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Lilian Rook	But all the same, tumbling into the grand hall is enough. Cast in near-darkness, all that lights your path is the illumination of gothic-coloured streaming god-rays from the windows on each side of you; until between each beam of light, shining golden candle stands light up one after another with eerie whooshes of ruby red flame, painting a dramatic line of revealing light all down the impossibly massive corridor. Chandeliers ignite overhead, and the marble floor reflects their amber glow, mingling with the other colours, such that, at the long shadows around the columns, the overlap of hues happens to look like the iris of the singularity above.     Then, from somewhere high above, you hear the steady notes of distant, fast-paced pipe organ music, coupled with dramatic piano and someone playing strings. Rather than the slow dirge on the way to a stereotypical lair, it manages to be both menacing and something you'd play to get yourselves pumped up.     And with good timing. Now begins the dramatic arched corridor level; you can see the ranks of animate armoured soldiers rushing out to meet you, joined by steel gargoyles with stained glass wings, and some sort of floating robed caster surrounded by a ring of colour-coded crystals. The stairs are far away, but there's only one way to go!     Next time!     - - - - - - - - - - - -     The relevance of stained glass being an indestructible barrier isnt so obvious until you're confined into a linear corridor-- dramatically overgrand in dimensions as it is-- with only colossal windows to run to. The architecturally implausible pillars that divide the grand hallway into three unequal rows aren't nearly so dense as to reliably take cover behind. In a cute little side-scrolling videogames, this issue would be broken up into a sequence of individually manageable screens, but not here.     The only ways to go are charging directly ahead, and retreating back over the drawbridge and being locked out of the castle again. Two entire waves of animated-armour soldiers have filled the corridor, shoulder to shoulder, with a third quickly forming out of reinforcements pouring from side corridors well ahead. Shields and spears present no clear way to punch through them, while the ornamental gargoyles set into the pillars start animated seemingly at random, joined by other decorative statues from below; the longer you're here, the more will become active at once.     The strangely setting-appropriate music doesn't die down at all after the first few fireballs thrown. Armoured soldiers clutter the stairs, firing on you with the same weapons as the garrison in the town, while the airborne steel gargoyles fire classical (anime) magical beams from above. You can easily envision the poorly timeline where the alarm continues to raise until you're swept right back out the front door on enemy momentum alone. You're not even sure where they're coming from; Elena and Hafren had a private teleporter circle, after all.
Kale Hearthward	LAST TIME ON "I've been Transported to Another World but Lilian Rook is a Supervillain here (So Basically it's the Same Except the Difficulty is Way Higher)" Kale was dealing with getting past the moat monster. Also dealing with his inconveniently growing sense of empathy, it's debatable which one is harder to deal with. And - right after that, after the moat, right into what feels like a killbox. "Gobo!" Kale draws his right-hand sword, activates it, and starts swinging. Sharp (literally) afterimages of the blade appear wherever it's swung, not impenetrable barriers but certainly ones that have a cost in time and hit points to push through. He's taking the vanguard now - trying to cordon off or break up the endurance gauntlet of foes with his blade trails, giving his allies openings to flank or press forward, while relying on his fast footwork and defensive wind spells to keep from getting hit. ... Well, keep from getting hit *too* much, anyway.
Odette Raskins	Odette is truly out of her element when it comes to everything being thrown at her within this arched corridor. Escaping from a fight with just a few pursuers is already a harrowing enough experience, so what chance does she have barreling through a wall of armored bodies? "H... How the heck are we supposed to get through that? Maybe there's an alternate r... Route?" She asks while clutching her medical bag tightly against her chest like it might offer any level of protection against those fireballs and magic beams. She yelps when one of those beams blasts a smoking crater into the crater nearby, prompting her to just start running after Kale when he takes the front. "G-go where?! There's too many of 'em in front of us!" She screams in terror as another fireball whizzes right past her head, alraedy reconsidering the wisdom of actually following the bird man. With no other viable option besides moving forward, though, Odette keeps on running ahead, trying to get through the gaps Kale's working on opening up. She's also running backwards a lot and diving for cover when more of those beams, fireballs, and spears come her way. She's not even trying to throw anything at them, either, focused as she is on just running back and forth wildly trying not to die. She might even be a modestly useful decoy in this sense, being such a rapidly moving target making all sorts of noise if her allies can capitalize on that. That is if she doesn't get blown up in the process.
Timespace Riders	The knightly-themed retainer arrives through the hole in the wall punched by his king's intentional encounter with the 'moat guardian' and her high-powered blast.     Offering a hand to the prone Demon King, Woz pulls Zi-O up.     "A... unique solution to the problem posed, sire," says Woz. "Are you alright?"     Zi-O's helmet bobs vigorously. "Yeah," he says. "But I probably wouldn't be, if not for Justin's story."     "Indeed." Woz's blue katakana lenses fix on the advancing phalanx of knights and the intermittently animating gargoyles. "This gauntlet won't be solved through a hardy defense and a prayer. We'll need reach or mobility... preferably both," he says, procuring a Miridewatch. The face bears the visage of a Rider with red katakana lenses reading 'ZERO.' The stems of two thorny roses form the hour and minute hands of a smartwatch's display.     Zi-O nods, procuring a brightly-colored Ridewatch to match, its face bearing the helmet of the 90s gaming-themed Ex-Aid.                                   Future Time!                                       As Woz inserts his Miridewatch into the side gate on his Beyondriver, hardlight, thorny vines sprout from the earth beside him, swirling around the retainer.                 Dashing! Durable! Deadly! Futurering Zero! ZERO!                     The vines ensnare Woz, who holds his hands out exultantly, before his body disappears beneath their mass. They glow white-hot and explode, the survivors forming an interwoven cuirass and the 'band' of the smartwatch his armor suggests. Backlit red katakana lenses read 'ZERO,' his square app-icon pauldrons display cameos of white roses on red backgrounds, and the 'hands' of the watch are formed by two crossed, thorn-stemmed roses. A thorny green whip flies into his waiting hand, a rectangular touchscreen set just above the handle. While Kale forms the vanguard, Woz supports him from behind, lashing out with the whip to seize on the openings he creates with his blades of wind.                                    ARMOR TIME!                                       A disembodied suit of white armor with pink and green trim appears from a pink portal before Zi-O:      The disembodied armor sports a colorful four-button gamepad breastplate which complements game-cartridge pauldrons. A shock of stylized pink 'hair,' rests atop the helmet, and the arms have bracers with A and B buttons affixed.      It flies apart as an attack unto itself, the pieces colliding with the initial wave of swooping gargoyles, while Zi-O makes improbably high, platformer style leaps to 'collect' each piece after its divebomb.                           Level UP! o/` Ex-AIIID! o/`                                Zi-O, bringing his foot down on a gargoyle from on high, confidently gets Ex-Aid's catchphrase wrong: "I think I can clear this level with no continues!"
Petra Soroka	LAST TIME: Petra facetanked the Moat Monster's blast by curling up in a ball and eating it head on with Cinder, and then entered the castle by charging into its wall head-on to open up a secondary path.     So, of course, having a straightforwards side-scrolling hallway is nothing new to Petra. If anything, it's reassuring! She only knows how to thickheadedly sprint forwards into and through obstacles, and the castle design being this way is like implicit instructions from Lilian that this is what you're *supposed* to be doing here.     It might not be entirely within simulation standards to be so eager to follow the villain's architectural demands in order to get a good grade in heroing-- but, really, most Elites are idiots anyways, so from an observational standpoint, Petra's particular brand of idiocy isn't beyond expectations. Hibiki Tachibana is the statistically average Elite, and being privately relieved about a simple hallway full of enemies is what she'd do, too.     After Petra tumbles to a halt (rolling into a clean landing on her feet! She's been practicing.) inside, and Cinder follows after, she puffs out air through her Sting Silver mask, putting her hands on her knees while a feeble trickle of morphmetal runs rivulets down her arms. Her armor flashes and disappears, leaving Petra scuffed up and with hair sticking across her sweaty forehead. She holds up the FullBottle to catch the glob of Silver as it comes through the window afterwards, attention on Cinder while flawlessly catching the morphmetal by remote proprioreceptive sense alone.     "Alright. So I'm fucked out of flight, because Sting Silver's out of juice, so we're not going over. Kinda thought we'd..." Petra continues to mumble to herself while asking Qetra to hand over her EGO armor-- "Heyyyyy ajoeto, why didn't you ask more about the luxury floor?"-- and shrugs the trench coat on over her bomber jacket. "Thought we'd get a little breather after a fucking terrifying monster like that."     "I mean, that's how all the villains do it. That's how *I* did it, with Super Heyalexa, when I gave them all like fifteen minutes to cool down and take the elevator after. But, I guess, Lilian wouldn't settle for the average supervillain conventions... she probably spent a long time thinking about how she could do it better...."     The EGO armor helps, considerably, when just one of those arrows would normally punch through Petra's flimsy body like tissue paper, but it's not enough to just go charging in. Instead, she relies on an unexpected but simultaneously very predictable ally-- Kale Hearthward. She's fought beside (and against) him long enough to have a thoroughly practiced sense for how his magic functions, and between his wind diverting arrows, and Gobo fending back ground troops, all Petra has to do is take advantage of the gaps to dart between laser blasts and opportunistically swing at the statues in front of her, pushing as deep into the line as she can.     Once she's past the shield line with Kale's help, her gunblade is precisely suited for the exact kind of dumbass straightforwards strategy Petra is capable of coming up with. Split revolvers catch ornate swords on their bayonets, and shrug their angles away so that the overhead slashes aimed at her spark against the ground instead, and then she flicks switches on each of their handles and slams the guns together to recombine them. Full-sized blade in hand, Petra lunges forwards to skewer the statue to her front, and then depresses the trigger to rack the bayonet explosively forwards, throwing it back and impaling the one behind it too.     Punching a one-girl-wide hole in the line is about the best Petra can do under Kale's cover before being turned into a pink slurry, so she attempts to take advantage of it and get clear before the bubble collapses around her.
Angela	Cinder isn't sure what to expect now that they actually are inside but honestly the idea of being judged for not doing well is the most frightening thing of all. But for her, at least, a single grand hallway with no real alternative paths IS business as normal for her. The fact that she can't leave (essentially, as leaving would lock her out)? Yep, normal. She wonders if this is the LobCorp themed stage or something. Feeling that this might secretly be based off HER evil company's evil lair makes her feel a bit of pride. There's no cells that she can tell but everything out to kill her? Animated armor? Gargoyles?--well okay there actually isn't a Gargoyle abnormality at the central office but she'd be surprised if there wasn't one somewhere else. She uses Fourth Match Flame to propel herself up into the air to avoid fireballs, rolls past lasers--and generally is endeavouring to avoid getting bogged down in an actual fight. She treats this like being sent to a cell to perform a work while a Meltdown is happening and it honestly helps, even though this isn't actually based on the facility at all. ''So I'm fucked out of flight, because Sting Silver's out of juice.'' "We're gonna be really exhausted by the time we get to her." Cinder says, trying not to comment on how the 'terrifying monster' definitely could have crushed her and simply chose not to. "I think you're right, though. She's not exactly a traditionalist--and if she simply played fair, we probably wouldn't be getting any better at being...ready for uspervillains." She ends up slowing down to stay wth the group which means having to stab a gargoyle here and there and also getting clipped by the occassional sword swipe. Her EGO Gear isn't the toughest EGO gear, even if her affinity for it is high. She can't rely on her EGO armor as much as Petra, whose utilizing a significantly tougher set. Seeing Petra punch a girl-sized hole..Cinder, who is girl-sized, elects to take advantage of that and push through that hole as well. We're probably getting closer though, right? Unless... you don't think there might be a hidden path somewhere and we're just being led to think we have to go this way?"
Lilian Rook	The grand hall confirms what was already established in town: this exercise is using lethals all the way through, and boy do they hurt. It's a good thing that Lilian is such an immaculately trustworthy individual who would never do anything underhanded, because if there weren't that written clause in the contract about how this whole exercise is under an area-bonded magical mechanism to save you from getting killed, it would actually be kind of scary!     It must only kick in when you're already pretty beat up, though. Like really beat up. Neither getting shot and blasted with high-grade magical firepower nor stepped on or slammed into a pillar by a giant walking metal statue seem to result in any kind of protection! It's probably just so nobody games the system right?     The amount of fire that piles up on you in the corridor is withering. Each set of pillars you're able to clear of deadly automata, boxing you in from all sides and swooping down from above, gives you a temporary refuge from the shooting gallery, but getting closer to the end means you also have less time to react to the incoming attacks. The ranks of footsoldiers are sturdy enough to drag you down, and when someone gets caught in the wave, they tend to congeal around them in a group; leaving gaps for the others to sprint through, but stranding the unlucky soul in a ring of enchanted spears.     Most unfortunately of all, though, the whole thing reeks of being arranged by someone who is actually familiar with small unit tactics. The wind-up soldiers act simply, but stick to tried-and-true fundamentals of flanking, suppressive fire, staggered movement, and divide and conquer. They're fairly predictable in that regard, but predictably cutting off anyone who gets separated and pinning down anyone who takes cover still sucks to deal with. Plus there's practically no end to them. At least the gargoyles and statues are ostensibly finite in number.     What's more, though, when you actually succeed in putting down an enemy, they have a strange habit of glowing brightly through the cracks and blowing themselves to pieces. It isn't powerful enough to be a suicide explosive, so it mostly works in your favour, given how thoroughly you'd have to completely dismember every single one of all these tough enemies otherwise, but it feels odd that it always leaves behind a few random chunks of metal and a handful of stained glass flower-petal-shards amidst the glittering smoke.     Fighting your way up to the stairs is an inevitably bloodstained affair. Once you get close enough, the remaining gargoyles are attacking you from behind, while the reinforcements that would form solid waves are instead pouring in from the left and right corridor junctions while you battle your way up the grandiloquent steps under heavy fire from every landing along the way.     And when it seems you've made your foothold, the situation only transforms again, as now you're being chased up the stairs by the flow of reinforcements coming after you, nearly like a rising floor timer, whilst small groups of archers fire on you from all directions, from higher staircases and adjoined balconies. The ~ominously robed~ spellcaster enemy now teleports around the area, chasing you on the way up while slinging variously elemental blasts from its telegraphed ring of crystals.     Just getting up the stairs isn't the end of it, either. The stairs themselves are a biome all their own, winding up and down through an assortment of thoroughfares and foyers with their own static enemy encounters. Here, you frequently feel a nearby chill, or hear the faint sound of echoing laughter, right before a chandelier crashes down from the ceiling on top of you, or one of the ruby candlestands glows ominously and peppers you with a spray of magical fire bolts.
Lilian Rook	The problem of 'once you get in, it's much harder to get out' sinks in over time. Frequently, you brush by windows to the outside, whether along the edges of spiral turret staircases or across the second and third floors of the gigantic hall you keep zigzagging back to, but the wards layered on them are brutally thick, and taking so many goddamn stairs is already exhausting. There is reason to begin to wonder if this wasn't all just a cutely designed, no-win deathtrap shortly before you finally get a break.     The outrageously convoluted sequence of lethal map navigation eventually arrives at the place you'd actually intended to reach; the second (ergo 'ground') floor up from the drawbridge entry, behind the very end of the grand hall. You're forced to open (then close behind you, very very quickly) a pair of gigantic double doors with an elaborate willow tree motif that are at least four times as tall as they need to be, and then you're finally left in peace at what you would call 'the lobby' if this were a house, and not an entire vertical town unto itself.     The first thing you notice is the pallette shift. Without the spooky candles and outdoors-facing tinted windows, the sunset gold-red hueshift vanishes behind the closed doors. Instead, what looks and feels just like natural sunlight streams down from the vaulted ceiling high above you, painted to look just like the sky, and enchanted with moving clouds. The stones under your feet transition from stately perfect marble to homey shades of warm granite. Ivy climbs the walls indoors, here, and moss coats the corners of old stone markers and benches and cobble paths through the huge, circular chamber.     he 'center' of the room is practically a small indoors park. Colourful bushes and flowerbeds line the paths between a pair of gigantic statue plinths; one of which is completely vacant save for its plaque, the other clearly depicting the Villain of this Story, posed for some kayfabe-conjured royal sculptor, with a lovingly rendered magical staff, topped with a giant multi-layered gemstone that brings to mind the singularity far above. The sound of rushing water doesn't seem to come from any water feature at all, as the small standing ponds don't possess fountains, but rather, from directly beneath you. Moving around leads you to an exorbitantly expensive glass floor through which you can see the flowing of an underground river, luminous with generic fantasy flora.     To one side, you're utterly dwarfed in the presence of a twelve separate floor-to-ceiling stained glass murals-- or windows that look out over nothing. One of them has a light behind it, giving it a comfortable, colourful glow, depicting a scale weighing an hourglass and a golden flower over a cerulean lake scene like a writer's desk, patterned with angelic 'feathers' implied to be falling from above. To the other, your progress is ostensibly barred by a set of steps that lead up to even more gigantic doors, set with a baroquely carved relief, with the seal of a ivy-covered castle tower on it, in screamingly obvious 'progression item' fashion.     Directly across from you, the exit simply leads to the mirror of the route you came here by. Right next to your entrance is a locked and barred staircase that leads god knows where, but the one over there seems to have an easily reached lever to open it. Like . . .     Like a backtrack shortcut. There's a sign by it too. You're pretty sure it says something about aqueducts. Like the two mean girls were talking about.
Kale Hearthward	Kale, predictably, ends up getting injured by one of the first self-destructions. It's a pity that Petra's unpleasant for Kale to be around now (she wasn't before?), since they do work pretty well after all this time together. In turn, he's got a sense for when she's going from 'holding her own' to 'about to be overwhelmed', and tries to time his own pushes to disrupt the mob and get her an opening to get back out. Progress is made - and the situation changing from trying to break through the mob to running away from them is preferable, even if it doesn't have the same level of bravado. "Keep moving!" calls Kale, and then all of his breath is taken up on casting. Wind walls are put up, strategically placed to thwart the scattered pockets of archers waiting in ambush or flank. Even with not bothering to fight everyone - it's endless. It's feeling like it's going to go on forever. Kale's lungs burn - at first with the exertion of each spell he casts, and then simply with the exertion of each step. He pushes himself further - Wind wall. Blade trail. Pressure bomb. A burst of flight, to outflank the archers up above. Another wind wall. A strategically launched dragonbreath attack to push back the tide. And throughout it all, still moving, heart beating, lungs pumping, legs racing, deep rasping breaths to get enough oxygen in to keep his spells going and to keep *him* going and- ... When the group reaches the doors, someone else will have to close them. Kale barely manages to get *through* them, and then practically falls to the floor as soon as he doesn't see or sense anyone immediately nearby in the room. "Someone please tell me Tamamo's actually here and I just haven't noticed her yet," he pleads, thinking on her talismans the same way a man lost in the desert thinks of fresh water. Failing the spontaneous generation of friendly bunrei, he focuses next on Odette, hoping she has something to hand out, maybe. Whether by medical aid or just having a few minutes to catch his breath, Kale gets back up and starts looking around. Twelve stained glass windows. Twelve, the number that Lilian is famously associated with. Kale counts twice just to make sure, then checks the notecard he keeps in his vest pocket just to make sure that no, his memory wasn't altered and twelve isn't the number he was expecting... ... And then he finds himself drawn towards the one that's glowing. A scale, weighing an hourglass... "The worth of time?" He says to himself. "And a golden flower over a lake..." He looks up at where the black hole would be, then back to the mural, setting aside his theories on symbolism for the moment to focus on what could be causing that glow. Kale's got a pretty sharp set of senses - he peers more closely at it, trying to figure out if it's simply a lighting effect or... something else.
Lilian Rook	Coming right up to the mural both confuses and clarifies. Each one along the wall seems to be a work of art simply set right into the wall, nearly flush with the surface in a way that makes their towering height bend your perspective even more, but the one that seems to glow is clearly a window, for no discernible architectural reason. The glow itself isn't just a backlight that's switched off for the others, but the environmental lighting of somewhere else, coming through the other side.     Just barely, Kale can see the indecipherable, foggy shapes of scenery somewhere behind it. Trying to examine it any closer doesn't tell him all that much-- until his touch goes right through it. It's not clear whether it's a poltergeist or the pauli exclusion principle that kicks him from behind after, but everyone sees him vanish.
Rita Ma	Passing through that window lands guests in a cool-colored stone hall lined with several others. There's some lounge furniture here, like you'd find in an especially stately library or the side-rooms of a palace.      The other windows suggest, in their varied designs, that one could get anywhere from here; a little secondary hub for backstage use. But right now they're all barred with a white coral-like webbing that prevents passage. (It might be breakable? ... Maybe?)      The only other exit is a humble wooden door at the end of the lounge. It's ajar, letting warm candlelight and soft music pour out of it. Outside is an A-frame sign proclaiming-      ROYAL CONSIGNER'S GENERAL SHOP - OPEN!!      New things daily! I hope it makes you happy!      RULE 1: No fighting      RULE 2: No stealing      RULE 3: Respect the castle's integrity      Inside, the air is crisply warm. Old floorboards creak their greeting, and a little bell rings. "Oh! Come in!"      It's like a fantasy convenience store, designed by someone with deeply romantic notions of what a 'convenience store' is. Bookshelf-like wooden racks, half-overgrown with ivy and topped with potted plants of all kinds, proudly display common necessities (candles, nails) and souvenirs (little figurines of Liliana- are those handcarved?).      Past the entryway shelves (aww- there's a wooden coffeetable with plush seats in the corner!) the offerings get stranger. Behind a plain wooden counter is the Good Stuff:      Mirror Shield      Almost as tough as stained glass! Plus, always look your best!      1L      Potion of Black Hole Resistance      Untested, no refunds!      2l3I      Premium Grappling Hook      Automatically reels you in! Maybe you'll need it for a puzzle later!      1L2l      Jewelled Cog      I don't really understand, but it looks important.      6L      Homemade Seaweed Soup      Keep your energy up!      2H      Homemade Yangnyeom-Gejang      Spicy raw crab, but be careful!      1F2H      On the counter is a biiiig glass jar that's half-full of those stained glass flower petals, like the ones you got from beating the moat monster- all colors, mixed together. Behind it is another door, but this one marked EMPLOYEES ONLY; and to the side, an alcove half-covered by a white curtain and with a couple of medical-looking comfy beds.      BGM: https://youtu.be/r9jGvaEWEeM
Rita Ma	And staffing the counter, of course, is--      Rita! Rita in a black-and-red vampire cloak and white ruffled shirt! Rita sipping from a tomato-juice juicebox!      She kicks her legs a little and waves giddily at the people entering, before clearing her throat, putting the juicebox in her lap, and straightening up. "It's a pleasure to meet you, guests! I'm the Royal Consigner, Miss Ritescu! Please tell me if I can help you with anything!"      She tilts her head and does the shoulders-pushed-up angelic smile. Her teeth are a little red.
Kale Hearthward	"Oh... Ri- I mean, Miss Ritescu." Kale splurges on some seaweed soup and goes to take a break in one of the plush seats while everyone else can argue whether the cog or grappling hook are more important.
Odette Raskins	"No continues? That's... That's what we should be aiming for, y-yeah!" Odette calls out to Zi-O as she tries not to get her head taken off by a beam shot her way, wincing painfully when her slide takes her way too low to the ground and bounces her head against it. Petra's and Cinder's comment about flight and exhaustion have her squeezing her bag again, then rolling onto the side and springing back up while looking for another angle to run through. "Ow ow, crud... J-just try not to get too banged up, because I dunno how much we'll need to stretch these meds out!" She's not being too thrifty about treating her companions, at least, looking for opportunities to spray someone with a topical healing concoction, or slap a medicated patch over a burn wound to cool them down a little bit. She's not doing particularly well herself between all the stray burns and stab wounds mounting up, though, and she's being far more conservative with her own first aid than she is with everyone else here. They're heroes, after all, so they'd need it more than she does. Still, there's a light at the end of the tunnel even if it is terribly far away, and Odette isn't so proud as to not shout for help whenever there's too many soldiers and gargoyles for her to maneuver and kite around. The little explosions are actually pretty helpful, too, as they provide her with extra javelins and colorful bits to start throwing at anything else that's still moving. When there's an opportunity to, she even packs away more of those bits in her bag in case she'll need to fling them at something later. It's not until going up the stairs, however, that Odette finally has A Solution in mind that might actually work to her strengths/general fear response. "C... Come on, hurry! I've got... W-watch your step!" She shouts while hastily rummaging around in her bag, eventually yanking out a handful of bottles filled with a semi-opaque brown liquid in it. The smell of fuel starts to waft from them the moment she pops the corks off, and then she starts spilling them haphazardly down the stairs behind the group. "If any of you has fire..." She continues trying to strategize while huffing her way up the stairs, screeching and throwing herself to the side as a candle-based firebolt comes dangerously close to detonating one of the bottles in her hand. She promptly hurls that down the stairs, too, then unceremoniously tries to smack the offending candlestand over before continuing her ascent. "N... Now's the time!" And when Odette feels like she's almost ready to just lay down and give up, there's finally a break! She even gets a bit of a second wind when it's time to close that door behind the group, truly grateful for the chance to actually breathe instead of hyperventilating for several minutes straight. She even takes a moment to actually look up from within the park-like area, standing in that sunlight and enjoying the feeling of warmth even though all that running already has her sweating and hating the concept of jackets. "It's... Weirdly nice in here, isn't it? Almost like a... An area the Queen never expected us to get to." She comments seconds before seeing the plinths and plaques, feeling her face burning a bit at opening her mouth. After fixing her hat and readjusting her fancy medical HUD, Odette continues further through the lobby-ish area, moving around the glass floor to peer into the river and not realizing that there's even glass there until someone actually steps on it. She spends some time looking over at the gigantic doors blocking everyone's path, too, but the locked staircase with the lever ends up really stealing the show. Why wouldn't it, if it's a potential path back to somewhere to catch a breather? Taking out a few of those colorful pieces and a sturdier bottle, Odette makes a few practice tosses with those pieces to gauge the distance to the lever, then hucks the bottle at the lever at a funky angle to try and push it the other way.
Odette Raskins	Kale disappearing, though, gets Odette to start freaking out again. "Geh...! M-Mister Hearthward?! Where'd he...?" She hurries over to the mural and starts looking around, hands going up to steady herself as she looks for a hidden switch or something and accidentally touching the mural herself. There's a moment Odette feels the urge to yelp again when she comes into another area entirely, but the comfiness of the little lounge-shop has her calming down before too long. She gawks all over, of course, but the sign seeming so shop-like puts her further at ease even though she doesn't think she has any money yet. "This place almost looks.. Normal, doesn't it?" She asks, partially to Kale and partially to anyone else stepping in after her. The fact that Kale disappeared moments ago is already zapped from her mind as she just basks in the comfortable atmosphere and finds her heart jumping a bit at the sight of Rita at the counter. "M-Miss Rit..escu? Oh, that's so cool...!" She gasps behind her hands, scurrying over to the counter to ogle Rita's shiny new outfit, fanning her face a bit with her hands before clutching the bag tightly against herself again so she doesn't knock anything over. "Oh! Sorry. Um. Y-yeah, this is... This is so neat in here. You look just like a..." Odette swallows once, noticing the red on Rita's teeth before pumping her fists a little. Also, she should probably actually buy something. Eyeing the wares and food on sale, Odette immediately goes for the Homemade Yangnyeom-Gejang. She pauses to look at the price tag, then at the jar, then starts counting out whatever it is she even packed into her bag. She just sort of guesses based on color and drops matching petals in!
Timespace Riders	Woz's choice of word to describe this--'gauntlet'--proves more and more suitable the longer the engagement goes on.     The sole consolation through all of the suppressive fire, attempted kettling, swooping gargoyles, expertly-placed archers, teleporting spellcasters and environmental hazard decor is that Zi-O and Woz aren't fighting on their lonesome.     The two have a patient tempo suited to this grueling march and to their own respective armors' abilities--the reach of Woz's whip can break attempted kettles by snatching members, forcing them out of position and flinging them into the air. It's hard for Zi-O or Woz to be caught out of position themselves, as well, for even if their approach weren't methodically measured plodding, the Demon King's bleep-bloop video-gamey platformer jumps and Woz's thorny vine teleportation allow for easy repositioning.     Where Woz falls short in pure mobility, leaving him open to fire from the clockwork soldiers (and later, the archers) Zi-O draws their fire by leaping into their lines of sight and pummeling at their perches, his A- and B-button bracers transforming into over-the-knuckle bludgeoning gauntlets. Conversely, when he starts to draw too much attention, Woz's whip snares a lighter enemy, and his strength lifts them into the air to use as a humanoid shield against the rush of projectiles.     Both of them conserve not only their finishing strikes, but even their special moves--all in the name of saving the energy both would demand for later, more pressing engagements. The whip is also used when it looks like an ally might be in danger, snagging limbs, yanking them prone, and dragging them to safety from between the legs of would be crowders.     Their communications with the others are audibly winded, by the point they reach the stairs--they've been fighting nonstop since the moat, after all. Their attacks and leaps aren't quite so flashy, but no less spirited or determined. They still display a remarkable coordination, too: knowing that the worst thing for 'a steadily advancing column of guys on an uphill incline' is 'a heavy guy at the front falling backwards,' they wordlessly single out a statue, Woz going for a grounded leg and Zi-O walljumping into a two-foot divekick aimed at the opposite shoulder, bweep-jumping backwards to safety after a colorful 'HIT!' effect.     The issues here are the gargoyles from behind and the surprise environmental chandeliers and candelabras--only Zi-O can reliably deal with being surprise-attacked thanks to his precognition, and the sheer density of enemies means that even he takes chip, while Woz is forced at times into purely defensive whipcracks.     Curiously, a second Zi-O has hit the stairwell--and rather than fighting the monsters, he seems to be gathering up the multicolored stained glass fragments.     Past the gigantic double doors, both Riders are grateful for a moment's peace, each letting out a sigh of freshly-ended exertion.     Zi-O is the first of the two to notice that natural sunlight, raising a gamer gauntlet (tm) to let it hit his gloves with a curious little 'eh?' "One's empty. Could this be... for a partner she hasn't found yet?" He approaches the empty plinth, reading the plaque, his fingers brushing across it with evident curiosity.     Woz, meanwhile, ponders the underground river. "No doubt this connects to the underground aqueduct her underlings spoke of. Perhaps it might serve as a viable exit route, should the need arise."     Glancing over at Kale, Zi-O spots his touch pass right through the backlit window. "A portal? Good thinking, Kale," the Demon King says.     Through the portal... Oh! Come in!     "Hello," says Zi-O merrily, poking his head into the general store.
Timespace Riders	It's a pleasure to meet you, guests! I'm the Royal Consigner, Miss Ritescu!     "Hi, Miss Ritescu! I'm Sougo! You can call me Zi-O when I'm in this armor." He knows it's Rita, but he can't just break character. Especially not when they're both trying so hard. "I'm going to be the greatest, kindest Demon King of Time." His pink katakana lenses, reading 'RIDER,' glint as his helmet turns to look at the jar.     "O-oh! One second, sorry!" He disappears in a flash of pink light, reappearing later with armfuls of those fragments.     "How much seaweed soup will this get us?" he asks. "And how much is left over if I get some for everyone?"
Petra Soroka	"Unless... you don't think there might be a hidden path somewhere and we're just being led to think we have to go this way?"     "It's bad design to hide the way forwards," Petra says authoritatively, though she's already halfway down the hall so she's lost the chance to turn back if she actually believed Cinder was right. "I mean, why have a way forwards at all, you know? This isn't a castle that's being staffed and used for, like, diplomatic meetings and stuff. It's full of evil living statues that kill you, and there's teleporter circles everywhere. Daily, like, everyday activities, aren't a concern for how this place is laid out."     "The point, of having 'a way forwards', is to invite the heroes into it as a challenge. It's big and grandiose because being intimidating is the *point*. We didn't have people pouring boiling oil on us when we were outside the walls, right? Architecture communicates the terms of engagement, for villains. You're thinking like a, like a video game, rather than a play-- having a hidden way forwards would *only* mean assuming that we're owed a way forwards but have to scurry around like rats to find it."     Also, in any real scenario, Petra knows for certain that not a single Elite would even consider that possibility. The only reason Cinder is now, is because they all already know that Lilian is smarter and better than everyone else! So it's easy to imagine her preemptively locking the heroes into the worst case scenario just for fun.     The endless slog through the waves of statues is, of course, exhausting. Petra is by no means reliable enough to sustain her recklessness the entire time, even with support, and in addition to the wear and tear of grinding through mooks, a sloppy and slow reaction to the spellcaster's area indicator leaves Petra with the ends of her hair smoldering on one side.     However. Petra's long history with Lilian has trained her incessantly in precisely two things: self-destruction, and stairs.     The moment the statues begin to glow in warning, Petra dips out of reach of the explosion. On plenty of occasions, she even has the presence of mind to give a hard kick to its center mass to launch the primed suicide bomb into a cluster of other foes blocking her way. And as for the physicality of traversing such a long, winding path within the castle itself-- hours of being kicked down the stairs and being told to climb back up repeatedly has trained her for this very moment!     At one point, Petra puffs out, winded but proud, "This is, nothing. It's so easy when you can actually see, where they end."     Once finally in the safe room, her full back pressed up against the massive doors to help force them shut, Petra crumples to the ground like a marionette with her strings cut. Face down, ass up, appreciating the cool glass over the water pressing against her overheated forehead, Petra absorbs almost nothing of the room at first, burbling pointless whining that's muffled by having her cheek pressed against the floor. "Someone please tell me Tamamo's actually here and I just haven't noticed her yet,"     "She ibs," Emits from the exhausted sprite of Petra, "But you won't like whereeeeeeeeeeee."     She lets Kale totter around the room on his own for a bit, eventually working her way up to sitting slouched on the floor sipping water. She's fiddling around with the burnt ends of her hair-- "Lilian would *kill* me if I had to cut it any shorter...."-- when he vanishes straight through the window. Petra blinks slowly at the space where he was, moments before, and then turns her attention back down to what she was doing, not judging this to be very important.     That is, until--
Petra Soroka	"It's a pleasure to meet you, guests! I'm the Royal Consigner, Miss Ritescu! Please tell me if I can help you with anything!"     Petra is in the store in an instant, standing upright as if her earlier exhaustion was just a figment of your imagination. Hands clapped over her mouth in a barely-contained squee of awe, she tiptoes through the shop as if making any noise that signals her presence would immediately shatter the atmosphere. She introduces herself to the shopkeeper, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement.     "U-um. Hi. Miss Ritescu. You...." Vampire dressing naturally draws Petra's attention. Stained red teeth, even more so. Petra rubs a finger absentmindedly around the marks on her collarbone, thoughts occupied with a particular sandwich at a Waffle House with a particular bite taken out of it.     This, too, is standard Elite behavior. "I'm, Petra? Are you not working with-- with Queen Liliana? We're kind of not, uh, on her side, if that's why you're being so nice."     With a murmured, 'Speaking of which,', Petra tries to slip one of those Liliana figurines onto the counter as casually as possible, as if she can avoid drawing attention to the transaction by acting like it's so normal as to be beneath her notice. Counting out and sorting the colorful jewel petals is oddly entrancing to her for whatever reason, and she systemically slides her portion into color-coded piles with her finger before actually paying for anything.     The jeweled cog is so interesting. Puzzles can be solved in many ways, and Petra's resistance to the black hole is token at best, so a shiny MacGuffin draws her attention like a magnet. In addition to that, Petra earnestly fumbles her way through "And, um, I'll have a yang-nee-om-gejang, too?"     She did her best.
Angela	Cinder is plenty worried about worse things than dying! Like disappointing the Dame Commander! Well, okay, after hearing Petra tell her that it'd actually suck if she died, she's starting...to have second thoughts about living life as one blazing glory to the next. She doesn't want to hurt someone she cares about and that makes her more nervous about it as the job seems to be nearing completion. But, well... She still really doesn't want to dissapoint the Dame Commander. After all, going through all this just to be told she SUCKS?? She doesn't think she could handle that! She knows she can't really compare to all these Elites, but if she can do her best maybe that'll be enough. Collecting flower petals while she can, Cinder is mostly thinking about stories she heard from Mikey and Baba about how important they were during their first big outing. She just isn't expecting them to 'matter' so soon, rushing up the staircase and starting to pant heavily from exertion. "Staaairs..." She complains, being wholly spoiled by LobCorp elevators. She stalls, looking for the statue, whistling--for a seminar, this is really pulling out all the stops. She must really have exactly one dollar more moneys than Clarine just to get all this built with such sort notice. She glances to the lever and then... ''You're thinking like a, like a video game, rather than a play...'' "That's true, I'm not really thtinking like a ''play'', I guess--plays don't usually--it's all just on a tiny set and we've been omving around a lot--but you're right. It doesn't really seem like a normal--like it's hard to imagine there being like a store here or a like--people living daily lives." Shortly after... Cinder's jaw hangs open briefly before looking to Petra. "...This is pretty video gamey..." She points out, bashfully. Cinder also doesn't really see much reason to drink a suspicious potion that might not actually provide resistance. But she does see something that she'd really like. "I'll buy the grappling hook!" She looks to Petra for a moment and then adds, "And a yangneom-Gejang...!" She slaps down the petals dramatically which ends them fluttering everywhere so she has to jump around to go get them again before she apologetically and gently places the petals back down. "S..sorry." She manages, blushing fiercely. And then, of course, puts a few more petals into the glass jar, assuming it's for 'tips'.
Odette Raskins	After another moment's consideration, Odette puts in even more colorful petals to see if she can get the Potion of Black Hole Resistance. It might not be tested, but she's not about to risk getting sucked into a singularity WITHOUT one.
Rita Ma	"Oh... Ri- I mean, Miss Ritescu."      "Hi, Ka-- I mean, guest!" The soup gets ladled out of a still-warm pot beneath the counter into a little wooden bowl. It's unclear how much value two hydrangea petals is, but the food's yummy enough to dispel petty concerns like cost.      "Oh, wow, Zi-O," Ritescu says, eyeing the whole armful of shards. She takes just a handful: "That'll get you the whole pot! Thank you! And don't worry; I'll make more later!" She puts the pot up on the counter and starts ladling some out for whoever wants some. It's not too far off from miso, salty-savory with a buttery-brothy mouthfeel...      "As long as being 'King of Time' doesn't compete with 'Queen Liliana'! It's great to meet you. What's your castle like?"      Even though she's supposed to be in-character, she can't stop herself from brightening up when Petra comes in. "Oh!! Hi, Petra! 'Not on her side'..." She taps her lips. The tomato juicebox dribbles a single red drop onto her shirt.      "But you're buying a figurine of her, right?" Just shooting her dead in the fucking street while handing her a plate of chilled spicy crabmeat-and-rice. "Queen Liliana didn't tell me she had any enemies. At least, not any worth paying attention to! So I think you're just guests, until I hear different."      "As long as you don't cause problems here, anyway!"      Cinder gets the same delectable-looking marinated raw crab. The grappling hook, too: it takes most of her money, but it's a handy-looking gadget, consisting of a springloaded spike, sturdy handle, and reeling mechanism. "There you go, traveler! Just be careful with it! It might hurt somebody." Slurrrrp. She just seems so happy to be giving people things.      The Potion of Black Hole Resistance is really pretty! Swirling dark-purple and inky black with glitter in the interstices. If Odette doesn't drink it, it'd make a good souvenir. "Thank you for your patronage!"      If Ritescu's asked, or if anyone just watches the transactions closely, it seems like the petals come together to form full glass blossoms. A full Hydrangea blossom equals one Forget-me-Not petal; a blossom of that is a petal of Iris, a blossom of that is a petal of Lotus, and a blossom of that is a petal of Lily (because of course that'd be the most valuable).      What this means is that nobody can actually afford the mysterious Jewelled Cog at a staggering 6 Lily petals, even if they pool their petals together. Fraud, theft, or saving up to get it later are the only options.      (Why's Rita just dumping all of the petals in a jar unsorted? It's like they're not even money at all.)      "Oh, by the way, are any of you hurt? I'm a healer too, if you need it!" She seems sooooo proud about that. There is that neat little Nurse's Office Nook off to the side.
Kale Hearthward	> "Oh, by the way, are any of you hurt? I'm a healer too, if you need it!" They have Odette. Kale doesn't see the point. "Oh thanks but we're good on-" > She seems sooooo proud about that. Kale pauses, and then makes a show of touching his side. "Actually - I think I might have bruised a rib or gotten grazed by an arrow or something on the way up... If you've got just like, some bandages..."
Odette Raskins	What a pretty potion. It's almost a shame to drink something that looks so pretty, isn't it? Considering how scary that singularity looked before, however, and remembering that any sort of fight could break out the moment the group leaves the lobby... Odette absolutely drinks that potion. It might even go well with that neat crab dish! "Oh, by the way, are any of you hurt? I'm a healer too, if you need it!" "Y.. Yes, please! I got a little.. Um. I mean, Mister Hearthward and everyone are probably in worse shape, but once you're finished.. Er." Odette coughs lightly and taps all over her sides and arms, indicating a whole load of burns and arrow and spear wounds. They're lightly bandaged, at least, but they're not nearly as cleaned up or well-cared for as they probably should be and compared to everyone else's. Odette really wasn't planning on asking anyone else to handle it, either, but she's not about to turn down healing that's also going to conserve her own stash!
Rita Ma	"Oh thanks but we're good on-"      A small but noticeable glimmer of light leaves Rita's eyes.      "Actually - I think I might have bruised a rib..."      It comes back and multiplies like rabbits. "Oh!!! Absolutely! This is free of charge, too." She effortlessly hops the counter, swishes into the Nurse Office Alcove, shuts the white curtain, and reopens it five seconds later as--              Vampire Nurse Ritescu!!      It's impossible to read the peppy nurse outfit with cravat as anything else. She can be normal about healing Kale- even if he's only got mild aches from exertion, putting her glowy gloved hand on the alleged spot of the wound is a nice pick-me-up. "All better? I hope to see you again soon!"      But Odette, who's actually bloodied up...      Ritescu keeps her smile completely even while her pupils dilate. She swallows, waves Odette over to the bed, and crouches while touching each injury in turn, lingering long enough for some of the glow within Ritescu's hands to radiate into them. Maybe lingering a little longer than she needs to.      "O-okay! All done?" she says, looking up from her bedside crouch with a tiiiny tremble in her voice. For some reason she swallows. Also for some reason, she doesn't toss those slightly bloody gloves after peeling them off and balling them up. "You must be a really brave fighter to get banged up like that. Come back, um, any time!"      The black hole resistance potion tastes...      Exactly like it's a profoundly twee espresso. Slightly gritty at the glittery parts. Not discernably magical at all. Is this really going to protect her from anything but a midday nap??
Timespace Riders	That'll get you the whole pot!     "Really?!" his helmet dips enthusiastically. "Thank *you!*" What's your castle like?     "Oh," he says, removing the Ex-Aid and black-gold Zi-O II Ridewatches. Sougo Tokiwa smiles sunnily at her--despite the burns, scratches and little cuts sustained from the prolonged fighting thus far. "I don't have one yet, since I'm not king yet. There are still things I need to do to be coronated, but I'd love to have you as a guest once I do."     Woz, also untransformed, takes it upon himself to pass out bowls as Ritescu ladles, giving Sougo his soup first and taking his own last. "It's delicious, Miss Ritescu." With his free hand over his heart, he bows slightly at the waist. "Should you one day take my Demon King up on his offer, I would be most delighted to offer you my own cooking." Oh, by the way, are any of you hurt? I'm a healer too, if you need it!     Sougo nods. "Our armor... well, it protects us, like good armor should, but it can only do so much. I'd really appreciate it if you could get us in presentable shape for our audience with the Queen. It'd save Odette some supplies, too, so I'm sure she'd be thankful!"
Odette Raskins	A vampire nurse appears! Odette inhales sharply at first, then squeaks lightly behind her hands as she tries to restrain her reaction. "Oh my gosh... That last one was cool, but this one's so cute...!" She keeps pumping her fists excitedly, settling down by the time Ritescu shifts into TREATMENT mode! Should Odette be worried? Probably not. Rita or Ritescu, she's a doctor or nurse of some sort, and there's no reason to doubt her competence in treating those injuries! Plus, it's free, so Odette really can't find a reason to complain unless things somehow become worse. The light touches have her wincing a bit at first, but that glow gets her attention easily enough to watch as Ritescu gets to work. Luckily, Odette doesn't notice that the touches are longer than they need to be because she doesn't know how any of what Rita's doing actually works. She does give Rita a curious look when it sounds like she's asking if she's done, though, then laughs lightly while touching a gloved hand to the closed up wounds. "Whoa... That's real clean. Th-thank you, Nurse Ritescu! Ah..." The compliments have Odette blushing brightly and shaking her head while looking off to the side. "N-not at all. The... Everyone else definitely got it worse than I did. I just bruise easier than them, I bet." She guesses, nodding at Sougo when he brings up the armor. "Maybe I should get some real armor next time I'm... Sssomewhere? A-and saving supplies is a huge help, yeah." Maybe from Roy's world, if she can scrounge up enough cash for it. She also really enjoys the potion, of course, and not just because of the alleged black hole effects! The grittiness actually seems to calm her down. It reminds her of the coffee she used to sneak from the kitchen at home in the back of the fridge, but far prettier.
Petra Soroka	"But you're buying a figurine of her, right?"     Petra hangs her head, arguments demolished with facts and logic. She figured she might get some detailed lore explanation for why there's a friendly shopkeeper housed within the castle, with some complicated and well-thought-out relationship to Queen Liliana and the political situation of the village. Instead, she is struck dead instantly, all her hopes for LARPing evaporating.     Instead, she must tell the truth. "Yeah... I am...." Petra completes the transaction with defeated resignation, but still spends multiple minutes taking bubblewrap out from her compact mirror to tape it up safely. No one but the most devoted servant of Queen Liliana would have so much respect for a mere effigy of her. "As long as you don't cause problems here, anyway!"     "Um--" Petra's tear along the perforations of her bubblewrap jolts and goes wide, and she freezes in that position. "Uh, yes ma'am."     Petra settles down into one of the cushioned chairs in the shop, cradling the yangnyeom-gejang in her lap to nibble her way through it. Her inability to afford the cog is inconvenient, but she takes the rejection in stride-- with the shellshocked acceptance of having her card declined at a register and then ending the interaction as quickly as possible. The others can go through their transactions, while Petra relaxes more and more in the atmospheric shop with Rita's cooking, brought to the point of kicking her feet cheerfully every once in a while. Vampire Nurse Ritescu!!     "We don't have a healer."     In the few seconds it took Rita to change, somehow Petra also completely inverted her position, attentively standing up with the others at the front of the shop, with her bowl nowhere to be seen. She doesn't even have to look at Odette to make this assertion, to the point that it's believable that she actually forgot.     Petra's own wounds are mostly reduced to bruises where her EGO coat covered her, but the spots that were open are recipients of various elemental burns and cuts. What Petra doesn't think about, in the moment of volunteering, is that the nature of an open trench coat means that the uncovered spots mostly lie on her legs and chest, also still bruised from her encounter with the moat monster.     The light smell of blood clings to Petra like a perfume, mostly masked by the stench of burnt hair, which poses another issue. Charred hair is beyond the realm of healing magic for the most part, but the burned skin around her ear and neck where the blast actually hit her isn't-- so Petra has to sit down in Ritescu's nurse corner and dutifully tilt her head to the side with her lips pressed together, exposing burns, freshly scabbed bite marks, and the Queen Liliana-themed collar she's always wearing for treatment.
Angela	Cinder doesn't play--er, doesn't USE the grappling hook just yet because she doesn't want to cause trouble in the store? She looks at the 'juicbox' for a moment. Oh, she thinks, it's like--a vampire that drinks tomato juice. That's pretty clever. "Ahah...I wouldn't...cause trouble here..." If this WERE a video game, causing trouble in the store would stat a super difficult boss fight. Also, like, how can she trouble that smile? She doesn't have it in her! She is feeling a little sore. "Oh um... Sure, if that'll uh... Sure..." She makes her way to the Nurse's Office Nook. This is normal right? "So um." She asks. "What's...Queen Liliana like?" She asks of her because this is also an opportunity... to learn Liliana's secret in character backstory! "How did she become Queen here?" She is honestly worried about dropping those petals so going down to a small amount is fine. She seems comfortable with spicy food too. "Don't worry I wouldn't point this device at anyone." She adds, slinging it on her back.
Rita Ma	"Uh, yes ma'am."      Rita blinkblinks, surprised she has this power, and then decides to take it in stride. (Is Petra a kind of controllable minion?) "Mmm! Good ."      "... in presentable shape for our audience with the Queen."      "Oh, of course, Mr. Zi-O! I'd love to help design your castle, when you make one. You know, I did all the decorating in the shop myself?" It's not much, but it is extremely cozy. Maybe it's the lesser severity, maybe it's their armor itself, but she's normaler about touching Sougo and Woz on the chest and letting that glowy energy perfuse through them: slower and less efficient, but more general. It makes veins seem to glow from the inside out for just a second, then fade, leaving behind a ense of wellbeing.      "Audience with the Queen, though... what are you going to talk to her about? Isn't she taking care of you well enough?"      <J-IC-Scene> Kale Hearthward says, "Oh, I'll take the minor one, then!"      Ritescu scoots back over to the counter while her next patient filters in, leans over with kicky legs, and passes Kale the Potion of Minor Black Hole Resistance for half the price (and double the disclaimers).      It... looks exactly like the other potion? But, like, waterier. They're diluting the potions now.      She comes back to Cinder in one bed and Petra in the other. Cinder first: "Oh, Miss- um, Queen Liliana is really amazing! She's a little scary, but she's sweet. I feel like she's always looking out for everyone; like everybody's got a place in her plans."      "I just came here a few months ago. I was all alone, and I didn't know what to do, but she took me in! She says I'm really useful, and I get to make everyone happy taking things into town. But from what I heard, she just had a talk with the Princess, and convinced the Princess to take a little break because it's a really hard job, and became Queen that way!"      That's enough time for the glowy suffusion to set in and then fade for Cinder, too. Ritescu smiles angelically, straightens up, nods with a bright "You're free to go! Don't put anyone's eye out with that!", and then pivots to look at--
Rita Ma	Oh no.      "Right. Um. Tha-a-ank you, Mi- Miss Petra." Ritescu's jaw trembles. She leans in to get a better look at the burn, long hair trailing over Petra's collarbone, hand cupping her forehead and the other on her upper back, breath tickling her wounded neck. "I, um... this is pretty bad. Really severe. Just... give me a minute..."      Petra can hear Ritescu lick her lips two inches from her ear, and then gulp down drool. A few stray drops drip, drip, drip onto the side of Petra's throat, hotter than human body temperature. Gosh golly she's committed to this roleplay.      "You get bitten a lot, huh," Ritescu says, in the same forbidden-awed tone as one teenager calling another a slut. Babbling brainlessly: "Don't worry. That's, fine. They're pretty small, anyway. Um."      Her free hand accidentally crushes her juicebox behind her back. Splatter.      Ritescu's glowy touch-healing feels nice!! It also takes too long!! Way, way too long, to be like this. It's five seconds after the process finally finishes, wisps of steam rising from Petra's neck where healthy skin supplanted the burned, when Rita looks up with completely blown pupils and realizes she never closed the curtain.      Vampires can blush.      "Ah. Um. So-o, you're all going to the dungeon next, right?! If you came from the entryway! Um. Did you hear about the Corrupted Heroine down there? I hear she's, like, almost invincible, but there's got to be a trick to beating her, I bet! Ha..."
Odette Raskins	"We don't have a healer." Odette's jaw tightens for a moment. She's right there! As she thinks over what Petra might have meant, though, she loosens up a bit, and then she suppresses a quiet noise in the back of her throat. No, Petra' sright. She's an EMT, not a healer like Ritescu here or Father Lucius or anyone else with special healing powers. "Isn't she taking care of you well enough?" Getting her head back into the scenario, Odette smacks herself on the cheeks once to psyche herself back out of that hole she was starting to descend into just in time to feel a little more awkward about how to even answer that. Sure, they're all here to stop the Queen's reign of presumable terror, but... What if Ritescu in this scenario really is being treated well? Even a wannabe hero should take efforts not to destroy an innocent person's world! "Er... W-well, there's... Um.  Safety measures we're here to implement. Like... Uh. F-for the workers! and... People in town." She mumbles, looking desperately towards everyone else to see if they can come up with a better excuse. When Ritescu works on Petra's wounds, though, Odette starts watching her intently. At first, it's only because she wants to get a better understanding of what it is that's happening when Ritescu treats someone's wounds. Even she's not so blind not to notice everything else going on with the vampire side of things, though, and she doesn't notice herself inadvertently blushing just watching them.  Odette even rubs her neck a bit absent-mindedly, only remembering to start jotting down notes when Rita seems to notice that everyone else is still there. "Er.. Th.. That's right! Yes, we need to.. Um. Inspect the rest of the dungeon, yeah. That means making sure this Corrupted Heroine.. Er. Should still be within proper standards! For... Um. Heroism." Odette blurts out, continuing to be a terrible yarn-spinner.