[20:13] Despite the intention, there wasn't anything immediately intimidating from three girls in matching, sparkling outfits standing right outside of his house.

The sound of footsteps was easy enough to hear, even over the girl's casual dissing of his decorations- Vira was on-edge and completely alert to her surroundings, light waves of sound magic echoing away from her as she waited for an approach. They'd fought enough times for her to recognize his mana by now, and she spot Chrom as soon as he came into view.

"Shh!" she hissed at her friends, bringing a finger to her lips and then immediately correcting her posture, hip jutting out with one hand propped against it, the other curling through a lock of her hair.

With a hope that the others would fall into step, she lowered her gaze towards the Accursed with nonchalant, hooded eyes.

The collar around her neck was also carefully hidden with a gray ribbon, looking almost fashionable to someone who didn't know what it disguised.

"Well, well. Look who finally decided to show up," she began with a cliche that sounded almost too rehersed, "I told you that you'd pay for this."
(Vira Bathory)
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[20:18] Ithaca is losing her mind a little right now. It's no fault of any of the girls near her, or even the approach of their much-vaunted opponent. She's just had a really rough couple of weeks.

So as Vira calls out that he might be coming, the Ookami's ears and tail bristle. She leans forward in a snarl. Not only that, water begins to float around her body, before a harsh chill begins to waft off her. She doesn't seem to be doing this on purpose exactly, but the end result is a few snow flurries localized around her.

It's a sharp contrast to her 'blase' attitude Vira called her out for before. And maybe even a little too intense, she's giving off 'bad cop' vibes out of the group.

She doesn't bother to address the boy outside of her cold stare.
(Ithaca Blackwater)
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[20:23] She wasn't sure what Ithaca's issue was. It wasn't something she'd addressed to anyone within the group, which -- ... Probably, means that it's nothing good. It worries her, just as this situation worries her, but --

They're a unit. They're 'one'. All of their problems should be dealt with together.

Right now, though -- She isn't supposed to be the face of this. This is Vira's time to shine, and so Yulia holds back any comments she may have. It isn't her turn to spin a bunch of pretty, shiny words, this time. She simply crosses her arms, cocking her hips.

"This is him, hmm - ?"
(Yulia Felice)
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[20:30] On the Occultist's return to his humble home, he's greeted by a bewildering sight. Vira had grown bold again, the reason for being so apparently flanking her; His eyes are narrowed, appraising of the two other girls in matching frilly outfits...

He gathers his composure rather quickly though, his lips curling into a cruel smile as he so casually lifts the helm he held underarm and dons it; the hard metal covering his head displayed a readiness for battle, the attached horns intimidating.

"I was expecting a visit." The male confesses, confident as he procures what appears to be a dangerous-looking remote from a pouch at his waist. "...but not from you, personally. Should I be happy, to have three girls visiting my home at this Witching Hour?"

The question is rhetorical, a callous disregard given for continued conversation on even terms as he flicks a switch-- hopefully, to apply a subduing force to the collar so carefully hidden by the Neries.

He had paid a premium price for the hardware, so it had better work!

(Chrom Sigma)
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[20:37] It was all cliche and far too practiced to sound natural, but at least Vira had gotten the body-language down. She looked incredibly nonchalant, twirling a lock of hair carelessly around her finger as she looked down her nose at him, like he wasn't worth the effort.

"This is him," she affirmed, "I know what you're thinking, he looks so lacking...."

A quick barb towards his appearance, though her facade was quickly ruined as the runes glowed blue underneath the ribbon and any sparkle of power around her flickered out. Strength zapped, Vira grit her teeth into a snarl, devolving into violence quicker than she'd anticipated.

"I fight my own battles," she retort, "I'm not about to just send someone after you like a coward. You're going to give me that remote, personally."

A threat and a petty one from someone who had brought a backup squad, and she was quick to draw her weapon.

Glancing back at the others to ensure they were ready, she'd give him one last chance to avoid a fight:

"So hand it over!"
(Vira Bathory)
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[20:43] The Ookami tries to reel it in. Seeing Vira put on a front before this dude who kicked her into the dirt twice is inspiring like that. ...Even if she has backup helping her confidence.

So body tense, she forces herself into a more relaxed pose. Not quite mimicking Vira, but in the heat of the moment you can tell where she's drawing her example from.

A few deep breaths... it was just like being on-stage. It was normal to be nervous. Just gotta... chill.

She manages to get her throat to the point where it can do something besides grr and she says, "...Vira. He's not worth your time. We're here to help! He hit you with whatever cheater magic that thing has, right? So you go ahead and hang back for this one. Leave him to us."

"And besides." Her lance, Dead Winter Waltz, is unslung from her back and the end slammed on the flagstones beneath her. "We're a unit. We're Valkyrie. I'm sure Yulia agrees with me when I say we both want to get a chance to knock in this guy's teeth too. He hurt you."
(Ithaca Blackwater)
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[20:43] Ithaca also begins to sparkle as her aura flares up and reflects off her snowflakes.
(Ithaca Blackwater)
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[20:54] As stoic as the Accursed could be, this was his most active hour. Ithaca's reassuring words in particular provoke a cackle of mirth, his smile widening into a menacing grin. His amber eyes are particularly intense, predatory even--

He answers with another flick of a switch, uncertain if multiple functions worked simultaneously but not particularly caring. Vile Occultism touches the air, as well as the more unusual warpings of Time magic in his immediate vicinity.

Several lesser Demons emerge from the shadows, as if they had been there all along.

"A unit, are you? Let me test that. The first two to beg for mercy will be spared."

Spared what, he doesn't elaborate as he pockets the remote and draws his weapon; It might look a simple weapon on the surface, but the sword extended before him to defend and parry was an easy conductor of Occult mana.

Chrom was ready for a fight, ready to attack if they refused to do so first.

(Chrom Sigma)
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[20:55] Yulia is also probably ready for a fight provided she is not evacuated from her house during the verb
(Yulia Felice)
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[21:04] He was taunting them, already.

It makes her eyes narrow, it makes her lips press into a thin line. He'll make them beg, was it ... ? Those words make her stomach churn - they make her skin crawl. Why was Vira involved with someone like this ... ?

From within the ruffles of her skirt, Yulia pulls what appears to be a small handle. Eyes still trained on the accursed boy before her, she focuses --- But-- ... Still, nothing. Nothing. She can't do it, yet -- not even in this time of need. Cursing a silent curse, the handle is pocketed and her skin glows a glimmering gold.

"Eh~?" Her voice is almost mocking, sing-song. "Aren't those words a little big ... ? Mm. Oh well, we'll see how this goes. When we win, you'll leave Vira alone."
(Yulia Felice)
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[21:07] Ithaca's words were as much as shock as the jolt from the collar was, and Vira grit her teeth harder, her knuckles going white around her grip on her scythe.

Occultism flared around her, mana torn painfully from her in a way she wasn't used to and in a way that was, frankly, fatiguing her- shocks jolt through her body and it was difficult not to look like they were affecting her.

"I'm fighting!" she shout without even turning to look at Ithaca- her gaze was for the boy and his vile words and vile magic, arrogant despite being so clearly outnumbered, "We're a unit, so it means we'll fight together... no matter how weak I might be right now...."

It was hard to say, but she had to- she wasn't about to let herself get cast aside and out of her own battle, not when she was the only one who truly knew what Chrom could do.

Though from Yulia's repulsed reaction towards his words, there was definitely a side of Vira that wouldn't sit well with her, either.....

"He's a leech who draws power from nature and sends his minions out to attack. Don't let him fool you, he fights like a coward!" she informed the other two of his tactics with a snap- and not only were they meant to inform, but they were just as much to dig at the Accursed.

Gripping her scythe, she glanced at the other two and she nodded- before she stormed forward with a wince, drawing as much power as she could.
(Vira Bathory)
[21:54] It wasn't her best fight, not by a long shot.

For someone who had claimed his fighting style was cowardly, Vira employed the same tactics- she'd back away and send potshots of occultist and sound towards the Accursed boy and used Ithaca and Yulia for the actual offense. There was just something sluggish about how she moved and how she performed, every shock of the collar throwing her off.

There was nothing skillful about it, nothing to be proud of- but at this point, Vira didn't care.

She hung back until the end, until they'd gotten him down and weak, and then she burst forward again on a trail of stars. Brandishing her scythe towards him, Vira was panting heavily and immensely staggered by the effort of fighting- she'd dropped more than once, only to drag herself back up to her feet to continue.

Her magic barely clung to her, a pathetic shimmer of starlight that was barely even noticeable compared to the glow of her friends.

"Give it up--" her shoulders heaved as she spoke, leaning heavily on her scythe to keep her standing, "Drop the remote, or take it off! We know where you live!"

Surely, her friends would have something more eloquent- but Vira was out of breath and utterly exhausted, unable to form more than the simplest of demands.

Of course, the fight was long-winded for all of them, so it was very likely the boy could just run away....
(Vira Bathory)
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[22:03] Once the fight begins, Ithaca streaks towards the accursed, lance held aloft. She's clearly quite nervous -- her mind infected by a fear of going too far, while her heart worries she won't go as far as she needs to defend her friend.

It's getting her magic a little out of control. Frost crawls from Dead Winter Waltz down her forearms, though it's not an ugly effect. The frost sparkles as her skin glows invigorated with cosmic magic. And probably staves off some of the ill effects of that. At least for now.

But Vira wasn't kidding. She hadn't been in too many fights, but she's never seen someone fight like this. Parrying most of her blows with her sword, and letting some occult monstrosities wage the assault on her more than the boy himself. It doesn't help too that any knick she does seem to inflict heals up...

She's left with little recourse but to keep hurling ice at him until he falls. It isn't withoutits ill effects on the Ookami -- by the time it's done she's almost iced over, parts of her dress frozen solid.

Ithaca is a little better off than Vira though. And as Chrom falls, she strides over to him. "You heard her! The remote! Give it back so we can free her or..."

There's a few sudden flashbacks to her experience in Crafthold.

"Or... I'm dangerous, you know! Don't test me!"
(Ithaca Blackwater)
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[22:08] * You have been awarded 5 Roleplay Points! *
[22:09] Unlike Vira and Ithaca, Yulia doesn't fight with a weapon. The way she moves about the battlefield is as if she's dancing, twirling to avoid attacks, her feet never steadying. She casts magic with hand movements -- Barrages of stars, rains of stone, waves of sound. It was a chaotic battle, but, should you have been listening for it - she had been singing under her breath for the entirety of it, using the soundwaves of that song to fuel her attacks.

It's difficult, however -- even with the three of them. This boy is, after all, genetically engineered to be the perfect occultic warrior. Vira uses the powers of darkness, but being around her doesn't make her feel as ... ill as it does, around him.

However - Eventually, he falls. They did it -- of course they'd do it, there's no way that they would have lost, like this.

Chest heaving, begging for breath -- She pants out a last taunt, before he makes his choice.

"What was that, about begging, before...?"
(Yulia Felice)
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[22:20] It was more than a little ambitious to take the odds he had, weighing heavy the effectiveness of the anti-magic collar and the presumed weakness of Vira's allies in the decision. As well as he fought, things had not gone his way.

Every time he sought to isolate a target, they retreated behind the others and their starlight magic like a ghost-- the Accursed's already slow and deliberate movements constrained by a constant barrage of attacks from all sides.

In time it even wears down Chrom, an Occultist beginning to be known for his stubborn resilience. His posture buckles, though he remains on a knee with his sword in hand; The youth's breath is heavy, more so for an enduring wound he had suffered in battle.

A pair of amber eyes glare at the lot of them yet, as he grit his teeth together.

How could he possibly lose to this circus troupe?

"...Fine..." He mutters discontentedly, taking up the remote and rising in a sudden movement to throw it overarm behind the trio. It sails high in the air, before he uses the moment of distraction to take off in the opposite direction.

As a resident of the mountains, he could easily escape them despite a lack of agility-- shouting back, like the sore loser he was.

"THIS ISN'T OVER!"

Choreography had won over his own cheap tactics today, but next time he could come more prepared...

Hopefully.

(Chrom Sigma)
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[22:32] For a first "performance", for their first time truly practicing together, they really weren't bad. Even with the anti-magic collar shocking and restraining her, Chrom was overwhelmed.

Vira fought to keep her breathing stable, the collar feeling tight around her throat- and sometime during the battle she'd lost her ribbon, leaving the runed device on full display as she catches her breath.

There's something about Yulia's taunt that bothers Vira specifically, a weird sense of guilt that she has trouble disassociating from. Their first encounter isn't exactly one easily forgotten, and for a moment Vira worried her lip like she was ready to admit to her own sins-

-and then the remote is flung their way, and Chrom spits out some nonsense about it not being over, and then he's gone.

"Jerk!" she shout breathlessly after him, the words carrying anyway- a master of her craft, at the very least.

Fumblingagainst her scythe, Vira barely manages to snatch the remote out of the air. Pushing a button against it, the collar loosens harmlessly from her neck and she's quick to fling it roughly to the ground, cracking the thing with the end of her scythe. Huffing, she slowly rolled up to her full posture, lips pursed into a pout as she watched Chrom's retreating form in the distance.

"Obviously it isn't over, he lives, like... right next door to us...." she mumbled it childishly, feeling oddly unsatisfied- in a way that might speak of future recklessness on her part.

She shook her head, dusky lavender hair tossing about her head.

"But we really fight well together, don't we?" she turned towards her friends with a weak smile.
(Vira Bathory)
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[22:39] Ithaca looks at her frozen hands, and pries one off the lance. There's a gross cracking noise, and some skin sticks to it. Eww. She's kind of a mess all around, sweating where she isn't frozen, and covered in a few marks that feel vaguely occultic.

"Does he know he's running away from his own house or..." She shakes her head, "Whatever." She manages a soft smile at Vira and says, "...He was pretty tough. Definitely more of a demon than a person. ...Thankfully!" She's sounding more cheerful as she speaks, "We had your demonslayer expertise to help guide us through the battle."

Pulling her mom act on Vira again she summons a ball of water, and forms it into a bean shape. It's flash frozen, and tossed to the neries. "Ice pack." She repeats the same thing for Yulia too.

Then looks between her friends, passing some of the smile between each of them. "I don't think we could have done that without all of us fighting together. It was a lot more. Um. It felt good to fight with you too. Nothing like my other fights alone. We really are Valkyries, huh?"
(Ithaca Blackwater)
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[22:43] Maybe ... this was something like their first performance. The way they fought together so seamlessly was like a dance - They thrived off of each other's movements, took in each other's energy and came out on top.

Her body is still shaking -- her breath is still short, but ... She can't help but laugh, wiping away tears that begun to sting at the corners of her eyes. The 'ice pack' is taken, pressed against some of the worst-for-the-ware parts of her body, but she gives a nod.

"See? You doubted us -- But, if we're anything on stage like we are on this kind of battlefield ... well, then we're unstoppable, right...?"
(Yulia Felice)
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[22:48] "I beat him so easily, the first time...." she still sounded petulant, annoyed that it had taken the three of them to beat him.

For that matter, she didn't quite know how to reply to Ithaca's mention of her demonslaying, and so she chose to ignore it with a pouty huff. Instead, she silently accepted the icepack and let the conversation stray away from demons and boys to their perfromance as a group.

"It did feel energizing, to fight together. Like... way different than the time we fought the guy who wanted to be my dad, too. When it's just us... it feels more cohesive, you know?"

She wasn't doing a good job of describing it, shaking her head again and reaching up to retie one of her ribbons.

"I guess this was good for something, huh...? I actually feel a little confident in us."

Which was a strange thing for the usually arrogant girl to say, but as she was retying the ribbon around her left horn, she paused- and she looked up guiltily towards Ithaca.

"...but, um... I think the ribbon I stole from you got shredded during the fight. Sorry."
(Vira Bathory)
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[22:50] You learned the spell Rock Wall.
[22:52] Judging by the way Ithaca is eyeing up Vira's ribbons, she's probably wondering what happened to her's. Though when Vira reveals its tragic fate she has enough tact to say, "Oh, um. It's fine! I'm just glad it was the only casualty on our side."

"But we really do compliment each other well. I was fighting with Iosefka's husband, Tez, and it didn't feel anything like this. That was like we were two people fighting, this is more like... like. Singing, I guess. It's not a whole song until we hit all the parts. And there' even harmonies and stuff. Like Yulia totally blasted that guy right into my line of fire, and I wrecked him with a blast of water."

She keeps her eyes on Yulia and follows up with, "...Hey, actually. It looked like you were going to take something from your pocket when we started. What was that about?"
(Ithaca Blackwater)
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[22:57] "Ah- well..."

She'd hoped that no one had noticed that part -- that no one had noticed her failures. She tries so, so hard, all the time to have an air of perfection - a mask that can't be cracked, and yet ... here she is, now, having to tell her unitmates just what went down. She doesn't want to lie to them -- She doesn't want to give them any reason to not trust her.

So --- she doesn't face them when she says it, turning her back to them. This is a compromise, for now.

"I don't have a custom-made weapon, like you guys. But -- I was given something, once. A bow, specifically made for users of Cosmic Magic -- one that's shaft is made of starlight. Physically, only the handle of it is 'real', and it acts as a conduit. I ... haven't been able to focus on it, yet, enough ... to make it take it's true form."
(Yulia Felice)
[23:03] Vira is visibly relieved at Ithaca's understanding of her losing the ribbon- she'd been entirely braced for the ookami to get angry at her for it, but she's glad at how close they feel after fighting together. It was what their group needed- a boost of confidence.

All at some Accursed's expense.

"At one point I think I blast him backwards into your starlight beam," she told Ithaca with an amused grin, finding the situation more cheery now that the stain on her pride had disappeared with the cracked collar.

But Yulia didn't appear nearly as confident, and Vira blinked- staring at her. It was such a strange change in demeanor that she didn't know how to react to it, cocking her head curiously at the blonde.

"...you're probably close," she assured her, holding the ice pack against her side- and glancing around after a slight beat of silence.

"We should probably head back. This kind of is where he lives...." and they were just talking on his front lawn like they owned it.

Vira wasn't particularly interested in picking a bigger fight than the childish feud they had- and she wasn't petty enough to destroy someone's property when they weren't around. Dragging her scythe out of the ground, she turned to head back towards the tavern they usually gathered around.
(Vira Bathory)