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Hibiki Tachibana     'We'll do it somewhere out of the way.'

    When Hibiki said that, one might expect her to maybe choose a location in her own homeworld (discounting the forbidden quarry of de-handing). Maybe claim a spot at the Shrine of Adversity after she got her behind handed to her there only a little bit ago. There's even a conveniently-always-vacated sports stadium that she's been to more than once. But when she said out of the way (and also 'I know a good river or three'), she meant it - from the nearest Warpgate to who-knows-where, there's nothing but wilderness and forest.

    And, after a short bit following directions that nevertheless requires a good walk, Bikki style, a wide parting in the treeline revealing a babbling brook. Or maybe something closer to a creek. Waist-high at its deepest and running down a single stumpy rocky ledge, the running water is flanked by a flat shore of stone and sparse grass on one side, and a slope that steadily scales back up into thick greenery on the other. As long as you don't get waterlogged, the only real mobility limitations are the loose silt beneath the clear liquid and boulders of various sizes scattered around.

    Plenty of room to do business, in other words.

    Business being...well, it sure sounded like she was invested in getting John to go all-out against her.

    And upon arrival, one can find Hibiki already leaning against one of the larger rocks on the waterside - not transformed just yet, because of course she's not, though the crimson pendant she uses to do so is hanging outside her jacket collar this time - arms folded and head tilted downward in what might be thought, though with eyes up for the expected arrival(s). It's not as if she made what she was doing any kind of secret, after all.

    You will not, however, find places to buy snacks for the show like back at the Shrine. Bring your own. Maybe a chair, too.
John Doe "Huh, nice stream," John says, and it's hard to know exactly when he arrived.  Despite him not being a giant hole in the minds of elites, he still can be quite sneaky and hard to notice without the right powers, especially if he does nothing to disturb the area around him.  Fortunately, for elites, talking disturbs things enough for them.  

John himself is a young man with a face that screams like someone who's been on the streets for years.  He's got a wide-brimmed hat, and a jacket to help keep the street off him.  A good pair of shoes and decent enough clothing, but it looks like it's been self-repaired.  Right now his hands are in his pockets.  

He's looking out over the water before his eyes settle down on Hibiki.  He cracks his neck and draws his hands out of his pocket.  "Well, you invited me out here.  You ready?
Stanley Padgett     And standing beside John, probably noticeable before him, is Stanley Padgett.

    Stanley's out here in his school uniform, carrying his duffel bag, and his foil. The bag gets plopped onto the shore, the foil is drawn from its sheath, and the young man stands quietly at John's side.
Remee Halcyon Remee leaves the closest warpgate with whatever group, but ends up getting sidetracked midway, and either she loses track of the group or they lose track of her.

She emerges at the site a bit later, from an entirely different direction, sniffing at the air before catching sight of Hibiki. "Oh! There you all are. Sorry, I caught a scent."

"And speaking of which, I'll be right back," she says, retreating back the way she came, and then re-emerging a few minutes later. "This is where we're setting up, right?"

The good news: The snack problem is solved, because Remee brought food with her. The bad news, if you're not a fan of fresh venison, is that the food she brought with her is an entire deer.

"Hey, Hibiki and John, you two want to call dibs on any bits?" she says as she drops the deer at a reasonably flat area, and goes to pull a hunting knife out of her boot. "Assuming you don't break your jaws or whatever?"
Stanley Padgett     Also, today, Stanley's hair is SHOCKINGLY RED. Thanks, Charlotte, You're the best.
John Doe John tilts his head to Remee, "I'll take a hind leg," he says without a second thought.
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT DRYCLEAN brought a chair.

A blue shrouded shape folds itself down from a higher dimension, before revealing a vessel that swiftly dumps them on the ground nearby holding a cheap plastic folding chair. They adjust their antennae their jacket as the ship rapidly ascends out of view, and sets the chair up off to the side. The monolith of a robot gives a polite wave to the assembled kids.

    "Hey there, folks. Pleasant weather for a fistfight, ha ha."
Petra Soroka     The Kana arrives leisurely, though the roar of its engines makes it sound anything but, flying low to the ground. Petra's cleaned out her cockpit somewhat, and she even brought bottles of soda for people. She looks refreshed today! Her hair done up in a loose bun again, she's got a fuzzy vest zipped up beneath her ever-present bomber jacket, and she's even put on some light makeup, just because she felt like it this morning.

    Petra's happy to serve as a bus for anyone she bumps into between the warpgate and destination, picking them up into her cockpit if they want a lift. Her willingness to do this is heavily impacted by her need to overwrite the reactions everyone had to the state of her mech last night, of course. Petra's also brought soda!

    The Kana settles into its resting position on the grass, and Petra hops out and greets the crowd with a wave. "Hey everyone!" She starts walking over to Remee, then scrunches up her nose at the prospect of being right next to a butchering, and ends up sitting down in the grass a comfortable 10 feet away, plopping the soda down next to her.

    "Oh, John, I take back what I said about wanting Hibiki to win. I'm rooting for both of you!"
Persephone Kore      Persephone is fashionably late. It's easy to tell when she steps out of the nearest warpgate, even miles away- a pall of warmth and love and ominously vast gentleness immediately falls over the congregation, like an emotional color-filter.

     She dials it back a few seconds later, to a subtler level. Haha, sorry!! You're supposed to be fighting, aren't you? Don't let me stop you!

     When she actually arrives, walking at an unhurried pace- how do her heels clack on soft dirt, anyway?- it's without any kind of chair or accommodation. That doesn't bother her.

     Leaf litter and dead branches rise up around her without a word or glance, are elegantly shredded into dust like Saturn's rings, and are then compacted under unimaginable pressures into diamond. Specifically, a diamond folding chair.

     She sits down in it with an easy smile, legs crossed, and 'telekinetically' pulls over one of Petra's sodas to pop its tab with an easy smile. "It sure is!" she says to Dryclean, a laugh underlining her words. "Who are you cheering for? Or are you just here to put more in your dossiers? Let me see those sometime!"

     Then, in Petra's direction: "I think I'm cheering for both of them, too. Or maybe... no, I'm really just cheering for both of them to show us how amazing they are. It's no fun if they don't both get to show off, right?"
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT DRYCLEAN has already settled, leaning forward in their chair in what could be construed as anticipation, before they manually adjust their secondary monitor to point vaguely in Remee's direction. They give a quick, sharp whistle to get the attention of her or someone standing near her, before reaching into their jacket and pulling out a... floppy disk? It's promptly lobbed over as soon as she glances back; the throw is accurate. It's not obvious if the irony of whistling to get a werewolf's attention was lost on them or not.

They adjust their primary monitor, then, to point at Persephone. The audio visualizer it usually displays distorts slightly into a vague grin.

    "Ergosphere. Glad to meet you in person, ha ha." A pause, as they run a hand over the edge of their jacket. "Now, I ain't in the habit of bettin' on things I'm lookin' forward to any outcome of. Would diminish somethin' if I guessed wrong, ha ha."
Stanley Padgett     Stanley looks a the growing throng of people gathering alongside, looking to turn this into a party, and grips his foil tighter.
    No, he does not go over to mingle. He does squint at people though, before turning his attention back to Hibiki and keeping it there.
Remee Halcyon Remee, in turn, looks a bit iffy at Petra's sodas. "Don't suppose you have water?" she asks. "Those sodas aren't great for you."

The interaction between deer and knife will not be translated into text, but the interaction occurs, and fortunately gets done fairly quickly. Halfway through Remee's knifework is paused by Persephone's lovebombing arrival, and it takes her a moment to get going again.

The knife gets cleaned up and put away, just in time for her to catch DRYCLEAN's thrown disk. Her lips frame a question, but she decides to just ask about it later.

There's another question she wants to ask first, in any case. "Hello," she says, to Persephone, eyeing the diamond chair and then back to her. "Don't think I've run into you yet? I'm Remee."
Cantio Cantio will absolutely take some fresh meat from Remee. It's not something she's tried before, but there's a first time for everything! Worst case scenario, she can always wash it down with some of Petra's soda. She doesn't show up empty-handed, of course, as she's brought along a weird-looking drone with a spigot inside its wide open mouth. It might look familiar to at least a few people here.

She also has her own chair made of smaller drones assembled into the shape of a stool. It's not very comfortable, but at least it's next to Phony's seat. "I'm more interested in seeing what they've got up their sleeves. Hibiki's been getting stronger and stronger ever since the first day I've met her, but this is going to be the first time I'm seeing John in action. He could have anything up his sleeves, and it does sound like he's left some impression on quite a few people already even with his... Um. Lack of that."

There's a non-zero chance one of the drones she's sitting on is recording what she's saying. There's also a non-zero chance it's going to get disturbed when she sees DRYCLEAN, too, gawking at them and the audio visualizer showing what could be construed as an expression.
Hibiki Tachibana     There he is. Hibiki is, notably, not someone with the kind of abilities to notice John if he doesn't want to be noticed. But now that he's shown up, she doesn't seem to be terribly surprised to see him - if anything, her expression shifts to something resembling a tight-lipped grimace when she gives a once-over of his appearance before going back to something more neutral. After taking a breath in, she pushes off the surface she's using for her dramatic-arms-crossed-cool-girl angle, standing up straight at her full (and not very impressive) height.

    "I wouldn't have already been here waiting if I wasn't. You remember what I said, right?" Leaving that question in the air for a moment, she brings a hand up to grasp at the crimson pendant hanging from her neck. Out of everyone assembling, it's Stanley who gets a glance and a 2-second long stare cast towards him as he takes up position, before she closes her eyes.

    "Balwisyall nescell Gungnir tron..." Light shines out from the gaps between her fingers and resolves into one bright enough to briefly silhouette her entire body, before gathering together into individual pieces of Symphogear - gauntlets, boots, undersuit, headpiece, and then finally the obnoxiously large scarf that covers half her face.

    "...I don't want you holding anything back on me," she finishes her earlier thought, grabbing onto one of her shoulders with the opposite hand and rolling the arm a bit. "That'd go and defeat the whole point of this. And if you don't, I'm seriously going to kick your ass." Beat. "...Tenderloin, thanks," she murmurs in Remee's direction.

    Actually, there's a whole lot of spectators today, and even though she's not really looking in their direction - as hard as that is when it comes to the Kana, or literally warping in, or you know, Persephone - you might be able to see the smallest bit of a grin beneath that oversized scarf before she once again goes back to full seriousness.

    And then one foot behind the other, both fists up in a stance not entirely departed from a boxer's, body visibly tensed, she gives a nod. "'Personas'...alright. I've seen Stanley's, but this'll be a new one for me, too. Then come at me with everything you got."
Petra Soroka     Petra shudders when Phony arrives, miles away. She doesn't quite recognize it as her yet; Phony's presence washes over her like the cold sweat of a fever, hot and shivering at the same time.

    And then, of course, Phony makes herself known in the way only a princess could. Building herself a throne and taking an offering. Petra's easygoing look is as ephemeral as it is rare, and with Persephone's presence, she looks tense, on edge. She's not trying to start anything though, so with a bit of strain showing on her face, she does her best to ignore the least ignorable person in the universe.

    "Come on, Remee, it's a picnic, soda can be a treat!" Petra smiles and offers one over to her, before drawing her hand back and looking worried. "Or, wait, is this one of the things you can't have? Because of your thing?"

    Stanley's standoffishness catches her eye. It's not like she doesn't *get* why he's like that. Petra knows this is a fight, about two concepts that demonstrably get under her skin too, Ideals and Lilian. But, at least for now, she doesn't want to think about that, so Stanley can stew on his own.

    "Do your best, Hibiki!"
Persephone Kore      'Ergosphere' takes Persephone a moment to process. When she does, she breaks out in a laugh. "You're right," she says, eyes drifting shut to accentuate her smile. "You're not in the event horizon! Yet."

     "But are you saying you'd be sad to lose a bet?" She takes a little sip of her soda before elaborating. "If you don't enjoy both winning and losing here, you won't get very far!" That seems wrong, but...

     The unexpected arrival of a funny little robot guy has piqued her curiosity, too. During a lull, Phony eyes them contemplatively, like she's trying to read something off their shirt. But her eyes are focused on the narrative, not the material. More specifically: Why are you the way you are, little thing?

     Remee, eventually, snags her attention away from the psycho-narrative examination. "Oh! Haha, no, we haven't met! Don't worry, though, that's normal. Most people haven't met me!" Persephone says, cupping her cheek in an armwarmer-cushioned hand. "I'm Persephone, or Phony for short! Can I help you with something?"

     Off to the side, a 'telekinetic' force gently ruffles up Petra's hair as if it were a hand. Phony's gaze slides over to the offering-bringer. She'd already be taller, but with Petra sitting on the grass and her in a chair...

     "Thanks for the drinks, Petra~ Oh, but you don't look well. Can I do something for you? Less light? More? Here."

     A cloud in the sky scoots in front of the sun, casting gentle shade over Petra.
Lilian Rook     "Out in the woods, Tachibana? Really now? Were you actually hoping to get away from the prying eyes you'd already summoned, or . . ."

    It wouldn't do if Persephone's crushing aura of warm and all-encompassing helplessness somehow discouraged Hibiki from fighting properly. There has to be someone whose questioning tones can be needles on the back of her neck and trickling liquid menace. The fact that Lilian has shown up at almost exactly the same time from the same end as Persephone is, in of itself, likely significant, as otherwise the entire point was that she didn't have to be here, but the question she asks is filled with catlike interest anyways.

    "Was not being able to walk it off later the entire point?"

    Even now, Lilian is evidently busy. She pulls up beside Persephone, sits atop one of those convenient boulders, unshoulders her bag, removes a weighty leatherbound book with a non-English title, flips to one of sixty different bookmarks, and splays it open over her knees, then slipping out a tablet PC to lay on top of one page so that she can touch type one-handed while reading. Hair up, eyes down, heels still on as well as her autumn jacket, none of that distracts her in the slightest from saying "I'm certain that you realize, somewhere in your heart rather than your brain, why you brought yourself here. Ignore the bystanders. They're insurance."
Stanley Padgett     Sorry, no.

    Stanley turns, and is now watching the crowd, as Lilian enters.

    And he keeps watching the crowd.
John Doe "I'll be fine, Stanley.  Just make sure not to get in the way, no matter what happens," John says, with a crack of his neck, and throws his coat and hat off.  He watches her transformation, with some interest.  "Huh, so a magical girl.  That'll be interesting." Though before he gets ready, he cocks a look toward Petra.  "Huh, so what's with the change of heart all of a sudden?"

Couldn't have been anything he did, so it must have been something Hibiki did.  He shrugs head turning towards Persephone until that is turned down and he can refocus.  He sucks in a breath and starts walking forward toward Hibiki.  With every step he makes the ground starts to increasingly shake.  

That is until he's right in front of her.  He just stares right at her for a minute, and then breaks into a small grin.  "All out?  Alright then.." he says before he tilts his head up.  "Man in the Iron Mask...COME FORTH!" he says, commanding the persona.  

It manifests around him.  It's larger than he is, by a good foot.  Its arms and legs are wrapped in chains.  Those chains have various colors of argon and neon.  The mask itself is fluorescent.  Behind the mask a single eye is visible, glowing brightly like a spotlight.  The chains move like snakes, rather than hanging down as chains should.  

Then he swings, arm smashing through the air itself, enough to crack the wind in a small sonic boom to try and start things off.  Perhaps he was trying to get a measure of her speed, and how to properly engage her.  Or perhaps he was just showing off?  It's hard to say.
Charlotte Newman     Charlotte is actually here. What kind of friend would she be if she wasn't? Though she is at least keeping herself relatively away from the rest mostly out of a lack of familiarity. As a result, the girl is doing the Aloof Rich Girl thing of staying off to the side where she has a decent enough view of the two stars of the show, but isn't conveniently approachable by anyone else.

    She watches through the lens of her phone's camera, which lets her zoom in and out as needed, at least.
Remee Halcyon > "Or, wait, is this one of the things you can't have? Because of your thing?"

"I can have a little, but it's not good for me - and not good for you either," says Remee, but she relents and takes a soda from Petra.

> "I'm Persephone, or Phony for short! Can I help you with something?"

"Just wanted to introduce myself to everyone, you're the only person here I don't remember having met before, and you have an interesting..."

Remee tries to find words to describe it. "Aura?" she says. "Whatever it was with the... feeling of peacefulness and contentment. Kinda nice, makes it hard to carve though, you know?" she says, smiling.

"Oh! Speaking of. Excuse me a moment."

Remee gets a quick fire pit constructed, with a bit of time and effort, and gets a collapsable metal grill out of her gear bag. Pretty soon the venison is underway, with smells that are considerably more appealing than the ones from the butchering session earlier. (Unless you happen to be a wolf, in which case both sets of smells are very appealing.)

> "They're insurance."

"I think more like, witnesses? That's been my take in this sort of dominance fight," says Remee as she goes to rejoin the fight-watching. Good, she hasn't missed much of the actual fight yet.
Petra Soroka     Lilian shows up too. Petra's expression somehow falls further. Her smile and optimism gone. No matter what her current aim with Lilian is, interacting with her is *exhausting*, so this isn't a relaxing picnic for her anymore. Between her and Persephone....

    Petra claps her hand to the top of her head, like she's trying to crush a bug, and shoots a glare at Persephone. The anger almost immediately freezes into shock, sliding through the spectrum of fear, to nervousness, to a sort of unfriendly pout. A silent apology, an attempt to unsay something she didn't say in the first place, for fear of retribution. She hugs herself, as if suddenly cold in the shadows Phony brought. She stiffly picks up her sodas and moves a few feet further away, back into the sun.

    "Stop that. Don't..." Phony can feel the unreadable knot of Petra's mind writhing in discomfort, "Don't show off like that. I don't like it." Faintly, apologetically, "Please."

    The fight starts, but Petra's eyes are unfocused, not looking at the combatants so much as she is past them.
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT DRYCLEAN readjusts their primary monitor towards Stanley at the mention of seconds. "If formal rules were bein' pulled, Miss Tachibana should probably have appointed someone as well, ha ha. Guess that's for next time." Their grin is directed right at the presently-recording drone as this is stated. Gotta wave for the camera.

DRYCLEAN is hard to nail down for Persephone. Mental and ontological threads are woven like a cobweb, a tangled knot leading in a hundred directions that converges on the position of a particularily tall robot sitting next to her. It takes some effort to untangle something from it; though as a history is teased out from the mass, she almost feels something snap at her. None of her prodding seems to stick, as an active force rights the disturbances, a child rebuilding a sandcastle pelted by the waves ad infinitum.

She sees something, then nothing. Emptiness, but awareness: naught but the concept of time. A second passes. An hour passes. A day passes. Twelve years pass. Thoughts fold into themselves, with no concepts to latch onto. A second passes.

    Everything.

    You hear everything.

Squads mustering kalixcis cooking show engineers greenlighting activation a child's first word a grandfather's last breath the cosmic background radiation a thousand symphonic compositions at once.

It's the most beautiful thing you've ever heard. You love it all.

    We need to hold onto it all.
    I need to hold onto it all.
    Can't lose any of it.
    Won't let any of it get lost.



DRYCLEAN returns to staring at Persephone. "Felt that."
Hibiki Tachibana     Even though Hibiki sure is focused as much as she can on the opponent ahead of her, it's not like she's deaf. Petra's cheering reaches her ears loud and clear, and that tense stance of hers loosens up for just a moment - before going right back to it twice over like confirmation. It's impossible to ignore Lilian's arrival, either, and as just impossible to ignore what she says. The fact she's done so is almost funny, even. And she can see, out of the corner of her eye, Stanley's unsurprising reaction.

    "...Maybe it just might be something like that," she admits under her breath, entirely focused on John.

    And then he's moving. That kind of rocking the earth with every step is plenty enough to show that it's not like she's punching down or anything. That stare is met without flinching or moving, all the way until his bound-in-chains Persona is summoned - and a fist comes down. "...!"

    If he wanted an answer on 'how fast' she is, he gets it as she buckles her knees and makes a sudden lunge to the same side that threw the hit. The fist just barely skids past her face, and some of the metal of her Gear's headphone-like headpiece shears off in the wake of the shockwave. Plenty enough to show bad how a direct hit would've been.

    "That's right, I said--all OUT!" But then it's her turn. A boot catches her in the sand and stops her, and she turns on it before kicking off to lunge /in/ this time. The knee of her other leg is coming up for John's gut, with enough force that he's going to have to work if he doesn't want to end up with the air knocked out of his lungs and at risk of being blown off his feet.

    Though that might be less to worry about than the fact that, only a split-second after she makes contact, a fist is coming up towards his jaw to /actually/ try and send him reeling. "Come at me just like you would have come at her! Show me some of /that/ without screwing around!" He's sure not the only one with raw force cracking the air with each hit, and she's definitely not throwing a starting-things-off hit.

    This sure is 'fists only', though when it comes to the two of them, that kind of means a lot.
Cantio Cantio snickers lightly at seeing Petra's reaction to the long-distance Phony ruffling, clearing her throat a moment later before grinning at Remee. "We haven't really spoken much before, either, have we? I'm Cantio. It's good to meet you!" She greets her with a friendly wave, then raises an eyebrow at noticing that downward turn in Petra's expression. Spotting Lilian as she arrives to join the spectators, she puts two and two together before...

Giving Lilian a friendly wave as well. "Are you rooting for anyone today, or just... Curious?" She sounds rather curious herself, and she's about to follow that up with something about another fight in the near future before noticing that the duel has already begun. Without missing a(nother) beat, she focuses on the battle itself now, even taking on an announcer-y tone as she starts going into... A play-by-play?

"So that's a Persona... A ghostly figure, but one that appears to be connected to the user itself. John moves in for the first strike, and it's a close one, too, but it's not quite enough to land a direct blow on Hibiki. Good move, moving into the attack before all the momentum can come through and zero in on her completely, but can she capitalize?"

She's totally recording this. There's even a dim red recording light on the 'seat' of her chair.
John Doe The punch to his gut gets the young man to brace himself, aiming to defend against the hit, relying on his own natural ability to absorb damage and his Persona's borrowed strength.  Still, despite all of that the punch is enough to send him flying back.  The sand is split as he regains his footing and a nice shockwave of it blasted behind him.  

Oh, that was great!  Though then she says something that sours it.  "It isn't about her.  It's about anyone in my way, so stop bringing in old shit to this!" he says, with a regrowing smirk on his face.

He stomps on the ground as his Persona rears back.  Chains digging into the earth itself, spreading across the sand before the very area was similar to a prison.  Chains snap out everywhere, aiming not to only repeatedly bash Hibiki, but to control the very ground around him.  Mounds of chains will show up in inconvenient places, both in front and behind her to throw off her game.  

Chains from the earth spike up near her, but these ones are more metaphorical.  Should they hit, they'll latch on tight and make it harder for her to move in the field.  "Gota say, you hit hard.  I haven't gotten a punch like that in some time..."
Persephone Kore      "Awwwww, thank you!! Haha, I get that a lot, but it's sweet every time. I think I like yours, too." Persephone leans towards Remee adoringly. "Thanks for enduring it. I turned it down since I didn't want to spoil things! Just tell me if you'd like me to turn it back up, okay?"

     Phony winks. Near her eyelashes, the tiniest star ignites, sparkles, and dissipates. "You'll plate me up some barbecue too, won't you? I'm not sure how long it's been since I had natural meat."

     When Remee departs for the grill, she looks to Petra. The glare is met with a thoughtful frown. (She's only a tiny bit hurt, and trying to look even less hurt than that.)

     "'Show off'? But it's..." Now she looks surprised. "It isn't like that, you know. It's normal. But okay, Petra! I won't, just for you." Her smile's returned, impossible to keep down for long.

     The cloud stops being a cloud, because I told it to.

     A little while later, she's sitting in peaceful contemplation, armwarmer-clad hands folded in her lap. Dryclean Notices. "Yeah? Did you like it?" she answers, beaming.

     "Because... 'Everything'. The love of the universe. The need for things to be cherished, and seen, and remembered. I think I like that. It's a beautiful wish. Where did you get it?"
Lilian Rook     Lilian carefully flips a page using the tip of her fingernail, swivels her gaze back and forth from the modern device and the paper record that must be a hundred years old, utters a quietly unenthused sigh, and says "If you want to stare at me that much because I'm so attractive, then go right ahead, but if you're hoping to catch me in the act of some misdeed or another, you're wasting your time.", punctuated by the quiet rustle of another page flip.

    "If I really decided to interfere, you'd neither be able to see it nor do anything about it. So put that silly sword away and don't make things complicated for your friend." Flip.

    Looking up from her work, she all but literally stares right over the top of Petra's head to speak to Persephone instead. All of the withering ice of overwork and low expectations thaws in but the intervening second, almost like a different person with the same voice were taking over from there.

    "Hmmm? Really though? I feel as if that wasn't quite what I heard from you before, you know. If I didn't know better, I'd say you simply have skewed priorities when it comes to opportunities to see younger girls trying their hearts out." she says. "I suppose I can simply let you handle anything that arises, in that case. Ah, who has the drinks?" She pays half-attention to her tablet, tap-tap-tapping away at a new window.

LRook: So.                                                                      
LRook: Does it matter at all to you how she does?                              
LRook: I know that little favour only applies to me, but the question stands.  

    "Don't mind that one." she adds, when Persephone looks put out with Petra, in the same cadence one might use to refer to an unruly dog. "It's simply one of those insipid external validation sort of things. Marc's 'insecure attachment' thesis."
Stanley Padgett     "That's something we'd put to the test then, if it were to happen, wouldn't it?"

    Stanley's hand remains on his hilt. He spares a glance for the fight, but continues to keep his eye on the crowd. "But I know you're an upright and moral member of the Paladins, and would never do those sorts of things. I'm happy you're here, to keep that sort of interference from happening."
Lilian Rook     The bookmark moves pages. It actually doesn't really look like Lilian touched it at any point. "It wouldn't be a test. It's a fact. And everyone here knows it but you and your friends." says Lilian. Her fingertip taps the side of her chin a few times in thought, though it may just be about that hefty tome.

    "Moral, of course, but you people don't know the meaning of the word. Upright, though? I'm afraid if I were 'upright', I wouldn't have left you to your own devices the first time. I rather think morality can't be actualized without flexibility in the space between its absolute axioms."
Remee Halcyon > "Awwwww, thank you!! Haha, I get that a lot, but it's sweet every time. I think I like yours, too."

(("Do I have an aura?"))

> Just tell me if you'd like me to turn it back up, okay?"

"Yeah, actually, if you could - it's been... a rough week," says Remee.

Meat is requested. "Coming right up!"

She goes back over to the grill - and that's when Remee realizes her error. She has everything with her to cook and serve herself, but - not for dealing with a whole adventuring party like this. If people didn't mind sharing the one set of plates and utensils in her mess kit, or eating with their hands/paws and teeth - but she doubts this crowd would really go for that sort of thing.

What to do... she could get utensils couriered in via drone delivery, that'd only take a few hundred dollars to arrange, but it'd still take a while to get here and the rare meat on the grill isn't getting any rarer...

"Oh, hey, Persephone," she calls, heading back over. "Could you do that diamond thing with your chair, but for some plates and utensils?"
Stanley Padgett     Stanley smiles, wanely. A shrug, and then he goes back to watching the crowd for trouble, his hand on his hilt.

    "Watch the combo, John, she's got a nasty feint."
Lilian Rook     "Asking a woman for diamonds when you've just met." Lilian scoffs at Remee. It's hard to tell if she's serious.
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT DRYCLEAN leans forward against the backblast from the impacts, coat fluttering slightly in the pressure waves. They adjust an antenna, and the thread Persephone was reading off of is pulled back into the mass. Poor encryption.

    "Don't appreciate the proddin'. Ain't got anything to hide, but it ain't done yet either, ha ha." An almost imperceptible beat. "Same place anyone gets their modus operandi, pal. Corner store." Another beat, and then four laugh tracks played simultaneously; not much louder than their usual speech, but jarring nonetheless.
Petra Soroka     Petra squints at Persephone from her new sitting place, which, though farther from Persephone, places her right between her and Lilian. Phony's frown makes a small thrill of satisfaction run through her, but she scans her face for signs that she's being condescending. Not that she would be able to tell anyways. Nothing is accidental to someone with that much power, certainly not expressions of power or emotion. Petra remains on guard, but nods at Phony's agreement to stop teasing her. The cloud dissipates, one last demonstration; it's a bit annoying.

    "You know, Remee, if you want some dishware I can go grab some." Petra gestures to the mech, "All my stuff's in there."

    She moves to get up and retrieve the shitty metal dishes from the Kana, and moving puts her head directly in the line of fire between Lilian and Phony. She clenches her jaw, trying, and failing, to ignore Lilian's words, getting a few steps away before whirling around.

    "Don't talk about me like that. Like I'm not here." She clenches a fist, grinding a heel into the ground with the force she's exerting to attempt to keep walking towards the Kana. "And fuck your theses; I'm a person, not a subject." She stomps off in a huff.
Hibiki Tachibana     After the fact, Hibiki kicks back and lands back on her feet, staring down John - and that shift in demeanor for a moment doesn't escape her. Though she's not exactly able to respond immediately, on account of that heavy stomp and the incredibly unexpected attack that comes with it. Her eyes narrow, and she takes her laser-focus off of her opponent for the first time to quickly glance from side to side to attempt to keep track of the growing number of chains ripping through the area.

    Too many of them to avoid. For every one she batters aside, another one attacks from a blind angle or just barely slipping past her guard while she's busy with another. Still, physically knocking her around, she can more than handle. It's the ones that have another thing in mind that pose a problem.

    Just one of them managing makes it easier for several more to find their mark, and before she realizes it, more than a few of them are seriously restricting her movement options, and there's a moment where she lets out a heavy exhale, only pulling at them for a moment as if to test them before she relents and turns her attention back towards John. "Hitting hard is just about one of my only skills, you know," she huffs out before taking another breath in.

    "...Anyone who gets in your way, huh. Whether it's her, or me, or anyone else," she says in the vein of a statement more than a question. "...And you weren't 'spoiling for a fight, but willing to finish it'. I remember that. That's why I wanted you come at me like I was someone trying to do exactly that, y'know." And then, she pauses in order to make use of one of her still unbound limbs - a leg - and raises it high in the air. Nearly all the way to vertical, before a shout precedes her slamming it down instantly into the sandy earth right in front of her, hard enough to crater it in and audibly crack the rock resting under it.

    "So where's that kind of determination come from? The kind that lets you try and batter through everything in your way, even with that curse you hate so much--!" Though the direct transference of force isn't to straight beneath her, or else all she'd accomplish is putting herself in a small crater. John gets a moment of hearing the ground rumble louder beneath the both of them, until without warning--the ground beneath /him/ explodes upwards in a several-meter-high pillar of stone that's going to not only leave all the chains near him with no support in the earth, but bash straight into his entire body all at once and try and send him up into the air.

    Martial arts techniques are, frankly, bullshit.
Persephone Kore      "Awww, don't be mean to her, Lily-R! Petra's doing her best," Phony says sunnily. She leans back in her chair, an arm slung over it, to make lazy eye contact with Lilian. "She even brought the drinks. It's the least we can do to support her, right?"

     She would almost be more tolerable if she were patronizing on purpose. But not even Petra's closest scrutiny can find a drop of insincerity or contempt.

     Then, the question about the fight. "Ahahaha! But it's different, isn't it?" Persephone leans back in her chair, an arm slung over it, to look at Lilian. "For one thing, I haven't been talking Hibiki up to anyone! She won't make me a liar if she loses. For another, isn't she more like a peer to him?"

     Persephone's phone makes a cute, soothing 'bwoo' noise. She checks it, then tap-types with her thumbs, smiling.

PKore: Of course it matters, Lily! Weren't you listening?
PKore: I won't be satisfied unless she really does her absolute best
PKore: And I won't be satisfied unless John does, too!

     The chains attack from John makes her point. "See? Haha, there we go. Don't you love seeing things like that? Maybe you should be taking notes, Lily-R~"

     ----

     (("Do I have an aura?"))

     "Doesn't everyone?" Persephone answers, as if Remee had spoken it out loud. "Most people's are beautiful, but yours is... nostalgic, too. Somehow."

     She obliges both of the following requests with an indulgent smile. First, her 'presence': for everyone else, it intensifies just a tiny fraction closer to its original, overwheming volume. For Remee in particular, it goes far deeper. It becomes like the warmth of a crackling fire; the heaviness of a comforting blanket; the sweet precarity of being held, delicately, by something vast that means you no harm.

     It's like a new gravity, pulling her towards a particular relaxed headspace. One could struggle against it, but why would you want to, Remee?

     The leaf litter is gathering itself into black carbon dust, again, when Petra gets up. It dissipates just as quickly. "Oh! Ahaha, thanks, Petra! You're so smart, bringing all that stuff along. Diamond would be pretty bad to eat off of anyway, wouldn't it?"

     ----

     Phony taps her lips with a fingernail while regarding the two-headed robot. Her hair is disheveled by the same blast; it re-shevels itself a moment later, as if photoshopped back into its original state.

     There's that tiny frown again.

     "Thanks for tolerating it, then! Haha, it seems like a lot of people out here don't like having their hearts felt. I don't know why. Isn't it nice to be understood?"

     She pauses. The way she noisily sips her soda is completely at odds with the rest of her vibe. "You want to see and not be seen. Is that it? I guess that's kind of generous! But don't you deserve to be remembered and cherished too?"
John Doe The ground shakes, John bracing himself against the force of the pillar coming up from underneath him.  It's true that the chains were in the ground, but it's not the ground that's supporting them, they're all connected to his persona, and their being in the ground is just a matter of using the resources around him.  

As he flies up, his Persona appears behind him and hold's out its hands, breaking John's upward momentum.  It looks painful for the both of them, but he leaps from the Persona's hands and dives at Hibiki like a rocket.  Halfway through he spins, aiming to instead use a kick to try and connect with her chest and slam her backward.  

"Where does it come from?  The desire to live.  The desire to not be crushed by reality.  By society.  The wish is slowly trying to squeeze me out of being real.  Not to kill me, but to make it so I never existed.  So my wish is to leave a mark on this world so that it can't erase me."

"So someone who stands in my way is the same as someone trying to erase me."
Remee Halcyon Remee acquires the shitty metal plates instead of the neat sparkly diamond plates. Thank you(?), Petra.

Anyway the important thing is that there are plates! Remee goes to start serving venison steaks, cooked to everyone's liking, with the assumption made that most people like theirs medium rare at worst (and very rare at best).

The good news is that these are nice thick venison steaks, cooked well by someone who's had practice handling the meat, and saying that 'you can't get fresher meat than this' is practically (if not technically) literal for most people here. And there is of course more than plenty to go around, even given how Remee's piled four steaks on her plate and is calling it a 'first serving'.

The bad news being that it's entirely unseasoned, and there's no sauces on offer.

With the first round served to anyone who'll take one, Remee goes to take a seat next to Persephone, and watches the fight unfold. "Oh - that loks like a nasty kick..."
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT A dial on the secondary monitor is adjusted as the aura intensifies. Surface emotion implies [raised eyebrow / patronizing glance / understanding chuckle] in response to the questions levied. "Understandin's best when done through words, pal. Too easy otherwise, ha ha. Need that layer of miscommunication, y'know?"

They reach down and run a hand through the grass; their arms are long enough to do it without adjustment. "Bein' remembered's a passive affair, too, at least for some folks, ha ha. Imprints on passers-by and all that, and I ain't exactly tryin' to be forgettable." They point at some arbitrary direction upward; a meaningful arbitrary gesture. "Got my legacy all set anyhow. Now, I ain't disparagin' your listenin', as a fellow connoisseur, but doin' it while tryin' to drag me with the tides is a bit of a mixed message, ha ha. You just tryin' to know people, or are you tryin' to push them into something you already know? Question ain't rhetorical."
Stanley Padgett     Stanley does make a mental note to try and snag some of that venison when this is done, if there's any left. Though, He smiles at the ZEPHYRMAN attack from John. See, it works in real life too.
Lilian Rook     Lilian makes a quiet scoffing sound. "That's the problem Phony. I'd tolerate her more if she actually was." Suddenly, she doesn't seem particularly all that bothered about drinks anymore. Actually, she reaches into her bag and pulls out a thermos to take a sip from instead, apparently having had it the entire time. "I suppose that's true. Tachibana took it upon herself to save everyone a great deal of pain. But that had nothing to do with you." A brief pause. Lilian looks up, as if she had only just realized something. "You really are sort of incorrigible, aren't you?"

    Lilian sighs with the exact kind of exasperation that can only come from someone expecting someone else to keep their pants on and being disappointed. Her head lolls lightly to the side, eyes rolling up, at Petra's stomping. "I'd prefer that you join me in pretending that you aren't here. It'd be best for everyone, give that paper thin skin of yours." She barely seems to notice her storming off.

    "Would you give a single solitary shit if someone told you 'she's a person too' about me, Soroka?"
Persephone Kore      "Need that layer of miscommunication, y'know?"

     "Do you?" Persephone raises both eyebrows at Dryclean, like it's an idea worth her full attention to assess. "Mmmm, no, I don't think that's true. Talking heart-to-heart is a lot easier, when you get good at it. But don't worry!" She beams. "You'll get used to it someday. I promise."

     She looks up at the sky when he points, expecting to see something. She doesn't. The non-rhetorical question gets her tapping her chin, like that's a genuine stumper too. "Hmmmm. You know, nobody's ever asked me that before!"

     "I think... I want something in-between. I want to love and cherish everybody for who they are. I don't want to dislike anyone at all. But sometimes that's hard, and it's easier to love someone if they change a little. Or if they turn to show you a different facet. That's a reasonable thing to want, isn't it?"

     That question, on the other hand, is rhetorical. She is so utterly sure of herself. But just then, the steaks arrive!

     "Oh! Thanks, Remee! And thanks again, Petra~" Phony lifts her eyebrows when she tastes the unseasoned rare meat. She looks baffled, but then contemplatively appreciative, like it's a cultural novelty she just hadn't been exposed to and will have to learn to like. "Mmmm! This is really interesting. They do it a lot different back home, you know. But I think I like it!"

     "Awwww, don't worry," she says with a vague gesture towards the fight with her fork. "Hibiki will be fine. She's tough!" A little pause to swallow another bite. "Or, you know, 'fine' in the long term. Ahahaha."

     "Completely incorrigible," she answers Lilian, her words undergirded by another silent laugh. "I'm not wrong, though, am I! I think it'd suit you really well. You like seeing people squirm, don't you? It's a different kind of helplessness than you're used to seeing."

     Something's nagging at the back of her mind, though. A little while after Lilian's cutting remark, Phony cranes her neck to look over at the poor overwhelmed mecha pilot.

     "Hey, Petra? How do you want me to treat you? Sorry I can't read your heart to tell!"
Hibiki Tachibana     John has turned his momentary imbalance into--his advantage! Using his Persona like that is pretty unexpected in her books - it's genuinely like he's fighting right alongside someone else...even if it's an extension of himself. Could she even hit it? Would she be wasting her time trying? Or maybe if she did something about it, he could just resummon it back as if nothing had ever happened...no, none of that matters. Both because the crux of all of this is John himself, and also because she should be more worried about the incoming kick.

    With the chains still binding her in place, she forgets about dodging. Both her arms cross up in front of her, and John's momentum-driven assault smacks straight into the metal of her Symphogear's gauntlets - sand goes flying out from beneath her in all directions, an airburst blowing outwards from the high-power collision. Her dug-in boots skid backwards and work to hold their footing, but they don't go quite as far as he was hoping for. After a moment of struggle, she peers up over her forearm with narrowed eyes.

    "So wanting to live...and leave a mark on the world...that's what it's all for, huh? Haha...past that stuff about changing society, it's for yourself. Okay...!" It's easy to take it as her calling someone trying to stave off an existence-erasing curse selfish for wanting to do that--but she actually sounds...approving? Huh. Not that John will have much time to contemplate that, as Hibiki's counterattack comes swiftly, before he's even had the chance to pull away and recover from his own kick.

    After all, she's tied up, but she came to him. The arms she used to defend herself are suddenly thrown out to the sides, depriving John of something to push off of and momentarily leaving him in open air. Hibiki uses that instant to step forward, get underneath him, and then throw a fist upwards in a forceful blow aimed at his back with body-crumpling force. Enough to leave him airborne for another split-second--where she goes to grasp him by the ankle right after, and shift her body to /slam/ him down into the ground. Hard enough that he's going to bounce back off of it on impact. If there was any sand left nearby after the initial clash from his kick, it's gonna go scattering now.

    But it's gonna take more than just this brute force to leave a mark on anything! What are you gonna do when that isn't enough to move someone out of your path--!?"
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT Anyone listening to both their speech and the radio notices that they speak over both at once. There's overlap between some of the samples, but it's just an absolute clusterfuck of multiple meanings overlapping garbage. They flip their coat a bit, knocking the sand off.

Another dial adjusted, a monitor repositioned by hand. [Gravitas / appreciation / counter-patronization] is felt; you reckon it's on purpose.

    "Been there, done that, pal. Thought like that for a spell, too, but hearin' things in someone's own words means you get those concepts tinged through their ears, y'know? Lets you understand them better, hear things like they do, ha ha. Folks bein' angry or flat-out wrong means you get the best view of what's goin' on in their dome."
Remee Halcyon "Oooh, that uppercut..."

> "Mmmm! This is really interesting. They do it a lot different back home, you know. But I think I like it!"

"Oh, sorry - a different sort of grill, maybe?" says Remee, picking up on Persephone's surprise even if she doesn't really understand the reasoning for it.

> "Hey, Petra? How do you want me to treat you? Sorry I can't read your heart to tell!"

"Oh, um-" Remee doesn't quite understand what's going on with Petra and Persephone (and Lilian, and maybe a few other people) but she sort of gets a feeling that she shouldn't push herself into it *too* much, at least not at the moment this is at. Wait till the bigger dogs finish snapping at each other and go back to just growling, *then* step in.

She can, however, try a bit of a redirect. "Oh - you can read hearts?" she asks Persephone. "What is that like?"
John Doe The two clash in back-and-forth fisticuffs the moment he comes down.  His arms are forced away, but instead of trying to draw them back, he attempts to push forward, attempting to rob her of momentum the moment his guard's broken and attempt to ram her with his entire body, able to move what feels like a lot of weight at her.  

Of course, she was thinking the same thing, ducking under him as they both move forward toward each other.  He's only got a split second, but before the next punch lands, he shouts something.  

"Rakukaga!"

The persona immediately casts a spell through the chains and into John, who seems to be momentarily wrapped up in them.  His foot is grabbed as he's slammed into the ground with enough force to bounce again.  However, as before, his persona appears in front of Hibiki.  That eye glows as it slams both hands down attempting to crush her.  

Of course, John's expecting that she's fast enough to dodge them.  It's enough to buy him a moment to flip to his feet and recover his strength. It was quite the blow, and his ears were still ringing from it.  Hibiki is looking like she has him on the ropes.  

The chains don't disappear, crawling across his skin.  
Lilian Rook     "I suppose you aren't." Lilian says to Persephone. "And not often. But, I ask with some amount of trepidation, what precisely do you think would suit me well?"

    Lilian has a steak. At no point did she ever go over to Remee to get one, nor did she float one over like Persephone would have done. In lieu of a plate, the slab of freshly cooked meat hangs suspended in the air above her lap without dripping, whilst she rummages around in the inner compartment of her messenger bag. Though they're in sealed vials rather than conventional shakers, the fact that she has salt and sage (and some third thing) on hand is technically unsurprising, which she sprinkles onto her own steak before handing them over to Persephone.

    The fact that she decides to cut it with the blade of what looks very much like a combat utility knife, and spear it on the point to eat, goes unaddressed.
Petra Soroka     Petra sullenly delivers the plates to Remee--along with a handful of salt packets that look like they were taken from a cafeteria--but doesn't grab a plate for herself. She doesn't sit down either, falling back to a spot closer to Dryclean, so she's not flanked by Phony and Lilian. She shuffles in place with that skittish stance she so often has, always a cornered animal.

"It's just rude to pry into people like that without asking," She's muttering towards the ground between Dryclean and Persephone, but ostensibly responding to their conversation. "It's not how people communicate, it's invasive." She opens her mouth to add more, then closes it silently. A few strands of hair from her disintegrating bun are stuck to her lips, but she doesn't seem to notice.

    When Persephone addresses her directly, Petra is forced to look up and meet her eyes. Even the gentlest heart can't help but have the fleeting thought that Petra's demeanor is reminiscent of a guilty dog, or more unkindly, an actual child. "I don't know how you should treat me. I can't tell you that." Of course, she only managed to maintain eye contact for a moment. "Normally? Is that possi--is that something you understand?"

    "Would you give a single solitary shit if someone told you 'she's a person too' about me, Soroka?"

    Petra's hand grips her forearm tightly, her nails digging into her skin. "God. I can't *stand* you." The emphasis sounds pained, like a groan. "As if anyone would let me *forget* that you're a person. No matter what I do or say, everyone immediately rushes to your defense, talking about how fucking hard you're trying, how much better you've been, how you don't really mean to be cruel but you're just fucked in the head from something or other, and really it's on *me* to be more understanding." She's shaking now, oh no. "I'm not the one starting this. I'm not *fragile*. No one should need to put up with all the shit you get a free pass to say."
Lilian Rook     Lilian, finally, falls silent for a little while. The freshly sizzling meat not quite touching her lap is neatly diced into so many glistening cubes with uncanny precision, one cut at a time. She stabs one, lifts it to her lips, and then the steak vanishes. Lilian is wiping the knife off on a handcloth and sliding it back into a utility scabbard.

    "I wouldn't listen to them, Soroka." says Lilian. "You don't have to understand anything. From the very first moment, I realized you would be incapable of it, and so I've never once expected anything out of you, much less thoughtfulness. I'm not some child who doesn't know better; I know perfectly well how rudely I treat you, and how much it upsets you."

    "So feel free to hate me all you like. It really doesn't make a bit of difference to me. That's the normal thing to do."
Hibiki Tachibana     "...!" John made a good decision going for a feint. Hibiki is on-guard and reacting on raw battle instinct, so the towering Persona that is the Man in the Iron Mask suddenly appearing in front of her is enough to force her to react even if the attack itself isn't the end of the world. She meets its one eye momentarily as it prepares to bear down on her, and her teeth clench as she pushes off the ground to avoid being flattened beneath it. When its limbs come down, it crushes the earth that she was standing on just a split-second ago.

    She moved back. John got the space and the moment to breath he wanted. However--

    In the next instant, the magical girl is launching forward again. Not at The Man in the Iron Mask, but an upwards movement that carries her in a jump /over/ his Persona in an arc - he can see her careening overhead, straining the chains binding her to their limit and with one fist reared back behind her.

    And said fist - or at least the gauntlet attached to it, the piston within it visibly slotted back - is shining with a crackling, radiant power. Her Symphogear's internal energy, all placed into one point. In response to John looking like he's on the ropes, she looks like she's putting her all behind this one. Is this her idea of utilizing that whole lesson about planning her movements and proper risk-to-reward when it comes about spending resources? Maybe she took 'fight as if you'll only get six exchanges of blows' in a way-too-literal way?

    Maybe. Though more than anything, she wants to see just how well John can take this one. If he'll stay standing and manage his counterattack, or if he'll go down here and now. That matters to her more than anything, even winning or losing, right this second.

    "Come on, let me see your answer--!"
    "I asked you--if brute force IS GONNA BE ENOUGH!"

    And then she's bearing down on him, throwing down a punch towards his torso from overhead. Full force and nothing held back, all of her strength and downwards momentum put into hammering him right back down on his back and into the earth. And that's when the machinery in her gauntlet slams forward, not only trying to pummel him another meter down into the ground from raw force, but releasing that golden burst of light to cause the ground underneath the both of them to /explode/.

    It's fine. Both of them can take that.
Stanley Padgett     And then THAT happens, and Stanley is forced to look away from the crowd. "Gods." He's already moving to snag at his first aid kit, looking through the pile of... anti-septic sprays and bandages and splints and-

    Even from this distance, it's clear that one of the pouches on that duffle bag is chock-a-block with those Weird Energy Drinks the kids from Lampport like so much.
Persephone Kore      "Hmmmm," Phony says, while chewing a bite of venison. "I think, Lily-R, that you'd enjoy being able to outlast people. You don't really have the endurance for that, do you? But seeing someone try their best against you, spend everything on it, still fall a little short, and get all tuckered out at the end... it's really fun! I think you should be able to have that kind of fun, too."

     A few more bites follow. "Mmmmm, probably," Persephone says to Remee. "And it's grown in tubes, too. I think the texture here is better! But it usually tastes saltier back home. And they put sauces on it sometimes, too. I could really go either way."

     "What is that like?"

     Phony looks up at the sky, shuts her eyes, and rubs the back of her neck with a smile. The plate rests in her lap. It's a question she's been asked a hundred times, anyone can see, but I don't mind it.

     "Hearts and dreams and wishes are less real than the world," she says, "but they're still real a little bit. If you make your mind the right shape, you can feel them 'beneath' the world. They curve it just slightly- it's so cute. Small, but bright. Like stars in the sky! I'm always feeling them, at least faintly."

     "I've seen books and movies about telepaths, outside the lab. It's supposed to make you bitter, right? Always knowing what everyone's thinking. But now that I know what everyone wants, I want to give it to them. Now that I can feel how everyone's hurting, I can't feel sore when they mess up."

     "I can give that to you, too, Remee! Or to anybody else. But..." Now she is 'thinking', again, rather than 'remembering'. Her eyes open. "... it'll make it hard for you to get angry with anybody. Even if you 'should'. And sometimes that's rough."

     "It's not how people communicate, it's invasive."

     "But it is how people communicate," Persephone says, looking over her shoulder at Petra. She doesn't even sound defensive- just a little baffled. "You're the strange ones, you know. But that'll change someday. What I have, I want everyone else to have, too. Maybe I'll get to teach you! I'd like that."

     "Normally? Is that possi--is that something you understand?"

     "And I am treating you normally. I'm sad that it makes you unhappy! But I'll try to find a way that you like more, okay?"

     Having finished half her steak, she sets the rest aside (on thin air) and wipes her mouth delicately with a napkin. Again, she gives Dryclean's words the full weight of earnest consideration.

     "There's a lot of stuff you learn," Phony says to them, "from the things people think and don't say, feel and don't do. So it's not enough, is it, to just know what's in their hearts? But it's not enough not to, either! Because then you still don't know what they aren't saying."

     "Haha, are you making sense from that? It was neater in my head. Thanks for listening, but that's what I mean." She sticks out her tongue for just a moment.
John Doe There it is...

He prepped, figuring she was going for her haymaker.  He had to weather this, his only path to victory was going through her.  The breath was enough, and he was on his feet again.  He swings, aiming to try and match her fist with his own.  The chains float to a single point on his body, trying to shield his fist.  

For a brief moment, the two fists do not budge, grinding up against each other and creating shockwaves every second they stay clashing.  Cracks start forming along the chains, she was powering through his defense, but he was also blunting her assault.  Then the chains shatter...

She punches him directly across the chest after the clash, staggering him at a critical moment.  He's tossed back, heels grinding across the ground as he lands in a four-point stance.  He stops, and his head snaps up, meaning he wasn't out yet.  

Iron Mask, remembering him, dashes for her back, aiming to try and knock her forward as John rushes forward.  John only pumps his legs more, aiming to get as much speed as he can before his hand moves to grab her face and smash her head into the ground with a brutal grab.  This is followed by the chains appearing everywhere.  

"I will weather anything and everything.  I will shatter every wall in my way.  And if I can't smash through it right away, I'll learn how...!"

The chains all whip down at once, aiming to try and bury Hibiki in their flurry.  Once the flurry ends, the Persona reappears next to John.  Ready to either smile at victory or get his face ground into defeat.  
Stanley Padgett     "....ah crap."

    Stanley is getting more of the meds out now, as he keeps a respectful distance of all the horrible destruction, though notably he is subconsciously dodging debris from the blasts with his after images, some versions of Stanley getting bonked while others continue to PERPARE FOR HEALING.
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT DRYCLEAN's chatter over the radio, chatter in general, pauses for a fraction of a second at the response. Interestin' point of view. They've stood back up, leaning over the back of the chair they brought, stabilizing themselves from the massive backblast from the fight.

    "Y'know, that's definitely true. Maybe I've just been missin' the perspective, what with never really gettin' into the blue like you obviously have. Ain't exactly a specialist on the whole subjective-readin' front, ha ha. Might ask for some tips."

Their attention is immediately pulled back to the fight, with the immense detonation - the clash of souls, as has been put. Leaning forward, an eager onlooker a dutiful scribe, adjusting antennae as ideals ring true through the air, intermixed with the destruction of the landscape.

<B-anter> DRYCLEAN-SIGINT says, "-it clears, and John Doe still stood! He bends, but does not break, folks, and with that, he's pourin' his all into one last strike! Chains everywhere, folks, and Hibiki Tachibana ain't lookin' like they can take it! The final blow!"
Remee Halcyon > tube meat

"Really, in tubes? That sounds kind of cruel," says Remee.

> "... it'll make it hard for you to get angry with anybody. Even if you 'should'. And sometimes that's rough."

"... That'd be rough, yeah."

"There's people that I really *should* be angry at. For things they did, and are going to keep doing, and..."

Her plate (down from four steaks to just one remaining) is put down, and she goes to rub her face.

"Sorry. It's been a bit of a rough week. My house exploded. From a gas leak." It wasn't a gas leak.

"I don't know. If you really can teach that, maybe I should try it. Maybe it'll keep me from being angry with people, but..."

Remee glances over at the ongoing fight, and then up at the sky, and stretches out - not in the manner one would relax, but in the way one would try to relieve some built-up tension. (It doesn't look like it's working very well.)

"But maybe I'm not doing a very good job of being angry as it is," she says.
Petra Soroka     Petra's shaking stops. There's a moment of anticipation, where it feels like her downturned face will burst into tears like usual, but it doesn't. She's silent for an uncomfortable few seconds longer. "Fine. That's okay." She raises her head, shrugs just a little bit too casually to seem casual, then walks towards Lilian. Just to grab her sodas on the ground. "I guess they're all wrong, and you're just some bitch who's cruel to whoever seems like an easy target. I can live with that. Whatever."

    She turns towards the battlefield, eyes lingering on Hibiki, down in the dirt. Is this what following her heart looks like? It's not telling her anything different. "Just don't bother me anymore. Can you manage that?" It's like her heart isn't telling her anything at all. Petra just feels tired. For just a moment, she admits to herself that it would, really, be easier if Persephone could read her heart, and that thought burns away in the small flare of anger it causes.

    "Stop it." It's not immediately clear that she's talking to Phony, given that she's not looking in her direction at all. "Don't try to find a way to talk to me, actually. There's not going to be anything you can do that feels normal, because you can't stop yourself from being manipulative, no matter what. That's how people like you turn out." She starts walking towards her mech, plates forgotten. "I don't want you to study me, to figure out how to treat me in a way that will force me to like you. Don't bother."
Lilian Rook     "They're not wrong. But I am a bitch who is cruel to whoever seems like an easy target." Lilian says, numbingly apathetic. It's like synaesthesia, hearing local anaesthetic. "But 'bother you'? That sounds like a 'you problem'. I haven't asked you for any consideration, have I? I'll keep living however I please, and if someone gets in the way, then they can figure it out."

    "The same way you're living." Lilian says.

    As Petra stalks off again, Lilian raises her voice just a bit. "Oh, but I might remind you. Persephone, does have feelings, and she can feel hurt when you fling around careless words like those you are right now. So if you keep misbehaving towards her, I really might have to get cross . . ."

    "What was your name again?"
Hibiki Tachibana     There it is...!

    The Man in the Iron Mask comes from behind, and having thrown everything she had into that hit, there's not much time to recover and do something about it. The massive Persona crashes into her from behind before she finds solid footing, and she goes careening forward entirely off her balance. The one-two from both that and the wind-down from her own attack leaves her wide open to--

    John himself coming from straight ahead, returning the favor of her earlier grab-and-smash with one of his own. She goes up--and then /down/ into the ground, the chance to even try to start getting up after that sort of head-spinning and heavy impact not coming before the torrent of chains all come battering down all at once. There's a long moment where she's not even visible underneath all of them bearing on her, and even longer one after they relent and the dust finally clears up...

    ...Showing Hibiki laid out on her back, panting for breath and covered in numerous bruises and scratches from taking /that/ many attacks head-on. The minor but stacked-up injuries combined with how much energy she must have expended with that last blow has her, after a few seconds, moving to push herself back to her feet--though she only actually manages to sort-of-kind-of get up into a sitting position, resting her punching arm on her knee.

    "Hah...hah...hah..." She's not getting back up to fight again, that's for sure. And it's hard to tell how she feels about that, until her efforts to get some air back in her lungs slowly turns into laughing. "...Hahaha...okay. It's pretty hard to argue, after you went and did that...thanks. I needed to see you come at me like that...to know how you really felt. Any other way wouldn't have really worked."

    She reaches up to tug down at her scarf, showing that she is, in fact, smiling just slightly despite the loss. "If you had some half-assed resolve and couldn't even get past me fighting the way I do, you'd have some serious issues." Though right after saying that, her face goes back towards a more neutral expression. "...You better hold onto that feeling. Along with what you said...about your wish. The mark you wanna leave, and changing society...just remember that smashing things apart with nothing else behind it is only gonna fix the little problems. The...'symptoms.'"

    She looks towards Stanley after that, giving him another tiny smile and the sort of nod that screams 'you got this', and then back up towards the crowd. Where she's just in time to see Petra stalking off. Uh oh...
Charlotte Newman     Charlotte's eyebrows lift in surprise, though she doesn't drop her phone or anything. Her stance does change and she zooms the picture out, searching for any sign of the outcome of such an incredible clash of dust and chains.

    Only once things clear with one left standing does she relax her posture. She hangs on that shot for a moment, though. A good few seconds. Then she closes the camera app and tucks her phone away, trotting out from where she'd been watching, which puts her at roughly opposite of Stanley's position as Duel Moderator (volunteer).
John Doe John leans over, still standing, and crouches.  God, that took it out of him.  He's breathing heavily, and The Man in the Iron Mask fades once more, vanishing into the place between physical and conscious.  Standing up, finally, he turns his head to Hibiki.  "To see if I was bullshitting, grandstanding, or some other shit?  Yeah, no."

"Though shadows don't fight that good.  Good to see where my limitations are, and what I need to work on," which is true...this ended way too close for his liking.  Though on the other hand, Hibiki was considered a veteran.  Nah, too close.  He's gotta work up the iron a lot more.

He takes a breath, "Yeah, I know.  The first step is getting to that point, after that I can think about other ways," he wipes some blood off his chin.  "Don't worry, if I ever let go of this feeling I'll stop existing, so I won't be ever letting go," he says with a grin.  When Stanley and Charlotte come out he relaxes a bit more and sits down on the ground.  

"Guess we should get patched up and eat...cuz man that made me hungry as hell," he says, conversationally to the assembled brats.  
Stanley Padgett     Stanley Marigold Padgett (Second) (Duel Moderator) (Backup Medic) (Esq.) kneels down next to John as Hibiki staggers off into the crowd, gingerly clapping him on the shoulder, before passing over both a package of Hmong spring rolls and two cans of Citrus Minute TROPICAL SMASH. "Hey buddy. Good work."

    He's getting out the styptic pen and the anti-septic spray too, looking for obvious wounds. "I thought she had you there for a sec."
Cantio With the battle formally ended on what appears to be good terms, Cantio lets out a relieved sigh and takes off her announcer headpiece. She reaches down to turn off the recording function of her drone chair, then turns to DRYCLEAN with a satisfied smile. "Thanks for the sounding board! These types of things go so much more smoothly with another person around."

A beat, and then she looks between the audio and the video heads. "... You're one person, right? A-anyway. I'll send you the footage once I get it cleaned up." She laughs lightly, then gets up from her seat to spare a quick glance at where Lilian and Petra are talking. There's a clear tension there, and she seems to consider approaching them before not doing that.

She's got her friend and a co-worker to tend to, after all. She heads for Hibiki and John instead, smiling proudly at the pair while raising a hand. "Good work, you two! I hope that got a lot of... Stuff cleared up for you both. What's..." She pauses, turning to John with a thoughtful look in her eyes. She starts to say something, seemingly changes her mind, then clears her throat.

"I hope you'll both be ready the next time you need to work together. It won't always be structured duels, but... You do seem to have some potential synergies with each other. What do you think?"
Persephone Kore      Phony puts on a beatific smile, cradling cheek in hand once again. "Haha, I think we have different ideas what 'blue' means. But thanks!! It makes me really happy that I could help a little bit. I'd love to hear someday about the ways of seeing you've found, too."

     When the robot stands, she does too, applauding for- both of them? Probably both of them. "That was amazing!! Thank you for showing us your hearts. ... You're both going to be okay, right?" But she doesn't seem too concerned.

     Returning to her seat, she chats up Remee a bit. "Oh, don't worry! It's not like they have brains. It's just the fat, and the muscle, and I think sometimes they grow some bone?" Phony is doing a terrible job making this sound appetizing. "There's no room to raise animals in space. And we want to introduce kids to the concept of death slowly. You know?"

     A couple more contemplative munches space out that statement from the next. Persephone purses her lips. "If you're not sure whether you should be angry or not," she says, "but you feel like you're bad at being angry, then you probably should be. Right? Anger is a feeling that tells you when someone's doing something bad to you. It's important like that. I get angry sometimes, too, even if it's hard to hold onto!"

     "But living without anger means you have to know exactly where your boundaries are. You have to know what you should accept, and what you can't, without having a feeling to tell you. Do you think you can do that? It's hard. Sometimes even for me."

     That admission leaves her poking at her food for a few moments, silently reminiscing about something or other. Her attention's pulled away from the steak by Petra storming off. "... Hold on a second, Remee. There's something I can't accept right now."

     "Hey. Stop," Persephone says to Petra's back. Her tone is neutral, which sounds harsh after getting used to her gentle usual. Clacky heels pursue Petra. Just before reaching the belligerent girl, Phony looks back at Lilian with a gentle frown.

     "Her name is Petra Soroka. I'm really grateful that you're trying to protect me, Lily-R. But the project would be a failure if I turned out so fragile, right?"

     Phony reaches out to lay a hand on Petra's shoulder, but she thinks better of that, and falls short. "If you never want to talk to me again, I'll be sad, but that's okay. But I don't think you really believe these awful things you're saying. Not about 'people like me'."

     "If you really felt that way, Petra, why would you still miss space? Don't try to convince yourself of something that horrible."
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT As the dust from the final blow settles, DRYCLEAN leans back from their stance over the chair, and readjusts their jacket. They fire a quick two-fingered salute at Cantio. "Pleasure's mine, pal. Just happy to be here with others who are as invested, ha ha. I've got recordin' of my own, I can toss that over real quick-fast if you want some spare data."

They pause, the distortion on their primary monitor's audio visualizer coalescing an even sharper grin. Their two heads then speak seperately: normally, it's a minor deviation, and they still overlap somewhat, but they seem intentionally kept individually comprehensible this once.

    "Just me speaking, ha ha."
    "Just us speaking, ha ha.

They slowly meander over to the battered combatants in turn, offering a handshake and introduction, if they're willing. "Name's DRYCLEAN-SIGINT, pleasure to be here. You two get what you wanted out of this? Question ain't rhetorical, ha ha."
Lilian Rook     Packing her things away, Lilian runs her fingers through her hair and pushes back some stray windblown locks out of mere idle fuss, apparently having been well-advised to tie it up for this occasion. "I do outlast people." Lilian huffs at Persephone. "It just takes more work for me than for you. And you're just as guilty of toying with them you know. You have that awful catlike streak in you as well." she says. "Are you saying you want to try switching up styles for a while? I can try bullying them passively for a while, but I do tend to get bored. And I think you might lack a certain killer instinct for doing it the way I do."

    Finally, she indicates she had actually heard an earlier question. "It's interesting to take measure of others, I suppose. There is a certain sense of spectacle to it. Variety that I won't find even at home. And once in a blue moon, there comes along someone who really does fight beautifully. But . . ." Lilian's lip twists in displeasure at what she knows she is about to say.

    "I sort of hate it too. The overflowing confidence that people have in their own effort. The screaming about justice and inevitable victory, singing their own praises. All the subtle little ways that they tell on themselves; that they unconsciously assume they're the main character of life; that there'll always be a route for them to win. The fact that they derive such satisfaction from moving even just a little bit forward. It kind of makes me want to ruin it for them. To show them how wrong they are. Does that even make sense? Isn't it awful?"

    But she doesn't seem to be taking what Phony has to say, just this one time. Breaking from her oscillation between absent pondering and dreadful apathy, Lilian raises her voice to something decidedly more firm. Insistent. Gravely sincere.

    "I understand you don't need protecting, Phony, but that and this aren't the same. Just because you're strong doesn't mean I agree that you should put up with everything. The fact that you can take it doesn't mean you should have to. Even if you're the toughest girl out there, that doesn't have anything to do with wanting to make things better for you."
Remee Halcyon ... Oh! The fight's over!

Remee gets up and serves more plates. "Don't worry, I made sure to save an entire hind leg for John!"

It's presented as is. Actually carved steaks are also available, for John or for the other participants, if they prefer. Remee even includes some of the salt packets, though she indicates those are entirely optional.

Once duties as food-provider are done, Remee settles back down to talk with Persephone more.

> fat tube meat

"That... um, sorry, I can't lie, that sounds like the worst thing ever," says Remee.

The rest of Persephone's statements get Remee thinking about her answer. She doesn't get a chance to reply before Persephone excuses herself. She takes the opportunity to refill her plate with another quartet of the steaks, while she considers what her next response would be.
Hibiki Tachibana     "Ah...yeah..." Hibiki replies offhandedly to John's offer of eating, only partially paying attention. And given Hibiki and food, that says a bit.

    The only two things stopping her from going after Petra right this second is the physically inability to move that much this soon after fighting that hard, and that it'd be incredibly standout with how most of everyone else is feeling after that. ...Petra did want to talk again, at some point. She'll just have to take full advantage of that, and hope Persephone can do something for now...hope.

    So only a little begrudgingly, she focuses back on what's immediately going on around her, first at delicious cooked deer steaks, and then up at Cantio with a tired-looking grin. "...Well, I'd say we get along in some ways. He's a lot better off than me in others," she admits, glancing back in John's direction to watch Stanley do his thing with a quiet exhale. And then there's the other question, the one that Cantio might've started saying before, and that DRYCLEAN vocalizes after they move on down. A handshake, she can do. And finally able to get a proper look at them for once, she gives a single surprised blink before seeming to take it at face value.

    "I think I did. I wanted to...mmn. I don't know if testing is the right word. It's sort of that, but I also guess I wanted to...see what he felt. What he really wanted. And maybe I might've been projecting a little bit...and it's good to get that cleared up now instead of later," she admits for the second time, as much as that stings.

    "...He has some good friends. I'm glad."
Petra Soroka     Petra pauses when Lilian calls out to her, one hand on the ladder into the Kana's cockpit. "...Come on. That's just childish. You can do better than that."

    Persephone's hand reaches out, and even before she stops herself from touching Petra, Petra's just slightly higher up the ladder than she thought. Her shoulder isn't where it should be. Her back is tensed up, visible through the layers she has on. The bomber jacket makes her anxiety *easier* to read, despite obscuring so much of her body.

    "...I haven't told you about any of that. So why do you know? What kind of prying into me did you do, to satisfy whatever... voyeuristic curiosity you have?" She climbs up one more rung, pulls herself into the cockpit. "Whatever you saw, you don't know me, and you *can't* know me, princess of Sapient Heuristics." Her leg jitters. Probably the rest of her is shaking too, but that's what's still sticking out for Persephone to see. "...I'm sorry. I don't hate you. But I'm not the same as you, you see that, right? I don't miss space. I can't, it's not my home. You can't understand that, and that's fine, but you can't force me to miss your home. I never shared it."

    The cockpit slams shut. The engines roar to life, denying any kind of response, and the rank smell of burning fuel feels like Petra's last words, spat onto the ground. Angry and self-destructive. But it's not really any of that, is it? It's just a vehicle, it's not saying anything. The Kana rises into the air, and with a gust of hot air washing over the picnic, it's gone.
John Doe John takes medical treatment, spring rolls, and bad drank from Stanley.  He gives the other teen a grin, "Told you I had it.." nevermind he's bruised very badly, and he probably has a fractured rib.  Once dressed up a little, and a thing of spring rolls devoured, he stands up.  Time to be social, though he does turn back to his friends.  "Thanks for the support you two.  Rooting for me out there helped a lot."

John walks back over just slightly after Hibiki and turns his head to DRYCLEAN first, to which he shrugs.  "I'm guessing she did.  Unless showing people how far I'm willing to go counts," he says with a shrug.  Cantio speaks up about teamwork, and he laughs.  "Probably.  Having fought like this we could probably complement each other pretty well."

John gets an entire back leg served to him, nice and grilled with no seasoning.  He's already tearing into it, someone might confuse him with a carnivore at this rate.  He looks over at Hibiki as she answers, but he doesn't add to it.  Good enough for him, as an answer.  He's mostly sort of watching the drama fall out between Phony, Lilian, and Petra.

Once Petra leaves he looks up again.  "I thought we were the ones fighting..?" he leans over to Hibiki and asks.  "What's going on?"
Lilian Rook     Raw menace in sugary sweet form crawls up the back of Hibiki's neck and plunges itself into her ears.

    "Ta~chi~ba~na~ You really didn't learn anything, did you~? Well, as long as you had fun, that's all that counts, right~?"

    Lilian hasn't moved. Probably. But that doesn't mean a lot.
Hibiki Tachibana     "...I'm not sure," Hibiki replies to John with a murmur, knowing more than one possibility pretty damn well even without having paid close attention to what's been happening on the sidelines. It's not a problem she can solve right now...however much she wishes that was different.

    And speaking of that, her entire body goes stock still as a certain voice creeps in her ear. She double-takes back over her shoulder, looks up at Cantio and DRYCLEAN again, then casts her attention back towards where Lilian has been sitting this entire time.

    "A-Ah..." She purses her lips and closes her eyes. "...I...I did that sort of thing on purpose this time, I swear...i-it was about making my point, yeah..."
John Doe John nods once, but when he hears Hibiki speak to Lilian, he turns towards Hibiki again.

"So what was that crap about sayin' you were going to go all out? Are you tellin' me that you didn't?" It's hard to tell if he's screwing with her or actually serious.
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT To Hibiki, there's a small static click as their visualizer clicks back to normal. Toneshift to [reassuring / understanding]. "Boy, do I get that. Just proddin' to clear conceptions and misconceptions, ha ha. Glad our little chat was right on the money, y'know?" To John, then, "Showin' off ain't a bad thing, ha ha. I'll definitely be keepin' up with the swathe you're carvin' with those ideals, y'know?"

A pause, taken to consider the hasty exit of one of the resident mech pilots and the woman who this all stems around. A shrug at nothing in particular. The vessel fluidly descends down from wherever it had been, staying a few feet off the ground, just gettin' ready.

DRYCLEAN doesn't move their head to focus attention, but there's a vague feeling of them refocusing on Tachibana and Rook again for a few moments. Just listening.
Cantio "It's satisfying work, right? Sure, it couldn't hurt to have a different angle in case I can't use some of what I caught." Cantio chuckles again at finding a seemingly kindred spirit in DRYCLEAN there, although the strange yet comprehensible double-speak forces her to take a moment just to try and comprehend the difference there.

She'll have to convene with her her-council to try and understand that better later.

Hibiki starts to answer, and Cantio gets the healing magic ready to help get her back into proper walking-and-eating shape, if not necessarily fixing anything in the slightly longer but still short term. "That so? It does sound like... I mean, there's still stuff that might have to be worked out between..."

Cantio looks from Hibiki to John, then from John to Lilian, then shrugs lightly with an amused smile still on her face. "Eventually. I think I know what you mean, though. Our fights were pretty... Good at pushing thoughts through when just talking didn't really do it, right? But remember! You've got friends, too, so... Count on us, okay?" She pats Hibiki's shoulder gently at that, raising an eyebrow again when she's caught by John for potentially holding back there.

She doesn't catch what Lilian might have said, but there is a slow turn of her head towards John. She doesn't say anything, and she just turns right back around to stare at Hibiki closely. No words still, just staring.
Persephone Kore      Persephone's arm was extended to grasp Petra's shoulder. But even after Petra is out of reach, she still holds it out, drooping only slightly.

     "No," she says. "Thank you for not hating me. You've been sweet. But I don't see that. I don't see how you don't belong at all. It could still be your home, you know?"

     The Ekanamsha rises into the sky. Persephone's extended fingers twitch. Its metal hull starts to ping and groan, for just a millisecond, as if she might really try to pull it down to earth (or pull Earth to it). But I can't make myself want that badly enough. If you want to leave, I can't bring myself to keep you.

     Her hand drops to her side, finally.

     "I've had it so much better than you. Life's been so much kinder to me," she says, and she doesn't need to look for it to be obvious she's addressing Lilian. "Worrying about me... even if you're the one girl I'd let do it, it's still illegal, you know. Let me worry about you, instead."

     "Isn't this wearing you out, Lily-R? Even before, I think it would've."
Hibiki Tachibana     "...I am too," Hibiki replies genuinely back towards DRYCLEAN, on the subject of their little talk. She's just going to pretend she didn't notice the focus on her and Lilian, even if the warning signs of someone intently listening (and probably recording) /that/ of all things are immense.

    She'd much rather focus on responding to Cantio, after she asks that. "Well, he said it wasn't a 'her' thing, and he'd do it to anyone," she replies under her breath, so that the other girl is really the only one who'd hear it. Though there's also the impression that she's not entirely sure about that either. But raising her voice back up, she nods. "...You got a point there, though. As long as some things got put on the table, then I'm satisfied. Not like it solved everything but...it's a start."

    And then John hits her with that, and there's a moment where she freezes up.

    Right before tugging her Symphogear's scarf back over her mouth and nose, hiding the majority of her expression and helping make her seem perfectly cool and detached when she slowly closes her eyes again. She is not meeting those stares. "That's how I always fight, and I wasn't holding anything back," she states matter-of-factly. Maybe a little too matter-of-factly, with her emphasis on the first part of that. "I mean, short of it being really life or death..."
John Doe "You told me to cut loose completely and bring it all out, and you said you were going to do the same.." John says, standing a little straighter and putting the leg down on a nearby table. There is that powerful energy around him again as his face remains completely neutral.

"So which is it, did you make a mistake on purpose, and didn't go all out...or..."
Hibiki Tachibana     "...It wasn't a mistake, I did what I always do. The fastest, straightest, and most direct way to try and beat you."

    She's adamant about it. And yet still refusing to meet any stares.

    "...I'm learning about some...ways to improve on that, but I haven't mastered them yet. So we'll have a rematch...sometime."

    Smooth. That'll get her out of this.
DRYCLEAN-SIGINT The cargo door on the vessel slides open silently. DRYCLEAN pries themselves away from where they've been standing, and steps up and in. A VHS player remarkably similar in design to one of their monitors is proferred from within after a few moments; there's a cable with adapters on top of it already.
John Doe John takes the VHS player from DRYCLEAN. "Oh man, this'll go great in the collection.." he says very happily about a new item. He looks over at Biki a little after this with a squinting face.

"I suppose we'll have to. But if you hold back I won't forgive."
Lilian Rook     "Yes~ Which is it, Tachibana~? I'm curious~!"

    Lilian has to quit being saccharine threatening when Persephone comes back, much to her disappointment. The switch flicks back to quiet, slightly bitter reluctance. "I wouldn't have blamed you if you dragged her down and told her off until you were satisfied. You have that right."

    There's a subtle sideways drift of the eyes. "Apologies, but I've no idea what you're referring to. What precisely is going to wear me out? I've expended no energy and done nothing." She makes a sound of irritation. "I'm not worrying for you. Of course I know you'll be fine. But when when people are being ignorant and shitty and making things unpleasant for you, I'm allowed to be angry with them. Not because I worry that they're going to hurt you, but just because they piss me off. They're wrong. They're doing something bad. Getting mad at shitty and unfair things is normal."

    "Telling people that they should be better to you isn't the same thing as trying to protect you, Phony. It stands on basic principle. Even if you won't tell them, I will."