On the Run [Mami]

[Harry Dresden]

Harry ran from the Coruscant gate, ignoring the confused looks from the people there and the angry shouts from the soldiers behind him. He didn't know where Samus had run to and he didn't have time to contact her. He tried to get his bearings as best he could, but mostly he just went towards the sea. It wasn't hard to find that, since it seemed the gate had deposited him on an island. He had to change direction often to shake his pursuers, and he ran into a few dead ends along the way, but he didn't have to fire off any more spells or take any more laser shots.

The wizard's mad dash eventually got him to a dock, where he spotted a sailboat tied to the dock. Without any time to lose, the wizard threw his staff into the boat and untied the rope before jumping in himself. Retrieving his implement from the floor of the tiny little craft, he used a wind spell to fill the boat's sails, carrying him away from the island to a chorus of angry shouts.

He felt bad, and not just because he was tired. He'd caused a huge commotion, had to skirt the edge of hurting a lot of people, barely made it out of Coruscant alive, and now the freaking Empire was after him. Safely out to sea, Harry released the spell and laid down in the little sailboat, carefully distributing his weight so as not to tip it. The shots he'd taken hurt like hell now that adrenaline wasn't helping him. He supposed the mantle would have problems muting the pain of pure, concentrated light. Winter was a force of cold and dark more than light and warmth, after all.

It might not have been the best decision, but Harry decided to put off calling Samus for the moment.

He needed a nap.

[Harry Dresden]

Harry had a rough idea of how long he'd slept when he sat up and yawned himself awake. The sun had been inching towards the horizon when he laid down, and when he awoke it was to the light of dawn. That'd make this the longest sleep he'd had in a long time; an entire night. He didn't know exactly how long the nights were in this universe at this time of year, but it was probably a considerable amount of time from how thirsty he was. He knew better than to drink the seawater, at least. He concentrated on the Omnilium he had with him, summoning a canteen of water and an MRE. "I think I love this trick."

After his decent breakfast, Harry stood in the boat and looked around. Spotting an island was, thankfully, a simple task, and he set the boat moving with another wind spell, carefully managing it so that the water would only pull away some of the energy he put into it. He'd make landfall soon, and then he'd be able to figure out his next move.

[Mami Tomoe]

Mami found herself stumbling through the palm-tree gate on the opposite side, which she salvaged from a fall with a quick roll. She bounced to her feet and, with a casual smile, she glanced about as if nothing had ever happened. Ocean stretched out as far as her golden eyes could see, dotted with little islands on various parts of the landscape, and a couple boats floating about here and there. It was more than obvious this place was more densely populated than the plains she had traveled in... But wasn't that a depressing thought? Though it definitely wasn't by much that there were more people. A "couple" meant about four in this case, and all appeared only just big enough to be used successfully (Without sinking them from weight) with one or two people. Eight maximum people was better than none, she thought, and continued examining the area.

A boat, barely seaworthy, with a row strapped to both its left and right sides, shifted slightly as gentle waves brushed up against the coarse sand under Mami's boots. How unfortunate that she couldn't simply swim here, more so that she didn't have a swimsuit, and even more so that this sand appeared to be more shells than actual sand. The most unfortunate thing was that she would likely need to put her faith in this old boat, as nothing came to mind when she tried to think of something - Anything - To travel with in this place but boats in worse condition than this, or boats far too large for one person to use. Reluctantly Mami walked over to the boat, kicked it off-shore and hopped in before it drifted too far from land. With an intimidating creeeeeak as she landed, she found herself adrift in the ocean. Well, I'll have to run into him at some point, won't I? Her means of finding Witches wasn't much better than this, either (Blindly wandering minus the adrift part here), so she held her tongue.

Speaking of Witches... Mami felt a cold luminescence from her Soul Gem. That was always a bad sign - While she didn't seem to be in a poor position by any means, nor a good one with her Gem's condition, there was some sort of Familiar or Witch nearby. She held her hands out, angled toward the rows' handles, and allowed a pair of ribbons to wrap around and begin rowing the boat forward, since Mami didn't want to bother doing it by hand... And, as luck wouldn't have it, the light that had been coming from the jewel on her hat faded as quickly as it had begun. With a sigh, she found herself glancing around with narrowed eyes - Maybe she would find something if she looked hard enough...

Mami found herself wobbling and struggling to keep her balance. It was the first rule of being in a boat to not stand up, wasn't it? So now Mami knew why, she supposed and sat down on one of the uncomfortable wooden benches, working on summoning herself a cup of tea upon getting comfortable.

Respond as you please.
If you want to get to land first, that's grand. Or if you want to do a sort of battle-adrift-at-sea thing, with the only land available being boats in the area, that would be fun. Up to you!~
Also, apologies. This is shorter than most of my usual posts.

[Harry Dresden]

Harry's boat wasn't the best little sailboat on the waves, but it got him to shore safely, and that's really all that mattered. There wasn't anything to moor the craft to, so he steered it into the shallows as best he could and hopped out. The wizard laid a hand on the boat as he stood thigh-deep in the water, clearing his mind and extracting the omnilium from the boat. It took several minutes, but when he was done there was no boat to drift away, and he'd be able to summon it back later.

Mentally sectioning off the Omnilium he'd gained for that purpose, he waded to shore and walked to the edge of the treeline, picking up various sticks and breaking off branches from fallen trees. He could summon a campfire, but this would be more efficient. He laid the wood on the sand and built it up into a pyramid shape, then snapped his fingers with a muttered "Flickum Biccus" to light the smaller twigs aflame.

Soon, the wizard had a roaring fire, which he sat next to with his legs crossed. He focused on some of the Omnilium he'd accumulated, picturing his old revolver. He meditated on it, summoning it slowly, letting his clothes dry out as he did so. In a half-hour, the sun had crept to a position that led Harry to think it was still just midmorning, Harry was pocketing a .357 Magnum revolver, and a rickety-looking rowboat had appeared moving towards his island. The wizard stood up to his towering height of 6'4", trying to make out the boat's occupant and convinced that he was hallucinating; he saw giant ribbons rowing a girl in a Victorian outfit towards him. He kept watching, leaning slightly on his staff as the laser burns ached from the fire's warmth and the use of his muscles. It wasn't too bad, but he'd rest his muscles as much as he could, while he could. It was a habit he'd picked up over the years, and he wasn't going to stop any time soon.

His life was complicated.

[Mami Tomoe]

Mami sighed as she glanced about, with her boat still being rowed along with her ribbons. She hadn't exerted any energy for the past half-hour or so, as she had spent the while looking about on the "Dataverse", which still baffled her to the point that she wondered exactly when she would get the hang of it. Her heart leaped as she noticed a narrow pillar of black smoke gradually reaching into the sky - She followed it down to earth, or whatever the equivalent was here, and found a man sitting on a beachside with a humble fire burning before him. He seemed to have seen her, so she wasn't exactly afraid of being spotted, nor was she entirely sure who he was. As she drew closer, she wondered if he could offer any leads, or if she would have been better off just going with Mr. Hammond and Sasuke and their lot.

As he stood, she found the man appeared to be very tall, and a raven-black jacket went from the man's neck to his lower legs, obscuring most of his features. She wondered why people wore things like that, as it only seemed suspicious to her... Though he had his reasons, right? Mami had her ribbons push the boat forward in one last strong burst that sent the boat flying at about double the once-leisurely speed toward the sands, though she stopped it quick enough for it to not crash, at the same time jumping off the boat and landing on the beach while retracting her ribbons into her sleeves. "Hello," she chimed with a relaxed smile on her face. "I'm Mami Tomoe. Sorry if I'm bothering you at all, but--"

The girl's eyes widened. The fire, the appearance, the location. The stars had aligned pretty well in her favour and she hadn't noticed earlier... She could have made a much smarter move. Her face turned very swiftly serious, with her eyes narrowed to slits and her mouth turned into a solemn, straight line. She summoned a pair of rifles, one in each hand, and balanced her offhand rifle over her shoulder while pointing her right-hand rifle at the man. She approached slowly and carefully. "And you would be Mr. Dresden? Come with me. Peacefully, please... I would prefer no complications." The seriousness behind the girl's voice worried even herself, though she didn't let any of that feeling show through. "We don't have to fight. Let me turn you in, and I won't lay a finger on you."

Fighting two people in one day seemed a nightmare, though she hadn't sustained any injuries from that snake... Luckily. She hoped she would fare similarly in this fight.

Congratulations! You have options! Though I'm pretty sure we're both pretty sure what you plan to choose, and it's not to let the little girl intimidate you. Even though she can apparently manage the recoil of a percussion-lock rifle with one arm, not to mention summon firearms from thin air.

Also, short-ish post. Dammit!

[Harry Dresden]

Harry was more than a little impressed by the girl's display of agility as she leapt from the boat to touch down on the shore. He was also wary; that kind of agility was normally reserved for creatures of Faerie, and this girl didn't look like she'd be with Winter. Her threat cemented his fears and made the Knight's Mantle howl for blood. He forced the voice back down in his thoughts; Sixteen sixteens is 256. Seventeen seventeens is 289. He shook out his shield bracelet and raised a disk of shimmering force in front of him, making sure his head and torso were covered and wishing he could stretch the shield out more. Stupid Omniphysics.

Harry hated doing this, even if it was probably a Faerie that just looked like a girl, but he let himself loom and let his voice boom with the resonant baritone he normally suppressed. The effect was usually pretty unnerving; the wizard was already a large presence, but when he channeled his inner Gandalf he could be downright oppressive. "I'm not sure what manner of Fae you are, but Summer is losing it if they're sending little kids after the Winter Knight. I don't want to hurt you; I'm not a killer, and you look an awful lot like a little kid. Turn around and walk away before I let the Knight do the talking. Please."

Don't worry about post length. It's not a problem for me. I like short and sweet anyway. Battle can be considered joined once you make the first shot; you'll start at the top of Round 1, so my third post will end the fight.

[Mami Tomoe]

Well, he doesn't seem too bad, was Mami's first thought. Unfortunately this wasn't the most helpful of thoughts, as he seemed to be fond of belittling her because of her stature... Not to mention she had been called a "Fae". What that was, she had no idea, and he used seasons like proper nouns - Which they were, admittedly, though not in the sense he probably meant. Yes, he seemed like maybe one or two of his faculties were shot, so perhaps Mami was in the right here. Though something was peculiar... Her Soul Gem was glowing, letting off a cold light similar to the one from earlier. This was the kind of glow she felt around Witches... So could he be--

She backflipped, summoning a ring of about a dozen rifles around her while in the air - She had no need to think any further about anything but winning this fight. "For your sake, I'll make this quick," she finished and planted her feet on the ground. The ring of rifles began to rotate around the flax-haired girl, firing and quite swiftly disappearing afterwards, only to be replaced with another, creating an effect as close to rapid-fire that Mami could get. The bullets moved sporadically between aiming at Harry's upper and lower body in the hopes of making the man's guard drop (Or move, rather) so she could land a few bullets.

Tried to keep things short, though I wanted to add a bit more purpose to Mami's actions here so this is as in-character as possible.

[Harry Dresden]

Harry Dresden was not beyond hiding behind a shield when someone started shooting at him; it had saved his life more than once, and as bullets ricocheted off the plane of force in front of him and he crouched down, making himself a smaller target and protecting his head and vital organs behind his shield spell. The wizard shut the pain of the shots he had taken out of his mind; a graze on his right arm and a solid hit on his left leg, above the knee thankfully. The latter had lodged itself inside the leg rather than going straight through, and by the blood flow it hadn't hit anything major, but it was going to hurt quite a bit.

The Winter Knight didn't take kindly to some Summer child trying to end its host, and for once. Harry didn't try to contain the violent impulses of the Mantle. Frost formed on his staff and the ground around him as chill Winter flooded his veins and blocked out his pain. He pointed his staff at the girl and snarled, "Infriga!", forming a bank of mist around her that would soon solidify into a block of ice. He didn't think anyone would willingly stay in that chill air; it was obviously a hostile working and even an instinctual predator knew when an attack was destined to miss, but the girl shouldn't be able to aim as well while she was dodging and Harry took his chance to start running.

With the power of the Winter Knight aiding him, the wizard was even faster than he normally was. He pulled his short blasting rod out of his coat and called on Soulfire with a shout of "Fuego!" The white bar of fire shot forth, setting some of the plant life on the island aflame before it was swept at Mami.

The fire spell was released a couple seconds later, and Harry called another block of ice with another "Infriga, this one directly in front of him so that the Winter ice would take a few shots when the girl started firing again. He leaned on his staff as the Winter that he'd been relying on deserted him; stupid Omniphysics. He still looks like an intimidating magus as he speaks, despite his bullet wounds; "I told you not to test me, child. Now stop this foolishness and leave. Titania wouldn't have ordered you to kill me; that's Fix's job as the Knight. You overstep your bounds." Formality, even in a fight. That was the order of the day with Faeries. Harry readied his shield again, almost completely covered now until the ice broke. It wouldn't hurt him when it did, and he knew it. Ice was the domain of the Winter Knight.

Using my power-up for one post, so I have 2 SP left. Harry's stats are back to normal now.

[Mami Tomoe]

"Hiding behind that shield of yours isn't going to get you anywhere," she said as the sound of gunfire finished. She discarded her rifles and the ring that had formed around her disappeared. It appeared as if he had taken that comment to heart, however, as after the man hissed a word, she found herself being surrounded by some kind of strange mist. It stung her skin to the touch with cold - No Witch she knew could do this, so what made Harry so special? Before she could flinch at the cold and start hugging herself for warmth, she raised her right arm and let a ribbon fly upwards - That ribbon spun into a large orb around her, sending most of that mist outwards. Little crystals had solidified on Mami's outfit and skin, which she admittedly was a bit thankful for, as Harry supposedly had power over ice and fire. Maybe the ice could dull the power of the fire?

As the ribbon she had sent out returned to her sleeve, she found her eyes widening as a thick beam of fire hurtled towards her. She had no time to react, not even any time to gasp before she caught flame and was knocked backwards. Fortunately, she found herself tumbling through the sand to the water, where the flames quickly subsided... Though burn wounds on her arms and legs felt as if they were trying to peel off her skin with salt entering them. Not being able to suppress pain at all, like she could at bad times when hunting Witches in Mitakihara, was certainly going to be a tough obstacle to surmount in this land. She stumbled onto land, patting whatever flames remained away, water dripping from her fingers and chin. Hopefully she could make a new outfit after this, because this one was already almost beyond repair.

Harry's words puzzled her, though she didn't let any of that show. The insane ramblings of this man, something about Titania and a knight - And herself overstepping bounds - Made no impact. All she needed was the glow of her Soul Gem to confirm who he really was. She jumped into the air and sent a ribbon out in front of her in a large, vortex-like pattern, where Tiro appeared in the center as the ribbon disappeared. She fired on the ice, knowing this would cost her a grand finale, then replaced Tiro with a dozen rifles - Six on either side of her. She pointed at Harry, at which point a hail of gunfire, headed by two grand cannonballs surrounded by fire and gunpowder, hurtled towards Harry.

"Tiro Finale!"

The icy-whatsits didn't do much, but the fire-thingy hit dead-on. Sounds like a fair tradeoff, right? Or no?

[Harry Dresden]

Whoever this girl was, she was finished talking. That much was obvious when she summoned one of the biggest firearms Harry had ever seen. The thing shot cannonballs for crying out loud! The wizard didn't stick around to take that one; he started running the second the girl fired, throwing up a shield with an arm outstretched behind him. Shards of ice passed by him harmlessly or impacted on his spell-woven duster with little effect, but the glass that the superheated cannonballs had sent flying everywhere was another story. Razor-sharp shards of rough glass sliced into Harry's lower legs and ankles, where he wasn't defended by the coat, and ricocheted off the shield protecting his head. The bullets were tougher to defend against, and Harry was actually forced to drop the shield; it was taking too much energy.

Harry hiked the duster up past his head, exposing more of his legs but defending his cranium. Shots impacted with his back and drove him to the ground, the bullets stopped by the spellbound leather, but the force continuing onward. There would be some nasty bruising, probably something internal that would have to heal on its own. The worst of it was the pair of shots that lodged themselves in Harry's leg. They made the thought of standing painful, but Harry had to pick himself up of the ground. Nothing too fatal, as long as he got the bullets out and bandaged them sometime soon, but these would make the fight very difficult. Harry planted his staff in the sand and forced himself up, heavily favoring his right leg, and drew his blasting rod once again, taking aim at Mami and adjusting to make sure that her landing location would be at the center of the spell. Drawing on the heat stored in the water to fuel the massive conflagration and adding some of his not-inconsiderable energy to the mix, he cast his strongest spell in an attempt to end this quickly.

"PYROFUEGO!"

Ice formed on the surface of the water as heat from the sun was torn from the ocean and poured into the spell. A massive firestorm streaked across the beach, leaving a stripe of glass across the beach. He leans heavily on his staff and lets out a breath. That should do it. Then again, he hadn't used that spell on a Prime yet. It did a number on the Stormtrooper artillery, but then, those weren't Primes. As the flames dissipated, he tried to locate the girl. He didn't want to be taken by surprise.

No more SP for me: I used a T1 super move.

[Mami Tomoe]

Mami felt a surge of pride through her veins as she finally landed a truly successful attack, though that was quickly stopped by remembering the pain of sand and salt in open wounds. That same pride would get the best of her as she landed comfortably (Or at least as comfortably as she could when the threat of being attacked existed) on the sand, kicking up a cloud of the coarse dust, obscuring her vision somewhat. She didn't feel the energy in her to brush away the miniature sandstorm around her with her ribbons, so she allowed it to remain... Which was an unfortunate mistake, as she soon found a hellish wave of fire hurtling towards her as the last had. How could she have been so careless as to let this happen twice?

She had no time to think, move, dodge. All she could do was hold her arms up to her head, brace herself for what was going to happen and hope she survived. This was more than she had bargained for, and she would need to pay the price. The ground below her turned solid and slippery as a hot wash of tingling pain flew across her body, making new burns on her chest and old burns on her arms and legs worse. She clenched her fists hard and felt as if she was slipping. Not physically, but...

The girl's eyes tried to shut. No, not yet... I can hold on just a little longer...

The flames subsided and Mami found herself lying on her stomach with a chilling feeling running up her spine... In more ways than one. She had survived, it seemed, but not without pain, and more physically, she was laying on ice. The beach before her had turned to glass, where she saw drag-marks of her boots where she must have slid backwards. With shaky arms and shakier legs still, she put her palms to the ice and pushed herself upwards slowly, with pain boiling and freezing in her veins. Everything in her screamed for her to stop, but she just couldn't. It wasn't time to give up quite yet, which she feared would get her killed.

Mami began to walk, which sped into a jog, then into a run. She nearly tripped as her boots connected with glass instead of ice - The girl summoned a pair of ribbons, one from each sleeve, which she quickly located a pair of anchors for - A pair of palm trees, not quick symmetrical but luckily not on fire. Unfortunately, that could be subject to change, so she would need to keep an eye on that. She sent the ribbons to wrap around the trees, then towards Harry, where they tied together into an elegant little bow with an ornamental lock at its end. Then Mami stopped, cut off the ribbons from herself and looked up at Harry, as he now was about two feet taller than herself rather than only one.

"Relying on simply being... Stronger than your enemy... Is a fatal flaw," she advised, her words interrupted with ragged breaths of exhaustion.

[Harry Dresden]

Harry didn't like the position he found himself in. It was more than a little odd, being tied up in ribbons. He wasn't quite ancient enough to hex a lock, on purpose or otherwise, plus this lock was almost certainly magical in nature anyway, so trying would've served no purpose. He looked down at the Fae girl and chuckled. "Stronger than a Fae? That's a first. The Knight thing has its perks, it seems. But you seem to be out of the loop. I'm not like the last guy in my position." Harry didn't have any range of motion in his knees and shoulders, true. The ribbons were fairly tight everywhere else, too...

But he could twist his right wrist slightly. And he hadn't dropped his foci when he'd been gift-wrapped. He let some of his will seep into his blasting rod, setting the tip to glowing ominously, a light that could be seen even through the ribbons. "I'm a wizard more than the Winter Knight. Fuego!" The resulting combustion wasn't the biggest thing he'd thrown around, and he burned himself on the ribbon as he fell to the sand. The burning sensation in his right leg told him that he hadn't quite gotten himself out of the blast, but it was a much better position than he'd been in before. He hit his knee, and his staff fell from his left hand, but he kept the still-glowing blasting rod trained on his opponent. "Now, why were you looking for me? Whatever it is, thrice I ask and done, turn and go from this place."

[Mami Tomoe]

Mami felt she was fortunate, having the opportunity to relax for a little while after all of... That. It had been taxing, that fight, which surprised Mami - She had fought harder battles, longer battles, and this had nearly drained her? Jokingly she tossed around the idea of being too old for Witch hunting, but it was merely a joke. Mami found her thoughts interrupted by Harry's blatant squirming in the grasp of the ribbons she had put him in, and though she at first had faith that his efforts would amount to nothing, she noticed something in his hand. She had deduced by this point it was some kind of catalyst... Mami's eyes widened, her brows tilted down and her expression turned very serious. She tried tightening the ribbons, but no strength came to her. Things had gotten beyond very bad.

As a final burst of fire engulfed her ribbons, she bit her lip as the pain flew through the nerves in her arms. That had never happened before - This world seemed to be making her weaker and weaker at every turn. She swallowed hard and let what remained of the ribbons return to her sleeves. Her strength was fading, and with that too her balance, so she allowed herself to fall to her knees. It wasn't just her body that was exhausted at this point, it was her Soul Gem as well. It continued to shed its chilling light silently, still letting her know Harry was nearby... She had finally been defeated by a Witch, hadn't she?

Mami tried to summon a pair of rifles for a last-ditch line of defense, but nothing came but pain in her temples. She shut her eyes hard and bit her lip harder until the pain subsided seconds later, only to find she had that catalyst pointed at her. Her eyes trained on it, pointed at some area between her neck and chest, which didn't seem like good news. "Last in your position? You're a Witch," She returned. "And that's why I was searching for you," she lied. While the bounty had given her purpose, it wasn't entirely a lie to say she was now treating this like a Witch hunt. This seemed like an unusually reasonable Witch, however, regardless of how arguably sane it was. Most Witches couldn't even manage coherent speech, so this was more than surprising to the Magical Girl.

But why was she following orders from him? She weighed her options for a moment - Do as he says or get set on fire - And decided she decided what she was doing was probably best. Turn and go, he had said, and she rose on weak legs to try and follow that, knowing she would come back stronger soon. She wouldn't let a single defeat like this keep her down. Unfortunately, she found her legs could not support her weight as it was. She fell down with her belly on the hot glass beneath her with her arms sprawled out, which made the burns all over her sizzle and crack with pain. It seemed she was at the mercy a Witch now.

*Pokemon Stadium 2 announcer guy voice* AND THERE GOES THE BATTLE!

[Harry Dresden]

Harry knelt on the sand, feeling the particles irritate his fresh burn, but he kept his blasting rod trained on Mami until the girl collapsed. For his part, the wizard was just about spent, but he'd have a few more hours until he hit his wall, so long as he didn't get into another fight like this one. There hadn't been much option but to throw around magic like it had been going out of style, and he was certainly feeling the effort. Thankfully, his opponent was more tired than he was, and Harry pocketed his blasting rod, retrieved his staff, and forced himself upright, and walked to the other side of the island and into the water, focusing on the image of the little sailboat he'd deconstructed earlier. It was the work of several minutes' summoning, but he soon had the sailboat back. Too spent to work a wind spell, he wet a finger and tested the wind, orienting the boat to catch a decent breeze eastward. Once again ignoring fairly every rule of sailing, the wizard distributed his weight in the middle of the tiny craft, laid down, and fell asleep, leaving a significantly charred island and an unconscious magical girl behind him.

[Mami Tomoe]

Mami was in a strange limbo between consciousness and unconsciousness, where she could not move but she was aware of her surroundings. The battle she had just taken part in was more than a battle - It had certainly been close, from how she saw of Harry's injuries. This also proved he was most certainly not a Witch, despite what her Soul Gem was telling her without words. For starters, he could move conventionally. Witches could not move their barriers, at least to Mami's knowledge. For another, she thought as she flopped over from her belly onto her back, he had summoned a boat. If Witches could move, she was quite sure they would not use normal methods of transportation - Their means of fighting was unconventional at best, ludicrous at worse. No, everything about Witches was just that, transportation included. Lastly, even as he began to sail off into the distance, the cold glow from her Soul Gem remained, proving he was not the true threat here.

But was she even ready for that as she was? Without even the need to assess herself, she knew she was not. Today she would fall back. But to where?

She highly doubted she could reach her apartment here, since it was likely an immeasurable distance away. She doubted still that there would be a home for her anywhere unless she made one herself. Then the thought of creating some form of shelter for herself with Omnilium came to mind. It was capable of doing anything, right? There had to be a way to make some form of shelter for herself with it. It would likely be very costly, but it would be more than worthwhile. Somewhere safe to stay would be wonderful in this world... Which reminded her of those lovely fields that now felt so far away. She didn't even think she would want an apartment if she lived in a place like that - She could have a little cabin in the woods somewhere, or just off the road near that grand fortress she could make a little cottage.

The smile that had been brought to the girl's face was replaced with a pained expression as she rose to her feet and shook the weakness out of herself. The feeling of pushing back her exhaustion wouldn't last long, she knew that much, but she hoped that she would last long enough to get somewhere safe. She would need new clothes as well, since her current outfit was beyond ruined at this point. Her first thoughts were of her school uniform back at her middle school - A light beige long-sleeved top with a white collar, a faint dark red ribbon at her neck and a dark green and white plaid skirt, with a pair of black tights and white heeled shoes... The ever-familiar garments seemed so far away, and yet they seemed so within reach. After all, she did have the Omnilium to make them here. She ducked into a nearby bush, near one of the palm trees that had yet to catch fire, and in about five minutes she emerged in her uniform. It would without a doubt be less durable, but it wasn't burned or ripped or charred anywhere, which Mami thanked her lucky stars for.

Mami returned to her little rowboat with her injuries covered but not recovered, where she found a little cup of tea. Oh, she recalled, I had been making that earlier, hadn't I? She sat down on one of the few wooden benches that lined the humble rowboat, next to the cup of tea on its petite saucer. She lifted it to shoulder level and she allowed her ribbons to row her... Somewhere. She wasn't sure where she was headed, and she didn't care - Anywhere was better than the reminder of the fight that just took place, even though she didn't want to forget it quite yet. Well played, Harry Dresden. We will meet again, but I will not lose to you next time. She placed her teacup down on the floor of the boat, then laid down while balancing her weight across the boat's benches.

That I can promise!

Not sure what to do next... I might have Mami drift into another thread, or I might just go back to the Nexus. Or I might just sort of solo here for a while. Merrrrrrh, I'll think about it.

[Harry Dresden]

The chill air of night woke Harry from his sleep, but a quick check for the north star revealed that his boat had continued roughly eastward, and he obviously hadn't run aground on an island or anything like that. The wizard sat upright, stretching and yawning. He felt horrible. The fight had taken a lot out of him, and those bullets were getting too bad to just shut out. The wizard found himself almost wanting Lash's company again, both for her vast store of information and the sheer fact that not having someone to talk to while he did this was going to suck.

He dug his battered pentacle necklace out of his shirt and channeled an almost minuscule amount of will through it. The silver shone with blue-white witchlight around his neck, which gave him enough light to see by. His right arm got checked first, and his earlier suspicions were confirmed; it was just a graze. His left leg had an entry wound, but no exit wound, which meant the bullet was still in there. His right leg still burned from being at the edge of his horribly unfocused fire blast, but that was just going to have to heal on its own. Wizards didn't usually have to worry about infections, and he didn't think that this Tomoe girl would have been using poison, but the bullet could be steel-jacketed, and that was a chance he couldn't take for any longer.

Taking a deep breath and leaning against the side of the boat, Harry cleared his mind, shoving the pain into a tiny box for the time being while he focused on summoning a roll of bandages and a utility knife. It took longer than he cared to admit; about five minutes in he'd lost his focus to the pain, and it had taken him another ten just to get back into the right frame of mind to try. Still, eventually he had the items he needed. He bandaged his right leg and arm first, putting off the moment that he really dreaded by just a little longer, but he needed to dig the bullet out.

Harry stretched the leg in question out on the bottom of the boat, leaning forward to get a better look. He could see the bullet; the wound was fairly deep, but the little piece of lead was there. It didn't look steel-jacketed, at least, so it wasn't going to interfere with the Winter Knight mantle, which was good, because Harry was worn and in pain and in just the right state of mind to not care about relying on the damn thing again. He lined the small knife up carefully, groaning when the blade cut into the side of the wound slightly, and drew on Winter to numb the pain as he levered the bullet out of the wound. The nugget of lead fell to the floor of the boat along with the knife, and Harry bandaged his leg tightly, picked up the knife to cut the bandage off from the roll, and then, only then, stopped drawing on the mantle and let himself scream.

It was the ocean, after all. Nobody was around to hear it. He yelled incoherently for a few seconds before rounding it off with a resonant "HELL'S BELLS, THAT HURT!" The Knight was asking him what he was thinking, letting someone who had shot him get away with it, but he ignored it. He wasn't going to kill little girls, faerie or no, guns or no. It wasn't going to happen, end of story, goodbye. Hopefully, she'd think twice about taking that course of action in the future. That had been a harder fight than he'd been expecting when a little kid had started shooting at him. She was good with guns. Unusual, for a faerie, even if the guns were old. And the way she'd summoned them... if that was a spell construct, the bullet should've dissolved into ectoplasm by now. Faerie magic lasted longer than human magic, but sunset had already passed. Still, it was possible that she was strong enough to weave an enchantment that lasted until midnight instead, like Lea could do for midday as a Winter Fae. He'd have to see if that little ball of lead turned into a pile of goop or a piece of sand or something when midnight rolled around.

The wizard wiped his blood off the knife with a scrap piece of bandage and lit the linen aflame with a muttered "Flickum Bicus." Leaving blood lying around was just dumb. Getting it out of sand would be next to impossible, so he was probably safe there, but leaving it on the fabric was just asking for trouble. The wizard stood up shakily and adjusted the sails slightly, making the best clear heading he could with the intent to continue until he saw signs of life. After all, not every island could be uninhabited. There would have to be smoke or lights or something, somewhere, that he could sail to. Until then, he sat down and waited, too physically rested to sleep and too mentally worn out to think of much besides basic survival.