Scene #6659: Operation T-Rexuar: Briefing

Owner	Pose
Xion	The push by Lilian Rook to handle the strange return of the corrupted Unit Captain, and resolve the mysteries under Galbadia's heart - Deling City - had finally proven fruit. At Galbadia Garden, a large military academy for Galbadia's G-Forces and special operations unit, SeeD. The grounds are a strange combination of school and military base, with a college-like atmosphere. Students in dark blue sailor uniforms or track clothes are herded around the hallways by military officers shouting a mixture of encouragement and scathing commentary, move between classes, or stand around chatting with each other or blue-suited G-Forces soldiers. Weapons are born openly among the students, and the G-Saber (a broad-bladed magitech straightsword with an extended hilt) is ubiquitous among upperclassmen and the soldiery both. Those arriving as part of the briefing are ushered into one of the classrooms, set up like an auditorium with a central podium. Standing at the podium, and backed by a large projector-screen which is currently booting up (becuase this is still a military college, and the projector is NEVER working properly), is General "Fury" Caroway, the director of Galbadian Military. At his flanks are a few members of G-Forces, including a blue-uniformed and metal-helmeted soldier with shaggy dark hair poking from under his helmet, as well as a green-uniformed and unhelmeted elite, with slicked-back dar hair and severe, thin eyebrows to match his straight jaw. At his back is an enormous sword, easily as broad as his waist, with a triple-length hilt and simple hilt. It is more accuratly described as 'a slab of metal with a sharp side' and a sword-like shape. Booting up, the projector finally displays the meeting's title in powerpoint slide: Galbadian Military Operation Code Name: T-Rexuar Then, the title slides up, and the Galbadia Garden Logo sits emblazoning the top-right corner of a map of... A Trainyard. A really, really shitty trainyard. It's a grainy air-recon photo.
Maricel Thorne	"I'm here for the operation-" "Meeting, of course. Right this way." "Meeting?" Maricel looks restlessly miserable sitting in her chair near the back, and she looks significantly more restless and miserable as time goes on. She starts off mundanely enough, twiddling her thumbs, crossing and uncrossing her legs, rummaging around in her labcoat pockets for something to fidget with. Within three minutes, she's clandestinely opening up her own forearm with a knife and forceps to creatively rearrange her bones and circulation, and tapping on the shoulder of whoever happens to be seated in front of her to ask if she can pretty please borrow a pen. Whatever she plans on using it for, they probably won't want it back.
Riku	This place feels familiar, really. Riku can definitely grok this kind of place. After all, he rooms as another magical college. Just that one is less... military than this one. Definitely less military. He walks through the halls in his normal clothing, the splash of yellow clashing with the local uniforms as he stands out like any PC does. As for /why/ he's here, however, well... He has his sources. He walks in like the others and says he's there for the operations. Given his edgy teenager look, he probably gets waved right into the meeting. Riku sits down quietly inside and simply looks at the projection, not calling any attention to himself for now. As he's an 'independent operative', things might get complicated if he has to answer too many questions about his presence here and who he's with.
Roxas	Captain Galbadia is present among those assembled around General Caroway. Although much of his face is obscured by his helmet, there is a certain excited energy to him that he didn't really have the last time that anybody saw him. He has a bit of a silly smile on his face, and offers the distinct impression that he'd really rather not be standing still-- although he's managing to do it anyway. IN THE BACK, a Galbadian officer in attendance turns around to look at Maricel. "Yeah, sure." Wedge says, offering the CHEAPEST, SHITTIEST, most BULK BUY pen imaginable to her. This didn't come from an office supply store or even a grocery store, it's some from shitty dollar store or other discount outlet that pretends to be a grocery store but sells things at 25% the volume for 100% of the normal cost of the item. You do not want this pen in your body for long. Wedge turns back around and resumes chatting with a soldier in blue who apparently came with him.
Raziel	The shifting between material and immaterial realm was as easy for him here as it was anywhere else. Once more, Raziel was on the material plane, as he appears right before a shocked student. He asks for directions towards the appointed classroom, to which he gets an answer. Walking that direction, Raziel would find his way to the classroom itself. 'This 'school' was less a school than it was a training facility, though one might guess as such from it being a military academy. It was quite the high-tech place, with an air of strictness to the way things were being held. It was a very impressive place, for that I would give it.' As Raziel himself entered the classroom, the ragged thread born person he was before is gone. While those who are in the know about him can see the obvious flaws, in a crowd or at a distance he would not immediately cause issues with horror, or disgust with his form. A breastplate with a tabard of his clan symbol rested over his chest, while specially created pants were made to give the appearance of a person instead of a twisted skeleton. His face was still covered, but the ragged tabard he wore was replaced with a more respectable face scarf of his color of choice (red.) A cape kept his tattered wings hidden, but his hair remained oddly kept, while his eyes still continued to glow brightly. Those who could sense magic could keenly sense the Reaver that coiled around his arms like a serpent. His cloven claws and feet remain open...but this was less an artifact of being dead, but rather as a vampire. While he was remorseful in what he had become, he would still carry himself with what little pride he could. 'The trainyard that was shown to us had seen better days, I wondered if such a place was haunted...but whatever significance it would have to the mission, I did not know yet.'
Arthur Lowell	"This a SCHOOL, right? Never finished SCHOOL. One'a these days I oughta do that. Got HELLA RAD WEPS." Arthur mutters on the way in, casually swaggering around and into the room. "GREAT architecture too. Thought most schools were just, like." He gestures vaguely. "CONCRETE BLOCKS, mostly." Arthur settles down near Maricel. When she asks for a pen, he's about to turn around and give one when he notices what she's doing. He frowns the frown of someone whose mother just downloaded an awful browser toolbar. "Dawg. Listen. Here." Arthur opens up his SYLLADEX, sorts through an assortment of branches, and gives her an ITEM. "Just CHILL with this for a LITTLE BIT, yeah?" When the item is examined... three prongs? Some ball-bearings? Wait, Arthur Lowell just tried to solve Maricel's restlessness by handing her a fucking fidget spinner. He turns back and leans forward eagerly, looking to see what's up with these trains and this yard thereof.
Roxas	"Concrete?" Biggs wonders, turning around from his conversation with Wedge to reply to Arthur, "No, these places are made out of... ancient ruins, or something. I heard somebody actually got it flying a while ago before the remodeling made it look like this. Radiant Garden is the boring one with the really obscure doctorate courses and stone walls."
Axel	There's a certain nostalgia about the tech here, to Axel. As he moves through the lobby, his gaze lingers on it briefly, before he continues into the meeting room. Axel is not in cult clothes. He's in a brown leather jacket, jeans, and boots, looking casual but prepared. His battle clothes are black robes, so he'll have to wear those later. Instead, Axel takes a seat closest to the rest of the Concord agents here today, though he saw Maricel performing surgery on herself earlier, so he looks back to see What The Hell She's Doing, and then notices Arthur give her a fidget spinner. Well. This is certainly a lively bunch, Axel thinks. Hopefully their Elite squad can handle things. Axel casually also listens to Biggs' conversation, if he's close enough to hear him. How very interesting.
Seifer Almasy	Seifer Almasy doesn't actually need to be shown around. He's been here before. In fact, not only has he been here before, he's (technically) a Garden member, though not this Garden. His ID still works. His access hasn't been revoked. He's still SeeD. The memories Gilgamesh layered over him - of him breaking out of the Garden, of him fighting his way through a bunch of SeeD to go save...someone...from Galbadia?...linger in the back of his mind. It's like watching two movies over top of each other. Looking for how Hotel Del Sol synchs up with Dark Side Of Pandora. But with his life. He walks through the halls of Galbadia Garden unescorted, just stopping every so often to look at things, to run his finger over things. This isn't even his Garden! He came here for a couple training exercises, and not even for him - for other Garden agents! He came here to help train other people! And yet it's the most in-touch he's felt with the distant phantom past he barely remembers, the strongest the memories have been in a long time. The patches eaten through by Gilgamesh are trying to fill themselves in, and the signs, the doors, the...everything, it's all pushing at him. Prodding at him. Screaming at him. Eventually, he gets to the meeting room, and the General is there. Seifer stops dead in the doorway. His fingers go to his temples. Finally, he walks right up to the General (he is SeeD and he is wearing his ID card on his jacket) and holds out his hand. "It's, um...nice to see you again, General." The normally radical soldier seems almost embarassed as he tries to look the General in the eye. "How's, um..." "How's..." He finally, lamely, settles on "your daughter?" The rest of the room might as well not even be here at the moment for Seifer. He'll say hi to other people once he's passed...this.
Maricel Thorne	Maricel stares at the offered pen like she's found something moldy in her fridge, but accepts it anyway- at this point it'd be grossly impolite not to. She hurriedly scrawls something on her exposed bone (THIS SIDE UP), wipes it off on her jacket, dips it in a test tube of ultra-sanitizer that half-melts the plastic, and then hands it back. "Much appreciated." It's the defining quality of Mortasheen surgery that one washes the tools after the operation. And then: FIDGET SPINNER. Dr. Thorne takes it in both cupped hands like it's a sacred treasure, even with the flesh hanging neatly off her bones like an unraveling scarf. She gives it a tentative flick-spin. "Some manner of... gyroscopic stabilizer? Ancillary vestibular sensor? Fascinating. Thank you, Mr. Lowell." Her yellow eyes positively gleam with perverse possibilities. If Arthur happens to look back at the right time, he might see Maricel quietly opening up her own skull and hooking the fidget spinner up to her brain to improve her sense of balance.
Roxas	Wedge takes the melted pen back, glances at it, and sticks it back in one of his pockets. There's a rustle of plastic from within. He turns around again to look at her properly, and makes a bit of a face. He says, "Ma'am, the arm thing is fine, but maybe keep your skull closed until this is over, yeah?" It doesn't appear to be a /demand/, because he just turns back around and continues talking with Biggs.
Xion	The group is comprised of an extremely colorful assortment of Teenagers With Attitude, a Very Interesting Doctor, A Medival Knight (with an aura of Noir Edginess), and... SeeD Seifer Almasy. Moving through the building, Maricel is treated with an odd sort of fear-based deference, for not at all the reasons usually afforded to her! It is not her sharp teeth, nor her crazy eyes, nor her extreme Doctorial Nature. In fact, her passage is almost entirely unmolested unless she tries to go into a clearly marked Military Secure Area, because... Doctors that are accepted at Garden are of One Sort, and she fits the bill to a T. Others, like Arthur, Axel, and Riku, are treated with the schoolyard comraderie of an academy entirely tilted towards Young Men And Women of Means (the Means being Cool Unique Weapons With Which To Beat Up Monsters), and both are yelled at that if they don't hurry, the hot dogs will run out, or calls for joining a pick-up game of basketball after their class. Raziel is given both berth and nods among the soldiery, seeing a classical knight - especially one with Raziel's mein - and largely giving the 'nod of understanding and deference' that is normal to be given and recieved among these sorts of places. It is a place he is respected, where he is expected. His appearance notwithstanding, he is a man of action, and this is a school to make people more like him. Seifer... Is largely ignored. He is marked as SeeD as soon as he hits the entranceway, and moving through the school is entirely effortless. As a known member of a family of anti-magical special forces, students get out of his way, (some) soldiers salute, and his musing steps through the Garden go swiftly. Until he reaches the head of the classroom, the podium that General Caroway is working the console at. "Mister Almasy." Caroway's tone is grave, the sort of voice that begins at 'disappointed' and at times reaches 'mildly annoyed'. "Kramer has told me that he activated you for a mission." He notes, sidestepping Seifer's stuttering question. "Odd, that you'd be darkening a mission briefing, but I won't turn down a member of SeeD for a delicate operation." "Kramer also told me that he was expecting a report on your ongoing operation. That he's been waiting a good deal of time for one, in fact. To tell him, if you reported in." Caroway finally looks up from his console as the Train Graveyard shot begins being sketched out, the powerpoint progressing. "And my daughter is currently moonlighting as a domestic terrorist. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you, soldier?"
Maricel Thorne	Maricel freezes with the circular bonesaw hovering over her temple and the fidget spinner in her other (now perfectly mended) hand. Her thumb is just a hair above the surgical tool's 'ON' switch. Eyes narrow as she meets Wedge's gaze. After a brief standoff, she rolls her eyes petulantly and shoves the saw back into her pocket. "You're right, of course. I won't risk distracting the class with my dazzling skill."
Roxas	"Thanks. It really helps us a lot if we avoid severe biohazards in classrooms." Biggs chimes in, separately from Wedge.
Lilian Rook	"Not bad." That seems to be Lilian's take on the Garden. She's never one to shower anything with effusive praise, so an unloaded 'not bad' can be taken to mean 'meets excessively and unreasonably high minimum standards', which is a form of strong praise on its own. She doesn't have any comments on the uniforms, which means they're suitably fashionable. She looks more or less approvingly at the number of actual military personnel around, which means she seems to believe this is an adequate level of seriousness for an elite military academy, and the fantastical techno-magical interior of the building even gets a little head tilting and fond sight-seeing staring from her on the way through, like viewing a sort of neat little ethnic sister school out in the country. The auditorium is sort of boring, but she knows better than to act like a fussy college student when the place is being used for an actual operational presentation. She's come in a charcoal and graphite layered jacket dress and tights with a white underblouse and even a short ruffle tie under the collar, with some sort of silver insignia on the shoulders and red crest on the breast, and has sat herself right at front and center --exactly where the star of the show should go. Carrying around a sword over her back normally wouldn't seem unusual here, but it's not glamored today; even sheathed, the aura on it, and on her, is a menacing and queenly one. No sidearm though, despite that being a standard officery thing. "I'm assuming that's our A-O." Lilian says at the footage of the trainyard, pushing her hair back over her shoulder and professionally ignoring Seifer's faux pas. "War damage? Or abandoned to the enemy we're currently dealing with? Subway tunnels aren't an ideal territory to be scouting over a wide area."
Seifer Almasy	"Ah." Seifer tries to keep his eyes on Caroway's. He really does. The people of the Concord - Axel, Raziel, they've probably never seen Seifer behave this way, this weird sort of...well...hell, Seifer's a man who charges headfirst into a fight with anything, and yet here he actually looks intimidated, or at least hesitant. Fox Knight, Hand of the Concord, King of the Moon, Kind Of A Big Deal Seifer Almasy is having trouble looking the General in the eye. "I, ah, I'm not here in official Garden capacity, sir, I'm here in my, uh, my capacity as Hand of the Concord." Seifer doesn't explain what that means. He does, instead, tug at his dogtags slightly. "I'll submit a report shortly, I've been...busy. Dealing with...with that. Some complications came up. I've, erm. I've been handling the-" Moonlighting as a domestic terrorist. Seifer works his jaw. Yeah, he sort of...maybe...pushed her to do that, didn't he. Whoops. "I haven't heard from her in a long time," Seifer says finally, "If I hear anything I'll let you know." He lowers his head slightly and walks back over to the group, sitting down with Raziel and Axel. He's trying not to make eye contact. He does wave at Biggs, Wedge, Arthur, and Riku, though.
Riku	Riku handles the calls for camraderie the same way he does at Luna Nova: Basically ignoring them entirely, as if they were being called out at someone else. He isn't here to 'make friends'. He's still dealing with the fallout of what happened the last time he did. Though he does idly wonder if the hot dogs are actually /that good/ that people actually rush to get them here. He might have to hit the cafeteria sometime and find out. Meanwhile, he studiously attempts to ignore Maricel doing Spooky Surgery Stuff, his body stiffining a bit as he keeps his eyes firmly to the front of the room. The fact Seifer is there helps, as he squints, trying to make out the conmversation between the General and the SeeD, but not making much headway, especially when Lilian Rook shows up and effectively dominates the room with her presence and hyperprofessional attitude. Riku scowls lightly, but he doesn't cause a scene. Instead, he looks back to Swifer and nods to him lightly. He'll have to catch up with the swordsman later, he's not going to move to sit by Axel and Raziel, that's just asking for trouble.
Raziel	Raziel gives his comrade, Axel, a nod. He does not immediately say anything, because his eyes had moved towards Seifer. There was a bit of concern here, especially with what he had learned. He waits, and listens, but does not immediately voice any opinion. It was not his place to, but when Seifer sits down he places a hand on the man's shoulder, for a brief moment letting him know that he was there for him. Raziel does not do anything towards Riku, there was bad blood there, but he wasn't going to make a scene in this kind of environment. He was representing the Concord, and really fighting with children was beneath him. Especially ones he considered too powerful for their own good. Arthur gets a polite nod, he doesn't call out specifically to him, but he isn't unfriendly. They have worked together in the past, but it was not like they were close. Lilian, of course, dominated the room, but Raziel was unbothered by this. "Normally, I would suggest that we take advantage of my ability to pass through solid barriers, but with what often gathers in the darkness around these parts...it would be a poor decision to go off on my own without a plan. Is that simply an abandoned area, or one devastated by conflict?" Raziel asks, knowing one would be more trouble than the other.
Xion	General Caroway burns a hole in the rampway behind Seifer Almasy, because the severe man is certainly not looking At Seifer. "I've been made aware of your affiliations, Almasy. It's my job to stay abreast of the movements of deployed SeeD operatives as a matter of national security." "As a married man you shouldn't be filling a young woman's head with delusions of 'romantic dreams' and grandeur, don't you agree?" Caroway's sentence could almost be construed as a questionmark, the slight raise of his voice at the end bespeaking an intended 'room for disagreement'. But there isn't any. It is a 'you agree'. An order veiled in the white glove of a question. Lilian's entrance breaks Caroway's laservision on the grey-coated SeeD, and he clasps his hands behind his back. "This train graveyard was once a major depot for one of Deling City's arterial maintenance and yards for our unified train system. During the Sorceress' War, it was bombed by Esthar forces, and the Sorceress Adel sent strike teams through the underground access attached to it in an attempt to make access to the Deling City area proper. The entrances through what is now known as the "Train Graveyard" were sealed off by sapper teams, and after the war, the train network was re-based closer to the city, where we could secure transcontinental access via a modernized system. The power of the Sorceress is why that land is blighted, and attempts to reclaim it have been repulsed." Caroway taps his console, the map zooming out to show the city a small distance away, and a number of red arrows animating across the intervening earth to surround the Train Graveyard. "That cannot stand. To accompany your operation, Miss Rook, Galbadia has authorized a full military deployment to cordon and contain the Graveyard, and selected Commander Angeal Hewley to head up the containment operation to allow you to uncover whatever is causing the magical disturbance, destroy it, and clear the way for a G-Forces push to reclaim our land." He indicates the severe man behind him, with the buster sword. "Commander, if you would?" Angeal nods, stepping to the podium as the General steps away to a seat in the presentation area. "Miss Rook, as well as other irregular forces, have proven invaluable to securing area tainted by 'Darkness', or Sorcerous manipulation, and form the backbone of the training SeeD uses to train its forces. Recalling our special forces from their current operations is, currently, less efficient than employing you to handle the strike team's job, and once you give the all clear, our intention is to send in the G-Forces unit on standby to secure the area. As for the issue at the manor..." "I believe Captain Galbadia can explain more about our 'side objectives'. And, of course, the actual strike operation will be headed up by Miss Rook, so please, feel free to ask questions."
Roxas	Wedge waves back at Seifer, but Biggs is too distracted talking at Maricel to really notice that he's being waved at. Captain Galbadia starts to reply on the subject of the train graveyard, but quiets down for a little while as the General offers a more complete picture than he possibly could. "The tunnels you met my old unit in," He adds, "are sort of the same way, but they're a lot milder. We can usually keep /those/ clear. It's... not every day that somebody decides they'd rather be a part of the darkness than fight it, though. Especially with the sort of power the job crystals can offer..." Captain Galbadia's energy bleeds off a little. It's an unpleasant place to think of, for him. He perks up a little to respond to Raziel and follow up on the General's briefing, "The problem with straying from the path that's obvious is that we're going down into the UG. Everything about the connections down there starts to get blurry and sympathetic. If you start phasing through walls a lot, you might end up somewhere in Winter instead of where we actually want to go. And since 'where we want to go' is where my unit lead took off to, we're going to be going pretty deep into Darkness." "That means going into places we haven't really charted fully, and which have been lost to us for a while. And if it wasn't like that, it wouldn't get us where we need to be going because we'd know where it goes." "Besides which, we're really going to want to give it to them." Captain Galbadia brings a fist enthusiastically into the opposite palm, and then falters a little, "Or... I am, anyway."
Arthur Lowell	Arthur takes a long look at the trainyard. He's looking out for waist-high walls, trains that need to be moved in order to clear paths, or, worst of all, very large conspicuous wide-open spaces full of old bright-red barrels of train fuel. But that's just his keen tactical eye at work, of course. Raziel, Seifer, even Wedge and Biggs get recognizing waves. But Lilian, the one pushing hardest for the strike against the speaking, corrupted influence, is the reason he focuses hard on the key of the operation. Heading to the other side. "Alright, so we got some WEIRD SPACE. Shit's UNCHARTED, alright. Gimmie the BUSINESS, you got GEOMETRY MAGIC-- Uh, GEOMETRY TECH around here? We talkin' ANTI-GEOMETRY or we talkin' ALTERNATE-GEOMETRY?" Arthur flicks a variety of multidimensional shapes in weird green lines around one open palm. "I got some SPACE SHIT to bring the REAL BUSINESS in and deal with the, uh, the SPACE FUCKERY. But you gotta gimmie the lowdown on if it's gonna be CHARTING SPACE or FIGHTING NOT-SPACE. I ain't even 'bout that VOID SHIT, dawg."
Seifer Almasy	Seifer does not disagree. He does not even put up kind of an argument. With Raziel's hand on his shoulder, the look in his eye is the thousand-yard stare of a soldier being shut down by a general. All he can say is, "yes, sir," in a voice that is surprisingly small. % The briefing starts. Seifer listens attentively. If nothing else, he...he can be professional. It's taken a lot of years of trying. The Concord's been good for him. Here, he's...well. Anyone paying rapt attention to Seifer might notice that his fists are clenched and his head is bowed and his eyes are shrouded in Proper Anime Fashion. This is a Moment for him. But anyone else would probably just see a soldier paying attention to a briefing. Captain Galbadia steps up. Seifer relaxes immensely, though not so much so that he's suddenly comfortable - just his knuckles un-tense and his shoulders un-square. Surprisingly, he obeys proper Military Procedure and raises his hand before he asks the question. "Captain," he doesn't call the man sir because SeeD ranks are hella complex and he's not part of the army anyway, "What side-objectives should we be expecting? Securing the route through the UG for further access? Retrieving something from the Darkness to enable further operations?" They're not things that would logically be strictly part of this operation but that's why Seifer's referring to them as side-objectives; dealing with the Darkness, he vaguely remembers, can get weird.
Raziel	Raziel nods, accepting the explanation from Captain Galbadia, it was seemingly logical, and given what they did not know and where they were traveling...wrong moves would likely end in fatal repercussions. Of course, the news of what this place was, causes Raziel to nod firmly. It was likely there would be specters haunting the place as well. "What else should we expect besides those shades? I have heard word of something called 'daemons' here. Are they another word for 'heartless' or something else entirely? Of course, the word daemon has a different meaning from where I am from." Though even he knows not what the demons are from, other than they are 'otherworldly'. Seifer asks a good question, he is curious to hear this too.
Maricel Thorne	Maricel is, by this point, lying on her back in the seat of her chair, with her legs crossed over the back. The back of her head's resting on the table in front of her, necessitating that she roll her eyes back to look over her brow at the powerpoint slides. She chews on the fidget spinner like it's a pencil, leaving sharp little toothmarks in the plastic. The concept of Rook being 'in charge' slides right off her brain without leaving behind even a droplet of comprehension, but she soaks up the rest of the presentation with deceptive attentiveness. After the general-guy's done talking, she raises her hand, then twists around and sits up in her chair properly. "What kind of 'source' are we talking about? Do you know it's something that can get destroyed? Is this like a magic-machine that's pumping magic-smoke into the air and we've got to break it?"
Riku	Riku was not expecting that exchange between the General and Seifer. It must have been a long time coming for it to happen right here, right now. The kind of thing that has stewed for so long that appearances be damned. What the hell even /happened/ to Seifer? Riku shakes his head lightly and continues to take mental notes on the briefing. He's not relying entirely on his memory of course. The smartphone in his pocket is currently recording everything everything. His loyalties aren't to Galbadia, after all, and he might want to run this by other potentially interested parties in order to see if they have a shopping list for him since he's theoretically going to be going deep into 'sorceress tainted' territory. There is a little wry smirk at the comment from Captain Galbadia talking about someone being part of the darkness, but he still says nothing. He does, however, frown about the mention of the UG's strength in the area. That is going to complicate matters. His eyes swivel to Seifer, and he sees That Look. He knoes that look. Riku's made That Look. This is becoming a Thing.
Lilian Rook	"War damage, but a fallout zone for indefinite footprint high order magic too." Lilian voices out loud, mostly weighing the words with a specific sort of measured tone to see how her thoughts jog from hearing them. "Imprinted war ruins, then. I assume plenty of people died there if it's set in so badly. If the inhabitant insurgents are that aggressive, then thorough sterilization from the outside in likely isn't viable. They will respond in force, once one of their vital assets is located, and it won't be limited to just focusing all their forces on the strike team. Even in the best possible case, rats will flee a sinking ship." she affirms. "Cordon, seek and destroy. A clean operation. Assuming the mission may drag on, given we don't know how deep our enemy territory extends, it'd be best to have a supply line provide to the cordon and standby garrison on-site, since a small team won't make much of a dent in them, if there's a need to come back up to rearm. 'Blurry and sympathetic' can work to our advantage, if we need to establish checkpoints. There are plenty of tunnels that lead in and out of the area, and most of them won't lead directly into the enemy heart. Even blocked up, they're probably viable egress and ingress points that way. We should make it a secondary priority to mark any stable or useful exits from the Underground, even just as possible breaching points for the occupation team afterwards. Trying to squeeze a whole cleanup force through a couple of subway lines is less than ideal, even if we do pacify the area as much as possible." She concludes. She looks to Galbadia himself this time, with a surprising degree of pressure emanating from some college girl's stare. "If we're heading to where your unit was, and something similar happened to them, we'll be seeing a lot more of those creatures from the sewers, right? That's not all that'll be down there though, will it. You made contact with at least one higher order intelligence down there, and at least one Supplicant cl- 'Wish Granting' influence actor. I'm not certain those would come from the remains of lost soldiers. Have these kinds of things moved into the area? What else would you expect to see there? Secondarily, please detail any lost materiel, intelligence, or theoretically recoverable assets that we may have the opportunity to secure, or at least designate for pickup." She doesn't actually turn around, sitting at the front, but throws her voice back a bit. "Lowell. Do you think you'll be capable of the marker point directive I've outlined? Raziel. When we arrive, please confirm how far you are able to intangibly shift ahead without straying course. There is no safe way to slice a pie below ground like that, so even just a tunnel ahead is useful. Almasy. I think I already know better than specifying anything but vanguard, but you have some kind of relationship to this Sorceress business and SeeD's tactics, right? Woman with her skull open. Please don't expose your brain to the magical corrupting darkness, and also please seek permission to perform on-site autopsies of any recovered casualties. I'll personally advise capture and vivisection of anything non-human for tactical study. Keyblade boy. Stop smirking."
Seifer Almasy	Seifer nods at Lilian. "Yeah. I...am. I can run vanguard and keep people..." He was going to say /safe/, but Fury's still in the room. Instead, Seifer settles for, "alive." That much he is pretty confident of. Riku looking at him is basically missed. He's just trying to maintain professional composure right now as a whole catalog of emotions is just opened up in his head. "I know enough about what the Sorceresses can do and what...SeeD...does that I can do that much."
Roxas	"Uh..." Captain Galbadia looks like he'd like to scratch his head, but he's wearing a helmet, "It's sort of like... if you go into it looking for someplace that's secure and highly protected, you need to go in /through/ someplace that's secure and highly protected. So if you're trying to go to a place in the UG that is secure, you can't just have your banker friend open a vault for you and let you go through. The sympathy breaks." "We're going in towards a dark place, so we need it to /stay/ dark. Getting back will be a lot easier, especially if you're a portal guy. We don't have a lot of portal guys. Or... any, that I know of." His attention swings to Seifer, "Strictly speaking, 'killing the traitor' is a secondary objective. He's not big enough to be the actual cause of all of this, or the strengthening of the things that are in the train graveyard. We're looking for a source. Or more specifically, we're looking for the thing that offered my unit leader power in the first place." "The Darkness is pretty "accommodating", but an intelligent empowerment like that is rare. I think you know what I mean, I understand you were a part of the response to the Balamb Town incident." "Daemons are sort of like Heartless, but they're more physical. They don't really come in incorporeal form, but they do get along with Heartless for reasons we don't entirely understand. It's more likely that we'll be running into faeries, but daemons love dark places so there probably will be some of those too." The Captain folds his arms over his chest, "We keep getting word of things like 'hostile attack houses' from our scouts. So bring iron, I guess." To Maricel, "We're not sure what the actual source is. It's probably not a machine, but it's definitely not natural either. It should be containable-- it's not the first time something like this has happened. The strongest leading theory at the moment is some sort of especially awful ascension rite. Somebody looking to make themselves a god of darkness." When Lilian pushes the matter of 'what happened to his unit', Captain Galbadia uncrosses his arms and shakes his head, "It wasn't like that. He was probably compromised before our last patrol, but I didn't come into contact with whatever it was that offered him a deal. Probably, he was the only one that was intended to benefit, and the rest of us..." Were food. "As for assets, it's almost impossible to say. Except... there's probably leavings from the Sorceress War down there. I wouldn't be surprised if there was still Estharian equipment, and /that/ stuff is quality stuff. I'm not totally sure we've actually caught up to them yet, although if /not/ we're pretty close." Captain Galbadia sighs heavily, "Actually... the Sorceress War was such a mad scramble for survival that there's probably all /sorts/ of totally unaccounted for stuff that nobody had time to do paperwork for deploying. That war wasn't won by anything resembling conventional strategy. Some insurgents literally trapped the Sorceress in a rocket and fired it into orbit."
Maricel Thorne	Maricel slumps forwards, her elbows on the table and her cheeks propped up on the heels of her hands. "How am I supposed to get permission to do an autopsy? They're dead, Rook. If they're giving permission then it's called a 'vivisection'." She sounds genuinely confused. There's not even a smidgen of smartassery in her tone. At least Captain Galbadia is talking sense. "Right. Kill it, break it, or stick it in a jar. I- uh, we can figure something out, for sure." Without looking down, she's scribbling on her hand: "ACQUIRE HOSTILE ATTACK HOUSE."
Axel	As Axel leans back in his chair, the presentation happens. Captain Galbadia steps forward and explains his part. As he says that they want to take the boot to these guys, Axel nods, trying to show support for Captain Galbadia's goal. And then, tapping his fingers against the desk, he speaks up. "My focus is hit-and-run tactics, and I have some experience travelling through Darkness, as well as safety measures." He's offering in case anyone needs support for that. And then, Axel moves to ask Captain Galbadia another question. "So, we looking at some sort of fairy bull- I mean, stuff, then, if you're suggesting iron? Never dealt with it before, what's the usual protocol?"
Roxas	"Just keep a pocket full of nails," Captain Galbadia asides to Axel, "they're not really the main enemy force here."
Lilian Rook	For reasons unknown, Lilian slowly lofts an eyebrow at the mention of what they expect down there. "Oho? Fairies you say." she says. "I think I'd like to see that." The red floral etching in the hilt of her sword brightens and fades for the rhythm of a few heartbeats. ". . . noted, though. I'll task myself with primary lookout for our mystery actor, for lack of anyone else better trained for that exact scenario, to the best of my knowledge." she continues. Still without looking, she says to Maricel "You ask the military board for permission to chop up their dead men. Otherwise it's misappropriation of a corpse and potentially obstruction of military accounting and research." She snaps her fingers and tilts one overhand in the direction of Axel. "Before I forgot, please work with Lowell to verify any and all sympathetic connections in tandem with his ability, seeing as you have the greatest intuitive feel for the Undeground."
Raziel	Raziel nods to Lilian, "I will do what I can. Though shifting between worlds may prove dangerous without proper conduits. I may have to rely on...local resources if necessary," Raziel does not immediately explain, but well you can guess what he means. Towards the Captain, he nods. Material...hm. Though the Heartless can also become Material. They are not the same, but they are bedfellows. Raziel files this information away for later. The fact that the fairies are also apparently a concern her too is something curious. "Hm, then I shall do my best to come armed," Not that he was ever unarmed.
Roxas	"As far as two points in the UG are close together, the Darkness is pretty close to Winter." Captain Galbadia explains on the subject of faeries, "So sometimes things kinda leak from one to the other. Faeries aren't really the most prominent possible problem though. Probably just the stray cat sith here or there."
Arthur Lowell	Arthur makes a "pffft" kinda noise at Lilian. "Who ya think you rappin' with, dawg? I'm MAGE OF SPACE, 'course I can get ya HOOKED UP on NAVIGATION. Long as the DARKNESS ain't gonna SCRAMBLE UP GATES. Pretty sure I can make HARDENED GATES and shit near around where we gotta get that SORTED." He does a double-fingerguns in Galbadia's direction. "That's me! PORTAL GUY." He declares, dramatically. Alright, iron. "We talkin' that COLD IRON? I got HELLA CRAFTING if dudes need that GEAR and we got some good bits of the HARDCORE SHIT that messes up their life." He thinks a lot. "Gonna need to bring lotta GRAVITY SPELLS to mess around with the UNDERGROUND, if this shit's SYMPATHETIC. Gonna go UNDERGROUND TO UNDERGROUND real likely." He thinks aloud. "If we're dealing with some BRAIN FUCKERY, might need some BACKUP. Run into enough PSYCHIC SHIT to know I ain't got that RESISTANCE STAT." He's got some! But still worth a cover, by his reckoning.
Roxas	"Psychic stuff? No. It's just... you know. It's like a story, only it just sort of... happens, and if you don't play by the rules things get a lot harder." Captain Galbadia attempts to explain, gesticulating into the air and looking towards Angeal -- possibly for help.
Arthur Lowell	There's a very visible bar, labeled "COMPREHENSION BENCHMARK", above Arthur's head. The moment Captain Galbadia puts it that way, it goes from wavering at maybe 1/8th, to maxed out. "Oh." Arthur says, simply.
Roxas	"Yeah! Yeah, so basically--" Captain Galbadia seems extremely distracted by the VISIBLE BAR, "-- uh... basically, put portals where you'd imagine checkpoints in a video game."
Maricel Thorne	Maricel jerks upright so fast she practically pops out of her seat at Arthur's mention of 'brain fuckery'. "Oh! Oh! Thaaaaat is something I can help with. I've got vaccines, I've got psychobonsaism, I've got electricity... booster shots, curatives, I have got that handled. Any darkness in your brain, I'll cut that right out."
Xion	Angeal, much to the contrast of Fury Caroway (who seems distantly impressed, which is heart-of-flint code for 'yes good', with Lilian), has the general approach of a stern older brother. "The Sorceress War was one fought on multiple levels quite literally. One of the reasons that the Train Graveyard was never recommissioned and the hub was brought closer was that it was cheaper in capital and lives to leave the..." Angeal coughs. "Ambulatory demon-houses and dogs with razor tails..." He recovers, crossing his arms. "To their own devices. Now and then a team is dispatched in a culling operation, and the Captain's patrol was one of them. The reason that it is completely untenable to leave the Train Graveyard in its current state is due to the way the UG, and sympathetic traversal works." The map on the screen changes to a rather labyrinthine network of tunnels - the Deling City Sewers, that Lilian and Arthur and Axel (and Roxas) had traversed. "Much of the monster incursions into the sewers can be traced to that effect present in the train graveyard - it is both close-by, and the same thing. We've had multiple attacks that had to be suppresed in the train hub and underground, most likely to whatever force of corruptive darkness turned the Unit Captain against his brothers." Angeal sighs, as Captain Galbadia gestures for his help. Lilian, too, asked for clarification. "To be clear: Our operational intelligence has come to the conclusion that there may be some connection between deeper Underground - that is, the magical realm - and the area under the Train Graveyard serving as a corridor." Angeal looks dead on at Riku of all people. "And we're fairly certain multiple members of your team will have the skills to handle whatever the source is and close it up." Angeal gestures forward the soldier that had been waiting on the sidelines. "I'll let my scout finish up. Lieutenant Fair?" The soldier steps forward, pulling off his helmet to reveal his REAL SPIKEY BOY hair. His demeanor is the most mild of the three - professional badass soldier through and through. "Right. I was leading a group to figure out where all the monsters were coming from, and when I went down into the Underground - literally, not the... one under Deling City... - I found a place full of weird aqueducts and waterways, and a massive construct of gears. There was a water feature, and I thought I could see daylight, far far above." "It was midnight, by the way. Something's smushed up real close to the Train Graveyard. Something that wasn't there before, agitating everything." Angeal nods. "Lieutenant Fair will be your liason for this mission, and will handle any logistics and recon you need done, Miss Rook. Do you expect your mission to need any specialized tools Galbadia can provide?"
Raziel	Raziel seems to not be parsing something here. "Wait, you keep saying underground, to find...the underground? I am having a feeling there is a deeper meaning to the word." He comments, wanting to understand just what this is.
Xion	Zack starts gesticulating with his hands. You do not need to understand how he is, and can be creative, because they're meaningless and largely confusing. "So LITERALLY underground, like, under the ground, we're going to reach the MAGICAL Underground, called the Underground, to go to a place in the MAGICAL Darkness, which is making a LITERAL MAGICAL entirely seperate location proximal to the LITERAL city of Deling." "To do that, we're gonna have to fight the razor dogs and attack houses in the Train Graveyard, plus any weird Esthar M-Tek Terminators still bumbling around in there, find our way down, establish a supply line, and then explore the area to find the MAGICAL darkness in the LITERAL darkness, to stop the Daemons and-or MAGICAL Darkness creatures." Angeal rubs his face lightly. "And, secondarily, kill the traitor Unit Captain, who has been consumed by Darkness." Zack raises a finger. "MAGICAL darkness." Angel snorts. "Thank you, lieutenant." Zack smiles, a rakish grin. "You get all that? Write it down, it's... a lot."
Arthur Lowell	"No. No no! Outta my SKULL, dawg! No CUTTING BITS OUT." Arthur says, making vaguely flailing motions at Maricel. "SHOTS at most!" He'll make that compromise. As for the matter at hand? "CLOSE THAT SHIT UP. Alright, sounds ALL GOOD. I can probably CUT A GATE, I mean I MAKE 'EM. Issue is, it's probably bein' HELD OPEN. Gotta CUT THE POWER on that motherfucker if I'mma SHUT THAT SHIT. So we GO THROUGH, we BEAT SOME ASS, we fight whatever's HOLDING IT OPEN, then we get the fuck back out with RAD GATE STUFF, and either it CLOSES, or I SHUT THAT SHIT DOWN myself."
Riku	If Riku is surprised to see Angeal look dead on at him, he doesn't seem it. He's been RIGHT THERE the entire time, he doesn't even have any special powers to not be noticed. He's just been blending in by being an edgyboy in the middle of a passle of edgyboys. He does, however, nod back to Angeal in affirmation. He can be counted on to probably help achieve this mission goal. He's known to have problems with Darkness getting out of hand, and this is way out of hand. That said, he finally speaks when Raziel asks about the Underground. "People here don't want to see the stuff happening below their noses." Riku says. "The Underground is like a layer beneath the real world normal people know. Everything is still there, but it gets simplified for people to not have their worlds blown out by seeing someone throw a fireball down the street. Instead, they see someone chucking a grenade." He then gestures. "The more important thing is people who can see and go into the Underground are closer to the other worlds and the dangers there. You can touch them easier. And they can touch you. Probably won't be a problem for you, but people falling into the cracks has been a problem for ages."
Lilian Rook	Lilian leans her cheek on the back of her hand in a motion of near catlike, considerative interest in the mention of the clockwork thing and a view to daylight. "A Locus, hm? A lynchpin defining the relative place of an interior world to the real one. That's a pretty significant find. I'm glad we got to hear that by the end of this meeting. I like the sound of it. I think I'll have a fine time getting to it." After being asked what she needs, she immediately announces "Explosives. A lot of them. Portable pylons if you have any that work on magitek. I suppose normal night vision equipment will work just fine. Oh, and do your tightbeams and tripwires use lasers, or like, little beams of magic? That's just important for me to know." Yeah she has some kind of plan or another.
Xion	Zack laughs. "They're lasers, ma'am. We're Galbadia, not Esthar. The new Paramagic equipment's nice and all, but I'd much rather trust my life to proven techology." Angeal nods firmly, cleary of a like mind, even if his ABSURD SWORD betrays he's not an Entirely Normal Man. "We'll attach a Combat Engineer team to Lieutenant Fair's squad for all your needs, such as they are." Caroway raises. "If that is all, gentlemen, ladies, then this mission briefing is dismissed. A copy of the mission slides will be available on your way out if you'd like to familiarize yourself with aerial recon of the area, as well as Lieutenant Fair's scouting report."