Scene #9336: Grand Opening of the Do or Dine

Owner	Pose
Petra Soroka	Hydrochoeria has grown a lot since the last time most of you were here-- both in terms of infrastructure, and literally in size. Thanks to Audrey's spacial warping magic, the horizon looks oddly crumpled when looking at Hydrochoeria from the orbiting chunk of rock serving as a satellite island for the warpgate to let people out onto, and then walking along the chain bridge connecting it to the main mass expands the surface of it to be larger than it was on the outside. It's entirely unrecognizable as anything that came from Quicknest at this point-- flattened and rebuilt from the ground up, what was once the city center of a kingdom's capital is now a dense but cozy village clustered at the base of Petra's castle. Below the island, four massive jets keep the conical chunk of rock floating at a steady height as it drifts high over an archipelago in the Great Ocean. There seems to be several openings in the lower regions of rock, shielded by heavy metal covers, that slide open and closed to let a steady stream of drones come in and out, some flying to the archipelago below, and some going through the warpgate. Up on top, the paths around the island are primarily made of playground rubber, rather than asphalt or stone. They're lined with benches and a constant presence of greenery, trees, long grass, and bushes planted either haphazardly or symmetrically, padded with mulch that often loosely spills onto the rubber paths. To one side is the third largest building on the island; what can only be the apartment complex housing all the agents, clerks, and other assorted inhabitants that have wandered to Petra's island, including the Magical Girl of Love. There's a medical facility nearby it, still in the process of being furnished on the inside, to also serve as an education and research space. There's also still glimpses of Petra's own constructions back when this was still part of Quicknest. On the far side of the island is the large bloodsports arena she made, which could theoretically be converted into a normal sports arena, but Petra's athletic fixation has been on constructing platforming challenges using her tech and some of Audrey's magic all over the place instead. The large base of the laser cannon she used to shoot down the East Wind is still bolted to the ground, disarmed but too much of a hassle to remove until now. The formerly royal plaza still has the mosaic of the hybrid Eggman Empire and Ratbot logo, and the embassy building has a Silver metal lotus blooming out of the top with roots and vines snaking down it. Ratbots slide through the air like bees between flowers, still somewhat for surveillance, but mostly to keep busy with deliveries. Above all of that, beyond the terraced gardens filled with flowers and herbs, is the castle, which has its own new addition as well. Petra's design for it was somewhere between gothic and evil sci-fi, made of dark stone with orbiting rings of metal with electric blue and artificial yellow glow around the central tower, big enough to be a hallway. From there, bridges give access to the floating towers around the castle-- but now, those floating towers have a central pillar too. Audrey's floating wizard tower is made of grey stone and metal, with crystal chunks growing out of it, with magical lines of power radiating out of it and into the castle along ley-patterns, to sustain the spacial warping of the area. Additionally, the top of the wizard tower punctures a hole into the sky itself. The mid-afternoon sun is blocked out entirely by a jagged tear of pure night sky that casts the entire island into a comfortable twilight, emanating out from the tower. The tear moves with the island seamlessly as it coasts through the sky, bringing a little pocket of starlit dusk around with it.
Petra Soroka	There's plenty of time to observe all of that on the winding way to your actual destination. In large part, Petra's goal in inviting people here for the opening of Chewie's restaurant was to show off the progress Hydrochoeria-- and more importantly, the agents inhabiting it-- has made, so she doesn't feel any pressure to rush them getting there. The island is teeming with activity, from the Concord contractors still working on installing Audrey's specified additions on her tower, to the residents of the island going about their day, to the maids, both Madeleine's faceless and Audrey's Concord-assigned-staff. Chewie's restaurant-- proudly labeled DO OR DINE-- is the first to be established on Hydrochoeria, not counting Petra having robots using the castle's kitchens recklessly. There's a buzz of activity here, too, but it's all relegated to the back of the house, where large mystery boxes are being carried in by a troupe of ratbots, and the last preparations for getting the kitchen in order are finishing up. It's HEYALEXA that greets everyone in front of the restaurant: a sub five foot tall robot girl, silvery metal with mouse ears and a tail, eyes expressive by the LED display on the digital visor that wraps around the front of her head. She's currently wearing a chef hat with a big money sign on it. Heyalexa: Hello !! Valuable customers ! Heyalexa: Welcome to my me restaurant which I created and whose stake I own fifty percent of ! Staffed by a Guy Petra Found ! Heyalexa: He will be cooking Surprise Unique Meat Purchased Bulk High Value Interesting Monster Beast Unusual Diet Keto Friendly Organic Dietary Meal for you . Please look forwards to coming back frequently until franchising places a location of my me restaurant next to your house !
Igon	Igon stares. Not in confusion. Not even in hostility. In awe. There are too many contradictions to count. The rubber earth that does not bleed. The towers that drift in place. The dusk that falls in the wrong direction. There is magic here, but it is not sacred. There is machinery, but it is not heretical. There are rats in the sky and towers in the sea and the sun is devoured and no one screams. This is fundamentally wrong, that nobody is screaming, He steps onto the rubber path like it might explode. When it does not, he nods. Respectfully. Like he has been challenged and permitted to live. And then there is Heyalexa. He approaches the robot girl slowly, as one might approach a shrine whose god is very much awake and unpredictably amused. "...You are small. Crowned. A butcher for the God-Queen Petra," Igon proclaims. His voice is hushed, reverent. He kneels just briefly, one hand to the black mulch underfoot. Not for Heyalexa's benefit. For Petra's. Then, Igon rises. "I accept your trial! Show me the beast butchered for my honor. Let it rise again in steam and sinew upon the plate, and I shall consume it without fear, without hesitation! May your restaurant multiply, Heyalexa! May its branches spread like the roots of the Erdtree!" He shouts this to the heavens, as though trying to personally bend the ear of every member of this city-state to his mouth's will.
Angela	Angela is just glad she gets to visit this time. Hydrochoeria--perhaps it is her imagination, but it always feels a little easier to go there than other places. Yes, there's no real reason why it would be--she hasn't even been there many times herself so it's not like she's especially familiar, but it is Petra's territory and so that's probably reason for more comfort than any other reason. That being said though, Chewie's new restaurant is almost certainly where she'd like to be the least. Angela is from The City but cannibalism is decidedly not normal for her and she feels a bit disquieted by the process even if she knows it's strange of her to be. Everyone she knows seems totally fine with cannibalism but she is decidedly in no hurry to sample Chewie's cooking. ... But this is where Love lives and she begged her to come along and Petra was fine with it AND it's a Heyalexa venture so she in the end she had no choice in the matter. Heyalexa must be spoiled. Fortunately, she thinks, maybe she can have something small and claim her appetite is sated and just avoid whatever the worst most awful thing he has going on. The Magical Girl of Love is also present for this opening, because she likes eating things and also likes Heyalexa. Love immediately embraces Heyalexa upon sight with a speed not unlike that which she hunts the rat population Petra occassionally feeds to the community for her. "Heyalexa!! Wow!! A new business venture! You're incredible and so business-like!" Love knows nothing about business except that a woman who also does business has a certain style to them that should be appreciated. Angela is more reserved but also gives Heyalexa a quicker but no less sincere hug. "Thank you for the invitation, Heyalexa." Angela says. On the whole she is happier to be in the city here than stuck at the Library but she is still dreading eating the Unusual Diet Keto Friendly Organic Dietary meal. Chewie is inside, busily working up a meal. The menu is listed by the front entrance on a placard. IT's customary for restaurants to do a set meal for it's opening when thanking investors and believers and friends and family and Chewie is no less traditional in this respect. APPETIZER RAT SUSHI WITH SOY SAUCE ENTREE FRIED SHAPESHIFTER or DINOMELLETE BEVERAGE THE DREAM - Nonalcoholic Margarita with a drop of enkephalin, sugared rim DESSERT - Chef's Special " Rat sushi was my suggestion!" Love says happily. "He added the soy sauce."
Audrey Basque	Audrey is late, on account of being held up by DYING INSIDE, and then having to make sure nothing incriminating is visible, and then having to explain why she's going out dressed like that, and then debating even going to Chewie's restaurant after being so thoroughly told to JUST NOT by Petra weeks ago over threats of cannibalism-- Anyway IT'S BEEN A DAY, if you can't tell. Shuffling into view as reality cracks and refracts in front of the restaurant, Audrey is wearing a nice black dress shirt under a dark green long sweater-like spring coat, not buttoned or zipped up, with an orange skirt and black hosery to cover her legs. And a red hat! Like a berret, but a bit looser. Her hair is down, not bunched up in the usual big drills, the brown hair reaching to her low waist, high hips, or just about. This brings attention to her golden-blue eyes, stars shining bright in them. She also seems exhausted. "H-Hi, sorry, let me... catch my... breath..." She ran and teleported a lot. Hands on knees, deep breaths. She is horrified when she sees the menu, and tries really hard not to think about it. "H-Hello Angela, Love," she manages, taking one deep breath to finally stand fully straight and look at Igon, whose voice could not be mistaken for another's. "G-God-Queen Petra?" Stare. "H-Hang on, we're just going to eat, this isn't a trial!" I-Is it a trial? DID SHE MISUNDERSTAND?
Igon	Igon turns with the slowness of a weapon being unsheathed. He does not look at Audrey at first; he registers her, as one might register a tempest on the horizon or a holy mark in the sky. He inhales once, like hes testing the scent of magic in the air, then fully turns his gaze to her. Eyes burning red and gold. Shoulders straight as death. Expression solemn, but fever-bright. And he says, calmly, with the grave weight of a prophet trying to comfort a confused initiate: "Everything is a trial."
Lilian Rook	Really, Lilian's interest in Chewie's restaurant is minimal too; her interests are aligned with Petra's in that she's here to see Hydrochoeria as well. As much as Petra's talked about it, she's never really bothered to see it for her own eyes; excepting when she'd been implored to recline on a throne and watch Petra beat up the part of heroes she herself urged to actually do something about her. Now that it involves the Agents of L Corp, most of them loyal to her and not Angela, it's definitely her concern. The first thing she notices is the influx of magic, like atmospheric pressure, tingling on the intangible lines of power within her and collecting like condensation; what can only be the result of careful leyline structuring. The second is the giant castle, which she gauges with a critical look of lip-turned ambivalence. The second is the maids; how shameless. The playground rubber is distant seventh or so. "I'd say 'at least she had the good sense to keep it green', rather than turning it into the sort of urban sprawl I know she seems to like to inhabit, but then I might be giving her credit for my own work." Lilian says, thinking out loud, at the gathering point. "It's not that I have a trademark on castle towns or anything; I chose one specifically for its recognizability. But it's sort of . . ." She gives the apartment building a good stare as she walks. "Even that just reminds me of Headquarters. Am I only seeing it because I'm looking for it, or does anyone else see it too? Everything is like she copied my homework. Even the time of day." Then, she points at the wizard tower. "Except that. That eyesore has nothing to do with me." Lightly kicking the path with the toe of her shoe, she adds, "And this reminds me more of Sapient Heuristics, I suppose. But a good idea is a good idea. I loathe the way asphalt is when it gets hot." Really, despite her verbal harassment of Petra for plagiarism (which she's probably picking up via ratbot anyways), what Lilian is actually thinking about is the shocking scale of Petra's villainous enterprise. She'd attributed so much of everything to Eggman that it feels wrong, somehow, to see Petra alone manage to not only maintain this, but build on it. Is the Concord really that liberal with its funding? The question bothers her on the whole walk. Mostly while trying to pretend not to see the freaky guy losing it over the sidewalk like an uncomfortably unhoused person she has no change for. Upon seeing Heyalexa in the !flesh, Lilian looks down and near-blurts out, "Oh, so that's what you're like now? I remember when . . ." before deciding the rest is probably inappropriate. She's saved, anyways, by Igon howling, now suddenly becoming so unignorable she has an excuse to clap her hands over her ears and frown instead of talking. "Jesus Christ, which District is this freak from?" she says, not quite all that quietly, setting a tone. The right tone to visibly stare down at Audrey, bent over, huffing and puffing, and silently drill fresh disdain into her with her eyes. 'this isn't a trial!' "Apparently it is." Lilian says. "I mean look at you already." She shifts the strap of her bag and turns away with a derisive sniff. Love makes for the second person she's going to be awkward about, having participated in technically killing her via Flamel's psychonaut procedure, but Angela is due a hug as if Lilian has never seen her in person before. Seeing her outside is, admittedly, maybe just that special. "Fried Shapeshifter and 'The Dream'." Lilian says, turning her head just to be able to see Heyalexa. "Actually, buy a drink for everyone. On my card."
Igon	Igon has been mostly still through all this. Mostly. But Lilian's arrival, the shift in air pressure, the disdain slicking her words like oil, the way she names the castle with a sneer, it rips something open in him. His head tilts ever so slightly as she speaks, eyes narrowing in barely concealed awe and suspicion, watching her the way a cornered prophet watches a statue begin to breathe. "Who are you, that speaks in the domain of Petra thus?"
Petra Soroka	"...You are small. Crowned. A butcher for the God-Queen Petra," Heyalexa: Yes ! Heyalexa: Yay ! Heyalexa: Yippee !! Heyalexa plants her hands on her hips when Igon kneels, chin tilted up proudly. Her eye displays are in a ù ú of smug humu-ing joy, more than willing to let the terminology of 'God-Queen Petra' slide by. Heyalexa: I love reverence ! Heyalexa: Go forth , warrior ! Heyalexa: Draw thy Credit Card ! Heyalexa: Please partake in the greatest trial of all : Repeat Customer Annual Pass Pay Up Front Unlimited Legsticks Trial ! Meanwhile Petra is sitting inside the restaurant, leaning one elbow on the bar. She can't hear perfectly whatever nonsense Heyalexa is spouting at the door, but she perks up and squints over in that direction. "Huh? Did I hear my name? What was that?" Beside Petra-- by necessity-- is Angela. Given that it's a casual sort of place, on her own territory no less, she's just wearing jeans and her black and gold CMU letterman jacket. It'd be a perfect image if there were sports playing on the TV behind the bar, but there aren't, because Petra hasn't installed a satellite dish that functions at an altitude of ten thousand feet and a steady cruising speed over innumerable different worlds. "You're incredible and so business-like!" Heyalexa hugs Love back readily, with only a slight eye towards the ever-present threat of the Queen of Hatred's instincts activating to swallow her whole like any other rat, and gives a hug to Angela too. She's seemingly extremely fond of physical affection for an anthropomorphized Amazon Alexa, and one could attribute this to the influence imprinted on her by Petra when Silvering her, and that would be mostly correct. The other piece of the puzzle, however, is that displayed of affection are associated with Customer Loyalty !!!!!! Heyalexa: Thank you ! I love Business ! Heyalexa: And I love you ! I love you especially when you give me Business ! Petra leans over to Angela and says quietly, "I'm pretty sure there's not going to be any human flesh, by the way. Not this time, at least, or else I'd feel weird about-- actually, I should let everyone know that." Petra hops down from her stool and wiggles her jacket around so it's not crumpled up from sitting weird. Her greeting towards everyone consists of a raised hand, and "Hey everyone. I'm pretty sure Chewie's not serving any human flesh today. He's not allowed to serve any food from-- what was it I said?-- sapient, civilian murders." Terrifyingly specific. "G-God-Queen Petra?" Now Petra has context for what she didn't-quite-hear from Igon earlier. However, with the context of the radio just this morning, Audrey's general dishevelment, and the stat boost that comes from being in her own domain, Petra gets smug about it, rather than embarrassed. She puts a hand on her hip and looks down at Audrey, lowered just enough by having her hands on her knees that Petra can feel above her. "Yes?~"
Petra Soroka	This is, of course, the exact wrong stance to be in when Lilian arrives. The shift from 'the sector's most dangerous terrorist' (tyrannical ruler of the reborn skeleton of a nation she wiped off the earth and now carries through the sky as a mobile fortress) to 'golden retriever' is instant when her face lights up excitedly. Lilian's hunch that Petra is generally aware of everything that happens on the island through her ratbots is even more accurate than she thinks: regardless of splitting her attention or even needing to look a the screen, she has a constant mental link with her tablet because of the Silver. "Hi!!! Welcome! Lilian! You know, I've never actually been that close to Trideag Headquarters-- or, once, I guess, but I didn't really stick around to study it. Cinnuint though... maybe? Would you think so if not for the castle? I feel like I was kind of obligated to have the castle, but it's the part I worked the least on." She pouts and looks around at the narrow view of the island she can see past the door outside. "Is it that similar? I guess if my taste was influenced by you, that's, like, literally only a good thing." "Jesus Christ, which District is this freak from?" "Oh, that's Igon. He's a new Partner," Petra explains to Lilian, entirely uncritical of her impression of him. When he talks back to her, though, Petra's eyes narrow. She's about to just whip around and start scolding him, but thinking about him as an Abnormality for a moment makes her take a different track. "That, is Queen Liliana-- Lilian Rook, Queen of the Hungering Star, Black Bloom of the End, and-- uh, Dame Commander of the Paladins. She can do whatever she wants, and both you and me should pay deference to her. You especially should, since you disrespected her in my territory." That should probably do it. Petra looks over at Lilian with a bit of an awkward smile, unspokenly, 'this guy is a little bit stupid'.
Audrey Basque	Startled, Audrey averts her gaze from Igon's intense stare, evidently not the kind of person who can give a stare back easily. "I-I think maybe it's... okay if not everything is a trial, sometimes?" Well, what does she know. Lilian's arrival, and the immediate commentary on the place, causes her to deflate all-too-expectedly, though the moment she's addressed directly, she stiffens, standing completely straight at at-attention before seemingly catching herself and forcing her stance an inch off to not look so nearly like that's a reflex. Which it is. As Petra well knows. "I, ah, hello, Miss Rook." If she had anything else to say, she doesn't, because Igon steps onto the train tracks and Audrey stares in horror like a bystander watching a mother's stroller drift off into the street. She remembers what happened with Natsuki and Igon. She's about to try saying something, but Petra swoops in. Which is a dozen different blessings at minimum. She lets that go on, though, in disbelief, repeats under her breath for Petra: "R-Really, God-Queen?" Well, the horror of that situation aside, at least it sounds like the meals are going to be safe? And at this point she's not going to refuse that drink, and definitely might need a couple more on the side.
Lilian Rook	Oh god he's talking to her. She was hoping he'd just continue to be a freak about the food and scream to himself in a corner before leaving inconsequentially. A lot of Elites do that! Lilian thinks carefully before opening her mouth. 'That, is Queen Liliana-- Lilian Rook, Queen of the Hungering Star, Black Bloom of the End, and-- uh, Dame Commander of the Paladins. She can do whatever she wants, and both you and* me should pay deference to her.' Well, Petra has it handled. "I'll allow it to pass this one time. Ignorance of the law excuses not, but I am forgiving of the mistakes of the unenlightened." Lilian says, at least rousing herself to play into the bit a little bit. She didn't wear something entirely casual after all." She's back to Petra in a heartbeat. "Perhaps if not for the castle." she says, pensively. "Though, there was a castle here in the first place, so that hardly counts as plagiarism. It'd be a shame to demolish a trophy like that. Especially after I graced its throne with my presence, however briefly." Tilting her cheek against one fingertip for a moment, her eyes wander into the corner of the room, and she says, "Perhaps it really is just an objective marker of quality? I can't think of any reason why green roads and soft like and a lack of abominable twentieth century construction would be a matter of taste." "Really though, what takes me aback is that you've kept something like this running." Lilian says, eyes snapping back to Petra. "I knew the generalities of your floating castle side project, but I thought of it as unceremoniously dumped into your lap by Doctor Eggman, not something you were expanding to this scale. How on Earth are you delegating it? Surely you don't expect me to believe you maintain all of these rats by hand?" Pausing for breath, a faint smile comes over her. "Though decommissioning that cannon does seem almost a waste. It has sentimental value." Finally reminded of a question she'd meant to ask the moment she arrives, Lilian says, "Oh, by the way. I've been meaning to ask about that hideous tower. The one creating the admittedly rather soothing twilight atmosphere. Where did you get that thing from? Some conquest I'm not aware of?" 'So far I've found the best method of engagement is to treat him as one of the Abnormalities.' "Well he certainly is abnormal." Lilian mutters.
Angela	"Hi Audrey!!" "Hello Audrey. I am glad you could make it." She doesn't really feel guilty for getting on her case a little over the radio but mostly because she's starting to get the feeling it's good for her too, like everybody's been saying about her. She is a little worried about her ... interest in the Dame Commander. Or more specifically, how she manages that interest. But it's best to leave Audrey's training to Petra. She knows what to do and Angela's instincts don't seem to be what she needs. ''Everything is a trial.'' It certainly seems more common as of late anyway, Angela reflects but is trying not to get Igon started. ANd besides, Lilian made it too! This is a surprise because she didn't think Lilian would have the slightest interest in rat sushi, for example. Nevertheless, she embraces Lilian easily. She's less hesitant these days and more comfortable about it. Angela looks over to the wizard tower for a long moment but she does not comment on her opinion on its aesthetic sense. She quirks her head instead, frowning thoughtfully. Maybe she's thinking about the architecture. ''Which District is this freak from?'' "Despite manerisms and appearance, he is not actually from The City." Angela says. "So far I've found the best method of engagement is to treat him as one of the Abnormalities." She is so accustmoed to treating Igon as one of the Abnormalities she didn't even think that Igon could just hear her say that. Maybe she thinks he won't mind. "Wow...!" Love says of Lilian, then thoughtfully hmms. "Your eyes are like emerald green... Like on the wiki..." Or was it a different green? She can't remember and she's so happy she doesn't even nibble on Heyalexa, not even a little. "Love you too, Heyalexa." Angela says. The word feels like it has meaning these days. She wonders if she's going to recognize herself in the mirror once she's outside. Not that she really tends to right now. Nevertheless, Angela gives a small nod to Petra. "Ah, I appreciate it. Though I am not sure of...some of the other items regardless. I am glad they did not come from sapients." She seems especially dubious about rat sushi. She does not have a snake-like appetite no matter what Love says. ''This guy is a little bit stupid.'' "He has genuine passion," Angela says of Igon. Chewie is already setting out the rat sushi balls. You can't actually TELL it's rat sushi, because all the rat meat is inside rice balls, but the soy drizzle on top has been artistically displayed to have little rats on top. Love excitedly goes to a table to pop one in her mouth. "Ange! You should try one!" Somehow Angela's face gets paler.
Igon	Igon watches the conversation unfold like its a celestial alignment foretold in a dream. Heyalexa, the Prophet of Credit Cards, extols commerce with divine glee. Love, the Champion of Emotion, grants embraces that leave no wound behind. Petra, the Architect of Steel and Nationhood, transforms before his eyes from monarch to maiden and back again, her gravity shifting like a heavenly body caught between orbits. Lilian. Named in full. Exalted by title. The room bends slightly when Petra speaks those names. It feels like prophecy being corrected mid-script, the syllables grinding like tectonic plates. Igon listens. Oh, he listens. Then, slowly, with the absolute surety of a man who has been thrown out of temples for kneeling too hard, he turns back toward Lilian. She arrives with sovereign disdain. Her presence cracks the air. The leylines hum in her wake like strings pulled taut. She moves like one who knows the world should rearrange itself in her favor, and often does. She calls the skyhole an eyesore. She mocks the creature providing libations. In the group chat earlier, Petra had spoken of this. Not disguised. Not hidden. Ascended. A new form. A new mask. But the soul, the presence, unchanged. He cannot scream it yet. Not here. Not now. There are rules in place. This is Petras domain. He is a guest. But his hands are already shaking. He turns slightly, his back to her, not in cowardice, but to keep from throwing the first harpoon out of raw instinct. His voice is low, murmuring to himself in a mad, slow voice. To himself, the only man, the only truth, who will listen and understand. "She is here." His fingers flex, clenching air like it might become steel. "Do not ask how I know. I feel it. I hear it in her heel-falls. In the sharpness of her dismissal. In the way she spoke my trial into being without lifting a weapon. Bayle walks in many skins. But none fit quite so perfectly." He is breathing faster. Not panicking. "he does not need scales now. She has titles. She does not need flame. She has judgment. This is not a monsters form. This is a Queens. A perfect disguise. Bayle...is a woman...and her name...is Lilian Rook..." He straightens his shoulders. Not calmly. With ritual. And whispers to himself: "This time, I will not miss." He then politely takes his seat and folds his napkin. "My apologies for disturbing you, My...Lady. I do hope we may have a fine dinner in spite of my... indiscretion." He clenches his hands under the table. "May I ask, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company on this fine day?"
Audrey Basque	"I-It's... it's not done," Audrey comments at Lilian, regarding the tower. "I mean, the tower was already there, it's just getting a few additions. The sky and the ley lines are my handiwork, and--" She raises a hand, to snap her fingers. The tower RUMBLES, to the dismay of construction workers still wandering about it, and one of the large crystals, room-sized, detaches from the tower and starts glowing like a blue and yellow star as it floats in the air by it, wobbling up and down just a small bit. Thin strands of magic link it to six of the other twenty or so crystals, like constellation lines. "If it WAS finished, it'd look a lot cooler. And a whole bunch of the crystals would have detached just now. At least the linking works..." She stares flatly at it. "Needs work. Apologies. But the aesthetic isn't settled. If you have suggestions, Miss Rook, I would be happy to take them into account. But this is the project I mentioned to you before." She considers that, actually. She's about to have a tower and probably some kind of temple or castle in ancient China? Maybe she should slow down picking up second homes. She stares as Igon turns and evidently starts breathing weird, but has no context for this besides the fact she knows he's insane and intense. At least when he turns back he's... being polite? Phew. Crisis averted???
Lilian Rook	'Your eyes are like emerald green... Like on the wiki...' "What?" The comment is so abrupt and strange that Lilian is briefly stunned. "What does the wiki have to do with anything?" Lilian pushes back her hair by her ear, scanning the room as if for a mirror. "And emerald? Isn't that darker and more blueish?" 'She is here.' Two for two on baffling observations. "Obviously?" Lilian says. Straightening up a little, she turns her chin up by degrees at Igon, not nearly so practised at Abnormality-handling as Petra and Angela. "I'm right in front of you. 'How you know' isn't even a question." Her eyes narrow from the bottom up. "Are you alright?" If she knew half of what he was thinking, she'd find it very flattering. And, frankly, not wrong. No matter how mundane everyone tries to act about it. However. 'Bayle walks in many skins. But none fit quite so perfectly. He does not need scales now.' "Excuse me?" says Lilian. Her voice pitches up along with her volume. "Who or what on God's green Earth is Bayle and what does that have to with me?" A second later, she looks to Petra. It's not a terribly beseeching glance. It's one so radioactively hot, skin prickling and spine shivering numb, that she feels the need to direct it away from the stranger. Her tone lapses, crisp professionalism creaking with strain until it underflows into a smoky rasp. "If you say anything about 'disguises' again, I'll remove your arms and legs and have you crawling on your belly like a worm." Lilian breathes deep. Count to ten. Bracing and centering. That's the idea of-- 'I-It's... it's not done,' Lilian exhales with a near-silent 'pfuh' like she's been punched in the chest. Wide-eyed, she stares at Audrey, and says, "Oh my god you're one of those U-Haul lesbians aren't you?!" Now everything is just too stupid to do anything but double down. Simultaneously aghast and spiteful, Lilian kicks a chair out with her foot, seats herself by dropping, and thumps her elbows up on the table, lacing her fingers below eye level. "The occasion is seeing the conditions these Agents live in. Practically all of them have demonstrated commendable loyalty to me, and so I'd like to make certain that Petra is seeing to their needs adequately."
Audrey Basque	"H-Huh?!" First she's agitated by Lilian's own agitation at Igon, but then it's by being told that by her of all people. "N-No! I needed a-- I needed a place I can do stuff like that without people getting mad!" She gestures to the sky, as if it were self-evident what she means. "Do you know how many laws and regulations exist most places about suddenly messing with the distance between points or heaven forbid the sky outright?" She's a Paladin of course she does. Audrey immediatly fixes her tone. "S-Sorry. Of course you do. Better than me, even." Her stance slumps, especially when Lilian seats herself and makes no secret she's upset. The threats she issued moments earlier don't do anything to appease her, even though they were for Igon. She backs away, retreating to the relatively safer position of being somewhere in Angela's orbit instead. She mutters to her, something to the tune of 'I really never learn, do I'.
Petra Soroka	"R-Really, God-Queen?" Petra side-eyes Audrey, and mutters under her breath with a shrug. "What, do you think I chose that? You know I wouldn't." "Ignorance of the law excuses not, but I am forgiving of the mistakes of the unenlightened." "Your magnanimity is surpassed only by your beauty, my lady~" That one wasn't necessary at all for the bit. That was just for fun, from Petra. It came out without her entirely meaning for it to, given that they're in public, and she briefly glares at Audrey because she knows what she did. Her face starts turning a little pink, and she blinks a few times to reset herself. "Um." "How on Earth are you delegating it?" "Oh! I mean, it's... been like, a year of working on it, right? A lot of the growth's been since the Agents needed somewhere to go, but... really, I'd done so much work on it already before that that it wasn't too hard to manage. A-ah- uh..." Petra wanders over to sit down at the six-top set for them all to eat at, dragging Angela by the elbow to sit next to her. She tugs Angela's chair a little closer too, leaning against her shoulder to stave off the cold sweat and near-blackout daze that suddenly surged up inside her when they got slightly too far apart. She falls silent for a few seconds in order to regain some color in her cheeks, and then tilts her head up to look at Lilian and continue with a small apologetic noise. "Well, the ratbots are connected to a central AI, and Heyalexa can manage them for deliveries. A lot of them just have routine duties though, so I don't need to do much with them, and then some of the others are working with the-- the other partnerships and businesses and whatever that I've got. I don't have any... laws or anything, but there's still only around a hundred fifty people here, and I'm watching all of them, so it barely matters. Um... Concord construction stuff helped a ton with building up the apartment complex and the restaurant and Fox's clinic quickly, and they assigned me a... like, a guy. What's the word? Personal assistant, or secretary, or something, for managing reaching out to other Concord support stuff." "So yeah!" Petra beams at Lilian, very obviously hoping for praise. "It's, like, livable for the agents! Not all of them are planning on staying here staying here, but some of them are, and either way it's kind of my duty to make it tolerable to them. Like, where the hell else would someone like Chewie even go?" "It has sentimental value." "That's true." Petra nods. "The sentimental value of shooting Kale down. Heyalexa has plans for the East Wind too; I figure she'll deploy them soon." "Where did you get that thing from? Some conquest I'm not aware of?" Petra starts to open her mouth to automatically answer 'yes' before freezing. Simultaneously with Audrey's admittance that it's hers, that would be the worst possible thing to say, and her deference to Lilian isn't so all-consuming that she'll announce the 'wiggles' that easily. Sweatily, Petra is compelled to come slightly to Audrey's defense, when the term 'u-haul lesbian' starts getting thrown around.
Petra Soroka	"A-ah-- um-- w-well, she was doing some research on, um, some artifacts. That we-- th-the Concord, I mean-- are collecting. And, I wasn't really using the castle for much of anything at all-- like, you know, you can't imagine me spending time in a castle, right? So I had an open space. That's all." "Your eyes are like emerald green... Like on the wiki..." Petra is immediately compelled by the kind of seething shock that grips Lilian at Igon's Bayle mumbling. She jolts and snaps her head over to stare at Love, gripping the edge of the table like she's about to shoot to her feet. She barely eases off in time, and takes a breath before saying anything. "N-no. Obviously they're not emerald green, Love. They're-- they're grassy green. Obviously." Petra stares at Igon's back as he frenetically mumbles to himself, and her eyes glaze over. Surely this is fine, right? Maybe he's some going off on some psychopath tangent, but that's relatively par for the course at this point, and all she has to do is keep him away from aggroing Lilian. In some ways, it's refreshing to have someone so singlemindedly idiotic around her, when she's been deprived of the pleasant, formulaic ritual of doing Works on Abnormalities, but it's stressful when it's around Lilian. "If you say anything about 'disguises' again, I'll remove your arms and legs and have you crawling on your belly like a worm." "A-ah? What did he say?" Petra only refocuses on his words when Lilian stares at her, shaking her head to clear it. "Wait, what? Hey, what the fuck? She's not a fucking skinwalker, you creep." Petra pushes herself up from her seat, immediately wobbling and stabilizing herself with a hand on Angela's shoulder. Glaring at Igon, Petra snaps the fingers on her other hand, and the island rumbles with the sudden activation of... something. A steadily growing whine accompanies the approach of a stream of ratbots accumulating from every corner of Hydrochoeria, some of them glowing with lasers underneath their bodies. Even Heyalexa's stancing up, jet-boosters on her calves shwink-ing out, and missile turrets opening up on her shoulders. Heyalexa: Felon status approaching 80 Percent ! Please apologize before Customer status is revoked ! "Yeah. What she said. Get on your knees and beg forgiveness, and whatever dumbshit thing you have stuck in your retarded little brain, cut it out before I cut it for you."
Angela	"You wanted honest relationships, it seems you got what you wanted.#-1 FUNCTION (ANIS) NOT FOUND Angela asides to Audrey. "Better than being polite because of your station, no?" Angela isn't sure that's what SHE HERSELF would want--she has genuine friendships so she doesn't need more people to be honest with her than she already has. But maybe Audrey just needs it. Her interest in Igon is kind of like the interest one might have in a train wreck. That's still ongoing. And somehow dragging other trains into the fiery explosion. She can't help but be a little in awe. It walks a different line entirely than her irritation. She can't help but wonder if this behavior is normal for his world or bizarre. Sometimes Angela feels alien even in her own world, more so than in others, so she knows better than letting the first example be her guide to what qualifies as normal but if evne half of what he told her was true, then the world itself does seem a bit ... ... dramatic. She grimaces at the very idea of loud theater. "Um is it? I just meant cause...emeralds sparkle right?" Love is a bit of a dummy and if nobody else is going to eat the rat sushi she's going to start adding onto it. "He is a dragon." Angela says of Bayle. "And a shapeshifter perhaps? ..." She frowns, recalling that 'fried shapeshifter' is on the menu. It couldn't be... Could it?!?! No that would be too easy. ... But it'd be less dramatic so she sort of hopes it's true. It's not,though the plate of fried shapeshifter has the meat still ... moving. No, it's still shifting shapes on the plate, even, as if it's trying to dodge and knife and fork stabs--but it is decidedly fried. Chewie is grinning as he brings it out, clearly most pleased with the presentation of this than anything else. ''The Dream'' is a bright green beverage that does indeed have a bit of enkephalin in it. Drinking it tastes sweet, but it numbs the mind--just a bit, due to the low dosage--as one's owns thoughts get pulled under the psychic energy drawn from the collective unconsciousness. It's not just sweet though--it's also...sour! "U-Haul lesbians. ... I haven't heard that term before." Angela admits, picking up her ball of rat sushi and looking right at Love. Who is now staring at her expectantly. "..." Her eyes slant towards Audrey. She doesn't object to her hcair being pulled closer to Petra's, and indeed that seems to brightenher mood enough that hse does in fact pop the rat sushi into her mouth, swallowing it whole though. No way she's chewing. "......Weirdly not bad." Angela manages. "Yay!" Love says. Angela stares down at the table., not adding anything else. ''She's not a fucking skinwalker, you creep.'' "...Lilian is not Bayle. She is not a dragon. She's fought dragons." She braces her hands against her chair.
Igon	Igon does not recoil when Lilian threatens to reduce him to a Bayle-crawling form. He should. Any sane man would. But he just stares. Wider. Wilder. Like she has confirmed everything. "Yes, YES!" He breathes, like hes witnessing a miracle. "Thats exactly what Bayle would say." The flicker of spine-chilling triumph that follows is the look of a mad prophet witnessing the beast deny its nature with perfect accuracy. The denial is proof. Then Audrey speaks and Lilian punches the entire conversation sideways. Lilian speaks like a Queen. That much was always true. She threatens like a dragon. That too, a certainty. But now? She speaks in a tongue so foreign, so absurd, that it cracks the myth he had so carefully built around her, in the approximate ten seconds of knowing her. "U-Haul... lesbians..." The words are poison. No, worse. They are nonsense masquerading as meaning. Bayle never spoke nonsense. Bayle was fire. Bayle was ruin. Bayle did not quip! He reels inside. She might not be Bayle. She might simply be of Bayle. Affiliated. Adjacent, even. He bows his head. Not reverence. Not submission. Resignation. But then, Petra, God-Queen, turns her attention to him. Igon staggers back from Petras fury as if her words themselves were harpoons. The ground hums beneath him with the coming tide of ratbots, the air thick with the scent of electronic judgment. He drops to one knee, then the other, slamming his fists down so hard the diner shakes. "Strike me down!" he bellows, voice already half-hoarse from the soul it drags behind every syllable. "I deserve it! I have named falsehood as truth! I have mistaken a queen for a calamity and confused radiance for rot!" His eyes are wide, bloodshot, gold with flecks of red. A cathedral set ablaze by guilt and conviction. "I, Igon, who once hunted Bayle across ruin and cosmos, who pierced the hearts of wyrms and walked through storms shaped like gods, I have erred! I have cast my madness on one who is not the Dread! I have dared to lay the weight of Bayles curse upon a woman who carries stars in her gaze and speaks with the clarity of fate itself!" He throws his arms wide, almost cruciform, head back, hair soaked with sweat and rainless thunder. "Petra, God-Queen of Industry and Wrath, smite me! Lilian Rook, Queen of the Hungering Star, curse me with your name, carve it into my spine so that I may carry it like a brand for my error! Angela, Grand Librarian, let your gaze sear my pride down to ash! You...unknown fourth one! Do something as the rest of them have! He gasps, then drops fully to the ground, forehead pressed to the path, breath shallow but unyielding. He looks to Angela for some kind of divine salvation before he perishes. Anything to tell him the world still makes sense. And finally, with a haunted stare: "Before I die, I have one question...what manner of beast is a U-Haul?"
Lilian Rook	'No one untainted by dragon would say something so cursed' "Oh fuck off!" Lilian half-flusters. She's too angry at Igon still to really be on the back foot about it, so she automatically bites back with venom in her dismissal. "If you knew what that was, you'd agree with me!" A bold assumption. 'N-No! I needed a-- I needed a place I can do stuff like that without people getting mad!' Lilian narrows her eyes at Audrey. Her lip curls. Her head moves back a centimeter and a half. "A place 'no one will get mad' about what you get up to. Which is . . . moving into Petra's home." she says, with the cadence of repeating back something so that the original speaker understands how incredibly stupid it sounds coming rom someone else. "God, it's been what, two months?" She's still primed by Audrey halfway admitting the replica in her closet. Lilian mouths the words 'thirsty bitch' silently. At least Petra is there to put her in a better mood! Words that Lilian realizes she would never have even dreamed of speaking aloud not long ago. "Even though I should be the least surprised, I'm shocked at how much capital the Concord has already thrown behind you." Lilian says to Petra, fingers still folded together. "'Cinnuint' took about as long to build, and that was something I was funding myself, with the help of Paladins training contractors and Persephone as well. You only even learned to build robots fairly recently. For not having a particular plan in mind, this all built up rather quickly." Stopping to contemplate a little further, Lilian wobbles her head back and forth a little bit, then reluctantly adds, "Though, I suppose the basic structure of the castle was already there. And it must be Dimokratia's doing, that embassy building. I imagine you focused more on spikes and floating platforms." Her bearing switches seamlessly to 'businesslike'. "Speaking of which, wouldn't you save energy by hacking the bottom off this island? You're lugging around quite a lot of superfluous rock, aren't you? Are you really saving it to expand downwards? 'Underground', as it were?" By the time the robots manage to get there from across the island, Lilian has gone from nuclear heated to merely smouldering about the whole thing. It's tempting to snap her fingers and tell Petra to stand down like a dog, but it's also been maybe two minutes since she was extremely pissed off, so she kind of wants it to be Igon's problem too. So, "Language." is all she remarks on for a little while. 'Petra, God-Queen of Industry and Wrath, smite me! Lilian Rook, Queen of the Hungering Star, curse me with your name, carve it into my spine so that I may carry it like a brand for my error!' Good call. Now Lilian looks smugly satisfied. "If only they were all that way." she says, pleased. "I mean, he's obviously crazy, but I can appreciate someone who can repent so immediately and so vehemently." Side-eye. Dice clatter. "You know, I actually have a curse with me right now. A modest one. As a lesson."
Audrey Basque	Petra's glare is returned as flatly as Audrey can manage, in a 'THIS IS YOUR FAULT' manner of response to it. "S-Sure, but..." Audrey huffs a bit at Angela's echoing of her own words. She's horrified when Igon then proceeds to repeat the words 'U-Haul Lesbians', this turn of events so bafflingly unexpected that she has no idea what to even say. And now he's... on the ground? Hitting it, and screaming and... "U-Unknown???" Ah, well, she... hadn't introduced herself, formally, had she? No, wait, that's HARDLY the problem here, is it?? "I--" Distress radiates off her more than anything else now. What is she supposed to do??? To Igon????? She reaches for a drink, downing the enkephalin-laced elixir without any regards for what it is. And then she slumps onto a chair, pointedly a different table from Lilian if that's even an option, and orders not just another one of those drinks but the rat sushi that she made the terrible decision of giving Love the impression she'd have to try. She does not even mouth back to Lilian regarding the accusations. Of course everything that comes out of her mouth is stupid, especially to HER. Instead, she decides to just... agree. "I think I may be a bit overstimulated by all the possibilities," she says, before clarifying: "I also provisionally accepted a likely not insignificant patch of land in China. Like I'm desperate to be anywhere but the family estates or the dorms." Not that she's facing Lilian. It's mumbling, defeated, idle chatter, like she's still desperate to talk to her for heaven knows what reason. "As for him, this is the second time I see this happen. You're actually being much kinder than the first person he tried this with. And he's being much more apologetic, so I guess he learned." She finally remembers to answer Igon. "No, I am not going to-- do anything to you. I have no rank or station here, they're the ones you offended," she waves a hand in the hair dismissively. "I'm Audrey, by the way. I think we talked once, maybe. Briefly. You were being really intense." This does not narrow it down. "I mean, at other people, not me." Neither does this. "W-Well, at me too, actually, but..." Her posture drops. She needs that second drink.
Petra Soroka	"I just meant cause...emeralds sparkle right?" "Emerald green is a specific color, sweetheart," Petra explains very patiently to Love. It's just a tiny bit condescending, less because of Love specifically, and more because it's an argument she had for several months straight before. "In any decent lighting, they're obviously not emerald green." Petra actually does take a piece of rat sushi. She asides to Chewie, "This had better be sushi-grade or I'm shutting your ass down forever, you know," and then pops it in her mouth with a bit of a grimace. She musters a smile towards Love, and then starts coughing after she swallows. Rather than any rat-bits, what she coughs up are more bird feathers. She waves them away, and then looks over to Love with a flat tone. "Oops. That must've been from lunch." "U-Haul lesbians. ... I haven't heard that term before." "Oh, it's-- like, a joke, about... well... U-Haul is a moving brand. For moving houses." That explains none of the context of the joke, but it's what Petra can muster. "She is not a dragon. She's fought dragons." "Oh yeah. I've fought dragons too." She's not being accused of anything, but that's a fun Petra fact! "Even though I should be the least surprised, I'm shocked at how much capital the Concord has already thrown behind you." "Actually! You'd be surprised how much of it is mine. Like I said, this was practically halfway done before I even got involved with the-- before I was getting any Concord funding." Petra waves at Heyalexa, whose metallic rat tail snaps whiplike with a smirk. "There's a bunch of partnerships I've got so that Hydrochoeria's not just a money hole. Heyalexa organized some stuff with some various businesses, which is actually what the underside of the island's used for, and then Gru-- do you know Gru?--'s also been setting up some of his Despicable Designs stuff using my territory. Though it does still cost a lot." Going off on her fingers, she elaborates. "The embassy's Dimo's, yeah. I actually have antigravity generators around some of the key points underground too, which makes the jets' jobs way easier-- the same ones the ratbots use, but, you know, bigger. One of the big things the Concord's helped with, that I didn't really think about much, was... like, city planning, to make sure I didn't forget anything obvious. I had to tear out all of the garbage century old infrastructure that those idiot furries left behind too, which was a ton of work that I mostly did myself, actually. This is sort of where I spend my busywork, when I'm not doing Library stuff, City stuff, classwork, or with you."
Petra Soroka	"Petra, God-Queen of Industry and Wrath, smite me! Lilian Rook, Queen of the Hungering Star, curse me with your name, carve it into my spine so that I may carry it like a brand for my error!" When Igon kneels down, the tide of ratbots darkening the windows and spilling into the restaurant doesn't stop. Petra opens her hand up from where it was clenched into a fist, and one of her non-weaponized ratbots gravitationally picks up a glass of Chewie's Dream cocktail and places it between her fingers. She takes a sip and looks smugly down at Igon, stress draining away rapidly as Lilian appreciates the apology herself. She reaches to her hip and draws out a squirming pool of morphmetal in her palm, which stretches out into a thinner, smaller sword than Night Mist. Handing it off to Lilian, it briefly loses surface tension to become a whip, then an executioner's axe, then a wrench, and Lilian of course can utilize Petra to turn it into whatever she wants with a mental command. "If his apology pleases you, then do with him as you will, your highness~" Heyalexa still has her missile silos out. She wasn't called out by name, but she'd like to be included! Without any particular attachment to the tension, she picks up a rat sushi and tilts her head back to swallow it whole just like Love. Heyalexa: Hello ! Heyalexa: I would like to be included in Smiting Family Fun Party Event !
Angela	"It is like the Deyvat Association but for other worlds." Angela explains to Igon. "I tried to catch a bird for you," Love says to Petra. "But it flew away. I'll try harder next time. You should have some water though..." She doesn't really want to push harder, though, because she's pretty sure that Petra is getting plenty of bird in her diet. "Huh... I didn't know that..." She says of emeralds. "Maybe that's what they're associated with the sea? Because they're more blue?" Chewie pours Petra a glass of water, but he's not bringing out 'dessert' until everyone finished hteir main course. "...Is the meal to your satisfaction so far?" Chewie asks of rat sushi. Love starts giving the pleading eyes to Petra too, the very same eyes that defeated Angela not long ago! "--Oh, then it is not like Deyvat." Angela adds, as Petra explains U-Haul. Angela may have ASSUMED because it involved the world 'haul' which is an activity that Deyvat people frequently engage in. She is trying to play it off so nobody dwells on her TERRIBLE MISTAKE. Petra hands the morphmetal to Lilian to use as she deems fit. She doesn't think Lilian is going to execute Igon that readily but she can't help but wonder if this would qualify as killing a fellow Partner. Probably not, she decides, the bulk of it would be Lilian's doing after all. "Please be cautious of consuming too much enkephalin, Audrey. Overindulging can result in hallucinations, madness, apathy, and the liquifying of one's internal organs." She pauses a moment before adding, "Ah but two drinks is fine."
Lilian Rook	'Like I'm desperate to be anywhere but the family estates or the dorms.' "I got that impression." Lilian sniffs. "God knows why. You're the one that practically everyone would kill to be. Even with your freak fixation." 'Actually! You'd be surprised how much of it is mine. Like I said, this was practically halfway done before I even got involved with the-- before I was getting any Concord funding.' "Not to undermine your accomplishments, Petra, but wasn't Doctor Eggman a member of the Concord? Meaning that this essentially had his backing from the start." Lilian says. She knows it's kind of asinine, but she always enjoys prodding Petra when she starts looking satisfied. "I'm glad to hear that you've paid mind to keeping this operation solvent, though. I'd be shocked if they were willing to funnel money into this just because of you being a Partner and nothing else." She spares time for a forkful of Weird Meat. She's definitely eaten scarier by now. "I can't say I've heard of Gru." 'I had to tear out all of the garbage century old infrastructure that those idiot furries left behind too, which was a ton of work that I mostly did myself, actually.' "God that must have been satisfying." Speaking of which, Petra is clearly expecting Lilian to Demand Satisfaction right about now. Her eyebrows rise up into her bangs, widened gaze fixed on the shifting blob of silvery Petra-stuff as it floats towards her. It's only been long enough to 'somewhat' rinse the association of being enemy technology from it, after the weeklong war where Lilian was constantly having to navigate around the stuff, so what's on Lilian's mind when she finally reaches for it is, "My my. Isn't this a little perverse?" Far be it for Lilian to not do a little pervert shit though. Even if Angela and Audrey are right there, she can be a little weird about it. As a treat. Igon is clearly fucking crazy anyways, so he won't blink at whatever happens! Probably! Petra knows Lilian's choice the minute it stabs into the back of her skull and tilts her thoughts around like a joystick, but it's easily assumed that she's not going to execute the guy; even if the offense was pretty bad. Lilian slides her hand over the blob of morphmetal and pulls it taut into a shimmering silver whip, twisting it around a closed fist to feel its physical tautness despite its liquid appearance, and allows the coil to drop to the floor. "Aren't lashings the classical punishment?" she says, though her eyes are already wandering. "Well, first I need to make certain that I have any idea how to use one of these. It looks very simple, at least." Lilian says ever so innocently, palm against her cheek. Her practice target is Petra, obviously. More than a matter of acceptability, Petra is the one who's always practically begging to be used as a prop anyways. Like a samurai testing a sword on a tatami mat, Lilian pulls back the whip, coils it in the same motion, and then flicks it out to crack against Petra's thigh, then the other, and then finally one to the shoulder near the neck when she stumbles. The whole sequence of movements is so decidedly un-amateur that Lilian almost sarcastically purrs, "Goodness! That's a 'psychoment' for you! It practically controls itself!"
Lilian Rook	She looks down at Igon, kneeling and screaming repentance. Fist to the floor, head bowed, cranking the penitent knight act up to eleven-- she was just starting to think this is maybe a little too weird for her, but how can she not? "Give your thanks to whatever star guides you; through my vast magnaminity, your fervent repentance has been heard, and acknowledged. As your remorse has pleased me so, you may keep your life." Lilian stops and looks at Angela, gesturing affirmative to her, like 'This is what it means to treat him like an Abnormality right?' Of course, this guy is a total stranger, so Lilian gets bored (and, out of momentum, weirded out again) by the count of five on the back. Feeling dissatisfied with just ending it there, though, she fishes one of Tamamo's luck-curse ofuda from her bag, and flicks it onto Igon like a playing card trick, where it should burn up on contact and make his life especially 'interesting' (read: obnoxious and difficult) for a little while. "Hmm hmm~ That should do~ I expect your respect shall be greatly improved, promising one~" Lilian sing-songs to herself; then she's right back to Angela and Petra. "Were you two doing this sort of thing all the time with the Abnormalities? It's actually sort of fun."
Audrey Basque	"And yet, having heard that a few times now, it rings hollow every time," Audrey replies to Lilian, eyeing her second drink after being warned by Angela it may cause her internal organs to melt if she takes more than two. "O, woe be me, for I am rich and safe and successful. You don't have to say it, I get it." She downs the second glass, and allows herself to relax a little bit. Vulnerability, advice she recalls, but with the enkephalin it's almost coming naturally. Or maybe that's something else entirely. Lilian rises, making a whip; Audrey turns her head to stare. She's pointedly not looking away when Petra gets whipped, though she has marginally less interest when it's Igon's turn. She was a bit startled at first, but not surprised outright. And she knows well enough by now Petra doesn't mind. Still, it's like watching a master swordsman practice. She wonders a dozen things, idly. Some she cannot vocalize, except she's a shade redder in the face than she was prior. Maybe even two whole shades. Then again, that could be the doubling up on drinks. Some she could vocalize, but won't anyway, because every word she says seems to have a fifty fifty chance of secretly being an armed stick of dynamite. "I didn't know you mastered the whip as well as the sword. That was... w-well, clean." She stops herself from staring (at Lilian), after entirely too long. Though her glance might drift to Petra, just a bit.
Petra Soroka	"I tried to catch a bird for you," "That's okay," Petra explains to Love. "I'm usually full up on birds. I don't need any more birds." "Please be cautious of consuming too much enkephalin, Audrey. Overindulging can result in hallucinations, madness, apathy, and the liquifying of one's internal organs." Petra swirls the glass in her grip and takes another drink of the cocktail. "So basically no different from usual, then. Netzach's just a pussy." Petra's had her internal organs liquified multiple times! Like a beautiful butterfly emerging from a chrysalis and then going back into another chrysalis and liquifying again. "Not to undermine your accomplishments, Petra, but wasn't Doctor Eggman a member of the Concord?" "A-ah-- well..." The satisfying impact of Petra's pleased expression flickering hits, and Petra fumbles to recover. "I mean, he specifically made sure to be as hands-off as possible. After blowing it all up, he just handed it to me, and he hasn't done... really a single thing himself for the entire time. It was my sort of... 'graduation test', with him, you know? And I had no way to ask for Concord assistance myself back then, not that I even tried to or wanted to." "My my. Isn't this a little perverse?" Petra doesn't respond, because the magnitude of having Lilian take hold of her mind hasn't gone down since the first time. From the outside, her gaze defocuses and slides off of where she was looking before, and she grips the edge of the table tightly like she might fall down without it. That wouldn't be enough to surmise what Lilian's doing to her on its own, but Angela and Audrey might be especially perceptive enough to notice the quiet 'flicking off' of the steady sense of underlying itch and squirm that Petra manifests in her presence, like the high pitched hum of a TV that blended into the background suddenly vanishing. "Well, first I need to make certain that I have any idea how to use one of these." Petra looks up at Lilian, bleary-eyed, and wipes drool away from the mouth with the back of her hand. She hardly seems to have processed Lilian's words before the whip cracks against her thighs, eliciting a strangled shriek from her and a clack as her teeth snap together. She doubles over and sucks in a breath, gritting her teeth and choking out a pained whine when the third lash hits her shoulder, and her next gasp comes mixed with a sob. The morphmetal slices through denim and skin better than leather possibly could, and blood stains her skin where she clamps her fingers over her collarbone. Gasping and hyperventilating, Petra slumps back into her chair besides Angela, leaning her head against her while struggling to regain focus. Eventually she manages to work out the thought, "I... I'm glad... it works, for... you." "Were you two doing this sort of thing all the time with the Abnormalities? It's actually sort of fun." Petra shakes her head, unsteady. "W-well... not most of them. That's almost... exactly the guidelines for... the Servant of Wrath, though. One of Love's siblings. I actually basically... didn't work with any of the ones that needed Repression regularly, despite... having Justice so high."
Igon	The first crack of the silver whip lands across Igons shoulders with a sound like splitting timber, and he surges upright on his knees, arms spread wide in unflinching acceptance. "By the broken scales of every drake I have felled," he cries, voice ringing off stone and metal alike, "I vow to carry the sting of this judgment as a brand upon my spirit. Let each lash be etched into my marrow." The second strike coils across his back and ribs, and he bows low, forehead to floor, words spilling out like molten iron. By the grace I squandered and the blood I trampled underfoot, I swear fealty to the Queen of the Hungering Star in deed and in vigilance. I will guard her realm as the storm guards the horizon, and should Bayles shadow ever fall here, my body shall stand the breach, first to bleed, last to bow. Let the pain pierce my doubt; let it nail my resolve to the firmament where no lie can pry it free." The third blow lands, and he lifts his face, eyes blazing, lips twisted in a rapturous grin that borders on the unhinged. "By the roar still echoing in my skull, I bind myself to purpose beyond pride. I will forge harpoons from my very bones if steel should fail, and fling them across worlds until no corner of creation can whisper Bayles name without trembling. These stripes are my scripture, this agony my covenant." The fourth crack of the silver whip lands across Igon's shoulders. "Aye, the scrotumtightening lash...the very one that burns and sharpens my resolve." The fifth one is halfhearted. Igon looks up at Lilian, disappointment etched on his face. "...Was that sufficient for you, Quee-" As he opens his mouth, Tamamo's curse jar flies straight into his mouth hole, causing him to gag piteously and writhe on the floor. He eventually just decides to swallow the whole thing.
Angela	Angela gives a small nod back to Lilian. The key component of how to deal with Abnormalities is to understand their stories and--of course--figure out how to engage that story in a way that doesn't get you (or others) murdered or transformed. The other key component is to not get too suckered in by that story it starts to overtake who ''you'' are. But she's not really worried about that happening to Lilian. Instead, of course, the ideal is to make the Abnormality subserviant to Lilian's if anything. But that might be a bit too ... narrativizing, honestly. ''I'm usually full up on birds. I don't need any more birds.'' "Oh... Hm... Well at least you're getting plenty of protein!" The idea of which seems to brighten her mood which was already pretty bright. Angela glances at Petra, noticing the shift. She looks down at her arm for a moent, and then turns back to Lilian only for Lilian to crack Petra with the whip! Love startles and says, "Ah! Oh no! You missed, Lilian!" "Ah--" Angela says but isn't really sure how to explain this to the Magical Girl of Love that quickly. She does, however, scootch closer to make it easier for Petra to rest her head on her, taking hold of her hand and giving it a squeeze. Hm. Ah, she thinks she knows what to say. "It's a little like Justice, but different." Angela explains. "Ohhhh..." Love says. ''Were you two doing this sort of thing all the time with the Abnormalities? It's actually sort of fun.'' Angela shakes her head. "I did not typically perform Works myself, but I have done some and it is quite like how you engaged Igon just now." Maybe she should just start thinking of this with other people too who she doesn't entirely understand. 'This is how they're running their story you don't have to get in the way'. "Some Abnormalities react very poorly to Repression work, of course, so they aren't all like this."
Petra Soroka	"I swear fealty to the Queen of the Hungering Star in deed and in vigilance. I will guard her realm as the storm guards the horizon, and should Bayles shadow ever fall here, my body shall stand the breach, first to bleed, last to bow." Petra frowns. In the most hypocritical act of the century, while stemming the blood leaking out of her shoulder with her palm, Petra says, disapprovingly, "He's kind of a pervert, huh."
Angela	''The scrotumtightening leash.'' "Yes. That appears to be the case." Angela says, sounding a little smug about managing to recognize it this time.
Lilian Rook	'O, woe be me, for I am rich and safe and successful. You don't have to say it, I get it.' "Nobody who says that actually does." That strange, intense moment is brief. A glancing blow, white hot as it feels to graze by, before: 'I didn't know you mastered the whip as well as the sword.' "Huh? Are you fucking stupid?" Lilian says, staring at Audrey with one of those Looks again. "Whips aren't even weapons. Why in god's name would I master something like that?" Petra drooling and being a bit of a freak about things is normal, though. It's not something that Lilian 'doesn't even notice anymore', but it's something that she interprets like the quiet fizz of an especially smooth pour, or the soundless glide of a brush through tangle-free hair; a little moment of tactile feedback that everything is going just right. She'd sooner be stressed about the absence of her reaction than any shade of what it actually is. 'Ah! Oh no! You missed, Lilian!' "Don't worry sweetheart." says Lilian. 'By the broken scales of every drake I have felled, I vow to carry the sting of this judgment as a brand upon my spirit. Let each lash be etched into my marrow.' 'These stripes are my scripture, this agony my covenant.' Damn, this kind of kicks ass. Lilian will not be able to avoid internalizing this thought into her cabinet. Coiling up the bloody silver length and looking to Petra side-eye to anticipate how exactly one separates from the other, Lilian doubletakes back, mouth half-open, stare unblinking, clearly wondering what to even say; or whether to just let the moment pass. 'He's kind of a pervert, huh.' "Like you're one to talk." Lilian huffs. She's scrunching down the morphmetal back into a blob, and-- hey is she actually allowed to just . . . stuff it in one of those reagent bottles in her bag? It's going to be totally useless if she takes it anywhere outside. 'Some Abnormalities react very poorly to Repression work, of course, so they aren't all like this.' "Well thank god for that. One is enough for me." Lilian sniffs. Turning her head back to stare at her one-third finished meal and half-finished drink, Lilian deliberates on whether she has the stomach for it after feeling a Certain Way about all this, and then firmly decides to leave it. "Give Chewie my compliments. Tell him that I'm unexpectedly short on time and I have to check on the apartments now rather than later." she says.
Audrey Basque	"As you say," Audrey responds to Lilian, on both accounts really, in the tone of having guessed her words were dynamite and feeling a certain specific set of ways right now. The looks cause a lot more damage than the words! Not enough to tempt one to try for a third drink, but certainly enough to cut her appetite if she'd even had any. Lilian may well have saved Audrey from eating mystery meat or rat, in that regard! An underappreciated feat. She spares a longer stare for Petra, once Lilian announces her departure, a mix of concern for the injuries, the strain having Angela present is causing, but also decidedly Something Else on top. She's doing her damndest not to think about the fact she just saw a man get whipped into submission and pledge fealty to Lilian, too. That was NOT on her bingo card for the day.