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Sarracenia	After the reports from the last foray into the magic book, security has been tightened even more. A dozen or so guards can be found in and around the book's room, and they are not the standard rank and file piranha plants. These plants are taller, more human-like in proportion, wear thicker armor, and have halberds instead of merely spears. They even have a bandolier full of power-ups.      They have also added a large table to the room. A war table, if one were to look at it. There is a hand drawn map of the area the party visited, drawn from Sarracenia's and the other's recounting of the landscape. What help is a war map in this instance? Sarra doesn't -really- know...she is just head of the military and having a war map is what one does when one is facing a hostile force.      The plan as laid out by Sarracenia after hearing a bit of input from the others is they enter the kingdom in disguises and search for more information, whether it is ways into the castle, the people's opinions on the royalty, asking guards for information, or whatever information they might be able to glean from the town itself and the draining magic apparently permeating the area. Sarra would never suggest it herself since she thinks she needs to be on the front line, but the best course of action for her would likely be to stay behind. The option Sarra does suggest is for her to act as bait to keep the dark fairy's attention elsewhere while the team investigates, though she is asking for at least one or two volunteers to go with her considering the giant monkey bats that showed up last time.      However, she is giving everyone enough time before they leave to offer alternate ideas.
Meresankh	Meresankh is here again, her solar boat hovering once again under guard in the castle courtyard. Today she is also accompanied by a cadre of three long-tailed, blade-limbed fighting robots. The 'wraith' constructs hover silently behind her as she listens to the Princess's plan.     At the mention of covert espionage, Meresankh folds her arms. "I do not have a disguise suitable for this kind of engagement. There won't be many machine bodies there to blend in with, and holograms are not my specialty. Unless someone else wishes to conceal me, it may be best that I accompany you, Princess, to confront this 'dark fairy'." The queen reaches into her cloak and produces a fist-sized metallic beetle. "If one of the spies carries this on their person, they will be able to report to us from afar. I have plenty to spare."
Riku Asakura	Today, Riku was here in his normal get-up: a Jean jacket, an orange shirt with the space agency logo on it, jeans, and a pair of tennis shoes.  He also has a few greebles on his belt, which allow him to transform into Ultraman Geed.  Specifically, the capsules in the capsule holder and the Fusion Riser.   Riku notices the increase in security.  It looks ominous, but it seems more ominous when you think about it, too.  The book can steal people from the outside world.  It's a danger to people, so in the war room, Riku sits down at the table waiting for people to arrive.  As Sarra sets down her ideas, Riku furrows his brow for a moment, considering things.   Other people were better suited for information gathering than he was.  "I'll help protect you," he says, offering up his support for her plan.  He offers up a smile to Meresankh, who would have similar trouble keeping herself concealed.  The two would make a good team, he felt!
Angela	"Last episode..." The Magical Girl of Love says, looking directly for somewhere nobody happens to presently be. "Princess Sarracenia asked us for our help into jumping into a book world where a dark fairy has kidnapped her butler, Gregory! But when we entered that world, Sarracenia took the role of an ostracized princess the commonfolk all despised for no readily apparent reason and we took the role of her villainous or antiheroic chaperones!" She dabs the air with her fist and continues. "But that didn't mean we were without allies! We ran into the light fairy Alina who told us the Dark Fairy's name, Lila! Which sounds pretty familiar to other names I've heard outside of this world but I bet that's a coincidence!" The Magical Girl of Love swings a v-sign in front of her eyes. "But whatever the case, this story is holding a real person hostage so we've got to save them! Will we be able to befriend the Dark Fairy holding Gregory prisoner? Or will I have to--''" She wiggles both of her fingers up and down. "'befriend' her? Stay tuned for this episode and find out, Junior Magical Girls!" If a rodent of some sort passes by she immediately pounces on it and gobbles it up but she turns her attention to the others shortly thereafter, considering the plans Sarracenia is putting on the table. "I can do MAGICAL MAKEUP but draining magic away from magical girls is bad and evil! Should I disguise myself as a human girl or as a giant snake girl, though? That's the question!" She looks to Heyalexa for input.
Schneider Greco	"My-la-dy the Princess," Schneider purrs, saucily (and near-nakedly as always) leaning on the table by Sarra's elbow, "sure-ly we do not take this Alina com-plete-ly at her word?"      "This cot-tage she bids us not enter... her kid-nap-ping of your Gregory... my talents, they do not lie in prying, but..." Her eyes go to Lilian, and Meresankh, seeming like the two most likely to have spooky ways of finding stuff out. Her eyebrows lift.      "What-ev-er attentions we give to her requests, my-la-dy, should we not give as much to seeing if we are being 'set up'?"      "Should I disguise myself as a human girl or as a giant snake girl, though?"      Schneider giggles fondly, and strokes Love's head with the side of a gun-barrel. "Can't you be a little snake, to wrap around my arm? Ahh, but if you can-not change your size, I am afraid a human might be best."      "For me, I can see to the castle. It will-not be my first time, mmh, 'scoping out' a place."
Arthur Lowell	> Arthur: Engage WAR     Arthur's approach to this is... startlingly like his usual. He's got a projection over the map that looks like the UI of a turn-based strategy game! Both palms are over it and he's matching his big shitty grin with a big furrowed brow. "Alright," He mutters while he scratches his cheek. "So, DIGS LIKE THIS, you know, POCKET UNIVERSES, this shit hella STRUCTURED. They got full fuckin' RETROCAUSALITY in that thing but it's still a BOOKWORLD, and I done a lot of BOOKWORLDS for real."     His gamer-UI starts keeping a tally. "We make plans too COMPLEX, the SEMIFICTIONAL DYNAMICS OF THE WORLD 'boutta TAKE OUR ANKLES. Remember, someone WROTE THIS WORLD, they made it for SOLVING. So we SOLVE IT, we don't FIGHT IT normalstyle. Too much DISGUISING, too much SPLITTING, too many things without FORESHADOWING, we eat shit for the sake of NARRATIVE PACING. We're lookin' to HIT THE NEXT CHAPTER, not FIGHT A PERSON."     He paces a bit, getting other angles of things and rotating his UI map's isometric angles repeatedly. "Sarra goin' HEAD TO HEAD with D.F is gonna be good for THAT. Focus on keepin' GOOD ESCAPE ROUTES, OPEN SPACES, don't wanna OVERCOMMIT or get STAKES until we can close the loop on a RULE OF THREE RETRY-VICTORY but that builds the ONE of THREE to start with."     "I know my MAGIC, I'm gonna trace those GEOMETRIES on that DRAINING STUFF. That ought'a give me CASTLE OBJECTIVES, Mrs. L.F gave us the FORESHADOW on some CASTLE CRASHING. But we need good ENTRY POINTS. Long history of ANTI-PRINCESS stuff goin' on, so," He jabs the surrounding down. "SOMEONE'S been FIGHTING THE PRINCESS a bunch. They know how to HIT THE CASTLE, whoever they are! FIND 'EM and get 'em SPILLING. Or, shit, just find a HISTORIAN or a LIBRARY or somethin'. Part'a this NARRATIVE STRUCTURE stuff is workin' that VERISIMILITUDE so you gotta leverage a lot of PAST STUFF if you want an angle that works."     So, in essence, some more details for Sarra's plan.     "But," He jabs that castle repeatedly. "No fuckin' around, no waiting. One quick RECON, then we do the HEAVY CASTLE CRASHING. Maybe a bit of LIGHT CASTLE CRASHING for the investigation side."     Then some chatter with the others...
Petra Soroka	Last time, of course, it was the ever-lovable Heyalexa who showed up to help Sarracenia, as the perhaps-only person in Petra's sphere of influence with a positive relationship opinion of her. When Sarracenia asks for those people to regroup, though, it's the blonde brat herself who appears, alongside Lilian and in the middle of an enthusiastic conversation.     "--like, literally never done before, as far as I know. I mean, not that I'd really be *stumbling* across it if it did exist, but after Heyalexa told me about it, I totally did *search* for a bit. Maybe there's some other, psychotic freak category of--"     With Sarra in the 'war room' when she enters, Petra immediately puts her hands up in a placating gesture before the princess can say anything. "Okay, okay. I'm not pulling anything, alright? I swear. Hand on my heart."     Considering that good enough, she slips past the piranha plant guards to get to the table before elaborating while looking over the map. "I mean, I don't want anything bad to happen to Gregory, anyways. And oh my *god* do I want to see how this plays out, so I'm not gonna fuck with you."     Petra is dressed like she's basically come here right from her college campus, with a white t-shirt and a navy jacket that she's slithered her way out of after being exposed to the Sundew jungle. She's also got her huge sticker-covered guitar case slung across her back, which altogether makes a pretty terrible disguise for sneaking into a fantasy kingdom.     Humming to herself idly, Petra leans with both palms on the war table, memorizing the map by force of habit. She only glances up at Sarra to say, "I mean, we know it's for the best if we're split up. I'll be in town. You're a sturdy gal anyways; I'm sure if a powerful creature comes after you, you'll turn out fine anyways somehow." Something about that makes her giggle to herself.     Looking eminently proud of herself, she straightens up and thumbs the strap of her guitar case. "And this is just, like, some medieval-ass town, right? Full of... peasants, and whatever? I've got just the thing for a disguise."     "I got this thing from Stigma Office, with their extradimensional storage shit, and it's got this cool feature where I can just summon clothes or armor right out of it instantly. It's sick. All I have to do is say..." She trails off, pleased expression melting away a bit. "... Um, the outfit name, that it was encoded with."     Now practically mumbling, she halfway turns away to use the call-phrase. "Um, 'slutty pirate'... disguise. Activate."     The guitar case flashes and then whirrs, and suddenly Petra is wearing a sort of classically fantasy adventurer outfit, the same one that she used to wear to Elibe. A white linen shirt, laced up in front, with a leather bodice and taaaall boots and little jingly baubles; once she ties her hair up into a low ponytail, she looks like she'd be at home in a period film on a pirate ship.
Storm Investigators	The humanoid plants are the first thing Marcus and Greta see when they return to the site of the magic book, and neither of them seem particularly reassured by their presence. Greta's expression is about as straight-faced as ever, but Marcus looks outright confused by their existence. "Do you think... They are related? A different branch, or some sort of experiments...?" "Don't think too hard about it." Dressed in their usual trench coats in blue and brown respectively, they exchange brief glances as they consider the suggested plan. "Neither of us are known entities to these people, and we barely know anything about you. That should make it easier to act as if we don't know who you are, even if the dark fairy's spies approach us." "I agree. Neither of us would be as helpful in a fight as anyone else here. And with my ability, I... Should even be able to pull information without anyone being the wiser. And then we can focus on... Oh. Thank you for the recap, Miss Love." Marcus nods quickly as she listens to the Magical Girl of Love closely, easily drawn in by her dramatic retelling of what had happened last time and helping her to organize her own thoughts instead of trying to sort them all out on her own. Naturally, she also gets distracted from those thoughts at the very end. "You can become a giant snake girl? But snakes... Would that blend in at all? Or would that help you blend in more, if you were posing as... As someone working for the dark fairy?" "Mister Lowell is right. We can blend in enough to gather information on the castle and Gregory's location, but we do not have the luxury of staking every possible angle out. If we can find a historian, we can work out our angles of approach more efficiently." She gives him a vaguely approving nod, although she narrows her eyes just a smidge at the fuckin's (mostly when Marcus gasps lightly at hearing that).
Lilian Rook	This entire thing is so completely demented that Lilian can't just look away from it now. Sure she'd originally been here because of her intense ideological allyship with butlers, maids, and all forms of trusted family service staff, but now that's an entirely separate matter. After strongly theorizing that someone has custom crafted this insane magic book with knowledge of Sarracenia's shopping habits in order to intentionally entrap her and teach her a lesson, Lilian has to see this through.     The idea of 'disguises' makes her scoff a little (oh how very childish), but it's not as if she isn't kind of doing it anyways; last time she got called a Witch and associated with 'the princess', so she's at least going out of her way to look slightly different from last time, repurposing her St. Pavlov top with leather gloves, tall Ostian boots, a Lycian sheath with a crossbody strap, and slim-fit gabardine trousers, tying her hair in back into a ponytail that still reaches her lower back like a slutty little instructor and removing all of her jewellery except her pin, which she merely relocates to her hair tie. She clearly intended to poke around on her own anyways.     God knows what the fuck she's talking to Petra about.     "--There's no way. I don't believe there's anyone both freak enough and dumb enough. Only as a bit, to piss someone off, at most. And I have too high an opinion of those people to believe--"     'Okay, okay. I'm not pulling anything, alright? I swear. Hand on my heart.'     "She isn't." Lilian says, as though her word means more than Petra's to Sarracenia. Well, maybe it does, but it's still silly of her. Why did she snort-giggle and cover her mouth at 'powerful creature' though?     'Um, 'slutty pirate'... disguise. Activate.'     "Oh my god. I'm never ever letting you live this down."     'They got full fuckin' RETROCAUSALITY in that thing but it's still a BOOKWORLD, and I done a lot of BOOKWORLDS for real.'     "You'll have to tell me about it one day." Lilian says to Arthur, flipping back her hair with her wrist while Petra henshins. "Every time you tell me one of these stories I can barely follow half of what you're telling me but it comes in handy later anyways." She stares Meaningfully at Sarracenia over the next bit, then says, "I agree. Engaging with the creative work at the mastermind's pace is how you get your foot in the door with this sort of thing. Trying to be smugly clever or to triumphantly bash it down with righteous brute force isn't sensible; especially not when playing in someone else's reality by their rules."     "So if Sundew has to be defeated three times . . . well, it's all for Gregory." Lilian sighs, shaking her head with completely fake regret.     'sure-ly we do not take this Alina com-plete-ly at her word?'     Lilian smiles faintly in Schneider's direction on reflex, then blanks her face again when she interrogates herself over it. "It seems like the foreshadowed twist, doesn't it?" she says, instead of what she was thinking. "Not necessarily an inevitable one, but . . ."     'Can't you be a little snake, to wrap around my arm?'     Lilian narrows her eyes. The way she tilts up her chin looks snooty, but is clearly the first half of a nod that she's merely suspended out of decorum. "Casing the castle would be tremendously helpful for later, if they'll let you in. I'm fine with leaving the People to me."
Kuroto Dan	Kamen Rider Genm is now here, a god in the flesh, now deigning to help a fellow member of the Concord. A Concord member, if he remembers correctly, did not take the advice he had graciously given her a few times to heart, which would normally bother him, but that was so long ago, that he can barely remember the context behind that sin other than it happened, and since he's a kind and benevolant god, he is willing to let that transgression slide. Perhaps she's simply a person who responds to results, which he's more than willing to give.      In fact, just him being here has guaranteed her success at whatever it is they do now. This whole planning phase? Actually pointless. It'd be more time efficient to just go with their gut and let him turn their ideas into reality. But formalities like this are sadly important to make those who are less gifted feel as if they've contributed. It's the same idea as him holding team meetings in Genm Corp to let his employees vent their ideas, grievances, and suggestions (and then promptly ignoring them).      At Sarracenia's suggestion, they go with disguises, he just crosses his arms. Genuinely insulting to even suggest that he pretend to be someone he isn't. He'd have offered to help guard her to avoid this, but unfortunately two other parasites spoke up before him, and he doesn't feel like expending his precious energy to start a fight to explain why he should go instead and why he doesn't need anyone else to help him (a fight he'd win). He will remember their slight for later, however.      "Skulking around like a lowly rat isn't a task to put upon a genius like me, but unfortunately, it seems that will have to be my job. Consider yourself blessed that my mood remains jovial enough to entertain this."
Arthur Lowell	> Arthur: Captchalogue BEETLE     Arthur approaches Meresankh and CAPTCHALOGUES the BEETLE in his SYLLADEX using his FETCH MODUS, a sequence of words that make absolutely no sense to anyone here and make the way that the beetle sort of disappears into his gamer UI kind of opaquely baffling. Well, the beetle has a third-person over-the-shoulder view of Arthur now, in any case. Somehow. >Arthur: 'Should I disguise myself as a human girl or as a giant snake girl?'     "Everyone always DISGUISES AS A HUMAN. That shit's TRADITIONAL and all. You wouldn't go breakin' TRADITIONS right?" > Arthur: "What if we are being 'set up'?"     "See," Arthur waggles a finger over the cottage on the war map. "That's actually SMART. Problem is, it's TOO SMART. Can't go being SMART." He taps his temple proudly. "With BOOKWORLDS and POCKET DIMENSIONS like this, it's not the CHARACTERS setting you up, it's the AUTHOR. You're not gonna find HELLA ACTIONABLE EVIDENCE OF A TWIST here in CHAPTER TWO, and if you go LOOKING you're gonna lock yourself out of the REAL STUFF LATER." He fidgets with his chin thoughtfully. "You really wanna get LOWDOWNS on SETUPS, try aiming for INTEL on the PRINCESS OF THIS KINGDOM. Gets you more CONTEXT for what ALINA'S doing, then later you got the POSITIONING and FOOTWORK for setting up to look into ALINA HERSELF. Also? Way more UNDER-RADAR if ALINA is legit HOSTILE ACTOR." > Arthur: React to Slutty Pirate     "LOCALIZATION MOMENT." He rambles. "Shouldn't that be PIRATE WENCH or something? You gotta get your shit TRANSLATED RIGHT. I know some good folks who do good KOREAN LOCALIZATION, even got the sense for MEMES IN DIALOG." > Arthur: 'Mister Lowell is right.'     A little meter ticks up whenever anyone says that, and Arthur looks a little more proud and certain. "Think it'd be good to do, DISTRACTION, CASTLE RECON, and LOCAL LORE as TEAMS. I'll hit RECON, fits my STORY-CASTING." > Arthur: 'You'll have to tell me about it one day.'     Arthur flashes his winning smile to Lilian. "Don't think it'll come in handy this time. But WAY BACK in the OLD DAYS, there was this LADY I knew, real DREAM-LOGIC EGL type'a girl, she'd have LOVED YOU -- anyway, she basically DESTROYED HER UNIVERSE like some thousands-of-cycles back and all that LEFTOVER WORLD-TEXT went into her LIBRARY. We kept having to SOLVE BOOKWORLDS and I think I FUCKED UP HER CYCLE real, real bad. Anyway, I spent a COUPLE BILLION SUBJECTIVE YEARS in her LIBRARY until the BIG BOSS of the CONCORD wormed me out, but NO HATE for her, she was kinda NICE."     His wording briefly gets a bit... odd. Like the background music changed, for a moment. "Hey, would you rather repeat a book's beats a bunch of times to get it just right? Or would you wanna get it done and on to the next one no matter what? Like, if you had a story like that, would you rather have it unfinished but maybe it's perfect someday, or fucked up a bit but at least you finished it?" His shitty grin still gleams, but he's so focused on what she has to say about that.
Petra Soroka	"Only as a bit, to piss someone off, at most. And I have too high an opinion of those people to believe--"     "Though you have to wonder, like-- there's a PR team for sure working on it, at least, right? And you say 'those people', but it's kind of a really varied group--" "Stay tuned for this episode and find out, Junior Magical Girls!"     "You're such a big help, Love," Petra says aside to her, while twisting the hair tie around her ponytail. "Hey, Princess, did you see an age rating or anything on this book before opening it up? Any archive warnings? Like, Abnormality-style, does this story seem like it's yearning for Repression work or Attachment work?" "sure-ly we do not take this Alina com-plete-ly at her word?"     Petra glances between Schneider and Lilian worriedly, but tentatively responds after Lilian isn't seemingly stressed at Schneider being here herself. "Well, uh, I used to be in the business of working with storybook monsters, and there's a bit of an opinion I have on that kind of thing. You can't rationalize your way through a fairy tale, I think. In the end, you engage with the 'heart' of a story, or you kind of fail to engage with it at all."     "So, like, sure she might be sketchy as hell. But you only know for sure an unreliable narrator on your second re-read, after the twist's revealed. Until we've got more data, I think it's usually better to engage with a story the way it's offering itself to be interpreted, and then go from there." "Remember, someone WROTE THIS WORLD, they made it for SOLVING. So we SOLVE IT, we don't FIGHT IT normalstyle."     "It's bookworld," She sagely concludes, in agreement with Arthur. "We just gotta get in there." "I'm never ever letting you live this down."     Petra coughs, fumbling in putting on a streak of silver(?!) eyeliner to complete her outfit. "It's--! It's just names! That's what it-- I had to give it a name!"
Angela	''Sure-ly we do not take this Alina completely at her word?'' "I... mean it's impolite to not even act like we're going to fall for it, isn't it?" Love asks Schneider. "I mean, aren't we really depriving the Dark Magical Fairy the opportunity to sway us over to her side if we're already on her side from the beginning?" Love asks Schneider. "And if we skip straight to being on her side, we can't even have that initial fight where we don't really trust each other yet before finally becoming the best of friends after many tearful pleas and actions that show that we can be trusted and be her friend, like by taking hits meant for her or protecting her from various calamities... I mean, Alina hasn't revealed her evil side yet..." She beams. "Oh! But we can scope out together! Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!" Love, elementally, is always going to be on a dark magical girl's side and it's hard to get more dark magical than Schneider. Setting aside the dotted-outline where Love expected Heyalexa to be, Love gasps as Petra reveals her own new (magic) power! "You have magical makeup too, Petra?? Yay! Wow! That's so cool!" ''Thank you for the recap, Miss Love.'' "You're welcome! I'm sure you'll be a full fledged magical girl yourself someday, Marcus." She then turns to the 'other' dark magical girl. "Huhh? Don't you want to sneak around with Schneider? And then become friends?" ''You're such a big help, Love.'' The Magical Girl of Love giggles in a way you can probably imagine. ''I used to be in the business of working with storybook monsters.'' Love nods enthusiastically in agreement! "Of course, you can engage the story too much and then get stuck in it, but ---yeah! We don't know she's unreliable yet!" ''I had to give it a name.'' "And it's the name you chose and that makes it special." Love agrees.
Meresankh	Meresankh watches with clear interest as Arthur zoinks one of the scarab spy-drones into nowherespace. "Fascinating," she mutters, before speaking up a little in Arthur's direction. "A fully hyperspatial storage device, activated with a thought, that still permits its contents to function outside the container... whoever designed this for you? I'd like to meet them, compare notes."     Petra: "Until we've got more data, I think it's usually better to engage with a story the way it's offering itself to be interpreted, and then go from there."     "I concur," Meresankh says with a nod. "This is a device which anticipates certain inputs, and may respond well only to those. Akin to a computer - interaction which it is not prepared to receive will produce nothing at best."
Sarracenia	'Love gives the recap!'      Sarra raises an eyebrow as Love gives a summary of their last adventure. She can't help a slight giggle at the end, though. "If you must choose between those two, choose human. And with clothing appropriate for this town."      'My-la-dy the Princess...'      Sarra sighs softly. "I suppose we cannot simply take her completely at he word. She is the one that initially pulled Gregory in, after all. That is another objective of this mission. To uncover if there are any details we need to uncover to ensure we are not being deceived."      '>Arther: Engage War'      Sarra tries not to look too impressed with how Arthur lays things down for them. She is supposed to be the head of this operation, after all. She still ends up nodding in agreement with most of his points, though. "Excellently said, Mr. Arthur!" she says with a smile.      'Okay, okay. I'm not pulling anything, alright? I swear. Hand on my heart.'      'She isn't'      The placating gesture and words are well timed, for Sarra was already in the middle of bristling and opening her mouth to say something. She pauses mid finger-point, mouth still open a bit, as Petra offers her reasons for this NOT being some way to humiliate Sarra. She does at least believe that Petra doesn't want Gregory to be hurt, so that is enough for Sarra to lower her finger and not start shouting. She isn't sure she likes the idea of Petra wanting to see how this plays out, though.      'You're a sturdy gal anyways; I'm sure if a powerful creature comes after you, you'll turn out fine anyways somehow'      Sarra peers suspiciously since that almost sounds like Petra has some kind of confidence in Sarra. Which can't be possible, and that giggle just reinforces Sarra's view on it. She listens to the explanation of the Stigma storage (thinking it sounds just like her own purse)...and isn't sure she heard the name of the outfit correctly. She huffs softly and crosses her arms. "Even that might be too fancy for this town. They wear literal rags made of burlap." she says, but doesn't insist Petra change clothes.      'Neither of us are known entities to these people, and we barely know anything about you. That should make it easier to act as if we don't know who you are, even if the dark fairy's spies approach us.'      Marcus and Greta offer to join the Spy Team, and Sarra nods in agreement. "Just what I was thinking." she says in an approving tone. "I did mentioned you were investigators, correct? I will be counting on you and the others to find out what all is happening in the castle and where Gregory might be."
Sarracenia	'Skulking around like a lowly rat isn't a task to put upon a genius like me, but unfortunately, it seems that will have to be my job. Consider yourself blessed that my mood remains jovial enough to entertain this.'      Sarra too remembers very little about Kamen Rider Genm. Except that she doesn't like him. She is quite certain he said something very rude to her at some point. What was it again...? She hmphs softly at his assertion that she should feel blessed. "...well, I am grateful for the help." she manages to say.      'Hey, Princess, did you see an age rating or anything on this book before opening it up? Any archive warnings? Like, Abnormality-style, does this story seem like it's yearning for Repression work or Attachment work?'      "That this might be some sort of Library book was my first thought. But, it does not feel like one of those stories. It is too...coherent." Sarra replies.      'So if Sundew has to be defeated three times . . . well, it's all for Gregory.'      Although Sarra doesn't appreciate the fake regret, she stands tall and frowns lightly at Lilian. "If I have to be defeated a few times for Gregory to return safe and sound, I will not hesitate."
Sarracenia	Once a plan of action has been decided upon, Sarra opens the book and those gathered are engulfed in the blue-pink-purple swirling light that pulled the group in last time. They fade from normal reality and eventually appear through a swirling portal of the same light in the cave that the great deer lead them to last time. It is pretty nice as far as caves go. There's a small grotto with fish, the cave is quite wide, and the cave's opening is large enough that plenty of light filters in. The illumination is further helped by crystals dotting the walls that give off a soft pink-white glow of their own. Fireflies and butterflies flitter about, adding to the overall mystical and positive nature feel.      The Spy Team is directed by Sarra to follow the great deer. He is a majestic deer standing around 10 feet tall with antlers sporting dozens of points, awaits to guide those who are headed to the castle town back to it. It is a fairly long walk, so it might take a while if people are indeed walking.      The other team, The Distraction Team, Sarra directs to stay with her. They have no particular destination, just a directive to move in the opposite direction from the Spy Team as quickly as possible. Keeping the cave a secret is still a top priority.      SPY TEAM      Upon entering the town, those on the Spy Team find it just as dreary as it was before. The town is mostly shades of grey, and the people's clothes are mostly shades of brown. There is obviously very little wealth in the hands of the people. Most wear sack cloth clothes. Those that are slightly better off wear clothes made of misshapen leather scraps haphazardly sewn together. The only businesses to be seen are a few grocery stalls, a single clothing shop, and a tavern with an attached flophouse. People continue to mill about with no energy and little emotion. Past the half mile or so of houses and businesses is the entrance to the castle, guarded by a half dozen visible guards in armored helmets and chestpieces and carrying spears.      DISTRACTION TEAM      Sarra was rather hoping that Riku would come with her. She has been praising his heroism throughout this endeavor, after all. Having Meresankh along is a happy surprise. The metal monarch has turned out to be quite friendly, and Sarra might have a bit of a soft spot for friendly automatons with presence thanks to her experiences with Silver. She pulls out a trio of Clouds for them, then hops on one herself and takes off at a decent speed. "Thank you both for coming with me. I was not entirely sure anyone would."
Sarracenia	The Distraction Team doesn't have to travel long before the sky above them darkens much like last time. A look upward would reveal a veritable cloud of those huge and vicious monkey bats closing in on them. Apparently defeating the last small group really drew the dark fairy's attention. There are far more than would be needed to subdue a normal princess travelling alone or with only animal friends to guide her. "Engage them as you will, but do not destroy all of them! We want to lead them as far away from the others as possible!" Sarra says, speeding up her cloud while pulling out a few bob-ombs and tossing them upward.
Schneider Greco	Petra glances between Schneider and Lilian worriedly...      Lilian has suppressed her smile; Schneider does not. She lifts her wrist, gun limply hanging from an upturned palm, as if in a warm shrug. She gets along with people!      "Casing the castle would be tremendously helpful for later..."      "Per-haps you have not noticed, my-la-dy, but I am quite a charmer. They will let me in," she says confidently. That red flapper dress of hers... it isn't very "medieval peasant", but she could seem like some manner of indecent consort, couldn't she? Looking down at herself, she considers it, but...      "La-dy Love, you said you could disguise me, did you not? It might be con-ven-ient to blend in the better..." She could pull off a slutty sackcloth look too.      "usually better to engage with a story the way it's offering itself to be interpreted..."      "impolite to not even act like we're going to fall for it, isn't it?"      This is a concept totally foreign to Schneider. She clucks her tongue and looks away, outvoted. "If my-la-dies say so. Where I am from, this gets you shot."      - - - -
Storm Investigators	"What-ev-er attentions we give to her requests, my-la-dy, should we not give as much to seeing if we are being 'set up'?" "It seems like the foreshadowed twist, doesn't it?" "I suppose we cannot simply take her completely at he word." "Would it? A twist like that does happen fairly often in these kinds of stories, but..." Marcus comments with a thoughtful lilt in her voice. "Would trying to find that out take too long, if Mister Gregory is our main target here?" "Not if we find a historian, a library, an elder. Even knowing Alina's name should make it easier to direct their thoughts, if they recognize the name at all, and if they have proper thoughts at all. We can't rule it out if we do find any other connections between her and..." "Lila?" "Lila." ""You're not gonna find HELLA ACTIONABLE EVIDENCE OF A TWIST here in CHAPTER TWO, and if you go LOOKING you're gonna lock yourself out of the REAL STUFF LATER."" "That's true... And this would be chapter two, wouldn't it? If we deviate from the intended story too much, we might even.. Oh. We wouldn't be 'locked out' of finding Mister Gregory, would we? Then maybe we should try to be more blind to.. Ah. To things than we normally would? " . . . 'slutty pirate'... disguise." ". . . PIRATE WENCH or something? "Perhaps... The definition has changed since our times?" Marcus tries to reason her own confusion away while looking between Petra and Arthur. "Her clothes do not look that unclean, and keeping them in wherever they were must be great for having a fresh wardrobe..." "Skulking around like a lowly rat isn't a task to put upon a genius like me," "A genius? Oh, wow... Then we will be relying on your mind to help unravel this, Mister...?" Marcus starts and trails off, clearly unaware of Kuroto's Danness and taking his statements at face value. Also, she's letting that questioning noise linger for as long as she needs to while waiting and hoping he actually introduces himself. "I'm sure you'll be a full fledged magical girl yourself someday, Marcus." Marcus' face lights up at the compliment. "Oh! That sounds wonderful. I... Um. Right? Would that be good thing?" "In battle, yes. For avoiding attention, no." "Oh..."
Meresankh	Meresankh regards the cloud with suspicion at first. A quick analysis suggests it is in fact Just A Cloud, which troubles her slightly - she'll fall right through without her own antigravity field! Taking a careful step up onto it, she finds it holds her weight despite all material analysis suggesting the contrary. "Suitable," she comments as the trio sets off. "But how is Ultraman going to fit on one of these if we need to fight?" The wraith constructs coil through the air behind her cloud, a sinister trail of dark metal and luminous green 'eyes'.     There's not much time for conversation before the group is mobbed by monkey-bats. "Where does she get these creatures, do you think?" Meresankh wonders aloud as she unleashes a few targeted bolts of lightning and plasma from her scepter. "Do they come from a vat?" Her attacks are not so widely spread as in the previous encounter with these hostile fliers, pinpoint bolts striking them out of the sky one at a time to at least provide the illusion of resistance. Meresankh's wraiths circle protectively around her cloud, swiping with bladed limb and unleashing short-range but powerful energy cutters should anything unfriendly get too close.
Calvin Nash	Calvin arrives with a purposeful stride in casual clothes; a white snap-button shirt and boot cut blue jeans with his favorite pair of brown square-toed boots. The bulky computer on his arm is still on full display. The only thing here that lends it even the slightest bit of setting-appropriety is the hooded poncho he wears atop it, which could pass for a traveler's cloak. If one of the spies carries this on their person, they will be able to report to us from afar.     "Yep," says Calvin. "I'll take one." It isn't because he's fantastic at undercover work that he selects for the role of a spy.     He glances towards Love, then Schneider, bending the brim of his hat at each of them. "Calvin Nash. Commonwealth Paladins," he says by way of introduction. They each get an offer of a handshake, as do Marcus, Greta and God Genm. Love's expositing is eccentric, but useful--he flips up the screen of that bulky hunk of metal and begins tapping in notes, surprisingly deft for his dogged insistence on hunt-and-peck. So, DIGS LIKE THIS.     Calvin sighs a 'oh, it's *you*' sigh, but keeps tapping. Petra being here is comparitively a relief. At least she goes to school. Too much DISGUISING, too much SPLITTING, too many things without FORESHADOWING, we eat shit for the sake of NARRATIVE PACING. We're lookin' to HIT THE NEXT CHAPTER, not FIGHT A PERSON.     That actually has him look up from his note-taking. He doesn't say anything, but he might be less annoyed with Arthur's presence after the explanation of this in narrative terms.     "Aight," he says, closing the COMP loudly and firmly enough that it had to have been an attempt to force himself to ignore 'slutty pirate.' "So then I'll ask around town. Won't exactly blend in. But. Life goes on." It's--! It's just names! That's what it-- I had to give it a name!     "Petra," Calvin says, giving her the Hand of Halting and shaking his head. ---     So it is that Calvin is following the Great Deer. "So," he says, opting to walk. A truck doesn't seem like a particularly narratively appropriate thing; the great deer is here to be a guide. Reviewing the green-on-black flicker of his COMP's monitor, and looking up every so often to manage unstable wilderness footing, "Thinkin' ahead here. We're what, story-wise? The... underdog good guys that's got a bad rap? Dunno if I got anything for that..." Chernobog: Ah, resistances, rebellions. What fertile ground for failure is even the smallest handful of hope. Ours is truly a contract which pays dividends.     Calvin scoffs and taps in a reply. Calvin: dont think im fixin to summon you in front of them villagers. Calvin:or at all here. Chernobog: I wouldn't dream of asking. You've all but delivered a feast unto me simply by bringing me here. I'll see to it that your offerings are repaid. Calvin: and dont you sit there and THINK on nothin neither. Chernobog: We'll see.
Lilian Rook	'LOCALIZATION MOMENT.'     "No no no no, it's so much worse." Lilian says, sagely as she is smug. "Or else you could consider practically everything she says and does as a sort of localization struggle."     'But WAY BACK in the OLD DAYS, there was this LADY I knew, real DREAM-LOGIC EGL type'a girl, she'd have LOVED YOU --'     Lilian shivers unsubtly.     'and I think I FUCKED UP HER CYCLE real, real bad.'     "Don't-- say that." Lilian stumbles out, then sighs.     'Anyway, I spent a COUPLE BILLION SUBJECTIVE YEARS in her LIBRARY until the BIG BOSS of the CONCORD wormed me out, but NO HATE for her, she was kinda NICE.'     "I thank the total sum of all the brain damage you've suffered for your attitude towards women." Lilian concludes, and is just about to look away when she double takes back. "Beg pardon? The Concord? Really?"     It's a question that can't go anywhere, because one thing that Lilian Rook cannot help but do is responding to someone's breach in 'character'; something perhaps more empathic than the 'bile urge' that she'd describe it, but indelibly penned by a sense of script and propriety all the same.     The question makes goosebumps break out on the back of her neck.     "What a bizarrely specific thing to ask me." Lilian says, affecting only mild concern, which means a white-knuckled abundance of self-control. "And I'm not so perfect a creature that I could easily decide. I could contemplate the philosophy for years I'm certain, but in reality, I know that I'd try as many times as I could get away with for the most satisfactory result I could, and then accept its flaws and move on when all the marrow is gone from the labour and the work is joyless and unbearable." Her eyes wander from Arthur's grin and back, never quite straying far, as if a surrogate for eye contact. "I'm not a huge believer in 'wabi sabi'. I think it's a fine thing to try as many times as you can for something you're proud of, so long as you wrap it all up before midnight and are ready for tomorrow at the same time as always. Things have expiration dates; they don't eat quarters."     'And if we skip straight to being on her side, we can't even have that initial fight where we don't really trust each other yet before finally becoming the best of friends after many tearful pleas and...'     Lilian shuffles uncomfortably, moving her weight back and forth and clapping off her sleeves as if she could dust away the topic. "Well. She seems to have a perfectly solid handle on this. Perhaps we should all just listen to her." she says.     'Huhh? Don't you want to sneak around with Schneider? And then become friends?'     Lilian coughs, hand to her collarbone, ostensibly swallowing wrong in that moment. Then clearing her throat more deliberately, she says "I don't mind the idea, seeing as we're cooperating already, but is that second part really important at all?" This after she just gave Schneider half the 'recognize game' nod, too. "It's completely ridiculous already that I'm here helping a member of the Concord get back her main asset. We don't need to push it further."     'It's--! It's just names! That's what it-- I had to give it a name!'     "Slutty pirate." Lilian repeats, weighted and scandalized. Her fingertips hover near her lips. "You think you're so hot, don't you?" she says, to the girl she had an existential crisis about, after realizing that she'd forcibly respecced her from a whiny loser to a battlescared heartthrob with a dead girlfriend who plays the guitar and recites poetry.
Schneider Greco	Whether with Love's magical help, or by dipping into an alleyway after the Deer Ride and doing some quick dumpster-diving, Schneider emerges in the storybook town with a rough sackcloth one-piece that covers her from her shoulders (barely) to her thighs (barely) and makes her look like a sniffling half-starved urchin who desperately needs to be taken in and spoonfed warm soup by a heroic sort.      She doesn't act like that of course. She still acts like an invincibly confident sultry little mob boss. Clothes only ever do so much when your eyes' natural resting angle is that burningly sultry.      Where'd she put her guns anyway?      "And then become friends?"      "Is that second part really important at all?"      "Is it im-por-tant that you don't?" Schneider teases Lilian, looking back over her shoulder. God the sackcloth hem digs into her thighs just a tiny bit. That's not okay. Her eyelashes bat. "Why should we waste, my-la-dy, a chance to so co-op-er-ate? Mhmhm."      "We're what, story-wise? The... underdog good guys that's got a bad rap?"      "Must we be any-thing, my-lord?" Schneider asks Calvin. At one point she tries to get a little peep at his wrist-comp's screen, shamelessly. "I, ahhh... would-not like to hear, how an author treats me."      . . .      Coming to the entrance to the castle, Schneider tilts her head to beckon others to split off and scout the outside. She, herself, approaches the guards with a shift in demeanor and a little pathetic cough-cough into her fist.      "Good eve-ning, kind sirs," she addresses them. "Please, for-give me the in-con-ve-nience, but... I was told to seek work in the castle's kitchens? I can turn a roast, my-lords, and it would be nice to have a little coin for bread..."      While she tries to get in, others can piggyback off her story or take advantage of the guards' hopeful distraction.
Riku Asakura	Riku can't help but be impressed by the arrival of Kamen Rider Gemn.  He watches the Kamen Rider a bit, but realizes very quickly that this isn't your ordinary masked hero.  He was a Dark Masked Hero!  The way he walks, talks, and holds himself reveals all to Riku.  "Well... thank you for your help anyway, Kamen Rider Gemn," he says with a respectful bow. Appeasing the Dark Masked hero may go a long way to his turning to good and light someday (Ha!)  More realistically, it will avoid a confrontation today.   'Slutty Pirate Outfit' Riku doesn't immediately catch what was said, but on review, is embarrassed for Petra having to say that for her disguise to work.  He bows to her in greeting, regardless!  "Hello Petra, nice to see you here... though I wouldn't call your outfit... 'slutty', it's uh... nice!  You'll fit right in at the city as an adventurer!" he says, slightly flushed at the dangerous word being used.   People plan around infiltration, but he'll be fighting.  He does listen to Arthur, though; they're not there to win a battle but draw one out for distraction purposes.  "Right, I'll hold back as much as I can so we can give you time to get the info you'll need.  Geed Primitive should work fine for this." 'So if Sundew has to be defeated three times . . . well, it's all for Gregory.' 'If I have to be defeated a few times for Gregory to return safe and sound, I will not hesitate.' "Yeah, it's all for Gregory!" he says in solidarity with both Lilian and Sarracenia's joint proclamations about making sure Gregory is returned safely.
Riku Asakura	DISTRACTION TEAM 'Thank you both for coming with me. I was not entirely sure anyone would.' "To be fair, I'm no good at infiltration; my powers are better used for distraction!  That and directly fighting.  But you're welcome!  I'm glad to be here helping Gregory and you out!" He says with a bright smile.  He rides the cloud he was offered and waits for the sky to darken.   "Guess that's my cue..." he says, and pulls out a capsule from the holder.  "You go!" he says, activating a capsule, revealing the form of Ultraman.  "I Go!" he does this a second time, this time revealing the figure of Ultraman Belial.  "Here we go!" he brings the Fusion Riser up, and scans each capsule with it.  "It's time to get ready!" he shouts, as he jumps off the cloud and starts to rise into the air.  He pulls the trigger on the fusion Riser and shouts "GEEEEEEEEEEEED!" Blue fire pours out and around his body as he shouts.   ULTRAMAN ULTRAMAN BELIAL ULTRAMAN GEED PRIMITIVE! In a brilliant flash of light, Riku is replaced by a growing figure.  Ultraman Geed Primitive soars out towards the monkeys and fires a blast into them to try and thin out their numbers almost immediately.  He also swats at them, trying to smack them out of the sky like flies... which to him they sort of are!  Ultraman Geed is his full size today, which will make things easier, hopefully!
Storm Investigators	"Calvin Nash. Commonwealth Paladins," "Greta Hofmann, private investigator." She greets Calvin, neutral as ever. "M... Marcus. My name is Marcus. Apprentice..." She greets Calvin, unable to maintain eye contact for more than a second at a time until the handshake is finally over. ---- SPY TEAM ---- With Sarracenia confirming the plan and locking the investigators into the Spy Team, it's time to head into the book! They don't have much in the way of full disguises themselves, but they try to make do with what they have. Marcus just closes up her coat and hides her face further with her scarf, and it's definitely to play the part of someone that's chilly and not just to hide her face in case anyone glances at her. Greta, meanwhile, takes Marcus' hat and wear it herself, ensuring that she looks like... Still like herself, but with a hat on. Is she even going to be able to obscure her face that well if nobody else in town is taller than her? In town, they see a few places they might be able to do some proper recon at. Their first stop is the tavern, with Greta heading for the counter to try and get the proprietor's attention with a light tap on the counter. "Whatever you have on tap, and some water." She requests curtly. "What happened here? This town doesn't look anything like it used to." Marcus, meanwhile, shuffles around to look around the tavern for something that might be worth using her Reading on at all. Paintings of historical events with familiar outfits or faces? A conveniently placed book opened to just the right page? Depending on what the tavern-keeper says (or doesn't), they might even be someone she'll have to pay closer attention to!
Arthur Lowell	> Arthur: 'Whoever designed this for you?'     "SKAIANET used to make 'em. But they also made APOCALYPSE PLANETKILLER VIDEOGAMES so they got," Arthur snaps. "SUPER BANKRUPT." > Arthur: 'Keeping them in wherever they were must be great for having a fresh wardrobe...'     "PAL OF MINE used to have a WARDROBIFIER. That shit was straight NIFTY, but all HOME APPLIANCE. Damn, they must make some SICK TECH in the CITY to keep that shit PORTABLE." > Arthur: "Skulking around like a lowly rat isn't a task to put upon a genius like me..."     "DUDE we're gonna CASTLE CRASH later, it'll be SICK. It's PRE-CASTLE-CRASHING TOURS and all. Don't you wanna get some FACE TIME before CRASHING the CASTLE?" Arthur is excited to badger Dan with his expectations of pacing. > Arthur: Wrap it all up before midnight.     Something slots cleanly into place. Something Lilian said decides something for the future, but what that will be, won't be something we figure out today. > Arthur: Enough of this, get inside that book     You're the boss, boss. Arthur gets in there again, even more gracefully than the last time because this time he had enough time to really practice with some of his own portals. He leans dramatically into it, dives in... And manifests, to follow the dear.     "We got hella WEIRD ANIMALS. At least they're not HEXED UP like I thought earlier." He rambles. "Alright, my plan is, I'm gonna find somewhere to SET UP SHOP for RITES and RITUALS, get some GEOMETRIES figured out. Gotta find the source of the MAGIC DRAIN, and I got hella MAGIC to bait it. Maybe a SPARE TAVERN ROOM..." > Arthur: Attempt to create bait magical energy somewhere private in the village, to incite the magic-draining effects, and trace where the magic goes.     He winds up following Marcus and Greta to the tavern, and alongside them, ordering up a rented room and heading up. That ought to give Greta and Marcus some believable cover, but he also invites anyone who can do intensive magic study to come meet him when they can. If he can get a decent private room, that's when... he'll start summoning up a magical sun inside the room, one that's easily drained by malicious curses upon the land and all.     He needs to trace where the magic flows, so he's trying to seed it with trackable information -- and what's more traceable than solar magic? He, and anyone else good at magical analysis, ought to be able to figure out a good inner-castle target based on his weird spellcircles in a tavern room summoning a very tiny sun.
Angela	Recaps are helpful! Even if it's recapped like it's coming out of a cartoon. "I'm the Magical Girl of Love, also known as the Queen of Hatred." Love enthusiastically shakes Calvin's hand because she's just happy to be here. There's no real hesitation between also introducing herself as the Queen of Hatred but she has a bit of a thoughtful look in her eyes after. It's gone soon. She doesn't even comment on the billion years of subjective time stuck in a library but--well--she's not Angela. "I don't have to choose between the two, I can sort of go half and half, but I don't think that's very disguisey." Love frowns. It IS a storybook world, but it seems to be one more grounded in reality and less grounded in fantastical creatures. ''Where I am from, this gets you shot.'' "If we get them shot we'll shoot them bigger so it'll be okay." Love assures Schneider before vaguely remembering that some people are more susceptible to bullets than others. "I'll stand in front of bullets." She also offers as a concession to the idea that bullets might be dangerous. ''You could disguise me, did you not?'' "Oh! Yes! Well I can change outfits at least." The idea of a magical outfit swap is pretty ingrained in magical girl stories. She summons her staff to her hand, performs a pirouette as sparkles and hearts fly off of her, and then she taps her staff towards Schneider. Somehow, despite being a sackcloth for sniffling half-starved urchins, it is the most fashionable and delightful sackcloth for sniffling half-starved urchins you can imagine. Love doesn't know Schneider's magical symbology yet, but when Love adds the somehow fashionable sackcloth for sniffling half-starved urchins for herself, it has a little heart pattern on it. She is still wearing her heart hair-clip too. There's rules to this sort of thing! But maybe it'll be fine. ''Maybe we should all just listen to her.'' "Listening is important." Love says, completely clueless as to who the 'her' is but well it's safe to say that it's good to listen so she is. ''We don't need to push it further.'' "Friendship is always important." Love says. "Besides, Paladins make friends with Concord people all the time, it's a little unfair to say you can't just because you're more responsible." She thinks it over, "And...it's what you do with Dark Magical Girls." She nods. "It's tradition." Thinking she's solved this issue, it's time...FOR SPYING~! She's really proud of Schneider right now. She hums along a friendly little melody, arms fanning from side to side as she skips around behind and slightly to the left of Schneider. She periodically just runs off for like three yards before stopping to observe something then running back to Schneider without comment. "Wow... They look like the Dark Kingdom has DRAINED them of their energy." Love tells Schneider. "We better be careful we don't get dropped onto by any weekly antagonists or dark lieutenants." She taps her mouth with an index finger. "I'm surprised they can even muster the energy to be mad at Sarracenia. Oh but..." She sushes herself and quiets down as she approaches, letting Schneider take the lead. "I'm her apprentice, sirs..." She says, smiling a little too happily.
Petra Soroka	"LOCALIZATION MOMENT."     Petra looks genuinely more offended by Arthur saying that than she did about being directly made fun of. "Huh?? I said what I meant. Don't call me a *wench*." She proceeds to say a particularly rude term for slut in Korean. "Anyone translating 'geolle' as 'wench' is trying to launder some crazy fucking misogyny. Don't trust them."     Flipping her hair to haughtily get back to her outfit prep, she adds, "And it's voice activated anyways, idiot. It could be in English instead." "Perhaps... The definition has changed since our times?"     Petra eyes Marcus warily, becoming acutely aware of how cleavage-revealing the string-tied neckline of the shirt is while a near-stranger stares at her and openly wonders how clean she is. "I'm not dirty. Don't be weird." "You have magical makeup too, Petra??"     Petra pauses as she's putting her silver eyeliner pen back into the compact mirror hanging around her neck. "No, the makeup's normal. The guitar case is magical."     She hesitates again, and then awkwardly looks around and shuffles towards one of the piranha plant guards. Pulling the guitar case strap off her shoulder, she swings it around and holds it out. "Um, speaking of... could you, uh, hold this? Until we're back out? Or just, like, watch it. Thanks." "Even that might be too fancy for this town. They wear literal rags made of burlap."     Petra scoffs. "I'm not gonna wear *rags*. At this point, if they don't accept my disguise, it's their fault."     She looks down and reassesses her clothes: already, they're just shades of white, brown, and black, with only the white shirt being visibly apparent as nice and clean. "I guess if I smeared dirt on the shirt I'd blend in anyways, actually." She doesn't want to do that though. "That this might be some sort of Library book was my first thought."     "Mmm..." Maybe surprisingly, Petra doesn't immediately shoot down the idea, even though the general trend of her expression is disagreeing. "There's no Abnos missing from the shelves, as far as I know. A personalized story about a fairytale kingdom *is* exactly what I'd expect from one of the Magical Girls, but one of 'em's right here," She gives Love a little rub on the head. "Justice is back on the island, Greed's constantly watched over, and Wrath wasn't in the Library when it was formed. Keep an eye out for green acidic goo, though, if you want. I super doubt it, though."     Petra's down to follow a deer. It definitely is the case that she can't blend in as a 'resident' of this kingdom as she is, looking at the others' outfits... but she's pretty appropriate to the setting to come across as a character from a foreign land, or something. She's just *one* roll around in the dirt from blending in-- but is she going to roll around in the dirt??? For Sarracenia??? No. "You think you're so hot, don't you?"     Petra whines despairingly, kicking out her heeled boots as she walks towards the town to gesture towards them. "Come onnnnn! You said this was a good outfit yourself! And it is! I've got eyes and, like, taste, you know. And there's-- observable results."     Petra gesticulates vaguely at the sky around them, indicating 'the story' that they're inside as a whole. "And besides. In this kind of environment, I usually am, right?"
Petra Soroka	Petra kind of really wants to see the dark fairy, but by her own logic, storming straight into the castle to try and get a glimpse of the final antagonist will only get her booted back out. Instead, she heads to the tavern, because that's the kind of place where you get rumors. Given that she isn't capable, emotionally or financially, of looking like a miserable run-down raggedy peon, she decides to lean into her vibe as a strange adventurer for conversation hooks.     So, ignoring any eyes on her when she swoops into the dreary tavern looking as sparkly (with metallic eyeliner!) and confident as she does, the first thing she does is lean against the bar and order a round of drinks for every local present. Then once the positive attention is on her for that, she takes out a cigarette and lights it on a torch, because Lilian is unfortunately right, and she does think she's so hot.     "Heyo, I'm from out of town. Heard you guys had a princess problem? This place looks like a dump, what'd she do to you?"
Kuroto Dan	Then we will be relying on your mind to help unravel this, Mister...?      "Kamen Rider Genm." He punctuates each part of his name by waving his hands around like he's conducting a symphony, "Though if you wish to refer to me by my full title, and you should, it is GOD Kamen Rider Genm, or Kamen Rider God Genm. God Genm is fine if you need to speak quickly, though do not use it casually."      He then turns his attention to Calvin, tilting his head questioningly at the gesture for a handshake before giving him what he's looking for. There's a brief moment where it feels like he's going to try and break Calvin's hand, but he lets go.      "I would prefer that you simply kneel next time if you wish to show respect, but I can't expect you to know my preferences on a first meeting. Just know in the future, that I've had more than my fill of them."      He then motions over to Riku.      "Bowing is a good alternative, if you need more ideas."      Don't you wanna get some FACE TIME before CRASHING the CASTLE?      Genm just stares at Arthur with a look that can only be described as exasperation, though it's hard to tell given his masked nature. "And how am I supposed to get face time if I am going to cover it up pretending to be someone lesser. I beg of you to think for five seconds the next time you speak to me, and to stop announcing words like you're trying to bold them with a highlighter."      -SPY TIME-      Kamen Rider Genm disguises himself the best he can, which is to cover himself in a cloak made of burlap, covering most of his body save for his visor and the tufts of hard plastic hair that are part of his helmet. He then splits off from the group, deciding to go to one of the few grocery stalls as he looks over the produce to window shop a bit. He'd just pick up what he wants with confidence and pay immediately, but that's not how the common people work. They tend to waffle about aimlessly a bit and engage in small talk. Which, honestly, is perfect for gathering information. Once again, everything goes perfectly for Genm.      "So tell me my... Good fellow." It takes a bit for Genm to put on his more sociable mask, but he finally lapses back into it. "How has life been for you? It's been awful from where I'm from, so I can only hope it's been a bit better here."
Calvin Nash	I, ahhh... would-not like to hear, how an author treats me.     Calvin doesn't hide the COMP from Schneider. The conversation between him and Chernobog is dismissed with .exit, returning to a screen labeled Roster, a function evidently developed by Stephen. Listed on this screen, with values for 'H,' 'M,' and 'MG,' are Chernobog, Loa, Ongyo-ki and Cerberus. Of the four, Ongyo-ki's 'MG' value is several thousand higher than the others. Calvin gives Schneider a frown and a sympathetic side-nod.     "Pastor Fred says stories ain't always the kindest to women," he agrees. "But, Arthur's prolly right. A story, even a shitty one, gets told for people to engage with it. Engagin' don't mean agreein' or even likin' it." He taps on Chernobog's name. "That there's a god of winter, endings, death, decay and failure. Pisses me off sometimes but he's good in a fight and his perspective is... useful, more than you'd figure, considerin' most people tend to avoid thinkin' 'bout them things, except how you can slip by 'em or make it through."     "And we're gonna make it through." he gives her a thumbs-up as they split off.     In town, Calvin opts to stick with Marcus, hood up and poncho buttoned closed to give him more of a mysterious drifter's vibe. What happened here? This town doesn't look anything like it used to.     "Matter of fact," Calvin adds, "Where's the old folks stay at? I'm puttin' together a... history of the kingdom. Love to have a chat and take some notes."
Lilian Rook	my-la-dy, but I am quite a charmer. They will let me in,'     "Right you are." Lilian says, faux-sarcastic, grinning at the corners about it. Very convincing.     'If my-la-dies say so. Where I am from, this gets you shot.'     "Where I'm from, it only gets you shot if you keep going for too long. If you pick just the right moment, it gets someone else shot instead." she says, way too casually, like a funny bit of workplace trivia. Man. That bit about taking bullets for people kinda landed too well.     'If I have to be defeated a few times for Gregory to return safe and sound, I will not hesitate.'     "Good. Because I'm going to hold you to that." Lilian says, suddenly assertive. "You've not made a secret of your habit of welching when a promise requires you to face indignity, so don't you dare go back on it."     'Though you have to wonder, like-- there's a PR team for sure working on it, at least, right? And you say 'those people', but it's kind of a really varied group--'     "Beg pardon? Hers? Do you think she has a PR team? Or do you mean someone is getting a Cease and Desist? Because I'd tell them to."     . . . . . . . .     Back in town, Lilian still stands out terribly, but about five hundred percent less than before. Her own outfit being mostly neutral tones, though more along the lines of professional white and charcoal, at least fits the surroundings in a sense, and not going around in so much occult-referential gold helps a lot. She looks more like a rich mercenary or elite bodyguard like this. Someone who rides a horse.     She's also separate fromSarracenia now, so she gets to Talk Shop.     'We got hella WEIRD ANIMALS.'     "Well if they've got a dark fairy named Lila who looks like that, a stag is right on point for the symbolism." Lilian scoff-rambles with effusive derision slash enthusiasm for the topic; a kind of infectious meangirling obsession that still betrays that she's genuinely sort of enthusiastic for this whole topic. "I mean a crow would be too on-the-nose and also contextually irrelevant. The stag is the emblem of indefatigable nature, the king of the wilderness, the spiritual messenger of the Otherworld, and represents eternity, rebirth, the unattainable and untouchable, and it traditionally appears before rulers who are transgressing--" Hm. No wait. "I'm talking to Arthur Lowell." Lilian sighs.     'And...it's what you do with Dark Magical Girls.'     "Oh my god for the last time!" Lilian says, certainly not for the last time. "I'm not a dark magical girl! I'm twenty-six and I'm normal!" she huffs, pitching up a half-octave. "You can't say that just because someone wears black and has magic that doesn't sparkle!"     'Why should we waste, my-la-dy, a chance to so co-op-er-ate? Mhmhm.'     "I'm engaged?" Lilian says, with a breathy question mark at the end. She takes one more glance at Schneider's slutty sackcloth and then hurriedly away again. "Obviously there's no reason that I'd have to be arbitrarily shitty and combative with you. I'm perennially struggling to instruct people on how to separate business from personal matters already. It's just that . . ."
Lilian Rook	What? From what she's seen, Schneider seems to hold less ill-will towards Vertin than her own superiors do. Even if she turns out to be a dyed-in-the-wool loyalist to Manus Vindictae, and Vertin's efforts are for nothing, it's not as if she has to kill her or anything; or even intends to. Even if she has first appeared to be 'the girl this year' before, every time they've interacted personally has made it clearer and clearer that Schneider exudes a kind of discomfort, if not resentment, towards the classification, in a way that most seem blind to. So what is the reason?     ". . . 'Cooperating' means a lot to think about." Lilian says, like an admission; a stiff and melancholy-grudging one. "So why don't you help me think less, by answering a question or two?" follows up after, slightly too delayed to be smooth or intentional.     "Like . . . When you told me that Manus Vindictae would love me, because I 'look down on humans' in a way that has no sense of rebellion against inferiority, I couldn't help but wonder since then if the way you look at them is at all like you describe." Lilian says. "Of other arcanists, I mean. I've heard up and down the grapevine about your 'real' reasons for being with Manus Vindictae, but not once have I heard about why you feel at home with them, however uneasily." She keeps her gaze steadily ahead while walking the town; an intentional invocation of the power that driver-and-passenger has on a conversation. "Do you ever feel that pang of inferiority? Do you feel any love other arcanists? Beg pardon if I'm asking too much, too quickly, but I can't think of someone who hides that sort of thing as an ally."     'We better be careful we don't get dropped onto by any weekly antagonists or dark lieutenants.'     "It'll be fine. I'll restrain myself exactly to the level of a senior hero from two seasons ago who commands the exact narrative gravitas of three complete character arcs and no further; otherwise I'll automatically assume the narrative role of the true dark lieutenant who will be the villain behind the villain at the eleventh hour." Lilian says, rolling her eyes. She's trying to be funny and dismissive, but . . .     'And besides. In this kind of environment, I usually am, right?'     Thankfully, Petra is here to gossip and fuck with.     "At least act like a dumb bitch who doesn't realize it." Lilian says, theatrically eye-rolling, emitting wild hypocrisy. "It breaks character with your whole golden retriever thing if you say it oud loud. And besides." She gestures around at the colour-sapped town and its miserably shuffling townsfolk. "This whole environment is like, obviously set up as a reflection of Sundew's whole complex. This is what someone who knows her would write. Like obviously it's completely moronic to assume that removing the princess would instantly make all the tailors forget how to make proper clothes!"     "Kicking out the monarch doesn't salt the fields, rot the pantries, rust the forges, and bleed the coffers! This is so clearly a thing about the wildly overgrown sense of importance this sort of princess-figure has in thinking that everyone is depending on her in some abstract way she doesn't understand; they're all immiserated by biting her magnanimous hand and driving her out against their own best interests, but in this nonspecifically cartoonish way that's underscoring just how little she has a concrete idea of what it is she actually does for her kingdom!"
Lilian Rook	Lilian pauses. Her eyes widen slightly. She draws in a sharp little breath. "Oh my god, or it's about how everyone taking the 'dark fairy's' side against the poor misunderstood princess is against their own interests, because the brilliant, beautiful, cruel and manipulative queen is only going to make them all miserable for their devotion . . . Oh my god surely that's not it, right? That they need her to stand up for them or the wicked hottie will only strip them down and corrode them into walking husks?"     Now Western Woman has to pick which way to go. Seeing as Love is with Schneider, she decides to stick with Petra, but quickly pings both of them with her personal comm line before heading in, and asks to 'report everything you see' before parting ways.     Unfortunately, entering the bar with Petra kind of fits, considering she's dressed roughly in Petra's range as the taller, more severe and responsible half of the Armed And Sexy duo. The first thing she does is quiet her thoughts and open herself up to the psychic miasma inside the bar instead, scanning the immediate reaction to Petra's question in the minds of everyone inside.
Calvin Nash	Just know in the future, that I've had more than my fill of them.     Calvin returns the grip from Genm with stone-faced determination even when the pain sent alarm bells through the bones in his hand. Despite that, Genm can see his jaw shifting with every will save passed not to make even the slightest sound.     "Heard."      Per the manifold calculations of authority that occur in Calvin's head in the bar, informing Genm that he won't be kneeling actually lowers his score. Everyone can see the score and is also always calculating and recalculating it, even if they don't know it. The proper response, he decides, is to minimize his reaction to it, to show that he's unfazed not only by Genm's disrespect, but by the aching of his inflamed hand. The master stroke won't come until they meet a second time, where he will demonstrate, through the subtlest means he knows, that he remembers Genm, and then pointedly neither offer a handshake nor kneel.
Arthur Lowell	> Arthur: 'I'm talking to Arthur Lowell.'     Arthur gives her double-fingerguns, and the sunglasses he put on at some point (despite the dreary atmosphere) gleam precisely in time with the rows of teeth in his shitty grin. "SURE ARE. It's just WEIRD ANIMALS! I'm METAZOOLOGICALLY ILLITERATE FOR REAL DAWG." > Arthur: Fondly regard visible scores     "DUDE." He mutters to himself, crossing his arms and watching various stat windows shift numerically over the heads of both Calvin Nash and Kuroto Dan in incredibly complex ways, the dance of mathematical sentiments between men whose sense of reality and behavior is affected by dense meshes of scores.     "Holy shit. It's so sad I don't got SUMMER around to show this. I finally found the HATING SIM." He is genuinely awed, by this thing, that maybe only he can see, and maybe isn't actually real.
Petra Soroka	"I would prefer that you simply kneel next time if you wish to show respect, but I can't expect you to know my preferences on a first meeting."     "You should get a herald, or something," Petra amicably suggests to Genm. "No one *should* have an excuse, but it shouldn't be on you to tell them your preferences. Since you're, you know, a God. I mean, I tell people about Lilian's Code if I want them to make a good impression on her." "I'm talking to Arthur Lowell."     In order to make sure Lilian doesn't stop talking, Petra instantly appears to insert herself between her and Arthur. "I'm also here!" She backfills the conversation in her memory for a few seconds. "That's right, you did have those tiny antlers that one time, didn't you? Does she know about that?" "I'm twenty-six and I'm normal!"     Petra helpfully chimes in, adding to Lilian's protests towards Love. "She's a magical *woman*. She's going to be married soon." "It's so sad I don't got SUMMER around to show this. I finally found the HATING SIM."     Despite the fact that a moment ago she cut off Arthur from bothering Lilian any more than he already had, Arthur finds that Petra has seemingly teleported next to him to follow his gaze towards Dan and Calvin. "What's that? What's there now?" "It breaks character with your whole golden retriever thing if you say it out loud."     Petra sniffs, being equally theatrical about it. Plucking the cigarette out of her mouth between two knuckles, she exhales a little smoke with each word. "I mean, someone who'd write *this* doesn't *deserve* subtext. I'm not gonna let myself be un-death of the author-ed by some brainrotted bootlicker f-- storybook writer who made a book about Sarracenia. If I say it out loud, it's in the text. I'll save the persona for a better audience." "That they need her to stand up for them or the wicked hottie will only strip them down and corrode them into walking husks?"     Petra excitedly gestures with her cigarette-holding hand, leaning against the bar and towards Lilian. "That's literally *exactly* what I thought when I heard it from Heyalexa! I mean-- I mean, it's either that, or a really clever subversion of that, right? It's *fascinating*!"     She looks down at her cigarette, and then her hand drops down to the leather pouch on her hip where she keeps the box. A little shiftily, she glances back up at Lilian. "Do you, um, want one?"
Sarracenia	'Slutty pirate." Lilian repeats,'      Sarra stiffens in embarrassment by proximity. Though, the outfit itself doesn't look -that- slutty. She just shakes her head and proceeds.      'There's no Abnos missing from the shelves, as far as I know.'      Sarra nods lightly. "As I suspected." is all she says. She just rolls her eyes at Petra of all people complaining about possibly having to wear rags. Oh, the irony.      SPY TEAM - GUARDS      'Please, for-give me the in-con-ve-nience, but... I was told to seek work in the castle's kitchens? I can turn a roast, my-lords, and it would be nice to have a little coin for bread...'      'I'm her apprentice, sirs...'      The guard that Schneider and Love approach eyes them suspiciously. "Of course you were told that. Everyone wants work in the castle. But, we don't just hire people off the street, especially for such a common skill." He pauses as he looks Schneider over. Her demeanor and manner don't fit the village.      But, the pause is fleeting as the narrative power that Arthur was talking about takes hold. The guard sighs. "...look, you kids seem like you could use a hand. I'll make an exception this once. Just keep in mind that we are under the highest security level ever since the princess disappeared. Who knows what happened to her? Could have been kidnapped, or could be plotting ways to usurp the throne. I'll take you to the barraks kitchen. You can cook for the guards." The barracks are separate from the castle proper, as is the kitchen. But, at least it is a foothold. The royal servants' entrances are merely a roadway away, and for a pair like them windows and other things may be just as usable.      SPY TEAM - TAVERN      That narrative power seems to aid the investigators as well. As long as someone doesn't act wildly out of place or look wildly out of place they seem to be fine. Greta approaches the bar for drinks and a conversation. The bartender, a burly man with a gruff voice, hmphs at her. "You must not have visited the kingdom in quite a while. The kingdom has been like this for over 10 years now. Ever since the old queen died and the princess apparently decided it was all our fault. Got her father to raise taxes. The new queen is too quiet to do anything about it, and the king is wrapped around that princess's finger. Hell, the princess disappearing might be for the best. Maybe now the king will come to his senses." he says as he gets the requested drinks. What's on tap seems to be a very weak beer. Probably watered down.      Marcus looks for things of historical or cultural significance. Paintings are nowhere to be found. They have likely all been sold to fight off poverty. Books are far too pricy to be found here. The best Marcus can find are some carvings. Most are made by people carving random things into tables and the like, but the main pillars of the building have been stylized into things such as flowing waterfalls, nature scenes, and fairies. The story might be hard to decipher at a glance, but with more supernatural powers one can discern that the town used to be in tune with the fae, living in harmony with them.
Sarracenia	But, perhaps most useful to the pair is...someone who appears to be a bard! A young man in -green- sackcloth. Probably dyed by crushing leaves onto them. Holding what looks like a handmade two string lute and humming to himself. As he hears people asking about the town, he stands up. "Finally! My newest song can be heard!"      He starts singing a song of the kingdom's history, both actual and fantastical. He sings of how the kingdom was founded alongside the fairies living in the forests and swamps nearby. The fairies gave their blessing to the humans, with the fairies of light expecting a fruitful partnership and the fairies of darkness eager to show the humans fun adventures. But, it was not long before the dark fairies started to be shunned and the light fairies revered. People did not appreciate the danger and mischief the dark fairies brought upon them. Mages from this and nearby towns took the opportunity to capture dark fairies since no human would care. Not many were taken, but those that were were used as magic sources, experiments, and carnival attractions. The light fairies pleaded with the humans to free the dark fairies, but to no avail. It took a decree from the queen herself for the fairies to be released. Shortly after, some ten years ago, the queen became ill and passed away, and the princess became hated as conditions in the town worsened. All blame was placed on the princess, for her actions were obvious in everything. Everyone knew the king and queen left most things to the princess. Thus, the princess eventually disappeared. People say it was because she knew her people would not tolerate her for much longer. She fled to the forest, where her dark sorcerous powers could be used without worry.      Arthur meanwhile is setting up a magic tracking system in his rented room. The mini-sun is soon being drained away, and the sunny magic is fairly easily traceable. It flows away slowly but steadily, and right up into the castle. Specifically into one of the higher towers, though it does move slightly every now and then and eventually goes down to the throne room.      Petra's approach of buying a round of drinks draws an almost excited 'yaay...' from the tired locals. The bartender is engaged with Greta already, but there's a few other people in here. One of the more drunk and scrawny men approaches her. "Kinda fancy clothes ya got there. I guess ya really are from out of town. What's a beauty like you doin' wanderin' into a place like this? Not a lot of trade happens in this town. Are you one of those wanderin' performers like that bard over there?"      Genm takes a similar approach. The fellow he approaches regards him a few moments, then shrugs. "Better? This kingdom has gone downhill ever since the first queen died. Princess became a terror. Trade dried up. Taxes went up. The new queen barely seems to exist. I don't think anyone has seen her or the king personally in years except the castle staff. My advise? Head back to wherever you came from."
Sarracenia	DISTRACTION TEAM      'But how is Ultraman going to fit on one of these if we need to fight?'      "Once he goes into hero mode he will have little need of a cloud, I think." Sarra replies.      'Where does she get these creatures, do you think? Do they come from a vat?'      "In my experience creatures such as these are conjured from the aether or darkness itself. That is what was happening with the last being I encountered with Dark in his title." Sarra says as lightning and plasma lance out at their pursuers.      'GEEEEEEEEEEEED!'      Sarra's point is proven a moment later when Riku becomes Ultraman. The monkey bats are a bit stronger than last time, weathering a couple of hits before falling from the sky. Those that are properly killed vanish like smoke on the breeze, supporting Sarra's theory of shadow conjuring. Sarra continues throwing explosives to help thin their number some but not too much.      Almost unnoticed is a much smaller bat. This one is only the size of someone's head. A normal-looking flying fox. It swoops down in a panic and lands on Sarra's head.      Sarra, predictably, screams so loudly that they might hear her back in town.      She starts flailing and swatting, but settles down some as she realizes it is frantically talking to her. "W-what?! Oh my goodness! Do you realize how close you just came to being killed?! You are either very brave or quite foolish!!" she shouts at the bat, who looks even more panicked. Sarra mmphs as the bat says something in many little screeches and chirps and clicks, then sighs. "Alright alright! Just...point the way!" she says, then looks to the Meresankh and Ultraman. "This helpful bat says there is a cave behind a waterfall nearby that we can escape into if we wish! Eliminate all the enemy bats except a small few, then we can finish them off as we head into it! This should help guard our actual portal's location!"
Schneider Greco	"... not once have I heard about why you feel at home with them, however uneasily."      "Do you ever feel that pang of inferiority? Do you feel any love other arcanists?"      "Mmmmh?" On her walk through the town, before encountering the guards, Mahou Peasant Schneider (thanks Love!!) tilts her head to slosh thoughts around. "Such ques-tions, my-la-dy. Mhmhm, I shall on-ly be delighted to unburden you..."      But her lips quirk. She decides, with slight unease, how honest she wants to be.      "... I was-not brought up as most arcanists are," she says, after a pause that's slightly too long herself. Her eyes are forward, while her thumb rubs the stitching on the sewn-on sackcloth heart. "My fa-mi-ly are humans. My par-ents... mmh, failed to give me the idea that I am lesser. My sis-ters, bless them, were innocent to it."      She shrugs, lightly, glancing back. "People hated me, my-la-dy, for being an immigrant. For being poor. By the time I found out they hate me for being an ar-can-ist... ahh. The third blow, I sup-pose it does not land as the first two."      "So humans, they don't frighten me. I do not hate them, I think, but they have no mys-ter-ies from me. But to be among arcanists, at last... it intoxicates, like wine." A little laugh bubbles up, but it sounds slightly... something. "Ahh... my pure-blood lady Rook, I do-not know how to explain it to you. But does that set your heart at-ease?"      - - - -      Schneider's eyes slide up to Calvin, before they part, still reflecting the green letters on the screen. She blink-blinks doeishly. "To women?" she says, with a little laugh. That isn't what she meant, but: "No, it is true..."      "Are we tru-ly in a 'story', now? We are in a world, in-side a book, and yet we live it. So it seems like 'life' to me. In the Multiverse, is this different? Hm."      "And we're gonna make it through."      "Mmmmh. On-ly late-ly have I had any 'gods' on my side at all. It is strange, but they have-yet to fail me. Be care-ful, my-lord, but do not fret for me~"      - - - -      "I'll stand in front of bullets."      "And, my-la-dy, deny me the chance to stand in front of you?" Schneider murmurs, taking Love's free hand to squeeze with a characteristic smile. "Mmmh, if we are wal-king into a trap, I walk among good com-pan-y. And so my heart, it is at ease."      Her finger taps the sewn-on heart, again.
Angela	Love goes 'eheheh' at being headpat and is briefly jumpscared by Calvin saying 'Love to have a chat'. ''I'm not a dark magical girl!'' "But Schneider is one. Mhm mhm!" She looks towards Petra though and considers it. Can women be magical too? The heart of the precure tells her that, yes, you can still be magical even as an adult woman. "Okay... Magical Woman." She promises Lilian though she does have memory issues she'll do her best. ''Suspicious guards'' Love helpfully makes a heart with her fingers and makes the biggest wettest eyes at them. She has lived on the street long enough to make big sad eyes so that nobody will be mean to her and thus get stabbed by Justice. And the guards let them in! Yay! And once she's in, she says over comms to Lilian: 'dun dun dunnn we're in dum dadadadum...' as she pretends she's in a spy flick. She does feel some empathy though for the intoxicating nature of being around arcanists, of finding no mystery in the human realm and she gives Schneider a big hesitant smile but she's worried, a little. She chose to live n the 'real' world. Does that mean ... she's not super best friends with Schneider after all?? ''And, my-la-dy, deny me the chance to stand in front of you?'' Love's face turns bright red and you can practically see the smoke billowing out of her-- --no wait she actually is overheating a little, she looks a little woozy actually. She sways a little unsteadily as Schneider has done critical damage to her. "..wah..." She says, covering her face with both hands.
Meresankh	"Geed!" Meresankh calls into the storm of wing-beats and energy beams. "Allow me to amplify your powers!" A subtle luminous thread of energy snakes up through the swarm, anchoring to Geed. From the moment it connects, everything around Geed appears to slow in his perception... except for his own movements! With Meresankh focused on warping the timestream, Geed will have to work a little harder to clear the swarm, but with his newfound speed may prove very capable of such a feat. In the meantime, Meresankh's wraiths continue to defend Sarracenia and the Necron queen. One of them nearly spears the flying fox before it slips between talons at the last moment and lands in the Sundew princess's hair.     "This helpful bat says there is a cave behind a waterfall nearby that we can escape into if we wish!"     Silently, Meresankh wonders if this 'helpful' bat is a little too convenient. Posing as an unforeseen ally to the foe and leading them to a trap is generally considered a lowly method among Necron tacticians, but it is not unheard of when communication with the enemy is possible. But even if this is a lure, a spy or deceiver sent from the dark fairy, Meresankh and company's role is to draw the attention of the dark powers away from the spies - spies whose work proceeds apace, if a quick check on Arthur's assigned scarab is any suggestion. So, gathering her courage, Meresankh looks to the princess. "Very well! Let us away to this cavern."
Riku Asakura	DISTRACTION TEAM Fortunately, Ultraman is large but can also fly. This is the answer to the question about Geed needing a cloud, or what would happen to the cloud.  Evil smoke bat-monkeys go down in a few hits, more than they did before, but not too terribly hard to take care of with force.  He wonders if this will continue to change?  Will they get used to their powers, or will the queen just summon tougher enemies?  He wonders how much power she could channel at once to summon enemies to fight them..? He's shaken out of his distracted questioning by Sarracenia's scream. He turns to face her, but it seems to have calmed down by the time he's ready to act on her behalf.   'This helpful bat says there is a cave behind a waterfall nearby that we can escape into if we wish!' He nods and makes an ultragrunt of acknowledgement to Sarracenia, before turning back towards the summoned creatures.  This is until he's hailed again, but this time by Meresankh.   'Allow me to amplify your powers!' Once more, he nods, but has turned his head towards her so that he's mostly facing the swarm.  His body moves much faster!  He punches and chops down the flying creatures with great ease now, each blow seemingly coming from nowhere to the creatures.  He rears back, suddenly, and unleashes a terrible roar towards the pack of creatures. "Wrecking Roar!" he calls out just before it goes off. It comes out as a sonic wave of energy towards the creatures, aiming to swat a huge number of them out of the sky in a single blast.  His eyes glow as he unleashes the roar, aiming to overwhelm the creatures with the sound of his Ultraman power and force back the closest to him down or away.
Arthur Lowell	> Arthur: 'What's that? What's there now?'     "Oh! No no, you gotta see it." Arthur had said, sort of gripping Petra's cheek in both hands, cupping her face, holding it parallel with his perspective side-by-side. Surely, in this way, she can see the calculations, the boymath that drives men to escalate to ultraviolence over time. Surely she can see *meters* in this moment. "Look. *Nature.*" Somehow, his expression is the perfect human manifestation of a "o__o" emoji when he does this. > Arthur: Gather data     Arthur successfully gathers the data he was after. He hops on his phone and gets on group chat. PB: got my DATA PB: i've got CORE POINTS, looks like we've got a RITUAL SITE in onea the TOWERS PB: and then it flows to the THRONE ROOM PB: that's a good flow for our CASTLE CRASHING PB: anyone catch status on the KING and QUEEN? PB: feels like the THRONE'S kind of a tell
Schneider Greco	"I'm her apprentice, sirs..."      Apprentice at urchining?? "This is our lit-tle joke. Ahh, she is like a sister to me..." Schneider explains with a fond head-shaking.      "But, we don't just hire people off the street..."      Schneider's eyes water slightly as her fingers pick at the hem of her dress. "Please. The head cook- I heard some-one was injured, and that he needed new help...?" Guards, surely, aren't in charge of kitchen staffing- and the story won't check out with anyone who is, but they only have to get inside.      "I'll make an exception this once."      Oh, whew. Schneider sighs and droops into a little bow. "Oh, thank you, kind gov-er-nors. Love, come along. We have to im-press them on our very first day, do we not?"      She drapes an arm around Love's shoulders, and presses cheek-to-overheating cheek while petting the top of her head 'there-there' style. Awww!      . . .      The usefulness of getting to cook for the guards doesn't elude Schneider. Their food could be drugged for easy castle access later, and so this is a job she'd like to keep! On the way, she commiserates with the escorting guard:      "Your stations, fair gov-er-nor, I do not envy. Defending the throne, securing pris-on-ers... mmmh, I e-ven heard stories of a strange plant in the dungeons. Was that a mad-man's ra-vings?"      It's an unsubtle probe at whether they've heard of Gregory being held in the castle! But it's phrased ambiguously enough they could write it off as a silly story.      Once she and Love are settled-in and cooking, Schneider puts in some honest work- enough to justify their continued 'employment', she hopes- before finding an excuse to slip out. That excuse is slicing her own hand rather badly, under the guise of a slip of the knife, and rushing out to find some bandages for herself.      Once away from her duties, she shrugs off the injury, clenches her hand, and tries to sneak in through the royal servants' entrance with Love in tow.      She can be pretty stealthy when she needs to be, pressing her ear to doors before opening them and slinking around the sightlines of potential witnesses... the goal right now is to form a mental map of the castle she can sketch out later, and any areas of suspicious activity.
Lilian Rook	'No one *should* have an excuse, but it shouldn't be on you to tell them your preferences.'     Lilian isn't really part of this conversation, but she gestures Petra's way anyways, and halfway admits to something two steps removed from what Calvin is thinking at the same time. "There's a certain point at which someone's behaviour is completely beneath you and it only decreases your seriousness to engage with them at all. Having someone who's a little beneath you to engage with it on your behalf is surprisingly useful."     'That's right, you did have those tiny antlers that one time, didn't you? Does she know about that?'     "Oh my god! Shut up about the--" Lilian only defeats the word 'nubblies' from exiting her mouth, and thus Rita's diabolical curse, by suddenly being overtaken by a completely different thought.     "How do you know about that?"     'That's literally *exactly* what I thought when I heard it from Heyalexa! I mean-- I mean, it's either that, or a really clever subversion of that, right? It's *fascinating*!'     "God thank you! I was going to go insane if we went any longer not acknowledging it!" Lilian enthuses anyways. "I sort of hope it isn't a subversion? Or rather that it's meant to be illustrative rather than deepthroating the royal glass slipper. I mean anyone who'd send someone a cursed book and steal their butler probably isn't there to reinforce their already-held beliefs, right? Sundew is, like, exactly the kind of person who should be a magnet for weird little fairytale lessons on her personality flaws! It's kind of insane to think it hasn't happened yet!"     'Do you, um, want one?'     Lilian holds out her hand automatically, two fingers placed to receive a cigarette. When Petra actually asks a second later, she glances down, double-takes, and narrows her eyes. "What? Why would I? No." she says, dropping her hand to her side. "I don't even smoke." Freak.     '... I was-not brought up as most arcanists are,'     But there it is.     Lilian is nowhere near as omniscient as she'd need to be to call that exactly what it is. She merely recognizes it, instinctively, as fundamentally the same as all the little ways she ever says anything about herself to others. That she lacks the all-encompassing self-awareness to call that what it is comes down solely to human nature.     'The third blow, I sup-pose it does not land as the first two.'     "I see." is all she says out loud on the subject; at least at first. That phrase of hers that says nothing and means everything. That one maddening little mirror neuron in her skull is already hyperactive; it is indeed true that by the time Lilian met people who were more overtly racist about her heritage, it seemed like something small and annoying by comparison to everything that came before; she'd be embarrassed trying to wax vengeful about it by then. Lilian can accept that explanation with uncomfortable confidence. "I suppose it doesn't." Old, half-forgotten words bubble to the surface of Lilian's thoughts, and trickle off over the brim without examination. "If they don't get through your neck with the first couple of chops, the blade gets blunt quickly. It tends to get stuck."
Lilian Rook	'But to be among arcanists, at last... it intoxicates, like wine.'     Lilian doesn't hide how deeply uncomfortable those words make her. It oozes from her shifted gaze to her restless foot tapping to the way her fingers fidget with the hilt of her sword. It's not that she means to show it, but that she isn't mentally prepared; why would she be prepared to pretend anything at all about fitting in?     'Ahh... my pure-blood lady Rook, I do-not know how to explain it to you. But does that set your heart at-ease?'     A second wave of discomfort rolls over her. At its passing, Lilian says "Yes, actually." She thinks a little too much for a second. "Even 'arcanists' of other worlds, I suppose." She wishes she didn't conceive of that thought. It was probably inevitable.     The bar unfortunately leaves her with a lot of downtime; not because nothing interesting is happening, but because it's taking the form of a ballad, which is time-consuming and slow-paced by theatrical necessity. While she absorbs the information, Lilian gestures to Petra instead for a drink. The position of her hand clearly means 'not too strong'. It just feels weird to not drink in a bar.     "My bets on subversion went up." she says to Petra, casually conversational, in the midst of the song. "There are a lot of unnecessary elements for just playing it straight. Does the Princess actually have any powers? Her Fairy Godmother was protecting her with magic in the first place, wasn't she?" The presentation of the Dark Fairies as maligned victims makes her uneasy for the scant few seconds just before she remembers that Sarracenia didn't write this one, and that she's just fallen prey to it. "Who was it that said being mistreated doesn't excuse Lila's actions again?"     'What's a beauty like you doin' wanderin' into a place like this? Not a lot of trade happens in this town. Are you one of those wanderin' performers like that bard over there?'     "She's mine." Lilian blurts out, impulsive and a little mean. She will not be examining why she feels that way about seeing someone hitting on Petra. "And we're mercenaries. So I have to say I'm a little disappointed that things are still in this state. Shouldn't getting rid of the princess have improved things by now? Why is this place still in such a slump?"
Calvin Nash	You should get a herald, or something.     Calvin's COMP buzzes. He glances downwards with irritation. Chernobog: You don't have a herald, I've noticed. Ongyo-ki: He sure doesn't. Ongyo-ki: Isn't a god, either. Ongyo-ki: I could be your herald, for a price. Say, fifteen thousand cubic meters of magnetite... Calvin: blow it out your ass Ongyo-ki: Struck a nerve, did I? Sooner or later you'll have to decide what to do with me. Ongyo-ki: I wonder when? When you'll take the plunge and see if your mortal coil can withstand that kind of expenditure... Or will that happen at all? Ongyo-ki: Maybe you'll take me to one of your Tabernacles and show up one day with a 'new' partner in tow. Calvin: i can withstand a lot when i have to. your gonna stay in there until i need you Calvin: and right now. i dont. Calvin: dont you forget i coulda killed your ass Ongyo-ki: We both know that you're only waiting for a more convenient time. Calvin: your damn right i am. and there aint a damn thing you can do about it except talk shit. wouldnt you know it. when you shit on somethin that's gonna affect the next several years and kill people thats well liked besides, it dont leave you in the best position when you get caught.      His finger hovers over the keyboard. He could stop there. He doesn't. Calvin: besides. what the hell kind of loser has to summon his own herald. Ongyo-ki: I should have known that offer was too good to be true. Calvin: yeah. you shoulda. then some good people'd still be alive and youd still be the king of your little shithole. life goes on.     Calvin grips the screen with his thumb and index, himself gripped by the particular frustration that comes from having said one's piece yet finding no comfort in it. His nostrils flare as he fumes, unable to even slam the monitor shut because he has to take notes from the bartender and the bard. That, at least, is a *different* irritant. Having someone who's a *little* beneath you to engage with it on your behalf is surprisingly useful.      With a sigh through the nose, he steadies himself. "I'll think about it." Who, though? He considers all of his partners his equals, except for Ongyo-ki, who he has utter contempt for. Perhaps a certain biker... No.      Calvin clears his throat. "So the kingdom went to shit 'cause the princess dropped the ball. Must've been a hell of a show to do it in ten years." My bets on subversion went up.      "Mhm."      Calvin taps a few keys on his COMP and tosses the bard a coin stamped with the alchemical symbol for Saturn. "There you go, boss. I stay busy, but I love a good song. Tell me somethin'--with everything all gone to shit, you think the king 'n queen're even still in the castle?"
Storm Investigators	"I'm not dirty. Don't be weird." "Eh? N-no, I did not mean..! Ah. I meant the.. Clothes. I'm sorry." Marcus stammers out in her defense, audibly and visibly slumping halfway through that until the apology is barely above a whisper. "it is GOD Kamen Rider Genm," "GOD Kamen Rider Genm or Ka.. Kamen Rider God Genm." Marcus repeats dutifully, taking out a little notepad so she can actually keep that as a note instead of trying to memorize that. "God Genm in haste... Okay. Thank you very much. Was that name one you were given, or did you select it yourself? Or...?" Her mind wanders briefly, and then her eyes light right back up. "Is that a pen name?" --- "history of the kingdom." "You must not have visited the kingdom in quite a while." Even though Marcus knows this is just a story rather than a real place, hearing Calvin ask about the history of the kingdom still gets her to perk up visibly. Alas, she'll have to count on Greta to get the story of the kingdom down for the both of them, and Greta's certainly doing her part getting the backstory from the bartender. "That's right. It has been that long, hasn't it? Still, for a princess to leverage that sort of power over the king, and for neither the king nor the new queen to say nothing about all of that? And for the land to fall into such disarray is..." She considers what Lilian had said about the scenario earlier, and she purses her lips just a little bit more. "Truly unbelievable." Marcus, meanwhile, gets some notably useful hints just from the carvings. She does seem a little disappointed at the lack of books, though, but she jots down notes about the town's past with the fae as well. Both of them can hear the singer easily enough, though, and Marcus handles the primary note-taking so she can continue to play the part of someone returning to the town rather than someone investigating. Something in particular sticks out as odd to Marcus, however, and she keeps that in mind as she approaches Calvin with a quiet question after the song ends. "Did you notice the... Um. The part about how the pricness was blamed?" She asks quietly, looking over at Greta while her mentor is approached by some of the locals. "The song said it was obvious, but... I thought the dark faeries' powers were supposed to be mischievous, not destructive. Not like all of this." Greta, meanwhile, looks about as disinterested as she usually does when the drunk speaks to her. "I missed the town. Truly a shame to see it in this condition." She replies, glossing right over the compliment and his question to ask some of her own. "Who's in charge now, then, if the princess has gone? It doesn't look like anything's gotten better since she left, and it doesn't sound like the king and queen are up to the task."
Petra Soroka	"How do you know about that?"     Petra claps a hand over her mouth, suddenly going pale. It's a lie that she'd so comfortably faded into the background of her mind that she forgot that it was a lie to *Lilian*, and she has to fumble for her recovery hastily.     "Um-- Angela's memories? She was there with you, r-remember?" "Sundew is, like, exactly the kind of person who should be a magnet for weird little fairytale lessons on her personality flaws!"     "Right! Like, not even in a-- not even necessarily in a mean way! It just seems like, I don't know, the kind of couch cushions that seem appropriate. Saying nothing as to how desperately needed it is." Petra had started qualifying her sentiment by saying that she *wasn't* being mean as a statement towards her sincerity, but not wanting to come across as defending Sarracenia to Lilian, she remembers to add a little mean comment at the end.     "That's what I'm hoping it is too. Like, it's even forcing her to think about someone else's needs above her own for once. Do you think maybe this is the format that actually gets it to stick in her head?"     Over the course of her cheery chattering with Lilian, Petra swiveled around to rest her elbows on the bar, leaning forwards instead of back against it. This leaves her hips sticking backwards a bit, swaying back and forth with her excess energy, like a wagging tail. "So, bets on who sent it to her? Maybe this is how her parents try to sculpt her into shape?" "What? Why would I? No."     "It's just rude not to ask." Being turned down by Lilian puts Petra out, but it was a long shot anyways. She was just overcome with the allure of offering Lilian a cigarette and lighting it for her and then smoking together, which was really the reason why she took out a cigarette in the first place at all. "It's, like, a culture thing." "There are a lot of unnecessary elements for just playing it straight."     "Mmm." Petra makes a quiet noise of agreement with Lilian. While the bard is playing, she's practically incapable of raising her voice loud enough to feel disruptive, but since it's Lilian talking to her, she musters all of her effort to respond quietly.     "It's a lot of, disagreement on whose bad treatment deserves whose bad behavior, isn't it? Though, I think as far as we know-- like, in the story-- the princess hasn't really done anything wrong, but... yeah. It's so much detail and motive for it to be anything but a moral lesson, it feels like. Not just gratuitous, uh, glass slipper sucking."     After Lilian turned down the cigarette, Petra hardly has any interest in continuing to smoke it, so she just hangs it between her lips to free up her hands for preparing Lilian a drink. Assessing at a glance that any alcohol here is *obviously* not going to be up to par, Petra flips open the pendant around her neck and withdraws a glass bottle from the mirror. She waves for two glasses, only one actually with beer, and pours the bottle into the other to slide it the rest of the way to Lilian.
Petra Soroka	While doing that, she wonders just a little too loud, "Sarracenia besides, doesn't it just seem like everyone's letting the king off too easy here? Sure sounds like everyone's sentiment is about how that bitch woman *forced* her powerful father to hurt so many people and ruin everything, and he has no responsibility because she was just such a bitch about it. Like, there's some, dissimilarity in the level of moral scrutiny being directed towards the monarchy. Last semester, I read this thing about the minoritization of blame during economic troubles and the shifting definitions that are used to categorize privileged classes and stuff, and I feel like--..."     She trails off, and then blinks. "Oh wait. I forgot that's the point." Then she takes a big swig of her shitty watered down beer to cover up being embarrassed and makes a pathetic little choking sound and grimaces, because she thinks beer is kind of gross even when it's good. "What's a beauty like you doin' wanderin' into a place like this?"     Despite her earlier blustering, when she's approached-- even by a drunk and scrawny man-- like this, Petra is visibly taken aback. She glances to Lilian to check if she's the one being referred to instead, and then points at herself in confusion. "Er, me? I'm here, 'cause, uh..." "She's mine."     "We're here because every part of the world we touch is massively improved for it, and it's your lucky day." Petra's demeanor instantly recovers when Lilian butts in, settling back into her smug hyperconfident lapdog attitude. She lazily raises her glass past the man who approached her, in a vague sort of toast to the crowd of other taverngoers whose drinks she paid for, as demonstration.     "But with a missing princess and an unresponsive king and queen, what's going to happen to the kingdom now? It almost seems like it's been cursed. With her gone, it seems like the king and queen would just sink into grief and let everything get worse, doesn't it?"
Kuroto Dan	Okay. Thank you very much. Was that name one you were given, or did you select it yourself?      "One day soon the truth behind my name will be revealed. For now, you will simply have to continue guessing, but please, look forward to it." Genm's answer probably leaves a lot to be desired. HOWEVER, it was an answer, and thus Marcus should probably be grateful regardless.      You should get a herald, or something      "I might consider it. However, I find it impersonal. If I didn't want to talk to somebody, I would simply find a way to kill them. If I want people to understand my greatness, I don't think there's a better source of that than via my own lips." He may be in love with his own voice in truth, or simply addicted to the art of posting, but he's aware of neither of those things. To him, making people understand his greatness or through word of mouth through others trumps having a dedicated hype man. He could repurpose one of his Bugsters to fit that role later, though if the mood takes him, though options are always good.      -BACK TO THE SPY TIME-      "Is that so? It's a bit heartbreaking to see that nowhere seems safe anymore, but I'm sure we'll manage to pull through somehow. Take care of yourself."      He doesn't buy anything, but he does leave a handful of cash on the stall as he leaves. He had pulled some out ahead of time in case he needed to bribe someone to get information, but he felt he got a decent amount from that one interaction, and it's not like he's planning to use it for anything else. They can consider it a gift from God if they want, he supposes.
Angela	''There-there style'' Love, being like halfway to a cartoon character, looks utterly defeated by such displays of affection and smoke is leaking out of her ears and mouth. At least Love is easy to drag around though the hardest part of Schneider's plan might be convincing Love that she can treat her own injured hand. Love was about to rush off and get bandaids for her all by herself! Well the other hard part might be convincing Love to not try to feed the guards rodents, cooked or raw. Love can't really be stealthy on her own but Schneider can convince her to be QUIET at least through the power of being a 'dark magical girl' and also inflicting truly dire levels of unthinking upon her. Frankly, even Love is starting to feel like the story is saying SOMETHING about Sarracenia's state of mind, but it doesn't really bother her. She's just happy to be on an adventure with people she dearly loves and cares about. The fact that it's in a storybook is sort of a plus, Love feels a little more at home in stories where things make sense even when it doesn't make sense. Of course, she lives in a flying island that has a castle so, really, even her normal real life is pretty storybook anyway so maybe Love doesn't have too much to worry about in her day to day. Schneider can probably tell her to start blowing up the castle and she would and only start thinking about it, like, three or five Major Arcana Blasts in.
Sarracenia	DISTRACTION TEAM      Sarra is far too trusting of storybook logic, it's true. She doesn't question for a moment that the bat (which is kind of cute actually) isn't there to hurt or deceive them. The bat for its part hangs on for dear life as Sarra jets along on her cloud. Sarra marvels at Meresankh reinforcing Geed, then smiles brightly as the Necron monarch agrees with the plan.      'Wrecking Roar!'      The monkey bats are devastated by the sonic blast. Being part bat they have sensitive hearing in addition to whatever terrible harm results from the attack. The hoard is reduced to a handful of monkey bats as the waterfall comes into view. It is quite a beautiful waterfall, flowing down from a cliff several stories tall. The flying fox chitters and squeaks and...points? Do animals usually understand how to point? Regardless, it would be easy for Meresankh and Geed to finish off the last of the monkey bats just as Sarra disappears down a path that leads behind the waterfall.      Once inside, the soothing crash of the waterfall fills the air. The cave inside is about the width of a typical room and leads a short distance into the mountain. Once there, Sarra dismounts from her cloud then quickly detaches the bat from her hair and onto the cloud. "It seems we might indeed be safe in here for the time being. At least, until Lila sends her next swarm." The bat leaps at Sarracenia again, apparently panicked at the mention of those giant bat things, and lands on her chest. She yelps again and tries to toss it away, but it just boomerangs its way back. This happens a few times before Sarra sighs and just cradles it lightly. "You are quite scared of them, hm?" she says. She hesitates a moment, then gives the bat a little pat on the head. "Well, now I suppose we wait until we hear from the others? This place should be quite defensible if the dark fairy does send more minions.
Sarracenia	SPY TEAM      Arthur relays his data. It seems that the source of the curse is in the top of a tower, and the energy is feeding into someone who moves between the tower and the throne room. This is likely the queen.      'Your stations, fair gov-er-nor, I do not envy. Defending the throne, securing pris-on-ers... mmmh, I e-ven heard stories of a strange plant in the dungeons. Was that a mad-man's ra-vings?'      The guard raises an eyebrow at the question. "Plant in the dungeons? That's a new one on me. Must have been quite the madman. There aren't even decorative plants in the dungeons. They hardly even see plants on their dinner plates. The queen does have a new butler, though. Tall fellow. Doesn't say much. Always looks like he's sunburned and has weird hair. Like...almost leaf-like? Yeah, plenty of rumors building up around that guy. No one knows where he came from. He just appeared one day. The queen said he was a servant in her family's home before she became queen."      Schneider cutting her hand after a while working draws the ire of the head chef. It does work as cover for leaving the kitchen to sneak around, though! None of the other staff are going to help her.      It is pretty risky sneaking into the royal servants' entrance. There are sure to be guards, servants who actually care about their work and position, and who knows what else!      But, this is a story! Conveniently, when Schneider and Love enter there is no one to be seen. The royal kitchen is much more expansive than the soldier's kitchen. There are plenty of pantries, cupboards, and other things to hide in. But, there is only one exit. Past it is certainly guards or royals. Do they dare venture further, or is it time to head back?      BACK IN THE TAVERN      'So the kingdom went to shit 'cause the princess dropped the ball. Must've been a hell of a show to do it in ten years.'      'That's right. It has been that long, hasn't it? Still, for a princess to leverage that sort of power over the king, and for neither the king nor the new queen to say nothing about all of that? And for the land to fall into such disarray is...'      The bartender shrugs. "Well, the princess only finally disappeared about a month ago. Like I said, she was milking the kingdom for all it was worth and rumors were circulating about people planning a revolt. If you ask me, she saw the writing on the wall and chose her life over her wealth. Doubt the king and queen have accepted that she's gone yet. As devoted as he is to his daughter, might be a while before the king actually does anything about it. We're on our own until then."
Sarracenia	'She's mine.'      'We're here because every part of the world we touch is massively improved for it, and it's your lucky day. But with a missing princess and an unresponsive king and queen, what's going to happen to the kingdom now? It almost seems like it's been cursed. With her gone, it seems like the king and queen would just sink into grief and let everything get worse, doesn't it?'      The man looks over at Lilian with one of those drunken annoyed faces. "Eh? Yours?" He pauses a moment, then blinks and grins. "Oh, I get it. Hey, if you two are a thing then..." He is saved from saying something that might get him killed by Petra's question. He shrugs and returns to his own drink. "Cursed, huh? That'd..." His expression gives the impression that he is about to say 'that'd make sense', but he winces and grunts. "Well, with that evil princess gone it should go away, right? Just gotta wait for the king and queen to get us back on track." he says before downing his drink. "The king took care of us before that evil princess got her grubby claws in the king, and the queen has done her best far as I'm concerned."      'Is that so? It's a bit heartbreaking to see that nowhere seems safe anymore, but I'm sure we'll manage to pull through somehow. Take care of yourself.'      "You, too." the man says as he pockets that bribe money.
Riku Asakura	DISTRACTION TEAM With the number of beasts reduced by the Wrecking Roar and by Meresankh's aid in accelerating time for him, they're able to fall back towards the instructions laid out for them by the bat.  Ultraman Geed flies with the rest of the group, taking to the skies and landing nearby before turning his head toward the remaining bat-monkeys.   Just a bit more, and they could rest for a bit.  Alright, Geed, you have this!  Geed punches and smashes more monsters sent by the Queen before leaping back and gathering energy around himself.  The energy in question is red and black, looking like lightning.  His eyes glow brightly at this, before it all stops suddenly.   "Wrecking Burst!" he shouts and fires the beam at the remaining monkeys.  The beam itself is the same color as the energy gathered, that black and red energy.  It also explodes upon contact with the monkeys, aiming to try and annihilate them.
Lilian Rook	'Um-- Angela's memories? She was there with you, r-remember?'     Lilian stares harrowingly at Petra with narrowed eyes, but the truth is infinitely more insane than this very plausible explanation, and even assuming Petra is lying only comes up with 'Rita told her at one point', so Lilian lets it slide. Intrusion Immunity wins again.     'Do you think maybe this is the format that actually gets it to stick in her head?'     "You'd think, wouldn't you?" she says, too engrossed in the topic not to move along with it. "Her one and only consistent 'thing' is her obsession with weird PG-rated princess cartoon roleplay. Like the one way she stands out is her silly rescue drama and her pretentiouns to Disney monarch image. So isn't it completely insane that she mostly just gets into violent back alley knife fights all the time? You can only blame ninety percent of that on her total inability to bring things into her context; like what's going on that this kind of thing doesn't get pointed at her more often? It's totally working."     'So, bets on who sent it to her? Maybe this is how her parents try to sculpt her into shape?'     "If her mother wrote 'Lila' into this story then I'm going to scream." Lilian stares at the far wall over her drink.     'It's just rude not to ask. It's, like, a culture thing.'     "Oh." Lilian pauses. "I suppose that's fair." She would totally have lit up if Petra hadn't verbally prompted her too; thank god Mesmer isn't around. Now she feels sort of bad; like she'd slapped Petra's cigarette out of her hands. "Do you need to?" she says, testingly.     She laughs at hearing 'glass slipper-sucking' from somewhere other than her own mouth. "I'm a bit funny." she says, rhetorically.     'Sarracenia besides, doesn't it just seem like everyone's letting the king off too easy here? Sure sounds like everyone's sentiment is about how that bitch woman *forced* her powerful father to hurt so many people and ruin everything, and...'     Lilian raises her eyebrow at Petra, props herself on her elbow, and stares wordlessly until Petra stumbles into figuring out herself. Apparently satisfied, she adds "Roland." without explanation, tipping back another drink.
Lilian Rook	'Well, the princess only finally disappeared about a month ago.'     "That figures." Lilian sighs. "I keep getting caught up in this being related to Sundew and forgetting that this was put together by someone else. That would tie it all together." she looks both annoyed and relieved now. Enough to forlornly stare out the window at the castle and imagine her prettier one.     'Eh? Yours?'     Her eyes slide back.     'Oh, I get it. Hey, if you two are a thing then...'     "If you're drinking here then you can't afford to watch." Lilian says, escalating beyond both the random stranger and Petra's possible response list combined; the kind of refuge in outrageous overreach she paradoxically habituates to in order to cap how escalated the situation she can get; off the rails behaviour that incidentally precludes violence.     'Well, with that evil princess gone it should go away, right?'     "Not necessarily." Lilian pauses to drink, examines whether she's being a nerd about curses or stirring shit on purpose, then decides it doesn't matter; she's investigating. "These things often don't peter out on their own. If she cast the curse herself then it'd make sense to run away until the kingdom collapses from it, then saunter back in when you're all on your last legs and too weakened to drive her out." Now she's pivoted to being helpful? "More often they need to be broken. If it isn't by killing the caster, of course. I'd like to assume that the Queen is being so quiet and passive because she's spending all her time researching just that." she says, shamelessly rooting for the character who kinda sorta shares a name and kinda sorta looks like her. "That's what my intuition as a professional tells me. I'd love to offer my services, but I don't know the first thing about getting an audience with the King and Queen yet. Any pointers?"
Schneider Greco	Schneider fortunately has a readymade excuse for if she gets caught- "I am so sorry, governor, I was looking for a bandage for my hand..."- but she intends to not need it.      She's perfectly capable of evading any guards or servants on her own; it's only the presence of a dazed, cozy, maybe-slightly-flustered Love on her elbow that can complicate the stealth mission.      A stealth escort mission? Since when do they make those?      "Sh-sh-shh, my-la-dy Love," she murmurs under her breath, scratching Love's hair while pressing her ear to the next door. "Stay close, stay close... bonu serpi, serpina..."      Movement on the other side. So it'll get harder from here on out. Schneider purses her lips, gently pushes Love into a closet, and- with her excuse in mind- steps into the castle proper to see how far her sneakiness can take her in mapping out its interior.      If she's caught, it's hopefully no big deal- she's just a sad peasant girl with a bleeding hand. If it is a big deal, Love has a big laser. Easy peasy.
Angela	Love is trapped in the closet! "Eh? What's up?? Oh I can ... I can protect this closet while you're sneaking, sure!" Love doesn't like being trapped in the closet. She's willing to launch five arcana slaves out into the world on Schneider's behalf, but staying still and not launching arcana slaves on Schneider's behalf is a lot harder. She has been warned to not eat the heads of anybody by Lilian before and it's something she actually remembers but she wasn't warned against shooting lasers out of her giant snake mouth. She sits down in the closet. "It's okay." She says to herself. "Schneider didn't put me in here because she doesn't need me. She just doesn't want us to get caught. Eventually, I'll be able to help. With my lasers. And Schneider will think I'm really cool and pretty when I blow up her enemies." She hugs her knees close to her body. "She doesn't think I'm a liability, mhm mhm, she's my friend. Friends don't see friends as liabilities, they see them as friends. Just every girl has their own specialties and my specialty is blowing up evil." A dark shadow creeps over her face, even in the closet. "Mhm... Magical Girls of Guns sometimes...are just a bit rough with feelings. That's part of their charm, mhm mhm..." She hopes she can fight evil soon.
Sarracenia	SPY TEAM - TAVERN      'These things often don't peter out on their own. If she cast the curse herself then it'd make sense to run away until the kingdom collapses from it, then saunter back in when you're all on your last legs and too weakened to drive her out.'      The entire bar looks over as Lilian talks. "...so, killing the caster breaks it, huh?" another man who has been quiet this whole time says. He is burly and relatively well equipped. Perhaps some kind of adventurer. "Well, if the princess fled, it was probably into the forest. Maybe we should get a party together and go find her. It's well-known she isn't much of a combatant." He downs his drink, then looks around the bar. "Anyone who's with me, meet me at the gates tomorrow morning." he says, then heads out.      SPY TEAM - CASTLE      Schneider starts her stealth mission by securing the least stealthy person in the party. This is a wise decision on paper, but in practice...      Regardless, Schneider is able to sneak a good ways into the castle before actually encountering a guard. The floor Schneider is on is apparently the basement level. The servants' quarters are here along with the kitchen. It isn't until she goes upstairs that she finally finds a guard. A pair of them guarding the only entrance from the servants' area up to the main floor. Sneaking past the pair would be impressive. Subduing them quietly might be doable as well. They are facing away from the door, against the wall on either side of it.      Voices can be heard farther in. One low and masculine. One feminine. And one...rather deep and high class servant sounding. If Schneider has heard Gregory before, his voice is unmistakable. The female voice is likely the queen, and the other is probably the king.      Meanwhile, Love...is in a closet. It is dark and lonely. And there are things skittering about and softly squeaking in a very rat-like manner.