3259/Purple Patterns

Purple Patterns
Date of Scene:	23 October 2015
Location:	Tomoeda-865
Synopsis:	Ren and Sakura speculate on the scheming of the Purple Pentacle.
Cast of Characters:	165, 172

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Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Ren's in Tomoeda. Hanging around, currently sat looking out at the far-off (too much so) coastline, eating some meat on a stick he apparently bought from the charmingly named 'Earth Toda Yaki'.


    Nom.

    Things are complicated. The notepad he has been writing in- the other one- has become dog-eared and the words on the frontpost page have been faded from about two months in another one of his pockets, but they still have a sprawl of notes made on weather patterns and tidal shifts and a bunch of stuff which might not be /too/ useful, but that remains to be seen.

    Also, he's been actually /using/ essence as he works on... something, which means that Sakura will probably be able to find him at the beach.

One might even wonder if he wants to be found.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    "You kinda stick out like a sore thumb, you know. Aren't you meant to be a Night caste?" It's Sakura! She... snuck up on a Night-caste Solar. That's got to be embarassing.

    She's standing behind Ren, arms crossed lightly over her chest, weight resting more on her left leg than her right. She looks pretty casual, which is excentuated by her clothes - she's wearing a tracksuit. Obviously she's been running.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
You ever one of those videos of cats with really long hair who get surprised by something? Imagine if there was a red cat. That's roughly what Ren's hair does, and if that cat was currently in a pile of paper that would also fit the scenario. Grab grab grab.

    "Really?" he then asks, raising an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. "Why's that? Is it the hair, or the boots? I always thought I had that kind of quality like, you know, that video where people get told to concentrate on the person bouncing a ball on the ground and they're so busy counting the bounces they don't notice the man in the bear costume walking past in the background."

    "Ahem. Good morning, Sakura. What's up?"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura hops over whatever it is Ren's sat on (a bench, probably) and sits down beside him. "No, I mean... You're magic. Right? You're 'glowing' a lot. I always thought you were meant to be able to... mute that? That's what I understood anyway... Not like I'm an expert or anything..." Sakura has a lot more knowledge about how Exalted work than -most- people do. It's because she's spent so much time around various Exalt, probably.

She then looks out at the coastline. "...This is getting pretty bad, isn't it?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "I think," Ren says, looking at Sakura as he sits down next to her. "It is just because you are very extraordinary."

    "I- well, we- are supposed to be peerless at the whole 'not being noticed' thing," he perhaps needlessly explains, putting his hand on the papers. "But it all depends on how good you are at spotting the thread. I've always been very consistently impressed by you."

    He follows her expression, after. "...it is. People aren't going to be able to pretend for much longer that it's anything other than unnatural."

    "It's very frustrating, isn't it?"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura keeps her arms crossed over her stomach, sort of hugging herself. "...I'm not really that special in the... grand scheme of things. I'm just bumbling about with no idea what I'm doing, most of the time." She shrugs. "I can just... sense magic. And you're magic. It's a thing most Mages can do here, I think..."

    She shakes her head. "It IS frustrating. I can't sense... well, no, I -can- sense magic. But it's just... it's in the water. ALL of the water. I can't trace it back to the source because it's just..." She trails off. "What could be affecting ALL of the water? Nothing should be powerful enough to control -trillions- of gallons!"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "Ah, now, see, generally you need to know ... you need to learn. Most people call it the all-encompassing sorcerer's sight. Little knack that lets them see magic like it was a bird in the air, but the trick with it is you need to learn how to do it, usually from someone who already knows, and there are reasons why it's hard where I come from for a Solar to teach another Solar their tricks." Not the reasons you'd expect, mind you, but reasons.

    He feels relieved, somewhat, to finally be able to talk about these things to another person. For it not to be a secret.

    "I've got a bad feeling that they've probably ... well, something like what Kaiba did. Some sort of machine, or some way to amplify and control it. Just as despicable."

    "Do you remember a couple months ago when the tides first started going out?"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura nods slowly. "..Yeah. I was... sort of expecting for something to have happened by now. I'm positive it's the Purple Pentacle jerks so why haven't they said anything...?" She shakes her head and leans back. "They think I shouldn't have all this power so why are they just letting me... Run around doing stuff with it?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "If I had to guess," Ren says, "One of the biggest and nastiest things to plague the human race, one of the demons of the modern age."

    "Bureacracy and committees."

    He actually smiles a little. "If I've learned one thing from observation, it's that magic and modern people don't mesh even when it's the modern people using the magic. Considering the PP are a secret society, of sorts, who really knows how much their own failings have been weighing them down? People might be arguing about what to do with you, and everyone's confident their solution is the right one. They might have had trouble moving what they needed to pull this off through their secret channels. They just might be a lot less competant than they would have you believe."

    "But then again, they might not.."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura smiles a bit. "...It is nice to think that they're just incompetent. And, um... to be fair, most of them -are- kinda... Well, they're not that good at magic. You know? Other than Jean..." It's pronounced like 'John'. Yay French names! "He's... he actually kinda scares me a bit. He can do things that Clow -couldn't- do, really. I... I mean, that's. That's normal here. Powerful Mages make their own magic, so lots of people end up not being able to replicate each other's tricks... But..."

    She shakes her head and sighs. "ANyway we... need to find out what they're doing, if they're not going to come out and say it."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Ren Tanaka shrugs. "I could be trying to reassure you, it could be working. I've never really met them- I suppose if I really wanted to, I could have found a way to really dig and dig someone in their group out, but..."

    He flips through the papers. "Hopefully, this might do."

    It's an archaic sort of drawing- a vauge outline of japan, surrounded by lots of lines and arrows in curling, whorling patterns.

"You know how people figure out weather patterns, ocean movement, that sort of thing? Those patterns? Ever since this started, Reiji and I kept a bit of an eye on the disruptions... patterns..."

    He begins to point out coloured dots. "If the magic is in the water, I figured that there's a good chance that where you'd usually find the epicenter of a disruption, we could find them. There's more than one possiblility, but... can't hurt to start planning and investigating, right?"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura frowns a bit as she looks at the map. "I, um..." She rubs the back of her head. "I can't really... read this that well. Where do... you think we should start searching?" There are many things Sakura is good at. Alas, anything related to 'academics' are not among them.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"Don't worry," Ren says. "If it helps, I had to use essence to sharpen up the old brain cells enough to spin this out. Sometimes I'd look at these notes and I'd go 'what's this again? What was I thinking when I wrote this? And I'd have to go-" knocks himself on the side of the head, lights up his caste mark- "Zot! And then I'd go 'oh yes, makes sense again'."

    Self-deprecating solars? Will weirdness never cease. "It ... depends on you, really. I mean, this is your world, Sakura. To me, a lot of it's just points on a map." And he looks a little ashamed to say that. "As far as 'the order to investigate these places in', say, figuring out a... priority would be something I guess I would leave up to you."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura hmmms a little bit. "I guess we should... check the ones closest to Tomoeda, first? They've been focusing on Tomoeda a lot lately after all, so..." She crosses her arms again. "Right? Does that make sense?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Ren Tanaka nods. "We can try to pull in some people from the Union who are good at sneaking. Get several people. I'll help, too. What do you think, send one person to scout out first then more people if it's a hit?" He sits back a little. "With any luck, we should be able to take them by surprise? If we're REALLY lucky, we could use the possibility they're smart against them. They might have redundant setups in some of these other locations? Which could explain why they've been quiet... not putting all of their eggs in one basket... how likely does that sound to you?"

    There's something there he's not exactly saying out loud.

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura keeps her arms crossed. "...I think, if they haven't made themselves known yet, that they WANT me to find them. So I'm not sure they'd set up... fake bases?" She frowns. "Although I dunno. They might just be... trying their hardest to keep the card from me, this time..."

    She shakes her head a bit. "Um. Sending out lots of sneaky people to check the locations will probably work?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Ren Tanaka scratches his chin. "OK, remind me. How many times has the Union crossed paths with them along with you? Are they counting on you finding them with backup?"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura tilts her head, frowning a bit as she thinks. "Oh... twenty? Less than twenty? Something around there. Every time I've run into them there've been Union people with me... or at least people from other worlds."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"This is the last card they've got left to use against you," Ren says, and as he goes on you can see his shoulders bunch up. "They must have an idea about how the Union operates by now. Hnn... alright. Mages from your world can just make their own magic. Most of them are weak, but Jean is the strongest. Which do you think is more likely?"

"The possibility that they're using technology, possibly networked technology, to amplify what Wave is capable of doing, so we would have to send people out to multiple places to catch them all for good?"

"Or the possibility that they're counting on us to think that, that sending a lot of people out to different places at once would spread us thin, that Jean can do all of this to Wave himself and that we won't have enough people at the one location they really are?"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    "..I wouldn't say 'just' make their own magic..." Sakura mumbles a bit, before listening to the rest of what Ren has to say.

    She rubs the side of her head. "...Oh, man. That's tricky. I... I honestly don't know? I don't even really know what they're -up- to. You... you know, they've been kinda... Like, when I 'win' they just hand over the Card, you know? Almost like they want me to..."

    She trails off. "Or maybe they just know they can't really fight the Union, so they'll want to spread us thin..."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"Sorry, I might be oversimplifying."

    "This had better not," he murmurs, "Be some sort of elaborate test." Then, his eyes spark. "Wait, could it be? Could it be a test? I mean have they ever done any property damage? Hurt people? Wilfully endangered lives?"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura makes a face. "If this IS a test I'm going to be very mad..." She trails off, then shakes her head. "N-no, they haven't. Um. Their whole -thing- is that they want to protect the world. Even... Even the ones who end up mind-wiping themselves still want to protect people, so I don't think it's an act."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Very abruptly, Ren slaps his legs and stands up from the bench. "I think it's a test!"

    "Modern sensibilities. Committees. They don't trust the jurisdiction of one party, no matter what the authority level is. Have to make you prove it to themselves. Have to make /us/ prove it, because they know by now what sort of people you hang out with. Maybe even proving ourselves as well, that we're enough to associate with you. Prove you are- we are- good enough to protect the world in... their stead, I suppose? Yes. That's why they don't hurt people, why they just mindwipe themselves? Job's over. Time to retire. Just constantly watching us, what you're... doing."

    He stops quite abruptly. "Oh, dear."

    Looks at Sakura, kind of worried. "Does this all sound like it's making sense?"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura frowns pretty hard. "...If you turn out to be right I am punching a LOT of people. In the face."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Ren Tanaka ... sits down, and looks right at her.

"If I'm right, then we're going to be on very thin ice. Because they'll know that we've taken a long time to track them down..."

    He swallows a lump in his throat.

"...and in all likelihood, they'll probably know you killed someone. And I don't think they'll be happy with either of those things."

He sits back, seemingly being drained of energy by the second. "If that's the case, then do you think fighting them is... the wrong idea, unless they throw the first punch?"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura stands up. She looks angry. "Where do they get off telling me what to do? Why should them being -angry- at me make a difference?!" She crosses her arms again, and huffs. "They're not some ancient magical order guarding the world. They're not some sort of magical authority. There IS no magical authority. The closest to that we have in eastern Asia is the Li clan, and -me-."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"Because someone with a gun to someone important to you's head is /always/ the person nominally in authority."

    Ren's expression is solemn. "And right now, Wave is the person /and/ the gun."

    "They probably think you're 'just a kid'. Or thought, at least. Modern sensibilities and committees. An organization of older men that doesn't care about the opinions... and prejudices, of anyone other than themselves. Now, to them, you're a kid who, who..."

    He puts his hand on his chin, and he's silent for a few seconds, hoping that it will give Sakura a moment to let go of the steam. "Alright. I'm going to ask you something absolute-worst-case scenario. Ready?"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura shakes her head a bit. "...Then I just need to rescue Wave and then they'll... have no more 'authority'. Right?" She frowns. "...Yeah? What is it?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"Yes," Ren says. "Take Wave from them and they might be satisfied."

    Might.

    "Sakura, what happens to the cards if you die?"

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura pauses for a few seconds. She actually flinches a bit at the question. "I, um... well they'll... stick around for a while because, um. Because they can save energy by 'hibernating'. And... then if someone else can seal them and, um. Power them. Then they'll be fine. If not..."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "Alright. See, what I'm worried about now is... the rules have changed. If they were testing you to see if you, and the Union, were satisfactory before by their standards- the only ones which matter to them, since they have the cards and they're older and bigger than you- then that's what they might have been doing so far. But now... now they might change their minds. Now... they have one card, and they might just have alllll the other cards, coming to them in one package. Get rid of you," and here he clenches his teeth, voice taking on a mocking faux old man voice, "Who has started killing people now, and spent so long leaving Japan high and dry, and they can take them and be far more responsible." He snaps back to his normal voice. "Nothing that has happened before would matter. One strike in their rulebook and you're out."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Sakura look stunned. "Wh... what? They wouldn't... There's no..." Suddenly, her Magic Circle flares under her feet. Yellow, about three yards across. Within is a five-pointed star, flanked by a crescent moon on one side and a sun on the other. Symbols from three distinct magical traditions - English, Chinese and Japanese - are traced along the edges of the cirle.

    Beside Sakura appears... another Sakura. This one has green ribbons in her hair. "We would never obey anyone..." The Mirror card begins.

    Behind her, the Dark and the Light appear. "Who would do such a despicable thing," the Dark finishes. The Light goes on: "If they would do this, they're gravely mistaken."

    On Sakura's other side, the Hope card appears. Behind, to the sides, and all around, more and more of Sakura's Cards are appearing. "Sakura isn't just our Master," the Hope says, softly.

    All fifty-two Cards stand gathered around Sakura now.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Ah, there.

All of the worry disappears from Ren's face. "Yes."

    He stands up, and walks right into the midst of them. "Ha-ha-ha, yes!"

    "That's where they're wrong, you know. I know you know. That's it! That's what we need to do. The Purple Pentacle have spent this whole time only worrying about themselves. Can't see any further than their own noses."

    "They just see organizations and tools, I'm sure of it. I feel like that's the measure of them. They don't care about you as people. They don't care that you are people!"

    He grins. "And I surely think they wouldn't be ready to take on /all of you at once/."

    "This isn't just Sakura's fight. And it's not just our fight." He throws his arms out wide, to encompass every one of the cards, like he could give them all a big hug.

"All of you have a stake in this, don't you? As people they can't understand. That they'll never expect."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    Hugging the one literally composed of fire would probably not be a good idea.

    Also the Flower promptly pounces at Ren and actually hugs him. She's huggy.

    Sakura tilts her head to one side, then grins a bit. "...Well, if I can pull it off... I bet they'd never expect -that-, no."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Ren Tanaka didn't actually expect to be hugged, but he's not going to say no! Hug teh Flower.

    "Oh, I'm sure there'd be people who would help you with the workload."

    "So. There's a pretty good idea where they could be. Once we find out which one Wave is at, we can make a move. I'm sure that the top brass will be there. We need to make sure they don't anything drastic, but as soon as we can safely get to Wave... well, we show them exactly how blinkered they've been."

    "And hopefully, hopefully..."
    "We can convince them to see some sense."

Sakura Kinomoto (172) has posed:
    After the hug, the Flower skips back, then... produces a tulip out of thin air, holding it out to Ren between her index and middle fingers.

    Sakura nods her head. "...Man. I... I almost forgot. I've been so... focused on things lately that I..." She looks down, and takes a deep breath. "Okay. Let's go save Wave."