VVVVVigil: Valorous Veterans Vanquishing Venal Vermin

[Rebonack]

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

"It might be nothing," Zee replies. "A little orange and black bird that's been following Makuro around. It seemed strangely aware of my attempts to scrutinize it. It might have something to do with her symbiote? I'm really not sure."

Tricky birds and tricky worms.

"I really doubt it's cause for any alarm. But I thought it might be good to let you know that there's an unknown element that seems interested in her."

Mysterious mysteries about.

[VIGIL Tour]

"That sounds like a great place, I bet I'll love it," Lazuli declares as she hops along.

Every single person she encounters will be met with a "Hello! I'm Lapis Lazuli, who are you?" which may make the trip toward the Upper Village a bit slow going.

It probably won't help, either, that she'll inquire about literally everything she notices on the way.

After a few minutes she'll whisper conspiratorially, "Makuro, I think that hoopoe bird is following us."

[Zefir]

[Trainign ground]

It's early in the morning, a time you sure find a fighter up and training to be ready for every fight they might have over the day. Taking that in mind you wouldn't mind Mia here since she developed quiet some skills in the art of swordfighting. Not that she managed to solve the riddle , but she can wield her sword without harming her and others.
This time she is not here for her training. she is about to repair some of the dummys and just placed a new one there.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Commanders' Village]

Cessie Mithar, one of VIGIL's commanders, is also in a robe, while probably not as angelic pure, it still makes a good effort.
The sorceress seems to be using some kind of tablet rather than a clipboard, perhaps VIGIL's budget allows her to look important in a more modern way?
She looks up from her seat as Ithuriel enters. "Well, hello there. Ithuriel is it? We finally meet, I heard you've made quite the name for yourself at Intersection." Coming quite a far way from entering to file a complaint.

[Commanders' Village]

"I'll be honest, I did not expect my reputation to precede me." Ithuriel remarks with a slightly surprised and flattered look. Who knew she was becoming such a well-known Intersection officer? "And I'm afraid I don't seem to have a lot of knowledge to draw on about you. The important bit is that you're one of the senior figures in VIGIL, which is, unfortunately, why I need to talk to you."

Ithuriel waves her clipboard weakly. "I...have the unfortunate job of raising a few issues with VIGIL's recent activities in support of Intersection."

[Morty]

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

"Her past is a complete mystery," Wenomir says. "But it might be a sign it's following her, true. Still, we can't exactly go chasing around every suspicious bird. Let's just me careful from now on."

[Earl of Purple]

VIGIL Tour

"I think it's probably following me. Has been for quite a while now. It doesn't seem hostile or malicious, at least not yet. I'd like it to stop, however. I don't fully trust it, and I'd stop it if it got close enough for me to catch. Keep an eye on it, but... I don't think it's a priority." Makuro shrugs, not sure what else she can do about it.

She also smiles and says hello to everyone she meets, aware she's a particularly unusual individual, even for the Nexus.

[Rebonack]

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

Maybe there should be a division of VIGIL dedicated to that.

Chasing suspicious birds.

"Good enough. I think that's about everything?" Zee says. "Here, let me give you some contact information..."

Wenomir is then provided with the cell phone number for the flip-phone Hannah had given Zee some days prior!

"If anything comes up, feel free to give me a call," Zee suggests. "And I'll let you guys know if anything important comes up on any of the threats I'm monitoring."

And unless something more needs to be said? Well, that's when she'll be departing.

Mission accomplished!

[VIGIL Tour]

"Have you tried asking it to stop yet?" Lazuli offers. Then turns toward the bird, spreads her wings threateningly, and yells! "HEY! Hoopoe bird! Makuro wants you to stop following her!"

She feels like this is a very compelling case she's making here.

Surely the bird will be heedful of Makuro's desires as hollered by a young seraph.

[Shadowcaller]

[Commanders' Village]

"I'll be honest, I did not expect my reputation to precede me." Ithuriel remarks with a slightly surprised and flattered look. Who knew she was becoming such a well-known Intersection officer? "And I'm afraid I don't seem to have a lot of knowledge to draw on about you. The important bit is that you're one of the senior figures in VIGIL, which is, unfortunately, why I need to talk to you."

Ithuriel waves her clipboard weakly. "I...have the unfortunate job of raising a few issues with VIGIL's recent activities in support of Intersection."

[Commanders' Village]

"I like to keep myself informed, especially about our allies. We are on the same side, are we not?" Cessie replies, her eyebrows narrowing as the angel explained her purpose. "As I said, Intersection are besides HALO the only organization that really share our goals, which makes what you say even more concerning. Good relationships must be maintained, so what issues have our members caused? I'm already aware that discipline isn't what its supposed to be around here."

[Outside the Base]

A lot can happen.

Like the hydra going completely off-course as it trashes about. With a swoop of its wings, the vog suddenly start to clear a bit which reveals two things to Saint Laz:

First, that her club sword is right in front of her.
Second, that the failing hydra is heading right towards it and her.

Whoops.

Its head snaps its jaws blindly in the air tirelessly while its spiked tail swoops around wildly in every direction it can aim it. Continuously attacking everything that comes even close to it.
But at least it isn't heading towards Calm Reed anymore.

[UncleWolf]

Arrived

"Now ain't you a darlin' lil' Hoopoe?" Fleece coos to the bird, reaching out to offer her hand gently for the bird. "Dun' be afraid. An' why don't you show us what makes you special?" She asks. There's a fairly firm, but gentle, compulsion to do so. Instead of forcing things however, it was like asking a request in the sweetest, kindest, most heart-warming way possible.

"As fer makin' monsters stop attacking people, it varies from critter to beast. The more self-aware and truly talkative something is, the more they can decide not to, but they'll always give a lengthy pause when I ask them ever-so-nicely." Fleece points out with a smile

[Earl of Purple]

Arrived

The hoopoe does as bid, by trying to establish and maintain, for a few seconds, a psychic link between itself, Fleece and Cessie. For a few seconds, they'll see themselves from the bird's point of view- possibly a little disconcerting, as the hoopoe doesn't have binocular vision; its eyes are on the side of its head. Meanwhile, it is also looking out the eyes of Cessie and Fleece, but maintaining two external points of view is a little disconcerting which is why the hoopoe doesn't keep it up for long.

That done, the bird tilts its head at Fleece, but doesn't seem willing to get closer. It trusts her and knows she means no harm, but the fact it can't explain why it trusts her makes it suspicious.

Vigil Tour

The bird tilts its head to one side as Lapis demands it stop, before flapping off a short distance. It's not gone far- from one tree to another slightly further away. It will reach out, just slightly, trying to stroke its own perception across the outside of Lapis' mind, not trying to intrude on her thoughts, but just have a glance inside. Like peering through the window into somebody else's house, except Lapis may have closed the curtains or bricked the window up.

"I had not asked, no. I did not think it would work, and... It is further away now, but that does not mean it is no longer following me. I don't think it always follows me; I've lost track of it before, but it has always returned. I do not know where it goes, or why, or how it finds me again." Makuro can't remember a time- well, she can, a little, now- before the bird started following her. It's why she's so resigned to it.

[Rebonack]

[Vigil Tour]

Lazuli is scrutinized!

Seems kind of rude that the bird would be willing to peer closely at Zee's daughter but it wouldn't let Zee inspect it.

Regardless!

Lazuli has no thoughts. At least, none in the mystical sense that someone who has a soul might. There's no little homunculus inside her head pulling levers to make her move. She's spiritually void. In fact, one might even argue that she has a negative spiritual imprint. Not in the sense of 'bad vibes' but more in the sense that spiritual abstractions struggle in her proximity. She makes the world around her a little more concrete just by existing.

Weird.

She doesn't appear to be aware that the bird is examining her.

"Maybe it's done now?" Lazuli offers hopefully. "We should keep going, then we'll know if the bird is still following you or not!"

Apparently Lazuli is the type to experiment. She bounces around Makuro excitedly whilst waiting for the experiment to begin.

[Earl of Purple]

Vigil Tour

Well, now that's curious, the hoopoe thinks.

"That seems like a good idea. I hope it stays where it is." Makuro will stride off, before quickly slowing so Lazuli can catch up. She moves quick on her long legs- she's really tall, but as her torso isn't any bigger than a much smaller person's a lot of that is leg.

The hoopoe will follow, further away than before, keeping an eye on Lazuli, rather than Makuro.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Commanders' Village]

"I like to keep myself informed, especially about our allies. We are on the same side, are we not?" Cessie replies, her eyebrows narrowing as the angel explained her purpose. "As I said, Intersection are besides HALO the only organization that really share our goals, which makes what you say even more concerning. Good relationships must be maintained, so what issues have our members caused? I'm already aware that discipline isn't what its supposed to be around here."

[Commanders' Village]

"Well, one of your agents went to Intersection for a briefing first, as I'm sure you're aware. The nature of the threat we face is particularly dangerous, even to the hardiest of individuals." Ithuriel walks over to place the clipboard down on Cessie's desk. "And unfortunately, I think certain individuals amongst those sent by VIGIL are acting a bit too recklessly, considering the danger. A single bite can be lethal. That's all it takes. And as much of an aid to Intersection as VIGIL is, I'm sure you can see why I'd be concerned if they're endangering themselves unnecessarily. After all, if they were bitten, they could very easily become one of the enemy instead."

[Shadowcaller]

[Commanders' Village]

Cessie makes a circular gesture with her hand and a magma elemental forms right besides her, looking vaguely like the sorceress herself. It picks up the clipboard and shows it to Cessie who for some reason didn't feel like picking it up on her own power.
Looking at it, she slowly nods. "You can speak plainly here, sergeant. We both know who was sent to you. Miss Sunfletcher was approved by Wenomir, though from what I heard she argued that her shapeshifting made her immune to the bites and that she could use her talents to remove the disease from the afflicted. Should I have doubted her claims? There wasn't really any way I could verify them if I'm being honest." She raises an eyebrow at the angel, looking for a reaction.

[Rebonack]

[Vigil Tour]

Lazuli prances off behind Makuro, doing a pretty good job of keeping up. She's pretty fleet on her hooves, though considering her general body shape that probably shouldn't come as much of a shock.

Though, much to her dismay-

"The bird is still following us," she announces, several eyes fixed on the creature.

A pause as she thinks for a moment.

"But... maybe the bird is following me instead of you?" she suggests. "Let's split up real quick!"

And then she darts off to the side, headed away from the upper village and back toward commander's village.

If the bird follows her?

Well!

Then she'll know her request worked.

[Earl of Purple]

Vigil Tour

"Is it? Never mind, it was worth a try." But then Lapis bounds off and goes somewhere else. Makuro sighs and sits against the nearest wall as she watches Lapis romp off.

The hoopoe watches Lapis gallop off, before glancing at Makuro and flapping off to a different tree in sight of Lapis, staying a good few trees behind, pretending it's just a normal bird rather than the unusual animal it truly is.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Commanders' Village]

"Perhaps it takes being bitten to shake the overconfidence out of someone." Ithuriel sighs, rolling up her sleeve and walking over to Cessie, holding her arm out for inspection. There's some visible scarring and an off-colouring to the flesh around the area that matches with where Ithuriel had to slice off a chunk of her arm previously.

"Maybe shapeshifting works, maybe it doesn't. But what I can tell you is that, as an angel, I would not expect any simple disease to work on me. And yet my body had to fight desperately just to buy me enough time to cut away the afflicted area. And even then, it hasn't healed right. This is no ordinary disease and it is very careless of Miss Sunfletcher to assume her usual methods will work. Now, normally, I'd be just as careless. But it's a little bit different when, like I said, Intersection provided a briefing beforehand and it still seems to have been disregarded."

[Rebonack]

[Vigil Tour]

After pronking a considerable distance away (in her very small opinion, at least), Lapis whirls around and-!

"Ah HA!"

Points at the bird with one of her wings.

This wouldn't have had as much dramatic effect if the bird hadn't followed her.

She's kind of glad it did.

"So you're following ME now, huh?" she demands of the bird as she struts toward it, triumphant. "What's your deal, bird? Huh? What is it? I'm on to you!"

The young seraph does her best to give the bird a suspicious look. But since her countenance is almost completely inhuman, this might not translate well.

After staring the bird down for a good minute and a half, assuming it doesn't squawk regarding its nefarious intentions, she' romp back toward Makuro.

"Good news! The bird is following me now instead," she proudly announces. "My plan worked!"

[Earl of Purple]

Vigil Tour

"I know. I watched it fly off. It's a very strange bird. What are you going to do with it now?" Makuro says, standing up and stretching her overlong limbs. If the answer is 'ignore it and hope for the best', that was Makuro's plan too.

The hoopoe's nearby, watching and listening. It subtly inserts itself into Makuro's brain so it can access her senses for this conversation, since it's also curious as to Lapis' plan now the eye-dragon knows she's being followed.

[Shadowcaller]

[Commanders' Village]

Cessie leans back in her chair as if to put a distance between herself and the naked arm Ithuriel suddenly is displaying. But as Ithuriel explains she nods. "Right, safety should always come first." She leans forward again, folding her hands. "So what exactly did your report recommend beyond simple caution? Since I feel that's a word a lot of people here take too lightly. In particular, how would you recommend engaging these things as a melee fighter yourself? My talents does allow me to put as much distance between myself and others as possible if I wish to and I wouldn't engage these beings any differently. However, VIGIL has a lot of members that don't have the same capabilities." The sorceress strokes her chin. "Should I simply have them removed from this particular case?"

Arrived

"I see." Cessie remarks thoughtfully as she observes the little birds odd behavior.
She looks back to Fleece. "So how are you able to do this exactly? Are you a mage of some sort?"

[Lord Magtok]

Outside the Base

Spoiler

Show

[Outside the Base]

A lot can happen.

Like the hydra going completely off-course as it trashes about. With a swoop of its wings, the vog suddenly start to clear a bit which reveals two things to Saint Laz:

First, that her club sword is right in front of her.
Second, that the flailing hydra is heading right towards it and her.

Whoops.

Its head snaps its jaws blindly in the air tirelessly while its spiked tail swoops around wildly in every direction it can aim it. Continuously attacking everything that comes even close to it.
But at least it isn't heading towards Calm Reed anymore.

Well crap, that's not looking great. Saint Lazarus picks up her sword, blinks at the gargantuan beast, and quietly reminds herself not to get on Ms. Mithar's bad side, ever. She'd always assumed Cessie was more of an administrator than a fighter, someone capable of duking it out in the streets, but better off in an office setting, keeping this place running while the fighters ran all the missions and did all the hero work. If she can just casually summon a giant hydra monster, however...damn.

Never mind Jenette's false impressions right now, though. There's a much bigger issue at hand here, and that's the flailing hydra monster headed right for her. She may have to do something incredibly stupid again if she means to stop this beast. Just swinging her sword around isn't likely to do much to a thing of this size, after all. That's why she grips her sword with both hands, takes three steps to the left, and carefully times a jump right into one of the beast's hungry maws. Looks like she's going for an old-fashioned 'get swallowed and then carve the thing up from the inside' solution. Not the smartest idea, but technically speaking she's a braindead corpse who shouldn't even be capable of having ideas, so...

[Morty]

[Outside the Base]

Calm Reed picks herself up off the ground as quickly as she can, which is fairly quick, and heads straight back for the hydra. Moving with grim purpose, she intentionally slows down as she nears it, waiting for one of the heads to come at her. When it does, she jumps into the air and tries to deliver a two-fisted overhead strike to drive the head into the ground with tremendous force, then stomp on it to wedge it firmly in place.

[Rebonack]

[Vigil Tour]

Lapis looks at Makuro.

Then she looks at the bird.

Then she gives a little shrug.

"I was just going to wander around and let it follow me?" comes her glib reply. "If it does bad things then I'll gobble it up!"

Then she squints back at the bird.

"I don't think it's going to do bad things, though? I think maybe it's just curious."

A beat.

"Like me! Lookit that thing!" she declares, hunkering down low to peer at a woolly caterpillar squiggling its way across the path. "It's so tiny and fuzzy, I love it!"

[Earl of Purple]

Vigil Tour

"That seems... Fair." Makuro nods. The bird's a little worried, since it doesn't know what Lapis would categorise as a 'bad thing'.

"That's a caterpillar. If you let it be, it'll grow into a butterfly which is much prettier. Don't eat it, either. That fuzziness looks adorable, but it's also designed to make you vomit it up again so you don't eat another one. Also, even if you shaved it, it's still probably poisonous. Caterpillars really don't like being eaten." Most things don't like being eaten, but few go as far as caterpillars do in avoiding it.

[Shadowcaller]

[Outside the Base]

If Cessie would let the hydra eat Saint Laz, she would have pretty hardcore standards when it came to these tests.

However, she did not plan for them to jump into its jaws. The hydra was going to strike at Saint Laz like a battering as it seems to be slowly recovering from its blindness. However, the knight throws herself at it before it can even gain momentum. This will leave Saint Laz in a somewhat odd situation, she could either try go simply try to get her sword out and stab the head, or she could try to hold on for her dear life as she will manage to get a very got hold around the beasts jaws. Two huge snake-like eyes looking back at her in confusion, its nostrils blowing out vog in Laz's face.

The other two heads stare at Saint Laz as well, not really able to attack their own they seem to have to figure out a plan to deal with the strange woman clinging onto them.

This leaves Calm Reed unopposed as Laz seem to have managed to utterly confuse the hydra with her next level moves.

[Morty]

[Outside the Base]

With the hydra thoroughly distracted by St. Laz, Calm Reed has a clear way to her enemy. She's not sure if that's what the knight intended to do, but she won't deny its efficiency or hesitate to use it. She uses the neck of the head she just drove into the ground as a ramp to run up towards the hydra's torso, which she'll begin furiously pounding with hammering blows of her fists and feet.

[Rebonack]

[VIGIL Tour]

If we're being frank here, Lapis isn't totally clear about what she would consider 'bad things' either.

She's more or less making up everything as she goes.

"No eating caterpillars cuz they make you sick, got it," Lapis confirms while the insect larva wiggles its way into the grass.

"I might turn into something else when I grow up, too. If no one eats me," Lapis says as she begins trotting along the path again. "Maybe I should invest in cute fuzzies that make people sick?"

[Earl of Purple]

Vigil Tour

"Well... Nobody here is planning on eating you, so you should be safe. And I think you're large enough that most things would need more than one bite, if it did try. Larger spikes to impale mouths might be a better investment." At least, Makuro doesn't think anyone here is planning on eating Lapis. She isn't, Wenomir isn't, and... She's reasonably sure the hoopoe isn't.

The hoopoe follows along, and decides not to eat Lapis. Although Lapis probably doesn't have anything the hoopoe could easily eat, since Lapis is immune to most of the bird's abilities.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Commanders' Village]

Ithuriel shrugs uncertainly, "Unfortunately Intersection can't claim to be experts on fighting these things either. I suppose there is some blame to be had on our part for not being able to better advise VIGIL. I don't know if there is a solution for anyone reliant on getting up close in melee. You simply can't afford to be bitten. Uh, however-" Ithuriel pauses, seemingly having had a bit of a brainwave. She shifts a little closer, raising her arm. "You are quite a talented mage. The way this bite affected me - I have to imagine it's somehow magical in nature. I wonder if you could shed any light on it if you inspected it?"

[Rebonack]

[Vigil Tour]

Maybe less immune and more 'not applicable'.

Sort of like how a rock is going to typically be 'immune' to hypnotism.

Lapis considers spikes.

Briefly.

"But spikes get caught on things," she observes. "What if I need to crawl through one of the tiny trees?"

She gestures at a nearby shrub.

Shrubs. Enemies of antlers and spikes everywhere.

[Earl of Purple]

Vigil Tour

"Hedgehogs and porcupines have spines that point back, most of the time. Only bristling up and out when they're in trouble. That way, they don't get snagged on anything. But I think I'd have to find you a real one to show you, rather than just tell you about it. That... May be tricky." She's not sure if there's any up here, since they don't have wings. At least, she doesn't think they have wings, but a lot of this knowledge she can't remember learning, so... It's not wholly trustworthy.