Scene #8030: Metro City Bay: Not a Stage for once

Owner	Pose
Karlan Nobles	Today's meeting is Metro City Bay, world renowned for its fantastic view of Uptown Metro City and, bafflingly enough, South Town Bay. There's plenty of attractions for visitors of all types, ranging from fine dining and shopping within lavish towers to local holes in the walls with food that varies in quality as much as the hair colors of those loitering outside. Pramanix, of course, sticks out like a sore thumb in her fancy blue coat and wide purse that looks like she could easily fit an entire VCR in it (also the electronics stores actually have VCRs here). Her tail is tucked under her other arm, as though she's being careful not to let it get too gunked up from passing cars or touching anything, as the nearby benches don't look like they're particularly clean (but at least they don't have those anti-sleeping things in the middle). More than that, she's the only person at the bay by herself at the moment, watching boats passing by on her left while keeping the rest of the street visible to her right. She knows she'd be a target, after all, but she is in fact waiting where she said she would be. There's also a rather shady looking trio watching her from a nearby alley, but they're not approaching yet as long as they know she's looking right at them. She appears to be waiting for someone, after all, so they're probably scoping things out first before committing to the bit.
Lilian Rook	Lilian is as made and dressed up as she needs to be for now, which is simultaneously less than her prior fashion and more than she would like, given the need to appear at least presentably normal. She doesn't mind standing out for being too rich and pretty; the worst kind of attention she could draw for that is trivial to deal with. The kind of attention she could draw the other way isn't quite so simple. Not if she wants to be the heroine in that interaction. That doesn't stop her from being a menace otherwise though. Once she sees the way Pramanix is hiding her tail under her arm like that, she just can't help it. One can only be so good at moving stealthily and withhold the urge to harass someone for so long. Lilian 'introduces' herself to Pramanix by simply coming up behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist, and squeezing her tail with the other hand. At the same time, she glances in the same direction Pramanix is looking, and whispers "Where's the guy you're always with? You're not exactly great at this private meeting thing; somewhere loud and public would be safer."
Kale Hearthward	Kale isn't quite sure what's going on. Something about a deal Lilian made. He's here riding shotgun in the non-literal sense, and he made sure to pack lipstick for... reasons. "Yeah - aren't you usually a pair?" he asks, hanging back a bit. Some part of him still assumes that this is an ambush, not a meeting. His Secundus experience hasn't been typically smiles and friendship.
Karlan Nobles	Watching for anyone coming from her sides is easy. Watching for someone coming from behind isn't impossibly, but Lilian manages just that when she's just behind Pramanix suddenly and somehow slipping past her careful gaze. Naturally, the physical contact has her nearly jumping out of her skin complete with the expected level of startled yelping and attempts to thrash herself right out of there, but she calms down after not too long once she realizes that Lilian is, in fact, not a local ruffian. Her tail is also impossibly soft and fuzzy. That's the power of being a rich lady, alright. That noise is enough to get the actual ruffians starting to move, perhaps ready to try their luck! And then a birdman shows up. Just a whole ass bird man. They give each other slow looks, then slink back into the alleys to find easier marks. "Gh... A-ah! Lilian, there you are. You're... Forward, aren't you?" Pramanix laughs, trying to play off the initial surprise as though she's totally used to it (badly). "And Kale, too? If I was a more paranoid person, I'd almost be worried that I really did pick a bad place." She laughs again more genuinely this time, then clears her throat after a little longer. "Silverash? I'm not his keeper. Besides, he's taking care of some personal..." She raises her fingers for fingerquotes. "... 'Personal' business in Kjerag. It's his right, and I'm not about to turn down a chance to go out sightsee-" A pause, and she clears her throat again. "-Scouting the new territory without him around. My first reports showed that the nightlife here is quite different from how it is back home, so!" Pramanix claps her hands together, and her ears twitch once. "Where shall we start? There's all sorts of local specialties around here, theaters, shopping centers..." She mutters briefly. "Offices..." And then back to her previous excited tone. "... And strange fighting noises all over the place! I brought a little something just in case we have to deal with that." She opens her purse for them to look inside. Her bell is in there (carefully wrapped in cloth) along with an iron pipe (just lying there).
Kale Hearthward	The whole ass bird man shrugs. "Yeah, so..." Scouting! Okay. So that's why they're here. Kale probably really should have asked, but it was like, after a certain point it would just be awkward to admit 'Hey you know how I'm along with you on this mission, Rook, well I actually have no idea what we're doing'. And specifically it's 'scouting' with quotation marks around it, which is... absolutely not something he's ever done while on official business, nope, never. Always serious, always on duty. It's just that sometimes the most efficient scouting does involve checking out all the fun cultural stuff. "Well, good on you for not being married at the hip to your... partner? And..." He brightens up. "Theaters, you say? I mean, that sounds like as good a place to start as any!" The purse is examined. "... Um - you're carrying a... pipe in your purse." He looks down at it again, and then up at Pramanix. "Why are you carrying a pipe?" "I mean, wouldn't you rather want a gun or something?"
Lilian Rook	Lilian is genuinely listening pretty intently at first, up until Pramanix starts complaining about SilverAsh being gone for ostensibly frivolous reasons, and then even less so when she just nakedly puts her agenda on the table. A sly grin of focused semi-interest slides off her face when Pramanix gets to the point of clapping and listing off local attractions in excitement. Her now tailless hands wanders over and pinches her cheek instead. "Really? That's the reason?" Lilian grumbles, staring at Pramanix severely. "Do I seem like a hostess to you? After all that guff you gave me, what came to you in the end was to spin it around into hired company? Couldn't you have found any old cabaret club and annoyed someone there?" She releases the other woman's face with a deeply weary sigh of vexation, briefly pressing her hands over her nose and closing her eyes, muttering something about 'tenth code' over and over into her palms. "Just pick a bloody movie and let's be over with this." Lilian sighs. "And I won't be responsible for what happens the next time you pull this."
Karlan Nobles	"It is a pipe! It's a souvenir." Pramanix sounds weirdly proud of that. "And personal protection, too! It's not sharp, so I don't have to worry about bleeding anyone out, and a gun would..." She pauses. "... Someone in my position shouldn't use something like that. The fallout for my people would be too much for them to handle." 'Well, good on you for not being married at the hip to your... partner? And...' Pramanix visibly grimaces at that. "Brother." She corrects Kale, although the visceral reaction seems to go a little too hard even for someone that's just having the normal reaction to that sort of suggestion. "We're both from the Silverash clan, as unlikely as it might seem." She clarifies, all while conveniently ignoring the fact that they have the same hair color and type of fur/fur spots on their ears and tails. Although he's not here to confirm it now, Silverash's might even be fuzzier than Pramanix's. He's got that dirty corpo money. Kale's face lighting up at the mention of theaters doesn't go ignored, and Pramanix has to hold back a grin. It's just in time, too, as Lilian winds up snagging her cheek, causing Pramanix to sputter a bit before managing to talk properly again. "It's not just for fun, of course! Even in unfamiliar lands, a good leader needs to understand the hearts of the people beyond just what comes from reports and stuffy, boring documents. And I couldn't just ask anyone from home to come with me, or it'd be... More of that." It's pretty obvious to see that she's really just looking for a reason to slack off. "So what better way to do that than to get the perspectives of people outside of my usual circles? I've seen your work firsthand, heard of your exploits inside and outside of Secundus, and of how much you both put into.. Well. Everything you do." She clarifies while rubbing her cheek, eventually settling into a softer smile towards the two. "We all need the opportunity to recharge sometime, right?" The nearest place, conveniently enough, has plenty of shows to choose from. Long-running musicals, experimental pieces that might only end up having that one good scene to justify it, shlocky bullshit with cult followings and polarizing reviews, and everything in-between. Pramanix seems to be interested in the shlocky bullshit, but she's not going to be opposed to following along with anything that really catches Kale's or Lilian's eyes.
Kale Hearthward	<X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Lilian Rook says, "Well, the Watch's cat is a lot smarter than the Concord's." <X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Lilian Rook says, "Instead of roping me into kicking her ass, I've somehow been roped into a date." <X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Kale Hearthward says, "Wait-" <X-Paladins-Chatter> 4 Kale Hearthward says, "Am... I third wheeling?" It gets cleared up that Kale did not invite himself along on Lilian's date, which is a relief, because that's something Kale absolutely would walk right into unknowingly. Pramanix ego-strokes, which Kale has an elemental weakness to. "Oh, well, you know, it is as it is," he says, with transparently false modesty. "Just doing my job - our job, and being really good at it - a lot of hard work, but clearly it's paying off, right!" He preens. He doesn't actually literally preen because they're in public and that's gross but there's the very bird like suggestion that if he wasn't in mixed company he totally would preen in a self-satisfied way. "Right, you get it though. Can't learn everything through paperwork! And on that note..." "... Oooh, this one seems like it's worth a watch!" he says, focusing on the most indie, most experimental play on offer. "The Silence of the Motionless. A four act play with no dialogue and no stage directions. Neat!"
Kale Hearthward	Also, at some point during walking around, Kale pulls a notecard out of a pocket, and consults it for a second. "The tenth is... huh. Right, that one," he says under his breath, and replaces it in his pocket before going to catch back up.
Lilian Rook	"Just?" Lilian repeats, swiftly and emphatically, as soon as Pramanix has completed the word 'fun'. "Incorrigible. Just incorrigible. What's all this about being a good leader? Aren't you supposed to be a saint? Isn't the point that the creed you represent is inherently good for the people who believe in it and that you need to be spreading it? Not learning how other random people are so you can be like them?" She groans. "Why wouldn't some of your friends from the Watch do just fine? It's obvious you've shaken off your brother for this." She sure says all that. But then let it not be said that Lilian Rook is immune to flattery. Or even type neutral. She's not as transparent about it as Kale is, but hearing something approximating a genuine sense that Pramanix looks up to her from afar, in some way, is enough to cause most of her salt to abate. She pops open an old-fashioned silver-backed hand mirror, does a (makeup?) check, and then flips it away. "I'm going back by two. And don't get the wrong idea, or Tamamo might curse you." She sounds serious. Ten minutes later. "Hearthward . . . why in God's name do you have little post-its with the Code of Thirteen written on them?" Ten seconds later. "No, absolutely not. If the purpose is to allegedly learn about the culture of the people here, we can't just settle for a gimmick or experimental showing. We obviously have to start by seeing what's popular." Lilian checks the local listing, frowns, and says "Second most popular is fine.", then sub-audibly whispers something about some 'jackass' called 'Hamilton'. "Don't be offended if I buy my own refreshments."
Karlan Nobles	"I have the people's support, it's true, but it's..." Pramanix hesitates, visibly mulling over her words. "The creed is inherently good for them, but they already believe in it. Anyone I'm leading here isn't part of the faith, so I can't just impose those same things on them without knowing what they're going through or what they value." She takes a deep breath, then settles into a more relaxed tone. "Besides. I'm only the Saint when I have the vestments on. I'm just another overdressed visitor right now." She flaps the sides of her coat and dress briefly, then tucks her tail back under her arm again. "I do plan to bring them here eventually, but I haven't seen them show much interest in this place. And Silverash..." "He's busy." Pramanix doesn't elaborate, and it's clear she's still rather soured about something there. Luckily for Kale, she doesn't seem to notice the totally-not-preening-inclined body language. That, or she's polite enough not to bring it up and doing a good job at not showing it compared to her mood about her brother. "It'd be hard not to notice all the waves you've made during both of these already." She comments, giving them another ego stroke (intentionally or otherwise) before considering their recommendations. "I've heard of no dialogue, but no direction? That could be..." Her eyes light up a bit. "... That might be the worst thing I've ever heard of. Oh, that could be a real train wreck~" Somehow, that doesn't sound like a bad point to her. "Something popular would be better for actual work reasons, though, and it'd at least be coherent compared to something with no stucture. If you can't stay that long, then I suppose..." Pramanix waffles on that decision for a while, and she notices Kale doing that thing with the notecard. She's totally looking at him just long enough to make it obvious that she knows he's looking at something, but she refrains from asking about it. Eventually, Pramanix decides on for the SECOND MOST POPULAR SHOW which happens to still be a somewhat experimental piece, but mostly on the surface level and largely on the safer side structurally while still having a couple of decent talking points and that one really good part where someone ****s everywhere. She pays for everyone's tickets and concessions if they don't hijack the card, of course. She's still got a good sense of hospitality even now. Once the show's over, Pramanix looks a little more hyper than before, but in that post-show-wired sense. "So... I do have a confession to make. Today wasn't... Entirely about working. Can you forgive me for that?" She sounds maybe 10% sorry about that, clearly enjoying her time too much to be able to hide much more than that.
Kale Hearthward	There's a side radio conversation about Kale's notecard. More ego stroking hits home pretty easily. Lilian isn't quite quiet enough about her comments about Hamilton, meaning that Kale will look it up later to see what's so bad that it'd bug her, which in turn means that Lilian Rook has doomed herself to Kale sneaking lines from the song in wherever he can, non-stop, like he's running out of time or like history has its eyes on him. Though that'll be for later, right now they have a play to watch, so they head into the room where it happens. Post-show, Kale's also wired. "Oh man - that second act..." He's managed to stay quiet during the actual play, since that'd be rude, but afterwards Lilian and Pramanix are treated to practically every thought, critique, and hype moment that's crossed his mind. "... So - not entirely about working? What about, then?" Kale asks, not quite getting it.
Lilian Rook	"Funny. I thought imposing things on people was rather the whole point of religion." Lilian remarks sourly, then does not elaborate. "Then again, the religions I'm aware of don't contain the concept of on and off duty. If you're supposed to be embodying spiritual virtue and speaking for god, you live that way, period. I suppose Karlan has something more like a shamanistic tradition, then?" After a brief argument about watching a train wreck at all, which involved the words 'If you simply want to see a disaster then I can call those thugs back for you', the show actually passes uneventfully, somehow. Lilian is equally surprised as anyone else is, at minimum, about that part. What's perhaps slightly less surprising is that she has impeccable theatre manner, and, when Kale starts going nutty about every little detail, she has a response for every third or fourth thing he wants to bring up, containing genuine comprehension of the artform. It's like, baked into her class template, apparently. She does let slip "It's been quite a while since I've gone, though. I suppose it's easy to forget about, when the internet is right there, that the experience is inherently part-aesthetic. Next time I'm in town, I should take--" She trails off with a soft wince. "Yes, we both caught that." Lilian replies to Pramanix, only to then make an aggrieved exhalation when Kale instantly contradicts her. "Please don't tell me that you were checking up on me specifically. I know that . . . I'm sure she wouldn't put you up to it."
Karlan Nobles	"Right? Especially that part where..." Pramanix gushes about the high parts of the show, although she does rein it in enough to question some of the weirder pacing issues. She's clearly learned enough to understand the terms and general story structure to follow along, but there's also a clear lack of experience in watching these things live and being able to comment on so much of it with only a single viewing. Still, she sounds like she enjoyed it more than not, and she's definitely excited to have people to talk about it with. That, in turn, probably makes her explanation a little more understandable. "I... Don't often have opportunities to do things like this at home. My people revere me, and I love them dearly, but there's only so much embodying of Kjera's ideals that I can do. All those rules, expectations, that sort of stuff. Even the Goddess takes breaks when I'm not spending time with her. Everyone needs a break from all the pressure every now and then, you know?" A beat, and then she clarifies. "Spending time in person, not figuratively, that is." Her ears twitch briefly, and she glances back at an alley shortly after exiting the theater, but turns back to Lilian and Kale afterwards. "And... Well, you've met other Watch members before. They're dear friends of mine as well, but so many of them are a little... Not quite our age?" She doesn't want to admit to being '''older'''. "Being able to do something like this... It's quite nice." Pramanix chuckles lightly, then raises an eyebrow at Lilian. "No, nobody put anyone up to any of this. Who...?" She sounds curious enough, but doesn't pry too much. "Well, anyway... Thank you for indulging me tonight, friends. I'll consider our deal completed after this. If you ever want to make any other offers in the future, though, I'll certainly consider it." And with that, she's finally turning towards where her ears were twitching. It sounds like that fighting is getting closer. She's probably going to end up hiding in a bathroom or rooftop to watch that, based on her body language alone.