Game-Changers & Grudge Matches

"No, not really, but if you stay here I'd have to come back to get you," Noct said, "The other way, we can go at the same time. But it is up to you, it might be boring either way, but I have books here if you fancy a bit of reading."

--

Gabe looked expectantly at Euryale, waiting for her to answer Tirea's question.

E"Basically just as soon as she can reasonably get down there. I'd planned on staying in the park for most of the day, but Mortal & I have other plans for the evening."
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*Ven deposits the dishes in the sink & starts running water over them.*

V"I would like to accompany you, if it is not too much trouble."
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<Sure thing. There's your basic Machinist Model.>

*He picks up a [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] from behind the counter.*

<It comes in brown, black, gold, or silver. We also have a newer model with bigger lenses, but they're more breakable.>

"No trouble at all," Noct said, "And thank you for doing the dishes. Now, if you'll excuse me, I really should get ready now." Noct goes off to do just that.

--

"Oh really?" Gabe asked with a smile.

Mortal nodded, "Yea."

"Good-looking, tends to wear blue and likes hats," Hector said. "She also has black hair, and obviously has money. You sure you don't want her taken care of?"

Clamping a hand back onto the wound, Dalia extended the index finger of her other hand and created a whip of fire. She began slashing it at the oncoming Purist, trying to keep her back more than kill her.

"Aw, gee, that's a lot," Sidon rubbed the back of his neck. "Sixty yuans."

<I thought I said, "Specific." Anyway, she ain't the one I got a beef with. I gotta make plans so's Senthose gets whacked for good. And I'm thinkin' it's time to burn up all those Purists.>
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*The Purist does back off. When the police car stops nearby, she drops a bomb & kicks it underneath it. A second later, it explodes, causing the car to jump, its windows to burst out, & the frame to be engulfed in fire.*

<One down.>

*Vanessa runs back into the alley.*
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*Meanwhile, Venezuela takes a soapy rag, & begins scrubing!*
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*Euryale leads them out of the room, where Mortal presumably drives them to the park after Gabe calls Noctis. Once at the park, Euryale decides to take them back to the gazebo they met at previously, only to discover a pile of half-charred splinters.*

E"Oh no, there must have been some kind of accident."

Noctis eventually comes back fully dressed in a black dress that comes down to her shins, with a one shoulder neckline. She is also wearing a pair of heeled, black leather ankle boots, black leather driving gloves, and sunglasses. "Ready to go?" Noct asked, "Gabriel is at the park with your trainer. Her name is Euryale."

--

"I hope no one was hurt," Gabe said.

Astarte stood quietly.

"That sounds good," Hector nodded, finishing his water. "Though, whether you have a beef with this woman or not, she remains dangerous, and has motive to kill you. Just letting you know. Is there anything you would like us to do?"

Dalia rocked back and turned her whip to a ball, then threw it at Vanessa as she ran away, aiming to hit her squarely in the back.

*What it does is take a chunk out of the corner of that building. More police sirens can be heard approaching, from up and down the street, as well as in the next street over.*
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*Ven had finished drying the dishes, & was recollecting her tools.*

"Yes. That is an interesting outfit."
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R"Not likely. A gazebo is a pretty open structure. Anyone here would have had plenty of time to get away before it went up completely. Hey, Mortal, why don't we go find a new spot, since this one is kind of destroyed?"

*Euryale frowns.*

E"I don't know that that's such a good idea."

*Roatha waves her off.*

R"Relax, we'll be back in a couple of minutes. I'm not going to ruin your plans. Trust me, I know what I'm doing."
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<Our cops are all in jail, but we'll be getting a new shipment soon. For now, I need someone to smoke out the Purist Leader.>

"We're heading to a park, so I didn't want to just wear a suit as usual," Noct said, "Anyway, lets get going."

--

Mortal smiles, and nods her head, "Yea, lets get going."

Gabe looked from Euryale to Mortal and Roatha, and gave a small shrug, "I guess we'll wait here."

Astarte noticed Euryale's expression again and tried not to look suspicious.

"And how were you thinking of going about that?"

Dalia grimaced and turned to the burning vehicle, trying to pull the flames off of it with her free hand.

*Euryale sighs as they set off. She then turns to Gabe.*

"So, Gabby, what are you most worried about when it comes to your new teammate? What skills do you want me to focus on?"
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*After wandering along the river for a bit, Roatha starts reaching into his jacket, trying to fish something out of it. That plan is put on hold when he winces, grabbing his ribs. He tries to play it off as a contented sigh.*

"So. I know you and Euryale have plans tonight, but are you busy this weekend? You, specifically, I mean."
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*Venezuela nods & follows her out.*
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*Several flames streak off of it into Dalia's hand, but even as she's holding a pillar of fire, the crackling remnants begin to roar back to life.*
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<Do I have to spell it out for you? Find some Purists, and beat the answers out of 'em.>

"Well, I'd really like her to be able to throw a disk with precision, at the very least. If you can get her to throw more than one at once, and bouncing disks off of things it'd allow us to take advantage of some interesting mix up opportunities. I'm also hoping you'll help her with proper form, and balance and things like that," Gabe said, "I'll do my best to teach her the rules of the game in genera, obviously. Don't want her biting people in a sudden death match or somethingl."

--

Noct goes to her garage, opens the garage door to reveal a sports car. She smiles at it for a second before, opening her door, and getting in, "I figured I could take my car out for a drive while I was at it. Hope you don't mind convertibles."

"Do you ever get to practice on the ring, or anything? It looks like taking that fall to the water would take getting used to..." Astarte said, but felt more and more awkward as she spoke, hardly making any noise by the time she finished.

"We can do that, but we might need a third," Hector replied. "So far we haven't really been combatants, but with the Purists and Monsoons stirring things up I think it might be a good idea to form a trio again. If anybody is available, anyway."

Dalia gritted her teeth and moved closer to the burning vehicle, taking her hand off of the wounds to use both hands. Instead of just holding onto the flames, she checked for airships above and provided the air was clear, began throwing the flames upwards like flares.

"Going over is never fun, but the dive can be a bit fun," Gabe said with a smile, "I have not taken a dip quite often though." Gabe put her nose in the air in a mock smug way at the last statement. "Are you alright by the way?" She asked, "Losing your voice?"

--

Mortal shook her head, "No, not that I know of. Why, did you want to hang out?" When she noticed his hand on his ribs she put a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, are you alright? You were banged up yesterday, did you get looked at by a doctor?"

"I'm alright," She replied quickly, mentally judging herself repeatedly.

"Good," Gabe said, still smiling, "I like your voice. It'd be a shame for you to lose it."

"Yes. No. No to the doctor, yes to the all right part. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, as they say. Oh, I forgot the hanging out part...well, don't get me wrong, it's not that I object, it's just that paling around seems like a poor excuse to give you these."

*He finally finds what he wanted in his jacket. Turning around, he pulls out a bouquet of [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], and holds them out to Mortal.*

"Sooo...I was thinking, maybe we could change that 'hanging out' into a 'going out'? Nothing too rushed, just something you already like to do, only with a few more flowers than usual."

*He smiles at her.*
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Zolt<Yeah. I might have a guy you know. We'll see.>
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*Euryale holds her arm out, waving her hand.*

"Whoa, whoa. Gabby, no offense, but we're talking about a girl who has never Bent solid rock, and I have to get her ready in a couple of weeks. I just want your basic game plan for her, so I can teach her enough to take care of herself in the Ring. I won't be able to turn her into an Earthbending Master by that until the semi-finals."
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*The fire dissipates. Inside of the car is pretty much scorched beyond recognition, she can't even see where the officer/s was/were. Two more police cars pull up around her on either end of the street.*
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*Venezuela gets in, doing whatever she sees Noctis do, ie buckling up, checking the mirror, etc.*

"I don't know what either of those are."

Mortal lit up at the sight of the lilies. She took them and held them up to her face and too a breath of their fragrance, then looked up at Roatha. This was not what she had expected at all, but the only thing she really felt was flattered. She reached out and gave Roatha a hug, "Roatha, this is incredibly sweet. I think you're a nice guy. A great guy. Definitely my favorite. But... I'm just not into guys." Mortal took a step back, and rubbed the back of her neck, "I'm sorry if I did anything to get your hopes up, but we're just looking for different things. Or, well, maybe it is that we're looking for the same thing that is the issue."

--

"Just do what you can," Gabe said, "I'm not expecting miracles. Like I said, I'm just hoping she can throw some disks accurately by the next game. You could think of what I asked as more... long-term goals."

--

"A car is what we're in right now," Noct said, starting the engine, and pulling out onto the driveway, "A convertible is a car that has no roof."

Astarte returned a shaky smile.

"Thanks," Hector said, before taking out a small slip of paper with a telephone number scrawled across it. He handed it to Zolt. "If I need to be reached, you can call me at that number for the next day or two. If anybody but myself or Eduj answers, though, it would be appreciated if you just said 'wrong number'. The guy putting us up isn't a big fan of our work."

Dalia sighed and looked to the police vehicles, unnecessarily beckoning for them to come over to her.

*Ven smiles for about 10 minutes until her hair slaps her in the face like 80 times. In response, she gathers it up, & starts to make it into a long braid.*
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*An officer gets out of each one, cautiously holding their arms out towards her like praying mantises.*

Officer<Ma'am, I'm afraid we're going to have to arrest you.>
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*Roatha was ecstatic for a few minutes, & secretly made a triumphant fist behind Mortal's back. Then what she said began to register, & his face slowly dropped. When she backed off, he didn't want her to see it, so he scratched the back of his own neck. He then proceeded to muster up all of his lying talents, which were just about none.*

"Oh, no, I knew that...."

["I knew that"? How am I going to follow that up, "I was just testing you"?]

"...Understand. What I meant was, 'I understand that.' I mean...hey, maybe this is better. We have a good thing going; you, me, & Euryale. No need to make it awkward."

*He forces a smile & shrugs, then suddenly realizes what her & Euryale's "plans" must be. He then points between Mortal and the bushes where they left Euryale & co.*

"Not. That. You know. YOU TWO are awkward. I don't have a problem with that. Umm...thanks...I'm glad you like the flowers. They're...you can do whatever you'd like with them."
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*Zolt looks down at it before carefully taking it in between his 2 fingers.*

Zolt<I'll let my assistant know. Anything else?>
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"Of course. I promise, we'll make this work. I couldn't bear to look into her face and tell her that she's not good enough to perform. Or to tell you that I couldn't help you find a new Earthender, for that matter."

Mortal frowned, and said, "Roatha, like I said before, you're a great guy. I don't want you to feel rejected or something. You're a great friend, and I want nothing for the best for you. I'm not the best thing for you though." She then extends the flowers back to him, "The gesture was really nice, and if you were a girl, I probably would have said yes, but that just isn't the way things are. Do you understand?"

--

Gabe nodded, "Yeah, I'm sure we'll do fine. The girl is really nice, and if she can bend sand, I'm sure she can bend rock. It is like sand... only, I don't know, more compact." Gabe chuckled at her own foolishness, then said, "Mortal and Roatha have been gone for kind of a long time, huh?"

--

"Yeah, that is a bit of a down side," Noct said, "The wind, I mean."

"No, that is everything, I think," Hector said after brief consideration.

"You what?" Dalia was genuinely shocked, and feeling nauseous as she continued to lose blood. "I don't believe this..."

*He takes the bouquet back, staring at the flowers, standing up, petals spread towards him, as if in jubilation. Smug bastards.*

"Right...I guess that's...right...."

*Over his shoulder, Mortal sees Noctis's car arrive. She can recognize it, because Noctis is famous.*
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<There was obviously an incident here. You are on the scene, and you have the means to commit the crime. We have no choice but to take you down to the station, as a suspect.>
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*Euryale sighs.*

"Don't worry. I'm sure they're handling everything just fine. One of them will be back to get us very soon."
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<Well then, better get back to business. Order 3 plates of food, so it doesn't look suspicious.>

*He slips out of the booth & heads back to his office.*

"Well..." Dalia suddenly dropped to one knee, clutching the wound. "Carry on, then. I need help."

Hector ordered the three plates.

Mortal notices, but is dealing with something more important, so ignores it for the time being. Instead, she puts her hand on his shoulder, and smiled weakly, "We're still friends, right?"

--

Noct parks, and says, "Well, we're here. Lets see if we can find them quickly."

--

"Don't sound so glum," Gabe said, "I get that we're not Roatha and Mortal, but I like to think we're pretty good company anyway."