's dirty looks. "My name is Lila, and I'm Ariel's daughter! I was cheering for her in the finals. It's /so nice/ to meet you! I hear you have a dog I can play with!"

    Innocent smile~ Yeah, she's also hopping onto a chair and waving a hand to Psyber. "Oh, be sure to yell at him good! Look at how overworked this poor man is."

Nurse Joy (553) has posed:
     The Nurse Joys are, at first, somewhat puzzled by Arthur's nod. The two of them, who are sitting rather close to eachother, start whispering to eachother. Though not quietly enough that they can't be heard.

     "...Hey, Joy, I think he's trying to flirt with you."

     "...No, he's flirting with you. Urgh, if he /is/ flirting with me though, he is /so/ not my type, way too young."

     "...Oh, come on, you should go for it, it's been a while since you've had a date."

     "...Oh come on, seriously, that's no reason to just..."

     And then Psyber says his thing. The two of them stare at him. The first Nurse Joy just gives him a puzzled look. She's never been called /that/ before, nor has she really ever heard anyone actually use that term. The second Nurse Joy, the more pessimistic one, is giving a little bit more annoyed of a look.

     Then it clicks in the first Nurse Joy's head, as she looks over to Arthur.

     "OH! You're the guy in charge of the Syndicate, aren't you? You must know my sister, Joy, who works in Pacifidlog Town. I'm Nurse Joy, and I work in Viridian City, and this here is my cousin, from Lumiose City, Nurse Joy."

     So yes. The optimistic Joy is the Viridian one, the pessimistic one is from Lumiose.

     If one looks /really close/ they might note that the Viridian Nurse Joy has a light green cross on her hat, where as the Lumiose one has a pink cross. YAY, some possible way to tell the two apart.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "HEY." Arthur says, pointing a firm finger at Amalthea. "I've got PLENTY OF VALOR and PLENTY OF SOUL!" He's clearly good-natured about this, though. "Not a BIT of honor, though, y'got me THERE." Then he's turning to Psyber. "Hey, I'm not gonna say ANYTHING about SAUCINESS, they're LEGIT from what I hear! Good with healing and shit. Besides, I know EVERYONE!" A quick look of confidence from Arthur there.

    He didn't hear the Joys in their conversation, but when they spea up, he gives nods. "Yeah! I'm that guy. Wait, what? Aw god DAMN it." Arthur snaps his fingers with a brief bit of frustration. "What the hell? I see TWO PEOPLE who look like someone I know, and NEITHER of 'em are? Man, that shit's some FUCKED UP probability."

    Then he's back to Lila. "Well HELL, that makes you my..." He counts on fingers. "Psyber's TIME DAD, and he's ARIEL'S UNCLE, which makes her my NON-ECTOBIOLOGICAL TEMPORAL-CLONE-COUSIN, which makes you my... NON-ECTOBIOLOGICAL TIME-CLONE-COUSIN ONCE-REMOVED." He stops and revels in how absurd that sounds. "GREAT TO MEET YOU!" A quick friendly, firm handshake is offered, or maybe foisted, depending on the context, once she's up on that chair.

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    Al stares at Psyber, then sighs faintly, shrugging at him as she collects her ice cream. "She isn't a /gun/, and I have no idea why you keep referring to her like that. Ariel doesn't use guns! Why would she be a gun even if she WERE another shape?" She sits down across from Lila and kicks at the other girl's shin.

    "She's fine, just still a little growly," Al finally answers. "I think she really misses her sister. We need to do something about that."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Homura just has an ice cream cone.
    It's strawberry.
    Very unremarkable.

    Before she can flick her hair and find a seat, she is hair mussed and grumbles something or another, before glancing towards Psyber and his newfound quest of finding some guy gone to get vanilla.

    With their luck there's a Great Old One in the store's cold storage and that's where he's gone. Well, given this world, a robotic Great Old One, or perhaps a little girl. 50/50 odds, she'd guess.

    "I'll come check too."

Ariel (219) has posed:
Ariel's ice cream is already being licked. "Mn? Oh right... Al, stop that! Act your age! However someone as old as you acts. You're like the third-oldest here, stop being a child," says the two year old.

Sigh, Ariel swishes her tail and trots after Homura and Psyber. "Both of you stop sniping each other or I'll make you do chores together. I'm going with these two to see what's up. And ask nicely."

Also, "Hi Arthur! It's nice of you to show up!" She is pretty happy to see him. "At least if something happens your girlfriend might show up, right?" She says that loudly enough that the Joys can here. Helping out her friend, yep!

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    "You don't count, you're some kind of extra-planar god-thing." Amalthea notes to Arthur, without lifting her head.

Herbert West (274) has posed:
Ness and Stone look pretty relaxed, finally, and Ness is even chuckling at the antics of Lila and Al. Though Stone is scratching his head, still catching up. "Daughter? Isn't she like twelve?"

Someone should correct them. Or not.

So, on to the trio investigating the back! The clerk says, "Sure!" because he's getting a killing from this group anyway, and he opens the door to let the trio take a quick look while going back to scooping out ice cream for the line that's suddenly formed.

As for what they find? The freezer door is open, and it looks like the kid was dragging some trash out to the alley behind. The alley door is ajar as well. It is HOMURA who then steps in... something sticky. Thick, globular, and stringy, it's white and very strong.

Kind of like a spider web.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "FINE, sorry, not gun! Whatever form she has. God, I'm just forgetful." He waves a hand tiredly, "Either way, you can tell her I promise to get her sister back." Psyber says, sighing a bit, "Besides, it benefits me anyway." He shrugs vaguely, "Just don't forget our deal~."

Of course, Psyber is shortly after off to go investigate the missing guy. The half-angel already has a handgun out with a tactical light on it (Yes, he actually left his ice cream inside) and he's carefully shining it around the alley, looking up and down. He's not Homura, though, so he has yet to spot the webbing she stepped in.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    That's not a regular floor texture at all.

    Homura pauses for a moment.
    She looks down.
    She frowns.

    Please don't actually be a giant spider, please just be a large container of very questionable vanilla spilled by the boy. /Please/. Oh who is she kidding, of course it won't be that. She already has a flashlight out in one hand, and does the cliche mistake of looking directly up with it.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur tries not to choke on his icecream at what Ariel says. "She's not my..." He mumbles, flustered, swallowing the rest of his icecream. "She's not my girlfriend! It's a bit misunderstanding, and..." He makes quiet, distressed noises, trailing off. Amalthea gives him a prompt that might let him focus on something else, though. "Nah, nah, that's the EXCUSE that a bunch of OTHER dudes use. The whole PUNY MORTAL thing ain't for me, I'm still HELLA HUMAN, far as I care."

    The woes of food service are mostly lost on him, but such a big group heading over there, he's sure they'll get whatever it is figured out soon. There's an eye to Amalthea, who remains firmly face-down, apparently. "HEY." He's got a drink, apparently, and he fires the Straw Wrapper Cannon Device at her, as is obligatory, to see if she responds. "You ALRIGHT there? Lookin' a little TOO CHILL."

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    "I am de-stressing. This is my de-stressing face." Amalthea replies to Arthur. She does not lift her head. Her face is firmly buried in the scoop of ice cream in her bowl. She will not lift her head without an act of God or the Devil himself to make her get up. Even with straw-wrapper fired at her.

Ariel (219) has posed:
"Um..." Ariel glances at the floor, then up at the ceiling as well. Right now she's thinking maybe she should call on some bigger help. And she does! "Hey... hey guys, don't panic but I think I need Al in here. Someone watch Lila so she doesn't get hurt!"

Nurse Joy (553) has posed:
     Nurse Joy (both of them, really) are a little lost. This is actually a bit of a tightly knit group, it seems, so the two of them feel a bit lost b the conversation. Though, at least, with some of the group leaving, it's going to narrow down the targets of conversation a bit.

     The Joy from Lumiose City glances at Arthur, "...Are you just like... embarrased about having a girlfriend? Cause that's kind of a kid-ish thing to do." She is disregarding the talk that is equating him to a God, because he is doing so himself, and just talking to him as if he's just another person.

     The Nurse Joy from Viridian City smiles at Amalthea. "It's great that you are de-stressing. There isn't a better way to de-stress than having fun with your friends. Plus, ice cream is always a good addition to the equation!"

     The Espurr gets up onto the table in front of Amalthea, though. Looking at her. It speaks up, rather casually.

     "...Espurr." <I can see into your soul.>

     It continues to stare at Amalthea with unblinking eyes.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    "You can't see shit. You don't know about my soul." Amalthea replies to the pokemon. She has still not lifted her face out of her bowl, and will not, for the forseeable future.

Herbert West (274) has posed:
Ness and Stone chorus, "WE'LL WATCH LILA!" Such helpful officers, and learning fast, too.

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    The call from Ariel has Al's death glare interrupted! She frowns, forgetting Lila for now, and slides out of her chair. "Ugh, fine. Of course something would happen, why wouldn't it? Well at least it's probably not anticross so soon. Seriously, why did I have to miss that? I'd love to have seen those goons get arrested."

    At least the officers are making themselves useful. "Careful, she'll con you out of everything," the book says, hurrying toward the back with the others to shimmer into the chibi-version so Ariel can assume Magius form. "You think it might be a page monster? I didn't sense anything, but that doesn't mean... I mean, I should, but..."

Lila (545) has posed:
    Lila is totally innocent and eats her ice cream. "Oh I'm sure whatever it is mother can handle it!" She eyes the officers. "I'm adopted, don't be silly. Ariel is probably younger than I am."

    Replace 'probably' with 'definitely.' She's fully aware she's the second-oldest in the room.

Nurse Joy (553) has posed:
     The Lumiose Nurse Joy acts first. She is a bit more into this whole 'something might be going down' type thing than the Viridian one. Both of them, at least, recall their Pokemon. Or at least, some of them. The Lumiose one leaves her Honedge out, and in fact grabs ahold of the hilt. She runs towards the back, to join the others.

     The Viridian Nurse Joy, on the other hand, leaves out Chansey. The two of them run after, though a little bit behind the rest. This Nurse Joy is less skilled in direct combat, better to leave the stronger Nurse Joy on the front line.

Herbert West (274) has posed:
Homura looks up... and there is no spider. However, the open door to the alleyway does announce a little trouble with the sound of struggling from that direction! Presuming the group will go look, they will find the boy trussed up in a coccoon, saying things like "MMF! MMMNHHFF!" thanks to being... tied up. Like a spider does.

He is also stuck to a giant web in the alleyway, which is mostly sealed off.

Also a shadowy figure is descending the web slowly, sliding down one line easily. It is a woman, with purplish hair and a black bodysuit, but with pronounced fangs. Any guess what's about to happen?

HOWEVER!

About right then the door swings open in the FRONT of the parlor! Get it, parlor? Spider? Fly? Parlor? Ahem, anyway. THE DOOR SWINGS OPEN! Stepping into the room is a spiky-haired man with a sword at his side, wearing a black coat. In an even, archaically-accented voice, he speaks: "You have the bearing of a knight, and you are going to let that ancient challenge go unanswered? The straw cannon's announcement of superiority is not to be ignored."

A masked, bulkier shape with a clown suit on peeers over the man's shoulder. "... really? Are you serious?"

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Okay. Spider webs. Crazy woman with fangs. Black body suit.

    Psyber reaches for his pad of paper and tears off a paper that reads something half-written and then 'Spray'. He tears that paper off and it turns into an orange can in his hand. Psyber shakes it up and down and it makes a sound not unlike a spray paint can.

    "Surrender nicely..." He starts, looking up at the woman with those red eyes, before raising the can towards her, "... or you will face the wrath of my Hot Shot."

    And then he presses down on the top of the can, which releases bug spray right in her face. He may just want to piss her off to get her attention so the others can help the boy.

Lila (545) has posed:
    "Oh look! They brought a clown and a swordfighter!" Lila claps, rocking back on her chair. "And what are you two going to do, hmm~?" It's a cheerful, innocent question, but... well. Arthur and Amalthea /might/ pick up the very, very subtle hint of menace in that voice that comes with the glare her eyes briefly give the two who just arrived.

    "Do you do balloon animals~?"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Thankfull it is NOT a giant spider.
    Unfortunately it is a spider-like woman, meaning she's probably a page or five from Al Azif, meaning she's something akin to an Old One or Great Old One, or something that is close enough that distinctions won't matter. Meaning that this is probably an eldritch abomination spider. Arguably much worse than the standard giant kind.

    Homura does not look happy, if only because that means once again an ice cream acquisition trip has turned into something dangerous and potentially lethal. God damnit.

    While Psyber has her distracted, Homura simply disappears, leaving her shoes in the puddle of web. She reappears atop the larger web, long black sword in hand. She's going to cut the cocoon free while Psyber is making a friend, hopefully for Ariel and Nurse Joy to catch and tend to the poor boy inside. She just hopes she doesn't get caught in it herself.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Now. It is only NOW that Amalthea lifts her face out of her bowl. That lone, cobalt, eye gives the swordsman and clown a murderous glare as she slowly rises from her seat.
    This was supposed to be an evening of de-stressing. Why is it not going as planned?
    "You had best think about re-wording that, because otherwise we're about to have words outside." She says. Her voice is evenly toned despite the wild and deadly gleam to her gaze. "I came here with my family and friends to breathe. If you want a fight, you have one, but when we're don'e you're paying for the ice cream."
    She is not unarmed this time.
    Faith is at her side and her hand is already on the sword's hilt.

Nurse Joy (553) has posed:
     Nurs Joy, once she finally catches up, is honestly a bit surprised by the scene. She keeps her Honedge held in both hands, as she looks towards the woman in the black body suit. Psyber sprays her with bugspray, though at the same time is trying to reason with her. Buying time? Yeah. Buying time.

     She doesn't want to act /quite/ yet. She's hoping someone else is going to rush in to try and save the boy. But she is planning to make it a /lot/ easier. Using a Honedge as a sword is honestly an /incredible/ advantage.

     It is very subtle, but the shadow of Nurse Joy and the sword seem to be stretching out, towards the web. The shadow of the sword, especially, is now underneath the web. This is a Pokemon skill: Shadow Sneak. Using the shadow itself as an extension of the Pokemon.

     Once the boy is, hopefully, freed, though? And if the Spider Woman seems hostile still? The shadow of the blade will suddenly burst up, trying to slice straight at the woman. Or at least that's the plan. HOPEFULLY she'll stand down, but like. When does that ever happen?

     The Viridian Nurse Joy stays near the back exit, watching. She's ready to treat the boy once he is close to her, at the least. She has a fairly determined look on her face. Yeah, she can't let that boy die.

Ariel (219) has posed:
Unlike Joy, Ariel /is/ going to rush in! With Joy helpfully trying to free the boy from the web, she can concentrate on leaping up, ricocheting in midair with a double-jump, and diving in to snatch the boy with her wings curling around him for protection. "Don't worry, I got you!"

She'll also whip her tail around and sting the boy with the stinger. Huh? Don't worry, it's just a pinprick and a mild sedative to make sure he doesn't panic. That should make him easier to treat. "AL! We need to work on sealing this one... wait, is it a page-monster at all? Or just a monster? I don't recognize it."

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "STRAW CANNON is SERIOUS BUSINESS." Arthur says, leaning back, with a mouthful of icecream, gesturing sternly at whoever it is who just entered. Dude with a sword, man with a clown suit. Uhhhh... Gesturing at the latter, confusedly, then back to Amalthea and Lila. "Know THESE guys?" His eyebrow goes up, gesturing vaguely at them. Lila's tones, in particular, caught his attention. Concerning already, but Arthur keeps to his usual coolkid nature, casually getting another spoonful.

    There's also a glance, to the side, back over at the back, where Psyber, Nurse Joy, Al Azif, Ariel, and Homura are now. What's going on back there? How long does it take to get one guy, and why'd they need Joy? Huh.

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    Sigh. As usual, Ariel has chosen to rescue the civilians instead of fighting the monster. But... well, she's also learning that Ariel, for all her bleeding heart, kind of has a point with this stuff. And her Master is pretty successful for it.

    The tiny little book-girl yells, "Yes, it's a page monster! Atlach-Nacha! Just capture her and I'll seal her!"

Herbert West (274) has posed:
Gonna be honest: With this many people there's not much chance of the page-monster lasting long. She hisses sharply and recoils, grabbing at her face... and that's when her form blurs and shifts, sprouting the bulbous abdomen behind and the extra legs to give her a drider-like build. Webbing shoots from her as she pounces at Psyber, legs and pedipalps scything toward him with surprisingly sharp tips. He can handle that, right? Gashes open up in her side from the pokemon, but she doesn't seem to care.

Homura does land on the webs... which are STICKY! It's going to take some struggling to get free! But she can cut the boy free, and Ariel snatches up the panicked, struggling form to bring to Joy(s). Only by then he's not struggling much, because she fucking drugged him. Way to go.

OUT FRONT

Titus, the swordsman, smiles. "I am afraid I must fight you, then, for we do have a task we must perform. But in agreeance with your desires, we will settle it outside." He draws one sword-

"DROP IT!" Stone yells suddenly, the large man whipping out a massive revolver.

Ness doesn't move, "Stone, I'm not sure that's such a-"

Titus just shrugs, cleaving a table in half as if to taunt him. Which DOES cause Stone to fire three shots, but Titus just turns aside and heads for the door. Six halves of bullets clatter to the ground on the far end of the building while Titus moves out to have his duel with Amalthea.

LEAVING TIBERIUS! Tiberius, the creepy clown, holds out his claws. "Ahaha... didn't expect to find YOU here. Don't see what's so scary... let's just take you out and tuck you back in at home..." Something weird is with how this one walks, and a sweet, sickly rotting smell is filling the room.

He's ignoring Ness and Stone, because they're just... people. And Arthur is some dumb kid with a broom.

Lila (545) has posed:
    Lila assures, "Don't worry about me, Grandma! Ariel told me how brave and gallant Arthur is, and how he selflessly defends innocent maidens like myself!" She is suddenly behind Arthur, which really is probably the best place to be.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Hey woah there, pretty lady!" Psyber says jumping backwards when she shifts her form and grows more limbs to come at him with, "I liked the two-legged version more. Can we go back to that?" He inquires chipperly. The flirting is even more of an act to get Atlach-Nacha to focus on him while Ariel and Al Azif work their magic, perhaps literally.

    The Sharp legs dig into him, opening up a few solid wounds before he reaches up and wraps his arms around her legs with a surprising amount of strength, trying to keep her embedded into him and unable to pull back and away. He still smiles at her widely.

    "Tell you what. You get sealed like a good girl and I'll let you munch on me for blood or whatever sometime. Sound fair? I bet angel is way better than people." Of course, as he says this, he also tries to headbutt the underside of her chin to daze her a little. Blood, of course, drips and stains him from the puncture wounds. He will need a dry cleaner later.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    A duel it is then. Loser pays for ice cream. Also possibly dies or gets captured.
    Slowly, Amalthea rises from her seat, looking about as friendly as a honey badger as she strudges for the door. And by the time she's out, she draws her blade. With a clarion ringing chime, the mythical sword sings sweetly as its razor edge drags along the lip of the scabbard.
    Amalthea is un-armored. She has no shield. In her off hand she draws a black dagger of ebony.
    "Watch Lila, Arthur." She simply grunts back at the 'kid with a broom' who has been hot bloodedly badass in every occassion she's seen him.
    Without any semblance of protection other than the blades in her hands, Amalthea is going to have to rely on every ounce of her skill and mettle for this duel as she shifts her footing and takes on a dual-wielding stance. And that's why she waits for Titus to put up some semblance of defense and showing that he's ready before launching into action. Her sword flashes; wild and vicious strokes lashing out in an almost feral and bestial style of swordplay.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    That's one good thing done.
    Homura moves to get free of the web-- her socks appear stuck. She's already given up her shoes, so she'll just take a moment to pry her feet free here.

    That doesn't seem to be working.
    Tug tug. Nope. Maybe if she grabs this string.
    Oh, that's even stickier. Hang on.

    Homura blurs, evidently stopping time for herself for who knows how long. She wouldn't have, normally, with Atlach-Nacha still touching her web, but she lept at Psyber, so it's all good!

    This results in Homura appearing to tug on one leg one second, and a second later she seems to have gotten more or less entirely tangled up in the web. There was not enough time between those two images to accomplish that.

    She's still frowning, that hasn't changed.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Well, that guy just cleaved a table in half. Fantastic. The other guy's probably got something similar. He's also apparently blade-powered bulletproof. This is a pretty horrible situation for his cousin's charge, or at least that's what Arthur thinks of the girl.

    He gives a quick little salute-like gesture to Amalthea. "GOT IT." Dude knows what to do here. He stays reclined, relaxed in his chair, casually eating icecream, finishing off his last scoop. Big clown man. Smells odd. Arthur's mind races with analysis while he looks like he's completely ignoring the threat to Lila. Odd smells mean either chemical equipment or unusual biological effects. Bodyshape, coverage, and mask suggests biological effects, especially those claws. Companion leaving him alone suggests he's similarly capable.

    Alright. First point of order: Get some distance. He takes another straw as he finishes his icecream. He tears off just the tip, putting the open end of the straw in his mouth, as if he's about to shoot another Straw Cannon. When he points it to the clown who Amalthea has charged him with protecting Ariel's daughter from, it's with a wry grin.

    The ensuing gravity magic blast comes with enough force to eject a traditional Hulking Monster Foe out of a window or door, presumably the front of the ice cream parlor. Arthur's gonna need to pay for that later. Whatever happens, he's already got the broom in his hands, and is up on his feet, leaping to action to make sure he can be between the clown and the girl he's been charged with protecting.

Ariel (219) has posed:
Ariel has the boy! She promptly lands and hands him off to the Joy who requested him, and whips up toward Psyber now. "Okay, let's seal this thing!" Of course she's not going to seal it without actually hitting it first to help Psyber knock it out. The Magius wings whip out, slicing at the legs before she lifts a hand to unleash an electrical blast, hoping to stun the page-monster enough for Al.

Homura, she's leaving to Joy, since that Joy said that she could handle it. She's a nurse, she probably knows what she's doing.

Nurse Joy (553) has posed:
     Nurse Joy now has two main missions, right now. One is freeing Homura. The second is helping Psyber.

     Unfortunately for Homura, Psyber is the one who is in /immediate/ danger. Homura can deal with things, at least for a bit.

     Joy does something that seems a little bit strange, to those that don't know Pokemon. She does a little bit of a sword dance, with the Honedge as the main focus of the dance. It is elaborate, albeit short. But, is this blade sharper looking than it was before?

     She then rushes in towards the Spider thing. She would normally aim to take it out in a somewhat permenant manner, though the goal right now is just 'capture'. And so, she rushes in, leaping to swing the flat side of Honedge in.

     "FALSE SWIPE!"

     She shouts this, as she swings. The Honedge flashes a bit, as it focuses its entire body on doing damage, but not /enough/ damage to knock it out. Sadly this will probably take a few shots either way, but it's the safest way to make sure something is captured.

     The other Nurse Joy immediately pulls out some various type of medical stuff. In her apron, she keeps a variety of tools and medicines, just in case! For example, first, she pulls out a web solvent. Yes, that's something she actually would have. Ever hear of String Shot? And once the web hopefully starts melting away, she'll get to assessing his condition otherwise.

     She does look down at Chansey, though.

     "...Can you do anything for that girl in the web, you think?"

     The Chansey ponders, before calling its attack.

     "CHANSEY!" <Soft Boiled!>

     Chanseys hold an egg in front of them. She tosses the egg right at Homura's face. The shell breaks mid-air, and the soft boiled egg inside is now floating somewhat, in front of Homura's face, ready for her to eat it.

     To be fair, taking some bites will help heal Homura. But it won't really do a /whole bunch/ otherwise.

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    Chibi-Al is waiting for just this opportunity! As Ariel blasts it and Psyber keeps Atlach-Nacha busy, Al waits for her opportunity... then leaps out, blazing with power. "LET'S GIVE THIS A TRY! Decipher Aethyrs encryption. Overwrite program. Return to thy true form! SEALING!"

    She usually waits for a more thorough defeat, but she's in a hurry here, and the sealing spell reaches out to crackle around and try to bind before the spider-woman can harm Psyber much more.

Herbert West (274) has posed:
So Amalthea challenges Titus. LET'S SEE HOW THAT GOES! Titus readies his casual stance, sizing up his opponent. "Mmm... are you a worthy challenge, I wonder?" He braces... and then he's off! A blur, in fact, that is faster than the human eye can follow. Swords flash, so fast they leave whistling in the air, slicing even the air cleanly in a swift slash toward Amalthea's midsection, then a stab at a leg, followed by a quick jerky lash upward to one arm. It's a flurry of attacks testing defenses-

Or is it? Because from /somewhere/ another slash comes, arcing right toward Amalthea's head. Titus has heard what happened to the other two. He isn't jerking around.

Tiberius, however, IS kind of jerking around. He just idly walks forward, and ignores the bullets that Stone and Ness are peppering him with. Ness mutters, "I think we're in over our heads... again."

"AHAHAH!" Tiberius chuckles, reaching for Lila... and getting BLASTED out of the window! He slams through part of the wall, tearing off an arm, and smashes into the pavement outside where a passing car runs him over in a SPLATTER of gore! Bloody go- wait. Not so much gore. Mostly bone and... maggots. Lots of maggots. Cut in half by the tire, Tiberius's intestines curl and twist to prop him up, starting a lurching crawl across the street that leaves spatters of rotten meat and writhing white larvae behind him, making for the ice cream shop again. "Come to papa~"

BACK IN THE ALLEY

The web starts to melt away from the solvent, but that's less important than the shrieking from the spider-woman who is unable to dodge! This leaves her open and easy prey for Joy and Ariel to slice into her, severing limbs in Ariel's case before the zap causes her to convulse violently! Eyes go white before, yes, it predictably dissolves into pages, whirling about to spiral in toward Al Azif and complete another section of the grimoire.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    The spider woman is sealed. Psyber gives a big thumbs up at the fact that this happened, "Thanks for the help, everyone. I guess she didn't really want to negotiate. Shame," He shrugs a bit and then starts wiping blood off of himself, "Still. Ow."

    He looks to Al slightly and then says, "Good seal." And then he's somewhat leaning against a wall in the alley, careful not to lean on webbing and wind up in a Homura Situation. Instead he just shakes his head, "Gonna need a sec to shake off that venom."

Ariel (219) has posed:
Ariel peers at Homura now that the pages are captured... then she sighs and concentrates, focusing her powers to search out the central 'thread' of the spell. "Hold still..." It shouldn't take her long, since she has the pages in Al by now. Hopefully that means she can sever that thread and dispell it pretty easily.

"We should see what's going on out front, it sounds pretty serious."

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Truth is. It doesn't go so well. Not for Amalthea anyway. All she has is her sword and a dagger to parry with; and this puts her at an immense disadvantage, in comparison to if the old knight had her armor and shield. Sparks flash as blade meets blade; Amalthea does the best she can to keep up with the blademaster's furious assault, dagger parrying what she can, but it's easy to see Amalthea is on the DEFENSIVE against Titus.
    Boots scuffle on the pavement as she tries to dodge and evage, and is given little respite no matter what she does, cuts and gashes leaving scores and gouges on her mithril hide; silver blood flowing when he hobbles a joint, that earns a snarl of pain. It's not looking good as her parrying arm is rendered limp by another slash, and then her midsection is notched with a deep gash that cuts clean into her plates but...
    The unicorn's eye widens. That final shot will do it. Aimed for her head, Amalthea is in no position to dodge, nor deflect the blow as it seeks to decapitate her. "Wh..."
    SHIIIINK.
    A loud, shrill, sound of grating metal calls out, echoing across the block as Titus' blade flashes one last time...
    And boots skid. The sheer impact is enough to leave tracks o nthe ground where the old knight setts her footing so firmly, that the terminus of the stroke causes her to slide...
    As she catches the blade in her fucking TEETH.
    For a moment... She just holds it like that. That wild eye glowering menacingly at the swordsman, where she keeps the razor edge in her gritted grasp.
    "Sorry." She muffles through a full mouth. "That wash pretty barbaric of me, washn't it?" Mused as she reels her fist back, still trying to hold the sword in her teeth while swinging in a haymaker of a widow-making punch.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Egged, picked on, and finally freed.

    Homura dusts herself and flicks her hair.
    Maybe if she looks cool nobody will notice the blunder.

    "Next time let's go for something other than ice cream."
    Really, anything will do. Long as it's not in Mitakihara.

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    "Oh, I'm sure they have everything under control," Al says with a shrug. "What's the worst that could happen? The page monster is right here."

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur's leap up to action lands him with his heels on the cracked frame of the window. "MAN," He says, "I TOLD you the fuckin' STRAW CANNONS are SERIOUS BUSINESS." Then he sees that the guy's back on his feet, as it were, again, and that he's advancing... And he sees all of that gore. His eyes go a bit wide, and Arthur himself goes a bit pale. Gore, corpses, body-parts in general... Are a little unsettling to him, to say the least, so he's a bit green around the gills.

    "Jesus christ, I think I'mma be sick..." He mutters under his breath, then assumes a more aggressive stance, twirling his broom around him a few times with deft, showy movements to psyche himself up. "ALRIGHT," He says! His voice is actually a little uncertain, because of how intimidating that whole show of undeath was. "If HALF doesn't do it, we'll KEEP GOING!" Pointing the bristles at the horrific zombie half-man, Arthur attempts to fire a wide, constant stream of gravity magic; it's even less directly harmful than before, more a shoving force than anything else, but Arthur's priority is keeping him away from Lila. It's the rough equivalent of an extremely wide riot control hose.

    He's quickly and urgently giving an aside to her, while he does this. "Hey! Just to be the CONTRARIAN here, I'll say you should go to MAMA instead of PAPA here. I think they're WRAPPED UP! Gonna try to COVER YOU!"

Nurse Joy (553) has posed:
     Nurse Joy of Viridian City goes to work on healing the injured boy. There is only /so much/ she can do with the tools she has, and already she's likely called an emergency respones team. She's at least likely to keep him alive, if at all possible.

     She does look up at the others, a little bit sad, "...Sorry about this, but I'm going to stick with this guy until he gets to the hospital. Sorry I have to leave the party early."

     The Lumiose Nurse Joy just sighs in relief, returning the Honedge to the Pokeball, and slotting it away. She looks up. Well, Joy is already tending to the guy, so no reason for her to miss more of the party.

     "...Yeah. Let's get back up front. Doubt there are any problems going on up there that are worse than back here. Aside from the fact that our ice cream has probably all melted way too much in this length of time."

Lila (545) has posed:
    Lila peers out the building, but then she sighs, "Oh, fine, I guess I can miss all the fun." The girl pouts a little, then does an idle skipping around toward the back. Just, you know, that general direction.

Herbert West (274) has posed:
Well, the web disappears, so that's the back alley part for everyone. By the time Lila gets there it will be all boring. Boo hoo.

Titus tsks, tugging his sword back and sheathing it. "I see. Well then, perhaps it would be better to fight when you are at your full strength. It would appear that we would be spending far too much of our energy trying to get what we want, here." He raises his voice, "TIBERIUS! LET'S GO! This isn't working!"

Tiberius, who is sliding and leaving a trail of gore across the street, flails his remaining arm. "BAH! I am unstoppable! What are they going to do to me, kill me? You should know better than- *GYAAAAAAAAH!*"

Tiberius flails suddenly, then sinks into his shadow, groaning as he vanishes into the inky darkness. This leaves Titus looking perplexed, but the Samurai shakes his head and turns away. "Another time, 'grandma,' we will fight for real I think."

Lila (545) has posed:
    Lila peeks over innocently from where Tiberius's arm fell. It isn't there any more. "Well that's disappointing."

    It's possible that someone felt a brief surge of magic, out in the parlor. Maybe~ But all that's left for now is Lila sitting in front of her mysteriously-unmelted ice cream. Al's is a puddle. But Ariel's is fine!

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Amalthea's swing goes wide, but truth be told she's fairly okay with this, when Titus decides it's time to make an exit. For a beat though she is still trying to hold that sword in her teeth like a stubborn mule. "No you fucking stick around, I am not done with y-." Plop. She loses her grip and the duel is over.
    Which is probably a good thing considering the swordsman fairly mauled her. It is this amazing stubbornness that is the only reason she does not collapse to her ass until he's gone and can't see her anymore.
    "Sonovabitch..."

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur breathes a sigh of relief after Tiberius slinks away into the darkness. Still looking more than a little green around the gills, he hops down from the windowframe and watches Lila skip off to safety. The boy really wasn't well-matched on that fight, but hey! At least he did the requisite HEROISM!

    He wanders back into the ice cream shop. "SO HEY!" He says, brightly. "Who do I leave the CASH with to pay for the WINDOW?" With his usual forced grin, Arthur does his best to regain his composure. "Sorry about the NOISE."