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Ran Itoh     'r u free? want 2 ask ur advice about DR matters. thx!!'

    Nobody will ever accuse Ran Itoh of being overly formal, especially someone for whom formality and manners are a way of life! Still, it could be worse: she could be throwing emoji around like it's going out of style.

    She'd wanted to try eating something new, and a chance to get out of her world for a bit is always tempting, so she'd asked Emily to meet up with her here. Ran will be found waiting at a booth, studying the menu with the air of someone making a life-altering decision. In truth, she's just looking for the Pan-Galactic Gargleblaster and is concerned that she can't find it.
Emily Branford     Fortunately, the Bar and Grill is somewhere that anyone can get to easily, just about anywhere in the Multiverse. It doesn't really matter where Emily is at the moment; on receiving the text from Ran, there is only a brief delay before she receives a response text.

    'Certainly. Will be along shortly.'

    On the other hand, it's rare to see Emily looking so casual... 'so casual', in this case, meaning that her usual coat, gloves and cravat have been left behind, and her collar (and only her collar) is unbuttoned. Brisk strides take her through the room, and she slides into the booth with Ran quite smoothly.

    (Surely the fact that she sits so that she can see the rest of the room is just coincidence. Surely.)

    "Here we are, a rare chance to have a bite to eat without being the one who cooked it myself."
Ran Itoh     If Ran notices how Emily places herself (and she does), she doesn't mention it.

    Instead, it's the butler's decidedly dressed-down appearance that gets a sunny smile and a cheerful comment. "Hi! I don't think I've ever seen you without your jacket and stuff before... it looks nice though." A no-nonsense, androgynous style... Ran could never pull it off, so she admires it in people who can.

    The school nurse is wearing a soft pink off-the-shoulder top over some daisy dukes and her customary white sandals. "It's nice to take a night off, isn't it? Do you cook every meal for Janine, or does she cook too? I remember she made pizza for the cultural festival, didn't she?" So she must be /able/ to cook...
Emily Branford     Emily glances down at herself, then makes an amused noise. "Well, there was the one time I put on a street tough look for that business with the gang, but you weren't there for that, I suppose. In general I try to keep on a professional appearance at all times." She settles back in her seat, though, lacing fingers together on the table. "I cook... /most/ of the time. I consider it a duty to make sure Janine doesn't have trivial things to worry about unless she wants to worry about them. I do have to help her just a smidge when she does cook, but I try to keep that minimal." Janine is, after all, Janine.

    When a waiter draws near, she waves him close, and then puts in a simple order, one that seems almost cliché: fish and chips. "I'm still not sure how I feel that a strange place like this does pub food so well."
Ran Itoh     It must be nice, Ran thinks, to not have to worry about trivial things unless one wants to. Janine, on the other hand, has many un-trivial things that she /has/ to worry about. She can't help but frown a little bit, looking down at her menu again.

    She orders zarusoba for herself, because soon it'll be too chilly to eat cold noodles and crabmeat. You've got to enjoy things while you can!!

    "Is there a reason they shouldn't be able to? Look, they've got so much though! I don't even recognize some of these things..." What's a palak paneer, anyway? Putting her menu away in the stand, Ran leans back against the booth and nibbles at her lip for a moment. "...I wanted to ask your advice about some things. About Janine's family, and about what we're going to be able to do for August, and..." Trailing off, Ran gestures expansively. "Everything."
Emily Branford     "Well, they've got about a thousand different cultures' worth of foods here. I'd expect 'passable' at best for a menu spread so thin, particularly one so... isolated." She sets her menu aside, taking her glass of water and drinking from it. "And yet they've got it just about perfect. I can't say it bothers me, that's for certain."

    Ah, but there's the point. She's a tad surprised it's come out so quickly. But then, Ran's had quite a bit of time among some very direct people. The butler looks contemplative, for a moment. "...a lot with Janine's family will depend upon how much they remember, how much they were aware for. I've seen them somewhere safe, and ensured they'll be well cared for. But anyone being preyed on by the things that go bump in the night, so to speak, is... they're going to have a rough time of it in general, usually for some time. And Bella Liberi's got a religious streak in her besides. That could make it all the worse."

    The glass is set down again. "As for Kohler, I haven't been able to follow his progress, not with other things keeping me busy. I don't trust Parsons further than you could throw him, personally. But how is the... 'treatment' coming along?"
Ran Itoh     Who knows what kind of hocus-pocus a place like this must employ to get so very many recipes 'just right'? Even just 'a diverse kitchen staff' is its own special kind of magic (mostly involved in keeping the chefs from coming to blows).

    "--Sorry to be so sudden about it, but...well, I tried having a chat with August the other day and he was barely even into his cake before politely telling me to get to the point." Ran massages her temples briefly.

    The Liberis had been unconscious when Die Reisende had retrieved them from the Forest. Ran hadn't been able to do much for them before they were whisked away to a more secret location. "I wonder just how long they were held. My gut instinct is that they were gone, or even just influenced, before Janine tried to explain Persona to her. The woman who greeted me at Janine's birthday party..." Ran frowns and folds her napkin in half.

    "She was over the moon that I'd showed up because she thought I'd been caring for Janine's medical needs. I just... I know you can't always judge things like this so easily, but that woman hadn't seemed like the kind of person who would /ever/ kick her own daughter out over something like this." The weight of long-ago experience settles in behind her eyes. "I hadn't thought she was that kind of woman at all."

    At least she has /some/ good news she can share... "I don't know how well we're going to be able to beat the Chief Engineer, but I'm not exactly a, a brain warrior or anything." Ran looks a little bit embarrassed that she couldn't think of a better-sounding title. "But... we had a talk the other day. I think I actually did connect with him for a moment... like, the real August."
Emily Branford     Something in what Ran has to say about Bella Liberi prompts an odd sort of look on Emily's face; she regards Ran for a few moments, then reaches out to take up her glass again, and that earns a good several seconds of staring before she speaks again - with a softer, almost weary sort of tone. "People don't handle the unknown well. They've been calmly, obliviously, happily living their life, secure in their knowledge of the world, their place in it, and how all the gears and cranks under the hood work. Even the ones that think something like a ghost or pyschic powers is real. They get one glimpse under the hood, they get one look at what's really behind the curtain, and everything comes crashing down."

    A drink of water again, then she sets it down. "I'd believe it of her. Without any sort of tampering from the Forest. Her daughter calls forth this wretched, evil-looking spirit, the daughter she thinks she knows, and suddenly her whole world's turned upside down. Fear and aggression are the perfectly ordinary, human response to that. It's why there's a 'masquerade' in so many worlds, you see. Reactions like that are the rule, not the exception." She sounds like this is something she knows far, far too well. Personally, in fact.
Ran Itoh     What kind of look is that...?

    It's a little uncomfortable to be stared at for so long, but Ran doesn't know what else to say. Maybe her own mother is unusual. Maybe Hikaru's mother was more common than she thought. Ran supposes that not everybody can be as strong as Anna Itoh, but... "I guess I've always thought of mothers as... kind of different from that, maybe," Ran admits. "Mine just... I can say with certainty that my mother would never let anything come between her and our family." More like Anna would bulldoze through anything that threatens what she considers hers. They'd never seen Hikaru's mother again after that night...

    "I'm going to hope that she can be reasoned with." She laughs suddenly. "You know, August accused me of being too naive. I guess he was right, huh...?" But what can she do about it...?

    Ran looks up. "If that was really her that kicked Janine out and threatened me and Hikky with the cops, then... we'll figure something out. But I want to believe she can be brought around," Ran sighs, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the table. "I was afraid, too. I'm still afraid. But Janine needs her family. They /can't/ abandon her." Ran won't /let/ them, not without a fight.
Emily Branford     Emily looks contemplative for a moment. "Well," she finally replies, "It's as I said. Quite a bit will depend on how much they were aware for, and how much they remember. They could realize Janine saved them. They could think this was her doing. They might not recall anything at all other than a lot of terror, and only see snatches of the truth in their dreams. The human mind's an unpredictable thing. I'll do my mest to help things along as well, of course, but... we'll see, I suppose."

    The butler blows out a breath. "Of course, I've gone and dragged the mood down. My apologies. What were you saying about Kohler and the 'Chief Engineer', again?"
Ran Itoh     She smiles wanly at Emily's predictions. "I guess so..." Too bad they can't just, manually change how the Liberis feel.

    "Oh, no - don't worry about it," Ran hastens to say, waving her hands a bit. "Everything's darkest before morning, right? We'll make it work." They'll fix everything.

    The food arrives then - Ran's noodles look every bit as good as she'd imagined, and the look on her face becomes one of bliss. Noodles and crab, noodles and crab~ o/' She breaks her chopsticks apart and digs in. "Mmm. The Chief Engineer - August's Shadow - has been trying to overtake August's psyche. I don't know what would happen if he succeeded, though... Oh no, what if the Engineer takes over his body? Or worse - the Shadow's influence might just turn /our/ August evil or something..." God, why does she have to have realizations like this when she's trying to enjoy her dinner?! Ran makes a face and sets her chopsticks down across the rim of her bowl.
Emily Branford     "Hmh." Something has amused Emily again. "Don't forget, where I come from, mornings are a dreary mess." Ah, London.

    Oh hey, food. Emily starts right in on hers, listening intently. She's once again thoughtful, this time while she eats. "Mmm... One thing to remember, if that thing is truly his Shadow, is that it's not really a separate entity. It's a part of Kohler. An aspect of himself. We all have our darker sides, and I think we've seen a bit of what his would be like if he gave in to it - nothing but a machine, no empathy or remorse, willing to take any path to arrive at his goal as efficiently as possible, even if that's 'right through familiar faces'. To some extent, that attitude gets things done, but when you take it that far..." A faint shake of the head. "...you become what you're fighting. A monster, of an entirely different sort. In another world, I might recommend he take time off until he has a better handle on himself. But in another world, his darker aspects wouldn't be taking on a mind of their own, would they?"
Ran Itoh     What would August be, without any emotions at all? No matter how calm and rational he may want to seem, he's still a teenage boy. Suppressing everything that comes along with would be unhealthy at the best of times. In a world where Shadows are very much a reality, how much damage could it do over time? To August, and to everyone around him?

    "Then we've got to support him. I'll keep diving - Parsons is kind of... weird, but he's our best hope. I don't really sense anything /malicious/ from him, if that helps? But then," she admits, "I'm not like Hikky, or even Ainsley. They can feel someone's real intent and emotions, you know." She picks up her chopsticks again, because regret and worry don't make her food smell any less appetizing.

    "I don't suppose we /can/ tell him to take time off, can we?" she asks hopefully, looking up.
Emily Branford     Emily's taking her time with her own meal, careful to add just a bit of vinegar at a time - enough to flavor the fish, without overpowering it. "The main issue I have with Parsons is that, unless I'm remembering quite poorly, the man used to work for the Confederacy. I never had truck with the Union, mind you, but I've a distinct distrust for anyone that worked with an openly despotic, conquest-happy regime, even if they seem above-board. Not to mention he's quite mad. But, Kohler's made his choice, so I fear there's little that can be done on the matter." Shrug.

    The thought of telling August to take time off, though? That gets a snort. "Oh, we could certainly tell him. He'd laugh in our faces, but we could tell him."
Ran Itoh     "Well, he does keep reminding us that he's part of a vague yet menacing government agency," Ran frowns, picking out a lump of crabmeat to savor. "I thought that would kind of be worth more than most anything else he was part of." She's never been very clear on Illuminati Levels or the Orwellian Heirarchies or anything. Like, at all.

    Still, she can't help but react positively to Parsons's presence, simply because he's /always smiling/ and so very friendly.

    Telling August to take time off... Ran just sighs. "Let's save our energy there, huh." He'd already seemed so conflicted about the idea of stepping down from being the leader of Die Reisende. He'd said that he would if people asked him to, but at the same time he'd had a look in his eyes that just dared her to try. Ran tactfully doesn't mention this to Emily.
Emily Branford     "Kohler is the kind of zealous young man who either burns himself out early, or turns into a man made of granite by the time he's 30. I've seen the type far more than I care to admit." Despite seemingly taking her time, somehow Emily has managed to put most of her food away already, and the rest won't be much longer. "The best we can do is see to it he survives to become the latter. Trying to make him anything else would probably just get him killed. Or resenting us."
Ran Itoh     "I guess you're right," she nods, stirring her noodles around and around in the bowl. "I guess all we can do is support them, isn't it?" It feels a little like she's accepting it... but, there's got to be something she can do. There /has/ to be, right? She just has to figure out what it is.

    In the meantime... Ran slurps up a noodle. "We'll do our best. All we have to do is save August from himself, save Janine's relationship with her family, and save Drachenblatt from the Black Court." As if it's just that simple, Ran picks up her bowl and drains the last of the tsuyu from it. "So we'll take it one thing at a time."
Emily Branford     "Saving the world," Emily summarizes. "Couldn't be too hard, could it?" Her meal is just about finished. "Thank you for the meal. Short-lived as it may have been, it was a welcome change of scenery. I'll have to cook for you and Hikaru some night."
Ran Itoh     "Heh... thanks for coming out with me. I've always wanted to try eating here." They'll get going soon enough, once Ran pays the bill. "Ohh, please do! Your fish and chips were great. I can't wait to see what else you can come up with!"

    Even if she didn't find any real long-term solutions today, Ran is somewhat cheered. Saving the world. How hard can it be, right?