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Ashurel Cloudbank     There was no grand or evil genius plan to this operation. Most of Ashurel's pitch to Anne had been 'We can kill this white mage, I take the body, you take the soul'. Ashurel wanted the body, of course, for Kyra's Wild Magic capabilities. Anne can use souls for powerful golems. It's just smart business since their goals can be mutually exclusive. Plus, there was an optional mercenary whose own job postings would let her work for just information from both Anne and Ashurel's experiments.

    So today the plan will be executed.

    The three conspirators were all hanging out in Urbania. Ashurel was dressed in 'disguise', though lazily so at best since her face was not well known to the Union. Mostly she looked like a normal woman, wearing jeans and sneakers with a leather book bag over her shoulder and a tome inside, "Hokay. Some gentlemen I paid said she is relaxing here on a day off or some such. There may be some collateral damage, but she will not expect it and you cannot forge the future of academics without breaking a few eggs, so to speak!"
Kyra Hyral Ashurel's intel from That Guy was correct. Kyra's been hanging around Urbania pretty much all day long, in fact, bouncing from club to crowded club. Apparently she actually got some DJ gigs on her day off and has been entertaining for the last few hours. It was probably not a good opportunity for the witch, wizard, and mercenary to breach those super crowded clubs with the ground-shaking beats of mogstep for this operation. Their patience will eventually pay off, however.

    After this day of fun, Kyra has decided to close it off with some ice cream. She sits in one of the stores, actually not having ordered anything as of yet. In fact, she seems to be waiting for someone, occupying herself with her mPhone as she waits.
Anne Blakely     Blakely is here of course, but she's not in quite the same location. She's holding the hand of a small boy... probably. His face is hooded, but he certainly moves like a small boy, not like a doll. They're taking the opportunity to wander about, taking in the sights. Anne is rather bored, but the 'boy' with her keeps pausing and murmuring something to her, which she has to answer with a tolerant note.

    She also isn't disguised, but then again she isn't with a giant clockwork monstrosity either... is she? She glances up when the boy notes the ice cream shop, but she waits for Ashurel to move... so she can back up the wizard.
Stygian Mirror     'Will do whatever you want for information." tends to go a long way. For someone like Ashurel or Anne that functionally means they have enough resources to hire a certain Exalted for more operations than she'll likely be alive* for. That's a very long time.

    * You know, for a given value of alive. Abyssal and all.

    A disguise doesn't work well for her, as her Lunar Tells functionally scream at anyone who looks at her. Even a heavy cloak, like she has right now, still can't conceal the fox ears and the cat's tail very well. She recognizes Kyra-- someone she'd had to harm for very poor reasons in the past, and had made a vague apology to, but it seems like she'll owe her another after this.

    For now, she stands back, idling behind Ashurel.
Ashurel Cloudbank     "Alright. Let's see here."

    Ashurel approaches Kyra carefully, "Oh! Miss! Excuse me!" She waves her hand several times and makes the few steps towards Kyra, "Are you THE DJ D3adM0g? I used to follow your streams and music when you put them up on the internet. I have some friends who are huge fans, if you're really her."

    She seems cheerful enough, adjusting her stance a bit, "It's a shame you started streaming less after Lute attacked you, for security reasons. He made a big mistake for everyone by doing that."
Kyra Hyral For a few moments, Kyra doesn't actually respond to Ashurel. Then she sees the woman waving her hand around and sits up a bit straighter. She brushes her hood back, revealing that she had headphones underneath-the expensive looking Beats-like kind. "Huh, what?" she asks, then once Ashurel has repeated herself, she smiles a little wider. "Yep! That's me alright, did you see me at one of my shows today? I still stream stuff though. Sometimes."

    She glances to her phone, "I've actually been real busy with school so I haven't done much of the travel stuff. But you're right."

    She smiles a little wider. "Lute made a big mistake. So he got run over by a train. What's your name?"
Anne Blakely     Anne hangs back for a little bit, just meandering toward the store. She's not really one to enjoy direct conflict. But the 'boy' with her is already shuffling in, making a faint ticking noise that might worry some.

    His voice is rather reasonable though! "Lute? Sounds like he was training hard!" A cheerful voice, though not one that is paying much attention to the dialogue. Hopping up into a seat, seeing under his hood is a little easier. Elaborate combinations of materials, namely wood and gold and steel, to make a surprisingly expressive mouth.
Stygian Mirror     Anne's clockwork boy is creepy.

    Mirror refrains from approaching, though. Kyra'd probably recognize her immediatly-- or maybe not, she's not sure what sort of impression she even made on the mage. She doesn't know who this Lute guy is, but doesn't question the naming scheme. A god of music, perhaps? It sounds like he got run over by a train, anyway.

    What's a DJ, though? And streaming?
Ashurel Cloudbank     "Oh. My name is," She pauses only momentarily, "Nome. Nome Dayplum."

    She reaches out a hand towards Kyra and then snaps her fingers. There's a faint flicker of light and magic before a 'Dispel Magic' spell tries to hit the girl's phone and disable her communications to the outside world (unless Kyra, resourceful pseudo-guerilla she is, carries a backup radio).

    "I was hoping you would volunteer to be a research subject in some clinical trials my associates and I are running about non-standard magical attributes."
Kyra Hyral Kyra looks to the little boy, double taking at what little she can see peeking out from under the hood. Well, a robot maybe? They're not uncommon, "That was a really bad pun. If I didn't know any better, I'd accuse you of being Kilik, kiddo."

    At Ashurel: "...Nome Dayplum?" Kyra frowns, eyes narrowing just slightly, "Huh, interesting name, it sounds...hmm, what's the word...uh...French?" She reaches over to shake that hand, though not without a bit of wariness. Something felt a little off now and the last time that happened, an assassin droid nearly electrocuted her to death.

    Though this might be even worse as the circuits of her mPhone are disrupted by the Dispel Magic-a spell Kyra is pretty familiar with on account of being able to cast it herself. She does, in fact, keep a backup radio that does not run on her MP for just this reason, but she doesn't reach for it right yet. Instead she stands, angry, "What the hell was that for!?" she scoops her mPhone up off the table, cradling it to her like a wounded animal.

    "You know, normally I'd be /all/ for the advancement of science but considering you just /wrecked my phone/, I have some serious ethical questions about this research." Angrily, she shoves her phone in the front pockets of her hoodie and grumpily keeps her hands there.
Anne Blakely     The boy 'chuckles' in a strange synthetic way, and the glassy eyes peek out as he leans in. "Are you sure this is her? She seems a little irate about things. Well, it's your music, not mine. Kids and their new rock and roll." He makes a clicking noise that seems to translate into a huff.

    Anne finally joins now, with a glance to Mirror where the Abyssal waits. She slips into the shop and actually heads to order something, but not without tsking, "Please control yourself, Master Gepetto. Times have changed. Good evening, Miss." Said on the way past. And also to not so subtly work on surrounding Kyra.
Stygian Mirror     Whatever Ashurel just did, Mirror guesses, wasn't meant to be taken so poorly by Kyra. The Abyssal rises from her seat, lowering her hood and stopping not far from Kyra, directly opposite Anne, such that with Ashurel they're more or less keeping the white mage in a triangle pattern. Or is it a square with the clockwork boy? He didn't seem sturdy, but she's seen what Anne can do, and it'd be a mistake to judge a construct on its size alone.

    If she exchanges a glance with Kyra at all, it probably tries to say very hard 'sorry, not my decision'. "Yo. White Mage, right? How's, uh... that fiery and energetic red-clad friend of yours. The shouty one. Blonde."
Ashurel Cloudbank     "Ah, I will cut right to the chase, then." She smiles widely, "I need you to either viable reproduce your aberrant magical malfunction under laboratory conditions for academic study, or I need you to donate your body to the advancement of Magical Science and allow us the chance for an autopsy to determine its origin."

    "Now I know this is a lot to ask. But please, do consider the weight of one life against the academic advancement of an entire field. You would join the illustrious ranks of Madame Curie, Karl Scheere and Elizabeth Ascheim."

    She clasps her hands together, "I am hoping you will make this an easy process and acquiesce. It will certainly make it easier for myself and my associates."
Kyra Hyral "So that's what this is about. The Wild Magic that I bet you saw in that one recording with Lute." Kyra immediately grows guarded, looking at the construct, then Anne as she casually strolls in. There is some recognition-Anne was a bit of a notorious figure in the magical girl circles of the Union. While, from a strict definition, Kyra wasn't a magical girl she certainly operated with them often enough. The Abyssal she doesn't recognize at first until she brings up Nero.

    That's right, the two fought. She was a mercenary and likely an enemy for now. She seemed pretty aware of those here coming to corral her and starts to move, trying to edge her way between Ashurel and Anne, away from the construct, away from the Abyssal.

    "I want to know precisely the cause as much as you do, in fact, and I would need to be alive to find out. Surely we cannot work out some kind of /collaboration/ on this matter? I can reproduce the effect if I am given enough time-my control has become a lot better in the last year."

    The other customers in the shop all move to hastily leave, especially as Kyra removes one of her hands from the front pocket of her hoodie to reveal that she's holding one of her guns. "Now let's be reasonable. I am open to negotiations but I am /not/ open to dying."
Anne Blakely     "Technically..." Anne murmurs as she turns around. "You wouldn't be dead, you just wouldn't have the same body. That isn't exactly what we're talking about. Of course, your body wouldn't really be usable, but I am very good at coming up with replacements, as Master Gepetto can attest."

    The clockwork boy hops up onto the chair, letting the hood fall back, and does a very elaborate bow. This body is /extremely/ supple, moreso than the ones Mirror has seen before. "At your service. She's quite correct, and she can even make it so it doesn't hurt. Trust me, I taught her everything she knows about making bodies. She's gotten very good at it."
Stygian Mirror     Kyra, immediatly offering an interesting deal.

    Mirror listens to Ashurel and Anne make their case, and the boy who seemingly introduces himself as Anne's teacher earns a bit of a stare. That was unexpected in more ways than one. Sadly it's not the time and place to be incredulous about it and ask weird questions.

    Rather than that, Mirror instead opts to give Kyra a bit of backing there, because despite being an Abyssal, she's got nothing against peaceful resolutions. "It might not be a bad idea to take her up on it. It sounds like she wants to learn as much as you do about it, and having her cooperating'll make studying and experimenting a lot easier. I think not harming her is a small price to pay, isn't it? For what you stand to gain?"
Ashurel Cloudbank     "Hmmm... a very interesting proposition," The woman considers as she shifts her stance, a hand falling to her hip when Kyra makes a bold counter-offer and seems to double-down despite being surrounded by three people who may mean her harm. Ashurel considers the point for a few moments and then taps her foot, "You'd willingly submit to tests and studies? Understand that some may be quite painful."

    She seems to consider it a few moments longer. If nothing else, Ashurel can respect the moxy of being under threat and shrewdly trying to negotiate a fair deal nonetheless, "I am not opposed to the idea. From an academic standpoint, it is easier to study a willing subject than to spend untold hours dissecting a cadaver. BUT." She raises a finger, "This is not wholly my decision to make and I do not hold a strong desire to burn bridges, so to speak."

    She looks over towards Anne and the clockwork boy, "Do you believe your research could benefit from this arrangement as well? I had promised you certain goods, I do not wish for you to leave assisting me with empty hands. That would be a truly poor display of teamwork on my part."
Kyra Hyral "As in, my soul would be extracted from my body and placed in a vessel I don't have any guarentee of control over?" Kyra points out, looking to Gepetto, enraptured by the way he looks, yet at the same time, recognizing that he was a construct. "Unfortunately, existing as a soul in another body wouldn't be very good for me...I don't think. This is an area of research not present in Galianda due to the ethical issues surrounding it but the current theory is that the pattern is attached to the body while the soul is the harbor of the magic particles. Divorced, I'd lose access to my Job abilities."

    Yeah, she seems EXTREMELY uncomfortable at the thought of being turned into a clockwork beast.

    She gestures wildly to Mirror for a moment with her other hand, which has nothing in it as she slides it out of the hoodie pocket. "See, she has the right idea! We are both researchers. Scientists, seeking knowledge, pushing for breakthroughs."

    Seems she really is going to try and negotiate her way out of this one before trying to fight her way out of a four on one battle. Though it could be two or one, should Kyra let slip one of the command seals on her left hand. "I would be willing to submit to tests and studies, yes, even painful ones. I am a white mage, pain is my life." she pauses at the BUT, looking to Anne as well.
Anne Blakely     It's Gepetto who speaks first, "Well, we were promised one out of this. It's useful for Miss Blakely here. Not so much for me. I only crafted dolls in life, I didn't animate them." He plops down on the table and casually swings his legs, though the pants make it hard to tell how the joints are. "Seems like she'd be left in the cold."

    Anne tsks, tapping her chin. "Master Gepetto is right. And thanks to Union intervention, I've lost a few of my more effective sources. Still..." She tilts her head. "I'm not in a hurry either. I've mostly lost the sorts who fight for me, and a healer wouldn't be a good replacement anyway. I'm curious what effect you might have... but I'm equally curious about your abilities. It works for me either way, so if you have no desire to take her, I certainly won't force the issue, Miss Dayplum."
Stygian Mirror     "If it's a soul you want, I can provide a target. A warlord's been making moves on my lord's territory and he's most displeased. A tyrant, cruel, cold, everything someone good would want to end. And rumors say, he's some manner of Exalted, but you know how these accounts go. No witnesses, just rumors of the few times he took to the battlefield himself."

    Mirror eyes Kyra, for a moment.

    "Maybe in exchange for not having to supply her own soul for study she can bring a few friends and help us take the guy out. I should warn you, though, it's said Exaltations detach from the human soul at the time of death. You'll need a way to catch it. But I think that should cover your loss and then some?"

    She eyes Kyra and Anne, to see if the idea flies.
Ashurel Cloudbank     Anne gets smiles all around, "Miss Blakely, you have my word that I will help you acquire a combat-capable soul the next time you need one in exchange for your help both in this study and in our efforts tonight. I am greatly appreciative of your flexibility and understanding."

    Ashurel bounds on her feet again, "Wow. This turned out much better than I expected. Speaking honestly, I thought I was going to have to kill you. I had even planned accordingly. I had to pay my respects to your ingenuity, realism, and practicality, young lady." Ashurel wags her finger, "People should keep an eye on you. You're a go-getter."

    She smiles, "We'll all trade contact information and get in touch for future study and collaboration."
Kyra Hyral Kyra lets out a low and slow breath. "It's true, I doubt I would be very good combative replacement." And also as some kind of clockwork at Anne's beck and call, it sounded like, which was definitely not okay with Kyra. "Unless you-er, nevermind. An Exalted is strong, it'd make a much better target. Again, miss mirror is certainly on the right track and I'm sure I know a few people that would help take down this tyrant, myself included." She then murmurs something about 'honoring her patron.'

    Kyra slowly puts her gun away, "I'm super glad we could come to a reasonable agreement about all of this. I really look forward to what we can discover about the Wild Magic." She reaches into her backpack, which is shaped like an ADORABLE MOOGLE, and pulls out her second non-Galianda phone.

    "Alright, so my phone number is as follows..." Kyra rattles off a few numbers, "You're a lot more reasonable than a lot of others I've run into in the multiverse. I'm glad we could reach an agreement-most people just opt to try to kill the healer."
Anne Blakely     "Hah! Blakely wouldn't be the woman she is today if she hadn't saved the life of-" Gepetto starts to rattle something off, but he halts suddenly at a frigid clare from Anne. Literally frigid, as the temperature drops a few degrees in the already chilly ice cream parlor.

    Anne steps in front of the doll-boy and replies coolly, "I like to think of myself as reasonable. I'm a saleswoman and scientist, not a mindless killer. I look forward to seeing what we can learn."

    Then, to Mirror, she claps her hands, "And I would like to see what happens with that. I'll have to bring out Rupert."