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Nort and Scar     Arrival at the village finds it rapidly filling with a greasy-looking fog, thicker than what the images on camera had. The earlier attack from the badgermen is recent enough that there are still a few smoldering fires to be put out. Most of the village appears intact, and the militia, what's left of it, is putting up some quick efforts to fix up the barrier and gate.

    It is easy to see why. The fog is thick, but seems to be nothing poisonous or unnatural, other than its presence. In the midst of the fog, lanky and tall silhouettes can be seen, probably about 4 meters tall but spindly, like a Sorn for those of you who have read classic CS Lewis. There are a lot of them, advancing slowly on the village...
Shin Tokuyama     "Oh man, this is some narrative-ass fog right here. Shit's about to go doooooooown," Shin comments as he steps off his motorcycle, looking around the village, not bothering to introduce himself or clear his arrival with anyone who is actually important. He's fairly enveloped in his own world again, "Some creepy shit going on here. I wonder if At The Drive-In is gonna be here today. Seems like her vibe."

    Shin looks around carefully, adjusting his tie and putting the keys to his bike in his pocket.
Velya     A new challenger appears! Or something? Velya is not /that/ new to the Multiverse. She's new enough that she doesn't know many people beyond Union and Confederacy as big names, but she's old enough to know about the Gates! So she's able to come onto site pretty fast, motivated by both curiosity and a general sense of helpfulness... and to test her new alter-ego a little before putting it to work!
    Dashing into the village from the part that isn't being attacked, panting heavily and looking just like a curvy sorceress with the typical CON and STR stats and lack of athletic proficiencies. Huffing and puffing, she braces herself on her staff. "I'm here! I'm here! Where can I help out? I really want to help out, I know it's strange!"
    Such is the fate of a dark elf going against her people, to forever be questioned by those she attempts to aid, persecuted and so on and so forth. Even though these people probably don't care at all, she's reviewing this in her head.
Xiaomu A lightcycle comes tearing out of the nearest warpgate, thankfully not leaving the typical trailwall in its wake; even more thankfully, its rider is alert enough to slew away from anyone who happens to be aheada of her. The high-techy vehicle slides to a halt shortly thereafter, and its rider dismounts: a young woman with blonde hair (and brown tips, peculiarly enough), dressed in a black qipao with silvery embroidery and zippers, and a red vest over that. She glances around briefly, nodding hello to the human-looking arrivals, but much of her attention already seems to be on the tall and spindly things. "Huh. Are those the 'Silent Ones' the badgers freaked about?" she wonders ...

With her ears perking up: distinctly vulpine ears, while her sidelocks conveniently hide where a normal human's ears would normally be expected.

Velya's appearance and slightly discombobulated question elicits a casual grin from the foxgirl as she pulls out her staff - and almost as an afterthought, de-rezzes her lightcycle back down to baton form. "How are you with binding and sealing magics?" she asks Velya. "When you hear creatures being described as something like 'Silent Ones,' it's not usually because they're looking to party all friendly-like with the locals ..."
Shielder     'Badger bandits.'
    Mashu was already terrified at the idea, especially if those were honey badgers. But calls for aid that fall in her lap, through pure coincidence of having been trying to tune her new ~magical radio~ because she kept breaking hand-held and earpiece ones when the calls got picked up, just can't be ignored. What are Silent Ones, anyway? Sounds ominous.

    Well, one trip later and the Demi-Servant is here to find out. Already clad in that purple and black armor, generic sword to her side, carrying a massive (6+ foot long, 3ish wide) cross-shaped shield with fancy runes on it in one arm like it weighs nothing, the pale-haired teen steps into the village and eyes the fog as it picks up beyond the militia, immediatly wary of what it might hide. Are those people in there? They're way too tall to be people, right?

    By chance she'd seen both Shin and Velya as they arrived and entered the village, clumsily following after them to reach the barrier and the militia. "Those look c-creepy. The people inside the fog... are they barricaded inside their homes? We can barely see anything, how are we going to... know where to go, where survivors are?" Survivors? She hopes she jumped the gun on that term, and that there are not victims to begin with, but she's not that lucky and she knows it.
Shadowed Scales     Technology and Shadowed Scales Hide Bloody Claws do not mix. Not in the least. Under normal cirumstances, she would have missed the distress call by virtue of almost never paying attention to the radio that is in her possession.
    The radio is in her possession because she was, at the time of possessing it, ripping open a man's ribcage and prying out his heart.
    When it just happens to pick up the broadcast and videofeed automatically as she was in the middle of devouring said heart, the sight of angry badger-like men caught her eye.
    And that is why the scruffy looking wanderer tugs his travel cloak a little tighter after ditching his own corpse and starts heading in the direction from which the signal came.
    A loner and drifter, it's not out of the ordinary for a man like him to come and go as he pleases. Keeps to himself. No one pays him any mind. No one will really miss him nor think twice about seeing him. He arrives at the village, lips pulled into a thin line at the gloomy fog, one hand reaching up to scratch at the shaggy growth of a week and a half without a good shave, eyeing the figures in the mists.
    Seems like a bad time to show up in town.
    For Shadowed Scales it is, perhaps, the best time.
Nort and Scar     "Thank goodness!" One of the villagers is there to greet the newcomers(and even Shin) He's huffing and puffing too, just like Velya, and nursing a nasty gash over an eye. "The bandits came out of nowhere, and left just as quickly, but we don't think we can handle whatever scared them off! We've managed to repair the barricade leading to the road, but that's it... we're lucky they didn't circle around like you did." They must not have access to a warpgate that lets them do that trick. "We've got our few villagers with rifles at the gates..." He trails off and looks at the ragtag bunch of heroes. Giant shield, fox lady, elf... "Ah... I hope you're able to help. You two, if you need shelter follow me." He points to the two drifters - Scales and Shin.

    As he's babbling, the first shots are fired from the walls. The fog has started to part to reveal the huge figures of skinny humanoids, dressed entirely in black but for horizontal white stripes on their chests and along the arms, and lily white hands and faces. Their faces hold black vertical markings over each eye, and form ridiculous, exaggerated expressions as one of them goes down to gunfire.

    A second one rushes over and begins to make motions as if applying bandages to the injured one, who is silently making motions with his hands. Three more emerge, arms in circles at their side and lined up as if holding something between the three of them, and begin rushing for the gate. Several more hunker down as if hiding behind something... and bullets appear to glance off just before hitting them, while they make trigger-pulling motions and point at the gate.

    This causes one of the defenders to cry out, the first non-gunfire noise made, and a gout of blood to erupt from his shoulder.
Shin Tokuyama     "Woah woah woah, Shelter? Listen, NPC Villager Three. I'm a wandering Hero of Fists, so I don't need to take any shelter. I'm here to save your podunk town in exchange for sick plot progression." Shin then turns towards the others as they arrive. Shin looks towards Velya first and shoots her a couple finger-guns (not the kind currently being used to slaughter defenders), "Hey hey, a dark elf. You guys are different from in the mangas. I'm not used to you being standing. And clothed."

    Shin then looks out towards the battlefield as half of the sounds of battle begin to kick up again, "Mimes? Are you fucking serious?" He looks out there and puts a hand over his eyes, "Does anyone have like... coins? They might just be busking with performance art and will go away if we pay em."
Velya     Oh good, the villager doesn't seem to care, even if he gives her a look. Velya smiles... and follows it with a bright blush. "N-not that kind of dark elf! I'm a rebel from my own kind for many, many reasons!" This was NOT the first thing she expected to be accused of, but she unfortunately does not look exactly surprised.
    To Xiaomu she shakes her head, "Sealing isn't a path that I studied, but I have some things that might help!" Rushing forward, she raises her staff and shouts an incantation: "Ffet Ncrieaoretcoa Pet!"
    A shimmering barrier springs forth to brace up the gate, giving it extra fortitude against whatever strange attack is incoming. "I have no idea how well this will hold, but maybe one of you could help?" Like, say, the one carrying the gigantic shield she hopes?
Shielder     Mashu takes a few moments to stare at Velya, now that they're closer. Are those pointy ears? Is she an elf? A REAL elf? From what mythology? Oh, but she's a DARK elf, that mattes! So many questions she could shotgun at the unwary victim, and ultimately she stutters and selecting one at random, lands on: "A-Are those ears real?" WELL PLAYED, MASHU. She wants to bury her face in her hands right now, and maybe after asking that she starts withdrawing behind her massive shield.

    If nobody can see her the shame will go away.

    This awkward situation doesn't last as the fog withdraws, revealing-- very very large mimes? Those can't possibly be mimes, that's not even a species! It has to just be a visual style thin--

    He just mimed a gun.
    That guy definitely got hit by a mimed bullet.

    This is a mime siege.

    Velya makes a request. Shielder leaps up, taking matters into her own hands with confidence unfitting for her moments ago stuttering voice. She lands in front of the gate, slamming the shield down into the ground, the holy cross glimmering white and blue.

    Mana falls over the area, like snow. When it touches a wall, a door, a member of the militia, or even the various heroes gathered, the mana dissipates into a blue-ish glow, which bolsters defense. Half-hidden behind her shield, the drawback is that she's made herself a visible target.
Xiaomu Okay, that villager just cried out and pain and is bleeding as if he actually *was* shot. That's enough to make Xiaomu worry about what the 'Silent Ones' are actually capable of, because while she does hear gunfire, she didn't think any of the shots correlated with the guy who just got a hole punched in his shoulder.

For now, she looks at Shin. "Okay, about half a dozen things you just did wrong, but the big two are 'never address an NPC as an NPC, that's just rude,' and 'I don't think wandering performance artists make their audience start bleeding if they're looking for money'." Then she nods to Velya, "Yeah, figured it might be worth asking ... I don't think I can bind that many monsters at once, especially when I don't even know what kind of spirits they are."

That said, she climbs up to peek over the edge of the wall, trying to get a decent look without exposing herself to bullets, imaginary or otherwise. She does look long enough to see some bullets simply not hitting the Silent Ones, and that's basically all she needs to see before ducking out of sight.

Between Velya's barrier and Shielder's defensive buff, Xiaomu gives the two of them a quick thumbs-up, followed by a fresh look at the Silent Ones. "Wonder if grenades would do any good ..." she muses. Of course she didn't bring any this time - she was in too much of a hurry and leaving from home, no chance to swing by Shinra HQ to pick them up. She has a couple of other options to play with, though, and once Shielder's been out there long enough for the Silent Ones to try focusing their attacks on her and that cool big cross-shaped shield ...

"Oh-toh!!"

Xiaomu simply vaults over the top of the wall, brandishing her Buddhist monk's staff, and with a yell of, "XIAOMU BLIZZARD!!" tries to simply encase the nearest Silent One in so much ice as to immobilize them. With a fair chunk of luck, she'll catch the one that was 'bandaging' the injured one.

With a LOT of luck, she might also catch the one who was being 'bandaged,' but one at a time is enough.
Nort and Scar     There are screams, and not from the mimes. No, largely they're from the villagers who are all either shooting or taking cover again. This is probably a good idea! After all, the siege that is going on is going to run over them pretty fast without Elite support.

    Fortunately, they have Elite support. The barricate flares with empowerment, and Velya's shield reinforces the splintered and damaged but still-closed gate. Just in time! Those three charging mimes SLAM into the gate with their... invisible battering ram, making it shudder and splinter more, but not give thanks to the reinforcement. They're starting to draw back and rush in again though, to hammer at the gate with their invisible ram.

    The wounded mime is making gestures of melodrama, clutching his chest. The one tending to him makes sobbing motions, covers his eyes with the back of an arm, and makes a gesture like pulling the trigger to a pistol, blowing a hole in the mime's head. Mimed field medics are the worst, really.

    "I don't think they are taking coins," Villager Three yells! He staggers toward the door of the nearest house, but that might not be wise with what the mimes are doing. Several are behind invisible cover, but two of them are shuffling about under 'covering fire' and making gestures. Military folk might realize that they are making the gestures of setting up and loading a mortar. Fortunately they are delayed a little from their launch when one of them is frozen solid, an attack that seems to work just fine and makes the mime suddenly freeze, literally. His companion 'panics' with hands on the face, and rapidly makes motions of striking a match and blowing on kindling, though that doesn't appear to start any actual fire. Yet.

    The battle is starting to pick up, but there are other reinforcements. A sizzle-CRACK of some white energy beam lancing out and burning into one of the mimes who is behind cover. A moment later the source of the shot, a tall man in battered power armor, finishes the landing with the jump jets just behind the barricade. "They're telekinetics," he supplies helpfully. "Use energy weapons if you have them. Cold works fine too, like your friend out there has discovered."

    His announcement is followed by a massive blur of brown and black fur, as a giant wolverine with cybernetic legs and eyes bounds atop the barricade, making it creak under his weight. It must be at least fifteen feet long. A sizzling of laser blasts lance out of his eyes to lend support.
Shin Tokuyama     "Hey, that's cool. Breakin' the mold. I respect that. Solid. You're pretty endearing, though. What's the play? Ancient sealed evil trying to pass off among people? Old God sealed in a human body and discovering emotion? Secretly the queen of an empire, disguising herself as a humble wandering spellcaster?" Shin grills Velya for a few moments before holding out his hand and saying, "Shin Tokuyama. Combat Vagrant and Hero of Fists."

    To Xiaomu, he just waves his hand a couple times, "Look. If he wasn't given a name in the first five minutes, he either was irrelevant or is actually the boss." The martial artist dusts his hands off and then looks towards the mimes out there, "Still. Probably right not to give em cash. They'll just come back if you do."

    Then Xiaomu's off and people are coordinating the fighting. Shin doesn't have any cold techniques. He does have energy techniques, though. This causes him to give a huge thumbs up to the guy in power armor, "Sweet. Energy attacks I can do."

    "HEY YOU CHARLIE CHAPLIN IMMITATING MOTHER FUCKERS. YOUR SHIT GOT OLD IN 1929!" Shin shouts as he leaps over the wall and out into the fray. As he lands, he strikes a pose, "You Marcel Marceau wannabes contribute to art in the same sense that Yoko Ono contributed to music."

    All jokes out of his system aside, Shin coils back his arm and then thrusts it forward, "Ryuken!"

    There's an almost-invisible ripple of air from his palm that streaks towards the nearest mime and then explodes in a huge display of energy and fire once it impacts.
Shielder     Several long, painful seconds are spent wondering if she could mime a good enough reason for the Mimes to leave. Can you mime a one million dollar check? How would that even go? Such existential questions sadly have to wait, as things haven't gotten much better yet.

    "What do they want with this place anyway?!" An important question! That she should have asked earlier.

    The appearance of two new allies, one of which is a giant wolverine, makes the Demi-Servant stare a bit from the safety of 'being behind her shield', which isn't actually totally safe since her head is sticking out and she gets grazed, losing a lock of hair to who must surely be Revolver Mimelot.

    Then Shin starts screaming. Mashu kind of squirms a bit behind her portable cover, obviously very uncomfortable at the level of aggression present. For a Servant, she really doesn't seem to enjoy fighting, nor the behavior people exhibit when fighting. Is staying nice really that hard?

    She can't do energy attacks, sadly.

    Instead, her shield remains planted where it it, as she holds onto it firmly. "H-Hey! Over here, Mimes!" This poor attempt at taunting nonetheless produces some manner of psychic attack, trying to force all onlooking Mimes to focus their attacks on Mashu, who steels herself as best as she can manage.
Xiaomu Well, cold is technically 'anti-energy' in a manner of speaking, so it makes some sense. Xiaomu doesn't reply to the recommendation immediately, though, for one relatively simple reason:

She's trying to kick the frozen Silent One hard enough to either send it sliding into, or topple it over on top of, the one who's trying to 'start a fire' to thaw the frozen one out. Given that the Silent Ones are roughly four meters in height and Xiaomu is ... well, considerably less ... that's going to take some leverage and it might take some help.

But either way, she then draws a (mostly) white pistol out of her vest and opens up on some of the other mime-things, each shot depositing a clump of ice upon impact ... assuming it impacts. If they can deflect the shots from Roc's Icebrand, Xiaomu'll have to focus on using Suiren.
Velya     Oh. "Er..." Taken aback by the sheer adacity and bluntness of Shin's statement, Velya needs a second to recover. "N-no, I only disagreed with the matriarch on the human sacrifice thing." She blurts that out in a hurry, while floating lightly up above the barricade to where she can help out. She DOES have some energy attacks.
    "Energy... I have that," she replies to the man. The wolverine startles her, but less than the cybernetics, which she takes in stride. Her hand opens and her staff lowers toward the nearest three, the ones battering at the gate, to send crackling blasts of lightning toward them, as fast as she's able. "Laiitr gnelt bnodnhgg!"
    Her tongue must really hurt.
    "Velya," she offers to Shin. "Not a princess I'm afraid. Just a lone sorceress trying to make up for the damage my people have caused." At least he seems familiar with the ideas. It's kind of unnerving to her.
Nort and Scar     The mime barriers are resistant to normal kinetic attacks... but not immune. With the icy cold behind the shots, enough of it can penetrate to seriously discomfort the mimes, which flinch and look confused as their barrier is pierced. It does happen in their world, but they don't seem to have much experience with it. Xiaomu's shots are making them shuffle backward...

    Which makes Shin's pulse all the more effective! They're already staggering and starting to try to rally a little more, to rearrange themselves into a better attack formation. The disruption from the fox and the martial artist is throwing them into some serious disarray, and the flailing of their battering ram squad as Velya's lightning starts to roast them is less comical and more outright deadly. It looks like they're just very weak to energy attacks.

    More sizzle-CRACKS from the disintegrator beams built into the armor of the man in armor follow, to try to keep them at bay. "Performance art," is all he says about their motivations. "They don't think like real intelligent beings. Humanoids war on humanoid, and they mimic that. SCAR!" He gestures toward Shielder.

    Scar leaps down with a grunt, the giant wolverine charging toward Shielder! The shield of the demiservant is holding up well enough, but the impacts are definitely felt from the mimes that are paying attention. They are lessening as the fight is turning against them... and severely weakened as the beast skids to a halt just behind Shielder, helping to blunt the attacks on her shield with the force field enveloping his body and now hers as well. If she doesn't mind a giant mustelid next to her.
Shin Tokuyama     "Awesome. I'm going to put you in my little name book thing under 'Love Interest' Hyphen 'Non-human species' hyphen 'Fantasy Genre'." Shin says to Velya with a thumbs up in response to her name. And then he does just that, taking a small pad and a pen out of his jacket and writing 'Velya - Love Interest - Non-Human Species - Fantasy Genre'. As he shuts it, he waves his hand, "Don't worry, nothing will ever come of it since I doubt I'll trip enough flags to be more than friends."

    And then he's looking back towards the armored battle guy and what he's up to, "Wow, that dude's got some chops. And his buddy Wishbone there is something else, too." He looks towards the armored guy, "Yo! What's the story wish Wishbone, there?" He asks, knowing full well the creature's name is Scar.

    He's still throwing out those stereotypical fighting game ki fireballs from his palms. He's just much more distracted by the narrative, really.
Shielder     Mashu certainly won't mind a giant wolverine helping her out, though she might stare a bit as the situationa allows. Repeated blows to her shield, while they don't injure her, do strain her arms and legs, trying to maintain her position without flinching. The addition of that barrier and the support from the beast are enough to tip the scales and let her stand her ground, continuing to endure assaults so that the others present don't have to. More importantly, so that those who can't don't have to, like the members of the militia.

    She frowns, too, at the man's explanation of what motivates them. So they're violent because people are violent? That's depressing. Why couldn't they mimic all the incredible things people do instead? History has more than warfare in it! Or so she'd really like to argue, if she wasn't trying to keep tanking stoicly.

    She seizes an opening to finally attack, as everyone's attacks start slowing the mimes down. Her shield, lower part still partially smashed into the earth, is suddenly lifted up, with a thundering crack. The earth rises with it, a shockwave sent along the ground towards one of the mines, causing slabs of stone to rise all along the way, and a larger one to surge up right in front of the mime, to try to smack him in the face and knock him out.
Velya     Another blast, this time a fireball, billows forth from Velya's staff! She's laying it on the mimes while spitting out that tonguetwisting arcane language made by her digital assistant running 'Anagram Maker 3.4 Platinum.' She's focusing on the battering ram because her shield is failing, and she has no idea how strong Shielder's reinforcement is because she hasn't run into Servants before.
    "Wait... what?" That's a distraction! Velya stares at Shin for a second. "You're way too old for me, I'm only 87! What is this?" She gestures at Shin again and glores, before she nearly gets shot off the top by a glancing blow that nicks her shoulder. Dropping down to one knee, she resumes her own assault. "That's pretty sad. But do they retreat?"
Shin Tokuyama     "Oh. Sec, sorry, lemme make an addition," Shin starts scratching in his notebook again during a lull in the battle. He murmurs to himself, "Hyphen... Tsundere..." And then shuts the book again.
Xiaomu "Performance art? Seriously?" Xiaomu snarks in between shots from Roc's Icebrand. "More like 'performance murder,' or is that guy they shot going to be all right?"

She glances over the remaining Silent Ones, snapping off a couple more shots from her ice-elemental handgun - trying to freeze a hand there, a foot here, and thusly disrupt any remaining offensive moves that the mime-like monsters look like they're trying to make. She doesn't mind letting them run away, it'll be a faster way to resolve this than pinning them down and wiping this group out totally. And they might have attacks that would be a lot more damaging.
Nort and Scar     Nort shrugs, which looks weird in power armor. A few more blasts from him, combined with the artillery headed their way from Shin, Xiaomu, and Velya, and the mimes start their retreat.

    Which involves things like several mimes squatting next to an injured one, then moving him to one side, then lifting him up on an invisible stretcher.

    The retreat is quick, though it leaves many corpses of the ridiculously tall and skinny mimes. One of them is frozen solid and toppled over from Xiaomu's earlier kick(they don't actually weigh all that much, so sending the frozen one crashing down was not that hard), and... ew. The one with his arm pinned appears to have /sawed it off/ with an invisible saw. Maybe he'll get a mimed cyborg arm out of it.

    The invisible bullets lighten up and then vanish from battering Shielder, and the village lets out a grateful cheer, both for her excellent tanking and for the others driving off the attack. Other shots toward the trio fighting them were relatively rare thanks to that.

    Nort glances at Scar, and Scar grunts, to which Nort finally replies, "He's my partner." But the man in armor is already mounting up with a loud 'click' as the saddle attaches to the power armor. "This new world is probably not ready for mine yet, but the rest of you seem more prepared. Call me Nort, and this is Scar. I only caught a few of your names." He seems unusually calm and soft-spoken about all this, unnaturally so. "We hail from the Delta Fragment nearby, east of the Flower Lands."
Xiaomu "Nort and Scar, huh?" Xiaomu re-safeties her handgun and puts it away. "Good to meet the two of you. My name's Xiaomu; I'm a member of the government agency Shinra, on long-term liaison to the Union. Most of us are from a lot farther away than you two probably are. - Thanks for your help dealing with those 'Silent Ones,' too; good to have someone around who knows the monsters' weaknesses."

She's giving Scar a particularly interested look at this point. She thought something was not-human about him, but now that she can actually *look* ... "Cyborg wolverine? That's not a usual combination."
Velya     Velya can finally answer Shielder's question from aaaages ago. She hops down and breathes heavily, the adrenaline rush wearing off. "Yes, the ears are real. That was impressive..." The latter comment said to... just about everyone.
    Leaning on her staff now, Velya tries to take in everything. "I've heard of the Union. I've been meaning to find a recruitment office, if there is one nearby. I have um... a problem they seem to be interested in that I encountered in my wanderings." But for now... "Nort... and Scar. I am Velya, sorceress."
Shin Tokuyama     Overly rambunctious, but not one to push a point, Shin will stop getting in Velya's face about the dynamic of their non-existant relationship. He hop-steps away from her and towards Shielder, "Yo yo, Small, Shy and Woobie. Good job." He gives her a double-thumbs-up as he passes, then cracking his knuckles and putting his hands into the pockets of his suit coat.

    "Sick work, Scar and Nort." Shin grins widely, sorta dumbly, and rocks on his feet, "Shin Tokuyama. Wandering Martial Artist. I'm not the Protagonist Multiverse deserves, but not the one it needs right now." He nods his head a couple times, as if that were an official designation instead of something he just called himself.

    "Good to work with you though, guys. Sick moves."
Shielder     Delta what east of where now?

    With the fight winding down, Mashu takes a deep breath, becoming a bit less stiff, her movements shifting back to an awkward, almost clumsy demeanor, compared to her more... stiff? Robotic? movements during the battle.

    "T-Thanks for the help, m-mister Nort. A-And Scar." Wolverine or not, you should always thank your helpers.

    "U-Um, I can tell the Union you're looking for an officer, if you want, miss!" she also tells Velya, while trying to avoid staring at her ears. Too much. She can't help it, sorry.

    "S-Say, what do you mean by... Fragment? New world?" she also asks Nort, before she remembers names came up. "Ah, I'm Mashu Kyrielite, o-or Shielder if you prefer, that's shorter."

    At Shin's commends she kind of withdraws behind her shield again, evidently uncomfortable with praise and attention.
Nort and Scar     Nort nods at everyone in turn, but it is Scar who speaks up suddenly, in a blunt and growly voice, to Xiaomu, "It wasn't willing."

    Nort replies, "Scar is a little sensitive about it." The armor-clad man just nods at the rest. "I'm aware that we've had a merging with alternate worlds, but I don't know much more than that. Mine is mostly primitive since the Shadow Years. Very dangerous. Radiation and biological hazards abound, if you know what that means. Most of the people you'll encounter will have bows and arrows or crossbows, not... this sort of thing." He raps Scar's saddle.

    Scar snorts, which seems to be a signal for Nort. "If you travel to the Delta Fragment - the area that we live in - you may need to drop our names for safety. I wouldn't recommend it, though. I'm going to go back for now to examine the data I gathered. If you want to talk more, I'll give you some means to get in touch."
Xiaomu "Sorry - I didn't mean to imply that it was willing or planned," Xiaomu says with a genuinely apologetic bow to Scar. "It's still ... well, I think it's cool. Even if it was necessitated and not desired, it seems to me like something you can make the best of."

Nort's explanation about the hazards make her ears tilt back, though, and she nods to the armored figure. "Radiation and biohazards ... yeah, I know what those mean, and they're 'bad news' in no uncertain terms. I don't know that I'll be exploring your world on my own much, but the way the bandits described those monsters seemed like the kind of trouble that's in my job description to deal with."
Shin Tokuyama     "Welp. If everyone's parting ways, I'll catch you guys later," Shin says as he heads over towards his motorcycle and grabs his helmet off the seat. He does have some parting words for Velya, though, "Hey Velya! I'm looking forward to a comical series of mishaps and circumstance that keeps us crossing paths while we have a nebulously defined dynamic that keeps people wondering what the actual status of our relationship is and whether it extends beyond friendship into the poorly defined areas of romance or is simply an incredibly robust interaction mechanism that's been refined through repeated meetings into a deeper and truly meaningful friendship that ultimately finds resolution at some sort of narrative climax where it is finally cemented as one or the other."

    Shin takes a very long pause.

    "Okay, I'm going to IHOP now, bye." And then he's zooming off on his motorcycle.