Samantha Himmel's Story

There was a small cylindrical container beside the machine, copper with snowflakes cut from it's mass in decoration. Out the rim poked icicles of crystal, handling the silver plated spoons that would accompany the treats. Genevieve fished two out, keeping them close together. Moving closer to Silas, she slipped them apart, flipping one up to wedge in her elbow crease and scooping cream with the other in one fluid motion. Winking at Silas, she popped the cream in her mouth.

"Oh, wow," Genevieve gushed, holding her hand to her bosom to conceal the pilfered spoon, "This is..." She scooped again, and aimed directly towards Silas's mouth.

Another patron entered at that point, a woman with skirts that were larger than life. Her petticoats swished almost as loudly as her metal heels clacked. Such was a recent fashion to take Abingdol Falls, causing the streets of aristocracy to come alive with clatter. She was greeted by name, and smelled heavily of violets.

"Miss Himmel!" Tobias Molodoux spoke from where he was. It wasn't that he didn't trust the two strangers, though he didn't, it was that the machine was his prize machine.

"Molodoux," The woman who was Miss Himmel shrieked in return, her voice that of a lark. "Come come, a sugar smooch for frequent!" She had at this point come all the way inside, and was leaning over the counter by the register demanding a proper greeting. Tobias's mustache bristled as he looked from Genevieve and Silas to the large and in charge Miss Himmel. Sighing curtly and smiling, he turned and went over to Miss Himmel and traded her kisses on their side faces.

Silas had never tasted anything quite this wonderful. It seemed like the raw essence of cream, strawberries, pleasure, all were warring and melting and exploding on his tongue. He tried to keep a dispassionate face, but he could not conceal the sheer joy this strange and wondrous dessert gave him.

He knew now that whatever else happened this day, he would find a way to become wealthy enough to come back here and buy his own machine, or something.

"Very good, Master Baker. Exactly as I hoped it would be." He lied, in truth being unable to imagine how -good- this could have been untill now.

He was about to put his plan to grab as many goodies as possible into action when another customer came in. Crap. A "Miss Himmel" if the Baker's greeting was anything to go by.

He barely concealed his distaste at the affectionate greeting between the pair. The situation was rapidly spiralling out of control, and both he and Genevieve were still standing there, gawking, when the real business of -adventure- was out there, waiting. But despite the danger, Silas found he couldn't simply leave. Not yet. Even with this Miss Himmel here, he didn't want to leave without -some- sort of prize, some token of success, some piece of Heaven he could take with him into the wild world beyond.

"Ah, hello there, I don't believe we've had the pleasure, ah, Miss Himmel, is it?" He did his best courtly bow. "My companion and I were passing through, admiring this Master Baker's exquisite confectionary masterpieces. But I take it you know each other, and are familiar perhaps with the full range of his work? Please, I implore you, give us your honest impressions, and reassure me that I am not simply dreaming such excellence."

As he spoke florridly, he backed up against a counter, his hands behind him, as if to rest on the counter. When the opportunity presented itself, he was going to boldly grab whatever he could and then flee for the door.

"Yes," Samantha Himmel looked to the person she had never seen before, down her nose. Travelers, just as she suspected. The girl was young, younger than she, and with a man. "I see you've already sampled the cream," Her lip curled into the tiniest of sneers as she eyeballed the woman's scanty attire. She must be a whore for hire, he wasn't for much better wear. Tobias shuffled as Samantha Himmel's gaze staled the atmosphere. Genevieve ate another bite and stared back, glazing the scene with her own frosty demeanor.

The two women glared like hounds, eyes sharper than knives despite soft expressions. The gaze lingered for far more than a moment, Tobias enraptured with the sight. One overdressed woman, one under-dressed woman, both appalled with the very presence of the other.

Finally, the brassy sound of golden muffins finishing their bake chimed in from the kitchen and broke the awkward. Samantha's eyes fluttered, Genevieve's hand flew to her concealed blade, and Tobias looked to Silas and nodded.

"S'cuse, madame!" Tobias fled to the kitchen, glad to maroon Silas in the sea of female hormones. Samantha Himmel sniffed and turned to the display as she was outnumbered by ruffians in the store front.

"I suppose the Triberrium Tart," Samantha named a treat surely just beyond their price range to Silas and proceeded to completely ignore the pair. Genevieve huffed.

They never saw it coming, and who would?

One moment Tobias Molodoux was pulling elephant ears from the oven, the next he was coughing up the dust of ages and nursing a burn mark on his face. His face! And half of his mustache, to his horror, was gone. And the elephant ears were on the ground. What the hell was that sound?

From out in the foyer, a woman's wailing began. If he was feeling a dread a moment ago, it was nothing to the sense of suicide Tobias now harbored. Forget the elephant ears and fudge it all! With the rage of a thousand taxpayers done wrong, Tobias knocked the remainder of the kitchen door from it's now feeble hinge and entered the foyer.

"And who the hell are you?" Tobias spluttered over his patrons wails, wildly taking in the scene. His bakery! With a hole in the roof! A hole in the roof and a girl in white man coats! Samantha Himmel continued to wail, much to the chagrin of Tobias. She was pointing from the door to the ceiling to the girl and back again to the door, before promptly fainting in the fashionable way she had. Drat it all!

"And what have you done to my bakery?!" Arms now splayed, Tobias angrily gawked at the girl, waiting for an explanation, when there was an odd sound from the side of him. The sound of spraying, and trickling, and liquid doing things it should not be doing. With a final exhale, the CreamCraft M-00 was decidedly broken. Milk was misting all over Miss Himmel, who was still unconscious. And there was a hole in the ceiling.

"Human sighted. Marking notes..... You are the owner it seems. As for structural damages, I am willing to pay for them. Estimating gives them to be $1932..."

She reaches into her pockets and takes out $3000 in cash. Eve then walks up to the screaming Tobias and hands it to him. Her expression has not changed since the fall.

"As for the human on the floor, she escaped all injury and has simply fainted. Your bodily temperature has risen slightly so I assume you are angry. Commencing backstory....adjusting to appropriate tone.... I'm so so sooo sorry for what just transpired. I was falling from 80 feet in the air so I protected myself. I do apologize for any damages. I will take full responsibility for them!"

She expected Tobias to get physical and thus enacted her EMC as a backup.

Tobias snatched the money and pocketed it away, quickly. That would more than cover the base damages, and even buy a new CreamCraft M-00. But still. He didn't falter in his angry facade, despite the money feeling very good in his pocket. It felt very good. He then turned his attention to Samantha Himmel, who was still out cold, and was going to be very cold upon awakening due to the milk. He wasn't going to wake her up. The wailing, you see.

"Full responsibility indeed," Tobias pat at the money, and collected himself a bit further. The CreamCraftM-00, ruined, but he could replace that. He'd been wanting a ceiling relief, much like that other bakery closer to the center of the ceiling. Perhaps he could get it domed, and maybe even add a story. A roof top convenience would be the talk of the town, perhaps encased in glass...Pulling himself away from renovation thoughts, he addressed the young lady once again. He didn't want to thank her, oh no, but had to find a way to repay her for her...for her what? For her money.

"I'd prefer if you got out of my sight, but when we re-open, you're welcome to-," Tobias glanced around for a broom, happily noticing that the display cases were still in tact. Then, it hit him. The scoundrels! Where did they go? Where were-

"The TARTS!" Tobias interrupted himself with a screech. He'd been robbed! Destroyed! His business was in decay! Where the hell was that redheaded rapscallion and the other young counterpart! Rounding once again on the girl in the white mans-coat, he puffed his chest and prepared an accusation.

"Were you in leagues with them? Two strangers with shaky intentions is enough for one day, but a third and destructive one?"His face grew redder and redder, half of a mustache quivering,"Conspiracy. CONSPIRACY!" Tobias wailed, waking up Samantha Himmel, who joined in wailing for entirely different reasons. Her dress was ruined.

Eve turns her head to face the entrance.

"Scanning...."

Her eyes flash yellow for a short bit before she looks away from the entrance.

"They went left out of your door and crossed the road and then went west.... 85% molecular decay... Probability of user catching them... 65%...."

She returns her blank gaze to Tobias.

"I am not from this world so I am not in leagues with them. As for what you were going to say, from how you acted...I can assume your were either going to have me clean up or call the authorities on me."

"Ruined!"

What wasn't? The bakery, Samantha's dress, and soon to be Tobias's reputation in this part of Abingdol Falls. It was almost, almost too much for one day. Samantha had taken to complaining about everything and anything, simultanously managing to accuse Tobias of concocting the perfect ruining of her day. Tobias stared blankly at the door, wondering if the world really was out to get him. Maybe, he thought in the back of his mind, this was the grand scheme of his arch nemesis and business rival from six streets over. They would revel in hearing about what happened today. How could he keep it all a secret? There was no keeping this a secret, especially not with socialite Samantha Himmel here in the store. Oh, she had a way of extrapolating things. While all this was going on in Tobias's head, Samantha Himmel the socialite had been speaking aloud her discontent.

"...And I'll be taking my business elsewhere!" Samantha huffed, having pulled herself unassisted to a stand. This statement hit Tobias with the same impact of the stranger on his bakery. Soggy, dragging, and ruffled, Samantha Himmel made her exit, leaving Tobais to stare at the stranger.

A large moment of silence passed. He was not calling the authorities. That would call more attention than anything, even Samantha Himmel. Putting his hand to his face, Tobias sighed.

"Just, go."

Outside, around the corner, down the block, a red haired rapscallion tasted for the first time the delicacies of this Abingdol Falls place. The tarts were out of this world!

"Hmm...I will be right back..."

Eve follows the red-head's trail, her EMC already active.

"I would advise that you release the stolen property and leave.... otherwise...."

A ball of fire hovers in her metal right hand.

"We will have a problem."

She stood only 2 feet from the rapscallion as she spoke. She planned on using less violent spells if anything happens.

Samantha Himmel had looked for weeks; her hatpin was simply gone. Her first assumption was that she left it at Tobias Molodoux's bakery. There was a scuffle with some thieves, his poor milk machine! Alas, it hadn't turn up. She searched the entire residence, twice, and it wasn't until her scullery maid never came back from her trip to the mountains that Samantha put two and two together. She had been properly robbed!

So, off she was, in one of the nicer coaches money could buy. Steam powered, it hovered off the ground and had little turbulence on the road. Where was she going? To wring the neck and ruin the reputation of that thief, of course! Everyone knew there was only one place to go if you were going to the mountains in Brightmaiden. Samantha sighed, watching Abingdol Falls transform into the Acklewood Forest, and beyond.

"Madam! Look out the window!" In the Acklewood Forest, a stagecoach driver tried to get the attention of his client.

Meanwhile, a young thief with big dreams hadn't stopped watching the sky from Knightheart Valley ever since the moment she lost everything she had.

At the same time, the owner of a bakery would swear to himself that his day was far too long, and surely he was hallucinating.

"Madam!" The stagecoach driver called again, going as far as to rap his finger against the window separating him from his client. They had reached a part of the Acklewood Forest where the trees were sparse, just a little ways before where they were to cross the Jackzies River. You could see the sky very well. More importantly, you could see what was in the sky. A new group of star-seeming objects had appeared. Some of them even seemed to move, in a formation. The driver slowed to a halt, the steam powered stagecoach hovering slightly closer to the ground.

"What is it?" Snapped Samantha Himmel, poking her head through the front window, "Why have we stopped?"

"Look up!"

Samantha did indeed look up. She had no idea what she was looking at, but she did look up. It gave her an eerie feeling, those things in the sky, whatever they were.

"Let's get there quick, then," She said before ducking back, her nerves a-tingle. The steam powered hovering stage coach rumbled forward, smooth, slower than before, towards Port Goldengear.

Blackheart's ship would proceed to shake itself apart, and the Light Array in Irral's palm would activate, utterly obliterating the inside of the bridge with Bolts of Holy Draconian Light. From the wreckage, which by now would begin sinking to the earth below, Irral's massive wings erupted, spreading out and catching the wind. The sight was terrifyingly Awe-Inspiring, and then as quickly as they appeared they shrank, becoming more compatible with the size of Irral's human-form as he looked around to the landscape around him, looking for a suitable place to place his Transport Array to get back to Terra.

He had the other Amulet, so he wasn't worried about Blackheart opening the Door without him, that would be impossible. Turning, Irral turned his Gaze to the incoming Aschen ships, sensing their hostile intent. His body began to radiate Holy Draconian Light, and his Lance gleamed in the sunlight. If they wanted to try their luck against the Dragon of Light, they were welcome, but they'd only find their death.

Bits of the frigate began to crack and rumble, breaking apart and falling to the planet. Omnia's hologram smiled, as Blackheart's Goddess in the Machine, it was easy enough to manipulate the unstable dragon's thoughts and perception. Even easier since he'd been so thoroughly irked by the Captain's provocations.

"Pride doth goeth before a fall," she whispered to herself, watching Neumann self-replicating Nanites play out the ship crumbling and crashing to the ground through complex holograms or shaping themselves into pieces of the ship. She even allowed a few servitors to be sucked out of the ship, burning up on entry into the atmosphere. It was harder than it would have been had she been connected to more of her mega-structures, like a few dozen Dyson Swarms, but she managed.

Neumann Nanites quickly rebuilt the pieces of the Frigate that had been purposefully damaged to fool the dragon, until the ship was whole. A half-sphere of femtometre sized robots, invisible to the naked eye, floated around Irral shielding the vessel from his sight, and projecting exactly what the dragon wanted to see. All the while, Omnia and the Frigate drifted away, soon they'd warp to Terra, but not before ensuring the Aschen wouldn't open fire on them.

"Ave, Aschen Mothership," the broadcast went out on an encrypted Aschen channel, one she'd bought the cipher for not too long ago. She hoped the ship still used it, Gods knew how quickly Aschen changed their encryption. "I am an Omnicompetent Meta-Intelligent NUMA Inspired Artilect, you may call me Omnia. My vessel is currently empty of living organic life, and we are willing to comply with orders, but it is imperative we end this matter quickly as I must be going. We are an independent contractor and owe no allegiance to enemies of the Empire."

Citizens from all over below would watch the stars move rapidly around. They glimmered, they flashed, and they put on a show. Some were scared, some awed, and some wanted to know so much more.

Great pieces of debris fell, catastrophically, across Trivington Hills. News of the event hit the press immediately, papers from Abingdol Falls to Goldengear discussing what fell from the sky.

Samantha Himmel chose to watch the display above, horrified, from the safety of her hovercoach. She demanded a breakneck pace towards their destination. The stars were moving, and if she wasn't mistaken, something fell from the sky in the distance.

Below, citizens of Brightmaiden would see the sky brighten. In most places, everyone would look up to see the same thing: a great glowing dragon rising, high above where any airship has ever flown, so high that it’s size was seen in whole and began to shrink as it departed Pramia’s atmosphere. As it left, the skies flashed their brightest on a planetary level, light dispersed throughout the entire planet for a few instants. The shadows of the Acklewood Forest narrowed, disappeared, then swiftly returned. Knightheart Valley lit up even in the shadowiest of places.

"The strange cluster of stars in Pramia's night sky disappeared, one by one, as the battle came to an end."

What had happened, up there in in Ospian'lik?

"Where-" Samantha Himmel's driver exclaimed, as the strange star formations blinked out in the sky. Just like that, the night sky was back to normal.

He shook his head and decided against calling the attention of his client.

Samantha Himmel, however, was entirely spooked. She was glad when they reached the foot of Knightheart Valley, glad the safety the mountains provided from the strange happenings in the sky.