The Show Must Go On

[Avis]

After the moment passed, and her taunts slipped their way into reality, helping her will to manifest, Avis summoned her weapon and her shield into being. A pale, scarred hand rose toward her forehead and then closed into a fist, grasping an invisible thread, and then pulled outward, her muscles tensing as she forcibly drew the contents from her own mind. At first it was simply a formless mass of writhing colors and flickering images but her other hand rose to grasp the almost intangible mass, and as soon as her fist closed it exploded into a glassy, mirrored shard with bloody cascades of violence and horror running over it's surface. A thousand images of murder and tortured flesh and a thousand more visions of demonic phantoms, all twisted smiles and sharp teeth, danced upon the yard long Sword in her right fist.

She readied the sword and then thrust out her left hand, with fingers splayed, and then slowly curled her digits inward, her will bending reality into a distorted orb that grew until Avis' shape wavered like a reflection in a distorted mirror. Air swirled around the orb, currents pulled inward, and other eddies thrusting outward to create a vortex that would deflect any unworthy attack.

Then, magical might made manifest, the warlock charged across the swathe of dueling ground and thrust her nightmare spike of psychic pain at Asp but the vicious, primal serpents protecting the Obrimos forced her attack away.

   Failed attack

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-06-21 02:57:05		Avis rolls 4 to fear my mind (gnos3+mind3+1taunt--sheild3) (10 Again)		5, 5, 6, 4		failure

Mind is her Sword and Space is her Shield (-2)

[Avis]

Searing, indomitable strikes of pure magical energy battered Avis down, chewing her will away to nothing. The shard dropped from her hand and shattered as it struck the ground, flying into countless, glittering pieces of horror. The orb of spatial distortion simply folded in upon itself and disappeared with a faint pop.

"I yield!" Avis gasped, mind reeling in shock. She'd been cut down so quickly, obliterated like a woman beneath a falling tree. It was almost worse than the staking.

"You'll be the perfect banner warden. Congratulations," she added listlessly. Well, she'd been right. Asp had won. It wasn't really a surprise but Avis still felt exhausted. That was the price you paid for having your mystical will smashed to pieces in a very literal way. Now that the contest was over she just wanted to--well, fuck, she didn't know what she wanted to do. That was kind of the problem. Her brain felt like a wilted piece of spinach that had been dropped on the sidewalk.

End Duel

[Star]

The theater faded away into that hazy zone of stuff you ignore in your peripheral vision as he focused on the consensual reality woven by the Circle and populated by Asp and Avis' Supernal Wills. Asp? Not surprised. Almost like he'd imagined. Always interesting to see if someone went offense or defense heavy.

Avis? Little different. Even having an idea of what he was seeing. Answered questions, though. Like that one about Why Arrow. He was surprised at how fast it was over. Usually? War of attrition. Chipping away. He released the threads of the Circle at the word 'Yield'.

"Ummmmm. Congrats," he added quietly.

He flashed a half-hearted smile at their new Banner Warden. There'd be time to celebrate later, right? The lackluster wasn't intentional... it was just tough to celebrate a victory with an equal loss. Maybe more so after seeing Avis' Sword. He gave the dark haired girl a concerned look. A hand drifted up, then dropped.

You know what? Screw it.

He stepped over and gave Avis a hug.

[Zodiac]

Cut was definitely feeling huggy, wasn't he? Mandy offered the pair a slow clap, before shaking her head. They'd made their decision and done what they needed to do, so... whatever made them happy. Even at that, she didn't address any of the words that had been directed at her, instead moving to nab a chair for Avis to sit in, before watching the group quietly.

At least that was settled.

[Avis]

As the arms closed around her, Avis stiffened, muscles frozen while her lethargic mind tried to adjust to being hugged. For the first few seconds she just stood unmoving, staring at the stupid propeller hat inches from her face, but finally she managed a response and half-heatedly tried to push Cut away.

"Hey! I'm fine," she huffed irritably, palms pressing against the guardians waist. "Asp won, go congratulate her. She deserves it."

[Star]

"I know you are," he replied, releasing her.

"Just, uh, wanted to see if that hoodie was as soft as it looked."

Yep. Totally. Awkward Hallmark Moment, yo.

"So, yeah, totally. Congrats Banner Warden."

Asp gets offered the quickly-becoming-ubiquitous fist bump. This time, with Authentic Smile Action!

"And, ummmm. So. Speaking of banners? I want to show you guys something? For maybe a sigil?" Because subject change.

He un-slung his pack and rummaged around in it until a rumpled paper was produced. A circular logo was drawn with stylized triangles.

"Uh, yeah. So, like, this looks like a veil? Or an arrow head? And it's split down the middle... so there's, like, two Paths? Or two Orders?"

He looked curiously at the other three.

[Zodiac]

Glancing to the others, ignoring the fact that the chair was ignored, Mandy simply looked at the logo and shrugged. Something about it looked a little familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. "Whatever makes you guys happy," she stated in a simple response, before heading to find herself a ladder.

Lights needed changing, they weren't going to change themselves. A quick change of clothes (after all, something more practical for climbing ladders and cleaning seemed sensible) later, Mandy returned and half-balanced, half-dragged a rather large ladder through into one of the back rooms with a feather duster tucked in the back of her pants. If she was going up there anyway... might as well get all the shit done that needed doing. Let the kids have their dress up and decide who gets to play pretty pretty princesses and such.

Once she set up the ladder, she moved towards the front room again to grab a couple of bulbs to do the required replacing before heading back towards the ladder.