1355/Playtime is over

Playtime is over
Date of Scene:	26 March 2024
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	Chrono demonstrates for Hannah what it truly means when he has run out of chill. How many friendships does it take to get through to a belkan? All of them. ALL of the friendships... Leaving poor Rashmi to carry them home.
Cast of Characters:	Chrono Harlaown, Hannah Steiner, Rashmi Terios

---

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Hannah... Hannah was learning a horrifying, distressing, borderline traumatizing truth.

Chrono. The soft, gentle, sweet person she knew? Really was chilled and relaxed. So relaxed. Calm.

Because now? After her recent 'near death'? She was experiencing what happened when Chrono Harlaown lost all chill. Apparently he had seen her 'slacking' as a bit too much. And so he'd invited (RE: dragged her out) for more training sessions!

And, unfortunately, he apparently saw this as the time for her to get the full Midchildian Enforcer training regiment. So while normally he held back?

Judging by the craters, the destruction, the smoke lingering in the air, the wasteland that was only hidden by the barrier...

Playtime was over. Chrono stood overhead, arms crossed, looking down on her...

14 seconds until the next round would begin.

Hannah Steiner has posed:
Now, Hannah would at most times be quite happy with getting dragged to training. Usually. But discovering the fact one can indeed become negative levels of imaginary numbers of lack of chill hasn't improved her already sour mood after far too much brooding over a certain Shield Princess and her words and the fate of her home.

And so Hannah at first has a difficult time keeping up her usual mask of blunt force friendliness. Several rounds in, she's completely dropped the facade in favor of dodging, blocking, and increasingly irritated lashing out with her blade. Lyra is watching proceedings like a Good Girl, offering hiss-borks of comfort and guidance.

BG is doing the Device equivalent of shaking her head at 'kids these days'.

Further chipping away at her typical royal facade, her words have become increasingly frustrated and uncouth.

"I HATE you sanktkaiserless aerial aces!" Grumbles Hannah, brushing away crater dust from her henshin, having already lost her golden glasses some time ago. Her hair is disheveled - yet unfairly pretty despite - and as she waits for that timer? Gravity magic surrounds her, she grips her blade, utterly intent on both passing this test, and giving the Enforcer a trouncing. Not even to really prove a point.

But because she just needs /something/ to feel good about rather than fall back into worries and regrets and running through every mistake or possible mistake she's ever made. Judging from the rings around her eyes? Sleep hasn't been much on the menu recently.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Knowing there is to be 'training' the offing, and knowing precisely *what* the aim of that training is going to be, Rashmi has, for the moment, parked herself next to Lyra; two observers, worrying about Hannah. Rashmi also makes certain that Lyras does not have to watch the proceedings, without the lizard-dog getting her daily ration of affection, because supports gotta support.

Her secondary purpose in observing this session, is to record combat data and energy-usage patterns. Helpful information for Nicomachea to do what he loves, and analyse and collate. Dissemination... seems like it might have to wait until Hannah's recovered from this... 'training' really is an inadequate word, isn't it?

    << She's just gonna keep going until she falls over, isn't she, >> she sends to Chrono via S2U. << Full points for stubbornness, but... >>

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono looked down at her, his gaze cold. Slightly bitter.

Merciless. The timer counted...

Three.

Two.

One.

            <<Stinger Snipe!>>

No hesitation, no warning. One moment he was there, the next he was coming after her. With no real time 'between' standing and moving, seemingly.

And a dozen of the little dangerous blue balls were coming at her. Raining down like magical rods of god, they'd pierce, slam, destroy.

There was no holding back in this. Some would go at the spheres, intending to disable them. Some would go at Hannah. Some would go at her weapon. All were designed to take her *down*.

No hesitation, no mercy. It was reasons like this that the Enforcers were so well known, and feared, by the enemies of the TSAB.

And all of that training, those tests, the fighting, the preparations?

Every. Single. Last. Drop of it. Was focused here. On her.

No distractions.

But no mercy. He wasn't just fighting her. He was brutalizing her. There weren't any friendly quips, any cheerful banter. No 'for the honor of midchilda' or 'is that all a belkan can muster'? It might have been better if it was.

This was more akin to an almost dismissive, brutal session. He'd called it 'training'... but at this point it likely felt more like bullying. Why push to such extremes?

The answer was simple.

To break Hannah.

She'd almost died multiple times. Worse, she needed help...

Worst of all, she wasn't accepting it. Next time she broke... it'd be in the field, or it would be here. And he aimed for it to be here.

In the end, he was fighting for her... And he intended to shatter Hannah's honor if he had to, in order to protect her.

<< Most likely. If that's what it takes. >>

Hannah Steiner has posed:
Lyra, given how several times she makes motions to intervene? Well, while each are met with an almost feral hissing 'shoo' from Hannah...there's a few claw marks in the dirt, and Rashmi's support is very much welcomed to the poor guard-seeing-eye-doom-hisser. Sooooo much nuzzling, cuddling, and using Very Big Lizard size to act as a living, if feathery couch.

Sorry Rashmi, you're in mortal danger of lizard slobber and needing a lint roller to get all those feathers out of your clothes.

The worst part of this merciless series of attacks and constant hammering from those Stinger Snipes? It's /working/. At first Hannah was content to dodge, to slash. But even with her Knight Armor, she's soon reduced to blocking. Her Turmschilds are tough, but as ever, she's a young woman whose experience has been in duels and fighting youma. Things that emphasize skill and offense over defense, and it's showing where her glaring weakness is.

By the time the third shield breaks, she's on one knee. The attacks aimed at her Device are met with shield, or failing that...body. Chrono's coldness is met with increasing rage. It's one thing to strike her. Another entirely to deign to aim for her Device, her freund, her companion from home alongside Lyra, the symbol of her House and Lineage and a sacred object all in one.

The gauntlet on her left hand shatters as she slaps away one of those orbs that almost hits Blauer Greif, causing her to hiss and just /growl/ at Chrono.

No words.

<<Fluss: Abstoßen>>

Gravity reverses itself, sending the last few orbs away from her battered body and Armor.

<<Fluss: Erhöhen>>

There's no subtlety in her second spell, just pure force. Gravity snaps to normal around her, and then suddenly she's trying to hit Chrono with the equivalent of a small building's worth of weight around his shoulders. Purely to force him to ground. Her blade rises for a slash...

Only to pivot at the last second, fully intending on taking his legs out from under him, and then to try to stab the blunt point of her Device's sheath into the young man's throat. No insults. Just pure Belkan rage, frustration, and simply trying to beat the Enforcer into the dirt. Slowly, all that genteel honor is melting away, in favor of the blunt brazeness so many of her people have been known for.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Lyra isn't really the only one in need of comfort, at the moment, and the slobber and feathers will probably be lost when Rashmi's henshin is banished. "It's okay, Lyra," the redhead murmurs... Though her tone says that she's saying it to herself as much as the loyal 'hound.' "There's a point to this, and Chrono is almost there..."

More than once, she herself nearly gets up off the ground, and more than once she forces herself to stay put, and worry. Because more than simply following the orders of her 'superior officer,' Rashmi *trusts* Chrono. Trusts him to know when to hold back again, when to make the point he's been driving toward... She trusts Chrono to have a point.

And while this 'duel' has been violating every ingrained rule of good conduct on and off the battlefield she holds in her heart...

Chrono said he had a purpose to all of this, and Rashmi understood that purpose.

But oh, it was *so hard* not to fly to the defense of her friend when she needed it most.

But she doesn't.

Because she *understands* that to do so would waste the effort in teaching the lesson.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Midchildians had a name for reckless soldiers who overdid it, who refused the offered help and had to be pushed to the point they had no choice BUT to take the help.

Belkan.

The orbs were scattered and... he was weighted down. And he did go down...

And he drove his device, firmly, into the ground, Lodging it there, catching her blade. As she went for his throat, HE wasn't there any more. Surging forward, he twisted his weapon around her own, reaching out and using her momentum to drive her down to the ground...

Only to land on her a moment later, straddling her, his device held in his left hand, slamming it down to pin her own to the ground...

And then, with a resounding crack that would have made a belkan proud, he slammed his fist into her face, driving it into the ground.

...

Then he did it again.

... Then one third, final time before he'd leap off her, taking to the skies again.

Hannah Steiner has posed:
Lyra shivers as all three cracks resound through the Barrier'd off area. She presses right into Rashmi, with that low hiss that's torn between getting involved, and that latent trust and loyalty to both owner and the two others her owner seems to trust so much.

Even her snaps and lashes of tail are subdued, but it's clear that all it would take is a mere motion from Hannah for the razorhound to join in. The pair have survived coup and interstellar travel and all the youma Earth can throw at them, after all, with a few noticable exceptions.

The ones that, as Hannah finds herself on the ground and getting hammered in the face? Are the only ones that matter. A shake of her head, and to her annoyance, he's in the skies and not within strangling range. She rubs her jaw, shakily gets back to her feet, and her smile is all teeth and no joy. A swift spit later, and she cracks her now acheing neck and jaw in turn.

"Will wunders ever cease." She mutters after a spit.

A Midchildan that can actually punch something. As her brain stops banging about in her skull, she finds herself actually impressed.

Which, unfortunately, is just another insult added to the growing pile that she's had to endure as of late. The many castigations of the Shield Princess. And now this huffed-up Enforcer is pounding her into the dirt, quite literally.

Worst still? Given his constant bombardment, there's little for her to either gravity-jump off of or use as a projectile. She doesn't dare use her sheath, as she perfectly well knows that in a ranged fight, Chrono has her beat when she can't abuse her gravity magic to make the terrain an asset. Her brow twitches.

Hannah Steiner curses the first creator of flight magic and their descendents.

Her knees threaten to buckle, but it's through a pure show of stubborn effort that she's still on her feet. A second later? She's floating off the ground a few inches. Mostly because even /that/ much is becoming a problem.

An Area Search flows from her, as even her mental map is threatening to fade with how battered she is. A gasp. And then a few of her gravitational points solidify right behind her heels, and send her flying like a rocket towards Chrono! There's only one object to orient herself towards.

And it's her opponent. Half way through, another point, and she's trying to slingshot herself above the young man as though she's in a space ship and he's a planet without any orbital defense systems for her to have to avoid in order to gain more speed.

Given how roughed up she is, it's easy to see she's not exactly thinking clear, as she then increases her own weight, and becomes a gravitic comet to attempt to just stomp him into the dirt.

A hiss, and it's as much Blauer Greif that summons a triple layered series of Turmschilds, than Hannah herself. Trying to line up her armored heels towards Chrono's kneecaps isn't particularly productive in this attack, but it certainly does make her more vengeful and spiteful side feel /very/ good to consider.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
As Chrono's fist thunders into Hannah's face, Rashmi buries *her* face into Lyra's neck, hugging the alien not-a-dog tightly. "I know, Lyra," she says quietly, scritching the poor familiar around the sides of her head.

Worse, though, is that Nicomachea's analysis seems to show that the closer Hannah gets to running on fumes, the more power she puts out. Which, given how Familiars maintain their existence, is *a serious concern.*

But Chrono hasn't given the signal, so she *forces* herself to sit and observe, and metaphorically bites her tongue. I fthis goes on much longer... Probably she'll be physically biting her tongue as well.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown watched her, his arm was slack, at his side. Watching her. He was almost dismissive. He gave a soft sigh. A disappointed sigh. As if she wasn't really... worth it. Not worth his time. Not worth his focus.

Disrespectful.

But she was, so, so much. He was more focused on her than anything else in the world right now. Every movement, every action, ever blow was focused on her and her alone. While he might seem dismissive and as if this was child's play, it was anything but. He was exhausted. His body ached. And after this he might need to have Rashmi carry him home.

... But Hannah meant a lot to him. She was one of the few members of TSAB space still here. And she needed him. And even though this hurt him almost as much as it did her, he'd play this role.

So once again, she was coming at him. Blind. Angry. Powerful.

But power only meant so much. Tactics. Control. All of that could make the difference. If Hannah was fighting at her full capacity? Thinking clearly? Not allowing herself to be driven into such a frenzy? It would have been such a closer fight...

Instead... She comes at him blindly. And he is already up. She can see the moment the blow won't hit.

She can see when he turns...

And while she wouldn't see it, she would certainly *feel* when his boot crashed down into her back and she was driven down. And she kept being driven down, all the way down to the ground. Slamming her into it once more. He flew back up, but this time he didn't wait for her to come to him. He lifted his device up....

            <<Stinger Blade Execution Shift>>

The sky was alight with dozens... possibly well over a hundred blue blades. Blotting out the clouds and horizon themselves.

Then they crashed down. Like the hammer of thor, again and again and again and again and...

The sound of explosion after explosion filling the air, as Chrono stared down at her, his staff still held high.

<< Rashmi... I think... I'm going to need you to carry me home... possibly... catch me... >>

His mana reserves were... low. To be direct. That was one of his most powerful spells... but if there was anything that could crack the thick skull of a belkan...

Hannah Steiner has posed:
Lyra acts like the nesting murder-lizard-bird she is. By pressing right up against Rashmi, trying to surround her in comforting feathers, to shield both herself and her freund with pure body. It's all the razorhound can really do. It's going to be a terrible lesson.

But one that Hannah needs, and she's the type that isn't going to admit it until she's left with no choice.

Everything hurts. Her spiteful, angry, furious strength is reduced to the dirt. Her turmschilds shatter. She, too, feels her mana slipping away with every strike, struggle, and gravity spell being first smashed into, and then pierced with the pure apocalyptic bombardment of blue blades slamming into her far past the point of reason. Eventually, there's just this thunk-thunk-thunk of her Knight Armor being sliced away as she holds herself together first by the skin of her teeth, and then...

Nichomachea is nothing if not astute. Hannah's body doesn't move for several seconds, and Lyra is suddenly writhing in an attempt to get out of Rashmi's grasp.

It's telling that the Belkan is cradling her Device with both arms, any thought of defense tossed aside in favor of keeping her freund safe.

"Zurück, Lyra!" She coughs and sputters out, as the young woman very slowly first tries to struggle to her feet...only to fall over. Repeatedly. Eventually it's magic that has her lifted up to her side, and then vaguely teetering fro and back, gasping for air. A fist punches the air.

"You have made your POINT, Enforcer!" Screams Hannah, and given that energy output? 'Stubbornly clinging to consciousness' is what she's putting that excess to.

"You...just...I TIRE of being clawed away from, or failing in the moments that matter! I..." Tears fall, and it /hurts/.

"Allies should help one another. Right?" She's trying to stay mad, to stay vindictive. To be angry. The emotions she's swam and kept tight in her chest.

"I want to be good enough to stop the people I care about from crawling into a grave before their time! Just...please!"

She crashes to the ground, and that fist punches the earth. Repeatedly.

"I do not think I can do this by myself." Sobs the young woman, in fury, in shame, in exhaustion physically and emotionally.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
The moment Lyra starts to squirm, Rashmi lets the razorhound go. And as the hound scrabbles off toward her master, Rashmi takes to the skies, looping one of Chrono's arms around her shoulders... the way he prefers. And as she lowers the both of them to the ground, she starts to open her mouth to respond to Hannah's exhausted, furious, ashamed words... But stops.

Because it's not her lesson.

Chrono's got the lead on this, and she simply looks toward him to state his thesis.

But she has so, so, *so much* to say, when it's her turn.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown would shake his head to Rashmi. No, he still had to do this. At least, this part. Made his point... yes. He had. It wasn't easy. It had taken almost all of his magic. But, very gently... he drifted to the ground by her side. And then he knelt.

Okay, more he fell to his knees, but he would call it kneeling. And he hugged her. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. Letting S2U fall by his side.

<< I will... however... need you to help me get up after she's done crying... >> Heck, at this point he was letting her maintain the telepathic bond entirely. His energy was entirely at the 'keep my suit on' levels. There was not going to be any 'standing on my own two feet' after this. Not until he'd had a loooooooooong dinner, and a nap, and soooooo much curry.

"None of us can," he whispered, softly. Resting his forehead against her own. "And... it hurts. It hurts so, so much..." he whispered. "The thought that we can't. Worse. The thought that we'll need others and they might get hurt because of us. And that hurt crushes all of us. If we tried to do it on our own, we'd be crushed by it."

"And that's okay. It's alright. You are *allowed* to hurt from it... to be scared... to be sad... to be upset... but you are never, ever, ever allowed... to try and carry it all on your own. Understand?"

Then, slow breath. "And I believe my assistant has a few words she'd like to add as well." Go ahead, Rashmi.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Understanding the reasoning behind Chrono's rebuff takes most of the sting out; she wants to help, but she has to *wait,* which always sucks. But, she understood. And when Chrono dropped to his knees, and asked for help getting back up after, there was only the help that was *needed.*

Lowering herself on the other side of Hannah, Rashmi reached out to put a hand on the Countess' shoulder. "Hannah-chan... Allies help, sure... if it's good for them. If by serving their allies' interests, they serve their own, and that's fine. That's how nations work. But *friends* help in any way a person needs it. Friends help *friends.* And you've never *been* just an ally, Hannah-chan... Not to me, not to Chrono, not to *so many people.* Maybe when you first came here, sure... You needed allies. But you've got *friends.* And the best part of having friends is... when you fall down, and they help pick you back up? You stand *taller,* because you *know* they're at your back."

Gently squeezing, Rashmi manages a watery-eyed smile. "The only downside, I guess... Is that a really, really good friend can see when you're crushing yourself, and kick you out from under all that weight. So c'mon, Hannah-chan," she says, carefully taking hold of the Belkan fist in the earth, and lifting it up. "Let's stand tall, together."

Hannah Steiner has posed:
The only hesitation is to give a flick of a long feathery lizard tail to Rashmi's chin, before Lyra is off towards her owner. Despite how she's on the ground? It's telling that one can /feel/ the golden jewel that is Hannah's Linker Core burning to supply magic to her guard-lizard. And just to keep on a vaguely upright level. As ever, the stubborn Belkan is one to reach deep. Particularly when she's before someone that when the chips are down?

Hannah leans her forehead against her friend. Not the Enforcer. Not the Ally by Treaty made far, far in times past she can only comprehend as Myth and Legend and Duty.

Just, a freund and a space-tossed fool that's ended up on this tiny little dirtball in a galactic backwoods with far, far more problems that it should have.

"Fine." Is her tired gasp of a reply. She rubs her sightless eyes, those rings around them. She's so /flipping exhausted/.

She chuckles, and it's hard, and rough. "So simple is it!? Just...it hurts to even...bridge that gap. All mein life, all about the /court/! How they could manipulate you if you could nein beat them down! Every whisper a danger und /they were right/!" Her emotions spill. Her hand trembles as it's caught.

A shiver. "But you two are not Court." Comes Hannah, her mind vaguely pulling itself back into rationality.

She leans into Rashmi's grasp, pulled from a punch and hauled into her protection. For a moment, even Lyra's claws cease their humming with the young woman's dregs of magic.

Hannah honestly struggles for words. Her mouth works, closes, and works again. Even as tears dry through sheer volume, her jaw tightens, and she coughs. Lyra pushes Hannah up a bit taller, a bit straighter, and suddenly there's renewed gravitic volume to their collective act of trying to keep some dignity for the quartet.

"One of mein ancesters once said that a 'nation has nein freunds'. Und I am supposed to be a nation incarnate." Comes Hannah quietly. And then she leans a little against Rashmi.

"...She was from the Old Days before the end of the War. Mayhaps another thing best left to dust." Considers the young woman, before she lurches.

A cough, and another sigh. Suddenly? Her attention is on Chrono.

"Mein apologies, Chrono. Rashmi." Her neck cracks a little, and it /hurts/!

Suddenly her hand is at the young man's lapel.

"I shall nein insult the House of Harlaown by leaving a 'duel' unfinished!" Huffs the young woman, and with a will and the last of her energy?

A forehead collies upon another, with a sudden finality! WHAP!

And then Hannah slumps like so much sack of potatos!

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown smiled up at his girlfriend. There truly was no better second in command to him. Nobody else he could trust to manage everything as needed, regardless of the situation. Nobody else he could know to have his back when he truly needed it. At least, in these kinds of situations. She was going to make an amazing enforcer one day.

And, finally, they'd managed to get through to the girl. It hadn't been easy, but they'd done it. He relaxed a little. Returning to standard chill Chrono. "Not that court, at least." He was still TSAB.

"Wait, that's not--"

Crack.

The only reason he still had a skull was because of his barrier jacket.

And he slumps, too, against her. His eyes little swirls.

It seemed, in the end, the battle was a draw. And the true loser... was Rashmi, who had to carry these two idiots home. Somehow.

<< ... Need a hand? >> Fenyx asked, the bird flying down to land on Rashmi's shoulder. << I... guess this counts as a win. Still... seems like a lot of effort to just end up concussed. Again. >>