Scene #9348: A Little Breather Maybe

Owner	Pose
Audrey Basque	"Y-- yes, father. No, it's--" Audrey passes through the fog, slowly; already wearing the Librarian uniform she's so fond of, a little bit ruffled from the walk from the Warpgate, she's talking on her phone, for as long as the signal might last. "I promise you there is nothing untoward going on. No-- No. No I am not aware of-- Father, please." She seems exasperated. "No, I have not spoken with her since. Well, yes, no, I was not intending to either. She is-- yes. Father, please, I understood the first three times. The-- look, may I call you back later? I am arriving at work, and... y-yes, the Library. Yes, I promise. Yes, I would tell you. Father please. Okay. Yes. Love you as well." She hangs the call up, reaching the entrance of the Library and pocketing her phone. She enters the lobby, and immediately, with a deep sigh, takes a moment to lean against the wall beside the elevator and huff. "ONE DAY. I just want to breathe for one, single, day! UUUUUGH!!" She takes a moment to adjust her coat, the gloves, make sure her hair is nice and presentable, drilled up as it usually is, and then considers the stairs or the elevator. For way longer than she should. Petra would insist she take the stairs, but she's already kind of winded from the walk over and two days in a row of early morning workouts and stretches. On the other hand... she wouldn't want to let her down more than she already has. Every choice takes forever now. It's awful.
Angela	Before Audrey can make a decision, the elevator doors ding, open up, and a Librarian's hand pulls her into the elevator with no warning. The doors fwip shut behind Audrey as soon as she's in. Angela's golden eyes stare into Audrey's for a moment too long. Then they slant towards Audrey's pocket, the one with the phone in it, and then she says, "Audrey." Angela says. "Is that all you want? A single day?" She hits the top floor button on the elevator. And then, after a moment's thought, hits all the other buttons on the elevator. She intends to make this elevator ride as long as possible before Audrey can get to her room. There's an intensity in her gaze which isn't unusual but it usually hasn't been so squarely focused on Audrey. It's hard to say if this is really an Audrey specific intensity but it is certainly aimed at her right now. "I've been waiting for you but if you are struggling to make decisions, others can make them for you." Petra is only happy when she's crying. Could Angela feel that way about someone she likes? She wishes she could be. Maybe then she'd be less frustrated by the rakes Audrey keeps walking into. "Perhaps time to reflect is what you need." Angela says. Ominously.
Audrey Basque	Audrey eeps, because there's really no other appropriate response to being yanked into the elevator when you're contemplating death via stairs. If she had any sign of panic, it quickly fades when she sees Angela, though the intensity of her stare, and knowing every second is a minute for her, create an entirely different unease in this situation. "A-Ah, hi, Angela. Sorry, I guess I'm a bit late, but I was... sorting stuff out, and..." Well, Angela needs no explanation, she already knows the gist of it. Audrey considers the ominous question, and the equally ominous statements that follow. "I mean, a day would be nice. I'd take a month too. Or multiple months for that matter. It's really not looking like it's in the cards though." Not that she'd know exactly what is. She has a strict superstitious inclination never to divine her own fate. It's never good. "I think... people making choices for me IS the problem, though. Because I'm not making them, so... they make them for me. And then everything gets worse. So, really, it's my own fault, but..." But it still doesn't feel like it entirely. "Are you... are you okay? You're... intense. I mean, more than usual. You're always intense, just... not at me. Not like this."
Angela	"Alright." Angela says. "Do you want a day or a month in here or a day or a month in your room?" She exhales through her teeth which might be entirely for the effect--and affectation--of it. SHe isn't going to pretend to offer multiple months to Audrey. No, Angela isn't that upset either. But she is pretty sour. The last conversation she has had was being informed by Rita and Angela that she can't be trusted to keep people alive and just because that's fair that doesn't mean she's happy to hear baout it. And it certainly feels like she's going to be unable to do much about it. It's a serious cramp in her plans and she's considering acceleration the expansion of the Library so better offers can't keep making things harder for her. "No I am unhappy." Angela says. "My first conversation with Rita in months and the first thing she asks if I've been murdering people. People I've been trying to hire. And deterring people from working with me." She deftly avoids mentioning Lilian agreed with her, at least on the part of not being able to encourage people to work for her. "...But I can give you time. It won't be pleasant, but you'll at least have time." The doors open, Angela pushes the door closed button to immediately shut them again.
Audrey Basque	"H-Huh? I mean... it's... l-like, I just mean, in general, right? Like if I could have a day where I can just... sit down, do whatever I want, and nothing at all happens outside of that. No weird texts and no school scandals, no having to hide love bites or bruises, just... peace and quiet." It feels like forever ago now when she had one of those. Not that she minds keeping herself busy-- in the tower, or the Library. That's fine, really. It's what she wants to do. But it's not quiet, either. "H-Hang on, unpleasant? I think unpleasant is the last thing I need right now. Everything's already pretty unpleasant, so..." Her mind rotates off the topic pretty quickly, when Angela mentions Rita. That name sends both Petra and Roland into some kind of a fearful frenzy, and she was kind of intense that one night, but she's still missing so much context. "Well that's... rude of her? You're not... I'm not dead, right? And neither is Roland, or any of the other Librarians roaming the building. Like sure we um, we book people sometimes," More than sometimes, she almost wants to note, "But like. You're also hiring for real? There's plenty of Librarians around the place. I don't even mean just the Sephirah." The elevator being shut again makes Audrey blink. Well now she's sure something is up. "People in the City have a thousand reasons and then some to be kind of... scared and paranoid, I guess, and... I can understand about this place in particular, but at the same time..." She's searching for the right words. "You can't win everyone over. Right? Some people are always going to say no even if you offer them a place in the nicest part of the City. That's too bad for them. They don't know what they're missing."
Angela	"I can give you time," Angela repeats. "But it's only a perception of time, it is not actual time. If all you need is time to think, an ability to get distance from recent events, I can give that to you. But it won't be fun, or a spa day, or anything like that. Just time. Normally I wouldn't do this to a friend, but you seem quite insistent on wanting some distance from your troubles." Angela doesn't seem able to actually entirely throw off Rita's accusations. Angela knows how far she's willing to go, generally speaking. She steps away from the door to lean against the back of the elevator since it seems like Audrey isn't about to escape. It's still many more floors until they reach Keter--and Audrey's room with it. "I don't ''need'' to reach everyone. I just need to reach ''enough''. The only reason I'm bothering with this is because Lilian said I had to reach out to these people but..." She stops herself, closes her eyes, and spreads out her hands to the side as a calming gesture. "No I understand the reasons. But if this is what I am going to be dealing with I am going to need to step up my own recruitment efforts or everyone will just rush off to Trideag. And I won't be able to prove much of anything." She cups her chin thoughtfully. "I cannot leave but I need more allies." There's the Reverberation Ensemble, of course, but Angela has never felt like she could rely on Colors. If anything, she feels Colors tend to be out to screw her over. If Gebura would, can she really expect much from the less competent Colors? No way.
Audrey Basque	"Oh... l-like you?" Audrey recalls Angela describing it as quite tortuous. And she's not exactly making a secret even now it would be absolutely awful. Does she need time to think that badly? That just sounds like being a prisoner of your body, really, and... "I... ah... m-maybe... maybe some other time. Day. I don't think... I think that might make it worse. There's time to think and then there's time to spin and I think all I'd do is spin, right now." She fidgets a bit, unsure how else to say that. "But I appreciate the thought. I think... scientific curiosity compels me to say... seeing the world the way you do, would help me understand you a lot better. But right now is a bad time. S-Sorry." She stops, to think about the rest of that. Rita, and now Lilian... of course everything is about her, somehow, someway, every single time. "I don't think Trideag has the luxury of infinite expansion like you do. But... you're probablly right about needing allies. Petra's been doing her best to hand out your invitations... I help when I can. I can help with interior expansion, of course, as long as you're around to let me know if it's hurting or not, since... I still kind of feel weird about um..." She avoids Angela's previous terminology of 'stretching her insides' very pointedly. "Expanding your soul. But we'll never run out of physical room, at least, for the foreesable future. If you mean expanding the outside... that's... h-harder, but I can try to help. If you just mean expanding your operations..." Audrey's not sure on that one. This is managerial stuff above her head. "There's only so fast we can hand invitations out. Or even process guests. Even if we could invite everyone in the City all at once, there's no way we could receive all of them, right? You can grow the Library all you want but the door is always going to be your bottleneck. Literally and figuratively. Reaching out is nice but it's unrealistic in the long term. I think." And she's NOT just saying that to disagree with Lilian. But also, definitely a bit.
Angela	It is a lot like being a prisoner in your own body. But if all Audrey wants is 'a day'... But Angela nods once. "Then I'd be a bit more careful about your wording." She hesitates, starting to say something else, but cuts herslef off, stepping back. Another couple floors pass. "You're right. Trideag has limitations. I do not. ... But I wanted these people. They were the largest group of intellectuals remaining in the District. And that meant they had knowledge. Nothing secret, but a good building block. But it seems you are suggesting I should take advantage of my ability to expand. An ability thanks to you I have more options for. Because my EGO isn't just me, it is also a location." She quirks her head. "Mm... More space would be good as well. On the interior. But I have to be careful of not expanding the roots farther beyond what I can manage. ... Hahh... displacing people, my fault is it, they were already displaced I was just giving them a place to stay..." She shakes her head. "But this isn't just about invitations. The invitations are to those who are given the offer to battle for books. I also intend to ''invite'' people to live here. To create a community within The City outside its control. We want to do more than just devour victims for the sake of freedom, after all." There's no way they could invite EVERYONE but Angela still needs MORE in this moment. She taps her foot lightly. "Well we'll figure it out. But I have to punish Sarracenia a little as well. That seems to be the language she understands and while I am sure she will just be more spiteful as a result, I am certain I can hurt her more than she can hurt me."
Audrey Basque	"Sorry. I'll-- I mean, time would be nice, just... yeah, wording. I'll be more careful. But, sometime when I'm not nearly so..." She gestures, vaguely, at herself. "You know. A mess, like this. I wouldn't mind experiencing things how you do. Even if it's awful. You're dealing with it constantly, the least I can do to understand you is..." Well maybe it's not the least she can do, but now that she's offered it's on the table, and it'd be so much worse to take it back. Anyway, it's also not important. Not compared to why Angela feels bad, right now. "No, I understand. If your soul doesn't have limits on its expansion... one day you might have a whole city in here. You can keep people safe from the Head, educated, with the means to defend themselves, and none of the outside world's problems. It's a nice goal. I don't really know about these specific people you just lost, but there'll be others. And... you have the Concord's backing, too. I'm sure you could talk with the Director if you need anything." Sarracenia though. Audrey frowns a bit. "I wish she'd stop getting inbetween me and Petra. Especially in front of people. I think I'm a bit out of the loop here though, what did she do to you?"
Angela	"If there weren't any limits I could end everyone's problems immediately." Angela says, wryly. "But I don't expect anything to come to me too easily. Even just stepping out for a day now and then is an enormours effort involving two other people." Though she doesn't entirely mind. It's nice to be able to rely on Petra sometimes. She hopes she can rely on Audrey too. She's not entirely sure she can though. Not because she's not loyal but because it feels her existence is built on a house of cards and she has literally hired Petra to blow on it repeatedly and slam the table. Maybe she's not conflicted because she likes Audrey, Angela thinks, maybe she's just conflicted because a boring reliable Audrey is more helpful to her than an unknown, an Audrey whose shape she cannot foresee. It's real hard for her to determine if she's being 'practical' or 'caring' right now. "There will be others," Angela agrees. "I... should not allow myself to be ruled by temporary stumbling blocks. It will only put more stumbling blocks in my path. I appreciate your willingness to be a bent ear." Maybe she hasn't been relying on the Concord enough, actually. She's had offers of aid she turned down but... "She was quite open about deterring people from taking my offfer." Angela says. "It's one thing for Lilian to do that, even for Rita to do that--they are not fellow members of the Concord. They have their own responsibilities and philosophies and codes. Sarracenia is wholly ruled by spite. That is why she gets between you and Petra and that is why she gets between me and my goals.#-1 INVALID ANSI DEFINITION: 1543 "
Audrey Basque	"Sure, but the longer we work on it the less of an effort it'll be. Eventually you'll be able to leave on your own, I'm sure. Maybe there'll be a time limit at first but... we'll figure that out too." It makes it easier to 'book' people when she knows it's for Angela's sake. And Petra's, obviously. Though so far, it's really always been whoever she's with delivering that last blow, so she couldn't actually say she's done it at all. She's helping. Good enough. "Well you did kind of kidnap me so... bent ear might be more appropriate than you think," Audrey manages to laugh, if a bit, which is already an improvement. "But yeah. There'll be others. So, whatever they're up to, we just have to work even harder. And... I sure noticed her spite runs deep. I thought I was bad coming here for... stupid reasons, but she's..." Hard to deal with. Audrey sighs and shrugs. "I think she actually understood me last time I yelled at her, but... time will tell. I feel a bit bad about snapping, really, but it was... it was kind of bad. So, whatever you feel you need to do, I'm not going to disagree."
Angela	Angela nods to Audrey. "Exactly. Though if the world becomes the Library, I would barely even have to leave outside ... But that's not enough for me. I want to be able to explore the multiverse. Like Petra." Apparently Petra is whom she considers to be the prime example of an exploring adventurer. "...Kidnapping you. That IS an idea." Angela says, monotonally. "Then I wouldn't have to worry over your health since I could control it. But of course, worrying about your health less is one of the benefits of working for me." Angela says. "...Even if I cannot guarantee safety to the same extent as Lilian Rook, I can at least prevent those that work for me directly from dying to something stupid." Despite saying so, there is a small hesitancy in those words. She's never certain that she can keep someone from dying for stupid reasons. She doesn't think she ever will be again. "Sarracenia is expert at seeming like she learned a lesson and then repeating the same mistake. I encourage you to not follow her example." Angela says, simply enough. "...Don't feel bad about snapping at her. You were right to do so. That's all." Audrey won't disagree? "...Then if I asked you to join in what I had planned for her, you wouldn't argue?" Angela asks, though she's not actually sure she's going to yet. The doors open to Keter so Audrey can escape if she wants.
Audrey Basque	Huh. That's an idea. "Right! I mean, no, not the kidnapping me part, that's terrible, please don't," Audrey smiles, "But the dying thing. Safety. You said while I'm under your... oath, contract, thing, if I die, I don't actually die as long as there's someone to get me back, right? So, yeah! You should be leading with that. You're not just providing a roof, and a job, and relative safety, you're providing immortality. Of a sort. Thousands of years of magical Traditions have taught me that people are always looking for that." And she's sure people from the City, especially, are going to trip over each other to race to the Library for a chance to be unkillable (asterisk). "Of course... you'd want to do some screening. The City is full of awful people, you can't just... give everyone the ability to defy death like that. But that's fine, the ones who aren't suitable can just be harvested for Light. Win-win." That's probably in the top ten awful things she's said so far. Petra would surely be proud of this one, at least. "A-As for Sarracenia, um, I mean... okay well I already said I wouldn't disagree, so it'd be... quite rude of me to suddenly object." Audrey doesn't escape, because it's not like she dislikes Angela's company. Intense as she may be. "I... reluctantly, would be willing to help. With whatever it is. Um. As long as it's not a breach of Concord policy or like... you know."
Angela	"...Mm.." Angela considers that. "Do people actually want to be immortal? In my experience, most people seem to be ... unnerved by the idea. Ah, but, I suppose that is because the 'immortals' I knew tended to be trapped in a neverending torture dungeon. Perhaps immortality can be more pleasant if they are not in the torture dungeon? Or the torture...City?" This is a good point from Audrey, Angela realizes. Maybe she should just openly offer-- "Ah but does it qualify as a taboo...? ... No it surely doesn't. It isn't true ressurection from true death, it is simply a shift in form preventing death--ahh, normally I wouldn't care about City taboos but when The Head invades I prefer to be at my strongest and right now I don't believe it is entirely safe to fend off The Head." Even with Gebura AND Binah on her side, both of them aren't quite at their peak anymore. At least, she's certain about Binah and uncertain about Gebura. "Well. My goal isn't to rescue the Saints. My goal is to rescue the people who are not inclined to harm me or be incredibly racist at me. And can be somewhat reliable. Naturally, I don't expect everyone to be someone who can fight--even with EGO, there's something to be said for temperment--but it needs to be a community that can rely upon one another and not immediately sabotage each other. Otherwise I stand no chance against Trideag or even whatever Berislav is up to." Audrey agrees that she'd (reluctantly) be willing to lend a hand. "Mm... As long as you are willing. I will discuss the matter with Natsuki. And since I am relying on Natsuki, I doubt it would be against 'Concord policy'."
Audrey Basque	"Y-Yes, I think your sample size of immortals might pollute your data just a little bit," Audrey points out to Angela. "I think people, in general, just give you better results when you don't put them in a torture dungeon. Um. Okay, well, in fairness, I don't know that for a fact, but I think it's like... probably important if you want an honest read on how much they want or don't want something." Still, the matter of taboos and the Head... "It would attract attention yeah... but you can't deny how alluring an advantage that is. Going out at all is basically taking a risk you'll stumble into someone trying to kill you, and you've got a way to make it not stick. So... I just think it's one of those things you should put forward a bit more. Maybe not publicly, but to high value targets. Make the offer even harder to refuse for them." Everyone, in her experience, wants a taste of immortality. It's the forefront pursuit of dozens of Traditions, despite Enlightened already having three or four human lifespans. So how badly are City folk going to want it, when their lifespan is probably closer to point five? "But okay. As long as we're not about to break rules then... I guess I have a little bit of a bone to pick with the Princess too. Just a bit." Just a bit!! Really.
Angela	Angela supposes Audrey has a point there. She mostly knows the torture dungeon. She doesn't know the greater torture world or even, really, the non-torturing areas that well. She thinks of Tamamo, who seems happy enough, and Lilian. She's not sure about Audrey, though, she seems to be driving straight to torture city and she isn't sure it's because she's asleep at the wheel or not. Just like she's not sure if everything that is happening to her is something she wants or not. It feels like she doesn't want it, and yet is still throwing herself into it. It reminds her of the Sephirah and so she hates it. But unlike most of the Sephirah, she owes her so much, doesn't she? "Mm... It would serve as good bait too. Perhaps too good for our level of defenses right now. But... I may have an idea for people we can align with. It is a little dangerous but they are also seekers of knowledge. And they would not be so afraid of a...dangerous alliance." SShe didn't learn of these people from the books, in fact, she heard about them from Roland. "But I'll want to talk to Petra about it first. She usually... is a good second opinion for when I am too ... reckless. ... Or cautious." But she nods. No breaking rules. "Once The Head learns of my nature, then there's no reason to care about rules anymore. I almost look forward to it. But it is not yet that time."
Audrey Basque	"I remember what you said," Audrey nods. "That you're tired of hiding. So, I'll do my best so you can stop hiding as soon as possible. Just let me know what you need. Or if you want me to try to gently nudge the Tree into expanding its domain faster." Looking at the open elevator door, Audrey seems lost in thought for a whole ten seconds, which is so much longer for Angela. She finally decides to say: "I think... I'm tired of hiding, too. But unlike you, I don't feel ready to say it. Maybe you can teach me what that's like. Anyway, u-um... maybe we should go see if Petra's around, in fact. I don't know if she got here before me or not, I lost track of her after she so kindly helped me work out." So kindly, she says.