• Nobles of Null is a forum based roleplay site where sci-fi and magic collide. Here, Earth remains fractured and divided despite humanity reaching out to the stars. Worse still, the trans-human slaves of one major power have escaped, only to establish their own Empire, seething with resentment at abuses of the past. Even the discovery of aliens, though medieval in development, has failed to rally these squabbling children of Earth together with its far darker implications. Worse still, is the discovery of the impossible - magic. Practiced by the alien locals, nearly depleted and therefore rare, its reality warping abilities remains abstract and distant to the general populace. All the while, unseen in the darkness of space, forces from without threaten to press in. For those with eyes opened by insight, it is clear that an era is about to end, and that a new age will dawn.

IDS Yīnghuā - Log 2.0: "If you are far from the enemy..."

Nearby, Reina glances at Wen's pause, not having enough time to contemplate what kind of thoughts he must be having before suddenly spitting again onto the shell, causing a small flame to develop and die within a few seconds. Disgusted, she mentally combines a neutralizing formula and her body goes to work to clean her system of the generated chemicals. "I ache and my mouth both feels and tastes like I chewed on melted plastic... I don't think I want to do that again soon... guess it was effective though. "

Much more slowly than she left the Howdah, Reina meanders back and looks to see if there's anything, anything at all, that she can stuff into her face so she can get rid of the taste in her mouth.

"Anyone Injured?"
"Anyone Injured?" She says both out loud and in the VR Cafe.
 
Across the grassy planes, the flames died down, and embers smoldered. Maidens, clad in glittering plate of metal forged, rode upon their magic steeds. With purpose, their spears drove down into flesh, and soon followed by their nimble hands. Out of the ruined bodies, rose brilliant gems. Some perfectly round, some like drops of water, some like uncut diamond. But all shining red. Red as blood in the sun's light. One woman, amongst all the others, emerged from within her steed of air.

What did her gazers see?

The image muddled, of maidens mounted on noble steeds of the ground, their manes unfurled, their dark eyes watching. Closer, she neared, their fashion shifting. Until the truth unveiled, their forms cold and bellicose. Closer, their glamor was gone. They had no liking for her. Their partners, mounted, watched. The one woman beckoned. Demanded. The maiden glanced to her mistress, unseen behind cut timber, painted.

As though spurred on by words unheard, the gem was cast.

Aitana caught the stone easily enough and stared at it. The native called it a heartstone, but her suit sensors said it was catonite. Only, something was very different about it. This wasn't the dull, metallic stuff of their FTL drives. No, there was something special about it. Very, very special. Looking up, Aitana could see the others of the maidenguard gathering more from the fallen creatures and bringing them to the howdah. She could keep this one to herself, couldn't see?

Aitana thought, 'After all, why not? Why shouldn't I keep it?'

"Anyone injured?" Reina asked aloud and in their virtuality.

"It doesn't look like it," Hoshiko replied, the hologram of her face and head still cast over her helmet for aesthetics. Stepping out side the howdah and looking around, she spotted Xian flicking blood off of her jian. Everything was being wrapped up, nice and neat. Only...."I do see something strange though," the princess noted. Gently groping Reina's bosom, she carefully felt the weight. "Wow! They're smaller!" her eyes went wide. She suddenly cleared her throat and tried to look serious again as she changed the topic. "These things, they acted like they were given very specific orders."

"Yeah....Sun's supposed to be formerly haunted," Hoshiko pointed out in their cafe. "More importantly," the princess stood, putting her hands on her hips to aura farm before pointing at Aitana. "You've seen too much! Consider yourself Shanghaied!" As the feathered woman received a transfer notice in her inbox and her gunship departed, the maidenguard handed over the heartstones to Lady Nimue, who opened the roof ornament again. The princess realized it was not just storage, but something to harness the stones. "Until we can 'recast' the spell or mess with an example of it, we probably won't make much progress analyzing it," she replied to Wen's musing. True to her words, the bull could tell that the 'illusions' were more than just smoke and mirrors. The bullets struck something. That something though, became more insubstantial than air as soon as the ruse was up.

"Yes," Lady Nimue began, "These were most likely agents made with a singular and specific purpose." As Aitana came aboard, the massive testudine creature began to emerge from its shell again, and soon enough, strode across the landscape once more. The howdah was easily repaired, and the seats were properly drawn up again as though they were gathering for tea. "Well. I am certain you have many questions," Nimue's golden eyes looked across them all. "Will you ask?"
 
"I have a list." Wen started. "The basics, the overview first. What were those constructs? Where did they come from? Who sent them? Why did they attack us in the first place?"

In virtual space, he scoured through the video records from their suits, the gunship, and orbital satellites with visible concern. This shouldn't have happened. The Daqinren have complete control over the planet's airspace. Those constructs shouldn't have been able to get this close to them. What the hell was going on?
 
Reina's brain pauses in surprise as Hoshiko catches a feel. Completely forgetting about her search and the state of her mouth, Reina reactively swats at the feeling hand and maneuvers back. Lightly wrapping her chest defensively in her arms, her cheeks turn a deep shade of blue and she instinctively bares her fangs, "Commander! Don't touch a woman's chest like that out nowhere!," she literally hisses out, "We aren't that 'familiar' and yet you take the chance to violate a lady's chastity not a minute out of battle?!" She distances herself a little ways off, coils up, and side eyes Hoshiko while she cools off, muttering something about not even having a partner yet, much less having someone touch her like that.

In the VR Cafe, Reina's avatar seems to glitch, fractaling bizarrely as she gets mad and flustered in the flesh. Suddenly pulling itself together, it glares at Hoshiko's cafe order, causing food stuffs to whither and rot and drinks to turn to sludge. Having done that, Reina turns her head away and pouts...

Moments later, without looking at Hoshiko, Reina says, "I'm glad no one is hurt... Its a wonder that we all came out relatively unscathed." Reina glances at the cat woman, "And yes... if you must know they are smaller... Doing something like that takes a lot out of me. I'm going to need to eat more soon to replenish what I've lost... and maybe even a supplement or two not normally found in food."

In the flesh, Reina takes a breath, composes herself, and warily watches Hoshiko as she makes her way to Lady Nimue, "I'm mostly interested in the God you spoke of. What do you mean by 'Outer God' and why are you so sure that such an entity involved itself in this instance? What can it even gain by interfering?"
 
With each of the great testudine's steps, the forest grew closer and closer.

"I suppose those are the correct queries, save for one," the golden haired Aos'Si mused over Wen's questioning. "It appears that these Things were after me, specifically. As for - " It took a while, but when Reina finally comprehended what was being done to her, the great serpent's show of defiance was indeed something to fear as Lady Nimue brought a chestnut skinned hand up to cover her mouth in wide eyed shock.

"Hey, hey! I'll let you do the same if it helps make you feel better!" Hoshiko half-laughed with a cautious smile, hands raised in surrender. "Besides, you were really cool!" the Princess praised Reina. "If it bothered you a lot, I'll make it up to you, promise! It's not like I've gotten all my stripes yet either you know!"

"Hm. Yes....you are 'cool' indeed," Lady Nimue admitted, thoughtfully eying Reina as the serpentine Daqinren neared her again. Having calmed herself again, the dark skinned Aos'Si glanced at Wen. "To answer your questions, those beings are most likely messengers, envoys or heralds of a higher power. Though they may be contracted by us, that is unlikely, given that they were so...dimwitted." The Aos'Si's ears lowered with displeasure at the thought. "More importantly," Lady Nimue turned her golden gaze to Reina again, "I fear that this may be the work of an 'Outer God', those greater beings with whom we do not have established ties with, and come from beyond our domain," she answered her in turn.

"That's weird," Hoshiko remarked, deep in thought. "These were very elegant, like someone had sculpted pieces of wet clay together. But the most recent account of a 'messenger' or 'herald' I know of, was a mangy mutt in comparison." Hearing that Lady Nimue frowned as she reared her head back in displeasure.

"You imply that there is more than just one actor in this region of space." As Lady Nimue said this though, their great steed began ramming a path through the forest, toppling trees out of its way. They could hear the jolting shake as great woods shudder and break against the testudine's shell, but they could not feel it while within the howdah. "What motive would an Outer God have, attacking a diplomat uncertain of whether the Daqin Empire should be allied with, or made an enemy of and cast off this world, when the other remaining party is decided on the latter, I wonder?" she sarcastically asked.

"Attacking us didn't work the first time. I made sure of that," Hoshiko pointed out. Seeing that Nimue was unmoved though, the princess started thinking for a moment and then looked to her companions with concern.
 
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"Well, that opens up many, many more questions about Outer Gods, how they think, what are they, etcetera etcetera." Wen mused, unfazed in the slightest of higher powers working against them. After all, they fended off this wave of attacks with little casualties. They will just have to do the same next time.

"Suppose for a moment they act like sapient beings with political interests." He proposed. "Suppose there are four actors total: you, the Aos Si, who are unaligned. The other Aos Si group you claim are staunchly against us. An Outer Gods who attacked you. Then there are us, the Daqinren, who are not privy to the inner workings of magic. Not yet, anyways."

"An attack against you would have resulted in two likely outcomes. One, if you were destroyed, then the Daqin Empire would have lost a potential ally on this planet who could expedite our understanding of catonite and magic." Wen bluntly stated. "Two, if you survived, then you would likely seek our protection, changing your allegiance from unaligned to allied."

"Without our help, you would not have survived this attack. They matched you in number, and possessed air superiority. Whatever Outer God this was, they sought your death. I doubt it knew of our ready access to aerial support of our own. Perhaps this Outer God fears us. Perhaps it just sees us as a big question mark, and would rather us out of the picture for as long as possible." He reasoned.
 
As the food rotted, Jun would trigger a rolling thunderstorm overhead that would pour down upon her monochromatic avatar.
 
Aitana offered a bemused smile to Hoshiko as she found her seat. "Thank you, Princess, I am honored to be included," she replied. As she settled in aboard the howdah, she let her hair down and rolled up the sleeves of her flight suit, allowing her to straighten and preen her feathers. The heartstone she had acquired from the guards rested in her lap, for the time being. In VR, however, the gem shrunk to the size of a pearl, and suspended itself from her neck with a silver chain.

"If the only language these 'Outer Gods' understand is violence, it should be no trouble to respond in kind," the albatross suggested. "We have already succeeded against their efforts once. If we can deliver a decisive blow against them, we could force them to negotiate, at least." She glanced around at her fellow soldiers, hoping that their military minds would come to a similar conclusion.
 
I smelled it in the air.

I could taste it in the water.

I could feel it in the loamy earth below.

Something had changed. What was once lost to all, returned. The power to make will into reality. With its return, all trumpeted in joy. But all of them were deceived, including I, for with the return of the great gift, so too came a terrible curse. Will would inevitably battle will, and, only the greatest of wills would triumph. And so, I was willed to be like clay, quickly shaped and formed, and then loosed like an arrow.

"I am under the impression that you and your kin vastly underestimate this Outer God, or Gods. We do not know if we face more than one, and they usually think and act with care," Lady Nimue noted. As she spoke, a pair her maidenguard entered and set forth delicate cups of porcelain. The hot tea that was poured made the tongue water with its fruity scent. "They usually send heralds to bear their word, but can act discreetly and covertly if need-be. In our case though, they acted with single minded purpose." She didn't drink the tea, at least not right away and eyed its contents. "I alone have the power to decide my people's future, and these heralds were not interested in doing battle with you." Nimue took a sip of her tea.

"That still doesn't quite make sense," Hoshiko decided to sit. "Killing you doesn't necessarily push your people one way or another. At best, it delays the decision making." She then took a sip of the tea, its sweet warmth and tart, fruity flavor washing over her tongue. Inside the virtuality, Hoshiko handed Aitana a small stack of papers, a duplicate of her hand splitting off from her own and floating across the table to Aitana. "Here's the stuff you'll have to sign. It's mostly waivers, confidentiality stuff, swearing fealty to the Empress, that sort of thing," the princess explained. Grabbing the rotted food and tossing them across the room into the trash bin, she summoned another chocolate cake. "More importantly, what should we be asking her, in what order? Talking in meatspace is slow."

"Hm. Perhaps that is what they want? But the question remains, why?" Nimue pondered. "You had other questions though?" Hoshiko thought about this in their sped-up virtuality and took a bite of her cake before deciding to slide it on over to Reina with a well-meaning smile. She then quickly tried to shoo away the thunderclouds hovering over Jun.

The heartstone in Aitana's lap was now the size of a pearl, and gleamed with a delicious cherry red glow.
 
"Ugh, like... what even happened?" Jun offered unhelpfully, "... I'm going to be awful at the party when it starts up."

Xian would finally decide to speak up, "We should ask our Aoi Si who their enemies are, and how numerous are they? Our attackers had to come from somewhere, and if this group is worth targeting then its worth them taking another shot at us."

Xian would also show an image of the Hearthstone she retrieved from one of the attackers, the image being displayed floating in the virtuality. The crystal-like material having been cut out of the creature's chest by sword.
 
In the VR Cafe Reina slumps slightly and pouts even more at her Commander's response, realizing that she probably didn't get what she did wrong and/or realize actual the extent of the offense to Reina's person. "That's not-... Never mind... I don't really want to talk about it right now. Lets just please deal with the situation before us."

However, back in the flesh, Reina is taken aback by the praise she received from both parties and blushes slightly at the compliments, seemingly taking special note of an Aos'Si recognizing her contribution, "...I'm not much of a fighter... just thought of a way to help. If I had more time to mull it over I would have probably faired better after though," she pointedly takes whatever refreshment she has before her and sips it tenderly, wincing as it goes down.

"Anyway, I personally have two more questions. What exactly do you want the hearthstones for? Beyond its effect of taking out our attackers, you seemed pretty interested in having them when you considered an Outer-God might have sent them our way." Reina considers her answer before asking her second question, "And now... what do you intend to do? You've already ascertained that this Outer-God is willing to try and stop you through violent means, even at just the possibility that your choices and contributions would affect the outcome of up and coming events... and something tells me that this might only be the beginning. Don't you find it strange that the attempt was a little too straight forward and simple? I don't wish to underestimate what you would call a god, but even I have to agree with my party that the attack didn't seem to have the right amount of resources put into it, even if it was just to target you and not even consider our capabilities. I personally find it suspect."

Back in VR, Reina politely acknowledges the cake still pouting a little, realizing that Hoshiko is at least trying to make nice, but doesn't give it much mind at the moment. Instead, she turns to Jun and gives her a sympathetic look and sighs, "Do you want a mood stabilizer? It won't be as strong as what you were taking before, but you'll probably feel better till we're done here."
 
*KRATHOOOOM!*

As Jun looked up, the rain clouds behind her would flash with lightning and thunder to appropriately set the dreary mood. Also a cow and a farmhouse were being tossed around by weather events.

"UUugghh.... how even? All my Serotonins been flushed. SSRIs and SNRIs aren't gonna do shit until everything refreshes and all the ones that sound like Wizard names are just going to make me like a robot so I'll be no fun at the party!"

Jun immediately sat up. Dismissed her weather effects. Then summoned a skateboard to go with her new T-shirt and shorts.

Jun drugged her way into this situation and by the Mother-Empress she was going to drug her way out of it.

"You know what? Drug me. Lets do it."
 
Seeing Reina pout, Hoshiko smiled as she resisted the strong, sudden urge to hug the Daqinren Snake Form. Fortunately for both of them though, Jun deflated that moment quickly. For a moment, Hoshiko looked at Jun incredulously. Suicide Tuesday coming early or not, she had to have noticed the birdlike freak being held back by spears, or Reina's fire trick. Right? She sighed. "We were attacked by man-bird shaped heavenly messengers, and Reina can breathe fire," Hoshiko reminded her. The answer was 'probably not'. This was Jun that the tiger princess was thinking about, after all. "We also yanked these things out of them," she pointed at Xian's projected image, the ruby like stone shining in the light. More importantly though, Lady Nimue was speaking again in meatspace.

"I advise you not to underplay your own contribution or achievements," the golden haired noblewoman suggested to Reina. The fruity tea that Reina imbibed gave a sweet, comforting warmth that reminded her of a fireplace during the winter. "That aside, heartstones are immensely valuable foci of mana. They serve to both store and discharge mana to allow for the act that is magic," she explained to them. "I suppose they are comparable to your 'battery' if I recall?" Nimue couldn't help but give them a small, wry smile at the thought. "The heartstones of these creatures are simply formidable in quality, and their contribution will help us in our journey."

Given that the danger had passed for the time being, the wooden walls had ungrown enough to reveal the outside through a number of round windows. Glancing outside, the vegetation moving past grew wild and alien, even by the standards of this planet. They did not quite look like they belonged, and the occasional red flecks that both Aitana and Reina had in their vision hinted why.

"It does bother me though, how we survived," she thoughtfully looked at the passing forest. Outside, her maidenguard held their spears at the ready as the occasional shadow flickered by between the trees. The denizens were either curious or startled it seemed. "I asked myself, why they would behave this way, and I can only think of a limited number of reasons," the hazelnut skinned woman admitted. "The only thoughts worth mentioning are that it was deliberate, to cause a result that they wish for, or it was negligence, as we are a mere afterthought."

"I'm going to hope it's the latter, though Xian had a question too," Hoshiko glanced at the other tigress for emphasis. "Do the Aos'Si have any specific enemies that you know of?"

"Of course, but they are known threats with known methods," Lady Nimue pointed out. Looking into her own drink, she watched her own reflection, pensive. "There are always new Gods an Goddesses. Some stronger or weaker than others. Here, at the periphery of our reach, we hope to recontact our pantheon for guidance, and stay alive in the meantime." As the Aos'Si spoke though, the decorative paper on one of the virtual cafe's walls began to peel and curl.

"That's weird," Hoshiko frowned.
 
At the Cafe table Reina blinked at Jun... and mentally shrugged.

In the flesh Reina nods, seemingly thinking about the Lady's answers. She Takes another sip of the tea and, for Lady Nimue's benefit, she says "I see. Thank you for providing your insight on these matters... Please excuse me for a moment. Our Geologist needs my attention again."

She gets up and goes to where Jun is sitting. Instead of the ambush tactics that she employed last time, she simply gets Jun to reveal a patch of skin, preferably on her arm or neck and very careful sinks in her fangs. Again there isn't any pain, but the effect this time around is less immediate.

Withdrawing after a couple of seconds, she checks Jun's vitals and say, "Drink plenty of fluids and tell me how you're feeling in about 20 to 30 minutes. There shouldn't be any bad side effects, but you'll probably feel a little strange as your brain chemistry finds an equilibrium. Just stay sitting and breath normally till it passes..."

She gives a coy smile, "And think positively... Like, 'I won't be a robot at the party.' I think you'll probably be in a good mood shortly... or at least not much will faze you for awhile."
 
"How we survived is simple." Wen replied to , "They had air superiority, until they didn't. Their lightning attacks can be compared to our direct energy weapons, which can be countered by superior mobility, range, and power, which we brought to the table." He explained to Lady Nimue. "Still, you are correct in that we are currently well exposed, because we do not know much about our enemy." He admitted.

At the same time, in virtual reality, he started running diagnostics on the integrity of their virtual world. Daqinren cyber infrastructure was rock solid, essentially devoid of bugs and glitches, unless something catastrophic was occurring to a user's mind, or that they were being brute force attacked with high energy signals from the outside. He first checked everyone's vitals, before moving onto finding the source of the damage. Given what just occurred to them, this could be anything, and he needed more data.

"We need more information. All we know is that this common enemy of ours might be some Outer God who sent a failed aerial attack against us. This could mean anything." Wen paused. "I propose we establish ourselves as bait. Maintain a secure line of communication back to the Empire. In the event that we are incapacitated, it will be useful information for the Empire to study the enemy's actions and develop countermeasures."
 
"Oh my," the Aos'Si noblewoman brought a hand up before her mouth, politely aghast at Reina's act of...medicating Jun. "That is still surprising to me, but I suppose that is a much more efficient way to bring along your medicines," she noted, eyeing the serpent Daqin's chemical reserves. There just almost seemed to be a hint of a smirk at the corner of her mouth, but it was hard to know for sure. As Jun felt the mood stabilizer level her out and return color to her world, Lady Nimue looked down her nose at Wen.

"Aiyaa Wen, be a bit more modest," Hoshiko sighed, exasperated. "They were single minded, and weren't even interested in us. The one that got up to here kept trying to reach Lady Nimue, even though I was here," the tiger princess pointed out. Picking up her flower tea, she took a sip to try and calm her nerves. She still wasn't entirely sure what their motivation was other than a few guesses. In their virtuality though, Hoshiko stopped prodding at another slice of chocolate cake and threatened Wen with a slipper. The pace of conversation in meatspace was done at a slower clock-speed, but it was relaxing in a way

....arrogant -

- jingoistic....

ruminant headed!

"What?" Hoshiko raised a feline ear in confusion. The voices were like whispers, barely audible to their minds. She narrowed her eyes with suspicion. "That's only happened when we were celebrating that one American holiday that's supposed to be spooky."

"Your brave victory over these messengers aside, perhaps mine not arriving would stir action in the southern defenders?" Lady Nimue pondered aloud. "But what could they do? What would they do? The last attack on your bastion failed, yet it is all they are concerned about." The Aos'Si woman sourly stared into her tea cup as though it held the answers she was looking for.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
 
Jun started to melt in the virtuality, color slowly draining as her willpower to not feel the malaise started to wear out as she waited for the new drugs to take effect.


"So long as Aitana provides gunship cover overhead, I doubt there is much our attackers could do to stop us. We should make our way to our destination now before a second attack comes." Xian stated.
 
Aitana let out a small affirmative grunt at Xian's comment, as she rapidly filled out the princess's paperwork. "Agreed. My wings have flown home for now, but I have the orbital platform on speed dial, should the need arise."

Satisfied with the state of her plumage in realspace, she picked up the shrunken heartstone and resumed rolling it around between her fingers. "I will see if I can establish a secure line to my superiors in the White Tiger Fleet," the albatross offered, already making it so in virtuality. "The commanding officer of the corvette Tachi owes me a favor or two, we can relay messages through him if necessary. I have a feeling that these catonite gems represent a significant investment toward... whatever our enemies' objective was here."

In VR, Aitana instinctually shied away from Hoshiko's raised sandal, and her real and virtual feathers puffed up. "Forgive my confusion, are interactions like these commonplace within this task force?" She asked, raising an eyebrow, and glancing between the annoyed tiger and the miserable cow.
 
"Jun is a civilian, pay her no mind." Wen waved off at the stupid cow while he tried to diagnose the unwanted intrusions into their virtual world. What was going on here? There wasn't any external attack detected. He ended that inquiry, instead beginning a deep analysis into the physiological health of everyone present, requesting data from everyone's neural-links.

"As for Princess Hoshiko, she and I have disagreements on strategy; we simply agree to disagree."

"If they were going after Lady Nimue, then we will be here to protect her, Princess." Wen responded. "We need that combat information regardless of the method to obtain it. As for the pro-war faction amongst the Aos Si on this planet, we best talk to them as soon as possible. I'm not concerned about the group by themselves, but if they ally with these Outer Gods, then that could complicate the strategic geography. Still, if they continue to assault us, the tactical landscape remains the same: we make sure none of the attackers live to regret their actions against Daqinren."
 
Outside the windows of the howdah, the forest grew darker as they traveled further into its depths, the canopy eagerly lapping up the sun and leaving little for those below. However, the shadowed hues did not last, as they were soon replaced by glowing blues and reds and yellows and more. The forest had replaced the sun with its own light, but that was of little concern. With all the stress Lady Nimue allowed her mind to wander, her eyes unashamedly turned on Reina.

"Lady Nimue said we're going to the southern continent, so just make sure to let the White Tiger Fleet know the global positioning system will spot us there," Hoshiko offhandedly commented to Aitana, inadvertently yanking the Aos'Si noblewoman or ambassador or whatever she was back to the present. "I'm just glad we didn't have to deploy our dropship assets yet, but I'm annoyed they got involved, even if it's just a gunship," the tiger princess turned to admit to Xian.

As she said this, Wen looked over their bio signs, the return data looked all green, except for one thing. They were all taking on increasing amounts of the most valuable substance known to Daqinren-kind: catonite. In the Rooster-woman's hand, the now conveniently sized heartstone glowed a delicious cherry red. Aitana knew that she should keep it with her, and shouldn't let go. She knew that it could give her these fantastical, physics defying powers. The ability to shape reality to her whim was in the palm of her hand! All she had to do was -

Vrrrrrrrrrrr-schhhlluuuuuurrrrrrp!!!

In their virtuality, the melting Jun was subjected to the odd, ticklish sensation of being vacuumed up by a puck shaped cleaning drone before it deposited herself back to her, only to repeat the process of cleaning up the Jun-melt. "The Empress assembled this unofficial and informal task group to handle things personally, and also discreetly if possible," Hoshiko replied to Aitana. "Which means, we really shouldn't reach out to the White Tiger Fleet and play our trump card unless we need to." As though for emphasis, she looked out of the cafe's glass storefront, the view blurring until it showed the dark, industrial interior of their dropship.

Armored, faceless Zhànshòu stood locked into file, and in the background, their combat walkers waited, docked and folded. The scenery soon shifted back to the pleasant 21st century going-ons.

"More importantly - " Hoshiko then bopped Wen on one of his bull horns with the slipper in hand. "We disagree until I order you not to!" she reminded him with a smug smile. "My bodyguard has summed up the situation. Even if they think they can do something, we have to talk to this other faction, whatever they call themselves," she agreed aloud for Lady Nimue's benefit. Inside their virtuality though, Wen had been probing the code behind the peeling wallpaper and cracking drywall, but there seemed to be nothing wrong. Just era-accurate tofu dreg construction it seemed. There was even a too-heavy weight load above it that suddenly came crashing down, bringing the entire side of the cafe with it! Glossy white marble had crushed the not-load-bearing-wall and plummeted into the karaoke basement room below them, and now, hot steam was wafting in!

Both Reina and Aitana could see shadowy, blurry figures moving on the other side of the destroyed wall, but no matter how many times they rubbed their eyes or reset their visual subroutines, they couldn't make these strange figures around and in the water out!

Lady Nimue stared out of her hot spring bath at them, while a cluster of grape-like fruit was being dangled in front of her by one of her attendants. Many of the other maidenguard looked on as well, having been caught in various states of bathing, drinking or eating.
 
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