Scene Listing || Scene Schedule || Scene Schedule RSS
Owner Pose
Flamel Parsons     You're not in Sector Zero anymore. Far, far from it, in fact. It's taken a two-hour-long sonic flight through multiple aerial warpgates to join Flamel at Sector L-57. According to Flamel's briefing on the way over, "This looks like a unification dump zone! Seems to have gathered up several thousand worlds where humanity was, one way or another, obliterated, to keep them from ecologically damaging their neighbors. Had to go *way* out of the way for this one."

    His fancy spy-plane makes a VTOL-style landing in the middle of a clearing. The jagged, twisty, gnarled forest around the clearing looks like the teeth of a predatory creature, but a circle of stones and small mushrooms marks a specific landing zone that's safe. Unnerving bird-shaped beings with human-like faces and fingers hunch from branches to observe with glowing eyes. They rattle off air traffic control guidance into Flamel's onboard radio, echoing softly. "But, hey, every niche gets filled eventually! It mostly got taken over by spirits and lesser gods. Not too many years back, they finished up a war between member-pantheons of the Aesir-Host Treaty Organization, and the Winter-Summer Spirit's Union, and they've been celebrating the Solstice Peace Agreement! Try to be sensitive, there's still a couple war hawks around for both sides, okay? And *don't* get wrapped up in local politics. We're here for just two people, and only them: Persephone's alt-self, and Rook's! I've managed to score a meeting with one, but the other... Mmmh, no dice."

    "We need to figure out a way to get Rook's alternate somewhere I can get into her mind. That's all! Sometime in the Solstice festivities, somewhere... as long as we can get her accessible and emotionally open for just an hour or two. That'll help me get the readings I need to understand the Type Black phenomenon, so we can guess how it'll interact with her psychohazard, and how I can get in there to deal with it."

    It takes some time to go through protocol. A few rites with Good Neighbors of the hills for identifying protection, a few negligible bargains with the Lwa for passage, three river-crossings with a variety of youkai. Through the misty shores, strange villages, rolling hills, and hidden tunnels, they travel an hour or so, lit by the colorful arcs of mysterious stars, sky-gods, and gaps in celestial firmament. They eventually find themselves at the Underworld, and after a meandering walk through Tartarus, the foyer of a certain throne room.

    "NEXT." Rumbles a massive voice from within. Through the door is a man some ten feet tall sitting in his massive throne, skin an unnerving gray, beard full of curls, eyes an icy gray. He regards a scroll in his hands as light flits over it. "Farworld foreigners, classification Yet-Unreceived, type gamma. Business with Despoina regarding Winter Court agents." He glances to a larger door behind him, then turns that gaze on the group. "You will state your stakes. I have no time for pointless curiosity. Don't tell *me* your goals, but tell me all that will be lost if you fail them." His stern voice echoes around the pillars that mark this room, and the black underworld marble it's hewn from. He's straight to business, and expects a similarly fast answer.
Flamel Parsons     The Watch and the Concord have pretty good opsec, but it's not perfect. Especially when it comes to searching through archives far off-world. So when someone starts looking around for a certain set of conditions that fits an alternate version of Lilian Rook -- someone in Sector 0 specifically searching for an alternate-self of Lilian -- it gets back to the Paladins. Someone's targeting Lilian. And considering the break-in that she received not long ago, it's no-doubt worth it to pursue.

    Tracing the purchases, the queries, and the occasional psychic intrusions eventually leads a Paladin counterintelligence team to a hidden little apartment at the border of the Underworld and the Winter Court territory, a small spot but it overlooks both regions at its height. Its temporary, rigged-up home security is dense, but mostly oriented around the local spirits. It's a series of geology-based and mounted robotic countermeasures that manipulate laser networks and physical striking to keep potential intruders out, though doesn't seem to be insisting on sounding any alarms.

    After all, who would respond to them? The local authorities wouldn't condone Flamel setting up something like this, no question. Still, a self-destructing-info scenario is probably worth avoiding, so getting inside without lesser assistance is no doubt essential.
Candy      "Huh."

    "So... how 'wiped-out' are we talking, here?" Flamel can see the gears turning. Candy is already thinking about the local politics, despite Mel's advisory.

    *I'd have more of a problem with this if we hadn't gotten here after breaking into her house and going through all the skeletons in her closet. I just hope -this- Lilian don't take it too hard.*

    As it turns out, -very- wiped out, if this is the Underworld. The grey-skinned man with the curled beard expects to know what will be lost if they fail. "Right now there's someone who's always had to work hard to be good. If we fuck up here, then we lose out, big time," he says, looking up at him. "And so does she."

    "We don't find what we're looking for, it's that much harder for us to protect that last little bit of warmth and kindness in that person. And..." Candy sighs, running a hand through his hair.

    "And we need all the advantages we can get. So you going to let us through," he testily asks, flipping a lock of hair over his shoulder, "Or do I gotta be more, ah, persuasive?" His index finger pulls his collar down, just far enough to be revealing. It *is* Candy, and this guy *is* jacked, after all.
Ishirou I4 had some interest in the Watch AND Concord looking into his friends...well let's say the current situation.  The break-in triggered some triggers, and then with opsec getting more information as to what they were both doing.  I4 sighs when he hears what's going on because it's a difficult choice.  On the one hand, sure he wants to know, but on the other, it's his friend.  Even if she's acting...

What happens next is I4's specialty.  Tracking things, expense reports...hacking minds and digging for things that people hide deep down.  This is something that I4's an /expert/ in.  Eventually, it comes down to a world ravaged by war.  Especially when the underworld and the winter court are neighbors.  

I4 scans out the defenses as he can, determining that...holy shit it's like trying to sneak into the strongest of forts.  I4 goes over every scenario in his head.  Nothing ends well in trying to sneak into this situation.  In fact, right now I4's brain comes up with the one thing that could potentially be seen as sincere.  

I4 arrives on sight, goes through the complex, and either knocks on the door or asks to be rung in.  He goes with the honest approach.
Cantio "I wonder if we'll see other alternate selves here..." Cantio muses aloud as she snaps pictures of the forest and its strange formations of stones and mushrooms, tapping rapidly on the screen of her tablet while shifting it to different positions and angles each time. Clearly, she's going for the quantity method of getting one good shot in every thirty rather than trying to line one up perfectly, and the air traffic control stuff goes all but ignored as she's already taken off her seat belt a while back to give her limbs time to breathe after that extra long ride. Considering how bandaged up she is under her jacket, though, it's a wonder she even kept it on that long.

"It shouldn't be too hard to avoid stirring up trouble. I mean, we're neutral parties here anyway, right? Unless we've been backing one of those groups unknowingly this whole time..." Cantio pauses. "Is Lilian's alternate self affiliated with one of these groups? I mean, if the local political situation is relevant at all..."

She's making a few leaps in logic there, but she's also making sure to stay on her best behavior regardless. Cantio takes pictures and records videos of the many figures they meet to try and make the group seem less like an invasive force and more like curious tourists on vacation, but the big rumbling NEXT has her freezing up and quickly stuffing the thing back into her pocket (which it can somehow fit).

The fact that the ten foot gray man asks them everything so bluntly, however, actually puts her somewhat at ease despite the actual double-size difference. Candy opts for the Lilian-specific persuasion route, so Cantio goes for something a little broader. "Greetings! Ah.. So the best case scenario is that we only lose access to someone that might... Do good things. Sometimes?"

She sounds really skeptical about that, but continues regardless. "The worst case scenario is that someone that was already highly efficient at doing terrible things no longer has any kind of moral compass or physical barriers to slow her down. That means any and all of us would be targets for assassination, torture, and all sorts of other stuff along those lines."
Cantio Candy, meanwhile, gets a long stare followed by Cantio trying not to choke on nothing. Whether that's because she's holding in a laugh or a horrified noise is unclear.
Kale Hearthward Once upon the time there was a hawk and a rook. The rook went off on vacation but before she did, she did a bunch of stuff that got the hawk in a bit of an off mood - and then before he could do something to correct that, she went on the aforementioned vacation, to what was *not* an island in the sky despite the name, and the hawk has the day she comes back marked on his calendar so that he can try to pull her aside and ask her an important question.

... And then Lilian's house got broken into. And then right on the heels of that, someone's making plans on tracking down an alternate version of her for some unknown purpose. The first is bad enough. Obviously it's a shame that her privacy got violated but Kale's more concerned about Lilian getting distracted by trivialities like that instead of focusing on what he needs to ask her - and so he means to stop this before it can get any worse. Whatever 'this' is.

"(You sure about this?)" asks Kale as I4 opts for the honest approach. He has a miniaturized inventory of various disguises and costuming bits, if needed, and that'd be *his* first choice - but I4 did the legwork for this counter-op, and he gets the lead.

"(I don't think they'll just let us in if we ask nicely.)"
Persephone Kore      "I know this place," Persephone says as the party descends into Tartarus. Her tone is soft; marveling; disbelieving. "Those books I loved, when I was a kid... Is this really the closest to me you could find, Flamel?" She sounds quietly elated about that.

     They file into the throne room. "He's let the beard grow out since they drew him," she whispers, tapping her cheek with her finger. "I think it's a smart choice."

     "Vows kept sacred for a lifetime," Persephone says without hesitation. She is respectful but prompt. The storybooks taught her exactly how to answer. "That seventeen years of bitter struggle might not come to nothing. A hero's faith in man. Love and companionship, for a girl spurned by those who owed her it the most."

     "Despoina," she mutters softly afterwards, her eyebrows lifted. "The Mistress. You know, I considered that one, but Carpathia talked me out of it."
Hibiki Tachibana     Hibiki is tagging along - and she has fairly mixed feelings on this. Mostly because she's had prior run-ins with 'alternative world selves' some time back, and she's not sure if that makes this more or less strange to go into. She's usually of the distinct impression that they might as well be their own people, especially if their experiences are different enough, but that opinion has wobbled somewhat...or maybe that's just her own worry on what she should even expect from an alt-Persephone and Lilian bubbling up.

    Mainly Lilian. For obvious reasons. Even one more like the 'usual' one she's used to is still plenty to create a distinctly knotted up feeling in her gut. "I kind of hope not," she replies to Cantio on the flight in.

    To say she expected their long (and visually wondrous) journey to end up bringing them to the any kind of Underworld would be a lie, and she's also mildly worried she's going to start making visiting them a habit. To be honest, she didn't really get a handle on the delicate political situation in the dump zone despite Flamel's in-depth explanation, but standing in front of the towering man and given a straightforward question, she can deal with.

    "...We'll lose at least one life one way or another, and maybe a whole lot more. And someone who didn't deserve to be the way they are might cross a point that we can't ever pull them back from," she adds on with some tenseness in her voice. "Not just us, there's going to be a lot of people who...just lose even more."

    She glances away. "...That warmth and kindness is going to be gone forever," she murmurs, taking on Candy's own phrasing.
Staren     Hot damn, visiting another sector? Meeting what-if versions of Persephone and Rook? This is gonna be *interesting*! She's made sure some of her gear like armor (if humanity ended, some areas might be hazardous) will be accessible, whether by some sort of limited range booster for the wormhole projector, or having a shorter-range version with a trunk of stuff on the plane.

    Either way, once it turns out they're going to be in mystic-flavored surroundings rather than a post-apocalyptic wasteland of the sort she's more familiar with, she adjusts her outfit slightly, to include a wide-brimmed hat and cloak over her coat, dark red with white and Concord-orange decorations. There's a matching below-knee skirt with a black turtleneck to break up the red, and leather gloves and boots (the latter like the kidnappee outfit sans high heels.)

    Overall, combined with that she's riding a broom sidesaddle alongside the group it looks approproately witchy and mystical. When she's not a black cat being carried by Persephone, anyway.

    Cantio wonders if they'll see other alternate selves. "Wouldn't that be fascinating?!" Staren replies enthusiastically. Her cybernetics are recording her vision, so she doesn't bother 'taking pictures'. "As someone who's used to being misunderstood... we can absolutely *accidentally* take sides, or piss people off by not taking one. Trust the more social people's guidance here." She mostly lets others do the talking.

    "Wait, you know this specific Tartarus?" But there isn't much more time for talking.

    Staren looks up at the tall man. "...A good person will die, as may untold more, and the future she could help bring about will be lost forever."
Flamel Parsons     "One hundred percent. Almost zero humans alive, all dead *except* for the ones who got some spiritual patronage. Not really a breeding population! Everything ends eventually, you know?" Flamel had clarified to Candy. "There's still lots of humans, just, you know, Shades in various afterlifes. Like the one we're headed to!" He also speaks to Cantio: "Here, she's called 'The Winter Slayer', looks to have fought pretty hard on the side of the Winter Court for the Winter-Summer Spirit's Union. Like... *really* hard. Way too many telepathic guards on her brain for me to get through normally!"

    Hades speaks in his booming voice. "You're thinking of my brother. Displays aren't unwelcome. Solicitations are. Especially if you plan to speak to my wife." The big man clears his throat at Candy. But he notes something on his scroll. "Unreceived clarity preservation. Hm." He seems to be contemplating it. It was a worthwhile contribution. He looks to Cantio, and gives her a look that's shrewdly critical. "Self-preservation. I'd forgotten the Unreceived obsession with it. It's been too long since I was petitioned by someone who wants to stay alive." He closes his eyes, furrows his brow, and nods. "Genuine. Unremarkable, but genuine. Unreceived self-preservation petition noted." He scrawls a signature and files it with one hand.

    Persephone is regarded with an arched eyebrow. "Are you...?" He starts, before shaking his head and listening. "Hmm. Love. Noted. Despoina accepts form Omicron-Rho-Seven-Five, provide two secondary documents of proof of love, or one secondary with two supporting." A Shade drifts to offer Persephone a form. She'll need to submit creative work to embody her love, though.

    "Mass death." Hades rumbles to Hibiki and Staren. "Our laws haven't addressed it in eons." He makes a displeased sound. "I'll enforce what remains. Mass death prevention, filed under famine-scale prevention." He notes their testimony down, frowning.
Flamel Parsons     Assuming everyone's agreed to their needs, he's going to enable this. With a gesture, the giant door opens behind him. "Ask your questions of her, and then leave." He says. Behind it, in a secluded chamber, is a woman nearly fifteen feet tall, reclining on the most massive couch most have ever seen. The pillars around her have multiple pieces of odd machinery that looks nearly like microphones, that siphon off a strange supernatural energy that she's constantly exuding from every inch of dark skin. Shaped as one would expect of a well-worshipped god, long black hair trailing down the side of the seat she's taken, and draped in incredibly fine loose red adorned with gold, gems, and bone ornaments. In mortal years, she might be nearish her early forties. "Despoina, The Mistress. But I believe you know her name--"

    "Persephone." She speaks in a vintage voice, one you'd find on a radio late at night. She raises her cup slightly, and the words she says purr in relaxation. "Who have we got on the line? Here's to you, sweeties, coming all this way just to find a different afterlife, instead of take a trip to your own. You're here to make a connection. Hope Hades didn't put you off too bad. A prayer told me you're here about the Winter Slayer, aren't you? No."

    She shifts, sitting up a little more, propping herself up on one elbow. "You're here about your own Winter Slayer. Still in a war, the one we left behind. Barriers keeping you fine folks out, even though you have the best of intentions. Or did I read the petition a little wrong? Well, Despoina's got a good feeling about tonight. Tell me, how do you get a girl relaxed, when a guard down meant a blade in the gut for more than twenty long years? How do you make the case that it's you, the only one to ever be that genuine?"

    "The Queen of the Underworld can get you anything you want, but you have to know what it is you want. I want the Winter Slayer to take a break too. I saw what the war did to her. You know, every so often, the Shade she married gets on the line, and asks me for something to help her feel better. If I help you, you might just help me."
Candy *Wish I could say that Cantio was wrong to look at it that way, but... I heard the way Lilian talked, that day. Fuck it. All the more reason we gotta roll up our sleeves and do this thing.*

    Of course, despite that thought, Candy's external expression, his posture, suggest no internal strife. In fact, he's able to be as flippant as ever to Hades. "Is that right? Maybe I give your brother a ring on the way out, then. Just for kicks."

    Side whispering to Phony, "Who's his brother?"

    Entering in through the door, he is face to face with, indeed, the largest couch he has ever seen. And one very, very tall lady.

    A hand fan appears in his grasp, and he makes near-immediate use of it, while still keeping on-task. "I've dealt with worse," he says to Despoina of her husband. "He's not too bad." There's a glance towards the door, a smirk, and then his attention is back on her when she speaks up again.

    He listens, pausing in his fanning to think up an answer to her question. "That's exactly what I want, Persephone. I wanna find some way to make it so she don't feel like she's -gotta- have her guard up. We can't just... undo all the fucked up shit that happened to her."

    "But if we could get her to relax, and show her that there's a lot more good things out there than bad... I'd like that. I just don't know how, and I'm asking everybody. People that grew up with her, people that know her. And now, even you." He smiles, hopefully. "Sounds like maybe you got some experience, there."

    He takes a breath, folding up the fan and holding it in both hands, turning it over. "So. 'This for that' I can do. What's your ask, ah?"
Flamel Parsons     I4 doesn't have a bad idea here. Unfortunately, the little stake-out apartment is actually unoccupied. Like, unnervingly so. It's clearly been being occupied for a few days -- there are delivery records to it, and a shade in charge of the building has a week or two worth of pay, plus all the required deposits (and a bribe, if you check). But there's nobody to answer the door.

    Finding alt-Lilian instead, though? Much easier. Her home is in the Winter Court, in Tartarus's sister city, North Elphyne. The apartment they traced this to has a perfect vantage point over it. Hell, from here if you had a good-enough spyglass, you might be able to see through its windows. The home itself is in a corescraper underground residential building, elegantly carved from a dense wood root with all manner of celtic symbolism. A floor far below can find her penthouse-equivalent residence, given to her as a reward for exceptional military service.

    The one who answers the door doesn't look like Lilian though. They're a translucent Shade, a human spirit native to the Underworld, and it's terribly hard to identify nearly anything about them beyond well-toned muscles and callouses in the hands, and those soft green eyes. A craftsperson, though dressed in more casual ancient greek style, in various off-whites. "Oh! Hi there! Military... are you looking for Lilian?" Their voice is so full of warmth it practically overflows when they say the name. "She's stepped out for a bit, but I'd be happy to host visitors until she's back. We don't get many these days..."
Cantio Everyone seems to be so focused on some kind of goodness in Lilian's heart, and Cantio stays quiet. It's incredibly obvious she's trying not to give them disbelieving stares as they say those things, and Hades' response to her seems to bolster her spirits just a little bit as she states the obvious. "Thank you for considering it. Most... Unreceived?" She's pretty sure she's using the same word he is. "-that I know would prefer to be alive rather than dead."

What surprises her more, though, is the fact that those appeals to the idea of a better Lilian are accepted by Hades as well. It's not until they pass by Hades on the way through the giant door that she finally glances over at Candy, Hibiki, and Staren (after nearly choking again at Candy's question to Persephone). "Do you all.. Er. Really believe what you said? I mean..." She looks over at Persephone, stroking her cheek lightly. "I can definitely believe Phony does, but Hibiki..."

She trails off, still sounding anxious about the whole matter. Shaking her head, she finds herself face to face with Despoina/Persephone ver.B. It takes her a fair few moments to try and get over the sight of a fifteen foot tall person, never mind someone that just exudes massive Persephone energy. "Ah... N-no, Lord Hades was very professional. And... Yes, that's who we're here for. Er. About."

Is he a lord? Or King? Sir? She's not entirely sure. Either way, the first question is leveled, and Cantio's already putting on her thinking cap. How /would/ she get someone like that to let her guard down? She's already gotten herself stabbed in the gut (figuratively) plenty of times, so...

"I guess... I'd start with trying to her that getting stabbed isn't as bad as it sounds? It's happened to me plenty of times, and I'm okay." She raises her arms to let the sleeves fall down enough to expose her bandaged up arms, then lowers her arms to let it fall off enough to show that the bandages just keep going all the way down to her torso until they're hidden by her sleeveless top.

"But beyond that, it's..." Cantio rubs a bandaged bruise on the side of her face absent-mindedly. It's very recent, and it's still healing, so she winces a little at the touch. "... It's okay to be helpless, and for her to rely on other people. Even if it's just for a little while, it'll make her better at her job in the long run and put our... Their minds at ease."

Lowering her hand, Cantio takes a moment to crick her neck and winces again at pulling something that hasn't fully healed yet. "What can we help you with, Queen Despoina? It's only fair for us to help you with the assistance you're providing us, so please. Ask away."
Ishirou I4 looks towards Kale with a nod, as if to say 'see, the direct approach was better here.'  Not a smug look, but an affirmation of his idea in the first place.  Unfortunately, she wasn't here, and everything was unnervingly silent.  The absence of anyone here was very loud but fortunately, there were trails to follow.  

He lets Kale handle talking to people, while he focuses on gathering information.  

When they're at the penthouse, the person greeting them was unexpected.  "Well, not...exactly...sorry, I didn't mean to give that appearance," I4 says, and probably should have worn a sweater, but needed something to look professional. He only really has one the outfit, for now.

The warmth at saying her name isn't missed, as he looks towards Kale after a bit.  "Hellow, I'm I4.  We're here to talk to Lilian on a matter of some importance.  Thank you for your hospitality."
Kale Hearthward <X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 I4 says, "Also I'll work on my humor."
<X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Kale Hearthward says, "Hey, it's fine, probably. I'm just distracted."
<X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 I4 says, "...Are you okay?"
<X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Kale Hearthward doesn't answer for a while.

He doesn't *look* fine. He's worried about something. He's about to answer when Lilian's door gets answered.

And then, whatever was on Kale's mind previously - he puts it aside, and his expression and his whole posture shifts, going back to neutral - and then as the craftsperson shade reads them in, he shifts a bit more, going to project the image of a sort of stern military officer with a soft edge.

"Oh - we couldn't possibly impose, sir," he says. "As nice as having some tea sounds, we're here on business... and certainly not here to interface with her personal life. Is there a coffee shop we could wait for her at...?"

Translation: Please do insist on inviting us in and interfacing with her personal life.

Once he's taken that bait, Kale zeroes in on things a bit. "So - you're the one who tamed our Lilian, are you? How hard was that? Feels like she's never in the same place twice sometimes."
Hibiki Tachibana     "...Mm." There's no less tenseness in Hibiki's acknowledgement of Hades' declarations. More of it if anything. Candy's 'solicitation' apparently went right over her head, and Cantio's own input gives her some worrisome thoughts when it comes to Lilian. There's a long moment where she's worried that frown might mean that they're not going to make the pass - only to let out a small exhale when the grand door opens up. She gives Hades an uncharacteristically polite bow before moving on.

    With a glance to Cantio as they go, rubbing at her cheek with a finger awkwardly while glancing off again. "...Yeah." She pauses, pulling her hand away to look at the back of her hand. "Believe me. I tried really hard to hate her with everything I got. I want to, and she still pisses me off for too many reasons to count. I should be feeling the same way you do. But..." She trails off into silence, her face falling.

    It doesn't last too long, because as they enter the chamber she stops only two steps inside with a shocked blink. "Perse...phone...?" She looks between Despoina and their very own more than once, as if directly comparing them to one another and trying to reconcile it in her head. She wasn't sure what to expect, but it probably wasn't this. Even so, the sensation from being in her presence is undeniably familiar in an unexplainable way, and she closes her stuck-open mouth and listens intently as The Mistress speaks further.

    "N-No, he was fine. He struck me as a pretty busy guy." Unable to find a good way she wants to carry herself at the moment, she just ends up finding a spot to stand with the others while lightly gripping the bottom of her jacket. "...It's really hard. She's had it harder than I can even imagine. But there are people who were able to touch her heart, the 'her' thats always been there past the trauma and pain. Becoming that kind of person..." Her lips purse together, unable to really answer the second part of the question.

    "...But just a couple people isn't enough. I wish she could realize that not everybody in the world is out to get her. She doesn't have to be like...that. Not anymore..."

    Something she knows is much easier than done. Her left hand comes over to rest at the wrist of her right, looking up and tilting her head. "The Lilian here has plenty of her own problems to deal with too, huh...? The Shade she married..." She wonders, but doesn't bring it up directly. "If there's anything we can do to help each other, I'm all for it. Anything at all."
Persephone Kore      "No," Persephone answers Hades' unfinished question, though she wears her brightest eyes-shut smile about the mistake. "It's 'Kore'. Just a fan."

     Her expression drops into surprise, and then faint alarm, as she's handed paper and ink. "Oh, I didn't mean... That's..." Her cheeks puff out in uncertain indignation. Her eyes scrunch shut. After a good few seconds, she lets out an explosive sigh, opens her eyes, and makes grabbyhands at the pen and paper. "Okay, okay! I'll do something!!"

     The first document submitted is a drawing of Persephone and Lilian sitting on a bench together. They're holding hands, fingers interlaced; stars are reflected in their eyes, and they're smiling rich bittersweet smiles, but there are still tears on Phony's cheeks. It's a remarkably good drawing, but something about the lines and shading is reminiscent of a child's heartfelt crayon sketch.

     The second is a poem. It is folded crisply in half and handed to the Shade with no chance for anyone else to glimpse its contents. I'd really, actually crush you if you tried!

     "Swan fuckboy," Phony answers Candy succinctly.

     As she's seen through to Despoina's chamber, Persephone cups a hand over her mouth; her eyebrows lift in amazement, and she shoots Flamel a quick sidelong glance. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. I'm going to be *so hot* when I'm older. Oh my god.

     When it's her turn- she waits patiently and politely, taking the time to settle herself- Phony steps forward with a click-clack of her heels and a now earnestly-resolved expression.

     "I never thought I'd really meet you, after all this time. You're more like I thought you'd be than I thought you would be, ahaha. Sorry, but you must hear that a lot! I'm really being terrible."

     "I want to know how to offer her kindness. That's how I want to save her from herself. I want to be so sincere, so open, that she can't be scared of me. So what kindness is it that she needs most, Persephone? When I reach out to her, what do I need to have in my palm for her to take my hand?"
Staren     This Persephone looks and sounds different, but then, of course, if her self-image is a bit different, that would be reflected visibly and audibly, in her more than in most. And not just alternate selves, but alternate *future*... As Staren's thinking about that, she remembers that... This state of remaking the world as an eternal underworld, and eternal afterlife, is... something she's worked towards in the past, and that a copy of her made on one world wanted to do to the entire Multiverse.

    Looking at it that way... SEEING it, like this... It's just interesting. It wasn't a goal she's currently working towards, yet somehow it's kind of reaffirming to see that... it seems to work out okay. She wasn't on track to doom any universes, probably.

    Why is she asking these questions? Can she not read our minds?

    Oh. Maybe she is. "Isn't that... what we're wondering? How to get her guard down so she can accept you... well, *our* Persephone, anyway. She's..." Staren looks at Persephone. We both feared external influences corrupting our goals. But I wasn't strong enough to actually take full precautions. No, that doesn't feel like the right way to put it... I'm not the sort of person who can push myself away from others to the level needed for 100% protection from 'just-in-case' scenarios. I can't be that person. I need other people. And whatever I thought I needed to hold onto so desperately before, doesn't seem so important now.

    Staren looks back at Despoina. "Is it... that she, that Lilian... is someone who just doesn't need people? Or IS it strength, and she's doing what I did" when I forced myself to kill mobsters in cold blood "but better? And so she's harming herself? ...Does it even matter? Do these two cases require different methodologies? If she doesn't need people, then how could she ever care about the distance keeping her guard up enforces?"

    Staren shakes her head. "I don't really understand..." Even with Persephone's power, I'm so new at understanding people...

    Staren goes *minutes* of interaction with Despoina before even noticing how completely un-odd it is that she's giant. She's not sure if that says something about being used to Priscilla as First, about Persephone, or about herself.
Flamel Parsons     "You know what you want. But hun, a genie's only as good as the wish. The Queen of Queens can give you everything but a purpose. Look to your own Slayer, and hold her tight in that mind. If the guard never drops... what inches it lower? What makes that shield a little heavier? If you want without form, you'll never have what you're after. No shortage of chances in the Solstice Peace Festival. But which one to take?" Dread Persephone intones softly to Candy and Cantio, the "microphones" pulsing with light each time she speaks.

    "What I want... well. I want the Winter Slayer to loosen up. Every Shade under my care, their wants, their dreams, they have an eternity to solve them. That means Despoina's got an eternity to solve them. I care for them all, every last one, and I see those knots in the heart undone one day, one by one, 'til this underworld gleams like a perfect gem. I've got everything but the plan to make it happen, and that's your task. And what I want? Same insight you do, hun. Tell me how to make my little Shade happy in the end."

    Hibiki catches something. "So someone managed to brave their way through the cold mist, now, did they? To touch that cold, cold heart... She settled down with a Shade, but that's all she managed. What put her at ease where you're from? Aside from..." Aside from love? An eyebrow raises at Persephone Kore. "Now, isn't that interesting? Shades told me you're your own Despoina, made on your own."

    "Let me be the *first*... to welcome you to the Kore family, if there was nobody around to do it. Call yourself welcome here." She smiles and warmth fills the room. She closes her eyes and it feels like the world has turned a full rotation. "Because there's nothing I want here more than love." She takes a long sip from her cup, before she says, "'If nothing saves us from death... at least love should save us from life.'" Her eyes open again. "Tell me, ice-melter, how would you soften that armor up on a second go around? We've got the whole Festival for your sandbox, and all you need is one little gap for your oracle there to get through."

    Flamel is still here! He waves.

    She turns to give an answer to Staren. "The Winter Slayer needs nobody. That's for sure. She lived off nothing but war for all those long years... She doesn't *need* to put that shield down, now does she? But even Despoina can't get the kindness through armor that thick." Dread Persephone leans down, nodding a few times. "She's the best killer I've heard of. Unseelie patronage dressed her to kill. Blood icier than a yuki-onna of the youkai, blade wetter than Marinette of the loa, but a mortal. She found her best blacksmith and married 'em. Now, why would she go and do something like that? It dropped her guard, why do you think that was?"

    She sits further back in the long couch, taking another long sip. "The Festival has it all, and Despoina, well, Despoina gets *all* the invitations. Where can I put the Winter Slayer for you, that you think it'd pull that shield a little further down?"
Staren     Every Shade under my care, their wants, their dreams, they have an eternity to solve them. That means Despoina's got an eternity to solve them. I care for them all, every last one, and I see those knots in the heart undone one day, one by one, 'til this underworld gleams like a perfect gem. It sounds so wonderful! It sounds like the paradise I wanted to... no, that I felt morally-obligated to build. I've got everything but the plan to make it happen, and that's your task. But that's what I could never figure out!

    "Let me be the *first*... to welcome you to the Kore family, if there was nobody around to do it. Call yourself welcome here." Staren lifts a foot briefly and rubs the outside heel of her boot. There's no symbol there on the footwear she's wearing at the moment, though.

    "The Winter Slayer needs nobody. That's for sure. She lived off nothing but war for all those long years... She doesn't *need* to put that shield down, now does she? Staren hangs her head for a moment, then looks up (up, up...) at Despoina. "But... that's what we're here to find out! We hoped to find out from this Lilian somehow, how we can save ours..." She looks around at the others, trying to tell if she's missed something.
Candy      "Oh," Candy disappointedly says. Hades' brother doesn't sound as interesting. Too bad!

     When Cantio asks if they really believe what's been said about Lilian, Candy finishes Hibiki's thought. "But that goes both ways. Somebody can do shitty things and not be all the way shitty, ah?"

     He sighs, again turning the fan over. "The last time we saw each other, she did something shitty that really upset me, and for a minute, I forgot about that. Even after Xion tried to calm me down, I still showed up to that place mad as hell."

     Finally, the folded up fan is stuffed into his pocket. "Then... well, you know. You were there. Maybe you didn't see all the things I saw, but I know what I saw."

Hear the words of the Dread Persephone. Think on them. What makes Lilian lower her guard?
*Fuck if I know.*
But you do, boy. At least, you know that she will, for some. Just as the Dread Persephone says.
*Cecilia. Them drawings, from when she was just a little limey.*

     "Yeah," he says, to the Dread Persephone. "She don't need nobody. She's smart as a whip, hell and Jesus with a sword and real careful with what she says. But... I think she -does- wanna let her guard down."

     "What would it take..." He taps his index finger to his chin. His mind travels to the picture of Lilian's parents being abandoned, in favor of Cecilia. "She never felt like she had to have her guard up around Cecilia. She was always in Lilian's corner. Always encouraged her, was always proud of her. Maybe it's the same with the blacksmith she found."

     "So... I'd say someplace with family--good family, that's proud of her, cares about her, even if not all of em knew her in life, even if not all of 'em are even kin."
Flamel Parsons     "Something important? Well-- I don't think she'll be out long. Doesn't, haha, doesn't really have long jobs anymore! It's been nice, since the Peace. Just having her around more..." The Shade sighs a little, happily, then gets a bit embarrassed. "Wow, I must sound crazy, talking about the Slayer like that. Here, come on in, I'll get you something warm! Please, we barely get any visitors, let me justify the couch." They laugh a little, beckoning I4 and Kale in and heading to the kitchen. The interior is... cozy. The midsection between a cottage and an apartment. All underground, all round entryways and short, dense halls between wider rooms. "Tea, right? I got the topside kind, not Underworld or Unseelie."

    The Shade sets some water to boil, then comes around the kitchen counter to lean on one side while they watch it. "'Tamed' is, hah, I mean everyone thinks I did! But honestly, I don't know how it happened, and I don't think she's *tamed*, exactly. I can talk about it though, sure. Every day that she stopped by my Underworld workshop, I'd chat with her..." They look up, reminiscing. "I'd repair her armor, get her new throwing axes, fix up the sword, and while I did that, I'd just tell her about life. She barely says anything, but I could tell she was listening."

    They continue rambling, as the water moves towards a boil, swaying with their own memory. "And, haha, I mean, she's really pretty under all that armor! You wouldn't expect it, but she is. I could tell she was trying to take better care of herself, the more times I saw her out of it. I was sort of dreaming that she was doing it for me. And one day, one of the High Court storms in and demands she accept a geas, you know? Politics. And I just... get right between them, put up the shield I'm working on, and tell the Bad Neighbor to go suck a toadstool -- uh, more rudely. They *both* left. And next day she gets in the workshop, grabs my hand, and offers me this vow I've never heard of. Couple years after that, war was done, and... well, you know! Haha, I don't think I *tamed* much at all, really! But maybe that helps answer the question?"

    The water's at a boil. Tea is served pretty quick. "She should be home soon. Do you have a job for her or something? I thought most of the work was dried up, on account of the festival."
Cantio Candy and Hibiki managed to let things go, it seems. Cantio goes quiet herself, unable to really come up with a response that she'd even be satisfied with putting out there. Candy's comment about not being all the way shitty puts a brief hitch in her breath, and Cantio eventually lets out a somewhat satisfied noise. "Yeah... Maybe. But if they're doing that too often..."

She'll have to consider that another time. With DP asking that vague question about getting the Winter Slayer to lower her guard, Cantio doesn't answer right away. She listens to Despoina's request to get her to loosen up, to make the Shades happy. She chuckles lightly at being welcomed, and there's a strong feeling of just wanting to lie down and relax in this overwhelmingly comfortable room.

That's when it starts clicking in Cantio's mind. "Maybe... Making the shield heavier is the wrong approach. If the shield gets heavier, then it feels even more important to keep it up and never let go." Her gaze goes down as she brings out a sword handle sans blade, flipping it over to look at the gap in the bottom that's clearly a slot for something to fit into it.

"I thought... When I started making sacrifices, I couldn't adjust my path because I had put so much effort into trying to make something worthwhile from what already happened. I didn't think I could even change course until... Um. I got stabbed. Figuratively. And that's... I think that's what helped me."

Cantio glances over at Hibiki, smiling briefly before turning back to Despoina again. "So instead of making the shield a little heavier... What if we tried making it lighter? Light enough that... Maybe she feels it's not necessary or even useful to keep holding onto because someone or something else is there to take care of things in its place? In her place, even?"
Staren     Staren turns to look at Cantio after she starts speaking. "That's what I thought, too. When I... when I suggested maybe we had to get Lilian at her weakest." She shakes her head. "But weakening her to the point that she recognizes she needs someone else... there's no way she wouldn't percieve that as an attack, right? And resent us for it?"
Persephone Kore      A distant childhood memory flits across Phony's mind. That warm, beatific smile her face was built for blossoms once again, turning winter to spring; she closes her eyes in exactly the same way as Despoina did.

01:16 CARPATHIA: "But we still need something to call you."
01:21 ######: "No you don't."
01:25 CARPATHIA: "Most people don't get to pick a name. It would be special."

01:29 [###### puts down the crayon and frowns.]
01:35 [Dr. Carpathia stays seated as ###### stands up and runs out of frame.]
01:47 [###### returns with a copy of Hansen's Illustrated Greek Mythology.]
01:49 [###### opens the book to a bookmarked page and pokes the illustration.]

01:53 ######: "Per-se-fo-nee."
01:56 CARPATHIA: "Persephone. You like her, huh?"
01:59 [###### sits down and nods. The book is placed facedown on the play-mat.]
02:03 CARPATHIA: "You know, somewhere in the Multiverse, I bet she's real."
02:07 ######: "Yeah."
02:10 CARPATHIA: "You're not worried she'd be mad for you taking her name?
02:15 ######: "No. We'd be like family."
02:19 CARPATHIA: "Haha. That's not how family works, Persephone."
02:22 ######: "Yes it is."

     Validation, finally. When her eyes open again, they glimmer with giddy admiration; both her hands cup her cheeks. "You really are too perfect. Even holding all these people in your hands already, you want me to be happy too? Ahaha, but now I feel guilty! If you already care for so many hearts, then I should be the one caring for you. And I know exactly how."

     Her hand lays itself on Cantio's shoulder; she glances down at the smaller girl with an approving smile, before returning to a more serious expression as she glances back up at Despoina. "Cantio is right. The Winter Slayer doesn't want to have her shield up; not exactly. She wants to be safe. That's what a blacksmith does, isn't it? They're someone who protects you always."

     "If she can be safer by lowering her shield, she'll lower it. Or if nothing can hurt her, she won't have a reason to raise it at all. Despoina, how can we make that come true?"
Kale Hearthward Kale listens.

("I'd repair her armor, get her new throwing axes, fix up the sword, and while I did that, I'd just tell her about life. She barely says anything, but I could tell she was listening.")

The strangest feeling of... deja vu.

Or, well, nothing *strange* about it, really. The roles are a bit mixed around, especially as to who was doing most of the talking, and who held the higher position, and... some other things. But the craftsman, and the soldier...

... This isn't *his* Lilian. He has to remember that. But still.

Kale listens intently to the rambling - the 'stern soldier' act slipping a bit, at least as far as facial expressions. "I don't know, sir," he says, once the end of the story comes. "It sounds like 'tamed' was more accurate than I'd thought..."

Tea is served. Kale drinks.

"Not a job, exactly. This... is need to know, you understand, but you might be in that need to know category."

"She's being targeted by an outside group. While we're confident that she can fend for herself if needed, and we know roughly the group that's targeting her, we're hoping to find out the motives as to *why* she's being targeted."
Ishirou I4 is quieter to this, he's more about obtaining information and processing it.  Kale is better at talking...when he wants to be.  There is a moment where the two of them would look at each other, a small conversation, and then he goes back to being quiet.  The flying box with arms with him helps with tea because it can.  

I4 does a scan of the apartment, or at least, what he can of it.  What here is different, he tries his best to figure out from what is actually here.  Though the story gets his attention, listening to it instead of entirely focusing on his scans.  

"That was brave of you!" he says, "I imagine it wouldn't have gone well if it was inclined to be a jerk and Lilian wasn't there.." he muses.  He does listen to this though, how...lonely it sounds to live like she was.  "Ah...yeah, I imagine..." he says about her being pretty.  Which, sure she /was/ true, but I4 wasn't supposed to know her features here right?  

"...Just like that?" I4 asks about her and the vow.  Of course, the idea is strange because he's dead?  Then again, with how magical the whole thing was, to begin with?  While I4 said he be quiet...well he's also getting into this story and asking questions.  Which...well it's I4.  It's something that the Lilian he knew encouraged, instead of being quiet and saying or doing nothing.  

It hurt that she told him not to talk to him, and he should resent that but...

I4 drinks the tea slowly and lets Kale take the comments from there.  Though he does poke his head up to speak.  "The nature of the people this time isn't your normal locals.  So we're wanting to at least make sure she's prepared."
Hibiki Tachibana     'What put her at ease where you're from? Aside from...'

    ...Love. It's only natural her initial thoughts would go back to a few of the things she saw firsthand in the Rook estate - the endless amount of wards, the room that formerly belonged to Tamamo kept secure from intrusion despite being empty, the image drawn in bust put down in the sketchbook. The souvenirs sourced from multiple worlds, entirely ordinary keepsakes and the numerous photos of her taken with others...

    Her feelings towards Rita, even after losing it. A vocal answer doesn't come out of her, pondering silently all the way up to the big question on where they want the Winter Slayer to be. None of those things or people exist here, necessitating more than just love alone. The kind of place where that shield can drop...

    "...Maybe some place familiar or important to her, but not in an awful way. Some place she has good memories of, where she won't think she has to keep her guard up." When she speaks up, it's carefully and not entirely confidently, but genuine nonetheless.

    "Because it's not the rest of the terrible world she needs to constantly put up all these defenses against, but a place she knows she'll be okay indulging even a little bit in that desire to just be...herself. Not the Winter Slayer," or the Paladin, or the absolute bitch she should hate with everything she is, "...but just Lilian."

    As she tentatively closes that off, she glances back towards Cantio, matching her slight smile with one of her own. Looking back up to Despoina herself, "...She really puts way too much on herself. And I hate that I'm not strong enough to take any of the burdens off of her. So...I want to believe somewhere that all those burdens are less of a worry for her might do it. If...a place like that exists here."
Staren     Staren considers all this, looking back to Hibiki. "What if she doesn't even know she wants to be herself? If the Winter Slayer has seemed the only option for so long..." Staren scratches the side of her head. "Sorry, I guess I shouldn't be thinking of ways this could be *harder*."
Flamel Parsons     Dread Persephone reaches out for Staren. She has to be at least twenty feet away, but when she reaches down, it's like an optical illusion, somehow seeming proportionate yet impossibly large. She just... pats her head, a few times. "When it comes to opening hearts, you learn by doing. And you'll learn fine. The first step is caring. And that goes one hell of a long way, sweet things. Who's *really* on the line here? Whoever it is, I believe in 'em."

    She pulls back to her reclining stance to smile placidly at Candy. "So," She says. "We better make sure it's a little private. A little personal. The Slayer doesn't have much family she cares for. But a lover, she's got, so it'd better be something they can share, and share sweetly. You're on the right track there, sweetie, now we just need to ride it to the station."

    "You're looking to drop a guard by making it less of a decision." She says, sweeping her vision onto Cantio. "Can't blame you, no, I think that makes sense. Letting that down ought to not be so tough. But Desponia can't help you lift without her hands on the shield." She nods briefly to Staren, acknowledging her input, though adjusting her response. "You want to soften that drop, you'd better look to gravity. A context, a lovely little space where everyone else is dropping their guards too. I just might have some of those."

    And Persephone -- non-Dread variant -- has an excellent point. "A credit to the Kore name. It's a paradox, isn't it? Safety, from lowering the shield. But you gotta put it down, if you want to lift much else up. Somewhere she'll be safer lifting something besides a shield up, I think I might have a few ideas. A duty, a task. A mission, a mission that means opening herself. A creative work. An *expression*. Always was a fan."

    Somewhere she loves. Somewhere familiar and important. Hibiki gets that relaxed stare, and a curl of the lips. "I know only one place where the Slayer ever felt was *important* for more than just a war." Dread Persephone says, with a smirk and a voice that fills with aural smoke. "The old workshop. Her lover would do her repairs. And so, you know? I think old Despoina's settled how to start this deal... *if* you out there on the line can seal it." She chuckles a single, soft chuckle.

    "Fort Tormach. They're having their own little show. They won't mind if I forward my invite. But they sent one to Orpheus too. Everyone does, man has a slot reserved at every show, from Underworld to beyond. And if I send that over to the Rooks..." She shifts on her couch, raising an eyebrow. "You're honest people. For the most part. Don't tell a soul, but I know the Winter Slayer learned to tickle the ivories not too long before the war. A personal invite from Despoina, to do a little show for her old war buddies... and their blacksmith. If she wants to play something worth hearing, she'll drop that shield just a little. And with your oracle... you all can make your way right in."

    Flamel speaks up here, cheerfully. "It's true! From what I can tell based on everyone's insights into our Lilian, and what's being said about the local Lilian, she'd probably be mentally vulnerable during an emotionally moving piano recital!"
Cantio "Not getting her at her weakest, but convincing her she doesn't need the guard at all for that time." Cantio clarifies to Staren, scratching her cheek lightly after a moment. " I mean, she might still perceive that as some kind of plot anyway, but... We can't get too bogged down in what-ifs if we want to try anything at all, right?"

Persephone gives Cantio some much needed validation for that idea, and she perks up almost immediately. She's still five foot nothing, though, so she doesn't perk up that much, but it's a notable improvement in her visible mood. "Hehe... Yeah, a place where there's already plenty of protection would be great."

Hibiki gets a knowing nod, and then Cantio strokes her chin again. "I don't think it's a matter of you or anyone else not being strong enough. It's more that she... I don't think she trusts anyone else to be able to do what she does. She just takes it all on her own, like you said. Just like..."

Cantio goes quiet, and then her face pales slightly as she looks off to the side and stifles a gag. She does not continue speaking of this.

Instead, she waits until Despoina gives a possible place and event to work with. "Oh! She did have a lot of fondness for that piano, yeah. With... Um... The one that only had the one picture in it." She snaps her fingers a few times as she looks over at Flamel, trying to remember the name of the person and failing miserably. "So if we can get her to indulge in a piano recital, we just might have our chance to get that guard lowered. Not because of a threat, but..."

Cantio peeks over at Persephone, almost as if she's kind of hoping for more validation. No, it's definitely that. "... Because that's the place she can finally be herself without worrying about the danger?"
Candy      He's on the right track? Candy beams at Dread Persephone. "Glad to hear it!" Maybe this won't be as insurmountable as he'd feared.

    *So she plays? Makes sense. I remember hearing that piano.*

    "Sounds like we're cooking, now. But what're we gonna do, when we're in there? Even if this isn't the Lilian we know... I don't want her to regret letting her guard down."

    He looks towards Flamel for the answer to that one. After all, he's the one that's going to get them in the door, so to speak. His hands come out of his pockets, arms crossed.

    "Especially if it makes things harder on her and this blacksmith."
Persephone Kore      Persephone gets an awful little glimmer in her eye. "Despoina, would you kindly show me a shade who can help me transcribe a piece of music for piano? I know exactly what the Winter Slayer ought to play."

     She hums, demonstratively, a snippet of the song she heard in Lilian's memories of that piano recital when she was a child, mixed in- intentionally?- with bits of the song the piano-ghost was playing in her house. Phony may not play piano exactly, but she's got some clear musical talent!

     Giving Cantio one last squeeze on the shoulder, she looks over at Flamel with a smile considerably warmer and easier- an impossibility made real- than when she came in. "Is that really all we need? I'm a little scared, but a little excited too."

     She turns back to Cantio- of course I haven't forgotten you!- and scruffles the short girl's hair affectionately, smiling on the very verge of a giggle. "Even though she did awful things to you, you're still willing to help her get better, huh? I know it's hard, but you're being so brave. Whatever happens here, I'll try my hardest to make this a happy ending for you, too, Cantio."
Flamel Parsons     "Targeted...? That seems, uh, hah, unwise!" The Shade chuckles nervously to Kale. "For anyone targeting her, I mean. Now more than ever, really. But-- Well. If you're trying to protect my wife, I'm not exactly going to tell you 'no' here, hah." The shade grinds their teeth a little, standing up to pace a bit. "I don't like that someone's doing that. She's been on edge since the war stopped, I don't want her even more stressed..."

    The Shade starts scratching their forehead anxiously. "A farworlder group? I can try to get us prepared... Here, do you have any papers, any decrees, uh, identification? I can get you checked out as legitimate, and then, I'll send you all our festival itinerary! Would you be able to have her back with that? I just... hah, I can't have her cooped up or anything, she has to always be out fighting monsters or things like that these days."

    Speaking of the woman herself, the sound of metal clanking against the hewn wood of the tree root interior of the corescraper can be heard approaching from the outside. What walks in through the front door is something like a rather average-sized woman in an outsized six feet of armor. Dark-gray or nearly black plate is in certain places, while a gray bronze and chainmail frequently intersperses it, and every inch is etched with celtic symbols. Where there is none of that, gray furs and soft green cloth drape, with white accents. Black leather bands hold a heavy sword and several throwing axes, bound over a thick black tunic with no symbols to mark it, only lines of vivid green. The helm completely obfuscates everything but a shock of long white hair that flows out the back, and the glow of green eyes through the visor.

    There is blood. On her thick leather gloves, around her blade, on one of the axes. It is an unnerving blue.

    "Sweetie! Welcome back!" The Shade waves her over, immediately approaching for a hug in spite of the armor. It's reciprocated nearly instantly, but then the head swivels silently to the two visitors. "Oh, them-- they stopped by to say they think you're being targeted by a farworld group. Do you think we can let them help out?"

    The Slayer's head tilts slightly, and a cold, driven, focused voice, like Lilian in all her most icy, violent moments, mutters, "Don't interfere with my work."
    "But, uh, they can keep an eye on things, right?"
    The Winter Slayer looks down to the blacksmith and makes a motion that just might be a nod, if you were looking very closely.
    "Excellent! Now-- I really need to get you cleaned up and out of that, haha. Uh-- will you two be staying long? I need to attend to this at least for a little!" The Shade looks back to I4 and Kale.

    The Winter Slayer hands off a sealed envelope to her lover, who opens it up. "Oh!" They cry out. "We got forwarded a personal invitation from Despoina! Wow, top dog of the Underworld wants *us* at Tormach's festivities... I miss that old workshop. We should go!"
Staren     Dread Persephone gives Dread Headpats (Dreadpats?) Staren blushes and looks away, but does seem somewhat buoyed by the words. You really think I'll be able to open hearts...?

    Despoina talks of dropping shields, Flamel of emotional vulnerability, Cantio brings it back around to 'the place she can finally be herself' and this time that clicks into place in Staren's brain, and she nods a little.

    And then she stares at Persephone. They *did* discuss music before, but she's never heard Persephone hum or sing a song that she can immediately remember. And smiles at (their) Persephone giving her encouragement. She's worried about Cantio in the past, so it's good to see Persephone's looking out for her, surely better than Staren could. Oh right, Cantio was in some sense her protege.

    Finally, Staren turns back to Flamel. "But what do we do once we've got this moment of vulnerability? We'll only get one chance, then her guard will be up and she'll be mad as hell if it didn't work..."
Hibiki Tachibana     "You have...?" Hibiki doesn't hide the hopeful tone in her voice as Despoina mentions she actually does have something in mind, which the overwhelmingly relaxed atmosphere of the room probably has a part in. Her eyes only widen further at the elaboration, until it all clicks into place. Her mind shoots right back to the piano room back at the estate; to the self-playing instrument, and the story behind it that the others had picked up, and her own purely mental image of a childish Lilian listening along to it.

    "That makes sense...!" Flamel's cheer gets her nodding along more energetically too. "That'll give us the chance we need!" Her excitement at the breakthrough is tempered before too long though, partially thanks to Cantio and Candy. Especially the latter's worry, which gets her grimacing just a bit.

    "...Mm. I don't want to cause any trouble for them at all. They're..." Past the war they had to fight, and together. Even if it meant helping their Lilian, she wouldn't want to have to do something to another one's happiness to accomplish it. And Cantio...

    Respecting her lack of continuing on that train of thought, Hibiki doesn't either. But it's easy to tell that all the similarities between...well, a lot of people are on her mind. It leaves her a lot more measured as she watches Persephone comfort her, briefly glances at Flamel for his reassurance on the plan, and then looks back up towards Despoina.

    "...Um, thanks for all of this. Really. Without your help, I don't know if we ever would have managed any of this. And I'll say it twice, too. For...caring about making her happy."
Kale Hearthward "Yes - we've got our ID's," says Kale, who's about to explain things further when the Winter Slayer makes her appearance.

His eyes dart over her, taking her in - the armor, the weaponry. The blood. The attitude. The body language. The silence.

There is a certain type of person who would look at all of this and decide that this is a person who does not need them getting in her way. Or that, if they are going to get in her way, a period of gradual warming up - like over the course of a long, character-driven quest with plenty of moments for personal interaction and exposition and introspection and growth - would be appropriate before attempting to reach a level of familiarity with her. Or - if they are going to forego the gradual organic relationship building, then to at least have a chance to demonstrate aptitude, show that they are not just talk, especially for someone like Kale Hearthward who is a somewhat effeminate bird person not wearing visible armor or weaponry.

This sort of person is reasonable, sane, and possesses a measure of self-awareness and self-preservation.

"Hi there!"

Kale gets up and walks right up to the Winter Slayer, standing in front of her - literally in her way - and extends a hand towards her to shake. "Kale Hearthward, Paladins - I was just hearing about you. That is quite the impressive set of armor, and you seem like the sort of person who knows her way around an axe, if the blood is any indication! So - how about we sit down and compare notes, before you run off!"
Ishirou "I have identification," I4 says, and can basically provide some.  That much is easy, being a Paladin.  As for it being unwise, "I...wish I could say what it was exactly if it was simply a hit on her I'd be easier to help, but it's not so..." I4 shrugs, and is probably talking too much.  

Watching The Slayer enter was...odd.  It was and wasn't Lilian, well at least he is familiar with.  Everything in him was screaming at being near her, and seeing her in a dark ally would probably be the last thing he would ever want.  On the other hand, the shade embraces her so warmly, and she accepts it.

It DOES remind him of the few times he's seen a certain goddess and Lilian so it's also familiar.  This form of Lilian reminds him of what Lilian is becoming now.  He doesn't like it, and for a moment he looks like he's about to vanish from just sinking back.  Though he's reminded that part of his idea is to AVOID this...so maybe he should stop being afraid for once in his goddamn life.

He takes a steadying breath, and instead focuses on the job.  "Wouldn't think about it...besides I'm a scanner, my job is support.  So if things come to blow's I'll stay back and do what I do best," he says, with...well, as much warmth as he can muster.  "I can also provide you want I know on them if it should come to blows?"

"Sure, if you like?  I can coordinate stuff if Kale has other things to do besides wait?" He asks, not sure what's Kale's life is about these days.  "Underworld..?  Despoina?  Uhhhh...who is that?" And while waiting, I4 runs a google search on Despoina.  There should be local information on her, right?

"Oh wait, is that /THE/ workshop you were talking about?" He asks the Shade.
Flamel Parsons     The smile to Cantio is warm, and more than that, warming. "When people express, when people create... You can't do it without lowering the shield, no you can't. With those tips I've got on the line from you, I'd say we have ourselves a chance. We can make it a challenge of kindness and trust."

    "You don't open hearts with an agenda." Dread Persephone says, shaking her head to both Candy and Staren. "You open them because they ought'a be open. And after that? You improvise, with kindness."
    Flamel, for his part, just sort of thumbs-ups that statement. "Pretty much! We wing it and hope for the best. All we need is to find that little bit of info that tells us how Type Black works in this natural formation. I just need the natural mechanism of her Oklo Reactor, so to speak! This, here, is the hard part."

    "Someone with a good ear? Honey, you picked the right woman. Give me an ear-full of what you know. No shade can match Despoina when it comes to taste in music." A scroll floats to her hands, then a quill, and she puts Persephone's music to paper. "I'll hear it myself, if someone can get on the line. Mmhmm..." She nods in a satisfied way, once she's done.

    She reaches out to Hibiki next. Like with Staren, her grasp is like an optical illusion, like she's truly forty feet tall and you just can't see it right due to a trick of perspective. No, she's only fifteen feet tall, but she still somehow scoops Hibiki up, supporting her in a sudden seat on the palm, briefly brushing her hair back. "On my line, you're *always* welcome to a little help. Life was tough. No reason death's gotta be the same way." She smiles. "I've got an eternity to help my Shades. You've only got a little while. Might as well put you on the front of the line, huh?" She sets Hibiki back down with a short pat on the head.

    "That settles the business tonight!" Flamel says, eagerly. "Let us know where and when to be for the performance! I'll make sure everyone's in place. This should work great!"
    "Yes." Says Hades, finishing writing something. "So you're done now. You'll be forwarded the information. Do *not* squander my wife's generosity, nor mine. If the Winter Slayer is traumatized by your efforts, you will be held accountable."
    "Dear." Dread Persephone says just one word.
    Hades sighs. "...And appreciated, if she is healed. Now go."
Cantio Persephone's approval gets more good reactions out of Cantio. She's a sucker for positive reinforcement, apparently! She does take on a slightly more anxious look, however, when Persephone compliments her on her willingness to help Lilian. "Thanks, Phony. I... Uh." She inhales awkwardly when Despoina talks about not having agendas, then sighs and rubs her neck. "I can't hide it from either of you even if I wanted to, so..."

Best to lay it all out on the table while the time is... Maybe not right, but at least before anyone goes on thinking or expecting too much from her (Despoina included). "I wish I could say I was helping her out of any... Goodness of my heart, but I'm not."

Cantio's struggling to get the rest out in comprehensible words, and the struggle is evident even on her face. There's anger there, to be sure, but also frustration. "I can't just forgive her for what she's done or said to me, but... All of you believe in her far more than I ever could. Even if I can't believe in her, I can at least believe in that much, and support all of you as much as I can in trying to do that. I might not know a lot about opening her heart up, but when it comes to music and sound..."

Cantio's eyes glint at that. "Leave the sound work to me. I'm not the Candidate of Cadenza for nothing! And if it does all work out..."

She doesn't finish that sentence, but there's the slightest of mischievous grins on Cantio's face. Both Persephone's might know exactly what she's thinking about, even if she doesn't consciously realize it just yet.

Hades' threat (and semi-praise? following Dread Persephone's one word to him) does at least get her to straighten up a bit more later.
Candy      "Okay!" He breathes a sigh of relief he didn't realize he'd been holding, to see Flamel give his thumbs-up to Dread Persephone's assertion. "Just wanted to make sure we was all on the same page. Or at least me and G-Man. I can handle that."

    He is asked to leave, and he doesn't want to overstay his welcome. "Bye, tall people! I won't squander nothing 'cause I don't know how to squander anything, 'cause I don't know what that word means!"

    "G-Man, let's watch a movie on the fancy plane ride back!" He says this with the confidence of someone who will -make- a movie-watching device if there isn't already one on the plane.
Flamel Parsons     "Very same workshop, yeah!" The Shade clarifies to I4. "We used to work out of there for a long time... It was near one of the frontlines the WSSU couldn't move for years. Gods, she'd go out and just come back *drenched* in blood." The Shade gets a little nervousness in their chuckle, before muttering, "It was kind of, um, kind of hot."

    One clearing of phantasmal throat later, "Yeah, Despoina. She's the Queen of the Underworld. That's where I'm from!" I4's googling finds plenty of local broadcasts from her, as well as a general "nameless queen" arrangement where the name Persephone isn't actually kept as public knowledge -- though back in home networks, it looks like Despoina is known to be the goddess Persephone in certain mythical interpretations.

    As for Kale? The Slayer approaches, looks down at him, then those shining green eyes close for a moment. "Show me." Says the terse voice. The Shade brings their wife a wide towel-like cloth to sit on so as not to ruin the couches while the Slayer *doesn't* remove her helmet during the visit. The entire time, she's focused, speaking only rarely. The Shade does most of the talking. Sometimes, their hands snake together and squeeze. The Slayer doesn't speak much, but there's absolutely no absence of love in this household. This fae slaughterer has settled down, in spite of everything. She's willing to speak for a while, but only a while, and the guard seems perpetually up, a mental barrier that's unbreakable.
Ishirou I4 runs multiple searches, of course.  Local makes the most sense to get a feeling for 'here'.  Though while this happens he smiles at The Shade, and watches.  This is...definitely love.  Or at least, what he understands.  It's not something he's confident about, but that's a personal issue more than an operational one.  He wonders if she knows, or if...he should say it?  What happens if she doesn't feel the same?  

It'd be strange to...make everything weird right when their world is crumbling.  Boy, this is something he'd never thought he'd be worried about but here they are.  

Then the search comes up.  

Fuck.  Fuuuuck.  Fuck fuck fuck.  That explains why they didn't come here DIRECTLY, which was nagging on his mind.  More than that, it solves how they're coming at this.  I4's mind is trying to rummage through all of this...how would they do this?  No, more importantly, WHAT are they after..?  
Persephone Kore      Phony's rendition of the fused, memory-fogged song is remarkably pretty, even if it's solely for Despoina's transcription. It ought to be impossible for one person's voice to replicate a piece meant for piano, but I just improvise a little by vibrating the air! It all works out.

     She titters softly, covering her mouth with a hand, as Hibiki's scooped up and petted- a telekinetic hairscruffle follows it up immediately, doubling down on the affectionate bullying. When that's done, though...

     "Persephone," Persephone says- I'm the only one who can say it and not make it confusing!- "Thank you so much for trusting us to help. I really believe that, if we can create a kind enough world for her, we'll be able to help the Winter Slayer. Both of them, actually. I'm sure that's what we all-" Cantio's ear is gently pinched- "-want."

     "But..."

     She reaches into her satchel and pulls out a pomegranate, perfect and jewel-like. Her telekinesis splits it into two pieces, hewing the waxy film from the juicy seeds. Phony takes a bite from the smaller piece, staining her lips slightly redder, and gives Despoina a heart-meltingly sunny smile as she offers her the larger.

     "You'll stay in touch, won't you?"
Kale Hearthward Kale finds a spot to sit back down as well, and waits till she's settled in.

"So the high level - there's this set of three groups that oppose each other, we all want what's best for our worlds and ourselves but we disagree on what that is a lot of the time, and I'll spare you the whole ideological differences thing, though obviously we have the right set of ideals and what the other two groups want would be a chaotic mess if we let them go unchecked. I'm part of one of those groups - the Paladins, as is I4 here. We received word of a couple of people from the other two groups - the Watch and the Concord, had broken into the house of one of our compatriots, and then were coming here in order to do... something, related to her, here. We're confident in the intel, we aren't confident in what it means."

"... While we are trying to head off whatever it is the other two groups are doing, we're mostly here out of concern for our compatriot. She's not here - she's busy with some critical tasks in her home world. She..."

He pauses, and rubs his face. "She's going through *something* - and I'm getting off track. We think they're here to find, basically, one of her alternate multiverse selves. And do... something. Nothing good, or they'd do it openly."

"That alternate multiverse self... is you. Lilian."

"And we're here to stop them. I will be frank - we're strangers to you, to this world. Aside from general altruism, we're not invested in either. But if they're here to find you, they'll have to cross your path eventually, and we want to find out why they're seeking you out, and stop whatever plan they've put in motion."

"So." Kale sits up. "You have us as allies, if you'll have us."
Hibiki Tachibana     With only a moment of surprise at the disparity of sizes to her eyes, Hibiki allows herself to get swept up, blinking up towards Dread Persephone. "Ah..." There's a long moment where she seems to contemplate those words, before pursing her lips and furrowing her brow - with resolve, and a firm nod. Specifically because, 'they've only got a little while'. "...Right. We'll make the most of the chance you've given us!"

    Back down on the ground, and with slightly messier hair than her already fairly messy usual, Flamel gets a nod and a smile, and she also has to restrain a chuckle at Hades' response to his wife. "...Thank you, too." She leaves it at that, already having a decent enough idea that he wouldn't be one for the same amount of heartfelt gratitude, but she means it all the same.

    Dread Persephone gets a grateful wave as she prepares to move, right before she nods along with Cantio. "I might not be a Candidate, but I at least picked up a couple things from school. If there's anything I can do to help get things together, I will."

    And then, a punch of her fist into her palm. "...And I'll do the same for when it's time to reach Lilian's heart. Whatever it takes..."
Staren     "You don't open hearts with an agenda." Dread Persephone says, shaking her head to both Candy and Staren. "You open them because they ought'a be open." Staren nods. This is 100% compatible with her mindset right now. She wants to help Lilian, not use her.

    She listens appreciatively to Phony's humming. She's heard her mother complain about being unable to do exactly this, but it's obvious how Phony's able to do it. (There's a joke about 'polyphony' in here somewhere)

    Staren nods along at the thought of helping the Winter Slayer. Because she deserves it, everyone does, not just because it will help their Lilian!
Flamel Parsons     The group is leaving, and they'll enjoy a nice movie on the way back. But there's one last bit of an interaction. Persephone to Persephone. This food isn't Underworld food, but Dread Persephone regards it with a smile anyway. "Mark the frequency, honey. I'll always be with you." She takes a bite, the fruit much smaller in her hand, and washes it down with a sip from her cup. "And don't you worry. Demeter doesn't mind anymore, not these days. I'm home. It's where the people are."

    Her door is closing. But those who so choose can still tune to her frequency as she begins a little broadcast for Sector L-57. "A voice in the caves. The sound you heard in the dreams before the longest. From soul to spirit, from demigod to shade, a name you can't put to your lips, like a kiss you missed before your final day... Hello, sweet things. Let's have a pillow chat."

    "To all of you closed up, all of you strapped in your armor, remember. Gate's gotta open to get in, but gate's gotta open to get out too. Remember Pandora, and remember, the pain of openness doesn't mean you leave hope all locked up tight. Let the pain through you, and leave your pithos wide open. You've got the time you need these days, and everything else, you can solve. But that, down there, in the bottom, hidden away? You leave that lid open, sweet things."

    "Now, here's a ditty from everyone's favorite. Orpheus... bring in the night for us...."
Flamel Parsons     The Slayer stares at Kale the entire time. The green gleam blinks, keeping a narrow view. Kale talks this out, but the Slayer doesn't visibly react. Well, until near the very end. She nods. Still, she doesn't remove the helmet. But she says: "You're fighting for me."
    "For a version of you, Lil'." The Shade offers.
    "Good. That version earned allies. She deserves their help." The speech is short, quick, like someone mashing the A button through dialogue. "I won't deny her her that. She deserves it." She nods once or twice. "But. Bring in your Lilian. Don't leave her out. Help her. Don't get in her way. Or mine. And then you'll have done good."

    "Ahah, gods you're so intense with guests! Give them a break at least..." The Slayer only gives the Shade a short squeeze of the hand as a sort of acknowledgment of yes. "Well, I'll double-check everything's like they said it, okay? I'll look up the 'Paladins' and make sure everything's alright. Maybe talk to the other Lilian!"

    The Shade briefly stops and imagines. TWO Lilians. They shake their head to try to clear it. "Wow, uh, I'll go get you some of the *good* tea, Lil'! We'll get you out of the armor when they're gone."