2023-05-05: MGLN SeekerS: Road Trip 2

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha SeekerS: Road Trip 2
Summary: The Device-wielders and their friends go on another dreamtime journey to ancient Belka.
Who: Lera Camry, Signum Yagami, Setsuna Higashi, Mikoto Minagi, Kyouka Okazaki, Endo Naoki, Cure Passion, Fate Testarossa, Ashen Knight, Umbral Knight, Azure Knight, Argent Knight, Vermillion Knight, Ebon Knight, Palatinate Knight, Auric Knight, Radiant Knight
Where: Harlaown-Testarossa Apartment
OOC - IC Date: 5/5/2023 - 3/8/2016

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.

PREVIOUSLY ON MAGICAL GIRL LYRICAL NANOHA SEEKERS

http://battlefantasia.pinksugarheartattack.net/Magical_Girl_Lyrical_Nanoha:_SeekerS

NOW

Instead of meeting at Yagami House, the group has convened at the Harlaowns' apartment tonight. Lindy, adopted mother of Fate, is a kind but firm woman; lurking behind her ditzy I-sweeten-my-green-tea-with-milk-and-sugar eyes are considerable resources of determination. She insisted, in a sort of command performance of parenting, that the next attempt to use the Maiden of Dreams' golden skein be done on their building's rooftop.

The why is self-evident upon arrival up those concrete steps: she has warded it to hell and back. That in itself, though, does not account for the change in locale, as the Wolkenritter have considerable defenses around their house as well. Rather:

"If you keep using the same base of operations, sooner or later it will be attacked. Scaglietti knows where you live, after all."

Hayate nods gravely. "He knows where you live, too, Lindy-san."

"Yes," she agrees, "I'm sure that he does. But what he doesn't know is exactly where we are tonight. We should continue to rotate hosting regularly."

Lindy's son Chrono, a boy in a black coat, lounges by the door back downstairs to their apartment with his arms folded. "If anyone tries to interfere, I'll slow them down until you're back. That is my specialty, after all." He's holding a silver card with a blue gem on it, which is lightly touched with rime.

Shamal and Hayate take up positions of their own around the net. It glitters, spun gold, upon the rooftop. It's a starry night that hangs on the chilly knife's edge between winter and spring, and celestial light seems to gather and shimmer in the strands of the web. It collects especially in the two runes added to it by Soaring Sky and Fallen Stern's last attempt to activate the magic -- runes that appeared after the group returned from their dreamtime adventure.

Blankets have been provided. And pillows, actually. Now that the group understands that the dimension this great mystery of a spell circle transfers to is that of dreams, rather than 'literally across the universe,' preparations have been made accordingly.

Snacks, however, haven't been. (Unlike last time.) It is a school night, after all. This sleepover needs to end at a reasonable hour.

Lindy hybridizes the air of a major-general with that of a worried mother and averages out, perhaps, to 'field trip chaperone'. "If everyone would please get into a comfortable position around the circle... Soaring Sky-san, Fallen Stern-san, are you prepared?" Her mode of address for them has an adult's formality. Unnecessary, perhaps, to use keigo with a Device, but it is to her tastes.

<ROGER,> says Sky.

<YES,> announces Stern.

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Lera Camry is used to seeing Lindy's resources. The former TSAB agent has proven herself time and time again to have the resources that they need. She looks sideways at Hayate, then at Lindy, and she nods.

"Makes sense, y'know?" she says. She has already transformed; she has her green coat on, with black pants and a feather charm in her hair. Her shoulder has the plating associated with her Unison Drive. Which is why she has a clockwork shield on her arm.

<Don't lose focus, Sky,> Broken Ground says.

<Honestly, Ground! I wouldn't do such a thing,> Sky chimes back to him. An annoyed ping comes from the gem at the center of the Device. <I'm well aware how important this is. And what is at stake.>

Lera cracks a smile. "...Guess you are ready, huh, buddy?"

COMBAT: Lera Camry transforms into Barrier Jacket Dynamic!

<Pose Tracker> Signum Yagami [None] has posed.

Signum, for her part, is clad in her armored coat, and the last thing that she undertakes before she steps forwards in a manner well suiting that of a bold adventurer - or perhaps a heroic knight - is to confer with Shamal.

What does she say? She says it aloud, that's for certain; but aloud is not the same as loud. And there is a momentary reply, followed by the manifestation of something small, held out to Signum with both hands.

Taken aback, Signum takes what seems to be a small teacup - admiring two marshmallows placed, half-melted with an almost abstracted and certainly transient beauty - before taking a sip of the small cup.

Her eyes widen slightly. Then she finishes it, and produces a small cloth to wipe her lips. "Was that brandy?" Signum asks, not quite as quietly, before turning to advance towards the array of restful spaces, leaving the cup with Shamal.

Signum, of course, doesn't have school in the morning, but is the sort of person who can struggle with late-night vigilance. "I suppose it can wait until the later morning," she muses quietly to herself, before giving Lera a respectful nod. Laevatein, for their part, pulsates momentarily for the equivalent of a respectful nod to Sky and Ground alike.

"An unusual operation," says Signum, as she sits atop one of the pillows with a faint clank-clash of the plating of her armored coat. The blanket is raised and wrapped round her shoulders, forming a loose sort of flat cylinder of enclosed Wolkenritter as her eyes close, expression stoic.

After exactly thirty seconds she exhales and (somehow) kips off the pillow, staying wrapped up, before laying flat out on her back.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Higashi [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Setsuna Higashi would not miss being a part of this, either. Not if she could help it. As it happens, she still can. So the rooftop it is...

"I see..."

She doesn't argue the matter of where to do things or why, or how. She just gets through to her own proper position. But not just as 'Setsuna'.

Cure Passion, her pink hair cascading down her shoulders, moves to take a comfortable position in the circle for herself, her headpiece glittering silver and ruby in the starlight. She does have school in the morning, but she makes no complaint of such.

She smiles at Sky and Ground and Lera, too. And then tilts her head at the way Signum moves...

"...?" she wonders.

COMBAT: Setsuna Higashi transforms into Cure Passion!

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Mikoto Minagi is already curled up under a blanket in the circle, a pillow under her head, grasping her sword-case like a teddy bear.

(We are presuming, in this metaphor, that the teddy bear is stuffed with knives.)

"'m ready," she mumbles, as if she's about to have a nap instead of invoke the Maiden of Dreams. "Chrono... thanks!" Given how much tutelage Fate has provided her, she's familiar enough with Lindy's son, by now. And Lindy, at that. ... it's still strange, to Mikoto, how good parenting works. Anyway.

"Mm-hmm," she hums, vaguely, to the patter. She unzips the top of the case, and lays her fingers on Miroku's hilt.

It counts.

COMBAT: Signum Yagami transforms into Cloud Knight!
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi transforms into HiME Mikoto!

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

It's been... a while since everyone's gathered like this. Last time, as... well, last time was last time, and a lot has happened since, but Kyouka is eager to see everyone again. She greeted Chrono downstairs when she came in, and extends a wave to those assembled as she steps onto the roof. "Good evening, everyone!" She's dressed in her usual--black jeans, purple parka, and hiking boots. Still plenty cold enough to warrant it, and if they're going to be outside for an extended period... she's gonna be comfortable.

She stops, blinking a bit as she spots Lera. It takes a moment to process, squinting a bit just to make sure... and then she breaks into an easy grin. "Oh-- Hey, Camry-san!" She sounds surprised, but not that surprised. "Hey, was hoping I'd see you. We, uh, have some more introductions to make, I think."

Kyouka pulls back the sleeve of her jacket to reveal Strike Wolf's standby form, a small, purple, five-sided gem on a black leather bracelet. <Strike Wolf.> chimes the device, and then Kyouka says, "Set up." A surge of wild, bright violet energy surrounds her, and then she's left in her own barrier jacket--purple shorts, vest, black tank top, visor, and armored gauntlets and boots.

Kyouka steps up closer to the golden net to peer at it, but still stays a respectful few steps away. "So... this is the thing you all told me about, huh? And this will take us into... a dream thing, right?"

COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki transforms into Barrier Jacket Wolf Fighter!

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

"I'm ready too." Says Endo.

He is presently equipped for sleeping. The boy had brought a large pillow along with him to the Harlaown's home, which both he and his device are using to rest on. He also has an eye mask for optimal dreaming, and is already nestled in a nest of blankets.

"Don't hog the pillow, Stern." He adds.

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.

Much like last time, everyone arranges in a circle around the edge of the golden web. Then Soaring Sky and Fallen Stern begin to flash, on and off, like they're overloaded on data.

<< The crystal is citrine, >> chimes Sky.

<< The crystal is jade, >> declares Stern.

<< The flower is yellow marquerite. >>

<< The flower is poppy. >>

<< The word is... >>

<< ... >>

<< ...found, >> says Sky.

<< ...grief, >> concludes Stern.

Again, sigils unfurl in the two empty spaces on the diagram that represent each Device. Again, they are bright, bright, BRIGHT--

--the whole skein shines brightly enough to shed tears from naked eyes--

--and the whole world fades into golden radiance.

---

Much like last time, the sky is gorgeously emerald, and has three moons.

And, much like last time, the group awaken seamlessly in the lives of other people -- the same Belkan Knights as before. Kyouka, a first-timer, gets to find out what that's like; she's still herself, yet she's also the Ashen Knight, master of ice, who lost a found family of brother and sister-knights in the Great War.

The similarities end there, however.

Last time, the group fought the final battle; they drove out terrible extradimensional invaders from their crispy cinder of a wartorn world, fighting them right up the orbital elevator and almost into space. And they won. They won because their leader, the Crown Princess, identified the monsters as a monster -- a hivemind -- and was able to slay their Master. She died in the doing, but the doing was done. The world was saved.

This time, there are no monsters.

There is... a chamber.

It is high and vaulted. Shiny and new. A little too new... reconstruction, perhaps, in the ashes of the old. At least a year or two must have passed since then. The stones are dark slate, but the mortar is translucent, almost molten, like circuitry.

There is no decoration, but for what each of the Knights are holding in their gauntleted hands.

They are here to present artifacts to their ruler.

Each of them has quested long and hard to attain their item. Some drip with gold and jewels. Others are humbler-looking.

All contain extraordinary power in abeyance.

"So, then," says the woman on the throne, before which they are arrayed. She smiles at her knights, returned to her at long last from their journeys. "Each of you, tell me what it is that you bring Belka. Tell me of your deeds, done in my Daughter's name."

Memories flower in the Knights of Belka, and stories fall like rain.

Kyouka - +youma/summon 5, +transform Y

Mikoto - +youma/summon 7, +transform Y

Signum - +youma/summon 6, +transform Y

Passion - +youma/summon 9, +transform Y

Fate (for pastebin reading once she gets here) - +youma/summon 10, +transform Y

OOC: It is time to go around the room telling tall tales! Your reports should each include: 1) the name of another fantastical
realm which you can make up OOCly. 2) the magic item you're presenting, which can have any marvelous name and take pretty much any
appearance as long as it is small enough to be held in the hand; do not, however, specify what its power IS; in being unspoken it
is implied that everyone already knows; 3) an enemy you defeated, or trial you overcame, to obtain the item. A certain amount of
braggadocio and trash talk is expected if you would do so ICly, remembering that the Knight you inhabit has a personality similar
to your own, and that this is a group of close personal war hero friends; there is no need to be humble, your quest can be
spectacular.

COMBAT: Endo Naoki transforms into Barrier Jacket Zerstörer!
COMBAT: Cure Passion transforms into Youma Form Argent Knight!
COMBAT: Signum Yagami transforms into Youma Form Argent Knight!
COMBAT: Mikoto Minagi transforms into Youma Form Vermillion Knight!
COMBAT: Signum Yagami transforms into Youma Form Azure Knight!
COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki transforms into Youma Form Ashen Knight!

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Isn't the flower chrysanthemum?

Pay no mind to hypnic jerks, tumbling down to slumber. Surely it's just the gold of the light, shining against closed eyes.

And then they open, and they open, and the Vermillion Knight steps forward.

She is dressed in red and burnished gold. Gold her greaves and her gauntlets, gold the gorget about her neck, gold the chainmail along her arms and chest. Red her skirt, armoured at the flanks -- red her vest, all lined with clever little pockets.

Red her hair, beneath her golden helm. One scarce, identifying feature. One little indication of her humanity. She has travelled long with her fellows! She has opened up to them, in fits and in starts, halting and unsure. Always has the Vermillion Knight swallowed her feelings and her voice; she is still learning to burn brightly.

She kneels, in front of the Queen, and when she lifts her hands she reveals just what her gauntlets protect.

She holds a precious little bird. It is made of blown glass -- by all appearances -- red blooming inside it like its own beating heart; the tips of its wings are beaded, in the manner of heated glass, like its beak and its tail and a lovely little crest atop its head. It has an almost fluid appearance. A fragile appearance, as if raising one's voice too loud would shatter it, or send it flying off into the sky.

"The Glass Phoenix has overcome many trials to come to Belka, my Queen," she offers, humbled. "I went to the Shining Carousel of Talasta in search of it. I met the Sun Riders in combat to prove myself. I only prevailed because my matches impressed their Sword-Dancers... I gave them a worthy performance to scribe, and I was given the Glass Phoenix."

It's not the most boastful account -- or the longest -- but the Vermillion Knight has always been a shade laconic. This is, in fact, quite a lengthy explanation by her standards. "I offer it to Belka, now," she finishes. "This is what I have done."

<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Cure Passion lays her head down, and...

---

The mantle of the Argent Knight is upon her once again, a figure who lost her home, but has another here. Another home, as she stands, holding a beautiful statuette in her hands. It is made of a smooth, white stone, solid and sturdy but almost soft to the touch in texture. It is a statue of a woman or a goddess, and it is hard to tell which it could be without the story--the story that the Argent Knight will provide.

As usual, she is not a woman of many words. But all the same, she will have more of them for today, because... "I bring the Dragon's Ward." She pauses. She straightens her shoulders.

"...Far I journeyed, to the blasted land of Dzhamura, where long ago their princess was stolen by a dragon, her likeness preserved in everlasting stone as proof of the great wyrm's victory. I journeyed through the wasteland for seven days and seven nights before I found the lair of my foe, and engaged him in single combat there, at the caldera of the volcano."

With her axe-Device, most assuredly.

She doesn't smile in the moment--she is deadly serious about ths mission, after all.

"For a time I cannot count we fought, and I cannot count it because his breath blotted out the sky."

"Eventually I smote him down, and most of his treasures were unworthy of you and Her name. ...But this one, this single--the Ward, the symbol of the dragon's dominance--I deemed a suitable tribute."

"And so she is yours, my Queen. What was a symbol of darkness has been brought into the light."

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Lera turns her head to the side -- glances at Setsuna -- and smiles back at her. She lifts a hand, giving her a quick thumbs-up. "Everything should be good, y'know?"

Then her eyes shift, and she looks at Mikoto for a moment, then Signum. She nods her head, after that. And then her eyes widen, as she does a double take at Kyouka, before--

"G-gwah!? Okazaki-san!? You're here?" she stammers. "I--er--I had no idea, y'know? Um--no kidding! This is Broken Ground, and that's Soaring Sky, and--"

It sounds like some explanations were given to Kyouka. Lera lets out a sigh of relief. Her eyes turn to Endo, and she smiles.

And then they're taken away by the skein. How lucky they found that thing.

Her eyes blink and she is herself -- but someone else. She straightens her back out, like she thinks a knight should do. The Radiant Knight turns, looking up at the throne; at their queen.

But not their princess. Her heart sinks a little at that.

She watches as the Vermillion, then the Argent Knight go forward. She nods, as they finish.

Then she approaches, kneeling as they did. "I went to the ruins of Valdamere," she says. "Nothing remains of the kingdom, which I saw with my own eyes. Nothing, except for this."

She holds out a small crystal, woven with several strands of silver and gold. "The Temporal Quartz, said to keep Valdamere eternal. It still remained in its castle. Though... the Spectral Dragon wanted to keep it. I couldn't slay it alone, of course. But I trapped it in the rubble, with a few well-placed blasts."

A beat.

"And now I bring it to you."

<Pose Tracker> Signum Yagami [None] has posed.

The Azure Knight strides forwards.

It seems different. Easier.

Easier every day, somehow. Except when it isn't; but those times seem to be fading too.

Her voice is easier now than it was, if still with a slight rasp in it. "Well now," she half-chuckles, "it's a little more and a little less than I had thought when I had set out."

"I went to the realm of Wirral-au-main," says the Azure Knight, "the one that is thought lost to those seas of misty white and gray, those glaucomic storms that were stirred into a fine whipped froth and must surely have veiled everyone in blissful madness if they were lucky, and whipped THEM into a fine froth as well if they weren't." The Azure Knight pauses.

"Neither proved to be the case," she says. "Though it is shrunken, and it has been long enough that they did not recall much of the world outside, there are still cities there. I walked through ruins, a place of upheaval. Marked by revolts and histories I could only guess at. I came to a hostel-- but before I could rest, there was an affray in the courtyard. There was a tribunal, but it was false and guided only by rage. Its instigators were a bit more able, but barely held power, and their weapons were so crude that it was as though I were invincible against them, with just a little exertion of my spells."

"There was a tired man there, worn by care. Ugly in a noble way," the Azure Knight continued. "He thanked me, for my chance wandering had meant that only one was hurt, when a dozen might have died. And he then challenged me: Why are you here, Belkan? And I told him; I wanted the Magnetic Prism."

"He said there were no such things as Magnetic Prisms any more. I told him that I had thought perhaps I could have a look around, as I had come quite a long way... and he allowed that it might be the case, but that he would insist that I walk with him. And walk I did for some time, and I think that I gave him a little aid, here and there, though never once did I draw blade throughout. Not once! Even in that tribunal I only clasped my blade's hilt."

"We walked his city, near and far, to and fro," the Azure Knight says. "Always I asked, and it seemed that only my companion even knew of such things - him and one or two collectors of curios. But all knew the same. Such wonders were not a place for the world, shrinking as it was."

"And then, all of a sudden, unsought for, we found the mystery - a creature never heard or seen, nor even suspected, even in the days when Wirral-au-main was large!" says the Azure Knight. "My companion wept and palavered long with the creature. I cannot even describe it. But it was gentle, and it was kind. It turned to speak to me, and -- it told me something, too; and then it asked if it could do me a service."

"So I asked the beast, do you know the Magnetic Prism?" The Azure Knight steps forwards and sinks to a knee, reaching to a space beneath the hip faulds. "And it said, yes - if you should go several miles down the coast, then a few fathoms down... well, I shall spare you, my Queen."

The Azure Knight turns her palm. The Magnetic Prism is revealed. It is a three-by-three-by-three cubical puzzle, composed, perhaps, of 27 smaller cubes, each of which is itself formed of 27 smaller cubes, and each of THOSE are formed -- how far does it go? Is it only an illusion? Whatever it may be, the Azure Knight looks towards the Vermilion with a sense of a smile.

"The Magnetic Prism is yours, now, in her name."

(Somewhere else, Signum snores, just the tiniest bit. She has to tilt her head just *so* to be quite perfectly silent, and it's a bit cold out here, besides.)

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Kyouka moves, instinctively, to cover her eyes as the magic of the skein is invoked and grows bright, brighter still, so dazling as to be piercing, despite her barrier jacket's visor. But then...

Her hand is not in front of her eyes anymore, and is, in fact, cupped in front of her, along with its other, holding something small and precious. It is momentarily disorienting, to have the new set of memories flood her mind, and she struggles a moment to sort it out. But soon enough, like all dreams, the dream logic seems to take over, and she is the Ashen Knight.

It has been some time, since the war, and the terrible loss they suffered to secure victory, and still more since the loss of those she once called brothers and sisters. The loss of both is still present--and, perhaps, will ever be--but perhaps a bit less than before.

When it is time for her to present, she steps forward, kneeling and carefully raising her hands to present a small, clear bell--almost too fragile a thing for a knight to be carrying in metallic, gauntleted hands; It appears to be made of impossibly thin glass or crystal, and putting one's ear to it might reveal the sound of a soft hum, as faint and delicate as the bell itself. It is not quite a sound, yet, but more the potential of a sound held in suspense, waiting for the conductor's baton to start.

"My Queen, I have been through much to bring this treasure to you. I did hear tale of a treasure most precious in the Demense of Jagged Waters. I did travel there, seeing out an ancient monastic order who is said to be its keeper. I stood in arms against a raider who sought to violate the sanctity of the monastary and take it by force, driving them off as one might drive off an unruly hen. They thanked me for my aid, but said they could not surrender the treasure for such a feat.

"However, they did invite me to study with them, to contemplate, in silent meditation, on what it was that I truly sought. I did join them, leaving behind, for a spell, my words and weapons both. For a full year did I meditate, but when the raiders returned... though the monks had sworn themselves to pacifism, I could not ignore their plight. Again I took up arms to drive them off, and when I sought to return to my contemplation, the monks informed me that I would find no peace there, that my path lay elsewhere... and after my year in contemplation, I knew the truth of it."

Beneath her helmet, there is a faint smile. "But they did not let me leave empty-handed. They said it had been foretold that one would twice be their savior yet also walk their path for a time, then depart, and presented me with this. It is the Eversong, and noone knows what song it may play, but it will only do so at a time of its choosing. It is not the treasure that I sought, but I feel it is all the more precious for its unexpectedness."

Her tale recounted, she stands up again and steps back.

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.

It is less disorienting this time when the Skein is invoked atop her apartment building. It is still strange, to step into it, as if she were placing on a mask.

The Ebon Knight, stoic in her unceasing grief when it comes time for her turn, steps forward with a small wooden box cradled within her armored hands. "I journeyed to Mor Cynddeiriog, whose nature is the frenzy. A tempest surge formed by a wicked coven who seeks to claim all whom encroach. Invaders they called 'we'. Jealous of their rituals cast through purloined treasure."

There is little emotion in her voice, as she relays it, "Those whose courage faltered into cries for mercy were allowed to remove the fallen. They lay in state beneath their cerements, within their necropolis as a warning to the rest of what price defiance."

She removes a gemstone, which upon closer inspection is actual an old device that specializes in such ritual, "Sturm Wutender returns home to its rightful place of honor."

In comparison perhaps a laconic account, but her competitiveness has ever been in the end result, not the tale of it.

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> The Incomplete Stone - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIanrFg7MsU

The Umbral Knight steps forward, a hulking figure in burnt black armor. Heavy steps take the towering figure toward the throne, and the heavy armor makes audible protest as the man takes a solemn knee before the monarch. In a hand he clasps ivory rings, bone-white crowns adorned with gems of blood-black nothingness that suck at the light refracted in the chamber.

The proof of knight's conviction, grasped in scarred hands. Bones of ancients long dead cast on the heads of sorcerer kings.

"Though my offering is meager and my deeds are simple..."

"By your holy orders this knight ventured into the dark on hallowed wings. In her sacred name I led our seekers far, across the Belka's holy line to meet the enemies who'd prey on us in our darkest hours. To Old Phoria where the Third Deacons hold their wretched demesne. We called them bear witness and submit, and in return they cast their wicked spells against us."

A sea of ships floating above a pale planet like stars in the night sky. Great beams of light and magic lancing between heaven and earth. Drop ships descending on skybound cities bathed in phosphorescent glow.

"I led our troops to the White-Ringed City itself as we rained fire on their temples. One by one their champions fell before us, and I myself strode into their last citadel to take the crowns of the Third from their heads."

Fire from the sky. Floating citadels crashing to sandy ground amidst holy flame. A dozen knights descending like meteors, crashing to earth and scouring the world. Wicked wizards bent and broken one by one.

The Umbral Knight extends his hand, and the crowns clasped between his fingers clack and rattle together.

"Like lost Valdamere, nothing remains."

All enemies burnt and broken. For love and honor.

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.

The Knights recount their adventures, and the memories burn brightly in them; in telling the stories, they relive the places they've been, the people they've met, and the battles they've fought, as though it were only yesterday.

The Queen of Belka was middle-aged when the war began, a war that raged for what felt like lifetimes. But she only became old on the day the war ended.

Grief ages a person.

She is a steely woman. Strong. Forged in hardship, the new throne room suits her in its utilitarianism. Truthfully, the treasures her Knights surround her with today do not feel like they fit the aesthetic at all. They do not belong here.

But then, that is exactly true.

Glass birds and stone statues; crowns of bone; small crystals. Puzzles and bells and gemstones.

Each she accepts. And each she touches with her ring; as though the artifacts are meant to kiss it in fealty.

And each... disappears, discorporating into energies that match the color of the world from which it came. She is sending them somewhere, though no one knows the precise location or nature of the Vault of Belka.

"My Knights," says the Queen. "You have all performed with honor. Wirral-au-main and Valdamere and Dzhamura, Talasta and Jagged Waters and Mor Cynddeiriog... even Old Phoria... thanks to each of you, they are now Saved."

She looks around the group.

"Some of your journeys were harsh. The roads you walk are long and dangerous. The path you forge, unbeloved by those who would cling to a danger they cannot truly comprehend. Not as we have."

And she pronounces:

"Now, thanks to you, the Enemy cannot find what is not there, no matter how they may seek it."

She cants her head to one side. Not a hair in her crown, which is braided only, falls out of place at this gesture; she might as well be wrought of metal herself.

"But, two of Our order are missing. Where is Auric? Whither Palatinate?"

The huge double doors to the throne room open with a sonorous slam, and Palatinate -- soft-spoken and gentle, to the extent such a thing is possible of his kind -- strides in. His armor gleams and sparkles, brightest of all of them, though whether this is a signature of power, or just of vanity, is an open question. He always did love his polishing cloth. Still, there is nothing he wouldn't do for the honor of Belka and the memory of those they've lost.

"We return, Your Majesty," he says. Such a light and breathy voice for such a stout man. But he is a young boy no longer, much as the Queen is more crone than mother today. Time passes for no one. "From another world of your desire. Far you sent us... and further still we traveled, until we were able to claim that which you command of us."

The Queen is not amused.

"Speak plainly, Palatinate. Your tardiness is not to your credit."

Palatinate bows his head.

"Then let this be to our credit instead. Auric!"

Auric -- brash and fiery -- enters the throne room as well.

But she is not alone.

She gave a swift push between the shoulder blades of her prisoner:

A maiden in a diaphonous, many-petaled gown of palest rose; long her hair, and golden; crowned her brow, with diadem and with pride. A princess to be sure. A princess in golden chains. Shackles bind her wrists, and her ankles are barely separated enough to allow shuffling. She is not allowed to speak, gagged as she is with silk that flares with runes of power; still, her verdant green eyes do plenty of talking.

She is livid, and she stares at the assembled Knights, and their ruler, with a seething resentment.

"I present to you the Pillar," Palatinate intones gravely:

"The Pillar of Cephiro."

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

So long as there's still one person with something left to lose...

The logic which drives the Vermillion Knight was forged in the furnace of her loss: loss of her family, loss of her home. All lost was she pulled from their ashes by the Umbral Knight; and through her loss, she was driven to take up her arbalest.

So long as there was still someone she could save, she would fight.

And she would not cry out.

She does not here, either, though the humour she so appreciates in Palatinate is absent now. If this is a joke it is sickly and wan: he set out to find power, and brought back a girl.

Her expression is grim, but that's nothing new.

She knows and she knows the works of Cephiro, and the Vermillion Knight knows they are no enemies of Belka. She looks the Pillar in the eyes, and sees she is no object made flesh.

She takes a breath. The words are cooked in her belly. They come out, "..."

Her lips set, again, in a thin line. She tells herself, once and once again, that it is for Belka's benefit they claim these powers. It is for the good of them all that their strength falls under Belka's banners. They are...

"..."

There, again, a breath which cannot find words.

"... my Queen," she says, at length, at labour, stiff to creaking.

"She is not only a jewel. Can Belka truly accept this?"

<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Stories and memories, stories and memories. The Argent Knight listens to them all in turn, hearing her comrades speak their own, until the Queen speaks of how they have Saved each. It is good. It is a relief. No place need suffer the same fate as...

"Yes, my Queen." But where are they? She wonders, too, until a missing Knight arrives. And--

There.

The Argent Knight's expression twists immediately, into something like shock. But she hears the explanation, all the same, and her typically hard-to-read expression is difficult to figure once again. She is quiet, then, as she watches.

She looks over the princess, considering her. A princess like her own finding, but unlike, too. Terribly unlike. And yet...

The Vermillion Knight speaks, but...

"...Belka must," the Argent Knight says. "It is the only way to save them. To prevent others from losing their homes. We must take on these burdens that these worlds endure."

"Even when it is difficult."

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.

The Ebon Knight's helmed visage takes in the gratitude of their Queen. It is all that she requires. Her service given in exchange for that of her fallen sibling. Not solely vengeance, but to restore honor tarnished by taking on her name, her position.

And then the two prodigal knights return, and Ebon offers little but cool regard for their almost opposing sheen to her own. They offer then their prize. A maiden. No... a Pillar and a Maiden both.

It is difficult to tell her thoughts for a time, but then... "I'll allow, that she is a worthy prize." Some distant part of her wonders if the Maid had siblings once.

Family.

Part of her reminds herself that the Pillar of Cephiro gives herself over to prayer. To sacrifice a normal life.

No thoughts given towards family, or home, or love, or children. Only Cephiro.

"Ah but she is." Begins her simple response to Vermillion, "The finest of jewels, who gave herself over to Cephiro itself. To become the pillar, is to become something more and less than human. To wed yourself to Cephiro, for your thoughts only to be of Cephiro. Or so they say."

The knight's faceplate looks upon Umbral, "In the end, it is Cephiro itself that is offered to our Queen. Should we rebuke our comrades for the conquest of a world entire in her name?"

Her eyes fall upon the Maiden, "You shed no tears for your fate." The Umbral Knight says after a moment, "This is only right and proper. Your thoughts - your prayers must remain of Cephiro even within your new cage."

There is dignity in the way she presents herself in captivity. There is honor too, in one's role and position. In her eyes, the Pillar chose this role for herself. To offer her mercy as the Maiden she sees before her is to think of her as something she herself chose to be, no longer.

<Pose Tracker> Signum Yagami [None] has posed.

So where are those two missing?

Ah, they appear. As if on cue. The Azure Knight looks -

(And so does Signum, although she does not resist. Even so, it hurts. It rankles. She has done these sorts of things, for there have been many bad masters; it reawakens memories. But what sort of memories did this Blue Knight have?)

- ah, she thinks. That's what that beautiful creature meant.

This is the real tribunal.

"Let her leave us a token," offers the Azure Knight, "and I will cede the victory in the trial to the two of you, for myself. Eh?" She says it with cheer, but it's rather false cheer.

Part of the Azure Knight wonders: Have I simply and immediately failed the test before me, completely, again?

From the Ebon Knight's words, she begins to suspect that she might have.

<Pose Tracker> Lera Camry [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

The Radiant Knight's back goes rigid when the final gift arrives. Not what arrives, but who; a girl bound in chains, gagged, and unable to speak. Her eyes widen; her fingers tense around the hilt of Soaring Sky, at her side and in its sword form.

"This--"

She quiets for a moment, to collect herself. Lera knows who this is; the Radiant Knight knows who this is. She looks at the Vermillion Knight, then the Argent Knight. They differ in opinion.

It feels much more dangerous in this room, even when a blade hasn't been drawn.

Her eyes turn towards the Ebon Knight and the Azure Knight. She hesitates, then she clears her throat.

"The Vermillion Knight has the right of it, though," she says. "She is no jewel. Cephiro has need of her... but she has her own needs, too. Unlike the other treasures that we found."

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

The Ashen Knight watches quietly, calmly as her fellow Knights present their treasures. Surely, there were grander battles fought than hers, though her own path feels no less arduous, in its own way. For a time, she thought she might have a found a place there, but while it did much to soothe her soul... She gladly returned to her duties. No other worlds should suffer as theirs has.

She bows her head as the queen compliments their efforts. "It is an honor to serve, your Highness."

She bristles a bit, when the doors slam open, turning to see the errant follower. She grumbles, "Though it may be my sojourn did last a full year, even I managed to return on time..." But then she sees Auric enter, accompanied by a girl, and...

He eyes widen as she takes in the visage of the girl, bound, angry, but most importantly, living. Certainly, it might be said some of their treasures were alive in some sense, but none were of flesh and blood.

She shares a glance with Vermillion, whjo seems, in her laconic fashion, to be of the same mind as her. The proclamation that the pillar is not a jewel rings true to her.

Argent and Ebon, on the other hand... She scoffs loudly, turning on them. "Truly? You would ask us to sacrifice the life of a maiden in the name of our cause? 'Tis a sick joke. After our Princess did give her life, after our Queen did endure that loss, you would present her with another maiden, and inflict such a pain not only on the maiden but a whole world?"

She inclines her head in Azure and Radiant's directions. "Yes, let us have her leave us a token, or swear fealty, or whatever other arrangement as it may please our Queen."

<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (12)] has posed.

"I'm happy to have served." Is the Umbral Knight's reply to their Queen's praise.

Dark eyes rise as the two other Belkan knights enter the room, bearing a new treasure. Eyes move over the bound woman, and when she's given a formal announcement there's little change in the Umbral Knight's expression.

"Argent speaks correctly. This is Belka's right and responsibility. No different from any other prize brought before our Queen."

When others speak further the knight remains silent, until the Ashen Knight speaks her peace.

"It saddens me," Begins the Umbral Knight in somber, gravelly words, "To hear words so weak in conviction. To hear the lives of our Princess and people mean so little to some that they'd give the world to the Enemy who took them rather than claim them in Belka's holy name."

<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
<SoundTracker> The Cradle - MGLN OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACZI5KMZ0jU

Auric stays behind the Pillar, and Palatinate before her; neither is willing to leave her side, probably more out of concern for the Queen's security than anything. Palatinate says nothing, as many of his peers speak out in the Pillar's defense. He only looks to the Queen without hope in his eyes.

Auric, though, can only take so much of this.

"I'm sorry," she spits, "A token? Do you think this is a game, Azure? Have you forgotten why we're doing this, Radiant?" She tosses her head, looking impatient -- and then enraged. "And how dare you bring her into this, Ashen?! She isn't a petty rhetorical device to win an argument. She GAVE HER LIFE FOR ALL OF US. And that's what this is about. Just because this chick," she jabs an elbow into the Princess' back; the Pillar grunts through her gag, "Lacks ONE ONE THOUSANDTH THE BACKBONE of Belka's royal family, 'pillar' my ass, that doesn't mean she can't still save her people--"

"Enough," says the Queen. She does not raise her voice. The room falls dead silent all the same.

The Queen's attention has bounced back and forth between her bickering knights like a spectator at a tennis match...

...yet her gaze did not.

Though she bent an ear to one and all, her eyes never leave that of the captive Princess staring her down.

"My dear," she says to the maiden. "Do you know why you are here?"

She snaps her fingers, and Auric's magical gag vanishes in a puff of golden glitter.

The Princess of Cephiro raises her chin.

"I'm here because I was kidnapped," she spits. "By Belkans, who arrogantly believe that just because your world only barely survived some kind of terrible war, that that gives you the right to violate our sovereignty--"

Palatinate turns and places a light hand on the Princess' shackles, and she subsides.

"Nobody asked for your so-called protection," she concludes. "I demand that you return me to my people."

The Queen nods, gravely. Her expression did not change at all throughout this speech; she is distant even for her; withdrawn, as though looking at her throne room from the far end of a dark, dark tunnel.

"Come with me," she says.

The Queen walks across the room to a blank wall; the Princess follows awkwardly in her chains whether she would or no, with Auric all but bodying her forward.

The Queen lays her hand upon the stone. There is a prismatic flash, and it fades to windowpane transparency; no stone at all, then, but something spectacularly high-tech, or magical; both, perhaps. It is that kind of past.

And before the assembled, the view from the rebuilt Belkan Palace spreads out like a tapestry woven only in one color:

Black.

It is a wasteland, as far as the eye can see. No one lives here; in this part of the world, there was no one left to save. The surviving townships of Belka are much further afield than this, the capital, which was one of the first victims of the war. Rebuilding the fortress here was an act of defiance against a universe that shouted DIE, DIE, DIE -- honoring an empire that refused to.

Not a single tuft of grass has regrown in the intervening years.

The Princess is silent and shocked.

"The Enemy came first to Belka, not Cephiro, because the Enemy is drawn to... ah, there are so many words for it. Let us call it magic, for the sake of simplicity. It seems to be in the Enemy's nature; they come as surely as current is drawn down a wire. And ours was the greatest magic, the highest potential. So ours was the planet they chose."

The Queen's back remains turned to the group; she is speaking to the Princess, but to the others also. They know this story, of course. They lived it.

"We won," she explains, "But only after losing so much that can never, ever be regained. Do you know what the dying words of my daughter were?"

Palatinate clears his throat after the silence has lingered too long. He recounts:

"'My only regret is that in saving our world from them, we have surely doomed another. I only wish we had the power to save...'"

"Them all," finishes Auric, voice hushed.

"Does Belka look saved to you?" the Queen asks. Obviously it is not. If Belka survived it is only in the meanest and most desperate definition of the word. "The only way to save Cephiro -- to save any other magical world -- is to ensure that the Enemy never finds it. And the only way to do that--"

"--is to remove its magic entirely," the Princess concludes, looking dazed.

Then she shakes her head, conviction rising within her.

"Just because Belka could not protect its people does not mean we cannot! We must band together -- why do you weaken us, divide us?"

The Queen continues to stare out at the wasteland that was once a thriving capital.

"What do you think we are doing? With the Hearts of every magical world there is... with that kind of power... once we have amassed it all, we can take the fight to them. We can end this threat forever."

The Princess' chains clink as she shifts her weight.

"I cannot accept this. I do not. You... your judgement is clouded by gri--"

• slap*

The Princess' head jerks from the impact of the back of the Queen's hand. Now, at last, she faces her directly.

The ring on her hand glimmers with rising power; the Princess' gag is restored, though this time it's simply a bond of pure light rather than a fabric conjuration.

"You would sacrifice your people for your pride," says the Queen, coldly. "This disqualifies you to rule."

Looking past her, she studies her Knights. Each of them is silently weighed and measured. She knows all of them well; raised them in her Court from childhood, in some cases; recruited them as young adults, in others. Or her daughter did. She looks so much like her daughter, and nothing like her at all. But if she had lived, maybe someday... she would have looked this old.

She lifts the hand with the ring; once it touches the Princess, she will disappear as surely as the little glass bird, the tiny bell, and all the rest.

OOC: Again, no wrong answers here -- any reactions are fine. However, if someone wants to try to physically intervene, we will
want you to pose early in the order, so please say so so we can do a little bit of order-planning...

<Pose Tracker> Kyouka Okazaki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Ashen's eyes narrow at Ebon. "And what of your convictions, Ebon? Would you inflict the same wound our Enemy hath given unto us onto another, in the name of their protection? I mourn the lives of our fallen the same as any other, and that is precisely why we must not seek to cause the same grief ourselves."

She scoffs at Auric. "'Tis you who call her such, not I. Dost thou truly believe our Princess would wish such a thing on another?!" She's about to say something else, when the Queen interjects, and she falls silent.

She remains silent as the Queen explains what most of them already know, shows the Pillar the devestation that they have still not been able to repair. The castle may stand, but its lands still lay fallow. She looks away, arms crossed as if trying to restrain herself, her grip on her arms tightening as the conversation proceeds... until that slap yanks her attention back.

A scowl raises in the back of her throat. Under her armor, her knocks turn white.

The calm she had briefly felt is fading, and maybe she is starting to realize something she wasn't ready to accept in the monastery.

Her rapier is drawn in an instant, a whip-thin sound the only indication that she's withdrawn it. To attack the Queen would be sacrilege of the utmost order, but she only needs to get through Auric, pull the Pillar away, and then--

--hopefully someone else will come to her aid, because she'll need it.

COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has used Void Bringer on Pink Moon Stick.
COMBAT: Cure Passion covers Pink Moon Stick for Kyouka Okazaki's attack, Void Bringer, taking it upon herself instead!
COMBAT: Cure Passion braces 26 Fatigue damage from Kyouka Okazaki's Void Bringer, taking 21 Fatigue damage!  

<Pose Tracker> Cure Passion [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Argent looks between all of the others, as they speak. Her gaze lingers on the Radiant Knight, especially--what they mean to each other is known. "...I know it is difficult," she echoes what she said earlier, more sympathetic perhaps than the Umbral Knight. She does not speak of a weakness of conviction, only difficulty.

"It is as it must be," she says again, looking to the Ashen Knight. "...It is not the only pain that a world can suffer," Argent says.

She hears the whip-thin noise of a blade being drawn, sees Ashen's movements, and immediately moves. She puts out her arms, leaping with her characteristic speed between the Auric Knight and the Ashen Knight, to prevent the strike using her own body. Then she hits one knee, struck hard by the blow.

Only then does she speak up.

"I lost my home," she says. "it is gone, gone forever, and all that would remember it save me are gone as well. My family, their hopes, their dreams... My own."

"And in this way, we can prevent others knowing that pain. Any lesser pain than this must be considered victory."

"...Perhaps some would call this madness. I would call it realism. If even we could not prevent this terrible loss, then why should we wait for the faint hope that some other will? ...Better to let them be diminished than to let them be destroyed. Better to save some than to lose all."

Her eyes rise, to the Ashen Knight's. "Far better."

COMBAT: Cure Passion has saved her current combat state for later!
COMBAT: Kyouka Okazaki has saved her current combat state for later!

TO BE CONTINUED