>>1928352
You're not exactly sure what's going on here, but you don't like the incredulous look that Izumi wears as the spotlight is literally on her now. Approving cheers go up, surrounded by people who are looking to her with various expressions of interest and excitement on their faces- although you suspect it's partially because some people are just interested in seeing someone get beat up. They had made sure to make their display flashy and look rather intimidating.

You get the distinct impression Interdiction is trying to make a point. What that point is, you don't know, and you're not really sure you care. But that doesn't mean you're not kinda pissed.

From the way she looks around, it's clear she's looking for you, but can't seem to notice you. The expression on her face says that she's not entirely interested in fighting right now, either - but knowing her, that's not out of a fear of defeat, more out of a desire to retain decorum. Gah, sometimes you hate your short statue...!

"Man, why're they putting her on the spot like that, huh?" Lorelei grouses. "Ya'd think they wouldn't just yank someone out the crowd...although I don't think this was all that random. Bells going off in my head big time." She actually looks antsy, like she's about to tell them off herself.

>Try to speak up for Izumi. Motivate her!
>Interrupt the proceedings and try to fight yourself.
>Encourage Lorelei if she's that eager.
>Other

>>1928355
>>Encourage Lorelei if she's that eager.

>>1928355
>Try to speak up for Izumi. Motivate her!
Izumi is the better fighter, and I don't want Lorelei's defeat to tarnish our company's image.

shit how much mana do we have left? we're (possibly) not in good condition to support her

>>1928355
>try to speak up for Izumi. Motivate her!
are they going for a 2 vs 1 fight?
better yet how about a fucking 3 vs 2 battle

>>1928374
>Mana: 7600/11000

Also, 10 more minutes due to start of thread, as always.

Been writing, sorry.

>>1928355
>>1928373
>>1928374
You have to admit, you hate seeing her like this. She looks almost worried. She really shouldn't be. And you're going to let her know it.

"Izumi!" Your voice is loud, clear, and reaching, to the point that several others look for the source and you can hear the crowd quiet down just a bit. Izumi's quick to follow the sound, and you can see her face twist into a bit of relief at the sight of you after a couple of people surrounding you give you a bit of space. "You know full well you can do this! Don't be scared, and don't hold anything back! Show who 'em what we're made of!"

At your words, you can hear a few people muttering in surprise. 'Wait, she knows her?'

'Wasn't she just in a fight?'

'Yeah, it was pretty incredible! Nearly wrecked the ring!' Okay, that one was exaggerating.

'Whoa. Wonder if they're on the same level...'

'This gonna be good!'

Judging from the fierce blush on her face, Izumi is hearing similar statements around her. Claudi just grins at the spectacle of it all. "See? Even got friends out there that are cheering you on! C'mon in and introduce yourself!" Nero just relaxes on the back ropes, although he doesn't say anything in response to any of this.

Taking a deep sigh, Izumi quickly makes her way to the ring, the cheering intensifying when she steps in and waves to the crowd. "There ya go! So, champ, how about a name?"

"Ah, right." she bows formally, and gives a prim smile. "My name is Izumi Yayoi, and yes, I am an Outgoer. I currently serve under Silver Eye Solutions, although I also do librarian work from time to time in the Learner's District." She doesn't say which library, which is probably for the best if she still wants any semblance of quiet in her life.

"Well, well? So we should be callin' you a rival, then, huh?" She chuckles as though it's a joke; but it's really not and you're actually kind of sure most in here realize it. "But nah, we're all here trying to do what we can. It's all in good fun, and hey, we're glad you be willing to check us out! Who knows, maybe if ya get tired of 'em..." she lets the question hang and has a silly expression on her face, which gets the desired results as a few chuckles go up from the crowd.

"Bastard," Lorelei says out of nowhere. You quickly turn to her, and she meets your gaze fiercely. "That dildo on the ropes just smirked at us."

"He does that," you placate. "Don't get caught up."

cont.

>>1928432

"Anyway!" Claudi shouts, causing everyone to quiet down. "I say let's get this show on the road, huh? Let's show ya just what Interdiction is all about! Now, I'm sure you realize, being an Outgoer yourself, that it's all about using what you got, and effectively, right? Right. So, here's what'll happen. Me and Nero here are already exhausted-" here she wipes her brow as though she really is tired, when you know full well she isn't - "while you're fresh, so to make it fair, me an' him will set up a little tag team action!"

What.

"WHAT?!" Lorelei roars.

"I beg your pardon?" Izumi asks incredulously.

"Not together, though!" Claudi quickly clarifies. "That'd just be cruel. He'll hang out outside the ropes, and I'll have to tag him in physically, fair and square. I don't touch him, he doesn't show up. And to make things even more fair, no matter how bad things get, I want tag him for the first three minutes at all!"

"Ah...that is...challenging," Izumi says diplomatically, but her face is tense, like she's trying to figure out a game plan.

"But fun!" Claudi adds.

"Oh, THAT is BULLSHIT!" Lorelei yells. She tears from your side, and you're about to decide whether to stop her or to join her-

"...But I accept those terms." Izumi's voice is cold, hard, and resolute, stopping Lorelei in her tracks. "I will do my best."

"Fantastic!" Claudi yells. "Alright, then, let's get this party started, people! To corners!" With a mighty cheer from the crowd, Izumi and Claudi both take up respective positions in opposite corners. Nero takes his place behind his sister, leaning on the turnbuckle, looking supremely confident and lackadasical at the same time.

"I cannot believe this. I CAN NOT believe this, why is she going along with this?!" Lorelei looks like she's about to tear her hair out, and as Nero looks over again, you notice this time he snickers outright. Ugh...warning bells going off in your head, too. This might not be pretty...

>You have to wonder how she's feeling right now... (Perspective swap to Izumi, play the fight out)
>Maybe you should just focus on keeping Lorelei calm.
>Ugh, maybe you can at least get Nero to cut it out real quick...
>Other

>>1928447
>>You have to wonder how she's feeling right now... (Perspective swap to Izumi, play the fight out)

>>1928447
>>Ugh, maybe you can at least get Nero to cut it out real quick...

5 minutes till call!

Rolled 1 (1d2)

Hm. Flip for it, then.

1: Perspective switch
2: Try to dig into Nero a bit.

File: Izumi Yayoi.png (590 KB, 886x902)

590 KB PNG

>>1928447
>>1928452
>>1928454

>You are now Izumi Yayoi.

Why in any shape did you agree to this? Miranda has a way of speaking, sometimes, that makes you think she's absolutely right, that's why. She sound so sure of herself and so absolute that you kind of feel funny for second-guessing whatever comes out of her mouth, even if it's categorically wrong. That has to be it. The explanation for why you agreed to engage in a fight in a disadvantageous position, regardless of what they claimed. They weren't weakened. They weren't even out of breath. This will be a fight against two opponents who were essentially warmed up and waiting for you.

If nothing else, then at the very least you don't think they know about everything you can do, which would be a plus. Although at the way you caught Nero looking at Miranda, you have to suspect that there's something going on here. At the moment, you can't really do anything about that, though.

Not with Claudi staring you down like a lioness stares down a gazelle. No guns, no extras- you don't even have your sword with you.

Which means that you'll have to make due.

Claudi positions her hands as she prepares to cast one of her modification spells right out the gate. You prepare yourself in a self defense stance as well.

The drone drops down to the center of the field, glowing a bright red...then yellow...green!

>Shape a melee weapon to start- keep her in close range so she can't get started.
>Shape a small firearm to start- you'll be able to snipe anything she throws out of the air.
>Shape a large firearm to start- She won't expect it, and you'll likely be able to deal huge damage out the gate.
>Go in for a physical assault- save your weapons shaping for a surprise.
>Other

>>1928519
>>Go in for a physical assault- save your weapons shaping for a surprise

>>1928519
Large firearm
won't be able to outlast 2 people have to go big fast

>>1928531
Never mind go with >>1928529

Hm. Alright. Writing!

Although I still think this match might as well have a three minute time limit cause no matter how much we stall and conserve energy a fresh fighter is coming out putting izumi behind unless we can stop the tag

>>1928519
>>1928529
>>1928531

You don't want to risk showing off your major advantage so soon - fortunately you've got more than that up your sleeve. You might be a weapons master, but your body can be plenty a weapon too. Time to use it.

You race forward in preparation to strike- she seems to flinch slightly and immediately sling an arrow shaped bolt of something at you, which you're fortunately ready for, if only barely. Whatever it's made of is chilling, as you can feel a coolness across your cheek as it passes. She's more experienced than to let that dismay her however, and as soon as it's from her fingertips she's bracing herself for a close combat encounter. She needs it- a quick palm strike to the face is deflected, and she tries to wrap the responding arm around yours, only for you to slip it and move into her space in order to try and throw her- she's quick to realize however, and and spins around you, shoving you near against the turnbuckle- however, she chooses to back off instead.

A great choice. Not really. You quickly plant the foot against the turnbuckle and use it as a kickoff, launching yourself at higher speed directly into her path again, a flurry of kicks erupting from you as you close in on her. She manages to block or deflect the lot of them, lashing out with a knee when you land; the impact is heavy, but braced against your palm as you do your best to deflect her own strikes. She's good enough to keep pace with you, which dashes your hopes of a quick victory. Still, you manag to press the advantage you have as best you can, and after another exchange you finally manage to hit flush with an elbow to the gut, which causes her to double over- you're quick to slip your leg between hers and push, tripping her fully and causing her to fall flat on her face, to the roars and shock of the crowd. You can hear Lorelei cheering wildly, too; that can't help but bring a smile to your face.

Claudi's far from finished, however; she's quick to spring up, actually pushing off with her hands to shove herself backwards as she rises- you're quick to dart forward to keep up the pressure, but she manages to make a one-handed hand sign, pointer and pinky finger extended, and you have to stop yourself from running into a mirror-like barrier. She's quick to make a sign with her other hand, and you know that's the beginning of her setting up her relays. To your surprise, she extends two fingers from the other hand, thumb and pointer, and a spark of magic erupts from both, two relays setting up on either side of you.

>Actions?

>Mana: 8500/8500

>>1928632
>use Palms of Succor to launch an energy wave at re relays and jump over the barrier to attack her

>>1928632
I don't think we ever saw her shoot a bolt in a direct attack befor so the may require the relays to do thier thing so disrupting those should take priority.

Gotcha. Writing.

Didn't know you were running today. You started a lot earlier than normal, got the day off?

>>1928663
Where is Izumis stats and skills?

>>1928632
NVM found it.

Also

> Ki Union:

Via harmonizing with the mana flow of someone nearby to identical levels, she can 'share' her mana with them, and under her control, allow for a much more massive power boost to any mana-based attack than any non-specalized mana crystal or mana condenser can supply.

Oh boy we have to learn this to add to our Flux wave. Targeted fluxing and destabilizing of an opponents mana?

>>1929052
I'm pretty sure you're misunderstanding how those skills work.

Li Union doesn't harmonize the other person's mana frequency, it forces Izumi's to get closer to the other person's.

>>1929062
No that's just the first step, after harmonizing with them then we can destabilize them easier/more precisely.

Like playing in tune then out of tune to counterpoint someone's music instead of randomly playing noises at it.

>>1929090
I think the ability is just the ability to let someone "over channel" with her providing the extra mana

But I can see where your coming from

>>1929122
Yeah I mean. If it's anything like electrical then you could really mess it up by putting in random power surges. Suddenly it's flowing too fast and then less fast etc.

Or if it's like music then you could harmonize with it which could cause weird as fuck shot with magic - or nothing at all because magic. But it might disorientated the person badly while they're trying to blow something up that's preferably not themselves.

Just ideas.

Emergency came up. Will resume tomorrow. Hell, later tonight if everything goes well because I'll be feeling really happy.

>>1929173
Yeah syncing with someone else's mana let's randa cheese her self heal to a touch range spell

it could have a lot of funky interactions if the underlying process was applied to other spells

>>1929204
Sure thing boss good luck with the stuff!

>>1929231

AFAIK She theorized a lot of stuff based off of the crossover. After seeing what happened when she messed up using this technique with Purps.

You'd have to ask MG though.

Boy do I hope Miranda is keeping watch on
that Nero guy.
Maybe during the fight Izumi should constructs some temporary sentry guns/homing guns so when the second player enters we have some kind of advantage. I know they drain mana, maybe Izumi can hold it on for 1 minute or two?

This whole thing is a big setup they lose they can blame how tired they were from the exabition fight the win and Izumi and by extention our group loses some face

Need to do some brain storming on how to spin this so even if Izumi can't pull out a victory, which is a tall order in and of it self, we don't lose to badly in public perception.

If she does win tho it will be like we hijacked the whole fair right out from under them with no real scheming on our part which would be hilarious

I just finished archive diving. Glad I can finally participate. Dunno what you guys were thinking even coming to this fair-thing though. There were wayy many too risks for little gain.

>>1929805
This is also my first thread live heh what risks are you talking about tho I don't think anything to sinister is going on just a little posturing from the big guys.

>>1929805
i don't know why people wanted to come when there there was practically nothing to gain.

>>1929828
Making contacts and scoping out how a large organisation does a big pr event.

Also we made quite a splash with our fight word is getting around already.

Although now that I think about it they made a big deal about who Izumi works for the guy might be a much bigger fish than he let's on. Now I'm getting bad vibes and I'm not sure if I'm over thinking things.

>>1929880
>Making contacts and scoping out how a large organisation does a big pr event.
Not sure why we care about either of those things. We're not short on work or personnel. We're nowhere near a "large" organization, and won't be for a long time. We don't care about fame. There was nothing to gain here.

>>1929880
i would have voted for staying a smaller organization if i was around for that vote preferring to be able to know our employees.

>>1929880
>the guy might be a much bigger fish than he let's on
He's part of Interdiction's B Team, which is heads and shoulders above us bringing our A game.
It's a little late to be realizing that.

>>1929880
As for the actual fit I'm thinking about the way it's set up they gave us the first three mins of no tagging why would they do that maybe to make us go all out so we tip our hand early while using a lot of resources and pull out the big guns which I personally fell for hard

they may be pretty sure that their first fighter can last that long at least wearing us down and then send in the much more offense focused fighter afterword to take us out

So to counter maybe we appear to use all our tricks while trying to take advantages we gain without losing much for it maybe even use one of our mid tier moves (haven't seen the move list)right before the three mins are up as a fake desperation attack then when they switch we go ham when we see an opening. I think the blade trail thing Izumi will be very helpful for zone denial of the teleporter so maybe keep that back.

Thouhts?

>>1929915
So would I but that's what happened if anything I'm going to try to be around to make sure things don't get to crazy. So far all we really have committed to is a office and being sorta in charge

I only really bring up those points because I like to think this isn't a waste of time. It's not exactly what I would have wanted but things are happening in a quest I like so I tend to look on the bright side.

>>1929917
Shoot I forgot about that started reading hive quest after catching up on this one so my brain is full of conflicting tones and lore

Well, I'm back, kinda. Feeling happy, but more drained than expected. Hope everyone here will be able to be here tomorrow, I'll be running early again.

Hope you've got some good strategies in mind.

>>1930046
I'd like us to try and be flexible using our more basic capabilities. Remember that this is a show and nobody really expects us to win against the Interdictions top dogs. We should avoid any clashing of raw power since we'll inevitably fail it.

Better to show off as being inventive and resourceful, and not get baited into trying to win before the tag out or anything.

Heck it might be best to try and draw it out UNTIL then so that we can claim that was our goal all along, "We wanted the opportunity to fight someone fresh".

Also we should ask if we can tag in Miranda. She already fought, too, so she's just as exhausted no?

So there are no restrictions to Shape Weapon? I want to make use of that. Are there restrictions on how or where Izumi can create something? Do they always appear in one of her hands for example?

I'd like to get up close and force Claudi to remember the basics of CQC. We're going to be so up in her face, literally, and use Shape Weapon to create a whip, lasso, garrotte or anything that's basically a rope around her legs and then we yank it and capture her legs. Once she's on the ground we go for a choke hold and make her tap out.

Now that's too easy so we probably won't win just like that so after they recover and we re-engage we once again get Right In Her Face, only this time we use Palms of Succor in addition to Shape Weapon to create tonfas, batons, nun-chucks and the like. We increase our range and power out of thin air at a range there really isn't anything she can do about it effectively.

Bonus points if we shape the first weapon behind her, out of her vision after we let her parry a strike on purpose and then we nail her right in the neck.

We keep the sword and guns for the next guy or if this plan isn't working.

>>1930348
I agree with your strategy. We should utilize our speed and be on some aggressive defense.
My worry is the "*teleports behind u*" Nero, maybe use long lasting homing magi-blasts or sentries to distract him? and maybe we can be constantly on his sisters ass so he can't attack without hitting her/be on her way while we have power sense on to detect his whereabouts.

>>1930709
we could concede the match the moment he appears

>>1930709
>>1930348

Also has the advantage of making us look like a good sport. Remember, this is just a friendly match. Better to look like we're part of the show than being the show. Also it'll deflate their big moment of having their "exhausted" member dramatically hold out against Izumis assault before managing to tag out and having us get curb stomped by the "Cavalry".

Play up us being the under dog a little bit. Enough so that we look sympathetic but not bad. Plucky.

>>1930046
I'll back "play defensive and fast/counter until the three minutes are up" so that it looks like Claudi is the one who can't beat us, not that we can't beat him.

Then go all out on the second guy because there's now way he isn't getting tagged in. Pretend that was our plan all along, with the goal of just getting to fight him so that it's a "fair" fight - although people will note at that point that WE'LL BE the "worn out" player so there'll be some doubt about when we lose if that affected it. Makes us also look good planning wise because we "saved some juice just for him".

Unless he just stomps us which would make them look bad anyways since they're known to be the top dogs.

Let's go off script.

>>1930728
It's worth noting that after 3 min they can /freely/ tag in and out. Trying to fight teleporting guy is a losing battle, I think. Even if we do wear him down, it'd be easy for him to tag out again, catch his breath, and tag in again.

>>1930728
I'm fine with that, just fingers crossed Claudia isn't actually better or stronger than Izumi.

Also I don't think we need to be worried about that crap about them being tired or worn out. Any actual outgoer, or people who work closely with them, knows what a load of bullshit that is. The people whose opinion is worth a damn know the lie for what it is. Wouldn't be surprised if Lorelei starts heckling them about it at some point.
>"Even C rank Couriers have more stamina than you!"

>>1930737
We just need to defeat Claudia when she's tagged in. Without his partner he can't tag out

>>1930737
Yeah but if we make him put his pride on the line, like we were waiting to fight him, then we change the "win" condition.

If he tags out after that, he's pretty much admitting a fresh fighter can't take us on alone after we fought someone else for 3 minutes.

Winning here means looking good, not beating them in the ring. Gotta think strategic not tactical. There's not even a prize for winning.

>>1930741
Yeah I'm pretty sure they expect us to do that, therefore it's a trap.

Thin about what people will talk about after they leave. We want them to talk about how awesome our fight was, not how overpowered they were that we couldn't beat them.

Throw out the expectation of us beating them right away and then they won't know what to do.

>>1930719
All I want from this is to show these interdicks that we maybe small time to them, but we ain't pushovers. We're gonna lose so gracefully that'll they think they lost (some) face or reputation or something.

>>1930751
That's what I'm talking about. We're too good to fight seriously with their tired out member, we want to bite off a piece of the Fresh Meat.

Glad folks are around! Writing for a bit, and we'll go from there, yeah?

>>1930756
I hope Interdiction isn't too predictable and shows some actual smarts here.

>>1930747
>>1930750
>>1930751
They're going to hate us. Let's make doubly sure that they'll get chewed out by their bosses tonight.

>>1930760
They're probably trying to gauge our abilities while also seeing if we have any actual skills besides thuggin' & buggin' out in the field. Like. Are we actually a serious business or just a bunch of magical muscle starting to hit the next rung on the ladder.

Remember, it's playing smart that makes money, not playng hard. Although sometimes it's smart to play hard.

But yeah, we aren't here to make them look good for free and they clearly have a plan they're working to. Not knowing what that plan is, our best bet is to just try to not play along.

>>1930765
If you can't beat 'em, troll 'em.

We should offer to heal them up at the end, after all we don't want them looking ragged when they're hosting the event.

>>1930765
>>1930770

Also it makes them look like they picked a fight with our teams healer and got messed around with. Now I'm not saying people are prejudiced against healers. I'm just implying it.

Combined with fighting defensively, and our furious blush, we can just say we didn't really want to fight but we were too embarrassed to say no. After all, Izumi honestly doesn't like hurting people or fighting for the wrong reason.

>>1930775
>I'm the cook.

Haha Izumi really needs to say something like that after the battle

>>1930756
Oh! And just before I head in to work, at the end we should privately tell them that if they want our help to put on a show, we have very reasonable rates. They can even decide if or how they want us to let them win.

>>1930775
Let's try to pump up Heavenly Aura so much it seeps through the barrier and affects the crowd too, to really drive home the point.

>>1930782
Done

>>1930756
> Sal offers to sell them idol pamphlets with general descriptions of our abilities and roles in the company, along with our preferred jobs and favourite foods.

>>1930784
>Miranda is VERY secretly overjoyed to be featured as a popular trading card.

>>1930687
The limits are the more complicated or large the weapon is, the harder it is to maintain. Expected firepower is also a factor. For example, she's internalized how semi-automatic pistols and most typical assault rifles so hard that if she really needed to, she could construct one and hold its form for a day or so. Bigger things such as a cannon are simple, but they're pretty large, and so take more. The biggest thing she can craft and fire is basically a howitzer. Melee weapons are ridiculously easy to craft for her, although they have the added issue of being affected by repeated impacts a bit.

>>1930790
So my plan to materialize a lasso around the opponent is actually feasible?

>>1930790
Oh, and not so much always in her hands, but she is always in contact with a part of it on creation.

Aside from those, no real particular limits.

>>1930747
That is... optimistic. It's clear they planned this out beforehand, they're not going to let us change things like that. They both have the "excuse" of being worn out, if we focused on him and he doesn't last as long

>>1930807
He just rested for 3 minutes while we fought.

Besides, an unsure result is still a win for us. We don't have to make it a loss for them.

>>1930807
Also you think we don't care about PR? That's how small companies live and die.

And anyways it's even more optimistic to think we can just outright beat them. Especially if we don't roll well. You want to leave it all up to the dice?

This ain't D&D is what I'm saying.

>>1930818
Thankfully we're back to purely narrative combat. Don't give him any ideas again

>>1928632
>>1928663
>>1928675
You can't delay for very long. You're going to have to take this fight to her, but with such relays up things will just get worse for you. They're going to need to take priority whether you like it or not. A deep breath- you need focus and quickly. An opaque glow surrounds your hands, and becomes as small spheres surrounding them. A quick thrust and swipe out to either side, and the trails trails that they leave - brilliant glowing crescents of a shield - grants you a brief and moderate area of protection as they slowly move forward to interrupt the relays. You're not looking to give her a chance to use them anyway.

Another dash forward has Claudi looking surprised, yet in control as the hand that controls the mirror shield stays out, which is perfectly fine by you as your mental plan begins to form. Your hands glow a bit brighter, and your hit the ground and leap off with a a burst of mana, rocketing quickly via forward handspring to flip over the obstruction. About as you expected, the shield comes up to follow you, as does Claudi's eyes and posture - but you're not intending to try and get past the mirror shield just yet. As you land, you give it a experimental strike. The mirror seems to wobble somehow as your mana-coated fist impacts, but Claudi seems unafraid, and in fact grins as you can see the mirror glow briefly as well. Her hand makes another sign, but she doesn't get to finish it as you launch another kick towards the mirror, causing it to wobble again and her to briefly lose her focus. Hm...

A triple series of palm strikes to her now water surface mirror has her back up for a second, and she, much to your surprise, retaliates by shoving herself forward, causing the mirror itself to move forward in an attempt to shield bash you. You have to dodge out the way of it, barely doing so with a juke to the side, but that's enough for her to get some space as she quickly turns halfway and tosses out a blast straight for one of her relays- only for it to get absorbed by the remnants of one of your palms. To her credit, she doesn't even flinch, making another hand sign and attempting to split off more relays as the circle appears in front of her again.

You're already starting to get tired of that game plan, and you charge forward, and this time you are ready for her to swing around with her mirror.

You don't think anyone expected you to catch it on the side, the edge digging into your gut a bit. At first a yell goes up - you think you heard Lorelei for a split second - but as you pull yourself around and over, you have the distinct pleasure of catching a look of sheer surprise on Claudi's face as you reorient yourself horizontally, using the momentum of both the mirror swing and your own body defend yourself sailing feet first into a missile dropkick square into her once-smug face. The yelp of surprise is equally satisfying, you're ashamed to admit.

People without any humility just irk you.

cont.

>>1930824
However, she seems to have excellent focus, as even when she lands tumbling, she has enough wherewithal to orient herself upwards, though still on her back, and this time with a clear shot to her various relays. Two quick blasts as the mirror crumbles into nothing, and both quickly ping off the relays- it's only your remarkable reflexes that allow you to see what they're transmuted into just before they fire: one a lengthy bolt of fire, the other a triplicate blast in a spread pattern, both angled in a V pattern. Lovely.

> Try to take to the air, quickly!
> Stay grounded, dodge as best you can.
> Perhaps you can try to defend through them in time.
> Other

>>1930829
>> Stay grounded, dodge as best you can.

>>1930829

> Stay Grounded, try to dodge

Rush her again maybe?

Taking to the air is a trap as we saw in Mirandas fight.

>>1930829
What happens if we make like cloth or throw discs discs or fill the arena with balloons to place between her and her relays?

>>1930829
> Stay grounded, dodge as best you can.

Another question about Shape Weapon- I presume it can create shields as well. How sturdy are they, on average, if she doesn't pump it chock full of mana?

>>1930818
>Also you think we don't care about PR?
I mean, our clients only know about our company via Sal. Almost all our business is with people and groups that won't have heard of us prior, nor will they hear anything after. We have way more job offers than we can fill. All of our new hires have been from outside the Intersection. PR does have its uses, but it doesn't really affect us.

>beat them
I don't disagree, but I think it's worth attempting.

>dice
That reminds me, I was doing dice calculations for another quest, and discovered something interesting. Bo3 1d20 with crits has a 14.2% chance to crit fail, as opposed to 5% like you might expect.

>>1930829
> Stay grounded, dodge as best you can.

>>1930837
Cloth and balloons? How?

>>1930829
Tag and send a short burst of magi-blasts at one of the relays to test their durability as soon as there's an opportunity after dodging.

>>1930829
>Stay grounded, dodge as best you can.

>>1930837
You can do that.

>>1930838
Roughly the defensive capabilities of an inch thick plank of wood. It'll block a few light shots, but it's nothing grand. About 500 mana or so turns it into a proper shield, if a small one.

>>1930840
. . . .are you new here? The dice slant is well known.

Second we've gotten our most lucrative contracts from other, bigger outfits. I don't think we should be shaking down teenagers vs. Dealing with Nations.

Third, it's not worth winning the fight if it makes you lose the battle. The "fight" isn't the combat in the ring, but messing up whatever their plan is and looking good to others while doing it.

Maybe if we had a better reputation, we wouldn't have to pick up people who no matter how talented are still untrained broke as fuccboi scrubs compared even to some dude who is just a fucking cook here.

Seriously why do people keep acting like reputation in the Intersection isn't important?

Like. Can we have a discussion with Sal about this to put the matter to rest? Because if I'm wrong about reputation nattering then I'd like to be able to stop arguing about it.

>>1930840
Sorry I don't mean to get heated. But the subject keeps coming up ever since we got pinged by Dynamic and it's stressing me out.

>>1930842
>>1930844
Same way we make weapons I assume.

And hey. It couldn't hurt to fill the area with balloons to blind her and make the Festival seem . . . Festive.

>>1930851
It's alright, we've all been there. I /am/ new, for what it's worth. If these are old arguments, I'll leave them be until something changes.

>>1930852
Fair enough. There's a lot of good stuff in the ask.fm too.

>>1930852
I meant the FAQ. Also I mixed up Dynamic & Interdiction.

>>1930848
For what it's worth I'm gonna do what I can to make sure we win or lose with style. I'm not clear on if what you want to do is lose on purpose though, just because they said they're "tired"?

As far as the audience knows, it's a show match against a randomly picked opponent. Two strong fighters from the fair's organizers, no matter how you slice it losing in this game isn't a victory for them or a defeat for us. Seeing how Miranda got disqualified for going too hard unless we nut up and use Demon's Roar it is understood by everyone in attendance that it's a fight where both parties are holding back.

>>1930863
Yeah doing it with style is what I want to do as well. Grinding. Infuriating. Slippery nor quite hard fighting style.

Then going out with a bang as soon as they switch so as to not drag it out.

>>1930844

> make a bunch of balloons with Silver Eye Solutions logo on them to block her vision and foul her aim to her relays.

DOOOOODGE.

Writing. Good luck!

>>1930829
>>1930833
>>1930835
>>1930838
>>1930840
>>1930843
Nothing for it; you going to have to dodge as best you can. The fire's not the threat, despite what it might look like to the outside, that's simply a ferrying tactic to get you into the path of the shot that's more likely to actually hit. It's a common trick, and for good reason; it's rather a fact of whether someone wants to be or not. Unfortunately, you've seen what could happen if you take to the air, and you're not inclined to try your luck. The bolt of flame is easily dodged; as you expected it was a very directed shot- but the spread shot that fired off immediately afterwards is harder to dodge. You make make to dodge to the left; it was the area with the most headroom, but you can still feel yourself get clipped by one of the bolts, enough for you to stumble over yourself briefly, your own momentum causing you to orient yourself badly; in the time it takes you to face your opponent again, she's already fired off another two transforming bolts of magic to her relays.

As your head clears from the brief pain, you hop to avoid another bolt of fire, this time having enough distance to dodge spread shots sent at you, your agility allowing you respite from any other strikes for now as you swerve to close in on your target again.

By now she seems to have cottoned on to the strategy as she immediately leaps away, causing her and you to start engaging in a deadly dance of you trying to stay close to her and her darting away to attempt to get a shot off. You're actually kinda surprised she's not trying to take you on close range, but you won't question it too much; she's not really able to get a shot off before you can catch up to her. If she would have followed through, you'd be able to lay into her.

This chase lasts for at least a few more seconds than you feel comfortable with; considering that you're on the clock, every moment you spend is valuable. You risk a glance off to the side as Claudi jumps back yet again- Nero isn't even looking at you, rather looking upwards like he's bored. You don't have time to think about it beyond that- Claudi has her hands out again, and this time you're forced to launch a very small magi-blast if only to distract her. She manages to swat it out of the air, but it at least keeps her from firing. It also has the effect of allowing you to finally close in on her, grabbing her wrist right before she can get out of your range. A yelp escapes her, and almost immediately she forms a sign with her free hand; you do your best to yank her but this one is quick, resulting in a tiny circle far less elaborate than any of the others.

cont.

>>1930940
And then she suddenly shifts her weight, and similar to your own actions earlier, she leaps up and over your own body, twisting you unnaturally as you try to face her again. It's only then you realize she's mutually grabbed onto your own wrist, and quickly throws out a sharp kick to the midsection you manage to deflect slightly. A swing at her head misses and is retaliated with a backhand, what you sway out of the way of before you pull her in, trying to get her with a knee to the gut. She manages to slip that one as well, still holding onto your wrist as she tries to circle behind you, and before you can turn, she's slips a leg around yours, the positioning of her hips preventing you from turning as she seeks to grab your other arm from around you, resulting in the both of them crossing in an X shape as she grabs you from behind in a straightjacket hold.

You hate that you know what's going to happen next. You do your best in hooking your leg to her leg to prevent the suplex, but she lifts too fast to really get a good grip, and even though the trajectory is thrown off, she manages to convert it into a back to belly suplex regardless. You have a brief feeling of weightlessness before she slams you on the mat to the rollicking crowd's approval, and you can practically feel the grin on her face as she struggles to keep you under control.

Which is why you surprise everyone when you tuck your knees and *kick* off the mat, sending you both flying through the air and into the nearest turnbuckle. You can hear a groan of pain as she lets go of you involuntarily, and you're quick to spin around and follow it up with a kick to the gut that has her doubled over for a second. She manages to block the followup, however, and her hand goes out as though she's about to form another sign-

- as soon as you react to it however she slips pass, you kicking at the back of one of your legs to drop you to a knee briefly before getting some space, breathing hard. You get the feeling it's partially and act, partially legit concern. She's smiling, but it's a thin one.

Considering Nero's looking at you with interest now, as Claudi backs up towards him, however, it might not matter soon. Interestingly enough, you can see a shock of green hair not too far behind him. Miranda's near the barrier! And she's looking up, too...

You'd love to see what's up there, but...yeah.

"Time's up!" That.

>You've got to stop her from tagging! Toss any magi-beams you can!
>Prepare yourself. No use in getting caught out of position. You've just got to wear him down.
>Try to feint an attack towards her that's for Nero instead...that should be fair, right?
>Other

>>1930972
>Prepare yourself. No use in getting caught out of position. You've just got to wear him down.

>>1930972
>Prepare yourself. No use in getting caught out of position. You've just got to wear him down.

>>1930972
>>Prepare yourself. No use in getting caught out of position. You've just got to wear him down.
This is unsurprising, if annoying. If she was on the opposite of the ring, we might be able to keep her away from him, but not if she can just back into him.

>>1930972
>Prepare yourself. No use in getting caught out of position. You've just got to wear him down.

>Tag him to make magi-blasts homing, before he enters the ring.

>Flip on Power Sense and find his scent ASAP. Keeping it on could give early warning on his teleportation BS.

Locked. Writing.

>>1930972
>>1930975
>>1930979
>>1930984
>>1930999
Damn. No time to do anything about it, unfortunately. You do your best to slowly begin moving back to the center of the ring- the second part of the fight looks like it starts now.

The roar of the crowd rises to a deafening volume as Claudi slaps her brother's hand with a bit of a flourish. Nero doesn't even step in properly; he simply *poofs* past the ropes, hands in his pockets like it's no big deal.

You really hope you can make it a big deal. He moves too fast for you to really be able to counteract consistently; just from watching him fight earlier you can tell that. You take a deep breath as your senses expand and focus- you're not sure that it will help a lot, but any is better than none. If you can get any sort of heads up as to teleport from...

"I'm still kind of feelin' a bit winded," Nero says casually, and you find it exceptionally hard to believe him as Claudi leans on the ropes as well, smugly grinning. "So I think I'll letcha make the first move."

You're sure that that's some kind of trap, but as for what kind you have no clue. You notice that Claudi's relays are still active; you're going to have to be careful if she gets tagged back in. And hope that she doesn't feel like cheating. As the two of you slowly circle each other, you find yourself surprised at the cold, iron look in Nero's eyes; on the outside he appears to be lackadaisical and whimsical, but those eyes tell a different story. One that says he's he's smart, he's dangerous, he's experienced.

'COME ON!'Lorelei yells. "TRASH HIM! HE CAN'T POOF FOREVER!"

"Ouch, I heard that. Seems like your friends don't like me." He says with easy body language. You're still focused on him as a whole. You need to wear him down somehow without trying to overstep your own skill level. Perhaps more hit-and-run techniques? Try to beat him at his own game? Just make yourself annoying to hit..

>Actions? Open possibilities...

(Writing will take a bit longer than normal for a couple hours.)

>>1931089
Try to create as much energy chaff as possible in the ring, using a combination of Palms of Succor and Shape Weapon to create weak yet large shields in order to limit the area of space he can teleport to. Create and obvious hole in the chaff that he'll ignore as a trap, and a second one that he'll also ignore as a trap. He'll go after the third one that looks the most like a mistake we made, and that's when we tag him with our homing energy beacon and start hitting him with homing magi-blasts.

>>1931089
>>1931096
Sounds pretty solid. Not something I would have come up with but I have no better ideas.

>>1931096
Solid plan I'll agree with this one

>>1931089
this >>1931096

Seems unanimous. Like I said, posts will be delayed a bit. Locked, though.

>>1931139
Talk it up a bit. Ask if he is a one pimp chump if it takes him this long to get ready. Point out that we were just fighting the opponent who "exhausted" him ourselves.

>>1931181
No, don't. Doing any trash talk just invites looking like a fool after our inevitable defeat.

>>1931250
backing

>>1931250
Yeah and I think he won't be rattled anyway I'd say if things are getting too out of hand walking away would be better than getting defeated as well

>>1931250
Yeah on second thought you're right.

Back. Apologies for the wait.

>>1931089
>>1931096
>>1931099
>>1931121
>>1931136
You have to think. He's going to be teleporting all around - that was easily his primary form of movement and attack last time he was in the rain. So you're going to have to think about and account for that. How best to dissuade a teleporter...ah!

Your hands glowing, you're quick to activate your palms yet again, the light from them glowing and then growing up to your forearms. You going to need a lot of mana for this one.

With an immediate spin, you throw out two small waves, and you can see Nero's eyebrows raise in mild curiosity. He doesn't say anything though, and instead you see him simply shrug and begin to walk forward. You're going to have to do this quick, too... more thrusts, and a more waves come out, inching through the air, but just as dangerous to impact as any blast, and in the space of two seconds you're surrounded by rings more like them, all moving slowly through the air, threatening any who dare to get close.

As you breathe a deep sigh, you concentrate, letting your mana coalesce and harden as a familiar shape forms in your head - and then in your hand. As the katana finalizes, to the (likely mocking) whistle of Claudi, you take up a defensive martial arts stance none the less. He could still get past them, although that was, in truth, something of a hope of yours. You have a plan...

Nero, indeed, just nods his head appreciatively. Then he disappears. You have about half a second of realization as his sent seems to blink off and then reappear to your left as he jumps from where he was to the space in protection you left. One of them, anyway. A flick of your wrist has a kunai sling forward, created from nothing but mana; he's quick to dodge it, before teleporting you again as one of the slow blasts nearly grazes him.

With this, you realize that he's not sure what you're doing- but he refuses to take the obvious hole in front of you. And you realize what HE's doing. He's falling into your trap.

cont.

>>1931385
You nearly turned before he actually teleports, but you're staring him in the face yet again as you turn to your back and the 3rd hole in the slowest bullet hell ever. A fingertip is all you need as a small spark of light emits from your finger - you can see his eyes widened on impact, and he manages to teleport away, amidst some sudden shouting from ringside.

It doesn't matter now; you raise your hand in the air and immediately fire off of a volley of magi-blasts, the silvery energy coming off of you like fireworks and curving like living beings as they seek their marker.

What follows is a rapid-fire teleporting from Nero as he deftly, repeatedly vanishes to avoid the tracking blasts. You can see a lick of intense concentration on his face in the flashes that he appears; he can't even afford to attack you to you due to how the blasts are buzzing around like angry bees. Too risky.

It's then that you hear a yell at ringside yet again, and this time a commotion seems to flare up; still you ignore it as you see your opportunity.

He poofed a touch too close- will be poofing a touch too close, and you're moving to meet him as he returns to realspace. He's only there for a second, maybe not even that long, but it's enough as swing, and your makeshift blade makes impact; the sound of cloth tearing is music to yo-

"AGH!" That...was you. As you sprawl to the ground, a stinging sensation in your upper back, you're...what...is...huh? Fuzzy, everywhere...

Ow! ow ow ow that huuuurts! Its fire, fire it's all down can't think why can't you think now, it's all down your back and it hurrts!

Everything is blurry. everything hurts now. you're confused and it hurts.

>Stop it stop it stop the burning
>Where...he...have to fight. You...
>Help...please...
>Other

>>1931389
>>Where...he...have to fight. You...
I'd wager his sister is cheating. Why didn't we clear out her remaining circles after she left? I would have suggested it it, but it seemed obvious.
Cheating should be punished...

>>1931389
Well that's a thing
Let's try to stop being on fire so we can figure out what the hell happened

>>1931389
> Mana infusion and attack the nearest person as fast as possible

Buff up and lash out

>>1931403
Well if she is cheating then we can take a page from pro wrestling and become the good guys I don't know much about it but we did get suplexed heh

Bit of a tie going on. I'll extend it for 10 minutes. After that I'll roll.

>>1931389
>Other
ket out a blood curling scream. if they're not going to play fair, then neither are we.

>>1931389
>> Mana infusion and attack the nearest person as fast as possible

Locked. Writing. Let's see what we can do here...

>>1931405
>>1931455
You know that's going to end up hitting Miranda or Lorelei, right?

>>1931466
Comedy at its finest.

>>1931503
Falling right into Interdiction's trap.

I really wish we went doing a blind attack with all the PLOTTING going on but what are ya gonna do

>>1931511
Nah if it happens now I'll blame >>1931466 for giving Handler the idea

>>1931525
Sometimes the best plan is a blind attack.

Then we can put out the fire afterwards.

Besides nobody but us should be in the ring right? Can't blame us if they are.

>>1931389
>>1931455
>>1931434
>>1931405

No..no...too much...can't...stop...it hurts it hurts it HURTS

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!" You're not sure what you feel now, numbness and burning and fear and everything else, and something's rumbling beneath you, and for the briefest of moments you can see clearly- you can see your friends right outside right there, and the other girl too, you can't see Nero at all, and part of you fears where he might be. But you still smell something, something strange, something strange. Shouldn't be here, that's the thing that made you hurt, and you turn to lash out at it with a massive wave. The smell is blown away for a moment, although it's still there, and there's more shouting, more pain, and you're finding it hard to stand up and-

"All right. I do think that is quite enough, quite enough." And...you feel better. Immediately. You're not sure why nor how, but the sudden voice lends an idea to it- and you're not sure you like it.

"Quiiiiiite. I think things have gone a biiiiit off the rails, hmm?" Oh...oh dear.

Two silvery figures seem to start to materialize from out of nowhere, as if though they're suddenly *dripping* through the fabric of reality itself... Which they just might be. As your vision is clear, you can see that Miranda and Lorelei are both holding off an irate Claudi, now in the ring, and you look behind you to see Nero in a sitting position against the ropes, looking both angry and fearful at the same time as the Deal-Makers form themselves.

The one you don't recognize reminds you of a snake; no arms, but a strange mohawk like protrusion on the top of their head. Its eyes are empty yet glowing green with power as it wiggles in place slowly. Sal, in his usual lizard-like form and sunglasses, simply has a smirk on his face as he tsks.

The snake Deal-Maker turns to the audience- many of whom are frozen in shock. "I'm terribly sorry, but I believe we will have to cancel this event. Please feel free to enjoy the rest of the festival if you care to do so."

EVERYBODY immediately makes for the exits, save your friends, Nero and Claudi. The look on everyone's face is the same- one of abject worry as she speaks to you all specifically. "We have much to discuss."

Whatever was about to happen, it wasn't going to be pleasant.

>Stopping for now due to sudden family issues. Will be back tomorrow!

>>1931581

Oh damn whatever this is its totally not our fault.

>>1931587
this might even work in our advantage. Depending on how things go, we could make claudi and nero owe us a big favor at the very least.

>>1931581
I don't even see what they are so pissed about not like anyone was going to get killed izumi's not that kind of girl.

>>1931649
Since we don't actually know what the two idiots did (accidentally? hopefully accidentally) to Izumi, it's probably not wise to make statements about the level of danger posed by whatever it was they did. Oh, sure, Izumi was in enough control of herself there was no risk she'd cause any deaths... but who even knows what the hell kind of bullshit Nero stirred up.
>But you still smell something, something strange, something strange. Shouldn't be here, that's the thing that made you hurt,
I'm guessing something from outside The Intersection tried to get in. Or maybe the separation grew... thin between The Intersection and the complete absence of reality that surrounds it.

Either the arena itself inherently caused it, or Nero and Claudi's bullshit did. (Izumi's definitely innocent here.)

>>1931720
Yeah I was just wondering why claudi is so pissed off trying to charge the ring

Things defiantly didn't go to their plan tho

Can't wait to find out what the heck happened

I just thought of something is it perhaps possible we miss read the mood and this was suppose to just be a Simi friendly match and we cranked it up to eleven...

>>1931830
Well, they started with the team tag and the psychological burn... so, yeah.

Hey folks. Starting in about an hour. Ended up staying up late due to, well. Family medical issues, as I said.

>>1933197
Hope things work out. Are things stable for now?

>>1933225
Stable as can be for the moment. Got my phone nearby. Writing up the post now.

>>1931581
You're not quite sure what's going on anymore as the arena empties, but judging by the look on Nero's face, he seems to have something of an idea. Claudi is glaring at Lorelei- the both of them in fact look like they want to strangle each other. You're still not quite sure what the burning was...

"Nero dear, could you get up, get up?" He's quick to do so, as Sal moves a bit closer to you.

"Nooooot quite what was intended here, was it? I wouldn't worry about yoooooou, though." Sal reassures- while giving a meaningful look to the other three girls.

Miranda's managed to shake off her fear, and now she just looks affronted, Claudi's still gritting her teeth, and Lorelei is just looking at you like she wants to run over and hug you. "We dooooo have much to discuss, however..."

The snake Deal-Maker nods. "And we must deliberate, deliberate. Determine who deserves recompense."

>Forgive my ignorance... who are you, madam?
>Pardon, but what happened to me?
>What kind of recompense, if I may ask?
>Stay silent.
>Other

>>1933268
>>Pardon, but what happened to me?

>>1933268
>>Pardon, but what happened to me?
If we don't know what happened, how can we assign blame?

>>1933268
>>Pardon, but what happened to me?
>>What kind of recompense, if I may ask?

Gonna go ahead and lock it. Writing!

>>1933268
>>1933274
>>1933277
>>1933282
You're not sure if it would be considered rude persay... but surely they wouldn't fault you for asking, right?

"Excuse me?" the two Deal-Makers look at you calmly; seems like you're on the mark. "Pardon my curiosity, but what exactly happened to me?"

To your only mild surprise, it's Lorelei who speaks up. "This bitch dropped something on you from the ceiling! Some kinda glowing drop- like acid or something!" Wait, what?

"It wasn't acid, bitch, if it was it would have burnt through her!" Lorelei responds quickly. "And you're the one who made me do it with how you were about to interfere! I was just removing something I forgot!"

"Yeah, right! Besides, we were just asking you about what you kept looking at!" Lorelei huffs.

"By the two of you walking up to me and accusing me of sabotage? Yeah, right! And she didn't have to lash out with a cheap shot like that!" Before Lorelei or Miranda can dispute that, both Sal and the other one smoothly slide in between the two.

"Llllllladies, I think it's time for everyone to return to their respective corners. And by thaaaaat I mean we're going to have to leave." You can't help but feel a bit dismayed at that, and it's clear your friends are feeling similar. Claudi seems more frustrated than anything still, and Nero is back to his school collect itself. "I and Vesquala will get the details from eeeeeeeveryone in due time. Then we'll taaaaaalk, and see who needs to offer recompense, and to what extent. Until then, I suggest everyone take a niiiiice lie-down, hmmm?"

The mercurial snake slithers closer to Claudi, likely in an attempted this way to anything further. "I agree, I agree. Emotions must be calmed for the truth to come out. Payment will be rendered for any offences, any offences. Should they be determined to be so."

Ahhh... This seems like it's a great deal of trouble. Part of you wonders if maybe you can say anything to ease tensions...but then again it might not be your place. The Deal-Makers, from what you know, take this kind of issue between companies rather seriously.

>Anything to say?

>No.
>Yes (What?)

>>1933352
>>Anything to say?
>>No.
Nope, this is above our pay grade.

It seems clear who's at fault , seeing as she interfered with the fight while outside the ring, and we were in so much pain we couldn't think straight, but this is the Dealmaker's wheelhouse.

>>1933352
>To Claudia
You dishonored an already unfair duel. Good day to you.

Let's just go. They did this to mess with Miranda and stacked the odds in their favor hard to make SES look like losers. We'll want nothing to do with them.

She can make whatever excuses she wants, I don't doubt Lorelei was about to get involved but you don't solve it by dropping magic acid on a contestant. Underhanded little cunt

5 minutes to lock!

>>1933352
I'd just like to know what their intentions were from this whole thing but I doubt thay would be honest if they were trying to steamroll us.

Best to just let it get sorted out by the higher ups

>>1933359
>They did this to mess with Miranda
What's weird is that they were initially friendly. I can't tell if that was a ruse to lure SES here, or if they decided we weren't worth the trouble when Randa said she wasn't looking to jump ship.

>>1933352
No. Shut up and don't make this worse.

>>1933370
It seems at least one of them felt snubbed. Miranda wasn't even entertaining the notion and was decidedly unimpressed by the tour, I guess they took it personal.

In any case, either our group is very anonymous or they were so cocksure about themselves that they didn't think they needed to research their mark. They're sloppy.

Mostly a no, then. Writing!

>>1933352
>>1933356
>>1933359
>>1933372
You're not at all happy about this. It was an unfair duel at the start, and to do such an act is just utterly disgusting to you... But it's not your place to state anything. Not here, and not now. Instead, you remain silent as the two eldritch beings lock eyes with each other- as though speaking briefly- and then turning away from each other simultaneously. "You doooon't have to go home, but you can't stay here." As for Vesquala, her eyes glow a brilliant green, and she and the siblings are teleported away in an eyeblink.

"That...could've gone better," Miranda grouses. You have to agree. "I don't even know what they were getting at with all that. What was the purpose of it?"

"Bah, they just needed a reason to humiliate someone," Lorelei scoffs. "They're just overhyped and underskilled. I mean, seriously? Izumi was doin' fine, but I wouldn't have called it a beatdown or anything. No offense."

"None taken." You had been fighting just to land that glancing blow. The idea that they would feel the need to cheat in order to secure a win...

"Come on," Miranda says tiredly. "Let's get outta here."

"Good callllllll. I'll contact you laaaaaaater. Perrrrrrrsonal suggestion? Take a jooooooob or two. Siiiiiimple stuff, clear your mind. There'll be a bit before we need to get the record straaaaaaaight. Although I doooooo think we've got the right of it easily enough..." Twisting in on himself, he vanishes, ending the discussion for now.

As of the three of you trudge out of the fairgrounds, you can't help but feel a bit riled up. Maybe you should try and go meditate or something...

>You are now Miranda Styles.

Well, that ended horribly. You still confused as to why they'd try and sabotage an event like that, but you suppose that Sal'll figure it out himself and tell you later. In the meantime... "Okay, so what do we do with the rest of the day?"

"I'll...I dunno." Lorelei shrugs. "Probably go eat cookies to calm down a bit. I can't believe they'd do Izumi like that. I was way too worried." you can see she's not exaggerating either; her face has all the lines of stress in it.

"I appreciate that, really," Izumi offers. "I suspect I'll keep to myself for a bit." You can't really blame her, although you're not sure if that's entirely the right call. "What about you, Miranda?"

Well, he did say you might as well look for another gig...it doesn't sound like the worst idea. Then again, you probably wouldn't think so...

>Solo.
>Multiple person.
>Hold off for now. (Do something else.)

>>1933439
>Hold off for now and vent our frustations/focus on the sticky bomb proyect.

tommorrow
>>Multiple person.
lets take mono on a simple mission where she can make some desitions

>>1933439
>Multiple person
More training for the new kid!

>>1933439
>Hold off for now. (Do something else.)
Practice magic, train Mono in teamwork and get her accustomed to everyone's skill set.

I'd like to go on a Precure job or something, one where we just beat up mooks that explode in a flower show and where we tie up the bad guys. I think both Izumi and Mono could use something like that.

>>1933439
>>Solo.
It's been too long since the last solo job.

>>1933439
Yeah we haven't done a solo in a while let's go with that something that looks simple

>>1933439
>Solo.
The other girls need time to vent anyway.

3 minutes till lock.

>>1933466
Actually taking mono on a lighter mission would be a good idea don't need to crush her spirit all at one maybe even just hang around as her backup would be cool

>>1933476
We can take an easy job where she does the work, and we just loot the place and tag in if she needs help.
Mono fights a team of mooks, Miranda is window shopping in the background.
Mono fights a fiendish lieutenant, Miranda is lying back on a deck chair, drinking margheritas and eating pizza.

So, it seems like it's more angled towards Multiple person, with specifically something for Mono that she can handle, then?

>>1933439
>>Solo.

>>1933496
Let's take the dog for a walk.

>>1933496
Yeah, something light hearted and enjoyable, with Miranda as a lazy chaperone

Gotcha. List coming up, then!

>>1933496
hmm, It's pretty split. Maybe do something with Mono this time, and take a solo next?

>>1933496
Mono

You guys want to take Miranda or make it Izumi and Mono? I actually want to play more as Izumi, we haven't done that since the cross-over last year. Those little snippets from the last job don't really count.

>>1933519
Miranda. the others are fun, but I feel like she doesn't get as much screen time as she used to.

>>1933513
Yeah I agree next time we should for sure get some solo adventure in with randa

>>1933522
Can't save it for a solo job? We can go on a Big One next

>>1933519
We need to imprint some fine mercenary values into mono with miranda.

>>1933519
Miranda is the one that recruited Mono, so raising her up as a proper SES Magical Mercenary Girl is Miranda's responsibility.

>>1933512
As a sidenote, how to the "company" funds get refilled? Is it a part of Sal's cut taken out of every job, and he automatically adds it? Or is there some other system in place?

>>1933454
>>1933455
>>1933493
>>1933507
>>1933508


Let’s see...something relatively easy might work. And the newbie needs to really cut her teeth. Maybe something like that. You set the search parameters to ‘simple’. Mind, even simple jobs for your sort can be troublesome for the locals…

>Recommended Outgoers: 2
>Raven Hunting: This is a job for those that can be discrete, yet thorough. I have some...friends that pose a particular threat to a dear friend of mine. However, I do NOT want to risk him finding out of my...dalliances should those things go wrong- and they may well be going wrong. Exterminate a certain set of individuals, and avoid her notice.
>Riders Added: Minimum Collateral Damage
>Total Offered Payment: 20 Large Motes

>Recommended Outgoers: 1
>Chasedown: A particular hero is proving rather...troublesome to my efforts due to their incessant luck and guile. I have exhausted valuable minions and local mercenary forces to contain them, to no avail. I refuse to debase myself as to attempt to capture this idiotic individual myself. However, I yet have much coin to spend. A portion of it will be yours if you can capture and release them into my custody.
>Riders Added: Minimum Collateral Damage/Non-Lethal Force Requested
>Total Offered Payment: 15 Large Motes

>Recommended Outgoers: 2
>Hunting Hawks: The Five Forest Lords have great magic, and great strength on par with, it is said, the very forces of the Demon World itself. I call forth mighty warriors of my own, to assure their destruction and the beginning of my plans!
>Riders Added: None
>Total Offered Payment: 25 Large Motes

>Recommended Outgoers: 1
>Blood In, Blood Out: We got a new recruit. Which means we have a new trial to begin. Their task is to get through the temple- from the bottom to the top, without getting killed. As always, we summon forth a Warrior from Beyond to test them. The materials to summon may be new, but our hearts, minds, and sacrifices are ever the same. In the name of the eye from Beyond!
>Riders Added: Minimum Collateral Damage
>Total Offered Payment: 12 Large Motes

>>1933554
The price shown is -after- Sal's cut is deducted.

>>1933560
>Blood In, Blood Out: We got a new recruit. Which means we have a new trial to begin. Their task is to get through the temple- from the bottom to the top, without getting killed. As always, we summon forth a Warrior from Beyond to test them. The materials to summon may be new, but our hearts, minds, and sacrifices are ever the same. In the name of the eye from Beyond!

This sounds fun

>>1933560
Recommended Outgoers: 2
>Hunting Hawks: The Five Forest Lords have great magic, and great strength on par with, it is said, the very forces of the Demon World itself. I call forth mighty warriors of my own, to assure their destruction and the beginning of my plans!
>Riders Added: None
>Total Offered Payment: 25 Large Motes

Let's get the Cook to come with us.
>Recommended Outgoers: 1
>Chasedown: A particular hero is proving rather...troublesome to my efforts due to their incessant luck and guile. I have exhausted valuable minions and local mercenary forces to contain them, to no avail. I refuse to debase myself as to attempt to capture this idiotic individual myself. However, I yet have much coin to spend. A portion of it will be yours if you can capture and release them into my custody.
>Riders Added: Minimum Collateral Damage/Non-Lethal Force Requested
>Total Offered Payment: 15 Large Motes

Sounds like a job for Lori.

Izumi should stay to get checked out a out that weird "doesn't belong" stuff to make sure she isn't contagious or poisoned or anything. Also she should get pampered. I say we get Owlia and Cylica to hang out with her.

Lol "cheap shot" BTW.

>>1933560
I assume the 1-man jobs we'd just escort?
Considering Mono's temperament, anything "Evil" won't sit well with her. We can work on that (if we want), but it'll have to be small steps.

>Blood In, Blood Out
sounds like fun, though Mono's not much of a straight fighter. Might have her Set the Stage , and us do the actual fighting.

>price
right, I was asking if we could figure out how much the "company" fund gets based on our cut of a job.

>>1933560
>>1933573
Also 5 hawk lords? We can make a beg with the Cook about who can take down the most fastest since there's an uneven number and we have a fight to resolve anyways.

If they're putting the Dicks into Interdiction then we might want to start getting allies there.

Personally I just want a date Miranda style.

Giving 30 minutes for this one to allow a bit more discussion.

>>1933574
Yup, the one-manners you're just there to drag her buns out of the fryer if she gets too stuck in.

As for price, nope. Sal's never said. He's assured you that you get the majority, though.

>>1933574
>>1933560
I'll support Mono doing Blood in, Blood out.

>>1933580
>Personally I just want a date Miranda style.
Bleh, why? I detest that guy, and Miranda's not much of a romantic type anyway; goes against her core philosophy. Lori's the one to play matchmaker with.

>>1933601
you're speaking to a woman

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>>1933608

Remember to warn Lorelei about getting anywhere near Interdiction. Give her the death glare if we have to.

>>1933560
Blood in, Blood out.
It's not Miranda's style, and the payout is pretty weak.
But, it's a good mission for Mono.
Low risk, she's not being asked to do wetwork or assist a villain in making the world a shittier place.
She's putting on a show to give a rookie an initiation, something her theatrical background would be good at.
All Miranda has to do is sit back in a Director's chair and make sure nothing goes wrong.

>>1933560
>Blood In, Blood Out

>>1933560
It's interesting that Blood In, Blood Out doesn't have the "stay in character" rider. Seems like the sort of thing that you'd want for an initiation.

>>1933623
Now I'm just imagining executive producer Miranda styles having underlings bringing her coffee and staring at a monitor frowning decked out in that suit we didn't pick that one time

It's glorious

>>1933640
Yeah, it's odd, and it's something we can try to upsell (another important skill to impart to Mono).

Well then. Locked. Veeery interesting.

>>1933673
Those e's are making me nervous

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>>1933673

>>1933673
So it's one rookie giving another rookie a hazing, while their seniors both look on and laugh at them.

Before we leave, we need a device that lets us project on a wall all the action. So that Miranda can comment on it while eating popcorn.

>>1933723
We'll, maybe not the popcorn part. It isn't professional.

>>1933706
NO. That quest is a happy one now. We just had a major success.

>>1933608
Do I need to give you a picture of my dick Anon? I just like dating. Is the concept alien to you? Some times you just go out to have a fun time and competing at what you're good at is also fun.

And we DO have an unresolved fight to fins out who is harder.

Personally I think dude McName would be alright to hang out with it doesn't mean routelock.

>>1933560
>>1933567
>>1933574
>>1933582
>>1933623
>>1933638
...hm. Slim pickings. But you can see one of that might work out- if not for you then for the junior. You decide to accept the job labeled 'Blood In, Blood Out.' "This," you say as you check the confirmation. "Me and Mono going to go have ourselves a bit of a live training session."

"Ha, goin' out on a job like he says, huh?" Lorelei smirks. "Not surprised. Seems kinda interesting, too! Lemme know how it goes!"

"We will," you promise.

As the three of you split your separate ways, you're quick to call the wolf-girl up, and she answers panting. "H-Hello?"

Hm. "Hey. Are you busy?"

"Nah...just got out from a run. Figured I'd go on a long jog and see a bit more of the city." Ah. Good initiative. "Well, get back as soon as you can. I have a job, and you're doing it."

You can hear her make a sound of confusion. "Wait, what do you mean by that?"

"I mean you need a bit more training than what we went through last time," you explain. "I picked out something that you should be able to handle with a bit of oversight. So I'm going to be there and it's technically under my name, but you're going to be the one actually doing the hard lifting. Clear?"

"Ah? R-really? I mean, I guess, sure, you're the boss..." Yeah, you keep forgetting that. Mostly because you don't like thinking about it. But you're not wrong. She needs some practice. And you're not sure, but she might need a little hardening up too... "When do you need me back?"

"As soon as possible. Never let a job wait. Meet me at headquarters." Now, time to- wait. "Do you still have some money left?"

"Some, yeah. Haven't bought much since I know how important it all is." Good girl. "Why?"

She really should remember this stuff. "You might want to pick out some clothes for yourself this time. Remember what I said about them? I'd suggest something-"

>Intimidating
>Otherworldly
>Hotheaded
>Other

>>1933737
Miranda isn't like that off the job.
She doesn't like dating, even if you do.

>>1933744
>Otherworldly
>Other: if she can't find something good, she can borrow from our wardrobe.

>>1933744
> otherworldly

We god-entity now?
Yes.

Maybe add a bit of intimidation.
Something nice, for the tribal (?) Look.

>>1933744
Never had a chance to do one of these votes myself but it always seems if we overload to much in one direction things get complicated but a bit intimidatein and a bit otherworldly always seems to work for Miranda alright just don't stack it to crazy

>>1933744
>intimidating

How people react to you is always important...especially in a place like this.

10 until lock.

>>1933744
>>Other
Plainness at E-

>>1933774
Seems like this world does this a lot is there any way to look up like reviews or something from past opperators?

Picking jobs has always seemed vague to me

>>1933737
You like thing =/= character like thing.

>>1933744
>Otherworldly
with a touch of
>Hotheaded
would work well I think.

>>1933744
Wait, can we use the Farsight to look up the world we're going to and the organization that contracted us, as well as details on this initiation? We need to dress right.

>>1933799
Not reviews, no. You can ask for further detail on a job, though, that'll detail the level of magic, the individual/organization contacting you, and some general information about the location.

>>1933808
I admit, I'm not sure, practically, how Hotheaded and Intimidating differ.

>>1933819
Then let's get that info. We should get into the habit of providing that info now that we have the company's only Farsight.

>>1933819
Heh let's check that out then.
Has no one ever asked about that befor?

>>1933808
>>1933745
I think Miranda likes competing, getting cheap help, and doing her job as manager and building allies in the community especially if things are getting fucky.

I also don't see it as being romantic so much as comedic.

>>1933744
> Otherworldly

>>1933849
>competing
doesn't care
>getting cheap help
We're paid by the job not by the hour. Higher quality help would be better for multitude of reasons.
>doing her job as manager
she hates paperwork, and doesn't like being in charge of people.
>building allies in the community
That's Lori's wheelhouse. Randa isn't much of a talker.
>comedic
for us yes, but we're making decisions /as her/. She has to reason to date, and isn't inclined towards such things in the first place.

>>1933822
How individuals treat you differ, as well as a couple other bits.

>>1933835
>Details For Blood In, Blood Out

>Contract Holder: Darklight Society- Coalition of religious assassins and subversive agents.

>Magic Level: Moderate (Roughly 4000 mana restored in 8 hours)

>World History: World name is Arian. Medieval technology. World is divided into three major continents: Nerima, Ungolos, and Baphram. Current nations are at relative peace barring mild land disputes after an event known as the Dead Moon.

>Darklight Society is a secretive society that seeks to upend the world balance via the disruption of governments and important peoples in the name of bringing their god to the mortal realm. Base of operations is a hidden temple inside a mountain. Currently seeking to train new members due to an individual known as Markus reducing their numbers severely in a hideout raid which culminated in the loss of the majority of their higher administration.

Hope that works. Anyway, locked and writing!

Actually, shit, can't. Scratch that. Will be back in 3 hours IF anyone will be there- if not, I'll continue tomorrow, since this will be a new 'arc' anyway.

...I'm gonna enjoy it.

>>1933887
Plus one for being around in 3

Also hmm this is bound to be interesting

>>1933885
>that seeks to upend the world balance
That's... irritating. I largely chose this due to it's lack of evilness. Miranda wouldn't care, but Mono will.

Are all the listings evil this time? If so, we should reconsider taking Mono with us for this round.

>>1933885
>How individuals treat you differ
Well, yes, I got that much. I meant /practically/. They have the same general effect: making you less approachable. the reason for unapproachability is even the same: "They'd kill me if I got in their way"
Only difference I can tell is that Hotheaded also makes you seem unable to be reasoned with.

Not trying to rag on your system, just trying figure out why we'd ever use Hotheaded.

>>1933920
No, Raven Hunting is neutral/good. I wouldn't necessarily overlook any just due to morality, though. Then again, up to you.

Hotheaded isn't necessarily unapproachable- in fact it can be attractive to certain types of people and can convince certain individuals to help you easier. I called it Hotheaded, but I guess a better term for it would be 'Boldness' or folks more into anime, BURNING SPIRIT.

>>1933920
I think part of the point was acclimating Mono to being the bad guy. For this we're working with some shady people, sure, but we're not personally knocking down orphanages or anything. That's how you start this sort of thing. First get her used to doing normal stuff with evil people, then help them fight off other evil people, then help fight good guys, then be the bad guys. Baby steps.

>>1933920
Mono doesnt need to know about them doing "evil" stuff.

>>1933927
>morality
When we do multi-man missions, seems like at least common courtesy to consider other's stances on those sorts of things, especially as Miranda doesn't care either way. Why needlessly cause your teammates stress?

>but I guess a better term for it would be 'Boldness'
Ah, that makes much more sense, Hotheaded to be brings to mind street thugs, gang members, and the like; thus my confusion.

>>1933957
Mono never struck me as someone who wouldn't play the bad guy role- in fact with her background I think she'd be good at it. She's just inexperienced.

>>1934073
Play a bad guy? No problem. Be a bad guy? Might have some trouble.

Her background included being told she could rape someone to death if she left her compound without a solid guard, and that she was only left alive because she was born this way.
Knowing you live, despite being a danger, because of other's kindness, would foster a moral heart, I'd think. But maybe I'm overthinking it.

>>1934073
>>1934204
In our last mission, she had a lot of reservations about the death of civilian bystanders just to get at the target.

>>1934204
On that whole rape to death thing is that just not a problem anymore or what? I know she was always well behaved but is that an urge she constantly has to deal with or what

>>1934244
From what i understood, being in the intersection nullyfies that aspect of her, but it might appear on missions where we have to be deployed for several days.

>>1934282
I see well I have no idea how to deal with that if it happens to come up. Sex demon blood is weird

>>1934204
To be fair, she also jumped the barricade more than once, amd while I understand why, that's still a risk. You're not wrong, but I feel like she could at least do this much. Especially looking back over the job. Get through without getting killed. Seems to me that if she offs him, oh well. Might be wrong though.

>>1934349
>Seems to me that if she offs him, oh well
The contract seems to want an opposition, and they don't want the initiate to die.

We should confirm with our clients once we're on-site.

If mono is gonna be the operator how do we wanna present ourselves

I was thinking if we could get a good combo of plain and otherworldly we could appear to be a normal person who gives of an unsetteling aura like there something wrong here but I can't put my finger on it kinda vibe

>>1934487
we could be Mono's guiding spirit. Or a summon. something along those lines.

And back!

>>1934646
yuss

>>1934646
welcome back

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>>1934487
We could be an Auditor; they said themselves they always summon a Being from Beyond for an initiation.
Well, we could tell them that there have been "discrepancies" in that accounting books with their account, and the eldritch gods who we pledge fealty to want to be sure that such discrepancies are balanced out.

Basically Miranda plays the part of a Lovecraftian accountant hailing from a Black Pharaoh-headed IRS, and they just had the misfortune of triggering our audit flags.

>>1934710
eeeeh... that can become way too complex way too soon. let's try to keep it simple.

>>1934710
Heh I don't know if we have to go that elaborate I just wanted to be a spooky g man type charter

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>>1934727
So you want Miranda to be wearing a suit skirt and tie, and have a briefcase, and speak in cryptic phrases?
"Wake up, Darklighter. It's time to wake up, and smell the ashes."
"The wrong woman at the right time, Darklighter. The wrong woman...at the right time."

>>1934710
While hilarious, that would complicate a simple job rather quickly. A striped down variant, or something like
>>1934727
might be simpler.

As long as we don't spend more than the job's worth dressing up again, I'm game. Actually, if we're just riding shotgun for this, I don't know if we'll be paid at all.

>>1934785
lets be her guardian angel or something like that. that is way easier to explain, and allows us to protect her and have decision making option.

>>1934764
Maybe not the whole thing but I would like to jack the vibe he has

>>1934810
Come on, that's going to undermine our image for the contract.
The client wants a Warrior from Beyond, and us being a guardian angel makes it look like the Warrior they hired is either a newbie herself by having a supervisor watching over her shoulder, or not that much of a warrior if she needs someone stronger to be with her on what is essentially a physical exam.

I'm honestly a little tempted just to say "This is an initiation for both one of yours and one of mine." Could that work for the G-man vibe we want to establish?

"Otherworldly. Something ethereal." That should work well considering the general attitude of what your clients are like. "Stuff that glows stuff with unnatural construction - you'll know it when you see it. And if that doesn't help there is usually some description that let you know about it, and you should be able to figure it out from there."

"O-oh. Gotcha. I...guess I'll try to look for somethin' good, then." She seems unsure, but you're confident she'll be able to figure out something. "What's the job?"

"I'll tell you when you get here. Oh, and I shouldn't have to tell you this, but just in case, don't try to spend everything you've got. Just one or two things should be fine." Don't want her spending all her money on one outfit.

"Right, will do." Good. With her settled, you need to figure out your own outfit. All things considered...hm.

>Go straight to equipment selection. https://pastebin.com/R263U7Hp
>Maybe buy something new... https://pastebin.com/9J70gqM2
>Other

>>1934834
the contract doesn't know who we are. if they ask, we say that mono is the one that got hired, not us.

>>1934844
Handler, what stats would we need to get a creepy business suit?
High Plainness and Otherworldiness?

>>1934873
Yes. Also you reminded me I forgot to update the shop. One moment.

>>1934873
If those are the stats to get something theme appropriate we can go

Broach headband rapier for otherworldly

And clear glasses and buy a fighters gi for plainness

>>1934844
Equip
>Clear sunglasses
>Glowing headband

Buy
>Pleasant necklace

And I'm not sure if hothead or plainess would work for "approachable otherworldly being" otherwise I'd go for heavy boots and celestial robe.

before we go, We should have Izumi check her injuries and maybe convince her to go on a mission with Owlia and Cylica. mostly to give Cylica some lessons on how to tone down her pride and try to make them feel like staying with us for the long run. I don't want any interdicks or whatever establishment stealing our co-workers

>>1934873
It's going to be hard to actually get both of those high; many items that boost one, reduce the other.

>>1934935
You realize that those purchases are more than our cut of the contract, right?

>>1934844
Guys, before choosing, WHAT IS GOING TO BE OUR DISGUISE?
because being a fucking eldritch accountant or anything of the sorts is just going to raise questions.

And updated shop, sorry about that. https://pastebin.com/R263U7Hp

>>1934956
They get two for one I don't see why they would wanna question it it's a great deal for them.

>>1934956
usually, that goes the other way. We go for a feel by changing stats, and are given a role based on those stats.

If our 'charge' if going to be Otherworldly, should we should be the 'intermediary'? High plainness, moderate Otherworldly?

>>1934947
Third Eye Brooch (Otherworldly +3 / Hothead -3)
Clear Sunglasses (Plainness +2 / Intimidation -2)
Baron's Rapier (Otherworldly +2)
Flamebringer Sword ( Intimidation +1 / Otherworldly +1 )

Without buying anything new, that's +6 Otherworldly, +2 Plainness, -3 Hothead, -1 Intimidation.
With a baseline of:
Intimidation: B
Humor: D-
Otherworldly: E
Hothead: C
Plainness: D

>>1934964
MG, could you remind us/write into the pastebin how much a +1 increases a stat rating? Since you have Rating+ and Rating-.

Seems like there's a lot of unsureness?

I do see Clear Sunglasses to be equipped, but that's it.

>>1934978
Done, it's in the pastebin now. Thanks for the suggestion.

>>1934947
Broach headband rapier is plus 6 otherworldly

And clear glasses and a fighters gi is plus 5 plain and another 1 if we don't wear our jacket

it tanks hotheaded and a little less intimidating

>>1934935
5 motes for the necklace to too rich for a job like this.
Don't forget, we can buy company equipment with company funds, though I'm loathe to do so for this.

>>1934978
I think each +1 goes like C+>D->D>D+

>>1934978
This sounds good to me. We really need to work on our Otherwordly stat if all those buffs result in just an E.

>>1935002
That caught me as well; he posted the baseline, not the modified.

>>1934995
>>1934978
So with that loadout, our stats would be:
Intimidation: B-
Humor: D-
Otherworldly:C
Hothead: D
Plainness: C-