Blackest Friday

Blackest Friday
Date of Scene:	07 December 2013
Location:	Southern Manhattan
Synopsis:	Echo decides the greed and barbarism of a black Friday sale must be punished. Enchanted outfits and a Soda Machine Golem ensue!
Cast of Characters:	Skoll Ulfang, Avira, Maira, Lumeria, Minerva, Aerith, Rosemarie, Queegmaa, Rakassa, Echo

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Echo has posed:
Black Friday.

This is a notorious event when hordes of shoppers show up at major outlets to get the best deals. Unfortunately this also means that a single store can expect a mob of people at the door, pushing, kicking, shoving... people getting trampled even, statistically. At one of the biggest department stores in Manhattan, this sort of event is unfortunately taking place. Staff at the door are shouting for people to stay in a single file as someone nearly gets caught in a revolving door and the flow of people is directed to a nearby set of swing doors.

As the people mill in, Echo looked down at the spectacle with a look of disgust. The flagrant disregard for eachother's personal safety, the rampant greed and consumerism, it's enough to make someone gag! White wings take to the air and soon the bat mage is above the store itself, letting herself in through a window near the roof and suddenly several flashes can seen from the outside through the windows... however it's not as if the shoppers or staff of the store notice, but sometime after there is the sound of screams from within and it's not just due to the shouting mass of people, somehow.

Maira has posed:
Maira is shopping, unfortunately. No one informed her that this was the WORST DAY EVER to go shopping on. Black Friday? Seriously? What kind of craziness is that!?

She is however, attempting to shop ingognito. She dressed in a black dress and big dark sunglasses while purusing the lingerie department, several items of skimpy laceyness on hangers in her hands. She brings them to the counter and is ready to make a purchase it would seem, when suddenly she hears screaming! She blinks in alarm, but figures maybe this is part of Black Friday?

At least until the store clerk starts running away.

"H-hey! I haven't finished paying!" she shouts. Grumbling, she put her money in the open register, closes it, and procedes to bag her own garments stubbornly.

Aerith has posed:
On the other hand, some people just wanted to have a nice time.

Without getting run over.

Aerith watched from afar, making her best attempt not to get into the crowds at all. Best to wait until all this died down so she could actually get some updates done to her wardrobe. All these battles she'd fought recently were starting to do a number on her clothing.

She managed to take a look upward for a brief moment, only to find, of all things, a bat. One that was far smarter than it looked as it entered one of the windows just above, neatly bypassing the crowds. The flashes are something new as well, and they make her eyes narrow. "That... does not look good."

She had to find out what was going on without getting herself killed. Time to look for a back entrance.

Rakassa_Rudori has posed:
Rakassa's entry is appropriate to her stature as a noblewoman and Admiral of Vector! In she goes, atop a most noble creature she's acquired.../certainly/ that couldn't be Queegma that she's riding on like some beast of burden. She even has a riding crop, complete with a proper equestrian's outfit; hat included. Ka-crack!

"Onward, beast! Give these pathetic, vile little peasant no heed! Mush! I must have my new wardrobe!"

Queegmaa has posed:
Crawling on his hands and knees was Queegmaa, today, acting as Rakassa's steed. She was a Shadow Lord, although she went by a different alias with a different appearance when presenting herself as one of the members of the illustrious Hollow Bastion, that didn't mean she didn't know how to put the fear of Poltergeist into others when she wanted to. For as much hate as Que was filled with, the same side of that coin was the emotion of fear, for anger was the psychological avenue one took when they believed they had a /chance/ of performing an effectual oppositional action against the threat at hand, whereas fear took root when one believed their only hope of salvation, or avoidance of pain was submission, if not all-out retreat.

The fact was, Que knew very well what hidden powers lurked in the inner sanctum of Rakassa's being, if she chose to turn dormancy into malignancy, which meant that he also was aware of how outmatched he was by this woman who kept him so thoroughly oppressed. There were certain times when the foul mistress had pressed him to his boiling point, at which juncture he'd pushed back, but this was clearly not one of those occasions.

So with very little dignity, getting himself all dirtied up by having carried her through the streets of Manhatten, Queegmaa dragged himself along with his rider, without much sign of protest, except for the fact that he was being compared to a husky, "Please.... Miss Rudori, if yer gon' make me carry ya 'verywhere.... cudja find't in yer heart not tuh compare me to a..... mammalian fleabag?" Apparently, he was quite proud of his amphibious nature, even if he probably had very little pride at all, by now.... especially considering he had that accursed leash around his neck; that definitely made him feel a lot more foolish. Then again, she didn't really need it,... it was just for show-- she could activate his CNS to generate pain, via the devices she'd installed inside of him long ago! From her lofty position, Rakassa can see above the droves of other shoppers, which would allow her a tactical advantage in locating the articles she wanted to purchase.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
I am a noble wolf.

I am a warrior.

I am...

Standing in line for rediculously discounted prices! Even a proud werewolf such as himself has to be frugal with money sometimes. Dressed in tight black jeans, a black shirt, and a black thick bomberjacket with fur at the tip, the werewolf is quite packed in during these cold days. He may be a human werewolf, and have enough hair coming down from his scalp to cover quite a bit of his back, but he still doesn't enjoy the /cold/.

"Man, I hope they open the doors soon." He huffs, breathing out white clouds into the air. A few people push against him as they try to get closer to the door. "Hey, careful." He mutters, the chains tied at his pants jingling violently as he gets jostled around a little.

When the doors open, the werewolf is quickly pushed up against, and left in the dust as people hurry in.

He's never been at a Black Friday sale, and is surprised just how many people can fit into such a tight opening in such short time. But what's more, he's halted by the appearance of someone /on a horse/ trying to get into the department store. He wonders if they won't just hit the opening with their face, trying to get in.

By the time the werewolf tries to head inside, there's the suddenly flashes inside, followed by screams! His wolven ears perk up, and Skoll turns his gaze up towards the top of the building.

Someone needs help! Such is his first thought, and acting upon this, the werewolf finally tries to dive inside with the same haste seen within the other shoppers.

Lumeria has posed:
Lumeria's heard about the sales going on everywhere. She's not above saving money on things. Of course getting through the gathered mob might prove to be a bit difficult. She's not exactly that physically strong for starters so it doesn't take much effort to knock the girl over. "Ugh, do these people always treat nobility this way?" Of course her title doesn't really mean much here. Her ears raise upwards at the screaming, just what she needs on top of everything else.

Avira has posed:
Across the street, there is a mob of another kind forming.

Avira is extremely familiar with the phenomenon known as Black Friday. America was where she was really born-Black Friday's birthplace. In truth, she'd actually avoided shopping on this day because of the sheer hassle and danger involved in the pursuit. Prior to the day the world was shattered, Avira was a quiet and more introverted individual so the thought of plunging into a crowd of ravenous shoppers terrified her to the very core.

Much had changed since then. Included in that change was a certain public appearance she had made the day prior. Specifically, she was asked to ride on a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade due to her (still valid? No longer applicable? hard to tell) status as Manhattan's Princess of Heart. It was fun. It was uplifting, gradually overturning the doubt that Maleficent had saddled with her a few months ago.

Unfortunately, now people knew her face and her face was not an easy one to forget.

Now she was being mobbed by people that wanted questions answered or pictures taken. This was nearly as terrifying as fighting Garland in hand to hand combat. Nearly. Part of her almost wishes she were doing that right now.

Minerva has posed:
Minerva was here shopping, she did not know what kind of nightmare it would be. She'd at least with help from Maira and likely Avira had something that didn't make her get mistaken for something off a TV show or lost from an amine con. She's pants, shoes, a sleeveless blue top and a white winter jacket on, also she's got a scarf about her neck.

She's just been trying to keep going an she's starting to wonder about the savagery spawn by the greed of the locals here.

she gives a look to Maira and then to Avira.

"I have never seen such naked greed before."

She seems out right horrified at the entire situation, she's bravely moving on into the hell that is this so called sale.

Echo has posed:
People begin to flood downstairs from the escalators, several tripping and actually getting scarves and the like caught in them! Upstairs there is the sound of clanking, stuff being thrown around... and power tools? And beyond it all, above the din of people shouting there is a high feminine cackling, almost like a witch... or a black mage.

People continue to pile over eachother from downstairs on the escalator to the second floor, if they're not helped people will just sort of bottleneck there and people will start to tumble over eachother! And is that a... suit and dress, complete with shoes and floating accessories coming walking by from the clothes department? they appear to be chasing customers as if they were actually filled with a body--ghosts or some kind of enchantment??

Someone does indeed hit a fire alarm at some point, admist what sounds like a roar coming from the upper floor, apparently where people were running away from, and the clanking of heavy, huge feet.

Aerith has posed:
Amidst all this, Aerith managed to get in via the service entrance. Fortunately for her, it was unguarded, seeing as everyone was busy up front. The bad news? Once she got inside, the first thing she heard was absolute chaos, followed by a mad cackle.

The clothes were alive. They were *moving*. They were just plain attacking people!

"Yeah, time to do something."

Aerith aimed for the suit, her materia flaring beneath the sleeves of her jacket, and let loose a sphere of flames. She'd pay for damages later, this had to be dealt with.

Rakassa has posed:
"Oh, quite your complaining! Look! My clothes are getting away!" Point! Rakassa glares as this lovely dress decides to chase some poor holiday shopper!

"Yeeee-haaaw! Giddyup! Hi-hooooo Shopping!" Crack goes the riding crop! Out comes her bow and arrow, the Phoenix medallion thumping against her chest.

"Leap on top of the stupid peasants if you have to!" Someone's planning on doing the Crowd-Wave. Twang! Off goes a freezing arrow to that lovely dress.

Queegmaa has posed:
Besides the clanking that was heard from within the store, as a cybernetic being with three distinctly metal appendages, Queegmaa was making a bit of noise too, when his hands and knee collided with the hard floor. It wasn't extremely loud, because the fellow's total bodyweight was likely only about three hundred pounds or so, but if the internal echoes of clattering steel(or something similar) could be heard from afar, the chances were.... it was something /much/ bigger than Queegmaa, which was quite disturbing to him.

The kappa didn't like the idea that something heavy was indoors, and since Rakassa was ruthless, the chances were, she wasn't about to allow some weird ED-209 wannabe to deter her from buying(or stealing in the confusion) the wares she wanted from Macy's-- that meant Queegmaa would have to actually do some /fighting/ of some kind. The sentiment turned his stomach. Que starts to charge after the dress his matron desired, as she fired arrows atop her 'siege tower', and in the meantime, he started to activate some of the programs in his system to boost his master's disposition!

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Running in, Skoll is having some trouble getting through with so many people suddenly wanting /out/. Skoll is quick to get out of the way where possible, but it's hard to push through this wall of people. "People! Order! Don't trample anyone!" Skoll shouts over the screaming of people. There is little the werewolf can do to stop the people from hurting one-another and make it out safely. All he can do is get out of the way so he doesn't make things worse.

He ends up jumping onto one of the nearby perfume counters, followed by breaking a few of them. His tail's fur soon stands on end, as the disgusting stench pervails itself to his nose. Even his hair rises, and tears appear in his eyes. "Ugh..." He grumbles and puts an arm in front of his mouth. He looks over the crowd, and that's when he truly spots the walking clothing. The horse riding towards them certainly helps.

"People, leave in an orderly fashion!" Skoll shouts once again, making little handmotions! "One at a time! Don't push eachother! We will keep you safe!" He calls out.

What is that rediculous person doing with the horse!? They're just making things worse!

Avira has posed:
From her spot across the street, Avira can hear shouting and screaming...which was actually kind of normal for Black Friday shopping. She doesn't think anything of it until she sees people leaving the store in an exodus. The shrill screech of a fire alarm can be heard even from this distance once the doors are throw wide open.

Avira frowns suddenly, kind of ruining a picture a curious man is trying to get of her. "Excuse me." she says abruptly, pushing through the crowd, "Pardon me! Coming through!"

Getting in with these many people will no doubt be problematic. It'll take some time.

Lumeria has posed:
Lumeria manages to finally get in the store, only to have the mob now coming at her the other way. It takes her a moment to figure out why everyone's leaving. The clothes seemed to be moving on their own, that usually wasn't it normal. She also hears someone laughing as well, odds are that's who behind this.

Of course she doesn't want to damage the clothes too much either, there might be something she might wants to try on later. She settles for weak magic for now.

Maira has posed:
Insert Maira being trampled, caught in a swam of people trying to get to the door, flailing wildly. "Hey! Stop that! I'm--urgh!" she shouts, before disappearing into the sea of people, lost in the undulating waves FOREVER!

Okay, maybe for five minutes, but it seems like forever okay?

After taking a heel to her back, Maira has had enough and channels air magic, using it to push the group of people away from her and out the doors as gently as possible. No lethal force or anything, but apparently its for their own good!

Once the madness has cleared slightly, Maira spots the walking outfit, blinks, then looks to someone passing by. A face, a voice, she would never forget. "YOU!" she yells, then runs at Rakassa, aiming another focused burst of air in her direction!

Minerva has posed:
Minerva is now just left at a loss for words as thing have just gone even more crazy. Yet it's a form of crazy she can understand at the very lest. that is something for her she's already making preparations as she for an impending fight. Things are closer to home than she would expect. She was expecting to have to go to the upper levels? That is not to be as someone takes a shot at Maira and that's when everything goes to hell in a hand basket. She knows who this is and she calls out.

"KNAVE! YOU WILL FALL BY MY HAND!"

That's when the monk antics begin as she's already using her skills to get about people or even using them lightly a stepping stones oddly they would not feel much weight at all as she moves to close at Rakassa, she's one very unhappy silver haired lady!

Echo has posed:
The clothes get shredded by the various attacks and burned by Aerith's fire, a gruesome sight of several (assumedly) human looking figures running away on fire, but they aren't people but the strange enchanted clothing sets, before they finally are consumed and collapse. Several just plain stop moving due to the Lumeria's holy spells rained on them.

This however does not stop very many from turning their attentions to the heroes and moving to try and envelope them! What kind of strange powers would enchanted clothes actually have?? But they're sure hostile now.

Above the escalators there is a screeching of metal as something pulls itself into view from above. It appears like there is a couple of soft drink machines that have been pushed up against the upper landing, a soda, energy drink and even a V8 machine--until the square metal containers begin to rise and assume a vaguely humanoid shape. It's head gives off a roar of metal screetching and grinding within and the various machinery inside each machine seems to have been linked up somehow.

Enter the Soda Machine Golem!

Rakassa has posed:
With her kappa steed being 'faithful', and even increasing her own abilities, she can concentrate on shooting. And more to the point, concentrate on avoiding a gust of wind! Digging a spurred heel into Que's back, she leaps upwards, carried higher by the air blast rather than being blasted off! "Well, well, well, why if it isn't my /FAVORITE/ little girl! So goood to see you again, sweethart~ Just couldn't stay away could you? But sorry, I'm after /other/ presents today." An arrow, glowing sickly green, is nocked and let loose towards Maira; horrible poisons dripping from its head. She lands neatly back upon Que's back.

But there's falling dresses! Rakassa snatches some up as they fall, throwing them over Que. Glaring at the Soda-Golem, she shakes her head. "Curse you! YOU'RE RUINING MY STEALING SP...I MEAN LEGITIMATE MERCANTILE ACQUISITION SPREE" Cue more arrows towards the golem!

Rakassa has posed:
And then, Clothes. Whap! Rakassa is pelted by clothes, hanging on to Que for dear life!

Queegmaa has posed:
'Oh, well, this is a fantastic turn of events', thinks the kappa, who manages to somehow avoid employing an accent whilst ruminating inwardly. Now Queegmaa has a choice: possibly to be hurt by Maira and/or Minerva if he takes Rakassa's part, or get hurt by Rakassa if he doesn't obey. The fact was, though, that Rakassa could injure him a lot more than the other two, and, then there was that ability to cause his machinery to detonate if absolutely need be, thus, when accounting for the fact that at least half of him was mechanical, and that a lack of vital systems would be the result if he lost the support of his prosthesis, the proper course of action was clear.... Do as Rakassa wills him!

Maybe he'll be fortunate and be sent to collect clothing, in spite of the fact that his master was now being bombarded by the malicious actions of another customer, instead of being utilized as a weapon of war.... which, ironically, was the exact thing Rakassa built him to be, -arguably- to his dismay. Can't he just scheme and pull people's strings from behind some curtain somewhere, like he's been doing up until now? Is that too much for which one might entreat? When Rakassa digs a spur into his side, he grimaces. Decidedly following Rakassa's lead, he attempts to call down a cascade of burning, acidic rain to corrode, and short-circuit the golem.... water and machinery usually doesn't mix!

He does sigh, relieved, that his superior isn't going to make him battle Maira unless pressed!

Aerith has posed:
Well, that was something...

And the sound of something else rising from the depths shows up. Well great, that's just what this place needed! A Transformer made of soda machines!

The living clothing of course is not all that good, but what can you do about it? Aerith is ambushed by incoming, fully-dressed not-people, and she almost gets buried underneath them.

That is, until she suddenly makes an attempt to break out with bolts of electricity in every direction. "This is why I hate shopping today!"

Queegmaa has posed:

And speaking of pressing matters.... he gets attacked by living clothes, which he tries to shred with his claws to the best of his ability, provided they aren't the ones Rakassa wants.....

Maira has posed:
When Maira had woken up this morning, she hadn't said to herself "Gee, I think today is the day I'll burn down a Macy's" but that is very seriously in the cards right now. Maira glares at Rakassa as she's carried further into the air, riding...Queegmaa!?!?! Maira gapes. Had she captured him!? SHE MUST SAVE HIM!

"I AM NOT A LITTLE GIRL!" she cries. Then, she throws off her sunglasses dramatically. This must mean she means business!

...Then she's shot in the arm with a poisoned arrow. "Oh come /on/," she grumbles, wincing from the pain and the sick feeling that washes over her. Gritting her teeth, Maira reaches up to try to snap the arrow off like a badass.

Tug, tug, howl with pain...

Nope. Plan B. Maira lights up the arm that was shot, burning the arrow to cinders in a flash of bright light. Oh, the sprinkler system. Its probably going to go off now for sure. "YOU have something that belongs to me, Rakassa! Get back here and FIGHT ME--" pause, look to Minerva, "FIGHT US!"

Lumeria has posed:
Lumeria finds herself getting entangled by clothes as she tries to make her way through. She struggles to pull herself free, it's just fabric how can it hurt so much? She then notices the vending machines start to fuse together. Getting punched by that on the other hand might be a bit painful. She conjures some more magic to protect herself from danger and heal the lashing she got from the fabric.

Avira has posed:
Still outside, Avira is faced with a different problem. Getting in! With all these people, she simply couldn't shove them back with magic or brute force. Pushing through them wasn't exactly working either. In this situation, Avira apparently thinks the best course of action is go go up!

Up she goes, kicking off a chained-down newspaper dispenser on the sidewalk to get some air. From there, she lands standing upon the shoulders of a heavy-set man. By the time he looks up, she's already gone, hopping along a sea of stable perches streaming out of the store.

Neatly, she ducks down underneath the doorframe and emerges on the other side, hopping until she finds herself some sanctuary upon a raised plaform displaying store mannequins.

"Finally!" she exclaims, smoothly withdrawing her weapon and with a well-practiced motion, swinging it to unleash a blast of air. This strike neatly shreds a circling, predatory-looking bathrobe with a gust of shimmery light.

"ALRIGHT!" Avira booms, "WHO THE HECK IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING THIS MESS ON /MY/ TURF! SHOW YOURSELF!"

Rosemarie has posed:
Rosemarie couldn't be asked to fight through the smothering, sometimes violence crowds of Black Friday. At the same time, she couldn't just foresake such sales altogether! As a businesswoman herself she has an eye for a good deal, and some of the fliers that made their way to Traverse Town were simply too appealing to ignore.

And so, Rosemarie has made her way to Manhattan to take advantage of the sales--albeit in a disguise, for better or worse. Some recent trouble with the Church of Glabados has lead her to keep her head low. Thankfully, it's relatively easy to do so when you've got a few magical tricks up your sleeves.

So today, Rosemarie is certainly not here. The raven-haired, wide hipped woman in a purple skirt-suit with vaguely elvish features is almost certainly not her. Even so, when she spots a familiar face--Queegmaa--she crinkles her nose and tries to put more of a crowd between the two of them.

Except the crowd is rapidly moving /away/ from the store, which is certainly not how sales work. "Oh, bother," Rosemarie says with a sigh, resting her chin on her palm. And then she notices the Soda Golem and stares at it for a moment. "Well now /that/ one is interesting." She spots Skoll, trying to usher people away from the chaos. Hm, he seems like one to stay close to while she investigates further.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
"Avira!" Skoll shouts out when Avira suddenly appears at the entrance of the Macy's. He quickly points at Maira. "Maira needs help. I think that crazy lady poisoned her!" He warns the badass adventurer extrordinaire. The werewolf himself punctuates this by jumping off of the perfume stand's counter and darting straight for the moving Soda Machine. However, in the middle of it all he fails to catch some of the clothing coming his way. He tries to jump to the left to avoid one set, and then ends up leaping straight into a set of boxers with doggy-bone motif, and a large pink feathery boa!

The werewolf stands there for a moment, stunned by the thing. "A hero's scarf must be red!" Skoll is slightly colorblind. "This is a hero's scarf!" He points forwards bravely. He hasn't noticed the boxers. He /does/ notice the machine of soda drinks.

"Nobody likes V8!" Skoll roars, jumping into the air and then bringing his both hands outwards. Chains fly out from within his sleeves like magical snakes. It's a good thing this department store has a high ceiling. Without a moment of hesitation, he lets the chains magically wrap around his hands and tries to come down on the machine with his right fist - engulfed with flaming chains, and slam into it. He then leaps straight for the energy drink machine as well. "5 Hour Energy!? HAVE A CRASH!" And with his other fist, he tries to deliver an ice-charged fisting!

Minerva has posed:
Minerva is assailed by living clothing? Wait what? What foul witch craft is this? She has no idea she punches her way through but not without harm to herself and she's following Maira in after them.

"Surrender or die in obscurity!"

Minerva closes even as Maira's spell effects her, to say she's fired up would be an understatement. She does not care about shopping.

Minerva closes in and her fists while unarmoured are clearly covered in ice up to the elbows. Which oddly does not impeded her own movement as she moves to strike at Rakassa followed by several jolting punches. Well if she can connect with them that is. She may very well get arrowed for her trouble.

Echo has posed:
While the living clothes swarm over Maira and Aerith, they are left a little... different afterwards. Maira is suddenly standing there with a short flannel blouse, tied up around the midriff and daisy dukes after the attack of the random, assorted outfits--apparently having gotten themselves attached to her in the process. Rakassa is left in a cocktail dress and high heels after her apparent brush with the living outfits.Queeg mysteriously, is left with just a knitted beanie after the onslaught.

Above as the people continue to flock away to safety, the soda machine golem ROARS as he discharges electrical energy from the machine's--no, his bodies combined mass, shooting out bolts of electricity, the head rearing up as he begins to fire bullets out of his maw--but those aren't just any sort of projectile, he's FIRING CANS OF SODA AND ENERGY DRINKS AT THE HEROES! They impact with display cases and pillars and shatter glass and explode, sending dangerous debris all around! Oh the humanity!

Aerith has posed:
Aerith gets pelted by one soda can after another, and as well as she ducks and weaves between them, she can't quite avoid them all. With a grunt, she pulls her energy toward another materia, one that's a bit less aggressive. Perhaps it was time to do something different with this one.

Spheres of pale blue appeared around her and Maira, and Skoll for good measure.

Queegmaa has posed:
In a sense, Rakassa had indeed captured Que.... but it had transpired years before, and... since then, he had belonged to her. His ambition to turn the tables was in the works, but he didn't foresee it reaching fruition for a long time in coming, so in the meanwhile, her bidding was his existence. Though, given how much she'd done, he'd gotten to the point where he practically welcomed the mental anguish that barraged him, since he believed quite fully that the world was a cruel place, and he was part of the problem.

No better an opportunity existed to take revenge upon the world, and himself, than to be in the service of a soundrel like Rakassa, who gave him every opportunity to mutilate anything over which he could exert his influence; the realization dawned on Queegmaa far prior that no matter what he did, he was at the mercy of his creator, and the best way to vent was to give back what he received from the world that had spawned him, that forced him into it! The fact that Rakassa owned Que was obsolete, at the present point in time.... but he did tell Maira that once one went to Vector.... 'they never returned the same'. The electrical blast from the soda machine(one tendril happens to catch him), though, is more worriesome than the fact that he had to choose between his conscience and his loyalty to Rakassa, because not only does it electrocute him to the extent that it incinerates the beanie that was just placed on his head, but Que's internal wiring goes.... haywire, from the additional electrical signals it gets, causing him to electrify. This is where he ends up looking like Blanka from Street Fighter, except that he's not doing this intentionally!

Spasming as his machinery starts to smoke, his body jerks involuntarily, as he's unable to retain control temporarily-- presumably, backup systems will kick in soon, but for now, he wasn't in a good state.... and what's worse, because Rakssa is atop of Queegmaa..... well.... who here knows math besides Rosemarie, who is an expert on economics? Here's an equation for you all: What is 2 + 2?

Rakassa has posed:
Grin! Rakassa laughs as Maira is plugged with an arrow. "I don't think sooo..ahhh!" Suddenly the woman is given a makeover. Looking down at herself, she nods a little bit. A hand smacks her kappa steed right on the head-cap. "See? Wasn't this a great idea, my little pet?" Because that's totally what he is. It's then that she smells smoke, and as Que begins to jerk, Rakassa does her best to get out of dodge...and succeeds! "Oh, loyal servant, protecting me~"

In comes Minerva's fist! Rakassa nimbly leaps off of Que, and onto the back of some poor shopper. She digs her heels into his back. "Sorrrry~ Blame yourself or God~"

As she turns around, there's soda fired at her. A hand catches one! She pops the tab, and chugs it down, throwing the can at Maira!

A flurry of more cans comes at her! Rakassa yells out a glorious battle cry!

"RED BULL GIVES YOU WIIIIINGS!"

As if suddenly an energy-drink fueled angel, Rakassa leaps, dodges, and aerially moves about atop the heads an shoulders of dirty shopper peasants to avoid delicious soft drink pain. Then, she charges forth, bringing blades to bear against the evil machine! They glow with dark magic as she cuts and stabs!

Lumeria has posed:
Lumeria gets hit with the jagged sharpnel from several cans of soda. Not to mention it was broccoli-flavored. Who the hell makes broccoli-flavored soda? It even smells awful. She shudders a bit as her full anger is unleashed on the soda machine golem. Several orbs of holy energy are flung at the foul creature as she tries to prevent it from unleashing it's terrible flavors upon anyone else.

Maira has posed:
Suddenly, Maira gets swarmed but a tangle of clothes (raggamuffin!?). It is completely cartoonish and insane, just a mass of quickly moving clothes, flailing arms and dust cloud-and when it passes, Maira's outfit has been changed to shorts that can barely even be called shorts, and a top that doesn't even cover her midriff! Maira looks down at herself, blinking. Well, she's been in battle wearing less (see; nothing) but flannel!? "HEY! I wanted to be Ginger!" she says, shaking her fist after the cloud.

Maira then turns back to Rakassa and Queegmaa, narrowing her eyes. "Don't worry Queegmaa! I'll rescue you! I won't let you suffer what she did to me!" she begins, igniting in flame. Goodbye short shorts. Goodbye flannel.

Then, in the midst of her righteous rage, Maira takes a can of coke right to the back of the head, hard, and slumps over, losing consciousness.

Avira has posed:
Ignoring the gawking bystanders, Avira takes another leap, this time landing on the circular platform in the center of a clothing rack. The shouting and roaring from upstaids points her the right way to go-and go she does, hopping away onto the ascending armrest of the escalator. "'scuse me! Coming through!!!" she calls out, even as people try to flee down the up escalator. She pays them little attention, except to make sure that she doesn't whack any in the head with her drawn weapon.

She emerges from the escalator with a blind leap at the soda machine golem only to find herself struck out of the air by a mysteriously powerful blast of filled soda cans. Irritated, she picks herself up out of a fizzy and foaming mess. "Sorry I'm late, guys, getting in this place was a nightmare." Drawing on her power here came easily since being here meant she was in close contact with the light in her heart that she'd parted with months ago. Her magic, though not commonly practiced in the mist-drawing form by natives here, works especially well as she summons a massive blast of icy wind, directed through her sword. Once it leaps forth, it weaves itself into the shape of a large, bounding wolf before crashing down upon the soda machine golem.

"So who the hell is responsible?!" her eyes dart to Rakassa, "Is it YOU?"

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll makes for one of those beautiful backflips, arching his back and everything as the Soda Golem begins spewing out soda can after soda can. He ends up landing in a heroic pose, one fist forwards, the other back. "Maira! You okay over there?" He calls out back, and quickly glances towards Rakassa and Maira. It would appear that Rakassa has at least turned her own attention on the 'golem'.

This is followed by the view of Maira suddenly getting taken by a can of coke in the face. That'll probably leave one heck of a red mark in the morning! The redhead is a friend of the werewolf. This grinds his gears! "Why you..." The werewolf's tail truly /puffs up/, and his ears rise sharply. Skoll even goes so far as to show his fangs.

Skoll throws his hands out and grips at the chains, bringing and winding them together into the shape of a /way/ massive chain-made chain-sword. "Ready..." The werewolf calls out, followed by a violent spark of lightling ascending over its body, forming each link in the chain in its infinity pattern and lighting up the place. For a moment, it looks like the lightning might go out of control - let's be honest, Skoll has only just been practicing on this technique!

"CHAIN!..." The werewolf puts one foot back and brings the massive sword back with him. The chains tremble and begin to shiver. "....RISER!..." The chain suddenly truly comes to life and begins to... run along its own shape like a chainsaw! Only the 'chainsaw' doesn't revolve 'around' anything. The chainsword IS the sword! Flashing with lightning.

"Hiiiraaaaaaaaaaah!" The werewolf darts forwards, closing in straight behind Avira's ice wolf - and the moment the ice-wolf crashes down, the werewolf jumps over and lets the massive sword come down upon the soda-golem's position. "...REACTION!" And lightning expells itself along the full body of the weapon.

Rosemarie has posed:
Rosemarie continues to observe as things get increasingly chaotic. Between the two women hacking away at Queegmaa and his...rider, and the Soda Golem hurling V8, Red Bull, and other beverages at bystanders, Rosemarie decides it time that she take her leave. Right about the time that she does, a can of Canada Dry flies over her head, forcing Rose to duck to avoid it.

Yes, that seems like a good sign to leave. How do people handle this kind of chaos just for a discount price?!

Echo has posed:
Pieces fly off the Soda Machine Golem, but it escapes relatively unscathed somehow--the inner workings apparently undamaged though given the onslaught by Avira, Skoll, Rakassa and co. It shakes the building with a heavy roar and belches black smoke--suddenly a huge fireball erupts from it's 'head' and ping pong's around the room, disappating as it travels from person to person. All the while electrical energy is arcing out from it's body as it begins to tromp down the stairs--thankfully the people stuck on the escalator have since been helped out and escaped.

Woe unto you, little flesh beings!

Queegmaa has posed:
When Maira calls out, proclaiming that she'll rescue Queegmaa, as sparks fly from him while he fights for reserve systems to take control briefly so that the normal ones can recalibrate themselves, his rickety steampunk body sputters, and finally, as a massive plume of sooty mist spews from an exhaust pipe, getting him back to being properly online, he grits his teeth, which are still lightly chattering from the shock. Rising to his feet, he growls at Maira, "Dun do me no favors!" he manages to bark, with only one or two malapropisms; before he points at Rakassa, "Ya kent save me.... I's her's fer life! She got me rigged so dat she owns me.... all ya kin do's ta d'stroy me, so dat's whatcha oughta duh!"

He shakily turns on his heels, and begins to flee from the premesis, leaving behind his allies and enemies alike, once more showing how fainthearted he was, running whenever there was danger. Elbowing his way through the crowd, his mighty gears and mechanical-woodwork allows him to toss people in front of him aside like rag-dolls as he makes his cowardly escape. He doesn't have the courage to fight, and he doesn't have the courage to even allow someone to try to help him; all he wants to do is to resign himself to his accursed fate, and hope that nobody ever try to waste their time on bringing him redemption. The troll sees himself as having no hope, so he wasn't about to let someone show him true compassion, only so that he could have it ripped from him after becoming attached to it!

Rakassa has posed:
Avira yells at Rakassa, and the woman 'hmph's! "/That/!? Hardly! Look how crude and inelegant it is! I wouldn't create that piece of junk!"

Rakassa laughs as she watches Que's charade. "Oh, my. Seems I forgot to instill bravery in hi. Oh well. A little playing about in the brain and that can be fixed~"

Then there's fire, and electricity. Rakassa is knocked neatly on her butt. Swords going flying, all she can do is take our her bow. "...Ow. Away, you wretch!" Twang twang goes the flurry of arrows.

Aerith has posed:
Okay, it was time for a change of plans.

That was Aerith's first thought after she shakily stood up from the mixture of fire and thunder she'd just gotten smacked around with. Aerith ended up falling to one knee again, breathing heavily. "I... hate... shopping today." She shunted some of her energies toward her healing materia, and began an attempt to recover at least some of what had been wrought...

Avira has posed:
Apparently Avira is the first to get hit with the fireball which is why she seems to take the worst of it. Resentfully, as she picks herself up off the ground, she acknowledges that the creature probably aimed for her first. Digging through one of her leather utility pouches, she pulls a potion free and quickly drinks it.

"Maira! Skoll! Minerva! Go after it, I'll catch up!" Avira says, volunteering to stay behind to...what exactly? Besides heal herself, at least, she wanted to keep an eye on someone.

She wanted to keep an eye on Rakassa and Queegmaa, which Maira sought to rescue-only for Queegma to unhappily explain that Rakassa 'owned' him. A look of disgust overcomes her face as she turns to look at the Vectorian commander.

"You are easily the most depraved person I have met." she says, her voice cold as steel.

Lumeria has posed:
Lumeria tries to block the fireball, but it still manages to make it thrugh her defenses. The soda machine certainly was putting up a fight. Still, she's not going to let it get in the way of bargains if she can help it. She wouldn't normally do this, but it was in her best interests to be targets other than her present. Large green sparkles surround the area around Lumeria as she tries to keep everyone standing.

Maira has posed:
Groaning, Maira regains consciousness only to wish she hadn't. The headache she has is extremely intense. "Unng..." she moans, eyes trying to focus. She can't even really consider that she's being attacked by clothes and a soda machine. Rakassa is /right there/. The woman who'd kidnapped her, tortured her, drained her of her magic to create a magictech knight and stolen the necklace given to her by an Esper himself. Right there, and she couldn't seem to touch her.

Blinking through her tears she gets to her feet, the flames that surround her once more flaring to brilliance. She hears Queegmaa's words, her lips thinning in a line of determination. "I won't let her own you. She can't own you if she's dust," she replies, her voice humming with the magic she holds.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the day Maira blew up Macy's.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
"This is a dire foe!" Skoll declares as the chainsword comes down onto the golem and... loses its shape! The chains are sent scrawling every which way, and it takes the werewolf some times to reel the back in. In the meanwhile, he lands right in front of Maira, keeping the girl guarded as he whips his hands around to try and draw the chains back.

"Maira, hang in there." Skoll calls back at the fiery redhead, casting her a tough knightly glance. This is immediately followed up by him throwing his chains forwards like a net, and letting them catch the fireball that is sent their way. He bounces the thing off and away from himself, and turns slowly as it continues to bounce around.

Where is it... MAIRA!

The werewolf quickly jumps in the way, arms wide, as the fireball looks to be going for Maira; not being able to draw in his chains in time, he takes the full brunt of the fiery fireball. Embers flicker past him and singe the werewolf. But he doesn't take even a single step back.

"Friends don't leave anyone behind." He growls between his teeth, before glancing at Avira. Go after the thing? Skoll turns towards Maira and offers her a hand, with the fireball now no longer burning him. But the girl is already on it. The werewolf quickly brings his chains to bear. "I will protect the building!" He declares.

He throws the chains outwards, and sends them chaining straight for the walls and ceiling, attempting to encapsulate the attack while yet going on the offensive at the same time! Some of the chains amidst the mass -- in fact, way too /big/ a mass to be coming from this one werewolf -- dive straight in for the soda machine and Rakassa, trying to stop them from going anywhere and attempting to bite into both by the use of flame and ice on their ends.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
After the attack, Lumeria's green light falls over Skoll's body, and the werewolf feels some of the burns calming down. He glances the girl's way, and gives her a firm nod of approval. It's the least he could do. But he can't lose his concentration right now. So all he manages to follow this up with is; "Thank you."

Rakassa has posed:
Rakassa knocks an arrow, ready to plunge more into the evil machine. It's then that she feels powerful magic gathering. Turning about, her eyes go wide as chains wrap about her. Held aloft, she is at the mercy of consuming flames, that lovely little cocktail dress incinerated. Thud! She falls to the ground.

The only thing protecting her modesty is the burnt remains of a few Tickle-Me-Corneo dolls. The necklace's string snaps, falling to the ground. Coughing, choking, she raises a single finger towards Maira and her friends. Then, she grins.

"*hack*..N...not...bad little girl" Blackness engulfs her, a Dark Portal spiriting her away before she's in mortal danger!

Minerva has posed:
Things descend into madness at this point as she continues to come under assault from the pop machine golem. What the heck was it with strange magics? She could understand other worlds would have different styles of it but some of the things she'd seen defied all she knew of the arcane. She's just going to get to the point she's going to start punching things. She comes under assault an she's getting the stuffing kicked out of her she's beaten but Minerva is able to keep enduring it. She does wish she'd worn armour out at this point with how badly hurt she'd been. She's done enough to set up Maira and now she turns her attention on the Golem which she launches herself into the next burst of electrical energy is caught in Minerva's hand and she smirks.

"I may not be a master of any but all the elements can and will answer my call."

Minerva launchers herself again at the hulking machine into a brutal combo of attacks as she spins into it trying to knock it up for a moment before she'll slam this thing down with more punches then follow it up with a flaming punch.

Echo has posed:
The holy attack by Maira causes the Golem's frame to spark and machinery pops and seems to grind together inside. It's getting weaker! However, it is not done yet--the electrical energy from inside it's body sparking and arcing out at the heroes in an area around them, it's inner workings belching out another wave of fire that coats the intrepid heroes in a fine blanket of burning... monster energy drink? It is unclear!

Aerith has posed:
Again, Aerith was knocked back by another giant ball of fire.

It was a wonder she stood at all, but stand she did. Barely. Her knees trembled as she tried to will herself to cast another spell... only to find herself unable to do it. Her body just protested too much.

Aerith groaned as she slumped to the floor. Maybe a bit of a break would do her some good. Hopefully she wouldn't just fall asleep right there.

Avira has posed:
"I mean someone has to go after the golem instead of-" Too late. Maira's already nuking Rakassa. A small part of her grows a little annoyed since she wanted to take some revenge upon the woman that hurt her friend so. Maybe...some other time as the woman flees through a dark portal.

Avira takes off after the creature, charging through the flames with a blast of air, despite the burns that suddenly crawl across her exposed skin. Unwilling to let t his thing burn the department store down, she unloads another massive round of ice magic. It's not just meant to attack the creature-more importantly, it's meant to counter the fires it has set all throughout the store.

Maira has posed:
Maira has moved beyond the point of return now. She is not stopping until this chaos is done. Rakassa is down, but Maira doesn't pay her any heed besides a long look of glowing eyes amidst flame and a pearlescent white aura. For a moment, she thinks about throwing herself after her, finish her off for good. Could she kill someone? Even someone like Rakassa? Surely, it would prevent her from doing more damage. It would protect the people she would surely hurt...

No, she can't. Not even to Rakassa.

The soda machine and whatever powered the thing was still on a rampage. The fire it blasts outward washes over Maira without any noticable effect, but she watches her friends get hurt once more and reacts without word or gesture--sorry, not screamed attack names here--and blasts the machine /again/ with another explosion of Holy, righteous flame.

Lumeria has posed:
Lumeria takes cover behind a clothing rack to avoid being burned. Better the clothes than her. She notices Aerith about to fall over, "No sleeping on the job." She casts more white magic, she was certainly get a workout in. The girl was starting to run out of energy herself, but she does her best to hide it.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Avira has seen Skoll battle many a time. She'll probably be able to tell that, for all of his protectiveness, there's still some kind of strange... distracted quality to his current battle technique. Like he's somewhere else partially. Still, no matter how 'distracted' he might be, there's no question to the power he brings in the form of the chains that are beginning the swarm the walls and ceiling and floor of the department store they find themselves in.

With Rakassa down, Skoll turns his attention on the soda machine once more. But in his distracted state, it doesn't help him get away from its attack. The wave floods over his body, and he is sent reeling. The smell of burnt fur soon wafts off of his body. "/That's IT! I've had it with these mothergoosing golems in this mothergoosing department store!" The werewolf howls!

He throws one hand sideways and grips a chain, breaking it loose and forming a massive chain sprear and... stabs it straight into the floor. He grips it with his other hand, and then lets out a violent roar.

"UNLIMITED! HOWLING! CHAIN!" The werewolf calls out, followed by the ground beginning the tremble. Something is moving beneath the ground. The floor within the Macy's begin to shift and crack here and there.

"INFINITE... CHAIN ANNIHILATOR!"

This is followed by /enormous/ chain-made spears tearing from the floor and walls, attempting to impale the soda-machine right where it stands! And yes, the chains howl - for the wind is being forced through between the chain's links. They're just that rediculously fast.

Queegmaa has posed:
From somewhere, somehow.... perhaps a ventilation shaft, perhaps a gutter, or some tunnel somewhere, some anonymous entity invokes a particular effect designed to help mitigate, or eliminate some of the flame that was surely igniting the department, brought on by the assailing golem. From who it originated, none can be sure, but it resembles a skill used earlier in the fight, for anyone observant. Mayhap somebody is trying to get one more parting shot in, or perchance they are just trying to do their best to contribute to whatever was going on; whatever the case, a deluge of toxic hail and hydrogen tailspins from above, aimed at the hideous contraption constructed by whomever was responsible for this whole fiasco. It also will inevitably flood the floor, freezing and becoming slush almost upon contact, given that Avira has been hurling blizzard divinations up the wazoo.....

Minerva has posed:
Minerva is just having a hard time of it with this Golem, she's got a plan that should hopefully ruin this thing's day. He hands burst into flame with holy fire at this point blazing brightly she turns her attention at the thing even as she attempts to purge the burning energy drink off her. She lunges in at the Golem going for the head she tends to grab it and unleash the full charge of holy fire she's built up.

She'll then flip back and rush the Golem once more as she hits it over and over again with her fist that are still charged with even more holy power before she backs off as she's got a feeling more ranged power is coming this way from her allies and others.

"Is this normal for this world?!"

Echo has posed:
The poor golem sizzles and cracks as it's introduced to unlimited howling chainey prowess, then part of it's left arm breaks completely off thanks to Avira's icewolf bite, causing an entire soda machine to go sailing to floor and land with a crash--splitting floor tiles and sending stray cans of Redbull spinning over the floor. Coming to what might be it's 'knees' the strange frenzied magical creature prepares a final desperate act, a large source of heat energy begins to well up from it's center while electricity arcs out all around it in white hot bolts of energy!

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
"It's gonna blow!" Skoll immediately pulls the chain-spear out of the ground and rushes straight for the soda-machine of doom and jumps into the air, throwing the chain-spear down and letting it transform into a net of sorts on top of the thing. He just lands on top of it, slamming his fist into the thing to try and make it stop from exploding... when it well... DOES explode.

A massive explosion rocks the place, and within moments, the werewolf is outside of the building, covered in soot. The werewolf lets out a cough, expelling a perfect circle of ash, and gives an annoyed stare at the somewhat broken looking building - chains keeping it upright just fine. "I am going to have nightmares about soda machines now..." He mumbles, and flops back over in the middle of the sidewalk, feather boa still making him look rather /dashing/.

Lumeria has posed:
Lumeria partly caught in the blast as she tries escape from the building as well. She needs a new outfit and some medical attention after that. "I don't know, I'm not from around here." She replies to Minerva. Ironically the person behind this was from the same world as her though.

Aerith has posed:
The explosion slammed over her, the blast wave and heat engulfing her. Surely she was done, right?

Right?

The smoke cleared... and there she was, a sphere of pale green light surrounding her. Apparently she had just enough in her left to defend herself against the final, desperate attack. Aerith's breathing was heavy, labored... but she was alive.

Of course, now she had someone to thank for that, and she glanced toward the healer with a nod. "Thanks. That quite actually saved my life."

Maira has posed:
Maira gasps when she's hit with an arc of electricity, her body shaking with the force even as it blows her backward and out the front of the building with a host of others and no small amount of debris.

She lands in the street with a groan, fairly sure the arm she'd landed on was broken /again/. "...Just...one day, could we not get attacked by something!?" she exclaims, turning to look around. First, she heals herself with a quick cure spell, then moves to find Avira through the cloud of smoke and dust. "Is everyone alright!?" she calls out.

Avira has posed:
The weather inside is frightful but the fire is so delightful...

In an effort to minimize the explosion as much as possible, Avira unloads further ice magic, though this particular spell seems to rely on the ice and water already present, forcing the acidic slush to jut u pward and corral the raging soda machine golem. It works, a little, but the force still blows out the storefront in a hail of debris, Red Bull, slush, and steamy fog.

Looking quite crispy, the battered huntress stumbles out of the storefront into the street. "It'd be nice if Black Friday in Manhattan was left alone. Last year we had trouble too-"

Avira is interrupted by cheering from the gawking crowd for the brave heroes (...and Rakassa) that took on the possessed clothing and golem.

Aerith has posed:
"All I know is, I'm not going out here without some body armor next time." She huffed and stood, feeling a bit better than before. "I think our shopping trip is ruined now... can we go home and sleep?"

Maira has posed:
Maira walks up and hugs Avira gently. "I'm sorry Avira...huh what happened last year?"

Maira looks to Aerith then. Shopping? Shopping! "Oh! My bags!" she cries, then starts limping back into the wreckage. She paid for that stuff, she's not leaving without it!

Maira has posed:
Maira does miraculously find her bag, and a new outfit for the road. It just so happens to be a very lovely red prom dress. Its a little bit damaged, so they wouldn't be able to sell it anyway. Maira though, can sew, and figures she can fix it.

More importantly, she returns to where Rakassa fell. There, on the floor, lay a necklace with an amber pendant, glimmering with reflected light. Smiling, she bends down and picks it up before again making her exit.

Unexpected mission accomplished!

Aerith has posed:
Aerith chuckled and watched Maira leave. At least she had her necklace back. Right now though, all she wanted to do was go home and have a siesta. Maybe she could hang out at VALKYRI HQ again before moving on. Deciding that was a good idea, she stood, her legs still shaky, and made her way out. Definitely time to go home.

Minerva has posed:
Minerva is now leaving with Maira nd the rest she's had enough of this shopping thing, she really has had enough of it all she wants to get back home. Somewhere that is not infested with rabid shoppers, also phantom clothing and Golems made out of vending machines. The Monk is totally out of here.