Scene #7457: An Ambitious Gathering

Owner	Pose
Brooklynn Bailey	Brooklynn invited people over for a discussion over their various goals, and how might they help each other achieve them. The where, however, was Brooklynn's home. The town itself, well more like a large city, is in the ruins of New York City, or at least a version of it. From the portal, one can see the blown-out ruins of the main city off in the distance. The city itself is walled off in places, more towards the city proper, but there are a few walls here and there to properly defend it from, presumably, attackers. The walls themselves are makeshift and made out of anything that could be scavenged. The houses are much like the walls themselves. Sometimes a nice house is renovated, but often than not houses are just more like shantytowns. Brooklynn's house is one of the nice ones. Nice for a given definition, of course, it is a house, with four walls and a roof. There are some patchwork places, obviously to repair the damage done to it. The lawn has been torn out and replaced by a makeshift garden. Well failures of a garden. It looks more like a botany experiment than an actual garden. Needless to say, it's not looking very successful. There is power, electricity appears to be a thing still somehow going for these people, they have probably secured a plant and directed it for their personal use. Brooklynn greets people at the door and lets them in. There is a dining room table set up, and water set up for everyone to have a nice cold drink. "Well, thanks for coming, it ain't much, but it's at least home."
Utsuho Reiuji	Utsuho Reiuji has been to very few large cities, even since she's come to the Multiverse, and she wanted to see the ruins of this one. But she realized to actually go looking would make her late, and so she just used a slightly loopy flight path that took her over a bit more of Brooklynn's home town than she otherwise would have. It's okay. She flies fast. Though there may have been some slight worry about what appeared to be a thruster-powered bird girl far overhead, she didn't do anything but look from the sky until she descended, like a small comet, toward Brooklynn's house. Utsuho lands on the street, dusts herself off, and walks up. She does not need to knock. It would have been pretty hard to miss her if you had eyes and looked up occasionally. "Hi!" she says, brightly, when Brooklynn opens the door. "I don't know, you have your own house. I live in a palace, but it's not mine and I haven't been back in a while, anyway." A moment's pause. "Though I guess a lot of this place is falling down..." She means the whole city, not Brooklynn's house.
Cantio	Once she gets the confirmation from Brooklynn about a picture in her home, Cantio starts psyching herself up. She's not too far from the designated location for today's meeting, but she hasn't really had an opportunity to make a proper entrance with what she's gained semi-recently. That's why, instead of just coming in through the front door even though she can hear and see Utsuho just down the street, Cantio opts for something a little different. There's two drones on the ground with a screen on it. Cantio sends one over to the front door as it floats at head level, takes a deep breath, then she steps into the screen of the one next to her to being the arduous process of trying to actually fit herself into it. Although the drones are left intact and undamaged through the whole process, it's a lot harder than she had expected and not elegant in the slightest as she starts coming out of the screen on the drone by the door, grunting and fidgeting uncomfortably to try and force a person-sized person out of a not-person sized screen. By the time she finishes coming out of the screen, Cantio already looks tired. "H... Hi there. That... I was hoping it'd be more impressive than... That." She admits with sagging shoulders, unable to maintain eye contact at first. Once she gets her bearings straight, though, she perks up a bit as she reaches into a shimmering pixelated space to pull out a bag of pudding cups and tiny little spoons. "Oh. Um. I brought snacks!"
Brooklynn Bailey	Utsuho will notice that in the city ruins proper there are...things. The shapes vary, but there is an unmistakable /wrongness/ to them. They aren't sentient, but rather act on pure instinct according to whatever vice or virtue created it. Those created from Virtues tend to be more statue-like, rigid in their nature. Vices are more twisted, more monster-like in appearance. Brooklynn takes the comment about the town in stride, "Well, it's what we can scavenge. The main city itself is...well overran. We're not the only ones out there too, though we're the biggest," She comments, with a shrug. "Also a palace? Nice, I've only heard about them in stories." Cantio attempts to perform a COOL ENTRANCE (bro). Despite how it turns out, Brooklynn looks pretty impressed by the whole affair. Or she's good at faking it. "I thought it was pretty sway." Sitting down, and drinking some water she looks at the cup of pudding placed before her. She looks at it like it's a foreign object, picking it up and looking it over. She finally gets a bite after figuring out how the peel works. Her eyes widen in surprise at the taste. "Wow, that's tasty. Thanks!" A bit of embarrassment herself as she allowed herself to get sidetracked, and she speaks up after a cough.
Utsuho Reiuji	Utsuho certainly saw, but she didn't dive down and try to say hello, which is probably for the best. It might not have gone so well if she had... and she certainly would have been late for the meeting! "I saw some of the people in there," Utsuho says, "but I didn't get real close so I couldn't see more than... you know, that there were people there." She ducks in through the door, pulling her wings in so they don't bonk into anything. When the drone floats over, Utsuho looks at it, confused. That's not what Cantio looks like, so it must be Brooklynn's - except then Cantio pulls herself out of it. "Wow! How did you fit inside?" Utsuho attempts to pick up the drone whose screen she crawled out of, hold it screen-side down, and shake it to see if there is anything else in there, then stick her hand in. Which doesn't work since she just pokes the screen, but she tried. She releases the drone a few moments later. "Oh, snacks," she says, brightly. "I didn't bring anything. Was I supposed to? I have, um..." Utsuho doesn't exactly have pockets, so she can't see what she has stashed, because the answer is 'nothing'.
Cantio	"Sounds like we shouldn't be too loud unless we're looking to lure those things, then..." Cantio murmurs as she hears about the city being overrun, stroking her chin lightly while weighing her options. For now... Best not to push those things yet. Maybe when Brooklynn is ready. She does, however, perk up visibly when Brooklynn gives her those words of encouragement and when Utsuho asks about the fit. "It's actually a... Erm. A thing that I picked up from someone else. I'm hoping to replicate that with my homeland's technology one day, but that's still a ways off." She laughs lightly when Utsuho picks up the drone, the mechanical thing whirring a bit as the screen's display vibrates briefly at the poke, and a really janky looking face appears on it in response as if just staring at her. A-anyway... Um. Thank you for inviting us! I was hoping to touch base about some plans, actually... How far along are you two in figuring out what you want to do? I-I mean, if you've settled in with working in the Concord already."
Brooklynn Bailey	Brooklynn points towards Cantio, "She's got it. Those things are not people...not anymore. That's a long story in and of itself, but they used to be humans, but because of a magical accident, the world got really messed up. Happened when I was small. The city here, behind the walls, is safe. The people here won't hurt you, or they'll answer to me." "And you didn't have to bring anything. Though I have water if you want it, it's fresh," Brooklynn says. "As for plans I am all ears...but if you are curious about what /I/ am after...well I can get into that too." Brooklynn leans back a little in her chair. "The world. Specifically my world. It'd take a bit to push back and end the threat of the monsters out there, and subjugate the other people like myself...or bring them into my army." "Though the first step is taking this city and fortifying it. Uniting the area would be a big boon and step in that direction...and aid from the Concord is one of the reasons I joined, besides aligning idealogy."
Utsuho Reiuji	Utsuho makes a face at the face that shows up on the drone. She at least seems to understand that this is a machine, in that she doesn't try to hold a conversation with it - she goes back to talk to the others. "Well, I'd never fit through it!" It's hard for her to sit down the normal way (wings get in the way on chairs) so Utsuho spins the chair backwards and sits on it that way, arms resting on the back of the chair as she leans forward a little bit. "There are a lot of people that aren't humans, but I won't bother them anyway if they're not." Utsuho understands that some things that look like people aren't, after all. "The whole world?" Utsuho perks up. "I thought about taking over the world too, but I decided it might not help... also apparently the other me tried it and lost so now everybody's expecting it. But I get that! What about you?" She looks at Cantio, since Cantio brought up the overall topic. She has forgotten to take any of the water.
Cantio	"That's terrible... Is there a cure? I'd like to think they're not lost, but..." Cantio trails off, already expecting the worst case scenario after Brooklynn speaks of her own ambitions for this world instead. Instead, she gets some of that water, going as far as getting cups for both Brooklynn and Utsuho before getting a third for herself as if doing all this was second nature. "It sounds like we've got similar plans, then. I mean, I'm not planning on... Er. Subjugating the other nations of my home or anything like that. Warfare isn't really a... Thing we do since we're still all people from the same System.. Er. World, and there's only so many System Re..." She has to sotp herself and recalibrate several times to reword things without the dreaded Proper Nouns. "... Natural resource generators without looking for alternative methods in the Multiverse instead. I've been meaning to test a theory that gaining followers could generate that same power without having to rely on the one source back home, so that's why I'm working on securing an alliance with the demons from Mister Redgrave's, Vergil's, and Amii's world. With the aid of the demons there to subdue or subj... Convince the monsters appearing at home to stop being a threat, it should be much easier to expand my home's sphere of influence." Cantio turns to Utsuho. "That's where I was hoping to get your help in generating more power. Energy, even, since I know some worlds charge a great deal of money for basic utilities, and providing that for almost nothing to any citizens of Cadenza would be.. Um. It'd be a great way to get those followers, you know? And with that kind of power..." She turns to Brooklynn next. "It might even be possible to get more raw power to fix things around here. I mean, it's still a theory I haven't really... Er. Tested yet, but how's this all sound?"
Brooklynn Bailey	Brooklynn shakes her head at the question about the people out there. "The monsters there are too far gone. They are literally taken over by their virtue or vice, and nothing is left of them but that instinct. In fact, in a way, I am closer to what they are than a human. The difference is that I retained my sense of self..." There is something behind her eyes for a moment, a flash of a memory. "Oh, and Utsuho, I would avoid the broken tower-looking object. It's just over the horizon, but it's a hell zone. I've only been able to get within a mile of it, most humans can barely get within ten. I was sick for three days after I came back too," she explains. "I would like to avoid outright conflict too, but I know it's inevitable. Cleaning up the world and restoring it is something that needs to happen...and all of us with power have different views on that. Only one of us can come up on top." She takes the glass from Cantio with thanks and takes a good drink. "It's a theory worth testing, I think. My mercenaries and I can get behind this...and if better materials can be brought here then we can flesh out things a lot better. Also, followers? Like...a religion?"
Utsuho Reiuji	"Oh, I'm from Hell and I'm not a human anyway," Utsuho assures Brooklynn. "Maybe I can get close to it for you? It's worth trying, right? I mean, if there's anything you want from there." She looks like she's about to stand up as if to go there right now, but she sinks back down into the chair in a few moments when she realizes nobody else is likely to run off with her. That lasts a few seconds, before Cantio looks at her. "Right! That's what I know how to do, run a furnace. It makes heat for all the Underworld! And - I've got more power these days. So maybe I can do something else, too... but I did some thinking, and it might be hard to put in the furnace at home. We might have to build another, and that might take some work. And some stuff. Which I don't have, but maybe we can get?" Utsuho finally does reach for the water. As long as it's not glowing or something it's fine by her, fresh or not particularly fresh. "I think if you're strong you might have to fight," Utsuho says, a moment later. "But that's okay. If you have power, you can make things happen."
Cantio	"How sad... But I guess that makes things a little less complicated, then." Cantio sighs lightly as she takes a seat finally, all proper-like with her hands on the cup in her lap with her legs close and tight with barely even a hint of slouching. Hearing about the tower, she furrows her brow at what Brooklynn says of it. "Can it be destroyed? Or... Does it provide any kind of use? If so, Miss Utsuho and myself might have better luck getting near it." The topic of theoretical religion power, meanwhile, has Cantio furrowing her brow again. "I guess it wouldn't be too different from that, no. I don't know if it would actually grant me Re-uh. Power with enough numbers, but... W-well, that's just part of the experimentation process. If it doesn't work, then I'll have to look at other methods. It's actually why I've been looking at ways of disrupting infrastructure in smaller regions first." Her expression wavers briefly. "An area that's been destabilized will need someone to fix their problems, even if it's the person that caused them in the first place." She turns to Utsuho again, chuckling after a moment and chugging her own cup of water. "Building more furnaces where they're needed... Hm. That could be tricky to do on short notice, but it's not compeltely impossible if I can get a hold of more... Stuff to build a furnace with." She actually sounds somewhat clueless about that part. "Other than that, I'll have to look for... Maybe some kind of energy storage?"
Brooklynn Bailey	Brooklynn thinks about the tower for a moment, and how it relates to her world. This combined with what Cantio needs, and of course, the fact that their hell raven friend literally is from hell causes the woman to think. Tapping her fingers along the table, she finally speaks, though slowly at first and with growing confidence as she goes on. "So those towers are relays, the main tower is somewhere across the sea. I don't know where I'd have to ask The Priest," It's capitalized, just roll with it. "As I understand it, this all came from some worldwide ritual, that attempted to filter out the negative part of humanity. It failed, badly, which is why you have those monsters, and people like me around. It's also created no man's lands or hell zones." "The spiritual power is so strong there that it erodes the body. Magical storms come from it from time to time. It's also far out of our territory...but.." She looks at Cantio, "Theoretically, it might be what you need. If whatever is causing the zone were to be shut down, and the tower repaired, it might be usable. At the very least, more controllable than it is right now. Its location alone would be incredibly tactical in the area."
Utsuho Reiuji	"Batteries!" That Utsuho knows about... in a vague sense; she's never used them and doesn't know how to make one. Furnaces, sure. Reactors, increasingly so. Batteries? eeeh "Well, we only need one main furnace for the Underworld so I don't know how many you'd use. We've got some smaller ones but they're, like..." Utsuho starts gesturing with her hands. "You've got the main center in Blazing Hell, a big cave with magma and such, and then you've got the smaller ones around it, in little caverns. And then if you go down there's the core..." Utsuho trails off. "Well, you get the idea." She's trying to stay away from proper nouns, too, but doesn't personally think Blazing Hell counts, because you can figure out what it is as soon as you hear the name. "But if I can help by going there, I will!" Utsuho seems pleased to have something to offer, between the furnace and trying to go to dangerous places. "I don't normally deal with negative human souls, though, except for the angry spirits around Hell. If they got filtered out, are they just hanging around there too?"
Cantio	"Relays? So if there's more towers like this one..." Cantio murmurs as she looks like she's starting to put things together. "Multiple relays, all part of a failed experiment, but if they were fixed and improved, then they might not even need to mess with anyone's humanity if it can just focus that power into someone else..." She looks mildly worried about something, but she doesn't elaborate on what specifically. Instead, she turns her attention to the topic of the furnace instead, apparently looking a bit more enthused (or at least less wary). "That would make sense. If we can transfer the power you generate there into high-capacity batteries, then it would be much easier to transport those around rather than trying to build a new furnace for each place." Stroking her chin lightly, she glances towards the door with another inquisitive glint in her eye. "And if they can be used to power those towers, then it might even be easier to make them work as intended...? No, no, that'd be... That might be going too far." Only might. "Is that something that would work for your plans, Miss Bailey? And... Actually, do you have any plans of your own, Miss Utsuho?"
Brooklynn Bailey	"I don't think it's all negative energy. The intention was to draw it out, but what happened definitely backfired. If it was all negative, then we wouldn't have Cardinal Virtues like myself. I have no idea what went wrong, only that it did..." Brooklynn shrugs. She taps her finger again, considering the question. "As I understand it, the relays were supposed to just expand the main tower's influence. Beyond that, I don't know what might or might not be there or what it draws from if anything but local. I am pretty sure what's done is done here, and it can't revert anyone back.." "BUT it would work in all of our favors to use. Theoretically, it could enhance my powers as well. Right now it's just too much there for anyone to handle without the proper powers or gear or whatever. Also, whatever spiritual power is there is likely not part of any person anymore, so...might as well use it." "So yeah, it fits into my plans."
Utsuho Reiuji	"Right! So we should deal with them," Utsuho says, nodding toward Brooklynn. "Well, it. This one. I'll definitely help." "And as for the batteries, maybe! I think I might need to talk to someone else about that part, but I'm sure we can do it." Utsuho isn't quite bouncing in her seat but it's the next thing to it. Her wings threaten to spread again until she consciously pulls them back in to avoid a problem. "But those sound great." But then Cantio asks her what she wants to do. Utsuho hesitates a moment, fussing, but she does answer: "I wanna help my friends. I mean, you guys, of course, I've made so many friends out here, but at home... those of us that live on the Underworld aren't really supposed to go on the surface. I just cheat by going somewhere else instead. But some of my other friends, they don't do that. And the Hell that we live in, it's not used anymore because the yama - the judges - they moved to a bigger one. My friends did a lot to help me when I didn't have power, so now that I do I want to help them. I'm not going to be useless!" Utsuho frowns. "Except... well, I thought about just taking over the surface so everybody in the Underworld can go outside, except the other me already tried that so now everyone already thinks I'm going to, so I should do something else," Utsuho says, firmly. "So I've decided to do something else instead. I have a couple ideas but I haven't done them yet because they're more complicated than just taking over Gensokyo... I kind of need to figure out everything I can do, first." She taps the eye on her chest; the vertical pupil shifts to the side, as if looking at the fingerpoke, and then at the others in the room. "This is still pretty new! That's why I'm helping people in the Concord for now."
Cantio	"That's true... If we can get them fixed up, then researching what they do and what went wrong definitely wouldn't be out of the question. And with the increased power, it might even be possible to really improve things around here, too!" Cantio sounds hopeful about that last part. "And if we're all stronger, that'll make doing... Um. Just about anything easier!" Utsuho's goals becoming clearer seems to get Cantio even more fired up. "Then... That just means you'll need to succeed where the other you failed, right? I mean, assuming you're taking over your world's surface rather than every surface, but... I-it's not bad to be ambitious, you know?" Chuckling again, Cantio absent-mindedly passes out some more pudding while looking from Utsuho to Brooklynn. "And since we're all part of the Concord, then we're sure to have support from everyone else once we start making our moves more... Um... Movingly? More..." She snaps her fingers a few times, as if trying to jar the word back into her head. "... Decisively! It does seem like a lot of us have rather lofty ambitions, too, so... I mean, speaking from a more political angle, it'd be useful to all of us to help each other out, you know?"
Brooklynn Bailey	"It's true, helping each other out would be helpful to everyone. Even thinking long term as well...short term notwithstanding," she says, taking another pudding cup and immediately digging in. She can get used to this. Utsuho's plight is put out, so the goal is getting her friends out of hell, but they can't leave easily. That's a tricky situation, and right now Brooklynn doesn't have much of an angle into how things work in her world to offer any real suggestions. "Why not take over another version of it? Theoretically, your friends could move to another hell, right? Take over that version of the surface! Then your friends could get out. I'm just spitballing here," She admits, but sometimes you throw enough ideas out and you get a good one. "Also, if you need more immediate help, I can share my powers with you. Even if I can't be there, but I'd need some advanced notice for that. As you are both allies...and friends, I figure you should have that option."
Utsuho Reiuji	"Well, maybe I can do something for them other than taking over the surface! One of the things - well, I thought, the Hell where I live isn't used anymore since it was too small, so maybe I could make it bigger and fancier..." Utsuho shakes her head. "I'll think of something! But, I don't think we can move to another Hell. We keep the Underworld warm even if it isn't where everything else happens. Rin could come out with me sometime, though - she already gets to go out more than me because her job is to get corpses." ... "It's okay, they're already dead when she gets them," Utsuho assures the others, because that's something that she's had to explain a few times. "But no, I don't need ALL the surfaces. Just one would be nice. I dunno! I'll decide soon. But for now I can help you anyway." Utsuho finally takes a pudding, turning it around and around in her hands before opening it by the simple method of poking a hole in the top foil. It's not the right way, but it works.
Cantio	"Taking over another hell... Oh! I know Miss Hesinca's from the underworld, so she might actually know some good targets if you ever do want to expand, even if you can't move outright." Cantio suggests, leaning back in her seat and finally slouching juuuust a bit. "It might be trickier if your situation's like mine and don't have a standing army, but... Being strong enough ourselves should compensate well enough for that." Brooklynn's comment about sharing her powers has Cantio perking up a bit as well. "I may have to take you up on that once we work together on something on the field. Ah... I actually have a number of weapons and other inventions that should be easy enough to use if either of you ever need something different, too. Swords, lasers, loudspeakers, and plenty of cute little drones!" As if on cue, one of Cantio's drones floats over for her to shake it a little, all while turning its unfeeling vacant stare towards Brooklynn and Utsuho slowly. The talk of corpses has Cantio paling just a bit, though. The clarification that they're already dead doesn't seem to help much. "Have.. Um. Have either of you thought about partnering with a morgue? That could be an easy source of... Er. Furnace materials...?" She guesses at the use for the corpses, stroking her chin moments later. "Or... Even going to other worlds' battlefields, if she's not worried about all the dangers inherent to heading into an active battlefield."