5502/The Final Taint

The Final Taint
Date of Scene:	30 September 2017
Location:	The Quilt
Synopsis:	Tomoyo calls a meeting during the final improvised Taint to ensure that bad blood does not linger. Loose threads are tied off, and the city is finally left alone.
Cast of Characters:	Tomoyo Daidouji, Yang Xiao Long, 385, Sanary Rondel, Deelel, Staren, August Kohler

---

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Usually, the Taint is an annual event, coinciding with OMNI's downtime for maintenance. However, with OMNI's destruction and the passing of a new law to permit artistic expression once more, a final Taint was hastily thrown together. An event to celebrate the rebellious aspect, now that the creative side was soon to be permitted.

    The turnout is... less than stellar, honestly. Most of the actual artists would rather not spend the first day they can openly express themselves behind bars, and the rebellious types don't see the fun in rebelling by doing something that will be legal in under 24 hours. As such, only a couple of dozen die-hards are out and about tonight, and the short notice means they could not put together anything too elaborate. Most are just doing graffiti on any available surface about current events. Mostly celebrating the destruction of OMNI and the fast repelling of the old laws.

    Iris is still about, her hair spiked into the horizontal mohawk. Except now, she has a ankle monitor on her. Mostly, she's just keeping an eye out, standing in an open square with some art supplies should anyone need any. Tomoyo is nearby, having staked out a long stretch of blank wall for herself and those whom she has summoned.

    D-BASE is nowhere to be found.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang is here, looking a bit in the dumps. Her arms folded over her chest. She's wearing her 'normal' outfit, and leaning against the blank wall, watching the diehard rebels having one last hurrah. "Gotta wonder... was it worth it, in the end...?" she asks noone in particular. She huffs a sigh, mostly here as a moral support to Tomoyo. She did drag the tailor back into this whole mess, after all.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Rather than being here to encourage or assist in flaunting of the laws, Yuna has chosen to be here more to celebrate the passing of the laws to allow artistic expression. She's actually chosen to wear the dress Tomoyo made for her somewhat ill-fated concert, and she has a mobile karaoke rig with her. She won't be helping with graffiti, but singing still counts as art - and if there are any local musicians or singers who are looking to get a head start, she's happy to be here to support them.

On the other hand, D-BASE wasn't really accounted for ... and given how enthusiastic he was about wreaking havoc, Yuna's not sure whether to expect trouble from that quarter or not. So she *does* have Elner flitting around near her, just in case trouble of any kind rears its eternally ugly head. But unless trouble *does* show up, there's not much that's going to stop Yuna from singing for anyone who wants to hear her, though, or sharing her karaoke equipment with other singers, even offering tips on how to sing.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Although Sanary had first participated in the Taint as extra security working for OMNI, she's on the other side of the crew this time around. It's only fitting that she'd attend the final Taint as a participant. Like Yuna, she's wearing something of Tomoyo's crafting: A yellow t-shirt with a canary design on it and shorts to make it more obvious that she's not here to stop the attendees.

     Then again, Sanary isn't really doing anything in particular. It's more that she's here to make sure things don't go nuts again, and she shrugs lightly in response to Yang. "We got some change going, right? Only thing to do now is see if it is or not." The healer takes a sip from a flask, looking around slowly before holding it out to Yang and Yuna in case either of them needs a drink!

     It's not booze. It's pig blood!

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is here not looking very happy, she's wearing the more user or if you will human inspired clothing she tends to wear while wandering the multivese at a large. Then again Deelel has been around for years. She really should hit up Tomoyo later for some new clothing but for now she's here doing any illegal, she will be back when it is to do something. She does seem to be somber though.

"Greetings lifeforms."

She notes to Yuna, Iris and anyone else present.

Staren has posed:
    Staren is back in the same 'disguise' he had for the previous Taint, the sort of cowboy/bandit outfit, and with his 3D pen and portable sticker-printer. But... seeing the turnout, he too is kind of wondering if it was even worth having a last Taint. "Of course." He replies to Yang. "This may not have been the best outcome, but it's a damn sight better than the shooting war in the streets it could've been if the law wasn't repealed. They may not build another OMNI... and if they don't have the sense to make their own laws, maybe that's for the best... but they'll probably build some manner of AI that can help coordinate running the city again, hopefully in an advisory role."

August Kohler has posed:
August is the last one to arrive. His hood is down, the redhead not hiding his presence, as he approaches Tomoyo. "Miss Daidouji." He tips his head to her, before glancing at the others. There's a small nod of his head in Yuna's direction, as well as a glance towards Yang. When Sanary holds out the flask, though, August moves to grab it and take a sip (but he doesn't snatch it from Yang or Yuna, waiting for them to be done with it), before recoiling his head a bit. "God, do you really just drink blood, Rondel? Are you a vampire?" A shake of his head, before he reaches into his jacket to pull out a spraycan, holstered where he'd normally have a gun. "It's a Taint, so I brought my own gear. What's the plan?"

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    "People will be allowed to make art again," Tomoyo says to Yang as she empties a duffel bag of spray paint. "And... well, after OMNI's last decision, about conflict? Now that they're gone, a lot of councillors are saying that it proved it was defective. So at least, I don't foresee war breaking out. You got what you asked me for, just not in the way either of us envisioned it." She smiles at Yang, but it's slightly pained.

    Yuna does absolutely draw a little gathering of musicians who begin trying to harmonize and get something going. They do appreciate the tips the pro singer offers. However, Elner turns up nothing. D-BASE is nowhere to be found.

    Tomoyo nods at Sanary. "There's only so much we can do for now. I'll keep an eye on things, use Inspiration Trust to get new artists the help they need, but on the political side, well..." She gestures at Iris. "She was fired, and is being monitored right now. We don't have an 'in' on the government side anymore."

    She then nods to Deelel and shakes her head at Staren. "The idea of replacing OMNI was brought up, and kind of booed out. Both by other councillors and the general public. I think local security is ramping up recruitment to have the cameras monitored by human eyes now. It's going to be quite a shift."

    Finally, August arrives. "Call me Tomoyo, please. And as for the plan, well..." She picks up one of those cans of paint, and gestures at the wall. "We've been fighting for the same thing, but the fight became more important. I think we all could use the chance to express ourselves too~"

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang nods to August. She doesn't trust the guy anymore, but she can at least be polite. The offered flask is turned down, and once the group start moving to start tagging the wall, she pushes off and moves to another place to lean. "Yeah, yeah... at least the place isn't going to burn. I'd never wish that on anyone."

    She sighs. "I guess it's a mixed blessing, in the end."

Sanary Rondel has posed:
"Wha...? No, no, this is tea. It just uses a lotta blood. And if I was a vampire, I'd be dead... Like. A thousand times already!" Sanary laughs lightly as she slips the flask back onto her belt to replace it with a thin brush and a bottle of ink.

     It's the best she could think of without resorting to something big a bulky. "Hey, Deel. Staren. Hm... Why don't you two work on something? Not an AI 'cause of what Tomoyo said, but something more... I dunno. You're good with tech, yeah?" She looks the two over briefly, seeming to believe that fairly readily before turning to Tomoyo next.

     "Good to hear that they sorted... Something out, at least." She murmurs in reply to Tomoyo, another long sigh escaping the healer while glancing over at IRis when she's mentioned. "Well, if you need someone to get back in, maybe I could try and jam my foot through the door? I mean, I did help 'em out a few times, so..."

     A vague noise later, and the healer shrugs again. "I'll have to get back to you on that." With little left in the way of plans, the healer finally starts working on the wall! She doesn't seem to have any idea of WHAT to actually put on it, though, so she starts drawing little circles connected to each other. It's... Something!

Deelel has posed:
Deelel just shoots August a look for the vampire content not any one else.

"No plan August and Sanary why did you consume the blood of that food animal? I thought that was ... not healthy for humans?" She seems very confused at this action by Sanary and she also looks to Tomoyo. She nods to Tomoyo for a moment.

"It seems change has come to this world not in the way any of us expected."

She does a very human thing now and sighs a little before going on.

"We will have to wait and see what the future holds at this point Yang."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
At least there are plenty of familiar faces; when Yuna isn't focused on aspiring singers or musicians, she spares a wave and/or calls out hellos to her friends and allies. Even August, for all that he and Yuna have been at severe loggerheads over the whole situation with OMNI. Yuna doesn't seem to hold grudges, which is probably just as well.

She's a little uncertain about Sanary's flask, but it would be rude to refuse outright - and Sanary *should* remember how badly Yuna does with alcohol. She's enough of a friend that Yuna trusts her not to use that against her, so a small sip is accepted - but a look of extreme surprise crosses the blonde's face before she hands the flask back, *maybe* with a little too much urgency to be considered 'polite'.

That actually seems to herald a more pronounced ebb in her 'lessons,' so Yuna meanders over to engage in conversation. "You know," the idol admits, "I'm stll kind of wondering ... OMNI was a computer, sure, but how 'alive' was it really? Did it feel, or did it really 'think' ... or was it just running algorithms like people said?"

Her gaze drifts to August again in the wake of that question. "... But, I think if OMNI had been able to feel, it would have realized sooner just what it meant to try and suppress the expression of emotions in others. I don't think it would have gotten to the state things did in this city."

Staren has posed:
    "Well, naturally. I don't mean an exact replacement. But, technology will march on, eventually. And when it does, hopefully people will remember this incident, and use it more carefully." Staren comments to Tomoyo.

    To Yuna, he observes, "I don't think there's any way to know for sure, now. But it is also possible that it thought and felt in a manner unlike humans."

August Kohler has posed:
"Let's settle for Daidouji." August replies to Tomoyo, though he smiles lightly to indicate he means nothing disrespectful by it. He walks up to the wall, shaking his spray can a bit and beginning to spray as he pulls his hood down, swiping it in different directions and making some sort of...thing. He's not really trying to make a design, more that he's just letting paint hit the wall. "They're keeping up the cameras? So it's still a police state, then, just with humans instead of an AI. What even will be the point of them if they're changing the laws? Unless they're cutting down on how many." His spraying becomes...slightly more erratic as he says this, emotion pouring through his wrists instead of his face.

And then, August glances away towards the group. "Well, if we're expressing ourselves, then I have a question. Do any of you actually want me here? I'm not asking for some sort of pity thing. I want to know genuinely how you feel, because I don't hold a grudge against any of you." His words sound genuine, atleast.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Tomoyo pats Yang on the shoulder. "I know it's hard to accept, but don't let it get you down. You say that you wouldn't wish things burning on anyone, but you're at your best when you're burning bright. Just... maybe not as out-of-control as you got there in the server room."

    She glances at Sanary and talks around a handkerchief as she too begins spraypainting the wall, with a bit more certainty than the pig farmer. "It would be a hard sell... but maybe a rudimentary thing that just monitored cameras, traffic, and the like. Not smart enough to make decisions. That might fly."

    Next, she looks over her shoulder at Yuna and sighs softly. "I doubt it," she says. "I never felt OMNI was a full person... I just thought the idea of OMNI was something very admirable. Someone who looks out for everyone, offering advice and doing the best they can to make lives easier. Maybe that's a little naive, but doesn't everyone deserve someone like that in their lives?"

    And then August asks a question. "Of course I want you here," she replies simply. "A lot of things happened here. A lot of conflict between friends and allies. It would be awful if this became a thing that drove a wedge between all of us. I asked you to forgive OMNI for its flaws. It would be hypocritical of me to not forgive you for what you did. I wanted you here so everyone can reconcile and move forward."

Staren has posed:
    "That's what I kept trying to tell you." Staren replies to August re: Police State, although there's no anger or impatience or 'i told you so' to it -- he just sounds tired. "Even if I was wrong about whether OMNI was really running things, simply removing it wasn't going to change the laws. That would be a whole other battle."

    As for whether he wants August here... "Eh. You were /trying/ to help. As long as you're not going to fight us, I don't mind. Besides, whatever the point is of having this event when the law's about to be repealed is far more questionable."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"Maybe because it was a tradition," Yuna suggests, in answer to Staren't question about the point of one last Taint. Or, to judge by what she says next, maybe she thinks it *won't* be the last.

"Traditions like this are born out of history, and memory. So many of our holidays, in our own worlds, were instituted to remember events which shaped our cultures' pasts; maybe the Taint will continue onwards, as a reminder of the time when people *couldn't* express their emotions, give voice to their hearts in a tangible form. I'd like to think they'll keep that lesson close and alive, so they don't repeat the mistakes we've seen them dealing with."

Sanary Rondel has posed:
"Is it? We used to do it all the time back home. Get some pig blood, mix it with some stuff, heat it up, drink. Suppposed to be good for luck." Sanary explains to Deelel and laughs at Yuna's reaction as well, not seeming all too surprised by her and August's take on it. "Acquired taste, I know. But if you get any dreams about pigs tonight, then that's a good sign!"

     What doesn't quite have her laughing as much is her work on the circles that's slowly becoming a growing... Thing of circles snaking around itself. "OMNI had a purpose, yeah... Dunno if it worked out or not, but if it gave people something to work with and against, that's... I dunno. Something, right?"

     THe healer shrugs again, then glances over at August with another shrug. "Hey, you were doin' what you thought was right, and we were too. We got the laws that caused this mess to get taken down, so... IT all worked out, yeah?"

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang looks at Tomoyo, and chuckles a bit. "I'm a flame that burns hotter than the sun in the middle of July." she replies to the tailor. "Can't really control it."

    August's question gets those lilac eyes to look over at him. "Never had a problem with you, just the fact you never listened to the alternatives." she replies, shrugging and resuming being on 'watch' as much as that's needed.

August Kohler has posed:
"I'm relatively aware. Still disappointed." August replies to Staren, as he nods to Tomoyo. "That's very kind of you. Let's hope rifts can be patched, then. This is over. There's no reason to be fighting over it anymore." Another paint, another flinch of his wrist and it going a bit wild. Sanary gets a nod and also a shake of the head. "It's not bad, I was just expecting booze."

August attempts to continue to paint when Yang replies to him. It goes all over the place, as he stops to talk to her, maintaining his calm and stoic expression that he's had most of the time here. "You have me wrong, there. I did, infact, listen to the alternatives. I didn't take them for a few reasons. The primary one that overrode them all was that your solutions weren't what the rebels wanted. The rebels were the one who asked me for aid, and whose cause I agreed with. If they had agreed with your alternatives, things likely would have gone a different way. But they didn't." There's a pause, as August shakes the can some more.

"I'm not blaming the rebels either. I entirely own what I did and I accept the consequences. I supported their solution. But it wasn't as simple as just denying your suggestions. This was never for me to decide."

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang shrugs, and goes silent. Pointedly so. She's clearly not happy, but there's no point in pressing the matter, cuz she'll just get angry, and then things will start to explode.

Staren has posed:
    Staren looks at Yang. "That sounds like the lyrics to a song."

    o/~ "I'm a flame, that burns hotter than the sun, in the middle of ju-ly" o/~
         ./  ./ o/    ./   ./    ./ ./  ./   ./  o/   ./ ./  ./ ./  ./ ./ o/
         F   F  F     D    F     G  A   G    F   F    D  F   G  A   G  F  F

    He looks to Yuna. "Maybe you could do something with that."

    August gets a shrug. He's too tired to untangle the problem of 'listening to the people you want to help' vs 'implying you know better than them'.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel s:looks to August for a moment and she tilts my head.

"Even the system monitors on my home system watched any public places we'll need to see just what they are doing. I can at lest understand the idea of ... watching public areas."

She thinks on this a little longer on August's question. she seems ot be thinking on it for a moment.

"There are arguments that can lump basics into the same sort of status as Omni. That is what I fear August, to be labled the same."

It seems she's behing honest and she looks to Tomoyo and nods.

"I was uncertain as well but for me? He was doing what it's users made it to do."

Well some honesty here from Deelel will it help or harm it's help but it's been aired out.

"Humm cooking it? I wolod not know my only experiance with such actions are with vampires during my service to the Union."

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    "Yuna's right," Tomoyo says to Staren. "Even if the Taint won't be important anymore, it holds a lot of fondness for a lot of people. Iris over there shouldn't be out and about right now, she's under house arrest. But she's here. That's how important it is to her."

    She can't help but stare at what Sanary is doing, finally asking, "What are you painting there?" But then her attention is snatched by the back and forward between August, Yang, and Staren. She can feel the uncomfortable silence hanging in the air, and she can't let it sit like this. "August," she begins. "You say that you own what you did, but... every time it comes up, you insist that 'I was just doing what the rebels asked of me.' That's perfectly okay, but it kind of sounds like deflection. Are you sure you had no personal doubts about all this? About anything that happened?"

    It's a bit of a heavy question, so it might be a relief when Iris wanders over. "Hey... you're August right? D-BASE slipped this under my door before he skipped town. It's for you." She offers him a sealed envelope with "To: August and A2. From: D-BASE" on the front.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna hums along a bit with Staren's improvised tune, pursing her lips. "It'd take some work ... and, well, that may be a *bit* more aggressive than I like to sing," she admits, grinning sheepishly. "I dunno - I can talk to some of the lyricists I know. But a song like that would really be Yang's, not mine - her 'image song,' as it were."

That said, Yuna takes a moment to go over and give her fellow blonde a hug ... at least if Yang accepts it. Yuna's too polite to force a hug on an openly unwillingly recipient - and she knows Yang's temper well enough not to press the issue.

Staren has posed:
    Staren shrugs at Yuna, too. It was just a thought, she's the musician.

    He draws a stand sticking up from the sidewalk and prints a sticker cut-out of a celebrating anime person on it, but his heart's not really in it. He's more intently watching Tomoyo and August, curious to see how he responds to her.

August Kohler has posed:
August just tsks at Yang's lack of reply and a shrug, and continues to paint, spraying more lines in a jagged pattern. When Tomoyo responds, he keeps going again, spinning the can around in a circle around where he's drawing. He doesn't answer immediately, and is distracted by the letter, nodding to Iris and taking it from her. Positioning himself so that the others couldn't see the front of it, he opens it, going over the text. He's not going to reply to Tomoyo until he's done reading.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
"Uh... Dunno, actually. I'm just kinda..." Sanary makes a vague gesture with her brushing hand before continuing to expand that thing of circles further, vaguely resembling some sort of... Weapon? Dragon? A crest, perhaps? It's really hard to tell /what/ it's even supposed to be, and the healer's noncommital shrug indicates she probably doesn't even know it herself. "Just feels right, you know?"

     The awkwardness in the air is obvious even to Sanary, but she's not quite so inclined to put a stop to any of it. She keeps glancing from person to person, looking somewhat worried despite her focus being split between watching for things going bad and also seeing where her hand takes her.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    The letter reads;

Yo!

Just so you know, I'm skipping town. It was never about the art or any of that shit for me. I just liked rabble-rousing for a cause, and that's done with now. There's other bullshit there, but the whole expression thing is what turns heads. The rest is normal bullshit you find anywhere.

So I'm hitting the road! Got nowhere in mind, just gonna be me and my bike. If I find anything else I think is worth dying over, I'll give you two a shout. No one I'd rather have at my backs than you two.

Stay sassy!
Daniel Base

August Kohler has posed:
August's eyes scan over the letter for several moments. There's a brief frown...and then he lifts his chin to his hand, thinks about the contents, and chuckles a bit, before folding the letter and putting it in his pocket. Something in there resonated with him. With how he's been thinking lately. "Thank you.", he says to Iris, before turning to Tomoyo and Deelel. He's prepared to reply.

"So, I have no idea what a basic is, but why would I lump you the same with OMNI? You're...not remotely doing the same things. I don't have anything against machines in general." Replying to Deelel first, August then turns to Tomoyo to answer her question. "I might have. I don't enjoy hurting people. Most people don't. The security guards injured? I don't like it. People have probably died from my actions, and it's not a fun thought. But, every action I make is my responsibily. My choices are mine. I could have not gotten involved. I got involved because I agreed. I agreed that OMNI was a threat and that destroying it was an acceptable outcome. Had the rebels wanted to negotiate with it, however, I would have done that."Hisugust inhales, and exhales. "Because this isn't my world. I could make the plan. I could tell them, 'no, this isn't how we're doing it'. But what right do I have to do that? People have the right to seize the future how they want to. They have the right to solve problems how they want to, and to solve injustices how they feel they'd like. I'll side with them for as long as I feel it's right, no matter what solution they take."

There is a pause, though, as August looks to the group. "I do want to apologize again for the concert, however. I knew D-BASE was planning something, but I didn't know what. He knew I was helping at the concert, and told me to keep assisting. I didn't know what he was planning, or that you were a distraction. I had an assumption, but that's all it was. If I had told you, perhaps you wouldn't have been made into fools." A glance back to the painting, as suddenly...he has inspiration. To express himself. The resulting spraying is sort of chaotic, with almost no focus on it. There's no pattern. Just raw energy. "But the end result is atleast what I fought for. OMNI's gone, and freedoms are being returned."

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    "You already apologized for the concert. No need to do it again," Tomoyo reassures August as she steps away from her own piece of work. A gijinka of OMNI, waving from the wall.

    "But I think it's strange for you to say that you have no right to tell the rebels how they should do things, but that you do have a right to make this world fit your view by force. It feels... a bit half-hearted. You're the Cloak of the Watch now. Your words have weight, and the rebels came to you for help. You have every right to give them advice in that case."

    She reaches out and touches his shoulder. "If you must be the anti-hero, do it whole-heartedly. Okay?"

    She then looks to Yang, Yuna, everyone... she doesn't know for sure if any of them are in the Watch, so her words are generalized. "And you all. You're free to disagree with him, fight him. But you have to remember that you hearts are all coming from the same place. Even if they stray along different paths, their origin and goals are likely always going to align. So even when you disagree, don't let that fester into hate. Remember where your heart lies, and you'll always get along again in the end."

    She gets a little passionate at the end there. In spite of her pleasant demeanour, it seems she was worried.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"I think the Watch serves a good purpose," Yuna admits. "Sometimes authority *does* turn oppressive, and something outside the system - whichever system - needs to push back. That was why I wanted to help confront OMNI here, to try and turn things over and around. But sometimes the Watch goes too far ..."

She seeks out August's gaze, her eyes striving to meet his - and when their eyes meet, Yuna smiles: bright and warm, but also confident and reassuring. "So when I think you're overdoing it, I'll try and step in to keep things moderated. Either way, I'll keep seeing you around Drachenblatt when I can get out there to help, so don't go putting me on an enemies list. Okay?"

She walks over to offer August a handshake, as if to put a stamp of officialness on her words.

Sure, Yuna's in the Watch - but she *is* trying to keep that under wraps. Hopefully, the combination of support and opposition is enough to make her 'official position' clear to anyone who *isn't* aware of her affiliation.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel leaves August to his lettle for now she's said her peace about this situation. She'll leave it be a this point and not say another thing on the subjec unless August choses to bring it up She now turns back to sanary for the moment and tilt her head a little but but the program says nothing. She does seme slightly curious then agian she does end up confused by humans and the like from time to time.

She tilts her head a little at August she clearly listening to what he said. Her expression softens slightly, "I see that was data I did not have before."

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Sanary lets out a relieved sigh as things seem to settle down, her gaze turning fully to the circles again. Even as she keeps working on it, though, she still manages to speak up after a few more moments. "I don't really get all this... Philmosophical stuff you're talkin' about, but if you can all figure out how to work through shit like this and keep workin' that hard?"

     The healer pauses as she starts drawing a line from one circle to the next, moving in no clear pattern or sensible direction. "... Hmm. You kids are gonna make an old lady like me look bad~" She laughs freely for all of five seconds, then turns over slowly to face the group more directly. "... You're all younger than me, ain't ya?"

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang listens, closing her eyes as she leans against a lamp post with one of those infernal OMNI cameras atop it, though the power light is dark for the time being. Yang isn't really one to ruminate, she's always lived life in the moment, taking things as they come at her but this, this has her thinking, and she doesn't much like it.

    The blonde brawler is silent for many long moments, as others state their positions regarding August. She then does something Yuna might recognize as a precursor to something... she takes off the golden bracelets that represent Ember Celica's idle form, and hand them off to Tomoyo. "... Kohler." she states simply, before ratcheting back her arm and punching the guy in the shoulder. It's not one of her bone breaking punches, but it's still got a lot of oomph in it. "Hit me back, we'll call it even. 'kay?" she adds afterward. "If you go too far off the rails again, I'll make sure I stop you."

Staren has posed:
    "That's a really good point." Staren chimes in, about August's position as an expert. "They thought destroying OMNI was the way to achieve their goal, but what they really wanted was freedom of expression. Be careful not to confuse teleological goals with instrumental ones. That's..." He sighs.

    "When I started to realize that science could change what was seen as inevitable, I looked for stories that corraborated the idea, because... stories were how I learned about how people acted, when I was young. But again and again, I saw the same mistake -- A seemingly heroic scientist sets out to revive his dead wife, and then goes astray -- he finds a way that he might be able to do it, and then gets fixated on the method, even when it becomes clear it won't work, and he sacrifices everything to animate an empty husk, forgetting his true goal of having the one he loves by his side again. The scientist who wants to extend life or end disabilities becomes obsessed with turning everyone into machines, even after he learns that the methods he's using would strip them of emotion. The same story is told over and over, and played as a warning that you mustn't mess with the status quo. But it seemed to me that the lesson the authors were missing was becoming so enamored with one method that you lose sight of your goal, and that's what I swore I'd do differently. I wouldn't become a mad scientist like the ones in the stories."

    Staren looks to August. His tone is not one of dire warning but of friendly advice: "Your goals are laudable and I hope they can be achieved. You want people to be free of the opression of unjust society, just as I search for how to free people from the opression of unjust nature. But... take care to always keep the end you want in mind, and not become so focused on the first method you find, that you become a mad vigilante."

August Kohler has posed:
August actually genuinely listens to Tomoyo, as he puts down the spraycan. He thinks about it for a second, before replying. "Perhaps I do have a right. I can give them advice. But right or not, I'm not going to decide how they do it. They wanted violence. I supported it. And to be honest? I would have chosen that option myself, with no other factors. Would I have equally supported diplomacy, if that's what they wanted? I don't know. But I would have fought for it for them. You're right, I'm the Cloak." August actually...smiles. Despite his words, which might seem kind of iffy, being able to say all this is genuinely making him feel better.

"I'm the one who will stand at their sides. I'll fight for what they want, and fight for their freedoms. But I won't take away their freedoms. If they ignore my advice, I'll accept it. If they take it, I'll accept it. They wanted freedom of expression, and that's the end state, you're right." August gestures to Staren, before continuing. "But part of that is expressing themselves. And I would never take that away from them. I'll champion for other's views, those that are dangerous. And I'm saying all of this because it finally feels like something I can say and smile about. So, thank you, Daidouji, everyone."

The graffiti behind August is a mess. It's some sort of blob of lines, but he looks at it and nods, before nodding again to Staren. "I'll keep that in mind. I hope you find a way to achieve yours as well, no matter how we may disagree." And then, it happens. Yang socks August in the shoulder, causing him to recoil and that smile to briefly come off his face. He stares at her for a moment...and hits her back in the shoulder, as hard as he can muster. It has its own oomph, but not near hers. August steps away from the group, sighing as he offloads that. An anti-hero, huh? Is that what he is? ...Yeah, probably.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Tomoyo beams as reconciliation occurs before her very eyes. At the very least, she managed to make this happen.

    And then the "whoop whoop" of sirens peels through the air, getting closer. "Aw, I was hoping they would let it slide," Iris mutters, before turning and smirking at the group. "Time to skedaddle. Thanks for everything." She sprints off into an alley, and it's not long before everyone else needs to disperse too.

    The city still shines bright under the moon, but there are far less eyes on it than usual. Far below lies OMNI's final resting place, already scrubbed clean and left empty. As the sun begins to rise, it lights up the graffiti left behind. For once, those that go about their day don't try to ignore it least they be implicated. They stop, take photos, and remark on it. And that's okay to do now, thanks to the efforts of everyone. A simple act of appreciation, no longer an indicator of thoughtcrime.

    Through more blood and tears than some may have liked, they've left the Multiverse slightly better than it was.

Staren has posed:
    Staren smiles at August's acknowledgement. "Thanks." And then it's time to get out.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang hugs Yuna back, then recoils a bit as her Aura flares from the impact of August's return punch. She nods to the Cloak, then turns her head at the sound of sirens. "Time to bounce." she calls her bike from its position, mounts up then offers the single passenger seat to anyone who may need a lift. And then she's off, burning through the streets to the warpgate.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna is glad to accept the ride offered by Yang, and hangs on tightly behind her fellow blonde as they peel away. As a singer rather than a graffiti artist, she's left less trace of her presence than most of the others - footprints and memories, and maybe a few lingering questions.

She'd definitely like to come back someday, to hold a concert that isn't kept away from the lawful authorities ... and to see what good is coming of their intervention in this world, this city.