Scene #9270:

Owner	Pose
Father Berislav	The last time Hibiki and Berislav spoke at any length, it wasn't in a friendly context. Sumi's death at his hands, who has the right to be forgiven, and on whose behalf that forgiveness is offered. But during Moses' meeting, he'd displayed a concern for her well-being despite the rather plain promise of conflict between them, based on their respective ideals. The Faded Print has come a long way since the Watch first found it. It's still subject to the blackouts in the District, but it's hard not to see the love and care that have been put into the building. The floorboards have been sanded and varnished, replaced where necessary, the windows likewise replaced and unboarded, varyingly used beds moved into the upstairs, and the outdoors cistern repaired and freshly sterilized. Berislav meets her at the hostel's bar, on the downstairs half of the building, sat on one of the barstools in a pink tee, blue jeans, and worn white sneakers. "Hello, Hibiki," he says warmly. "Would you care for some tea?"
Hibiki Tachibana	It sure has been a while since then, hasn't it. It's not as if that engagement between the Blade Lineage and the Kurokumo Clan was the first time they've had moral disagreements like that; it goes as far back as the whole situation with Lance and his attempt at making his own Wonderworld. Still. Clashing ideals is different from being enemies. And, during said meeting, something hit her. Something that's been in the back of her mind for the last month or so, really. And so, she's here now, at the Faded Print. As ever, she looks plain-faced at best, and still has some stiffness in her walk, but her physical injuries have started hitting the point where she can do her usual of keeping down how much they actually bother her. A little bit of energy returns on seeing how much the atmosphere of the Faded Print has improved since where they started off, and she's still glancing around by the time she's taking a seat at the bar. "...Hey, Berislav," she returns with a nod, leaning forward a bit onto the bartop. "That'd be nice, yeah. Sorry for the trouble." She lets a moment pass by. "How have things been? In the City. The mass power outages and all. I heard some from Detective Moses at the meeting, but..."
Father Berislav	"It's no trouble at all," he says, sliding off the barstool to head behind the bar for a kettle. "I'll be just a moment." He disappears into the kitchen and returns with a full kettle and a portable hot plate. Placing the former atop the latter, he circles back around and takes his seat again. "This District is entirely without power," he says with a sobering frown. "The Print here has some, thanks to Liza and Dysnomia's foresight. But generators can only do so much, so even we have to focus on absolute necessities. Candles for light, air conditioning only when open windows aren't enough. Our water is coming entirely from the cistern." "Most of the buildings in the Backstreets are intact," he says with a sigh. "The closer you get to the Nest, the less true that is. There are a number of missing people," he says. "And the people that are here need our help badly, whether it's necessities or simple protection. But it hasn't been all bad news." Brightening up a little, "The Blade Lineage are attracting members, and we've made a coalition with the Yurodiviye. Between the two of them, we have the foundation laid for change in the City, and even though much of the house remains to be built, it will be built on a rock solid foundation. Detective Moses and Ezra are a relief to have around, too--especially now." "How have you been?"
Hibiki Tachibana	Much as it had at the meeting in Moses' Office, hearing the hard reality of how things have turned out, laid out plain and simple... is sobering, to say the least. Hibiki lets out a low sound of vague discontent as she leans a little further forward on the support of her arms folded on the bartop, finding a wall very interesting right about now. "...Fine enough... I guess." What a noncommital answer. And even she knows it, frowning somewhat before continuing on not very long afterwards. "...No, like I said before. Not fine. I don't know. Maybe you heard when I was talking to Ezra the other day; I did something I thought I had to do, to protect people. I've been on the mend since then, and... Gungnir needs to be fixed. Still-- I'm pretty sure I'd do what I did a second time, if I had to make the decision all over again." Yet she still looks awfully out of sorts, her attention now down on the surface of the bar instead. Her mouth opens, then closes, failing to find the correct words until she settles for 'good enough'. "I'm... I haven't said this to anybody else yet. But it all has to do with... what caused all of this in the first place." She gestures towards one of the windows, showing out into the power-less District beyond. "...I was there. For pretty much all of it. So I can't help... but feel responsible for it. It'd have happened the way it did, with or without me, but knowing that doesn't make it any better."
Father Berislav	Berislav follows Hibiki's gaze, then sighs. "Yes, Hibiki, I know," he admits. "I have a fairly good idea of who else was involved, too." "Your explanation was the first thing I've heard that comes close to 'why.' Who were you protecting?" The tea kettle begins to whistle. Berislav gets up from his seat, pours, steeps, and serves. Out from a plain little teapot comes black tea. There are sugar packets on the bar counter, most the same store-bought brand, some stragglers from others mixed in. His choice of brew is a simple black tea--the kind you'd get in your average American grocery store. The priest blows gently on his own cup as he rounds the other side of the bar to take his seat, then takes a sip once he's settled. "Was A involved in this?"
Hibiki Tachibana	She's not exactly surprised to hear he's already somewhat in the know. And who else was involved. He's not stupid. He's aware of a fair decent bit about Lobotomy Corporation. And in the time since, the public bands have only gotten more and more active. She inhales as he gets up, and holds it all the way until he gets back, at which point she exhales. She doesn't mind simple tea like this. Cupping it with both hands and letting it cool on its own, she nods slowly. "...'A'... Ayin. His plan all along was to carry on Carmen's dream before him - to cure the 'sickness of the mind' of everybody in the City. Make things better. Give everyone the power to... stand up for themselves. L Corp... was never meant to just be an energy company. It was all for that sake. For her sake." Hibiki's half-closed eyes fall down onto her own muddled, barely-there reflection in the steaming beverage. "...But it meant... all sorts of suffering for the people inside of there. Their trauma got worse, and then it got better. To water the 'Seed of Light'. That huge burst of light that shone for a couple days. And then, at the end of everything, I... they..." Her lips purse, and her grip tightens... then loosens through a conscious effort, forcing herself to take a slow drink before continuing. "...Were going to die for it. After getting through all that, after coming so far, and-- ...still not entirely ready to die." "They're the ones I was protecting. All of them. Even if they didn't want me to. Even if I was... choosing the few of them, over the rest of the City." She shuts her eyes, with a shaky sigh that goes all the way down to her fingers. "...I didn't want any more sacrifices. I didn't want anybody else to die. Out here, there's Trideag, there's us, there's people fighting to make things better. But barely anybody... fighting for /their/ sake." She lets out a disgruntled hum, glancing away again. "That's what was going through my head. Isn't that stupid? Sure, things like these power outages were going to happen either way. But they're worse than they'd have been otherwise. With nothing to show for it... out here at least. Every single person dying or suffering out here because of that is on my head, too..."
Father Berislav	"I don't think it's stupid," says Berislav after a pause so long that Hibiki could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. "I visited that place more than just the time you and I went together. I saw that man's handiwork in every darkened corner, smelled it with every breath of air stained through by pungent chemicals chosen for their ability to hide the smell of blood and decay." The priest sets his cup down on the bar, hands clasped together in his lap. "There are people who'd say that any way for the City to throw off its shackles is as good as another. I'm sure that those people would say that the Sephirah are a small price to pay for that liberation. That they'd be very angry with you." He frowns lifts a hand to rub his temple with his first two fingers. "Some people say that ideological purity is a useless pursuit. And others would say that it's the only pursuit." "For example, I believe I've been very faithful to my religion. A younger version of myself, and certainly other adherents of the faith, might say otherwise. A third party might instead look at the effects of my actions and judge from there." He sits up straight and shrugs. "For my part, I know that many of the people in that place weren't there by choice. The function of a system is what it does, Hibiki--and even if it would have produced that Light for the City, it would have killed any number of people to do it." "Jesus died for our sins, yes, but he did it knowingly and willingly. If you're looking for me to condemn you for what you did, I can't, even if the consequences are dire. There's a good chance I would have been fighting beside you, for their sake, if I hadn't been busy here." He takes a sip of tea, ruminating with a frown on the visible shapes of the City outside. "...The conflict was over who is saved and who isn't. That's possibly one of the oldest conflicts there is," he reflects. "There have been versions of that conflict where one side is 'stupid.' For instance, I think it's stupid the way that so many people fight so hard to save people who profit from their suffering." "But 'the whole of the City' versus 'the people least served by the City?' I don't think I could say either side in that is stupid, even if I know which one I'd be on." "Thank you for telling me," he says, leaving the drink aside for a moment to take a step closer and rest a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I hope you'll be able to reconcile your differences with the other side of that conflict--there are still plenty of people who need our help. One of them is even in our little coalition."
Hibiki Tachibana	At first, there's muted surprise, and then there's a more complicated expression. It's somewhat difficult to decipher when she's still glancing away, but at the very least, her shoulders seem to have de-tensed a little while she takes occasional small sips of tea while the priest talks. Once more her mouth opens to talk, although nothing comes out for some time. It takes until the hand comes to rest on her shoulder for Hibiki to finally speak up again. "...Did I come here looking to get condemned for it...? I don't even know. Part of me feels like I should've been able to do even more. Another part is just glad we actually did manage to save them. I already said I'd probably do it all over again if I had to. And another part still--..." She sighs. "Rita was-- on the other side of things. I don't know if she'll forgive me any time soon. If she ever does. Or if she should. And Cinder... ...gave her life, too. I know Petra feels... worse than I could ever put into words. Losing her, not being able to help her, not being able to save her..." Her overall lethargy is broken for a moment by grit teeth and a face scrunched up in discontent. "...If I was in her position, I don't know if I'd even be able to keep myself sane... it probably feels like the whole world's crashed down, and even /I/ can't do anything but dance around the damn subject every time because I don't know what else to do... it's so frustrating..." She stays in that state for some time before exhaling through her teeth and letting her shoulders droop again. "...It's not that easy to do the whole... recoinciling differences thing. But I know you're not wrong, either. I'm just still-- figuring it out. I guess trying to do that is part of why I came to chat with you in the first place." There's another sip of her drink, and she turns her head enough to look at him properly. "So thanks... for listening. I know there are things you and me probably won't ever... you know. See eye to eye on. But there are things we do. And we're both trying to make things better. I respect you a pretty decent amount, believe it or not." "...Doing everything I can to help out here is what it'll take to make up for it. Without that whole project, it'll be up to people helping each other out to fix things. So... I'll be pitching in with everything I can." She pauses, then tilts her head. "...In our group? Who?"
Father Berislav	"Saya," Berislav says with resignation. "She was close with Sumi, even though they were enemies. And considering I killed Sumi, working with us has been very painful for her." "Even without the threat of Distortions, this would be something that we'd have to address. In the context of a post-Distorion City, we have even less time." "I'd like your help in addressing her feelings. At most, we'd be involving Detective Moses, too. I don't want this to be a circus; I have the feeling if she feels outnumbered she'll also feel less inclined to talk and more inclined to fight." "I'll be in touch with a place and a time. Until then..." Berislav steps back over to the bar and finishes his tea. "Mm." The cup clinks softly on the counter. "If you want my advice with Petra and Cinder..." There's a pause, to see if she would. If so: "Don't let the fear of saying the wrong thing stop you. In fact, it's more important that you listen. Focus the conversation on her feelings. Don't tell her 'you know how she feels;' you don't." "Don't try to 'fix' her feelings, either," he says. "You mentioned being frustrated about your inability to talk frankly about Cinder's death--I think we both know Petra well enough to know that she doesn't like it when people talk around a subject." It probably goes without saying that advice works for Saya as well. Either way, whether he ends up giving it or not, Berislav takes his cup behind the bar, placing it into a bin to wash later. "As for Rita, she may not forgive you," he frankly offers with a frown. "But we aren't in the Watch to be forgiven; we're here to be a caring hand and a raised shield for people who can turn nowhere else for those things, in the way that each of us individually deems best." "I need to run some errands. Please stay as long as you like."
Hibiki Tachibana	"Saya and Sumi..." Hibiki's mouth falls into a small frown again, recalling the tenseness that the altercation they interrupted ended off with. She hasn't forgotten it, although she certainly wasn't sure how Saya would be feeling in the long term after that. Apparently, worse than she might've otherwise thought. "...Yeah. It's probably for the best it's just a couple of us," she agrees with a quiet exhale. "...She must've been stewing in it ever since then. I'll do whatever I can to help her. I can already imagine she's not gonna be up for listening so easily... but I sure there'll be a way to get through." She sips halfway through the remainder of her cup as Berislav gives his advice, giving an imperceptible nod at not letting fear slow one down, which transitions into a sigh once her cup comes back down. Was it at the 'you don't'? It's not like she follows up on that or seems to linger on it. "...Mn. I don't have anything I can say that'd make it better, but that's not an excuse to just act like it never happened..." Probably as good as it'll get. As the priest prepares to make his departure, she leans back enough to tilt her head up towards the ceiling, maybe sorting through some things running through her mind. "...That is why we're all here, isn't it. It's not like I was ever doing this to be liked or get praised for it..." ...Adding Rita to the list of people she's on the bad side of just hurts, still. "...Yeah. I'll catch you later. Place and time whenever you got them."