Scene #9343: Waking Gebura

Owner	Pose
Petra Soroka	The Floor of Language is not one that Petra often frequents. Not only is it lit with an unpleasantly harsh red (sure, she doesn't have a problem with evil castles lit by lava pits, but that's a different atmosphere!) but also it is exclusively staffed by people who hate her guts and would rather she be dead. Today, however, she's spent most of the morning 'preparing' it, hiding what exactly she's been doing from Shajo, and generally still avoiding him as much as she can. It's no secret, since it can't really be a secret with Angela's work, that today's the day Gebura is waking up. About one year ago, Gebura's rampage through the facility for her Meltdown was barely overcome by weeks of planning, studying her fighting style, and most importantly, being fought by Lilian, and not Petra. Several months ago, Petra was facing down Gebura right after forcing Lilian to retreat, a fight she would have undoubtably lost within seconds, and also her last interaction with Gebura before the end of the war. And so, especially after her latest encounter with Rita, Petra is not in the mood to take chances. She informs Audrey of Gebura's expected abilities-- she doesn't have access to any EGO but her own right now, but teleportation is still something on the table that Audrey will be responsible for locking down-- and arranges traps and escape routes all around the cozy, nonthreatening bedroom that Gebura will be awoken in. Despite her exhaustive planning to make sure that, in the worst case scenario, Audrey and Petra could bait Gebura to the Language main room where Angela would have the breadth of space to utilize the full strength of her EGO against her, the room itself is unremarkable. Gebura's dormitory room is, of course, reasonably large and furnished with the vivid red upholstery and dark wood that she seems to prefer, but besides a bed and desk, it's sparse for her to make her own when she wakes up. Shajo is also here! Thankfully it's so normal for Shajo to not have any weaponry while doing Library work, so Petra didn't have to find a way to ask him to not have any weaponry without seeming suspicious. With Gebura laid out on the bed, and Petra present in her Librarian outfit, there's nothing to do besides have Angela hit the button and hope they're not all horizontal slashed in the next minute.
Audrey Basque	"I'm so glad Angela went along with this," Audrey asides to Petra, long past the explanation and setup phase. Spending her last day of an extremely short summer break preparing for a possible fight with a COLOR FIXER, former or otherwise, was NOT what she had in mind for a Sunday afternoon, but it's the hand she dealt herself agreeing with Roland and informing Angela of the situation with Rita. At least she remembered to cover up her cheek again. "Now everything can be resolved with no loose ends. And maybe she'll be over it, right? None of the other Sephirah have tried killing us, or killing Angela, so... maybe we can get a perfect score here too?" It'd be nice. Audrey adjusts the collar of her Librarian uniform, nervously fidgeting as they wait. The space directly around her is already shimmering a bit, imperceptibly bent in on itself a hundred times so that if Gebura DOES come out swinging, she isn't cut down instantly. The room's been spatially isolated from the outside world, or rather the room and the next, but without knowing how Gebura teleports exactly, it may be a moot preparation. Still, as traps went, she'd sprinkled in some gravity tiles here and there. Enough force in them to slow Gebura down for hopefully at least a second, if nothing else works. She's a bit curious, regardless. She'd not gotten to see Angela bring a Sephirah back before, so whatever is about to happen is sure to at least be interesting. If deadly.
Angela	Angela could've woken up Gebura earlier but she wanted to make sure she had some help on hand in case Gebura decided to finish what she was trying to do before she was put to sleep. Angela doesn't think that's too likely though for a few reason. Namely, this is her Library, her Place of Power. Even Gebura would be hesitant to start another fight in someone else's EGO. Because more than anyone, she knows exactly what someone having their own EGO means. Normally she wouldn't even bother to be careful, but when your sister who has helped you so much is asking for some care in this scenario, she has to be. Besides ... She can still feel how close to death she had come. She can't argue against the merits of caution. One such 'precaution' is Chesed. Chesed was recruited to the Library by Gebura by which we mean Kali kidnapped him having mistaken him for someone else and he ended up pulled into this life from that little oopsie but Angela figures a friendly face will help matters. Angela isn't sure Shajo counts in that regard. Shajo is ignorant of Rita's threat to Petra, so far. He's unarmed, though he's wearing the Librarian uniform because he eventually needed to change into something else and he did lend a hand with work because he needed something to do. He's not planning on coming back. r"Huh, weird to see her sleeping like that." Shajo says. "Mhm. Kali was a light sleeper." Chesed has grown out his hair into a low ponytail. "So she's the last of the Middle Layer to be woken up..." "It was just a matter of scheduling. You have your job, Chesed. I expect you to keep to it." Of course, Chesed also has a habit of getting on Gebura's nerves intentionally but Angela figures if Gebura is throttling Chesed instead of her that's a good sign so that's an acceptable result to her. ''And maybe she'll be over it, right?'' "...Mm... It could go one of two ways. According to Roland, Colors can hold a grudge for a long time but they can drop them just as quick depending on the situation. If Gebura tries to kill me again, she can go to sleep permanently. If she simply wants to shake me around or yell at me a little that's naother thing. I'd rather not the former but I am ceasing being reasonable about attempts on my life." She's getting frustrated because of the number of visitors who just outright assault her. Some follow the rules but some just figure they can test their weapons on her no problem because she's an AI. Ugh. "That said, she might be a bit startled when she wakes up so it may be difficult to discern what she intends right off the bat." Angela doesn't hit the button. Nor does she really say 'a here we go' or anyhting like that. Instead she draws out a glowing page from her book and places it into Gebura's body, who absorbs it within moments. And then she starts to stir. She sits up, groggily. She blearily looks at her hand. Chesed walks closer. "Heeey~ Kali! Good morning! Have a good rest?" Gebura knocks Chesed across the room with shove. "...---Chesed?" She groans, "The fuck...I could use a cigarette." Shajo draws one out but Gebura doesn't talk it, instead slowly gaining cogency and she sees Audrey. She blinks a few more times and then says, "Who..?" Then she becomes cogent of Angela and Petra. "What--the fuck happened? How long was I out?" She's confused more than violent right now but Angela's still guarded. "I made a deal with everyone to save the Sephirah to. So I am following my end of the deal." Angela says. "I ask you don't do anything rash--"
Petra Soroka	"None of the other Sephirah have tried killing us, or killing Angela, so... maybe we can get a perfect score here too?" "None of the others were really able to either," Petra points out. "I mean, besides Binah, but she wouldn't. I kind of can't be chill about the Red Fucking Mist just because Hod didn't go into a feral animal rage and try to claw my throat out." "So she's the last of the Middle Layer to be woken up..." Petra nods. Honestly, now that Chesed's here, it's harder to really imagine that Gebura's just going to butcher her, but the extremely prevalent threat of Rita worked Petra up maybe quite a lot. She's entirely down with Angela's plan to use Chesed as one of their ablative shields, but also, over the course of a million years, Gebura had plenty of humanizing moments with Chesed too, which optimistically puts an alternative image into Petra's mind that isn't quite so rooted in the Meltdown and the war. "Last of Briah, and second to last overall ahead of Hokmah. Though he'll be along soon too." "Huh, weird to see her sleeping like that." "Weird to see her with two eyes and hair." Petra has seen Gebura without the Cognition Filter way longer than with it. "But, uh, yeah, let's do this." Petra holds her breath and tenses up when Angela draws out the Page, one hand in her pocket wrapped around her compact mirror. Surely even the Red Mist won't be able to leap right back into full combat awareness and threat after being locked in combat for a week, and then knocked out for several months, and then placed into a body unlike the one she'd spent her entire second life inside, right? She doesn't even blink when Chesed rockets away past her from Gebura's shove. For once, Petra doesn't automatically respond to a request-- for a cigarette, even; Petra's signature item-- with offering to solve it. Instead she just stays silent until Gebura gets her bearings enough to see who Petra actually is, and then slowly eases out a breath to talk. "Hi Gebura. It's been a couple months. You're in Angela's Library, after she reconstructed a human body for you, just like she's done with every other Sephirah now except Hokmah. Right now, the others are still working here as Librarians while gathering the Light, but there's no more restrictions on leaving."
Audrey Basque	Audrey tenses, watching Angela approach and casually explain that Roland explained in turn that Gebura might either hold a grudge forever or drop it quickly. That's not helpful! That's just people!! Roland come on!!! The page goes in, Gebura stirs... Chesed's knocked across the room, and Audrey responds by cushioning the air behind him, reducing the gravity so he floats to a stop harmlessly rather than bump into anything. She was ready! She only even needs to idly raise one hand to do this, tuggling on an unseen string or another like she'd memorized where each one was in the room. Which she did. Because it might actually be a life or death kind of situation. Petra bites the bullet and engages with Gebura first. Audrey... mostly makes sure Chesed is okay, first and foremost, because she doesn't know Gebura, and she figures Angela and Petra have a lot to say to her before she gets a turn to say hello. It occurs to her only now she'd probably barely gotten to speak to Chesed before, beyond basic hellos, but this isn't the place for that either. Is staying quiet and looking like a bundle of nerves next to Petra and Chesed really better than saying hello though? It's a bit impolite. "A-Ah, hello, Miss Gebura. I'm Audrey, I'm a Librarian here as well." Okay now what?? Maybe that's enough, what else could she say? She might just make things MORE confusing.
Angela	Chesed says, "Oof! Thanks Audrey!" He then chuckles, embarrassed. "Guess anybody'd be a bit startled if caught like that while waking up." Gebura gives him a glare. This is basically their dynamic. Nevertheless, she soon she leaves Chesed abe for a moment to get an update on the situation from Petra. Getting startled like that by Chesed seems to have stopped her from doing anything hasty, but there's no telling what she'll do once she's had a chance to think. It's true, that's just people. Shajo nods to Petra. He wishes this had happened faster, he wasn't expecting it to take this long when he made the call to be there when Gebura woke up. He's still not even sure what he should say, if anything. He mostly wanted to just make sure she DID get woken up. He can't really tell what Angela's thinking. Shajo sees Petra's not gonna do it so he steps forward and offers her a cigarette. "Ma'am." "...What're you doing here, Shajo? Weren't you gonna live on that island paradise?" "Yes ma'am. But as your Captain, I couldn't leave before final debrief." Gebura takes the cigarette. But she doesn't have a lighter so she just holds onto it--wiggling it around in her hands like she's getting used to proper digits again. Which she is. It already feels like forever since she last had her hands even though it was right before she was put to sleep. "Yeah makes sense." Gebura says. She's calm. Almost too calm. "You are not going to pick another fight?" Angela asks. Gebura doesn't answer. Like she thinks saying no would be a betrayal and she's not sure about yes either. "Taking the Light back, figuring that will get you your freedom..." Gebura deduces. "You from the City or an Outsider too?" Right now she can't tell. Angela makes a noise like she's clearing her throat. "Gebura. This is the deal. Help me gather the Light and you can, once we're done, do whatever you want. If you help me, I'll even let you leave when you feel like it, when it's not work hours. This is a better deal than LobCorp gave me." Gebura spins the cigarette in her hand silently.
Petra Soroka	Petra can't restrain herself from rolling her eyes behind Shajo's back while he bemoans how long it took to get Gebura up and running again. Jesus. What the fuck is Gebura talking about, even? She was fucking unconscious when Petra even gave the option for the agents to move out. Were they just assuming from the start that Petra and Angela would be as ridiculously generous with them as they have been, and are fine bitching and moaning while taking them for granted? Now Petra feels vaguely irritated at all the agents living on Hydrochoeria. It probably won't last long, but the briefest exchange between Shajo and Gebura manages to burn her charitable spirit into ashes, and she starts ruminating on how she's effectively built a city for people to live in for free off of all of her hard work while they still freely resent her. Thank fucking god she won't have to see Shajo's stupid fucking face again after taking him to Apple Tree Island. Now that she's definitely never returning to Trideag again, she'll never see Nonon's, either. Just another piece of Lobotomy Corporation that's vanishing forever. "Taking the Light back, figuring that will get you your freedom..." Arms crossed, Petra still tensely eyes Gebura's slow, careful movements, like a lion creeping through the underbrush. "That's not just the idea, but it's already proven. Audrey here and I have developed techniques to get Angela out of the Library on a very limited basis, and it's getting better the more Light we gather. So this time, there's actually proof of an end result. As there always would be eventually, but if you don't believe it, you can see it."
Audrey Basque	Audrey gives Chesed a brief smile and a nod, though it's painfully obvious she wants her eyes off Gebura for as little time as possible, because she doesn't look at him when she replies. "I guess being jumpy is something she has in common with Petra," said without a hint of malice, like she understands perfectly. "O-Oh. I'm from outside," Audrey responds, matter-of-factly, evidently and transparently intimidated by Gebura, or at least the idea of Gebura as hyped up to her by Roland, Angela and Petra. Which is strikingly close to reality so far. Petra puts her a bit on the spot, and she nods to Gebura. "It's not perfect, but it's... we were able to let Angela see the stars, and then, other worlds. Places much nicer than the City. If we keep working hard, it won't just be a sometimes thing. The strain it puts on Petra to accompany Angela out is measurably less now than it was just a few weeks ago. And in a few weeks, it'll be less, and less and--" She stops, fidgeting and pausing and having a word or two caught in a throat all of a sudden. "S-Sorry. R-really, it's... nice to finally meet you. They've said a lot about you." Audrey's glance only half trails off towards Petra and her sudden mood swing; she doesn't dare take her eyes off Gebura fully, but she's affording Petra what glances she can out of concern.
Angela	Gebura spots the rolling eyes because SHE isn't behind Shajo. Her head snaps to her. She's alert now. "What're you upset about? Didn't you win?" She doesn't know her exat situation with her myriad relationships--or former relationships--but she achieved her goal. "..If you're worried about me acting up and starting a fight, I'm not gonna do that. It's a fight I've lost." She seems surprised to hear that Petra and this Audrey person has managed to find a way to break past Angela's design and drag her out into the world outside and that stuns her for a moment. It wasn't for nothing actually. She thinks she'd be more mad if they won and they didn't even get any progress towards what they were fighting for. "I don't need freedom. Use me how you want. But--" Gebura says, looking towards Chesed, a question in her eyes. "Well, what they've said is true. They have to harvest the Light by taking it out of people but they seem to be aiming at ah---assholes. The kind of people who prey upon others in the Backstreets." Gebura says, "What about the people we were trying to help?" Chesed is slower to answer this one, "Ah, it seems that the Light had its intended effect--We don't have any reports on people getting EGOs but there've been people 'Corroding' so it must be possible. The City has been shaken at least, but it's impossible to tell how it'll land from here." Gebura nods then looks to Audrey. "You heard about me and you still came by? Well nice to meet you, Audrey." She then glances towards Angela. "What if the bastards aren't enough? Or if The City sends good people after you?" "They follow the same rules. I explain it clearly. They are not forced to participate." This isn't strictly true but it's how Angela understands it at the moment. Argalia is certainly willing to put people between a rock and a hard place to get them to go and Audrey literally moved a building to get Syndicate goons into the Library. "I am making an attempt to be gentle about this. If my kindness is taken advantage of then I will revoke that kindness." Angela says. "I am willing to be reasonable, not walked over." Gebura nods again. "Alright. I'm not gonna fight it. If you've got Chesed standing with you--and the other Sephirah are with you--then that's who I've got left to fight for. Simple as that." Shajo exhales and says, "Alright. It's been a pleasure working with you, Gebura." Shajo says. "I apologize that my strength wasn't enough--" "You've plenty of Strength. It just wasn't enough. Maybe Binah was right that we started from a flawed premise to begin with." Shajo has no idea what Binah means but looks back to Petra. "Thanks."
Petra Soroka	"What're you upset about? Didn't you win?" "I guess I'm just an ungrateful bitch all around," Petra grouses without elaborating. Really, it's not a good idea to be whiny at Gebura at this tense moment of her waking up and being introduced to the Library, so Petra shakes her head to try to get it out of her system. "It's nothing. Thanks for not fighting." "I don't need freedom. Use me how you want." This is also an annoying thing to say!!! It pisses Petra off a bit! Who knew the Red Mist could be so cringe! "Even if you say that, I figure Rita'd want to see you go for a visit sometime. Maybe you can walk Shajo there yourself. God knows she won't want me to do it." "What if the bastards aren't enough? Or if The City sends good people after you?" God. Again. Sometimes Petra feels like the only person who was sane about the entire Tree of Light project. Even Lilian has some psychotic fabrication of Carmen's imagined saintlike intentions, to the point that she betrayed her own ideology to put faith in her. Was anyone even paying attention to what the Light was for? Don't Lilian and Gebura realize that what happened to Angelica was what they were fighting for? "Then Ange is using the Light as intended, right? The Light's out there. There's people Distorting from it, and then living happier lives, or not. The goal was always to have people manifest EGOs and then beat the shit out of each other because the powers of the City couldn't control them anymore, right? Well that's exactly what we're doing with the Library. It was always baked into the plan that good people would end up fighting each other over EGOs." Petra looks over to Angela, emotionally frayed for reasons she's having trouble putting a finger on. "Ange's doing it better than anyone could have asked. There's rules to it, there's a challenge and a reward, and we're trying to only end up targeting people who are worsening the war in District 12. We're hiring people from the City and giving them a safe place to work. Even Malkuth's on board." "Thanks." "No problem." Petra folds her arms, curt. "Don't say hi to your wife for me."
Audrey Basque	Audrey obviously has less than nothing to say on matters of the war and winning. It's interesting, to finally have Gebura's side, and equally interesting to finally have a face and voice and attitude to put on the big scary Color. She's visibly relieve when Gebura says she's not picking a fight, though. Should they uh... You know, the traps. Tell Gabura yet? She considers making head motions at Petra but then realizes Gebura can probably read through that transparently, and it might aggravate her. Being addressed back by Gebura is enough to snap her out of any idle thoughts, though! "Well, I was worried it might be a bit of a mistake on my part, but it turns out you're not that mean after all, so... thank you for not slicing us into pieces." Not that she's letting the field around her dissipate. That's a risk she'll take when the tense conversations are over, thank you! "B-Besides I'm the one who asked to have you woken up, so if I'd asked and then chickened out that'd be kind of like... pretty lame. Like big time loser stuff." For some reason it's easier to deal with the prospect of facing Gebura than it is to deal with a lot of weird little social pressures. Audrey's intensely worried about what that even means. "And also... I kind of feel like if the City sent someone good after us, and they accepted this job, maybe they weren't all that good in the first place? They'll have plenty of chance to back out once they see what's going on, we don't just... USUALLY... throw them into a fight. Angela has a whole little speech and all! So really..." Well, so far, it hasn't been pressing on Audrey's morals the way things are, and she's pretty sure the City can count the "good people" it has on one hand.
Echolalia	''I figure Rita'd want to see you go for a visit sometime.'' "Nah, that's to Angela. I mean, I'm fine working for her." Gebura says. "Yeah I'm gonna go visit Rita. In fact, you don't object to me taking Shajo over here over, do you?" "The Warpgate here is disabled and the one outside is frequently under the control of gangs. It might be dangerous." Angela says monotonally. "But no, there is hardly anything I need from you in the short term. And I have no objection to you paying a visit immediately since I'd prefer to dispel any rumors that we might be holding either of you here against your will in totality. However, I expect you to return on your own. I don't want to have to pull you back. I'll be sure you have a device to contact me when you are ready but I insist you take at least two weeks because you aren't competent enough to take a break on your own." Gebura clucks her tongue in annoyance. Sometimes it's easy to forget that Angela is NOT one of The City folk who hold Gebura in high regard. She considers Tiphereth to be much more capable. "Frankly, for right now you'd be more useful to me as an agent on the Outside since that's where a meathead is most useful. But we'll see if that's even viable first." Gebura says, "No reason to hold back anymore, huh?" IS this what was intended? It sounds like it. But she doesn't really feel like a miracle happened. Is it because Carmen's gone? Or because she never needed to worry about whether or not it was real to begin with. "I'll get a feel for The City on the way to the island then.--..." She frowns, as if just realizing she's going to have to deal with something real annoying. Even MALKUTH is on board and by the end there. She can talk to the Sephirah too. She doesn't have to form a blood pact right NOW by choice. There's already one on her whether she wants one or not so she can decide how she feels about it later. But if Petra is making a place like that with Angela. And it's real. She might even defend it with her heart into it. But for right now... "Thanks I won't." Shajo says without heat. But it does sound too good to. But right now she's mentally exhausted. Even after being 'put to sleep', that day is still fresh to her. "People tend to overstate shit about me." Gebura explains to Audrey. "Thanks for waking me up." She pauses. "Why're ''you'' helping her? Don't know nothing about you. But I know you weren't an Agent before.#-1 FUNCTION (PANSI) NOT FOUND Gebura mouths the word 'accepted?' like in disbelief but she's not up for actually having that conversation right now. She can talk to her about it later when everything feels less precarious.
Audrey Basque	"Ah... well... I guess it's a friend of a friend situation that turned into just friends. I met Petra, and through Petra I met Angela, and... I mean, I'm useful here, and they treat me well, and it's been fascinating to study the Library besides." She's trying not to say outright that it's also a good place to get training. "It's a bit like a home. Also, I guess, Angela kinda-sorta-technically-but-not-really owns my soul now," she says, half-serious. "It's complicated, but I'm enjoying it."