World Tree MUSH

The weather over Cambridge, tonight in the late 1890s, is miserable and foreboding. As the day fades to night, the darkness seems to fill the waiting grey clouds like poured lead. The rain has yet to come.

A thunderclap does, loud and startlingly close. There is no flash in the sky, only a boom that sounds entirely like stone and brick giving way.

A hole has manifested in the wall of one of the university's old buildings, smoke pouring from it. A few academics scramble through the exposed hallway and room beyond. Outside, there is the sound of a whistle, then a resounding *BANG!,* and finally the meaty thud of a Victorian policeman hitting the ground - not dead, but shot squarely in the shoulder.

"I was hoping to not have to do that," mutters Neviah Younger as she lowers her rifle and steps out of the ruined hall of the building. The old Snider-Enfield has been modified: A curving blade scythes from the lower part of the barrel, like some cursed child of bayonet and khopesh. Her long formal coat is worn open to expose the decidedly non-period tank top and jeans under it, her hair let out of its usual bun to tumble free in a veil of curls. The scowl behind her glasses is somehow even less characteristic.

With a huff, she adjusts the large duffel bag full of notebooks she's got slung under her arm and feeds another bullet into her rifle before planting a heel against the still-smoking rubble of the building wall. "They know we're here now," she says with a look to the shorter but more powerfully-built woman with her. "We're probably gonna have to fight our way out. Honestly, if you see anything else shiny, just take it. They tried to take my life's work, so it's fair."

The wail of police sirens is already beginning to ring through the night. The clatter of hooves rings across cobbles and through city streets. The alarm has gone out not only to policemen, but to those brought in from outside: The faculty was anticipating trouble.

They may get more. Neviah scowls and glares across the green.

"...Maybe we should punch out the dean while we're here."

Honestly, Juniper doesn't *look* that much more powerfully-built. That's kind of the thing; she looks like a curvaceous twenty-year-old wearing aggressively 90s clothes.

Like right now: a tube top with an almost aggressively bright abstract pattern, a flannel shirt just kind of tossed overtop, left unbuttoned, and a pair of jeans. Juniper is not apparently armed and has one of her hands in her pocket. This has not slowed her down. When she had to break something down, she kicked it.

"Do you want to?" she asks. "I mean, I'm not going to stop you, but I'm pretty sure 'punching out the Dean' is more on your revenge list than mine."

    You know. Things were going so well.
    It's as Morrigan is doing her usual thing, cruising around the Tree, going from word to world solving mysteries in her big van. But that's when she got a tidbit of news. Because, somehow, word travels super fast when it's of dramatic importance.
    "Master!" Mary Contrary pipes up from her perch on Morrigan's shoulder.
    "Cambridge! Shots fired! Explosions!" It's all the little shinki Familiar needs to say before Morrigan brings the van to a HARD STOP. SWERVES IT AROUND. And GUNS THE ENGINE.
    She only stops to pick up one or two more riders along the way before the old grey, 2003 Ford Windstar comes barreling down the road and screeches to a halt in front of the university.
    Morrigan nearly kicks the car door open and storms into the college.
    "Please be alright, Neviah." Is all she can mutter in a heated mantra, again and again, while her tiny robot companion floats after her, looking equally worried.

    In Bi De's world, most 'schools' are focused on the martial arts in some way. He's only peripherally associated with Neviah, though he was interoduced, so that isn't why he is here... but the idea of an institute of learning focused solely on academics is pretty interesting to him, even if his own interest lies more on the martial path and that of meditation and enlightenment. He's thusly made friends with several instructors and professors, who find him a curiosity as well but also likely enjoy an offworlder with such good manners who takes an interest in their topics, even if not on a professional level.

    So he's been allowed to linger at the school, and that's why he's here when there's a blast that splits a wall open and allows the rain to start pouring through! While the sirens sound and thunder rolls, the two that are rushing in will find the hallway briefly lit with a flash of lightning... and when it clears, a silhouette is there, a figure standing that was not there before.

    "Bringing violence into this institution of learning is something I had thought beneath you," the deep voice intones.

    It would be a much more dramatic entrance if the silhouette were not that of a rooster whose name is just a slurring of 'Big D' though.

    If Matsu didn't know Morrigan so well, the mage would probably be in heaps of trouble right now. It was such an abrupt stop-and-pickup that the people at the Shuzenji estate are probably in a bit of a tizzy. But Matsu put her foot down on seeing the panicked state of her... acquaintance, and got in the van.

    It's not going to stop her from grousing about it, though.

    "Where are we going. What is happening. Did something happen to Neviah?"

    She's moving as fast as she can to keep up with Morrigan, but her legs are not very long!

    Dante was riding shotgun when Morri got the word from Mary. It's weird that Mary just scans random news feeds like that, but it sure does make it easy with getting information like this. "I got a hunch, and you're not gonna like it." He says as he knocks back a beer, kicking back in his seat. Once they're at the college, he's racing through the halls with Morrigan and Matsu, sword at his back.

    'Goddammit, Nev.' Dante thinks to himself. 'The hell did you do?'

With a flick of her head to keep her curls out of her eyes, Neviah smiles back at Juniper, the expression almost discordantly fond despite the howl of police sirens rapidly closing in. "I think I do want to. Thank you for being with me. Anything that looks like you could sell it, please, it's yours."

Soon enough, though, there is a dramatic flash of lightning... and the Chicken appears. Neviah turns back to the building they'd just blown a hole in, eyebrows coming up sharply. She'd had no idea Bi De was even still there.

"I'm just doing what I need to do," she answers with a growing scowl. "You yourself told me to find my own path. So I'm finding it - one this place has denied me. It has been the work of my life to /understand/ Faerun. I won't have that work taken from me now!"

Even as she speaks, heavy footfalls approach - just ahead of Morrigan's van. A dozen British constables tumble onto the green, pistols leveled. "Freeze!" one of them yells, taking aim at Neviah.

The professor exhales and closes her eyes. "...This has gone farther than I'd have liked," she mutters before holding her arms out at her sides, as if surrendering.

Something at her throat pulses. A necklace with a skull-like amulet hanging from it.

The sky above Cambridge churns and rumbles dangerously. The way the sky darkens and swirls cannot be natural. The scudding clouds thicken and flash within mere seconds - and with a shriek of tortured air, lightning bolts begin to fall from the sky.

Policemen scatter and shout in pain and panic as Neviah unleashes a TEMPEST across the campus. Lightning dances wherever it may, slashing through cops, towards towers, towards buildings. A lightning bolt strikes another structure; flames begin to lick from it.

Neviah's face is pale, but when she opens them again, her eyes are hard with intent.

>> SUMMARY[Neviah Younger] >> Neviah's Divine Domain: Tempest.

"Trust me, I'm helping myself. Too much and my pockets are gonna get lumpy."

And indeed Juniper is, though unless they go into a museum annex there's not a lot that she wants; Juniper has no particular interest in books and papers, bones, or similar items. She *does* have an interest in jewelry, coins, and relics.

So she's picked up a few little items and tucked them away, but she's not loaded down or anything (yet). Neviah looks like she's doing pretty well; maybe she does have some time to break away? Before - 

Juniper squints.

"I don't take orders from chickens," Juniper says, a few moments later. She has no idea who Bi De is. "What're you gonna do, peck my shins? Ram into my knees? Call for the dawn?"

Juniper tilts her head left, then right. She's got a silver necklace on that *does* look like it should be in a museum, and as the police show up, it catches the light when she drops into a more combative stance.

When Neviah calls the storm, Juniper inhales and then spits a long bolt of lightning, accompanying the thunder with a second, closer thunderclap. She's aimed it toward the police, and she's not trying to hit them with the lightning bolt directly; it hits a streetlight.

Which a) explodes and b) is deafeningly loud. Juniper has wisely put her fingers in her ears, and is significantly less stunned than the police are likely to be.

    And there come the bobbies. That's bad.
    Wheeling around. Morrigan makes a 'shoo shoo' motion at the police with her hands, "You're just going to get in the way, let professionals handle...--" She starts to speak and then trails right off.
    There's Neviah-- dressed VERY different from her norm and Juniper with her, dressed in her usual 90's garish norm.
    Eldritch green glowing eyes dip down to the skull amulet at the professor's neck...
    And then the storm comes.
    "What the actual..." She says, mouthing one more word that's lost to the tempest as Mary Contrary holds onto her for dear life.
    "Neviah?! What are you DOING!?" She shouts over the din. "This- this isn't you! --... This is more my style actually, but THAT'S NOT WHAT'S IMPORTANT HERE. Why are you using dark magic?! Why are you rampaging like this!?"
    Pause.
    "DID SHE PUT YOU UP TO THIS?!" The Warlock demands, pointing accusingly at Juniper.
    Morrigan is loud, shrill, confused, and a little deafened by everything going on.

>> SUMMARY[Morrigan] >> You were my sister, Neviah! I loved you! ;_;

    Dante's about to block off the bobbies when things escalate hard. "You really do not wanna get roped into this!" He says, as the tempest blasts everyone back. Needless to say, things have gotten really outta hand. Dante calls out, "What the hell's gotten into you!? We didn't say blow up the college! Normally I'd think this was pretty cool but you're hurting people who got nothin' to do with this! At least just punch the dean and leave it at that!"

    Yeah, not helping, Dante. He levels Rebellion at Juniper, unsure if this is gonna end peacefully as he motions for her to come at him, bro.

    "Your own path, true. I had hope you were wiser than a path such as this!" Bi De responds, his voice raised somewhat due to the head-rattling thunder that has him clucking and stepping back. He peers at Juniper, but it would appear that insults about his species are quite normal for him, as he swallows his pride and does not retort. He has... other priorities.

    As the lightning crackles downward and buildings begin to shatter under it, the rooster fluffs his feathers, then takes an astounding, wing-assisted leap. The chicken's body is surrounded in a silvery glow, shining bright as it bolts off toward the campus...

    Only for a /second/ chicken to emerge out of the inky darkness, a pitch black feathered fury that now moves to take care of the 'henchman' as he sees it. Namely, Juniper, whom he moves to intercept with a heavy impact of Qi-assisted strike, revealing the shining chicken to be a mere spiritual clone.

    A pulse of magic thrums in the air, and Matsu Shuzenji staggers. Before the sky has even started to darken, she straightens back up, her face suddenly hard, and sharp. "What have you done? What have you done?!" As the storm begins to take shape, as lightning bolts start to descend and the form of Neviah's spell takes shape, the Phoenix Maiden's fists curl. Flames actually begin to dance around the girl, flickering at her feet, fluttering briefly in the air. "Are you so far gone that you'll just hurt anyone who happens to be in the area? You have a taste of power, and now it's just 'who cares about the little people, I got mine'?! This storm is going to end lives who have nothing to do with whatever madness you've brought here!"

    A lightning bolt strikes nearby, part of an edifice crumbles. The phoenix-possessed girl's expression hardens further. Slowly, she turns back to Neviah, lifting that hand-tool of hers, the wand of bells she keeps with her near-constantly. "...you can explain yourself later. I'll listen then. But I don't care what you're doing, I'm not letting you walk all over these people just because you can."

    The shrine maiden plants her foot, and the kagura-suzu jangles. "Spirits of the sky, gods of the land." Jangle. "Kami present in all living things." Jangle. Slowly, Matsu's body begins to move, a graceful, languid circle, perfect of poise, as if performing a slow, stately dance. "As your humble priestess, I beseech you. The land cries, the sky weeps." Jangle. "This unnatural spell has disturbed the natural order. As your humble priestess, I beseech you to rise from your slumber."

    The air sings with a simmering tension. Something that can't be heart, can't be seen... but it can be felt. Something radiant, old, pure. Something is already beginning to rise up, to nudge against the storm. But then the girl stomps her foot again. The bell jangles. And a corona of fire begins to whirl around her. "Spirits of the sky, gods of the land!" Jangle. "Kami present in all living things!" Jangle. The dance now is... not fast, but faster, a more smooth and flowing motion. "As the inheritor of the pure vermillion flame, I command you! The clouds simmer, the earth quakes!" Jangle. "This impure magic shall not be tolerated! As the inheritor of the pure vermillian flame, I command you to join your might to mine that we might cleanse the air of this cruelty against man and nature!"

    A tiny foot plants. A pair of hands come together, forming a seal around the handle of the kagura-suzu. It jangles, one last time - and an arcane eastern sigil flares into being at her feet, a flaming red-gold. Radiant magic begins to ripple outward, purifying and warming, not just pushing back against the storm but attempting to unmake the spell itself, bit by bit.

Neviah is trying her very best to look imposing but has to choke back a laugh at Juniper's shin-pecking quip.

Constables stagger and fall as Juniper blasts the streetlamp into submission. Others flee from the downpour of lightning. It's clear enough that these are simple beat cops from an era before automatic weapons, in a world where magic is a foreign curiosity to be studied. Juniper alone is more than a match for them. Neviah... should be well within their capabilities.

Something is different. As she collects herself and readies her rifle again, though, a voice rings from behind her.

"Morrigan...." She turns, her eyes going wide as she spots the witch. Her mouth hangs open a little, then snaps closed, then opens again as she tries to form words. Of all the people rushing to stop her...

She draws a breath through her nose, then lets it out through her teeth. Dante shouting at her helps to centre things. Giving herself a brisk shake, Neviah lowers her rifle towards the ground. "...Understand me," she vents. "All I wanted to do was try to bring back our world. To try and recover from the Tree what it took from me! This place - the faculty - they were going to take /all/ of that from me! I couldn't just -- I couldn't just let it go!" The air of Victorian composure she normally tries to convey is gone, replaced by a mounting anguish - and anger. "I'm /tired/ of being treated like a... a /decoration/ in this world -- like I can just be /thrown away!/ Besides--"

Her voice hardens a bit. "--Juniper didn't put me up to this. /It was the chicken!/"

Matsu Shuzenji puts her foot down and draws forth the power of something old - something pure. The magic of this world does not exist, but she brings more than enough of her own. Streamers of magic begin to weave through the clouds. The rumble of thunder lessens, bit by bit. Flashes of it seem to die in the clouds. The fire lapping at one of the buildings ebbs as the power of the storm is worked against.

Neviah widens her eyes. "Stop that!" she shouts, snapping her hand out.

What busts out from her is something she has never been able to do before.

A wave of lightning bolts screams out from Neviah's palm, expanding and roaring with the shriek of thunder. The thunder wave crosses the distance in the blink of an eye, booming through the space around Matsu as the once-helpless professor attempts to just blast her out of focusing on her spell.

Letting her rifle hang, she grits her teeth and sweeps her other hand towards Dante and Morrigan. Wind erupts out from that splayed palm. The force of the gale is enough that the building nearest her groans under the pressure. Chunks of debris fly into the air. So does a constable. The pressure may not /harm/ Dante and Morrigan in and of itself - but she's trying to blow them away from the fight.

"I couldn't do this alone," Neviah admits, voice tight. "That's why I got help. The help I found /myself,/ Morrigan.

"Zehir provided."

"You think I put her up to this?" 

Juniper grins at Morrigan. "I mean, I'm not exactly *complaining* that she decided to go her own way, but no, I didn't put her up to anything! But let's be honest, she deserves better than to get thrown out because they didn't want her to do any research anymore!"

"I thought we got along pretty well," she says to Morrigan, though she only met her a few times. "But if you wanna blame me, go right ahead - you're wrong, but you can do it!"

When Bi De rushes in, Juniper's reactions are instantaneous. She looks like a 90s mall rat but she is actually a skilled martial artist, even if she has no particularly identifiable style; she puts her entire body behind the spinning kick she takes at the incoming chicken, either not recognizing it as a spiritual clone or simply wanting to give it the boot anyway. 

It's solid enough to hit her, which means it's solid enough for *her* to hit *it*. It doesn't really come off with either one the clear victor of that exchange, but Juniper follows it up by cupping her hands and catching a breath of fire in them, leaving them burning despite the storm... and apparently harmlessly to her, though less so to her opponents when she strikes with a series of rapid punches at the chicken.

And when she's done with that, she throws the fire, fastball-style, at Dante. "You, on the other hand, have always been kind of a jerk. Which is kind of a shame, 'cause you'd be cute if you were a few years younger!"

Juniper has no way to assist Neviah with her magical duel, but physical threats - those she can handle.

    Dante sighs as he sees another friend go down a dark path. Just like Vergil, this one. "I get it, I really do, but you're selling your soul to forces you can't comprehend! Whatever this Zehir is, I doubt he cares about you any more than these stuffy old pricks do! Maybe you could've found a new life, a new home!"
R    And Dante's whole spiel is cut out by a gust of wind that blows him away. Yeah, get foofed on, nerd.

    He plants his sword into the ground and creates a vast trench of earth in the process, of course when Juniper takes note of him, Dante's ready to square up. "As for YOU...I'm about your age! C'mon, just 'cause I don't shave much doesn't suddenly add that many years to me, does it?"

    He sighs in exasperation before he rushes at Juniper, jukeing the fireball as he trusts Morrigan to handle Neviah. For now, Bi De looks like he could use a little support. Leaping at Juniper, Dante puts his feet forwards into a dropkick aimed at her middle, boots ready to walk all over her stupid mallrat outfit.

>> SUMMARY[Dante] >> Time to throw hands. Dante's exasperated and in a fighting mood. Mood music:https://youtu.be/LBAg3qJPmzw

    The lightning spell hits home. Matsu Shuzenji lets out a shriek of pain, blown backwards off her feet. The sigil of her ritual wavers... but does not falter. And slowly, in visible pain, the girl hauls herself to her feet. Her outfit burned away in places, the skin underneath faring no better; most normal people hurt that bad would be barely able to move. But with a dogged, determined expression, with clenched teeth, the head of the Shuzenji Clan stands, pushes through the pain in the same way she did for years before her powers were complete, and steps forward.

    "So you did all this for your world? You're harming that world right now! You're furious at being treated like a decoraction? Like a throwaway?! THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE DOING TO THE PEOPLE HERE!!" The maiden weaves her hands together, muttering a hasty prayer, and then thrusts her hands forward - and a second sigil appears, this time between herself and Neviah. It's a simple, quick barrier, but one that will let her plant her feet back in the circle of her purification ritual, and continue pouring in her ki and the flames of Suzaku.

    The thunderbolts may have died back - Matsu's spell may be renewed - but they still come down with a mighty KRAK-BOOM. And even as she's fighting to end them, the Phoenix Maiden decides to use them for her own end as well. "Do you hear that lightning bolt just now? That could have killed someone. Maybe you just made some mother bury her son!"

    KRAK-BOOM. "Oh! Look! Some child is sitting at home, waiting for a father that will never come home again!"

    KRAK-BOOM. "You just created a widow! You could have just gone straight for the people who hurt you, kept anyone uninvolved out of your grudge, but CONGRATULATIONS! You're a murderer! You're now hurting innocent people for your own ends!"

    All the while, she pushes, she focuses; she pours her ire into the righteous flames of Suzaku, rippling around her.

    Morrigan Lor'osa was the last person Morrigan expected to have to stop Neviah Younger going on a rampage. But here she is. Here they are. Here is everything going completely wrong in every possible manner.
    A series of expressions flutter across the witch's face, all of them hurt, injured, and angry in some varying measure.
    "Neviah... Our world is *gone*. It was gone long before you or I were even born. Nothing we've done could have brought it back. Cambridge- the faculty- what they did was wrong, and I wholly agree with you. But you're not a decoration! Not to me! You're my... Friend and--" And she has to pause, if only to shoot Bi De a *horrendously bewildered* look.
    What did he even SAY that could have prompted this?
    "I... What?"
    "Okay so maybe I read Juniper wrong here-- But that's--" That's beside the point as Neviah crosses the threshold of the moral event horizon and lashes out at Matsu.
    "Zehir...?" Morrigan mutters, bringing a hand up to shield her face, struggling to not be simply BLOWN ASIDE by the sheer force of wind whipping all around as debris and bobbies go flying.
    "A-ah...!" Mary squeaks as she loses her grip from Morrigan's shoulder and is launched into the winds.
    "Mary!" Morrigan shouts as her tiny familiar is lost to the storm while Morrigan herself is forced to take shelter from debris by dodging and tumbling.
    "So you sold yourself to some higher power?! For what? What will that get you in the long run, Neviah!? Nothing! I of all people would know!" She snaps as she raises her hand.
    "I am so sorry..."
    Eldritch energy dances in her palm as Morrigan starts to say several words. Harsh, guttural words with a foreign and utterly other sense to them, before a lance of blacl light shoots from her fingers towards Neviah-- a sickening ray of enervating energy that goes off like a gunshot to try and hamper the newly minted tempest cleric.

>> SUMMARY[Morrigan] >> Don't try it! (For once) I have the (moral) high ground! ._.

    It's true, Bi De's form has substance enough to strike. He's also a skilled martial artist, and though surprised, the flurry of blows is met with smooth, well-practiced blocks and dodges, the feathered beast threading through the strikes with... well, not ease, but with definite skill.

    Of course such movements are not perfect. Feathers brush aside Juniper's fists, for the most part, but one solid hit is enough to send the chicken tumbling, his talons cracking the masonry as he slams into a wall and barely catches himself. It was a solid hit, and gives Juni some breathing room as he's forced to reassess, his feathers singed by the flame used.

    "You have a solid foundation," the rooster admits, landing lightly and moving more warily. His color returns as the silvery decoy fades. Morrigan's astonishment has him fluff his feathers guiltily. "I told Neviah to find her own way. I had meant finding the support of friends and perhaps like-minded people outside of this place, but I was not clear."

    Dante's attack gives him an opening. Normally, he would prefer a one on one fight, especially with someone as skilled as Juniper... but innocents are at stake here. He moves with unnatural speed(though Juniper probably realizes he's just using Qi to enhance himself) and darts to her flank, bolting forward to do a spinning slash with talons at the back of the leg, or failing that at least use his inertia to hit.

Neviah watches Matsu slump in the wake of the thunderblast. Her shoulders sag ever so slightly.

The girl, soon enough, is resuming her spell, and Neviah can only draw a breath to try and steady herself. Each thunderbolt, even constrained by divine magic as Matsu works her way towards containing the damage to the university itself, feels like a knife in the soul. "Do you think I /wanted/ anyone to die?" she hisses through clenched teeth, her eyes a little damp at the corners as she struggles to find a spot somewhere between her conscience and her rage to try and anchor herself. "What about the future of Faerun, huh? The people I'm thinking of...."

She sweeps her hand out to begin gathering magic again, taking an imposing step forward. "...the people I'm thinking of are the ones who won't even know what it's like to /live!/ Outcasts lost in the multiverse because our home is nothing but fragments! I have the opportunity to /bring that back/ - to give us a /home/ again!"

Morrigan appeals to her. Their world is gone. Nothing she can do to bring it back. Neviah's expression breaks for a moment, wracked by a look of absolute despair.

She swallows it and shakes her head fiercely. "No - no, I can bring it back! I *know* I can! The knowledge I have of the World Tree - the power of World Seeds - it can be *done!* And the /faculty/ wouldn't even give me the chance! That's why...."

She's sorry. Neviah closes her eyes for a moment, then clicks her teeth.

"I don't want to do this to you," she murmurs.

Morrigan opens fire - and the lance of black light slams into /something/ around Neviah. She's used her fields of sanctuary before to protect allies from harm. Here, it soaks up some of the impact, diffusing the black magic across her before the rest of the blast staggers her. She doubles over, clenching herself and focusing for a moment. She feels sick. It's not entirely the spell's doing.

"...It was the choice I had," she says, voice tight, tense. "The God of Abraham had nothing for me. So I found one who did. And now...."

Clenching her free hand to her chest, Neviah murmurs a few words. They're familiar ones - she has healed before, but her spells were always hollow, weak things, powered only by her own scant human will. This one is more profound - more powerful. The worst of the ill feeling ebbs as she straightens again, whipping her hair back.

Tears stand in her eyes, but her expression is stoic as she sweeps her hand up, then down.

And as she does, a loud THOOOOOM roars across the open campus. Raindrops and flames are physically thrown back by the violent shock of sound. There's enough force behind it that it could physically slam into Morrigan and Matsu like a violent blow across every part of the body at once.

Juniper shows her teeth again. It looks slightly less amused this time when she calls back to Morrigan, "I'm used to people thinking the worst of me. If you think I'm so much of a problem, why don't you come 'deal' with me? I don't know everything about what she's doing, just part of it, but look! She did find a friend."

When Dante shoots back at her (verbally, if not physically), Juniper fires back. "You look so scruffy! I thought you were, like, thirty at LEAST." She may be exaggerating, of course. She probably doesn't think he's that old, really... but can you ever be sure?

Dante rushes her, and Juniper is ready for it - she expected him to. She didn't expect him to go for a kick instead of the sword, though, and the surprise lets him sneak his boots through to plant solidly on Juniper's bare belly.

It's not quite like hitting something armoured, but she's tough - tougher than an unarmored person ought to be. Which only means that, given Dante's superhuman strength, she's thrown back - until one of the extra reasons Juniper likes tube tops makes itself clear.

Wings sprout from her back: draconic wings in red and black with erratic gold stripes, like fire. Rather than punching through the back of the shirt, they just shift the tube top slightly, and Juniper lands more or less gently on the ground - 

Which gives Bi De the opening he needs. Juniper, too, is superhumanly fast; he slashes, and she's almost ready for it, except she's off-balance from her landing. "Damn...! Why can a chicken fight?" The talons catch her leg and cut in with some effort on Bi De's part (the toughness again), but - for one of the very rare times in her life because she's kind of short - Juniper has the size advantage against her martial arts opponent.

She takes advantage of that by push-kicking to try to force him away from her long enough that she can jump, using her wings to fly and drive a flying kick into Dante's face. Her flight is a little erratic because of the wind and rain - she has to beat her wings rather than just gliding toward Dante, and it's a struggle to hold herself up.

    This is all going so horribly wrong.
    Morrigan has never in all her time that she's known the Phoenix Maiden, ever once seen Matsu this absolutely worked up. And yet, part of her can understand why. Neviah not only betrayed their trust but now she's injuring others in her betrayal.
    "There *is* no bringing back what's already gone. What time has lost. Worlds come and worlds go. What would a World Seed have done? Do you know how much turmoil and upheaval that would cause *IF* it brought our world back? It would set us back from all the advancements and everything we stood to *gain* from the Tree! Faerun *HAS NO FUTURE* Neviah! It's a relic of the past and should stay that way!"
    Morrigan's enervating ray slams into that field of Sanctuary. Morrigan is the one who looks hurt when Neviah staggers though.
    But that's it, isn't it. There's no more reasoning is there? Not when that immense shockwave roars across the campus that just FLOORS the Warlock in an instant.
    It's a moment- a long moment before Morrigan sits up, bleeding from the ears and nose, wiping blood away from her nose as she clenches her teeth. "If anything I'm sorry." She says while staggering back to her feet. "I should have seen this, I should have *foreseen* this. I should have done something to stop you. I should have talked to you..." She mutters, side-eying Juniper sourly.
    "You're not the problem here, and I have my own demons to deal with thank you very much." She hisses before her attention returns to Neviah.
    "I should have stopped you before you went down this path, Neviah. I should have... Because you were my friend."
    Is is now that Mary Contrary re-appears, the wind-battered and tumbling little shinki Familiar fluttering dizzily around Neviah's head.
    If Morrigan can't directly harm the stormcaller...
    The little shinki reaches out to set a tiny hand on Neviah's shoulder and cling for dear life.
    And Morrigan casts her spell *THROUGH* Mary.
    It might feel like... A touch at first. Just fingertips briefly making fleeting contact upon the mind.
    Before a sudden lancing, searing, SPIKE of pain is driven directly into the brain, if the spell takes root.

    Neviah speaks, and Matsu listens - but with every word, her expression darkens. She stands behind her barrier, looking through it at Neviah as the woman explains, but all the while she keeps calmly maintaining her spell, working away at the thunder falling down around them. She looks like she might have something to say, but any words she might have started are just blown away in a sudden, deafening thunder. And so, as it happens, is Matsu.

    This time, there is no maintaining her ritual. The barrier shatters, blunting just a tiny amount of force, and the rest of it blasts the girl off her feet again, tumbling across the ground. Her ritual of purification flickers and fades, interrupted entirely. And for several seconds, the tiny white-haired girl just... doesn't move.

    But, there's a groan. A soft, whimpering groan of pain. And she manages to roll herself over. Plant one foot under herself... and fall back down, losing her balance when she tries to stand. On the second attempt, she makes it, just barely. Her walk is more of a limp, with hints of stagger. But it moves the battered, bloody shrine maiden forward, blood trickling from her nose and one ear, while her eyes manage to focus on Neviah again.

    "When I was six, I watched my parents' heads roll across the ground. Both of them. They were beheaded by samurai. They weren't even guilty of anything - weren't even charged with anything. They were just a handy demonstration. A way for the samurai to achieve their goal."

    Slowly, Matsu's limp carries her back to the spot where her ritual spell had been; and a faint, flickering glow flutters there. "...They were tracking down an 'inside man' for some bandits. They could have gotten the information any number of ways. They could have chosen any path. They chose to kill my parents in front of the whole village just to scare up the collaborator. Just because it was easy and fast and it sent a message."

    A stagger, and a wobble, and the tiny girl approaches her circle - but once again she's looking up at Neviah. "You could've picked a dozen methods. You could have gone straight for the faculty. I might even have helped you. I can't be picky who I make friends with, not with the politics in my world. You're smart enough you could have come up with something, anything surgical and straightforward that didn't put everyone here at risk. But you-"

    A lousy, pesky stone manages to make Matsu trip. Just feet away from her circle. But it's glowing brighter, and the bloody Phoenix Maiden starts just... dragging herself over. "...You chose this. You chose the path that ran a real risk of taking innocent lives. You chose the way that treated human lives as disposable setpieces to make a flashy show, when you didn't even need to!" At last, she manages to make it back to her circle - and just sort of... flops into it. The fire of Suzaku starts to pour into the circle, renewing her effort against the storm.

    She's a sitting duck like this. She can only barely lift her head at this point. But she does, and it's a chance for her to lock those crimson eyes with Neviah's, and practically spit the words, "Do I think you wanted people to die? Yes. If you don't, then end this spell and come back with another plan that doesn't get innocent people killed!"

    While Bi De is quite used to fighting human-sized opponents, only twice has he ever fought someone roughly on his level. He's aware of the give and take of equal fighters... but that just means his squawk when he's kicked away isn't confused or upset, merely the 'oof' that a human might make when a good kick is landed and sends him tumbling away.

    Talons catch on the floor, letting the chicken skid back and catch himself before going too far... but it's still enough of an opening for Juniper to launch herself away. Really, Bi De would prefer to be going after Neviah... but the 'sidekick' that he'd initially thought to take out quickly was turning out to be a rather fearsome foe, herself.

    Also, chickens can't fly... at least not for long distances. Certainly not as well as dragon wings! But he CAN leap, and does so, the rooster's body a flurry of wings and feathers. This time he's not really trying to damage Juniper, hanging back so he doesn't interfere with Dante... but hoping to distract, at least.

    It's no surprise Juniper tanks that hit like a champion. She's a martial artist, Dante's seen her fight. "It's the hair, ain't it?" He asks as he springboards off of the pint-sized powerhouse, his sword twirling in his hand. Juniper's wings are certainly a surprise, but now Dante feels a bit less bad about bringing a sword to a fistfight.

    "Now I get to use all my real toys." He grins wickedly, as he thrusts Rebellion at Juniper, the demonic greatsword just -radiates- demonic murder energy. Ironic, seeing as it's most often used to murder demons. He propels himself at Juniper, ramming at her with the sword as if jousting at a Rennfaire.

'Faerun has no future.'

Neviah's eyes flash with anger. "No, you're /wrong!/" she shouts, indignation steadily getting the better of her. "What good are advancements if we have to keep sacrificing entire planes of existence, Morrigan?! They /aren't!/ It's no different than sacrificing lives! Everything the people from Faerun worked for -- the lives they lived -- that's not just /meaningless/ to me! And if bringing it back means I have to shake up the World Tree, then so damned what?!"

Again Matsu goes down, and again she comes up with a righteous fury of her own. Neviah clicks her teeth together and exhales an angry breath. "How do you know what my plan was?" she snarls. "If everything had gone the way I wanted, I'd have walked out of here with none the wiser. The world isn't perfect, Matsu. /I'm/ not perfect."

She raises her hand and meets Matsu's gaze. Something intense, venomous, blazes behind her eyes, her glasses doing nothing to dull the acidic bite of that emotion - that /intent./ "But I'm /right./ I wouldn't be here if I didn't /know/ I was acting for good reasons. To save a /world/ from people too /hateful and bigoted/ to let me pick my own damned /wardrobe,/ much less follow my research where it might lead!"

Morrigan throws something else into her teeth. /You were my friend./

For just a moment, Neviah looks away and bites down hard to her lower lip. It's firm enough to draw blood.

Until that touch.

Neviah is caught completely flat-footed by the sheer impact of the spell - and how it comes. The stormcaller reels with a loud gasp and staggers to one side, nearly falling. Only the presence of a large rock allows her to catch herself. Clutching her head in pain, she grimaces and struggles to focus her ringing mind. Blood trickles from one nostril and down across her lip.

She can taste it. The iron bite of it is like a knife of sensation amidst a thousand violent pinpricks. It cuts through it all, somehow. She inhales sharply and looks up again, eyes a thundercloud of anger.

"I can't believe," she hisses, "that you don't care. You /never/ cared.

"I saw the way you looked at it. In Mulhorand, when we found that fragment. You were disgusted by it, weren't you? Our own world. You didn't see anything important or even /valuable/ in it. You couldn't even /understand/ the lives and histories and uniqueness that came from that place. You didn't even have a /clue!/"

Again Neviah lifts a hand. The air around her ripples, the clouds churning into a sickening vortex - and they part, belching forth a shrieking blast of wind that drives before it sheets of sleet and hail. Knifelike pellets slash around her in a broadening halo, close enough to batter Morrigan most of all, expanding to pelt Matsu in turn. The sleetstorm coats the turf around her, rendering the green and the cobbles slick and treacherous. Even standing is a danger.

There is one side benefit: Matsu's magic has done so much to contain the storms that the sleet actually puts out the last of the fires tormenting the campus.

Juniper doesn't stay up for too long - she could, but it's surprisingly hard work to hold yourself up like that, and the wind and rain and now sleet from Neviah and everything else is making it just too hard for her to manage. Her wings remain spread even while she's standing, hunching slightly and using them to protect her from sleet.

So she lands after the kick, spinning. Her foot is energized, this time with cold; she leaves a trail of frost as she steps, though the ice never spreads enough to make it a slip hazard. (Not for her either, though that may be because she's making it!)

Bi De's leap is, just as he intended, a distraction. It causes chaos; Juniper tries to strike with a palm, misses, and gets pushed back for her troubles. She has no particular ability to detect the demonic energy in Dante's sword but she can sure detect sword. 

It nicks her, the blade catching her along the ribs as Juniper does her level best to avoid being impaled. She tries to strike Bi De again, this time to push him into the blade, or failing that into Dante - let being swarmed do some of the work for her. 

"Yeah," she says. "It's the hair. Definitely." She tosses her own rich red hair, halfway down her back. It would look more impressive if it wasn't drenched from the weather.

Juniper hesitates a moment before leaping back. She doesn't fly this time, just jumps, and jumps again - she's working her way toward Neviah. The aura of cold on her feet lets her at least be reasonably protected against a slip, though she has no protection from falling ice as she calls: "Hey! Neviah! If you've got your stuff it might be worth thinking about bailing. Let them explain this shit to the police!"

Yes, she heard what Neviah was talking about. No, she's not going to worry about that right now. It's not her world. (Or is it? It's not like Toronto NORMALLY has dragon-energized brawlers in it...)

    As Matsu huddles there on the edge of her ritual circle, she keeps her eyes trained on Neviah. "...the samurai who killed my parents were acting for good reasons. That doesn't excuse the path they chose. I don't expect you to be perfect, but I expect you to be decent. I expect you to be better than a two-bit thug who doesn't know how to do anything but break things and end lives." She slowly, painstakingly, starts trying to push herself to her feet. "And I dare you... if anyone dies in all of this, I dare you... walk up to a friend or family member they left behind. Tell them you did it for a good cause. And see if that-"

    There is sleet. Sleet and wind, battering and slicing and bitter, bitter cold. It's all Matsu can do to cover her face. The rest of her, already burned and bludgeoned, is frostbitten, sliced, and battered further still. The secondary blast alone is enough to blow the little girl off her feet - and this time, when she lands, she just plain doesn't get up. Her tolerance for pain borders on inhuman, but she is, ultimately, quite squishy.

>> SUMMARY[Matsu Shuzenji] >> HEALER'S DOWN

    "Oh come on!" Dante sighs. "This isn't even a hair dye!" As Dante whines about his pale complexion and white hair, the sleet manages to cover him in snow, ignoring it. He does however notice Bi De is being angled towards him. Dante averts his sword at the last second before he can turn Bi De into bird shashimi, instead reaching out to catch the bird in his arms. "I gotcha, Foghorn."

    Then Dante opts to fastball special Bi De, winding up and pitching the bird at Matsu. "Go help her, I got Juniper!" He says, before he swings Rebellion at the martial artist. He doesn't seem intent on actually drawing blood, more just trying to drive Juniper to retreat.

    She would KNOW if Dante wanted her dead.

    This is a strenuous fight. Qi builds, with a silvery glow around Bi De... an artist like Juniper can probably tell he's building himself up toward something more impressive, which might be something to worry about!

    That's never revealed when the storm causes Matsu to go down. Although Bi De doesn't know the young healer, he had seen during the battle how much effort she was putting into this. Seeing her go down... well, it offended his sensibilities and training that Master Jin had instilled in him. "I will- *BKAWK!*"

    Evidently Dante had the same idea, as suddenly the chicken is a rapid missile slamming toward Matsu! Fortunately he can spread his wings to slow, skidding to a halt nearby and throwing up a wing. Silvery light surrounds the pair, deflecting the hailstones and giving Matsu a little room to recover. Bi De isn't a healer, so all he can do is give her a gentle trickle of his own Qi, a bit of vital essence that basically serves like his version of first aid.

    "No one asked you to be perfect!" Morrigan snaps. "You didn't have to drench your hands in blood to get what you wanted. I would know, Neviah. My hands are soaked." The Warlock points out.
    Then the storm comes again. Hail and wind and sleet bear down, and the best Morrigan can do is bundle in her robes and weather it.
    Let it be said, she does not weather a hailstone to the skull very well, and she crumples from the impact, dropping to a knee.
    But worse, Matsu eats it just as bad and collapses.
    "Fuck." The Warlock snarls. "God *damn* it." She hisses between panting breaths, blood trickling from her brow. She's soaked to the bone and shivering from the cold, her robes in shredded bloody tatters from the knife-like winds and hail, and she can barely stand at this point as she punches the ground fiercely in impotent fury.
    It is as Bi De moves to aid Matsu that Morrigan scrabbles in their direction as well, interposing herself between the fallen healer and the rooster, spreading her arms to make herself as big a target as possible in their stead.
    "Disgusted? No." Morrigan says, spitting blood. "But what I saw wasn't as important to me as you were."
    That's when she says some words again- hideously foreign words that sound absolutely Other to the ear, causing an inky blackness to spread out from where she stands, rapidly covering the grounds in an impenetrable magical darkness; impossible to see through with the naked eye that shrouds over Morrigan, Matsu, Bi De, and Dante.
    That's when Morrigan YANKS Matsu and Bi De with all the strength she has left in her body and starts dragging them towards the cover of her van in the pitch blackness.

>> SUMMARY[Morrigan] >> Goodbye, my friend.

Down goes the priestess. Neviah sucks in a slow breath. A quiet part of herself really, really hopes she didn't kill Matsu.

A less quiet part of her fills in a different thought.

    /She stood in the way. She no longer does./

"I don't expect to debate it with everyone," she mutters, not really convinced she can argue with Matsu when the girl's in that state, but vaguely urged on by some sense of moralism that feels entirely too fragile. The feeling only worsens when Morrigan and Bi De converged on the downed Matsu. Panting with exertion, Neviah raises one hand as if to muster what magic she can.

The surge of anger doesn't come. Neviah lets her arm fall to her side and looks off to one side, not really seeing anything more than the last of the hailstorm. The darkness descends across the field. It descends somewhere else, too - like a blanket of guilt smothering the thirst for vengeance, for the moment.

Neviah opens her mouth to say something. Then she closes it. She swallows a lump of emotion in her throat before exhaling heavily and picking up the duffel bag she'd left not far away. Her notes rustle inside it.

"Let's get out of here," she calls to Juniper, decidedly sullenly. The thundercloud dominating her expression is no longer an angry one.

If someone had told her revenge would hurt this much....

    What little Qi that Bi De can give her is... at least enough for Matsu to stir a little. In the shelter of the wing, she's able to groan, and just barely shift, and manage a soft, "...I'll be fine... three days... heal anything. Have to... stop... the storm..." She's not even aware enough to realize it's already dealt with, and that's all she can manage before she passes out again. She's easily dragged along by Morrigan, though, slight as she is. That poor outfit of hers isn't going to be salvageable, though.

Dante throws Bi De - away from Juniper.

Good, Juniper thinks, with a bit of heat. She's already sore and bleeding, and having to only deal with one of them is better than both. He swings Rebellion with intent to drive her back rather than hurt her badly.

Juniper allows herself to be pushed away - she actually lifts her foot and gets one boot on Rebellion's flat, than uses it to kick off of and take to the air again. She doesn't get far at all before the sleet drives her to the ground, dropping down next to Neviah. 

"Right," she says, shooting one look back toward Morrigan and Matsu before they're shrouded in darkness. Hopefully she didn't burn too many bridges by helping... but she *likes* Neviah, and she's never found anything about Cambridge she cared about.

Plus, the silver around her neck helps. The touch of it on her skin is soothing. It's enough to almost forget the wound along her ribs as she, along with Neviah, retreat.

    Dante is about to keep fighting Juniper before he gets yoinked by the shadowy void. He's about to protest before noticing it's Morrigan and he just got yanked to the van. It seems like everything's over, except the crying. Dante slumps back and sighs, cradling Rebellion as he lays in the back of the van.

    He's not mad. Just disappointed. Very, very disappointed. Was he ever like this, willing to pull stupid shit like this?

    Oh hell, who are we fooling?