Scene #7973: What's the Objective

Owner	Pose
Lilian Rook	The Redshifts had made a very specific and targeted request. Despite being an incredibly unlikely alliance (though, shockingly less and less unlikely over time, mostly Rita's fault and enabled by Candy), Rook is nothing if not a woman of her word (when she's not lying from the very start anyways; it's about honouring it when she means it). They've been called (and their Watch allies in on this, broadly, since Xion was there too) to the staging area Lilian has been preparing near Tamamo's ruins expedition after it came under Staren's fire. And, more importantly, since Staren was rude and shitty to the woman Lilian got her leg blown off and organs rearranged to protect. "--octanitrocubane, which is different than what you normally use. Not the lab stuff either; I alchemized it myself for perfect crystal structure. It's shock-insensitive, produces no vapour, a little heavier than you're used to, and mainly stands apart for the absurd detonation velocity and RE factor. It blasts instantly and the wave has enormous spontaneous kinetic energy density. I had . . . enough, left over, from a previous engagement, and hadn't the stomach to go back and erase the array yet, so count yourselves fortunate. So, to move on--" She is going down an entire list. There are two solid, locked briefcases filled with explosives (mainly which she researched to fight Persephone), duffel bags with matched sets of rifles and handguns with ample magazines of her world's xenon-lorentz cartridges, foam-cased racks of individally sealed runestones of polyhedral crystal, etched carefully on each side, folders containing stacks of parchment talismans, clearly inked in her own calligraphy but strictly modelled after Tamamo's, bearing curses of misfortune, decay, confusion, and disaster-- the list sort of goes on. There's also a credit card and a burner bank link with a rather large amount of discretionary funding to spend.
Redshift Operators	The Redshifts aren't huge fans of the Paladins. But between their dealings earlier today with Kale, and their dealings earlier in the week with Lilian, the Operators have grown willing to stomach what they have to, so long as it frees the Vast Marshes. The astronaut is taking dedicated notes about the explosives on a PDA, and taking very good care of one of those briefcases. The gunman is examining the contents of the bags. The ninja is meditating in preparation. "Then we shall be making our attack from this side of the gate." She reaches into the future. As she speaks, she predicts. "In this attack, we will most certainly draw much attention from the Vast Marshes. One Chevalier Hearthward promises intent to move in nearly immediately, should we be successful." In the not-too-distant future, she, Lilian, and Rita are surging through Autocthonia directly as one three-person team. The gunman, the giant, and the astronaut are keeping active in a stolen military van that often drives nearby, rushing alongside them and fanning out where needed through the streets. "Material industry. That's where we need to be. They'll be moving lotta material to the Marshes for the colonization. We need to crack the logistics while they're in motion. Leave the place unsustainable for a bit. Right?"
Rita Ma	Rita arrives to the questionably-legal international arms dealing party with a heart-melting smile on her face, a jacket tied by the sleeves around her waist (in front and over her skirt, giving it a maidlike aesthetic), and a boxy lunchpail under her arm. "Ms. Rook! I brought some seaweed salad!" she says, waving enthusiastically with her free hand. Beneath the 4kidsification of the Understanding, Lilian might be able to pick out the words miyeok-muchim. "I heard there was some kind of meeting, so..." She sets it down on the nearest table, gently nudging some terrifying guns out of the way to make room, and materializes enough bowls and forks for everyone. (They look ceramic, but feel like lacquered wood.) The cold salad itself is sweet-salty-sour in a bright and green way, with garlicky and smoky-sesame undertones. It's pretty addictive for a snack. As the others are serving themselves, she's cautiously poking at the firearms. "Mmmm. Mr. Candy tried to teach me how to shoot some like these, but... they were just sort of scary to use. I don't know if I'll ever get the hang of them." Throughout the tactical discussions, she stands by with a slightly lost smile, just looking anxiously happy that Her Friends Are All Getting Along. "I wanted to say thank you, too, Ms. Rook, for being able to trust us- them- with this sort of thing. And you too, Mr. Dwarf, for being willing to help her. I really do appreciate it!" There's still a nervousness in her about the volatile mixtures here- of a very different kind than the octanitrocubane- but it's gradually fading.
Lilian Rook	Lilian is still stuck in stockings mode until she can solve something. She's managed to make them suit her a little better, but really it's only because she'd rather take a bullet than put on jeans. Some of her brisk demeanor swaps out, with an almost audible click of gear assemblies, when Rita shows up too. She remembers to smile. "Rita, you really didn't have to you know. You're really playing with fire being this thoughtful you know. If you keep it up, you're in immediate danger of getting married." A table isn't really hard to get, though it's inevitably a metal grain one rather than anything comfortably fancy; wood would have decayed already and this isn't the place for it. Still, Lilian sits herself down, gestures at the across seats she'd dredged up for this paperwork, and seamlessly switches to making this a dinner meeting. She makes sure to remark not at all if the Redshifts are going to be weird about helmets and eating. "Your friends are alright, Rita." Lilian replies to her a little ways in. "For now anyways. For what they've previously done as well." A pause. "I never really did thank you properly for that. I hope this will suffice." Alternating topics, she replies to White Dwarf "I don't know what support Hearthward has promised. I'll admit his own motives in all of this are less than pure, but I consider it sufficiently important that the Concord not simply be allowed to do as they please and and build up a gaggle of low-effort empires in the new world while expecting us to bow down and deal with it. It's clear that they don't actually respect us." The holowindows come out. "I've done a little bit of research on force composition there. Long-term narrow slice divinations. "My suggestion is--" In the future predictions are defined by Lilian's on-the-fly planning. "--talismans at A6, A3, B8, B9. I'm detonating on enemy entry point A, converge on B for when they come through the warpgate. The eightfold array should affect the entire response's metaphysical structure of the enemy unit as a singular spirit-structure-- the 'kami' of an army and such. Hack and trip the alarms thirty seconds after the all-green. We want to lure them into the box and destroy the assets at the same time with the limited materiel we have. I've confirmed--" "--keep in mind that the production of these materials is actually critical to the Claslat state and they'll take drastic action if we do nothing but burn it all down; it'll impact millions of civilians. We want to target the Concord's equipment, comms, trading posts, and either sway their partners and contractors in the area to our side, or keep them away while obliterating their owned infrastructure, whereupon I plan to offer them a financial bailout by switching to my side." Lilian contemplates Rita's stance on firearms while letting the Redshifts have their turn. "Candelario is a fan of those rolled iron and water-cooled fashionable relics, isn't he? What's so scary about them to you? Even if they're fairly impersonal tools, even with firearms it's important to find something that feels good to you before worrying about the rest."
Redshift Operators	"What, finding out about someone trying to do math about you? Yeah, no problem. Gotta say, I've gotten pretty pissed off at people doing secret studies about my gang. That ought to piss you off too." The gunman only loosely understands. He has the posture of someone who has to be convinced not to hit the 'skip cutscene' button. "Let me know when you have a bunch'a spare money and want whoever it was shot." The astronaut, on the other hand, has the posture of someone who hit it a long time ago. "A6, A3, B8, B9." They're noting it still, but somehow seeming completely disengaged. "To occupy armed response. Our objective is logistics. Splitting from there. We can push through and use the explosives on trade points. Relays. Warehouses. Concord logistics locally. Even delaying materials to the Marshes will accomplish the objective." In White Dwarf's newly revised future, the alarms go off simultaneously. The drawn-in army and the talismans give the ninja plenty of opportunity to deal with security forces while they're boxed in. With them drawn away, Neutron can breach assets and plant explosives, while the giant and gunman provide cover. "It'll need care not to overextend... But we likely cannot sacrifice Rita's presence at the main security force. Not until later on. Monsters taken from the Marshes will surely be present. Perhaps we can signal once they're found?"
Rita Ma	"You're in immediate danger of getting married." Rita stares at Lilian as if she's grown a second head. "But I like girls, Ms. Rook." 'Your friends are alright' gets a sunny smile, and cheery little noise, out of her. "Didn't you thank me? I thought I remembered... well, it doesn't matter. It makes me happy just to see 'the people' doing that much better, you know. Opening up those factories of yours was thanks enough." She watches the holowindows with equal amounts of childish awe and attentive calculation. "I'm not really much for blowing things up on a big scale, anyway. But, hitting that many different targets... are there any monsters in Ms. Tamamo's worlds that nobody needs, Ms. Rook? I could-" moderate embarrassment- "work with them, like the Cycle of Tears. That would help with spreading out and hitting more of the objectives." She gives White Dwarf an acknowledging little smile. "That's a good idea, Ms. Dwarf. I'm a lot better at fighting people than buildings, you know. And a lot better at fighting monsters than people. I'll try my best to protect you while you all set up the explosives, okay?" In between tactical discussions, though, something weighs on her. "Ms. Rook, do you think Kale is a good person?" The lack of an honorific is blunt and noticeable.
Lilian Rook	"Rita." Lilian sighs. At least this one is easy. "Rita, anyone can marry anyone, provided they're both adults and you don't live in a theocratic cesspit." she states, exactly as happy about explaining her own joke as anyone would be. "What did you think I was doing with-- no, no matter." A more frustrated noise, like a verbal facerub, follows. "I don't think I feel wonderful about being a factory owner. It feels too similar to Matthew. I'd like to consider them 'craftsmen' if you don't mind. Though, from the very start, the point was to get them off the streets and perhaps settled somewhere else, not to make a lot of money. Money is . . ." There's a charged pause. "Money isn't real. Not once you have enough to take care of the little things. Money is just an abstraction of how much you can ask for at any given point. It's not as if I only have thirty good years in me to stockpile as much as possible before I retire, right? So why worry about 'opportunity cost'?" A beat. "We should check in, honestly. Tomorrow if you like." Lilian makes an amused, but not contemptuous, snort at Red Dwarf. "Well, aren't you popular. Of course you have my thanks for that as well. It was . . . important to know. But I also meant to thank you more broadly for . . ." A slightly strained pause. "It was incredibly stupid, what you did for those people. Childish, even. But it's something I couldn't do myself, and something I'm glad someone did. I don't want to hate those people. I really don't. I wish I was better at helping them. So your efforts to at least try by proxy are . . . acceptable." She only makes an uncomfortable noise at the offer for paid assassination. Moving on to Neutron. "Staren is a maniac for toys, not an arms-master or strategist. Her ideology is tech-decentralism and nothing more. Rather than finding what works for her and sticking to it, taking it with her and refining it, she likes to dabble in everything. Her assets in Secundus are a motley assembly of nonsense she finds amusing, all using its own propriety assets. Even simply eliminating stockpiles of Essence capacitors here will render a great deal of her assembled arms immediately obsolete, for instance. As for the marshes themselves--" "--primarily water and earthshadow runestones. The vestigial obsession with machismo seems to have made these strongpoints very hard against weapons fire and nothing at all to do with lateral thinking. The terrain least favours the most numerous and heavily equipped. Groundwater here and here, unburned flora, a fracked cavern beneath here--" "Monsters, hm?" Lilian only superficially considers it. "Yes and no." to Rita. "Plenty here, but the ones in the last zone only sort of half-count. Disposable bodies go hand in hand with material exhaustion though; gut their battlefield endurance and then force to commit to attrition. Prioritize numbers and durability if you can, I think. I've gotten Tamamo herself to lend some magical aid here, though it'll be the subtle sort." The question about Kale comes out of nowhere, all things considered. Lilian's eyes widen incrementally at Rita. She gently pushes her emptied bowl away and folds her arms, the corner of her mouth working up and down, one leg folded over the other, foot bouncing thoughtfully. "No. I don' think he is. I'd say he believes that he's a worse person than he really is, but that's only because he isn't really cognizant of why what he cares about is bad. I wouldn't say he's evil, but . . . Hearthward is . . . someone who was born very special, picked up by exactly the wrong people, treated to a great deal of privilege, insulated from any consquence, and not given much experience with normal people. He's clearly trying to change himself in some way, recently, but I don't know if he'll be a better person, or just a stronger one, after his wakeup call."
Redshift Operators	The gunman gets his nose out of the bags and looks to Lilian. "Real rare I get anyone from in-charge thanking me for it." He says. And he takes a deep breath, the kind that usually leads into petulent rejections of gratitude. But he ponders something that happened to him recently, and he ponders Lilian. After a few seconds of looking her up and down, his posture and optics shift to a more easygoing stance. "Well. Whatever. You're welcome. Gonna be seeing a lot more of that. Of course it's childish, though. Kids got the right idea." He digs back into the bags, fussing with more weapons. In the future, he is in a frenzy, a mania of deliberate overexcitement and overtrust that enables his rhythmic ultraviolence. "If numbers are the problem, if they're making everyone unhappy and they don't count anything real, kid logic says, just wipe the numbers out. And the logic isn't wrong. It's canny. Burns out anything unreal, anything you get tricked into thinking over all the years by the powerful liars." "I'll blow up the capacitors. Good objective." The astronaut is comparatively less eager to say almost anything. "And do anything else that can disrupt the stockpiles. When we get to the other side, I'll figure out a way to shift the Marshes." "We will need it to cut off the water and earthshadow runestones, hardened as they are." The ninja's prediction extends far ahead. But she also has things to say about Kale. "Chevalier Hearthward holds himself to unusual standards. Exposure to other cultures has alreadty altered him in ways his upbringing never prepared him for, and he wants to finish the transformation or stop it. He is existing in a limbo of disconnection. That is what I estimate, from my time hearing him and meeting him."
Rita Ma	"Anyone can marry anyone." "Oh," Rita replies, with quiet eye-sparkling awe. When Lilian begins to ask what Rita thought she was doing with Tamamo, the answer is swift and merciless, accompanied by a tiny sagacious nod. "You're girl friends." "Thirty good years" gets a slight flinch out of her, almost imperceptible if not for Lilian's familiarity with her expressions. What follows- about 'checking in'- swiftly restores the smile to her face, though. "I'd love to, Ms. Rook! A phone call? An outing?" The tactical suggestions about monsters are answered with a soft, acknowledging 'mmmm'. "Numbers and durability. That's a useful type, anyway. Like having lots of extra decoys, right? Mr. Dwarf's team will have the hard-to-break building targets, so how hard these can hit doesn't matter that much anyway. Attrition is something I don't have much experience with, but..." Rita absorbs both White Dwarf's and Lilian's input on Kale, but ultimately seems inclined to judge him harshly, evidenced by the unpleasant tinge to her expression as she mulls it over. Her arms are crossed, even; an unusual gesture for her. "There's no such thing as 'being good' in a vacuum, right? To 'be good', you have to 'be good to people'. The best way to want to be good to everyday people, is to sympathize with them. You can live life as an everyday person for a while..." Her eyes slide over to the Redshifts. "... or you can work hard enough, and suffer hard enough, that their pain makes sense to you anyway." Her gaze slides back to Lilian. "Kale's never had to work hard for much, has he, Ms. Rook? But he jumped straight to being special anyway, and got kept away from everyday people after that. I don't see him getting better without that changing. And I don't see it changing, either."
Lilian Rook	Lilian gives Red Dwarf a very odd little grin. "Sometimes children know what they need, and we spend their lives telling them that they don't. It's true. Not that I'd exactly rue a more sophisticated approach from you lot." Lilian doesn't just sigh at Rita's response. She sighs. "So try not to get snapped up by a girl who gets addicted to your cooking." She lets the rest be, and waves a non-gesture. "I'd like to go there in person. A call just isn't the same." Quickly going over the bullet points of the strategic outline one more time, Lilian seems satisfied that her Watch requestants know what they're doing, and starts filing away the papers; physically and metaphorically. She only spares that last bit of time for the final topic. "No, he hasn't. He has some one in a million innate affility for a class of magical superweapons his country uses, and was rather immediately elevated and exalted within the structure of the empire. He's taken a lump here and there, but his station rather precludes any mundane exchanges or woes, and his occupation as a military leader somewhat insists that he use that power on the lesser stationed masses instead. He's been rather insecure lately, finally being forcefully exposed to where I outstrip him for all of the work I've done, and trying to find himself, now that his identity can't be solely built on special exceptionalism." "I'm not sure he's been very good to anyone in particular before. I don't know if realizing that he isn't everything his people cracked him up to be will change that. Just being part of the Paladins unfortunately doesn't guarante an ironclad moral conscience." Lilian sighs. "In most ways, I'm certainly one of the worst Paladins of the lot. But recently I've begun to think that, when it comes to just a few things, I might be one of the better ones."