Cooldown (Everyone)

[Anastasia]

The meeting that gathers is chaotic, loud before it begins. Virtually every officer is there, a dozen little islands of conversations as everyone gets in.

27 is curled up in Hanna's lap, the planetar slowly petting him. Hanna sits next to Jaela and Mirajane, while Ram comes along with a few mugs of water and a bowl of diced up chicken and beef. He grabs a seat next to Mirajane, "Hungry? Thirsty?"

Crystal flutters in next to Afina, murmuring to her, "Bubbles will be along shortly, she's helping see to the troops. She passes on her affections."

Near where Calleigh and Tryll are positioned, Moonlight comes over. "Hamogan wants to talk to the two of you when this is all over," she says, "Don't ask me, I'm just the messenger."

Kascha and Surraruthru grab seats, with still in human form Baleruk sitting on Kascha's other side. He waits patiently enough - at least for him, anyway, giving the general scowls.

Amid all of this, "Ahem," Morniel clears his throat, the noise enough to silence everyone at once. He then sits down, while Adrian raises his voice.

"The good news?" Adrian looks around, "No serious losses and we have a bumper crop of refugees rescued. This raid was a succeed by all measures. The bad news?  Bel, the Lord of the First, has chosen to personally take the field against Aurora. That's fucking terrifying. If not for what is presumed to be Erathaol giving Moore a message, we would have been caught completely unawares."

As Adrian talks, a page comes in and whispers something to Morniel. He frowns, minutely nods to the page and leans in to Gisfal, whispering to him in the back ground.

Meanwhile, "Afina, Jaela, you were there. How bad was it?" Adrian asks.

[Ebiris]

"Those of us who were there all remember the moment Abigor set foot on Lifasa, even if we didn't know it was him at the time," Afina says, her adorable voice pitched towards grimness as she looks around everyone. "This was worse, I felt the world scream through my bones. Now that a Lord of the Nine has walked on Lifasa's soil, I don't know that it can be recovered. Furthermore, even if we fled in time, Bel wouldn't let the trip be wasted. Makaril's forces are in grave danger."

[Corwin]

"Wait, before that, no serious losses?" Jaela cuts in. "I thought there were no losses on our side at all. Or did we lose someone in the relocation from Astral?"

[Nephrite]

Moore nods to Afina. "It was incredibly disorienting. It was as if there was a tuning fork inside of me that exploded."

[Anastasia]

"Hell's getting desperate, if you ask me," Moonlight chimes in. "Deities don't just come to the Prime, even one like Lifasa. That's breaking all sorts of unspoken agreements and rules."

[Corwin]

Jaela blinks. "27 said that only Lifasan natives experienced that."

[Nephrite]

Moore turns his attention to Jaela and then looks over at 27. "Huh. Well, I suppose there's no reason to think he's wrong about it, but... I couldn't say myself."

[Iron Dragoon]

"It certainly ups the ante. If a Lord of the Nine is walking Lifasa, the other side is going to respond. This is about to escalate, and seriously. We saw it with the twins on Benfal. Aurora's forcing them to respond personally, and I think that's for one of two reasons: either we're seriously outside of their plans and they're scrambling and panicking or... we were put into play to force the escalation. I think it's the latter. It fits with the way the deities on our side have been closed mouth about things... Well, not that they're ever forthcoming."

Surraruthru shakes his head with a sigh.

"Like most mortals to gods, I believe we've been played for a larger purpose. One that may be the first step in a new war between deities on primes. Hell certainly won't back down now that they've been pushed this far, and the Heavens can't. The gods always move behind the curtain, but this time... the curtain is on fire and about to smother us. This has gone beyond their normal manipulations. We're strong enough to win our plays, but like Adrian so elegantly put, at this point it's fucking terrifying. I think it's time we figured out exactly what's going on behind that curtain."

[Anastasia]

Yuth, go ahead and chime in after this, I'm going to toss in a post for now.

"A turn of phrase," Gisfal speaks up, "No losses, we achieved total surprise and struck with overwhelming force, then retreated from their overwhelming force."

"Ahem," Morniel cuts in, "There's much to discuss, but if I may speak?"

[Nephrite]

Moore turns his attention to Morniel!

This really has upped the game a lot, though... Are they going to be safe to go out to any worlds nowadays?

Am I really a Lifasan native? How long ago was that, then...

[Corwin]

"Go ahead," Jaela says, figuring Morniel wants to share the news he just received from that page.

[Anastasia]

""Ahem," Morniel says, "I would like to speculate on what Bel's actions mean, but first I have received a message that a servant of Bahamut has arrived. He has been taken to a guest room for now, as the circumstances dictate we have bigger issues to deal with. It is in your hands, generals."

At this moment, Moore feels a strange sleepiness come over him. "Sleep a few moments, Moore."

[Ebiris]

"We'll have to deal with Bahamut later," Afina agrees. "Has he said why he's come so we know it's not relevant to the current situation?"

[Anastasia]

"He requested an audience," Morniel says, "He wishes to speak to Aurora's generals and no one else." He clears his throat afterwards. "Pardon."

[Nephrite]

Moore covers his mouth to stifle a yawn as he settles down into his chair.

Bahamut? Uh, maybe they'd better not send Jaela and Af--yawn...mm...

He covers his mouth again and leans back and closes his eyes...