Episode 19 - A New Year

[Dodgeson]

Robin kept swinging at Chro's gaseous form until he had floated out of his reach, settling for just sticking out his tongue and taunting him with a very mature "No you wont!"

Then he was all alone in the strange dark room and without the adrenaline thundering through his veins everything hit him all at once and he slumped against the wall to catch his breath. He'd won but fighting without his friends he'd had to push himself harder than he'd done than maybe even at the Vytal Festival but it had been worth it and he couldn't help but grin as the wag came back to his tail.

He didn't have to be afraid of Chro any more, he wasn't the terrible thing he'd built up in his head any more, he was just another monster. Pulling himself back to his feet he started towards the door he'd spotted when he'd been pulled down here and if it was locked he was pretty sure he remembered how Inugame's grenade launcher worked...

[Arlin]

Anya blinked, drawing up short as Jack was retrieved. As they started way back, she glanced over at Lapis and commented, "...did you just shame a vampire lord into becoming your customer?" After a moment, she shook her head, it wasn't really that important. She did lean forward a bit, though. "Hey, um, Rhys. I know I'm still new here, so maybe that's normal-ish for you, but you got... really intense there. You okay?"

Anya was not about to let a teammate neglect mental health, and she was in no possible way also doing it to avoid dealing with her own issues. Nope.

Back at the vampire den, Anya just let out a sigh of relief. Clearly she still hadn't adjusted entirely to being here though, as the RACL hype just put her in mind of Jason. Time to once more keep busy. "I should be able to find him again, one moment." Then she dialed up her hearing again. If she could, she'd try to talk to Robin via her Semblance, let him know what was up and help navigate. If not, then at least she could figure out where he was.

OOC

Using Precision Sonar to locate Robin, and Ventriloquism to communicate if possible.

Thokk, sorry about the commentary at a weird spot time-wise, but I feel it is when she would say something.

 

[Ridai]

Anya's remark towards him catches Lapis off-guard. Mirth cackles as Mettle muses on the merits of a properly tailored suit. "Wh-what, but it was just an off-chance offer-" he tries to clarify, but his teammate is already shaking her head, the moment has passed, and Lapis gets the sinking feeling that this will be the story going forward once again.

[RavingScholar]

Rhys had already turned his nose up to try and search for Robin himself. He glances at Anya and grunts. "Robin was taken. Of course I would be upset," he says with his usual stoicism.

[Phoenix1]

Team FLNS

Soo...remember how you guys responded when you were first introduced to this plan? After spending a year both A) dealing with all the nonsense you had dealt with and B) having Dr. Meritt Brown as your Science teacher?

...Yeah. They weren't gonna get it that easily. They lived in a cabin in the woods.

ThreeFred ofFarly themFarid all started speaking simultaneously.

"What are you even talking about!?"

"I'm afraid I don't understand."

"That doesn't make sense."

The three of them kinda exchanged looks, and then the one who had said he didn't understandFarly continued, "Listen, um, we are grateful for the rescue. I..." he looked at Fen directly, "I'm not sure who you are. Or believe yourself to be. But you can't be our sister. You...look a lot like her, admittedly. But she's only ten years old. And right now she is alone, and terrified, and we need to make sure she's alright, okay? Then we can...figure all this out."

"...That isn't a forest," said the one who had been staring at Fen previouslyFadi. "And I don't hear the booming...wait. Where have you taken us!?"

The Fabel brothers started moving, practically simultaneously. Three of themFred, Francis, and Falk angling for the door, the others more moving to try to interfere with any attempts to block them.

Mechanics

I dunno that you particularly do now that you're safe at Haven, but if you want to try to keep them from reaching the door, you have to beat them in a Mobility check. They each receive +5 from Team Checks for this purpose. If you want to block more than one of them, you need to beat the highest result among the checks of the ones you wish to block by an additional degree per additional one blocked. (You can of course attempt to stop them by other means as well, if you like.)

Fred

Francis

Falk

 

Perception DC 30, cannot be Routined (technically an opposed check so if you beat it Routine they would roll)

Fang is also trying to slip out in the confusion; if you beat this check you can also block him as above. He received Team Check bonuses to his Stealth, so his Mobility is unassisted. I rolled it off-line so the die tower doesn't spoiler my spoiler. 🙄 He got a natural 5, total 15.

Team RACL

Anya couldn't hear Robin now any more than she could after he had first disappeared. Her vibrational communication still reached him, though, so he had to be within a mile. Rhys (I'm assuming he's activating full Apollo's Senses, which with the Extended 2 drops the DC to 20) did, however, pick up Robin's familiar scent as he got outside. He was down on the first level, maybe some five-hundred yards or so away. He smelled physically exhausted but unharmed and at full Aura.

"Um," Jack said at the suggestion to search the building, kinda just looking around the, you know, debris-filled kinda hollowed-out shell of a building with two collapsed floors that you guys had left in your wake (to be fair, the worst of it was really Nick's fault, although if your experience with FLNS is any indication you guys will probably get the blame credit for the structural damage anyway).

"There was one door up there that we hadn't gone into, it might lead deeper in," Ben suggested, leaping up to what...remained of the top floor, and throwing open the door that had been opposite the entrance. "Looks like it's just an office."

"Building searched!" Jack reported, smirking a bit, although then more seriously he said, "Here let me see what I can find."

And then he turned and...walked face-first into one of the walls.

"...Right. Aura."

"Also that's how you got in trouble in the first place!"

Robin

The door wasn't locked, fortunately for local municipal maintenance crews, and it led outside. You were on the first level of Mistral and...you don't actually have the Mistral Local proficiency so that's about as much as you can peg about your location but that's okay because Mistral's easy to navigate!

(Mistral's actually kinda complicated to navigate what with all the different levels, the swapping between indoor and outdoor sections of the cities, various stairwells and elevators that only travel between particular ranges of floors, entire neighborhoods sectioned off from each other by solid stone, and so on, but living at Haven Academy lets you replace all that with "just keep going up and you'll get home eventually!")

[RavingScholar]

Rhys's entire body sags in obvious relief. . "He is on the first level of Mistral. About five-hundred yards away. I will get him.

 

Whether to avoid a response from Anya to his response, or because he wants to get Robin back as soon as possible (spoiler alert: it's mostly the latter, but the former is definitely in there), Rhys gathers his Aura back around him and speeds off immediately towards Robin.

 

Robin

It's barely six seconds after Robin leaves the building he was in when Rhys lands in front of the other boy. Robin gets half-second to exclaim in surprise before Rhys grabs him in an Aura-rattling hug. "You're okay," he says, as if he's trying to convince himself.

 

(Pausing here to give Dodge a chance to respond)

[Keramane]

:: Lapin "Chapi" Champagne :: 『Attack 6/11』『Defense 14』『Resistance 8』 『H.P 4 (+5 Party)』 Condition: None Active Powers: Notes: Crazy but True Bun

Chapi would just vanish and get herself in front of the doorway before the lot of them could push out. Now, this doesn't stop them from stampeding over her, and she isn't exactly taking up a combat stance (more accurately, she's taking that hands out, calm down a minute stance) so if they decided to attack her they'd get a free hit, but she does try to interfere for a moment. "Wait wait wait, just a few minutes, we're getting to the explaining. First, did you ever wonder how we came in from nowhere, in the middle of the wilderness, at the perfect time to save you all? Fully equipped and ready to rock against a flock of Nevermores without even needing to look around for other threats? Or how we didn't chase after Fen, your sister, even though -as you've seen - I've easily the capability to do that and secure her safety? The most vulnerable of all of you? The answer to all of this is very complicated and best had with a cup of tea and.. perhaps a therapist or a convenient professor who's a master in the field, but the long and short of it is that we literally travelled through time from the future to stop you all from being killed because your little sister Fen rallied her team and friends to make a trip and save her family."

 

She'd give them a second to get their disbelief out of the way before saying, "Which you're not going to believe because it sounds entirely insane, but I said it anyways because it's a primer for the culture-shock you're about to get when you step outside. Check what day it is, what year it is, ask about Fen Fable, her brothers, do what you need to do to accept the impossible, but officially? You all died in the 1195. It's now 1203. Due to some incredibly convenient aspects of how you died, we were able to save you before it happened, but if we interacted with young-Fen, everything we did would be undone by timey-wimey causality, this doesn't sound any more sane, but it's true still! Anyways, keep that in mind when you're out there, okay? And rather than sprinting all over, at least let us accompany you okay? It'll save us from having to track you all down later. Also we know where the good eateries are."

 

Assuming they stuck all that out, Chapi would get out of the way now. But she wasn't quite able to stop the overly eager trio from getting by either way; the explanation was more for those who weren't making the mad dash. Not like the Fables could actually escape from THIS team. Nicoale and Chapi could track them no issues for sure.

Edited May 2 by Keramane (see edit history)

[Dodgeson]

Suddenly caught in his teammate's titanic hug, Robin was just about able to let out a rubbery surprised squeak before being hauled off of his feet.

"Rhys!" He called out happily, doing his best to hug him back with whatever energy he had left "I got grabbed by a monster but I beat it up so bad he turned in to a cloud! What happened to you guys? Is Solstice okay?"

[Imtar]

"Let them go," Nicoale offered casually, albeit still in her authority figure voice. She made no move to stop them. "They're not our prisoners." The latter was almost moreso to calm the flock than it was for her teammates. Nicoale herself found the situation crazy, she couldn't blame the brothers for freaking out. The actual explanation was nuts and as far as they knew their sister was in danger.

Let them have a minute to calm down. I'll Watch them. If it came to it, she knew the team could overpower them. The brothers had the numbers advantage but they were aura broken and disoriented. That wasn't really the problem. If it came to combat the brothers would almost certainly see them as the enemy and good luck talking with them then. Better to give them that second to calm down. Between her and Chapi it they weren't going to escape.

"We'll still be here when you're ready to talk. And don't forget to check your scrolls!" She called after the brothers. Scrolls updated the time automatically whenever one crossed a time zone. She imagined brothers' scrolls would do the same and update their date the moment they connected to the tower, which should be pretty instant. It might not stop them in their tracks, but it was the easiest evidence of their story she could think up in the moment.

OOC

Still doing the calming authority figure act, so if its needed:
Intimidation, if neccessary

Also going to set the semblance to Farsight and keep track of the Fable brothers.

Perception, if neccessary

 

[RavingScholar]

Rhys squeezes Robin tight for another second before he puts the boy down. There may be a tremor in his voice as he says, "Solstice is safe. The vampires are all down. Here, one second."

 

He picks up Robin like a bundle of grapes and nyooms back to the others. By the time they get back, Rhys's expression is more-or-less its normal stoic veneer. "Who was it that took you, anyway?" he asks, unable to keep a rumble of anger from his voice.

[Dodgeson]

In a blur of mighty thew-d motion Robin was back amongst his friends and seeing everyone (more or less) safe and sound was just what he needed to boost his flagging well of energy but when Rhys spoke again he tried to maintain his own more-or-less stoic veneer but he has precisely 0 points in Deception and has at no point in this entire game shown any sort of talent for subterfuge. Do with this information what you will.

"I dunno, I guess he saw my hat and knew that I was the leader." He replied, fiddling with the military cap atop his head.

[Ridai]

So... Lapis watches the proceedings.

Solstice dodging talking about herself.

His suggestion drawing a snide comment, followed by Jack running into a wall because of wanting to run ahead by himself again.

Rhys dodging the question by leaving immediately on his own.

Anya looking like something might be weighing on her, somehow?

Then Robin returning, but also dodging the question of who kidnapped him.

 

A moment or two pass, taking all this in. He also thinks back to various other members of Spring Class, beginning to think that bottling up is an essential part of Spring Class of 1202. Deep breath through his nose. I have... so much work ahead of me.

Lapis claps his gloved hands once. "It's good you are safe now. It's been a hectic evening, so perhaps we should head back to the Academy and report what happened? Afterwards, we can sit down with cake and hot chocolate to wind things down for the day."

And hopefully, once everyone has calmed down, people be more willing to talk.

...Feeding Robin sugar this late is a risky play, but it is how it is.

Edited May 4 by Ridai (see edit history)

[Zelphas]

Fen stares, frozen, as it all goes off-kilter. She hasn't planned this far ahead. She didn't think that she'd have the chance to plan this far ahead. As everyone else moves and acts, her hands slowly lower. I'll... watch them too she sends slowly, then follows her brothers out the door.

Assuming they have all stopped somewhere near each other, Fen pauses for a moment, pulling out a piece of old, wrinkled, torn paper from her pocket as well as a crooked, shabby old pencil. She scribbles something on the back, and then walks over to Fred, handing the paper to him.

The Paper

The paper itself is old and weathered by time, but it is mostly still legible.

 

On the front

"Fen's Huntress Academy Tuition Fund" is written in Fred's neat handwriting, along with careful markers tracking each brother's contribution to the fund.

 

On the back, in Fen's untidy scrawl

Meet me where Mac and Ronald's was, if you all want to talk.

As soon as she is near a window, Fen takes off, becoming a speck in the sky in moments.

 

OOC

 

Stealth, to disappear for a moment

Perception, to keep an eye on her brothers

 

[Phoenix1]

OOC

Oh also, everybody take 4 downtime actions.

Team RACL

"Hohoho! Knew he'd be fine!" Nick said gregariously when Rhys returned with Robin.

"Still good to have it confirmed," Ben said, although yeah it hadn't exactly been the toughest prediction ever.

I do want to point out that there is a difference between "No they wouldn't try to fight Robin one on one that would be stupid" and "Robin is in precisely zero danger whatsoever". Solstice remained the only member of the other teams in the class who was clear on the fact that RACL and FLNS did actually have limits, and while yes she would be Robin against a single vampire any day it was possible that there had been others, so she did look a touch relieved.

Although when Robin said he didn't know who it was Solstice gave him a kinda concernedly curious look, because yeah Solstice was definitely intuitive enough to see right through his utter lack of a poker face. She didn't actually press him on it though, because if he didn't want to tell them presumably he had a reason for that.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Solstice agreed to Lapis's suggestion. "Um, but, what do we do about...?" she kinda gestured at all the unconscious vampires.

"I'll Scroll the cops, let them know we've got a bunch of minions for pickup but the leader escaped."

"Tell them to bring a rope," Jack said, deadpan.

"And thank you all, really," Ben said. "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't-"

"Flip!" Jack suddenly snapped.

"What!?"

Jack let out a heavy sigh. "This means RQKN is the best. Darn it."

"Whu...?"

"Because now they're the only team in class that hasn't been rescued by RACL and/or FLNS. Gods blast it. Mark me, there will be no living with Quora after this."

"RQNT," Ben said.

"I'm not taking it back, it's true!"

"No...they're RQNT now, not RQKN."

"Oh. Sure, whatever. Doesn't change the fact that Quora will never let any of us live it down."

Team FLNS

Chapi was many things but a linebacker wasn't really one of them, and four of the Fable brothers went rushing past her. They didn't like trample her or shove her aside or anything, but they basically blew past and maybe left her spinning in a Bunado for a couple seconds, because Remnant was the sort of world where that kind of thing could happen.

Regardless they didn't actually go far, more-or-less halting cold when they got outside and saw, yeah, they weren't in the forest anymore.

While they were trying to process that, Chapi dropped the bomb about the time travel. Which...yeah did sound maybe just a tad bit completely insane and also entirely outside of anything even resembling their frame of reference. I mean yes there had been some pretty weird things to happen on Remnant but that didn't mean they personally had encountered any of them. Again, they lived in a cabin in the woods.

To be fair, once you got past that being completely impossible, it did kind of explain a few things.

"Um...we don't have Scrolls," one of one of themFerdinand replied to Nicoale in a kinda dazed-sounding voice.

Fen pressed a piece of paper into one of theirFred's hands and then took off. He read it, blinking, turned it over...stared at it for a few moments.

Since you guys weren't doing much else to stop them, the rest of them stepped out of Delores. The one Fen had handed the note to passed it around wordlessly. Another one, the one who had called Chapi outFabian earlier, said, "I don't think they're lying."

Fen had flown off. The one who she had originally handed the note to looked at Nicoale (through Delores's doorway if you guys stayed inside). "Look, you can't just-!" he began to say, angrily, but the more generally conciliatory oneFarly interrupted, "Fred."

Fred kinda gritted his teeth but gave an incremental nod, and his brother continued, "Listen, we're grateful for the rescue. You all saved our lives. But...if what you're saying is true, if this is actually the future and we actually traveled through time...I mean, I don't understand what 'timey-wimey causality' means but...um..."

"What he's trying to say," one of one of the othersFarid chimed in, "is that that still doesn't give you the right to just abduct us from our timeline and take us to yours. We're sorry about what happened to your Fen's brothers. But putting our Fen through the same thing isn't going to help, you know?"

Their wounds were starting to diminish at this point, as they recovered enough Aura energy to start accelerating their natural healing again, although it would still take a bit even for Aura to heal some of the injuries they received. The one who had interrupted Fred spoke again. "Look, if there's something we can do to help her...I mean, we can meet her at the Mac and Ronalds. Or...where it used to be, I guess? But...then you have to bring us back to where we belong, okay?"

Edited May 5 by Phoenix1 (see edit history)

[Keramane]

:: Lapin "Chapi" Champagne :: 『Attack 6/11』『Defense 14』『Resistance 8』 『H.P 4 (+5 Party)』 Condition: None Active Powers: Notes: Lodgings Bun

Chapi would twitch her ears a moment at Farid's line and give a long, exasperated sigh. Not the kind of thing she normally does, mind you, but she does still do it. Her tone isn't the normal chipper one, nor the shy one, nor the excited one. This one is something closer to what one of their (more responsible) teachers would give when they heard of yet another FLNS or RACL incident; the tired and annoyed one. It's rather clear that Farid just stepped on a landmine. "The fact of the matter is that YOUR Fen is OUR Fen and no matter what we did or didn't do, she still goes through the hell of being the only survivor of a family wiped out. Whether you lived and came here or died in those woods makes no difference to that. The difference here is that you get a chance to be a family for another day. And another. And another thereafter." She would turn to push past those in the doorway muttering, "Some don't get that privilege." A few steps further down the block she calls back, "You better go see her once you get yourselves adjusted. You owe her that much. I'm off to go arrange hotel rooms... I get the feeling you lot didn't bring any money with you given the situation."

 

This time there was no blip as she slipped into ClockStopper. Chapi just.. walked down the road at normal pace, that long scarf of hers blowing in the wind in its eternally dramatic manner.

Edited May 5 by Keramane (see edit history)