MERC XIX: Toss a Coin to your Goblin

[Ironsmith]

[Astrana's Office]

"By which I mean, she did exactly then what she's doing now." Siana elaborates. "Vacant stare. Constant mumbling. Responds to nothing." She keeps her eyes squeezed shut. "I didn't... feel anything like that. No magic, I think."

They seemed like they were going to focus on that moment. Astrana had said she wanted to know what was going on in her head at the time, so she tries to remember.

She was upset. Frustrated. Guilty. On the verge of despairing, but drawing strength from the first things her uncle had said to her when she woke up.

"You have the heart of a Lord in you. Fight."

She hadn't even realized she'd said it. It didn't matter that she had. Her mind was miles away.

She owed that man everything. He was the reason she was here now, and not wandering the Nexus as some mindless shade. He took her in and cared for her. More recently, he'd taken on a debt to pay for the damages she caused, sacrificing some of his most valuable possessions to do so.

It hurt to watch. She had, completely by accident-

"Broke the dog... broke the dog..."

If either Olvisin or Astrana were paying much attention to what Siana was saying or doing, they'd see a pair of tears slide down her cheeks.

[Shadowcaller]

[Astrana’s Office]

Astrana gives Siana a look of concern. Her sudden mumbling making her draw a rather drastic conclusion as she walks past Siana and locks the door from the inside. “I’m afraid we have to quarantine.” She declares while looking to Olvisin.

If Siana hadn’t reacted to this by now this would seem like a more reasonable conclusion. But if she did react then perhaps it was something else. Siana might have done something to Reina without realizing it. Some power hidden in that unstable psyche of hers. She would ask the goblin more questions but she’s now looking to Siana, her reaction crucial here.

[Gullara]

[Demands of Snakes]

"You're quite correct, Kirk. But this instance, consider me more of a middleman or a messenger. The message I carry however is that it has been agreed upon that the Orobou, the beings you're planning to contact, should not become aware of my daughters true nature. Since I don't think I have to tell you how untrustworthy and cruel the fey are, correct?

Therefore, it's considered in her and the child's best interests to not even disclose that she's involved in this. Instead, whatever demands the Orobou will have shall be paid by calling this number again once you're bartering with them. Since I think we both agree that the pregnancy itself is enough of a price for MERC to pay, yes?"

Astrana's expression is neutral but Dena can't seem to help but to look concerned. "That's not Ambrosia, is it?" She whispers just loud enough for Kirk to hear.

[Demands of Snakes]

Kirk shakes his head at Dena. It's certainly not.

"We don't intend to give them any more than they require for the task." Kirk replies simply. He doesn't need to give Helios the satisfaction of an emphatic agreement. "We'll determine what prices exist and make contact after assessing them." He adds noncommittally. Is there something he's missing here? Is Helios that interested in making things smooth for Merc, or does he have some other motive? Best to get all the information before committing.

[Morty]

[Astrana's Office]

Olvisin is dumbstruck. Fortunately, not in the same way as Siana and Reina. It's just an expression of someone whose already bad day is taking a turn for the worse.

"What? It's something contagious?"

[Ironsmith]

[Astrana’s Office]

Astrana gives Siana a look of concern. Her sudden mumbling making her draw a rather drastic conclusion as she walks past Siana and locks the door from the inside. “I’m afraid we have to quarantine.” She declares while looking to Olvisin.

If Siana hadn’t reacted to this by now this would seem like a more reasonable conclusion. But if she did react then perhaps it was something else. Siana might have done something to Reina without realizing it. Some power hidden in that unstable psyche of hers. She would ask the goblin more questions but she’s now looking to Siana, her reaction crucial here.

[Astrana's Office]

Olvisin is dumbstruck. Fortunately, not in the same way as Siana and Reina. It's just an expression of someone whose already bad day is taking a turn for the worse.

"What? It's something contagious?"

[Astrana's Office]

Siana's hand flies forward and grabs ahold of whoever's forearm is closer. "No!"

"...No. I'm fine." Siana keeps her eyes squeezed shut, visibly tensing now that she's realized she might be touching the fiendling and she doesn't want to think about it. "I just... I just recognized the words, that's all. She's roundabout with it, but Reina's describing me... or rather, what was going through my head at the time."

"'Killed the frog' refers to a recurring dream I keep having. I'm back home, in Maesda. Only everything is on fire. The fields, the houses, even the sky itself. And there's nobody else around. Nobody but a little frog, which hops into my hand. It bites me. I bite back." She shakes her head. "Some weird metaphor my brain keeps going back to when I'm asleep. I don't know what it is."

"'Broke the dog' is a little more direct. My uncle's what you might call a werewolf. He recently took on a large debt, ended up selling most of the remnants of his old life to help pay it off. It... has not not been easy for him. I'm here to make it right. Earn some of those relics back. It's been in my head since I got here." Siana lets out a shaky sigh, wiping her eyes with her free hand. She decides to keep her culpability in that debt, real or percieved, to herself.

[Shadowcaller]

[Astrana's Office]

Ah, there it was. Astrana unlocks the door again. "I just thought I saw Reina's sympthoms in her just now." She briefly explains to Olvisin and turns to Siana again. "But it seems like I was wrong." She peers closer at this girl babbling nonsense. She wasn't making much sense to her and seemed more unstable then anything. The fact she was now crying didn't exactly help her case either, or was that just due to her own presence?

She takes a deep breath, she had just wanted to get this over with. "Miss Siana, it looks like you need some sleep. I'd advise that you take one of the restrooms or simply go home. However, before you do, I have a few more questions. It sounds like you got pretty desperate in this training exercise. That you refused to fail. Is it possible that you might have manifested some kind of power which incapicated Reina in that moment?" It certainly wouldn't be beyond the limitations of the vampires Astrana knew of. Siana had yet to confirm she was one of course but on the other hand she hadn't outright denied it either.

[Ironsmith]

[Astrana's Office]

Siana wants to object. There's no way she could have used magic or psychic powers or anything like that on Reina. She just wasn't capable of it. She could no more have done that than drop-kicked the poor cat.

But then she gets to thinking about it. She'd wanted to catch Reina. She'd been under a lot of stress and pressure but her determination saw her through. And from what her sister had told her, those were the primary mechanisms by which magic was wrought. Maybe she had done something and wasn't aware of it.

"...I... I don't know. Maybe?" Siana finally says.

[Shadowcaller]

[Astrana's Office]

"Do you know what kind of power you might have manifested? Something which runs in your family perhaps? It would give me a pretty good idea how to cure Reina. I wouldn't even need to spend time on identifying it." Astrana continues prodding as this could be good news. If she knew what it was she could use a simple pact bond to undo it.

[Ironsmith]

[Astrana's Office]

"Do you know what kind of power you might have manifested? Something which runs in your family perhaps? It would give me a pretty good idea how to cure Reina. I wouldn't even need to spend time on identifying it." Astrana continues prodding as this could be good news. If she knew what it was she could use a simple pact bond to undo it.

[Astrana's Office]

Siana shakes her head slowly, eyes still shut. "Magic doesn't 'run' in my family." She says flatly. "The closest thing would be my sister's talent for Lunamancy, but that looks nothing like what happened to Reina. It's more physical in nature; if I suddenly ended up using it, I would know because there'd be fire shooting out of my hands or something. Beyond that..." she takes a shuddering sigh. "I'm as lost as you are."

[Shadowcaller]

[Astrana's Office]

"Right. Well, perhaps-" The warlock pauses. "Actually, do you want me to try to find out what powers that might have awakened in you? I can't make you do anything and you haven't exactly shown signs of trusting me. However, as I believe its in both your and Reina's best interests I still figured I'd make the offer." Astrana steps back, ready to sit back down behind her desk again. She didn't exactly expect Siana to agree, especially once she knew what it would involve.

[Ironsmith]

[Astrana's Office]

Well, wasn't that just typical fiendling behavior. Offering her power for...

For...

Actually, Astrana hadn't really asked for anything in return. And it wasn't like she was really offering power, either; she was offering to help explore whatever power Siana might already have.

To help Reina, of course.

Siana still finds herself leery of the deal. This still stank of demonic shenanigans. Corrupting good intentions to serve the fiend's sinister agenda. But again, she didn't see herself as having much choice.

"...All right." Siana says finally. "But understand this; if you try to pull anything, sword or not, so help me Absum I'll..."

You know what? Best not to finish that threat.

"...You'll be sorry." Siana finishes. "So no funny business, understood?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Astrana's Office]

Astrana sits down on her chair and takes a deep breath. "Before you agree to anything I think you should hear what this involve as I would need to open up your mind to the aether. This means you would have to trust me enough to consume the substance that I will provide. It's formally known as a 'drug' but it won't influence you in any way like the drugs you're probably thinking of right now. Warlocks take it all the time to communicate with beings of the aether, me included. It's not addictive nor is it dangerous to take as long as you remain inside that circle." She gestures vaguely towards the large circle made up of a spiral pattern of symbols which been carved into the stone floor. "I can explain it in more detail but I suspected you might already have some misgivings. Keep in mind though, if you don't do this I would need to subject Reina to something similar to find out what's wrong with her."

[Ironsmith]

[Astrana's Office]

"OF COURSE I HA-" Siana begins, frustrated at what she sees as an attempt to coax her into it. Of course, realizing again that she's going to look completely crazy to Olvisin and probably shouldn't provoke Astrana any further.

"...Of course I have misgivings." Siana begins again, taking a deep breath to force herself to calm down. "But if it's me or the kitty, it's not a choice at all." She kneels into position, hands in her lap. "...Do whatever you need to do. Just do it quickly, before I..." she stops, stuck between "change my mind" and "lose my nerve", and just shakes her head slightly. "...Be quick."

[Shadowcaller]

[Astrana's Office]

"As you wish." Not wasiting any time, Astrana gets up from her chair and walks over to her medicine cabinet. After messing around with her keychain for a moment she unlocks it and takes out a glass jar which she hands over to Siana. "Take two of these, hand me back the jar and then sit down inside the circle, or stand if you prefer. It should take a few minutes for it to have effect though you might not notice it at first. It's often subtle." The tiefling inclines her head towards the circle.

[Demands of Snakes]

"Then we understand one another, great." Helios muses in a mirthful tone. However, his voice then takes a more serious disposition. "However, I would also like to take this opportunity to give you some advice. Might want to write this down as it's quite important." He pauses for a moment as if giving Kirk time to focus on what he's about to say next.
"First of all, I believe it should go without saying that you don't mention my name either. Indeed, the less information you give them the better. While I'm sure you would like the satisfaction of handing me a huge bill I think you already know that fey are seldom interested in material goods. They will want favors and most of all control of the child and I don't think either of us would want that. My suggestion is that you try to offer up information of the Nexus to them. It's make-up, the kinds of beings and technology that exist here, ecetera. You don't have to give them all this information, just claim that you have it and I will provide them with it.
Which brings me to my next point. You still listening? Good!" Without pause, Helios continues. "Make sure to let them know that you represent MERC in this and aren't dealing with them as individuals. That way they can't tie you personally to accomplish whatever favor they want and gives me enough leeway to provide whatever they ask for. This includes not giving them your real names as that's how they pin you down. They are beucurats at heart and knows how to manipulate their laws in their favor so if you accept any of them they can tie you or your organization into all sorts of things." Finally, he stops. "You got all that? Or should I repeat it?"

[Ironsmith]

[Astrana's Office]

"As you wish." Not wasiting any time, Astrana gets up from her chair and walks over to her medicine cabinet. After messing around with her keychain for a moment she unlocks it and takes out a glass jar which she hands over to Siana. "Take two of these, hand me back the jar and then sit down inside the circle, or stand if you prefer. It should take a few minutes for it to have effect though you might not notice it at first. It's often subtle." The tiefling inclines her head towards the circle.

[Astrana's Office]

Siana obeys, upturning the jar to deposit two of the capsules into her hand, before returning it to Astrana. After taking her seat in the circle, she pops then in her mouth and swallows then whole, grimacing at their no-doubt-unpleasant taste.

As she waits for the medicine to take effect, she finds herself troubled by what she imagined her uncle would say if he could see her now. Taking strange drugs from a fiendling with nobody around to keep watch over her (except Olvisin, who would probably side with the fiendling). Not very wise, Siana. Not very wise at all.

Hopefully this will all be worth it.

[Shadowcaller]

[Astrana's Office]

Astrana grabs a pair of pink-tinted glasses from her cabinet and then steps up to the circle. She speaks a code-word which is diffiuclt to comprehend and the green emeralds which has been socketed into the floor starts to glow "Okay, so for some context, this circle has two settings. Protect and secure. Right now it has protect which means that it protects you from things outside the circle. The other setting keeps things inside of it. That doesn't mean you're trapped as it only works on spirits. You can still move in and out. The reason I'm explaining this however is that you should never go outside the circle while your mind is open like this. Your bulwark, aka, the thing that keeps spirits around you from influencing and possessing you is currently inhibited and trust me, you don't want your bodily control violated by a spirit."

The warlock gestures towards herself. "As for me, I'm going to be using spirit eyes." She gestures at the glasses. "-to do a reading on you. As your mind is now opened it should be fairly easy."


She puts on the glasses and observes Siana carefully. She should now be able to tell more of Siana's "concepts". As in, images, words or/and other things that would represent who she is and different parts of her personality. These would be seen on her skin and clothes, perhaps even poking out from inside her. Examples of this would be her self-image (being seen like a transperent "shell" around her), her ideals and vices (or at least things she considers to be ideals and vices), different parts of her personality and of course any special abilities she might have. How or if these are represented is decided by her player of course.

[Ironsmith]

[Astrana's Office]

Astrana grabs a pair of pink-tinted glasses from her cabinet and then steps up to the circle. She speaks a code-word which is diffiuclt to comprehend and the green emeralds which has been socketed into the floor starts to glow "Okay, so for some context, this circle has two settings. Protect and secure. Right now it has protect which means that it protects you from things outside the circle. The other setting keeps things inside of it. That doesn't mean you're trapped as it only works on spirits. You can still move in and out. The reason I'm explaining this however is that you should never go outside the circle while your mind is open like this. Your bulwark, aka, the thing that keeps spirits around you from influencing and possessing you is currently inhibited and trust me, you don't want your bodily control violated by a spirit."

The warlock gestures towards herself. "As for me, I'm going to be using spirit eyes." She gestures at the glasses. "-to do a reading on you. As your mind is now opened it should be fairly easy."


She puts on the glasses and observes Siana carefully. She should now be able to tell more of Siana's "concepts". As in, images, words or/and other things that would represent who she is and different parts of her personality. These would be seen on her skin and clothes, perhaps even poking out from inside her. Examples of this would be her self-image (being seen like a transperent "shell" around her), her ideals and vices (or at least things she considers to be ideals and vices), different parts of her personality and of course any special abilities she might have. How or if these are represented is decided by her player of course.

[Astrana's Office]

There's a quartet of animals gathered around Siana, at least according to Astrana's vision. Standing over her, there's a wolf, head bowed protectively in front of her, teeth bared and threatening anyone who happened to be near to just try and come after her. On her opposite shoulder, there's a small owl, crooning softly and gently caressing her ear with her beak. Poking out from behind her, there's a hare, cowering behind Siana and the wolf for protection. And finally, in her hands, there's a spider, weaving an intricate web between her fingertips.

Not far away, Siana's sword is laying on the ground, just out of reach. The weapon looks somewhat different than when Siana drew it on Astrana, the edge glowing white-hot, begging to be wielded, to cut through something again.

And after that... nothing.

Nothing for miles.

There is nothing in this room.

A great, big, hungry nothing.

One which would swallow everyone; Siana, the animals, Olvisin, Astrana; if given half the chance.

The sword glows more intensely, banishing the void as quickly as it came.

[Murkus]

[Astrana's Office]

A little change comes over Astrana when she wears those glasses, at least as far as Siana can see. Her vivid gold eyes seem to disappear, despite the tint of the spectacles not being all that potent, and they're replaced with a single globe of burning pink in the left lens. As if Astrana had traded away one of her eyes and gained the globe of something vile in return. The glare of that single, baleful eye is a touch menacing.

The room, the pair of them can tell, begins to smell of fine perfume. Lilac and peach. And a faint, melodious laughter can be heard... as if echoing through MERC from far away.

[Shadowcaller]

[Astrana's Office]

Ah, the void. The symbolism for hunger but here it was kept in check by a sword, interesting.

But regardless how she looked at it she couldn't see a way that she could confirm her suspicions. None of these could explain the state Reina was in considering that despite how she acted Siana still seemed to be in control of herself... for now.

---

Meanwhile, besides the perfume and the laughter all the colors of the room seem brighter to Siana now. Almost like she's watching reality through a high definition screen where it clearly has been touched up on by some special effects.

But it's more than just that as she gets the almost overwhelming feeling of being watched.
That's just her subconscious mind reacting faster than her conscious mind however as she might soon realize that it seems like all the masks, animal heads and even the people on the paintings hanging off Astrana's walls are staring right at her.

It might just be dismissed as her imagination until it's clear that their heads have actually turned to face her and are now looking at her like a predator watches a prey.

---

"Looks like I was wrong." Astrana declares after a few minutes of just thoughtfully watching Siana. "But that's good in a way. Gets us much closer to make the right diagnosis on Reina."

She holds up her hands before Siana. "So please just remain in the circle until the drugs wear off. You might be seeing some unsettling things right now but as long as you remain within the circle you're completely safe." The warlock nods. "It was brave of you to do this, Siana. You've helped Reina a great deal."

[Reinholdt]

[Astrana's Office]

There's a sudden, sharp voice from within the cat crate. A gasping one that sounds like someone surfacing for the first time after holding their breath for far, far too long. It has a mewling quality to it, but is filled with excessive urgency. The kind of thing that you instinctively know to listen to if you ever listened to your mother about anything.

"Hold her down, she's going to break for it!"

Reina demands. Would anyone listen to a wild, crazy muttering cat and her ill omens?

[Ironsmith]

[Astrana's Office]

A little change comes over Astrana when she wears those glasses, at least as far as Siana can see. Her vivid gold eyes seem to disappear, despite the tint of the spectacles not being all that potent, and they're replaced with a single globe of burning pink in the left lens. As if Astrana had traded away one of her eyes and gained the globe of something vile in return. The glare of that single, baleful eye is a touch menacing.

The room, the pair of them can tell, begins to smell of fine perfume. Lilac and peach. And a faint, melodious laughter can be heard... as if echoing through MERC from far away.

[Astrana's Office]

Ah, the void. The symbolism for hunger but here it was kept in check by a sword, interesting.

But regardless how she looked at it she couldn't see a way that she could confirm her suspicions. None of these could explain the state Reina was in considering that despite how she acted Siana still seemed to be in control of herself... for now.

---

Meanwhile, besides the perfume and the laughter all the colors of the room seem brighter to Siana now. Almost like she's watching reality through a high definition screen where it clearly has been touched up on by some special effects.

But it's more than just that as she gets the almost overwhelming feeling of being watched.
That's just her subconscious mind reacting faster than her conscious mind however as she might soon realize that it seems like all the masks, animal heads and even the people on the paintings hanging off Astrana's walls are staring right at her.

It might just be dismissed as her imagination until it's clear that their heads have actually turned to face her and are now looking at her like a predator watches a prey.

---

"Looks like I was wrong." Astrana declares after a few minutes of just thoughtfully watching Siana. "But that's good in a way. Gets us much closer to make the right diagnosis on Reina."

She holds up her hands before Siana. "So please just remain in the circle until the drugs wear off. You might be seeing some unsettling things right now but as long as you remain within the circle you're completely safe." The warlock nods. "It was brave of you to do this, Siana. You've helped Reina a great deal."

[Ạ̴̀s̸̱̅t̵͔͂r̷͎̊a̶͉͐ǹ̶̘a̶͎̿'̷̼͆s̶̄ͅ ̵͙̓O̷̝̐f̸̙̊f̸̛͜ì̸̜c̸̥̏e̴͉̔]

Siana just stares back at Astrana, wide-eyed. That horrid thing staring back at her was There was something in Astrana's gaze that was just off. The fiendling already creeped her out, and now she couldn't get away from her gaze, but now she was going to be trapped in her office for... how long, exactly? And by Astrana's own admission, it was for almost nothing.

Siana closes her eyes again and cringes, her hands splayed on the ground. She hates this. She hates being strung along into something like this for no payoff. What was the point? Now she was caught in a circle with evil spirits just a chalk line away from her, and completely unable to fend them off. There was nothing she could do.

Ugh.

Siana starts as she feels something run across her hand, and in the same act, clenches her hand around it.

Another roach.

...Well, she was hungry.

crunch

[Morty]

[Astrana's Office]

Olvisin looks between Siana and Astrana with scepticism. She's a very spiritual person in her own way - but her spirituality is very physical. It concerns the union of flesh and machine, invention and perfection. Peering into spirit-realms isn't really party of it. Goblins, as a species, aren't very spiritual people. Maybe it's because they live surrounded by tons of rock and darkness.

"I guess if you're sure it wasn't caused by Siana, it crosses out one possibility," she admits. That is quite important. "So once she stops floating in realms unknown, we can-" She turns sharply to Reina. "She said something, but it made no sense." Then her head goes back to Siana, as if on a swivel. "...what did she just eat?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Astrana's Office]

Break for it?

Astrana gaze is drawn to Siana, one single look confirming her suspicions. It looked like Siana was taking badly to the drug, it happened sometimes. Especially when you were this young and it was your first time taking it.
Now she was in a dilemma though. As Olvisin was apparently too slow to understand what Reina had meant it looked like Astrana had to spell it out for her. But if she did that Siana would likely react poorly.

This was exactly why she hated working with the field agents, they were all brawn and no brain. Well, except for Krayger but she was pretty sure he was more into administration.

The warlock attempts to catch Olvisin's gaze with her own and just nod her head in Siana's direction. It wasn't particularly subtle but she couldn't afford to be that right now. She just hoped it wouldn't be too late.

[Ironsmith]

[Ạ̴̀s̸̱̅t̵͔͂r̷͎̊a̶͉͐ǹ̶̘a̶͎̿'̷̼͆s̶̄ͅ ̵͙̓O̷̝̐f̸̙̊f̸̛͜ì̸̜c̸̥̏e̴͉̔]

Whatever Siana was eating, apparently, she liked it. There was a sort of comfort to having something ready to eat. Not the taste, exactly (especially not since she was eating bugs), but just... something about getting that fortifying burst of energy, however small, made this whole situation a little more comfortable.

So when she feels another morsel crawl onto her hand, of course she eats it. Then another, and another, as she starts steadily crawling toward the edge of the chalk circle.

Now, Siana's not stupid. She knows when she's getting close to the edge and won't willingly cross the circle; she'd have to be tricked, or pushed, or something. She stops short of it and keeps her eyes shut, feeling the chalk with her fingers and unwilling to proceed further, roach or no roach.

[Morty]

[Astrana's Office]

"Okay, let's just... keep her in your magic circle." Olvisin walks over, careful not to touch the circle and disturb it in any way, and tries to gently pull Siana towards the middle of it, so she's not at risk of getting out even by accident.

[Shadowcaller]

[Astrana's Office]

The circle offers complete protection from any spiritual influences so they're not going tobe able to offer any initiative to leave the circle.

As for Astrana, she had no idea what Siana was doing but she was clearly seeing things. She takes a few steps back while her tail carefully reaches for a black rod laying on her desk. As the tiefling is still keeping her eyes on Siana her tail moved very carefully so she didn't push anything over or grabbed something else instead. This was still a very tense situation so she would be very glad once the drugs wore off and Siana calmed down. As Reina had just awakened she would need to check on her to see just what had happened back there.

[Ironsmith]

[Ạ̴̀s̸̱̅t̵͔͂r̷͎̊a̶͉͐ǹ̶̘a̶͎̿'̷̼͆s̶̄ͅ ̵͙̓O̷̝̐f̸̙̊f̸̛͜ì̸̜c̸̥̏e̴͉̔]

When Astrana Olvisin touches her, Siana instinctually pushes her away, crawling backwards in the opposite direction. That wretched, filthy fiendling goblin wasn't going to get her claws hands on this strigoi. Especially not while she was trapped and helpless; there were far too many potential negative outcomes to ignore. "Keep off of me!" She hisses angrily, fangs bared menacingly.

It takes her a second to realize that chalky feeling under her hands was the edge of the circle, and that she'd come dangerously close to going over it.

[Morty]

[Astrana's Office]

Olvisin gives a startled cry as she sees Siana get close to the edge of the circle and opts to simply grab and hold her arms so they don't reach it. She's large and heavy for a goblin and her people are generally stronger than they look (though that's not saying much).

"How long is this stuff going to last?" she asks Astrana.

[Shadowcaller]

[Astrana's Office]

"About twenty minutes so I'm just going to call for reinforcements." Astrana now held the black rod in her tail but has backed up all the way to her desk and now presses a button underneath it. It was something Dena had insisted on being installed in her office. It was a silent alarm which would call security to the office.

Unruly customers hadn't been the first thing Dena had in mind for it. Rather the kind of creatures that Astrana summoned on occasion. But while Astrana would have protested that sending a bunch of untrained weapon wielding thugs would likely just make such a situation worse her office was rather removed from the rest of the base so they might as well include it. Just in case.

[Ironsmith]

[Ạ̴̀s̸̱̅t̵͔͂r̷͎̊a̶͉͐ǹ̶̘a̶͎̿'̷̼͆s̶̄ͅ ̵͙̓O̷̝̐f̸̙̊f̸̛͜ì̸̜c̸̥̏e̴͉̔]

"I said get off!" Siana screeches, to no avail. With how shoddy her stance is going to be and the fact that Astrana Olvisin had her arms pinned to her sides, she wasn't going to wrestle out of her grip easily.

Well, not without pulling a dirty trick, at least.

Ordinarily, Siana wouldn't dream of using her fangs on a person. That just wasn't done. But Astrana Olvisin hadn't left her much of a choice; she was unarmed, frightened out of her mind, and unwilling to submit to the hold.

So, without giving any further warning, she sinks her teeth into to fiendling goblin's upper arm, hoping to cause her to let go. If she succeeds, she'll fall backwards, undisputably out of the circle and at the mercy of whatever spirits happened to be in the room with her.