>>5150272Your taloned hand reaches out on instinct, the limb racing up to the second floor and seizing the guardrail to haul you straight to the scene—and what a scene it is. For a moment you think that the pools of blood splatter around the food court are the aftermath of some terrible melee, but the jelly-like Humoral constructs quickly retreat to their source upon your arrival. Their creator’s a girl in her late teens that you’ve not seen here before; an emaciated brunette whose body fills out as her creations slither back into the open sores along her limbs. Her glare shifts to you with a flicker of recognition, having previously been staring down your favorite bartender. Zee is, for her part, standing between the upstart Paladin and two of her bar’s regulars, the kindly Flesh Artisan’s right arm a coil of intensities that’ve been balled into a single tank-wrecking fist.
“OMAGRASUTH.” You declare, your Lexicon rippling through the crowd and tampering flared tempers. Zee relaxes a fraction, her arm loosening as she takes a step back from the Paladin. The ragged girl’s still glaring at you, but her eyes have softened since first rounding on you.
“What’s going on here?” You demand, glancing between the two before steeling on the Humoral Paladin. “You’re new here, so let’s hear it from you, first.”
“My companion’s not one for words, so I’ll take the liberty of explaining.”
The voice behind you drips with a honeyed, saccharine tone, the subtle influence of a Conduit’s emotional field welling up in your heart. Turning on your heel to keep both the speaker and Paladin in line of sight, you catch the eye of a girl several years your junior; her short-cropped purple hair emits wisps of azure vapor, and as she spreads her arms with a grin and a chuckle, you realize the same Phantasmal mist is seeping from her very pores. A mild disorientation works its way into your temples before a thought banishes the effect…you’ve dealt with enough Phantasmal bullshit to dispel them without a second thought.
“Please do so.” You say, meeting the girl’s eyes with a clarity that makes her falter, for just a moment.
“Ah…my associate and I have come for the Cord, you see.” She begins, resuming the bravado that she held before realizing you shrugged off her field with ease. “We’ve had quite the journey to reach your…might I say ‘cozy’ domicile, and she’s simply on edge.”
“Took a swipe at me when I told her the price of what she ordered.” Zee cuts in, the sound of three different voices speaking in unison. “Crystal claws. She wasn’t fucking around. Broke my damn glass, too.”
(Continued)
