[Open Broadcast]

[protect_and_serve]

 I've finished my first reconnaissance, more or less, and after a week I hope that most of you have, as well.  Everyone who can should gather back in Liminal Space so that we can compare notes, and marshal our forces.  Everyone who can't... should let me know, so someone can retrieve them.

I don't suppose anyone has stumbled over the missing queen or her throne?

Comments

[hakodate]

A dragon. And some overly enthusiastic displays in how to kill a dragon.

I don't think we've fallen into a hole we can't explain ourselves out of, at least.

[moredakka]

Ahh...

[Yeah she'll just settle for a nervous chuckle.]

[hakodate]

We might want to have a chat about subtlety later, Ogura.

[He sounds more tired than pissed, at least.]

[moredakka]

I-it was an emergency! ... sir!

[hakodate]

It was. But when everyone goes straight to the big guns at once...

[You can almost hear the headshaking in his tone.]

Then again, not like I expected Kuzunoha to pull out the huge guns just like that.

[moredakka]

... I don't have a small gun.

[And you can hear the dismay of being totally busted in hers.]

You w-won't... are we getting punished?

[hakodate]

Punishment implies we actually recognize some kind of authority around here.

[Travelers definitely don't agree on enough to ever manage that.]

[moredakka]

[Sio contemplates this for a moment. She keeps being told that there is no real leadership or chain of command among the Travellers, and thewhole thing keeps striking her as weird. The E-Gene Holder squads didn't have leaders, but that was because they were small teams taking very simple orders from above. Go in, kill the monsters, get out. Once they needed a plan, they needed authority. And they got - well, her.]

I know, b-but... [Any way she thinks about it, the answer's the same.] We - we have a mission, and maybe not everyone wants to be involved with it, but those of us who do, if we want to be serious about it, we can't all just do whatever we want! We have to plan and have a central authority! [She pushes through the mental impression of a sharp bow.] S-so Hijikata-sama, please punish me!

[hakodate]

[What the fuck has his life become.

But as much as he's thinking what the hell, no, he's also a practical-minded commander who doesn't argue about these things, so -]

Consider punishment deferred until a more convenient time.

[moredakka]

[Wait wait wait his life? She's been snatched from fighting aliens to fighting dragons under the tentative command of a guy that she's slowly piecing together is the actual Hijikata Toshizo and she needs to tell him it's okay for him to command her and basically there is nothing in this scenario that makes the tiniest bit of sense.]

Yessir! I'll, I'll report to you when we're back to Liminal Space!

[hakodate]

[He's not supposed to be commanding teenage girls!]

Right. Just don't do anything that -

["Don't do anything that I wouldn't do" is the worst thing a guy like Hijikata can possibly say.]

...don't do anything reckless.

[moredakka]

[Teenage girls aren't supposed to have to tell Hijikata-bloody-Toshizo to damn well command them already!

Speaking of which, holy shit Hijikata Toshizo is going to command her.]

Yes sir! It's - it's an honor, sir!

[hakodate]

[YOU'RE A GIRL AND YOU'RE LIKE 12 HE WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THIS]

[protect_and_serve]

I remember those holes.

We were caught by the mages we were following.

[hakodate]

And how pissed off were they?

[protect_and_serve]

I don't think they're quite... human.

[hakodate]

Color me unsurprised.

What'd they do?

[DID ANYONE GET TURNED INTO A FROG OR WHATEVER HAPPENS IN THOSE STORIES HE DOESN'T KNOW...]

[protect_and_serve]

Nothing too extreme. But I wouldn't under-rate them. Whatever their interests are, if something does cross them...

They move faster on foot than we do on horseback. They command the elements around them. They're not simple mages.

[hakodate]

I can't tell the difference between simple mages and un-simple mages, so I'll take your word for it.

[Magic: not really a Thing, back home.]

[protect_and_serve]

It's a matter of... attitude. Their worldview, maybe.

[hakodate]

That worldview being?

[protect_and_serve]

I've only spoken to two of them, but each one seems to have a different... fixation.

[hakodate]

Is "fixation" meant to sound as creepy as it's sounding to me right now?

[protect_and_serve]

I haven't reached a verdict yet.

[hakodate]

How invested do you think they are in the politics around here? The missing Queen, and all that?