Scene #9121: Me When I Fucking Get You (1)

Owner	Pose
Arthur Lowell	THE LAND OF SPIRES AND FROGS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI785pDsR88 The spires that rise high above the ocean flicker with light every few minutes. Not a little flutter of shimmering energy, no; they rattle, heavily, with a surge of force, shaking rocks loose. The small humanoid salamanders throughout the planet, long-thriving and rather stupid, sometimes shake around in their towns and villages. But they understand the cost of living here, where clockwork clouds graze tall spires and discharge massive bolts of green light into the network. Arthur's been running tests on high-level energy transmission here, getting it back up to working order. Clear blue sky is interrupted by rapid shifts in cloudwork. Spires crack and expose the translucent green bio-tubing below the stone, threaten the flow of water within. Arthur's asked for help, help in repairing this semiorganic semiaquatic megastructure. There's lots of trips to make between the vast volcanic Forge-spire, the Spires themselves and their dangerous dungeons, and the complex interiors of the clouds. Given a little bit of disuse and a lot of overloading, the level of energy he's readying it to conduct is rattling pieces of this celestial artifact apart. The Land of Spires and Frogs is designed to ignite stars. When he points it at Ash, and everything around them, it will do something else. Break-time, though. If anyone's come along to help, they'll be free to join him. His little work-crew of Salamanders that has been no help will at least provide lawn chairs, some refreshments, directions to shade. The dense forests on top of the towers, and the lakes and ponds the spires extract from the ocean below, make for a good moment of rest. Another test cycle. A massive discharge of energy. Stone rumbles and groans. Another part of the Land of Spires and Frogs needs more repairs if it's going to conduct all this energy. The demand just keeps getting higher and higher...
Petra Soroka	It's a world where there's spires, and things that are almost frogs! Petra gets it. It's still weird as hell, but mostly in a novelty sense, rather than a confused sense. And besides, getting caught up in all that would prevent Petra from accomplishing her real goal here: which is helping, but also kind of being a bitch about it. Petra's suited to just about any task that doesn't actually involve magic, so she spends most of the time helping alternating between repair duty and fetch quests, responsibly storing whatever transdimensionally-voltatile substances she might be carting around inside the Eggpack rather than her mirror. Angela's presence, whenever she's not pulled away from her desk by work, is easy idly chatter for Petra while she fucks around with giant clockwork machinery, too. It's when Petra's around anyone but Angela that she gets snippy, as usual. Like break time! A pleasant opportunity to relax, alongside Petra Soroka. Petra accepts a lemonade, and denies a chair. Plopping down cross-legged in a soft patch of grass, claw-handing her glass around the rim and sipping through the straw poking through her fingers, she shrugs the Eggpack off onto the dirt beside her and leans an elbow on top of it, as if it's Angela's shoulder. "So, like, the goal's just to blast them harder?" Petra sighs, as latently hostile and unhappy as she always is when the topic of Ash is present. "I mean, it's better than fucking talking at them, at least."
Trudy Grimm	Trudy's ability to contribute to massive structural repairs is-- limited, but still something she can contribute to, albeit in a way that Arthur himself might not be super comfortable with. Mostly because whenever something needs reinforcement, or to be lifted up and held in place, the witch achieves this by calling forth great columns of bone woven together. A lattice of hand and arm bone all clinging together, or a network of triangular trusses fashioned out of femurs. It is fortunately all pale, bleached, dried. More dusty than gruesome, macabre all the same. Between incidences of this sort of grim repair, she isn't idle. Even now, on 'break', the witch sits with the soles of her feet touching. Cradled in the circle created by her legs is a great stone upon which she traces a single fingertip in arcane shapes. Green light follows her tracing, carving into the stone as if scratched out by a fingernail. Sowulo, the Sun Rune; Uruz, the Power Rune; Teiwaz, the Victory Rune; Algiz, the Protection Rune; Drawn between ornate circles to bind them together. This is perhaps the thirtieth such stone she's created today, its predecessors each carried off to be placed at a location she'd determined it was necessary. Salamanders, skeletons, even Petra may have been recruited for that much. "I suspect the plan is more than just a giant laser," Trudy hums without looking up from her work, "Would you care to shed more light on it, Arthur?"
Xion	Xion had arrived early when Arthur had been asking around for help. Giving the Mage a look at the medallion of clear glass she had gotten//not gotten from Ash during their conflict. Having left her stuff in the break room, the keyblade knight had offered out her services assisting with unlocking any stuck parts and joining Arthur in hopping around the space to set it back to a dusted-off sort of order. Block puzzles that required portals? Aquatic ruins with frog-based locks and lost keystones? Not a problem for player two. Returning for 'Break Time', Xion disappears for a few minutes after retrieving her phone from her black coat pocket draped over a lawn chair and jumping off to place an order for pickup. Not ten minutes after, around when everyone's in-swing coming in Xion returns with a set of big clear plastic agua frescas and a greasy bag of foil wrapped burritos. "Hey, gamer god, do you want cheese and bean or a good one? I've got carne asada, pastor, and de nada California - bean and cheese with guacamole and fries." Xion offers, setting up the rest of her burritos and bag-of-chips and loose salsa cups with the rest of the refreshments and the drinks with the sodas. "Blast them harder? No, I don't think so." Xion muses, smiling at Petra as she pours watermelon drink into a Solo cup. "This would be an ignition of them, wouldn't it? Shining the brightest light and starting them. I also had an idea, to bring out Ash's inner self via more... gggentle force, but," The noirette rolls the glass 'not-'Ash medallion through her fingers and considers, taking a drink from Solo cup and finding a seat to start in on a burrito of her own.
Angela	Angela, upon first seeing the land of spires and frogs, remarks, "Your world is a bit ridiculous, Arthur." She is, naturally, stuck as an Eggpack as usual. Fortunately, as far as how Homestuckian situations go, she can still pretty much engage in 90 percent of Homestuckian activities, ie: communicating through a computer from very far away and making snide commentary. Cinder, being the one Agent Angela has consistently been bringing to these ventures, is here to help with labor. Cinder does not know anything about any of the work that needs done but she caan be directed to act as a pair of hands. She's very enthusiastic about helping out even if she's mostly carrying things that need carrying and welding things that need welding. ''So, like, the goal's just to blast them harder? I mean, it's better than fuckin talking at them, at least.'' "I suppose 'The Kitchen Sink' approach is potentially better than nothing." Angela says. "If the R Corp team were unhelpful I am skeptical any Agents I have would do much better outside of Petra herself, but I have been authorized to make use of ''one'' Abnormality or Abnormality Tool but it may be preferable to leave them out of it as they add a certain element of risk. Cinder." "Ma'am yes ma'am?" Cinder's only gotten more loyal to Angela with time. "Eat one of the tiny sandwiches and try one beverage for me. Describe the taste in detail." Angela is also getting a little weirder with time. Her patience is wearing thin for the Seed of Light project and she is so eager to be in the world for real. She senses the pressure of Petra's elbow and leans her head to the side as if she's resting against Petra. She is certainly willing to mimic as if she's present. "Oh sure Angela." Cinder says, following instructions to the letter.
Arthur Lowell	> Arthur: What is the actual play here? Arthur kind of wrings his hands. "I'm straight up fucking," BIG WRING. "Givin' up. Like, am I gonna beat her ass in direct combat or something? At this stage, fuck no." He's getting a Mountain Dew from the Salamanders. Distinctly non-frog beings. He gestures with it. "I don't think you've got a plan. She's giving you a whole lot of that certain kind of points you need for your upgrade tree, you don't make plans when you're near people like that. Someone hits you with 'normies die' and it turns off the front half of your brain, CIA-code-phrase-ass." He laughs briefly, taking a long drink of the soda. "I mean, my plan isn't way smarter, so whatever." Bones! There's a lot of Bone around here, even. If you kill the little monsters that scuttle around the ancient dungeons, this old, thriving, somewhat overdrown ecosystem of Underlings, they drop plenty of useful chunks of strangely abstracted material. And the semi-organic structure works well with bones. The rune circles... About ten or so minutes after she's done with them, she might notice the Salamander crews skittering in to place small stone frog idols and other similar clumsy carvings. They don't seem to disrupt the circles, and their local symbolic meaning seems spiritual. > Arthur: Shed more light "It's literally a raw power situation." Arthur says. "It's gotta be that simple. We got a huge-ass problem here and, I'm gonna be real, none of us got whatever..." He shakes his head. "Whatever mentality a motherfucker needs to even get half to starting to figure Ash out. So whatever. Huge amount of energy. No other ideas so far, so it's what we're doing." Arthur is... surprisingly less strained than he usually is, about something that sounds so overwhelmingly lethal. Maybe he just expects Ash to get through whatever happens, no matter what.
Arthur Lowell	> Arthur: This would be an ignition of them, wouldn't it? "You're super overestimating my ass about knowing what Ash's deal is." Arthur says, gesturing with some half-eaten doritos at Xion. "I saw that fuckin' tree, talked to... whatever that sky-star lady was, didn't even get close to whatever future shit Sakura's smoking on, and Ash wants to ollies outie straight out of existing the way people are existing. Whatever Ash is doing, I can't start knowing a way to help. You got another idea, I say, give it a go before I fuck with what I do. Way more fine-tuned." Puzzle-solving and unlocking is a tremendously useful skill, though, in both dungeons and cloudworks. Xion's got quite a bit of work to do, but quite a bit of good pace to do it. > Arthur: 'The Kitchen Sink' approach is potentially better than nothing "Yeah, my angle is because I literally don't got anything else. Nothin' my brain's gonna get through, anyway, and nothing else that's got a chance to solve the problem." Arthur rambles, sighing and getting out the DS to relax with for a while. "Like, maybe I could go hit up the Noble Horrorterrors, give 'em a ring and chat up some guidance, that's non-person enough to maybe know something, but half of them won't know what I'm fucking talking about 'cause they don't know what moral standards n'shit we've got on solving this, half aren't gonna be able to explain the answer they got, and another half are gonna straight up make the situation worse. I'm at 'nothing' for options, so gotta give it a shot."
Petra Soroka	When the burritos are added to the table, Petra has already Sat Down. This does not prevent her from getting a burrito, but her first impulse tactic of impotently holding her hand out to the table from much farther away certainly isn't the way to do it. Thankfully, another option is presented to her! "Ciiiinder, while you're up," Getting a tiny sandwich for Angela, she means, "Can you grab me a burrito too?" "This would be an ignition of them, wouldn't it? Shining the brightest light and starting them." Cinder gets an absentminded pat pat of thanks when she comes back, and Petra pouts in thought at Xion before starting to nibble away at her burrito. "I mean... yeah. We all know we're not blasting to kill, so yeah. But..." Petra 'fuahhh's and slumps her cheek on the corner edge of the Eggpack, squashing her face a bit. She taps a finger on the rim of her glass, nail clinking, oozing discontent. "Someone hits you with 'normies die' and it turns off the front half of your brain, CIA-code-phrase-ass." "I'm gonna be real, none of us got whatever... mentality a motherfucker needs to even get half to starting to figure Ash out." Petra's expression twists into a scowl, predictably, but less predictable is the accompanying sting of tightness in her chest and throat that brings tears to her eyes. She blinks them away before they come out, but there's no hiding that her arm-crossing sourness is at least splashed with some unhappiness among the anger. "Okay, well, first off, go fuck yourself. And second off, like..." She twists her fingers around each other, with high-strain low-noticeability fidgeting. "Like, I feel like I do, though. Not, having a plan, but, like, getting them. At least, better than... better than a lot of people. Not just singling you guys out, but, like--" Petra makes an exasperated noise. "But that's the whole fucking problem! I really feel like they make sense to me, in a lot more ways than your dumb fucking anti-normie shit-- fuck you, by the way-- but I still can't figure out a fucking way!" "You got another idea, I say, give it a go before I fuck with what I do." Petra folds her arms on top of the Eggpack and drops her chin on top of them, mouth half-occluded by her forearm, for optimal grumbling position. "Fucking stupid. If I had giant-ass space lasers, I'd be way better about using them. Maybe I should just think of something and do it first. I don't fucking know."
Trudy Grimm	Trudy completes her latest runic cairn and shoves it aside. A skeleton collects it in bony hands, then staggers off to place it. With her hands now free, the witch shifts how she's seated, extending her legs out and folding one over the other. "So your idea is to blast Ash with all the power you can muster?" Closing her eyes, the witch titters, "Is that really any better than what I was going to do? Ahh~... I suppose with me around, a giant laser /is/ more easily reversed..." At some point while talking, she'd produced a green gemstone. Now, Trudy lifts it towards the sun, peering into its depths, "I honestly didn't mind overmuch what they were saying. It's about the same as what I already say to myself. But..." She tucks the gemstone away, eyes closing again, "I understand feeling like there aren't any other options..." "They overpower all of my cute friends. Curses don't seem to stick. Perhaps I should try the whole catalogue next chance I get." Her eyes open again, just slightly, settling a bored-yet-judgy glower on Petra when she talks about Getting Ash and Nobody Else Can. "Maybe next time I should open with stealing their voice and work from there. Steal their sensation. Sight. Breath. Take everything I can, refuse to return it. Show them that even a wretched creature like me can still bite the mighty lion."
Petra Soroka	"Take everything I can, refuse to return it." Petra rolls her eyes with utter, scathing contempt. "Ooooh, yeah, bet they've never heard that one before. I sure bet the fucking Bloom of Humanity whose wish was obviously along the lines of dictating how the world is allowed to perceive and interact with them has never been threatened with 'having everything taken from them' before. Gosh, I'm sure that'll fix the whole fucking thing right up. You're so fucking clever for coming up with the one thing no one's ever thought to do to a fucking Bloom before."
Angela	''Ciiiinder, while you're up. Can you grab me a burrito too?'' "Ma'am yes ma'am!" CInder repeats, playing into it. She cannot telekinetically grab burritos but she can walk over to one and fetch two (one is for herself!) along with the sandwich she's going to be eating for Angela. She hands off the burrito and beams with pride when she gets a pat pat. Some people enjoy the small things in life. "It does seem like it might be tough to gauge exactly how much blast is 'winning' but not lethal though." She's not sure how you'd tell considering they don't really have a great gauge for what 'does damage'! ''None of us got whatever... Whatever mentality a motherfucker--'' "Petra seems to understand her rather well." Angela says. "Though I admit I am not sure--" ''Petra 'fuahhhs''' Angela's viewscreen gets a little lobsided as the Eggpack smushes down a bit. Angela's expression is one of open concern. And understanding. She thinks she understands why Petra is blinking away tears. She had plenty of time to notice. "...Yes, it is frustrating, is it not, Petra?" Angela asks. "I acknowledge you understand them. I was hoping that would translate to a plan, an idea of what to do. But the truth is something I should not have forgotten." "Understanding someone, truly understanding them and getting them--and dealing with someone--are two wholly different matters." Angela says. She's no doubt thinking back to the Sephirah. "...It would be nice, though, wouldn't it?" She almost sounds like she's lamenting even without any tonal differentiation. ''Maybe next time I should open with stealing their voice nd work from there'' "If we torture them, they would be right to reject us." Angela says. "The ideal is to be able to cooperate with them. The goal isn't to get them with some kind of ''gotcha!'' that will cause more longterm problems. Cruelty is only useful when it is practical."
Trudy Grimm	"At least it's a more productive thought than wanting to bow at their feet and do their bidding," Trudy remarks, closing her eyes again as she turns her face away from Petra entirely, "Maybe we should be asking ourselves why you're even here. How do we know you aren't going to tell them what we're doing like a good little minion?" > If we torture them, they would be right to reject us." "I wasn't aware that getting someone who wants to kill us and destroy the world to accept us was the objective," Trudy glances downward, running her fingers through the beads and charms dangling from the Grimoire, "People who've had everything given to them on a silver platter will never learn anything if the people who confront them continue to give them everything they want."
Xion	'You got another idea, I say, give it a go before I fuck with what I do.' Xion frowns gently, looking sadly to Arthur. "I don't think it's the way, to just hit Ash with a somehow bigger miracle device that kills you. So I didn't think it'd be where you went," "-but," Xion hangs there, and then leans down without continuing and biting down slowly at the top of her burrito. The black on black on black girl dips blue eyes and sigh nasally-deep. She chews. "Okay. I'll come up with something." Torture becomes the topic and Xion slouches more. "Okay, okay. I don't think trying an even bigger beam of society will hit them. If anything, it'll prove to them by the impact exactly where they bend it, and it breaks them, and I think we'll see more of the former than the latter. I hit them with... a lot, and none of it even got close. Only Lilian seemed to make a good swing, and she 'flipped over' to do it, and then you brought her back. Right, Arthur?" Swinging swaying foot, toe of shoe just barely not touching ground, Xion looks out over the rest spot at the vastness of the Land beyond. "Could we make a little world, just for a little bit? A small space, and not a big one? Instead of firing a gun, why not... Create a spot that has no preconceived notions, a new world, that's small - a demi-place, a para-place - and the next time we find Ash..." Xion looks directly to Arthur. "You take us there? We can use the medallion I got as a focusing lens, or a prism for the world, and make a place where that space where they are is included. I bet, then, we could reach them. And I bet the Mage of Space could get us there. I've pushed enough blocks around today to know you're cooking with the big rings and things."
Angela	''People who've had everything given to them on a silver platter will never learn anything if the people who confront them continue to give them everything they want.'' "I was not aware," Angela says mildly. "That you were an expert of Ash's history and story. Please, elucidate what they've been through and how exactly society pampered them." ''Xion suggests something absoluely insane that they probably actually can do if they're bringing it up like this.'' "While that sounds impressive." Angela asks. "What does making a small world accomplish? There are already so many." Her tone is more curious than critical. She broadly has faith in Xion being able to cook something up but she's not sure how the steak will mean anything to Ash.
Arthur Lowell	> Arthur: Don't mess around with Petra "Look. You got a bunch of stuff going on. Like, I get it. But that feeling? That's how it is when you're talking with Ash. It's how I feel when I'm talkin' some crap with Lilian! It's mutual understanding. It's understanding that exists 'cuz you're in the same space, sharing it." He hops up for a moment, grabbing one of Xion's delicious burritos and some salsa to go with the chips. "But, straight up, it's not yours, same as how the stuff Lilian and I understand together isn't mine. I walk out of an op Lilian's on, try to call up some of that fuckin' insight about Ash?" He makes a little "poof" motion from his temple. "Gone. Nothing. What the hell does 'the self is not the body but contains the tools' mean? No fucking idea anymore, 'cause I don't got Lilian to bounce it off of. You can't tune into Ash right now 'cause Ash isn't here to tune in off of. Right? And when she's around, not exactly gonna talk out the takedown plan." He gestures with the burrito after taking a bite out of it. "You're good as fuck at the tuning though. That's credit. But, like, I say recognize what you're doing." He's vastly overestimating his own insights into Petra, and doing a lot of projecting besides. > Arthur: Big-power mega-laser "Basically? In just about those kinda words." Arthur says, shrugging a bit plaintively. "Like I said -- I'm not gonna figure Ash out. I am not tuning into the same channel, nobody is, 'cause if you're planning an attack then you don't get to tune in and if you're tuned in then you don't get to plan an attack." He exhales heavily, tensing up a bit. "That's the kind of wall NAZCA built and I sure as shit don't know how to tear it down from this end." A rumble sounds over the horizon. Stone crumbles.
Petra Soroka	"It does seem like it might be tough to gauge exactly how much blast is 'winning' but not lethal though." "Ehhh... I don't even know, like... how it'd be possible to kill them. I feel like the bigger worry there'd be, like... I'm just sort of theorizing, but blasting them hard enough that they tank whatever reserves their power runs on, and then they just--" Petra finishes her sentence with a wordless little miming of an explosion with her fist. It may be impossible to interpret what this means. "And, like, then we just have no control over the world ending, or anything. Not like they know how to do it now, but I bet the method's a lot clearer once they're--" She makes the same hand motion again, accompanied by a little 'pyoo' of an explosion. "Pyoo'd." "Cruelty is only useful when it is practical." Petra hums in agreement. "Mmm. Fighting's not off-limits, but fucking drooling to put them in their place is... yeah. Proving that you're the same sort of scumshit loser that they're right to hate." Petra squishes her cheek into the heel of a palm, annoyed. "Can't disagree with them there, though." "At least it's a more productive thought than wanting to bow at their feet and do their bidding," "Rot in hell. I'm actually dead fucking serious, and I've got more reason to be than you have reason for literally anything you've ever done in your life." Petra slides her eyes away and mumbles out of the corner of her mouth, "And besides. I wouldn't leak info unless there was a really good reason to." "People who've had everything given to them on a silver platter will never learn anything if the people who confront them continue to give them everything they want." Petra glares dully at Trudy without saying anything for a few seconds, and then a realization seems to suddenly strike her and she snickers, shaking her head and looking away. "small space, and not a big one? Instead of firing a gun, why not... Create a spot that has no preconceived notions, a new world, that's small - a demi-place, a para-place - and the next time we find Ash..." Petra groans, deeply, agonizingly frustrated. "God, I wish I had my fucking mech! Honestly. Honestly, that'd fucking do it, wouldn't it. Of fucking course." "No fucking idea anymore, 'cause I don't got Lilian to bounce it off of. You can't tune into Ash right now 'cause Ash isn't here to tune in off of." When Arthur starts lecturing at her, Petra is raring up to retort and escalate, but something right around there makes her relent. "... Okay, well. Yeah. You do actually get that right, at least. But, like... it's not like we've stopped talking since last time."
Xion	'What does making a small world accomplish?' "The weapons I used to fight Ash represented things. Jeanne's black flames represented rebellion against a world, but that didn't reach Ash. Hate didn't even touch them. Binah's fairies were the pressure and gaze of a whole society, but that didn't touch Ash, could only see them. The Archwolf's grip was the world itself, lifting me up and crashing down on them, and it didn't even seem to be on the same plane of reality." Xion explains, fingers worrying at a little flap of foil as she speaks and does not eat. "Before, I used a weapon of Lilian's teacher and a weapon of the Antegent, and neither of those worked either. They reacted to the weapons, but, not the way weapons did. Swinging those things with my whole self was as stiff as being conversational, and nothing more." Her finger crumples the foil end, dark burrito grease escaping the edge like blood. She takes a bite, chews, and considers thickly, not able to speak around potato and bean and pork. "This place makes worlds." Xion explains, or at least, tries to, stymied by the stick of cheese and starch and having to gulp down drink to clear. "And Arthur's power already helped to create the conditions with which we met, made contact with Ash. So, instead of a big beam:" Xion points to Arthur. "We make a bowl, a work-it-out space, where it doesn't matter what side of things they're on. A space to find them where they are. Right? Does that..." Xion looks, confused and a faint note of afraid, at Arthur as the far-off crumbling sounds. "That doesn't make sense to you, any more? Did it ever?"
Arthur Lowell	> ==> A little of what he said to Petra gets some connection with Angela. Arthur makes that motion again. "Understanding someone and dealing with someone are different -- right? You're getting it. But..." He shakes his head. "Look, pulling the trigger on what goes on -- that's gonna be a call that comes down to something between Lilian and Ash. Some death is gonna happen, that's just a fact. I don't kill, but I'm... I'm down for not being in the way. I'll help get problems solved. And I won't step in front of anything." Arthur exhales, thinking for a while. "Couple times, killing's been... closer. But we can work with it. Things go too sour, we lean on Trudy. But not for torture," He does firmly head-shake at her. "It's not about just getting Ash to accept us, it's about... I dunno. The four Blooms gotta be together. If they aren't, the stuff past the spikes, the Antegent-source... it's gonna be bad. It's gonna be really bad." He wrings his hands a little bit. "We don't do this prophecy shit, that world and at least some of the neighbors is gonna be fucked, dude." > Arthur: Comfort Xion a bit "It's... I'm putting options on the table. Setting something up for Lilian to make her choices. Just making sure it's not burn-or-nothing. But it's not ideal. It's just the best I got. You get better, you take a shot too. But, you're right. It's not good, right?" Big sigh. "The pocket-universe thing, I actually thought on that. Angling Bloomwards off of Lilian is... I had to stack some pockets to make it work. But," He makes an odd gesture, closing his hand into a small ring. "You're talking about the Magic Circle. Psychological stuff. But Ash is a... I mean, she's trying to be a person that people aren't or, whatever the hell that means, but that's still happening because she's a materialist about stuff." "NAZCA looks like the simplest material way to get something done. Fighting us looks like the simplest material way to get something done. Closing a circle, making a little game where that isn't true, like... it does work. Kinda. But, you bring a gun to a soccer game, the rulebook still doesn't matter, especially if the stakes mean something to you." Arthur rambles for a while, taking a decidedly more bleak angle than he's taken in the past. Yet... "Phwuh... But... I mean, it's worth trying. If we get stuff working, I'll siphon up some energy off LOSAF, cook a pocket dimension we can deploy. Either it'll do what you're after, or... Maybe be a good way to contain the blast, keep NAZCA from IDing what I'm gonna do until it's too late. We've got time on the schedule to put that together." He gestures with a firm index finger. "Gonna need you to lock that circle up, though, though. Ash's whole phase-out shit is not gonna stop just 'cause I draw up the lines and say 'don't leave'."
Trudy Grimm	> "I was not aware that you were an expert of Ash's history and story. Please, elucidate what they've been through and how exactly society pampered them." "A spoiled attitude reveals a lot," Trudy states imply to Angela's pointed question, "NAZCA has clearly spared no expense convincing that person that the entire world revolves around them. Ah, but showing them the reality of things is 'unnecessary cruelty', I suppose." > "Rot in hell. I'm actually dead fucking serious, and I've got more reason to be than you have reason for literally anything you've ever done in your life." The witch exhales, then fixes a stare on Petra again, "So when are you going to betray us, then? I'd like to pencil in exactly when you'd like me to rip your skeleton out of your body. You'll shrug this off as an idle threat, of course, because you don't think I can be /serious/ enough." "All you do is be a bother and make things harder for Lilian. So when exactly are you planning on betraying her to side with Ash?" > Xion talks about creating a little world and the benefits it might have for the upcoming challenge "I had considered dragging them into the Void. The shadow space between spaces where I keep all my reagents," Her eyes close with a hum, "I ultimately decided against it, but there might be something to that after all..." "The Void as I can access it might not be enough to contain them, but perhaps this purpose-built machine may be able to make what we need. If killing them or ripping out their soul aren't options, then yours may be the key."
Angela	Cinder says, "Oh, yeah, I don't really... I don't know. It's just kind of a rough position to be in. I want it to work out so badly." Angela watches Petra as she gets into something that's a bit Ash Philosophizing and a bit Trudy tearing into. She is thinking about what Xion is saying, though, even though it's tough to turn when Petra's head is on the bag. A bow, she thinks, a work it out space. "Mm... Like the facility, but less bad." She says, as if the entire purpose of Lobotomy Corp is to give up fucked up therapy to its Sephirah. Well.... ''It's not about just getting Ash to accept us.'' "I've felt like Ash had a point they wanted to prove. Something they wanted Lilian to accept." She's thinking of how Petra said that would mean Lilian would be lost to them. #-1 FUNCTION (ANS) NOT FOUNDAs far as I can tell, Ash's ability seems to be the ability to reject forms of ''rejection''." Angela says. "Psychological assault from society, the force of a world pressing up against her, basic violnce.#-1 FUNCTION (ANIS) NOT FOUND She gestures with a claw in a circular motion. "So you can see the inherent issue in even seeking a solution that does not bend. Particularly since some forms of acceptance are also essentially a rejection. It is an issue." "I do not disagree with 'a small world' out of principle, but that changes a locale, it may make it easier but it is not a solution in of itself as I understand it? I apologize if I am misunderstanding further.")] She adds. ''A spoiled attitude reveals a lot. NAZCA has clearled spared no expense convincing that person that the entire world revolves around them.'' "It seems risky to presume that off of an attitude." Angela says. ''So when exactly are you planning on betraying her to side with Ash?'' "Trudy." Angela says. "Your complete failure to analyze Petra properly is proof enough that I cannot trust your psychological profile of Ash." Her tone doesn't raise a single decibel. "You started this conversation by suggesting inflicting torture on someone you knew Petra has an affinity for. You are not an aggrieved party."
Arthur Lowell	> Arthur: Sass Petra a little because she needs her enrichment "Are you still fuckin' running up text-message charges on 1-800-AIR-STRK to gossip about boys? Holy shit, Lilian needs to have parental controls on your cell-phone plan." Is he... talking about limited-texting mobile plans? He's, what, very early twenties or something, that shit's like twenty years too early for him. "But-- I mean, it's not like you get the real grist off of Pesterchum chatting. Context-sharing's what's up, right? It doesn't work unless you're straight up working on the same problem. Same end, different ends, doesn't matter. Shit, isn't that half the reason you got up in Lilian's biz, instead of just binging her radio signals?" Whether this one's projection or just Arthur making wild fucking guesses is entirely up in the air, actually, unless you know his weird psychology.
Xion	"If the only way for us to win, for real, is to bridge the gap between us and Ash, no matter what - then, we need to be willing to try radical solutions." Xion murmurs, closing her eyes. Arthur pumping the brakes a little is... explanation-after, and after running out all but her whole self completely against Ash while making a complete lack of connection... ...ate at Xion. It affected her in a dire way, to be defined with a blade in hand and to have despite every effort not made a single touch at all was maddening. There had to be some 'magic'-in-the-derogatory sense, some Sherlock Holmes logic to everything that'd make everything fall into place and all prior effort merely the necessary deduction process to the solution. She continues speaking, growingly nonhungry. "A para-world is what I thought of, because, it's a fact that there are things of that world that make them incapable of being what they want to be, or doing what they want to do. It's..." Xion's fingers tighten, burrito sludging up a bit, and Xion stares into the wet-oiled work of hehr spasming digits. ". . . It's probably not necessary. But, it'd, maybe mean they can't just threaten to kill us all and treat us like we're nothing. To be on 'even' terms, rather than it being their turn at the invincible harm..." Slack, then, a second eureka. "Maybe we should just burn NAZCA to the ground rather than blaming the victim?" Xion asks the table, before landing on Trudy. "Sorry, I'm not feeling key puns..." A wince. "Oh. You didn't mean it that way, did you. I do think the medallion they gave me is important, but I'm rubbing it on everything, to be honest. The logic makes sense to me, but, I pinch a lot of corners and distance."
Petra Soroka	"We make a bowl, a work-it-out space, where it doesn't matter what side of things they're on. A space to find them where they are." Petra shifts uncomfortably around on the ground, folding her legs beneath herself and then cycling through her other idle poses in quick, agitated succession. "Yeah. A normocausative vacuum to shear off the passive pressure defining the way the world works. We don't have to worry about Ash getting hurt by that, since they've already sort of figured all that out, but... Lilian didn't really do great last time she-- uh, when, she got hit by my old mech." "But Ash is a... I mean, she's trying to be a person that people aren't or, whatever the hell that means, but that's still happening because she's a materialist about stuff." Petra puffs out one cheek slowly, conflictly halfway-restraining herself from saying something, and halfway-pushing herself to say it instead. The latter wins out, with a bit of strain. "Okay, but, like, obviously the psychological and material things overlap. Like, the only reason they don't by default is because of the normalizing force of 'how the world is supposed to be'. And, you know, fucking obviously Ash has already overcome that some, so. A world that isn't supposed to be anything at all is just totally affected by psychology shit." "I do not disagree with 'a small world' out of principle, but that changes a locale, it may make it easier but it is not a solution in of itself as I understand it?" "Yeah." Petra's calmed down a bit at this point, and goes back to sipping her lemonade between sentences. "There's no 'environment that can fix things for us', but it makes sense to, like... limit the barriers that the environment naturally has." "Are you still fuckin' running up text-message charges on 1-800-AIR-STRK to gossip about boys?" "Uh--" Petra is, at first, compelled to answer this honestly by correcting Arthur to 'girls', but her hesitation at saying that makes her reassess what an actual honest answer is. "Not boys. A lot about telling me to kill myself, though. And I pay for both of the phones!" "Shit, isn't that half the reason you got up in Lilian's biz, instead of just binging her radio signals?" Petra falls quiet, chewing on the inside of her lip. His wild guess isn't half bad, actually. "... I'm not really any good at talking, yeah. You're not wrong. I've sort of just been doing what I can." Petra jolts, and then narrows her eyes around at every other Elite here. "Could you all fucking stop calling them 'she' and shit? They're not a fucking girl." "Maybe we should just burn NAZCA to the ground rather than blaming the victim?" "I've considered trying to... yeah. Get a really decisive blow on NAZCA. Prove that we're a useful option, you know? If they were with us instead of against us, NAZCA would be a lot more manageable, but... I'd be really surprised if they didn't already have some kinds of consideration for that. But I've thought about it."
Trudy Grimm	> "You are not an aggrieved party." "Of course I'm not. Neither is she," Trudy states simply, eyes closed while gesturing with one hand, "But I quite know the simple whims this pathetic creature is slave to. Don't forget, I've known her far longer than you have. She never told you how abusive she was to Lilian before suddenly changing her mind, I suppose?" "Of course she'd turn on Lilian for someone who scratches that itch of hers even more. Even now you can see her practically tripping over herself to come to Ash's defense, do you truly not see it?" Shifting, Trudy places that same hand on the ground behind her, leaning back on it, "A human's behavior doesn't develop in a vacuum. Perhaps this is hard for someone whose personality was 'constructed' to truly understand-- I don't mean that as an insult, Angela, and my apologies if it is-- But as I understand it, you came into being 'fully formed', more or less? It's different for people who are born as infants, grow as children, and become adults." Her other hand gestures at Petra, "Even this vile creature was shaped by the world around her as she developed. Whatever environment that might have been to produce someone so completely without substance that she must violently tear pieces from others to build a self with any sense of purpose." > "Sorry, I'm not feeling key puns..." The witch pauses, blinking slowly at Xion. It takes her a moment to realize what she'd said and once she figures it out, she laughs, "Oh, that wasn't on purpose..!" Letting out a steadying breath, Trudy gestures a bit, "No, no, I mean that creating a small world to act as a prison for Ash is probably the best option. 'Leveling the playing field', but also 'containment', no? You mentioned using that amulet as a lens; perhaps doing so will give it the properties needed to resist their abilities. At least for a time." She glances towards Arthur, "Even so; if creating that small world isn't beyond this place's capabilities, perhaps we can try Xion's idea first and keep yours as a backup plan."
Petra Soroka	"NAZCA has clearly spared no expense convincing that person that the entire world revolves around them." "Oh my god, you literally don't get anything." Sneeringly dismissive, Petra's warmth evaporates the moment her target reticle changes over to Trudy. "You're so fucking stupid. How do you even function in the world like that?" "All you do is be a bother and make things harder for Lilian." Petra pushes up from the ground and surges to her feet, lemonade knocked over in the abrupt motion. "How about you fucking kill yourself, actually! I bet a few fucking years ago, you were saying this exact shit about Lilian herself, huh? All that fucking 'silver platter' and 'put that bitch in her place', and oh how much you'd just fucking love to carve out a little bit of flesh for your fucking self. I know what you fucking are. And I get Lilian a million times better than fucking scum like you ever could, so if you want to fucking fight, I'll fucking rip your head off!"
Xion	"Petra," Xion begins, finally greedy at guzzling cooling liquids and off solid things and oily constitutional demands. "I honestly also think that NAZCA's immunity to consequence might be reinforcing Ash's own defensive concept. Like a layer. Like 'wearing' the idea of the whole organization like an old smelly coat or suit of armor." It's a little more literal, with the mecha suit. "Maybe destabilizing NAZCA helps us twice?"
Angela	''But I quite know the simple whims this pathetic creature is slave to. Don't forget, I've known her far longer than you have.'' "No." Angela says, not willing to even give Trudy that. "I have known her longer than ''anyone'', not that I consider 'length of time' to be a particularly relevant gauge in this matter."My mind is considerably faster than yours. Cease insulting my understanding of my friend immediately." She tries not adding any sort of threat this time after seeing how it's only made Sarracenia more obstinate. She tries, just this once, to follow the advice given.
Arthur Lowell	> Arthur: Burn NAZCA to the ground? "God, I fucking WISH so bad. Like, they've done way more than enough to make me want to just break every single kneecap in the entire organization. I just can't find the bastards, and by the time I do they've moved a bunch of shit." Arthur's wringing his hands more in frustration now. "If we had Ash on our side, she'd be able to find all the backup blacksites and safehouses and shit easy, but..." He exhales heavily, in a burst of stress. > Arthur: And the change of locale isn't a solution, right? "It's a chance for Xion to try somethin', which is better than what I got: A whole lot of nothing and as much directed energy as I can put together. If we're throwing crap at the wall to see what sticks, better she go first ahead of me, and I can afford trying to give her a shot." He makes his gesture at Trudy, nodding. "I mean, if Xion figures something out inside the Magic Circle, I sure ain't gonna mind not ripping a chunk out of LOSAF over the spooky alphabet mafia." > Arthur: Stop calling them 'she' Every single salamander in earshot instantly goes wild the minute Petra mentions Ash's actual gender. It's like they were waiting for something. "AGAIN!! GLUB GLUB GLUB! AGAIN!! THE PROPHECY--" "SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!" Arthur's shouting over them. "--COMES TRUE ANEW! GLUB GLUB--" "--ALL OF YOU--" "--GLUB WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE HAPPENS FOREVER GLUB GLUB THE MAGE--" "--SHUT THE FUCK UP JEGUS--" "--OF SPACE WILL FOREVER EXPERIENCE--" "--I'M GONNA THROW YOU ALL INTO THE FUCKING OCEAN RIGHT NOW I SWEAR--" "--THE CYCLE, IN ALL ETERNITIES, FOREVER--" "--TO GOD, IT'S NOT MY FUCKIN' FAULT, IT'S--" "--IN ALL SPACES AND TIMES GLUB GLUB GLUB--" "--THEIR FAULT!! IT'S THEIR FAULT!! I'M WORKING WITH--" "--GLUB GLUB GLUB GLUB--" "--THE INFO I GOT SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUU--" "--GLUUUUUUUUUU--" "--UUUUUUUU--!!!" It becomes difficult for Arthur to be a meaningful contribution to the conversation, due to all the noise and shouting at all the salamanders.
Angela	''Salamander stuff.'' Angela tries her very best to mantain her stone cold gaze at Trudy but you can just see her right eye twitching.
Trudy Grimm	> Petra Trudy stands up during Petra's rant. Petra's shadow darkens. Without warning, skeletal hands lurch out, grab her legs, and drag her down waist-deep in the darkness at her feet. More hands grapple at her arms, shoulders, and head. "Are you done?" Trudy's bangs cast her eyes in shadow, the green glow of her irises standing out all the more. "I have done nothing but support Lilian with every breath since I left Hamarrheim, you know," She gestures, "Every single claim you made is false. I trust her implicitly, and always have, from the very start. Anyone here can vouch for that. Meanwhile I was forced to watch you insult, belittle, and provoke her over and over until she finally broke and for /some/ unknown reason, accepted your /poisonous/ presence." Trudy rears back and plants the metal, hoof-shaped sole of her boot on the girl's face. Enough to hurt, but not a proper stomp, "If you are /accuse/ me of doing something, at least make sure it is /something I actually did/." She removes her foot, only to give Petra a swift kick across the jaw with it. Her right hand collects the Grimoire. Without a word, she rummages in her sleeve with the left until she pulls out that green crystal from earlier, inspecting it against the sun again. At the very least Arthur knows what that implies. Unfortunately, Arthur is busy. Fortunately that doesn't matter. The salamanders going off about a prophecy and Arthur losing his cool about it is basically impossible to ignore. The witch's grim expression, still fixated on Petra, cracks a bit. After a moment, she gestures and-- as she turns away-- Petra is released and ejected back up to ground level while the witch tucks the gemstone away. The Grimoire falls back to her side, already shut and buckled. "These charming creatures have brightened my mood. Insult me like that again and the next time you'll see Lilian is from inside a lantern."
Angela	''Trudy starts asasulting Petra.'' Cinder has been staying out of the argument so far because Angela had been stepping in but when Trudy starts activating powers, she jumps up to her feet in alarm. Angela, of course, does not care for being ignored. She has lived her entire life with gazes turned away from her. She has no choice to accept that. She won't accept that from the multiverse. And she learns a valuable lesson today. It isn't the first time she learned the lesson either. Some part of her wonders why she keeps trying to unlearn the lesson, actually. Isn't that just fucking stupid of her? Isn't she just a complete fool for not accepting what is thrown in her face again and again and again? Maybe she just wants things to be different. Maybe it's SELFISH of her to continue to hope that the answer isn't always about who is most able to inflict harm. "Cinder. Kill Trudy and burn her book." Angela says, well before Trudy's mood gets to shift. And Cinder, who has been just waiting for such an order, draws Fourth Match Flame in a smooth motion and aims to slice across Trudy's back with a burning blade."Hey lay off my girlfriend!" She shouts, which is enough reason for her. The fact that the flames are reaching up her arms already suggests how far she's willing to go. "I have ''tried'' reason. Again and again." She sighs. "This is how you get eyes and ears. By cleaving them out."
Petra Soroka	Earlier, "I honestly also think that NAZCA's immunity to consequence might be reinforcing Ash's own defensive concept." Petra opens her mouth before her thoughts finish spinning that idea around, and then a second later sounds out, "... Yeah, actually. That's not a bad thought at all. I mean, they hate them, and they-- NAZCA hates them too, but that doesn't make that wrong." "It's sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy, too. Their involvement with NAZCA makes NAZCA more untouchable, which makes NAZCA a better choice for them to be involved in so that they can be more untouchable too, and then, like, so on. Unfulfilling the prophecy even for a little bit would be a good idea. Especially if we can get our hands on whatever info they've got on the end of the world." "Are you done?" Petra drops down into her shadow with a surprised choke on the end of her ranting, catching herself with an elbow on the ground. Her own strength doesn't compare well to the skeleton hands, but the symbolism of kicking and screaming against it is critical, and she rips her head to the side to free her mouth-- so that she can spit on Trudy's boot before getting stepped on. "I don't fucking believe you, and you know why? Because I'm fucking right not to. Did you fucking have to watch me do all that, or did you just sit by because you're a fucking-- fucking complacent freak who just thinks she knows the winning fucking moral side? Kill your--" While spitting angrily, Petra's free hand had been slowly crawling its way through the tangle of bones to reach for her gun, but she's cut off in both ways when she's kicked in the jaw. She sprawls to the side and immediately clambers back to her feet, hand wrapped around her transteam gun without pulling it off her hip. She shakes her head to settle her messed-up hair 2/3 of the way back into position, and practically growls with her teeth gritted. "Fucking bet. I wouldn't die to a irrelevant little freak like you, jackass. Touch me and I'll fucking pulverize you." With Cinder moving to back her up, Petra makes a tight smile, teeth bared, and steps back to be near the Eggpack. With a small gesture of her chin, she asks Cinder to join her and stop killing Trudy, now that she's free. "You literally don't get a single fucking thing. And you can't listen, and you can't fucking learn. The difference between you and me, and the reason why if you fucking tried something like that, you'd get your ass put into the ground a thousand different ways, isn't just because I'm better than you. It's also because I'm more important, better liked, and more trustworthy than you are. Even to Lilian."
Xion	Pushing aside her drinks and food, Xion doesn't get out of her lawnchair the normal way -- simply stuttering from in it to besides it, pulling her coat off the fold of the lawn seat. "Okay." She says, dully, as the Salamanders start screaming and Arthur starts screaming. Petra realizes part of her point, and there's a weak nod there and a smile, but it's attacks and fighting swiftly after. "I'll just..." Xion asides, around, but her voice is small and the shouting of lizards and wizards are a terrible backing track for sound mixing. The points of her eyes waver, and then the noirette closes her eyes and slowly wipes down her hands and pulls on her coat. Pulling medallion from pocket -- it's there again -- she tosses it onto the refreshments and turns to leave-- --before a blink she's gone, actively dissociating from the ongoing circumstance rather than deal with it. A step, a hole-to-nowhere, and the way is shut behind her all layered over single frame snapshots.
Trudy Grimm	That's what Trudy gets for trying to stand up for herself and then not taking that last step: Slashed with a flaming sword while her back is turned. As her blood splatters the grass and she stumbles, she briefly wonders why she ever bothered to exercise restraint. She catches herself, straightens her posture, and turns to glare over her shoulder. "Like I said. All you can do is make things harder for Lilian every second you're alive. Ruining her diplomatic prospects. Driving away people who want to help her..." "Call me worthless all you want. Tell me to kill myself until you're blue in the face. Nothing you say could possibly be worse than what I tell myself every second of every day and it's not going to stop me. Unlike you, I'm more interested in solving this problem than I am in /dating/ it." "The most useful thing /you/ can do is get lost." Turning away again, the witch flicks her fingers dismissively, "Whine all you like about how 'mean' and 'stupid' I am, it doesn't change that I'm better and more useful than you. Lie as much as you want about my early relationship with Lilian, it doesn't change that we were on good terms from the start. I know the truth and the truth is all that matters. All you cared about was /dragging her down to your level/ so you could feel /good/ about yourself." "Now if you're done with your little tantrum, /I/ have work to do. Don't you have somewhere to go be utterly useless in?"
Angela	Angela sees something in Trudy's gaze that feels familiar. But that's fine. It wouldn't be the rules if it wasn't common, Angela thinks. One day she will change the rules, at least of her own home. In this, she takes after her mother. Of course, stabbing someone in the back doesn't stop insults from flying. She, like Petra, doesn't quite believe her when she proclaims her loyalty to Lilian so strongly. But of course, she can always gather evidence and testimony. For right now, though, she doesn't seem inclined to call Cinder off and Cinder's about to take another swing because Angela didn't say 'Hurt Trudy' she said 'Kill Trudy'. And Cinder's all too happy to be the bloody blade in Angela's hands. Besides, Trudy's insulting Angela too. It isn't until Petra steps near the Eggpack and suggests Cinder to ''not'' kill Trudy actually that Cinder pauses and looks to Angela for confirmation. The viewscreen whirrs so that she can see her sister's expression. "...Very well, Cinder. We will leave it at that for today. But Petra, if she insults my judgement in hiring you again I will not settle for Cinder's gentle hand." Cinder exhales and makes her way back to Petra. "Uh." She says. "Sorry for not spitting on her too I just was so focused on the stabbing..."