Scene #9381: Class Is In Session

Owner	Pose
White	People kept talking about how much Sophia was looking forward to today, but not all of them were told why. Some of them could figure it out with context, but even Audrey hasn't been told yet what to expect when she follows the instructions from a brand new number, arriving first in the Demon Realm's center near Ariel's castle, before travelling outside of the- seemingly- only city's boundaries. Much of the space outside of the city has been neatly and carefully cultivated, as much of the Demons' limited land being used as possible for the production of their food. Further from the city, after the broad swathes of crowded farmland, there would be a couple of small towns near the border guarded by a number of forts. Forts like Fort Okun, which you helped retake previously! But, instead of going quite that far out from the city, Sophia seems to be awaiting Audrey only a mile or so out from the city. Specifically in the midst of a cluster of gravelly hilltops, deeply enough that the farmland isn't visible anymore and where there's nothing of value to risk. When Audrey does arrive, she finds Sophia seated on an unnaturally cubic rock, her massive broadsword laid across her lap while she pets the muzzle of a black-and-red furred wolf. Audrey doesn't go unnoticed for long though, Sophia's eyes snapping onto her immediately; a small smile sneaks onto her face, and her eyes narrow ever so slightly, while that wolf (familiar?) seems to melt into her shadow and disappear. "Well well, I suppose you managed not to get lost Miss Basque? Good. I hope you've come prepared."
Audrey Basque	Fresh out of class, and having gotten changed to wear that same dress she's worn last time, Audrey's hair is nonetheless in its drill buns, because fixing them to be loose takes far too long and she'd be late! Audrey arrives by Sophia through a crack in space, mirrored shards breaking as she refracts into view from further away, the disruption closing behind her. She appraises the cube, the sword-- and the wolf, which she doesn't recall seeing at Ariel's manor when she briefly met Sophia before. Until it melts into her shadow. "That's... a familiar? Oh, apologies-- it's nice to see you again, Miss Sophia. Or should that be Commander Sophia?" She half-bows, either way, to be polite. "I... wasn't told what to prepare for. But I'd like to think I am." She's not.
White	Sophia makes a small 'hmm~' sound from her throat as she appraises Audrey's method of arrival in turn, then the woman herself rather pointedly. She looks disaffected but more or less pleasant, right up until Audrey says 'Commander', which seems to invert her smug little smile on the spot. "... Just Sophia. I might normally insist on 'Lady Keren', but that might be a bit of a mouthful for you today." She stands from her shaped-stone seat, flipping her hair back to land behind her shoulders and pulling the sword up by the bottom of its full-ring guard with one finger, then flipping it around to perch atop her left shoulder like it's entirely weightless. Her right hand extends to one side, palm up and fingers relaxed. She raises it gently, and a white-blue glyph forms on the ground beside her, rapidly constructing a complete humanoid ice-sculpture. It lacks details like eyes, but it's still elaborate enough to have the shape of a nose, the slight outline of a pair of lips, and individually complete fingers. It seems to be in a vaguely 'combat ready' position, like a boxer's guard. "I heard you embarrassed yourself against a woman without any magic, Miss Basque. You're not trying to 'roleplay', are you?" Her tone is perfectly level as she speaks, for now, but she still feels intense. It's probably mostly because of the way she controls her eyes, the small features of her expression; she creates a sense of expectation as naturally as she breathes. It's night and day compared to White.
Audrey Basque	"Alright. Just Sophia, then," Audrey nods. Audrey watches, with some level of concern, when Sophia picks her massive blade up; the creation of the ice sculpture (golem? familiar?) reassures her a bit, in the sense there's no longer the threat of having to fight someone White praises as being exceptionally strong in a swordfight. Like standing in front of Gebura wasn't bad enough. The accusation makes Audrey startle a bit, and then deflate that much afterwards. "I'm... quite skilled at embarrassing myself, it turns out. In my defense, she had bombs, uncanny strength, and weapons. But that's-- excuses." Audrey looks at Sophia, trying not to avert her gaze in shame. "I'm not roleplaying. But... this, fighting, thing. It's new. I don't have training, or experience, outside the last... five months. I experimented, and "self-trained", prior, but it simply doesn't cut it in a real fight. So you might say I'm completely out of my depth-- but I'm where I want to be, too. Hardships and trials and all. I belong out here, not in a laboratory or office rotting the next centuries of my life away." Audrey takes a deep breath. "So... what is this about?"
White	Sophia pokes her forearm through the guard of her sword to keep it upright while she idly twiddles her hair around a fingertip with that hand. Audrey manages not to stick to the excuses long enough to run out the timer in Sophia's brain, this time, and something changes in Sophia's gaze subtly. "I'm here to help you, obviously." she flatly answers, like nothing about her demeanor could have hinted the opposite. "So that you don't get yourself ignominiously killed, and disappoint Master in the process, I suppose?" She touches her chin, there, like she's not quite sure herself. It still feels very deliberate. But, then she shrugs, and tosses her oversized blade into the other hand, reaching out to tap the sculpture on the ass with the flat. "Do you know why knives are used so often in impulsive murders, Miss Basque?" She doesn't actually wait for an answer though, stepping around the sculpture and gesturing with her sword, flicking it upright to easily place the tip just under the unmoving ice-man's chin, then sliding it down the front to just above the groin. "It's because anyone can use one. Everyone knows, instinctively, how to slam a sharp thing into another living creature. They have to be taught to forget that. But, when the time comes, everyone remembers. A knife is easy. Where is your 'knife', Miss Basque? When someone is holding you down and about to tear your throat out, what do you push into their eye?" She then steps back, and gestures an almost dainty 'go ahead' at the statue.
Audrey Basque	"Ah... yeah, that tracks," Audrey sighs, but then straightens herself a bit, trying to have a proper posture that doesn't immediately betray her as being a noodle. A noodle who's worked out and put on just a bit of muscle, recently, but still a wet noodle in a fight. She'd surely have answered wrong, anyway. 'People use knives because everyone has one', not because everyone knows how to use one. The distinction is surely important, and her eyes trace the movements of Sophia's sword as she explains and then questions her. "I... don't have one, I think. That is to say... I've not been threatened like that bef--" She stops, recalling. No, no... she has been. She certainly can't speak of it, because there is a lot of context to explain why it is Petra had her tied down with barbed wire slicing into her wrists and a drop of the Silver on her throat... but... "No, no, actually..." How did it feel, then? She might have broken all of Petra's bones, if she didn't do that odd frame skipping maneuver of hers out of it. Audrey looks at the sculpture, the air around it; has to size up the currents in the sky, under their feet. Then with a finger, displacing the most subtle of lines... And the sculpture is crushed instantly, under well over a few dozens of times normal gravity. But that's a sculpture. That's not a person. "... something like this, I suppose. But that was a thing, not a living being. I wouldn't-- I couldn't just, take a life like that. I'm more likely to simply hurl them away, or maybe even teleport myself... if I don't panic." And that there has been her issue. Multiple issues, in fact!
White	The vampiress halfheartedly shields her face as the ice shatters, looking at the results for a moment before raising her free hand slowly again. Five more glyphs, creating identical statues from the feet up; fragments of the original even melt and flow over to be recycled. She's neutrally appraising at first, but when Audrey says 'can't', her expression takes another sudden downturn. "Are you stupid? Of course you could. Your life matters more than anyone else's. My life matters more than anyone else's, too." She's scowling now. "You don't have the privilege of being picky about whether you kill someone when they want you dead. You're not tough, or fast, or strong enough for that, are you?" As point of proof, Sophia's outline seems to blur, and she discorporeates abruptly into mist only to reappear just behind Audrey with one hand's slender fingers halfway wrapped around her neck. Not squeezing, but... There's a hint of the frame-defying power in her grip, just in how her fingers refuse to budge against Audrey's squirming. It might be a good thing she's not whispering when she says beside Audrey's ear, "If you aren't strong enough to be merciful, then don't. Don't be so arrogant."
Audrey Basque	The shift from talking to threats always catches her offguard. Audrey freezes, knowing better than to make any abrupt movements with Sophia's hand around her throat; and most likely, she'd not be fast enough to make that kind of movement anyway, if her new teacher was so inclined to actually strike her down. She'd rip her throat open before she finished raising her hand. The time for Audrey to guard herself is before being touched, usually. "Is that what it takes to be merciful? Strength? Can't the weak show mercy, too, in those rare moments when they can?" Of course not. Sophia's right. "I... understand, though." If she can't afford large gestures, she just needs to make the smallest one that can matter. Pinch two fingers, around something; twist, and make the whole world spin. It's a sudden snap, reality stretching and putting a few meters between Audrey and Sophia without displacing either of them; more like the area's been stretched out. And then it spins, up becomes down and down up, though Audrey remains firmly rooted to the ground(sky) while Sophia and her sculptures are left to fall towards the sky(ground). ... but only for a moment. Enough to be sickening and disorienting when the world flips back proper, and forces both the woman and her sculptures to crash back down into the dirt. It's enough force to shatter the sculptures, but Sophia surely didn't get to where she did by being vulnerable to fall damage. The point was just to give Audrey the precious few seconds she needed to wrap a layer of space around herself protectively. She may not be strong, or tough, but she can fake it. There's no faking speed, sadly. "I guess it's something I could stand to emulate from Miss Rook. Presume everyone is trying to get their hands on me, at all times. It's safer than not."
White	Sophia makes a noise somewhere between surprise and curiosity as she's upended, but manages to land with an almost frustrating level of grace; the sword's tip reaches the ground first, and she uses just that point of leverage to completely right herself in the air and land on her feet... Her upper body strength really does defy her appearance. That's stats for you, though. Fortunately, though, Audrey gave her more or less what she was hoping for without even damaging her clothes, and Sophia seems almost suspiciously encouraged by this after habitually brushing the side of her skirt with a palm. "Better. It's not a 'knife', but it's a start. You're still being very careful though, aren't you? If your magic is that delicate, I suppose it's no good to try and throw a 'gravity punch' or some such, or you might just break your own arm, hmm?" Now, though, she's watching Audrey's defensive field. She might not have the Evil Eye like White, but the Appraisal skill is enough to get some insight on the composition of the magic, given a bit of time to examine it; Audrey can feel it happening though, like something's tickling her face. "Well, that's certainly not a bad idea either. That was going to be lesson two, actually. Perhaps you can learn after all." She smiles again in a way that rides the line between mocking and genuinely pleased. As if to mirror Audrey, a recognizable red fluid flows out from Sophia's wrist and forms a fluctuating half-bubble of gloopy, floating obstruction around her, naturally shifting to cover any of her blind spots as she moves, even just to gesture. "Armor, to keep the knives away. So that only the... Larger contenders need apply at all." It's obligatory to grade a student's answers though, so Sophia raises her hand again as if to signal a firing line, slowly forming half a dozen small ice needles hovering near her shoulder. The next moment, she's launching them uncomfortably close to Audrey without actually aiming for direct hits; they fly quickly at the edges of the mage's silhouette, aiming to nick her thighs or arms shallowly, so that Sophia can see the exact effects of the defense for herself. "It's a shame really, it would be trivial to toughen you up if you were from this world. But I suppose it's for the best that Master can't treat you like one of her little soldier-girls." She speaks between shots, like she's only commenting over tea. "Come to think, I heard something about 'taking over China'? Interesting choice Miss Basque. It'd be good if you became properly wary before that point, or it wouldn't last you very long... Well, if you get that far at least."
Audrey Basque	"I've tried swinging a weapon with gravity before. I did in fact almost rip my own arm off. Timing is... I think I could get it right, if I practiced enough. A punch, though? My body couldn't handle it. With a weapon I have room to maneuver, with my own limbs..." Well, it's as Sophia sees. Audrey's a noodle. The praise elicits the closest thing to a smile Audrey's shown today yet. "I rely on it too much, but if I couldn't protect myself I'd be dead already. The issue... as I feel I repeat too much, is that multitasking is hard. Minding my footing while I mind my protective layers while I mind the enemy's position while I mind the formulas and the position of energy flows and-- you understand. This magic wasn't made to fight. Enlightened don't like fighting, and so they rarely optimize for it. This is especially true of my Tradition and family." Case in point she's trying to adapt astrology and fortune-telling to direct combat. It's new. Sophia tests her defenses; if it's just a test, and Audrey can focus on it... it's going to give Sophia the impression Audrey's actually great. The ice needles all stop, inches away from Audrey, regardless of their angle; the field around her is much more obvious like this, and... no, no, they're not stopping. They're travelling, infinitely, stuck in a layer of space that's looping and compressed. Audrey's eyes dart between them, appraising their number and speed before she raises a hand. The space in front of the needles cracks and tears and they each disappear, before coming back out angled at Sophia and her protective bubble instead. Audrey's at her best when she's focused. It's not hard to tell, her composure doesn't look or feel like a warrior's. This isn't intuitive to her yet, she has to try, she has to follow movements. "What I wouldn't give to have a stat screen I can look at and then selectively improve myself that way. That WOULD be so much easier." China... does everyone just know? "I-I mean... not the whole of it. I think. It's a joint plan between a few of us in the Concord... I'd be happy to get a castle with a nice view out of it, on some rich dragon lines. We do need more manpower for that, if you think White would allow you to come along."
White	There's a small shrug of the shoulders and a shake of the head, and Sophia starts making the 'test' more complicated. Needles start coming from other directions, while Sophia remains right where she was and controls them remotely. The returned needles are caught and engulfed in what appears to be an extra-viscous form of blood, striking and sticking like it's a dense gelatin and seemingly being consumed. Right... White had talked once or twice about Sophia's 'acid blood' on the radio, though whether Audrey remembers is another story. Xenomorph appreciator... Still, she reacts to the returned ice needles with a small upturn of her chin and a similarly pleasant little hum, even if she's still having her fun making it steadily harder and harder for Audrey to catch all of the needles coming in from odd angles. It's a very cheap spell, so it's easy for her to control and do whatever she likes with, even swerving some of them before they reach Audrey to come at her from the other side like evil little pointy hummingbirds. "Returning someone's attacks is something you should try to leverage more, if you struggle so much to multitask. You'll make them hesitate, more often than not. Fight from high places where you're hard to reach. You do really need to come up with a faster attack that you don't have to think so hard about, though..." She rattles off advice and criticism at a comfortable pace, before catching Audrey potentially off guard by probing beneath her for a weakspot in the field, making a small, underpowered fireball suddenly pop loudly between her ankles after emerging from the ground. It might singe her a little if she's not ready for it, but the point was to startle her anyway. "Stats can stifle you too, though. It's impossible to provide someone's exact value with numbers like that. Master's 'stats' before she was attacked were mostly around thirty thousand lower than Ariel's, you know? And yet, Master is Master. She didn't allow me to level up once, until the war began you know? She made me wait and train skills instead, so that my growths would improve. There are only so many times in a person's life that they're willing to change and grow, I suppose. Numbers provided, or not." She does pause in her gleeful prodding at Audrey's defenses though to hum again over the idea of helping with another war, tapping her chin thoughtfully with the hilt of her sword. "... I'll think about it. I don't get much from slaughtering weaklings, though. I'll need to think of... Suitable compensation, I suppose."
Audrey Basque	Acid blood... she remembers that conversation, mostly because it made Petra start musing the virtues of acid blood too. She also recalls Sophia being 'a freak'? Possibly more of one than she is. Sophia's flurry of ice needles becomes trickier and trickier; Audrey tries to keep up, reinforcing the layers around her as they expend energy for each needle. Past a point, she stops returning attacks at all-- she has to follow the incoming needles, split-react to changes in direction. She lacks the reflexes to do this! The needles start penetrating deeper into the field, getting closer to Audrey as she attempts to speak and answer. "Yeah, up close is kind of an issue-- I'm a mage. I'm not a knight. I... love knights, I admit, and I have a fondness for blades, but a normal weapon would just mess me up. Angela has been loaning me EGO weapons... you'd call them magical, gifted of a will to help the wielder. It's been a learning experience." The fireball does exactly what Sophia wanted it to. Audrey's field is a dome, it doesn't cover underneath because she didn't think she needed it to. The flames singe her legs, just lightly, and she winces, but to her credit... Audrey's alright with pain, these days. At least, this much is fine. She backs away, jumping backwards and up-- to hover off the ground, to form her barrier into a full bubble in response. "Is the growth of your stats when you level up based on your skills?" White hadn't really explained much about that, but sometimes that's how it is, so it would explain the kind of training. The brief pause in her defenses being tested allows her to take a few seconds to get her bearings; see where she's floating, adjust an inch to the left. "Land is always on the table. We do stand to gain a sizeable plot of land if things go our way. I cannot imagine money is of particular value to you." She twists the land, lifting both hands up. Countless walls jut up and twist into existence, forming a ridiculous maze of sideways ground and Escherian landscape, where gravity occasionally flips sideways or upside down in places. More importantly, it puts Audrey out of sight, somewhere at the heart of the sudden constructions. "How about something like this? Sometimes, it's more useful to delay or stall your opponent, tire them out, than to fight them. Isn't it?" Silently, she reaches into a pocket to pull a page out. The Sword Sharpened With Tears has kind of become a visual favorite of hers; blue and black, elongated, thin like a fencer's blade, marked by constellations on the guard and pommel. If she can figure out where Sophia'll come from...
White	"Remote controlled and automatic weapons aren't a bad thing, but if they're useless to you without the guidance, you won't get very far with them." Sophia answers, pondering the idea. As Audrey pushes herself further, Sophia sees no need to actively badger her for the moment, simply ramping her harassment up steadily to keep making Audrey adapt. Ice needles keep chasing her into the air, colliding with the spherical spatial field more or less just to ensure she has to continue to maintain it. "If you can secure the form of a spell in a lasting manner as long as the effect stays consistent, make a blade-shaped field of force. Inward to crush, or outward to repel if you're feeling like a frightened baby. 'Bend what you have into what you want.'" she says assertively, like she's paraphrasing someone else's guidance. "Who knows, maybe the mental image will help?" As for the matter of stats, she easily answers, "Many skills enhance specific stats and their growth. Master had one called 'Skanda', for Speed, for example. Skills that require an expense of MP or SP can also improve those stats when used repeatedly, like Mental Warfare. It's a relatively elegant process; you improve by doing. The more you understand from what you're doing, the faster that improvement happens. Simple. I did have somewhat of an advantage though, I suppose. I gained quite a few bonus skill points just for being born a Vampire Progenitor after all." But, before long the gravelly hilltop starts to bend and change, and Sophia seems to giggle to herself. This is genuinely a little novel to her, and she seems to take it as a sort of challenge of athleticism to enter, traverse and respond to the maze's oddities. She takes it at a brisk but comfortable stroll, using her huge sword like an extra limb to brace against surfaces and keep her balance as she reacts to the changing gravity. "Land is... Well, I have a place in mind already." she answers vaguely, but thoughtfully. "Who knows though? Perhaps in time I'll have my own little court." Before long, she's even throwing a little sway into her hips during her stride and twirling her sword around her wrist, reacting to sudden changes around her like someone might if they were in a bouncy castle and someone else suddenly jumped in with them. "This isn't bad, really. Better against many than one, which may help with your little issue." She probably means Audrey's attention span, but she intonates like it's something perverted. "But then again, you're more apt to tire out than someone like me, I suppose?" she theorizes, and her shadow seems to spread as she saunters sidelong across what might normally be a wall in standard cases, letting a veritable pack of her vampire familiars emerge. If she's able to use multiple types she doesn't show it. She favors the wolves clearly enough, for a very simple reason; just like Sophia, they can catch Audrey's scent if she's not fully splitting herself off from the surrounding space. But, Sophia isn't exactly hiding her path either, if Audrey can pick up on her voice well enough or detect her through the altered terrain by sight or touch. Her own scent, and even the sounds of her footsteps are subdued by specialized skills though.
Audrey Basque	"Making a blade of force...?" While Sophia braves the maze, and explains the (actually sensible) stat growth system D designed, Audrey wonders about using shapes to help pre-calculate spells. It's a bit like how White does it, isn't it? Using visual cues to substitute some of the information. Rather than conjure up brand new spells for every situation... make it like her barrier. "You know, I would've expected a stat system designed by D to be way more punishing and unfair than that. No one has anything nice to say about her, but she actually made something that seems fair and functional?" She has to wonder if there's a catch. She can hear Sophia starting to approach-- but now she's opening her senses, to start feeling the curve instead of just using her eyes and ears. Spatial awareness is overwhelming, but it's perfect for this. Drown out the rocks and the wind, focus on the big moving target. "I can't really tire from using magic, but the more of it I use the harder it is to focus. I guess that's like exhaustion, but it's also different." She seems confident about that, at least! "H--Huh?" Why are there... all those little presences? Familiars? Like that wolf? She can't tell what they are, without sight, just that they're there. That complicates things a lot actually! No, no, don't pick a fight with the familiars. You'll lose, idiot! There's too many and... okay! OKAY OKAY. Plan. Audrey directs the awful maze to shift. Walls rise and lower in places, squeeze, spin, loop; like the maze is trying to trap the familiars in cubes of shifted ground, or force them to take longer paths around. Then, a wall comes down-- abruptly, suddenly, revealing Audrey to Sophia and vice versa. Rather than use the EGO weapon in her hand, Audrey uses her empty palm to direct a blade of force to surprise the vampire with. It's not quite what Sophia in mind; more akin to firing a huge lance of compressed space and gravity at someone than to literally wield a blade of force. But it's directed, and if it passes through Sophia, it's going to feel awful. Scrambling your insides kind of awful, but certainly not enough to crush someone like her outright. If she can manage that-- a split second to bring more walls up and go back out of sight is all she needs, but while she was focused on Sophia, she's quite lost track of the familiars.
White	Sophia's familiars are agile, so it's hard to catch them, but not implausible. They're not nearly as much of a threat as their master is, and they can't break through solid stone or compressed dirt with any ease. Still, it's hard to get all of them at once while preparing for Sophia, and although it takes time for them to reroute around each new obstacle, each one that goes without being dealt with is a problem that will arise later. "Well, we're only talking about the basics after all. Once you get into the 'hidden skills' like Evil Eyes, Ruler Skills, the strange things that you can get from titles, the way you unlock titles... It becomes a lot messier. Master did make me eat spoiled food as a baby to get Poison Resistance from Foul Feeder, so I suppose I can't feel very good about someone praising the System." she calls back, raising her voice a little almost like she's trying to make it easier to track her on purpose. She wants Audrey to attack, because then that gives her a window to counterattack. And for as much praise as she could offer the mage for adapting to her advice today, it also means she can anticipate nearly exactly what Audrey is going to try to do, because she all but told her to do it! She didn't even need to use Brainwashing to get to that point! The ambush still isn't bad in theory. Sophia's enhanced senses and sense of anticipation are the main reason she can react in time to defend herself at all, and the way she halfway grins as she twists to face Audrey immediately instills the sense of 'I've made a mistake' on an instinctive level. The more of a 'real hunt' this game becomes, the more Sophia seems to be enjoying herself, and even with a genuinely dangerous attack thrown her way she's able to twist her torso aside and engage the Divine Dragon Barrier and Divine Scales, coating her skin in silver and gold magic-construct armor. Normal armor probably wouldn't work, and the Divine Scales themselves likewise don't do much, but the Dragon Barrier seems to disrupt the magic in such a way that the boundary of it becomes physically interactible to Sophia. Just enough that rather than with her sword, it's more effective to use her forearm to exploit the lance-like form of it and deflect it aside after dodging most of the way out of its path. After all of that, Sophia comes dangerously close to being able to rush into the contained space with Audrey. Firing the new type of attack as a projectile instead of using it as a blade appropriately ends up being the reason Sophia can't close the distance in time, and instead her powerful lunge to catch Audrey results in her forehead meeting the newly replaced walls in her path. The wall shakes when she hits it, and despite her smug, predatory behavior as the game drags on, she still makes a surprisingly girly whine after bashing her face into a wall. She's still pinching her nose out of habit, making sure it's not bleeding, when she raises her voice again. "Mnngh..! Not bad. The firepower seemed solid." The wolves, though, are pretty close to Audrey's walled-off position, and might start climbing or squeezing into any present gaps if Audrey's been careless about it.
Audrey Basque	Right, all the fancy unique skills... and the way some of them even control their owner a bit. It's definitely not all rosy. "Y-You... intentionally inflicted yourself with food poisoning to..." Well that's... from a game perspective that makes sense but... yuck. "I take it back, D doesn't even deserve a little bit of praise." Sophia's conjuring of armor is unexpected, in the way almost everything Sophia could do would be! Audrey only has White as a real frame of reference... and White fights in a completely distinct way. Audrey even panics and backs away, still floating in the air, despite the fact her wall catches Sophia just in time to save her. Whew. Too close. But the wolves closed the distance. "T-Thank you! I'm... it's an odd position I'm in. My raw talent, and I don't mean this to brag, is even higher than Miss Rook's." Okay she does mean it to brag, actually. "Or I should call it potential? What I'm missing in experience I at least have in raw ability." Audrey spins, to face the direction the wolves should be pouring in from. She tightens her grip on the Sword Sharpened With Tears, causing three more of the sword to appear around her, floating in the air. With her free hand, she twists the maze into a corridor to line as many of the familiars up as she can in a narrow path. "It just... it feels as though I'm surrounded by people who were 'born with a blade in their hand'. People who are quick to say I shouldn't want to hold a blade and to just go live the easy life their work allows me to. Who are they to tell me I can't do this? I'm capable!" With her blade hand, she points forward, and the three floating blades launch to start tearing through the wolves in a rapid flurry of their own; they don't just plant into the ground after a hit, they zip, twist and change direction, mulching through the hallway. And just like that... her entire focus is on the familiars, and guiding the weapons she's only barely comfortable with.
White	The conjured wolves aren't all arriving in one massed group because of the previous diversions, so Audrey isn't immediately overwhelmed with numbers at least. They each only take a couple of hits from the comparatively less-destructive EGO weapon, and while they seem to have some amount of healing factor it doesn't seem to persist after their normal point of death. They 'deflate' and melt after being sufficiently wounded, fading into a sludgey mix of red and black that seems to evaporate and vanish in short order, though in the moments before each wolf goes down they seem to use rather competent tactics in their attempt to reach Audrey. Weaving, leaping, using each other as shields and even springing from one-another's backs, it's still pretty scary to get attacked by wolves in a cornered area! Strangely though, Sophia held her tongue for a little longer than normal. It's probably around the time Audrey realizes this that she hears a crunch, as Sophia uses a water spell to saturate the material of the ceiling-surface and an ice spell to suddenly expand it, making the wall above fall apart while Audrey is too distracted to hold it together with active effort. Sophia herself merrily drops in amidst the rubble, stray bits of rock and gravel pinging off of her scale-reinforced skin like she's wearing a perfectly skintight bodysuit of scale-mail. Midair, she starts to giggle again, and if Audrey can't maneuver around the surprise quickly enough she'll probably find some of that rubble landing on her (or at least her spatial barrier), and Sophia herself lands on her before the next moment arrives. That Divine Dragon Barrier, once in contact with Audrey's barrier, makes the magic feel 'squirmy', harder than even her usual to keep in the intended shape as if the energy itself is trying to crawl away from the vampire's body. Fortunately if the barrier fails to hold, Sophia settles for just wrapping an arm around Audrey's neck and laying the flat of her broadsword against her stomach, but she's still giggling... "You really are arrogant, it just comes so naturally to you, doesn't it~? But... 'Pride' is a thing people need to live. Master told me that once, you know? So I suppose that may be what she thinks is just..." Sophia, if she's in contact with Audrey by this point, gently pinches the other woman's ear and bends it slightly like she's tuning a TV antenna. "A little bit crooked, hmm~?."
Audrey Basque	The wolves weaving and coming in waves is much worse for Audrey; she's locked in to dealing with them, and the longer they go on the more time Sophia has to prepare her approach. By the time there's no more wolves, the ceiling is frozen over and bursting, and Audrey yelps. Her barrier holds for the larger chunks of debris, but the fact she's floating-- gravityless-- also means she's easy to push around. She ends up grounded, even if unharmed. And then... "Oof!" Sophia's on her. The armor disrupts the barrier enough that Sophia can pin Audrey to the ground, and take full advantage of the fact there's no body strength in this nerd. She's immensely thankful that the worst Sophia does is twist her ear a bit and tap her stomach with the sword. Audrey huffs a little bit, but doesn't disagree. "People's instructions are... hard to follow, about that. I'm being simultaneously told I shouldn't be arrogant, but then I'm also being told to stop being humble. I truly feel like I cannot win, sometimes." The EGO blade disappears from her grip; she considers if she should try to fling Sophia away, but there's something to be said for recognizing when a match is lost. Just-- not when it's Sarracenia. "I mean, I get the lesson. Moderation, picking the right timing for either, which I'm clearly not doing right." Without trying to get up just yet, she frowns and sighs a bit. "I don't know what White wants out of this. I'm not going to turn away help-- training is training, and... well, someone like you is rare to have for something like that. But it's the attitude too, right? The way you can say, 'My life is more important than everyone else's.' and mean it."
White	Sophia's sword's blade isn't steel, but it's colder than steel would be, as if it's cored with everlasting ice. Fortunately she stops teasing Audrey with it after it's clear she's surrendered, and Sophia hums contentedly as she stands up off of Audrey. She doesn't help her up, but she does at least push some of the stray rubble off of her limbs so she can get up on her own. Then, she settles into leaning on her sword with the tip embedded in the ground, spine arched until she can lay her cheek on the pommel and watch Audrey. "It doesn't make sense, right? But that's kind of the point I suppose." she muses. "Master, at least, only knows how to get strong by obsessing. That's how she trained me too. And her army. It's emotional. It's feeling hate and frustration and jealousy, and following those feelings, and then desperately grinding your heels in before they sweep you away. You-, or rather she- plays games. Gambles with what she can take. Changes her mind a lot too, because she's following those impulses, I suppose. I think there's more too it, of course, but..." Her voice trails off ponderously there, and she takes a faint but audible, deep, slow breath. "That's the kind of thing that it takes, to get past the fear of death, you know? It's not logical. It's in your gut." "I don't know what Master wants from you, either. She hasn't said anything, so I can only guess, and I don't really want to feed your little ego for no reason. But... Everyone she's spoken to while she's been gone has seemed to have some specific value to her. She's not looking for just 'help', or 'soldiers'. You know that right?"
Audrey Basque	Getting up takes Audrey a moment, but at least Sophia doesn't make it any harder than it is. The feel of that sword is definitely unpleasant, and she doesn't want to know what it feels like to get cut, let alone stabbed, by it. Count her blessings for now! "A lot of things don't make sense. With me, with people here-- with their expectations of me. I can't really understand White, or most of you, because... I didn't grow up with that kind of... urge. Gut feeling and hate and frustration and... I've got them, now, but I don't know how to use them smart. So I get into stupid duels, or say things that make people disgusted with me, and it feels like I never learn the lesson." Her glance lowers a bit. "Even though there's nothing I want more right now than to make someone proud of me. I'd settle for "not disgusted"." It's not even Lilian. Although, Lilian too. Her gaze looks back at Sophia, at her last question. "I wouldn't presume White the kind to use people like that. If she asked you to help me, then she thought there was a point, and that there was a chance I don't mess up. She's been a great friend. I just hope I've been, too." That's been on her mind. Thanks, Angela. She takes a moment to dust herself. "I can keep going, though. I came all the way here to take up your time, we may as well make the most of it. If I go back home exhausted and bruised, well, that's just another day for me, and hopefully some lessons learned."
White	Sophia seems to raise an eyebrow as she gets more of Audrey's thoughts, and a coin flips inside her mind. Whatever it landed on, she's not ignoring Audrey, even if it's seemingly impossible for her not to make a bit of a face about being implicitly drawn into Audrey's insecurities. Maybe this is just well outside of what her daily life normally expects of her. "Everybody uses each other. Moron." She pauses, glances up and away, clicks her tongue quietly, then looks back at Audrey with an expression closer to a pout than a glare, like she's almost embarrassed to be having this conversation. "... So you're a late-starter, so what? Master, that dolt Wrath, me, Oka-sensei and all the rest had to die first before most of us were worth anything. And besides, it's super gross to beg for other people to be proud of you, you know that right? They're going to respond by pulling away even more." She... Sounds like she's speaking from experience, now, or at least that's the implication her intensifying tone gives. She even dropped her 'I suppose' tic! "... It's easier to just think about yourself. If you need someone's approval to live, it'll just get held over your head and used to control you. You look like a sloppy fucking mess working on yourself like this, but that's better than begging." That's... Maybe an attempt at encouragement? Still, she seems annoyed for some reason, and once Audrey's upright Sophia steps past her and SMACKS the back of her calves with the flat of her broadsword just to vent that feeling, and quickly shouts. "Come on then! If you don't figure out that thing you used before well enough to get a hit in by tonight, I'm hauling your dumb nerdy rear to the Labyrinth the next time I see you!!" She's probably going to do that anyway, though.
Audrey Basque	"You know, that person once told me that too. That everybody is always using everybody else, for one thing or another," Audrey says, before she then adds: "But she also said that begging is this thing that makes you more human. That people would be improved if they were more willing to beg openly." Which Audrey is still processing, over a month later. "I'll, ah... endeavor not to need to die to get anywhere in life, though. That seems counterproductive, in my case, and I wouldn't want to reincarnate in a system governed by D." That's a real risk. A terrifying one. Sophia smacks Audrey behind the calves, and between the blow and the ice cold flat of the blade, she stumbles forward, only barely managing not to trip down. She straightens herself up, producing her barrier again, only a thin layer around her body for now. "-- r-right. I'll make sure not to waste your time." Well... onward to take two. And three. And however many more it takes. One of Audrey's few redeeming features is being willing to keep going, so she'll try her best. And then probably have to deal with the Labyrinth anyway! That sounds like fun. (It doesn't.)