World Tree MUSH

    The Oasis of the Desert, Liore. It hadn't always been this way, having been in the crossfire of a war in the recent past and then abandoned by the State. However, one wouldn't know that without intimate history of Amestris given the current state of the city. It is, in fact, one of the few places this far east that doesn't seem to bear the scars of recent bloodshed! In fact, many would see Liore as a pretty good place to live, if you can withstand the heat of the desert. And the overtly religious atmosphere. That's also a definite thing that is clear about this place, with statues of their god, the Sun God Leto lining the streets. If you can get past all of that, however, they do have a fountain in the town square that spews red wine. 

    If such a thing is your pleasure. 

    The staple building of the city is the towering church located in the city center, the fountain just outside the incredibly large and obvious building. It is into this city that one Edward Elric finds himself arriving, being hauled away from the wine fountain after the sound of flowing liquid caught the parched young man's attention. Hauled to a restaurant by its patron, who thought he was a minor of the town trying to sneak a cup of wine against regulation, Edward is sipping a juice at the man's stall when a melody rings out from the church and across the city. Edward perks up at this, confused, as the patron of the shop, a kindly-looking dark-skinned older man, clicks on his radio. 

    Anyone else in the city now would see that he is not alone, the entire place seeming to shut down as a voice comes across the radio leading the citizens in prayer. Aside from the young newcomer, there is not a citizen one that ignores the prayer, eyes closed and heads bowed in reverance to the voice coming across the speakers. If anyone happened to be near the church at this time, they would be able to see a man, a large bald man who looks like a foreigner next to the tanned citizens, standing at the top of a balcony near the belltower, speaking from a podium and seeming to be the one leading the prayer. 

    This place may seem a little off to those not familiar or not receptive to such a religious following, which certainly seems to be the case for the Fullmetal Alchemist, wondering if his brain was frying under the intense desert sun. There are multiple entrances into the town, all of the main roads seeming to lead to the chruch and fountain. And, should you wonder what Leto looks like, there are statues everywhere, depicting a tall, old man with a billowing beard, wearing a simple robe with a crown and staff seeming to draw inspiration from the sun for which he stands. There are plenty of these statues of various sizes across the city, with the largest standing nearly a story outside of the massive church. As the prayer goes on, outsiders would no doubt be able to slip by unnoticed, provided they don't interrupt the broadcast.

     It's a good thing that the citizens are all busy with prayer too, as a ten-foot-tall black bear in purple clothing skulks among the shadows of an alley, three scruffy homeless-looking men armed with various farming implements behind him. "Alright, we made it this far. Just gotta find the source of that guy's power, probably some magical gadget or doohickey. Crystal, I imagine. It's always crystals." the bear rumbles in a low voice.

"Wow boss, you're so smart!" one of the men pipes up, while another one tries to quietly make his way toward the wine fountain, keeping an eye out for anybody who might try to stop him.

"Wh- hey, get back here, you idjit! You're gonna get us caught!" the bear hisses at the wine-thirsty underling, who by now is halfway across the plaza and can no longer hear him. With a growl, the bear grumbles, "Fine, we'll just do it without him. Once we get that thingamajig, we'll be bathing in wine anyway."

    A figure approaches the fountain of wine, a woman in a black trench coat and a matching wide-brimmed hat which casts her face in unnatural shadow, with dark hair that seems only slightly lighter than her clothing.

    She reaches for the liquid, and in a swirl of what appears to be silvery glitter, a mug materializes in her hand. She scoops up some wine, and takes a careful sip. "Hmm ..." She shrugs. "Not bad, I suppose," she murmurs to herself. "Still wish alcohol affected me."

    When that sermon begins, she pauses, and raises the brim of her hat, revealing glowing purple eyes (how was that glow hidden by the shadows!?). "Iiiiiiinteresting", says Emily Nyx, an amused and faintly smug smile on her face.

    She nods in greeting to Drogo's minion as he approaches, but her attention is on the sermon. She isn't giving it rapt attention the way the citizens are; on the contrary, she seems almost delighted by this turn of events.

    Cagliostro, on the other hand, is by the fountain and NOT in trouble! Despite being a newcomer to the town, the tiny girl is well aware that she looks like a girl too young to sample this... she should know, because she designed the body to be that way! So she's made no attempts, and was apparently just watching the fountain when prayer started... though she was smart enough to leave her snake familiar just outside of town, since that would likely alarm people. "Hmmm?"

    Eyes narrow, the petite blonde turning slowly and regarding the prayer with narrowing eyes. Someone isn't fond of this idea, the enforced prayer. Then again, Cagliostro has some quirky values... maybe this is why when someone makes a beeline for the fountain, she makes no move at all to stop them, in fact just giving a casual, yet somehow dismissive wave toward Drogo's wandering underling. She herself is keeping an eye out for anyone who DOESN'T look like a dirty hobo who isn't paying attention to the radio. Which means... Emily, really, unless Ed makes his presence known right away. "Well," she remarks in a low voice. "This makes it easy to spot who isn't a native, doesn't it?"

    That's probably good, that someone could slip by unnoticed. Tonbokiri is not accustomed to 'slipping by unnoticed'. He's a big dude, and it's hard for someone his size to hide his presence.

    It's worth noting that this purple-haired fellow in arcaic-looking Japanese clothing IS armed, though it's put away -- a spear, with the blade at the end covered by a sheath that's... hopefully much wider than the actual blade of the spear. Otherwise that would be a comically oversized spear point. The weapon's stowed on his back for now.

    Konnosuke is with him -- par for the course at this point, since Tonbokiri's master wishes to learn of the World Tree and the myriad worlds in/on it. The little digital spirit fox can record what it sees and report it back. The fox looks around at all the people and then speaks up, probably a little too loudly, "Tonbokiri? What's--?"

    "Shh," Tonbokiri replies quietly. "They are in prayer. Do not disturb them."

    He too heads for the fountain, as it's a curiosity that seems to attract people. Of course that means he can likely meet the others there! He offers a polite nod and a smile of greeting to Emily, Cagliostro, and of course Drogo's minion. However, he doesn't speak just yet, because he doesn't want to disturb the people in prayer. Tonbokiri might not have noticed Edward yet.

    The power of prayer is a thing to behold. As the priest up on the balcony holds the rapt attention of his flock, the outsiders are able to move as they please. Even the massive frame of a bear in man's clothing does nothing to draw the eye, his minions similarly ignored even as one makes a break for the wine fountain. The peaceful sound of the priest's voice and the low, calming melody seem to hold an almost hypnotic sway, and the now-gathering crowd at the fountain is ignored so far as they can tell. Emily is free to do as she pleases, and as the cup of hers clatters back to the side of the fountain, a bit of wine trickles out along the stone as her attention seems to be drawn by something new. Cagliostro, Tonbokiri, and Konnosuke join the gathering, and as they do a smashing sound breaks the peace. It's distant, compared to where this group currently is, but it's loud enough that the spell seems to be broken. 

    All of a sudden there's a surge of life and activity around them, though it seems to be mostly warm greetings and wishes of the blessings of Leto upon the newcomers. Drogo, for his part, gets a much longer and somewhat panicked look from some of the younger citizens, but their parents seem to want to make the bear feel at ease. After all, they don't want to be rude. There's no way a bear can actually talk, so he must be a man with an unfortunate affliction, right? They offer him smiles and blessings all the same. 

    Should anyone wish to investigate the crashing sound, they would find a small crowd around a woman sobbing over a broken radio. If they were particularly observant, they would notice that her radio matches in make and model every other visible radio in town. Edward, for his part, has stood up from his stool at the outdoor counter, leaving a coin on the counter for his juice and making his way toward the crowd. "Hey, move aside, I can fix it," he says loudly, and the group turns to face him, confused for a moment before their eyes travel downward a bit. Without his much larger companion, he doesn't stand out as much, though his bright red cloak emblazoned with the black Flamel still draws the eye. "What're you gonna do, pipsqueak? It's in pieces!" 

    Uh oh. 

    Immediately the boy is in the crowd, grabbing two of the men by the back of the shirt and spinning them around. "Who are you callin' a rotten little flea, huh?! I can't help it I'm in a city full of giants! I'm still growing you backwater desert morons!!" he explodes, this time much louder than the breaking radio and seeming to echo through the entire city. However, he soon lets the men go, then moves to the woman's side, smiling softly. "It's okay," he says in a soft and concerned voice, "Just watch, okay?" He pauses for a moment, then reaches into his cloak and pulls out a length of white chalk. As the crowd watches, he draws a circle around the pieces of the radio, then fills it in with shapes and writing. Despite the sophistication of the design, it takes him just a minute. The crowd seems confused by the circle, but Ed merely grins and places his hands at the edge of the circle. There's a flash of energy as the circle glows blue, and then a small pop of steam and chalk as the radio, fully repaired and still playing the sermon, stands where the pieces had been just before. 

    "Whoa, how'd you do that? Are you a holy man like Cornelo?!" someone asks, before Ed stands back to his full, though lacking, height. "No way, I'm an alchemist. An alchemist for the State! Pretty cool, right?" 

    The crowd immediately parts and spreads, the woman picking up her radio and fleeing in a panic, leaving Ed standing there looking proud of himself, eyes closed so he doesn't immediately realize he's been completely abandoned.

     "Damn, knew I should've paid closer attention to how those ninjas hid." Drogo remarks as he's spotted by the people anyway, sighing and moving out into the open with his underlings behind- no, wait, they're rushing to the wine fountain too, ignoring everyone else as they start to scoop up handfuls of the red liquid to drink. Scratching his chin, the bear continues, "Then again, if I could see them, I guess that means they weren't very good at it. Life lessons well learned."

Hearing the sound of something crashing and breaking, and then the shouting, the bear curiously makes his way toward Edward's direction, his enormous height giving him a good view even past the crowd as the radio seems magically repaired in some flashy manner. "Hmm, seems like this kid has some power too. Wonder if he knows that Cornello guy..." he mumbles to himself, approaching the significantly smaller human. "Impressive trick, kid. Say, I'm curious how this stuff, this... alchemy? Works. I heard the guy who runs this town could do stuff kinda like it too, like that wine fountain back in the square."

The three minions, now thoroughly drunk, start either lazing on the edge of the fountain or, in the case of the scruffiest one, trying awkwardly to hit on Emily with his best pickup lines. Hint: They are pretty awful, consisting entirely of dad-tier puns and drunken slurring. Oh, and another one has started trying to pet Konnosuke.

    Emily chuckles, and nods to Cagliostro. "Quite so!" she says, finishing her wine and dematerializing the mug. "Or just an out-of-towner, if this religion isn't a global phenomenon. I ..." Her face falls. "... don't actually know how you'd figure that out just from this small sample." She shrugs, and her smile returns. "I'm Emily Nyx, by the way," she says. "Yourself?"

    That's when she notices the other outworlder. "Hey, Tonbokiri!" she calls out with a tip of her hat, immediately after his entreaty to Konnosuke to keep quiet; either it doesn't occur to her that she might be disturbing everyone's prayers, or she doesn't care (most likely the former). Her voice, if nothing else about her, is the same as their last meeting.

    Her attention is caught by the crashing sound, and by the noise Edward is making about his height. she puts her hat back into place and restores those strange shadows. She pauses at the Drogo-minion's flirting attempts. "Those pickup-lines are worse than mine," she says bluntly. "And even if they weren't, I'm only into women." With that, she glides towards Edward on strangely-roiling dusty-looking shadows, arriving just in time to see his performance.

    "Alchemy, huh," she says once Edward identifies himself. "The alchemy of this Blossom works very differently from the way it does in mine." In a swirl of silvery glitter, a glowing white Lunar Tear flower appears in her hand, and she tucks it into her hat in one smooth, dramatic gesture.

    Quite a few interesting sorts here, and Cagliostro is glad she didn't try to do anything untoward. Not that she fears reprisal, but she isn't here to cause trouble, just to sniff around and advance her own understanding of the situation and world. As such, she's vaguely interested in Tonbokiri and his pet(or companion) but... well, something else is getting her attention rapidly. "Hmn, hello," she mutters, again dismissively doing it without a real interest in the various greetings. Emily, of course, directly asks her name, to which she responds, "Ah, the great and powerful Cagliostro! But, I much prefer being called the cute and adorable Cagliostro, so you can just call me that!" She pokes her cheeks and puts on a tremendous, sparkling smile!

    The tiny alchemist is quickly drawn by the big ruckus started over by Ed, though. Calling that 'alchemy' of course is of interest, but the panic people have over the term is more curious. "Hmm, it seems a little similar to mine, but I don't often see people use alchemy to fix mechanical or electrical objects like that, at least not so quickly. Curious. Of course theoretically that's quite possible, if not within my particular talents." She raises her voice toward Ed. "BOY! I don't think the townspeople appreciated that!"

    Yes, she just called him 'boy' instead of something more respectful. Then again, he probably is a tiny fraction of her age, can you blame her?

    Ah, are people starting to move again? Good. Tonbokiri was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable in a city that was more or less literally standing still. Warm wishes are appreciated, and they're returned with a polite bow and, "Thank you very much," spoken in an older dialect.

    The crashing gets Konnosuke's attention first, and he pipes up, "Oh... there's a ruckus over there. Let's see what's going on."

    The Drogo minion trying to pet Konnosuke will have to follow him to the area of the trouble. Also it may have to climb Tonbokiri, depending on how tall said minion is, since Konnosuke hops up to the sword warrior's shoulder to get a better look.

    "Ah, hello again," he offers to Emily. "I hope you are well after that disturbance at--" Something interrupts him rather rudely... suddenly there is a human being literally trying to climb up his side. And he doesn't budge. "...Excuse me, what are you doing?" he asks, trying to remove the person from his, well, person.

    Eventually he'll get the person dislodged, and heads to try to make sense of the disturbance. Though just in time to see the woman run away with her radio... and likely others too! And so he inquires of Cagliostro and Emily, "...What happened? Why are people vacating the area so quickly? Is there danger?"

    As Edward opens his eyes and sees the crowd of citizens parting away from him in a panic, he looks downcast for the barest of moments, placing a gloved hand on his face in exasperation before turning his head back to the restaurant where he had been sitting. Only to find the man closing the shop with himself inside, hiding behind the shutter but not before giving the boy a look of disdain. So much for that idea. He stands back up, placing the chalk back into his cloak as a strange collection of people make their ways over to him. The first, and most shocking to Edward, is the massive bear. Not even bear of a man. Just a bear. Edward looks up at him, blinking but not really seeming to miss a beat. "It's just science," he gives with a dismissive shrug, though the mention of the priest brings a dark edge to the boy's features. "Oh yeah?" he asks, "What else have you heard about him?" The fact that the bear was talking to him, along with the others of the group closing in, tells Ed a lot. Namely that they are not citizens of Liore. 

    As his golden eyes turn to Emily, his thoughts are expanded and confirmed by her words. Offworlders. He knew, of course, that such a possibility was possible, given his briefing before setting out for the city, but the fact that they were already here gives him a bit of mental pause. However, it is very short-lived as a new curiosity presents itself. As Emily produces a glittering flower from seemingly nowhere, he narrows his eyes slightly. "That doesn't seem like alchemy at all," he says, "Unless there's a cost here I'm not seeing." His voice sounds a bit hard when he speaks, though he tries not to let the moment linger, his eyes continuing to scan the rest of the gathering. 

    When Cagliostro speaks up, he listens carefully, before his pupils dilate at her manner of addressing him, his ahoge wavering before he rounds on her, voice booming. "Who are you calling boy you tiny little girl?!" he screeches, pointing at her with his left hand, his right tightening into a fist. "And that's two 'alchemists' now," he continues, his voice returning to normal, almost as though he had never had an outburst. "I guess that's to be expected. Like minds attract, or something like that." 

    When Tonbokiri asks about danger, Edward shakes his head. "No. Not yet, anyway, though it's not going to stay that way for long. I've got a meeting with the head of the church and I get the feeling it's not going to be a pleasant one." He gestures out toward the city itself, where people are shutting their windows and locking their doors, and shakes his head. "I knew I shouldn't have mentioned the State..." he pushes his hair back with his left hand, then shakes his head again. "I don't know what you all are planning on doing here, but there's one thing you need to know for sure. Whatever your intentions? The head priest, Cornelo, is mine. He has something, and I'm taking it. So, do what you want otherwise, but if you'll excuse me..." 

    He moves through the gathered crowd and makes his way toward the church, hands in his pockets. As he moves, from the opposite end of the street where the group is gathered, a couple of men in black priest's clothing begin heading their way. If there was any indication they might have dangerous motives, they are each carrying large machine guns at their sides and pistols in their hands. "Hey, which one of you is the State Alchemist?!"

     Drogo shrugs back at Edward as the small human turns the questions back on him. "Nothing much. Just that he can turn stuff into other stuff, water into wine, things like that. Sounds very interesting. Thought I could learn a thing or two." he says in his deep, bassy voice, then turns his head to look for his minions. It doesn't take long to find them.

"Hey, leave them alone you morons! You're just gonna attract attention, and we don't need more." he chides them, prompting the one climbing Tonbokiri to sulkily give up on petting the fox- something even Tonbokiri physically dislodging him hadn't managed- and the one who had hit on Emily to likewise come slinking back to his boss like a scolded puppy. The third one... is just passed flat out on the fountain edge.

As Edward mentions the priest having "something" that can be taken, though, Drogo's eyes practically gleam. "Oh, does he now?" he says with a grin, stalking off after Edward until the gun-wielding priests show up. Grimacing, the bear growls, "Now, see there? That's the kind of attention we don't want."

    Emily's smile turns into a full-on grin at Cagliostro's introduction, and she nods. "Well, pleased to meet you, then ... Cagliostro." Deliberately leaving out her self-applied title.

    She looks to Tonbokiri. "Alchemy happened," she says cheerfully. "Very idiosyncratic to this world. People seem ... unhappy about that for some reason."

    She smirks faintly when Edward comments that her flower didn't seem like alchemy. "It isn't," Emily answers him. "The flower's made of my nanomachines; it would fall apart if I didn't maintain it." She raises the brim of her hat, once again revealing her purple eyes. "But the cost of nano-alchemy would have been the raw materials, yes, even if it was down to the individual elements." She projects a hologram in front of herself of the text "Masterless Eudaemon - EMILY NYX", one in front of Cagliostro that says "The Cute And Adorable - CAGLIOSTRO", one in front of Tonbokiri that says "Man At Arms - TONBOKIRI", and one in front of Drogo that says "A bear - I DON'T KNOW THIS GUY'S NAME".

    "As for what I'm doing here," she continues, dispelling the intro-subtitles, "I'm just curious. This world seemed interesting, and the rumored fountain of wine seemed even more interesting, so I decided to drop by!" She pauses when the armed guards show up. "I'm stateless," she answers them. "And also, not an alchemist, especially by this world's standards." She's looking like she's ever-so-slightly tensing up.

    Although she does side-eye Drogo. "Wow, you're even more shameless than a certain other gentleman I could mention."

>> SUMMARY[Emily Nyx] >> Emily clarifies alchemy, and provides boss subtitles for everyone for Edward's benefit.

    While Cagliostro likes respect, she doesn't actually insist on titles. If Emily had given her a diminutive, she might have said something. So she accepts the comment, especially as Emily is nice enough to provide a 'proper' title with her subtitling! That pleases the little blonde.

    She grins at Edward grumping about calling him a boy. "You are a boy, to me. I'm considerably older than... most likely everyone here. Some of these offworlders may beat that but I'm not certain. I'm quite sure that I'm an alchemist though, I'm here exploring what alchemy means on other worlds, so of course I'm here~"

    She twirls and does a little pose! "You don't get to be a nigh-all-knowing genius without seeing what else there is to learn, it takes real effort!"

    Before she can launch into a lecture, though, the gun-toting people seem to be dashing in. Pouting, the girl turns to them, "Oh come now, is it really a problem? You seem quite worried about this 'State Alchemist' thing, whatever it is, and I'm a little tired of gun-bearing soldiers assuming I can't just break them down into raw materials where they'd be actually useful."

    Tonbokiri frowns a bit at the answer. "So what is--?" he starts to ask. But Edward's leaving now! "Wait, do you need--"

    "Don't get involved, Tonbokiri," Konnosuke cautions. "These are offworld matters and we're not being involved directly, like at the tavern. If you get involved in it and it turns out to be a crime, you could harm Aruji's reputation."

    Tonbokiri nods. "...Ah, that's true... Still, I don't like the idea that..."

    Aaaaaand then there are people with guns. Looking for the 'State Alchemist'. He looks to Drogo -- talking bear? That's certainly a new one for him. Though... people with guns. He does recognize them for what they are, thankfully. Though even if he didn't, he'd understand that they were weapons.

    He blinks at his 'subtitle', poking at the holographic words. He also knows his fingers will go through them, it just seems the proper thing to do when suddenly given subtitles. Her answer to the question, though, gets a blink. "Ah, I see. Revealed himself a 'witch', I suppose." Figuratively speaking, of course.

    Glaring at the gun-toting people. "As you can see, he is not here," he states flatly, with a frown. "Though I am inclined to assist him. When one sends this much firepower after one man -- enough to send heavily armed soldiers into a civilian area -- that signals a great deal of fear."

    "Tonbokiri, don't you dare!" Konnosuke instructs. "This is not our world, and not our business."

    "I will accept the responsibility and apologize to Aruji myself," Tonbokiri replies. As he speaks, he's removing the cap on his spear, which Konnosuke grabs in his mouth before jumping away somewhere he's reasonably safe.

    And then the soldiers have one of the Three Great Spears of Japan, Tonbokiri, pointed at them. Edward may be getting a free distraction here. Though it's unlikely that anyone will actually recognize the weapon here.

    Edward is well aware of the commotion he leaves in his wake. However, the offworlders weren't his problem. No, instead he only had eyes for one thing, and that is the church and the man who stands as its head. The small-time priests? Surely anyone willing to travel to a world such as this can defend themselves from such fodder. Despite the fact that they're looking for a State Alchemist, the church itself is unguarded. Perhaps all the guards are inside, or they're spreading out like the two accosting the group left in Fullmetal's wake. Though, given they have no idea what he looks like, a kid walking up to the church doesn't seem to draw all that much attention. 

    The two priests race up to the group, pistols trained on Drogo and Tonbokiri, the two immediately larger targets. When Tonbokiri draws his spear, one of the priests narrows his eyes. "By the will of Father Cornelo and the Sun God, put down your weapon and come quietly!" The other switches his weapon, drawing his machine gun up to his shoulder. "Don't think of doing anything clever. It'll be easier for everyone if we just have a talk back at the church." 

    As they seem to not have the Fullmetal Alchemist in the group, the pistol-wielding priest relaxes himself ever so slightly. "Even if you aren't with the State, it is still in your best interest to come with us," he says calmly, tensing up his grip again and keeping his weapon trained on the spearman. The man with the machine gun has his eye locked on Drogo. It's clear he's never seen anyone quite like him, and seems to be muttering an unheard prayer under his breath as he stares at the bear. 

    Cagliostro's statement, coming as it does from such a young girl, nonetheless earns her a hard look from the priest with the larger gun. "What was that threat, little girl?" he asks, voice hard as steel and seeming to be just as sharp, "Watch your tongue, lest the Sun God turn his light away from you." His fellow shakes his head, then lowers his gun slightly. "Don't curse them like that, it's not in the teachings," he says, before shaking his head. "We had heard there was a State Alchemist in town, but we keep getting conflicting reports on their appearance. Some have said he's a short kid in a red cloak, but others indicate he's a massive bear of a man, or some even say it's a woman. It's clear you're not from around here, so any of you could be the one we're looking for." 

    It's clear they have some manner of restraint, not opening fire even as Tonbokiri makes his stance known, but the pistol-carrier shakes his head. "State Alchemists are dangerous. Our weapons are for our protection against them." He jerks his head, and the machine gunman lowers his weapon back to his side. "I'd rather not discuss this anymore in the open, however. The citizens are already on edge enough, given what happened the last time the State showed any interest in a place like this. Please, follow us. There is no need for violence. We can get this sorted out and have you folks on your way." 

    He keeps his pistol at the ready, but jerks his head toward the church. Meanwhile, unknown to them, the target they seek is already in the church, having a conversation with a pretty young girl named Rose. "I haven't seen you here before," she muses, "Are you interested in Letoism?"

     Drogo momentarily smiles at being referred to as a "man", even if it's "bear of a man". They still consider him a man! That's very important to him, you see. "Now, now, fellas. We don't need to go pointing guns around. Bullets are expensive, guns hard to maintain. I know this, I held a gun once and it crumpled in my paws." he responds to the priests with a toothy smirk. Why yes, he *is* bragging.

However, he cannot let Emily or anyone else here continue not knowing his name. That holographic display was an affront to his pride, after all! "Drogo Peaudouce, by the way, and I have no idea what you mean." This last is, of course, directed at Emily herself, while talk of age and genius pass by him. His next remark is to Tonbokiri. "They just want to talk. Let's not get into any unnecessary fights here, no blood needs to be spilled. Besides, it seems like they're gonna take us right to the church anyway."

Well, that third minion has woken up by now, and having missed all this stuff going on, has decided to protect his boss from the, er, cops, by charging at them with muckrake in hand, screaming drunken obscenities at them. The other two, likewise, start running around waving other farming tools in the air, though they don't seem to know exactly what they're trying to do.

"Or we could just run around and scream like idiots, sounds good to me." Drogo growls with a deep, rumbling sigh.

    Emily looks at Cagliostro with interest. "You're older than six hundred sixty-eight?" she says. "Cool." She pauses. "Were you chronologically awake for all of them, though?" she says. "Aside from normal sleep-modes. Uh ..."

    She grins cheekily at Tonbokiri's reaction to her hologram. But she glances between Cagliostro and Tonbokiri as they square up. "Oh, we're just jumping right into this, huh," she says conversationally. "Ehhh ... I have a feeling this wouldn't be a fair fight, you two." She manages to make this sound ominous.

    She shoots Drogo a grin which is obviously a little too wide for a human. "Okay, one of us is in favor of de-escalation, I don't have to be the one to do that because the idea of me successfully de-escalating is just ridiculous," she says. "I'm no hero, so I'm just gonna follow your leads here, Tonbokiri, Cagliostro, Peaudouce."

    She furrows her brow at the antics of Drogo's minions. "... and I am pointedly not going to follow their lead. Oh my Lito." (She heard the god's name during the worship session.)

    "Talk later~!" Cagliostro assures Emily cheerfully, though the reveal of the Eudaemon's age doesn't seem to phase her at least. Then she turns back to the group that she just... threatened? At least the priest seems to think so.

    "Oh no, a threat would require me to give you an ultimatum wouldn't it? By all means, try to bring us in by force. I don't really like fighting but if you need all that for one alchemist, it's clear you aren't ready to take me on." Even so, she decides to dissuade, especially with the one threatening her. De-escalate? What's that? In this case, a snap of her fingers gets a small spark... all she needs, with the static electricity on her clothes, to expand into a lightly shocking lightning bolt.

    Despite what she says, Cagliostro's time on the Grancypher has made her soft. She isn't going to try to outright kill anyone, just jolt him good enough to leave her alone. "We'll make our own way there, thank you very much!" And that's what she's going to do.

    That they're not just opening fire does give Tonbokiri time to pause. He also has some restraint, and doesn't attack blindly -- when the two guards don't fire on him, he doesn't attack them either. It'd have been a standoff until one moved... and those never end well.

    However, not getting fired on gets Tonbokiri to shift again, and he moves to stand properly, with the blunt end of the spear on the ground. He doesn't sheathe it yet, though. "If they are so dangerous, why are they sponsored?" he points out. "Are they an enemy country's men? Or do you lead a revolution against your own country in your borders?"

    Despite his words, he's actually trying to understand this. Because one of the things he definitely understands is revolution -- Tonbokiri himself was born during an era of war and revolution.

    Drogo's words also give him pause, and Tonbokiri considers this carefully. "...True, I suppose. It might have put civilians in undue harm, at any rate." Looking to the priests, he nods. "All right. But I will not be parted from my weapon. I cannot. It is... bound to my soul in a unique way." That's the easiest way he knows to explain it. "However, I will sheathe it and keep it away from ready position," he agrees.

    With this, his foxen companion hops down from the rafters with the blade's sheath clasped in his mouth. "Thank you, Konnosuke," he replies, and places the sheath back over the blade of the spear, tying it carefully at the haft, and then stowing the weapon on his back by a strap.

    Tonbokiri actually places himself between the priests and the 'charging' minions, and holds up a hand. "Stop. You are drunk and they are armed. There is no battle here for you to fight."

    And yes, he's going to hold fast, even if they decide to take a swing at him. He's a tough guy; a drunk with a shovel or rake isn't going to hurt him much, and he can deal with pointy farming implements easily. He'll use his arm to deflect any drunken attacks, and only so they don't hit him in the face.

    Though Cagliostro may make the decision for them, with her zappy stuff! Tonbokiri's dealing with the drunken minions, so he can't get back there in time to assist the priests in not getting zapped!

    The priests nod, smiling at the bear. That was not something they expected to do today, but they seem to be taking it all in stride. "Right, no need for violence, especially if you are in fact not the State Alchemist. We would much rather handle this amicably for all involved, and go on about our business." However, when the drunken minions come in, swinging their tools and protecting their leader, the priests are quick to respond, two of the minions earning blows to the head as the third is quickly swept off his feet the the more level-headed of the two holy men. They take a step back, then assess the situation. "Those men reek of the wine fountain..." one says, shaking his head. "Leto bless them, and forgive their transgressions. Also, remember that we need to put a sign down for outsiders." 

    When Emily speaks up, the more rash of the two priests eyes her over, shaking his head. "Fighting is not what we want, as my brother here has stated. We merely wish to sort out the issue of the State Alchemist on behalf of Father Cornelo. And... are you a follower of Leto?" he asks, "Do the wonders of the Sun God reach even beyond our little town?" He offers her a smile, though it seems to be a guarded one. He wonders, truly, if the woman with the big hat is a follower or just trying to invoke Leto's name to lower his guard. 

    Cagliostro earns a grimace from the level-headed priest, while his more hot-headed and admittedly naive compatriot is taken in by Emily's casual use of their god's name. When she speaks again, he scoffs. "Clearly you are not aware of the danger a State Alchemist can pose. You are lucky for that, having never been on their--" He's stopped in his tracks by the shock that pulses through him and his brother, causing them both to fumble and drop their guns and drop to their knees. The first priest glares at Cagliostro, gritting his teeth but otherwise seeming out of commission. His fellow priest, it seems, fared worst and is now unconscious in the street. It was, of course, just a mild shock, but something that unexpected seemed to be enough to knock him out. 

    Their guns on the ground, they have no more leverage here, and thus the group is free to do as they please. The conscious priest tries to get to his feet, but seems to be a bit out of sorts regardless. As Tonbokiri asks his questions, the priest shakes his head, but seems unable to give a straight answer in his current condition. The fact that the spearman sheathes his weapon, however, seems to put him at ease, and with his strength giving out, he falls over as well. Well. It seems like they have a free pass to go to the church, if they're so inclined. 

    Meanwhile, in the church, at the alter, Edward gives a pained grin at the angered Rose. "If you ask me, you should drop the scripture and pick up an alchemy book. We're the closest things to gods there are." "You're not a god, not even close to it," she snaps back, pain in her eyes. The short blonde offers a shrug, staring up at the main visage of Leto. "And neither is the Sun. It's just a mass of hydrogen. Get close to it like Cornelo claims, and all you'll do is burn up."

     "Eh, I just don't think these guys really deserve it, you know? They're just doing their job, like any normal guys in priest robes and machineguns. That's just how things go around here, probably." Drogo shrugs at Emily, then nods to Tonbokiri. "Yeah, see? No harm, no foul. Now if we can just get my guys under control..."

The three minions do indeed try to attack Tonbokiri, and their weapons are swiftly knocked from their hands by the superior warrior before the priests deliver the finishing knockout blows.

"Alright, job done. Now we can all just go to the church-" And then Cagliostro zaps the guards, making them drop their guns, and Drogo pauses for a few moments. "Well... okay, that was excessive. Boys, wake up and let's go. We've got a priest and a State Alchemist to talk to."

Lumbering off toward the church, the bear is soon followed by his three minions, each groaning in pain and nursing their bruised noggins and limbs, leaving their weapons behind on the street.

    Emily smirks. "No, I'm just invoking his name to be an ass," she says, relaxing once Tonbokiri takes his stance. And then she laughs out loud at Cagliostro's shocking display. "Like I was saying about the fairness! Yeah, no, I'm goin' to church," she announces.

    She rises off the ground and flies past Drogo, lands in front of the church doors, and dramatically pushes them open. "Hello, everyone -- oh hey, dude." She's slightly thrown off by the fact that it's just Edward and Rose here, but she quickly recovers her smirk. "So you were looking for your girlfriend, huh?" she says teasingly.

    She pauses. "... Sorry, what was your name?"

    Cagliostro dusts her hands. "I'll see you at the church then!" As Emily flies off, she... leaves Tonbokiri and Drogo to make their own way to the church, wandering off in a completely different direction.

    No, she isn't abandoning this curious situation, she's just fetching her snakelike familiar, she'll be popping in very shortly of course.

    With the danger past, Konnosuke hops up onto Tonbokiri's shoulder again. And the purple-haired man sighs. "Well, that solves the immediate problem," he observes, looking to Cagliostro. "Thank you. Doubtless you saved their lives." Since they might have been planning an ambush in the church, or something else equally ill-advised.

    Though as Drogo seems to be bringing his drunken, beaten-up followers, he suggests, "Perhaps they should, er... sleep off their drunkenness? They have no weapons now, either. If a fight breaks out, they may be injured."

    Emily flies to the church, and Tonbokiri makes a startled sound. Well, he's not going to catch up like this! And then Cagliostro seems to wander off! This is really is like herding cats, isn't it?

    That said, he'll probably be the last person at the church even if the whole group starts running, since he's not really a speedy dude, and aside from power-leaping he doesn't really have any way to get there faster. And that would attract undue attention.

    The bear lumbers off, with his minions in tow, and the town is once more deserted as he makes his way for the church. This time, however, it is far more unnaturally so. One might also be able to feel the tension and fear in the air as he passes, though it's difficult to tell if it's a fear of him or of the situation in general. It's not everyday that things get this crazy in Liore, at least recently. Ever since Cornelo arrived. Drogo's path is unobstructed, though the sounds of footsteps on the sidestreets can be heard from time to time. The massive statue of Leto seems to guard the front entrance, but for all its size it is indeed just a stone construct, leading the way to the massive marble doors of the church's altar. 

    Emily's arrival causes Edward to turn on his heel, giving her a wide-eyed look. "..." He stands there, silently for a long moment before exploding again. "She's not my girlfriend! She's just some girl I just met in here!" He points at Rose, or rather where Rose had just been, the girl taking the opportunity to bolt for it. The slamming of a side door draws Edward's attention again, and he swears under his breath. "Great, she probably just went to warn Cornelo I'm here..." He places his hand on his face again, then shakes his head. "Look, you wanna give me a hand, then? Things are about to get messy, and I'm really not looking forward to it. That girl's gonna be in danger, and if that bastard of a priest is what I think he is, he's going to use her to try and save himself. I don't want her getting involved. She's being decieved." 

    As Drogo and Tonbokiri arrive as well, Edward looks them over. "You two look like you'd be good in a fight, and I'm guessing this woman here has tricks up her sleeves. So, what do you say? Wanna scrap? We've got a shady priest to punch, and probably a bunch of willing or decieved underlings. If you want out, now's the time. If you're in, follow me." He gestures, then makes his way off to the right of the altar from their perspective, heading for the door that Rose had just dashed through. Should they follow him, they'd find themselves in a stone gray hallway, lit by torches and with a massive set of wooden double doors resting at the end of it.

     Drogo stops momentarily as Emily flies past him, but shakes his head and continues on soon after. "Android, I bet. She said something about machines earlier, right? Mad scientist maybe..." he mumbles to himself as he works it out in his head. This is soon followed by a murmur of, "I miss our mascot..."

As Tonbokiri remarks on the drunken minions' readiness to fight, or rather lack thereof, they simply stumble along, making a zigzag path behind their boss as they slur back at the warrior. It's difficult to tell what any of them are saying though, as they keep talking over each other, their words mushing together into a slurry of nonsense.

"They'll be fine. Better than leaving them back there to drink even more of that stuff. Or pick fights." Drogo reassures Tonbokiri, stepping inside the church to witness the awkwardness unfolding... and the escaping girl. With a rolling shrug, the bear signals for his men to stay by the front door as he follows the Fullmetal Alchemist down those tunnels. "As long as she leads us to the priest, sure."

    Emily doesn't hesitate at Edward's plea. "Sure!" she says. "You're clearly the hero here, so I guess I'm gonna follow your lead!"

    ... and then she looks to Drogo and Tonbokiri for confirmation. There's Drogo's confirmation, at least. She furrows her brow. "Where'd Cags get off to?" she says. "Eh, whatever. Releasing Capacitor Seal Three!"

    She's surrounded by three distinct auras: one silver, one gold, and one pearlescent. The silver aura shatters, and the other two fade away, and in a swirl of silvery nanomachines, her trenchcoat is replaced by a black dress, her hair turns silver, and the single glowing flower tucked into her hat turns into an entire flower crown. The unnatural shadows produced by her hat are gone now, too.

    "I think I'm ready for whatever a bunch of dorks with guns could throw at us!" she says, doffing her hat to Edward and curtsying with her free hand. She puts her hat back on, and a black rectangular sword materializes in her hand; it's white around the edges, but it's mostly so black as to look like a hole in space, or some sort of graphical glitch.

>> SUMMARY[Emily Nyx] >> Emily does a whole dramatic transformation-sequence thing.

    "I've not figured out what exactly her 'deal' is, no," Tonbokiri replies to Drogo's wondering about Emily. No surprise about that, Tonbokiri's from the 1500s!

    At the church? Oh hey, here he is. Finally. Konnosuke is still with him, gripping onto his shoulder tightly to avoid being thrown off as Tonbokiri runs. And as he finds the blond fella again, he pauses. "Ah, the Alchemist?" A bow. "A pleasure to meet you. I am Tonbokiri, the spear of Tadakatsu Honda."

    Yes, he did say he was a spear. He's certainly WIELDING one, yes, but... He IS a spear? Maybe some weird terminology to ask about later. Definitely later, whatever is to be done about it.

    Tonbokiri's confirmation comes soon, though, and he nods. "None of this is adding up, and I would very much like some answers," he agrees. "And if you believe someone may be in danger, I am honor-bound to act therewithal."

    Once more he removes the cap from the point of his spear, and Konnosuke again takes charge of it, holding it in his mouth by the ribbons. "I am ready to battle when the rest of you are." And he follows down to that gray stone hallway.

    As the impromptu party makes its way into the side hall, Edward glances over his shoulder. "Name's Ed. Ed Elric," he offers, though his eyes linger on Emily for a long moment. Did... did she just transform? And did Tonbokiri just say he was a spear? And is Drogo really a bear?! And what about that little girl, wherever she is? What kind of people ARE these, anyway? Offworlders, clearly, not that anyone outside of the military would know about that yet. Especially not this far out in the sticks. But, whoever they all are, he's glad he has some muscle at his back. Alphonse, his brother, had been forced to stay behind, and so he had to handle things in Liore himself. Running into curious offworlders might end up being a blessing. Well, if he believed in such things, anyway. 

    The hallway is rather bland and uninteresting, wide enough for multiple people to come and go. It seems like a lot of the space of the church might be devoted to these sort of labyrinthian halls, if the footprint is anything to go by, and as they reach the end of the hall, and Ed shoves open the double doors, one might wonder what a church needs with just THIS much space. 

    What unfolds before their eyes is what almost looks like an arena. It's a wide open area, with a set of stairs at the far end leading up into a balcony. The ceiling is extremely high above, shrouded in darkness, and the ground level is lit by rudimentary electric lights. At the far end of the massive room, standing alone in her simple white dress, is Rose, gripping the railing of the balcony tightly as the group makes its way in, Ed leading the charge. "Rose!" he calls, before the sound of clapping rings out, almost seeming amplified in the massive room. As they watch, a man, the very man that had been speaking at the high pulpit during the earlier sermon, walks out to be seen in all of his 'glory'. A large, heavyset man, Cornello is bald with grey eyebrows, his eyes closed and his face looking ominously joyful. He moves to stand next to Rose, 'looking' out at the group to indicate that his eyes are just heavily lidded and he's still capable of seeing despite appearances. 

    "Your faith has been rewarded, Rose," he says, his voice rich and greasy, "Thank you for bringing him here to me." He carries a cane in one hand, a green bird sitting on his shoulder and preening a wing. "Edward Elric. Fullmetal. Strange, I thought you'd be taller," the head priest says with a snarl, "And you, you're not from around here. Did you really think you could just hide the fact that this world's borders are open to a wider range of others?" Ed blinks, but doesn't immediately respond, eyes focused on a golden ring on the priest's right hand, inset with a red orb. 

    When Ed does speak again, it's with a loud, clear voice, travelling through the hallway behind them and sharing that odd amplification. "So, you knew I was coming. Who'd you get that information from? And you can save me the God business. We both know you're no holy man!" Cornello gives an aggressive, almost crazed smile, his eyes opening to reveal beady little dots. "What else would I be then, little man? Why else would I take this small town where people starved and baked in the streets and give them paradise? I am guided by the hand of God, and my word is that of Leto himself! Not that I expect a dog of the military to understand. So what does the State want with me and my little slice of Heaven?"

    Ed grins, looking dangerous. "I don't care what the State wants, I'm here for my own business!" Rose looks shocked, as Ed goes on. "I need the stone on your hand... I need it to put something right again, so hand it over!" Rose stammers briefly, then screams out, "So this is just a selfish request? What about us?! Don't you care about us? Doesn't the State care at all?!" She breaks down, crying, as Cornello smiles and raises his ring hand. "You've come for the Philosopher's Stone, then. I knew someone would seek it out one day... If you want it, you'll have to take it from me!" 

    His hand glows with a menacing red light, and a few things happen at once. First, the ground turns to soft, shifting sand, immediately making footing a lot less stable. Cornello then reaches back with his cane and taps something on the wall behind him, opening up a side room from which a roar issues. And then, perhaps most shocking of all, the bird on his shoulder squawks and flings itself toward the group, and with another flash of red alchemical light, grows into a monstrous ten-foot creature. From the side door walks a chimera, half lion and half reptile, seeming to await further orders with another loud roar.

     Drogo doesn't care about any of these people, or this religion, or even this world really. Sure, they all seem pretty nice, but he's here for one thing and one thing only- that gem on Cornelo's ring, apparently. "Heh, called it. It's always a crystal." he grins, cracking the knuckles of his paws as he starts to step forward... only to stumble as the ground beneath him suddenly turns to sand, its displacing mass rolling him away from the group. "Waugh! That's- plffftt- a powerful artifact!"

As the chimera and enormous bird appear, Drogo opts to lay as low as he can in the sand, trying to draw as little attention to himself as possible. Slowly, he begins crawling in a wide arc toward that balcony, taking advantage of the ensuing chaos and shifting sands, likely to soon be kicking up a lot of clouds of the stuff with whatever scuffle happens, to conceal his bulk.

He better be rolling natural 20s.

    It is about midway through this that Cagliostro... returnsish? Riding atop the large snake-like beast of her familiar, she sadly misses most of the drama so really doesn't know what's going on. What she DOES know is there's some potent energy coming from the church, which is where everyone else headed! So... about when the fight starts, a wall is blown outward about 15 feet up, and the rippling snakelike creature emerges... only to have Cagliostro slide down its back and onto the ground. The creature floats inward, swirling about Cagliostro a moment.

    "Hello everyone! I heard Philosopher's Stone, and if it's anything like my world, that's always a pain! Why don't we all sit down and talk this out~?" Wait, wasn't she the one who carelessly zapped the priests? She gestures toward the large non-flying chimera. "Ouroboros, take care of that."

    The hissing snake-creature, scales rippling red, darts forward to attempt to constrict around the chimera, slowing or stopping it if it can.

>> SUMMARY[Cagliostro] >> The Most Adorable Kool-Aid Spokesperson.

    Emily stays close to the group, sword lowered and held so as not to get in anyone's way. She takes in the scene between Cornello and Edward, raising her eyebrows. "I mean, I think it'd be pretty obvious that a Eudaemon isn't human, and probably not of this world," she remarks casually. "My creators," she practically spits, "had a zillion different measures in place to prevent us from impersonating them."

    But Edward lays out his motives. Emily knows what to do now.

    She walks up behind Edward. "Soooo ... being a hero means making selfish requests like this, does it?" she says. "I mean, it's clear to me that Cornello isn't on the level, son, but if your plan is along the lines of 'stab and grab' ..." She has that too-wide smile again. "... I can probably get behind that!"

    But now they have unsteady footing and chimeras to deal with. Emily's solution to the former is simple: she rises off the ground, her dress flapping in an unfelt breeze. She handles the latter by swooping forward to meet the suddenly-giant bird, slashing that too-black sword at it!

    And then she's suddenly distracted by Cagliostro's arrival, and she bursts out laughing for a moment.

>> SUMMARY[Emily Nyx] >> Playing the 'evil mentor' to Ed, slashing at the bird, then distracted by Cags.

    Tonbokiri is on guard the whole way, bringing up the rear of the group as they enter. It's an arena? Why would there be an arena in a church? Bloodsports are against religious doctrine, aren't they?

    And then the man himself appears. Cornello's proclamation gets a frown. "I had no intentions of hiding my origins," he states. "One of the reasons I was sent out was to act as a diplomat and make peaceful contact."

    Though Edward's statment of his intentions here comes as a surprise to Tonbokiri, given how Edward mentioned that there was someone in trouble -- he wouldn't have if he didn't care, right? Tonbokiri blinks a little, and looks in Edward's direction in surprise. He's bluffing, right? To avoid this man taking the girl hostage?

    Rose's genuine distress draws a frown from Tonbokiri. The spear-made-human is a lot more open in his emotions, being only newly given a human body. And he decides that if Edward isn't going to save her, he himself will!

    ...At least, that was the plan. Suddenly the ground turns to sand and it unbalances him, making that leap up to the balcony impossible. When the chimera appears and the bird becomes a monster, Tonbokiri swears under his breath, "...Dammit." He can't leap up now -- because he can't leave his comrades in danger!

    The wall explodes then, and Cagliostro returns. "Ah, good. I feared you might have left. I would not have thought less of you for it, though. This is proving to be quite dangerous," he comments to her.

    Konnosuke however, can jump up there! And does! Because it's infinitely safer than being down THERE, with the sand and monsters. He is, however, useless in a fight, so all he can really do is try to keep the girl company. After all, what adorable chibi fox spirit could be harmful?

    ...Actually that would be most of them, wouldn't it? But let's pretend the odds aren't so bad and just consider that Konnosuke is an adorable fox spirit, huh?

    As chaos breaks out, it's clear that Cornello isn't expecting such a fierce resistance, nor is he expecting a giant snake with a girl riding it to burst its way into his secret chamber. He recoils a bit, glancing down at Rose who is still crying in response to Ed's harsh truth. He grins a bit, hand twitching at his side, before his features soften. "Rise, my child," he says softly, before raising his cane and resting it on the railing. Rose looks up, then stands up next to him, nodding. "This... is an unfortunate thing. I never intended to shed blood in this place, but I will not let these heathens harm our people. Do you understand?" The girl's eyes dilate in panic, and the hard edge returns to Cornello's features. His hand flashes again, and the cane suddenly becomes a large chaingun, six revolving barrels revving up and preparing to fire. "This is sacred ground, and I will not let you desecrate it! Guards!" 

    Another door, this one under the stairs, slides open, and several more priests pour in, these larger, more imposing and better armed than the last. They seem taken aback by the sight in front of them, then begin to move as fast as they can on the soft sand. As they scatter, there's another, higher-pitched roar from that direction, and the telltale slap of a heavy flesh tail on stone resounds through the arena. From behind the priests charges another chimera, this one looking far more reptilian than the other, its hindquarters almost entirely scaly. Its fore-end is still a lion, however, and as Cornello opens fire on the group, his priests get the idea and stay back, standing guard on the stairs. 

    Drogo would find his path impeded, but loosely so, as most of the focus is on the battle unfolding in front. The glowing jewel on Cornello's finger seems to flicker slightly, but he can keep his eyes on the tiny yet potent prize. 

    Ed plants his feet, clapping his hands together as he smirks. "Gonna have to do better than that, you hack!" he roars, before slamming his hands into the sand. There's the circulation of energy that they may have seen earlier, that bright blue light and electricity, but there's no circle apparent on his person as a stone wall springs up between the group and the hail of bullets. The bullets chip into the wall, but cannot break through immediately. Cornello recoils, nearly dropping his gun. "How? Without a transmutation circle?!" he bellows, but Ed doesn't respond, instead readying himself and breaking into a sprint from behind the wall. 

    Emily earns an eyeroll before he takes off. "I never said I'm a hero. You did," he shoots, before she sets her blade to work on the bird. It squawks in pain as the strange sword finds purchase, but it slashes out with beak and talons to try and answer back, eyes glowing red with alchemical energy and perhaps a little bit of rage. 

    Ouroboros would find itself struggling with the chimera, the beast clearly strong and vicious. However, it would be able to at least slow it down from reaching the group and wind around it, though it does struggle initially to squeeze it much tighter, the beast thrashing, slashing, and biting at the familiar. 

    If Tonbokiri wants to make his way to Rose, he would find three guards in his way. For as big and dangerous as they look, the embodiment of a spear and a master with the weapon would no doubt be able to get through them with nary a shot fired. However, the shifting sand does make things tricky, as does the panicked, overloaded look in Rose's eyes: she might provide her own struggle to the conflict if he tries to force her.

    The second chimera immediately lunges itself at Ed the moment he pops out from behind the wall, the reptilian hind legs seeming to give it better grip and thrust on the sand. Before he can take more than a few steps, he cries out, Cornello stopping his fire as Ed is beset upon by the chimera. However, his smile twists into a look of panic as he realizes... 

    Ed is still standing, the lion's mouth and claw sunk into Edward's right arm. "What's the matter, you poor bastard? Can't get a good taste?" Ed lifts the beast off the ground with the strength of his right arm, just enough for him to give it the BOOT with his left leg, sending it against the wall and, by the streak of blood left in its wake, killing it by the impact with the stone. Cornello backs up, and Rose stares at the boy, none of the guards moving as they look up to Cornello for instructions. The father reclaims himself, shaking his head. "Those teeth and claws on your arm... the strength in you leg... Those limbs! They're fake!" 

    "Brilliant deduction," Ed growls, reaching up to tear away the remaining cloth on the right side of his upper body, shreded by the claws of the chimera. Rose covers her mouth, eyes tearing up again as she tries to turn. "No Rose, don't look away. You need to see what happens when you try to do the impossible. You need to see what happens when you cross into God's domain, or whatever the hell you call it. Is this what you want?! LOOK!" 

    He tosses the shreded remains of his cloak and the right half of his jacket, revealing that his right arm and most of his shoulder isn't flesh, but steel, glittering in the light. Wires can be seen where his armpit and flank would be, before his skin takes over under his ribs. "His arm... his leg, they're machines..."

     While all of this is going on, Drogo just continues to crawl along the sand on his belly, his good eye flicking back and forth between the ongoing battle and that gleaming red stone on Father Cornelo's finger. Sure, the eyepatch on his other eye hurts his depth perception a bit, but it's hard to lose track of something that keeps glowing such a brilliant shade of crimson like that. It even makes his mouth water a little...

Speaking of crimson! The first chimera is smashed against the wall by the strength of Ed's kick, and Drogo grins. Springing up, he makes a mad dash for the corpse on all fours, helping to keep his balance on the sands as he makes one big leap at the chimera carcass, using it as a more stable stepping stone to then bound up toward the balcony! Grabbing the edge, he heaves himself mightily over it to stand before Cornelo and Rose, grinning broadly down at them while his eye fixates on that ring.

"Say, you wouldn't mind if I just take that off your hands, would you? It'd be a good idea to remove it yourself by the way, since I might just... take your *hand* along with it otherwise~" he says with a wink. Maybe it's a wink. Could be a blink. Hard to tell with only one good eye.

    "Now THAT is a surprise," Cagliostro admits. "I'm not certain I've ever seen an alchemist with an artificial limb." The idea of artificial limbs isn't strange to her even on her world, but the combination is unusual... and the quality is probably better than most on her world, though she is hardly an expert. She doesn't actually mind the creature scampering up to keep her company, barely acknowledging the foxputer. "Usually they prefer to stay entirely human... unless, of course, they turn themselves into something else, like I did."

    Her cutesy smile turns into a malicious grin, and that high-pitched voice lowers an octave... still girlish, but with the growl of someone sly and vicious instead. "Now, why don't we take care of these problems?" As Ouroboros struggles, she turns and gestures forward... the snake releasing its grip for a moment, just so it isn't in the way for the blast of sand rippling up from the ground to spiral into a drill-shape, sending a piercing attack toward that chimera.

    "It would appear this boy knows a bit more about alchemy than you do, priest. Not that you're faithful if you're claiming the power of a god when it's in reality simple alchemy. It's power-hungry fools like you that corrupt the art."

    "Well, okay, got me there!" Emily calls back to Edward.

    Okay, Drogo's going for the Stone, Tonbokiri's trying to get to Rose, Cagliostro's fighting monsters with monsters and also more alchemy, and ... Edward's a cyborg, okay, that's kind of unexpected but whatever.

    But wait ... 'crossing into God's domain'? His lost limbs were the price of messing with something he shouldn't have?

    Emily starts thinking fast as she fights the bird, parrying its assault to the best of her ability. Okay ... so the price of alchemy in this world isn't just the materials; it's a lot more fundamental than that. Or it can be, depending on what mistakes you make. And from his tone of voice, it's clear enough to Emily that whatever he intends to use the Philosopher's Stone for, he's searching not out of greed or ambition, but because he was hurt -- "AUGH!"

    The bird's talons find their mark, and Emily's left arm goes flying; the rest of her comes crashing down, and her sword embeds itself in the sand next to her.

    But there's no blood there, either. Instead, the splatter around her is silvery. And it's clearly a powder or glitter, not a liquid.

    "Ow," mutters Emily, pushing herself into a sitting position with her good hand. "Okay, I need to not get distracted like that whilst fighting. Releasing Capacitor Seal Two!"

    The gold and pearlescent auras surround her once again; this time, it's the gold aura which shatters. Silvery nanomachines swirl around her, her sword and severed arm disintegrating; her dress becomes a more elaborate ballgown, decorated with dozens of the glowing flowers, and she now has four arms. And notwithstanding the way she slightly grits her teeth for a few seconds, she's looking completely unharmed.

    (... because all of her damaged nanomachines are now hidden under the surface.)

    And with that, with a smile which is tilted towards smug-with-amusement instead of the other way around, she conjures up five golden bolts of light above her. "Still got one Capacitor Seal left, by the way!" she says, and she launches the bolts at the bird at high speeds.

>> SUMMARY[Emily Nyx] >> Emily gets her ass kicked by the bird because she was thinking about Edward instead, followed by 'THIS ISN'T EVEN MY FINAL FORM!'

    This just gets better and better, doesn't it? More gun-priests, and another chimera! This is definitely stacking the deck. Edward's wall is timely, and Tonbokiri nods to him, taking cover behind it for the time being. "Thank you," he offers. "That should come in handy, however you did it."

    The revelation of Edward's artifical arm and leg produces... a blink from Tonbokiri. And then a blink at the scene. "...Why are these people so shocked? Does not one replace lost limbs with prosthetics to improve his quality of life in this world?" he inquires. Being from 2205, cybernetic limbs are no big deal for him. He has none himself, but his master knows people who have replaced their limbs in such a way.

    Now, despite earlier appearances -- and despite being a Muramasa school blade -- Tonbokiri isn't needlessly bloodthirsty. No, in fact he's going to give the priests a chance to retreat, because do they really know who they're up against?

    Besides, there's always time to roll Intimidation!

    "I am Tonbokiri, one of the Three Great Spears of Japan, wielded by Tadakatsu Honda in over one hundred battles in which he was never wounded!" he proclaims as he readies to attack. "My edge is so sharp that I need not but touch my enemies! If I can touch it, I can cut it! Leave the battlefield now, while you still can! Else your lives are forfeit!"

    Fortunately, no, Tonbokiri isn't going to be the one up there. He still has the chimera to deal with! Minus one, since Edward ONE PUNCH'd the other to death. Well, ONE KICK'd, actually. But anyway. It's Konnosuke, the adorable little pipe fox, is going to try to make it up there. And he's tiny, so jumping up to the balcony shouldn't be a problem, particularly while the guards are focused on Edward and the offworlders.

    "Hey!" the fox spirit calls out to the girl. "My name's Konnosuke. I think you're in danger here! Let's see if we can't find somewhere safer! Don't worry, though! That one with the spear is a friend! He'd never let you be hurt if it was in his power to prevent!"

    For his part, Tonbokiri will concentrate on the priests, while Emily fights the bird and Cagliostro fights the chimera. He's much more suited to dealing with human opponents anyway. Well, human-shaped, anyway -- no one in the Retrograde Army could be called 'human' in anything but form. So anybody who didn't leave when the sword warrior gave them the chance is going to get punctured and carved up with that Sanskrit-marked spear blade!

    The blade has a cutting edge, well as a point for stabbing, and can use the haft for bashing, so he has all three bases covered! He's also a skilled and experienced combatant, too. So even with guns, this is not going to be a good time for these guys...

>> SUMMARY[Tonbokiri] >> Tonbokiri rolls Intimidation, and then goes Muramasa on anybody who doesn't flee! Also Konnosuke is trying to hop up to Rose and talk to her.

    Oh right, there was a bear, wasn't there? OHGOD. 

    As Drogo VAULTS himself onto the balcony, Cornello retreats back a bit, before raising his right hand up and clenching his fist. There's the telltale light of alchemical process, before it seems to twist and retreat upon Cornello. His gun in his left hand flashes, and with the sound of twisting metal and bone, the weapon fuses into the father's arm, twisting and no doubt shattering the limb given the screaming that follows. "No... no please!" he cries, as Ed watches in horror from the ground. Cornello drops to the ground, gripping his arm in agony as, much to Drogo's potential delight, the glowing gem detaches from the setting on the ring and rolls to his feet. As it does, the glow slowly fades away. 

    As the bird seems to injure and 'disarm' Emily, it squawks again and attempts to move in to finish the job on its master's behalf. However, as Emily undergoes another transformation, the poor bird finds itself overmatched. Cornello's followers, Rose included, watch in horror as all of this unfolds, no doubt causing a crisis of faith in many of them. The bolts of light spawned by this new form of Emily fire, and when the bird lets loose its final cry it drops to the sand like a ton of bricks, adding its blood to the shifting sands. No one seems to know what she means by one more Capacitor Seal, but one of the priests isn't sticking around to find out. 

    Cagliostro and Ouroboros are dealing quite well with the other chimera, and when the girl gives her grin, even the beast itself seems to know it's out of time, its struggle becoming ever more fierce. When Ouroboros releases the chimera, the beast struggles against the sand before its nearly split in half by the drilling attack that follows. When it collapses, muscles giving a few spasms before falling limp, it's clear the beast is truly dead. More blood in the sand, and another two priests immediately bailing. The overwhelming strength is enough to shake them to the core, and they only offer screams as they run back out of the arena. 

    When Tonbokiri makes his Intimidation roll, he hits natural 20s. All of them. What few priests remain immediately take off, leaving a screaming Cornello, a terrified Rose, and a confused Edward as the only natives left alive. At the fox spirit's urging, and her shock and panic overloading her mind, Rose follows Konnosuke, tears streaming down her face as everything she had hoped for falls apart around her. Offworlders? Machines? And... did that mean that Cornello couldn't bring her boyfriend back after all? Nothing made sense, and nothing mattered. So she leaves, spurred on by the kindly fox. 

    Ed claps again, sinking to a knee and putting his hands to the sand again. He makes a stone platform underneath himself, then leaps up after Drogo, who clearly has first claim to the stone. But... Should he pick it up, the stone would immediately split and crumble in his paw. In full sight of the remaining group.

     Drogo winces at the screaming and the horrific sight of the gun melding itself into Cornelo's arm, but... hey, he got what he came for. "Well, uh, thank you for obliging. I'll just take this and go, since you look like you have bigger problems to deal with." he remarks, bending down to pick up the stone. He holds it up to get a better look at it in the light, but then... it crumbles!?

"Wha... Oh come ON! I went to all that trouble just for it to break when I pick it up?" he says with an irritated growl. Tossing the pieces back at Cornelo, he grumbles and asks, "That was a fake, right? You've got the real thing hidden somewhere around here, don't you? DON'T YOU!?"

    As the beast dies, Cagliostro is treated to another sight... one considerably more horrible. She doesn't wince, but that 'cute smile' she's been wearing is gone. "Not a true Philosopher's Stone, then. Perhaps a prototypical one? Or perhaps something else this world has? Why would they use a Philosopher's Stone for parlor tricks like this, anyway?"

    Ouroboros floats over to swirl around her, and Cagliostro tsks without concern for the priest. She doesn't know the motive - she missed that part - so she can't lecture on that. But it appears that whatever interested her here is gone. She flicks a card toward Ed, provides a level gaze at the others, and especially rubs her chin as she pauses on Tonbokiri. The talking bear and the shapeshifting creature(Emily) are interesting, to be sure, but she's still not sure what the huge man is. But Ed claims to be an alchemist. "That card has the means to contact me. We should talk, boy."

    She walks toward the exit, apparently unconcerned with either looking cute again, or with the aftermath of this mess.

    Cagliostro has the monster handled, and now Konnosuke is getting away with Rose. Emily's expression of victory: "... I should've given myself wings!" she says, as if this was 1. a minor mistake which was 2. worth whining about. But she basically forgets all that when she sees what happened to Cornello. "Wha ... whoa, what?" She flies over to the stricken priest. "Hey, what the hell's going on with your arm?" She looks at Edward. "What's happening to his arm!?" This is clearly somewhat disturbing her.

    When Drogo goes straight for the Stone with a complete disregard for anything else, she facepalms with her upper left hand hand. And when the Stone immediately crumbles ... she adds the rest of her hands to the facepalm. "Peaudouce, I'm pretty sure there that means there is no other, whether this was a fake Philosopher's Stone or not." She peeks through her hands at Cagliostro; she's reserving judgment on the matter. This wouldn't be the first time she's met someone who was confused by the differences in the ways worlds of the World Tree worked.

    Konnosuke is good at finding small bolt-holes to hide from the action while he records things. So while the fight's going on, the pipe fox will lead Rose to a reasonably safe place that still has a view of the area, if there is one. If not, he'll just lead her as far away from the ruckus as possible.

    As for Tonbokiri? He gives a sigh of relief. Bird is down, the chimeras are now both down, and the priests are thus suitably frightened away. A good result overall, and few lives lost. Though Tonbokiri has no idea what all the screaming above is about. But whatever it's about, he intends to see to what's going on.

    Edward is summoning a platform, and Tonbokiri grabs hold of it with one hand on the way up, hanging onto it easily with that one hand. When it stops moving he swings up, into a one-handed handstand for a moment to put his feet on the platform, and then using it to jump to the balcony after Edward.

    He's treated to the sight of Drogo yelling at the likely very injured man. And he immediately gets between Drogo and the defeated Cornello, holding up a hand, palm out. "Please, hold," he requests softly. "He is defeated, and from the looks of things in quite a bit of pain. He is no threat now. Put him through no further pain."

    Now it seems that avenging angel is now in merciful angel mode, so now he wants to try to save the man's life. Fortunately Cagliostro seems unconcerned with the fallen priest, and Emily seems unwilling to approach Cornello, so that's less struggle he has to go through to try to accomplish that goal.

    So, if no one objects, Tonbokiri will kneel down next to the fallen priest. "I do not know what has happened to your arm, but I wish to bring you somewhere with someone who can try to save your life. Yagen is incredibly well-experienced with human medicine. Will you go with me?" he inquires.

    Drogo's anger is reflected in Edward's eyes, but only for the briefest of moments. He then looks downcast, shaking his head and resting his face in the palm of his left hand. "It was fake... all of this... what you put me through, and the Stone was a damn fake?! You bastard!" He rounds on Cornello, but the sight of the wimpering priest deflates his anger almost immediately. He looks at his arm, shaking his head. "A rebound... you pushed the Stone too hard and it rebounded on itself. You fool..." He shakes his head again, looking over at the bear. "You came here for that? I'm glad I don't have to try and take it from you," he offers, then turns his back on the priest. 

    He catches Cagliostro's card with his automail arm, tucking it into his pocket and offering a quick wave. "Sure, whatever. Got plenty of time, now..." He sighs, looking at his ruined clothes and sighing even harder. "Maybe I can get a ride out of here, can't expect the people here to be too receptive to helping me out..." 

    As Emily freaks out at Cornello's state, Edward grimaces. "It's a rebound. He tried to do something outside of his control, and the alchemical process inverted. Whatever he wanted to do, he messed it up bad. It's not unlike..." He stops, then snarls, holding his arm protectively before shaking his head. "Someone like him doesn't deserve help. I'll get the military to come and collect him. Bastard can rot in a cell for all I care." 

    Tonbokiri seems far more reasonable, but Cornello is having none of it. He pushes immediately past the group and leaps over the side of the balcony, hitting the sand and mustering his strength to run down the tunnel there. Before anyone else can move, the wall slides back into place, and for all intent and purposes Cornello is gone. "Damn...!" Ed manages, but shakes his head. "The hell do I care? The stone was a fake, which means I wasted all this damn time for no reason... I'm never gonna get this done at this rate...!" He punches the metal banister with his automail arm, then makes his way to the stairs. "Thanks for your help," he offers, waving his real arm as he works his way down the stairs, "Sorry it turned out to be a waste of time. Welcome to Amestris."

     Emily's reasoning and Tonbokiri's request to stop do get through to Drogo, at least, with the bear's anger being replaced by a dejected sigh and sad slump of his shoulders. "I know, I know, but I heard about the wine fountain and how he made it with some kind of miracle power, and I thought maybe it'd be a nice treat for the guys, and..." he trails off, sighing again before glancing down at the priest in his sorry state. "Alright, let's get this guy to a doctor, I guess. Hate to leave someone in that much pain-"

And then Cornelo just /freaks out/ and runs off into a tunnel, the wall shutting behind him. Blinking a few times as he tries to process this, the bear bandit throws up his paws in defeat. "Alright! Fine! I'm just gonna go, then. At least nobody got killed, I guess. And you're welcome, uh... Ed."

The bear then takes up a stride behind Edward, seeing no other way out of here but the way they came. The contrast in size between them may be amusing to some, and perhaps... strangely fitting, in a way.

    "He made a mistake," Tonbokiri replies, to Edward's words of the priest not deserving help. "I think he sees that now. I will try to give him a chance to make up for--"

    And then the lunatic is LEAPING OFF THE BALONY! The sword warrior makes a grab as the man leaps, but the misses. "You fool! Let my brother help you!" he tries. It falls on deaf ears. "...Fool."

    Well, that's... not the way he wanted it to end, but that's how it goes sometimes. As for Edward's welcome and apology? "You are quite welcome, sir," he offers, with a polite bow. "I am pleased that we were able to help a little."

    Drogo's explanation as to why he wanted the stone gets a nod. "I can understand wanting to give comforts to those who serve you," he agrees. Seems he's not at all upset with Drogo over the show of anger.

     But he has another concern too. "Konnosuke? Is the girl still unhurt?" he inquires. "The danger is past, you both are safe for now."

    Konnosuke will lead the girl out of the hiding place, if she'll come out. "I got all of that recorded!" the pipe fox declares, as Tonbokiri re-caps the blade of his spear.

    "Good," he replies. And then looking to the girl (if she hasn't collapsed/run away/remained hidden in terror), offers calmly and quietly, "Come with me. I will escort you home, if you wish."

    Emily floats down next to Tonbokiri. "I can vouch for Tonbokiri," she says. "I admit that I'm not the most trustworthy person, but if he says he knows --"

    Cornello pushes past her, and she stumbles back and falls onto her backside, wincing. "Damn," she mutters, low enough that probably only Tonbokiri can hear it. "Gonna need a while for my nanomachines to self-repair ..."

    She grumbles, and gets back to her feet, following Edward and Drogo. "I can't complain," she says, trying to sound casual and only mostly succeeding. "This was certainly an interesting diversion! The fountain-wine wasn't terrible, either."

    She decides not inquire about the details of Edward's crime against God-or-whatever just yet. With his mood, now is clearly not the time.