January 15th
"On one hand, this is not what I expected of my first job from you." Katsumi commented shakily as she clung to Yellow Rider atop Nearl. The New Wave did, in fact, contact Epopeia the very next day to invite her 'and anyone she was comfortable with bringing along' to a weekend dinner at one of their homes. Victoria, in turn, gave Outis a green light on making any kind of entrance she wanted, as long as it wasn't illegal.
And so, here they were, an Arian Wet Dream (as long as one was willing to overlook the wrong eye colour) and a Blue Asian, strutting down Lord Street. Through the
officially nicest looking part of Brockton Bay (as long as one considered 'well maintained Western urban sprawl' to be a measure of niceness) and pretty much an open Empire-held territory (the gang tags here were blatantly in the open, if not brazenly part of people's chosen front yard decor) atop big, golden horse.
"D'you think the skinheads gonna try something?" The oni woman asked as she observed the staring people passing them by as they rode by. More than a few with phones on their hands, of course. PHO was going to have something to chew on today.
The horse scoffed while Outis chuckled, shaking her head, "Some loose gangoons, maybe. Can never discount human stupidity. But reich bullyboys should be too busy prepping to bust out Hook and co to risk losing any more capes. So, really, at most we get some free entertainment."
"Never been here's all. Furthest south in the Bay I've been was PRT for power testing." Katsumi admitted. "Looks kinda boring, if you ask me."
"Docks're a hell of a lot more colourful, that's for sure. But I guess the suits need a comfortably milquetoast neighbourhood to themselves." Yellow Rider shrugged. Really, aside from the odd bit of old construction tucked slightly out of sight, it was the most forgettable urban sprawl she'd ever laid eyes on. Barcelona really had spoiled her when it came to architecture, she supposed.
A bit of looking good for the cameras later, they finally arrived at their destination, a pair of two story houses sitting on the opposite sides of the street, white facade with some blues and greens to them. A tall, blonde woman ([
Rider: Lady Photon] Da'at supplied) was accompanying Victoria and Amy on the (freshly mowed) lawn of one of them.
[Lady Photon Bond level raised to 1]
Lady Photon and Amy both were staring quite hard at Nearl (who preened at the looks, the smug shit), even if the former managed to make it look subtler, closer to examining Yellow Rider and Kanabo. Victoria just shook her head with a grin as she approached them.
"Lo and behold, she really is determined to have that title of Open Dater. Name pending." The younger blonde laughed, gesturing grandly.
"I don't back down from a challenge." Mustard girl chuckled, a pat on her mount's neck having the big lug lower himself to make it easier on the oni.
"Didn't take you for a damsel, Kanabo." Victoria teased, a hand on her hip.
"Who the fu-hell rides a horse in this day and age for a hobby?" The Asian parahuman shook her head as she hopped off from her side saddle position.
"Aunt Sarah." Victoria answered
immediately, pointing back at Lady Photon.
Kanabo blinked. "Huh. Objection withdrawn, I guess."
Nearl managed an eminently smug snort despite being a horse. Outis, for her own part, let her kettle helmet dissolve into motes of light together with her scarf and dismounted with the smooth ease of someone who had done this their whole life. Riding E woo.
"I brought gifts, too~!" Yellow Rider all but sang, mustard eyes glinting with mischief as she pulled a pair of fancy scroll cases from the saddlebags. Wall scroll size. She'd carved and lacquered the wood herself, too, just to see how far Violet Caster's arts and crafts went.
The floppy hat had yet to lose.
"Thank you, Epopeia." Lady Photon accepted both with a smile. "You didn't need to, you realise?"
"Hey, if you've got a hobby, may as well put it to use livening things up." Outis grinned with a roll of her shoulders, pleased as punch and not giving a damn about hiding it. Having your work appreciated was always nice, couldn't wait to see their reactions. "The one with the bismuth pattern is for your house, the other is for the Dallons."
The adult parahuman nodded again before turning to Katsumi. "And Kanabo. A surprise to see you, but a welcome one."
"Epo wanted that plus one and Bathory is definitively against getting actively involved in cape business." The white-haired oni shrugged, while also confirming to the New Wave she has definitely been hanging around a new social group since the concert. "And Parian is more of Bathory's sidekick than with Epopeia."
"Business tends to be a full time commitment if you want to make it big." Lady Photon agreed. "Now, enough standing around in the cold, let's get inside… Will your ride be fine, Epopeia?"
The horse huffed, flicking an ear dismissively at the same time his rider flashed a thumbs up, belatedly astralizing her gloves with a little shake of her hands, "Yeah, Nearl knows what he's doing."
"You certainly have a good bond with it." Lady Photon commented. "Excellently cared for, too."
"Great friend. Speaking of–" Outis looked over her shoulder at her mount, arching an eyebrow the same unnatural mustard yellow as her eyelashes, "I don't need to tell you not to chuck passing skinheads at the very nice houses and fencing, do I?"
The big lug had the temerity of rolling his eyes at her before shoving her towards the house with his snout. Sneaky bastard pulled her gambeson jacket away in the same motion, too.
"Oi! I know not to wear a jacket indoors, you ass!" Yellow Rider grumbled without any heat, playfully smacking Nearl on the neck even as he tucked the quilted cloth into his saddle bags. Damn Phantasmals and their nonsense grippy teeth. At least her underlayer looked formal enough, riding pants of cream calfskin, an old fashioned blouse the same colour and a leather vest of sorts thrown overtop. Technically armour but it should pass muster.
"I know but have the excuse of it being my unofficial official costume." Kanabo cheerfully thumbed her own jacket. "The only allowance it gets is for seasons."
"That much is true." Victoria whispered conspiratorially to Outis. "The moment it gets above 50F, she shows off her stomach."
"I will assume that's twenty degrees in civilised units." The spellcaster snorted, a wry grin tugging at her lips, "I'd tinker up something to keep her cool, but her fans would rip me to shreds."
"Most of them are more familiar with my
Homerun outfit." Katsumi shrugged. "If you could whip something out to keep me warm, that'd be appreciated. I like my summer variant better and at least I won't have to slap anyone for asking to be called 'Master'."
That definitely wouldn't get awkward once Outis' Servants started speaking more freely around the oni, nope. Also, goddamn, now she REALLY couldn't manifest Berserker. Sealed Mad Enhancement or not, that'd be a disaster.
"Perils of any kind of success as a female parahuman." Lady Photon sighed as she led them all inside the house, into the spacious guest room with a table loaded with food and drinks. The rest of New Wave was already gathered, in partial costumes, the women all blondes and a younger, teenage boy with blue hair, with Lady Photon's side of the family distinguished by their green eyes. Both of the adult men had black hair, although one was tall, easily seven feet, powerfully built while the other was slimmer and quite youthful in his looks.
[S
aber: Brandish] [
Archer: Flashbang] [
Caster: Manpower] [
Rider: Shielder; very funny and definitely will not get confusing, Master]
[Rider: Laserdream] Da'at rattled out quickly before the room's attention could fully focus on them.
Outis knew, intellectually, that it was a big family. But fuck if having that many similar faces in a single dining room didn't bring flashbacks of christmas dinners. Blessedly, there were no crotch goblins running around underfoot and screeching, and she rather doubted any of the adults were half-deaf and stuck between 'loud' and 'louder' given Amy was
right there.
Whether things would get loud anyways, however, was to be seen.
"Hello!" Outis greeted without missing a beat, a wide smile on her face as she channelled Liz's cheer for a moment to get her through the initial awkwardness. Really, hanging around with the Countess of Csejte and the Napoleon of Crime on the daily had a way of sanding away that little voice in her head whispering
'too many new people, you don't belong here'. If she could be casual with them, she could take a few superheroes in stride.
"Ah, the lady of the evening, welcome." Flashbang greeted her with a small smile and offered a hand to shake, which the mustard blonde took without hesitation. It was weird to have to crane her head up so much, but she better get used to it before she summoned one of the big boys like Asterios. "And while I'm sure Sarah already expressed the sentiment, it's good to see you as well, Kanabo."
Katsumi just shrugged as she moved around to accept high-five from Laserdream. "Things changed between last time and now. Lookin' good, Crystal." The small interaction did earn at least Laserdream a sour look from Brandish.
"I see Victoria managed to get everyone onboard with her running joke. Not that I didn't play into it myself." Outis chuckled as she eyed the distinctly Asian spread of stir fry dishes and roast duck. "Kudos to the cook for including garlic honey chicken, though, it's been years since I had any, smells great."
"Joke?" Crystal asked in some confusion.
"Your cousin decided Epo is aiming for getting some sort of a date with every open cape in the city." Kanabo grunted. "Which this sort of qualifies. But nah, Crystal is just an even bigger social butterfly than Glory Girl." She nodded at unabashedly grinning Victoria.
"Besides our previous offer of joining up, Kanabo has been something of a mascot for Batters' junior league, since she could no longer be their star player after her trigger." Flashbang explained. "And since most of our kids played at one point or another, they know her." Having said that, he motioned at Outis and Katsumi to take their seats.
"And I thank you for the compliment." Lady Photon added. "Even if it's not exactly the most challenging dish."
"Haha, yeah, it's not the sort of stuff they tend to put on restaurants. Got a soft spot for it from when I moved out and had to start cooking for myself." Yellow Rider chuckled, before mock-whispering conspiratorially, "After I got through the teenage phase of thinking I could live off of doctor sausage, bread and instant noodles and was a genius for saving money like that, anyways. Because some multivitamins at the end of the day
definitely compensates for that sort of diet, yes sir."
To her side, Amy visibly twitched, shooting her a dour look, but otherwise kept quiet. Lady Photon, on the other hand, had no reservations against speaking up, even if in a much lighter tone.
"Pffft! I think that's all of us who went through university life. Brings back memories, doesn't it, Carol?"
"Not of us directly, no. Alan and Daniel, on the other hand,
were the sort of dumbasses to do that. These two would be down with something at this point if Annette wasn't there to make sure they ate
something healthy every now and then." Brandish deadpanned.
"Good times, good times. Easier ones." Lady Photon sighed.
"Those sure are words to use for a lighthearted dinner, mom." Crystal chuckled.
"Just so Amy stops glaring death at me, I shifted to stir fry within half a year. Especially this weird take on potato hash loaded with ground meat and whatever other veggies I could slip in on top of a bunch of herbs and paprika." Outis snorted, shaking her head, "At least that last one prepared me for living with Elizabeth, if it doesn't glow red it isn't fit for Hungarian consumption, apparently. What did she say last time we ate out… ah, right,
'If it can't rearrange your guts, are you really offering spicy seasonings?'."
"Perhaps it is for the better that girl decided against a cape career." Brandish sighed as she shook her head. "The way her powers manifested, with that kind of name, that's just implications layered on top of each other."
"I didn't get to speak too much with her on Sunday, but she didn't seem bad." Victoria commented, waving her fork around. "A bit of a scatterbrain outside of singing, sure, but just a normal teen otherwise."
"You can't trust surface appearances and familiarity like that, Victoria. Now, I'm not saying she
is a bad sort, our firm was involved alongside PRT with greenlighting her so I know she is, at the very least, more orderly than many, but the truth of these matters tends to peek through in patterns." Brandish reasoned, turning
ever so slightly towards Amy, sitting at Outis' other side. Which, to an unaware eye, might've looked like she was focusing on Outis. The brunette either didn't notice, or, to her credit, managed to not react.
"Thank you for that stellar example of tact with our guest, Carol." Lady Photon chastised her sister dryly before giving Outis an apologetic look. "Forgive my sister, Epopeia. She tends to look underneath the underneath in a rather pessimistic manner everywhere she can. I hope it's not an… insurmountable obstacle for any potential cooperation between us?"
"Photon Mom has it right, Brandish isn't exactly their primary face for a reason." Katsumi leaned over Outis to whisper her comment, even as she gave the woman a cheeky grin and a wave.
Thankfully, while she was no Moriarty, the Master of Cards knew how to keep a poker face. Besides, it was all too easy to shift to fondness thinking of the little idol that could, "Oh, Elizabeth knows exactly what she is doing, she can trace her lineage all the way back to Vitus Báthory and wants to turn the family name around. So people think cute dragoness instead of vampiric murderess when they hear it."
Moriarty
had definitely rubbed off on her, though. It was just too fun to play with people like this.
"I wish her luck. Even starting from a neutral reputation can be hard, nevermind what she will face." Photon Lady answered with a smile, although it was rather obvious the woman had little idea about intricacies of European folklore, let alone obscure national trivia. All the better, since as far as historians knew, Vitus was a made up mythological figure. Thankfully, it could easily be taken as a figure of speech even if they did bother researching the man.
"Still, even if she is currently riding a wave of positive attention, being associated with someone with such an… unfortunate stigma might not be the optimal choice for a more heroically minded individual." Brandish edged in.
"C'mon, Brandish, I can understand me, but you've gotta play devil's advocate for Epo too?" Katsumi snorted as she leaned back in her seat.
"It is looking bad on you, dear." Flashbang added, slowly putting his hand on his wife's shoulder. Lady Photon, on her part, let the words fly.
"It'd be a sad, grey world if we couldn't take pride in our roots the moment someone fouls up the well. God knows I'm not letting the Yangban or China's chequered past as a whole keep me from enjoying my cultural heritage there." Outis chuckled softly, shaking her head. Then that crooked grin of hers came back in full as she locked eyes with Brandish, "By the by, I have a feeling you will appreciate the painting I made for your household once you look up the chinese Fuma's story."
Had to specify, she'd be confused if wikipedia turned up Fūma Kotarō. She wondered if that sweetheart would come along, they were lacking in Assassins and could stand to make the castle more defensible.
"Always something for a trivia night." Flashbang joked with a weak smile, even as she shot his wife a look.
"Taking pride in one's history is a nice sentiment when there's centuries to help muddy the waters." Brandish snorted, her gaze firmly fixed on Epopeia. "But the shorter term often shows which one's blood tends to
really flow."
"I feel like I'm missing a puzzle piece that would make this whole debate make much more sense. Possibly make it funny as hell, too." Katsumi commented, cleaning her teeth with a skewer. There was a subtle inclination she had a case of restless legs under the table, and if Pelham kids' subtler reactions were anything to go by, the Asian was definitely enjoying herself at the dinner.
Good on her, Outis was having the time of her life on her own end too, "The water of the womb is thinner than the blood of the covenant." She retorted immediately, unfurling her hand dismissively with a practised roll of her wrist, "Even if there are genetic factors like the warrior gene making someone more predisposed towards aggression, our circumstances and how we tackle them make us who we are. Of course, some people can be clinically insane and that absolves them of agency and responsibility for their actions, but arguing that you couldn't help but be a mass murdering scumfuck because so was your mother is hardly an excuse. Even if you somehow have a murder urge like a tiger, you can just join a PMC or whoever else will let you legally shoot people."
Anyone could tell Amy was adopted, Outis also knew thanks to Victoria and obvious context clues that Brandish was abusing the girl. Now she was digging
all sorts of juicy data on the why with this impromptu debate. Especially considering the Brockton Bay Brigade's history and New Wave's motto of accountability. Nevermind how these sorts of parahumans tended to work, how below their notice the common person was that they were shocked when one of them was shot, they wouldn't have taken in a random gangbanger's kid after busting them.
Moriarty was getting a live feed and he had yet to stop laughing. He had just sent her back an image of Marquis and what would you know, Italian tan skin and brown curly hair, same as Amy.
It wasn't hard proof, but she could smell blood in the water.
[Panacea Bond Level 3]
Brandish just snorted derisively. "Entertaining these kinds of impulses will never end well, for anyone involved. I won't say that these kinds of people need to be constantly monitored, I'm not advocating that kind of authoritarian measures, but they need to know that as long as they are part of the society, they must respect its rules.
Or else. Sometimes, the threat of consequences keeps them in line well enough. Other times… well, the Empire had six years of unopposed reign and look where that got us."
"Mom, that's getting a little bit…" Victoria piped up quietly, pausing as Brandish held up her hand.
"No, I'm against this whole deal in the first place, so best she knows my full opinion on the matters. Better there be no misunderstanding on our opinions regarding how things should be."
Well. She couldn't just
not when given that sort of lead in. It was a true struggle to keep the whole of her professional, face and voice perfectly schooled, because she wanted nothing but to laugh like a
hyena. "Then on behalf of Oratorio, I thank you for your honesty. It is important to know how another team conducts itself if one expects to conduct joint operations with them. Ah, that reminds me."
With those four magic words, she dismissed Brandish entirely, mustard yellow eyes focusing on Amy. "We will need to call the hospital about a slight adjustment to the licensing test. One of my coworkers will be arriving soon and we may as well do it in one go. We can hash out the details later, maybe at my team's HQ?"
"I… ah, errr… yes. Yes, of course." In the silence that followed, poor Amy was caught rather flatfooted by the declaration. A quick look around revealed that while Lady Photon had a disappointed look on her face, she also seemed to not be particularly surprised. Flashbang seemed to be calmly resigned to it, mostly focused on gauging his daughters' reactions instead. Manpower… seemed to be the only one besides Brandish actually caught off-guard by the announcement.
To her credit, Crystal flashed her a thumbs-up and a rather shaky smile while Shielder… alright, Shielder seemed to still be distracted by Katsumi. That or he was willingly focused on whatever the older Asian girl was doing than the conversation. That woman was really an oni.
[Lady Photon Bond Level 2][Manpower Bond Level 1] [Brandish Nemesis Bond Level 1] [Flashbang Bond Level 2] [Laserdream Bond Level 2] ['Shielder' Bond Level 1] [Glory Girl Bond Level 3] [James Moriarty Bond Level 3]
A neigh like a plane taking off rumbled from outside, courtesy of a little telepathic nudge. A bit rude to interrupt Katsumi's fun, but. "I believe that's our call, thank you for the food and your time, it was a lovely dinner. Amy, Vicky, you're invited to the HQ anytime, and I think Kanabo has already made her invitations clear."
"I have learned some fun, funny things tonight." Katsumi commented idly as they made their way through Downtown back North. "Which is more than I managed the last time I dined and dashed New Wave."
"I'm really wondering the details of you and Wave, but it's probably going to be funnier to just tease it out of Amy." Yellow Rider chuckled, throwing up a victory sign at one of the randos taking photos and videos of them.
"Besides the fact Photon Mom acts like a prime Christmas Cake near any unattached guys whenever independent parahumans are involved?" The oni snarked.
"Fun fact, I technically qualify! Twenty-five years old chronologically." Outis chuckled. She was technically single too, since Liz hadn't made a move beyond sharing a bed when she wasn't busy with Sabah. "Although body's twenty-one on the dot according to Amy."
"Neat." The Asian bopped her head. "'sides, just like Mark said, me'n Crystal were pretty much the aces of the female junior division for the Batters, before our triggers, so we sorta know each other fairly well. Not quite the same social circles, I'm not exactly that kind of money." Katsumi snorted before continuing. "But… another fun fact. Notice how Eric, that's the runt, dyes his hair?"
"Hard to miss." The Rider said as she brought Nearl to a stop at a red light, the horse snorting at the looks the trucker to their left and family of five to the right were giving them. Really, the guy looked like a scrawnier Cu.
"Crystal likes her guys with dyed hair." Katsumi stated in a hushed tone. "And she did begin paying more attention to the runt since he started."
"Pffft, well, good on them wherever they're heading with it." Couldn't exactly out and out say 'I'm cool with incest' in public, but. She'd just keep in mind she may have to bonk them and remind them that Amy and Violet Caster could sort any genetic issues therein if they wanted to try for kids. Which was literally the only issue with incest so long as everyone was adult about it.
…Teen parahumans, right. Well, they were siblings so things getting messy would be nothing unexpected, at least. Besides, Vicky was enough of a social spec to sniff it out and sort it. Outis would have her hands full enough managing Servants and parahumans as it was, not really her problem unless they joined the team or started doing a fuck of a lot of joint ops.
"Just want to say, never quite expected a family where that occurred naturally to be the sane one. Even if most of the dysfunction on the other side seems to be on Brandish."
"Plus ultra definitely seems to be her motto when it comes to baggage. Good thing they have enough money to buy a whole warehouse." Outis snorted, her mount turning on a dime to take a tight turn… only to see a big ol clump of unmoving cars courtesy of someone having rammed into a street light. "Ugh. Right, hold on tight for a bit." Katsumi wasted absolutely no time clinging tight to Outis' back, squeezing her stomach almost a little too hard in her embrace.
Which was the correct response because a little nudge of her heels and Nearl had leapt all the way to the closest rooftop. The big lug didn't even stumble before kicking into a gallop that'd make a motorcycle green with envy and jumping to the next.
[Panacea Bond Level 4]
"That was… how did you get here before us?" Katsumi asked incredulously as she stared at the fidgeting Amy sitting at the head table of Cjeste's great hall, Victoria sitting
on said table with crossed legs as she scratched her sister's head. The blonde just shot her a wry grin.
"I can fly. Makes travel easier, especially since you didn't look to be in a particular hurry."
"With each passing day, the urge to cobble together a jet-broom for Violet Caster grows." Outis deadpanned, letting Yellow Rider slough off of her a moment after Nearl told her he was done inhaling a watermelon. Ah, right, she hadn't given her name to Amy yet, had she? "Outis Karas." She introduced herself, before catching sight of a familiar Wraith, "Ah, Bernadett, please get two guest rooms prepared just in case."
Moriarty, the manipulative old coot, had arranged for her to be the one to make the request in front of them. It was nice having coworkers like this.
[
Quest Complete: Equivalent Exchange]
[Panacea Bond Levels… increased]
[
Guaranteed Servant Card: Berserker: Florence Nightingale]
[
Parasite Eve Progress: 1/???]
[Parasite Eve Lore Dump will wait until you deem yourself ready.]
'Much appreciated, Da'at. Please get started on sealing the good nurse's ME.'
Fucking Mad Enhancement EX. She wouldn't stand for that beast of a woman being trapped in lalaland. At least Da'at had reported a successful seal on the other Berserker's ME EX, which was far more personality warping, so it should be fine. Pity she couldn't use that one with Kanabo around, but that Personal Skill…
"I… thank you. For doing this… for me." Amy gave a very,
very shaky smile, her face still somewhat pale even with her skin tone. Just like that, Outis was fully grounded in the present again.
"I told you, didn't I? I may not be a paragon of morality, but I'm not going to walk by as someone bleeds out." The representative of Alaya replied with a wink and one of those crooked grins of hers. "And that'd be for a stranger, you're a friend. I'm sorry to say, but you're stuck with me."
"Oh nooooo, hear that, Ames? Stuck here with all these pretty girls who are openly gay. Whatever will you do~?" Victoria teased as she grabbed Amy and pulled her into a hug against her chest. Brunette tried to flail herself free, what bits of her face visible sporting a nuclear blush.
"Ah, so you've stumbled on Parian being completely whipped." Katsumi shook her head. "Now, to ruin the good vibes, Brandish Mc-fuckin'-sploded, I take it?"
The sisters stilled a bit at the question, with the grin slipping from Victoria's face as the hug she was giving Amy turned just a little more protective. "Well, our main issue is… mostly out in the open now, at the very least. Dad and aunt Sarah are trying to do damage control, buuuut… yeah, I'm gonna spend the weekend with you lot, if that's okay."
"Elizabeth said on the topic, and I quote,
'Pretty girls... nice'" Outis could actually do a really good impression of Liz's voice. Maybe it was because she'd Installed her before? "Granted, she was a bit blissed out at the time but she isn't about to renegue on it."
"Awesome. Imma take Ames and tuck her in. It has been… draining." Victoria nodded as she slid off the table, still holding her sister, and unsurely nodded at the Wraith, which did turn around to lead the sisters deeper into the castle, after collecting Amy's small baggage.
"Soooo… we totally poached New Wave's healer, didn't we?" Katsumi asked, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Just wait until Nightingale gets here. She may not be able to heal your everything with a boop on the nose, but there's even chances she's getting a provisional white licence like Amy's." Outis snorted, settling herself in her usual seat, "Should be here sometime in the evening or tomorrow morning."
"Right, I'm gonna settle in for the night then, don't really feel like burning hours of the night waiting for her to show up when I can be rested and in top form when she finally comes. Don't stay too long either, boss. We're gonna have two health professionals hounding us after all." Katsumi nodded and bumped Outis on the arm before moving back to the living quarters where she had a guest room already arranged for when she felt like staying over.
They weren't the largest thing in the world, a small castle like this used one size fits all. Just had servants share spartan rooms while guests would have a personal room set up with furniture according to their station. Thankfully, they had plenty of fancy furnishings from later renovations the castle'd gotten.
[Sealing of Miss Nightingale's Mad Enhancement finished.]
[EX-ranked skills in general are a bit tricky when the rank doesn't refer to simple power scaling.]
[As a trivia, it would've been more appropriate for Mad Enhancement of this rank to instead be Mental Pollution.]
[Except it actually confers physical benefits.]
'It is still nonsense that she was stuck with Mad Enhancement at all
instead of Bravery, but I suppose the Human Order will be its idiosyncratic, biassed self.' Outis sighed, shaking her head, the motion rippling out as he stretched out into his other base form. He knew what the historical Florence Nightingale was like, best to greet her like this.
Also, she may bully him into helping set up shop together with the Wraiths, so better to have long limbs.
Outis'd had the presence of mind to get some work done in advance as the afternoon dragged on, clearing up one of the larger storage rooms on the ground level with the Wraiths. Unlike the guest rooms, it wasn't like they were using these for much other than spare furniture, which was quietly moved…
downstairs. THAT area would be used even less, after all, especially after they nicked some useful tools from it. So they had plenty of room to expand if Nightingale wanted, whether by knocking down the walls to adjacent storage rooms outright or just putting doors connecting them directly. Beyond that it was just a matter of putting the obvious necessities like beds, dividers, tables and shelves. While the staff handled most of that, Violet Caster set down some magic sanitation. A few Bounded Fields to ensure air purification and circulation, some transmutation to render the rough stone into watertight and easy to clean tiles, that sort of stuff.
It would be rude to sign on a military nurse without anything resembling appropriate facilities. She may still decide the place wasn't appropriate and needed either relocation or further work, which he would definitely get bullied into, but ah well. At least it'd make a good impression.
He let Violet Caster slough off of him and flicked the card of the most notorious nurse in history to the centre of the floor. The circle manifested, the orbs of white began their dance turning rainbow before a pillar of pale blue-green lit up Cjeste's impromptu infirmary.
[I know the summoning is somewhat personalised to each Servant but that's still… new.]
Instead of dispersing, the pillar of light first coalesced into a giant, featureless spectre of a nurse before shrinking down to an inch or two shorter than Outis' male form. The lightshow then faded in a ripple-like effect which left the glow on the woman's back for the last. Then, it faded completely and
Nightingale opened her red eyes, giving Outis a curt nod before silently proceeding to inspect her surroundings with an intensity to her gaze. Red uniform sharp as a scalpel and desaturated pink hair tied into an impeccable braid.
[Florence Nightingale Bond Level 1 gained]
"I see Miss Elizabeth has already set up. Good work on making the hospital area within her residence… acceptable." She eventually stated, ignoring Da'at completely as she crossed her arms under her, frankly impressive, bust. "Basic, all things considered, but that can be remedied via acquisition of necessary equipment once a professional finishes preparing the full inventory. Until then, I will do my best to use my abilities as a Servant to contribute to saving lives."
"Glad to have you onboard, Miss Nightingale." Outis replied, crossing a single arm over his chest so the palm would touch the collarbone. It felt appropriate. "Professor Moriarty is handling the strategic front, we can discuss logistics with him tomorrow. I'm sure he will have some interesting ideas on supply acquisition."
"Doubtlessly of questionable legality and furthering at least one of his schemes." Nightingale commented dryly, allowing the smallest upwards twitch of her lips. "Not an addiction that can be easily treated. Come and sit, Master, standing in one place while discussion happens isn't particularly healthy. You can fill me in on my expected patients before I call them in for a physical check-up in the coming days."
"But of course." The Master of Guf replied to all of the above, taking a seat and quietly patting himself on the back for having remembered to include a proper desk for consults and assorted paperwork while setting up the room. "Da'at, pull up your files if you'd please, they'll make a good starting point."
[Based on past familiarity, I believe it would be most expedient to begin with our parahuman component.]
[Panacea ought to be of particular interest to the Head Nurse.]
[Especially since I have a lot of data acquired over the course of Equivalent Exchange that wasn't particularly pertinent to Master just yet.]
[Note the presence of additional brain growths. These are, despite appearances, not tumours and instead…]
Nightingale listened intently to the disembodied voice in their minds, having pulled a notebook and a pen from one of her pouches and already writing the information down.
As Always, big thanks to Xanah, Unknown B, Penguino, JoJoDio, Shirou0Emiya, Bowchikabowow. MetaWorld42, nununu, Just Some Guy With A Mustage, Ermast, Helios, Joshua Littlesun, [TEE],PlatiNom, Jose Matos, Soulsmsher, Altaibaatar, Ian DeHart, Brigand, Starfall 20 and ลิงติดเกม จากป่าดิบชื้นแถบอเมริกาใต้, saganatsu and Gabriel, who decided my writing is actually worth paying for.
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