298/Against School Policy

Against School Policy
Date of Scene:	28 July 2014
Location:	Afterlife School
Synopsis:	A new world merges, and a number of Elites - Fed, Union, and Unaffiliated alike - go to investigate. Shenanigans ensue!
Thanks to:	To Kotone, Finna, Allyn, Fiera, Auron, Kirika, and Kirikou for amazing stuff to play off of and for being patient as I broke my character (and their entire cast) in!
Cast of Characters:	Kotone Yamakawa, 127, 236, 262, 307, 481, 512, 513

---

Kanade Tachibana (512) has posed:
    It's night time on campus, meaning that most of the student body is probably asleep. Or, well, one would think. After the initial wave of vertigo passes, those present would likely pick up on something in the distance. Something loud. Something... musical?

    Yep, and it's coming from the northeast. Past the soccer field, shrubs, and some small, modern buildings that might obscure one's view, there's a building of a particularly bizarre design. Its front is fashioned out of a lattice of red girders that frame glass squares, and its roof rises in a manner that makes it look quite like a trio of giant steps. It's unlikely people would see it right away, but it would certainly be the first locale that others would notice; it's the epicenter of the melodic storm, and there seems to be a fairly large gathering of people in front of it.

    So this is probably where the night's action is going to go down. Only trouble is, there's quite a lot of space and a river between it and the incoming Elites. Probably shouldn't be much trouble - you people kill monsters and such in your sleep, so a short walk probably won't kill you - but the distance and obstacles do keep the approaching from seeing what's going on, and by extension affecting whatever is going on, until they get a bit closer. Oh, and considering the mundane setting, it might be a good idea to be as low-key as possible. Don't wanna terrify the kids!

    ... even if there's probably a lot more to this place than meets the eye at a glance. The closer you come, the more clear the scene in front of what one could assume to be the school's cafeteria becomes, and it looks... kinda hairy.
There's a group of students.
With guns.
Big guns.
Aimed at a little girl with white hair and a sword on her hand.

    You know what, nix the 'low key' bit. These kids can probably take it.

(Ah, and once you're close enough, the song would become a bit more clear as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ld4Mj1EkqU )

Fiera Kitsun (262) has posed:
Fiera Kitsun isn't usually on the 'first contact' squad from the Union; she tends to stay in the Pokemon Islands and the environs thereof, but *she* noticed this (probably by dint of a Psychic-type, although she hasn't been carrying her Abra lately) and decided to come take a look around.

She's taken the precaution of recalling all of her Pokemon to their balls before venturing through the warpgate, although her elementite sword is sheathed across her back where she can get at it in a hurry. Other than the sword and the Pokeballs, she looks pretty much like a typical teenaged girl.

She wasn't expecting to hear a concert in the background, though. Nor was she expecting to see a bunch of teenagers ganging up (with firearms) on a younger girl with a sword emerging from her sleeve ... and bullets don't seem to be stopping her.

This seems like a good point for Fiera NOT to go charging into the fray just yet; instead, she moves to a spot where she shouldn't draw attention while still being able to watch what's going on.

... and on second thought, she lets Arashi out, the Fearow zipping up into the sky to provide Fiera with an aerial perspective on exactly what's going on here.

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Right out of the portal, Kirika zooms using a rented scooter to zoom towards the campus grounds in short order. By the time she's there, her glamor's worn off, and she's quick to park the vehicle. Nodding to Fiera quickly, the kitsune works her way in.

    By the time she arrives in front of the cafeteria she immediately reaches to draw her sword upon noticing a group of armed hostiles.

    "Back away now and you will be spared." She orders them, beginning to draw Kinugiri calmly. "Lower your weapons, bloodshed is not necesary here." Seasoned a warrior as she is, Kirika's not too keen on hurting kids younger than she is.

    Tail tense and ears perked, Kirika's red eyes glare at the kids. Stealth isn't her aim.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has been up and prowling the multiverse once more this was not she'd been on the jobn for XCOM she would go out find information on things for them, just for being better informed of threats and things of use out there in the multiverse for them. She was not too heavily armed but she was armed and well she needed to see what's up. She does check for any local wireless connections to see if she can gather any more information. This looked to be a first contact situation she knew that much.

Her world had been strange oddly the governments had been on top of the warp gates very quickly and had managed so far to keep any off world rampages from happen she doesn't raise her weapon too high but she's already looking them over. Okay this could be bad.

Allyn (307) has posed:
There was a dire wolf headed this way, but once he sees the river, he shifts to his sabertooth form and swims across it. Once safely on the otherside he stops and shakes his fur out. Hmph, not good to have wet fur nope, well, at least don't want to be soaking wet anyway.

He then stalks the rest of the way towards whatever it is that is going on and sees Kotone and Kirika. He pads over and pushes his head up under Kotone's hand and purrs to her. "What's going on Kotone?" he then sits and watches the kids, before turning his head to look at Kirika, "Don't hurt the cubs."

Kirikou (127) has posed:
    It'd be rare for Kirikou to be sent out on any sort of first contact. Sure, he's friendly. He's not particularly diplomatic though. Really, this sort of thing is small potatoes, and he wouldn't be here at all if he weren't *specifically* assigned it as a supplementary lesson from Shibusen. Why Death Academy has an interest in this place, he has absolutely no clue. No one tells him anything. He's been grumbling now about being assigned a supplementary lesson that's not going to result in killing a villain. Or rather, if he has to kill someone here, he's not likely to be able to feed their soul to one of the Twins. It's still quite possible he might have to kill someone who really deserves killing, but he knows for sure by now that most people in the Multiverse don't leave behind red souls. They don't need to be eaten, and ... well, they can't be.

    It may be a pointless mission, but that's okay. Meeting new people, seeing new places, that can be fun too. Kilik heads into the new lands, the Twins by his side. Quickly he recognizes a school, but that can't explain Shibusen's interest. This school seems nothing at all like the Death Academy, at least at first sight.

    As he gets closer, he sees he's been beat to the site by a couple of people. Lips drawing down into a scowl, he has some idea just who else has showed up to this place. Union officers. Damn it. Due to being unsure how the Union reps might respond to his presence, he doesn't immediately step in to the conflict among the natives. Instead he stands there, watching, arms folded as he scowls. "Perfect." he says. "This couldn't possibly get any worse."

Finna (513) has posed:
    Pay no mind to the red-tailed hawk that's chosen this moment to seemingly random swoop into the area and perch on the edge of the building where everyone seems to be gathering! Or the fact that, if one looks really closely, and is good enough to see through the illusion that makes one think otherwise, its shadow isn't quite right - the wide-fanning tail feathers are nowhere to be seen, in favor of a wagging fox tail. The hawk is staring, most unusually, at the huge debacle!

Auron (236) has posed:
    The notification was sudden. A school in the sky? Auron wanted to arrive looking as normal as possible. He couldn't have masqueraded as a student; even looking younger than during Yuna's Pilgrimage, he still looks far too old to be a student. However, he did have earth-style business suits that probably wouldn't have looked too out of place.

    Except then he got the notification of a fight in progress. Business suits are hard to fight in. So he instead opts for his normal attire. It also saves him the trouble of changing clothes! He has no way to get there personally. So, he called in a favor. Thanks to Rin finding out about him still being alive, most of the Al Bhed know. Thankfully the Al Bhed are good at keeping secrets. They're also good at having airships!

    Thus it's a large, red airship that comes into view, looking sort of like a motorcycle, but in double. A chain is fired from the bottom of the ship, anchoring somewhere in the ground that won't cause too much damage. And then a red-clad figure... slides down the chain. Literally. The figure jumps up, onto the landmass, and lands in a roll, getting quickly to his feet, and the hookshot is retracted back into the airship. He stays quiet for now, but while he has a sword on his back (and a bow, actually, it's just folded up), he has no weapons in his hands. At least, not visible ones. He doesn't mean any immediate harm.

Kanade Tachibana (512) has posed:
    Thankfully, one seems to notice Fiera, or the fearow rising into the sky, which should give it all the time it needs to get a better picture of things: first off, the group of students nearer to the pokemon are wearing... different uniforms. This may not mean anything, but it seems pretty significant given that the only one wearing something else is the girl they're attacking. Maybe they're a part of a gang, or something? There may be more value in what it overhears, though. A boy with blue hair is speaking into a radio.

    "Tenshi is right out front now, Shiina! Hurry!" A girl directly next to him tosses her purple-pink hair and cocks her gun, pointing it at the girl. "Everyone. Aim!" With but a word, everyone else is readying their firearms as well. It would appear we've found their leader.

    Everyone on both sides stops and goes completely silent when Kirika dashes in, though. The blue-haired boy's eyes widen, and a good number of the people behind the leading pair seem quite caught off-guard as well. Naturally, everyone looks to the 'leader girl' with their what do faces, and thankfully... she seems fairly composed. "..." At first, she doesn't speak. She lowers her weapon and comes out of her crouch, though, so thankfully it doesn't look like she intends to shoot. There's a rather theatrical gust of wind before she finally speaks.

    "I am Nakamura Yuri of the Afterlife War Front, and you are obviously new here. But..." She arches her eyebrow. "... you're not a teenager. So how the heck did you get here?" Suddenly, she shakes her head. "You know what? Nevermind. There will be time for questions later, but now, get behind me." She gestures forward. "Unless you want to die."

    Should she turn to look - or anyone, for that matter - they would see the girl from before... silently tilting her head. She doesn't say anything -- she just stands there. Watching.

    The blue-haired boy turns to look at Allyn, his mouth open wide. Slowly, he leans in to the magenta-haired girl to say, 'What the hell is going on here, Yuri?' She just shrugs, returning with an equally quiet 'We're gonna find out, one way or the other'. Much less graceful, though, is the response of another boy with darker blue hair... and a poleaxe. "... the /hell/? Why is there a wolf here?"

    A boy with light blond hair and a headband points to the fearow - apparently not unnoticed after all, huh? - and says, "Whoa. ET, phone home." He glances in Kilik's direction for what may seem to him to be an uncomfortable long time, but thankfully, he doesn't call attention to his presence. Instead, he holds a hand above his eyes and looks to the hawk perched above the impromptu battlefield. 'Crazy! Fly like an eagle in~to the future!' is his remarkably insightful comment on that visual.

    And then a freaking airship flies in. The leader girl - or Yuri, as the blue-hair had called her - looks to the ship and instinctively aims her gun at it. The expression on her face says volumes about her present anxiety as she turns to Auron, then back to Kirika, and... well, everyone. No one is spared the sight of the barrel of her gun as she fervently swings it around.

    "Okay, HOLD IT! What the -hell- is going on here?" She glances to Kirika. "Fox girls," Then Auron. "a guy with a sword," then Allyn. "Now you people!" She sneers. "You have exactly five seconds to start explaining to me why you're here, how you got here, and what you intend to do before I...!" She stops there, biting her lip. Gesturing to the white-hair, she says, "... in case you hadn't noticed, we're in the middle of a large-scale confrontation here! So are you here to help us? Is that it?" She exhales with all due exasperation when she's finished. The blue-hair puts a hand on her shoulder.

Kanade Tachibana (512) has posed:
    "... okay." At least he sounds more calm. "You guys look confused, so let me help you out a little. I'm Hideki Hinata, and this... well." He exhales. "... this is our school. I can't tell you everything right now, because if we don't hurry, that girl - angel - is going to do something terrible. So I'll only ask you guys once." He narrows his eyes just slightly. "Are you going to help us?"

    As he says this, the girl in question is wandering off toward the entrance to the cafeteria. No one seems to have noticed her yet, but...

Fiera Kitsun (262) has posed:
"What do you mean by 'something terrible'?"

The question comes from Fiera as she emerges from behind the corner she'd concealed herself behind. "As to who we are and why, we heard about your world joining with ours and we came to take a look around." She pauses, looking over the assemblage of locals and Multiversals alike, then over at 'Angel'; she purses her lips slightly, and the Fearow swoops down - passing about three meters over Angel's head: close enough to draw attention (and deliberately so) but *probably* safely out of range. Unless she can do more than swords.

"As to whether we're here to help or not, that depends a lot on why you were fighting and who's on what side," Fiera adds.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa was not expecting Allyn, she pauses as the shape shifter paws over to her and places his head under her hand. She pets without even thinking about it and nods "I see, and I'm just exploring really."

She looks t the group before her and he stare for a moment at what they say about afterlife.

"New here and no I just finish college."

Did they somehow just walk into some world's afterlife? Wait what? She has no desire to die.

"What she said, I came to check out this new world ummm and it seems we came at a bad time but I'm sure we can help, right?"

Kirika (481) has posed:
R    "Afterlife?" Kirika stares in confusion, before glancing at the silver haired girl for a moment. All the people with guns here definitely indicates something of a lynching, but thankfully Fiera takes care of explaining how and who.

    "We've come to investigate the unification of your world to the Multiverse, aye. Evidently you've your own problems to deal with." SHe says, releasing the hilt of her katana before she eyes the expressionless 'angel' for a moment. "Care to elaborate exactly what you mean by 'bad' with this being?" She asks, her tail motioning towards Kanade.

    In any case, she scans the assorted kids with a narrowed gaze, weighing options here.

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron is concerned less about where they all are and more about what's going on here. Namely that there are several people pointing guns at a person with a sword. This 'fight' seems terribly one-sided to him. But then again, if the girl with the sword really is so terrible, all the firepower might be necessary. Still, isn't it better that a guilty person go free temporarily than an innocent be killed?

    He looks to the people gathered here. He won't base his decision on them, no, even though there are some people here that he trusts. And at least one he absolutely doesn't. He adds to the comments, "What I see is several people with guns attacking a girl with a sword." Pause. He almost smirks. With a wry tone to his voice, he continues, "I assume I don't need to tell you how this looks to someone with no context on why such measures may be needed."

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn nods his head in response to Kotone and since he knows she's not quite human, he wags his tail when she pets him on the head, nothing wrong with wagging your tail at someone who isn't human, really, it's not humiliating. Of course, he wouldn't do that for a human.

He then looks at the two that have spoken, "Well, I was out hunting for my dinner and thought that I would come explore." he ponders, wondering what they will think of a talking wolf for a few moments, "Why are you all pointing sticks at the other cub? Cubs should not isolate another cub from the pack."

Finna (513) has posed:
    It's not really hard to tell that the red-tailed fox doesn't quite belong here, but that doesn't explain ANYTHING about why it's here. That is enough for Finna's purposes, for the moment! For she's currently watching the violent gangup raptly. A gang of gunfighters against a lone swordswoman? And the woman with the blade doesn't seem even remotely bothered by it.

    Meaning, she's either completely confident, utterly crazy, or utterly resigned.

    None of those are things inna wants to interfere in without more information, so for now the hawk adjusts its stance and continues watching!

Kirikou (127) has posed:
    Kirikou looks around warily, assessing the situation. Being a Meister, tied to death, he should have some insight into the afterlife claim. Unfortunately, Kirikou is rather poor at soul sensing. It's the one thing most holding back his strength. He shrugs uncertainly. No one here LOOKS dead. He glances down at the Twins for confirmation, but they have nothing to say. Like usual.

    "If anyone's got brains here, no one's going to take any sudden actions." he claims, stepping forward. It might well sound like a threat, especially when he backs it up by bringing his hands up into the air in something far closer to a kickboxer's stance than to a request to stop. The Twins look up, catching the signal, and they shimmer and streak to his hands as flashes of multicoloured light, transforming into the huge steel gauntlets he's infamous for.

    "Whoever starts a fight here is going to get jumped on by a bunch of well-meaning do-gooders." Kirikou claims. He doesn't point out the do-gooders in question. Not much point. "I'm sure people would just love to have an answer to who's the good guys and who's the bad guys here. And someone attacking without obvious cause is gonna be the bad guys, I can just tell. So maybe we should all calm down, have a seat and a nice little chat?" he suggests with a grin that's more a smirk. "I appreciate a girl who's got the guts to bring a knife to a gunfight, and I just might side with her if she's attacked. Besides, she's cuter than the lot of you put together." he says.

    This last is ... well, it's untrue. The 'Angel' is cute, sure, but she's not THAT cute. And there's definitely some not-terrible looking girls in the rest of the crowd. But when you're potentially surrounded by enemies, Kilik figures the best thing to do is to sound cocky as hell. Who knows? He just might get away with it!

Kanade Tachibana (512) has posed:
    Hinata opens his mouth to reply, but Yuri breaks in before he has the chance to talk. "She's going to end the concert! And then we won't be able to get the weapons shipment on to the surface!" Hinata puts his hands in his pockets and sighs. "We're... in short, we're fighting angel. She serves God, and we're not on good terms with the guy. Or girl. Or whatever." He raises a hand and lays his palm out flat in a classical expository gesture. "Right now, we have a few other members of our organization - the Afterlife War Front or SSS for short - playing a song as a distraction to keep angel from interrupting that operation. Since she had to come here to stop the performance, she can't be there to stop the transport. Get it?" He crosses his arms. "We have nothing to hide. Once we have all of this figured out, I can tell you the full story, but now --" He's cut off by another shout from Yuri.

    "ANGEL! Stop right there!" She points her gun at her. She literally has her hand positioned over the doorknob, and had completely ignored the swooping Fearow to get there. Several other SSS members point their guns at her as well, but Hinata alone remains composed and continues speaking. "But now we kinda have our hands full. Though... I'm just as curious about these other things you're saying. Our world 'joined' with yours? The fact that you guys are here is just as confusing to us, believe me." Angel silently turns away from the door to face the rest of the crowd, eliciting... surprisingly tense reactions from the others present. They all grip their weapons and immediately train them on her. Maybe... she really is bad? Why else would she inspire such fear from people with obviously superior numbers and firepower?

    When Kilik enters, everyone jumps. Well, at least all of the SSS, anyway; angel is as composed as ever. "Okay, okay," He gives an uneasy sort of smile, and raises his hands in a shrug. "You guys obviously aren't going to lift a finger until I give you everything you want to know, so I'll stop being evasive. Just listen close, because I'm only going to say all of this once." There's an effectual pause as he looks over the entire crowd again. "Like I said, this is the Afterlife. Usually, only teenagers with profound lingering regrets are able to come here, which is why it's so crazy for some of you people," There's a lingering glance at Auron, "to be here. If our world has been somehow dragged into a Multiverse - at least, I think that's what somebody said - then that could be really good news for us because. Well." He refocuses his gaze. "Here's the catch. All of us died in horrible ways with too many regrets to count. And now angel here is trying to force us to pass on and reincarnate. So that's why we formed the SSS." His expression becomes much more severe. "We don't want to pass on. We don't want to be obliterated. We want to -live-, and keep living. If we're really a part of some bigger world now, then like I said, that's good. We'll all take rides out of here as soon as possible." He exhales, a slightly more confident smile appearing on his face now. "... that good enough for you?"

    At Auron's comment, though, he blinks. "Actually, guy, it's good that you say so." A strained laugh escapes from his lips. "All of us are so scared of her that we've kinda forgotten how anyone could... well. Not be. So I didn't really think of that. But yeah, now that I've said everything, you probably get the 'why'. But do you at least get why I didn't want to have to say all of that right away now?" He gives a sigh of exasperation. "'At's a mouthful..."

Fiera Kitsun (262) has posed:
"Shipment of weapons?" asks Fiera, her voice somewhat flat. Then she lets out a breath, and walks over to where 'Angel' is standing with her hand on the cafeteria doorknob ...

And smiles, giving her a slight but polite bow. "I'm Fiera. Would you mind if I talk to you for a little while? We've heard one side of the story, now I wouldn't mind hearing *your* side."

Arashi does a loop-de-loop in the sky overhead before descending, and trying to land on Auron's shoulder. Or his head. Or the hilt of his sword or something, if that's more convenient than the other options. Apparently the Fearow is being tasked with listening to the rest of the conversation(s) while Fiera is, potentially, focused elsewhere.

Kanade Tachibana (512) has posed:
    Angel... gives another, tiny tilt of her head as Fiera approaches her. For a few painful seconds, she says nothing, but eventually she replies: "... playing music in the cafeteria is against school policy. Making a lot of noise at night is, too." Her voice is... extremely soft. Almost a whisper, honestly, but since Fiera is so close, she can probably hear her just fine. She might be a little put off by the indifference in her tone, though; considering the situation, it's a little eerie. Hell, it would probably be eerie even if there wasn't anything going on, in earnest.

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron listens to the explanation. And slowly the wryness fades from his face. Gone are the days he could hide all his emotions behind a veil of 'just not caring'. Or not seeming to. Being alive again... now he can't do that anymore. He doesn't have fighting the chill inside him to blame. As such, the look there is almost one of shock. He's silent for a long moment. And all he can think?

    ('...Fayth. They're all Unsent...')

    Auron looks to the one of the group who spoke to him. "...I may have a better understanding of your situation than you might think." He seems FAR less intent on attacking the group of gun-wielders. He pauses, looking at the group. Then looking at Angel. Then at the other Multiversal Elites there. Then back to the group. "...I have a lot of questions still," he says to the one of the group of gun-wielders who spoke to him. "But I understand needing to not move on after death. I have no doubt it's dangerous to stay around too long. What if you were to be able to settle these regrets?"

Allyn (307) has posed:
The wolf lowers his ears against his head and looks confused, well as confused as a wolf can look anyway. He tilts his head and looks up at Kotone, "Kotone, what is a school? Wait, did they say that they were dead? So they are undead creatures?" he sniffs towards the kids to see if they smell like undead. "If they are undead, wouldn't that make them bad? Undead are an afront to all things natural. Is the other cub undead too? If she isn't then should we let the undead attack her?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa just pause as they talk about fighting an angel and that just makes Kotone get this what the bloody blue blazes look on her face. She just looks for a moment. A war in the afterlife? Really? She takes a step back as she feels uncertain here of how to act here. She isn't moving to fight just yet as they talk about how they died even vaguely Kotone recalls how she dned up with her Prosetic body. She nearly would have ended up somewhere like thia.

She lowers her weapon at this point

There's also a lot to go over now here she looks to Allyn for a moment and says for a moment

"No the afterlife is where the dead are suposed to go rather than linger. School is a place people go to learn. You can't assume something's evil because of it's it is."

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Auron's question suddenly makes everything fall into place with Kirika. She blinks, glancing at the Guardian for a moment as he speaks. THe kitsune doesn't dare jump in on this, instead she allows Auron to speak.

    "We all deserve a chance at finding peace before settling." The kitsuen says at last, to Allyn. "There may be a chance to help these people, and if there is, we must take it."

Kirikou (127) has posed:
    This is just weird. A bunch of afterlife ghosts, huh? Kirikou's beginning to get an idea why Death Academy took an interest. He watches Kanade being led away, considering. Not the least, he's considering what the Union girl might be telling her. Then he looks at the other students, clearly showing that uncertainty.

    "I don't have any great love for angels or God or whatever." he says. He doesn't know God. In his world, Death is the only major power to appear to others. If there is a God, he's never met him. "But my job is making sure people don't abuse souls. Well, actually my job is to hunt down and kill people who mess with souls, before they turn into things worse than monsters." he notes. "So, with the Angel not here, why don't you try to convince me why I should listen to you? I don't much care about your afterlife. It sucks you guys are stuck here and can't move on, but I kinda have other things to worry about. Tell me, is that silver-haired girl doing unspeakable things to all you ... well, you souls?" he asks leadingly. Of course they could claim anything. He won't just take them at their word. But he WOULD like to hear their reply.

Kanade Tachibana (512) has posed:
    Hinata opens his mouth to answer Auron's inquiry, but he's quickly interrupted by Yuri again. "If we 'settle our regrets'," There's an obvious quantity of disdain put into the words surrounded by apostrophes, "then we would disappear. And then we would be reincarnated! And who knows what the heck we would come back as! There's no guarantee that we would ever get to be human again, so..." She balls her fists and looks to the ground. Again, Hinata puts a hand on her shoulder, and finishes for her. "So we fight, so that we can settle our regrets ourselves. /Without/ being obliterated." He gives Yuri a smile that she gratefully reciprocates, and she turns to nod at the group with renewed vigor. The look of approval doesn't last when Allyn starts mouthing off, though.

    Yuri puts her hands on her hips and assumes a fittingly dominant stance. "Now look here, /wolf/," Her eyes are filled with fire, "we may be 'undead', but that doesn't make us zombies. We're people, just like all of you! We have hearts, feelings, desires...!" Deflating just slightly, she quietly adds, "... regrets." The boy with the poleaxe looks at Allyn, his own eyes filled with malice. "I'm only gonna tell you this once, dog," He turns up his head and readies his weapon. "Don't. Upset. Yuri. Or you will answer to the sharp end of my blade." Yuri and Hinata look to eachother and sweatdrop, the latter giving him a faint thumbs-up. He follows that up with a placating looks at Allyn that would, hopefully, tell him that not all of them are quite that hostile.

    Hinata sighs again, looking almost tiredly to Kirika. Flatly, he says, "There isn't going to be any 'settling'," He lets that linger for a few seconds, "but if you want to help us, give us a place to stay. Far away from here." He looks to angel. "Away from her." The entirety of the SSS is paying attention to the conversation now, and all of them nod in agreement with him. Yuri looks to Kotone and adds, "And we don't care if angel is evil! We just don't want to lose our memories! Don't you get it...?" She crosses her arms. "... it's not about 'good' or 'evil'. It's about /us/. It's about the cruel lives that God gave us! That's why we're rebelling!" She places a hand on her chest as she speaks, and this small 'speech' elicits a rather rancorous roar of approval from the rest of the gang. "... and that's why we'll win!"

    And then their attention is drawn back to Kilik. The dark-blue hair pipes up again and practically growls, "Then I guess it's good that we don't need your help, huh?" His expression is stoic and focused. He's at least good at -looking- intimidating, but that probably won't make much of a difference with a seasoned Meister. Yuri looks back to him soon in admonishment, however. "/Noda/!" He lowers his head and closes his eyes. "Apologies, Miss Yuri. I just can't stand the arrogance of these people." She folds her arms. "... just stop talking then. We'll handle this." Turning back to Kilik, she says, "She... usually doesn't do anything too cruel. But she does keep us from leaving, and tries to make us go to school. Putting it that way, I bet I sound like a whiny kid, but." Her expression suddenly becomes more serious. "We aren't ready to move on yet, and she can't make us. And if there's really another world out there --!" Her eyes glean. "... then we want to see it."

Fiera Kitsun (262) has posed:
"Fearow," remarks Arashi. << They don't *feel* dead. >> is how the Multiverse translates the Pokemon's speech.

Fiera, for her part, gives 'Angel' a mildly uncertain look. Even an actual angel shouldn't be THAT emotionless ... right? And slightly more to the point:

"So a late-night live concert is against school policy. That makes some degree of sense ..." She pauses, looking back at the SSS. "And waving firearms around, trying to shoot a fellow student ... is that against school policy as well, or were you dealing with the 'easy' thing first, the concert?" she asks wryly.

It's not easy to split your attention between two separate conversations, even when you have a Pokemon listening as your proxy for one of them ... and that's when the discussion isn't about something as disturbing as death/undeath/afterlife matters. As Arashi said (not entirely on Fiera's behalf), though, the SSS members she's seen so far don't seem all that dead. Of course, this is the afterlife, so they 'blend in' like they're supposed to be here - which they *are*. If anything, it should be the Multiversal visitors who stand out.

"Anyway ... they said you're trying to 'help' them pass on and be reincarnated. Is that really your goal as far as the SSS are concerned?" Fiera adds to her questions for Angel. "Even if they aren't ready to do so?"

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron nods to Kirika's statement. "The sooner the better," he agrees. Then the SSS is speaking again, each of them in turn, explaining and talking about their feelings. It's Noda's comment in particular that gets his attention. "...I don't mean to come across to you as arrogant." He pauses. "I... I have some... working knowledge about staying on after death to 'fix' things. In my world it works a little differently, but..."

    He trails off. And he doesn't bother explaining how he has that knowledge. "You say you'll 'win'," Auron notes. "What will you 'win' if you're successful in this rebellion?" He's got a lot more questions, but right now he wants to see what's at stake. A madman's reasons may be genuine, but a madman is still a madman...

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is listening for a moment, she stares she listens and she has to agree there with that. IF that's true this does sound like a situation even she would fight to keep from being errased it's something that is a thing on her world with external memory storage. She does not raise her weapon now she knows there's go tot be more going on here. There's a lot to mill over as she listens to other question them. Maybe Staren's lunacy had a smidge of sense to it as pained as she is to admit it.

"Will you be able to get our or just trapped here?"

Then again if one kept coming back as bacterial even being trapped somewhere like this could be better than that. She's now really left at a loss this isn't a situation she had expected to enconter before.

Kanade Tachibana (512) has posed:
    Angel nods to Fiera. "I knew that they were transporting weapons," Still as quietly and evenly as ever, "but this is more disruptive." She waits patiently and silently as Fiera continues, adding simply, "I want to help them to be ready."

    Meanwhile, Noda rests his poleaxe on his shoulder, staring at Auron. "Hnnn." Short pause. "Fine. Just watch it around Yuri, got it?" Yuri folds her arms and gives him a look before glancing to Auron herself and adding, "We win our freedom. From angel, and now maybe even from the school too. And when we have freedom..." There's another brief silence. "... when we have freedom, we can explore the world, keep being friends, smile... just -live-..." She looks up at him resolutely. "It's that simple. Nations have revolutions when they aren't getting enough recognition from their government, right? So we're rebelling because our God won't listen to us."

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn perks his ears as he listens to the explination, so they are undead, but they aren't zombies or anything like that? Well, Kirika and Kotone did tell him that they seemed to be alright, so he supposes he will let that point go. So does the Fearow, though he's not quite sure what that creature is either.

He just shakes his head, about ready to let the point go, at least until the boy with the axe decides to try to menace him and insults him by calling him a dog, "Dog? I am no dog CUB! Dog's like humans, do what they are told to do, beg people for food. Wolves are proud and noble beasts." Well, that's true, but he shifts anyway, becoming a large, sabertoothed cat and stares at the beast, "I am no dog, I am a monster! What do you think now cub?" he proves that by roaring at the boy.

Kirikou (127) has posed:
    Kilik's grin at Noda is sincere, and also somewhat feral. The Meister doesn't get intimidated easily... he might well be short compared to the high-schoolers here, but he's got little doubt that if fists and bullets fly it'll be the fists making the most impressions. So to speak.

    He is, however, impressed that Yuri admits to him that Tenshi isn't outright *bad*. He'd expected a lie, if only for the lot of these folks to secure the help of the outsiders. It makes him a little more inclined to help the lot of them.

    "Rebelling against God, against the angels." Kirikou shrugs nonchalantly, letting his metal-clad fists drop to his sides and dangle as if they weigh a ton each. "Look, that's all cool. Some people who claim they're the good guys, they're really quite insufferable." he says conversationally. And, at the same time, glances around at the Union people he recognizes, looking like the cat that ate the proverbial canary. Yeah, that was a direct taunt. "If you're really interested in that sort of thing I might be able to come up with a job offer. But the first thing would be to get you guys out of here. After it's clear you can get out and still exist, that's the time to decide what you're gonna do with your life. Unlife." she says, shrugging again. "Of course you might all end up vanishing when you try to leave. So, how 'bout it? You got the guts to put your existence on the line, to see if you can see the world outside your afterlife?" he asks, looking fiercely amused.

    When Allyn reacts, Kirikou looks askance at him. "Down boy. Sit." he says to the shapeshifter. Yep, Kilik is a bit of a dick sometimes, but the shifter's being rather excessive and possibly even deserves it.

Kirika (481) has posed:
    "We can get you out of here, but we can't afford to let this devolve into violence." Kirika says, giving a look towards Kirikou. Tapping the pommel of her sword, she rubs her chin with her other hand. The half-fox paces around the children.

    They seek to rebel against the higher powers, yet there is little evidence besides forcing reincarnation upon them. Kirika's jaw tightens, her pace growing more akin to her vulpine bretheren as her tail begins to sway side to side. "That said, like he said ,there is the chance that you will have to remain in this world. I suppose there is nothing we can do other than test this for ourselves." She muses grimly.

    AIn't this a sore spot they got themsleves into.

    Of course, there is always the issue of having a Fed onsite. "I'd rather not have you get involved with the larger multiverse's affairs myself. You would be escaping one war to enter another one, I'm afraid."

Kanade Tachibana (512) has posed:
    Hinata glances to Kotone, and her words elicit a faintly troubled look from the boy. "Hmm..." He rubs the back of his neck. "I guess we'd never thought of that. If we /are/ trapped here, then we may need some help getting out, too. But I really hope that's not the case."

    Noda returns Allyn's ferocity with yet more of his own. He grips his poleaxe and gets into... a rather impressive fighting stance, barring his teeth at the shapeshifter. "I think you'd better back off, because -I'm- a monster too when it comes to defending Yuri." He slowly eases out of his stance and sets the blade of his poleaxe to the ground with a hearty clang of metal. "Watch it, or this cub might just tear your --" Yuri practically spins around, hands on her hips again. "-NODA-!" The warrior boy blinks, instantly backing down. He lowers his gaze to the ground slightly in apology. "... yes, Miss Nakamura." She gives Allyn a look too - probably her way of urging him to let it go. Noda returns Kilik's look... as his own expression slowly morphs into an almost genuine smile. Well well well, maybe there -are- ways to get through to this kuncklehead after all.

    Yuri looks to Kirikou and draws in a breath, studying Kilik's eyes a moment. Then suddenly, she holds a hand out to Hinata. "Hinata. The radio." With a bit of a start, he nods, handing it over. Still looking the sole confederate in the area in the eyes, she speaks into the walkie talkie.

    "Members of the Afterlife War Front! This is your leader, Nakamura Yuri speaking!" Pause. "We have just been approached by strange people from other worlds. They claim to have come from a place called 'The Multiverse', and they may be willing to provide asylum to us all. This could mean the end of the war, if all goes as planned. However!" She waits another moment. "There's a catch. When we leave this world, there's no guarantee that we'll continue existing. The second we leave this planet, we could all disappear for good, and it could be even worse than being obliterated by angel. So I leave the decision to all of you. Anyone who wants to join me in going with these people to another world should tell me now, and we'll organize a day and time for the transport to happen. Thank you all, and I will speak again the moment we get more information. Yuri, out." As she finishes, a smile slowly creeps on to her face. To Kilik, she says, "Does that answer your question?"

    After taking a deep breath, Yuri looks to Kirika and folds her arms. "Don't worry. If there's some huge war going on up there, we won't get involved in it. Still, since this guy is the only one offering to do anything... I'm inclined to go with what he says, for now."

Auron (236) has posed:
    'Rebelling because our god won't listen to us'. Auron's smile is rather grim, but it's still a smile. "I understand that too," he replies. Then again, Yevon had hardly been a god, merely a misguided human who made a horrible mistake. He'd been worshipped as a god, but it wasn't the same.

    And then suddenly Allyn's turning into a giant sabertoothed beast! Auron's not the shifter's superior, so all he can do is appeal to Allyn personally. Which he does on the radio. That doesn't need to be made public in this conversation.

    He also gives Kirikou a /look/. Seriously. Stop antagonizing the unaffs! He doesn't say anything though; the look says everything he needs to. Kirika's words get a nod, and draws his attention back to the SSS again. "We are part of a different war effort, it's true." Another look to Kirikou. Suspicion! Then looking back to the SSS again. "But generally we make it a point to try to help others where we find them. And you do seem to need help."

Fiera Kitsun (262) has posed:
"Just because you venture out into the Multiverse doesn't mean you *have* to get tangled up in the war between the Union and the Confederacy," Fiera points out, looking away from Angel and towards the SSS members. "There are quite a few people who stay out of the conflict, not affiliating with either side ... and even though I'm with the Union, I don't wind up fighting against Confederate forces all *that* often."

... except for Team Rocket, but that's a can of worms she's content not to open.

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn does back down some at the look, though he does still glare at Noda, then looks at Yuri, "Fine, I will behave, you haven't really done anything, so I suppose there is no reason to be against you. Besides those I know and respect seem to think you are all alright and want to help you, so I'll help get you all out of here too."

He glances at Kilik and growls low, "I do not do tricks, especially not for some human. I'll leave that to your pets who wag their tails and lick your hands." he stalks over towards Auron and stands there a while, not quite so pissed off right now.

Finna (513) has posed:
    Without any warning whatsoever, the red-tailed hawk spreads its wings, gliding down... and settles itself precariously on Allyn's cathead. Though, it is very careful to not actually pierce any skin with its talons, oddly enough, and seems content to simply lean forward and peer into Allyn's face with a, to them, upside-down gaze!

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa watches s Allyn get pissed of and she takes a step back from him as he does not turn into a monster but into a creature that was unable to adapt on her world and died out. She listens to his words and her eyes narroe a little bit at him. She does not comment upon it, now is not the time and place for it. This isn't it it would make things worse, she does look at Allyn for a moment though before she hears the plans of the dead. Who sadly are more lifely than some living people she's met on her world, it's a strange thing.

"I'm not with either of the faction I was mapping some worlds I admit for someone I'm working with. Also for what it's worth? I'm Kotone Yamakawa."

Then Allyn gets trolled by a hawk, wait what?

Kanade Tachibana (512) has posed:
    Yuri nods appreciatively to Auron and Fiera. "Yeah, we..." Even she's wearing a faint smile now. "... we're not exactly a professional military or anything. We just do what we have to to protect ourselves. So we probably won't be getting involved with um... this 'Union' or anything else, but we will pay back anyone who helps us." Her hands wonder to her hips again. "Members of the SSS never forget their debts!" Straightening her expression slightly, she gives Allyn a nod of approval as well. "Thank you."

    ... next anyone knows, though, the music stops, and a barely audible voice comes in over Yuri's radio. The voice is feminine, but a bit low. "Yuri, why is angel in the cafeteria?" As soon as she hears that, her eyes go -HUGE-, and she dashes through the glass doors. After a few moments of shocked hesitation, the rest of the SSS follows suit. Hinata stops briefly to look back at the group, but is unable to think of anything to say before he, too, rushes in.

    And just when you thought things had settled down...

Kirikou (127) has posed:
    Kirikou is reasonably sure there's going to be no one making a preemptive strike here, not now. Not even one of the Unioners. Still, he'd best not be TOO insulting. He's amused, and kind of impressed, that they've been actually civil. There's no actual need for him to provoke them. Much. Except maybe Allyn, who had it coming. He shares a grin with Noda.

    As the SSS runs off, Kilik offers them a salute. Not a military one, not even a fist to the forehead. He just raises one arm, holding a clenched fist high. "I look forward to seein' you on the outside!" he calls out, in a reasonably friendly way. "IF you survive it that is." he adds, smirking. They have guts, he guesses. He can definitely approve of any such people who have that kind of spirit. Even if they ARE nothing but that kind of spirit.

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron looks to Allyn with a nod of thanks for the shifter's standing down. And Fiera's words get a nod, too. "That is true as well. There are people who are not affiliated with either side of the war. You may be able to find them if you ask on the Multiversal Broadband." he looks to Allyn again... just as a hawk lands on the shifter's head? And blinks. That was random.

    Speaking of random, suddenly Yuri and the SSS run somewhere. Auron is quick to follow. 'Angel in the cafeteria' is generally a bad thing, at least for now. Are there others? Or is this the same one? He doesn't draw his sword just yet; first he wants to see both sides of this.

Fiera Kitsun (262) has posed:
Fiera had a gut feeling that looking away from Angel MIGHT not be the best thing to do; she had no idea how fast the white-haired girl could move, though, and as soon as she realizes Angel got away, Fiera heads inside as well, mentally kicking herself.

She's also letting her Ninetales out, and Foxfire materializes next to the red-haired Pokemon trainer - actually matching pace with her even *before* the Pokeball-held mass of energy can fully solidify into physical form. The SSS are ahead of her, but Fiera's trying to spot Angel nonetheless ...

She doubles back to hold the door; partly for her fellow Unionites, but partly (perhaps 'largely') so Arashi can swoop in. There are plenty of rafters the Fearow can perch in.

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn blinks as he suddenly finds that a hawk's head is staring down at his face, the large cat would probably smile if he could, but since the bird is so close he gives her a good sniffing. "And here I thought I was the only one who liked to perch on heads as a bird of prey." but at least the proximity of the other shapeshifter is a bit of a comfort and calms the large cat down even more, though he stays alert.

He tries not to tilt his head as he watches the hawk and tries not to dislodge her from his head. He blinks as Auron moves off, "Shall we go see too? If so, might want to dig your talons in a little so you don't fall off." he then begins to pad off slowly after Auron, trying not to dislodge the one perched on him.

He pretty much ignores Kilik after his reaction to him, besides Allyn's not affiliated with the Union or Feds, well, other than the fact he knows more union members than he does the feds, but that's ok, since he hasn't had the best of experiences with the members of the fed that he's come across.

Kanade Tachibana (512) has posed:
    Rather than being out of control, things in the cafeteria... are very quiet. Disturbingly quiet, even, considering how many hundreds of students must be in this room. At the far end on a stage is another, smaller group of girls; presumably the band. Things erupt the second the SSS rushes in, though. Screaming fills the room, and people start leaving through the doors on the left and right of the building. As they file out, the SSS forms a circle around angel, all of their guns trained on her. Sternly, Yuri intones, "Don't move, angel!"

    Anyone who wasn't already terrified by the sudden appearance of people with guns would definitely be terrified by the appearance of the nintetales... and other pokemon. Really, that room clears out faster than anyone could comprehend. The one person not phased at all by all of this is the 'aggressor', who simply repeats what she said earlier to Fiera.

    "You shouldn't be having a performance here without permission. Please leave the cafeteria." The things she says are so mundane that they're almost intimidating.

Fiera Kitsun (262) has posed:
"If they were going to have an approved performance," Fiera asks wryly, "who would they need to get permission from? If they *get* permission then it's okay, right?"

Not needing to 'find' Angel any more, Arashi just roosts on a rafter which gives the Fearow a convenient angle of attack ... just in case push comes to shove and the SSS needs help laying Angel out flat. However, Fiera is less inclined to give her Pokemon the order to attack than the Fearow is to take initiative; anyone who's telepathically sensitive enough might actually pick up on the tension between the two, with Fiera exerting her will just enough to hold Arashi back. Foxfire, by contrast, maintains a relaxed but ready posture - not committing to an attack, but ready to move if and when Fiera directs her to do so, whether offensively or defensively ... for any side.

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron watches the room empty. Good, no one's around to get hurt if something goes wrong. Unless the band stayed behind? He listens to 'Angel' speak, and then looks to Yuri again. While Fiera asks about the faculty, Auron asks a different question. "...What was the significance of the concert?" he inquires. He knows things don't work for the dead the same as they work for the living. Stopping it might have done irreversible damage to this somehow.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa wonders what's going on now at this point, she watches as the kids run off and gimaces, in a way this almost could have been her future here. She moves swiftly after them for the Cafeteria wondering what's wrong here, she really does wonder about this. She's not made a hostile action at this point, she now gives a glance to Allyn who seems all right now and keeps moving. Just what is going on here, seriously this is one jacked up place.

Finna (513) has posed:
    THIS is a response the hawk wasn't apparently expecting. The creature tilts it head quizzically, but then straightens its stance out. It isn't, however, digging in talons... and yet doesn't seem to be having ANY trouble keeping balance on its perch either. Minute shifts in weight that seem predictive and an amazingly light stance... but the bird's still alert.

    Still, something about the way it bunches up its feathers while doing so gives Allyn the impression that it's asking for their thoughts on this wacky place and bunch.

Kanade Tachibana (512) has posed:
    Kanade glances Fiera, as calm as ever. "A teacher." Is her rather abrupt response to Fiera's inquiry. She glances around herself, at all of the gun wielding people... and in a sudden flash of light, the sword mounted on her hand disappears. Afterwards, she doesn't say anything. She just continues to stare at all of them, her expression budging just slightly to accommodate the tiniest semblance of a frown. The others from before are somewhat surprised by this, but keep their weapons trained on her, as before.

    After emerging from a stupor of his own, Hinata glances to Auron. "L-Like I said, it was meant to buy time for another group of our members while they transported a shipment of weapons to the main base of the SSS. If we could keep angel busy here, she wouldn't be able to bother them." After several moments of silence, Hinata leans in to Yuri and asks, '... why isn't she attacking?' She shakes her head. 'I don't know'.

    Again without saying anything, Kanade starts to walk... back toward the exit, where there's an opening in the circle. A smaller boy with creamy brown hair panics and jumps out of the way... and Kanade starts for the exit.

    ... through it all, she still doesn't say anything.

Kirikou (127) has posed:
    Kirikou peers after the God-killer group, amused and curious. This doesn't really seem like his sort of thing any more. Sure, he could continue on and maybe see about opposing that Angel girl. She stopped the music after all, meaning she's not his type. Not at all. He's more interested in the rebels, the ones who would oppose God. And while helping them might be worthwhile, he's in the middle of a mess of potential trouble. As he implied to them, they become interesting only if they can leave this Afterlife. That's not entirely true really. He finds them interesting even on their own, regardless of what they could do outside this world. Still, he's found out what he needs to know and what the Confederacy and Death Academy need to know. Anything else would just be messing about in an internal matter, and it's probably better for him to make a graceful exit now. Let others decide if there's anything more to be done with this new world, and he'll see what happens once things begin to change for these youngsters. Well, okay, they're all older than him. They're still youngsters though, at least when it comes to what matters.

    While the other people head off to see what's going to happen between the Angel and the SSS, Kirikou turns his weapons back into relatively innocent little children and withdraws. He's got a report to work on now.

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn tries tp peer up at the hawk on his head, well, he doesn't try to ebcause he wouldn't really be able to see it, would he. His ears do twitch a little and he switches to animal speech, hoping the hawk can understand him. <<These cubs are strange, all of them. Even the lone cub. The leader of their pack said they may be undead. That's not natural. I guess my thoughts are conflicted, perhaps we should observe more for now.>> The cat lowers his ers against his head some as he communicates with the hawk, staring off into space like cats do sometimes, just it might be a little creepy when such a large cat does such a thing.

Auron (236) has posed:
    "Do you suppose it's done by now?" Auron asks Hinata. And as 'Angel' begins to walk out of the room, he speaks again to Hinata. Quieter this time. "...Do you think that's where she's going now? Or would she know where it is?" The last question is asked because in checking to see if 'Angel' is heading there, they might be inadvertently leading her right to their base. If she doesn't already know its location, that is.

    He lifts his head up, and addresses the departing woman. "'Angel'." Since he doesn't know her name. He starts to walk over towards her. "I'd like to hear a bit more about your side of this. There wasn't much time, and you haven't said much about it." Also if the SSS is trying to keep her busy this little bit of conversation might buy them a little more time.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa looks at Kanade for a long moment. She looks as the weapon vanishes, she does not like where this is going. Well she's more not sure where this is going really. She knows this is a mess but she thinks she lacks the power to confront an angel directly. She's looking like she's noit sure about this, if they can leave this place? That would raise some very interesting questions.

Kanade Tachibana (512) has posed:
    Hinata says, "Oh, she knows where it is, alright. She just usually can't get down there because of all of the traps we have set. But we had to take those down to transport the weapons, so..." Another uneasy smile. "... I think you can see why we had this concert." Angel does stop when Auron addresses her, though, turning around and tilting her head. When he asks again to share 'her side' of things, she stares at him briefly, blinking a few times. Then, finally, she speaks.

    "... these people have memories that torment them. I don't like seeing them suffer." A pause. "I want to help them move on so that they can live happy, normal lives. Also, I'm not an angel."

Fiera Kitsun (262) has posed:
"Just *any* teacher, huh?" Fiera asks, eyeing the encirclement by the SSS. She's still not sure how the sides line up; Kanade's lack of straight answers earlier about *that* one question didn't really help. But as Angel leaves that encirclement - it's kind of amusing how she's so terrifying to the gunslinging teens despite being half the size of any of the guys, and not much bigger proportionally compared to the girls - Fiera falls into stop, the Ninetales padding along on Fiera's other side from the white-haired girl ... and the answer Fiera was seeking earlier is finally provided. To Auron, maybe, but Fiera still hears it.

Fiera hesitates briefly, recalling Arashi, then catches up with Angel and Auron again. "So if you're not an angel, what's your name?" she asks. "I'm Fiera Kitsun, a Pokemon trainer."

Finna (513) has posed:
    there's a talonsqueeze - gently - and the hawk nips at one of Allyn's ears in a DEFINITIVELY AGREEING fashion. Once again it ruffles up its feathers, but seems to have given up studying this. The moment of curiosity has passed.

Kanade Tachibana (512) has posed:
    At this point, the entire circle of 'soldiers' has gone dead silent. Hinata and Yuri are exchanging somewhat bewildered looks, and the rest of them... well. They look to the equally confused pair for guidance that they can't give. Meanwhile, 'angel' glances to Fiera. "My name is Kanade."

Auron (236) has posed:
    "So did I," Auron counters, to the 'Angel's' statement. "Now isn't the time to discuss it, or I'd explain. Suffice to say I know where they're coming from." Mind you, he does still support them going on to rest. But not while they have regrets.

    Fiera's introducing herself, and Auron nods, following suit. "My name is Auron," he offers.

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn purrs softly to the hawk on his head and carefully makes his way over towards Kotone again and looks up at her, "Think we should let the union folks handle the rest of this? I'm not really sure what else we can do." the cat seems to shrug some, "Other than just wait and see what happens that is." he lowers himself down to the ground carefully then, still trying to not dislodge the hawk and lays his head on his paws, watching everything as best he can.

Kanade Tachibana (512) has posed:
    For the first time tonight, angel's - no, Kanade's - eyes widen from their usually narrowed state. She flutters her eyelashes a few more times before she nods to Auron, not saying anything else... but radiating a different energy than she has at any other time tonight. All of a sudden, between her and the old swordsman, the veil of intrigue shatters entirely. Reflected in her eyes, he can see in her what anyone would've seen were the situation not so severe - a normal girl. Perfectly unintimidating, if a bit quiet.

    Finally breaking out of her stupor a bit, Yuri pipes up again. "W-Wait...!" Even -she- sounds a little flustered now. "Wh-What's going on? Weren't you guys going to help us? I..."

Fiera Kitsun (262) has posed:
Fiera makes a slightly frustrated noise in the back of her throat before turning to look back at Yuri. "Who says that we *aren't* helping you? But ganging up with guns against one girl isn't the best way to make a good impression on people who have a track record of standing up for those who need protection. If you need help out there in the Multiverse, you'll get it as best we can provide it - but that doesn't mean we're weighing in on one side or the other of your conflict within *this* world."

She moves to catch up with Kanade and Auron again. "Kanade, huh? That's a cute name ..." she says with a light smile.

Kanade Tachibana (512) has posed:
    Hinata puts his pistol in a holster on his thigh and returns his hands to his pockets. As casually as he can, he says something: "... I think we'd better take five, Yuri." Still dumbstruck, the leader girl glances to him and nods weakly. Under her breath she says something to the effect of, 'But if she isn't an angel... does that mean there's no God?'. Hinata just shakes his head. "Don't worry about that for now. Let's just..." He's interrupted by a crackle from the radio, and an incoming message. "We've successfully relocated the weapons to the stash at the HQ, and we're back at the guild! Thanks for the diversion, Yuri!" Yuri motions to answer the call, but Hinata takes it instead. "Copy that. Good work, everyone."

    When Fiera speaks again, Yuri... is way too out of it to respond. Hinata takes over for her again here. "... we didn't know any of this either, but it's given us a lot to think about." After a pause, he adds, "But don't worry. We won't do anything rash from here on out." You can see in her eyes that Yuri is eager to protest, but... it can't quite be communicated. So again, she nods, and the rest of the SSS begin to lower their weapons as well.

    People begin murmuring, and there's no shortage of discomfort... but it looks like the situation has effectively been defused, for now.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is listeniung to the Angel for a moment, she has heard the kids for a moment and then she looks at them for a moment.

"It seems they don't want to pay the price to get our of here. How does that make one happy. I can't deny what happened ot my self in my own life. I'd not dare to do so, but without that how cna you tell the good from the bad?"

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron nods to Yuri. "There's a dynamic here that I need to understand before I can fully throw my lot in with one side or the other," he notes. "But..." A pause, and he looks to Kanade and Fiera. "Excuse me a moment." He steps back over to Yuri. "If you're concerned about losing your memories... I have access to 'spheres'."

    He pulls one of these out of his coat. It looks like nothing more than an orb of water the size of a softball, with a gold ring around it. "This is a memory sphere. It can, well, record memories. Not like a camera. They can record them after the fact, as you experienced them. To record in it, hold it firmly, like this." He places his thumbs on the sphere and his fingers on the bottom of the golden ring. "Then close your eyes. Visualize the memory you want to keep. When you're done recording, you can press this to play it back." He points to a button cleverly hidden on the bottom of the golden ring.

    Then he holds the sphere out to Yuri. "This one's empty. Take it." Once she's taken it, or chosen not to, he will return to Kanade and Fiera.

Kanade Tachibana (512) has posed:
    Kanade glances again to Fiera, giving yet another tilt of her head when she calls her name 'cute'. She does that a lot, doesn't she? Afterwards, though, she nods. "Thank you." There's a long pause, but eventually she adds, "... yours is too, Fiera."

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn ponders for a few moments and responds to Kotone, "I think this is one time where there actually is not a good, or bad side. There is no right or wrong this time. I can't say that I find a fault in it though, but then again. I am not like most people I do not see things as black and white, things are usually just not that simple, at least here I do not think they are."

Kanade Tachibana (512) has posed:
    Yuri and Hinata nod along as Auron explains the workings of memory spheres, and the former accepts the offering once it's given to her. Her eyes are sparkling a little bit again now. "I-I don't..." She takes a deep breath in attempt to compose herself before speaking again. "I don't know how much this would help since reincarnation would probably send us somewhere far away, but... thank you. If nothing else, it makes me feel more confident. And like we can... um... 'win', eventually..." She starts trailing off a bit though, giving Kanade a lingering look. Still staring at her, she adds, "... I don't know what to think about everything we've heard tonight, but like Hinata said, it's... something to think about." Then, looking to Fiera, Auron, Finna, Kotone, and Allyn, she... cracks a tiny smile of her own. "So thank you for being here."

    Pacing a little closer to Fiera, Kanade pulls on her sleeve to get her attention... if she doesn't already have it. Either way, she says, "... you said something about a 'Union'?"

    The conversation would likely advance such that Kanade would see in the faction a chance to help others, and perhaps less obviously, to -be- with others... and would, of course, ask for the opportunity to join. But that's all in a night's work, right?

Fiera Kitsun (262) has posed:
"You're welcome," Fiera answers Yuri, bowing slightly. Her attention wasn't entirely off of Kanade, but the gentle tug on her sleeve gets her attention.

"Yeah, the Union is one side of that big Multiversal war we mentioned," the red-headed Trainer says. "By and large, the Union are the 'good guys' - the ones who protect worlds and countries and people in need against the Confederacy's conquest and tyranny. It's not all 'military' - we try to stop criminals, like Team Rocket in my world, for another example. It's ... honestly, a lot of it means fighting."

She reaches out to ruffle Foxfire's fur between the Ninetales's ears. "But there are missions that aren't so violent, too. And if you take Ally status, you still have to be ready when needed, but the hierarchy doesn't lean on you as much. The Union isn't for everyone, though - not even all 'good guys' necessarily fit there."

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron nods to Yuri's statement. Pauses. At their age, their biggest concerns should be a date for their next school dance, not disappearing before taking care of unfinished business. "I've been where you are." There. He admitted it. "I made promises I had to keep. Just don't let the fear of disappearing trap you. Don't let it turn you into something you aren't. I'll help however I can to make sure that doesn't happen." he bows politely, and then turns back towards Kanade.

    Asking about the Union? Auron nods as he catches up again. He'll let Fiera do the bulk of the explaining here. Though he may chime in from the perspective of an enlisted Unionite, since he is one. He'll answer what questions he can. He soon realizes something.

    This is going to be a hell of a report...