Scene Listing

||

Scene Schedule

||

Scene Schedule RSS

Owner	Pose
Cantio	At first, it was meat. Next, it was floating body parts and zombies. This time, it's... A beach? Cantio looks skeptical as she peers out from the warp gate she's popped out of, sword already held on one side while her other hand cycles through several floating drones to try and find the right one to put different notes into. She's got plenty of reasons to be skeptical, after all, since this beach looks a little foreboding. There's no tentacles visible on the surface, at least. The locals at the dock seem to be human, too, if a little... Incredibly shady. Their clothes are messed up, their skin has the color of sickly people or the dead, and there's a constant mist surrounding everything. It's not even a lighting issue, either, since Cantio herself is still a vibrant white and purple in the moonlight. They're just... Like that. She just has to figure out what she can make of all this and get out of here before anything goes wrong.
Kale Hearthward	>KALE: BUST IN AND ANNOUNCE TO THE NERDS THAT YOU'RE GOING TO WRECK THEIR STUFF ... For once, not. For once, after getting Cantio's rough location from the tactical feed thing, Kale doesn't rush off, sword drawn, flying through warpgates like a bird out of hell. For once, he walks. ... Well, he *does* fly till at least like one warpgate away, at least, because fuck walking, doing that as little as possible. But *now* he walks. "Hey!" he calls, as he walks down the beach, waving at Cantio. He tries to not look and sound as awkward as he feels. "Hey! Can we talk?" This does feel awkward. Coming in with swords and magic is a lot more straightforward.
Cantio	There's a hitch in Cantio's step as she hears an all too familiar voice, and her sword is already pointed forward by the time she turns all the way to face Kale. "... Hearthward? Again? What do you want?" Clearly, there's some trust issues there. She's obviously not going to let him get too close, but the more curious side of her is holding her back from attacking right away. "I'm not going to fall for that disguise thing twice, even if it was convincing enough the first time." Also, a backhanded compliment! Mostly backhanded, though, since her patience already sounds rather thin and her mood worsened. "You can tell me from over there." For once, she doesn't smell like meat from all the way over there.
Kale Hearthward	Kale does have both swords on him, admittedly, but then again he almost always does. "That's fine! That's fine." He stops where he is. He has a good set of lungs, he can talk at long distance. "I'm not here to fight this time, I swear, and if you want me to leave I'll turn around and leave," he says. "But - you'll want to hear this, and - here," he says, reaching into a pouch and pulling out a rolled scroll, tossing it underhanded towards Cantio. "Copy of some of my tactical map. Call it a peace offering."
Cantio	Kale stops. That's rather unexpected already, and the talk of being willing to leave really has Cantio on the back foot. She narrows her eyes, visibly trying to figure out what the angle is and keeping quiet as she directs one of her drones to check out the scroll (after it intercepting it face first). "...This is new. This is... Useful data, if it's accurate." She keeps her tone neutral as the drone brings back the scroll, perusing it briefly before staring at Kale for what may feel like a good half minute. Eventually, she takes in a long breath, finally finishing some kind of internal battle with herself before lowering the sword to her side. "Ehn... Alright. What is it?"
Kale Hearthward	Kale crosses his arms. "..." "You've impressed me." "I didn't lose and I'm not admitting defeat, but you impressed me." Okay, Kale, stay on track. You came here for a reason, don't start getting prideful. "So I wanted to come talk to you. Actually talk, instead of just shouting things across a battlefield." "Because, well, don't you feel like you're kinda wasted where you are right now?"
Cantio	Is that a compliment? Even if Cantio can't tell whether it's genuine or not, it does get her to soften her expression ever so slightly. "I.. Guess you've improved since before, too. Persistence in the face of everything is..." She glances around for a moment, as if checking to make sure nobody else is there. "... Something worth mentioning, I guess." It's something! The sword stays down, and she eventually approaches Kale so that she doesn't have to project as much. The waves hitting the shore are kind of inconveniently loud in that way. "I don't think I'm wasted here, no. There's plenty of data to gather here, boundless room to experiment, and all sorts of materials that..." She doesn't finish that last one. It seems to be distressing her ever so slightly.
Kale Hearthward	Kale starts to say something. He stops. He's here for a reason. An important one. But - curiosity demands - nay, *necessitates*, requires, imperitavizes that he ask. "Did... you actually manage to do anything useful with the, um, meat?" he asks.
Cantio	Of course he had to ask THAT question. There's a long sigh as Cantio takes a few steps aside to make sure she isn't getting ocean water on her shoes, then pulls one of her drones over. She taps away at its face, thens hoves it over to let it float over to where Kale's standing. "Only in theory. I haven't begun production of any prototypes yet, but there's potential uses for it in combat." She explains as the drone's screen cycles through multiple short videos demonstrating what she's saying. "It's surprisingly resilient against blunt force trauma. It's not so great against getting cut up, but it regenerates relatively quickly. Smaller cuts look like they'll recover over time, so it could be an effective padding to add to armor once I can get around the..." Another video plays showing a miniature Cantio taking off a meatsuit covered in blood. "... Mental issues that might arise in its current state."
Kale Hearthward	"... Do you mean... mental issues from wearing meat armor, or, um..." He stares at the image. "Does the *meat armor* get mental issues?"
Cantio	"Oh, wearing it. I mean, I don't /think/ the meat has..." Cantio trails off, looking uncertain again as she considers the possibility. She doesn't look too thrilled with that thought being planted in her head. "... Probably not?"
Kale Hearthward	"..." "..." "..." "..." Kale clears his throat. "Look. My point." "You're good. You landed here and you immediately started on a bunch of stuff, even if it's... not all working out. And so far you've met me blow for blow while I've been trying to harass you all. And - all of that shows drive, right?" "I think you want to be working with people who can match that drive. And..." "... Well, not everyone has it, do they?"
Cantio	THAT definitely wasn't something Cantio was expecting so bluntly from Kale. She even stares at him dubmfounded for several moments as it takes that long to process all of it, and then she clears her throat while suddenly feigning an indifferent look that wouldn't even fool a child. "So you can recognize that. THat's... Good!" She even sounds pleased, and then her expression darkens a second later. "But I'm not joining the Paladins. The Concord accepted me even when I was still..." A coward. A weakling. A pushover. A half-baked tinkerer with a completely raw skillset. "... Underdeveloped. I'd never consider walking away from that."
Kale Hearthward	Kale passively watches the reaction from Cantio, and gives her time to process and speak. "I'm not asking you to leave the Concord," says Kale. "I know enough to know your answer before I ask." He crosses his arms harder. "... But not all Concord members are... equally driven, are they?" "Not all of them, say, have the drive to get to work in a new world without running around like a hyperactive child..." "... Or hold back from getting on the radio and crowing about every short-game victory they eke out."
Cantio	Cantio doesn't answer verbally right away, but that slight wrinkling of her nose and that tilt of her head and eyes up and to the side with one of those really tiny nods probably tell Kale everything he needs to know about that ahead of time. The reactions is especially strong at that last sentence. "Victory... While nice, isn't as important as growth. It does mean having an easier time getting actual work done, though." She admits with a low sigh before crossing her arms. It's not an annoyed one, at least. She's just uncomfortable not moving her arms for so long. "What are you proposing, then? A... Truce?"
Kale Hearthward	Kale's heretofore passive expression changes to a slight grin, when Cantio mentions growth, and he uncrosses his arms, almost simultaneously to her crossing hers. "No." "Well, yes, but more than that." "An alliance. A team-up. Give me a chance to make my case," he adds, quickly before Cantio can give her answer. "You want to explore and perform science here, right? I know you were trying to perform some experiments in Sector Zero earlier, the..." he waves a hand vaguely. "Video game thing. And people got on your case about it." "But then you had people like me, busting in to hassle you, keep you from doing your thing - how well has working with Staren shielded you from that so far?"
Cantio	Cantio's head visibly tilts back with her chin going into her neck, complete with temporary triple chin. Once she recovers from the shock of Kale's suggestion, she immediately doesn't reject it. Actually, she takes a while to consider what he's saying. "The... Bugster incident, yes. I remember that." She comments, keeping her tone quiet first as she recalls plenty of things that she probably not be too pleased about in retrospect. "To be fair, she wasn't around for the more..." She weighs her words carefully. "...Objectively awful parts of all of that. It hasn't hurt, but it hasn't helped." Cantio takes another moment to look around to make sure the terrain isn't trying to kill her, and then she furrows her brow at Kale. Her posture's considerably less tense than it was earlier. "What's in it for you, then? I mean... I thought this was your opportunity to keep fighting and show off your combat and conquest skills. Wouldn't an alliance with the Concord make it hard to show off?"
Kale Hearthward	"What's in it for me?" Kale blinks. "You! You're in it for me. Or, er, you know what I mean." "Cantio, if there's one thing managing territories here has taught me, and should have taught *you*, is that everything has a trade-off. Do you re-invest your resources back into your holdings to be safe, or do you expand further while hoping you don't overextend or get invaded?" "Sure!" He shrugs. "There's some... degree less prestige in getting some help with this instead of doing it entirely on my own, but if I succeed twice as much then it doesn't matter if my prestige is so much as *halved*." "'Well Kale you managed to conquer more territory than anyone else in Secundus but it doesn't count because you had help' said nobody ever, right?" Then a moment later, "Er - not that I'm trying to just run up the numbers. I'm not a leaderboard watcher like Staren is."
Cantio	"... But you're married." Cantio's initial apprehenshion comes hard and fast, and then it settles down once Kale clarifies the actual meaning. "That makes a lot more sense... I was about to say. I'd be really disappointed otherwise." Kale speaks of strategy, prestige, and recognition, and then Cantio actually chuckles. It's not an insulting one, even. "I don't know how much truth there is in you not watching the leaderboards, but... The rest isn't completely off-base. It'd make Mister Lowell's work progress more smoothly, and my own work a lot easier." She closes her eyes for a moment, breathing in again in that 'I can't believe I'm going to say this' sort of way, and then she looks right at Kale. "To be honest, I don't really care about the land grabs, or the prestige.. I-I mean, maybe a little recognition isn't so bad, but... It's a trade-off. All this focus on land management is a huge drain on actually working before the time limit is up." She gestures around them. "We don't know what's going to happen when the testing phase ends. Our work here might remain, it might not, but there's nothing certain just yet. I need to prepare for the possibility none of it stays around, and that means gathering as much data as I can in case it stops existing later. After that..." Cantio trails off. "... And what would this alliance actually consist of?"
Kale Hearthward	"Just engaged, but thank you for remembering. I don't have the ring with me out on missions in case it gets lost. He's the one who build the jet-boots for me so that's more like -" He pauses. "Sorry. Getting off track." Kale relaxes a bit when Cantio gives a positive answer. He doesn't refute the comment about watching the leaderboards. "I don't have a hard and fast answer for you about what the alliance look like. You have your other allies you don't want to betray, I have mine." "So we'll have to figure that much out as we go. But aside from that... if you're not going to control territories in the next expedition, then you support me with mine. Put your lab in my regions, help me with the benefits from it, and help me run some missions to build my areas up." "In return, I'll protect you, and I'll let you have a say in how things play out. I'll even name the alliance something suitable to us both, instead of something just fitting me," he adds, phrasing it as if joint naming rights is the most enticing part of the deal.
Cantio	".. Really? Huh. I thought... I mean, it's been so long, so..." Cantio clears her throat. "Right. Back on track." Kale continues onto the more specific details, and Cantio doesn't recoil even once. She raises her eyebrow a few times, but more in the curious way rather than the ew gross way. She still can't quite kick the habit of looking around every now and then, but to be fair... This place is still real dreary-looking. "That's... Surprisingly reasonable? And you're sure you haven't been..." She reconsiders, then shakes her head before finally managing a polite, if still slightly awkward smile. "I... Think this can work out. The Cadenza Bird... Man alliance? No. No.." Apparently, her mind's already moved onto joint naming rights, as if it really is an enticing part of the deal. "Nothing to do with your empire. This..." Cantio strokes her chin. "You mentioned that this was for you, not your empire. Right? We'll need a better name than that." The alliance has been accepted! "But before I forget... Why the change of heart?"
Kale Hearthward	"Maybe something... theatrical or musical for the name?" "... Mmm. Why the change of heart is... can we say it's complicated?" He shrugs. "Some of it is just I genuinely want to do well, and this seems like a really good way to do it. Some of it is..." He thinks for a moment, and remembers something. "Well, it's like you said about yourself. I want to grow."
Cantio	"I thought this was supposed to be a joint name. How about... Songbird's Quartet?" There's still only two of them. Kale's bout of openness  seems to be rubbing off on Cantio, and she even lets her guard down enough to stick her sword in the ground finally instead of holding it even longer than she already has. She pauses again to consider something, then finally nods and starts pacing with her hands held loosely at her back. "I can understand that much, at least... If I didn't want to grow, I wouldn't be with the Concord in the first place. Or have done all of that... That with the Bugster matter." That, at least, seems to keep her a little more grounded. "So. I assume this means we won't be attacking each other's territories for the rest of this period, too?"
Kale Hearthward	"..." "Maybe." He raises his hands defensively. "I *can* stop, if that'll what makes this deal stick, and I can ask the Paladins to go easy on your territories - no guarantees - but..." "... If we announce outright that we're pairing up now, Staren might whine about, like, thinking you're her ally all this time." "And aside from having to hear Staren whine, I don't want you to have reasons to start doubting this arrangement. So. I'll leave it up to you - we can go ahead and partner up now, or we can wait for the next expedition to make it official... and let things unfold in this one as they may."
Cantio	"If it's just territories, I don't care too much either way. It would be nice not to have someone ambushing me when I'm just trying to grill, but..." Cantio shrugs lightly, putting on just the slgihtest of grins as she takes that shot before taking a seat on her sword. The hilt conveniently rearranges itself so it's not as uncomfortable as it initially looks! "I'll leave that to your discretion since... Yeah, I'd rather not deal with all of that." She lets out a slightly more tired sigh at that, taking off her earpiece and showing the light that's very much not flashing in a way that would indicate it's on. "I'll understand if you need to make moves or whatever, though, so I can at least avoid going further into... Wherever is near your land?" She glances at the drone holding the map, then shakes her head. "I'm surprised you were able to make sense of that much."
Kale Hearthward	"Honestly - it was a bit of a pain trying to figure it all out..." "...We'll just quietly not hit each other as much for the rest of this trip. And I'll make a note to the other Paladins asking them to not bother you as much, either." "... And that's it. The rest of it will be between us." "Partially because I don't want too many other people to get the idea to form little alliances like these in advance." Kale extends a hand. "To the Songbird Quartet?"
Cantio	"And I'll look the other way if you go after anyone else's holdings while they're not personally there. Maybe even... See if I can't direct Concord attention towards fortifying their own holdings instead of attacking yours. Although.. I mean." Cantio scratches her cheek lightly, giving Kale one of those 'you probably already know this already' looks. "Staren is Staren, and I think the Flotilla members might be too... Their views differ too much to really sway in either direction even if I tried." She laughs again as she takes Kale's hand, squinting a bit once she realizes that's what his hand actually feels like. "Songbird Quartet. But... That kind of makes it feel like we should find two more members if we stick with that name."
Kale Hearthward	Kale gives this some consideration. "Consider it... an advertisement, and a goal, then?"
Cantio	"More members... That's not a bad idea, although now it feels like this might really be a production." For some reason, Cantio does't sound opposed to the sounds of that, either.