What was going on around here? Glancing over to Valda - who seemed to be the boss of these operations - Cerise just shrugged a bit. "You, uh, want me to knock them out or something?" she said, miming a hit to the back of the head. One thing Miyu had stressed - firmly - was that "you're the muscle, not the hammer - you act as directed, rather than trying to solve every problem in the same way". She didn't want to go around knocking people out just because she could - that was probably illegal anyway.
Nurai moved closer to Remington and Aurora so they could hear her, though Nurai stayed within the crowd for now. "Enchantment and illusions on both of them...I wonder what they're seeing and hearing..." Nurai commented as she continued to concentrate on her detect magic spell.
Remington nods at Nurai. "It could just be part of their veil."
Hands still outstretched, he waits for the two fighters' reactions to his and Aurora's words.
Nurai looked at Cerise with raised eyebrows, considering for a few moments after double checking the phone in her pocket. "Looks like at least one is fae, and both appear under the influence of...something. If they continue, that might be the best approach. How safely...and subtlely do you think you can do so? If whoever wants to a display, I'd rather not give them one but we have to do what we have to do to prevent this getting further out of control..." Nurai asked, trying to be clear that Cerise's safety was more important but subtlety would be a nice bonus with what is going on right now.
A clawed shadow woman attacking both wouldn't certainly not be subtle, just being a kayal woman here for those in the know would likely get attention Nurai would rather not have. She moved through the crowd as she tried to get a look around and keep any cameras or views from being on her too long.
The pair seemed confused. One - the one who'd torn the hydrant from the ground - kept flexing his hands, his lips drawn back over dark stained teeth. Talking seemed to be helping but hadn't calmed them. Not yet.
...It probably wasn't very hard for Nurai to recall the smack-the-back-of-the-head motion Cerise had made. Effective? Quite possibly. Subtle? ...Probably less so. (How literal was the 'sparkle' part of 'sparkle princess', anyway?)
"We've quite an audience..." Nurai said with a sigh as she took a moment to stare down a too perfectly positioned car idling nearby before she turned to Cerise, speaking in a low tone. "If they start up again, knock them out. If you can't be subtle, be as fast as you can, less time under these eyes, the better."
She raised her voice to be heard, "Who are you and what is this fight about?" while she remained in the crowd at an attempt at least some visual camouflage. She hoped getting them to think on something basic and tangible might help them break whatever was enchanting them and that she might get a better look at what was going on around them...
The hydrant tosser looked confused. "Fight? I...why are we..." The other one started to slump, his eyes glazed over. They looked lost, confused - but it was clear reason and logic were working on them.
Until suddenly the hydrant hurler straightened. "I am " he cried, his eyes clouding again with anger and aggresion. But he didn't attack.
Despite the lack of an immediate attack, Cerise carefully moved over, aiming to get behind the very-confused hydrant hurler. Mental domination or not, sometimes you needed to pummel people to get a situation under control. Just like the bouncers at the places she performed, when people got a little too rowdy.
She did, however, focus her energy and create an invisible Totem of Enemies to hinder anything around here that was actually evil. Luckily, that power wasn't obvious... and every little bit might help.
Nurai was glad for her aviator sunglasses and difficult to spot pupils as she rolled her eyes. Had someone enchanted them into the Hulk or something. She resisted making anatomy waving comments to someone with already clouded judgement.
"Wouldn't a lifting contest show that better than risk hurting each other? How do you know each other?" Nurai asked patiently, doing what came naturally as she focused on seeing what bonds connecting them might bring them out of this...
"I'm sure you are, sir, likely stronger than me. There is no need for violence to prove it."
Jim couldn't help but notice that something was a little... off, with the way the two guys were acting. He snuck amongst the crowd, looking for any shady figures that might be stirring the pot, as it were.
Several eyes focused on Nurai as she spoke, and a camera phone even swivelled to look at her.
Jim was able to remain rather less noticed.
The two men once more seem to be rather stumped by the idea of not beating each other senseless, but whatever caused a fresh surge of aggression seems to be wearing off. They look baffled, tired. It shouldn't take too much more to calm them.
"Gentlemen, you've proved what you've set out to prove. Let's stop destroying property and risk hurting bystanders and go somewhere to talk about it. Drinks are on me!"
Rough, drunk men? Eeeeew. ...But that was probably just her personal history speaking, and she had to admit, it was better than more people and/or property getting hurt. They'd just have to avoid whatever had set these guys off to begin with... a detail she had exactly no way of uncovering herself.
But Jim just might.
He skirted the crowd and made for the car while trying to stay out of sight. He tapped Cerise on the shoulder and whispered, "I'll be just over there. If I'm not back soon... I guess I'm dead, si?" And with a wink he disappeared from sight.
Nurai did her best to keep her smile and composure as the eyes turned towards her. She mentally started taking bets over who would text her first once her face was on that blasted camera. She resisted the pull from her shadow to step back further, the hiding was good while it had lasted but there were too many eyes now.
She looked around at those around her with a smile, trying to find either a familiar face or the friendliest looking women close to her, "Do any of you know know what these guy's issues with each other are?" trying to be both charming enough to make enough of a connection for an answer and mundane enough that cameras and most eyes would soon turn elsewhere...
While there was no one in the crowd that Nurai instantly recognized, a pretty girl with Asian features and hair dyed from deep green to ice blue to ultraviolet - a colour that probably shouldn't exist in hair - responded, "I think I've seen them around. One of them bumped the other and they just went nuts." There was a general murmur of agreement to this, although some people claimed it was deffintely one or the other who had been the bumper or bumpee.
The blonde man looked up at the mentioned of beer. "I think I'd rather eat." He looked exhausted.
The hydrant hurler considered this. "Chicken?"
Relieved that the two fighters were now discussing food, Nurai's smile moved from slightly forced to fond as she focused on the person talking, "I've heard quite a few people going berzerk around here lately. Weird, even for here, there was something recently out at the strip mall..." she said, in a mixed attempt to get information, to test how much others have noticed, and to keep talking and connecting with her...if one could hear the shadow above the din of people talking, one would hear a mildly exasperated sigh.
Jim suddenly wished he had a super spy tracker bug or something, but unfortunately didn't carry such things. He made a mental note to look for them online when he got back to his computer. In the meantime, he made a physical note of the plate # and took out his knife to make a small hole in the front tire... not so much as a slash, but just enough that it would go down over the next few minutes.
The blonde man looked up at the mentioned of beer. "I think I'd rather eat." He looked exhausted.
The hydrant hurler considered this. "Chicken?"
Remington looks back and forth between the two while nodding vigorously. "...Yes! Let's go find a place to eat chicken!"
He looks over at Cerise and Aurora. "Ah... I'm not familiar with the dining scene in Fever, nowadays," he murmurs.
"I think I know a place." Cerise answered. She tended to eat at nicer restaurants, rather than fast food places, but it wasn't like places to each chicken were horrifically difficult to find in the average American town. Americans ate chickens by the billions. "Follow me." With that, she turned and began heading off.
"That went well." says Aurora, relieved, following Cerise.
As soon as it became obvious that there would be no more fighting the crowd began to disperse. The car's engine suddenly roared to life and it drove away, heading into the streets (and unknowing that its tire was slowly losing air).
Escorting the two men to a local restaurant that focuses on deep fried chicken is not difficult, although they looked like they haven't slept for weeks by the time they actually get there.
As the men looked more and more tired, Cerise frowned slightly, then gently nudged Aurora. "Is there something wrong with them?" she asked quietly. "Like, draining them somehow?"
"It could be. Perhaps they are wearing a glamour? Or they were cursed somehow? Ach, I'm not an expert on magic. But maybe..."
Aurora looked around for mundane folks. "I could try to heal. But I'm not subtle."
The restaurant is not busy, but the wait staff and bar staff are present, and about 1/3 of the tables are occupied. Doing anything magical would be difficult, at least here.
Of course, there are the bathrooms...but having two large, buff guys and a lady going to the bathroom might raise some eyebrows. It is a family restaurant, after all.
Nurai glanced over as the others headed off. With nothing looking urgent, Nurai stayed a few more minutes to check the links had come through, to talk a bit more about appreciating it as that's just polite, and to wish her a good day after mentioning an event Nurai had seen advertised recently because it's always nice to have something to look forward to and it would be nice to talk to her again there...
Heading after the others with a grin, Nurai waited until she was closer to the restaurant to chuckle at her sulky shadow. Taking a few more minutes to find them, Nurai approached. Looking the two weary men over, Nurai suggests, "So chicken and something caffinated first?"
The dark haired man slumped into a booth. "Yes, please. Coffee."
The other one perked up, with an almost child-like glee, asking, "Milkshake?"
Nurai shrugged with an amused smile, "Sugar works too...family places like this usually have them..." before she sat down the join the group and attempted to wave over the nearest not-overly-busy looking waitress with one hand, the other still holding her phone.
"Should probably update Valda..." Nurai said as she thought what to say. Her shadow slunk quietly under the table. They curled up at her feet with a huff.
”So, what’s with the fisticuffs?”
Aurora orders a plate of pancakes, renouncing for the moment the idea of using her magic, instead listening to what the two say.
Jim manages to see the others escorting the fighters to a restaurant. He considers for a moment, then decides to join them inconspicuously. He grabs a seat on the other side of the bar and evaluates the crowd, as well as the fighters, for any suspicious signs.
As Remington spoke, Cerise leaned over a little and smiled at the men. She'd had a lot of practice with that sort of thing, and making people feel at ease tended to come naturally. Maybe it was the discreet but very literal sparkles that appeared around her when she was putting on the charm. "We are friends here... and I'm curious, too." she said.
...Her heart wasn't totally in it, but she was so charming that rarely mattered.
The blonde haired man hoping for a milkshake looked thoughtful, then confused. "I...don't know. We were walking by each other, something hit my shoulder, and I...lost it. I don't know why. I'm not usually very angry. And then I don't remember much. And then I got sleepy. And now I wanted sugar."
The other man grunted his agreement. "The same. I do get angry, but not over a little bump. I can't explain it."
Nurai nodded as she listened to the two men. "Sounds rough, losing yourselves like that. I've heard there have been several others acting oddly around Fever recently. Maybe they've gone through similar..." she said.
She thought on it a few moments as she looked at her phone and the links she'd been sent. "Just going to message a friend, probably wondering where we got to...anyone you should be getting in contact with?" she asked as she began to type a message.
"Sounds like fey winds are washing over Fever. I have one question, please, since you seem to be versed in the more mystic side of this town. Have you heard rumors of Kings and Swords recently? On either side of the Twilight?"
Both men shook there head at Nurai.
The dark hair one grunted a no, but the blonde hair one thought for a moment. "You mean that kingy twisty sword?"
"Likely that one! What have you heard about it?"
Nurai's phone briefly vibrates. She looks at it with growing puzzlement clear even with her aviator sunglasses on. After a minute, she ends up shaking her head and putting the phone away.
Nurai glanced to others with a shrug, "Valda is doing something with the information I sent her from Rhoda. Hopefully she'll be able to tell if there is anything similar in more than one of these odd occurances that we can chase up, like people or that weird black car..." Nurai stretched as she leaned back in her seat.
"If somebody brings up bonfires, we should probably pretend we didn't hear anything." Cerise muttered as someone bright up a twisted sword of kings. "I broke way too many controllers on that."
"Haven't you seen it?" the enthused young man asked. "It's all glowy and bendy. It's really hard to miss."
"Only for the Fey," the other man replied with a sigh. "Not everyone can see through glamours and transformations, Cottin." Laying his head down, he added, "We've all heard of it. But it can be changed. It's only a sword for sure when someone worthy to wield it picks it up after the old king dies."
"But a really nice whatever its pretending to be!" apparently Cottin added. He paused. "What car?"
Nurai nodded as she listened. Shifting her attention to Cottin, "There was a black car running close to where we were, idling so it had a good view of you both...and left once you were calmed down. I don't have anything that goes that far, but I've seen and heard of things...might have been nothing - just someone else being curious -
but..." Nurai shrugged, clearly suspicious of the car.
"Aw, there was a suspicious car? I didn't see it! I could've had Reason track it."