==Horam is a bustle of activity, to say the least: this section of town has always been rather lively, rather cramped, and rather a faster and more yelled pace than most of the rest of New Meribia. Today is no exception, but it's not quite your average activity: alongside the stalls and markets and training, there's a thriving side business in setting up ramshackle ramparts, organizing patrols, and quite a few high-up heads of houses bickering.== * Saki lays back amidst the chaos, taking it all in stride. Possibly. That or just sleeping. Quite literally 'lays back': flat on her back on the rim of a fountain in the main square of the region she seems quite tranquil as she lazes amidst the hubbub, only disturbed every so often by a student in her colours asking a question and getting a quick response. * Vytor approaches Saki, having set out from HQ to look for her, as she's been gone for some time now. hey there. * Saki waves a hand lazily. Apparently it was resting in the fountain, because it sends a splash of water up. "... mn," she adds helpfully, and creaks open one eye. * Saki has apparently ditched her armour along the way, and is succeeding quite well at looking rather smaller than usual given the lack of black plating. * Vytor settles on the ridge of the fountain next to her, "Well, you've certainly got this place buzzing. I'm impressed." * Saki actually grins up at Vytor, one hand behind her head to prop her up very slightly. "... don't underestimate Horam people. We're more proud than we look. And any excuse for a good noble fight." * Vytor chuckles, glad to see a smile on Saki's face for a change. "I'll keep that in mind." * Saki sits up, though still balances just a little precariously on the edge. "Wasn't hard, anyway. Master, Rachel and I were more than enough to convince the other heads something was up. From there it's just a matter of them all arguing about who'll fight the hardest and best." As long as they don't decide to forge a pecking order in blood and sweat before the invaders show up, that's fine. "--which will be the Prophetguard School, of course." Rachel butts in from the side as she flops down next to Saki. In deference to her, she's ditched the spiritual image of the armor in kind. She makes a face Vytor's way. "--tch! We'll leave that to the morons in the palace and resistance." Hi there. As long as we keep the infighting to a minimum, that's all I ask. It wouldn't do to have the city's best fighters setting bad example for everyone else. * Rachel waves something round and battered on a stick at Vytor in a hello, and then eats it. "They'll be fine. Saki's all fired up. This one guy tried to complain and--" * Saki coughs politely, cutting Rachel off and shaking her head. * Vytor chuckles again. * Rachel grins, all smiles. "No, really, she just grabbed his ankle and--" * Saki appropriately enough grabs Rachel's ankle and twists and lifts, sending her back into the fountain with another polite cough before fixing Vytor with a nod and a stare. "... Horam'll be fine. Besides, Master's taking care of anything I can't." * Vytor raises an eyebrow as Rachel is dropped into the drink, repressing a snicker that he knows he'll later regret. * Rachel doesn't splash, just sinks to the bottom and sulks as she turns ghostly. It's a bizarre image. * Saki sighs out at length, then nods up. "... how are things looking on your end?" Well, the manufacturing quarter is aware of the situation. Now its largely a question of getting them to actually work towards being part of the solution, rather than finding a way to profit from it. I can only kick in so many heads at once. * Saki rubs at her head. "... mmm... beyond production, what are they best at? I can see them providing armour, weapons, barricades and so on..." They've got a lot of raw materials they can draw on. The question is how it needs to be used. They can make a lot of things. But we need to figure out what's best, as we don't have time to make mistakes. We know that we're fighting an army of those...things. But we don't know how they intend to fight. If they're bringing in pre-Devastation era weaponry, we're in trouble. * Saki nods, ignoring the 'glub-glub' noise from behind her and glancing around the square. "... all of our walls are kind of ramshackle... but we've the fighters to back it all up. ... honestly, it might be best just filling in the sewer entrances with concrete." Not exactly the best plan, if this turns into a siege. * Saki tilts her head in a nod. "... mmm, but it's an entrance they could be likely to use..." She sits in thought for a while, then leaps off the railing as another of her students comes past, "... get the others to watch the tunnels as well as the gates," she commands to the only mildly terrified looking girl who promptly scampers off. * Rachel rises up from the water with a huff of annoyance, a plan to drown Saki apparently thwarted. The real crux of this situation is getting all these factions to play nice long enough to pull out a victory. * Saki clutches at her head, looking tired almost immediately after dealing with the bureaucracy. "... mm. And the resistance is a wild card we don't especially need." She sighs out. * Rachel shrugs. "Whatever. It's fine. They can run around as they like; we've more than enough power to repel anything from outside here." * Vytor bites his lip, unable to voice his thoughts. * Saki grins just a little herself. "... it's the truth, but--" She flexes an arm, and winces. "... mnh, not sure how much use we'll be. Everything hurts." How's that? * Rachel shrugs again, and steps out of the fountain perfectly dry. "We're split, of course," she explains offhandedly. "For one, it hurts like hell, for two, we're not two sets of strength in one any more. For a while, at least." * Vytor frowns I'm not sure I like the sound of this. * Saki smiles lopsidedly, and shrugs a shoulder. "... not much we can do about it, for now. Don't worry. We'll keep an eye on how we're doing, and we're far from out of the fight yet." Do the others know? * Saki flexes a hand, and frowns at it. "...mmm, it's not so bad. I'm still combat-worthy. Niri knows, and it's probably pretty clear we need to sort this out, but... mm." * Vytor stands up, "Hit me." --ooh! Ooh! Me, me! * Saki ignores Rachel's gleeful yells, even as they draw several glances, and turns side-on to Vytor. * Saki sweeps forward suddenly - a little slow, but still a good burst of speed. She draws back and takes aim right at Vytor's gut, and impacts with a yell that definitely draws heads as Rachel sticks hands behind her head and watches curiously. The punch has power behind it, definitely, but it's lacking quite a bit of Saki's usual vigour. * Vytor grunts, but doesn't collapse as he was expecting to. Hm. Having been trampled by you before, I must say that wasn't what I was expecting. * Rachel grins ferally. "If she'd had the matrix on you wouldn't have stood a chance." Saki ignores her, and just nods. "... it'll be fine. It'll do for now; not like we have a choice. Then when we get things fixed, it should be better." * Vytor nods. I'd just feel better if both of you were at 100% right now. * Saki and Rachel both beam with pride; being in Horam again is perhaps getting them a little too big for their boots. "Two at 60% still makes better than ever," Rachel adds, then holds up a hand; covered in a ghostly version of a certain pair of gauntlets. "Besides, we got a two-for-one sale. They won't know what hit them." * Saki turns to look at Rachel pointedly. Rachel returns it with a defiant glare for a few minutes, but cannot stand against her partner's patience. "--which is also to say, 'thank you' for the worksmanship," Rachel continues, her mirth dropping away suddenly to a serious expression. I was hoping that fixing the gauntlets would be helpful in getting you two separated. This isn't what I had in mind. * Saki shrugs, rubbing at her head with another wan smile. "... I can't say I expected it either. Still... we'll just make the best of it, I suppose." * Vytor looks at Rachel with somewhat of a glum expression, "I suppose." * Rachel just shrugs again, nonchalant. She's calmed down; for that matter Saki, despite the confession of pain, also looks quite at ease with herself. "... mm. Time to go? I think I'll have to stick around here the next few days, but we should at least find the others." Dinner should be soon, yeah. They'll start wondering where we are. * Saki looks behind her glumly, and sort of sags just a little. If she were half her age she'd be kicking stones. "... mmh. Alright." She ignores Rachel's barking laugh at her expense with all the ability of a master. You know, if I didn't know better, I'd swear you two were related. ;) * Rachel looks over as Saki starts off in a huff, nonplussed. "What do you expect? In essence, we're the same person." She screws up one eye in thought. "Nnn, sort of. It gets a little metaphysical here and there, but it's the easiest way to think of it." * Vytor puts his hands behind his head, "I suppose so." * Vytor follows the two martial artists dutifully. * Rachel starts pacing after Saki. "She got the moody quiet unpleasant bits, and I got all the courageous strong prophetguard bits. You've got to expect some jealousy," Rachel notes. Not touching that. I know better. * Rachel just grins. Saki shakes her head, but doesn't look around. ==And the bizarre trio head off to rejoin the plot.== Session Close: Mon Feb 11 19:26:20 2008