Scene #8065: Attack on the Auction

Owner	Pose
Kukuru	THE PREMISE Even out in the frosty region of Winter, auctions still find a way to exist. In one such region, auctions take place atop a high-tech building situated in the middle of a frozen lake every few months. These auctions act as the ideal place assemble and distribute strange artifacts discovered around the Multiverse. Blessed tomes, cursed weaponry, hazardous trinkets, and everything in between are traded around in exchange for exorbitant amounts of cash. There's little secrecy to these proceedings, and they're even advertised on the internet, although ne'er do wells and those without a certain sum of money are generally turned away at the doors through convincing or 'convincing'. It's at one of these very auctions that the silent alarm, then the regular alarm have sounded. As the payment details were being finalized to close out the auction, Kukuru has instead opted to derail the entire event, declaring her intent to 'liberate the auction' before starting to fight with the event organizers and security. NOW The auction center in the middle of the lake is not having a good time right now. It looks fine on the outside, sure, but the alarms are going off, and people are coming out of it while being escorted out by lightly-armored staff and officers while the more heavy-duty gear is being brought inside. Inside, meanwhile, looks like a war zone. Displays are mostly intact, but seating and furniture are strewn all over the place along with quite a bit of blood and bloody footprints indicating which way responders have gone to try and track down the culprit. They don't have to go far, though, considering that the gunshots and expletives being shouted make it pretty clear which auditorium Kukuru has turned into a battlefield. That one in particular is a lot bloodier and messed up. In addition to the furniture, there's also gear and weaponry that's been slashed apart, ripped off, or thrown aside in the chaos that's still ongoing as Kukuru pounds another armored heavy into the tiled ground.
Friz	Grit: Too cold out. We'd die in a matter of hours. Dirt: Typical. Get to go groundside and it's like this. Why's that, boss? Savvy: They enjoy the juxtaposition. It adds a sense of safety. Moxie: Can't guess they're feeling very safe right now. Grit: Senses being wrong gets you killed. Dirt: Alright gang, focus, vehicle's slowing down. Savvy: Moxie, inside ASAP. Dirt, get us a location. Grit, guard up. "Rogers!" Friz yells into a tape recorder that she has actually forgotten to turn on to maintain the cover. She's dashing out of the stopped semi-sled all-terrain truck and rushing inside. "Heading inside! Trying to find the locations (assailant, targets, goods (she said 'everything' but she wanted just one thing...), escape route, anyone in need of recovery)!" "On it." A phantom whisper is the only sign of her invisible ghostly companion who rushes alongside her, phasing into the structure and starting a mad spectral dash through the halls to assess the situation. Friz skids to a stop inside one of the wrecked chambers and tries to pick up Kukuru's trail by making a rapid forensic analaysis of all the damage, to get an idea of where she's gone and what kind of damage needs recovering.
Kale Hearthward	THEN "Okay, finally time to go off duty, probably shouldn't have taken double shifts..." The mission notification comes in. "Oh, come on." NOW Kale enters, flanked by his pair of pilots. "...Jeez, did someone have a vendetta..." He strides on through, eyes glancing around rapidly at the carnage. If there's visible wounded, the pilots break off and go to evac them, while Kale continues on following the trail, and (as he closes in) directly following the sources of noise. "Aw, Kukuru... What have you done this time?" It's spoken like a sitcom punchline. You can feel the laugh track begging to be slotted in. "Did someone here steal your lunch or something?" Kale tries to get Kukuru's attention, on the premise that if she's paying attention to him she's not playing matchmaker with the floor with someone else.
Eryl Fairfax	Did you know the Paladins keep an eye on auctions such as these? It's true! Generally they'll plant someone in the audience only to make low bids on items expected to be hotly contested. Enough noise to not be suspicious, but not actually buying anything unless it's suspected to be intensely dangerous. No, the real reason they do this is because of precisely this moment. A lot of wealth concentrated in one place draws this kind of attention. Better to have someone on the inside than not. But due to surprise sick leave and bereavement leave, the people who would usually do this aren't available. And the one that stepped up is... "We'll take care of it ma'am." Eryl says to a hysterical heiress as he escorts her out the front door before pulling them shut. Turning around sharply, he marches into that auditorium, rolling up his sleeves, noting the arrival of Fritz and Kale. "I think that's enough, don't you?" he calls out as he assesses the area. Injured, how many? Dead, how many? Items, how many have they taken?
Sarracenia	Sarra had said she wouldn't stop Kukuru, but she had come along just to see how bad the items on display really were. She's a bit late though, and when she arrives and finds all the blood and damaged gear everywhere her expression turns to a bit of a frown. She sighs and pulls her hammer from her satchel before making her way inside. On her way in she provides healing mushrooms for any wounded she passes, and when she reaches the room Kukuru is in she gives her person-sized hammer a flamboyant twirl before smacking the shaft down against the ground enough that it resonates throughout the room. "It seems you should have asked after all, Kukuru. I would hardly call this a heroic display." she says as she makes her way closer. "I know I said I wouldn't stop you, but...I think perhaps that is enough. I thought you said you were going to remove the items? Not dispatch of every guard and armed person here." The princess is a bit surprised when she is joined by two people with similar views. It does kind of reinforce her position though. "So, what do you say we remove the dangerous items and get out of here?"
Evehime Gevurah	Kukuru is a simple and earnest creature. This terrible atrocity could only ever be someone else's fault. By which is meant that she had the ill fortune to complain about an auction during the time the Gevurah was listening at all. Which actually means she had very good fortune and Evehime would take full credit for it. Which she will. Because she came out to see it. Which is really really bad actually. It could be worse. Being in a tall building in the middle of a frozen lake actually sort of precludes the Gevurah's favoured form of dramatic entry. A while after the Paladins first responders have already hit the scene via tactical deployment channels, heavy footsteps grind through the snow and tromp the creaking ice beneath. A woman chest and head and shoulders taller than the crowd of fleeing auctioneers makes her way upstream of the panicked crowd, the sheer pressure of her presence cutting through the flight instinct and urging all the others to make a wide berth. Her wildly inappropriate dress for the freezing cold is no matter; neither are the security barriers in the way. "So is the fate of those who draw swords in the name of something so trivial." With that kind of voice, she probably just could have started talking on the other side of the lake, and Kukuru might've still heard it normally. "Those who quickly fight over nothing, quickly die over nothing. I expected nothing better of those deluded enough to believe in 'auction'." However, she is definitely inside, albeit, not with a ton of headroom. Having simply come in through the front, that means having incidentally formed a sort of pincer with Kukuru up front. "You have done well to abide by the wisdom I gave you. Few have the courage or the foresight." Even at rest, arms loosely folded, weight on her heels, the amount of violence one woman can exude while casually blocking a door is unbelievably intense. "Well? Have you claimed what was withheld from you? Have you set them right in their error?"
Kukuru	Friz, Kale, Eryl, and Sarracenia all get thankful looks from the officers and attendees stationed outside as they head in, some pleading with then to save the auction, save the stuff, and/or get some good footage while they're inside. The pilots aiding the wounded in particular get a wide-berth, too, so they can evacuate those that can't extract themselves. Sarracenia's healing mushrooms are also taken gratefully, munched on rather quickly and spread around to make it that much easier to not stay in harm's way. Nobody attempts to stop any of them, of course, as they already know that Elite problems often call for answers from the same. Assessing the damage is quite easy: Over two dozen guards and officers wounded, three dead, and one civilian with a mangled arm. All of the damage and actual fighting appears to have been going from one of the waiting rooms to the main auditorium, as though Kukuru just went straight for the main area (and through anyone trying to stop her) instead of making detours or actively seeking people to beat the crap out of. Nothing has even been reported stolen yet, although that number is likely to go up if she gets her way here. Tracking the culprit/Kukuru is fairly easy to do, as she's made no attempts to actually hide her tracks at all. The loud banging noises coming from her slamming one of the guards into the ground are a pretty good indicator of that. "... Huh? Oh, he-llo Kale~" She greets him in her usual tired, sing-songy tone, even waving at him lightly with one of her claws. It'd be a really pleasant greeting, too, if there wasn't a comical amount of blood on her and the claw in question. "I'm here to pick up some stuff!" She says matter-of-fact'ly, following Kale's idea to a letter already considering that speaking clearly isn't a free action for her like it is for most other people. "No, no, nothing like that... If someone stole my lunch, though, then they'd really be in trouble." She declares with a firm little nod. "I'm here to... What'd Chainsy say... 'Liberate the auction'!" She sounds proud of that. "The stuff's here really expensive, you know? Too expensive for someone like me to get even though I'd use it safely, but not too expensive for dangerous people to get. That's why I gotta take this stuff back to the Concord. And then..." She trails off, as if trying to recall the rest of what she was planning right until Eryl arrives. "He-llo there! Oh, you're that sturdy man from the... When we were in that weird world with the old lady and the knight and those horrible laser birds." She replies, then taps her (claw) fist into her (claw) palm. "Oh, you're right. I need to start gathering up all this stuff."
Kukuru	With her mind back on track, she's once again sidetracked when Sarracenia addresses her next. "He-llo, Sarra~ A heroic display... Oh, like a... Like a cool speech, right? I'm no good at those. They're so long and... Wordy." She replies with a pleasant-sounding giggle like she's just realized something silly slipped her mind. It's genuine, too, rather than mocking. "Right? I told them that's what I was gonna do, too, but they didn't wanna listen. But now that you're here-" She smiles brightly, gesturing around the partially-destroyed auditorium. "Yeah, let's get this stuff back home. Then we can make sure nobody bad gets any of it!" With her plan settled, she's about ready to start figuring out what stuff to grab first, but a new development happens: An Evehime happens. Those outside are wise enough not to stop her, and those inside don't dare to get in her way even when they're just kind of staring and forgetting to chew on healing mushrooms. Even Kukuru finds herself staring for a few moments when she hears that familiar voice coming from an unfamiliar face, and she practically beams with joy once she (visibly) makes several connections at once. "Oh, Evehime! He-llo there~ Ah, it's so nice to meet you finally. I don't know if it was courage or fore... Sight? But it made sense, what you and everyone else was saying." She affirms with a firm nod, then snaps her (claw) claws like one would snap their fingers. "Oh, right. I didn't pick it up yet because the people running this didn't like it and the guards were trying to stop me, but I'll be taking it with everything else." Everyone can practically see the light bulb going off in Kukuru's eyes. "Oh! Even better: You're all here now, right? We can gather everything up super fast with more hands now!"
Eryl Fairfax	One can practically see Eryl's eyes glaze over as Kukuru begins going on and on about 'liberating' the auction house. Of course this idea had to come from some bad sources. And one of them, the worst one, is right here. The situation has gone from bad to worse. First thing's first though. Having located the wounded, Eryl transmits an order, and a Paladins paramedic team rushes into the room, tending to the guards and stabbing painkiller into the wounded civilian so they can set their arm back in place. "First of all, 'liberation' is the wrong word for what you're doing. That implies that you are setting these objects free, but you're just taking them for yourself. The word you want is 'looting.' Or perhaps 'pillaging.'" He steps forward, surreptitiously putting himself in a place that lets him respond to attacks on his medical team. "Secondly, I refuse to believe you could not afford them. You are Concord, their bank accounts are practically bottomless. If you had a good reason to want these things, you could have petitioned the leadership for the funds." He exhales a long sigh as Kukuru naively assumes that everyone can help her 'carry everything out.' "Lastly, I'm not here to help you. Priority one is the people you hurt. My people are going to stabilize them and get them out of here. Priority two is stopping you. I would really much prefer talking it out with you however. What exactly is it you want here?"
Kale Hearthward	Guh. Evehime. "Okay, so, why..." says Kale, trying to choose words very carefully so as to not make the lady-shaped nuclear bomb go off. "... If your problem is that it's too expensive for you to get, what makes you have the right to have all of it?" he asks, trying to focus on Kukuru and not Evehime. "Like, what about... me, for example? I'm not rich either, and I'm not a dangerous person," he says, the latter of which is debatable. "How come you get all of these things, and I don't?"
Friz	Moxie: Run. Run run run. Or at least get out of the way. Run!! Dirt: Holy heck, chief, there's so much blood. Oh god. Savvy: The tall one. God, even I can tell she's going to be a nightmare. Grit: Stand. Moxie: What? Grit: Fairfax is here. You heard his orders. Stand and stabilize the scene. The princess, the warrior, and the assailant are encountered all at once. Her hand jumps with a will of its own under the coat, but another hand lashes out to snatch it and stop the hand before it reaches the holster. Grit: You heard him. Moxie: But look at them! Grit: You heard what he said. Savvy. Speak. She takes a deep breath. She swallows. She pulls out a badge to flash, kept in a beat up little plastic and pleather display on a chain. "Officer 'Friz', DVSD." The others make certain ideological arguments. Friz's eyes dart back and forth, then towards Kukuru. She needs to know what's happening, to circulate information through the beating heart of this confrontation if it's going to live healthily. "There's something here you wanted (more specifically, needed). Can you tell me what it is? Can you tell me why you need it?" She was ordered to reduce violence. So she approaches it with that in mind, swallowing nervously. "I need to know the locations of the people you've injured (beyond being able to flee) for recovery. Can you tell me that?" A hand goes to her headset, to start relaying whatever she can.
Friz	While she has her finger hovering over the headset, she can pretend, deniably, to converse with someone on the other end, while she converses with the one who's started speaking to her. It takes a very careful observation to notice she doesn't fully press the headset button when she talks to someone on the other end... "Can't blame her for having those goons paying their sourcers twice on the auditorium floor. Who knows what kind of shit they're holding back that she needs." "Rogers. I'm seeing a lot of viscera. Too much for a tactical operation." "When the world cuts you loose, kid, you cut loose too. And that chief you're following -- you think he gets it? The way you can't ask for help when you're hurting? I bet you get it. Lay it down. Show her you understand why she didn't ask for cash." "I'm working on getting information, Rogers. This isn't the time for-- I'm not supposed to be doing something like that. Especially in in an op with the chief." "Then you're just gonna be another arm of the law that Kay the Claws is willing to make red ribbons out of." "..."
Evehime Gevurah	"The correct word is 'righting'. The tired one is righting this auction." People don't usually talk over the Grandmaster of the Paladins, but then Evehime doesn't really look like a Google-using or Linkedin kind of person. "Which is indeed no form of liberation; it is the rescinding of freedoms that should never have been permitted." It's a relief when her eyes go wandering around the room. The way they move smoothly and without saccades is a little eerie, but it's better than feeling like they're casually reading St. Peter's book of sins and virtues in someone's direction. "I will explain once again. An object should be traded for its worth. No more and no less. A ritual custom for gathering a herd and inciting them to a false sense of scarcity and fear, manipulating their atrophied drive to survive in order to extract the highest profit. It is intolerably barbaric." She glances down to the blood that has stuck to the metal bottoms of her wrapped boots. "Men who are paid and kept to fight and bleed for curiosities are fools who meet a fool's end all on their own. A separate matter. If they bar her way with violence, then they should only expect to be met with violence in turn." "Their custom against her wisdom. They chose the arena to be force of arms. And they lost. The laws of 'God's creation are simple." Friz makes her appearance. Evehime only needs glance back out of the corner of her eye, a tiny sliver of intense cyan blue, to exert the feeling of being held at gunpoint. Some sort of mental gear grinds slowly forward, wearing through layers of rust to notice something. "They haven't their own healers." she seems to realize. She only sounds disappointedly blasé. "I see. You are those. That misplaced mercy is yours to give." Her attention wanders mercifully back to Kukuru. "If you seek the path of a hero, your first step must be taken somewhere. The charisma of a hero is obtained late upon the journey." And then something sort of weird happens. Evehime raises a hand, tilts her head, and presses her knuckles softly against her cheek, staring at the selection of display cabinets displaying the aforementioned cursed and exotic weaponry. She actually looks distracted. Or at least the equivalent nameless feeling. "The fools deal in weaponry too? For what purpose? None of them can fight." She starts wandering to the side, just sort of brushing off the ongoing catastrophe to start looking for herself, crushing broken glass and tile underfoot and leaving bloody bootprints in her wake.
Sarracenia	Evehime enters and Sarracenia feels that weight. She's felt it from a couple other people, and it is hard for her to resist every time she encounters it. She has to take a few deep breathes to keep from just staring forever like the normals in the area. Once she has recovered a bit, Sarracenia also sighs. "Kukuru..." she says in that way one does to a child that has misunderstood something. "You are obviously much stronger than any of these guards. Did you have to hurt them so badly?" she asks, then shakes her head. "No. Even if I agreed with what you were doing, I wouldn't be able to help after all of this. I was expecting a quick break in, a speech about what you were doing, and then a quick exit. But...you killed people. Those people back there? They and their families won't get to spend any time together anymore. They won't get to enjoy good food or drink. All because someone told you that you should just take what you want and not worry about the consequences?" She looks to Evehime after that. "And you told her to do this? You think she did this because she has courage and foresight? She probably wouldn't even have considered this if it wasn't suggested to her. You should be ashamed of yourself. Taking advantage of someone so trusting who is too innocent to have reservations." Sarra turns back to Kukuru and holds out a hand. "Leave these items here and come back with me. If we leave now, perhaps with my healing items and proper monetary compensation we can get out without anyone else getting hurt." Then Evehime talks of heroes and Sarra's expression sours greatly. "You call this heroic?! By what standard?! The same barbaric standards you claim these people are guilty of?!" She points her hammer at Evehime while keeping her hand held out for Kukuru. "Heroes do not needlessly kill and maim just to prove a point or to get a few items for themselves! If a true hero had done this, there would be next to no casualties and no fatalities!"
Evehime Gevurah	"I had told her to reclaim the item taken from her at exorbitant cost, return the idiot buyer's money, and pay the degenerate seller the fair worth of the item she meant to trade for." Evehime sort of talks at Sarracenia without turning her head to look. "It was only the obvious. The laws the tired one found herself entangled in seemed to her confusing and unfair, and for good enough reason. Refusal to be kept beholden to them, and act by what they should have been, imagining oneself in a fair and just world, is a fundamental exercise of asserting one's basic humanity. One your people struggle with immensely." She is apparently too busy scanning around cases, like an art museum tour, to feel threatened by the hammer being pointed at her out of frame. Probably. "Ridiculous. Of course I have no intention of calling this heroism." says Evehime. "The challenge is inconsequential. The required bravery a bare minimum. A mere scuffle over trade goods in the marketplace, as far as I understand your people." She pauses for a second on 'you should be ashamed'. Evehime glances down at herself. Mainly her upper half. She goes back to looking for weapons. "I am not. You may stare if it pleases you. Be grateful."
Friz	Dirt: She said staring's okay. Savvy: Literally the worst possible time, Dirt. Dirt: Gotcha, boss.
Kukuru	"It is? Oh." Kukuru takes Eryl's lesson surprisingly well, even going as far as squatting in place to listen to Eryl give her more accurate words like some kind of attentive and well-meaning, but incredibly dull student. "So 'looting' and 'pillaging' is for taking stuff, not freeing it... Oh! So liberating is more for prisoners rather than stuff... I get it now. I knew you'd be the smart one to figure that out." She's receptive to that much, at least, although she seems confused when Evehime gives her a completely different word and meaning to consider. "'Righting'... Hmm. And 'rescind'... Oh, this is useful. I should 'write' this down." She giggles lightly at that awful barely-a-pun, but continues squatting while listening to Evehime intently. She nods in particular at what Evehime states about the guards, seeming rather calm even about being so close to someone that's still groaning on the floor beside her. "I brought some of my savings to try and buy some things, but... It's not just about the money, no. Chains and Evehime here taught me some really good stuff about why this kind of thing is bad, though, yeah. All that stuff about... Yeah, all that! And..." She wracks her brain momentarily, then puts on a deeper tone as though she's trying to impersonate someone. "'Auctions are an attempt to cluster wealth. Extraction of wealth through the fear of the herd.'" Her tone actually sounds kind of strong for once, which might feel incredibly wrong coming from someone that looks like her. Kukuru certainly notices, and she mouths a few more words to herself in that faked Evehime-esque tone. And then she's back to her regular, gentler tone once the question of what she actually wants is asked. "Oh, I wanted to get the rice cooker they had here. It's a really dangerous one, so I wanted to make sure nobody could hurt anyone else with it, and then... Um. All this other stuff happened." She gestures at all the people she's already hurt and are in the middle of being evacuated. Thankfully, she seems to have zero interest in making sure they stay down, as though she really might have been (overre)acting in self-defense. Kale asks about the differences between them, and that actually takes Kukuru less than a second to come up with the answer. "Oh, that's easy! I'd be bringing these things back to the Concord." She states simply, taking another couple of seconds to realize that Kale might actually want more than that to convince him. She also smiles broadly at Evehime for some reason as she continues. "Everyone back home is super smart, and they know how to handle dangerous things like these way better than me or you. They're the real heroes, you know? They know how to figure out how to use things like this to improve stuff for everyone else." It wouldn't even take a mind reader to realize she sincerely believes that and everything else she's ever said.
Kukuru	Friz asks about the locations of who Kukuru had already hurt, and she points around the auditorium. Even without counting those that have already been evacuated, there's still several injured guards scattered around: Some with mangled limbs, some with holes in their bodies, and an unlucky few that appear to have been partially smashed into other guards. "You're really nice, to worry about them all. But... They were here to stop me from righting the auction-" She looks over at Evehime for confirmation. "-and keeping that wealth stuck with only rich people that would do bad stuff with them. That's why..." Kukuru turns to Sarracenia next with a slightly more confident smile. She's learning (questionable things). "Mhm! It's my job to teach people not to do bad things or hurt my family in the Concord, and sometimes that means I gotta hurt them. If I don't, they're gonna hurt other people. My family, my friends, lots of people. If I wasn't stronger, they would've hurt me and wouldn't even care. I'm strong, though, so it's fine! And if they die..." She trails off momentarily, turning to one of the few utterly still bodies nearby. She squats beside it, holds her claws over the body, and... It starts moving. The head starts piecing broken parts back together, the crushed chest cavity reforms, and there's even pained breathing after a while. The guard opens his eyes, sees Kukuru smiling right at him, and then he (understandably) scrambles to his feet while screaming and running right on out of there. "... Huh. They don't usually do that." Kukuru purses her lips, then shrugs and turns back to Sarracenia while pursing her lips. "I dunno... I can't just leave without getting our stuff. Besides, I already left my payment with..." She furrows her brow again, once again struggling to remember. "... The guy with the sign, I think." There are many signs here." There's quite a variety of weapons on display at this auction ranging from the magical, the fantastical, the technological, all the way up to and including the bizarre and the impractical. Evehime's search (and anyone else looking around) will surely find something that might even resemble their own preferred sort of weapon, although with fancy flourishes here and there along with placards describing their weirder effects up to and including: Bullets that introducing live bees into someone's bloodstream, gauntlets that can curse an attacker's second-detached ancestors with raging bloodlust, a plasma sword that naturally draws the ire and attention of anyone that has or hasn't maintained a strict diet, among other things.
Kukuru	It takes a little while longer for Kukuru to realize she's never actually answered the thing about 'stopping'. Only then does she finally stand up, pursing her lips again before finally shaking her head. "But... No, I can't leave. Not like this. I asked them nicely before, and they refused. If I leave now just because more people asked me to, then..." She inhales once, then cricks her neck. "Nobody would take the Concord seriously when we ask them politely the first and only time."
Eryl Fairfax	"And what is something worth exactly?" Eryl fires back at Evehime. If he's intimidated, he's doing a great job of not showing it. "Is it material cost? That plus a percentage to make a profit? What if it comes from far away, and transporters must be paid? Since everything is apparently so simple, I'm sure you have an answer." He glances aside at Sarracenia and scoffs silently. "Your Majesty, with all due respect; of course she doesn't have any shame. Look at her." He gestures at Evehime's everything. He looks back to Kukuru and his tone loses a tiny amount of edge. "There's so validity in that, about the clustering of wealth. But I ask you to consider this; it's fun for them." He looks around at the hoarded valuables and says, "Once you reach a certain threshold of wealth, it becomes difficult to spend it. So auctions like these are a game of sorts. Items of value are put up and those who come compete with each other to get the best possible deals. Is the final cost an inflated one? Usually yes, but they can absorb the loss." He looks back to Kukuru and says, "Now of course there are issues with using that level of wealth for something so trivial and whether or not the items of value were sourced ethically or not. A conversation I'm willing to have, but not when people are bleeding out." When Kukuru finally reveals what it is she wants, Eryl has to bite his tongue. All of this for a rice cooker? "Miss Kukuru," he begins. "If it is so dangerous, should be it used at all? I'm sure your friends in the Concord mean well, but if they intend to employ this object towards some end, is that no risky? Does that not pose a threat to them if something goes wrong? If your ultimate goal here is to make sure it can't hurt anyone, the best way to do it is to destroy it, or put it somewhere no one can find it." He waits a second for that to sink in, and then offers a compromise. "Let me take it from here. I'll go out into the ice, far from where anyone will see, punch a hole in it, and dump it into the waters below. No one will find it. I'll even leave the auction house a fair amount for the loss of the good." He shoots Evehime another look as he says 'fair amount.' "And in exchange, I ask your help in making sure everyone leaves here alive. How does that sound?"
Friz	Dirt: She thinks we're healers. Moxie: Oh I wish I knew what to do with all this blood. Savvy: Well I won't lie. Savvy: I guess our purpose... "...is to make the amount of harm happening go down, true. And we do that however we can." Friz nods carefully, putting the badge away after a short squeeze. She looks closely at everywhere the finger points, eyes widening just slightly. Grit: Some of those guards are near death. Grit: Bring in medical care now. Dirt: Got it. I'll report positions. Guard there, there, near the seating pile, over at the northeast smashed displays, two at... "...and one at the east entrance. Get medical now, they don't have time." She chants with the cadence of someone carefully reading off a script, as her Dirt manages the situation precisely. A certain spectral influence is directing her on the triage front, much to her consternation and frequent brow-furrowing. Is a ghost particularly good at telling who's on the verge of death? In a way, absolutely. He stays well clear of the resurrective force, while Friz looks on with a disgusted awe. Grit: Horrible. Wrong. Moxie: What do we do next? Grit: It's awful. Savvy: Grit's out of commission for a minute. Focus on harm reduction. She focuses properly and clenches her teeth. Getting a bit irresponsibly focused, she says, "You need to leave. This is the only warm building nearby (and we can't manage a full evacuation (definitely not at this pace) on this short notice). And I can't let you kill more of them." She takes a heavy breath, swallowing her fear. "What needs to happen to get you out of here with nobody else dead?"
Sarracenia	Each of Sarra's points is systematically countered, and she ends up back to staring. When she realizes she is staring she mmphs in annoyance and blushes before clenching her teeth and gripping her hammer in both hands. And then she is staring once again as Kukuru pieces back together one of the people she curbstomped or something and that person gets up and runs off. "Well...that does reduce things a bit." she says, then coughs softly into a gloved hand. "But, you lose the good will points usually associated with healing." she says. Eryl says 'look at her' and Sarra is back to staring, and then back to shaking her head quickly to break the spell that Evehime seems to be radiating. She slaps her own cheeks lightly a few times with both hands, then grips her hammer again. "Guh! Stop saying to look at her!" she exclaims suddenly at Eryl. She huffs after that. "I think there's a misconception here. These auctions are not really the cause of the clustering of wealth. Usually have have to have clustered wealth in the first place to even attend one of these auctions, so the auction itself effectively does not cluster any wealth that was not already clustered somewhere. While many consider it distasteful to have such high stakes auctions, the auctions themselves do not cause any harm." she says, then pauses as she thinks about it. "...usually." After the pause, the princess adds, "Wait, did they take something from you and not pay you properly?" She doesn't really wait for an answer though. Instead she moves to put herself in front of Kukuru. "As part of your Concord family, I think I can safely say you have made your point. People that get in the Concord's way are likely to be dealt with swiftly. But, you are also hurting your family and friends if you insist on taking the items in a fight. It will cause others like them..." She motions to Eryl and Friz. "...to be more likely to fight in the future rather than come to a peaceful solution. I like to fight as much as anyone, but it is different when people - and especially non-elites - get hurt."
Evehime Gevurah	For whatever baffling reason, Evehime appears to find the weapon descriptions incredibly amusing. It's not a light or relieving way that she laughs to herself; it has the energy of molten caramel bubbling off an exposed and dangerously humming high-voltage line. The impetus is pretty obvious though. The plaques are pretty ridiculous. "Ah, I understand. Craftworks of humour. Performance art, rendered in sharp edge. Eccentric taste, to be certain, but I distantly grasp their appeal. I admit the temptation to put one through its paces for sheer novelty is intense." She's talking to herself, but not about anything good. Up until Kukuru tries to reassure herself about something. "Interesting. But incorrect. I have yet to meet one who knows better how to handle weaponry than I. Even comical as it is." Evehime finds a case displaying the giant lower mandible of an extinct dragon, primitively fashioned into a giant sword and dug up from an archeological site, which purports to bless the wielder with good fortune and protection after practising the ancient tribe's, ritual involving eating a quarter of one's body weight in one sitting. She pushes her hand through the glass. It'd be wrong to say she smashes it, because it really just kind of crumbles like a paper thin layer of puddle ice melting in the sun. She lifts the entire eight foot sharpened fossil out and lays it out over her other hand to examine by touch. "I am Gevurah, not Binah." Evehime replies to Eryl. "It is likely within my ability to gauge the value of these things with some accuracy, but not within my ability to care." "That your people lack the wisdom to agree upon the worth of things, and seek only to take from each other, is known to me. That you worship the demon 'profit' is known to me. That you still fear cold and starvation no less than your ancestors, and must bind each other in endless chains of threats and contracts to feel a facsimile of safety, is known to me." "I am not the one who will bestow upon you the Treasury of Wisdom. And you have no need of my telling, nor intent to choose differently for it." She appears to find the weight (extreme) and edge (currently undamaged) acceptable, because she looks up with a glance of withering impatience at Sarracenia. "Fool. Did the tired one not just tell you? She came seeking an object she had need of, and it was kept away from her; though she was willing to pay its fair price, its seller would not give it to her, for he intended only to corce the other vermin into throwing away their fortunes for him. This is the very core of her grievance." She speaks aside for Kukuru. "You have no use of these amusing arms. Nor do those who have fled and left them. I would add them to my collection, where they may yet spark some glimmer of joy in their one-day use." She's doing test swings now. They're pretty shallow and look very gentle, mainly just to test the integrity of the bored handle, but the backdraft can be felt fluttering clothes across the room. "Go freely. My advice was given to you without expectation of repayment, or even that you would be wise enough to . . . do your best, to follow it."
Kukuru	"Oh, don't worry! She's really pretty." Kukuru reassures Sarracenia with a soft chuckle, apparently feeling no shame whatsoever in staring right at Evehime when she says that. The talk of the actual value of these items, the source of wealth, the clustering thereof, and other such things goes right over Kukuru's head, and for good reason: She's not built to do numbers. She can understand what Eryl means about the throwing around of large numbers to find some kind of fun and what Sarracenia's getting at about the potential for harm, at least, but she doesn't look like she approves much. "That's exactly why people like that shouldn't have any of these things. The Concord's not like that, though. They'll make sure the risk is only being pointed at people that aren't in our family, anyway." She '''reassures''' Eryl, clearly not sounding too worried about the possibility of the Concord itself messing up when using any one of these weirdly specific yet probably dangerous artifacts even while watching Evehime swinging the giant mandible with sheer curiosity. "Besides, I'm sure we'll only use these when there's more of us around, so we can handle whatever accidents happen." Friz states her goal in reducing overall harm, and Kukuru takes all but a moment before breaking into another smile directed right at her. "That's really good of you. Even if you're not in the Concord... You can be one of my kids, too~" Kukuru sounds as though she's already made a decision on that instead of actually giving Friz a choice in the matter. "If you really want me to go, though... Hmm. I still really don't like any of these people getting these things. The Concord really could make good use of them, too." She furrows her brow as she looks from Friz to Sarracenia to Eryl, then strokes her chin again. "It'd be easier if we didn't have to fight, but it's not like it would never happen. But if we destroy these things..." She ponders aloud. "Then... Nobody gets them, and then nobody's in danger?" She might need some more convincing there to really push her just over the edge. The topic of the rice cooker, though, has Kukuru holding her ground again. "I know you mean it when you say you wanna make sure nobody gets hurt, Eryl, but... They said this thing was supposed to be hidden for a super long time, too. It's not hidden anymore, so I gotta make sure it's somewhere I know it won't be used against my family." She sounds weirdly adamant about that, and it's one of those rare instances where she isn't giggly or humming or even mildly drowsy for once. Evehime declaring her own intent to take the stuff has Kukuru visibly thinking, too, complete with chin scratching with that giant bloody claw. "That's true... I wouldn't know how to use most of these, anyway. I mean, swinging around a big thing is fun and all, but it's.. You know?" Without realizing she just skipped an entire thought there, Kukuru kips back up onto her feet before looking around that auditorium again. "Although maybe I'd be more popular with the kids if I had something cool, too... Ah, but Evehime's a smart cookie, so I bet she'd be able to make things better with these, too. Or even keep them out of some self-named hero's..." Kukuru trails off as she starts outright running. She reaches a display, picks up the reinforced glass, then retrieves the item that started this whole mess: An old-looking pink and black electric rice cooker with some yellowing paper attached to the side. "I found it! I found it!" She sounds absolutely giddy as she returns to the group with her find, then tucks it under her arm. "Okay, that's settled... So! Is everyone okay with that idea, then?"
Eryl Fairfax	He's losing her. Eryl scrabbles for something to grab hold of, even ignoring Evehime as he thinks. She wants to prevent harm, but also believes the Concord would not use it to harm. So the safest place is with them, stored... away... A connection is traced through his neurons, racing from flesh to implant as he devises his approach. "You know Kukuru," he begins. "There were others once with the same line of thinking as you. 'These objects are dangerous in the wrong hands, so we should lock them away. We can trust ourselves not to use them, and no bad people can get to them.' And so they did just that. Storing away objects of power, massive rooms dedicated to their archival." "They were called the Union and Confederacy. You need only look to the Njorun Crater and the Maw of Tyrants to realize what became of them." Again, a pause, to let it sink in. "If you do this once, you'll do it again. And with each item stored away, the danger grows. One thing going wrong will cascade to multiple things going wrong. This happened to organizations as large as those. Modern factions don't compare in size and scale. Are you willing to take that on for the Concord? Make that same mistake?"
Sarracenia	Sarracenia sighs softly as it looks like much of what they were saying goes over Kukuru's head and tries to ignore Kukuru's reassurance about Evehime's beauty. Evehime swings that sword, causing Sarra's dress to flutter and causing Sarra to watch in a bit of awe. And growls a bit at being called a fool. At least until Kukuru goes to get that rice cooker. Sarracenia blinks a few times, then peers. "That's...an awfully modern item to be a dangerous object. What exactly makes it so dangerous?" she asks Kukuru. Sarra listens to Eryl's argument, but will it work if Kukuru already thinks the Concord is the best place that can do no wrong? "If you really want to make sure they don't hurt anyone, just find a volcano or a sun to toss them into or something. Destroying them is pretty much the only sure way. Otherwise like you said someone will someday find them again and use them. Evehime is smart, sure. But, she is also ruthless from what I've heard. It's best to just ensure no one has them if you are that worried about them." Noticing Friz and her crew are still going about healing, Sarracenia produces more of those magic green spotted mushrooms for them to use for the people who might need them.
Friz	Dirt: Boss, not sure what that cooker is. Looks plain. Grit: A problem in its own way. An anomalous object? Savvy: Makes sense. It was with other hazards. Moxie: Can we recover it? It's dangerous. Savvy: No. Fairfax wants to have it destroyed. Moxie: Then find a way to help him before it blows up or something! Savvy: Guh. Fine! Savvy: Everyone on-deck. How do we approach Kukuru? Moxie: A flanking maneuver? Savvy: Not like that, idiot. Socially. Moxie: She's taking this action because she's... forced to. Dirt: I can see her holding steady. Under the sleepy stuff, something firm. Grit: She fears for something important. Some great harm. Savvy: What kind of harm could get her like that? Grit: More. Savvy: More? Grit: More. Savvy: Something more harmful than we can process. Okay... Moxie: I need to take this as if I were the one acting to protect someone... Moxie: Okay, I think I understand. Savvy, please. Savvy: Alright, Miss Kukuru. Do you think... "...you could tell us why your family's at risk from this? My job is to notch down all the harm I can. Maybe, if we work together, we can find a solution that tones down the risks for everyone -- the civilians, your family, us. A detective's job is to cut through darkness and keep people safe from dangerous unknowns. Help me understand the unknown here, and keep everything safe. If it's just this artifact, wouldn't destroying it notch that down for everyone...?" Her tone, her posture, her focus, treats this as a great threat. No, she treats it as... a threat to herself. She's trying to approach this with the maximum possible empathy, and while taking the healing mushrooms (hey, even better than the stuff from Hydroponics!) she can focus on administering and distributing care and amp up that empathy to intense, must-act levels. She's riling herself up, to approach this with maximum sincerity. Savvy: You guys think this'll work? Dirt: No clue. Depends on how the wildcards on her team work. Moxie: The princess is pitching in. Savvy: Isn't she Concord? Grit: Safety is important to everyone. Moxie: It has to work. Has to. We have to do something...
Evehime Gevurah	After a short debate about the subject and nature of heroism over the radio, and Evehime catching on that Friz is a detective and not a healer a few minutes after her saying so, the Gevurah ceases faffing about when Kukuru comes back with the rice cooker so unjustly stolen from her. A slightly different tilt of the head seems to suffice as a nod. The angle she has to look down at Kukuru from sort of half-precludes 'nodding' anyways. "I care nothing for what you do with the rest of this trash. I came only to see how you chose to act upon the wisdom given to you, and how you would enact your justice. That there was something else of interest to me is mere coincidence." A much more unpleasant laugh follows Sarracenia trying to urge Kukuru to reconsider. "What will attempting to keep these trifles from me accomplish? Who will be kept safe by denying my collecting of weaker weapons?" Evehime is clearly bored of this and near looking to exit by now. One can tell by the fact that she's idly spinning the half-ton bone sword one-handed like fidgeting with a pen. "I would seek to test them for amusement, here and now, but the ice of the lake would not hold against any vigorous play; it would only plunge this building and it entire collection to the bottom of the lake. Restraining myself so much would be agonizingly dull." "Asides. I do not recall ever once asking your permission. Bleed and die, for the sake of spreading deadly arms to rich fools, if you must. I have given up on trying to fathom the reasons your people see worthy of throwing their lives away."
Kukuru	Eryl makes a salient point for Kukuru's mind to chew on, notwithstanding the fact that she wouldn't actually know what the word salient even means. "I remember them... Well, hearing about them. Before everything blew up, yeah..." She murmurs with a slow nod, seeming to get what he's trying to point her at as an example of the worst excesses of gathering stuff and not using them. She furrows her brow as she chews on that point some more in her head, then snaps her fingers (she also finally takes a claw off just to do that). "I think I see what the problem is, then... They weren't using them enough." She proclaims, coming to the wrong conclusion. "If they just used them normally until they broke, then they wouldn't have... All that happening with so many things in one place. Even putting all these in the water could make that same thing happen< but..." There's a reflexive recoil when Sarracenia mentions tossing them into a volcano. "Oh, that's too hot. Going there would... Oh! If we throw them from super far away, maybe that'll work." She suggests, but furrows her brow again when Sarracenia mentions Evehime's ruthlessness. "Oh, then... She'd be really good at using them right, huh?" She lets out a weary groan, clearly hitting some kind of mental wall the longer this goes on. Being asked about the importance of the rice cooker, at least, helps focus her on something easier. She sets her claws aside to lift the rice cooker, turning it around a few times to inspect it herself. "This? Oh, they said this one's supposed to be a demon-sealing rice cooker. If I let someone else have it, they might use it to go after my parents, right? So if my parents have it instead, it can't be used against them by some jerks calling themselves heroes, /and/ they get a replacement for their old rice cooker!" That just might explain how she found out about this thing and the auction in the first place. Friz's intent to protect even the weak, meanwhile, comes through to Kukuru, and she approaches the detective with her free/non-rice cooker holding hand raised to pat her on the head. "You're a good kid, too. Just don't be too worried about trying to understand everything, okay? Sometimes, it's okay to just relax and... Know that you don't know stuff." This is indeed her attempt at sounding wise at least once today. Evehime mentions a desire to test the weapons, though, and Kukuru strokes her chin lightly before snapping her fingers again. "Oh, I know what we can do! We can bring these somewhere else to test them out in a fight, break them against each other, and then we can throw the rest into something bad. Then everyone gets to have fun, and it's safe!" She suggests, not realizing that there is not a single safe thing about that entire plan. It's her own genuine attempt at keeping everyone happy, at least, as long as they're not the guards she had beaten up on the way here or the auction holders that could very well be losing their entire stock that's in this building. "I'm keeping the rice cooker, though."
Friz	A conversation occurs, on the radio. <J-IC-Scene> Princess Sarracenia belatedly, "I understand that. I'm just saying to be a hero nowadays you need to be more than just a person of legendary deeds." <J-IC-Scene> Evehime Gevurah just sort of rumbles offhandedly, as if it were a Fun Bug Fact, "Were you not nominally human, you would be dead where you stand by now. A subordinate warrior would execute you for the insult." <J-IC-Scene> Princess Sarracenia says, "A true hero would not be insulted, so seems fair." <J-IC-Scene> Evehime Gevurah says, "I did not realize that you could breathe water." <J-IC-Scene> Princess Sarracenia says, "Hah! People always underestimate me." <J-IC-Scene> Princess Sarracenia says, "...I'm not sure why breathing water is important, though." <J-IC-Scene> Evehime Gevurah says, "There is a thousand feet of freezing water beneath you." <J-IC-Scene> Princess Sarracenia says, "But you just said you weren't going to break the ice, didn't you?" <J-IC-Scene> Evehime Gevurah says, "I said that it would bore me to test these arms without breaking it." <J-IC-Scene> Evehime Gevurah says, "I do not mind sinking this entire lake, building, and all those in it, for the growing sense that I would feel satisfaction in seeing you drown." <J-IC-Scene> Evehime Gevurah says, "It would inconvenience myself only in that I would later have to dry my collection." <J-IC-Scene> Princess Sarracenia says, "Oh! Uuuuh well I can breathe water so no point in that! Hahaha..haha..." <J-IC-Scene> Evehime Gevurah says, "A shame. Choking the life from you would be less amusing." <J-IC-Scene> Kukuru says, "Oh, we can have an underwater party sometime!" <J-IC-Scene> Eryl Fairfax says, "The water would be below-freezing. You condemn others here to death just to swat a gnat?" <J-IC-Scene> Evehime Gevurah says, "If you fear for their worthless lives, then swat the gnat yourselves. I have taken you not for fools. It is abundantly clear that you mean to avoid combat at all costs." <J-IC-Scene> Evehime Gevurah says, "If the tired one has need of them, she will revive them." <J-IC-Scene> Kukuru says, "Huh? Oh, nuh-uh. They're not with the Concord, anyway." <J-IC-Scene> Eryl Fairfax says, "I am not in the habit of killing people for being mildly irritating. And even if you do not have need of these people, they live their own lives. Have their own families to go home to." <J-IC-Scene> Friz mentally navigates through something, under her breath. <J-IC-Scene> Evehime Gevurah says, "Then deal with her in whatever way you see fit, before my increasing irritation outweighs this amusement." <J-IC-Scene> Evehime Gevurah says, "If she cannot control herself, then I will afford you the opportunity to control her, and if you will not, I will do as I see fit." <J-IC-Scene> Evehime Gevurah says, "You all wish for the same thing. Negotiate amongst yourselves." <J-IC-Scene> Evehime Gevurah says, "I have no interest in appealing to your better nature. I have been uncommonly patient thusfar." Grit: We need to stop this. People here will die. Moxie: Okay! Savvy: Wait--! Dirt: NO DON'T!!
Friz	Another of those impulsive dysfunctions. "I'm so sorry ab--" Is what Friz is trying to say, before one of her hands leaps to her Detective Special revolver, draws it, and fires straight at Sarracenia with one of her horribly bruising stun rounds. "Oh god--!" She manages to sort of squeak out in a panic that seems just as surprised at her own action. Savvy: WHAT THE FUCK? Dirt: AUGH!! Grit: Horrible. Moxie: We need to-- Savvy: FIX THIS!! "Is that enough!!" She calls out in a panic to Evehime -- whether the shot lands or not.
Sarracenia	Sarracenia listens to Kukuru and...is quite fine with this. Using these weapons against fellow elites in a relatively controlled manner to break them seems reasonable enough. So, she nods to Kukuru and smiles. "I am fine with that. And if that cooker is just dangerous for demons it seems reasonable safe to send it with a demon. Just...don't go sealing up other demons without just-" And then Friz suddenly fires that weapon. Sarracenia is caught completely off guard and with an unceremonious yelp is knocked off her feet and lands in a heap, twitching and shuddering and groaning. She's really no warrior and not especially hardy, so depending on just how stunning that stun shot is she may be down for a while.
Evehime Gevurah	<J-IC-Scene> Princess Sarracenia says, "If you have a problem with me, then take it up with me. We can arrange an honorable duel at a neutral location at a later time." <J-IC-Scene> Evehime Gevurah breathes out, long and slow, and then drops her bored fidget-spinner-y tone for the cold and hard hollowness that she'd spoken with before Mars, ostensibly just to say to Sarracenia, "I do not take orders from you, worm. You do not have the luxury of choosing how I engage you. You are not free to decline whatever happens to you. I do not respect you. I have no desire to meet your demands nor bend to your comfort. You will cease with your incessant declarations that I know nothing of the term 'hero', or I will enact upon you whatever I so feel is appropriate, and all those around you will be subject to the consequences. I have made myself clear." The idle spinning stops. The giant bone blade stops six inches deep in the tile and concrete floor with a sudden crunch. Evehime has visibly lost all interest in further examining the collection of eccentric five star vendor trash, and is focused wholly on Sarracenia with such cold intensity one could almost hallucinate a targeting reticle over her, exuding the air of someone who should be boredly sliding two new shells into the breech of a shotgun. Then it's actually Friz who shoots her. The bungled half apology into a panicked gunshot into a disastrously timed fall from the princess is so sudden and absurd, so deep into the tree of understimulated ADHD black humour, that Evehime can't help but laugh. And this time it isn't even menacing laughter. It's just loud and rich and utterly shamelessly amused, hard not to fall into the gravity of and be swept away in finding the same thing as sincerely funny as she does. It goes on for a while too. She has to hold her face for a while to stop herself from giggling, then brush away the hair that's fallen around her shoulder. "'Seeking to prevent the most harm'? How unexpectedly excellent. I understand very well now!" Evehime pulls the archeological slab free of the ground and swings it casually up over her shoulder. "Well done. You should be proud. Few of your people maintain the sense or spine to recognize which threats they can halt and which they cannot." She casually puts her hand through another display case. "I am satisfied. Continue with your healing." She defaults to focusing on taking all the cursed killer implements while ignoring anything else.
Eryl Fairfax	Silence Sarracenia, or stop Evehime. On paper, it's an obvious choice. One of these is much easier than the other. But the act of doing the easy one means ceding to Evehime's barbarous view of rules and decorum. It means tiptoeing around her like one would a living natural disaster. And that is not the way any civilization that Eryl would want to adhere to should be. It's less a Paladin thing, and more a personal one. No single person should get to decide how things are in the microcosm of their personal reach. But Friz makes a deicison before he can, and Eryl sighs and nods. "Kukuru, can I leave the Princess to you? She's family, after all." Whether or not she answers, Eryl sets about helping his paramedic team wheel the injured out of the auditorium. On the subject of the pressure cooker and the swords, he's silent. One is just too simple, and the other too strong. His words and strength aren't enough here.
Friz	Grit: Slip her one of those fungi. Dirt: How many do we have? Savvy: She gave us plenty. Seriously, Moxie, fix this!! Moxie: Fine, fine!!! Taking a deep breath, Friz puts her gun away quickly, still muttering a few frantic apologies. When it seems like it's settled, looking between Eryl and Evehime, she feels completely out of her depth, but... somehow not in trouble for it? Oh thank god. She works on helping Eryl immediately to make sure she doesn't get into more trouble... but when she does, she makes sure to slip by Sarracenia and press one of those mushrooms back to her. The bruising will sting bad, but hopefully her own stuff can take the edge off! And as she does, she whispers, "(Oh god) I'm so sorry (oh god) (augh)."