Scene #8210: Intellectual Property Violations In The Jade Empire

Owner	Pose
Xion	Xion had set up for a spot of revenge on the CEO Of Gameism, Kamen Rider GENM of GENM Corp. Having alerted Phreak, their technology expert and kitbashing extraordinaire local to the Watch cells operating in Sector Zero, and Hibiki, the wronged party, Xion had invited both to: Okay, it was Wall Market but without the smell of Mako Energy. Graffiti-muraled walls and thick-pressed narrow streets of market stalls hawking wares from under canvas flaps and atop worn tables of battered wood and stacks of goods laid over by rugs and cloths. Moving into the central market-building, narrow staircases finger vertical access to more layers, while the canvas flaps disappear in favor of more formal structures of more permanent establishments - these with more consistent goods known by the brands of single craftsmen or families rather than gleam-under-the-sun and chance. Up, and through, into the alchemy layer, and ducking through a gold light-baked corner of the outer market and through a thick curtain-drape door into a hookah lounge by smell. By sight, it is an alchemy lab of a single hermeticist, draped scattered and hung with googags and curios of all kinds and providence. In the corner, a sleeping old man with a drooped cone-hat trimmed in some kind of well-worn fur has a blanket over him, and a DO NOT DISTURB wall hang sign hung around his neck. Xion 'sits' in a floor couch, sprawled out with a submarine sandwich half-unwrapped in her lap. She is one of her usual outfits - black leggings and boots, black shorts with silver clasps and metal, a grey short-sleeved t-shirt with a muted shoreline color-pattern showing in a porthole-circle in the center. > Hey, I'm set up at the Imperial watchtower. > Swing by! > BYOS > That means bring your own sandwich.
Hibiki Tachibana	You know, never once had Hibiki actually asked where they'd be handling this particular bit of business at. Her first guess would have been wherever Phreak was set up. Working out of where he's used to and all that, since he'll be doing a lot of work here. Her second guess could have been a lot of things, but it was not an old man's laboratory in a quiet corner of an admittedly pretty comfy market square. Once she finds her way there, she pushes asides the drapes and pokes her head in, blinking a few times once she catches a whiff of the smell inside. "Not exactly what I was expecting..." She'd knock on a wall to announce her presence properly, but then she'd be at risk of waking up the old man - maybe? He looks pretty out of it. Pretty comfy himself, too. Xion will probably be pleased to see that she's not in the Depression Hoodie anymore, but her usual jacket-and-shorts-and-big-shoes combo, even if she seems to be more than a bit tired in expression. Not that it slows her down, as she steps inside properly with a bag held in one hand, out of which at least a quarter of Subway Sandwich(tm) sticks out. It's a meatball one. She has been very careful to make sure not a single one sloughed out. "...But uh, nice place you and your grandpa got here?" That's probably a joke. Probably. She clearly doesn't have any problems with floor couches, and brings herself down cross-legged on a cushion to fish out her food. "I would have been here sooner, but I didn't know what kind of sandwich I wanted to get..."
Rubi-Kan Vagrants	Phreak enters Not-Wall-Market looking like a character from a mid-2000s sci-fi movie, and only able to pull off not looking ridiculous for the feat of being in great shape and totally confident in his wardrobe. A black leather longcoat with a popped collar rests overtop a purple, skintight keyhole crop-top. White tights bear a periwinkle star print down the side, terminating in black-and-silver boots, while passers-by are observed from behind the cover of light-green mirrored shades. Hands in the pockets of his coat, Phreak weaves through crowds, always finding just the right way to lean or shimmy to keep from bumping into shoppers, always lurching forward just in time to make openings. Up the winding stairs, he makes his way into the alchemy lab. Phreak looks left, right, spots that the only unknown individual here is asleep. A look over his shoulder confirms no one followed him who shouldn't have--and then he procures the goods. Slowly retrieved from his deep pocket... is a wrapped six-inch sub sandwich. Provolone, ham, prosciuttini, cappacuolo, salami, and pepperoni. He takes a big bite of his darkweb sandwich, as Hibiki makes her observation. "Yeah," he agrees between bites. "But that's the fun thing about being Watch, isn't it. Friends in all kinds of places." He reaches into his other pocket and procures... could it be? The Goods? No, it's the other half of the sandwich, and takes a bite of that, too. "Don't think I met your grandpa yet. He do much other than sleep?" He asks, sandwiches akimbo. For all he knows it could really be her grandpa.
Xion	"Grandpa?" Xion begins, biting down on her Italian Club while Hibiki files in. She looks at the sleeping hermit in his corner and shrugs. "I don't really have family like that, but he does remind me of Xemnas a lot." Hibiki has met Xemnas at least once, in passing, while interacting with Xion. A sagely gentleman with greying platinum blond hair and a close-trimmed goatee, he wore the same kinds of silver-draw black coats that Xion always did and 'remembered to smile' at Hibiki. When he introduced himself, with his name, he had shaken Hibiki's hand firmly. "He wouldn't wear that hat." Xion decides, and makes room on the floor couch. "I like your outfit!" She rolls her eyes over as Phreak enters. "Outfits. And sandwich time is important, so don't feel bad choosing. I like mine with extra pepper-cheenies." She mispronounces 'pepperoncini' because she learned of the pickled poppers out of the hearts and souls of Quiznos Enjoyers, and they are a certain kind of people. "Hashmal the Alchemist, uh, runs this place, but he's actually the Watch contact for this layer of the market. We basically get the run of his store and anything cheap he's got here, plus a place to crash with rugs and couches under the sun. You just have to be OK with hookah and. . ." She glances at a bookshelf of jarred (brined and otherwise) Biological Objects. "Have a strong stomach. Anyway, I dropped off the Gamer Driver with you, Phreak, so what did you come up with?"
Rubi-Kan Vagrants	"Thanks," says Phreak to Xion with a smile, as his mirrorshades are quickly dissolved by his nanite cloud. Hands-free inventory must really be convenient. He must have a strong stomach, because he's ogling the Brined and Pickled Biothings while dual-wielding the sandwiches, his face distorted by the curve of the jars. Either that, or it comes with the territory of being Rubi-Kan. "Right," he says, still enjoying Sandwich Time. "The bootleg Gamer Driver. Gimme a minute to finish half of this." By 'half,' he means 'half of each half.' Because he's sandwiches akimbo, of course. It takes him a minute or two--eating apparently not being something he hurries through, unlike everything else. But when that's done, the 'half' that's left is eaten away by nanites to be stored in his cloud for later. Into his waiting hand materializes what is likely the most bootleg transformation device either of these veteran smashum-girls has ever seen. The damaged plastic has been sanded down, then spray painted over, robbing the belt of its garish charm with an edgy red-and-black hackjob. Where the logo 'GAMER DRIVER' would normally rest upon its colorful striped backdrop, there is instead a hyper-realistic, sunglasses wearing smiley face giving a gloved thumbs up, behind the phrase GAMING DAVID. Phreak has made a Gashat for it as well, titled POWERFUL EFFORT Y. He demonstrates, with a stone-faced expression, the proper operation, sliding the bootleg Gashat in, to a cry of GAS. HAT. WOOP! WOOP! from the onboard computer's heavily, cheaply artificial and compressed voice. The jingle is then demonstrated. BE CAREFUL. I AM THREATENING TO WIN. MATERIAL. WORTH SIX POINTS. WOOP! WOOP!
Hamada Haru	Dynamic Era walks through a wall more-or-less unannounced. He doesn't immediately bother to de-transform, although he does solidify and find a seat, fixing his transteam gun to a socket on the suit's thigh that seems intended for receiving certain smallarms. He glances over towards the jarred whatevers, lingering on it for a moment before he says, "Some of these boltholes resemble a back-alley surgeon's personal gallery of emergency removals." He gestures into the surroundings, a swarm of nanites emerging with a hum-and-buzz to create what is presumably a temporary set of curtains to conceal the Gross Shit while people are eating. Getting constructed alongside that is a small table more suited for sitting on the floor at, and a bunch of miscellaneous but distinctly Japanese food in appropriate containers. Miso soup, rice, some fish. It doesn't seem he intends to eat it immediately, because he doesn't detransform. Presumably it's for 'the table'.
Hibiki Tachibana	It feels like it's been forever since those events involving Xion's own - not literally of course, but now that she put a name to Xemnas, a flash of realization is visible on her face as a lot of the details come back at once. He shook her hand - and she'd never forget that. She actually glances down at it briefly, and then up to the napping hermit, before giving a nod. "...Huh...yeah, now that you mention it, he kind of does." Now that she's finally sitting, she takes the chance to fish out her extra-packed meatball sub and firmly grasp it from both ends so none of the sauce-covered goodness inside can risk slipping free, and takes a large bite straight out of it while listening to the explanation given. "And pretty fhun, yheah." Her mouth is only a little bit full when she replies to Phreak, at the same exact moment she follows Xion's eyes towards the...Biological Objects. Yup. Fun. Hibiki Tachibana's stomach is made of some potent stuff, because her chewing doesn't miss a beat. What does make it miss a beat is two things. One is Dynamic Era himself stepping on in, which gets it to slow down by the second as he finds his seat and sets out his entire spread. While transformed. Wordlessly, she looks towards Xion, then scoots forward to properly have a 'seat' at the table. And then her chewing stops completely when Phreak slaps /that/ thing down, jaw hanging loosely enough that a bit of sandwich falls out into her lap. At least she remembers to swallow this time before she actually speaks. It's a very loud gulp. "Okay, I think we can call the plan to piss him off a success already. I think /I'm/ almost offended by this thing. Talk about outdoing yourself."
Xion	Xion, having moved over, appears prescient when Dynamic Era phases through the wall to arrive at her floor couch. They have time, while Phreak two-hands his subs, to settle in, and for some tasteful curtains to the Watchtower. Value added, certainly, and a table too. A little ingenuity, and it's lunch for four transforming heroes. "I'm really glad everyone could make it -- and Hibiki's right, you really outdid yourself with this one!" Xion encourages, leaning up out of her seated slouch and one-handedly gesturing the GAMING DAVID over into her hand to inspect. "You should definitely get your paintbrush out and do over the panel linings with some cel shade lines, it'd look good enough to use as a joke on anyone. I know your armor systems are top-rate, so your job on the driver--" Xion shows the driver to Haru, indicating if he'd like to hand-over it, and if not, underhanding it to Hibiki. Returning to her halved and lap-sat (and slightly top-smushed from leaning) Italian Club, Xion produces some bottled green teas, one by one, until there's six on the table. For the seventh, she keeps for herself, each summoned from her own black-voxel inventory space. "Nobody brought drinks, but I guess I didn't ask!" Xion laughs, before glugging down a long draw of tea to fight down the dry of her sandwich. "Hibiki, did you want something, for yourself? You lost a fight-" She speaks casually, taking a fight. "And it wasn't a one-off. Maybe you want to see if you can take your fighting farther? Phreak's really good, Haru's got lots of experience and the Transteam system is really good actually, and I've definitely got ideas, I've just never really learned how your stuff works."
Hamada Haru	Dynamic Era grunts at the general assessment of the GAMING DAVID. It's hard to tell what he's thinking, but it probably involves agreement. He doesn't know the person that they're trying to piss off, but it annoys him well enough, so he assumes somebody generally more sensitive won't be able to stand it. He picks up a bowl of miso soup and just straight up sips from it without actually taking his helmet off. It phases through the helmet, which nevertheless appears plenty solid. Weird. "... I'll pass," he says, nudging the offensive driver away and towards Hibiki. "But if somebody wants other drinks, I can do that too." It's unclear if this is pocket space nonsense or if he is actually assembling products on the fly. Either way, he takes one of the green teas and opens it, taking a sip exactly as he had with the miso soup. He makes a curious sound when the subject of him relating to a lost fight rises. "Are you asking for equipment? I don't have another one of these."
Rubi-Kan Vagrants	Phreak ejects the bootleg Gashat from the Driver, to the 'tune' of GAS. SHOE. Phreak glances suspiciously at Era, but the fact that he's brought along a sandwich means it can be taken as a kind of shibboleth and the rider can be understood as 'allowed to be here.' Phreak clicks his tongue and makes a double finger-gun at Hibiki. "That's the key to annoying someone, friendo," he counsels. "You have to keep at it until it starts to piss you off. Then you know it's working." Bidden by Xion, he slides the Driver to Haru, for inspection, then takes a seat on the floor-couch. "Fighting a fixer teaches you patience," he says with a half-smile, as Haru declines to deal with it and passes it towards Hibiki. "And two fixers fighting is like watching a couple of drunks stumble around in the dark for a light switch. What I mean is, if you want practice fighting slippery dickheads, I'm happy to help." He is more than happy to take a green tea.
Hibiki Tachibana	With Dynamic Era passing on some quality time with the GAMING DAVID, Hibiki glances up and takes a hand off her sandwich to catch it. As she finishes another bite and sets her sandwich down entirely, the bootleg henshin gizmo is given a suspicious glance that implies she might be worried about it violently exploding in her hands or something. Of course, she trusts Phreak's craftsmanship no matter how the thing actually looks, but it's a reaction that cannot be helped. "...For annoying someone? I'll keep that advice in mind," she says seriously back towards him, running a finger over the Gashat insertion slot for the device - then tilts her head up to Xion, specifically at the losing mention. "It's probably a good thing you dunno how it works, since that's supposed to be a huge secret. The one who made it is the one you'd wanna ask anyway, not me. ...Anyway." After a dry joke, she immediately shifts her eyes somewhere off to the side in what looks like thought. "I already did that training bout with Lilian, and I still need to work on the lessons she tried to tell me. About using my energy more efficiently." "I'm not sure adding more equipment on is the way to go anyway. Or...no, maybe it would help some. I did use the Gashat that Kuroto gave me before a lot, alongside my Symphogear. And there's been some other times too, like the gauntlets Midway made for me...but besides that, I think that's what I really need right now. How to 'fight slippery dickheads'...and figuring out what to do about that Dangerous Zombie Gashat." She finally takes one of the cups of green tea, which she won't say out loud, but she definitely prefers over the dubious nature of Dynamic Era's creations. "...Genm isn't someone I can just overpower and beat like that, because he'll just keep getting back up from it. Not even if I used up everything I had...maybe. If he has a limit, it'd be pretty dangerous for me to try finding it like that."
Xion	"I'm always thinking about new forms, because a lot of me is stuff I picked up that's worked for me, and helped me to get where I'm going, is stuff that came to me as keychains." Xion admits with an apologetic tilt-back to bob of her head. "But I thought you had more. Sorry, that's presumptuous of me, since I can just make them appear if I want them to." Lifting her hand, a jangle of metal sings in sussurating rubs of tiny metal links as the unclipped chains hook around her fingers like a sultan's rings, falling a liquid-like maille curtain down her wrist to a forest of charms of color and variety. One, a twist of gold that can't decide if it's a bannered spear or a musical scroll notation, is certainly Hibiki's. Another, a furious green, Phreak will recognize. A third, sterling silver and locust-charmed, is certainly Haru's current Era. Only Hibiki's has the character of live power, but all of them still exist. An overflowing collection. "I was thinking about refinement. Instead of going wild, maybe you need something that really focuses you? Gets you going?" Looking to Phreak for a moment, Xion considers the tech specialist. "How would you motivate yourself to get tighter up, with a new armor? What's 'focused', if you've figured out 'pissed off'?" Haru gets gestured at with the sandwich, Xion deadpanning Era's masked eating trick as totally normal: because, to her, it is. Some people just have to drink their bottled tea fully ensconsed in a metal cluster power suit system. That they were parazonal locusts was just nice too. "You've definitely got tips on how to clean up a fighting style. Isn't your power a lot more static, now, and it's about what you do with it?"
Hamada Haru	"People get annoyed at different things. This seems like a more personal example of irritation than is usual," Dynamic Era observes, shrugging. "It would probably work on most people who have developed a Driver of any kind, unless they just found it funny. The line between those two things can be thin." He takes a sip of green tea, and then offers, "Part of beating somebody who regularly gets the better of you is figuring out how to angle differently from your usual. If they've figured 'you' out, then 'you' need to be somebody else for a bit." "Playing more safe, or playing less safe. Fighting an entirely different battle than you usually would, in other words," he suggests. Regarding the transteam gun, he replies to Xion, "My mother turned up and gave it to me. I assume she has more, but I haven't seen any, and not much of her, either. Just some jackass that got beaten up trying to assassinate the wrong version of the demon king. And yeah... it's true. I don't fluctuate in power like I used to. Tetra's power could spike pretty hard if I was feeling it right. It could also go in the other direction, but it usually didn't." "Going to need more specifics about how the target is getting the better of her to be helpful beyond this, though," he adds.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants	"She gave you good advice, if that's what she told you," he says. "There are people that could overwhelm me. Zeke, for instance, if you remember him. He's got something in the pocket that doesn't really care about my gimmick. Lucky for me we're both Watchmen, but if you don't have that... silver bullet for his thing, then you've gotta fight him smarter, not harder." Sipping on his tea, "You and me fight pretty differently," he opines. "But think about it like this." He procures a magazine. Not the reading kind, but the gun kind. It's translucent, enough so that everyone can see each individual bullet. It should speak to Phreak's strength he can handle the recoil from two guns which use bullets nearly the size of human fingers. "This is a mag for my Zad-- my Zraf--." He huffs. "My Russian Good Day. Forty round capacity. One in each hand means forty for the left and forty for the right, before I have to reload. I'm good at doing it on the run, but it's still 'time I'm spending not shooting.' Ya got me?" He holds up the magazine. "Do I wanna blow forty bullets on somebody that doesn't give a shit, or twenty on a reactor meltdown they have to give a shit about?" He taps the mag to the side of his head, then gestures with it, towards Hibiki. "Do you wanna throw three haymakers at me, or one at a parked car that's a lot bigger and harder for me to juke than 'a human fist?'" He smiles at the sight of the green keychain, pondering Xion's question next as the magazine disappears back into his cloud. "Focus... yeah, I mean, it's like this guy said," he admits, gesturing towards Haru. "It's personal. But if I'm motivating myself to get focused, I used to think about what I'd have to lose if I'm off my game." He runs a hand through his dark hair, one leg crossed over the other. "These days I try to think about what I get from staying on it, instead. Have a goal in mind--something I can touch, in my head. Not just 'win' but what that win is gonna do for me, what it's gonna set up down the road."
Hibiki Tachibana	"Nah, nothing like that," Hibiki shakes her head at Xion. "Professor Sakurai says the Symphogear is supposed to be affected by mental state, at least some, but I don't have anything /that/ dramatic. Something last ditch, maybe, but that's just more raw power in the end." Her eyes are following the set of keychains briefly, specifically her own. A bit of a complicated expression comes to her face, but doesn't last long. "Something that really focuses me...?" She lets that question to herself hang in the air for a moment, then glances towards Dynamic Era as he offers up his input. By this point, she's mostly not touching her half-finished meatball sub in favor of letting her cheek rest on one palm, while the other taps at the GAMING DAVID. "It sure feels like the kind of fight where I basically have to fight a different one. Not in the same way Lilian makes me feel, either." Her eyes close for a little bit. "...Especially if he's figured me out enough to make his own Gashat based off me. Not the first time I've been copied in the bad sort of way, and probably won't be the last either." "He's got a really weird Gashat. 'Dangerous Zombie'," she says to Dynamic Era, at his query. "It's like the name says; he fights like a zombie that can get back up from anything, and even the hardest hits I threw out...he did this glitchy stuff, and then it's like it never happened in the first place. It's why I'm pretty sure my usual of trying to overpower him isn't gonna work. It's like he's...immortal." Another sip of green tea, and then she blinks at Phreak. It's not obvious if it's from his fight smart advice, or his focusing advice. Maybe both. "From what you have to lose...to what you get if you win?" This seems like it strikes her as more of a revelation than it probably should be. "...It's hard for me to think like that, sometimes. There are things I don't wanna lose, and when I think about not being strong enough to protect them..." She trails off, glancing down at the bootleg Driver again. "...What I'll get if I win...hey. Xion. You fought Genm before, too. And...you're better at seeing people's hearts than anyone else." Seeming to go on an unrelated tangent, she looks up at the other girl. "...I wasn't trying to fight him like that, either of the times before. But what did you see in him? If anything?"
Xion	While Phreak provides practical advice, Xion sips tea and explains to Haru the situation, prompted by Hibiki with her input. "So, you may be familiar with the CR's Emu Hojo and Kagami Hiiro, Kamen Rider Ex-Aid and Brave. I think there was a few public events there, and they're not that hidden about their identities when defeating Bugsters. There's one like them, but black and purple, called Genm. He uses a few different rider weapons, and he's pretty agile and aggressive, like an action character. He's even got a sports powerup. He used some kind of dark Zombie powerup, to gain a form that comes back from the dead." Hibiki's Dangerous Zombie. Nodding, she gestures to the blond with with top her tea bottle. "We need to find a way to beat him that isn't just finishering him over and over." Xion scoffs. "Trust me, I actually did finisher him over and over until he left. But he just kind of... left. He got mad enough to switch belts, though, and the second one was much more toxic-sounding." A known quantitity, the Rancid Filter. "And the thing we're baiting him with is that device he threw away. He attacked Hibiki and I for using Gashats without his 'permission'. I think - not sure - that the Zombie power is most active when his transformation is active, though, so if we could disable or reverse it we can probably get around the resurrection ability. That's really the same with most people wearing their transforming device - you can mess with it. If we work together, we can probably get someone to bait and finisher him, and then follow up while he's recovering to force him out of the Zombie form. Then, well... what do we want to do?" That question hangs in the air while Xion takes a crinkly-paperpeeling bite of sandwich, chewing crunchy-dressed sandwich mess with the same gusto as providing battle advice. "He's someone who had bad things happen to them to turn them at an early state towards a darker path, and now his complex and his ability have aligned to make him the kind of person that needs to be in control to be comfortable. I think doing what we're doing will absolutely work as a bait - so if we're doing it, we're either going to... stop him, or we've got to have a point to prove when we're doing it. Do we want to take his Zombie power? Do you want your game back? Do you want your likeness game returned to you? What makes it right for you?" "As for power, I'd mix them, but that's my answer to complex problems - more complex solutions. Being myself, with extra parts showing."
Hamada Haru	"Mn," Dynamic Era grunts vaguely towards Phreak, swapping his tea for the miso soup again. He gestures loosely at Hibiki with his free hand, "If you can't beat him by physically beating him, and there's something to 'defend' from him, one thing you might consider is throwing him and jumping after. It's easier to create a situation where somebody is disengaged from what they want than it is to strictly defeat them. Though..." "If he just cheats being beaten into the ground, it might be he'll cheat that, too. I could. But it sounds like you're going to have to either get around his trick or adjust the field to be more goal-oriented in a way that trick doesn't work," he concludes, shrugging.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants	"The second way is better for you," Phreak confesses, after another sip. "And that first way is a bitch of a habit to break, too. It gets you plenty focused, " he cautions. "But it also makes you melt down if that worst-case happens." Likely speaking from experience, there. He pulls out one-half half of his sandwich from cloud storage, and begins working on it again. He gestures towards Haru with his tea, making an mm-hm, mm-hm of fervent agreement while he chews. "Yeah, like. Put him on a timer. Or go after something he wants that's not immortal." Xion's point is the next assertion to get a grunt of agreement. "He have a thing for cars? An art collection? Some grand, fuckin', uh," he twirls the sandwich in a vague circle. "Directorial vision all stored in a server somewhere? What's the play here--you trying to just get even, trying to make a point? Humiliate him?" Sip, "...understand him, what? Gonna tell you right now, I dunno if I'm your guy for that last one." It is uttered with the complete, frank honesty of a man well aware that his Empathy is a dump stat.
Hibiki Tachibana	"Think he's the kind of guy who'll try and cheat most things you try," Hibiki admits to Dynamic Era, before nodding in agreement. "Getting around the trick...if we do what Xion said, work together so that he's stopped from using the transformation that gives him that kind of power in the first place..." It seems like she's thinking about it, but not just that. One look on her face makes it clear she's heavily contemplating what Xion is asking her. More than a few different answers in there too, probably, which she mulls over by finally taking another bite of her 'wich before continuing. "I /do/ want both of those Gashats back. He has a lot of nerve talking about things belonging to him when he made the one based off me. Didn't even ask for permission." That one doesn't come without too much hesitation, almost automatically before her face tenses up a bit. "...But..." There's that tiny bit of Hibiki Sympathy bleeding into her voice, probably thanks to Xion's bit of information given. But it's metered out. "...Not exactly, Phreak. I sort of get the idea that trying to do that would be, like...a one-way street. I don't think he'd be listening...and I'm actually not sure I even could do it, right now." She says that a bit enigmatically, before a more solid tone comes to her voice. "...If he's someone who needs to be in control, and is totally confident he's the 'Game Master'..." "...Then I think this time, what I really want is to show him that he and the Gashat he's so proud aren't as invincible as he thinks. Not to get back at him," only a little bit to get back at him, some part of her mind says. "But because I think that'd be what shakes him up the most. And if I know what he's like, when he's rattled and not like /this/..." She trails off, grimaces, and then rubs at the back of her neck in an awkward sort of way. The tone she speaks up with afterwards almost sounds kind of sheepish. "...Uh, I'm also kind of hoping that it'll be enough that we don't need to outright take his Zombie Gashat or anything like that. I think I'd feel kind of...dirty, standing over him and doing that. Like I'm just doing to him what he did to me? That probably sounds pretty stupid..."
Xion	"It also works if you take the gashat from him after. Remember, that's how he takes off the suit to eat. It doesn't work like Era's." Xion reminds with a hint of amused cheer, having closed her hand to dispel the collection of rings and keychains. Nodding, slowly and thoughtfully, it's the backing track that convinces Xion. "Okay, then. Let's do that. Let's keep it simple. You've got the bait belt, and then we'll pile on him when he comes out. Make sure there's at least one of us to back you up, and we'll show him he's not untouchable. Then, we can. . . make him transfer the intellectual property to you. The, uh, rights to it? Make him give up that toy where it counts. Then we can use that to build you something nice, okay? Let's do that." Bouncing in her couch seat, Xion looks between the rest of the group. "Sound good? I know I'm asking a lot. I don't mind being her backup, but this guy definitely deserves a good whacking and he's used his power on us to take things, so... I hope you'll both agree."
Hamada Haru	"Then," Dynamic Era says, "you have to be prepared to make him stretch the ways he has to cheat. It's fine to theorize, but I wouldn't rely on stopping him from using his equipment, even if it's an approach you can try." He patted the transteam gun at his thigh. "We're fairly good at making certain that we get to transform, on the whole-- and beyond. That's universal to transforming heroes." "... Wouldn't expect anyone to ask permission about power-ups, though," he adds, finishing his soup and setting it aside. "And no, it doesn't sound strange at all, not to attack and disarm. That, too, is a transforming hero 'thing', in my opinion." "If you're wanting to annoy him at his own game," he shifts positions to inspect the nanite-assembled rice and fish with interest that's hard to gauge from behind a mask, "You could always try to stalemate him instead of beating him. Playing 'not to lose' instead of to win. A pride blowout might do the trick." The request from Xion earns another neutral noise from Dynamic Era. He says, "I don't mind, but I'm not going to be going at a fight for real over 'copyright striking' power-ups. If you want me to try to steal it, I can. I'm not stealthy, but I am decently-equipped to slip through the cracks."
Rubi-Kan Vagrants	"No argument from me," says Phreak, glancing between Hibiki and Xion. "I can't say I'm keen on people thinking they can fuck with us and not get popped in the mouth, and if you think you can reach him in some kinda way, I'm sure not gonna stop you. I'll help, sure." He finishes the last bit of that half of his sandwich. The other half remains hidden in his nanite cloud. He wags a grey index finger approvingly at Haru's idea of 'playing not to lose,' giving him a lopsided grin. "Smart," he says. "I can dial it back from 'for real,' too. Think of it as a social call, maybe," ponders the fixer, stroking at his chin thoughtfully as his golden eyes flick downwards. "Anyway. I think you're right about the cel shading, Xion, so lemme just..." Faintly visible lights dance across the surface of his retinas, as his fingers race over an AR keyboard only visible to him. "Probably a filter we can... yeah, there is. Gotta love programmable decals. Just a little bit of fine tuning..." Satisfied with whatever preview he's been shown, GAMING DAVID himself is now more cartoonish after a flick in his direction from Phreak. "And there you go. I'll leave that with you, Hibiki--'cause I'm bouncing. Berc and I are gonna hit up Reet Retreat, maybe head to Adonis and drink with the ghosts. Catch you guys later." He retrieves the rest of his sandwich, typing one-handed to run the long string of programs necessary to make a local echo of the Grid and shunt himself into cyberspace. After a minute or two, there's a gravelly, faintly heard tenor rumbling sound, rising to conversation volume at the exact moment he disappears, then falling sharply down to silence.
Hibiki Tachibana	For whatever reason, Dynamic Era's input especially seems to get a small grin out of Hibiki - maybe being the guy at the table who's unashamedly Henshin'd up from head to toe right now, Phreak's wardrobe not withstanding, gives him some extra sway here. "A transforming hero 'thing'...yeah, you got a point there. I won't stake everything on stopping him from using it - for all I know, he's planned for that too - but since I won't be alone, I think it'll be okay someway or another." Maybe because of Xion's comment, she glances at his mask for perhaps a second longer than she actually has to before nodding at both him, and then Phreak, while holding up the now enhanced with cel shading action GAMING DAVID and the Driver he's printed on. "I think fighting to 'not lose' really is a good advice. Maybe I need to start doing that more than the couple of times I've tried it before...thanks, Phreak. I owe you a ton for this." The tech man himself gets a wave of farewell with said Driver-holding hand, and after he's gone... Xion is the one who gets the final nod. "...All of you, honestly. Right. Let's do that. I think that should be a pretty good 'pride blowout' for sure." A very hearty nod of agreement at the mention of giving up toys. It seems like at least of a bit of weight has been eased up off her shoulders. "And whatever happens after, I'll...we'll figure out what to do about it then. This time, he'll be the one getting knocked down the stairs!" She makes a motion that'd be punching one fist into her palm, if it weren't for the big piece of plastic she apparently forgot she was holding. As is, there's just a clunky-sounding thump, and a Hibiki with slightly sore knuckles making a quiet 'ow'.