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Angela	EARLIER A second intruder arrives at the Library. She can feel the Library warning her that it is coming. And she sees something. She sees a Grade 7 Fixer struggling to make ends meet and to survive in the Backstreets of District 12. He spent a great deal of money on an augmentation along his arm that channels electricity across it and that's all he can really afford, something simple like that, but it's hard to get reliable work with so many big forces offering far more protection than he could provide. And then, embdedded in a corpse...He finds a red envelope. He opens up the envelope and... Patrick, the solo Fixer of the ThunderPalm Office, arrives at the Library. He is a broad shoulder man in his twenties and is wearing a grey hoodie and torn work slacks. Across his left shoulder a pauldron connected to a vambrace with wires sticking into the Fixer's arm. Exposed metal bits protrude from the man's palm. In his other hand, Patrick is wielding a metal hammer with a rubber grip. "Wow... I don't think I've seen so many books in one place." The Fixer says. "...Even bringing one back could bring me a good price... I know the Hana Association is bound to want to know information about this place. The early bird gets the worm..." "But the second mouse gets the cheese." Angela says, stepping down to greet the man. She extends her hand, "Greetintgs, Fixer. I am Angela, the chief librarian of this place." Patrick squinted at Angela, and swung at her head with his hammer. It collided with a loud clang and he said, "...Had a feeling you weren't a normal person, but to take a hit square on with my hammer..." "The rules of this Library are as follows. You may take books out of this place but you must defeat the Librarians in battle to retrieve them. It will entail putting your life on the line." Angela continued, ignoring the attempt on her life. "If you are not looking for a book, however, I will have to ask you to leave." "...You're a machine, aren't you? ... You got a book on how to tear you apart in here?" "...Yes. There is a book detailing the methods of my construction here which can, undoubtedly, inform others of how to destroy me with ease." "Then that's the book I want. All I have to do is trounce some librarians? You've got a deal. I'll be set for life if I win." Angela sighed. "May you find your book in this place."
Angela	NOW Angela is not expecting anybody to break into the facility today. In fact, she has actually invited the Concord around to actually pay a visit to the Library so she can introduce them. She will meet everybody at the front entrance--and people can arrive either through the front door (Angela lowers the fog for them), teleportation, or having been around all along. She greets everybody individually, introduces them to what she calls 'The LIbrary' (she does not add 'Of Ruina'), shakes their hand politely and leads them to the elevator. The lobby is noted by hanging pendant lamps and tall bookshelves. There's a winding staircase leading up to the next floor, but Angela is kind enough to lead everybody into the elevator so nobody has to climb up eleven floors. Once they get up there, everybody finds themselves in an area filled with dorm rooms (closed), office rooms, and more--signs have been put up recently pointing where the dorms, offices, media rooms, and sports court are. Specks of golden light continuously rise up into the sky but they are harmless to touch--if warm and a bit energizing, not quite as sharp as touching a spark. There is a viewing area with a glass window overlooking a combat arena--a long metal platforms with tower-sized bookstacks surrounding it and plenty tumbling away eternally into the abyss below it. Patrick is standing on one side of the arena. Roland is standing on the other, armed with only his sword, Durandal. Audrey, if she has chosen to fight alongside Roland, is with him. "You sure about this? I'm sure I can handle one guy," Roland asks, concerned. "Hey--don't look down on me. Didn't you say you were a Grade Nine? You might regret fighting me by yourself." Patrick says. Meanwhile above, Angela provides some explanation. "I wished to welcome everybody to my Library on a peaceful day, but an unexpected visitor arrived. We have fairly established the rules of the battle in advance so there should be no surprises. If he wins, he will be able to check out books from the library. If he loses, his knowledge will be added to the library's store of information. ... And whatever Light he has absorbed will be returned to its source." She turns around to face her Concord friends. "Malkuth will come down with refreshments in a moment. Right now we have pastries, coffee, and tea. Feel free to provide me your requests and I will have Malkuth bring them down. The other Sephirah are still being restored, so it is just us today. If you have any questions about The Light, or the Library, myself, the City or the Books--I will answer what I can. All I ask is for some patience as I am still coming to terms with having an EGO--and my own space." She pauses before nodding once. "I have been tasked with not simply being a scourge upon The City--so I have endeavoured to make this a pleasant place to stay in and I intend, of course, to recruit more Librarians what with many of them being sent away or having fallen during the War. ... But I also intend to make a space for others who seek refuge or can form community with someone such as myself."
Audrey Basque	PHONE: Angela says, "Why do you risk your life of four hundred years? Being 'less renowned' than Lilian Rook is hardly criminal and it did not seem as the pressure was that severe."     Audrey's answer was sloppy, and fake, like cheap lipstick you can immediatly single out as the one thing wrong with someone's face. But that's because the real answer wasn't pretty, or smart, or even clever. It was awful, and it never had the right ring when she said it out loud.     So unwisely, or maybe wisely, she's in the arena with Roland. She's wearing her uniform-- not the school one, but the General Works librarian uniform Angela so kindly provided-- and has been lost in just enough thought she didn't even remember she forgot to make the appropriate changes to it. She was holding off, to show Angela and Petra how it's done, and... the opportunity hadn't come up yet.     "I'm okay," Audrey insists to Roland. "He doesn't look like much." The Fixer grades meant nothing to her, and she knew Angela was watching. After the chat earlier, she had something to prove. "Besides, she warned me this might happen. It wasn't going to stay peaceful forever right?"     She thought it wouldn't happen so soon, though.     "Plus, I've got the greatest Grade Nine Fixer in the city to help, and I know he won't let me down."     She IS curious what he can do.
White	White hasn't seen Angela in a while. She's been preoccupied, to a point, but she's punctual like usual when a general invitation goes out to visit the Library. She returns the handshake, alongside a slightly more earnest than usual murmuring of "It's pleasant to see you again, Miss Angela." Then, she produces a small teddy-bear from her sleeve. It's dark brown, with a lighter patch on the stomach and a tiny pair of prop glasses sewn onto the face subtly; she offers it to Angela. "Housewarming." is her only explanation. She saves prying questions for later, right now; she can learn from the surroundings, and there will doubtlessly be time for her to overhear other people asking most of the questions she herself could think of. She's content to follow Angela's pace and route, greeting other people that she knows along the way.      From above, after getting acquainted with the observation room, White peers down through the glass with a sidelong look. She thinks that the idea of bloodsport in a library for literary stakes is a bit... Odd, but who is she to judge? And besides, she doesn't know any of the people participating anyway. She simply asks Angela, "Do you want him to lose?" As far as she's aware, it'd be rather easy to cheat in a friend's favor from a position like this... But if Angela would rather let things play out, she won't raise a fuss about it. It's informative, if anything. Either way she takes a moment to use her Evil Eye of Analysis on each participant, mostly skimming their abilities and making a relative comparison to form her own expectation of the outcome before the fight begins. Then she settles in, taking a seat if one is available. "Black tea, please." is her only request right now, and she seems more interested in listening even to the unfamiliar terms that Angela is using to merely suggest questions that might be asked. She'll wait and see what the others ask first, then wait for her opportunity to come a little later. She's still quite conscious of the fact that Angela's will, at least regarding White herself, was to have a 'normal relationship'. Since White barely knows what that means in the first place, she has to wait for signals of what's okay to pry into, first. In the meantime, that fight below with three total strangers is at least something that can occupy her attention even when she's not standing right at the window.
Nobunaga	Initially, Oda Nobunaga arrives at the Library tower alongside Nagayoshi Mori, who holds a black umbrella over her. When the fog parts to let her in, though, she tells him to wait outside. It's an order that Mori doesn't seem to mind; he's not exactly getting soaked in that full body iron armor of his.     Angela's self-introduction and welcome is returned with a little bow at the waist in normal Japanese style. Once her posture is straight again, Nobunaga removes her cap and tucks it around behind her back; then follows with both hands folded behind her body with the great black cape closing itself around her shoulders. The elevator and the interior of what seems to be a big residential level are taken in with mostly silence-- a thoughtful, wordless noise here; the occasional rub of her chin there, the only time her hands have really been visible.     She does come to a stop before the viewing window, glancing between Patrick and the duo of Audrey and Roland. It's only when Angela apologizes for the distraction that the warlord lets out a laugh, "I for one do not mind a show with my meal." Turning a bit, she parts that cape of hers to raise one hand, a finger extended, "Maccharatte, if you please!" Matcha latte. > "I am still coming to terms with having an EGO-- and my own space."     "Oh, there is no rush to any of that," Nobunaga closes her eyes, waving that same hand off, "Matters of self-expression are best when one takes their time with them. It is ready when you are satisfied; there is no one who must be pleased with it but yourself, after all."     "That said--" Her hand disappears back beneath her cape. Using her arms, she pushes against the small of her own back to accentuate the act of looking up and around, "I think you've done an excellent job so far!" Jerking her head, she indicates the big window overlooking the fight, "It may come as no surprise that your choice of entertainment pleases me," She turns back around to view the action, "Is this how it was for the Romans, I wonder?"
Kukuru	An inky purple cloud swirls into existence at the Library's front door, somewhat off to the side without actually getting in the way of those coming in. It's just close enough that Kukuru, upon stepping out of the cloud, still doesn't have to walk too far before greeting Angela with an excited wave and holding her arms out to invite her in for a hug. Upstairs, she takes some time to eye the new additions to the Library. "You're building this place up real nicely, Ange... Oh, this would be such a nice place to work in, or nap right up there..." She comments while watching those floating specks, sounding more tired than she usually does. She still looks scrawnier than usual, too, but she's mostly recovered from the worst of the war's physical toll on her. In the viewing area, Kukuru squats beside it to take a little load off while peering down at the three down in the arena. She sizes Patrick up from a distance, squinting briefly from the window before shaking her head slowly. "He's gonna have a loooot of trouble... He doesn't look super tricksy." Kukuru comments, shaking her head once before turning her gaze towards Roland and Audrey. "But... Hmm. I dunno how much they've fought before, either. Maybe it'll be closer than it looks." She adds with only a hint of concern in her voice, waving excitedly towards the pair that are clearly her favorites. "Oh, I'd love to have whatever she brings down. If you want, I could add a few things to the table, too." She offers, getting right back up before turning back to Angela with her usual easygoing smile. She pats the pocket of her usual green-to-brown dress that doesn't look like it should fit anything inside. "I've even got some stuff that doesn't smell super strong, too." She adds with a content sigh, then squats back down before just sitting right on the floor. "It's really coming together nicely here, mhm... I'd bet anyone that came in here would love it, dear. And if they happen to wanna take the challenge..." Kukuru pauses her with face pressed up against the window so she can peek out of it every now and then. "Then that's up to them, right? This Light stuff, though... Is it still only building up in people from the City?" She asks, tapping her chin lightly while reaching out to tap one of those specks of light herself. "Or... Do we have it, too?"
Arcadia	Libraries are extremely important places. Repositories of knowledge, archives of history, destinations of discovery... and of course their fair share of secrets for good or for ill. To those that reside in Argo Alexandria they are as revered as temples would be, if not more so. That this one is also the endeavour of another Partner of the Concord is reason enough to have an invested interest on a more personal level. Which is what brings Arcadia here, in a combination of factional support and personal curiousity. The sphinx arrives in her usual speed, but at reaching the entrance in a show of respect to the facility she actually lands and folds in her wings instead of her usual hovering. This does make it easier to attention to the greetings and handshaking with Angela as well, then following her once everyone is present and lead inside. In spite of all that she can't help but have her attention stray towards the arena and take a lookg down within to see what's going on. Tch, that guy probably doesn't know what kind of trouble he's getting into, having to contend with Roland who has Audrey as his support. "Tch. Intruders deserve what comes wrought upon them," mutters the guardian. And like that her attention mainly turns back to Angela. Though she will keep an eye on the arena, her battle spirit always taking an interest on what others can do in combat, be they ally or enemy. "Oh, no need, pastry and tea is fine." Snacks of any sort are enough to appease the likely monsterous biomechanical metabolism a speed deamon like her posesses. At least for a short time. Pastry will be munched. Tea will be sipped. Questions shall be asked. Arcadia, being a guardian, might of considered asking what kind of protective measures were in place.... but well, that can be seen firsthand in the arena below, and Angela's explaination of why it is being performed that way.
Timespace Riders	And whatever Light he has absorbed will be returned to its source.      Sougo frowns. But he doesn't say anything, or give any other form of thought on the matter aside from a glance towards Woz. He'd be prepared to leave it at that, but then Angela essentially just gives him permission. "What happens to the Light after it 'returns to its source?'"      "If you have chai, that'd be great," he says on the topic of tea.      "I would enjoy sampling what pastries you may have available," says Woz.
Petra Soroka	Petra slept in the Library last night, as she does occasionally but, oddly, not frequently. Her assigned dorm room is sparse, and-- unlike Malkuth's, and presumably the other Patron Librarians once Angela is done with them-- not uniquely separated from the rest, or any larger. Whatever she unpacks from her mirror is packed back in each morning, like it's a guest room rather than one indefinitely reserved for her.     This morning was spent on a considerable amount of work in the Library, so she's in her slightly-disheveled General Works librarian uniform: a black suit with white lining, with a tie that doesn't seem to be standard issue for Audrey or Roland when they wear the same uniform, so you can't complain that it's loose. After having spent hours wandering Aquelia and the Tower Library yesterday, Petra has a stock of a dozen books and scraps of written and transcribed oral knowledge from Elibe to process into the Library's reserves. It's a small start, but... well, she's kind of broke, and so is Angela, and while she has plans for fixing that, they aren't complete yet.     It's a good thing that Malkuth is the first Sephirah to be awakened, because the vast majority of information in the haul from Elibe belongs to her floor. Some biographies and historical records of the city and Etruria as a whole, Sophia's account of the Scouring, and then some information on Elimine that's temporarily stored with Malkuth until Hokma is awake. It means having a lot of mundane social time with the enemy general that thwarted Petra's efforts during the war, and also working alongside her former boss.     Petra comes down from the elevator as people arrive, yawning through her fingers. Her hair is scruffily overgrown and tied into a tiny ponytail to keep it contained, and she looks drained and dull, but to the Library work, at least, she's taking pretty happily.     "Yo, Ange. Damn, that guy's still fucking here?" Briefed on the rules of the Library earlier, Petra... has some hesitation, but couldn't think of any more 'fair' idea for collecting the Light from the people of the City. So, she assigned Audrey to get some combat experience alongside Roland, figuring that it's about as low-stakes a situation she could have for practicing in a real fight, and with Petra and the other Partners watching overhead too. "Get his ass, you two. I believe in you."     "Ehh... I *am* pretty hungry..." Petra wanders rather than sitting down at the table, leaning against the window and looking over her shoulder at Roland and Audrey. "Not gonna ask Malkuth to cook, though, so I'll take some more panjeon if we've got any left." "If you want, I could add a few things to the table, too."     Petra doesn't *say* anything to Kukuru, but she does make a little helpless look to where Kukuru normally has food packed. She hasn't been eating well at all lately.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine gives Angela a firm handshake at the door. "Love the new outfit," she says with a nod down at Angela's attire. "The ruffles suit you." As she is shown inside she oohs and ahhs a little at the surroundings. "Done some interesting things with the place. You seem to be keeping up well- I have to admit I'm a little surprised, since the recent... everything has been so rough on the others involved."     As Angela explains the Library's rules, Maddie nods along. "That's a big gamble," she comments. "How do you know you're not risking giving up more than you'd gain? Or are you just very confident in the new hires?"     Angela: "Right now we have pastries, coffee, and tea."     "Oh, don't mind if I do," Madeleine says, waggling her fingers a little as she pounces on the pastries in a blessedly figurative sense. A moment later she's got two donuts and a cup of black tea. Maddie's unusually at ease, here, and as she chews her first bites she wonders why... perhaps the subjective or personal nature of an EGO makes for a more comfortable environment for her than the world's usual conditions.     Angela: "If you have any questions about The Light, or the Library, myself, the City or the Books--I will answer what I can."     Maddie chimes in. "I didn't know an EGO could be a whole building - they're usually weapons or clothing, right? Is it the quantity of... Light, that you've gathered, that lets it get so big?"     Woz: "I would enjoy sampling what pastries you may have available,"     "Tell me if the danishes are good," Maddie stage-whispers. She's already halfway through her first donut, and is already thinking about seconds? Someone must've skipped dinner.
Petra Soroka	"Or are you just very confident in the new hires?"     "I did some training with Audrey," Petra says to Madeleine, only looking at her for a brief instant before losing interest and letting her eyes wander around again. "Her magic's really cool. And if there's no risk, I don't see what the point is, anyways. It'd be easy to rig everything here to guarantee winning all the time, right?"
Sarracenia	Sarra has practically been banned from the City after what happened with Black Silence. She understands why, but it was still gnawing at her that she was unable to help when so many people needed it. Still, she finds herself once again wondering why she is here. Just to feel like she isn't doing nothing?      The princess is already somewhat familiar with the Library, so after arriving through the front door she politely listens to Angela's introductions and information. She shakes Angela's hand if it is offered and after only a few moments of hesitation, then the princess ends up just staring out at the arena below. She is still wearing her eyepatch, but her Trideag dress has been replaced for now with a different black dress. This time it is all black, from collar to bottom hem. Her silvery hair has been brushed out so it is silky and shiny but otherwise unstyled and left to fall about her shoulders and back as it wills.      'Malkuth will come down with refreshments in a moment.'      "...great..." Sarra mutters to herself.      'If you have any questions about The Light, or the Library, myself, the City or the Books--I will answer what I can.'      'What happens to the Light after it 'returns to its source?''      "And why does it need to be reclaimed at all? We should be generating new Light, not pulling back what little did make it to the people." Sarra adds after Sougo.      Kukuru is the first one that Sarra greets properly. She offers a wave to the healer. "Hello, Miss Kukuru. How are you?" she says. White is greeted after that. "Commander White, it has been a while." Sougo and Woz receive a small curtsey in greeting, but Sarra never knows what to say to them. Madeleine also receives a small curtsey. Someone who saves your kingdom deserves some respect after all.      The princess partakes of tea and pastries in small amounts, then blinks as part of the rules finally sinks in. "...now...when you say one's life is on the line...?" Is the man in the arena actually at risk of being killed? Certainly intruders should be dealt with decisively, but the princess is even less inclined to kill than before after the war.
Kukuru	"Ehh... I *am* pretty hungry..." With Petra saying the magic words, it's time for Kukuru to awaken. Peeling her face off the window where she had been pressed up against it, she slides her hands into her pocket while approaching the food table and pulls them right back out a second later. In less than a minute, a dozen takeout containers (the deeper types, not those crappy shallow ones) are stacked up in a small square. Each one is filled to the brim with food, still slightly warm, labeled for convenience, and they feel like they weigh a good two or three pounds. Four are 'traditional' lasagna: Ground beef, mozzarella and ricotta cheeses, marinara sauce (light, because this is a library that doesn't need sauce specks everywhere). Two are 'vegetarian' lasagna: Eggplant and mushroom, mozzarella and ricotta cheeses, marinara sauce (also light). Two are 'acid reflux' lasagna: Lean ground beef, low fat mozzarella and parmesan cheese, and a creamy buttery/floury sauce. Two are 'experimental' lasagna: Shrimp and eggs, mozzarella and ricotta cheeses, marinara sauce (still light). Two are 'just meat and cheese': A single piece of lasagna pasta on top of a pile of ground beef and mozzarella cheese. "Hello, Miss Kukuru. How are you?" With her food setup done, Kukuru finally goes back to her relaxed expression while turning to Sarracenia. "He-llo, Sarra... I'm doing okay, mhm. Still tired, but..." She pauses as she notices the change in her wardrobe again, letting out a low noise of concern. "How about you, dear?"
Yuuki Kuran	Yuuki Kuran, Director of the Concord, had responded with textual eagerness to the prospect of an invitation from her current favorite Partner. 'Favorite' would never be something she's say out loud - and certainly then she'd have to qualify it, since Zero was her favorite partner by a long mile - but Angela had certainly risen astronomically in the Director's eyes for several events. Of them, finishing a project in a way that had not been fully satisfactory and picking up after was very impressive. The most impressive of all was the insistence of commitment, of a mature and personal desire to taste things from the start. To not slide into the middle of a sprint and presume the whole course, to. . . Start forever-again, forever-after, from the start. Yuuki had liked that. And now - Yuuki was excited to play all the angles for Angela and see what marvelous results came about. The table had been set already, so now it was just time to have a sitting party! At the appointed time, an increasing concentration of appearing butterflies settle on chairs and tables and bookshelves, the majority finding a spot to swarm together and within them appear: a short woman! Dressed in a black nightgown with a texture like gossamer-dark and almost powdered texture detailed in wing patterns and a dark grey fur stole, the detailing seems almost unreal and certain to kill any rendering artist through layering, faint folds, and subtle material differences. "Hello!" Yuuki breathes out a happy greeting at everyone, lighting up her fair cheeks and red-brown eyes. "Oh, I can already smell Kukuru's cooking, and I can tell we've got so many *new* Partners here that I'm excited! And you've arranged sport too! Honestly, giving people an opportunity to strive or serve is so much preferrable to slashing and burning, don't you think?" She asks, at a flutter of happiness, and then sidesteps a few times in close to Kukuru to pat the other woman's shoulder and lean in on a bit of lasagna. "Oh, Lasagna! I think meat sauces like that go great with wine, do we have any? I can go get some, but I like the strong reds." Yuuki admits at a faint-knowing giggle. Then she notices something. "Wait, is that Audrey down there? With that... man you hired to be a man? On the radio? Oh, I feel a little bad for that poor man, Audrey can't *lose* this one. Ah, well, I suppose sometimes people make bad deals when they're desperate." She sighs, and then goes back to indecisions about lasagna. "If Petra thinks they're powerful enough, then, there's no way she'll lose, 'man for man reasons' Roland or no."
Timespace Riders	Tell me if the danishes are good.     "But of course. Honesty is the road to improvement." We should be generating new Light, not pulling back what little did make it to the people.     "I think... we already have all of it that's going to be had," he says. "There would have to be a new Lobotomy Corporation, new Enkephalin, all of that, you know..."     "But that's okay. The City has the Trideag Association. I do know you're, um... kind of in hot water, there. It'll pass."     When Kukuru asks Sarra how she's been, there's a split second where something seems odd about the way Sougo's sitting. His position shifts abruptly, but very subtly, as if his 'idle animation,' if there could be said to be such a thing, dropped a frame.     "Director," Woz says, as if on cue. "What a delight it is to see you. Your exuberant manner is as the reassuring flicker of a warm hearth."
White	White had nosed around, a little. Kept up on the public radio and snooped online a bit, even observed some of the post-war efforts made by Trideag, the public-facing kind. It wasn't enough to really get a scope of what had happened, though. It was a little unsettling seeing the residual signs of fatigue and changed relationships of people that she didn't even meet frequently in person. It wasn't every day, before, that White made a conscious effort to stay out of someone's business like she had been with Angela so far.      When Sarracenia greets her, White gets halfway to flickering her eyes open just to confirm the name of who she's talking to before recognition kicks in, and somehow it's that brief doubt that throws her off the most. Maybe she'd just seem lost in thought like she often does, or maybe not, as she hesitates to answer, "Hello Princess... It has." She even manifests a small stress-reaction, extending a finger toward the newly deployed lasagnas in immediate defiance of her intention not to get snacks, and piercing a single piece of mushroom on her silk to steal it away without personally touching the lasagna. It probably just looks like telekinesis to most.      She manages to be slightly less weird, by her own relative scale, about Yuuki's appearance. Just like their first meeting, the unusual means of arrival doesn't seem to faze her, though butterflies instead of bats does provoke a novel amount of near-eye-contact at least. "Hello Director." The talk of Roland helps remind her where she's heard the name before, and she takes the seemingly universal conclusion that Petra Cannot Be Wrong Here with a small hum. "The plain ones... Can sometimes be a little scary." seems to be her own more soft-touch impression.
Angela	Angela seems comfortable taking orders. She is tapping on a little datapad with a digipen, waiting until everyone has put in a choice of order before sending it off to Malkuth. Angela looks over to Nobunaga and quirks her head to the left at her before nodding slowly. If there is a sign of her earlier frustrations with Nobunaga, they have been buried away or maybe she's gotten over it in the months it's been since that conversation happened. "It does not surprise me." Angela says, though she doesn't exactly sound thrilled (or bothered) by the statement. "If it brings you some degree of joy, then I will be happy to show you more if anyone else infiltrates the Library." She doesn't SOUND happy. Angela nods her consent to Kukuru adding her own food to the table, frowning as Kukuru mentions Roland might be having trouble (she is unaware she means the other guy). Roland is only a Grade 9, Audrey isn't a fighter, and this guy's a Grade 7! Why, this might be a one sided battle in Patrick's favor! But she wouldn't feel like it's fair with more than two people fighting only one Grade 7. And it's important to her that the battles are ''fair''. ''Is it still only building up in people from the City?'' "I do not know." Angela says. "I do not have a special sense for it. The Library told me that he had some, that is all, it hasn't mentioned anything about you but--you aren't intruders, so perhaps it does not think to check?" Does she want him to LOSE? "I prefer Roland and Audrey winning, naturally, but it is important that the battle is reasonably fair. Naturally, any battle is not going to be ''entirely'' fair, but if the battles are not fair--then it would discourage visitors." Though ideally, she hopes ''break-ins'' are rare. She frowns thoughtfully before adding to White, "I apologize for the unsightly display. I was hoping you would not have to see these sorts of elements of my life here, but I assures you that I have done what I could to improve the general 'vibe' of the atmosphere in this place. The blood smell should be gone and I finally removed the last Tribble corpse." That she knows of. "It should be a proper living space even if there has to be the occassional fight." ''Intruders deserve what comes wrought upon them.'' "I do not know if I would go that far. Roland was an intruder but he learned to be polite.... Also he did not hit me in the head with a large hammer." ''What happens to the Light when it returns to its source?'' "Ideally I can absorb it. The Light I did obtain was not completely ineffective like I had initially thought. As you know, I was able to eat food and shed tears from one eye. But I admit I am frustrated--It may be some time before I actually get to leave again." Malkuth has been pretty busy thanks to Petra bringing books in from Elibe. She's been really hard at work! And Angela seems to think that Hod may be the one who gets the second most work. But right now Malkuth is bringing down the drinks and snacks and handing them out to Concord agents, managing to not grumble about it. Angela is the Partner now so there's not much she can do about it. She can worry about what to do once she has a better understanding of what's going on. That being said, though, she is glaring daggers at Kukuru and Sougo. She doesn't know about Woz, though, like he had some kind of weird plan? But she can glare at the other two!
Angela	Angela smiles at Petra, "They seem to be taking some time to size each ot her up. This is closer to a 'duel', albeit with three participants, than the sort of chaotic battles of the facility." As if that was one of the big problems of the facility...But is she raelly wrong about THAT? Roland gives a thumbsup to the window, apparently able to hear Petra. "We do have leftovers." She adds--indeed, Malkuth is setting some down on one of the reading tables. There's not MUCH left--Roland hasn't had time to prepare more. ''How do you know you're not risking giving up more than you'd gain?'' "The Library assures me it will work out." Angela says. Which is probably not an endearing answer. "I have no idea how capable they are in battle, though I know Audrey is clever. If she stood against HIromi well enough to earn some respect, I have to assume she has this hadnled so long as she does not freeze up." Which may be a bit of an ask. "I did not know an EGO could be a building either." She frowns with complicated feelings about that. She's feeling like she's stuck in some kind of... Maddie-like domain now and she's not keen about that. Sarracenia has NOT been banned from The City but Olivier doesn't seem to be interfering with the suspension. Lilian gets to run her Association as she sees fit so long as it's within The City's laws and that includes suspended poor Sarracenia. Normally Angela would be saying 'Ah, I do not need all the Light out there' but she guessed once that she would only need a little more than half and she knows how that worked out. So no, she's not going to say anything like 'I don't need that much', not even to manipulate Sarracenia. She nods that the man's life is at risk. "Because I will not be stuck here." She says to Sarracenia. "If another method was available I'd do it. Instead, I have to pick the best option I have. I will not threaten you because I have stated we are ''square'' but know that we will no longer be square if you elect to oppose me in this." Specifically and unfairly Sarracenia! She doesn't seem to care that she's being hypocritical in Sougo's favor here. Angela frowns faintly as Yuuki seems to confirm that Audrey has no way of losing. "...Well if it is an unfair matchup I will adjust things next time to be more fair. I have seen neither of them in battle before--and I do not wish for Audrey's first fight with me to be against someone she might actually be seriously hurt from. I am fond of her so I should not be so ... careless with her wellbeing." She bobs her head to her. "Of course, there is the possibility Roland will hold her back." She considers Woz's words and gives him a nod. She is NOT going to do Lobotomy Corp 2 and neither is Project Moon.
Angela	''Plus, I've got the greatest Grade Nine Fixer in the city to help, and I know he won't let me down.'' Roland allows himself a small smirk that he offers to Audrey, oblivious that White is staring down... WITH HER EVIL EYE. Patrick is labeled as a Grade 7 Fixer of the Thunderpalm office. He seems to use bioelectric augments to electrify people. He has a skill for shocking people directly through his palm and also through his hammer. He is Hungry, because he hasn't eaten for a bit, and desperate. He does seem solidly skilled with fighting with a hammer along with some martial arts. Then she looks at Roland and her view of the battlefield is blocked by an insanely long list of statistics, abiltiies, skills, titles, and more. NAME: Roland HEALTH: 100 Percent, Satiated, Quenched. Notable Skills: Weapon: Swords (Size: Large) Weapon: Swords (Size: Medium/Small) Weapon: Knives Weapon: Claws Weapon: Axes Weapon: Bludgeons Skill: Stealth Skill: Social Engineering Skill: Lockpicking Skill: Assassination Ability: Empty Mind EGO WEAPON: Roland is presently equipped with the Beak EGO Weapon, ranged pistol, minor mental corruption from utilizing EGO presently being wholly resisted by Roland. Artificial Limbs: High-quality Artificial limbs have been equipped to Roland's body. Title: Former Grade One Fixer of Charles' Office Title: Slayer of the The Blood-Red Night There's numerous other titles amounting to various accomplishments throughout The City but that one sounds the most impressive. Roland gives Audrey a thumbsup and a smile, "I promise I won't hold you back." He says. "I'll follow your lead so I don't get in the way." Patrick acts first. Despite being only a Grade 7, he is a man who was raised in The City and that means he knows how to fight. He KNOWS ROland is a Grade 9 so he tries to crush him first, swinging his hammer at him. Roland sidesteps it, just barely and takes a swipe at him with his sword--just missing the cord that is attached to his arm and instead scraping it across his arm. "You sure you want to put your life on the line for a book?" He asks. "I said stop looking down on me," Before he boots ROland in the chest and smacks him into a pile of books. Roland sprawls against it before flinging a book from the pile at Patrick's forehead, beaning him in the noggin.
Petra Soroka	"We should be generating new Light, not pulling back what little did make it to the people."     "I wish I lived in whatever universe you do, sometimes." Petra mumbles to herself. "Do you... know what the Light was? What's your plan for generating more? Got another Carmen to kill? The incredible, one in a lifetime, world-changing project was already, like, done. We did that part. There's not a *second* one to immediately move on to." > Lasagna     "A-ah, hey, Kukuru."     Petra's aloofness is less convincing when she's magnetically drawn towards the table by Kukuru setting out food. She tries to be surreptitious about it, but it has approximately the same effect as a cat trying to seem above it all by occasionally looking away and grooming herself to not seem like she's fixated on the treat bag being set out. "I guess... with all this, there's no reason to make Malkuth go scrounging for leftovers." "Honestly, giving people an opportunity to strive or serve is so much preferrable to slashing and burning, don't you think?"     "Oh! Director Kuran!" Petra freezes and hastily stands up from her plate, a little blob of tomato sauce from the lasagna on her lips. "Yeah, I think it's a good plan. Compared to just 'letting people take anything freely', or 'refusing to let anyone who isn't part of the Library borrow anything', I think it's a good compromise. Because, like... being an employee gets you access to the books without fighting. And the cost being 'a fight' means that it, um, skews towards drawing in people who are more determined to get what they want, and from what I know about how the Light works... that means a higher density of it on average, from the guests." "I think meat sauces like that go great with wine, do we have any?"     "I have--" Wine, red, but purchased by Lilian and for Lilian, stored in the mirror along with all the cosmetics for 'in case of emergency'. So, after hesitating, "... Maybe Ange has some." "If Petra thinks they're powerful enough, then, there's no way she'll lose, 'man for man reasons' Roland or no."     "Mhm, I don't really have any doubt. Like... Audrey's not experienced in combat yet, but she's got a ton of power, and she picked up the basics of real combat technique pretty fast. She didn't back down to Hiromi-- I mean, she got squashed, but she didn't back down. So this guy's nothing." "The plain ones... Can sometimes be a little scary."     "He's got that sort of, hidden potential kind of vibe," Petra nods in understanding with a certain kind of narrative protagonist. "I haven't seen him at work yet though. You know, it's kind of surprising still, how much less fighting there is daily in the Library compared to before." "As you know, I was able to eat food and shed tears from one eye. But I admit I am frustrated--It may be some time before I actually get to leave again."     "Actually--" Now, it's actually preferable that Petra is standing up, rather than it just being because of her awkward nervousness around Yuuki. She leans on the table and looks over at Angela, lips pursed in thought. "I did have a bit of a theory about that. You remember what happened when your EGO manifested? And how, uh, the Beauty of Ash changed a bit along with you?"     "So," Expository tone, for Yuuki's benefit and incidentally other people's, "The Light is, basically, just raw psychic 'potential', right? It's the hypothetical, like, humanness found within the soul, and whatever. The Beauty of Ash, and... I mean, *me*, were meant to manipulate and, um, enhance psionic power and, like, souls and stuff, directly, rather than manifesting any specific Jungian-Newtonian paradigm."     "And really, the problem's just that you go kaput when you're too far from the Tree of Light. So I was wondering if... the thing that happened before shows that I could work as a 'battery' for you, or something?"
Arcadia	The addition of variants of lasagna to the food offerings quickly draws Arcadia's attention as well. Likely she will help herself to a bit of each over the course of the gathering, though she's not entirely sure how that last one really counts. But food is an important part of gatherings so it will be what it is. But it's not enough to distract her from hearing Angela's response. Arcadia tilts her head for a moment, considering. Glances back towards the viewing window as the actual fighting starts. "Roland learned to be better, then." She snickers a little as Roland literally throws the book at Patrick, but refrains from making any bad puns of that nature. "If this other can also adapt is to be seen." Then turns back to the food, and the real conversation of the meeting. ''We should be generating new Light, not pulling back what little did make it to the people'' "Some things cannot simply have more created of, Princess." Arcadia is polite of Sarracenia's royal lineage, as she was taught to be. "Or is there a means possible to do so," she adds after Petra's comments about 'the first time'.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Petra: "And if there's no risk, I don't see what the point is, anyways. It'd be easy to rig everything here to guarantee winning all the time, right?"     "Oh, I think I get it - it has to be fair enough that people who show up will take the gamble in the first place, yeah?"     Madeleine also receives a small curtsey.     Maddie nods in Sarra's direction. "Sup," she says to the princess. "I've been digging the new style, by the way. Black and silver - it's a good color pair." She taps one of the chrome spikes on her jacket with a subtle chuckle.     Angela: "I finally removed the last Tribble corpse."     Madeleine suppresses a grimace at the word 'tribble'. She quickly takes a bite of her second donut to distract herself.     Angela: "The Library assures me it will work out."     "The Library itself says that?" Madeleine asks. "I didn't know it communicated with you as if it were its own being." Then she spies the mixed feelings on Angela's face. "Something bothering you?"
White	White nods simply as Angela emphasizes the priority of fairness, and apologizes for the state of the place. White can't really make a show of being less bothered than usual with her expressiveness, but after taking her cup of tea from Malkuth with a mouthed 'thank you' she gently fans the other hand in a gesture meant to indicate something like 'no worries'. "... This 'EGO'... Reminds me of the System, a little. You'll be a much better Administrator than D, Miss Angela. And it looks nice." She glances to Petra deliberately, as if to wordlessly check whether she helped tidy the place up, but if Petra isn't paying her any mind then the signal might get missed.      Then, though, she finishes processing the complex inputs from her analysis with the backmost quarter of her Parallel Minds, and she seems to freeze for a moment as she double-checks the information. Then, she smiles. It's not as creepy as the one she showed during her last visit with Angela, Lilian and Petra, just a small sign of relief. "... He seems useful. I'm glad you're doing well for yourself, Miss Angela." It seems any minor doubts she might have had about Angela's stand-in champion of the moment, Audrey notwithstanding, have been dispelled soundly. It seems there's no need to pull another favor from Merazophis after all. It's a bit funny to see such a long list of weapon-related specialization skills. It defies the typical logic of how people become strong where she's from, so juxtaposing such a broad knowledge base with his titles is making her come close to chuckling. "Poor Patrick."      Hearing Petra muse on the EGO makes her thoughts wander again though, and she mumbles "Maybe the 'Light' is comparable to... MA Energy in some way. We never found the rest of Potimas's records about it... And I keep comparing things that I'm hearing to elements of the System."
Nobunaga	> "It does not surprise me."     Nobunaga's grin is one of earnest honesty. Glancing back as the fight gets underway, she tilts her head back slightly, "Oh, of course I am a rather violent and savage person. I was molded by an age of war, there isn't much else I could have become. I do think there's a bit more to it than that."     Raising one white-gloved hand, she rests it on the glass, "In the vicious, frantic split-second choices one must make in the heat of battle, maintaining a facade becomes so much more difficult. Only the feint, the reaction, and the clash. Lies and deceit not immediately relevant to survival all tend to disappear. When it doesn't, well-- that tends to sort itself out."     The warlord lowers her hand again with a chuckle, "In the flash of a sword, you will see a man's true self."     "-- Ah, Director!" Nobunaga's tone changes immediately to greet Yuuki, "And Kukuru as well; that has quite a delicious smell to it. Good to see you, too."     Petra gives a quick explanation of what the Light is, or more accurately, her thoughts on what it could be. In response, Nobunaga pauses and shifts her attention to the warm little yellow sparks. As one drifts in front of her, she reaches out to let it settle in her gloved palm. As it flickers, she lets out a little 'oooh' sort of sound, then releases it back to its wanderings.     "It certainly feels different from the magical energies I am familiar with; from my days as a Servant. It does feel somewhat familiar though... Manifestation of a wish, on a grand scale." Tucking her hand back behind her own back, Nobunaga straightens her posture a bit. The goal is to look taller-- but really it doesn't help, she's still pretty short; "If what's done has been done and cannot be repeated, then it sounds like the goal is to gather Light that escaped."
Timespace Riders	Sougo shrinks from Malkuth's gaze.     "And... there's no way to get the Light back from someone that doesn't involve... this?" If another method was available I'd do it.     "Okay." It doesn't sound okay. He flickers in place again. Then he stands up, taking his tea with him, peers out the window and does it a third time. His reflection in the glass looks tired, suddenly--more tired than he was when he entered     I really think I hate the City. The Library assures me it will work out.     "Esteemed Angela, I urge your caution in this matter." It would be Woz who would caution the use of informational assets, wouldn't it? "The Library may lead you to an answer which is correct, and yet still undesirable for what it may cost."     "I do not say this to discourage you from seeking your freedom... only to remind you that the book I carry is as much a burden as it is a boon."     Woz takes a bite of his snack. "It is worthy of those present," he says to Madeleine, before another. "I am pleased to say."
Kukuru	"I think meat sauces like that go great with wine, do we have any?" "Do they? I've never tried it with that before..." Kukuru admits with a intrigued chuckle, checking her pockets as though she might actually have one of those in there. "Oh, but I did have some really nice champagne a while ago at this place in..." She strains briefly, having to dig into her memory a bit to recall the details. "The meat country... Vienna? Mhm, mhm, I had to buy a few more bottles that time because it went really good with the steak that one time." It really was such a wonderful date. And out comes a bottle of champagne! Not quite a the red or even a wine, but it's a lovely twenty-year vintage. "Just gonna have to be careful opening it. Don't want to put anyone's eye out with this, you knooow?" She giggles quietly again, then leans in to hug Yuuki from around the side before setting the bottle on the table along with a thick towel, presumably to aid in opening it with minimal mess. She completely forgets to take out some cups to go with it. Sougo flickering Kukuru notices that brief moment, but not consciously. Her head turns a bit towards as she's definitely noticed something moving in the corner of her vision, but what was that? She can't really pinpoint what it was, and she soon dismisses it internally as her age getting to her. Her shoulders sag a centimeter or two after that. "it hasn't mentioned anything about you but--you aren't intruders, so perhaps it does not think to check?" "Ooh... That could be something to test, then. We could have someone barge in to test." Kukuru suggests with a hopeful look towards Angela, either completely oblivious to her previous frowning or trying to perk her back up. With the way she talks, it's hard to tell, but someone able to probe anywhere around Kukuru's mind could easily find that... No, she totally noticed. She really wants to keep Angela from feeling bad ever again. "But then if we're invited to come, it's not really intruding, riiight? That might be hard to make happen..." "Also he did not hit me in the head with a large hammer." There's only two people with large hammers in Kukuru's recent memory, and she knows for a fact Sarracenia didn't do it. That leaves only the other suspect, and Kukuru's gaze goes right back down to the arena as the battle commences. "Oh." She utters with a distinctly un-her-like venom and a similarly cold look in her eyes while she watches Patrick in action. She starts to utter something that starts with 'D', sees Malkuth coming down, and the cheery demeanor returns almost immediately. "Malkuuuuth, hello~" The glaring doesn't get her down at all, and she even reaches over to give the Sephirah an affectionate pat on the arm while taking a sampling of pastries and a cup of tea. "How have you been adjusting, dear? Ange's really made this place so much better than before, right? Aaaah, you and Petra and Audrey and Roland all look so adorable in these new uniforms...!" "I guess... with all this, there's no reason to make Malkuth go scrounging for leftovers." "He-llo, Petraaa~" Kukuru's giggly again. Of course she is, even though she's (Barely) trying not to draw attention towards Petra taking some of that food. "Mhm, mhm. I made too much today, and the balance was a liiittle off. Can't let it go to waste, so dig in, bring some home, whatever you'd like." "She didn't back down to Hiromi-- I mean, she got squashed, but she didn't back down." "Oh, she did? ... n't? That's wonderful. Hiromi's really such a wonderful teacher like that... Ah, I wonder how all her students are doing, too. Maybe I should make some more lasagna for them the next time there's a sale..."
Audrey Basque	Should White opt to look at Audrey, the information gleaned is honestly not terribly interesting; it's more or less what her file says, barring something that doesn't quite seem to map out to anything readable. NAME: Audrey Basque HEALTH: 100 Percent, Satiated, Quenched, Agitated. SKILLS: Magic (Astrology, Spatial Manipulation, Gravity Manipulation) ABILITY: ???? TITLES: Crown White. Encroachment/Catastrophe. * There's other titles but they're school awards and not battle feats. Unarmed. Unarmored. Fully human.     There's an undeniable pressure to her coming from above; it's not just Angela watching anymore, is it? There's a whole crowd up there now. All the more reason not to mess up. If she keeps this short, and sticks to simple tricks, the lack of her blazer won't be too bad. And, really: Roland's with her. He said he did Fixer work solo, for all intents and purposes, and he's a former Grade One. He's the better of the two of them, she thinks.     Patrick goes first! And even manages to knock Roland down, who proceeds to use a book as an improvised weapon. Audrey stays back, because distance benefits her greatly.     She reaches with her hands-- Petra knows her magic well, at this point, and it's notable there's a half second or two of delay longer than there normally is when she's flicking or grabbing. Patrick still only really gets a moment to react though, and he'd better take it: when Audrey grabs hold of an invisible something or another and pulls on it like a loose thread on a shirt, pearlescent cracks and shimmers suddenly form around him as the arena deforms and distorts-- a floor tiles rise like columns all around him and suddenly try to cage him him, twisting in a way that's not at all natural as though being inside the cage was deducing the distance between him and the columns. Hopefully he's not claustrophobic.     Even if she only catches him partway into the distorted mess of columns, it's more than enough to give Roland a dozen openings.     Lead-up, she recalls the advice from Petra.     And so Audrey is already grasping at something else. The Library is one big Place of Power, it's not the worst replacement for not having her blazer.
Kukuru	"The Light is, basically, just raw psychic 'potential', right?" "Maybe the 'Light' is comparable to... MA Energy in some way." "Soooo.. Um! Um. If we can find more people with that kind of potential, then bringing them here would help gather more, right? We'd just need to spread more... Hmm. Awareness of this place, to get them coming more often. Liiike..." Come on, Kukuru. Think. Think! "A job fair arena...? Where the winners get to borrow really neat books, and the losers get to work here if they're... If they have a lotta potential?" She murmurs, scrunching her face up after a few moments. "But then inviting them means they wouldn't be intruders, and if they can't be measured right... That might make it harder to know who's worth hiring."
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine notices Sougo's flickering. She's sensitive to that sort of thing, the subtle wrongness of a person not quite 'in sync' with the world. Walking over to the window - and picking up a danish en route, per Woz's recommendation - she rests a palm on the sill and speaks softly to the aspiring Demon King of Time. "What's eating you?" She might mean it literally, considering the nature of her own curse.
Sarracenia	'How about you, dear?'      Sarra looks toward Kukuru at the question. Her expression turns slightly pained as she is tempted to answer fully, but then her eye drifts over Petra and Angela before back to Kukuru. She starts to say something...      And ends up not saying it as Director Kuran is here as well. "Ah, hello Director." the princess says, offering a polite curtsey but keeping her distance. If the Director was somehow hit with a suit power-up right now, Sarra is quite certain a certain second in command would be out for her head. And Sarra has only barely gotten the number of people who seem to want her head on their wall down to a manageable two. Or maybe even just one. Sarra did appreciate the butterflies though. She had watched them much like a child in wonder.      Sarra turns her gaze back to the match. "...I am fine, Miss Kukuru. Thank you for your concern." It is pretty clear the princess is not fine, but does not want to talk about such things in present company.      'I think... we already have all of it that's going to be had. There would have to be a new Lobotomy Corporation, new Enkephalin, all of that, you know...But that's okay. The City has the Trideag Association. I do know you're, um... kind of in hot water, there. It'll pass.'      Sarra would definitely have missed the dropped frame if Sougo had not spoken to her. Even then, she is uncertain if something happened or...if she just blinked. She stares his way for a few moments before sighing heavily. She offers a small grateful smile. "I appreciate it, Demon King Sougo. And yes, the City does have the Trideag Association. I am glad they do. But..."      Her smile fades, and she turns her attention back to the arena. "...Lilian has not given a timeframe. And I have little doubt that if I actually ask about it the answer would be 'until you prove yourself useful' or 'until you grow a brain' or something of the like. As she seems to think me incapable of both, it seems foolish to think I will be reinstated without something drastic happening."      'Hello Princess... It has.'      Sarra is content to leave it at that, but...a floating mushroom catches her attention. She blinks a few times as she watches it, tracking the movement with just her eye and raising a finger as if to point but never quite pointing properly.      'I wish I lived in whatever universe you do, sometimes.'      Sarra's eyebrow twitches a bit. She has to come up with something. Petra is always going on about plans and there only being one. But, she did also say she would try not to say things without thinking. So, she listens to Petra's explanation before saying anything.      She only mostly understands what Petra is talking about, and a few big words like 'Jungian-Newtonian paradigm' go over her head. But, by the end she still has a thought...based on vague and limited knowledge. "All the information about the Seed of Light was contained in here, was it not? Ayin or Adam or whoever he was...was he also turned into a book? Perhaps there is now an Adam book or a Seed of Light book. Either of those might be a good place to start."      With things so busy, Sarra didn't greet Nobunaga until now. When she has a chance she curtseys to the Demon Lord of Guns. "Hello, Lord Nobunaga. It is good to see you." she says before...taking a large slice of lasagna. Pastries and tea are all well and good, but when you are in emotional turmoil some heavy comfort food is the best.      Audrey's power is pretty amazing to watch, and much like the butterflies leaves Sarra gazing in a semi-awed state.
Sarracenia	'If another method was available I'd do it. Instead, I have to pick the best option I have. I will not threaten you because I have stated we are ''square'' but know that we will no longer be square if you elect to oppose me in this.'      Sarra may not be -officially- banned, but if she can't help in the City there's little reason to be there. As Angela draws a line in the sand Sarra looks toward her with an expression which is obviously her pondering if she should challenge the line.      Eventually though, she looks back to the battle. "...I know you would. It is why I decided to support you in the war even after all the animosity. You were concerned about the other Sephirah. I had quite honestly been assuming everyone was an acceptable sacrifice to you before that, except perhaps Petra and Lilian."
Yuuki Kuran	'What a delight it is to see you. Your exuberant manner is as the reassuring flicker of a warm hearth.' "Oh, Woz," Yuuki scoffs with a wave of her hand as amused dismissal. "I'm glad you noticed my hearth-minded behavior, but I think I'm warmer than a *flicker*." Rotating up palm to raise index finger, the flourish produces a candlelight mote of fire that Yuuki touches to Woz's ear as a kiss of heat that is no warmer than an ember's brush. "There's quite a few people in our Concord that could use a picking up, and I've. . . a quarter of a mind to see to it personally!" While making a great show of rolling up sleeve (of a sleeveless dress) in pantomime, she hooks Sarracenia's offer of greeting in with a lean of the arm and a headlean against the far taller woman's bicep. "Even if we'd love to see a pleasant, a wonderful forever, that means we also have to enjoy the present as we can too, hmm? Things like this are important, not standing entirely on ceremonies. Enjoy yourselves!" She encourages, trying to keep everyone in her aura entertained in the social buzz of warm smiles lifting fair cheeks and a sparkle to her big expressive eyes. "The plain ones can be worse than scary. 'Plain' can mean anything, while specific sorts of funny usually mean something quite specific. If I was out there, you'd know exactly what would happen, wouldn't you? Bats and blood and maybe a scythe swing or two. But a plain one?" She shrugs, as White's all-seeing eyes partake in the truth. "That could be anything!" On 'fairness', though, Yuuki gives Angela the focus of her cheerful attention. "If Audrey fails, with all of us watching, it's not acceptable, is it? So, no matter what, she's cornered - you don't visit a recital to count failed notes, do you? You go to support someone's performance, and listen to someone's mastery." There's so many pop-introductions to meet that Yuuki will offer a jolly shake of the hand or a faintly-fangy smile to the other direct greetings. Instead, it's champagne that lingers with her, though Yuuki is left with a fine and bubbling bottle... and no glassware? Oh no! Conundrum! She makes such pleading eyes about.
Petra Soroka	"... This 'EGO'... Reminds me of the System, a little. You'll be a much better Administrator than D, Miss Angela."     "I guess..." Petra glances over at Angela, so the look from White is missed, but while her investment in the Library is deeper than anyone besides Angela's, she's more of a guiding and assisting force than an architectural one. "It's actually a little bit like that, huh? With the EGOs still, like, around, even though they're different, and the fact that the Library sort of *creates* knowledge and stuff through work... at least from what I know about the System...?" "Maybe the 'Light' is comparable to... MA Energy in some way."     "I don't-- did you mention what that was before? I, uh, don't remember it." "...Lilian has not given a timeframe. And I have little doubt that if I actually ask about it the answer would be 'until you prove yourself useful' or 'until you grow a brain' or something of the like."     Petra's expression twists into a thoughtful scowl, as she considers inflicting herself with a dread curse she wishes that she learned to resist at this point-- attempting to empathize with Sarracenia and using her own personal experiences as a bridge to trying to help her crawl out of the pit she insists on digging for herself. Laboriously, she sighs, and taps her fingers against her elbow with her arms crossed.     "... She hasn't given me one either, you know. Whining won't help. What would help is proving that you can actually follow her orders and stick to the suspension for a while without complaining or pushing her boundaries, and then, like, sincerely apologizing without trying to justify yourself or blame her during it. If you did that, if you actually, really pulled that extremely simple thing off, it would change her opinion of you permanently." "Ayin or Adam or whoever he was...was he also turned into a book?"     "That... would actually be a great idea." It's one that's good enough that Petra blinks with surprise and the acknowledgement slips out of her mouth without any sarcasm at all. "But I don't know if there is. He was killed before Angela manifested her EGO, and none of the other Sephirah are books either. If there is one, it's buried under a trillion other books, and might not give up whatever info we want that easily. But I'll actually keep that in mind."
Angela	"Roland," Angela says, looking towards the window. "This is a Library, be mindful of the books' condition. In other words, do not use them as projectiles. Thank you." Roland's grimace at having such a silly limitation imposed on him can be seen from the window. Also space. ''I didn't know it communicated with you as if it were its own being'' "It is not its own being. I'd have to confer with Gebura to know more than my presumptions, but a key component of EGO is that they tell you how they work. You do not know the full expression of your psyche or soul either, correct? The EGO fills you in on what you've been missing." She gives a nod to Arcadia of acknowledgement. She's not sure if it's true but she's not doing Lobotomy Corp 2. She's not! Angela could kill half the people in The City and it'd be less cruel than going back to do Lobotomy Corp again! ''You'll be a much better Administrator htan D'' Angela seems worried. White didn't seem to care for this D, did she? "I feel my ambitions are much smaller." Angela confesses because she really doesn't know what D is like. She quirks her head at her seeming relief, especially since Roland is dodgerolling hammerstrikes that are sure to crush his head into pulp but seems to be struggling to maintain a counteroffensive. Though White knows what's much more likely, Roland is just not going all out. "I have noticed similarities between worlds before. I wonder if there is some overarching fabric between worlds, sometimes, from which all these 'systems' are born from. But I suppose if there were, it would hardly matter." Nobunaga gets a surprised look from Angela when she refers to herself as a Servant but ultimately she decides she doesn't care and doesn't ask about it. Even Angela was, essentially, a ''servant'' at one point. It's probably bad memories anyway. No reason to poke. ''Sougo flickers'' Angela tenses as she looks towards Sougo. wHen you know someone who can bounce around in time and see things you do not see and use that information, you can't help but think 'ah but what if he is using that to do time travel things that I'd find quite displeasing!'. She doesn't think Sougo or Woz would intentionally hurt her, though Woz sure is sussy sometimes. She hasn't forgotten how he seemed to know the path she needed to take then. And she hasn't forgotten, one way or another, that she is closer to a future Woz had previously warned her about. "...I understand, Woz. I do apologize for trying to break your neck when I had imagined you tricked me into foiling my own plan. I suppose that is proof enough that the road before me is not neccessarily going to be ... clear for me to see. So I will have to be more accepting of unknown variables." She looks to Sougo. "...I won't ask you to stain your hands for me. ... And I intend to keep this as fair and reasonable and--with proper warning--as possible." But nobody seems to be thinking this fight is fair even if Patrick seems to have the advantage, now does it?
Angela	''We could barge in here to check.'' "Kukuru. If ''I'' know you are not invading seriously, then the Library would know too." But Kukuru seems to get the other side of that problem and Angela leaves it at that. Kukuru's venom is endearing and Angela can't help but smile at that. It's a sign of Kukuru's growth, she thinks, that she can now utilize venom. Malkuth stares at Kukuru. The fact Kukuru seems to have forgotten they were ENEMIES last time they met seems to make her more upset. "I don't get how you're able to just shrug off so much and act like it never happened." The Sephirah says. Angela is oblivious to Sarracenia's suspension. She might have heard about it but it wasn't really relevant to her so she's just not thinking about it either way. ''Ayin or Adam or whoever he was... was he also turned into a book?'' "No." Angela says--just a moment too slow to sound perfectly confident, even if it otherwise is. "He died before the Library. I could not have 'booked' him." She frowns uneasily. "He is gone." ''I had quite honestly been assuming everyone was an acceptable sacrifice.'' Angela had been assuming that too. She thinks of Cinder alone in that cell for one hundred seconds and then shoves Cinder back out of sight and mind. "Acceptable does not mean desired." Angela will grudgingly admit. "It is irrelevent now. Nobody else is going to die while working for me. There is no more need to ''farm torment''. Nor is there a time limit or a reset. I only need to gather Light from willing warriors. All the time in the world is mine to complete this project. ... Though naturally I would prefer it was completed faster rather than slower but I do not have to worry about starting over. So it will be easier to be patient." Yuuki makes a good point about people who are 'plain'. Of course, between the two of them Roland looks way more ''plain'' than Patrick, who has a big bulky cyborg arm. ''It's not acceptable, is it?'' "...It is not acceptable. So she will succeed. But she will not need me placing weights on a scale. I suspect she might even find that insulting." Her 'magic rating' is 'higher' after all. So.
Angela	''You know, it's kind of surprising, still, how much less fighting there is daily in the Library'' Angela can't help but smile at that, looking over Petra fondly. She's so glad she noticed!! But before she can go on and on about that, Petra has a theory! ...A theory that might mean when Petra goes somewhere she can go with her through the use of the Beauty of Ash? Angela's eyes widen. Like the Eggpack, she thinks, but minus the Eggpack. And also, she doesn't have to piggyback on top of Petra. Could it be possible? Psionic Pscience is a lot less clearly dilineated in The City than with Team Spacegirls so...is that worth a shot? ''What would help is proving that you can actually follow her orders...'' "She has a harder job than I do right now. Helping her is ultimately helping me. Her goals, outside of what it takes for me to escape, are otherwise the same." A City that is unlike Hell? Revenge? Whichever it takes. Petra being interested in the Ayin-book idea relaxes her a little about the possibility, but she's still not going to admit it. Even if it WAS out there, it'd be buried under a billion other books. She is not desperate to look to HIM for help right now. She'd rather awaken Benjamin first. Audrey finds that she CAN tap into the Library's power as well. The Library counts as a 'Place of Power' despite also being an EGO. It's like a Land that is also a Creature!! It can be used for both for better or ill! But in the meanwhile, Audrey summons pillars. Patrick only gets a moment to react--he lives in a world where a moment to react is the difference between life and death. He barely throws himself through the gap of the encroaching pillars, panting for breath at the sudden excursion-- --Only for Roland to draw out the Beak EGO and shoot out one of the cords of his cybernetic limb. Sparks ripple out across his arm, but he's still able to send enough of a charge launched out at Audrey--but Roland slices at it with his sword--which means the electricity conducts into him. He grits his teeth, grimacing, giving a nod to Audrey as he lashes out a kick for Patrick's leg to make him stumble and give Audrey an opening--just like she had given him. "Hey we're actually a pretty good team." Roland says. "Might even be able to take down a Grade 7."
Arcadia	''Acceptable does not mean desired.'' Arcadia nods her head at this, but waits until she's finished with a mouthful of lasagna (she's lost track of which type it is, as they're all good) before actually voicing a response. "The difference between the two can be a difficult choice to make. To find an alternate to the acceptable that preserves the desired, even harder... But the pursuit in itself is part of one's growth, is it not?" She looks towards Yuuki for a moment. "Nor will she have to pursue it without support, right?" Though she doubts the Director would say no to such. Angela improving herself and her situation would make her more of an asset to the Concord as well would it not? After a moment she checks on the fight in the arena below. Pillars are made, disrupting Patrick just long enough for Roland to make a pinpoit strike, and try to make a similar opening for Audrey in turn. Then a thought passes her mind and she turns her attention back to the discussion around Angela. "What did he intrude in the Library for, anyways?" Whatever he did that he is willing to risk battle in an arena for has to be important...
Audrey Basque	If Audrey could hear what everyone is saying about her, she would blush, or freeze in place, or maybe, MAYBE, she'd bit even more motivated to not screw up, and then would subsequently screw up. Mercifully she has zoned it out, because she's having to work extra hard to do anything right now. If all eyes are on her--     Indeed, she's supposed to be better, so she must act it.     Patrick is nimble, but Roland's on it. And even when it looks, for a second, like Patrick is about to fire a blast at Audrey, her Grade Nine partner is on it, though she can't help but wince at the discharge.     "We might!" she smiles at him.     What she does next is tug at the Library.     For Angela, it's not uncomfortable, but it's probably a bit unexpected and sudden. The briefest feeling of someone else commanding your insides, but being very gentle with them, and very intentionally not reaching too deep. If she even could-- she's not sure. And she'd never do that to Angela, anyway.     The Library is a wellspring of power. It's not magic, per se, but it's close enough. What Audrey currently lacks by not having her magical foci, she can make up for by borrowing just a bit of the power circulating in the Library. A mote. But a mote of a lot is still a lot.     This gives a slightly different expression to Audrey's magic; her hands reach for Patrick and then clasp together like she's trying to trap him in them, and this causes a small whirl of raven feathers to slip through mirrored cracks inbetween spaces. The feathers swarm the Fixer, forming two large hands that mimic Audrey's motion and cry to not just smother him but smash him into the ground to immobilize him. What it LOOKS like, is that. What it FEELS like is more along the lines of suddenly being subjected to several times Earth's gravity. The raven feathers are just a perk of using the Library's domain a little bit-- they're there, but also just an expression inherent to the power she's borrowing, moreso than anything else.
Timespace Riders	What's eating you?     "The City," answers Sougo, without turning his attention from the window. "I feel like the harder we try to improve this place, the more it tries to be worse."     "I mean, look at what's happening right in front of me," he says, unable to take his eyes off of the fight. "That guy didn't come in here to see if everybody was okay, or to offer anybody any help. And why would he? If he'd had more, he wouldn't have had to do... that, to himself. So for him, that's the natural state of the world. He doesn't even know what he has. He can't know, or else everything would be worse for us and especially for Angela."     "Meanwhile, Angela is trapped here, the only way to get her out is..." He heaves a sigh and drinks the entire cup of tea in one go. "This," he says, after lowering his cup.     "I'm already tired of it, and there's so, so much more that we have to do before it's behind us." it seems foolish to think I will be reinstated without something drastic happening. If you did that, if you actually, really pulled that extremely simple thing off, it would change her opinion of you permanently.     "I concur with Petra. Furthermore, as I see it, Princess, you have two options as to how you would pursue her advice. You may leave immediately and satisfy your desire to help elsewhere, or you may remain in the City, at least for a time, and await further instruction from Lilian Rook." He gently dabs at the corners of his mouth with a napkin.     "Time will pass at the same rate in either case, but I would advise the latter, for two reasons." Woz pushes his plate forward. "The first is that when your hands are idle, your mind will wander. Reflection may be of some use. Perhaps you shall discover some quality or capability of yours which would not have emerged in motion."     "The second," he says, "Is that she could have fired you, but did not. Why, you may ask? For the same reason she did not provide a timeframe. It is a test. She wishes to discover whether you are capable of the patience it takes to remain still when no clear end is in sight--and, I would wager, whether you are capable of change."     "In the midst of some adventure off-world, the problems of other people may take up residence more readily in your mind than your own problems. Especially if those problems are more easily solved with force than those in a place like the City." He shrugs. "Take my advice, or do not. I shall not consult the book for such a matter." There's quite a few people in our Concord that could use a picking up, and I've. . . a quarter of a mind to see to it personally!     "An invaluable thnig, and a testament to your skills as a leader." He certainly didn't hate the touch of warmth, although it seems she took him by surprise with it, if the stunned blink is any indication. ...I won't ask you to stain your hands for me. ... And I intend to keep this as fair and reasonable and--with proper warning--as possible.     "It's not... unreasonable, for you to want to be out of this place. It's just that the City acts like it is, and it has way more leverage than you do. It sets the terms. And I hate that."
Timespace Riders	Angela's apology is gently brushed aside by Woz.      "Had I wielded the book then with the caution I now do..." He sighs. "You acted as you did afraid that I had jeopardized that, on what was to be the eve of your victory. Anyone else in your place would have done the same."
Sarracenia	Sarra's eye widens as Yuuki leans in toward her. A bit bewildered, Sarra doesn't move for a few moments as she listens to Yuuki. She does eventually place a hand on Yuuki's head in a headpat. It is hard not to headpat shorter, cuter people! "Y-yes. Enjoy ourselves." she says, still a bit unsure but managing a small smile.      '... She hasn't given me one either, you know. Whining won't help. What would help is proving that you can actually follow her orders and stick to the suspension for a while without complaining or pushing her boundaries, and then, like, sincerely apologizing without trying to justify yourself or blame her during it. If you did that, if you actually, really pulled that extremely simple thing off, it would change her opinion of you permanently.'      Sarra's arms end up crossed as she listens to Petra. Petra managed to say all of that without being insulting, and that is impressive to Sarra. Well, except for the sort of hinted at notion that Sarra could not do such a simple thing."...simple does not always mean easy..." she says, though without any animosity and more of an introspective tone. "...sincerely apologize..." she repeats, in that same tone and with the knowledge that it would be very hard for her to do that simple thing.      'I concur with Petra. Furthermore, as I see it, Princess, you have two options as to how you would pursue her advice....'      Woz gives a lengthy bit of advice. Not so long ago, Sarra would likely have tuned it out. Sarra did consider just going and helping people despite being forbidden. And perhaps surprisingly, she did glean that it was a test of some kind. Of whether she would actually do what Lilian said or not. Her expression makes it clear she does not particularly like the advice like one does not like a bitter medicine, but she listens. "A test of patience. I almost would prefer having been fired. But then, I doubt she would let me off that easily."      A moment passes, and Sarra mmphs in annoyance. "...thank you both...for your advice." she says to Woz and Petra, trying her best not to look pained at saying such a thing.      'That... would actually be a great idea.'      Sarra blinks in surprise right along with Petra at the acknowledgement. When Petra says she will keep it in mind, Sarra's mood lifts noticeably despite Angela's quick but not very quick no. Sarra had a good idea! Hahaha! Take that! The princess can't quite stop a haughty, ever so light 'hm hm hm~' from escaping her, but she really tries to be subtle about it.      'It is irrelevent now. Nobody else is going to die while working for me.'      Sarra nods lightly in approval. "Good. Then, even though we will probably never be friends I see no reason why we would become enemies anytime in the near future."      Sarra listens to talk around her about Audrey and her chances of winning. Sarra shrugs lightly. "Have you seen what that girl can do? She could likely handle this all by herself without it presenting a real challenge. So, yes, it probably was unfair to the challenger to send Audrey in. But, after the time she has had on her first few weeks in the Multiverse perhaps she is welcoming such a straightforward contest."
White	White peacefully noms the stolen bit of mushroom from 'thin air', and nods along slowly with Yuuki, seeming to feel similarly about the terror of a 'plain one' in all their abstractness and unknowability. Her consistent nonreactions to Yuuki's own gimmicks are proof, in fact, even if she'd also rather not get into a confrontation with the Director. Unfortunately, she doesn't have drinking glasses in her spatial pocket to solve Yuuki's need offhand, but if nobody else has a fallback plan she might end up teleporting home briefly to fetch something. She'll wait, though, until Yuuki's poutyface has been cast on everyone else first.      Audrey doesn't *quite* catch her attention in the exact same way Roland had, because she's not as primed to be surprised about an Elite having dramatic magical prowess in general. She finds the similarities to herself, superficial as they are, mildly annoying... But having beef with an Honor Student-type girl is a little too pathetic for White to feel justified about for long, even inside her own head. She has to admit, fully specializing in a finnicky style like using Dimensional- no, Spatial Magic as an offensive measure without many kinds of fallback does seem quite demanding, and she's eminently familiar with the mental strain of it from her own mastery of teleportation. The Warping Evil Eye never did prove particularly reliable due to its activation time, but maybe it was just because she branched out too much? It's hard to say. For now, it's at least interesting to see someone arguably younger than her with a different sort of bearing using strategies and methods she's familiar with. It feels odd, since most of her 'students' use completely different skills as well. For now, Roland's lackluster performance isn't striking enough to make her worry about her impression yet; he might be the type not to commit to aggression until an obvious chance arises, or he might simply be a highly defensive and lazy type who isn't fretful about taking inconsequential hits... She hopes.      But, she can split her spectator-brain and her chatter-brain easily enough, even if it still takes her a moment to get back to Petra's question. "Manifesting effects, or the 'instinct' to create an effect, from the impressions left by someone else before. That's one way to describe a 'Skill', yes." she says, roundabout-confirming Petra's own comparison. "MA Energy is the... 'Soul of the planet'. Converted to use as a power source. The only way to... Convert it back, is to filter it... Through living people's souls." It's not a perfect comparison, but surprisingly close, by White's measure. She hasn't gotten the full benefit of the arc everyone else has had with regards to Light as a concept, though.
White	White stalls a moment with a silent sip of tea around Angela's response to her, meanwhile. "... It's easy to see the similarities. The world I was reborn in was... Modelled after games, after all. It was a deliberate copy... Though the energy itself existed first." She listens a little more, and softly murmurs, "No time limit. That's good. Losing progress is..." She trails off, but 'terrible' seems like a solid guess.      Sougo's flickering, for the time being, seems like something she can't really comment on. She's observing it like someone might find a flicker in a thundercloud interesting, but she seems to more or less believe there's no reason for her specifically to be concerned at that very moment. Watching Roland, even without being right at the window for a good vantage, she muses quietly that "He's... Hard to motivate, isn't he?" like she's reading tea-leaves from the way he fights. "She... Aubry..? ... Is she trying to... Prove something?"      It's starting to seem like she's trying really hard not to get caught up in the conversation around Sarracenia's suspension at all, at this point. But, she gives away that she's been listening regardless when she admits from around the lip of her teacup, "I never did finalize my application to Trideag..." The timing *was* pretty bad, admittedly. "Maybe I should leave some helpers here, at least."
Nobunaga	> "Hello, Lord Nobunaga."     "Mnn?" Nobunaga shifts slightly, tilting her head upward as she looks over her shoulder and away from the Fixer fight, "Ah, Princess. Good to see you." Her attention returns to the fight with a hum, "I've only witnessed Audrey's power briefly. It is quite another matter to see it from an outside perspective. Most impressive."     She stands there like that, hands folded behind her back, cape closed around her shoulders, for a long moment.     After a bit, though-- Nobunaga clicks her heels and swivels to face Angela directly. The intensity in those red eyes is impossible to miss: "Rather than assume what you need, I will simply ask: What is it you require of me?" Her head jerks aside, "Of us? Trying to predict such needs hasn't worked out in the past, so I thought to ask plainly."
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Sougo: "I feel like the harder we try to improve this place, the more it tries to be worse."     Madeleine nods, taking a thoughtful bite of her danish. Yum, raspberry! The world is wrong but sometimes just saying so, reminding oneself or another, wouldn't help.     "I'm already tired of it, and there's so, so much more that we have to do before it's behind us."     "Behind us, hmm," says Madeleine. "You think it'll ever be? Is there a point where the world will all be right? I guess once you're the King of Time it'd be kind of inevitable... but there's a lotta Rider Watches still out there." A thoughtful pause. "If you had them all, right now, where would you start? What'd be the first act of the Demon King's reign?" Maddie punctuates her question with another bite of danish.     "The City sets the terms. And I hate that."     "No, yeah, I get what you're feeling," Madeleine chimes in. "Wish I could say the best way to deal with that sense, but... I'm still figuring that out myself. Not just about the City, either."
Petra Soroka	"I'd have to confer with Gebura to know more than my presumptions, but a key component of EGO is that they tell you how they work."     Petra adds on to Angela's explanation automatically, fully in teacher's-aide mode. "That's how all EGO works, even ones extracted from Abnormalities. Personal EGOs are a bit more of a weird area, since, like, no one's done it besides Gebura, but since the way normal EGO gear works has the, uh, functional element overlapping with the impression of another narrative's story being pressed on you, I figure a personal EGO is the same but without the complications." "I don't get how you're able to just shrug off so much and act like it never happened."     "Sorry, Malkuth." Petra is a lot more sympathetic to Malkuth than their opposing ideologies might have led her to be otherwise. In the end, Malkuth *did* believe in something, and did everything she could to make it happen, and if Petra feels genuinely bad for any one of her opposition, it's Malkuth. "You know they're all like this. Nothing's going to change that." "I'm already tired of it, and there's so, so much more that we have to do before it's behind us."     "Yeah. Me too, Sougo."     Petra is avoiding looking at Sougo ever since he came in, though she's not any more unhappy than her baseline at his presence. He's just a source for stressful feelings and pressure right now, that Petra would rather put off than confront. Him being so harrowed isn't something she can just shrug off, though, because in the end, it is a little bit all Petra's fault.     "But I hope you have a better opinion of Ange and I than just thinking we'll sit around doing the exact same thing like the City expects us to until everything's magically fixed. For one, this is just a guy who came here himself and immediately tried to kill Ange with a hammer-- I'm not gonna, like, cry over him, and we're not picking randos off the streets. Second, though, is that there's definitely better ways of gathering Light than doing this to... like, every person in the City. I've got a fucking, like, list of things to try and targets to look at."     "One's myself, even. For, like, high densities of Light. See," Petra flips open her compact mirror and cracks the surface with her thumb, drawing out the Beauty of Ash in the middle of the Library. Rather than encasing her, it clatters into a posture laying on the ground with its crystalline arms and legs folded underneath it like a deer, single gold eye placidly calm and strikingly alive-feeling. Along its back and shoulders are black raven feathers, like Angela's dress.     "What I think happened, is that using my power on Ange while she manifested her EGO meant that the Beauty of Ash made a psychic imprint of the Light, like, itself. Lensed through Angela, and then magnified in the mech. I mean-- I guess theoretically killing me might help, but I'd rather not, because I think I can feed it back into Angela on a limited scale to keep her, you know, walking and thinking." "The only way to... Convert it back, is to filter it... Through living people's souls."     "Oh-- I guess that is pretty similar. Except, like, we're dragging it out of people's souls because it would've been totally fine to use if it was never in *their* souls to begin with."
Petra Soroka	"The world I was reborn in was... Modelled after games, after all."     "Oh my god, it *was*?!" Petra gasps with relief at White, clattering her fork against her plate. "That makes *so* much more sense; I thought I was going *crazy*!" "Rather than assume what you need, I will simply ask: What is it you require of me?"     This *is* in fact exactly the kind of behavior Petra encouraged Nobunaga to take. However, she's still annoyed about the direction their conversation in the radio took, so as she takes a sip from her provided teacup, she says, "Huh. Weren't you promising to shoot me in the head next time you saw me?"     Then, like she's suddenly remembered some grievous error that she forgot, Petra springs out of her chair again. "A-ah! Wait! Director Kuran! I forgot to get you, um, a glass, uh..."     Petra does not have a wine glass stored with Qetra. She has a wine bottle, and a cinderblock, and various other things, but asking the Director of the Concord to drink champagne out of a shitty water bottle or something would be absolutely unacceptable. So, instead, she walks up to the Beauty of Ash and runs a hand down one of its reflective facets, pulling out the morphmetal bottle and corking it open. She hurries back over to Yuuki, with a sleek metal chalice made of her own blood offered out, to the vampire, for want of anything else.     Petra knows. She's got a little bead of sweat dripping down her head, because of the burden of knowing. But what else could she do? "Um, feel free to use this, if you want."
Nobunaga	> "Huh. Weren't you promising to shoot me in the head next time you saw me?"     "I opted to put that on hold out of respect for our hostess, but if you insist," Nobunaga closes her eyes, explosing one gloved hand to gesture.     In a flicker of golden sparks, a matchlock rifle materializes silently behind and above Petra, aimed directly at her head. The trigger pulls; there is no report. Only a loud, ominous click-hiss and the flash of sparks as the matchlock mechanism snaps into the firing position.     The gun wasn't loaded.     The warlord laughs at her own joke.
White	White looks at Petra as she gasps, and... Well, she's not wide-eyed, but her eyes do open a little to gleamingly squint at Petra in a mostly un-intended scrutinizing stare, as if she thinks Petra is full of shit. But, she's already starting to accept her mistake when she says (to herself more than anyone else), "... I thought it was... More obvious." She sinks back a little against her chair. However, the posturing going on around her doesn't have the benefit of her full wink-wink nudge-nudge understanding- she's a very blunt person who tends to take things at face value! So when a gun spontaneously appears by magic within her magic-sensitive, all-around range of vision, a coil of silk is already reaching up to tug the muzzle upward before she can look closely enough to see that it's unloaded. She still hasn't turned around, just raised her hand a little! She's also not *entirely* sure that it would've actually kept Petra from being shot, but having the advantage of people literally declaring their intentions aloud as they act makes it easy to interfere on reflex.
Yuuki Kuran	Smile shifting to Arcadia, Yuuki can close her eyes with this one, an easy pace from her current mood. "Of course not. She'll have all the help she can suffer and possibly more besides, as we do our best to see the dreams of excellence done." She suggests, serene and open even in the same room as the subject. Unhurried, and even pat on the head by a princess, the queen escapes with a faint bit of further easy laughter. She's got a bottle of Champagne to sort! If only someone would rid her of this troublesome lack of glasses! 'An invaluable thing, and a testament to your skills as a leader.' Yuuki's scoff and waving-off hand is genuine and amused, happy to puff and play-away some of the praise. "It's a testament to how we have therapists on payroll but nobody calls them. No, I think some level of dysfunction is natural and it's the group structure of our Concord that helps ward against it, where there's a place to fall back to and know that support is there." Exasperated, the elegant vampire lifts her bottle holding hands out into a big shrug and a strangely Nordic-shifted statement that roughly translates to 'yare yare daze'. "If it's taken. Reminding those that have made it this far that they can take some assistance is a large part of my job, when I'm not doing interviews or my own projects!" She admits. And she's still pouting! She can tell White's bars are being filled by this, but she's not impatient at all. If anything, White's comfort with her is calmly taken as a large positive, and she's not keen on pushing on any one link in the room. She's quite able of taking care of herself, but also, there's a hope she can share the experience! Blood would be a more private, personal taste, but she's tasting *that* right now. It's just champagne! The talk of Light (and the particular capitalization of it) exists in a cloud around the topic that Yuuki can perceive but it sort of slides off of her active awareness, sorted more simply into buckets and left-for-others understandings. Nodding along pleasedly anyway, she exudes getting it while definitely relying on other people to hold the information in themselves. More physical props and tasks, however, draw her out of bottle-hugging pouting need with a gasp of interest. 'Um, feel free to use this, if you want.' Yuuki looks just faintly up at Petra as she clambers over, surprised because she didn't see it coming and wearing an honest-blinking confusion as she's handed a chalice-- Reaching her empty hand out to take the chalice, as soon as her fair fingers take the stem the skin contact lights her eyes up bright red. An 'oh' flashes across Yuuki's face and she pours the chalice high with fizzy-popping champagne and places the bottle down. With an intentful, even playful eye towards Petra, Yuuki's pout disappears as godrays through a cloud, and she puts the chalice to her lips. "Well. That's something." She breathes over the rim and fizzing top, before taking a long sip of champagne. Petra, and those near Yuuki, might notice her faintly nibbling on the rim of the goblet between sips. The metal blood is still (exotic) blood, and so Petra is winning a *lot* of points rapidly. Probably.
Kukuru	"And Kukuru as well; that has quite a delicious smell to it." "Does it? Oh, I was hoping it wouldn't smell tooo much." Kukuru replies to Nobunaga with a pleasant little chuckle, although there's a twinge of actually feeling bad about the food smell. "It's a library, you know? And they're not supposed to smell like a restaurant, or people might wanna leave." A pause, and then she taps her chin. "Or maybe we can use that to get people in...? Ah, anyway. It's lovely to meet you, dear Nobunga~" "...I am fine, Miss Kukuru. Thank you for your concern." Kukuru is the sort of person that's used that line countless times herself, so even she knows that's code for 'not fine'. She nods slowly at Sarracenia, stepping over briefly to give the princess a light squeeze on the shoulder. "That's good, dear. If that changes, let me know." "What's eating you?" "I'm already tired of it, and there's so, so much more that we have to do before it's behind us." The first flicker might've been a fluke, but Kukuru definitely notices Sougo's flickering a second time, and she's already looking at him when he does it a third. She steps away from the food table to come up beside the Demon King, reaching over to squeeze his opposite arm and brushing her cheek against his shoulder. "If there's something I can help with... Lemme know." She tells him with a slight frown, sounding nothing like her usual requests ending with 'okay?'. She'll release him quickly if he shows any signs of discomfort, but she'll otherwise just keep rubbing her face on his arm like she's trying to reassure him in the way she often does. "I wanna believe not everyone in the City is like that one, too. A lot of them are, but I bet a lot aren't. It just... Doesn't change what has to happen." She gestures at the arena, that dull stare returning as she watches Patrick appearing to hold his ground for the time being. If they're bad, they'll come. If they're good, maybe they'll still come. We just gotta make sure it works out for the better for our family, and..." Another squeeze. "To be kinder to ourselves, instead of being nice to everyone else." "I don't get how you're able to just shrug off so much and act like it never happened." And then Kukuru bounces right-no, she doesn't bounce right back. She instead closes her eyes to take a long breath, and then the smile that comes across her face is a sadder one than her usual. "It's easier than feeling weird and uncomfortable about what happened. If I can't make myself feel okay enough around you now..." She knows full well what she did, and that she might have to face the ire of the City for her role in things later. That's fine. She knows that Angela will probably bring the other Sephirah back, and that they'll likely stare at her just like Malkuth is now. That's fine, too. Facing Rita and Lilian again after all of that, though, and knowing that they might very well do the same has her stomach doing little backflips just thinking about it. "... I'd just be a useless nervous wreck instead." She admits with her usual absent-minded giggle, sounding put on as all hell. "And that reeeally wouldn't help anyone. I wouldn't be able to prep food back home, take care of whoever's hurt, and then they'd all be getting hurt even more. So-" Kukuru raises her hands, then claps them together with a beaming smile on her face. "Just gotta act~"
Kukuru	Yuuki and champagne Sadly for Yuuki, Kukuru doesn't quite get that signal. She's following her gaze all over the place to try and figure out what the Director's looking for, but she doesn't get it despite the champagne bottle being right there. "Yuuki? What's wrong, dear? Do you need a hand opening that? Ah.." She picks up the towel, draping it over the cork and smiling with the self-satisfaction that could only come from someone that doesn't get it and will probably need White for the save. "That should do it. Now it won't fizz out all over~"
Petra Soroka	"...thank you both...for your advice."     Being thanked normal-style by Sarracenia is a bit of fresh air that Petra honestly thought she would never experience. It isn't enough to bloom true hope for the future in petra's heart, but it's a little glimpse of something, and so she doesn't push Sarracenia any farther. "Mhm. I've still got the thing with my altered TT2 to try with you, too."     Petra leans back against the Beauty of Ash's shoulder to watch the unfolding fight on the battlefield below. The battle-library might not have been her first pick, but the aesthetic's grown on her, and it's very 'Angela', in a mid-development sense. The general murmuring of praise for Audrey makes Petra kind of warmly happy too, and rather than interrogating that feeling or feeling parasitic or guilty about it, she chooses to instead bask in it and root for Audrey inside her heart.     As Audrey draws on the power of the Library, the faint iridescent glow that filters through the million hardlight facets of the Beauty of Ash flickers and bends towards her, like angling a prism. Petra tilts her head and refocuses her stare at Audrey, lips forming a silent 'oh' of realization. "You know... actually...."     Petra holds up her hand and mimics Audrey's gesture, pearlescent cracks swirling into a faint glow and a flutter of raven feathers that come out of nowhere. "I wonder. I figured Audrey's spacial bending stuff might have been able to help you, Ange, but with how she works with leylines and stuff... that might be even better." "... I thought it was... More obvious."     "Look! Sometimes it seems that way, but it's not! I don't want to *assume*!" Petra protests-- it was really obvious. She doesn't have a good excuse. "I opted to put that on hold out of respect for our hostess, but if you insist,"     If the gun wasn't unloaded, it would be *stunningly* stupid for Petra to tell someone to shoot her in the head, and then get shot in the head and die immediately on the spot. Even so, that seems like what's about to happen, with the gun aimed at Petra's head, and she's in the middle of turning around to look at it-- tensely expecting it, but not faster than a bullet-- when it fires. In a retroactive instinct, the 'intent' of the attack is reacted to before the reality of there not being one, and Petra and the Beauty of Ash she's leaning against flicker in a single skipped frame, putting Petra to the side of where the bullet's path would be without any ostensible movement, and interposing the Beauty of Ash's crystalline arm between herself and the gun.     She clicks her tongue in irritation at Nobunaga's subsequent delight, then glances awkwardly at Yuuki. "Tch. I mean... I'm not, like, going to insist on fighting, you know, in present company. But..." Petra runs a hand through her hair and works out her ponytail, flipping her hair back with an aggressive look. "It's a real pussy move to insist that you'll shoot me on sight as if I couldn't beat your ass back, and then play it off as a prank. It's such a loser thing to do."
Petra Soroka	Petra, and those near Yuuki, might notice her faintly nibbling on the rim of the goblet between sips.     Petra, in fact, does not need to be nearby to notice, even though she is. Petra notices whether she wants to or not, in fact, because of one simple fact about the Silver and its bond to her. The morphmetal, the malleable expression of will that she seized from Dimo's gift to keep for herself, is an extension of her *body*, as much as her own hands are. This means, that Yuuki's nibbling on it, is a sensation that is directly tactilely transmitted to Petra.     A second bead of sweat joins the first. Her cheeks flush slightly pink. She can't possibly, on her life, say anything to discourage Yuuki from doing this, because it's actually entirely Petra's fault that she's in this situation to begin with.
Angela	''What did he intrude in the Library for, anyways?'' "To take books regarding the nature of my construction to those that could make use of them to do me harm." Angela says. "I doubt he particularly cares about me being a machine but he knows information about me would be worth a lot of ahn to the right buyer. Or at least a Grade increase." Angela suddenly doesn't want to think about Trideag anymore, though, because it reminds her that she's not out there with them. That she can't perform the secretarial work she promised-- --hm. Actually... Could she? She can't be on sight but if it's just paperwork and she gets a fax machine, or perhaps in computer file format she could make good work on it... Especially now that she is learning more about Lilian's world thanks to Audrey. Angela is quietly a little relieved that Sougo doesn't like it. Acceptable doesn't mean desired after all. But she says, "Nor is it unreasonable," Angela tells Sougo. "That you need a break. I am not a psychologist but that sounds like something Carmen would say and she was one. This is not the only world where the weight of Society is too heavy to bear sometimes. There are others who can carry it when you need time..." She smirks a little. "Time and Space." She frowns at Woz. "...I need to be better than 'anyone'." She tells him. "I am a Partner now." She is not above throwing red meat to Yuuki Kuran even if it is glistening a little too red. She HASN'T seen what Audrey could do actually. She has seen very little proof that Audrey could do anything at all but cheer Petra up (more important than any advantage pip) and be a bittersweetheart (which is better, for Angela, than sweetheart). The soul of the planet, White is saying. Angela thinks about THe River. How the Abnormalities from which EGO were derived all came from the Collective Unconsciousness. And perhaps one's personal EGO is simply a sign that one's own soul can stand out against a swarm of billions. But again, she'd have to talk to Gebura about that. and she'd rather awaken her LAST. Maybe even relative to Benjamin. "You may be right about that," Angela tells White. "Abnormalities were drawn from the Collective Unconciousness--for the most part--and so EGO have a connection to the River too--what we call the Soul of the planet, more or less. ... Perhaps EGO is hazardous to the world itself, but they are so few in number it is difficult to imagine it being a problem just yet. But either way, it is just guessing. There is no theory about it--I cannot assume that our world works in that way like yours too. Perhaps they are removed enough to not so much as make a ripple on that River's surface." White was... reborn in a world modeled off games? Angela is not a gamer, she had no idea, but... "That does seem a bit ... disturbed to do to a world. Games often have ways to 'break' the system, after all." ''He's... Hard to motivate, isn't he?'' "He said himself he was a 'washed up' Fixer..." Angela, who knows Roland to be a Grade Nine, says. "...But it feels like..." Angela is not a warrior, but she knows about timing. And something seems off about Roland's timing--no, she thinks, it's probably just some clumsiness, wariness--he doesn't seem to want to kill the man really even if he's willing to. Maybe if a master swordfighter was watching him she'd notice something. She doesn't want to think about it that much anyway.
Angela	''Sorry, Malkuth. You know they're all like this.'' Malkuth, despite ostensibly having the most reason to be the most mad at Petra--doesn't seem to be harboring the same resentment towards her right now. She always knew what side she was on. And in a way, that feels fairer. "Yeah... I'd have an easier time moving on if ... I don't know, anything else." At least Sougo seems to still be bugged about it. It's a little annoying that they were conflicted about it but STILL chose to screw over her dream, but at least it feels like thought was put into it. Angela isn't sure if they aren't picking random people off the street yet. She's not even really entirely sure how they got in here except that the Library must have allowed it. It must have allowed Roland too, she realizes, but he decided to not hit her with a hammer. The Beauty of Ash feels a little more personal to Angela these days than it did before the war, Angela smiles again as it appears like meeting an old friend. "Good to see you again." She tells the mech. Thanks to Petra, Angela might actually have opinions about space mechs now which is definitely something that would've never happened without her. Does that mean it'll be... an Ashpack, Angela thinks distantly. The AshEgg? ... No that sounds terrible. ''I guess theoretically killing me would help.'' "No." Angela says. "That is against the rules of the Library, remember. Sarracenia would be aggravating about it and it would be very upsetting." Angela isn't quite saying it directly but, yes, she obviously doesn't want Petra to die because she'd be upset if Petra died! It'd make her sad! "That feels like it would put a burden on you, however. Perhaps we could find a way to limit that burden? ... Getting to go outside with the limiting factor being that it has to be with you ... I enjoy spending time with you already." And she has missed Petra but she's been around enough that it hasn't been too hard to endure. She is pretty sure she has Audrey, in part, to thank for that too. So she cannot die either. For reasons outside the Library rules, even if that's what she'll point to. ''Nobunaga points a weapon at Angela'' Suddenly it feels like the Library itself is looking at Nobunaga. Angela doesn't move to interfere (Kukuru is right there) but when the gun goes CLICK--the sensation fades. ''...faintly nibbling on the rim of the goblet...'' Angela stares at Yuuki. Her mouth hangs open slightly as she's suddenly completely distracted away from the arena battle. Her eyes slowly track back to Petra. Conclusions come to her mind rapidly. Petra made the glass. Petra can feel it at least to some extent. Petra-- She looks at Petra blankly. "Is....that okay?
Angela	''Just gotta act~'' Malkuth unfortunately relates to this just enough, but she can't help but wonder if this is just an immediate reaction to what she had just said. "...If you do that too much, people will think ''you'' are the act." She says by way of warning, but at least the heat fades some. Angela feels something strange inside her body, around where she has those feathers on her Librarian's uniform. SHe places her hand there and then rushes over to the window where she sees-- Familiar feathers. "...Yes, perhaps between you two... It would be fitting. Feels right." She glances to Petra. "Narratively." ''It's a real pussy move to insist that you'll shoot me on sight as if I couldn't beat your ass back, and then play it off as a prank. It's such a loser thing to do.'' "I thought it was quite brave. Or at least foolish. She is in my EGO right now. If she had actually shot you, Kukuru would have to travel across all twelve floors of this Library in order to get enough pieces to put her back together again." MEANWHILE, at the fight that seems honestly a little less hostile than what's going up above right now... Roland finds that he is genuinely kind of enjoying Audrey's company. He wonders, if he had a kid, would they have had that kind of energy? She had insisted that they were going to be a girl, but he wasn't sure about that. He figured it could've been anything because in that moment he believed in all possibilities. Now, he believes in nothing at all. Roland doesn't know the significance of the feather, exactly, but he does know that Angela wears feathers quite like those. He quirks his head with a thoughtful frown as the feather-based-hands pull out of the ground. He lowers his weapon--and for a moment, White can see he IS very much taking the situation seriously. It's all in his stance. It's loose, guarded, and at the ready all at once. Audrey smashes Patrick down into the ground. Patrick struggles but he might as well be trying to lift a mountain off his back. Roland approaches, tensely, despite having all the time in the world. "...Give up?" "Stop teasing me..." Patrick spits. "...You weren't taking me seriously this whole fight." Roland's frown fades into ... nothing. "...It's normal to not go all out from the start, isn't it? Especially when you have a nasty little trick like that." He nods to the damaged 'Thunder Palm'. "...But just because you have capable gear, doesn't mean you're capable of utilizing it to the best of your ability. That's why I keep it simple. I stick to what I can handle..." He exhales out a long sigh. "...So not giving up?" "...I said, don't mock me. I know how the City works." Roland closes his eyes and nods once. "Yeah. Me too." He swipes down with Durandal, cleaving through the head and-- --just as quickly, the body dissipitates into light, leaving... 1x BOOK OF PATRICK behind. "...So that's how it works here..." Roland crouches down, dusts the book off with his hand, and offers it to Audrey. "You did the Heavy Lifting. It's only fair." He says.
Nobunaga	> "Tch. I mean..." The backpedal and swivel to insults only delights Nobunaga further, though her laughter has faded at least. Instead, she leans forward a bit where she stands, cradling her chin in one gloved hand, "Hoooh~... So that's your trick, then." Eyes closing, she waves her other hand, dismissing Petra's criticisms entirely, "Don't let me stop you; you're managing quite a lot already." > "I thought it was quite brave. Or at least foolish. . ."     "I appreciate the compliment, Miss Librarian," Nobunaga bows slightly, "My only hope is that it entertained you even a little." She knows enough to understand this is a Place of Power. That pressure a moment ago was unmistakable. Fortunately, her nonserious intention spared her the messy result.     "I may be the Great Fool of Owari, but even I am not foolish enough to execute a Partner in front of the Director," Her gaze shifts towards Yuuki, "Not unless she wants me to, at least."     The light and glow from the battle gets her attention back to the fight itself, "Hooh~?"
Arcadia	The assurance from the Director that the Concord will assist Angela however possible is enough to appease any concerns on the matter for the time being. The needs of her own city and the land it oversees along the Line has kept Arcadia away from the previous events involving Angela and the City, but now maybe she'll get an oppritunity to see more of this new phase. ''To take books regarding the nature of my construction to those that could make use of them to do me harm.'' The answer does put a slight damper on the moment. Arcadia glances towards the arena. That was a lot of faith being put in Roland and Audrey to prevent the intruder from winning and getting his hands of the desired information. Or maybe Angela just does not care. After all, they would still need to get to her to use any such information, which would certainly not be easy if she cannot leave the facility. Or once she achieves her own goal it would be a moot point. Food for thought. And more food for her mouth, as Arcadia settles to watch the fight and listen to the conversations going on.
Audrey Basque	Audrey knew that's how it works, and yet--     Roland cutting his head off makes her wince.     And him offering her the book makes her squirm internally quite a bit. This is, technically, a corpse, isn't it? It's not the STRANGEST thing she's seen so far but it's kind of up there.     But she's being offered the book, she can't just... say no.     "T-Thank you. Really, all I did was pin him down."     The feathers vanish, and she stands there awkwardly holding a book that used to be a living person moments before. She resists the temptation to look inside, quite badly, even though she can't help but wonder.     With the fight over, and a million questions to ask, Audrey looks up, towards the glass and the crowd-- she spots the Beauty of Ash, faintly, and Petra, and Angela, and so she, with a big regained smile, takes a step backwards, refracting with no fanfare as she passes through the boundary between the arena and the viewing room, stepping out of another refraction just an inch in front of Petra.     That WAS an accident, she meant to be much further out.     But she's in a good mood, and doesn't flinch.     "Hi Petra! Did you see--"     ... that's a lot of people, actually.     ... some of them she doesn't even know.     ... and that's the Director.     Audrey seems to shrink as she takes a step back and mutes her enthusiasm a bit. "O-Oh. H-Hello Dir-- Yuuki." Suddenly that little win seems immensely more inconsequential. She, instinctively, like it's a school textbook, holds the Book of Patrick tightly against herself and angles her head down as if to hide it a bit, and then gets struck by the horror of what she's doing and suddenly pushes her arms out with the book.     There are still cracks in the air near her, and in the arena, if Roland wants a shortcut up as well. He just has to step through them before they're gone, and he'll be right along to socialize too!
Timespace Riders	...thank you both...for your advice.     "You are most welcome." It isn't even said smugly! If you had them all, right now, where would you start? What'd be the first act of the Demon King's reign?     "Well, I know what I'd do. You can trust that. And when I have that power, you'll probably even see it happen," he says, watching the fight intently. "But it's the kind of thing where, if I answer that now, it kind of poisons the well. I'm sorry I can't give you something more satisfying to hear." But I hope you have a better opinion of Ange and I than just thinking we'll sit around doing the exact same thing like the City expects us to until everything's magically fixed.     "Of course I do." After all, he'd started his expression of his frustration with how much this Fixer's mindset sucks. I've got a fucking, like, list of things to try and targets to look at.     That draws his attention away from the window. "That's... a really big relief to hear, Petra. Thank you. I guess I was just kind of... primed for things to go a certain way, after everything we've been through." I opted to put that on hold out of respect for our hostess, but if you insist.     Is there something about me that makes people think it's okay to act this way front of me? Am I supposed to just smile and laugh it off? I may be the Great Fool of Owari, but even I am not foolish enough to execute a Partner in front of the Director.     "Thanks, Lord Nobunaga," Sougo says flatly. If there's something I can help with... Lemme know.     Sougo flickers again, and this time Kukuru can't just blame it on her sight; he subtly shifts in her grasp, but turns fully around and embraces her in a hug.     "Just hearing you say that means a lot," he says, squeezing her before he lets go. "I'll let you know." There are others who can carry it when you need time...     "I... appreciate it," he says, nodding, coming back to the table. "I guess if there's one thing I have a lot of, it's time." ...I need to be better than 'anyone'.     "Some would say that you already are. Nevertheless, I hope you will accept that I do not blame you, and never shall."
Sarracenia	'I never did finalize my application to Trideag...Maybe I should leave some helpers here, at least.'      Sarra nods toward White. "It would likely be helpful."      'Maddie nods in Sarra's direction. "Sup," she says to the princess. "I've been digging the new style, by the way. Black and silver - it's a good color pair." She taps one of the chrome spikes on her jacket with a subtle chuckle.'      It takes Sarracenia a minute or two to make it back around to Madeleine. When she does finally make it though Sarra blinks in surprise at Madeleine. "Oh...uh...thank you." Sarra is self-conscious about it though. She didn't really make the palette swap by choice so much as it just seeming appropriate. Still, she smirks lightly and gives her hair a bit of a toss. "While it was not my first choice, I realized I should do the best I can with it."      'That's good, dear. If that changes, let me know.'      Sarra's shoulder is squeezed, and she hesitates a moment before lifting her hand to give Kukuru's a squeeze of thanks in return.      '... I thought it was... More obvious.'      Sarra seems confused now. "Oh? I guess I was assuming you were from one of those worlds that was quite literally a video game. We had a few of those, you know. People who had 'logged in' to a video game, and they wandered about the Multiverse as their avatars. A rather dashing young hero named Kirito came from one of those worlds."      'I opted to put that on hold out of respect for our hostess, but if you insist...'      Sarra chokes on a bit of lasagna as Petra asks a question, Nobunaga answers, and a gun appears. "N-Nobu...!"      The gun wasn't loaded. Sarra lets out a breath. Her brain was immediately imagining the worst case. Petra gets shot. Angela goes on a rampage. They are stuck in a week of war again.      So, Sarra is quite happy that this doesn't happen and instead Petra insults Nobunaga some more.      'I guess theoretically killing me would help.'      'No. That is against the rules of the Library, remember. Sarracenia would be aggravating about it and it would be very upsetting.'      Sarra blinks in surprise at being used as an excuse for Petra to be kept alive. And for some reason...Sarra laughs. "Yes. Yes I would be." she says almost cheerfully. "Especially after pointing out reasons Petra had to live."      The battle comes to an end, and though she wants to look away it feels like it would be disrespectful now. And Patrick becomes...a book? Sarra blinks in surprise. And is even more surprised when Audrey steps into the room with that book. It makes Sarra squirm internally as well to have a book/corpse being carried around by a student. But, it also makes Sarra more hopeful that maybe Adam was bookified. Sure, he died before Angela got her EGO gear, but...he was still in here somewhere at the time, right?      'You are most welcome.'      'Mhm. I've still got the thing with my altered TT2 to try with you, too.'      Sarra perks at the mention of the time manipulating device. "Is there any timeframe on -that-?" she asks, obviously eager to get back to her properly young self...even though she doesn't look much different at all except the silver hair.
White	White leaves her silk where it is, twining the muzzle of the summoned gun to the ceiling loosely. Nobunaga can probably just unsummon the weapon, so why should she bother freeing it? At the same time, Petra's self-defense obviating her own attempt serves as a reminder that others can usually take care of themselves, so White settles back into half-ignoring Nobunaga once she's finished fantasizing about teleporting her out to the front doorstep, or maybe into the ocean. She's not good with the types to resort to 'I'm not touching youuuu~' as social leverage, anyway, so she simply makes a moment's eye contact with Petra and stands up from her chair, getting a little more out of the way. She has noooo idea what's going on with the funny chalice; even if she Analyzes it she's probably going to miss the beads of sweat or small changes in Petra's demeanor as anything relevant.      Besides Audrey's back! And maybe Roland too, soon. She gives the newly-met woman a small bow and a "Hello." since she knows they're not acquainted, and finds herself wondering if she should compliment the show. Would it be weird to do that when they don't know each other? Would it come across like posturing if she were to talk about Dimensio- I mean Spatial Magic like an expert? Oh god, imagine if she gets out-nerded at one of her specialties, that would be horrifying... These thoughts, and more, occupy more than half of her braincells for a few awkward moments with her gleaming eyes half-lidded and staring seemingly into Audrey's soul, rather than the middle-distance.
Yuuki Kuran	Yuuki quite happily enjoyed a whole chalice of champagne while being very normal about its vessel (made entirely out of metal blood). The engagement of her lips and the rim turns thoughtful, far slower than the situation than she's reacting to, because a gun comes out in the sitting area and it's not to the *gun* that she looks. . . Instead, her glowing-reds track over to Kukuru, present and perfect in the room, and then down back to private smiles and a sharp prickpoint of tapping with very precise management of the force she applies to the metal glass. She knows she could pierce a hole into it, and instead drags the faintest scrape across the inside just to test and see while glancing Petra's way. Then, unfortunately, she does have to act. Bringing the chalice down and giving Petra a break, Yuuki holds half-drained champagne goblet near her lap. "I'd like to address something. Something I've heard a few times, and since I hear a lot of things, don't take this personally when I mean it generally. I'm . . . uncomfortable with how often Partners talk about killing each other." Even if her voice is soft and her tone patient, the crackle of that one word is palpable in the brainpan, sizzling about the ears, clear. She doesn't like it. This is attenuated by, of course, Petra being around, so the whole effect might be a lot more distorted-dramatic than she intends - a creaking of a great wood, a bending of metal at highest tension. "I like being the fun friend to everyone, and people's easiest point of contact, and I'm going to remain that. But also, we are celebrating the measured ascent of one of our brightest Partners, Angela, and the new Partner who saved her, Petra, and observing the performance of a third, so please, take this as a..." Yuuki sighs. "Chance to reflect?" Sougo gets a knowing look, though they haven't spoken at all on the 'topic'. Exasperation. Feelings. Letting everyone in on the fact she was peeking wasn't something she had any shame over when there was a point to be made. "We love Kukuru because she keeps everyone healthy and alive, but even Kukuru has limits and they shouldn't be tested. She's been through a lot *for* that measured ascent. Let's--" 'Hi Petra! Did you see--' It's not just the Director, Audrey! It's the Director at 'headmistress of you chuckleheads having a Serious Tone Talk' in her own way. And since she prefers to speak of brighter things, she welcomes Audrey into the room with a toast. "Audrey! The returning champion, I was just talking about how wonderful it is that we're celebrating the recent trials and successes of our Partners, as well as our wonderful new arrivals! Come come, I think Angela had some pastries if you've worked up a hunger for more than reading!" She laughs, and like a storm breaking there's no more intensity and Petra-garbled Castlevania mind mist insinuations.
Audrey Basque	It's really probably for the best Audrey missed all of the tension, guns and standoffs moments prior. It means the only weight on her mind right now is the stares, the fact she's holding a book(corpse), and Yuuki being there in Serious Headmistress mode, for some kind of incident she has no context for. Just a normal day!! Nothing to stress about, at all. At least she'd stuck to her word to Angela, much earlier.     "Hello!" she replies to White, making a bow she can't fully commit to on account of holding a book(corpse) and wow that thing is really inhibiting her movements isn't it.     She really should have let Roland keep it.     Yuuki snaps her out of a thought whirlwind, which causes Audrey to snap to attention stiff and straight. "P-Pastries would be good. I um. I need to. I need to put this bod-- book. I need to put this book. Down. First." Be normal. Be normal about this. Everyone else is, don't stick out. It's just a dead man you're hauling around like a fight club trophy, it is NOT the worst thing to happen and at least it's not getting your clothes bloody.     She cannot be normal about this.     "A-Angela, where can I put this?"
Petra Soroka	"Yeah... I'd have an easier time moving on if ... I don't know, anything else."     "'If anything else'..." Petra echoes, with a bit of a wistful look on her face. "... Yeah. Me too. I hope we can, uh... do our bests to look forwards to the future together." "That is against the rules of the Library, remember."     Petra smiles faintly and rubs her hand along the arm of the Beauty of Ash fondly. "I mean, you know how I hate breaking rules. So you got me. But in terms of burden..."     She purses her lips in thought. "I'm not actually sure. I mean, like, I've got no concept at all of what it'd even demand from me. Kind of... if it needs a constant psychic connection, we might end up being telepathically linked like before, but I'm not actually any good at sustained psychic contact-- like, none of my paradigms actually work that way. So I really have no idea..." She trails off into mumbling. "... I wish I actually knew anything about how my power worked...." "Is....that okay?"     While the morphmetal cup is getting chewed on, Petra awkwardly worries her thumbs back and forth across her hands, restless and sweaty seemingly without cause. Angela's question makes her shoot her head up to look at her like she's just been caught in the middle of doing something shameful. "A-ah. I'm normal."     Yuuki's scraping with her fang on the cup makes Petra's breath hitch at the end of that bald-faced lie, and she shivers. She doesn't notice Yuuki looking in her direction, because to be *watching* her drink from the chalice would be a level of depravity that even Petra can't manage. "I guess I was just kind of... primed for things to go a certain way, after everything we've been through."     "W-well. My priorities are to Lilian and Angela, for the City. And both of them want things to be kinder. So I can't help fulfill their dreams until I... try a bit harder on that part, too." "Hoooh~... So that's your trick, then."     Petra bristles, and along with her mood, the prickling wash of her aura magnifies and ripples off of the Beauty of Ash. "My *trick* is that I don't respect threats spouted off at me and then laughed off as a joke. It's not *free* to threaten to kill me, actually. And whatever you might spit in the radio, I'm not a helpless little *girl*, so--" "I'm . . . uncomfortable with how often Partners talk about killing each other."     Petra stiffens up. She's been pretty mindful of her death threats lately, but she just does them *so* often and so freely she can't help but immediately feel like she's included in the sweeping scold. Her aura's variable fluctuation might have swelled high before Yuuki spoke, but the tone is enough to convey it.     "A-h, sorry, Director. I shouldn't have, um, needled her." "Hi Petra! Did you see--"     And then Audrey's here! An inch away! While Petra is in the weird sweaty midpoint between anger at Nobunaga, flinch-guilt at Yuuki, and some secret third thing also at Yuuki! So, high energy of various types, redirected towards happier topics once she's given one to latch on to, she congratulatorally bumps Audrey with her shoulder and claps her hands together.     "I did! I did see! And Director Kuran was happy about it too, and also, I had an idea about something we can try later together, and!"     Oh, Audrey's being weird about the corpse book. Seeing a way in which she can help, Petra plucks it out of her hands to hold it herself, and flips it open to a random page. "Wow, this really is crazy. EGO's got insane potential, huh?"
Kukuru	1x BOOK OF PATRICK Not even flinching when Roland brings the blade down at Patrick's head, Kukuru instead lets out a relieved noise when the battle comes to a close. "Oh, they did it! I knew they would, but it's still.. Ah, it's better knowing they won't have to get anything put back on them." Breathing a little easier, she waves at Audrey and Roland should they look up towards the spectators, smiling broadly in encouragement for a job well done. "Just hearing you say that means a lot," That catches her off guard. Even though/because Kukuru's done this so many times before with people feeling down, she's mostly been ued to being the one to show the affection rather than receiving it back. Sougo actually gets a pleasantly surprised squeak out of her, and she feels some of that weight in her heart lightening considerably from that. "Thank you, dear. I.. I work a lot better with direction, and... I've got to get a lot stronger, too." She replies, nodding lightly into the hug to give Sougo one more squeeze back as well. "We'll make sure everything works out together." "If you do that too much, people will think ''you'' are the act." Malkuth gets another chuckle out of Kukuru, although the uncertainty is starting to sink in some more as she keeps thinking more about it. Is the act really helping herself at all? Would she be better off dropping it for a while? Or would that just create even more stress down the line compared to just spinning those plates forever? The uncertainty lingers for way too long on Kukuru's face, even, as her gaze just sort of lingers on the battle rather than remembering to give Malkuth an answer. She does answer eventually, at least, although it just comes out as a "Yeah... Some of them probably already do, but that's..." Is it okay? She wants to say it's okay, but she can't finish saying it. It's not really okay, or at least not until she can finally back it up with power. ". . . would have to travel across all twelve floors of this Library . . ." Kukuru closes her eyes for another slow inhale, long exhale, then heads over to Nobunaga. "Nobunaga, dear..." Kukuru raises a hand to the back of her head with the middle finger against the thumb like she's about to flick her with it, loosens her hand up because she knows how destructive her hands are, then taps Nobunaga gently with the finger. "Don't do that. It's a mean joke." She chides her gently, then giggles a moment later at Angela's response to Petra on the same matter. "Both, mhm. But... Ange, that'd just be making more work for meeee." She fake-whines, giving Nobunaga a lighter pat on the head right afterwards. "Just be careful about the kinds of jokes you play, okay? We're still family at the end of the day." She sounds so much more tired than usual as she says that.
Kukuru	"I'm . . . uncomfortable with how often Partners talk about killing each other." "She's been through a lot *for* that measured ascent." There's a mixed sense of relief and guilt hitting Kukuru in the chest when she hears Yuuki saying that. It never hurts to be praised, of course, and that brings about a feeling of elation! The guilt, though, hits hard with the lingering question of whether or not Kukuru could've prevented exactly this sort of thing by speaking up sooner about any discomfort she was feeling about all of it. The fact that she's been thinking about these kinds of things so much lately also frustrates Kukuru to no end. At least it's keeping her distracted from whatever's making Petra blush like that, although she does glance over just in time to notice it happening. Audrey (and possibly Roland) coming up steals her attention away, though, and she bounds over to give out the customary congratulatory hug and dose of healing ~~magic~~ nanites. "Wonderful work, dear! Aah, I didn't really get what I was looking at before, but..." She strokes her chin lightly with one hand while offering Audrey a towel with the other. It's the big plush type that might as well be a bath towel for how big it is. "Very smushy... Ah. Are you alright, dear? Is the book too... Heavy?" Kukuru looks from Audrey to Petra once the latter takes the book, another relieved noise coming out of her. Her curiosity gets the better of her, though, and she scoots over to take a peek. "Does it...? Huh. How can you tell?"
Angela	''Really, all I did was pin him down.'' "Oh don't sell yourself short." Roland tells Audrey. "But I figured I was more used to, uh, 'finishing blows', you know? But if you'd rather I didn't do that in the future, let me know alright? I don't want to be presumptuous about how you feel about it." Right, he remembers, Outsiders usually enter the Fixer business a little later than people from The City do. She probably IS new to this. Newer than his instincts suggest. Either way, he heads up with her, waving a hand towards Petra, first, "Hey boss, we made it through our first fight. How'd we do?" He gives that lazy half-smirk of a smile once more. Angela extends her hand towards Audrey, ostensibly for the book. "...Congratulations, Audrey. You did well. I appreciate you dragging Roland to victory." Roland wrinkles his nose but doesn't argue. "Hey, she did something impressive. Never saw anyone do that sort of thing with feathers before." Angela has. She watches Audrey thoughtfully. "...You may be able to help me with escap1ng after all, Audrey, at least temporarily. Petra and I discussed some ideas while you were down there and--the fact that you can tap into the Library's power is..." Dangerous, Roland thinks. "Useful." Angela says. ''I may be the Great Fool of Owari.'' Angela looks to Nobunaga. "No. Wouldn't it be strange if I found that entertaining? I can only imagine how you treat friends." Targets, Angela thinks. The idea that they could be strategic about it... ... But this one was not her choice. ... But it was the Library's, so it must have been her choice. But it is not as if she knew what type of man he was before they met. Even with that vision. She frowns thoughtfully. Sougo's flickering is making her worried for him. "...Are you suffering from some.. powers trouble?" She asks softly. ''Some would say you already are.'' "Then I best not rest on my laurels." It is impossible to get Angela to stop being a hardass about this. Not until she goes outside at least. Angela has no idea how that will change her personality."...But I appreciate you do not blame me." She isn't going to keep that fight. Just the do better next time one. Angela is quietly dreading that she might have to fight Trideag. SHe really hopes not. She is also dreading that she won't, that even Trideag can't be loyal to Lilian over her for some reason or another. ''Maybe I should leave some helpers here, at least.'' Angela's eyes light up, clearly delighted by the idea. "I would love if you wanted to leave some of your friends here. I can set aside a room." She considers that the helpers might be spiders. "Or a nice chamber? We can discuss what would be ideal accomodations." She is not thinking about an early warning system, she is thinking 'It'd be cute!!' but she is not going to say ''It'd be cute'' since that is an Angela secret deep inside her head right now. She frankly adores White and is really determined to be ''good'' to White and ''accomodating'' to White. She wants WHite to see her best self and, since she failed that, at least her second best self.
Angela	Yuuki gives some warning about PArtners talking about killing each other. Angela frowns because she is a Partner who was talking about killing another, even if that was becuase another Partner put a gun to the head of a third Partner. "...Yes, we should not take ressurection--or Kukuru--for granted." She does remember M.O.M after all. Even Kukurus do have their limits. And so do minds and souls. He is still in the Library. Angela has been hesitant to... ''I think Angela had some pastries.'' "Yes! I brought snacks and I can go fetch you some tea or coffee if you'd like...!" Malkuth assures Audrey, giving a sympathetic look to Yuuki for a moment. Petra doesn't know about burdens. She also took the book before she could get it but Petra taking it is the same as it being in her hands so it doesn't trouble Angela at all. Right now it's hard to think about the burden though because of the CUP. Petra assures her she's normal. "...I do not doubt it," Angela says, though she is still worried some rule was broken with that cup. Rulebreaking isn't exactly ABnormal after all. "I will do my best to avoid rising to the occassion." Angela says to Yuuki. "...But it troubles me how quickly people move to 'threatening Petra' over 'Petra saying something they did not wish to hear'. I will endeavour to find another avenue besides 'threats' as a reaction." She supposes threats barely ever work anyway so. Malkuth frowns at Kukuru, now WORRIED, but she doesn't comment on the matter further. She nudges Angela with an arm which seems to remind her... "I apologize for taking you for granted, Kukuru. You have been a constant, but it is...wrong of me to do so." She seems content to leave it at that.
Timespace Riders	I'm . . . uncomfortable with how often Partners talk about killing each other.     "Thank you, Director," Sougo says, with genuine and immense relief.     "Hail to you, Audrey Basque."      "Hi, Audrey, nice to meet you in person. I'm Sougo--we spoke a little bit on the radio? That's my retainer, Woz."     "You two did good out there." He isn't thrilled that there was an 'out there' to begin with--but Petra's reassurances, Angela's and Kukuru's have bolstered his spirit enough that he can, for today, take solace in the fact that he has nothing but time. ...Are you suffering from some.. powers trouble?      "Trouble?" Sougo answers softly. "Mm... not exactly. I'll tell you about it later."
Nobunaga	> "So please, take this as a ... moment of reflection."     Oda Nobunaga closes her eyes with a little nod. There's a faint gesture which disperses the rifle, leaving White's silk empty. When Audrey trots in, victorious, the warlord brings her hands up and applauds, "Well done! You and that fellow work well together." > "It's not *free* to threaten to kill me, actually. . ."     "The topic is closed," Nobunaga states firmly towards Petra while gesturing at Yuuki. Kukuru gives her a bonk that teeters her a bit, whether that's performative or due to Kukuru's might is left unclear, "Ahaha-- alright, alright."     Reaching into her cape, Nobunaga produces her cap again, tugging it back into place atop her head. Audrey fumbling with the corpse-book makes for a welcome distraction.
White	White flutters her eyelids and closes her eyes again, glancing over at Angela as she's roused from her inane inner speculations about Audrey. She tells Angela in her soft voice, "I hope they'll be of help. And..." She pauses, oddly hesitant to add, "I will bring snacks next time, since you mentioned you were able to eat recently... I think? I'll choose weird ones, so they'll be new to you." Maybe not everyone wants weird food, but at least to White a large part of the misery of being trapped in one place is not getting to eat what you want to, when you want to. It's something she is quite primed to solve, as a gesture. Momentarily, she's distracted thinking about teleporting Nobunaga somewhere again as she employs the social tool of cowering behind authority, but then remembers something else, less annoying.      She pivots to Audrey, whose hands are now freer than they were a moment ago, and produces another plush from her sleeve like the one with glasses she gave to Angela before. This one's a... Snake? No, it must be some kind of fat dragon, it has stubby little legs. It's orange with brown stripes, like a weird sort of tiger. She pushes it forward, underhand. "Your prize." she says, making up an excuse on the spot.      She had to get rid of that thing *somehow*.
Audrey Basque	Roland suggests she should be the one to kill next time.     Audrey shakes her head vigorously. "N-No, that's-- it's okay! I'm... you're right, "to the death" is still new to me. I'm not opposed to taking a life, but if someone more qualified can and wants to do it, I'll happily stand back."     She is an Enlightened, after all. She was raised with the inherent belief that her life is more valuable and sometimes that might mean disappearing some folks, and that's... just how it is, in the upper layers of mage life.     Audrey turns back to Petra, completely oblivious to the mood she just stepped into. "And idea? Wait, hang on, that's a--" Corpse. You can't just. You can't just open it up like that in front of everyone!! Can you?     Audrey averts her gaze, which is all the better because SUDDEN KUKURU HUG. "H-Hello, hi. S-Smushy-- um. Yeah, I'm okay. Thank you." That was nice, though. A bit of comfort, right this second, went a long way.     She does take the towel, since the book is no longer in her care. She wipes her forehead a bit; it's not like it's sweaty, but it feels like.     Angela's tone makes Audrey recoil a bit, as she remembers what she just did. "... oh! Oh, I'm-- I should have asked first. I'm sorry. I kind of... I forgot this uniform isn't... you know, I don't have my patterns in it yet, so I wanted to compensate a bit and--" Excuses. "I'm... glad it's useful? I guess we'll have to talk later, if this is about Petra's idea." The odds seem high they're connected.     Pastries, she will not decline.     "Thank you, Malkuth!"     Hail, and hi-- and then Sougo says his name, which causes which the reaction from Audrey. "Oh!! You're the Demon King of Time Petra told me about!" She struggles to ask: "S-Should I... should I be bowing?" He even has a retainer here! "I'm sorry, I'm a little-- overwhelmed, at the moment. Really, I mean, my apologies." The book no longer blocks her movements, so she bows to Sougo, finally. "Good to finally meet you, Your Majesty."     Everything then improves when she's handed a plush. She regains some kind of calm, smiles to White, and manages a "Thank you!" even though she doesn't understand. It's a cute plush, it's going on her bed either way, and she's going to try very hard not to think about the fact it's a blood sport prize.
Sarracenia	The Director goes into serious mode. Sarra...feels a bit smug because she has never threatened to kill anyone. Sure, she may have inspired the desire to kill her in some others but she has never threatened anyone with death, especially those within the ranks of the Concord. So, she can claim the moral superiority! She isn't about to say that right now, but the way her arms are crossed and her slightly haughty frown makes it clear she thinks she is not included in the scolding.      'Petra opens the Patrick book.'      Sarra looks a bit ill and actually yelps out, "What are you doing, Petra?! They literally -just-..." She gestures emphatically at the arena, still not the kind of person to just casually talk about someone being killed and turned into a book.      In fact, Sarra turns to Kukuru. "Miss Kukuru, could you-..." But, after what Yuuki said...does Sarra have the right to ask? "...could you...?" Sarra can't bring herself to finish the question, but with her lightly pleading look it might be clear what she wants. Still, she doesn't finish the thought and instead takes Kukuru's hand in both of hers. "...you are amazing, Miss Kukuru." she says with a smile, giving Kukuru's hand a squeeze. "Thank you for your hard work."      As Audrey receives praise from most everyone, Sarra joins in. "Yes, it was indeed well fought! Seeing you and your powers at work has been impressive every time I have seen them." Sarra sighs softly, smiling a bit sadly. "...it makes my hammer and explosives seem so..." The princess waves a hand to dismiss that thought. "I have no doubt you will be a strong heroic presence in the sector."
Zero Kiryu	"'You may fight other partners. Do not kill them.', 'Do not put associates-but-not-Partners under your purview in charge of the life or death of a Partner'. These are instructions that I have had a need to issue in recent years. At its core, the right that Partners have to contest each other's ideas is a core part of the Concord. In that way, the Concord can position people to always have somebody on the winning side of a conflict," Comes a voice from Yuuki Kuran, that is decidedly not Yuuki Kuran. A twist of ornamental plant matter with small purple blossoms sprouts a branch that turns into Zero Kiryu, who is presently dressed in a brown waistcoat and slacks, and white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He materializes fully at Yuuki's flank, passing her a cordial glass as he does so. It's not the first time this has happened, but it is a neat reminder: Wherever Yuuki Kuran is, Zero is co-local to, even if you're not aware of it and even if he never actually indicates as such. The primary thing that he uses this for is to take notes for Yuuki, not that anybody would be meaningfully aware of that. His gaze flicks to Petra. "Many things that transpire among elites are not free." Then to Nobunaga, "If anything should happen to Petra Soroka without clear cause, we will be assuming that it was connected to you until this has passed from memory. I suggest that you take pains to make certain that she is safe from a comfortable distance. Coincidentally, this would enable to you engage the places and things that you were seeking to engage anyway, so the only thing that it costs you is looking a little ridiculous." "And you'll look that way regardless of whether you take my suggestion." His attention turns to Yuuki. "Please drink. And..." "I think that it is coming due for us to discuss policy and goals a little in general. Our situation has been relaxed for a long time, but the tension has been escalating meaningfully. That is not a matter for today, because this is Angela's business at present, but I would like to invite all Partners present to consider topics of discussion, for putting on-record ongoing objectives. There is a certain disconnect of communication that has been a consequence of those ongoing tensions that I would prefer to dispel." "That's all," he says, folding his hands behind his back. The only reason that he doesn't immediately vanish back into Yuuki's jewelry is to reduce the sheer awkwardness of the interjection by remaining a continued corporeal presence for at least a little while longer.
White	White reacts to Zero's unusual form of arrival with an unusual amount of barely-visible confusion, for her. The reflex is to assume that they've been shadowed somehow, and White's eyes snap open again, but once she turns and focuses a little she can discern enough to promptly drop back to neutral and put away her danger-peepers again. She hadn't been introduced to Zero yet, is all! Internally, she adjusts her vampire relationship rankings slightly. Merazophis is losing a little bit of stock in the cool vampire manservant race. To Yuuki, the way her lidded eyes subtly shift back and forth between the two for a moment might come across vaguely impressed, but she still acts on habit and gives Zero a plain "Hello." for a first meeting.      She takes his suggestion to memory, at least, though feels almost poorly equipped to act on it personally, being rather new and unconnected overall.
Angela	Angela nods to Sougo. For a moment she wasn't sure if he was even aware it was happening! But he seems to be, so all is well. ''I will bring snacks next time.'' "You are very kind to me. I should warn you though my appetite is meager at the moment, but if they keep well I could simply save some for later." She feels a bit guilty because she really wanted to be reliable for White and here White is, extending all this help to her and she's barely done anything for White herself. She went to that meeting, but that's not really DOING anything. "i hope I can help you in turn soon." She says, very seriously. "I ''want'' to help you. If it is not trouble." Maybe she can't be perfect Concord role model but she can at least endeavour to be a Partner who can be relied upon. Yes, she'll go for that. She finds the plush offering to Audrey endearing but manages to keep her expression neutral. She nods to Audrey. Whatever 'offense' she might have taken is being dissipitated by the hope that it might be neccessary to escape. Besides, she can't imagine Audrey meaning ill with it, not when she has that little strand of hair sticking up. She needs to put her in a room with Hod. She has to do this. She doesn't know what will happen but she has to. "I know you meant no ill." She assures Audrey. "But I... felt it. So..." She steeples her fingers together, looking away, seemingly a touch embarrassed. Malkuth says, "No problem, Audrey...! I'll head right over and--" ''What are you doing, Petra?!'' "Books are meant to be read, Sarracenia." Angela says. "Besides, it may explain how she got in--" ''ZERO KIRYU WITH THE STEEL CHAIR Malkuth is startled, but Angela is growing accustomed to Zero Kiryu showing up--one way or another--to support Yuuki Kuran. It's actually something of an inspiration. Angela intends to do the same for Petra but even she has to admit that Zero Kiryu is levels beyond what she's capable of right now. ANGELA can't like swoop out of Petra's shadow like that...not yet! Should she find a way to poke her head out of a mirror or something like that so she can tagteam some poor sap with Petra? Usually it's radio so it's not really necessary but she can't help but appreciate the STYLE of it. Roland studies Zero Kiryu thoughtfully, looking between him and Yuuki. He seems a little uneasy--but everybody knows the reputation of vampires in The City. "My business is about wrapped up, Kiryu, but I appreciate your discretion. It IS late, but I will make sure I attend one way or another to the meeting."
White	White tries very, very hard to make a normal smile. Well, much harder than she normally does, anyway. In the attempt not to overshoot and reproduce the 'evil bathroom ghost-girl' smile from last time, she undershoots instead and just barely lifts her cheeks. Practice still required. "... Thank you, Miss Angela." She pauses, and she thinks, and the smile slides back to neutral as she forgets to maintain it, coming up with another answer. "... Then, if you could help catch me up with what's been happening, I might find that helpful. It's hard to follow what suddenly changed with everyone, since I wasn't... Here for it. I'm still... Poking holes in my own plans. Maybe you could share your insight."
Petra Soroka	"Hey boss, we made it through our first fight. How'd we do?"     A man who smirks at Petra is given a significant dose more of suspicion than a woman would be, especially right after having had someone point a gun at her in a decidedly reminiscent way of how plenty of male Elites have treated her before. Petra squints at him and holds the book to her chest, stanced much closer to Audrey than to him, but after scanning his expression over a second time, figures he's probably being normal.     "You did good. I'll want to evaluate your, like, combat capability separate from Audrey's at some point, though." Meaning, like Angela, she thinks it's hard to praise Roland when he's obviously being carried by the Crown White elite student of Nova Heliosanctus. "...Yes, we should not take ressurection--or Kukuru--for granted."     Petra sighs. It's hard to be an ungrateful hardass after dying a dozen times and seeing Kukuru wither away for it. "... Yeah. We shouldn't. Kukuru should... really not be, uh, taken as a license to die and kill people and stuff. I think we've done too much dying lately. I seriously got killed repeatedly over two separate instances in the past couple months. And Kukuru's been wrung out." "...But it troubles me how quickly people move to 'threatening Petra' over 'Petra saying something they did not wish to hear'."     Petra hears this and appreciates it greatly. She just can't come to her own defense because she is a New Partner and also always at fault for everything. "The topic is closed,"     That prompts an extremely sour look from Petra, shooting up at Nobunaga-- but she's not about to start anything again. Still, it's yet another negative relationship modifier on *top* of having guns pointed at her, to be so smugly losercore about being reprimanded. "And idea? Wait, hang on, that's a--" "Does it...? Huh. How can you tell?" "What are you doing, Petra?! They literally -just-..."     "Mmm. I'll look through it more thoroughly later to see if there's anything interesting. This chapter is just, like, descriptions of Fixer ranks." Petra shrugs and closes the book, handing it off to Angela without argument. "Might be a Social Sciences one, but I can't judge from one page." "I'm... glad it's useful?"     "It's totally, absolutely useful," Petra emphasizes reasurringly. "'Do not put associates-but-not-Partners under your purview in charge of the life or death of a Partner'."     This, Petra knows from Angela's memories, was actually said about her a long time ago. She also knows how often her own threats of murder have come up between Concord conversations before-- and while getting insight into how the Concord talked about her before she was around was mostly a positive, it did burden her with some 'reading the groupchat backlog' despair. She winces slightly. "I suggest that you take pains to make certain that she is safe from a comfortable distance."     This is a little bit of a punishment to Petra too, because she has to be surveilled by someone she doesn't like at all. That's fair, though, and she can't argue against it. Instead, she meekly adds another Partner surveillance system to the conversation. "Speaking of that... I've still got Charlotte, White. Of everything to survive the whole apocalypse in the City, she was one, so, don't worry about that."
Yuuki Kuran	Though she knows that most of the room either begs for someone to help them or dips their eyes in chided pensivity, Yuuki returns to her own fixation after a moment - the goblet Petra offered her - and the reclining enjoyment of the company of her friends and those she had chosen to spend some of her ample time with. More people seem disappointed than pleased with the result, and it makes Yuuki linger longer on her champagne than she might otherwise, even with Audrey fluttering back into focus. It was better, that way. Audrey deserved to be centered, and not the faint spatting of an otherwise harmonious group. Had she let things go too long? She knew the dark father groupchat had a sort of chivalric manrivalry whose friction encouraged the members to greater heights of action and inspiration, but that was their business. Gru and Ivo always worked well together, and Dragmire would often try to apply his jawline and charm to gull the others into some showy contest... 'She had let it go on too far' manifests as a person, sprouting from a complex rose-earpiece she wears that grows mind and body of its own. Yuuki isn't even surprised, though, why would she be? She and Zero shared thoughts and spaces more than often, and so him appearing was as natural as a curl of the wrist for her to produce 'both of them'. The 'Hand' of the Concord indeed. The 'Please drink' offering gets Yuuki to lean over and lift Zero's wrist to her mouth to smooch-and-then-chomp at his wrist and drink quietly while his thoughts are far more active and pointed than hers. White's plain 'Hello.' gets an amused lean in, Yuuki's shoulders escaping a serious straightness and her lips parting from an empty chalice and parted-from wrist to grin in aside, cleanlipped but blood-scented. She's introducing him, even while he's right there! She might be having a little fun with it, being the helpful clue-in. "That's Zero. *My* partner, love of my life, and also Hand of the Concord. He helps me handle things, of course, and also himself is an ensurer of dreams and vigilant protector. Is this your first time? He can still hear you, but if you'd like a conversation, try the radios sometimes! I'm sure you'd get along well, White." 'I will make sure I attend one way or another to the meeting.' "Oh, Angela, I'd like you to be a keynote speaker if possible. Especially since we have recruited so many partners. I'm sure we can project you onto a very big screen or have a hologram set-up for it, very technical. Event planning! We'll make it wonderful." Yuuki leans back and places the chalice offered to her by Petra on the table, empty, with two fang-hole marks bit into the rim like she had taken a holepunch to the metal. "Petra, since you're an experienced hand at the topics, please make sure to bring White up to speed personally, and arrange for anything Angela needs of course." "Audrey? As our newest Partner, by application to acceptance, I've also decided you will be making a presentation! Surely the freshest blood has a dream to share."
Zero Kiryu	Zero inclines his head towards White in greeting. Judging by the number of words he just said, and the way he returned the greeting-- he's probably not actually a very talkative person, on the whole. If she's paid attention to his radio presence at all, that probably tracks with it-- he only really speaks up in reaction to perceived problems. Most of them end up relating to Lilian in some way, somehow. If not, well... he's a white-haired, purple-eyed man with a rather somber resting face. Even having relaxed into a standby state, he really wouldn't be considered all that approachable by the average person. The only thing that really breaks that image of him is the prominent, stylized thorned-rose tattoo on his neck. Malkuth gets a glance. It's a little apologetic, but it might be hard to parse as communicating anything at all. "If you're concerned about your security: Wherever Yuuki is, I am also," he adds, expecting the issue to be raised at some point. Even if it's only after he's gone. "If you need special accommodations, let us know," Zero directs to Angela, lips curving incredibly faintly. He's not one to smile very much, either. It isn't an evil smile-- he likes Angela, whatever the reason for that is. He's not being two-faced by the offer. Roland's attention does catch his gaze. Zero looks back at him, evaluating him. But he doesn't seem to bring away anything visibly negative-- and he just nods, looking away.
White	White gives Yuuki a curious look as she's enthusiastically introduced to Zero, having to remind herself that this is just how vampires talk about their manservants. It's normal! She has references, and experience! Yuuki probably isn't wrong that they'd get along fine, but White does wonder what she'd initiate a conversation with... She'll have to think on it. Maybe he has advice she can convey to Merazophis. "I will... Keep that in mind. And it's nice to meet you." She does the usual small bow back at Zero's nod.      They might have *too* much in common. She's starting to feel like they're on opposite ends of the social-skill spectrum, like one of those chart memes where the more experienced you are, the more you overshoot the top of the curve in a given subject.      Eventually though, she glances back to Petra when Yuuki suggests she join in the conversation. She looks fine with this idea, and instead addresses the 'don't worry' comment about Charlotte. "... I can just make another. If you want spares..?" Wow, cold.
Audrey Basque	The way it's phrased like an assignment is actually kind of--     "Oh! I certainly could, yes," Audrey falls into attention at Yuuki's request. She can forget, for one second, the exact context she's in, and pretend this is a classroom, and she's just been told to give a hour lecture about her latest paper. That's, actually, much more natural than all of the... everything, of the evening. Including how Zero had seemingly materialized how of Yuuki, though she'd heard his voice a few times before, and was just happy to have a face on the voice now.     Then she remembers not to leave Yuuki hanging.     "I'll prepare something. I don't know that my dreams will make the most interesting lecture, but I will-- find a spin to make it so."     She's starting to be normal again.     She turns back to Petra and Angela, lured by the promise of pastries after this all calmed down. "We'll find some time to talk about... well, I don't know what, but it sounds like it's about the Library and me somehow, so..."     She also remembers: "Oh! And I need to... well now I have TWO outfits I need to thread. So, sometime soon, I'll bring the supplies and... I might need some help with it, actually, one of the things Petra got me is a cloak and that's... a bit big, to do alone."     She could, it'd just be boring.