Scene #8921: Glass Mirror

Owner	Pose
Angela	It turns out to not be that much of a chase to find the employee who bugged Angela's office. There are not too many instances of people who would have had access to the office during normal hours and so footage of what occurred during Meltdowns prior to Gebura's was examined in detail by Angela, who could review them quite quickly and there were only a handful of Agents that could have been in Angela's office long enough to plant a bug and several more where it seems like it'd be difficult but are in the realm of possibility. Cinder also reported to Angela that Yuri was 'actin strangely'--while 'acting strangely' is not really abnormal for Agents, it ''is'' something that is constantly made note of in Agents to try and deter situations where they decide to team up with the Abnormality, or fall in love with an Abnormality, or try to enter an Abnormality because it's a cute little house they want to sort of pull up into. Thanks to Petra, events like this have occurred less often than they would normally but the practice is still alive and well. But there's an alternate possibility than mental corruption: Yuri might just be the source of the leak and fits all the criteria and so Angela and Gebura have contact Lilian informing her they have narrowed down the suspects to a few employees. Gebura has agreed to not interfere but both her and Angela greet Lilian at the Warpgate. Angela bows her head. "Greetings, Dame Commander. It is wonderful to see you again." Angela says with the tone of someone who hasn't been able to speak with someone for years but is trying to restrain herself from revealing that. "We have a few people we think are possible culprits and have interred them in spare Cells away from the other Abnormalities to discourage them from escaping or panicking in a place where they could harm other employees." Angela explains. "Cinder approached us and had concerns about her pal Yuri--checked our records and she actually was transferred in from a branch office to help fill a need when Petra joined L Corp. Could be nothing--the work sometimes makes Agents act off even if they aren't trying to hide anything from us--but she told Cinder something about not looking into a mirror, and companions she wanted to meet? We figured it'd be best if you talked with her directly before we pried too much." Angela leads Lilian to a cell that would normally be set aside for Abnormalities. It is, ironically perhaps, the same cell that Meika was held in so they didn't have to move furniture around. There's a writing desk and a chair for Yuri to sit in and a mattress off to the side. Yuri is presently lying down on the air mat, staring up into the ceiling--she can't see Lilian yet, the door leading in has a small window which she can be seen--it's not opaque but the angle she's at makes it difficult to view outside through that window. "We can bring another chair in if you'd like." Angela says. Along the travel over, it is evident that repairs are still under way--and are likely to BE under way for some time. A precarious series of planks and ladders have been set up so that people can travel between Control and the lower levels without relying the eradicated elevators. It's going to be some time before business is back to normal here but-- The employees seem as happy to see Lilian as ever. Some stammer and blush at the sight of her, some cheer her on, some seem anxious about someone who won a battle against their world's greatest hero--but by and large the reception is positive, if perhaps with an undercurrent of trepidation throughout the facility considering knowledge of the footage getting out is making its way through the Agents as well.
Lilian Rook	'Greetings, Dame Commander. It is wonderful to see you again.' "Isn't it just~?" says Lilian, and sounds as if she's teasing Angela about a secret sort of neediness for all of the four seconds it takes to walk up and throw her arms around her middle. Angela is built sturdy, so it should be no harm at all when Lilian briefly manages to squeeze her hard enough to lift her a few inches off the ground, then drop her back down. She puffs a little before she can smile about it afterwards. "Not only is it wonderful, it's different, too." she says. "That I get to be the special someone to show you to a day you've never lived before, past the nightmare that couldn't be beaten; don't you know how motivating that is?" She looks at Gebura, boxbot again, and says "No offense~" even knowing by now that none would be taken. "And if it caught your eye, I'll trust it." she says. "You're too experienced and too humble about it for me to buy a hedge from you, Kali." 'We can bring another chair in if you'd like.' "Only if it's bigger and fancier than hers." Lilian says. Her attitude converts into a look of lips-pursed cheeks-puffed eyes-averted chagrin as they go past the massive breach between multiple levels of the facility. Knowing there are even more makes it worse. "You know, I didn't really notice it at the time-- I had my hands full just keeping up with Kali, after all-- but I wonder if it might have been too much." Lilian says, trying not to sweat about it. "It'll be a problem if energy production drops now that everyone has seen that video." Still, even if she wants to speed shuffle past the signs of her massively overdoing things, the sight of the employees quickly causes her chagrin to crumble. Surrounded by cheers and bashful faces, there's no way she can't walk with her head held high. She deploys her razor-honed royal wave at those who want to celebrate, and has a wink on hand for those who fall all over themselves in her presence. Even the anxiety is fine, here. It was an honest show of the true extent of her strength; it should be intimidating. Let it be for that reason, and not a worse one. "I'll see Yuri first. If she checks out, then please send her back to work with Petra." Lilian says, near the cells. "Then I'll process the other ones. This shouldn't take too long, but you're welcome to observe, or even enter."
Angela	Angela is--maybe it's experimenting with allowing herself to show that she needs someone in her life and that the long breadth of time that she knows is only in her own head is nonetheless something that affects her. She can show that a little too and not be ... pathetic? Angela's eyes widen as she's fully hefted up the ground. She's heavier than she looks but not anywhere near beyond what Lilian can effortlessly carry, no doubt. Angela is a bit ruffled after that display of affection but she manages to not look at Gebura-- --Who despite Angela's buried concerns, doesn't seem to be paying it much mind. She is back in her 'boxbot' frame rather than in her humanoid form but either way she can't exactly smile or grin--but the fact that her singular eye DOES widen a bit at being called Kali suggests that she isn't making an effort to obsufucate her feelings right now. "Using Kali huh. Not bad." Gebura admits. It does feel like a lifetime ago in some ways and belonging to a dead body in some ways, but she is more unburdened than she has been in a long time and it's nice to hear her name from someone she neither has to look out for or be wary of. WIth everything that's been going on, one might expect Angela to be distracted from the fact that they have gotten farther along in the Seed of Light project than before, and passed an unsurmountable hurdle they never expected. Hokma and Binah are near unknowns (except for the fact that Benjamin helped create her). Whatever she sees now, at the very least, could and should be new. Even the presence of a rat in the facility isn't really something that's driving her to despair and the annoyance of being barred from the Banter band is merely frustrating rather than excruciating. The good news far outweighs the bad. She hasn't forgoten. "I am preparing something for you that I hope can have delivered to you next time you are in proximity with our Agents--a thank you gift. We really could not have gotten this far without you. And I do not just mean in terms of combat ability." She doesn't even primarily mean in terms of combat ability. "She's not a professional spy or anything." Gebura says. "If she's not guilty for what we're thinking, she's definitely got something big on her mind. We might have to investigate the branch she came from and see if anything strange has been going down there." The communication lines between the main facility and its branches aren't exactly ideal--intentionally so, the main facility would prefer the other branches to know what's going on in the main as little as possible and by the same token it doesn't help anyone in the main facility to hear about how their agents get to go home. ''It'll be a problem if energy production drops now that everyone has seen that video.'' "It is a danger." Angela admits. "We are lucky we had that windfall from Nihil in a way--it'll go a long way to covering the costs we've incurred now. The last thing anyone wants is to have to reset because we failed to meet energy criteria rather than because we failed one of the Sephirah's challenges." Angela's hand grips her labcoat tightly for a moment. Raising energy production sometimes means unavoidable death in a place like this--but there's no way she's going to take chances at this point. She can' bank on that one of a kind miracle happening twice. "...You have always been special, since the day we've met. I am glad that the Elites seem to be recognizing this, or at least recognizing that they are not in a position to challenge it."
Angela	''Only if it's bigger and fancier than hers.'' This seems to send a slew of messages through the local Babble communications net that ends with Mikey rolling up one of the fancier chairs Lobotomy Corp has. It kind of looks like one of those chairs you might see in a dine-in movie theater, with a pair of cupholders, leather upholstery, and a button that lets one adjust the headrest and a second button that brings up a leg rest. Lilian Rook can perform this interrogation lying down if she wants. It's decidedly more comfortable looking than the chair that Yuri's on--it doesn't even have arm rests and barely has padding. Mikey rolls the chair into the cell, gives Yuri a worried and sympathetic look--he doesn't believe she could possibly be the source of the leak but is worried he's wrong. He says nothing, just letting it face Yuri. "I'll observe from outside in case there's any tricks." Gebura says with an excess of concern for security. She's still pretty cracked and battered from the fight--honestly she might be for a long while yet--but Angela... "...It would be nice if my trust in her was not mistaken." Angela says. "I will enter but I will follow your lead and not interfere as requested." Of course she's just happy being in the same room with Lilian right now. IT hasn't been that long in the grand scheme of things but the closer she gets to her escape, the harder it becomes to be patient. Just a little longer, she tells herself. Lilian gets her return waves and some cheers. Her little royal wave seems to result in some relief to those harboring anxieties, but the fact of the matter is Yuri is one of ''them'' in their eyes...as are the other Agents presently held in lockup. They don't want to think they could be guilty of this, some don't care if they are traitors or not they're fellow workers, and some are worried--what if they are? What does it mean? Yuri gets up, sitting down in her dingy little cell. She's still smiling, but it doesn't really reach her eyes. Her cool gal posturing hasn't stopped, but there is a distinct recontextualization. It isn't normal to be like this when in a cell facing down an interrogator of any kind--let alone Lilian Rook. Once Lilian does enter, Yuri says, "Hey Dame Commander. You look good," with that lazy smile of hers. A metal plate nearly crushes a clerk as it just falls off a wall panel. "...Yeah ... Maybe we should pass out hardhats or somethin'." Gebura says to herself.
Lilian Rook	'Using Kali huh. Not bad.' "I'm particular about names." Lilian says. "And for you especially . . ." Trailing off, she taps her lip thoughtfully as she walks; the activities coincide, so she may as well show it. "You didn't become something like a monster, as the others did. A freakish thing that serves only their own wish to scrape together and hold old copies, or to vegetate immobile and drain the enkephalin dry, or even something as utilitarian as a computer core to alter the facility. You became something close to human." Lilian shrugs, not quite making eye contact. "A part of you still wants to fight, and to protect people. Another part of you knows that only 'Kali' could do that, not 'Gebura'. I'm responding to your wishes, that's all." 'I am preparing something for you that I hope can have delivered to you next time you are in proximity with our Agents--a thank you gift.' "Oh my." Lilian theatre gasps, fingers to lips and all. "You're spoiling me a little, don't you think?" She's quick to laugh it off. "But I suppose I have been working overtime; so I won't complain about a little compensation." Her fond smile lasts longer than the subject does. "I'll have to give you something I've been drafting up too." 'If she's not guilty for what we're thinking, she's definitely got something big on her mind. We might have to investigate the branch she came from and see if anything strange has been going down there.' "Then it's worth examining her anyways." Lilian says. "She's been a friend to Petra, hasn't she?" '...You have always been special, since the day we've met. I am glad that the Elites seem to be recognizing this, or at least recognizing that they are not in a position to challenge it.' Angela's acknowledgement of energy concerns brings down Lilian's mood only a hair, quickly dispelled by saying "I'd find a way to make it up, somehow. I wouldn't allow this project to fall apart for something so silly as that." The other thing gets her, as it always does. Angela isn't guarded about that opinion of hers, and it's not as if Lilian hears similar words seldom, but she hears them from so few people, and only so recently, that she still treats them as a matter worthy of delicacy. "I almost feel as if I'd prefer the latter to the former." Lilian says. "No matter what I accomplish, mediocre people need neither an excuse nor connection to reality in order to make excuses." She flashes a small, wistful smile. "But I think I've grown to like the former more. What's happening now is frightening. But I think it's about time that I should be ready to face the world as someone well-known by it, and not just conveniently erased by it. Even if it came so unexpectedly." '...Yeah ... Maybe we should pass out hardhats or somethin'.' "I'd appreciate it." Lilian says, on some poor scrunkly's behalf. "Good help is rare. Loyal help is even more so. Try to treat them well when you find them." And then, just before she enters the cell, she stops at the threshold, speaking over her shoulder. "By the way. That conversation we were having the other day. I'll tell you both in private, later."
Lilian Rook	'Hey Dame Commander. You look good' "I'm always drop dead gorgeous. Tell me something I don't know." Lilian says, shutting the door behind her. Taking her time to wander around the room, she can't help but smirk a little bit at the employee's idea of a luxury chair, but seats herself in it regardless. Leg over leg, elbows on the arm rests, fingers laced, she still radiates the aura of an interviewer for a job well outside of Yuri's league. "I'm certain you have plenty of work to do, and honestly, so do I, so let's be brisk about this, yes? I'd hate to unnecessarily waste your time." Lilian says. It doesn't sound all that threatening. She hasn't been given a reason to be, yet. "Would you like to tell me about the Branch you came from? When you arrived, what reason you were given, why you'd stuck to Petra and Cinder as much as possible, and, most importantly." Lilian leans forward until her eyes are just above her hands. "What's been on your mind, lately. If it's something within my power, I'd like to help with it, as repayment for bringing you in here under these circumstances. And if it's something you shouldn't have done, then I'll punish you appropriately, consider you redeemed, and we'll all move past it. I don't care for dealing with people in the usual way of the City, and there are few people left who could countermand me anymore."
Angela	''You didn't become something like a monster, as the others did.'' Gebura seems like she might just argue the point but she already lost that fight so she just is going to have to learn to accept what Lilian has to say and live with it. She is less sure of what monsters are these days or if there is a singular quality that one can apply the term to. A strange position for a monster hunter to be in, for sure. "...I can't argue if you're responding to my wishes. It isn't bad or anything, just a surprise." ''You're spoiling me a little, don't you think?'' "If it becomes bothersome, let me know. I have no desire to become overbearing. But it is important to me you know that I think of you often and hold you in the highest respect. ... And consider you a dear friend. You've already done plenty for me--and you have been working hard. Not just here, even. Ceri's recovery is going well." Meika isn't mentioned but there is a pause--and nothing. ''She's been a friend to Petra, hasn't she?'' "They've been on the same team at least and seems to regard her well at least--" ''I wouldn't allow this project to fall apart for something so silly as that.'' "It would be rather anticlimatic, wouldn't it." Angela admits, smiling--but 'Energy Concerns' after Gebura is decidedly better than all the best Agents being killed off. Life isn't exactly worth a great deal in The City but even with a focus on energy production, Angela can't just throw the best Agents in the grinder for a smattering of Enkephalin. A few Aleph escapes would probably cover it and if she has to keep a door locked to be on the safe side she will. ''I almost feel as if I'd prefer the latter to the former. But I think I've grown to like the former more. What's happening now is frightening.'' Angela is a little slower to respond to this, like she's being careful about her words or having difficulty articulating a complex point. Eventually she says, "..I understand. It is frightening. Memory doesn't relinquish its grasp easily. The latter feels safer than the former, but... A wise woman said to me once I didn't have to be perfect. And she said that to a coworker of mine as well. You are fighting for those who care for you. I am certain you will have bad days but I don't think a bad life will ever find you again." Total agreement, of course, though it is easier to say than do as Angela well knows. This leak would have made her paranoid during any other time in her life. ''I'll tell you both in private, later.'' "Gotcha." Gebura says, sending requisition requests to Welfare and Safety. With a majority of MEltdowns done, the facility might end up increasingly...functional. A scary prospect.
Angela	L Corp, despite being a government and a megacorp that runs what amounts to a country outside of this world, does sort of feel sometimes like it's held together by bubblegum and wires. The revolutionary spirit never completely died from the people who took over the country in the first place, though those hopeful days are long past. But some of it is just that corporations can sometimes be rather boring about this sort of thing and L Corp is no exception. Yuri has the peace of someone who has prepared herself for the worst. "I worked at Branch D-02. District. D-Corp." Yuri says. "If I hadn't been transfered here, I would've died there. Lots of G-Corp Vets in District D, but I just moved there for work. Made some friends. It wasn't nearly as tough as it was working here, but it's still an improvement. I arrived shortly after Petra started working here, but I had been planning on transfering before that--it was just the best time to transfer--normally Agents don't engage with other branches much, let alone the main facility." ''Why you'd stuck to Petra and Cinder as much as possible'' "Oh, Cinder's an old friend of mine." Yuri says. "Like from before L Corp. She used to be kind of a punk but she's such a good girl now you wouldn't believe it." Yuri laughs a little like she's just having a normal conversation, but she isn't feigning her love of Cinder in the slightest. "...Petra, well, I owed her one for saving Cinder and she's the best Agent in the faciliy, so it makes sense to stick by her. And she makes a lot of sense sometimes, you know? I like her a lot, but I don't know if she'd call me a friend." ''What's been on your mind, lately.'' Yuri's mask flickers in confusion. This is not the interrogation she expected. "...Oh, you're asking...what's been going on with me I--It's hard for me to explain, I think, because it's kind of hard for me to explain even to myself." Yuri looks down at her hands. "But I can at least be brisk about one thing... I admit that I'm the one who sent out that footage. Petra sent me in to Angela's office and I had been told to look for an opportunity to place that bug. She didn't tell me what it was going to be used for, but I owed her--and wasn't really in a position to refuse." She looks past Lilian for a moment to say, "Sorry, Angie." Angela stares back at her. She seems intent to abide Lilian's request. She doesn't speak up. She barely clenches her fist, nails into her palm. "What's been on my mind? I wish I could just show you that moment." Yuri says softly. "That moment that's been repeating in my head day after day she showed it to me." There's a tremor of fear whenever she says the word 'she', but it's not just fear. THere's respect. Appreciation. And a slew of muddled up emotions underneath all of that.
Lilian Rook	'But it is important to me you know that I think of you often and hold you in the highest respect. ... And consider you a dear friend' "It matters a great deal to me that you think that way." says Lilian. "And even more that you so readily say it. I don't think I'll ever get tired of it, Angela." 'I understand. It is frightening. Memory doesn't relinquish its grasp easily. The latter feels safer than the former, but... A wise woman said to me once I didn't have to be perfect.' Lilian smiles in spite of herself. Her gaze brushes the floor. "I'm not like . . . most people, really. Despite all that hard work, and all I've achieved, I was never looking for recognition. Not even 'respect'. Or even to 'make it'." She turns her eyes to the ceiling instead. "I wanted the power to control my own life; to keep myself safe and to never have to let anyone decide anything for me. Then it was to keep hold of the things I'd earned. Then to keep the people close to me safe. And now, before I realized it, I've started working to change the world." "I'm not used to people looking at me for what I am. I'm only familiar with their respect when we belong to the same command hierarchy; and even then, only when I'm above them. I'm not going to be able to quietly build my heart up on my own, without anyone realizing; not anymore. So it helps to hear that. And I hope it's true, too. That I'm strong enough now, in all the ways I need to be, that a little slip here and there can't ruin everything anymore." ...... 'It wasn't nearly as tough as it was working here, but it's still an improvement.' "Mmh?" Lilian raises an eyebrow. Slightly more than half-interested. "Why would that be? This place is a hellhole, isn't it? Wouldn't a quieter job be preferable?" 'Oh, Cinder's an old friend of mine. Like from before L Corp. She used to be kind of a punk but she's such a good girl now you wouldn't believe it.' "That's a rare sort of heartwarming story, for the City." Lilian says. "More so that neither of you are dead. I'd very much like it to stay that way." 'And she makes a lot of sense sometimes, you know?' "I wish I didn't." Lilian sighs. "But I do." 'But I can at least be brisk about one thing... I admit that I'm the one who sent out that footage.' Lilian's eyes widen. A little spark brightens them, though her expression isn't a positive one. "Oh my? Just like that?" she says. Her heel taps against her calf with a repetitive little swing. One finger taps on the back of the hand laced under it. "Is that your sense of moral responsibility? A fit of sudden bravery, inspired by something recent? Gallows resignation?" Her tapping stops. "Or have you already realized that I can read your every thought? If you noticed at some point earlier, then I'd commend you on your attention to detail, but this isn't precisely a casual matter."
Lilian Rook	'Petra sent me in to Angela's office and I had been told to look for an opportunity to place that bug. She didn't tell me what it was going to be used for, but I owed her--' "She." Lilian interjects. "It's too early to begin apologizing, Yuri. Tell me who 'she' is." Finally, this late after entering, Lilian's voice drops to a half-unbridled purr. A surer sign of her seriousness than any grave tone she could possibly put on. "I'm doing my best to understand your situation. You were coerced, or threatened, or indebted, or all three. You weren't told anything, so you closed your eyes and took the risk. I can't forgive you just for that. But I can be reasonable about the consequences. I know very well what it's like to be weak, Yuri." 'That moment that's been repeating in my head day after day she showed it to me.' "What was 'that moment'? Try to recall it as vividly as you can, and describe as clearly as possible. You're not at liberty to refuse."
Angela	Then I'll say it often. They hadn't known each other for that long before Lilian said they were quite akin to one another. The longer Angela knows Lilian, the more similarities she sees--the need to take control of one's own life and needing to go to unusual extremes to achieve it--Angela knows that well. She hasn't been born yet. That phrasing is suck with her. She doesn't have what others are born with. Maybe that's why she isn't as troubled by Yuri's betrayal as she thought she'd be. She no longer believes following Lilian will bring her freedom. Now, she ''knows'' it. And knowing is a far more comfortable state than belief. It was silly to declare vengeance on a city before she can even walk outside, Angela knows that now. No wonder Persephone would have moved to stop her. No, there's a neccessary order of things. It's like a hierarchy of needs. She needs to be able to control her own life, she needs the strength to hold that freedom, and she needs to be cared for--that last one is the hard part, not in the sense of finding people who express 'care' but in the acceptance of it. The Gebura meltdown has taught her that thinking any expression of that can be real is the tough part. "I hope so too." She says quietly at the idea that a little slip cannot ruin how far Lilian's come. "It'd be as silly as failing due to a lack of enkephalin. Too silly to allow." There isn't an Agent in this facility with the ability to resist one's mind being read, and Yuri is no exception really. It's actually, perhaps, a signal as to Carmen's goals. She loves humans, especially the parts they try to hide from others. No EGO Gear exists that hides those secrets as for it to exist would be counter to the whole aim of L Corp. ''Wouldn't a quieter job be preferable?'' "You'd think that," Yuri admits. "I'd think that too--but I wouldn't have known anything about L Corp's real goals until it was too late." Yuri says. ''More so that neither of you are dead. I'd very much like it to stay that way.'' "Me too. But I didn't see Cinder with me." Yuri says. "Cinder'd rather make a big flame than sputter out." ''I wish I didn't. But I do.'' Yuri looks down at her hands.
Angela	''Oh my? Just like that?'' "...I do feel guilty," Yuri says. "Ever since I saw it. But that she used it against you didn't help. Never had anything against you, Dame Commander. Why would I? You're here for Angela and--haha, I thought I'd hate her for everything she did, but..." Angela stiffens in alarm and then frowns. It's no doubt a herculean effort of will that she remains silent. That's a strange thing to say. ''Or have you already realized that I can read your every thought?'' "Ahah... Well, we all heard about what happened in Stanley's world to some extent, but it wasn't really power. You said you had a way of finding what you wanted, I just decided to believe you." Yuri says. "Practically everything else you said would happen, happened. Everything you said you could do, you could do. I don't know about Elites, but if I could gamble on your success I wouldn't have to work another day in my life." Yuri admits.
Angela	''Tell me who she is.'' ''What was 'that moment'? Try to recall it as vividly as you can.'' Yuri closes her eyes and... That memory... It looks like any other apartment in The City. Yuri is in a room with a picture of Cinder and herself as children. Cinder looks like she got punched a few times and is missing a tooth but is grinning. Yuri is hugging her with one arm. Love. Comfortable. Yuri is sitting on her bed. She isn't looking up at whomever she is talking to. She is looking down at her feet. Don't look. Fear. Hope. Uncertainty. Confusion. Despite looking away there is a clear vision of a purple trenchcoat out of the corners of her eye. In Yuri's hand is a mirror. DON'T LOOK. CONFUSION. FEAR. DESPAIR. "What happened to her?" Yuri asked the woman in purple, temporarily forgetting herself. "Why..show me this? Why show me just how irrelevent I am? Just a vision of me...dying pathetically? The moment I foolishly let my guard down? We barely even talked but she looked so ... defeated. Haha... She looked so defeated, she found a new crew of people, and then she immediately died because she wasn't really one of them..." Look. She looks back down at what looks like a glass mirror. She's gone. That other me is gone. Is that how I'm going to... "Well, that's true." The woman in purple said. "You are weak, but I've trained some of the strongest fixers out there and they didn't start much stronger than you. I'm feeling generous, so I'll train you for free and you'll never die an ignoble death like that." Yuri laughed a bit again. "...Even a pathetic Agent like me who survived only from luck knows a deal like this has gotta have catch. And I don't have the luxury to refuse anyway or you'll just kill me, right?" Certainty. Emptiness. Emptiness. "Ahah," The woman in purple said, pulling away the mirror--easily taking it from Yuri's hands, who doesn't resist--seems even eager to be rid of it. "Well, at the very least I'd have to put you somewhere you couldn't cause any trouble, right? But you understand The City well. Still, it's honestly a pretty good deal for you. Maybe you'll even be able to help your friend if you follow my lead." Emptiness. Emptiness. "...Why me?" Yuri asks. "You could get another Color, you could--Go there ''yourself''." The woman in purple said, "I'd have to deal with an annoying student. And besides, it's a delicate situation and what I want is something delicate. I can't act like a sledgehammer. I don't expect you to get it, though. So, do we have a deal? If you don't step out of the story that's set out for you, you'll end the same way." I can become... That vision fades as Yuri's focus on the event fades. "...She's called... The Purple Tear." Yuri says, reluctantly.
Lilian Rook	'I wouldn't have known anything about L Corp's real goals until it was too late' That, where even the explicit admission of betrayal had failed to, causes Lilian to narrow her eyes. Her posture hangs forward on her chair, with a sense of coiled kinetic energy. "Too late? My my Yuri, you sound as if you intend to stop them. Or something else. What do their goals matter to you? Why would it matter which part of the City you happened to eb in." 'Why would I? You're here for Angela and--' "And now I have to ask you why you care about Angela?" Lilian says. "Even besides Petra and I, care isn't contagious." She breathes in slowly, and holds it a moment. "You don't sound like a run of the mill Branch Agent. Is there even at point to staying quiet about it?" 'Ahah... Well, we all heard about what happened in Stanley's world to some extent' Lilian's breath hitches. She looks tense. 'I just decided to believe you' breaks her silence with "That's the single smartest thing you've done." Her passive, sizzling energy doesn't lower one bit, but given where Yuri is going, Lilian allows herself to move fully to the edge of her chair, then relax her weight against it, folding her arms and letting her back straighten out. "I didn't get my start by fighting. Not like Kali." she says. "Originally, I had no intention of ever being involved in combat at all. I . . . 'manifested my EGO', as Carmen would say, around something else. A pure wish that wasn't 'to protect' or 'to hold on'. The sword came to me later, but for all I've given myself to it, I wouldn't call myself her superior in pure combat." Lilian says. "'To take what I wasn't meant to have, and seize what should be impossible to ever get back'. That's how I can make everything I say come true. It's only that there's nothing I hate more than being told 'It's impossible' or 'You're too late' or 'It's beyond you', and believing there could be anything else is something this City forgot a long time ago." ...... Lilian doesn't have to closer her eyes to visualize. It helps, often, to focus, but that time is seared so brightly into Yuri's memory that there's no need; and Lilian is an expert at appearing to pay attention while really being somewhere else. And she doesn't need to see the mirror. She only draws a sharp, shuddering breath for the implication she can already sense. It's far from alien to her. In fact, it's uncomfortably close to home. The Lilian that exists now because every other one like her is dead. '...She's called... The Purple Tear.' All Lilian can do is laugh. That is, if the beleaguered gasp that comes from her lips can really be called a laugh just for having the rhythm. She presses the heel of her palm to her temple, and lets it slide through her hair as she turns up her chin to look directly into the flourescent lighting. "Of course. I manage to get past one Colour and it's right into another one. For supposedly being so important, it seems they've adopted me into their sphere very quickly." Her second attempt at a laugh is a little more authentic, and a little more grim. "Someone Kali knew doesn't at all surprise me. Perhaps she was always angling to expose her, most of all. I'd like to believe that she doesn't want anything at all from me, but that seems like optimistic thinking."
Lilian Rook	Lilian slides back into her chair with a full-throated sigh of vexation. "As a Colour, she could have easily exposed Angela, without significant risk to herself. So what she wants is 'something from Lobotomy Corporation', and not 'the downfall of Lobotomy Corporation'. What a truly, deeply unpleasant woman." "Well Yuri. How exactly do you plan to receive your reward after confessing to everything? You know we won't just let you walk out to go meet her, don't you?"
Angela	''You sound as if you intend to stop them'' "...If I intended to stop them I'd just tell the Head. Not that kind of 'too late'." Yuri says. "Too late to avoid what would happen to me if I continued to live like I had been." Yuri says. ''Care isn't contagious'' "...Just got to know her a little, that's all. When your two teammates keep chcking in onesomeone you kind of get to know 'em by proxy." Yuri explains. "Before I transferred she was just kind of a boogieman to me." ''Why would it matter which part of the City you happened to be in.'' Yuri looks at Angela. Angela simply draws ou her phone and texts Lilian a message rather than interfere with the interrogation by engaging Yuri. ''She may be speaking of potential disruptions occuring within the facility during the Seed of Light project's culmination.'' There isn't an -Angela at the end because of how dire this is for Angela personally. ''That's the single smartest thing you've done.'' rYuri says, "Believing you just seems like good sense." in a casual agreement though she twiddles her fingers together. If the Manager has his way she'd be executed once the interrogation is over but even she isn't sure where things are going. ''I wouldn't call myself her superior in pure combat.'' "Nobody beats her in pure combat, and you had some help even if you did most of the work." Yuri adds practically. "But that's still a miracle as far as anyone in the City's concerned." That emptiness is lingering within her. She isn't HAPPY about any of this, but dread has long since left her. "I don't know why she targetd you or if she even was. Gebura's the one to ask about insight as to how she operates. I still barely understand why she chose me to begin with. Sometimes I wish she hadn't." This Yuri might want to exist. Maybe this Yuri intends to kill every other Yuri to be herself--but it's clear either way, that whatever she saw in that mirror--she believed it to be true. Lilian could probably force her to Look again but she really doesn't want to think about it even as what she saw pushes forward her actions of today. ''I'd like to believe that she doesn't want anything a all from me'' "She must've believed you when you said you'd succeed too. Only she believed it before you got too involved." Yuri guesses. But she really doesn't know The Tear that well--as Gebura surmised, she was essentially more her pawn than her teammate or comrade. ''How exactly do you plan to receive your reward after confessiog to everything'' Yuri looks up. "...I already got my reward. I'd rather throw the Golden Apple than be one." Yuri manages a smile again. Still Empty. "...No, you're right, the real reward is a long time coming." She looks to Lilian. "What are you going to do with me? What is the punishment? I don't know if I have much else helpful to say. Am I fired?"
Lilian Rook	'Too late to avoid what would happen to me if I continued to live like I had been.' "And what would that be?" Lilian says, letting her exasperation get the better of her only for a moment. "No, no, that isn't part of the questioning. I don't need to know what you were running from. But there are worse things than ending up dead, and I don't mean 'fates worse than')]." 'Before I transferred she was just kind of a boogieman to me.' "Funny. I'm only just starting to hear that myself." 'Sometimes I wish she hadn't.' "Is that really something you get to say, Yuri?" says Lilian. "You weren't held at knifepoint. You were convinced. The gun was pressed to something deeper than your head, and only you know why you ran from it." A beat. "And you did. Whether she 'chose you' or not, you aren't a hapless victim who was blackmailed into it. She showed you what you were already lacking, and you did it willingly to get it from her." 'She must've believed you when you said you'd succeed too. Only she believed it before you got too involved.' "Haha . . . Somehow that's much worse." Lilian laughs a little to herself. She's nearly enjoying her own, swirling dread about this. "Someone who could believe me the first time I'd say something like that, without having waited to see . . . That's someone who sees far too much." '...I already got my reward. I'd rather throw the Golden Apple than be one.' Lilian glances to Angela, but doesn't pursue the question just yet. This still has to happen first. #-1 FUNCTION (ANIS) NOT FOUND "Probably." Lilian says, and with a last little exhale, that tone of hers is gone. Now she has to think again; not just say things. "I'm going to tell Cinder and Petra that it was you, of course. And Kali. You can deal with however they react to you going behind everyone's backs. I'm not your employer, but I doubt they'll just let you return to work as if nothing happened. If they did, it's not unlikely someone might shove you in front of an Abnormality at the wrong time." she says. "Of course, it probably suits this Purple Tear fine if you're executed, and even better if you're confined. I don't believe that someone like that would say a few sweet nothings to get your cooperation and then abandon you after you survived. Of course, as the only witness, she might try to silence you too. The more dangerous possibility is that she already knows that I'f think that, and plans to come to see you." Lilian stops to massage next to her eye with two fingers, letting her eyes rest in her lap as she thinks through something detestably thorny. She looks to Angela. "If possible, I would like to take Yuri into custody." she says. 'If possible' of course means 'you can give me permission or not before I do it'. "The instigator has already expressed an unwillingness to go anywhere near the facility with Kali's presence around, and Gebura isn't staff you can let go off. I mean offworld. Paladins administration, ideally. Somewhere this Purple Tear could be lured out. If she's a Colour, she won't be terribly restricted in her movements." "If nothing happens after the next Meltdown, I'll be happy to return her to your 'loving hands'. Until then, I don't want to let this opportunity slip." Lilian sighs. "I'd rather not that coming clean to me be the worst possible thing she could have done."
Lilian Rook	Even then, she doesn't look at Yuri with fondness. Not pity, either. Not quite. "You know, I was hoping you'd lie to me. I was all revved up to come in here and see someone who holds me in contempt, and to drag everything they knew out of them, crying and screaming and groveling by the end. I thought it'd be a great opportunity to blow off a little steam over how furious I am about this." "But seeing just a sad little pawn, overcome by her fear, realizing too late that she wants to live, while knowing that she doesn't have it in her to grasp it . . . I don't know how to feel about you. Perhaps I will after speaking to Petra. Provided she doesn't encourage me to torture you a little anyways."
Angela	Kali has been sticking around ouside, but the doors are pretty well sealed and she can't easily listen in. "I would've been killed by an Abnormality in that branch facility. The Golden Apple." Yuri says. "Living to see my friend die, being betrayed by my coworkers. Surviving by sacrificing my coworkers one by one, trapped underground until I finally escaped. She looked so pitiful." She says this despite Lilian clarifying she doesn't need to know. ''And you did it willingly to get it from her.'' "Yeah, maybe." She doesn't sound sure. "Maybe she was being totally sincere when she said she'd just put me away somewhere. Seemed like someone with a lot of guns, though. Either way, I'm not the only one who'd rather be a Sinner than someone trapped in that place. You can be trapped," This time she's looking at Angela. "Even when the door's unlocked and you can walk outside." There is a pause as something pulls back from her expression, that kind of Fixer shroud fading as Yuri sees something in Angela's eyes. "...You're doing that squinty eye thing--" Angela is doing that squinty eye thing, where her eyes kind of half close like she's trying to hold something back that she can't evne do. She seems upset but it isn't the same kind of upset that she gets when she's annoyed, bored, or frustrated. "...Nobody in my world is safe, are they?" Angela asks. "...She wanted to tell me that, didn't she? That even if I make a friend here I have to worry if they are part of some Color's scheme, or even if they aren't--one could just show up and most of the Agents in the facility would cave. I suppose I was a little foolish, thinking that I could be friends with any Agent besides Cinder because she'd rather die than betray Petra. I imagine she's having a bit of a laugh at me right now. 'Look at that silly little android... Thinking she doesn't have to be as harsh as everyone else in The City. Trying to cling on to stupid ideas. The Multiverse isn't an escape.'" Angela exhales slowly and forces herself to unclench her fists and she walks towards Yuri. She gets into her personal space, crouching down to look into her eyes.
Angela	Angela is thinking about choking the life out of her right here and now. She doesn't have the ability to obscure her thoughts either. The desire to lasts for only a minute or so but that's a long time in Angela thought. And there's other thoughts, contradictory and messy circling in Angela's head even as se manages to stop making that squinty face. Her golden eyes return to impassive observers. 153, "If I kill you, Cinder's heart will break. Even if I make it an accident. When she reported you to us, she thought you had been driven mad--and I see that isn't entirely wrong. I trusted you with my plans for the Desire Grand Prix, even let you take another company's gear as your own. If you don't show up to participate, you might lose the very memories we need from you. No wonder you adapted so well to Frost Splinter.") ''Perhaps I will after speaking to Petra.'' Yuri shudders a little. Guilt pushes out to the forefront. That splinter in her heart is being dragged out piece by piece and it's agony. "Hurting them's the worst part but... If it makes you feel better, at least a little..." She looks to Angela. "...But in that glass mirror I saw--the project did end one way or another." Shehe rubs at her face. "I'm sorry I couldn't be someone a little less pathetic for you, Commander. I really am. But I'm not sorry for not holding you in contempt. Maybe you never intended to be the sort of person who saves worlds, maybe you only did it so you could control your own fate yourself. I wish I was as cool and strong as that--then I wouldn't have had to pretend." "Commander," Angela says. "According to Gebura, the Purple Tear could easily remove her from most facilities she could be placed into. And according to company policy, if the Manager heard of this, I'd have to kill her." Yuri looks down at her hands unhappily. "So I have no objection for the Paladins taking her. We can consider whether she can return in a manner that won't kill her later. But I have a request." She nods to Yuri. "Even if it be under Paladin supervision or with a ball and chain around her ankle, I would like her to continue participating in the Grand Prix. I want her to experience what it is like to ''fight'' for one's desires." She is quiet for a moment and adds, "But more than that, it might lure the Tear out if it looks like she's cooperating with us." Yuri will end up leaving with Lilian to wherever she wants to take her. All she can do is see what fate awaits her now.