Duty Session 349: Travel with Triffids

    Rizadoman was doing his best to juggle life, a week here, a week there. Soon the people out in Palace Lands wanted to go walk across a bridge, nothing bad ever happened from walking across a bridge. Today though, today he had been in a near by town doing other things when he saw some Hunter guild people handing out flyers announcing a near by duty. Something about wanting to find some plant to bring back and to be on alert for giant war rabbits. Rizadoman was happy to take one of these flyers and head out to the meeting spot for people to gather. Eventually he arrives at the meet up point, by the beach. It seems where ever the lizardman goes the salt water finds him.

No bridge has yet been forded, which means nobody had yet told Prophylaxis what kind of absolute horror-monsters existed over in the Palace Lands. Or rather, he certainly knows, but he has no damn clue that they can casually tear into people's souls yet.

But! Anyway! He is here, gathering for a quest to tear into some triffids and/or giant rabbits. Honestly, either or would be fine. It'd be good to stretch his legs before the next trip over to the Palace Lands.

And the Good Doctor has brought along some of his usual Salamander help. Vertina had just gotten back from her training exodus in the deserts of Westeland, but that didn't mean she was out of fight. Anything but, as she was more than eager to put some of her diligant training to work. Time to see how she has really improved. Maybe consider some upgrades to her battle gauntlets based on what she built for Syx's.

    Fuka had been turning in a quest at the hunter's guild. Successful quest, naturally. Never mind that she accidentally her leg. These things happen, and she got better. She looks in a good mood, but then most people who know her only ever see her in a good mood.

    Naturally, she's decided to go on another quest. To "let it ride" as she put it loudly.

Goldenblade is here by the beach, ready to do the duty. She's looking quite determined, checking her gear our again, and making sure her equipment is all in order. No trip or plans to return to the Palace Lands for her. She made the trip for a friend, but she has too much going on in Yamato to take a vacation.

"Ready to go," she announces. "This one's a toughie," she warns, but it looks like there's a couple repeaters here besides her. Are they here to grind rep like her? Who can say? She's only heard that this is a thing in any event. Vertina might have seen her around Westelande. Or she might not have, she doesn't know. But that's where she'd been also, working out logistics to get adventurers to help out the Westelande army.

Miho is acting strangely she has a bit of a haunted look to her if someone might check she has the filth debuff and her gear isn't in the best shape but something's snapped her out of it enough for her to show up. She knew she had to get somewhere but there was a project she had to finish first. This could get her materials she snaps out a bit more as she forms up with the rest of the party.

"Hey so what do you need me to do...?"

She keep mutting about smithing things under her breath....

"So, I have come here to rid the pirate ship of the rats," Uta announces, resolute, as she stops and slams the tip of her staff, held vertical in front of her, against the ground.

"...Or was it from spiders?" She furrows her brow and scratches her head. "...anyway. Time to reclaim the Colosseum and rid it of Goblins." She beams. "I hope I finally get my own Dungeon Heart Piece!"

    Rizadoman looks at all who have gathered , an eccletic sort that really all have there own interests and bad habits among them. The perfect group to go searching for a plant in the forest." Ok sso the forest is that way I guess we just find this plant and head home. " WIth a lizardman shrug he walks towards the forest until they reach the edge of the forest and looks at the others. " Anyone here in tune with nature enough to try to find these walking plants we have been asked to find? Even better to keep us from running into the giant war bunnies, we definately wouldn't want that."

Vertina squints at Miho. In part because she knows enough about weaponforging to get the gist of what the smith is muttering about. And she's seen 'strange mood' amongst her friends enough times to recognize it, and the lack of upkeep from otherwise very apt individuals. Decides she better keep an eye on the other Salamander, just to be on the safe side. Like she's no tank but she can at least smash stuff before it tries to smash the wayward minded smithy.

Which leads to her just stomping about and kicking random foliage out of the way, more worried about keeping anything from ensnaring Miho, than actually trying to track whatever their quarry was.

Vertina is always good to have around, even if everything goes pear-shaped. Booze is the best thing to soothe a hard day's labor at the triffid fields, after all.

"Pretty sure if you're looking for Triffids, you're out of luck," Prophylaxis says from near the tree line. It seems he's collected a selection of various herbs, none of which seem even remotely Triffid-like. "Got a lot of tasty rabbit-snacks over here, but nothing that seems like it points at giant angry plant monsters."

Also, HERBS: GET.

Miho is not at her best due to her mind behind distracted, even her tail movement are off for those who know of it. Maybe it was a bad idea to bring her along. Then again getting her out of her forge wasn't a bad idea either. It might be good for her health. Others could get he to eat, clean up mend her gear. Before she went back into the madness once more.

"I have no idea where thesr things ... are..."

Goldenblade follows the group into the woods. As far as woodcraft, she's pretty much useless. She did scouting as a child, sure, Everyone did back then, there wasn't -that- much to do. In 1947, it was scouting, sandlot baseball, or picking up an odd job of some sort. But 1947 was a long time ago, and she doesn't remember which side of the trees have moss, or whether bears crap in the woods or any of that. So, she'll wait for the others to figure something out.

Uta looks around, and blinks. She mutters, embarrassed, "I don't think I'm the right mindset for finding our way around, today..." She flicks her menu open, skims it, sighs. "...and of course I've forgotten my crystals at home."

Her dejection turns into sudden interest. Did her pointy ears just perk up?

"Oh, oh, oh. Let me have a look at that...", she exclaims, rushes over to Miho, flicks her menu to a different option (Medical Inspection), and-

...attempts to boop Miho on the nose.

    Fuka peers at Uta dubiously. She doesn't know strange moods, and the Spriggan doesn't appear to be in one of those, but Uta's just weird and Fuka doesn't mind that at all. Whatever they're all here for, she's just hoping to have some fun and *just maybe* impress a few people. Perhaps surprisingly, despite having no talent for tracking, she finds what she thinks is a trail. "Hey guys! This wa...." she pauses, blinking. No one else seems to think it's a good idea. Okay, fine. Turning away from the signs she found, Fuka bounces through the forest along with her friends.

    Rizadoman gets close and scoops up some dirt and then tastes it, yes he can taste the cholorphyl. It is evident and he begins to agree that they should go Fukaziroh's way when suddenly his monster senses tell him that their is danger near by. Taking a moment to make the choice he points towards the danger, " Lets head that way. I am sure it will lead us where we want to go. " That is all the Lizardman says as he walks off down a path.

     Eventually they make their way to a clering when they run into a giant bun bun. This dire beast is wearing stone armor and seems to be shadowing boxing for the moment before it notices the arrival of new playmates. Leaping into air, much higher then one might think possible wearing the stone armor it lands infront of the adventures punching the ground, leaving a small crater as the party enters combat.

The group finds their way into the clearly, and a really nasty looking bun-bun.. that's wearing armor? Stone armor, at that. Oh, but stone is something she can work with. "Keep your guard up Miho!" she encourages, and then darts towards the big armored bun. "Cover me Doc!"

Vertina dashes ahead, and leaps to vault over the shockwave the giant bun makes with it's entrance. "EARTH SHAKER!" Which turns into a whirling cartwheel-like move midair to swing one of her legs up and then down HARD to direct a rock shattering blow to the giant bun's armor with a combination of brute strength and earthbending ability.

Goldenblade jumps as the giant armored bunbun crashes down, and ... holy crap, that's heavy armor. Rather than pound on it all day, she will see if she can do something about the armor. She's got some skill with that, so she will creep closer and try to puzzle it out. And also, get savaged. It's got huge teeth, it has, and she gets the worst of it, backing off hastily and shaking her head to clear it, the sudden loss of blood making her dizzy. She looks up, but it seems the party has it well in hand without her, so she will sit this one out and try to recover from that.

    When Fukaziroh sees the giant stone-armored bunnyking, she grins maliciously. "This'll be fun!" she promises, brandishing her great axe. She doesn't bother trying to use spells, recognizing the futility of using lightning or fire on stone. She winds up, charging in behind the front lines, spinning a full circle to get extra power behind her attack. She's pretty sure she can see fault lines, so to speak, which should let her deliver a critical hit to the bunny thing.

    *KAWHAAAAANG*

    The shock of impact drives the axe out of Fuka's hands. It goes flying away into the bushes, and the vibration seems to be resonating through the tiny sylph afterwards. "U-u-uuh g-g-guys?" she stammers, working her fingers to try to get feeling back into them. "H-hold him for a bit. I gotta get my axe back!" she claims, dashing off to recover her weapon.

    She does, however, stop a moment to admire the sheer destructive power of Prophylaxis' spell. She even squees a little. "I've got to learn that!" she says appreciatively, while digging through the bushes in search of her mighty Chopstick.

Uta would find given her experiance with this sort of thing? Miho clearly is in tune with the world once more in a strange or fye mood. It could be worse she sems functional enough. She seme happy though but it now seem theyuy are being hunted.

"We're ... being hunted."

The liminal rings about her eyes flare up a bit.

"Right I know..."

Miho get an idea s she moves. Miho lookt eh thing over and points out a weakness in its armour

"STRIKE there That's the weak point!"

Uta beams. "A Fey Mood! It's a Fey Mood! Proper! Finally! I've wanted to-"

She dodges at the last minute as the stone-armored bun rushes for her. She rolls on the ground, pushes herself up, and after jutting her staff in the direction of the bun, she begins to intone a rhythmic, tribal chant. Tendrils in Earth tone dance on her staff, ready to be shot out at the rabbit's armor, and then-

Everything fizzles out as Uta stops her singing. "No, no, sorry, I can't focus on this!" She rushes over to Miho, and all of a sudden, she begins to vocalize a different song. No lyrics, just the Spriggan's crystalline voice outlining a beautifully haunting melody with 'oooh' and 'aaaah' sounds, right next to the Salamander.

Well, Prophylaxis /did/ promise giant angry bunny rabbits, didn't he? Though he certainly did not expect to find one positively covered in stone plate armor. That could be something of a problem, there.

It /could/ be, but it won't be.

"You've got it," he answers the lizardman. Prophylaxis whirls his staff overhead before striking its base into the earth. The ground begins to rumble and churn before disgorging a half-dozen roughly hewn globes of solid granite. "Charges loaded. All cannons, take aim!"

On command, each of those stone globes begin glowing red-hot. They tremble, shaking like they were mere moments from falling apart entirely. Finally, Prophylaxis yells, "All cannons, fire!"

There's a sound like a thunderclap as each of the stone globes burst, launching blasts of high-pressure magma into the bun-bun's hide. On impact, the magma explodes into bursts of shrapnel and fire, tearing clean through the armor mounted to its flanks...!

    Rizadoman looks at the opponent infront of him and at the group behind him, " It seems we have found something more dangerous then a walking tree. " With out a second thought as the earth moves and a shockwave lashes out from the bun's position the large lizard stomps the ground and counters with a wall of flames erupting dispersing the potential threat.

     As the armor is targeted, the bun's health drops and eventually a bit of the bun bun's armor is gone. The bottom quarter of the chest plate and some of the leg armor falls to the ground. Now though it seems to be picking up some speed as it begins to perform rapid dash attaacks on the entire party. One hit here, another to ssomeone else, it doesn't seem to be slowing down. All one can do is take it or get out of the way , and maybe set a trap for it, but it would take like some hunter type to be able to do that.

Vertina rebounds off her initial blow and drops to the ground in a near-perfect three-point 'hero landing'. Which gives her more than enough time to roll forward from the semi-crouch to avoid the giant stoner bun from taking off into a madcap mashing about.

"Well it's not a triffid... but you're not getting away that easily just because of that!" There's a rumbling almost of the earth itself moving to hurtle the Salamander Martial Artist back into motion, followed by the whooshing whirl of wind to catch and fling her farther.

At the same time she clenches her fists, bringing the claws on the back of her battle gloves into striking position. "BANZAI!" She aims for the spot Miho pointed out before as she aims to land on the bun's back and drive the claws down through the seams in the stone armor to dig into the vulnerable bun-bun flesh beneath it.

Goldenblade can, it seems, keep up with the bunbun's speed with her own special move. Flames lick along the ground where she'd just been standing as she moves as fast as a Delorean, zipping around the bunbun's attacks and striking as best she can with her swords. She's a DPS type, natively, and she puts out a decent amount as she works hard to avoid the attacks. It's not easy, even with the incredible speed boost, though when she moves aside and the bun has to move through the flames she left, the damage it takes makes her smile.

With the Bun-Bun's armor damaged, there's finally a weak point to exploit. All it took was hammering the thing's natural armor with more firepower than is frankly reasonable, but it got the job done.

Prophylaxis continues to hang back, his job today apparently being 'hitting the target until it stops moving.' To that end, he targets the gap in the Bun-Bun's armor and waves his staff threateningly in the air.

...

Somehow doing so conjures a swarm of magic missiles that pound incessantly into the gap in the beast's armor.

On a tangent, while Prophylaxis would certainly be happy to supply Uta with some replacement crystals, the fact is that he's... not actually got any on hand either. Whoops! At least fighting a giant monster doesn't require laser-focused Uta brains, right?

    Once she recovers her axe, Fukaziroh turns to regard the stone-armored bun-king. With the perspective of distance, she figures perhaps she can help others fight the dire monster. Hopefully anyways. She doesn't charge back in at least.

    Raising her weapon as a staff, she makes a series of gestures and a few nonsensical murmurs. Waiting for an opportune moment, she finishes the spell with a triumphal burst. "Thorn bind hostage!" she calls out, as the bunny steps into the perfect position. Vines leap up from the ground and from the trees, entangling the great beast, and the thorns provide a nice armor-piercing target for follow-up attacks to hopefully drive into the armor and start forming cracks in the shell!

Miho looks confused at Uta for a moment the wong is wonderful even if it's without words. It's pretty but something strikes home on her. Her mind becomes a bit less secret and things come into car sharper focus. If she wants to get back to work these tasks will have to get done. She was here for hopeful materials. She also starts to hum along as she keeps going.

"Oh dear Elmer Fudd..."

Thr thing isn't stopping she's going to try to hunt the thing it doesn't go well Miho focused on the wrong thing and down she goes faceplanting then get thrown aside by the bunking. Oddly she's still ... humming.

Uta points at Miho's reaction. "Doctor, Doctor, have you seen this?", she asks, in the direction of Prophylaxis. "This is clearly a-"

Her sentence is interrupted by her being trampled by the rabbit.

    Rizadoman grabs some earth from the ground and throws it at the bun but a clod of dirty is a clod of dirt no matter how big it is. In the end this thing is not fighting how Rizadoman prefers, running around, making quick bun warfare like attacks. This thing was cheating.

     Fortunately the others were doing better, with vines slowing it down and the barrage of missiles from Prophylaxis and Vertina's claws tearing away more and more of the armor. There are even people able to dodge this damn easter bunny wannabe. So how does the bun bun respond, it calls for reinforcemet. From the trees a small white rabbit appears and begins to run around the clearing. Every so often dashing to the big bun and healing it. The dire bun bun's health doesn't seem to be able to drop much past half, at the rate the white rabbit is healing it.

    "Oh that's just not fair!" Fukaziroh complains as the bunny is healed by what appears to be a different bunny. Never mind the unfairness of the number of times she's been healed mid-combat. She hasn't taken the hypocritic oath, so she's allowed to complain about things she herself does!

    Frowning, Fuka changes tactics. Instead of using powerful single-hit spells she starts up with one that channels damage over time. If the little white bun bun has to be out all the time to heal, surely someone can roast the little bastard.

    She chants out in time to pulses in the magic. "Fuka, the burninator~ Burninating the ... bunny's side~"

Goldenblade can't keep up her blazing speed that long, sadly, nor is she fast enough to smack all the little healing buns. What can /can/ do, is she can draw her bow and nail the healing buns with an arrow. That seems to divert them from their intended mission. Nevermind that she's not -that- good a bow shot, if she can stay lucky long enough, that's all she needs. Line up the shot, loose the arrow, divert the little buns. Repeat. Oh, definitely repeat.

Oh, so the boss bun has itself a healer? Troubling! There's no way they're going to chew through the rest of its hit points with something so small and speedy darting in to top off its health every few seconds. But if they can apply some kind of poison to arrest its healing...

...Or, as it happens, they could just apply an awful no-good cheatyface debuff.

"Spirits of Spring, your time has not yet come. Winter yet has claim over this season," Prophylaxis intones, an unnatural chill falling across the glen, covering leaves and grass in a thin patina of frost. His breath leaves his lips in puffs of mist and diamond dust as he reaches a hand out toward the Bun-Bun King.

...Surrounding it in a churning globe of bitter cold, driving sleet and screaming wind. The moment that little white hare darts in, it would find itself nearly freezing solid in the wintery orb. The Bun-Bun King would likewise be having quite a hard time of things, considering the absolutely bitter temperatures and blinding weather conditions that seem to follow it no matter how it tries to hop out of the way.

From her vantage point on the giant bun-bun's back Vertina easily catchs sight of the smaller bun running in, commencing a healing BOOP, and running off again. Likely to return and do so again and again. "I hate mechanics that drag out fights like that!" Vertina objects, though arguable that anyone would hear her at this point. "I'm putting a stop to this right now!" With one hand she grabs onto one of the remaining pieces of stone armor, using it along with her feet bracing to keep her balance on the creature.

With the other hand she grabs Torte's Jar from it's strap on her belt, and gives it several good shakes. Then hooks the handle of the lid with her tail to pull it off. Leans overward over the King Bun's head. "If you're so hungry... EAT THIS!" She jumps off, twisting as she does to aim the jar at the Bun and applies heat to it with her hands, causing the contents to erupt out of the bottle in a spray... And into the King Bun's mouth! A dose of poison to help keep that healing in check. And then some.

Torte's Jar is capable of producing a poison so potent it actually drops the victim's pain tolerance. Which means every hit the King Bun now takes will hurt it that much more, physically and mentally.

Vertina hits the ground in a backwards roll to get back onto her feet, and clamp the cover back on the jar before any more of it's mystical contents are spilled.

At first, Uta is immobile.

There is some wing twitching, and then some signs of life. One arm raises, one palm pressed against the ground. Then the other.

With Herculean effort, Uta pushes herself to stand. Legs still shaking, she teeters towards Miho, and does her best to peel the Salamander off the floor. "Here, here...", she offers, as comforting as she can, before-

She gets run over by the healer bunny.

Growling, she pushes herself to stand again, intones a dark, ominous chant. Tendrils of sheer darkness dance on the staff, and as she is about to discharge an Arcane Blast of Blackness-

The zippy healer bun runs her over /again/.

The old rule of PVP in the old world of the last great Western MMORPG before Pluto's kiss was a simple one. Kill the healer first. While Miho never played it she knew people who had and they imparted that little nugget of combat. Thankfully as she's thinking about this? Uta is able to peel poor Miho off the ground, there is a nice Miho-shaped impression left behind the good news is thanks Uta? She's able to get up and get her bow out to take shots at the healer. The bad news is? She doesn't do much damage and outright misses several times.

"I owe you one Uta!"

    This time Rizadoman decides to try something more solid, he grabs a fallen free at the little white rabbit, that jumps up and runs along the tree while the tree is in mid air, rebounds off and heals the bun bun again. The damn thing is really making the lizardman look bad. With a growl it is almost like Rizadoman has become enraged, oh no wait thats the bun.

     Yes it appears at the sight of the poor little rabbit being poisoned, burned , frozen and for good measure shot with a bow it just doesn't hold up. As the rabbit dies the bun bun stops and hops over to his fallen comrade petting it softly as it turns to pixels. Turning back to face the adventurers that barged into his home and then killed his friend, well he just couldn't hop to that beat. The bun bun makes a sound of rage as his armor breaks away from his body, the only thing that remains is the stone crown, now burning red as the bun bun's fist and feet gain fire elemental bonuses. The bun dashes forward at incredibles speed ready tp remove the villians that threaten his people.

    "Oh no! Uta!" Fuka cries out, watching her friend get bodied repeatedly by bun buns. Even the tiny healer bun. It'd be kind of hilarious if they weren't in a battle for their lives against a monstrously tough and deadly foe. Fuka's not much of a healer though, so she focuses on eliminating the problem. The big boss bun bun, that is. The healer doesn't really bother Fuka all that much. It can continue bodying Uta for a while, as long as it can't stop them burning down the bossbun.

    Once boss bunny's armor is gone, she cheers. Only to stop cheering abruptly when she realizes that it's become much faster and ... is it getting a physical buff? Oh no! Well, anyways, it's lost its armor now. That means her big spells might actually be useful in stopping it permanently! And what spell, after all, does she have that's bigger than any other? At least until she demands to learn a certain cannon spell from the doc at least.

    "FIYAAAABALL!"

Goldenblade is prepared for this DPS race, running her blades one across the other. There's a spray of sparks and an uncanny gleam from the golden edges of her blades, indicating to those aware of such things that they're preternaturally sharpened. She then wades in to the thick of the fight, giving and taking hits, and trying to give more than she receives. She can't avoid the damage she takes, but she can give more than she gets, dealing the extra damage on top of her skillful technique, dropping big chunks of HP with each blow. WIll it be enough? She's betting on it.

The King Bun is enraged, roaring and now armed with flaming hot feet to stampede over them all. Looks like it's time to put some of that training to use, and not just in beating the stuffing out of this giant creature.

Vertina braces herself in a ready stance closing her eyes and focusing, bringing more of her radiant spirit to the surface. Infusing it with the wind and heat of her desert homeland to give it form and substance. A short distinct sequence of hand gestures follow.

"MIRAGE PHASE JITSU"

And then there is no less than a dozen Vertina's surrounding the King Bun in battle ready stances. One by one they're trampled in the rampage, only to burst into little puffs of dust and ki motes flitting away. The real Vertina now standing somewhere back at the treeline, safely out of harm's way as she uses some ninja-esque trickery to distract the beast instead.

Aaaaand now Prophylaxis feels bad. That poor little white bunny, that poor Bun Bun King, so sad about the unfortunate demise of said bunny. Were they friends? Lovers? Were they a little bun bun couple? Prophylaxis has owned several bunnies, and the sight of such a heartbreaking goodbye wrenches at his conscience.

But not enough to just offer himself up on a platter for an angry bunny to eat. The King Bun rages, activating some manner of fire damage enchantment, and Prophylaxis responds... By gesturing and infusing each one of his party members with a similar buff. The spirit of flame graces the party's every strike and motion with strength and added fire damage!

Maybe it'll help put this poor bunny king out of his misery quickly.

Covered in red gashes and spots, still unable to steady herself properly, Uta staggers towards the bun. "Now. Where. Were. WE."

Her breathing is heavy, her face is smeared with mud, her expression is livid.

She launches into a call-and-response chant, with dark, ominous calls and angelic responses. On her staff, tendrils of light and dark alternate; they focus in the gem, and two beams depart, one red, which engulfs the bun-bun, and one green, shot backwards, engulfs Uta herself.

On impact, energy begins to be sucked off the bun-bun, as proved by its slowly descending HP bar, and Uta... not only her red gashes and spots begin to close down and disappear, her HP bar raises at the same rate as the bun-bun lowers.

    Fuka makes careful note not to ever piss off Uta, watching her invoke some sort of health leech spell that's rather a lot more effective even than Fuka's own beloved fireball. But that's okay... Fuka's going to learn a much more effective AOE spell than fireball! She comes up behind Prophylaxis, looming over him as he works to buff the party. Well, maybe she doesn't loom over him exactly. Looms under him? She's short after all. Well, she looms regardless. Taking in the fire buff, she uses it to add even more fire to the assault. It's not her best element, but it'll do... it'll do.

So the climax of this whole little adventure is upon everyone and they face it down Mihos focus is kind of there. This time she's just going to get her Katana out and go full samurai.

"It's over here!"

It's not dead yet and she will chage at the king hacking slashing turning into a blender. There are very angry Miho noises also she breaths /fire/.

    Rizadoman's scales change from the passive teal color to a dark blood red as he meets the bun bun head on. The bun had started all this but it wasn't about to be the one to finish this. As the flaming bun foot kicks at his side, he barely shows any sign of feeling the attack as he continues to let himself be pummeled by the bun bun. Meanwhile the rest of the party quickly whittle down the hp of the bun bun king, eventually it stumbles back and falls to one need before fading into the world of pixels. All that is left is the armor remains, and a lack of Triffids.

Vertina takes a moment to dust herself off. "Everyone still standing, yeah?" She applies some Light healing to herself so the actual healers can worry about the more heavily wounded. Then looks down and huhs softly. "These didn't disappear when it died?" She grabs one of the chunks of stone armor and hefts it up with little difficulty thanks to her strength. "I guess this is the loot drop from that thing."

Uta jumps in the air and pumps her fist. "Wooooooooo-hoooooooooo!" She spins and jumps and spins, does cartwheels, and engages in other celebratory activities. "Oh boy oh boy oh boy. We did it! WE DID IT! Where's that Dungeon Heart Piece now?", she asks, looking around left and right, completely ignoring the chunks of stone armor.

Goldenblade stands there panting, her remaining HP a tribute to winning the DPS check. "Hah," she says breathlessly. "Haven't had a fight like that since ... well, the last time I did this one, I think." She looks around, grinning at Uta. She points out the armor pieces, "I think that's all you get." She picks up a piece, but it won't go into her inventory. There's already a piece there. Oh well.

Unfortunately for Prophylaxis, he does not detect a person looming behind him. But this is entirely because he is significantly taller than the one doing the looming, and doesn't actually notice said loomification. This may be to his detriment as, when he goes to pick up the piece of loot the bun bun king left behind, he might find himself at just the right height for a terrible surprise attack. "You know," he says thoughtfully, "Are we sure this is stone, and not just... really, REALLY mottled fur...?"

    Fuka's not bothered at the idea that Proph's much taller than her, and it certainly won't stop her trying to loom or get in his face! When he bends over to check out loot, it's really quite a perfect opportunity. Fuka adjusts her position discreetly then LOOMS. "I hit it with an axe. It's stone." she notes dryly.

    Then when Proph turns to face her (well hopefully he does so at least!) she looks him over. Pretty thoroughly in fact. And not at all backing up, remaining as close to in his face as she can, at least unless he physically backs down from her. "Hmmmmm. Not bad." she muses thoughtfully. A bit weird-looking, perhaps kind of scruffy, but when do looks actually matter? "I might even be interested in marrying someone like you!" she jokes. It IS a joke, right? Riiiight? "That was a REALLY nice set of spells." she adds. That, at least, seems sincere.

Off in a corner, Uta has turned to speak into her Chimlink. "Morri! Morri! You there? I have more material for your shipping wall!"

Miho is seeming to relax as the fight is over, she's pocketed her loot. She tilted her head to Uta nd the rest. "I guess it is, I should be getting back to my smithy I have work to do still."

Prophylaxis is, mercifully, a little too used to small but dangerous players sneaking up on him to be sent sprawling ass-over-teakettle away from one looming up behind him. He does hang out around Yuuki pretty frequently, after all!

But he is, however, a little unaccustomed to someone getting all the way up in his face like this. "Uh," the doctor asks, standing back upright with his prize disappearing into the dank depths of his inventory. This has the /entirely/ beneficial effect of putting his face at least a foot away, vertically, from the nevertheless otherwise intimidating little berserker. She's sizing him up like a piece of meat! Like a log that's gonna get chopped! Like--

"Wait-- marry?" Prophylaxis blinks. "W-What?" Is she joking? She's gotta be joking, right? "Spells--" There! Something his mind can grab hold of, like an anchor in the middle of a stormy sea! "Ah, well! My repertoire is quite expansive, yes. Though, I recognize you. You came to Karluin once before, didn't you? I'm not sure we were formally introduced; I am Prophylaxis, the Doctor of Tolbana. And you are?"

    Having got a perfectly pleasing reaction, Fuka is (fortunately) inclined to not push the issue, letting Doc off the hook. For now. She stops looming, which admittedly might have to do with the fact that she's undeniably much shorter than Doc, being darn close to minimum height for a female sylph while he ... isn't. More importantly she smiles, and eases back a bit on the intensity. That more than anything would help.

    "I never forget a face." Fuka says casually, nodding. "I'm Fuka, battle fairy extraordinaire." Of course, he can see her full name through the party interface, she just prefers to call others and to be called by shorter names. "I'm sure you'll hear more of me. I'm developing quite the reputation!" she boasts. Of course she doesn't say if that rep is good or bad. "Though if you teach me a big powerful spell..." she adds, pressing her fingertips together in a mockery of the sort of gesture made by shy girls... "I'll get that reputation a lot faster. Do you want to help add to my... reputation?"

At least Fuka isn't a gnome. Or a Pooka. Like, there's short, and then there's 'this is literally a potato' short, and Fuka isn't quite that small, in spite of what she might think.

The doctor is definitely not small, though he's also certainly not spectacularly tall. If anything, his height is positively average, but that still gives him a leg up on Fuka.

Though it does certainly help that she gives him just a bit more breathing room. He arches a brow at her response, and--

What are you doing with your fingers Fuka, are you trying to look cute and demure moments after being anything but!?!? Is this manipulation!? IS IT GOING TO WORK!?!?

"A spell, huh?" The doctor murmurs thoughtfully. "Hm. Hmmmm. I wonder. I suppose I could do something of the sort, after all you /did/ assist us quite handily back up on the fifth floor. Perhaps we can come to an agreement...?"

APPARENTLY, MAYBE!?

    Fuka can switch between being demure and being provocative at a moment's notice, but innocent is probably beyond (or beneath) her. She doesn't really even try to pretend such gestures are sincere though. It's done with conscious irony, more for laughs than for deception.

    "That'd be great, Prophylactic!" Fuka beams cheerfully. Hey, she always remembers a face. She said nothing about names. "Besides, that's not the last time I'll help out. Ask anyone who knows me, I'm always happy to join a good party! So any help you give me will only make me better at helping you in return!"

Goldenblade can't help but laugh as Fuka calls Proph that. She's still amused that he chose that particular name, but that's just her, maybe? But Fuka missing his name by that little bit is even more funny, it seems. In the same vein. Well, maybe as long as she's amused by herself, it's OK?

"Ah, no," Prophylaxis grimaces, wishing all the world that Name Change Potions were still a thing in this strange new world, "That's ProphylaXIS. Not... that other thing," because that other thing is absolutely not his name, thank you very much!

    Fuka glances over at Goldenblade and.... did she just wink? Maybe she did, but if so it wasn't with the eye that Proph could see from that position. She returns her attention to the mage-doctor. "Right right, Prophylaxis." she agrees as if she hadn't said anything else. "Mmm. Maybe I should just call you Pro to make it simple? Or how about Doc?" she asks. Seems she really prefers nicknames, or at least short names...

Goldenblade hehs at Fuka's wink and snickers to Proph, calling back to both of them, "Why be picky now? /Both/ words mean Rubbers." That's what you called them in her day, anyhow. There was even a poster, for soldiers. Beat the Axis, use Prophylaxis. Not that she doesn't wish for namechange potions also. But that's for a slightly different reason.

"Doc is fine," Prophylaxis answers, "There are too many Pros for Pro to work propertly, but if you'd like to help me monopolize the byname, then I'd not mind either--" He turns and stares at Goldenblade, frowning so very terribly. "I'll have you know that the term is generally applicable to all forms of medicine or method which *prevent* the onset of disease, and includes everything from vaccination to hand-washing and disinfection! Hrmph..."

    Fuka's earnestly serious face cracks as Proph turns to berate Goldenblade, as she tries to stifle a fit of giggles. Truly, teasing certain types of people is the best. Especially if they're both serious and nerdy. Clowning around is so much fun with someone to be the straight man.

    She tries to get herself under control, and more or less manages to stifle her amusement. Some of it is bound to leak through into her voice though, let alone her expression. "Doc's right. Preventing disease is good! And you don't just do that with rubbers!" she notes, trying once again not to crack up while teasing. And not doing an entirely sincere job of it. "Anyways, no need for teaching right now. I know that sort of thing takes a while and probably neither of us are in a good ... position right now, so later will do. If you're interested, so am I! And remember, just ask, I'm happy to help!"

    Fuka is, also, a terrible tease and flirt. But she's not a bad person, right? "Cheers, Propain... er, whatever. Doc! And thanks!"

Goldenblade laughs at Fuka's amusement, and at Proph's protest, nodding but clarifying, "Oh, I know /that/. But in 1950, if you'd asked anyone what Prophylaxis was, they'd tell you it's a rubber. It was the euphamism for condoms because you couldn't say 'condom' in mixed company. Or really in any polite company. But you could put Prophylaxes on posters, and kids could see it. And you could tell the kids it meant preventing disease. But everyone knew it meant 'rubbers'. Though I guess that was mainly in the US..." Which explains, maybe, why a Japanese player might have picked the name. No American, at least not above a certain age, ever would. "In the sixties, things got more relaxed, and they just called them rubbers and dropped the euphamism."