2024-08-17: Untitled Goose Scene
- Log: Untitled Goose Scene
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Shinji Ikari, Li Yao, Leina Ashta, Al, Eight Orlodhari, Rena Lancaster, Anita Rosetta, Kikka Kobayashi, Sympatria Unit, Naoko Suzuki, Tavelle Adzvin, Emilia Eschonbach, Liam 7-020, Lucine Azul
- Where: Magallanica Colony
- Date: 2024-08-17
- Summary: It's a lovely day in Magallanica, and you are a horrible goose.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has deployed in Horrible Void Geese. KTS: Li Yao has deployed in Zy-98 Shadow. KTS: Li Yao has changed loadout. KTS: Rena Lancaster has deployed in A000-0001V Gaia Gear Alpha Custom. KTS: Leina Ashta has deployed in CEK-068 Beguir-Neuer. KTS: Al is now subpiloting for Rena Lancaster. KTS: Anita Rosetta has deployed in XVF-25I Svipul <GERWALK Mode>. KTS: EN Barrier activated! KTS: Anita Rosetta has changed loadout. KTS: Naoko Suzuki has deployed in NS-2 Sukeban Kiseki. KTS: Will Barrier activated! (But will not apply until relevant Morale threshold.) KTS: Tavelle Adzvin has deployed in Zectar. KTS: Tavelle Adzvin has changed loadout. KTS: Lucine Azul has deployed in Dianthus Mk. 3. KTS: Sympatria Unit has deployed in BRC-2 Force My Way.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
It's a lovely day in Magallanica, and you are a horrible goose.
You honk, excited and aggressive -- they're the same feeling, really -- and flapping your wings in the cage hoisted on the back of Li Yao's robot. You are joined by a chorus of your brethren, a flock of thirteen truly horrible geese.
Your feathers are green, but your eyes aren't -- no, they're malicious, glinting black, the same as any common Brant. Aside from your colour, and a sick intelligence in that beady gaze, you look quite normal... until you flap your wings or unfurl your tail, that is.
That's when the tentacles hidden there come out.
You've been brought here, smuggled into the outskirts of Magallanica, for a very specific purpose...
... but frankly, you don't much care what that is.
You're a horrible goose.
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTVr3Sw4W6E Debussy: Preludes Book 2, L. 123 - Arr. Dan Golding - Feux d'artifice
...---...
"Eek!" A woman yelps, as she feels a PECK at her heels, forcing her to leap up from her bench. She drops her bag of donuts -- and it's quickly stolen away, by...
"Goose?!" She yelps, pointing, aghast.
HONK, the goose cries, as, right in front of her pointing finger, it rips into her donut bag and gobbles them all up.
...---...
Mercats, aquatic creatures with feline fore-features, are one of the few feral animal species living on Magallanica -- thanks to the Nadesico's impertinence. They've become popular pets, but there are many who live free in the parks and their artificial waterways.
And one of them hisses, puffing up his orange fur as something begins to waddle menacingly into the water.
Hssss...
HONK.
The goose charges, flapflap writhing flap, and the mercat yowls and dives deeper into the artificial lake.
Soon, all the mercats are hiding below the depths, terrified of the birds who rule the water.
...---...
"Mommy, mommy!" A little girl cries, tugging at her mother's hand, pointing at a store front. "Look! The goose is on TV!"
"That's great, sweetie," her mother says, tapping out a message on her phone. If she'd looked up, she would have seen just how right little Angie was...
... because inside the store, a goose has hopped up onto one of the televisions. A crowd gathers around it, staring in fascination; some of the Spacenoids who came to live here, after all, have never seen a goose.
And until now, they've never known the terror of -- HONK.
Not until the goose flaps its wings, flashing those tentacles to the world, and topples the television to the ground. As it sparks, the goose cries, HONK, and begins chasing the patrons of the electronics store mercilessly.
"Gooses are scary," little Angie tells her mother, serious as the grave.
"I'm sure they are," her mother says, as she leads them away without looking up from her phone.
...---...
A car leans on its horn, as a goose waddles into the street in front of it. It pauses, and looks to the car as it honks.
Honk.
Honk.
HOOONK, the warlike goose responds, as it charges the car. With a terrible flap, it comes up into the hood, and immediately goes for the driver's side. HONK, the goose cries, as it assaults the driver's side mirror while the driver screams.
Peck peck peck peck peck, it thoroughly misaligns the mirror, only to find a weak point in its joints and peck it right off the car!
... the very same car Yuliana once stopped and hijacked, still with a dent in the driver's side door where she planted her foot.
The goose chases the mirror down to properly murder it, while the poor, hapless driver DIVES out of the passenger-side door and runs for his life.
...---...
HONK.
All throughout Magallanica, everyone begins to encounter these horrible geese, green and just a little bit wrong. None of them cause serious injury, beyond the indignity of being chased down by an angry goose with a penchant for pecking -- but they are quite terrifying. They're geese! In Magallanica! What has Ruri done now?!
But... no, green animals, with hidden tentacles... this probably isn't another mercat situation.
Particularly not as the geese grow to a fever pitch of chaos, all thirteen birds wreaking havoc in the colony. They begin to HONK in unison, a sonorous cry which echoes out across the settlement. As they reach a terrific harmony...
... they start...
... to grow.
Suffused with green magical energy, pouring off of them like waves, the geese go from being ankle threats to building threats -- four metres tall, with wingspans to match. Luckily, they're still geese... so when one waddles over the car it attacked earlier, it dents it instead of crushing it.
HOOONK, the geese cry, and louder, now.
Magallanica's defence system is primed and ready to respond. Low-yield seeker missiles fire, ideal for neutralising threats without neutralising the entire street around them. But when they sail into the geese, they're met with a strange, green barrier just as they strike.
The afflicted goose staggers backwards -- but exhibits none of the injuries one would expect a goose to sustain after being struck by a missile. Instead -- just slightly -- the green magical aura around it dims. If they manage to deplete all that magical energy... will they be freed from this torment...?!
They'd better figure it out fast, because giant horrible geese are just as horrible as regular horrible geese.
HONK, one chases after a shipping truck, flapping its great wings.
(OOC: You are encouraged to live out your dreams of being bullied by a goose and elaborating on what horrible goose things were done to your character on foot, the tone of which is Hijinks Damage. (No one is getting murdered by a goose.) Please find your way to your mecha by the end of your pose to engage in Glorious Goose Combat! The geese have shields to prevent anyone from having to live with the horrors of exploding an embiggened goose; in this scene, Barrier Breaker does not break through said barrier, which is why the geese don't have any mechanical barriers to break through. Once you completely deplete their aura, you defeat the geese!)
KTS: Kikka Kobayashi is now subpiloting for Leina Ashta.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
It's a lovely day in Magallanica, and Shinji is spending it at a knife boutique.
"...so it doesn't really feel right to use them anymore. Asuka said she doesn't want to have anything to do with me anymore, and she's the one who gave them to me. But I can't just leave them to rust, either. They're too nice," he's telling Eight softly as they wait for one of the artisans to finish sharpening the set of deluxe kitchen knives he received from Asuka as a present once upon a birthday. This is that kind of boutique--yes, a kitchen wares store. Why else do you think Shinji Ikari would be there?
"I don't know; what do you think?" he concludes, looking over at Eight, who'd been kind enough to accompany him here, and kind enough to listen to his related woes.
Sadly, at that point, the artisan emerges from the back. "All done!" they call, a roll of densely woven fabric in their hands. The kitchen knives themselves would be inside; this is their carrying case, after all. It's lightweight, rolls up neatly, keeps the knives sharp--especially now that they've been touched up by a professional--and it's easy to carry, because it clips at the center.
"Ah, thank you!" Shinji says, bouncing up to his feet. He accepts the bundle with a small smile, pays the fee, and leaves the boutique with Eight, carrying the knife roll under one arm. He's eighteen now and he still looks maybe fifteen at best. His cap shadows his face, and he wears jeans, a plain T-shirt, a hip pouch where he carries his wallet, phone, and other such things, and a black-and-white moon-themed hoodie. Bud, his Haro, isn't with him today; they're busy charging in his room, and anyway, he's got Eight for company today. His sneakers are well-worn. He probably should buy new ones... but he chose to get knives he doesn't use anymore sharpened instead.
"So, um, like we were saying..." Shinji starts to say to Eight--but is interrupted again, this time by something strange.
There is a green goose on the sidewalk. It stares at the two of them, malevolence in its beady black eyes.
Shinji stares back at it, uncomprehending but with dawning unease. "Uh... Do... do geese usually come in green?" he asks Eight, uncertain. Ducks can be green sometimes. He thinks. Maybe this is normal...?
"HONK," the goose disagrees.
It's surprisingly loud and dissonant, and Shinji yelps as he jumps, accidentally dropping the knife roll in the process. He curses to himself, but the roll is padded for precisely this reason; the knives are safe, and more importantly, they are safe from the knives.
Except then the goose waddles over and pecks at the roll.
"H-hey, stop that!" Shinji protests, reaching to try to grab it.
"HONK," the goose threatens him, wings--and tentacles--flaring.
Shinji screams this time, falling backwards on his behind and scooting back instinctively. In horror, he watches as the goose pecks again at the roll--pulls it up--and unrolls it as the pecked-at clasp at the center comes undone.
"HONK," the goose calls triumphantly, and claims its prize.
"Knife. KNIFE. THE GOOSE HAS A KNIFE!" Shinji yelps again, scrambling to his feet and reaching out for Eight--whether to protect her or seek protection from her, we'll never know. Because...
" H O N K ," the goose intones around the knife held in its beak, just before it starts to grow.
And grow.
And grow.
And grow.
It's an un-lovely day to be Shinji Ikari. But in fairness, most days are.
<Pose Tracker> Li Yao has posed.
It had all started with a simple request, deliver this cage of geese to Magallancia with some excuse about how it would help protect Yuliana's psyche and friendship and relationship stuff. It was at the point of the relationship talk that Yao really tuned out though.. Yao begrudgingly accepted the request from his landladies, grumbling about how they have courier services for just this sort of thing and he isn't that out of date. So here he was on the Magallancia with a cage strapped to the back of a borrowed Zy-98 Shadow is a loud, honking cage. The honks echo'd throughout the entire gundam and Yao can't help but realize he is going to be hearing them in his sleep for weeks to come. Then there is silence...
It is odd at first, the sound of silence is barely recognized by Yao until it grows louder and louder and for a moment Yao has to wonder if he has finally crossed over. Unfortunately his arthritis reminds him he is in fact still alive as he looks for the more obvious source, he checks an external camera on the cage of the geese and sees that somehow the geese broke out of the cage. That didn't make any sense, what did the witches of icewick have him deliver?
Yao opens his cockpit and steps out, climbing around to look at the cage more closely. Mangled and destroyed from the inside out, only the frame remaining. Still the honking was gone, so in a way he completed his mission. He will pack up and head out, and try to get in contact with the ladies of the castle and see if they can offer any explanation on the matter. As he climbs back into the cockpit he stretches a little and contemplates maybe a nap before he calls home, they are just geese after all. Sides if he really needs to round them up he has a secret weapon.
HONK
Yao winces in pain and looks around trying to find the...
HONK
Yep, right at the feet of his unit is a goose, a green feathered, black eyed, tentacle wielding goose and right next to it is his knapsack, which Yao swears was stowed safely behind him. Somewhere in the back of his mind a memory passes by of when he was much much younger in some war and being told by the Chief Deck Officer why it is always important to check your cargo because...HONK.
Snapped back to the thing in front of him Yao chuckles, "No matter how you look you are still a goose and I am prepared for that. You see, the Li family has a scroll made specifically to seal fowl beasts like you." Reaching behind his back to retrieve it he finds it missing and only now realizes the goose is holding something in its mouth. It appears that the goose has decided that the ancient scroll is food and swallows it. Yao squints at the goose, "So you have chosen death."
Passer-byers can hear a loud ruckus, involving swearing, honking and whatever else one may hear coming from the remote spot that Yao hid himself in. Eventually though one victor emerges from the brush, Letting out a triumphant honk, the goose runs off leaving an unconscious Yao limp against the foot of his unit.
As the synchronized honking echoes through the colony, Li Yao wakes slowly rubbing his head. "You should have killed me when you had a chance." As the old man vows his vengeance he can see one of the recently grown geese and looks at the shadow unit, "Those witches better not have any qualms about roasted goose for dinner." Climbing back into the unit he speeds off toward the nearest goose.
As the Arm Slave dashes towards it's targeted goose, it performs a remarkable sliding spin maneuver along the street and picks up some poor souls moped. Perhaps the owner will get the moped back in one condition but it seems unlikely as the Zy-89 attempts to smash the moped directly against the Goose's face, all while Yao is shouting, "GIVE IT BACK!"
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Despite her great pains towards not labeling the Tactical Communication Center the War Room, it never stuck anyway to the day to day personnel. The room was the nerve center for Magallanica's communications grid, of which Mineva was simply one of the most experienced in utilizing it to it's fullest capacity.
She was aware of a coming attack from their informant, by Yuliana Kafim, or perhaps by Dawn of Fold, she wasn't certain. Maybe it was merely a threat, an attempt at misdirection. All she knew was the Magallanica Defense Force was in full swing to try and disrupt the lives of their citizens as little as possible.
"We're getting reports..."
"Send the data to Admiral Orlodhari, immediately." Mineva uttered, before returning her attention to the feed, as if trying to discern where, "What vector are they approaching from?"
"It's not that kind of problem, your Majesty."
Looking up from the displays around the table, Mineva looked at the woman stating that, giving her a confused look. "And what kind of problem would you say it is?"
The woman stared at the her datapad for a time, as if trying to reconfirm it, before- "We have a Goose Problem." The Princess of Zeon was so astounded by the idea that her immediate response was, "No we don't."
It's such a silly string of words to put together that she could not help but reject the possibility. Surely the God that is Possibility would not be so...
HONK
...absurd.
Two dozen or so heads turned at once towards a singular goose, that had just yanked out a half-dozen wires from the back of a console, causing it to go dark.
Across Magallanica - Admiral Orlodhari receives a panicked message from personnel over the sound of gunfire.
"-repeat, we have an intruder! A GOOSE has penetrated the WAR ROOM!" Before more distantly another voice joined in, "STOP SHOOTING! You can't just OPEN FIRE in the war room!"
-=-=-
And who was their informant? Someone who received this text string at THREE IN THE MORNING-!
>Hey
>I'll be attacking the streets of Magalanica on Saturday
>I know you're with Cathedra and you vowed to thuart terrorism or whatever
>But I think you shuold just take a sick day this weekend
>Go hang out with your girlfriend or something
One Leina Ashta WOULD point out that her girlfriend WORKS on Magallanica, but what is the point? Cathedra has stationed a few Beguirs and personnel to reinforce the Magallanica Defense Force Garrison, as part of the joint tip-off.
That NUNE was not informed of this military action is irrelevant, after all, Magallanica does not exist. However, both sides have a vested interest in seeing that Magallanica does not do anything that could compromise the position of Singularity-01.
And so, cargo was inspected, cameras were reviewed - logs from the last three months audited, Cathedra personnel are assisting in anything that Magallanica personnel will allow them to look at from an analyst perspective for bombs, but thus far they've come up short.
The threat, could just be a distraction... but, Leina had other ideas.
>hows it going on ur end?
Leina texts Kikka in the hangar that Cathedra personnel had setup in, with laptops on desks and rolling stools as she reviews the ship manifests for yet another refugee shuttle, yawning as she reached for her coffee. Only to grope air.
"Huh?" Blearily she blinks, to look at the spot where her very dead coffee used to be. Did she finish it already? No way, she would have gotten up to get more. Spinning her stool out, she stands, stretching- "Going to go make some more fresh coffee." She announced to the room.
In the impromptu break room, she disposed of what was left in the pot in the sink, before turning the tap to clean it out and fill it up. Kneeling down, she grabbed a filter, before trashing the old one, and sliding the new one back in. The water was poured into the top, before she turned around, hand on the counter as she texted on her phone.
>my brain is turning to mush i think
Subtly as she leaned there, the noise of the coffee filling the pot changed, as the coffee began pattering down onto the warmer, and overflowing... right onto Leina's fingers. Hissing, she picked them up, waving them up, before going cross-eyed.
Right there on the counter was a Green Goose, with a half full pot of coffee dangling haphazardly from it's maw. Eyes staring at her. Leina stared back. It stared back at her. Starting to sweat as she remembered Judau once throwing a chicken on the Argama to distract her, Leina took a half-step back...
BGM Interrupt - Lizzo - Goose (Wait...) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpqpStBIY7U
HONK
Right before it flew right into her face with a fury- Fresh hot bitter bean juice and feathers flying everywhere in the Low-Gravity, with a shriek, Leina retreated from the break room, as the goose charged and just shy of a dozen auditors got up in confusion-
"Hey! HEY!" But the Goose was faced by an auditor that knew that this was his moment. A crisis he could solve better than any hot shot pilot. Because - he waves an object at the Goose that he knows it can't ignore...
A stale day old bagel!
The Goose locks onto him instead - and -
HONK
-Charges right at the heroic auditor. "GO GET IT!" As he threw it, the Goose reached out and snapped it out of the air- "Well..." -with a tentacle- "...Fuck." Resigned to his fate, he was mowed down as the goose knocked over several desks, to shouts and calls of.
"TAZE IT! TAZE IT!" "YOU SEE THE TENTACLES ON THAT THING!? YOU TAZE IT!"
In the hangar, Leina broke into a run, hitting a lift up to her Beguir just in time to see a mobile worker speeding across the hangar, the safety glass dome atop it shattered, "ARMORY BREACH! LOCK THE WHOLE WHOLE PLACE DOWN"
She'd hit the cockpit when she saw it, another now Four Meter long Green Goose, gnawing on- a-
"Bazooka!" She breathed in alarm, and suddenly cut the start up sequence short, as a tentacle reached inside, and there was a sudden EXPLOSION of white across the hangar, that created a messy lattice...
... of birdlime. The substance they use to repair colonies and put in adhesive ordnance.
There's an impact against the MS, as a Green Goose smacks against the Beguir, almost wholly encased in white, as it struggled, and repeatedly began to-
HONKHONKHONKHONKHONKHONK
-attack her MS. And that's the story of how Leina Ashta, the Black Lioness, Ace of Dominicus, punched it, through a hangar door with a horrible Void Goose glued to her mobile suit by birdlime.
Judau's getting a text later on how she's still mad he threw a chicken as a distraction at her once.
It is entirely unrelated.
-=-=-
"Off-! OFF!" Cross Colony, she was still fighting to extricate the Goose from her MS as it furiously honked and pecked at her, tentacles trying to reach out from the gaps of the sticky webbing, across town, there's chaos, as she can tell from what glimpses she could get of her optics before the Goose tried to gnaw at them again.
"<Kikka! I'm heading to your last known position! Swinging by to pick you up.>"
The Beguir leapt again thrusters carrying it over the cylindrical Colony, and this time using the massive shield as a fowl prybar made headway, tough birdlime strands meant to repair breaches in Colony finally giving way as the furious flailing Goose spread it's Wingspan wide.
The MS slammed down onto the Colony street, it's claws skidding, as the Goose furiously charged again. The shield this time launched on a wire - slamming into the Goose mid-arc and sent it hurtling away, as the Beguir simultaneously knelt down, and the cockpit opened as Leina, sans helmet, leaned out and reached out a hand to help her up as she said breathlessly.
"Hey! In! Fast! GEESE!"
HONKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
The recovering Goose angrily punctuated her point.
KTS: Yuliana_Kafim has deployed as a Boss for 10 opponents.
<Pose Tracker> Al has posed.
It's a good day to be coupled to the colony's transport grid. No special reason; it just seems like a lovely day for a drive.
Maybe it was predictable that Al, formerly the operating intelligence for the ARX-7 Arbalest, would develop a hobby of driving around. Whatever the cause and purpose...it's just a lovely day.
AND THEN:
HONK. HONK. HOOONK HOONK
"Hostiles approaching. Intent unknown. Please desist. Please desist. What is the purpose of this aggression? What is--is that a wrench!?"
Al's borrowed Megalanica fleet vehicle collapses bonelessly to the asphalt, its four tires rolling merrily away.
...
Rena receives a text message.
> Captain. I have been aggressed by fowl. Please advise.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
Eight Orlodhari is out with Shinji Ikari at the moment. She knew trouble was likely today; she's assigned all her best people to it. ...But the best thing she can do is be available to coordinate, and so she's made a point of being available. She does have time in the day to take Shinji out though... and secretly, it's a good way to keep him safe.
She could just count on the spies always following him for that, but that's not Eight's way.
"I can see that," Eight says of the knives. But she doesn't get to reply immediately. Instead,s he waits, sa the knives are inside, and it's good to carry it. So, she smiles. As they leave, she says, "It makes sense that you'd feel that way, but a gift is a gift; in my view... you could still use them, and let them be a token of the good times you did have. It's a little melancholy to think of it that way... But things do end. You get to keep the good memories as well as the bad."
Interruptions happen. The goose. They...
"They do not," Eight says of green geese. And Shinji drops the case. Eight says, "Ah--" But the gooese threatens Shinji, and as he falls back, Eight moves forward with a scowl. "Not appropriate," she tells the goose, until--the goose has a knife. She frowns harder. "That's--"
It starts to grow. And grow. And grow...
Eight, one arm holding Shinji, reaches out to grab the knife roll and scowls up harder at the now-becoming-giant goose.
"This is going to be a problem."
-=-=-
Meanwhile...
"FIEND!"
Lavnadim Orlodhari hands the grip of the stroller to Rasima Qadir, Eight's personal assistant, and narrows his dark eyes towards the creature already running. "Miss Qadir," he says, "Please watch my children. I shall right this wrong."
The engineer sweeps into action, his broad muscles flexing under his uniform as he charges after--the enemy. The menace. THE GOOSE.
"You cannot simply steal candy from babies!!" Lavhi shouts as he picks up a broom and chases after the green, be-tentacled goose. It is green versus green, now.
And it's not easy.
-=-=-
"Goose," Eight repeats on the comms in her ear. "...I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Capture that goose!"
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"BUT WHYYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyy..."
This is the wail of one Rena Lancaster, as she dangles from the beak of a large goose that walks down the street. Waddle, waddle. Her arms and legs flail, as she hangs from it; tears are running down her cheeks.
HONK.
The goose makes its away, aglow, down one of Magallanica's streets. The hero of the Bloody Valentine War, the ace pilot, and the commander of the Mobile Suit teams of the Magallanica Defense Force is whining the entire way.
* * *
Later, Rena slumps down into the cockpit of the Gaia Gear Alpha Custom. She runs a hand across her face, as the start-up procedure begins; the eyes of the Gaia Gear come online, glowing blue, as the screen lights up.
The teal and white Mobile Suit steps forward.
"Thanks for the save, everyone," she says with a sigh. "I-I still can't believe that happened..."
Then, the Gaia Gear's screen chimes with a text message. Rena's expression screws up. She types out a message in return.
> Hang on, Al. On my way.
The Gaia Gear Alpha launches over Magallanica's buildings. Thanks to Rena's custom OS, it neatly flies between buildings -- warnings flash where it could endanger them -- and then it sets down next to Al's de-wheeled vehicle.
The Gaia Gear reaches its hand down -- and the cockpit opens. Al's casing is lifted, gingerly, and Rena grabs him with both arms.
"Safe!" she declares. Then, she swaps over to the radio: "All forces... engage the geese! But be careful--no damage to Magallanica or its facilities!"
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
In one of Magallanica's parks, a magnificent play unfolds. From behind a bush a mechanical arm rises, flopping about until it settles into position. Opposite it a mop, head pointing up with its strands flowing down like hair, rises as well. The arm faces the mop and the fingers and thumb open and close as if they were a mouth - or perhaps a beak, for the only sound that comes out is a 'HONK'. The mop bounces up and down, honking as in alarm, and then the arm begins to make a play of chasing the mop, around and around.
The sole audience member watches this play out, hunched over on her chair, right elbow on her knee with her palm propping up her chin as her fingers rap patiently against her cheek.
"That's hilarious. You're very talented," Anita Rosetta says, her tone dry. "But can I have my arm back now?"
Arm and mop turn to face her, and honk in unison - before beginning to bolt.
"Okay. Just letting them wear themselves out don't work. Lesson learned." Anita mutters to herself, rising quickly from her chair and beginning to give chase to the puppeteers - a pair of green geese. Fortunately, she doesn't have to wait long - with a whip of a neck the arm is thrown right at her. She catches it mid-flight, slotting it back in and securing it into the port on her left side as she runs. "Finally -"
In the middle of her distraction the mop is hurled as well, smacking her right in the face, bouncing off with a spin and coming to a landing right on top of her head,the strands on its own head drooping down and obscuring her vision just long enough for her two targets...
...to have flown the coop.
"...Well, that could've gone better." Anita comments, brushing mop strands out of her eyes. She finishes up putting her arm back in - an involved process, these things are supposed to be difficult to remove. It's perhaps best not to dwell on how a goose was able to remove it. She rolls her arm in its socket experimentally, testing it out, flexing her fingers to make sure the hand is still responding normally. "Wonder what that was... about..."
Anita trails off as she hears it - a chorus of HONKs. Not just the two she encountered, who have gone off to do who knows what else mischief in the meantime, but others, too. And as they sound their cry as one... the horizon becomes just a bit more green and feathered.
Anita stares... and can't help but crack a small smile despite herself.
"Well, uh... This situation's just gotten a little bit 'fowl'. Guess it's time to get to work." Anita says, allowing herself a terrible pun before reaching into a pocket as she breaks into a run. She draws out her phone, turning briefly to take a picture of the geese's rampage(does she manage to capture a certain commander's predicament while she's letting everyone know the situation? Who can say!) and send off a message to let the rest of the Magallanica Defense Force know she's on her way.
"I guess in a situation like this..." Anita says, once she's suited up in her EX-Gear and settled into the cockpit of the Svipul.
"...The only thing to do is 'wing' it!" She announces, taking flight. This she intentionally projects outward, so that everyone else has to suffer it as well. She does offer a smile to Rena, even if it's still tinged with a little pun-induced smugness.
"No problem. They're a bunch of real troublemakers, huh?" Anita says. "Still, even if those missiles don't seem to be hurting them, I'd feel bad about going all out... Let's do just enough to scare 'em off."
Rena gives the command - engage, without damaging Magallanica or its facilities.
"You got it." Anita confirms with a nod.
<Pose Tracker> Kikka Kobayashi has posed.
It's a lovely day in Magallanica... at least, if you're a horrible goose, it is. Apparently, Leina discovered plans for the colony to be attacked today, through a text message by none other than Dawn of Fold. And while Kikka would like to take some time off and trust that the Magallanica Defense Forces have got the colony's security covered, this is also kind of her own job to an extent. Having Cathedra support for the logistics helps a lot, but knowing that this could be the first real test of the Magallanica Defense Forces - of Terminal's mettle, she offered to Mineva to go to the ground and make sure evacuations are going smoothly.
And for the most part, they are! Kikka's climbed into a petite mobile suit to make sure the people in Magallanica's main residential area make it to their shuttle safely, though... weirdly, a few people were complaining about missing items, that seemed to disappear right out of their hands. "Don't worry. We'll help you find your Wonderswan 5000, soon as everything's all clear... shouldn't be too long, so just be patient, okay?" Kikka assures a child bawling her eyes out over her prized video game console, before looking down at her phone.
> Everything's fine on my end
> Some people are saying their stuff got stolen though
> Honestly, I hope that's all it is
HONK!
She looks back up, hearing distinctive video game noises, following the child's pointing finger to see... what else but a GAMER GOOSE. It's also strangely green, but honestly, the fact that it's definitely using its tentacles to master Dozoo Degwa is way more distinctive. Wait, tentacles?! Kikka opens the petite MS's hatch, both to send up a lifter to recover the video game console and pull out her camera. Unfortunately, as the Wonderswan is retrieved, the goose decides that the camera is a way better target and one second it's in her hands, the next it's in her face snapping her bewildered expression. As the shuttle leaves, so too does the goose, on a mission to permanently capture the havoc the void geese are wreaking across the colony into film.
HONK! HOOOOONK!
"Anything but my camera! That was so expensive..." Kikka mutters, and by this point, the true nature of the Dawn of Fold's 'attack' has become quite clear. The former troublemaker side to her has to admit it's pretty clever, but now that she's on the other side of such a prank... it's a little less funny.
> Oh thank GOD
Is all she can get out to Leina, before her Beguir shows up finally free of the birdlime hell brought upon it. Kikka jumps out from the petite MS cockpit as the Beguir lands next to it. She is of course, physically unharmed, though very unfortunately down a couple thousand gilla... it's not like she has any time to explain that, though, as the recovering goose makes chase, and she frantically takes that hand, before the horrible goose can take over the Beguir-Neu's controls.
HOOOOOOOOOONK!
"Close the hatch, close the hatch!!" She shouts, making herself as comfortable as she can in the escort seat of a mobile suit, taking a deep sigh. "...Can't believe we have to add Goose Invasion to our list of colony defense measures now."
<Pose Tracker> Sympatria Unit has posed.
There is a scream.
"OgodogodogodogodogodogodoGOD!" shouts what looks like a tourist. Black hair, form-fitting top and gloves, long skirt. Maybe she's a mime from Neo-France, though given the screaming, she is a bad one. This headlong flight, pursued by not one but two geese who have somehow discovered the power of cooperation, happens in the background of something else entirely.
Where did it begin? Near a public bookseller, at the rack of chips for your tablet or smartpaper controller -- after all, many people don't want the hassle of physical books! This woman, known to some as Six, had been leaning against a wall and silently sending out RFID queries and onloading data from these licensed, copyrighted books. Yes, she was stealing from beloved authors.
And then, a goose detected her, possibly by detecting unauthorized RF IDs.
Six flees, heading in another direction.
"Waaaahhhhh I'm being chased! Help meeee!" wails Six to what might be taken for her older sister: a taller woman in a similar top, accented by dark-blue work trousers.
"Yeah?" says NUMBER TWO to NUMBER SIX, while visibly rendering no form of aid.
"Yes! It's that horrible thing!"
"I don't see it," Two answers Six, before taking a slurrrrrp of her cold noodles from the biodegradable bowlful she'd gotten.
In this time, the goose rounds the corner. Six's eluding of pursuit in order to beg for help from a comrade meant neither of them saw the Growth directly.
"THAT THING!" Six says, pointing.
Two slurps more noodles. "Hold this," she tells Six, handing the bowl over. Six takes it. Two raises her arm upwards. Her arm seems to tremble-- and then Six leaps and grabs onto that arm, throwing the noodles into the air.
"Nooo!! Stupid! We're gonna get made!"
"I told you to hold onto those for me!!" Two shouts at Six.
The Goose in pursuit strides forwards, diving its head down to devour the dropped cold noodles. "HONK" the Goose speaks, smacking its bill with dismay, because they were ultra-spicy.
"This colony's compromised!! We have to flee!!" Six screams.
Two gives the goose a dirty look. Her head tilts back as the Goose's head turns to look her dead in the eye; with a "tch," the taller cyborg steps back.
"-- I don't know WHAT this is, but fine! We're heading for the port! C'mon!"
They both tactically redeploy behind the building...
... where two bicycles have been parked, one red and one pink. Two gets on red, Six gets on pink, and they begin pedalling. Unfortunately, the Goose gives chase.
Mysteriously, both of them are able to get good speed on the bicycles. The pursuing Goose no doubt helps. As they move into a less built-up zone, Two turns to raise her forearm, making Six scream, "NO!" again.
"You're not the boss of me!" Two shouts at her.
"Wait!" Six cries. "I'm getting a signal! They're calling for 'all forces to engage the geese!'"
"Who?"
"I don't know! They sounded like they had authority!" Six answers, half-wailing.
"Uuuuuurrgh," Two groans. "Alright, remote startup time."
"Did you bring the sword?!"
"No, I love forgetting swords and leaving them laying around," Two snaps back. "Ugh!!" Two's head then turns as the rockets start flying. "... geez, and you're afraid I'm gonna be using low-impulse shells," Two concludes, but the fact that actual colony defenses are activating have at least briefly tempered her fury.
KTS: Li Yao targets Yuliana Kafim with Random Melee Weapon Disorienting Blow! KTS: Li Yao has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Naoko Suzuki wipes the sweat from her brow as she finishes the all-important task of keeping her Arm Slave tuned up and in prime shape for action. Even if she almost certainly has been doing that way more often than necessary, and the adjustments have likely been too minor to make much of a difference, it's... something to do, while she waits for a call to the aforementioned action to actually happen. It's inevitable that it will, sooner or later. And she doesn't have nearly enough practical combat data yet for her liking, so she really, really wishes it could be a little bit on the sooner side.
As the saying goes: be careful what you wish for.
After returning her tools to the nearby workbench, Naoko glances up at the Sukeban Kiseki, and smiles. Looking upon her masterpiece still makes her happy every time. Not just because she's proud of her work, but also for practical reasons: having the ability to personally make a difference is very important to her. Surely nothing could ruin her good mood now.
HONK.
"Kya!"
Naoko reflexively leaps back from that horrible sound coming from right next to her, a hand on her heart. It's a goose. A goose. She's never personally been this close to one, but the tales of horror are myriad. How, though? How could there possibly be a goose on the colony, on the ship?
Only now does the unusual color of the goose sink in, and with it the realization as to its nature. Her eyes grow wide. Now she can only assume this to be a targeted, personal attack. That this is the form that Yuliana's revenge takes. And yet... and yet, the goose just... stands there, on top of the workbench, staring at her with those beady eyes full of malice. It takes her a moment to work up the courage to speak.
"Wh-what do you want?!"
The goose responds by lowering its head, briefly examining the contents of the workbench. Then with lightning speed and super-goose strength... snatching a heavy wrench with its beak. It looks back at Naoko, its silent gaze issuing a challenge.
Quite abruptly, the color returns to Naoko's features, and she grows ever redder, fear quickly replaced by indignance.
"HEY! Put that down! That's my lucky wrench! I need it to work miracles!"
The goose responds, of course, by running away with the wrench. And no attempts to appeal to Naoko's rationality by her Friends succeed at stopping her from chasing it all over the hangar, causing further chaos as the goose knocks over everything in its path. A couple instances of getting tripped up by goose-created clutter later, Naoko is already winded, having rare cause to lament her lack of lung capacity.
It's not until several minutes later that the goose finally stops, turns about, and opens its wings - a threatening enough gesture even without the tentacles - letting out a deafening HONK. And somehow NOT dropping the wrench in the process, even as the creature starts to grow before the Whispered's eyes.
There's nothing for it, now. Without hesitation, Naoko doubles back to get into the cockpit of her Arm Slave, rushing through the startup sequence, muttering to herself. "So you wanna fight, fine, let's fight. I ain't afraid of no goose, not while I've got this."
>"Oh for crying out loud, are we really doing this?!"<
"Yes!"
>"Hell yes!"<
And that settles it. Naoko doesn't bother herself with whatever else gets knocked over in the process of moving her machine out into the open. The mess is a problem for Future Naoko, all that Present Naoko is considered with is pursuing the now giant goose that got her goat - and her wrench - out of the ship!
So yes, yes Al, that goose does have a wrench, Naoko's wrench. Sukeban Kiseki promptly dashes in after it, trying to unceremoniusly punch the fowl in the face. <"Give that back!!">
KTS: Naoko Suzuki: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Yuliana Kafim with Palm Edge Strike! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Kikka Kobayashi targets Yuliana Kafim with Pass! KTS: Kikka Kobayashi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Leina Ashta targets Yuliana Kafim with Beguir Neuer Cross Shield - Bludgeon From Beyond! KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage parry against Li Yao's Random Melee Weapon Disorienting Blow! KTS: Yuliana Kafim successfully reacts to Li Yao's Random Melee Weapon Disorienting Blow, taking 2960 damage! KTS: Sympatria Unit targets Yuliana Kafim with Pass! KTS: Sympatria Unit has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Tavelle Adzvin has posed.
Tavelle Adzvin isn't supposed to be here.
Like, at all. She's an illegal alien in several senses of both terms, but part of what she does for the Yaman Rebellion is talk to people. Make contacts. Make *deals*. And Magallanica is not a military colony, which is all to the good, because the people Tavelle talks to are civilians; scrappers and builders, salvagers and junkers and jury-riggers, people who may work on the edges of legality but keep the gears of industry moving along. And any large space construction facility has *those* in spades. Magallanica is full of them.
Tavelle isn't talking to one right now, though, because it is dinner time and she wanted dinner.
That said, Tavelle doesn't have much personal money on hand right now, so 'dinner' is 'fast food'; she found a Wonder Land (there's always a Wonder Land) and has acquired a burger, some chicken nuggets that she is slightly dubious of, fries, and a chocolate shake.
She has just found a place to eat it when a goose sticks its head up over the edge of the table and honks at her.
Now, Spacenoids may not have seen geese before, but Tavelle goes one step further: not being from the Earth Sphere, and Neo-Britannia having not chosen to bring any wild geese aboard, she has no idea what a goose is supposed to look like. Perhaps they are all green. She thinks of it as a big pigeon, which she *is* familiar with.
"Shoo," Tavelle says, waving her hand at it.
HONK is the response to that, followed by a quick peck, and -
"Hey! Those are mine!" Tavelle rises from her seat and reaches over in an attempt to retrieve her box of chicken nuggets. Even if she was a little dubious about their quality, they're *hers*, she bought them, and - "Cannibal bird! Those are chicken! C-h-i-c-k-e-n!"
HONK is the response to that too, along with the goose hopping up on the table, sitting right on Tavelle's burger, spreading its wings (which knocks over the milkshake directly onto Tavelle, splattering all over her loose T-shirt) and pecking at Tavelle with enough force that she recoils reflexively. "Hey, ow! - Ah!" The goose continues to menace Tavelle, attempting to either grab the food or bludgeon her with wings and beak. It's hard to tell which is higher priority, for who can know the mind of a goose?
Tavelle ends up running for it with the goose chasing her, honking all the way. This may be because Tavelle did manage to grab her fries and every once in a while the goose manages to make her drop one, but it may just be out of sheer bloody-mindedness.
---
A FEW MINUTES LATER
A broad-bodied Zectar, riding a small-for-mecha motorbike with a backwards-pointing beam gun, accelerates through the streets of Magallanica. It looks ludicrous; the Zectar has legs but doesn't really have knees, or a torso that isn't its 'head' for that matter, and it doesn't sit on the bike so much as straddle it standing while using its clamp-hands to hang on. This is normal for a surplus security unit, so don't worry about it.
While this is a Magallanican unit, it's not actually supposed to be here; it's supposed to be partway across the colony, near one of the loading docks. So why is it *here*?
Well...
Tavelle did not have her mobile unit on board. The Lestrail would give away her identity; even if they didn't recognize it (unlikely, but theoretically possible) it wouldn't be in anybody's database, and it's also militarized. She didn't feel like explaining to any Magallanicans why she had an armed unit. That just leads to awkward questions and even more awkward answers.
But there are other units around. Tavelle had been running toward the docks for lack of anywhere else to go and saw one that was deactivated but unoccupied (geese phobia? got pecked out? emergency bathroom break? she has no idea), considered a moment, and then hopped on it to hotwire it.
Which is why there is now a Magallanica defense unit that is *absolutely* not being piloted by Magallanica defense forces. They know this because Tavelle's response to being asked to identify herself on the radio was "Don't worry about it! I'm just helping! Or do you want to be eaten by a giant bird?" Not that they've shown any interest in or ability to eat people, but, you know. They might.
Tavelle has found out that the motorized guard unit has sirens, and she has cheerfully turned them on, which means it is making a loud WEE-OO WEE-OO WEE-OO in counterpoint to the geese honking while lights on each of the Zectar's top struts (not the shields, but where the legs are attached) flash red and blue.
She chews absently on one of her few surviving fries while she tries to get the hang of controlling the Zectar. She's studied units from Sol before, and it's pretty standardized; she certainly got it moving, but she's still learning the fine details.
"Wish I'd had time to change. Or something handy to change into," she grumbles to herself, because she is still wearing her milkshake-splattered shirt and not, say, something suitable for piloting. Or at least clean. She wiped at least some of it off with her hand, but she feels faintly ridiculous and she really does not want to smell of sour milk later. "Don't they keep space suits or whatever in these things?"
Tavelle is in a colony - a big one, attached to an asteroid. She does not precisely need a space suit.
She has other things to worry about. Things like giant geese, and where the weapons on this thing are mounted. Lifting one of the arms of the Zectar away from the grips on the bike unit, Tavelle takes aim at the closest of the geese, firing a spray of (relatively) low-power beam shots from the Zectar's integrated arm beam gun.
They're not especially powerful because it's designed to be used in urban environments, or as in this case a colony, but they're geese. Even with a barrier, how much force do you need on animals?
(Of the many things that Tavelle has limited Earthly experience of, 'kaiju' are one of them.)
"Get back here, bird! You owe me dinner!" A pause. "I'm not eating magic glowing bird though. Nope. I don't want to turn into a giant thing!"
KTS: Tavelle Adzvin targets Yuliana Kafim with Arm Beam Gun Shot! KTS: Tavelle Adzvin has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Emilia Eschonbach has deployed in Zectar. KTS: Emilia Eschonbach has changed loadout. KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage guard against Leina Ashta's Beguir Neuer Cross Shield - Bludgeon From Beyond! KTS: Best Defense! Yuliana Kafim successfully reacts to Leina Ashta's Beguir Neuer Cross Shield - Bludgeon From Beyond, taking 3000 damage! KTS: Leina Ashta rattles Yuliana Kafim, making her next maneuvers more difficult.
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
Emilia was a mess of emotions. Fear, upset, anger, confusion, hints of betrayal and a soupcon of helplessness. When the warning of a threat had come in, Mineva had come into her room to wake her up at a little past 3AM and insist she moved to the secure area above the VIP shelter, ready to enter at the first sign of danger. Emilia had argued of course- she could be in a mobile suit to help with disaster relief, or at least help in the war room coordination- after all, Emilia did have experience with terrorist attacks.
It's when Mineva stated plainly that it was the Kafims- or the Dawn of Fold- that Emilia relented. It would be easy enough to assume it went how most of their arguments went- Emilia afraid of pushing back and sabotaging the relationship, but...
"A-alright. J-just... m-make sure you get to s-safety too." It was hard to disguise the worry in her voice, but she still gave her cousin a hug before grabbing the bugout bag and following her security.
-=-=-
She hadn't been able to get back to sleep. It was nothing to do with the bed, or even the environment. It was the fact that she wasn't in the know. Security were at the door, and it made finding out what was going on difficult. She couldn't pull out her second phone without getting noticed. Otherwise she would be hurriedly texting someone in command 'What The Fuck'. She was out of the loop, when she was... well, she lived on Magallanica. It was useful, wasn't it? But now...
Eventually, she got up. If she was going to be worrying until things were settled, she may as well be presentable as she did. She grabbed her dressing gown, a towel, and her bathroom kit out of the bug out bag, and slipped towards the shower.
-=-=-
The shower had helped make her feel better, honestly. Having dried off and put on her dressing gown, and un did the towel keeping her hair up to start on her haircare routine when her eye passes over the sink. There is an empty space where her locket was. Why was there-
She hears rustling in her temporary room and curses herself for not taking her gun as well. There's no convenient weapons either, and her security... they must be unconscious or worse. Is this the Dawn of Fold attack? The Kafims?
She edges towards the room and sees-
A bird on her bed, with her locket dangling around it's neck. She stares incredulously for a second. The goose stares back, it's vacant stare giving an aura of hatred one cannot truly comprehend.
HONK, it intones.
"G-give that back!" Emilia yells, and launches herself at the goose. The goose waddles out of the way, flapping it's wings and going for the door, running under the turning security officer's legs.
"Miss Emilia, what's-" He starts, but Emilia shoves past him to give chase with a surprising speed. "Miss Emilia, wait!" He moves to tap his radio as he starts to give chase- but it's not there.
"krzt-- Jenkins, come in! We have intruders, secure Miss Emilia and get her to the shelter!" He hears, from down the hall. Jenkins turns, and he sees a goose, with a radio it's in beak.
Jenkins makes a split second call- fight the goose or chase after Emilia to bring her back. Jenkins is not a dumb man, he knows how to assess a threat.
And so he runs after Emilia, choosing the less dangerous and most pressing option. Besides...
What is a goose tapped into the MDF's comms going to do?
-=-=-
There is the sound of crockery smashing to the floor as the Goose runs through the kitchen, honking with a fresh loaf of bread snagged by one of it's tentacles. Emilia leaps over the broken glass and after the goose which uses it's tentacle to open the kitchen door and quickly shut it and Emilia curses herself again that she forgot her keycard in the room. She looks around, and forces a window open. The goose is passing, having slowed to a normal waddle to nibble at it's stolen loaf. Emmy grins. "Got y-you." She whispers, and leaps straight for the Goose in a grasping tackle-
And misses, because one falls slower in low gravity and the goose keeps waddling, then honks again and runs. "G-Get back here!"
-=-=-
A paparazzi, positioned some distance from the estate on an overlook that had lost it's normal security detail for ~~mysterious reasons~~- and scores himself a chance for a shot of Mineva Lao Zabi's mystery guest emerging from the back of the building. Magallanica Security had been strong around her, and indeed, few had had a chance to get a photo of her despite her attending school and travelling relatively normally now. He lines up his camera, as he feels the moment of a perfect shot coming on. "Takayuki West, you're gonna be rich-"
And then, something yanks on his camera strap and his camera hurtles to the ground, bounces off the overlook and keeps falling, the shot lost forever.
"H-Hey, I'm a civilian of Magallanica, I have a right to be here and you security goons can't-"
There is a security helmet on the ground next to him. "What the hell?"
The helmet rises, with two little green webbed feet emerging from under it. Mr Takayuki West tilts his head.
There is a honk, and a startled paparazzi stumbles back, tumbling slowly and helplessly toward the artificial water feature that his camera is heading towards too.
-=-=-
There have been so many Geese- and Emmy has had a hard time keeping eyes on the goose that stole her locket, but not an impossible one. She has changed her method to stealth, tailing the goose through the chaos, slipping from shadow to shadow. The trail leads to a construction site- still in early development. The workers have already scattered, scared off earlier by a several geese- one of whom had a megaphone- who they had found eating their lunches. And in one case trying to eat their lunch box, giving up, and pecking at it until it got found.
The goose has dropped the locket, pecked at it, been unable to open it, and then been distracted by the shaky leg of a stand cement mixer. Now's her chance. She sneaks up slowly, silently, keeping to cover until she gets close enough. The goose is on the periphery of her vision. Easy now, easy... She just needs to grab it and-
HONK
Her hand on the e-carbon cord, she yanks it, even as the goose goes to grab it with it's beak. Victory is hers! "H-Honk yourself!" She yells back!
And then the goose starts growing.
This cannot be happening. And yet it is. For a few seconds she is transfixed as the goose grows bigger, and bigger and-
HONK!
Emilia turns and runs, as the goose gives aggressive chase, honking and flapping angrily until she dives between a couple of shipping containers though a gap the goose cannot fit through.
What the hell is even happening here? How is she getting run into a corner by a goose? How is she getting intimidated by an- admittedly very big- bird!? She's stared down cyborgs, the 2nd Princess of Britannia, other terrorists, GUTS financial documents, but she'll get harassed by a bird? Is she... really that scared, that weak?
She looks around, her eye setting on something. A construction vehicle- with the keys still in. She rushes for it and-
The goose continues to honk and flap at the shipping container gaps, knowing it has a foe in a harassable position- until, suddenly, one of the shipping containers is sent flying past it's head.
"...I am n-not. Getting in--timidated. By an o-overgrown Christmas dinner!" She yells, the boxy little machine bursting toward the goose, prepared to tackle with extreme prejudice.
KTS: Emilia Eschonbach targets Yuliana Kafim with Shoulder Slam! KTS: Emilia Eschonbach has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Liam 7-020 has deployed in ZGMF-515 CGUE. KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage parry against Li Yao's Random Melee Weapon Disorienting Blow! KTS: Best Defense! Yuliana Kafim successfully reacts to Li Yao's Random Melee Weapon Disorienting Blow, taking 2775 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage parry against Naoko Suzuki's Palm Edge Strike! KTS: Best Defense! Yuliana Kafim successfully reacts to Naoko Suzuki's Palm Edge Strike, taking 2850 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim accepts Kikka Kobayashi's Pass! KTS: Best Defense! Yuliana Kafim successfully reacts to Kikka Kobayashi's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim accepts Sympatria Unit's Pass! KTS: Best Defense! Yuliana Kafim successfully reacts to Sympatria Unit's Pass, taking 0 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
It's a beautiful day in Magellanica, and a precious young couple is here to do some sightseeing, and maybe even catch up with old friends. Both Shinji Ikari and Admiral Orlodhari are busy people, but even if they don't have time to visit, they'd surely appreciate gifts! Liam and Lucine made a few purchases on the Orbital Ring, before flying out here in the Dianthus. Now, the two of them stand in front of the elevator connecting the civilian hangar to the colony's core.
"I was hoping I'd get the chance to see this place," Liam says. In front of him, the elevator display ticks up, and up, and up, as the car approaches. "It'll be... nice, to see a colony that's actually doing all right for itself." There's the near-constant political tension, of course, and the strain placed on the colony's social services, but... Magellanica feels hopeful. It reminds Liam that colonies are places that people live, not just weapons hanging in the sky, waiting to fall on other people's homes.
"Of course, it would've been nice if we could've booked a shuttle. That backseat... how did your dad stand it?" Liam sets the gift down, and stretches. His eyes drift closed for a moment as he focuses on the feeling of simple movement--his muscles getting the chance to move after hours in a cramped backseat.
The elevator arrives with a soft "ding". The door opens. Paper crinkles on the ground beside him. Liam pauses mid-stretch, arms raised above his head, feet on tip-toes. He looks down.
Lucine will have seen more than him--the moment the elevator doors opened, it walked out. Sauntered, even. And it seized its prize.
The horrible goose stands before them. It barely comes up to mid-calf on Liam, but it carries itself with absolute confidence. Its feathers are stained the deep green of Void-stone. In its beak, it clutches the handle of the gift bag.
HONK, it says, and it FLEES down the catwalk, violently shoving a wing against a hangar tech's leg.
Liam's augmented brain takes a full third of a second to register what just happened, recognize the goose as a goose, recognize the color as a sign of Void taint, recognize that the Void goose stole the gifts he and his girlfriend picked out, and demand to know why this is happening. There is no answer.
"Shit," Liam hisses. "After it, Lu!"
ONE GOOSE CHASE LATER
"It's cornered!" Liam cries, as he sprints ahead. The goose is, theoretically cornered; its back is against the Dianthus' cockpit, and unless it flies--Liam is hoping it doesn't do that--there's nowhere for it to go. "Come on," Liam demands, "give it back." He reaches out, hand blurring through the air. The goose reacts with equal speed. There's a sudden CLASH of Void-touched beak and augmented flesh. Liam jerks his hand back, eyes widening.
"Fucking goose," Liam growls, "why are you even here?!"
The goose stares back, its beady black eyes glimmering with the un-light of the Void. Its neck twists out, its broad beak stabbing into the release panel on the side of the Dianthus' cockpit block. Lucine locked it on exit, and it's coded to her biometrics, but the goose does not care about such trivialities, and neither does the Void. The hatch opens with a pneumatic hiss. Without breaking eye contact, the horrible goose flaps its wings, and leaps into the Dianthus, alighting on the pilot's seat.
HONK, it says, voice resonating with the subsonic terror of Beyond.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage charge against Tavelle Adzvin's Arm Beam Gun Shot! KTS: Best Defense! Yuliana Kafim successfully reacts to Tavelle Adzvin's Arm Beam Gun Shot, taking 3375 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage evade against Emilia Eschonbach's Shoulder Slam! KTS: Best Defense! Yuliana Kafim successfully reacts to Emilia Eschonbach's Shoulder Slam, taking 2925 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim engages parry against Li Yao's Random Melee Weapon Disorienting Blow! KTS: Best Defense! Yuliana Kafim successfully reacts to Li Yao's Random Melee Weapon Disorienting Blow, taking 1850 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
"Well, he didn't, really. He'd use the Orion instead," Lucine blithely comments. "It was more me just wanting to have a place for my friends."
It was supposed to be such a pleasant day.
Then, all hell broke loose. But they have it under control, see.
Seeing the green creature anywhere *close* to her precious Dianthus makes Lucine see, well, red. "_Don't you dare!_"
Such is the story of how the soft-spoken, gentle Lucine darted ahead from the safety of numbers provided by her boyfriend...
...And runs in to do violence to the goose that just 1. stood up to the full force of Liam's fists, and, more importantly, 2. threatened to fly away with the Dianthus. She *yanks* herself up the Dianthus's bent leg with ease after the bird, and shoves her way through the closing hatches, activating the safety mechanism to keep it from closing completely. "I don't *care* what color you are. I'll pluck your ass feather by feather and _eat you for dinner_," she hisses, gold eyes glinting.
Honks and shrieks ensue, as the toothy goose (technically geese have conical papillae, which are made of cartilage, not enamel, but this difference will not matter if you're having to fight in close quarters with a goose that is getting bigger for some reason, what the heck is up with that??) is engaged in a brawl with the Martian. Feathers fly through the open hatches, but Lucine gets the upper hand, landing her butt down in the seat and using it as leverage to plant *both* feet on the goose's front, squeezing it out through the opening, allowing the Dianthus's hatches to close completely.
< "This is really excessive." > Lucine rubs her face with her palm, wiping away blood.
.... and then, checking to see that Liam isn't there, Lucine slams a bruised hand on the dashboard to fire a barrage of bullets at the now very large goose.
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Yuliana Kafim with Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Barriage! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage guard against Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Barriage! KTS: Best Defense! Yuliana Kafim successfully reacts to Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Barriage, taking 3854 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
"Lu, wait!" The hatch closes, but not completely. Liam watches helplessly through the opening in the cockpit, face pale and tight, and as Lucine ejects the avian intruder, he lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. The sirens start. A voice echoes through the hangar bay, calling the local defenses to action. Liam looks up at the Dianthus, raises a hand to signal to Lucine, and sprints off. The hangar is in enough goose-inflicted chaos that it's trivial to slip through a door that shouldn't have been left open.
A minute or so later, a CGUE in MDF colors stomps out of the garrison hangar, solid-state sword raised.
The goose still has the bag. Is the bag now giant? Regardless, the goose is a threat.
"I said drop it!" Liam snarls, his voice echoing from the stolen (borrowed) CGUE's speakers. A moment later, he drives the flat of the blade down at the goose's head, in an attempt to knock it silly.
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Yuliana Kafim with MA-M4A Heavy Sword Disorienting Blow! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Liam 7-020's Tactical Intelligence activates Alert! KTS: Yuliana Kafim engages evade against Liam 7-020's MA-M4A Heavy Sword Disorienting Blow! KTS: Yuliana Kafim poorly reacts to Liam 7-020's MA-M4A Heavy Sword Disorienting Blow, taking 3700 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Far away, on a distant island, whisper whisper... ("Elya, your illusion spell worked! They think there are so many more geese, now!")
In truth, there are thirteen geese, that wretched witching number, wreaking havoc on Magallanica. Geese don't know about bazookas; Leina's bird-lime is a bird-CRIME, her goose honking in alarm as it's confined to the side of her machine. Thanks to Leina's crowbar efforts, the giant goose still stuck to the side of the Beguir-Neuer flaps and flaps and flaps and finally gets free -- bringing Leina's beam rifle with it! It waddles away, and pecks the rifle from its wing, peckpeckpeckpeck. The rifle falls to the ground... only for the goose to flap its great wings, as the tentacles hidden there wrap around the gun, connecting to it and powering it with Void energy.
THE GOOSE HAS A GUN! REPEAT: THE GOOSE HAS A GUN!
Unfortunately, another goose has Kikka's camera, and the debates over who owns the copyright to those photographs will surely rage for years.
Speaking of armed geese: another finds Shinji, and is absolutely fascinated with what he was carrying around. Peck, peck, peck...
Lahvi's goose, cruelly, tilts back its head and GOBBLES DOWN THE CANDY, even though it was a baby's candy! ... and then it tilts its head, as if it's listening to something Lahvi can't quite hear, which tragically means he's able to bonk it over the head with his broom and chase it off. It lets out a HONK!!! of protest, and flees.
Anita's theatrical geese, meanwhile, find new occupations when they've grown. One, in particular, finds Rena -- and sensing her shared connection to the Void, it scoops her up in its beak, carrying her down the street to present to its fellows. Look at what it found! It's such a clever goose!! Unfortunately, Eight's orders to capture the goose interrupt its glory, as two Queadlunn-Rhea piloted by her underlings stand up to the goose. "UNHAND THE CAPTAIN," the Meltrandi within demand, and after a long, glorious battle, one finally manages to grasp Rena protectively in her great palms as she ferries her off to the Gaia Gear. "The Admiral sent us to capture it," she explains, "but we'll need your help, Captain!" The reason why is clear, as the other Meltrandi falls in battle... which is to say, she gets pecked right on the butt and falls on her ass. Remember her as she lived.
The other theatrical goose who Anita praised so much, meanwhile, finds Al, driving one of those fleet vehicles about Magallanica. It honks in excitement, bringing friends to its side, as they descend on the vehicle. Peckpeckpeckpeckpeck...!
Another goose, meanwhile, can't quite live out its dreams of obtaining beautiful jewellery -- though it CAN live out its dreams of ignoring the voice in its head yelling at it for making Emilia upset. What it can do, when it grows bigger, is chase that girl down... until a shipping container is thrown at it?! It flaps in alarm, honking, as it hurries to the other side. And then, terribly, it HONKS in excitement, because having a challenge is much more fun!
Yao's goose has consumed the secrets of martial arts, and so, when his Shadow hefts that moped to smash upon it -- the goose GRASPS the bike in its tentacles in an attempt to redirect them! Tragically, though, a goose's body is not built for kung fu -- and so, even if Yao may recognise the martial spark within this bird, he's able to WHACK it with the moped, the goose's magical barrier flaring up in response.
The noodles Six offers to the horrible goose were TOO SPICY -- which luckily means that the both of them are able to get a head start.
Meanwhile, Naoko's goose... is very talented at stealing wrenches. After all, it's stolen Yuliana's wrench many times! When Naoko moves to punch it, it of course responds with that wrench... only for Naoko to punch it out of the poor goose's beak. HONK?! It yelps, as its prize flies away.
Tavelle quickly finds that cannibalism is not such a taboo in the Void, as her goose STEALS THE FORBIDDEN CHICKEN. What tastes even sweeter, of course, are those fries it manages to peck out of her. Unfortunately, the goose stops to gobble them down, which means -- she has the time to procure that Zectar! Those low-power beam shots fire... and the now-giant goose CHARGES INTO THEM, intrigued by the challenge! HONK!
Meanwhile, a goose ALMOST gets into the Dianthus -- only to be evicted by a very angry Lucine. It HONKS in alarm as it finds itself shot as soon as it's grown! It can't quite duck away from a blow to the head, though, luckily, the Void magics absorb the force of the blow -- and get a little duller, afterwards.
Far away, on a distant island, whisper whisper... ("Elya, can you...?")
... a window appears, first on Leina's console. It's not quite a visual-audio transmission through her electronics -- not a transmission through anyone's electronics -- though it appears on her screen in the place a transmission would logically appear. No: this vision of Yuliana is governed by magic, which means that Leina's systems won't be able to record the message so easily.
She appears in her usual black robes -- with a black crown upon her head. A moment's scrutiny will reveal it isn't just black, though: it's Voidframe, that black hexagonal Psychoframe variant specifically calibrated to her strange realm. They almost seem to glow, active and full of malice; at their centre is a calibrated green fold crystal, roiling dark with Yuliana's aura.
"Leyasha!" Yuliana transmits, on a private channel, just for her. Her grin is wide and manic. "So glad you got my little invitation! I knew you wouldn't be able to resist coming and thwarting me personally, particularly when I'm picking on a place so important to your other friends!" She puts a hand to her cheek, pouting, and that expression is exaggerated too. "But you know, it's not very friendly to make me say awful things about my wife. I happened to remember the warm reception our geese once gave you... so it seemed only fitting to bring them to you! If you endure my lovely geese, I might even forgive you... but first," her grin grows ever more savage, "it's time to ruin your day!"
All a sudden, that transmission is expanded out -- to everyone who's responded. "Welcome, welcome!" Yuliana appears on a dozen monitors or overhead displays, independent from anyone's communication system but always seeming like she belongs there. (Even if it would be impossible for her face to appear where it has.) "You've all met my dearest pets, have you? They're lovely little things -- they flew to our island all on their own to come join us! Of course, I'm sure you've noticed they're adorable little troublemakers... they were feeling particularly feisty today, so a field trip was naturally in order, don't you think?"
This is the precise moment when, HONK, one of the geese pecks at Yao's Shadow's shins.
"Huh?" Yuliana asks, leaning forward, tapping what appears to be the screen -- but what is, from her perspective, a mirror. "No, no, you shouldn't attack them, we like them!" HONK, another goose flaps its wings and starts chasing Emilia's construction robot down the street. A third HONKS challenge to the Sympatrias, flapping its great wings. "Ahhh, no!!" Yuliana waves her hands, wildly. "Bad girls! Bad girls!! Why can't you focus on the right people?! Elya, isn't this crown supposed to communicate with them?!"
HOOOONK, a fourth goose flaps up to the Gaia Gear, and snatches Rena's beam saber right from her hands.
"At least you got that right..." Yuliana sighs, rubbing the side of her head, her crown tilting just so. She brightens, a moment later, her too-wide grin returning. "Oh, well! It doesn't matter! You can all entertain my beautiful little babies for a while, can't you?! Of course you can! Have fun, babies!!"
The transmission blinks out, and they are left with geese... including a goose with a gun.
No, it's even worse: that goose has a gun, and another goose has Rena's beam saber, and...
... and...
WHY DOES THAT GOOSE HAVE A KNIFE?!
One of the Void Geese HONKS around a chef's knife which is as giant as it is, waddling forward like a great, feathered Tonberry. This goose, in particular, is occupied with the scenery, poking what is mercifully (if coincidentally?!) the handle of the knife into an alleyway, trying to fish out Shinji and Eight.
Meanwhile, the goose who stole Leina's gun hoists it up, and somehow manages to fire it at Emilia's Zectar. Not only do those beams fly at her, though -- geese have no trigger discipline, so the gun keeps arcing, firing towards the Sympatria's BRC-2 and Anita's Svipul!
Naoko's goose, meanwhile, picks up her lucky wrench again -- and runs out of the hangar. She'll have to give chase if she ever wants to work another miracle...!! Rena's goose, as well, takes her beam sword and runs... though her goose chase will lead her to Leina, because the horrible goose runs right up to the Beguir-Neuer and stabs it with its ill-gotten sword.
Lucine's horrible goose HONKS, and takes that (indeed giant) bag and waddles away, leading the Dianthus and Liam's CGUE towards the others on their own wild goose chase.
Tavelle, meanwhile, finds herself in glorious battle with a goose... as it keeps running forward, only to duck its head and run UNDER her, looking to trip up those awkward legs she's currently using. Yao, as well, is in single combat with an especially martial goose... as it pecks at his shins!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Emilia Eschonbach with The Horrible Goose Has Stolen Your Beam Gun! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Sympatria Unit with The Horrible Goose Has Stolen Your Beam Gun! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Anita Rosetta with The Horrible Goose Has Stolen Your Beam Gun! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Naoko Suzuki with A Wild Horrible Goose Chase! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Rena Lancaster with A Wild Horrible Goose Chase! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Leina Ashta with The Horrible Goose Has Stolen Your Beam Sword! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Tavelle Adzvin with The Horrible Goose Trips You Up! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Li Yao with The Horrible Goose Pecks At Your Shins! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Lucine Azul with A Wild Horrible Goose Chase! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Liam 7-020 with A Wild Horrible Goose Chase! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rena Lancaster engages evade against Yuliana Kafim's A Wild Horrible Goose Chase! KTS: Critical Hit! Rena Lancaster poorly reacts to Yuliana Kafim's A Wild Horrible Goose Chase, taking 5610 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yuliana Kafim's Mortal Wrath activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Leina Ashta fails to engage Parry against Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Has Stolen Your Beam Sword! KTS: Best Defense! Leina Ashta successfully reacts to Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Has Stolen Your Beam Sword, taking 3675 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta engages block against Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Has Stolen Your Beam Gun! KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Anita Rosetta poorly blocks Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Has Stolen Your Beam Gun, taking 3870 damage! KTS: Tavelle Adzvin has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Tavelle Adzvin engages charge against Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Trips You Up! KTS: Critical Hit! Tavelle Adzvin poorly reacts to Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Trips You Up, taking 5400 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yuliana Kafim's Mortal Wrath activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Emilia Eschonbach has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Emilia Eschonbach fails to engage Charge against Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Has Stolen Your Beam Gun! KTS: Best Defense! Emilia Eschonbach successfully reacts to Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Has Stolen Your Beam Gun, taking 3975 damage! KTS: Li Yao engages evade against Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Pecks At Your Shins! KTS: Critical Hit! Li Yao poorly reacts to Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Pecks At Your Shins, taking 6710 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yuliana Kafim's Mortal Wrath activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Naoko Suzuki engages charge against Yuliana Kafim's A Wild Horrible Goose Chase! KTS: Naoko Suzuki's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Naoko Suzuki successfully reacts to Yuliana Kafim's A Wild Horrible Goose Chase, taking 4320 damage! KTS: Sympatria Unit engages charge against Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Has Stolen Your Beam Gun! KTS: Best Defense! Sympatria Unit successfully reacts to Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Has Stolen Your Beam Gun, taking 3975 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul engages evade against Yuliana Kafim's A Wild Horrible Goose Chase! KTS: [Mirage] Lucine Azul's Glimmer Engine activates, and she slips into a mirage. KTS: Best Defense! Lucine Azul successfully reacts to Yuliana Kafim's A Wild Horrible Goose Chase, taking 0 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 engages evade against Yuliana Kafim's A Wild Horrible Goose Chase! KTS: Critical Hit! Liam 7-020 poorly reacts to Yuliana Kafim's A Wild Horrible Goose Chase, taking 5830 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yuliana Kafim's Mortal Wrath activates, causing Control Bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
The Section 2 agents who covertly boarded the Ra Mari II as undercover agents will soon have their hands full, anyway, so it's just as well.
"Hmmm..." Shinji murmurs at Eight's advice. It seems sound... and it makes him feel a little better. He isn't happy about how things have turned out, but after so long of thinking Asuka and Rei were dead, he's relatively content to have Asuka hate him forever. Just as long as she's alive. And while his own romantic feelings for her have faded by now, it's a little like... her rejection gave him permission to move on.
It's strange. He doesn't really understand it himself. But having permission to remember Asuka fondly--to care about her, even if she might hate him now--does make it easier. "...Okay. Thanks."
Of course, then geese happen. And so the universe remains in balance.
"You want to CAPTURE it?!" Shinji utters, boggle-eyed, at Eight as they duck down an alleyway. Eight, thank god, had the presence of mind to grab the soft knife case and roll it back up, but now they have a goose waddling after them and sticking a KNIFE at them. (Thankfully, handle-side first. An uncannily intelligent voidgoose is still a goose, it would seem. Or maybe it's just not so eager to end playtime...!)
Suddenly, Yuliana's voice booms from an e-billboard just barely in view from where they are. Shinji twists around to gape at it, and at her. It isn't a surprise to hear that these green, be-tentacled geese are Yuliana's doing, but even so, he exclaims, "Why?!"
...It doesn't help that the geese do not seem to be quite completely under Yuliana's control.
"Wh-what do we do now, Miss Eight?" he asks his companion. His eyes dart between her and the goose--and in particular, that knife it's jabbing wrong-side-forward at them. He knows there's nothing they can do. The smart thing would be to run away and let someone else handle this. From the sounds through the city, it sure seems like there's a lot of someones attempting to handle it. But...
"Dammit...!"
He has to get that knife back. It was a precious gift. Just... how?
<Pose Tracker> Al has posed.
Al's case is neatly extracted and retrieved. Al's voice comes out of the Gaia Gear's cockpit, this time: "I might dislike animals," he says. "Thank you."
Fortunately, at this point, he and Rena have had enough time to customize the OS so re-establishing connection is quick and efficient. A zoom-in picture in picture hangs on the car for a moment. "A fine vehicle," he laments, and then attention turns to the mega-geese. "Receiving notification of barrier field resistant to defense emplacements. No data on file."
...a goose waddles up with full confidence and Simply Takes the beam saber. ... "Notification," he states. "The goose has trained in close-quarters combat. Be advised."
KTS: Al targets Yuliana Kafim with Designate L2! KTS: Al has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Al's Where Are We Going activates Wall and Alert! KTS: Yuliana Kafim accepts Al's Designate L2! KTS: Al designates Yuliana Kafim, making her easier to target and opening her to indirect fire. KTS: Best Defense! Yuliana Kafim successfully reacts to Al's Designate L2, taking 0 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sympatria Unit has posed.
QUAYSIDE
"Ugh, finally," says Two as she finishes wiggling her way into the innards of the BRC-2. Finding the cockpit, she shucks off her torn-up pullover and leans back into the chair, letting the connectors link in. "You getting settled in?"
"Yup!" comes the electronic voice of Six to Two. "Though it's - sticking - gyah~!!"
"Horrible," says Two. "OK, reactor's up, I gotta back out and then"
BOOM!
Six screams. "We're gonna diiiieeee!!!"
"No backing out," Two says.
RIP! A Mobile Suit was in the cargo container!? The battered exterior of the cargo container gives way - the composite with metal cladding falling apart, leaving only the faded Anaheim Electronics logo on the left face visible. At this point the BRC-2 takes another shot of enemy fire, making Two grunt in dismay.
"Six! Watch the screens!" Two says as she turns the BRC-2 and reaches over to flip up an adjacent Anaheim-surplus cargo container. This one she reaches into from the top, like a child searching for a toy in an oversized box. She finds the toy quickly.
VISUAL CHECK. The BRC-2 is a topheavy machine; legs are sufficient to support it, but reinforced armoring over expanded actuators clearly put focus into the machine's arms. And the reason why becomes clear as it tears loose what must be some kind of primary armament. At this point the third shot from the dreadful Goose falls inwards, staggering the BRC-2. The sword - which is almost as big *as* the Mobile Suit - is struggled with. Frankly, it looks implausible.
"Alright," huffs Two. "OKAY," she continues. "HERE -"
The sword begins to hum.
"WE -"
The humming reaches a crescendo.
"GO!"
There's an enormous industrial CHNK noise, and then the chain snarls to life, the rotary momentum of the HULLBREACHER ASSAULT BLADE's motors transferring to their intended purpose. And with that and a kick of effort, the Mobile Suit bursts into a run, feet slamming downwards, the Hullbreacher held in a two handed grasp to the side that trims several meters off at least three trees on its way to reach the point where the blade can be swung first UP, taking the BRC-2 with it and slightly to the left in Magellania's pseudo-gravity --
And then DOWN towards the goose, and probably inevitably, the ground. "HRRAAAHHH!!"
"She said don't damage the colony," Six offers.
"BUSY NOW," Two shouts.
"I'm just SAYING," Six also shouts. "So you're AWARE, OKAY??"
As truly horrible sounds of an oversized chainsword going to town on, ALMOST CERTAINLY, concrete if NOTHING ELSE ring outwards, Six reviews data records. "This is Mz Kafim's work, but I think she's lost control of them," she says on the interior link. "Wow... I thought they were kind of cute."
"Why did she make horrible green -- what are they?"
"Birds?" Six guesses. "I don't -- wait, she called them geese!"
"Horrible geeses!" shouts Two.
Six shrugs.
Four seconds later, Six explains, "I shrugged," since she's on the other side of about thirty layers of metal and electronics. ("got it" Two replies, interstitially.)
KTS: Sympatria Unit has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Sympatria Unit targets Yuliana Kafim with Surging Rushdown! KTS: Sympatria Unit has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Oh my GOD, Annie," Rena says over the radio, in regards to her puns. She has a hand over her face for a moment. She groans into that hand.
Then she spreads two fingers, and looks at Al's box from between them. "I'm normally a fan, but these are something else."
With Al secured, though, she is on the way to the ones who helped her -- the Meltrandi that saw her to safety. She looks at her screen. "We'll have to see if we can round them up, Annie. Maybe--"
There is a transmission.
Rena stares, flatly, at her screen. "YULIANA," she groans. "Why! Why are you doing this! This is not an acceptable enrichment activity for your pets--"
HONK comes the second interruption.
The Gaia Gear Alpha's beam saber is snatched from her Mobile Suit's hands. Rena's left eyebrow twitches; that occasional short in the optics makes the Gaia Gear's left eye flicker, at the same time. "I-I can see that, Al!"
The Gaia Gear Alpha brings up its left arm; the forearm armor lifts, and then the beam cannon there fires, three rapid pulses of energy hurtling towards the barrier-equipped goose. The beam cannon's mega particle output is reduced -- she wants concussive force, not destroying buildings or the colony.
"GIVE THAT BACK!"
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster's Newtype activates! KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Yuliana Kafim with Hand Beam Guns! KTS: Rena Lancaster has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
HOOOOOOOOOOONK!
Grabbing Kikka's hand, she all but yanks her in from her Petite MS, as Leina slams the button for the hatch moments before the whole MS vibrates from the impact of the Goose against it. "God, you okay?" She asks Kikka, as she leaps over the console back into the seat.
"I can." Leina replies dully, like she's coming down now from the adrenaline rush of the last few minutes. The Beguir sprang to life, remembering full well those Green Geese in the North Pole that attacked the MP ZZ, despite the size advantage. It's only then that Leina sees that the Goose took-
"Oh for the love of-!"
Leina is watching it line up a shot on a Zectar just as Yuliana opens that magical window in her cockpit, "Yeah you think I didn't realize what it likely was?" (What's with the Crown?) She asides to Kikka, "You used to work in intelligence... who would ever think you don't know what Opsec is?" (Oh she did NOT just say that?) Again, an aside to Kikka, "In what world is that equal!? Me telling you the truth about your marriage justifies you attacking a place where a lot of people I care about live?!"
The transmission is expanded out then, which is probably a relief that the magical transmission did NOT go out to everyone, before she sighs at Kikka, "Sorry she involved you in this." She tells Kikka more directly, "And everyone here in Magallanica." But who could have predicted this level of escalation? Who?
The Goose comes at them with a beam sword, and Leina reacts by trying to shoot it but-! "Oh right." She tries to grasp her Beam Sword in time, but the Goose is already on them, and the stab is made only a shallow one by the fact she quickly raises her shield to clang against the hilt of the saber, driving it wide.
Tearing the Beguir away from it, it leaps skyward, on thrusters, before eventually... it starts coming down towards the one attacking a certain Zectar, slamming it with a Clawed Foot and trying to catch it's entire bulk within it's foot claw unit and pin it to the ground.
"You, give that back!" Before she apologizes to the Zectar, "Sorry about it getting ahold of my rifle, you alright?" Meanwhile, back at Cathedra 'HQ' a Goose knocks over a computer performing some audits as - a certain feed gets piped right onto her channel, in a window that pops up for her and Kikka.
'BUT WHYYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyy...'
Leina blinks, then-
"<Attention all Magallanica Forces- I'm right now seeing a feed of Squad Leader Lancaster being absconded with by a Goose - time stamped four minutes ago!? Please respond with her status.>"
Rena is DEFINITELY never going to live this one down.
KTS: Leina Ashta targets Yuliana Kafim with Beguir Neuer Foot Unit Claws That Catch! KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage evade against Sympatria Unit's Surging Rushdown! KTS: Yuliana Kafim poorly reacts to Sympatria Unit's Surging Rushdown, taking 4500 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Li Yao has posed.
It was once said everyone was kung fu fighting. However that line was never meant to apply to fowl void creatures. So to see the Void Goose attempt to parry his attack it was surprising to say the least, fortunately momentum helped him successfully strike the creature. The shadow lands and pulls back instinctively as he watches his new opponent.
That was when he sees a video pop up with Yuliana and this is all revealed to have been some scheme of hers. Yao totally feels played at the moment, as he puts the dots together and withdraws the arm slave's knife before throwing it at the nearest screen of Yuliana, rather perturbed to be caught in some scheme that had , 'Didn't think things through' written all over it. The rather large knife impales itself, destroying the screen as he turns to look at the goose. "Ok, let's do this."
Yao's emotions were a bit of a mess but that doesn't mean he can't put them aside and focus on the opponent in front of him. Still though in all his anger his opponent has recovered and came at him. Yao attempts to flip over the goose, but he loses his unit's entire right foot in the process, landing down on one knee. Meanwhile as he is trying to figure out what is to do next the goose seems to be moving on. Yao could just let the goose go after all...
However, that goose not only ate his scroll but has gained martial art enlightenment in the process, it will not get away. The Arm Slave stands unsteady and moves over to a lightpole, that it then rips out of the ground, with some concrete still on it. Immediately using it as a cane to help balance the unit and give chase after the goose. Once in range, Yao kicks the boosters of the unit forward and attempts to bring down the light pole on the goose.
KTS: Li Yao targets Yuliana Kafim with Zeya B3M HEAT Hammer No-Discharge Swing! KTS: Li Yao has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Tavelle Adzvin's In The Zone activates! KTS: Tavelle Adzvin has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
Lavhi does not find CANDY but he finds JUSTICE, bonking the goose. He'll just have to get an additional candy for his son...
Eight smiles at Shinji when he says thanks. She's trying to help him, anyway. But soon, there are geese, and--
"Capture the one in the war room," she explains. "I just got that call from work." Pause. "...Not sure this one out here is so capturable..."
The billboard booms out. Eight ducks behind the alley with Shinji, but she watches, and scowls.
"KAFIM!" she shouts back over comms, and Yuliana might just hear it anyway. But Leina's communication comes through next--
"Absconded????"
But there is a more pressing matter--Shinji's question. What now...?
"Shinji," she says. "I'm going to distract it, so you can dart to the other side of the alley. Then I'll be right with you. Understand?"
Then, she presses the knife roll into his hands. "Keep these safe. We'll get back your other one."
Then, she darts out the other side of the knife, rolls forward, and stands up next to a car the goose has already stepped on and ruined. "Grrrrrrrhhhh--"
Eight RIPS the remaining door the rest of the way out of the socket with her Cyber-Newtype strength, and HURLS it up at the goose's beak. "DROP THAT!"
Then she darts across the open space to run. "THEY'RE NOT BABIES, KAFIM!"
<Pose Tracker> Tavelle Adzvin has posed.
Technically it's not even cannibalism! Geese aren't chickens. Probably. Void geese even less so. But a chicken would absolutely eat a goose nugget, so it's only fair that the goose gets the chicken nuggets out of Tavelle (well, fair except to Tavelle).
But getting replacement dinner is a concern for later. Right now Tavelle appears to be in a life or death struggle with a giant goose.
Tavelle isn't actually using the Zectar's legs, much, because she's riding the Cannon Bike that she carted in. Though it's not like the Zectar has the ability to sit; it's more straddling the bike while holding on. Which means when the goose slams into the Zectar's leg, it tips over the entire bike; the Zectar tumbles, skidding along the street, while the bike continues to spin its wheels on nothing at all until a safety catches and the bike brakes.
The net result: the Zectar is on the ground, the bike is a few meters away on its side, and both of them are bashed up from what amounts to a traffic accident. Also, Tavelle has said several bad words - not in English, or in any Terran language - and is now nursing a bruise from where her safety strap caught her while she wasn't wearing a flight suit.
Righting the Zectar by firing its leg thrusters until it orients upright, Tavelle grabs at the bike and yanks it more or less upright. It reconfigures from bike form to wheeled bipod as Tavelle plants the rifle back down, trying to take aim on the goose as it moves around -
A unit wielding a chainsaw (chainsword? whatever) drops down, attacking a second goose. Tavelle is momentarily distracted from her sniping, refocuses, and fires a pair of shots one after another at the geese - the first one a beam, the second one a solid bullet that follows the same path in to punch a hole through weakened armour.
Tavelle looks at the BRC-2 through her cameras. She eventually decides that contacting anyone who voluntarily drives *that* thing, with *that* weapon, is probably a bad idea, and instead starts to move backwards, the wheeled bipod coming with her. She'll certainly use the Sympatrias as cover even if she won't use them as conversation.
Crap, crap, she thinks to herself. Why did I let myself get into a fight with a bird? The stupid magic bird's going to win and *everyone* is going to laugh at me!
KTS: Tavelle Adzvin targets Yuliana Kafim with Cannon Bike Twin Shot! KTS: Tavelle Adzvin has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
Emilia was not, honestly, expecting be shot at by a goose with a freaking beam gun today. She wasn't! Who would expect that! Why would anyone think of *Geese*?
The bolt blasts into her Zectar, meaning the Goose chasing her has time to catch up as she stumbles BACK into the construction site, the machine crashing through the safety walls. Do they insure for Kaiju Attacks in Magallanica, or only Seijin? That's a question for the assessors!
The question is how she's going to deal with these geese ruining her day. Fortunately, there are options, and one is scooped up by the Zectar's weird little arms- a large scale heavy duty shovel. She urges the machine back to it's feet, growling. There are two on her list now, one that shot her and the other that put her into this mess in the first place.
But Emilia is easy to anger in combat, this is known. The Admiral makes a request not to damage the colony, and that is noted. However-
"You b-b-bastard bird!" Emilia yells, charging, the Zectar's comms being, well. Open. Good news, Leina! Now you know who got shot with your gun! "
The Zectar rushes toward the Goose that shot at her with reckless abandon, getting shot up even more. "I'm g-g-g-going to. To. To..." ....How do you even insult a goose. "I'm going t-to sh-shove you in an oven and bake you t-twice as long as recommended until y-y-y-you dry out w-worse than the m-m-meat in an MRE!"
And then she swings the shovel at it full force, with the intent to... knock over the goose! With a clanging sound effect if at all possible. Do it, foley team.
"A-a-and I'll d-d-d-do a r-really bad job of feathering you s-so that there's a really g-g-gross smell while y-you cook and y-you're going to be r-reworked into p-pet food!!"
KTS: Emilia Eschonbach targets Yuliana Kafim with Construction Shovel Topple Strike! KTS: Emilia Eschonbach has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage evade against Li Yao's Zeya B3M HEAT Hammer No-Discharge Swing! KTS: Best Defense! Yuliana Kafim successfully reacts to Li Yao's Zeya B3M HEAT Hammer No-Discharge Swing, taking 2775 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Rena's groan only causes that smug grin to grow even wider, as Anita achieves her desired effect.
"Gotcha." Anita starts. But as Rena is about to elaborate... a transmission appears! Anita's eyes are drawn to the screen as Yuliana's face appears on it. That... explains a lot, actually.
"So that's why they're green. I should've guessed." Anita says. So, that's why they're here - it's a prank. As far as pranks go, unleashing super-powered geese is definitely up there... At least it seems like Yuliana has about the same level of control over the situation as they do, from the way she's complaining. "I'd say this is too petty even for her, but... I'd probably be lying. Next time she makes us pet-sit, I'm sending her a bill."
Anita pauses, as she catches the pun she didn't even intend to make this time - and then she's given even more reason to take notice when one of them hoists a beam rifle!?
"Wh-whoa!" Anita gasps out. The beam rifle fires indiscrimnately, spraying through the air - and then arcs toward her. Anita reacts quickly, Svipul's shield raised to intercept the shots. The Variable Fighter recoils back, though the Pinpoint Barrier and the shield together manage to mitigate the damage.
"Gonna add repairs onto that, too..." Anita mutters.
An important question is asked, though.
"Squad Leader Lancaster is safe and sound." Anita says. "How're you holding up, Rena?"
A goose has what's clearly the Gaia Gear's Beam Saber, so that might be a hint...
With that, Anita turns her attention back to the geese.
With Leina going after the one with the beam gun, Anita swoops in on the one with Rena's beam saber.
"Come on, eyes on me." Anita murmurs as she spirals around it from mid-air, sending a carefully-aimed barrage of beam fire its way as a distraction while Rena moves in for the attack.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Yuliana Kafim with Vulcan Barrage! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Though Naoko doesn't immediately open comms, the sight of Sukeban Kiseki punching one of the giant geese should be enough of a signal to the Magallanica Defense Force members that Naoko's on the scene on to assist. Only once orders are relayed does she send her own transmission in response, even if she was already a little ahead of schedule on the engaging.
"Dang goose stole my wrench!" she yells, before dropping the volume a bit. "--uh, I mean, got it, Rena! I'll be careful!" Aaand the volume immediately goes up again, with her not ending the transmission before the next developments take place. "Somebody get that-- Ah, no! STOP THAT--"
The transmission goes out as Naoko's sudden movement to follow the goose causes her to trip over her own feet. Yes, she managed to somehow do that while inside of a robot, making her Arm Slave faceplant unceremoniously onto the pavement. Thankfully she wasn't nearby any buildings, but the road workers aren't going to be very happy about that. And of course Yuliana picks that exact moment to send her own transmission and confirm the intentional malice, not doing anything to improve Naoko's mood.
"Rrrgh," Naoko grumbles as she picks herself up. "This sucks. I can't believe I'm going to use this to catch a freaking goose." But she needs the improved control if nothing else. Besides, "I suppose I did intend for it to oppose the Void. Might as well get serious, right?"
>"Yeah!! Show 'em who's boss!"<
>"Just... be careful not to break anything else?"<
"All the more reason to assume direct control. Let's go! Nova Driveeeeeeer!!"
One stock animation sequence of the Sukeban Kiseki's line patterns turning from light purple to bright green later, the Arm Slave rockets upwards, scanning the area below.
"Think you've given me the slip? Joke's on you, dumb bird." A red blip appears on her radar screen, and Naoko grins. "That wrench has a tracking device!"
...What? Doesn't yours?
Not long after, Sukeban Kiseki lands in front of the goose in question, one hand extended forward. Though there is no outward sign of anything happening, a massive yet entirely invisible force bears down on the goose, turning into a solid grip to hold it in place when the Arm Slave closes its palm.
"Now I've got you! COSMIC CAGE!"
KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Yuliana Kafim with Cosmic Cage! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Why is the goose huge? Why is the bag huge? Questions buzz through Liam's mind like agitated bees as his CGUE charges through the hangar, following the goose. The enormous green waterfowl shoves its way through a deployment hatch, tentacles snaking out to manhandle the MS-sized manual release.
Liam's CGUE jets forward, lunging sword-first at the void-touched avian, only for the hatch to slam back into place midway through. A horrid shredding-metal squeal emanates from within as the armor peels off the CGUE's right arm, shoulder, and chest. Sparks fly from the machine's innards as it 'falls' inwards, towards the center point of the cylinder.
Liam grits his teeth as he sees the goose floating within the cityscape, still clutching the bag. More anomalous signatures light up his radar. The CGUE's remaining cameras zoom in, picking out more geese engaging more defenders. Liam recognizes the Gaia Gear and Beguir-Neuer and Svipul at a glance. The wounded CGUE flips across the colonial gravity plane, its jets gently carrying it down...
It lands with a heavy, ominous thud in front of the bag-bearing goose, which has (wisely, or unwisely) landed near the robot with the chainsword.
"Lu, stay airborne!" Liam cries. The CGUE hops backwards, twisting so its left side--the one with actual armor remaining--faces the goose. In that moment, a familiar face appears on Liam's screen. He jerks back, startled; if the mirror is two-way, Yuliana sees Liam in pilot suit, without helmet, staring back. His right eye twitches. His lips slowly twist in a scowl. What can he say that won't make this situation worse?
Liam takes a deep breath instead, and raises the CGUE's shield. The vulcans within spin up, and spray bullets at the bag-wielding goose--Liam being careful to avoid hitting the bag itself, of course. A pause, as the chainsaw robot goes for a brutal swing.
"Careful!" Liam shouts. "The colony hull--!"
<Pose Tracker> Kikka Kobayashi has posed.
"I'm fine!" Kikka assures Leina, taking her hand. "Honestly, it was pretty lucky to only lose my camera, even if it's kind of a pain to replace." She admits, with a laugh. "What about you? Your mobile suit already kind of looks worse for wear..." It's clear that there was already some kind of struggle, with the marks of it breaking free from the birdlime.
Kikka would love to know how the copyright for those photos would work, but if she's lucky, she just hopes she can, you know... get it back once this is all sorted out. Otherwise... at least Magallanica's hazard pay is pretty good?
Against magical void geese, it is marginally safer in the cockpit of the Beguir-Neuer than it is on the ground or in a petite mobile suit - but it sure doesn't feel that way once the geese grow to MASSIVE size and start sending the pilots on a literal wild goose chase. It's kind... of thrilling in a weird way, knowing they probably aren't in any mortal danger.
But it doesn't make having to see Yuliana's smug transmission any better, either. She mostly lets Leina do the talking seeing as the message is directed at her, but she gives Leina a deadpan 'really' look as Yuliana just keeps going on. What kind of revenge is this?
"Have to admit... I'm almost at a loss for words at how petty this is. Like, listen to yourself. This almost isn't even an international incident anymore, it's just..." She tilts her head. "Silly?" This is the kind of thing she and her brothers would unleash when they were like, six.
("Guess those monster controlling devices they have on the black market have gotten pretty advanced... why does it have to glow?") is her best guess as to what the deal with the crown is. Yes, she has reduced Yuliana's lovelies to mere kaiju.
It's pretty funny to see everyone struggle against the geese, Kikka letting out a chuckle as Leina pointedly teases Rena over public comms. HOW are the geese powering these weapons, anyways? "This is turning into a mess, so I can try handling coordination while you fight?" Kikka offers, and then follows up with the rest of their allies.
"Ms. Lancaster, Ms. Rosetta, this is Kikka, I'm with Leina! How are you two holding up? I'm sending you all the Beguir's combat data on these birds, make use of your inbuilt weaponry if you have to!" She suggests. "Looks like they're all leading you around a point, and messing with your weapons, so try to coordinate your attacks to avoid the buildings if you can?" She adds, and then turns her focus back to Leina.
KTS: Kikka Kobayashi targets Leina Ashta, Rena Lancaster, and Anita Rosetta with Coordinate! KTS: Kikka Kobayashi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Leina Ashta accepts Kikka Kobayashi's Coordinate! KTS: Kikka Kobayashi coordinates maneuvers, raising Leina Ashta's Piloting! KTS: Best Defense! Leina Ashta successfully reacts to Kikka Kobayashi's Coordinate, taking 0 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta accepts Kikka Kobayashi's Coordinate! KTS: Kikka Kobayashi coordinates maneuvers, raising Anita Rosetta's Piloting! KTS: Best Defense! Anita Rosetta successfully reacts to Kikka Kobayashi's Coordinate, taking 0 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Yuliana Kafim with M7070 Shield+28mm Vulcan Burst! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Liam 7-020's Tactical Intelligence activates Valor! KTS: Rena Lancaster accepts Kikka Kobayashi's Coordinate! KTS: Kikka Kobayashi coordinates maneuvers, raising Rena Lancaster's Piloting! KTS: Best Defense! Rena Lancaster successfully reacts to Kikka Kobayashi's Coordinate, taking 0 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage evade against Tavelle Adzvin's Cannon Bike Twin Shot! KTS: Yuliana Kafim successfully reacts to Tavelle Adzvin's Cannon Bike Twin Shot, taking 3980 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage guard against Emilia Eschonbach's Construction Shovel Topple Strike! KTS: Best Defense! Yuliana Kafim successfully reacts to Emilia Eschonbach's Construction Shovel Topple Strike, taking 3825 damage! KTS: Emilia Eschonbach rattles Yuliana Kafim, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage guard against Naoko Suzuki's Cosmic Cage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim moderately reacts to Naoko Suzuki's Cosmic Cage, taking 3960 damage! KTS: Naoko Suzuki anchors Yuliana Kafim, preventing her from Evading the next attack! KTS: Naoko Suzuki rattles Yuliana Kafim, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage guard against Liam 7-020's M7070 Shield+28mm Vulcan Burst! KTS: Best Defense! Yuliana Kafim successfully reacts to Liam 7-020's M7070 Shield+28mm Vulcan Burst, taking 3150 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
< "Liam, get to safety, I'll hold the thing off!" > One second after the Dianthus fired on the Ghastly Green Goose, Lucine's comment is broadcasted over the Dianthus's speakers, like an afterthought. She was rather pissed off, after all.
Wait, why was she using a weapon of war to shoot at a goose? Oh right, because it's massive.
..... hold up
< ".... Huh... Why us the goose so big? And did the bag just get massive too, or are my cameras malfunctioning?" > By this time, Liam is coming up in a CGUE. < ".... You're seeing this too, right?" > One of the side benefits of being a Newtype is knowing which stolen (borrowed) suit your boyfriend is in! When he gets close enough, that is. And, when he speaks through his own speakers, using his own voice. And.... yeah.
SO in other words... Lucine needs to dodge.
The Martian takes Liam's advice to heart as well, instinctively taking to the sky as Liam's own CGUE is attacked. All the better to move, though-- the Dianthus isn't built for walking.
< "Liam, are you getting the messages? It's Yuliana. There's more of them. If this one with withdrawing..." > Lucine flicks some switches, attempting to find a public radio feed. < "...we should follow behind it, in case it leads us to the others. I doubt it'll try to attack two machines at once." > Pause. < "..... Or maybe it just wants to be annoying." >
See, Yuliana's broadcast is showing that no one, not even the power voice couple themselves, can handle the power of GEESE.
The Dianthus takes out the Argen-21 Beam Arbalest, and begins to aim as the GOOSE retreats back. < ".... On second thought... Let's just take care of this. It's getting old already." >
KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul's Morning Star activates! KTS: Lucine Azul targets Yuliana Kafim with Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Snipe! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage guard against Rena Lancaster's Hand Beam Guns! KTS: Critical Hit! Yuliana Kafim poorly reacts to Rena Lancaster's Hand Beam Guns, taking 5290 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage guard against Anita Rosetta's Vulcan Barrage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim moderately reacts to Anita Rosetta's Vulcan Barrage, taking 3510 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta begins a Formation attack! KTS: Leina Ashta's Ace of Dominicus activates! KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage guard against Leina Ashta's Beguir Neuer Foot Unit Claws That Catch! KTS: Critical Hit! Yuliana Kafim poorly reacts to Leina Ashta's Beguir Neuer Foot Unit Claws That Catch, taking 4620 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Leina Ashta's Mass Effect activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Leina Ashta continues a Formation attack! KTS: Leina Ashta anchors Yuliana Kafim, preventing her from Evading the next attack! KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage guard against Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Snipe! KTS: Critical Hit! Yuliana Kafim poorly reacts to Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Snipe, taking 7370 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Lucine Azul's Bright Eyes activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: Lucine Azul completes the Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana pouts, when Leina asks whether she didn't know what opsec was. "Oh, you're no fun," she says, which handily side-steps saying she was ever bad at something. (She isn't bad at opsec, actually.) And she pouts to Kikka, as she asks: "What's wrong with being a little silly sometimes? If it makes my wife happy, there's no harm in fowl!" That camera cost so many of the monetary units.
Shinji's goose pokes and pokes at them, trying to get them out. HONK, it honks, around its knife. HONK!!! It's so distracted with Shinji, though, that it doesn't notice Eight sneaking around -- and when a door flies out towards it, it HONKS in surprise, the knife clattering down in front of the alleyway. (Blocking the alleyway, because it's still giant.) Yuliana's face appears on the billboard, again, cheek resting on the heel of her hand. "Oh, you'll understand when you have pets of your own," she pouts, to Eight. "Besides, isn't this fun?! Haven't you missed getting to stretch your legs like this? Oh, speaking of..."
The goose turns to Eight, chaos glinting in its eyes, and starts to waddle menacingly towards her. HONK!
The goose with the bag, meanwhile, continues fleeing consequences, its shields absorbing Liam and Lucine's blows. It leads them right to the others!
Al notices that the geese know about CQC, which is... half right. The way that goose stabs with the sword doesn't really suggest that it knows exactly how swords work... but it's VERY excited to find out!
Two's massive swing of its Hullbreacher would surely cleave a goose in twain -- if not for that magical shield. It flares bright green, and the goose is able to slip out into the side of the strike, as that oversized blade craters the concrete instead. And as the blade buries there, and the goose runs away, fleeing from Tavelle's rifle-shots in turn (though not quite successfully)...
... ANOTHER goose sneaks up behind the Force My Way...
... and PECKS at its poor metal derriere! "HEY! Stop trying to chop my darling geese in half!" Yuliana appears, on two different screens, so both Two and Six can see her. "I'll make it up to you, all right?! Just calm down!"
Meanwhile, the fleeing goose flees right into Tavelle's sphere of influence, and pauses, in front of her, tilting its horrible little head back and forth. Perhaps it can reach an accord with her? Or, perhaps...
The goose cranes its head back, only to let out a terrifying HONK which echoes across the streets, reaching not only Tavelle but Liam and Lucine, too. "Oh, it's you two!" Yuliana says, appearing on the latter's screens, before she leans forward, taps her mirror, and pulls up one with Tavelle. "Huh? Are you one of the defence lackeys?" She asks, having clearly misidentified her in that Zecter of hers.
Yuliana, meanwhile, definitely thought this through. Totally thought this through. The problem is -- the horrible goose is tormenting Yao! Oh, this is going to be such a headache to clear up later! Despite Yuliana mentally screaming at the enlightened goose to lighten up a bit, it steps up against Yao's light pole, moving with it -- though not quite quickly enough to avoid getting whacked, its magical barrier protesting. It whirls, its webbed foot kicking out at Yao's leg-parts to try and knock him down! She appears on his screen, to say, "Don't be too hard on them, would you? They're just playing!" There's no playing with martial secrets, Yuliana.
Meanwhile, Emilia's goose flaps its wings, in an attempt to meet Emilia's force with its own. Emilia bests it, her shovel slamming into that barrier -- but that's when the goose realises something dangerous. That's a good shovel...
... so it reaches its neck into her space, and, YOINK.
HONK, the goose warbles victory, as it takes its own turn whacking Emilia with a shovel. "This is all a misunderstanding," Yuliana appears on her screens to insist. "Those geese weren't meant for you! This isn't a big deal, really!"
Luckily, she's rescued from this ignoble fate by Leina's claw, as the Beguir-Neuer crashes in to pin it to the ground. HONK?! Everything looks grim for this goose... but before Emilia can cook it, with Leina's help, the magic around it shifts -- and it phases out of existence before it reappears behind them.
HONK!
Meanwhile, Nova's goose HONKS in confusion as it's caged, trying -- and failing -- to flap its wings. It looks around in confusion, before its gaze focuses on the Sukeban Kiseki. Its head bends backwards... and it WHACKS her with her own giant wrench! Whack! Whack! Whack!! Can she possibly get it back in these conditions?! Yuliana appears on her screen, to peer at whatever she's using as one. "And what do you call that thing?" She asks Nova, sceptically. "Did you make something new?" Oh no. She noticed the Kiseki.
"Why shouldn't it be appropriate enrichment?" Yuliana appears on Rena's screen, again, to pout. "You're just upset because you can't keep hold of your things. Put a little more effort in before you blame my poor little geese!" THEY'RE NOT LITTLE. The goose she shoots, at least, is dazed enough to let go of her beam sword, and it clatters to the ground. It's distracted from picking it back up by Anita's Svipul, the beam fire calling its attention onto her -- and the goose waddles out into the street, flapping its wings as it HONKS. Honk, honk, HONK... just like Tavelle, Liam and Lucine, Rena and Anita will have their machines rocked by the goose's challenge, too!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Sympatria Unit with The Horrible Goose Sneaks Up Behind You! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Li Yao with The Horrible Goose Trips You Up! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Tavelle Adzvin, Liam 7-020, and Lucine Azul with HONK!!!! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Emilia Eschonbach with The Horrible Goose Has Stolen Your Regular Sword! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Naoko Suzuki with The Horrible Goose Stole Your Stuff Before You Got In Your Mech And It's Giant Now! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Rena Lancaster and Anita Rosetta with HONK!!!! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Leina Ashta with Why Can A Horrible Goose Do That! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta engages charge against Yuliana Kafim's HONK!!!! KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Critical Hit! Anita Rosetta poorly reacts to Yuliana Kafim's HONK!!!, taking 3480 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yuliana Kafim's Mortal Wrath activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Lucine Azul engages evade against Yuliana Kafim's HONK!!!! KTS: Best Defense! Lucine Azul successfully reacts to Yuliana Kafim's HONK!!!, taking 0 damage! KTS: Tavelle Adzvin engages block against Yuliana Kafim's HONK!!!! KTS: Tavelle Adzvin successfully blocks Yuliana Kafim's HONK!!!, taking 2145 damage! KTS: Li Yao fails to engage evade against Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Trips You Up! KTS: Li Yao successfully reacts to Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Trips You Up, taking 4050 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim begins a Formation attack! KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 engages block against Yuliana Kafim's HONK!!!! KTS: Liam 7-020 moderately blocks Yuliana Kafim's HONK!!!, taking 2730 damage! KTS: Leina Ashta engages evade against Yuliana Kafim's Why Can A Horrible Goose Do That! KTS: Leina Ashta poorly reacts to Yuliana Kafim's Why Can A Horrible Goose Do That, taking 6500 damage! KTS: Sympatria Unit engages evade against Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Sneaks Up Behind You! KTS: Sympatria Unit successfully reacts to Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Sneaks Up Behind You, taking 4320 damage!
Tavelle Adzvin tosses a coin: Heads
KTS: Rena Lancaster engages charge against Yuliana Kafim's HONK!!!! KTS: Rena Lancaster moderately reacts to Yuliana Kafim's HONK!!!, taking 3510 damage! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Naoko Suzuki engages parry against Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Stole Your Stuff Before You Got In Your Mech And It's Giant Now! KTS: Naoko Suzuki's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Naoko Suzuki successfully reacts to Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Stole Your Stuff Before You Got In Your Mech And It's Giant Now, taking 2300 damage! KTS: Emilia Eschonbach has activated the Accel Spirit Command and and has gained Terrain bonus! KTS: Emilia Eschonbach has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Emilia Eschonbach has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
Shinji's jaw drops. When he'd headed out from the Ra Mari II earlier today, he'd run into Eight, and she'd offered to come with him, barring a work call she was expecting, but she reassured him he didn't need to worry about that. After asking if she was sure, he'd accepted her offer; he wanted company, anyway. But... "Wait. THIS is the work call you were waiting on?!"
Who expects to get called about a rampage of void-geese, anyway?!
Eight seems to actively still be on that work call, too, if her random-seeming shouting is any indication. Shinji blinks at her rapidly--but she gives him a plan, and he nods once, jaw setting with grim determination. "...Okay." He doesn't like the idea of sending a mother out into danger, but he's well aware that she's a lot stronger than she is. He accepts her plan, and the soft knife case, without question.
He glances nervously at the goose--which quite possibly is even scarier than an Angel (no, Angels are still scarier, but the geese are here and the Angels are not)--and when Eight sneaks off, he cringes back deeper into the alleyway to avoid the goose crushing him with that knife handle. If he's clutching that case tight, it's not just to keep from dropping it again. Still, as frightened as he is, he braces his legs, getting ready to run for it.
Of course, then Eight RIPS A CAR DOOR OFF A CAR and Shinji loses time when his jaw DROPS. He knew Eight was a lot stronger than him--knew she's a Cyber-Newtype with enhanced strength--but he never knew that she was THAT strong. Is Asuka that strong too...?! Suddenly the crater she left behind on the brick wall she punched when she was mad at him seems like she was maybe holding back... Skin crawling at the prospect, Shinji holds his breath unnecessarily.
Eight succeeds in getting the goose's attention! It drops the knife, too. ...In front of him. Blocking the way out.
Why is this his life??
(If all this settles down peacefully, he's really going to appreciate those gifts Liam and Lucine are bringing him later... assuming they retrieve them in one piece.)
"Whose idea of fun is this?!" he hisses to himself, because he doesn't actually want to get Yuliana's attention on him, as he attempts to clamber up the knife handle. With his arms full, it doesn't go well. There's no dragging it off or to one side, either. And with it as huge as it is, how's he supposed to take it back?
For a moment, he thinks longingly of Unit-01. Piloting an Evangelion was also terrifying, but at least he could do something. This utter helplessness of being on foot, trying to run away while others are fighting back... Maybe he's not actively putting his life in danger. But his life is still in danger.
(Wacky antics-related danger is still danger!!)
KTS: Emilia Eschonbach engages charge against Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Has Stolen Your Regular Sword! KTS: Emilia Eschonbach successfully reacts to Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Has Stolen Your Regular Sword, taking 4480 damage! KTS: Emilia Eschonbach engages charge against Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Has Stolen Your Regular Sword! KTS: Emilia Eschonbach successfully reacts to Yuliana Kafim's The Horrible Goose Has Stolen Your Regular Sword, taking 4480 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Tavelle Adzvin has posed.
'Attention all Magallania forces...'
Tavelle isn't Magallania forces, technically, but she *is* piloting a 'borrowed' Magallania colony defense unit and so an all hands bulletin shows up on her radio, too. She lets out a snicker before she realizes she is in fact transmitting to Leina - and everyone else - and hastily mutes herself, her cheeks blazing red. Not that anyone can see them. She hopes.
Well, Yuliana can, now that she's activated comms. Being less familiar with the Zectar's internals, Tavelle reaches for where the toggle would be in her Lestrail and completely fails to disconnect. "Who're you calling a lackey?" she asks...
...wait, does she even know who Yuliana is? Did Yuli just, somehow, find the one person in the Earth Sphere who hasn't heard of the notorious magic terrorist?
Unfortunately for Tavelle's gravitas, what Yuliana sees is a late teenager - seventeen, maybe? - in a stained T-shirt (because a horrible goose knocked a chocolate shake all over her) and not a cool soldier or sexy secret agent. She does have a determined set to her jaw, at least. Everyone else gets to see this too; while Tavelle has figured out how to pilot the Zectar (it's pretty standard) she has not mastered its comms suite and at least her side of this conversation goes to everybody on Magallania's defense frequencies.
"No, I'm just an interested party because the damned magic bird stole my dinner!" Is Tavelle really committing, like, six crimes because a goose stole her dinner? "...wait, don't tell me... you have something to do with this! You and your kaiju birds!"
Tavelle picks up the wheeled bipod to maneuver, following the geese as they meet up with other geese. The rogue Zectar approaches the square, but has to plant itself when a goose takes a breath and HOOOOOOONKS at her. The blast rolls over the squat Zectar as Tavelle hunches down, mirroring the action in her cockpit. Her ears hurt now. Her *head* hurts now.
Angry and frustrated, Tavelle plants the cannon bipod with a loud *chunk* as it locks into place on the cracked pavement. She squeezes the triggers, angling slightly upward - gently, gently -
What happens is that the Cannon Bike fires a single *large* beam aimed straight down the street, angling to strike at a pair of the swarming geese before lancing into the sky. The Zectar is programmed to attempt to limit its beam coherence over distance inside Magallanica, so when it hits the opposite side of the colony it mostly just scorches the street and blows out some windows.
But that's over there, and not over here. The geese, though. They get a blast.
KTS: Tavelle Adzvin has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Tavelle Adzvin targets Yuliana Kafim with Cannon Bike Anchored Shot! KTS: Tavelle Adzvin has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Al has posed.
"'Safe and sound' feels arguable," Al observes of Anita's assurance. Still, the Gaia Gear's systems track targets as the situation evolves.
"An unorthodox technique," Al says to the wild swinging of the goose with the beam saber. "But short-range advantage is counterable."
Rena and Anita clash with the geese to get Rena's sword back. Al observes to Yuliana's pouting, "The geese appear to be both large and of middling to high socioeconomic status." ... "Judging from their apparent health," he clarifies. Then: "Air pressure wave technique," he says, as the air before them rattles from the goose's bellow. "Directional. Evade high."
KTS: Al has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Rena Lancaster KTS: Al has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Al's Where Are We Going activates Trick and Wall!
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Leina does a quick look over her just to be sure, then gives her a sympathetic look, "Not as lucky as I'd like - I know how much you loved that camera." Indeed, for a journalist to be... it's a real precious piece of equipment, "Take you camera shopping later?"
Leina suddenly feels lucky the Goose only got her latest batch of coffee. Also a few billion worth of equipment vandalized but - that's not hers!
She finds herself agreeing with Kikka in short order, "Almost." Before adding, "Like how much magic did Elisa have to waste just to enable you in this whole- weird vendetta?"
However as Yuliana tells her she's no fun, Leina responds, "Yeah? If you wanted 'fun' then you asked the wrong Ashta out. I was basically the designated buzzkill in the family growing up?"
"<Emilia!?>" Leina asks on the comms of the Zectar pilot, who is shouting well, baking threats at the Goose, it's so angrily absurd she'd probably snicker at any other time but... "Oh God. If Mineva finds out..." She looks over her shoulder at Kikka, but smiles at her offer, "I'd appreciate that." Before giving her an apologetic look, "Sorry again... can't help but feel a bit responsible for this whole mess."
And then just says over the comms over to Emilia, "<I've got your back okay? Just focus on taking it down.>" Without saying to her the whole 'if Mineva finds out' thing to her at least.
Before Anita notes Rena is secure, "<Gracias. Me goose-ta hearing some good news right about now.>" Leina winks at her over the comms.
-=-=-
Meanwhile-!
"We have it locked down, trapped Majesty- there's no getting out of there-"
"Is that so? Then would you mind elucidating....why it has THE UNICORN'S HORN IN IT'S BEAK?"
Waddling down the locked down halls at a fast clip, a delighted Goose proudly carried that long spindly piece of Psychoframe.
The communications officer panics at the sight, before yelling into the comms, "LOCK IT DOWN! LOCK IT ALL DOWN! If that thing gets away with that it'll be an unprecedented diplomatic disaster!"
-=-=-
And that's when a horrible Goose phase shifts behind her and slams into the Beguir with a HONKING blast of dimensional magic. The armor plating around the back shreds off, even as it's rocked forward.
"Shi-!" Leina's forehead makes contact with the translucent airbag that rapidly emerges, then tucks back into the column. "Nngh. Little LESS silly now." Leina grumbles, before asking Kikka, "You okay? Things get any worse I'll retreat."
Kikka's safety has to be her top priority here, right now - unless of course there was an international incident in the making from a Goose stealing Singularity-01's Horn.
... But no that would definitely never happen.
Funnels launch, but given that they're in a Colony, Leina has them move in low, thrusters firing as it surrounds the Goose, then fires upwards at low power.
"Okay you had your laughs, Yuliana! You got to see me all upset! Call this off now before someone gets really hurt! You can't just distract away from the real problem by throwing chickens at it!"
It's a slip of the tongue really, but not an unwarranted one to anyone who was even briefly on the Argama.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena groans again when Anita claims victory. Even if it is kind of cute.
"I'm fine!" Rena says, over the public network, if to Leina. But also to everyone. "I-I mean. I'm holding up," she says, repeating Anita's phrase. "Al has a point. I'm as well as someone can be when geese are attacking us!"
Then she blinks -- and she nods. "Kikka! I'm glad you're somewhere safe," she says. "I'm okay! Thanks for the data! I'll avoid them--I've adjusted the mega particle density so it'll be more concussive than, uh, explosive--" It's a bit hard to describe the physics in the middle of a fight.
(Coordinator things.)
"Appropriate enrichment doesn't make a mess in Magallanica!" Rena snaps back at Yuliana, before she blows air out of her lips and sends some of her bangs flying up. The Gaia Gear Alpha reaches down, scooping up the beam saber.
She puts it in the recharge rack.
HONK.
The Gaia Gear Alpha Custom rattles all around her from the terrific challenge of the void goose. Air pressure wave technique, indeed. Rena's eyebrow twitches again. "Annie, Al," she says. "I'm going in."
The Gaia Gear's thrusters fire; the Psychoframe kicks up, blue light erupting from it, in motes that waft and drift away from it. It rockets towards the goose -- and then tries to grab hold with both hands, as the power of a miracle...
...is used to manhandle a bird.
"STAY! STILL!!"
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Yuliana Kafim with Gaia Flash! KTS: Rena Lancaster has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage guard against Tavelle Adzvin's Cannon Bike Anchored Shot! KTS: Best Defense! Yuliana Kafim successfully reacts to Tavelle Adzvin's Cannon Bike Anchored Shot, taking 4800 damage! KTS: Tavelle Adzvin roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
Eight thinks of Shinji as kind; of course he wouldn't be inclined to send her into danger. But this is her job. "I admit," Shinji says, "I wasn't expecting it to be geese. We knew trouble was possible, but... this???"
She's as baffled as he is.
But she's not baffled about the door, though her shoulders might be sore from exerting that hard later. She doesn't know it, but: Asuka is probably stronger, these days.
And the goose... blocks Shinji's way out. But it also at least seems to block the Goose's way in.
"Stay down!" Eight calls, but doesn't look towards where Shinji should be hiding. Instead, as the goose starts waddling towards her--Eight says, "C'mon, goose!"
Then she sprints into the open--in the general direction of where she sees mecha. If she can lead it to her friends' machines, then they can do something she can't.
"If I had pets who wanted to rampage around a city I'd have to seriously consider PUTTING THEM DOWN!" Eight shouts at Yuliana as she runs from the goose. ...But... fun?
...There is a certain exhiliration to it. Eight doesn't answer that part. A little 'fun' is not worth the risk to Shinji and the colony!
She runs, instead.
KTS: Leina Ashta targets Yuliana Kafim with Beguir Neuer Funnel Array Strike Formation! KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Sympatria Unit has posed.
Sympatria Unit Number Six listens to people and she looks around. She can pick up on a lot of the traffic flying around, and when Tavelle looks towards the Force My Way, Six is who can look back...
... though it's not like it's readily apparent. Indeed, where *is* Six in that machine? She looks down just in time to see the approaching Goose, and she giggles under her breath, until
WACK
The Force My Way totters over, stabbing the Hullbreacher into the ground as the mechanical terror's BACKSIDE is ASSAILED by BIRD CRIME. "Gahhh!!" screams Two.
Six starts laughing.
"SHUT UP!"
Six, still laughing, answers Yuliana: "Haha I'll - try to tell - tell her to, but -- haha, this is just ridiculous -- how'd you even come up with this?! How did you get those geeses so big?!"
Do they know what geese... are?
Two, who is not involved in this conversation, immediately brings the Force My Way around, pivoting on the ground-immured assault blade and then reversing its chain motor to make it jump out of the ground, raising it upright. "Alright," Two grunts. "We're doing this. Every last one of you birds is going straight into the frying machine!"
"Two, wait!" Six shouts.
Two is already swinging the Assault Blade around. That swing was a screaming horror; against three Mobile Suits in melee range, there would be at least two engine kills. The goose ducks down a little, mostly using its legs, and is completely unharmed other than some ruffling of green plumage.
"HONK"
Two goes for the backstroke, which the goose adroitly hops away from, leading to the Assault Blade's teeth churning up more concrete as Two snarls in wrath.
"Twooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo" prolongs Six, who may not be speaking with a conventional throat.
"WHAT???"
"This is Miss Kafim's pet!" Six insists. "Don't hit it with your sword!"
Two is momentarily at a loss at this very idea. NOT hitting things with a sword isn't the sort of thing she's considered seriously. The Force My Way shifts into a guarded stance, and remains still, chainsaw-blade still screaming but otherwise still.
THEME OF TWO FIGURING OUT WHAT TO DO IN THIS SITUATION: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdFNPc3ydDg
Six, meanwhile, gets on the horn to Yuliana. "So I know this is all just a big accident but I feel I should point out that we were doing force recon and this has already put a couple of pretty good dings in BRC-2 as well as my own little girl in here if kinda indirectly so I mean I don't *WANT* to assume that it's any kind of -- wow! Look at those ZECTARS. These guys seem to know what they're doing! I heard this was where that big broadcast came out from, which is part of why we routed through it in case we had a GJOO as we call it and heh I'm sure you know what I'm SAYING there Miss Kafim but let's just say those last letters stand for 'jack of opportunity.' I guess you could say we're like Anavel"
"I'VE GOT IT" Two bursts in.
"Gaaaahhhh" Six says because her sound levels were off.
Two shifts into a ready stance as if she's going to give the goose an overhead chop. The BRC-2 shifts a little to the left. The goose hops out of the line of sword. A shift back to the right - goose hops. A little hop-step forward - the goose hops back, with a 'honk' of almost playful enthusiasm.
Two rears the sword back further--
-- and some cannons around where the 'floating ribs' would be if you translated the BRC-2's outline onto a human skeleton abruptly pop into a barrage of beam fire on the goose!
"KIHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" cackles Two, exultant in pride at her own strategic acumen!
"Was that dairy? That's so hard to get out," Six meanwhile transmits to Tavelle.
KTS: Sympatria Unit has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Sympatria Unit targets Yuliana Kafim with Energy Barrage! KTS: Sympatria Unit has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Li Yao has posed.
Yao turns to his internal feed of Yuliana and shouts back, "Yuliana...!" Yao is interrupted and fails at multitasking as the Goose takes out his other leg. Fortunately this one stays intact, but the Zy-98 still ends up on its side trying to grasp and correct itself. The old man inside gets tossed around and growls in annoyance. Finally the unit rights itself as it looks at the martial art goose.
Yao opens the channel back to Yuliana, "Ice Queen, don't worry I am going to play too. Yes I am going to play goose hunter. I may not be as efficient at it this first time, but it appears I have twelve more chances. The last one will not even feel it I am sure." Yao then cuts the channel so that Yuliana can't respond back.
The Shadow rights itself and stands there looking at the unit as Yao takes a few deep breaths. Perhaps he can not infuse his power into this unit like he could have in his youth, however it doesn't mean he can't infuse himself. With his mind now more focused he moves in to finish this goose off.
The Shadow, still wielding the dented light pole, dashes forward, spinning the pole around before swinging it from the right, then following up from the left. One strike after another attempted as Yao creates a barrage of strikes with the improvised weapon. After it all the light pole will be nothing more then dented trash but maybe it will be worth it.
KTS: Li Yao has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Li Yao has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Li Yao has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Li Yao targets Yuliana Kafim with Random Melee Weapon Combo! KTS: Li Yao has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
"Wh-" Emmy starts, as the goose just *yanks* her shovel out of her hands. Rude!!! That was a borrowed shovel! She needs to get that back to the site after presumably! "G-g-give that back!"
And then *someone* suddenly appears on Emilia's readouts and tries to make excuses and Emilia takes her hands off the controls to pull her dressing gown tight again when someone invades, letting out the shriek of a girl who has just had her private space invaded!! Knock first, Yuliana!
Though to be fair, no one would be expecting Emmy to be piloting dressed by that but still, it's an unexpected intrusion.
The good news, her comms have been hijacked somewhat, so not all of this conversation will get out. "N-not a big deal!?" Emilia yells, exasperated. "<Th-they stole th-the o-o-only thing my p-parents left me!>" Her voice rises, and rises-
But her hands are not on the controls and she gets repeatedly shoveled!! (As a bonus effect, imagine Yuliana's image getting knocked off the screen a bit with every hit from the shovel until the Zectar tumbles, and Emmy rolls- or sort of bounces- back to her feet.
That's when Leina's comm comes through, and Emmy is caught off guard. "<L-Leina? What are you!?>" ...She's seen that unit before. It was the one Angelo was fighting. Oh no. Oh no she doesn't need that.
Also fun fact, did you know that Zectars can be fitted with the video comms used in Aestivalis? It's not standard, but it is an option. Why someone would spring for it on a construction vehicle? Sometimes the easiest way to convey the angle you should be going at is vague hand movements, you know?
"<N-never mind. I'll d-d-deal with this! A-and...>" She grimaces. "<...th-the fallout.>" Leina doesn't need to say it for Emilia to know what she's thinking what with... well. How Emilia and Mineva's relationship is going lately.
This machine doesn't have any weapons. Of course it doesn't! You don't need a beam gun on a construction vehicle! That's been replaced with something more useful to the work. But it uses the same controls, so-
Both of the Zectar's weird little arms raise, and Emilia levels them at the nearest goose. "<T-T-T-Take this you sh-sh-shovel stealing>" HONK "<bird!!>"
And then- two grand streams of water fly out of the machinegun ports, and an intensity good for removing grease, grime, rust and other built up nonsense. Hey, at least it'll be a CLEAN Void Goose!
KTS: Emilia Eschonbach targets Yuliana Kafim with Giant Power Washer Shot! KTS: Emilia Eschonbach has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Anita blinks - and then grins, as Leina provides a pun of her own. She gives her a nod of approval.
Al says that 'safe and sound' feels arguable, and Rena says that he has a point...
"Good point. We'll have to have someone... take a gander at you later." Anita says with a wink.
A message comes across the comms! Leina isn't alone - Kikka's there with her!
"Hey there." Anita greets. "Doing fine over here. They're really giving us the run-around, though."
Fortunately, Kikka has something to help with that - combat data!
"Oh, that's real handy. Thanks a bunch." Anita replies, accepting the transmission before considering what she's presented. "...Huh. Yeah, I see what you're saying. I'll keep it in mind."
The goose waddles onto the street... and honks mightily, wings flapping!! It's already a dangerous, aggressive motion in its own right - but at giant scale, it's nearly enough to blow the Svipul right out of the air! The machine goes spiraling back, but Anita manages to get it back under control.
"Whew. They can whip up some mighty turbulence..." Anita notes - and then nods. "Gotcha. I'll follow your lead."
Rena moves in to grab the goose, and Anita accelerates after her. As she flies she transforms into Fighter Mode, the gatling gun pod tracking the geese and pelting it at range as Rena occupies it with force. Every time she comes in close enough, vulcan fire joins the volley - and then Anita retreats back, returning to GERWALK mode.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Yuliana Kafim with Wingmate's Gambit! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Kikka Kobayashi has posed.
"Aww, thanks," Kikka smiles, when Leina offers her sympathy for her stolen camera. "But you know... I'm game for that, once we get out of this mess. We should both treat ourselves to something. And I've heard really good things about the newest models..." There's kind of a dreamy look on her face, but she decides not to get into the specs - she's more one for quality than quantity of features anyway.
Kikka's eyebrows scrunch when Yuliana pouts about how there's really nothing wrong with being silly. "If I could, I'd totally make your wife pay damages for this." 'No harm in fowl' happens to get an audible groan from her. "Listen. I'm a writing student, so I like puns more than most... and I still think that one was awful."
"Have to say, the comms seemed to suggested otherwise," Kikka grins, at Rena inisting she's fine. "But really, I'm glad you're okay. You're the Captain for a reason, so I trust your calculations. Just do what you need to!" As she's not a pilot, she's really taking on the role of cheering on her coworkers more than anything...
She hears back from Anita, too, collected as always - though hearing even she's been shaken up feels pretty grave. "Good to hear it! Though, they really are giving us a tough time, yeah... so hang in there, okay?" She smiles.
Leina pointing out just who is in one of the Zectar gets Kikka's eyes to widen a little. "Oh my god... I almost didn't even recognize her voice," Because of the screaming, she doesn't add. "Nah, there's no need to apologize. Just... it's a surprise to see her again." She probably owes Emilia some catch-up, but for now, she'll help her out.
"Miss Eschonbach! I... I don't know why you're piloting a mobile suit, but I'm here to help you too. Try striking from..." It's hard to say the geese have a weak point, but the colony does, so she tries to find a location where aiming wouldn't really cause significiant damage. "This angle! There's nothing in the way, so no need to hold back."
Unfortunately, the GEESE don't hold back either. "What do you mean they can teleport?" She gasps, as the goose strikes from behind. "I can keep going, but I... I appreciate the care." She says, with a thumbs-up. "They can't have that much left in them anyways, so try to hit them back hard and maybe Yuliana will give up for once." She kind of doubts that, though.
KTS: Kikka Kobayashi targets Leina Ashta, Emilia Eschonbach, and Rena Lancaster with All-Out! KTS: Kikka Kobayashi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Leina Ashta accepts Kikka Kobayashi's All-Out! KTS: Kikka Kobayashi orders an all-out attack, raising Leina Ashta's Skill! KTS: Best Defense! Leina Ashta successfully reacts to Kikka Kobayashi's All-Out, taking 0 damage! KTS: Kikka Kobayashi has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Anita Rosetta KTS: Rena Lancaster accepts Kikka Kobayashi's All-Out! KTS: Kikka Kobayashi orders an all-out attack, raising Rena Lancaster's Skill! KTS: Best Defense! Rena Lancaster successfully reacts to Kikka Kobayashi's All-Out, taking 0 damage! KTS: Kikka Kobayashi has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Anita Rosetta KTS: Emilia Eschonbach accepts Kikka Kobayashi's All-Out! KTS: Kikka Kobayashi orders an all-out attack, raising Emilia Eschonbach's Skill! KTS: Best Defense! Emilia Eschonbach successfully reacts to Kikka Kobayashi's All-Out, taking 0 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
In the cockpit of Sukeban Kiseki, Naoko has a rather manic grin on her face as she catches the goose flat-flooted. Even with an opponent like this, it's such a rush, having such power at her fingertips. With direct control over her machine like this, it feels very much like she herself is standing there at 8 meters, stopping the giant bird cold by simply willing it to. That's what it gets for underestimating her.
All too calmly, the Arm Slave walks forward, keeping its left hand outstretched to maintain a tight grip on the goose. Now all she has to do is use the right hand to--
"Ow. Ow. Hey! Stop-- stop it. Stop it!"
It may be immobile, but it isn't defenseless, not while holding onto her wrench. Every attempt to take the wrench away meets with another whack, which is more of an inconvenience than it is majorly harmly, but the repeated failures to get her prize causes maximum frustration damage to Naoko.
What a time for Yuliana to show her face. Naoko is all too ready to vent those frustrations onto the convenient and appropriate target.
"Okay first of all, this is awful and you should feel awful for doing it. As for this 'thing'... this is the NS-2 Sukeban Kiseki, and if you EVER appear in front of me again, this is gonna be you!"
CLANG, goes the wrench once more. But this time, the impact is not with the Arm Slave itself. An invisible barrier stops the tool before it strikes the machine's open palm. A palm which closes directly after, indirectly latching onto the wrench with unseen force, before pulling back with all its might. In the likely event that the goose is forced to surrender its prize, Sukeban Kiseki doesn't move to retrieve it. Because the pilot isn't done yet with her demonstration. The parts of the machine that glow green start to glow brighter, and--
>"No, dumbass! Don't show her your full power now, do that when it matters!"<
>"A-and, you don't really want to hurt the poor goose that badly, do you?"<
Upon the psychic cautioning of her Friends, Naoko catches herself. Holding back, the glow surrounding her machine fades back to previous levels. Instead, she channels power only to the right hand, which she swings back towards the goose, striking it with a flat palm. The resulting explosion of force is far less violent than what she had in mind... but still quite enough to send the giant bird flying without the aid of its wings.
>"...Oh. I guess... maybe you do..."<
This is nothing the old Sukeban couldn't do, it's merely notable that the new Sukeban can still do it even with more normally-proportioned arms and hands, compared to the oversized variants of its predecessor. Deciding this will do to underscore her point, she simply gives Yuliana a look of determination. She's not gonna be the one cutting the comms.
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Yuliana Kafim with Buster Palm! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
Don't count your geese before they hatch, Shinji. Lucine's still wondering if the void-grown bag will even shrink back down. If it doesn't, will that mean Yuliana will have the last laugh?
Making it into the main area with the other geese (and many familiar units-- at least, the ones the Dianthus is able to automatically identify for Lucine), Lucine is also welcomed by their thieving goose, who bellows a hearty HONK of challenge mighty enough to dislodge the dust off of nearby buildings.
Thankfully, the Dianthus is keeping its distance; it bellows a loud yell of its (Lucine's) own.
Yuliana's face appears on the Dianthus's screen, but Lucine is not in a charitable mood. < "It tried to _steal the Dianthus_, Yuliana! Your GOOSE is getting COOKED!!" > No private communications here, Lucine's complaint is carelessly laid out for all to hear.
Pause. < "..... Why do all the other geese have weapons? ...... And are my speakers still on? Ah, sorry for that." > The audible clip signals them being turned off.
In Liam's CGUE, his speaker turns on. < ".... Liam, can you read me? I'm going to pin our goose with my laser. You take advantage of that attack and move in, okay?" >
Energy gathers between the two projecting points of the 'crown' on the Dianthus's head, which fires in a right pink beam straight for the larcenous beast. < "GO!" >
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Yuliana Kafim with Lunate Crown v.2 Bolt! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage guard against Sympatria Unit's Energy Barrage! KTS: Critical Hit! Yuliana Kafim poorly reacts to Sympatria Unit's Energy Barrage, taking 5130 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Sympatria Unit's Precision Attacker activates, causing Nullify!
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Liam feels a little better putting cover between his machine and the goose. "Drop it," he repeats, even though the goose hasn't listened to him once so far. He glances down at the little Yuliana on his comm display, and his lips tighten. "Your pets stole some very precious things," Liam says, managing to keep his voice level. "We're getting them back." Lucine's reply is rather less measured, not that Liam blames her.
The offending goose responds with a resonant, subsonic call, like a hand drumming on the wall of reality.
HONK!!!
The wave of raw malice rocks the CGUE back on its heels. Eldritch pressure slams into its shield, and its left arm creaks from the strain. A few ragged bits of armor fly free of the right arm and embed themselves in the street.
"I read you, Lu," Liam says, flicking the tightbeam on. (How does he know where a ZAFT-built machine keeps its radio? And how does he know about all its little quirks? Mysterious.) "Set it up." The moment Lucine says the word 'go', the CGUE rockets forwards, first trying to ram its shield into the goose's head. It follows up with a carefully-controlled swing, sending its sword on an intercept course with the goose's neck. At the apex of the swing, Liam reverses the blade, and brings the flat of it around in a dazing strike aimed at the goose's bill.
KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020's The Hound activates! KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage guard against Leina Ashta's Beguir Neuer Funnel Array Strike Formation! KTS: Yuliana Kafim moderately reacts to Leina Ashta's Beguir Neuer Funnel Array Strike Formation, taking 4590 damage! KTS: Leina Ashta begins a Formation attack! KTS: Leina Ashta anchors Yuliana Kafim, preventing her from Evading the next attack! KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Yuliana Kafim with MA-M4A Heavy Sword Combo! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Liam 7-020's Tactical Intelligence activates Alert! KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage react against Emilia Eschonbach's Giant Power Washer Shot! KTS: Critical Hit! Yuliana Kafim poorly reacts to Emilia Eschonbach's Giant Power Washer Shot, taking 4185 damage! KTS: Emilia Eschonbach continues a Formation attack! KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage react against Naoko Suzuki's Buster Palm! KTS: Yuliana Kafim poorly reacts to Naoko Suzuki's Buster Palm, taking 6600 damage! KTS: Naoko Suzuki completes the Formation attack! KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage react against Anita Rosetta's Wingmate's Gambit! KTS: Yuliana Kafim successfully reacts to Anita Rosetta's Wingmate's Gambit, taking 3520 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta begins a Formation attack! KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage react against Rena Lancaster's Gaia Flash! KTS: Critical Hit! Yuliana Kafim poorly reacts to Rena Lancaster's Gaia Flash, taking 6710 damage! KTS: Rena Lancaster completes the Formation attack! KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage react against Lucine Azul's Lunate Crown v.2 Bolt! KTS: Critical Hit! Yuliana Kafim poorly reacts to Lucine Azul's Lunate Crown v.2 Bolt, taking 5280 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Lucine Azul's Bright Eyes activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: Lucine Azul begins a Formation attack! KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to engage react against Liam 7-020's MA-M4A Heavy Sword Combo! KTS: Critical Hit! Yuliana Kafim poorly reacts to Liam 7-020's MA-M4A Heavy Sword Combo, taking 6360 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Liam 7-020's This Is My World activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has been defeated! KTS: Liam 7-020 completes the Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Unfortunately for Shinji, the geese can hear him -- and that means Yuliana hears him! She appears on that billboard again, leaning forward, as if she's trying to make him out in whatever surface she's watching. (It seems like that's the case because that's literally the case.) "Oh...? Oh, dear, you're Kaworu's little friend! Do excuse me, dear, I didn't know you'd be visiting today." She doesn't... sound like she's lying? "Shouldn't you be in a shelter? Oh -- wait, I see, you're stuck. Well, I'd avoid climbing up on that thing, if I were you. They might just see!"
It's... good(?) advice(???)
Tragically, Yuliana isn't actually hooked into Tavelle's comms -- though she'd probably let her think that she just didn't know what button to push, because she's horrible. (If not a goose. Well, a little bit a goose, right now. It's complicated.) "Eeh?" She asks, tilting her head. "Do you live under a space rock? Of course they're my birds! I'm Yuliana Kafim, and I love my pets, and I love my wife!!" And just as she claims, when that cannon bike fires its cannon down at two of the geese, they're not shot through -- rather, the shot parts over their shields, before continuing on in all its might. Those shields do, at least, dim significantly after the blow.
"Excuse you?" Yuliana appears on Rena's screen, leaning forward, her hands on either side of the -- screen? (Mirror.) "Get your damn machine checked! These are ROYAL GEESE!" Not of middling socioeconomic status, then.
And in a glorious 'AND ANOTHER THING!' return interruption, Yuliana appears back on Leina's screen -- after she cut out, as if she had to check something off-screen with someone else. It's not as if her Voidframe Crown is glowing, now: the panels are clearly activated, glowing sick green, throwing the gold poured into the gaps of each segment into sharp relief. "Elya didn't waste anything on this because it's not a waste, Leyasha! Anyway, I'm not stupid enough to send my geese to Judyan, so you'll just have to develop a sense of humour, got it?! Tch," she folds her arms, pouting. "Anyway, who's that with you? That wouldn't be your mysterious new girlfriend, would it?" Oh, no. "I was just aiming for Rena and Mineva... but I guess this works out just fine!"
Wait, does that mean she doesn't know where Rena lives?
Hopefully, she doesn't know where Rena lives.
She pauses, and adds, nose wrinkling up as she looks down at it to Kikka: "What do you know about wordplay?" She harrumphs, clearly ruffled. "And you want us to pay damages, do you? What about the damage Leyasha did to us! Tchah... if you're really your girlfriend, you should bear her punishment alongside her, you know. You ought to share everything... even your guilt. You're at least that faithful, aren't you?" She sniffs, again. "Haa, but I suppose you are bearing it admirably... I'll discuss it," she promises, ominously, as the line shuts off again.
"You're so cruel!" Yuliana, on another billboard, criticises Eight. "He's just having a good time!" And, indeed, the gander chasing Eight does appear to be having a blast chasing her down the street. Chasing her --
-- right into Rena and Anita's path. And the power of a miracle meets the goose chasing Eight down, aided by physical sensibilities, as the Gaia Gear flashes into its path and the Svipul's machine gun herds it into her arms. HONK?!
Yuliana beams, to Six. "Why, that's my Elisa's handiwork! Isn't her magic the best?! That's why the geese are protected, too!" When she hears that they were doing recon, though, she sighs. "Come by after this," she offers, generously, "and I'll fix your BRC-2 right up." See? She's a good guy!
Meanwhile, Two is having a great time with those cannons. The barrier flares up, fighting to keep up with the damage, and it's notably dimmer when the attack resolves.
"YAO, IF YOU DON'T BRING ALL THIRTEEN OF MY GEESE BACK IN ONE PIECE I AM GOING TO FIND YOU WHILE YOU SLEEP!" Yuliana opens communications with the Shadow again, just to scream in Yao's face and cut it a second time. Yao's light pole strikes the geese's barrier, once, twice, again, again, again -- and with each martial blow, the magic grows a little duller.
"Oh! Elya, can you --" Yuliana says something 'off-screen', whisper-whisper, when she sees the state Emilia is in. Helpfully, when her voice cuts into Emilia's Zectar again, it's voice only, without video transmitting. "Ahem," she clears her throat. "Well, did you get it back?" That thing her parents left her, she means.
The goose goes WARBLGARBLHONK as it gets hit with a stream of water, going ass-over-teakettle and tumbling down the street as Leina's funnels follow it, pew pew pew.
"Oh, did it?" Yuliana appears on Lucine's screen, tilting her head. "Well, it's not their fault your machine is so easy to steal. Maybe the universe is just telling you to give the Dianthus to us!" She laughs, as if it's a funny joke. "Ha ha... of course, I'm kidding. But you believed me, didn't you?"
The goose does not, in fact, drop it, even when Liam asks nicely. (With his sword, dimming that aura further.) "He just wants to play!" Yuliana criticises him. "Why would you take that from him?!" But it's their bag... and their bag is still huge!
"How is this awful?" Yuliana hmphs, to Naoko. "Leina's the awful one! Take it up with her!" Tragically, Naoko does, in fact, strike a goose. "And you're pretty awful," she adds, with a haughty sniff. "Who hits a poor, innocent goose like that?" That goose is a thief.
Yuliana scowls, appearing on Leina's screen again. "I'm fixing the real problem," she insists, pouty. "All my vile gossip put a real strain on our marriage, you know... if I can't even make my wife laugh, what's the point? But if you insist," she sighs, "I'll give you your finale."
Wait, that's not what Leina wanted --
The geese are all looking much less glowy, by now; everyone's attacks have depleted much of the magic around them, particularly when everyone worked together. (Cooperation works very well, against the Void.) But they begin to HONK together, at first a discordant chorus, before they begin... to harmonise. (Honk-monise?) All thirteen birds take to wing, as they soar into the air and begin to circle, there.
HONK! HONK! HONK! HONK...!!!
Between their wings, a dark portal forms. What lies beyond writhes and churns, a colour like black, and MALICE.
A single green eye, pupil split to a 'W', peers through the looking-glass -- to look right at Rena. Another opens, pupil split horizontal as a snake, finding Leina... and, by coincidence, Kikka, who will feel Her anger just the same. A third gazes upon Yao, pupil made of three pinpricks, as if She were some equivalence. A fourth -- because bad things so often come in fours -- focuses on Naoko, its pupil horizontal, like a goat.
The Void Geese HONK their intentions, coloured and influenced by Yuliana's own pique, and what is crafted from this portal is not blood or horror...
... but eggs.
Big, green goose eggs!
They begin to fall upon Magallanica, and where they impact, they crack and spread green yolk across the buildings and the streets. The eggs don't really do any damage, though -- they're just eggs. The greatest tragedy is when those eggs land on their sabers, or in their propulsion, or -- God forbid -- over their cameras.
Magallanica... is being egged by the Void.
Horrifying.
But as those geese circle and HONK, the remaining magic around them drains. They grow smaller, and smaller, and smaller... and when they've returned to normal goose size, there's no longer enough magic to sustain the portal, and it wrests itself shut. When the goose flutter back to Magallanica's streets, they're... well, still green, and still cantankerous, but at least not giant any more. Mercifully, all the objects they stole -- that lucky wrench, the bag of goodies, a giant chef's knife -- shrink alongside them, the magic which bolstered the geese leaving them, too. No trace of the magic will remain once they're back to normal size, thankfully -- the Void has left them.
With some encouragement from Yuliana, they waddle back to Yao's machine, and hop back into their Goose Cage, repaired from its shredded remains by magic. "Remember," she adds, in a transmission to him which is just a shade too cheerful, "get them home safe, or else."
Luckily, the Kafims are quite invested in him getting to make a quick exit, so he ought to be able to escape even with his payload.
When Magallanica cleans up their streets, they'll find something curious, though, in the wake of the storm...
... several golden goose eggs which dropped under cover of the green ones, each solid and heavy and worth as much as they weigh.
Did Kikka get through to them? Are they really... paying for the damages?!
No matter what scans or studies the golden eggs go through, no one can detect any evil magic clinging to them. They are, in fact, exactly what they appear to be: golden eggs, as laid by a goose.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Leina, no," Rena says, and then Annie does another. "Annie, whyyyyyy!"
There is a slightly sheepish smile at Kikka, though. "W-Well, ah... I'm okay, now!"
The Gaia Gear Alpha catches the goose. It is not necessarily a good thing, though she exhales with relief. "Octo!" she says over the loudspeaker. "Be careful!"
Then, she frowns at Yuliana. "Excuse me? Royal geese? What--uh--"
There is an eye looking at her, between the wings of the goose. She makes a face, sitting up straighter in the cockpit -- as eggs rain down, covering Magallanica in green yolk. She makes quite the face at this. "Oh--oh, yuck," she says. "This is a mess--"
The goose, as it shrinks, slips from her grasp. Rena slumps in the seat. She runs a hand over her face.
And, once again, she asks: "But why?"
<Pose Tracker> Li Yao has posed.
Yao hears the voice of Yuliana, hears the threats but doesn't stop. It is to late now, anyways, if he stopped who knows what damage would be done to the unit or himself. As the attack dies down he looks at the threatening Yuliana. "Of course you know where I sleep, it's the castle tower that can see the main bedroom balcony. You showed me to my room yourself. Also, that reminds me I want black out curtains. That works on whatever green hocus pocus lights you two get up to at 3 IN THE GODDAMN MORNING!" Yes, the old man is grumpy.
Still he does his job, he waits for the geese to return, the egg goop lands on the ground around him but misses and when the target on his back is completely full he decides it is indeed the best time to skedaddle. He will have to make arrangements to destroy this unit when he is done, to many people saw it and if he was anyone else he would be seeking revenge on the person who brought the geese to the colony.
So an exit is made for him and through it he goes, without a moment of hesitation.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"Thanks. You hang in there, too." Anita replies to Kikka.
A grin splits her face at Rena's reaction, and once again she feels quite proud of herself.
They continue to fight the geese - and it seems to be working. That aura around them dims, and dims... but, it seems like they have one final plan in mind. The geese gather, all thirteen, and a terrible portal forms. The geese HONK, and then... eggs.
Anita's eyes open wide in realisation.
"Oh god." She gasps.
The eggs fall. The damage is minimal, but one thing remains true -
"This is gonna take forever to clean up." Anita complains. With a sigh she brings the Svipul in for a landing - and then promptly removes her helmet, sitting it aside before leaning back in her pilot seat with a sigh.
"Because she's the worst." Anita answers for Rena. There may be a deeper reason to it - but that's all she knows. ...Still, she hopes the geese manage to get back home alright, even if they're Yuliana's.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Ikari has posed.
The fact that Eight at least didn't know it was going to be geese makes Shinji feel... a little better. This shouldn't be anything anyone saw coming.
Eight calls to Shinji to stay down, and Shinji doesn't need much convincing. He wasn't making any real headway anyway, and while that blade is probably wide enough that he could make it to the other side okay, the mental image of what would happen to him if he slipped...
Worse yet, Shinji isn't aware of the full extent of Yuliana's connection with the geese. When she reappears on the billboard and stares at him, he screams and scrambles to one side. His cap falls off in the process, exposing his face, which means Yuliana gets a good look at him and IDs him summarily. It's not a surprise that she recognizes him as Kaworu's friend--she met them together at Koji and Sayaka's engagement party--but it does surprise him that she'd bother to remember him. (I didn't leave that bad of an impression, did I? the anxious part of him wonders. It is consequently a big thought, as absurd as it is.)
She doesn't seem upset at him, though. Quite the opposite. He gapes at her for a moment, reeling, especially at what is in the family of an apology.
"I-I live here!" is the only thing he can think of to say. It's technically true; he stays in a room on the Ra Mari II, and its home base is Magallanica. Regardless, he immediately regrets it. Likewise, his brain is still screaming when she asks about the shelter. Fortunately(?), she sees the situation for herself quite clearly. Her 'good' 'advice' is met with a squeak of despair, before Shinji ducks down and cringes away from the handle, his only reasonable option to wait for Eight to finish putting herself in danger so he can get to safety. At least he can hear various mobile suits converging not too far away, but that doesn't actually make him any less stressed.
This is the worst...! Why does Yuliana care if he's here or not, anyway?! (She made it clear why she cares. Shinji just hasn't put it together.)
Sadly, though, this isn't the end of it. After a while, the geese start flying up into the artificial sky. They start to form a dark portal as they circle in flight, a vision that gives Shinji an eerie sense of deja vu even though he's sure he's never seen anything like this before. God, he hopes he's never seen anything like his before. The darkness on the other side of that portal is one beyond twilight, deeper than the deepest night...
...It's laying eggs. Giant green goose eggs. Why is everything from the void green? There are so many questions to which Shinji will never receive answers. Least of all when one of those eggs splatters' on the rooftops overhead, raining goop and hail down on him. He manages to keep his mouth wrenched shut at least as he shields the knife case with his body; because of this, none of the hail manages to clonk him on the head, either.
Soon, the noise and chaos die down. Shinji manages to crack a yolked eye open. The geese... are gone? No, he suddenly realizes; they shrank back to normal size. He knows this even though he can't see them because the stolen knife is suddenly back to normal size too. He picks it up gingerly, then sighs in relief. He'll have to clean it, but it looks like it's unharmed.
"Ms. Eight? Are you there? Are you okay?" he calls, starting to leave the alleyway. He stops, remembering his fallen cap--and when he reaches down for it, he notices something else.
Golden eggs. Quite a few of them, actually. He stares. Is this what fell on him when the giant egg cracked? He picks one up hesitantly. It doesn't explode or turn into a spider or latch onto his face or anything. It's heavy like the gold it looks like (is). He hesitates. Then he plops it into his cap along with the errant knife, gathers several others, wraps them all up carefully, and hurries out into the street after Eight. The eggs he'll give to her so she can make sure there's nothing wrong with them. When it comes back that they're clean, he'll ask to keep one for himself. Not for the money. Just... because.
At least they were already finished with his errand. He just wants to go home and take a long, hot shower...
<Pose Tracker> Tavelle Adzvin has posed.
"YES, the goose hit me with a milkshake!" Tavelle whines to Six. "I'm going to smell like sour milk by the time I get back to my ship and my clothes and uuuugh."
Tavelle vaguely remembers Yuliana's name from news, but she never had a face to put to it before. Her eyes narrow slightly. "I live ON a space rock," she says, defensively - which may even be true if she's a local; Magallanica is attached to an asteroid for mining purposes. Or one of the Ring colonies built on top of an asteroid...
Tavelle's eyes widen as the Void Geese summon a great gate. "What the - " She bites back what else she was going to say as one of the eyes looks past her, focusing on someone else -
Eggs. Eggs splatter everywhere. One of them hits the Zectar dead-on, coating it in green yolk that looks more like slime than anything natural. Tavelle is completely blinded, and her Zectar thrusts wildly to one side before fetching up to a stop as she centers the controls, hovering in place for a couple seconds before gently touching down on the street.
Another egg hits it, adding insult to insult. This finally - finally! - turns off Tavelle's sirens, which WEE-OO WEE-OO WEE-OO in a slowly descending pitch as they slow down, weeeee ooooo weeeeeee oooooooo weeeeeeeee. Apparently something got in that system.
The Zectar just sits there. Unmoving. It's like it shut down after being caught in an egg meteor storm. This is because the last one hit the hatch dead-on...
About ten seconds later, Tavelle opens the back hatch with a squelch. She is covered, head to toe, in slimy, oozy, disgusting raw egg; she's been slimed as completely as any Nickelodeon contestent. She looks like a mess. She wants to cry.
What she actually does is try to wipe at least part of it off her face (doesn't work; it drips right back in from her curly hair) before running away from the now-deactivated Zectar, her feet squelching in her shoes. If she hides in the civilians she can just claim she got splattered, and maybe - maybe! - beg a bath from one of the hotels, because she doesn't think they'll let her on the transport that she's booked seats on the way she is right now...
While running, Tavelle stubs her toe on a gold egg hard enough to get her eyes to water and her worry about breaking a toe through her sneaker. (It's fine. She's just a wimp.) She does, at least, recognize it as *gold*, and picks the whole thing up, almost forgetting -
Okay, no. She can't forget her situation. But she *can* hastily hide it under her shirt in an attempt to make sure nobody takes it from her - it's not like she can get any messier than she already is, and she may as well make a profit on the day. Just the feeling of gold against her skin makes her feel a little better.
Even if she feels like she needs to spend all of it on soap...
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Sure let's do that before my vacation is over." Leina smiles at her enthusiasm at the quality of the latest models, but with one look Leina knows that 'treating herself' this time is truly going to be taking the time to do that with Kikka...
"<Oh hey Rena, there you are.>" Leina tries to keep herself from cracking up on that, "<Good. Don't worry - I'm not gonna give you shit or anything. Let's meet up after...>" She smiles, "<... so I can give your report of the incident a gander.>"
Emilia asks what she is, and Leina looks over her shoulder at Kikka briefly, "<Just here on my vacation.>" It's not entirely a lie, just - leaves out elements of the truth.
"<Alright - I'll leave it to you, after.>"
Better her than Leina herself in this one instance.
"I uh-" The image of Emilia on the comms is now processed, with wet hair, no eyepatch, no makeup, in that gown, "-does it look like she came straight out of the shower?" She asks Kikka, "Maybe we should discreetly escort her back after."
But on the Geese and their powers...
"Apparently that's just a thing they can now do!" Kikka however says she can keep going, and Leina finally just decides, "Alright - I trust you - just let me know if-"
Yuliana's image returns magically in a glorious 'AND ANOTHER THING' and Leina jolts in surprise, at first shocked, but her eyes then narrow in outrage.
"A sense of humor!? YULIANA THE GOOSE TOOK A BEAM RIFLE! Maybe - just maybe - LIVING ON EARTH - you don't know how much damage that can do up here!"
She gestures emphatically but - 'That wouldn't happen to be your mysterious new girlfriend would it.' - Leina leans over as if to cover Kikka's appearance up.
"Leave her out of this! Leave THEM out of this!"
But she's not finished yet, or rather she will be when she offers a finale!?
"Wait - a finale? Just stop! Stop it! You're not fixing anything, this is all just one... distraction! You're distracting Elisa! And she's distracting you! This isn't real communication! It's just more manipulation!"
But the portal opens up and Leina suddenly looks - pained, and a little scared. "I won't let you...!" The funnels begin to form up and-
Eggs.
Leina doesn't trust them at first, but after the first hundred or so splatter into harmless yolk over the Beguir and her sensors analyze the structural integrity as ... well not all Green, Leina eases off.
"God... damnit." She takes a breath, as the funnels return.
"<Okay Emmy uh - let's heads towards a service entrance. I'll bring some clothes to your Zectar.>"
Leina suddenly deflates a little, as she looks to Kikka, "We'll... figure this out. Promise - I'll figure something out."
That she saw Kikka's face - it all feels like that much more of a threat now, looming.
-=-=-
Elsewhere!
"Deploy! Go go go! Recover the Unicorn's Horn!"
Suddenly of the special forces team with riot shields, one of them peeked out from the corner of the hallway, and cast out... a string of jelly donuts on a line.
HONK!!!!
(Will they recover Singularity-01's Horn? Find out next week, true believers!)
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
Eight lets out a relieved breath as Rena and Anita take care of the goose chasing her down, and Eight gives Rena a big thumbs-up. "I'm fine!" she assures her, which is not quite the same as being careful. She immediately turns, though, and doubles back, because--
Shinji!
This means she's at first in the open when the geese start their new means...
Eight ducks into the car she tore the door off of, and this means the eggs don't hit her directly. But the splash from one that lands nearby...
"Ugh," Eight says. "This is ridiculous."
That's her first answer to Shinji, without meaning it to be--but then, "Shinji!"
She doesn't see him gathering the eggs; she just sees the shrunken knife, "Good. Glad you could get that back."
She sighs, then. "...Of all the things..."
And she hasn't even heard about the stolen candy yet.
<Pose Tracker> Sympatria Unit has posed.
"Oh is THAT why she can't hit it worth a poop," Six answers Yuliana nodding along with a purse of her pouty lips. "I was wondering! I mean you wouldn't know it from watching"
"I can hear you," Two says, turning her head again to stare at the back of her cockpit, which is, as established, thirty layers of metal and mechanism away from where Six is located.
"her right now," Six finishes, sunnily. She then stops, because Six has learned.
"So how is she appearing on all those screens?" Two says, looking around.
"I saw that documentary on Sharon Apple," Six says. "She probably stole or hacked one of the Federation's master control centers."
"Master control centers?" Two says, scanning the area. The geese are taking flight. The BRC-2 pivots around, walking laterally. While the sword is still held, it's lifted up, almost for a guard, while those side-cannons pivot upwards.
"Yeah!" Six says. "The Federation had one under Jaburo, another in the center of northern Britannian, there's probably one in one of those science cities in Japan or in India somewhere -- basically, they let them monitor all technological surveillance, allowing for total information control. BUT, because of the signal lag, they can't monitor the colonies, which is why they keep disciplining them! Anyway, Sharon Apple was actually a tool of the Extrasolar Templarium, and she hacked the secondary node at Macross City, which is why they had Amuro Ray kill her."
"Huh," says Two as she sees the portal form. "I guess that makes sense. Wait --"
Eggs fall out. One of them splats against the upraised Hullbreacher.
Two frowns slowly.
"Okay," Two concludes, "I think we don't have anything else we can get done here. Six, jump out and scout for the way back to the port, signal me if they don't raise the particle density."
"Oh, you think the colony cops are going to bust us?" Six says, with concern.
"I mean, I'm still processing everything with the geese right now so I kind of don't have a big interest in destroying them," Two says, "and I'm feeling a twinge in my, uh, ass that's not going away, so" she clicks her tongue, "yeah. I'mma go get on the other side of that ridge."
"K bye," says Six, who
chunk
soars outwards from the back of the Force My Way and lands on top of an adjacent and mostly-undevastated building. From that rooftop, she turns her head and puts her hands on her hips, even as the 40-feet-tall mobile weapon attempts to move away quietly.
From the rooftop, Six's eyes focus on a weary-looking young man. She blinks several times, as her right eye shifts to 11x magnification, integrating the images in the visual cortex coprocessor. He's collecting everything - running after his... mom? older sister?
Then Tavelle crosses her field of view.
Six cups her hands in front of her throat and shouts down, "HEEEEEY!"
"You've got to PRE RINSE! WITH *SOAP!* THEN WASH NORMALLY, BUT USE THE GOOD DETERGENT! OR AN ENZYME BOOST TAB! DON'T USE BOTH OR THE BUTTONS FALL OFF," Six continues. After this she raises her right arm in an enormous wave. "UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN!"
Then she runs in the other direction. ("Hey, that looks valuable," Six says, collecting a golden egg. She will later throw it at one of the others.)
<Pose Tracker> Al has posed.
Rena is ruthlessly assaulted by pun combat. "I see," Al says, thoughtful. "So this is a weakness you share. I will remember it."
Rena's handling most of the flying right now, he's just kind of boggling vacantly at all this.
"We might have to update the emergency response manual. I have just checked and it does not contain the word 'goose' at any point," he notes, immediately before an egg hits the hull.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Much of the anger has drained from Naoko once she delivers her legally distinct Shining Finger sendoff to the goose that troubled her in particular. What remains is... mostly exhaustion and exasperation at having to deal with all this. All because Yuliana felt the need to prove that nowhere is safe, or so she assumes the motivation must have been. ...Because of something Leina said, possibly, there must be a reason why Yuliana would invoke that name in particular. But she's not about to play the blame game, Leina obviously isn't the one who'd have control over Void Geese, that's what matters here.
"Lady, I don't know what planet you're from, but everyone on Earth knows that while geese are a lot of things, innocent isn't one of them." She's not even pretending that the creatures being Void-touched makes all that much of a difference to her, they were evil to begin with.
However, there is one last unpleasant surprise to deal with. That eye... it's not just a little bit unnerving, she knows well the meaning behind the presence regarding her. On the other hand... she has complete faith that Sukeban Kiseki and its translucent psychic wall will prove capable of keeping any undesirable mental influence at bay. And so, she is safe. Not even She can do anything to--
- SPLAT*
Naoko makes a shrill noise of alarm as Sukeban leaps away from the impact of a giant green egg in front of her. And then just... falls back, into a seated position.
"...This isn't happening. I'm not seeing this."
So she's decided. Her Friends don't argue with her on that one.
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
"Do you think th-that just getting it back FIXES things!?" Emilia yells back, anger rising. "'All's well than ends well'!? That's n-n-not how it works! Y-You... I-" Emilia slams her fist on one of the controls. "N-n-not now! I n-need to make s-sure this. O-operation isn't. Comp--rom-m-mised." Is there an off button for void communication? There need to be an off button for void communication. "K-Keep to O-OpSec!" She manages, after a moment. Hopefully Yuliana can respect that.
Especially since Leina is trying to talk to her. "<V-Vacation? Sh-she didn't... s-say you were c-c-coming.>" Emilia's surprised, but it's easy to surmise- for anyone else in the cockpit. (She has still not noticed the video comms.) "<A-anyway...>"
And then comes the finale. The horribly gross finale. The finale of eggs. The eggening. She stares. The good news, it's not lethal. The bad news: Colony air recycling and repurposing could mean the stench of horrid void eggs fills the colonies for a long, long time.
"<What. Th-the. F->" HONK
As the storm subsides and the geese leave, Emilia slumps back in the cockpit, tiredly. She hasn't slept, it's been a long time since she ran an AMBAC suit and most of all this has been a lot of. What the hell even was this.
And then Leina mentions the clothes and she turns red. "<W-w-wait, you can. S-s-see me!?>" Her eyes widen and she crosses her arms over her chest. "<Y-y-y-yeah. Service. S-s-s-s-service entrance. S-s-sounds. Good.>" She manages, trying to work out where the off button for this is, fumbling a bit until she finds 'audio only'.
"...I'd r-r-really like one 'good summer vacation."
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
Yuliana lays out the bait, and Lucine goes for it, with all the goosey aggression of a, well, goose. < "I have a biometric lock on it!! It shouldn't-- Ghhh....." > Lucine hisses and rubs her temples as Yuliana pulls back her quip. < "_Of course I believed you_!! You took our gifts, so why not the Dianthus?!" >
No one has to endure Lucine's complaining over the loudspeaker while the Void opens, at least.
Thankfully, today, there will be no goose-slaying. Or goose sleighing. (Yuliana, please don't get any ideas from this.)
No, just eggs. Green eggs, and not a bit of ham in sight! < ".... ohgodohgodohgodohgod--" > The Dianthus wheels back suddenly, trying to avoid getting any egg on the Dianthus. Droppings are hard enough to polish out as it is!
However, with that, the geese are shrinking, and Lucine doubles the Dianthus back, stabbing its glaive forth to snag the abandoned (and now normal sized) gift bag. < "Got it!!" > Inside, Shinji's apron, Eight's scarf, and the two pairs of clothing for the twins, rest safely, minus some egg splatter.
Yuliana will definitely have some eggsplaining to do, once this is over.
<Pose Tracker> Kikka Kobayashi has posed.
"Probably for the best." Kikka nods, as to escorting Emmy. "Mineva'd probably flip if she found out about her getting caught up in this." She mutters. She doesn't comment too much on her unkempt appearance - it'd be rude and Emmy turns off her video anyway. She'll talk to her more later.
What does Kikka know about wordplay? She could probably cite an entire lecture on literary devices and their effective use... but that just feels like a massive waste of time. Especially since she's already quite baffled by what Yuliana says next. "T-That's our own business!" Kikka snaps about the idea of sharing everything. "I'm my own person, so I'm here because I want to be." And besides it's kind of her JOB. Before she can even ask Yuliana HOW she plans on discussing payment, the line shuts off.
Eventually, thanks to the combined efforts of everyone on the scene, whether Cathedra, MDF, outsiders, or Yuliana's own allies - the geese begin to lose their luster and form. "Oh no. Is this some kind of horrible goose ritual?" Kikka frowns, watching the Beguir's targeting cameras. Unfortunately, she seems to be right.
There's a cold shiver, because while that anger may only be because of her proximity to Leina... it's a lot to take in. "I won't lie. I'm feeling pretty freaked out right now." She admits, seeing a bit of that fear in Leina, too.
She takes a deep breath, only to see the splash of... golden eggs on the sensors? "I- what? They're made of... gold? Is this what she meant by paying damages? Geez. If anything this is just going to cause more of it." If they're really not above selling them, could pay for that shopping trip though... Kikka at least is willing to consider that.
There's still some unanswered questions beyond this very, very strange series of petty crimes, but for now, they've got to help Emmy out. Leina promises her, that she'll figure this out and Kikka regards her seriously. "... Yeah, we'll figure it out. I trust you on that." Is this really the price Leina had to pay for trying to help Yuliana?
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
"He can play when he learns to play nicely," Liam says, curtness creeping into his tone. Even if these are Void-touched animals, they're still just animals, and Liam does not have it in him to threaten someone else's pets. (The Protivisny are a whole other story, in his mind. Those are made to be killers.) But the goose finally--finally--drops the bag, and then...
Oh, Liam thinks, terror settling in his guts as the sky yawns open and SOMEONE looks out. Of course.
He was not expecting the eggs. One falls on a building about a hundred yards east, cracking open. The wounded CGUE steps forward, putting itself between the wash of yolk and the Dianthus. As more rain down, he settles it into a kneel, shielding the smaller machine with the CGUE's arms and torso.
"Are you okay?" Liam asks Lucine, after the deluge ends. "Is... are the presents okay?"