Scene #8174: The New Challengers

Owner	Pose
Cantio	Today is another busy day at the Shrine like any other, with spectators and visitors going about their personal business while others try to peddle their wares to curious visitors or take bets that may or may not get them hauled away moments later. Rooms change in the blink of an eye, with some following preset templates while others are meticulously crafted for specific purposes that only be good for a single day. It's one of those crafted rooms that Cantio's invited everyone to today, having already set up seats in wide circle around the a city park-like zone. Plenty of trees, signage, benches, and even public bathrooms provided as potential cover or terrain to maneuver on, and there's all sorts of digital vendors wandering about selling hot dogs, balloons, and bubble blowers. Some blockier simulacra of people wander the false park, too, moving in preset patterns and occasionally yelling things like "DON'T SHOOT!" and "OH! HELP ME!" in badly digitized voices while following their designated patrol routes without really seeming aware of anything around them. Well before the chosen time, Cantio is seated in the middle of the false park, lounging on one of the benches while watching a school of fish swimming by idly. Her trusty attache case is on the other side of the bench while a fishing rod leans across her lap to dangle bait into the water, and she looks like she's ready to... Fall asleep? Fishing clearly isn't for her, but it's keeping her busy in a unique way. She snaps her head up every now and then as she remembers where she is, but it's not long before she finds the lull off the fishing rod starting to fight her consciousness once again. It's only when her phone's alarm reminds her that it's about five minutes to showtime that she finally manages to stave off the drowsiness, keeping herself busy with swiping through a floating drone and going over reams of numbers on colorful spreadsheets that flash by in moments.
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT	The eminently present radio tower that is DRYCLEAN strides into the room, quickly pausing to marvel at the door itself, for some reason..? They carry that same folding chair under one arm, and make their way over to the pond, quickly setting it up and sitting down. They adjust their antennae their jacket, before adjusting their voice up slightly louder than their usual blasting volume. "Pleasure to make it, Miss Cantio. You got any RSVP on other participants?"
John Doe	John walks in munching on the remains of a hot dog. Once swallowed he waves towards Cantio and those showing up. He also turns his head towards a blocky dude who is calling for help. Blinks as it stops and just moves on the route. "Alllllright then..." he says, not really getting it. Maybe it's some sort of multiversal thing. "So what's on the schedule tonight?" he asks, it was obvious what they were there FOR, but no specifics came out so he's curious about what they'd be specifically doing.
Remee Halcyon	Being an Elite isn't new to Remee. The Concord's shrine, however, is - and Remee is briefly distracted by what's on offer. There hasn't really been enough lead time for any Remee merchandise to be on the shelves (she can't help but look out for it), but she does spot a chibi Rita Ma plushie that she buys before hurrying on to the designated room. "Hey there!" she calls as she heads on into the park, briefly pausing when she sees Cantio about to fall asleep. "Oh - are we late?" She checks her watch. No, still a bit early. "Right, so..."
Hibiki Tachibana	Today, the shoe is on the other foot. That is, Hibiki Tachibana is not visiting the Shrine of Adversity to get tied up in energy-sapping bondage or to try to plant her fist into someone else's face. She is, in fact, just watching. The fact she's just watching gives her a chance to swipe from one of the food places on the way in, but that's not important, and because she finished whatever it was before she got here, you can never prove she did it. She steps into the park-modeled room with her hands in her jacket pockets, the bulky coat doing a prett good job of hiding some bandages still wrapped around a few parts of her torso, though not one on a leg. "Yo. Hope you don't mind if I tag in to watch things go down. Don't think I could afford to miss /this/ one." She takes a hand out to give a wave towards Cantio, then the others - namely John, who specifically gets a nod. And then back into the pocket it goes, and though she didn't pack along a seat, she looks more than fine taking up a standing position pretty much right next to DRYCLEAN's spot. "...You really went the whole mile setting this one up though, didn't you?" She ostensibly mentions towards Cantio, glancing at the 'civilians' she's set up in the area.
Petra Soroka	Petra walks in, sipping out of a souvenir cup and wearing a souvenir hat, the really cheap garbage that gets mass produced and hawked by a dozen different stores and stalls for massively inflated prices. Petra didn't buy them from the first table of wares with a person calling her over, though, she's not that gullible. Instead, she bought them from the store right nearby, expecting that to be a higher quality, for some reason. Her arrival is announced with a big burbling final sip of cola, and a wave of her other hand, thumb smudged with power. She marvels at the expansiveness of the simulated park, walking right up to an npc and poking them curiously, before the abrupt shout of "HELP ME!!" causes her to shriek and stumble backwards. "Is it really necessary for them to do that, Cantio?!" She bounces on her toes. "So when do we start? Are we pairing off, or what?"
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT	DRYCLEAN has, at this point, visibly directed some amount of attention to the ceiling. They give a quick salute to Hibiki setting up next to them, before standing for a second and meandering over to the room controls. There's an adjustment made to one of the dials on their monitor, and they quickly swipe through some of the informational panels on the kiosk. A hand is idly run along the side of it as they do so, just feeling it out. "Hey, reiteratin' a question, but do these fancy rooms got somethin' like a loadin' bay?"
Cantio	Hearing DRYCLEAN, Cantio smiles and taps two fingers to her in a brief wave. "Hey, DRYCLEAN! Yeah, I've got a few people coming by today. I.. Think. I mean, I didn't send out any specific invitations, so..." She trails off, but there's a clear look of concern on her face as she looks over towards the fake lake. "... Do you think I should've been more specific? Maybe I'm getting too used to having the marketing team handle-" Voices! John shows up without her realizing he's there, and she nearly jumps out of her skin when he speaks up. "Oh! Hey, John. Thanks for coming. Today's schedule is going to be a quick little testing session! Not testing like experiments, but... Figuring out what makes everyone tick. What drives everybody. And a bit of... Scouting?" Remee arrives, too! That's at least three people already, and there's a palpable relief in her features at that. "Hey, Remee! No, no, you're all on time. I was just trying a bit of fishing and..." She glances at the lake again, furrowing her brow briefly before shrugging. "I don't know why my sister loves it so much. It's so inefficient compared to using a net or something." Shrugging lightly, her grin grows a bit wider when she hears Hibiki coming over to watch the goings on. "Not at all. I'm glad you came, too! It was definitely... I might have gone a little overboard with it, actually." She admits with a light chuckle and scratching her cheek. "Once I started putting the terrain together, I noticed it was kind of empty, and then it didn't make sense for people to be around without certain roles, and..." Thankfully, the start of her rambling is interrupted by Petra shrieking. Holding back a laugh, she raises her hand in a quick wave before gesturing at Petra to approach. "Of course! I saw them in another city's travel ads, so I thought it'd be a good idea to include them here if the area's... Recreated from there, too." DRYCLEAN's question about a loading bay, meanwhile, gets a curious look from Cantio. "You mean like a proper... Stuff unloading scenario? Yeah, there's all sorts programmed in here. They've even got hostage situations or high speed chases, and I think I saw something involving forklifts on the way here."
Cantio	Once everyone's gathered, Cantio finally gets to the meat of today's gettogether. "So! For today's test, I want to see how well you handle constantly changing situations. Measuring what your strengths and weaknesses are when it comes to a fight you can't talk your way out of, what you'll do when it comes to unexpected situations, thinking on your feet, that sort of thing. It's one thing to handle yourself in a fight against a more predictable opponent opponent with known capabilities, but... Well, let's start with something easy and move our way up." Cantio giggles softly as she pops open her attache case, revealing two halves of a translucent purple blade that all but falls out of it before stopping an inch off the ground. The halves float back up into her hand, and then they snap together with a satisfying gleam-noise that was definitely programmed into the weapon just for the aesthetic. "Don't worry about worn out here, either. It's the Shrine of Adversity, remember, so going all out is fine since you'll be... Um. Fine! Later." Clapping her hands together, Cantio lets the sword float beside her momentarily while she moves away from the bench so there's a clearer path to her and, conversely, to those facing her today. "I won't be holding back, either, so treat this as though you were in a real fight, and as though this was your home this..." She pauses, looks over at John, then recalibrates. "... That this is a place you really, really like. Anyway! Um. I'll get started once everyone's ready." Cantio doesn't wait long, though, before beginning. Her first attack is a simple one: She holds her sword sideways with both hands on the handle, then stomps forward once as the blade flares to life with bright pinpricks of light appearing all along its length. "First test: How do you handle an attack that's not quite what you'd expect?" Lasers burst out of the sword, but not straight at today's combatants. Instead, they form into the shape of another sword, and it spins rapidly as it flies outwards, aiming to slam right into John, Petra, and Remee each in quick succession!
Hibiki Tachibana	DRYCLEAN gets a two-fingered salute back, along with a raise of an eyebrow when they step off to inquire about a loading bay. Huh. She doesn't give that /too/ much thought before Cantio speaks up, and Hibiki nods back at her - along with a chuckle of her own and a rub at the back of her neck. "Well, I guess that's just like you." She doesn't sound like she considers that a bad thing at all. "Well, maybe it'll make things a little interesting." Delivered right after Petra triggers one of the simulacrums into a screaming fit, which she looks towards with an even dryer version of her laugh from a second ago. And a moment of silence after, where she just stares at the other girl for a brief instant, but it passes before too long. Gotta focus on the fight starting up now. Hibiki, forher part, cups a hand in front of her mouth and offers up some sage advice. "Just try not to get hit!" Thank you, Hibiki.
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT	They finally find the option they were looking for on the kiosk, as a small hole in the projection of the sky opens up, and a shrouded shape quickly passes down and folds from a higher dimension down into a vessel. Almost instantaneously, it angles towards Cantio and a reticle begins cycling around her. "First rule've fightin' is misdirection, I reckon."
John Doe	John attempts to guard, the attack might be weird but he should be able to weather the assault. Until it forms into a sword and swings at him at an angle he wasn't covering. Despite that, John's still made of tough stuff, and the attack strikes a critical point, staggering him and causing him to collapse to a single knee. He then leaps from his position, aiming to close the distance from where he was to where she was, and his arm swings down, aiming to smash her across the chest. The pure force from the attack was enough to send a shockwave forward in a wide arc. He doesn't stop, continuing to pepper her with blows to try and prevent her from being able to capitalize on her initial assault. "Pretty neat, but tricks won't work forever."
Remee Halcyon	Remee coughs awkwardly when Cantio mentions homes. Not just for John, but her own blew up recently from a gas leak*. "I'm generally fine regardless, shrine protection or no," she says, putting those stray thoughts aside as much as she can. Cantio attacks. Remee is... not there, when the attack gets to her. She dove forward, transitioning into wolf form seamlessly and running for the nearest cover. The attack goes right over her. She makes her reappearance somewhere behind Cantio, switching back to human form and pulling her rifle out. She aims a pair of shots - one aimed at Cantio's arm, the other at one of her legs - trying to slow her attacks and movement each down a bit.
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT	Still pressing something on the kiosk, DRYCLEAN does not move fast enough. Cables detach, severed immediately by the blade whirling through the air; a monitor is hastily grabbed before it hits the floor. They play some overblown clip of someone sighing before beginning to walk back towards everyone else. Wasn't kidding about that fragility. Static ebbs and flows through the devices of everyone nearby, as awareness pulses. The reticle converges; a thin red line drawn from the vessel down to a point near Cantio. Almost silent, pinpoint in accuracy. Additional reticles continue to form and converge upon the same point. Preparation.
Petra Soroka	Petra looks around for a picnic table to put her souvenirs on before the battle, more leisurely than Cantio's excitement allows for. She shrugs off her bomber jacket too, folding it and tossing it on the bench. Her gun is in the chest pocket of her overalls, so she pulls it out, checks that the magazine is loaded, snaps it back into place, runs a gunpowder-smudged hand through her hair, and-- First test: Petra saw the sword and thought there would be an extra moment before combat; she isn't ready. Instinctually, at the sound, she points her gun at the dirt below her and fires, bracing her shoulders over the recoil to propel herself upwards. The laser sword still grazes her feet though, sending her tumbling into a backflip through the air, landing somewhat ungracefully on the ground near Cantio. "Oof. Sorry for letting you down so fast, Hibiki!" The wind is knocked out of her by the fall, but it's easy enough for her to point her gun and fire at Cantio. Or, it would be, but... she shoots away, instead, launching herself into a kick that bounces her onto her feet.
Hibiki Tachibana	Hibiki's eyebrows raise again. Both of them this time. Not entirely because of that one awkward cough of Remee, but that does get a grimace out of her. Mostly at DRYCLEAN losing an entire head equivalent. "...Wasn't kidding about that fragility," she echoes under her breath. Even with the legendary folding chair all open and available, she doesn't do the rude thing of taking it. She's actually more than fine remaining standing, glancing over the various reactions - DRYCLEAN is self evident, John shakes it off, Remee is /fast/, and Petra has her pretty unique way of minimizing damage... "You haven't let me down at all yet! Good try! Just make sure you hit back!" And Petra is also the one who gets a return shout back, and she's more than interested in seeing what Cantio's second lesson here is going to be as she gets piled onto.
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT	Connection. As the others' attacks force Cantio to block and maneuver, the beam is in the worst place at every moment. It barely moves, and yet she just keeps running into it; clipping it with a sidestep, passing in front of a swing she can't halt the motion for. A score is carved into the ground as it passes, as deep as the simulation cares to emulate. The cabling that comprises their 'neck' mass, now somewhat severed, shifts rapidly; some detach from the primary and are reattached to the disconnected secondary, others spread out to avoid another clustered cut. Bad mistake. They adjust their jacket.
Cantio	Peering up at the shrouded shape, Cantio raises an eyebrow as that odd glint in the sky leads to the targeting reticle falling square on her. She eyes the strange formation with a curious look in her eyes, and she strokes her chin lightly before nodding in agreement. "Misdirection is an important part of battle, yes. A lot of people are misled by what they think they're seeing, hearing, feeling. It's extremely useful against people that are generally stronger than you, too, or to get a leg up on someone that's of similar strength to you." John comes in with his own counterattacks, and Cantio holds her position as she brings her sword up towards his rain of blows. The sword shatters on impact rather than actually protecting Cantio from any of his strikes, but the pieces reform together almost as quickly as she starts slamming the exploding sword into each of his punches. DRYCLEAN's mass of reticles raise some red flags in Cantio's mind, but she tightens up her resolve as she stays right where she is instead of actively trying avoid them at all. That moment of hesitation before she steels herself again, however, gives the group multiple openings. It doesn't take long for John's punches to start getting past her defensive swings, especially with Remee's shots slamming into her limbs at just the wrong time. The shot in the arm slows her counter-swing enough to get her decked square in the chest, and the shot in the leg has Cantio stumbling forward enough for Petra's shot-propelled kick to catch her side firmly and send her right back into the path of DRYCLEAN's laser. "Good start! You can adapt well enough, so that'll help you further down the line... But you can't always rely on misdirection. If you're fighting in a completely lopsided battle against... Say." Cantio raises her sword's handle, and it rockets upwards as a rather ludicrous number of lasers burst out of it on the way towards DRYCLEAN's ominous aerial device. "A more powerful opponent. Or greater numbers." She holds her open hand towards the group once again. "Then you need raw power. Speed, strength, durability, or even plain firepower. Second..." She pauses. "... 'Lesson'. How would you overcome such a thing coming out of nowhere? Do any of you have plans on how to get more of those things?" As she asks those questions, the lasers from her sword handle begin blasting downwards at not only the group, but at the battlefield itself, crashing through the carefully created park and turning it into the RUINED CITY zone! Luckily, it's not a danger for any observers, or even to anyone real despite the screaming civilians. The real secret is that only some of those lasers were actually attacks, but nobody else needs to know that.
John Doe	Now things change to John's specialty. A massive attack that comes out of nowhere? That is when he's at his best...a battle of strength versus strength. He digs his heels in and calls forth the name. The name attached to the piece of his soul given form. "MAN IN THE IRON MASK, COME FORTH!" he bellows as the Persona appears right behind him. Chains seem to spread out over John's flesh, protecting him from the initial onslaught of Cantio's attack. Though it still leaves a mark and definitely hits, he weathers the storm better than most. His foot hits the ground as it shakes the arena slightly. Then right in retaliation, The chains from the Iron Mask swing down, aiming to strike at Cantio with incredible force. This is followed by John diving between them, aiming to punch where the strikes came down, aiming to follow up on what his Persona started.
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT	The vessel shrouds in almost a split second, in a display that would be unfathomable to anyone who knows the tech. The blade itself carves a distinct path along some sort of manifold, though when it pulls back into realspace the damage looks significantly less broad than it would have been. Lasers seem to mostly just miss, though one strikes their secondary monitor again. Static pulses. "Well, I reckon most've my options involve just gettin' pulverized or leavin', ha ha. As Cleaves-Great-Swathes famously said, 'To pick fights with giants is to become painfully aware size.'" They pause. The quote was stated in an uncharacteristically cohesive voice; obviously a clip of someone saying it in its entirely. "That translates a mite funny out of Kalix, ha ha. Point still made." This, of course, is all ongoing as the alignment continues. Slow movements.
Remee Halcyon	Remee reloads quickly, slotting another bullet into her rifle. "Can't rely on misdirection, well, you can say that, but-" LASER SATURATION Remee goes to dive out of the way, and doesn't quite make it this time. When she gets back up, she's missing an arm, up to the shoulder. "... Coming out of nowhere, huh." The rifle is dropped - her good (only) hand reaching into her gear bag and pulling out a shotgun, which fortunately for her is pre-loaded. With that, she takes aim and blasts away at Cantio, trying to rely on the shotgun's stopping power to forestall whatever's coming next!
Petra Soroka	Petra, still in the air after her kick landed, instinctively tries to shoot the sword handle down before it releases its onslaught. That's the obvious answer, right? To win a battle against overwhelming strength, just prevent them from getting that strength in the first place. But, just like with John, the sword shatters at the impact, unaffected, and the recoil launches Petra downwards much faster than she was prepared for. Her back hits the ground, shooting pain down the length of her body. Bracing for the shower of lasers, Petra prepares to sharpen her reactions and dodge between each shot, but the screams of the simulated civilians break her concentration. She knows they're not real, but when the ground is being carved out around her, and screams of help are distorted by explosions... it's still jarring. In her lapsed concentration, a laser hits her directly, blasting her back into a ruined building. Petra coughs, wipes her mouth, and forces herself back up. "I still don't like that they talk! It's not funny!" She charges in, emptying the rest of her magazine behind her to throw herself at Cantio with an accelerated flurry of knee and elbow thrusts.
Hibiki Tachibana	There's John's Persona...Hibiki was waiting for that. He's got some real bulk in his pocket, but what about the others? DRYCLEAN can't take too much more of that - and Remee is too slow this time. She can't help but wince, maybe for more than one reason, at the sight of her arm missing even though it's barely an inconvenience for the wolf. And then Petra...that's not pretty to see, either. Though the laser storm takes them from CITY ESCAPE to RUINED CITY, she doesn't move much as all the bursts come down, apparently figuring that it's not /actual/ collateral damage. Cantio sure does have a flare for the dramatic though, and she's not making it easy for them either. Though, they also have the number advantage. "...Well, let's see how /she/ deals with those chains," she murmurs to herself, watching the Man in the Iron Mask...and maybe also Petra's melee barrage.
Cantio	Even with DRYCLEAN's beams searing into her, Cantio has refused to budge from her spot (mostly). Instead, her gaze is still focused on the group before her, sword handle descending from the skies into her hand as its own lasers (somewhat) shield her from the constant onslaught of that vessel intensifying its weaponry upon her. "It's not a bad thing to know your limits. Not everyone's good at everything, and there's definitely a cost trying to get good at something you suck at instead of perfecting at what you're already good at. Maybe not in money, but in.. Time. Energy. Effort. Some fighters are renowned for their ability to protect themselves and others rather than just crushing their enemies, and vice versa. Even now..." She gestures at John as her sword reforms in her hand, the interlocking pieces tightening up into a shield-like slab between herself and the Man in the Iron Mask. The Persona's whipping chains smash into her from one direction while she holds her guard up against it and John's strikes to keep them from battering her into a crater. "I can already see that some of you are more suited to head-on combat..." Her gaze goes towards DRYCLEAN's multiple heads next even as the physical barrage keeps her pinned down, having trouble even seeing where the robotic jockey is with the light of the vessel still keeping her from getting a clear shot. Before she can, however, Remee's shotgun burst hits her at center mass, forcing her to continue weathering John's rapid blows. "And others are from a distance to cover each other or create opportunities for each other. Hone th-" She almost forgets that Petra's still in the fight after seeing her get blasted away by that laser, and that lapse in attention is just what she needs to slam a flying knee right into Cantio's face hard enough to draw blood. "Gh... And some of you are... You're angry. Easy to rile up. Easier to manipulate, but that stubbornness and that drive... It's almost like-" There's a longer pause, and Cantio catches herself just in time to brace her arm against an oncoming elbow strike. "-someone else I know." Staggering back a few steps, Cantio finds herself forced to split her defenses between Petra's and John's constant blows, but Remee's shotgun continues to keep her footing unsteady while DRYCLEAN's lasers force her to keep her guard up to weather as much of it as she can. "You've all got your strengths, but there's still something... Missing. You have clear specialties, but what of your drive to get stronger than you are?" Wiping off her face, Cantio finally brings her sword up as she swings it around herself, shattering it on the first person it impacts against and sending the pieces scattering all over the arena. "If getting that power means hurting yourself irreparably or... What if it takes hurting the people important to you? Would you be willing to go that far to protect something else? Or do you have lines you couldn't cross?" The gaze she casts on each person isn't a judging one, although she's certainly studying each person's reaction as an ominous hum comes from the array of scattered sword pieces. The humming grows louder over time, and a clone of Cantio (thief!) slides upwards out of the ground besides Hibiki as it does. While the clone sets up a quick little barrier around them, it's not long before the humming becomes an unbearable cacophony of noise, the glass-like shards of her sword amplifying it to unreasonable levels before suddenly exploding in a physical shockwave that sweeps through the entire arena. Thankfully, the soundproofing is really good, so it's mostly just a muffled boom to anyone outside or protected within that clone's barrier.
Petra Soroka	Petra kicks herself away from Cantio, making space to catch her breath. She grinds her heels into the ruined earth, chest heaving. "Is that what this is about? Compromising your personhood in the pursuit of power?" She scowls, her gun hanging loosely at her side. "That's bullshit. I don't believe it. Just because I don't want to become a monster doesn't mean I have no drive to improve." Petra rubs at her ear, then jolts to attention when the hum becomes loud enough to vibrate her teeth. "Ah, ah, earpro, come on!" One hand plunges into her pocket, pulling out a set of ear coverings. With the other hand still holding her gun--though not aiming it anywhere--she can't put it on in time. The shockwave ripples over the battlefield, throwing Petra to the ground for the third time. Her gun is ripped out of her hands, vanishing from sight, and her prone body stays face-down in the dirt for just long enough for the audience (Hibiki) to get worried. "It's stupid! To think that way! I can be strong like I am! I'm not hurting anybody, not anyone close to me." The first part of her defiant retort is muffled by dirt that she spits out of her mouth. Her nose is bleeding profusely, and there's splotches of blood and tears all over her outfit. Petra pushes herself to standing, then draws her Banana gun while charging Cantio. No kicks this time, she just full-body tackles her, putting the Banana into Cantio's chest and unloading it. It isn't painful, even the impact of the pellets themselves. It just feels tingly and numbing, though overloading the nerves in her chest to this degree could cause a heart attack.
Remee Halcyon	Remee pauses at Cantio's ask. "I-" "... don't... know if I have that drive." "But I need to... do right. I need to offset some things that I'm responsible for. And to do that..." "... I need to get stronger?" It doesn't sound, really, that convincing. The last part, at least. The first part, Remee's speaking the truth, but - it's painfully clear that she doesn't have anything near the burning drive that a lot of others do. She has a goal she's trying to reach, and everything else is incidental to that - her own power or strength included. Further dialogue proves impossible as she goes to slam her hand onto one of her ears. "What is-" The shockwave erupts. Remee runs for it - her form wavering briefly as she works through the realization that a two legged human is still faster than a three legged wolf. She emerges, once the shockwave clears - having taken shelter in some of the wreckage, which then crumbled down further around her. The damage from the collapse was still preferrable to the shockwave. "... Mostly..." She pulls out her backup weapon from her vest - a pistol crossbow - and aims. "Mostly... I just... need to hold on until I'm done. Just... keep on holding on." She fires.
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT	The room explodes; sounds reverbates down to the core; THE CONDUCTOR STANDS. THE CONDUCTOR LISTENS. Resonance is DRYCLEAN's field. The cables comprising their neck, and now obviously entire body, suddenly splay out into some fractal formation and attenuate the melody discordance. Their jacket flutters in the blast. Not a scratch. Retraction back to the standard; regression to the mean. "Gettin' stronger is such a focus for you folks. I ain't the one to really make a decision like that, ha ha. Ain't my field, missin' the drive, as you put it." Aligned. The reticles coalesce completely. "Losin' stuff's still an interestin' development, and frankly, I ain't got enough on it. So I bend, ha ha. Got some lines, sure, but I think folks are thinkin' a little too small sometimes when it comes to that." They walk over to the bubble, knocking on it before adjusting their folding chair and sitting back down. A rock is pulled out of a shoe; far more casually than should be reasonable for the aftermath of such an attack. Then again, when have they treated this reasonably? "Reckon it's more interestin' supportin' people who take those lengths themselves, ha ha. Better stories." Scour.
John Doe	The shockwave was somehow stronger than John thought. Forced under the pressure of the attack...before being thrown from his feet and into a nearby building. Said building then collapsing on him. Under a building, covered in fire, and also smashed with an attack of that caliber...well John is not happy. Seconds later, part of the collapsed building bursts out, throwing a large piece of debris away in a random direction. There is a scowl on John's face. Trying to dig at how far he'll go, what he'll do...she just got his answer before, but it seems she's not taking it seriously...or that she can't remember. It annoys the piss out of him...and right now he has a way to release that frustration. The field of chains explodes from him, aiming to cover the field. Inside, Cantio will find themselves heavier, as the very weight of the area aims to crush down on her. Chains would slap up from underneath her, aiming to metaphorically chain her. Then Iron Mask and John move as one. He dashes right towards her aiming to punch her across the face. Iron Mask appears above her and slams down, attempting to bash her against the ground itself before John is there again, aiming to grab her head and drag her down into the ground, aiming to drag her head /through/ the ground if he connects. He attempts to throw her into the air, before once more Iron mask aims to bash her into the ground once more.
Hibiki Tachibana	Cantio is definitely getting the pressure put on by everyone else...they're fighting together better than she could have hoped for. Or maybe she should have expected it. Pressure being put on head-on, DRYCLEAN's preparation, Remee's assault... It's good to see. Though more importantly than that is the question that Cantio poses to all of them. Nobody can see it, as focused as they are, but Hibiki's folded arms tighten up noticeably as she furrows her brow and glances to the side. That's... Cantio (thievery spec) showing up doesn't let her do whatever mental brooding she's doing for long though, blinking at the point-blank clone appearance once before the barrier is summoned up to protect her from the ensuing big boom. It's a good way to get her attention back on what's going on. They're all predictably not doing great after that - but more importantly, they all get up. Even DRYCLEAN, able to casually walk right back this way and give her a hello, and even Petra, who's picking herself up out of the dirt. "..." She slowly exhales. "...Being strong without hurting yourself...or anyone else, huh? Petra...I really hope you can keep thinking like that." Hibiki murmurs to herself, though Cantio's clone and DRYCLEAN via proximity at least can certainly pick up on it. And Remee's answer didn't escape her either. Just keep holding on...
Cantio	As Cantio's hearing returns (relatively quickly, or maybe she's just used to blowing it out), she takes a moment to survey the damage. The DESTROYED CITY landscape is still in bad shape, but she's more interested in seeing how her visitors are faring after all of that. Surprisingly... They're still on their feet! Letting out a satisfied noise, she leaves her sword pieces where they are as she brings the handle in front of her again while the smoke clears. Petra gets a slow nod in response, although there's a somewhat hidden sigh of relief at how vehemently Petra refuses Cantio's suggestion. "I'm afraid so. It's not like there aren't people that can get stronger without making those sacrifices, but they're better people than me. You might be, too-" She doesn't emphasize which side of that "-but... I don't know you well enough to say for sure yet. Just know that it's not a bad thing to stay weak and be a good person, either." Remee, meanwhile, gets a shrug in return. "That depends. If you want more power, more than you could get by holding onto your ideals until you die, it's something you'll have to be prepared for. It's not for everyone, and... I can't blame you if you wouldn't want to go that far. Few people can. Fewer should, but it's something to think about if your mission is important enough for what you want to protect." DRYCLEAN's response gets a curious eyebrow raise from Cantio, then a hearty laugh. "Where were you when I was trying to catch up with her? With them? That kind of thinking is..." She trails off, brushing her nose once as she glances at the slot in the bottom of her sword's handle. "Maybe this wouldn't have been... Mm. No, I really can't find anything to disagree with there. I just... Couldn't be satisfied with just supporting them, I guess." John's focus is squarely on the fight, meanwhile, but it doesn't throw Cantio off in the slightest. Instead, she can find herself understanding him a little better (maybe) through the clash of their fists, chains, lasers, and bodies, and that's still good enough for her.
Cantio	"... A Banana?" Petra's initial charge catches her off guard once more, but Cantio's far sturdier than she looks in her (now messy and battle-damaged) vague anime high schooler garb. Catching that tackle head on, she clamps her arms around Petra's torso and starts jerking around wildly to keep her off balance. The gun's numbing discharge slows her down considerably, though, and grappling with Petra leaves her open to Remee's crossbow shot. The bolt hits her square in the chest with a rather painful-sounding piercing noise, but it's still not enough to put Cantio down. There's a flash of light as her divine/digital powers come forth, the healing magic forcing the bloody bolt out of her with a pained noise at the exertion. It's still an extra exertion of that digital magic holding her together, though, and it leaves her open once more as the lasers from DRYCLEAN's vessel converge on top of her again. This time, there's no way for her to just stay still and take it. Cantio needs to move, but she can't. The Man in the Iron Mask's chains weigh her down, and his and John's combination attack pin her down further. Her feet get impacted into the ground by the power of those strikes, and getting dragged backwards through the ground is not particularly pleasant at all even if she knows that the ground is scenery fluff rather than actual ground with real collateral damage to be worried about. When she's released into the air, however, John finds that there's not enough time for the Iron Mask to slam her back down before Cantio's launched herself backwards with a burst of that divine magic. "Haah... You're really pulling out all the stops, aren't you? This is great. I don't think I have much to worry about, if you're the next ones." Grinning again, Cantio turns her head aside briefly to fix her face, throwing up a brief discretion barrier around her face when she surely starts cursing up a storm getting her nose realigned. Once her attention is back on the group, though, she holds her hands out like she's about to fire off a big dumb laser from her palms. "And now for your final lesson.... Wait. We already... Did that before." She lets out an uncomfortable hum, then skips right past that awkwardness as she brings her hands together. As she does, the shattered sword fragments that had been used for the sonic attack start flying around at a breakneck piece. Although individually somewhat weak, there's thousands of the little things flying around, each one capable of cutting through steel and flesh as easily as paper. The area around the combatants and towards Cantio turns into a tornado of tiny, gleaming shards, each one making the approach far more treacherous than it has any right being.
Cantio	Cantio's clone, meanwhile, nods slowly in agreement with Hibiki. "I'd really like it if she could. But..." She purses her lips while keeping her voice down, turning to Hibiki a moment later. "You've fought me plenty of times. Er. That me. And you've known Petra longer than me. Between how I was back then and how she is now...." Thief!Cantio adjusts her headband. "Do you think she... That she might become that desperate?"
John Doe	John's eyes focus on something... Instead of guarding this time around, he starts running straight at Cantio. Straight through the shards of her sword, his hands moving to smack them away, and in the process cutting himself. However, beside him the Persona's chains help protect him from many more. He exists the other side of the storn, bleeding but somehow not as worse for ware as he should be. His fist glows, before making a very powerful haymaker, aiming to try and direct the force of his attack down, aiming to try and punch her straight into the ground again and again. "You should know the answer to your question now. I'll do anything, suffer anything, and push through anything to get what I want. It doesn't matter who you are."
Remee Halcyon	The approval does get Remee to perk up a bit. "Oh? I mean, I didn't think about..." "... I don't know what I'm going to do once I finish with... what I need to do. Maybe I need to start thinking about that. Maybe I do need to worry about gaining strength..." The area around Cantio turns into a whirlwind of sharp things. Remee takes a deep breath. "But while I might not have strength or power yet..." And with that - she runs. Not away, as she has been, but through - trying to close in on Cantio. "I'm pretty dang hard to make quit!" She shifts - not to the wolf form, but instead she grows - muscles bulging out, fur sprouting, face lengthening, and whole body gaining several feet of height and reach, which she uses to attempt to grab Cantio one-armed and slam her down into the floor!
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT	Ah, vagueries. Well-versed myself. Of course, information doesn't like to stay hidden or vague for long. [ Mentions of "her" / Mentions of "them" / Supportive role / Something lost from a blade ]. Cantio is one to provide a wealth of background data to scrape, though Watch connections and obvious ties to data manipulation herself might render things difficult. It's hard to cover up apparently major events, though, and especially something implied to be long-running. What is she referring to? Analysis ongoing, DRYCLEAN is battered and shredded by the fragments, screens shattered and cabling all but entirely detached. Some thick, black fluid has been seeping from the cabling; while anyone would guess that it's oil, it isn't. "Ain't for everyone, ha ha. Takes a certain kind of worldview and all, and I just happen to be suited for the job. Don't look up now." Static crashes, pulses, from waves on the shore to a tsunami of unintelligible information. Her devices scream in white noise, incomprehensible data relayed at paces incalcuable. The air itself hums. Reticles upon reticles. Arcane glyphs traced in photons, communications equipment aligning for precise destruction. Unintended functions shift to instructions unplanned. The beam is still thin, of course. Still no sound, nothing blatant. Convergence. The air itself ionizes. Something final.
Hibiki Tachibana	"Between you and her?" Hibiki turns towards Thief!Cantio and raises an eyebrow, seeming only a little bit surprised before a moment - before her expression shifts more into one of understanding. Quite a bit of it. And then thoughtfulness, as she briefly closes her eyes, just to open them back up to look back at the fight. Or rather, what's been turned into a fragment dodging realm of pain. "...Well," she starts slowly. "I don't want her to, but she might." When it's just them (and DRYCLEAN) over this way, she doesn't have any reason to hold back on her thoughts. "If you get desperate enough...or there's something you care about enough to get that much strength for...anything can happen. I don't think anyone's...you know, immune to that. Not even us." "...And she's been going through a lot lately. I think we both know a little bit how. So..." She takes a breath in, and then out. "...I can't help but feel like it's gonna get worse for her before it gets better. But I'm gonna believe she won't try resorting to things like that when it does. But if it does..." She looks back towards Thief!Cantio, and loses some of that brooding aura. "...It'll just be up to us to help her through it, right?"
Petra Soroka	Petra gets knocked out of the attempted grapple by the surge of power coming out of Cantio, along with the crossbow bolt. She shakes her head, body sagging with accumulated wounds. "I won't stay weak, either. No one can beat me hard enough to keep me down, and no one can beat me hard enough to make me want to be like them either. I can," She sways in place. "I can do it myself. Become stronger in the ways I know are worth it." Petra sniffles up the blood pouring out of her nose, looking woozy, the Banana slipping out of her hand. She doesn't seem to notice the shards swirling around Cantio, until one bites into her sweater and leaves a ragged slit in the underlying skin. She claps her hand to the wound and squeals in pain. "Wait, wait, wait, wai-wai-wait I'm done, I'm done, stop! Owwww!" She ducks down, covering her head, which does put her below the orbital plane of the majority of the shards. Occasionally, one still grazes her arms or legs, but Petra seems completely locked in that defensive curl, shutting out the fight.
Cantio	John gives Cantio his answer, and that gets an accepting nod from her in return. "I'm not surprised. After hearing about what you've been through, I can't blame you for feeling that strongly about it. You're one of us, so you'll have my full support when it comes to getting there. I just want to make sure you're not getting in over your head once those options start showing up." Rushing into John and his Persona's chains this time, she finds herself starting to clash head on with those haymakers and slamming chains with fistfuls of sword-shards augmented by sonic bursts to contend with that raw power. As expected, he manages to land more blows on her than she does on him, but she's still committing to meeting him at his speed for a little while, even if she's compensating with her own magic. There's one more sudden blast of sonic force at John, and then she turns her sights on DRYCLEAN. DRYCLEAN tells her not to look up, so of course she looks up to be a contrarian. The beam punches into Cantio with its unrelenting force despite it not looking like it should be able to, slicing into the woman in purple with that confounding infrared beam that she can't even precisely follow. "It really does, doesn't it? I might have before, but now... I've gone too far in the other direction for that to really work out." She laughs, she hisses in pain, and then she fires off another pile of those sonic laser shards at DRYCLEAN to barrage the machine being with. Remee's reaction gets another chuckle from Cantio, and she braces herself at the sight of the charging semi-animal coming right at her. "There's no... Actually, I'd be lying if I said there's no need to rush, but it's not something you have to decide now. Just make sure that you give yourself enough time to think so you don't regret your choice later!" Remee barrels right into Cantio, and she very nearly stays down once she's slammed into the ground. She does, even, but it's all part of yet another ploy to do what she had spoken of in lesson 1: Misdirection. "Behind you." In this case, the misdirection comes from Cantio staying down while her lasers do all the work in blasting Remee from where that tornado of sword shards had been moments earlier.
John Doe	John, throwing his everything into the final attack ends up slightly behind Cantio. She speaks to him, confirming her support for him, but her worries as well. "Well good. I came to the Concord because I knew I needed allies. I didn't expect my curse to carry me through to the end of what's happening in my home.." Then he drops to a knee and then falls backward onto his back as the Persona fades. "Think I over did it.."
Remee Halcyon	"Behind-" Remee manages to get out, before the lasers blast away at her. To her credit, she's got staying power. There's not actually much of her left before the shrine's systems change her status over from 'injured' to 'incapacitated'. The bad news for Cantio is, depending on the pattern of the lasers, she might briefly get showered with wolf bits.
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT	DRYCLEAN listens to the laser charging. Listens to the static permeating the area. Listens to Cantio, still standing. They play a clip of a polite chuckle. "Well, glad you found somethin' you're invested in. I reckon it's the best state of affairs, ha ha. Obviously gives you a that edge over me." They meander back over to their chair, barely standing, fluid running down cables. "Well, tappin' out. Mind the screech." And screech there is. Devices wail for a split second as a popping noise comes from DRYCLEAN's chest and they collapse backwards into the chair. Infrared Ritual simply stops; there's no wind-down, no anything. Anticlimactic, ain't it? The vessel realigns itself, and then just waits. DRYCLEAN's arms adjust their monitors into a slightly more dignified position, though they remain shattered and deactivated. The static drops to a murmur.
Cantio	DRYCLEAN gets a whole pile of data about Cantio to dig up. The second goddess of a digital city, Cantio is the younger sister of the first goddess, someone hailed as a hero in their home. Cantio herself, meanwhile, was always known as the responsible one, albeit with a reputation for being generally weaker than her smaller older sister. It's perhaps easy to expect, then, that all the rumors of someone like that harboring an inferiority complex would be true, and the constant attempts to one up herself certainly lend credence to all those rumors. Cantio's sister isn't the only person that such feelings could conceivably come from, of course. There's also the rest of the Concord, many other Elites in the Paladins and the Watch, and there's even records of her battling it out with (and losing to) one Hibiki Tachibana on multiple occasions despite their apparent lack of animosity. The real animosity that's easy to find out about is that between Cantio and Lilian Rook. Despite the lack of a clear trigger event, there had been a clear background radiation between them for a while, although that's diminished considerably in the past year or so coinciding with a rather massive monetary contribution to one of Cantio's streams.
Cantio	"I don't want her to, either. She's... She doesn't strike me as a bad person." Thief!Cantio answers Hibiki, stroking her chin lightly while observing the last back-and-forth of the lesson-fight. "But maybe that's why I'm worried? I mean, it's... Yeah, people can do really crazy stuff if they're pushed too hard like that." She sighs, then rubs her neck lightly. "I've heard only a bit about her and... Yeah. It doesn't sound healthy." She laughs awkwardly at that, then nods slowly at Hibiki lining herself and Cantio up for keeping an eye on Petra. "That sounds like a good plan. You'll keep on the right path, and I'll..." She needs a moment to think. "... I'll try and keep her off my path, if nothing else." With the battle finally over, Cantio breathes a sigh of relief as she, too, falls on her back not far from where John's lying down. "Don't worry. We'll be fixed any second now. Just need the system to-" She gets showered in Remee bits. There's an uncomfortable strained noise coming from the back of Cantio's throat as she tries to process what she's feeling in her hair and elsewhere, but thankfully the Shrine of Adversity's recovery systems kicks in before too long. Everyone's wounds from the fight are healed, damage is reversed, and parts and objects rapidly set themselves back to how they were prior to the fight. The DESTROYED CITY even goes back to becoming VIRTUA CITY PARK before long. The mental damage will linger longer, though. "There we are... Uh. We'll find more ways to utilize your curse and get you the power you need before long, John. You've got some interesting combat specialties, I have to say." It takes her a moment longer to finally sit up, and then she's staggering back onto her feet to approach Petra with a satisfied smile. "Good. I'll hold you to that, and..." She glances back at Hibiki, then holds a hand out so she can hoist Petra back onto her feet if it's taken. "She will, too. I can't promise you I won't try tempting you towards what I've done every now and then, but... Not on purpose?" Even she sounds uncertain about it. "... But trust in Hibiki, if you can't trust me, okay?"
John Doe	"Yeah, until then I'm going to lay here.." John says, to the part about fixing them up. "Well, good. I'm counting on ya then," John says with a grin. "Oh yeah...Persona's are weird, but so are shadows. The stuff in people's heads is both much more complicated and weird than you think. Expressing it...well you're expressin' that stuff too."
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT	The arms on DRYCLEAN's obviously lifeless body tap the side of the chair for a few moments before the reversion, and there's another short screech of static as they readjust their antennae. They stand back up, fold their chair, and approach the water over which their vessel hovers. A panel slides inward, and they toss the chair in, before it shuts and ascends upwards. The hole in the roof opens automatically this time, and it folds before swiftly disappearing from view. "Hell of a thing. Don't usually come back from the pale, ha ha. Good showin', folks." While they don't glance, nor have any general visual tells for attention, there's definitely the feeling of a gaze being given to Cantio. They adjust their jacket, which even before the reversion remained miraculously unharmed. "Breakin' out of shadows is good, too, huh. Can see how that'd really give some drive, ha ha. Thanks for the organizin' of this whole thing."
Petra Soroka	Petra stays crouched, for just a few seconds after the state retrieval kicks in. "...I hate cuts. They're so much worse than any other kind of damage." She picks up her Banana and takes Cantio's hand to stand up, looking around helplessly for her handgun. She tilts her head at Cantio, narrowing her eyes. "You treat me so delicately. Why? What did you do?" She crosses her arms in front of her chest, tucking her hands under her armpits. "Um. Thanks for the training session, I need more of it. But you both..." A glance at Hibiki, "Are really worried about everything involving her, aren't you? Is that what this is about?"
Hibiki Tachibana	Ouch. Seeing Remee--uh, explode--is not pretty, but it's not like it's something she hasn't seen before. And will probably see many times. Still, ow. As everything begins fixing itself, especially that, Hibiki comments back towards Thief!Cantio as it all goes down. "...Yeah, I'm gonna do my best. And I know you will, too. No guarantees, but...I'm gonna try. And hey." She looks back towards her, and gives her a single pat on the back, along with a small grin. "...I know that it can be pretty hard to...have faith in yourself, even after everything. But I think you can at least have a little more. You're a lot stronger than you used to be, y'know?" It's hard to say if she's being literal about that after the RUINED CITY, or talking about it the other way. And following that, she looks back out towards Actual!Cantio, and Petra. She doesn't say anything, or really change her expression, but she's simply watching from afar.
John Doe	"It's because you act delicately around her. When she speaks, you shatter," John says, to Petra. "Seriously, she's not that important. If she's going to be like she is, then it's better to ignore her until she decides she wants to take enjoyment out of directly ruining your day instead of being a passive annoyance."
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT	They enter the conversation. Probably already listening, of course, but they've walked up to at least spatially represent that. "Seems to me that she's already doin' that whole direct business, ha ha. Both of you folks think a bit strange, though, so I ain't exactly in a position to make sweepin' judgements, ha ha. Good shootin' out there. Hell of a kickback on that thing."
Cantio	"Lying down doesn't sound too bad, no. And I don't think anyone'll really complain about us holding this room at this hour." Cantio chuckles lightly, stepping over to John to offer him a... Drone? This one floats. Presumably, it's to help him get onto his feet with minimal effort once he's ready to get back up, but there's nothing rushing him. "You're welcome, DRYCLEAN. Thanks for coming, too! Your style of fighting is really interesting. That..." She looks up at the vessel, or at least looks up to try and find it again. She stares at the 'sky', but she can't seem to find it at all. "Wasn't it up...? Hmm. So it's either capable of teleportation or stealth, then... Very interesting." She pulls up one of her drones to repeat those same things she's said, clearly taking some mental notes for some sort of future development. "It gets easier to deal with them with enough callouses." Cantio 'jokes' with a forced laugh to Petra, then clears her throat after an uncomfortable shiver. "... I don't really like them either. It's just part of our position, though." She admits with a light sigh, then raises an eyebrow at those questions. "Delicate...? Oh, it's because you remind me of how I used to be... Kind of." She doesn't elaborate on that one. Instead, she nods at the next question about being worried. "We've had our own histories with her. Not entirely good ones, either, but..." She looks back at Hibiki, then leans in close to Petra. "It's complicated? Anyway, just... I think you'll be happier following Hibiki's example than mine. She's a better human than I am." Thief!Cantio, meanwhile, nods slowly at Hibiki while eventually cracking a smile. "I... Thanks. It means a lot, since... I mean, you know where that strength came from. If I could change things..." She trails off for a moment, glancing at the sword handle still in Regular!Cantio's hand. "I think if I had to redo that, I'd at least... I'd do better than /that/." She doesn't elaborate on how, precisely. She doesn't say that she wouldn't.
Petra Soroka	Petra shrugs at John, then nods at Dryclean. No points for guessing which comments reinforced her perspective better. "She stabbed my mech. Mid-battle. And then called me a poor excuse for a mech pilot who wasn't even worth the tin can I drive." She pouts, in a way that feels petulant with an undercurrent of mean, bitter anger. "It's only a matter of time until she threatens me directly. No matter how much she insists she's too cool to care, I definitely get under her skin somehow." Petra puts her hands in her overall pockets, vanishing up to the wrist with room to spare. "Not that I want to exacerbate that, I don't want to talk to her at all. But I don't want to be caught off guard when it does happen, I know I'll lose right now. She's one of those people, who's stronger at all costs. I'm not." Cantio's response doesn't do anything to dissuade Petra. "You barely sound convinced that all that bad history is behind you. And it feels like everyone has bad history with her." She turns away, eyes scanning the VIRTUA CITY PARK for where her gun could have landed. "But like I said. I don't want to talk about her." This isn't, actually, what she said. But she walks away anyways.
John Doe	John gets a hand up thanks to the drone, "Thanks." he says and shrugs to Petra. "Well, she said my problems aren't worth me getting in them and to leave them to her because she is an 'adult'. So yeah...she's a terrible person who has something to prove. Some people like her, but others don't. Stop letting yourself be defined by her."
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT	DRYCLEAN, as usual, does not watch in a standard sense. But they watch Petra wander off, before turning and exiting the building. They stop at that door again, for some reason. A hand is run over the mechanism, and then they're gone.