Scene #8698: For Lilian's Honor! And Also Probably For Some Other Stuff!

Owner	Pose
Stanley Padgett	It is with great honor and care that four people meet in what is the most holy of battlegrounds: A disused quarry near Miyagawa Port in Tokyo, home to many many great battles between costumed warriors and their rubber suit opponents. It's the off season, so no film crews are out here. At least, no professional film crews. There's a few gawkers, to be sure, as a set of extraversals and some others are squaring up nearby. Stanley Padgett is calmly doing stretches on a stretch of nearby pavement that someone laid down to get gravel and rock out of this pit long ago. It's gotten the sort of treatments that would make it look like a section of highway for filming scenes. But there will be no speedy motorcycle races today. "...You got this, Charlotte? I'm sorry to make you be the one to be here." He looks slightly guilty in front of his friend and battle buddy, who's waiting nearby.
Charlotte Newman	"I'll be fine," Charlotte replies from a few meters away, "It's just... observing, right? Standing by in case someone jumps in. Keeping it fair." Honestly the entire idea of once again attending a duel between one of her existing friends and Petra Soroka has Charlotte's stomach in knots. A friend and someone she-- tried to be friends with. It's plainly clear now that ship has long since sailed and she still isn't sure what she did to earn all the scorn she gets, now. The girl inhales softly, exhaling in a little sigh, "So long as it's not out of malice or anything, like last time. Picking fights due to some macho ego nonsense." Her eyes open, fixating on Stanley, "This is just to see how far you've come, right? You're not trying to prove something?"
Petra Soroka	<B-anter> Lilian Rook snaps her fingers, "Petra, go beat up Padgett." <B-anter> Petra Soroka says, "Well, I guess you could also, if the heroine wins against the conqueror she could-- oh. Yes ma'am." . . . <B-anter> Stanley Padgett \| do u have a second petra <B-anter> Cinder says, "I'll be your second--" thinking Stanley means like in a duel. <B-anter> Petra Soroka says, "Cinder, I'd just be beating him up, but I guess you could-- watch?" <B-anter> Stanley Padgett suddenly serious. "Is this a fight or a duel, Petra?" <B-anter> Petra Soroka says to Stanley, "What would it even be a duel over? Why would it be a duel? Lilian just said to go beat you up." <B-anter> Lilian Rook says, "It's a duel over my honour, obviously. Because he laughed at the idea I'd go undefeated. If I were a villain." <B-anter> Stanley Padgett says, "I'm not sure, you're the one who seems to have something to fight me over." <B-anter> Petra Soroka says, "Oh. Okay, I can do that too. A-as y-your-- as your champion, for the d-duel." <B-anter> Petra Soroka says, "No, no, it's a duel. It's a duel, Stanley. I'll be there. You can do whatever duel stuff there is." . . . <B-anter> Lilian Rook just a little too smugly to pass, "How does it feel, Padgett?" <B-anter> Lilian Rook says, "Do you remember?" <B-anter> Lilian Rook says, "When you crowded around to be that other teenager's second against Petra." <B-anter> Stanley Padgett \| i mean i quite keenly remember what its like to not have friends or backup or aytnight like that if thats what u mean ms rook <B-anter> Stanley Padgett \| by myself in a world full of people who dont want me around <B-anter> Stanley Padgett \| yeah i remember what the fuck that feels like <B-anter> Petra Soroka makes the smuggest, "Heh."
Petra Soroka	Petra has fought a lot on Lilian's behalf at this point. More than a few times, it's even been one-on-one fights, with people who've wronged her, occasionally even set up and agreed upon in advance. They're all, in some way, for Lilian's honor, or her dignity, or even just at her petty command-- Petra's standards for what she'll fight for basically begins and ends with 'what she's told'. But those were different. Those weren't duels. Petra has fantasized, and even outright talked, about being Lilian's champion for a duel, in those very specific terms, for a long time. Being treated like a surrogate sword, favor tied around her hilt, displayed on a metaphorical stage as the one explicitly trusted to fight in her place-- Petra's excitement over the opportunity completely bypasses all of her built-up cynicism about nonlethal fights, and even most of her animosity towards Padgett. As the time comes closer, Petra becomes restless and agitated, fussing around with her gear to keep herself busy. <B-anter> Cinder says, "What does a 'Second' actually do? Like, I know how Cinq does it but..." <B-anter> Petra Soroka says, "Honestly no clue. We'll figure it out there, I guess." <B-anter> Cinder says, "D...do you want me to carry something in, like maybe in a case... And then I can open up the case for you when we get there..." <B-anter> Petra Soroka says, talking past Stanley, "You should totally bring a case. Umm... oh! Oh! I have an idea. I won't spoil it on the radio, though. <B-anter> Cinder says, "Maybe with nice little clasps that make a satisfying clacking noise when you flip them.--Okay! Sure, sure, yeah we should--keep it a surprise." Spread out across the bar in the cigarette lounge of Control Department, Petra is putting the last touches on her RatBot while chattering with Cinder. Her loyal Second is exactly on her wavelength, and at her suggestion, Petra drops her wrench and claps excitedly, pulling something out of her pocket to hand to Cinder. A quick trip to pester Malkuth about 'a case with nice little clasps that make a satisfying noise', and the pair heads off to Petra's second round potentially executing a Persona boy to spare Lilian the trouble. Arriving from the road from town, Petra gets the chance to do something else that fulfils a previously-unknown fantasy in her mind. Cinder sits on the back of her electric bike, with a sturdy black case laid across her lap, while Petra slides it to a halt at the top of the quarry. She luxuriates in the moment, only regretting that her audience is made up of losers, before slipping her boot through the kickstand and hopping off the bike. "There's literally nothing to worry about at all, Cinder. Did I ever tell you about the time I nearly executed one of their friends in a fight like this? Like, forever ago. I'm sure it'll come up today." Petra, in contrast to the Lampport kids, rambles happily to Cinder while reaching into the basket on the front of the bike to retrieve her RatBot. "Padgett. Newman." Regardless of how much she tries to seem apathetic and above-it-all, Petra is obviously a little giddy. She's wearing-- surprisingly-- her bomber jacket, rather than her EGO suit, with her black spear slung across her back and RatBot cradled in both hands. She's silent for a second, expression settling into what might be a glare, and then-- "... Are there, like, duel rules? Anything like that? You'd know, right?"
Angela	Cinder has agreed to be the Second for a duel for another woman's honor. Frankly, Cinder finds it rather sweet and is treating this as like a day out more than a potential battle to the death--but she's from The City and life there is as cheap as second class W-Corp Train Ticket. Not even first class! She gives Charlotte a friendly wave as she arrives, clinging to the bike with her legs, having brought two items. 1) A decently sized picnic basket and 2) a mysterious black case! Technically she has brought a weapon as well--4th Match Flame is strapped to her back--but she seems to be pretty relaxed about the whole affair and well--it is possible the seconds might have to step in. She isn't particularly interested in preventing a fight from happening though because Petra fighting is hot and so maybe she isn't actually good at fulfilling the duties of a second for a duel. This does mean that she's waving to Charlotte with the picnic basket holding arm. But look at that bright smile, she's just plain happy to be here. "Which one?" She asks Petra before realizing. "Well you did execute the one I know about so it must be someone else." Once the bike comes to a stop, she slides off and sets the picnic basket down on the quarry ground--it looks a little out of place like that but there's plenty of space. She follows after Petra, hefting the black case into her arms and pops the clasps with a click clack. Cinder takes in and exhales a soft breath as she does that, biting at her lip for a moment before popping the case open with her finders. The gun inside the case is immediately recognizable by all of the Kamen Rider signifiers: colorful plastic, clunky shape, slot where some sort of greeble should be inserted. The base of it is black and silver, wrapped with plastic tubes and printed symbols in purple, yellow, and green. The barrel is curved with two spinal rows of translucent bulbs along the top diagonals, arcing towards the aperture of the muzzle, a circle of iridescent plastic faintly glowing with light from behind. The foregrip has a slot for a small bottle to slide inside, accompanied by an appropriately sized bottle nestled in the foam beside the weapon, filled with pristine silver fluid. She lets Stanley take a look at it because--well--she figures that's part of her job here to make this nice and official-like. She glances to Charlotte and adds, "Did you eat? I brought extra."
Stanley Padgett	"Yeah. I'm not out to... kill her or anything, I just wanted to show Lilian what I've been learning and... well. Petra got involved. I didn't think I was kicking over a hornet's nest like this, actually." Stanley sighs as Petra approaches, and gets his saber out of its sheath. "Well we're sorta skipping over a few of the usual rules for a duel. I'm not even supposed to be talking to you. Cinder and Charlotte haven't gotten a chance to attempt to reduce bloodshed, nor have we done any of the exchanges required to-" He tosses his free hand in the air. "Look, you're here fighting at Lilian's request or order or whatever, and I'm not about to like... stop you from being a good girl or whatever." He shoves a hand through freshly dyed hair. Green to blue this time. He had insisted to at least look presentable. He's not in the Reversal, so no neon tabard. Rather, he's wearing a loose fitting set of coveralls. Maybe some armor lining inside? Who knows. He tosses a quiet wave to Cinder, and then scuffs the pavement with his foot. "Cinder. I offer a fight to incapacitation or verbal submission. Does your principal accept?"
Petra Soroka	"Cinder and Charlotte haven't gotten a chance to attempt to reduce bloodshed, nor have we done any of the exchanges required to-" Petra huffs, setting the rat on the ground before hanging back to be beside Cinder and the case again. "Well tell me the exchanges! Don't just be like, 'oh, well, it doesn't actually matter'. You don't get to decide that! I thought you cared about doing it right!" ". . . and I'm not about to like... stop you from being a good girl or whatever." "A-and-- don't say that like that, what the fuck. She delegated this to me, so I'm doing it." Petra shakes her head, her point undercut by the jingling of the golden lily hanging from her collar. "Cinder. I offer a fight to incapacitation or verbal submission. Does your principal accept?" Petra starts to speak, and then cuts off, remembering that they're 'not supposed to talking with each other'. She's really insistent on following rules that she's only being told just now, for some reason. Instead, she just gives Cinder a thumbs-up.
Charlotte Newman	Charlotte's posture straightens when she spots Petra and Cinder riding up, tightening her hands on the plastic bag she's holding onto. It's a bit of a feat of willpower for her to make eye contact with Petra, returning that cold greeting with a warm, if forced, "Hello again, Petra." Her eyes flick aside, "And... Cinder, I guess? Hello." She was decidedly not going to bring up John. Petra's casual mention of him on arrival sets her jaw a bit, but she releases the thought almost as fast as she latched onto it. Instead, the girl lifts her shoulders with her eyes closed, "Nothing I say could convince Petra, I'm afraid... so I accept these terms on this side." She dips her head and backs up out of the fake highway section, climbing over the concrete barrier and beckoning Cinder over. Taking a seat on the tracks of a parked bulldozer, the girl pulls up the bag she was carrying, "I hadn't, though I'm not very hungry... maybe something light to snack on?" Reaching in, she pulls out a Kaiju Creature energy drinks, one of the double-sized cans, and checks the label. She conspiciously sets aside a can of SOUR APPLECABRA, then offers Cinder a different can with red labeling; COUNT DRINKULA, "My name is Charlotte. I got some of these before we left Lampport after the last operation. You were sharing with me, so...um, did you want one?"
Angela	Cinder makes a face of disgust at 'stop you from being a good girl' despite her best efforts. The City is pretty equitable in its hopelessness but Cinder still gets the vibes from that kind of line. Cinder looks to Petra for confirmation and once she gets the thumbsup she looks back to Stanley. "She accepts." She then turns back to Petra, taking the weapon out of its case and offering it to her. She finds all this very hot but she does worry it'll collapse into disaster before the end of it but she tries to keep optimistic about it. If she assumes it'll go bad, it probably will! "Got some plantain chips if you want." She asides to Charlotte and will move over to her with the case once Petra has gotten from her what she needs. And she studies the COUNT DRINKULA beverage. she is from a world where SUCK MY ENEGY is a popular drink so she has no room to comment. "Have these before? Is it like a soda or an energy drink?"
Stanley Padgett	Padgett sighs as both Petra and Cinder make a face at him. He'd take the time to explain himsefl afterwards, if he could, but... Cinder voices acceptance. "Alright." And with the terms accepted, Stanley shrugs his shoulders, working one last knot out of his joint... before he plants his feet. There's a scraping noise, and- Shit, he's fast. A greenish afterimage flickers where the young man was half a second ago, and a trio of saber thrusts perforate the air where Petra is. No banter, no silly quip, just an intense look in his eyes, as Padgett takes the advantage in speed to heart.
Charlotte Newman	"Yeah. It's a carbonated energy drink," Charlotte clarifies, "Creature has a bunch of flavors. That one's, um... Strawberry, I think." with a little laugh, she shrugs, "They're kinda inscrutible, a lot of folks where I'm from just call it Red Flavor." There's a faint HSST-CHK as she opens her own drink, a Kaiju-sized can of COTTON CANDY CRYPTID. She ensures there's plenty of room on the parked tractor's tracks for Cinder to sit on and even set her picnic basket down without any crowding, lifting her gaze to the pair on the freeway section as Stanley zips into action, "If you don't mind me asking, how did you meet her?" Glancing aside, the girl adds, "Oh, I'd love some plantain chips, thank you."
Petra Soroka	"Nothing I say could convince Petra, I'm afraid..." Petra sneers, her mostly-cheerful demeanor melting away for the first time today. She crosses her arms and taps her heel into the ground, tensed up with restraint. "Yeah? Nothing could 'convince' me, huh? Because I'm just some dangerous animal? Jesus fucking Christ, why do you act like I'm fucking insane? You can't convince me because your words aren't worth shit and you don't know fuck all about me or how I think, Newman." Petra hisses out air, grinding her attention back to Stanley, and then, more pleasantly, to Cinder. Petra takes the gun in one hand, the bottle of silvery fluid in the other, and taps the RatBot on the ground with her toe to send it scurrying away, vanishing into the forest of quarry stone in the blink of an eye. Petra slides the bottle into the transteam gun with a click. The raspy, low voice that echoes out of the gun makes it immediately obvious to anyone familiar with Kamen Rider-- this is an evil transformation device. --SILVER!-- Petra points the gun directly up as the voice reverberates, electric guitar riff layered underneath. Blissfully, the multiverse spares Petra from having to complete her transformation with heavily accented Japanese. "Vaporize." MIST MATCH! SILVER! ST-ST-STING! Petra brings the gun down in an arc across her body, spewing out glittering grey fog that envelops her. The fog crackles with lightning, then explodes away, leaving Petra in a mostly black suit of full-body armor. The eyes on her mask are hexagons, and a pattern of sickly yellow-green glowing honeycomb spreads across her chest and onto her shoulders. Antennae spring up from her helmet, and silver rivulets flow down her arms from her shoulders, channels carved into the arms like veins. Her gloves, and her sharp heeled boots, are taloned. Petra tries to hold steady for the pose for a moment, while the smoke from the transforming explosion clears, but she wobbles on her feet. "I got this from-- ack-- heels?!" She kicks down at the rock beneath her feet, snapping the black plastic heels off the boots, but isn't able to bring her guard back up in time to block Stanley, still just as slow as she was. Each of the saber thrusts connects, and clinks against armor, throwing her off-balance, but not even scratching her. She feels like hitting a solid metal wall, and it only takes a backwards swipe from her hand swatting Stanley away to feel how strong she is in the suit, too. She pulls the black-gold EGO spear off her back, extremely well color-matched to her suit, and twirls it around, forcing distance between herself and Stanley. "You know? This feels pretty good actually. I was worried it'd feel bad, but, like-- this is fucking mine. And I can do what I want with it now." Petra's voice is slightly distorted inside the suit, underlayed with a rattling hum, that Cinder would recognize as sounding like the reactor she used to have. Silver morphmetal slides down the veins in her arm, crawling up the length of Pillar of Creation. "So, Petra - you didn't really think it through, and care, because of your feelings. You didn't come to win the fight, but you fought, and you fought for Lilian, so you lost for her." When it comes to fighting for Lilian's honor, Petra absolutely refuses to lose. She wouldn't be a trustworthy champion if she only gave as much as she could comfortably do, in a fight as Lilian's surrogate. Petra pushes her whole body into a heavy thrust with the spear, aiming at where Stanley currently is-- but droplets of metal fling forwards off the spear with the inertia, hardening into a cloud of launched flechettes that spray forwards in a cone, hovering telekinetically once they stop.
Angela	Cinder keeps glancing over to the fight--arguably she should be paying attention to that as part of her job--but she doesn't think the rules of the duel are gonna be violated--at least not YET. "Sounds tasty." Cinder says, popping it open and pulling out a bag of plantain chips and tossing it over to Charlotte--she'll save the actual sandwiches for when Petra's done. Her expression somehow brightens even more when Charlotte asks how she met Petra. "Haha, well, since Petra first visited Lobotomy Corp really--but I didn't really get to know her until after Malkuth's Meltdown. Schadenfreude broke out and it had me dead to rights--I was still a clerk back then, you know, so I wasn't even really armed outside of a peashooter mostly meant for ME." She turns her gaze back to the duel. "But then Petra comes in with this badass sword but it's not just a sword, it's like--also a gun. Like a... bladegun. And she just DEMOLISHES this HE Abnormality in seconds like it was just some tuesday for her." Cinder sighs happily, dreamily. "She saved my life for sure and she was just so strong and capable. Heroic." She could get into more detail but some of that detail was in a private conversation so she keeps it private. "Thanks to her I got myself together and put myself in for Agent work and it's been...really fulfilling work," She turns back to Charlotte. "And she's even helping improve conditions for the people who are still clerks. She doesn't get along with everyone in the facility, but everyone respects her as a talented worker. We're lucky to have her, and--I'm lucky to know her." She sucks on some Drinkula and says, "Oh this is very good."
Charlotte Newman	Petra's sneering takedown only gets her a Rich Girl Scowl from Charlotte's seat. I knew I couldn't convince you because you'd never listen to me. Not because I think you're crazy. You just hate me. She doesn't say it out loud, but she thinks it pretty hard. She lets out a soft noise when she hears Cinder getting the chips, relaxing her expression in time to catch them, repeating, "Thank you." Charlotte pulls the bag open neatly, munching and watching while listening intently as Cinder describes a side of Petra that Charlotte had never actually seen for herself. The cronching gets a bit slower, more thoughtful. She's right though. I really don't know anything about her. "I'm really glad to hear that," the girl says after a moment, offering a smile towards Cinder, "I tried to get to know her before, but..." The smile fades to something more thoughtful, more pensive, "...I made some mistakes, I think. I'm still trying to figure it out so I can learn from it and be a better person, too." She returns her attention to the fight, catching Petra's transformation, "So I'm really glad to hear she's able to show that side of herself. It sounds like she's really inspired you."
Stanley Padgett	Stanley takes the shot, full in the face, his dumb stupid face looks so surprised- When Petra passes right through him, skidding across the pavement. A massive scraping of rubble and concrete is gouged up and out from under her path, and bolstered by the flechettes. Stanley? He's standing about two yards to the right of Petra, looking singed but otherwise... peppered with metal. 'Damn, that was close' is the look in his eyes. Lilian Rook says, "Fighting is a naked assertion of will. If you think it has any meaning besides crushing someone else's you'll lose." The Brave Fencer grabs at his self, his sense of being. "...that's what it takes, huh? That's your point? Your focus?" There's an uncomfortable ripple in the air, as Stanley Padgett digs deep himself. "...I guessed spite, sure, maybe. But it's love, huh?" And from Stanley's back rises the great spiritual Duelist himself, Mercutio. "Why, courage then! what cannot be avoided 'Twere childish weakness to lament or fear." There's a brazen cackle in his eyes, as three swords, one mortal, two ghostly, all come swinging in at Petra. And in this moment? There is joy in the young man's heart. He's getting to see Petra's true measure.
Angela	Cinder smiles at that moment of attention from Petra, the smile even reaches her eyes quickly enough to be observed in that moment. She might be working for a company that controls enough of her life that she needs to get permission to leave the facility, she might be working a job where even as an Agent her life expectancy is not that great, and she'll never be as important to Petra as Lilian or even Angela and she knows it--but that happiness is still genuine all the same, just being here--she is happy. "Sometimes the mistakes we make mean that we don't get to be friends with who we want to be. But sometimes you can fix them and be better friends than ever, right? Sometimes that takes a lot of--setting aside your ego though." Cinder theorizes thoughtfully. She grins as Charlotte speaks of being glad to see that side of her. "Eheh, well, she did, she did. I was just kind of coasting through life when I met her, now it's like I remembered that I'm alive." It is a little sad, isn't it? That so many people have tried to be her friend and failed. Did they really try? Did they really fail? "Personally I think people give up too easy and dig in their heels too hard. It's a lot like the City, really, we're sort of trained to expect certain things. Think some things aren't possible. But it really doesn't have to be that way. She's just another person struggling through the multiverse like everyone else you know?" Even if that gaze in her eyes is of one looking at someone who is a hero to her, it's just that isn't it--a hero to her.
Charlotte Newman	Mercutio makes his appearance, prompting a little 'ooh' sort of noise from Charlotte. She glances quickly from the ghostly duelist to Stanley himself. Once she sees the look on his face, the girl relaxes a bit. While considering Cinder's words, she closes her eyes and takes a long drink from her giant energy drink. Lowering it, she stares into the can, swirling its unhealthy pink contents slowly in thought. "Yeah... I can relate to just-- 'coasting through life'. Sometimes it's hard not to feel like a boat without an anchor or a sail. Just swept up and carried wherever the world wants to put you." Glancing aside, she opens those red eyes of hers again, "So it's up to you to swim against it and go where you decided you want to be. That's admirable, I think." Returning her eyes to her drink, she swishes it around a bit more, "I don't think I'm digging in... I don't want to give up, but part of me thinks that's what she wants. I just don't... I don't know what it is I did wrong, but everyone seems to expect me to fix it while refusing to tell me what it is. Like I'm supposed to just-- know. It's my fault and I accept that but how do I even move from here?" She exhales slowly, lifting her eyes to the fight again, "I'm sorry, I'm bringing down the mood too much. Maybe a change in subject..?"
Petra Soroka	With Stanley's reposition, Petra is now framed by her floating razor shards of morphmetal, twisting and splitting into needles in the air. Silvery channels on her arms swell with a pulse more of metal, flowing from nowhere to build the material for sharp metal spines. The hexes across her chest dim and glow, throbbing with an even heartbeat in the suit. She turns to face him, and when swiping Pillar of Creation through the flechettes, they clump against the blade like antibodies, hardening into an extended point at the end of the spear. That should throw off its balance, but she wields it just as effortlessly as before, hefting it to her side with one hand. Her hexagonal eyes stare at Stanley, body language not quite as familiarly expressed in the masked suit. "... It's like you haven't been paying attention at all. I can-- I can hate you, sure, I can think you're pathetic, immature, thoughtlessly cruel and unpleasant and boring," Petra glances at Charlotte, just to make sure she doesn't feel excluded by that. "But if that was it, if that was the only thing that drives me... then I'd just kill you, wouldn't I?" Petra lifts the elongated spear above her head, interrupting the arc of all three blades simultaneously. Whichever one is real clangs against the haft, and using the sound to react to the location as quickly as she can, Petra spins the spear around, twisting the sword, and Stanley attached to it, into the ground, pinning it flat against the rock. For the moment that he's trapped, Petra looks down at him, razor-clawed and spined gauntlet gripping the black glass spear that's twisted around him. "And I could. You know I could. I could've killed--" Petra snaps with her free hand, raising her voice to partly address Cinder. "John! That was his name. And he would've deserved it. I did kill Ishirou. I'm a murderer, you know? And I'm fucking good at it." Behind Stanley, the mechanical rat has scrambled on top of a large loose boulder in the bottom of the quarry. Anti-gravity generators engaged, the rock silently rises upwards, out past the lip of the cliff the two are fighting on, to hover over them. "If all that fucking drove me was spite, like fucking Newman thinks, then what reason would I have not to?" Morphmetal drains down the spear, running off of Petra's arms with heavy droplets plinking against the ground. They arc up in spikes, forming rudimentary cell bars laced over Stanley, forcing him to listen to the villain monologue. "Love--" Petra's attention waves towards Cinder for just a second, "... it's obvious if you pay any attention. Don't pretend you need a fucking fight to see it." Petra pulls the spear away, finally freeing Stanley, and the morphmetal clinging to its tip unravels in a trail through the air, adding one last string to the metal net. All at once, when Petra's out of the way, the strands snap inwards, condensing around Stanley in a cutting enclosure.
Angela	Cinder is startled for a moment but-- "That's what I mean about giving up too easy." She sighs. "You can't make people like you. Either they will or they won't, you know? Either they'll forgive you or they won't. It doesn't really...matter if you're sorry about it. If you didn't care you'd just say 'good riddance' and move on with your life, but you do--the problem is, and this is just how it comes across to me, you all are trying to be better people to get her to like you or to like you again but you have to be the person you want to be for yourself--even if she never forgives you because...you know, you might meet someone pretty great some day and you wouldn't want to treat her the same way and lose them too you know?" She shrugs. "Anyway, sorry we can talk about something else." She takes another long drink and then scrunches up her face. "Geeze, it's like my cells are burning from drinking this. How much caffeine and sugar is in this thing?" She examines the bottle. ''If all that fucking drove me was spite, like fucking Newman thinks, then what reason would I have not to?'' Cinder lowers the bottle and catches Petra's glance, her cheeks pinkening in the moment. It's nice to have the attention but she hopes it doesn't get her in any trouble with the fight.
Charlotte Newman	Charlotte crunches on chips while listening to Cinder some more, clearly rotating the agent's words in her head. Even when Cinder's finished, Charlotte is quiet for a few moments save for the gentle cronching. Eventually, she glances towards the Agent, "You're pretty wise. Thank you. That sounds like really solid advice." If I'm just coming off as not genuine... that might be it. Trying too hard. CInder brings up the ingredients and, as if this were the first time she'd even thought about it, Charlotte lifts the can up and turns it around to the nutrition facts. She skims over the ingredients and individual nutrient breakdown, "Uh... Recommended daily safe consumption, 1 teaspoon. Servings per container, about 100." Charlotte pauses to think that over, lowering the can, staring at it in silence. After a few quiet moments, she shrugs and takes another drink.
Stanley Padgett	The net closes, and for a moment, Stanley is still in there, still trapped, the metal flensing, disrupting his teleportation... Until he's free of it all, behind Petra. "When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions." There's blood seeping from places along his body, his coveralls torn and ripped, showing the marks of the Silver where it's peeled at him. "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind." Stanley spits a mouthful of blood on the concrete and smiles. "Things base and vile, holding no quantity, Love can transpose to form and dignity." Mercutio slips in midair, vanishing for a moment as Stanley resets himself and plants his feet. There's a slight dipping of his head, as he steadies himself. Don't falter now, Padgett. "If wishes would prevail with me, my purpose should not fail with me." He's scampering again across the roadbed, the saber coming up and around, only for it to vanish, along with Padgett. He suddenly falls from straight above Petra, slamming into the pavement in a cloud of Thick Green Fog that coils and roils and clouds Petra's vision and senses. And then Stanley is already moving, a slash and stab in the fog of gas, before trying to scamper away. Gotta stick and move, can't get hit this time. She's REALLY swinging for the fences.
Petra Soroka	Petra kicks her boot against the ground, a stray rock clicking between the grooves in the sole and getting powdered. "I don't know Shakespeare, dude! Roleplay all you fucking want, but I'm not going to-- oh, wait, that's Midsummer Night's Dream. I know that line; we read that one in school." Petra scoops upwards through the air with her free hand, sending a curling sweep of morphmetal arcing towards Stanley across the ground. She runs up the crest of the silver wave too, dashing in to take advantage of when it crashes down on top of him, but he's teleported away before it does. Petra's feet break through the surface tension of the metal, splashing onto the ground, and she draws up her spear cross-body in a guard, morphmetal wall protecting her back, unsure of where Stanley went. It's not until the fog flood around her that she gets a bead on him again, and the tide of metal arches over her into a bubble to block the stab from his rapier. Rather than letting him get away, or attempting the impossible task of trying to chase after him, Petra signals for the rat bot, hovering above the battlefield with a huge slab of rock, to disengage its anti-gravity. The boulder drops from the air and shatters, crushing the approximate area where Stanley was and sending rock shrapnel spraying in every direction where he could be. The impact clears away the fog for a moment too, and Petra uses the glimpse of clarity to lock on to where Stanley is momentarily stunned. She runs towards him, kicking aside chunks of rock the size of her head as if they were pebbles, and her spear trails behind her with the entire mass of accumulated morphmetal squirming on the end of it. She brings it down on top of him, swinging a heavy overhead like a ten foot tall hammer, all the morphmetal streaming along in a Silver crescent that follows the impact with a sustained telekinetic crush downwards. "I know that line." Powdered rock dust created and sent swirling in the air by the hammerblow deadens Petra's words, but it's still audible that she's thinking about them. It then becomes just as obvious a moment later when she comes to a realization and stops thinking about her words, blurting them out instead. "'Painted blind'? Are you kidding me? Have you seen her?"
Angela	Cinder's pinkened cheeks become full on red. She wasn't exactly trying to be wise but she just ... is in a good mood. Maybe she just wants to bask in positive vibes right now. She brought sandwiches. It's a good day. There doesn't have to be anything past that. "Um," She manages. "Thanks." She wordlessly takes another sip from Drinkula. You only live once, she supposes, unless Petra kills you.
Stanley Padgett	The Massive Hammer Blow does its job. It splatters Padgett. It smashes the concrete. It makes a mighty dust cloud. There is a thunderous noise in the quarry. And then it clears, and Stanley Padgett is sitting on top of the hammer. His sword is placed in his lap. Those eyes are still burning bright. He's bleeding, he's tired, but he's smiling. "I have seen her, and she's very pretty." A beat. "I yield, by the way. So who ARE we talking about, then?" He sniffs and rubs his nose a bit, and sorta waves over to Charlotte. "I'll have that soda now!" And right back to Petra. "Cause I think I'm missing some context here. Sorry. Hi. Hoooooo." He shakes out his hands and seems to be trying to let the adrenaline bake off.
Charlotte Newman	Charlotte exhales, slipping forward and rising off the tractor's track. Taking a moment to pat dust off her skirt, she quietly says, "She won't believe anything I say, so please...just tell her I don't think she's crazy, or that she only does things out of spite. I just think she doesn't like me... and, after our chat today, I realize that's okay." Turning, she picks up the SOUR APPLECABRA from where she set it, "Thank you for the chips! I hope you have a great day." Reaching into the bag she brought, she pulls out the last can, a double-sized Creature BERRYSTEIN'S MONSTER. As she approaches, the bag is wadded up and shoved into her purse. With her own drink tucked in between her forearm and her body, Charlotte approaches the two fighters, offering BERRYSTEIN to Stanley with her occupied arm while holding APPLECABRA out to Petra at a less invasive distance.
Petra Soroka	Petra blushes, a fact that becomes visible when the suit of toku armor around her disintegrates into shiny steam, vanishing into the transteam gun in her hand. "'Who are we talking about?' Who are we ever talking about? L-like, you know." She shoves the transteam gun in her bomber jacket pocket, leaning on the spear in the other as a walking stick, She doesn't offer him a hand up, but not continuing to hit him or yell at him is as good as it gets with her. A little drained, she squints her eyes in the still-settling dust, and then gasps an intake of gritty air when she thinks of something, sending her into a coughing fit. "Oh--! That's what you meant by verbal submission. Like, yielding. Okay. Cool. Official duel rules say it's over, then." Petra gestures for the morphmetal to extrude over to Charlotte and grab the energy drink out of her hand, but of course, all the morphmetal was absorbed back into the Silver FullBottle when she de-suited. Instead, insistent on not moving, the battered little rat robot whirs its way out of the wrekcage of the boulder it dropped, rolling over to Cinder, then slowly rising up in the air until it can latch on to the can. Gravity manipulation guides it to 'fall' back towards Petra, and she misses catching it out of the air, needing to break her posture against her spear to grab it from the rat. "... I don't even drink these that often, you know. Energy drinks. You seem like the type who'd assume I drink nothing but." Now with the Creature can cracked open in her hands, Petra ends up needing to walk towards Charlotte anyways, to stand in front of the trio and finish talking before sitting down beside Cinder. "If you learn anything from this, learn that I don't fuck around when it comes to Lilian. If she says it's for her honor, then I'll do my best to embody that, and her honor is invincible to silly insults like that. That's the fucking context you're missing." She plops down on the ground next to Cinder, drained from using the suit enough that she leans her head on Cinder's shoulder. "That was the first-- like, duel. That I've done. I guess it is kind of, a little bit different, than just fighting." Petra coughs. "Hey, Cinder? Do you want to set up the picnic somewhere else? My mouth feels like it's fill of fucking grit."