Scene #7769: Aerial Exercises

Owner	Pose
Lilian Rook	The Shrine of Adversity is a known quantity, so we'll skip that part for now. Lilian has paid to reserve a chamber for most of the day, without individual fee, through the POWER of MONEY. The inside, currently, is an idyllic green field of rolling hills, covered in carpets of clover and spring flowers, rippling gently under a fresh breeze and a blue sky. It's kite-flying territory, perfectly mild but with strong thermals. Which is rather the point. The solid portions of the terrain that prevent it from simply being an agoraphobic nowhere are somewhat out of place, but at least highly intuitive, being what looks like a small number of city blocks transplanted into the centre, the clean white pristine exteriors unmarked by any proprietary signage, but presenting generic floor plans people should know, with blank signs on convoluted overpasses, bridges, and terrain that frankly looks like it should be an arena shooter map. Sensor pylons simply float in space around the area, directing beady cameras and lidar guns every which way to gain comprehensive coverage, but take up next to no space. Lined up roughly outside is the waiting party, some quaint stands, and a frankly obligatory 'several tables' of refreshments. These are items of real food, not Shrine food, and may simply be repurposed from a supplier for fancy parties already on the phone. Off to the side from it however, there is an entirely separate group, which is taking advantage of the simulated weather to Just Grill, and are flipping burgers and sipping instant coffee. The former is made up of what appear to be a handful of young lab technicians in chic white coats and green accents, largely thrown over business casual in this instance, and a couple of potentially familiar figures to a few: a woman perhaps in her thirties with dark reddish-brown hair worn half-tied in a braided circle, and a desolately serious expression, dressed more like 'earth 20th century callback Brand(tm)', and yet holding the tablet. There is also a girl definitely half her age, which we will get to. The other group is a dozen people, nine men and three women, in urban grey fatigues, webbing straps, and hovering around bulky black metal boxes with many folded up pneumatic tubes and clamps. They appear to know each other, and are busy shooting the shit. Lilian welcomes the arrivals in up until five minutes past the listed time, and then has the Shrine techs seal it up. In a rehearsed, bored tone, she says "Welcome, welcome, and I hope you've brought your wings, or at least free time and a brave attitude. Thank you for participating in these exercises. The HTRI appreciates your contribution to the progress of mankind, as do our fine GDF suppliers and brave prototype volunteers." After that, she adds a little more genuinely "Ah, and that's Onyx Witch; someone from Strawberry's world, and someone very special. Technically, this joint exercise is mostly for her benefit, but don't baby her. She's a little titchy, but she's also got an axe to grind."
Ishirou	Earlier. I4 was staring at a wall in the office of his therapist. Things were extremely awkward because I4 was very detached if a little moodier than he normally was. Except that he was saying that everything was fine. "Then you should go to the event today," To which I4 would only frown. Now. I4 walks through the door into the Shrine. He looks to do as little actual small talk as possible, and avoid most eye contact. He spends more time listening to the situation and what this whole thing was about. He can't even fly, it's not like he has access to the flight suits. That thought, when it crosses his mind causes his look to be a bit darker for a moment. Maybe he can slip out when the event starts... Only to witness the door seal when five minutes have passed. Goddamn it.
Kale Hearthward	Kale arrives, pizza abandoned. "... Oh, this is nice..." he says, glancing around the chamber. He sticks a finger in his beak and holds it up in the air to check the direction of the wind - which is mostly for show, because 'wind direction' is something that happens to other people. "Good," he says, regardless of which way or how hard it's blowing. He makes the rounds through the tables first, loading up a plate with various things (including a cheeseburger) and then goes over to Lilian tolisten to the instructions while he eats, awkwardly balancing a plate and a drink while trying to enjoy both, as one does. "I'll be glad to serve as the example for humanity to aspire to - but then never reach," he says, inbetween sips of his drink. "But please don't feel bad or embarassed if you can't keep up. We're all friends here." sip
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: SORTIE What? >Arthur: Sortie What does that word mean? Are you spelling that right? >Arthur: It means launch! Do the rockety thing That's unhinged, don't use that word. Arthur has to talk first anyway! Which he does, when he arrives. Arthur has found the gamerest food he can get his mitts on, and is nibbling because he knows it's unwise to eat half an hour before you do combat maneuvers. When he's spoken to by Lilian, he equips his ROCKET BROOM, twirling it in one hand for a moment and planting it bristles-first on the ground. "WINGS, BAYBEE." He declares, and then he jumps into a side-straddle seating atop it. "Takin' her with the KID GLOVES sure didn't do JACK SHIT last time. It was only treatin' her like a REAL HERO that did any good." For a moment, he thinks back... I want that. To have that spark again. To be a hero. But you can't give it to me. If you could, why would you? I want to be fixed. But you're not here to do that. He winces, just a little. Memories of his alternate spaces don't hurt as much as memories of this one. He looks like he's... somehow just soaking the space around him in, mentally, the way one might soak a wound in disinfecting substances. It's painful, sure, but you gotta do it to heal something that hurt a while back.
Strawberry Princess	"Onyx Witch" doesn't look terribly witchlike at the moment. She wears a black t-shirt and white athletic pants that give her a slight "lost softball player" vibe, but the variety of small scars that dot her body hint at a more active career than that. Arthur, Tamamo, and Lilian know exactly where those scars are from. Her skin is pale, but everything else about her is dark: her eyes, her short messy hair, her instant coffee, and her uncomfortably intense resting expression. She looks like she had high blood pressure at twelve years old. She looks like there's a lot going on upstairs and all of it is a hundred decibels at least. Until she spots the people who helped save her, anyway. Onyx bolts up from her seat on the bench and waves before jogging over. By the time she arrives the joyful shock on her face has abated just a little, but she's still wearing a smile. "Man. All you guys haven't changed. You all get frozen for a year?" Her eyes sweep over to Arthur, and her smile shifts to something a little meaner. "Except you. You're shorter than I remember. Got hit on the head?" Clocking too many flight hours does funny things to a magical girl's growing skeleton. She'll never be quite as bad as Strawberry, but Onyx is scraping six feet tall from all that formative zero-G. After scruffling Arthur's hair, her expresson drops to something a little more sincere. "I wanted to say I'm sorry. For Tallahassee. And I wanted to say thank you, too. It's frustrating, getting better so slow. I want to be out there again already. But it's better than I was scared of. Maybe better than I hoped." A brief, uncomfortable pause. Her hands find her pockets. Then another cruel smile dawns on her face. "I wanted to say I'm gonna beat your ass, too. Haven't got in a fight in a year. No hard feelings if I take it all out on you."
Miyamomo	Miyamomo cannot fly, but she is never one to turn down an event, especially if there is food. Indeed, the moment she arrives, she glides over to that refreshment table and starts chowing down on sushi. No alcohol has been provided, but thankfully Miyamomo has brought her own, in a big clay jug which she sips from judiciously. She at least pays attention as Lilian comes to deliver the spiel (still sipping though), and looks over to the group in grey around those boxes. "Wings... oh, is this an attempt to grant Man wings? How extraordinary~" She titters, and takes a seat on the grass. "I'll be watching carefully. I could not give Ichigohime due attention in our battle. How does the human form move to soar through the air? I'm quite interested in finding out."
Sarracenia	Sarracenia heard there would be some sort of training exercise and that flying would be involved. So, the princess has come here with a small contingient of piranha plant people pulling a cart with what looks like a build kit on it. Since they know in advance that they will be flying, the princess has donned a cherry red flight suit instead of her usual dresses. But, there's no helmet. That could mess with her hair or crown after all. She is still pulling her gloves on as she reaches the meeting area. "Greetings all~" she says with a flamboyant hair toss before listening to the short briefing. She smiles to Onyx when the girl is introduced, and snrks softly at Kale's introduction. "Well, you are quite right. If you mean we will likely never have feathers. Luckily, through science and magic we do not need them." She snaps at her piranha plants and they hastily build the kit, which turns out to be a rather sleek looking wooden aircraft much like an Osprey with the name 'Dyna' emblazoned across the sides. Noticing that I4 does not have an apparent method of flight, she reaches into a stylish satchel she has over one shoulder and pulls out a green leaf. "Here, this may be helpful if you do not have a power or vehicle of your own. I have plenty, so do not be shy!" As Onyx speaks to them Sarra just listens until that last part. She didn't help save this girl after all (did she?) so she doesn't speak up except to say, "Well, I cannot speak for the others but I welcome a good fight! I am Princess Sarracenia Sundew, Crown Princess of the Sundew Kingdom. Please to meet you! And also...prepare to be defeated!"
Tamamo	If it's kite weather, it's picnic weather. Grilling is not too far from that, and the blanket Tamamo no Mae has spread out to sit on is, appropriately, not too far from the grilling. She's set out a number of black lacquer lunchboxes that were probably stacked on top of each at some point, but have since been spread out into a miniature, tightly packed buffet of things fried, battered, or steamed. Almost all of it is still there at this point, apart from what she's negotiated away in trade for grilled meat. She raises one hand from warm tea to wave to Lilian with a smile when she speaks, and then goes back to sipping. Having no intention of flying about only for the sake of being seen doing so, she's effectively here only to provide presence and food, though she did go to the trouble of dressing herself up in autumn colors for the occasion.
Strawberry Princess	Strawberry shows up about thirty seconds before closing, too. She's not transformed, opting to wear her usual casual outfit instead. She still looks a little bit haggard, though, and mainly sticks to Lilian's refreshment table for now. Onyx recognizes her, but glances pass between them with just silent acknowledgement and a nod. The slender carrying case slung over her back hints she plans on participating at some point. Just a little rest first, she thinks. I want to give Onyx some time to shine. And there's a conversation I've got to have, too. She wanders over to Miyamomo first, a little cupcake held in one hand. "It's a whole discipline," she says by way of affirmation. "I bet Onyx Witch flies differently than I do, but I'll still try to point out the things she does. A lot of it's about making sure you don't leave your blood behind."
Arthur Lowell	>==> "I get HEAD INJURIES all the damn time, but I AIN'T SHORTER. Don't get rude!!" Arthurs's broom ascends about half an inch as he bunches the muscles of his face up in a sour look. It's all in good fun though, she has other things to worry about. "Dawg, past is past. You been workin', like, what, ages now, tryin' to get some good shit done? Better than any apology for real. And I'm glad you've been pushin' into the good stuff! I mean, you and me, we both know the only kinds of motherfuckers who standin' to benefit from the idea that this hero-veteran binary be hella strict -- and that kind of motherfucker ain't good. Hopelessness made sense, but I'm glad you could keep some faith and give this a try." He offers Onyx Witch a friendly series of daps and pounds and such. "Sorry for the killin'-you-legally, thing on my end, tho'." "Alright, alright! Let's see that ASS-KICKIN'! NO HARD FEELINGS for sure, if you can do it!" He cracks his knuckles eagerly, shifting into a launch straddle on his magic battlebroom. "I'm ready when you are!"
Tamamo	At Onyx Witch's approach, Tamamo inclines her head. "Has it been only a year? It feels quite some span longer, and to see you growing so does not dissuade the thought. Oh, but to say that does make me sound a grandmama. The next you know, I shall be offering tea and cookies." There's only a slight pause before Tamamo holds up the tray-like lunchbox. "Would you like some?" Whether or not cookies are appropriate for one about to enter a flying competition, Tamamo adds, smoothing out her tone, "I have no regrets for that day. if you do, I hope they make you stronger." To Miyamomo, Tamamo answers, "It is in some variety of fashions, in those I have had such chance as to witness. Quite rarely is it like the flight of birds, now that I think upon it."
Staren	Earlier. Staren is relaxing on her bed, petting her cabbit. Then beep beep! A little alarm goes off on Staren's HUD. Right, the flight exercise is coming up, and she set an alarm early so she'd have extra time to get ready. Why does she need extra time again? Her coat's already got the spell in it, it's not like she needs anything else to-- mental gears shift as she catches sight of herself in the mirror --Oh no her hair is a mess and what do you wear to go flying do you go with the classic aviator thing or something more flowy? Flowy does look pretty cool... Now. Staren strides in just before closing, completely failing to maintain a poker face that would indicate she's just fashionably late. Witch hat. This one's a medium-dark red and little on the small side, probably for aerodynamic considerations, with fake fur-lined holes and covers for her ears and a leathery hatband. No glasses today, goggles hang around her neck, and she's wearing a faux leather shearling-trimmed aviator jacket, with the usual vambraces and the upper-arm-bandoliers from her battle labcoat, each with space for an e-clip and some vials. Matching gloves insulate her hands. Over the jacket is a long white cloak, affixed to the shoulders and ready for Dramatic Billowing! Under the jacket is the heavy red coat-dress from when she was trying to look like a pirate, which flares out a bit from under the jacket (with, it's apparent once they're in the air, tights and additional layered skirts for warmth at cold altitudes, although magic is probably doing the heavy lifting there.) Heavier, taller boots complete the outfit; as always, her blue bag hangs at her side from a cross-shoulder strap with additional straps securing it to the jacket and coat. Staren looks around to see who's here. "Strawberry Princess! Onyx Witch! Long time no see! I'm glad to see you're doing well..." After Onyx's words, seeing that awkward pause, she offers the girl a hug. And smiles at the assertion that she'll beat them all. "Heheh, we'll see!" She tries to keep up with Arthur's complex fistbump, nods briefly to the others, quirking an eyebrow at Sarra using a plane for this, and not recognizing Miyamomo at all.
Lilian Rook	"Okay Gilgamesh." Lilian says to Kale, with the exact tone of 'okay boomer'. She is considerably more charitable with Arthur. They did kind of bond over that slightly disastrous mission. Especially in preventing what seemed like a trite and inevitably tragic end. "That's because she is a real hero, Lowell. But everyone falls down sometimes, and needs a little help getting back up. It's easy to be cruel through kindness when they do." A pause. "Well, everyone except me, of course~" She has already spent some time demolishing Tamamo bento, so she can do all the welcomes ahead of time, but makes sure to wave back. There is another kitsune in the room too. How lucky Lilian is! "Ah, something like that! I'm sure it'll be very interesting for an appreciator of fine spectacle such as yourself~" Lilian smiles at Onyx Witch. "If you can keep it in your pants for a couple of preliminaries, I made sure to arrange something you'll find enjoyable at the end." The older woman coughs, and then says severely, "Lilian, manners." The smile slides off Lilian's face. "Yes. Of course." The woman continues "And who is that Extra? Who on Earth are you inviting?" Lilian replies, expressionless, "That's Sarracenia. She's a princess. She sort of shows up. Please don't worry about it." "And please don't tell me you're bringing another fox home." "No Alison, she's a coworker, with the ASIS." "Or a bird." "He has a boyfriend, Alison." The older woman makes a face. "I have concerns about these people and how they'll influence A-" "Onyx Witch will be fine." "Please Alison, relax, and feel free to focus on gathering your data. You don't need to sweat over these little details." 'Alison' goes on to stare holes right through poor Staren, until finally making a disinterested 'pfeh' kind of sound, and seating herself on a top stand. Lilian breathes a sigh of relief, and moves to the front of the gathering. "First off, if you don't have a means of flight and would like to bravely participate in the exercises directly, we are taking this opportunity to field test prototypes from our close sponsors at Rapier Aerodynamics for their GDF contract. A team of professionals is handling the bulk, but if you'd like instruction, we do have spare experimental personal aerial maneuver units. It doesn't matter if you bash them up; we are in the Shrine for a reason. If you'd like to stay on the ground, though, you can certainly feel free to participate after our warm up! There will be opportunities available." What she is referring to becomes clear when the adults put down the coffe and begin gearing up. Pneumatic tubing unfolds, clamps fix around padded points on limbs, motors whine, locks clamp, visored helmets are snugly strapped into place, and those bulky black boxes are hoised like backpacks, then partly unfolded such that two sides angle outwards and the bottom extends and opens, exposing a quartet of what appear to be directional thrusters. Someone who intends to use one rather than play a ground role can be helpfully instructed by a patient (and kind of short) lady of the bunch, who sizes them, adjusts the lengths of skeletal struts, and shows them how to use them; specifically, eye tracking is built into the visor, displaying a HUD on the inside that can tell when specific icons are focally selected, and what direction the user is looking in, to massively simplify confirmation/cancel controls and simple and intuitive directional instructions mapped to contacts between the thumb and various finger nodes. Pressure monitors are in the padded clamps, and have constriction functions and velocity control in the computer to prevent blacking out from g-force and crashing without intentional override. It feels like learning to play a VR game, all told, just with more blood sloshing around. If so, they have about fifteen minutes to try it out.
Lilian Rook	"The format today is a warmup exercise, a preliminary, and a full throttle joint rehearsal. Our first exercise is a simple timed course. We'll be going one at a time to prevent accidents, but we'll also keep score for the sake of both important data and a spirit of friendly competition, okay?" Lilian grimaces slightly when she sees the older woman's expression at the word 'okay'. "When navigating this first course, please rely primarily on your aerial expertise and intuition. Supporting abilities will be permitted, but it's against the spirit of all of this if, for instance, Lowell simply gates himself from end to end. Understood? Feel free to observe each other in motion; actually, I encourage you to do so, and gather what information you can for the competitive format after." Tapping a confirm on a Shrine console she summons out of thin air, Lilian causes thirty odd light rings to blink into existence in and around the isolated city spread, cascading around in linear sequence to properly trace a full course from start to finish. Most of them are fairly generously sized, and evenly mix straightaways down long 'streets', broad high-speed turns out into the meadow and back, precise dives under raised passes, and zigzags and hairpins around block corners, requiring both climbing and diving all throughout. There are several places where the course obviously forks, however, splintering off gates that are simply much smaller, or placed in more perilous positions, such as inside buildings through open windows, or on the bottom floor of tiered garages filled with generic fake cars, but which cut through more direct lines before rejoining the main course and thus save time if navigated well. Risk and reward. From there, Lilian queues up a random generator from the same console, like a phone app, and begins assigning turns.
Miyamomo	"Blood?" Miyamomo looks at Strawberry like a child who has just been handed a puzzle to solve. Thinking for a long moment, she immediately stands on her hands and takes off on a run. Moving faster upon her palms than most people could on their legs, she sprints circles around the field before returning and flopping on her back. "Oh, I see. Moving at speed in positions where the head is not fully upright causes the blood to move strangely." It's a remarkably erudite observation from one usually so lackadaisical. Looking to Tamamo, she titters. "Oh, I'm sure. Ichigohime here does not literally have wings. That would be interesting though, sets of extra limbs. I wonder how..." Now she's lost in her own world again, mumbling into her fist, only snapping out of it when Alison makes some disparaging comment about 'bringing foxes home ' to Lilian. "Oh, I'd love to come over for dinner if you would have me," she replies distractedly. When the offer is made to borrow another flight kit though, she comes out of it. "Oh, an old woman like me would not be able to figure it out in any respectable amount of time, so I'll pass~ I'll gladly assist with whatever comes after though."
Ishirou	I4 could not look any smaller if he tried, which is sort of what he wanted. He was regretting the whole exercise already. This until he's addressed by Sarracenia. He looks up, half miserable and half surprised that anyone actually said anything to him. Only to get a leaf in his hand. "Wait...what?" he asks... Poof. He has a raccoon tail and ears. He looks at the situation with muted horror. "What the f..." he pauses, because right now he's not sure if he's going to die of embarrassment first or if...well he can at least FLY...but... "/What in the hell/???" he asks, only for his turn to come up. He is sure he's about to put Sarracenia on a list. Now double embarrassed and with people's eyes on him he...sighs. And starts hitting rings as fast as he can getting used to his new tail and weird flight mechanics that require him to run to get speed first. "Racoons don't even fly like this.." he mutters.
Staren	Staren's happy to try out the flight gear and give feedback if there's time before the first exercise! She's impressed with the HUD interface designed to be accessible without need for any kind of cyberjack. The obstacle course is brought up. Staren looks thoughtful. Timed? Jetpacks and the like can pour on the speed, but the magic flight incantation her techno-wizardry emulates is designed primarily for easy mental control, secondarily for maneuverability in combat, with raw speed third. And truly, on the battlefield she usually isn't having to cross wide areas as fast as possible... Still, there's probably some improvements to be made here... It seems I4 is up first! Staren at least doesn't seem to find it too silly... mostly, she's taking this opportunity to observe the course, to plan routes for her own turn. The rapid prototyper back at the lab is already put to work... Staren's turn! She swaps on slightly different vambraces and boots with thrusters on them, holds a hand to her chest, and intones 'Fly As The Eagle.' It's not actually needed but it makes it a little easier to 'move' her Potential Psychic Energy the right way through the circuits in her clothes; her cloak and to a lesser degree her dress-coat begin billowing dramatically. The inside of the cloak turns sky-colored, purely a metamaterial aesthetic effect of some sort. She takes a deep breath... crouches... "GO!" She shouts as she takes off! The magic is fairly maneuverable on its own, but she uses the thrusters on her arms and legs to enhance it for particularly tight turns. When close to the ground, she fires grapple tags from the vambraces to swing around ground obstacles without losing momentum! The raw speed, however, is... not great. Cars on a highway would be passing her when she's using magic flight alone, so she boosts it with the thrusters she just made. Straightaways are no problem, easy to cut loose on -- the most troublesome time is when she wants to go faster than pure magic but also add maneuverability -- there might be some stumbling blocks there, turns cut too tight or wide, overcorrecting and such. Thus, at the route splits, she tries to avoid more middle-of-the-road paths, selecting long straightaways to pour on the speed, or tight, close-quarters obstacle paths where she can focus on using all her mobility aids at slow speed. Eventually she comes in for a landing at the end, looking pleased with herself! "How was that??"
Strawberry Princess	Onyx Witch eyes Tamamo's offer with suspicion, like a raccoon judging whether it's safe to steal the cat's kibble. She wouldn't know a mother figure if it cooked her breakfast, though, so the suspicion finally passes. "Sure. Thanks, fox lady. Uh, Tamamo," she says, her mouth already full. Alison would nag her for that, but Alison isn't watching. "I regret... a lot of things. But not meeting you." "Don't say sorry," she says to Arthur with casual indifference. "Being dead is good. Didn't have to go home." That awful grin comes back to her face. "How's it feel? Being a murderer." He tries to fancily shake her hand. Onyx Witch does not permit the fancy-shake. She grips his hand iron-tight before any dap or bump shenanigans and stares dead into his eyes, her own open wide enough for the whites to catch the light. Then she leans in, her voice dropping. "I let you win last time. It's your turn for the closed casket." When she pulls away, she laughs innocently. Staren is intercepted before she can hug via the age-old anti-short-person tech of 'hand to forehead'. "Personal space. Who the fuck are you? New mahou tyke?" A gentle-ish shove to Staren's shoulder pushes her back a couple feet. "Adults only. Sit down. Maybe learn something." ... Oh, right. A lot has changed. When Onyx's turn comes, she spreads ghostly dark sparkling-translucent wings (no need for a wand, unlike Strawberry) and crouches at the starting line like an Olympic runner. At the signal, she takes off hard, pushing with her legs to give the magical flight an extra kick. Onyx isn't the fastest, but she's incredibly nimble. When she has to take a sharp turn, instead of waiting for her magical acceleration to overcome her inertia, she hard lithobrakes feet-first against the side of a building, or any other available surface, to cancel her momentum and start moving in the new direction as fast as possible. She takes every shortcut, effortlessly weaving between cars and even squeezing through gaps her body barely fits through just to show off. Onyx hard-brakes one more time at the end, cleated shoes digging furrows into the dirt. "Ech. Good warmup. Been too long." Clearly she doesn't consider this the main event.
Kale Hearthward	"Actually he's-" Kale starts to say when Lilian refers to his boyfriend, but corrects himself. Now isn't the time. There's also the fact that he let slip something about Zephyr yesterday that Lilian had caught and was asking about, and if he brings up Zephyr there might be questions asked about it, and... well, it isn't the time for that, either. Soon. But not right now. "Nevermind. Time to get started, hmm?" He watches the flight units get unboxed and equipped, occasionally stuffing his beak with food or sipping at his drink. "Oh, those do look like they'd perform well," he says, in a tone that isn't at all patronizing. "I imagine they'd have to, with the tradeoffs you're making in the aesthetics department." Kale's number gets drawn. He hasn't finished eating, but he tokenizes his plate of food and drink and slips them into a pocket. "Alright then. Let's get started. You said supporting abilities are fine?" He clicks his heels together, Oz-style, and the jet nozzles in his boots fire off - with less noise and less heat than one might expect, given how easily they lift him up into the air. "Because I'm going to show you what going all out looks like." He leans forward and accelerates, going cleanly through the first ring, then the second ring, leaning hard and air-drifting to take the third ring at speed... ... going fully horizontal and superman-diving through the building, threading through it to take the shortcut... ... And then, as the course gets into the sharper corners, the winds pick up. They're always blowing favorably - facilitating the tight turns he needs to make, the wind mage using every trick at his disposal. And as he comes to that last tight hairpin turn, he accelerates, going at a speed that can't possibly let him make it - even at the mobility he's displayed, he can't possibly turn that sharply. This is because he doesn't have to. Right at the vertex of the intended hairpin curve, he makes a throwing motion - and right at what would be for others the apex point, there's an explosion, a pressure bomb going off in midair - and Kale twisting around in the air to bounce off of the disturbance it causes, kicking off of it to change course and riding it like a surfer riding an ocean wave through the next ring. And finally, after going through the last ring, he lands - slowing down and touching down perfectly on the ground, as easily as taking a step on a staircase. And, wordlessly, he pulls his plate of food back out and resumes eating. He doesn't have to say anything - he's radiating smugness.
Sarracenia	Pay no attention to her?! That's the worst possible thing! "Most people are happy when I-" Sarracenia starts, then blinks and pauses a moment. "...w-well, they at least recognize I could be help-..." She sighs and crosses her arms with a bit of a pout. "...yes, I sort of show up if I hear about something fun." she finally mutters. When I4 gets a tail and ears Sarracenia's eyes sparkle. "So cute!" she exclaims, only to be startled when he yells at her. "What? Oh! Did you perhaps want the full suit?" she asks, pulling out a tanuki suit power-up as I4 heads off to do his lap. She blinks as he keeps coming down to build up speed again and groans at herself. "Oh dear, forgive me! Here, take this!" She pulls out a fluffy wing with a glowing P on it and throws it toward I4. The Power Wing, sustained flight good for one entire level or mission. She shrugs, then turns to wave to Staren and Arthur before heading to her plane. The motors start up and the twin propellers start to spin before the VTOL does what VTOLs do and just floats up into the air. When her turn comes up, Sarra tries to show off her piloting skills! She's probably not an ace by most people's standards, but she thinks she is. She does a fair number of barrel rolls, aileron rolls, and tailslides to both wow the spectators and try to improve her time. And she does at least know how to fly, hardly having trouble getting through all the rings in a graceful and timely manner. At least until she gets to the more difficult parts. Very horizontal turns take a lot of braking and accelerating to keep from crashing, and an aircraft like this one just can't go through buildings without crashing so Sarra has to avoid those routes all together. The end result? Despite some fancy flying, her time is probably less than stellar. When she comes back to land she doesn't look happy about it either. Especially after the performances of the others. She leaps out of the Dyna and goes to get another P-wing. "I am going again! I am sure I can do much better!" she says before a puff of smoke and she has raccoon ears and a tail like I4 did. And if she isn't stopped she will indeed go again.
Staren	Onyx Witch stops Staren with Superior Reach. Staren actually freezes in surprise for a couple of seconds. No one's done that to her before and it's just... what. what? wat. She's about to explain who she is when Onyx Witch calls her a fucking tyke. Her jaw drops for several seconds as she stares at the mahou shoujo in indignant shock. A little drool drips out from the smell of the refreshments table, which doesn't help anything. She wipes her mouth on her sleeve and replies indignantly, "...I'm almost _thirty_! And--" She freezes again. Blinks. "...Oh shit. I didn't actually talk to you, that was Sparkle Blue... ... ...She just wanted you to be okay. I'm glad you're okay too. Being a magical girl on your world sounds rough..." She'll awkwardly walk away after that awkward exchange. Still, she can be honestly appreciative of Onyx's skill on display when her turn comes up! "Nice!" She whistles, impressed, at Onyx speeding through such narrow gaps. Also, there's Kale! Staren had a bird-mage in her party when she was stuck in the past, but he couldn't do aerobatic tricks like that! Staren's taking mental notes to pass to her friend if they ever meet again... giving Kale an impressed nod after he finishes. RE: Sarracenia, he agrees that "This course doesn't seem like it was really designed for vehicles... the Star Hawk wouldn't fit, for sure..."
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Jesus fucking christ Arthur gets a bit pale at Onyx Witch, his eyes kinda widening and his teeth gritting. "Jegus." He mutters. "Ya gotta chill. Holy fuck! Alright, y'know, I make you throw a fight, you get to get some'a that red on you, that's cool. But god damn, girl." Now the race is being set up... >Arthur: Gate yourself from end to end She just said not to do that. >Arthur: Okay, then sortie and get a good time WHAT DID WE JUST WRITE. >Arthur: Take the time attack "Yeah, NO WORRIES, I'mma take this LEGIT STYLE. Only CASTED GATES for MOMENTUM-SHIFTIN', yo, I gotta keep it real." He gets into his position, his broom hovers low... WARP RELEASE CODES ------------------------------------------------- \| ACTIVE \| DANGER \| CRITICAL \| \| ---------- \| ------------ \| ------------------- \| \| \| \| \| \| ********** \| ____________ \| ___________________ \| \| \| \| \| ------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- \| \| \| THRUSTER MODES \| \| \| \| [ ] DASH \| \| [ ] CRUISE \| \| [ ] CHARGE \| \| [X] SPRINT \| \| [ ] ESCAPE VELOCITY \| \| [ ] UNSTOPPABLE FORCE \| \| [ ] PLAID \| \| [ ] UP A GODDAMN NOTCH \| \| [ ] LET'S DO THIS SHIT \| --------------------------
Arthur Lowell	Arthur kicks off, howling like a madman. His broom emits a massive blast of exhaust as it puts a truly irrational number of Gs on the boy. The fucked up thing is that phantom images of the other racers have been projected ahead of him, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the Shrine's effects. A ghost of Arthur will be haunting the warmup on each subsequent run, too! Shit! But when it comes to how he maneuvers, it's with a certain exploit that matches Lilians demands while still making extensive use of his abilities. Instead of focusing on the Gates, he focuses on his path. When harsh turns suddenly emerge, Arthur unhesitatingly accelerates, casting Gates ahead and in the opposite direction... to maintain momentum through 90-degree or even 180-degree brutal turns, by exploiting maneuvers that would splash him against the concrete! And he has absolutely no hesitation about maneuvering those interior spaces, often having to dismount and pseudo-parkour his way through the tight zones. Frequently this involves crashing and smashing his body against the contents therein simply because of his less-than-perfect mobility and flight capacity, but he has enough to get through this FAST. Between the rockets, his natural gravity control, his short-range gates, and his innate speed, he gets some fantastic times. I4's new look almost lost him a couple seconds as he boggled at the Ghost of Kemonomimi Past, but hey, flight is flight, even if that made no sense to him. Onyx Witch's superior nimbleness (nimbility?) prompts Arthur to try to outpace her in acceleration, which is unwise in those tighter zones and leaves him bruised! Kale's hairpin shenanigans are what prompt his 180 accelerations as well, though taking the turns blind does sure leave him having to lose those gained seconds later on. Arthur's inspired to do his own stunts when he sees the VTOL doing its rolls and slides, but for Arthur, they actually tangibly increase a STUNT score, as well as providing a helping of boosts to a meter labeled NITRONICITY CONTINUANCE he uses for acceleration. When he crashes back at the start, tumbling and eventually landing skidding on his feet, he's bruised, scuffed, and a little frazzled, but he has a pretty damn good time.
Strawberry Princess	Strawberry laughs awkwardly at Miyamomo's demonstration. The word 'sasuga' comes to mind from her long hours on the internet, but she pushes it down as 'maybe culturally insensitive'. "You're mostly right. It's like running with a bowl of water. If you go too choppy, the water splashes everywhere, right? Corners, starts and stops, those are scary. But going fast is safe as long as you're steady." She points up into the sky as Onyx Witch flits through the rings. "See how she takes corners like that, slamming into things? If she took a turn as hard as she could, with her flight, it wouldn't be sharp enough to put her blood in danger. So she brakes and kicks off things to get even more force, compensating. Push the limit." Leaning back against the table, she sets down the remains of her cupcake and rests her hands in her pockets. "I don't do that, because my flight's already too hard for blood-safety. Uh, they call it G-forces. My body's the limit, so I'm already taking corners hard as I can- no point in kicking off." When it's Strawberry Princess's turn, she opens her wand's case, boots it up, transforms, and waits at the starting line in no particular posture. At the signal, she rockets off at maximum G-safe acceleration, punching it to near-jetliner speeds in only a few seconds. Her flight posture changes habitually as she weaves through the rings, always taking the straightest path: whatever direction she's accelerating in, her body turns so that's "forwards", making sure the G-forces are always eyes-in. On easy straightaways where the demands of acceleration aren't so severe, she pivots effortlessly to minimizing her facing profile against an imaginary foe instead, out of sheer habit. When the path splits, Strawberry splits too. Ghostly eidolons of her seventeen-year-old self diverge to take every possible ring-path at once, demonstrating her graceful agility in addition to raw speed. One of her eidolons finds the optimal path to harness her combination of acceleration and maneuverability; it reaches the finish line a second before her real self, and all of them re-merge. "How'd I do?" she asks the scorekeepers amiably. (The answer is 'half a second behind Onyx'. She clearly isn't sweaty-tryharding this yet.)
Tamamo	It was more of a multi-story bento tower than a single lunch, and so, Lilian will find that there's still plenty left for her afterward, if she needs more calories following all this exercise. That's the best time to eat, generally speaking. Alison seems to be thinking of something dangerous, but that's just her misunderstanding. When Miyamomo returns from her run, Tamamo puts down her own, steaming mug, and retrieves a second thermos, from a cloth pack that still has two more. Offering, "Green tea?" She's not sure about the running and 'blood rushing to or from the head' business, but that's her choice for 'improving blood flow.' "I would not mind cooking for another, should you wish to visit. There are some interesting sights that might be shared, and I welcome another's opinions. Lilian does tend to praise my work, but, you see," she lowers her voice, "I suspect she may be biased." With all that hyping himself up, Tamamo is sure to watch extra-carefully as Kale does his flight. Alas, though she makes appreciative noises for each person who makes a showing, the mechanics are so far outside her expertise that she has no way to criticize anyone without a stopwatch, and can only judge how well they did by how happy they look immediately afterward. By that metric, several appear to be in heated, anything goes competition.
Lilian Rook	Mixed in with the rest of the crowd, the men in women in fatigues and full jetpack exoskeletons shockingly set a very decent bar. Going off the lingo they throw around with each other (and the way they heckle and taunt each other while one is taking their turn), they give off the impression of being military. Possibly airforce, or at least ex-airforce. The first three or so set progressively better times than the last, ostensibly watching each other for how the flight units handle the course and taking lessons from each other based on what seems plausible to handle. One man nearly wipes out, bouncing from ceiling to floor and back again when threading into a building at high speed, but comes out in one piece (almost to the disappointment of his peers). The tiny woman ends up setting the best time of them all, and is hassled much about how it's because she has no mass to keep in the air, to which her snappy answer is 'go on a diet'. Lilian has to put up with a running commentary from that woman, evidently as the myriad floating sensors out there transmit huge amounts of data to her tablet, and equally as importantly, the tiny team she has sit down too."What is that ridiculous costume?" "It's a tanuki. I think. It's Japanese. Sort of." "He doesn't look Japanese." "You can't always tell just by looking, Alison. But no, he's not; I believe that's a loaner." "She looks even less so. And if he needed to borrow-" "I agree completely." "Hmm, well, at least we didn't risk losing anything if the net wasn't calibrated correctly." "So you don't mind letting the princess go again." "If we have to. But at the back of the line." A little ways in. "The bird--" "Kale Hearthward." "Right, yes. Esoteric technology? Really? I assumed he'd be more of a natural at flying." "It's still magic. You could call that part a performance enhancer as far as I'm aware." "But only the wind magic?" "Yes. He's a bird." "Ah, I see, I see. Well, I shouldn't be surprised then that he'd set a fantastic time in a contest of flight. I briefly had my doubts." "I do know how to choose them." "That remains to be seen." Later. "So, Lilian, is the cat in some way related?" "No they're just . . . It's a complete coincidence." "And that one actually is using esoteric technology." "At the same time, at least." "Well, I suppose we all do what we must. The poor thing does appear to be a little bit stunted." "She's new at any kind of magic." "Nouveaux Riche, then." "Mmm . . . I suppose?" "Well then you'd better not lose." "I don't plan on it--" "I was speaking to Miss Onyx." ". . . right. Of course." "I'm worried that you think I need even say it out loud for you." "It slipped my mind." "Oh well, even if that one is rather obnoxiously loud, I do appreciate his youthful vigour." "Even with his 'unorthodox' style?" "Rubbish. Broomsticks are a celebrated tradition, dating back centuries. It was about time I was able to see someone refine the art, rather than dismiss it as old-fashioned." "Ah? Is that . . . so?" "I'm certain he'll grow up to be a fine man, once those hormonal indiscretions of machismo leave him." "I-if you say so. I agree." "Are you smiling?" "No, Alison." There is then an argument as to how to count Strawberry taking every route. Though there is a brief majority for averaging them, as the eidolons could be construed as a method of unfair hedging, they agree to simply taking the best time based on the fact that none of them wiped out, and it is Strawberry's prerogative to use magic as a 'magician'. The fact that she earns thin, smiling approval from Alison as she passes should tell her who was responsible for that. "I see all that time around Lilian has helped shaped you up nicely. Well then, I suppose I don't mind leaving you in her care."
Lilian Rook	And on the subject of foxes. "Dinner? My, isn't that rather forward." "Cultural standards, Alison. I can assure you, this is just what they're like in Japan." "Well, I've no free time for a family dinner in the immediate future, so feel free to host her yourself. I don't mind networking a little with our oriental allies." "Japanese, Alison." Lilian herself ends up going nearly last. Evidently she has no issues with G-forces (or if she does, she refuses to show them), zigzagging with what could be called wild abandon if it weren't so precise. There are times where she uses the terrain in a similar manner to Onyx Witch, but it's largely to make up for what appear to be 'floatier' flight mechanics, to stop-start with much greater power, rather than optimizations made by a consummate expert. She gets her main advantage by taking perilous side routes and seeming to dream logic intersect-but-not-really with the obstacles, and in fact sort of fly right through buildings and bridges in the way of wide, momentum-conserving slingshots. Alison makes an impassive face when she returns, saying "So that's what they're teaching you?" and nothing else. When Onyx Witch has her run though, she opens her arms to signal the girl over to her, and begins heaping effusive praise on the girl, telling her alllll about how far she's come, how diligent and dedicated she is, how at this rate, she can definitely be seen going through the House of Seven Worthies, and how maybe Lilian should learn something. There is a headpat involved. LIlian looks away. Instead it is announcement time. After putting up the scoreboard and allowing everyone to rejoice, complain, and get their noogies out of the way (and some of the adults to start paying out what appears to be a betting pot), Lilian manipulates the console to disperse the goal rings, and instead, out in the green meadow, raise a trio of extremely, unrealistically tall poles, each one twice the height of the last, with what is obviously a tall and narrow basket at the top of each. The space around them is littered with floating, square debris, and the space below is littered now with what must be a hundred heavy sporting balls. "Some of you may be familiar with this game. To clarify however, all of you will be going at the same time! The goal is to bring as many balls to a scoring basket as you can; there is no time limit, it ends when all balls are scored. Higher baskets are worth more points, of course. However, you must actually physically touch the balls to score. Intercepting each other is permitted, but no physical contact or direct attacks on each other. The balls can't be destroyed; they'll rematerialize until they're used to score as the Shrine's settings dictate. Those of you without wings, you're free --nay, encouraged-- to launch them as you please. Feel free to help or hinder whoever you wish; these things have a way of working out. Teaming up will be recognized and scores divided appropriately. Teaming up on someone will not. Are we all ready?" The 'Go!' signal is given only once everyone has stepped to a glowing line demarcated on the floor, equidistant from all poles and balls.
Ishirou	I4 is very unhappy that he's forced into this...this isn't even his kind of flight system! It's weird item magic and not technomagical or pure tech. It also /doesn't fly like a raccoon would/! This is awful...but he finally manages to slowly start floating down. This gets him to the line of 'Being dead is good. Didn't have to go home.' It's one of those lines that would be kind of awful to hear, but for I4 it hits particularly hard because...he did want to go home, he wanted to not be a dead traitor. There was some certainty in knowing things...taking others for granted. Sure it was awful, but this uncertainty with being alone...maybe he could have worked from the inside, but that wasn't possible. It seemed they were keeping tabs on him the whole time. This is why when Sarracenia's P-wing flies at him, he wasn't paying attention. His crisis was interrupted by suddenly being forced into the flight he wasn't prepared for. Worse is that he's rocketing off and the panic from the jump causes him to lose control of the whole situation very fast. He flies right by the balls and then up. He starts to try and hack the power-up off but realizes something. He's gained too much height by the time he's ready to get it off. Crap crap crap...he tries angling himself down, but now he's spiraling out of control because /HE/ doesn't have any dots in flight. Maybe he can...he tries to finish the hack, but now he's DEFINITELY out of control. "I'm going to die," he says in a sarcastic but also fatalistic tone.
Staren	Staren's able to sort of pick up on the mood of the military(?) men and women. It's not like she didn't spend a fair amount of time around pilots, albeit of the mecha sort, in her tween and teenage years. Just enough for her to feel old and distant and disconnected, though. Fortunately, she isn't there to hear people snarking about her or she'd probably have things to say. She frowns as the next challenge is explained. Launching balls are too easily intercepted by the more skilled aerial combatants, and just zipping back and forth as fast as possible would force her up against g-force limits of her own body. There are surely ways to counter that... But, perhaps she can get an opportunity to work together with others and benefit from combined abilities? She considers those gathered here... as they approach the starting positions, she smiles and asks, "Arthur! Wanna team up somehow?"
Sarracenia	Sarracenia's second run is better than her first, but raccoon tail flight is hardly fast. It's about the same speed as sprinting. So she can make all the turns and things she wants now, even on the shortest sharpest course. But that may not actually improve her time. She finishes her second run through and has already pulled out her hammer in preparation for the next game when I4 goes zipping past and up into the air. "What the...Power-up flight is supposed to be easy!" she exclaims, then huffs before calling out, "Ugh, alright I really am coming to get you! Hold on!" She flies as fast as she can, raccoon tail wagging wildly. But, she doesn't think it'll be fast enough so...she pulls out a missile and hits a button on the side. Using it like a rocket booster she moves to intercept I4 and banks out of the nosedive, hopefully with him in tow! And just to make sure the power-up he has is knocked out of commission she slaps him across the face! "What sort of computer can't use plug and play stuff?!"
Kale Hearthward	"Ah - vaguely familiar. The balls, and the baskets - this is what they call cricket, right?" Kale limbers up a bit while listening to the rules. "Hmm..." "... Well, then. Let's make this interesting." Kale starts trying to hinder everyone - trying to intercept any balls thrown at the baskets, claiming them and dunking them in on his own, or if he can't steal points then he'll just try to knock people or thrown balls off course, via wind magic or bodyblocks both. "Gotta try harder than that!"
Strawberry Princess	Onyx greedily soaks up the "objective" compliments on her performance like a houseplant being watered, her ordinary intensity relenting slightly behind a beaming smile. But when the tone shifts to Alison expressing affection- patting her head, even!- it's clear to anyone with more emotional sensitivity than a sociopathic rich boomer that she's only begrudgingly tolerating the display. Her eyes dart over to Lilian as the latter turns away. A slight grimace passes over her face. I know what bad family looks like. This is it. I don't want to be her golden child. Later, she tries to find a moment to pass near Lilian while out of Alison's earshot. "She's kind of fucked up," Onyx says, in a faux-casual tone. "I like you better. Sorry for all that." When it comes to the hoops game, Onyx listens to the rules very carefully, and then takes a few seconds to formulate a strategy. She ascends into the sky between the two highest-scoring goals, and makes her full career guarding them against anyone else trying to score. If anybody crosses her territory, she swoops after them; once within ten feet, she can reach out with a ghostly wing in a form of telekinesis and forcibly wrench the ball out of their grasp, then turn around and immediately score with it herself. Only those going for the lowest-scoring goal are safe from her depredations. Everyone else will have to contend with her ferocious air-to-air pursuit skills.
Miyamomo	Miyamomo, true to her word, watches everyone go through the course carefully. Now and again, she leaps into the air and imitates movements she saw. She then repeats this, twisting and turning her body to figure out... something. She's quiet and her brow furrowed the whole while, not even really answering anyone who speaks to her beyond non-committal grunts. Whatever insight she glens, if any, is not shared. When it's all over, she approaches Strawberry and Lilian with a smile. "Fine flying from both of you. Each of you have that spark of ingenuity that always flies in the face of rigid measures of skill such as these. That, more than any place on a scoreboard, will serve you well." Whether she's saying this because of Alison's comments or not is unclear. But it is time for a new game. Get the balls in the high baskets, this makes sense. Miyamomo stands upon the line and stretches her legs for a moment. Once the call is given, she dashes forward and wades right into the middle of the balls, and stomps her foot once. All the balls leap into the air as the whole room shudders with he force of the impact. And then she flips upside down, doing what can only be called a 'spinning bird kick' as if lifted from a popular fighting game. But this makes the air swirl and heave, scattering the balls high and wide, forcing the other players to move around more to retrieve them. And then she starts scoring herself. The rules say that players must make direct contact with the balls, but not as they score. As such, she just punches and kicks them. Every single one arcs perfectly to soar into the basket. Or they would, if Onyx and Kale did not start blocking shots. The kitsune only grins and wags her finger at them both whenever they make eye contact, before shooting two more. These lob gently, easy to catch or intercept. And then Miyamomo is a blur, grabbing two more and taking a moment to gather her breath, planet her feet, before punching them. The balls are programmed to be indestructible, which means she can be as rough as they like. These ones fire like gunshots, making the air crack as they hurtle at the birdman and the magical girl. The rules say 'no physical contact between players.' But if they chose to intercept these ones, Miyamomo intends to make them pay for it. After all, they also arc towards the basket.
Tamamo	From how her face lights up in recognition, it's clear that Tamamo is familiar with this game. She places lids back onto boxes, tightly closes thermoses, and drapes a cloth over top as a windbreaker, before standing up and walking, definitely not running, to take a place in the starting line. There are a few things to note about how Tamamo approaches the game. The first is that, from the moment the game began, and even for some time before that, she hasn't used any magic. The second is that she's wearing a traditionally designed, multi-layered kimono, complete with a large, golden obi knot in the back. The only way she can even approach a jog is to, effectively, use one hand to hike up her skirt, which she must do again every time she opts for a two-handed throw. As there is no way on Earth she's jumping into the air like this, all of her shots are to the lowest of the goals. They're not particularly strong or skillful, and nearly every success involves a terribly uncertain moment of it rolling on a rim or banking off one bit of debris, only to bounce back on course after hitting another. Someone would have to keep watching her to notice that she gets lucky like this a full 100% of the time. Someone would have to try to steal her balls repeatedly to be certain that it's more than a coincidence that every such attempt results in said ball smacking them in the face, following a momentary misjudgment.
Kale Hearthward	Kale tries to intercept it anyway. There's a loud squawk and a cloud of knocked-loose feathers where he was a moment ago. When Kale returns to the air he's a little bit more cautious.
Ishirou	I4 is thankfully taken out of a nosedive, he is saved from splatting himself across the ground. He's about to say something, but then he's immediately slapped across the face. This is followed up by something that, to him, is pretty much /very mean/. He's taken aback as if he were struck. Well, twice. He shrinks, on the one hand, he wants to shout at Sarracenia. He wants to point out that she hit him with the power-ups when he was distracted. This sort of causes him to spiral in his head for a moment. What he /wants/ to say and feel versus what he does say and feel right now. Or rather, what he thinks he should. Then, with a very dead-pan-sounding voice he speaks, "Are you done?" he asks, because he just wants out of this situation even more now. Being angry or upset or even dealing with this in any other method but trying to escape makes him feel like lead.
Strawberry Princess	Onyx Witch dosn't have time to react to the bullet-like ball hurled at her by Miyamomo- it strikes her dead in the chest, making a skin-hugging forcefield around her flare dull griseous colors. Before the ball can careen off, she recovers, snags it with her telekinetic wings, and dunks it in anyway. She yells something down at the kitsune, but it's lost due to distance and cross-talk, so she gives up and just flips her the bird instead.
Staren	Onyx and Kale are... mean-spirited. Kale breaking the rules and not getting caught crosses a line that makes Staren's blood boil. This is supposed to be a friendly competition but this, this is not fair. And yet she can already see that calling it out and making a scene will make her look bad. And that withdrawing in protest will make her look bad. Trying her best and being defeated by such tactics will make her look bad. Isn't there some other way through this? ...Can she make them look like the bad guy? Bullying the poor little girl? ...No, the way Onyx talked to her, and the way Lilian responded when she showed how hurt she was after getting two lances driven through her, showed that the people of Lilian's world are immune to that sort of thing. Is there some way to bend the rules in her own way, outsmart them? No, because they can get away with breaking the rules and she can't. It'll just make her look even more foolish when the plan backfires. And the longer she stands there planning and not throwing or carrying balls because it'll just help Onyx and Kale score more, the more it looks like she's refusing to participate, which, again, looks bad. The clock is ticking... there must be some way through this...!
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Celebrate your tradition. YEAHHHHH! Arthur enjoys his relatively good time, but he's more than attentive to the rules. In fact, he seems to be encoding it to his own approach. That is to say, as he learns a lot about all this, his interface for it is building! Turning to Staren, he starts stroking his chin. "I mean, ain't never gonna turn down HOMIES." He says, a grin starting to snake around his face. "You got the GOOD AIM and the GOOD LAUNCHES, I got the MANEUVERING. I'mma run GATHERING, you run the SCORING. Sound good?" Arthur says, starting to boot his broom up again. He shows off a captchalogue card, as if to demonstrate his effectiveness! "I'll TOSS 'EM TO YOU or I'll SWING BY WITH 'EM. You do LAUNCHES, get some CALCULATION 'bout that and just START BLASTING every time I've COLLECTED ENOUGH." >Arthur: Hey, did you see that bit with Lilian? Yeah. It's not Arthur's place. He remembers hints of this before, and he recognizes a Guardian issue. Focus now, nudge later. >Arthur: Gather! And once the GO! signal is given, that's how he'll do it! Zig-zagging around the field, Arthur can snatch the scoring balls at rapid speed by captchaloguing them in his sylladex! Those are words that actually mean something, I guarantee. Gathering them up rapidly through extensive portal-projection and high-speed rushes, he can rapidly pass huge stacks of them off to Staren for, perhaps, cannon loading? Or something like that? She'll surely figure it out. Once Arthur realizes what Onyx Witch is doing though... He goes to prompt her! Arthur's not gonna let her not get some red on her. He runs interference for Staren once he understands what's happening, trying to give her cover to score high. But it also means rushing straight for Onyx Witch and enduring her wrestling! The boy bruises and crunches painfully, as he tries to pull her around and fight the grip with gravitational force rather than smarts. "Hey MAHOU CHEAPSHOT, they teach you CHEESY BULLSHIT in your FANCY GOVERNMENT MAGIC CLASSES? FUCKIN' HELL!"
Lilian Rook	Lilian looks back to Onyx Witch from the corner of her eye. The corner of her lips twitches, but she retains the exact same 'switched off' look in her eyes. "It's fine. You've spent more time with her." There is no doubt, in that instant, that this is objectively true. Lilian leaves for a little while to reach Sarracenia and I4, and grabs the princess' wrist right after. "I'll politely ask you not to talk that way to a valuable Paladins Chevalier, Princess." she adds. "I'd like you to focus on the exercise instead." and then given no particular resistance, so-long-gay-bowsers Sarracenia back in. "You don't have to play if you don't want." She says to I4 after. "I didn't get into videogames until this year either."
Sarracenia	It was pretty mean, and while Sarracenia didn't slap I4 or say that mean thing because she just hates I4 she doesn't realize just how mean it all really was until he shrinks like that and asks that question in such a cold way. The game may be underway, but Sarracenia isn't even worrying about it now. She lets go of the missile and it flies off to blow something up. Then, she floats down holding I4 and carefully sets him down. She hesitates for a long moment before finally saying something. "I...I am sorry. That was uncalled for. The slap was just to disable the power-up, but...saying that was..." She hesitates again. "...I was just trying to help. I did not mean to force the leaf on you. It activates just by touch sometimes. And I did not mean to actually hit you with the power wing, either." She rubs at her forearm uncomfortably and sighs. "I am not...the best with people. Which is quite unfortunate given my station. Please, forgive me just this once and I will make it up to you in whatever way you deem fit. Within reason, of course." Sarra glances toward the ongoing game after that, but then focuses on I4 again.
Strawberry Princess	Strawberry takes Alison's compliments a little better than Onyx does. "Oh, you mean- ah." She rubs her arm in embarrassment, briefly glancing off to the side with a shaky smile. It could mean either the Season Two Costume, or her becoming less of a twig, but she clearly takes it as the latter. "She's... been a good influence, Mrs. Rook," she finally says. "I just hope I can help her a little, too." Out on the field, Strawberry uses her eidolons as something between Globetrotter trick-passers and running guards. When anyone tries to run interference on her, the swarm of eidolons move with perfect coordination like a school of fish to block them; when she needs a better angle to sink a goal, she tosses it to one of them and lets them slam it in. But, in the spirit of squeaky-clean honest competition, the balls spend the majority of their ground-to-goal lifespans in her hands. Strawberry isn't a cheater! Even if that limits her scoring potential a little, that's okay. One of the eidolons- they're all identical up close, each a seventeen-year-old mahou carved from some solid pink ectoplasm, each faceless and each with a broken right arm- floats up to Staren, a ball in its hands. Despite its creepy appearance, its body language is still Strawberry's, and that means it comes off as "a friend". It presses the ball into Staren's hands, then pats her on the back encouragingly and points at one of the goals.
Staren	I mean, ain't never gonna turn down HOMIES. Staren's face lights up. A friend will figure this out and deal with the social-rules interaction bullshit! She just has to follow the plan! Relieved, she nods and gives Arthur a thumbs up, and takes to the sky to get above the goals, higher than where Onyx is playing goalkeeper. She doesn't HAVE a ball for Onyx to take -- she'll have to trust Arthur to time things so that she's being handed balls when Onyx is busy elsewhere. Without the stress of feeling bullied into a no-win situation, she's able to think more clearly. Her first thought is, indeed, a simple cannon, like a scaled up Gustaf. Sensors in her clothing and on warped-in drones help calculate shots, precise amounts of explosive yield warped into the cannon and detonated. She can vary up the speed, trying to throw Kale and Onyx off, and after seeing how effective shooting a ball hard enough to hurt an interceptor is against Kale, she tries that sometimes too. The ball scores when it gets in the basket rather than ricocheting off, so she can fire as forcefully as she wants! Of course, just one trick is sure to get a counter soon enough. So she also starts warping in little drones that can grab the balls from her and Arthur and zoom them over to the basket in various indirect paths. They'd be easy to intercept if it was just Staren and Arthur, but hopefully with others all trying to score in their own way too, some can slip through. And then, to mix it up further, some of the drones start deploying smoke in the area around the upper goals. Staren can still aim fine through her sensors, after all, and Arthur is gathering balls rather than scoring, so he doesn't need to see through the smoke either!
Miyamomo	Miyamomo gets flipped the bird. Not knowing what that is, she cheerfully returns it to Onyx, thinking it a congratulatory gesture for getting such a good hit in. 'Hmm, some kind of barrier, reminds me of Ichigohime's. Not quite as pretty though. Those kinds of things don't really handle repeated blows in a short amount of time, so... ah, but knocking her out of the air is not the goal of the game. Instead...' The kitsune starts gathering balls, as many as she can carry in her arms and within her kimono. And then she breaks into a run, reaching the poles and then sprinting up their full height, reaching the uppermost one that Onyx is jealously guarding. And then she just sits in it, fully obscuring the hoop with her whole body while lazily tossing balls to score on the one below. Shooting the mahou a playful grin the whole while.
Staren	A few moments after deploying the smoke, Staren has some other drones with bright, flashing lights attach to the sides of the baskets. She's trying to make it harder to block shots, not to aim them! Everyone should get to know where the baskets are, still.
Ishirou	I4 wanted to just nope out of the situation, leave it alone...he didn't want to face it, or deal with it anymore. It was awful and making him tired. This whole thing was a mistake, he was sure...people were better off with him being gloomy somewhere else. Maybe he should have been honest with the doc...or just not gone when called on not being fine. The whole situation just served to make him feel like he did before. Worse, he just gets nostalgic for INDUS, which he realizes is really fucked up. He didn't want to be dead and forgotten, but what can he even do about that situation? It seemed so beyond him. She's apologizing, I4 realized. Oh, so he didn't get to slink away and just get out of the way of things. I4 rubs the bridge of his nose, he was really tired. "It was probably kinder than the truth about what I am, so don't worry about it," He says, with an exhausted sounding tone. "I...just...look go have fun or something. I wasn't ready for the power-up and was distracted with the wing was thrown. Just forget it," he says and tries to escape towards the food table. Maybe he can just hide around there.
Strawberry Princess	Onyx is being aggressed upon by not one, but two insolent fight idiots: Arthur trying to wrestle with her telekinetic wings heroically for Staren's sake, and Miyamomo clogging one of the goals entirely wiht her fluffy butt. The solution is obvious. With no apparent cause, Arthur gets abruptly kamikaze'd directly into Miyamomo at nearly a hundred miles an hour, as if he'd just gunned his broomstick to max on accident: unless one of them has a very good defense ready, there's going to be a hard bodily impact. Then she neatly wrenches several spare balls away from Miyamomo, whatever the response- there's no way to protect that many simultaneously, especially held so precariously- and dunks them straight into the second-highest goal in rapid sequence. "Just fly better. Dumbass."
Lilian Rook	The gathered crowd of military types all make a very loud noise of shared protest when Miyamomo launches all the balls into the stratosphere, gunning their thrusters as hard as they can all at the same time, and predictably climbing at different speeds sheerly by matter of weight and force of initial kickoff. They make the exact mistake Lilian said not to regarding Onyx Witch, and are bullied pretty consistently until they just start teaming up (in groups of four, ostensibly based on original squadron lines) and using preexisting relationships of trained tactical coordination to get around. Simultaneous rushes so not all the balls can be taken at once, relay passing where Kale's wind batters down, tactically blocking other players with whoever doesn't have a ball at the time, and even forming human walls when that's 'most of them at a time'. It's actually shockingly effective for normies. And their flight movements are actually very sharp, and have excellent thrust. Their biggest challenge is the Strawberry Secret Service, as her numbers kind of counter their best advantage as well. Lilian does participate too! Because she is physically stronger than the majority of people here, she gains a lot from a grounded launch, and, strangely, her flight doesn't really seem to respect the common sense that climbing consumes speed and diving gives it back. She can get up fast, but reaching the ground again takes longer than most. Furthermore, she has a more powerful physical throw, and is able to get around the debris field mostly by weird phasing. Even moreso, she seems to know exactly what everyone around her is going to do before they do it, though no special ability to map and predict the balls themselves, it seems. She has a much better stat spread for this one than the last. However, a couple of attempts to block Miyamomo's shots leave her hands stinging and arms aching too much for the effort, and she can't gunslinger bank shot such that her throw will knock the kitsune's off course and still land in a basket. She plays with some somewhat obvious favouritism, leaving Tamamo to her devices and not particularly getting in Strawberry's way, giving Arthur some rival grief, and occasionally just getting in the way of Staren's shots to kick them away on principle, mainly ignoring Kale until he's already off-balance and can be bullied. She seems to want to avoid Onyx Witch, and doesn't even go for the top basket for a while. Of course Alison applauds plenty for Onyx, not just for her performance, but overtly for her aggressiveness, dominating behaviour, and predatory way of turning other people's attempts into her own exponentially higher-scoring goals. One time Lilian lands, and they exchange a look by accident. Alison says, voice fondly reminiscent. "I remember when you used to play sports like that. Not this embarrassment. I wonder what happened." Lilian's fists clench, but she actually replies this time. "This did." In the next moment, Lililian copies a page from Miyamomo's book, and launches many of the remaining balls skyward. They're all hilariously easy pickings for anyone in the immediate vicinity, and very tempting to grab. Before anyone of them can be grabbed, however, Lilian seems to have caved in and broken some unspoken, self-imposed rule, and instantaneously teleports between them in rapid succession, grabbing and spiriting them away at the rate of a machine gun, well over the top goal, juggling them ever upwards, all in the air at once, and then flash kicking each of them down into the basket just as impossibly quickly.
Lilian Rook	The volunteer squadrons all start either yelling and pointing, or groaning and calling bullshit. Now it's Onyx Witch who Lilian won't look at, though it seems she avoids her gaze more out of . . . well, not bitterness. Sort of the opposite? She attempts to smile when Alison actually golf claps, but can't seem to feel enthusiastic about it. Notably, the number of balls is exactly enough to put her one point behind Onyx Witch this time. After a short break to hydrate, congratulate, complain, and for the fatigues to go "Wait how the fuck did the other fox get third place? She didn't even leave the ground. Was anyone watching that?", it moves on to the final round. The impressive sight of the Shrine's reconfiguration greets everyone in the form of the 'city slice' expanding itself several more blocks in every direction, unfolding fresh roads and raising new buildings from it like opening a pop-up story book. The meadow boundaries shrink accordingly, creating a generous 'outer bounds' which terminates still reasonably close to hard buildings. At this, Lilian gives the wave to the pilots' leader, who drags out a number of flat plastic cases with relish. Opening them up presents the group a dazzling selection of realistic-looking, but orange and white-striped, firearms, mostly assault rifles and submachine guns, but some more specialist kinds available. Each of them is obviously fed with a spring-loaded helical hopper filled with oblong-- yep, those are paintballs. It's paintball time. "Our last event is a full combat exercise. You can fight however you like, however remaining grounded for more than ten seconds will disqualify you, as will spending more than one minute out of every five on the ground. However, even if you cannot fly, you may participate by abiding this principle and remaining on the move. You may also choose to simply remain neutral and provide interference; if so, you may not be attacked back. We prefer you use these competition markers, however, keep in mind, these aren't simple civilian-grade paintball guns. The contents are much less dense so they can be accelerated to much higher speeds, in order to achieve more realistic ballistic trajectories. They will break skin if fired from too close. Deliberately blinding people, even if this is the Shrine, will be frowned upon." "If you prefer other means, please speak to Lowell for him to alchemize an equivalent for you. If you have preferable means that can be tuned to be both non-lethal and not a significant impediment to performance to be hit by, you may use them. You score points from hitting opponents, based on your chosen model. There are no eliminations; play poorly and you'll simply feed your opponents. Grappling the same person for more than three seconds total is also prohibited, by the way, in any form of restraint. Otherwise, you may use abilities as you see fit, and even physically strike each other, so long as it remains within the boundaries of not attempting to incapacitate people from the exercise indefinitely. We have vests and visors available too, for those without comfortable flight protection." Once everyone has their weapon of choice, they're lead to start at equidistant parts of a ring encircling the city transplant, giving them a brief window to shoot each other in the open if they try, but also giving them an equal opportunity to dive into cover, or back out into the open air. The maximum range makes it difficult to hit someone way out in the meadow while camping building cover, given how much time they'll have to react over that distance. The paintball guns have a hundred rounds in them at a time for most models, and are easily reloaded; this isn't a park gouging birthday kids' parents for all their cash. "The time limit is thirty minutes! Begin!"
Sarracenia	Sarracenia looks uncertainly at I4, then sighs and turns to leave. She takes a few steps, then stops. "Nope." she says, then turns back toward I4. "Here, maybe this will make it up to you at least a little." She reaches into her bag and pulls out what looks like a teddy bear crossed with a raccoon but with just a big black area for the face. She squeezes it, and in a poof she is wearing a full body fur suit that covers everything except her face. "You seemed embarrassed, so...maybe this will make up for it!" And with that, she does run off to join in the games again as a tanuki princess. Which means she runs up just in time to not get any points in the weird basketball game and instead gets to witness the change of boundries and the paintball guns being brought out. She looks over the weapons, then hmms. "Do you have any bullets that are as big as myself? Or paint missile launchers? I do not usually deal in such small ordinance." she says, but when it seems the answer is no she heads over to Arthur and holds up her satchel. "This links to my armory full of explosives of various types. Could you alchemize a large collection of them so that I can use proper weapons instead of these things?" she asks him, one of the paintball machine guns resting over a shoulder.
Strawberry Princess	Onyx side-eyes Lilian impassively in the aftermath of the "teleportation"-fueled dunk spree. Her jaw works from side to side; her tongue runs over her teeth. She doesn't seem angry, but the only output of her assessment is: "That bad, huh." The paintball exercise is what Onyx Witch has been waiting for. She accepts a rifle for longer ranges, but materializes her wand as a general-use weapon instead. "It's non-lethal," she assures people warmly. The tactics she uses would be familiar to anyone who was at Tallahassee. Onyx's lower speed would make her easy prey out in the open, so instead she hugs the buildings, peeking corners, hugging walls, and making heavy use of three-dimensional cover. Once she gets a lock on someone, she lights them up with her Purifier Beam's rapid-fire magical blasts: each one a shotgun-cone of basketball-sized gray energy globs, capable of scoring massive "damage" points at short range and hard to dodge at medium range. Despite their nonlethality, they rapidly chew through terrain. Getting within twelve feet of her is a nonstarter; anyone too close will be grabbed by her telekinetic wings, held in place for about 2.9 seconds, and ventilated with a dozen magical blasts in that time. She's a dogged pursuer, but knowing her own strengths, she's unwilling to be drawn out into the open- that's one way to shake her off.
Ishirou	Sometimes, you are in your head so much that you're not sure if anything can really get you out. Obviously /time/ will, sometimes, but then something unexpected happens that it shakes you like a dunk in an ice bath. That was this moment where Sarracenia decides to reveal her full tanuki lifestyle. He just stared at her for a moment, not sure what to even say, or if there was anything /to/ say. It was so bizarre, but he's just caught staring at this entire situation. On the one hand, he's no longer caught up in his spiral, on the other he has no idea what to even say or do. Or if there is anything to say or do. "O...okay then..?" he says. Of course, he does not get into the last competition. He lets her get into the spirit of things while he hangs out at the food. There is at least one silver lining to all of this, and that he's in a better mood! Not that the situation with him is resolved. He sighs and sits down to watch how things play out.
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Get dunked on In the hoop, specifically. But Arthur is at least able to adjust his trajectory to not faceplant in anything awful on Miyamomo, and avert the usual terrible shenanigans that happen when a guy is thrown into a girl. And that's most of that, at least. "Don't fuckin' 'SKILL ISSUE' me, STILTS! I know CHEESE when I SEE IT!" It isn't too bad, though, at least things are going a little better. >Arthur: Alchemize Arthur opens up shop. His massive array of crafting stations are already loaded into the Shrine, for various reasons! He doesn't even need to make a gate! And so, the weird laser-scanny thing, the funny card bits, the whole thing, sets up! He waves everyone over. "ALRIGHT." He says. "Gimmie ya PREFERRED WEAPON and some PAINT, I'll get'cha SORTED." Bladed weapons can be converted to similarly weighted pseudo-paint-foam constructs, while projectiles of almost all types can be replaced with paint munitions! It even generates copies, not needing to consume the originals, because it's consuming something called "SHRINIUM" grist, instead of the usual grists. And as for the actual time to start the fight...
Kale Hearthward	"I mean, I'm more of a sword guy than a gun guy, so could - wait, alchemizing?" --- AFTERIMAGE SWORD + PAINTBALL RIFLE = PAINT TRAIL BAYONET --- "Beware, all!" calls Kale, hefting a musket with bayonet. "For in the skies - you will face BREATH WEAPON CYCLORAMA!" On closer inspection - the gun part chambers paintballs, and the bayonet part is actually a paintbrush. When the fight starts, Kale takes off - heading out with the new weapon in tow - and plays aggressively, trying to box opponents in by using the new weapon to literally paint walls and intercepting lines - the paint lingers in the air, whether in trails traced by the paintballs fired by the gun part, or drawn by the bayonet-brush part, forming a lingering hazard for anyone crossing through that airspace again!
Miyamomo	Miyamomo has defence. Defence for days. As Arthur abruptly hurtles towards her, her dangling foot kicks out to grab the front of his broomstick between her two biggest toes. This, somehow, allows her to divert his course and send him spinning far off-course. And when Onyx takes advantage of the opportunity to rush in and grab a ball, she finds it clutched in Miyamomo's vicelike grip. "I don't think we've been formally introduced. I am Miyamomo, master of the nameless style." She looks Onyx right in the eye with a wide smile before her eyes look askance, down to the ground at Alison. Then she releases the ball and lets Onyx take them all, spending the rest of the match adding to Staren's smokescreen by smoking her own pipe while reclining in the basket. She doesn't even look at the scoreboard afterwards, choosing instead to finish all the sushi and whatever she has in that jug. The explanation for the next match is pretty plain. Don't be hit by these guns, and hit others with them. It's the latter she takes issue with, but when alternatives are offered, she's on Arthur immediately. "A pair of knuckle-dusters please, that I can slot these strange orbs into~" When the match begins, she leaps into action, wall running and taking massive leaps to stay in the air. The fact that she needs to jump makes her 'flight' predictable, and many likely see her as an easy target. But upon shooting her, the paintball always immediately flies back at the shooter. Shots just glide along her body instead of breaking before she kicks or throws or hip-bumps it back at the shooter, or at anyone else in range. Those who wise up and don't fire at her find themselves stalked before she punches them with those dusters, always just hard enough to make the paintballs burst. If she went any harder, she'd break the rules about 'no trying to disable people.'
Strawberry Princess	"This, this, this, and... this." Strawberry scoops up a double-armful of the paint-handguns, guiltily glancing around to make sure nobody else was going to use them. Now that her wand's out of her carrying case, that's a convenient spot to pile in all of her spare sidearms. She ascends rapidly; her wand is powered on, but it stays strapped to her back. Once she reaches a suitable altitude, the carrying case is slung off her back, opened, and thrown to scatter its contents far and wide. One eidolon materializes per handgun, catching each mid-fall. They total eleven, a dozen bodies with Strawberry herself included. Strawberry Princess takes the opposite tack to Onyx, and between them they inadvertently form a Scylla and Charybdis-like double bind. While Onyx Witch prowls the streets and narrow spaces of the city, Strawberry's squadron of replicas patrol the high skies and wide-open spaces, swooping down on anyone unengaged with eerie coordination like a swarm of piranha drawn to blood.
Tamamo	Tamamo celebrates her 3rd-place victory with an arm pump (gesture banned in Italy), and a word close enough to "Hurrah!" She's all smiles for it, though in no hurry to explain how circumstances lead her there. Good health, passing marks, meetings with cute fellows: these are all things for which prayers are often uttered. It shouldn't, after all, be surprising for a goddess to be capable of granting a middling-high score, though some other, similarly mysterious help may have been involved, this time. But for the paint ball competition, she refrains, as she had the aerial. "I have prepared no suitable change of clothes, I fear. I understand a 'gym uniform' is suitable to these events, and perhaps I shall look to acquire one, for the next time such an event occurs. Although, it is quite difficult to keep up with such spirit as shown by those here, myself. I fear I would not be a helpful rival." With that, she goes to find a high enough spot, yet out of the wind, from which to watch.
Staren	After the basketball game, Staren fistbumps Arthur. "Thanks." she smiles, and assumes he can tell he really saved her back there, regardless of where they ended up on the scoreboard. Back before the timeskip, Staren spent some time messing around with the Shrine, using her Concord unlimited membership to work on a training simulation that, honestly, probably wasn't all that helpful. Still, she's not wowed by the scope of potential changes... but rather, instead, looks on with impressed appreciation at the smooth transition and 'unfolding' effect. "Did you program that? It looks really good." She'll give the devil her due. As the paintball weapons are unveiled and explained, she has sensors analyze them and verifies she can whip up something similar, although if that doesn't pass muster she'll have Arthur alchemize paint weapons into her vambraces instead. And maybe make some paint missiles, if that makes sense. She makes a paint-pistol and a paint-rifle in front of the others, stowing the former in her coat and slinging the latter over her back. Oh, Arthur can make paint-swords? She'll take two, having them added to her vambraces as well! Deathmatch... it's a classic contest, but not really something Staren's practiced. She prefers working with a team. Solo isn't really her style... and even the WMAT and the like were always one-on-one contests. Still, she'll try her best! There are surely some tactics she can use... Staren has her hand in a 'ready-to-draw' position as the countdown starts, then immediately draws her matter manipulator and puts up walls around her to foil first-few-seconds surprise attacks, before rushing for cover, launching smoke missiles to cover a few possible paths and making others guess which she took. She can't actually stay on the ground or on floors, but Staren prefers to use cover, hovering by or inside buildings to find camping spots. As she travels, she slaps cameras on the terrain to use for help spotting and tracking others. If someone comes into view, she snipes with the rifle, or repositions if her cameras indicate a tempting target. If there's no good target from her location, she fires some paint-homing-missiles at anyone her cameras have detected before moving to look for another spot. If she sees someone coming, she fires a burst to make them duck and then re-structures the terrain, magically-grown plants or rapidly-assembled walls blocking off pursuit as she leaves -- and paint proxy mines ready to surprise those who break through them. If surprised in closer quarters she uses her arm weapons for defense, but generally is looking to escape ASAP (including tricks like smoke and re-arranging nearby walls), since someone choosing to engage her at close range probably means they have the advantage there!
Sarracenia	As Arthur reveals his alchemy setup, Sarracenia's eyes start to sparkle. She gets as many copies or conversions or whatever of as many of her explosives as she can, then heads into battle! Non-lethal paint weapons mean she should be able to stay tanuki the entire time, so she starts scaling buildings to get reasonably high. Then, she starts flying between building tops, using the time she lands as both cover and time to build up speed to fly again. And she doesn't show any preference toward any particular target. Actually her first move is to pull out a half dozen paint-laden Bullet Bills and toss them upward. As each one comes down she twirls in and hits it on the flat with her DK Hammer, launching them like cannon shells. Cannon shells that track their targets somehow! Unfortunately, Sarracenia has never been big on defense. So pretty much anything sent her way is likely to hit. And her somewhat maniacal laughter probably doesn't help.
Strawberry Princess	Staren puts down cameras. The cameras are a weakness. She gets to see Onyx Witch float up to one of them with obvious curiosity, tap it with her finger, and then blossom into an evil grin. The dark magical girl taps it with her wand, suffused with a crackling black energy. An instant later, scrabbling electrifying claws erupt from whatever device Staren has connected to the cameras, aiming to stun her and cause pain. In that instant, Staren is seen. Before the shock of being attacked by a projection through her electronics can wear off, Onyx Witch bursts through a window of the building Staren's hiding in, levels her wand and starts shredding the office cubicles with dense rapid-fire magical shotgun blasts. If Staren tries to flee, Onyx is hot on her heels, an expression of ecstatic bloodlust (paintlust?) on her face. "You think you're smart. Probably are. Let's see if it helps."
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Craft up a paintbrush that counts as a broom Is this legal? I mean, probably mostly. There's a hilt and it has bristles. So, surely this device is legal, right? And the hilt is, properly, loaded up with the rifling of his main battlebroom. Alright, this should work. And Arthur grabs a lot of the paintballs to just... keep near him? They're revolving around him, a few thousand of the things just kept in a perpetual orbit. What's with that? Arthur takes off. Thirty minutes to fight...? >Arthur: Give Onyx Witch what she wants, dude. You know you have to. Arthur blasts off straight for the city. He doesn't hesitate, and he doesn't focus on the others. If he gets blasted in spite of his weaving, so be it. But he's got one goal, and it's not the high score. It's Onyx fucking Witch, and it's making sure she gets what she wants. In her prowling within the city, she'll find that some buildings aren't where they used to be. Segments of the city begin to crunch and crackle. Gravitational readings begin to go wild, for those who have the sensors. Multiple buildings of the central city begin to rise, torn clean out of the ground by a mass-scale gravitational effort. Kept mostly together, they form a dense aerial cover field similar to the city in its normal form, slowly rotating around a central set of black-hole-like spells Arthur's crafted. The paintballs Arthur took are rotating at high speed and density around it, and his paint-broom is drawing even more such projectiles into the terrifying orbit, making it a points-lethal thing to approach. Arthur is... moving, slowly, dangerously, straight for Onyx Witch whenever she shows her face! The whole fortress is in motion! He has hand-crafted the closest equivalent he can come up with to what he thinks an Endling is like: A central core to be blasted apart (the spell in the middle that he cast), a series of adaptable body segments around it (the cover buildings), and a series of highly lethal risks between the other defenses and the inner vulnerabilities (those orbiting paint-projectiles). Gates form all along the surface of the stolen fortress, windows of the buildings beginning to disgorge a danmaku-type formation that rains on the field overall, but especially targeting Onyx Witch. It is specifically a challenge issued to her, this roaming creature of the streets, in the format she's meant to feel most at-home in.
Staren	Bullet Bills, Staren can handle, drawing real weapons and trying to shoot them down before they reach her. But Staren's firewalls aren't ready for this kind of MAGIC SHENANIGANS. Shocking, painful claws rise out of HER OWN BODY and attack! Onyx Witch absolutely gets the drop on Staren and some easy points before Staren can shut off the link and fire back! She does try to flee, still kind of freaked by what happened, and makes liberal use of her paint missiles in homing mode to slow Onyx's pursuit since she won't be able to use them for indirect fire after all! She finds her way to some of the crazy rubble left by Arthur, and uses her cat form to squeeze through a hole too small for pursuit and escape. Once she's had a moment to calm down, she resumes fighting with the same tactics as originally planned, sans use of cameras -- although, she still places dummy 'cameras' that are actually proxy paint-mines. She avoids deliberately engaging Onyx Witch in paint-combat for the rest of the exercise, though.
Sarracenia	Bullet Bills are big but slow. They don't really seem to get the job done. And Sarra gets hit with sniper shots and Strawberry's piranha guns and homing missiles. She's a multi-colored mess! She isn't about to stop fighting, but the only targets visible to her are Strawberry...and a flying city?! She can't help but stop, hovering in the air, watching wide-eyed as Arthur approaches in his black hole. "What in the world?!" Okay, so she does stop fighting now. At least until another gun attacks her, at which point she pulls out a multi-barreled missile launcher and fires a salvo of paint-laden missiles at the several Strawberry Princesses flying around!
Lilian Rook	Due to the numbers, the three roving squadrons actually make up the bulk of flying opponents! Their thrusters are fairly loud and easy to track, until they cleverly turn them off, action land at high speed under cover, and run for their maximum allotted time, before hopping somewhere else. Out in the open, they fight pretty much exactly like a jet squadron, using the same banking, rolling, looping, and even cobra maneuvers, trying to fall in on people's rear cones and blast them with concentrated automatic fire, peeling off and away when targeted, and constantly juking and shaking line of sight. In the closed in areas, they play high speed leapfrog, breaking line of sight with cover instead, rapidly moving from spot to spot, firing and maneuvering, getting surprise bursts from blind spots and then vanishing again. They are numerous enough to be the majority of foes to be fought, but they're also skilled enough to be pretty tough; no mook farming here. Sometimes they'll simply make unspoken truces for certain targets. The two Mahous and Lilian especially, but eventually four of them form up on Miyamomo at once, matching speed with nuanced hovering to simply try and overwhelm her defenses with raw volume of fire. After some brief argument, it is agreed that all of Strawberry's eidolons count both for and against her. Onyx Witch has stiff opposition to using her wand, which Alison then overrules; seeing her use her magic is the primary motivation for allowing this, after all. Lilian, of course, acquires her own paint rifle, though rather than offer her actual sword, she has Arthur synthesize a brand new one with magic paint structure that closely matches its balance. This is finally where she starts resembling her usual self. That is, aggressively mean. Half-power at least. Compared to the mahou and GDF Rapier troopers, her flight model is pretty different. She climbs without resistance, but can't cash in height for bursts of speed. Her 'thrust' appears to be a variable kind of vernier angle loosely 'down' from wherever her legs are, allowing her to maneuver with two different thrust vectors simply by mid-air acrobatics, and as anyone trying to classically dogfight her finds out the hard way, she can absolutely turn around and coast on her back while absolutely lighting them up. Her top speed is fairly high, and her G-tolerance is even higher, but her ability to manipulate air resistance is fairly low, so she has to compensate for her turning radius by rapidly rebounding off buildings, and can gain bursts of launch speed by sprinting along the roads. Her gunfighting skills are predictably quite high; she has no issue with swooping down and strafing anyone she sees in the open, gaining height advantage before they can, and she has even less issue with 'arena shooter' style circle strafing and serpentine maneuvers, minimizing her profile by fighting in a 'duelist stance' rather than the Mahou style. Once air superiority gets oppressive, like with Strawberry's eidolons flying over, she'll shelter in place and hide, then catch them as they pass.
Lilian Rook	When paint missiles and explosives begin flying, rather than trying to out-turn them or dive away in predictable lines, that's when she cheats. And from then on, she doesn't really stop. Her floaty, swoopy movements become vomit-inducing flittering zigzags for anyone watching, 'teleport'-juking wherever walking fire would actually catch her. When she'd be pinned up against a building, she goes right through it, popping across the other side and firing from just outside the opponent's FoV. When cornered, she disappears completely, relocating somewhere else out of the way to rest and reload briefly. She pays minimal attention to Sarracenia until her explosives become too threatening, then largely sprays her with suppressive fire until she flinches and then scoots. Kale is where she simply refuses to be in front of him ever, opting out of dealing with his wind magic 'ever' and strike-vanishing him when his back is turned, declining a real duel in order to opportunistically score points. The twelve squadron-members are where she does the majority of her real dogfighting. She avoids more than two of Strawberry's eidolons at a time, clearly not wanting to risk three guns from the same scorer on her at once, with many more flight hours than her. Staren is someone she opportunistically picks on and sticks to her like glue, hosing her with up-close fire for as long as possible and flying annoying circles around her, especially through the ceilings, walls, and floors of any cover she tries to use against her. Of course, attempting to use the swords on Lilian is suicide. Once she attempts to hit Miyamomo a few times, and runs up against that hard counter she'd seen once during their initial contact, she slings the gun and begins using the sword, abusing the superior reach and ruthlessly exploiting the fact that Miyamomo here is cheated out of most of her ability to block and deflect with her bare hands; paint is paint and a hit is a hit. The sword is also her best bet against when she ends up in the open and has to fight Strawberry seriously, during cooldowns between 'Heart Ability' spam, using it to rapidly parry and deflect hails of bullets that would be too coordinated to leave her any room to dodge, and to close in and try to get a bunch of 'free' hits at the range where Strawberry has the least defense, before the mahou breaks off with higher speed. Onyx Witch is a whole thing. The shotgun wand makes it more difficult to get up close, and she's too agile to really hit consistently at range. Lilian doesn't really seek her out, but when they cross paths, it becomes a sort of cage match until someone actually gets hit, like an unspoken rule. Most of her ability to deal with the magic blasts is with autoparry at mid-range and prescient, jarring dodges up close, trying to get around the wall of shot and force Onyx Witch to put on lots of inertia to avoid walking hails of fire, then catch her from the other side and hit her with the sword. But she leaves Arthur mostly to the mahou. Mostly. She can't help but take repeated cheeky shots, specifically, at the back of his head and his backside, when the gamer talk revs up. She gets the idea though. It's not as if she never gets hit. Even she doesn't have infinite reaction time, and infinite extra time to spend on this game. She quickly becomes an attractive target, as when multiple people bump into each other, the temptation is to all aim for her and apply pressure rather than fight amongst each other and give her free shots. Her 'weakness' is that when she gets hit at all, even if it'd be a winning trade for her to simply aggressively respond, she breaks off and relocates immediately, limiting how much any one person can score on her, but meaning that all anyone needs to escape her is to 'win neutral, once', and there are opportunities to quickly score small numbers of points in engagements that should be a bad idea to initiate.
Strawberry Princess	Onyx is frighteningly dogged. One of Staren's paint-missiles catches her by surprise, splattering her and forcing out a yelp, but she's undeterred- future ones tend to be deflected by her telekinesis, or just shaken off via hyper-agile weaving around obstacles. Despite her young age, Onyx is a five-year veteran. But veterancy doesn't allow her to slip through cat-sized gaps. Onyx hard-brakes next to the gap Staren's slipped through, trains her wand against it, and looks about to start blasting a human-sized hole through it. Then she notices the rumbling behind her, and slowly turns around. For a brief second Onyx Witch locks up in adrenaline-fueled hyperfocus. Endling. Do I have Topaz? No, burnt. Do I have Jade? No, gone. Solo tactics. City environment, go for core, quick kill to minimize- Then she processes the reality of the situation. This is all a simulation, and within it an imitation Endling; double-fake, double-harmless. A harsh sigh escapes her. Her grip on her wand slackens, knuckles un-whitening. Onyx Witch rises up to meet Arthur's constrution, weaving gracefully to dodge its shots by mere feet on pure autopilot. Just like back then. This is it. This is my chance to prove I've gotten better. Prove how bad I wanted it. Lilian, Alison, Tamamo, Arthur. I'll make you proud. She takes cover from its fusillades within its own limbs, smashing through a window of one of those office buildings, spiraling up through the claustrophobic moving structure with phenomenal agility and leaving a gray helical trail visible through the windows, and flying out the other end with a protective debris field held in telekinetic orbit. A huge chunk of concrete wall in particular is held in front of her like a shield as she rushes the core, with smaller bits blocking attacks from the side. Orbital swarms of paintballs have to be blocked with point-defense magical blasts once they become too thick to dodge. She closes to the range where her shotgun would be optimally effective, and then even closer than that. Her free hand crackles with dark energy. Her heart ability had always been an instant kill, or close enough, if she touched an Endling's core. Unacceptably risky by almost any standard, but a desperation finisher. Nobody was ever quite sure why something that attacks information and connections would shatter an Endling's core. For black holes, it's simpler: their event horizons encode an incredible amount of holographic information. She isn't thinking in scientific terms. She's running off pure analogy. But regardless of the 'why', when her crackling hand touches the first black hole, it 'cooks off' instantly and obliterates the others. Onyx Witch hovers in place, breathing deeply, surrounded by the deafening dull roar of buildings falling back to earth.
Miyamomo	As the four soldiers descend on Miyamomo, she lands upon a rooftop and punches it, hard enough to send dust and debris up, blocking their line of sight for a moment. But that's only a bonus. The debris is what she wants. Something to kick off of, allowing her to bounce between them to bury her fist in each of their stomachs while also ripping the clipizines from their guns. As out of touch as she is, she's figured those out. By the time they've recovered and reloaded, she's already gone. Lilian is more of a hassle. The reach of the sword, plus the fact that even touching it is a mark against her means all she can do is bob and weave, a tough thing to do while jumping against a flying opponent. But eventually, she does retaliate. Parting her open palm between the middle and ring finger to make a V-shape out of her hand, she meets one of Lilian's thrusts with her own. The blade passes between her fingers, the force of the thrust blowing paint from the blade to spatter its wielder. Miyamomo is absolutely taking paint for this, but at least it's a phyrric victory, and the smile on her face tells how okay with that she is.
Staren	Yeah in retrospect the swords weren't a good idea for a weapon. Staren doesn't actually use them except to desperately parry other melee attacks. At least that doesn't count as getting hit, right? Staren expected Lilian-bullying. At least it's just a game, even if it's VERY STRESSFUL. It doesn't help that she can phase through walls now, what the HELL. Staren's not sure how to counter-cheat that; she has to settle for leading Lilian towards where she hears other opponents, or filling entire buildings with smoke, selectively making holes in walls herself, and sending out drones to fake the sound of her movement. She's not capable of seeing Lilian's weakness, not daring to risk provoking her. The stressful experience of Lilian's wrath, even in paint form, isn't worth any number of points. There may not be mook farming, but at least the soldiers aren't scary in the way Lilian and Onyx are. They can be fought, normally, somewhat predictably. Their teamwork is a problem, but without other special abilities besides flight, Staren's bag of tricks and decade-and-a-half of combat experience can perhaps make up for it a little. Arthur has called out Onyx Witch, Staren's not getting involved in that. Sarracenia is a good target of opportunity -- her wrath isn't so scary, Staren quickly developing the tactic of firing a burst from her rifle at Sarra and then immediately putting up a barrier to block paint missile counterfire before rushing off to find another position and target. Miyamomo is a wildcard to Staren, but swiftly determined to be not worth engaging, although if surprised by Miyamomo she might be the only target Staren tries to actually HIT with the swords while defending herself. The Strawberries are all Strawberry, as Staren assumed. She avoids dogfighting with them, but sometimes takes shots from cover. She 'spares' the one that gave her a ball earlier, though. Not sure what's up with that.
Strawberry Princess	Strawberry's eidolons are consistently hassled by Sarracenia's homing missiles, forcing them into evasive maneuvers and preventing them from ganging up on others quite as effectively. They try to pelt her back with their handguns, but she's far enough down that wind is a real issue, and they largely aren't willing to dive into Onyx Witch's domain. One does try something cheeky by getting a couple of homing missiles on its tail, and then swooping past her to try and get them to hit her instead. They're homing missiles, you've got to try it once! ---- This is really the first time Lilian's ever "fought" Strawberry. Something gradually becomes apparent that was never obvious working alongside her: even when her eidolons are dispersed, Strawberry is impossible to blindside. She can't predict where Lilian will teleport, but she instantly wheels around and pinpoints her new location as if she'd never left her vision at all. Even when Lilian breaks off and escapes thousands of feet away, Strawberry instinctively beelines directly for her. It's like there's a radar lock that's impossible to shake. There is no such thing as being "outside her FoV". Their duels become complex swooping high-speed messes. Strawberry takes advantage of her uncanny skill with handguns and her intuitive grasp of how projectiles inherit momentum, letting her land ruthlessly accurate back-to-back shots even while they're screaming past each other at hundreds of miles per hour. When Lilian's parrying becomes too oppressive, Strawberry breaks out her secret weapon: she draws her wand and turns the crystal at its tip into an impossibly bright beacon of blinding light, then magdumps paint accurately into Lilian. Neither of them can see with their eyeballs in that condition, but from her un-sight's faraway perspective, Lilian is silhouetted against the unbearable glow.
Arthur Lowell	>==> Arthur's Knockoff Endling fucking bites it, in spite of his efforts. His attempts to force the buildings to twist their internal geometries, or maneuver them as cover, don't get through the intense Onyx Witch rush. When she obliterates the event horizon's holographic storage, that takes the spell that sustained the black hole and the knockoff endling as well, and ends with Arthur beefing it straight out of the thing. He slams through one of the buildings he was keeping up! He's got plenty of paint from people like Lilian taking attacks of opportunity, but at least he can use that as cover as it descends... It slams to the ground! Eventually, Arthur kicks a disjointed door open, falls facefirst out of it, and slams onto the ground somewhere near Onyx Witch's position. "FUCK." He declares. "What the hell is that TELEKINESIS SHIT? It SHREDDED my SPELLS. God, I should'a just gone for a TWO SECOND GRAB-AND-BOOST like that LAST TIME. That is some CHEESE-ASS BULLSHIT." He keeps his gamer talk sour and trashy, and it's sincere, but there's an element of just cutting loose with it to give Onyx Witch the experience she wanted too.
Lilian Rook	Thirty minutes sounds like a long time, but it passes with astonishing quickness once all parties are fully engaged. Mentally, as the metagame becomes more complex and yet more familiar by the minute. Physically, as the adrenaline kicks in and the sweat works up. And emotionally, as rivalries and alliances form and break, as is the course of these things. The scoreboard at the end, announced by a shrill 'whistle' alarm, tallies up shockingly high numbers of points. The results? They-- Cut to next scene! Nobody talks about the winner by name! Even the CG holding a trophy doesn't show anyone's hand specifically! How thoughtful! Instead, returns to grills and coolers come with fresh rounds of ice cold celebratory beer, hotdogs, and piles of irresponsibly imported candy and chips for the younger members. There is an entire minifridge full of Mt.Dew(tm), courtesy of tiny lady, who is a verified Gamer Girl(ltd). Alison's fawning over Onyx Witch is unavoidable, but she also does deliver on her promise; Onyx Witch will have the opportunity to visit Domum Fortiem Septem by new years. Lilian stops by Arthur, and gives him, of all thing, a kind of hesitant dap, and says it was pretty cool what he did for Onyx Witch, in more pretentious words. With Strawberry, she admits that she had a real rush 'sparring' with her, and that she plans to go away soon, for a little while, but once she comes back, she'd like to do it again. She even stops being mean to Staren and Sarracenia for a while! Mainly she is washing off the few residual badfeels with Tamamo and bothering Miyamomo for more sake to wind down until the last hour of the reserved block peters out. The weather is perfect for it, after all. And there's all this space to simply fly around for the experience of it.