Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

The pickpocket seems to freak out a little, quickly wiping the spilt liquid off of their body; though closing the cloak around them to wipe it off in the process. They then look around to see what caused their bottle to break, and Ihra feels a rush of fear and adrenaline for a split second as their red eye seems to look right into her soul as it turns to her.


Stephanie casts a spell to lighten Maralune in attempt to help her walk, though takes out a small phial of dark blue liquid from her pocket and downs it afterward; wincing a bit as if responding to something sour.

"It seems like they care about you a lot." Stephanie comments.

 

"Wrong one." Iris whispers from directly behind the figure, grinning.


It doesn't seem to help much, though it does make her walking look less troubled.
"I am their matriarch. It makes sense, though I am not used to commanding respect from the raptor tribes or the kingdom. They see me as a queen, as elderly and unfit as I've become." She says, reminiscent.

 

A hasty spell seems to swap Iris and the pickpocket's positions as they grab their telescope and bolt toward the palace, using their telescope to look at the top of the wall surrounding it.

Tiril seems rather afraid as the pickpocket leaves the cover of the bushes, pointing them out to Ihra.


"Did you ever have a king with you?" Stephanie asks with a kind tone.

 

The spell warps nothing, though Iris lazily tries to trip them as they bolt.
”My sister will handle it...” Ihra sighs.


“No, we’ve never had a king.”

 

“Normal is what gets billions and billions of people through life.”

 

Iris partially succeeds, though they dive into a roll to keep moving. They aim for the outer palace wall, though seem to take an arcing route to avoid being seen by the guards at the gate.

"Y-You have a sister?" Tiril asks shakily.


"How were you chosen as queen?" Stephanie asks, curious.

 

Iris fires a few bolts that fizzle out near the guards.
“Get a load of this idiot!” Iris shouts, intentionally super loud as she dives forward to cut off their path.

“She’s my opposite. I create things, she destroys.”


“Bloodline. My mother wasn’t a terribly popular matriarch, though... my people had no reason to give me the chance they did, I’m only happy I failed to disappoint.”

“Normal also seems different between towns.”

 

The guards immediately notice, more rushing to the wall the pickpocket was planning to climb and filling the gap. The pickpocket stops in their tracks as Iris dives forward. Iris feels an arrow fly past her head as it buries itself in the pickpocket's shoulder as they're left open by standing still. The force of the arrow is enough to knock the pickpocket off-balance, stumbling back a little before overcorrecting; the weight of their momentum causing them to stumble forward onto a knee. On their knee, the pickpocket exposes their head to the archers on the wall and an arrow flies straight for the pickpocket's head. However, before the fatal blow can connect, a spherical magic shield surrounds the pickpocket; arrow bouncing off harmlessly. The pickpocket collapses inside the shield, and begins rolling down the hill - unconscious.

"A-Anything?" Tiril asks, seeming more scared of Iris than the pickpocket.


"Why wasn't she very popular?" Stephanie asks, though dubious as to whether or not she should keep asking questions.

 

Iris stops them with a barrier.
“They’ve done this act before, coming to after they think nobody’s looking. Mind taking it from here?” She asks the guards.

“You catch on fast.” Ihra nods.


“Same reason any other leader might not be appreciated. Overused executions, putting themselves above the laws, and so forth.”

 

A couple of guards head out from the gates, archers going back to their original lookout positions.

"The palace thanks you for your service. They likely spent the last of their usable magic in a last-ditch effort to get away in their spherical shield. Had you not stopped them, they might've actually succeeded." One guard explains.

"They seem to have stolen the king's personal cloak. Who knows what else they were after." The other guard says, bringing back his large hammer and slamming it against the shield. He ends up cracking it only slightly, but burying it in the ground a little.

"S-So she could d-destroy a w-whole planet i-if she wanted?" Tiril asks, terrified.


"Well, from my experience with you I can see why they'd be so much more appreciative to have you as queen over her." Stephanie compliments.

 

"No, I'm guessing they off themselves and then take another soul to reinvigorate themselves, but that's just a hunch. Don't handle whoever it is alone." Iris says, turning to leave.

"Yes, but she won't. We don't just do stuff because we can."


"No, I... I really haven't done much. I-I mean, there isn't much that I can do, but still..."


A human in casual clothes with a grey jacket wrapped around their waist and a dragonling on their right shoulder walks up to any nearby guardian by the arcade.
"Excuse me? Would this be the... what was it called... 'Bit-Crush Cano'?"

 

"They don't look like the undead type, but with the king's cloak anything would be concealed." The guard says, turning to look at the passed-out pickpocket. The other guard keeps bashing the shield, digging it deeper but slowly cracking it.

"I...suppose gods would need to be responsible." Tiril says more to himself, calming down.


"Not doing something is just as good though, isn't it?" Stephanie asks with a smile.


"What's it to you?" A fire guardian asks, sneering, "Did you steal that dragon? Those are an endangered species, you know."

The human seems to gain quite a bit of negative attention around the arcade.

 

"I'll leave it to you, then." She says, walking off.

"Everything'd be a wreck otherwise." Ihra chuckles.


"Not when there's an endless of things needing to be done, no."


"I've heard it was a good arcade. I'm the best around my hometown, so I figured I'd go see how good people are at games here." They respond. "As for the dragon, it'd be ripping my face off if I stole it."
The dragonling hisses at the guardian, though it's more cute than intimidating.
"Evion, don't hiss at the nice guardian." The human says sternly, making eye contact with the dragonling, before sighing and turning back to the guardian.

 

The guards eventually pop the bubble, though not before the one previously speaking to Iris notices Ihra.

"Lady Ihra, we weren't expecting you back here so soon. This thief didn't cause you and your companion any trouble, did they?" The guard asks, sounding worried.


Stephanie pauses a bit, smile turning a little awkward.

"Well, hopefully I can help you out on some of those things!" Stephanie says hastily, offering a more confident smile.


"Oh, really? Well step right on in! Play all the games you want! Want me to get you infinite credits and a free burger while I'm at it?" The fire guardian says mockingly, "Go exchange your dirty human cash at the desk. You might be good at games in your smog-spewing concrete viruses of cities, but you ain't shit here kid. Don't make me have to get the manager to scrub your name off the 100th place."

The fire guardian leaves with a withering look, heading further in to the arcade.

 

"No, though I'd prefer you worry about them than what little they could have done to me."


"I know you're just trying to pass the time, I'm sorry I'm a poor conversation participant." She sighs.


"No continues, no excuses." They say in response before heading in and looking for the front desk.

 

The second guard pulls the thief up by the shoulder, pulling off my cloak and revealing a familiar looking girl with hair that seems to form horns.

"Yes, Lady Ihra. Of course, Lady Ihra," The guard says respectfully, "We'll have her dealt with immediately."


"You're not a poor participant," Stephanie reassures, "It's interesting to learn about your world. We don't have a varied selection of habitable planets in my reality."


The front desk seems to reside in the cafeteria area, making up the main services of the arcade. A female fire guardian seems to be exchanging money there as the smell of fried food comes from within.

 

Ihra pauses.
"...Actually, let her go. She was in Praecantatia's lab earlier, Idhaenna mentioned her when she was on her way back from meeting with Temporus."


"R-really? What do you do with all the people t-that flee there, then?"


They go to wait in line, seeming to let guardians cut in front of them in line as they look around at the games in the arcade.

 

The guard seems to pause for a second, before turning back around to the other guard.

"Let the thief go, by order of Lady Ihra." The guard calls.

"What about the stolen goods?" The other guard responds, dropping Imp-chan on the ground.


"Well, we have other realms they can live in, but...we can't handle too many immigrants. It's not too much of a problem yet though." Stephanie says, thinking.


Nobody cuts in, surprisingly. However, the girl at the desk does glance back and step out of the way once she gets her money. She seems to be rather bruised, and one of her eyes is either extremely tired or recovering from being black.

"How's a human alive out here with a pet like that?" Abigail asks, arms crossed. She seems notably less hostile than most of the other patrons of the arcade, a few directly glaring at the human.

 

"If it's the king's stuff, then get it back to Aj."


"I-I'm relieved to hear you're not just executing them..."


"Likely due to a mutual friend." I say, approaching the counter. "Looks like the Hive Master beat you up pretty bad, though."

 

The guard nods, taking my cloak and searching Imp-chan for anything else, as well as the cloak. He dumps out the contents of my cloak's pockets next to Imp-chan - everything belonging to her - before heading back to the palace.

"Shall I leave you to deal with the thief yourself, Lady Ihra?" The guard asks.


"What? Goodness no!" Stephanie says, shocked, "We could never do something like that. Gaia would never even allow it!"


"Psh, I wish. It was actually-" Abigail says, before pausing, "...How do you know about the hive master?"

A fire guardian behind the desk returns with a small cardboard cone filled with golden-brown chips, beads of vinegar shining between tiny cubes of salt. After handing it to Abigail, he gives the human a rather disappointed look. Noticing this, Abigail nods to him, and his expression lightens a bit.

"Welcome to Bit-Crush 'Cano, how can I help you?" The fire guardian at the desk asks.