World War Camp and Dress Up (At The Same Time): S3

[17:10] * Oxford changes topic to 'Cimbrian Militia Make Organized Retreat - Albaean Armoured Divisions Prepare for Counterattack'
[17:13] * Aori_Radidjiu is now known as Lily_Blevins
[17:14] * Kraken is now known as Naida
[17:14] * BigTentacruel is now known as Henriette
[17:22] <@Oxford> A small fire crackles in the bombed-out ruins of a windmill, a flicker of red against the pitch black walls. Squatting next to the small bundle of twigs, Naida prods the fire carefully, trying to make do with mundane means for now.
[17:23] <@Oxford> Henriette and Lily, arms laden with firewood, can see the windmill outlined against the deep blue of the twilight sky. The climb the hill carefully, eager for a warm meal and a dry place to sleep.
[17:29] <@Oxford> It has been two days since the meeting with Sylvi and Aamu. Since that time, the Novgoraadi advance has been rapid, as Sylvi predicted. The three girls passed through the frontlines earlier this morning, sneaking back onto the Cimbrian side of the fighting, as they continue north towards Wadden.
[17:32] <@Oxford> The plan is simple enough: support the Novgoraadi advance until the Albaeans are forced to surrender, and then use the combined firepower of both the Cimbrian and Novgoraadi pendant users to enforce a diplomatic settlement in Wadden that will satisfy the strategic interests of both sides.
[17:32] <Henriette> Henriette glances over her shoulder and through a broken window, the structure long since devoid of glass and protection. "I still don't trust them." She mutters irritably. "That one seemed... what is the word... overzealous?"
[17:34] <Lily_Blevins> "I can see why she was so proud of her country glad I let Naida do most of the talking because they probably wouldn't have believed what I said because I'm Albaen!"  Lily's in a slightly better mood, her vocal tempo has gone back up.
[17:37] <Naida> "...how exactly is wanting to end a horrible war when you literally have access to magic overzealous?" She pokes at the fire.
[17:39] <Henriette> "She probably wasn't the brains, though. That quiet one was paying rapt attention. I should have been reading her instead." She almost talks over Naida's question but stops herself to listen. With a grimace, she replies, "Pride blinds. I know that all too well."
[17:39] * Lily_Blevins tosses her firewood down, putting some logs into the fire. Can't use it all up at once! She's been very careful to make sure that it's completely dead wood, stuff that's green on the inside is no good!
[17:40] <Naida> "Being human is an amusing reason not to trust someone given our...state."
[17:40] <@Oxford> Naida's perspective, as a Cimbrian, may be a bit different from her Albaean colleagues. At the end of the day, it isn't their country that's being torn apart.
[17:40] <Henriette> Dumping her logs on the ground in a haphazard pile with Lily's, she continues, "And execution of their plan is key. Albaea won't be happy. Who knows how they'll react."
[17:40] <Henriette> "Can we be sure we can stop them if they choose to fight us?"
[17:41] <Naida> "Albaea or the other girls?"
[17:42] <Henriette> "Albaea. I don't doubt their intentions. At least... I don't doubt the one we spoke with."
[17:43] <Henriette> As if to clarify, Henriette gestures to indicate that she trusts the Novs to stand by their word. The Albaeans, on the other hand...
[17:44] <Naida> "I don't even remotely expect we have the power to stop them if they attack. Not between just us and the Cimbrean army. But in that scenario, Albaea is the definitive aggressor. A free Cimbria would likely seek aid from the Novs or someone."
[17:47] <Henriette> "Who are equally unpredictable. Just because Sylvi believes in them does not mean we should. I have long been blind because of my own loyalties, et it has cost me. Us."
[17:50] <@Oxford> With a few logs added to it, the fire's warmth fills the abandoned mill. Last night it rained off and on for hours, and the heat is a welcome luxury in these damp ruins.
[17:51] <Naida> "Relations between countries are...considerably more irrational than those between people. Albaea treats my people like rabid hounds whose only value is to kill Novs without risking Albaean lives. But I would anticipate a union between Cimbria and Novgoraad, should it come to that, would have soldiers fighting alongside one another." She stares into the fire, smiling fainly as she recalls the hearth back home.
[17:53] <Henriette> The cold, wet wind is sort of comforting for Henriette in its own way. She doesn't respond, choosing instead to stare at the sky and wonders if Dirk still thinks of her.
[17:57] <@Oxford> The clouds have passed, for now. The night's first stars are already out, hesitently twinkling like unfashionably early guests at a party. The moon is fat and low on the horizon.
[18:01] * Lily_Blevins keeps her eyes on the moon, quiet in this conversation.
[18:02] <@Oxford> And from somewhere up above, echoing down through the hollow shell of the windmill, comes the hum of an engine, and a propellor slicing through the night sky.
[18:03] <Lily_Blevins> "...well."
[18:04] <Naida> "...maybe it's something we can ignore."
[18:05] <Henriette> Henriette tries to shoo away thoughts that she'll never see Erica or Dirk again. She watches the sky carefully, wondering who could be flying solo, late, and over an abandoned area like this.
[18:05] <Henriette> "Could be just looking for stragglers."
[18:08] <@Oxford> She has to lean out the window and let her eyes adjust to the darkness, but after a few minutes she can pick out a spot where the stars keep disappearing and reappearing. It's impossible to tell the type of plane, or whether there's more than one, but they're flying due south, towards the Novgoraadi lines.
[18:10] <Henriette> Maybe they should have brought a radio.
[18:13] <Henriette> Wait, they did, didn't they? Henriette scrambles to pull hers from her bag, sweeping through frequencies to see if she can pick up anything, even just buzz from poor wiring on an antenna.
[18:18] <@Oxford> Henriette gets plenty of buzzing, but nothing that sounds like people on the other end. The pilots may not be talking, or they may have their radios off until a specified point. Or perhaps Henriette didn't plug this knob-thing in correctly...?
[18:19] <Henriette> Oh, come on. She's not inept. She's been the main person on the radio back to Albaea for months now. She could be getting poor reception because of the distance, because of the metal in the plane. It could be anything.
[18:21] <@Oxford> It certainly could. That knob isn't important anyway.
[18:27] * Raitaki|Work ([email protected]) Quit (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client)
[18:29] <@Oxford> The engine noise, however, is growing louder even if the radio isn't. She can tell there's definitely more than one plane up there, flying fairly low above the ground.
[18:30] <Henriette> "Whole flight up there," Henriette says, leaning back in from the window. "I don't know that we can do anything about it. Or that we should."
[18:30] <Naida> "...should we put the fire out?"
[18:32] <Lily_Blevins> Lily's already stamping it out.
[18:34] <Henriette> Surprised, Henri looks back at the fire. "Oh, I thought that was metaphorical for a moment."
[18:38] <@Oxford> The campfire is reduced to a mess of ashes and smouldering branches, the last few embers dying under Lily's heel. The damp chill returns almost as once, raising goosebumps along their arms.
[18:38] <Lily_Blevins> "Weren't we supposed to help hinder the Albaens?  Hrm."
[18:39] <Lily_Blevins> "...Naida, you could make it harder for them to fly."
[18:39] <Naida> "The intent was more...sneak into bases and sabotage shit. Pretty sure if I try doing it while they're in the air, people are going to die."
[18:40] <Lily_Blevins> "...yeah, you're right."
[18:40] <Lily_Blevins> "We want fewer people to die..."  She frowns.
[18:40] <Henriette> "Indeed. Besides, what if we miss and they say something? We're not exactly the most covert operatives, non?"
[18:41] <Naida> She pulls out one of the Nov pendants and looks at it. "...we should probably figure out if these work the same way. And feel the same."
[18:48] * ScarletFlame ([email protected]) has joined #WorldWarBurst
[18:50] <Henriette> Henriette reaches out to accept the pendant, more than willing to be the guinea pig. Between her sporadic floating, shimmering wings, halo, and occasional washed out colors, it can hardly get worse, right?
[18:52] <Naida> "...given our current location, I don't think testing it out on someone that often shines brighter than the sun would be prudent."
[18:53] <Lily_Blevins> "I'm the one with literal sun powers too~"
[18:54] <Henriette> "Maybe it'll reverse my powers," Henriette jokes. "Imagine nothing but darkness everywhere."
[18:55] <Naida> "Well...guess the choice is obvious." A single, shadowy eye glares at the group from the ashes of the fire.
[19:05] <Naida> She focuses on the strange pendant and swats it. Initially, the feeling is largely the same. However, it's quite...different, almost harsher. Futhermore, her affinities seem to have swapped their representation. Rather than a living costume of magic bacteria, she's now shrouded in a mantle of shadow that pulses with the soft glow of some bioluminescent fungi. Her weapon seems to be absent at the moment.
[19:06] <Lily_Blevins> "Whoa cool!"
[19:07] <Henriette> Henriette stares, actually pretty jealous that she didn't get to try it first.
[19:10] <@Oxford> With the Albaean pendants, the defensive barrier around her was form-fitting and transparent, so much so that Naida was hardly aware of it unless she was being hit. The Novgoraadi version feels noticeably different, like a uniform that doesn't quite fit right.
[19:11] <@Oxford> The repulsing barrier feels bunched up and thicker in some places than others, not actually hampering movement but making it impossible to forget she's wearing it. On the plus side, a warm energy seems to radiate against her skin. Perhaps these pendants were designed with colder weather in mind.
[19:13] <Henriette> "How is it?"
[19:14] <Naida> "...abnormal. But...a...comforting sort of abnormal? Kind of like that perfect level of drunkenness where things aren't quite right but things feel nice."
[19:15] <Henriette> "I wouldn't know." Henriette simply stares in awe for a moment. "It's quite beautiful, ma belle."
[19:16] <Lily_Blevins> "I see, I see!"  She's tried the liquor a bit, she knows.
[19:19] <Naida> Naida glances around the windmill, looking for any unspoiled grain or something similar.
[19:21] <Henriette> Henriette reaches out to put her hand on Naida's shoulder, suddenly very curious.
[19:24] <@Oxford> There isn't any grain around that hasn't already begun to mold in the dampness, but there's plenty of grass and the like growing outside. As Henriette reaches out to touch Naida, her hand stops short, repelled by the barrier a few centimetres from her skin.
[19:26] <Henriette> Frowning, Henriette tries again. "Looks like they have some kind of protective field. Can you make it stop? Or maybe permit me only? How much agency do you have?"
[19:26] <Naida> "...probably not the best to go grabbing hold of me even without this up, but if you insist..." She tries to get a better feel for her control of the enveloping barrier.
[19:31] <Naida> Naida gets nada and shrugs. "Doesn't look like it." She marches outside to find some fresh grass and attempts to exercise her element over it.
[19:35] <Henriette> Disappointed, Henriette sits back down and stares at the sky, pondering how one might nullify magic. "Sorry, Naida, ma cherie."
[19:37] <@Oxford> The grass wilts immediately, curling upon itself and developing a slimy black film. As Naida focuses on the grass, she can feel the power surging towards it being constrained by something, making it come out in short, sharp bursts instead of the usual stream.
[19:41] <Naida> She steps back inside, face screwed up in thought. "Well it's...I don't think I'm going to die a horrible death or get mind controlled...it's just...different. Someone else try the other one."
[19:42] <Lily_Blevins> "Okay!"  She grabs one and starts POOFING
[19:44] <Henriette> Henriette's hand drops from a midair pause. Darn. Missed again.
[19:45] <Lily_Blevins> Lily sprouts wings, her cat ears growing into glowly hair buns, her hair turning blonde, and her clothes changing into a skintight outfit that, unlike her other one, shows very little skin.  She GLOWS with sunlight.  Her dress has ivy on it in spots to imitate lace.
[19:47] <Naida> Naida shuffles away from the sunlight a bit.
[19:47] <Lily_Blevins> She takes a look at her wings, spinning around in the air like a dog chasing its tail.  She makes a squealing noise
[19:47] <Henriette> Watching the other two, Henriette looks bored with her chin in her palm and her elbow on her knee. She's smiling at them, though. Doing her darnedest.
[19:48] <Naida> To the chagrin of a small horde of shadowlings, which shake their fists/claws/tentacles in unison, Naida powers down and tosses the pendant to Henri.
[19:50] <Lily_Blevins> "Can I stay this way forever?"  8D
[19:50] <Naida> "If you give up on humanity, sure."
[19:51] <Henriette> Henriette catches it and examines it closely. She looks up at Naida wordlessly, trying to find the words to say how frustrated she is with Naida's problems with physical contact.
[19:51] <Henriette> "I don't want to."
[19:51] <Naida> "...oh...uh...hm."
[19:52] <Naida> She shifts nervously. It really looked like Henriette was so interested...
[19:54] <Henriette> "It's fine. We know that it works, et it is just as likely to get us killed in a dire situation if I spend 5 minutes with it or none." She frowns. "I had hoped it would nullify the side effects of our own pendants."
[19:56] <Naida> "There will...probably...be time to focus on that once the war ends."
[19:56] <Lily_Blevins> Lily does a flip in midair, wings flapping, and makes agiggle so high pitched that human ears can't hear it
[19:59] <Henriette> And in the meantime, they'll all be developing more... Henriette doesn't answer this time either. Instead, she puts the pendant back in the bag and stretches out against the wall. "Do you really think we'll do it? End the war, I mean?"
[20:00] <Naida> "I'd like to think I think so, and that's enough for me." With no subtlety, Naida digs the pendant back out to give it a good look over.
[20:02] <Henriette> "Albaean boys idealize soldiers. I am certain that Novgoraadis and Cimbrians boys do the same," she says, closing her eyes and shutting out the light of the stars and moon and Lily. "Following orders is what they're taught to do, after all."
[20:03] <Lily_Blevins> "Those boys need to be taught their place~"  She makes a fancy pose, her arm out as she addresses the other two.
[20:04] <Naida> "...when the fighting is in your backyard and a lot of people enlisted not out of duty to their country but out of duty to their family...to be one less mouth to feed...the impetus isn't quite there."
[20:07] <Naida> "...suppose we should decide whether we want to keep working towards the port immediately or stop to try to disarm some Albaeans, hm?" What subject change?
[20:08] <Lily_Blevins> "If it's on the way, but we should try not to..."  She frowns, and detransforms.  "Be conspicuous."
[20:08] * TemporalMech ([email protected]) Quit (Ping timeout: 240 seconds)
[20:12] <Henriette> Henriette doesn't chime in again, feigning falling asleep. Maybe if they stopped soldiers, she'd find Dirk out there with a gun in his hands. What would she do then?
[20:14] <Naida> "Hm...in the early morning, I could make a quick stealth check of the horizon to see if I can find any bases, and if there's nothing, continue on to the port?"
[20:17] <Lily_Blevins> She nods.  "Sounds good.  If we find something, mess with it, if we don't, we don't."
[20:19] <Naida> "That good with you, Henri?"
[20:20] <Henriette> "Lead on, ma belles," she says, opening her eyes and smiling at them. "Just tell me where to shoot."
[20:21] <Lily_Blevins> "Sounds like a plan, then!"
[20:21] <Naida> "Well for now, shoot for a bed. Or...or a wet piece of wood. Maybe a pleasantly soft rock? What do we even have here..."
[20:31] <@Oxford> With that agreed, they fall silent, and eventually begin to drift off into a restless sleep atop the cold stones of the ruined windmill. The damp soaks through their clothes, and more than once each girl shivers herself awake in the night. The remains of the fire, like the hope of warmth offered, lie dead and scattered on the floor.
[20:31] <@Oxford> /session