Scene #3318: Chance Encounter

Owner	Pose
Theo Morrison	Theo needs some low-energy alternatives to replace busted light bulbs in the office, and a few locks for doors. He's actually wondering if it won't be a better idea to get some magical ones instead of the mundane kind. They're probably more resistant to things like solid objects and parties, right? So, he's in Ravnica. He hasn't actually been here for a while. The whole place, while beautiful and terrifying and awesome, sometimes all at once and sometimes one at a time, reminds him of one of the first big, serious fights he got into, and the consequences of seeing it to its end. He still occasionally looks up at a point in the sky and finds himself staring. Waiting, maybe. That's what he's doing right now. He's standing on a bridge in one of the more 'natural' wards in Ravnica, a place that is just as much a garden as it is a city block. Buildings are neatly organized around deliberately-planned copses of trees and natural-seeming streams and rivers, and everything is connected by gently arching white stone bridges. There's a waterfall near him, but he's got his back to it. The totally normal, utterly unremarkable sky is more attention-grabbing than the breathtaking sight on his other side. Kickotron stands next to him, wearing Theo's backpack and carrying a stack of boxes. The myr attracts stares from passerby's, but so does Theo. There are still stories about him floating around. He hopes they're good ones.
Tommy Wahagi	Ravnica. The endless city. The Guildpact Plane. It stretches as far as the eye can see, the strange magical megastructure sprawling loosely over the entirety of the world. It is an impossible thing that cannot exist without magic, and yet, because there is magic, so too here it is. And becuase there is Magic, there are Planeswalkers. Tommy Wahagi is one of those Planeswalkers - those endowed with the power of the Planeswalker's Spark, who roam the worlds of their own free will, unfettered by warpgates or the common roads. They fling themselves through the Blind Eternities, the Aether, the Space Between, whatsoever term one wishes to give the stuff between worlds, through sheer force of will and mental direction. Tommy has not come to Ravnica to sightsee. He 'walks out almost directly behind Theo, though whether this is by intent or by chance is impossible to say. At his side is the blonde nurse, Xanya, his caretaker, holding tight to his arm. Tommy releases himself, his face red, and waits. The arrival of a second Planeswalker is not hard to notice. Two Planeswalkers in close proximity is usually a bad thing, and people formerly content to pass stories start moving away from the bridge hurriedly. They move twice as quickly as Tommy's own backpack detaches from his shoulders, landing with a thump. The small thing lights up, parts of it pulsing like a living creature as it scuttles around in front of Tommy. It does not appear to like Kickotron.
Theo Morrison	In the midst of his reverie, Theo feels a very large amount of mana moving in his immediate vicinity. This is not terribly strange in Ravnica. If he was in the Izzet side of town, they'd be funnelling the stuff all over the place and doing who-knows-what with it. Here, it's more likely to be a mage doing some kind of work around the gardens. If it was that, though, it'd be more subtle... ...and the distinct feeling of a /gap/ would not be nearly as prevalent. Theo turns around. Kickotron has already about-faced, and placed the packages off to one side. The myr is, upon closer inspection, wearing a red baseball cap. It seems to have been crudely fitted for it. Kickotron's feelings on the matter are as unreadable as ever, but the way the myr moves in front of Theo is distinctly protective. It knows. Theo, on the other hand, doesn't. He's confronted with a pale, dark-haired young man with a (very busty, he notes, very briefly) woman in some kind of nurse's get-up next to him. Both of these pale in comparison to the... scuttling thing, whatever it is, pulling up in an almost identical position to Kickotron in front of Tommy. "Holy crap." He looks from it to Tommy. "Who're you?"
Tommy Wahagi	Tommy's eyes remain locked on Theo as his blush fades. The nurse slides her way over to the ledge, leaning over it to look down at the water below with a distant smile on her face. There's something...wrong about her. She's gorgeous, curvy, voluptuous, all the /right/ things for a woman to be, but there's something...not plastic but factory-made about her. She's lacking in the little imperfections, the little human things that make people people. She looks like she's one of a set. But she's clearly /flesh/! So that's...strange. Meanwhile, Tommy draws out a deck and starts shuffling. The deck is encased in really gorgeous, really high-end sleeves - the kind of sleeves where they're practically containers, the kind of sleeves that could keep a card dry after even a dunk in a river. The horrible little scuttling thing suddenly starts glowing, as if it had just kicked on the headlights. Parts of its pulsating top start to move away, clearing space for a makeshift table. "Why d-don't we leave that for if you win, Theo M-Morrison? Real classic, right? If you w-win, you get my name. And if I win..." "Well, it d-doesn't matter. Whatever. I'll p-punch you in the stomach. I just wanna see what you've g-got." Tommy's arms are practically noodles. He's tall and lanky and his sleeves hang loose both because they're voluminous and because his arms are skinny. "R-right out of a TV show. Heh." Tommy slides the deck into a holster at his front and draws seven cards. "I'm g-guessing you know how this goes." "Elven Mystic!" Tommy draws in the forest around him, drinking it in. The warmth of the mana, the feeling of power surging through his slender body, is as always intense, but through sheer force of will - just like Lezard said - he shoves it into the card as it touches down on the horrible little walker. What emerges from the ground is most definitely no elf Theo has ever seen, or anyone has ever seen. Twisting wires curl up and down its body. It has no definable eyes. Metal horns could sort of be mistaken for elven ears, but the sparking green thing on its back is unquestionably not a standard elfy feature, nor are the horrible, slick metal claws, nor its strange hunch, nor its bizarrely misshapen grin. The elf-thing lumbers into place next to Tommy as Tommy's smile grows a little wider.
Theo Morrison	Theo finds that any attraction he has to the nurse is the same kind he'd have towards a particularly well-made piece of risque fan-art: the subject is generally well-formed, but the artist didn't put any human imperfections into the design, so it just isn't wholly believeable. The fact that it's walking around in the flesh(?) is, however, profoundly disturbing. The mysterious planeswalker pulls a /deck/ and gets to playing. Theo is momentarily stunned by it. He thought he knew all the Multiversally-active planeswalkers from his neck of the woods. He shakes it off, taking a few steps back along the bridge to put some space between the two of them. "Can't a guy get lunch and some hardware without a fight breaking out..." He can't even make it sound vaguely irritated. He's still trying to figure out where this guy fits. The elf appears, and... it does not look anything like an elf he's seen before. He recoils a step, and then calms himself with a slow breath and force of will. "Alright. Obviously you know who I am, so you know what you're in for." Theo pulls a deck-box out of a pocket. Kickotron produces a wooden tray table, swapping it for the baseball cap. Theo's sleeves are a lot more tournament standard, but show stylized mana symbols arranged in the usual order on a black background instead of being a flat color. Theo puts down his deck, and then puts a badge with a crystal 'eye' at the center on the corner of the table. It seems to adhere. His library doesn't tilt anymore. He draws, gives it a once-over and then draws an eighth. Tommy played first, after all. "Alright. Seachrome Coast into Sol Ring." The river below them changes. The water seems to resemble quicksilver, and the coast gains a beach of metallic hexagons interlocking and spreading towards the forest. Some of the grass looks razor sharp, glinting in the sun. It stops before it gets any further. On Theo's left hand, a ring of blazing sunfire appears. It's /bright/, but it doesn't look like it's hurting him or his cards. He looks up at Tommy, making a little gesture with one hand, almost out of habit. It's unnecessary, considering the circumstances... but he's been playing this game for a long, long time.
Tommy Wahagi	The nurse gives Theo a little wave, the kind with fingers, then goes back to leaning on the rail. She's barely paying attention to the fight, which is probably actually the weirdest thing about her - anybody else would be staring in rapt attention. The nurse is content to simply...look at the cityscape. "Heh. T-Tough," Tommy replies, a grin on his lips as Theo warps the river. It surges around them, a beautiful metallic beach, which does in fact draw Tommy's attention - as well as Xanya's. The nurse purses her lips. The blazing ring of sunfire appears around Theo's hand. Tommy doesn't seem shy about it. He nods at the nonverbal confirmation, drawing a card from his holster and giving it a glance. Then he builds power from the forest again, dragging more of the district's beautiful magic into himself. Ravnica is a magical world, very well-suited to their style of casting. Unsurprising that a world portrayed in the cards would be good for their work. The 'elvish mystic' sparks, green bolts of electricity surging into Tommy's right hand along with the mana. "Green Sun's Zenith!" Tommy throws his hand into the sky. The electricity releases in an instant as the card blazes to life. A sickly green pallor suddenly swells in the sky as a glimpse of a world that doesn't yet exist surges into being on Ravnica. It pulses as its light narrows, slowly growing smaller and smaller, until it's a single beam shining down on bridge. What emerges is... "Gyre Sage!" Again, it's no sage Theo's ever seen. The creature lumbers forward, a skinny mass of muscles and wires. It's almost formless and featureless except for those wires, a weird lump of grey. Its shoulders spark with green energy, just like the Mystic. Tommy gestures at Theo as the formless lump of flesh and metal takes up a position next to the crouching 'elf'.
Theo Morrison	Theo pointedly ignores the nurse now that the game is on. If she isn't going to be making any moves to interfere, she's not worth wasting his attention on. He can be bothered that something is off with her later. When the Green Sun rises, Theo squints up at it. When the Gyre Sage emerges, Theo scowls at it instead. What is this guy doing that's making his creatures so... /warped/? It's like nothing he's ever seen before. Well, he thinks, it's like /something/ he /thinks/ he's seen before, but what...? He shakes his head sharply, and draws a card. Theo plays a, "Plains," and draws on the very deliberate order of the city around him for mana. The razorgrass seems to tinkle like a wind chime for the briefest moment. "So I don't suppose you want to tell me what it is you're doing to those guys," he remarks, nodding at the elves. "Auriok Edgewright." Theo plays a creature. A man fades into sight, tall, with short, stiff white hair and bronzed skin mixed seamlessly with living metal plates of gold. A single cluster of metal makes up a group of spikes on one shoulder. He holds a curved sword, looking at it closely, and seems to be dressed like something between a smith and a soldier. He considers doing something with the Sol Ring... but he doesn't. He makes that same vague gesture at Tommy again. The Edgewright stands guard. His move.
Rhapsody	A duel has begun in earnest within the city of Ravnica. While many of the Guild Sectors have different forms of response to combat within their borders, the myriad of guildless areas between the larger guild areas had very little in the way of protection. Thankfully, there were still guilds that would defend them when asked to do so. A 'city' away from where the two had begun to play their game, Rhapsody has reached out to the Boros to report the fight that was going on. Instructions to them were clear: Protect the citizens, create a perimiter, and under no circumstance should they interfere. While the Wojek did not really agree with the instruction, they knew that the Izzet had far more interaction with the worlds beyond Ravnica's borders and agreed to the instructions. As the duel continues, a contingent of Wojek, basically Ravnica's police and the lesser portion of the Boros Legion, begin to see people away from the area and start to prevent others from wandering in. Ramps are cut off, bridges are barred, and word begins to circulate around the City of Guilds as to what could possibly be going on. For once, it didn't seem to be some crazy Izzet Experiment.
Tommy Wahagi	Tommy likes the razorgrass. Clearly Xanya does too; she claps delightedly when the wind runs through it. Too bad it's all the wrong colors. Maybe one day he'll be able to put that in his deck. The Auriok Edgewright also gets a smile, and it's not a malicious smile or a 'man you're such a scrublord' smile, it's a contented smile, like it reminds him of something wonderful from a long time ago. Of course, it wasn't that long ago that Tommy was in Phyrexia, and he hasn't been there for long, but...well, hey. It feels like home. "So this is your artifact d-deck, huh?" Tommy asks as he draws. The forests pulse with magic as he reaches into them, drawing more from the forests and more from the battery monster. The green lightning sweeps up his arm again, rolling down the left arm and into his card. "Let's s-start things off with a real bang. Polukranos! The World Eater!" From the trees comes the sound of footsteps. The thing that emerges is only barely a hydra. It has four necks, and sharp jaws, for certain. But it also has...vents? Clockwork gears sticking out of its back? No...part of its back. Flesh and steel, seamlessly integrated. Flesh and steel, /the same/. The gears are not gears, they're organs. The sharp jaws are wired with huge metal teeth. The scales are neither entirely organic nor entirely metal, glittering in the light of the Ravnican sun. It would be beautiful, were it not so huge, and so nightmarish. The 'Gyre Sage' starts twisting. The flesh-and-metal lump expands, its arms swelling upwards as they fill with muscle. Scales run down its arms as wires twist into claws. Huge jaws distend as it crackles with sudden power. "Gyre Sage evolves," Tommy tells Theo, a hungry look in his eye, "And attacks." And it does. The Gyre Sage surges at Theo, metal claws slashing forwards. Tommy puts a hand on his face and starts laughing delightedly. "Amazing! It's r-really amazing, huh?!" The Hydra Engine behind him lets out a furious roar, clockwork jaws breaking open as the Gyre Sage lunges.
Theo Morrison	"Something like that," Theo replies. He isn't going to give it away. It isn't Plan B, but it's certainly /an/ artifact deck. Polukranos, World Eater, marches out of the trees. The hydra is... /wrong/. Theo can see that, plain as day. What was done to the elves has been mirrored in the hydra, writ large across its gear-like organs and /things/ attached to it. He can't even get the words out. He's seen Eldrazi spawn that looked less disturbing than this thing. The fact that it's also enormous, both in power and in size, is not helpful. The Gyre Sage lunges forward, and Theo jerks backwards, waving the Edgewright away as the soldier starts to move to intercept. The snapping jaws clip his sleeve, and he stumbles, slowing enough for it to plow into him. He's thrown off his feet, hitting the grass on the far side of the bridge and clumsily rolling over to sit up. Kickotron has relocated, but not interfered. Theo keeps playing. He drops an Island wordlessly, tapping his Plains and the Sol Ring. "Semblance Anvil. Imprinting Hot Soup." There's a metallic glow. A gleaming anvil materializes next to the Edgewright, and, for one moment, the sight of an enormous cauldron can be seen reflected in the surface. The Auriok instead takes up position at it, metal finding its way to the surface as he starts to hammer away with ringing strikes. "Go." He's less interested in banter than he is getting to his feet.
Tommy Wahagi	Tommy's laughter continues as Theo gets caught by the mutated sage-monster. He starts walking forward, the Hydra stomping behind him, as Theo is thrown away from the bridge's edge. The Semblance Anvil might be trouble, he reflects, watching the massive thing emerge. Tommy gestures imperiously over his shoulder. As the mutant sage falls back to Tommy's side, the Hydra Engine starts moving. The bridge shakes with every footstep. Steam - or smog - pours out of its shoulders as its jaws snap at the air like bear traps. Another thunderous roar, and the Hydra plows right over Tommy, narrowly missing the young man as it storms forward towards Theo. "Attack with Polukranos!" Tommy observes gleefully. Excitement! This is excitement! This is exciting! He's getting too excited, in fact, and he starts coughing, hard, into his hand. His body is wracked with coughs as the Hydra Engine lunges for Theo. The nurse is right by his side in an instant, with a concerned look on her face. She starts rubbing his shoulders gently. As he stops coughing, Tommy waves his hand at Theo.
Theo Morrison	Polukranos lumbers forwards. Theo considers the possible outcomes of getting run over by that monster very carefully in the seconds he has before it gets to him. "Stop it!" The Edgewright swings his hammer one last time into the anvil, and then lays it down. He turns to the Hydra, drawing his curved blade and running out to meet it with a yell. The Auriok ducks under the first head, slashing at the neck, and rolls past the second, going for the body. He makes a lunge for its underbelly -- -- and then gets caught, pulled upwards, and ripped apart. The construct dissolves into its component mana and aether before the gore gets overwhelming. "Plains. Tap Sol Ring, both Plains..." Deep breath. Things are going to get dicey. He has to hang in there long enough for this to work, or this is going to get increasingly one-sided. "...to cast Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang!" There is no tremendous sound or blinding light. A sword simply appears where there was merely the suggestion of one, laid gently across the anvil where the Edgewright had been working. It's a beautifully-made katana, a polished blade with the hilt and reverse of the weapon worked with gold. The flat of the blade has gorgeous scrollwork, showing a long, sinuous dragon in profile on it. Nobody is left to wield it. It seems to... wait. It feels like /it's/ waiting for something. There's power there, definitely, and it doesn't need to be held in another's hands for it to be unleashed... but it's buried deep. Theo stares at the sword, and then up at the monstrous hydra. He nods, slightly, clenching his free hand into a fist.
Neva Fernandez	At the call for aid by the leader of the Izzet Guild, who also happens to be her friend as well, Neva Fernandez, the resident Izzet Deckmaster, 'Walks right into the area where the battle is going on. And by right into the area, we really mean behind the Wojek Force, because appearing in front of a Boros Force was a very good way to get them all skewer happy and she doesn't want to be skewered. She likes not being skewered, it was nicer and more alive that way. So instead, she finds herself pushing and shoving herself through the crowd and slipping herself right into the front to see what the fuss was about. There she finally sees what's going on, a Duel between two Deckmasters. This appears to be what the fuss about. Yay, it was nice to know. Of course, this wouldn't be particularly crowd inducing, if not for the magical effects of creatures and lands and artifacts and magic going on. That was more Planeswalkery She inevitably recognizes Theo, and grins, "Well, this shouldn't be too bad..." Neva's eyes then drift toward his opponent, and she blinks a bit, her attention grabbed by the nurse even before the guy playing. "Wow... I didn't know plastic surgery could GET that fake." The cleavage, the hair, the face... It was pretty but too weird, much like the creatures in the back. What even was the hell. Then finally, she looks to Tommy, and blinks, "Huh.. He's actually kind of cute--" The then slaps her face a little, "Focus, Neva..." She didn't know there was another Deckmaster around.
Tommy Wahagi	The Hydra Engine's jaws are not kind. Metal slashes and tears at the Edgewright, ripping and shredding and pulling. It's a feast, a feast of flesh and steel, and the Hydra Engine swallows all of it without pause. It doesn't bother separating the metal from the flesh. It just...eats. Eats, eats, eats. Satisfied, it lets out a burst of smog, as though it was exhaling from a great meal. "N-Neat sword," Tommy observes as he draws, "Let's b-bring out another Elvish Mystic and see where it t-takes us!" The surge of green power forms around him as he throws out his hand and lays down the card. A second battery-monster emerges, slightly different from the prior 'elf' but just as twisted, just as messed-up. "It was g-good once, so let's do it again! Polukranos!" With nothing between Theo and the Hydra Engine, the Hydra surges once more, leaving massive footprints in the bridge as it goes for Theo. Meanwhile, the nurse's eyebrows raise at Neva. She shouldn't've been able to hear that...but she did anyway. She wiggles her fingers at Neva thoughtfully, then goes back to rubbing Tommy's shoulders. "I'm f-fine," he tells her, a smile on his face, "Th-thank you. I'm okay. I've g-got this."
Theo Morrison	The Hydra Engine bears down on him again. This time, he doesn't have anything to throw in its path. Lacking a better idea, Theo turns and runs for the trees. The Hydra Engine has to tear through them, smashing into the foliage and generally making a mess of things. Theo uses the outermost layer of the trees as cover, ducking behind one as the heads snake around them and tear through them with equal ease. Showers of splinters hit him, and wet, spinning gearworks threaten to tear into him when the teeth can't find purchase. Kickotron meets him at the outer edge again. He snatches his next card off the top, battered and messy, and starts throwing things onto the tray table. A Plains goes down, and two of those and the Sol Ring hit the board. Theo hits skids to a halt, panting, and manages a, "Brass Squire; equip it," while the hydra circles back. A myr pulls itself up onto the bridge from below. Its made entirely of brass, and moves with more of a hunch than Kickotron does. Its legs seem further apart, and it has wider shoulders, apparently for carrying things. Without a word or a sound, the myr picks up the legendary katana resting on the anvil and lays it across its shoulders one-handed. It is much larger than it should be for something of its size. It turns and faces down the hydra, a thing that is also much larger than it is. It doesn't seem to really care.
Tommy Wahagi	As the Hydra Engine starts attacking, Tommy laughs again. It shreds through trees with ease, smashing and crashing. Tommy's delighted laughter rings through the city streets, only slightly swallowed by the thunderous noise of the Hydra Engine. "It's j-just so much better than you c-could have ever imagined, huh?!" Tommy shouts over the roar, free hand still on his face. Neva's appearance finally registers with him, and he gestures at her with the attitude of somebody playing in the pros rather than somebody trying to basically murder a guy with a horde of monsters. The Myr that pulls itself up onto the bridge gets a glance from Tommy. The Myr lifts the legendary katana. "That's it?" Tommy demands, "It's adorable, b-but I was expecting something more from you, Theo M-Morrison! I w-was expecting something great! All the st-stories about you, all the p-power, all the adventures you've b-been on! You w-were the first person I wanted to t-test this out on! Aren't you honored? Aren't you d-delighted?" "AREN'T WE HAVING F-FUN?!" "GENESIS HYDRA!" Power crackles from the sage and the mystics, raging through Tommy's body. He lets out a gasp of delight as he flicks his fingers out towards the oher edge of the forest. The energy swirls through the card. In front of Theo, the Hydra just grows. It bursts out of the ground, a horrible amalgam of plant, metal, and flesh. Six awful heads rise, mana roiling inside their jaws. Then the main body, ticking and tocking, bursts free, sending brick and grass and ground flying. "Into Dungrove Elder!" The Genesis Hydra roars. One of the trees suddenly surges to life, but it's...wrong. It's twisted. Metal animates the wood. Oil leaks from it, where it should be sap. Claws grow from its hands. Trees do not have glowing metallic lens-eyes. Trees SHOULD not have them. But that Squire is still alive, and it could do anything. Tommy keeps a careful eye on that little bastard. Anything could happen...and that katana was pretty nasty... Meanwhile, the faceless, featureless lump of metal called a 'sage' begins to grow again. Its arms explode into multiple vine-like tendrils, each tipped with razor-sharp claws. Bark, glossy and metallic, spreads along its body as metallic roots explode out of his feet.
Theo Morrison	The sheer size of Tommy's army is intimidating. The shape of each individual piece is terrifying. In any other situation, Theo would have already bolted and run, or gone to his friends for some backup. In this one... Well, he's in it alone. He'd better make the best of it. "Size doesn't mean everything," Theo calls. The Brass Squire marches around him, taking up position between Theo and the growing horde of monsters. The little Myr holds the legendary katana one-handed, its hand taking up maybe a quarter of the space for a grip. It should be holding it two-handed, and even then, still fumbling with it. It doesn't seem to be having any issue with it, though. "Big things come in small packages. Right, Kickotron?" Kickotron does not reply to these allegations. Hydras grow. A tree gain a face, corrupted by creeping metal and crystal and flickering mana. Theo stares at them impassively, his expression distinctly unimpressed. "Yeah; fun. You know, you shouldn't listen to everything you read on the internet. I like to think I'm pretty good, but even I'm a small fry out here." He mentally wills the Boros to get ready. Things might be about to get complicated. "Still..." He lets the word trail into nothing. Theo makes a gesture. It isn't the usual ones. He looks at the card in his hand, then at his mana, eyes going to each card as if counting. Then, he puts his free hand on the tray table, two fingers touching the surface right between the stack of neatly-ordered Plains and the Seachrome Coast. There is, for a brief second, the hint of a sly smile growing on his face before he quashes it completely. Theo stares Tommy down, utterly calm and completely confident, and says, "Your move."
Tommy Wahagi	"You've g-got a lot of mana open," Tommy observes, "I'm sure you're g-gearing up for something r-really nasty. And that's f-fine by me." "I want to see what you've g-got. Winning like this w-wouldn't be any fun." "BIOSHIFT!" Tommy snaps his fingers. The Hydra in front of Theo...just withers. It rots, leaving a metallic skeleton, which rusts over and crumbles to dust. Meanwhile, the formless mass grows massive. It swells with newfound power as the Hydra Engine dies, taking its quickening for its own. "I'll use Eternal Witness to b-bring the Hydra back to my hand...and bring it back out all over again!" "And another D-Dungrove Elder!" The 'Eternal Witness' emerges. It's dressed in robes, with the same kind of eerie manufactured look as Xanya, though not quite as perfectly beautiful. There's still that /factory/ feeling to it. It's holding a book in clawed fingers, which it pages through, slowly. It turns the book around and raises it into the sky as green power surges into it from the battery-elves and the mutant sage. A bolt of lightning jolts into the earth, where the Hydra was. It explodes upwards again, even larger than before, now menacing with spikes of /horribleness/. Its jaws clack and clack as another horrible mutant tree surges to life with metallic groaning from inside its skeleton. "S-so," Tommy observes, "How are you gonna k-kill everything? Show me, M-Morrison. Show me something g-good." "And d-don't forget we're in a city, huh? I'd h-hate for you to have one of those really cliche 'what have I d-done' moments."
Theo Morrison	Tommy destroys one creature in order to make his other Hydra that much stronger. Things start to get out of hand. Theo doesn't bat an eye. The Eternal Witness appears, looking much like the nurse with Tommy. Theo takes note of that, files it away. Another metallic mutant tree surges upwards, dragging itself towards the battlefield, joining the mass of near-undead elves and other monsters occupying the other side of the bridge. They'll have to go through the river if they rush en masse. The Brass Squire stands silently on the bridge with his sword, watching and waiting, utterly unafraid. Rather thanplay immediately, Theo stops and turns around. It's his turn; Tommy, playing mono-green, can't do diddly shit to him during it. He sees the Boros men on the periphery of the park-like district, and sees a vaguely familiar face peering at the fight from the outskirts. He sniffs, turning in the other direction, and looks at the buildings instead. He looks thoughtful. "I was thinking of turning everything here into salt," Theo calls. "Or stone. Maybe, I dunno, call down the wrath of one god or another. I've got all kinds of solutions to that kind of problem." He shrugs his shoulders. "But you know, you're right. It /would/ be really cliche. So I'll just have to clear your board the /other/ way." Theo Morrison, Deckmaster, places his hand on the table, raps his knuckle against the wood with a click, and says, "I concede. Good game." The Anvil vanishes with a metallic haze. The Brass Squire and the legendary sword in its hand disappear, fading from sight with a subtle trickle of mana and aether. The ring of blazing sunfire dims and is quenched, not even leaving a mark where he bore it. The only evidence there was ever a fight is the torn-up trees. Not even the razorgrass remains, almost certainly to Xanya's dismay.
Tommy Wahagi	Tommy waits. He listens, eagerly, his lips spreading into a wide grin. And then...and then Theo goes completely outside Tommy's expectations. He concedes. Tommy's eyes widen as the monsters fade, flung back through the Blind Eternities to where they go. He works his jaw for a moment, trying to come up with something to say. His fingers go to his head, spread over his eye. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Tommy throws back his head and starts laughing wildly as Theo concedes. Xanya purses her lips in a frown as the razorgrass vanishes, confirming that she did, in fact, greatly appreciate them. The Hydras, the trees, everything just sort of stops and vanishes except Xanya, Tommy, the weird little walker, and the footprints and smashed trees left behind. "Hahahaha! That's amazing! That's really amazing! I d-didn't expect that at all! M-my smug look was totally wasted and it was b-better than I could've expected! This w-was the best choice, after all!" Tommy walks over to Theo, stil laughing. Then he moves to punch Theo in the gut. Tommy is really not strong. "Ahhh...that was g-great. I wasn't d-disappointed at all, M-Morrison." The walker closes over Tommy's cards, spitting them out like one of those automatic shufflers. He takes the cards, shuffles them back into his deck, slides them into one of the many pouches, and hoists the walker back onto his shoulders. "Good game. The f-first of many." He laughs again as Xanya fishes a taser out of her uniform. The taser jams into Tommy's shoulder as Xanya takes his hand, mana surges around him, and they vanish, leaving Theo alone to explain the ruins to Azorius.
Neva Fernandez	Meanwhile in the background still watching, Neva blinks in much confusion at not really being needed for this, before finally stepping up and approaching Theo, and asking, "Okay... What the hell."
Theo Morrison	Theo waits for Tommy to get over his laughing fit. He's breathing steadily, in and out, and continues waiting. When Tommy takes his swing, Theo exhales sharply, seems to tense up, and takes it. He's a harder target than Tommy may have expected. This may be because Theo has been making it a point to learn the basics of self defense while he's working in a Boston full of supernatural menaces. (He still needs to learn the finer points of shooting instead of the super basics, but that's for later.) "First of many," he says, while Tommy is on his way out. "Right." A moment later, he's functionally alone, despite being surrounded by guards and inevitable spectators. Theo sits down, putting his back against a post on the bridge. He's still banged up from the other couple hits, even if Tommy is kind of a wuss, physically speaking. "Beats me. He 'walked right in and challenged me to a fight." Theo coughs a little. "Didn't even tell me his name." Kickotron is busy packing up the cards and tray, and retrieving the boxes that got put down, and offers no answers.
Rhapsody	The 'illusions' fade, the duel concludes, and the Wojek continue to stand firm. In fact, a few of them really seem to have the urge to march right up and arrest Theo and Tommy both. However, as orders come down from back at Sunhome, the perimiter force that had set up begin to wave onlookers off. Phrases like, 'it's over' and 'nothing to see now, head home' can be heard as well as many others. As the crowd desperses, the Wojek wouldn't be very far behind with only two or three left to make a report, one other calling in for clean-up crews for what little mess was made. A Selesnyan mage comes running in, more concerned for the damaged trees than the duelists present. And no Theo, the Wojek aren't arresting you for anything. Be happy you know dragons in high places.