World Tree MUSH

    Angel Island has long become overgrown by trees and birds even though it is kept by California's State Parks and has a port for small civilian boats. The place is spooky at night, seeming to teem with the spirits of the people who were held here for immigration processing. The island is situated just off the beautiful Marin headlands, offering a picturesque view of the cities surrounding the San Francisco Bay. The information provided by the Beacon Society and the Order of Hermes indicates that the state park is where the new Metallia Luna is situating herself.

    The Order of Hermes has sent Alan van Allen, who is in his transformed state, resembling a college-age man with wings and a toga. His weapon, a magical bow with blades for close defense, is kept nervously in his hand. He landed at the rendevouz spot, keeping a look out for the others. 
    Meanwhile, Aurelia had to take a boat. She's still in her normal civilian clothes, with a steel gray cat peeking out of the backpack she's carrying. "I know I didn't feed you before we left. Maybe you can catch a rabbit or something while we're here." She says to the cat, who simply settles back into the bottom of the backpack and licks his lips.

Thankfully for Aurelia, Benedicta didn't hear that comment. She's grown feathered wings out her back and flown to the meeting point smiling as she sees Alan. She figures that Kira would have taken advantage of the darkness and shown up instead. Her nose twitches a bit as she tries to smell for anything out of the ordinary. Trying to use her horn to find Luna wouldn't work too well seeing how she's already picking up Alan.

    Fortunately Jun can also fly. Though he doesn't want to attract attention from random onlookers... or from people who might actually be looking for him. So instead he's had to do this interesting thing where he dives under the water but pushes the water around him out of the way. This forms a bubble of air around him but still lets him hide his approach from any onlookers.

    Of course it also means he ends up basically walking out of the water when he reaches the island, so that might be a little unexpected. He is of course in his transformed state, since to be able to do any of those things he'd just done to get to the island he needs to have full use of his power. Once he arrives and is far enough away from the water, he bows to those assembled. "Hello," he greets quietly.

    Benedicta might detect a particularly dark presence of an undead being with a curse! ... A particularly dark shadow next to Alan coalesces to form Serrah. "Hey," she says simply, nodding in greeting to Alan, Jun, and Benedicta in turn. "One of the few upsides to the whole 'vampire' thing ..."

    She looks around. "Is Aurelia here yet?"

    Seems like Aurelia is the only one who has to hoof it to the meeting spot. By this point, since nobody is around, Zero was trotting along besides Aurelia, carrying a mouse. While the young girl is not out of breath, she looks at each person in turn. "... Am I seriously the last one here?"

Benedicta's magic detection isn't that exact and besides she knows more than one person fitting that description. "Hey Serrah, glad to see that you're still you." It doesn't look like she's turned into a grendel. "Well, Kira can do that too and I'm pretty sure she's not a vampire. So there's more than one than it's possible. "Yep, you haven't figured out how to make metal wings yet?" She can't help but to tease Aurelia a bit.

    Jun snickers a little at Aurelia's words. "Hey, you're here, and that's the important part," he reassures, with a smile. Benedicta's mention of metal wings gets a moment of thought. "Hey, what if you learned to make jet wings?" he suggests. "That would be way faster than regular wings, right?"

    Serrah smirks faintly at Aurelia, and shrugs. She nods to Benedicta. "I'll give Shield-Maiden this much, her curse-breaking works," she says simply.

    She considers Jun's comment. "I guess jet-wings would be cool," she says thoughtfully. "I'm too used to thinking of flight as being mostly magical, though. At least, as far as personal humanoid flight goes." She shrugs, and turns to Alan. "So, what's the game plan?"

    "J-jet wings? I mean, I want to be an engineer but that seems... far-fetched." Aurelia sputters a bit at the suggestion.
    Alan relaxes once everybody is here. "We search the main immigration center. The Order's inquisitors pin-point it at the center of the sightings and events. Be careful, even though we don't think the new Luna has gotten used to her magic powers yet, she still has a weapon that punctures orichalcum." He nods towards Aurelia, who has transformed into her shiny red-gold armor. The cat has also transformed into the big metal-plated lion.
    "Maybe we can convince her to join one of our sides?" Aurelia notes hopefully.
    "Eh, Kira thinks that's unlikely since every other Metallia Luna has become a powerful leader in the Obsidian Cabal." He points the way up to the old immigration building.

"Well, planes manage to stay in the air and they're much larger than you. It sounds like an odd place to hide at, but then again most people won't look further into it. So we need to get the weapon away from her then. I guess we can hope she isn't like the previous Lunas, but I don't think it's going to be that easy." Benedicta figures that won't be able just talk her down.

    Jun nods to Serrah's mention of jet wings being cool. And he snickers a bit as Aurelia sputters at the thought. "But it would be cool," he notes, as if that alone outweighs all other objections to the idea of jet wings.

    Though when Alan starts to speak, Jun quiets down and listens. The words of 'every other Luna Metallia' makes him wonder something. "Is there some kind of possession angle, here?" he inquires. "Or if not possession, some kind of... I don't know, 'baton toss' type thing going on?"

    Serrah considers this. "Sounds like 'Metallia Luna' is a chosen-hereditary title," she says. "It chooses a new 'owner' after the last one dies. Kinda like my sire's scepter." She hesitates. "By 'sire' I mean 'the asshole vampire who turned me into a vampire'."

    She shrugs. "It's just, y'know, the previous Dukes of House D'Ambrosio have already had an heir apparent by the time someone was considering dusting them." Without waiting for any further confirmation, she starts trudging up towards the immigration building, and dissolves into a shadow as she usually has in these kinds of situation for better nighttime-stealth.

    Aurelia explains a bit. "The Metallias and Metallios are titles for certain weapon wielders. My title is technically 'Metallia Aurum' because the sword chose me to wield it. I dunno if it's the same for the other weapon wielders, but Metallia Luna wields something my superior called Diana's Bow. Nobody knows what Metallia Noctis' weapon is named." 
    "It's a bow though, just like Luna's." Alan remarks.
    The hill's a bit of a tough hike in the gloom of the evening. Fortunately there's a full moon to provide *some* illumination, albeit an eerie sort. The building looms ahead. Benedicta can sense a swirl of magic in one of the outbuildings.

"Well, I'm glad you're on our side unlike the other two." Her horn is able to provide some light as well, but the range is limited. Benedicta points to the building she's detecting from magic from. "She's likely in there. Maybe we can get the drop on her. If she's wielding a bow it would likely be best to get in close." She isn't much of a ranged fighter herself after all.

    "Oh, I see," Jun comments, to Aurelia's explanation. He'll go quiet to think about this while they head up to the area they're supposed to be looking in. That and he doesn't want to alert anyone in there to his presence before necessary. In fact, he's concerned enough about a quiet approach that he'll make the trip while levitating a few inches off the ground, so he doesn't make footsteps!

    Benedicta's warning draws Jun to look in the direction of the building. "We'll need to do that before we can be seen though. And with a ranged weapon, if she's smart, she'll probably look for high ground so she can survey the area," he remarks.

    Serrah's hand reaches out of a shadow, carefully positioned so as to avoid being visible from the building indicated by Benedicta, and gives a thumbs-up. "I'll follow you guys' lead," she says. "My reaction time can be ... well, pretty much instantaneous, if you take my meaning," she adds dryly. By now, she's made a point of making sure everyone here knows she can stop time.

    "Hmm." At Jun's warning, she flows a bit closer to the building, peering around, trying to keep a lookout for any angles Metallia Luna might be aiming from ...

    Something explodes out of the building with a scream, tendrils and wisps of darkness shrouding it as it launches through the air. When the figure lands, the shadowy parts dissipate, leaving a crouching woman looking around with paranoid eyes, her dark hair seeming to defy gravity as strands and clumps of it float in the air. The silvery armor-like patterns glow in the moonlight and fluctuate like they're fading in and out of existence. The shrouding magic that normally keeps a maho from being easily recognized in their transformed state is only partially working as the woman stands and seems to struggle against unknown beings.
    Alan squints, looking surprised. "That looks like..." He runs towards the figure.
    "Alan, wait!" Aurelia calls before running after him herself, the lion following.

Benedicta is frozen in her tracks as her ears lift up a bit with the sudden screaming noise and she cringes. It takes a moment for her not to be overwhelmed by her senses, "Is she having problems transforming?" It would explain why she's been hiding from everyone. "Or maybe her magic isn't fully awakened yet." They might have caught a break for once.

    Jun flinches at the 'explosion', and blinks at this... what even is going on? But when Alan goes running in, Jun follows. He's trying to stay close enough that he can assist in defense if Alan needs it, but not close enough to get in his way or restrict his movement. In the meantime, he tries to ask Alan, "What's going on?"

    Serrah's response: a muttered "Uh-oh." The shadow surges forward along with Jun, moving closer to the woman and the ... whatever the hell is going on. She likewise tries to stay near Alan to offer any necessary defense. Or offense, as the case may be.

    The woman's face reveals a look of torment, eyes darting. "I. Said. GO AWAY!" She lashes out at the approaching investigators, as though seeing them as members of her tormenters. Tiny shards of silver metal materialize and fly through the air. The armor reappears whole, encasing the woman like a second skin of silver. The moonlight seems to accelerate the change, the armor growing fluted projections and talons.
    Alan flinches as the metal shards cut him, but summons enough wherewithal to make a downward gesture with both hands to pin the woman to the ground with his own gravity-based magic. "Auntie Mona, what's wrong?!"
    Aurelia's eyes widen at the metal-manipulation and she holds out her hand to work some counter magic. It's not perfect given the intensity of the power behind the shards, but it is enough to protect people from the worst of it.

"Dammit, he knows the new Luna..." That just made this a whole lot harder. Benedicta does her best to use her agility to avoid getting stabbed but a few of the shards pierce her fur. "What the hell is causing this?" Her wings vanish and are replaced with a turtle shell to try and shield her further.

    Jun's use of precise shots of scalding hot water to try to deflect those bits of metal that Aurelia can't control should help with keeping the damage down. Aside from this though, he doesn't jump in, and he stays quiet. This is someone that Alan knows, clearly, and she needs help. Though he's not quite sure what can be done to help the woman.

    "...Okay, I thought initially I was overthinking, because someone mentioned the Cabal, and they're bad news," Jun begins. "But now I'm thinking I might not have been overthinking after all. Maybe these weapons have been corrupted?"

    In Serrah's shadow-form, any shards coming her way simply passes harmlessly through her. "... Oh, not good," she says as soon as she processes what Alan just said. She scoots closer to Jun. "... Couldn't even begin to answer that question." She ... really has no idea what to do now. This is not a go-in-throwing-baseballs situation.

    The woman's armor flickers for a moment, pieces falling away to reveal clothing underneath. "... Alan?" There's a pause, a bit of calm where Alan's magic keeps her pinned. "It's another trick...!" The armor reappears.
    Alan yelps as he takes to the air, releasing his hold on his aunt. A jagged metal spike juts out of the ground where one of his feet were. "The moon...?" It's a clear night and it's a full moon. "Can anyone hide the moon?" He asks somewhat absurdly.
    Aurelia is stuck trying to counter the new Luna's magic while Zero keeps an eye out for any direct physical threats.

"What if we get her somewhere there's no visible moonlight? Where's Kira when you need her..." Benedicta figures that might be easier. "Serrah, can you shadow other people?" The girl wonders if the vampire is capable of that. "I could try growing tentacles and covering her if that doesn't work, but that would leave me exposed." After all Luna might be able to just slash them off.

    "...The moon?" Jun blinks. Looks up. It actually takes him a moment but then he remembers. "Oh! Yeah, I think I can do that... give me a few though..." He'll back up a bit, hoping that will give him enough room that the woman won't attack him directly, and then closes his eyes to concentrate. He can affect the weather, but he can only push the weather by small degrees at a time. Fortunately he's not trying for a howling typhoon from nothing, but on a clear night with no clouds it's still going to take him a little before he can really make a big enough cloud to hide the moon.

    That said, if he IS attacked while he's trying this? He's not going to move. He's going to try and keep his his focus. Oh, he'll flinch. He'll bleed if he gets hit. But he's going to be trying th best he can not to break his concentration or let the clouds dissipate until they're thick enough to cover the moon. So he might need someone to try and protect him here...

    "No, that's my sire Vincent's trick!" Serrah's voice answers Benedicta. "But I can still ... shit, I hope this works ..." Her shadowy form surges upward, directly between Auntie Mona and the moon, spreading outward so that the shadow cast by her ... shadow ... completely covers the new Metallia Luna. It's probably not going to be enough by itself. But combined with Jun's efforts? It should work ...

    The combined efforts of Jun and Serrah cause the new Luna to untransform, though she is still screaming at the voices she's hearing to stop. In the supernaturally created darkness, she gradually calms down. Mona has covered her face and is mumbling "They're not real, they're not real..." as Alan, untransformed, approaches the woman. There's some quiet conversation where Alan confirms to his aunt that she's safe. 
    Aurelia jogs up, Zero in tow. "... Your aunt is the new Metallia Luna?" 
    "Guess so." Alan says, taking the chocolate bar that Aurelia offers.
    Aurelia puffs her cheeks and then breathes out. "... Going to be a long night then, since we're gonna have to keep her out of the moonlight."

"Should I see if I can get ahold of Kira?" The turtle shell disappears and Benedicta pulls out her phone. They were going to need a longer term solution if this happened every night after all. "After all we certainly don't want the Cabal to try and take advantage of this." She knows that things could get rather rough if Sybil found out who the new Luna was.

    Finally there's enough cloud cover, and Jun relaxes, breathing a sigh of relief. He slumps as he does, seeming to deflate a little, before he straightens. "I can transport her in a sphere of water," he offers. Looking at Serrah, "Or... can you do that shadow thing around her until we get somewhere safe?" He's just spitballing ideas at the moment.

    Serrah's voice sighs theatrically from the shadow. "Great," she says weakly. "Uhh ..." An upper part of the shadow which more-or-less corresponds to her head turns to Jun. "This is ... kinda gonna be a huge pain in the ass, but I'm pretty sure I can at least obstruct the moon long enough to get her somewhere safe. And ... if ... she starts to transform, I can stop time and reorient myself."