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drakengard 3: two

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So hypothetically, if you're an atheist (no judgement on people who aren't! ♥) and then learn your magic is the result of divine intervention, does that change things for you?

I happen to be in Enprise, so they can count as a debate!

Oooooor~! I might wander around and anyone can try to steal some coins [ inserted image of twenty weird coins ] from me if they can find me! I was a priness in another life and I'm the only staff member of the Stone Pegasus Casino left in town, so I count as double rich, maybe? Either way, it might be fun to see how daring people can get!

[ Feel free to respond with like action stuff about trying to find her, or have threads lead into that. she's being vague on purpose and moving around. ]

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[Lina is bad at this. so bad that she's going to strike a bargain, which is sort of like stealing.]

What if... you give me a coin, and I tell you one of the things I've heard about how rabbits can adapt.

[she's grinning, though. she knows how seriously to take this.]

[ . . . Oh.

You know what? She reaches a hand into her purse to take out one of the jade coins, and she looks like she's going to throw it - just for a moment until she just closes her palm around it. That said, that does mean that he rapier had to be passed off to her prosthetic left hand which while it can hold it, can't nimbly manipulate it. ]

But I don't want to lose either!

[maybe she can make this work. Lina doesn't know how much the rapier plays into things, but she knows that Natalia isn't using her magic at this range, at least. she puts on the best pout she can and paws at Natalia's right hand just a little playfully.]

Come on, it's just one coin. I'd still have to steal four others from you and hang on to them!

[her own left hand is very slowly, very carefully reaching out, each finger uncurling deliberately as she inches towards the hilt of the rapier.]

You can spare one.

[ Man... Lina's cute. Lina's way too cute. Inhaling deep of the air around her, Natalia's red eyes focus on the other before she finally flicks the coin over towards Lina. She can afford to pay the cost once here, that's fair! ]

Let's hear the rabbit message, then!

[before Natalia's going to get that rabbit message, Lina makes her move. as soon as the coin gets flicked in her direction, her hand moves fast, grabbing for the hilt all in one motion to try to disarm Natalia. if she's even the slightest bit successful, she's going to take a step back and point it at her with a smug look.]

[but that feels like a pretty big if, because she's really not cut out for this whole stealing thing and if there's one thing rabbits are incredibly good at, it's identifying threats and getting away from them. still, she can hope. a rapier's worth more than a coin anyway.]

[ It really is. I mean just look at the thing ~~which is way, way, way too short to be a real rapier but the novels call it a rapier so whatever~~ That said, Natalia looks briefly surprised at Lina's motion, and to try to stop her, she moves her left arm back, still holding the thing as tight at that arm can manage. She benefits from the fact that the hilt of it is so small so as to not have it grabbed, but given it doesn't have a blade, just a point, Lina probably knocks the "blade" of it, and in so doing, it's knocked to the ground.

She can't have the "fingers" of the prosthetic grab at it desperately, after all. ]

[which means Lina's on the ground shortly after it, scrabbling for the strangest-looking rapier she's ever heard of (and also probably the only one because she has no particular vested interest in swords) and hoping to get at it before Natalia can. she knows rabbits are quick, too.]

[see, she knows a lot of things about rabbits. there are a lot of clean rabbit facts to know about.]

[ She can! Probably! Nat's hand (the right) might shoot down to try to get it while her eyes go wide and he bends over for that, but Lina is technically closer her, even if Nat's reaction speed is quite good. ]

[good, yes, excellent. she's got this probably-a-rapier and her back straightens and, according to plan, she's holding Natalia at, uh, bladepoint now. and wearing a very smug look that she's going to try her best to hold throughout the rest of this whole encounter.]

Give me the coins and nobody gets hurt. Or don't, and I get to keep your sword.

[ Damn.

She stands straighter, but!! ]

Oh wow! That was well done!

[was it? she sort of fumbled her way through the entire encounter... but she'll take the compliment and let the look on her face soften juuuust a little.]

Thank you. But I believe I made a demand?

[she jerks the blade upward a little to remind Natalia that she's still holding it—and holding her up. oh she's so full of it. this is even more fun than fooling around.]

That's true! I'm defenseless now, and you could run me through now! I guess I'll have to answer every demand!

[ That said, she's got hard red eyes at her, smirking some as she does. She is willing to give some coins, but mostly, her mind is racing as she considers what should be the best response here... But okay, the demand...

She reaches her hand into the purse. She flicked a coin over to Lina, but now takes another in her hand, hmm. ]

Five coins, not counting the one you threw. If you don't want to part with the entire bag. All you said was that I had to get them from you. You never said how.

[her back straightens as confidence fills her body, which she knows has the added effect of making, uh, certain parts of her body possibly easier to focus on than when she'd been handling this more casually. it takes every trick in the book.]

That's not a bargain. That's an order.

[ an order, huh.

Nat's red eyes narrow, and she ... uh. I mean yeah, it does make Lina's body get highlighted, but Natalia does drop the second coin there at Lina's feet, but then hums a little bit and then makes to get out more. ]

Wow, it really has gone to your head! Looking forward to ordering me, I assume!

[ Her hand goes back into her purse to get a third coin presumable, but then she ... picks up a pen in there. And in there, she makes to start ... something. ]

[Lina won't be going for them until she knows where all five of them are. then her plan is to gather them all up and grab them at once, then, uh. uh... disappear? somehow. she'll figure it out.]

Maybe it has. Maybe I wanted a taste of what it feels like for you.

[she says it seriously, but there's no end to the amusement bubbling under her chest at every word. she knows she can't keep this up—not anymore, not now that she doesn't have to anymore. if Natalia keeps doling the coins out so slowly, she might break before then. speaking of...]

Having problems finding the other three?

Oh, no, not that hard! Just being deliberate.

[ She grins a little and... Well, the motions in her purse work. Lina might hear before she sees, scalpel-sized blades spinning into existence behind her back, with intent to zip forward and cut into the upper sleeves of Lina's top. A warning shot of sorts, but hopefully enough to spook her.

... Apparently, Nat's taking this far too seriously. ]

[it's a very effective warning shot; it gets a gasp from Lina and a note of silent relief that she's wearing something with a little more fabric to it to begin with so she's not walking around with her top hanging off her all day. (though it's close.) she puts her free hand to her mouth, then drops it in time for an evil grin to spread to her face.]

There are easier ways to see those if I really feel like disarming you. Keep casting magic and I might have to.

[she wasn't expecting it, no, but she's. well, her grip on the rapier has loosened and she's more caught up in finding a smug thing to say than anything else.]

Oh wow! That was an impressive lack of flinching!

[ and honestly, she's impressed with herself (not to mention relieved) that she didn't draw blood. That said, she brings her hand out of the purse in order to toss a third coin at Lina's feet before putting her hand back in. Still...

Tch. ]

[she has to take a second and compose herself while Natalia compliments her on her lack of flinching, so maybe Lina is sometimes a better actress than she gives herself credit for. maybe.]

[she glances down at her feet at the small collection she's accumulating, fully aware that even if she does get all five she'll have to keep them if she wants to win the bet and that's definitely going to be the harder part, and looks back up at Natalia with confidence.]

You can't have many more tricks left. You've already tried a couple different spells and attacking my clothes. And... [she leans forward, trying to keep the point of the sword where it is while giving Natalia a, um, better look.]

I still have some tricks of my own that might be a little more effective than yours. Why not just give me the last two right now and save yourself the embarrassment?

[ Her expression is the same poker face smile she's kept up most of this whole time. If she does glance at Lina's new view for her, it's subtle enough that it's barely there. She just keeps it up as she tosses Lina the fourth coin!

And then goes back in for the fifth? That said, ]

Oh, you thought clothes were the target...?

[ The implication there is dire, of course: she could have beheaded Lina, pretty easily. ... She wouldn't, of course. Never would, or so she tells herself. But still, she's trying to look as if not more intimidating than the rapier Lina has. ]

[Lina catches the fourth coin out of the air, but what Natalia says finally breaks the somewhat cool, collected image that Lina's been presenting until now. her spine jerks back up a little as she realizes exactly what Natalia's implying.]

[she never would. right? but she's not just... playing around. Natalia's taking this very seriously, and whatever they have going on between them isn't going to stop her. it's an impressive level of resolve, really. or maybe just an incredibly intense desire not to lose.]

Careful, Natalia. You know what Two's done.

[she's trying to be vaguely threatening, but the truth is that Lina doesn't even know everything Two's done, and none of it makes sense anyway. she hopes it works, but she's pretty sure she'll have to concede defeat on this particular war of the words to Natalia.]

I do, but I know what the Princess of Piena's done even more.

[ She's not sure, now she thinks of it, if that princess is named Natalia or not. Surely, she must have a different name than "Fairweather," given none of her family are in her memories. But she sticks her tongue out at this, amused at the two little shifts in Lina's behavior. How she's clearly off-guard now, and how she caught that coin as opposed to the other three she let fall to the ground. There will be a contest to get those three, she's sure of it, but...

Natalia's resolve does show here. Her red eyes glint.

If she's acting, it is, of course, quite the show. ]

The thought of ripping your enemies apart.

[ She says, coming back to that feeling Natalia of the other world had. The relishing of the idea of it. ]

[of course it is. and it's an act, if it is one, that Lina will not be able to pull off nearly as well. bringing up Two was her own mistake, and she expects she'll be paying for it soon enough as the memories seep their way back into her conscious mind.]

[Natalia could flirt with her for a month straight and still not be able to get them all of the way out of her head.]

Are we enemies now? Just because I stole a few coins? I've always known I would hate to end up on your bad side, Princess.

[and speaking of flirting. it's very possible Lina's being obvious, but if it gets Natalia to focus more on this part of things and not the part about murder, she'll count it as a success.]

[ Oh... that's a harsh question, but the payoff for it sends a chill down her spine, an excited note welling up in her heart. ]

I'm pretty sure my soul's a fickle one in the first place! So honestly, perhaps we could be, so quickly!

[ That said, in the moment here, Natalia reaches out her right hand, having not a coin in it, but instead intending to reach out and take one of Lina's. Not the one holding the rapier, but the other one which took the coin. Or at least, that is the plan, her cheeks blushing even through a smile. ]

[as she frequently does, Lina knows she's being played. she's absolutely being played as Natalia reaches out for her hand, and if it means she loses her fourth coin so easily then so be it. she'd much rather be taking Natalia's hand than her money anyway.]

You treat your enemies well, then. A gracious and dignified princess through and through.

[would it be too much to get on a knee in deference? probably. she keeps the idea in mind all the same. because she might have some way to get an upper hand here.]

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