Triviis (IC)

Rouhn was itching to go, and though the excitement on his face was hidden by his dark helmet, one could tell by his irregular quivering that he was just about to leave everyone behind. As soon as Marsh began walking, the stveka couldn't hold back any longer, and his large form lunged forward, leaving Honey and Dorado's side. His armor glowed as his long, powerful strides gained speed and his head lowered a little, long neck stretching forward. He passed Marsh, Snail, Goose, and rushed away across the field with an eerie, guttural howl. He had a one-track mind for now, and all he wanted was to go home. He was a determined creature to say the least.

With his hands still in his vest's pockets, Goose spoke in a strange language, "Esk notesk?"

Roach turned to Goose, "Esk...?"

One more white light appeared in the field above Roach. A large backpack fell into his arms. "You expect me to carry this?"

Goose shrugged, "You wanted to help me with the summoned, right?"

Roach made a face, "I did say that."

Goose began walking, "Well alright then. Let's go." He reached the front of the group and addressed them while they walked, "We head northwest to the river, and follow it north until we reach Larmac Lake. From there we'll set up camp and sleep there for the night."

***

As the group made there way, Snail replied to Idgo, "Aha! A clever question. I am here so I can acquire information. This is what I like to call a vacation of research." Snail had a rather strange set of movement. He did not use his tentacles to slide across the ground, but instead flopped over himself rather slowly, almost rolling. This was a rather ineffective method of movement as he was lagging far behind the group.

The river eventually came into view. Snail seemed rather happy to see it. He blurted out, "What a wonderful body of water! There are no such things on my home planet." He rolled down the river bank and flopped into the river. He swam with rather agile form, even though he was going against the current. He was able to keep up with the others now.

***

Roach made his way within the middle of the group. He did not lead with Goose because he didn't know where to go. He wasn't nearly experienced with this path. He ended up walking aside Dorado, "So uh... I don't think we've been properly introduced. My name is Roach and my species is that of a falsehood. I'm sorry about my brother, Goose. He's kind of a dweeb."

Dorado was not at all enthusiastic about starting this journey, but he kept quiet and focused on his own two feet. He was slightly on edge, mostly because he didn’t really trust any of these people and was waiting for something terrible to happen. When the group approached the bank of the river he swerved well away from the edge to avoid falling in. In the end it didn’t prove worth it, as he was so fixated on watching the river that he walked straight into a tree. After that he attempted to stick in the center of the group, and as misfortune would dictate, someone was trying to talk to him.

“Roach?” Dorado echoed, squinting at the so-called ‘falsehood’. “That’s a terrible name. I mean—um. Sorry.” He pressed his palm to his forehead, his fingers slipping underneath his golden helmet. “I’m Dorado. Dorado Iamori. I’m a… a Fortunate.” He didn’t really want to be talking as it was distracting him from watching his footing, especially since he had a headache from his brawl with the tree.

Idgó nodded attentively to Snail's response, though in truth he now had more questions than answers. Yet he now thought it best to leave Snail with some time to himself, to explore this so-called vacation destination - Idgó decided that he would do the same.

The path his group followed was adjacent to a river, through the tall blades of... organic material, Idgó decided to call it. He had never seen something like that in his old home. Nor, come to think of it, had he seen a river of dihydrogen monoxide such as this. Idgó was soon enough staring at it, studying carefully its dimensions, how the light reflected off its surface, the deep, cool, dark colors the murky depths below its surface, in which he could surely fit his entire body - he had never seen so much liquid in one place.

Though the river was so addicting in nature to look at, Idgó was still keen to notice the short being, clad in a gold-like substance (perhaps it was just gold), tensely and deliberately avoid the river. He understood very little about fear, and struggled to understand the being's caution - surely it wasn't so bad.

The river bent in front of the group, and the two leaders - Goose and Roach -casually swerved to avoid it, following the river to what would surely be their destination. Idgó was slower to turn - in fact, he deliberately floated over, and then into the river. He gingerly, lazily, allowed himself to float against the current, looking incredibly contented - even as the clear river water splashed him in the face, as he, seemingly against the laws of physics, managed to drift up-river alongside his group.

His blue, glowing eye turned into a happy upwards crescent as he peered at Snail below him, who, too, was happy to swim in the river.

The large rock arrowhead that was Petri zipped along with the group near the front, easily keeping pace with everyone as he held an altitude of about five feet off the ground. While he flew, he listened carefully to the conversations occurring around him, and was slightly sad that he couldn't really talk. But he was used to this, and so he didn't lose too many specks of sand over it.

When they reached the river, he decided to move over to the catgirl-satyr being near the back, whom he had noticed trying to approach him earlier in curiosity. To accomplish this, he rotated about his center of mass, until the point of the arrow was aimed towards her, and then he zipped forward and banked in a loop around her head, stopping about 16 inches from her nose as he face towards her eyes.

Meinmein extended her small paw to the rock, resting her soft pad on the stone cold surface. Curious to how this mysterious floating stone would react, she began to gently pat the rock.

While patting the peculiar object, her eyes were drawn to the figure ahead of her. The shiny golden plates instantly caught her attention. The shiny man must have been the one she saw in the distance. A rather handsome lad, she came to decide, before even being able to see his face.

Had this large rock not been in the way, she surely would have approached what she hoped to be a him.

Marsh kept his pace when the rock went off behind him, walking a bit absent mindedly as he scanned the area around the group. The river was nice, not completely alien to the Bleth. On their homeworld, they did have a contingent of a navy among their oceans, but due to the more obvious aerial nature of combat, most of the navy was simply mobile strike platforms. Sailors were still well-respected nonetheless.

He listened to the golden armored one speak his name, Dorado. He remembered an old Terran fairy tale similar to that, couldn't quite put his finger on it. He knew the group wasn't exactly keen on approaching the rude creature with a loaded weapon, so he simply holstered it for the time being. His mind was of home, what if the Bleth were fighting a war without him? Was he a deserter?

Nonsense.

With any luck, this group would complete their task and return home. He had noticed the more animalistic creature practically fly past him, its howling startling him, though not outwardly. It was no doubt young, probably without a master for the time being. He kept his pace, eyes fixated on the creature ahead.

Honey was immediately concerned when Rouhn charged past the rest of the group, determined to get to the mountain and return home to his mother as soon as possible. She had prepared to run after him, before seeing almost immediately that there was no hope of her ever catching up to him, even if she switched to quadruped motion. Honey could run quickly, more so than most humans, but it was not a supernatural level of speed, nor was it amongst the faster groups of animals. “…Another one...I hope nothing happens to him before we catch up…” She said quietly aloud. It was not a malicious, sarcastic statement, but one that suggested she was deeply troubled, and this was somehow adding to her growing list of worries.
 
As the group traveled, however, it became more apparent to Honey that while some members of the group were deeply concerned about what was going on in their own worlds, others were incredibly relaxed, perhaps not caring where they had come from. The green octopus had gone into the water and started swimming along the stream the group was following, and soon after, the strange, metallic being started floating in the river, too. Because his eye, as Honey realized what it was, was a glowing point of light, it was easier for her to see that his expression was one of delight, even at a distance.
 
She also saw the living rock fly over to the cat-like being with horns or bulbs on its head, seemingly trying to interact with her, and Roach had begun speaking to Dorado—whose introduction Honey was able to hear, given her powerful hearing.
 
Deciding not to barge into anyone else’s conversations, Honey went over to where Torrent was walking alongside the rest of the group—she supposed the griffin could have flown over to the mountain, but even creatures with wings could tire out, and having to land in unfamiliar places was a clear danger. Secondly, Honey was, for the time, sick of being responsible for the lives of other people, having been ripped away from the first group by some god, and then Rouhn running off where she could not keep an eye on him. Torrent seemed like some sort of leader, and even if he was not a general, his presence was more reassuring than the white-scaled alien who lacked soft skills.
 
“So…I know this passed through my head several times already, but when they told us how we had to get back home, did you feel like we got sent into some really old story book legend? It feels more like a fairy tale, and for some reason I feel really weirded out by that. I mean, my own world has knowledge of alternate worlds and dimensions, but I still grew up never thinking I’d get pulled into one other than the one I was in.”

Roach smiled a cheesy smile, "Well... Fortunate-ly for you, you'll be home soon enough."

***

Goose hummed a tune from a metal song that was most likely from earth. He wondered which earth it was from. There were too many alternate dimensions for him to tell. A lot of the summoned usually came from one earth or the other. Some didn't make it back to their world because of truths that they learned from Triviis.

He wondered if any of the current summoned wanted to stay in Triviis, instead of go home like they were supposed to. The octopus seemed like a likely candidate, the metal thing too; they were just too happy about things. It irked Goose. It irked him either way though. He was offended if they didn't want to stay, but he also didn't like the idea of them staying. They'd just end up as nogjods if they accepted the Gjothyme and decided to stay in Triviis. There was a willpower about the natives that kept them from going insane.

"Holy diver." Goose continued to hum.

***

Snail seemed quite content with the river. There were no such bodies of water on the dryer-than-mars planet known as Huebron-6597 H. He seemed like such a natural at swimming, no one would ever guess the absence of water on his homeworld.

Torrent hadn't said anything after they started walking, as he had been deep in thought, mainly about what was happening back in his own world. He had briefly wondered if Amoch had burned anything down in his absence, either in the process of searching, or simply because Torrent wasn't there to stop him. His thoughts were interrupted by the approach of a creature he thought he had heard the name of. Honey, that was it. He tilted his head slightly so that he could see her better as he walked.

"A fairy tale?" he said, "I suppose. I hadn't heard much of other worlds until now, and I certainly hadn't expected to... 'visit' one." He felt that wasn't exactly what she had meant by that comment, though. "I've never heard of this god, either. The idea of a god setting up some kind of trial for mortals is not unheard of, I suppose." But that did raise an interesting question. "Though, I can't imagine what the goal could be, in this case."

Well. Carrying *two* giant beasts certainly took a while. She let go of the defeated bird and the bag upon hearing voices nearby.

Kumori's face (literally) brightened at the center and she waved to the group, calling out, “Everyone, it is pleasant to be encountering all of you once more! Many of the apologies, for I have been doing the dealing with a bird of extreme persistence, though I have returned with two-fold of the original amounts of the trophies.” Some sort of pride filled her voice. “Eating is not of necessity to one as myself, so it is of sense to give this sustenance to those who experience the sensations of hunger, yes?”

Even though Kumori spent all this time lugging around heavy beasts, it did not seem like she minded anymore, as now she had a reason to. Following behind the rest of the group, she continued to drag what she had.

Sent from Topic'it App

To show he was pleased, Petri warmed slightly to Meinmein's touch, not enough to burn her, but to a comfortable temperature. He then bobbed in midair a few times.

At that point, the warrior emerged from the forest carrying the carcasses of the two large birds, which she had evidently killed. He was curious, having never seen such large creatures before, and zipped over from his original position to investigate.
Quickly crossing the distance between them, he moved over and inspected one of the birds, before zipping in several large circles around Kumori.

Marsh took his gaze odd the running creature and fixed for a moment on the woman with the bag, noticing the rock spin circles around her? Whatever its reason, it certainly looked heavy.

He needed to be a bit more social, to clean up his hostile behavior. He decided not to bother Dorado for the time being, instead making a probably worse decision and walking alongside the feline who had given him a what-for earlier and the large avian. He had listened to their conversation somewhat, giving his take, "If I had to guess, its some kind of "prove your worth" test. Pass the test, you return home or are rewarded with riches or whatever the case may be. Remains to be seen just what we're doing though."

“Gee, I’ve never heard that pun before,” Dorado huffed. “And I don’t want to go home, but staying here isn’t a good alternative.” He let his helmet settle back into place and looked away, trying to keep alert for any signs of danger. The gaseous-looking girl appeared to have eliminated threatening wildlife and was lugging feathered corpses. He’d never even seen the birds. It explained where she’d been for the last little while, but… Would the smell of dead flesh and blood draw more predators? Dorado hoped not. He wandered away from Roach subtly, not all that interested in talking to the guy. Somewhat belatedly he realized there was a rock floating around. How had he not noticed that before? He squinted. No... Could it be the same rock he'd fallen over? There were magic rocks now? What a strange place.

Idgó was hardly the age of a child, but he certainly had the attention span of one. Lifting himself from the river, dark purple cloak clinging tightly to the broken body it hid, he levitated himself back onto try land. The air, yet so familiarly cool to his touch, was still so satisfying in the otherwise rather warm air. Yes, Idgó wouldn't get tired of this place for a long time.

His eyespot was now circular again, attentive and thoughtful of his surroundings. He had definitely noticed the blue, faceless biped - another inorganic? - as well as the tall creature in a cloak that was similar in tone, but almost nothing else, to his own. He hadn't been paying so much attention to him before, but now he noticed the others' seeming aversion to him, as if he had been threatening them in some way. Though his vocal tone was now low and nonoffensive - Idgó was sure he could trust both him and the fellow inorganic.

Not that anything in this new land could possibly hurt him, surely.

"I wonder indeed," Idgó added to the tall cloaked alien's remark as he approached both him and the gaseous inorganic, "why we ourselves be tested, of what must surely be so many others to choose from?"

Idgó's bright blue eyespot flickered for a moment, and then shifted once more into the elated upwards-crescent that he was now growing so accustomed to, "Perhaps, meant we were from the beginning to be chosen together! Friends, I be Idgó!" His tinny, distant-sounding voice sounded loudly so that both of his conversation partners may hear, as the gaseous inorganic stood rather far away from him.

One of Honey’s ears swiveled towards the white-scaled alien, who had boldly joined the conversation despite the fact that he had clearly angered her earlier. Stubborn one, Honey thought, doesn’t get discouraged that easily. She sighed, “Well, your opinions are more optimistic than mine.” She said, before the metallic being—Idgó—came up and began adding his own thoughts. A part of it broke Honey’s heart a little; there was a sort of child-like ignorance to him, enough that he would believe there was a special reason for everyone being summoned.
 
She could no longer say what she felt like saying, and what she was thinking inwardly.
 
She was entirely convinced that there was no special reason, whatsoever, for why the group had been abducted and deposited in the middle of a flowery meadow. The god of Triivis had called them to this world on a whim, and they would undergo the same quest that perhaps hundreds of others had endured, for no real reason beyond entertaining the deity, she supposed. There was no means of arguing against this, or opposing what had been done to them. If they were not here for amusement, Honey doubted it was for the quest alone, but for some ‘other’ purpose that she dared not to contemplate. There were few positive options that would satisfy someone seeking a deeper meaning that she could see. They were not the first group to be summoned, nor would they be the last.
 
Honey, however, could not bear to say something like this to these people, who were far more optimistic, and perhaps had fewer reasons to be worried about what was happening in their own worlds. Somehow, this made the knot of bitterness in her heart worse, feeling that people close to her might die, and all for some shallow reason.
 
“I don’t know if it’s destiny or fate, but I like your concept better.” Honey said, trying to be cheerful towards Idgó. She knew nobody else would want her emotional baggage, anyone from their home was liable to feel the weight of it soon enough, if they had anyone they deeply cared about. Its full force had perhaps not connected yet, and Honey was determined to stave it off if she could for everyone else.
 
Ultimately, Honey just wanted to go home. She wanted to be by her friend’s sides, even if it meant standing in a war zone. Legerman was still under attack when she had been taken; it filled her with dread, wondering how much time would pass while she was gone. She had burdened herself with the desire to protect someone else, and after what she had seen, it burned her from the inside, to think that she might never see them alive again. Walking through Triivis’ idle landscape was nothing short of sheer torture, knowing that somewhere else, the people she had escaped with were hunkered in some bunker, somewhere.
 
“Nice to meet you, Idgó” Honey said, “You can call me Honey.”
 
Even a very discerning gaze would have trouble seeing fast her cheerful façade.

Roach seemed at least slightly upset with Dorado's response. His aura flickered, but was quickly redirected. He hustled over to Goose and said in their strange language, "Goose'a threynk threyst vwee dnanturnant rnauntk!" He used his aura to connect further information to Goose.

Goose subtly glanced over at Dorado. "Gyu nene't thefe gnotplat iund?"

Roach nodded. His aura returned to him.

Goose almost made a disgusted expression. "Byaukef nogneven." He sighed heavily. "Keep doing your thing then, I guess."

Roach nodded again as his aura normalized. He then slowly fell back to be with the summoned.

***

Snail flopped out of the water, feeling rather sociable. He trailed closely behind the sharp being, slowly making his way in front of Idgo. He slapped himself many times with his eight tentacles, just giving into impulses, "Aha! Yes, I would like to socialize as well. Down here! I am Snail, an acquaintance of Idgo. I overheard that your name is Honey? It is like that of the syrup associated with bees, correct? Such a name is not what I would name such a burly creature, but it is a cute moniker nonetheless. A compliment, is it not? Ha-ha!" His laugh was not nearly as hearty as he had expected it to be, which greatly disappointed him. However, he did not let it bother him for more than needed. "Let it be said that I do indeed look forward to gaining at least a smidgen of your friendship!" After his long introduction, he flopped closer to Idgo.

The voice may have confused Honey, as it was not aligned with Snail's general location, though this was highly unlikely.

Honey looked at Snail, her expression going blank for a moment, before laughing slightly, after making a conclusion that there was no mockery in the octopus’ comment. “Well, that’s the first time someone’s said that to my face about my nickname.” She responded, a bit surprised, the shock briefly eliminating her inner depression. “I suppose I do not look like it fits, but sometimes personality counts.” She could not really be offended, seeing as Snail was trying to be friendly, and it manifested in a truly bizarre and alien way. “Well, nice to meet you too, Snail.”
 
At the same time, one of her ears swiveled towards Goose and Roach, who had started talking in a language she didn’t recognize. Probably talking bad about us, otherwise they probably wouldn’t censor it by using words we don’t understand, she thought. Although it could sometimes be considered offensive to become angry with people for speaking their own language, on the same token, it was a means of excluding people who did not understand it. They could call her any number of bad names right in front of her and she would not know. They were blurs at a distance, and all she could read were their postures. It seemed there was a bit of negativity, but she was not sure of anything else beyond this.

Tilting her head as Petri flew around, Kumori said, “Curiosity abounds… the salutations I give to you, being of stone! Of the possibilities, perhaps it is of magical causes in which that grants you of flight?” What an interesting occurrence, indeed. Letting go of both of the bag with the boar and the similarly-sized bird, she pointed a hand at the bird.

“Formidable that beast was! ‘Was’, meaning no longer it is." A laugh left her mouth as she looked closer at it. "Uncertainty is what fills me at the question of this being of the category of ‘edible’...” Her hand went to her chin out of thought. “Beings of otherworldliness could have all of the kinds of dangers…”

The words of Idgó made her face brighten even more.

“Ah, of the title of ‘friend’, would there be the possibility of including I in a group of such? An instance of this if it may be, the title of which you spoke of is returned! Ally Idgó, what I am called is Samayoken Kumori!” If she had eyes, they would have averted at when she made her next comment. “...Preferable it is for myself to be called by the name which was given to me, ‘Kumori’, instead.”

As the group trekked north, the scenery slowly changed. Hills were visible towards the east, and a lake to the west. As the clouds dispersed and the sky cleared, it became quite obvious that there was no sun above. Though this was the case, it was still as bright as any summer day, maybe even brighter.

The lake laid out it's traits to the summoned as they arrived. A massive beach surrounded the lake. A good 300 feet of sand separated the fields and trees from the lake. As the gentle waves washed upon the lake, the sky simply shifted into an evening orange without warning. It was as if it was noon the entire time they were there, and the arrival at the lake triggered a passing of time.

Goose turned to the summoned, "Don't mind the sky, that's Jody's way of telling us that it's almost ni-"

Goose was then rather forcefully interrupted by a thundering crack that came from the sky. Goose scowled, "That's not Jody though."

As the crack trailed off, an ungodly presence came over the group. It weighed heavy on everyone, pressuring them to simply lie down and let the presence spiritually thrash everyone to death.

Suddenly, as if he had always been there to begin with, a single knight became visible to the group. There was a definite 20 feet space that separated him from the summoned.

The male figure in the center wielded a greatsword and was covered from head to toe in elegant knights armor. He called out in a menacing voice, "Goose! It is a pleasure to finally encounter you again. It has been too long since I've plunged my sword down your throat!"

Goose shouted at him, "You ain't doin' **** to me, Vanguard. You know you always end up dead when you try to kill my summoned."

"Aha! That's why I brought help this time!" The knight swung his sword once in the air, and then stabbed it into the sand.

Four beings appeared out of thin air. The first was a female knight with a sword, a shield and what seemed like copper armor. The second was a nine foot knight with extremely thick armor and no weapon. The third was a mage in a Gothic Lolita getup. The fourth and most out of place one to appear was a girl wearing rather modern earth clothes. She also held an AK-47 with a strange device attached to the receiver.

While they travelled, Petri had continued hovering along with the group, and now was in proximity to the pleasant being who had identified herself as Kumori. He certainly enjoyed her presence and cheerful attitude, although unfortunately he could not speak to really tell her this, instead having to content himself with happily whizzing around her head in somewhat large circles, sometimes slowin to travel nearby.

It was then that he felt the malevolent presence, and then shortly after, he saw the knight appear. If he had had eyes, they would've narrowed, as his suspicions about the new arrivals were confirmed by the brief exchange between their guide and the knight. And then the others appeared.This would not do at all, Petri thought to himself, and decided to leap into action, hopefully to get the jump on these enemies which threatened them.

He suddenly strayed from the circular orbit he had been holding around Kumori, shooting off in a tangential path towards the girl dressed as a lolita, she having been chosen due to the lack of armor. The mere twenty feet between them was covered in slightly less than half a second, as he accelerated to 54.5 mph, aiming his arrowpoint towards the girl's center of mass, which would roughly fall in the chest area.

Marsh took his time to absorb the personalities of their rag tag group a bit. The monster huntress seemed kind enough.

He was prepared for the visitors. It seems his paranoia wasn't unwarranted. The arrowhead seemed to strike at the strange looking woman, well, one of them. He decided to work with the rock, taking an opportunity to draw his energy revolver and fire directly towards her abdomen while she was distracted. With the rock's effort and his own, he figured it'd be an effective one-two punch.

Dorado didn’t like the beach. Sand was hard to walk on and he could only envision what sort of horrors lay beneath the sand. Giant worms, probably. Maybe there were jellyfish in the water. His paranoia seemed to pay off as a threat appeared not from the sand, but rather from unsettling presence that pushed him to the ground. He sat up—there was sand in his armor now, damnit—in time to hear thunder and see a threatening armored figure appear. He wanted no part in the giant sword the figure was brandishing.

While Dorado picked himself up he listened carefully to Goose as he exchanged insults with the so-dubbed ‘Vanguard’. “Don’t egg him on you birdbrain,” Dorado grumbled. Ah. Now the situation had definitely escalated. More threatening people. It now qualified as Dorado’s definition of The Badness. He blinked. “Free gun!” he shouted, unslinging his elegant, golden rifle and tossing it to the sand. By design it was easy to use—look down the sight and pull the trigger! Disintegrate your enemies with a beam of golden light! But, Dorado had no interest in using the gun. He was sprinting as fast as he could across the sand and toward the river to the imagined safety of the trees. The sand in his armor was chafing him and loose sand didn’t make for ideal running turf, but he was trying.

The sight of the lake was spectacular to one who had never seen such a large amount of liquid - Idgó was keen to take a moment to himself in order to appreciate it. However, the disturbance of a new being - "Vanguard," as Goose had called him - was enough to pull the broken Metallurgist from his enjoyment, at least momentarily. Situated near the back of the party, Idgó had to rotate his body to face Vanguard.

The party was apprehensive, especially with Goose and Vanguard's short exchange of threats, though Idgó, of course, shared none of it. Though he was silent as Goose and Vanguard parleyed, there was a very particular train of thought running through his head.

"New friends, thou'rt!"

Nobody heard his exclamation, because both the sentient stone and the purple-clad being simultaneously attacked, Idgó's voice lost in the sudden auditory commotion. The figure clad in gold fearfully threw his weapon on the ground and sprinted in the opposite direction, kicking up sand as he did. And in the midst of all this, Idgó's eyespot could only flicker in confusion.

Of course, he shouldn't have expected that making friends would be easy.

Idgó leapt forward with unprecedented agility, his ability to levitate sending him sailing above the heads of the rest of the party. He landed on the other end gently, his hand raised high as to try to attract attention. His hollow, tinny voice sounded frantically (at least, so he attempted) over the sound of gunfire, "Friends, can'st we not speaketh amicably? You are going to hurt someone!" He stood now about ten feet to the side of the purple-cloaked gunman, firing upon Vanguard's quintet. Idgó himself had no self-preservation instincts, save for the tiniest seed of apprehension, which now seemed to be warning him that this may not have been the brightest idea.
E̴͕̙̤͓̕R͚̭͖̤͖̪̳̞͜R͍͙͟͠O͕̠̼̼̥͟ͅR͔̝̠̬̺:̶̛̫̣̖̰͎̣̦͞ ̴̼̞̫̫̭̖͖͡ͅB̵̥̱̪̹R̸͉͕̮̤̳͕͟E̼͔̼͚͖̯̯̘̤A̹̣̯͖͝ͅͅK̶̢̪͓̠͈͙͘ ͞҉̻̜͓̹̯͚̙͕N̕͢҉̻̯Ó̢̹͜T̬̣̰͚̹̻͇̺͟͢ ̲͎̠̼̝̰͜T҉̙͕͕H̷͇͝Y̭͕͇̫̯͡ ̶͙̣̱̥͡O͉̼͞W͔̟N̛̫̭͚͕͉̘̣̻͔ ͉̤͎̩̲͜͢B̯̭̫̳͠O̶͈͕͎̯̼̪̫̤̬̕D̗̞̜̱̀͘͡Ý̛͔͕̭͎̟̫̺́ ̨̝̖͍̖͍͓̘͟͝ͅI̗̤͜͡N̴̵̶̼̝͇̳̩ ̹̦̙̟͡S̴̵̖̰͉̜̦̬̥AC̼̤̭̱͓͢͝͞R̨̯͔͉̗̯I͏̨̘̦̗̘̱F̷̮̦͈̜͙̳͉̺̀I̧̢̳͍̼̘̘͕̦C͘҉̞̝E̵͇͓̣̗̰͕͡,̶̩̩̭̝̹ ͔͓̟̰F̰̻̩̤̫̱͘̕͘O̷͉͉̖̜̮̼̦ͅR̭͍̩̝̭̠̘ ̸̖̕T̞̜̜͍̻̳̙ͅḨ̵̶̗̱̹̟̥̜Í͈̖̮̩̟̗͜Ș̬̳͡ͅ ̴͔̰͈̟͉͙͇̭I̤͇̱̻̩̗ͅṢ̨͕͜ ̶̜͓̙̯͈̳ͅS͈̗̠̳͈͟Á̸̤̞͈͈͈͍̯̞̱͠C͉̟̪̰͎̮̞R̰̯̭̯̗̪͉͜͟I̯̦̰͜͞L̵̛̖͈̲͓E̮̼͇̳̭̩̕͜G̵̴̯̤E̡͉̙̬
All the more reason to solve this conflict, surely.

Kumori's cheerful expression turned serious.

In a flash, the golden-color plate on her arm expanded into a shield. Conflict had arrived, and a being such as herself was destined for dealing with it. However, she understood this feeling she had now - hesitance.

Certainly Kumori had faced and bested all sorts of wildlife bothering her small village, though this encounter came with weight. These were sentients (like herself? Did she count? It confused her what she was classified as) and Kumori did not take the value of lives lightly. Still…

“Ally Idgó! Late is it to approach with diplomacy! Please, return!” And how unfortunate was that to say. Harming another didn't sit too well with her, yet the thought of her newly found allies being injured instead was worse. Standing behind the shield, she assessed the situation.

One of the group dropped his gun and ran off, too frightened to handle what was happening. Her rock friend and the being with...some sort of revolver were focusing on the unarmored girl.

“Being of gold, the shield of mine can protect you of the dangers!” She looked over to the being with the revolver. He reacted fast and overall gave the impression of having more combat experience than herself. Surely his knowledge could aid her effectiveness? “Sir, assist if I may, direct myself in actions!”

Sent from Topic'it App