Fox
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"Mm-hm." Natalia did not sound convinced, but she was at least convinced enough to let it be. For now. "For what it's worth," she said instead, turning her head to look toward Jenny, "the evil cyborg has his face but not his name, and for all that Ryder is...distinctive..." She paused long enough to wave a hand at Ryder's entire deal. "...it's a very large city and stranger people have hidden from better. He's very probably safe from being kidnapped or experimented upon or used as a test dummy for some kind of evil labyrinth, provided he doesn't continue to make dangerous friends."
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"His human allies were more interested in the body than the mind," pointed out Dragonfly - though not before sending a thought out make sure simulation's ability to hear the room was muted. Eira jumping in to interact with Irons directly was a good plan - she'd have to offer her approval later - but it would help to keep the conversations separate. "Weren't even apologetic about it. 'We have backups,' weren't interested in even trying to trust this Irons, still in this body. Treated him like a tool. They'd probably be thrilled to have an army of him." She'd pull her chair back toward Irons' head, shining a light into the damage and tap-tap-tapping a finger against her leg. "Speaking of which. Unless he is compromised or a clone, we should figure out a body for him. Full repairs or full replacement. Probably the former unless he opts for the latter."
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"I have no prayers for him," said Wraith. She seemed unusually somber, standing still and looking at what used to be a human. "I do not know his gods, and he did not know mine. Rest, Captain; I hope that wherever you go, the waters are kind." She was quiet, then, but only for a moment before her head came back up and she turned to the others. "We should leave, I think," she said. There was a small clink of metal as an over-long arm gently dropped the gun off to one side of the room. "If the ship was originally struck by a mine, it may only be afloat because of the witch's magic, and she is no longer here to maintain it. Those who need to breathe should perhaps lead the way, so they can leave first?"
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Just a 19 for Tiamat. Can't even reroll, since she's a sidekick! Alas, alas.
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Tiamat had never once been accused of stealth - not once, not ever, and she certainly wasn't going to start now. With the teenage hero stepping out into the open she did much of the same, very un-subtly placing herself just off to his side. Not close enough to step on his spotlight - she wanted to see how they did, after all! - but just close enough to put herself between the students and trouble if need be. She also didn't make much attempt to not be intimidating. She'd always enjoyed "bad cop", and stood with her arms crossed and her eyes glowing, saying nothing in words and plenty in six feet of well-muscled warrior-hero.
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"He's a terrible liar but a surprisingly passable actor," chimed Natalia. This whole thing was delightful, but she was determined to not let it show on her face. Dry observations only, or else. "If you'll be watching the news anyway, you may want to see who is suddenly enthused by the idea of robot gorillas. You can laugh at them, knowing that's your brother's work." And then she turned back to Ryder, arching an eyebrow up. "That is a good question, though. I was bored enough not to ask at the time, Cricket, but you found out where May was and got two invitations to go see her at a closed event. How did you manage that?"
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"Space is terrible, and nobody should go there," said Tiamat, quietly, standing where she could see the kids, and Fleur, without going too far from any of them. She always preferred to be properly-sized for these kinds of things, but that might defeat the purpose of teaching the students reconnaissance.... "No plants for you, no rocks for the knight, and worst of all they don't make space suits in my size." She harumphed, dismissing the though of the empty void to cross her arms and watching. "So, not-your-first-rodeos - show us how it's done."
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"Of course it's business," Natalia agreed, inspecting the fingernails on one hand. Her accent was strong, Russian, and impeccable. "Only business gets done at the pier. The pier is nice, good view. If it was personal, it would not be so nice, yes?" She took a moment to put the narrative together in her head, looking up to the ceiling as if it had better answers. "Ryder and I met because May was using us to stress-test secret lair designs. Traps, defenses, and such." Her accent was flawless American English again, and she glanced toward Jenny with her eyebrows raised like lair design was slightly banal. "We fought robots, decapitated a robot gorilla, and won. May lost. Later it turned out that the military was using her for research, and also stringing her out as bait for her original clients, who we also fought, and who also lost. May apparently cut a deal to become bait, so now she'll probably walk with time served, if only so that the local DA doesn't have to get flayed alive by every judge in the city." She paused again, squinting as she tried to think of anything she might have missed. "....it was deeply embarrassing for the military, their sad little science fair got attacked and they had to get bailed out by local heroes. There was press, it'll probably make tomorrow's news. A criminal cyborg probably knows your brother's face, but she also owes him a debt and I think she'll take that seriously. Probably. She seems the type."
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"If there's a problem bad enough that you shouldn't fight, we'll let you know," Tiamat confirmed. She took a moment, as Fleur created her portal, to sniff the air and make a pleased noise deep in her throat before continuing. "But Fleur de Joie's right, it isn't usually interesting, or as exciting as it sounds. 'Big like horses' could be big monsters, or a couple drunk fools trying to knock each other out, or two small dogs that are very very loud. Tips aren't always accurate, and witnesses are often wrong." She grinned again, eyeing the others as she walked backwards through the portal. "There's only one way to find out for sure," she challenged, and then she was gone.
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"That's an interesting omission," Dragonfly drawled, watching the video play through another time. Some part of her brain was pulling those Simmons drone designs apart, reworking them into something better. She expected better of the Foundry, but maybe that was the point. "Nobody thought to mention that they were mass-producing our patient? We got bargain-bin Foundry parts. Where are all those drones?" Tap-tap-tap went a metal finger against a metal leg. "Wish I knew him better, knew speech patterns. 'How did they do this' is interesting. Not why, not how could they, but just 'how'?"
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"Alright, everybody out!" called Elizabeth as the truck rolled to a halt. She took just enough time to make sure the brakes were on and the engine off before flinging open her door and landing with...less grace than she'd have liked, one leg seizing up in protest of its long confinement. She made do, hopping on her remaining leg toward the side of the truck so that she could get the side panels opened. She twisted her leg in a way that looked painful and felt great, locking the panels into their open position so the team could get at tools and parts. "We lost a little of our lead so let's make sure we're ready for our friends when they get here!"
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Unarchiving at player request.
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Archiving at player request.
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"I probably have answers for people who have earned them," grinned Tiamat (albeit with a much more human set of teeth), though she didn't get a chance to elaborate - Fleur's speech took precedent, and rightly so. "This patrol isn't an excuse to punch above your weight class," she added, serious-faced. "You're just starting out, and there's no shame in that. Even I had to start somewhere." She paused for a moment on that one, turning her gaze upward for a moment as she scratched her jaw. "....I started out as a fire-breathing wyrm the size of a small bear, I guess, but you know what we mean. If you get hurt, we cancel the patrol to get you out immediately. If you die, we have to do a lot of paperwork. So don't do that."
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Yeah, Dragonfly will skill mastery for a 'roll' of 30.
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"I think that may be a different genre," drawled Natalia. "Similar, but distinct." Tired of standing, the teen waited for Jenny to finish a nearby table and slid into one of its seats once she wouldn't be in the way; she sat sideways, one leg up on the seat and one arm propped against the seat's back to avoid touching more than was necessary. "Don't worry too much about someone trying to kill Ryder - I'm sure it's a common enough problem, but I'm not sure May tried all that hard. Plus, he rewarded her by helping her get out of jail for it." She made it sound very reasonable. "So I'm certain that will be fine."
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Natalia shook her head, waving a dismissing hand. "Don't suck up, Cricket. Though I suppose he isn't a cricket at all, then," she amended, looking back toward Jenny. She'd been neglecting poor Black, and returned a hand to petting the little creature's back. "He's really more of a duckling. A gosling?" She looked up, rolling that one around in her head. It was only mostly for show. "'Duckling' might be better. If your mother had kept something like betamax tapes or an especially talkative scanner around, do you suppose he'd be themed appropriately? I can almost imagine the design. I suppose having your belt chew tape couldn't possibly be more embarrassing than getting a paper jam mid-fight."
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"I wouldn't have expected to be chosen first," Tiamat quietly admitted. "It was...intriguing. Perhaps we'll be able to put something worthwhile in their heads." Tiamat, even in human guise, was tall - very tall - and cheerfully loomed over Muirne for a moment after the girl has introduced herself. Tiamat's grin had too many teeth, and too many of the teeth were sharp. They did not get less sharp as she leaned over, mace swinging forward on her hip like a pendulum. "Perhaps first we will teach them to relax."
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Wraith let her wall of metal drop, collapsing her body back into something more recognizable as a body - standing on the floor, no less, tall and silver and vaguely humanoid. She also did some mental math - she'd never been an excellent study of American history, but her world history was at least a little bit better and a hundred years of magical binding slid some things into their proper place. "....yes," she said, looking at him with surprising gentleness. "This world is never truly at peace, and yours was not the last great war, but for now they are done. Germany is well, and respected."
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Natalia watched the video impassively, and she remained poker-faced after it ended. She should probably be mean. She didn't want to be mean. Why wouldn't she want to be mean? She wouldn't be mean. "Inspiration does come from unusual places," she ventured, setting the almost perfect sphere of cellophane down on the counter's surface. "Actual, honest, big-money fashion shows have done a lot less with a lot more. That's an...odd thing to build an identity off of, Cricket, but you've clearly done well with it. Credit where it's due for making something useful out of corporate marketing." She paused, and then: "Do you ever worry," she added, turning a flat look back toward Jenny, "about how close your brother came to running around as a fax machine."
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Yep, put in the edits a bit ago. Liz's drive check: 11 .....nnnnnnno? It's a bit early for a reroll, but, fine, Orokos! She has luck to spare! Reroll: 20, but she can't do worse than an 11 on a reroll so that's actually 21. Liz goes down to 4HP.
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"One has to assume," Natalia agreed. She popped the last bit of brownie into her mouth, buying time with her chewing. The empty wrapping folded in on itself, crumpling into a little sphere in her palm. "I am...tangentially aware of your broader inspirations," she admitted, in the very careful way one might admit something without laying their hand fully on the table. She was eyeing Ryder now, trying to measure his enthusiasm against what she'd seen of his sense of style. "But I've seen more Russian telenovelas than Japanese kids shows, so if you had anything specific in mind it might be lost on me."
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"That's all sounding a lot like a challenge, but I don't think the clubs have enough drinks in them t'make me walk around in public, in assless chaps." He paused, and then he and Fang said, in unison: "All chaps are assless." Matt sounded a less pleased about it than the dog. "Mostly the same amount of trouble, for me - graduating didn't really make less ghosts happen, yeah?" He shrugged, draining the last of his beer. "A lot less of the carrying-babies-while-shot stuff, though, so that's an improvement."
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For just a moment, Natalia froze like a cat that had spotted something interesting in the grass, meeting Ryder's eyes as her eyebrows slid a half-inch up her forehead. "I assume," she finally said, though not before finishing a bite of brownie, "that might mean your suit and aesthetics were some kind of collaboration. But that's boring, so instead I'm going to believe you built it out of a toy or movie prop. Did you turn a children's toy into a power suit, Cricket? Because that would be some very respectable engineering and also I would never let you live it down."
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Whoever taught Natalia her table manners had done so with rigor; she hadn't even gotten her fingers dirty taking little bites out of her brownie, and she politely chewed and swallowed before answering. "Considering that you made them, Cricket," she said, more amused than genuinely admonishing, "I'm not sure that's the sterling defense you thought it might be." She took another nibble of her brownie before continuing. "A fair point about the aesthetic, it is vital. I myself considered a foot-wide jeweled necklace that announced my every move," she mused, "but it did seem like it would rob me the fun of belittling my enemies directly."
