Scene #9305: My New Friends

Owner	Pose
Angela	Petra continues to get calls from dangerous people who want to meet with her. Argalia, Color Fixer dubbed the Blue Reverberation, seemed to like Petra even when grieving the loss of his sister. So maybe it isn't that much of a surprise that he asked her to meet her at a seedy bar in District 12 called the Spinal Fluid. It's tucked away between a boarded up building and a clearly ransacked quick mart that has long since been emptied. A neon sign, blacked out, reads out THE SPINAL TAP if you squint, but there are lots on inside--so they must simply be conserving power. This isn't to suggest that it's bright in there, the lighting is dim by design and there's a thin waft of cigarette smoke that probably hasn't dissipated in years. Inside is Argalia, sitting by the window. Just outside of view of the window is Tanya, a wolf-headed former Big Sister of the Middle who lost her 'Family' and has since gone rogue. It's otherwise pretty quiet, though there is a tender of the bar though his head seems to have been replaced with a bottle with a thin blue-ish green liquid in it. There are other human patrons besides Argalia, though not too many, all trying to find dark corners to brood in or--failing that--dark middles, though Argalia is right up at the bar. There's the sound of vigorous cooking in the back. Argalia seems about as relaxed as someone who lost a family member a little over a month ago can be, though the relaxation doesn't reach his eyes which are burning thoughts a mile a minute. He is checking his phone periodically for updates--likely in case Petra had sent any. Despite the presence of other Distortions in the bar, it seems like Argalia is the one that's being avoided by the other patrons. "She'll be here." He says. "Have a little faith."
Petra Soroka	Petra is, at this point, used to the particular tone of her relationship with the City ever since the fall of L-Corp. Even if Dias hadn't suggested it, the smog of feeling was gradually taking that shape in her mind, that she's someone to whom these kinds of clandestine meetings with some of the most dangerous people in the City are becoming normal, and that the fate of the City is something she can personally take in her hand. It isn't the role she imagined for herself, but it makes sense more and more; this is the work Lilian wouldn't do, but needs done. So it falls to Petra. Petra is back in District 12, wearing her nondescript suit and strolling through the lightless, trash-strewn streets of this neighborhood that sustained the apocalypse worse than average. She has her earbuds in, trusting in her psychic intuition to warn her each time someone tries to smack her in the headwith an iron pipe or whatever else, and hums quietly to herself along with the music. It's not-- precisely, that she's in a good mood, she'd be a little hesitant to call it good, but it is boosted by neurochemical inertia alone. She's got work to do, she's got people to talk to, and she isn't actively being abandoned, and so this is a good-enough day for Petra Soroka. When she slips through the door of the bar, she notices Argalia, and the way he stands out, instantly, and raises her hand up in greeting. Comboing off of that, she plucks out her earbuds and then twirls her finger around them, so that the tiny drop of morphmetal flattens into a small reflective plane to make them vanish into thin air. The lingering smell makes her immediately crave a cigarette, so she's already in the process of pulling one out and lighting it when she hops up onto the stool beside Argalia and across from Tanya. "Yo. You two know each other? I'm kind of surprised-- or did you just meet?" Petra spares another glance towards the bartender, then back to Argalia. Sitting right next to him, the faint wash of her numbing aura prickles under the Blue Reverberation's skin, just as the pins and needles cost of existing near her. "That'd surprise me too, but less; you've been investigating it all too, right?"
Angela	Notably, like before, Argalia has an earbud in one of his ears. Petra can hear faint classical music pumping through it. He tunes down the music when Petra arrives but he doesn't turn it off. He doesn't like it when there isn't a little bit of a soundtrack accompanying his life. He's not fond of the quiet, he hasn't been since he was a child. He visibly shakes a bit when that numbing of aura hits like he's just gotten the goosebumps but it's brief and the instinct is set aside shortly after. "Ah, we found each other through a kind of providence." Argalia says, smiling. "Those days took away some of her ''Family'' as well, so even though one is chosen and one is blood--well, we still had a lot to talk about. It almost feels like since that day, an--echo--" He dodges the obvious word choice. "Has punched through many of The City. Some, like Tanya here, took on their new form in dramatic fashion but others just quietly...changed." He nods to the bartender. A few bubbles rise up in his bottle-head. "While Olivier is focused on the hows and ... my brother in law is focused on the whys, I suppose I am more focused on the whats." He pauses and then adds, "--Ah, excuse me, do you want something to drink? I'll pay for it, of course." "The City'll try to just make all this into a new normal. Not interested in letting them." Tanya says. "We met a couple others. Elena, Jae-hoon, though Elena--" "Has her own disagreements with how The City is run. But I have to ask you, Petra, what got you involved in such big City events? It's as if you appeared out of thin air one day within a cloud of whispers."
Petra Soroka	"... Yeah, I had the same thought at the time." Petra sighs, in reference to losing 'family'. She fidgets with her cigarette, spinning it between her fingers while reflecting on the likelihood of these two specific people meeting each other-- does providence mean Carmen, or does it mean that Argalia was following after the Black Silence's trail of destruction? It's probably a safe bet that Argalia wouldn't have just let that rampage happen without at least looking into it after, so he probably knows about Petra's little speech in Trideag HQ, though probably not the full contents. She lifts up her chin to look past Argalia at Tanya. "I wasn't sure at the time, but it was her voice, right? That brought you back. The... phenomenon, it's the same thing for you as it was for the Pianist; he wasn't actually anything... special. I'm calling them--" Well, really, Moses named them, but Petra likes the name, and Moses probably wouldn't appreciate being gossiped about. "--Distortions." "While Olivier is focused on the hows and ... my brother in law is focused on the whys, I suppose I am more focused on the whats." "... Speaking of your brother in law, I haven't actually heard anything of him since that day at Trideag. It's in the name and all, but... well, he seemed sort of... crushed after that." Having the Black Silence on the loose is vaguely stressful to Petra, given his reputation as an assassin and the specific knowledge that Petra is on his list. It's up in the air whether she'd feel worse about him actively trying to assassinate her, or him being depressed and doing nothing after the death of his wife. "--Ah, excuse me, do you want something to drink?" "Oh-- sure, I'll have..." Petra blinks and sits up, twisting over to look at the bartender. She... still doesn't really know how to order from bars. She's not twenty one for another month yet! "... whatever really. Um. A beer. Thanks." "The City'll try to just make all this into a new normal." "... Yeah. How much do you know about it? Actually--..." Petra shifts in her stool, turning sideways to fully face Tanya with her elbow propped up on the bar. "I know what I know, but you've actually got the experience of it. Is it more like an ideological reason to not want this to become 'normal', or do you have a personal grudge? I'd respect either one. I'm not planning on letting things continue this way either." "It's as if you appeared out of thin air one day within a cloud of whispers." Petra laughs weakly, placing her cigarette back between her lips. "I keep hearing that, actually. But, um... I've been involved with this longer than anyone. Me and that voice go way back, and I've... never been a fan of her work. I'm involved with it on this scale because now it affects the whole City, and whether or not I like it, it's sort of home to me, so I've got a responsibility to do what I can." "I'm on your side. But before that, Argalia, I have to tell you..." Petra swallows, briefly averting her eyes before bringing them back to the Blue Reverberation's. "... it's sort of my fault that things turned out this way. I can't explain the details how, but there was a moment where if I was stronger or better prepared, none of this would have happened, and I... wasn't. So I'm really, really sorry about Angelica. And your family too, Tanya."
Angela	Rest assured, The City drinking age is not twenty one. Argalia helpfully leans back a bit to give Petra easier access to Tanya's face though since it's a wolf head it is a little harder to read than it might be for a human's, though she doesn't seem too different in demeanor from most people in The City despite the wolf head. She's even been smoking--though from a pipe rather than a cigarette as usual. "Her voice? Yeah, she was a she, and all. She was there in my darkest moment, my Family dead around me after Power from the skies already crushed many of my Brothers and Sisters. She empathized with my pain and offered me strength. And she led me to Argalia here." Did Carmen tell them more about Petra? They seem comfortable in letting Petra dictate herself, however. "Distortion huh..." She seems bemused by the identification. "It sounds like a name someone who wants people like you to remain ''Abnormal'' would say." Argalia laughs, though it's brief. "But the name doesn't really matter--you aren't seeking to be 'cured', you see this as your true self--a self that was hidden away but was brought out by ... The Voice." Tanya nods her head a little. Argalia has no reason to keep the Black Silence's secrets, but he isn't in a rush to share them either. It's the sort of secret he can only spill once and Petra has plenty of her own secrets. Even some the Voice does not know. ''Is it more like an ideological reason to not want this to become 'normal' or do you have a personal grudge?'' Tanya is concerned that she might have given Petra the wrong impression. "I don't want The City to simply bury it as ... some kind of strange augment, or as a taboo, or as an impurity, but I don't think I'm some kind of chosen one who should be the only one who deserves an opportunity to be... more of myself." "Some of it is grudges, with my new friends, some of it is ideological. The chef in the back in particular--I don't think she's the kind to have grudges at all! But she believes in... a fairness more pure than most." From inside the kitchen there's some laughter and a shout of 'Meatbums are almost done, Argalia!" ''A beer. Thanks.'' More bubbles rise up in the bottlehead of the tender and he crouches down behind a counter and draws out a HiteJinro style bottle and pours Petra a drink, and slides one over to Argalia as well who picks up the glass and swishes it around a little. "The Black Silence has vanished away. I suspect he is still active, of course, but is acting in such a way he is not easy to find. Being an infamous Fixer can sometimes hide away opportunities--having exhausted his capacity as a Color I imagine he is trying a method that is difficult to track. I imagine he is in contact with that Watch gentleman he seemed to like.
Angela	" ''I'm on your side. But before that, Argalia, I have to tell you... ...It's sort of my fault that things turned out this way.'' Argalia takes a sip of beer himself, now, scrunching up his face like he's unaccustomed. "You're brave to take the blame for it, even in part." Argalia says. "Brave enough that I'm surprised, actually." A moment of uncertainty flickers across his expression. Smiling and drinking with someone who is even 'sort of' responsible for your sister's death is kind of insane, isn't it? Even if he has always smiled in response to horror. He brings his hand to the bridge of his nose and rubs at it, as if he had a headache. After a moment he says, #-1 FUNCTION (ASNI) NOT FOUNDI've never been the vengeful sort. Not like my brother. Did you know the Wings experimented on me when I was a child? My sister too. A lot of Colors actually start out as--I presume--failed experiments of the Wings. I don't mean 'a lot' like it's the majority or anything, but considering the small number of Colors--the fact that there even have been ''two'' is a bit...telling." He exhales. "I've always known what sort of world this City was. Angelica was the one who would keep me from letting loose--not unlike The Black Silence had--of the three of us, she was the one who managed to be the most ..." He gestures a hand without finishing the sentence as if he figures Petra can fill in the blanks even as a singular word fails to come to him. "The truth is, Petra, I wanted to offer my help. I suppose I want her death to not just be another City tragedy. I want--need--a better future to come, something that would have been fitting for someone like her. Or maybe even better." He scootches back in his chair. "I know you have someone you wish to help. I suppose my brother would be inclined to kill her if he learned the truth, but I am not inclined to tell him. The last thing she'd want is more corpses under her name. I'd rather help you--and her--instead. Put an end the aimless tragedies." He pauses. "Or we can try and kill each other. That's normal City logic, of course, but I'd rather not let it infest me." Tanya raises an eyebrow at 'try' and then eyes Petra with a mix of wariness, curiousity, and fascination.
Petra Soroka	"And she led me to Argalia here." "She led you, huh...." Petra slides her gaze over to Argalia, probingly. He doesn't look like a Distortion himself, but he's obviously interested in them, and the phenomena is, in turn, interested in him. Which is really fascinating. "Do you hear her? I know it doesn't always come with a physical change, or-- not one that sticks necessarily." "It sounds like a name someone who wants people like you to remain ''Abnormal'' would say." It's a tiny bit surprising that Argalia, of all people, would be pro-Distortion, but it doesn't change Petra's angle much. Petra was never in favor of the Seed of Light, but even she can't be against the empowerment of the masses-- just, the cost that it demanded was more than Petra could accept, and she never trusted in the project to not inflict that callousness on the rest of the City. Petra buys time to think with another drag on her cigarette, idly appreciating the freedom to smoke indoors. "It's sort of like that, yeah. But it's hard to give it a more positive-sounding name when it results in stuff like the Pianist sometimes too. Strength and expressing your true self still means that your true self is using that strength, and I don't have enough faith in people's true selves to think of that as universally good. I prefer to judge people, um, individually." "Which is," she admits, "Something I appreciate about the Distortions. People usually try to hide their true selves, but they're really easy to judge once they're dragged out to the surface." "I don't want The City to simply bury it as ... some kind of strange augment, or as a taboo, or as an impurity, but I don't think I'm some kind of chosen one who should be the only one who deserves an opportunity to be... more of myself." "Yeah. The one thing that I can't accept at all is the City just... swallowing it up and staying the same." Petra's worried just a tiny bit about these two, now. Obviously, if Angela can target people with more Light to them, that means both a better source of Light for herself and a reduction to the Distortion phenomenon, and ideally, Petra would somehow snag every Distortion before they happen and drag them off to the Library. On the other hand, though, Petra has a particular finger in the 'dragging out people's true selves' pie, so if she plays her cards right, she doesn't have to be opposed to them. And she would much rather have the Blue Reverberation on Angela's side than against her. "I imagine he is in contact with that Watch gentleman he seemed to like." Petra gets her own beer, and she makes a similarly displeased expression at drinking it. She has to, though, because that's the environment she's in, and the narrative tone that's constructed for the conversation. At Argalia's words, though, she raises up her eyebrows and puts her glass back on the counter. "How much do you know about the Watch operations in the District? I'm not closely involved with them, but I'm, like, familiar enough that I figured it was probably a woman that he was talking with, not a guy. Though I guess he could've met with both and preferred following up with him." If Berislav is in contact with the Black Silence... that's probably a good sign for Petra, but not necessarily a great one. It's much, much better that a guy who, historically, would rather she not be assassinated by Liza is the one in his ear, than it is if Rita's mainly talking to him, but she knows that Berislav is neither wholly on her side, or probably told everything that the Color is up to.
Petra Soroka	"You're brave to take the blame for it, even in part." "... I'd like to say I'm 'honorable' or something," Petra mumbles. She wraps her hands around her beer glass a little more tightly than natural, while internally hoping that Argalia doesn't try to kill her on the spot. She knew it'd be possible, but Petra is recklessly honest even when acting covertly. "I didn't know it at the time, and even if I had, I wouldn't have said it in front of, like, all those other people. But after looking into it more, I learned that it was the result of a... something I'd been investigating for a while, and even I couldn't guess that it'd end up like that. And, I guess..." Petra takes another drink of her beer, purposefully letting her mouth flood with the gross, bitter taste like a meditative exercise. She thinks about White Night, and Adam's plans for a world filled with what Petra would now call Distortions. "... It's related to what got my girlfriend killed too. So I'm not really feeling up to hiding much from you, even if it means some unnecessary risks." "I know you have someone you wish to help." Petra blinks and sits upright, staring into Argalia's eyes. "... Did the Voice tell you that? How much do you know about her?" She squints, a little sourly, and looks out of the corner of her eyes. "... Personally, I'm pretty sure the full truth totally absolves her, but I know how your brother is, and a half-truth would look pretty bad for her." "So, you want a better future for the City, and I do too. I want a world where all the sacrifices that've happened aren't for nothing, and you do too. We don't have anything to gain from fighting each other," Petra suppresses a tense bead of sweat at the idea of fighting the Blue Reverberation-- maybe she'd win, or at least survive, but she's not excited to test it. "So what did you have in mind?"
Angela	''Do you hear her?'' "Ever since that day..." Argalia confesses. It is a little weird that he'd be pro Distortion. Maybe the Voice convinced him. Maybe he just isn't the sort to blame the entire phenomena for the actions of one Distortion. "True... There are some problems with the current expression of how 'Distortions' are formed. They are all coming to be at different rates--and only at their worst and most painful moments. It's my suspicion that right now, the Voice can only be heard by those suffering from a deep despair. Less ''the plan'' and more a defect the Voice is proceeding in spite of." He doesn't comment on what that means about how readily he's hearing Carmen himself--the fact that he's still capable of acting normal suggests a level of extreme emotional control. "...But you're right. Plenty of 'true selves' are rather putrid. But I know at least one new friend of mine who would've appreciated seeing that heart on someone's sleeve when he really needed ... proper vision. If nothing else, it is honest. Perhaps if the Pianist's true nature was seen before he ''exploded' the tragedy would have been... hahh... muted." How much does the Blue Reverberation know about Watch operations? "I know they have set up shop in this District, that they've made some allies within The City. They wish to fight against the cruelty of The City? Well I have no reason to oppose that. At least, not yet." Argalia hesitates at Petra's words on who the Black Silence is probably talking to. "Perhaps he did." He says, looking a touch uncertain again. The Blue Reverberation does not try to kill Petra. He did consider it, of course, but the thought of it made him think of the Black Silence rampaging throughout the District and he feels a little queasy at the idea. No, not for that, he's decided. And ideally not at all. There are some people he is going to have to ruin and so ideally he and Ruin should be capable of working together. Or at least in a similar direction. Argalia looks back into Petra's eyes. He's not easy to intimidate, as befitting a Color. ''A half-truth would look pretty bad for her.'' "And so far nobody has a full truth. Perhaps there will never be a full truth. I won't say my brother can't be patient, but he can't be patient forever. Eventually he will make a decision with the best amount of knowledge he has at his disposal no matter how reckless. That man... I'm honestly impressed you all managed to stall his bloodthirst as it is." Yeah he and his brother don't exactly have the greatest opinions of each other.
Angela	''It's related to what got my girlfriend killed too. So I'm not really feeling up to hiding much from you--'' Argalia flinches as if he's been pushed into another mode of thinking. He hadn't even thought that Petra herself might have suffered from the White Nights and Dark Days. "No wonder...you seem so driven yourself." He murmurs, sympathetically. "And yet you aren't lashing out, despite having suffered so. I admire that, Petra." He cups his chin, gaze tilted upward. He isn't hearing anything from The Voice right now--not with Petra that close. A world where all the sacrifices that've hapened aren't for nothing. He said that, but maybe it's truer than he even thought in the moment of saying it. The truth is, Argalia isn't sure he'd relish a fight with Petra either--but he's not a prideful man. If he had to, he'd sic all his friends on her as well as himself. It's not that he thinks she's a particularly great fighter or anything--in truth, he has no idea--but Petra survived things that would kill most people, maybe even some of the very best fighters you could find. Despite all the powerscaling of The City, the truth is it's never been a perfect tool--and wasn't even really made to be one. "There's plenty of people who are going to be fighting for the fate of this District. Not all of them are terrible people, but outside of Trideag, perhaps, and the Watch--most of them are reporting to someone who cares nothing about the future of The City. They're fighting for the District with nothing more than the shortsighted aspirations of those of their masters." Argalia sets down his glass. "You want to change The City as well, so it is my intent to remove the agents of Staticity that are invading this District. And I intend to do that by leading them to the Library where their Light can be harvested." He smiles. "But I am open to suggestions, of course, the plan hasn't begun yet so there is still room to steer this ship."
Petra Soroka	"It's my suspicion that right now, the Voice can only be heard by those suffering from a deep despair." Petra nods, drumming her fingernails on her glass. "That tracks with what I know. I might have some ways around that, but it's dangerous enough that I'm not willing to test it just yet. I figure you already know this yourself, too," Petra gestures towards Tanya and the bar staff as indicative examples, "But I've seen cases where addressing that specific 'despair' stabilized the Distortion rather than letting it spiral out of control into someone like the Pianist, so it does match up with it being a... defect." Petra feels a little uncomfortable about saying that, because she's well enough aware that even in a perfect case, the Seed of Light would've turned out shitty. Less chaotic, definitely, but there was never a circumstance where it could've fixed the problems of the City and its people as well as Carmen is proselytizing to Argalia in his mind. But the circumstances they're in are the circumstances there are, so she might as well make the best of it. "That man... I'm honestly impressed you all managed to stall his bloodthirst as it is." "Mmm. What I told him was mostly the truth, so it'd better have stuck. If it took revealing all that just to get him to slow down on butchering people for no reason, then I can at least hope it buys some time." Petra doesn't have the greatest opinion of the Black Silence either really, even if she can't hate him for his goal. He just did it in the stupidest way possible, and Petra trusts Argalia much more to actually do something honorable in the wake of Angelica's death. To explain, just in case Argalia feels like she's hiding something from him now-- which she still is, and she's aware that she's saying this in front of Tanya too, who's a much less known factor and could spread rumors-- Petra adds, "I am the highest remaining authority on Lobotomy Corporation, and the ones who are responsible for the fall of the Wing are dead because of me, but they didn't exactly choose for me to be next. It just sort of... fell to me to try to clean up the mess they left." Petra being a lightweight as she is, being most of the way through a single glass of beer is enough to make her ask a sudden question that she didn't first process in her mind. "Hey-- don't you think we should be a little worried about your brother Distorting? If he does, and it's, you know, in that sort of, like, vengeful state he's got, he could end up causing something worse than the Pianist." "And yet you aren't lashing out, despite having suffered so. I admire that, Petra." With a bit of morbid humor, Petra tilts her glass and joylessly smiles. "Well, don't do that. Sorta my fault, remember? I'm just... well, I'm doing what I can. I don't have time to lash out, I've got shit to do."
Petra Soroka	"And I intend to do that by leading them to the Library where their Light can be harvested." "... Oh." Petra leans back, wide-eyed at Argalia. She drains the rest of her glass, then pushes it to the side, giving her full attention to him. "Carmen told you a lot, didn't she." Petra closes her eyes for a moment. Carmen can't hear her, obviously, but Petra focuses her thoughts as if she can, beaming them outwards like an especially irreligious prayer. 'You better fucking know what you're doing, Carmen. If you told Argalia all that just for him to betray Angela, then I'm declaring war on your fucking ghost.' "... Right. That is..." Petra pauses to seriously consider Argalia's suggestion for a minute. "I don't have a problem with that in theory. There's people who are actively stopping the City from getting better, and since everyone's got Light in them, it's just better to pick off the people who do the most harm to the world." "But--" Petra raises up a finger. "I'd really like to be sure we're on the same page about who those people are. Because my beef is mostly, like, with those masters. The higher up in the hierarchy, of this, or that, or anything at all--" She doesn't particularly want to say 'the Head' but that's obviously what she means as the endpoint. "They're the ones with those aspirations that keep everything the same. I'd rather behead as many snakes as possible, you know? Like I beheaded that guy from Blood Diadem." "... There's a couple things that I can think of that we might want to work together on, actually." With the problem of executing all of their guests in order to gather Light feeling significantly more solved, Petra immediately moves on to the much vaster problem of trying to solve everything for the entire City forever. "I think you'd be just as interested in what a Distortion under, um, less hostile circumstances would look like as I am, right? One day, if you find someone who's on the verge of Distorting, but not quite there, I might have a technique to try out."
Angela	Argalia is not against experimentation, really. "It does seem likely that if it takes despair--suffering--to allow one to hear the Voice, that means that it is just as likely that healing the despair before Distortion takes root--would stop the transformation or at least partially revert it. But that kind of despair--you can only solve that through talking and healing sometimes. After all," He shakes his head. "Sometimes there's nothing to be done. Perhaps the Voice's ''hearing'' is a little off as well, due to the disruption, but that is just pie in the sky theorizing. Even the Voice wonders, sometimes." "He's ruled by passions." Argalia says. "...But I never liked him, so I suppose you shouldn't listen to me on the topic." Argalia is trusted way more to be honorable about it! ... Well, that might be because... he is being guided. Or maybe this world is just different from the one Yuri saw. Or maybe it's not different at all. Other Argalias didn't have a Petra to talk to right now, though, and certainly didn't have someone who could cut the Voice off from him. ''It just sort of... fell to me to try to clean up the mess they left.'' "You say that even after I admitted knowing about Miss Angela ... But I suppose it is not untrue, even if saying it like that will lead others to a different conclusion than the one I am drawing." Argalia is someone who can hide things too, but sometimes you have to share something or the conversation never goes anywhere interesting. And Argalia has just a spark of that mischevious little imp inside of him that wants to see movement in an interesting direction. In a sense, that's why he can have common cause with Carmen at all. #-1 ARGUMENT OUT OF RANGE''Don't you think we should be a little worried about your brother Distorting? ... He could end up causing something worse than the Pianist.'' "...Yes, I think that is a distinct possibility. I wonder what it'd be like for him. I imagine someone like him Distorting WOULD certainly be worse than the Pianist..." He hadn't thought of it until now, but it makes sense. He can't deny that Roland is in pain... Right now, totally unrelated, Roland is playing video games and drinking with Netzach. He has, like, find a dude to relax with in Netzach... But he holds on tightly to his pain, even then. Should he try to kill Petra? Angela? Neither? He always feels like he's missing one piece and he's promised, he vowed he would try to do better next time. He needs to talk to the Redshifts. He needs some idea on how to proceed--either to learn more, or advice on what action to take. He's not sure he entirely trusts himself right now.
Angela	But back here, Argalia nods a little, glancing with Tanya. A giant shark woman, yes a giant shark woman steps out and sets down some meatbuns for everyone. It's not even meatbuns made out of people--Argalia is not a cannibal and neither, despite Tanya's appearance, is she. "It's safe." Tanya points out. "She used to be a big shot chef but..." "GA HA... my fellow chefs cooked themselves! What morons! Nice to meetcha, Petra!" The shark grins, like a shark does, and then makes her way back into the kitchen. Argalia smiles, "Then you understand. There are people out there who'd be better off harvested than around anyway. It may seem a bit callous of me, butthere's more people like that eyeing this district than people like the Dame COmmander. And of course, there's plenty of people stumbling in here with no idea what they're doing. That's dangerous too, in its own way." "We can't exactly ''control'' who Distorts. All we can do is give 'em comrades and shit." Tanya points out. "Community. One less obsessed with ''curing'' them and more obsessed with helping them.." "But we certainly odn't need to lend a hand to Distortions with mild imaginations. as Petra said--many people's true selves are just terrible. There's nothing we can do about that. After all, it's the Truth. Or truth enough." But.. Petra has an idea. Argalia doesn't know the idea but, as indicated, he has no qualms with experimentaiton. "...Well, we do have one advantage in that regard, Petra." He smiles. "We have a Guiding Star, after all. But what are you hoping to try?"
Petra Soroka	"You say that even after I admitted knowing about Miss Angela ..." A little brattily, Petra crosses her arms. "We're two of a pair. She's a lot less interested in... taking that specific responsibility than I am, because she has her whole life to live. I'm the part that deals with the wreckage that Lobotomy Corporation left, and she's the part that deals with the Light and the Library. I'm not lying to you." "GA HA... my fellow chefs cooked themselves!" "Nice meeting you too." Petra is purposefully braced to not show any kind of alarm no matter what came out of the kitchen, instead just accepting the meat buns with the enthusiasm she would for any restaurant. "I was starving, honestly. I don't think I got your name, though?" Belatedly, Petra is hit with the sentence 'my fellow chefs cooked themselves' and has to process several emotions at once. That could be euphemistic-- like 'offed themselves', but specifically a funny chef joke about suicide. But this is the City, so that means she could very likely mean that they literally cooked themselves, by falling into a stupid vat of oil or whatever, or on purpose because they were District 23 freaks. And in that case, Petra has no reason to believe that these aren't human meat buns. How could she tell?? How would she know?? But, she has to be polite. She has to eat the maybe human meat buns, because this is apparently a place of Argalia's allies, and she has to be nice to them and show that she is a friend of Distortions. She picks one up and takes a bite, and her palate is not precise enough to know whether she's chewing on human meat or not. "There are people out there who'd be better off harvested than around anyway." "Yeah. The City's the way it is because of the people in it. Just not, like, all of them." Petra says, while taking another bite of a snack maybe made out of one of the people in the City. "So it's two birds with one stone to pick some of them off for the Light." "But what are you hoping to try?" Petra frowns. "Um... well... it's a bit complicated and... technically scientific, and something only I can do, so the details don't matter. But the way that Distortions need a certain level of suffering to happen, and if they settle down before Distorting, they'll level out at a baseline that makes it impossible... I should have a way to change that. Make it so that the bar they need to get over to hear the Voice isn't as high. Then we get stabler Distortions, and can predict when they happen so nothing like the Pianist happens again, and it's... more information, right?"
Angela	"Oh! Sorry, haha! Life's been a whirlwind lately...! Or maybe I should say whirlpool, you know, STICK TO THE BIT." The giant shark woman says. "Name's Greta! Enjoy the meal! Don't worry I won't FISH for compliments--" "You don't have to do the puns just because--Argalia doesn't go around saying he 'blue' something up or anything like that." Tanya says. "I'm just lightening the mood, not every day you see a giant shark lady!" Greta counters back. Despite the back and forth and trhe fact that Greta is always smiling and Tanya never is, there isn't any heat behind the words. They're giving each other shit in the way friends might. Argalia's eyes soften, just a bit, at the antics and at that point it might be pretty clear why a guy like him isn't mad at Distortions despite losing family to one. These maniacs somehow soothe his soul. His smile becomes a little less mask-like when Petra takes the bite of the meatbun without even asking if it's a human meat bun. Is it still cannibalism if it is a shark-based Distortion? Greta doesn't seem like she has thought about that. ''We're two of a pair.'' Argalia doesn't comment on it directly but he cups his chin thoughtfully at the mention of what Angela is interested in and what Petra is interested in. Like the old Charles' Office Fixers, he thinks. Doing the job that needs doing. "Yes... I believe I understand." He says. He isn't sure if he'll need to antagonize Angela for his own dream just yet either, but right NOW hie certainly doesn't have to. He'll cross that bridge when it comes to it. But it's Petra's idea that makes Argalia the most fascinated. Even Tanya takes out her pipe so she can let out a low whistle. "You don't do anything by half, do ya." Tanya says, despite this in of itself being an act of moderation. But it is also an act of ease. "I'm not a bloodthirsty maniac." And Argalia certainly believes that. It's almost true, except sometimes he does enjoy seeing others suffer. There's a therapeutic element of it, like a healing schadenfreude--but he doesn't see himself as someone eager to spill blood when there are other options on the table. It might not be the last resort, but it's not the first one either. "Something only you could do... It IS worth seeing what a Distortion like that would bring." He decides. "Alright, next one that crops up--if we can make it in time--we'll try your idea." He offers Petra a handshake to seal the deal.