Psionic Anti-Crime Squad: Mind Over Manner [IC]

[Lynam III]

Lucky sighs as he sees Tania gazing intensely at the ground below. It is obvious to him that she is feeling cornered, and perhaps considering suicide to extricate herself from a difficult position. He listens to Tania's sketchy explanation, but does not buy it. After hearing Sophia's reply, he puts a hand on Sophia's shoulder, leans in, and speaks in a soft and serious voice: "Sophia, this is more serious than you believe. Please let me talk to her for a while."

He moves casually towards the edge of the balcony, leans on the railings, and stands next to Tania without saying anything for a while, as he looks at the same spot as Tania was gazing when they first arrived. "I understand you perfectly, Tania. The customs and politics of the high society can be intimidating at times. However, there is always hope. Let me tell you a story..."

Starting with a slow pace, Lucky tells the story of a Talented he met at the academy called Jonas. Jonas discovered that he had a power to become invisible when he was in his teens. His ability was noticed by a criminal who was highly feared and influential in his neighborhood. They forced Jonas to commit many illicit deeds, ranging from petty theft to spying on merchants, nobles, and other people of power. Jonas did not want to commit these crimes, but the criminal and his gang forced him to comply by threatening to hurt him and his family. However, as things were getting out of control, Jonas was noticed by the members of the Academy, and he met Dean Lennart (here, Lucky mentions him by "my old pal Dean Lennart"). The Academy noticed how he was exploited and helped him out: The criminal and his gang were arrested for their crimes. However, the Dean interceded on behalf of young Jonas, and he didn't face any punishment. On the contrary, he was taken into the Academy, and he received ample training on how to use his powers for good. His family was protected, and Jonas earned so much money that he could easily help them out.

Once the story is over, Lucky stays silent for a minute, and looks into Tania's eyes. "What I am saying, Tania, is this: Never give up. Even in the most difficult of circumstances, there is always help available if we seek it."

[Tsunamiatunzen1]

Ian waves to the dancers to carry on, wishing for this whole ordeal to be over with.
"If I never have to deal with another ball or this accursed suit again it will be too soon."
He gives his own collar another vicious yank to no avail. Madam Mumford knew how to make a set of clothes.
He saw Leolin giving chase after Lucky and decided to let them be.
They're both quite capable so having me along would do little more than hinder them. Now where did Jacob run off to? For that matter, where's Tin Man? Hm. I think Jacob was hovering near the Duchess. Ah yes, there he is.
He could just barely make him out in the crowd but it was only because he knew exactly what he was looking for. Otherwise, it would have been quite impossible for him to have known the man was even there.

[neriractor]

Jacob doubted his skill, his position being precarious enough as it, perhaps he should just report and let them figure it out... but no, he needed this, he needed to know, and to get that knowledge by his own hand. He regretted the seconds he had lost in doubt as he sneaked towards the conversation, the sweat running through his brow aptly ignoring how great he was telling himself he was.

Spoiler: OOC

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appraise +8
hide +18
speed should be 45ft
tumble +12
move silently +8
open lock +7
tumble +10
disable debice +8
listen +2
spot+2

[Cespenar]

Lucky

As Lucky approaches Tania with a serious expression on his face, something snaps in Tania's face, and she just vaults over the balcony without even letting Lucky start with his grand tale.

If Lucky leans over and looks down, he sees that she just fell onto a flowery bush from a half to one floor height, and the bush might be why she might be gazing down below. She takes some seconds to untangle her dress from the plants, and starts to run away.

Lucky must be quick, whatever he chooses to do.

Jacob

Jacob somehow moves close enough to the older women to hand them a glass of champagne if he so wished, and he just starts to finally hear what they were talking about -- when he notices something else. A man, cutting through the dance floor, walking with a determined posture over to the Duchess. Jacob barely catches a glint of light in the man's hand, but it doesn't look like metal, for it's even shinier.

Leolin

Snowfall is momentarily shaken to be caught up in a dance with another woman, but she adapts quickly, checking her surroundings and changing her expression to a more playful one for the people around her.

"Who, the maid? Whyever- never mind, how can we help? Oh, maybe Ironfist can cover the garden, in case you'll be chasing her?"

As they are whispering like this, someone bumps past Leolin and continues over, but as Leolin turns to look, the man vanishes behind the other dancing couples.

Ian

The Dean just shrugs while Leolin moves on to cover Snowfall as well, so Ian changes his view to watch his teammate, Jacob. He sees him approach closer and closer to the Duchess and Grandmother -- close enough to serve them a glass of champagne, even -- when he sees him freeze. Of course it's impossible to read Jacob's expression from afar, but he seems to be looking at the crowd of dancers with some surprise.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Leolin hadn't thought of Tania as a flight risk, but she WAS just trying to escape... "Good idea. Okay, let's make it happen. Thanks."

Li Lin disengages and bows and waves to her dance partner, letting Snowfall do her job while she wanders vaguely in the direction of this determined new suspect. Is suspect even the right word? Just... a vaguely suspicious person who is not yet a suspect in any case in particular. Who she didn't even get a good look at. Whatever. It's worth a look, since Cousin Baron probably has Tania cornered anyway.

[Lynam III]

Lucky jumps down behind Tania, trying to catch and incapacitate her.

Spoiler

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Lucky uses the hilt of his dagger to knock Tania out if he is in range.

[Tsunamiatunzen1]

Though Ian was still inwardly grumping about various things, working himself into an ever increasingly bad mood. Then he noticed Mimic's expression.
Seems he's caught onto something... what in the world is so interesting in the crowd?
He spared a brief glance in the direction the man was looking in an attempt to discern the item of curiosity.

Spoiler: Modifiers

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Spot: 2

[Cespenar]

Lucky

Lucky, ever quick to engage, jumps over the balcony easily and lands relatively smoothly on the bush, recovering himself faster than the maid did. He runs after her, and closes the initial distance very quickly, but the maid, seeing that she'll get caught, goes for a trio of young men in the gardens. Running past them, she turns back to point at Lucky and implores.

"Please, kind sirs, this man won't leave me alone!"

The trio isn't immediately hostile to Lucky, but two of them raise their hands to (hope to) stop Lucky, at least to sort this thing out. The third one turns to the girl and tries to calm her down. There is still a 10 feet distance until Lucky engages with the young knights.

[Lynam III]

Lucky is impressed by Tania's attempt at misdirection -- she doesn't look like the clueless servant girl at all. Maybe he misjudged her.

He shouts at the trio while running: "Gentlemen, I am Sgt. Gluecklich of the City Watch, and Lady Tania is resisting arrest. Please help me stop her or make way, either is fine."

Spoiler

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I made the rank Sgt. up. If Lucky was given an actual rank, please use that one, even if it's private -- I am not shooting for a bluff.

Regardless of whether the trio cooperates or not, Lucky will continue to pursue Tania and avoid being stopped by the gentlemen.

[Cespenar]

Lucky

Lucky musters enough authority in his voice to prevent the young nobles from stopping him. They look at each other and after Tania with moderately confused expressions, but they let Lucky past without any problem. He uses this to his advantage, and finally manages to catch the maid before she reaches the gates.

Spoiler: OOC

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So, nonlethal dagger attack, or grapple/pin attempt?

Ian

Ian can't see the man as clearly as Jacob, but when he actually pays attention, he realizes that the man is cutting through the dancing floor without a partner in tow; with determined, almost angry steps. As Ian watches him, he also notices Leolin leaving Snowfall to tail the guy as well.

Leolin

Leolin, trusting his instincts, starts to tail the man whose only fault was bumping into her. She uses the openings the man is creating in his wake, and quickly closes the distance. This close behind, she sees man in even more detail: Red hair, somewhat tight clothes unfitting his muscular outline... and the red-yellow light of a fire in his right hand?

The man is close to clearing the dance floor, determination in his steps.

[Lynam III]

Lucky rushes past the trio, and shouts back after he is out of their reach. "Thanks. Please alert the guards to the situation, and send them our way."

Lucky decides pulling his punches might do more harm then good at this point. When he reaches Tania, he lunges at her, trying to kick her off balance, and knock her out.

Spoiler

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Lucky will go for unarmed combat instead of using the hilt of a dagger.

Combat Expertise 2

Attack 1: (1d20+7)[17]
Attack 2: (1d20+7)[25]
Damage 1 (nonlethal): (1d3)[3]+(1d6)[4]+6
Damage 2 (nonlethal): (1d3)[3]+(1d6)[3]+6

[neriractor]

Jacob leaves his position near the duchess, taking care to not actually be noticed as being there and moves towards the quickly approaching man, seemingly bumping into him as he tries to take the shining object away from his hand.

Spoiler: OOC

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hide +18
speed should be 45ft
tumble +12
move silently +8
tumble +10
listen +2
spot+2
sleight of hand+7
melee attack bonus +4

Sooo, I added melee attack bonus because I just saw the response to Leolin and I think he can figure out that if something burns him and he can´t grab it is probably fire, so if he does and he can actually do anything before the man gets there he´ll try an unarmed trip attack, making it look like he just fell after bumping.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Is that a fire in his hand?

For the last year or two, Leolin has pretty much been playing nice. The reason for this is that she understands that the rules were made based on years of collective experience, and that holding back when possible is the best way to avoid getting people hurt.

The reason is not that she is afraid of starting fights in public.

She charges red-hair through the crowd and tackles him without a second thought. If she has to shove a few aristocrats five feet to the right to make this work, that's not a big deal.

[Tsunamiatunzen1]

Ian wasn't exactly sure what was going on as the others reacted to whatever or whoever was in the crowd but he moved closer to the Duchess so as to better guard her should anything else happen.

Spoiler: Actions

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Unfortunately just move closer. Ian evidently doesn't have line of sight.

[Cespenar]

Jacob, Leo and Ian

Jacob quickly relinquishes his hard-earned position by the Duchess and beelines for the potential perpetrator. With a brisk pace, he bumps the man and makes a move for the "thing" in his hand.

Which was, apparently, fire.

Jacob can't help but make a little sound of pain as the fire scorches his hands and the tip of his collars. The man, surprised, turns his head momentarily to glance at this weird fellow who went for his flame. Just at that moment he notices the charging Leolin who rams into him.

Without the full unleashing of her powers, though, she hits less like a truck and more like a motorbike, which is unsurprisingly still enough to throw the man off-balance, if barely. He stumbles but manages to keep his footing, and thrashes around to let Leolin loose, but to no avail. With an angry grunt, he tries to aim the flame in his hands at the duo of old women (unclear as to which specific one, however), but the flame fizzles and dies in his hand as the silk-clad strongwoman whips him around.

The nobles around the struggling fighters flinch and move a couple of steps back instinctively, but with the dying of the flame they fail to understand the situation and not dive into a panic-induced escape as expected. A couple women express an involuntary "Ooh!" at the sight of the weird grapple, but that seems to be it. The Duchess, having a better view of the situation, rises to her feet and inquires forcefully: "What is going on there?!" A couple of guards appear from near the walls to quickly rush by her side.

Spoiler: OOC

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Leo: Touch and grapple checks succeed.
Guy: Concentration check to manifest while grappled, fails.

Lucky

Lucky's call for guards seem to have fallen on deaf ears at first, but then the trio exchange looks among themselves, and one of the men split from the group to jog in the direction of the main gate.

As he reaches the girl, Lucky's tackle throws her really off balance, felling her face-first into the ground with a short scream of agony. She raises her bloodied face and pleads to Lucky desperately while trying to crawl away:

"Please... leave me be..!"

Lucky suddenly remembers that mental talents can sometimes augment pleas such as this, but try as he might he can't feel anything special, like a sudden instinct of letting her go.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"That's a good question, Your Grace! I'm sure this man would love to explain it to the guard before someone gets hurt!" Leolin's voice takes more of her aggressive growl as she twists the would-be assailant's arm and pulls him away from his apparent targets. "This way, punk! Show's over!"

In her trademark intimidating-slash-entertaining style, she pushes Disheveled Fire Punk toward the exit. If he tries anything funny, raging is a free action.

[Tsunamiatunzen1]

One assassin? Hmm, poorly executed. Doubtful he was connected to our suspect... or for that matter targeting the Duchess. The Grandmother maybe?
He wasn't too fond of the Church of the Family's stance when it came to their treatment of Talented but he wasn't too fond of aiding those of murderous intent by simple inaction on his part.
The man Leolin had pinned didn't concern him at this time. He was more concerned about the threats he could not see.

Spoiler: Modifiers

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Readying an action to manifest Energy Push (Sonic) on any other powers being manifested. (Excluding the man being grappled and Ian's allies)
Spot: 2
Knowledge (Psionics): 14
Psicraft: 14

[Lynam III]

Lucky sighs. "I apologize, but I don't have much choice against your Talents. Forgive me." Then he proceeds to knock Tania out.

Spoiler

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Unarmed Combat

Combat Expertise 2

Attack 1: (1d20+7)[18]
Attack 2: (1d20+7)[16]
Damage 1: (1d3)[1]+(1d6)[2]+6
Damage 2:(1d3)[2]+(1d6)[2]+6

[neriractor]

Jacob just calmly follows sticks to where he is, moving slightly to take the eyes off him and watching for any more assailants while shaking the pain off his hand.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

hide +18
speed should be 45ft
tumble +12
move silently +8
tumble +10
listen +2
spot+2
sleight of hand+7
melee attack bonus +4

[Cespenar]

Leolin

Both the Duchess and nearby onlookers watch Leolin with surprise as the bombshell they all have been sneaking looks at during the night manhandles the 6-foot gorilla in a suit with only minimal difficulty.

Leolin can bring the man out of the building, while he twists and turns and still tries to get the old women in his sights, to no avail. The flames fizzle every time he tries. Two guards meet Leolin outside the doors, and demand an explanation.

Jacob and Ian

Jacob and Ian vigilantly scan their surroundings for the second assailant to come, but no one seems to be making a move right now. They can hear the nobles whispering about Leolin and the man she is detaining, and how some outrageous theories are being created.

"Oh, did someone finally grope her? I say, with that dress..!"

"She must be from the Duchess's personal guards. I heard she has an all-women bodyguard team just to throw people off."

"It's probably just a lover's quarrel. Anyway, I was saying..."

"The lad was going to offer the Duchess a dance. There's always one of those cocky ones in these balls."

Lucky

Lucky, dismissing the pleas, reaches the crawling Tania and knocks her out with a punch in the face. The girl's head bounces off the ground and some more blood spurts out to Lucky's sleeves, but at least she looks like she'll live.

Soon, two guards arrive from the main gates at Lucky's position, demanding an explanation.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Tell 'em!" Leolin insists of her captive as she gives his arm an extra-rough twist. It'll be more convincing coming from him.

Whether she escalates further depends on how much it takes to get this punk to cooperate. If he remains tight-lipped, maybe he'll respond to someone his own size.

[Tsunamiatunzen1]

Ian's attentiveness soon devolved into his prior feelings of frustration and boredom.
Ah, now see again! I have no place here and I frankly doubt there's much good to be accomplished here! Doubtful that the guards could detain Leolin even if they wanted to!
With that, he stalked out of the hall. Determined to find some peace of mind in whatever room they deemed to call a study or library. Not even the rest of the squad could deter him this time. He'd had enough of this pointless mission. Nowhere at all had his skills been called upon, he had seen no evidence of manipulation, and frankly he had far more interest in his research than dealing with cloaks of mannerisms and daggers of social backlash.

Spoiler: Modifiers

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Ian is going to try to find a library of some sort and then continue with his research. It's doubtful he would find anything useful here but who knows. He'll also take some time to look into the Church once more but that takes a lower priority.
Gather Information: 5+2 (from suit) and +4 from inspiration use. +11 total.
(Honestly can't remember what the inspiration count was but I also have no idea if this whole thing counts as one encounter in order to block Inspiration regen.)
Knowledge (Psionics): 14
Psicraft: 14
Knowledge (Religion): 5

[Lynam III]

Before the guards arrive, Lucky cuts his armsleeves off and uses them as a makeshift bandage to stop Tania's bleeding. He lays her on her back, and makes sure her condition does not worsen.

When the guards arrive, Lucky greets them with a calm and serious face. "Finally, I was beginning to think the gentlemen I met did not alert you to the situation. I am with the City Watch, here under orders from Commander Maela. I was able to prevent Lady Tania from escaping. She is a rogue Talented who was employing her powers on the attendants. Please send the following message immediately to Commander Maela: 'Lucky from Corporal Leolin's team caught the culprit, identified as Lady Tania, a servant of Lady Sophia DuGalle. Please send a squad and a healer to secure her. She is knocked unconscious but in stable condition.'"

[Cespenar]

Ian

Cross referencing his earlier notes to a couple of the rarer books in the Duchess's library, Ian is able to form the basis of a theory similar to the "safer" method the Professor preferred in his works. Ian isn't sure he can perfectly replicate his experiments, but it's the best he can do for now.

The basis of the theory suggests that he needs to acquire certain metals or gems (magnetic, conducive or noble metals; and semi-precious gems like agate), have them cut into certain forms, and conduct experiments to figure out which metals or gems interact with what kind of talents in what ways.

He can expound on this later in his free time.

Leolin

Leolin twists the guy's arm and he grunts, but it's more of an instinctive grunt than one of actual pain. He still doesn't talk, and tries to singlemindedly get out of Leolin's grip, to no avail. When (if?) she puts on his extra size, however, the man's head snaps at Leolin with a knowing look, and then he suddenly blacks out.

The guards look oddly at the expanding Leolin for a second, and then they look a little more, because her stylish dress has apparently turned into something more akin to a swimming suit.

One of the guards miraculously regains his mental acuity and makes the connection. "Are you... from the Steadwick City Watch? I had heard they recruited a giantess over there, but figured it was just a rumor."

"Did you, ah, squeeze him too hard?"

Lucky

Lucky's sudden flurry of orders befuddle the guards, and they try to come up with a response.

"Steadwick City Watch? A... a rogue Talented? Are you serious?"

"Send a message to Steadwick? We'll need to speak with our cap'n for this, I think."

They guide the way to the palace's guardhouse, where the captain was enjoying his piece of cheese with a cup of mulled wine. When Lucky retells his story (and shows a proof of his identity), the guard captain nods, sighs, and gets up.

"Okay, you, prepare a rider for Steadwick. *You* come with me, we'll need to report this to Her Grace."

[Lynam III]

Lucky looks torn upon hearing the captain's response. "Sir, while I would like to accompany you to report the situation to Her Grace, we suspect this Talented to be working for a group who might attempt to capture her before she is taken back to Steadwick and interrogated. It wouldn't be a stretch to guess that they have other Talented in their employ. I and my squad mates have experience in fighting against them."

"So, would it be possible to call one of my comrades to watch over her while I accompany you to talk with Her Grace?" If the captain agrees, Lucky provides him with a description of Bart, Jacob, Ian, and Leolin.

He takes off the shirt with bloodstains and missing sleeves, revealing his armor -- perhaps a bit intimidating and out of place; but it beats entering the ballroom with clothes covered in blood. Once one of his comrades takes over the watch, he accompanies the guard captain to meet with Her Grace, thinking hard on how to spin the story without making it evident that they suspected her to be under mind control. He asks permission from the captain to invite Dean Lennart to the conversation as well, who provided the City Guard with intel regarding the culprit.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

A full-on giantess would probably probably destroy the outfit entirely, but the swimsuit comparison remains apt as Dire Felicia assumes her more recognizable form. She was hoping it would be enough to make the would-be attacker panic and confess, but it looks like he decided to skip that step. He never said a word, even. Not in surprise, not in anger, nothing.

In the back of her mind, Leolin dimly remembers something a professor said offhand about a year ago, about a kind of mind control that fills you with an unbreakable single-minded obsession.

...crap.

"Yeah, that would be me," she sighs to the private guards. "Please don't tell anyone, alright? I had... this... turned off for obvious reasons, but then this guy showed up and tried to attack Her Grace out of nowhere."

She dismisses her animal affinity and starts resetting her belt, mask and buttons to make herself relatively decent again. As far as these guards should be concerned, she was off-duty up to this point. "There are a few other City Guard people here, too, so we can take this guy off your hands once we've excused ourselves. Keep an eye on him - he was trying to use some kind of fire-throwing talent."

She tugs on Miss Sophia's gloves. They've been stretched out to the point where they no longer fit Li Lin at all. Two more innocent casualties in this train wreck of a mission. All this and she still has work to do here.

"Alright, how do I look?" Li Lin does a quick turn for the outdoor guards and at least checks their facial expressions before heading back up to the building.

When she spots Lucky returning with his disguise off and with another guard, she rushes up to intercept before any more damage can be dealt. "Cousin? What happened?"

[Lynam III]

Lucky looks extremely surprised to see Leolin with less of her dress. "Tania jumped down from the balcony and we ran around a little in the gardens. She is... unconscious and under guard. But I thought I was enjoying all the action. What happened here?"

[neriractor]

Jacob, walks as fast as he can towards the Dean, their cover obviously blown and trying to keep his own, he stops briefly* to look at Leolin after she delivered the guard before remembering he actually had something to do and continuing to walk, thinking all the while if there may be a couple of songs left to dance...

When he finally reaches the Dean he tells him everything he heard** from the Grandmother´s conversation with the Duchess, and in true student fashion lets him make a theory before he actually made one himself.

*read over 20 seconds

** no copy paste since I´m on the phone.

[Tsunamiatunzen1]

Ian was still engrossed in his work and began to delve into how the more 'dangerous' experiments would work. Though he did not want to use them, he understood the necessity of knowing how an enemy would operate. He wanted to be prepared for the next incident of Beast behavior.
So he continued to pore over the books, completely oblivious to what was going on outside... or even behind him for that matter.

Spoiler: Modifiers

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He's trying to figure out what kind of materials and signs he should look for if the Quack Doctor should resurface.
Knowledge (Psionics): 14
Psicraft: 14
Listen: 2 (On the off chance he's about to get ambushed from behind )

[Cespenar]

Ian

Ian only saw the Doctor's lodestone experiment in person, but according to the Professor's notes, the Doctor could do (and could have done already) other trials with different materials (see previous post). It is hard to tell from just one point of data that the Doctor only uses lodestone, which theoretically helps in the strengthening of talents.

Ian remembers that maybe he should recheck with the guys that spoke with Breaker to see if they might be told any clues about his other potential experiments.

Jacob

To Jacob's surprise the Dean doesn't immediately jump to theories, but start to stroke his chin thoughtfully.

"That's very little to make deductions out of. But still," he says, and starts taking notes of everything Jacob said on a piece of crumpled parchment he gets out of a pocket.

"And did you find anything about the conspirators against the Academy?" he asks at last.

Lucky

Bart quickly arrives and starts to stand guard in front of Tania's cell while Lucky goes to see the Duchess in his armor. The guard captain takes the back entrance to the ball room and the two can reach the Dean and then the Duchess relatively smoothly.

The Dean glances shortly at Lucky's alert face and more or less guesses the delicacy of the situation. He does a prelude to Lucky's story to underline the "fact" that the Watch suspected a Talented attack at the ball, and thus sent the squad in secret to thwart the possible attack.

The Duchess is momentarily flustered by the fact that she isn't told of this, but that feeling subsides quickly because of the fact that she is visibly saved by a flame throwing attacker by a member of the squad. She ends up congratulating the Dean's and the Commander's incredible insight, and also promises to issue a commendation for the heroic watchwoman as well.

The Grandmother watches this with shock, confusion and a possible mix of other feelings as well.

Leolin

The guards just nod their heads at Leolin's words but it is doubtable that they both would keep this juicy story to themselves for long.

Leolin tries to make the best of the dress which had torn out many of its seams, but it's almost impossible to make even a passable piece of cloth for the ball. At the end, however, she can at least turn the situation from "swimsuit issue amazon edition" to merely "damsel in distress".

The guards, being very respectable males, nod vigorously at Leolin's query, assuring her that she has never looked better. When she heads back in the main hall, she turns almost as many heads as her initial entrance today afternoon, even if for different reasons. As she encounters Lucky, she realizes that he and the Dean is going for a talk with the Duchess, and the Duchess looks like a person who could make a big deal out of her heroic saviour. It is up to Leolin to join Lucky or not.