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Hibiki Tachibana	It's midday, but you wouldn't guess it. A downpour is falling from overcast gray skies, bleakly covering the forests sweeping across the land in a shade that allows little sunlight through. Clear conditions might not be a necessity, doubly so for Elites, but they'd still be nice to have. Unfortunately, the region is historically prone to this, and it seems like this bout of it has been going on especially long.     The sight of green hills and damp, windswept trees stretches as far as the eye can see...except in one direction, where they eventually reach and stop at the base of a chain of rocky mountains all of varying heights and steepness.     One of them is today's destination, and it houses a long-cleared out mine that certainly would serve as an ideal spot for anybody wanting a ready-made refuge in the middle of nowhere. It isn't quite tall enough to possess a snowcap, and the storm beats just as hard at its summit, close to which the entrance rests.     S.O.N.G. would be handling this themselves if it weren't for a disgustingly messy governmental hangup going on out of the public eye. A fact that its commander seemed very discontent with, whether you were at the prior meeting or only on-boarded today to respond to their need for help. Earlier, he had been sure to briefly make contact to ensure everyone was up to speed (see: the Episode Recap in the pitch!), hand off the coordinates...     "--And the location. The weather patterns mean we'll likely be out of touch while you're there - not that top brass would let me hear the end of it if we were directly supporting you on this. ...But you still have my apologies that we can't do more," he had mentioned at the time, with shut eyes and his brow furrowed in frustration. "And my thanks. For now, it's out of our hands and into yours."     "Still," Genjuro added on, "That doesn't mean we can't offer any help at all."     ...and lend the group a high-capacity transport helicopter normally reserved for Noise response, along with one of their best pilots. Anyone who doesn't have their own way of easily making the trip and getting to the peak of a whole geological feature will get to enjoy the sound of rain beating off its frame as it speeds onward and over the treeline.     Hibiki is one of them! Despite the legal flubbing, she gets a very technical pass here for all her multiversal shenanigans. She also seems pretty lost in her own thoughts.     Said pilot would love to keep to himself up front, too. Chatting it up isn't his thing, and he can only hope no one will start crap with each other. He's heard things, man. Actually, aren't half of them supposed to be part of entirely different groups? A regular guy like him can't get how they work together this way at all. Is it seriously as easy as having a common goal?     Well, not his job to worry about that.
Hibiki Tachibana	"We'll be coming up on target point momentarily," he eventually gets over himself to radio out locally, putting on his Work Voice. "Anyone riding with me, standby for dropoff." He sure won't be surprised if any others just...fly or teleport in or something.     Upon drawing close to the mountain, the aircraft banks upwards and rapidly gains height, ascending beyond precipitous slopes and long-unused roads. It should be cresting up past the ridge the mine rests on roughly the same time anyone using their own methods of getting here should be arriving. A little less professionally, the airman adds on,     "Gotta admit though, I'm jealous. At least in there, you guys will get to stay out of...this...rain...?"     Before the people who once occupied this place dug into the mountain itself, this portion around the summit must have been used for surface mining. The area is fairly quarry-like - rocky terrain and carved away walls, flat and sheer, surround a large central pit perhaps twenty meters deep, ringed by pathways that allow safe descent down. Thanks to the constant precipitation, right now the bottom is partially flooded with shin-deep water.     In one wall of the hole, visible from overhead, is a large carved-out opening that presumably must be the start of the mineshaft they're here to search. Assuming it was built competently, the slight flooding shouldn't be an issue when they're inside. But none of that is why their pilot trailed off.     It's because someone is standing at the edge of the pit, idly peering down into it until she turns on her heel. Anyone who was present at the raid on the abandoned factory in the past, or who simply went over the reports, might recall the alchemists there were garbed in hooded cloaks and dark robes lined with gold.     This girl is much the same, albeit with the hood drawn down to actually show her features. Sea-blue hair messily frames her face, beating in the wind and long enough to go down here back even tied into a ponytail. Eyes of the same color dully shift to look between each arrival. Whenever the gusts of the high altitude and the storm send her clothing and locks fluttering, there's a glimpse of small pearl earrings, encircled in gold, before they're covered away again.     She couldn't be much older than her early or mid 20s, at a glance. But the startlingly unnatural lack of tone in her voice makes it seem unlikely for first appearances to be all there is to it.     "Elites. Both familiar and unfamiliar." As if this was some sort of friendly get-together that nobody was told about. "I had been wondering when you all would arrive. I was much too early, it seems. But I suppose that is still preferable to being much too late."     The chopper will remain hovering off the precipice of the mountainside just long enough for anyone inside to hop out onto solid ground. The man at the helm knows what his job is, and it's sure not engaging with the things he can't handle.
Ishirou	Ishirou didn't fly inside the copter with the rest of the group, instead, he hovered outside providing scouting for the group inside the Flight capable RESCUE unit.  His base outfit, combined with the flight unit subsystem allows him to keep up with the transport, as well as fly ahead faster so that he can get information about their path before heading back.  He is also careful never to stray too far from ally support.   Upon getting close to the mineshaft, he starts layering scans out to try and see how much of the surface he can penetrate and to try and figure out if there was anything they need to watch out for.  He only catches the person a few seconds ahead of the transporter.   Ishirou debates heading down to ask questions but instead decides that he'd probably just be cluttering the area with too many people.  So instead, he keeps a holding pattern in the sky, keeping his scans up and sending this information back to the group. <<"If I sense anything from her that's dangerous I'll let you know as soon as I can... and I'll try and find any Noise defenses before then.">>  He pauses, <<"Or let me know if there is anything you want to know before we head in.">>
Angela	THE VTOL Rose rests a hand on Hibiki's shoulder. "Hey, you okay?" Rose is presently wielding the Magical Girl of Courage's EGO Weapon--a green hammer constantly leaking hammer. The EGO Gear is called Friendship, of course. She is still wearing the EGO Equipment of the Red Hooded Mercenary for a few reasons, however. She is not quite ready to wear that uniform. "Don't worry, we've got plenty of support whatever happens." She tries to give a reassuring smile but her smile is still the many fanged visage of the Crimson Scar. Regardless, once the VTOL arrives she hops out quickly. She's still a professional even if she is one of the youngest 'Agents' from Lobotomy Corp. SONG asked for help, and Rose would honestly prefer to Transfer into that organization if she can get away with it. Maybe if she does a good enough job here, she can convince her bosses it's a good idea. She doesn't get very far before... "IN THE NAME OF LOVE AND JUSTICE~ HERE COMES MAGICAL GIRL!" Within a flash of light, a teenage magical girl appears! She has pale blue hair and golden eyes, her hair long with two tendrils pulled into sidetails. She wears a a heart shaped hair accessory on the right side of her head and has a pink and dark red magical girl uniform that is a corset and skirt combined with little angelic wings over her shoulders. She also wears a long pair of white leggings. Her uniform is complete with a pink ribbon in the center of her chest. she extends a hand and a magical staff appears in her hand--a star with a heart shaped hole serving as its head. The magical staff also has wings. "I am the Magical Girl of Love and I'm here to help!" ,d88b.d88b,                          QUEEN 88888888888 `Y8888888Y'                          OF^_-   `Y888Y'         `Y'                              HATRED She winks at Rose, resulting in a floating pink heart appearing before her and floating lazily in Rose's direction. Rose, naturally, screams and dives for cover in terror. "Watch out! That's the Queen of Hatred!". The heart doesn't reach her and just kind of pops a few inches away from her face. The Queen of Hatred(?) giggles and says, "Don't be silly! I'm the Magical Girl of Love!"] She V-signs across her right eye and sticks out her tongue before skipping over, swinging her arms to and fro. "Sister, you're not in your uniform! How are you going to be able to fight the forces of Nihil like this? Teehee! Don't worry, I won't tell senpai! You can leave this to me!" Rose says tearfully, "Please... please don't hurt them..." She can't even look the Magical Girl of Love(?) in the eyes. The Magical Girl leaves her be and says, "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find your courage in no time. For now you can leave the forces of darkness to me!" Her hair is immaculate even in the rain. She spins her staff around before looking towards the woman with the sea-blue hair and says, "Hmm... Let me scan her for Dark Energies!" She forms her fingers into the shape of a heart while her staff pulls free from her hands and floats next to her. This magical technique does absolutely nothing. She squints like she's concentrating real hard.
Timespace Riders	The entrance of the mine is disturbed by the sudden appearance of fabric, from thin air. An impossibly expanding length of grey scarf forms a vortex, whirling around until the tangled mess begins to unwind, like a single thread pulled from a knot. As it thins out, gaps in the vortex reveal Sougo Tokiwa, the would-be Demon King of Time--and his retainer, Woz. The scarf shrinks down to its normal size and length, resting on Woz's shoulder as it usually does.      The retainer holds a book in one hand, tucked close to his side. The other holds an umbrella for Sougo.      Sougo, dressed in a pastel pink button-up with stylishly asymmetrical blue paisley patches, is grinning. "I don't know if the umbrella was necessary, if you were just gonna drop us off at the front door. ...but, thank you, Woz, that's very sweet." One hand leaves the pocket of his khaki pants to rest on the retainer's shoulder, giving him a gentle squeeze.      Woz tries to look very regal and collected about it. "Of course, sire," says the retainer with pursed lips. As always, he's wearing that olive-drab greatcoat, with the sleeves unbuttoned at the shoulders, plus his black close-fitting pants and leather ankle boots. The two arrive shortly after the helicopter, well accustomed to meetings in quarries and quarry-like places by now.      "It sure is," says Sougo to the presumably Illuminati-affiliated girl, with a small smile. "But you're not off the hook, just because you decided to meet with us. You're with the Illuminati, right? Why have you been using the Noise like a weapon?"     Woz looks at the Magical Girl like one might look at someone screaming and ranting at a gas station, warily giving her the side-eye. "Dark energies or not," he says, "Her order has taken advantage of monsters for their own ends."
Ritsuka Fujimaru	Different groups nothing. Jeanne isn't part of any group, and she's perfectly content with things stay that way. Why's she here, then? She had heard through a grapevine (not the, because that's too reputable) that there's yet another world where teenagers have been getting involved in defending the world from otherworldly threats. At least this one seems to be open about and and even giving them a budget to work with. The fact that said group is being tripped up in so much red tape makes it considerably more appealing to get involved, too, and that's why she's here actually behaving on the flight over for once! She's physically behaving, anyway, while she's lounging back in her seat aboard the transport helicopter. Noticing that look on Hibiki's face, she raises an eyebrow slowly before snapping her fingers and creating the briefest of sparks a good foot away from her face. "What's got into you? Aren't you supposed to be yapping more than this?" Jeanne can't poke and prod at her all day, though, as the pilot brings her attention to the stranger standing in the rain. She disembarks by just jumping right out the side, landing within shouting distance of the hooded girl and bursting into flames just before landing. Her regular jacket and shirt-dress garment are replaced quickly with spiked black armor, although she refrains from drawing any weapons yet as she turns to face the person at the entrance. "Setting out the welcome mat already? How polite of you. Your masters must know we're coming in, then?" She asks while approaching the blue-haired person directly, not quite on a collision course, but close enough that it's a fairly apparent challenge to see if she'll actually let Jeanne just stroll right in. She does pause for several moments to stare right at the Queen of Hate-Love, though, looking from her to the blue-haired girl and actually stopping after a moment. She wants to see where that not-actually-concentrating goes.
Dysnomia	She doesn't need it. But nevertheless, Dysnomia elects to ride with the others. She looked out the window, subdued, with a frown on her face, eyes turned toward the sky. Her fingers drummed, impatient, on her leg, watching rivulets of rain run over the window. She wasn't fond of Genjuro, but if he wasn't happy with the circumstances, then she supposed it didn't seem too likely that he was playing them all. So far.     "Anyone riding with me, standby for dropoff."     "Copy that." She growled, pushing to her feet to stand. Then, her eyes widened, coming to witness one of the most colorful introductions Dysnomia had seen. The magical girl of love...? "I don't think I'll ever get used to how fucking weird elites are." Is what she settles on, eventually, stepping out of the vehicle, into the rain.     Sougo and Woz earn a familiar, sideways glance, before settling on the woman who had come to meet them. Her suit began to hum. "Are they right?" She asked the girl. "Are you here to get in the way?"
Tamamo	Tamamo hasn't had a chance to help Hibiki's organization before, though Hibiki has had more than a couple occasions to help her. It's rather unbalanced, if you think about it -- and yet, her reasons for picking this, of all days, to come and help are still, ultimately, selfish ones. That's why she isn't describing them, and instead taking her time to spread warmth. It's mostly figurative warmth, though high mountain altitudes don't bother her quite as much as general wintery conditions, for what are probably reasons.     "And how have you been, Tachibana-san? Have you been well, apart from the dangers of monsters and ancient conspiracies? I had been meaning to speak with you about some other matters, but I suppose today will not present time for such. Perhaps, later on, you shall find time for me. Between the wheel, the ink, and... well, I should certainly, at the least, gift you a basket of cookies. You are owed a bit more, perhaps, on the whole."     Though she would like to hold longer conversations, helicopters are notoriously poor venues for being able to hear what people are saying. Most aren't known for being especially relaxing, either, though that could have something to do with the knowledge that one may have to leap from a helicopter and into combat.     When it does come time to leap, Tamamo waits for Lilian to move, first, and accepts any help in getting down.     To the person already here, "Oh, hello! I do not believe I have had the pleasure of your acquaintance. I am known as Tamamo-no-mae, as it happens."     She is very probably purposefully ignoring any signs of hostility, though it's hard to be certain, just from looking at her, whether she actually had noticed them. There are several reasons for Tamamo to be good at cards.     It is much harder for her to ignore The Magical Girl. "...oh, that is... good? I should certainly hope for love to win the day." One foxy ear dips for a moment when her head tilts.
Kayoko Kirenai	Kayoko, of course, reads the reports. Even without participating in missions, she excitedly kept up with every report that Ishirou wrote about them, just in *case* she would be needed for one. Just as importantly, though she probably wouldn't admit it, Meika had told her about her previous visit to S.O.N.G., and about the premise of Hibiki's world's troubles. All that to say, Kayoko *studied*.     A magical girl in need is a magical girl in need, and Meika has to be able to take care of the city alone, especially while she's grounded. Kayoko comes along in the VTOL, despite being able to teleport in without it, already transformed in her blue-gold armor. Hibiki's sullen state is regarded with a neutral stare, while Chevalier Cobalt sits politely and stiffly in the unfamiliar environment, but Rose gets a softer look when she moves to comfort Hibiki.     That look disintegrates when they get out of the VTOL, and Rose reacts that strongly to the Magical Girl of Love's appearance. Chevalier Cobalt is shocked by the flash of pink light at first, but when Love announces her name, she claps her gauntlets together with a sharp metal clack, excited.     "Oh! You're one of the Magical Girl of Courage's sisters? I met her, before! I'm Magical Girl Chevalier Cobalt, it's so good to meet you. You look good!" Implicitly, that she's holding a human form.     Turning to the Illuminati girl, Kayoko tries to aid in Love's search for Dark Energies. "You-- you're wearing the robes of the organization that uses monsters to kill people. Why are you talking like you knew we'd be here? What do you want?"     Then, Rose gets a scathingly angry glare from her position on the ground, Cobalt's headpiece and armor briefly glinting with light that isn't there. "How could you treat her like that? After hearing everything the Magical Girl of Courage had to say? You're awful. Don't lie to people that way."
Rita Ma	Rita's white raincoat looks a little too sporty for her, even paired with a skirt, but it isn't like her usual fashion would hold up under driving rain. (She needs some excuse for why the water slides off her, anyway.)      She's nearly gotten used to flying by now; she just has to not look at the ground. Her eyes come to rest on Hibiki instead. Rita can muster a smile, but for once, her eyes don't have much feeling in them. A pinch of sympathy, maybe, if not warmth.      "Thanks, Mr. Pilot," she says while disembarking, flashing him a less complicated smile than she'd been able to give Hibiki. "You did great."      Her last helicopter pilot died, so this is an improvement.      She finds her footing easily on the squelching ground and slick rocks after hopping down, but comes to a stop maybe fifteen feet away from the woman in the cloak. With Rita's raincoat hood up, they make a nice contrast.      "So you've been keeping tabs on all of us, like we thought," she says, folding her hands in that demurely well-mannered way. That notion makes her a little queasy, but she suppresses the grimace. "But even if it's playing into your hands-" a tilt of her head towards Woz- "we can't let you keep weaponizing the Noise. Is there anything you have to say for yourself?"      She sounds firmer than usual, despite also looking a little depleted. Her eyes wander over the quarry. The details are important for someone like her.      As long as I'm wearing the raincoat, I can't slip out of my 'skin' without it being obvious, but I'd rather not take it off in front of this many people either. And if I walk on mud, they'll be able to tell. I hoped we'd at least be able to get inside...      She edges closer to Sougo and Woz. Recent acquaintances though they might be, they've given the impression of being bulky fighters; good anchors to maneuver around when her movement's constrained.
Touta Konoe	"Really?! I gotta say, I'm actually a little jealous of you. It's funny, I don't think in the Multiverse or back home I've ever actually been on a helicopter before.It's just as loud as I imagined it'd be!" A young man speaks into the headphones as he tries to retort to the pilot of the helicopter of his own jealousy. In his lap he grips a black katana that is left completely unsheathed. In fact, there's no sheathe to speak of to which the young man grips the blade, and yet even while sitting waiting for arrival, he keeps it steady in his grip no matter how bumpy their ride may be in this weather. The black katana matches the young man's whole theme. Black spiked hair, black opened up jacket, even black pants adorn his wardrobe. If one had looked at him from behind they might have thought him someone who was trying to be some sort of edgelord..Which in the Multiverse wasn't too uncommon from what he remembers, and yet the way he looks to the pilot with such honest intrigue, a smile that looks like it'd belong to a child in awe. Though the person before the pilot is clearly appearance wise that of a twenty-something. Though yes, the dichotomy of such appearance would have possibly made those a tad confused, or even worried. As far as Elites went he didn't appear the most...Well equipped? What's more, "Ne, ne, it's been so long, ya think maybe Gramps'll show up? Or maybe someone from the Concord.Man, I wonder if Hime-chan's still about?" He's talking to his sword...Just, right at it. "Side-stick, I can't hear you! Speak up--Ah, yeah, I guess if you don't have the headphones it'd be hard to hear you.Don't worry we'll be down soon I think! Still, it'll be great to see some familiar faces, huh buddy?" Yeah, this guy's weird. At least...He's definitely acting less like the weird you'd expect of an Elite, and more of the weird you'd think of in an unstable person. Now that I think about it, how's he managing in this weather with just a light jacket anyway?! What's more the moment that he finishes trying to speak to his blade all of a sudden he can be seen looking up to one of the other passengers. Jeanne finds the face of this young man smirking at her. He's yet to say anything to her and yet...Before she makes that jump, if she had bothered to pay attention to someone besides Hibiki, she'd notice this young man just having the giddiest smile directed towards her before she descended the plane. What's more, as Tamamo goes to speak to the young Sympho Gal, she sees she gets an excited smile at first as well.But, it slowly stops as his head almost tilts in confusion. Eventually it just turns into a more casual smile if anything, especially when he notices another familiar Paladin. Speaking of Hibiki, this time since they've been in the air, she's had that lost look in her eyes, and even more than that all the people that are going to check in on her. "Not sure if you talk to that one much, but that's as close as you'll usually get to an 'Hey, you okay?'" He speaks to Hibiki about that mad woman who had been setting off sparks only moments in a helicopter like he was buddy-buddy with her or something. Perhaps he could have followed their example, and went on to check on her but..."Anyway, name's Touta! Nice meetin' ya." He extends out a hand towards her in greeting, at least it appears in greeting but well... "You're one of the locals, right? I'm not really affiliated with the usual groups, so besides your boss no one's really helped fill me in on what's the best way to go in a blazing. You mind if I follow your lead?" Perhaps it's not as forward as 'You okay?' But as someone who he's just met well, he imagines a proper greeting, and something to focus her mind is enough. If she's willing to deal with such a strange guy
Lilian Rook	'...But you still have my apologies that we can't do more,'     "It's nice of you to apologize."     'For now, it's out of our hands and into yours.'     "That's always how it is."     The transport heli is technically nice, in that Lilian doesn't particularly want to slog to the top of a mountain in a storm either. She won't thank anyone for it, because she could have made it just fine on her own. These two thoughts are not only unacknowledged as mutually contradictory, but feel strangely important and intentional. Lilian is already wearing her armour(?) on board, which is in of itself an inscrutable rarity but it stands out a little more when she rises smoothly to her feet, grips the overhead hand rail by the loading door, and replies to the pilot, "If you're really envious of me, then let's trade places. No? I didn't think so."     The moment for a dramatic tactical drop comes and goes. Lilian helps Tamamo down by the hand as if escorting the princess of Wales. Though she's often seen opening doors or moving chairs for her, somehow the effect is completely different when she's dressed neck to toe in metal, sword at her back, hair down and crown of antler on her head.     'Watch out! That's the Queen of Hatred!'     "Excuse you? I haven't even--" Lilian only seems to register the actual magical girl a moment later. "Oh. I've heard about you." she says, telling a very technical truth. It isn't entirely clear if she's actually speaking to the Anomaly(?) at all, or something like narrating what she's seeing while she thinks. The distinction remains unclear, whilst Lilian watches her skip to and fro, flashing heart signs and generally eliciting looks of tight, twisted confusion in return. But--     No, she's definitely staring at that hair. Those eyes. She squeezes the corner of her lower lip under her teeth.     'Please... please don't hurt them...'     "Glad to have you with us." Lilian says. "Do you have a shorter codename, at least?" For some reason, hearing Rose's teary blubbering seems to have sealed a certain point of indecision for her.     'I had been wondering when you all would arrive. I was much too early, it seems. But I suppose that is still preferable to being much too late.'     But business first.     "You'll find that I've never been too early nor late in my entire life." says Lilian. It'd be easy, but reductive, to say that her tone is exactly as smooth and frosty as usual. "Dame Commander Lilian Rook. Paladins Chevalier, Claíomh Blátha, First Bloom of Humanity." Without waiting, she's already approaching the cloaked woman, step by unhesitating step. "Beg pardon, but seeing as you're intent on acting so familiar, I'll politely ask you to identify yourself, the reason for your presence, the nature of your contact here, and why I should listen to you while you're wearing that uniform, in that order."
Timespace Riders	*Lying?*      Sougo frowns, at Cobalt, as Rita steps behind him and Woz. *That seems... unlikely. It's gotta be a misunderstanding, right?*      Sougo's posture doesn't change, but there are two flickers, spaced fractions of a second apart. It's like the world dropped animation frames for him. His wristwatch is just a hair out of sync, after two visits to the past--one, to Rose's, to see her encounter with the Magical Girl. The other trip is made to Cobalt's, to see how she came to feel that way about Love, or, more pressingly, Courage.      "People are never just one thing," says Sougo, perhaps to Kayoko.
Hibiki Tachibana	"Ah...yeah, I'm fine. Totally fine."     Hibiki assures everyone in one go, apparently not realizing she was even looking like that. Even Rose's sharp-toothed smile doesn't seem to discourage her reciprocating a tiny bit, but getting support from Jalter too is...surprising. "I should be, huh? You...were worried about me?" Touta gets a look too, since he's apparently familiar with her, but she does shake his hand.     "Uh--nice meeting you too. I can't say I'll be doing that, but..." Sounds like approval. And at least she has it together enough to pick herself up and hop out without any issue. "And...yeah. I'd actually really like to talk sometime, Tamamo. Over cookies sounds...nice."     Just to stop in her tracks almost instantly after doing so. Almost as much as the figure waiting for them, the overdramatic Magical Girl of Love catches her entirely off-guard, especially when Rose ducks and covers, clearly traumatized. "H-Hey, Rose!? What's--"     "...Another 'Magical Girl'," the probably-magical (lowercase) girl cuts her off. "I take that reaction to mean she's similar to the other one, then." She regards the attempt to scan her for Dark Energies (she doesn't seem to have any) with a tilt of her head and no change in expression, before glancing in the direction of the Kamen Riders.     And Rita, although she only addresses the former. "The future King of Time and his faithful retainer. There are several answers to that query. One of them is...the threat they pose is excellent at drawing you out, is it not? ...I will not defend our actions, either," she replies to Rita.     Her tone is...less than flat. It's wholly unenergetic, regadless of the words sounding as if they should rightfully be taunting or solemn. That remains unchanging even as she continues on. It's only a tiny bit creepy.     "Do not mistake the purpose of this meeting. For the sake of both your goal here and ours, I only thought it prudent to cut out the middleman. I had no interest in waiting hours for you to scour the depths, or to meet with you. I am also quite sure you would prefer asking your questions directly rather than playing investigator."     "I /am/ here to bar your path, however," she responds to Jeanne and Dysnomia in one motion.     Kayoko gets the lethargic shift of focus next. "I suppose I did, 'Magical Girl'. Especially after that group failed to clean up after themselves at the factory and placed you on our trail. There were only so many places you would go next. Though being fair, they alone are not entirely to blame. As for what I want...it is you all."
Hibiki Tachibana	Tamamo and Lilian, together, are where her eyes drift next. A pause. "Tamamo-no-Mae. You're very polite. And...Lilian Rook. No introductions necessary, in either case. You in particular are an issue." It's Lilian who her eyes are on while saying that, of course.     "Name...Viviane will do, yes. I am here because my master - Yliaster - wished it so. I also desired to see you all with my own eyes. To do that in the way I would like, I intend to take your measure in person. That would certainly make the nature of my contact less than friendly. So in that sense, you have no reason to listen to anything I have to say."     A hand at her side casually comes up. "Well, I do plan to see what I want to see either way."     There's a rumbling from somewhere high, high overhead. It's not thunder, but the sound of rushing water, like a raging river. Seconds pass, before it gets louder and louder by the moment. It would only take a glance upwards to understand what the source is - a truly horrendous amount of rainwater, brought down into what might as well be a waterfall coming down from the heavens.     And it's going to stream down and attempt to sweep away the same helicopter they used to get here, exactly right as the pilot is pulling out and giving a thumbs-up Rita and Touta's way.     While obviously dangerous, it's also /extremely/ telegraphed and almost begging for someone to do something about it - enough so that many members of the group might miss Viviane's hand clenching afterwards, as countless droplets of liquid freeze in midair and coalesce into the shape of sharpened blades around each and every one of them. In front of Jeanne and Lilian especially, like a wall barring their paths forward.     And all at once, they all come in from all sides like blurs, intending to skewer them as if they were genuine metal daggers.     That /doesn't/ seem to be the telegraphed alchemy that the group in the factory used, with the elementally-colored hexagons inscribed with alchemic formulae.
Timespace Riders	I *am* here to bar your path, however. ... As for what I want...it is you all.     Sougo's smile vanishes, replaced with a frown of urgancy as he and Woz both procure their transformation belts. His, the bulky white TIMESPACE DRIVER, and Woz, the sleek black-and-neon-green BEYONDRIVER (tossing aside the umbrella to do so). Pressed to the waist, both belts rapidly fasten, and each of them procures the greebles meant to slot into their respective belts.     Woz is the first to armor up, his belt's standby music an up-temopo progressive house beat--                                     Action!                                            Behind him, a laser grid constructs the holographic face of a smartwatch, as he closes the hatch, green lasers clashing with icy skewers that menace he and Sougo.                             Projecting! Future Time!                                  The digital screen on his belt displays an image of his armor, moments before it is projected onto his body by the laser grid behind him, as his belt's jingle sounds a triumphant finale to that house beat.                              Amazing! Time! Future!                                                          KAMEN RIDER WOZ? WOZ?!                                  ...is a silver-and-black armored fighter, with a futuristic neon green trim. The faceplate and cuirass of his armor suggest the strap and face of a digital watch, though the usual Rider 'antennae' are here represented as the hands of a clock.     Sougo's Ridewatch is unlike most of the futuristic pocketwatches that he and Woz employ. This one is made of two halves, pressed together, with the face resting in the middle. One is bright and silver, the other black with gold trim. He presses the stop, the twinned watch activates, and he pulls it apart into two halves. Zi-O II!! A sonorous tenor voice and a rumbling bass voice call the name in unison, as he slots each half into the belt. A synthwave keyboard melody plays, as two opposing sets of disembodied silver clocks flank him on either side. The chronometer on the Driver's screen displays not a year, but an omen: NEXT.     "Henshin!" He shouts, spinning the Timespace Driver. The tenor and the bass voices triumphantly sing, in chorus, as both sets of clocks collide to form a rapidly spinning silver-gold backdrop, shifting polychromatic armor appearing over his body:                                   RIDER TIME!                                                     KAMEN RIDEEER.. (RIDER..!) ZI-O--ZI-O!! II!                       Black armor sports swept pink trim at the shins, hips, and gauntlets, joined by gold and silver--darkness and light--at the pauldrons and hauberk. The cuirass is overlaid by two silver watch wristbands, traveling all the way up the length of his helmet. The helmet's lenses are formed by pink katakana spelling RIDER, atop which rest two symmetrical sets of hour and minute hands--past and future.
Timespace Riders	Kamen Rider Zi-O, having been defended from skewering by his retainer's transformation sequence and armor soaking up the blows, rushes down Viviane, fist reared back and crackling with pink energy as he aims a superpowered punch for her center of mass.     Woz, however, decides to make up for lost time. "Behold, the rejuvenation of the king," cries Woz, his helmet bobbing excitedly, arms thrown wide as he struts a semicircle around the back of his king. "IWAE," he proclaims--"He who will surpass all Riders! The ruler of time, travelling beyond time and space to rule over past and future." Helmet held high, he gestures to Zi-O with a sweeping palm, holding in his other hand a green-tipped spear with a touchscreen just below the blade. "His name is Kamen Rider Zi-O II, and we bear witness to the advent of a new age!"      After his proclamation, he joins the fray, working with Zi-O to cover for Rita like she'd seemed to want, based on her posture. Zi-O is the 'chunkier' fighter by far, but the reach of Woz's Jikan Despear makes up for his more finesse-emphasized fighting style with its oppressive reach, granting her plenty of room.      As this goes on, concurrently, another Zi-O briefly appears from a pink portal, donning white, space-shuttle-themed armor and flying over to the helicopter, assisting the pilot by providing additional thrust to help get away in time! He disappears in a flash of pink, after giving a thumbs-up.
Angela	"What!?" The Queen of Hatred exclaims at Woz while clicking her ~Magical Shoes~ together. "She is using the forces of Nihil for her own ends? This cannot stand!" Rose gets an angry glare from Kayoko. Tears drip down her cheeks and she says, "B..but I'm not..." The Demon King can take a peek into her past... He first sees a vision of Rose, visibly younger than she even is now--talking to Tiphereth. Tiphereth tells her she's been given the task to work on the Queen of Hatred and that it should be a pretty easy work. The time shifts forward. Rose, still in newbie agent wear, talks happily with the Queen of Hatred. "--And though she was an agent of the Nihil Kingdom--and a notorious villain beforehand!--she saw the error of her ways once we helped her see the importance of Love!" "Wow..." Rose says, eyes wide. "I don't think I could do that, pardner." "Sure you can!" The Queen of Hatred chirps. "Everybody has the power within them to stand against Evil!" "You think so...? ... All I've ever done is run away. I can only stand up when my back's against the wall." The Queen of Hatred clasps Rose's hands. "I know you can. And if Lupinus comes looking for you here, you won't have to fight alone!" Rose smiles, finding it hard to believe that this Abnormality is one. Time moves forward. Rose is facing down a winged Dragon. It rears back with its head and-- --Rose flings herself against the wall but the energy blast is so encompassing it covers nearly the whole hallway. The blast shears off the lower part of Rose's face and she blacks out. Before that happens, Sougo can see the beam VAPORIZE numerous Agents--some of them wearing the same T-letter armband as Rose's. Time moves forward... A Rose with bandages across the lower half of her face is walking through another hallway, her eyes lifeless. "Hey." Rose turns to look and sees a red hooded mercenary with a vicious many fanged grin that could only belong to a monster and glowing yellow yellow eye. "Been tricked by a wolf too, haven't you?" Rose nods. "Can sympathize. Bet it's playing at being a nice granny right now too waiting for a second chance to gobble you up. But don't worry. I'll help you out." The vision fades as Sougo is pulled back into the present.
Angela	The Queen of Hatred is distracted by the presence of a real life kitsune (Another awed Sugoi escapes her lips). She only doesn't bow deeply because you should never turn your back on evil for long! Lilian also speaks to her.. She blinks cluelessly as Lilian says she's heard of her and her cheeks blush fiercely as she comes to a conclusion about that. "Wow... I didn't know stories of our adventures already made it this far out..." Her personality is basically the complete opposite of Angela certainly but... Her hair and eyes are quite similar aren't they? Their connection otherwise if there is one... "Mm... Sure! Please call me 'Love'!" She flashes a v-sign at Lilian and winks with her tongue sticking out to the side. A cartoon pink heart floats out of her eye and in Lilian's general direction though one of Viviane's knives stabs the pink heart and it deflates as it putters out like a balloon and threatens to drop onto Lilian's shoulder, hanging off it like a cartoon. Meanwhile 'Love' leaps out of the way of the knives (while marveling at how cool Kayoko is while handling them) with a, "KYAAAAH! We weren't ready!" She spins her staff around in her hand and sends no less than three flying energy cartoon stars right back at Viviane. "She's a Minor Arcana level threat! It'll be tough, but we've handled such threats before!" Meanwhile Rose... "I'm sorry pardner..." Rose says. "I'm just weighing you down again." She struggles to stand up, leaning against that hammer.
Ritsuka Fujimaru	EARLIER, ON THE HELICOPTER "Worried? Tch. Don't get ahead of yourself, Tachibana." Jeanne scoffs, shaking her head and refusing to admit that she totally was (not) (convinced that Hibiki was okay with that kind of look on her face). NOW, ON THE GROUND At first, Jeanne doesn't notice Touta. It's easy enough to assume he's just some edgelord joining everyone, but she does eventually realize that there's someone grinning at her like an idiot she used to know. She doesn't address him until after the Queen of Hatred(?)'s confounding ritual is finished, only then narrowing her eyes at him and raising an eyebrow in question. "... Huh. I thought you died. Where the hell have you been?" Despite recognizing him, she still sounds about as incensed as she usually does, and that's only partially due in part to what she's hearing on the radio. Still, that's about the kindest thing she can say to Touta for now, as Jeanne's attention is soon grabbed by the blue-haired woman again when she answers her and Dysnomia's question. "Really now? Hm. I appreciate the directness. Wandering around for that long does sound like it'd be a pain, and skipping right to this makes things easier for both of us." She answers with a slow nod, actually sounding appreciative and not just throwing out empty words. "And out here... Well. We've got more room to stretch our legs, don't we? It'd be a shame not to show you all we can do if we were stuck inside a stuffy cave, after all." Viviane brings down the torrential rain, and Jalter wrinkles her nose as she makes little effort to actually avoid getting drenched. As a show of power and also because of all those watery knives forming, however, she doesn't just let herself get run through. Instead, she raises her hand as a purple flame forms in it, and then it expands to engulf herself in those flames, evaporating some of that barrage while the rest nicks her armor and leaves smaller streaks of blood where they reach open flesh. "Oh? Water's your gimmick, then? Let us see how long you can keep the flames away, then, Viviane of..." Wait. She didn't introduce herself with a title, just the name of some master Yliaster. Not intending to draw any more attention to that awkward followup that doesn't go anywhere, Jeanne just starts pouring the fire out more aggressively, sending a massive wave of flames and conjuring up a great white flag. As expected, the flag becomes wreathed in flames, and Jeanne starts advancing on Viviane with heavy-handed swings and spins of said flag that throw out even more flames that seem to be converging right at her.
Ishirou	Ishirou continues his holding pattern, eyeing both the Queen of Hatred (Love) and the strange woman.  He hears the name Viviane, and puts that to memory, letting it sit there until he could get back at the records and SONG later.  There might not be anything there but it is worth a shot.  He swings around again, right as her spell goes off.   That is way too easy to predict, he's trying to trace what would come next from it, the copter might have a problem with it, but with this much elite support... Oh, there it is. Ice sprays everywhere, he tries to avoid what he can, firing blasts of energy at what he can't... but even then the shards slam into the flying Ishirou, speaking damage across the bottom of it and forcing him to bank away from the transport.   If she is waiting for them... that means she didn't go down there.  There is a possibility that whatever is down there isn't destroyed... or that she won't be able to set anything off if he can get down there first.  He asks the others if he should stay or go, but before he commits to anything two OPTIONs fly out.  They look like smaller versions of POD, and hover around Rita and Touta.   Touta's is simple, it attaches to his sword, aiming to add power to his swings, but also helps correct them so that he can strike more cleanly.  Rita's keeps hovering, providing her tactical data, specifically calculations on the ice magic that he could figure out, or places to she can strike their mystery alchemist.   "Rita, a person I don't remember but probably should remember the name of... I'm supporting you!"  He flips back around and attempts to do a heavy scan of not only the mage but the underground area.  Has she already set a trap?  Is she ready to do something if they try and slip by her?  What can he figure out about her magical capabilities?  If she has secrets, he wants them revealed so he can support others.
Dysnomia	"If you're ready to stand in the way, I hope you're ready to pay the price."     It's the work of an instant. A violet blade appeared in her hand, slashing through the ice in the air. Those that hit her regardless simply bounced off, unable to penetrate her skin. "That will bruise." She said, her eyes gleaming. "Ready to take responsibility?" She forced herself to scowl, but her heart was thumping hard, her skin itching.     She's moving, then, the water each step kicks up not given enough time to fall back to the earth before her next three steps were taken. She released a thought like a thrown arrow, and the computer on her wrist chimed with acknowledgment, as her free hand began to hum and glow pale-blue.     Using the cover of the 'dragon witch,' and the so called Demon King as distraction, Dysnomia tried to slip behind the cabal mage, glowing hand sparking with a lightning to match the storm. She aimed a quick jab at the mage's back, her aim not to maim but to disorientate.
Rita Ma	"'To take our measure in person,'" Rita repeats, with a wary turn of her head. "So this isn't the part where you lay a trap for us, yet. This is just more research." Her eyes slide back over the rest of the party. There's a warning in them.      But I'm sure it's fine. The people who hide things will keep hiding them. The people who don't have already shown everything. It's only the new people I'm worried about giving themselves away. We ought to wrap this up quick.      When she realizes where Viviane is gesturing and hears that rumble, Rita's heart nearly stops. She twists around in a panic. "Mr. Pilot!! Wait-!" Whatever she's about to try, though, two things stop her: Zi-O making the resue tackle instead, and those knives. A crackling bioelectric forcefield snaps into existence around her, and the ice knives vaporize against it. Rita sighs in tense relief. "Thank you, Mr. Sougo. You're the best."      While she's protected, Rita reaches towards the sky too, and her hand becomes a little disfigured- it'd be easier to see how, exactly, if not for her slightly-too-long raincoat sleeves, but if one did glimpse the claws, they might look reminiscent of a certain three-headed reptile from Lilian's world. The clouds above the helicopter part to daylight, cutting the waterfall short and preventing a follow-up shot.      These monster abilities are 'disposable', so I ought to stick to them where I can. They can't learn much from that.      She turns back to face Viviane, and her forcefield fizzles out again. While Sougo and Woz buy her time and space, Rita shuts her eyes and raises a hand to the sky again, relying on their protection to fully concentrate. This time it's Viviane who's the target of a sudden crushing downpour, followed a second later by a bolt of lightning to take advantage of her sogginess.      As a nice side-effect, the pool at the bottom of the quarry is starting to noticeably fill.
Tamamo	Tamamo would thank Lilian for helping her down, were it not that the moment passes as something fully expected. It's the most natural thing in the world.     "Oh, your armor has changed, as well, has it not?" Tamamo says in the direction of Zi-O, though she isn't completely certain. It's been a while since she saw him fight. Maybe he only has a different atmosphere about him now, compared to then? It can't be helped that she lacks expertise in Rider forms.     Woz seeming to confirm her impressions with his mention of 'the advent of a new age' has her saying, "Oh my, how splendid," in a suitably impressed tone.     "Viviane, servant of Yliaster, is it....? I know not that which you intend to see, Ms. Viviane, and yet, I suppose that it shall soon be clarified, if you are so confident." There certainly are a lot of elites are, some of them less familiar to Tamamo. She's heard Dysnomia's voice, and Kayoko's, on the Paladins band, but hasn't had many chances before now to see either of them in action. Jeanne's presence is a bit concerning, considering her memory of the saint's past actions, though she seems to be determined to be helpful, right now.     "'Holy Refulgence,' is it...?" Under her breath, "I shall ask after this, another time."     The Magical Girl of Love remains somewhat concerning -- was this one of those Angela had talked about? -- as well, given the differing reactions between Kayoko and Rose. Seeing the latter's state, Tamamo calls out, "Oh, are you quite alright? You should not stop moving in such a place as this, I think!"     Though that's just what Tamamo did, standing where she is. Ice hits her from all around, to a surprising amount of explosive light effects that can't be reasonably explained by weather impacts. Those are, in fact, from the previously invisible wards she placed around herself being broken, each disappearing with a brief display of arcane design glowing in the air, and deflecting attacks away from her vitals. The result is being scratched up a lot around the edges, and a lot of Tamamo sucking in her breath as soon as she realizes she's about to release a terribly undignified yelp of pain. "How--how cold. It is difficult to say that -- 'it is a pleasure to meet you,' like so."     Her return attack is in the form of a spread of talismans that flutter through the air to seek out Viviane and do -- nothing. Nothing at all. Their only purpose is tracking, as they stick to whatever they hit.     "Lilian, might you -- ah, no, a moment to think, if you please."
Lilian Rook	'I take that reaction to mean she's similar to the other one, then.'     "You're best off not assuming magical girls are particularly alike." says Lilian, airily. "After all, by certain definitions, even I might be one." Running her fingers through her hair and flipping it back over her shoulder like usual seems as if it shouldn't plausible with gauntlets, even that finely fitted, and yet,     'I am also quite sure you would prefer asking your questions directly rather than playing investigator. I /am/ here to bar your path, however,'     "You know . . ." Lilian begins, with a chilling lack of actual vitriol. "That attitude is strangely refreshing. I have all the time in the world, and all of it is more valuable than yours, so you have my genuine thanks for sparing me either hours of playing at their speed and pretending I need them, or their complaining when I shortcut them entirely." Her exclusive meaning is implicit; though for all the prim and distant sincerity delivered in her voice, Lilian looks almost too exhausted to back it up. Someone like her, with her constantly perfect posture, immaculate tone and bearing, and rehearsed-effortless mien, can't help but show deep wear through the slightest wear, or the smallest margin of sluggish response.     'Tamamo-no-Mae. You're very polite.'     "More than most people deserve."     'And...Lilian Rook. No introductions necessary, in either case. You in particular are an issue.'     That, for some reason, causes a thin smile to bleed across Lilian's lips; the first real pleasure she's taken on the job in months, now, threadbare as it is. "Oh, I see. You're better informed than most of your type. Would it be that you view me as a rival alchemist? Or is it that you know I'm nothing like those S.O.N.G people? Or could it be . . ." Her hand drifts to the hilt of her sword, fixed without physical bind over her shoulder.     'So in that sense, you have no reason to listen to anything I have to say.'     "Of course not. There never really is." Lilian says. Despite the fact that Night Mist has no scabbard, perhaps due to some friction over her armour, the sound of a glassy scrape still sounds from her 'drawing' it over the shoulder. It's followed by the shrill gasp of parting air where she flourishes the five foot blade end over end by her wrist alone, and the steely snap of the hilt striking her other palm. "But it's polite-- No, it's traditional to ask. And I personally believe that sort of thing is important."     Her foot slides back, throwing up a sloshing arc of loose rainwater. The tip of her blade drops halfway towards the alchemist, then hangs perfectly still. "Perhaps the rest of them don't appreciate it, but I'll thank you one more time for introducing yourself, Viviane. No complaints now, if my measure is a little too much for you." Frayed words, heavy movements, but her attitude is sharp, if nothing else.     And her reflexes are more than good enough for an attack that visible, at that distance. §It's not as if I'd forget my range with a month out of the field, after all. The lack of circle is a surprise, but she gave it away with the rain first. Going for that much coverage is a good idea, but considering the terrain, I can still 'teleport' in front of her. And given where the water will-- The water . . .§
Lilian Rook	Just before Lilian disappears, it looked a little bit like she'd interposed with a frame of distortion. A stray flicker of malfunctioning hardware that rendered her in inky black with four little burning stars. It's an irrelevant detail in the pressing face of the fact that a narrow slash of icicles in front of Tamamo explode into glittering crystelline pieces, and a circular ripple of water erupts straight up off of the rocks in front of Viviane, leaving behind a split-second dry space that has everything and nothing to do with Lilian's armoured weight crashing on top of the ostensible alchemist, hitting at high velocity with the dull roar of turbulent air behind her.     Knee strikes diaphragm slightly in advance of elbow to the side of the head, Night Mist held in reverse grip at Viviane's back to send her tumbling backward over it on the slick earth, stunned and winded and toppling inexorably towards lower ground; to where the water is pooled most deeply. Knowing plenty about the general strategies of spellcasters, Lilian stays on her, too, turning the elbow strike into an attempt at an arm hold around the neck, rather than blinking away like usual, thinking nothing of a little tumble while wearing skin of black steel.     "Given!" she calls out to Tamamo. "Barring wards first! We can't have her running off!" Without further elucidation, "Rita!"
Kayoko Kirenai	Peeking into the past... "Sisters...! I hear you! Help me defeat these EMBODIMENTS OF EVIL! Together we can balance all on the scales of justice! Never again shall temptation lead us astray!"     Chevalier Cobalt nods at Vermillion beside her. The hulking pink monster in front of them, pouring acid from her eyes and hammer-hands, is still a magical girl. She's *hurting* people, just because she lost control, and that's every magical girl's worst fear. They have to *help* her, not just fight her like the rest. "My sisters, I lost them to the corruption as the kingdom fell..."     Cobalt deflects a hammerblow from one of Courage's hands with her glowing gold sword, barely holding back tears. Losing your sisters, as magical girls... of course she'd be driven to this breaking point. In a rare moment of agreement, Meika and Kayoko share teary-eyed glances, not attacking the Magical Girl to hurt at all, just slowing her down and pleading with her. But that's not really why, is it.     Light bends around Sougo, bringing him further into the past, brightening to sear his eyes and sear his skin with radiation-pink, strobing wildly the closer he gets to the destination.     Time seems to stand still, in the third floor classroom at Our Lady The Second Eve's primary school building. Rubble from the destroyed wall is knocked inwards, turning desks to splinters, at least some of them occupied. A flurry of hands, attached to four arms, fractally splitting at the wrist, reaches in to the classroom from outdoors, grasping erratically at anything within reach with crushing force. The students, two dozen of them, run to the far wall, their teacher struggling to open the door against the press of bodies.     But all of them stand still, irrelevant in the vision. The dominating sight is a searing-white figure, roughly humanoid, with waterfalls of radiant blues and golds pouring down her like liquid light, fountaining from nowhere. The colors leech into the ground, and the classroom, like a photograph in negative, is painted in hellish inverted colors, harsh red-black sky as a backdrop for the sick-blue desks reflecting black gleams. Pillars of orange, red, violet, punch out of the ground like tangles of incandescent wrought-iron, twisting and aimlessly violent, ripping through the grasping hands.     It doesn't stop until the two Temptations outside are shredded into tatters. Huge gouges are carved in the school field below, with the building itself having a wall blown out, debris and cutting-rough edges stretched and spaghettified, as if like melting glass, pulled by tongs.     Then it's weeks later, and Kayoko is sitting down with Meika, her uniform and messy face both wrecked. Meika shows her a sketchbook, soft and vulnerable, for once. They talk for a bit, and hug, and then Kayoko reaches into her bag and gestures questioningly with a cheap disposable camera.
Kayoko Kirenai	In the present: "I take that reaction to mean she's similar to the other one, then."     Cobalt holds her glowing sword guardedly to the side, glaring at Viviane. "And they're *all* good people. You can't talk about her like that, like 'similar' is a bad thing." "One of them is...the threat they pose is excellent at drawing you out, is it not?"     "You summon *monsters* to attack people just to draw us out? That's *despicable*! What do you want to see? What's so important that you would *hurt* people just to get an opportunity to see it?!"     When Viviane's rain of knives pours from the sky, Cobalt's first motion is to fly up, into it, with a blue glowing disc forming below her feet to lift her into the sky. Though she's pelted with the daggers, sending sparks off of her armor and cutting through her cloak (fluttering and apparently dry, despite the rain), she raises her shield to put herself between the storm and the helicopter. "You don't *get* to attack people who are running away! Not while we're here! Cobalt Luster: Holy Bulwark!"     The glowing red heart gem in the center of her shield pulses against the torrent of icicles, then the shining gold metal wavers at the edges, becoming indistinct. Then, like wings, sheets of golden light shoot out of either side of the shield, blocking the wave of knives from reaching the helicopter. Each hit causes the barrier to distort and flicker, but it holds long enough for Sougo's rescue attempt to keep the pilot out of harms' way.     Chevalier Cobalt points her sword forwards and down, the tip towards Viviane, with a cold stare. "And if *seeing us* is what drives you to do such horrible things-- then I won't *let* you. Cobalt Gleam: Darkness Denial!"     Like a mirage in the air, Viviane's face distorts, and then blueshifts and inverts briefly, colors compressing and turning themselves inside-out, with light bending away from her eyes. Without a flash to damage her vision, Viviane is blinded by light no longer reaching her eyes to allow her to see the battlefield, or any of the Elites.
Touta Konoe	"Uh--nice meeting you too. I can't say I'll be doing that, but..." Seeing as Hibiki's able to get herself back on her feet and jump head first is enough to keep that smile on his face. "Yeah, I think that one's gonna be fine...That said...Geronimo!!!" Following after Hibiki, he's one of the last few to exit the helicopter as he arrives just in time for a certain someone to recognize him as he meets up with the others. A small chuckle escaping his lips as he scratches the back of his head, "Hehe, to be fair, definitely have kicked the bucket a few times since we last met up. Though, that's a story for catching up later though. Still, it's good to see you remembered me, I was afraid the grown appearance might have thrown you off. Anyway, it's good to see a familiar face." With that gentle reunion Vivianne makes her intentions known as she starts scanning over the group and assessing her enemies. For Viviane she finds there are those that give the tell-tale signs of being magically gifted, for others notoriety, though if she was scanning for 'dark energies', she'd find that there's a person amongst the group with enough of such energy that if it was attempting to gauge how much well...Her device might stall out, finding it rather difficult to find an actual limit. Though in the time that she's looking over the entirety of the Elites, it's not the one with the fancy mahou shoujo outfits, it's not the Servants in armor and garb, it's not likely the familiar look of a Symphogear, it could have been the future King of Time perhaps, but who she probably wasn't expecting...It's the young man who appears way under-dressed for the weather hoisting a katana. "So you're part of the group causing problems, huh? Really didn't expect you to give a whole greeting and the like, name's Touta. I'd say it's nice to meet you but..." At this point, Her ice had already been used to assault the copter and it's through Zi-O's assistance that it appears that there's no trouble avoiding it. "Can't say I'm a fan of someone who goes after the non-combatants so..." At this point Touta kicks off the ground, feet swiftly traversing like a warrior trudging through the terrain with blade held back. Ishirou's assistance connects as it offers its power to his weapon and well. "Ah, Touta, the hell is this thing?! Get it off!" Well, would you look at that, apparently his sword does talk. Maybe he's not that crazy after all? Not barring that bit of a surprise, Touta seems undeterred as he charges straight in, doing a reasonable job of slashing away at the ice knives as they come at him. "Sorry, if you think ice magic is gonna cut it with me, I deal with it way too--Auuugh?!" His words trail off as a few end up slashing against his cheek and neck, blood trailing from the wounds yet as he leaps towards Viviane in a movement that has his stride the distance between the two. It's also in that moment that she can see something else...That dark energies were beginning to shift...And with it, those wounds were already starting to close up. "Two-Thousand Fold!!!" It was a simple downward swing, beyond the odd thing attached to the blade it didn't appear like it was much, however the moment that it would collide with Viviane it's not the blade's sharpness that would be the most trouble aspecting of this attack, but the weight behind it. The blade honestly looked short enough to barely get a two-handed grip on it and yet as it slashed, the impact would feel as though she was trying to defend against someone attempting to slam a pick-up truck at her!
Hibiki Tachibana	The advent of KAMEN RIDER ZI-O II draws the first sign of a reaction with at least a little something to it from Viviane, in the form of a singular raised eyebrow. She rotates on a heel and brings her raised arm forward. Unlike her previous attack, this time visible alchemy /is/ used - brightly shining, golden hexagons spread out flatly in front of her like a barrier. If you squint, you can see complex calculations and formulae in the equivalent of fine print, where they meet.     His fist meets it - it shimmers, and Viviane's feet brace against the wet stone beneath her as some of the force transfers through. Jeanne's repeated attacks are also kept at bay using the shield, and she takes a cursory moment to comment. "No title," she confirms. "I suppose that would be 'my gimmick' though, yes. Your flames are quite troublesome - and I see you've gained a new power, future king. As the one who will surpass all Riders...will you kindly show me what it's capable of?"     Dysnomia from behind. The blue-haired girl takes the opportunity to break away from both her and the clash in a sudden spin, although the Magical Girl of Love pelts her on the way, as the rainwater both beneath all of their feet and seeping into the cracks between stone is forcefully pulled up as as a burst of geysers below each and every one of them, attempting to smash into them hard and blow them upwards while they're at it. "You hold no reservations about leaping in. Good." It comes /fast/, too. Her control over liquids seems to be something else.     As she comes to a stop again, Viviane pauses, and glances upwards at the break in the clouds. And Rita's little bit of payback. "...How unexpected." Her hand rises as it had before - and the waterfall stops a dozen meters overhead. Halts in place, then scatters in all directions, into countless droplets adding to the downpour.     This does not, however, save her from the thunderbolt descending down after, and requires another barrier-assisted deflection that leaves the hand responsible sizzling afterwards.     Between that and Lilian's sudden aggression, it looks like she's on the backfoot. Eyes meet in the instant she's in front of her, and then the one-two-three impact that sends her reeling - and after their tumble, into the armlock. Her voice is strained from the physical pressure, but otherwise seems unchanged. "...Mmn. All of them and more, truthfully. Few others would already be thinking ahead on how to prevent me from acting, or simply escaping. Would they not? I will not complain, however. The opposite...if anything." A belated response, even as her vision is denied from her and one of Tamamo's talismans manages to stick to her wet robes.     All of that, and she doesn't even seem particularly pained. "...Blindness. Troublesome. And those must be Tamamo-no-Mae's..." She can hear Touta coming in as well, outright announcing his attack.
Hibiki Tachibana	It hits head-on, restrained as she is and not making even an attempt at loosening herself, and there's what definitely sounds like a crack of more than one bone beneath the impact of his sword. It does not send her flying however; not because of the physical restraint, but because at that same moment, there's an /explosion/ of roaring water bursting out from her entire body in all directions. Not rainwater, but what seems to be /seawater/, as will be evident by the taste of salt that'll come with it flooding into anyone's mouth.     It's ridiculously abrupt, and she aims to not only sweep Lilian and Touta away, but have the high-velocity blast of aqua going every which way go on to hit several of the other combatants as well. Only after the fact does she get some of the breath back that was smacked out of her. "...Touta. I shall remember that name. I admit, I had wanted to see what response you all would have to that."     Speaking of: THE PILOT is saved in the nick of time by Zi-O, and seems almost shellshocked as both him and the craft are saved from an untimely drowning and crashing. Rita guarantees he should be safe from then on, too. One shaky hand come off the controls to give a shaky thumbs up before the time-looped Rider disappears. "...Maybe these guys aren't so bad after all."     As for HIBIKI, she already transformed the second things started hitting the fan - stepping in front of Rose to rear back a fist and /punch/ the incoming blast of water that'd sweep past them. The shockwave disperses the whole lot of it, and she pants a few times before turning around to offer her a hand.     "...Don't say that. It's not so easy to shake that kind of stuff off, is it? ...The important thing is you stand back up."     And for ISHIROU...he can tell a few things. In regards to what he can detect underground, there don't actually seem to be any of the alchemical traps like those at the factory. Perhaps they're just deeper down, but it at least guarantees that entering by itself would be safe. Chances are good anything of import would be rather deep down. And Viviane...she doesn't seem to be in any form of contact that he can detect right now.     There's something glaringly obvious he /can/ detect, though. The sear on her hand healing over. A bruised diaphragm recovering in real time. It's not just some sort of healing factor. She's both human--and yet not. Her body is too perfect. It's inhuman in its perfection, below the surface. Entirely lacking in the innumerable tiny flaws and unique blemishes one would expect from a living creature, that make them up.     But it is undeniably human all the same. And there's something...vaguely akin to the kind of wavelength he would be able to pick up from Hibiki's Symphogear. Either from within her, or somewhere on her. He would need to zero in more, though.
Timespace Riders	Over the din of battle, Tamamo might pick up a bashful giggle from Zi-O. He's glad she noticed!      He is, however, less pleased, when he hears what Rose says. Zi-O looks over his shoulder, mid-fight, at Rose, having seen her history moments ago. Having seen how she'd fought hopelessly, against something she'd been told was easy. Tricked, by a wolf. "Don't talk that way!" His helmet bobs vehemently, as his fists crash against Viviane's shield, each impact carrying a shockwave of pink energy. Those events, and the events in Kayoko's past, lurk at the edges of his mind. "...lots of people fight hard, to be the way they want to be! Hibiki's right!!" Thank you, Mr. Sougo. You're the best.      "Right back at you," Zi-O says to Rita. "If they're researching us, then..."      *Then I'll have to keep this as 'honest' as possible. Showing them Fourze isn't the end of the world...* As the one who will surpass all Riders...will you kindly show me what it's capable of?      Viviane seems to know that what the Illuminati are doing is immoral, and won't bother defending it. She also admitted, openly, that the Noise were a means to draw the Elites out. Why? "How about one answer for another?" asks Zi-O. He'll show her some of his power, in exchange for answers. When the geyser comes up, Zi-O takes the Riders' share full on, shouting with effort to stay on his feet as sparks fly from his armor, and Woz takes cover behind him.      "Why go to the trouble of... studying how we fight at all?" He could ask Woz to look in the book--and he will, later.      For his answer--hard-light pink katakana fly from the Timespace Driver around Zi-O's waist, spelling out RIDER and swarming briefly around Viviane as an attack unto themselves, burning hotly.      They coalesce, forming a simulacrum of his wristwatch-themed helmet's faceplate, watch hands and all. From that faceplate, a silver handle and gold-trimmed silver blade emerge, rotating like the hands of a clock and stopping once they form a straightsword. Zi-O's finger pulls a pink trigger under the strange sword's silver grip.                                DEMON KING STRIKE!                                      Struggle-powering through the last of the geyser, he makes a shoulder-hip cut with the sword, sending a rapdily shifting rainbow of colorful energy piercing through the water, racing towards Viviane. As it passes, black silhouettes of disembodied clock facers pulse in its wake, until it finds its target, exploding in a burst of heat and force.      Woz, meanwhile, makes a graceful leap over his king, coming in after the explosion to fall upon her with his hands spaced mid-haft on the spear, thrusting with the weapon. Neon green aftershocks follow in its wake, and as he lands, he makes a powerful sweep with his leg to keep her off balance, before fading to let Zi-O come in with a lateral slash of his bizarre face-bearing sword, the Saikyo Jikan Girade.
Dysnomia	"I hate people like you." Her eyes narrowed at the cabalist. "Everyone's disposable in the name of your 'greater cause,' aren't they? Just pawns on the board. "How many souls have--She paused, frowning at a voice on the radio.'" A pause. "No, don't answer. I'm sure everyone else will have questions."     But her little speech gave the alchemist enough time to make a counterattack, and Dysnomia was NOT ready for it. It buffeted against hard, casting her away in a rolling wave, and for a moment she couldn't tell the rushing of the wave apart from the roiling in a sea in storm.     Her fingers dug into the earth, carves furrows into it as it the wave threatened to drag her away. Anchored, she growled to herself, then leapt into the air, easily fifteen feet. She reached up, and in her hand form a lance, like her sword...No. Brighter. Hotter. So bright it was searing to look at, like a glimpse into the face of an alien sun.     It fell toward Viviane, like a falling star, aiming to pierce her through.
Angela	The Queen of Hatred gets a blast full of water in the face and she sprawls onto her back. Actual swirlyeyes appear for a moment. "Kyaa... This opponent is dangerous, Sister...!" She shakes her head while on the floor and then hops back up to her feet. "But it doesn't matter! Even if it means my death, I'll fight to the end to protect the innocent!" She lets go of the staff and starts chanting as the magical girl staff starts glowing with power. "Heed me thou that are more azure than justice and more crimson than love..." MEANWHILE Rose is still shaking and she winces as she gets up to her feet. She startles when Zi-O shouts at her and she says, "But... I..." ''Don't say that. It's not so easy to shake that kind of stuff off, is it? ... The important thing is that you stand back up.'' A faint pink flush appears on Rose's cheeks as rain drips down and around her, hitting her in the face, flooding below her eyes. "...Alright ... Give me a sec..." She steps back--then frowns and gives Hibiki a hug even in armor. "...Thanks. I'll keep standin' then." THEN she finally pulls away and ducks behind some convenient debris for the moment. "In the name of those buried in destiny..." Ah right the Queen of Hatred is starting to float in place, eyes closed as she chants the longest and most impractical incantation you can matter. "I shall make this oath to the light. Mark the hateful beings who stand before us...." The Queen of Hatred's eyes snap open, a baleful hate for those that threaten the peace and joys of the world flickering within them. "Let your strength merge with mine, so that we may deliver the power of love to all..." With a flash of her wrist, she catches the staff and spins it so it aims directly at Viviane. A crackling magical circle forms before the staff as she finishes her spell. ''She doesn't really believe in what they're doing. But I have a feeling they always meant to abandon her. ''I don't feel good about fighting her anymore'' "ARCANA SLA--WAAH?" An enormous pale pink blast erupts out from the staff towards Viviane as the Queen of Hatred, to no avail, tries to deter the path of that magical eruption by moving her staff out of the way. "Oh no!!! Watch out!!" the Queen of Hatred yelps. "Not again...!"
Rita Ma	The blast of water, however forceful, isn't terribly threatening to Rita. Hydrodynamics are good for more than one thing, after all: she leaps into the spray, slices through it, matches its speed with a breaststroke, and lands on the other side just about where she'd started, only now streaming water.      "Rita!"      "Mm!" An earnest little nod makes Rita's hair squelch and shed more water. Her white raincoat squirms in a way that might just be the wind. This one isn't 'disposable', but I don't have to show them the truth about it.      While Lilian's grappling the alchemist, a pair of invisible tentacles snake out from Rita, constrict her opponent tightly to bind her arms and legs, and then solidify and harden into the appearance of iron chains. It's as if, with a gesture, Rita had conjured the shackes into being.      Between that and the weather, one could be forgiven for mistaking her for a mage herself. <J-IC-Scene> Kayoko Kirenai says, "Oh-- she isn't a real person? Just made to look like one?" <J-IC-Scene> Ishirou says, "She's too perfect biologically. No errors, no scars, no...imperfections. Nothing that living would cause." <J-IC-Scene> Jeanne Alter says, "... Well. Isn't that convenient? No wonder her master didn't bother to give her even a token title." <J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "... She doesn't really believe in what they're doing. But I have a feeling they always meant to abandon her." <J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma pauses. <J-IC-Scene> Rose says, "Hah... That so?" <J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "I don't feel good about fighting her anymore."      The ongoing radio conversation has made her face draw as tight as the chains. "Ms. Viviane," she says, while they clank and tangle. "I'm sorry. You don't really want to be fighting us, do you? I don't even think you believe in what 'Yliaster' is planning. If he's even told you."      "If you come with us, we won't hurt you. Is that a choice you're able to make?"
Ishirou	Ishirou with discussions decides to not break down into the underground.  He could force more scans, but right now what he's seeing is important.  The scans turn back that she's too biologically perfect, that she has a signature similar to a Symphogear, which Hibiki claims could be a relic, and there seems to be nobody else around... Ishirou soars overhead again, banking as more water is flung at him.  He tries to avoid it by careful maneuvering, but the side of the RESCUE unit is caught, and he goes into a forced barrel roll.  Thankfully, he recovers and drops out of flight mode into humanoid mode.  Ishirou has something to search for now. That relic. He scans more thoroughly, this time aiming to also try and probe surface thoughts.  All he needs to know is what the relic is, and where is it... while she might not be into this, disarming her of the magical item would be a boon to them and a bane to the alchemists.  Was she sent out here because she was disposable...?   That's awful and shows just how little these Alchemists care about life, but... the other alternative is that this body is empty, and it's just a projection.  Which one is it?
Ritsuka Fujimaru	"How could I forget? You still have that vacant look going on even with all this happening." Jeanne replies to Touta with an exasperated noise, somehow looking tired already despite still being in the middle of a fight. "But... Hn. Better than finding out you really were dead, I guess." That's probably the kindest thing she's willing to say at the moment. There is, after all, a fight going on, and plenty of heated words being hurled already. If nothing else, though, the words going between Viviane and Jalter actually might sound relatively tame in comparison.  "None whatsoever? What a shame. Your master must not be worth much, then if they can't even make something up." Jeanne actually sounds a little disappointed about that, and a large part of that comes from what Ishirou's discovered in his scans. ZI-O II's armor does give her a little more pep in her step, though, partially because it just looks sick, and partially because it's way more impressive (to her) than what Sougo was wearing prior to his transformation. "If neither nor your masters care about this battle, why bother fighting for their sake? Let them suffer for their hubris, and take this chance to escape while you can!" She shouts in audible indignance at the fact that Viviane is fighting at all, mostly (maybe) (kind of) masking the fact that she's not really pleased about this fight, either. Despite her words, however, Jeanne still presses the attack regardless. Wreathing herself in flames again, she pushes right through that great water spray, using those flames to turn some of it to steam while stabbing her flag into the muddy ground to drag herself forward and maintain her footing. When it seems like there's a lull in the water bursts, Jeanne launches herself upwards off the flag to get some air while a pair of flaming spears appear in her hands. "Then you can go off and die for something else for all I care!" She hurls the spears downwards, and they explode on impact with Viviane on the ground just in time for Jeanne herself to come back down with her sword, taking wild swings at the questionably magical girl. Flames follow each of her swings, but it seems like Jeanne is more focused on thrashing the surrounding area with those explosions and flames rather than actually striking Viviane directly.
Lilian Rook	'...Mmn. All of them and more, truthfully. Few others would already be thinking ahead on how to prevent me from acting, or simply escaping. Would they not?'     "How flattering--!" Lilian gets out in the moments of stillness in the fall. Despite how she looks, her breathing is perfectly timed to not overlap with the moments of colliding with rocks, inhaled during moments of exertion and released when relaxed for another fall. Something that only her scar hints at. "Consider it a simple matter of--! How used to--! Doing all the heavy lifting--! I am, for these people!"     The blast of seawater is sudden and, importantly, untelegraphed. §No gestures, no circles, no upwelling of magical energy. How is she about to . . .§ Yet Lilian reacts, just barely, anyways. The same moment in which Viviane thinks to attack, Lilian's eyes widen, and her grip tenses to push; involuntary and unfortunately informative. The immense blast of seawater rushes unresisted through empty space. The feeling of Lilian's squeezing grip lingers like phantom pins and needles on the alchemist's skin for disorienting seconds. There'd been no sound nor sense of energy.     There is, however, in front of Tamamo. The crackling embers of something black-gold like glitter-dark paint seeping back into thin air; a spike of recognizable magic, and something that Isn't. The seawater on course dissipates in an immense plume of ocean mist; still lukewarm, not steam.     "Ah, and, between you and I, most of what I'm thinking about has nothing to do with capturing you." comes the ice-hot purr just behind where Viviane backs away. "Thanks for regenerating where I can see it. That helps me out a lot, Viviane."     Winter Crow, already drawn at Viviane's back, spits thundercracks of fiery gold light into the alchemist, rapidly strung into a briefly visible arc of contemporaneous muzzle flares along the line of the barrel swing; each one a miniature alchemical circle, joined by the rapid ejection of solid gold casings. Molten heat and force, immense for an oversized handgun, punch glowing hot columns through the quarry stone, not to mention Viviane if she can't get out of the way. A burst of six alone completely uses up the entire stack of alchemical fuel and overheats the weapon, but each shot is tremendously charged with alchemical heat and the solar affinity of gold; enough cover to flick the break action, vent glittering aether, and eject the clip skeleton with a resonant ping.     'You summon *monsters* to attack people just to draw us out? That's *despicable*! What do you want to see? What's so important that you would *hurt* people just to get an opportunity to see it?!'     For just a moment, the sound of Kayoko's voice pierces whatever exhausted haze that surrounds Lilian. The words force their way into the little world she exists in right now, with only the space for two friends and one enemy in it. Enough to make her heart sink, and her stomach clench, in some confusing and unpleasant feeling. The impulse to shut it out rises hot and acidic, then drains out, displaced by a much older, stronger feeling.     Given the chance provided by Rita's 'chains', Lilian stows the unloaded weapon at her hip with a single swift motion, brings the hilt of her sword across to the level of her neck, and her gun hand leaps up to the pommel, smoothly taking a pendulum guard from her interrupted action.
Lilian Rook	The stone reverberates under the push of her rear leg and the stomp of her lead toe, armour clicking with the sharp sidelong twist she needs to keep from skidding and the springing release of tension in her shoulders. Lilian blurs, the air shrieks around the tip of her blade and breaks with a dull, gunshot thump. Falling droplets leap away from Night Mist, buffeted back into the air, and Lilian slams shoulder into Viviane again, her sword aimed to plunge up to the hilt through her middle, where her arm can dart under the alchemist's and grab the blade behind her in-hand. Technically unnecessary, given she planted the point in the solid rock anyways, but important for her real goal. Black-gold sparks in little blots against Viviane, accelerating both her bleeding and her healing as an unavoidable consequence.     'If you come with us, we won't hurt you. Is that a choice you're able to make?'     "You already know you're outclassed, don't you? If not by Tamamo and I alone, then surely by the others on top. How easy do you really think it'll be to escape this many people? And how much do you think this information is worth to your master?"     "Tell me. Do you really plan on getting away and making contingencies for later? Isn't this a little too straightforward for everything you people have done? No matter what way you try to see it, it's too honest for a robed, scheming murderer."
Kayoko Kirenai	<J-IC-Scene> Ishirou says, "...And her body is..." <J-IC-Scene> Ishirou says, "Artifical I think." <J-IC-Scene> Kayoko Kirenai says, "Oh-- she isn't a real person? Just made to look like one?" <J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "... She doesn't really believe in what they're doing. But I have a feeling they always meant to abandon her." <J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "I don't feel good about fighting her anymore." <J-IC-Scene> Tamamo says, "There is a technique used by some alchemists as results in what is called a 'homunculus.' As to whether these are 'real' people -- it is usually so, though the level of care taken in their creation does vary."     Chevalier Cobalt descends to the battlefield on her platform of hardlight, water streaming down from her outfit even though she still looks dry. She doesn't look entirely convinced by the idea that Viviane is an innocent actor in this, right after she'd attacked their pilot and claimed to kill civilians as a tactic to lure the Elites out, but before she can decide what to do about it, Viviane's geyser shoots towards her with crushing force.     Cobalt tilts her hardlight disc like a surfboard, catching the geyser at an angle to deflect it off the bottom, still hitting with enough force that the disc flickers out of existence. It gives her enough time to weave together a mound of blunted cones of light in front of the Magical Girl of Love, forming tetrapods to break the torrent of water before it's able to hit her at full force.     Still, at the impact, both illusory creations disappear, and the momentum carries through to launch Cobalt across the ground. She stands up, her armor and hair briefly smeared with clods of heavy mud, before she flickers and it's gone again. In the brief flash of light coming off of her, her shadow is seen moving separately from her, squirming around in silent disgust and pantomiming wiping off the mud.     "She's a-- homunculus? Is that why she seems so empty? Because she's not a real person?"     Cobalt rejoins the Magical Girl of Love just as she finishes her chant, barely suppressed giddiness at the elaborate callout. "We're still fighting for the side of good, Love! Even if she's not a person, she still hurt other people! We'll just talk to her after we fight, okay?"     Kayoko aims to be nonlethal even in the most justified of opportunities, but now she avoids even attacking Viviane directly. Cords of golden light weave together into similar cages to the ones that Rose saw during the fight against the Magical Girl of Courage, surrounding Viviane and boxing her in. The gaps between the threads, where Viviane could see out and others could see in, flash like panes of glass for a moment, then, to the outside, stay see-through. For Viviane, they become one-way mirrors, impossible to see through, only to be observed through.
Touta Konoe	"How could I forget? You still have that vacant look going on even with all this happening. But... Hn. Better than finding out you really were dead, I guess." Even in the middle of this fight somehow he can't help but chuckle. "Hehehe, come on, do I really look like that right now? That'd be a problem if it is. I'm really excited right now, believe it or not. Seeing old faces, seeing new faces, seeing more of the universe, well Multiverse. I hope I'm not coming off that bored...Anyway, when we're done dealing with Viviane, let's catch up. I wanna hear what I've been missing since I've been gone. Hell, I'll even make it worth your while and make an old favorite for you." He honestly can't remember the last time he made a meal for this Servant...Since she was staying back at UQ Holder perhaps. Though perhaps it was a bad time to reminisce, especially as the fighting was about. Back in the moments before his strike came down, as the impact could be felt in that moment, "Oh, thanks for the buff there!" Ishirou would be given a brief thanks for the surprise enhancement. It's a strike that he's sure should be enough to drive through her defenses and yet... "What the--Auuuuugh!!?!?!!?!" Without warning a geyser surges forth from below, and the force of a truck is outdone by the tons of force applied by the geyser upheaving Touta out and back. The taste of saltwater filling his mouth and if he's not careful his lungs. In truth the geyser was basically becoming a wave, intending to sweep him away, and even now he could feel himself being submerged under the force of it till there was no site of him. For a moment, it almost seems like the name she opted to remember was going to be for naught. And yet... "If you wanted to see a response. Let me give you a proper one." He was nowhere to be seen in the battle at this point, though his voice almost sounded like an echo. It's possible she doesn't notice as the others prepare their counter, but within the flood she caused from the geyser, there's a small black patch that starts to form...Then slowly but surely grows. The seawater she had fired out was becoming something...Different, a sea of black to which its ebb and flow seemed unnatural began to form. And again a voice from within the water starts to call out... "Blood Arts: Blood Geyser" Less a proper geyser and more a small tsunami would crash into Viviane as it towered above her, the violent assailing body moving so quickly that even if she were to use her ice magic it likely wouldn't be able to stop the devastation that would follow. For the end result would be a wave that was not only intending to crash into her, but even into the entrance of the cavern she'd been defending. The black water flooded past the homunculus as it almost felt like she could have been swept away with it if not for the other Elites giving their all to apprehend her. Though, even if they hadn't, after her show of durability on his last attack...He too believed she might be capable of managing against something like this...Or at least, not being killed by it anyway...
Tamamo	<J-IC-Scene> Tamamo says, "I will try, however--"     Tamamo cuts what she was going to say. <J-IC-Scene> Tamamo says, "--I expect her to have a reason to be so confident that she can escape us both." <Tac-Paladins> [4] Tamamo says, "If you have the chance to collect a few drops of her blood, I may find her wheresoever she may run, should we not hold her." <Tac-Paladins> [4] Lilian Rook says, "Goodness, I've been a little typecast recently, haven't I?" <Tac-Paladins> [4] Lilian Rook says, "But if it's for you, of course." <Tac-Paladins> [4] Tamamo says, "Ah...?" <Tac-Paladins> [4] Lilian Rook says, "I just feel as I've been handling the blood of quite a few women recently." <J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "I'm not sure she's confident in that at all, Ms. Tamamo." <J-IC-Scene> Ishirou says, "...And her body is..." <J-IC-Scene> Ishirou says, "Artificial I think." <J-IC-Scene> Tamamo says, "There is a technique used by some alchemists as results in what is called a 'homunculus.' As to whether these are 'real' people -- it is usually so, though the level of care taken in their creation does vary." <J-IC-Scene> Tamamo says, "Such has been done by some mages for the purpose of... bolstering their number of servants."     Tamamo avoids saying 'diposable.' It's true, but it's not pleasant to consider. For some, that was an easier method of creating perfect tools, or, in the less fortunate cases, tools that were merely 'good enough.' <J-IC-Scene> Tamamo says, "Binding wards it is, then. It may very well be that she was instructed not to attempt to escape while there was anything left of us to learn." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Tamamo; I have it." <J-IC-Scene> Tamamo says, "Thank you, Lilian. As for now, let us see..."     Though she hears more of the conversation, this isn't a question of showing mercy. The immediate concern had been whether Viviane would attempt to escape. If Lilian has what was needed, then all eventualities are covered.     Tamamo was never intending to kill anyone in the first place, just as she never expected Lilian to. Not when it could be helped. And it can be, because she and Lilian are both here.     The tracking talisman she launched earlier is the focus, but with a focus on wards, it's Lilian's aggressive close combat prowess and Rita's chains on which Tamamo is banking the hardest. Stepping forward, fully trusting that that no real harm will come to her -- and winning that gamble, with Lilian suddenly in place -- the distance shortens, and Tamamo pulls double handfuls of ofuda alongside quick steps of geta on stone.     Letting these fly in every direction, they're pulled toward the focus, not reaching Viviane, but landing in rough circles, concentric circles around her. All at once, after the staccato of their impacts, they realign in perfect geometry, tracing orbital paths of some imagined solar system, were its space weighted by the gravity of several of those present.     This would be easier with the catalyst for which she'd asked Lilian, but having her stay on the target is more important than the handoff. Tamamo's prepared well-enough. The activation of the circles begins the binding, cutting off Viviane's space and holding her down with the pull of gravity, not powered by the Earth, but by the presence of the Sun.     The obvious effect is a continuous drain of energy. The less obvious effect is a feeling of the 'threads,' the bunrei's visualization of Fate, that connect Viviane to 'everyone and everything else,' and how, as a swift and temporary measure, Tamamo may wrap them around the binding she's constructed, to delay both retaliatory measures and any connection some outside force might have to her.
Dysnomia	Mia landed on the ground with a wet thud, then stood, eyes smoldering as she approached, a slow, deliberate walk.     "Are they right?" She asked, staring at the could-be-homunculi. "If they are, you have a choice, don't you? You be a good little tool, for people who don't care about you. Or you can do something else."     "People like that, they don't care about their instruments." Her scowl softened into a troubled frown. "They'll use you up and throw you away, and they won't think of you again. It's not worth dying for."     "And you would die for them." Dysnomia said, with grim conviction. "If not today, another. So. Choose." A violet light shone in her throat.
Hibiki Tachibana	"...Yeah. I'll keep doing it as long as you can." Hibiki only pauses briefly, before returning Rose's hug. "That's the kind of promise we made, right?" Afterwards, she watches Rose go to duck - and double-takes between her and the Magical Girl of Love before ensuring there's not going to be any, uh. Friendly fire.     "My master requires it. Knowledge of you, and more. Such is the purpose of his efforts until now. For his 'magnum opus'," Viviane replies to Sougo, even as he unleashes his almighty DEMON KING STRIKE, brilliantly racing through the water towards her. "And...I did desire it, as well. To see you all with my own eyes."     Explosion after explosion detonates right on top of her, and the Arcana Slave slams in behind it just for good measure--and only in the remains of the Toei Smoke does does the barrier that took the brunt of the force, cracked and crumbling away like flakes, show through. Woz leaps over it though, and she has to put enough focus into not staggering off her feet that the slash slips through to cut into her body - followed by Dysnomia's plunge.     Even those, even the hole through her torso left behind in the attack's wake, begin rapidly healing over. It's delayed rather effectively first by the blasts of Winter Crow she only barely avoids taking to the torso, even glancing blows risking grevious damage...and Jeanne's torrent of flaming polearms turning rainfall into steam as she strikes away, forcing the alchemist to backpedal step after step even as the heat from explosions all around singes and scorches at her. "You care about my well-being. That is...curious."     Viviane is, after that, stuck in place - the invisible-turned-visible chains. She struggles against them all of once before halting, and accepting it for the moment. Her dull blue eyes shut. "And you as well. ...I do not hold any enmity for you, if that is what you are trying to ask, Rita. I do care for my master and his work...even if he has lost his way. I do not hold any illusions over what we are doing being moral or just, either. Do I believe in it, however...?" She does not answer her own poised question, or Rita's other one.
Hibiki Tachibana	And she almost looks like she's about to try another escape. Almost. Then Kayoko boxes her in, and the myriad mirrors cut off her ability to witness the rest of the world around her. Which leaves her in quick a predicament when it comes to the descending geyser (that is very much not water) that she can't move from, on top of the stamina-sapping lockdown that Tamamo places unto her. And, of course, Lilian running her through and entrapping her hideously thoroughly.     If she had a sense of pain, that certainly should have triggered it. But Viviane merely makes an affirmatory sound, as dull as any other word. "You are very perceptive, Dame Commander. I did not hold the fragile illusion I could win. Truthfully, I should have been waiting for you down there. Such was the original plan. The intelligent plan. Defensible. Far too easy to confine and entrap you. The rest likely would have had time to remove relevant research and information regardless."     "So I suppose this change in said plan was, in part...my own selfishness. What a curious thing it is. But I wished to see you," she repeats. "The way you react--the way you struggle--the way you fight--the way you are." Viviane's gaze shifts towards Kayoko, in the wake of the magical girl's previous comment. Her body is going increasingly slack.     "The information is as valuable as can be to my master. But to me, as well. Because I grew to desire--being able to have that as well. Even at a cost." And then, Dysnomia. "I do not begrudge my master. I do not hate him, either. There was a time...where it was different. But he lost his way, over a long period of time. I find I cannot hate him for that fact, either."     There's no fear at all, in the face of that violet light. Still, "...I believe I would prefer living, if given the choice. I have not yet seen everything I desired to see from you all. Although." A pause.     "You have no guarantee of what I might do, or whom I might harm. Nor my full abilities. I might be lying. I may have been restraining myself this entire bout. You have very little knowledge of what our organization is capable of in the first place. Is it smart, to take this sort of stance with me?"
Angela	The Magical Girl of Love is struggling because she fears she just exploded a GOOD PERSON. Fortunately, Cobalt reassures her that she still hurt people. "Y..yeah...! We have to stop her from hurting others so we can have a proper conversation!" Though it seems like the fight is over and... ...Does the Queen of Hatred seem a little disappointed? "W..well... I'm just glad the Arcana Slave didn't blow you away!" Rose steps out from behind the walk, wearing a familiar green and white magical girl outfit with white ribbons. It doesn't really match the huge scar on her face but Rose cricks her neck and says, +pink, "Geeze, with a name like mine it doesn't fit at all.") Without the hood, her hair rustles freely behind her in the wind as she pushes locks out of the way of her face. She grips her hammer tightly and she starts walking towards Viviane. "Howdy, uh..." Rose says, rubbing at her neck. "Ma'am, I'm sure you're as aware as anyone but--if this boss of yours lost his way and you could convince him otherwise by staying by his side and doin' his work...It would've already happened. And if he's already goin' so far as to leave you behind to face down a bunch of wild bunch like us--you know it's not something you can stop inside his house." Rose rubs at her neck. "I know from experience sometimes the best thing you can do is find another place to be. But if you still care for him, maybe you can help us stop him. I don't care if you're a homunculus or can regenerate or nothin' so long as you be a true shooter. And far as I'm concerned..." She glances over to Hibiki before back to Viviane. "It's always a risk makin' a new friend." Then she glances back at the Queen of Hatred. "And if I get kicked to the curb I just gotta stand up again. No other way to be though if you throw knives at us again I'll be mighty sore 'bout that." She notices Viviane's body going slack and she rushes forward to try and steady her with a hand. "'Sides, it sounds like you're curious about us. Only one way to REALLY get to know what we're capable of."
Timespace Riders	<J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "... She doesn't really believe in what they're doing. But I have a feeling they always meant to abandon her." <J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma pauses. <J-IC-Scene> Rose says, "Hah... That so?" <J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "I don't feel good about fighting her anymore." <J-IC-Scene> Tamamo says, "There is a technique used by some alchemists as results in what is called a 'homunculus.' As to whether these are 'real' people -- it is usually so, though the level of care taken in their creation does vary." <J-IC-Scene> Tamamo says, "Such has been done by some mages for the purpose of... bolstering their number of servants." <J-IC-Scene> Ishirou says, "The alternitive is that this isn't her body... and she's projecting here." <J-IC-Scene> Sougo Tokiwa says, "I understand, Rita." <J-IC-Scene> Dysnomia says, "...Fine. Maybe we don't go for the kill then." <J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "Thank you, Mr. Sougo. Ms. Dysnomia."     There isn't any other alternative, in Zi-O's mind.     Viviane deserves the chance to be something other than a tool. This isn't a 'second chance.' It might be an 'only chance,' as far as he knows. And to do that--to give it, 1normally, he'd have Woz look into the book. But they're being watched. It's best to reveal as little as possible. So... Zi-O tries to imagine the future he, and Rita wants. It hasn't happened yet. But there's always a chance, right?     Another Zi-O appears through a pink portal, this one wearing the Zi-O II armor like his present-time counterpart. He holds not a sword but a folded note in his hand, and shoulder-checks past Viviane, holding it out towards Woz.     The retainer makes a nimble moonsault to meet his king halfway, his free hand gingerly taking the note. Below, the future!Zi-O disappears in a flash of pink. Above, at the falling arc of his moonsault, Woz's blue katakana-print visor pores over who the note is addressed to--Rita Ma.The present Zi-O is there to cover Woz's landing, striking a warding blow with the hilt of his sword to allow Woz to flow around the combat and make his way to Rita.The retainer's hand gracefully dips into the pocket of Rita's raincoat, reverse-pickpocketing the note onto her person with a self-satisfied 'hmh' which also serves to let her know she's got mail. Gliding around her, he lifts his spear and covers her, giving her time to read just what she'll need to do--and give up, to take Viviane alive. Choose.     "Thank you," says the Demon King to Mia. She's a-- homunculus? Is that why she seems so empty? Because she's not a real person?     "Of course she is!!" Zi-O vehemently answers, his helmet whipping around to Cobalt. "If you have to make up reasons why she's 'not a real person,' then she's more real than you want to--" Oh no!!! Watch out!! "Woz..!!"     The bond between the king and his retainer is such that with a word, Woz knows what Zi-O wants him to do. With a word, he knows that showing them one more form they can scheme over later is worth saving her now.
Timespace Riders	Dare Ja? Ore Ja! NINJA! Futurering Shinobi! SHINOBI!               ...I believe I would prefer living, if given the choice. I have not yet seen everything I desired to see from you all.     Woz's smartwatch-themed, silver-green armor shifts. The clock hands on his helmet become the exaggerated tines of a purple shuriken, while his lightweight cuirass sports similar shuriken on the breastplate and pauldrons. Most relevant, however, is the addition of an archetypical ninja scarf, iridescent purple so as to match Woz's futuristic theming. Without hesitation, he grabs it and flicks it out towards Viviane, sending the scarf extending impossibly to wrap around her ankle. With a grunt of effort, the retainer yanks, hard enough to trip her and send her prone, hopefully turning the full-test magical murder beam into a glancing blow at worst. Is it smart, to take this sort of stance with me?      "Yeah," says Zi-O, lowering his sword. "It is. For one, if you want to think of it as callously as 'assets,' then that's definitely what you are. But... I don't like thinking of people that way. Viviane..." The Rider's pink lenses weigh heavily on her. "If you don't agree with your 'master,' then this is the perfect chance to make up for what you've done, and helped him to do, isn't it? The perfect chance to see... not just us, but everything that's out there." He pauses, then turns around.     "I've gotta go deliver a letter," he says. And save a helicopter pilot. Zi-O disappears in a flash of pink light.
Ishirou	Ishirou slowly lands on the ground, as it appears that Viviane appears to be surrendering.  She is right to point out the flaws in this logic, that she could be more dangerous, that she'll continue her duty... But she also does point out that she could have made things really dangerous for them, if there were no traps down there then... right now all they need to do is walk in and get the stuff left here.  She gave up the advantage of the terrain to face them like this.  Was this a gambit?  Or was it something else... Scans are coming back, and the data is metastasizing.  He takes a breath, his eyes falling over her earrings.  Comparing things against Hibiki's gear, he isn't sure yet, but the magic is enough for him to confirm that they're the source and that the water wasn't alchemically created.  Right now, he can't figure out more than that, and SONG would probably know how to figure that out.   He takes a breath and decides to keep the information quiet.  At least, keeping the information to Paladins.  "Your honesty in this is... admirable, miss.  There are a few reasons to believe in your sincerity.  Though I am glad you chose to surrender instead of the alternative." Ishirou is at least honest about that.
Ritsuka Fujimaru	'You care about my well-being. That is...curious.' "The hell are you going on about? I just hate your master more than you, that's all!" Jeanne shouts in utter/too much denial as she very nearly drives her sword forward again, only stopping once she sees that Viviane is already... Not moving? No, stuck by something, and it quickly becomes apparent that the multitude of curses and mirrors and other difficult-to-impossible to see things would just make going further... Unimpressive. Unnecessarily cruel, even, which could actually bolster the fouler side of her reputation quite a bit. It's certainly tempting, especially with Viviane providing so many heart-tugging reasons that she should be allowed to live that her other self would be such a complete sap for. Immolating her now would be absolutely barbaric, and maybe even more than enough to stop everyone here from even thinking about that saintly image again! 'I do care for my master and his work...even if he has lost his way. I do not hold any illusions over what we are doing being moral or just, either. Do I believe in it, however...?' 'I believe I would prefer living, if given the choice. I have not yet seen everything I desired to see from you all.' 'Become yourself, and not someone's angry shadow. Be angry, for yourself!' Still gritting her teeth as she watches Woz doing that mind-confounding stunt with the scarf, Jeanne spits out some quarry gunk off to the side and lets her flames dissipate finally. "... Goddamit. Soft-hearted idiots, all of you!" Scowling, she turns to the mineshaft and starts stomping that way with a look of utter disgust plastered on her face. She stops after the first few steps, then glares back at Sou-wait, he disappeared. She glares at Woz for that scarf stunt, then at just about everyone in rapid succession. "I swear, if you try and pull this shit when we find her master, I'm burning the whole place down with everyone inside!" She'll be cursing up a storm for a while still. Probably better not to let Rita or Kayoko hear her too much.
Kayoko Kirenai	Chevalier Cobalt marches up to the restrained Viviane, standing over her, sword vanished into golden motes. She's surprisingly tall, in those sabatons, and her armored headpiece makes her seem taller, at least a little imposing in her bearing. But when she talks, Kayoko just sounds like a frustrated teenager.     "If you don't hate us, if you don't think it's okay to do what you're doing, if you don't think your master is doing the right thing, then why? You don't have to get hurt, so why would you make us hurt you?"     Kayoko sighs, drooping with the post-fight crash for a moment, before habitually reasserting her posture and expression. "Just let us help you. If you actually want good things for yourself, your master, and others, then you can trust us to take care of it. If you want to live, then stop *acting* in a way that makes that *hard*." "If you have to make up reasons why she's 'not a real person,' then she's more real than you want to--"     Kayoko flinches at the shout, regarding the Demon King with a wary stare. Even if Ishirou had said he was on their side for this, he still unnerves her. "If she *is* a person then that's fine. I don't hate her, I just want to understand why she acts this way. Things that look like people aren't ways really people, like the Temptations, or the evil agents of the Nihil Kingdom that Love was talking about, or conspirators with the Devil. If you let yourself trust them completely then you can't save real people from them." Kayoko looks down at Viviane and frowns, addressing her directly again. "Thank you for surrendering, though, miss Viviane. I hope we can help you."
Rita Ma	Rita makes her usual soft "!" noise when she registers the note, fishes it out of her pocket, and skims it hastily. Woz gets a grateful smile afterwards, and then a firm nod.      Of course saving her is worth the cost. Knowing it only makes me feel more sure.      "Ms. Viviane," she says, slipping by Woz and Sougo to crouch down in front of the fallen woman. The chains slacken, then turn to dust. Rita extends a hand up; her other hand rummages in her satchel for medical supplies, even if they're unnecessary. She glances back at Sougo, but gently disagrees:      "No. You're right. It's not smart at all to save you. You could be really dangerous, and we don't have much of a reason to trust you. But..." A meager, sympathetic smile crosses her face as her eyes fall back to the alchemist. "Sometimes you try to save people even if it isn't smart, just because you don't want to be the kind of person who didn't try. That makes sense, doesn't it?"      When she stands up- and pulls Viviane up with her, if she's allowed to- Rita turns to walk back to the helicopter pilot, with her new friend in tow. He'll need to know they're carrying one more. If Sougo's right, and she has the feeling Sougo is always right, that's more urgent than investigating the hideout.      "Things that look like people aren't always really people..."      Kayoko brings Rita up short for a moment, though. Her face twitches guiltily; her eyes make brief contact with this odd teenager she's hardly met, then flinch away like she's touched a hot stove.      "You're right," she says weakly. "But Ms. Viviane is. Please trust me on that, okay?" Rita can't see hearts, but she feels like she'd know.
Lilian Rook	'For his 'magnum opus'     "I see." Lilian says, in a very different sort of tone from how she usually says those words. "As an alchemist, you wouldn't use that term lightly."     'You care about my well-being. That is...curious.'     "I wouldn't believe them that easily."     'I do care for my master and his work...even if he has lost his way. I do not hold any illusions over what we are doing being moral or just, either.'     Standing at rest from her frenetic tumble, holding Viviane in places, Lilian breathes out slowly, and says "That's your choice." with no particular inflection. "I can be an admirable, even beautiful, thing to devote yourself to someone. But if you already realize that it comes at the cost of people's lives-- more importantly, if it comes at the cost of no longer even believing you could possibly be in the right-- then it is devotion only. I can't praise being dedicated to something while knowing what kind of evil you're enabling. It's just a trait, not a virtue."     'So I suppose this change in said plan was, in part...my own selfishness. What a curious thing it is. But I wished to see you,'     Lilian's hand rattles lightly against the sword's blade. Her grip quakes gently from exhaustion; probably. "That's not someone who really is devoted with their whole heart says, though. You should have listened more, to that voice. More and earlier." Her throat audibly tightens. "You don't have to hate him to know he's wrong. You don't have to admit you loathe him in your heart to be able to separate him. You don't even have to think he's wrong, to know that you need something else. Take it from me, for what little good it will do at this point."     'You have no guarantee of what I might do, or whom I might harm. Nor my full abilities. I might be lying. I may have been restraining myself this entire bout. You have very little knowledge of what our organization is capable of in the first place. Is it smart, to take this sort of stance with me?'     The blood rolling down Night Mist collects into beads on the contours of Lilian's gauntlet fingers, and drips. She'll get to it any second. "Mercy is the luxury of the strong." Lilian repeats herself from the radio, earlier. "I know my own full abilities, and I know how much I've restrained myself, too. I know what I'm capable of, and how to handle things no matter what should arise from your 'organization'. What does 'smart' mean? I'm fully confident in my own abilities; I've no need of being so paranoid about someone weaker than me." She laughs shakily. "So don't take me for a bleeding heart. Take it as a sign I don't even need to be pragmatic."     From there, the process is perfectly straightforward. Taking Viviane to ground is easy enough at this juncture. Smooth black metal cable, strung out from haze condensing like cosmic dust, mildly energy draining in inherent nature, is trivial to apply either way. Blood shaken from her hand and sword can be gathered for Tamamo's sake; tracking, viewing, sympathetic magic, in case of an eventuality. Information coming from Ishirou makes her scowl for a moment, before she decides it's more important to take responsibility than be petty, and she acts to remove Viviane's earrings for safekeeping. It's a wrapped matter. But . . .
Lilian Rook	'Is that why she seems so empty? Because she's not a real person?'     "Chevalier Cobalt." Lilian says, on a working delay, focused on checking her binds and seals. "What exactly does that mean." She glances over her shoulder only for a moment. "You must have put a tremendous amount of thought into the nature of interiority and personhood to have opinions like that at your age. I might even ask to see your notes; you do take notes, don't you?" she says. Satisfied, Lilian steps up and away from Viviane, making the ramrod tension in her back more obvious. "'Empty'. I've been hearing that word and its synonyms a great, lately. I'd find it very useful to know your personal definition of it."     'If you want to live, then stop *acting* in a way that makes that *hard*.'     "Chevalier-- Sometimes it's not that simple. You're used to fighting Temptations, aren't you? Not people. So--" An attempt to sound patient and ameloriating cracks, turns unsteady, and vanishes. A weak stab at smiling parentally doesn't hide her tightly grit Lilian's teeth are.     'If she *is* a person then that's fine. I don't hate her, I just want to understand why she acts this way. Things that look like people aren't ways really people, like the Temptations, or the evil agents of the Nihil Kingdom that Love was talking about, or conspirators with the Devil. If you let yourself trust them completely then you can't save real people from them.'     "What are you talking about?" Lilian sighs, hot and rough and bubbling up emotion from the previously dry spring. Her hair tosses over her shoulder as she sharply twists back in exasperation to stare at Kayoko. "What is this? If she's not a person to you, then she's just like those monsters, but you're willing to speak to her? Thank her? You won't hate her like you hate them? What in god's name is a conspirator with the Devil? What do these words even mean? Do you actually know, or are you just blindly copying bits and pieces of sentiments you've heard?" Against her better judgement, Lilian turns all the way around, advancing on Kayoko a short distance.     "What does this have to do with her body? It's 'too perfect' so she's like a Temptation? Is that what defines the Devil? Evil? That's why she's potentially a 'thing'? You can't possibly be serious. You cannot be about to tell me that only people with a certain type of birth-body are 'people' and not 'things'. That's not in the Bible is it? Tell me I'm mistaken."
Hibiki Tachibana	Indeed, the Shinobi Futurering is something that Viviane and her lot would have no information on. Although Tamamo is effectively preventing anything she might learn from being passed on outside, that doesn't change the fact it's something she herself now knows. If she's truthful about being untrustworthy, that will only hurt in the long run.     But Woz saves her from the stray Arcana Slave regardless, and her body hits the ground swiftly enough to avoid danger. That itself might be a prime moment to strike, or attempt to retreat even against these odds - but she does not. A hand, from somewhere within her robes, cease trying to get their grip on something. "...You are a strange one, Sougo Tokiwa. Though that holds true for many great kings throughout history. Thank you, Kamen Rider Woz."     She makes an effort to sit herself up afterwards, as she regards Rose - now in a much different uniform. There's a small but barely perceptible glint of...recognition, maybe? Although there's no way she could understand the significance of the agent donning that outfit, although Hibiki can't help a small smile in the background.     "I...held the thought. That if he had reached his goal, the one that has driven him for so long, he would regain his old self. I suppose that is what you would call 'sentimentality'."     Friend. Hm. Rose, Rita, Lilian...she's being supported by several of them right now. Although Viviane's expression has failed to change much at all, there's the impression she's considering Rita's words deeply.     "...The desire to be the kind of person you wish to be. I do think I understand. Or, I at least understand enough to wish to understand more."     '...Goddamit. Soft-hearted idiots, all of you!'     "You're surprisingly soft-hearted yourself, however." Crushingly matter-of-factly.
Hibiki Tachibana	'As an alchemist, you wouldn't use that term lightly.'     "No. I would not. It is...something he once gave up hope of ever achieving. But this likely is not the best place to talk of such things."     'You don't have to hate him to know he's wrong. You don't have to admit you loathe him in your heart to be able to separate him. You don't even have to think he's wrong, to know that you need something else. Take it from me, for what little good it will do at this point.'     "I intend to take everything you all have to say." A beat passes. "In the pursuit of alchemical perfection, 'right' and 'wrong' hold little sway. But I am very quickly learning that those two things, what they mean on an individual basis, are very different. I suppose...that must be where these feelings were borne from."     There's no resistance to further binding, nor from her earrings being taken. She understands. Given her and her organization's study of the Elites, she perhaps already deduced Ishirou or another would have figured that out.     'So don't take me for a bleeding heart. Take it as a sign I don't even need to be pragmatic.'     "You do not need to be either for me to say 'thank you'. I think it has been some time since I've uttered that. But it is proper, after everything today. I am...glad that I did it."     With the case closed - for now - Viviane seems content to allow Rita to lead her away. The pilot's face, through the windshield, tells exactly two feelings.     One of which being, 'I cannot believe they're talking about friends with the girl who tried to drown slash crash me'. The other being, 'I'm sort of glad things ended up this way'. Elites are still a little too much for him, though. Definitely her polar opposite on that front.     On the way, however, the blue-haired girl peers over her shoulder. Towards Lilian and Kayoko both, as emotions run high. With her as the subject.     This, too, she will commit to memory, and to her heart. It's important.