Scene #9357: Into the Tower

Owner	Pose
Audrey Basque	Hydrochoeria has a Warpgate on it, which saves White some time arriving if she's coming the good old fashioned way! It's also certainly possible White's left some of her little agents there though. The floating island is cast in a perpetual twilight, most of the sky starry and black, even as it travels; this is due to a tear-like effect practically ripping open the day sky, emanating from the tower that floats above Petra's castle. Tower which is finally finished! Ish. The most prominent feature of the sky is a single bright gold star directly above the castle, acting as the eye in a constellation shaped like the Beauty of Ash. The tall stone tower, matching the castle's aesthetic, now has two dozen large gold-and-blue crystals attached to it, large enough they might contain several rooms. Seven of those crystals are deployed, floating around the tower and tracing the constellation of Orion, complete with lines linking them together. A single column of magic flows from the tower to the castle, enriching the air on the island with enough ambient magic to make magic-users feel at home. White could recognize the Nascent Star's energy as the source. The only way up to the tower is a spatial tear on an upper balcony of the castle, though that wouldn't stop White in the slightest if she meant to shortcut her way up by teleporting. When White arrives, either through Warpgate or her own means, Audrey (school uniform ver.) floats out of one of the tower's windows, waving towards her and shouting down from her perch. "Whiiiiiite! Come on up!" A tear opens, for her to step through. The room Audrey was in is not the top of the tower! It's about halfway up, actually. When White joins her, she'll find herself in a decently luxurious looking reception hall. Most of everything here is in shades blue, gold, white, black and starry skies, the ceiling being very notably just an actual night sky, leaving the room lit by starlight (and a few lamps along the walls). There's a big table with two dozen chairs, a massive organ along one of the walls, access to a kitchen on the side (which is in one of the big crystals?), and a lot of empty space surely meant to be filled later. It's notably bigger on the inside than it should be, but with Audrey that's no surprise. Stairways head up and down the next and previous floors in arrangements that don't make sense for the layout. When Audrey floats back inside and settles onto the ground to walk again, she winces, clutching her stomach and then groaning a bit, though she quickly straightens herself up with a smile. "Sorry, we're not done furnishing yet. It's kind of been a bit touch and go, but at least this room's usable, and so's the kitchen, and the lab is... um... well it's a lab. I haven't really organized it yet." She's not had time! "Would you like something to drink? Eat?" At least she seems in much better spirits than last time they talked.
White	White appears under her own power, albeit still near the Warpgate itself. She takes a brief pause there, reacquainting herself with the scenery and particularly with the tower from the outside. She isn't much of a stargazer herself, but as far as mage towers go this one's- ... Okay, it's her first time seeing one regardless, so she can't exactly make comparisons. But it's cool! She doesn't know offhand why Audrey needs every little detail the way they are, but it still looks cool! All the same, she doesn't need long to take in the view and make her mental notes. While she's not interested in traversing the entire castle, she does want to engage properly with Audrey's creation as much as possible, so she limits herself to one personal teleport up to the castle balcony and walks from there through the spatial tear. Being met by Audrey from above, White brushes her hair out of her face to look up at her when she calls out. Her look is similar to the usual, but she has her fur-trimmed coat on, and her braid is in 'multiple looped scarf' mode, wrapped around her neck and heaped atop her shoulders. All she bothers with is a nod before taking the offered portal-tear. Only once she's on the other side, face to face and vertically level with Audrey does she turn toward her to give her a small bow in greeting. She then spends a couple of seconds gently turning her head, deliberately miming out the motions of looking around despite... Well, not needing to! "Is it just... Miss Petra, helping you?" she asks when she hears 'we'. But, it's not a crucial question, and it's easy to nod agreement to the offer of food or drink. Given she doesn't specify either, maybe she just wants to see what Audrey will bring her? In the meantime she gently pulls out one of the chairs, not being particularly choosy about placement, and slides herself onto it. "You sound..." she starts, her head tilting a little as she considers the exact word-choice. "... Excited?"
Audrey Basque	"We had help from Concord architects for the bulk of the work! Now it's just... a lot of empty rooms I need to figure out what to do with, you know?. It's mostly me though, she's not really... I'm still trying to convince her she should take better care of the castle. It's so..." Audrey hms, musing words. "Well, it was really empty, when I showed up. Now we have Concord staff tending to it, so it's a bit more lively, but she's still kind of... with her I can't tell. She loves this dramatic dark general or dark knight kind of vibe, but then she'll say she's not suited to ruling. Even though this isn't a country or anything like that." Audrey exaggerates a shrug. "And then, she says she's not suited to ruling, but she's taking really good care of everyone she has living here. So... I don't know what to make of it, sometimes." Audrey takes a stride over to the kitchen, passing through a door that doesn't seem real at all, shouting answers over from there. "Excited? Am I? I guess I have energy to burn. Petra's been having me wake up early to work out, and it's miserable, but it's also like... kind of a nice way to start the day, at the same time? I'm making progress with a bunch of stuff, school's... kind of miserable too, actually, but I'm not sticking around there outside of class much, which helps." She emerges back, with a platter of cheeses and meats, biscuits, a kettle with boiling water, two cups, and a selection of tea pouches to choose from. You've got your earl greys, green teas, jasmine, oolong, chai... "I've got... some selection, hopefully something here is to your liking." Her rich girl aura is radiating out just a bit.
White	White mostly listens in peaceful silence while Audrey summarizes and fetches the nibblies and sippies. She doesn't hesitate to reach for things once Audrey is back out, one hand almost absentmindedly preparing a plain green tea, pouring the water and all without looking while she carefully picks out a mouseish sample of each of the snacks with the other hand. It's at moments like this, seeing her completely naturally optimizing a totally mundane series of actions, where her oddness is the most plain to see... Once Audrey finishes answering her though, White takes a small nibble out of a stacked bit of cheese and meat, not nearly enough to actually affect her speech though. "It's good." she begins simply, though soon enough continues in a way that might make it unclear whether she meant the food or Audrey's new habits. "You probably can't... Safely reinforce your body. With gravity magic. So it's good... To do what you can." She pauses, her minute chewing stopping briefly too. "... Maybe if... You find a way to... Regenerate." After all, surely there's no consequence to making terrible, horrifying mistakes manipulating your body with magic that applies inertial forces directly and unambiguously, if you can just grow back any limbs you lose while practicing! Surely that's not horrifying, or stressful at all! But, she changes subject again quickly. "... I'm glad you're... Making progress."
Audrey Basque	If Audrey finds it odd to preselect a bunch of the meats and cheeses, she doesn't vocalize it. Mostly, she's happy White's been... more social? It's a long stretch to be talking over a charcuterie board, from how White usually relies on text to speech. That much she'd noticed, at least, and takes it fully as a compliment. "Y-Yeah... none of my magic... my family's magic, really, or my entire Tradition besides, is about the human body in that way. Some of the stranger stuff involves ascending to the stars but it's usually a metaphor for death and whatever's on the other side. There's... divinity, as a route, but even then... w-well, my Tradition's kinds wouldn't be physically inclined, I don't think. If it's even achievable." And so Audrey must resign herself to being a noodle. Or as Angela put it, speccing all her points into wizard. "Regeneration would be so nice though. My stomach was already hurting and then she made me do stomach crunches and it still feels like my ribs are stabbing me a little." She pours water in her own cup, to prepare jasmine tea for herself, before stacking a bit of prosciutto and cheddar on a biscuit to nake a nibble from. "Ah well, I've made do so far. The fact I only have this body to burn is incentive to perfect my craft rather than settle for "good enough". Then I won't have to worry about hurting myself anymore." Progress, though, reminds her. "I meant to ask, last time... when you showed me your stat hud, it had... a LOT of magic types and skills on it. How'd you manage that? I know you said you're not great at some of them, like wind, but that's still impressive. You're not like... secretly half a century old or something like that, are you?"
White	White can be imagined humming thoughtfully around her little mouse-nibbles of deceptively basic cheddar and salami, but she doesn't really make a noise at all; it's mostly implicit, in how she attentively watches Audrey even while her body isn't directly facing her. She probably has thoughts on what a "Tradition" is and how it affects Audrey, but she lets those thoughts percolate a little longer for now, and instead briefly checks Audrey's status when she hears 'ribs are stabbing me'. "Any kind of healing... Is useful. But it can... Be a liability, if you... Take it for granted. It helps with... Training, too." Then, the rather more personal question comes up, and White thinks for a second or two before gently shaking her head (and tucking her hair back behind an ear when this shakes it loose). "That was... An old version." she says first. "From the moment... Before I evolved into a god." She brings up the illusory HUD again and scans over it looking for something, eventually turning it toward Audrey and showing her the Poison Synthesis and Medicine Synthesis skills, right next to one another. "... Within the System, skills are... Information added to the soul. That information... Lets people use 'magic'. But magic spells there... Are just pre-composed Conjury. With training wheels. Becoming a god..." She pauses, perhaps even hesitates for a moment, and shakes her head at something unknown, almost as if she came close to sighing. "... Becoming a god, removed me from the System. At first, I had... No powers at all. I couldn't... Even ride in a wagon. Without getting sick. But the things... That I learned very deeply... While within the System? I had a 'feel' for them. So eventually... I could recreate them. Things I didn't use often, like... Healing magic... Shieldmanship... I haven't been able, to recreate. And because of... Because of the attack from Schlain, I took some... Damage, to my soul. So I lost... Some more things." She talks slow normally, of course, but it's not common for her to repeat words like she just did. Even with her minute expressions, it seems like it's hard to accept how things turned out, even now.
Audrey Basque	Audrey's status reveals no serious injuries, just a lot of blunt trauma to the stomach, like she took a lot of punches. Evidently none serious enough to break anything, but enough to leave nasty bruising and pain. Evidently doing stomach-centric working out like that probably didn't help at all, but there's no immediate danger either. "I bet... it must be easy to fall into the trap of, like... "well I'll just heal quickly" and keep getting into trouble. It's why I've been working on expanding what I do and how I do it. Everyone's got all these... varied kinds of skills and powers out here. I have to get better to measure up, and not be a one-trick pony people can figure out a way around." She's still thinking being able to heal quickly would be a dozen kinds of helpful though... including in ways she doesn't want to say out loud. When White produces the hud again, she pays closer attention, curious, while listening to the explanation. "I think I remember hearing something about that... you were talking about... I think it was sins? How they're special unique skills. I didn't really, like... get it. I was still new, and overwhelmed, not that I'm not anymore, so a lot of it went over my head." Very RPG though. She's enough of a gamer to get it! "N-No powers? Gosh... everyone's always talking about ascension to divinity as a gateway to ultimate power, but it sounds like it has a big learning curve." Even having to learn how to... ride a wagon? Audrey blinks, that such a trivial thing would be considered a skill. That's an overdesigned system for sure. "Sorry, I guess I wasn't there when it happened but... Schlain? Damage to your soul? That sounds serious. What happened?"
White	White nods a few times, slowly. She still doesn't know what to make of Audrey finding new and strange ways to end up hurt, and it's enough to glance down at her stomach briefly, but not enough to linger like that. Sometimes, when you don't know what to say... Well, that's a defense mechanism! And there are other things she can actually comment on, anyway. "It is. Healing magic can... Take a lot of energy, too. You have to be... Very judicious. And able to live... With the less severe wounds. At least... For a little while. Otherwise... You might heal yourself... Into exhaustion. It can also... Be almost as technical as Spatial Magic." She gestures in a way that might mean 'anyway, moving on', and nods again. "Ruler Skills. They transplant... More information into the soul. Than most skills do. Because they're based... On specific people from the past. As far as I... Can tell. That's why they're... Dangerous. They can alter... The personality." And, again, she nods when Audrey asks her to Explain Further, though White finds herself leaning back in the chair a bit and momentarily forgetting the snack she's awkwardly holding in the air between her forefinger and thumb. "... Schlain is the new hero. The previous one was... His brother, Julius. But Schlain... Is easy to manipulate. He's the Ruler of Mercy... And he has no protection from... Its mental effects. He can't stomach... Anyone dying, even if it means... The world ending. So that makes me... The villain." From there she spends a few moments arranging a new illusory image, this time depicting one angle of what appears to be a wide, blank, white room. Questionably round in shape. Not many features, except for what look like pedestals jutting from the floor- 14 of them- in a circle around what White has previously called the System Core. At that core is... A woman. Half of a woman, anyway... It seems like most of her legs have disappeared, and she seems to be in some kind of suspended animation held upright with her arms embedded in some kind of cubic-segmented columns. "... I was attempting... To 'pick' the locks on the System Core. Several of them... That I did not have the... Ruler Keys for. But... D thought that would be... Too easy. So she sent him to me... And told him something that made him... Unable to trust me." Her voice trails off slightly, becoming quieter than she'd managed so far with Audrey in private, like some of her energy is draining out of her. "He used the Sword of the Hero. It's a one-use item. Made to 'potentially kill even a god'. I had to... Abandon my body, and escape the Core. But I was still injured. Without all of my power... I can't 'pick' most of the locks... Anymore. It's like... Trying to hack a computer... With a Gameboy."
Audrey Basque	New, strange and exciting ways to get hurt. It's important. Whether healing magic is technical or not she certainly couldn't say, but Audrey generally takes White at her word so she doesn't question the statement. She can imagine how much anatomical knowledge you might need for some types, so it makes sense. Rulers are a bit more interesting though. "So it's kind of like taking a dead person's memories and using them to shortcut your learning? With the risk of them bleeding into yours, or straight up taking you over... that's a gamble." But sometimes it's one you just have to take, she supposes. When the topic shifts to Schlain, and with White adjusting her stance, Audrey leans forward a bit, to place her arms on the table and listen more attentively. She might take a sip of tea or two, but doesn't interrupt until White's story is done. "So if we wanted to help you... we'd have to find a way back into that Core, and to pick the locks we'd need the Rulers, or someone as good at it as you used to be? But would getting your old body back do it? Just... pop, and the damage is fixed?" No, that's too simple, right? If it was just that, couldn't White already do it? "What were you trying to do there anyway? If D sent someone to stop you it must have been pretty important."
White	White says "Close enough." when Audrey summarizes the way Ruler Skills work, and that seems to be a close enough approximation not to warrant fixating on it longer. The other topic is a bit more substantive, after all, and White has to slowly shake her head again. "Getting into the Core... Isn't hard. For you, or me, at least. Spatial magic within the System... Is bounded, to prevent... Non-administrators from accidentally... Finding things they shouldn't. The Core isn't... Protected from gods, or outsiders. My old body was... Instantly destroyed, anyway. There is nothing... To get back. And healing from the attack... Might take me years. Or longer." It still sounds like she's frustrated, if faintly so, by that admission. It's hard to accept when you were so close to the finish line, and now you can't even make another attempt... Not in the same way, at least. "... I was trying to destroy the System. Someone with... Full Administrator access, can... Alter or shut down the System, and the... Ruler keys grant Administrator status, when brought together. Because D wants to see... If anyone could ever make that happen. Because it would be interesting. I was trying to... Skip past gathering the rest... Of the keys. Because some of the Rulers will never... Cooperate, and some others I'm trying not to kill. But..." She pauses especially long now, but her mouth is slightly ajar, like she's reluctant to begin the sentence that follows. There are a few different things she could say, really, but either she's especially frustrated about them, or they might be something she's worried may be better left unsaid.
Audrey Basque	"Oh." What do you even say to that? Permanent soul damage. That's horrifying. "Sorry. If it's a difficult topic, we can talk about something else. I wouldn't want to have made you come all the way here to do nothing but recount painful memories." And yet the way White leaves that 'but' hanging begs for a guess. "But... you're not sure if you can avoid it anymore? If that's it, I guess I get it. Much more unimportantly, mind you... my stakes are school and friendships, yours are ending a system designed by a cruel goddess. Kind of... incomparable, really. But I think I understand that feeling of standing on a cliff, and the only way forward being to take the leap and hope for the best." Audrey finishes her tea, putting the cup back down and looking at it pensively for a moment, before returning her gaze to White and wondering aloud: "Is destroying the System really the only way though? What if you could like... lock D out of it? And then make it better? Fix its problems. I-I mean... I'm sure you've thought about it before, so..." Almost in shame, she lowers he head. "Sorry. Just curious I guess. We ah... we can go upstairs to the lab, if you want. All the Stars are there. Well, not the Nascent Star, that one's in the basement, but the other three."
White	White's demeanor seems to shift slightly when Audrey attempts to give her a way out of the topic. She seems to abruptly remember she was holding food, stuffs that (still rather small) morsel into her mouth, and uses the time it takes her to chew and swallow in order to brace herself, along with a near-silent breath. That wasn't quite enough, so she picks up her cup of tea (thus far untouched) and drinks it in one slow, steady, long sip. Okay. All better. She's normal again. It'd be strange for her to come here to be a mentor, only to get pity from Audrey, so even if she's going to talk about things that make her irritated she wants to appear as mature as she's trying to act. Especially because Audrey, being the smart cookie that she is, has inadvertently tripped right over something White was just wavering about. "... I hadn't considered that... Until recently." she starts, letting her eyes shut so that there's one less aspect of her presentation to think about, in favor of what she's saying. "After the meeting I held... With Miss Lilian, Miss Petra, Miss Rita, Mister Sougo... And so on... I did think of another idea. Because... I absolutely have to free Sariel... From the Core. It's the reason I'm doing this... Not to save the world, exactly. But... Sariel won't be happy with me, or with the Demon Lord. I don't want to die... And I don't want to kill the Demon Lord's mom." She gestures at the image of the System Core, or more particularly at the catatonic woman at the center of it, seemingly being used as a living component. "... Miss Lilian wants to find a way... To beat D. I'd love if we could kill her... But I know that we can't. But I can't say that to her... Unless I think of something better. I thought of something, but I'm not sure it's better. I really don't like it. Because I'd be... Asking D for a favor... Making a deal. I might be the only one... Who knows what will keep her... Entertained." Despite her best efforts to be forthright and firm in tone, there's an uncharacteristic tension in her fingers. Then, she turns her head toward Audrey, her eyes still shut. "... Neither of us like... Being forced into 'what we're meant to do'. Right?"
Audrey Basque	"So you want to free her, but she'll be mad at you and Ariel... and she's Ariel's mother?" This is getting intense. And she'll be mad enough to fight them? To try and kill them? The numerous mentions of Lilian are enough to make Audrey sour, just a bit, a tiny bit, but she tries to stay focused on the task as she gets up, wincing thanks to her stomach, beckoning White to follow so they can walk and talk, rather than just talk. "If Miss Rook thinks there's a way to beat her, then there probably is. It might not be easy to find, but I wouldn't give up too quickly. So... don't be too hasty to let yourself get forced into a deal because you feel you have to... yeah." Well, Audrey might be the person with the least room to talk. She leads White up the stairs; they're straight, up, fancy and regal, carpeted, like stairs leading up to a throne room, though the way they're placed, they shouldn't be standing in the tower anymore. They lead up into a large empty room, and Audrey heads for the next set of stairs, like a perpetual loop of going up the left wall and coming out the right wall a floor above somehow. She should've had an elevator built, until she figures things out. "What's the deal, though? Are you thinking a way to avoid having to fight her at all, or some kind of... deal that weakens her?"
White	White stands along with Audrey, following along where she leads. Her own hands fold together in front of her, and as she listens to Audrey she tries to take in the sights, remembering Audrey including her dominion over a portion of ancient China among the aspirations she shared at the contest previously, and connecting it to the sight of the decor, even if there's no actual throne awaiting at the top of those stairs. "Sariel was Ariel's adoptive mother. But... She's also a god. And her mission was... To protect humanity. And to prolong their existence." is her first answer, and she lets Audrey draw her own conclusions on the rest of that subject. White pauses a moment at one point to inspect the carpet along the way, examining how it was made briefly before catching up to Audrey in a couple of brisk hops. "I have been waiting for... Something to help me be sure. Before I make a choice." she says, in agreement that choosing hastily is foolish. But all the same, it does feel like the pressure of having to make a choice sooner rather than later has begun to get to her. In some ways, having multiple options is more dreadful than just having one. But, she does elaborate. "... I think that it's possible... To convince D to hand over her... Upper Administrator privileges willingly. But... I can think of a few prices she might want... In return. And it would depend... On keeping her entertained. In ways she can't get... When she's writing her own story."
Audrey Basque	"Ah... yeah... that's..." Audrey hms. "And do you think Sariel will be less... hostile, if instead of destroying the entire thing you secure those admin rights to it instead? It almost sounds like a way to make sure everyone wins... even D..." Which means it's going to be hard, to have a catch. Or both. That's how those stories always go. A few more empty rooms, and a few more sets of stairs, and Audrey and White reach the top floor. The room is massive, circular, with a domed ceiling that is, also, just the night sky. There are large windows along the walls, that blend almost invisibly in the dark blue and gold lining when closed (as they are now). A few lamps, like arcane crystals, currently bright enough to be as day. In the center of the room, the Pole Star has been affixed to the floor, the huge armillary sphere covered in small post-its with scribblings by Audrey on them, usually identifying each of the individual rings in it. Most are marked with numbers, but a few with 'do not touch' 'this means you Petra' 'seriously you'll kill us both' 'this one might make the tower implode idk' 'doesn't do anything???' 'possibly broken' 'makes the room spin like a gravitron'. One just says 'ok then'. There's bookcases, full of assorted volumes and references on astrology, astronomy, physics... The Guiding Star is on a small table, gathering dust. The Spinning Star is next to it. There's some papers on the ground, here and there; notes and scribbles by Audrey that the wind might have blown off the table. "Sorry, it's... I forgot to clean up. This is my... lab? Observatory? Something like that." She gestures up, at the ceiling, prompting it to focus on a red giant star and zoom in like an expensive telescope. "Much handier than bulky equipment. Oh, but, sorry-- about D." Audrey stops, crossing her arms thoughtfully. "Why not just... expose her to the Multiverse? If she's after thrills and entertainment, it's kind of... I mean what more could you want than infinity? What prices do you think she'd ask you, though?" It sounds like it'd be bad ones.
White	White reluctantly shakes her head, as she's following into the lab. "... She will just un-rescue herself, then. And remove all of the... Ways to free her again." she says with a grim certainty. It's hard to deal with people that dead-set on self-sacrifice... But, exploring around the lab is a momentary, pleasant diversion. She can skim the top lines of various note-sheets and retrieve them from the floor in clusters, stacking them together by category where relevant and placing them on the table again. She's not cleaning up that whole mess, just sparing Audrey of having to match some of the multi-page notes to their correct piles again. "It's alright." she softly assures. "It's your space." The topic sliding back onto D, though, has her dividing focus between the Stars, the notes strewn around, and Audrey herself, while White tries to politely step around the rest of the papers on the floor to avoid damaging them. "... I've wondered about that too. But... If I could escape this far, D could too. But she hasn't. So... Something must be stopping her. Maybe she really is... The 'Manager of the Underworld'... Like she claimed. Meido keeps... Dragging her back when... She escapes from work, after all." The prices, though, warrant their own pause to organize her thoughts more neatly. It takes her a few moments, though she seems to be counting up on her fingers as she makes the list in her head. "She might want... To make someone else into... The core. Or, she might... Expect the new administrator... To keep starting new wars. Like the one between... Humans and demons, now. She might expect me to... Become her new underling, like Meido. Or she might expect me... To bridge the gap. Between our universe, and the multiverse. By doing things out here... To bring the stories back to her. Those feel the most likely." She then lowers her fingers again, and more quietly notes, "... I can compensate for... Some of those. In the right circumstances."
Audrey Basque	"O-Oh, you don't have to-- t-thanks," Audrey responds, at the sight of White picking up some of the loose papers. She's a lot tidier than this normally!! But she's never had a room in a tall tower... on a floating island... and she left the windows open, and... well anyway, it's a learning experience. It's why the windows are shut now! "Still... that sounds... like there's no easy solution. I don't know what I'd do in your place. I don't think I'd be able to even make a choice, in your place." She can't even make a choice in her own place. "Would that be so bad? Finding a way to let her leave and explore? If it means your world can be fixed how you want to, and doesn't have to deal with wars being started for funsies?" Audrey ponders the implications. Letting someone like D out there... she might mess other worlds up. White's would be fine, though. Sometimes the selfish choice is the safe one." Audrey lets out a deep sigh, plopping down onto the ground to sit cross-legged by some of the scattered pages to pick them slowly. "I feel like I barely know enough about you and your world to make any kind of call and it's already enough to paralyze. D's an entire problem and a half but then even if you sort her out you still need a solution for Sariel... is there even one? Like... is there a way to separate her from the Core, without her being hostile, and without her going all... self-sacrifice crazy?"
White	White doesn't bother responding to the bashfulness around picking up papers; it's just something for her to do with her hands! It's easy, and helps her feel a little better. "It's a pain. I want as little to do... With D as I can. I already... Know her better than... I'd like to." It's not every day she just complains for complaining's sake, but what else is there to do when you feel stuck? "... As far as I'm able to tell... The powers of gods, at least... Above a certain level of power... Are restricted, outside of their territory. But if D is... More like me, and doesn't count..." White muses, trailing off somewhat. "... I don't want to be responsible... For whatever she does. I want to be able to... Have at least a little peace... Once Ariel is satisfied." She follows Audrey's lead again, though, sitting down sideways on her hip while delicately picking up papers, like they're playing pick-up-sticks together or something. She doesn't plan on saying anything about the mundanity if Audrey won't! "... My best hope is... To prove to her that more humans... Live longer, our way, than by making... The System continue to exist. If I can reduce the wasted energy... Or restore some of the souls too... Weary to reincarnate, she might... Flip to support me, instead. But..." She makes a bit of a terse face, her lips pursed a little like she's imagining something uncomfortable. "... She's probably going to be... Too busy beating me up to hear the plan... If she's able to move at all. I wonder... If I should let her get closer to death... First."
Audrey Basque	"I don't blame you," Audrey responds, regarding D. "She sounds like a problem. I guess unleashing her on the Multiverse would just be shifting where the problems to fix are, true, but... I-I mean, it's... an option to keep in the cards, at least." She's definitely a bit embarrassed that White is having to help her pick up her notes, but at the same time, not about to complain. It lightens the mood. "So you just need to prove to her that you've fixed things... there's no time limit, right? Once we sort out D, if it takes months... years, to fix everything to make Sariel happy, do we have that luxury?" But she might not even listen? "I wonder if between all of us we have enough firepower to pin her down. We don't necessarily need her "closer to death" if we can immobilize her. I-I wonder... if Petra's..." Audrey distractedly looks up at the ceiling, prompting it to focus out and zoom onto the Beauty of Ash constellation instead. "I'll... get back to you on something. Petra has this... thing, on the Beauty of Ash. It's not a weapon, it's kind of... I can't describe it. But it's the kind of thing that could force someone to listen. To connect." She was planning to have Petra try it on her again anyway, so... that might be a good time to ask.
White	White nods along in her usual way at first, neatly but lazily organizing what she picks up, mostly by using tiny sticky-web stitches to stick related papers together like someone might normally use staples. But, unfortunately, she's back to shaking her head before long. "... There's no 'fixing' everything that went wrong. People will still be dead. The world still regressed. And we don't have forever. The planet is dying, after all." It's a really, really bad prognosis, even if the end isn't slated for the short-term, immediate future. "... It isn't impossible that... She could be restrained. But I want things to go as smoothly... As possible. For Ariel's sake. She's a... Combat specialist, too, apparently. So I don't want to... Underestimate her. Even if she's weakened." She follows the gaze upward, and finally admits, "... I've been hoping Miss Petra might... Know things I don't. I don't plan to... Rely fully on that, but... It is one of several things I am... Hoping will pan out. All the same... The keys have to come first." She then places emphasis on clarifying, "Without the keys, even... Making a deal with D might not... Go anywhere. The terms, and the odds... Are better if she believes... Her game will 'end' otherwise." "... I'd like if someone... Could convince Guliguli away from fighting us... Too. But I'm not sure... That I've found the right person for that, yet. At least, if we can... Convince Sariel, and free her before... Having to kill Guliguli... She would be able to do it." She of course hasn't mentioned 'Guliguli' to Audrey, or much at all so far, and it takes her a minute to realize that. "Ah. Guli-" she starts, then pauses, rolling her jaw before making the illusory recreation of the name 'Guliedistodiez' appear over her palm. It's hard to pronounce! "... He's the lower administrator. And a dragon god. But he hates D."
Audrey Basque	"Well, if not fixing, at least... make better. Make "acceptable to Sariel". That'd already be a big win, right?" She's out of her depth, but she's doing her best. "We'll... well, I'm sure everyone is doing their best to help. I will, of course, too. I just hope you'll forgive if I have... a million questions. But few left for today, because... well, actually, I was hoping we might dedicated some time to... I'd like to see how your teleportation works, where I can observe carefully." Still, she returns to the topic at hand, for now. "Y-Yeah. Petra's full of surprises. Ha... I'd be... I don't know where I'd be right now if I didn't meet her the night I formally joined the Concord. That was... I'm not really a fate person, despite being an astrologer-- I see outcomes, not certainties. But... that had to be fate, if there's such a thing." White's right about the keys though. "In the... unlikely event, that some of these Rulers can't be convinced to cooperate... is there a way to extract the key from them? Or even... replicate them? Enough to trick the Core?" And then, Guliguli. She looks at the name White projects and nods. "Oh. A dragon name. That's why it's hard. And he's her underling, basically? He hates her... but not enough to work with us? So suddenly, Sariel's even higher on the priority list. Geez." Yeah, no wonder White's so conflicted.
White	White softly answers, "I'll just have to... Keep doing what I can too. Thank you, Miss Audrey." She doesn't seem put out by the questions, but she does flutter her eyes back open in what might be surprise, before letting them drift closed again. "... I apologize. I forgot why... I came to visit, it seems." Now that she's reminded, she stands up from gathering papers, brushes off her dress with her fingertips, and gestures over the tabletop; all of the papers remaining on the floor are rapidly designated for teleportation, given their own identifier and unique destination, and after a second or two... Vwip! It's not a single mass-teleportation, but a large sequence of individual ones in quick succession, placing each sheet of paper either by itself on the tabletop or in a neat stack with those that match its category or topic. The edges are even aligned! But, that wasn't a deliberate demonstration exactly, just her speeding along the minor chore. She quickly (by her standards anyway) tries to knock out Audrey's other questions, like she's in a rush to make good on the younger(?) woman's curiosity. "I've... Tried reaching out to others for that purpose. If we can capture the Hero's Party... I am hoping to find a way... For Miss Angela's power to bypass their reluctance. We confirmed that... she can make Pages that imitate... The Ruler Titles, and produce their Keys... But it is unclear how... Functional the keys are, yet. The other issue is Dustin... Whose Ruler skill makes him reincarnate, taking his key with him. But... It should be possible to ensure he dies permanently... With the help of someone like Miss Rita. Probably." Did she really need to add that last word? "... Guliguli thinks he's... Honoring Sariel's memory. He's given up... On saving her. He was actually... Working indirectly with our army... To wipe out Potimas. But in the event we have to... War directly with humans again, such as to secure the Labyrinth, where... The System Core is hidden... He will turn on us." Then, she pauses to lay a hand over her chest, as if miming out a 'phew!'-style catching of breath. "... I am glad you want to know. But, I don't want to disappoint you... For what you were hoping for, today. How can I... Help?"
Audrey Basque	Audrey blinks, watching the rapid succession of teleportations like a hawk. It's not entirely what she was hoping to see, but it's a lot of information in a short amount of time, in a room she's set up to be so spatially inert (under normal circumstances) that the slightest change is noticeable. It's the perfect study for her. She needs to make a room that's the opposite, at some point; so spatially noisy she can't feel anything. For science. "I bet Angela's pages would be great for that. Then it'd be as easy as handing them out. Ah... I see have the Petra pages she handed me, come to think of it." She dreads those, though. Rita... everytime she comes up it's either reverence or terror. What a person she must be. "Thank you for filling me in. Ah... it's really easy, actually, but... since what I'm having trouble doing is locking onto coordinates I can't see... I was hoping you might be willing to teleport to and from the bottom of the tower for me, to this room. Then a bit further out, say... the surface, below the island, then back here. And then... if that's not too much, from another world completely, back to here. It won't... it's not going to magically teach me how to do it, but if I can get a good feel for how you do it, I might at least be able to consider my own options better." She ohs, realizing they left the meat and cheese downstairs too. "And then, we can go finish that food if you're still hungry, and talk if there's anything I could do for you in return."