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Lilian Rook     For those who are familiar with Katrina's practice, the sight is uncannily similar to before. For those unfamiliar, it's well and truly strange.

    The Warpgate authentication codes you're given are stamped with digital security codes belonging to the G.D.F, but which clearly aren't actually in use, and may possibly be fake. The point of arrival is through a gate so small, so skeletal, and so underpowered, that you can only assume it was actually unpacked from the back of the giant space-age rover practically right in front of you. It has to be wired to the massive vehicle's generator, and the electrical elements have to be cooled off and spooled back up between each transport.

    The gate is on an unassuming dirt patch that can take being scorched and doused, nailed in with camp spike. The rover is like a one-storey house on eight lifted wheels, angled and plated like an APC, with only a polarized forward window. Clearly painted-over military markings explain the two dorsal machine guns, but the heaps of crates, wires, and the portable 'command station'-style tent need a little bit more. As usual, there are a pair of armed men on watch, though different from the two on-shift back in Nevada, clad in the vague approximation of a uniform but without any patches or insignia, somewhat lax with their guns and empty plate carriers. This time, they smile and wave.

    It's all frighteningly at odds with the scenery of an idyllic little remote Japanese village, which itself should be considered at odds with the time period. Rather than a green aquifer in a vast desert, your surroundings are mostly steep, mossy rock, surrounded by drenched greenery. Specifically, the rover has come as far as it can to the base of steps cut into the side of an excessively sharp rise, at the top of which is an anomalously enormous green-grown stone several times larger than a house, which has clearly been enshrined a long time ago. It's the only thing that pokes over the forested cliff that surrounds you.

    A number of creeks pour out from the stones around you and combine into a 'pond' the size of a tiny lake, which then flows out again into a river. Raised houses are built all over the studded dry land, connected by dozens of bridges, the waters fished from and let into farm fields right before your eyes. You'd think you'd gone back in time if it weren't for the electric lights and power poles; there's no need for a motor on a boat here, but there's always a need for heat and food preservation.

    Theoretically, if one knew their Japanese countryside excruciatingly well, one should be able to see Mount Fuji from here, faded in the distance, but the reality of Japan is that its habitable stripes are covered in grey fog so thick and high that it looks like a solid skyward wall a few miles from the village, where it doesn't seem to trespass.

    Katrina is less late about greeting you this time, though. Lilian has to wait around by the Warpgate, and seems to have been passing the time by sitting in a folding chair with her sword across her knee, meticulously cleaning and polishing the eerie black blade whilst using a magic-tipped finger like an arc tool, but Katrina shows up only a little after, running down the steps as you arrive, out of breath.

    The comparison is tempting to draw on sight. Lilian's dark black hair, Katrina's bright red; Lilian's sleeveless blouse and skirt, jacket hung over the chair, Katrina's linen top, sports bra, and athletic shorts; Lilian's painted nails, Katrina's perpetually bandaged up fingers; the gap in height, physique, energy. But they both have the same eyes, and Lilian's scar contrasted against Katrina's dark circles only make their faces more similar than less.
Lilian Rook "Hi! Hello~ Oh wow, you brought a lot of them! I thought it'd just be three or four."
"It was six last time, wasn't it?"
"Haha, I don't really remember~ But see, I told you! It's that easy! You can just-- snap! And they appear! Are you sure you didn't get into summoning?"
"If I did, I'd make certain to learn to summon something more reliable."
"Really? They look plenty reliable to me."
"Some of them are."
"Well, I know some of them, and they're reliable, so I bet the rest are too!"

    Strangely elated to see you, Katrina hops between you, offering handshakes (yes, including to Rita, with slight hesitance), and introducing herself as "Katrina Rook! My middle name is Maisie if that gets confusing!", as if the extra detail is relevant. "You're in Japan, for those who don't know! Um, specifically in Yamanashi? Former Yamanashi, I guess. Thank you all for volunteering though!" she says, clapping her hands together. "The work we do is really important to everyone! I'm so glad that getting more involved has let me meet all of you! You're such good people, honest!"
Riku Asakura Riku arrives through the portal on time, and he's wearing his normal get-up.  That is a pair of jeans with tennis shoes, an orange shirt with a space logo on it, and a jean jacket.  He has short, dark hair that's cut right above his eyes, and a bright smile on his face that seems to follow him everywhere.  

Upon landing, he assesses the small Japanese city and is surprised by the contrast between the mobile lab set up and the city's rustic appearance.  He still approaches it with a smile, walking towards Lilian at first before her sister runs up and starts greeting everyone.  He overhears the conversation about being reliable, and his smile falters somewhat before recovering.  

"Hello, I'm Riku Asakura.  I work with your sister in the Paladins!" Also, technically under her in matters in The City now, but let's start with the simpler stuff first.  He waits for the others to arrive, a little nervous because some people he's met, some people he hasn't met, and at least one person with the last time they met wasn't under good circumstances.

Also, this was a medical test, too, specifically for those who were elites or non-human.   He's never come out of a medical test before that revealed he was an Ultraman, but there was a first time for everything.  
White The view isn't quite what White had been expecting, when she decided to show up. When she steps through the rickety little warpgate she quickly steps out of the way of it like someone trying not to be at the end of a waterslide when the next person comes through, and slowly pivots a couple of times to try and process the contrast between technology and natural life. Maybe more than the technological contrast itself, though, White finds herself puzzled by the quite plainly military vibe of much of the equipment. Well... Only one way to resolve that, and it's to awkwardly remain in proximity until she sees or hears something that explains it. Clearly. She does at least wave back mildly to the armed guards. It's a more pleasant outcome than being questioned, by far!

     Given Lilian seems preoccupied when she arrives, White ends up walking around to a short distance beside her seat, watching her work on the sword without saying a word unprompted. It's an attempt to avoid being distracting, but she's probably accomplishing the opposite regardless... Especially as her way to pass the time ends up being trying to specifically observe Lilian's fingertip arc-magic and try to recreate it, like it's a puzzle to solve during the wait. She gets as far as making tiny sparks a couple of times, but each one just immediately discharges into her own fingers, and the fact she *isn't* making pained sounds is almost more worrying than the alternative. Fortunately she stops idly and ineptly electrocuting herself after the sixth attempt or so. She might be loosely related to Ariel, but she sure as hell doesn't have much skill with lightning magic.

     When Katrina arrives not long after, White smoothly turns and half-bows, trying to get out of a full introduction by letting Lilian ablate her sister's interest, but that proves relatively futile when Katrina goes in for handshakes, and White is unintentionally a bit sluggish to catch on and reciprocate. Getting a handshake from another woman isn't something White's all that acquainted with, so she looks very slightly shell shocked for a moment afterward, and sounds a tad absent when she does have to give her name properly after all. "White..."

     Being honest, Katrina might be the most peppy person she's interacted with that she can remember, who doesn't seem to be doing a bit. This might take some adjustment.
Tamamo     "A good afternoon, to you, Katrina." Oh, no honorific, this time. "I do not truly expect to be helpful today, but I was rather curious what the results of all of this would be."

    Tamamo's arrived in her usual garb -- which would have been more of a problem in Nevada than here, in the Summer. One would expect so, at least. In fact, her Summer-alignment reduces that issue, but acknowledging the locale in one's dress is a 'normal' thing, regardless, as is taking in the sights while moving aside for others to arrive. "A great many springs are in this particular area, I take it."

    'Are you sure you didn't get into summoning?'
    'If I did, I'd make certain to learn to summon something more reliable.'

    "One might say that you did, but such only needs to be accomplished the once, yes?" Tamamo isn't so shy to handshakes by this point, but the way she takes Lilian's hand afterward has a different vibe.
Angela Angela likes Katrina so she's all too happy to send a subordinate to be a human medical experiment for her. And Roland is no doubt the best that fits the bill, especially with regards to being close but not exactly 'baseline' due to the presence of his augmentations.

She worries that she has offended White by speaking frankly to Wrath. Was she presumptive? Has she insulted her? She was trying to be honest and helpful but she hadn't considered the matter of 'privacy' in the moment. Houggh!

But she isn't going to skip out on getting to meet with Katrina again if she can help it. Her experiences with her have only been charming and she wants to keep up the routine.

Roland is immediately startled as he heads through the Warpgate. "This some kind of paradise?" He murmurs. "Is that a ''lake''" He feels a little weak-kneed. The machine guns and the like are strangely soothing and calming--this isn't a full on paradise after all. Just a different one with different problems. ... But why does his heart still ache? Because of the lake? Something as simple as a lake and trees?

He pushes the thoughts out of his head. He should try to be normal. He naturally doesn't think too much about a missing Mount Fuji.

He approaches and offers a hand to Katrina. "Hey I'm Roland. Also one of your test subjects. Please take care of me." He says with a faint smile. In his other hand is an Angelapad.

"Wonderful to meet you again, Katrina. Please make use of him as you will. If it is helpful, all the better."

She then bobs her head over to Tamamo. "And good to see you again as well." before turning back to Katrina. "I hoped I would be able to shake your hand personally this time but I am unable to come this time. Perhaps next time, it can happen. But it is a pleasure as always."
Timekeeper     Things tend to move either very slowly or very quickly at the St. Pavlov Foundation. For several weeks, long before the Timekeeper's radio first connected to the broadband, the organization has been embroiled in plodding deliberations on what to do about the multiverse, what allies to make, what political and scientific ramifications need to be ironed out, whose authorization should be necessary to pass through Laplace's warpgate and who should be authorized to do so. Meetings happen around the clock, and yet from the outside, nothing seems to change for days on end.

    And then one day, Vertin is informed that not only is she now allowed to travel out to other worlds (with appropriate documentation of course), but it's suddenly quite important that she do so as soon as she can. The trickle-down of authority forks nonsensically like a game of telephone, but the end result is what Vertin was interested in hearing anyways, so there's no complaining for them to do. As always, Sonetto is informed next and last, and once Lilian gives them an excuse, she's scooped up and out into the multiverse within the hour.

    Vertin is much the same as the ID photograph they sent in the broadband, though it becomes immediately apparent that the flat expression they had there wasn't more unreadable than their usual just for the picture. They're extremely slender and androgynous, with grey-green hair tied in a bun underneath a flat brimmed top hat that slips over one eye, and a long navy blue coat to match. They have a translucent ascot fixed with a gem at their throat, embossed cuffs on the ends of their sleeves, and a large leather suitcase with a pattern of diamonds printed on the side.

    Sonetto not wearing anything at all similar to that immediately puts into perspective that Vertin is the fucking freak out of the two. Her uniform-- and it's obvious that it's a 'uniform'-- is mostly white and grey, with the symbol of the Foundation serving as a clasp in front. She has orange hair held in two half-ponytails by a ribbon patterned with the same alternating diamonds as Vertin's suitcase, and looking at the subtler details of her uniform reveals the same pattern there as well.
Timekeeper     After stepping out of the warpgate, Sonetto clasps her hands to her chest and gasps, looking out over the scenery with sparkling eyes. "Timekeeper...! It's beautiful, look! It's like a painting!"

    Vertin has a slight smile on their face, but their attention drifts between the military vehicle and the other people arriving. "Isn't it? I'm sure I've never seen somewhere quite like it. Do you recognize the landscape at all?"

    Uncertainly, Sonetto murmurs her thoughts out loud while lightly splaying her fingers over her mouth, drinking in the scenery like she might not have a chance again. Vertin, meanwhile, steps over to properly greet Lilian and Katrina, as well as the other unfamiliar faces-- Lilian's being familiar, a little bit, from yesterday. "The hills... the plants framing the water... I'm sure it has been captured by some artist I've seen... Japanese, perhaps?"

    "A pleasure to meet you, Katrina, as well as the rest of you." Vertin takes the handshake professionally and pleasantly. "I am the Timekeeper of the St. Pavlov Foundation. You may call me Vertin."

    Sonetto gets briefly elated at hearing her guess confirmed by Katrina, and rushes over to babble while forgetting to introduce herself. "Ah-- I am happy to be able to help! Tell me, what do you do to end up in a place like this?"

    Vertin holds their hand out to the side. "And this is my assistant, Sonetto." Sonetto takes a sharp breath and catches up to the inappropriateness of her behavior, straightens up her posture, and puts a hand to her chest in a gesture that looks like some category of salute. "Um, right. It's a pleasure to meet you as well."
Rita Ma      Rita is one of the last to warpgate-sequence in. She's got her cute bolero jacket and white top in simple summery colors, with her usual style of knee-length skirt.

     On arrival, she's quick to beam and wave at the GDF troopers- and then gets up on her tiptoes to wave extra emphatically at Katrina. Still, despite the enthusiasm, there's a tiny held breath that gets pushed out in relief when Katrina does after all shake her hand.

     "Thanks, Ms. R-- Ms. Maisie," she says, grasping the middle name like a life preserver while gingerly handsqueezing where the band-aids aren't. "I'm glad you've been doing well! Is the patient up those stairs...? They're not human, but they're a friend, so in this world that means some kind of spirit, right?"

     But she winds up, as that conversation flows on, behind the pair from Saint Pavlov. "Mmm. Everything here's either really pretty or a mess, it seems like. I haven't seen any in-betweens at all."

     "... And this is my assistant, Sonetto."
     "It's nice to meet you, Ms. Sonetto! I'm Rita. And it's good to see you in person, Mr. Timekeeper! I'm glad they're letting you out." She beams, hands folding behind her back. Wait, aren't those exactly the same clothes as the ID card...? "Is that your work uniform? I didn't realize."
Lilian Rook "Ooh, a coworker huh? The Paladins really do hire young, huh? Lil' Lil was nineteen when she started, but she was kind of a special case. How old are you Riku? Don't want to be violating any labour laws, haha~"

    While Katrina chats up Riku, the 'guards' wave back to White. If she examines them closely, she can see the asclepius markings stitched into the only real patchs their wear, which is somewhat at odds with the marks on their guns where the pain was stripped and the serials filed.

    Lilian doesn't seem to strictly mind being observed, or else White is so quiet that she doesn't notice. Given the make of the sword, it's difficult imagine it actually rusting or being damaged, so the heap of purplish rags nearby speak to cleaning more than anything; a mundane task that few Elites actually perform with their gear. Her fingertip appears to follow the fine curls of the blade-flat's etchings, hissing and steaming in places, and silent in others; though the designs themselves always glow a faint reddish colour where she passes.

    "White?" Katrina asks, now in the middle of holding White's hand all of a sudden. Tilting her head, blinking curiously, she points at herself with a look of confusion, and then breaks into laughter. "Oh! I'm so sorry! It's nice to meet you, Miss White~" she says, backing off with an extra vigorous last shake. "Wow. So quiet . . ." she stage whispers.

    "Paradise?" Lilian repeats, looking up from her weapon just at Roland's voice. "In a sense, I suppose. It's . . ." She stops to chew on the words. It was only this year she found out that anyone actually lives outside the Urban Center walls like this, and she tries not to think about it. "Perhaps more like an 'oasis'. A single safe place in a hostile expanse. It's been mostly like this for hundreds of years, so you can thank the diligent efforts and many sacrifices of the people who live here in protecting it."

    Katrina, who looks as if she was about to talk, smiles a little sadly, then nods approvingly, at Lilian, bouncing on her toes. "Hi Angela~ I promise I'll return him in good shape! He's kind of handsome, after all~" she says, to the pad, while literally shaking the man's hand. "Married, Kat." "There a rule that I can't appreciate married couples?" "When have you followed a rule ever?" "All the ones you set, don't I?" "--Well that's just natural." "Hehehe~"

    Tamamo arriving is a perfectly good reason for Lilian to hop right up out of her seat, resting the flat of the blade over her shoulder and taking Tamamo's hand on the spot. She maneuvers into a nameless hug-squish-facerub gesture, and then backs off again until connected by the fingers at full arm's length so she can talk to Katrina. "Well . . . I suppose if you put it that way~" is followed right up by "Tamamo! Wow, goodness, this must be really familiar to you, huh? Perfect! And how are things~?" which itself is followed by an eyebrow wiggle from Katrina. The times where she didn't really know what to do about Tamamo are long gone by now.
Tamamo     "Hello, Ms. White. Are you..." Tamamo's not sure how to formulate the question, having no clue what the magic practice is about, or whether White would appreciate someone noticing. Her thoughts settle around 'probably not,' so she ends with a pivot, "...familiar with this sort of countryside?"

    Hearing her name, "Ah, Ms. Angela. How kind of you to volunteer Mr. Roland." This is an evil statement, but voluntelling someone else is as close to coming on her own as she knows Angela can.

    "A pleasure to meet you, Timekeeper Vertin." Tamamo may have been a little confused by the 'you may call me' right after Sonetto not actually calling them that, so, she combines the two. "And Ms. Sonetto, though we have spoken before... you may know that I am Tamamo-no-mae, bunrei of Amaterasu-omikami, She of the White-Gold Face, Goddess of the Sun."

    And now that bit of formality is out of the way. "You may call me 'Tamamo,' of course." She has her hands clasped -- probably -- while she speaks, hidden in voluminous sleeves.

    "My, my." Are those golden eyes looking at Sonetto a little too hard? Maybe.
Lilian Rook     Unfortunately, the days where Lilian doesn't know what to do about Vertin and Sonetto began less than twenty four hours ago. She nearly jumps out of her skin at hearing the latter's voice from ten feet away, feels the heat rush to her face, takes a few deep breaths, and forces a wobbly-twitchy smile before giving up and reeling back. Lilian glances at her jacket as if she were weighing whether she could reach a gun before a captor could stop her, suddenly direly aware of her bare arms, single white layer, and summer length skirt, as if those things were inherently indecent.

    "Timekeeper? What sort of work do you do?" Katrina is already asking in genuine interest. "I mean, that sounds very official!" She stops to ponder the name. "Mmmmm . . . Well I definitely recognize your accent, haha~ Happy to see you, Vertin! And . . . ? Sonetto! Gosh what a pair." She's already answering Sonetto before that goes anywhere.

    "Do? Ah, have you ever heard of MSF? 'Médecins Sans Frontières'? It's kind of the same! I work with some like-minded people who go around the world providing care to people who live outside of the safe zones, who otherwise wouldn't get any. So I'm here because . . ." Katrina twists her fingers together, rubbing fresh cuts against old ones. "Well, who else would do it?"

    Lilian, taking deep breaths, sorting out her hair with her fingers, and excusing herself from Tamamo's personal bubble, saunters up to stand alongside Katrina, feels relieved in a complicated way that she's taller than both of them, and as confidently as can be, says, "I appreciate you both showing an interest in our work; especially seeing as I'd normally consider this a personal favour. I hadn't exactly planned on showing off my family first, but I think the two of you might perhaps be especially relevant."

    "Hi Rita~ You look--" Katrina is already over there, and clearly about to say 'well' as well, but tilts her head instead. "Did you lose weight?" She looks at Rita uneasily, then shakes her head. "You're totally right though! Well, maybe not using the word 'spirit', but the whole political connotation- blah blah whatever; you're right in basically every way that matters!" She looks at Lilian talking to the Foundation pair, and makes a soft 'oh' shape with her mouth at Rita's address, then nods very Sagely.

    Still doing her best to take charge of the situation, Lilian points up the steps to the giga stone and its accompanying shrine and shimenawa. "Specifically, this particular village is maintained by a family of priests and a single tengu guardian. From what I hear, Anteg-- 'monsters' roam closer here than in other places, so his skills are somewhat frequently in demand. And as-is typical for--" Lilian sighs. "Well, he's not terribly cooperative about the nature of his injury. He wouldn't let Katrina examine it at all, actually; not until I came along."

    "Now we're somewhat stuck. He's leery about letting her treat him, so if she tries something ineffective, she'll probably just be shooed out of the village. We can't exactly leave him until he gets better on his own, in case there's an attack while he's still recovering. And Katrina usually only ever treats humans, so attuning her magic to work on different physiology is a whole process that she doesn't have the luxury of here."

    "So I thought 'gosh, is it really okay if I ask for help with this?', but it worked, and here you are! Thank you so much! Who wants to go first?" "Oh my god slow down!" "No~!"
Riku Asakura "I'm nineteen as well, and probably fit under a special case as well.  I work with a group associated with the Paladins back home, so I thought it just made sense to join up with them too.  So far, so good, as they say!" He flashes Katrina a wide smile, "I don't think we're violating any labor laws here!"

He watches the others come in and waves to them as they enter.  White gets a glance and a wave.  Roland, who is new to him but familiar once he talks, gets a familiar wave from Riku.  Especially with Angela being there on a tablet.  "Hello Angela, it's been a while..." he says hesitantly, but familiarly.  

Vertin and Sonetto get a different look.  Riku appreciates their fashion; they look like something out of a TV show he's familiar with, rather than someone who should be sitting here next to him.  "Hello, Vertin!  We talked a little on the radio."

Rita gets a soft wave and a hello, but he's most tense around her.  Something happened between them during hell week, and a simple conversation isn't going to fix everything.  He hates feeling like this about anyone, even people who deserve it.  

Meanwhile, Katrina goes on about why they are here and what they need to do.  Riku nods along, it's to help someone, and that right there is all he needs to know.  "I'll go first!"
Rita Ma      Wow, Rita! Your hand feels just like real human skin!

     "You look-- Did you lose weight?"
     She looks down at herself, worried; presses her hands against her waist to smooth down her jacket and reassess her own silhouette; and then frowns. "Oh. Um. Maybe? I'm not sure. I... some bad stuff happened a couple of months ago. I guess I should still be eating more to bounce back." Side-eyeing Riku, and mouthing a 'hello' back at him, melancholy.

     She gets a wobbly-apologetic smile at the end there too, as if talking about food were inconsiderate. Most people know why.

     Katrina twists her fingers together, rubbing fresh cuts against old ones.
     Be normal, Rita. Come on. (She crosses one arm over her stomach.)

     And as-is typical for--"
     What's a 'tengu' again? Rita consults her phone, then looks up: "Oh, is he like Kale?"

     "... So you've only got one try at it, and if you mess up, the village might be defenseless... that's really hard. I was going to say 'you should let us try', but I can't be a hundred percent sure my healing would work either, and he'd probably trust us less."

     "Who wants to go first?"
     "Um, sure. Do we need to be hurt first for this?" Rita slips her jacket down around her waist and rolls up one sleeve, because that's just what you do for doctor visits.
Angela ''More like an 'oasis'. A single safe place in a hostile expanse.''

"I don't get to hear much beyond what's beyond The City walls but you hear all sorts of stories about how dangerous it is. But if they had places like this out there, maybe it's not so bad." Roland admits. "...Though I guess, like you say, it's something you have to fight for. A lot of people would prefer safety than to have to fight." And he supposes he's not really different in that regard but if it was for an 'oasis'...?

He seems a little bashful and surprised--that that slipped out of him in front of Lilian.

''I promise I'll return him in good shape.''

"I never feared you wouldn't." Angela says. "But I cannot help but--ah."

The 'ah' comes when Katrina mentions he's handsome though Roland is more startled--not scared or anything--but like receiving that kind of comment on his appearance is pretty unexpected to him. He resists the urge to quickly explain actually everybody says he's got the kind of face that always looks like it's grimacing and says, "Thanks. I am married, yeah. I'm guessing if she were here she'd be real excited to meet you too." There's a brief flicker of sorrow behind his eyes--he's never been able to keep his feelings off his face--but he does at least have enough skill at suppression to be able to push it back down after a moment with a lazy smile. "But I appreciate you taking good care of me or she'll never let me hear the end of it." He jokes but he adds, turning to look at Angela and sees something on her face that makes him go. "Er."

"I assure you our relationship is wholly platonic."

"Wh--yeah!...Yeah. It's--I wouldn't--"

Angela frowns at him now.

"I mean, I am married--" Roland says.

"It is a matter of appreciating a conversation partner." Angela says.

"Right." Roland says. "Yeah. Nice to have people to talk to and shoot the shit sometimes."

Angela's eyes slant back to White after the conversation, watching her for a moment before her gaze shifts towards the Timekeeper and her assistant before back to Lilian and her sister.

''Lilian explains the situation.''

"Mm... I understand feeling a little leery of outsiders offering help. If I had known a tengu was the sort of entity you were dealing with, I would've certainly sent Love but--"

"I think it's better that it's me, begging your pardon Miss Angela. Love might be better to test on but she's still kind of a kid. I don't think she'd react well even if she happily agreed to it."

Angela considers Roland's logic and nods to him before adding, "But what sort of injury is it?"
White White's eyes flutter in a puzzled triple-blink at the confusion over her name, but her chin uptilts slightly in recognition after a few moments, and after Katrina figures out what she meant on her own. "... Mm. You too." The last shake jiggles her a little bit, but that's no big deal.

     If White is annoyed at Angela, she isn't acting like it. But, then again, she expresses so little and even hides her eyes most of the time, that it's hard to really be sure of anything. She still waves in Roland's (and therefor Angela's) direction when they arrive. Meanwhile this is White's first time meeting a few people besides Katrina. Riku, Vertin, Sonetto, she's heard all of their voices before but never seen them in person. So, she makes an effort to greet each of them almost the same way she did Katrina, to the point that it's clear she's very ill equipped for this many meetings at once; she bows like a toy drinky-bird in slow motion, holding her hair back so it doesn't fall into her face, and says... "White." "White." "White."

She's glad she can stop after the fourth time, when it starts to feel like some kind of creepy chant even to her, and she just hopes nobody has anything to say about that. But hey, at least now they know who the weird TTS voice belongs to!

     Tamamo addressing her draws her attention easily and promptly next, and if she knows what Tamamo meant to ask there's no sign of that recognition in her face. The question settled on, instead, prompts White to give another good look around (eyes still closed) for good measure. "... Not much." seems like it's going to be her only answer for a couple of seconds, but she does add, "Mostly colder places." She isn't counting the Labyrinth of course, because that's not 'countryside'.

     Rita gets a wave too, and a soft murmur of "It's been a while." The mention of lost weight has her slowly sidle over and ask, "... Low on food?" like it's an embarrassing secret. White isn't Kukuru, but if Rita *was* having issues with food, it's hardly right to let her starve... She then spends a few moments, hearing the word 'uniform' come up, just kind of glancing around at everyone's clothes like she'd forgotten clothing as a concept briefly, and wondering what she might try for new outfits down the line. Then, as if stricken by incredibly mild divine inspiration, she mumbles just barely audible enough to parse, "Maybe I should meet... Miss Rita's brother too..." like she's contemplating experiments of her own.

Really, she just wants more ideas of what a normal family looks like. But how's that supposed to come across when she's talking to herself like this?

     Katrina's explanation, though, is Mission Critical Information and therefor recieves her un-... Well, nothing gets *undivided* attention from White, but this is as close to an exception as generally ever arises. She's surprised to find that maybe she'd be a more relevant 'subject' than expected, but that's not really something she's enthusiastic enough to volunteer for. Instead she tries to suggest something, but as the effort of 'explaining the full context of what an Evil Eye is' rams up against her limited spoken wordcount per minute, she has to resort to signalling instead. She looks pointedly at Lilian, a little bit intensely, and gently finger-taps her own closed eye in hopes that Lilian might get her meaning.

Though, she can't quite remember if she ever spelled out what it does, actually...
Tamamo     'Married, Kat.'

    Tamamo glances over with keen interest. She hasn't met Mrs. Roland, after all.

    ...maneuvers into a nameless hug-squish-facerub gesture, and then backs off again until connected by the fingers at full arm's length...

    Tamamo's practically glowing throughout, and a while after. No, maybe she really is glowing? It's harder to tell in the daylight.

    'And how are things~?'

    "As well as any might hope, and yet, I am ever greedy for more. I have decided that that this is permissible -- desirable, even -- that one should not be limited in happiness." Tamamo spares more than a little attention for Lilian while answering Katrina.

    'Wow, goodness, this must be really familiar to you, huh? Perfect!'
    'Specifically, this particular village is maintained by a family of priests and a single tengu guardian.'

    "Yes, I see," Tamamo nods her understanding. "And so, for such purposes... my, but that does make things a bit difficult, after all. Even I have rarely had cause to so much as consider administering to tengu."

    'Oh, is he like Kale?'

    "No," she says, only to backtrack to, "for the most part," after a moment more of thought. "Their sense of pride tends to be of a more insular nature than Mr. Hearthward's, enough so as to give little surprise that one would rather attempt healing without a doctor's aid."

    Tamamo doesn't volunteer to go either first or second and, thankfully, doesn't need to.
Swords of Justice      BEFORE
     Everything that Lilian has said about Katrina makes her seem both skilled and maybe a bit odd... Assuming Lilian isn't either joking, lying, or omitting details, but Shirou doesn't have any reason to believe she would. She also seems to have collected an already reasonable group of people to help her with her task, but given the need for 'baseline' humans, he might still be able to help.

     He sits and thinks at his desk about whether or not he actually should, before ultimately deciding he should. It is however, late, so he quietly has to move around his house towards the exit so as to not wake his guests, his hand pausing on the sliding door as he realizes he's forgetting someone. Well, not exactly forgetting, more like wanting to purposefully omit, and he deeply considers it, his fingers rubbing his chin in thought.

     "No. No, she'll just find out. I'll just head back and-" He turns around, whispering to himself at first, before he bites his own tongue to force back a startled yelp.

     "Good choice."

     NOW
     A defeated Shirou and Medusa finally make their way through the Warp Gate, and after only a bit, Shirou pretty much realizes where they are. Japan? Is it some of magical replica of the area? It could also be the actual Japan, it's not like it's too weird to end up here. From what he understands, there's a lot of Japans out in the Multiverse.

     When Katrina runs up to Shirou for a handshake, he immediately offers one back. "Shirou Emiya, it's nice to meet you, Ms. Katrina."

     Medusa, on the other hand, is a lot more reluctant when the hand is offered, though she manages to eventually return it, giving the bare minimum of a greeting. "Hello."

     As Lilian explains the situation, both of them nod, though Shirou begins to wonder... If the injury can heal on its own, why don't they just leave people to help defend the place until the Tengu feels better? Maybe they just don't have the manpower to spare for something like that? Well, he'd offer, but they've already come to this solution, it'd be rude to offer another until they're in need of one.

     Medusa meanwhile, in contrast to her almost begrudged greeting, doesn't hesitate when Katrina asks who would like to go first.

     "I'll do it. Just tell me what you need to do."
Timekeeper "And it's good to see you in person, Mr. Timekeeper!"

    While Vertin makes a pleasant nod of greeting in return, Sonetto gapes in confusion and horror beside them. "'Mister'?! The Timekeeper is not a man! Why would you think that?!"

    Vertin tilts their head and adjusts their top hat to not slip off, in what is ambiguously either a nod or a look of realization. "That's right. I wasn't certain why Rita began calling me that." "And you didn't correct her??" "It didn't seem all that important."

    After that exchange, Vertin moves on to give an imprecise answer to Rita's question that only becomes more baffling after that correction. "There was no uniform established for the Timekeeper prior to me, since the position hadn't existed."

"And Ms. Sonetto, though we have spoken before... you may know that I am Tamamo-no-mae, bunrei of Amaterasu-omikami, She of the White-Gold Face, Goddess of the Sun."

    Sonetto tries valiantly to salvage her image after making *two* embarrassing blunders already, and to her credit, she doesn't struggle with getting herself together when Tamamo addresses her, and doesn't squirm under her focused scrutiny either. "Um, yes, I remember our talk. I'm glad to meet you properly, and I look forwards to working with you in the future." Vertin gives Sonetto a side-eyeing look, but doesn't say anything.

    Lilian strains Sonetto's demeanor *slightly* more, though despite the fact that Vertin was reportedly the one who saw the calendar themselves, they're entirely unbothered. "A-ah! Dame Rook, this is-- this is a kind of charitable work too, isn't it?"

"Timekeeper? What sort of work do you do?"

    "Whatever is needed and what no one else can," Vertin responds vaguely but earnestly, since the details of their position are hard to convey without a long explanation. "Field work and bureaucracy, mostly."

"Ah, have you ever heard of MSF? 'Médecins Sans Frontières'?"

    "I believe I've seen the term in some records before, yes. Travelling humanitarian aid is part of the Foundation's duties as well, especially when it pertains to arcanum, so I'm sure we'll get along well. Sonetto is knowledgeable in some healing incantations as well, if that's any help."

    Sonetto straightens up, and along the collar line and shoulders of her uniform are rows of several small badges and medals, across multiple years and disciplines. "I'm only a field medic and not a doctor, but I hope my knowledge of arcanum can be useful to your mission!"

"I hadn't exactly planned on showing off my family first, but I think the two of you might perhaps be especially relevant."

    It doesn't take long at all for Vertin to understand the details of why Lilian thinks so, and she nods. "Your request came at a convenient time, as I was given authorization to use the warpgate earlier today. And as a personal request, it's fairly similar to a mission that I might be assigned on my own, so think nothing of it. A non-human, whose response to healing arcanum is somewhat unpredictable and unpracticed, and needs proof of positive intent and effect before accepting assistance."

    Since neither of them feel the need to volunteer first when others already have, Sonetto instead has academic questions for Katrina. "What is your methodology for healing magic? Do you have a particular medium you work through that's absent in the tengu?"
Timekeeper "Love might be better to test on but she's still kind of a kid."

    Vertin tilts their head in Roland's directly, faintly confused. "Do children react differently to magic in your experience? I'm not sure I've heard of such a thing, but it could be a difference in technique."

"White."

    Sonetto uncomfortably politely lets White's odd greeting pass her by with a soft acknowledgement, but Vertin looks just a tiny bit amused in a way that doesn't read as mocking. With a dip of their head that echoes White's bow, they respond specifically, "Vertin."
White White was wrong, given Shirou and Medusa seem to arrive right after she's finished her greetings. She considers finishing the job, but something about the timing leaves her feeling spiteful toward the abstract concept of luck instead, and she can't quite push herself to resume her white-woman curse-chanting. She'll just pretend they don't exist until they try to talk to her. That usually works.

Hearing Vertin talk about how she got to pioneer her own uniform because her position didn't exist, White senses a kindred spirit. This is only reinforced by the mirror of her greeting style. Truly, the only possible way to express this sense of unfounded kinship is a little thumbs-up poking out of her wide sleeve, like she's saying 'good job'.
Tamamo     'I'm guessing if she were here she'd be real excited to meet you too.' There's a brief flicker of sorrow behind his eyes.

    Oh, no. Oh, dear! Tamamo, who was observing intensely in that moment, reins back the impulse to ask more about this topic. Now that she's seen that, she has to. At the same time, she can't. Oh, no...

    'Shirou Emiya.'

    Tamamo, who has just finished her own self-introduction, tries to remember something. "Shirou Emiya, is it? This may seem strange to say, but I recall meeting someone of very similar appearance, yet a different name." It'd be quite the coincidence if this one turned out to be a blacksmith, too.

    Sonetto's recovery is accepted with grace. It's entirely possibly unrelated to her that Tamamo takes the time to go and quietly speak to Lilian, and possibly-maybe glances at her once or twice, during.
Lilian Rook     'I don't think we're violating any labor laws here!'

    "Great!" Katrina beams. "I don't really care that much about the law, but kids should be kids and adults should be adults!" Lilian wibbles the corner of her mouth pensively. "So! If you could just make a small incision on-- well, can you get a cut somewhere I can touch? If that's scary, I can get Lilian to do it."

    'Oh. Um. Maybe? I'm not sure. I... some bad stuff happened a couple of months ago. I guess I should still be eating more to bounce back.'

    She looks at Rita and purses her lips. "Jonah, can you get a respirator from the back?" One of the guards raises his hand, then jogs off to the rover. "I knew it was something." Katrina says, nodding at Rita. "It's like . . . a vibe. Or maybe just my intuition? But I could tell. I'm really glad you're okay."

    'Oh, is he like Kale?'

    "I don't think he'd like that comparison." Lilian says, bland on the verge of wry. "He's an order of magnitude older, for one. And much, much more serious about spiritual matters, as well as sworsmanship." Katrina laughs uneasily. "I'm pretty sure he's only letting me try because he respects Lil' Lil as a swordswoman and a 'proper druid'. It'd be really hard to bait and switch now."

    'But if they had places like this out there, maybe it's not so bad'

    "Ordinarily, it's only the Urban Centers. Sort of micro-versions of 'the City', where tens of thousands of people might live. Though, they're not even one tenth as much of a mess." Lilian says to Roland. "Just like with the City, it's accepted that trying to leave and live in the Outskirts is pointless. Everyone who tries just vanishes sooner or later. It's simply too dangerous. But . . ." Lilian shifts the uncanny sword against her shoulder, and stares up at the giant rock again. "Perhaps it's hubristic to believe that everyone with the power to protect others is already a known quantity. Nothing says that only those who work for the government can be strong enough to do that."

    'I assure you our relationship is wholly platonic.'

    Katrina laughs at Roland's awkwardness, and beamingly replies with a hand-swish and thumbs-up, "Well duh! Otherwise you'd have come out here too~ Nobody watches her husband do this kind of thing over a video tablet!" She sobers up a little at Angela's following question. "That's the odd thing. Treating Antegent-inflicted wounds is a complicated science; there are three, arguably four, material factors that arise from forces that don't occur in what we understand to be nature. But his injury doesn't really seem like any of them. It looks more like it was caused with a magical weapon, but there's no trace of magic actually on him. Or at least none I can find."
Angela ''Do children react differently to magic in your experience?''

"Oh I ... don't think she'd react differently because it was magic. I just mean--if we're testing healing procedures, we'd need to be hurt first--right?" Roland says, feeling a small twisting in his stomach to be hearing it from someone who still looks fairly young to him. "She seems pretty sensitive, I'm sure there's kids out there--in my world anyway--who wouldn't think twice about it but it'd make me uncomfortable and don't think she's the type to be able to shrug it off."

''Tamamo glances over with keen interest. She hasn't met Mrs. Roland, after all.''

If Roland could read minds he'd say it'd be more accurate to call him Mr. Angelica but then he'd be in real trouble because he's keeping that a secret. He imagines having some kind of couples lunch with Tamamo and Lilian and he looks down at the earth with a small scowl on his lips, turning his head to try and keep others from seeing it.

Tamamo's really dangerous, he thinks, because of how similar they are to one another. What's important to her is the same as what's important to him and he can't stop from getting so fucking pissed off. He doesn't want her to think it's because of her. It's not because of her. But Fate doesn't have a face he can spit at so all he can do is scowl at the world beneath his feet and try his best to keep the people on that world from seeing it.

He thinks of the lake, calms his heart, and looks over to Lilian. His smile is gone but at least he isn't scowling.

"...I heard there were Hunters out in the Outskirts who could get real strong but I've never met any. But you're right. Most places in the Outskirts--they might last a bit but they fade away suddenly. ... But some people still choose that life even knowing about the danger." He pauses and looks over to Lilian. "Any idea why your people choose to do it? Your world seems a lot kinder."

Part of Roland's interest in the Outskirts--sure--might be the beauty of the natural world but more of it is because he feels The City violates its own contract constantly.

''Otherwise you'd have come out here too~''

"I would have regardless..." Angela sighs morosely. "But there are still limits to when I can leave. ... I suppose you are correct I probably would not have volunteered Roland if he was that sort of partner."

She listens keenly to the talk on the nature of the wounds. Not Antegent? But magical weapon?

"And he hasn't been that forthcoming on how it happened? ... I see." She frowns thoughtfully. "We can simulate a magical injury' with a proper EGO weapon. If there is no mystical infection of any kind, that suggests the wounds themselves should be fairly typical of wounds and follow the same rules as more mundane injuries."
Riku Asakura "I'm not used to hurting myself, but... I'll try..." he says, not wanting to have to bother Lilian with hurting him.  They did enough of that during that week.  He takes one of the medical tools and cuts his palm, drawing a little bit of blood and causing him to make a hissing sound as he takes in air suddenly from the pain.  

He offers the wound to Katrina, letting her touch it all she likes to try and heal it.  One thing Katrina might notice is that the wound itself heals naturally faster than it should.  He'll repeat the process if asked, but it still hurts to cut himself open like this.  

He also listens to the talk about Urban Centers and the areas that aren't them from both Lilian and Katrina.  Places where people are unable to get help and aid easily, but also places where people can live on their terms. "It sounds rough to live away from the city like this.  I'm glad you're doing this kind of work, Doctor Rook."

Talk about a magical weapon getting passed along, and he makes a gulping noise.  "Well... if we have to get a magical weapon..." Riku says, slightly apprehensively.  
Lilian Rook     Lilian is caught staring at White's eyes, briefly struggling to intuit her meaning, and then turns to Katrina to say, "Do you think he'd allow us to look?" "Again?" "No, literally just look at him." "Ummmmm probably? Why? Elite business?" "Elite businss." "Gotcha. Elite business." Katrina nods solemnly.

    'Shirou Emiya, it's nice to meet you, Ms. Katrina.'

    Katrina points at him, then looks across at Lilian, confused. "Isn't he . . . ?" "Same last name, different person." "Oh. That makes sense. He came with a lady friend, after all." She stares at Medusa's face, then White's, then Angela's, and visibly begins concocting a crank theory about women who won't show their eyes.

    'Mister'?! The Timekeeper is not a man! Why would you think that?!'

    Lilian tenses up, all at once, quickly enough to count as a flinch.

    'That's right. I wasn't certain why Rita began calling me that.'
    'And you didn't correct her??'
    'It didn't seem all that important.'

    "Right. The nineties." whispers under her breath.

    'A-ah! Dame Rook, this is-- this is a kind of charitable work too, isn't it?'

    Lilian takes in a deep, deep breath. She takes a good look at Sonetto's flusterment, measures the relative height between them, reorients social space in her brain such that Sonetto is the stuttering junior trying to apologize for accidentally taking her seat, and manages to reply by turning her chin slightly up and to the side and taking on a tone as if she were being magnanimous about something quaintly obvious. "Naturally. These people have lived here for generations. Nobody from the Urban Centers comes out here. They don't have hospitals or access to modern medicine. Taking care of people whom society will not is the essential spirit of the virtue." Katrina, who knows her little sister well, side-eye leers at the both of them, anticipating hot tea. She's smirking. God.

    'Whatever is needed and what no one else can,'

    "Ohh." Katrina replies by packing a lot into that one drawn-out word. "Arcanum? Well I guess that's pretty self-explanatory. I kind of like those old-fashioned words more! You know, nobody even used the word 'Enlightened' when I was little! I thought it was better; there are 'witches', 'druids', 'doctors', 'lawyers'; human beings without a big line drawn through the middle."

    Having just directed everyone to cut themselves (why did she offer to let Lilian do it instead??? That's scary!), Katrina is already rolling up her sleeves when 'Jonah' comes back with a mask for Rita, not questioning, but only snapping a tension-diminishing salute. Lilian returns to finishing her maintenance, saying to Vertin "Oh? And here I thought it was all sordid counterterrorism and intrigue. So you really do have a good job."
Lilian Rook     Katrina, meanwhile, snaps out something like a telescoping baton, only recognizable as a 'wand' a second later, with a spiral bifurcated end that half-encloses a 'pilot light'. It's just long enough that she doesn't have to bend over whilst she carefully stalks a wide circle, dragging its points through the dirt and leaving faintly glowing lines behind. She gets out an analogue compass, then looks at Lilian, who takes the cue to sheathe Night Mist, then begins adding markings to its edges. She answers Sonetto while tactically sprinkling a mix of crushed minerals and whole seeds like salt, and then flicking a lighter against a thin rod of pressed herbs.

    "Well, I'm certified for all the generic stuff. Our families have been druids for a long time, so it's easier for me to offload the heavy work to the earth, and tengu are fundamentally celestial in origin. Furthermore, I typically address physiological gaps with alchemic principles, but tengu are physiologically 'refined' through the eastern tradition of 'purification of spirit' instead. So that means I have to use my personal magic." she says, upturning her palm and deftly slitting another finger with another cut, using a disposable scalpel blade.

    "Which is 'faerie magic', by the way. A configured recreation of the demarcation between our world and 'the isle of youth' that uses the disjunction of time as a medium, with the earth as a substrate." she adds, squeezing a trickle of blood into the centermost markings she's drawn, immediately causing ground flowers to push out of the dirt and bloom. "Which should work just fine on him. But if his body rejects the flow of earthly energy, I'd have to swap to the much harder version, using just mine, and he definitely won't let me try twice."
Lilian Rook     'Any idea why your people choose to do it? Your world seems a lot kinder.'

    "I suppose it has to be that these people have just enough to realize they could lose something more important to them than safety." Lilian says, bland on the verge of bitter. "The people of the City tend to have so little that they have next to nothing left to lose but their lives. Having 'just enough hope' and 'no hope' are practically the same; the space between is living limbo."

    'And he hasn't been that forthcoming on how it happened? ... I see.'

    Katrina shrugs. "It's not all that surprising. And doctors don't need to ask. Lots of people get embarrassed by how they were hurt, but the reality is that we mostly don't care. In this case, it might be something embarrassing 'as a warrior'. Or he might thing that it'd give away some kind of weakness."

    'It sounds rough to live away from the city like this. I'm glad you're doing this kind of work, Doctor Rook.'

    "Aww, Katrina's just fine~" she laughs. "Otherwise you might as well call my little sister 'Doctor Rook' as well~ Just having a doctorate isn't that big of a deal for us."

    White, if she so chooses to ascend the steps, can stop a little ways from the shrine. Or rather, she probably has to, because she can sense the exact line where it has been sufficiently warded 'against demons' that it'd be direly uncomfortable for her to cross over it. Even from that distance, she can see the star of the show; a man who looks as if he's been stretched from six feet to seven and a half vertically, sat on the walkable edge of the shrine with his back against one of the pillars.

    Wearing head to toe layers that are too warm for the season, all in muted grey and forest green, as if it were camouflage, he has a blood-soaked bandage across his chest, and the base of one great black wing, drooped by his side, not changed recently enough. With riveted military footwear, a breastplate, waist armour, and a mask on, she can't see much beneath except his clawed fingers, turning over a heavily chipped and battered katana in his lap, without the energy to actually work on it.

    The name field is odd. 'Kuhinbo' seems more like an alias. He's in obviously quite bad shape; though his health field is stable, it's the 'multiple organ damage' variety. The general bevy of skills is about what she'd expect: flight, super vision, swordsmanship, wind mastery, intangible form, exorcism, pathfinding, akashic wisdom, and general physical enhancement, along with a number of mundane skills. His only self-recognized title is 'Himorogikage' though. Whatever's going on, the System recognizes it as a 'curse' status.

    Analyzing the sword tells her that it was badly mangled very recently; all the older damage has been lovingly repaired many times. It registers as a 'holy' element weapon, so it's not any old thing either. Being cut along the hard edge instead of the soft spine means it made contact with something even harder; or sharper.
Rita Ma      "No... for the most part."
     "Kale isn't 'insular'?" Rita murmurs in Tamamo's direction while lips-tapping with a finger, and then considers that that rather than a deficiency of his, it may be an excess of theirs. Then she tries to consider what that might look like, and strains herself a little. "... Well, if he's protecting people, he can't be so bad," she at last decides, naively.

     "The Timekeeper is not a man! Why would you think that?!"
     "Huh? But... the way he..."

     "I wasn't certain why Rita began calling me that."
     "Ueh??" Betrayal!

     "And you didn't correct her??"
     "It didn't seem all that important."
     Rita ends up looking back and forth between Sonetto and Vertin in a tizzy, palms permanently out in defraying-defensive You've Got It All Wrong position. "I'm sorry! I just- well, at first I thought he, um, they must be a girl because of the voice, but then the ID card photo was so- so I thought maybe she was just used to people calling her one because her voice is really soft, but-"

     Hey, wait. "Ms. Sonneto, how come you're angrier at me about this than Ms. Timekeeper is!"

     ----

     "It's like . . . a vibe. Or maybe just my intuition?"
     "Jonah, can you get a respirator from the back?"
     "You're a really good doctor, Ms. Maisie. Thank you," Rita says, slipping again from 'tense-peppy' to 'tiredly warm'. She'll don the respirator when Jonah returns with it, but before that...

     "So! If you could just make a small incision on--"
     Rita looks at her thumb, opens her mouth slightly like she's considering chomping down on it; reconsiders; then starts a new train of thought altogether, and hesitates. Fine gradations of 'I don't want to do that' lead down to the least bad option, which is...

     Rita's thumb unravels delicately in a coiling inch-wide strip, down to her palm; then unravels up her index finger too, ending with a good four inches of freed flat ribbonlike something that seems to seamlessly grow forward from the back of her hand. It had formed a thin layer over her actual skin, nearly the same but just a bit paler. Over the next second, the ribbonlike tendril stops pretending to be skin and assumes the color and texture of bluish jellyfish.

     Then Rita bites down on it, just a delicate nick with a triangular incisor- "Don't cut yourself just yet, Mr. Asakura-" hurriedly puts on the respirator, and at last sighs in soft relief. "Okay. Now you can. I'm sorry," she says through the breathing mask.

     "Um, so do we step in the circle, Dr. Maisie?" Rita holds her half-unraveled hand away from her body and also away from anyone else, as if the bite-cut tendril that sways gently upright were a snake being handled.
White White finds herself reminded of how little she really knows, in a scholarly sense, about magic. Being self-taught and free is great, until you barely know the context for half of the words someone's throwing at you, and you're spending more time making inferences and reverse-engineering concepts than you are listening. Well, she can do both, but it's still a little tricky to keep up with. She thinks she gets the idea, but she'd probably flunk a pop quiz. She gets stuck on the idea of 'celestial' magic versus 'druidic', or 'faerie' or whatever else; she realizes she doesn't actually know very well how other worlds like this would categorize Conjury. Does she have more in common with Lilian, or with the Tengu? It's strange to ponder, since the idea of divinity is so vague to her.

     It sounds like she has permission to peer upon said supernatural defender though. While others are cutting themselves open and gritting teeth through it, she starts to calmly walk up yonder steps, clearly unhurried. The Tengu sounds gruff, and doesn't want people being intrusive without good results, right? That's understandable. She'd probably feel the same way, so it's not hard to be understanding. When she reaches the top of those steps her eyes are already open, and she doesn't have to touch the boundary to know where to stop. It's an incidental, and maybe slightly worrying thing to realize, but at least she knows for the future that it isn't just her own world that designates her as a hostile other.

     Right at the boundary line she settles onto her knees on the ground, gently brushes her dress out across her lap to get comfortable, and just... Observes. If her gaze meets his, she offers a soft "Hello." without elaboration, but if she's questioned she'll have to get a little more thoughtful than that. To be honest, she has very little idea what proper, typical courtesy with a tengu is meant to look like. The best she can do is be calm, quiet, and dutiful about using the Evil Eye of Analysis for yet another unexpected medical purpose; if she's able to get a 'tooltip' out of that curse status to learn what the effects are, she'll do so even if it takes a little longer.

     If that proves to be a bust, though, that leaves White with no more reason to linger. She might not know what 'proper' courtesy is, here, but it'd feel strange to walk away after staring without making some kind of gesture... So she pulls another of her plushies from the spatial storage pocket up her sleeve, and gently places it upright and facing Kuhinbo from her side of the warded gate. It looks like a little green winged dragon, more like a wyvern in worlds where that distinction is made. There's nothing special about it except for the supreme quality of her silk used to make it, which is somehow able to maintain a fuzzy, felt-like texture after her alterations. "... Get well soon."

He's like this place's hero, right? They don't have to be friends, but it would be good for him to be in his best shape again. She has no reason to wish otherwise.

     It probably takes about ten minutes for her to be fully sure she's organized the information properly in her head, and that she hasn't missed anything. She comes back down the steps with the same calm pace as she scaled them, and starts looking to others within the group of Elites that she can sense magic signatures from, trying to find a nearest point of comparison both for the tengu's own celestial energies, and the energies of the curse. This, of course, means everyone getting intermittently Evil Eyed while they're talking, which might not be all that comfortable to people actually familiar with such abilities already. Oops.
Tamamo     'Kale isn't 'insular'?'

    "Oh, not at all. He is always seeking something from the outside." Or 'outside himself.'

    Now that Tamamo's had it confirmed that being a 'subject' involves cutting, she's doubly glad she didn't volunteer... even if a celestial like her would make for a decent match. She can watch, at least, and judge with her own tools of analysis how Katrina's methods would affect someone with her own patterns of existence.

    "Something more like a magical weapon, is it..." Tamamo gives it some thought, her sleeve covering both her hand and the lower half of her face, before shrugging. "I suppose that the question of 'who did this' is not the main concern, at the moment."

    She blinks a few times, and looks over toward White just after being looked at. Something felt a bit like 'a curse,' there, a feeling of greatly intimate familiarity to her, but... surely, Commander White wouldn't have a reason to be doing that, and the feeling has already passed after being pinged.
Angela ''The space between is living limbo.''

"Huh." Roland says, quietly dwelling on the idea, rolling it around in his head.

''Right. The nineties.''

"Hm?" Angela asks. "What about the nineties?" She had been half listening to the conversation between Rita and Team Timekeeper but is mostly keeping tabs to avoid embarrassing mistakes and she definitely isn't making a comparision between the nineties and that chat.

Instead she watches White as she evil eyes everyone. Roland hasn't changed since the last time, though his affinity with EGO Gear has marginally increased. He doesn't seem to be aware that he's being evil eyed but, well, what's done is done. White has already evil eyed him. There's no going back.

"White." Angela asks. "Have you found anything interesting?" She blames this on Petra honestly. Asking her questions. Needing the gossip. It is getting in the way of professional behaviors.

Roland doesn't have an issue cutting his hand open, he does so without even thinking about it. "Mm... It's much harder enough that you'd rather see about taking the risk, doing these tests, to avoid doing it? How much more involved is the harder version?"

"Is it harmful to you that way?" Angela asks. "I suppose it might be a matter of higher odds of a failed incantation as well." She lifts her head. "Ah, meaning no disrespect of course. I'm speculating."

"Too bad you ran out of those healing bullets. Though I guess uh, them being healing bullets might be discouraging to Outsiders." Roland adds.
Timekeeper "I just mean--if we're testing healing procedures, we'd need to be hurt first--right?"

    After a moment, Vertin decides to agree that it's bad to methodically harm children so that you can be responsible for healing them afterwards. "Right. By the way, Sonetto, is your arcane implement sharp enough to break skin?" "Maybe...? I'm not sure, Timekeeper." "Alright. Then we'll have to borrow someone else's."

    Whoever ends up offering them a knife, Vertin pinches the blade to hand it off to Sonetto, grip first. Without any need for verbal confirmation, they turn their palm up and pull off their glove for Sonetto to draw a thin cut across it, and then swap positions to do the same for Sonetto.

"No, literally just look at him." "Ummmmm probably? Why? Elite business?"

    Vertin takes to the label of Elite as if it was always theirs-- they might not be aware of the context of the Evil Eye either, but if Elite Business is offered, it's theirs to volunteer for. "If he doesn't mind, then I might be able to answer the question of whether magic is present in the wound. More than likely you're right about its origin, but I can provide a second set of eyes."

"Taking care of people whom society will not is the essential spirit of the virtue."

    Sonetto is soooo happy that the conversation with Lilian was successfully steered in a direction where things make sense to her, rather than the scary alternative. I share the same feeling! I believe that my duty to protect mankind extends to communities in every corner of the globe."

"Arcanum? Well I guess that's pretty self-explanatory. I kind of like those old-fashioned words more!"

    Vertin, dressed like they're straight out of the 1890's, tilts their face up in light surprise that exposes their other eye beneath the top hat for the first time. "Old-fashioned? Is it?"

    Then, "From what I've heard from Lilian, 'Enlightened' seems similar in label to 'arcanist', though they're still considered human. It used to be the case in our world too that there wasn't an umbrella term for the concept, rather than druids, mediums, or alchemists, though that was centuries before I was born."

"Oh? And here I thought it was all sordid counterterrorism and intrigue."

    "Sordid counterterrorism involves more paperwork than the movies would like to admit, I'm afraid."

"I'm sorry! I just- well, at first I thought he, um, they must be a girl because of the voice,"

    Surprised again, Vertin blinks at Rita. "My voice?" That seems to be the only part they have an objection to, though.

"Ms. Sonneto, how come you're angrier at me about this than Ms. Timekeeper is!"

    Sonetto, meanwhile, is becoming more confused that her horror *isn't* being shared by Rita *or* by Vertin, and fumbles to try and explain what seems so intuitive. "A-angry? I am not angry, but I just can't understand how-- looking at Timekeeper-- there's certain ways, about men and women, aren't there? And the Timekeeper is...."

    "It's alright, Sonetto. It isn't anything to work up a fuss about. You know, the shop keeper where I bought this thought I was a man as well." "R-really?" "Yeah. I wonder if that's why...."
Timekeeper "So that means I have to use my personal magic."

    Between the two of them, it might be assumed that Vertin would be the academically studious one and Sonetto would be the cheerleader/jock, but she eagerly makes conversation with Katrina while the array is drawn out on the ground. "I get it! So you have areas of arcanum that you're familiar with through your bloodline, through study, and finally through your own afflatus, which come easier when engaging in overlapping principles but each come along with qualifiers as well. The restrictive nature of arcane mediums is something I have been somewhat interested in studying-- my own arcanum struggles to manipulate anything that isn't alive, for example, since I draw on the mediums of inspiration and emotion."

    She takes her implement-- a glass fountain pen, translucent and incredibly intricate-- off of where it's secured on her hip, lightly twirling it between her fingers. "I am sure you are much more qualified than me, doctor, but if your medium interferes too heavily with the tengu's physiology and you aren't certain of your success, I may be able to try myself as a last resort."
Swords of Justice      With Rita going first, Medusa coolly retreats, adjusting her glasses as she falls silent again. She'll just have to wait again to offer help, though, given Katrina's explanation, she's not sure if she'd be the best candidate anyway.

     Shirou meanwhile, is a little... annoyed? Confused? He's not quite sure, but everyone acting weird whenever he introduces himself and then not saying anything is definitely doing something. Processing what Tamamo and Lilian said a bit more though, he can easily conclude his name and appearance is just similar to somebody they knew? If that's the case, why did Lilian react the way she did the first time. Maybe their relationship with them was complicated or something...

     "Yeah. I get that response a lot. Well, three times exactly, but I've got a feeling it's going to happen a few more times."
White White finishes stepping down the stairs after her look-around, and while Rita's flesh-ribbon situation is worthy of a puzzled sidelong look, answering Angela is... Easier than understanding whatever's going on with that at a glance. "Yes." is what she leads with, and she pulls out her phone to try and organize what she learned into written form, only speaking shorthand versions of each point aloud. "Mister Kuhinbo... Has persistent internal damage. Probably to multiple organs. But he's more or less stable. He's tough." She swipes her screen upward to scroll her notes. "He's cursed. And his holy sword... Is really messed up. I think... He lost a power-clash... With another sword, for sure. That's probably... Where the curse is from. But... He's tough." She reiterates that this time to mean 'it's a big deal that he lost that badly to someone his weapon should have worked on', rather than just 'he'll live'.

     She's still trying to interpret whatever information she might've pulled about the curse itself, but offhandedly mumbles "Evil clone..?" without looking in Shirou's direction.
Lilian Rook     What a strange curse. What it tells White is:
    Earth and Heaven - SEVERED - Lv6

    If anyone is a match for him personally, it'd have to be Tamamo, perhaps very distantly followed by Riku. Weird. As White scans the crowd however, Lilian raises a hand halfway like she's preparing to block papparazi from snapping a shot of her face, then thinks better and mutters something before vanishing right before White gets to her. The poor girl doesn't know White already got her fucked up sheet a while ago. She only reappears when White closes her eyes again.

    Nothing here seems remotely close to that curse. If she had to rank them, Night Mist would be single digit similarity, followed by Rita somehow.

    'Um, so do we step in the circle, Dr. Maisie?'

    "Oh no! The circle is for me!" Katrina says, stepping into the middle of it. The pilot light in her wand is extinguished, and she snaps it back into its folded form. She presses one finger to the fresh cut, and it comes away leaving it scabbed and red. "You just have to come close enough!" she says, reaching out in vaguely silly grabby-motion manner.

    'I suppose that the question of 'who did this' is not the main concern, at the moment.'

    "Maybe. But I don't know." Katrina says, scrunching up the corner of her mouth. "I don't know what kind of person would come all the way out here to harass an obscure little village like this one. And like I said, I couldn't detect 'magic' on him. At least, not any but his own." She hesitates. "It does kind of feel like he got into some trouble he doesn't want to talk about. But that's just my doctor's intuition."

    'What about the nineties?'

    "Don't worry about it." Lilian says, her tone grimly neutral.

    'Is it harmful to you that way?'

    Katrina, strangely, struggles to answer that for a second; as if it were an abstract matter and not a simple yes or no. "It's like doing brain surgery instead of setting a broken arm." she decides on, eventually. "Even though I'm really good at it, it's still scary. I can't remember the last time I screwed it up, but I get nervous if it's for big injuries like that, and it wipes me out after." She makes herself smile again. "Don't worry though! For this one, I've already worked up a more modular array! That way I can try tailoring it to each of you by feel!"

    Riku is first. It's practically a formality, given his astonishing regenerative ability already. Katrina takes his hand in both of hers, murmurs something quietly while closing her eyes, and 'bubbles', or perhaps 'sparks', like rapidly appearing and disappearing ink blots of white-gold light coruscate over his palm. It tingles like the rush of blood into a slept-on limb, and prickles like the wavering heat of a too-close candle. Within a few seconds, the sensation fades, and Katrina declares "Easy! Next!" Oddly, not only is the wound gone, but the trail of blood as well; as if it'd never happened.
Lilian Rook     'I get it! So you have areas of arcanum that you're familiar with through your bloodline, through study, and finally through your own afflatus, which come easier when engaging in overlapping principles but each come along with qualifiers as well.'

    "Ummm . . . it sounds a little complicated when you put it like that." says Katrina, idly fidgeting with her ponytail for a second. "If I pick that apart, that's . . . true? We've been wielders of magic for generations upon generations; long before we were 'Rooks'. The collective work of so many druids and seers makes some things intuitive and some things not, I guess? And what you learn when you're young is the easiest to study. But I work in medicine, and so does my mother, but my brother finds the 'seer' part easier, and my father is-- was, the same. We each have our own little twist on it, I guess!" She laughs, pleased, but the omission of Lilian feels strange.

    For someone as perceptive as Vertin, regarding the minute qualities of mystic energy and the complex heuristics used by its casters, however, the ritual is crystal clear. It's her first time doing it 'this way', but she's extremely skilled at all the components. The ritual itself draws on the symbolic 'world-geist' as a heuristic way of drawing vital energy from a large amount of the surrounding terrain, but the magic being used itself is a 'reversal of time', which comes from within Katrina. The latter thing is so absurd that it seems it must be impossible to wield specifically or efficiently; the cost of doing so and the potential harm it'd cause could only be astronomical, and so it's imprinted with the earth's capacity for life and rejuvenation as a sort of codified direction and 'intent'; a framework that causes 'reversion to health' rather than raw 'reversion'.

    "If the worst happens, I'll-- well, I'll get Lilian to hold him down so you can try!" Katrina declares. Lilian snorts.

    'From what I've heard from Lilian, 'Enlightened' seems similar in label to 'arcanist', though they're still considered human. It used to be the case in our world too that there wasn't an umbrella term for the concept, rather than druids, mediums, or alchemists, though that was centuries before I was born.'

    "Weird." Katrina says, and shrugs only a while after. "I guess that makes sense? 'Enlightened' only came about as a blanket term once we were all on speaking relations, and so it does cover magic-users who aren't human, too. By that metric, I guess it also means something implicitly different?"

    'I share the same feeling! I believe that my duty to protect mankind extends to communities in every corner of the globe.'

    "Thou shalt treat thy fellow man with dignity and with value, regardless of their station. Only when a man seeks to tear down the station of another is he then without value." Lilian repeats, in her usual reverent-rote tone. "Number three. If you can't believe that lives have some inherent value, then what you're protecting isn't 'people', but something that people make." she says.
Lilian Rook     "Oh~? Is it that kind of talk that's got yet another girl acting that way around you, Lil' Lil~?" "What way?" "Don't play dumb~" "Oh come off it. Not everything is like that." "Then what's with that atmosphere, hmm?" "It's-- annoying to explain." "Yeah~?" "Tamamo is right there!" "Aww, we both know it's not your fault! It just happens!" "Nothing happened!" "Then why can't you explain~?" "Please for the love of Christ just keep working!"

    Roland is another gimme. Katrina stares at his hand for a little after feeling it, turns it over with a thoughtful expression, then murmurs something slightly different, and accomplishes the same thing; with a little extra pins and needles and some tingling in his nerves. Rita seems like a tougher case, for some reason. Katrina hesitates just a bit to touch the translucent tentacle-tip, but slips into professional focus shortly after all the same. A few embers hover around her fingertips, winking in and out like fireflies, with a fuzzy kind of vibrato tingle.

    Then she lets go, snaps her wand from her waist, adds an additional marking, and briefly floods the circle with the same dim blue-green glow as before, blueshifting a few degrees and going dark again. Retaking Rita's hand, the third healing is a success. Waterside grasses have grown up on the inside of the ring. Given Medusa's volunteering, Katrina quietly "Oh my."s, then biting the corner of her lip in concentration, she reaches for one of her waist pouches, crouches down, and adds what looks like silver filings into the cardinal north and east, before popping right back up and addressing the wound with a much more flashy light show, dying down into a white shine, then nothing.

    "You brought some tough ones too, Lilian! I see I was right to depend on you as always~" she says, prompting "When do you ever depend on me?" and "Just now!" and then finally taking Vertin's hand.

    Which does absolutely nothing. Actually, Katrina can't even get the particles to touch Vertin's skin at all. They hover around the Timekeeper's hand, but go nowhere near it. Katrina exhales from the bottom of her lungs at trying, and goes to fretting and frowning. "Maybe this is rude to ask, Vertin, but is there some kind of . . . heritage, I should know about?" Katrina asks. "Or-- are you carrying a charm of some kind? I'm sort of stumped, haha . . . It's not even physiological; I can't get it to circulate properly for . . . No, I must be doing something wrong."
Riku Asakura Thankfully, they don't need to get a magical weapon for him to cut himself on.  He also waits patiently for Rita to get the breather on.  He isn't sure why she needs it, but he is patient regardless.  Then he drags the scalpel across his hand, drawing the blood that likely will cause Rita to stare.  However, his hand is quickly caught.  

Katrina heals the injury so well that there isn't even any blood left over.  No scar or anything that looks like a wound.  Riku looks amazed at the hand, and then at Katrina.  "Wow, you're a good healer, Doctor Rook.  I never had a wound taken care of so easily and quickly before!" Of course, Riku is normally used to healing by himself, or needing traditional medicine to heal.  

He also tries not to stare at Rita's hand, the unwrapping of it to the blue jellyfish-like color of it as she bites down on it and reveals more about herself to the people here.  He takes a breath, but tries to smile at her and look away from the injury itself.  

'Number three. If you can't believe that lives have some inherent value, then what you're protecting isn't 'people', but something that people make.'

This line catches Riku by surprise, though he's not in that conversation, he knows the value of reaching out a hand to other people.  "That's true, Ms. Rook.  People are important, protecting them is what I strive to do..."  
Tamamo     'Taking care of people whom society will not is the essential spirit of the virtue.'
    'I share the same feeling! I believe that my duty to protect mankind extends to communities in every corner of the globe.'

    Close to Lilian, but more visibly addressing Sonetto, Tamamo says, "Oh, that is a rather... 'knight errant' sort of view, might one say? Rather than owing allegiance to a particular..."

    Echoing the organization Katrina mentioned, "Would you call that protection 'borderless,' perhaps?" Whether this is a practical sort of outlook or goal to hold onto in Sonetto's organizational circumstances isn't something Tamamo asks, because that aspect of the question isn't important to her.

    ''Enlightened' seems similar in label to 'arcanist', though they're still considered human.'

    "To translate it thusly may be somewhat difficult, as humanity, in the sense of being a part of humankind, is not a requirement."

    '...the shop keeper where I bought this thought I was a man as well.'

    Tamamo almost comments, but decides she doesn't know enough about 19th century European fashion to have a sensible opinion. That's not a period she experienced first-hand, after all.

    'Yeah. I get that response a lot.'

    "...My apologies. I should be more sensitive to this matter, having once met someone with both my name and face, the once. And yet, our personalities were entirely unlike one another." If there was any similarity, she wouldn't admit to it, at the least. "The man I met, a swordsmith, was somewhat secretive about his name for other reasons, but it was not 'Emiya,' as I do recall."

    Lilian mentioned someone of the same name, and that strikes a different memory, but that man... looked completely different, and was older, so there's no need to mention him.

    Tamamo glances over toward Medusa, wondering -- but open prying is so impolite.

    'It's-- annoying to explain.'
    'Yeah~?'

    Innocently, softly smiling, "I can explain it rather easily, if you would like."
White White records her findings slowly and carefully into her notes app, including the strange name of the curse, the affinities of those present with the right type of energy, and so on. Not having a suitable comparison to the curse is mildly annoying, but informative in its own sort of way. Lilian's disappearing stunt has White half-heartedly puffing her right cheek out for a moment; she's had her eyes open around Lilian before, but if she just didn't think about it then... Well, whatever. It seemed like Tamamo flinched too, so even if this is the first out and out negative reaction her eyes have gotten in public away from home, that's probably enough to justify closing them again.

     Once the notes are finished, she sends a copy to Lilian (she doesn't have contact info for Katrina), but reaches out to show Katrina her phone if it's not a distraction from what she's working on. She figures even if Tamamo is the most closely aligned with the Tengu, it's not up to White to push that onto her either way. Riku might be close enough, and he's already offering himself up on a silver platter... Come to think, she's heard he gets really big to fight monsters, hasn't she? Is that like, a divine power? ... Could she do that?

On second thought, stop thinking about that. Being that big would draw soooo much attention, the anxiety is crossing over from other timelines into this one. Nai wa.

     She could probably volunteer too. It might tell her something about how this world percieves her. But then again, she isn't sure she's able (or willing) to let an injury linger long enough for someone else to heal it without her own body reasserting its shape automatically. She's not looking to draw attention in *that* way either, by becoming some kind of splatterhouse event just to stay injured long enough for such a test. She'll have to look for other sources, for that info it seems.
Lilian Rook     'That's true, Ms. Rook. People are important, protecting them is what I strive to do...'

    "'Protecting people' is easy when they're right in front of you." Lilian says, her mood turning pensive, and a little dark. "But the further away that becomes, and the more you have to protect 'the idea of people', the harder it becomes. Protecting people you can't want to see, or whom nobody wants to see, is more than just . . . striving."

    'I think... He lost a power-clash... With another sword, for sure. That's probably... Where the curse is from. But... He's tough.'

    Those words make Lilian's eyes widen. "It wasn't me." slips out of her mouth by reflex, for some reason. Then her eyes widen even more, her mouth opens slightly, and then she thinks better of saying something out loud, glancing shiftily at Rita and Tamamo instead. "But the 'curse' isn't 'magical' right?"

    Fidgeting with the hilt of her sword, Lilian briefly scans the notes, then puts them away too quickly to have thought deeply on it. Taking a deep breath, she first whispers "No wonder he was so cooperative once I vouched for her." and then uses the rest to say out loud "He's fought a human. And won, if he's still alive. I don't think we'll find the weapon anywhere around here." with a surprising amount of certainty; enough for Katrina to blink, and visibly consider pressing.

    "Like, a Multiversal weapon? An Elite?" she asks, sideways to real question, causing Lilian to grimace at one cheek and say "Something close to that. It's . . ." ". . . Is it something to do with Ash?" "Close. Or, almost, perhaps. If . . . this text. Specifically. Is true. Then you should go with what you're doing now, I think." ". . . Okay." Katrina sighs. "You've never hurt me by not telling me something before."

    'I can explain it rather easily, if you would like.'

    "Ohhh~?" "Come onnnn!" "Spill! Spill!"
Angela ''But is there some kind of . . . heritage, I should know about?''

"Is your healing magic temporal in some capacity?" Angela asks as her first thought. "That would probably explain why your magic is not working."

She pauses to give a small nod to White but otherwise is content to stay quiet for the moment.

Roland is more relieved that healing goes off without a hitch for him--he wasn't terribly concerned about it but he didn't exactly want to have agony of the hand for a week either. WIth the hand he didn't slice open he gives Katrina a thumbsup. "Feels like it'll be good as new soon enough." Roland tells her before looking to Angela. "You mentioned that you weren't affected by the time loops at L Corp, didn't you? Maybe we could confirm it by bringing you here later and having Katrina try a similar test on you?"

Angela shakes her head. "Only my mind was unaffected and I have no proof it would remain unaffected by any other phenomena. It was likely just the T2 Protocol--Either way, my body wouldn't resist it."

"Mm... I guess it's unlikely for our friend the tengu to have the same issue though." Roland adds.
Riku Asakura 'Protecting people you can't want to see, or whom nobody wants to see, is more than just . . . striving.'

Riku is silent at that, both because he's having trouble digesting the information, but also because it's challenging a world view he doesn't know exists.  He takes a breath and nods once to Lilian.  "I'll do my best to make sure not to just focus on those I can see, but also on those I can't see either."
White "Admittedly... It's hard to say... If it's strictly magical." White answers Lilian, lips pursing in contemplation briefly. "Curses typically are... That I've seen. But..." She pauses again, pulling up the 'severed' skill name on her phone. "... An 'anti-divine' weapon... Might be... Principally nonmagical. Potimas... Created something... Called an 'Anti-Technique Field'. It's not... Out of the question to sever divinity... With technology." The fact that she has to say it at all seems to worry her, like this is something she'd rather not have found in another world.
Tamamo     Tamamo can only look with curiosity as Vertin avoids magic sparkles innately, until Angela speculates. Then, "Oh, of course. The role of the timekeeper is that their time not be wound by another, after all. How momentarily inconvenient."

    'Come onnnn!' 'Spill! Spill!'

    "Why merely let her speculate?" Tamamo smiles at Lilian. This isn't bullying only because she believes it isn't.

    "Ah, but still..." She waits until she can have at least nominal privacy with Katrina, rather than shouting for the world, to say the rest. "You have seen the calendar for which some among us posed, within the Paladin ranks, no? Lilian took no issue with it, at the time -- and I believed the composition to be quite skillful! -- and yet, when the first item from another world to be confirmed to have arrived at the headquarters in which Timekeeper Vertin and Ms. Sonetto reside was that calendar, all of a sudden... it is the issue of 'first impressions,' yes?" Even if that was only the first visual impression, if that. "It is nothing worth a fuss, but their headquarters have been rather isolated due to a storm, you see. It seems that they do not have such things as... 'swimsuits.'"
Rita Ma      Rita bubbles over into a small laugh at Katrina's reachy-grabby- even her tentacle emotes with a wiggly curl- and steps forward. When Katrina hesitates to touch the tendril, its tip (instinctively?) morphs back into looking like a sixth finger on the end of a blue stalk, as if that would be any more palatable to handle.

     "Um, sorry, Dr. Maisie," Rita says with a grimace, and reverts it to jelly-blue.

     "there's certain ways, about men and women, aren't there?"
     She looks back over her shoulder, partly shielding Vertin and Sonetto from the tentacle-spectacle with the positioning of her body. She sounds like she's thoughtfully smiling behind the breathing mask. "... Are there? I don't really get it. I mean, there's manly men, and womanly women, but there's a lot of space in the middle where it's sort of confusing sometimes. Maybe it's obvious to you because you've known Mi--sss Timekeeper, um, a long time?" They behave like it, anyway!

     "My voice?"
     "Yeah! We sound sort of similar, don't we?" That's wrong, actually. From the pitch to the accent to the emotional inflection. Although, Rita does get sort of 'muted' too when she's stressed...

     Surely Vertin sounding like that all the time means nothing.

     By then Katrina's reshaped the circle and healed Rita successfully. Her tentacle does an almost-cute little shiver and flexes different colors with the tingly feeling, and she re-weaves it back into an indistinguishable layer over her actual hand again, with a wet squishy noise.

     "Ah-- um, thank you, Dr. Maisie," she says, as if she wasn't cut for Katrina's benefit, and rubs it while stepping back to lean herself against the GDF vehicle's rear.

     "People are important, protecting them is what I strive to do..."
     Once everyone's fixed up, Rita can at last take off the respirator, trying to hand it back to the GDF trooper like a good girl with a "Thank you, Mr. Jonah!" Then she purses her lips, vaguely wary, in Riku's direction mid-handoff.

     "What do you think is the most important danger people are in, Mr. Asakura?"
Timekeeper     When White's Evil Eye passes over them, Vertin's eyes immediately flit over to meet her gaze. She neither has the ability or inclination to hide herself from the examination though, so White gets a brief popup of her skills (low proficiency arcanum, moderate physicality, high 'charisma' apparently); special qualities (military training, along with broad alchemical reinforcement); and her title, Timekeeper, granting immunity to the Storm, before White shuts it off.

"I don't know what kind of person would come all the way out here to harass an obscure little village like this one."

    Vertin isn't willing to let it go without curiosity either, but since this is still in the first hour they've ever been outside their world, they're not exactly in their element. "Is there a kind of monster here that might use weapons with more subtle effects than you're used to? These pockets of civilization outside the Urban Centers are all far apart, under the radar, and have no reason to sabotage one another, right?"

"If the worst happens, I'll-- well, I'll get Lilian to hold him down so you can try!"

    "Alright! If it comes to that, then I will be prepared!" Sonetto is very eager to say so, but it's probably eagerness to be relied upon, rather than anticipation of Katrina failing. "Also... would it be alright if I copied down your array to compare it with ours back at the Foundation? I am sure it would be of great interest to them to have a first example of magic diagrams from another world to expand our knowledge of arcanum!" Yay! Katrina gets to be an alien first contact!

"Thou shalt treat thy fellow man with dignity and with value, regardless of their station."}

    Sonetto's eyes widen slightly, looking at Lilian with increased respect. "Ah..! What is that line from? It sounds beautiful." She closes her eyes and puts her fist to her chest in a soft stance of recitation. "'Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification.' That is what I am familiar with."

"Is it that kind of talk that's got yet another girl acting that way around you, Lil' Lil~?"

    "H-huh?" Sonetto's eyes shoot open again in shock, looking between Katrina and Lilian in bafflement that slowly escalates into humilitation. "A-ah?! I-- I am not sure... 'another' girl?? I do not believe I'm acting in any particular way...."

    Vertin finally decides to get involved with this subplot, after being content to let it ride out to wherever it ended up, and they try to do so in the most merciful way they can. "Sorry; Sonetto is just the victim of a small misunderstanding that I caused the other day. It's only a momentary matter, so please don't mind it at all."

"You brought some tough ones too, Lilian!"

    As Vertin watches Katrina work, their gaze sharpens with surprise. Under their breath, they murmur, "Ah... time, is it...?" but their attention is too fixated on that to mention any problem to Katrina before she takes their hand next.

    When the healing fails, Vertin adjusts their hat with their other hand, tipping it down apologetically. "Sorry, I wasn't aware that the nature of your arcanum involves time. It is my unique status as Timekeeper that's causing you issue, not anything you've done wrong. It seems like I injured myself for no reason."

    "Ah-- Timekeeper, let me heal you, then!"
Riku Asakura 'What do you think is the most important danger people are in, Mr. Asakura?'

Riku looked surprised to hear this question, especially from its source.  Still, he takes time to consider the question honestly and thinks about it. After a moment, he speaks, having considered the topic as carefully as he could.  

"I think it's the darkness in people's hearts, honestly.  The things that make people hurt each other and themselves.   Sometimes, they overlook small things to get things done faster or to wholly consider themselves above others."

"Beyond that, giant monsters that attack my home," he says it seriously.
Lilian Rook     'I'll do my best to make sure not to just focus on those I can see, but also on those I can't see either.'

    "Good luck." Lilian sighs again. "There are countless schools of philosophy arguing over what that looks like."

    'You mentioned that you weren't affected by the time loops at L Corp, didn't you?'
    'Only my mind was unaffected and I have no proof it would remain unaffected by any other phenomena. It was likely just the T2 Protocol'

    "Hhhhuh." Looking between the two, Katrina trails off, lost. "Sounds like a lot of exciting stuff happens over there." she says, as if this whole incident were the morning paper.

    'Ah-- um, thank you, Dr. Maisie'

    "Thank you, Rita!" Jonah looks a little surprised that Rita singles him out too, rubbing his neck a little awkwardly, then giving her a 'No problem' and a thumbs up. "A friend of Kat's is a friend of mine."

    'Is there a kind of monster here that might use weapons with more subtle effects than you're used to?'

    "Not that I've ever heard of." Katrina says. "Like, ever. 'Weapons' are a human invention. More than having no reason, there's almost no way to get from one to another; and it's so rare that they even know where to find each other. You're new here, but trust me; see that fog? It's really, really bad in there."

    'Also... would it be alright if I copied down your array to compare it with ours back at the Foundation? I am sure it would be of great interest to them to have a first example of magic diagrams from another world to expand our knowledge of arcanum!'

    "Well aren't you a good student!" Katrina smiles. "Just like Lilian before she graduated~ I'd be honoured! Or, maybe a little embarrased that it's something so improvised, haha~" Bouncing on her toes again, she makes a little low-throat giddy noise. "Oooh it's just like I'm an Elite now!"

    'Ah..! What is that line from? It sounds beautiful.'

    "The Code of Thirteen." Lilian answers, evidently proud, but a little shocked that someone asked at all. "It's . . . complicated. But important to me. As a knight, but also as a human being." she says. "Or at least a provisional one." She smiles, but it's a dark one, like a joke that isn't funny.
Lilian Rook     'A-ah?! I-- I am not sure... 'another' girl?? I do not believe I'm acting in any particular way....'

    "Uhuh? You should know she's a heartbreaker, that one."
    "I'm normal!"
    "Look at her~ Being all noble and dark and broody~"
    "Leave it!"

    

    'Why merely let her speculate?'

    "Tamamoooo!"
    "No, no, she's right~ I'll only come up with something worse you know~"

    'You have seen the calendar for which some among us posed, within the Paladin ranks, no?'

    "Now's not the time!"
    "Oh my goodness!"

    'and I believed the composition to be quite skillful!

    "'Skillful', huh~?"
    "Ghhhff--"

    'it is the issue of 'first impressions,' yes?'

    "Wow! They're already fans of yours!"
    "It was a December slot!"
    "I meant you specifically~ You know I follow Paladins media to see how you're doing, right? You're basically their 'iconic character'!"
    "That's just you thinking I'm the most important."
    "No way! They love you! You're the darling!"

    'It seems that they do not have such things as... 'swimsuits.''

    "Tragic . . ."
    "Katrina!"
    "Wow though. I never thought . . . it's incredible to think of how far you've come, Lilian."
    "I'm twenty-five."
    "I don't mean 'growing up'-- you've already been fighting for so long now. You're probably even better at magic than me! I mean . . . you know. It's special. Right? You'd never have before."
    ". . ."

    Lilian sighs, and slings her sword over her back. Desperately trying to revert things to a state of normality, she hits Sonetto with some all-time intellectual discussion: "So. You're . . . into the Bible?"

    'Sorry, I wasn't aware that the nature of your arcanum involves time. It is my unique status as Timekeeper that's causing you issue, not anything you've done wrong.'

    "Oh. Weird. That's a thing?" Katrina blanks out for a second, but takes it in stride, muttering, "Elite business." then saying, "So it's just like Tamamo and Angela said. Sorry! I wouldn't have asked if I knew. Now I just feel like I'm going against the Hippocratic Oath, ha . . ." She starts rummaging, probably for a more mundane cure, but decides to let Sonetto have it, seeing her sheer eagerness. "Nature of . . . Well, it's a very rare kind of magic. I don't know anyone outside our family who does it, personally. So that sort of makes me feel like . . . there are certain things only I can do, with this, and so I should use it for other people's sake."
Lilian Rook     Her gaze slides sidelong. While Lilian isn't looking, or paying attention, she adds, quietly, "Lilian is that way too. But her magic is . . . she's special. So I think it's difficult for her, sometimes, to decide between 'the things only she can do'. Sometimes they're really frightening things. So . . . If you've gotten a bad impression, I just want to say that, if push comes to shove, no matter what, she won't let you down. So be patient with my little sister, okay? Needing things that are different from others isn't a bad thing."

    Lilian, starting to suspect something cringe is happening, turns to stare at Katrina, who clears her throat, puffs out her chest, and says "Well! Now I can be confident this will work out! Thank you so much for coming so far out of your way! If you want, we're going to start dinner in an hour! The people here are really kind, so if you're looking for payment, then look no further!" "Isn't that kind of presumptuous?" "You're just weird about people being nice to you! Just watch!"
Tamamo     'Wow! They're already fans of yours!'

    "Now that you mention it, the fact that she singled out Lilian, of all the people on the calendar..." Tamamo idly engages in exceedingly dangerous lines of thought.

    'If you want, we're going to start dinner in an hour!'

    "Oh, well now, even if I have not rendered any aid, I would not mind staying."
White "If it's... No trouble." White says to the invitation to dinner, never one to turn down food as gratitude. It takes her a few moments, but after hearing Katrina talk up Lilian she doubles back to add, "If you need... More help with Mister Kuhinbo this evening... Let me know. Miss Lilian already... Did me a favor yesterday." She isn't a doctor or a spiritualist of course, but it feels right to offer.

Then she gives Lilian a completely unidentifiable thumbs-up. A mystery thumb. Is it about her sister's praise? About her gratitude for Lilian's help? Maybe it's about her notability as a swimsuit model? The world may never know.

     Secretly, that's on purpose. But she'll never tell.
Timekeeper "Oh, that is a rather... 'knight errant' sort of view, might one say?"

    Sonetto shakes her head at Tamamo, and wraps her finger through the Foundation emblem on her chest. "I am... merely striving to embody the Foundation's ideals to their fullest extent. Fighting for the peace of all mankind is what I was trained to do. The St. Pavlov Foundation extends across borders, and for those nations too remote or tumultuous to have a branch office, we send missions to assist them in their times of need, even into authoritarian regimes with no interest in humanitarian goals."

"I mean, there's manly men, and womanly women, but there's a lot of space in the middle where it's sort of confusing sometimes."

    Sonetto is obviously dubious of this claim, but she rationalizes a reason for Rita to believe it that doesn't conflict at all with her internal feelings in record time. "Sometimes it can be easy to make a mistake at first with strangers... but you're right, the Timekeeper and I have known each other for a long time. Or at least, since a long time ago. So I could never be mistaken."

"You're new here, but trust me; see that fog? It's really, really bad in there."

    Vertin's frown deepens (from 0.1 degrees south of completely flat, to a stunning 0.5). "I see. Then I'm not sure I can draw a better hypothesis than that."

"Well aren't you a good student!"

    Yay!!! Yippee!! This is something Sonetto takes clear pride in, practically radiating the effects of the praise on her mood. "Improvisational magic can demonstrate a lot more than you would expect about your process! Arcanum relies inherently on familiarity and training, and even in absence of a particular rigorous methodology, what you come up with for your casting will be drawn from your assumptions, expectations, and subconscious workings. I'm very appreciative for your permission!"
Timekeeper "The Code of Thirteen."

    Until now, Sonetto's flustered demeanor around Lilian has genuinely entirely been because of the awkwardness of a sheltered Catholic girl's first time seeing an acquaintance's appearance being a chance encounter with a swimsuit pin-up photo of them. But now, the way her eyes sparkle and enthusiasm redoubles at that line from Lilian is absolutely not going to help her perception in Katrina's eyes.

    "I see...! Is that an ancient code of chivalry? Is there somewhere I might be able to find the rest of it? Is that something that was taught to you at a young age?" Sonetto backs off of her intensity slightly and closes her eyes with an affirming nod. "I believe that it is dignified to learn how to live your life from rules refined across generations. There is a style of art to codes of conduct, isn't there?"

"Uhuh? You should know she's a heartbreaker, that one."

    It's at this point that even Vertin starts to get mildly stressed at the banter. She side-eyes Sonetto, but Sonetto doesn't look back at her, instead staring helplessly at the bickering pair and protesting too softly to actually interrupt them. "Er... ah... I am not... prone to having my heart... broken in such a way...."

"Wow! They're already fans of yours!"

    Tactical Vertin smokescreen! "I'm not certain which of the employees ordered it to arrive, but I may have an explanation for it. Laplace has been monitoring the radio channels for some time now, in order to better understand the state our world finds itself in. Lilian is particularly prevalent in conversations where they could overhear, which seems like a likely origin for flipping to her photograph specifically. After all, the year is 1966; July's page was equally irrelevant."

"So. You're . . . into the Bible?"

    Sonetto rhetorically shields herself behind Vertin in order to have a normal conversation with Lilian again, but the specific topic makes her hesitate. "I... am? Are you not? Aren't knights expected to be?"

"So be patient with my little sister, okay?"

    In the privacy of Katrina leaning in to fail to heal them, Vertin smiles faintly and nods. "You won't find an objection from me. I haven't gotten a bad impression of her yet, and I believe everyone should have more than one chance to recover from one."

    Vertin turns away from her and towards Sonetto, offering her their palm again, this time for healing rather than cutting. "Sonetto? Would you mind?"

    "Ah! Yes, Timekeeper!" Sonetto hurries over with her glass fountain pen in hand. She holds it over Vertin's palm and steadies herself with a slow breath, until a core of light starts shimmering within the implement. As her wrist moves it through the air, elaborate glowing text spills out in conjuction with her incantation, in ribbons of light similar to the Precures' transformations.

    "So long lives this, and this lives life to thee." Upon completion, the words sink down into Vertin's palm and shimmer, and then the skin is healed back together.