Urban Upheaval

It was one of those days Levinia tried to take a break from missions, tinkering with whatever new thing she was trying to invent, or any other activity that could be even loosely rendered "work". She was on a personal vacation, if it could be called such. Such "me-times" tended to paint the picture of taking time out to focus on one's self and do a little introspection which was healthy to a degree, depending on how the self-focus went. On the normal, she would have liked to find some place that was isolated from the general hubbub of mortals, in touch with nature and generally serene. However, this was not a "normal". She wanted to engage in some... "unnecessary" behavior, as someone she knew a long time ago had called the act of socialization. Or was it an art? She couldn't tell.

To kill two or more birds with one stone was always beneficial. She could squeeze a couple of things in together, so that she wouldn't feel so guilty in the future, if she felt she had wasted good time. And that was why she had chosen Motor City for her little holiday. It was filled to overflowing with all sorts of gadgets, parts and equipment, and Levinia felt a little window shopping wouldn't hurt. She had a little change to spare, and who knew whether she might find some rare part that she could use in her gizmo tinkering? Once again, she convinced herself that she was simply going to do some harmless shopping, and it couldn't be considered work, even if it might yield such later in the future. Playing a game of ping pong with her thoughts and consciences in this manner, Levinia arrived...

... and was surprised at how different the place looked. She had stumbled in on some sort of carnival, which was expected to celebrate summer. Well, Fiorans did just love their celebrations, didn't they? The streets were filled with festive people, some of which danced to the almost overbearingly loud music that blasted from the speakers. As she glanced at them with some distaste, she suddenly wondered about the interactions and relationships between sound generation and amplification lacrima... Wait, she was here to have fun, not plot calculations in her head. She took a deep breath, then sighed. It would have been nice if a friend came along. But then, sadly, she hardly had any. The only one she was sure of often seemed mildly averse to such celebrations, though Levinia had never seen her make any attempts to stay away from such celebrations. Levie chuckled and shook her head.

Okay, how to have fun? First things first, she would slake her thirst on some cold drink. Maybe she would then find some person who felt like speaking, or she would just wander from one end of the street party to the other, and bear herself away to a more quiet place. Eh, knowing herself, the latter was probably going to happen. Ah well... first, the drink. Whatever happened after would sort itself out.

Glancing around, she saw an open bar, which was dishing out refreshing looking drinks. She approached a little hesitantly, because where there was a bar, and things were noisy like this, it only stood to reason that alcohol was flowing freely. Maybe she would get a drink that was not alcoholic...nah, that was very laughable. She had nothing to be afraid of, anyway; she seemed to have a high liquor threshold. Besides, she would take just one drink, and that would be it.

Approaching the bartender, she found herself looking at a dark-skinned man, who worked wonders with the cocktail shaker and glassware surrounding him. If she hazarded a guess, she would say he was Ca-Elumese, what with his accent first, and skin tone next. She sat on a stool and watched him silently, only her eyes following his movements while her body remained inert. He looked at her, then smiled slowly.

"What can I get you, miss?"

"What's safe?"

"Nothing here," he said, and laughed. Levinia chuckled herself, then said, "Doesn't that make at least half of this stuff illegal?"

The bartender looked somewhat surprised. "Illegal? Heck no! I wouldn't be dishing them drinks if it was against the law. The Magic Council approved all this you see, so I came here to do what I do best." He squinted at her. "Sure you not a minor?"

Levinia rested her chin in her interlocked fingers, while her elbows rested on the bar. She fixed him with an unwavering gaze. "How old do I look?" "Well, like a teenager... unless you're some ancient vampire lady that got turned while still an innocent girl, and I'm speaking to a millennium old cutie." He laughed again, and Levinia smiled slowly, but said nothing. He raised an eyebrow and his laugh faltered slightly. "You're not one of them vampires, are you?"

Now, it was her turn to laugh. "No. I should have liked to pull your legs a bit, but I'm not a very good liar, so I'd better not start what I can't finish." The bartender gave an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Ain't that a relief? I hear such kinds are rather unforgiving. My apologies; they say we shouldn't ask ladies anything about their ages. So, back to my offer: what can I get you?"

"Even if I'm a minor?"

He rolled his eyes. "Lady, like half these hicks here are minors. What can we do? Kids grow up early and all that. Besides, I hear drinking age is lax in many parts." He shrugged slightly. "Well, to ease your conscience, no, I'm not a minor, so you won't be held to task for getting a kid drunk," she replied. "You know what? I'm feeling a little daring. Mix me up something random."

"Anything?" He raised an eyebrow again.

"Anything."

"Your call, ma'am."

As he set to whipping up something "random", while jerking his head to the beat booming from the speakers, Levinia hoped that she wasn't making a mistake...

Rolling dice for the drinks...

The member 'Digit v2' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Normal Dice' :

With a final flourish, the bartender slid a glass in front of him, and poured a lavender drink into the glass. He then pushed it over to Levinia. She picked the glass gingerly and peered at it. It had cyan colored ice cubes floating in it, or were they even ice cubes? The cubes were even glowing! She looked at him, as he watched her intently, the lazy smile still on his lips.

"Oooookay... what is this?"

"It's called the 'Sloth Toddy'." He laughed at the look of suspicion and alarm that crossed Levinia's face. "Don't worry, you won't be sleeping off the rest of the day, nor will you turn into a crazy-colored sloth or something else outlandish. I mixed you a good one, trust me."

Levinia relaxed, but she was still observing it with an air of skepticism. "Is there anything I should look out for?"

"Um, nah... though people tell me that it kinda gets them in the groove, if you catch my meaning."

This "groove" could be all sorts of things, and Levinia didn't really catch any meanings, but she had put herself on this road and she was going to walk it to the end. She lifted the glass in a toast. "To 'getting me in the groove', then." He laughed again. "Anything you say, ma'am."

Levinia spent the next few minutes sipping the toddy, which had an actually agreeable taste, and watching the party people dance and make lots of noise. When she was through, she slid the glass back to the barkeep. He retrieved it and held up a slightly comical looking device.

"Stamp?"

There was no harm in having a glowing smiley somewhere on one's body... so long as it wasn't in a scandalous place. "Sure," she answered, presenting the back of her hand to be stamped. For a while, she thought the toddy had not effect on her, but little by little, she began to feel happier. She just kind of felt satisfied and comfortable. Everything was enjoyable, everything had a certain appeal. Heck, she even felt like jumping amidst the crowd and dancing wildly. Wait, was that a good thing?

Levinia left the bar and squeezed her way through the crowd, trying vainly to understand the lyrics of the current song playing, but that couldn't stop her head from bobbing to the beat. All of a sudden, there was a scream, and the sound of breaking glass. Turning to her left, she saw the crowd pulling away from a certain area, and she made her way towards the place, to see what was going on. As she pulled herself through the last row of people that made up the edge of the crowd, she stepped into a free space, where some liquid like creatures were causing chaos. She would have said they were water elementals, but they were a sharp glowing pink, and whatever they touched bubbled and burned like acid.

"What's that? Some sort of caustic touch?" before she could make any further analysis, the creatures saw her, five in number, and darted towards her like lightning. No doubt they aimed to attack. She noticed that they were perhaps drawn to her, because she was the only person in the circle, but wait... there was someone else, a strange girl, sitting on a table and fiddling with an iLac.

"Hey," Levinia called out to her, as she narrowly evaded one of the elementi that lashed at her with a flagellate appendage. "Isn't it dangerous staying close to these things?"

"Unless she's the one responsible for them?"

"Retweet!" she said, without looking up. "But that's your bag, not mine."

Levinia glared at her. Yeah, she was definitely part of the problem, but as she hadn't attacked, Levie would not be hostile, yet. For now, she would focus on the elementi and take them out. That would at least ensure that the crowd was safe. What she needed was a crowd controller, and she had just the thing. As she spun away from another attack, she opened her hands, and two large, flat golden rings appeared. Grasping the Rings of Zephyr, she began dancing her way around the elementi, keeping to the center of the space, so that no one in the crowd would be close enough for collateral damage. Then she began throwing her Rings at the elementi one by one, in a beautiful display of golden color, as the Rings whirled round, or bounced off debris and returned to her hand. Before long, the five elementi surrounded her, hoping to make a sudden coordinated attack to catch her off guard... but Levie had plans of her own.

As each of them lurched forward suddenly, she threw out the chakrams in a sweeping position, spinning her body and descending to one knee as she did so. Instead of the Rings of Zephyr to strike and return as usual, this time they danced in a wild whirlwind of metal blades, shredding everything hostile towards her to ribbons. She was pleased to see that the barrage, which afforded at least three more cuts to each of the elementi, was enough to disperse them and send splatterings of glowing pink all over the place. Fortunately for the crowd, they were not close enough, and so without any damage afforded anyone, most of them began cheering at the vibrant display.

Levinia heard a shriek of rage behind her.

It was the strange girl. That was odd, seeing that Levinia had ensured that the Wrath of the Hurricane had not affected her. On further observation, however, it was revealed that one of the destroyed elementi had splashed over her iLac, destroying it. Levina looked at the girl with a slightly apologetic smile. "I did ask you to go somewhere safe..."

"Do you have an idea how much I bought one of those?! You are so canceled, bitch!"

"Is this what young people sound like nowadays? What is she even saying?"

With a battle cry, the girl rushed at Levinia, and began throwing a flurry of kicks and punches. Her strength and speed were not really impressive, but Levinia was not keen on wasting any time with her. Wielding both Rings in either hand, she clapped the flat surfaces on the sides of the girl's head as she came in for the next attack. With a dull groan, the girl fell to the floor, knocked out cold.

As the crowd cheered again, there was sudden movement to one side as the crowd was forcefully parted. Levinia found herself staring at a robot... or was it a guy in some sophisticated getup? She wondered why the chest armor looked suspiciously like a speaker, until the person robot cranked up a switch on his arm, and a pulse of sheer sonic power blurted out of the speaker on his chest. Levinia was knocked back a good ten feet, but fortunately landed on her feet as she slid to a halt. The crowd backed away further.

"You may have taken down Orcana, and the slushies, but you're about to experience the rage of the PL4GUE Beta. No one steals our show and gets away with it. No one!"

He cranked up his sonic cannon again (the name was more apt than a loud speaker), and Levinia quickly summoned her Royal Shield and ducked behind it. Her eyes were still swimming somewhat from the disorienting attack that she had just endured, but the effects were wearing off. The sound blast struck the shield, pushing her back a few feet again, but she was mostly uninjured. The shield, however, cracked, shattered into a million silver fragments, and disappeared.

"I think it's better to avoid this, rather than block."

Instantly, she summoned her Ring of Velocity, and charged at the Beta with increased speed. Taken off-guard, he tried to fire another sound attack, but being premature, the effect was just loud noise. Levinia's fist connected with his face, cracking the mask and sending him staggering. Pressing forward, she used the spinning momentum to kick him in the side, and there was an audible crunch as his armor cracked. The Beta cranked up his weapon and aimed it at her at point blank range. She kicked him full in the chest, and used the recoil to fall backwards, as distorted air screamed a few inches over her face. Before she hit the ground, she had already summoned the Leviathan's Spine, which she flicked at him. The whip-sword wrapped itself around his armored ankle, and she jerked it towards herself, knocking him to the ground. Then she charged. As the Beta rose to his feet, he was already priming his weapon for another attack. This was a chicken race, only that it was the faster, not the braver, that won.

With a loud crackling sound, Levinia's fist shot through the speaker on his chest. She ensure that she didn't punch at full capacity, because she didn't want a dead man on her hands. However, the force of the blow destroyed his weapon and knocked him senseless. She flicked her wrist as he fell to the ground, amid the cheers of the crowd again. Before she could revel in her victory, she sensed a presence. This one was strong, no doubt.

"Interesting. Would I be correct to assume that you are the one we have to thank for all this interference?"

Levinia turned and saw a samurai-esque figure, wielding a katana with an energy blade. His weapon was pretty, and he gave off a "you don't mess with this guy" kind of air. She didn't reply; instead, she summoned the Utagatana, and let the Leviathan's Spine float in mid-air.

"Ah... a duel. Intriguing."

He blurred for a moment, and in the next instant, sparks rang as their blades connected. She had to hand it to him: he was pretty fast. She would need speed and smarts to overcome this one. She switched her Ring of Velocity for the Alchemy Armor; that would give her a greater boost of speed, and an ivory revolver materialized beside the floating whip sword. With her new speed, she could easily keep up with him. She fired a shot at him, which he dodged, and fired another, which he also avoided, then charged in again. As she blocked his next attack, he suddenly lashed out with his foot, kicking her right leg out from beneath her. Suddenly, as he was about to take advantage of her staggering, he jerked forward twice, like he had been struck two times from behind. Levinia, now on one knee, struck him in the jaw with the scabbard of her Utagatana, as their swords were still connected. He broke away, rubbing his jaw, but she wasn't giving him much space to recover. Pointing Argent at him again, she fired. This time, he decided to slice the bullet. And that was what she wanted.

The bullet exploded the moment it connected with his blade, and as the force knocked him back, Levinia fired off another shot, this one being undefended against, into his side. The neon samurai struck the ground with his back, but corkscrewed his body and jumped back to his feet. He made a strange hand sign, and neon elementi appeared again, and ran towards her. He then held his blade with both hands, then made a slash. A bright burst of gigantic pink flame burst from his sword, rushing outwards in her general direction.

"Queen of the Depths!" she called, as the Leviathan's Spine exuded a torrent of water that swallowed some of the flame, and covered the entire battlefield. Whatever remained of his attack would have to be put out by the crowd, if they could. The elementi were engulfed by the water, and all they could manage to do was warm up the water a little bit, before they were put out. And now, Levinia had the advantage, for the samurai was in her water world, and he was slower. She charged him with a downward stroke of her Songblade, and as he deflected it, she pistol whipped him with Argent. His left hand suddenly closed round her throat, as their other arms strained with their swords. Levinia, using her telekinesis, moved the Leviathan's Spine till it was off to his left, then fired off an Antediluvian. Not too easy to perceive in the water, and being distracted by the wrestling, the neon samurai could do little to defend against it. As the burst of water struck him, forcing him to release his grip, Levinia punched him in the face with the hand wielding Argent, then offloaded another bullet into him.

As her constant attacks knocked him clear out of the sphere of water that engulfed the area, Levinia sheathed the Utagatana quickly, and drew a quick slash. "Banshōgiri!" The slash cut the sphere of water in two, and the cutting space struck the samurai, just as he landed on his feet. Bystanders would hardly understand what had happened; they would see the samurai knocked back, beyond the stroke of her blade, then he would buckle and fall to one knee. Levinia, dripping wet, strode over to him and pointed her blade at his neck. Silence passed for a few seconds, then the neon samurai chuckled. "You are one fierce fighter, girl. I concede defeat."

The crowd went wild again, and Levinia dispelled her weapons. As the local authorities bundled away the defeated PL4GUE members, a cheering throng grabbed Levie and lifted her up on their shoulders. At first, she felt a little uncomfortable, but then she got used to it. It wasn't every time one got appreciated like this. And the Sloth Toddy was still in her system, so her mood was quite matching with the thronging crowd. She spread her arms and laid backwards, as they carried her through the city, to the beat of loud music.

"Let's paaaaarrrtaaaaaaay!!!" she screamed. Right now, she didn't care, but in days to come, she would be asking herself repeatedly what had come over her for demonstrating such "untoward behavior."