[Text | Castle Push Sign-Ups!]

[heritrix]

( OOC: Backdated to June 7th. Also don't forget the OOC sign-ups! )

The following message can be found in two places: typed on the network and on a piece of paper posted on the bulletin board, written in bright ink so people might see it. The latter is actually up several hours before it hits the network, and only at all thanks to Chara's help, though Rin's optimistic she can handle it from here.]

ATTENTION!

Throughout the rest of the month, we will be making attempts to access further areas of the castle. I’m informed the last this was attempted was two months ago, meaning it’s high time to continue, yes?

Several potential paths have been scouted out, for moving forward. We plan to tackle these as four separate missions, to be carried out before the end of June. This is an ambitious goal, and the task ahead is significant. How successful our efforts will be is dependent on how many volunteers we receive and our teamwork. If you are eager to do something productive in this place, please consider joining us, but also keep in mind the following.

Conditions of Volunteering:

— The castle is full of puzzles. Reasonable thinkers and problem solvers will be appreciated.
— Combat is expected and will be unavoidable. Be prepared and willing to fight.
— Your endurance and athleticism may be tested. Consider how well you can keep up before volunteering.
— Healing, and evidently light-based abilities may be valuable to our mission. Please note if you have any skills in these areas.
— Behavior that puts others at risk or gets in the way of the task at hand will not be humored.
— MUST be able to cooperate with your fellow volunteers! That's regardless of differences, unless it violates the above rule. If you have a different problem with someone, stay behind or work with another team.

If you can agree to the above, the names of the team leaders for each excursion. They'll let you know when and where to meet. If your team leaders do a good job, be sure to commend them for their efforts along with the members of the scouting party, if you know who they are. It's thanks to them we can do this at all.

Team 1: Rin Tohsaka
Team 2: Nami
Team 3: Rob Edwards
Team 4: Zuko

Please contact Rin Tohsaka if you have further questions.

Comments

[heritrix]

[Aha, there you are. And whatever would make you think that, Shuda? It's not like she was just telling someone else you'd be included on her team whether you wanted to or not.]

You're late. I already marked you down.

[dancing_flames]

And here I went to all the trouble to respond. I could've left my phone in my pocket.

[What can he say, he's itching for some action. Peace and quiet has never really suited him.]

[heritrix]

[But then she would've just wound up at his door.]

If you try that when I call for you, your peace and quiet won't last long. I'm not wasting time with this first mission, so you can expect to hear from me soon.

[dancing_flames]

Can't call me if I throw it out a window.

[He won't.]

Not like you'll need to. I don't plan on wasting any time either - not when we're finally getting the chance to make some progress.

[heritrix]

[Rin might throw out hers tho. How can people stand to type so much on these things?? Ugh but it's necessary until she can come up with a replacement.]

And that's why you're on my team. I want someone as gung-ho as I am.

[Or one of the reasons, anyways. Truth is despite being her a little over a month now, there's not a lot of people she trusts to both fight alongside her, and maybe take her seriously. After the scouting mission yesterday... Well, it dropped her faith even in the handful of people she did feel comfortable with who weren't involved at all, Shuda included. So it's saying something he still has standing.]

[dancing_flames]

[Tell him about it. What's wrong with a good old-fashioned note or messenger pigeon? At least that way people can't bug you constantly.]

Good. I figured we'd be on the same page.

[Besides, she's the only person here who has any idea of just what he's capable of. If anything will be effective against the shadows, hopefully his fire will.]

[heritrix]

If you meet me later, we can hammer some strategies out.

[dancing_flames]

Sounds like a plan. When and where?

[heritrix]

The mess hall. We can move on from there.

[Not keen on handling all affairs there, but it's an easy place to meet.]

[dancing_flames]

I'll see you there.

[It's as good a place as any for the time being, and they can always move if they need to discuss something more private.]

Skipping ahead a little

[heritrix]

[AND SO THEY MET THERE. And indeed moved on right quick. The fresh air would be nice, but it'd be just their luck to get attacked the moment they left the safe areas or something, which isn't conductive to a strategy meeting. So Rin most likely has them roaming the halls looking for an empty room at the moment. Currently, she's finishing telling him who they have on their team so far, short a list as it is.]

...so like I said, Ken's young, but I think he can handle this. Not so sure about the pony, but that's exactly why I'm going to ask her.

[By her own rules, she feels obligated to give Littlepip a shot, anyways. She's not going to be accused of being a speciest. So they're a team of four so far, though she's not worried about getting more sign-ups. By the time they leave, they'll have Death and Obi-Wan.]

[dancing_flames]

[After dealing with Ruby and Plue and Bony, Shuda can't even find the idea of a pony that odd at all. As long as she isn't going to be a burden, far be it from him to complain. And who knows, maybe she'll turn out to be a magic user like Ruby. He's seen enough to know to never underestimate a non-human.]

If all else fails, she should at least be able to kick the shadows. That's better than nothing.

[Horses and ponies are good at that, right? Admittedly, he hasn't spent enough time around them to know what the typical pony is capable of.]

[heritrix]

Mm. It won't be as effective as light magic, apparently, but it's something.

[Punching and weapons can do some damage, but it won't really do the trick.]

[dancing_flames]

What about fire?

[He doesn't think he needs to explain why he's asking, not after he'd given her that small glimpse of what he can do.]

[heritrix]

[...]

It might work. A girl I met, she said her fire powers weren't as effective against it, but... [Well, she doesn't really know what happened in that Chandelier Hall, but the smell of fire and lighter fluid tends to linger.] I think it might have been effective for someone else.

I doubt it has to be pure light, at any rate. I can replicate the effects of a flash bomb, for example, using the concepts of flame magecraft. I was told that should be effective, so there has to be some balance there. it could be the brighter you can make it, the better.

[dancing_flames]

If a flash bomb is effective, then the light created by my explosions should work as well, even if the explosions themselves don't. As long as that works, I can focus on creating one large explosion rather than a bunch of small ones.

[Then, by way of explanation, he adds:]

I can control their size to a degree. What I showed you at the festival was an extremely small one.

[heritrix]

[The one at the festival seemed pretty impressive too, at the time. That he can control their size is interesting; she hadn't guessed that, though she had imagined he could control how much force was applied to it.]

That's well and good, but how likely are the rest of it to get caught in the crossfire?

[dancing_flames]

There's no danger of that at all as long as you don't go running right into one of them. I can target them at any point in space that I'm familiar with, meaning I can be as precise as I need to.

[heritrix]

[So it's both, then.]

That's some fine control. I'll admit that I'm impressed. [She nods.] You have my permission to use them as you see freely, then, to whatever extent you feel is warranted.