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Rita Ma	The artificial warpgate leads out into a rusty cable-filled room occupied with anxious technicians, and from there through an open hatch to the exterior of the Union Busan's main deck, just outside the glass-roofed garden dome. Workmen, both local and multiversal, scurry back and forth to implement retrofits out here, replacing rust-brown with gunmetal gray, mounting formidable guns with offworld designs, arguing with supervisors over snarled blueprints.      A familiar figure leans against the railing, surveilling what's ahead: 'combat swimsuit', supermodel figure, pale and white-haired, two swords across her back, conspicuous absence of scars despite middle age. She turns around as the first arrivals approach, fixing them with her uncomfortably fierce one-eyed stare and delivering an equally-uncomfortable handshake. Her gloves creak, but maybe that's just your bones.      "Lead harpoonist Kana. Some of you are new." That surprises her a little. Or maybe not; it's difficult to meet her gaze long enough to probe the subtleties of her expression. "Monsters will destroy the world in five and a half months. Stopping it is a joint effort. This is where all of humanity's gathered to mount that. See for yourself." She gestures just ahead at the skyline looming off the bow.      "Floating City New York" is an enormous buoy with a city built on top of it. The Statue of Liberty- only a little worse for wear- is proudly displayed, because of course she is. Would it really be America otherwise? Two dozen other ships, all distinctly smaller than the Busan, are docked arond it.      Two things about it immediately leap out. The first is that it's like an old penny. The high points are polished bright while the recesses collect all the grime. The Union Busan is - or was- scuffed all over, but New York has kept its high points intact, demonstrating in the process exactly which parts of itself it considers expendable. Strangely, those recesses are also the most densely-populated zones.      The second is: 'is this really all?' In terms of modern Earths, Floating City New York is just a small town. It could support twenty, maybe thirty thousand people at a stretch, even assuming there are homes in the underwater 'buoy' part. That Kana had called this plus some mid-sized ships 'all of humanity' is deeply grim.      "The real negotiations start in a few days," Kana says. There's a slant of disdain in that word; she says it like some people say 'politics', and probably means the same thing. "But the local harpoonists want us for something. And we're going to be rubbing shoulders anyway." She tilts her head to order everyone to follow her, then hops over the railing and drops two hundred feet to the docks below, only grabbing a stray cable to slow her descent.
Ishirou	Ishirou arrives, though his new appearance might mean Kana mistakes him for someone new.  Though his face is mostly the same as before.  His hair is a glowing shade of blue, matched only by his eyes and lips which are a darker shade of the same color.  His skin is pale white, though, on his right eye, there is a scar filled in with gold.   His outfit is the same one that Metaphor put together for him. Ishirou is in a short-sleeved teal button-up with a tailored black sleeveless formal jacket on top, almost close to an understated corset, with a few silver buttons along the sides. The somewhat taller collar is matched by a cravat, with a small and simplistic silver brooch. This continues down into a matching half-skirt over black shorts, the front of the skirt open and only continuing down to a bit below the knee, and the lining is done in that same teal. A short black mantle is draped across his shoulders, with a teal 'cybernetic' design inlay and a silver chain holding it together. He has black ankle boots with a few straps along the front and more buttons and a pair of fingerless gloves with a similar inlay to the mantle. His feet end in a black 'boot'-like design.  He also has a hole in the back where a third appendage pokes out.  Similar to a tail, but a bit more fluid and appendage-like than it should be.  Beside him is a floating box with arms that hangs to his right.  He smiles at Kana and nods to her, giving her a welcoming handshake back, despite how awkward she tries to make it.   Walking out to see the city of New York, Ishirou's heart drops a little.  It's impressive, but this is mostly at the ingenuity that was required to save a city at all.  The cost, however, must have been high...and he also sees the things that are often a theme in this world.  The majority of people living where they'd be the most likely to die first.  He jumps off, reaching out for POD and its hand grabs onto Ishirou as they slowly float down to the dock.   Ishirou continues to follow Kana, "...Mmm.  Another problem, most likely.  The monsters know we're gathering.."
Candy	Candy strides up to Kana, extending a callused hand, no stranger to hard work. "My friend," he says, meeting her one-eyed stare with warmth and more than a little mischief in his twinkling brown eyes. His grip is firm, but out of camaraderie, and not challenge.      He removes his navy newsie cap to peer over the side of the ship at New York, uttering a low whistle. "Who's the lady with the funny hat and the ice cream?" He asks, pointing to the Statue of Liberty with his hat. Candy sets it back atop his bound black hair, then thumbs the lapels of his loose-fitting salmon-colored vest.      It isn't 'strange' to Candy that the most densely populated places in New York are the ones least cared for--stupid, yes, but not strange. Entirely expected. "Is she the one in charge of keeping the place clean? Because she has been jacking off, if you ask me," he says, turning his back on the city and jerking a thumb over his shoulder.      He follows Kana. Rather than dropping two hundred feet, he flicks a playing card--the Two of Hearts--over the edge, watching it flutter in the breeze. Candy simply appears 200 feet below, as if space had forgotten he was supposed to be up there all along. He files in besides Ishirou, happy to see him--although he can't stop casting worried glances his way. "What's this 'something,' ah? And... is it the real harpoonists, like you? Or the uniforms?"
Redshift Operators	There's a ninja walking through, who immediately puts all her attention on the familiar figure in her combat swimsuit with the two swords. She's always a little long with the handshake, making sure to use her robotic one. The discomfort from the fierce stare is something she briefly revels in. She's the type to appreciate the fear.     "Don't start." The gruff leader mutters as he nudges her, then delivers his own handshake. "Countdown's getting pressing. I don't like it. Can see why we gotta get everything together." He heads out, regarding the rusted maiden atop the buoy. "Huh. Always saw that on core worlds shows. Weird to see it here." He grimaces. "I don't like these numbers. This isn't much humanity left."     The astronaut who follows is the next to speak up, though it's timed oddly, as if they weren't paying much attention to everyone else. "I think you're reaching population instability. This is strange timing. If the Queen's only goal is to manipulate earth into a super-eruption, she's not taking this into account. She could wait three more generations." They stare blankly over the railing. "I wonder if it's more complicated. I wonder if she has more objectives. But we should be stopping her like this no matter what." When Kana leaves, the astronaut gestures behind.     A rather giant lumbers up from behind, armor creaking and wailing as he grabs up the cyborg and the astronaut, pulling them over his shoulders. The leaderly gunman joins, leaping over the edge to follow Kana. The two in the heavy armor blast retro-rockets on their jetpacks to land safely wherever Kana might.     "Local guys, huh? Alright, let's get this apocalypse teambuilding done." The leader rambles. Then: "Where's the group chat?" No, it doesn't work like that here.
Hibiki Tachibana	Right. That time, in Rita's world, is coming closer and closer every day. Get it together. Keep it together.     The Union Busan's warpgate housing room is familiar enough, but the sight off the deck when stepping out isn't. The sight of Floating City New York is, Hibiki thinks, the second time she's seen an actual population center here that wasn't a ship. The first, during that awful attack...she remembers that well. It was her point of reference.     But even with that taken into account, it's far from what she'd consider a 'city'. And on top of that, it feels bad that she's not as surprised as she should be that the lowest rungs look both the most occupied and the least cared for. "...Hey, Kana." Her greeting is quiet, while she's still staring off at the city.     She takes in a breath and shakes her head, going to follow after the lead harpoonist as she takes her hands out of her jacket pockets. There's not much hesitation in hopping the railing herself, though given she's not transformed right now, she needs to grab onto a cable herself to make it down.     "A 'few days' when there's barely any time left..." She mutters while recovering from the landing, before picking her voice up. "How much have you interacted with the harpoonists here before, Kana?"
Kale Hearthward	Kale arrives via warpgate, though the East Wind has forwarded flight plans to both the Union Busan and New York indicating that it is in the area, maintaining altitude and position. "Harpoonist Kana," he says, nodding in greeting as he arrives at the railing. "So this is New York here... I'd read in the dossier that they'd kept the monument, it's another thing to see in person that they did... though this is reallly all of it?" he says, asking the obvious question. "I've seen city blocks bigger and probably more populated than this one city. And this is all that's left..." Then Kana goes over the side. Kale watches her go, as well as anyone else that's able to follow her, and then he taps the side of his head to key up his radio. "Hey, need an override for Tabtrack - no, there isn't an emergency. I just need it for a short hop. ... There's another route, yes, but..." Kale frowns, and irritably keys off his radio, before going to carefully climb down the side of the ship after Kana, grumbling to himself all the way.
Kukuru	One of those new faces is one that might be familiar to a few people here, as Kukuru's rarely tried all that hard to hide her presence. Why would she? The Concord is good people, so it should only be natural for some of its members to be here. Unlike the armed figure greeting the new arrivals, though, she shares none of those tough-looking qualities, and her clothes (a frilled white blouse with a long and frillier skirt in green and brown) don't look water-ready in the slightest. Despite all that, the uncomfortable handshake is met with a too warm one as Kukuru clasps both hands over the lead harpoonist's gently with a bright smile. "That's right. Kana's a lovely name... Oh. My name's Kukuru. That's Ku-ku-ru. I'm with the Concord, and it's so nice to meet you~" She greets with an overwhelmingly pleasant tone that could easily raise concerns about her fitness to even be here. Her demeanor drops just a bit when the danger to humanity is presented, though, and then she looks over at the massive city from where the group's standing. The first weird thing is certainly hard to miss, even for Kukuru. The old her might have just glossed that sort of detail over, but the new and improved (or just slightly more aware) Kukuru lets out an uncomfortable noise once things start clicking together about the clear imbalance between what is and isn't considered important for the floating city. The second point, though, just flies right by her head. "Negotiations? I thought we'd just be... Um. Saving people. Or fighting bad stuff, not politics." She murmurs with another awkward noise coming from her throat, clearly not the brains of any group. Despite that, she does notice that tone in Kana's voice, and she sighs lightly before clapping her hands together with another smile crossing her face. "Well! Maybe we can get them all to play nice once we-" Oh. People are moving. Kukuru steps right off the ledge as an inky purple cloud appears in front of her, conveniently depositing her further below without missing a beat. "-get them to understand how bad the situation is. I've brought food, too, so that should really help get everyone's moods up. Right?"
Lilian Rook	Privately, Lilian wonders if she can learn to do handshakes like that. She knows she doesn't have, and doesn't want, the passively, effortlessly, even cluelessly terrifying aura that Kana does, but she can't help but think that shaking hands like that is kind of ho--     "They'll try." she says. "Good to see you doing well. Though I suppose I wouldn't have expected anything less. I'll likely be saying that again when this is all over, too." Lilian adds. The compulsion to smug-humorously say that 'all of humanity' is unnecessary, and that she alone should be sufficient to tip the scales, half-forms in her mouth and then dies there. Kraken, and the concrete island, are both still too fresh in her mind; as are the Queen's words. Even Lilian would feel a little . . .     'The real negotiations start in a few days'     "They start when I enter the room." Lilian says, diverting the impulse into something she's more confident about instead. "I know it'll be annoying for you and yours; and don't say it won't; I can tell. You and yours, Busan's people, are honest, hard-working, self-sacrificing, fair, patient, and genuinely concerned about the future; all the qualities of people who get taken advantage of at the table." She flips her hair over her shoulder for sarcastic emphasis. "So they'll start for real once I'm there, since I'm shallow and selfish enough~" It doesn't quite sound sarcastic enough. A subtle rough edge brings it down.     Seeing as the clientele is harpoonists, Lilian already knows how to dress up, abandoning what'd fit for upper deck casual to instead simply don the inner layer of Lady in Black, wearing only the plates relevant to the outer extremities. It certainly looks a little more alien than one of the Busan's 'combat' diving suits, all seamless charcoal and mirror black and thin radiating ripple patterns of dull and dusty gold, but it could theoretically pass for one, and it feels a lot more comfortablehonest than dressing herself in Busan's borrowed valour.     Lilian follows Kana over the rail with a second thought, breaking her drop in the last ten feet with pulse of blast static and a wash of cold, prickling air. She travels with Night Mist over her back, and Winter Crow at her hip; the tools of a Harpoonist by another name. A side effect of wearing the armour she'd expect to matter in a frantic underwater sword fight is that her footsteps still click when she walks on metal and concrete, which quietly pleases her.     "I can't believe they found the displacement tonnage for the entire Statue of Liberty." Lilian remarks as they walk, keeping up chatter to fill space, casually reassuring and audaciously touristy, pushing back the feeling of being foreign intruders like a torch pushing back the cold. "Even if they don't need to house more people, they could have used it for literally anything else. Is a famous French artwork really going to be that important to the American morale centuries later?" She sweves into muttering a little. "What's the point of trying to symbolize 'liberty' in a world where there's nowhere to go? Who wants to see broken shackles when they're trapped aboard the only respite from the ocean?"
Meika Kirenai	It's not as if she didn't read the briefs- Well, skimmed -beforehand, but walking through the warpgate onto a veritable warship is undeniably a strange feeling for Meika. She hesitates for a few moments, out on the deck, to take in the scale of the hustle and bustle. Everyone with a job and purpose, doing their best to fulfil it, and hold up their part in keeping everyone alive. It's enough to make her feel just a little bit small, standing there, and she's immediately concsious that she's dressed like a schoolkid and carrying basic sports equipment, instead of weapons, materials, or armor. Automatically, to give her hands something to do, she clutches the strap of her messenger bag with one hand, like a lifeline, and taps the fingers of her others against her hockey stick.     Right. Monsters. Five months isn't a long time, in the face of an apparent apocalypse, but it's in the range that she, like the crowding workers and arguing engineers, can play her part in. When it's her turn in the brief introductions, Meika does let go of the supporting shoulderstrap to shake Kana's hand- and quickly regrets it. That her hand is padded slightly by her overlong jacket sleeves barely softens the crackle of knuckles and ligaments.     "...New, yeah." She winces. "..Chevalier Vermillion, or.. Chevalier Meika Kirenai. I'm here to help fight monsters, Miss Lead Harpoonist Kana." The last comment is breathed out, rushed, to quell any thoughts on her purpose here- not that anyone asked her to justify it. Shaking it out, she shoves her hand back to its perch, away from fiddling and letting her arm rest defensively across her torso once more.     The towering floating city is certainly eye-catching, and Meika stares out at it with a small smile overtaking her face. She's only ever seen the Statue of Liberty in pictures and travel videos, and while this isn't at all like them, the towers and canyons of the built-up oceanbound platform is still similar.     "...What's... being negotiated?" I hope I didn't miss it in the files... "...You're trying to save the world, right? Shouldn't it just be... cooperation?- Eep!" Cut off by the woman's sudden dive, Meika rushes to the railing's edge, only to watch as Kana expertly slows her own fall and winds up down below. When the other Elites start to find their own, equally dramatic ways to handle the towering descent, she breathes out a reluctant sigh, and fishes out a journal from her bag. Okay. This isn't a waste, you've got to show them you belong here, too. A quick page-rip, and deep, eyes-closed inhale are the only prelude to the brilliang flash, Chevalier Vermillion, costumed up and able to muster a grin, vaults the railing as well, thin skatemarks tracing the path of the invisible, intangible slope she rides to solid ground, braking only at the end with a wide, twirling spiral.
Rita Ma	Kana lands near-silently on the pier below, but the crowd gracefully parts around her anyway, sensing her hair-raising presence. She makes her way towards a messy-haired man with his back turned and claps a hand on his shoulder, making him startle so badly he almost drops the crate of parts he's carrying on his own foot. "Agh-!! Kanaaa!" "They're here. We're going." "You could've warned me. I don't have my sword or anything." "They're not going to make fun of you, Bota." "That's not- haah. You see what she puts me through?"      He waves farewell to the old woman he was helping and falls in with the group. Kana leads the way into the grime. Up close, the alleys don't look so bad: the corrosion could be picturesque, the bustle and chatter of the crowds distract from the mess. You could live here. People do live here. All it takes is a glance upwards at those sleek gleaming towers, though, to remind one of the disparity. "Because she has been jacking off, if you ask me." "Slacking off," Kana 'corrects'. No thoughts, dread empty. "What's this 'something,' ah? And... is it the real harpoonists, like you? Or the uniforms?" "How much have you interacted with the harpoonists here before, Kana?" "Not at all, but stories spread. We haven't been told, beyond 'an offer'. And it's both. Clark Miller, at least, is the real deal." "Yeah, but Sonia keeps telling me he's a creep. Like, he kept her around as arm candy, but he wouldn't even look at her?" "Who wants to see broken shackles when they're trapped aboard the only respite from the ocean?" "People are controlled with hope and fear." Kana doesn't even miss a beat. It sounds like something she has memorized. "That's hope. It doesn't matter if the promises are empty, as long as the threats are real." "This isn't much humanity left." "... this is really all of it?" "I heard there used to be two other platforms," Bota says, crossing his arms behind his head and looking up with a melancholic expression. "But they sank a decade ago when some old munitions went off. Even 'just' thirty thousand people is a lot, though. The Union Busan is only ten thousand, and there are probably less than a hundred thousand people left alive." "... all the qualities of people who get taken advantage of at the table." "...What's... being negotiated?" "Negotiations? I thought we'd just be... Um. Saving people." "Yeah. They'll argue about who commits what. Who bleeds for it the most. Who gets the new territory, when the leviathans are gone. They haven't even agreed to do anything yet, just to sit down at a table. We have the proof, but who knows if they'll want to hear it." "Come on, Kana. I'm sure it won't be that bad. Even if they're greedy, they have to know this is in everyone's interests, right?" "... Thanks for looking out for him, Lilian." "Hey?!" "She could wait three more generations. I wonder if it's more complicated." "The Queen's strength is at a low, too. Four of her seven Devils are dead now. That only leaves Gordic, Vajra, and-" "Skutoom." Kana's voice, for just a moment, drips with a rare venom. "Um, right. So if she's still going ahead... it's got to just be arrogance, right? Or maybe there's some other pressure she's scared of."
Rita Ma	Up ahead is the scratch on the penny. There's a swathe of the city where it's recently been damaged and rebuilt, new surfaces either perfectly clean or still stuck with dead barnacles from the salvage. Kana takes it in silently; Bota doesn't. "What do you think happened here?" "The big attack, a year and a half ago. Everyone got hit." "Oh. Yeah. ... Why do they want to meet us out here, though? It's not the nicest place."
Candy	<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Lives are on the line. Everyone's." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "But Harpoonists, real ones, aren't soldiers that jump to the whims of the government to keep food on the table." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "They're individual warriors. Each one a world and a story with combat on every page." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "These are people who are going to look at you and, immediately, decide whether they'd be willing to die with you." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "So ask yourselves this--" <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Do you think you're worth that?" <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Do you believe, honestly, that you deserve someone dying for you?" <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "If you can't confidently say yes, and mean it without reservation, then don't get in the way."     Candy's expression sours as he follows Kana. He knows better than to argue--it wouldn't do any good. But he can think it. *Why the fuck would I be out here if I wanted -them- to die for -me?- I'm here to work. Not to start a goddamn cult.*     His irritated frown softens at the sight of Bota. "Hey, handsome," he says. His amorous tone is a little strained. There are other things on his mind. Still... "Good to see you again." >Maybe there's some other presence she's scared of.     Candy pulls the brim of his cap down and looks pointedly away. >Why do they want to meet us out here, though? It's not the nicest place.     "*Because* it's not the nicest place," says Candy simply, hands stuffed into the pockets of his black breeches. The hem disappears beneath matching black socks, and work boots thud against the ground in an even cadence until he comes to a stop. "What that means, I guess we're about to find out."
Redshift Operators	The cyborg ninja clambers down off of the giant's shoulder, dusting herself off and looking to Bota, then back to Kana, then back to Bota again. She nods.     "I see what she puts you through. And I want that for me."     "Huh?"     "You wouldn't understand."     "Don't like this place." Says the leader of the gang in red. He isn't looking at the decayed part of the town, he's looking at the shining part. "Makes me think 'core worlds' a little too much, and it's not just the statue. 'Munitions', huh? I *bet*." His helmet's optics flicker, move into a short scowl. "Down here is where things don't matter. So they want to be here in case something happens that needs to *not matter* real fast. Whatever that is. Let's make it good, I guess."     He makes a quick tactical motion with his fist, and the rest of the gang in red bunch up behind Lillian. "You're taking lead? Fuck up the meeting, it's on your ass. I'm falling in. Take your chance." The gruff fellow doesn't bite back at losing the authority, but he *does* somewhat begrudgingly heap an expectation onto Lilian with his compliance, the only sane counter-maneuver when she's asserting power and he's feeling particularly insecure.
Kale Hearthward	Kale, having to carefully climb down instead of flying or teleporting or aerial tricks or just simply tanking the fall, has to hurry to catch up to everyone else. Catch up to everyone else, who can get down just fine. Of course. Some more background is revealed. "Wait, *that*'s what's being negotiated? Post-victory land rights when the world is in danger? Talk about counting your wheat before it's grown..." Kale rubs his face. Rook wanting to talk to the 'real harpoonists' makes more sense now. Hopefully it's like she says, and they'll be more open to focusing on the problem. "Fortunately, I've got experience in this sort of thing, from doing negotiations in Secundus during the resonance cascades. I'm pretty sure if people are being greedy in how much they're asking for, I can get them to fold. It's like, conversational ju jitsu."
Lilian Rook	'"Slacking off," Kana 'corrects''     Lilian opens her mouth, pauses out of dread realization that she is just about to explain something to Rita Ma, contemplates something even more silently terrifying, and then shuts her mouth again.     'Like, he kept her around as arm candy, but he wouldn't even look at her?'     "Celebrities always have bad personalities." says Lilian. "As far as shitty boyfriends go, that could be much worse. I don't think he'll be unreasonable based on that alone."     'It doesn't matter if the promises are empty, as long as the threats are real.'     Lilian breathes in sharply. A flutter catches in her chest. "Yea--s. We all had a phase like that, I suppose." she says. "When we thought the good thing would happen, if we were just good enough to deserve it."     '... Thanks for looking out for him, Lilian.' 'Hey?!'     A thin, dread smile. "People who've had easy lives are always calculating how little they can risk and still get away with it. They never really consider the idea that if they risk too little, the consequences will come back to them too. Not really. Consequences aren't real to them." She laughs, drily. "I said I'd look after Rita's family, but I actually like you both, you know?" Her gaze drifts off, her voice hoarse. "And I really, really hate people who have it easy."     'So if she's still going ahead... it's got to just be arrogance, right'     "It's a basic principle of war to concentrate all of your force on the smallest enemy units you can. If you overwhelm them one-sidedly with all of your strength, you'll suffer less losses than trying to fight them on every front by matching force to force. I don't doubt that the three remaining Devils, plus whatever else she can drum up, could severely imperil all of the Harpoonists in both cities, if they were to simultaneously pick us apart, piece by piece." She glances back to Bota. "Which is to say, I don't think she's fought you seriously yet. But she has, indeed, taken too long to take you, us, seriously."     When did Lilian start calling the Queen 'She' like everyone else, and not 'It' and 'That thing'     'Skutoom.'     "A history, hm?" Lilian is still focused dead ahead again. "I'm almost envious, in a way. That your white whale-- that is, your special enemy, will be dead in just a little under six months."     'Why do they want to meet us out here, though? It's not the nicest place.'     "It is the perfect place, though." says Lilian. "Anyone can look confident with a comfortable chair and air conditioning. Sizing someone's silhouette up against the ruins helps decide whether they belong as someone standing after they're made."     'You're taking lead? Fuck up the meeting, it's on your ass.'     "If I can't do it then none of you could, so you can go jump overboard and swim to the island where the people who care live." says Lilian. "It's ever so easy to need someone to do it for you, then burn them if they fail"
Ishirou	Ishirou falls in step with Candy, returning his worried glances with a soft, though nervous, smile of his own.  They just have to somehow clear this hurdle, but...dealing with greedy men is worse than dealing with anyone else.  Especially ones with 'agendas'.  Especially ones that are expansionists.   <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "They won't want to agree if we come off as unreliable." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "So maybe Ishirou should keep his mouth shut actually." Ishirou's expression darkens, and he sighs slightly.  There isn't anything he can really say to that, because he doesn't think she's wrong.  Not lately.  Honestly, he isn't sure if he was ever someone who was reliable.  His glance hits the ground as they walk, and he turns inward on himself.  Especially when... <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "These are people who are going to look at you and, immediately, decide whether they'd be willing to die with you." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "So ask yourselves this--" <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Do you think you're worth that?" <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Do you believe, honestly, that you deserve someone dying for you?" <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "If you can't confidently say yes, and mean it without reservation, then don't get in the way." Ishirou... can't.  He absolutely can't.  This isn't anything new, he couldn't take anyone dying for him ever, even if he did some reckless things lately, but only because he thought he deserved it, he didn't think he was going to hurt others.  He closes his eyes for a moment, taking a breath, and then... "Alright, you lead and I'll follow.  If you need something scanned or information dug out you know where I am," he says and doesn't complain, looks like he'd just been kicked, or anything else...he just simply looks ready instead of anything else. Though he does give Bota a knowing smile and sympathetic look.  His eyes look at the place they were gathered to meet.  It does look...well...not great.  Maybe there was a reason for this, one other than they feel most comfortable here.  Ishirou takes scans of the area, looking for anything that shouldn't be there.  If there is no immediate threat, then he just looks around with his nerd eyes to see how people live nearby.
Kukuru	Following Kana further onwards, Kukuru raises an eyebrow curiously as the crowd disperses around her. Perhaps not sensing that presence herself (or being too dense to notice), she simply smiles and waves at those she passes, stopping to gawk and then giggle at that little exchange between Kana and the messy-haired man. "Aw, don't worry. If anything scary comes, I'll give you one of my claws, Bo-ta." She asserts with a not-really helpful gesture at her pockets. THey're not large pockets by any means, and it'd be hard to notice they're even there if she didn't point them out. She also doesn't elaborate before heading deeper in. "All these people, but so much space is being used by that statue... Hm. I think I saw one like that a while ago, but it wasn't out here... Huh. Weird." Shrugging lightly, she mulls over everything she's seeing and hearing, taking particular notice of Ishirou's new appearance and Meika being a completely new face to her. Bota's optimism despite everything she's hearing from Kana and on the radio about the negotiations, thankfully, maintains some of that hope in her heart. "That's right, Bo-ta. I know a lot of humans can be pretty..." She makes a noncommital, but visibly uncomfortable noise. "... But as long as there's good kids like you and Kana around here, I'm sure things'll work out. And..." There's already some tension brewing before the meeting's started, and Kukuru clears her throat loudly as she steps over to try and slide herself between the leader of the Redshifts and Lilian. "Aw, hey, hey. We're all working together on this, so let's believe in Lili, okay? She's way smarter than me at these kinds of things, so I know she'll figure out how to..." She struggles with the words for a moment, then gestures at Kale with her head. "... Conversational juice, right!" She claps her hands together once more, then starts taking water bottles out of her pockets and passing them out to anyone who's willing to take them while waiting for the rest to show up. "Now, drink up. You don't wanna have a sore throat before things start here."
Hibiki Tachibana	"Both, huh...?" Hibiki's not sure she really likes the sound of it much. But there won't really be anything for it until they meet these harpoonists and hear things from themselves. As much as she'd wish otherwise, it still seems like they're going to have plenty of things to work out before anything actually gets done. So maybe Ishirou should keep his mouth shut actually. And Tachibana too.     "I'm here to do what I can, too," she mutters into her jacket collar under her breath, hands in her jacket pockets to hide how they're clenching in. She knows exactly what she's good at and what she's not good at, so she doesn't have an arguement.     But she still wants to. Lilian's question gets her to purse her lips, only opening them when Bota joins in. "...Nice to see some things never change, Bota." She means that, despite everything. Genuinely. 5tWhen they reach where they're going, she glances around the same as him. The mixture of brand new and barnace-encrusted old is a little unsettling. She thinks she'd actually prefer if it was just one or the other. She takes a water bottle from Kukuru, offhandedly. She still seems distracted. "...Maybe it's /because/ it's not the nicest place."
Lilian Rook	'Alright, you lead and I'll follow. If you need something scanned or information dug out you know where I am'     "Dragonfly has bizarre tastes. Or was it Metaphor?" Lilian asks, not being gifted with the power of psychometry. "I hope you thanked them for the upgrade, but you need to gather up your courage and get back to normal ASAP." Her gaze flicks aside and back. "How did you already break your . . . optics?"     'Conversational juice, right!'     Lilian smiles vaguely as she walks. She's run out of patience to be exasperated or suspicious about Kukuru. "I can figure out anything I put my mind to, so don't worry." she says, graciously accepting a water bottle.     'I'm here to do what I can, too'     "And what in god's name is a girl who's lost her nerve going to do about the end of the world? Don't think they won't be able to tell, Tachibana."     '*Why the fuck would I be out here if I wanted -them- to die for -me?- I'm here to work. Not to start a goddamn cult.*'     §It doesn't matter what you want. Some of them will die, and they'll die helping you, for what you believe in. It's not beyond the pale that you might too, for them, so take in their measure as well.§
Meika Kirenai	Chevalier Vermillion breathes just a little easier, now, crossing the pier alongside the other Elites. Her footsteps push, slightly, a bit closer to the excpected gliding motion of the iceskates her boots end in than a standard walking gait. She doesn't even try to muffle her giggle when the lead harpoonist surprises Bota, even if she raises gloved fingers to cover her mouth. But it's quickly down to business. 'They'll argue about who commits what. Who bleeds for it the most.'     "...Won't committing everything mean fewer have to bleed...? I.. I hope you can convince them. That they hear you, and believe you, even if they don't want to. I hope proof doesn't just scare them." Not that there's any way this ends in compromise. Apocalypses don't have room for that.     She takes in the city as they all pass through, and her eyes linger on the wounds it's suffered. The penny's scratch. Chevalier Vermillion's breath hitches, hearing the story. An attack... so what really happ- She cuts her train of thought off, actually shaking her head. This isn't her home, and it doesn't bother to dwell on the unknowable. 'The big attack, a year and a half ago.' 'Why do they want to meet us out here, though?'     "....This is their home. If... they want to be taken seriously, if... they want to know you're... here for them, it's... only fair that somewhere that hurts and needs.. remembering.. be where they figure that out, right?" She swallows, throat dry in the sea-scented air. It's the least someone can do, isn't it? To share the hurt?
Ishirou	"Dragonfly," Ishirou says to Lilian with a soft laugh.  "Unless you mean this body...then it was.." he looks warmly over to Candy, "He did it.  It's nice, isn't it?" he says, though pauses.  "...my...courage?  You...thought I was brave before..?" he asks, unsure.  His own confidence hit through all of this, but this... it's nice to hear.  "Alright.  I'm going to work on it...a balance..." he says with a soft smile. Huh..? "Oh..." he says with a slight blush, "...It's not something that happened.  It's a symbol of someone important to me."
Redshift Operators	The gruff man bristles a little at Lilian, scowling grumpily. "Sure *is* easy. And if I fucking needed--" He starts, before the cyborg keeping pace, bunched up with him, jabs him in the ribs. The armor blunts it, but not its social effect. "...You've got the trust you asked for either way. You know the signals if things go sour." He can tell she's probably directed a team of soldiers before, and knows what to do. He adjusts the gun slung over one shoulder and keeps walking.
Candy	For a moment, he's somewhere else. Not physically, it should be clarified--that's always a faint possibility with him. Though he's standing in the same place, his mind is in Cuernavaca, several years ago. Faces flash by-- What are you doing?      Before he can stop thinking about them. Lucky. Eva. Abril. The Guardia Rurales, and that son of a bitch Roman mercenary, they just started shooting. One minute, the crickets were going, and everyone was rotating posts. And the next, time had stopped, and all he could hear was the pounding in his chest, creeping up to his throat, pacing back and forth around an overturned pot of food, in between three dying moments frozen in a near-infinitely-stretched moment. Lucky, mid-swear, grasping for his pistol while the other hand held a bloodied straw hat to the rifle wound in his stomach. Eva, face-down with her short hair spilled out and her arm reaching for Abril, silently screaming. And Abril--hovering mid-fall, tripped over the pot, four-fingered hand still held flat out from shoving Candy out of the way. *...yeah.*      Candy sighs, back in Floating City New York. "It was me," he says to Lilian. She can tell with a cursory glance that she's not alone in her opinion.
Rita Ma	"Hey, handsome. Good to see you again." "Good to see you too, Candy," Bota says with a sunny smile and a pat on the shoulder. He really is more like than unlike his sister. "You know, the guys in engineering go back and forth between singing your praises and cursing you out every other day. If I know them, that means you did pretty good." "Now, drink up." "Oh, you don't have to-" "Thanks." Kana takes a bottle, chugs the whole thing in about five seconds, then crushes it. He looks softly mortified on her behalf. It's... only fair that somewhere that hurts and needs.. remembering.. be where they figure that out, right?" "You're a really thoughtful person, aren't you?" Bota says slowly, looking down to meet Meika's eyes. "Maybe that's what I'd do. Hey, making a memorial might be a good idea; I'll pass that along. But I don't feel like they're that sentimental." <J-IC-Scene> Kale Hearthward says, "No actually, I know what I'm talking about. The real harpoonists will have specific tattoos." <J-IC-Scene> Kale Hearthward says, "Marks for killing a hundred monsters per." Bota, who has a plain sigil with zero stars, tries his best not to look a little embarrassed. Kana has five: four black-blue stars and one red. She doesn't indicate whether she's heard. "A history, hm? I'm almost envious, in a way." "Don't be," Kana says, in a way so cracklingly radioactive it makes even herself flinch. Her blink afterwards contains a silent apology, but her tone remains hard-edged, only aimed at a different target. "When the supervolcano boils the ocean, or when I pull its guts out. One way or the other."      Her hand absentmindedly comes up to touch her eyepatch. When she realizes, she plays it off as fixing her hair.
Rita Ma	But there isn't much more time for chatter. Just around the corner, in a spacious but vacant avenue, is Clark Miller leaning against a lamppost with arms crossed. He's impossible to mistake: white diving suit with blue and red accents (of course), blonde and blue-eyed, as tall as Bota and markedly less weedy.      He's the exact aesthetic midpoint of "all-American boy" and "smug devil". A folding spear is strapped to his back; a pair of lackeys, an elegant woman with an oversized machine gun and a hulking man with a hammer, flank him. They were chosen to impress. "Well, well. The great Kana of Union Busan! What a beautiful face. And those outsiders I've heard so much about..." Bota grimaces at the implicit snub. "Clark Miller. You had something to discuss?" "Ah, well. I was hoping to poach some of you for Floating City New York's forces." "You must be joking." "Whatever they're paying you, I can give you more. Fame, experience... You'd be my second-in-command, Kana. And it'd strengthen New York's bargaining position even further. You know who'll come out of this with the lion's share." "I refuse." "Pity. We could've done great things together. Just one more thing, though..."      He gestures for the group to follow him around the next bend. Warily, Kana does.      She shrieks.
Redshift Operators	Red Dwarf is a spring unloaded. White Dwarf is a taut wire snapping. Hands are on weapons and feet are rushing 'round the bend. "MOVE, MOVE--!" A gruff voice is roaring. Anything that could make Kana shriek needs attention NOW!!
Rita Ma	It is an ear-piercing, soul-piercing noise that deflates her as it leaves her lungs and tears her throat raw. It's like bereavement, a mother discovering the corpse of her child. It's like the final howl of a demon being exorcised from the body.      The effect is closer to the latter, too. Kana drops to her knees, catching herself on a trembling arm. Her fingernails try to dig furrows into the metal street.      Up ahead, nearly filling the hollowed-out shell of a ruined building, is a monstrous mutated crab. Its spiny shell is pockmarked with thousands of bullet-holes and hundreds of protruding harpoon-needles, scored over and over again with blades until something finally sawed through by attrition. Even a year and a half of rot couldn't change its form much.      Bota rushes over to crouch next to his mentor, placing his hands on her shoulders before looking up with a wild-eyed glare. "You- you bastard! You hid this to spring it on us, didn't you?! Why would you-" "What a shame. I thought she'd be happy what we did with the thing," Clark drawls, clearly lying. "Skutoom was HERS!" "Unfortunately, it attacked my city."      Clark's piercing blue eyes sweep across the party. A slight, satisfied sneer pulls at his lips. "Well. You can't seriously consider serving under a leader who's having a nervous breakdown, can you? Come on, now. We're all in this together."
Redshift Operators	The Redshift Operators all stop, the two in front skidding and the two behind holding position behind Lilian. Behind four masks, teeth clench. Under gauntlets or prosthesis, hands tighten into balled fists. But the weapons are instantly put away and the Operators are instantly reforming back behind Lilian after a stressed, disgusted jerk of the hand by the leader. "You know," He grumbles. "You're right. Wouldn't know a god damn thing about how to fix *this*."     He winds up crossing his arms and staring at Clark Miller, completely silent. Not inattentive, but in a posture saying, "I will not be having that conversation right now". At least, not with Clark. He jerks his head at his medic, pointing her towards Bota. She's the one to approach. "This is... tense. Worse than the limits most would have for anguish. 'Skutoom was hers?'"
Ishirou	Ishirou's impression of Clark isn't good, though he does hold himself up straight like Meika suggested, brushing his hair out to make up for any scruffiness that might be there.  He stays true to his word, staying quiet and letting Lilian take point on talking, she was better suited for this, and the more he hears Clark talk, the more he's certain.  She knows how to handle people like /this/.   He rolls his eyes slightly when he indicates he wanted to poach them.  He's not interested in this place and has more stock on the Union Busan than this place.  Clark wants them to follow him, and he's unsure but shrugs and follows.  And he moves into a run the moment he hears the scream.  If something could make Kana scream like that... He turns the corner and stops in his track.  The giant crab, monstrous even, definitely is large enough to be one of the devils...though he'd need to take more in-depth scans to be sure.  Though he looks at Kana, seeing her weak at the knees.  The back and forth gives him what he needs to know.  This is the monster that probably haunts her dreams, the one she wanted revenge on... And it's dead. He couldn't blame them for defending their home, what were they to do, wait for Kana to get here?  Who knows where Busan was at that time..?  This...no this is clearly meant to try and weaken both their faith in Kana and Kana's own resolve.  He takes a breath.   He moves to Kana herself, places a hand on her shoulder, and offers a hand to her feet.  "I think we got what was here already, do you want help back to the Busan?" he asks, though he throws a concerned glance towards Bota.  He only turns his head slightly towards Clark.  He considers saying something...then stops himself and turns towards Kana.  "We're with you, alright?"
Candy	Candy's fists clench until his knuckles are pale, his eyes shaded by the brim of his cap. Don't. Don't.      When his fingers release, a speck of blood falls, and hangs suspended in the air. Everything is frozen, save for Lilian, Kana, and Bota. Clark's sneer is a study in contempt, held in place. Gulls hang silently high above, the chatter of the city stopped dead. Candy holds a finger up to his lips, for Bota's benefit, and for Lilian's--he imagines Kana won't think to look until everyone moves. Two hundred feet back up, away from Clark. Away from his lackeys. Away from Skutoom. Illusions of all four of them, more crude than Candy's usual passable work, sits in imitation of their previous poses. It's less there to fool anyone, and more for each of them to convincingly pretend this breathing room hadn't been stolen.     "Both of you, take a minute. Take as long as you need. Because if I do what *I* wanna do, right now, it's gonna mean a fight. *I* need a minute. And I figured you would too. Get the 'fuck-yous' and 'blow-mes' and 'you piece of shits' out now. Do what you gotta do. Lilian, anything else to add?"      When the breather is had, time resumes, and all four of them are back where they were, with only a small scattering of firefly-like motes of light to suggest anything strange had happened. High above, a garbled, compressed burst of conversation blows through the breeze, lost in the dull roar of the city and the cries of seagulls.      "You're right, ah? We *are* in this together, yankee," says Candy coolly. "Which means, less than fucking one of our best around, we ought to be making sure all of us are in fighting shape. I got work to do, Mr. Big Stuff. You here to work too? Or just to play with yourself?"
Kukuru	Kukuru's expression visibly brightens when those bottles are taken, and even Bota's mild horror isn't enough to dampen that for her. She does look between Hibiki and Lilian a few times at that comment about the former's nerve, though, not so subtly shuffling over to Hibiki and giving her arm a gentle nudge. "You okay, Hibiki? Do you wanna talk about what's... Anything later?" She offers quietly, patting her shoulder briefly before noticing the presence of another important-looking person in a diving suit. Once again, Bota's grimace at Clark's language doesn't really land for her, either, and she simply greets him with a light wave and her usual bright smile. As promised, she leaves the talking to everyone else, but it's a good opportunity to listen, and to try and read between the lines a bit more than she usually does. Clark wants Kana for New York, and he's willing to offer plenty of fame and money. Kana is part of the Union Busan, and even fame and money isn't enough to sway her to join Clark. Does she know something about him? A past history, even? That's about as far as Kukuru's thinking gets before she hears that shriek. Without thinking further, Kukuru goes straight for Kana. One hand goes around Kana's head to cradle it protectively against her chest, and the other is braced for... A corpse? The confusion is pretty apparent on Kukuru's face as there's clearly nothing trying to kill anyone here. Whatever Clark's saying and the implications of the crab shell just slide right over her head, though, as she turns her whole attention to trying to calm Kana. Kukuru gestures at Bota to come closer, then goes right into stroking Kana's head, trying to coax that calming presence into Kana's mind after what she's just seen. "Sh sh sh, it's okay. It's okay... You're safe here. Nothing's attacking. Nothing's going to hurt you. Bota's here, I'm here, everyone's here for you."
Lilian Rook	'..Won't committing everything mean fewer have to bleed...?'     "It would." says Lilian. It's simple. Two words. And it carries an immense weight of tension and dread about it. "But some people want to keep the pain to themselves, some people will do anything to avoid it, and some people want everyone else to hurt but them. People aren't built that good at sharing."     'You've got the trust you asked for either way. You know the signals if things go sour.'     "Oh, I know I don't have your trust. But I have your confidence, which is alright, and I have the others' obedience, which is actually better than trust." she says. "If they start trouble then do as you will. I don't have room for deliquents on my ark."     'Don't be'     Lilian tenses up less at the boiling menace radiating off of Kana than she had at a few carelessly chosen words. Or, she does, but it's the tension of impending danger, familiar and safe; simple and unbetraying. Kana trying to kill her would be very scary, but it'd be comfortingly reasonable.     "My apologies. I phrased that poorly." she says, neutrally. "I'm envious that your enemy will be dead." The full and mirror opposite is implicitness in the sheer, desolate bitterness in her voice. "But perhaps that was still inappropriate. So, I'm sorry." She glances away out of awkward guilt, and unrealizingly, reaches to touch her scar and deflects her hand into hair at the same time as Kana.     'Unless you mean this body...then it was..'     'It's a symbol of someone important to me.'     Lilian misses her step, and falls five paces behind the'I-I really look up to you.'group. Her eyes burn in the back of Candy's skull. It takes until the count of ten for her to swallow the'You're so... intentional. Even every time you crack it feels like, there's a story behind it.'nervous horror creeping up to her face. She crushes the second half of her water bottleHe fucking *what*?! Th-that putrid-- that-- he doesn't even-- he doesn't even *get*--as if it'll rid her of the beginnings of'What's everyone's *problem*, why can't they just listen?'the cold sweat beading up on her skin. Spiking the emptythat makes them justified in hurting you in whatever halfassed ways they wantbottle, Lilian quickly catches up with the groupand because they're 'good', you can't escalate without being 'evil'in silence.     ....     'And those outsiders I've heard so much about...'     "You must be Miller." Lilian says, right back to normal on demand, like flicking a switch. "I've heard impressive things, so I'd say it's a pleasure to meet you, but I feel a little bit snubbed you didn't deign to mention my beautiful face as well." Her tone is so laser calibrated to be ambiguously between joking and serious, commanding and casual, expectant and disdainful, that there's no clear avenue to seriously call her out. "And please do be careful about offering competitive pay." That one balances precariously between facetious, smug, scoffing, and immediately fond.
Lilian Rook	Of course she moves to follow when he gestures. She moves as if she has nothing better to be doing, and intends to humour his funny little request. Kana's screaming nearly gets her. It's only by the grace of her ability to feel her before seeing her that Lilian maintains the composure to arrive last, moving at the same speed she did before.     'Unfortunately, it attacked my city.'     "Indeed it did. I could hardly expect you to sit by and let it rampage around. A Harpoonist's duty clearly demands otherwise." Lilian says, cooly neutral. "But I have mixed feelings about being told that. For instance, why would I want to serve under a leader who intentionally induces breakdowns in his subordinates? Isn't this more of a demonstration that you're willing to humiliate and torment your troops?" she says. A pause is left precisely calculated to be long enough to start to be uncomfortable, but just too short to get a word in. "Seeing as I'm certain that wouldn't be your intent, I'd appreciate if you explained it to me, Miller. We're all in this together, of course, so right now I need us to be absolutely free of ambiguity and to clear up any misunderstandings."                 -----[stop]-----     "Jesus Christ what a shitheel." says Lilian. "Lord do I know his type. He didn't think this through properly at all. He doesn't have any clue how to negotiate. He doesn't have a proper goal through this at all. He's like a fucking-- well, to be honest, one of my coworkers." she says, gesticulating as she ramps up. "He just hates being spurned and thinks he's checking someone's ego. Like saying no is a power play. Not giving into him is an act of transgression against him. Fucking typical."     She crouches down beside Kana, thinking better than to hold out her hand to help if this is going to be subtle. "I won't tell you to feel any differently, Kana. I'll only ask that you keep your head for now, if for no other reason than everything we do here is . . ." Lilian clearly changes what words she was going to use mid-sentence. The hitch is visible and weird, now that they're all here like this. "For the sake of Rita coming home."                 -----[start]-----     "Please don't infantalize Kana, Kukuru." Lilian continues, as if nothing happened. It didn't. "It's a lot to take in, when something you've spent your entire life preparing for turns out to be unnecessary. I'd doubt how serious she really is, if she looked at this with relief." Her gaze drifts back to Clark as a matter of conversational course. "I wouldn't want to work with someone who wants this all to be over and done, because I can't count on their courage. And I don't want to work with someone who wants the honours and glory, because I can't count on their judgement. I prefer to work with someone who wants the leviathans to suffer and die; that way I can count on their conviction."
Hibiki Tachibana	"...I'm okay, Kukuru. Thanks. We can...maybe talk in a little bit." She's not that okay. And she's really, genuinely starting to get tired of saying that. But right this moment, she can keep it together enough for the sake of what they're doing. And what in god's name is a girl who's lost her nerve going to do about the end of the world?     It'd be easy to miss the sight of Hibiki's jacket pocket scrunching in, from the inside, thanks to the fingers of her one free hand wrenching into the fabric. "I'm not going to let anything happen to this world. ...No matter what." It's Rita's. And it has people she cares about, and who care about her. No matter how messed up she is right now, just the thought of not doing anything /here/...     She's snapped out of it when they finally meet who they're here for - Clark Miller. Almost immediately, she has the sinking feeling that she really isn't going to like this after all, starting with what he actually waned to 'discuss' being some poor pass at a recruitment drive. "...Are you kidding me...?"     Hibiki might not know the first thing about political maneuvering, so it says something when her expression shifts to a mixture of exasperation and a little disgusting. /This/ guy is the 'real deal'...? She's still coming to terms with that when both him and Kana move on - and it's the scream that gets her wide-eyed and sprinting to turn the corner, fast enough she drops her water bottle.     "What--" It takes her several long moments to process what she's seeing. It only clicks thanks to the exchange between Bota and Clark, and she slowly turns her head from the latter, to Kana's utterly horrific state, and then back up to him. Slowly, her teeth clench in on each other, and the confusion and shock is replaced with--     "What the hell is /wrong with you/!?" Entirely uncaring of just about anything else, including Clark's extra hands, Hibiki stomps forward to near the front of the group, her eyes no less wild than Bota's. "Did you seriously do it like this just to hurt Kana!? How can do that, see her like this, then say 'we're all in this together' with that satisfied smirk on your face!?"
Lilian Rook	'What the hell is /wrong with you/!?'     "What did I just say, Tachibana?"     Lilian's voice catches up with up with Hibiki from behind like a haunting; cold and dreadful, filled with the creaking sounds of architectural stress and little glimpses of something worse.     "Just as I thought. There's no way I can trust you to protect anyone you claim to care about. Your feelings are clearly the only thing that matter."     '--satisfied smirk on your face!?'     Lilian flicks her wrist out towards Hibiki, and black wire, flat and metallic, loops six times around her neck and four times around Lilian's fist, faster than blinking. She hesitates not at all to wind the girl in like this. She isn't transformed, and she can't resist me if she can't sing. Trash.     "That's enough out of you." Lilian says to Hibiki, then "I'd offer to let you take this one off our hands, Miller, but I suppose you've grasped the rather inconsistent quality of our recruits. I believe we were speaking about how we plan to organize in the upcoming operation?"
Kale Hearthward	> Bota, who has a plain sigil with zero stars, tries his best not to look a little embarrassed. If it helps (it probably doesn't) Kale didn't even make the connection that Bota doesn't have any stars. And then... Clark Miller. Who comes out of the gate with a poaching attempt. This... ... is a *very* welcome change from the usual treatment Kale's used to as a multiversal. Usually it's disinterest or some sort of lukewarm reception - 'oh sure you can help us out'. Rarely is there an attempt to actually, actively, *pro*actively get the visitors on the home team's side. > "Whatever they're paying you, I can give you more. Fame, experience..." ... Fame, especially, would be nice right about now. Recognition. Evaluation of Kale Hearthward for what he's actually worth, instead of the butt of the joke - the combat specialist everyone jokes about getting constantly injured (when someone who literally ran off and died is *right there*) - the flight specialist who's the only one who had a hard time getting off of the ship. It's not lost on him that the reason he's being scouted is to get one up on someone else. It's the situation at the maid-off all over again, Miller's not here to cheer him on, just to root against someone else. But at least it's recognition. At least it's something. Kale's pondering this when they turn the corner. Kana's gasp has him absently and automatically reaching for a sword, before he realizes what he's looking at... and then shortly after, why they and it are here. This is... a dick move. A very, very dick move. Words fail Kale for precisely how dickish it is. And yet. It's a show of power. The reveal of the felling of the beast was made here, in front of them - not at the meeting, in front of everyone, when it could directly sway negotiations. Miller can afford this sort of negotiating capital expenditure. And a thought rises to the top of Kale's head. Why is he considering taking Miller's offer? Why is he considering Miller's offer... when it's plain to see that he should stop considering and just take him up on it. New York is thirty thousand strong, the Union Busan has ten thousand - it seems more well defended, and say what you will about setting aside space to keep that monument, but they still have it. He'd probably be the only one taking Miller's offer, the only one standing on New York's side, while everyone else here stuck with the Union Busan - but that's a sort of recognition of its own, wouldn't it be? They'd have to acknowledge him now, they'd have to give him a fair weighting of his capabilities, even if it only meant as a rival. Why doesn't he say yes?
Kale Hearthward	It's... a close thing. It could well be pushed by the flip of a coin, in another world. On one side of the coin, Kale would be saying yes, or at least making plans to quietly take the offer when he'd be less likely to get stabbed. But on the other side of the coin... Kale's already thought about this. <Q-Conversation> Kale Hearthward says, "Why do you fight? Like, as in get out there and do stuff, I mean." ... <Q-Conversation> Bercilak says, "Wherefore dost thou ofaxe?" <Q-Conversation> Kale Hearthward says, "I'm trying to figure some stuff out. Why I've been fighting hasn't always been panning out." <Q-Conversation> Bercilak says, "Thanne I shalt ofaxe thee the same. Wherefore dost thou ifighte?" <Q-Conversation> Kale Hearthward says, "Recognition." <Q-Conversation> Kale Hearthward says, "Which hasn't been working out." <Q-Conversation> Bercilak says, "Yea, bicause if that is thy longinge, thou'rt misemploied. 'Tis not to bisaie thou shalt hath hit not, in thy labourage. But thou wouldst beserved the bet, if thou wert an athlete, oth that a sword-man aboute tourneis." He knows he needs to move away from taking fame and recognition as his sole motivators, because - as Bercilak said - he isn't going to get it, and he can't let not getting it... get to him. And so this would be the wrong move. He just doesn't... have anything to replace that drive with. That reason for fighting. So saying no is hard. Because without that, *why* is Kale out here? Why's he risking his tailfeathers? You can talk up doing good deeds and saving lives all you want, but that doesn't answer the core question of *why*. Why is Kale here? He doesn't have an answer. "Really, Miller," he says, after a long moment. "Here I thought we were going to be talking to this city's warriors, not their trophy hunting fishermen eager to show off their catch." His heart's not in it.
Meika Kirenai	'You're a really thoughtful person, aren't you?' 'But I don't feel like they're that sentimental.'     "Oh. Right." Her posture shifts, a little, under his gaze, shoulders raising ever so slightly. Don't humor me, if I'm wrong. She doesn't have it in her to move her eyeline to the street below, so when a faint scowl crosses her face, it's not hidden in the slightest. "Maybe you should just forget I said that." As Chevalier Vermillion focuses just a bit of her magic on Bota, there's an ever-so-slight shimmer of red, fizzing light, and if he thinks on it, it may just be a little easier to assume someone else spoke up, not her.     The American harpoonist's appearance snaps her back to attention, and a faint smile back to her face. His costume may be garish, but for the moments before he can say or do anything to change the assumption, Chevalier Vermillion is the smallest bit comforted by the fact he bothered with that sort of presentation at all. Unfortunate, that that just means her heart's got somewhere to sink from, when his attitude steps in the ring.     Lives on the line, and he wants bargaining power? Is this the type Lilian means? Who we need to prove we're reliable to? Her free arm crosses her chest, half-hugging herself, as the butt of her hockey stick taps against the city street, watching, listening, until-     The scream causes her to bolt, skating across the ground like it had never once heard of friction, and rounding the corner, leaning into the turn with a screeching shower of red sparks spraying out opposite her. She's already thinking like it's a fight, but then...     ...Oh. There's a monster, dead, and the woman they were following, crumpled. The clarified situation only makes her already white-knuckled grip on her stick all the more tight and desperate. 'You can't seriously consider serving under a leader who's having a nervous breakdown, can you?'     She wants to say something, to come to anyone's defense- it's so obviously bad, it's so obviously painful -but she doesn't do more than stand there, chest rising and falling with breaths through clenched teeth. It's important to convince them they're reliable, isn't it? Well. I'm not, really. So could it really hurt to just not lie? Teeth still grinding tight, moving lips only as much as is absolutely necessary, she spits words that only Clark Miller can hear, faintly echoing. "Coward. What an example to lead by. Can't find it in you to stand tall, so you just rip others down? Nobody has sympathy for that. Nobody's got love for that. Nor for you. You know it's true, don't you? That anyone who's said otherwise was lying? That anyone who looks up to you, hah, if there are any, is just ducking so it's your head that gets aimed at first. Don't you feel as rotten as the corpse you treasure? You're at home with it, aren't you? You.." She continues listing things, whispered jabs and pokes she has nothing to base on but her own bile-tasting anger at him and anyone like him, hiding it all as best she can, until the final comment and its accompanying faint red flare of magic, pleading him to simply forget that it was her who said it instead of anyone else, even himself, who'd told him that. Just like with Bota beforehand     She takes one last deep breath, and puts on a neutral expression. Oh. Maybe they'll be mad I didn't say anything.
Hibiki Tachibana	Of course Lilian is going to stop her. She knew she would, in a corner of her mind. That tiny voice just wasn't enough to drown out the one angry on Kana's behalf, mixed in with some of her own.     Lilian's voice, however, is one that's impossible to ignore. As impossible to ignore as the familiar wire looping around her throat, causing her eyes to go wide and her fingers to scrabble up at her neck as she gets quite literally pulled back into line. "Agh...! Y--!"     If she can't speak enough to get anything more than half-words and choking sounds out, of course singing is an impossibility. Even she can put together that she was yanked back this way just so that there was no chance she could do a single thing about it. Even so, she still tries and fails to dig beneath them enough to pry them away. There's no way I can trust you to protect anyone you claim to care about. Your feelings...     She hates this. She hates this so much. Either she's not trying enough and she has to blame herself for not doing things differently, or she has to shut up and sit down and let someone else - Lilian - do everything. There's no winning. Why is /she/ the wrong one when he just did that to Kana!? And why--does she have to be so weak that she can't do anything!? But you don't seem to care as much about that. I get what you're feeling, but she's right.     "That's--not...!" That's the only thing she can get out in this position, as angry, frustrated tears build up in her scrunched-up eyes.
Rita Ma	Bota grimaces under White Dwarf's questioning, averting his eyes while keeping his arm around Kana's shoulders. She takes a ragged, gasping breath. "Her family," he says, feeling like speaking for her isn't quite as bad as staying silent. "When she was young." He can't- doesn't need to- say anything else.      "Oh, is that it? And that's why I've never heard a last name," Clark muses coolly. Bota audibly grits his teeth.      Meika's whispered doubts only halfway hit home, but 'halfway' is enough. Clark tenses up in the interstitial moments of conversation, uncomfortable when he should feel exultant. But it's only the barbs about his pride, about needing to put other people down, that make him grimace disdainfully. The parts about never being loved by anyone don't seem to bother him at all.      Miller is exactly the right kind of soulless to not feel ashamed at all in meeting Lilian's gaze, even though even his two lackeys look aghast- they're loyal, but they pretty clearly weren't in on the plan. "I treat my subordinates well," he says smoothly. With a broad, generous gesture and a nod to Hibiki: "I recall Kana quite pointedly refusing to become my subordinate. Don't you? Besides, I thought she'd be relieved."      He's utterly unflinching, but too smug to be a good liar.      ----      Kana, unheard by all but three people, makes a single noise that is somehow a scream and a sob and a gasp for air. It wracks her body. Tears seep out from under her eyepatch. "It's not fair," she finally says raggedly. "Now that I'm finally strong enough..." Then, after a long un-moment, she sucks in a sharp breath through her teeth.      "'Keep my head'. How am I supposed to do that. That kept me going." Bota looks up at Candy with a strained but grateful smile, then back down at Kana. Gently: "Hey. We're your family too, aren't we? You said so. Hold onto that. Please."      Kana doesn't answer. The tears still flow. But she does breathe a little more smoothly.      ----      "Oh, really? I thought I almost had you," Clark says to Kale, with a faintly smiling bemusement. "You looked like you knew how to stand up straight. But there's no fixing a lack of pride."      Kana reaches up, grabs Kukuru's shoulder, and hauls herself up to leaning against her instead of being coddled, to Clark's visible surprise. Bota glares from behind Kana with his fists balled up tight, but keeps himself in check; he's too much of a good boy not to.      "We should go," she says, her voice rough but forcibly even. "This was never going to be a strategy meeting. I believe we've heard everything you have to say, Clark."      "My, what a quick recovery. I'm glad! Oh, but there was one more thing." Clark reaches back over his shoulder; his more elegant toady puts a folded piece of paper in his hand. He glances down at it to refresh his memory. "That young man's sister, ah- Rita, wasn't it? I've heard of the situation. Her unfortunate illness."      "If she shows her face, she'll be considered a valid tar-" Bota lunges at Clark, who unfolds his spear in the blink of an eye and knocks Bota away, followed milliseconds later by Kana dashing forward and hovering her sword a hair from Clark's neck. "I'll feed her your bones myself you piece of shit."
Kale Hearthward	> "Oh, really? I thought I almost had you," Clark says to Kale, with a faintly smiling bemusement. "You looked like you knew how to stand up straight. But there's no fixing a lack of pride." Damnit. Damnit damnit damnit. It's not actually going to sway Kale. But it *is* going to rub more salt on the raw patch that he's silently working through. > "If she shows her face, she'll be considered a valid tar-" Kale doesn't dare move in the ensuing action. Rook's got the split-second responses, he can leave things to her. What he does have, in the stillness that follows, is... a rare, fleeting moment of empathy. He should go talk to Rita. ... Later. Obviously. About... things.
Kukuru	Several others voice their apparent discontent with Clark. They're all saying what she truly wants to, things that she's not remotely quick enough to consider until after hearing it, and things that... Well, she's never really been able to follow Lilian's thought processes, but it all makes sense. Even then, Kukuru still can't bring herself to pull away from Kana even when Lilian makes that request/command to her. It does get her looking over briefly, but not enough to move Kukuru from her spot, and she's already looking back over at Kana by the time she throws those wires at Hibiki. "My job here is making sure anyone that's hurting or dying doesn't. I don't see anyone else dying or hurting right now." She replies somberly, closing her eyes briefly while tilting her head towards Kana's. She keeps cradling Kana's head as long as she can, clearly not bothered by how they've only met each other a few minutes ago, and only relenting once she finally starts to pull herself together. Feeling that pressure on her shoulder, she gets up steadily to continue offering Kana as much support as she needs despite the size and posture difference between them. She nods slowly at the call to leave, but she doesn't move away from just in case that physical support is still needed. Thankfully, she doesn't actually say anything to Clark directly, nor does she even comment on anything he's done right away. Kukuru still remembers the plan! At least, she remembers it until he suddenly brings up Rita. A whole bunch of new information starts flooding her head all at once, the biggest reveal being the fact that Bota's her brother, and that Kana's... Her mom? Probably, if her reaction to Clark is that violent.  What he says has her eyes going wide in shock, though, as that potential for human cruelty sinks in again. What does Rita have to do with any of this? Why would Clark do such a thing to his presumed allies in saving this world? Does this world need to be saved? Instead of moving to pull Kana away, though, Kukuru instead follows behind her languidly. Her gaze falls on Clark, looking empty for several moments before she turns to the pair of lackeys he came with. "Are you with him?" She asks the two quietly, then steps beside Kana and gets on her toes to ask her something else in that same quiet tone while bracing her hand on Kana's shoulder this time: "Do you want to go somewhere else? Or..." She doesn't finish that second thought. Her hand is trembling, and it's taking everything not to lose herself at this moment.
Candy	A long, drawn out sound of cards being cut fills the oppressive silence of the standoff. Candy bounces them, one at a time, from one hand to the other, in a dextrous display, eyes locked on Clark. He doesn't bother intervening. It would just make things worse, because he knows that he's one of the loudest voices here--and Lilian is already fed up with loud voices today.      That isn't to say that he does nothing. Candy has to look up to meet the harpoonist's eye, and has to circle around Bota and Kana to guarantee that he's seen. But he does both of these, calmly, coolly, entirely collected.      "Rita Ma has put her fair share of those fucking thieves away," says Candy, nodding towards the corpse of Skutoom. "I thought maybe you woulda heard that. Since you heard of her, ah, 'condition' and all." He cuts the cards again, sending them in a neat, even arc from the left hand to the right. "But maybe you didn't." Candy shrugs.      "Anyway, you know now," says the Watchman, in a tone that suggests he doesn't for a second believe Clark is unaware of how helpful Rita's been. How much she's sacrificed. "And since you know, you won't make no more. ah... 'honest mistakes.'" Again--the tone, and the look in his eyes, suggests he believes it was anything but.      "And that's all it was. Right, yankee?" It serves a few purposes. It gives Clark a social free-throw; a way to back down at relatively little cost. It gives Kana an excuse to lower her weapon. But it also draws a line: 'keep pushing the envelope and you have only yourself to blame.'
Ishirou	'Rita, wasn't it? I've heard of the situation. Her unfortunate illness.' 'If she shows her face, she'll be considered a valid tar-' The blood boils in Ishirou immediately.  He already wasn't a fan of what was happening, but he knew the solution was right.  He was /trying/ to keep things neutral in his head.  He stands up right after Kana and looks toward Clark.   Of course, this moment gets Ishirou's mouth speaking faster than his brain. <Tac-Paladins> [4] Ishirou says, "Am I restraining Bota, or am I restraining Clark so you can kill him?" <Tac-Paladins> [4] Lilian Rook says, "Hey." <Tac-Paladins> [4] Lilian Rook says, "Ishirou." <Tac-Paladins> [4] Lilian Rook says, "Didn't we have a talk about this?" <Tac-Paladins> [4] Ishirou sighs, "Sorry, got emotional there.  Wasn't thinking." <Tac-Paladins> [4] Lilian Rook says, "You think sorry cuts it, Ishirou?" <Tac-Paladins> [4] Lilian Rook says, "Is there a reason that not even begging for the most basic kind of dignity gets through to you? Or do you just ignore me on purpose?" Bota goes for Clark, and Ishirou reaches a hand up immediately, aiming to grab Bota by the back of his suit and drag him a few steps back where a hand goes to his shoulder.  He takes a breath, giving Bota a stare.  "Not now." Even though inside he's crumbling, because his stupid mouth is opening before he can think.  Because he's /hurting/ Lilian again...goddamn it Ishirou, can't you even keep it together for even a mission..?
Meika Kirenai	Where she stands, balanced on the delicate blades of her armored skates, Chevalier Vermillion shivers. The fact that she's clutching a weapon in both hands, like lives depend on it, does not put her even the slightest bit at ease. Even if it's not a strategy meeting, even if it might have been a trap from the start, people will hear of this, won't they? Them not being reliable. Them causing a disturbance. But everything's already hit the fan.     Rita..? I've met a Rita. Is it a coincidence- <J-IC-Scene> Kukuru says, "Rita? W... Wait, all this water. Union. This world is where she's...?" <J-IC-Scene> Redshift Operators | Red Dwarf says, "Yeah. Looks like she can't come back for two reasons, not just one." 'If she shows her face, she'll be considered a valid tar-'     Oh. He means that Rita. It feels like ice water is in her veins instead of blood, aching and freezing and feeling wholly, entirely wrong. Flickering, resonant energy starts to build in her hockey stick, encircling it like an aurora and sounding like distant, continuous thunder. As the harpoonist's blades reach for throats, and weapons- real ones, not sports toys, however magical they are -swing through the air, Meika swallows down the idea that hers could do any good. The magic fades, and she relaxes her grip. Only her grip.     She pushes off, with her skates, scraping the ground with quick-fading lines as she cuts through the air and distance like a rocket, ribbons trailing and leaning forwards. She knows that (well, believes him to be, at least) Clark Miller's the one in the wrong here, but her intercept trajectory is squared to the center of Kana's torso. Hate me for it later. She barrels forwards, aiming to grab her and pull her off the monstrous man's throat, to do anything to not make this disturbance worse for everyone else. "I'm sorry!" she whisper-shouts, right at the moment she would impact. It's what a real knight would do, right? To stop anyone from dying? She doesn't notice that her eyes are wetter than whatever salt in the air could cause.
Redshift Operators	The gunman's scowl intensifies. There goes Hibiki. And then there goes Lilian. And soon after, even Kana and Bota, but Lilian is the one who first gets his attention. "Hey!" His voice is firm, aggressive, maybe a little insecure but mostly focused on some simple things. Namely: There's *obviously* a lot of history here, but Lilian is publicly choking a small girl who is part of his faction and his Gut Feeling says that's not okay. His heart leads before his head can get out of bed. A few steps forward, and he grabs at her forearm, firmly shaking it if he can get a grip at all.     "The fuck are you doing?! You think we're going to lose more face for a kid getting stressed about this than you *choking* her? You think *he's* gonna be, what, calling it in to get you talked about behind closed doors, rumor-style? We're *way* past that already. This is fuckin' insane, I trusted you to keep this from not exploding, not do some psycho victorian mom crap." His voice juuust slightly trembles from his head catching up with his heart. Antagonizing Lilian isn't a savvy move. But he sticks to it. Trust the gut-feelings most of all. "Do that shit with your Paladins, not the Watch. If you needed her stopped, tell someone who can do it without noosing her."     "There is no way to make this a victory." The cyber-surgeon mutters. "It is best we not try. We had lost this encounter before we arrived. I had not expected attacks from *natives* to the city. Even my predictions have limits. But the only thing we can do is focus on our real goal, not this... maneuvering. I'm not sure what you gain from forcing this vulnerability, <Mr. Miller>, but humankind must persist for you to keep it at the end."     Then, there's a meaningful glance, from one operator to another operator. Maybe the leader's maneuver was slightly more calculated than it looked. "In any case, we do not allow harm to our allies, even if it is from other allies of circumstance. Rita does not intend to show her face. I am assured it will not be a problem. Enough damage has been done. Consider this an effort to tap out, so as not to make more measures *necessary.*"     A certain man moves in the background of all of this. He's repositioning. Not to have an effect right now, but for later. He even moves surprisingly silently. To either approach Clark Miller from behind, or to be at a good angle to suddenly step in between Clark and Kana. Not yet, but in just a moment. Slasher-villain positioning takes time. For now, it's just hard to keep track of him.
Lilian Rook	'Keep my head'. How am I supposed to do that. That kept me going.'     "The only way I know. Pick something else. Getting Rita back should be keeping you going, shouldn't it? And you're going to need to be as strong as possible to win that fight. Stronger than just killing Skutoom. Strong enough to kill the creature that made it, and let it-- the reason for everything. It'll be you who's there when the Queen dies, not him, and it'll be you welcoming Rita home."     But in reality. Agh...! Y--! That's--not...! Coward. Don't you feel as rotten as the corpse you treasure? You're at home with it, aren't you? You.. --forget-- Here I thought we were going to be talking to this city's warriors, not their trophy hunting fishermen eager to show off their catch. Which means, less than fucking one of our best around, we ought to be making sure all of us are in fighting shape. I got work to do, Mr. Big Stuff. You here to work too? Or just to play with yourself? The fuck are you doing?! You think we're going to lose more face for a kid getting stressed about this than you *choking* her? You think *he's* gonna be, what, calling it in to get you talked about behind closed doors, rumor-style? <Tac-Paladins> 4 Ishirou says, "Am I restraining Bota, or am I restraining Clark so you can kill him?"     "Hey." Lilian whispers, just loud and harsh enough to hear in her radius. "How come it's always me? Why do I always have to try the hardest, hold it in the most, never set a toe out of line, never raise my voice, and you're all allowed to be this way?"     ---how much it sucks for everyone to treat you like you're a moment away from becoming violent and dangerous --- For a second time, too --- That's not-- that's not right, that's not how it's supposed to be --- You're the heroine, not the villain ---Everyone should be on your side. You're not--- They all talked about your house. How you were just so unbearably fucking evil and awful, and then they stalked you home ---     The hoarse whispering rises, hair-rasingly sharp. "Why do none of you listen to a single thing I say? Why do you all treat me like this? How come I'm the only one who has to act like an adult, but I still don't deserve any respect? Why is it that I'm always the best behaved, but you only want to rely on me when you're scared?"     'Worshipping you like a weapon because they know what you're capable of, and belittling you as a battered wide-eyed little girl because they don't want to imagine that aimed against them. I fucking hated that version of you, the one they invented.'     "What the fuck is wrong with you people? What do I have to do; who do I have to be; to get you to think about me for once? Why does nothing I say get through to you? How come it's always me who has to change, and never you? Why is your fucking satisfaction so much more important than my dignity?"
Lilian Rook	'So here we both are, right? We're both broken, we both deserve where we've ended up, we both don't deserve sympathy. If suffering doesn't exchange out to being better, then it doesn't matter. We're both just rejects of space. The girls who aren't good enough to be good even around perfection.'     Lilian relaxes all at once. A casual boot to Hibiki's back releases her from the leash, angry red marks left around her neck. She runs her fingers across her face, pushing her fingers back with a sigh. Her bangs shadow her eyes. "Yeah. Okay. I guess she was right." Lilian says to nobody in particular, "There's really just no §good that is good enough§." The last words to leave her lips sizzle on the air. Twice-spoken and double-voiced, conveyed with feeling then illuminated with context. Psychic overflow like a leaky reactor; a veil of intangible, deathly light, all portentious crackling and cold-burning nerves and the taste of iron.     If she shows her face, she'll be considered a valid tar-     The core casing slips for an instant. A fracture, filled by water in the next moment. The cherenkov glow of ---blood spots through her white clothes, wounds reopened by the exertion --- red lines scabbed and unhealing, traced along her neck and jawline, bruises on her neck and nose, the neckline of her blouse exposing discolored skin down beyond what the cloth covers --- knife wounds feel earned --- maybe a broken bone-- collecting on her body, burns, cuts, bruises, ragged scratches, all pile together--- vented in Clark's direction, loaded with context; hatred, pleasure, confusion, guilt, and well-learned shame.     When Lilian shoves Red Dwarf away from her, kicks Hibiki down, and pushes her hair back again, clearly breathing in to calm down and to smooth herself out all over again, the subject of her lapse is uniquely certain that I'm sorry. It's not you. It's everything. You were just the last straw.     "Nothing will be happening to Rita Ma." says Lilian, finally raising her voice. "I hope you'll understand that, as a citizen of Union Busan, she is our business, and not that of New York's. If you want to demand a say in how she is handled, then you'll have to change employers to us, I'm afraid." The way she rubs at her shoulder is transparent. Her hand is so close to the hilt. "I believe I've been very clear and understanding so far, so I ask you to keep in mind that I will not tolerate a breach of law of the magnitude implied by your people attempting summary execution."     "If you need to talk. You can have my number. Otherwise, goodbye."
Redshift Operators	Flickers of something flit through blood, through heart, through each individual crevice of the amygdala and its associated fear-processing constructs. The gunman has been near death once before, a heart stopped between breaths, the tiniest hint of clinical mortality. And right now, he feels as though he's even closer than that. He listens to his gut. He backs away, optics wide, body tense, pulse racing. She's only speaking, right? Why does he feel like he's going to die? She's not even tense, she's not even, traditionally, hostile.     "Stop choking her. I don't know shit about this, but I'm watching you choke a girl out in the street, who I've got some responsibility for. I'm making the only choices I've got." Each word feels like a step towards an execution chamber, but it's the only dialogue option that Red Dwarf has.     And then the moment is gone. But that wasn't right, was it? He *wasn't* going to die. So why did he feel that in his gut? Why did that surge up through every vein? He struggles with it for a moment, he struggles with processing the emotions. What would she have done to him? Hurt him? Humiliate him? No, wait. That wasn't right. That wasn't even close to what would have happened, or what was happening.     The optics blink once, and his whole body trembles for a fraction of a second. Realizing his own ignorance, he comprehends: That wasn't terror, it was sympathy, maybe empathy, and a brief brush with understanding the pain involved in the complex situation he'd blindly stomped his way into. "S-... sorry." Is all he can muster for Lilian. It's whispered so softly it might just be a simple exhalation. For once, this situation might be too complicated to be going with his gut.     He's still gonna do it. But at least he's responsive.
Hibiki Tachibana	I recall Kana quite pointedly refusing to become my subordinate. Don't you? Besides, I thought she'd be relieved.     At that exact moment, Hibiki's eyes open back up and dart back to Clark, and even the restraints around her throat don't stop her from baring her teeth back at him - and the moment he starts going on about Rita, she immediately looks set to try and lunge at him. Like a leashed dog.     But Bota is the one who gets to actually do so, and Kana is the one who puts him at swordpoint faster than she can register. In that moment, the situation escalates past any real point of return. Clark was never bringing them here to discuss anything, just get underneath Kana's skin for whatever grudge he has against her. And...     Reeled in like this, she's close enough to hear every last word coming from Lilian, after Red Dwarf comes up to bat for her. ...He shouldn't have to do that for her. She shouldn't have to put an ally in that position. Her lashing and writhing slows up, more and more by the moment, from both that and hearing word after word Lilian utters. She goes almost deathly still herself.     Until she's unceremoniously released and kicked over, hacking and sputtering for air on her knees with a hand on her throat. The other is gripping down at the ground, countless things that were surfacing in her mind bubbling and fighting against one another in the wake of the emotional rollercoaster of the last thirty seconds.     Every awful thought in her, right down to sarcastic, vindictive comments like am I the only one not allowed to lose it now? or great job handling all the negotiations with your 'real harpoonist' die out well before they get anywhere near the surface, none of them able to find solid enough ground in the flux of feelings to get anywhere close to the surface, or her mouth.     But they were there. And she can't tell if she's angry, upset, sad, sympathetic, confused, spiteful, going to throw up--or wrong or right.     No, she's definitely angry. Enough that her vision feels like it's blurred. But it's too hard to tell at what.
Rita Ma	Bota staggers back, winded, into Ishirou's arms. He braces against the smaller boy, grimacing. "Yeah. You're right. I'm sorry. Just..."      "What does a monster fighting monsters have to do with me?" Clark answers Candy, but he doesn't break with Kana's stare. "The enemy of my enemy is not my friend. Don't you think so, Kana?"      Clark reaches up, by truly glacial degrees, to put two of his fingers between Kana's blade and his neck and nudge it away. His eyes stay locked on hers, only flitting up to meet the others' briefly.      "I want blood," he says, with no evidence of fear. "But those fat whores up in their towers could choke on gold until the world boils. So if you're going to kill me, do it after I kill the Queen. Because I'm the only reason you're getting New York."      Kana's blade trembles, drawing blood from Clark's glove. She knows what the right thing to do is. Whether she can restrain herself is less certain.      Meika swoops in to break the tension at the last moment. And she succeeds, but maybe not in the way she wanted. One heartbeat from impact, Kana wheels on her on pure instinct, lances her with a gaze like the cold thin needle fixing the butterfly to the corkboard, and brings the blunt side of her blade down on the back of Meika's skull hard enough to make a magical-girl-shaped dent in the ground.      Kana breathes hard and guiltily dry-swallows. Clark just scoffs at the aftermath, then glances up at Hibiki being choked.. "Bravo. But if you're all infighting, I don't think I want any piece of that. See you at the meeting in a few days?" He turns on his heel to leave. But, just before his face is averted-      Lilian exposes him to those hideous things. His eyes fog, just a little. And then he licks his lips. "Crystal-clear," he says to her, but his tone is stomach-turningly gross.      The two lackeys Kukuru's addressing shake their heads vehemently- notably, they hadn't drawn their weapons to defend Clark- but then change to nodding, just as vehemently, the instant he turns around to see them. Goobers.      "Yeah," Kana says to Kukuru, taking her hand (or what passes for a hand) for steadiness. "Let's get back to the ship. Please."      At the same time, Bota's making his way over to Meika, crouching down if she hasn't gotten up yet and offering her a hand. "Hey. I'm sorry. You... you probably did the right thing, I think. So thank you. It's just, messy, sometimes. You know?"      Kana, on her way out, is too shaken and scorched to offer much support to Lilian. But she does offer a look of haunted acknowledgement as their gazes connect, boats passing in the night.
Kukuru	Things go from bad to worse quickly, and it's all far too much for Kukuru to understand all at once. There's a Rita-shaped hole in everything here, but there's and then there's also something going on with Lilian and Candy and Ishirou and Hibiki and Kale and... Someone else? Her? Hibiki names Petra. Some more of the dots are connected, but not all of them. There's too many dots to keep track of. Kukuru's breathing picks up rapidly, and the hand on Kana's keeps trembling despite keeping it there to offer whatever support she still can after things come to a head with her taking a swing at Meika. "The... Ship. Right. I'll take us right there." She sounds like she's about to cry, and her nose is already dripping a bit. Those feelings of uselessness keep welling up inside of her, helplessness, and a whole lot of frustration that can't really be let out anywhere. Despite that, though, Kukuru keeps it together long enough to open up a portal in front of herself, then gestures at everyone else to get in. It'll lead the group right back to the ship, at least, so they won't have to walk past any more observers on the way to preserve whatever little dignity might still be left after this. Once they're all through, a second portal to her apartment opens up almost immediately. Kukuru doesn't tell anyone to come in with her, but it stays open.
Ishirou	<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Yeah. You always have some excuse why last time we all shared the blame but this time you're not at fault and it's all mine." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Save your breath. I've been hearing those since before I could do long division. At this point I might as well ask a chatbot to get the effect and save us all the trouble." <J-IC-Scene> Ishirou says, "...then have her.  I don't care." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "I feel bad for Rita. If things were going to be this way, you should have stayed dead. It's not fair that you get everything you want, and it's just the girls like us that bleed." Ishirou couldn't even hold onto Bota after that.  His grip fails him and he staggers back.  He can't even bring himself to look at Lilian.   'you should have stayed dead.' 'stayed dead.' 'stayed dead.' <J-IC-Scene> Ishirou says, "Don't worry.  You won't have to hear me again." Like he'd been struck so hard he'd lost his sense of balance he just walks away, towards the Busan.  Towards the gate.  Where..?  Not even he knew right now.
Meika Kirenai	There's a split second as the wind rushes past her face, that Chevalier Vermillion thinks maybe, despite the inevitable backlash, what she's doing could help. And then metal meets her skull with a crack so blindingly forceful her vision cuts out, for a brief moment, and there's a static, crackling flash. The dent in the ground may be magical girl shaped, but the person laying in it is just Meika. No flashy costume, no shining armor.     She blinks until faded-out eyes can see once more, and the ringing in her ears is quiet enough to hear her surroundings again, and notices Bota, above and next to her, saying words she can only make out the trailing end of. '...you. It's just, messy, sometimes. You know?'     Nodding hurts, but she does so anyways- as much as a sideways nod from fetal position can be read as one. Meika stays there, down on the floor, for a good few minutes, trying to breathe in, and out, and not focus on the arguments and tenuous friendships falling apart and catching fire around her. She pushes an arm under herself, sitting up, and her vision almost shorts yet again. A sudden wave of nausea comes over her, just a little too familiar. Oh. Probably a concussion, huh? Up to her feet next. The world spins, but she's still got her hockey stick to lean on     She spares glances to the pained group, or those still left of it, as she starts on her own hike back to Union Busan. Her face mirrors what she feels- guilty and terminally out of place. Can't even mess things up right. Nobody else is supposed to hurt. Meika can't help but think she got off easy, compared to the others. Histories she doesn't know, pains she can't, but it's plain as day, and she can hear the depths in their voices. Like a good for nothing eavesdropper.     Next time will be better, she hopes. Next time she'll do better. She'll be better. But that could just be a lie.