The kid- Blizzard- is cute enough, you guess. Short, somewhat chubby, and blonde hair and blue eyes. She's trembling slightly, but mostly, her eyes seem to be focused on you, almost disbelievingly intense in their concentration as she stares.



"Okay, Blizzard," You tell her, "First off, we're going to go hit up the guild, see if there's any Huntsmen or Huntresses still there."



"And then?" She asks quietly, almost distractedly.



You shrug. "Eh. I'll worry about that once I've checked it out." Okay, that's not quite true. You do have a plan of sorts in mind, but it will depend on what sorts of things you find there. You gesture for the girl to get onto your back, then make your way to the window. It opens out over the empty streets, and you poke your head out to look around. The Guild is there-ish if your map data's correct... not that it matters since you've got a native guide. "That way to the guild, right?" You check.



"Yeah." She whispers into your ear, sounding... not tired, but weirdly relaxed. "You're real." She murmurs to herself. "You're here and you're real."



"Yup! Now hold on tight!" You quickly swing out of the building before turning and clambering up to the rooftop, then start roof-hopping from one rooftop to the next. It's simple enough, the people of Planeptune makes a point of practically mashing its buildings together, and even if some of the roofs are slanted more than most would find comfortable to run on, you're a Huntress, that sort of thing's barely a concern. Much more of a problem is that Blizzard is... unbalancing. And more importantly, kind of gets in the way of your normal methods of roof-hopping, which involve lots of dramatic rolling.



The howls of the surrounding Monsters slowly grows louder as you make your way to the guild, but you don't pay it much attention, instead focusing on the kid... who is paying attention. Damnit. Distraction time. "So!" You say cheerfully as you stick a landing, "What sorts of things do you like doing?"



"What?" She asks, her voice a bit louder than you're comfortable with, what with her being right next to your ear and all.



"Well, stealth is already a goner, so I figure I might as well get to know you while we move." You say conversationally, taking another leap, "So what sorts of things do you like doing? Reading? Tinkering? Playing video games?"



"Oh. I like..."



[] Reading: Blizzard gains a bonus to magic.

[] Hide and Seek: Blizzard gains a bonus to stealth.

[] Playing outside: Blizzard gains a bonus to physical capabilities.

[] Tinkering with things: Blizzard gains a bonus to technology.

[] Working: Blizzard gains a willpower boost.

[] A lot of things: Blizzard gains a versatility boost.



"That's nice." You say meaninglessly, "Wait, hold on-" She grabs tight as you take a particularly large jump, firing off a Demonic Inferno in a bastardized modification of your Landing Strategy to keep from having to roll. "Okay, where were we... right. Anyway, I don't suppose you know the town that well?" It was only founded a year or so ago, you'd be surprised if she had, which is why you're not disappointed when she shakes her head.



"I know where the important things are, the things they make all the kids learn." She informs you after a moment of thought, "But not, you know, everything. My parents didn't like when I explored too much." She sounds a bit gloomy at that.



On the one hand, you hate the whole idea of not being allowed to explore. On the other hand, you see the logic. People tend to do dumb things, and you've been told that kids do dumber things. Letting a kid wander out of town, or into the sewers, or into a construction site or something would probably go pretty badly. ... Also, she's like, 8. Keeping her somewhere safe's probably a good call on its own merits. Or something. Is eight the age that kids are supposed to be allowed to wander around by themselves? You're not really used to dealing with kids.



You pull your wandering thoughts back to the situation at hand when you see the Guildhouse approaching. It's in... decent shape? The Grimm and their monstrous allies definitely targeted it, judging from the smashed wall and the scorch-marks splashed over the others, but the probably magically-created stone walls covering the holes gives you hope for survivors. "Wait up here." You tell Blizzard, then pause. "I don't suppose you happen to have a weapon? And know how to use it?"



She shakes her head. "No, Mom thought I was too young." Tch. Too young? Those idiots moved out into the middle of monster-infested wilderness, and it wasn't like 8 was too much younger than 13! ... Wait, that was five years. Nevermind. Okay, so maybe her lack of training made sense. Still inconvenient right now though.



You debate for a moment, then shake your head. You'll just have to stick to killing things before they get close enough to be dangerous. "Well, whatever. I guess you're coming with me, squirt." She frowns slightly at the nickname, but doesn't comment as you jump back down to ground level and set her down. "Stay behind me," You order, "If you see anything, warn me, then put me between it and yourself. Unless something's coming from both directions, in which case tell me that there's another one behind me, okay?"



"Okay." She nods firmly, her face set in a serious look. Huh. Rather responsible kid. You'll have to make sure not to let Neptune near her, or the Goddess'll infect the poor kid with laziness. Or try and dump all her work onto her. Or probably both. Well, that's an issue for later.



"Anyone in there?" You call toward the building. No one answers, though the howls rise a bit in response. Hm. They're starting to get closer. You'll probably be able to what, hit up four more places? "I'm IF, from the Guild, are there any survivors?"



Still nothing. Well. Another look at the building tells you one thing- brute force probably won't work here. Like most Guild buildings, it's half fortress, built to withstand at least a short assault.



Well. Not that it helped here, seeing as one of the walls went down at some point. You circle the building, looking for any other weak points and- yeah. Damn. It looks like after the first wave blew holes into the actual walls, the later ones went after the new weak points- the stone. So now there's a hole in a stone wall set inside of a proper dust-infused steel wall. And if there was a mage, they're apparently out of Dust, Aura, or probably both.



"Come on." You order, starting to stride forward, before you suddenly remember that she might have a different opinion. "We're going to look for anyone else in there. You feeling up to it?"



"Yeah." She doesn't even hesitate as she nods. Well, you're probably fine then. You put any theoretical potential mental trauma out of mind and make your way in. The rooms are dark- few windows and no power does that. Fortunately, igniting your Katar works again.



"The safe room's in the basement." Blizzard suddenly says, "The Armory's down there too. And, um, there's a tunnel to the Route as well. If there's anyone in the building, they should be down there."



You shoot her a surprised look, but nod. "Huh. Thanks. That'll save some time." You think it over for a moment, then come to a decision. "Okay, we'll look in the basement first. If it's clear,you stay there while I look for-"



"No!" She shouts, her eyes suddenly wide. "I- I mean, can I come with you?"



"... Yeah, okay." You decide after a moment. She gives you her first smile, a tentative but bright one. "Anyway, mind showing me where we're going?"



With her directions, you quickly manage to find your way down to the basement and the safe room within.



Sadly, it's mostly empty. There's a few weapons scattered about, sure, and you might want to give her one if you can be sure she won't accidentally hurt herself with it, but nothing really jumps out as being kid-safe. Well, they are weapons, after all. Most of those aren't kid-safe by their very nature.



Hm... should you go ahead and arm her? And if so, with that? (Note: While Blizzard is likely to upgrade later on, whatever weapon she chooses now will serve as a baseline for what she builds herself around as time goes on.)

[] Battlehammer: Has the advantage of simplicity- you hit people with it. Unfortunately, you doubt she has the strength to use it to full effect.

[] Greencaster: A basic wand, if she has even the slightest hint of magical talent, this'll let her threw her magic at people in the form of blasts of wind. It won't let her do anything else with it, true, but if you need to hit something with wind, a Lowee Greencaster's the right path to take.

[] Mk-2 Beam Katana: Your typical Planeptune laser sword. It's a sword made of lasers, and is almost as dangerous to the person using it as the person they're using it on. You're still not sure why it sells so well. You blame the fact that Nepgear pulls them off with such style. Bright side: It resizes really well. Other than the Greencaster, this will be the most appropriately sized for her to use.

[] Mk-3 Hunting Sword: A basic sword. You stab things with it. It's a bit large though, so that might be a problem.

[] Red Radiance: This shotgun is, like everything else produced in Laystation, simple, tough, and gets the job done. Bright side: Aim isn't what you'd call a concern. Not-so-bright side: Friendly fire is a real risk, and ammo is pretty low.

[] Linear Railgun: One shot, one kill. Unfortunately, aim's pretty important when someone uses this, and you doubt the kid can handle the recoil. Furthermore, you've got almost no ammo for this- if she misses, that's that.

[] Menagerie Lancer: While most humans try to turn up their nose at anything from the continent they banished the Faunus to, the manifestation of Lady Green Heart in the area means that the other three currently active Goddesses have given the area their full respect, which is why there's a stock of thirteen of these oversized spears in the area. They're simple enough to use (Put the pointy end in the target) and their nature means that they draw on the user's aura to make themselves far lighter than they should be. Unfortunately, they're highly fragile- Menagerie simply doesn't have enough resources for higher quality weapons.

[] Unarmed: Look. You're a Huntress, and the threats so far have been negligable. Clearly, she'll be fine.



An arming later, the two of you do a quick sweep of the building. While you don't find any other survivors, you do find one thing of note: A set of backup parts for the Route, as well as reconstruction instructions. Getting it up and running again will be much easier.



4 Turns Remain before IF is forced to evacuate.



[] Search for more survivors: With monster concentrations rising, you can't expect any other survivors to make it on their own. They're probably noncombatants, and will just make things harder, but can you really just leave them here?

-[] At the Hospital: You can probably pick up medical supplies while you're there. Your magic can only heal wounds- and only relatively light ones.

-[] At the Guild: If you find someone here, chances are, they're trained in combat. Having another Huntsman/Huntress along wouldn't hurt. Complete.

-[] At the Route: The Route is one of the fastest ways back into Planeptune territory. While it's down, getting it working again won't be hard if you have enough Processed Dust. Requires 2 turns. Low chance of failure- You might not be an engineer, but you've got backup parts and an instruction manual! An admittedly complex instruction manual, but combined with the basic training provided by the Guild and your time hanging around Nepgear, you should be good to go... hopefully.

--[] Don't reactivate the Route. Reduces time to 1 turn.

-[] At the Government Center: If the Government Center had a Mystic Artifact in it of some sort, it's not going to have disappeared.

-[] At other Houses: You might find more people, holed up the same way this kid was. If you're willing, you can also swipe some supplies from the abandoned houses while you do.

-[] At the Dust Mine: While Raw Dust won't help you get the Route powered, it will let you cast a lot longer. And hey, it's not like anyone's going to object while you take it.

[] Scavenge Supplies: While you have enough supplies to get to here and back on your own, you've got a kid with you now, and the journey's a week long. Hunting for food as well as moving will make things... difficult. Especially since the kid isn't exactly capable of self-defense right now, and monster densities mean that you can't just leave them on their own. Focusing on this instead of doing it as a byproduct of searching for someone will get you more food.

[] Collect Processed Dust: You're running lower than fuel than you'd like. If you get into a full out fight, this will keep you going longer. So far, you've gotten away with nothing more than one or two opponents at a time, but soon, you'll have to deal with full fledged swarms or packs.

[] Reactivate the Route: With enough Dust, Faith, and the Share Crystal you've made a habit of keeping on you ever since the last time Neptune got kidnapped, you could probably reactivate the Route for long enough for you to launch yourself and anyone else you find out of town. Unfortunately, you'll need more Dust if you want this to work. Removes the need for supplies as the journey is reduced to less than a day. Needs and uses up Processed Dust. Focusing on this instead of doing it while searching for someone means you have the ability to focus on your work, and making sure everything goes right the first time. No chance of failure.

[] Write In: If you have another action in mind, go for it.