>>96864151
Behind her followed a number of others. An abyssal - non participant, not currently a threat, another half caste sidereal - twitchy, potential violence, and a pure mortal - the girls mother. Lurking just behind them was another Alchemical.

Meanwhile, Karen and Marena's company was Ten Winds and Thimia. ...Misho may or may not count right now as he had been dragged into judging by Costora. And unlike Nemen, he probably wouldn't blatantly favor his circle the way she would the other sidereals. Either way, the balance of power was in their favor. Three full exalts and a demon against an exalt, two half exalts, a mortal, and maybe another full exalt, depending. If it came down to a fight, at least.

"So, Messier..." Marena began ever so subtly. "How'd you do that? Because that was pretty fucking cool."

Sun damn it Marena there was no way she would ever answer-

"I just copied all of the go fast charms everyone else was using and used them for myself."

...WHAT THE FUCK.

Karen goes rigid. Ten Winds looks at Messier and raises an eye. Marena blinks and sputters. Thimia just nods, as though that makes perfect sense. To either side of her, the other half caste blinks in confusion while the mortal completely misses how impossible that's supposed to be.

"How much experience did you have saved up?" Marena whispers, a faint note of horrified fascination in her voice. "And how much of it did you spend?"

"Enough. And too much. I can't do that again, if that's what you're asking." The fucking freaks voice is exhausted, which all of a sudden makes perfect sense.

"Ah... excuse me?" The mortal woman interjects. "May I ask what exactly that means? I'm not exactly martially inclined, or knowledgeable about the use of essence."

Marena goes to respond, and then pauses, unsure. Karen gets it. How do you explain a character sheet to an npc? How do you explain color to someone who is blind?