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Rita Ma	AQULEIA, CAPITAL OF ETRURIA      On the street outside a mid-sized, open-air coliseum.      For those who've taken the time to linger on Aquleia's streets, it's truly a beautiful city. Little more than a few smashed windows remain as evidence of the Bernish coup. The people murmur scornfully of General Douglas who served it 'til nearly the end, warily of General Perceval who switched sides, and warmly of General Cecilia who opposed it from the start.      If you're lucky, or recognizable, you might get accosted and thanked by some random passerby.      Cleanly buildings, white stone and green shingles, define the edges of the roads and rise to two or even four stories. The pale-paved streets are narrow but rarely crowded, except sometimes with shrubberies; market stalls have sprung up, hawking recognizable fruits and forages. The people are clad in bright, fine linens and percales. It's the wealthiest, tidiest, most 'modern' city you've had the pleasure of seeing in this world.      Which makes the fighting arenas stand out all the more.      'Bloodsport' means less in a world with healing magic, maybe. Certainly none of the Etrurian natives seem to think it's odd or barbaric. There must be four or five of them in the city; and here, at the second-largest one, Dieck sits on a wooden box in the shade just out of earshot of the hundred people filtering in through the admissions gateway.      It's Thea, Shanna's older pegasus-riding sister, who half-jogs towards the Elites and flags them down first.      "I'm very sorry for all the fuss," she says, audibly exasperated at someone-else, "but you've got to knock some sense into my sister." Wait, wasn't it Dieck being the problem?      The man himself is still breathing a little hard, hunched forward on his box to rest weight on his sword, but he smiles sheepishly and musters a little wave with his other hand. There's fresh, shallow cuts across his body. Shanna, the younger sister, is laying into him with an air of concern, and former Archer-General Klein seems to be... peace-making? No, he's arguing with them both.      "Hey. Sorry to get you all dragged into our little tiff. I'm trying to tell Klein here that--"      "That he won't take my money to pay his employee, Shanna."      "He doesn't need to! It's fine! You don't have to fight, Captain!"      "Well, we wouldn't be in this situation if I hadn't been stupid, so I've got to make it right, don't I?"      "No!"      "No!"      "Sigh."
Riku Asakura	Riku has shown up because he heard Dieck was about to do something stupid.  He wasn't sure what was up besides this fact and had decided to join up with the heroes of Etruria and try to figure out what was happening.  What stands out to him, during his trip, is the arenas.  They stick out like a sore thumb to him, someone from a more modern era in the multiverse.   He's wearing his typical get-up, jeans with tennis shoes, and a jean jacket with an orange t-shirt underneath that.  Thea intercepts their group first, apologizing for all of the fuss and this causes him to become more curious about what is happening because it appears to be about Thea's sister and not Dieck. He listens to the whole thing and is no more clear on what is going on than he was before.  It seems to be about payment, but didn't Dieck have his own money?  He holds his hands out with a soft smile trying to clear up the air.  "Let's start at the beginning.  What happened to bring this situation on us in the first place?" he asks, looking to each person in turn.  "You said if you weren't stupid you wouldn't have been in this situation, so what happened?" he asks Dieck. The rest can wait on trying to figure out the basic problem first.
Flamel Parsons	FLAMEL PARSONS LOOKS SO HAGGARD wait no it's fine. He's beaming. He's smiling. Please ignore the way his face is rendering far longer, more agonized eyebags than anyone should ever have, cartoon or otherwise. Ignore the horror strings and the way the camera zooms in on his face uncomfortably close when he says, "Hey," To Thea. Then he strides forward, smile on his face. "No, don't tell me, I'm psychic and everything. I'll guess." He plants two fingers on each temple, hums... and his head emits soft sparks, as his mentalism fails. "Lost it in a bad bet at the arena! No, wait, that wouldn't make sense at all. Guess it's on the fritz." He shrugs as he approaches all three.     "Are you earning money to pay your merc in the arena there?" He finally notices the cuts. "Wow! I suppose this war's been dragging on for a minute, but you look exhausted trying to restock the coffers like that. How much of her pay have you already gotten together? Or--" He makes some open-palmed 'wait-a-minute' gestures. "What's the reason you don't want to take pay from Klein? Didn't we do a lot of work helping Etruria? It doesn't really seem like charity."
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine's involvement in the counter-coup was not as flashy as some others', but there's still word circulating that a woman in black with stars for eyes had a clear hand in King Mordred's rescue. And the spikes on her jacket, though fit to ward off the jaws of beasts, do little good against grateful pats on the shoulder. So she grumbles her way through the streets, managing the occasional 'you're welcome' as scattered passers-by recognize her by her most distinctive feature. It's just not quite enough of a bother to merit hiding in the back-streets and alleyways.     When she gets to the arena, though, her mood perks up a little. First, because some of Roy's company is present, but also because the party-like atmosphere of good-natured celebratory bloodsport puts a familiar energy in the huntress's veins. She's been to more dangerous parties, certainly.     "Well, that's a bit of a pickle, isn't it," Madeleine says of the explained Situation. "Even if Dieck accepted Klein's money," she observes to nobody in particular, "he'd still not feel right til he'd earned the same sum by his own labor. And probably given it to Shanna on top of Klein's payment. I think I understand that - sometimes, if you futz something up, you'll want to make it right by your own hands. I know I've been there, roughly."
Odette Raskins	For Odette, coming back to Elibe after so long is almost like seeing an old friend that's also  directly responsible for nearly getting her killed on several occasions. It doesn't make her delay any in taking a trip out to visit Aquleia, but it does mean she still has good reason to pack her medical bag full of stuff instead of just showing up empty-handed. She's wearing her regular white and blue jumpskirt with no jacket for once, though, since... Well, it's the fancy part of Etruria. She might as well see if she can buy something nicer later. "The fuss, Miss Thea? Uh... Sister? But I thought it was Mister Dieck that was being..." Odette's also thoroughly confused by what Thea's telling her, due in no small part to Shanna already making her wonder just what kind of stupid Dieck's getting himself into. 'Stubborn stupid' didn't really tell her much, but seeing those cuts all over his body does start giving her an inkling that 'funny stupid' isn't quite so accurate, either. "Before you go off and... Or not go off, let's at least get these cleaned up. Okay?" Odette's not really asking, of course, as she's already gotten out some medicated sprays and gauze out to start spraying that stinging, cooling, and mending stuff all over Dieck's cuts. "Couldn't you make money some other way? I mean... Yeah, like Mister Flamel said. Couldn't you just repay him later without resorting this?" Another pause as Madeleine mentions something, and Odette furrows her brow as she leans in closer to get those bandages all over Dieck, too. Most of it is necessary. "What... Um. What exactly did you do before this that was stupid, anyway...?"
Lilian Rook	Lilian is either dreadfully ordinary or incredibly easy to recognize based on who you ask. Given most of the people involved here glow or have fur or sprout fruit or are on fire, and out of the remainder, Lilian is the one who endeavours to actually dress vaguely local (while she has the opportunity), it's entirely possible that she could fly under the radar; depending.     But the fact is that she was eagerly colour coordinating her historically accurate wools and linens several weeks ago, when it was so much easier to rise up and allow herself to be part of The Mission. The very last time she was here didn't fill her with much cause for celebration. The last week has estranged her from the concepts of festivity and satisfaction at a job well done nearly as far as she can go. Rather than walking the streets in something she's been dying to try since she was twelve, Lilian settles for her travel cloak, and hides everything but her right-favouring gait and thousand yard stare with her armour underneath.     The Etrurian air has clearly breathed some life into her, but her look is that of someone stepping outside to stretch at hour sixteen of their shift. She approaches intervening in a fight with the sit-down-and-tired-smile energy of visiting a favourite cousin overseas. Even with her hair and makeup still done exactingly to specification, there's almost no point to it if she's going to visibly fidget with one of a dwindling number of cigarettes and consider how much it'd be breaking aesthetic to use it up.     "First things first." Lilian says, finding a spot to settle down, with the same general aura as if she'd just been in the arena herself. "Surely I don't hear Shanna offering to work for free, do I?" she asks as clarification, but, half-present and unable to fully gather her thoughts, ends up in spending mental cycles on visually comparing two sisters and contemplating whether she'd pull off the short skirt and high leggings look if she tried. Lilian stares entirely too long before she shakes her head and gently blinks herself into getting out "Even if you're going to negotiate something unusual, we can't be having that."
Desire Stars	Ace and Neon have stayed, each for their own reasons. The longer Neon is on Elibe, the longer she remains out of the grasp of her parents. Ace has taken to feeling responsible for these people, though he won't say so out loud. And in both of their cases, it's nice to see the world in brief flashes of interstitial peace, for all the fighting they both do.     Cats, and to a lesser extent foxes, are known to be lucky. While neither of them is in their Rider armor, they're both clearly not from this world. DGP activewear like their windbreakers and track pants just isn't anything like the styles of Aquleia, or even Elibe broadly. Thanked by random passers-by, Neon is gracious (and quietly touched, deep down). Ace is all smiles, too, in his particular, smug kind of way.     "I'm... just happy we could help!"     "I was just thinking of buying a summer house here, and those Bernish guys were an eyesore. But sure, you're welcome." I'm very sorry for all the fuss, but you've got to knock some sense into my sister.     Neon and Ace pause an impromptu tour of the city after Thea flags them both down. "Into *Shanna?*" She doesn't want to believe it'd be Shanna in need of that, over Theat. "Okay... what's going on?"     "Well," smirks Ace. "Now I'm really interested. I thought it was just Dieck. Now it's a company affair, is it?" Well, we wouldn't be in this situation if I hadn't been stupid, so I've got to make it right, don't I?     "You could throw that sword into the air and hit somebody with enough money to pay Shanna. Me, Neon, Lilian..."     "If you want to feel like you've earned the money, there's a lot more fun things you could do than fighting, you know," adds Ace with a wolfish smile.      "B-besides," Neon says, after a sputtering cough, "Shanna, you shouldn't just say it's okay not to be paid! Having someone in the air... it's helped us pull through so many times, and you've helped me get better at it too! ...thank you, Lilian, I'm glad someone agrees."
Angela	At last, return of femblem. Nonon has been depressed because she doesn't know when Shajo gets to 'return home'. She's been moping around camp and nobody from Lobcorp has checked in on her because she wasn't around when whatever that went down went down and nobody's answering her calls, specifically Gebura isn't answering her calls and Shajo hasn't responded and she was TOLD he was fine, but she's starting to get anxious. She is miserable but she looks a lot better than Flamel and probably plenty others. ''But you've got to knock some sense into my sister.'' "Oh....okay...! Yeah..." She flips her grip on her axe so that the blade isn't aimed outward, but she seems completely oblivious as to what's going on. "Hey! What's goin' on here, buds?" She decides to just ask before her eyes widen upon spotting the Dame Commander, but she bites her tongue for a moment before noticing that Lilian is holding a cigarette. She quirks her head. It's mostly notable to her because like SO MANY people smoke in The City but she doesn't think she's noticed Lilian ever doing so.
Rita Ma	Thea makes a face of eyes-slightly-narrowed horrified revulsion at Flamel. And then at Nonon, eyes widening, and Lilian, and... just about everybody.      "What happened to all of you?" she says back over her shoulder.      Dieck puts his hands up defensively for Flamel and Riku, letting the sword (tip buried between cobblestones)] rest against the crook of his arm. He winces a little as Odette tends his wounds, but at least murmurs some thanks.      "No, no. Look--" Glancing at Odette, who's spraying his arm. "Lord Roy gave me the quarter's pay for me and my company."      "'Your company', which is just Shanna," Klein leans in to clarify.      "At present, yeah. Just like your army's just Thea."      "Hey..." "Hey!"      "No offense. Anyway, as I was taking the money back to the inn this morning, somebody cut the pouch off my belt and ran. Wasn't keeping my eyes open, I guess."      "It could happen to anybody, Captain! Don't beat yourself up!" Shanna insists with plucky-balled fists. Klein just shakes his head in a what-is-Aquleia-coming-to way.      "Surely I don't hear Shanna offering to work for free, do I?"      "The army covers all my expenses! There's no reason why I can't!" Shanna whines defensively, crossing her arms over her belly.      Dieck thumps Shanna's side with the back of his forearm, 'get ahold of yourself' style. Thea stomps her foot in indignation too.      "Never risk your life for room and board, Shanna. Haven't I taught you anything?"      "He's right, for once! Shanna, this contract isn't under the High Wingleader's authority, but we still have to have standards! Don't you want to do Juno proud?" Thea flashes an uneasy smile at Neon. "Look, someone else respects you. Why can't you respect yourself?"      She shrinks further, stepping back from the group like she might be considering fleeing. "Ahhhh... you can't gang up on me like this! I just don't want Dieck getting hurt!"      Dieck just looks up at Nonon with an expression of awkwardly-smiling disbelief. It says 'hurt? me? can you believe her?'. Surely his fellow Big Person will understand.      Flamel asks about the money: "Let's see. Right now, for the day, I've got... eight hundred gold. Out of ten thousand. At this rate, just a couple weeks..." "A couple weeks of multiple fights a day? Are you serious? And isn't that only Shanna's pay?" "Well, boss eats the shortchange. That's just how it is." "Dieck..."      "... there's a lot more fun things you could do than fighting, you know."      Dieck looks up at Ace with a half-joking smirk. "Oh, yeah? Make me your best offer. It's not my only talent."      "Dieck, you'll take a job from him but not me?! I'll give you twenty thousand to go drinking with me!"      "You're my brother, Klein. That's charity. This is business."
Riku Asakura	'FLAMEL PARSONS LOOKS SO HAGGARD wait no it's fine.' Riku doesn't look Flamel's way, he tries to forget the man exists.  It's hard for him to want to deal with him outside of what happened in L-Corp.  He tries his best to avoid a confrontation that is bound to happen by simply ignoring Flamel.  Besides, he was hardly the least hurt by the man's lies, others would have much more reason to say or do anything to him.   '"First things first." Lilian says,' Riku looks towards Lilian and doesn't say anything to her either.  However, unlike Flamel he's not trying to ignore her, instead, he looks like he's finding it hard to say anything to her.  It was a complicated feeling, what happened in the fall of L-Corp, and he was unsure what to say or do.  Besides a passing glance, he instead tries to stay out of her way, and he wonders if she'll do the same.  Right now it's not about their issues, but about the issues of the people here.   'What happened to all of you?' "It's uh... complicated," Riku says to the question from Thea.  "There was an incident in another land, and we all were involved in it.  Some of us worse than others..." he says, looking back at Lilian once and then looking back toward Thea.  "It's alright, I'm fine.  I'll be on the mend sooner than later!" he says with a bright smile.   'Anyway, as I was taking the money back to the inn this morning, somebody cut the pouch off my belt and ran.' "Oh no, that's terrible.  I can't believe anyone would do that to you..." Riku says.  "I wonder if there is a way to track down who stole the money and get it returned..." Riku says making a thinking motion with his hands, though he isn't sure about how at this point.  A lot of time, supposedly, has passed between then and now, and returning the money likely won't be possible unless you're some sort of super psychic.   "That's probably not possible..." he says after a moment.  Riku doesn't have any money, or way to help out other than part-time work.  He takes a moment to look at the money he does have which is...enough for him to eat for a few days and that's about it.  Most of his other money is tied up for when he's not at Nebula House.  He guesses he could help with the arena matches but that won't help him heal.   "Sorry, but I got nothing for this..." he says, with a frown.
Flamel Parsons	"What happened to all of you?"     "I was at a 'product launch.'" Flamel explains.     Moving on...     "Somebody cut the pouch off my belt and ran."     "That's probably not possible..."     "Let me get a look at that. Maybe some decent psychometry will find the mental trace on where the pouch was. Then I just have to scan for that mind, or any of its best memories!" Flamel takes the remaining frayed tether off the belt and examines it quickly, unless stopped. He examines it, examines it. Clairvoyance spins up, focusing, trying to find the exact person involved...     Spark-bzzt. His head emits another rush of sparks and a brief gush of psychic smoke as his exhaustion vents. "Yep." He declares. "Just as I suspected: There's no money here." Thanks, Psychonauts Special Agent Parsons. "What I mean to say is, no dice on psychometry right now, I think. There's just something about the focus! And I'm guessing the psychic traces will be gone in a few days."     He turns back to the group. "Gotta say! Maybe I'm biased, but whenever there's a tough problem, I always say, best one to pick is whatever option does the most kindness. If Shana is deprived, it does nearly-no kindness to Dieck and Klein. If Dieck himself works to the bone, it does some good kindness to Shana but not much to Klein. And if Klein covers the cost, it does a lot of kindness to Dieck and a lot of kindness to Shana. The way I see it, if you want to do the best default-action here, it's gotta be to let Klein cover costs."
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Dieck: "At this rate, just a couple weeks..."     Madeleine rests a fingertip on her cheek, thoughtful. "Do you *have* a couple weeks? I'd not expect Lord Roy to stand still on your account. There's still a war on, and he'll need strong arms like you at his back."     Riku: "I wonder if there is a way to track down who stole the money and get it returned..."     "It's possible. Difficult, in a big city, but possible. Unfortunately, that sort of money doesn't stay in one person's hands for long. I could find who took it but it's probably already spent. Might as well go around with a hat and take collections."     Ace: "... there's a lot more fun things you could do than fighting, you know."     Madeleine quirks an eyebrow. "Oh, contracting for an offworlder. Now there's a way to make a pretty penny. I wanna hear what Ace's got for ya."
Desire Stars	It could happen to anybody, Captain! Don't beat yourself up!     "Mostly, it just makes me sad. That person must have really needed it to risk getting caught." Dieck is huge, to put it lightly. Ahhhh... you can't gang up on me like this! I just don't want Dieck getting hurt!     "And we don't, either, but there's got to be a way that you get paid and he doesn't have to fight just to earn back what was already his!" Make me your best offer. It's not my only talent. Dieck, you'll take a job from him but not me?! I'll give you twenty thousand to go drinking with me! You're my brother, Klein. That's charity. This is business.     The corner of Ace's mouth twitches upwards. "Twenty-five thousand. An hourly rate plus a fee for private consultation and risk assessment--for a little project of mine... possibly a merger, if the stars align. You, me, the open night sky and a bottle of 1911 Rhône Valley wine."
Lilian Rook	'What happened to all of you?'     Lilian, who looks completely glamorously normal, except every single sign of bone-deep exhaustion and deprivation that two days at home couldn't fix straight away, smiles in a way that doesn't reach her eyes, and says "A fight with a friend that got out of hand."     She fingers the cigarette for a little while longer, staring at the loathsome thing and wondering why she's still carrying them. At the time, she'd only taken them off of Petra out of blindly aimed need to seize on anything that would allegedly calm her nerves and depress her mental state. Then at some point it'd just become about not giving them back, but not throwing them away either. Like she had to erase the evidence or something, instead of make up or break up. Every time she touches one, Lilian wonders how in god's name anyone tolerates the things.     'No offense. Anyway,'     Lilian snorts quietly at the dual reaction. That part, at least, is just like her usual.     'Wasn't keeping my eyes open, I guess.'     'It could happen to anybody, Captain! Don't beat yourself up!'     "Still, it's an embarrassment to the army. And something an officer would usually see a reprimand for." Lilian says, sighing. "Once you're in charge, you start to lose the luxury of 'anybody else'. The more in charge you are, the less you can afford to be 'like anyone', and the more everyone has to expect that you aren't."     'The army covers all my expenses! There's no reason why I can't!'     Lilian takes a deep breath, parts her lips, and freezes on the precipice of starting to say anything on the subject of one of her very well-worn points. Her flow distorts and falls apart before she begins. Trying to grasp at the tail end of why she always tells people not to save the world for free feels exhaustingly slippery. The thoughts surrounding it are more hazy clouds than handholds. She lets it all go when she runs out of air from thinking and has to exhale again. She strikes a flame with her fingers and a spark of magic, and lets the detestable little cancer stick burn on its own for a while.     "Fighting to save the world means you plan to live in it after. The Shanna with a year of scars instead of youth is going to hate this one right now." Lilian says. "Not caring about how you come out in the end . . . You only get to do that if you have a death wish or you're in love. I don't know how much I can trust a scout who doesn't have any plans to retire."     'Oh, yeah? Make me your best offer. It's not my only talent.'     'Dieck, you'll take a job from him but not me?!'     Pausing with the cigarette nearly put to her lips, Lilian says "Is no one else bothered by some petty thief roaming around with Lord Roy's money? I don't want Dieck running himself ragged outside of a life-or-death battle either, but aren't we jumping to handouts a little too quickly?" It finally touches her teeth as Flamel takes the coinpouch. Lilian watches him as if she's trying very hard to force herself through a lecture when she wants to fall asleep in class.     "Parsons . . ." Lilian murmurs, around the cigarette. "Whatever Soroka said, don't give it too much weight. Of course I'd have liked if you'd drawn your line before me instead of Angela, but anyone with a drop of humanity can figure out why you didn't. I know what it meant for you of all people to abandon the project."
Angela	"Well sure! Nobody wants the people they care about to get hurt. Especially not in a place where you can't see them. Like, especially if they are super far away. By themselves, probably, maybe with one friend or two but, like, not ''you''. Yeah!" Nonon bobs her head. "Nobody wants that, least of all me, or you! But sometimes you have to let someone you care about do their thing, because it's important to them, and hopefully you see them again..." SHe trails off , having sort of lost her train of thought and also the actual situation. "But we can help him stop getting hurt! Yeah!" She winks, nonsubtly, at Dieck. ''What happened to all of you?'' "Oh! Nothing happened to me at all! Just I haven't heard from Shajo in a long while and when I checked news from my homeland it's now a giant tree. I'm sure he's fine. Giant trees are probably safer than what it was before." She gestures vaguely at Flamel's comment of a 'product launch'. "Just the stuff we were talking about happening keeping us away happened I guess."
Odette Raskins	"Now it's a company affair, is it?" Odette freezes for a moment with a brief double-take, looks over at Ace, then breathes again when she realizes he meant company and not The. Thea isn't the only one that looks horrified at (almost) everyone's appearances. Although Odette's seen Riku a few times in the past week alone, she hasn't seen several people here in quite some time! Thea calling attention to Flamel, Lilian, and Nonon gets Odette's attention in the startled way that has her sucking in a sharp breath, then trying not to stare while running through what to actually do in her head. Ask them about it? No, that'd be bad if it was terrible. Don't ask them about it? No, then she'd be ignoring whatever's got them looking like this. She weighs her options for a moment, then turns back towards those that had been involvd in all that stuff she has no idea about. "Do any you... Um. Do you want a hand with that?" She doesn't even know what 'that' is. "Anyway, as I was taking the money back to the inn this morning, somebody cut the pouch off my belt and ran." "Aw... That sucks. Sorry to hear that." Odette frowns sympathetically as she gets the last of Dieck's cuts disinfected and bandaged up, clearing her throat lightly after a moment. "Can't believe that'd happen here of all places. I mean, everything looks so nice here, so... Why would there be pickpockets here?" A beat, and then she looks Dieck over again. "Maybe... Er. It won't get your money back, but how about wearing a jacket? Then you could keep stuff on the inside." She suggests, although she doesn't sound particularly enthused about making Dieck cover up. "Never risk your life for room and board, Shanna." "I just don't want Dieck getting hurt!" "Miss Shanna... That's really sweet of you. I-It's not a bad thing to want that. Er. Not want that."  She tries reassuring Shanna at first, chuckling for a moment before rubbing her shoulder and tugging a bit to try and get a crick out. "But... Everyone needs to be able to eat and pay for things after finishing work for the day, you know? I-if you keep doing things for free, people are going to start expecting it instead of thanking you for it. And..." She rubs her neck uncomfortably. "And that's the best case, you know? Others might even start exploiting that, and... That wouldn't make you, or Mister Dieck, or Miss Thea, or Mister Klein very happy at all." "Well, boss eats the shortchange. That's just how it is." Odette opens her mouth, then shuts it, then opens it again. "That's not how... Wait. Is that how bosses are supposed to work?" Odette looks from Dieck to Lilian, then to the Company logo on her medical bag. Something might've just clicked.
Lilian Rook	'Oh! Nothing happened to me at all! Just I haven't heard from Shajo in a long while and when I checked news from my homeland it's now a giant tree. I'm sure he's fine. Giant trees are probably safer than what it was before.'     "He's fine." Lilian mumbles. "And before you thank me, don't. Thank Rita. I was willing to risk his life and she wasn't. But I can at least promise you that you'll get him back."     'That's not how... Wait. Is that how bosses are supposed to work?'     Lilian, who is sooooo good at capitalism and knows exactly how to run a company and not just a financially structured surrogate family, says "Do you think I make a personal profit from Trídéag?"
Desire Stars	Is no one else bothered by some petty thief roaming around with Lord Roy's money?     "I don't love it. But put yourself in the thief's shoes for a moment. You saw a fat coinpurse and figured you'd try your luck. Once you're out of sight, *then* you start counting."     "It's more than you could have imagined. Maybe more than you've ever seen in one place. There are three kinds of thieves; the desperate kind, the smart kind and the kind who are both. One kind of desperate spends for fear they'll lose it if they don't; the other kind tries to stretch it out as far as possible. The smart kind will squirrel it away and wait for the heat to die down, maybe out of town--and the kind who's both is someone who'll make getting it back cost twice as much as losing it."     "That means that getting it back is rolling dice, too. Maybe we find it just in time to notice most of it's gone by now. Maybe we go on a wild goose chase. Or maybe we end up in a fight after looking for it trying to stop one." He shrugs.     "By the way... when did she become 'Soroka?'"
Riku Asakura	'Is no one else bothered by some petty thief roaming around with Lord Roy's money?' 'I don't love it. But put yourself in the thief's shoes for a moment.' "I don't like it either, but at this point, I think it's going to be impossible to find the thief.  As Madeline said, who knows if they still even have the money, they could have spent it.  Or hid it.  We're working against a lot of time now." Riku scratches the underside of his chin.  "I don't have a clean solution to this problem."
Odette Raskins	"Do you think I make a personal profit from Trídéag?" "D... Do you not? Wait, but the renovations, and the gear, and the requisitions you authorized... Not even a little?" Dieck's self-sacrifice to secure fudning was strange enough, but hearing that from Lilian really has Odette struggling to put most of her thoughts together. Those thoughts linger on the stark difference between both Lilian's and Dieck's profitability and the Company's seemingly limitless expansion. "Should I... Um. Should I put that on hold, then?" She asks, already forgetting what she said to Shanna a few seconds ago.
Rita Ma	"I was at a 'product launch.'" Flamel explains.      Thea looks even more confused, leaning on the coliseum's cool stone outer wall. "Launching melons from a catapult? That badly?" No, that's produce.      "A fight with a friend that got out of hand."      Thaaat makes more sense. "Aaaah...." Thea looks at Lilian with a confidingly-bitter sympathy and nods.      "... and when I checked news from my homeland it's now a giant tree."      Now she's utterly lost again. "A tree? So- so it was the melons thing, after all? Or you're not all talking about the same thing, are you?"      Everyone hopefully holds their breath for Flamel's psychometry. Everyone sighs, in exasperated unison, when he comes up empty. "That's what I'm saying, Flamel. Dieck, the whole point of House Reglay taking you in was so you wouldn't have to go back to the arena."      "How'd that go, in the end?"      "Dieck!!"      "... Sorry. Low blow."      "I'll say. You're the one who chose to leave, anyway."      "Don't see how that matters now."      "It matters because the door's always open, Dieck. You could still come back."      ". . ."      Klein, smiling achily, reaches down to lay a hand on Dieck's forehead as if about to scruffle up his hair. Dieck rolls his eyes and looks off to the side. Fortunately, the bandaging being done is enough of a distraction for him to extricate himself from the sincerity, and he thanks Odette before immediately picking at one of the bandages.      "A jacket... nah. I figure I just shouldn't have been carrying that much money at all. Get Roy to deliver it, or have it in installments."      "That's fine. I've got nothing either," Thea sighs to Riku, circling around behind Shanna to cut off her escape. Shanna puts up her hands in surrender, laughing nervously, while Thea puts a reprimanding hand on her shoulder.      "I'm... sorry. I know there's people I'm responsible for, after all this! And I can't let them down either!" she forces out, to Lilian and Odette.      "But?"      "But... but...! What about the Eight Heroes! They weren't getting paid either, were they!"      "You're not a hero, Shanna."      "Ahh..."      "You're an Ilian pegasus knight, which is better. Remember that."      "Like we're not getting kicked out after all this!"      Dieck's smile, at Ace, wavers charmed-uncertain. Klein crosses his arms, looking dubious but not entirely disapproving.      "... Hey. C'mon. Not that that's not a wonderful evening, but... I know my worth, and it's not twenty-five thousand. That's charity, too." He leans forward to rub his knees, looking off to the side at the hubbub with the two pegasus sisters, and his lips squirm in thought.      "... Ten thousand, and it's a deal." "And you'll take my ten thousand for yourself, right?" "I'll... think about it, Klein."
Angela	Nonon says, "Oh great...! Yeah, you both said he's fine. I'm just worrying for nothin', so don't mind me!" She absolutely trusts Lilian and Rita so this is a situation that results in DOUBLE absolute trust. But... LIlian and Rita seemed so miserable when saying it. It makes her anxious. Focus on Bisu, she tells herself, you've been apart before. ''DO you think I make a personal profit from Trideag?'' Nonon looks towards Lilian, at first surprised bny the very idea, but then she remembers this IS Lilian here. "I think bosses...usually will make sure they get their cut before everyone else does rather than the other way around... But I guess that's just my world." She scooches closer to Lilian, though, because she's trying to be subtle aqbout what she's intending to do next but is distracted... by talk of melons??? Nonon looks down at her own body before looking back to Thea. "Nah, we weren't launching melons. It was supposed to be a new kind of energy production, like a complicated windmill." She frowns as if she's aware this isn't going to make it any more comprehensible. Taking a moment away from Thea to lean in to Lilian she murmurs, "Hey do you... need help to quit? I never saw you smoke before but I'm guessing Shajo just kept smoking around you and it just got to be a lot... But I can dig a hole and hide them there so you don't have to worry about 'em."
Riku Asakura	'"That's fine. I've got nothing either," Thea sighs to Riku, circling around behind Shanna to cut off her escape.' Riku nods at Thea, good to know that this wasn't him just being a simple man, but rather something hard to figure out.  The culprit was likely long gone, and the solution of working in the blood sport mines was not a good one.  Still... Talks of melons being launched cause Riku some confusion, and he looks at Flammel for the first time all day to just give him a confused glance.  Hey, he's at least looking at Flammel now, instead of ignoring his presence.  Progress! '... Hey. C'mon. Not that that's not a wonderful evening, but... I know my worth, and it's not twenty-five thousand. That's charity, too.' "Uhhh... I don't get it, I think," he says not sure what the meaning of an evening of his time being worth the money.  Instead, he rubs the back of his head and gives a helpless laugh. It looks like things are being settled out through acts of not charity.  "I think you should accept the help from Klein!  We all have to help each other through trying times..." Riku says, like a person who never accepts help from anyone, and is more sympathetic to Dieck than he even himself knows.
Flamel Parsons	"Whatever Soroka said, don't give it too much weight."     "Oh, don't worry! I'm making sure to limit my internalization of the things she says." Flamel says, brightly, gesturing in friendly and conversational ways at Lilian. "I've been making sure to hard-limit my scheduling on agonizing about it, and -- don't let her know this -- we actually make sure to have a well-licensed Psychonaut double-check everyone's brains for potential Mindrazor contamination after any interaction with her." The codephrase gets no elaboration. "So I've been getting cleaned out, the whole thing. I'm pretty much just very tired. I think that, as long as I can tone things down for a little while, I'll be able to reset the accumulated issues. I've also been thinking about letting folks take a crack at the accumulated stress, themselves -- anyway, don't worry about it."     He smiles, big and wide. "Thanks, though. It did mean a lot. Giving it up a bit, that meant a lot too. I'd like to still be most of a rock, in a way, even if I can't be all of one -- so a little compassion feels wonderful. I'm even," He snaps his fingers and points at her with a grin. "Internalizing that!"     "... Ten thousand, and it's a deal."     Flamel claps once, with a lot of positivity. "I appreciate the concession, Dieck! I know even a small one has a big meaning. Thanks for accepting that, and making sure that things are as kind as they can be in this situation." He says, smiling and venting another batch of exhaustion. "It does a lot for me too, in fact -- I love when the conclusion is kindness-utility-maxing!"
Desire Stars	But... but...! What about the Eight Heroes! They weren't getting paid either, were they! You're an Ilian pegasus knight, which is better. Remember that.     "Even if you were a hero, the..." What would a world like this call it? "Tax assessor," she decides, "Didn't take *those* people down as 'hero,' you know? They still had to eat and sleep--*and* they still made time for little things that make life worthwhile. Some sweets here, a stay at a nicer place there..."     "People gloss over that kind of thing too much, I think." That's charity, too.     Ace's smile, or rather, the light dancing in his eyes above it, says a lot. The man himself says, teasingly, "Only ten thousand, for all that? The great and daring Dieck must have fallen on hard times. I'd be foolish not to take your offer. Ten thousand it is." His handshake is firm.
Odette Raskins	"It matters because the door's always open, Dieck. You could still come back." That's sweet. Terribly so, and Odette can't hold in all of the 'aww' that wants to come out of her throat. It's so sweet that she doesn't even mind at first when she sees Dieck picking at a bandage.  She's about to scold him for it later, too, but hearing him give Ace that counter-offer and not outright refuse Klein's revised version has her sighing softly in relief. "Make sure to work safely indoors, then. You don't want to do that outside and wind up losing another twenty thousand, or you might have to renegotiate for a second contract." She 'warns' with an audible grin as she claps a hand against Dieck's shoulder. Her hand lingers for just a moment, and then she withdraws it almost as quickly. "Like we're not getting kicked out after all this!" "Then that's exactly why you should make sure you're paid enough.  You have to make sure you save up enough now while you can so that you can afford to keep going later when you're.. Um. Unemployed?" Odette says with an awkward chuckle. She might've lost the thread on her own advice there. "Plus... Isn't there anything you want to buy for yourself? Like food, or cool new weapons-" She feels another pang of guilt about the Trideag requisition. "-or books, or fancy clothes, or... You know? Stuff like that. And I bet they probably were getting paid, too, even if it's not with the money you're using now. I hear some places use paper, and I've even seen some places that use-" She pulls out a small plastic card, and she holds it out so Shanna can see. It's... Odette's Company-issued ID! Her picture is even more bright-eyed than she looks like now, like it was taken before she actually started working. "Plastic, and the person buying things keeps the card after they're done with it. Who knows what they used before?"
Lilian Rook	'A tree? So- so it was the melons thing, after all? Or you're not all talking about the same thing, are you?'     "We're not." Lilian says, regardless of what anyone else does. "They might've had it even worse than me." She doesn't know how seriously she means that, if at all.     'It's more than you could have imagined. Maybe more than you've ever seen in one place. There are three kinds of thieves; the desperate kind, the smart kind and the kind who are both. One kind...'     Lilian removes the cigarette from her lips, blows out a lungful of cheaply acidic smoke, and raises her voice loud enough to cut off to say "I don't care." The understated vehemence of it startles her, but Lilian is too tired to even backtrack and reexamine it.     "We're fighting every country in the world at once, to protect everyone in them from total extinction, and we can't even walk the streets of the nation we just saved without sending one of our own to bleed for their entertainment as an apology for existing. I'll save this world kicking and screaming if I have to, but I won't have my friends bowing and scraping for doing it." Lilian presses her fingers to her eyes without having really focused them, rubbing away the onset of a phantom headache. "They stole from us. They've profited off of the loss of one of our own, and now he's getting hurt. They knew it was wrong. Can't that just be enough for once?"     For the second time, Lilian remembers why she hadn't dropped smoking these godawful things yet. Another foul-tasting drag and a suppressed shiver of a cough quickly dispels the throbbing wind-up she feels building in the back of her skull. She looks over at Ace as if he were just a moderate nuisance.     'By the way... when did she become 'Soroka?''     "When she decided she had the right to hate me back. Do you ever get tired of maxing out your line of credit on asking questions without answering them, 'Ace'?"     'You're an Ilian pegasus knight, which is better. Remember that.'     The nasal prelude to a laugh returns, and then Lilian doubles over to cough but doesn't, even though she gingerly touches her left side, where the recently repaired bullet hole aches under her armour. "You two are unbelievably cute." she says, smiling much less before, which means it's sincere. "I fear the day my own big sister learns to talk to me like that. Truly I do."     'I think bosses...usually will make sure they get their cut before everyone else does rather than the other way around... But I guess that's just my world.'     "Well, you see . . ." Lilian says, revving up a little theatrically and placing her empty hand on Dieck's shoulder. "Men and women of intelligence and sophistication understand when they don't have an infinite stream of equally expendable replacement labour, and rather than catastrophically fail and fly away from the crater on a golden pegasus, they prioritize the long-term." Yeah. That's what it is. Totally. "Christ. Spending a week with Rita has me talking like her." says Lilian, who just said a bunch of words that bear no specific resemblance to Rita's grievances at all.
Lilian Rook	'Hey do you... need help to quit? I never saw you smoke before but I'm guessing Shajo just kept smoking around you and it just got to be a lot...'     Lilian blinks, making evident the shock that anyone would even bother to ask. "What? No. I'm not-- These aren't even mine." she says, accidentally like a teenager. "I'm not planning on replacing them when they run out. It--" She gestures vaguely with the lit end, then realizes how it looks. "It's just something I have to get out of my system. It'll run its course. Don't worry about it."     'we actually make sure to have a well-licensed Psychonaut double-check everyone's brains for potential Mindrazor contamination after any interaction with her.'     "You're going to make me jealous at this rate." Lilian says, moodily, turning back to smoking and brooding and trying to passively absorb the healing presence of the Lycian League. "Internalize it all you want. I meant what I said. Don't let them treat you like shit just because you can be polite about it."     'I'll... think about it, Klein.'     Lilian sighs in relief, and then accidentally coughless-shudders again about it. "If the thought still sits badly with you, then I'll pay you as a live model." says Lilian, slightly more upbeat. "I've been getting back into art, but I had to take two weeks off, so I'm rusty. And for some reason, I can only seem to get women." She shrugs, theatrically, making her armour click. "Whatever I recover from our thief, I'll count against your hours."
Desire Stars	Can't that just be enough for once?     Ace smiles at Lilian, in a way that doesn't quite reach his eyes. There's no anger in them, or apparent ill will towards her. It's more like he thinks he sees something familiar. " *My* answer is 'sure. why not.' It sounds like you're asking more than just me, and I can't answer for anyone else." Do you ever get tired of maxing out your line of credit on asking questions without answering them, 'Ace'?     That actually does seem to amuse him. "Nah," he says, shaking his head. "Not really. But I could be convinced to answer a few anyway."     Placing his hands into his pockets, "Go after the thief if you want. But remember the words of the Old Master. 'Taste without desire of the flavor.'"
Angela	Nonon frowns. Petra being Soraka feels wrong. Even in Lobotomy Corp they called her Captain Petra. And it's hard to imagine Petra hating Lilian. She opens her mouth to say 'ahh I'm sure it'll work out' but she isn't really in the best mindset for being supportive right now. Nonon can be willfully oblivious if it gets in the way of her good times, but she's not really feeling it right now. She does smile a little when Lilian bowls over laughing. That's right, she doesn't have to bust her own chops here. Lilian is here because she knows it'll help her out. All she has to do is not wreck anything herself. Easy! "Well nothing wrong with that. Rita's great." Nonon adds, though this isn't exactly the sort of conversation ''she'' is used to hearing from Rita, it sounds real smart and Nonon believes Rita's super smart! Why, she's sure Rita can know anything she cares to know, because she's Rita and Nonon rebels against the very idea that there's something she can't do! And then Lilian seems shocked that Nonon asked about the cigarettes. Oh no! Was she asking about something she shouldn't have asked about?! Well she can't hold Shajo under one arm right now and she has so much CARING to give out so tough luck! She's pressing on! "Well...if you gotta, you gotta!" Nonon says. "I'm the last person to tell you to stop if you want it!" BEST ADULT EVER, Nonon tells herself, beaming proudly.
Lilian Rook	'*My* answer is 'sure. why not.' It sounds like you're asking more than just me, and I can't answer for anyone else.'     "It's not as if Etruria doesn't have laws." Lilian puffs. "For all you know, our man is laughing it up over beers at what an easy mark we were, for the 'heroes' that prevented the coup. It's good of you to realize that sometimes people who hurt you have their reasons, but letting that possibility rule your life isn't mature."     'But remember the words of the Old Master. 'Taste without desire of the flavor.''     "The flavour I desire is falling asleep in the back of the wagon on a long walk through Ostia." Lilian says. "First, third, fourth, fifth." she adds, as if citing scripture back. In a way, she is.     'I'm the last person to tell you to stop if you want it!'     Lilian, staring, catches some psychic backdraft, even while trying to tune out. Dimly, she wonders how much older Nonon is than her, and how she must see a girl at the tender young age of just-turned twenty-five carrying the world around on her shoulders. After a moment, she begins wondering how many people in the League are older than her too. Her chest hurts for a moment, and she toys with the idea of talking to Lucius.
Rita Ma	"A complicated windmill that turned the world into a tree, which was also a fight with a friend, which was also something about business and 'products'," Thea murmurs from behind Shanna, almost exasperated. "Have I got that right?"      "Yeah."      "The Otherworld is scary, isn't it."      "Well, right now we're in a philosophical-historiographical debate, which is also a war, which is also a father issue."      "Huh. I guess."      Flamel piques Klein's attention for just a moment. His lips purse. "'I'm fine, just tired'... that's what everyone who isn't fine says, you know. If I were in charge of you, I'd be putting you on immediate leave."      "I'm fine, just tired," Thea immediately says.      "Ah... my last soldier, abandoning me..." He solemnly puts a hand to his wounded heart.      "Wait, no! Forget I said anything!"      "Ahaha."      Shanna's weakly laughing along when Neon- who she's been trying not to look at, out of embarrassment- calls her attention over again. Her face scrunches, eyes shutting with both chidedness and some mental struggle. "Charging Hartmut or Elimine for food... I can't imagine it. I guess it must have happened, but... my food's paid for, isn't it? There's just not a whole lot of things I want! Maybe to see Juno again, but--"      Bonk. Thea baps Shanna on the shoulder with her fist. "Maybe money will help you see Juno again! What if your pegasus gets sick and you need a wagon?"      "Okay, okayyy!"      "Or what if *you* get sick, or you get shot down away from the army, or-"      "Okay!! I get it! You're so mean to me, Thea..."      "I'm just looking out for you. We all are. You'll get it when you're older."      Shanna just sighs, rubbing her elbow. It's the same sigh everyone makes when they're told they'll understand when they're older. Lilian calling them cute makes the younger sister pout, and the older one smile shyly.      "... when you're.. Um. Unemployed?"      "I don't really know how that's going to shake out," Thea burbles unhappily, resting her chin on Shanna's shoulder. "The High Wingleader, Sigrun, keeps Ilia's pegasus mercenaries in line. She makes sure we aren't killing each other on opposite sides. Now she's sided with Bern... we 'shouldn't' be helping you guys at all. But more people are disobeying her than ever before."      She sighs, cheeks puffing out in distant distress. Shanna looks over-and-down at her with point-blank sympathy. "To be honest, I don't think there's going to be an Ilia after all this. Not that I'll still know. It's scary."      About Odette's ID card: "Cute . . ." "Oh, what happened to you?"      Lilian and Nonon talk business. Klein leans in, neutral: "She's right, Dame Commander. It's smart to leave someone else with the bag. Fighting men-- or women, excuse me-- aren't that rare. Dieck's just too soft-hearted for the sort of work he's in." He shrugs, helplessly- and redoubles it when Thea says, not harshly, "As if you aren't too."
Rita Ma	Dieck grasps Ace's hand, pulls himself up by it, theatrically pops his back, and sighs in warm resignation while arm-tucking his sword. Then he winks. "Alright. I'll grab us some pastries, we'll meet by the fountain at sundown, and then there's these hills outside town... stargazing, y'know, always helps me tap my consultant-ish acumen."      "You don't want to do that outside and wind up losing another twenty thousand..."      Looking down at the diminutive grinning medic, Dieck's face is completely baffled-flat. "Huh? It's a date, Odette. What do you think we're doing?"      "... then I'll pay you as a live model."      By contrast, he's almost Lucius-ly angelic for Lilian. "Sure," he says, looking down at himself and then back up at her,      "but I don't pose topless."
Angela	Nonon says, "Uh... Well that's pretty ... close." to Thea since it's not like it matters how accurate she is and also it certainly FEELS like the whole world turned into a tree. She's gotta be at least in her mid thirties though it's easier to tell by Shajo's apparent age than hers. Nonon doesn't actually smoke herself, she prefers clean crisp sea air and taking in nice deep breaths of the stuff. It doesn't feel like breathing the same kind of air you find everywher else. But she is trying to lend a hand in her own way. Both Shajo and Nonon did. And they knew they couldn't do the sorts of things that Lilian could, but they could CARRY things. And that's why Shajo was always going to fight by her side, and why he sometimes accepts more danger than he can handle. But Nonon, distracted from the actual job of the day, catches what Dieck says last. "Oh I do though." She says automatically.
Lilian Rook	'Well, right now we're in a philosophical-historiographical debate, which is also a war, which is also a father issue.'     "Every day I feel blessed for having the scholars along with the warriors." Lilian says.     'Ah... my last soldier, abandoning me...'     'Wait, no! Forget I said anything!'     'Ahaha.'     Lilian smiles, despite herself, starts to laugh, and then winces as the tightness in her chest intensifies rather than loosens up. When was the last time anyone spoke to her like that out in the field? A stupid little moment of familiarity, like that, and not like trying to impress or defy her. Does Arthur even count? Was it just Petra? Was it anyone? Will these people, too, learn to put their guards up around her-- to glaze over her and recite the winning words like a protective spell-- once all of this is over? Before? Perhaps some of them have already learned not to engage with her, after that chance meeting with Zephiel. A camaraderie built on ignorance of what she's really like could only go about that far.     'Charging Hartmut or Elimine for food... I can't imagine it.'     "The food comes from somewhere. If it's on their plate, it's not on someone else's." Lilian says, shrugging at the obvious outcome of freestyle inductive reasoning, and drawing no parallels. "The thing about heroes is that you can't say you are one until you've already succeeded; and then it's too late to get paid." she says, staring somewhere between the two bashful-looking women.     'She's right, Dame Commander. It's smart to leave someone else with the bag. Fighting men-- or women, excuse me-- aren't that rare. Dieck's just too soft-hearted for the sort of work he's in.'     "Interesting." Lilian says, and actually turns away to blow the smoke not in Klein's face. "What you're saying is completely logical, but if it hinges on Dieck being soft-hearted, then it can't very well account for my agreeing with him despite being about as cold and cruel as they come."     'but I don't pose topless.'     "Wh-- Really?!" It's hard to tell whether Lilian is merely overwhelmed with sheer disbelief, or actually disappointed. She may be cleverly disguising one with the other. She still nearly drops her cigarette anyways. "Why?! That's like slapping God in the face!"
Odette Raskins	"Can't that just be enough for once?" "... and I can't answer for anyone else." For the second time today, Odette sees Lilian's creation of Trideag in a new light. It's in the context of a rather terrible thing happening, but it still gives her plenty more to roll around in her head again. "It should be enough, but..."  She tilts her head towards Ace in a vague signal, sighing a moment later. "I mean, we can't let people push us around, but there's also the.. Whoever made them feel like they needed to steal in the first place to look at, too. And then there's still King Zephiel and all his supporters..." Taking a deep breath helps her settle down a little even though she's feeling hemmed in still. "A-at least we got Bern out of here. That'll give us a little more room to... Um. To root out the problems here, too. Er. R-right?" She also doesn't told to withdraw her requisition, so that's a relief! Maybe. She still feels and looks a little guilty about it, though, even if she still hasn't actually sent in anything yet. "The Otherworld is scary, isn't it." Odette nods slowly at Thea with an awkward chuckle coming out of her. "You get used to it, I think. It's been almost a year since I started this outreach stuff, and there's still plenty of scary things around." She says with another light chuckle, trying not to think too hard about how often she's been scared by things before already. "Now she's sided with Bern... we 'shouldn't' be helping you guys at all. But more people are disobeying her than ever before." "Having rules to keep you from killing each other is a real good one, so.. Maybe you could use that to get her to switch sides, too?" Odette suggests, holding in another wince at the notion that Shanna's and Thea's home might not exist after the war. "I mean... You and the other knights are probably close, right? So if you all band together where Miss Sigrun can see, maybe she'll... If she doesn't want to break the rules about killing each other, it'd just make sense for her to come on over. And then when the war's over, you'll still be able to support each other and stick together." "Cute . . ." "Oh, what happened to you?" Shanna gets a bashful giggle out of Odette. Thea gets a slightly more awkward laugh out of Odette. "W-well.. You know how it is. You work at the same place for a year, and you learn... A lot about it?" She replies, gaze turning just slightly more vacant at the same time. "Not jsut the work, but the... People at the top. The ones calling the shots, the ones making people..." She glances over at Dieck again, frowning after a moment. "Desperate enough to steal from their own heroes." "Huh? It's a date, Odette. What do you think we're doing?" "Dr... Drinking night?" She answers cluelessly, letting out an understanding 'ohhhh' once Dieck spells it out for her. "I-I mean, I thought if Mister Klein was doing that, too, it'd be like a... Private party sort of thing?" "but I don't pose topless." Odette continues staring at Dieck wordlessly, looking completely unconvinced by what he just said.
Desire Stars	Alright. I'll grab us some pastries, we'll meet by the fountain at sundown, and then there's these hills outside town... stargazing, y'know, always helps me tap my consultant-ish acumen.     "Does it?" Ace teases, simultaneously dipping into his 'star' bit. "It makes sense. You've been sneaking looks at *me* this whole time, after all. It's no wonder I'd seek your services eventually."     Huh? It's a date, Odette. What do you think we're doing? I-I mean, I thought if Mister Klein was doing that, too, it'd be like a... Private party sort of thing?     "Nope," says Ace with saintly restraint.     Even Neon quietly boggles at Odette.     *I didn't think somebody could be out there who knew less about this kind of thing than me...*     She clears her throat. "Anyway! It sounds like everything is settled. Dieck mentioned sweets, and I think I could go for some, too. Odette!" She clasps her hands together. "Why don't we go check out some of those stalls we passed on the way here?"      "I'll go get a handle on that wine. See you at sundown, stargazer."