The Inquisitor, The Devil Child, and the Man Behind It All~
I was a complete doofus and accidentally posted this to my LJ earlier today and am only just now noticing such. Haha. @.@;
Also- Mercade and Sephi need tags, I think.
Who: Kevin Graham, Sephi Graham, Mercade Alexander, Celene Hunter
When: November 4, 2007
Where: Lesalia Imperial Capital
What: What happens when a mugging goes horribly wrong?
Watch for: It all comes down on Mercade like a ton of bricks. Literally.
Fantasy Sector - Lesalia Imperial Capital
Lesalia Imperial Capital lay at the heart of Ivalice, in the central province of Lesalia. It is among the largest cities of this medieval kingdom, as well as one of the most ancient. The city has closely-packed houses, made of timber and sloped roofs, that hug to winding narrow streets. At the center of the city is an immense castle - the palace of the Ivalician royal family. It also houses the Senate, and countless nobles.
The city itself is rather busy- especially as it is evening and the sun seems to be just barely setting. People are hurrying to get their chores done before the day is out. Some people are actually hurrying their way towards other establishments, though. The inn, the tavern- places that are better suited for revelry during the evening and darker hours.
Perhaps the white clothing is a stark contrast to the blacks, reds, and whatever other colors that the people of the city are wearing. Kevin seems to be working his way in the opposite direction of the usual people trying to get home. He does take his time to try and stop people for directions, but... as a stranger, he doesn't get much attention.
Well, this is a bit of a shame. The priest tilts his head as he turns to look in the direction the majority of the people are headed. Maybe he's going the wrong way? Maybe...
Kevin looks back in the direction he's headed, then scratches his head.
Alright. He thinks he's decided that he's... well... lost.
That sounds 'bout right.
After Sephi recieved a vicious verbal smackdown from her Guide about the proper usage of such a resource, the Helspawn has decided to do exactly what she had paraphrased for the Greek: get sufficiently over her head that Celene has no choice but to come and offer aid. For this reason, she has been wandering the multiverse with renewed vigor over the last few days... and managing to completely miss any and all exciting events. Even that multiverse-sprawling brawl managed to evade her! What sort of Scion can't find a weird scenario to get into, really?
Her continued misadventures land her in Lesalia at the moment, coincidentally at a time when political machinations are running high and outright violence is taking a break. Oh well, maybe she'll be able to attract a kidnapper or something, wandering through the city streets at dusk in the sorts of clothing one might expect of royalty.
Meanwhile, an investigator is busy in the bad part of town.
"Gimme your money."
"Hey now! Stop pointing that at me! Hang on, hang on... Here!"
"What's this paper @#@)? This isn't money! Is this some kind of a joke!?"
"No! It's money! It's... Oh, screw this."
BLAMBLAMBLAM! From an alleyway, the sounds of gunfire echo as Mercade pulls and shoots at the muggers who just tried to hold him up. Not the best way to make an impression, but hey.
Fortunately for Kevin- that was the direction he was headed. People were all trying to stay away from that area for the most part... perhaps that's why? When he hears the gunshots, however, Kevin feels a bit of a shiver up his back. That's really not what he had expected to hear in this sort of place. Even if there are machinists around... still! Gunshots are gunshots!
Which is why the priest in white quickly bolts in the direction he had been headed, jumping up onto barrels and railings to get around the people hurrying to get the hell out of dodge. Or... the bad part of town. Or whatever it should be.
While he's running, though, the priest has already picked up the crossbow from where he lets it hang safely and out of the way. He's already removing safeties and getting ready to use it should the gunman be... well... a 'bad guy'.
Gunshots! That ought to do the trick. Much like Kevin, Sephi is also drawn to the sound of combat, though for decidedly different reasons. She also opts to merely walk to the scene of the crime instead of engaging in acrobatics; it's a shame she's not familiar with Chaos, or this would be a far easier task. No matter, she'll push her way there eventually, maybe just in time to catch whoever did the crime and get herself into a score of trouble. Oh, this is so exciting~
"AGH! What the hell is that?! You're a Machinist?!" The muggers yell, fleeing in panic from Mercade. The people on the street part, screaming as the rough people scramble past the area, running past Kevin Graham...
And running right into Persephone. They skid to a stop, the thieves looking at each other and sharing a silent nod, before they grab her, one to each arm. One of them takes his dagger and holds it to Sephi's neck. "Back! And give us your money and the guns! Or we cut her throat!"
Mercade steps out of the alleyway, both guns smoking. One of his hands reaches up, scratching his head curiously. "What... did you say?" Mercade looks over, eyes narrowing as he sees their hostage. "Hmmm..." A sticky situation.
As these people speed past him, Kevin twists around. Since he's standing on a heavy, wooden bin of some sort- probably best not to ask in this part of town- he manages to be out of the way of most of the crowd pushing and shoving its way to safety. He watches the situation before he smirks a bit. The bowgun has quickly been stowed away behind his back as he hops down onto the ground near Mercade.
"Now now..." The priest speaks up idly, holding his hands up, showing that they're empty. "...I'm sure this isn't the way to be handlin' things, ya know?" He offers a quirky grin before he looks back towards Mercade. "Now... let the girl go..." He finally speaks as he glances towards the mugger's again, "...we can see 'bout somethin' without bringin' another's life in on this... I'm sure ya don' wanna do that, at least?"
Sephi doesn't know what's happening immediately. She's not Celene, after all, she doesn't have a god's reflexes. The muggers are dismissed as more people running for their lives, merely on the tail end of the crowd... a dismissal that ends with her being roughly grabbed and a knife pushed against her deathly-pale flesh. Who knows, maybe they'll think nothing of it and presume her odd palor is from fear.
"Ah," the girl gasps, taking into account her situation. Unless these people are Scions as well-- which she sincerely doubts --the knife may as well be made of foam. Especially since they're giving her the advantage of announcing that they'll slit her throat, she can just tense up her muscles to deal with that.
It is then that the Scion of Hel notices WHY she is being held hostage. Though her emotionless (maybe dazed?) expression doesn't change, she is sorely disappointed. "You..." she begins, but quickly trails off. Looks like she won't be able to call on Celene after all, not with Mercade here to steal all the glory, damn his Fate.
As for Kevin... well, he's just a guy trying to play negotiator, so the Helspawn pays him and his words no mind. They weren't directed towards her, anyway.
"Look, just listen to the nice priest, all right?" Mercade replies. The muggers look unimpressed. Mercade continues to talk, focused on trying to talk them into not killing Sephi right in front of his face. Hel would be /so/ pissed. I mean, seriously pissed. And then Celene would kill him, go down to Helheim, and then kill him again. "I really don't think you want to do this. You just want money, right? Look, let her go, and it won't be a probl-"
It's at this point, that a brick hits Mercade in the head. It rebounds off of it harmlessly, and lands on the ground. The investigator blinks, looking around. "Did something just land on my head?"
A moment later, the rest of the crate of bricks lands right on Mercade, burying him in building material. "OoOoOoWw~..." Mercade groans from under the bricks. Above, the rest of the thief gang chuckle and give each other high fives.
The ones holding Sephi, however, glare at Kevin. "Sorry, preacher. We need money and we need it bad. Why don't you give us that nice bowgun, huh?"
Kevin frowns and jumps away as the bricks fall onto Mercade. He quickly looks upwards to see the others above them. With a bit of a frown, he quickly pulls the bowgun free from his belt. There's a moment as he seems to rearm the safety and he snaps something else, which causes the catch to releases and... jam the bolt in place.
"...ah..." He looks at it a bit, then smiles a bit awkwardly towards the bandits. "I don' think it'll getcha much. It's old and tends ta be a pain in the..." He frowns suddenly. "Well, ya know I can't say what- man of the cloth, an' all." He quickly tosses the jammed weapon to the ground, towards the thieves. "'ave a look for yerselves."
It is a very strange crossbow. It's pretty- the decoration is definately ornate, and a lot of work has been done to it. Some gold gilding to the sides... and even more strange that it doesn't have a trigger. The whole firing mechanism is a long, full-bodied bar that is simply squeezed. However, with the safeties in place, it's not going to do much of anything. In fact, where are the safeties? There are no visible switches other than the trigger on that strange weapon.
"..." Sephi has no words for Mercade's horrible luck. Really, she should have been expecting that, having noticed his trend of being mowed down in the past. And that priest was just disarmed (why did a pries thave a crossbow, anyway?). Garrett, her loyal pet pooch, is nowhere to be seen, the girl having sat him down near the Gate out of this world and told him to stay.
That would make this the perfect time to call for Celene, most assuredly... unfortunately, Sephi's cell phone is in her pocket, and it only now occurs to her that it may be someone difficult to both not make any sudden movements AND call for back-up. "Oh," she says in that creepy monotone of hers, though such a short syllable doesn't really get either quality across.
Mercade is still kinda out of it. Epic Wits? Sure. Epic Dexterity? Yep. Epic Strength? Not so much. So he's busy with the bricks amidst twitching in pain.
The knife is pressed tight against Sephi's skin, though the mugger doesn't seem to get the idea that he can't seem to cut. "Don't try anything funny, now."
"Hahaha, the preacher can't use a bowgun! Hahaha, poor guy. This is a bad place to be without a weapon, pops." The second mugger on the street saunters forward, picking up the crossbow and looking it over. "This is a funny bowgun, Pops. Are you sure you... HEY!" He yells. "You busted this thing! We can't sell it like this!" He throws it back at Kevin, almost to spite him. "If you weren't a preacher, Pops, you'd be in big trouble for that. Just get out of here. You never saw us."
The second stalks over to Sephi, and runs a rough hand across her porcelain chin. "She's a weird one."
"They say royalty is sometimes like that."
"She ain't royalty. Does she look like any of those snobs to you? Either way, we could get a good price for her. The Company knows people who like these kinds of girls." He giggles in a decidedly unpleasant manner.
"Maybe. Ask her."
The mugger leans in, his rotten breath wafting into Sephi's face. "Hey girlie. What's your name? And don't lie."
Kevin quickly catches the bowgun out of the air with a good show of dexterity. He looks it over, then smiles. "I never saw ya? Well, that would be lyin', y'know?" He tilts his head a bit. "I could've said that I never saw them?" He nods upwards. There's suddenly a slide of one hand over the weapon. This snaps the jammed bolt, sending pieces of metal across the ground at his feet. The priest quickly raises his weapon above his head, not even looking back to see where the thieves were when they dropped the bricks.
"Though Eidos says I can' lie, y'know. I'm a priest. An' I obviously can't deny Her orders." He squeezes the trigger of the empty weapon. However, this sends a large lance of white energy firing up towards the target he had mentally tacked into place earlier. "Who says I can' use a bowgun?" He laughs before he lowers the weapon. "I think s'just a lil' too special for ya to figure out how to use."
If there's one thing that was sufficiently ground into Sephi's head by her Guide and her Guide's pet Fatebound, it's that revealing her identity is a bad idea. It is for this reason that, despite the implied threat of what may happen if she lies, Sephi answers cooly, "Celene Hunter." She breathes out through her nose, trying to force away the horrid smell of the man's breath while one of her hands moves to grab the wrist of the one holding the knife at her throat in a useless attempt to pull it away. "And you would do best to remove your hands from me, mother would be displeased if something unpleasant were to befall me... very displeased." The Helchild locks eyes with the grunt who is invading her personal space, eyes widening to give him a great view of those freakishly blue orbs. Should he make the mistake of continuing to stare at her, he'll find it difficult to look away... or even to do anything else, even react to Kevin's sudden light show.
As for the one holding the knife? Well, he'll find that is wrist is starting to become very sore where the Scion's hand is grabbing him. She's not even holding him very hard, and yet a hideous bruise is suddenly creeping out from beneath her fingers, spreading across his hand and forearm.
"Celene Hunter, eh?" The second glances up to the first, who shakes his head. "Doesn't sound noble to me. Maybe some rich merchant's girl who went out on a stroll at the wrong time. Heh heh heh heh!"
The first man doesn't move in response to the struggling girl, also laughing. "What, Miss Hunter, do you think you're going to break free? Not a chance, girlie-o..." Suddenly he gasps.
In the middle of the laughing and that gasp, everything goes to hell.
The bolt of light sears into the air, tagging the thief neatly, who falls over with a scream. The scream ends quickly with a sodden crunch when he hits the broken cobblestone road headfirst. The thieves immediately change their tune. "INQUISITOR!" is the scream that goes out, and they back away, panicked. The first thief releases Sephi, holding his aching, bruised arm with one hand. He can't even hold the knife anymore, anyway. "P-P-P-Please f-f-f-orgive us, Inquisitor, we didn't recognize you... AAAAH!" The man looks down at his arm in shock, staring at the ugly bruise. "THE LITTLE GIRL PUT A CURSE ON ME! DEVIL-CHILD!"
The second thief cringes as well, especially at the yell of devil-child. "Inquisitor, please, protect us from this terrible demon-girl. You were hunting her, right? Please, exorcise her and break the curse! We'll never do this again!"
The remaining thieves on the roof aren't even there anymore, having long since beat feet.
The one thief falls to the ground next to him. Kevin doesn't even bat an eye at the sound before he begins to approach. He quickly turns the bowgun on Sephi suddenly. "...yer right. I am." He says this suddenly as he starts towards the girl, then moves to drag her back, and away, from her would-be captors.
"Insquisitors are servants of the shadows. The gods will curse the lot o' you worse than she has if you even so much as utter a word of what you have seen tonight." The bowgun is quickly raised in their direction again. "...don' make me deem you as heretics, as well!" There's a bit of practice from the whole act, but he quickly puts himself between the girl and the muggers at this point. ...though there's something funny about that. A heretic threatening to mark others as such? What a laughable thought... "Now. The desires of the goddess, at this point, are not for the eyes of criminals. Get!" He quickly loads a standard bolt into the weapon and fires a warning shot at the thieves.
He's serious! Really! He'll shoot you, heathens!
Sephi suddenly finds herself free, and being poitned out as being a demon. So much for keeping a low profile... oh well, at least it won't tarnish her name. "I thought it was odd for an ordinary priest to carry a weapon at all, let alone one of such power." She begins to giggle... it's a creepy, haunting sound, more like a soft cackle than anything else. The sort of laugh a man might associate with a madman... that it's coming from a child only makes it that much worse.
She doesn't fear his crossbow, though it and the revelation of his 'true' profession does prompt the Helspawn to examine the man more closely... and notice something strange, the black star sapphire at her throat glinting in the light. Her laughter subsides, and she regards the man with muted interest as he pulls her aside.
"...nor did I expect a man of the cloth to be rife with corruption," she murmurs only for his ears as he threatens the thugs. Hopefully he won't get thrown for a loop by her words! "I wonder which god your pact is with, or do all inquisitors bear the mark of death?"
The two thieves cower before the 'Inquisitor', cringing back. "We'll never say a thing! Honest! Ajora's honor!"
"Please, don't mark us heretics! We'll never sin again! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" It kinda looks pitiful for them to beg and cower like that... But it probably hints at the horrible power that the Church has here. Kevin should just be happy that they're not paying attention to what he's saying enough to catch the inconsistencies between the Septian Church and the Glabados Church. When Kevin tells them to get, they get, scrambling away for their lives.
Of course, the guys on the rooftops didn't swear...
With a clatter of masonry, Mercade finally bursts forth, wobbling as he waves his guns around and slurs drunkenly, "All right, you sons of bitches, let's do this..." He then, of course staggers to one side and slumps down to the ground against a wall. That hurt.
Kevin smirks a bit. He shows no response to the words from Sephi, until he quickly turns on her. Not only does he turn on her, he raises the bowgun towards her as well.
This time, the playful tone that he held, even while running along with the 'Inquisitor' gig, is completely gone. He sounds dead serious. "....how..." He doesn't get the chance to question her much more when suddenly that pile of bricks just bursts away and he quickly twists around to see Mercade standing.
Perhaps for everyone's best interests, Kevin's serious tone is dropped as he finds that he can really only say a few words in response: "...wow. Yer alive."
Fac-IPA> Mercade Alexander sounds like he just got hit with a ton of bricks. Because he did. "I'M ALIVE!"
Fac-IPA> Leon Freier says, "...Goddammit, what'd you do now Mercade?"
Fac-IPA> Ruri Hoshino says, "Congradulations on this small sign of your achievement."
Fac-IPA> Father Kevin Graham says, "...."
Fac-IPA> Father Kevin Graham says, "...wait. That was /you/, Mercade?"
Mercade raises a hand, pointing dramatically even though he's sitting on his ass. "I'M ALIVE!" He declares. "But... everything is spinning. I need to sit down for a minute..." Even though he IS sitting...
Fac-IPA> Leon Freier says, "Did you try and steal Celene's underwear or something?"
Fac-IPA> Father Kevin Graham says, "...no."
Fac-IPA> Father Kevin Graham says, "He got a pile o' bricks dropped on 'em."
Fac-IPA> Mercade Alexander sounds woozy. "Yessir. Thass me, Mercade Alexander, ace detective."
Fac-IPA> Leon Freier says, "Were they dropped by a pack of zombies this time?"
Fac-IPA> Father Kevin Graham says, "Muggers."
Fac-IPA> Father Kevin Graham says, "I think they tried to rob 'em."
Fac-IPA> Leon Freier says, "Oh."
Fac-IPA> Leon Freier says, "Ah well."
Fac-IPA> Mercade Alexander says, "Can't be... zombies all that time..."
Sephi continues to give Kevin that searching look of hers. It's piercing, but not frighteningly so, certainly not the 'freeze you in place' gaze that she gave the guy with the bad breath a few seconds ago.
She doesn't have the chance to answer his question, alas, because it gets cut off a word in by Mercade's reappearance. "Are you alright, Alexander?" she inquires, noting Kevin's sudden demeanor change and stepping away from the priest without giving a second thought to the crossbow that was just pointed at her. "Are you injured? I'm afraid I can't do anything for your head, but if any of your bones have been crushed, I may be able to restore them."
The priest just stares at the man while he remains where he is... at least, for a moment. "I dunno 'ow much ya can do, miss, b-..." Kevin had stepped forward to kneel down next to Mercade, then he stops and looks up at Sephi.
"...wait. Yer Persephone, right? Girl wit' the pretty first name that shares my last name?" He allows a bit of a grin to show through. But at the same time, his mind is running. How did she know? Did he let up on his control any? Did it somehow wipe his memory of actually using that power? He...
...has no time to worry about that. He quickly puts the bowgun aside and takes Mercade's head in both hands. "I want ya to relax for a bit. This shouldn' hurt too much, but with this sort of injury, ya never know..."
The priest closes his eyes and begins to whisper quietly: "...O blessed Mother of the Sky, please grant healing upon this poor soul." The priest's power is quite a bit different from what else he could have buried away deep down. It's a cool energy, working its way into the man's body, trying to heal some of the injuries, mostly those to his head, however.
Kevin suddenly pulls his hands back and lowers his head a bit. He lets out a deep breath, before he looks to Mercade. "...s'the best I could do for ya." He glances towards Sephi. "...if she can do more, ya might want to ask her."
His healing ability can only do so much, afterall.
Mercade Alexander shakes his head woozily. "I'll be fine. Just... a few bruises. I can sleep it off." He waves a bit at Sephi, and then looks up to Kevin. "Father? Is that you? Father Graham! Good to see you!" He does indeed sound delighted. At least until he winces in pain. He holds still when asked, and the healing energy washes through him. He shakes his head, holding it for a moment, before he blinks. "Wow, that's some good stuff, Father." He grins, and stands. "No, I wouldn't want to trouble you. Anyway..." He holsters his guns. "All's well that ends well, right?" He looks to Sephi. "So, what were you doing in a place like this, Sephi? Celene's going to kill you."
"Your memory serves you well," Sephi says to Kevin as she considers his words. Who was it that shared her name? Father Graham? It sounds about right, even if she wasn't actually paying attention to him at the time, having dismissed the man as yet another fool blathering on the radio.
"Hunter is the one who told me to come here," the Helchild responds to the 'ace detective'. "She informed me that I was to act on my own, and only to contact her when I required assistance." A hand is gestured towards the empty street. "As you can see, things I have taken care of the threat adequately, without the need to trouble Hunter." Kevin's role in things is casually ignored. As frightened of magic as those thugs were, she's sure she could have frightened them away with or without the priest playing at police.
Actually... she appears to be completely ignoring Kevin, not even bothering to give him a second look. It may seem a little strange, considering the exchange the two just had. Maybe she's playing mind games, or something.
"I dunno, I heard some crazy stuff when I was buried under those bricks." Mercade points out. "But, at least you're safe." Despite Mercade inadvertantly triggeting a horrifying series of events that will haunt everyone but him for the next long while. He looks over to Kevin. "So, you're the famous Father Graham? Mercade Alexander, pleased to meet you." He holds out a hand for the priest to shake if he so wishes. "Funny meeting you here. This must have been an interesting... coincidence." Hahahaha. coincidence.
And out of the crowd, like a ship emerging from the fog, is someone dressed completely the wrong way for this area. Leather jacket - jeans - blue-rimmed glasses with clip-on shades. A cigarette dangling from her lips, and a positively Spockian cock to her brow.
Celene Hunter.
"So that was kind of interesting," she remarks, blandly. "You guys all OK?"
Kevin only casts a half-hearted glance towards Sephi. Something unnerves him about her. Perhaps it's just what she had said to him... he's not sure... But! He knows he has other things to focus on. He finally laughs as he shrugs a bit. "I'm not all tha' famous. I'd rather not be, in fact." He quickly takes Mercade's hand in a firm handshake, however. "And funny coincidence indeed." THough he stops, then looks towards Sephi slightly, then back to Mercade. "...or maybe not? The Goddess has an interesting sense of humor sometimes..."
...though as the newcomer shows, the priest turns to look to Celene at this point, raising an eyebrow. He recognizes her voice, too. "I'm fine, really." He quickly waves a hand to brush off the question.
"Hunter," Sephi says, shoulders stiffening. She turns to face her Guide with a level expression. "I am surprised to see you here." The tone in her voice says otherwise, though it's not like it ever gives away emotion in any but the most dire circumstances anyway. "Do you have business in this city? I don't think there's any demonic taint here, the church seems to have a strong presense and is able to keep such things under tight control." Was that a jab at Kevin? It's so hard to tell with her.
"Celene! Sure, I'm fine!" Mercade says brightly. "Man, those thieves ran off fast. I'm sorry I missed it all!"
He shrugs at Kevin's words, getting a worried look across his face for a moment. A hand steals into a pocket of his coat for a moment... But he removes it without taking anything out. No... Not here. Not now. He looks back over to Celene. "Things seem to be fine for now... But Sephi isn't kidding about the Church. Apparently some of them are pretty crazy."
Celene, possibly directly contrary to Sephi's expectations, turns to her ward first, stepping over. "I was actually in the area because I wanted to see if Mercade would need any help, but..." She looks the girl over, tilting her glasses down to see her more clearly. "You handled that situation pretty well, all things considered. We should get you a weapon, though. I don't think I like this thing where you're going around with just a Boon to keep you safe."
Pause. THEN she looks back over her shoulder at Mercade and Kevin, nodding. "Good. Glad you're alright."
Whether or not Kevin catches the possible jab in his direction? That's nearly impossible to tell as he's currently fussing with his bowgun. He casts a glance towards Mercade. "...eh... well... it wasn' much to begin with." He clenches his jaw a bit. "They jus' thought I was an inquisitor, so I ran with it. Easy enough to make someone think you are one thing if they've already convinced themselves." There are a few more pieces of metal pulled out of mechanisms. They weren't in the way, but he'd rather that the forced jam he caused be... a clean one, at the very least.
"Ya never know. Sometimes, church people are kinda nuts." He tilts his head as he looks up towards Celene. He doesn't say anything to the words she spoke, but he does go back to focusing on fixing his weapon. "Ah! There we go!" He holds it up triumphantly and quickly resets the safety. "Good as new~"
If Celene's reaction surprised Sephi, as always, she doesn't show it, though the extremely observant (read as: Celene) may notice the tightness in her shoulders slacken. "Is that so? I see..." Her gaze turns to Mercade. "What were you doing here, anyway, Alexander?" she asks. "I understand that you are prone to being assaulted by ne'er-do-wells, but it is quite the coincidence to run into you here. And Father Graham as well." Oh, look, she's finally acknowledging Kevin! "Does one run into their aquantances often when traversing the multiverse, or is this a unique occurance?"
"Good good. Well, um..." He gets the GAZE OF CELENE upon him. "I was, ah... looking for leads! You never know where a multiversal apocalypse cult might have their trails." This has nothing to do with the bar down the street, he swears.
Celene merely smirks back at Mercade. "Well, good. By the way, there's a better bar on the other side of town. If you're going to booze and interrogate people at the same time, at least do it in quality?"
Celene picks the strangest moments to flash her ego.
Then she turns back toward Sephi, hands returning to her pockets. The smirk around her cigarette grows just slightly when she notes the loosening of Sephi's shoulders. "It's just a thing. You'll find that you run into folks you know all the time. Sometimes it's coincidence, sometimes it's not..."
She glances back. Mercade. Hmm.
"...I'm a little unsure about which it is today."
Mercade Alexander looks totally innocent. He's probably failing.
Sephi also looks at Mercade, seeing as Celene has drawn attention to him with her glance. She also notices his utter failing at looking like he has no idea what's going on. "...are you alright, Alexander? Your expression is strange, did Father Graham's healing not repair everything?"
"I don't think I could 'ave healed everythin', Miss Hunter." Kevin says kindly while he moves to put the bowgun away. "Maybe it was for the best that I arrived when I did an' all." The priest finally turns to Mercade. "I hope yer feelin' better an all, but I really should get goin'."
If anyone wants to question Kevin, they should try to stop him now. Letting him escape means he's gotten out of everyone's hair for tonight! And are you really sure you want that right now? Or maybe you do...?
Mercade Alexander shakes his head. "No, I'm fine. Really!" Innocent! Really! Except not so much. "Anyway, I'm going to go ahead and, ah, look for some more leads. See you all later!" He turns, and begins walking off at some speed before Celene decides to put some bullets into him anyway. Maybe it's just him, but he can practically FEEL the Fatebindings closing in.
Celene stands by, hands shoved into her pockets, while first Father Graham, and then Mercade wander off.
She grins, and looks down at Sephi. "You OK, Sephi?" she asks, looking a little more serious now that they're kinda sorta alone. "That looked pretty serious. How you feeling?"
"I am fine, Hunter," Sephi replies. "It occured to me to call for help, but one had a knife to my throat, and I did not wish to draw attention to myself as Ryuzaki and yourself warned against." Her expression turns thoughtful...ish. "However, when Alexander was incapacitated, I became concerned and acted regardless. Had I known that Father Graham had such abilities as well, I would not have played my hand in such a fashion against normal humans." If nothing else, she's learned the value of a good information network, at least.
Kevin is turning to leave when he hears what Sephi says. He twists around to continue backpedalling a bit, but he gestures idly. "I can't do things like that too much, I'm afraid. s'really exahustin', an' all." However, he eventually turns around to continue on the path he picked. Towards the tavern, and perhaps to an inn. He needs the rest.
Really. He's not going there to make a report. Promise.
Celene shrugs, not looking completely concerned. "It's not our world, and besides, from the way they reacted, obviously they have people with strange powers here anyway." She pulls the cigarette from her lips, exhaling a cloud of smoke.
She eyes it for a moment, then casually tosses it down, stomping it out on the earth. "Anyway," she says, turning her attention back to Sephi, "I think you did about as well as you could be expected to. I think you'll do better with some kind of weapon...people get less ideas in their heads when you cut them open than they do when your touch makes their eyes bleed."
"All of his bleeding was beneath the skin," Sephi defends, though it's really not much of defense. "However, you are correct, Hunter. I will see about locating something I'll be able to use." It'd be nice if she could actually LIFT any of those epic weapons, however, so she'll have to think small...
...speaking of small, something occurs to the Scion of Hel. "Oh, you must excuse me, Hunter. I must retrieve Garrett, he felt it necessary to stay by the gate and I saw no reason to force him into the city." She certainly didn't order him to stay there so she could put herself in peril, nosireebob.
Celene watches Sephi for a moment, and then nods. "If possible, anyway. I know you're not exactly built for war, so maybe a gun or something...but, then your grandpa'd kick my ass..."
She frowns, scratching at the back of her head. "Well, we should look things over, anyway. And we should have a talk, soon. You gonna be OK on your own? Or do you want me to come with ya? I don't have anything else to do."
Sephi's grandfather is quite the trickster, so he might go for a gun if it had enough dots poured into 'wacky side effects'. That is wholey beside the point, however. "I doubt there will be any issues so long as I stay on the major streets. Good night, Hunter." She gives her Guide a short bow, and then turns to walk away.
In the background, the sun finally sets, an event that felt like hours only occuring in the span of a few minutes.
============================= Rumors and Hearsay =============================
Message: 11/4 Posted Author
The Devil-Child of Lesalia! Mon Nov 05 Mercade Alexander
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Word is spreading like wildfire from bar to bar and people on the street in Lesalia, Imperial Capital, about a strange, beautiful young woman by the name of 'Celene Hunter'. Apparently, this girl had cursed a man with a mere touch, rotting his body and devouring his soul. Even an Inquisitor on the scene was unable to stop her with his magical bowgun! Is the Church going to be able to protect them from this new threat?!
(OOC: Mercade Alexander, Sephi Graham, Kevin Graham, Celene Hunter)
==============================================================================
Also- Mercade and Sephi need tags, I think.
Who: Kevin Graham, Sephi Graham, Mercade Alexander, Celene Hunter
When: November 4, 2007
Where: Lesalia Imperial Capital
What: What happens when a mugging goes horribly wrong?
Watch for: It all comes down on Mercade like a ton of bricks. Literally.
Fantasy Sector - Lesalia Imperial Capital
Lesalia Imperial Capital lay at the heart of Ivalice, in the central province of Lesalia. It is among the largest cities of this medieval kingdom, as well as one of the most ancient. The city has closely-packed houses, made of timber and sloped roofs, that hug to winding narrow streets. At the center of the city is an immense castle - the palace of the Ivalician royal family. It also houses the Senate, and countless nobles.
The city itself is rather busy- especially as it is evening and the sun seems to be just barely setting. People are hurrying to get their chores done before the day is out. Some people are actually hurrying their way towards other establishments, though. The inn, the tavern- places that are better suited for revelry during the evening and darker hours.
Perhaps the white clothing is a stark contrast to the blacks, reds, and whatever other colors that the people of the city are wearing. Kevin seems to be working his way in the opposite direction of the usual people trying to get home. He does take his time to try and stop people for directions, but... as a stranger, he doesn't get much attention.
Well, this is a bit of a shame. The priest tilts his head as he turns to look in the direction the majority of the people are headed. Maybe he's going the wrong way? Maybe...
Kevin looks back in the direction he's headed, then scratches his head.
Alright. He thinks he's decided that he's... well... lost.
That sounds 'bout right.
After Sephi recieved a vicious verbal smackdown from her Guide about the proper usage of such a resource, the Helspawn has decided to do exactly what she had paraphrased for the Greek: get sufficiently over her head that Celene has no choice but to come and offer aid. For this reason, she has been wandering the multiverse with renewed vigor over the last few days... and managing to completely miss any and all exciting events. Even that multiverse-sprawling brawl managed to evade her! What sort of Scion can't find a weird scenario to get into, really?
Her continued misadventures land her in Lesalia at the moment, coincidentally at a time when political machinations are running high and outright violence is taking a break. Oh well, maybe she'll be able to attract a kidnapper or something, wandering through the city streets at dusk in the sorts of clothing one might expect of royalty.
Meanwhile, an investigator is busy in the bad part of town.
"Gimme your money."
"Hey now! Stop pointing that at me! Hang on, hang on... Here!"
"What's this paper @#@)? This isn't money! Is this some kind of a joke!?"
"No! It's money! It's... Oh, screw this."
BLAMBLAMBLAM! From an alleyway, the sounds of gunfire echo as Mercade pulls and shoots at the muggers who just tried to hold him up. Not the best way to make an impression, but hey.
Fortunately for Kevin- that was the direction he was headed. People were all trying to stay away from that area for the most part... perhaps that's why? When he hears the gunshots, however, Kevin feels a bit of a shiver up his back. That's really not what he had expected to hear in this sort of place. Even if there are machinists around... still! Gunshots are gunshots!
Which is why the priest in white quickly bolts in the direction he had been headed, jumping up onto barrels and railings to get around the people hurrying to get the hell out of dodge. Or... the bad part of town. Or whatever it should be.
While he's running, though, the priest has already picked up the crossbow from where he lets it hang safely and out of the way. He's already removing safeties and getting ready to use it should the gunman be... well... a 'bad guy'.
Gunshots! That ought to do the trick. Much like Kevin, Sephi is also drawn to the sound of combat, though for decidedly different reasons. She also opts to merely walk to the scene of the crime instead of engaging in acrobatics; it's a shame she's not familiar with Chaos, or this would be a far easier task. No matter, she'll push her way there eventually, maybe just in time to catch whoever did the crime and get herself into a score of trouble. Oh, this is so exciting~
"AGH! What the hell is that?! You're a Machinist?!" The muggers yell, fleeing in panic from Mercade. The people on the street part, screaming as the rough people scramble past the area, running past Kevin Graham...
And running right into Persephone. They skid to a stop, the thieves looking at each other and sharing a silent nod, before they grab her, one to each arm. One of them takes his dagger and holds it to Sephi's neck. "Back! And give us your money and the guns! Or we cut her throat!"
Mercade steps out of the alleyway, both guns smoking. One of his hands reaches up, scratching his head curiously. "What... did you say?" Mercade looks over, eyes narrowing as he sees their hostage. "Hmmm..." A sticky situation.
As these people speed past him, Kevin twists around. Since he's standing on a heavy, wooden bin of some sort- probably best not to ask in this part of town- he manages to be out of the way of most of the crowd pushing and shoving its way to safety. He watches the situation before he smirks a bit. The bowgun has quickly been stowed away behind his back as he hops down onto the ground near Mercade.
"Now now..." The priest speaks up idly, holding his hands up, showing that they're empty. "...I'm sure this isn't the way to be handlin' things, ya know?" He offers a quirky grin before he looks back towards Mercade. "Now... let the girl go..." He finally speaks as he glances towards the mugger's again, "...we can see 'bout somethin' without bringin' another's life in on this... I'm sure ya don' wanna do that, at least?"
Sephi doesn't know what's happening immediately. She's not Celene, after all, she doesn't have a god's reflexes. The muggers are dismissed as more people running for their lives, merely on the tail end of the crowd... a dismissal that ends with her being roughly grabbed and a knife pushed against her deathly-pale flesh. Who knows, maybe they'll think nothing of it and presume her odd palor is from fear.
"Ah," the girl gasps, taking into account her situation. Unless these people are Scions as well-- which she sincerely doubts --the knife may as well be made of foam. Especially since they're giving her the advantage of announcing that they'll slit her throat, she can just tense up her muscles to deal with that.
It is then that the Scion of Hel notices WHY she is being held hostage. Though her emotionless (maybe dazed?) expression doesn't change, she is sorely disappointed. "You..." she begins, but quickly trails off. Looks like she won't be able to call on Celene after all, not with Mercade here to steal all the glory, damn his Fate.
As for Kevin... well, he's just a guy trying to play negotiator, so the Helspawn pays him and his words no mind. They weren't directed towards her, anyway.
"Look, just listen to the nice priest, all right?" Mercade replies. The muggers look unimpressed. Mercade continues to talk, focused on trying to talk them into not killing Sephi right in front of his face. Hel would be /so/ pissed. I mean, seriously pissed. And then Celene would kill him, go down to Helheim, and then kill him again. "I really don't think you want to do this. You just want money, right? Look, let her go, and it won't be a probl-"
It's at this point, that a brick hits Mercade in the head. It rebounds off of it harmlessly, and lands on the ground. The investigator blinks, looking around. "Did something just land on my head?"
A moment later, the rest of the crate of bricks lands right on Mercade, burying him in building material. "OoOoOoWw~..." Mercade groans from under the bricks. Above, the rest of the thief gang chuckle and give each other high fives.
The ones holding Sephi, however, glare at Kevin. "Sorry, preacher. We need money and we need it bad. Why don't you give us that nice bowgun, huh?"
Kevin frowns and jumps away as the bricks fall onto Mercade. He quickly looks upwards to see the others above them. With a bit of a frown, he quickly pulls the bowgun free from his belt. There's a moment as he seems to rearm the safety and he snaps something else, which causes the catch to releases and... jam the bolt in place.
"...ah..." He looks at it a bit, then smiles a bit awkwardly towards the bandits. "I don' think it'll getcha much. It's old and tends ta be a pain in the..." He frowns suddenly. "Well, ya know I can't say what- man of the cloth, an' all." He quickly tosses the jammed weapon to the ground, towards the thieves. "'ave a look for yerselves."
It is a very strange crossbow. It's pretty- the decoration is definately ornate, and a lot of work has been done to it. Some gold gilding to the sides... and even more strange that it doesn't have a trigger. The whole firing mechanism is a long, full-bodied bar that is simply squeezed. However, with the safeties in place, it's not going to do much of anything. In fact, where are the safeties? There are no visible switches other than the trigger on that strange weapon.
"..." Sephi has no words for Mercade's horrible luck. Really, she should have been expecting that, having noticed his trend of being mowed down in the past. And that priest was just disarmed (why did a pries thave a crossbow, anyway?). Garrett, her loyal pet pooch, is nowhere to be seen, the girl having sat him down near the Gate out of this world and told him to stay.
That would make this the perfect time to call for Celene, most assuredly... unfortunately, Sephi's cell phone is in her pocket, and it only now occurs to her that it may be someone difficult to both not make any sudden movements AND call for back-up. "Oh," she says in that creepy monotone of hers, though such a short syllable doesn't really get either quality across.
Mercade is still kinda out of it. Epic Wits? Sure. Epic Dexterity? Yep. Epic Strength? Not so much. So he's busy with the bricks amidst twitching in pain.
The knife is pressed tight against Sephi's skin, though the mugger doesn't seem to get the idea that he can't seem to cut. "Don't try anything funny, now."
"Hahaha, the preacher can't use a bowgun! Hahaha, poor guy. This is a bad place to be without a weapon, pops." The second mugger on the street saunters forward, picking up the crossbow and looking it over. "This is a funny bowgun, Pops. Are you sure you... HEY!" He yells. "You busted this thing! We can't sell it like this!" He throws it back at Kevin, almost to spite him. "If you weren't a preacher, Pops, you'd be in big trouble for that. Just get out of here. You never saw us."
The second stalks over to Sephi, and runs a rough hand across her porcelain chin. "She's a weird one."
"They say royalty is sometimes like that."
"She ain't royalty. Does she look like any of those snobs to you? Either way, we could get a good price for her. The Company knows people who like these kinds of girls." He giggles in a decidedly unpleasant manner.
"Maybe. Ask her."
The mugger leans in, his rotten breath wafting into Sephi's face. "Hey girlie. What's your name? And don't lie."
Kevin quickly catches the bowgun out of the air with a good show of dexterity. He looks it over, then smiles. "I never saw ya? Well, that would be lyin', y'know?" He tilts his head a bit. "I could've said that I never saw them?" He nods upwards. There's suddenly a slide of one hand over the weapon. This snaps the jammed bolt, sending pieces of metal across the ground at his feet. The priest quickly raises his weapon above his head, not even looking back to see where the thieves were when they dropped the bricks.
"Though Eidos says I can' lie, y'know. I'm a priest. An' I obviously can't deny Her orders." He squeezes the trigger of the empty weapon. However, this sends a large lance of white energy firing up towards the target he had mentally tacked into place earlier. "Who says I can' use a bowgun?" He laughs before he lowers the weapon. "I think s'just a lil' too special for ya to figure out how to use."
If there's one thing that was sufficiently ground into Sephi's head by her Guide and her Guide's pet Fatebound, it's that revealing her identity is a bad idea. It is for this reason that, despite the implied threat of what may happen if she lies, Sephi answers cooly, "Celene Hunter." She breathes out through her nose, trying to force away the horrid smell of the man's breath while one of her hands moves to grab the wrist of the one holding the knife at her throat in a useless attempt to pull it away. "And you would do best to remove your hands from me, mother would be displeased if something unpleasant were to befall me... very displeased." The Helchild locks eyes with the grunt who is invading her personal space, eyes widening to give him a great view of those freakishly blue orbs. Should he make the mistake of continuing to stare at her, he'll find it difficult to look away... or even to do anything else, even react to Kevin's sudden light show.
As for the one holding the knife? Well, he'll find that is wrist is starting to become very sore where the Scion's hand is grabbing him. She's not even holding him very hard, and yet a hideous bruise is suddenly creeping out from beneath her fingers, spreading across his hand and forearm.
"Celene Hunter, eh?" The second glances up to the first, who shakes his head. "Doesn't sound noble to me. Maybe some rich merchant's girl who went out on a stroll at the wrong time. Heh heh heh heh!"
The first man doesn't move in response to the struggling girl, also laughing. "What, Miss Hunter, do you think you're going to break free? Not a chance, girlie-o..." Suddenly he gasps.
In the middle of the laughing and that gasp, everything goes to hell.
The bolt of light sears into the air, tagging the thief neatly, who falls over with a scream. The scream ends quickly with a sodden crunch when he hits the broken cobblestone road headfirst. The thieves immediately change their tune. "INQUISITOR!" is the scream that goes out, and they back away, panicked. The first thief releases Sephi, holding his aching, bruised arm with one hand. He can't even hold the knife anymore, anyway. "P-P-P-Please f-f-f-orgive us, Inquisitor, we didn't recognize you... AAAAH!" The man looks down at his arm in shock, staring at the ugly bruise. "THE LITTLE GIRL PUT A CURSE ON ME! DEVIL-CHILD!"
The second thief cringes as well, especially at the yell of devil-child. "Inquisitor, please, protect us from this terrible demon-girl. You were hunting her, right? Please, exorcise her and break the curse! We'll never do this again!"
The remaining thieves on the roof aren't even there anymore, having long since beat feet.
The one thief falls to the ground next to him. Kevin doesn't even bat an eye at the sound before he begins to approach. He quickly turns the bowgun on Sephi suddenly. "...yer right. I am." He says this suddenly as he starts towards the girl, then moves to drag her back, and away, from her would-be captors.
"Insquisitors are servants of the shadows. The gods will curse the lot o' you worse than she has if you even so much as utter a word of what you have seen tonight." The bowgun is quickly raised in their direction again. "...don' make me deem you as heretics, as well!" There's a bit of practice from the whole act, but he quickly puts himself between the girl and the muggers at this point. ...though there's something funny about that. A heretic threatening to mark others as such? What a laughable thought... "Now. The desires of the goddess, at this point, are not for the eyes of criminals. Get!" He quickly loads a standard bolt into the weapon and fires a warning shot at the thieves.
He's serious! Really! He'll shoot you, heathens!
Sephi suddenly finds herself free, and being poitned out as being a demon. So much for keeping a low profile... oh well, at least it won't tarnish her name. "I thought it was odd for an ordinary priest to carry a weapon at all, let alone one of such power." She begins to giggle... it's a creepy, haunting sound, more like a soft cackle than anything else. The sort of laugh a man might associate with a madman... that it's coming from a child only makes it that much worse.
She doesn't fear his crossbow, though it and the revelation of his 'true' profession does prompt the Helspawn to examine the man more closely... and notice something strange, the black star sapphire at her throat glinting in the light. Her laughter subsides, and she regards the man with muted interest as he pulls her aside.
"...nor did I expect a man of the cloth to be rife with corruption," she murmurs only for his ears as he threatens the thugs. Hopefully he won't get thrown for a loop by her words! "I wonder which god your pact is with, or do all inquisitors bear the mark of death?"
The two thieves cower before the 'Inquisitor', cringing back. "We'll never say a thing! Honest! Ajora's honor!"
"Please, don't mark us heretics! We'll never sin again! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" It kinda looks pitiful for them to beg and cower like that... But it probably hints at the horrible power that the Church has here. Kevin should just be happy that they're not paying attention to what he's saying enough to catch the inconsistencies between the Septian Church and the Glabados Church. When Kevin tells them to get, they get, scrambling away for their lives.
Of course, the guys on the rooftops didn't swear...
With a clatter of masonry, Mercade finally bursts forth, wobbling as he waves his guns around and slurs drunkenly, "All right, you sons of bitches, let's do this..." He then, of course staggers to one side and slumps down to the ground against a wall. That hurt.
Kevin smirks a bit. He shows no response to the words from Sephi, until he quickly turns on her. Not only does he turn on her, he raises the bowgun towards her as well.
This time, the playful tone that he held, even while running along with the 'Inquisitor' gig, is completely gone. He sounds dead serious. "....how..." He doesn't get the chance to question her much more when suddenly that pile of bricks just bursts away and he quickly twists around to see Mercade standing.
Perhaps for everyone's best interests, Kevin's serious tone is dropped as he finds that he can really only say a few words in response: "...wow. Yer alive."
Fac-IPA> Mercade Alexander sounds like he just got hit with a ton of bricks. Because he did. "I'M ALIVE!"
Fac-IPA> Leon Freier says, "...Goddammit, what'd you do now Mercade?"
Fac-IPA> Ruri Hoshino says, "Congradulations on this small sign of your achievement."
Fac-IPA> Father Kevin Graham says, "...."
Fac-IPA> Father Kevin Graham says, "...wait. That was /you/, Mercade?"
Mercade raises a hand, pointing dramatically even though he's sitting on his ass. "I'M ALIVE!" He declares. "But... everything is spinning. I need to sit down for a minute..." Even though he IS sitting...
Fac-IPA> Leon Freier says, "Did you try and steal Celene's underwear or something?"
Fac-IPA> Father Kevin Graham says, "...no."
Fac-IPA> Father Kevin Graham says, "He got a pile o' bricks dropped on 'em."
Fac-IPA> Mercade Alexander sounds woozy. "Yessir. Thass me, Mercade Alexander, ace detective."
Fac-IPA> Leon Freier says, "Were they dropped by a pack of zombies this time?"
Fac-IPA> Father Kevin Graham says, "Muggers."
Fac-IPA> Father Kevin Graham says, "I think they tried to rob 'em."
Fac-IPA> Leon Freier says, "Oh."
Fac-IPA> Leon Freier says, "Ah well."
Fac-IPA> Mercade Alexander says, "Can't be... zombies all that time..."
Sephi continues to give Kevin that searching look of hers. It's piercing, but not frighteningly so, certainly not the 'freeze you in place' gaze that she gave the guy with the bad breath a few seconds ago.
She doesn't have the chance to answer his question, alas, because it gets cut off a word in by Mercade's reappearance. "Are you alright, Alexander?" she inquires, noting Kevin's sudden demeanor change and stepping away from the priest without giving a second thought to the crossbow that was just pointed at her. "Are you injured? I'm afraid I can't do anything for your head, but if any of your bones have been crushed, I may be able to restore them."
The priest just stares at the man while he remains where he is... at least, for a moment. "I dunno 'ow much ya can do, miss, b-..." Kevin had stepped forward to kneel down next to Mercade, then he stops and looks up at Sephi.
"...wait. Yer Persephone, right? Girl wit' the pretty first name that shares my last name?" He allows a bit of a grin to show through. But at the same time, his mind is running. How did she know? Did he let up on his control any? Did it somehow wipe his memory of actually using that power? He...
...has no time to worry about that. He quickly puts the bowgun aside and takes Mercade's head in both hands. "I want ya to relax for a bit. This shouldn' hurt too much, but with this sort of injury, ya never know..."
The priest closes his eyes and begins to whisper quietly: "...O blessed Mother of the Sky, please grant healing upon this poor soul." The priest's power is quite a bit different from what else he could have buried away deep down. It's a cool energy, working its way into the man's body, trying to heal some of the injuries, mostly those to his head, however.
Kevin suddenly pulls his hands back and lowers his head a bit. He lets out a deep breath, before he looks to Mercade. "...s'the best I could do for ya." He glances towards Sephi. "...if she can do more, ya might want to ask her."
His healing ability can only do so much, afterall.
Mercade Alexander shakes his head woozily. "I'll be fine. Just... a few bruises. I can sleep it off." He waves a bit at Sephi, and then looks up to Kevin. "Father? Is that you? Father Graham! Good to see you!" He does indeed sound delighted. At least until he winces in pain. He holds still when asked, and the healing energy washes through him. He shakes his head, holding it for a moment, before he blinks. "Wow, that's some good stuff, Father." He grins, and stands. "No, I wouldn't want to trouble you. Anyway..." He holsters his guns. "All's well that ends well, right?" He looks to Sephi. "So, what were you doing in a place like this, Sephi? Celene's going to kill you."
"Your memory serves you well," Sephi says to Kevin as she considers his words. Who was it that shared her name? Father Graham? It sounds about right, even if she wasn't actually paying attention to him at the time, having dismissed the man as yet another fool blathering on the radio.
"Hunter is the one who told me to come here," the Helchild responds to the 'ace detective'. "She informed me that I was to act on my own, and only to contact her when I required assistance." A hand is gestured towards the empty street. "As you can see, things I have taken care of the threat adequately, without the need to trouble Hunter." Kevin's role in things is casually ignored. As frightened of magic as those thugs were, she's sure she could have frightened them away with or without the priest playing at police.
Actually... she appears to be completely ignoring Kevin, not even bothering to give him a second look. It may seem a little strange, considering the exchange the two just had. Maybe she's playing mind games, or something.
"I dunno, I heard some crazy stuff when I was buried under those bricks." Mercade points out. "But, at least you're safe." Despite Mercade inadvertantly triggeting a horrifying series of events that will haunt everyone but him for the next long while. He looks over to Kevin. "So, you're the famous Father Graham? Mercade Alexander, pleased to meet you." He holds out a hand for the priest to shake if he so wishes. "Funny meeting you here. This must have been an interesting... coincidence." Hahahaha. coincidence.
And out of the crowd, like a ship emerging from the fog, is someone dressed completely the wrong way for this area. Leather jacket - jeans - blue-rimmed glasses with clip-on shades. A cigarette dangling from her lips, and a positively Spockian cock to her brow.
Celene Hunter.
"So that was kind of interesting," she remarks, blandly. "You guys all OK?"
Kevin only casts a half-hearted glance towards Sephi. Something unnerves him about her. Perhaps it's just what she had said to him... he's not sure... But! He knows he has other things to focus on. He finally laughs as he shrugs a bit. "I'm not all tha' famous. I'd rather not be, in fact." He quickly takes Mercade's hand in a firm handshake, however. "And funny coincidence indeed." THough he stops, then looks towards Sephi slightly, then back to Mercade. "...or maybe not? The Goddess has an interesting sense of humor sometimes..."
...though as the newcomer shows, the priest turns to look to Celene at this point, raising an eyebrow. He recognizes her voice, too. "I'm fine, really." He quickly waves a hand to brush off the question.
"Hunter," Sephi says, shoulders stiffening. She turns to face her Guide with a level expression. "I am surprised to see you here." The tone in her voice says otherwise, though it's not like it ever gives away emotion in any but the most dire circumstances anyway. "Do you have business in this city? I don't think there's any demonic taint here, the church seems to have a strong presense and is able to keep such things under tight control." Was that a jab at Kevin? It's so hard to tell with her.
"Celene! Sure, I'm fine!" Mercade says brightly. "Man, those thieves ran off fast. I'm sorry I missed it all!"
He shrugs at Kevin's words, getting a worried look across his face for a moment. A hand steals into a pocket of his coat for a moment... But he removes it without taking anything out. No... Not here. Not now. He looks back over to Celene. "Things seem to be fine for now... But Sephi isn't kidding about the Church. Apparently some of them are pretty crazy."
Celene, possibly directly contrary to Sephi's expectations, turns to her ward first, stepping over. "I was actually in the area because I wanted to see if Mercade would need any help, but..." She looks the girl over, tilting her glasses down to see her more clearly. "You handled that situation pretty well, all things considered. We should get you a weapon, though. I don't think I like this thing where you're going around with just a Boon to keep you safe."
Pause. THEN she looks back over her shoulder at Mercade and Kevin, nodding. "Good. Glad you're alright."
Whether or not Kevin catches the possible jab in his direction? That's nearly impossible to tell as he's currently fussing with his bowgun. He casts a glance towards Mercade. "...eh... well... it wasn' much to begin with." He clenches his jaw a bit. "They jus' thought I was an inquisitor, so I ran with it. Easy enough to make someone think you are one thing if they've already convinced themselves." There are a few more pieces of metal pulled out of mechanisms. They weren't in the way, but he'd rather that the forced jam he caused be... a clean one, at the very least.
"Ya never know. Sometimes, church people are kinda nuts." He tilts his head as he looks up towards Celene. He doesn't say anything to the words she spoke, but he does go back to focusing on fixing his weapon. "Ah! There we go!" He holds it up triumphantly and quickly resets the safety. "Good as new~"
If Celene's reaction surprised Sephi, as always, she doesn't show it, though the extremely observant (read as: Celene) may notice the tightness in her shoulders slacken. "Is that so? I see..." Her gaze turns to Mercade. "What were you doing here, anyway, Alexander?" she asks. "I understand that you are prone to being assaulted by ne'er-do-wells, but it is quite the coincidence to run into you here. And Father Graham as well." Oh, look, she's finally acknowledging Kevin! "Does one run into their aquantances often when traversing the multiverse, or is this a unique occurance?"
"Good good. Well, um..." He gets the GAZE OF CELENE upon him. "I was, ah... looking for leads! You never know where a multiversal apocalypse cult might have their trails." This has nothing to do with the bar down the street, he swears.
Celene merely smirks back at Mercade. "Well, good. By the way, there's a better bar on the other side of town. If you're going to booze and interrogate people at the same time, at least do it in quality?"
Celene picks the strangest moments to flash her ego.
Then she turns back toward Sephi, hands returning to her pockets. The smirk around her cigarette grows just slightly when she notes the loosening of Sephi's shoulders. "It's just a thing. You'll find that you run into folks you know all the time. Sometimes it's coincidence, sometimes it's not..."
She glances back. Mercade. Hmm.
"...I'm a little unsure about which it is today."
Mercade Alexander looks totally innocent. He's probably failing.
Sephi also looks at Mercade, seeing as Celene has drawn attention to him with her glance. She also notices his utter failing at looking like he has no idea what's going on. "...are you alright, Alexander? Your expression is strange, did Father Graham's healing not repair everything?"
"I don't think I could 'ave healed everythin', Miss Hunter." Kevin says kindly while he moves to put the bowgun away. "Maybe it was for the best that I arrived when I did an' all." The priest finally turns to Mercade. "I hope yer feelin' better an all, but I really should get goin'."
If anyone wants to question Kevin, they should try to stop him now. Letting him escape means he's gotten out of everyone's hair for tonight! And are you really sure you want that right now? Or maybe you do...?
Mercade Alexander shakes his head. "No, I'm fine. Really!" Innocent! Really! Except not so much. "Anyway, I'm going to go ahead and, ah, look for some more leads. See you all later!" He turns, and begins walking off at some speed before Celene decides to put some bullets into him anyway. Maybe it's just him, but he can practically FEEL the Fatebindings closing in.
Celene stands by, hands shoved into her pockets, while first Father Graham, and then Mercade wander off.
She grins, and looks down at Sephi. "You OK, Sephi?" she asks, looking a little more serious now that they're kinda sorta alone. "That looked pretty serious. How you feeling?"
"I am fine, Hunter," Sephi replies. "It occured to me to call for help, but one had a knife to my throat, and I did not wish to draw attention to myself as Ryuzaki and yourself warned against." Her expression turns thoughtful...ish. "However, when Alexander was incapacitated, I became concerned and acted regardless. Had I known that Father Graham had such abilities as well, I would not have played my hand in such a fashion against normal humans." If nothing else, she's learned the value of a good information network, at least.
Kevin is turning to leave when he hears what Sephi says. He twists around to continue backpedalling a bit, but he gestures idly. "I can't do things like that too much, I'm afraid. s'really exahustin', an' all." However, he eventually turns around to continue on the path he picked. Towards the tavern, and perhaps to an inn. He needs the rest.
Really. He's not going there to make a report. Promise.
Celene shrugs, not looking completely concerned. "It's not our world, and besides, from the way they reacted, obviously they have people with strange powers here anyway." She pulls the cigarette from her lips, exhaling a cloud of smoke.
She eyes it for a moment, then casually tosses it down, stomping it out on the earth. "Anyway," she says, turning her attention back to Sephi, "I think you did about as well as you could be expected to. I think you'll do better with some kind of weapon...people get less ideas in their heads when you cut them open than they do when your touch makes their eyes bleed."
"All of his bleeding was beneath the skin," Sephi defends, though it's really not much of defense. "However, you are correct, Hunter. I will see about locating something I'll be able to use." It'd be nice if she could actually LIFT any of those epic weapons, however, so she'll have to think small...
...speaking of small, something occurs to the Scion of Hel. "Oh, you must excuse me, Hunter. I must retrieve Garrett, he felt it necessary to stay by the gate and I saw no reason to force him into the city." She certainly didn't order him to stay there so she could put herself in peril, nosireebob.
Celene watches Sephi for a moment, and then nods. "If possible, anyway. I know you're not exactly built for war, so maybe a gun or something...but, then your grandpa'd kick my ass..."
She frowns, scratching at the back of her head. "Well, we should look things over, anyway. And we should have a talk, soon. You gonna be OK on your own? Or do you want me to come with ya? I don't have anything else to do."
Sephi's grandfather is quite the trickster, so he might go for a gun if it had enough dots poured into 'wacky side effects'. That is wholey beside the point, however. "I doubt there will be any issues so long as I stay on the major streets. Good night, Hunter." She gives her Guide a short bow, and then turns to walk away.
In the background, the sun finally sets, an event that felt like hours only occuring in the span of a few minutes.
============================= Rumors and Hearsay =============================
Message: 11/4 Posted Author
The Devil-Child of Lesalia! Mon Nov 05 Mercade Alexander
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Word is spreading like wildfire from bar to bar and people on the street in Lesalia, Imperial Capital, about a strange, beautiful young woman by the name of 'Celene Hunter'. Apparently, this girl had cursed a man with a mere touch, rotting his body and devouring his soul. Even an Inquisitor on the scene was unable to stop her with his magical bowgun! Is the Church going to be able to protect them from this new threat?!
(OOC: Mercade Alexander, Sephi Graham, Kevin Graham, Celene Hunter)
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