Scene #9438: Streetlight Office

Owner	Pose
Petra Soroka	During an otherwise uneventful afternoon in Trideag HQ, there's the sounds of a scuffle happening outside the lobby, by the gate where the Association checkpoint is. It isn't all that common for trouble to make its way right up to the doors of the Association, even with District 12 being in the state that it's in; with everywhere being weakened by the White Nights and Dark Days, there's little reason for any Syndicates to go marching up to the one place that's built back up strong. There was, still, an incident recent-enough to cause alarm, though. The Black Silence's appearance at Trideag Headquarters started in the same way, with an abrupt appearance at the gate, moments before bloodied bodies were tossed into the lobby unceremoniously by the Color. With Trideag as well-situated as it is, that means anything that does show up on its doorstep must be comparable. Lulu is not the Black Silence. A girl with short, dirty blonde hair, a heavy parka with a fur lined neck even in the late summer, and a yellow and black striped baseball bat in her hands, she smacks the double doors of the lobby open and storms inside. She's in a frantic state, stomping around with blotchy cheeks from recent crying, and swinging her baseball bat both for emphasis with her words and as threat. "Hey, hey! You listen up, y'hear?! I'm not leaving so easy, so don't get any ideas about just throwing me out! I'll come back again and again and again, so...!!" She thrusts her bat at Finn, who has been half-escorting and half-being-held-hostage (harmlessly) by her since the checkpoint. "Got it?! So go find someone!!" Turning to the rest of the lobby and the floors looking down from above, Lulu swings her bat in a wide arc, and it sparks and flickers with a little bit of flames. She tries to shout in a way that comes across as intimidating, but with her throat already hoarse, her voice cracks and sounds tantrum-pleading instead. "'Cause aren't you the ones who know anything about that damned Library...?!"
Angela	Finn is holding both his hands up in the air, trying to calm Lulu down. "Hey, hey, hey... Nobody's making you leave yet..." He says. "Let's just try calming down first and then I promise we'll hear you out, okay?" He doesn't exactly feel seriously threatened and he is inclined to want to help someone who comes to him with tears in their eyes. He's a Fixer who spent most of his time chasing cats or doing deliveries and in that kind of work, you see much more people who are particularly upset than has generally been the case with Trideag so far. "We'll listen, okay? How about you take a minute to collect your thoughts and then we'll hear you out." Ceri is off work today so he looks towards the Rats who were having their lunch together. Pete swallows and rushes off to find Lilian (or, at least, someone higher than Grade 8.) Lenny approaches with Mang-Chi while Pete is doing that. "Mind lowering your bat for now?" Lenny asks. "We'll find someone. Odds are someone's already on the way." Mang-Chi and Lenny are keeping some distance in the meanwhile, leaving Finn to be the one lingering closest to Lulu. "What's your name, Miss? I'm Finn." He adds.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine is also taking lunch at the moment, though not with the rats. It's become a habit of hers to sulkily take lunch at the Association of late, at least when she's not on MCRD business elsewhere, because this way it's almost like she still has her staff serving her at home. Almost. No she's not bitter, you're bitter! Anyway, when Madeleine sees some of the Rats standing from their table and walking down to the lobby, she follows them, hustling for a few steps to catch up with Lenny and Mang-Chi. "Uh, hey, Finn!" she says, doing her best to ignore the bat being swung around. "Who's your friend?" Only then does she look directly at the unfamiliar face in the room. Drogrung peeks its little lizard head out of her backpack to see what's going on, clearly just awoken from a midday nap.
Foundation Scions	"Excuse me! Hey, excuse me! There are people who are presently trying to read and study peaceably, and you are being most..." Matilda, who had otherwise been capitalizing on the usefulness of the Trídéag Association's lobby as a good place to coop up to go through paperwork (and personal reading) in the intermediate time between duties at the Foundation, the Foundation's SPDM, and required practice and time spent here, falters, when she sees what the commotion actually is. Her first instinct is to raise up the book she'd been holding defensively, her second, to lower it because that's completely silly and stupid. "Finn-! Who is this? Are you in danger-?" Despite the swinging baseball bat, Matilda really can't tell! It's not a game of some sort, is it? Surely not! Matilda (again) holds her book out, this time like it's an implement by which to threaten, somehow. "Miss- that is an associate of mine that you are most unpleasantly threatening! As a representative member of (well, many organizations,) the Trídéag Association, I must insist you let him go!" A moment after- "...Excusez-moi? Are you, perhaps, crying, Miss? 'Throwing you out'- are you here for help, of some sort..? Surely, we would not throw you out if so..." Matilda shifts her weight from foot to foot, confused by the tone of this interaction. What a weird way to ask for aid! Surely, it'd be better to go through normal channels, instead of disruptive shouting? But- "Please perhaps slow down and explain in full? If there are things that can be done to help, I- I of course am fully confident that will be the way they come about, yes? Please feel less sad, it's okay..." Matilda looks sad and nervous, seeing someone as distraught as Lulu! She is going to orbit and fuss until things start to seem less bleak, because that totally always works. Do your best, Matilda. 'Cause aren't you the ones who know anything about that damned Library...?!' "Hein? 'That Library'? Of which one do you mean? Surely, not the Association's in-house collection..?" Matilda has Not had the Library Lore:tm: explained to her!
Sarracenia	After the first sword lesson, Sarra has been in and out a bit more regularly putting in extra practice. So, she just happens to also be hanging out in the lobby in her custom Trideag workout outfit. A simple if somewhat puffy white top, black short skirt, leggings with broad black and green stripes, and pointed, heeled, laced-up black boots. And of course her crown, her Silver lotus hairpin, and her long black gloves. Mention of the Library makes the princess tense and turn toward the girl and Finn. She eyes them with her one visible eye, then approaches a few steps before stopping. "What happened?" she asks both fin and Lulu. "I am Princess Sarracenia Sundew, Grade Six Fixer of Trideag." Sarra says, giving her shimmering copper hair a little toss. "I am sure whatever has happened we can resolve without threatening poor Finn. Just lower the bat and let us talk." Sarra would be a good source of Library lore...if she hadn't been heavily conditioned by the Black Silence not to share anything about it again with citizens of this world. Still, she nods in agreement with Matilda. "If you need help, you have come to the best place."
Petra Soroka	> Lower your bat! Feeble little puffs of smoldering embers fall off the pat and dust the lobby floor, as Lulu's grip tightens around it. She narrows her eyes at Finn in what's sort of an accusatory glare as everyone gathers around to request that she settles down, and makes a frustrated noise in the back of her throat. "Hahh?! I'm not gonna hurt you! Er-- but, but I'm serious about this, y'hear?! I'm-- I've gotta stand my ground!" > There's not actually any need to stand your ground The fact that everyone is reassuring Lulu rather than lining up to start smacking her with hammers makes confusion and doubt finally enter her bloodshot eyes. Running on what seems to be a constant stream of adrenaline that started long before she showed up to the Association's doors, she petulantly raises up her bat again instead of putting it down, even as she warily calms down. "You'll... actually hear me out? This isn't just bullshitting? 'Cause if you're just bullshitting 'cause I spooked you, then..." She seemingly has no idea how to follow that up, so she doubles down. "... Then you might as well cut it out and get serious 'cause I'll keep on going if you are! Bullshitting, I mean!" "Please feel less sad, it's okay..." The emotionally intelligent Matilda Bouanich's adept observation takes Lulu by surprise, and her voice is hoarse when she tries to shout in retort. "I'm not sad! I'm angry, 'cause of that dumb idiot and his stupid...!!!!" She cuts off with a choking noise, and scrubs at her eyes roughly with the sleeve of her parka. The bat wavers and its tip drops to the floor with a thwack that falls flat in the sizeable Trideag lobby. She buries her face in the high fluffy collar of her coat, mumbling through it. Her introduction isn't hesitant or even really ashamed at all, if anything it's tinged with a bit of pride, but she's oscillating so rapidly between anger, defensiveness, and misery that her speech is lurching around unsteadily. "... I'm Lulu. Grade Eight Fixer. Been working in Streetlight Office over in District 22 with the guys. We had a perfect record, all until word came from higher up in the Zwei to go check out 'that place'." "Hein? 'That Library'?" "And you...!" Lulu's reversal into raising her voice again comes suddenly, taking one step away from Finn and towards Matilda. "Doesn't anyone know anything about it?! If you've got nothing to tell me, then... I'll just go! If you're not gonna help, just say so! Okay?! But I'm going back there no matter what!" She swings her bat around, pointing it like an extension of her arm towards one of the walls of the lobby. Inerringly, looking in that direction outside, her bat is pointed directly at the black monolith shrouded in gold that looms over the entire District. "The Library! Duh!"
Lilian Rook	One Minute Ago: Lilian Rook, as the dubiously famous head of the Trídéag Association, may be the person most aware that the relative stability and safety which the organization enjoys for the time being is built upon an alloyed foundation of her name, Rita's infamy, and the tacit approval of the Head. So far limited to a headquarters campus and the the handful of nearby offices that she is only just starting to make arrangements for, without decades of rampant expansion under its belt like the other Fixer groups, a single, sufficiently heavy blow, placed at a lucky enough time, by the right combination of people, is more than capable of bloodying Trídéag's nose; and in doing so, annihilate that tenuous peace. If that were to happen, the only recourse that would be possible is to make the reprisal of a Syndicate look like a fucking joke; an act of retaliation so grossly disproportionate and terrifyingly violent that whether or not one could hypothetically take a swing at the Association when stars and schedules align would a completely irrelevant question. Lilian, knowing how stiff that competition is, and how often people are desperate enough to risk it from the Syndicates anyways, isn't exactly keen on letting it get to that point. So whether it's the Black Silence himself and she's just had one of the worst weeks of her life, or just some shitty little street rat that happened to pick the stupidest possible way to interrupt her day, there is just so very little leeway in how Lilian can treat someone battering down her front door. So it doesn't matter if that trouble at the door is exactly the sort of hapless victim that she's reached down to pull up out of the mud before. It doesn't matter that they might've been hurt by the one thing in the City that could genuinely be considered her fault, either. It can't matter. No matter how ineptly, no matter for what reason, no matter if they cry while doing it, Lilian Rook is the one person cannot allow taking hostages and causing trouble. Dwelling on this, and only this, is what happens on the thirteenth floor for the eight minutes preceding. The ones in which Lilian stops just short of pressing the elevator buttons at the moment the word 'Library' comes from the lobby camera speakers. Up there, she backtracks to lean over her desk, tries to think a single coherent thought around the schouting match inside her head, and seizes on the first true memory that comes to her through the deafening simulacra of the one week war; one that is about masks and roles, using the strength of the facade instead of spending only your own. . . . . . . . .
Lilian Rook	'Got it?! So go find someone!!' "Isn't that your responsibility? You're the one who came looking." There's a jarring kind of way that Lilian 'appears' out of thin air, right in front of an observer, which can be contrasted against the spooky way of doing it just out of field of view, and the prosocially cinematic way that involves doing it behind a door first. Lulu meets her through the rare fourth kind of way, when two of the lobby tiles crack like a gunshot, the air palpably displaces, and the click-clack of footsteps reaches her at the same time the crowd moves aside, no one member quite sure when and where she got there. "So I'd appreciate you not going so far out of your way to harass my staff out of your own personal laziness." Lilian emerges from the front of the crowd, visibly armed. Her hand is rests in the cross of Night Mist's hilt at her hip, visually distinct against the Association branded scabbard, as if deliberating what to do with it. Her Director's uniform is the same as always, but for some reason, she seems to have switched up her makeup since arriving for the day; if she was hoping that darker eyeliner and sharper lipstick would make her look more 'evil corporate', one could consider that a success. 'I'm not leaving so easy, so don't get any ideas about just throwing me out! I'll come back again and again and again, so...!!' ''Throwing you out'- are you here for help, of some sort..?' "That depends on her." Lilian says, ostensibly finding direct acknowledgement beneath her, and so speaking to Matilda instead. "Taking one of my Fixers hostage isn't something that you get off with a slap on the wrist for. She'll have to earn the right to leave before I consider throwing her out." Skimming past her, Lilian looks at Finn next, saying, "Do you really need that much more training, Finn? Once is understandable, but twice is allowing your sympathy to become a liability. If you were hoping that going along willingly would make things easier on her, you're mistaken." Lilian sighs, pushing her hair back with her fingers. '... I'm Lulu. Grade Eight Fixer. Been working in Streetlight Office over in District 22 with the guys.' 'If you've got nothing to tell me, then... I'll just go!' Like the magic words that get Lilian to pay attention to Lulu at all, she finally deigns to look at her directly. It's not an encouraging thing to see. She exhales a suggestion of an incredulous laugh. "Beg pardon? Did you actually think it would be that simple?" Lilian says. "Grade Eight? You think you can pull a stunt like this, get what you want, and walk out free, as an eight? You must be joking." She taps the back edge of her scar with a fingernail, pretending to think, and doesn't trace it. "Do they all say that I'm an idiot out in District Twenty-Two? Or just hopelessly soft?" Despite him still actually being held by Lulu, in as much as she's actually try, Lilian snaps her fingers-- loud enough to hear from the side halls-- and gestures Finn to come over, like a misbehaving dog. "I know for a fact that my friends in Zwei won't take umbrage with anything that happens to someone like you here." Lilian says to Lulu. "So before making demands, try showing a little respect." She points downward, with unclear intent. "I know perfectly well what goes on in that place. I'm not telling you a thing, much less getting anything back for you, before you convince me that I don't have to make an example of you."
Angela	Finn reassures Lulu. "Aha, I get it, I get it. You just want to be seen as serious because you've already got turned away from somewhere else right?" It's a bit of a guess but it'd be strange for a Zwei subsidiary office to go to Trideag ''first''. He seems appreciative, if embarrassed. He doesn't exactly consider himself as a hostage here, just --- not the sort of person to fight someone who clearly has been <s>crying</s> venting a lot of anger. He figured that most of the people here would be understanding--and have this sort of attitude--so he wasn't really worried but he is still relieved that they are willing to hear Lulu out. "District 22. Strreetlight Office... Do you recognize the name, Finn?" Lenny asks. "Ah, I remember reading about it in one of the Fixer Magazines, an up and coming Zwei affiliate office. I heard some impressive hopes for the Office in future days, but it's still a small group. I wouldn't normally know anything about it but there were reports of--" He hesitates, considering Lulu's words. "Well let's hear her out first." Lenny grimaces as Lulu mentions where exactly they had been. Of course, she'd been paying enough attention that she isn't really surprised. It'd be strange if it was anything else, if she came here. "Ugh, I was worried something like this might happen." She's much more cynical about other Associations as a former Rat. "They got a warning it as too dangerous so they sent--" Finn gives her a warning look. Lenny exhales. "so they wanted to feel it out." She ammends. "Put out a request to a promising fledgling office and see if it's really as dangerous as they were told." ''Lilian appears out of thin air'' "Hey guys--" Pete says returning. "Sorry I couldn't find woah--!" He can't help but grin. "That's our Director for ya!" ''If you were hoping that going along willingly would make things easier on her, you're mistaken.'' Finn's cheeks turn bright red. "Ah, gosh, that is what I thought Director. I didn't think she would actually hit me and I didn't want to be irresponsible and turn it into a serious fight." And despite this, when Lilian snaps her fingers, he does immediately make his way over, irrespective of Lulu's grip, he pulls free and makes his way over to Lilian, keeping his hands near but not on his sword. Lenny was expecting this reaction from Lilian and gives Finn a bit of a ''look'' before turning back to Lulu. "This is your shot, better think of your next words more carefully than the ones you've been spouting." She's using a sour tone, but it is genuine advice.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	"... I'm Lulu. Grade Eight Fixer. Been working in Streetlight Office over in District 22 with the guys. We had a perfect record, all until word came from higher up in the Zwei to go check out 'that place'." Madeleine hesitates. She, of course, knows roughly what goes on in the Library, and can guess at the rest of the situation - some of the Streetlight Office went to the Libarary, those Fixers now number among Angela's collection, and nobody's been able to tell Lulu what happened. The huntress shifts her balance from foot to foot, antsy to do something about this situation but quite unsure what the party line on the Library really is. "Put out a request to a promising fledgling office and see if it's really as dangerous as they were told." She nods along to Lenny's assessment, her expression turning grim. "They didn't want to risk any of their own on a black-box job. I'm not surprised." She pokes at her cheek thoughtfully. "But why are they sending folks to begin with... somebody's got to have hired the Association for that, right? The Zwei don't seem the sort to burn a bridge like this just to satisfy their own curiosity." Lilian appears! Madeleine startles a little at the gunshot-crack of the tiles, letting out a small "Bwu-uh" before settling herself again. She listens carefully as Lilian excoriates Lulu and reprimands Finn, before chiming in herself. "Is that all the Zwei told you, 'go check out That Place'? And you took the job... why?"
Petra Soroka	"You just want to be seen as serious because you've already got turned away from somewhere else right?" Lulu makes an exasperated gasp, nearly bringing tears back into her eyes, and stomps so hard on the floor that her leg must go numb from it. "No relation! That's what they said! They handed that assignment off to us under the books and then when Sen and I escaped, it was like...! It was like our Office never existed at all!!!!!" "Taking one of my Fixers hostage isn't something that you get off with a slap on the wrist for." Lulu's eyes gratifyingly widen in terror when Lilian appears, and her bat stops flailing around in the air threateningly like a string pulling it around had just been cut. She wasn't really holding Finn in any meaningful way-- he was just sort of there, and she was stomping around behind him and occasionally jabbing him with the bat like it was a finger poke to his chest, so when Lilian gestures to him, she scurries out of the way as if Lilian's finger alone could cut through her. "A-- a-ah, th-the D-Director, I wasn't expecting...." A direct beeline to the heart of Trideag Headquarters to encounter its leader? Maybe just not this quickly? Who knows. For all the dubious prestige of being an Associate Office, she's never interacted with anyone so much as half of Lilian's fame. "I wasn't gonna hurt him! I'm not-- I'm not gonna hurt anybody!" Lulu grits her teeth and stares down at the floor, unable to meet Lilian's eyes even if they were aimed in her direction. "'Cept for that hunk of junk who k-killed Mars. I'll take off her head when I see her again." Voice dropping further, she mumbles, "We were a great Office, y'know? Zero crime in our whole assigned area. I wouldn't just... snap an' start hurting people just 'cause he's gone. He'd hate me for that. I just... can't sit around, so...." "Grade Eight? You think you can pull a stunt like this, get what you want, and walk out free, as an eight? You must be joking." Lulu withers, ducking her chin into the fluff of her jacket and grimacing. She rolls her baseball bat between her fingers as an anxious tick, shoulders trembling slightly. "L-look, I know I've gone crazy. I know that this ain't how things work, and you've got no reason to help me, but I'd just heard from folks around...."
Petra Soroka	She sets her jaw. "But I'm not scared. There's nuthin you can do to me that'll matter. Not anymore.""This is your shot, better think of your next words more carefully than the ones you've been spouting." To her minor credit, or maybe just because she's struggling to catch her breath, Lulu stays silent for a few seconds after that. "So before making demands, try showing a little respect." Lulu breathes heavily, and breaks into a plaintive whine on the verge of tears. "L-look, I'm sorry! But what else am I supposed to do?!" She digs around in the pocket of her parka, pulling out a red piece of paper embossed with gold, with writing plainly in the middle. Flailing it around, she rants, "You wanna know what I saw from bein' in there?! A girl and a guy, they fought us, in exchange for some expensive books the Zwei said they wanted, and then they got Mars and they turned him into a book! And now, now!" She thrusts out the invitation, where 'Book of Mars' is clearly listed as an incentive. "Now that scrap metal's offering him out as a reward!" "I'll do whatever you need, y'know? If-- if you help, or if you know anything that'd let me get him back, I'll... I'll work for you forever, for free, if that's what it takes. I just--" Lulu hiccups and sniffles, scrubbing the tears off of her face again. "S-sorry. Sorry for causing a mess. I-I'm sorry." "And you took the job... why?" Lulu lifts up her face to look at Madeleine, sagging against a wall. She keeps the Invitation tight in her grip like a lifeline, crumpling the edges of the paper. "H-haven't you heard the rumors? Any kind of knowledge y-you want, it's in there. No one's ever come back with any, not that I know, but... but you're the big experts on the Library, right?! And what are we gonna do? We're an-- we w-were an Associate Office! We got no choice when we're given a job!" She continues on, even though that's more than enough explanation, looping through the last days' events. "And there'd been so few contracts for a while, y'know? We needed the money, and the rep. Mars was s'pposed to end up a hot shot Fixer, just like his mom. She's a Grade One, and she always said... that he'd...."
Foundation Scions	Lilian's arrival (or the noise of it, more than anything,)] makes an ambiently-confused Matilda nearly jump out of her socks. She's looking at Lulu, and thus misses what actually happened (not that having looked elsewhere would have mitigated possible confusion), and squeaks out a silly "Zut-!" 'So I'd appreciate you not going so far out of your way to harass my staff out of your own personal laziness.' Matilda makes a self-satisfied face- "Such as I was just informing her-!" She gets points for that, right? Right? 'You'll... actually hear me out?' 'That depends on her.' Matilda flip-flops whether she's looking at Lilian, or Lulu, vaguely apologetic to both that she'd treated this circumstance less-than-properly strict. "Eh-? Je ne te raconterais jamais de conneries-! But- well, as the Director has said..." ''cause of that dumb idiot and his stupid...!!!!' "Perhaps... it would be most correct to explain what happened..?" 'but twice is allowing your sympathy to become a liability.' Matilda gives Finn a Look. Even if she doesn't say anything, it's clearly conveying 'Really?' 'The Library! Duh!' 'I'm not telling you a thing, much less getting anything back for you, before you convince me that I don't have to make an example of you.' Matilda stares at the monolithic tower Lulu points out, very confused, and immediately unhappy to both not know something, and hear that that gap in knowledge will not immediately be talked about, and that it's meant to be obvious to everyone. Lulu's swinging of the bat makes Matilda hastily backstep far from the range, and, again, hold the reading book up defensively. "O-of course I know lots about Libraries- in fact, where I am from, I work most proficiently at one of the highest-esteemed of libraries in the entire known and remaining modern world- but, ah, as to that Library... no?"
Sarracenia	'You'll... actually hear me out?' Sarra huffs at this. "If you have to ask and thought you had to enter like this to be heard, our reputation in the City is not what I thought." Sarra says, arms crossed. She listens to the rest of what Lulu says, and looks toward the Library when it is indicated. Only to flinch and yelp in surprise when Lilian just appears there. Sarra huffs, then sighs. "I will never get used to that...." she murmurs to herself. She isn't particularly surprised that Lilian is taking this stance after they have basically but very minorly been attacked again. Sarra notices Matilda looking a bit spooked, so she moves slowly to stand generally in the way of Matilda and that bat. "We told everyone multiple times not to approach the Library. I find it rather appalling that they would find a small agency to send and then treat them like this after losing a Fixer." Sarra says, frowning. Sarra listens to the rest of what Lulu says. When Lulu says that Mars has become a book, and is now being offered as a reward, her hands clench into fists. She shakes her head at the reasoning for taking the job and sighs as she hears the emotion in Lulu's voice when she talks about what Mars was supposed to be. Lilian says she won't talk about it, but Sarra huffs softly. "...this is why we told everyone to stay away from there. If there is a way to return from being a book, we have not found it yet as far as I am aware." Sarra approaches Lulu slowly, and holds out a red handkerchief. "But, that is no reason to give up hope. I am sure we will find a way eventually."
Foundation Scions	'It was like our Office never existed at all!!!!!' "Que? To do something like that is nothing short of cruel! " Hush-voiced outrage, having nowhere near enough familiarity with dynamics such as the City's by which to suggest that might have been a failure of oversight with regards to taking under-the-table work. No, that's just a heartbreaking piece of betrayal! ''Cept for that hunk of junk who k-killed Mars. I'll take off her head when I see her again.' Ah. A vengeance quest... now, instead of holding a (normal-sized, and thus small, novel) in front of her like it could be a shield or pointing implement, Matilda kind of just... hugs it. "Is that... wise?" She mumbles, her worry real, but still pulled primarily from fictional ideas of this sort of circumstance- where such a thing rarely, if ever, goes well. 'A girl and a guy, they fought us, in exchange for some expensive books the Zwei said they wanted, and then they got Mars and they turned him into a book!' That doesn't sound anything at all like a normal library! Matilda knows a thing or two about those! She's never turned anyone into a book for stealing from the shelves, nope, not even once! Shocked confusion, "Pardonnez-moi? Turned into a book..? Un livre, avec des pages?" That's different than 'died' exactly, but, in what tangible way? It's horrifying, though! 'Now that scrap metal's offering him out as a reward!' "How rotten- why would one do such a thing at all?!?" She's back to that outraged-hush, paling in the face. Matilda can't not be bleedingly sympathetic here! It's so sad, and so pointless seeming, for events to have gone on as Lulu describes. How does one not get angry? But... 'No one's ever come back with any, not that I know, but...' That sits uneasy with Matilda. It's not as if one needs to be particularly in-tune with omens of fortune and misery to hear of a zero-percent success rate and wonder if it is a bad idea, but Matilda is in tune with such things. "Not any..? Ms. Lulu, are you most certain this is the best path forwards? I admit, I do not know exactly what that entails, but..." Awkward-shuffle, who is she to turn someone away from a vengeance quest? Well, of course, the ever-keen Matilda Bouanich, that's who! "Every part of this feels most precarious.."
Lilian Rook	'A-- a-ah, th-the D-Director, I wasn't expecting....' "What, I wonder." Lilian says, right on cue. "This is a headquarters building, isn't it? If you went charging off to Zwei's main offices, and somehow made it through the gates, what would you expect?" It sounds rhetorical, but not quite faux-curiosity. Which is worse. Tapping on her cheek with her fingertip, as if she actually cares to study Lulu, feels more spine-tingling than reassuring. "It seems as if you might be revealing a subconscious association that Trídéag isn't a 'real' Association. Perhaps something more like a small-time office, where you can charge in and make demands? Was it the lack of guards? The modest checkpoint?" Lilian continues, suddenly thinking to wave to the assistant staff near the entry desk, and gesture them to the side. "I only wonder if you thought we were understaffed, or if you didn't think at all and simply jumped at the opportunity, because it clearly didn't occur to you that leaving our doors this open is a statement, now did it?" 'I wasn't gonna hurt him! I'm not-- I'm not gonna hurt anybody!' 'I wouldn't just... snap an' start hurting people just 'cause he's gone.' 'I just... can't sit around, so....' Somewhere in the back of her head, Lilian has all but connected the dots already. The final piece snapping into place causes a pang of sickening regret to resound from her chest to her throat. And yet, just as quickly as it'd come on, it's brushed aside; because she knows the exact way to draw attention to that bat with a glance, curl her fingers, and then look down at her nails instead. Her back heel quietly adjusts to a different angle out of habit. "So what? You clearly thought that you wouldn't be taken seriously without violence, or you wouldn't have come brandishing a weapon. It's a little late to try and take it back now, don't you think? Just because you haven't done anything yet." Never in a million years could she be serious about the rest of that thought. It's easiest to say if she stops thinking about this like 'the Association' and more like 'her kingdom'; like she was doing anyways. 'But I'm not scared. There's nuthin you can do to me that'll matter. Not anymore.' "Fascinating." Lilian says, and conveys in nothing but a slightly widened neutral stare and the leading tone of her voice that her being sarcastic would have been much better. "I've never heard a single person mean those words after speaking them in my life, Grade Eight. Just by saying something that stupid, they tell me exactly what would 'matter'. In your case . . ." Lilian pauses, just for a showy-thoughtful tonal 'mmmm'. "That means you're not afraid of what happens to you 'so long as you get him back', but nothing would frighten you more than knowing that you've blown your only chance to get your friend back, and that he'll be completely forgotten by the City because of you, all because you couldn't shut your mouth and behave." 'L-look, I'm sorry! But what else am I supposed to do?!' 'I'll do whatever you need, y'know?' "Then for a start, how about this? Drop that bat, get on your knees, and beg properly. Once you've done that, if you'd like to post a request for my Association, I'll tell you my terms. Separate of those will be my terms for forgiving this disruption, if you're really quite so free with your life."
Lilian Rook	'We told everyone multiple times not to approach the Library. I find it rather appalling that they would find a small agency to send and then treat them like this after losing a Fixer.' Back to talking over Lulu like she doesn't exist for a short enough while for her to decide, Lilian does, in fact, dignify Sarracenia with a followup; because this is the building in which the front must be unequivacollay unified. "The Associations put pressure on the Offices. The Nests put pressure on the Associations. The Wings put pressure on the Nests. The Head puts pressure on the Wings. Unless you intend to warn the Head directly, somehow, and convince them to send only their most elite troops, this was eventually going to happen." she says. "How often has my advice failed to fall on deaf ears, in your estimation?" That part is sort of rhetorical. 'Is that... wise?' "Of course not." Lilian says to Matilda, as if it were almost amusing. "She wouldn't stand a chance at even trying. Did you not notice the word 'again'? She's already packed up and run away, leaving her friend behind before. She knows she's outmatched." 'How rotten- why would one do such a thing at all?!?' "To lure more victims. Surely you're aware of the archetype; you're well read on folklore, Miss Bouanich."
Angela	''It was like our Office never existed at all!!!!!'' Finn nods along like he understands. He figures there's no way an Association such as the Zwei, accustomed as it is to losing their own members let alone affiliates, would move to drastic action just because one office they sent out had a rough go of it and lost people. ''That hunk of junk who k-killed Mars.'' "Mars...?" Finn murmurs. "I've heard of him. An up-and-comer." But there's no point in rehashing the details unless he's asked for them and he's trying to avoid upsetting Lulu further. He nods along in agreement that she wasn't going to kill anyone. Finn has an optimistic view of other Fixers, it seem. It hasn't bitten him in the ass yet miraculously enough, but he is the sort of person who wanted to join the Zwei himself one day. Instead he joined Trideag because a new Association was an opportunity he couldn't refuse, even if he feels a bit of guilt leaving Yun behind. He didn't try to stop him either... Lenny frowns. 'There's nuthin you can do to me that'll matter', well. Lots of people think that. Lenny's a Rat, she's lost more close companions than she can count. It's still a little unreal to her that Pete of all people seems to be flourishing here, like all he needed was his ambition to be given a chance. "A lure that grows bigger as more and more take the bait." His gut tells him to agree with Matilda that it isn't particularly wise to go back, to cherish the life that Mars died protecting, but it's also hard for him to voice something like that to someone so desperate. Maybe, he thinks, his heart really is too soft. "Scrap metal?" He asks. "Hunk of junk? Are you referring to that--woman?--You are saying she has a particular set of augmentations?" ''Mars was s'pposed to end up a hot shot Fixer, just like his mom.'' "Ah, yeah, that's true." Finn says. ''This is why we told everyone to stay away from there. IIf there is a way to return from being a book.'' "Usually at least with City tech you'd need a head at least, but we haven't ever seen one of these ''books'' so I certainly wouldn't know where to begin." Lenny says, as the medical trainee present. She can't really speak to multiversal methods but certainly having ''a'' book from the Library wouldn't hurt. But if a Grade 8 Office can't handle it, she's skeptical of her own chances. Even the best fighters in the Association would no doubt struggle against the Library. After all, their leader didn't exactly have the easiest time either and she had a Star with her. Lenny looks towards Matilda and then adds, "I'm sure the warnings deterred some people, but it was never gonna deter everyone. No Association is missing shortsighted people--that's just how it goes when an organization gets that big. Trideag is smaller than all the other Associations--we aren't a Citywide group at all." The words are partially directed at Sarracenia too. "I'm sure they figured 'better to get information here now, we're busy anyway, we've got all sorts of other problems out there to deal with like the Pinky and Ring feuds or the inevitable war with the Thumb and Index, we don't lose much here'." She shakes her head. "I feel her frustration. Not too long ago I'd be in that position or worse." But she exhales out a sigh. "But the Director is right. No doubt they had someone else breathing down their neck. Nobody we'd ever know and would never speak up. At some point you find the person desperate or greedy enough."
Angela	''She knows she's outmatched.'' "What sort of force do you think would be necessary to take on the Library?" Pete asks. "Would it require a troop so elite that only the best of the best would stand a shot?" He rubs at his neck, frowning, like he's swallowed a bitter pill that is, nonetheless, necessary medicine.
Lilian Rook	'What sort of force do you think would be necessary to take on the Library?' "A very good question." Lilian says to Pete. "And not one I'm answering right here in public."
Petra Soroka	"If there is a way to return from being a book, we have not found it yet as far as I am aware." Lulu makes an undignified snuffle, and inhales sharply when Sarracenia presents a small red rectangle. Upon seeing that it's cloth, not another paper Invitation, her shoulders slump. She takes it, a little begrudgingly ashamed to be crying in company, and then turns her head and honks into it to blow her nose. Then she presents her own Invitation and points her finger to it emphatically at Sarracenia. "Any knowledge you seek! Any! So there's gotta be a way, and it's gotta be in there somewhere! I'm not gonna sit around and wait for an 'eventually' when the way's right here in my hands!" Even on this Invitation-- though it's not really different from any of the rest of them-- Angela's name is simply signed, in plain view. Not that there was any confusion on who the 'scrap metal' in the Library could be, but, she does just sign her name. "Turned into a book..? Un livre, avec des pages?" Gratified by someone being as horrified as she is, something that's not at all a common form of companionship in the City, Lulu gasps and waves the paper at Matilda too. "A book! To put into those damn shelves along with everything else! There must've been millions of them... enough that it'd wipe out the whole City if it got the chance!" It says it right there, too, on the Invitation. 'If you cannot overcome this ordeal, you will be converted into a book yourself.' "Ms. Lulu, are you most certain this is the best path forwards?" "There's no other way!!" Being scolded about risk agitates Lulu again, and she musses up her hair with a hand, pulling and twisting at it. "That idiot! It wasn't supposed to go like this!" "I've heard of him. An up-and-comer." In response to Finn, Lulu just sullenly mumbles, voice hoarse, "Stupid mochi-ball face...."
Petra Soroka	"It seems as if you might be revealing a subconscious association that Trídéag isn't a 'real' Association." Lulu finally meets Lilian's eyes, nearly by completely coincidence. When she does, she freezes up from whatever she sees in them, a chill running down her spine and subtly widening her stance like a prey animal. For a brief moment, her eyes dart over to Sarracenia, but the glance communicates an entire load of information all at once. The reputation Trideag has is much closer to what Sarracenia implied than what Lilian did. Someplace supposedly different from all the other Associations, where you can get help by asking for it, that takes in all sorts, even the lowest of the low. The realization that that reputation could be a honeypot flashes across her face in the next moment, draining her skin of color. ". . . but nothing would frighten you more than knowing that you've blown your only chance to get your friend back, and that he'll be completely forgotten by the City because of you, all because you couldn't shut your mouth and behave." "Khhhh--!" Lulu wheezes through gritted teeth. Her knees tremble and she slides half a step back, gripping the Invitation as a lifeline moreso than the bat, expecting the sword to come at her at any moment. "Then for a start, how about this?" There's a stretch of silence where no one moves at all. And then, slipping out of her fingers, the bat clatters to the ground, and Lulu sinks to her knees soon after. Palms flat against the floor, head hanging, her shoulders tremble and tears drip to the ground in between sniffles. "P-please. Please help me save Mars. I-- I can't rely on... anyone else besides your Association. I'll do a-anything. I'll put in a r-request. I couldn't live with myself a-after... letting him give me the chance to r-run." "Hunk of junk? Are you referring to that--woman?--You are saying she has a particular set of augmentations?" Lulu shakes her head, curling up her hand into a fist against the ground. Sniffly and phlegmy, she mumbles, "A machine. A machine that... looks like a person."
Sarracenia	Despite Sarra's efforts, Lilian remains rigid in her stance on this intrusion. Sarra sighs at first, then mmphs in slight annoyance as Lilian demands that Lulu get down and beg. "...you really cannot help it, can you...?" Sarra says quietly. But, this is Lilian's house so to speak, so Sarra isn't going to object strongly just yet. 'The Associations put pressure on the Offices. The Nests put pressure on the Associations. The Wings put pressure on the Nests. The Head puts pressure on the Wings. Unless you intend to warn the Head directly, somehow, and convince them to send only their most elite troops, this was eventually going to happen. How often has my advice failed to fall on deaf ears, in your estimation?' Sarra mmphs in annoyance again, but this time it is directed at the system of this world. "If I had the chance, I would warn the Head. Not that I think the Head would listen to us." 'How rotten- why would one do such a thing at all?!?' 'To lure more victims. Surely you're aware of the archetype; you're well read on folklore, Miss Bouanich.' Sarra frowns, letting out a slow breath of obvious contained anger. "...it is an insidious plan..." Sarra says. "...luring in people with the promise of knowledge only to do such things to them." 'What sort of force do you think would be necessary to take on the Library?' 'A very good question. And not one I'm answering right here in public.' Sarra was about to elaborate, but hearing that she zips her lips on the subject for now. Sarra offers a soft smile as Lulu takes the cloth, though can't quite stop her wince at the honking into it. "There is surely immeasurable knowledge within, but...as you have found the price is too high. That 'pile of scrap' as you call her is not going to return books to people so easily even if she can." Sarra catches that glance, and a soft mmph escapes her. Her head turns so that her one eye can regard Lilian. She doesn't think Lilian will -actually- hurt Lulu, but she also never thought Lilian would shoot her. Sarra's gaze snaps back to Lulu as Lulu actually does get down to beg, and in the most proper begging form Sarracenia has ever seen. Sarra's eye widens as she watches and listens, then returns to Lilian after. Sarra is not sure she could ever lower herself like that, but she is sure that Lilian will at least entertain the request now and perhaps forgive the attack.
Lilian Rook	'Khhhh--!' That's right. This is the moment that Lilian has to push back against that useful mask, just a bit. The point isn't actually to make Lulu despair, give up hope, and surrender, nor is it to harvest dramatic emotional momentum. At the end of the day, Trídéag does still have to do something about this, even if it's a careful balancing act with seeming easily pushed around. Right now, she has to act a little more intentionally, and hold back rather than press harder; let the moment of weakness move on with itself, rather than sink a knife into the gap. But she does smile, just a little. And she does feel satisfied about it, just a little bit. 'P-please. Please help me save Mars. I-- I can't rely on... anyone else besides your Association.' When Lulu actually drops to her knees, Lilian releases more passive tension than she'd anticipated, and less of the bit than she'd intended. She needs nothing more than a glance and the motion of a finger to send the checkpoint staff back to work, and she can do that while the sound of her heels closes in on Lulu, growing steadily louder each second she holds herself down. If one were slightly psychotic, they might assume she's deliberately testing her nerves against her self-control. 'I'll do a-anything. I'll put in a r-request. I couldn't live with myself a-after... letting him give me the chance to r-run.' Finally, Lilian crouchs down in front of Lulu. The hilt of her sword blocks the entire right side of her vision, now; her outstretched hand blocks the left. Taking Lulu's face with her fingertips, Lilian wipes away a fat wobbly tear with her thumb, insulated by her glove, and neglects the step of getting her to look up. If Lulu tries, Lilian's grip keeps her eyes down on her shoes instead. The tone she takes is softer, but most certainly from a place of having already won. "There. That's better. Wouldn't this have all been so much easier if you just began this way?" Lilian says. "If that's all you meant to say, then all you had to do was ask. Clearly, and humbly. What's the point of even going to an Association that helps everyone if you don't believe in it first, hm? And now you've gone and put the safety of my headquarters at issue . . ." The way she sighs is almost as if she's commiserating. Pitying Lulu, for something that they're both stuck doing, now. "Oh I know you didn't mean anything by it, but we can't have other people thinking that the best way to get my attention is by threatening my people, now can we? You've gone and made it complicated, and I really don't appreciate that, Lulu; but if you can keep behaving like this, I'm certain it'll all be fine in the end. So hang in there, okay?" Once she lets go of Lulu's cheek, the backhanded slap Lilian gives Lulu is the kind likely audible from the food court. The pat on the head that she leaves her with right after is bizarrely fond. She looks to Matilda as she stands up, singling her out on the spot, and says, "Bouanich. Take this one to B1 for a clinic checkup, then B2 for detention." She snaps her fingers Sarraceniawards. "Escort her. You're authorized to use force." Then, "Mang-Chi, her bat; B2 storage. Lenny, her face; check if I broke anything. Finn; your quarters, until Ceri arrives."
Lilian Rook	Brushing back her hair in much the same way she'd started, Lilian shakes off something intangible, and says, raising her voice again, "Grade Eight and I will have a personal chat about what the Library job is worth to Zwei. Have everyone Grade Three and higher on standby; I'll call Rita myself once I get off the phone with Zwei first." She punctuates herself by clapping her hands together, waving at the general mass. "We all knew it'd come to books eventually. Get moving. Láithreach." Finally, at the end of the little flurry of commands, she glances back at Lulu, and says, "I'd prefer for your superiors to take responsibility for this, so please refrain from anything that'd force me to hold you any more accountable."
Foundation Scions	'She's already packed up and run away, leaving her friend behind before. She knows she's outmatched.' "Oh." Matilda wears how sad that notion makes her right there on her face. 'Surely you're aware of the archetype; you're well read on folklore, Miss Bouanich.' "O-of course, I am aware of it, like those of candied houses and cannibals within, but..." Matilda looks for a qualifying statement, and comes up blank- such a thing is found in fairy-tales, but usually, fairy-tales are the only place one would hear of them. This, is new for her. "Angela..?" Matilda asks, when the Invitation is finally waved her own way. Part of it is Lulu's demeanor, but part of it is everything surrounding her stories and pleading, but Matilda, uninvolved, is starting to look distraught. "To sign one's name onto such a thing as this... I don't understand what sort of a person it would take to do so." No matter the briefings on ideals and matters of the Association, or Matilda's capacity to answer and understand the realities of involvement, coming face-to-face with something distinctly horrifying as serial malicious entrapment and murder(?), taunting to people's faces the location, responsible party, promised reward, and imminent threat, is sickening, and angering. Such a thing shouldn't be real, or so every attempt to wrap her head around it comes to, and yet. "Going back to such a thing cannot be the way, it can't, most certainly not. With those warnings, and an invitation, no, everything is saying that you should stay away, at all costs, no matter what!" Shaky, Matilda crosses her forearms into an X-shape, as if that alone could caution and forbid Lulu- not that she has the authority, not that Lulu would listen if she did. "Some things, they cannot be fixed this way..." 'Drop that bat, get on your knees, and beg properly.' Surely, that's not the tone of how things are done here, is it? Matilda looks to Lilian for a moment, expecting the next thing she says to dispel that- 'Once you've done that,' Oh, she's quite serious. Matilda shuffles her feet, taking an awkward step one direction, then another, then a third. It is a bad precedent to tolerate disruptions, but if anyone deserves a break, surely Lulu must? Hm. >Lulu does actually beg Matilda steps over to tap the bat, after Lulu drops it, with her foot- to stop it from clattering so noisily, and to keep it from rolling too far away from her, perhaps? She's doing the little action before it's really thought-through, and it's a simpler thing to process than watching her get down and actually beg, as-instructed. 'letting him give me the chance to r-run.' Getting caught-up in the emotion, Matilda is getting teary-eyed, and choked-up tone, "He... gave himself up, for your sake? Oh, Ms. Lulu..." 'Bouanich. Take this one to B1 for a clinic checkup, then B2 for detention.' Matilda nearly jumps at the sound of the slap, a sympathetic wince that clears her head a bit of her own mirrored emotion to the other girl's despair. "Y-yes, of course, Director! Ms. Lulu, please follow me?" Lilian didn't say 'also help her to her feet', but Matilda does stick out a hand for Lulu, anyways, a barely-whispered little 'here you go,' alongside the gesture.
Angela	''A very good question. And not one I'm answering right here in public.'' "That bad huh." Pete grumbles. He's a guy who used to jump innocent people in the street to harvest their organs, he's handled bleeding hearts he never expected to be one, but he never really expected to be on this side of it. A sinking part of him tells him that there's only one reasonable call by Lilian here namely, that Trideag needs to be strong enough--either through alliances or through personal membership--to actually properly stand against the Library--otherwise all she's doing is risking adding to the Library's power. He's so accustomed to Lilian being a miracle that being pulled back to the reality of The City ... It hurts. Mang-chi, who has been quiet, places a hand on Pete's shoulder. They drop, but not entirely. He was so caught up in his own legend, his own growth, his own opportunities, his own ambition--that he never thought for one second that someone might be going to him--to his community--for help. And that they might have to say no. ...Frankly, he's relieved it's not really his call. If he had to make a call like that himself, he doesn't think he could ever look himself in the mirror again. He tells himself that his ambition has brought him much farther than he ever expected to make it to--but even so, there's a limit. There's some choices he'd never be able to make himself decide on. Heights that he simply isn't suited for. It's disquieting but also strangely soothing despite everything. That he knows his place. He knows his limits. And it's within sight, rather than so far away that he could never see it. No, he's relieved it isn't his call. Death frightens him slightly less than the idea he might bring down everyone along with him. And he's plenty scared of death. ''If I had the chance, I would warn the Head.'' "I don't think the Head would care. If they did, they would've done something already." Lenny grumbles. "But if they got involved--they don't paint with a gentle subtle brush. There's still whispered stories of when the last time they stepped in." ''A machine. A machine that... looks like a person.'' Lenny's mouth hangs open for a moment. "A Taboo ... One of ''The'' Taboos of the Head. Is the Head not aware...?" She steps away in shock. Not because that a Wing broke such a law--She always figured Wings were trying to find ways around these laws--but because something hadn't been done about it yet. A thought occurs to her. Do they not know? Can that mist somehow block the sight of the Beholders? The Director doesn't seem surprised. Is that because she already knew, or because she doesn't care? Or because she's just not letting surprise slip on her face?
Angela	''The slap heard around the District.'' Finn jumps. Mang-chi and Pete wince, though Pete seems more relieved after. Lenny observes and tension finally seems to flow out of her. ''Mang-Chi, her bat.'' Mang-Chi crouches down to collect Lulu's bat. He says, "She's tough but fair, miss." with a quiet confidence. He doesn't linger too long, though, making his way to B2. ''Lenny, her face.'' "Yes Director." She says. "Shall I ice so it doesn't bruise or do you want to make a point out of it?" Lilian has indicated a concern of looking soft and Lenny, once a Nest hopeful, thinks Lilian is being pretty generous and kind really. Either way she joins Sarracenia and Matilda to accompany them. No reason for her to not do so, considering her job. "I always have my kit with me so."5r ''Finn, your quarters.'' Finn isn't the type to get pissy about discipline. "Yes Director!" And he makes his way that way without a word of complaint. Pete, the one person without orders, bites at his lip anxiously at this news but he has a feeling any question he asks will be answered wqith the same answer Lilian already gave. ''What sort of person it would take to do so.'' "Someone with a lot of ambition, a lot of desperation, or with nothing to lose." He guesses. "If she's really a Taboo ... signing the letter might as well be a declaration of war against the very underpinnings of The City's law."
Sarracenia	Sarra watches with arms crossed and a slight frown as Lilian moves in on Lulu. Lilian won't hurt her. Lilian won't hurt her. Sarra's hand is resting on her purse though. 'There. That's better. Wouldn't this have all been so much easier if you just began this way?' Sarra's eye rolls, and that slight frown remains. But, the frown fades some as Sarra recalls what her own father did when Parker was stealing silverware from Sundew Castle. He didn't take things as far, but he did make sure that Petra and Parker knew that the Sundew were not to be disrespected in such a way in their own house. Sarra tries to imagine how she would have reacted if Lulu had done this in her castle. Then, the slap. Sarra gasps almost as if she had been hit, her eye wide in amazement and some anger. She starts to say something, but instead holds it in with a heavy 'mmmmph'. 'Lilian snaps at Sarra.' Sarra stares for a few moments with the most deadpan of expressions. She's no Finn. "...understood, Director." she says after those few moments, before moving to help Lulu up with Matilda. 'A Taboo...' 'If she's really a Taboo ... signing the letter might as well be a declaration of war against the very underpinnings of The City's law.' Sarra had all but forgotten people didn't realize Angela was a taboo or that she was actively warring on the City and its systems. She gives Lenny and Pete a look that likely makes it clear she knows things judging by how unsurprised she is. "I thought that was clear when that tree started claiming more and more land." she says to Pete's mention of a declaration of war. She doesn't say anything else. As Lenny asks how much they should heal Lulu, Sarra pauses in the middle of handing a green mushroom toward Lulu. She starts to wait for an answer, then mmphs and just hands the mushroom to Lulu anyway. "Eat that. It will help."
Petra Soroka	"There. That's better. Wouldn't this have all been so much easier if you just began this way?" Lulu shivers on the ground, not attempting to raise her face at all when Lilian reaches down to touch her. Based on how every other organization in the City goes, she's probably expecting Lilian to either snap her neck, or if she's feeling merciful, just cut off a hand or two. She goes rigidly still, but faced with physical danger rather than wallowing in Mars' death, her crying abruptly cuts short off. She just makes a miniscule nod in acknowledgement of Lilian's words, before she's slapped hard enough that she crumples from her hands to her elbows. "A-aaughhhh..." She makes a low sound of pain but resists crying out, and then works her jaw to clack it back into place. Touching her split lip, she spits a glob of blood out onto the ground, stares at it for a moment, and then wipes it up with her own parka sleeve. Staying down, with her face aimed squarely at the tile, Lulu speaks in a quiet and teary-raspy voice, garbled a little bit by her swollen lip. "You're right. I said I'd do anything, so no matter what... I'm not gonna stop here. I've gotta keep fighting, whether it's begging, apologizing, discipline... ask it and I'll do it. 'Cause it's for him, y'hear? After everything mochi-ball face did... I'm not gonna lose to his guts." "Ms. Lulu, please follow me?" Lulu takes Matilda's hand with a surprisingly tight grip, accepting the help back up onto her feet. After crying herself out while pleading with Lilian, it looks like she's managed to recover back to her tough gal image, but right up face to face, Matilda can tell otherwise. Lulu's entire body is trembling almost too subtly to see, on the edge of a complete adrenaline crash, and she's several inches shorter than even Matilda is. She looks around to grab her bat again, but then drops her hand helplessly when it's taken by Mang-Chi. She swallows, throat raw. "Alright. I'll follow. Lead the way." "Eat that. It will help." "What's that...?" Lulu looks at the mushroom with some bemusement in her eyes, not just because it's a giant cartoon mushroom that she's supposed to eat somehow, but because it's... being offered to her? She pulls a hand out of the pocket of her parka to accept it, warily taking a bite and then widening her eyes when she touches the spot on her lip that was split a moment ago. "I'd prefer for your superiors to take responsibility for this, so please refrain from anything that'd force me to hold you any more accountable." Head down, Lulu trudges after Lilian, Matilda, and Sarracenia. Without her bat in her grip, she doesn't know what to do with her hands, so she keeps both of them tucked away in her jacket. She nods to communicate her compliance, but then after a little stretch of silence, she adds, hoarse, "Thanks, Director." Once she's separated off from the main lobby to be led down to the detention centers, and Lilian's not around anymore to just leave her with Sarra and Matilda, Lulu staggers to the side. The earlier tremors wrack through her body again accompanied by a sob, and she slumps headfirst against the wall, shoulders shaking while she messily cries. The red-gold invitation is clasped to her chest, just under her chin, crunched in her fist. "A--... a-ahh.... I-I'hm... I'm s-so sorry... M-Mars... hh-hhhhh... i-it'll be okay soon; y-you'll be back soon. I-I even saved a ca... cake f-for you, okay...? So...." Her muffled sobbing is whispered into the Invitation, like the magic of it will somehow transmit her wishes to the book in the Library ahead of her. Besides that, there's no delay in taking her to the clinic.