Scene #8331: Regular Talking in in the Quarry

Owner	Pose
Futaba Nuki	'I'll ask you about that later.' 'No problem, Futaba, we'll talk later!' Futaba wasn't expecting to talk to Petra in the same exact place they had promised to just a scant few weeks ago, but... Well, Futaba doesn't really know what Petra's thinking or what she's been thinking for far longer than that. Granted, she hasn't really had a chance to talk to Petra directly at all before, so this is something rather new for the tanuki! At least the ground is easier to move on here. Wearing her usual vaguely student-y jacket and shorts combo, the self-styled ninja stands atop an abandoned crane with her scarf flapping dramatically in the wind behind her. It's not a particularly windy day at the abandoned quarry that she's meeting Petra at today, but her scarf wouldn't look nearly as cool if it was just kind of sagging over her back doing nothing. She's got a serious look on her face, too, almost like she's ready for a fight. Arms are crossed over her chest and raised to give her that mysterious ninja look, and her mouth and eyes are closed just a bit too tightly, almost making her look angry at something or someone. All that's left now is waiting for Petra to get here. The little bit of wind means it's still kind of dusty, so of course she's not going to have her mouth open for no reason.
Petra Soroka	<Q-Conversation> Petra Soroka says, "Is this a, 'meet me at the quarry' thing, or a 'meet me at the... b-bowling alley' thing?" <Q-Conversation> Futaba Nuki says, "Ugh, definitely not the bowling alley. I don't like the floors in those." <Q-Conversation> Petra Soroka says, "Like, the patterns? I think they're nice. They're fun." <Q-Conversation> Petra Soroka says, "Oh, wait, does that mean the quarry then?" <Q-Conversation> Futaba Nuki says, "No, no, the patterns are fine. The smells and the people and the people smells, though... Uh. Sure, I guess?" <Q-Conversation> Petra Soroka transmits dead air for half a minute. <Q-Conversation> Petra Soroka says, "Oh. Okay. Give me a bit, then." The girls have miscommunicated. Petra clicks off the radio and stares blankly at the screens of the Kana, processing that conversation. It's surprising that Futaba would be the first one to come after her, and surprising that this would be how she does it, but Futaba did seem eager and excitable. Nothing to do but accept the challenge, though, so Petra fires up the jets of her mech and flies off to the location that Futaba specified. The Kana touches down on the edge of the carved cliff of the quarry, kicking up a whirlwind of dust that far outperforms anything the wind manages. Petra opens the hatch on top of the hull and steps out, poorly repaired boots clanging against the metal. Another step clangs forwards, and then a third hits only air, as she lightly falls down to the stone ground, her pace unbroken. Petra wears her typical outfit, though her boots are battered and her bomber jacket has a clashing patch of grey cloth poorly sewn onto its shoulder. Her hands are in her pockets, the weight and blades of her revolvers visible. She calls out across the chasm to Futaba, raising her voice to be heard over the distance and ambiance, still rasping in her throat. "So before we get into this, I just want to know. Did Lilian send you, or are you doing this yourself?"
Futaba Nuki	There she is! At least, there's the Kana, and Petra is undoubtedly inside the machine. Pulling her scarf up over her face to keep more of that quarry dust out of her mouth, Futaba inadvertently keeps her excitement hidden as she grins widely at the sight of the machine. One day, she'll be able to scurry along that thing or maybe even climb into it. For now, though, she needs to have a proper talk with Petra, and that means meeting her on the ground. Futaba can't do anything without being overdramatic about it, though, and she leaps right off her perch to land only a few yards away from where Petra's walking to meet her halfway there. She lands in the three point pose, of course, staying there for a good few seconds before rising to her full height and raising her hand in a stiff wave towards Petra. "Yo! Wasn't too hard getting here, was it? Ah. Lilian...?" Right, that whole thing with the maid contest did involve Lilian, didn't it? "Nah, but that's part of it. What's going on with you, with her, with Ishirou and Eggman..." She shakes her head, then brings up her hand quickly in a way that might look like she's throwing something sneakily at Petra, but... It's actually just Futaba rubbing her side of her head while letting out a frustrated noise. "So. What the heck's going on with all of you, anyway? What gives?"
Petra Soroka	Futaba lands in front of Petra, and she lets a soft sigh out from between her lips, shifting her stance and pausing in preparation for the monologue. Battle lines. It would've been nice, really, to get to know Futaba as a friend, from their brief talks, Petra feels like they could've gotten along, with their similar ages and shared enthusiasm.... While her mind wanders, Petra's absentminded gaze settles on Futaba, glaring with stone grey eyes boring into her. There's nothing to read behind them, other than the cold hostility of someone looking through Futaba as if there's not a person standing there at all. Oh. Wait, she was talking? What did she say? Petra flinches back into awareness at Futaba's sudden movement, stepping back and whirling her revolvers out. Her pupils contract into shivering pinpricks, arms trembling with both guns held up and pointed towards Futaba. Her shoulders hunch forwards and her feet grind into the ground like a skittish animal looking for a chance to bolt. She freezes like that for a few seconds, then blinks and refocuses when no further movement follows. One arm sinks down, the other one lamely still leveled at Futaba, as Petra readjusts her posture to walk in a quarter circle aroung Futaba, processing her words in retrospect. "...Wait. You don't know what's going on? Ishirou hasn't tattled on me to the entirety of the Paladins?"
Futaba Nuki	Petra's stone-faced expression is a little weird for Futaba, now that she's getting a better look at her. Did she always look like that, or was this after whatever happened with her and Eggman? Come to think of it, Futaba never did get a good look at Petra, but this is definitely a different look from what she was expecting. What catches her eyes in particular, though, is the sudden brandishing of those revolvers. Sensing danger, she follows Petra's lead and slips one hand into her pouch as her tail hardens and transforms into a massive scorpions stinger, lifting upwards once before stabbing behind herself followed by the ninja pulling out her flaming sword and spinning around to cover the area behind herself with a wide swath of flames from that katana. "Hah! You're gonna have to do better than... There's nobody here." Futaba sounds utterly confused as she looks at the distinct lack of ambushing enemies behind herself, pursing her lips before resting the back of her weapon against her shoulder. "You see something, Petra?" She turns right back around to face Petra, keeping her eyes peeled as she remains on guard, apparently thinking Petra's seen something that she hasn't. Just in case, though, she starts circling around Petra, too, slapping little leaves on random pipes and abandoned vehicles. On closer inspection, there's little wires leading from those leaves to her pouch. "I heard about some of it when I went after Eggman with everyone. Didn't really get the whole story, but... Uh. One thing at a time. First, what's with you and Mister Ishirou? Are you... Like. Rivals or something?" A pause, and then she adds. "... Was there a bad breakup? Is that why you started helping Doctor Eggman?" Indeed, her mind is going in weird places already.
Petra Soroka	Petra twitches when Futaba swings her katana, fingers tensing around the trigger of her gun. Her heartbeat, already pounding in her ears, redoubles its tempo, and even when Futaba turns away and lowers her weapon, Petra's eyes lock onto her back with intense clarity that defocuses everything surrounding it. But she doesn't fire. Her alarm slowly drains again, chest tight and aching from the rollercoaster of adrenaline, her heart only gradually getting the mental message to slow down. Petra tilts the angle of her gun down slightly, again, and says with a creaky voice, "...Why did you say to come here, if we weren't fighting? Why did you want to meet at all if we weren't fighting?" Petra watches the placement of the leaves warily, and gestures with the gun. "What are those? Why are you putting those out?" She coughs out a laugh, voice dripping with scorn. "Rivals? Ishirou? That's even dumber than the idea of it being a breakup, and he's a--I think he and Candelario are together. Fuck. He and I were never even friends, really."
Futaba Nuki	No immediate threats, nothing catching her ears or eyes. Futaba sniffs the air once, then lets out a troubled noise as she slips that katana back into her pouch. "Nothing... Hm. Weird." Shrugging lightly, Futaba turns back to Petra with a blank look on her face again, then lights up a bit as she once again interprets things incorrectly. "Wait, did you want to fight? We can, if you're up for it." She sounds eager, not unlike her usual tone of voice. "I just wanted to find out from you what was going on with all that stuff. You know, with that whole thing with Miss Rook and Mister Ishirou and Mister Kale... If it's not a rivalry, then what is it?" At the question about the leaves, Futaba actually laughs. "Huhuhu... Curious, are we? We-ell, I'm glad you asked!" Heading over to one of those pipes, Futaba taps on the leaf attached to it, and then she just starts shoving the whole thing into her pouch. Her pouch is significantly smaller than the pipe, but it's just fitting anyway. "That's why. Neat, right? Never seen that before, have ya?" She is totally fishing for a yes.
Petra Soroka	"I don't really, want to fight? But...." Petra shakes her head. This is going nowhere. Futaba's just confused, she has no idea what's going on. Petra sets her expression into serious contemplation, trying to work out how best to approach this, and as she opens her mouth to start, Futaba starts abducting industrial debris. Petra's expression cracks, her lips twist into an unsure smile, and her tone fractures into a nervous staccato laugh. "W-why are you doing that?" Helplessly, her words are punctuated with more sharp giggles. "What are you going to do with that? That's a pipe. Y-you, you can't, you're--" Losing control of herself a little, Petra's laughing fit becomes interspersed with coughs. She covers her mouth with her hand, shoulders shaking, and takes a few seconds to calm down. Her giggles fade into silence, but her shoulders silently tremble for a little longer. "...Not with the others. No. But with Lilian...." Petra trails off with a complicated expression, a note of an unidentifiable emotion that sounds a little like congestion creeping into her voice. "Rivals with Lilian. Yeah. We've been fighting for a while. I've been winning, recently. That hasn't made her friends happy."
Futaba Nuki	"Oh. Then we... Don't have to?" Still sounding confused as ever, Futaba eventually just shrugs it off and takes one more look around the area before finally relaxing her stance. It's pretty obvious nobody's coming to ambush them at this point, and she even starts pulling back most of those leaves instead of leaving them where they are. She does shove one of those abandoned cranes in her pouch, though. Hearing that strained laugh, she flashes Petra a mischievous grin in mid-cram. "Why not? It's not like anyone's gonna use it out here. Besides, I might need it later if I need to stand on something real high and look cool." It's a lot of effort shoving things in there, though, so Futaba does eventually stop after getting the rest of the crane in there. The coughing has her mildly worried, too, and she eventually reaches into her jacket pocket to fish out a cough drop (honey lemon) and offer it to Petra. It's probably been there for a while, but it's still relatively fresh and bought within this year's flu season! "Rivals with... Miss Rook. Huh. Well, that lines up with some of the things I've heard, and... I'm sure you have." As she says that, the corners of Futaba's mouth creep upwards slowly. She's totally seen the editing history. "... But seriously. Things seem real messed up between you two, like you... I dunno. Kicked her dog or something?" She shakes her head, then tugs the scarf off her face to get some fresher air finally. "I mean, that maid contest thing was kind of... Awkward at the end. Good way to get eyes on you, but... It sounded like it was getting real bad when you-" Right. That whole thing. "So what's got you working with Eggman, then? Is that connected to all this, to the Ishirou thing, or is it all this... Pile? You... Sure you're not dating him?"
Petra Soroka	Petra reflexively shakes her head at the cough drop. "I've got some." She fishes around in one of her own pockets on her overalls to retrieve a pouch of them, popping one in her mouth. "They don't help that much, though. My hyoid bone's still broken, haha." Petra pulls down the collar of her scarf slightly, to show the dark red bruises on her neck to Futaba, before releasing it back to its original position. Futaba's insinuation goes over Petra's head at first. Somehow, the obsessive sapphic rival's fujoshi-rotted brain doesn't immediately associate the idea of rumors with licentious romance, and she instead frowns. "...I don't really know what you've heard. If Ishirou and Lilian aren't immediately telling you all everything I did, then... I don't know why. Unless--" Petra cuts herself off, finally catching Futaba's smirk and becoming angry in response. "The forums don't know anything! My article on the villains wiki is complete speculation by a bunch of depraved losers online. Nothing they say is worth taking into consideration." Her annoyed expression softens into thoughtfulness. "Like I kicked her puppy? Really?" She sounds almost pleasantly surprised. "Well. Ask anyone in the Watch, and they'll say I was in a bad mood whenever she was winning, too. It's only different now because our positions are switched, and she isn't used to that." Petra shrugs, now finally disarmed enough to relax and lean against an angular outcropping of rock. She holds the revolver loosely at her side, still gesturing with it for emphasis. "As for Dr. Eggman... I'm only working with him in the sense that, he's smarter than me, and a good mentor. I wasn't really trying to mess with Ishirou's thing, at all. I did him a favor, he made me this gun," She holds it up and wiggles it a bit, "And that's really it. I'm not... I'm not a subordinate of his, or anything. And I'm not fucking dating Ishirou. Don't say that again. I'm serious."
Futaba Nuki	Wincing lightly at the sight of the bruise, Futaba nods at Petra before putting that cough drop away, taking it back out to make sure the wrapper is still intact, then dropping it right back into her pocket. "I haven't asked them yet because..." Futaba's smirk turns into a snicker at Petra's reaction to her bait about the internet's opinions, and then she lets out a light sigh while taking on a somewhat more serious look. "Just listening to everyone else on the public radios, though? It really sounds like you kicked a bunch of people's puppies and then some. 'No PR is bad PR' ain't a bad strat, but... Can you handle it?" This time, she doesn't sound like she's trying to goad Petra. "Everyone rooting for you to get your shit kicked in, I mean. You didn't look... Happy about anything that was going on at the contests, just pissed. Real pissed. Pissed enough to..." She gestures at the Eggman Empire weapon, peering at it when it's brandished again out of morbid curiosity. "... Work with a real time supervillain, for one. The aesthetic's real neat, and he's not a bad rebound guy after breaking up with Mister Ishirou...?" She gives Petra one of those questioning looks, as though she's trying to gauge if she's figuring the situation out correctly. "But he's still a supervillain, even if he'd be a good teacher. Can you really handle the pressure from everyone wanting to kick your butt all the time?"
Petra Soroka	Petra smiles, lopsided and bitter. "By "everyone's" puppies, you just mean Lilian's. And Ishirou just got knocked over by the shockwave and skinned his knee, so he has to let everyone know about it. Haven't you noticed how he always whines in the radio after a fight? He's like a kid." The buttons and dials covering the grip of the Eggman-marked revolver make for perfect fidget toys for Petra's wandering fingers. Mechanical clicks of perfectly-tuned components underlie Petra's dully apathetic words, off-rhythm and constant. "If everyone wants to kill me, then they should come try. That's what I thought you were doing. Why you called me out." Absently, Petra kicks a loose fist-sized rock with her tentatively taped together boot, and the bindings split. She swears and bends down to push the tape back into place, favoring her left leg, and Futaba's sensitive nose catches a hint of blood. Hauling herself back to standing, Petra retrieves a cigarette from one of her many pockets and lights it, sighing and repeating herself. "They should come try. Of course I'm angry. You haven't been around for most of it, but the way she's treated me... of course I'm angry. Everything is so awful. Here and everywhere." "But working with a supervillain, isn't that just necessary? I have to be a villain, to be a hero's rival. She said so herself, she's the one that suggested it. Being a villain puts me at a level close enough to her to hurt her back."
Futaba Nuki	"I haven't heard thaaat much whining from him, but... Hm. He does sound pretty young, yeah." Mulling over that and what she's seen of Ishirou for a few moments, it's not too hard for Futaba to finally reason out some of why he's called what he is so often. That's a story for another time, though, and her eyes drift back towards the funky weapon in Petra's hands. Futaba finds herself sliding over just to get a better look at it, even though it's clear she has no idea what she's actually looking at. She's just still in that phase of 'oh, cool shiny thing'. "Why would I want to kill you? You haven't done anything to me, so... Ehn?" She shrugs with a noncommittal grunt, as though she really can't think of a proper personal reason to yet. "I probably should after what I heard happened to Mister Ishirou's and Miss S6's world, but... That's more of an Eggman thing, anyway." Smelling blood in the air, Futaba wrinkles her nose a bit before taking a seat on her tail after turning it into a couch. Might as well get comfortable. She wrinkles her nose considerably more at the cigarette, but pats the empty space on her tail-couch anyway in invitation. "Well, you're doing a good job at getting your name out there, at least. Working the villain angle does mean we'll probably have to duke it out sometime, but..." Futaba strokes her chin lightly. "If it really sucks, you could always change your name or something. Maybe your face, too, to something more..." Futaba demonstrates by transforming her face into that of the most generic-looking salary man ever, complete with bad comb over. "... Normal? Then you'd be able to build yourself back up and get a do-over if villainzing ain't working out."
Petra Soroka	Petra giggles and coughs after taking a drag. "A Paladin needing an excuse to start being my enemy? That's a first." Everything about her seems droopy. The cigarette dangling between her fingers threatens to fall out at any time, burning the back of her hand. Her hair is slightly greasy, hanging limply with the added weight and lack of care. Her shoulders are slumped and curled, slouched against the rock face. Even the muscles in her face, when they twist into an approximation of a grin, have no energy to them, as if her earlier jumpiness drained every ounce of vitality from her. The tail-couch unnerves her a little bit, so Petra shakes her head at the offer to sit. "Getting my name out there...? I guess. Yeah. My name, sure is out there." Petra's gaze falls to the ground in front of her, dazedly looking at something that isn't there. Her hand twitches, and the mechanical clicking resumes. "But you've got it backwards. My name, my face, are the two things I'm keeping. I fought for those. I earned those. It's everything else, that needs to go."
Futaba Nuki	"Hey. Hey. I'm a Paladin, but I'm also a ninja hero. That means there's rules to this sort of thing, you know? I can't just... Start a blood feud. THere needs to be a build up first. A... Something to set us at each other's throats first. Otherwise, it's just kind of forced." Futaba explains, apparently having her own internal set of inconsistent rules fed from... Something. Definitely not anime. "Besides, you look pretty roughed up already. It'd be a bad look for me, too, if I just jumped you now." Grinning confidently, Futaba rises steadily in her seat, but not by getting up. No, the tail couch just gets taller until she's at eye level with Petra, even while lying on her side. "We'll worry about that after you've recovered." Petra mentions her face and her name, and Futaba's expression shifts into the serious one again. "... Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. You earned all this, right? Not because of who you were, but... Because of what you did. Nobody can take that from us, at least. Better keep working hard to keep it, then, or people might start forgetting if you're not careful." She chuckles afterwards, reaching up briefly to nudge her leaf just to make sure it's still in place. "If it's not your name or you, though.. What's 'everything else'?"
Petra Soroka	Petra softens and smiles genuinely for once, the tension behind her face draining away to be replaced by placating, lonely honesty. "Once I've recovered, huh?" A dozen different interpretations of that word float through Petra's mind, and even the most benign one carries weight that Futaba couldn't possibly mean. Petra's thigh twinges with pain. "Yeah. Once I've recovered. We'll see then." Petra slowly closes her eyes at Futaba, the catlike expression of comfort unconsciously performed. "I can only handle so many blood feuds at once, haha. Get in line." Petra holds the revolver out to Futaba, giving her a close-up view of the whole thing. She twists it, letting the light of the afternoon glint off the blade and cylinder, and purposefully or not, the logo is kept angled away from Futaba, making it seem like hers for once. Petra's expression is complicated, pursing her lips and exhaling a thin stream of smoke; nearly every word that Futaba says stirs wordless feelings in her. "...Mmm. I don't know how to separate 'earned' from 'who I was'. But I can't imagine existing without 'Petra', so if this all gets too hard for her to handle...." She shrugs. "There's a balance. 'Petra' has to stay, if anything does. But everything behind that name, thoughts, feelings, beliefs... those are all just cold-forged and pressed by a million ambient factors. You know? It's the difference between being printed and being shaped by hand." Petra coughs into her hand, her stillness broken. She shuffles her feet and puts the revolver back in her pocket. "Sorry. I don't know if that made any sense."
Futaba Nuki	So many possible interpretations, and it's clear from the somewhat vacant look on Futaba's face that she probably only has one in mind. At that moment, at least, she's really only thinking about where such a fight could even take place for maximum impact. Somewhere in town would be too risky with collateral damage, but a parking lot, maybe? Or even... It'll work itself out if and when it happens, certainly, especially with Petra's response drawing another laugh from the ninja. "Yeah? Better keep your eyes open in case I skip it, then. Because I... Can do this!" Demonstrating what 'this' is, Futaba morphs her face into a crude approximation of Petra's. The shapes are right, but the expression is still distinctly Futaba's shit-eating grin, and the big green leaf on her forehead kind of gives it away even more. Thankfully, she doesn't keep that look on for long before going back to her usual face. Just in time, too, to get a better look at that fancy revolver. She peers it at from this way and that, admiring the construction while clearly having no idea how such a weapon is supposed to be constructed. "I heard somewhere that cowboys used revolvers like these back around the time the samurai were around... Nuts, huh?" Also, that one bit of useless trivia. "Separating it out... Mmn. I guess it's different from.. Yeah. At least for me, it's real easy because people used to like 'Futaba' just because. Now..." She closes her eyes, grinning slightly and nodding at Petra's logic. Despite her simplistic look, it seems Futaba actually gets it! "I'd rather people like what I did on my own rather than just where I came from, yeah." Only then does she finally drop the smile, looking vaguely worried at Petra. "... Are you okay with how people are looking at you, though? With... Uh. Y'know. The stuff that happened?"
Petra Soroka	Petra flinches at the imitation of her face, scowling. "H-hey. Stop. Don't do that. I'm serious, that really sucks." The first thought that comes to her mind isn't the professional fear of 'being imitated', like an Elite rivalry would necessitate preparing for. That worry doesn't enter her head until some time after she snaps at Futaba. Petra's gut reaction to seeing someone else wearing her face is the fear that, if forced to compete, she would end up being the lesser one, that she would lose the fight to be the person that people thought of when they hear 'Petra'. Even once Futaba shifts back, Petra is a little on edge, her tone more brusque than it needs to be. "They used revolvers, sure, but not really anything like this." She pulls the other gun of the pair out, twists the mechanisms to slot the two into their combined shotgun, then just as quickly detaches them and drops them in her pockets. Petra's eyes, directed away from Futaba as she talked, slide back to examine her half-lidded, with Petra's face still turned a few degrees away. Her conclusion, scanning that grin, is that Futaba gets almost the opposite of what she means. But that's normal. Petra softly breathes in and out, and her concern about being understood is gently smothered under warm coffee scent. "People were going to look at me like that anyways. It's hate or pity, those are the two options. I chose the former, and it doesn't really matter whether I'm okay with it anymore, because it's out of my control. We're all just going to keep falling down this path until, until I...." Petra stumbles, and tries to finish the sentence casually. "Well, I'll know when it's over. Then you can have your chance."
Futaba Nuki	"Okay, okay. I wouldn't be able to pull off your voice, anyway." Futaba doesn't seem to think too much about the face copying or Petra's apparent discomfort at it, easily shifting gears in her head to the next topic while continuing to lounge around and gawk at the second of the pair. Her eyes go wide, but in a 'ooh, shiny' kind of way as she slides herself over to get a better look, elongating her neck one way and the next to get a better look from up close. Also, maybe a little bit of it is to see how Petra reacts to someone human-shaped suddenly having a neck that definitely isn't. "Would hate to be on the other end of this thing... Well, if you could catch me with it, anyway." Again, that shit-eating grin comes back, but it's all in jest. Probably. Back in serious topics, though, Futaba actually furrows her brow as she scrunches her face up in thought. "I wasn't asking if it mattered or not. I was aSking if you were okay with it, because... It does matter." Raising her legs up over her head, Futaba kicks upwards to hop off the tail-couch that's still inexplicably* still on the ground even though she's moving away from it with her arms crossed behind her head. "If you really okay with it, then that makes things... Easier? No thinking, just you with Doctor Eggman and his buds and yours, Mister Ishirou and Miss Rook with me and the others in the Paladins. Heroes and villains and that kinda thing, good movie stuff..." As she speaks, Futaba sounds unconvinced, and she takes a moment to walk right back up to Petra to make eye contact from an uncomfortably close distance. "But you don't strike me as that kinda person. You cry way too much to be a real hardliner like the Doctor or King Koopa or the family bosses where I'm from." She pauses for dramatic effect, then smirks confidently again. "So! If you're not, then we've got a lot of work to do. Image rehab is tough, but it's not impossible if you're looking to go for an anti-hero anti-villain sort of thing instead. You just have to do a little-" She pauses, recalling everything she's heard about Indus. "... Lotta work to get there." *There's a silver trail along the ground leading from it to the back of her left foot.
Petra Soroka	"I wasn't asking if it mattered or not." Petra makes a small noise in her throat, and pushes her foot off the rock face she was leaning against to stand up. "I don't know. Who really cares about intent? It's what I'm actually doing that makes me a villain." Petra has an uncomfortable look on her face, pacing away from the wall to talk, freezing and taking a step back when Futaba gets up in her face. "I'm not--I'm not Doctor Eggman's underling or anything. Honestly, that might be the most annoying part of all of this, being treated as a villain accessory to him. I should've... planned my debut better, or something." Petra's very carefully avoiding the question of whether it's okay, and similarly avoiding the insistent eye contact. "It's already all the heroes versus me, anyways. Ishirou hates me, Lilian will try to kill me at some point, and she and that robot woman are..." Petra shudders, "Stalking me, or something. It's either heroes versus me as a villain, or heroes versus me as a, a, a fucked up little weirdo. And like you said. We know which one of those is a good story." Petra takes a few steps back, and sits down heavily on a rock. She winces at the impact, then readjusts to tuck the hem of her too-long bomber jacket underneath her as a cushion. "Don't say I cry too much to be a villain. That's horrible." Her voice is already getting nasally and clogged with phlegm, though she's not crying. "I can be a villain if I try. I-I don't think I can be an anti-villain, though. I don't have some secret good agenda. I'm not actually working to make anything better."
Futaba Nuki	"You're not? Hmm... That's something else to work on, then, since it sounded like you and him were real in on the whole..." Futaba rubs her head, fishing for a word before giving up. "Indus... Thing. And the guns." She clarifies for her part of that assessment, then nods slowly as Petra mentions planning better. "That's for sure. You gotta go all off the gut, or real smart with it. I didn't think one bit when I started doing stuff, and..." She forgot what she was going with that, but Futaba just lets it roll off of her with a simple shrug. It's already the farthest thing from her mind, anyway, as Petra too pivots into the heroes versus villains thing. That gets a troubled noise from Futaba at first, crossing her arms over her chest while mulling it over again. "Doing it as a villain isn't bad... I mean, it's bad, but it's not... Yeah, it's a good story, but the other thing isn't. Instead of something with lots of cool drama, it's just kind of... Sad." Looking utterly unconvinced when Petra gets clogged up, Futaba paces around slowly as the couch slides back into her tail. She doesn't answer right away, instead moving over to an abandoned cement mixer to start cramming that into her stuff pouch. "So what are you working for? What're you... Aiming for? You got some kinda ambition, someone you're taking care of at home? Everyone's got something like that, so maybe we can work with that so you're not just going out there as some... Screwed up little weirdo."
Petra Soroka	"I had nothing to do with Indus. I was just there, for, you know. A different reason. I took out an enemy of his, so that he would make me the... gunblade." Petra grasps for a better name to call it than that, and fails. No name has felt right, nothing has felt as impressive as "Winter Crow" or "Night Mist". "I didn't actually want to condemn tens of thousands of civilians to death or prevent Ishirou from going back. Obviously. I'm not like that. And, of course, the civilians are fine, and Ishirou isn't a criminal in his own home anymore. Everything I did there, was unrelated." Petra coughs, and retrieves her metal water bottle from her pocket. There's a big dent on the side of it, and it catches the light as she takes a pained sip. "I don't--I don't have someone I'm taking care of at home. I don't have a home, not really. But that's-- what do you mean, "work with that"? Are you trying to coach me into being a better villain?" Petra squints at Futaba doubtfully, suspicion heavy in her downturned lips.
Futaba Nuki	"Gunblade..." Futaba repeats after Petra, pursing her lips as she mouths it a few more times silently. She doesn't look like she hates the name, at least, but she doesn't look particularly excited by it. "Hm. So you were there, but more as a... Fighter than a central planner. I think I kinda get it, then. Your timing was just... Awful." She blows her bangs up lightly with a slightly uncomfortable sigh, then takes a seat on the rock beside Petra. Unlike Petra's heavy sittening, Futaba still looks comfortable as ever just settling right down there, as though she might be melting a bit in her seat with how comfortable she's getting. She actually looks just slightly more malleable than before, too, but it's hard to tell without really paying attention. When Petra catches on, Futaba once again doesn't answer right away. Instead, she looks off into the distance, but she can't help but smirk just a little bit more at that. "I'm not coaching you. I just wanna see you get out of the weirdo hole so you can be more... Yourself. Villain, hero, whatever, but it should be something you're okay with at the end of the day. Something you know you did on purpose, so people don't love you or hate you just because of..." She gestures at Petra broadly. "... All of this. Because of your name. They should love you or hate you because of the stuff you're doing, right?"
Petra Soroka	"Out of the weirdo hole?" Petra is indignant, twisting her torso to the side to glare at Futaba as she sits down. "Just because I said it like that doesn't mean you get to. I'm, it's different when it's coming from a... you know. Someone on the opposite side." She kicks her feet out and stretches her legs, leaning back. The impact of her heels against the ground dislodges the tape holding her boot together again. "I don't think I can explain it to you better than I already have. 'More myself' is wrong. If I wanted to be 'more myself' then I would go back to being some stupid fucking nobody doing nothing in a worthless Earth." Petra turns her head and looks off towards the highway outside the quarry, as a truck blares its horn loudly. She tracks it with her eyes, silent until it disappears out of sight. "Is doing it on purpose and being okay with it the same? Same as, being 'more myself'. I don't want to be awful, but being awful is being myself, and I'm doing it on purpose so that it isn't anymore. Do you get that? Lilian could explain it better than I could." Petra lowers her head onto her knees. "She always can."
Futaba Nuki	Unlike before, Petra's indignance actually gets a snicker from Futaba even while she holds her hands up. "Okay, okay. Just had to make sure if you liked it or not. Looks like that's a no, then." She strokes her chin lightly after that, nodding slowly as though she's sorting some thoughts in her head. She's also a bit too obvious about not looking at Petra's boot after initially spotting the dislodging from the corner of her vision. What ends up getting her attention more, though, is Petra revealing just what being more like herself really entails. Futaba sucks in a bit of air through her teeth, then winces at the truck horn before laying back with her arms crossed behind her head. Never mind the fact that she could use her tail as a pillow. She's going to use her arms anyway. "Doing stuff on purpose and being okay... Nah. You can do stuff on purpose that you hate doing. Heck, you could do stuff that comes natural that you still hate. If I had done what felt natural way back when, I would've been lazy and useless back home, too. Only difference is I wouldn't be a nobody, but..." Futaba pauses, then shakes her head. "I would've hated it. And if you hate it, then don't be yourself. Do what feels weird and unnatural, what's hard, what's gonna be more work if you think it'll help you feel more... Uh. At peace with it?" Futaba's pretty clearly trying not to just say 'okay with it'. "Miss Rook.. Yeah, she could probably put it into words better. But then if she did, you wouldn't be the one coming up with that answer yourself, and..." She sits right back up, then scooches over to stare at Petra from uncomfortably close again. "Would you be okay with that, even if it's easier?"
Petra Soroka	"This is all weird and unnatural and hard, right? That's pretty obvious. All your friends keep reminding me that I don't belong here." Petra rests her elbow on her knee, and fidgets with the patch on her shoulder. Her fingers rub at the stitching absentmindedly, and the poor craftsmanship is immediately evident in the way that the thread responds to the stress. "So, since it sucks and I hate it and everything I'm doing is awful for everyone, that's fine, right? That's perfect. Everyone's happy. Lilian has her villain, and I... well, you know." Petra shrugs, still struggling to communicate the concept. "Lilian wouldn't accept any kind of, rehabilitation from me at this point, anyways. So why bother? And I wouldn't--I'm not giving up on the rivalry either, just because people are starting to hate me for it. It's... the opposite of 'at peace', and that's okay." Petra tilts her head back, looking up into the sky, and bites on her knuckle. There's an absent quality to her voice, as if she's responding to words that Fubuki didn't say. "Lilian communicates things better than I can. She has more insight into people, more ability to concretely lay out their thoughts and feelings and motivations, than the person themselves. When she talks about someone, positively or not, when she explains why they are the way that they are--it becomes more true. Just because she said it. They become more real, more comprehensible."
Futaba Nuki	"I mean... Not everyone's cut out for this work, you know?" Futaba comments, somewhat absent-mindedly, and for just long enough that she lets that hang for a bit before catching herself. "Oh! Uh. N-not saying that it's wrong to try anyway, but it's... Some people are just more natural at doing some stuff than others!" She laughs awkardly, then clears her throat hastily. "Like.. Er. I can't do fancy reports or big investment stuff, so I don't. I probably could if I really wanted to, but..." she trails off, having forgotten thepoint she was trying to make with that. Scratching her cheek lightly, Futaba just tries moving on instead to the topic of Lilian. "Miss Rook's got a really good eye for a lot of stuff, yeah. That's why she's one of the vets everyone knows about, and I bet she's seen loads of people like us and put 'em through the wringer, too." She guesses, without any knowledge of whose hands might have been removed at some point. "But we're just seeing all the stuff she's built up since she started, not everything it took to get there." She continues, not knowing what Petra might already know. "I fought my brother and his goons for... Like. A year? But there's still so much more stuff out here than I thought there'd be, and I've only been here for a couple of months! Who knows how much we'll see and figure out in another year or three from now?" Another attempt at a reassuring grin. "We'll get to her level of knowing stuff sooner or later, alright? Maybe we'll even know more by the time we get to her age because of me being me and you being you instead of her being her."
Petra Soroka	"Not everyone's cut out for it, yeah...." Petra responds absentmindedly too, her hand slipping off of her shoulder to rest on her thigh. Her thumb presses down on a specific spot, hard. "But that's different from being cut into it. I can do that." The hem of her jacket isn't nearly enough cushioning to be sitting on this rock. She's covered with bruises , and sitting on the hard surface shoots pain up her tailbone and spine. She really, really should sit on the tail couch. She doesn't. Instead, Petra rotates around to face Futaba, propping her foot up on the rock. She hugs that leg to her chest and leans her face on her knee, watching Futaba's face with an earnestly invested glint in her eyes. "Lots of people have been around as long as Lilian. Almost none of them have as much weight. People listen to what she says, because she's right. And yeah. Of course she's been through a lot. She used to be everyone's enemy. She attacked a bunch of the other Elites, and they attacked her, and they all did horrible things to each other until it hit a climax and was over. And now they listen to her. And she's worth listening to. Do you get it? No one cares what you have to say until you've been a threat to them." "You don't become like Lilian just by being here. You can't passively learn the things she knows. You have to self-create."
Futaba Nuki	"Huhu. Good, that's the spirit." Futaba looks relieved at Petra not taking offense at her comment about who may or may not be cut out for things, and especially atPetra reading something good(?) into it that Futaba herself does't catch. She watches her still avoiding the tail couch, frowning a bit at seeing all the bruises and eventually trying to make it more inviting by sliding that tail couch a little closer. Making it look a little more plush, like it's made of that soft velvety stuff with the really soft cushions that someone could easily sink into and recoil in horror after spilling the slightest amount of soda on. "Weight, huh...? Yeah, that makes sense. Not everyone's got that right combo of smart and strong and grit to get to that kinda point. Hell, maybe it's even luck that she ended up fighting with people that could get through all that crap she put them through in the early days before making friends with them." Futaba shrugs lightly, reaching up briefly to shift her hair out of her face. "Anyone strong could be a threat to anyone that's weaker. Heck, I could be a threat to you and a bunch of other people in the Watch, I bet, but... Let's be serious. Do you think someone like me could get them to really listen to me and like me just by kicking their stuff over and being sad about it? Do you think someone like me would be happy about doing it that way, even if it did work?" The more she thinks about it, the more Futaba seems to be getting antsy. Leaning towards Petra now and seemingly towering over her (by cheating and making herself a few inches bigger slowly) when she didn't before. "Would you be happy with doing things that way? Not 'could you do it', but 'would you be happy with it'?" She puts a lot of emphasis on that last part.