Battle Hymn of the Republic

At Festival's Edge

Lady smiled at the pair of women. "Yes." Before she could begin, the counselor was interrupted.

DING! The school bell rang once, signaling all to proceed toward dinner. As if summoned by that bell, the smell of a several dozen dishes from as many different countries wafted through the Festival. A spicy Texas chili. A mouthwatering chicken parmesan. A perfectly seasoned gyudon donburi. Sweet, warm apfelstrudel and krapfen. And so much more.

"Students!" Lady called to Johann and his friends. "Go eat." She glanced in the other direction, toward the nearest stall that was still occupied. "Miss Ookamichi, Miss KItsueki, go eat." Then she turned back to Riley and Lyra. "The Headmaster is shuffling his feet on the matter, so I thought I would take it upon myself. We'd like you to join on as a teacher." Her eyes moved from Riley to Lyra. "And, schedule permitting, we'd like to contract you as a... chaperone for future field trips." Then, another thought struck the woman, and without breaking her focus on Riley and Lyra, reached out to a third. Excuse me for the mental intrusion, Miss Kagami, I believe your fiancée has holed up in his lab again. I'm sure he would appreciate you fetching him for dinner and the show.

Johann beamed at the positive responses and patted Chuffy before accepting Vrey's gift. "Thanks!" Chuffy was equally gleeful for the exuberant feedback. So gleeful, in fact, he immediately dropped the stick, then ducked to pick it back up. "Students! Go eat." Johann perked up and his stomach pulled at him, reminding him that he hadn't eaten since cooking his pastries earlier that morning. "Lllllet's go! I'm so hungry." He started toward the food line, but paused when he saw Katerina hesitate with a hand on her satchel. "Katerina?" Chuffy came over to give the girl and her bag a sniff.

At a Table for Instructors

Jane was about to raise her voice to flag Willow down, but changed her mind at the last moment. "A lotta will, too," the American answered the druid. "She was sposed to beg off, gimme a chance t make sure No Name's properly secured." Which was silly at face value, of course. No Name was incredibly intelligent so far as horses went, and seemed to always know intuitively what was expected of him. He wasn't going to cause trouble. It was the ritual of the matter that was important, but Jane decided to let it slide this time. Children always got carried away when it came to festivals and fairs.

So Jane dismissed that topic with a wave of her hand. Ding! "Dinner bell," she remarked, then glanced at Eryl. "Which reminds me, Mizz Maelgwyn: ye'll be happy t know I put that pepper vodka t good use. Chili kicks like a bull babe."

In the Alchemy Lab

"Professor Caxton!" came the forced whisper from above.

A pair of bare feet, dirty from running around all afternoon, swung into view above and to Percival's left and planted themselves against the wall. Tanuki Issei gripped a churro in one hand, while the other was planted flat against the wall above her. It gave the impression that her hand was glued to the wall-- or she was Spider-Woman clinging casually to the perfectly vertical surface. "Whatcha doin? Don'tcha know there's a festival going on?" She was smiling as she took another bite of her half-eaten snack.

Kitsuneken huh, I'll have to keep an eye on that sword

"Than-" the dinner bell rang before Kitsueki could finish saying her appreciation to answering all of her questions and before she could implore further about Kitsuneken. "Oh dinner! Where is that going to be held? I just got here this morning and instead of getting a lay of the land I sort of just wandered around the grounds enjoying the festival, can you show me where dinner is held pleeease?" Kitsueki said to Reika doing her best to put on a lost puppy expression. Her ears folded down and tail drooping almost touching the floor as if to show how sad or embarrassed she is for asking.

Before the conversation could go further, the dinner bell rang, and Reika looked down the way toward the tables set about near the main stage. She swiftly pulled out a piece of paper and with a pen completed a symbol on its front, then held is before her forehead for a moment before it zoomed away toward the main building. "The booth shall be taken care of, let us head toward the main dinner, it is only a short ways away." The swordswoman waved the way to the newcomer, and then led on, taking purposeful steps toward her destination.

---

"Ah! Don't worry, it's nothing," Kat said, moving the satchel toward her back and out of Chuffy's reach, giving the reanimated canine an affectionate pat on the head. "Let's make our way, shall we? Hopefully everyone can find a spot together," the blonde distracted, turning about and heading toward the tables that were not too far off, trying to remain cheery despite the fact that there was clearly something weighing on her.

“I’m actually not all that hungry,” Drysi mentioned, voicing the words of her half-full stomach and the protests of her small frame, “I’ll have a little bit a’somethin’.”

The triclops scratched her neck a bit, and the shawl draped over her shoulders, meant to distract from her sharpened teeth, began to move. From the folds of the snake-skin fabric arose a snake’s head, its glassy eyes considering the world around Drysi. Gideon, her familiar, typically concealed himself as a tasteful fashion accessory until he decided to emerge, usually through the curly, gold strands of Drysi’s long hair.

”Are there any small things to eat?” Gideon asked, tasting the air with his tongue.

”Not small things as you’r thinkin’. Do you wanna’ run off and catch ya some dinner?”

Gideon’s head began to pull back in under the hood of Drysi’s hair, ”No, I will hunt tonight when the others are asleep. I would not spoil this opportunity, though.”

”Opportunity?”

”You were reading a romance picture book earlier, and you seemed to particularly keen on–...”

Drysi gasped.

“Oi! Willow! I’m hungry now, and we’re gunna feed each other,” she slapped her fist into her palm, “Cause it’s romantic.”

That hung in the air for a moment, and the actual words sunk into Drysi’s brain, causing her face to turn bright red.

”I didn’t mean for you to say it out loud.”

Aside, Manon looked at Johann with the cursory glance of a safety inspector, and pointed back and forth between him and herself, “Is that how we’re all eating this evening?”

—

“I’ll have to let Jadwiga know that her vodka was put to good use, most of the babushka’s in G’dansk prefer it with their dinner. Straight.” Eryl’s face became a bit harrowed, and her eyes glazed as she stared into the middle-distance. “And they love… to share. And share.”

She shook herself awake from her polite trauma and decided to try to face further polite trauma. Ruarc found Eryl’s sapphire-like eyes on him. He could tell a question burned on her lips, but she was always awkward around him in casual settings.

“Th–... The grounds are…” Eryl cleared her throat, “The grounds are beautiful, Mr. Flynn. You are very talented with the greenery.”

She was making an effort, at least, and she silently celebrated that little victory; this was the way she celebrated most of them.

—

Percival Bredon Caxton did not look up from the metal frame that held his attention. His eyes stayed on a shuddering crystal that hovered in-between small focusing rods. With a fine tool, he tightened and loosened screws which seemed to affect the movement of the crystal.

“I do like a good party, but not at work,” answered Percival with almost too much honesty. His hand carefully worked another screw and the crystal began to become still. “Besides, the right numbers for this load-balancer finally entered my mind. I will need to write down the formula later when I can gather metrics…”


Finally he looked up, and he saw her dirtied feet. His face soured with disapproval. “Tanuki, have you been running about bare-foot all day? What are you going to do if you cut your foot?”

A familiar, orange water pistol was taken up from the work desk and he shot soapy water at her feet.

“Am I going to have to buy you shoes to get you to wear them?”

Willow had just leaned forward and begun cooing and wiggling her finger towards Gideon when Drysi made her proclamation. Freezing, she shifted her eyes to look at Drysi, and merely blinked a few times as she watched the other girl go through her motions. It wasn’t particularly surprising, and was actually a relatively common occurrence with Drysi; the addition of Gideon just added a bit more comedy to the spectacle, as Drysi often responded out loud to a voice only she could hear.

“What sort of Guide are you, Gideon?” Willow asked as she looked back at the snake. Straightening up, she playfully flicked the triclops’ ear before giving an easy-going smile.

“Come now, Dryce, ya don’t need ta try so hard. If y’re not hungry, me feeding ya isn't going to change much. Tell ya what though, I’m starvin’ after working with No Name all day, ya can pick at stuff off my plate if ya get peckish. Hunky-dory? Now c’mon, I’m positively Hank Marvin.”

Walking backwards, Willow fell in with Kat en route to the chow.

“Enjoy yourself today, Kat? Feel like it’s been ages since we’ve been able to chat,” the Brit said as she continued her backwards progression.

—

“Much appreciated, Eryl,” Ruarc said back simply. A couple moments passed as the Irishman questioned whether he had sounded curt. He had been over this before the previous times he associated with Eryl, and Hell he’d even gone through this back when Caoranach had begun coming around. Eryl had helped him and Jane out, and had stood with the Safeholme group in Hawai’i.

“Years of patience and diligent care, so thank you,” Ruarc added, attempting to sound less standoffish, and of course it still probably sounded standoffish.

“Ahem, anyway, you’re in for a treat. Jane’s chili is the real deal. One of the few times I go out of my way for spicy food.”

—

“Miyuki, this is a festival attended and managed by one of the most notorious groups of hard hitting mages in this hemisphere, a smattering of star pupils, a host of familiars, and I think the Viking is dishing up chili,” Laoise offered to Miyuki as she crossed her arms and gave the other woman a straightforward stare. “Relax a bit. Unwind. You’ve earned it. Now come on, food’s ready.”

So that's where he'd wandered off to, thought Miyuki as Lady informed her of Percival's whereabouts, and she made a bit of an annoyed frown, before being distracted by Laoise's comment. "I know, I know," she responded, a bit of an annoyed frown starting to form on her face. "Still, I am worried even if everything possible to keep them safe is here, because who knows what could show up, and from where? Osaka itself is much safer than when we were younger, but the rest of the world not as much." The relatively tall Japanese woman crossed her arms a bit, preparing herself to head over to the dorms and gather her fiancé from his almost dungeon-like laboratory.

"Of course, whether or not anything happens, I still need to go and bring Percy back so he can eat before he withers away to nothing. I swear, if we weren't around to care for him, he'd wind up in the hospital all the time." And with that, the Ice Queen gave a small wave to the Druid's familiar and walked toward the gate out of the academy grounds, making her way as swiftly as she could without drawing attention to herself, and once free, used her magic to create a slide down the hill toward the student dorms and arrive at them within a very short time.

Lyra laughed. "I think you've overestimated how much my schedule is in demand. I'm hardly ever packed for work." The swordswoman placed her hands on her hip and looked towards the masked magician closest to her. "How about it Sparks, looking to instruct the mages of tomorrow towards their futures?"

Riley was still, completely lacking in the theatric exuberance of her greeting . Riley plucked their fingers nervously against the fabric of their pants. One body sighed heavily as the other spoke up. "Last time my assistance just had the kid end up being scared of me." A checkered mask turned its attention unto Lady and the Stage Magician forced her voice to be wry to make up for her current lack of expression. "Not to rain on a perfectly lovely evening, but I doubt the effectiveness of locking the students up with me just because I'm known to the rest of the staff."

Riley paused for a moment and then shrugged with her arms lifted into the air. "It is a kind offer of you though Doc."

---

Vrey followed after the group and as Manon asked her question the bald teen nodded shortly to herself. "I can feed Chuffy if your hands have already been pledged to Manon Johann."

At a Table for Instructors

Jane settled back in her seat so the two could converse more easily, but only chimed in when her chili was mentioned. "Don get me wrong, Nippon certainly nailed down a light soup, but when a body needs sustenance, there ain't nothin better n a strong Texas chili. My ma used t call it The Texas Tincture: cures colds, puts fire in yer belly, and meat on yer bones."

In the Alchemy Lab

Tanuki gave the alchemist that trademark look: why would you ask such a ridiculous question? When she sighted the squirt gun, she stuck the churro in her mouth, planted both hands against the conjoining walls and lifted her feet to elude the assault, but failed. She could suspend herself from perfectly vertical surfaces with her hands, but she couldn't very well move at the same time. "I have shoes, professor!" She groaned, moping at her wet feet. "But I like running barefoot in the grass! It feels nice. You should try it." It was very clear she was trying to get him out of the lab, but before she could press the attack, her natural inquisitiveness distracted her. She leaned out from the wall. "What's a load-balancer?"

As Percival began to answer, they could both hear shuffling outside the door. Miyuki had arrived.

At Festival's Edge

“Is that how we’re all eating this evening?” Johann's heart and brain tripped over each other at the proposal. Blood flooded his face. He lowered his head to hide his embarrassment and rubbed at his turban, desperately wishing he could hide is whole head. Before he could recover, he was blindsided by Vrey. "Nnnnoo! Thththat's okay, but nnnno. That's kinda... gross. Other people's fingers on your-" his fingers prodded around his mouth, "-and sharing silverware!" He was visibly dismayed by the notion. "Nnnnooo, no thanks." It took him a moment to realize this might sound too dismissive. "Bbbbut! Um... I made pastries from home! You should tttry one."

Lady wore one of her genuine smiles. "Excellent, Miss Valsted. We can work out the finer details later, but I'm certain we can find an amenable solution." Then she turned to her more difficult prospect. "Miss Alsted, despite your keen insight into others, you seem to struggle to turn that skill inward. You are a highly capable mage in several regards, and I would appreciate if you take some time to think about it."

It was in the middle of this crucial, beautiful moment that Lady heard the one thing she’d always feared. A frantic feminine voice shouted in her mind, “跑!” But it was more than just a word that came into her mind. There was a psychic imprint, like braille. When fed into Lady’s mind, it acted like an IBM punch card, triggering calculations and activating decade-old instincts.

She broadcast her own warning and imprint to the next CAT members. Contingencies were activated. Emergency responders lurched into action.

Then she felt it. A vast and foreign mind was creeping across the country. Its light touch was insidious and sent chills through her. Reflexively, she split her mind in two, locking one beneath the other, like a bomb shelter beneath a suburban house. Her own thoughts and activity would appear perfectly normal without invasive investigation, a common urban woman doing urban things. Locked within the bomb shelter were her true thoughts and every other mind present as she tried to shield them from the coming psychic onslaught.

As soon as that other mind touched hers, soft as a whisper on her ear, she truly understood the frantic voice of her old friend. This was an oppressive mind- a psychic laden with awesome power. Its immense presence was outdone only by its incredible deftness and range — the warning had come from Hong Kong. If the intruder was also in Hong Kong…

It was one thing to send a simple message thousands of kilometers to predetermined individuals in predetermined locations. It was a very different thing to reach out like mental radar to find and probe individual minds at that same distance.

From her bomb shelter Lady called into the minds of every festival attendant, “This is not a drill! We have an emergency situation and must evacuate quickly! Mages capable should travel to the safest place they can think of. Everyone else, please utilize the nearest portal.”

There would be some confusion as no portals existed.

“Riley." The Guidance Counselor spoke in her calmest voice and stared levelly, “When everyone else is through the portals, push me in. Then flee.”

Then she closed her eyes and shut out the physical world.

As if that was the cue, a dozen portals opened onto Safeholme grounds. Between Johann’s group of students and the group of adults near Lady sprang a door in a frame that opened just as abruptly. Out spilled an old man hunched over a cane. “Johann! Quick!” He beckoned toward the door.

“Opa!?” Johann wore a confused smile.

“Run! You and your friends! Now!”

Johann knew a command when he heard one. He urged everyone toward the door and led by example, leaping through the door without hesitation. Chuffy barked and followed him through.

At a Table for Instructors

Across the yard, at the teacher’s table, another portal opened, ovular and emitting a soft blue glow like a CRT monitor that was on but lacking an image to display. No one emerged, but they had all heard the warning. Jane, already on her feet gestured for her friends to do as they had all been instructed.

“Erryone in! Les go!” There was a distant whinny as No Name charged across the grounds, following Jane and her friends through.

Safeholme

Portals of all kinds apparated onto Safeholme’s grounds. Familiar faces emerged from several of them: the OM’s liaison to the school, a certain catty American of the Consortium, and even a couple aged Druids from Flynn’s Circle. But these were not the nearest exits for many, and trouble was coming. There was no time for pleasantries, nor even passing glances.

Aurus was alerted to the intrusion of the apertures at the same time he and the spriggans became aware of a host of mages moving rapidly through the woods toward the festival. Nature and supernature both reviled the aggressive and sizeable host that trampled through their serenity. The wood came alive, its carefully cultivated ecosystem revolting in perfect harmony. Fae creatures conjured illusions, enchantments, and traps for the intruders. The trees groaned, angered at the need to move, lest these foreigners destroy their beautiful home. Their branches rattled with the war cries of the countless spriggans as they sprang into action.

And in true mage fashion, power was met with power. Safeholme was no longer safe.

In the Alchemy Lab

Lady's message reached the engaged couple and their young guest as Miyuki entered the room. Tanuki stiffened and blanched. “P-professor, what do we do?"

There was no portal. Just an S-Class alchemist, an S-Class evoker, a C-class weaver, and an alchemist's laboratory's worth of possibilities.

A shiver ran up Ruarc’s spine, and he jerked his head away from his conversation and towards the forest. His wards had been tripped. A series of runes lining the edge of the property to leave random hikers with a desire to avoid the area, and if they persisted would be met with more forceful deterrence. They had done little it seemed as the forest itself rose as the next line of defense. He had cultivated a haven for many spirits and fae that had needed places to go, and he knew a number of them were quite old and capable of putting up a fight; even still, Ruarc worried for them. A spoken word of power and the druid sent a measure of will into the ground. Safeholme was his. He had tended the grounds, sculpted the earth and stones, and poured his heart into its care. It was a part of him, and he was a part of it; and the magic he had cast touched on all the remaining magic defenses he had woven into the property over the last ten years. Safeholme would not go quietly.

Every fiber of Ruarc’s being urged him to rush into the forest and meet the intruders head on, but he knew he had a responsibility first and foremost to the students and the staff; his home and himself came second. Recognizing the need to follow Jane, he first wheeled and began directing all those present to help make the evacuation as smooth as possible, and would only go through the portal at the last possible moment.

”Laoise! Go to the cottage, grab the Priority Bag, and use the Rune,” Ruarc instructed his familiar. Over the years he had accumulated a number of magical items and artifacts, and the most hazardous ones were kept in a safe Ruarc had constructed beneath the floor of the cottage. The Rune would seal the safe within a magical barrier that hopefully would last until he was able to return. Behind him he could hear Skarnir, Safeholme’s resident viking spring into action, his savage looking greataxe clashing with his chili speckled pink apron. The large man moved at a sheer sprint towards the forest to help with the defense.

Not long after, Laoise arrived on manifested wings with a number of items. A satchel of her own slung over her shoulder, and a heavy duty pack that she handed to Ruarc; under her arm she also past him his Keeper’s cloak and a lightning charred black staff with a garnet set into the top. Quickly donning the cloak, Ruarc looked sidelong towards Drysi and her friends, feeling relief as they had already begun hustling into a portal. He didn’t see Caoranach. Perhaps she was also in the woods? Regardless, he knew she was capable of taking care of herself, and would more than likely pop up.

~~~

Willow froze. Between the mental alert, the commotion in the forest, and Ruarc issuing evacuation orders she didn’t need to wonder if the bad feeling she got was genuine. Reaching out with Iron, she found her bag back over by the fenced area and pulled on the thick blue line that was her coin purse. The shoulder bag lurched and flew distance before she caught it and began rummaging. The Brit withdrew a number of corked vials, popped the tops, and downed the contents. She still had a decent amount of Pewter and Iron left in her system, but she hadn’t needed her full arsenal when leading No Name. Burning Brass and Zinc Willow made a blanket around the area to sooth feelings of panic, while encouraging feelings of calm. The last thing people needed right now was to accidentally get trampled like it was Black Friday in the States. Shifting her focus to her friends, she was admittedly surprised to see Johann heading the pack the the portal even if it seemed he knew this Opa fellow. Ushering the rest of the group along behind him, making sure they all made it through safely before she would go herself.

Eryl did as she was instructed, keeping her head down. She approached the portal, and touched her collarbone, powering the wards etched onto her body to protect her from anything on the other side. In her mind, she seemed to look a bit of a coward, being the first one to the portal, but hopefully her actions would justify her. As people took on towards the portal, she drew her wand and threw down a circle at the portal's base. The circle would have enough charges to wrap anyone who went over it in a light shield. Whatever was on the other side, the people entering would get a chance to react if there were any surprises.

“Ruarc, dear! If you would!” urged Eryl, as she found Ruarc lagging a bit, before pressing into the portal.

—

“Bloody fookin’ hell,” griped Drysi as she threw her hands over her head as things went south very quickly. “Can’t we catch’a fookin’ break!? Our fookin’ school is turnin’ inta’ Hogwarts and a hand-basket!”

Cursing a storm, Drysi made her way to the portal. She stopped, of course, to check to see if her girlfriend was coming, and steamed when she saw her standing heroically at the breach. Willow made her heart flutter when she did things like this, but it had the similar effect of flaring her anxiety. So many things had gone wrong to take chances with the unknown.

So, with the power of a Black Friday shopper, Drysi charged to the portal, and then yanked Willow in with her. “Come now, beaut!”

—

Percival stood stone-steady as the alarm was sounded, interrupting what would have been a stirring dissertation of the purpose of a load balancer. He turned to see Miyuki coming to retrieve him, that expectant look in her eyes. Then he saw the expectant look in his student’s eyes, and the fear.

He smiled.

Then, calmly and soundly, he walked over to the door that led to the dormitories and opened it. What should have been there was an open glade, a familiar spot in the Elementalia Magicus, but that was not the case. Instead, there was the flat, carven stone of the wall of the laboratory in the frame. The connection to the outside world had been cut, and he could not form the realmgate necessary to escape.

The Alchemist’s hand tensed on the door handle.

“Sokka, open the hatches. We are launching now,” commanded Percival.

“HA HA HA!” laughed the lightning sprite maniacally as she emerged from a cabinet and tackled a circuit on the wall. “I’ve been dying for this!”

“Mr. Caxton. It’s not ready,” Zippo chimed, having come in with Miyuki, “we haven’t adjusted the power distribution. It won’t make it off the gantry–...”

“Jakku, get to the catalyzer, I’m pulling the main power,” ordered Percival.

“Yes!” Jakku fired herself into the complex series of pipes that put her into the globe that surged her up into a large ifrit form. Like a beating heart, she fed energies into the lab

The floor of the space began to shift, the pressed grill splitting apart to reveal a hangar-space beneath the workshop. Percival stood at the edge of this opening hangar area, a scepter of immense power appearing in his hand. He slotted the artifact into the AXETONNE, and mounted it, taking it down below to what looked like a large sailing vessel. As soon as he hit the deck, he dismounted again, and ran underdeck with the rod. After a passing moment, there came the hum of a powerful engine rumbling to life below decks. The dry-dock gantry the ship rested upon began to angle upward and the two Japanese women were presented with the bow and the name of the craft, written in careful Kanji.

Everlasting. A yet-finished alchemical and engineering marvel, a carefully designed combination of science and sorcery, an airship.

The Alchemist appeared again, ascending the ladderwell to the main-deck, standing at a forty-five degree angle alongside his hulking mystcraft power suit. Gravity did not pull him off the deck, in fact, he stood there unsupported with no effort.

“Sokka, Zippo, Jakku! Grab the essentials! Put them below deck now! We have approximately 118 seconds!” Percival roared over the sound of the engine as the skylight above began to split apart to clear a path into the open sky. “Miyuki! Tanuki! I need you on deck!”

He ascended a raised deck in the stern where there stood several stations; they could see him come to one that bore a glowing model of the ship he stood on. “Tanuki, you have the most important job. This model here, fold a field around it, a field like any you would shape around yourself, or bend in front of you. Make it one that would hide you from anything and everyone. Put all your mind into it.”

The faeries zipped back and forth in a rapid symphony of movement as the Alchemist came back to the main mast, which curled over the hull like a fae-wing. “Miyuki! I need you to control the heat coming off this mast when we launch. It can’t get over 200C or it’s done. Once we’re in the air, it will shoot straight up, and will be able to handle regular operating power from there. When we’re clear of the trees, you’ll need to protect us.”

He charged back up to a main-wheel on the raised deck, the fae-masts began to ripple with energy. “60 seconds! No-- 50!”