Scene #9044: Bespoken-2

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Rufus Shinra	PREVIOUSLY: BLUE ORB GET The next orb, following some prophetic clues, is the Green Orb. It's out in the wilderness - displayed at a shrine, surrounded by thick foliage on three sides, with the only ground path leading through a gauntlet of deadly and dangerous traps! First up - there's a corridor that any aspiring shrine raider will have to run through. Along both walls are what are clearly arrow slits just waiting to put new holes into anyone trying to traverse the path to the shrine. A helpful sign nearby labels this as the Trial of the Swift. Further into the gauntlet, the path ends at a large pit! It's not bottomless, but there are some nasty looking spikes at the bottom. Assuming one doesn't want to try jumping over it, there's a very thin plank of wood that's been placed across it, or a series of (hopefully) sturdy vines dangling from trees up above. Another sign usefully labels this as the Trial of the Mobile. And finally, there's a table with a set of four pressure plates, atop each of which rests an identical carved stone idol. Another sign designates this as the Trial of the Wise - and provides an extensively long logic puzzle giving directions such as <3: The idol on the left was not the idol that was created first. 4: The newest idol is two spaces to the right of the harvest festival idol.> With the end goal, presumably, to figure out which of the four idols is safe to pick up and use to unlock the door to the final part of the gauntlet... ... The Trial of the Brave. It looks like the Green Orb is just simply here, in plain view, atop a cushion on a plinth on a dias, with no guards or hazards or traps in view. Someone could just simply come and take it, right? Oh, and Tanya's still here (also her dad's still here too), as one half of the Destined Hero Duo. "Oh man, a real gauntlet with real traps! Oooh, it's so dangerous looking..." She takes a selfie with whoever's not fast enough to get away. "Do you think we'll be okay, going through it? There was a prophecy, right, so we won't die, right?" She starts steeling her courage to go through it. Also also, Rufus is here. He's just sort of tagging along, to make sure that he doesn't lose out on the reward - though he brightens up a bit when he sees the deadly traps. "Okay. This should be interesting, at least."
Merelisa Shaynore	On the airship ride over, Merelisa continues to grapple with complicated feelings. The gentleness of the quest is something that can't escape her notice, even with the town left in flames (because of her) behind them. How is she meant to feel about that sort of thing? Tanya is, frankly, a child. Her father is coming along, and he's not even mentoring her, he's just sticking around to give her moral support. There's no urgency or determination in the young girl's expressions that Merelisa can find at all, and that... strikes her as deeply upsetting, because she can't remember if that's normal or not. After all, wasn't she, all those years ago, a lot less serious about her mission? Sarracenia is giving it more gravitas but... this might just be the standard for what the multiverse is like, in general. It's not like Merelisa has any data points otherwise, besides the odd giant cursed monster, and Sarracenia is by far her senior in terms of familiarity with the multiverse, if nothing else. Maybe she's just doomed to this distant sense of half-fulfillment, with every gentle movement of her own tearing through the fabric of oppression like tissue paper, to watch this selfie-obsessed teen goof around in a world suited for her. There might never be another adventure that feels 'real', if this is what the multiverse has to offer. On Sarra's airship, arms folded to lean on the pommel of her greatsword, Merelisa still does her best to not drag the mood of the destined heroes down, but there's a strained dimness to her expression. "I think we might be safe from the Darkmancer's minions in the jungle. But that's only because the natural environment would be dangerous enough that his legions haven't gotten in there yet, so don't let your guards down. And in the worst case, we could have to deal with both." > Trial of the Swift A bit of exercise helps with getting Merelisa's blood pumping again. Her shirt gets scuffed by branches, and twigs and thorns lodge themselves in her long red cloak as they traverse through the jungle, but being weathered only makes the outfit settle more comfortably on her skin. She wipes a sheen of sweat off her forehead, pushing away stray red hairs that stick with an invigorated expression. "Oh man, a real gauntlet with real traps! Oooh, it's so dangerous looking..." "You won't want to treat it lightly." Tanya's lack of care to the trials reminds Merelisa of what her real place is, here: in the back, watching over the others. The massive mecha arms flicker into existence over her shoulders, blue particles fizzing off of them as they scrape against each other into a crossed-arm pose without a body to match. "It's not likely to kill you, but you have to think long term, not just about gettign through whatever's in front of you." Out of a flash of haughty irritation, to show the young heroine how to do it Right, Merelisa lines up at the edge of the traps first, before any of the others go. Her mech palms splay against the ground in a sprinter's stance, and after a slow breath to narrow her sky-blue eyes on the opposite end, Merelisa just dashes across, ahead of the arrows as they spray behind her. She could've done it safer-- but smothering the slits shut with her hands isn't really in the spirit of the challenge.
Merelisa Shaynore	> Trial of the Mobile "Oh, oh, see--" Merelisa bounces a bit on her boots, heels sinking into the soft earth. "When I was trying to take Cassiopeia to the bottom of the ruined city of Zanides-- I'll have to talk about that story sometime-- the crypt-tunnels were all collapsing over the decades since the World's Core opened up beneath them, y'know? So there were all these gaps, dozens of feet wide sometimes, where the stone just vanished a thousand feet below and-- well, the point is..." Merelisa hops onto the palm of one of her hands, when it lays flat on the ground for her convenience. It bounces up and down, tossing her gently like a baseball, and she lands as gracefully as if this was a normal thing to do in a high-society ball rather than a janky lunatic technique. "I'm a good shot, you see! So, hop on, if you want." Merelisa will throw anyone who volunteers across the pit, clutched gently in the fist of a mechanical hand as tall as a person! > Trial of the Wise "Ah... hm... um...." Merelisa is not deft at this particular trial. If left to her own devices, many many minutes of mumbled "Oh, I get it now..." and "Then that means this goes here so this one has to go..."s pass by while she continually shifts them around with the utter certainty that each swap is the absolutely total final one and she's completely understood the puzzle now. > Trial of the Brave "... Well, this one looks like a job for our heroes. Sarra?" Hand on her hip, Merelisa turns her face to Sarra, flushed from the heat and a little bit from the excitement. She's either gassing Sarra up on purpose, or she really does just think that Sarra shouldn't have any problem succeeding at a test for 'bravery'.
Angela	The agents only lend a hand wwhen Angela insists which means that it isn't really until the Trial of Wise that Angela particularly deigns to lend a hand. Moku can be reasonably swift and mobile but the Agents aren't really fast or agile relative to, like, Merelisa. Or even Sarracenia. They run along but only to kind of not lose track of theo thers. When Merelisa offers to throw someone across the pit, Haschen raises both her hands. "Oh! Oh! Do me! Do me! Throw me across! That sounds really fun! Also I'm not really good at this sorta stuff I'm mostly good at kind of ''taking it'' rather than doing stunts..." Angela is exceptional at puzzles because she has essentially endless time and is a rather crafty person. She solves most of the puzzles within seconds of real time but will helpfully not help to solve of the puzzles in case someone else wants to do some. SHe glances at Merelisa periodically, figuring she's probably eating this up and having the time of her life. Angela feels a little weird about how much like a video game this all feels like. She half expects to be pointed towards a themepark or resort town after completing each set. ''The Trial of the Brave'' Angela takes a second or two to study the lack of any traps or guards or danger and then decides it doesn't really matter. This is what Agents are for. "Haschen." Angela says. "Get the Orb." Haschen eeps and says, "O-okay! I can do this, I can do this... There's nothing there..!" And she makes her way towards the Green Orb, intending to just ... grab it once she gets close. IF SHE GETS CLOSE...!!
Sarracenia	Previously: Sarra was a bit disappointed that Tanya did not seem to want matching princess dresses (or the girl was too busy having fun to notice the question). She is also still somewhat perturbed that she is a co-heroine of destiny, but she is trying not to hold that against Tanya. Tanya's enthusiasm about princesses and heroism and such helped quite a bit. Sarra can't help but notice the loss of enthusiasm in Merelisa, and as they fly on the airship she approaches her fellow heroic red-head. "Are you alright?" she asks after Merelisa's warning about potential minions. 'Do you think we'll be okay, going through it? There was a prophecy, right, so we won't die, right?' Sarra considers this a moment after not trying to avoid the selfie. "I would not be too quick to assume that. There are many a place where prophecies went unfulfilled or were fulfilled in the negative way. So, do be careful." she says as they approach the gauntlet. >Trial of the Swift Sarra waits for Merelisa to go, then considers a moment before pulling out a Bullet Bill, though it is only about the size of a loaf of bread instead of the usual human-sized projectile. She smiles to Tanya and holds out a hand. "Would you like to come with?" Then, in a puff of smoke she and perhaps Tanya are encased in a Bullet Bill. A rocket ignites at its back and it blasts down the hallway at car-like speeds before the Bullet Bill poofs in another puff of smoke and Sarra comes spiraling out to gracefully land on the other side of the trap. >Trial of the Mobile "Thank you for the offer, Merelisa, but there is no need~" One thing that heroes and villains of Pipeland have is mobility, and Sarra happily displays this by just jogging across that plank. Despite her tendency to hammer and destroy the princess has excellent balance and high athleticism, so such a task is quite easy for her. Assuming the plank does not simply break half way across... >Trial of the Wise "Haschen~" she sing-songs. "You are up, dear!" She did tell Haschen that she would trust the agent with puzzles such as this. That is not to say that Sarra will not try to solve it, but if Haschen is as good as she claims then it is better to let her have a crack at it. >The Trial of the Brave Sarra nods to Merelisa. "Indeed!" she agrees. Sarra has a feeling about this one. As soon as she sees that sign she starts to pull out her hammer, but then pauses and pulls out only the shuriken, then just...marches toward that orb. "Fortune favors the bold, as they say." she says, barely protected from any would be attackers or traps. Haschen is ordered to get close, and Sarra gives Angela a look. Is she mad that Angela is putting Haschen in danger, or is she mad that Angela is trying to steal her heroic thunder? Perhaps both? "Haschen! Do not trouble yourself. It is likely quite dangerous -and- it is a task for the heroines. You should stay there and let us handle it." Sarra doesn't stop Haschen from going, but if Haschen does still go Sarra makes sure she is in front of Haschen and definitely makes sure she gets the orb before Haschen does. "Do not worry. If something happens I shall protect you." she says to the agent...despite obviously trying to beat her there.
Rufus Shinra	TRIAL OF THE SWIFT: Tanya takes Sarracenia up on the offer of Bullet Billing across the first obstacle. "Whoo! Best adventure ever!" Everyone makes it across. Somehow it's a close shave for everyone, whether they're running or blasting across! TRIAL OF THE MOBILE: > When I was trying to take Cassiopeia to the bottom of the ruined city of Zanides... Rufus perks up. "Yeah?" He's interested in ADVENTURING STORIES. "You gotta tell me all the details sometime." Also: Rufus absolutely takes a ride on the FASTBALL EXPRESS. "Hey - this place... it's not covered from above, I just realized," he says. "We could just, you know, come in from above, right?" he remarks, once he lands. Tanya opts to just take this one herself, and swings across on the vines. "Ha ha ha! Like Tarzan!" she says. TRIAL OF THE WISE: With Merelisa providing the puzzle solving, and Hershel providing the expendability, the group can confidently confirm that it's the rightmost idol that should be grabbed and used to unlock the door. TRIAL OF THE BRAVE: Angela orders Haschen to GET THE ORB. Haschen approaches... nothing happens. Haschen can reach out and touch the orb... nothing happens. Haschen can pick up the orb...! ... Nothing happens. Well, nothing happens at first. There's about half a minute... ... And then there's a horrendous noise, and the ground starts rumbling. "The shrine is falling apart! Run!" yells Tanya, going to book it back towards the entrance, taking each of the obstacles in reverse. "Hang on a second..." says Rufus, before anyone else can follow her. "Something's off." "... That doesn't feel like a real earthquake, it feels more like..." He goes around behind the dias. "There's one of those... ground shaking machines back here. It's not a real earthquake. There's nothing here that's bigger than the trees that'd fall on us anyway, even if it was?" "And..." He picks up another idol off of the pressure plates, and uses it to lock and unlock the Trial of the Wise door. No (further) traps go off. "It looks like none of these idols were 'wrong', no matter what result you got from the logic puzzle?" "And..." He takes one of the idols, and chucks it into the spike-laded Trial of the Mobile pit. There's a sproingy sound. "These aren't real spikes, either. They're all rubbery." "I'm gonna bet those arrows at the first hazard are blunt, or programmed to not actually hit us, either. This is all... fake danger."
Merelisa Shaynore	"Are you alright?" Merelisa smiles wanly at Sarra's approach, then fixes her attitude with a heavy, centering sigh. She straightens up and tucks her hair behind her ear where the wind blew it astray, looking wistfully down at the rural landscape scrolling to dense green below the ship. "I'm alright. I guess, I'm just a bit caught up in all my feelings from the past, still. It's a little silly of me." Merelisa is years younger than Sarra, but her tone and the wry upturn of her lips makes her sound a decade older for a moment. One glossy fingernail slips beneath the clasp of one of the many belts holding her outfit together, fiddling around with quiet little clicks. "Is it wrong for me to say 'I'm proud of you'? I'm just happy to see someone with a... spirit, like yours, I guess; and I've been wrapped up in my own stuff for so long that I'm worried about doing something to ruin this for you." "You gotta tell me all the details sometime." While bouncing Rufus up and down in her mecha-palm, Merelisa beams at him, hand on her hip. "You're asking for a lot of details, mister. Some of 'em aren't even public knowledge at all, maybe ever. But seeing as we're working together, I guess I could indulge you." "The shrine is falling apart! Run!" Merelisa is strongly supportive of Sarracenia's petty spite in insisting on going first-- Angela gets a bit of a judgy pout, even, when commanding Haschen to grab the orb. If anyone could do it, then obviously Merelisa would grab it no problem, but she was intentionally leaving it to today's heroes! Angela wasn't just snubbing Sarracenia by sending a 'disposable' person in her place. When the rumbling starts, Merelisa is quick to pull out a green-colored crystal, glowing faintly in her hand with faint sparkles lifting off of it in swirls. She's about to call for everyone to pile into her mecha hands so that she can launch the whole group out at once, when Rufus interrupts her spell-chanting. "It's not a real earthquake." The sinking feeling in Merelisa's stomach coincides with her hands sinking to her side, crystal glow dimming. She follows Rufus's gaze to each of the inert obstacles, then picks up and turns one of the idols around in her hands, grip tensely white-knuckled around it. "... So it's fake. Was it all fake? --No, the villagers really were being hurt. It has to be the work of the Darkmancer then. Maybe he got to the orb first, and set up a total fake to send us on a wild goose chase...."
Angela	"Don't worry, Princess! If I, um, if I melt into a puddle of goo, you can consider my brave sacrifice as a stepping stone towars your ultimate victory and character growth and stuff, hahaha, I guess that's the idea? Haha..." She picks up the Orb and, well, she then offers it to Sarracenia when... EArtHQUAKES. "Ahh!!!" Haschen runs over to hide behind Moku, who is just standing there. When Rufus investigates and reveals that the danger is all ... fake, Angela's idle musings that this is all some kind of game gives way to the confidence that this is, in fact, something for actual children to do. Which would explain the actual child being present. But Merelisa brings up that people were actually gtting hurt and Angela feels better. Angela cups her chin. "That is a good point. Perhaps intending to keep us from the real adventure, we have been inflicted with a fake one. While the real adventure remained out of sight..."
Sarracenia	'Is it wrong for me to say 'I'm proud of you'?' Sarra listens to Merelisa's concerns, but that line catches Sarra off guard completely. Someone is...proud of her? In all her life Sarra can't remember someone actually saying that. She has had a few people like her spirit, and one or two even say she did a good job, but...proud of her? Sarra freezes up, and her eyes get a bit misty as she tries to fight back a decade or more of knowing she was not good enough and getting little to no reassurance from anyone else. When the princess realizes she is tearing up, she coughs and looks off to the side, trying to hide it both for pride and embarrassment. "I...do not think it is wrong to say. And I very much doubt you could ruin this for me." she says, voice a bit shaky. "If anything having someone along who has been so willing to support me has..." Her voice wavers near the end and she goes quiet. She has to remain so until they reach the shrine in order to preserve her dignity. 'This place...it's not covered from above, I just realized.' "You only just realized? I thought it would simply be unsporting to fly all the way. Someone went to the trouble of trapping this orb, after all. And we are supposed to be heroines!" 'This is all...fake danger.' Sarra gasps somewhere between surprised and excitedly as the temple starts to collapse, but stops when Rufus calls for it. She watches Rufus display the fakeness of the danger. The rubber spikes are what finally really get her, and she ends up staring with a very flat expression. "Fake...fake?!" the princess exclaims, looking at Haschen holding the orb without any apparent negative effects beyond the rumbling. "Are you serious?!" Her volume and pitch reach a level of ear-splitting squeakiness that can really only be done by spoiled brat types. "Does that mean this entire quest is fake?! Are we fake heroines?!" Sarra pauses a moment, thinking back to the village. "But...wait...yes, there were real monsters and people..." she says after hearing Merelisa, then...thinks to Lilian's supposedly simulated hero course. "But they could have been actors and summoners!!" She starts to throw the shuriken in anger, but just before letting it go she staggers and stops. "...but...what if it is real? Perhaps those that prophesied this did not want the challenges to be too difficult? Especially if children like Tanya were going to be undertaking it..." She goes quiet after that, clearly torn about what to do and crestfallen about the very strong possibility that... "...does this mean that any girl who picked up one of these heroine weapons would be selected...?" she wonders quietly, and looks toward Merelisa. It is probably pretty clear what she is thinking as she starts to offer the shuriken to her. She could let Merelisa hold it to see if it gives that heroic pitch to her. But, then she hesitates. If she did that...it would confirm everything is either fake or not particularly special. That she is not special... So, she comes up with another idea of how to check. Sarra goes to try and take the orb from Haschen. "Hey...let me hold that, would you please?" she says, her voice bordering on Angela's favorite. Worried plea.
Rufus Shinra	> Perhaps intending to keep us from the real adventure, we have been inflicted with a fake one. "Maybe? This is where we were supposed to go next, according to the prophecy, and..." "... Well the Green Orb seems real enough?" says Rufus, comparing it to the Blue Orb they'd gotten earlier. "(Hey, are you alright?)" calls Tanya, from outside the gauntlet. "(Did you die in an earthquake?)" "We're fine, we're just discussing - boring non-hero stuff," calls Rufus. >"Fake...fake?!" "I mean it doesn't add up - like Merelisa said, those villagers were getting beat up, that sure didn't look like actors..." Sarracenia holds the Green Orb. It reacts in much the same way as the Blue Orb does, confirming that they are at least either real, or the same sort of fake. "Well, according to the prophecy, next is the Yellow Orb, right? And we get that by..." --- ONE ASSAULT ON A DARKMANCER SUBFORTRESS LATER (WHICH IS SUCH A CAKEWALK THAT WE CAN OFFCAMERA IT WITHOUT LOSING ANYTHING SUBSTANTIAL) "Oh yeah! We're awesome!" Tanya gives Sarracenia a high-five. "(I'm sure you all noticed,)" says Rufus to the others. "(It was just like at the village...)" The darkness minions supposedly swarming the group, but in reality they were approaching one by one, within line of sight, as though it were an action movie. The Yellow Orb is looted from the subfortress treasure room, and is verified to be the same as the Blue and Green Orbs. But as soon as the group exits the subfortress with it... ... the sky goes dark. "MWA HA HA HA. FOOLISH DESTINED HEROINE. YOU THINK YOU CAN DEFEAT ME? FOR YOUR HUBRIS THIS WORLD WILL NEVER SEE THE SUN AGAIN! ONLY A MULTIVERSAL ELITE WHO HAS GAINED SPECIAL POWERS COULD EVER HOPE TO ENTER MY MAIN FORTRESS, ACQUIRE THE LAST ORB, AND DEFEAT ME!" The voice comes from somewhere vaguely up above. "Heroine! I mean, heroines!" It's the old man again, speed-hobbling towards the group from down the road. "What fortuitousness that I was nearby! Quickly! With the sun gone the villagers' crops will fail! We must quickly train you in the mystical arts of... uh..." He glances at the Artifact Weapons that Sarracenia and Tanya are holding. "... Being a sneaky ninja! And a dashing fencer! Follow me!"
Merelisa Shaynore	"But they could have been actors and summoners!!" "Actors..." Merelisa's brow furrows as she considers Sarra's suggestion. It makes her a bit uncomfortable, to conjure up the image of the frightened villagers in her mind, and try to scan her memory for 'tells' that they were just faking their distress. "I won't believe that until we get more proof. Those people were hurt, and I'm not going to implicate them in the Darkmancer's schemes just because we've been fooled this time. There has to be a reason that this temple is fake. I just want to know what it is." "...does this mean that any girl who picked up one of these heroine weapons would be selected...?" While walking back through the (fake) gauntlet, Merelisa muses, "It's the age-old question, right? I thought the same thing, back when the Stellar Heart Andromeda chose me. Could it only ever have been me, or was it just because I was the person that actually fought to get it? Are we the masters of our own destiny, or is every step we take decided by prophecies a thousand years ago?" A vindictive swipe of her sword incinerates both sides of the arrow trap, melting the launchers down into superheated slag whether they were real or not. "I have to believe that we have a choice. You chose to follow the call of your weapon, didn't you? You were ready for all of this to be deadly, and you came anyways." One assault on the fortress later.... A pillar of flame flickers in the windows and out of the top of the central tower of the fortress, accompanied by the gradual sound of structural collapse from deeper within. Merelisa's arms tore through the stone like putty, bypassing minibosses and puzzles with brute force and concentrated blasts of screenwiping magic. Merelisa tilts her chin up to the sky, default-stancing into cocky defiance against the booming voice, hand on her sword. The words that the voice says make her wince, though. "Right...." She glances over to Sarracenia and the agents, to check her uncertainty against theirs, and then lowers her voice. "Is this some kind of... we do have 'powers' already, don't we? Do we even need that last orb, or should we just go straight to taking down the Darkmancer? I don't know about you, Sarra, but I want answers from this creep." "With the sun gone the villagers' crops will fail!" It is way too suspicious that this old man would just show up outside of the Darkmancer's fortress. He's been the source of the prophecies that guided them around, so he could've intentionally sent them to the fake fortress instead of the real one! Merelisa puts a hand on Sarra's shoulder to pull her back from follow him for just a moment, lowering her voice to talk to her alone. "I'm not sure we should listen to him. He's been the center point of a lot of the weird stuff we've experienced, hasn't he? Just... be careful, Sarra. Keep an eye on him." Then, raising her voice again so the old man can hear her, "If it's a question of the sun, it might be quicker for me to go check it out myself. I'd need to travel back to the Firmament to grab my ship, but that's definitely fast enough that no one's crops would be damaged. Or we could go straight to the Darkmancer and put an end to this immediately, instead."
Sarracenia	Sarra hmphs in approval as Merelisa destroys the arrow launchers and considers what Merelisa said. "...I did choose to follow the call. But...if just anyone who answered could complete this quest then...that means there is nothing special about me. That...that maybe I really am just another faceless person in an ocean of faceless mediocre people..." Sarra proved nothing with the orb, and is too scared to try the other thing that could prove things. So...sometime later... ...she high-fives Tanya! "We -are- awesome!" Nothing like roflstomping some mooks to give a distraught heroine her groove back. Their high five is framed by the mushroom cloud of a Banzai Bill which Sarra vindictively launched to try and level that subfortress. Luckily Sarra does not hear Rufus since she is not really observant enough to realize how scripted the battles have been. Don't enemies just normally come at you one at a time in an easy to handle line? When you use a huge hammer and explosives and such to fight you really don't notice. But, you -do- notice when the questgiver has to think up some continuation on the fly in such an obvious way. Though she does not really question the odd coincidence of the old man even being there until Merelisa brings it up. "...right. He could be in on it...whatever 'it' is." The princess is just confused and out of patience at this point. "I do not want to be a sneaky ninja! I hate sneaking and subterfuge and all of that shady unheroic stuff! And I can already balance on poles and jump off of walls and leap over houses and transform and use a variety of elemental attacks! And Merelisa is right! Just tell us where the main fortress is so we can prove we are heroines and multiversal elites! There is no time to waste anyway if the people are in danger and the crops are going to fail!" 'I would need to travel back to the Firmament to grab my ship...' "Feel free to use mine! Whether going after the sun or going after the Darkmancer! But, we do not have time for training!" Sarra adds.
Angela	Angela smiles quietly as Sarracenia pleads and then gives a nod to Haschen, signaling her consent. Haschen was already on the way to hand the thing over though because Haschen, unlike Angela, is a sweetie pateetie without a vengeful bone in her body and also, frankly, not really enough guile to realize that Angela would have preferred her to just hold it for a liiittle moment longer. Still, it's all close enough for Angela to be pleased with the result. ''MWA HA HA.'' Angela frowns. She frowns throughout the whole of that speech and proclamation. She is now certain, more than ever, that she is being made fun of. Being grifted. She squeezes a stress ball on her desk until it's crushed beyond usablity. ''The old man returns.'' "...Are you mocking us?" Angela asks of the old man with sneering suspicion. "You will find I do not care for being the ''butt'' of the joke." Moku stares at the old man. "..." Haschen looks to Moku and then to the old man. "Huh?" She asks. "...Oh sorry haha my mind blanked when the quake happened haha...ha..."
Rufus Shinra	The Old Man starts looking a bit worried, as Merelisa starts talking about going to get her ship... ... and then more worried as Sarracenia first expresses disinterest in training, and then doubles down on getting her ship. Angela expressing open disdain and suspicion is what finally pushes him to a decision. "... Ah, um, heroine that's going to be a destined fencer, how about you run on ahead while I give the destined ninja some special advice..." "Uh... okay! See you in a bit, Princess! I'm gonna go get started on training!" Tanya (and father) head off. "Alright - alright, let's all calm down..." the old man is suddenly not leaning on his cane quite so much. "You're all actually elites already, I realize that, but if you'll just give me a chance to call my boss and explain..." He pulls a modern looking cell phone from his tattered robes, and hits speed-dial number 1, putting it on speakerphone and video. "Is there a problem?" says a figure, wreathed in swirling smoky shadows who can't be anyone other than The Darkmancer that spoke earlier, though he's much more professional sounding than swaggeristically evil. "Group B is having a morale problem, I'm already having to make a personal appearance and burn a village in front of them to get them back on track. That's putting us even further behind schedule today." "It's Group E, sir. The one that had two destined show up at once. One of them's an elite, a real one, I mean. Actually there's... four, maybe five, all elites." "Oh...? Oh, shit. That's them? I mean, hello, welcome!" Another sudden tone shift, this time to a worried customer service tone. The shadow-wreathed person gives his best smile. "I believe there might have been a mixup, and this adventure was... not entirely suited for your skill level. If you happen to have your receipt on you, we can start processing your refund, but either way we'll need you to start vacating the kingdom right away..."
Sarracenia	Sarra waves goodbye to Tanya with a forced smile and a "Have fun!" since she does not want to ruin the cheerful kid's adventure...then fixes her glare on the old man who is suddenly not leaning on his cane. He calls his boss. Sarracenia listens silently until the end. Then, her hands clench into fists, her face turns to a teeth-clenched frown, then her hands are thrown upward. "WHAAAAAT?!" Her voice might be loud enough to echo about. "Are you serious?! This is some kind of...of...heroine vacation that Rufus was scammed into buying?! Are you -actually- serious?!?! No wonder Tanya has such a rich father who was not worried about her at all and completely supportive of her adventure!" Sarra is beyond disgusted now. She starts pacing/stomping back and forth, huffing and muttering things that never quite form an actual sentence until finally she pulls out the shuriken and finally actually throws it with angry accuracy to stick in the ground just in front of one of the old man's feet. "There is the shuriken! You saw it light up and give that big announcement back in the starting village! If that is not enough for a refund I do not really care! It is Shinra's shuriken in the first place!" Sarra got her hopes up. She got carried away in the fantasy and actually started to believe she was chosen for something great. She may not be a child in body but...perhaps in the way she falls to her knees and goes kind of limp and whines before starting to cry. Not full on wailing, but definitely the noticeable sobs and tears of bitter disappointment while hugging her arms around herself. "I should have know...of course I am not some destined heroine..." she murmurs, rubbing her arms. "I suppose there was nothing to be proud of after all, Mere-...Andromeda..." Apparently she does not even feel worthy of calling a proper hero by her familiar name. "I bet you are all too happy to see this, huh Angela?"
Merelisa Shaynore	"Feel free to use mine!" Merelisa turns to look at Sarra, pleasantly shocked. "Oh, is it capable of space travel? I wasn't sure, since...." Well, it's made of wood. Proximity to the sun might be rough on thr Dyna. "You're all actually elites already, I realize that, but if you'll just give me a chance to call my boss and explain..." Merelisa's expression sours further, growing more and more disappointed as the old man and his boss keep explaining. She's not exactly crestfallen, like she might be if she was hoping for a grand adventure that got canceled on her, and she's not betrayed, like how Sarra is stomping and fuming. Instead, her expression fills with contempt as the shadow... insists that they have to leave now. "... Your highness." Merelisa's tone shift for how she refers to Sarracenia sounds all the more intense for how she doesn't move her eyes from the Darkmancer's figure, or release her grip on her sword hilt. "I wouldn't give up so easily. Isn't it convenient, for the man called the Darkmancer to turn out to not be a threat at all, and after all this work, right before the confrontation where we'd finally take him down, we're just told to go home and forget about it?" Merelisa lays a hand on Sarra's shoulder while she kneels down, thumb pressed in reassuringly and tensely. "You're a hero, Sarra. Whether or not this Darkmancer is real doesn't change that. But I--" Merelisa raises up her sword, massive slab of flame-heated metal pointed tip-first at the figure of the Darkmancer. "Don't trust the word of someone like you so easily. What about the villagers? Their homes? With people's safety at risk, I won't just back down because I was asked. Prove to me that you're telling the truth, or Sarra and I will wipe your castle and every trace of your pathetic little conquest off the face of the planet."
Angela	''I bet you are all too happy to see this, huh Angela?'' "Mm...." Angela seems to roll that idea in a mind for a moment. She does like it when Sarrcenia pleads but she's not sure she likes it when she whines. And the truth of the matter is, she would have preferred an honest adventure too--even if Sarracenia was the actual main character of it. "I had suspected something was 'off' earlier but I am disappointed as well. Agents have been dispatched to lend a hand and I wll have to justify the excursion despite all this being quite fake." ''I should have known... Of course I am not some destined heroine.'' This was said first, of course, but Angela considers the statement second. She cups her chin and glances up in thought and does not respond further for some time. But when she does, she says, "Mm... But it is not an uncommon heroine's journey to discover she isn't the destined heroine only to become a heroine of her own volition after. That is still a viable heroic path and, frankly, one I respect a little more--though of course sometimes the 'destiny' comes from the fact that the heroine in question is struggling to fill that role, whether they intend to or not." She stares at Sarracenia. "Besides, they wasted my time so I believe some revenge is in order." Haschen says, "Um... I don't think revenge is usually--" "Heroic revenge." Angela clarifies (and interrupts).
Rufus Shinra	The old man and his evil boss look awkward as Sarracenia has her breakdown, and just sort of wait it out till its done. "You don't trust- well, let me give you the whole story, and we can clear things up very easily." "You see - I was originally set to conquer this country, rule it with an iron fist, a hundred years of bloodfire rain and salted earth and all of that good stuff, you know?" On the video feed, the darkmancer finds a spot to sit and get comfortable. He doesn't seem to entirely be getting Merelisa's body language. "But as I was gearing up to do just that, I got a business proposition... I don't wipe it from the map, but instead I conquer it a little bit, then just hold it steady, and my business associates like Derrick here-" The old man waves, awkwardly. "- go sell... opportunities, to would-be heroes. Or rather, their parents who'd do anything for their little starry-eyed pumpkins. Save the world from the Evil Darkmancer! Rescue the grateful villagers, gain superpowers, dramatic confrontation where I'm totally 'defeated', have a heroic feast and a ceremony at the end..." "When really it's just some attacks we're staging, some obstacle courses we set up to look like 'authentic' temples or shrines or palaces or what have you, and we throw in some minor magic items to sell the illusion of 'superpowers' a bit more. Honestly, the feast at the end costs more than the superpowers, we can get the rings of minor invisibility or boots of dashing in bulk, and they eat tiny little boosts like that up as if they'd suddenly become Superman." The Darkmancer waves vaguely. "Anyway. You mentioned something about the risk of the villagers - oh, don't worry, there's no risk at all." Oh, phew- "My shadow minions can eradicate them quite easily. I simply need to pace things so that there's enough left for the next couple heroes to 'save', and not kill them all or burn all their homes all at once." "I have to admit, it's hard to hold back, but the piles of money I'm sleeping on does make me feel better about keeping my dark urges at a low boil. Who knew that capitalism could be the bigger more efficient evil, right?" He stops to sip at a glass of something that's probably just red wine. "Uh, sir," says the Old Man/Derrick, who's watching Merelisa nervously. "Maybe... stop talking?"
Sarracenia	'Oh, is it capable of space travel? I wasn't sure, since....' "Of course it is! ...I think!" Sarra exclaims in the moment before considering if it actually is. "...I mean I have not tried but...Bowser's airships can operate in space! I am sure I can get mine there!" After Sarra's breakdown Merelisa brings up some good points, and Sarra calms down some. And the threat of destruction to this despicable deceiver helps. And much to her surprise, Angela does not revel in Sarra's misery. In fact...did Angela just...encourage her? Sarra rises back to her feet slowly, giving Angela a confused look somewhere between skeptical and grateful. "Heroic revenge, huh? I am not sure that is a thing." she says, though it is with a hint of a smile. And then, the Darkmancer explains things. The plan is laid out. Every terrible, disgusting detail. Sarra stares in disbelief as the evil Darkmancer proves just how evil he is with those words. Derrick advises the Darkmancer to stop talking, and Sarra's head snaps toward the collaborator. "You...ARE HELPING HIM WITH THIS?!?! You are helping this vile fiend wipe out your people under the guise of giving people some sort of heroic calling?!" Sarra reaches into her purse...and pulls out her hammer. She hefts the weapon that is as tall as herself and probably much heavier than herself. "You...you are just as terrible as he is!" she growls, clenching her hands around her hammer. "You will face justice just as he will! I will not kill you, but I cannot promise the same of my companions!! You have dishonored yourself, your people, and the very idea of the hero!!" She swings the hammer, but not to hit. The swing sends a rush of air toward Derrick and the Darkmancer on facetime before the hammer is twirled behind Sarra's back and brought back around to point at the phone. "And you, Darkmancer - which is the stupidest name ever, by the way! You could have gone with something like Umbramancer or Shadowmancer or the classic Demon King! But you went with Darkmancer?! You already heard what Merelisa is going to do to you! We are proper heroic elites, and you have summoned your own doom right to your doorstep! You will wish you had become a healer instead of a mancer of any kind!!" Sarra pulls out an ice flower, and in a puff of smoke she takes on ice flower colors. And promptly freezes Derrick in a block of ice. She then makes a phone call. "Commander Cactus. Deploy the fleet and bring the Sundew Sovereign here. We have a war criminal to be imprisoned and a Darkmancer to decimate!!" She then looks toward the phone, which should now be frozen in the hands of Derrick. "I have an army of my own, and we will not allow this to continue! I, Princess Sarracenia Sundew, Crown Princess of the Sundew Kingdom, cannot allow it!" The massive wooden airship comes flying in overhead, making the princess's hair and clothing flutter dramatically in the wind from the propellers. The gangplank lowers, and dozens of piranha plant soldiers emerge. "Take him! I must go find Tanya and tell her that this is all a sham and invite her to join us on a proper heroic adventure!" she declares. Then hesitates. "Er...w-well, if she is actually an elite anyway." the princess adds a bit worriedly.
Rufus Shinra	RUFUS'S TAKE (on request): "..." "Just what sorta profit margins are you getting on all this?" he asks the Darkmancer. "Kidding, kidding," he says quickly when someone inevitably gives him A Look. "Obviously it's bad and we need to stop it. That was never in question."