Scene #8808: Bring Your Egg Daughter to Work Day 1/2

Owner	Pose
Kale Hearthward	Welcome to Quicknest Capital City. Population: Petra Soroka. Things have settled down quite a bit since 6 weeks ago - when Eggman's forces invaded and conquered the country, robotomized its citizens, installed Petra as the governor - and then left her to her own devices. The conquered country pretty much runs itself, with little to no input from Petra needed. Petra gets a big castle to live in, on her end of the deal, and the city nearly entirely to herself. It's only 'nearly' because a neighboring country, the Gale Empire, has set up an embassy within the city, and a few Galeans are living there, . The embassy isn't too much to speak of yet - the Empire brought in some prefabs via airship and then set them up on a vacant lot - but it's technically a little enclave of sovereign territory all the same. Thus Petra's technically the only one living in Quicknest - but simultaneously not the only person there. Setting embassy and ambassador matters aside (for now), today's an important day. Today is the first time Petra's getting to try out her shiny new bloodsports arena, and people she likes have been invited to take part in the time honored ancient battle ritual... ... of making small remote-control robots and pitting them against each other. Unfortunately, the battlebots tournament doesn't get far into round one before there's an interruption. Visitors. Not through the capital city warpgate - the warpgate's well guarded. Instead, it comes via a boat docking at a port town, from which is offloaded a modern automotive cargo van, which heads up via the road towards the capital city, stopping just at the outskirts. News of the intruder comes to the assembled elites via a flying monitor bot, swooping in above the ongoing battlebot match and being an obnoxious distraction as it chatters in a robotic voice about intruders. On the screen, top down at an angle via a drone cam, a pair of humans climb out of the van, one going to pull some equipment out of the back of the van and the other checking herself over using a compact mirror. <"Connection's good, lights are green, we're ready to go on your mark,"> says the one with the equipment. <"Got it. One two, one two, rain in spain, etcetera... ready. Ahem."> She puts the mirror away, and addresses the equipment the other intruder is holding. <"This is Elly Mcdavid, reporting for Great Ocean News and Entertainment. I'm here in the devastated country of Quicknest, currently ruled by Queen Soroka, who invaded it last month with her army of robots..."> NEW PROBLEM: INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS THREAT VALUE: THREE CURRENT STATUS: emergent
Kale Hearthward	A capable governor does not need to commit all of her forces to deal with every problem, it should be said. She doesn't even need to deal with every problem, some might resolve satisfactorily on their own, or with only a little bit of intervention. ... Of course, if some problems are left alone for too long, they might become bigger problems. Knowing which is which is what separates the true evil overlords from the saturday morning pretenders. ... Oh, speaking of more problems. Petra's phone buzzes with an incoming email, marked high priority. > Hey, Petra! Did you have time to read through that trade agreement I sent you? Let's talk today about getting a deal hammered out. > > Harper Frost > Gale Empire ambassador to the Eggman Empire NEW PROBLEM: AVARICIOUS DIPLOMAT THREAT VALUE: SEVEN CURRENT STATUS: looming (Petra can't remember getting a trade agreement, let alone reading through one.)
Petra Soroka	'Invite', 'honored', and 'small' are all dubious descriptors of what Petra has been up to in her shiny new bloodsports arena today-- well, small is correct, actually. Certainly small compared to what Doctor Eggman might rig up for some sort of mock robot battle, given that the largest is only slightly taller than a person (being that there's a person inside of it, as long as you consider furries people; Petra won't mention that fact for anyone unaware). The smallest, on the other hand, is her collection of ratbots, now newly armed. Her plan was simply to smash robots together (as a sophisticated test) before moving on to actually tossing people into the arena, since she's never really had a chance to test weaponized ratbots in combat, and there's no better foe for them than a robotomized bot that she's also tinkered with to cram full of weapons. The generic human-sized bots wandering the streets and mindlessly building for Petra have been kidnapped one by one and had their arms replaced with various guns or saws, or been given eye beams of some sort, partly as a slow build towards having some kind of defensive 'army' for her ill-gotten kingdom, and partly because Angela got her a 'Villain's Monthly Weapons Subscription' as a gift and she's had no idea what to do with them. The process of sitting alone on top-- because inside seemed too lame-- of the luxury observation booth in the viewing seating of her arena, idly having little robots shoot each other to pieces, made Petra lonely very quickly. Putting out a vague and low-priority message about a robot attack or something or other, making it very unclear that there's no one actually at risk and she basically just wants to hang out, it's not that long until people start arriving. "Oh, hey. So I was, like-- I mean, if I'm going to be putting people in a death arena-- no, obviously, I'm still not killing them, Tamamo would be upset-- I need killer robots for them to fight. But even though Doctor Eggman's obviously showed me lots of stuff, I'd never actually done it much, so I'm just..." Petra rambles while handing over little controllers for the ratbots' collective boss fight versus a somewhat-embiggened-and-equipped robotmization bot, "... running tests?"
Kukuru	A day off to just watch silly little robots beat the crap out of each other certainly sounds like a fun time to Kukuru. Why wouldn't it be? It's always so fun seeing people's inventions pitted against each other, the arena acting as both a stage for their ingenuity as well as an outlet for hearing things clank really hard against each other. She's even brought snacks for the festivities, although she's cognizant of the potential for arena rules to prohibit bringing in outside refreshments and actually makes sure to look for that signage first instead of just leaving it up to willful ignorance. She'll still offer them to Petra and everyone else that's come by to hang out, of course, but it's the difference between only eating her own stuff versus eating her own stuff AND partaking of the local amenities. Even on an Elite's salary, Kukuru is still somewhat frugal about that kind of thing. Today, she's dressed in rather simple, but well-fitted casual wear: A thin, light pink jacket with a big white stripe going down across the front, a flowy off-white ankle-length skirt, and sandals with socks. She has her usual fake glasses on, too, with a string tying the ends together and looped around her horns with little yellow ribbons. She's still not back to her full height, but she's getting closer with only about two inches' difference now compared to the full four weeks ago. "I see... So this is like a pre.. Um. Pre-production?" She guesses at words she clearly doesn't understand to try and sound smarter. "Preview... Test? Of what they can do before you start having people go up against them, right? That's really smart. I bet Eggman's real proud of how much you're doing, too." After that light affirmation, Kukuru takes one of those little controllers and fiddles with it carefully. She probably only figured out how to make it spin really fast before she starts hearing that monitor bot, and she eyes the distraction pensively as it pulls her attention away from the show. It's the pair of people that are shown on it, however, that draw a more curious look from her before long. "Reporters...? Ooh. Maybe they're here for the show, too." She comments in easygoing excitement, not realizing that her mirthful giggling will soon give way to a more confused back of the throat noise. "... Oh, that doesn't sound right... Things are way better now that they're under you and Eggman, aren't they?" She murmurs with a questioning tone to match, grunting lightly as she wipes the controller off with one of those pocket wipes ('fresh linen' scent). "And they're interrupting the show, too... Want me to talk to them and straighten this out, Petra?"
Dimokratia	Petra, Egg Head of Quicknest, had several 'friends'. Also, there was Dimo of the Silver, Champion, emissary, diplomat, and for a short while, a 'true sister' to the Egg Head. Petra had wished on magic stones for that to not be the case, to wish it gone and away and untrue, and so, it was by the power of the Chaos Emeralds, but she didn't let entirely go of the last silver thread of connection. And so that was why, among the high skies of Mobius, strange gliders and too-high-for-birds shapes watched down, passed over, plotted out and reported back. -Worst sister's arena is almost done. -Building things is progress. And, 'worst sister'? Negativity is unbecoming. -Fine. Our organic sister. -Reduced to slurs spoken warmly? -Organic isn't a slur. They call themselves that. -And yet you contain carbon. Curious, Kratia. -... -I'm transmitting the uploaded threat assessment. -How strategically minded of you. -She put spinners on the meat-filled drones. -Perhaps their occupants will be enriched with the greater complexity of their new vessels. -Saws have less complexity than fingers. -I'm departing now. Operation-relevant communication only. -Running off to the party without me... -You wouldn't fit. -I'm very creative. Arriving in the arena with long striding steps, Dimo arrives in full regalia, visibly armor-wrapped from the neck down. The appearance of heavy gauntlets and thunking boots is just the start -- she has apparently adapted some sort of large blue naval coat into some sort of epauletted grand Mobian-style regalia, her silverwhite cloak of falling hair lifted in the gentle warmth-breeze effused from her and from her walking passage, heralded by Petra's own secretary: "--and I am well pleased with the progress here, Heyalexa." The champion engages in walking conversation with the '''secretarial''' Amazon device intelligently attached to a Robotomy shell. "Tell me, has--" Blue optics glance up towards Petra on the roof, carbondark lips spreading into a panel-lined smile that falls to Kukuru, attempting to engage with the controls besides. Her bright blue optics cast her direct awareness about, and like a hot cone of palpable buzzing synaptic warmth, honey to the ears, and harmony to little elements inside. "My... What a delightfully complex creature you are. Heavy augmentation, and taken to so well."
Petra Soroka	There's not any signage on the area at all, in fact. It's really obviously just a mostly-finished new construction, slapped together by hordes of robots rather than any artisan. Certainly, there's no ban on bringing in refreshments; there's neither anyone working a food stall that would stand to profit, nor any attendees to profit from. It's really Just Petra, in the entire city. She could have the bots make food in the castle, and have ratbots carry it out to her since it's fairly nearby, but she didn't really think to 'prepare' anything like that. "I see... So this is like a pre.. Um. Pre-production?" "Uh huh. Basically." Petra also doesn't know if that word really applies properly, but she's not going to ask and potentially look stupider than Kukuru. "I mean, it'd be kind of embarrassing if they were so pathetic that the furries could beat them no problem, since then there'd be no reason for heroes to come and I'd just be wasting material, but I also kind of don't want them to be vivisected within five seconds because that's not really fun to watch." Whether Petra actually takes any of the offered treats... she and Kukuru have a consistently rocky relationship, but Petra kind of struggles to remember why, besides Lilian's obvious grievances. The last time she saw Kukuru was in a heartbreakingly miserable moment where Petra decided to try to do better for people-- which probably doesn't include Kukuru, but Kukuru was there. Petra takes a kebab without directly looking at her, and mumbles aside, "... And hey, Kukuru."
Petra Soroka	But of course, all good things must come to an end, usually before they even start and especially when they were never that good in the first place. Petra's first reaction to the flying monitor swooping around is to attempt to shoot it down with the laser rifle that's currently being carried around by the ratbot she's directly controlling, but not only does she miss and blast a smoldering crater in the stadium seating-- embarrassing!-- but it's also relevant news. "What the fuck does that mean, 'intruders'? Like, enemies?" Petra doesn't mind enemies! She's even got a hundred armed robots wandering around if they want some fodder to fight before getting to her! And it's nice and well-set up for any rebels or idealistic heroes who might want to-- Oh. "Journalists." "... Oh, that doesn't sound right... Things are way better now that they're under you and Eggman, aren't they?" Petra hops into the large circular arrangement of seating for the area, clambering up the stairs to overlook where the reporters are on the ground. This also gives her a great view of the capital city of Quicknest, which has a population of zero, since Petra doesn't even live here. She pauses a few seconds to look out at the empty, blasted-in-places city, before responding to Kukuru. "... Yes. It's definitely better." After a few seconds, she adds, "They're just reporters. They're probably harmless." The positioning of the reporters is also a convenient location to view the castle from, complete with the mosaic of the Eggman Empire logo in the plaza in front of it, and there's the option to pan over to include the area in the cameraview too. It's a great place to film, all things considered, and it also gives Petra a place to jump down from to land immediately behind the reporters, spared from breaking her legs by a weightless blob of quicksilver that briefly shapes into the calf-thrusters of Sting Silver before the impact. She looks the opposite of queenly. Bomber jacket stitched scar-like back together, jeans, a face and demeanor that could only belong to a teenager, and one that's only just healing up from being battered and scraped all over earlier this week. "I've got like a thousand guns trained on you right now. So don't call me 'Queen Soroka'. Jesus fuck." A diplomatic entry from Queen Soroka. "It's..." Bracing, internally assuring herself that this is to make Eggman happy, "... Egg Head. Petra. Where the fuck did you even get my last name, anyways? My fucking high school yearbook?" "Anyways, who are you, what are you doing here, what camera is that? Is it a GY-HC--" Oh, an email. It's that annoying loser from the Gale Empire again. Petra doesn't want to deal with her. "Hey, Alexa, can you autogenerate a response to-- again?! Why do you keep letting Dimo in?! You work for me!" Petra's secretary trundles up when called, with Dimo in tow, dismaying her enough that she starts getting mad at the virtual assistant. "Look, Dimo, I didn't-- I'm kind of busy right now, so...."
Kale Hearthward	<"... and the entire population has been turned into robots,"> the reporter is saying. "<Up next, we're going to try to get closer and see what it's like inside the capital - and maybe see if we can interview Queen Soroka herself, and-"> Queen Soroka herself makes an appearance. "Oh! Um - yes, Egg Head Petra." The threat of a thousand guns is taken seriously. "Egg Head Petra! Can we ask you some questions? The public wants to know about you!" Petra gets cautiously chased, and a microphone thrust into her face if she doesn't get away quickly enough. "What do you say to your critics who say you're too young and inexperienced to lead a country?" "Do you have any concerns about sharing a border with the Gale Empire?" "Do you think all animal people deserve to be turned into robots?" And then one to Dimo and Kukuru, "What's it like serving under Queen - I mean, Egg Head Petra?" INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS THREAT VALUE: FOUR CURRENT STATUS: interviewing "Okay. Generating and sending a response." Dear Ambassador Harper Frost, Thank you for reaching out to schedule a meeting to discuss the trade deal. However, at this time, I am unable to commit to any further discussions regarding the proposed agreement. I appreciate your understanding and hope we can revisit this matter at a more suitable time in the future. Best regards, Petra Soroka > Are you okay, that doesn't sound like you AVARICIOUS DIPLOMAT THREAT VALUE: SIX CURRENT STATUS: suspicious
Dimokratia	Unfortunately for Egg Head Petra, Dimo is not coming as an enemy, or even to particularly fight in the arena. The flying monitor is a delightful contrivance, though clearly made without direct interface in mind. A shame. Dimo considers the monitor as Petra jumps off to deal with it. The clambering brings a dim amusement to the champion, evaluating the scampering up the walls with the critical eye of entertaining every motion with a thought for better. And then Heyalexa continues on after Petra! So Dimo goes along after Heyalexa. Cutting a particular figure, an eight foot tall synthetic champion without a single scrap of biological seeming among her, from the perfect filaments of her silverwhite hair to the segmentation and bolt-jointage of the knuckles in her gauntlets and knees. There isn't a useful purpose to be so relentlessly, shamelessly mechanical - especially wearing a greatcoat! - but nevertheless Dimo's aestheic demands it. That there be no mistake at all that the 'Robots' had arrived. That she arrives side by side with Heyalexa is another mark, but then the Investigative Journalists engage Dimo and so the tall champion moves to sitch down just a bit - an almost-patronizing lean in for the camera and a beatific smile and lift of her perfectly symmetrical face lit with cool blue optic glow. "Is not every young ruler not inexperienced at first? Do you demand every monarchy be ruled by an experienced ruler? And how might one gain such firsthand ruling experience?" A contemplative pause is given with a silence-demanding smile. "Please contemplate, for at least a few moments." She resumes. "Egg Head Petra is the representative of the Eggman Empire, and its deeply experienced Doctor Egg Man, a multi-level genius who has consistently established order and stable governance in the areas he controls. Debating the morals of governance, and the created society, is a topic for the governed, is it not? So you see, that the work done immediately upon taking control of the monarchy was public works, city development, civil infrastructure upgrades, and the raising of a militia in defense. Do you believe these are ill actions? Please submit such considerations in a numerated list with supporting evidence at your earliest convenience for review and it will be taken into proper consideration." A broad sweep of the arms out continues Dimo's roll, cheerful to be before an image capturing device. Built for such. Designed with sacred-superior forms to make a perfect storm: of marketing. "Concerns about sharing a border with the allies of the Eggman Empire seems rather strange, don't you think? As of now, Queen Petra, Egg Head of Quicknest, is putting off trade talks with the Gale Empire to see to your personal concerns, as a matter of state security. For an invading camera." She draws back to her full height, arms slowly crossing and lips still smiling -- now down -- at the camera. "I believe all life forms deserve the utmost from what life might provide, in form, in experience, in personal pleasure. However, you use that word - robot. It has a root in many constructions of language to derive from great negativity -- slaves, underclasses, and terms of biological derision. I would say such language is extremely insensitive towards those who are mechanically ensouled. 'Sophont' is a much more elegant phrase. I would recommend you consider that too."
Kukuru	Dimo's arrival certainly isn't what Kukuru was expecting to see today, but it's a pleasant surprise nonetheless. She's always pleased to see new faces, after all, and a curious glint comes to her eyes when she sees that fanciful uniform signifying that Dimo must be some kind of big-wig in... Somewhere? Somewhere. "Oh? He-llo there~" Kukuru returns Dimo's greeting with, like always, that gentle smile and lazy wave that's become her habit for some number of years now. Something about Dimo's voice puts her at ease, too, although she makes the effort not to yawn at how generally comfortable she is up here. "Complex? Aw, thank you, dear. My name's Kukuru." The usual pause. "That's Ku-ku-ru. I've had a loootta practice with these, and-" She gives Dimo a light curtsey, then holds a hand out with her palm up, like she's inviting Dimo to take her hand. "-they're real good at fixing people. Or making naps a little more comfy~" There's that telltale green light of her nanites activating coming from her hand a moment later, likely not doing much more than just providing a light soothing sensation unless there's actually wounds to tend to. Kukuru turns to Petra a little bit afterwards, another lighthearted giggle coming out of her as she hands over as many of those snacks as she'd like to take. She even looks incredibly pleased that Petra's taking anything, too, and it's taking a lot more self-control than usual not to go overboard and drown Petra in snacks and drink boxes. "Hiiii, Pe-tra~ That makes a lotta sense, yeah. It's gotta be a real show with real drama, just liiike..." She pauses, wracking her brain for the word for several seconds before snapping her fingers. "Wrestling, right? They've got all sorts of neat stories between fuzzies and robots, so maybeee... You could see if that same kinda stuff could develop here, you know?" She suggests without a hint of irony, perhaps expecting that there even could be drama between the robots and the robotomized. "And that could be nice for this place's PR or... Something." With the show thoroughly interrupted, then, Kukuru looks over at Dimo while holding one hand out while the other (needlessly) waves an evil-looking cloud into existence in front of herself. "Wanna come down this way? Landing like that's pretty bad for the joints, I heard." She asks, gesturing at her knees and offering a lighter path to the ground level. The exit cloud, of course, is besides Petra, and that's just in time for Kukuru to get attacked by a microphone and a question! She blinks slowly in confusion as far too many thoughts race through her head between trying to figure out if she should be clearing up that misconception, predicting how others would feel, which one would cause less trouble for Petra, and... That's all she has to figure out, actually. It still takes Kukuru a moment to realize that, and then she finally settles into her usual easy-going smile and chuckle. "Oh, I don't think it's service at all. Everyone's here because we wanna be, you know? I'm just glad she's opening up more, so everyone can see all the work she's doing to make this place better than it was before all this stuff happened."
Kukuru	The other questions don't go fully ignored, of course, as Kukuru overhears all that whether she'd like to or not with her enhanced hearing. "Petra's younger than most rulers I've seen, mhm, but... She's done really good at managing people from the times I've seen her at work, too. Making hard choices, putting people where they need to be to make sure they're all doing the best they can safely... It's not something just anyone can do, you know?" "Gale Empire? Oh, that's Kale's home isn't it? Aw, they're neighbors now.. That's so sweet~" "Animal people turning into...? Oh dear. What do they do with the meat, then?"
Dimokratia	IN A PREVIOUS ASIDE: Kukuru continues to get a particularly favorable gaze and searching-creeping-fizzing around her cone-ears and jumping down the wings of her shoulders. After a while, it is clear that being stared at by the champion and hearing her low-frequency hum start directing a particular heat towards Kukuru's cybernetic augmentations. As the nanites fountain into her clawed hands, Dimo's immediate attention is solely on them, reaching out to dip her metal claw-tipped finger in the pool of the generated green light, arching digit and touching with grip-pad first, and then sliding the rest of her gauntlet into shaking hands with the clawed Kukuru. Shaking hands like this is more than simply pleasant for Dimo: metal, ceramic, and carbon palm leaks a particular mercury-silver chrome fluid that mixes and makes fluid contact back, and a second kind of connection is had. "Marvelous." Dimo buzzes, not needing to breathe to be heard. Dimo dips close to Kukuru's cone, down so close that she can buzz straight to Kukuru's innermost ear. "And you aren't even aware of how marvelous you are. Consider, for a moment--" Dimo tilts back just to lift Kukuru's hand to Kukuru's own eye in both of her hands. "The miracles that fall from this. And how much more you could bless, with a bit of understanding. Diligent thought is more effective than any epiphany. Remember, if nothing else." ONE SCENE TRANSITION LATER... Dimo once more has a prompt, now cross-armed. "The meat? Oh, there are uses for it. But do you believe it is the safest place for a soul?"
Petra Soroka	"Egg Head Petra! Can we ask you some questions? The public wants to know about you!" 'Chased' is not the operative verb here. Petra might tense up at the approach of the reporters, but it's not to start sprinting away, or to even cluster closer with her questionable allies. She's fascinated by the journalists on a level entirely separately from their actual role in interviewing her, so she's not inclined to move away from them. Instead, the problem comes when Elly shoves a microphone in her face, and the lunge is instinctually met with Petra's hand being pressed into a flat plane of morphmetal, fist closing around the reflection of a gunblade hilt pulled through and swung defensively in a single motion while she steps back. It stops short of slicing the microphone in half, though from Petra's confusion, it doesn't seem like she consciously intended to stop. She awkwardly lowers the weapon, dangling the bladed shotgun down with the base of the hilt visible to the camera, printed with the Eggman logo. Questions though-- Petra's expression twitches, trying poorly to hide her nervousness at the outpouring. The realization that she's the subject of the camera and not just passively around it to examine it catches her at the same time as the realization that she doesn't know jack shit about politics or running a country. Or being interviewed. "What do you say to your critics who say you're too young and inexperienced to lead a country?" "Eh... um..." Petra looks blankly at the camera for a few seconds, then vaguely gestures with her swordpoint around at the desolate and robot-patrolled streets. It comes across as way more threatening than she intends it to be. "What critics?" Before Petra can hamper her international relations by explaining that she's so unworried about the Gale Empire that she probably wouldn't even be able to name the person who rules it, the diplomat of the Silver steps in. That this also positions Petra as someone who's comfortable enough to have Dimo speak on her behalf, and what this would say about her broader loyalties, is a lesser immediate concern than the relief of having someone who knows what they're doing take care of it.
Petra Soroka	"And how might one gain such firsthand ruling experience?" Petra sighs and relaxes her shoulders, letting the tip of the gunblade bite into the ground as a prop to lean on. Often, being talked over by someone more eloquent than her would be a spark of conflict, but Petra has never been comfortable being asked about her political beliefs. And apparently there's a 'public' that 'wants to know'. "Yeah, you know-- there's not really anyone here left that I could hurt by being inexperienced. They're all in robots. It's sort of the best situation that an--" She automatically moves to say 'aspiring', but Petra holds little aspiration to dominate anything in her heart. "That a first-time ruler could be in, to learn. Besides, don't plenty of fucking, like-- like, actual kings and queens take the throne when they're like, thirteen, and their parents die of tuberculosis or whatever?" "As of now, Queen Petra, Egg Head of Quicknest, is putting off trade talks with the Gale Empire to see to your personal concerns, as a matter of state security. For an invading camera." Heyalexa is dutifully reading the message out loud, as a virtual assistant does. Petra didn't consider this fact when asking her secretary to send the message. Dimo's explanation is very useful for brushing that off, though, so Petra decides to believe that was her intention in the first place. She nods. Her only complaint is... "I'm still not a queen. I'm not. I don't like that at all, and-- and it's not even true, anyways. There's no monarchy or anything, there's just-- just a castle I'm at a couple times a week. I think I'm... an autocrat?" She learned that word from a video game and is not certain it applies. "Do you think all animal people deserve to be turned into robots?" "Eh--" This is a problem Petra must confront directly, and she looks a little stricken about that question. "N-no? That sounds kind of racist, when you put it that way, right?" She takes a moment to reconsider her answer and emotionally stabilize, covered by Dimo again. "No. Not quite all of them. But Kale's really testing my patience sometimes." Petra has some of her own questions in return, too, and they're almost unrelated to the actual purpose of the journalists being here. "Anyways, what news company do you work with? Or are you just bloggers? What do you mean that 'the public' wants to know, who's that referring to? Or is it just a vague deflection from not having much of an identifiable audience but wanting to seem like you've got collectively opinionated weight behind you?" "What do they do with the meat, then?" Petra, offhand, pings a nearby robotomized bot in the chest with a low-speed 'bullet' of liquid morphmetal to demonstrate the slightly dull sound. "Meat's inside. They're just powering the robots."
Kale Hearthward	DIMO'S RESPONSES The reporter raises an eyebrow. "So she is inexperienced, then. You'd say she's attempting to learn how to swim by jumping into the deep end." "So she's taking time out of important political negotiations to talk to the press." The reporter nods. "I see." And then to the third question, "I see. I'm sorry you're offended by that term, but... it's the term the Eggman Empire themselves use, isn't it? The Eggman Empire does not turn people into sophonts." KUKURU'S RESPONSES The first response is taken as is without comment. For the second, "Kale? Who's Kale?" All that's set aside for the third, though. "The meat - they're doing something with the meat...?" "> The meat? Oh, there are uses for it." (Petra's comment about the meat being inside saves the trio from having a very unfortunate soundbite taken from them.) PETRA'S RESPONSES The sudden gunblading draws nervous glances, but the reporter doesn't comment. Kale gets brought up again. This draws another confused look, and guarantees Kale's going to get asked questions later. "We're with Great Ocean News and Entertainment. Channel thirty-one?" asks the reporter. But - no further pressing is done, no follow up questions are given. "Very enlightening. Thank you for making time for us. This has been Elly Mcdavid, for Great Ocean News and Entertainment." They seem sufficiently unnerved by the first-hand encounter with elites. That, or they've gotten what they wanted out of this encounter. Probably both. With that, they head right back towards the van and, if not interfered with, to drive back the way they came. INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS THREAT VALUE: THREE CURRENT STATUS: retreating Whether the group's heading back to the castle, chasing after the journalists, or some other third thing - they soon realize, they're not alone. There's someone new here. Someone who must have been able to sneak past all of the country patrols, because there haven't been any alerts. It's a hooded figure, wearing an all brown robe. A bit of fuzz can be briefly glimpsed under the hood - another animal person? "Oh, ladies of darkness..." The hooded figure is approaching - cautiously, and stopping before getting too close. "This pitiful one beseeches you - I have traveled over hill and dale, across mountains and across... molehills, trekking for days on river water and having run out of snacks yesterday..." "I susurrlicate myself at your feet!" The hooded person dramatically throws themself at the ground, face down. "(Ow.) Teach me your ways! Make me your minion of evil vile darkness!" NEW PROBLEM: ASPIRING MINION THREAT VALUE: ZERO POINT FIVE CURRENT STATUS: groveling
Kukuru	EARLIER: Kukuru's absolutely soaking up that attention from Dimo. Even though she's used to being looked at generally in the context of new and unfamiliar people, this isn't quite the same as those other times. It's more pleasant, more kind, more... Intimate? There's definitely a feeling hitting her inside thanks to all those nanites swimming around in her body, and the horns and the claws... The former have already become part of her, and even the latter might as well be with how easily she moves and feels through them like her own hands. They certainly move naturally enough as she intertwines them with Dimo's while Kukuru's humming pleasantly all the while. Unlike Dimo, though, she absolutely needs to breathe, and she shivers lightly at that sound reverberating through her drill-ear-thing. "Marvelous...? Oh, you're so sweet. I dunno if I'd call them miracles, though..." The ingrained reflex from her parents to not overblow things that would let her achievements go to her head kicks in, but Kukuru can't help but puff up her chest a bit more with pride just from hearing Dimo saying that. "Or if it is... It's a gift, from some of the best people I know. They're the ones that really made this all possible." NOW: Kukuru's still thinking hard about what Dimo's told her to think about. It'd be harder not to think about all that, between the praise getting her to listen oh so closely and beaming brightly with her smile growing in turn. It's what she said at the end, though, that really has her thinking hard. "Understanding and diligent thought, huh...? Hmm. And without an epiphy..." That's always been soemthing she's struggled with, try as she might. Kukuru's still chewing on that thought as she chews on a kebab, perhaps even trying to figure out if there's a way to apply it... Here? No, Dimo must've meant somewhere else. Kukuru's going to need to keep thinking about that, and it'll probably even come to her later! She just needs to keep reminding herself so she doesn't forget. "But do you believe it is the safest place for a soul?" "Meat's inside. They're just powering the robots." "Oh, I just wanted to make sure the meat's not going to waste. There's starving kids all over the Multiverse that I could bring it to, you know?" Kukuru comments, letting out a relieved sigh after a moment. "And knowing it's all still safely inside means nobody has to worry about any of that. That's just being... Environmentism, yeah?" She's really tempted to look inside one of the robotomized bots, too, but there'll be time. She just has to be patient for now and see what happens with those contests later. Kukuru can't recall ever eating meat cooked inside a robot before, after all... Before Kukuru can get confused and ask confused questions about how reporters wouldn't know Kale, they're already signing off. That's just telling her to ask Kale about that the next time she sees him (if she remembers), but she shows no interest in chasing after those reporters when they start heading back to their van. "They were nice, weren't they?" Kukuru's still optimistic as ever about them, chuckling softly and bringing out some extra drink boxes in case Petra or Dimo need a refreshment after all that talking. She even holds a juice box and a kebab out to the hooded figure when they throw themselves at the group's feet, squatting nearby with a curious glint in her eyes. "Are you alright, dear? Come on, eat up. Drink up. You can learn our..." A beat, and then she looks over at Dimo and Petra with a confused eyebrow-raise. "... Evil? Vile? We're not either of those, dear." All of Petra's comments about critics and that threat with the gunblade, apparently, don't strike Kukuru as particularly evil. "You must be really tired if that's what's coming to mind... Come on, dear. Let's help you up, okay?" And then she holds her arms out, offering a nearly smothering embrace if they actually take her up on that.
Dimokratia	The camera crew start packing up, beginning to retreat. The 'hard hitting' questions come out. Presumptions. Unamusing jester-ry from the Press. Dimo, a Diplomat, knows how to deal with the press. I'm sorry you're offended by that term, but... Dimo's eyes narrow deeply. "Let your record show that you, Elly Mcdavid of 'GONE', a journalist of 'integrity', spoke this phrase: I'm sorry you're offended, but' and then some further words trying to rejustify your transgression. Let it reflect that, with your spinning." The Champion states, demands, and her words are hooks to the mind, filled with commanding meaning. It might not be the Champion's interest in, particularly, blasting Elly of GONE with a social justice imperative, but most of her words when spoken with heat and passion take on a commanding note. And despite smiling and angling for a 'diplomatic' last word... Dimo is fairly mad about the interaction. It didn't build harmony. It was a problem. -I have them from orbit. -I'll be gentle. -Just don't stop me. Dimo uncrosses her arms and shakes her head at Kukuru when the party is well-left. "They were unpleasant, as most who 'investigate' as 'journalists'. A barrage of social attacks just from their approach, and then they close distance and engage in a melee of words." -Let them go. -Why? I want a reason. -Neediness is unbecoming as well. -It would be more work, and worse. I will let the Gale Empire absorb some journalism instead. "There are much more efficient methodologies of control. And much better internal generators. But I understand you prefer the Doctor Egg Man's work." Dimo asides, still generally considering Kukuru. Pleased, in the answers. Yes! The meat can be discarded. And then the ASPIRING MINION appears, declaring: Oh, ladies of darkness... "Ah, I must not be being spoken to. Petra," And not 'Queen Petra', "A supplicant already, how wonderful. Go ahead! Make him your minion, of evil vile darkness."
Petra Soroka	"Oh, I just wanted to make sure the meat's not going to waste. There's starving kids all over the Multiverse that I could bring it to, you know?" Petra is distinctly, predictably, unhappy about this proposal. "K-Kukuru... I mean... I know they're inside robots, but... they're, like, intelligent. Supposedly. They're people. You can't..." Petra hesitates before declaring to Kukuru that you can't eat people, because she's worried about what Kukuru's answer would be. Petra watches the journalists run off with a neutral expression, deep in thought about whether she should've scared them more. If Kukuru and Dimo weren't here, terrorizing them would've almost certainly been her go-to move, and it'd give a more accurate representation of what to expect from Petra's rulership than Dimo's intelligent answers did. Mumbled thoughts slip out audibly while Petra continues on a tangential direction in her head. "And besides... it's one for the fans. The real ones, who know I'm just a brutal psychopath who can only be reigned in by...." "They were nice, weren't they?" Kukuru drags her out of the contemplation that nearly took Petra to the same place as Kratia. "Huh? Who? Oh, them? No, they weren't nice at all. They were kind of annoying. And basic." Being in agreement with Dimo so consistently today doesn't feel great, but Petra has to continue to elaborate on her opinion even if it brings her more in line with the sophont's. "And, like... all their questions were kind of shallow and leading, and they were pretty clearly trying to build a simple narrative rather than an actually interesting one. They didn't really care or ask about, like, personal interrogation, or the actual experience of leading or ending up here, or even plans really. They were kind of just going for highlights. I think that's stupid. And improper." "But I understand you prefer the Doctor Egg Man's work." "Well, I do." Petra puffs up a bit, sounding a tinge snottier now that the reporters are gone. She crosses her arms with the Silver bottle in one of her hands, snapping the cap definitively shut when the morphmetal flows back inside of it. This doesn't emphasize her point; as a gesture, it's undercutting her own words. "Because I'm his apprentice. Because I chose to be. Not yours." "I susurrlicate myself at your feet!" "Ahh--! Gross!!" Petra's shriek of disgust when the goon-aspirant throws himself down in obeisance cuts through everything else he says. She recoils and even immediately flicks out her compact mirror, ready to draw and fire a weapon from it to instantly execute the offending supplicant. "Yuck, yuck, no. I have friends. I have my bots. I have my own agents. I don't want-- some desperate drooling freak throwing himself at my feet. Yuck." The irony goes entirely unrecognized by Petra. "Of course I'm evil! And vile! And-- whatever! I'm enough of those things that I'm going to enforce my personal bubble with a thousand fucking robots if you don't get out of my sight in thirty fucking seconds! Go-- go grovel to someone who wants that!"
Kale Hearthward	When Petra threatens, the as-yet-ungendered minion tries to prostrate themself harder. "Please! I came all this way! I went through untold amounts of hardship! I had to eat stale granola bars! I told my parents I was going to a sleepover and they're gonna kill me if I go back!" Desperately, given the options of 'run' or 'get shot', they opt to take Kukuru's smothering embrace, hoping it'll be some degree of safety as they jump up and into her embrace. ... And as they do so, the hood comes off. Bunny person. And - a girl, or at least some degree of female-presenting. Also, the juice box is taken, but they (or she?) just stare at the kebab, having never seen something like that before. The eventful day doesn't wait for this to resolve, however. Just then, another monitorbot flies in. It's insistent. There's an intruder. There's an intruder that's doing a lot of damage. Pay attention. The screen's showing a different part of the country, one close to a major mining operation. There's a lot of security robots busted up. There's a lot of mining equipment busted up. There's what look like furrows dug along the ground. The camera pans across the mining zone... and settles on a pile of smashed up robots. Literally a pile. It has to pan up to see the top... ... And on the top, there's a fuzzy thing in a lawn chair. It's - well, it's an animal person. Sort of. It's not like any on this continent, who are at mostly people proportions and sizes. This one, this fuzzy thing that looks kind of like a hamster, has wild, cartoonish proportions. Like, literally something that could come out of a saturday morning cartoon. "Kept me wai-ting, didn't ya?" she says, looking right up into the camera. The hamster grabs a dismembered robot arm and scratches her back with it. "Name's Velocity. Velocity the Hamster. I came here because I heard there was some kinda Egg Head stinkin' up the place..." "... But it can't be you, right? Because you ain't an Egg Head, you're an EGG BUTT." NEW PROBLEM: PLATFORMING PROTAGONIST MASCOT WITH ATTITUDE THREAT VALUE: INFINITY CURRENT STATUS: quipping
Kukuru	"They were unpleasant, as most who 'investigate' as 'journalists'." "No, they weren't nice at all. They were kind of annoying. And basic." At first, Kukuru still looks confused when Dimo and Petra both call the journalists unpleasant. She recalls, however, what they had said about being sorry for the offense, and then she remembers Dimo breaking all of that down both in front of the journalists while both Dimo and Petra break it down for her right there. There's a slight widening of her eyes, then a slowly understanding 'ohhhhh' that comes out of Kukuru. "So all those other times people say it like that... They're just looking for something to trick people with? But that'd be... Lying." Straining. Her brain is frying a bit, but things start to click. Petra might even notice it doesn't take several minutes for that to happen before Kukuru actually seems to get it, if the slight slump in her shoulders is any indication. "Oh... That's what that means. That's not really apologizing at all, huh? Yeah, that's really..." Disappointment at that realization notwithstanding, Kukuru does perk up again sooner rather than later, and she rubs one of her horns idly once she does. "That's a shame, but... It's a good thing there's people like you two that can see past it all, then. And if they keep getting caught doing that, maybe it'll teach them to just say what they mean instead." She suggests with a hopeful tone. "I know they're inside robots, but... they're, like, intelligent. Supposedly. They're people. You can't..." It takes Kukuru a moment to understand, but it's a fast moment, and she smacks the bottom of her fist into her hand once she does. "Oh! Like Kale and... Ohhh. I thought they were just regular fuzzy animals that Aidan liked to talk about, not fuzzy animal people." She nods slowly like that makes perfect sense, perhaps saving Petra from having to explain further (even if it raises more questions). "But I understand you prefer the Doctor Egg Man's work." "Because I'm his apprentice. Because I chose to be. Not yours." "You two knew each other before, then? And as a student and teacher, too..." Kukuru states the obvious, her dopey smile somehow becoming greater in both regards as she completely misses the awkwardness of hearing that Petra had made a choice some time earlier. She's just glad Petra's making new friends, and with someone so smart and nice sounding, too. The minion-aspirant explains themselves (kind of) and, more importantly to Kukuru, hides right in her hold. The drill-headed woman is all too happy to oblige, of course, providing them with a solidly decent amount of food and drink that's labeled as some kind of fruit cocktail (but is actually like 90% apple juice). Kukuru still happy as ever, of course, at seeing Petra really leaning into her role as expected of Eggman's apprentice, and she keeps quiet so as to not diminish that. The creature on the screen, however, doesn't have Kukuru smiling. She just confuses Kukuru instead, between her sudden appearance out of nowhere, her general rudeness towards Eggman and Petra alike, and her general attitude that just rubs Kukuru the wrong way entirely. Still, this could be a good learning opportunity for Petra. Best to let her call the shots there, and see how that plays out as another one of her inaugural acts as the Autocrat of this new region.