Trying not to spoil things for an OC testrun is hard - @SRW U

[caressthedarkness]

1. [There's a newcomer on the video channels today: a very formal looking, bespectacled young woman.]

I apologize for the interruption. You must all be busy, so I'll keep this short as I possibly can.

My name is Seta Albreich. Codename: Winter.

Effective immediately, I'll be joining the Unity Group as a representative of the Gloster Foundation. For those of you not in the know: we are a small organization specializing in the extermination of certain supernatural threats.

I might not be able to answer all your questions at this point in time, but I hope we'll be able to get along.



2. [A while after she's done with 1, Seta is in the lounge, where she's shakily treating herself to some coffee, or tea. You stumble upon her as she's talking to herself...]

That was the worst. I told them I was no good with people...I did!

But this is what happens all the time. Maybe they want me dead from embarrassment. Ha...haha...that must be it...I should pretend that I never noticed...

[There is something else she's not noticing, and that would be that the mug she's placed on the table is...yeah, it's upside down. As a result, she's actually pouring boiling hot drink all over the counter...]



3. [And if the above wasn't enough to shatter her professional, cool lady image, you're now facing another kind of problem while trying to play a game or some kind of sport with her. It's something that should be general knowledge, yet...]

Please explain that last bit again.

[This has been going on for the past half hour.]



4. [Time for a round of battle. Up until a while ago, you've been facing small threats like infantry, but now you're being forced to split up to deal with an intensifying fight. Someone has to remain behind...]

If that's how things are, I'll stay.

It might be difficult to believe, but I can at least buy you some time.

[Says the person with no mecha of her own. It's true that she's been doing fine on foot so far by playing it smart, but the scale of this battle is about to increase significantly...]

Comments

2

[zenbuzenbuzenbu]

Hey. Hello, Earth to person? Stop muttering and look what you're doing!

[Point at the mug.]

Are you still asleep today?

[caressthedarkness]

[Oh crap, someone's here. That boiling liquid is now all over the place. Seta, meanwhile, answers with a perfectly straight face.]

I am fully awake.

This was intentional.

[No, it was not.]

[zenbuzenbuzenbu]

Like hell it was! Do you even know what you're doing?

[caressthedarkness]

Yes, I'm having tea...

[She even lifts the upside-down mug for emphasis.]

As you can see.

[Something should probably be done before this gets worse, though.]

3

[cloningblues]

If you surround an enemy group completely, you remove the pieces and add them to your score. Didn't I start by explaining this?

[Go? Are you an old man, Asagi?]

[caressthedarkness]

[Your potential opponent examines the board...for the billionth time.]

Yes...I understand.

[And yet she still looks unsure...]

[cloningblues]

You certain?

I'm not sure what's so hard to understand about Go... Well, except the Ko rules.

[caressthedarkness]

[She hovers on this for a while, until...]

The Ko rules...?

2

[gentlecode_scholar]

[Erik is observing the strange pouring, his strange writing implement traversing his notebook at high speed]

Fascinating. [He approaches carefully, and speaks in a hushed voice, so as to not disrupt the scene too much] Say, milady. Is this ritual a religious one? A libation to your terrible and cruel biological gods?

Re: 2

[caressthedarkness]

No, I'm just trying to have a drink...

[alskjskjfait'satalkingrobotalienthing. Pouring intensifies.]

[gentlecode_scholar]

Aha, I see. So you pour it, and then I surmise you will probably lap it with your tongue, correct?

What puzzles me, however, is what the purpose of the white porcelain cylinder is.

[caressthedarkness]

[Keep calm and answer. Keep calm and answer.]

It's used to con-

[She then makes the mistake of looking down at the porcelain cylinder in question...and the mess around it.]



...tain...

4

[way_of_vengeance]

[Lt. Ootori is in her powered armor, shootin' dudes left and right with a giant crossbow.]

Oooh? How mysterious. What's your trick? Oh, oh oh, I bet it's some scary super mode that makes you into a demon!

[She is not leaving, at least not yet.]

[caressthedarkness]

Um...it's nothing like that...

[Seta is behind cover right now. She's not that bad with a handgun and is surprisingly pretty strong, but it still doesn't look like she's going to do much.]

Explaining is going to be difficult.

[way_of_vengeance]

Oh, is it embarrassing to perform? That's fine too. Why, I am rather embarrassed every time I have to use mine. It's quite unladylike!

...Perhaps we could perform a trade? You demonstrate your super mode to me, and then I demonstrate mine to you.

[Did that orphanage just catch fire? Maybe this is not the conversation to be having.]

[caressthedarkness]

[There is flailing at the sight of the fire. Silent, invisible flailing, on the inside...but flailing nonetheless. Seta knows she has to do something quickly...]

Well...I just...

I don't do well...when others are watching...

4)

[break_the_nine]

I don't care about any of that! Everyone else might have something important to do wherever... but I'm staying!

[Leos' voice came out as a vicious snarl as he opened fire into the incoming waves with several shots from his mecha's laser rifle. Admittedly his situation isn't helped that his armor is looking severely damaged and is in fact on fire in some places.]

These people... they need to die. I can't live with myself if I ran while they destroyed everything in front of them!!

[caressthedarkness]

But...with your machine in that state...!

Please understand. If you stay here, you might...!

[No, she doesn't need to finish this sentence.

This might just be one of those situations where no amount of reasoning is enough...but she's still hoping Leos will pull back! Otherwise...]

[break_the_nine]

[Leos lets out a scream. Hard to tell if it was from pain or rage. Either way Pale Rider loses an arm and a chunk of its head. The mecha stumbles, but manages to regain its footing with a tremendous stomp, grinding one foot across the ground with sheer, blood soaked resolve.]

Shut up!

[His fists tighten around the controls as he looses a volley of missiles.]

I won't die. I can't die! Not until I fix everything! Not until the fires go out and the screaming stops!!!!

1/2

[caressthedarkness]

This is...out of control...

I can't mess up...

[And the young woman rushes past the Pale Rider's feet with inhuman speed. Leos might also notice in the next few moments that Seta's shadow being cast on the ground is growing in size - turning into a silhouette of a tall, humanoid figure.]

2/2

[caressthedarkness]

Craft Ignite - Partial! Code: Rebellion!

[From a pair of red magical circles in the air, two gigantic white arms appear and cross themselves before the Pale Rider. This forms an impromptu shield against the incoming attacks!

She looks back at the Armored Core...]

This won't 'fix' anything...! I can only hold them for some time, so please...!

2

[actuallyselfish]

Dido pauses mid-deal.

Then she sighs, sets her cards face-down, and pushes a chunk of the coins and bills on the table back over to Seta.

"Yeah, here's your money back." She says. "I don't think you're cut out to play poker. Maybe a simpler card game, like Go Fish?"

[caressthedarkness]

[This piques her interest. Poker just has too many rules...]

How much simpler is...'Go Fish'?

[actuallyselfish]

"Very simpler." Dido says flatly, taking all the cards and mixing them into a huge mush pile.

"So you seriously don't know how to play any card games?" She asks. "You never had cantankerous card shark grandparents to teach them to you?"

[caressthedarkness]

Does weaponizing these cards count as a game?

Madame once tried to teach me that, but I wasn't able to grasp it the first time, and so she refused to go on with it.