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Metamorph One	The typical introduction after Concord acceptance is the crown jewel of the faction's Elite-oriented achievement. The metropolis of the crescent island on the terraformed moon is technically open to all, but only truly accessible for Partners, prospects, liaisons, wealthy tourists, and those who manage the countless businesses and suppliers that are privileged enough to be purveyors for the Concord. As such, the city is like no other.     Ritzy as it is, it's hard to find anywhere that ventures outside the realm of genuinely fashionable, cultivated for appearance and travel by masters of the craft. The 'downtown', near the Elysium Apex HQ, hews closely to the Concord's iconic colours, but even in the picturesque outskirts and coast, the people walking the streets and riding the rails, flowing in and out of the Warpgate at all times, are as Multiversal as can be. Mages rub shoulders with cyborgs, human traffic flows between a thousand varieties of alien, beastman, android, mutant, and beings elemental, demonic, demidivine, and everything inbetween.     In short, it's nearly impossible to 'stand out', and thus as a new arrival, no matter how busy it is, there's a kind of comfort in the crowd. Grand Dorado is no place for harried wage slaves, indolent cops, surly petty criminals, or any of the usual detritus of the cities that people live in. It's as if everyone is on vacation. Simply don't mind the omnipresent cameras and odd little beepy lights in unobtrusive corners.     The typical way to arrive is via one of the large travel Warpgates near the coast; the VIP section reserved for Elite Partners, specifically, near high-end lodgings, cafés, and rail lines that go non-stop to the Elysium Apex. It's never difficult to find peers off-duty or looking to peoplewatch for new traffic. Dozens of nearby spots give a perfectly good overlook of the multi-Warpgate plaza.
Persephone Kore	There's a sweet pall over the plaza. It's like a perfume in the air, like a fire's warmth on a cool night. Only you don't feel it with your nose or your skin, but with your brainstem, or your heart. It's easy to believe that today is a good day. It's easy to believe you're not unsafe. If there is a God, she loves you- I love you.      The crowd feels it too. When people jostle each other, the 'hey, watch it's are softer. More people savor their food, or stand and look at pretty things.      It's easy to assume, without context, that it's just something in the air here. But the feeling does have an epicenter that can be triangulated, even if its soft fade might stretch for a mile. Its source is sixty feet to your left and thirty feet up.      Do you see me? I see you!      There, on a restaurant's shiny second-story glass balcony, a woman sits eating some kind of lemony pasta. She's human, and dressed only a little outlandishly, which should make her one of the normalest patrons here. But she isn't quite. She just looks 'real', which is totally inane but true.
White	White manages to meet the bare minimum, generously light requirements for not seeming like a weirdo in a place like this. She walks normally, even a bit slowly, keeps her hood just right to shade her face a bit from the light so that her closed eyes don't seem as noticeable, and in turn spends much of the trip watching the people-watchers in return from behind her eyelids. It makes sense that a place run by talent-seekers would be like this to some extent, though she deeply hopes none of them bother her along the way. 'It's no big deeeeeal! I don't even have weird legs or a freaky exhibitionist outfit.' one of her inner voices chimes to drown out the more anxious parts. 'My 'cameras' are way cuter too, so they have nothing on me. Muahaha!'      Her face stays flatly inexpressive the whole way, even if her hands end up twined and scrunched around one-another in front of her as she walks. Being in a crowd still sucks, and she'd rather be almost anywhere else.      She, at least, follows directions well enough. She was invited here, and arrives at precisely the place described, likely a little bit early... 'And I'll never let them know it was because I thought I'd get lost. Never!! I'm the kouhai here, I can't afford a bad impression or I'll get pranked, or bullied, or have a terrible 4/10 OVA made based on me. Unforgivable.' Unfortunately though, present company probably has the means to overhear at least some of her inane mental rambling, like a little character-theatre is happening inside her own head, different tones of voice manifesting as if to argue with herself. And unfortunately as White's attention is drawn off toward one of the prime examples of that possibility while coming near, closed-eye gazing over, Persephone may sense a sort of recognition to her presence. Or at least, an association of sorts with someone else.      White's little mental theatre troupe starts to shrink and 'clean up' like someone just told them they'd be having houseguests and they're all too aware how much of a mess the place is. She's wary, and she stops where she's standing.
Rufus Shinra	Sometimes, peoplewatching is good. You might see someone interesting, even in a place like this where 'interesting' is commonplace. Like - that girl all in white. Neat. Rufus absently slots her into his various internal tier lists as he spots her going by. High points for color scheme coordination with some well-chosen variety. Nice boots. Should smile more. Rufus is leaning against a shop wall, phone in hand and half paying attention, half doomscrolling. "Did it hurt when you fell out of heaven?" he says to White as she passes by, more or less automatically.
Kukuru	The green-haired woman, as she often does, is in a state of mild disarray as she frets over making sure things are gathered up properly for the newest Partner to join the Concord's ranks. Is it part of her job description? No. Has anyone asked her to do this? No. Does she like doing it anyway? Yes. Why not, if it means letting a new member of the family feel more welcome in what must sruely be unfamiliar territory? Being out and about in the Multiverse has given her plenty of experience seeing different kinds of foods that people eat and the even wider variety of ways they might consume what counts as food to them. It's always the sort of thing that takes a few more hours to prepare than it could possibly take for someone to get home and eat their fill, and none of that work is even visible yet while she loiters at the same restaurant where a woman munches on lemony pasta. "I wonder if I packed enough... Hmmn. Maybe I should've gotten a cooler for all this insteeead?." She murmurs to herself, covering her mouth to hide the look of yawning even though it's very easy to hear it. "Oh, but then if she wanted to eat it here... Oh, no, neeever mind. This is a restaurant, soooo..." Yeah. She'll be fine.  It'll be worth it, of course, just to know that the newest addition won't be going hungry for at least three days. Hearing White before she sees her, the green-haired woman turns slowly at first at the unfamiliar figure just standing there, and there's a visible turning of the gears in her head as she starts making the mental connection of stranger -> expected newcomer. They finally finish after several long seconds, at least, and a bright smile crosses her face as she approaches White with a bounce in her step. "Hello, helloooo!" She calls out with a pleasantly cheerful sleepiness in her voice, taking her time actually getting over to her and seemingly oblivious to how much or how little White might enjoy having attention drawn her way.  "You must beeee..." There's a long, awkward pause as it dawns on Kukuru that she forgot this lady's name. She's still got one chance to recover, though, as she claps her hands together to give her brain just that little extra bit of focus. "Oh, right... My name's Kukuru." A pause, like she's used to for whatever reason. "That's Ku-ku-ru. It's so nice to meet you, deeeear..." Another pause, to give her an opportunity to introduce herself, and then- "Have you eaten yet? The stuff here's real good, aaaand..." She trails off, not wanting to reveal that she's using this opportunity to try and figure out what her dietary restrictions are, if any.
Persephone Kore	She's twirling spaghetti around her fork, and looking down with cheek-cupped-in-hand, and her hair is moving like it's underwater or low-gravity. For just a moment, I get to admire you! And then--      Awww, noo! Don't be like that! I promise absolutely not to bully you! I'm nothing to be scared of! The emotional 'atmosphere' gains a guilty undertone, a stepped-on-the-cat-by-accident-and-now-maybe-it'll-never-hop-in-my-lap-again feeling.      But that can't keep her back! That odd woman in the keyhole sweater plants a boot on top of the balcony's glass railing, and steps over it as if she weighed nothing, and drifts to the ground like that too. The clack, clack of heels against the plaza floor is the only impact-sound.      "You're the new partner!" she says (and it's not a question), once in handshake range. (She sounds exactly like she looks, which is also exactly like she feels.) "I was looking out for you, ahaha, but you know that already because you're so smart." One hand cups her own face adoringly, and her eyes smile shut.      (White is about keyhole-height. Kouhai tradition.)      Rufus only gets a glance in passing. "Huh?" Terrifying innocence. Her eyes linger before sweeping back to White.      ". . . Oh! You're an angel, aren't you!"
White	White may have frozen up a little. That's to be expected when you feel someone tickling your brain, right? She's not weird. Luckily for Rufus, this is also perhaps the only way she could've actually stopped long enough to realize he was talking to her, and not some other woman nearby. She's still frozen, but now she has to split processing power between these two distinct social challenges. 'So, I guess I can't be too surprised that somebody here had telepathy right? If I just stand here that's totally going to clue her in that I'm DEFINITELY NOT freaked out.' Her mental voice shouts loudly enough that it almost feels like she's trying to make Persephone flinch, but in reality it's just part of the ongoing bit, reduced in scale from maybe a dozen different mental voice-actors down to two or three. 'And then there's this guy. I totally look like a cave creature right? I mean I literally am one. My eyes aren't even open. But I guess some people are into that? Well, I'll just have to figure out how to... Deal with...'      Several faces flash in her mind like she's trying to figure out who to imitate that might understand this social situation better than her. A small girl with long black hair passes through her mind... No, Ariel would probably just hit him or something. A girl almost as pale as White, in a noble dress is next... Sophia uh, no, even worse. 'Do I only know hopeless women and workaholic men?!'      She has a pensive, tiny little frown on her face as she tries to ignore Persephone's presence for a moment, turns to Rufus, and at a volume barely higher than a whisper answers, "... I crawled out of the ground actually." 'There! That deeeefinitely killed his interest right? And I'm not even lying. Look at me, I've so got this networking stuff. Don't tell me what networking means.' She does at least offer him a small, practiced curtsy of apology though, after moving her bangs aside.      She doesn't get to revel long in her victory, though. She's being rushed, and she was so deep in her desperate but brief social struggle in her own head that she almost doesn't notice it. Kukuru is first, and White waits uncomfortably long for her to remember her name. Rather than offering it up on a proverbial platter, she tugs at her hood a little. White silk... Should be a good enough reminder right? 'Don't wanna make them upset because I acted like they're stupid. Gotta let them do their thing as senpai... I think?' The offer of food, funnily, actually gets her feet moving again for a brief moment- one step taken before she's even directed to the table, like her body is flaunting her food-shamelessness before higher thought can control it. She does, at least, stop to nod slowly, and belatedly remembers to lower her hood for politeness's sake, even if she's trying to skimp out on actually returning verbal greetings.      Then is Persephone, making herself about as hard to ignore as one might expect her to be. The telepathic reassurances don't so much throw White off by their very happening, but she's primed to be skeptical in that sort of way you might play along uncomfortably with a grifter chatting you up suddenly. She thinks, 'I'd hope not-' in a too-aggressive tone on reflex, before stiffening up a little more and trying again. 'Well yes. I am smart, but why's she- I mean why're you-' And then her thoughts hit the traffic jam point, clogging together as she's unable to just think to herself unfiltered. It sounds a little like eight people all trying to talk at once but stopping over and over to rethink the phrasing.
Rufus Shinra	> "Huh?" Terrifying innocence. Okay, maybe that's enough pickup artistry for one day. > ". . . Oh! You're an angel, aren't you!" A different pair of neurons fires in Rufus's brain. "Wait, she is?" The phone is lowered, and he gives his full attention. "Do you have a flaming sword? Can you do the thing where you have too many eyes and wings? Can you-" > "... I crawled out of the ground actually." Rufus looks White up and down. "..." He seems deep in thought. "..." And then he brightens up. "A demon!" "What are you a demon of? Is it a cool sin? I bet it's one of the new ones. Pollution is a sin now, right? You're really on theme with the color-drained-out theme if it is." He clasps his hands together. "Settle a bet for me - tridents or whips? Which one's more satisfying?"
Yuuki Kuran	The act of peoplewatching in Grand Dorado is one of the great past times of great people - and that's everyone in the Partner class of the Concord! There's a constant low-grade flutter, float, and fly in the periphery of the Concord's deluxe metropolis from moving drones to security force cameras, familiars and fetchlings of every shape and kind moving about business for their masters throughout the great city, and an everpresent scattering of dozey bats and butterflies that hang and perch and swoop and tarry all about. White's little ones could find all sorts of places to spider up to to join the crowd, blending in among the motion and rest of the host, though a few of the bats will waddle over or peer from upside-down to inspect the newcomers. As several are, now, a palpable shift in the wakefulness of all of the bats as they seem to move in wave to attend to White's motion, and stop, and interaction with... Rufus? The faintest sound of the sharp intake of breath from several dozen tiny little bat-lungs at the stunning approach of the Shinra heir towards White and... Persephone? Well, Persephone certainly can handle herself, but-- The bats in the periphery fret. MEANWHILE... In her office in highest reaches of the Elysium Apex, Kuran Yuuki looks up from having passed out on her desk in the middle of the day, wiping up the table and her face and turning to her (paper) deskside filer where she keeps the approved Partner applications. "Oh, which one, which one--" Yuuki frets, fingering through the stacks to the most recent file, then working through the paper applications until she found. . . "White! Oh, I should go meet them, but..." Yuuki looks down at herself. Was she presentable? Well, the drool from her daytime napping wiped away and once again she was the invincible, immortal vampire queen (late twenties). --- More bats, these far darker and more 'the black suggestion of a chiropteran silhouette' than a fully fleshed animal, flap into the area, congealing and pressing together until the flap sounds like the snap of cloth and a faint breath, and colors other than black meld in from the bat-apparating. Red, then red brown, then whites and silvers and cloth-black as opposed to night-black, Yuuki appears in pieces as batty wisps still hang at the periphery of her filling-in body. Dressed in a white collared shirt and a white-trimmed black jacket unbuttoned, with a red ribbon hanging to either side of her quarterlines, and black skirt, leggings, and shoes, the Director seems 'kouhai' as well for her actual presence, despite the Dracula entrance. "Oh! I had heard there was a little 'partner meeting' going on - am I invited?" She asks, sweetly. "I heard our latest Partner had just arrived at the Dorado, and I was looking so forward to meeting them." She speaks while looking at White, faintly smiling.
Metamorph One	Amongst the people comfortable to watch on the side rather than eager to greet, a pair of women who should seem hardly ever apart are making the most of their time together. Theoretically dressed for the town, both of them seem more comfortable with their snappy white outerwear in AO orange trim and green iconography than something casually fashionable. Seated in the veranda of an upscale café with a corner view of the ocean, the two lean forward over the same table towards each other, swapping drinks and dessets and discussing something about 'earth-like atmosphere'.     Every so often, one or the other glances Persephone-ward; recognizing, knowing, and taking it in like sunny weather. A feature of the environment, to be enjoyed on a special day while it lasts. In lulls in the conversation, they turn to the plaza, remarking here and there on the comers and goers, Dianna looking to Elara and prompting her first each time. The one that Persephone comes down to meet, however, must be a special enough case to focus on.     White is spared further critique by only one of the two having mentalist powers, and only so refined as to view a visible halo of emotion and hear the echoes of which specific thoughts left them, not peer into her inner world. She is not spared further issue.     "Hey babe. This guy bothering you?"     Dianna slides into the picture from left field, forwardly throwing her arm around the new hire's shoulder and looking at Rufus with a disapproving lean. "I don't mind showing him elsewhere." she says, like the words explicitly mean 'fuck off' in another language. Elara, less a noble champion (read: man-hater) gets up on her tippy toes to wave Persephone down first, unable to bear the thought of being so remiss to go by without some sort of greeting.     "Come on, don't crowd her!" she says, to probably everyone else. "Think about it from her perspective. Would you want to be swarmed on your first minute here? At least let her go sit down first!"     Twelve seconds later . . .     "Director?!"     "Director."
White	White's eyelids twitch, like she'd be dumbfoundedly blinking at Rufus if they'd been open in the first place. Inwardly, as her thoughts unstick for a moment after his second guess hits closer to home, '... Close enough! I'm at least an honorary demon, right? That's definitely how this works.' Outwardly though, she's being hit with too many followup questions and too much direct interest. Her excuse backfired! "Umm." she starts after several silent mouth-movements that go nowhere. "Sin..?" she says to herself, and looks down at her hand to count on her fingers in front of everyone. She counts up to five, then lowers the thumb, then lowers the pinkie and ring fingers together. Two what, she doesn't say. Between whips and tridents, at least, she has a default answer. Her mouth moves, no sound comes out, she closes it and instead simply creates a strand of silver-gleaming silk between two fingertips. She's not actually saying 'whips', and it's hard to imagine what thin and airy spidersilk has to do with those potentailly, but at least in her own head the connection is fairly obvious.      For some reason, White is both quite at ease with Yuuki's means of arrival and even somehow *reassured* for a moment. To Persephone if she's paying attention, it feels like another pang of recognition, stifled after by a slight sliver of self-chiding and disappointment. The pale girl in the fancy dress she imagined before had come to mind. Still, she offers Yuuki a small curtsy like the one she gave Rufus- the fact that it's identical hinting that it's practiced and not a personal flair. She's more and more surrounded as time passes, and doing her very best not to mentally associate this fact with some kind of war-horror. At least a vampire, with typical Vampire Stuff going on is easily within the realm of her familiarity, and Yuuki isn't going to suffer from negative associations.      Unfortunately Dianna and Elara are almost too much to process with all the rest of the people paying her so much attention. Her shoulders sink a little as an arm is slung across them, despite her ability to bear the minute weight easily. Offering to remove Rufus, though, isn't an easy 'yes please' kind of question at the moment; she's here to endure the misery of making contacts and establishing herself, and if Rufus is here he presumably has some kind of merit she has yet to see. Besides, as long as he can't outrun her ('LOL') she can simply disappear if he approaches her in the future. It's win-win, or at least two wins for her.
Kukuru	". . . Oh! You're an angel, aren't you!" "Is that so? Oooh... How pretty~" Kukuru hums softly as she takes Persephone's statement as fact, because of course she would. The possibility that she'd be wrong about such a thing certainly hasn't entered Kukuru's mind, and it likely never will. Even White trying to stave off Rufus' pickup line doesn't deter that train of thought, either, as she claps her hands together again with a bit more vibrance in her movements. "The ground...? Oooh, are you good at digging, too? That's a relief. It can get real tiring doing it all on your own sometimes." Despite locking onto something completely off-based, Kukuru still looks and sounds pretty happy about what she's learning about White already. "Hmhmhm... Ah, but we can worry about that later. For now...." Noticing that reaction White has to food, Kukuru's smile grows wider as she circles around to gently usher her towards the table. She's also completely forgotten to actually try and remember her name, or ask about it. Rufus asking her so many questions about her angelic (or is it demonic now?) qualities distracts Kukuru as well, drawing a gentle giggle from her as she shuffles around to give him a gentle tug on the arm. "Now now, Rufus, dear? She must be tired after digging aaaall the way through here. Let's give her a minute to breathe, okaaay?" Hearing Yuuki, predictably, gets an excited noise out of Kukuru as her fac eights up again. "Oh, Yuuki...! Come, come, our new Partner's here, mhm!" she calls over excitedly, wobbling a bit on her feet before steadying herself with a brief step to the side. "She's a ground angel or demon." She explains '''helpfully''', looking over as she hears more familiar voices from Dianna and Elara. "Oh, Diannnna! Elaraaa.. No, you're right. She really needs to get something to eat, mhm." Her stomach growls a bit as if on cue. "... Oh. We could make a little lunch meeting of this." She looks over at White again, smiling somewhat sympathetically when she realizes that the poor lady's getting a little swamped. "Hmm... Oh. I could go grab some drinks first... I might need a hand or four, though, if we're getting the big ones." She offers in a rare moment of forethought, trying to hint at getting the group to spread out however briefly.
Angela	Angela still needs someone to carry her around in order to go just about anywhere but fortunately, largely thanks to Lilian, Angela does have an Agent she can trust to cart her around. Surprisingly, it isn't Cinder (though she is a viable alternative) but Ceri. Since this isn't Trideag work, Ceri had to change into her Lobotomy Corp uniform which is a red sleaved suit with a white center and red tie with bright red shoes, and black slacks. Ceri has hot pink hair, bright blue eyes, and a blood-rusted axe on her back but, of course, this is normal. Angela is a pale blue haired woman with Very Pale Skin and golden eyes wearing a labcoat and a dress suit that you can see on the screen Ceri is carrying anyway. Rufus also works for Angela sometimes which is why she came here--she wanted to confirm an assassination with him--- Angela's attention is drawn to Persephone. Possibly because she can't be missed, or possibly because she said the word 'Angel' and when someone says 'Angel', Angela usually assumes they are about to say her name and she has ages to come to that conclusion before actually acting. Aside from the axe, Ceri mostly looks normal. Angela doesn't. Angela's gaze starts to move to try and follow Persephone's before the limit of the video pad is reached. She clears her throat. Ceri obediently spins in a circle until her gaze settles on White. "Ah." Angela says. She frankly is a little envious of the reception but is also simultaneously relieved that her arrival in the Concord didn't garner this much attention. When she's free, she can visit properly, she decides. ''I heard there was a little 'partner meeting' going on - am I invited?'' "It would be strange if you were not invited, Director." Angela says. It is suggested that she not crowd the new arrival so Angela helpfully turns-- "Ceri. We can go observe with Persephone." "That'd make it difficult to talk with --White right?" Ceri says, through context clues. "I am not one who likes to be crowded either. We can catch up with her later." And so with a shrug, Ceri makes her way to meet up with Persephone and leave White be. Though Angela does say, "Rufus, I am uncomfortable giving orders off-campus but please show proper decorum." while Ceri carts her upstairs.
Persephone Kore	"Elara!" The odd woman in the keyhole sweater gets up on tippy-toes to wave at someone who might almost be her own kouhai (kouhierarchy?), even though I totally don't need to! There's no surprise in the greeting, though. Of course I saw you too!      She slips over to put an arm around Elara's shoulders, mirroring Diana's around White's, and translates the little silent eyelid-twitch as: "I don't think he's bothering her exactly, Diana. I think I'm bothering her more. But you're really sweet!"      She's only soft-surprised, too, by: "Yuuki! Well, you're not quite a partner, but we can cut you in!" Her wink casts stellar sparkles off her eyelash.      Looking back down at Elara, under her arm: "Know any good places to sit? I can take us one if you don't!" Her poor plate of lemony spaghetti is totally forgotten. Hopefully they can put it on her tab.      That poor girl who's only gotten to speak a handful of words in the last minute might seem shy, but the psychic sweater lady doesn't treat her that way. While turning to clack-clack lead the way- either on Elara's prerogative or her own- she looks back.      Oh, no. And I'm just stressing you out more... well, I can't exactly look away, but I can try my best to? You'll just have to forgive me a little!!      "You've known a lot of really, really amazing people, haven't you! So why are you out here? Don't you have enough connections? Or are you representing them to us, or something?"
White	White has probably thought some variation of 'this is fine' a few too many times amongst the noisy passive thought-churn in the back of her mind by this point, but she's doing her very best. 'I can leave whenever I want, it's fine. The lady reading my thoughts has never met me, so she has no reason to do anything weird, it's fine. It's fiiiine...' And to her credit, outside of her slowly decaying posture she doesn't show many signs of stress fluctuation outwardly, since her expressions are already so subtle and her eyes aren't even visible. But, she begins to think, 'Maybe I should get a look at them all to be sure... But she's totally going to notice. They seem calm, but they'd totally pull guns or something if I Analyze them. That's like, super important info even out here right..?' All the while, she's probably being pulled along by Kukuru's momentum. Food does sound good. It's an excuse not to talk as much, too. She doesn't notice the attempts to reduce aggro on her though; she's not sensitive enough to be aware that it's an empathetic gesture rather than a pragmatic one.      Since she can't curtsy again while being pulled along, she tries a slow wave when Angela and Ceri show up. If she snubs someone, they could develop a grudge after all! 'I'm so thoughtful, look at me go.' she self-compliments while forgetting she might be 'heard', as if Persephone couldn't possibly interpret the less-than-verbal mess in her head otherwise. Speaking of Persephone... She's totally snubbing *her* though, isn't she? Crud. But, she's not good at reassurances, especially when she doesn't really have any idea what someone's deal is, or particularly want to know yet. 'I'm still nervous after all! Nobody can blame me! She might not be D, but- okay she might be like an inverse D, but- okay, just say something good. Something good. She asked- Oh, was she talking to *me* there? Oh no.'      "Money." she blurts, and an intense urge to bang her forehead on the ground is only conveyed in the mental realm. If anything, White's body reacts like she came close to fainting for a moment in Kukuru's arms out of sheer self-inflicted horror. She tries to amend. "... Resources, I mean. Need to... Help my friends. Eventually." The eventually feels strange both to say and hear.
Rufus Shinra	> "Rufus, I am uncomfortable giving orders off-campus but please show proper decorum." "Now now, Rufus, dear? She must be tired after digging aaaall the way through here. Let's give her a minute to breathe, okaaay?" "Hey babe. This guy bothering you?" "I don't mind showing him elsewhere." 'What, I can't give a girl a compliment without getting jumped in the street?' is not actually said verbally by Rufus, because he's got more self preservation than that, but it is at the forefront of his mind. "Hey, hey, it's all in good fun. I'm sorry if I touched a nerve," says Rufus, which is at least somewhat less likely to get him thrown into the sun. > "Money. ... Resources, I mean. Need to... Help my friends. Eventually." "Oh, well! See, we're all friends here in the Concord, right?" Via some close-up street magic, Rufus twirls his fingers and a pen appears in one hand, and his checkbook in another. "Let me make a better impression. How much do you need? I've got about seven figures on hand right now, gotta liquidate some stocks first if you need eight."
White	White uses all of the mental prowess her weird little brain can muster not to immediately ask how much a planet costs, but that leaves her with peculiarly little to say back. She's also kind of assuming there's a catch, and she *hates* catches. Plus... Things are more complicated than her deflective answer could really convey, and now it'd be *really* awkward to try and walk it back to be more specific. So... She says nothing, staring through her eyelids at Rufus like she's somehow searching his soul for judgement by a higher plane.      It might at least help mask her true thoughts though, as some dozen mental fragments inhabiting a woman who has never paid taxes or rent in her life try to invent the mental math to figure it out on the spot.
Yuuki Kuran	'Director?!' 'Director.' "Hello!" Yuuki lifts a hand and downcurls her fingers as a rolling wave, droopy in the earlier daytime. "I saw such a wonderful meeting taking place-" True, but the meeting became more wonderful as the Dorado was thick with the fellows of their organization, and her arrival was more timed to the gasp-of-bats finding of their newest member and the breath-taking lines delivered by another. "-and I couldn't help but float in!" Yuuki finishes, swaying down her hand into a free-form return of White's bow, fingers lightly lifting her pleated skirt in echo of the small curtsey offered her, calmed features and big red-brown eyes favoring the closed-eyed White. Waiting for a second, as if expecting words, and then swept up in the wave of greetings and come-come drawing-in from Kukuru as 'crowding' really becomes a threat. "Ku-ku-ruu," Yuuki sigh-laugh-singsongs in return, not matching the other woman's energy at all and being totally fine with that. "I think Dianna and Elara are right, Kukuru, and so are you! Let's -- ah! I know, let's pull some tables together, and you and I can get the drinks, and that'll be a little welcome party! I'm sure some of you *didn't* get a welcome party, and so that means it can be several people's welcome party! And - Ease the burden on our newest member." Yuuki proposes. 'It would be strange if you were not invited, Director.' As she's half-pulling-away with Kukuru to help add hands to setup, the sleepy director winks at Angela's screen. "It might be, but I can go to a lot of parties, and sometimes people get strange ideas about 'the bosses' being around. Even though, we're partners now! That's the name, isn't it? Still - easing people in can be a full time job, and everyone has preferences. Making sure every one of our beloved Partners' needs are met, so they can realize their fullest dreams, is just the minimum of running an organization like this, isn't it?" A pause. "Oh honey," Yuuki Kuran speaks gently to White, tugging at Kukuru while smiling serenely. "-we have money. Sometimes we have better than money, too. Like Persephones, and Kukurus."
Angela	Angela might be one of the only people present who WOULD hold a grudge over being snubbed--and if she were telepathic and could read White's mind, she'd probably have some empathy for White's WORRY about accidentally snubbing someone--Angela also has navigated her connection the multiverse very carefully and acted to procure allies. Angela and Ceri both wave to White, specifically because they also don't want to snub White in case ''she'' holds a grudge. Also, it is just polite. Resources to help friends. Money? Resources, she means. Rufus is already offering to give her hundreds of thousands of ''money'' (she does not know the name of Rufus's currency) which is good because Angela was going to ask him to do that. Angela gives a nod to Rufus. "We'll give you some space," Angela reconfirms, since she wasn't expecting to be greeted. "But I will be happy to assist you where I can." She is saying 'I' instead of Loboomy Corp. This is entirely thanks to Yuuki Kuran and Zero's last major conversation with her. ''The sleepy director winks--'' Angela flinches back as if Yuuki just attacked her--but it's mostly just reflex. She doesn't get winked at often. "Mm. If that is the plan." Angela says. "Then I suppose it would be premature to head up to Phony." Because, she figures, Phony will likely come down. A thought occurs to her. "Ah, Phony is a ''nickname'' I use at Persephone's request." A pause. "I am not being rude." Another pause. "I am Angela and this is Ceri, my butler." "Close enough I suppose." Ceri says. "She can only communicate through this screen right now." "That is not intended to be rude eiher." Angela says.
White	White thinks about Yuuki's statement. She doesn't really imagine money is the solution to her pressing issues at all, but she isn't far off in suggesting that skilled people are more valuable. That was more along the lines of what White hoped to take advantage of by allying herself with an organization in the first place. What seems to puzzle her more are the examples given; Persephone is, to White, self-evident. Kukuru being mentioned *alongside* Persephone is confusing. Sure, she seems big, physically strong maybe. She's had allies like that, and even soldiers she trained that stood out for their strength. But, at least to her, there seems to be a categorical difference in play... And this itches her curiosity enough to check for herself on impulse. 'Evil Eye of Analysis, it's your debut.' she mind-mutters to herself, once again paradoxically forgetting Persephone might be listening (as she still doesn't know if that's an always-on kind of deal), and quite plainly... Opens her eyes. Looking up at Kukuru's face while the larger woman is looking away at others, she tries to figure out what's so special about her in particular. Even if she can't compare to say, Wrath or Sophia, with Ariel in the condition she's in... She cuts that thought off sharply though.      What makes her so special? White isn't a mind-reader of Persephone's ability, but her eyes themselves can make some truly deep inferences when bared. Even if it makes her self-conscious, the risk of someone seeing their odd pupilary shape or feeling the lamplight heat against their skin isn't the hardest thing to excuse, probably. She'd like to get a look at the others, but frankly they seem more attentive than Kukuru...
Metamorph One	'I think I'm bothering her more.'     "Huh?" Dianna looks at Persephone incredulously, to White, to Rufu, narrows her eyes, back to Persephone, widens them, then back to Rufus, and grimaces. "There's no way. That's textbook." she says; brief, but easily conveying the idea that it's impossible for Phony to bother anyone, and impossible for Rufus not to bother everyone.     Elara naturally leans on the inside of Persephone's arm, accustomed to taller psychic women holding her in various configurations. She adjusts her beret a little, out of idle habit, and says "Well, there's next to Di, next to you, and," she titters. "You're free to join us~ I've been enjoying having you around even up there. Bring your plate over and enjoy the view with us!"     Dianna is, of course, very much interested in the answer to Persephone's other question. She removes her arm from White's shoulders as soon as it's asked; as if her presence there would somehow stifle her from speaking (or thinking?) A noise like 'pffuh?' escapes her at the one word answer, first. "For the paycheque? That's it?" she says, before halting all of a sudden. Her stare briefly unfocuses, her jaw subtly working silent words in miniature. Squeezing her eyes shut, she swats her shaggy ponytail back off her shoulder, and says "Helping your friends. Okay. Yeah that's a pretty good reason. No notes."     'Hey, hey, it's all in good fun.'     "Wanna explore the bottom of the ocean? All in good fun, obviously." says Dianna, sarcastically. She refrains from more just because Rufus is offering a fat cheque, which is basically the best way of saying sorry.     'I think Dianna and Elara are right, Kukuru,'     The HumuHumu energy between the two is identical and simultaneous.
Kukuru	Kukuru's definitely the type to make sure nobody goes home hungry, and she's all too willing to lead White to an actual chair so she can relax a little more while calling over a waiter and asking for both a food AND drink menu. "I think Dianna and Elara are right, Kukuru," "I know, let's pull some tables together, and you and I can get the drinks, and that'll be a little welcome party!" "Ohhh.. Thaat's a good idea! Then there'll be eeeven more room for everyone to sit, and if we can pull over a smaller table..." Kukuru starts, stops, then remembers that not everyone enjoys napping the way she does. She leaves that thought, like many others, unfinished as she just smiles and goes along with the plan to get more tables, pausing to look back over at White again. "Oh yeah... Do you have any allergies, dear? I know a few people that haaave... Um. Smell allergies?" She looks like she's tearing up just a bit at the thought, but that only lasts for a moment before her brain gets right back to the task of helping Yuuki with the tables. There's a little jerk at first as she tests the weight of the first table, then purposely reduces the amount she's lifting just a bit (and basically confirms what White suspected). Could she handle the tables single-handedly? Probably, and easily at that, but Kukuru still makes a little show of needing Yuuki's help to keep the tables from screeching along the floor so she doesn't feel like she's getting left out. While she's doing that, she's still smiling from ear to ear despite looking and sounding like she's ready to take a nap right on the spot. She even takes White's answer of money to Persephone's question in stride, nodding slowly with a thoughtful hum coming out of her a few seconds later. "That's a good reason, mhm... Eeeveryone needs money to live these days. That's even how I started looking for work and ended up here, you knooow?" She explains, sounding like she's about to go into a whole story about it. In classic Kukuru fashion, she doesn't and completely forgets to elaborate, instead smiling even more widely at Yuuki mentioning her and Persephone specifically as better-than-money. "You're so sweet, Yuukiii... Ehehe. She is right, though, mhm." Another nod as she's practically sliding along with Yuuki's tugs, going with the flow as easily as White had earlier. "There's so many lovely people here coming from aaall sorts of different backgrounds, so I'm sure you'll fit right in. If you ever wanna talk to someone, don't be afraid to call us, okaaay?" "See, we're all friends here in the Concord, right?" "Like a family, even~" Kukuru chimes in after Rufus with a dreamlike tone, closing her eyes briefly to just let those thoughts roll around in her mind pleasantly for a little while. "We're all from different places, but at theend of the day... We've aaaall got each other to count on, mhm." "I am not being rude." "She really means it, mhm. Angela's suuuper honest, so you'd know when she wants to be rude." Kukuru helpfully explains without a hint of irony, smiling fondly at Angela forma-screen as she does. Even from that distance, White can easily see that there's nothing but a pure love figuratively bleeding out from Kukuru's eyes and general body language that's not unlike a cat that's relaxed enough to slow-blink at pretty much at all times. That's before getting into the nitty-gritty of her ability, too, as it reveals a few things that have already been stated (Kukuru is named Kukuru, she's pretty healthy at the moment aside from a lack of proper sleep, she's monstrously strong) and several things she hasn't mentioned at all (there's high-tech nanites and dark magic coursing all throughout her body allowing her to heal and teleport at will, her horn-drills are real, her eyes are perfectly fine).
Kukuru	Her defining titles are a pretty short list, too, including several-sounding ones that hint at her being some kind of self-proclaimed caretaker and lining up with how much she seems to heavily favor being called any kind of maternal-sounding thing. 'Monster' also comes up plenty of times, likely from defining herself as one instead of as a 'human' despite appearances largely trending towards the latter than the former. When she notices White looking her way, meanwhile, Kukuru's smile brightens a bit more and she waves excitedly towards her, stopping only a second later when she remembers she was holding a pitcher of water and spills half of it on herself. The Evil Eye might very well confirm that the airheadedness there is not an act.
Persephone Kore	"Hey, hey, it's all in good fun. I'm sorry if I touched a nerve..."      That odd woman continues smiling beatifically. No-one gets launched into space, which hardly ever happens, anyway.      "Persephone..."      "Phony..."      "Oh! Right! I'm Persephone Kore, from the Sapient Heuristics project! But you can call me 'Phony'; everyone does! Angela would never be rude." She stops pacing over to Elara's upscale cafe and turns to hold out an armwarmer-clad hand, absolutely positive that White can somehow see to take it.      "Like Persephones, and Kukurus."      Somehow, she glows even brighter than she previously had. Maybe 'cherubic' is an applicable word now. "Aha! You're really sweet, Yuuki." No such thing as 'too' sweet!      But during her conversations with others, my attention never drifts far from you. If White studies Phony's face carefully, those moments where her thoughts flicker to old companions are accompanied by Persephone's tiny eyebrow-raises, or unguarded microsmiles, or little silent 'ohs'.      "Ahaha, sorry!" she says out loud. "There aren't any eyes I can shut for this one. Nobody gets to lie to me! But I never learned how to lie, either."      The ocean-viewing cafe veranda has its seating gently, spontaneously rearrange itself: nine empty chairs (did I count right?) settle down around three joined-together empty tables, and menus and utensils follow. If not for the fact that it happened just after I glanced there, 'enchanted furniture' would seem more likely than 'telekinesis'. Phony's plate of lemony seafood spaghetti follows once Elara reminds her, while she flashes a sheepish smile.      "To support your friends... ahaha, that's why I'm here too? It's the best reason, I think!" Dianna-ward wink.      But, amid gesturing for others to sit at the cafe, she overhears something. When Phony's eyes catch White's, she lifts her spare hand to her mouth in a little awed look, and steps behind her as if to try and see what she sees.      Nobody's going to pull a gun on you, I promise! But I really want to see.
White	White's evaluation leaves her puzzled enough that she forgets to close her eyes before Kukuru looks at her again, but it's a settling kind of confusion. She's not 'freaked out' or unimpressed, but seems to feel something she can't quite put her finger on. Others might call it a little bit of a mix of curiosity, envy and pity all mixed mildly in a proverbial shotglass. She seats herself when it's offered, files away Kukuru's helpful advice about Angela's honesty, and starts to examine the menus after closing her eyes again. Persephone's curiosity doesn't, itself, merit her showing off... Even if she kind of wants to. Okay, she really wants to, it's just always been a terrible idea. Rarely moreso than now, really... But ironically she is so caught up in 'not showing off' that she hasn't even noticed how blatant her ability to see eyes-closed is right now.      "No." is the simple answer to the question of allergies. Frankly even if she was allergic to something, she'd probably never find out given how her body works now. 'I guess technically I'm allergic to the *sun*. I still remember getting sunburns in the winter. Nature, I want to speak to your manager.' she reminder-muses-complains to herself. It's harder to give a response to the pleasant and friendly Corporate Family pitch, but she's able to manage a slightly absent nod-along while reading the menu. She settles on just having whatever's the closest to the top that involves steak- she hasn't had something that 'fancy' in ages- but for some reason her covered gaze sits awkwardly on the drink menu for overlong. If the waiter is still waiting (ha), they'll unfortunately be there for a more-than-reasonable amount of time, as White wages an internal war. 'People keep telling me the drink hits me way too fast when I let it. I can't afford to let my guard down! But, won't it be weird if I'm the only one not drinking? Won't that make me a total bozo?! But I got banned from drinking back home...'      This is, of course, a bad way not to think about Persephone's input. It can't take up all of her thinking power, so it keeps feeling like when one of her mental images is taken note of she's mentally scrambling to grab it and stuff it back in a box, like a kid protecting a toy from being taken away. Even having her Evil Eye visualizations seen seems somehow *perverse* to White, something that even surprises her with how completely foreign the concept is. Even D never did something like that... But perhaps she simply didn't have to. The readout is a bit puzzling to interpret for someone unused to it, really, and seems to draw on innumerable variables that even White herself isn't fully able to parse on an individual basis. Really with how much of her view should be obscured behind gamified windows and meters and text, it might leave one wondering how she sees the rest of the world. The answer, of course, is in having five times the number of 'eyes' a human does, and that itself might recontextualize some things for those who don't.
Yuuki Kuran	Perhaps it's Yuuki who's proven when she winks and Angela flinches back, on matters of preference and care, but she would not press such a thing to Angela. "Don't worry," Are an immediate utterance, before nigh anything else, a reflexive yet helpless reply to plain anxiety. She had to say that a lot, though she stopped before an apology. There didn't seem to be a need for one, and Angela recovers quick-enough that Yuuki tries to flash a stronger smile and move away herself to give the backpacking attendee some space herself. Set up in the cafe and helping Kukuru move tables around with a two-handed 'houp!' that seems utterly unnecessary and overbraced. Pushing down Kukuru's water-waving arm with a gentle hand and guiding the drill-eared motherly sort to a handkerchief to wipe her face off, Yuuki indicates Kukuru with a tap on the shoulder. "Sapient Heuristics is one of the Concord's flagship programs, and certainly one of the ones we love to roll the info-reel out for. In-house programs like hers really are a shining light, and Kukuru is from a rather particular developmental program that Concord Medical took special care and interest in, herself! We're always trying to push the boundaries of hope and ability and dreams. She has the ability to bring back the recently dead - something that we know is among the highest list of 'needs' to address for some Partners." As if forgiving money, Yuuki lifts her hand to her mouth and smiles while leaning towards Kukuru. "We've given her the best job we could dream of, since she asked." 'Aha! You're really sweet, Yuuki.' Smiling at the arriving Persephone to their put-together tables, Yuuki spreads wide her arms for a moment, and then shifts to find herself a seat. "It's my favorite topic, our successes. People want to hear about the good things that have happened, and can happen. Sharing that's wonderful, don't you think?"
White	White's face shows a little more reaction than normal, at the mention of raising the dead. Not a smile or a frown, but a tensing of the face, a tiny scrunch of the brow. In her mind she's envisioning a boy, easily younger-looking than her. Maybe a teenager. Blue haired, wearing some kind of armor indistinct enough that she clearly doesn't care to memorize it.      She sees him swinging something at her. She knows it's a sword, but it's obscured by some kind of bright energy discharge, large enough that she can barely see one of his eyes and a shock of blue hair beyond it.
Angela	Angela squints at White as she stares at Kukuru. She frowns. She had just communicated with her and now she's staring at Kukuru. She looks like she's considering whether or not to start having a grudge but hasn't quite settled on holding one yet. If Angela got mad at everyone who tuned her out once, she'd have had to send LOTS of killer robots out. Like with any experiment, she knows she has to repeat it to get confirmation. Of course, she did say she'd give her space--so she shouldn't presume too much either. She could just be accepting the space. Yes, she thinks, that's a more reasonable conclusion. "Mm." Angela says. "You would know if I was being rude. ... Why were you staring at Kukuru, if I may ask?" She asks. Angela considers Kukuru for a moment herself before looking back. "The glasses have a purpose." She adds. ''Don't worry.'' "I am no worrying." Angela is an AI that can lie but she is at least keeping a calm expression.
Metamorph One	'To support your friends... ahaha, that's why I'm here too? It's the best reason, I think!'     Dianna presses her lips together and puffs out one cheek in a rare gesture of amicable vexation. "Yeah. The whole idea is that we're here because the masses don't know well enough to take us. The Concord exists, and it works as well as it does, because we're there in solidarity with each other, so we can count on a community at our backs when we need them. If you really care about helping anyone, you come here." Totally unbiased.     'People want to hear about the good things that have happened, and can happen. Sharing that's wonderful, don't you think?'     "Mhm~!" Elara half-vocalizes, busying herself with the final touches of setting places, though it's fairly superfluous with Persephone on the job. "It's so easy to point to the people you hate, and say 'we're not them!' You can keep it vague, not commit to everything, and everyone who doesn't much like they will come running to you, right? It's harder to stand for something and say that you think it's good. That risks people tearing you down about it. So I think anyone who can show the good they've done, and be proud of it, is special. Having people who follow them because they helped them thrive when they might have withered is so, so different from having people follow you because you need everyone to pitch in keeping the enemy at bay."
White	White does at least notice, shortly later, when Angela speaks directly to her again. She probably wouldn't have noticed any grumpy vibes otherwise! It's really hard paying attention to everyone at once instead of offloading this kind of thing onto Mr. Oni... Or Mera... Or Felmina... 'Maybe I should find a new secretary.' But, those are inside-thoughts, and at least after getting those out of the way she turns her entire chair around- doesn't stand up though- and dips her head in apology. "Nice to meet you." Oh, so she did notice she hadn't acknowledged their introductions. She does hesitate to answer, but not immensely. It's not too hard to skirt the truth a little here. "Because she was pointed out. I don't need to look at..." She glances toward Persephone, vaguely. Then, she wonders a little more nervously, 'I'm not the only one who senses her right? D didn't leave a psychic-sized hole in my brain did she? Am I sounding crazy?'      Meanwhile though, Dianna's remarks about the Concord leave her feeling a smidge out of place. She can't exactly *say to their face* that she hadn't put much thought into who to work for, here. Or that it just seemed unlikely that the flag-flying heroic types would actually work with her when it matters. Schlain wouldn't, after all. Elara, not even speaking to her directly, only hammers that thought deeper.
Persephone Kore	'Dense information input' is about all Persephone can get from her examining White's examination, but that's enough to leave her warmly-almost-awed-appreciative. Even to me, you're a tiny bit mysterious! Ahaha, that's really special, I think!      Only one thing really came through clearly: "So you don't actually need the glasses, Kukuru?"      She's just slipping by to sit down with her pasta when that blue-haired boy in White's memory catches the corner of her metaphorical eye. A slow-drawn breath hitches in her throat, and her next clack towards her seat is a quarter-second stalled.      When she turns to sit down, she looks...      She hasn't actually not smiled since White first saw her. On someone like that, just thoughtful neutrality can look sad.      The spot to her left is free for Elara, and the one to her right is free for Ceri, but she slumps forward, looking at the menu without really looking at it. It's Yuuki who first snags her attention again:      "A shining light'. Ahahaha? It's still hard for me to think of myself as an accomplishment I guess! Even though the lab 'made' me, and you helped it make me... that's a different kind of 'proud of' than most people are used to, isn't it, Yuuki."      Thus buoyed, she nodnods for Dianna: "The world hasn't fixed itself yet." The World, expansive and figurative. "It'd be nice if it did, but it doesn't look that way... so here's where you go if your vision isn't one the world embraces. I think that's really important."      But that's still really only half her attention. Her eyes- perfectly human, except how they're so brightly brown they almost look orange, linger on White again for an extended beat. It's not too hard to feel the gentle drawing-in and focusing of her atmosphere.      The overlapping thoughts. The glimpses of a rich past. The maybe-glimpses of a rich sadness. White is someone who wears her long context thickly. Even knowing she won't get all of it at a quick skim, Persephone can't help psychometrically 'asking' the thread of White's being the events that shaped it- or, why are you the way you are?
Kukuru	Steak. A good choice! Kukuru keeps some mental notes together to give White some meat dishes later, but that'll have to wait until she knows either where White's staying or getting a ride from so she isn't walking however long with a big bag. "No allergies... Thaaat's good to hear. It must be real rough living with those, especially if it comes later in life and turns out to be to something you really like." Kukuru comments with a slow nod, frowning slightly as she starts to recall someone from back home with exactly that kind of problem. "He always says 'it's just a little bit of garlic' and that he'll be okay, but..." "We're always trying to push the boundaries of hope and ability and dreams. She has the ability to bring back the recently dead -" Before long, Kukuru's smiling again and even blushing at the continued compliment-heaping, and she leans in to let Yuuki dab at her face while she wiggles fondly at her in return. "Oh, I can't not fix him up after birthday pizza, you knoooow? I've really got Yuuki to thank for letting me be able to do stuff like that, mhm. Being with everyone here really changed my life, everyone's back home, and..." There's no and, so she just keeps on humming absent-mindedly instead, momentarily distracted by her own wording. "Everyone back home's? Ev..." "Why were you staring at Kukuru, if I may ask?" "The glasses have a purpose." Angela remembered! The blushing continues as Kukuru starts bringing her hands up to her face to cover her cheeks, stops upon realizing she still has a pitcher of water in one of them, then hurriedly finished pouring water for the group. "They do... Ah, but I'll leave that for you to find out another day. I can't reveal aaaall the mysteries' answers right away, you know?" She winks, like that's adding to some kind of mystery that totally hasn't been solved the moment it was shown off at all. "So you don't actually need the glasses, Kukuru?" Except she's totally going to reveal the answer, because she couldn't possibly bring herself to withhold that when Phony's asking. "Ehehe... No, not really. They just help me look waaaay smarter." She explains, reaching up to take the glasses off and hold them vertically so it's easy to see that the lenses are completely flat. "Otherwise, people might think I'm a dummy, you know?" She answers with a bashful giggle, said completely without a hint of irony or hesitation.
Angela	Angela could never forget, Kukuru. She really couldn't. Even if she wanted to. She's so close, Angela thinks, she's so close. She's so close. She's so close. If anybody reads ''her'' mind, that undercurrent of 'I'm so close...' is neverending. It is constantly on her mind. She's thinking it right now. She's so close. She's so close to being free. She's so CLOSE to being FREE (MEntal Note To Tell Phony the tree is about to sprout fruit) She's so CLOSE. ''Because she was pointed out. I don't need to look at...'' "...Mm..." Angela focuses on that latter phrasing more than the first. But she does say, "I suppose that makes sense. Kukuru is considerably friendlier than I. She likes to prepare food so if you want to endear yourself to her, be ready to eat a lot of her cooking." "....That really how it works?" Ceri murmurs.
White	White might try to withhold or mask memories as she knows they're being examined, but frankly her own way of being makes that harder than it could otherwise be. For every portion of her that resists, another portion lets things slip by mistake. It probably stands out immediately, when looking deeper, that there are holes all throughout her memory. Not holes where something once was, but holes where *nothing could have been*. It grows even more perplexing when realizing that certain memories overlap, as if she'd experienced two different lives at the same time. The clearest individual 'starting point' is a vision of her peering up from the floor of an immense cavern, staring at what almost distorts into a primal force of nature in the abstraction of memory. 'Mother', is its name. She's surrounded by her siblings, shrieking and flailing, newborn.      Spiders. 'Mother' is a spider, her siblings are spiders. She is a spider. Weak. Frail, about to be killed in the newborns' feeding frenzy. The only one with thought, reason, memories. She has no sense of the scale of 'Mother' for a very, very long time. Her memory barely forms further until she finds herself fled into the deeper caves, a taste in her mouth foul enough that even a beast despises it. She doesn't want to eat, but she has to. To live. She copes better than she expects to, in the moment.      Later, she kills far beyond her station. She becomes a Problem. Later still, a god speaks to her and declares her an interesting toy. Even later, a magic she doesn't understand fractures her mind, creating more Hers that she has to coexist with. She doesn't realize that she can't remember her own name, and dubs each fragment by its role in her daily life. Body Brain drives the body during battle, She makes the plans, Magic Brain focuses on spell-channeling to spare the others the distraction, and so on. She grows used to this.      Much, much later, she's staring down her own Parallel Minds, in their own bodies. She kills them, reclaims them, and re-tames them. They're not quite Her anymore. There's too much more to absorb in a short exchange, but White's own mental pathing leads between those ideas naturally enough. There's a strange lack of grief in her heart throughout all of it though, and it's not clear if it's just drowned out by fear and indignance.
White	White finds Kukuru's musings kind of frivolous, but not in a bad way. 'Abuse your power all you want, I say. Well, I'm not saying it, but whatever.' she thinks, trying to endure whatever she can sense of her memories dredging up with all the severity of a housecat being unwillingly brushed. Some spots sting more than others, but she's bizarrely well acclimated to... What feels like should be an incredibly deep pool of miserable experiences. So, she focuses on Kukuru and the others, because somehow in her mind the best thing to do about Persephone prying around is to focus on something else. It's not like she's likely to be able to stop her anyway, not if everyone else is used to this kind of thing. She does, however, wonder if Persephone herself might have conditioned them to feel that way. It's too obvious of a thought not to consider it. So, in the hopes of staying focused elsewhere as she clearly keeps failing to do, she tries to force out a little bit of commentary. "Dumb people pay attention to things the others don't." She's known some very helpful dumb people... Some not so much, too, but it's not a completely outsized ratio.      Angela's warning, meanwhile, comes dangerously close to making White smile. The twitch at the corner of her mouth looks a little evil, then she almost looks disappointed like she's remembered an allergy after all. "Wish I could still eat all I wanted."
Yuuki Kuran	"You're not anything," Yuuki nods solemnly to Elara. "If all you are is opposition. Stasis like that is a miserable state." Lifting from her solemnity quickly with the air of the 'party' moving quickly, Yuuki barely looks at the menu before someone from the waitstaff puts a glass of red wine with a few drops extra in front of her -- an order she seems to have simply put on file at all the eateries and cafes in the Dorado as opposed to water. Murmuring up her order when she receives her wine (she's skipping right to dessert!), she leans forward out of beat with Persephone, placing elbow up on the table to set hand out as perch for head and toast the table sedately before drawing wineglass up for a sip. "I hope it's not a bad kind of proud of, to you, Persephone. The in-house programs are a special point of pride for me, because, they're proof of that part of the Concord's mission in action. We're not just recruiting the best for our Partnership - we're developing better." Yuuki explains, before taking a particular eye to White. "And speaking of 'developing better', I hope you take the time when you get settled to think about ways that you might be able to be helped - short term goals, or projects you'd like to work on that could use extra eyes or hands to get started to learn some of your fellow Partners' broad abilities. It's..." Yuuki smiles, broad and 'hiding' bottom lip behind top of wineglass. "Well, I think you've found exactly the place for someone with your, um," Momentarily broken from her poise, a flutter-blink accompanies the hitch in thought. She was about to say something else -- say 'well, of course, when we saw your application we knew we had to have you, I just knew' -- but holds it in with great force. "Particular incredible qualities. It may not make sense now, but I promise, it will." Then her flan gets to the table, and with an eager swipe of a lifted spoon, moves to an 'mmm!!' sweet-happy reaction to the cake. If this were the manga version: there would be flowerpetal frames and sparkles, but, this is the movie cut.
Angela	''Wish I could still eat all I wanted.''' Angela's eyes widen--and then she frowns, cupping her chin. She exhales slowly through her nose. "Is something stopping you? I recently learned the importance of being able to eat what you want. The Dame Commander has allowed me to experience food through a workaround, perhaps a similar solution can be offered to you." "Ah, this sounds more like a diet thing." Ceri says to the pad. Angela looks to Yuuki for a long moment. Particularly at the 'think about ways that you might be able to be helped'. "...Yes. You might be helped so much it might feel strange and uncomfortable. But they will respect boundaries." Angela says.
White	White looks in Yuuki's direction as she explains, seeming to think there's something she's missing. But, the things she isn't missing are notable too. 'Developing better, huh? I guess I'll have to hope there's nobody like Potimas here, I don't think I can put up with another smug immortal nerd like him.' That thought-said, she nods along slowly. It's not as if she has no idea what they're talking about; even if she hadn't felt strongly about the Concord, they were still her best choice. She made sure of it in advance, as best she could. "I hope we'll get along." is the best sum-up statement she can think of, and she means it. Even if she's going to have to find a nice quiet place to decompress after this day is done. Persephone isn't as menacing as the brain-prober she's used to, but having to deal with either one of them for an entire day sounds like it'd burn up her stamina faster than being burned alive.      Angela and Ceri, meanwhile, she isn't quite sure how to answer. Calling it a diet thing is a pretty natural assumption, and it's functionally close enough... And there's surgery to make your stomach smaller or something right? That's even closer. So she goes with, "My stomach got smaller." as an explanation, like that just kind of *happened* one day. Which... It kind of did. As for the warning about being helped too much, she looks briefly pensive, even worried. Then the look vanishes, and she resolves to make that a Later Problem, with the excuse that as always she can simply run away if she needs to.
Persephone Kore	Of course they can feel me! But you're the most eye-catching person here right now! You're new, and sharp, and very... yourself. Concentrating, annealing, boiling-down. That's what a lot of your life has been, hasn't it? Mine too! Just not that amazingly. And it makes your heart beautiful, I think.      Phony looks down at her spaghetti, having just proxy-glimpsed a cannibalistic feeding frenzy. Her lips purse. She orders some sugary decaf coffee concoction and then has a mouthful of noodles anyway. Mid-bite, something crossing your mind mildly startles her.      . . . Huh? No, the others don't mind it because I'm their friend. And I'd never hurt anybody, so--      "Oh. You're putting up with me because you have to, because you want to look good for the Concord." Oh god why is she saying that out loud.      "And you can't let yourself feel too uncomfortable because I'll feel you feeling uncomfortable and then feel sad? I'm really sorry." She rubs the side of her head while eyes-shutting and breathing out, as if in a different dub she might be saying 'what a pain' sympathetically.      Okay. I'll try to be-- oops. "I'll try even harder to be good, okay?" Brightening, hands-clasped-over-chest.      "I hope it's not a bad kind of proud of..."      Another little up-swing. "Of course it's not bad, Yuuki! It's only- oh, thank you!" she says to the passing waiter, accepting her candylike coffee. She watches the drops of probably-blood mix into the wine, placidly.      "It's only... I'm used to people being proud of things I do, and not proud of me just 'being'. Pride I'm not working for feels funny. Even if I did work to be this way, that's still different? Are people ever proud of the fact that you exist as you, Yuuki?" It's not rhetorical. Reaching for someone who might already understand.      "Wish I could still eat all I wanted."      "Huh?" Persephone says, with the innocence of someone who has never heard of 'dieting'. Then: "Oh. Do you wish your body was different?" Also not an idle question.
White	White doesn't have the wishywashy tendencies to pang with guilt over Persephone's compromises or observations. Breathing room was offered, so White is taking it. But... It strikes her in an unfamiliar way, that even when Persephone is technically making things harder for her by saying things aloud, the gesture itself feels like it outweighs it. And... 'Is that what I was like for them?' It's a brief thought, difficult to process for its simplicity. She was the intrusive force, the one watching out when nobody knew. The one people eventually got used to. It just felt like the obvious choice that they should've made from the start, back then.      'Well. It's good they got used to her then, probably.' she concludes inwardly, not wanting to wrestle with that can of worms in this very moment. Aloud, she seems a little more placid when she murmurs a soft but even "Thank you." It feels strange to realize she was already planning to just try to become smaller and smaller, to avoid notice. She thought she decided not to do that anymore.      Meanwhile, Pride is a buzzword for her that she only lacks the social drive to get caught up by. It only shows in an increase in attention from her, as she stops pretending to put more and more focus on the drink menu. The question that comes after, from Persephone is fairly easy for her. "No." she answers, and feels sure of it. "Not anymore."
Yuuki Kuran	Yuuki smiles at White, nodding at the simple answer and taking that with a spoon-wanded 'mmhm!'. There wasn't much more that needed to be said! 'Are people ever proud of the fact that you exist as you, Yuuki?' "Proud that I exist, the way I am? I can think of two people? No, three. I know him for sure." Yuuki recalls, drawing spoon slowly through flan and looking down to wineglass. "I would have loved to know my parents as more than mixed up memories that I finally inherited, and I'm sure they would have, but parents might always be touched by 'accomplishment', too. My adoptive father - Kaien Cross, I..." For a moment, Yuuki is a small girl and not a grown woman, a turn-inward of the shoulders and turn-down of the eyes and a softness of her face. "I know he loves me. That he's very proud of me, the way I am, specifically. He's also proud of what we've done, what I've done, but -- I know." Drawing in a breath, reaching for her wine again, she lifts her back and straightens her shoulders, and then redrapes herself in pleasant drowsy daytime serenity. "And Zero, of course. The way I am saved his life. So, I know that even without tasting it straight."
Persephone Kore	Persephone prods a little shrimp on her plate, but she's not looking. (The color-mottling isn't right- is it an exotic species? Or a vegan version?) Her eyes rest on Yuuki's instead. 'Kaien Cross' gets mouthed, because it'd be nice to remember, but that's overtaken by a warm distant head-tilty smile.      "That's either four or two! But that's wonderful, Yuuki. I'm a little jealous? Even though it's, maybe, awful for me to be!" Munch, chew-chew, eyes slide off. When they come back:      "We've only talked a few times. But I feel like I understand a little, Yuuki. You talk just like the other subjects do, our language: you're never not sincere. That's part of why, isn't it, ours is a world you want to make real?"      Her spare hand comes over to rest atop Angela's tablet, like she's head-patting her, with thumb just in the camera's view.      Back over to White: "You're really welcome. When people say 'we're family', I feel like sometimes, they only mean it one way? But I really do want to be good for you. Like Yuuki says! Maybe it'll even help you 'develop'." The things Persephone says are often things it'd be convenient to say insincerely, but she never feels that way.      "Not anymore."      'I don't want to change my body anymore' could be good or bad. It could mean attainment, or despairing. But when I try my very best not to look, which is a little like 'not thinking about pink elephants', she guesses the former, which probably tells a little.      "Good. Me either," she says, taken by a distant but intoxicating fondness enough to tap her heels under the table.