Are You Not Entertained?

Are You Not Entertained?
Date of Scene:	21 September 2012
Location:	Traverse Town
Synopsis:	What begins as a friendly contest of arms within the Olympus Coliseum ends as a chaotic melee when dark forces converge to seize an unknown, bright-eyed participant. Gun barrels blaze! Swords fly! Croquettes are eaten! Jean Faraven jumps through a window! And the mystery-- remains unsolved.
Cast of Characters:	Ivo Galvan, Zeke, Raiya Fujihara, Deidra, Merilan Yursalin, Mercade Alexander, Jean Faraven, Jasmine

---

Ivo Galvan has posed:
For a man so serious deep down--

"Hrahh!"

Ivo sure knows how to put on a show.

As soon as the knight-errant discovered that the coliseum existed, he was immediately intrigued. Though not a lover of battle by nature, upon founding the Shard Seekers with Reize and Lily, he swiftly became aware that any chance of having their organization recognized in the World of Ruin -- say, as a Clan in Fluorgis or Rabanastre -- and thereby acquiring them the kind of network they'd need to find these pesky World Shards itself requires one important element: resources. Cash munny, specifically, and needless to say, he and the kids are flat broke. Here, though, however inadvisably, some of those lesser Heartless which stray into the bounds of Traverse Town are temporarily trapped so that nascent warriors may test their skills in a controlled environment, sometimes to the enjoyment of onlookers.

It was a fairly small crowd -- at first.

But whatever its flaws, Ivo's fighting style is if anything spectacular. Standing on a floating platform, surrounded by small floating shadows in variously-colored wizard caps, it was unclear what the swordsman would be able to do to defend himself. Yet before the audience's eyes, the blade of his deceptively-plain weapon detached from its hilt and began to float suspended in the air, connected only by silent bolts which resemble ethereal lightning. As though it were more a flail than a sword, with delicate flicks of his wrist he sent the blade cutting through the air, shearing the Heartless out of the sky, resolutely deflecting their magic with his buckler.

By the end of it, the dark-haired young knight is sweating but smiling with self-satisfaction, leaping lightly down from the raised platform with blue cloak rippling to gallantly bow to the crowd, which has begun to grow somewhat.

"Ladies and gentleducks!" the announcer quacks. "Ivo Galvan! What a display! It seems mere Heartless are not enough! Are there any other warriors willing to test their might? Step forward!"

Ivo falters briefly, before reaching up to scratch his cheek with a gloved hand.

"Well," he murmurs to himself, "if we're getting a cut..."

Merilan Yursalin has posed:
/Normal/ people would go through the entrance.

Merilan and Yarhi friends, however, just fly on in. The black-winged girl skims on down through the rafters and lands on a perchtop nearby, putting her hand over her eyebrows and exclaiming, "Wow, there's so many people here!"

Her notebook is out as she jots her impressions on down - this bustling, rambling scenery is exactly the kind of place she loves to spectate.

Of course, she isn't exactly planning on being /mistaken/ for a contestant.

Beside her are two tiny -- less than a foot tall -- Yarhi; green long-haired Traya, donning a dusky starry robe and wizard hat that actually looks made out of a sock, and tiny-winged Lemy in blue.

They're both eating gigantic lollipops they're struggling to hold. The size of the caramel candy is bigger than their already big derpy-expressioned heads.

"Mumu, what a display of fighting skill, don't you think, Traya, Lemy?"

The Yarhi respond in the affirmative with a happy 'merrrrrrp' noise. 8D

Jasmine has posed:
Shrouded in her brown robe and tan hood, Jasmine is an unassuming figure in the audience. Her eyes widen at the spectacular display of skill and carnage on the battlefield, equal parts awe and horror in her expression, backed by a curious sort of determination to pay attention and /learn from this/. It's great to be an efficient dispatcher of Heartless, but such focus on battle can't help but disturb her on some level. Her people are not warriors. Or at least, not full-time. Every one of the Palace Guards would rather be pursuing their hobbies than swinging a scimitar.

Maybe if they'd had more dedicated Guards, she wouldn't be in such a precarious situation now. Her face falls at the thought of what might have happened to them, and habitually she checks over her shoulders to see if any of her pursuers are sneaking up on her. At the moment, everything feels clear.

When they call for challengers, she smiles dryly but makes no move to step forward. Maybe she'd be okay and maybe she wouldn't. She doesn't need the money that desperately, though, and being a fugitive has brought her martial excitement enough. Instead she purchases one of those curious lollypops that she sees the Yarhi eating, from a nearby vendor, and approaches it with the cautious unfamiliarity one reserves for an unknown species.

Raiya Fujihara has posed:
Raiya Fujihara had not anticipated a place like Traverse Town having an arena like this. Perhaps, she should start lowering her expectations for the strange and unknown now that she frequently ventures through this world and has been nearly surprised at every turn.

Wealth never appealed to the Wutai warrior as she would never have walked the path she did if she had cared. But what does interest her in testing her skills as a samurai against those from these other worlds. She may have given up that old weapon of hers when she gave up her old identity, but Raiya is still a talented warrior even without it.

And so, The wandering swordswoman has strutted her way onto the arena grounds herself. Her circular straw hat worn low on her head, she walks at a lesiurely pace towards the Knight-Errant, her sword swaying with her every movement.

The sudden arrival of the familiar and yet still strange Merilan causes Raiya to glance upwards. Her lips purse together and the silent sober samurai continues to make her way forward towards a certain knight. At first her she is silent, but she soon brings her hands together in a subdued display of applause when compare to the audience at large. "An interesting display of swordsmanship, Ser Knight. But I wonder? How does it fair against another blade?" Her voice is a little lower than the happy-go-lucky voice that she normally adopts. Either this is how she is when painfully sober or when violence is close by. It really could go either way.

The unassmuimg figure in the audience gets no look from Raiya, her attention seems to be focused on others for now.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade Alexander is in the stands, holding a mug of some unidentifable beverage. He sniffs at it speculatively before taking a drink. Oh. Well. Stadium concessions are stadium concessions no matter where you go.

He leans back in the stands, taking a short break from exploring and researching the Heartless to relax. The closest place was Traverse Town, in the eponymous Coliseum. He may or may not be near an unassuming person in a brown robe.

Well then.

Mercade leans forward a little when he sees who's entering. No one he recognizes, but the fluttering wings and strange companions of the erstwhile journalist hem et recently catches his eye. "Hmm." He shrugs for the moment, and leans back in his chair, preparing to see what there is to see.

Ivo Galvan has posed:
"Uh oh."

You'd never be able to tell from afar that Ivo just said that under his breath. When he turns toward Raiya, he's smiling with playful nonchalance, though nothing about his gaze or stance is careless. "Lady Raiya," he says warmly, genuinely pleased to see her, even if these aren't the most-- ideal circumstances. "I regret we haven't yet shared a drink as hoped. That's what I get for taking care of those kids." Don't worry, Ivo, maybe you can use them advantageously to attract women, despite their inherent inconvenience. Like owning a pair of cute little dogs. "I'm in your debt for protecting us the other night. Though--" Hauteclare's blade clicks back into its hilt, whereupon he sheathes it and detaches the scabbard from his belt, blunting his blade in preparation for a friendly contest. "--just because I owe you doesn't mean I'll go easy on you."

The actual answer to her question of course being: Good question!

"Whooooooaaa, you see that, everyone!" the announcer calls. "Two new opponents have arrived!"

Ivo blinks. "Er..." Glances around. "...Two?" Glances up-- "Whoa!" He gapes for just a moment before grinning good-naturedly, as he reaches up to thoughtfully clasp his chin. "A winged adversary. I have to broaden my horizons in this new world."

The crowd is already applauding.

"Hey!" he calls up to Merilan. "You two better not gang up on me!" He's still grinning, though.

It's best to meet likely humiliation with a brave face.

Merilan Yursalin has posed:
Merilan blinks at about the same time, gaping as she flails her hands as the announcer starts riling up the crowd. "Wa-wa-wa-whaaat?"

Traya and Lemy just about cup their big heads with their tiny fingerless arms and go, XD! in response at their master's flsuteredness.

She puts her hand behind her back and laughs nervously. "Wait, I'm not here to fight at all, mumu...

She narrowly dodges some thrown tomatoes -- Lemy actually dives for one and swallows it whole like she's a snapperfish, nom-nom-nomming the fruit down without a care in the world. 8D?

"Heeey! That's not nice!"

Jasmine has posed:
Jasmine is sniffing curiously at her lollipop. It's /awfully/ sweet-smelling, but she's too well-mannered to make faces, even when she's not so much sharing a table with anyone as bleachers with everyone.

Never is the latter more apparent than when some enormous passerby doesn't even spot the street mouse of a bystander sitting there; his tail goes into her back, and she goes tumbling head over heels to land in a heap down in the arena. The girl manages to turn the flips into something graceful, and in so doing avoids breaking her neck, but.

That's more than enough for the announcer, however, who cheerfully quacks about having a nice even number for pairing off.

"Oh, excuse me," Jasmine says politely as she gets to her feet, brushing off her knees. "I'm terribly sorry." Her eyes sparkle with good humor as she looks at the warriors she's surrounded by; she seems none the worse for wear given her fall or the jeering attentions of the audience, holding her shabbily-shrouded herself aloft with casual poise.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra is also in the stands with Mercade she seems to be enjoying the fact that in this town she can actually pay for things rather than stealing her dinner in one form or another. She shifts a bit not happy with her seat, givne it wasn't made for someone with a tail. She pauses for a moment and peers to see just waht's going on down in the arena.

Raiya Fujihara has posed:
The purple and black kimono wearing woman grins wryly which is pretty much all you can see of her face because of that hat of hers. This knight appears to be a bit of a charmer, but he can not be too bad of a person after helping defend Reize and Lily with her. However, the Heartless care little about honor and charity. Only a strong blade and confident hand to wield it will see a person through a fight. Raiya is quite intigued at seeing whether or not Ivo can live up to these lofty expactations.

The throwing of vegetables....fruit...no vege...vegi-fruit at the winged arrival causes Raiya to frown. How distasteful. The samurai then turns to square up the knight and plants her feet down firmly with her left hand gently touching the hilt of her katana. "The crowd is growing restless. I would advide that you should prepare yourself."

And with a small kicking up of dust, Raiya launches herself towards Ivo with her katana only leaving its sheath once she gets withing striking distance. The swordswoman moves quick with her blade flashing out quickly at first, then drawing back for a backhanded swing, and finally she side-steps closer and flashes her katana out is a quick and graceful lunge with the pointy end of her sword leading the way.

Ivo Galvan has posed:
"Ha!" Could the winged woman have entered the fray purely by accident? "Don't be like that. You'll disappoint them," Ivo calls up to Merilan. Frankly, he has no gauge whatsoever of whether or not she's a competent combatant; he just can't help teasing a person a little when they've put themselves in an awkward situation. The robed figure who abruptly stumbles onto the scene, though--

"Oh, hey," the knight-errant says more seriously, turning, "you al...right...?"

Her spirit is evident immediately.

The blue-cloaked swordsman blinks, momentarily speechless. Despite being able to see little of Jasmine in her current garb, her eyes bespeak a passion that transcends words, and her confidence in meeting this unexpected situation elicits a grin he cannot contain. "You see?" he calls, not turning away from the newcomer. "That's what I'm talking about. This one rolls with the punches." He doesn't see any weapons on her at first glance, but-- "Go easy on me, okay?" he says lightly.

He may have said this to the wrong person.

The knight-errant's youthful features become abruptly implacable, an impressive mien which reveals nothing of the gut-churning animalistic terror which warned him of Raiya's approach. He knows enough about battle at least to know that this woman is extraordinarily dangerous, but the fact remains that the only fighting against other people he's gone has been training in the academy. Raised by a true warrior, he knows well what skilled fighters are like, and perhaps knowing his limits is one of his advantages, in a way. His other main advantage is his precision.

It only goes so far.

"Gghhh--!"

Two rapid parries demonstrate grace and technique as Ivo narrowly deflects Raiya's first swift strikes, and moving as one with her, he steps in, thrusting out with his sheath-blunted blade toward her gut. Yet while he was able to react to her first moves, he failed to read her correctly. While he strikes quickly at a small opening in her defenses, landing a debilitating blow that may ache for a few minutes more to come, it's simultaneous with her own last strike, and he's completely open for it. Being jabbed painfully in the chest, he reels back and briefly sinks to one knee, eyes widened, stunned by her unexpected final blow.

"...Heh!"

Yet in a flash, he is lunging, spurred by some sudden burst of stamina. A quick-step forward takes him in range of a thrust toward Raiya's head -- only for his blade to suddenly detact from the hilt and dart down toward her body, in an abrupt shift of momentum that might otherwise be physically impossible. Ivo then steps back and, with flicks of his wrist, attempts to send Hauteclare's blade chopping about her legs to stagger her before it flips up into the air like a living thing-- and then, blurring with speed, attempts to hammer down at her repeatedly from above.

"They call it," he says almost casually, voice slightly tightened from pain, "the Orbital Blade."

Merilan Yursalin has posed:
If there's anything Merilan happens to be good at, it's getting into a helplessly large amount of trouble. As the winged woman dodges fregetables and even a lettuce bowl, and an amount of organic free-range produce that she seriously could've created a satisfying Mediterranean salad with by now, she inevitably descends closer towards the centre of the action.

"Muu..." she pouts, twiddling her thumbs as her Yarhi flank her, giggling like mad, but dutifully taking out their tiny riot shields, rectangular and red with a golden cross down the centre to help protect their mistress.

"Goodness, but you've all got a taste for the fighting!" the reporter remarks as her attention's drawn to the battle between Raiya and Ivo; their skills are quite tremendous indeed, making her shy away just a bit more lest an errant blade strike her or her Yarhi.

"Heey..." Merilan turns towards Jasmine. "Tell them to stooop."

Both Lemy and Traya look on excitedly in the contrary, banging their tiny hands against their shields as if to incite bloodsports. "And you two cut it out!"

Jasmine has posed:
Jasmine's smile, when Ivo addresses her, is warm with the heat of a thousand burning deserts, but not sultry. No, hers is a simply pleasant temperature indeed, backed by a certain will of adamant that sparkles when she expresses her simple determination. "Thank you for your concern, but you had best look after yourself--!" And then Raiya presses the attack.

The girl takes a step back when the samurai lunges, bringing her arm up protectively... an arm with a hand on the end. A hand holding the only weapon she currently has... a huge caramel lollipop. "Well, it's better than nothing," she says with grim merriment, turning her retreat into a readied stance with a twist of her back foot in the sand.

She's about to join the fray, but Merilan's request draws her up short, and she glances up at the winged woman with concern drawing her lips into a tiny, worried rose. "If you do not wish to be here, why not retreat? Nothing blocks the sky, and I will not hinder you."

Merilan Yursalin has posed:
"M-mumu... that's a good idea--"

Before Merilan can do anything of the sort, however, Lemy has zoomed on over in defiance, to totally steal Jasmine's lollipop from her, her eyes gleaming like golden stars at the no-doubt bewitching scent of the candy to the Yarhi. If a human-sized lollipop is heavenly and giant for her, then a truly gigantic one... *_*

"Lemyyyy! No, bad!"

Yarhi: 50 percent guardian spirits, 50 percent adorable corgis.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Holy crap." Mercade says, suddenly leaning forward. "What the hell? People here fight like in a goddamn movie." He watches the proceedings intently. "This is pretty crazy. Awesome, but crazy. How do they move like that?"

Deidra has posed:
Deidra is watching along side Mercade and even though she is a mage of sorts the Gargyole is shocked. "It is like a movie! how in the world are they doing this!?" She suddenly wonders if their home world is on the strange child out compaired to what the other worlds can do?

Raiya Fujihara has posed:
Her opening volley does not go quite the way that she expected. Ivo is quicker than she had expected and she pays for it by being slashed by Ivo's blade. The effect is felt with a dark grimace as she feels the all too familiar affect of poison or something similar in her body. Her grimace turns into a deep frown that she levels towards Ivo. True warriors do not use such tactics in their battles, but then again maybe Raiya just has an eternal grudge against Wutai's ninjas and their plethora of poison and crippling attacks.

Raiya can not dwell on this too much as she is attacked brutally by Ivo's very odd sword. It catches her by complete surprise as this weapon acts like no blade that Raiya has ever experience before. This knight is truely an odd and dangerous opponent as Raiya finds herself unable to dodge out of the way. Instead, she stands her ground and takes the punishment dealt by Ivo's savage attack. The beating Raiya takes looks and feels quite painful, but the samurai remains firmly planted on her feet. Maybe she can use this to her advantage?

The swordswoman, panting rapidly, solidfies her stance and returns her sword to its sheath in a moment of concentration. Something seems to change about Raiya as she focuses in on Ivo, looking for her own opening. And then she lays down her reprisal. The first strike is a mighty swing with the flat of sword going for Ivo's arm joint. She then quickly brings the sword, hilt first towards the knight's face. And then using her incredible speed, Raiya hops backwards away from her opponent. Her retreat is cut short as she suddenly plants her feet, rushes forward, and swings her katana wide towards Ivo's midsection in a savage strike of her own. Whatever the outcome, Raiya will have propelled herself past Ivo a few feet with her back now towards her foe.

Ivo Galvan has posed:
Ivo's not quite so cheap as all that, thank you. Then again--

"...Whew."

To an honorable swordfighter, Hauteclare might be sort of... inherently cheap?

The blade clicks back into its hilt as the knight-errant heaves a sigh of relief and fatigue. He's broken a sweat again already, which might be somewhat surprising; though his techniques require rather elegant dance-like moves, it does not seem to demand great exertion. In fact, the level of concentration required to control his weapon from afar is frankly preposterous, particularly against an opponent of Raiya's caliber. And he didn't even knock her down! Additionally, she looks pissed.

As much as anyone can tell under that hat.

He spares only the briefest glance over his shoulder to see that the other ladies are-- something? Whatever, aaahhh, no time! She's coming right for him like a juggernaut. Though he doesn't visibly lose his cool, Ivo moves desperately to avoid this assault; rather than try to overcome it head-on, with power like this, he's got to wait until she exhausts herself after this flurry. It's not looking good, though. He just barely deflects the blow to his arm with his buckler, but the sheer force causes him to stagger, and so he has to lurch backward to avoid the blow toward his face. He's completely lost his footing. There's no other choice!

Fly like a bird, and take to the skiiieeeeeoooohhhhrgghhhh

It's somewhat unclear to the audience whether Ivo actually attempted to jump over that savage swing, or Raiya just hit him so hard that he flew into the air. He crashes bodily into the floating platform upon which he had until recently been battling Heartless, and briefly slumps against it, completely dazed. What a disaster. He can't remember the last time he was hit so hard.

"Ha ha ha..."

Maybe it's time for a chance of plans.

"You've got quite the sword arm," he declares, grinning down at her from the platform as he rises, one eye squinted shut. "My kind of woman!"

Because... he's a masochist?

Actually, he's just trying to throw her off a little bit. Whether or not it works, he's already descending-- and this time, a faint umbra begins to swirl about his blade. "Shrouding shadows -- Sealing Sword!" This time, when the blade leaps from its hilt, it whirls about in a wild arc, trailing dark energy, and whips about several times before returning to his hilt just before he hits the ground. If he connects, he may well kick off the swordswoman and return to the air.

I mean, who the heck wants to stay down there??

Jasmine has posed:
Jasmine blinks at the approaching Yarhi, and seems more curious than anything. When it makes a divebomb for the lollipop, though, she displays quick enough reflexes in whisking it back out of harm's way. Then she seems to hesitate, tilting her head to one side, birdlike, as she regards its... owner. Keeper. Companion. Whatever Merilan is. "Is it okay to give this... candy..." the word lollipop is not yet in her vocabulary, "...to your..." hmm, pick one of those words, "...friend?"

The two of them make for pretty much the lamest duel ever, the fugitive princess entirely happy to just hang out and meet people. This is certainly the closest she's ever been to so many winged beings, and she can't help but admire them. It may be a silent compliment, but her eyes hold all the wonder that words could ever hope to achieve. Ivo and Raiya's spectacular fight draws no less awe from her. The audience may not be impressed with her, but she is with them.

And then:

SUDDENLY HEARTLESS!!!!

A small army of them rise up out of the very floor of the coliseum, wee and dark and both cute and sinister, the collective led by what looks like a giant suit of animate purple armor. It lifts one of its ball-jointed arms in what is unmistakably a 'CHEEEEAAAAARRGEEE!' gesture... pointed right at Jasmine.

She looks to her left, looks to her right, as though deciding whether to fight or flee.

And then that choice is taken from her, as the second arm of the armor materializes up from the ground around her, creating an efficient spherical cage with its fingers. Eyes flashing furiously, the tiny girl is not taking this lying down, and sparks fly as she starts to beat her way out of it with fists and feet and lollipop, which smashes into a million shards on the very first, very fierce strike. But her escape plan is definitely not fast enough, should the Heartless simply choose to depart.

Fortunately, she's not alone...

Merilan Yursalin has posed:
Merilan responds in the negative, mouth up in a huffy pout as she remarks, "No! Lemy, that's -rude-. You don't just try to steal other people's food! Come back here right now..."

The relatively peaceful scene, however, is suddenly broken by the sudden emergence of the Army of Darkness. No, not the zombies -- there will, unfortunately, be no chainsaw arms in this scene.

The Heartless could, perhaps, give the Yarhi a run for their money on cuteness. But neither type of little adorable are, exactly, helpless... as demonstrated when Merilan suddenly leaps to action, as her heart starts to pound with a familiar anxiety at their sudden presence. There is a sudden shift in the woman's air the moment things became serious.

"Lemy, Traya -- to my side," she commands, raising one sleeved arm as the Ring of Pacts materialises in front of her in a bright blue flash. And within its centre, the Auracite silently glows... obtaining its unspoken toll from the aegyl, and answering in kind.

Immediately, plenty, plenty more Yarhi, numbering in the dozens rush on forward -- little adorable Shivans, with blue parkas and hair and carrying little swords and shields fly on out in spread formation.

"Gather up and protect the two down there!" With a 'yaaaaay!', the Shivan Squad A fly on down to gather and bunch about Raiya and Ivo, holding their shields up in phalanx formation to help protect them against the incoming waves.

In addition, 'protect them' apparently also comes with lunch delivered to the two combatants by large-smiling Shivans: a wonderful curry bento, in a heartwarming pink box, along with ginger pickles and short-grain rice... and Merilan's patented fish croquettes?!

It has miraculous healing powers, however that works. RPGs.

Merilan Yursalin has posed:
Meanwhile, thing aren't exactly okey-kosher back on Command-side; the swarm of Heartless flood on up, some of them getting close to hit the winged aegyl upside the face and causing her to falter on down as her Yarhi fail to intercept in time. "Auu!"

Dainty as she is when it comes to taking damage, Merilan isn't out of the fight yet -- she immediately dives down to escape from the immediate vicinity of the Heartless to rush closer to Jasmine's side.

Raiya Fujihara has posed:
Raiya is rather single-minded when she fights. It is what keeps her alive in times of trouble, but hopefully the others nearby will understand that the samurai is preoccupied with Ivo and that crazy dangerous blade of his. Speaking of vorpal like blades that go snicker-snack, Ivo is bearing down on her again. This is quite literal since the knight is jumping off the stage towards her. The hat-wearing swordswoman looks up too late and jumps right into the oncoming attack in a foolish move. The gauntlet of pain that Ivo dishes out has to be endured and to add insult to injury....Ivo kicks off her to launch himself back upwards. That cur!

Now injured severely herself, Raiya is already pondering her next move when she hears some commotion next to her. What?! Heartless? The wounded swordswoman turns to face the oncoming rush of creatures with a slightly crazed grin on her face. Is this how she is going to die? Blind-sided by an on-rush of Heartless? Her katana is slowly drawn out and she awaits her fate. The nearest Heartless swoop in and mercilessly swipe at the already wounded warrior. The attacks drive her down to her knees, and she looks to be barely holding on to whatever fight that still keeps her alive after her latest unsuccessful dodge. Fate can truely be cruel.

But Fate can also be kind.

The flying Merilan's minions deliver protection...and lunch? The bento is accepted as desperate times require desperate measures. The effect is...miraculous! Raiya starts to feel reinvograted now. At first, she rests there on the ground....regaining some breath. Raiya then suddenly springs up onto her feet. The Heartless in front of her get a death-glare by the samurai. "Foul treachery from Heartless, I should have expected nothing less." Raiya tosses her straw hat to the ground and then draws her katana fully out before dropping into a combat stance with her blade tilted upwards. "Dark creatures, know that I will be the blade that banished your from this world!" The now hatless Raiya smiles grimly at the Heartless before gesturing towards them to advance at her once more.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Heartless appear, all of a sudden... And Mercade's eyes widen. That black, oily darkness, those yellow eyes, the alien, unfeeling gaze.

Mercade has the presence of mind to pull a camera out of his coat and take several pictures: The Heartless arriving, them looking towards...

That woman in the robes. Something looks familiar about her...

But one thing is for sure. He's not going to leave her to those things. "DEIDRA! GO TIME!" He yells, before he tosses the drink aside, pockets the camera, and then vaults dramatically off of the edge into the battle pit...

And lands on his face. WHUMP. He mutters with a muffled, "Ow." Before he rolls to his feet. Two guns come snapping out from concealed holsters under his coat. He has no dramatic comments, he just begins moving, looking for things to use to take hits besides other people and his tender flesh.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra hadd been enjoying the show it was like seeing an Hong Kong action movie come to life before her eyes. Then the Heartless show up the Gargyole gets up to her feet as Mercade brings up the issue of it being go time. "I hear you." With that she spreads her wings and takes to the air catching an updraft. She pulls her spell book from her jacket pocket and starts to chant in latin and ice shards start raining on the heartless below.

Ivo Galvan has posed:
Just what he needs: Heartless.

Though Ivo may recently have been knocked half-senseless, he's not stupid. The sudden manifestation of the shadow armor takes him by surprise, causing him to lower his guard and turn in shock as Jasmine is seized by the dark creature. It's not that he's taking Raiya lightly -- it just doesn't occur to him that she'd exploit this opportunity to attack him. Of course, she doesn't.

The Heartless do instead.

"Grghh--!" Swarmed on all sides, still weary from his epic clash with the lady samurai, and caught in mid-air to boot, several strikes find their way through Ivo's guard even as he slashes out at the darkness. Numbness spreads through his body, and his spirit begins to deaden, giving rise to a strange listlessness despite the mortal peril he's in. He hits the ground clumsily and sinks to his knees, faltering-- until Merilan's little sprites move into the rescue, bizarre and adorable enough to dispel all lack of spirit.

"Hey," the knight-errant exclaims, "this smells great!"

Also, yeah, this croquette and-- what is this, a rice dish?-- they're delicious.

Only a true man begins to chow down in blithest of fashions while before his eyes a girl is being entrapped by a sinister golem; he's almost as cool right now as the guy from the audience who just fell on his face. In fact, Ivo is processing this quite seriously. Why did they go immediately for that strange girl? What was it about her eyes that so stirred him? It's not just pure spirit. Reize and Lily both have that. There's something /different/ about her--

"Raiya!"

It's only then that the dark-haired youth sees the predicament that the lady samurai is in. Shamelessly brushing the crumbs from his mouth -- man, that was good, that winged girl is a great cook -- and also apparently unbothered about the fact that he kicked off of Raiya only moments ago, he lunges toward her, weaving around his own protective phalanx to assist a woman who by the look of her is preparing to die.

"And I will be the blade that helped," he appends, rather cheekily for someone still so beat up, as he adopts his fighting stance by the samurai's side. "I should say that I regret our duel's been interrupted," he asides to her, "but I'd rather fight these than you." Surveying the minions before him, he grins a little, though his eyes are humorless. "Shall we carve a path to our foe and rescue the girl?"

At once Hauteclare is a blur, hacking through little Shadows, trying to press toward the giant armor which now holds Jasmine hostage while ensuring that Raiya isn't overwhelmed.

"Now I /definitely/ need a drink."

Jasmine has posed:
Jasmine continues to patiently and furiously beat the crap out of her Handy prison, one punch at a time, her lollipop stick discarded; cracks are slowly forming on some of the massive armor's fingertips. Its other hand, however, has no such encumberance or distraction, and reaches up to swat the pesky aegyl away from its prize with a massive flick of its index finger and thumb. It goes for a straight-up helmetbutt on Deidra, since she's at roughly eye-level. It's trying to smash her to the ground, where its army awaits.

The smaller Heartless begin to rush those on the ground, including newcomers from the audience like Mercade; not mindless, only heartless, they encircle the detective, the samurai, and especially the would-be knight-errant who cleaves through them like so much wheat. Ivo makes a serious dent in their numbers, though they surge forward all the more quickly to avenge their fallen.

The audience, for the record, is loving all this; they root and roar for the (non-Heartless) combatants enthusiastically. Sure, they're somewhat aware that this is an out-of-bounds situation, but between the Guardian Corps and Our Heroes, they feel perfectly (and foolishly?) safe.

Merilan Yursalin has posed:
Merilan's approach is barred by the Handy's ... well, hands. Who'd have thought that a Handy would be so handy, and also so handsy, with its hands? Hands off, you Heartless beast!

She tries to do what she can, with as limited and stretched her resources are -- she flings her foot out to try to kick the Hand away!

The red-and-black sort of just gets smacked down for her trouble like some goalie trying to block some physics-defying super shot.

Her Yarhi decide they'd rather peel away from getting smacked -- their tiny forms ain't going to stop something that big. Not particularly solid, the Handy's slap stings and causes some shaking in her head. "Uuu... please, hang in there, I just need--"

The Ring of Pacts begins to shimmer once more. She needs more Yarhi... she needs to get to a good position.

Meanwhile, the Shivan phalanx continue to be the perfect attendants as, when service is finished, they suddenly have tiny silver trays and delicate china cups on saucers to serve to both Ivo and Raiya.

Lunch service: /Done/.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade hates swarm tactics. Several Heartless dive in at him, and Mercade dives, leaping for the rough wall. Several Heartless impact him nonetheless as he clambers up, quickly getting some distance befre swinging his legs over to latch onto a protrusion. He arches his back, raining bullets down into the mass of Heartless, before legging go and pushing off of the nearby wall. He tumbles down, hitting the ground in a slide as he levels the two high-caliber pistols at the massive armor and unleashes a blazing series of shots for the arm holding Totally Not Jasmine. He then flexes his legs, throwingh himself through the air as he aims for an elevated column area, still firing the entire time. What he lacks in anime sword stylings, he makes up for in sheer ballistic volume. "You're not going to get away with it!" He calls.

Raiya Fujihara has posed:
Pshaw. Raiya would never exploit such an opening to attack Ivo. His strange and unorthodox sword and fighting style aside, Ivo's combination of skill, speed, and a kind heart to boot was very appealing to the samurai woman. His appearance at her side is welcome and especially so in her weakened state. "We will settle this temporary draw later with...swords or drinks. I'll let you decide." She says to Ivo without her eyes moving off the Heartless.

The Heartless stride forward again to attack and Raiya is again to slow to dodge the speedy Heartless' attack. She grimaces from the blow, but she stays on her feet. This is bad. She is not going to last much longer without more help from Merilan. And look at that, the winged woman sends help once more. Raiya looks skywards and offers a nod of thanks before implicitly trusting that this tea is helpful too. Besides, how could any self-respecting samurai turn down some free tea?

"Ivo," begins Raiya in a quiet, determined voice. "I am going to cut my way though them and draw them towards me. Attack then and crush them while they are distracted." It is hard not to notice the grim near suicidal resolve in the samurai's voice. But, she is going to save that mysterious girl and slay these Heartless even if it is the death of her. She does not even wait for Ivo's response as she already darts forward with her sword flashing out in a slash towards the nearest Heartless. The samurai's attack does not end there as she quickly grabs the blunt end of her sword and runs her hand down the length of the blade. Her blade in return shimmers darkly and in a blink of the eye she has assaulted the next nearest Heartless. Now thoroughly in the midst of the enemy, Raiya begins to glow with energy. The fruits of her efforts are soon seen as Raiya returns her sword to its sheath, grits her teeth, and then unleashes a completely unnatural barrage of lightning quick swords strikes towards her foes. When she finishes her action, Raiya returns her sword to its sheath with a metallic SHINK.

Ivo Galvan has posed:
Even the most jaded audience member has to admit--

"Heh..."

--that when the swarm of Heartless close ranks about the swordsman and samurai while they attempt to battle their way toward the great armor in which Jasmine is encaged, and the shadows boil down upon them--
%
"...as anticipated."

Ivo Galvan looks pretty cool.

A simple circle slash, really, is all it appears to be. Blindingly fast, to be sure. Yet amidst the blur, as he counter-cuts out at all those foes lunging at him, his sword is rapidly separating and linking back together, its blade dancing about almost imperceptibly, shearing through far more enemies that one would reasonably expect. By the time his sword is back in his scabbard, almost ten of them have burst into puffs of something like smoke. Dark hair rippling rather dashingly to reveal the beauty mark by his blue eyes, Ivo, hand on one hip--

"Oh, tea."

--is immediately distracted. Elevator music plays briefly as he slowly savors the tea. While a few intimidated Heartless float around, confused, he drains the cup and looks up at the mysterious winged girl, source of these helpful little fellows. "How refreshing! And your cooking is superb," he calls up to Merilan, shielding his eyes with one hand, smiling affably. "I don't suppose you'd marry me?"

Wait, now's not the time to be teasing girls.

Wait, now's not the time to be drinking tea!!

"Oh, drinks, definitely," he replies to Raiya, without missing a beat. Either he's a dedicated flirt, or he doesn't take these interactions seriously in the slightest. ...Probably the latter. "Wait, you're going to draw them? Hey, Raiya, hold on--" But it's too late. The samurai's plunged into the crowd and gone ballistic. While the swordsman's grateful to see her attacks /not/ aimed at him now, her health is far too precarious to be engaging the enemy directly like this. He can't afford for her to fall: they have to save that girl at all costs.

Time to recalibrate his strategy.

"Hey, you don't want to fight that scary woman! Just look at that hat!" he calls down to the remaining minions, no doubt decimated after Raiya's assault, as he leaps over their little heads. His counter-slash cleared up enough to keep them off her back, at least. "Why don't you see if you can catch me? I never wear hats." It's just the sort of logic that a Heartless might follow. Meanwhile, as he soars into the air, he focuses on the giant armor, waiting to reach the peak of his jump as he searches for a weak point...

Jean Faraven has posed:
SeeD's brief excursions into other worlds had already begun to pay off. Garden's intelligence department was overflowing with reports not just of what expeditions had seen, but they had /heard/ of. And one tale in particular struck Jean Faraven's notice-that of an Arena where the strong not only battle each other, but heartless themselves for fame, renown and gold.

Needless to say, the Hound of Balamb was rather interested in how they managed to use Heartless for that. Witnessing strong fighters from other worlds also made it an interesting locale to beat the feet too.

Having left Jasmine (who insisted on coming along!) to watch the spectacle in the stands, Jean presently lit a cigar in some box seat office or what have you where he conversed with someone important, a man who knew how to make things works in this shady town.

"So if Garden sponsors a team for one of your tournaments..."

"You'll be rolling in dough in no time flat!" The queer little half-man, half-goat leapt up and down with energetic furor, "Guaranteed!"

Jean looked like he absolutely believed that (not really), absently blowing a smoke ring in the satyr's face, "Hm...." His good eye turned towards the commotion out below, "Don't tell me you arranged that, too?"

"Uh..." The mythological creature slowly backed away, "Not exactly..."

******

A dark blur soared across the sky like a midnight bullet with shattered glass in his wake, landing dead center in the midst of the embattled heroes in a lean, limber crouch. His hair was slightly unkempt, his cigar still lit. The pointed blade of his sword rear back behind him as the barrel clicked ominously into place where sword undead in a curved, revolver-style handle complete with trigger. His fatigues were trim and military in nature, embroidered tastefully in the colors of Balamb Garden, his right shoulder marked with a stylized patch of a snarling hound.

He didn't waste time with talk, becoming a darting nightmare in the next second that picked off Heartless with practiced ease of the very beast his nomme de guerre called to mind, punctuating each third swing or so with a pull of the trigger that tore him ever closer towards the encaged princess with a powerful burst of flame and steel. He flows in an out of IVo's attacks so naturally that their movements don't even interrupt one another, but coordinate in deadly harmony.

And then he's off, launching himself at Jasmine's captor with an explosive thrust. "This happens to you often, does it?" He'll toss over his shoulder when he can, chiding himself for thinking the place safe enough to leave her on her own.

Zeke has posed:
Well Zeke had come here to see he got.a show and whaddaya know a show... Granted it was quite deadly ernist and the lady in the bulky armor getting swamped needed help. So he pulled a pistol from 'round his neck. Surely he could hit something in the roiling pack of heartless right?

And yet muskets weren't known for their accuracy. Musketoons were even worse; since they were basically the 18th century equivilant of a shotgun. Still, it'll make quite a mess.

*BOOOM!*

A terrifying cloud of smoke and deafening roar for any near him. Whether or not the weapon did damage was acadimic at this point since he hasn't time to reload... Now what? NOW WHAT?!

Deidra has posed:
Deidra does not like to caught on the ground in swarms of foes, it's rather bad for her. However she's not quick enough to avoid the incomming attack which striks her down from the skies. She slams into the arnea floor hard, and stays there for a moment. She rises eventually pulling herspell book away after casting a bried spell in the direction of the heartless before her eyes turn solid red. Then she bears her fangs andf just lungest at the beasts not looking to be in too good of a mood.

Jasmine has posed:
Jasmine's importance remains a mystery to Ivo's scrutiny that the GM forgot to react to last round; if he has any cosmological sense of the Light, well, it's going off the scale, but otherwise, she's just a petite maiden, poorly dressed, increasingly frantically battering her way out of a cage made out of Heartless hand. Her eyes briefly meet his, and they're not completely panicked, but there is fear there, certainly. When /bullets/ start to come her way, she shrinks against the finger-wall closer to the main body of the animated armor.

Mercade's bullets do impact rather satisfyingly, though with no blood to spill it's hard to say how much the massive creature really cares, other than staggering back a bit. Those little ones, though, are just vaporized back into little motes of darkness, when faced with Raiya's maelstrom of mayhem, carnival of carnage, vision of violence. The last ones are knocked out by the joint effort of many individuals: The pitter patter of Ivo's little feet upon their heads send a few to the floor. Timely swipes of Deidra's claws slice Heartless in twain with casual ease. Zeke's musket shots blow some pretty big holes in pretty little heartless, and all the gunblade bullets, forever, of Jean Faraven, see the rest to their graves. Or wherever Heartless go when they die. Then all that's left is the armor.

Narrowing its red eyes with rage, it summons an immense Darkness to the entire arena floor, tendrils rising to embrace even those who are in midair. And it ... slowly ... starts ... sinking into the void to who knows where ...

... along with Jasmine, still encased in the cage of its hand, and everyone else in the arena.

/Now/ the audience starts to panic.

"Well, I've never been /caught/ before!" Jasmine calls to Jean in aggrieved tones, from the other side of the finger-bars. She gets back to punching them into powder; it may not take much more force to shatter them entirely.

Merilan Yursalin has posed:
"Er--" Merilan is caught off-guard by Ivo's sudden remark that she doesn't even witness the start of the Darkness erupting along the arena floor. The tendrils start to rise, and the audience starts to panic... and, Jasmine begins to disappear. Already, several more tendrils are lashing against her, and she feels the strength start to escape from her battered body.

No, there is no more time, no more hesitation.

Merilan's expression dies on down, again. A slight red tinge has taken to her eyes. She has made her decision, and she has bargained power from the Auracite, which shimmers as it leeches more of her very heart and soul.

There is a still, very narrowed countenance upon her face that rather belies her usual flighty, not-quite-together self as she traces a magical circle in thin air with her fingers, flecks of powered Lemurian words dancing about like snowflakes around her.

Somewhere, somehow, the lights around the Aegyl have dimmed as an ethereal curtain of rich red covers her from sight - in similar fashion, a hallucinatory proscenium stage has risen to her feet.

In seconds, the curtains unfold, a phantom orchestra striking up a vibrant, mysterious string entrance: An extreme number of Yarhi - Shivans, Alraunes, Garchimacera - coalesce into sight in a tight, focused ring around her.

The Heartless are not the only one able to use swarm tactics.

Within the centre, Merilan raises her hand, and intones, her voice laced with raw, crackling magic -- it is unmistakably spell incantation:

"And thus enters our young girl, a dancing Fool of colours aplenty!
Look, how she alights upon a transient Eden, a garden of Hellfire!
She turns against the Heavens, upon the end of a puppet's string!
Now listen, as the curtain rises:"

She thrusts her hand forward, and the army of Yarhi, armed with blades aplenty, fly in artful clusters from quite literally all directions, each of their movements shadowed and carrying afterimages, converging upon the Handy to quite literally try to tear apart with a seemingly infinite cluster of blades.

"Horror Arcanum: Le Th��tre du Grand-Guignol...!"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade thinks things are going pretty well.

And then it decides to start eating the ground. "Oh, hell." Mercade grimaces as he sees what's happening. He leaps backwards, one lashing strike of the darkness tentacle whipping past his head. "WHOA!" He yells. And then another knocks him off. "OH CRAAAAAAAP!" Mercade tumbles down, impacting the black abyssal ground. He struggles to his feet, and he grunts, struggling against the downward pull of Darkness. "Not... yet... dammit!" As everyone unleashes burning magical destruction and epic sword arts, Mercade handles things his own way.

He opens his coat and pulls out a Remington pump-action shotgun. With a yell, he begins unloading shotgun slugs straight for the huge armor. "COME ON! FALL DOWN!"

Zeke has posed:
Zeke's charge faultered as the ground turned into a giant inkblot. The los of momentum, plus the fact he was charging TOWARDS danger had left him exposed and so injured. He looked at his coat and made a small tsking noise. "You would not fear us." He pulled another musketoon out from his coat and fired, dropped it, drew his sword, and charged at the black. "Unless we could hurt you!" He's spent most of his life on ships traveling in all manner of weather. He would not let some inkblot be the end of him as he attempted to carve his way through.

This could have been a not so smart concept because for all he knew these heartless would gum his blade or try engulfing him as he had seen them do to a friend's ship, but he would not go quietly.

Ivo Galvan has posed:
Who in the worlds is /that man/?

Ivo can only regard the Hound's extraordinary entrance with awe and fascination. Before it can even occur to him to speak, Mr. Eyepatch and Cigar is off to the mysterious girl's side. Somehow, the young knight isn't particularly surprised that a woman like that has a bodyguard like him. She clearly needs one -- not that he doubts she could take care of herself under most circumstances.

He may only have a marginal sensitivity to magic, and his personal reaction to her radiant light is more vague and empathetic than mystical, but he's a decent judge of character, and Jasmine's eyes have a lot of character.

Yet--

"Ridiculous..."

That light will die if he does not act soon.

The ground is now a roiling mass of darkness. These people could all be dragged into the abyss. And Raiya-- she can't possibly last much longer. It's time. Time to show what his father's sword can truly do.

"Hauteclare!"
Blade leaves hilt, as Ivo hangs in mid-air, a breath before descent.

"Dance for me..."

The gravity-defying weapon launches at the great armor, a blur, striking at its joints, a veritable storm. As Ivo falls, he is pirouetting in mid-air, a fantastical acrobatic display which still cannot rival the attacks of his sword which it manifests as. With every impact, a little point of light remains. Then, the moment he hits the ground--

"For us!"

The blade flashes, and each point left upon the giant foe begin to crack and implode. As Ivo cries out and trembles with the exertion, if his technique was precise enough, and hit in just the right places--

It might just crumble to bits.

Raiya Fujihara has posed:
Raiya had put her everything into her last attack and with the help of everyone's powers combined...they, together, had defeated the Heartless horde. Hurrah! And yet, Raiya should have kept her eye on the prize as there is still one VERY LARGE Heartless remaining and the samurai is now precariously close to the unholy armor. Things are not looking too good right now with the arena being sucked into darkness and this powerful Heartless before them. Raiya can only hope that Ivo's taunts work on big heartless too.

But this is to no avail as one of the rising tendrils SMACKS Raiya and sends her skidding against her ground, her hat now cleanly knocked off of her. Thankfully some of her allies are strong indeed and are able to keep striking away at this monster. The samurai is glad to have Merilan on her side after witnessing that last attack, everything would have went arses over elbows if Merilan ended up being EVVVVIL. But then again, the same could be said of Mercade, Zeke, Jean, and the others who have joined in the fray. Fate must be on their side this day.

With a groan, Raiya stirs enough to look up at the creature who is practically looming over her. This lets the purple wearing woman have a front row seat to witnessing Ivo's hidden strength.

Their rematch will be a glorious one indeed.

Still quite stunned and silenced from that last attack, Raiya is content with merely procuring a small bottle of sake from her kimono. She takes a hearty drink out of it before resting there, ready to watch some fireworks and get a little toasty in the meantime.

Jean Faraven has posed:
Jean's response to Jasmine's panic is to casually, languidly roll that cigar from one corner of his mouth to the other, gunblade resting on his shoulder when the the large Heartless suddenly takes action. The Hound balks, stifling a curse as tendrils grabbed hold of his legs, leaving them slightly numb and sluggish when freed himself with a swipe of his blade.

"Sloppy of me..." He seemed surprise as anyone, though less so when the Heartless began to make it's exit, intent on taking damage with it. He's seen this before, the way they transported themselves through unknowns means...the science club was still trying to work on the theory of how /that/ was possible.

The unique properties of Ivo's weapon and the terrible efficacy with which he puts it to use does not go without notice on the Hound's part-the lad had amazing potential. But he'd have to wait his turned with the winged lady up there (Jean had already seen one of those earlier so the shock is worn off, sorry Merilan) as the SeeD Operative reared up and gave Jasmine a serious look. "I'm not letting this thing take you. Get as far back as you can.

Junctioned power coursed viciiously through the SeeD's limbs and weapon, the power of Cerberus itself manifesting a bit as Jean called upon some his power, his canines seeming a bit more empahsized int he girt of his teeth, his brown eye flicking hazily amber. Anubis swung out with a strike of monstrous force at Jasmine's cage-the enemy's hand-pulling the trigger thrice in succession so rapid as to fire three of those high-powered blanks in a near simultaneous action.

Bells rangs in his head and his right arm would be useless for a day, but Jean wasn't interested in playing with change.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra snaps out of her little rampage realsing just how much she cut lose and kinda is taken aback for a moment,. She settles down her eyes shifting back to normal and her pulling her wings closer to her back. "These things seem to like to come out of nowhere don't they. Boss are you all right? Same for everyone else?"

Jasmine has posed:
The Heartless Armor's plan is finally coming together. It has what it came for, it's escaping back to... somewhere... and its cannon fodder played their role in delaying the heroes to allow all this to fall into place.

But the best laid plans of mice and animated metal plates do tend to fall awry.

One bajillion blade-bearing Yarhi, accompanied by dramatic reading!
*ka-chink* *BOOM*
Swish, slash, sliced by piratical cutlery!
Orbital blade bombardment!

Beneath such a furious assault, this Heartless creature cannot hope to stand. The portal begins to shrink when the very first of Merilan's summoned blades begin to chop it to bits, and by the time shotgun rounds and swords are impacting it, tendrils of Darkness are disappearing at an alarming rate. The remnants frantically shrink down around the hand containing Jasmine, trying to keep the tenuous connection open for just a little longer...

Jasmine hasn't had a lot of time to study Ivo's eyes, but their brief moment in the arena did give her an impression: the strength of the wind, faster than sight, never ceasing. Right at the moment, though, she's preoccupied with breaking her world's shell. She's not too proud to not let Jean Faraven finish the job, though. "Got it!" Even back as far as she can be, Anubis' explosion knocks her around rather badly.

When the smoke clears, the last of the Heartless is gone, and she remains (as well as the arena, which seems undamaged; it's seen worse). "Thank you," she says simply and fervently, two words of honest gratitude easily encompassing everyone around her. Tucking her hood back over her face, she tries to take her leave, quickly and (increasingly) skillfully vanishing into the crowd, which is leaving en masse.

Zeke has posed:
Zeke watched as the arena turned normal again. Well Normal along with a few hundred fleeing people. Still. He tried picking his way through to Raiya and cleared his throat. "Be you in good shape miss?" Honest question. If a simple nail could grow an infection that would mean needing to take a leg off he would hate to see what this spawn of blackness would do if it managed to sink it's claws in and you managed to survive.

Nevermind his own injuries. They were trivial. He would deal with them in his own time.

Merilan Yursalin has posed:
Merilan's breathing is haggard, as she starts to feel consciousness fade around her mind's edges. The Auracite within her Ring of Pacts shimmers quietly, contently, as if to say, 'Thank you for your patronage.'

"I'm glad..." Merilan mumbles to herself, clutching a bleeding shoulder as she watches Jasmine release herself. Who was that mysterious woman...? And, why did the Heartless seem so vested in capturing her? These are questions Merilan has no context for, and perhaps won't for a greater while yet.

The Yarhi have converged back to her, supporting her up as she starts to float on away. Much like other times where she has called upon the zodiac stone for assistance... there is a persistent emptiness that lingers for a while yet.

She closes her eyes, and lets her wings take her up into the starry Traverse skies and beyond, as the Yarhi translucently disappear back into motes of stardust and magic, back to the Feymarch.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade sighs, flipping his shotgun and blowing gunsmoke off of the barrel. "Nice." He brings it up over his shoulder, and walks over to the gathering. "Hello Miss. Are you okay?" He looks around. "In fact, are all of you guys okay? Everyone still here?" He does a mental count to see if anyone got eaten by The Darkness. He /thinks/ they're all here...

Ivo Galvan has posed:
When Ivo touches the ground, it is no longer shadow.

"...Whew."

The unseen force which propels Hauteclare's blade no longer retains the strength to whip it about in such a frenzy. It literally drags, rather laconically, across the ground before at last flipping up and clicking back into Ivo's hilt, who doesn't particularly seem to mind its now-lackluster performance. He's able to meet Jasmine's eyes one last time before she turns and leaves, and manages a weary smile and a nod, which hopefully she catches. Whoever that woman is, she's someone important. He has a feeling this won't be the last time they meet.

Particularly if he keeps kicking around with Reize and company.

Oh, speaking of women whose name he still doesn't know. "Hey, thanks again for the croqu-- oh." Looking up blearily, Ivo watches Merilan sail up into the sky, before he rises, grinning lopsidedly. "...I hope she knows I was kidding." Well, not about her being a good cook. Really. What was that sauce on the rice, anyway?

Glancing over, it looks like Raiya made it through alright, too. Not that it's surprising. Actually, what's a little surprising is that the gentlemen who came in from the audience to support them seem so concerned about her. "Of course she's okay," he calls to Mercade and-- oh, hey, it's that Zeke fellow. "Didn't you see the way she clobbered me?" Weary though he is, his grin is good-humored, though his eyes suggest that he might not have unleashed such an overwhelming attack if he hadn't been worried about her fate too.

It was a little touch-and-go there, wasn't it?

Contemplatively, the knight-errant tilts his chin to gaze up at the sky.

"...I /am/ getting paid for this, right...?"

Zeke has posed:
Zeke looked over at Ivo while sheathing his sword. "Given the amount of... well... I suppose effort you lot put into your actions I'm honestly surprised you're standing. I just happened to hear a commotion and came to nose around." He pulled a small money pouch from inside his coat and tossed it to Ivo. Inside were genuine pieces of eight. "Won that from a game of dice before all this started. If money be your main concern then that should tide you over." He sounded joviel even as he tossed away a considerable amount of coin. He had to secure allies against htese things. Sure they worked fine together Now, but what of later? Best to establish good will.

"Anything left to do other than see to the wounded?" He tried looking around, but this place was too chaotic and too landlocked for him to make much sense of.

Jean Faraven has posed:
Jean Faraven cannot answer Ivo's financial woes, but he /can/ off this.

When Jasmine sets off to leave, the Hound is quick to follow on her heels. He's not letting her out of his sight again after a bold attempt like that, in broad daylight.

At least, not right after he turns briefly to regard Ivo and in all his youthful up-and-comingness. The lit end of his cigar burned with the color of the setting sun as Jean's pointed emphatically at his lone eyes with his unhindered hand...and back at the Knight-Errant.

The message ought be clear enough.

And then he is gone, vanished back into the crowd with his apparent charge.

Raiya Fujihara has posed:
The blonde samurai had been resting there on the ground, propping herself up with her still sheathed sword. The sake bottle is swigged from again before the purple clad Lady samurai plants her feet on the ground and struggles her way to her feet once more. She looks a little shaky getting up, but once she is up on her feet; Raiya is right as rain. Maybe the alchohol is finally hitting its mark.

Raiya fixes her kimono a little bit before turning towards Zeke who showed up at exactly the right time to help deliver the coup de grace to this Heartless menace. "Still alive. A few more drinks and everything may just be right with this world again." The warrior laughs softly. "Or atleast right with me." She -does- look like she's been beat up pretty good, but she is still in one piece.

The battered blonde now surveys what is left of the battlefield. And in the end, the fates were kind and no one seems permanently injured. Another bloody battle won.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade eyerolls, sighing as once again the Mystery Woman escapes and a guy chases after her, probably also trying futilely to get her to hold still long enough to explain what the hell is going on. He folds his arms, tapping his arm with a finger as he looks idly after the vanished pair. "Anyone else feel like a giant question mark just ran off again?" He looks over to Ivo, and shrugs. "She's certainly a lively one, that's for sure." He grins, and holds out a hand. "Mercade Alexander. Detective with the Twilight Detective Agency." Mercade looks over to Zeke and nods in greeting as well. "Anyone have an idea on why all that just happened? Who was that woman?"

Ivo Galvan has posed:
Gulp.

Ivo just stares after the departing Hound, momentarily transfixed, jaw slightly slack. In the world from whence he came, he lived -- even helped to govern in a small way -- a bustling metropolis, filled with characters of all manner of persuasions--

"...Well, then."

--but he's never met anyone as cool as /that/ guy.

He's so distracted by this that Zeke's coinpurse almost hits him in the face; he just barely catches it in time. "Hey, this is... you're a generous man, Ezekiel," he says, shaking the gift with the sound of clicking metal, reviving somewhat as he smiles agreeably at the merchant captain. "Much appreciated. I'm taking care of those two kids we met. This is going toward them, I promise." Well, their expedition, at least. Meanwhile, yup, Raiya's fit as a fiddle-- with a drink in her, particularly. Ivo can't help but clasp his chin speculatively. If one drink heals all her wounds, what happens when she drinks more?

He'll find out eventually. For now, Ivo turns that self-possessed smile onto Mr. Alexander, shaking the detective's hand. "Ivo Galvan, swordsman of the Shard Seekers," is his spontaneously decided-upon introduction, which he finds himself taking an odd satisfaction in. Much better than-- well, never mind. "I don't know her name or that of her bodyguard, I'm afraid, but she seemed to have real character."

An investigator, huh?

"...I'll say this much," the knight-errant says thoughtfully, crossing his arms. "There was something about her eyes-- that was unusually bright. Though I can't put my finger on it, I feel like I've never met anyone quite like her before." He tilts his head slightly. "Whatever it was, if the darkness reached for her so desperately... I'm willing to trust my instincts on that."

Zeke has posed:
"Indeed," Zeke chimed in without prompting. His way of coping with post fight jitters was to talk after all. "The shadow wants her so despirately that it would put an all out assault in the heart of basically a crossroads where every ablebodied person aware of their preasence has washed up. If they're that despirate to steal the lass away then as a matter of simple reaction it is something we cannot allow. However," He pulled a copper whiskey flask from his now slightly mangled coat and took a belt from it, "I have to wonder what they want the wee girl for."

Raiya Fujihara has posed:
The battle was won, the 'innocent' were saved, and the Heartless had been brutally murdered by all sorts of gunfire, swordplay, and magical explosions. There really was no reason for a bruised and battered Raiya to stick around. If the Heartless can attack so unexpectantly, then Raiya is going to need to take advantage of any downtime she can to heal up and sharpen her sword for next time.....Oh and have a few drinks too.

The samurai bends over to retrieve her equally messed up hat and places it back on her head before offering a friendly wave to those around. "Stay safe and may the Heartless ever cower in your wake." And with one last painful grimace, Raiya Fujihara sets off to find her own happy ending to her night which will most likely be hiding somewhere at the bottom of the sake bottle in her hands.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Seems so. She did a lot to keep anyone from getting a good look at her face." Mercade doesn't have much to go on even with that. He nods to Zeke, his eyes squinting for a moment... And he nods. "You're right. The attack here made no sense. There was way too much firepower here to make it easy but they did it anyway. Unless they're bad at tactics, you'd be dead on. They want her and they want her bad enough to throw themselves into a meatgrinder for it." Raiya gets a wave from Mercade. "See you later. Stay healthy, all right?"

Jasmine has posed:
Jasmine pats. "I doubt anyone would have noticed but you. Still, as long as you're enjoying your pursuit of perfection, no harm done, yeah?"