5896/Dark Lady: To Catch A Thief

Dark Lady: To Catch A Thief
Date of Scene:	02 June 2018
Location:	Japan- SAO - Earth
Synopsis:	Yuuki tries to defeat a foe without actually fighting!
Cast of Characters:	Yuuki Konno, Tomoe
Tinyplot:	The Dark Lady

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Yuuki Konno has posed:
    While it's true Yuuki doesn't have a jealous bone in her body, she does feel a little left-out that several of the team have met their goals while she's been... well, while she's been coasting along. Participating, but not really taking an active role. She more wants to show her friends that she's taking this seriously than she wants to prove her skill, but there's a bit of both in the mix.

    And so, it's time for her cunning plan. She's passed off a few joking comments about how she wants to convince the remaining 'heroes' that they're not really evil. Or not all that evil. Or maybe just not bad guys despite being evil. She's commented how they could seduce the heroes to their side, just like they did with the priestess and with Bolt. And now... she's run off.

    Not that anyone's too likely to notice. There's no reason to expect Yuuki to be hanging around in the Dark Lady's castle right now after all. She's got school to do, and other stuff besides. The same things she's been doing all along. Only this time she's sneaking out of the castle in her full Ninja uniform (such as it is). Taking to wing, she heads off towards the last known location of the heroes, scouting about. Looking for a campfire or the like, or some other sign that they're around somewhere. Given the rough truce between the Heroes and the Evil Lady, she doesn't expect them to be exactly hiding. And if they're off their guard, she can execute the next stage of her plan.

    Yuuki may not be great at stealth, but she doesn't really need to be to take advantage of darkness and the cover of trees. Once she finds the heroes, she's going to camp out and spy on them, hoping to isolate the fairy twin that seems to be her target. Then she can sneak up and ninja him. Or rather, since she doesn't actually like to do that sort of thing, she can show him that she COULD have ninjaed him... and use that to lead into a nice conversation where she can show him they're really not so bad. Really.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe has always been able to count on Yuuki in time past, she just didn't' quite click to what was going through Yuuki's head. Still Tomoe was busy holding court today to keep her minions in line and away from the various inhabited areas in the region, also having to make it not sound like she was sabotaging herself. So Yuuki was off on her plan so far as Tomoe knew and the current Dark Lady? Had no idea just what Yuuki was going to get up to.

With several of the heroes down, or having given up their artifacts? Brick Slabmeat's party was down to half of its old number. So they are spread out, and the male thief has made camp for the night and is cooking something over a fire, maybe a rabbit? It's hard to tell, what is clear though from how small the campsite is? He's not paying too much attention as he grills his dinner. The spiggan mutters something then pauses as eventually he will notices that Yuuki gets close that she could have shanked him.

"You didn't attack what do you want?"

The tone isn't pleasant, think like Numan meeting Jerry levels of oh it is /you/.

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    Yuuki HAD considered dropping out of a tree to startle the poor hero, but fortunately thought better of it. Or more likely, got bored and decided to make a move before he walked out into the forest to take care of business. Good thing too, really. If she were a thoughtful imp, she might have realized that scaring someone in THAT particular state might have unpleasant consequences.

    She just beams happily, though most of the effect is muffled by the scarf she wears. Yuuki seems oblivious to his tone. "I just wanted to talk." she claims cheerfully. "Say, that isn't a ragout rabbit is it? I mean you're as fast as me, so I bet you could catch one. But I don't think you'd be cooking it like that if it was a ragout rabbit, right? Still they're SOOOOO goood!" she gushes.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe he looks at the food roasting over the fire. "It is, there were other rabits but they were off." Likely local rabits that predate the fusion of the data and material worlds. "It's food, I caught it and didn't have to pay for it." He's one of those who uses the rare foods just like someone else would but there's a faint smirk. "So the Dark Lady's ninja lives her meat huh? Really what do you want if your not here to kill me?"

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    Yuuki blinkblinks at the man when he sources the food. Her eyes go wide, partly in longing, and partly in abject distress over such a delicious food item going to waste by being cooked mundanely. "I even know a max-level cook." she says mournfully. Then shakes her head. This isn't why she's here! Well, not why she initially came anyways.

    She sighs, then seats herself near the fire, holding her arms out towards it. "I really doubt this'll work. I *know* that the best way to convince someone you're serious is to prove it by fighting. And maybe it'll come to that anyways, you and me. Me fighting for the Dark Lady, you fighting for... uh... you know, I don't even know what you really believe in. It can't just be that we're evil, right?" she asks simply.

    She shrugs, then reaches up to push back her scarf, unwrapping it to reveal she's not a hideous evil-looking ninja after all. Just a small imp. "I figure you'd expect us to only solve things by fighting, so I decided I'd try the other way. Two of your friends were willing to trust us, so I thought I'd try. If you tell me what you're fighting for and why, I'll tell you the same. Any questions you have, I'll answer as best I can. Promise."

Tomoe has posed:
The thief is pausing though he is putting some spices on it at the very least. "Is it Deidra Longwing? What have you put her to work feeding your Dark Lady's legion of terror?" he asks while the rare classed rabbit cooks on the spit.

"What you sound like Misty now. Talking with her fists and all that."

She looks at the nip longer for a moment. "Bolt and our dear healer have lost it. I don't know what your /did/ to them to make them give up like that."

"So questions? Fine why are you doing this what does the Dark Lady want with all this and us, you seem very keen in keeping us all alive? What does she want to body jump into us later or put you all in our bodies? What does she want with this area or the strange people who have those freaky blunt ears down by the coast? Why do you really put on this act of caring so much? What is your game and don't think I have forgotten what was done to my sister."

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    "Y-yes..." Yuuki agrees, gulping. It's true, they did put Deidra to work. Well, more like allowed her to do it. "She volunteered, I think. She's a better cook than any of us at the castle, and now she's kinda running the kitchen."

    The 'ninja' girl grins at the description of Misty. "I think I like her." she admits. "Say, what's your name? I know the names of most of you, but I can't just call you 'Misty's Brother' can I?" she asks, then shakes her head. It's not super-important, it's just polite. "Oh, my name's Yuuki." she adds. "And I have no idea what the Dark Lady wants. I'm just helping her because she's one of my best friends." claims the imp girl. She COULD explain the humans, if she could figure out a good way to do so, but it's tough to describe. "Look, uh... I could try to explain the area, and the humans. And maybe even why we care, I think. It's true though, I'm doing this for my friend. But I think I understand something of what's going on, if you really want to know. And I'm not really sure you do."

Tomoe has posed:
The man pauses for a moment "...Trying to keep her out of the kitchen is like saying one can't fly." Is all he has to say on that, maybe the food was that bad that Deidra was a massive improvement. The Ninja girl reaction to Misty gets a bit of a facepalm. "Now there are two...of them." He looks for a moment "Misty's the monk she's not my sister."

HE makes a face. "Jiton Starwind. My sister is Jita Starwind."

HE looks at Yuuki for a moment.

"Yuuki? Strange name and wait she's seriously your friend? How could someone like that have friends.

"There are legends about people of Aincard who were not fairies wait are you saying that's they are? That the people here are from the floating castle?! How did they get down without wings, it would be too far even to leap when it was over water."

She has him engaged now he's talking to her and the talk goes on. "So your doing this for your friend the Dark Lady and what do you mean by that I don't know what I'm doing?!"

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    Yuuki winces at the misunderstanding, but she's used to screwing up. "Jiton! Oh, I should've known because of the punch comment... I'm sorry!" she laughs, amused at her folly. "I mean, it's okay. I like all of you. You fight for what you believe in!" she claims. Then pauses. "At least one of you is a bit of a jerk sometimes, but I guess I don't really mind that much either." she confesses, grinning. "Just like I like the Dark Lady. I knew her before she became that, and she's a really nice girl. Soooo~ I want to help her. And I don't want to see you guys hurt because you're trying to do the right thing. But thing is, well..."

    Yuuki pauses, shaking her head. "Look, maybe you can talk later with the others and confirm this. For now, I'll tell you what I know. And you'll just have to not believe me." she says. "This isn't Alfheim. You might call it Midgard, the realm of Men, but that's not even entirely right." she explains. Yes, she's looked some of this up. "None of us fairies really belong here. Not you, not your friends, not me, not the Dark Lady, not the villagers nearby. We've all been sent here from Alfheim, and I honestly don't know why. Or even who did it."

Tomoe has posed:
Jiton for a moment "Accepted." He looks Yukki wondering where she's going with that. "Wait she wasn't always the Dark Lady and you keep saying she's nice?!" He's very confused and must-see Tomoe how many people your typical dark lord or tinpot dictator.

"Midgard but that's just a myth....then again the castle exists."

SHe looks right at her for a moment. "You're saying we crossed into another world?! The world that the natives of the Castle came from?!"

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    "She IS nice!" Yuuki insists. "I owe my life to her and some other friends. And even if I didn't owe her my life, I'd still be her friend and help her with anything!" she says hotly.

    Cooling down slightly, Yuuki has to consider the question for a bit, but mostly to see what Jiton means by it. The truth of it is fairly evident. "Yes, this was originally a land of humans. Now, some of Alfheim has been moved here. Your part. My part." she explains. "The Dark Lady - Tomoe - is just trying to protect innocents here." Yuuki pauses, considers just how much she can say without risking the questline. Then decides to go for it, at least in part. "She became the Dark Lady to protect people who couldn't protect themselves." she finally says. It's the truth, and she could surely say more, but let the Heroes think them all evil if they want. Yuuki doesn't really care what others think. This much truth is all she thinks she needs to say for now.

    Yuuki pauses, considers, then gets up. "That's why we don't want to fight you if we don't have to. I'd rather you join us than fight us." she says.

    Abruptly Yuuki draws her short sword, flourishing it, then wheeling it to point at Jiton hilt-first. She holds it out, arm fully extended, unflinching. "I'm sorry what happened to your sister. Give her my sword. I know it probably doesn't make up for her loss, but..." she pauses, shrugs, waggles the blade. "And if you still believe in your cause, I'll fight you. Maybe both of you, or all of you together. I believe in my friends that much. But not until I get another weapon!" she grins playfully.

Tomoe has posed:
The classic ate the dark power to keep someone worse from getting it? He kinda stares for at Yuuki, this is getting wild too wild to be just randomly thought up. "She claimed the power so someone else didn't get it?" He looks confused she could have killed him at any point now and with Bolt and the Priestess having just backed off and /got/ rid their items of power.

He looks to Yuuki again whose earnest nature is getting his attention.

"So you are saying he became ..." He pauses as he takes the blade for a moment looking at Yuuki long and hard as he checks the blade, he mutters a spell, it appears he's checking it for curses, there appear to be none.

"All right this blade is clean maybe you are not lying. You really seem to like to fight, yet I never heard of you. You think a fairy like you would be known to the arena at the world tree."

He tilts his head and then looks at Yuuki

"Bolt said ... the city your Dark Lady burned doesn't exist."

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    So someone else didn't get it? Yuuki frowns, not entirely sure that's the truth. And she doesn't want to lie, so the truth really does matter to her. "More like it had to be done so we could try to find a way to put things right." she hedges. It's true enough, right? If Tomoe hadn't accepted the mantle of Dark Lady, Cardinal would've just warped some other quest into place. Tomoe HAD to accept, or things would get worse. Or something like that.

    Yuuki giggles, entirely unlike an evil ninja imp, at Jiton's spellcasting result. As if she'd be messing about with cursed blades, or stoop to something so unfair! That'd be.... evil! "Check out the city for yourself. Talk to Bolt and the others. I might be lying to you!" she insists brightly, making a shooing gesture to the thief. "For what it's worth I don't know if it exists or not. I just know it's not in THIS world. And if it was destroyed, it was destroyed before Tomoe became the Dark Lady. But if we have to accept responsibility for that city in order to see this through, then yes it's our fault." Without Tomoe, Yuuki and the others accepting the quest, the city might never have been destroyed. Then again if they hadn't accepted the quest, Jiton and the others might not have been created either. That's a bit too much truth though, Yuuki imagines. Let them clear the quest first. When it's clear, they can work on helping the heroes deal with their existential issues.

Tomoe has posed:
Jiton has the blade now and thinks about this for a moment "I have talked to Bolt about it. Brick seems to think it's a trick." He grits his teeth for a moment "Your right I'll have to see it for myself. Your saying that Tomoe is cursed to he the Dark Lady to keep worse from happening? Fine here's the deal I'm going to find Bolt and we're going to go see the city. If it's somehow not there I'll give you my daggers, that a deal?"

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    Yuuki peers at Jiton, then flashes one of her broad, sunny grins that surely seems entirely out of place on an evil henchwoman. "Just be careful of the humans. They'll probably be afraid of you and they'd see you as the invaders." she warns. "Plus I'm pretty sure what you'll find. You don't have to give me your daggers, just decide whether your cause is one worth fighting for. If it is, I'll fight you! If you'd rather join us, I'll fight beside you! You only should give up the daggers if you decide you can't fight on either side." she offers.

    And with that, the ninja girl wraps up her face again. "Be sure to say hi to Jita and Misty for me!" she says with another flashing smile, this time hidden, before she retreats into the darkness.

Tomoe has posed:
He looks to yuuki for a moment "Right, I'm a theif not a bandit." He makes a face for a moment and then he watches Yuuki wrap up her face and get ready to go vanishing into the darkness. He meanwhile gets up and calls out. "Bolt! We need to talk!"