#...'silly'

Lyney chuckled; Lynette watched with detached interest. Furina...

Furina felt it before she saw it: Clorinde, a mote less well rested than usual, didn't have the patience to let Navia's chicanery play out today. The former's blink a moment later only served to confirm it.

Furina reached for her tea, to give her hands something to do. Clorinde turned her head almost imperceptibly to address Navia.

“Navia,” said Clorinde with forced calm, “just this once can you not make a mockery of the rules with Persuasion checks?”

Again, the knowledge floated into Furina's mind, as cold and certain as a punchcard from a mek. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. There was about to be an explosion and Furina was seated well inside the blast radius. She had no idea what to expect but she knew with every fibre of her being she had to get out of here now, or else—