Scene #5177: The First Shepherd

Owner	Pose
Velvet Crowe	Through whatever means, the city of Loegres is where you find yourselves today. Maybe you followed an invitation, or were lured by the promise of festivities. Maybe you're here by chance, or you're here because you know Velvet and suspect she couldn't keep her rage to herself today. The city is quite the sight to see, unless you're used to great walled cities where everything's made of stone and has that slight hint that people are figuring out how to build better. Great streets are crammed with peasants and tourists headed towards the massive castle in the center of the city, with traders having set up countless shops along the way, selling all manners of souvenirs and baubles. Exorcists seem to make up the totality of the city's guards. Men and women in shining white, silver and gold platemail, some wearing a red scarf, others not, mostly equipped with spears, shields and swords. With each of them, at least one malak a piece, although none materialized. To magical senses they're basically elementals or ghosts, to ordinary people they're only barely there. Security seems to be lax around town, but gets tighter the closer one gets to the castle. There exorcists go from one every other house to four or five per checkpoint. Those who've come with Velvet, specifically, have cloaks and hoods, but odds of getting into the castle courtyard for them, where festivities sound at their loudest, are pretty low. Gawain, as a Paladin, and Xiaomu too, have direct access to that, and while Flint isn't known around these parts he has nothing suspicious about him that'd stop him from getting to the castle. From the sounds of things, the main event is slated to start within ten to fifteen minutes, so there's some time to waste before then. Velvet is being expectedly moody and scouting up one of the towers along the wall protecting the castle's courtyard for a way in.
Shin Tokuyama	"Hey. Hey." Shin is tugging on Velvet's robe, "I made you a bento. Hey. Hey. I made you a bento, hey. Hey eat the bento." Shin is following after Velvet, trying to shove a tupperware box with some chopsticks and food in it into her hands, "You take that. It'll give you HP later. Food items do that." Charity has one too, but Shin was less aggressive in making her take it from him. Velvet, he wants to be sure she expressly know he gave her a lunch box. Otherwise, he's just kinda milling around while Velvet scouts and he figures out how he can help.
Charity Whiteheart	Keeping an eye on Velvet seems like a good idea to Charity. In the meantime she's wearing her hooded cloak, but that's not surprising because her /normal/ outfit is hooded cloak. She also isn't that worried about getting into the castle courtyard, at least by herself. Getting other people in there... might be tougher. Does she even WANT to be in there? Well, no reason not to offer her talents. "If we can find a lightly-guarded or unguarded locked door, I can just slip through and unlock it from the other side, remember." She keeps her voice down and her eyes looking about. And her bento in her satchel, because that might come in handy later. Charity is a bit of a pack rat and also has the dungeon key from 3 years ago still in her inventory.
Captain Flint	Flint keeps a low profile, not being known here and not wanting to change that. He slowly shuffles forward with the crowd, keeping an eye out for important landmarks on his way to the castle. Eventually, he makes it to the castle, then stops to take a look around. Squinting, Flint evaluates the ratio of valuables to guards in his immediate vicinity.
Xiaomu	About the only difference between the way Xiaomu was dressed to interfere with the prison break and the way she's dressed for the festival is that she doesn't have a carrypack full of ammunition, grenades, and fried tofu strapped across her back. She's wearing the same black-and-silver qipao and the same red vest, she's carrying the same staff. She may or may not have a reserve supply of fried tofu, but that's more for emergency rations than anything - in case the buffet line turns out to be booby-trapped, for instance, or in case anything else keeps her from getting a decent meal out of this event. "So," she muses aloud to Gawain, "what do you figure it'll be like? Bunch of boring speeches with spit-roasted beef and pork, or a genuine carnival that's worth retelling to future generations?"
Gawain	As Gawain approached the festival with Xiaomu, he was dressed in his Tomoyo-made outfit, with armor covering parts of it. As Xiaomu turns to him, the Knight smiles, turning to look around the festival. "I think it'll be excellent! And spit-roasted beef and pork are excellent, too! We should enjoy our fill!" As they pass through, Gawain bows his head to every Exorcist he sees in respect, before glancing at a trade shop. "Look, Xiaomu! /Glass knicknacks!/"
Velvet Crowe	The ratio of valuables to guards gets uncomfortably close to 1:1 as one reaches the courtyard. For every rich nobleman covered in jewels, there's an exorcist just standing nearby. It becomes obvious with little effort that Loegres' entire military force is recalled to the city right now, with a large percentage being around the castle. With how packed it's getting, there's no way those helmeted guards can keep too close a tab on every piece of jewelry worn. There's more to do than eye valuables in the courtyard though. Sanctioned traders have tables set up, displaying either rare wares or exotic foods and spices. The wares vary, ranging from potions and medicine to jewelry and even a couple of fancy swords and books. A few booths seem to have rudimentary games, throwing horseshoes at rings, throwing darts at a board. There's also a small humanoid cat standing on a barrel, trying to get people's attention as he holds balloons on strings. Back outside the courtyard, Velvet snatches the bento from Shin, trying to restrain herself from shouting. "This is really not the time for this!" But she DID take it. No, really, she seems more concerned with the tower. It's mostly unmaned, but there's no easy way up. There are, sadly, no doors for Charity, at least not on this side. Just the main gates headed in, and those are tightly guarded.
Xiaomu	Depending on your definition of 'valuables,' there might be more guards than precious items requiring protection, thinks Xiaomu. The humanoid feline gets a long look from the foxgirl, though - possibly trying to suss out whether he, she, or it is actually a living being which looks like a cat but is functionally bipedal and intelligent enough to do business, or if it's some kind of trick. Honestly, the sage fox is a smidge more concerned with the available munchies than the gaudy baubles being sported by the local wealthy or offered by various merchants. She does look at some of the potions and medicine, occasionally asking questions of the purveyors - sometimes just messing with them, if you knew what she was referencing; some of her questions are legitimate, though. (If Gawain knows enough to tell the difference, he's been paying more attention to modern pop culture than Xiaomu ever expected of the knight.) However, it's really the jewelry and occasionally the weaponry that really gets Xiaomu's attention. She may not be able to afford anything here, but window-shopping has always held a certain charm.
Shin Tokuyama	Shin beams widely as Velvet takes his bento box. After that, his work is pretty much done for now. Shin sighs and rubs the side of his head, "Hey. I'll go make a distraction. You slip in," Shin tells her pretty flatly. Shin heads towards the main gate, grabbing a bottle of... booze? Off of a table as he goes. The martial artist tips it backwards and drinks about half the bottle in one go, hopping up and down a couple times to get his blood really flowing. Eventually, he wobbles a bit and starts walking forward again. "Hhhhhhhhhhey! You!" He shouts at one of the gate guards, staggering a bit on his feet and gripping the bottle in one hand, "You're so ugly, when you walk through a haunted house, you come out with a paycheck."
Captain Flint	Flint behaves, for now, opting to take a look at the books on sale. He smiles, calmly meandering over to a merchant selling books. Perusing the wares of this merchant only holds his interest for so long--upon hearing what sounds like the beginning of a disturbance, Flint stops browsing and starts pretending to browse, listening for any further noise behind him.
Charity Whiteheart	"Hmn, suit yourself," Charity replies, eying the tower. Maybe there's rope or something in there. Or maybe she can just... buy rope from somewhere nearby. That's the ticket. Get in, drop a rope and... everyone would see them climbing up. Tha's a terrible idea. Maybe she should go support Shin in some way. "This looks like it could get a little messy," she points out. "Want me to stick with you?"
Gawain	Gawain windowshops with Xiaomu, assuming every question is genuine even IF it is a pop culture reference, because, well, that's just how he is. He eyes the medicine himself, especially the herbal stuff to see what it's like, before spotting the humanoid cat. Heading over that way (with Xiaomu, if she wants), he'd speak to the catman. "Are you selling balloons?"
Velvet Crowe	Xiaomu obtains valuable information on the wares on display. That is, she can tell that most of it is pretty regular stuff being hyped up for the crowd. A wooden sword that doesn't seem like it could do a sword's purpose at all, but the trader says it's a one-of-a-kind souvenir sword made for this event. Rings and amulets meant to protect from daemons on the grounds that nobody who's ever worn one died. From a daemon, specifically. Some of it is hideously expensive. Some is affordable and might work as a mantelpiece decoration. The small cat is infinitely more interesting. Getting up close, it's obvious it's a spirit, not an actual cat. A malak, probably. He beckons Xiaomu and Gawain over, especially as the latter approaches. "Nope! Slash, thrust, pop! Would you like to play a game? Chamballoon? Slash Beat? It's free! Earn Tales coins and exchange them for great prizes!" He does have a whole bunch of backpacks on. The books Flint looks at all seem to be religious in nature. They relate to a 'Church of the Five Empyreans', another to a Hero King, another claims to contain the origins of the malakhim. All of them are written in some weird, undecipherable dialect. That must make them pretty legit. Near the gate leading into the courtyard, Shin... taunts a guard. The guard actually reaches out to support Shin, seeing the bottle and staggering. "Sir, the prince is about to give his speech. If you keep shouting like that, you'll miss it." Velvet doesn't miss the opportunity. With Shin having one guard distracted and the other three glaring, she tugs Charity to slip into the thick crowd currently filtering into the courtyard. Amidst the hundreds of peasants, and unless Charity has a better idea, that might be their best bet.
Shin Tokuyama	"Baaah, fine." Shin grumbles as he looks at his bottle. He got all liquored up and didn't even get to use Zui Quan. What a letdown it is for Shin. It's also incredibly annoying for Velvet, too. This is because Shin staggers his way away from the guards and yawns. He heads inside with the crowds and lets the guards take his bottle of booze away. The kung-fu master doesn't seem to have any troubles finding Velvet and Charity and drunkenly leaning on them both as he lets out a yawn and kind of just applies dead weight to the two of them.
Charity Whiteheart	Charity follows with Velvet for now, frowning into the crowd. The assassin sighs after a long moment, tightening her hood and prepping to do anything necessary to bail in a hurry.
Xiaomu	So, they're looking to separate fools from their money. Standard carnival vendors, then, but Xiaomu can't disparage them TOO much for that - they gotta make money somehow, and this is clearly a case of 'let the buyer beware'. And then she overhears Gawain asking the Katz about balloons -- ".... games, huh?" Okay, that is most definitely a real ... well, if not a real cat, then at least a genuine whatever it is. The important part is, it's NOT a puppet or other mechanism. Xiaomu gravitates back that way, but it sounds like they're about to have a different thing to focus on. "Haven't heard of those games before, but are you going to still be here after the speech? I'd love to learn. And you say they're free to play ... ?"
Captain Flint	It seems, at least for this very moment, there will be no commotion. Flint notes he can't make out the letters on the books. Normally he'd be excited, but with all the other festival fare around, he suspects they're just tourist bait. Opting not to get got, the captain turns and leaves, looking for something with far more concrete use: information. Quietly drifting from conversation to conversation, Flint tries to pick out the movers and shakers, the people with money or status to wield. Failing that, he'll just keep an ear open for any potentially useful gossip.
Gawain	Talking spirit cat! With /games/! Gawain is noticeably excited, and is about to agree, when Xiaomu reminds him of the Prince's speech. "We'd love to play after the speech, if you're still around! But for now, Xiaomu, we should head over and watch. As Paladin representatives, it is our job to take this in and be able to inform others about it!"
Velvet Crowe	Flint can overhear a LOT. Actually, so can everyone, but Flint lending his ears to the crowd has an easier time making out the various tidbits of the nobility and peasants. 'I'm glad the crown gave military authority to the Abbey.' 'Yeah, but it's suspicious, isn't it? The prince is way too supportive of the Abbey. If it was his brothers...' 'Let's hope he becomes king, then!' 'Did you hear about Titania? Apparently a dangerous daemon escaped.' 'I heard the Abbey stopped sending ships there recently.' 'They've recalled a lot of the people stationed there.' 'Remember when no one cared about the Church?' 'When the High Priest retired and gave the reins to the Abbey, it's like the population changed beliefs overnight. Guess fear of daemons will do that.' 'Can you blame them? Artorius all but saved the world.' 'Some people went missing on the road around Galles Lake.' 'Again?' 'It was exorcists this time. Must be a powerful daemon.' 'It's been getting worse lately, hasn't it...?' There's a lot of gossip, needless to say. Most is pretty positive, praising the Abbey, but it's obvious a lot changed recently. Shin, Velvet and Charity are amongst the last to be able to get in. The courtyard is packed, and the guards stop letting people through past a point. The katz nods to Xiaomu and Gawain. "Yep! I'll setnyap the area!" He begins pulling out tons and tons of balloons and tying them to the ground by strings in a big vacant circle behind him. This'll take him a while! Speaking of the speech... someone finally steps out onto the balcony of the castle. The crowd cheers and falls silent for the man.
Velvet Crowe	It should come as no surprise that, the moment Artorius is on that balcony, Velvet is glaring up. Both Shin and Charity have a good view of her cloak suddenly shredding on one side, as she recklessly lets her daemon arm out and seems ready to advance into the crowd. Luckily, it's still mostly covered... and they're in the rear. There's no one to really see that. Yet. She is very much about to change that if they don't sit her down.
Gawain	The katz is wonderful. Gawain approves. He moves to listen to the speech while the katz is setting up, and watches with respect in his eyes, because these people seem noble and fair. When the speech eventually ends, Gawain joins in the cheering. "I sense nobility in their hearts, Xiaomu. I think allying with them and their Abbey was the right choice!"
Xiaomu	Xiaomu probably stands out really strongly in the crowd for one simple reason: she's not cheering. At all. She's got a veritable deathgrip on her staff, as well, for whatever reason. Gawain might be able to figure out why the sage fox is showing such a distinct lack of cheer, in either of the applicable senses, if he's read her report on the Daemonblight. Or, hell, just by knowing who she is. "Yeah, I'm not quite convinced yet," is her reply to Gawain, vulpine ears canted back as if to try and keep the cheers from deafening her. "Maybe it's better than the alternative - probably it is, objectively - but there's still something we don't know about." Her thumb teases against her staff, as if to rub away an imperfection that only she knows is there. "Not like we're gonna get the whole truth out of a big inspirational public speech, anyway. This is propaganda. And just because it's what some of us want to hear doesn't make it any less so."
Shin Tokuyama	"YO MAN FUCK YOU!" Drunken Shin shouts from his position in the audience. He's staggering away from Velvet, leaving Charity to deal with the rather prominent shredding going on in the cloak. Drunk Shin can't calm down Velvet. Drunk Shin can, however, go continue to be a giant pain-in-the-ass distraction. As such and in accordance with his plan, Shin whips a bottle up at the stage. At the worst, it'll hit the stage and shatter at his feet. Someone will likely intercept it before then. "MISTER BIG SHOT!" Shin shouts as he staggers towards the stage, pushing past people and wobbling as he heads right towards Artorious, "You fight me, big man! I wasn't BORN with enough middle fingers to tell you how I feel about you!" Shin still manages to muster up one middle finger and wave it around vigorously. "I would call you a pussy, but you don't have either the depth or the warmth!" Shin stamps his foot on the ground, "Get down here and fight me, you bitch!"
Charity Whiteheart	Aaand there go the bandages. Charity kind of expected this, though. She flicks her cloak out to cover the arm, and also to put her own arm in front of Velvet. She has to keep this under control. "No, don't. I know how much you want to, but it would be pointless. You'd probably be cut down before you reached him, and you'd die for nothing. Even if you can kill him, which we don't know." She squeezes a shoulder with her other arm, glancing behind her and around while keeping her voice low. "We still don't know enough about what happened. About how things have changed. My mentor always said to get good information before rushing in. The one time she didn't, she did what you're doing. She rushed in out of a need for vengeance and it got her killed. I couldn't stop her, I wasn't there when it happened. But I'm here now and I'm not going to lose someone else to the same mistake."
Velvet Crowe	All eyes are on Shin. Artorius stares down from his balcony. He doesn't seem bothered, offended, or even... affected. No, his expression hasn't changed one bit. Flat, almost emotionless. Either it's literally the case, or he's a champion of restraint. It'd make sense either way. He preaches Reason. He preaches personal sacrifice for the good of everyone else. That's why he responds with silence. He doesn't entertain Shin. He takes a step back, turns, and walks back inside the castle, where he seemingly also goes out of his way to stop both the prince and Oscar (another blond young man in white and gold, with a cape and all) from going back out either. He doesn't want to throw oil onto any fire. And given the crowd's cold reaction to Shin, he might not have to. Guards start breaking through towards him, to pin him down. If he'll let them, he'll be escorted out of the courtyard. Luckily, his distraction once again paid off. Velvet swallows her pride and backs away, giving Charity a nasty glare before averting it and calming down. Her arm reverts back, hand clenching hard enough to bleed. "Fine. Let's go. I overheard something about a daemon, let's find a map of the area and figure that out." Damn castle being in the way for now. Xiaomu and Gawain can now return to the katz, who has prepared... balloons! ... fifty balloons. Spread out over the area. "Here we go! This is Chamballoon! You need to pop as manya balloons as possible in five seconds! Pop them all to get a purrfect score and earn even more points!"
Gawain	"Pop them with what?" Gawain turns back to the katz after wincing and frowning at Shin's display, but not intercepting - that's for the Exorcists, and that man has the right to express his distaste even if Gawain disagrees. "Bow? Sword? Pure willpower?!"
Velvet Crowe	"Anyathing you want! Sword, magic, your dashing good looks!" The katz answers. Depending on the level of power put into the task, the crowd might actually wander closer to watch. Fifty in five seconds is a lot though! Or is it?
Gawain	"Alright, Xiaomu! Do you want to go first, or should I?" Gawain offers to Xiaomu, wondering if she wants to give it a try. He's assuming it's singleplayer!
Shin Tokuyama	Shin actually... is a huge pain in the ass for the guards to deal with. He's not impossible to subdue, but it does take about a dozen or so guys all teaming up on him at once to get it done. This is mostly because he's sloshing around in his footwork, whipping people in the jaw with the back of his hand or doing drunken forward-flip kicks into headbutts that send guys sprawling. Eventually, about a dozen guards manage to pin Shin down, pick him up, and then drunk-toss him onto the street outside of the courtyard. He hits the ground like a limp sack of potatos, tumbles a few times, and then sprawls out on his back drunkenly, staring up at the sky. "Buh. This better have tripped some fucking flags on her path or I'm packing it all in and calling it quits. I mean, I don't want an FMV moment, but at least a cutaway conversation or a keystone event."
Charity Whiteheart	Another squeeze on the shoulder, and Charity tosses her cloak over Velvet's side. She's not nearly as infamous as the daemon girl, she figures. "Yeah, that's a good idea. Also, last time you fought there were some weird things happening. I think we should figure out the full extent of your powers before we make a move. Besides, we might be busting Shin out of jail or something. That'd be fun." She glances back as Artorius leaves, frowning slightly. Something about all that seemed off...
Xiaomu	Xiaomu seems somewhat amused by the rudeness levied by Shin Tokuyama, more than anything - it broke the ice nicely, and she never minds seeing a pompous blowhard getting taken down a peg ... even if the pompous blowhard in question doesn't seem to really notice it. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted. "Chamballoon .... like chambara, right?" the sage fox asks the Katz. "Five seconds, fifty balloons .... hold my beer, I got this," she says to Gawain. She's not holding a beer, though - but she does shrug out of her vest to let Gawain hang onto it for her. It's remarkably heavy, too. If Gawain gets nosy, he'd find that it's laden with three handguns, several spare clips of ammo, and the aforementioned fried tofu. The sage fox rolls her shoulders a bit, fluffs out her hair-tails, and gets a grip high on her staff's shaft, just a bit below the headpiece. "Give me a three-count to start," she smiles to the gamerunning Katz, settling into a relaxed stance at the indicated starting mark. And when she gets the go signal ... "HIGH SPEED XIAOMU!!" Her staff is not merely a staff, but a sword - and even as she declares her high speed, she's demonstrating both her speed and her sword. Suiren leaves its concealed scabbard already being swung towards the nearest cluster of balloons - and Xiaomu is, indeed, a very velocitous vulpine when she puts her mind to it. She bolts about the game course, her sword flashing and leaving trails of chilly mist ... and by the time she stops darting about, every balloon that was arranged for the course has been popped, the last scraps fluttering to the ground as Suiren's hilt clicks into the staff's upper end. "How'd I do?" Xiaomu asks, easing back to a standing position.
Velvet Crowe	Shin is basically just a drunkard. No one seems to hold it against him, and one of the guards he punched square through the helmet actually offers to escort him home. Say what you want about Artorius, but the Abbey's teachings are solid. One of the exorcists has even made his malak materialize to dispense healing magic around. The malak is wearing thick white robes and a helmet, so he's kind of a featureless nobody. Some of his robes are red though, so he must be a fire malak. Back in the courtyard, Xiaomu goes wild on balloons and clears the first stage. The katz hands her a big stack of coins. "Purrfect! Let me reset the area!" And he does so. He starts producing more balloons and setting them about, spreading them in a different pattern this time. This takes him a while, but once he's done, he beckons Gawain over to try. Meanwhile, Velvet grumps at Charity. "The hell do you mean, weird things? You calling me weird now?" Breaking Shin out of jail. She wouldn't mind. She's ever hungry, and now more motivated than ever to just cleave through rows and rows of exorcists.
Shin Tokuyama	"Nah, I'm good. If I lay here long enough, either I'll sober up or my senpai will find me for a bonding moment." Shin waves off the guard offering to help him, "Sorry I hit you. Here, have a bento." Shin holds up his a bento in a tupperware container as an apology to the guard. "Otherwise, just gonna lie here until she finds me." Shin says, shutting his eyes.
Captain Flint	Hiding as a face in a crowd, Flint applauds along with the revelers, and, upon noticing the icy reception that Shin gets, he pretends to be quietly offended when public opinion turns against Shin. The threat of demons seems strong enough that the current regime can use the fear of them as a motivator, it seems. Perhaps he can utilize this. Leaning in, he whispers quietly to a civilian he'd heard talking about the Abbey being in charge of military forces. "Do you feel safer with all the exorcists around?" It's a quiet, seemingly innocuous question, but one designed to plant seeds of doubt.
Gawain	As Xiaomu clears the stage with staggering speed, Gawain's eyes are trailing her - he can see her, mostly, and is just cheering as she does it. "Xiaomu! You can do it, let's go!" In the end, she aces it, and he raises a hand to give her a high-five, before returning her vest. When the arena is reset, though...the Knight steps up to the challenge. His first action, which takes almost no time, is to summon his sword into his hand, Excalibur Galatine shining brightly. His next... The Servant simply dashes forward a good amount, swinging his blade. To the crowd, he may be the epitome of a knight, and as that glorious holy blade swings, it parts the air itself, sending a shockwave forward that moves to pierce almost every balloon, if not all of them. If Gawain missed any, he dashes superhumanly, slicing through the rest, before returning and making his sword disappear. "So! Did I do okay?!"
Charity Whiteheart	Charity shakes her head. "Strange effects on the daemons. We'll talk about it later after I've thought about it more. We already know you're a different variant. Somehow special compared to others. There might be something more to this." She frowns. "If we go complete conspiracy, the Abbey might even be letting the demons get more wild just so they can increase their own authority. I wouldn't want to say that without proof, but it's the sort of thing that would happen on my world." With that, she tries to lead Velvet out to find Shin.
Xiaomu	Xiaomu exchanges high-fives with Gawain and collects her vest again, slipping it back on and accepting her prize money. She's not sure what she can spend them on, but if nothing else, they're probably a better souvenir than anything else she would have found here. Meanwhile, Gawain is trying his luck - and going with the big guns, rather than what Xiaomu would have considered the 'right way,' but ehhh. If the Katz is good with it, fine. If not, Gawain'll find out for himself. "Not bad," is her audible comment, before she asks the Katz, "Was that level 2 or something? How many levels have you got?"
Velvet Crowe	'Of course we do. If not for exorcists using malakhim to defend us, daemons would have overrun us by now,' the first peasant answers. ''That's true, but the Abbey's been restricting trade routes pretty hard too under the auspice of keeping us safe. It makes getting things places without lots of paperwork hard,' a trader barges in. 'Small price for safety,' a noble interjects. 'You should be more worried than anyone else, in a state of emergency the Abbey controls the empire, nobility's going to be obsolete,' the peasant answers. Flint has his job cut out for him; doubts already seem to exist here and there. But fueling them might have benefits in the long run. Gawain handily defeats the minigame and also earns a fat stack of Tales coins. The katz shakes his head at Xiaomu though. "Just these two! You two are pros! Here, do you want to exchange your coins for rewards?" The katz produces a folding table and lays out items across it. There's a pair of shiba inu ears, a pair of glasses where the lenses are actually googly eyes, elf ears, a little tophat, a rose pin for your coat or shirt, a chibi Lloyd Irving doll, a color-changing ahoge that'll adapt to your hair color, and devil tail. FASHION! "Don't know," Velvet answers Charity, "But maybe. Coincidence or not I'm sure the population's fear of daemons played a big hand in the Abbey's rise. You can make people desperate not to die do anything you want if you can guarantee them safety." Finally, they reach Shin. Velvet extends her right hand down towards him, since the guards have left. "Oi, get up. We're going."
Shin Tokuyama	Shin reaches up and takes her hand, letting her pull him to his feet, "Yo. I told the guard you'd come back for me." Shin says as he stands up and dusts himself off. He seems to be sobering up too, seems liquor doesn't stay in his system that long. "Let's roll, then."
Xiaomu	If Xiaomu had any idea that there were DANGEROUS SUBVERSIVES attending the speech and the festival .... well, honestly? She'd probably just wish them luck. The sage fox is older than most if not all governments currently extent in her native Earth; a social order which can't survive contact with doubts or disagreements hardly deserves to keep going, in her opinion. Besides, she still isn't totally sold on this particular societal arrangement - and she probably would have kept thinking better of it if she'd never heard that speech. Or that pair of speeches. Anyway, minigame rewards are always nice. Depending on how her winnings stack up (lol) against the prize redemption table, her first preference is the rose pin - maybe two of them, so she and Reiji can have a matched set - followed by the shiba inu ears (for Reiji, again - he has to learn the joys of cosplay sooner or later!). The chibi swordsman doll is really appealing, but it is (maybe surprisingly) not a huge priority for her; the same could be said for the devil tail ... but that's a slightly higher priority than the doll. Only slightly. Either way, she's going to make the most mileage she can out of her winnings - and heck, if Gawain comes up a little short for something she wants, Xiaomu's willing to let him mooch some prize coins from her.
Gawain	When Gawain aces the test...he grins, happy with his victory! He heads over to the prize selection with Xiaomu, and begins skimming over it, eyes narrowing on two objects: the ahoge and the tophat. "If I get that, I'll look like my king, but if I get that, I'll look dapper..." It takes Gawain a solid Way Too Long to decide, before he spends his handful of coins on the tiny top hat, affixing it to the side of his head so it's sort of tilted. "Tada! A new part for my outfit!"
Captain Flint	This is good. This, the captain can work with. "What happens when the daemon threat subsides, then?" He gives the citizens around him a concerned look. "Then what will the 'price' for safety be? I don't know about you, but I don't expect the Abbey to just stand aside and let things go back to the way they were. Take a look at the trade routes--I'll wager they're making money hand over fist from controlling them so effectively. From the looks of things, they're hardly hurting for resources at the moment." Indeed, the ratio of guards to valuables is distressingly close to 1:1 as mentioned before. Flint takes a moment to let the uncomfortable implications settle, then attempts to ply the crowd with a little reverse psychology when the doubts begin to fester. "I'm sure it's nothing," he says. "The Abbey wouldn't lie to us for their own gain... They wouldn't keep this... security theatre in place just to hold onto the power they've been given... Would they?" He waits for discussion to take hold, then quietly sneaks to a different part of the courtyard, away from the conversation. From there, he purchases some food and simply blends into the crowd, sampling the attractions as innocently as any tourist.
Velvet Crowe	Xiaomu can afford two rose pins! The shibu inu ears are top prize sadly, she'll need to find this katz again to grind more arbitrary minigame currency for the ears. What did he call them, Tales coins? And then she'll have to find the matching tail! What a pain. Gawain acquires a tiny top hat that goes perfectly on his head. It's a fashion statement. It says 'my hat is so stylish you can only handle it if it's sized down'. Slowly do festivities begin dying down from there onward. Though Flint gets no answer in particular, he can tell he's gotten a handful of folks to start thinking. It's funny, but now that he pays more attention, the ones who express doubts about the Abbey more openly all wear something red. Scarves, mostly.