Scene #8673: Rusted Mist

Owner	Pose
Angela	Angela--and Gebura herself--have invited Lilian back to L-Corp to have a proper chat. As ever, the Warpgate is open to her and so is the corporation. Gebura, who has only spoken to Lilian through comms before and even through video tends to strike an imposing figure... But perhaps as expected, the real Gebura doesn't look that much differently from the other Sephirah. She is a boxbot, just like them, with a rusted red frame along her sides and a black center body. A singular red eye peers out from the center mass and the word GEBURA shines on her forehead like a label. If anything, her body looks like it's in worse condition than most other Sephirah, with charred ash and slices through her metal frame covering her body alongside the occassional ding and dent here and there. "Yo. Angela has got pulled away by the Manager but Chesed said he'd get you coffee so he's tagging along." Gebura says. Chesed conversely is blue and black and seems to be holding a Lobotomy Corp branded coffee mug--and he's not damaged at all! "Since you came all this way, I thought I'd get you both some coffee--" "I don't need coffee." Gebura says. "Not a fan." She extends a hand. "Good to meet you properly. Sorry about the mess." Lobotomy Corp has largely fixed itself up since the last Meltdown--it has had the time. Anything they want to keep inside the facility is back inside it and the Magical Girls that left have been written off. Energy levels are going well, they can put most of their focus on the current battle with the Queen. "This is Chesed, he started hanging around a while back and we haven't been able to get him to leave." Chesed takes it in good humor--this kind of banter seems to be normal for them. "Well, we go where we feel our work will have value, you know?" as he sips his own coffee.
Lilian Rook	Even though Lilian knew it was coming, it's still just a little bit disappointing to see Gebura 'in the flesh'. She's more than familiar by now with the state of the Sefira of Lobotomy Corp; both from having met and spoken to several, and from the cumulative implications from Angela and Gebura themselves. And yet, still, Gebura's presence even through a view screen and radio channel had made her want to believe-- actually, she realizes on the spot, really wanted to-- that Gebura would have turned out differently than the crybaby snitch that got them all killed, or the nasty piece of authoritarian work who did it. Even just a little. "Good evening, too. I'd say it's nice to meet you in person, but, well, you know." says Lilian, not finding any attractive alternative. She still holds out her hand; even for someone stuck in a little boxbot, a handshake at least seems appropriate. "That's terribly kind of him." she says after, knowing essentially nothing about Chesed. "And I suppose it's reassuring to know that this is all something inconsequential enough that you don't mind him overhearing." Given that Lobotomy Corporation is supposed to be over the wave of a prior meltdown, and deep into the trough between another swelling disaster, Lilian has decided not to show that she inevitably expects one. Despite it being winter at home, she's shown herself in vaguely sporty white top black bottom off-season outfit, only really giving herself away with the lightest boots she could find that she trusts to keep her off bloody floors. LobCorp isn't exactly tropical, but it's deep underground, so she can get away with keeping the breezy lace sleeves and back window. Coming visibly armed isn't the same thing; every Agent in the whole place is, and it's best to make her station here more immediately clear than just a scar and a passively intimidating stare. The scabbard she'd sourced* for Halloween is seeing more use. A hint of a thigh holster at a sharp turn is another thing. "Please. I know that someone saw fit for Binah to become a Sefira, but that was spite and cynical pragmatism. He must be something more than someone who wandered in."
Angela	Gebura has been in this state for long enough that she has grown accustomed to it but she is also accustomed to people seeing her as a shadow of her former self. Whether that's simply a reaction to her current aesthetic or an actual truth about how well she fights these days--well maybe that depends on who is looking dissapointed. "Mm. Most people are dissapointed to see me like this, but all that was a lifetime ago. Now I'm just another sub-manager in this place." She almost seems to resent the reputation of being a legendary hero of this world than appreciative--she doesn't seem to mind at all that some see her as a hasbeen though you never really know what's lurking behind a Sephira's mask of sanity until they start to break. ''That's awfully kind of him...'' Gebura says, "He's not a bad guy." Chesed's eye slants to the side guiltily for a moment but it happens quick. Gebura is appreciative that Lilian is being mild about it at least, taking a moment to get a good look for how Lilian carries herself without a screen filtering it and then nods to herself as if confirming something. She might be a big fish, but this is a decidedly small pond compared to even one multiversal sector. '''He must be something more than someone who wandered in.''' Gebura is slower to answer than Chesed himself who brightly pipes in with a, "She kidnapped me." Gebura's eye twitches. "Mistaken identity. This was before we had a corporation. Someone stole Carmen's bag and he matched the description. Carmen was the one who forced him to help find the thief." Chesed laughs. "She was very convincing." He pours more coffee down that chute of his before leading the two to Welfare so he can pour the Dame Commander some coffee. Gebura trails behind a bit so she has some room to talk with Lilian. "He's smarter than he acts and is--was a talented worker but... He's a high society guy, even for a Nest he was from one of the bigshot families. Could've gotten work wherever he wanted but he stuck with us for some reason." Once in Welfare, Chesed pipes in with a, "You like it without cream or sugar, it sounded like?" Chesed guesses, largely from the name Black Blood. Gebura doesn't interfere with this, instead turning back to Lilian. "...Nothing There. It's gotten a lot better at mimicking, but it's still just mimicking. But there was a time, well--I gave that monster plenty of chances so it drives me up the wall to see Kukuru doing the same shit-- I know it's not the same thing but ... Were you ever unsure about it? Whether she's still Rita?" Chesed is pulling out various bags of coffee beans and setting them on a counter.
Lilian Rook	'Most people are dissapointed to see me like this, but all that was a lifetime ago' "That's not quite it. Not the reputation, I mean." Lilian says; easily and without half-truth, such that she feels herself almost falling towards the words before she speaks them. "I just think it's unfair to you most of all. What you put into that body, what it's been through, and how you inhabited it; those are bigger things to lose than just life, I suppose. For the others, it doesn't make much difference if they fill out paperwork with metal hands, but I was thinking that you, at least, should have at least ended up with more." 'She kidnapped me.' For some reason, that makes Lilian smile. Not a mean one, either. "It sounds as if she kidnapped you all, if I'm being honest." Lilian says. "Your physical self, your imagination, your faith, your heart and soul. Everything I know about that woman points to the idea that people were always getting swept up into her orbit and dragged along with her dreams." 'He's a high society guy, even for a Nest he was from one of the bigshot families. Could've gotten work wherever he wanted but he stuck with us for some reason.' "That's a familiar story." Lilian says. That's what finally gets her to pay attention to teh second Sefirah properly. It wouldn't be a stretch to say the look she gives him is 'suspicious', but it'd feel wrog to leave it at just that. "Disillusioned from the start and helpless at getting out, an empty vessel who needed someone else's passion to be real, or someone who needed to be anyone but who he was going to be. Those are the options." she says, more offhandedly than feels honest. 'You like it without cream or sugar, it sounded like?' "Sugar is fine if it's an acidic blend." Oh, but she's perfectly capable at talking coffee with her mug out, apparently. Like she doesn't particularly mind him being here, but expects that it's Gebura she needs to say certain things to. "I know what you're thinking. It's actually a very strong and smooth blend at the end, though it comes out so caffeinated you sort of have to diluate it to make it tolerable. I'll have to source some and bring it next time." 'I know it's not the same thing but ... Were you ever unsure about it? Whether she's still Rita?' Lilian waits all the way up until she has something hot in her hands, and a chance to blow on it, and take her first sip. It doesn't seem like a thoughtful pause, from what little Gebura has actually seen Lilian insist on stopping to think. It's a matter of decorum, perhaps. Pacing. Respectful gravitas. "So you did have a real question." she says, after that long silence. "Okay. I can answer that." A little more coffee goes into her. Something to jolt her senses; to make it just a little more difficult to tell half-truths in fugue "Kukuru is an idiot and easily taken advantage of. She's desperate to believe that monsters can be people too, more than anything." Lilian starts off, a little unexpectedly. "It's a coping mechanism, I think. Wanting to project rationale into the world. Hearts and feelings and reasons; that even monsters do things from a human place, and they're preventable with kindness." She stops for another sip. "In that sense, she's not that different from either of us, right? Her ability to cope just hasn't burned out, yet."
Lilian Rook	She doesn't leave an opening for Gebura to get a word in. As if she's already decided exactly what the Sefirah would say; even if it's wrong. "Looking for a reason. Desperate to think that it all had to happen, and you only didn't understand why. Wanting more than anything to believe that it made any sense at all, and that if only you were stronger, if only you knew more, it wouldn't have happened to you. And then when you finally accept just how utterly fucking senseless it all was, and is, and how your life is just worse than someone else's for no reason at all, it changes you. All we did look for angry reasons, instead of compassionate ones." Lowering the steaming mug again, Lilian sighs deeply enough for her breath to fog with residual coffee heat, and continues at a more relaxed pace. "Once, I think. But I was only being selfish in the end. Rita is a special case." she says. "And I don't mean for any reason as trivial as 'she's stronger than that' or 'I believe in her'. I mean in the way that matters." Lilian's eyes slide slightly away from Gebura's optical array; the eye contact wasn't quite the same in the first place. "I think she could have stopped being a monster, if she really, really tried. It'd be better for her, and safer, for her family. She wants to go back to that; I know she does. More than anything, she misses that life." says Lilian. "Rita is a special case because she stays a monster to apologize for surviving. With that power, she has nothing to gain and everything to lose; that's why she felt she had to leave home in the first place. She is the way she is because she got a taste of independence, and suddenly felt the crushing weight of everyone who died to give her what she has, and can't bring herself to let down that cross until she's somehow justified still being alive." "Only Rita could choose to be something as painful as that. If she weren't Rita anymore, she'd be much better at pretending."
Angela	Chesed seems to have kidnapped himself into this conversation. Gebura is comfortable with his presence but seems similarly more intent on talking with Lilian than keeping Chesed company. And Chesed seems fine with this arrangement too, focusing on pouring Lilian a mug of coffee. He seems to be particular, and there's numerous blends in drawers and on display just sitting there. Chesed seems to be using....mushrooms?...as part of this blend? as he works, he chuckles at Lilian's insight. "You're not wrong. But she got to Kali--Gebura first." Chesed says. "Even before A~." Gebura makes a noise like breathing in through her teeth. "...Could just tell she wasn't talking shit. Her smile was a real one." It may not be apparent that she is calling back to an earlier conversation today with Rita over the radio there. "I know you said this is a too honest city--imagine if someone gives a real smile, no sadism or anything like that behind it...even with a city as honest as this one." This seems to be the best way she can describe the pull of Carmen in Lobotomy Corp. Chesed hears his own story reflected back to him. The singular eye of the Sephirah looks up as Lilian gives him a look in the neighborhood of suspicious. "Haha, it sounds like you're talking about someone else more than you're talking about me." Chesed admits. "I can't deny I had privilege, but not even people like me were spared the wrath of the Head in the end." He looks up, focusing on Lilian with a smile. "But you're not really wrong. It wasn't so much that I thought about it--it just... felt like the right path in the time, and so I stepped on that path. Maybe I wasn't really ready for it." He hands over the mug of coffee. It should have slight sweet aftertaste and an otherwise earthy flavor. "I'd be really appreciative, Commander, if you could. Would you believe it was Angela who led me to this little hobby of mine?" Gebura is happy for a moment's pause. She is not someone who typically talks a lot at length even if she finds it easier to talk to Lilian than, frankly, many of the other Sephirah. But once Lilian starts speaking-- Gebura is forced into a position to just listen. And so she listens. She doesn't interrupt. She's not as impatient as Shajo. Her answer to what Lilian has to say to Kukuru has a calming effect. She doesn't answer her, but Gebura's arms de-crossing seem to be an answer of some kind. '''And then when you finally accept just how utterly fucking senseless it all was, and is, and how your life is just worse than someone else's for no reason at all, it changes you. All we did was look for angry reasons, instead of compassionate ones.''' Gebura's hands flatten down--such as they are, sort of, hands. Instead she says, "She became the way she is but others didn't make it." She seems to understand ... being one of the ones being left behind. That, at least, is pretty common amongst the City Fixers and maybe that's why even thoughtlessly, people like Shajo and Nonon can be loyal to Rita and her family. "She does sound similar to Carmen in some ways. Stepping away from being human to apologize for surviving." She exhales. "I must seem like a bloodthirsty unforgiving maniac to worry about a kid I barely know like that. She shouldn't have to be strong at all. But the Busan Expedition will be dead if she isn't." And that's what Kali seems to settle on. And she finally answers one thing to Lilian that she had mentioned earlier that she hadn't really spoken about. "...I might be rusted after all, but I can still fight. I know they're counting on you to defeat me. They haven't been that subtle about it." The eye settles on Lilian. "I'll embody a proper body for it."
Lilian Rook	'Haha, it sounds like you're talking about someone else more than you're talking about me.' "Perhaps. I'm talking about a broad class of people all at once, after all." Lilian says, airily. "But that doesn't mean I'm not talking about you." 'It wasn't so much that I thought about it--it just... felt like the right path in the time, and so I stepped on that path.' "Empty vessel, then." she says, slowly working through the bottom half of her coffee in the space between. "That isn't necessarily a flaw. You could even say that humans are meant to be empty until something can fill them. Finding a real purpose is a better fate than trying to make up a fake one. Petra is about as empty as they come, and we all trust her now that she has." Lilian says, ever so offhandedly about a girl both beloved by the company and obsessively devoted to her. 'I'd be really appreciative, Commander, if you could. Would you believe it was Angela who led me to this little hobby of mine?' "Oh, I certainly would. After all, Angela is so full of purpose that she's overflowing with it. That man made a more adequate replacement for Carmen than he realized. It's a shame he did everything in his power to deny it to her; himself; everyone else." 'She became the way she is but others didn't make it.' "She became the way she is because others didn't make it." Lilian says, barely over the rim of her cup for a while. "If nobody were looking out for her, she'd be dead five times over. What she has now is a miracle, even if it is an outrageously cruel one." Two gulps later, Lilian looks back at Gebura, and with a joyless half-smile, says "Imagine if someone gave her a real smile, even on a ship as honest as hers. Then imagine, after they died, another one took their place. Then another. And another. That girl is already carrying too many Carmens in her heart; more than she can stand. And unlike you or I, she didn't even get to help them." Slowly, Lilian sets her remaining coffee down between them. "Between you and I . . ." she says, lingering on the willingness of her words. Her gaze wanders. "I think the reason her humanity controls the beast, and not the other way around, is because she can't forget those smiles. So more than anything, Gebura, I want 'Rita Ma' to win." Then Lilian's gaze wanders right back into focus. "Because that means that maybe if I can get a few real smiles to my name, I might win too. Don't you feel the same way?" "What if it wasn't because you were weak? What if it was just kindness you were denied? And if it is, what if it still isn't too late?" 'I must seem like a bloodthirsty unforgiving maniac to worry about a kid I barely know like that.' Lilian sighs, and re-acquires her coffee, content to glance down in a perfectly refined way just slightly too close to resembling Angela. "Not particularly. The people who've blindly trusted her so far are idiots, actually. Preemptively forgiving something that wants to devour your bone marrow because she looks like a cute girl is perfectly in line with their usual waveform of suicidal intellectual laziness. I don't expect you to love a girl you've never met; you might be the sane one." It doesn't last long, though. Neither that air nor that eyes near-closed look. 'I know they're counting on you to defeat me. They haven't been that subtle about it.' That gets her to look up again. "I did wonder if you were aware." says Lilian. "I've little idea how much the others believe in their own impending breakdown of function. I suppose after this many already, it must seem more credible. I'd wondered if you'd considered yourself-- perhaps justifiably-- too strong to suffer a similar lapse in discipline, and the risk beneath you. But . . ." "If it comes to that, then I'll do everything in my power to make certain it is me. I wouldn't entrust you to anyone else."
Angela	Chesed can't quite give a lazy smile but he always had one when his visual form was present. "Well, mm... I wonder if humans are born empty or if we learn to be empty. I suppose it is the equivalent of asking if a coffee mug is half empty or half full. I wouldn't say it doesn't fit me, but--ah--yes--you're thinking of her too, and others besides. I can't argue. Plenty of people--as you said--feel their purpose is to work into this city struggling until the day they die. For the Agents and Fixers your people usually work with--they're just a little bit more honest about that 'until they die' part." He starts pouring himself a new mug of coffee for himself. "It's hard not to know how people feel about the Manager. None of us Sephirah really disagree, though our feelings tend to be a little complicated. He is after all also an old friend for many of us. Someone we all trusted almost as much as we trusted her." His eye flicks down to the mug. "He already punishes himself more than we could punish him. Arguably, punishing himself is the purpose of this facility." Chesed says. "In a sense he has become a microcosm of the City itself, bound in the system he created, forming a Wing like every other Wing out there except for our singular desire to succeed in our task at changing--even if we have to use the systems the City allows us into making it so. It would be nice if this is as cruel as it gets, mm?" And he thinks on Angela for a moment. "But X is not Ayin. Indeed, if he becomes Ayin again..." Chesed seems content to leave it at that. "Maybe the reason he denied it is not because he saw himself as failing at his task to bring her back, but rather because he saw he had been successful...And saw himself in there too. Just an idle thought, I suppose I'll never really know." He pours Gebura a cup of coffee as well and Gebura doesn't take it. Gebura is corrected on how Rita became the person she is today. Gebura makes a soft little exhale noise. They're ultimately cyborgs, not true AI like Angela, and so despite looking far more inhuman--they still have some humanlike gestures within them. "A cruel miracle." Gebura mulls over it. She can think of a few examples in her own life. "...I want Rita Ma to win too." Gebura admits, grudgingly. "There's enough monsters in the world, and some of them even look like monsters. We've got one buried below us. Not all of us are going to have a big emotional collapse like the Upper Sephirah. Angela won't tell us but after it happens three times, you can start to infer how things are going to go, especially with Tiphereth about to snap at any minute. What she didn't tell you was that she was the one who broke Carmen. Told her that she should have been the one to die. AFter that, Carmen changed. Even I could see what was about to happen." Gebura seems to agree it seems more credible now than she would have imagined before several others broke down before her. ''I'd wondered if you'd considered yourself--perhaps justifiably--too strong to suffer a similar lapse in discipline'' "Maybe I would have, if not for the multiverse." Gebura admits. "But I'll have to fight you either way, if only to convince Binah to have her own. I know how you feel about using fighting to come to emotional catharsis but maybe I'll see something in fighting you that I couldn't see back then. Even if I only see a glimpse--at least it will be something to walk towards. Right now I see little reason to bother with the mission when my enemy here is endless--and eternal."
Lilian Rook	'Well, mm... I wonder if humans are born empty or if we learn to be empty.' "Learning to be empty is a type of purpose someone fills you with. It takes effort to stay empty; an empty vessel can't put in effort on its own behalf." 'For the Agents and Fixers your people usually work with--they're just a little bit more honest about that 'until they die' part.' "Fixers are the ones with the only type of power that could change it. Save one, perhaps." Lilian says, glancing briefly down. "That's why it's all-important that the Head subsume them entirely into the City. To let them know that their place is to die a part of it, as much as, if not more, than the office drones." Funny that this seems to be the one place Lilian almost understands what the Watch keeps telling her about, if only by getting wrapped up in a parallel to something else. 'He already punishes himself more than we could punish him. Arguably, punishing himself is the purpose of this facility.' "I said once before, and then a few times before that. People in pain need their pain to stop, not company for their misery." 'It would be nice if this is as cruel as it gets, mm?' Sip. 'And saw himself in there too. Just an idle thought, I suppose I'll never really know.' "I suppose won't." says Lilian. "If he himself doesn't remember, then I couldn't know. I think, perhaps, it doesn't really matter why he did it, though. Even if he didn't believe what he said, he still said it, and Angela believed it. Even if he didn't really believe in what he did, he still did it, and you all have to live it out."
Lilian Rook	'There's enough monsters in the world, and some of them even look like monsters.' Lilian can't help but smirk, just a tiny bit. 'Angela won't tell us but after it happens three times, you can start to infer how things are going to go, especially with Tiphereth about to snap at any minute.' "You're just as canny as I'd hoped. I'm glad to hear that you're the practical sort of bitter, even after all this time." 'What she didn't tell you was that she was the one who broke Carmen. Told her that she should have been the one to die. AFter that, Carmen changed.' That, finally, sucks some of Lilian's contented poise out of her. "People who feel as if they have nothing left, and no escape from the pain in, will lash out blindly like that. They don't even plan to get some kind of revenge by harming others; they're reaching out, trying to grab hold of something, anything, to keep from losing themselves. So even if you try to rescue them, they can very easily drag you under too." Lilian looks at Gebura. "It's the same as when you rescue a swimmer, you know. It's an instinctive drowning response. One of those once hurt me very badly, you know. But I'm sorry to say . . . if that's what got Carmen in the end, then she tried to rescue more people than she could carry. She overestimated her strength and broke down under the weight she chose to bear along an already near-impossible project." Lilian takes a long, bracing breath, and straightens her back again, hands folded in her lap. "Not that I'll say so to Tiphereth. I have the feeling she needs to account for it first. I don't entirely know what is going on with her, but I'd never begin with something so close to forgiveness. I'm not like 'them'." 'But I'll have to fight you either way, if only to convince Binah to have her own.' That puts a sly grin back on Lilian's face. "So you still have the ambition to see that witch properly punished? That's good. I like that there are still signs of life in there, 'Kali'." 'Even if I only see a glimpse--at least it will be something to walk towards.' "Here's something I wouldn't tell many people, Gebura." says Lilian. "Fighting is a naked assertion of will, performed to crush the will of another person, and nothing more. That means fighting to reach an understanding-- to communicate and know one another-- is a ridiculous fairy tale dreamed up by hollow little puppets who have so little interiority they conflate their primitive pack submission instincts with the idea of understanding another human being." Lilian raises a finger. "But a naked assertion of will can be cathartic. A fight clears the air of all ambiguity; winning or losing collapses pain into an answer. If you can't see where to go or why you should care through that haze, then asserting yourself against the world sometimes work." Lilian smiles; half warmth, half mean-spirit. "I'd never enable the teeming masses of idiots with that, though."
Angela	"Save one?" Chesed can't help but be curious as to which one she means but he doesn't press too hard. He absently nods, Lilian makes sense. She even makes sense as she speaks as to Ayin's nature. Even if their faith in Ayin is shattered, they still believe in The Goal. Because if they don't reach that goal, what was the point of it all? His hand shakes a little when people talk about 'The Witch', but he doesn't seem inclined to speak about her personally. That little flicker of guilt again passes through him. "The pain to stop, perhaps you would've been better in charge of Welfare than someone like me, but at the very least I think I make an adequate barista." He says. The practical sort of bitter. There's something faded in Gebura, a bit of heartbreak, perhaps, having been with Carmen the longest... It's not quite guilt, nobody really felt they could stop Carmen in the first place, but it still feels like something got pulled out of her then. "...Her brother was the first Cogito subject. He asked for it. He insisted more loudly than anyone else. But he was always only the second best option." She focuses on Lilian for a moment. "They were kids, I don't expect anyone in her permission to say the perfect words--maybe they weren't even the wrong words. Any more than that, you'll probably have to ask Hokma or Ayin himself. As for Tiphereth..." That boxbot shakes their body like they're trying to shake a head. It's a bit of an odd look. "The Meltdowns are a challenge for the Manager, but the first thing Tiphereth needs to do is accept--" Kali Gebura stalls for a moment. She doesn't get called by that name much anymore, even though people still throw the 'Red Mist' at her, like that outlasted her real name. That accentuator hand on her hip--those digits curl in. The eye closes. She looked like Angela for a moment. She understands why they had to be locked in for the project, in a way--it is simply because her Strength wasn't enough. "Then I'll entrust you to fragment the path forward so we can see more than one before us." Gebura says. "Like you said, it can't be trusted to anybody else--at least, nobody else we know." Chesed interrupts with a long pouring of coffee into that chute of his. "But fiiirst we probably should help Miss Rita before having any explosions of catharsis. Right now that world needs more help than we do. We've nothing but time." Gebura can't help but agree. "And they are running out."
Lilian Rook	'perhaps you would've been better in charge of Welfare than someone like me' "Oh I'd be horrible at it." Lilian casually admits. "I don't really like people all that much. Protecting them is one thing, but knowing them all as individuals and balancing all of their needs is too grating and too thankless. I'd only end up manipulating them into following safety rules full-time." 'maybe they weren't even the wrong words.' "Just because they were understandable doesn't mean they were wrong." Lilian says. There's a certain quiet gravitas to it. "Don't mistake pathos for innocence. Once you rescue a drowning person, you still have to account for injuries they caused." 'Like you said, it can't be trusted to anybody else--at least, nobody else we know.' "Indeed. They're either too weak, too wishy-washy, too afraid, or too sheltered, soft, oblivious, presumptuous, arrogant, and lazy to understand. Usually several at a time." Lilian says. "I'd like it if you didn't notice them at all, honestly. I knew from one conversation that you were out of their league." 'Right now that world needs more help than we do. We've nothing but time.' "That's true." she says. "It's constantly true. You have every right to see to yourselves first. So thank you very much for seeing to something important to me." "If you're willing to shed that blood for her, and for me, then I'll make certain you all get to the end of this."