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Owner	Pose
Holly Asturias	Welcome back to the Sanatorium!     Arrival and entry is much the same as before; the Warpgate, artificial, is located in a greenhouse a short walk away from the main courtyard and entrance. Holly, of course, is there waiting for you all, diligent and unwilling to be a bad host. She's a little bit less huggy this time, on account of respecting those who avoided them the first time. But those who didn't get the full greeting: a warm, tight hug from the tall woman who definitely doesn't look like the average bubbly, huggy archetype. And the new faces, too!     Your host is a very welcoming one.     Once everyone is present, it's a five minutes casual walk to her Sanatorium. It's a bit cloudy and chilly, but it could be a lot worse. Through the lobby, straight ahead and past a few doors, is a nice dining room, with two tables that have been pushed together to make a single larger one, easily able to seat the lot of you. There are various little things in the room, small bookshelves, armoires, a couch in the corner, paintings of landscapes on the walls and flowers on the desks.     It's a much more homely part of the building than most of the rest.     There are snacks on the tables; bags of various brands and flavors of chips, dips, various drinks (no alcohol or blood this time!) and some veggies and fruits. It's varied, and the brands present are Multiversal. It's quite likely Holly got to use her nice Concord card for the first time and did a grocery run with it. It's good for morale.     There's a very large map on the table, which Holly has helpfully scribbled the names of some places on it. It's very barebones, on account of being an old map without labeling, and Holly not being a cartographer, or for that matter, not having travelled the world much outside her little corner of it.     As a basic first step, it'll do though.     With everyone seated (or standing, if they prefer), Holly opts to begin things a little bit slowly. There is after all no pressing ISSUE, and this can serve to answer questions and just chat as much as it can be a PLANNING PHASE.     "Hello, and welcome again to the Sanatorium! For the new faces, my name is Doctor Holly Asturias, and I'm the chief physician here - you can call me Director, Doctor, or just Holly!" She wants to be polite! It's so important.     "Last time, you all had many, many questions, and I wanted to have an opportunity to sit down and either backtrack to ones you felt weren't answered in enough details, or answer new ones. Then, I've secured an old map of the Frontier, as you can see. Since you are all much more experienced than I in matters of exploration and, well, heroism, I figure giving you carte blanche to set headings will be infinitely more productive than if I were the one to do it. I do have *some* suggestions, things I could really use or need, and some local Horror sightings, but we'll get to that in due time."
Riku Asakura	Riku arrives in his normal outfit: a jean jacket, an orange shirt underneath with a space logo on it, a pair of jeans, and tennis shoes.  He also has his greebles connected to a belt, ready to transform if needed.  He smiles at Dr. Holly as she, thankfully, isn't crushing them in hugs.  "It's nice to be back, Dr. Holly!" he says brightly and happily for her invitation.   Once everyone is gathered up, he follows Holly to the Sanatorium.  The weather is cloudy and cool, which causes him to put his hands in his coat to fight the chill.  Despite the weather, Riku's smile seems to be unending as they make way to the main building.  Along the way to the dining room, he waves at other nurses.  Nobody can say that Riku isn't a friendly person.   Snacks are laid out, and this time, there isn't any blood in them!  Yippee!  Riku takes a handful of snacks and some soda and sits down near the map as Holly introduces herself to those who are new.  He waits for people to ask questions before he asks his own.  "Is there a reason why that forest is called the undead forest?" he asks, his smile wavering a bit.  Things tend to be called things for a reason, and he doesn't want to get attacked by zombies! "Also, maybe you should go over the things you need and the local Horror sightings.  We might be experienced at adventuring, but you do live here, and this is for your Sanitorium.  Suggestions are always helpful!"
Skipper	Skipper brings along another subset of their entourage.     They make it through the warpgate first, and are clearly expecting a hug. They're a little less squeaky about it this time, as well.     "I talked with Granny. Thank you. She said-"     "WARM GREETINGS!"     She did not say 'warm greetings'. That is the next person through the warpgate, a formally dressed cockatiel, who aggros on Holly and goes to hug her before he himself can be hugged.     "Doctor Holly Asturius! Truly, truly a pleasure! Welcoming us to your own sanatorium, no less! I am the Lord Dandelion Gladiolus du Fritillaria the Fifth, Heir to the Marquis of Summercrest, but please just call me 'Dandy', as I am certain we shall be the best of friends soon enough!" says Lord Dandelion Gladiolus du Fritillaria the Fifth, Hier to the Marquis of Summercrest.     "I, ah, it's okay that I brought a plus one, right?" asks Skipper. "Dandy wanted to see-"     "Oh! I almost completely forgot! We simply *must* commemorate this meeting with a selfie!" Dandy's heart-shaped lapel pin flies off of him and hovers a few feet away, the polished surface of the pin now acting like a phone screen with camera. "Say... baguette!" "- see... the sanatorium," Skipper finishes, as the pin is returned to its resting place on Dandy's lapel. "And what a sanatorium it is! The statuary! The architecture! The carefully curated aesthetic ruin! You must tell me, did you hand-select the pieces of the roof that would look like they're falling apart, or did you employ some sort of aging technique and leave it up to chance? I simply must know your secrets."     At the map, Skipper perks up a bit. "Oh! You set up a map room! That's important."     They go to study it (likely having to stand up on a chair to get a good view of it). "Having a map out is important," says Skipper. "It helps to get a good view of what you're fighting to protect."
Petra Soroka	You know, would it really be all that much effort for people to signal when they were about to hug you? A stranger? Is that asking too much? Because, like, Petra still doesn't want to get a whole exuberant face-at-boobs-height hug from this woman she's only met once before, but seeing Holly just politely sitting there like she's a dog waiting at the door who's been scolded for leaping up on you when you get home just makes her feel guilty!     Really, it could be a shirt. Just big graphic text that says something like, 'Warning! Enthusiastic Hugger!'. Petra muses on the societal value of 'shirts that contain written instructions' for a little bit-- *she* wears them all the time, even if sometimes they're ironic, which really does kind of undercut the altruistic value of it all, come to think of it. Maybe it's unethical to wear that one shirt if she *isn't* high as fuck and if she doesn't have a gun in her backpack.     Thankfully, there's no moral quandaries with her shirt today. It reads, 'I'M NEVER PUPPY STRESSED WHEN I DO MY PUPPY BEST', with a pawprint graphic right in the middle. There is a photorealistic submachine gun on the back. She lingers awkwardly as everyone *else* gets hugged, until Holly leads the way to follow along into the Sanatorium. "I do have *some* suggestions, things I could really use or need, and some local Horror sightings, but we'll get to that in due time."     "Well, y'know. I've already kind of drowned you in things I want to know," Petra says, as if she isn't about to continue piling more points of interest onto her. She's plopped herself onto a chair, knee pulled up to her chest and propped between herself and the table, while she munches on the closest thing she can find to saeukkang.     This posture looks rudely casual, but it's actually polite. Wedging herself in to make it inconvenient for her to look at the map gives Holly some time to entertain other people's questions first.     "So, you can tell us what you want out of us first, if you want. From the sound of it, 'local' doesn't mean 'immediately threatening' though, right?"
Kukuru	Could Kukuru come in from somewhere else? Yes. Does she? No. Like Holly, she's very much the huggy sort, and she's already been conditioned to return the same when she comes on in. Dressed in her usual white and green outfit, she makes sure to dote on Holly a bit, mostly in the form of checking up on kher after noticing some of her reactions from the last time. "Did you remember to eat today, dear? I've brought snaaaacks! And I've also got plenty of leftover materials from cooking." She explains without elaborating, only hitning somewhat at what she's done by gesturing at warm cooler full of little plastic off-brand Tupperware containers. She also gestures at her pocket that don't look like they should fit anything, failing to really elaborate on what that means, either, but she seems confident enough about being prepared. Today's foodstuffs: Fried portobellos with an oozing cheese mix held in by a crunchy batter, and steamed eggs with minced pork and mackerel in scallion oil. The map gets Kukuru's attention easily enough, and she oohs and aahs at it as she looks it over slowly while building her own mental map based on the basics presented. She has to shuffle around to get a better view every now and then, but she refrains from outright hanging off the rafters despite the temptation to do so. "He-llo, Doctor Hoooolly." She greets, taking the excuse to just say Holly's name that way before stroking her chin. "Local sightings... Are they causing any problems yet?" She says, eyes visibly shifting from the top to the bottom of the map several times. "If it's not a problem yet, we can work on getting the more important stuff you need first. Liiike..." She points at the isolated spot at the bottom left of the map. "Is there anything super important down here? If I can see it, we could get there and back reeeeal quick."
Petra Soroka	> Lord Dandelion Gladiolus du Fritillaria the Fifth, Heir to the Marquis of Summercrest, but please just call me 'Dandy'     Petra takes a slow sip from a fizzy purple soda, eyes closed. She slouches over her knee, moving so slowly and carefully that it looks like she's halfway fallen asleep, deep in meditation. Despite her immense concentration, the moment her eyes open again, there was no changing what would come out of her mouth.     "Dog, who invited Sir Twinkletoes here? Friend of Dorothy and Queen of the Pansy Isles? Heir to the fucking Fairy Kingdom?"     Her bored, half-lidded eyes slide down away from the bird, coincidentally falling on the shorter Skipper, which makes her startle. "Wah-?! Oh my god, you're so short. Should've figured. What's got you bringing plus ones now, when you can't even handle yourself? Meatshields?"     When the warm savory scent from Kukuru's cooler drifts over to her, Petra makes grabby hands in its direction. Following the razor sharp indication of her will, the Silver snakes out to spear a trio of mushrooms on the ends of split tendrils, reeling them back into Petra's grasp so she doesn't have to get up. She chomps down on one immediately, hungrier than the snack pile first elicited from her.     "Mushrooms... thanks, Kukuru."
Natsuki Nuki	Natsuki wasn't privy to the prior meetings. While she did do research on new Concord Partners and associated organizations to keep on top of current events, she hadn't made the first meeting. So, ignorant of the matters at hand, her first introduction was... > Petra Soroka says, "Welcome to vampire sex university! Where sex is strictly forbidden!" And the attached conversation. Therefore, Natsuki had (summoned her little brother, Takeshi Nuki to) brought forth her strongest ninja servants. Now she had a mission, a threat to attack, a purpose to a demon army. Obviously, moving her demon army in after as a protection racket was just natural - but that was obvious! The threat of the sex cops in the matter would be swiftly dealt with, and whatever else was going on at Prude Academy could be easily sorted with a little Osaka-Style student councilry happening to the situation. Day-of, despite not being there for the first meeting, Natsuki arrives among the Concord personnel arriving, followed by and standing somehow upon a small stormcloud that attended Natsuki as riding carpet or large loyal and dark-fluffy animal, barking in stormhead crackles and leaving little dribblings of precipitation in its wake. She 'wears' her 5'9" Osakan woman 'disguise', still bearing a dark eyemask pattern around eyes and the round buds of tiger ears atop head. She has yokai red eyes with slit pupils, and sharp fang-long eyeteeth. She more literally wears a pair of black hakama-style pants and a pair of fierce street sneakers that are gold bodied and black framed and soled, a matching black silk button-down shirt with the top three buttons open, and a white bolero-style jacket with lots of zippers and dangling charmchains in silver. Out from the back of her pants is a long serpent whose lazy head glares around with equally red eyes, coiled up as she dismounts from her hater nimbus, her 'second head' drops low slowly as Holly approaches and Natsuki looks at the tall woman with a light surprise and also a hug-stopping hand up. "Just a sec." She halts, and then looks to the ground under her cloud, where she lifts up foot to stomp. Instead of ground exploding, a tatami mat opens up beneath the cloud and three ninjas - one red, two grey-gi'd - flip out, taking attention positions. "Make sure none of those sex cops are around. If Mesmer Junior appears, the patent leather skirt girl, scare her or something, she'll get mad but her beam gun has limited charge. Otherwise, search and report back." She commands, and the ninjas salute and draw up the stormcloud about them into a burst of smoke they jump away into. Escaping into the surrounds quickly, they don't leave too much room for someone to talk sense or reality into Natsuki or her goons before the transaction concludes and the leaping warriors disappear. Finally, rotating back to reality, Natsuki crosses her arms and looks to Holly. "Sorry - you must be the new Partner I heard? Natsuki - since we're fellows - but formally, I'm the 'Lady Nue'." She introduces, does a bow, and flips out a black business card with a golden caterpillar motif on one face with a location in Osaka, Japan. "I also run a humble club, which is still the finest in Osaka." She laughs lightly, huyu-huyu, and then gets to the real meat of her questions: "So, Holly. How real are these sex cops?"
Angela	Will Netzach go to three scenes in a row? You bet they won't! That's too much work! But Roland returns and, remembering his last visit to Holly's world, he also carefully times his arrival so that he dodges the hug because Holly is too busy hugging someone else. He slips in shortly thereafter. He is, however, not so loyal it seems because he gives no warning to his company today--as Tiphereth is easily grappled as she sputters in confusion and annoyance. But that isn't a dodge!! You got her!!! Roland says, "Nice to see you again, Doctor." He is a bit more at ease this time because after a long discussion about the sex police and the secret fuck lore of Holly's world, it is hard to maintain his old level of unease and tension. This isn't to say he's totally relaxed, but he doesn't look like he's about to go for a weapon at any moment, at least. Tiphereth looks over to Petra once she frees herself. ''I'M NEVER PUPPY STRESSED WHEN I DO MY PUPPY BEST'' "Nice, uh ... shirt." She is trying to recover from the Holly hhuggening. SHe looks to Holly, frowning. "I was asked to take notes. Apparently Roland didn't take any last time." "Well I wasn't aware I was supposed to." Roland frowns. "Wasn't expecting to be back again so soon though." He doesn't take an y of the snacks this time, but his gaze trails over to the map. "Undead Forest...?" He murmurs. "Like the trees are zombies or..." ''So, Holly. How real are these sex cops?'' "Already, come on..." Tiphereth complains. "The Illubeinati take this very seriously." Roland adds offhandedly.
White	White... Did not arrive with a particular plan, today. Her motivations go as far as 'playing nice with the new Partner', bolstered slightly by the adjacent relevancy of vampires in a 'Wow, I have one of those too!' kind of way. So, she probably comes across a little strange and maybe a little lost... Attempting to politely bow her head after stepping out of the gate into view might create something of a close call with Holly's hug-based ambush tactics, but given White isn't looking for any Lucky Lecher events today and she's acclimated enough to Kukuru's own hugginess it's simple enough to straighten back up before impact. She's learned the utility of simply allowing others to hug her sometimes, even if it's not her thing; it's like free Rep points that she doesn't have to work for at all! Not like she'd let *anyone* do it for *too* long, though.      She follows along afterward like a perfectly polite tourist, hands folded loosely in front of herself and looking around through her eyelids in the usual way like she's memorizing the room layout as they go. When it's time to sit she does so beside Roland and Tiphereth as a stand-in for Angela... There are a few people here that might be strange to end up seated besides, given past encounters, but White has the incredible power to simply pretend she's not paying attention to anyone who looks too uncomfortable to be next to her! Instead, she meets the introduction with a soft-spoken, "White," while touching her chest with her fingertips as if to make it clear she's not speaking about anyone else, followed by the typical, "It's nice... To meet you... Miss Holly." For whatever it's worth, before White starts focusing on the map and whatnot, Petra's shirt does get her a mysterious thumbs up. White doesn't get the point of there being a gun, but the text is funny, and Petra is always doing this kind of thing, so it's like observing a kind of self-expression that White doesn't really think is in her own repertoire. She's too cool for graphic tees, you see? Maybe someday she too will possess this kind of power.      ... Anyway. White doesn't have a strong grasp on Holly's circumstances, so this is as much of an orientation for her as anything else. Most of her attention seems to settle onto the map from the moment she's seated onward, though she does slowly reach out a silk-strand from her fingertips to carefully retrieve an apple from the snack heap, yoinking it over into her palm with an underhand catch and slicing it into neat eighth-pieces by constricting threads around it. She has a very vague idea of what the situation is from overhearing *some* conversations Holly has had, but... Well, nothing for it but to try and probe further, now.      Kukuru has a decent idea, pointing out somewhere that teleportation would render easily accessible, so White nods along with that slowly and offers, "Are there... Any leader-class monsters... Among the 'horrors'..? Ambushes... Would be simple." As if it's somehow a reward for Kukuru's suggestion, White sits up a bit and reaches for the cooler to delicately poke into a mushroom with a fork she's just summoned from home. It's a little weird to be double-fisting snacks at a meeting like this, but between Holly's demeanor, Kukuru's low seriousness, and the... Mouse and bird people she's only just now seeing? White's mental measure of today's tone has slid somewhat closer to 'animated series downtime episode' than usual. Shame she missed the hot spring episode, not that she'd have cared for it.      White even waves at Natsuki's ninjas and mumbles a "Ganbatte." as they're sent out for their confusing task. Gotta appreciate the foot soldiers sometimes, y'know? Maybe she should do something nice for the Tenth soon, too.
Skipper	> "Dog, who invited Sir Twinkletoes here? Friend of Dorothy and Queen of the Pansy Isles? Heir to the fucking Fairy Kingdom?"     "Oh, is that your name?" Dandy asks earnestly, ready to believe that it is.     "It's not," answers Skipper.     "But clearly she's some manner of nobility, she's even wearing some manner of heraldric crest!" He points at Petra's shirt. "It even has her ancestral weaponry on one side, and her familial motto on the other! 'I'm never puppy stressed when I do my puppy best!' Putting on a brave face of relaxation and easy-going-ness in the face of adversity that drives one to one's absolute limit!" He raises a wing. "Truly, we should all strive to never be puppy stressed, and to always pursue our puppy best, every day without exception! Absolutely awe inspiring..."     "Wah-?! Oh my god, you're so short."     Skipper puts on a fixed smile. "Yes! I am short. That is very observant of you. But, I'm sorry to say this, perhaps it is a little bit rude to comment on someone's height like that?"     > Sex cops     "... Are there?"     Skipper looks around, just in case. "Should I be worried?"
Holly Asturias	"Is there a reason why that forest is called the undead forest?"     "Why yes! Not all Horrors are physical, you see. Or, perhaps I should say that not all Horrors are strictly and exclusively physical. Many types are spectral in nature, they possess both a spiritual body and a physical one. The Undead Forest is so-named for the unnaturally high concentration of such Horrors, compared to other regions of the Frontier. 'Ghosts' and 'specters' you might call them, but still fully capable of harming you. I've often theorized there must be an especially strong Pathos nearby causing this, but it's a bit like searching for a needle in a haystack." "Also, maybe you should go over the things you need and the local Horror sightings. We might be experienced at adventuring,"     "Of course! I didn't want to overload all of you with a dozen things right off the bat, is all. I'll set time aside for this, don't worry!" "I talked with Granny. Thank you. She said-"     "Oh, yes, that's fine! Help is help," Holly smiles, after taking a selfie with Dandy (she even does a peace sign! she's familiar, she has a phone!). It's certainly nice to meet someone as enthusiastic as her. "So, you can tell us what you want out of us first, if you want. From the sound of it, 'local' doesn't mean 'immediately threatening' though, right?" "Local sightings... Are they causing any problems yet?"     "None are close enough that I'd be concerned we'll come under attack. These are larger, more stationary Horrors, the kinds that haunt particular areas and make travel through them bothersome. It would still be a huge boon to clear them out. That land could be reclaimed, the roads safer for people who don't know to avoid those bits, and they could be studied, if they're rare strains." "Did you remember to eat today, dear?"     "Oh, yes! Please don't worry." "Is there anything super important down here?"     Holly squints at Kukuru's indication on the map, then thinks about it for a second. "That's... Insula Carcere. 'Prison Island'. Very on-the-nose naming. Revenants too dangerous to be free but who don't warrant execution for one reason or another are sent there. I cannot imagine there being much of interest there." "So, Holly. How real are these sex cops?"     Natsuki knows how to make an entrance. Not only does she halt Holly's hugging schemes but briefly stunlocks her with her factual (and less factual) statements. She's even got a bit of a Revenant vibe, which is hard to ignore! She hands the doctor a business card, even! Holly nods approvingly, then liquefies the card into a splatter of golden blood that sinks into her hand and disappears. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Nue. I'll be sure to not lose this! A club... I've read about them, but I've never been to one. We do have dance parties sometime, but that surely can't be the same."     Then the QUESTION.     "P-Pardon? Oh, you mean the Bureau. I have infrequent dealings with them, and one can sometimes seem them on patrol, but that's more to keep the roads Horror-free than anything. Even then, their presence of late has diminished greatly. It's led to much speculation."
Tamamo	Tamamo has arrived wearing something less 'divine shrine maiden' and more 'movie premier,' though the dark blue, faintly sparkly evening gown with the daring cut may be nothing more than an indication of where she's recently been. Carrying a handbag goes without saying. If things get messy, she has ways to keep her outfits clean.     Is she huggy? Somehow, this doesn't often come up. In regards to Holly, specifically, the hug is intercepted smoothly, an offered right hand finding the doctor's for a shake, arms preventing too much closer contact. For one who was never raised to shake hands, this is an advanced technique.     In fact, while she does feel an automatic affection of such a kind for some... that's pretty much just for children, and even there, she's restrained herself, every time. This is part of being a member of polite society. (Subjective.) Truly, she has SO much self-control, suppressing the maternal instincts she's pretty sure she probably has. (Amaterasu is known for nothing of the sort.)     Things continue on to a room with refreshments. Tamamo has no idea why blood would even be put on the table, and ignorance is occasionally bliss-adjacent. Less so, however, in not having very much idea of what needs help or has already been asked or... rather, she's in good company in this respect, possibly?     "Ms. Soroka, if you would summarize existing concerns."     And there, "Natsuki," the informal form, because that was the result of their first meeting, "how... good to see you?" Tamamo's greeting turns quizzical, head tilted, motion exaggerated by the impressive size of her ears, at the ninja instructions. Her eyes end up moving back on over to Holly to await that answer.
Lilian Rook	'I'm the chief physician here - you can call me Director, Doctor, or just Holly!'     The first time Lilian heard that intro was on the radio, and thus she wasn't physically there. The second time, she was filled with honeymoon glow to the top of her meters, and basically didn't care. This time, it's worn on her enough to make a little bit of a Face about it. As far as she's concerned, there is one correct way and everything else is an attempt to torment her specifically.     Not that she isn't still indulging in as much time as possible with her wife. It's just that she has to keep her, like, two and a half jobs again. She appears to be fresh off an evening out, apparently well-invested in visiting every place the two of them had drawn up plans to check out, but ultimately ran out of time to see, for one reason or another. Only just slightly more dressed for the foggy (the one time she visited, drawing too many conclusions) mountain, arriving in such a fashion that it isn't quite clear who's hanging on whose arm until a safe transition to hand-holding can be found, Lilian--     'Dog, who invited Sir Twinkletoes here? Friend of Dorothy and Queen of the Pansy Isles? Heir to the fucking Fairy Kingdom?'     --looks at the other woman she just spent all day barely ever exceeding ten feet of distance from, slowly pans her gaze down to the ring on her left hand, and then calmly approaches the Petra. Reaching out her hand to place it firmly on her shoulder, Lilian says "Petra. You seem oddly restless. Should I find you something to do?" in tones that she must surely have learned from so many years with Tamamo. The smile does reach her eyes and yet her voice says she is not feeling cute about this one.     'What's got you bringing plus ones now, when you can't even handle yourself? Meatshields?'     Because of that one, she makes sure to punctuate her meaning by grabbing a fistful of Petra's hair in back and sharply yanking down. She fails to think of anything else to say before Natsuki rolls in and--     'If Mesmer Junior appears, the patent leather skirt girl, scare her or something, she'll get mad but her beam gun has limited charge.'     "It's vinyl, actually." says Lilian, faux-snotty tone dialed in on hipfire reflex, and then starts laughing behind her raised hand. "She's a pushover. I'm shocked you even brought shinobi."     'So, Holly. How real are these sex cops?'     "Yes, actually. In lieu of having any better questions at the moment, I'd like to second a general inquiry into anything you can answer about the Headass Bureau." Lilian says, somehow making the whole thing sound like a proper noun instead of a descriptor.     'The Illubeinati take this very seriously.'     "El-Blueballnati was right there." Lilian scoffs, rolls her eyes, and then takes a seat nearish Roland anyways. "Not even beer?" she says, after a quick visual scan on his behalf. One look at the snacks, candy, and soda, brings her to whistle sharply and snap her fingers. For some reason? You know exactly what reason.
Lilian Rook	'Should I be worried?'     Lilian snorts, says "No." with a weird kind of emphasis, then loses interest.     'It even has her ancestral weaponry on one side, and her familial motto on the other! 'I'm never puppy stressed when I do my puppy best!' Putting on a brave face of relaxation and easy-going-ness in the face of adversity that drives one to one's absolute limit!'     Lilian sighs, then says, "Okay this guy kind of rules."     'how... good to see you?'     "Oh my god it's going to take forever to explain." Lilian still vibrates with giddy energy at getting to explain it. Straightening her back, raising one finger in intentionally pompous affect, she says, in her most enthusiastically hoity-toity tones "You see, here on the Frontier, 'reproduction' is strictly illegal!" and then begins snickering all over again remembering the whole debacle. "There was a discussion. Some people made fools of themselves. You can guess who." One was just mentioned by name. "What's important is that there aren't enough human cattle for the vampires to feel comfortable about, so they're finally having to police their own." She leaves a beat on purpose. "Oh but keeping the as cattle is terribly illegal of course. There's extra steps!"     Lilian is barely partway into her descent into endless inside jokes and references before she suddenly remembers something worthy of distracting her. "Oh, I should introduce Nicole to you. She's actually very nice. I spent all of last time talking about you!"
Riku Asakura	Riku waves to Skipper, but his plus one causes him to look strangely at the man.  He seems... enthusiastic about being here, and is bombarding Holly with questions about the Sanitarium.  Riku takes a moment to stand next to Skipper during the walk.  "Hey, everything good at home?  I heard you talked to your grandmother." In the dining room, Riku takes some mushrooms with cheese and eats them like a man starving.  It's better than cup noodle that he normally eats for dinner.  "Thanks, Kukuru!  These are delicious!" Petra gets a wave and a smile from Riku, who looks at her shirt.  "Nice shirt!" he says honestly, thinking it was pretty funny! Natsuki's arrival was flashy, especially with the Ninjas.  He's not sure whether to say hi or not, but decides that a nice wave is friendly enough.  They met back in the day when he was new to the Multiverse, but haven't seen much of each other since then.  Mostly just radio conversations.  Also, sex cops?!  What sort of mission is Natsuki on!? Roland and Tiphereth get waves of their own.  "Nice to see you again, Roland," Riku says to the older man.  Though when the conversation turns towards the sex cops again, Riku shakes his head, unable to process what is going on with any seriousness.   White is here too, which makes things slightly uncomfortable.  They haven't seen each other since the incident with Schneider and the assassination.  Still, he waves and smiles at her. White doesn't seem like such a bad person.  She did give him a stuffed animal when he was at his lowest after the Storm.   Tamamo appears, and Riku smiles at her, "Nice to see you, Mrs. Tamamo, congratulations on your marriage!" With Tamamo is Lilian, to whom Riku gives a wave and a smile.  Though he frowns when she yanks on Petra's hair.  He doesn't understand the relationship those two have; it's either good or it's this.  Of course, she explains the sex joke going around, which causes Riku to blush and look incredibly put out by all of this talk. 'Why yes! Not all Horrors are physical, you see.' "Wait, ghosts?  Can they be harmed?" Riku asks about the ghosts in the Undead Forest.  This has him a little nervous, because growing giant doesn't mean you can't be afraid of ghosts that can become incorporeal!  Still, he can't let people know he's concerned about things, so he puts on a brave face, despite forcing it! 'Of course! I didn't want to overload all of you with a dozen things right off the bat, is all.' Riku nods, "Alright, I just don't want us to be flailing into the dark here.  It seems pretty dangerous out there.  With what the horrors and ghosts and stuff.   'That's... Insula Carcere. 'Prison Island'.' "That's awful.  So dangerous, Revenant meaning those who go against the system set up by the Bureau here, right?  Geeze, it seems awful to be sent there..." 'Even then, their presence of late has diminished greatly. It's led to much speculation.' "Wait, they're not patrolling as much, but still expect you to follow all of the rules.  What sort of government doesn't protect its people..." he says, shaking his head.  "No wonder you went to ask help from the Multiverse..."
Angela	Roland realizes a little too late that he said Illubeinati right in front of White. Will Angela finally execute him for good? Though as he thinks about it, it's been a minute since Angela has seemed inclined to sit in on an Angelapad. He wonders if that's just coincidence. He kind of wonders if he'll ever be in a position to wear a t-shirt for that matter. Hahh. It's work for him before it's an adventure. ''Are there... Any leader-class monsters...'' "Oh geeze, I didn't even think about that. The idea that there might be SUPER Horrors as well as Horrors." ''Should I be worried?'' Roland opens his mouth to say that the sex cops thing is a joke and Natsuki is just playing along with the bit but he hesitates because he's not actually sure of that anymore. Instead he says, "You probably don't have to worry about it. Aren't you--" He tries to decipher a mouse person's age. "...A kid?" He finishes, a bit awkwardly. ''GHOST TREES'' "You uh ... okay, you didn't mention ghosts before did you? Like, I think this is the first time I've heard of Ghost Trees. I've heard of monster trees, but ghost trees are new. Are they ... ... doing okay?" He wrinkles his nose. "Or does Horror stuff stick with your ghost too?" "Oh--actually ghost trees really is something that might be worth writing about. Especially if they are..." She snaps her fingers. "Half ghosts." Roland exhales a little at 'half ghosts' before glancing back to Lilian. ''El-Blueballnati was right there.'' "Oh I wouldn't have thought of that one." Roland admits before--he didn't even look to see if their was liquor. He does a quick scan as well. "I don't... ''think'' I see any beer. Or anything alcoholic. Maybe she wants everybody sober today?" ''Nice to see you again, Roland.'' "Hey man." Roland says to Riku while Tiphereth sighs and throws an obligation wave towards Riku. ''Revenants too dangerous to be free but don't warrant execution--'' "Don't Revenants essentially live forever? Eternal imprisonment... Do people check in on them? What are the operations like on... Prison Island."
Holly Asturias	"Like the trees are zombies or..."     "Sometimes. It isn't just people who become Horrors, after all. A monstrous tree is hardly out of the question." "I was asked to take notes. Apparently Roland didn't take any last time."     "Dreadful! Well, there might not be as much to note this time, but if you need me to fill you in later, do feel free to stay longer. Barring a patient needing me, my evening is mostly clear." "It's nice... To meet you... Miss Holly."     "And you as well! My, you sound completely different." Does she know about text-to-speech? She might not suspect that's what White was using, even if she does. "Are there... Any leader-class monsters... Among the 'horrors'..? Ambushes... Would be simple."     "Yes and no. There's no 'organized Horror force' if that is what you mean. But there are Horrors that gather followings of smaller ones, and generally they're all fairly non-hostile to one another. It'd give us a lot of breathing room if they fought amongst themselves at all, but we're not so lucky." Tamamo-no-Hug.     Foiled again and again. Still, by voice alone, Holly can recognize Lilian's wife, now, and spends a few long seconds gawking at the tails, ears and just overall majesty she carries.     "Now I see what dear Lilian meant! It's so wonderful to make your acquaintance! If you find yourself with spare time after the little meeting, our hot springs remain at both of your disposals, of course." Lilian yanking Petra's hair.     Holly blinks. Maybe she knows better than to ask.     For now. "Yes, actually. In lieu of having any better questions at the moment, I'd like to second a general inquiry into anything you can answer about the Headass Bureau."     "Ah, the Bureau of Frontier Management is..." Her finger trails on the map, to a point southwest of the Sanatorium, far down several mountains and almost isolated by itself, her nail tapping the map to confirm. "Here. They have a large... castle? I believe it's a castle. It's a sort of council of very old Revenants and humans, who mostly handle logistics like supply lanes and politics between the species. And the law. Though, the enforcement branch is the Association of Revenant Hunters. I've had the... honor," she says, sounding a bit bitter? disgusted? for perhaps the very first time, "Of hosting their chairman, Alessandro Gobbo, a few times. He's... I'm unsure, to be truthful. Hard to read. A bit severe in tone and stance." "Oh but keeping them as cattle is terribly illegal of course."     "Mhm mhm," Holly confirms, serious. "Keeping humans as Blood Bags is forbidden and punishable by death. Or incarceration, I suppose." Is everything just punishable by death for Revenants? "Oh, I should introduce Nicole to you."     "Oh! Would you like me to call her? I believe she's cleaning one of the exam rooms right now, but it's not like we don't have other ones, it could certainly wait a little bit."
Skipper	> "Hey, everything good at home? I heard you talked to your grandmother."     "We talked."     Skipper pauses.     "She's still not happy that I'm out here. But we talked."     > Not all Horrors are physical, you see.     "... Oh." Skipper stares at the map. "I'm glad we only have the Beasts to worry about where I'm from."     > "Even then, their presence of late has diminished greatly."     "Might be something to do first? Get the roads safe? Not everywhere has a warpgate, after all..."     > grabbing a fistful of Petra's hair in back and sharply yanking down.     Skipper tries (and mostly succeeds) to not stare. They wish they'd brought along their relationship journal, there's some entries here that clearly need updating.         > "...A kid?"     Fixed smile. "I can understand the confusion, but I am nineteen, thank you."     "... And actually... can I talk to you in private?" Skipper says as they hop down off of the chair they've been standing on.     Roland gets insistently lead away from the group - in particular, away from Tiphereth, who seems like another agent of Angela.     "(Do you... need me to rescue you?)" Skipper whispers.
Tamamo	'But clearly she's some manner of nobility, she's even wearing some manner of heraldric crest!'     "She is not," Tamamo says, and then has to pause to ask, "Pardon, is Fritillaria your family name? I am known as Tamamo-no-mae. My own family name would only be a bit confusing, today, and so, you may refer to me otherwise. As for Ms. Soroka, there is a deep cultural reason for her association with this symbolism." 'She's always ready to get worked like a dog,' Tamamo doesn't say.     ''Ghosts' and 'specters' you might call them, but still fully capable of harming you.'     "To be clear, doctor, we are not speaking of ghosts that are the residual imprints, or else the lingering spirits, of 'people,' yes? 'Horror' does refer to something else, I assume."     'Even then, their presence of late has diminished greatly. It's led to much speculation.'     'You see, here on the Frontier, 'reproduction' is strictly illegal!'     "I see." If not a full-on squint, this topic at least deserves a narrowing of the eyes. "And so, there is a risk of... revenants," not the v-word (the other v-word), "increasing their numbers... that is, their population, in the absence of such restrictive agents... do you suppose, doctor?"     'Oh, I should introduce Nicole to you. She's actually very nice. I spent all of last time talking about you!'     "Oh!" Instantly brightened back up. "Well, then, of course." Hardly a moment, even with everyone else about and as many words as are being spoken, can be spent without Tamamo leaning against, arm in arm, or holding Lilian's hand. If it's not that, it's fingertip touching. It'd be downright scandalous, if they weren't--     'Nice to see you, Mrs. Tamamo, congratulations on your marriage!'     "Thank you, Asakura-san." It'll be a little while before those words stop being an instant rep-gain.
Natsuki Nuki	Natsuki may be incapable of shame from carving it out to fit more curses, or maybe 'illube-inati' may not move her needle, but she just side-smirks at Roland. "Are you a need-to-know type or a know-too-much type?" She adds to Tiphereth, remembering something she saw in a western-style spy movie once. The ninjas, on their own, spread out, though White can catch the one closest to her giving a little bye-bye palm wave. "Should you be worried?" Natsuki shrugs, not really addressing Skipper's concern. "I brought ninjas. Is that concerning to you?" Probably for the wrong reasons. 'Oh, you mean the Bureau.' 'A bit severe in tone and stance.' Natsuki snaps out her flip phone and starts tackety-takkety thumbtyping away. As she types, she murmurs. "Sex cops . . . bureau. Stance . . . extreme." A beat of considering, Natsuki's eyes tracking up to Lilian, and then back to her phone. "Advisory . . . vinyl skirt." The truth is roughly where she expected it to be, with the situation as described. With a waning resource, scarcity meant conservation law and resource drain control... which meant population control. "So, you're not against that Bureau yourself? If you've got to live here, I understand the situation, but..." An incredulous look follows, though Lilian puts a far finer point on things. It was a very real concern! She was a serious questioner with skilled shinobi! Plus... "You've got to walk your dogs now and then to remind them of what a hunt feels like, and what the weight of orders on them feels like. Otherwise they forget, and must be re-trained. Plus, I didn't want to chase down sex cops while there was a strategy meeting to make. I've got sworn blades for that."
Kukuru	"Say... baguette!" "Baguette!" Kukuru joins in on Dandy's selfie moment, leaning over or even squatting in place if she must just to fit into frame. "Mushrooms... thanks, Kukuru." "Hehe... You're welcome, Petra. Are you a fan of mushrooms, too?" Petra can practically see the gear turning in Kukuru's head. "Maybe I can put in some dried ones for the mix...?" "That's... Insula Carcere. 'Prison Island'." "Ooooh... Hm. Sounds like one of those complicated sorts of situations.  It might be safer for them there than here if they're so far off the mainland, then." Kukuru hums softly at Holly's explanation, nodding after a moment. "Yeeeah, I guess we don't have to worry about that place, then. If we ever really need to get there fast, White or I can make it a super quick trip." "How real are these sex cops?" "The what...?" Kukuru asks, looking uncharacteristically horrified and heartbroken at what Natsuki's just said. "There aren't really... Oh, those would have to be worst kinds of Horrors if they did exist. Buuut..." She looks over to Holly, halfway between pleading and hopeful. "They aren't, right?" "The Illubeinati take this very seriously." Kukuru's anxiety levels spike when Roland makes it sound like they are not only incredibly real, but also tied in with another faction entirely. "Oh dear... Who are those? Are they the sex cops' friends, or ours?" "the Headass Bureau." And then there's a third! Kukuru's actually looking a bit on edge now, although some of that tension does drain out of her fairly quickly once she realizes Lilian's asking that with Tamamo nearby. She can't stay too worked up after remembering what happened just a few week ago. "Oh, welcome back, welcome baaack~" "You see, here on the Frontier, 'reproduction' is strictly illegal!" "Waaaait a minute. Then the sex cops are... Internal? In power?" "Ambushes... Would be simple." "Oh, you mean the Bureau." "Thaaat's a good point. We have to make sure we're super thorough about handling anyone dangerous here, so we've got a reeeal good crew here for that." Kukuru nods slowly, trying to look on the bright side of things after having to grapple with the idea that the people in power ARE the sex cops, but have their hands full with the Horrors. It's easier after seeing White and Riku snagging some of the fried mushrooms, too, and  her tail even flicks around briefly in pleased approval. "They really should focus on more important things, mhm. Even if the Horrors aren't organized, having in-fighting with anyone on this side would be reeeeal bad."
Petra Soroka	"Oh, is that your name?"     "Why would I say my name while looking at you?" Petra's dully unenergetic response slides into a little snicker. It *is* actually kind of her ancestral weapon, and it *is* very funny to call that her familial motto. Christ almighty does this guy's energy instantly get on her nerves so severely that a certain squirrel gets lodged in her mind again. "But, I'm sorry to say this, perhaps it is a little bit rude to comment on someone's height like that?"     "It actually isn't rude at all," Petra starts to say, in a repeat of the same bit she did before, when her hair is grabbed and yanked backwards, bonking her head against the corner of the chair while she whines in pain.     "Ow ow ow ow ow--! Come on! I'm gay!" What a wonderfully contextless thing to say when it's nearly certain that no one else in the room besides her and Lilian understood the slang she spewed out. "So, Holly. How real are these sex cops?"     "Natsukiiiii!" Petra calls out, raising a fist in forearm-bumping posture. She rubs the back of her head to settle the aftereffect tingles of hair-pulling, shaking her head like a dog.     Of all things, *that's* what makes her start locking in. Her knee slips below the table, hitting the ground to give her the space to lean forwards excitedly. "Holy shit, though. Look, Doctor Asturias here's not super in the loop on the government of the world, since she's just specialized into medicine here. It's gonna fall to us to figure out how legitimate the sex cops are, because that's an *unhinged* political scheme and I'm gonna rip it out of the ground with my bare hands." "Ms. Soroka, if you would summarize existing concerns."     Petra rocks up to her feet, setting all of her snacks and treats down, and gives a silly little salute. "Yes ma'am! So, uh," She circles around to the map, leaning on the table as if this is her place and she's giving a lecture.     "The people of this world are split into humans and Revenants, basically vampires, who can only survive by drinking human blood. Some, century, or something, ago, the Resurgence happened, which was a disaster that wiped out the whole Earth outside of what's protected by that Spire there," Pointing at the spot indicated on the map."By transforming any living organism into monsters known as Horrors, which still happens in the part of the world that's safe via a transmissable disease-like phenomenon that Dr. Asturias studies."     Straightening up, Petra taps a finger against her wrist while pacing around in a limited area-- Lilian was right, actually; she was *super* restless. "There's a bunch of things that have caught my attention already-- um, namely, that the social power dynamic between humans and Revenants is one that kind of strains belief with its official story. Humans, it's pretty plainly obvious, are the extracted-from class in comparison to Revenants-- the latter of which have to consume the former to survive, but the former aren't reliant on the latter in any way except one, which I'll get to in a sec. The official story is that humans, through numbers, and Revenants, through individual magical strength and predation, have traded the bulk of societal power back and forth throughout history, and now the governmental body of the world, the Bureau, is comprised of both. But!"
Skipper	> "Pardon, is Fritillaria your family name?"     "Yes! The Fritillaria family, of the Lofty Court of the Cloud. And it is wonderful to meet your acquaintance! Regardless if it is confusing or not I would eagerly endeavor to understand it, but if you wish to simply be Tamamo-no-Mae I shall certainly accept your wishes."     Selfie!     "Ahh, it is a cultural symbolism, not a noble one." Pause, and a concerned look. "Ah, but that does put a little pin in my plans, does it not? I had been planning on adopting 'Doing My Puppy Best' as a new battle cry, but if it is not a noble phrasing but a cultural one then perhaps using it would be a bit... appropriative."     "I suppose it'd be for the best if that particularly appealing turn of phrase remained the sole jurisdiction of Miss Soroka and her culture. It'd be for... the puppy best." He puts a hand over his beak, blushing slightly. "Ah, forgive me, I had to get in just one more. Truly I have given it up now, I promise."     > "I brought ninjas. Is that concerning to you?"     "... Can you... teach, ninja-ing," asks Skipper carefully, now locked onto Natsuki. Visions of running around on rooftops (which they can already do), sneaking around silently (which they can already do), and throwing sharp objects with deadly precision (which they can already do) reflect in Skipper's eyes, except in this new fantasy, they're wearing all black (which they can't do) (they don't own any black outfits). "Is this a thing you are offering. I have money. For lessons."     Skipper also snags some fried mushrooms. Food is important.
Petra Soroka	Petra raises up a finger. She's having a lot of fun. "There's too many things that don't line up. Post-Resurgence, the human population was massacred down to be roughly in line with the Revenants, resting at a level that appears to be the minimal possible population necessary to *feed* the surviving Revenants. The Horrors, from what I've learned, interact uniquely with Revenant magic as if derived from a similar source, and also, provide the mutual benefit to humans that I mentioned earlier-- as in, Revenants grant their magic to humans so that they can protect themselves against the Horrors."     "To take the sex cops seriously for a sec," She gestures towards Natsuki's ninjas with a completely straight face, "The only idea that that could make that a reasonable policy decision, or at least a reasonable thing to make people believe, is *human pacification*. Meaning, the current social atmosphere is one that's dependent on humans broadly believing that the blood provided to Revenants for their consumption is fully voluntary except for a handful of bad actors, as fair and just payment for Revenant Hunters-- they don't hunt Revenants-- powers. Expanding the Revenant population would strain that belief, obviously, and this gives the impression that there are humans looking out for the stability of humankind in the Bureau."     Petra slams her palms down on the table. "But I don't believe it! In my opinion, it's just a *staying pattern* while they plot something else! *Horrors* have blood too, you know; blood that gives Revenants sustenance! I think that the Resurgence, likely caused by some Revenant scheme that went haywire, crippled their numbers but provided them the ultimate means to domesticate humanity into blood-cattle, by transforming them all into blood-filled monster sacs once they figure out how to properly control the spread."     Petra takes a breath, dusts off her hands, and smiles. With a much lighter tone and a smile, she adds, "Oh, but, um, that's just a guess! I just have a feeling that Doctor Asturias is gonna get murdered by the Revenant political leaders if she makes any progress on curing the disease. Sorry," She turns her head towards Holly for just a second to shoot that her way.     Drawing her finger across the map in a line from the Sanatorium to the Bureau, "Also, I'm sorta just working off vibes, here. I *know* there's a conspiracy, but one of my goals is gonna be to talk to one of the other Revenant family heads besides Asturias and get their perspective too. Right now, we don't have any info on warpgates outside of the immediately local area, but I can cover a lot of ground really quickly by myself, so it's easy enough for me to try and find them."     Holding up three fingers and counting off towards Tamamo, "So, um, I want to investigate the Bureau for any suggestion that the Horror phenomenon might be manufactured in any way. The city down south is one that was destroyed by a major Resurgence-like event, and I also plan on checking that out. Also, there's a broken down amusement park full of monsters, and I want to climb up the Ferris wheel."
Lilian Rook	'That's... Insula Carcere. 'Prison Island'. Very on-the-nose naming. Revenants too dangerous to be free but who don't warrant execution for one reason or another are sent there. I cannot imagine there being much of interest there.'     Lilian's shocked, morbidly excited gaze is magnetically drawn to Petra. She lowers her voice, but not quite enough; mostly just to lend gravity to her vibrating tones of on-the-verge-of-laughing dread. "No way. No way vampire tease and denial medical university prison is real. She's altering the timeline!" She doesn't mean Holly.     'Half ghosts.'     Lilian looks back at Roland. "What? Don't look at me! I'm human!" she says, missing the point, because her species is constantly under questioning lately. Like franklya lot. "--Oh my god did she say pathos?"     'Don't Revenants essentially live forever? Eternal imprisonment...'     Lilian purses her lips at Tiphereth and decides to say nothing.     'If you find yourself with spare time after the little meeting, our hot springs remain at both of your disposals, of course.'     Then she latches onto Tamamo's side. "We gotta we gotta we gotta we gotta! It's so good! You have to see!"     'Ah, the Bureau of Frontier Management is...'     "Right. The Headass Bureau." Lilian nods, very officiously, while still hanging off Tamamo. She looks at the map. "Oh goodness. I'm certainly relieved to see when justice and enforcement are handled by two different wings. It's so rare, and yet so important, that the people handle food and infrastructure and representation are essentially a different government from the people who do all the killing."     "I'm being sarcastic, by the way." Lilian says to the room. "In case you couldn't tell."     'I can understand the confusion, but I am nineteen, thank you.'     "Nineteen is a kid." says Lilian, who was nineteen when she joined the Paladins.     'I am known as Tamamo-no-mae. My own family name would only be a bit confusing, today, and so, you may refer to me otherwise.'     Lilian leans in and whispers "--ould alwa--ume Roo--u know~?"     'To be clear, doctor, we are not speaking of ghosts that are the residual imprints, or else the lingering spirits, of 'people,' yes? 'Horror' does refer to something else, I assume.'     "It's a sort of violent mutant that seems to 'just happen' around here." says Lilian, verbal scare quotes and all. "From what I've gathered, any mention of 'ghosts' here would only be describing an Intruder/Immaculate strain. But then, Revenants were known to be weak to the sun not long ago, so . . ."     'in the absence of such restrictive agents... do you suppose, doctor?'     §Come on stupid brain. Be normal. Don't look at her tits. Nobody needs the point made. Everyone else is smart and understands the joke. It doesn't need to be said out loud. We're all silently sharing it via telepathy.§
Lilian Rook	'You've got to walk your dogs now and then to remind them of what a hunt feels like, and what the weight of orders on them feels like. Otherwise they forget, and must be re-trained.'     Lilian unsubtly glances at Petra. "I suppose you're correct."     'Ow ow ow ow ow--! Come on! I'm gay!'     "You know what the difference is." Lilian sighs. She goes to put her hands on her hip, then ends up rubbing her palm on the back of Petra's chair first, as if to remove dust from touching her hair. "Besides. Everyone can tell just by looking at you anyways."     'Oh, welcome back, welcome baaack~'     "Hi Kukuru~" Lilian wiggles her fingers. 'Welcome back' is a reference to a honeymoon, which implicitly references a marriage! Brain hacked!
Holly Asturias	"Wait, ghosts? Can they be harmed?"     Holly nods! "There's a *fascinating* thing about the spectral Horrors, you see. They all have candles as part of their anatomy. Destroying those candles destroys the spectral body. As long as you don't forget to do that, it's the same as dealing with normal Horrors. Mostly. Their flesh and blood have... odd properties, but that's a lecture I don't think I have time to give right now." That's awful. So dangerous, Revenant meaning those who go against the system set up by the Bureau here, right?"     "Those who don't run afoul of the Revenant Hunters first, yes. As with a great many subjects I must confess I'm not too knowledgeable on their functioning. I know someone who is, and who might be quite happy to explain-- ah, he's a magistrate for the Bureau. Quite busy, but if I place a call I could surely book something." "Wait, they're not patrolling as much,"     "Mhm. The amount of Horrors hasn't ever particularly decreased, either. But whether it's intentional, or a result of losing people to Horrors and having less bodies to patrol, I couldn't say. That's why your help is invaluable." "Or does Horror stuff stick with your ghost too?" "To be clear, doctor, we are not speaking of ghosts that are the residual imprints, or else the lingering spirits, of 'people,' yes? 'Horror' does refer to something else, I assume."     "A little of both, actually. Spectral Horrors certainly resemble people more than average, though they're still maddened beasts in the end. They aren't 'ghosts' in the sense that a dead person produces one, but a person who turns into a Horror here - Revenant or human alike, and even animals - seems to produce this spectral variant with more regularity than elsewhere in the Frontier. I dearly hope that they aren't actual spirits corrupted into Horrors, that would be..."     Holly shivers just a bit.     "Terrifying, truly. There would never be an end to Horrors then." "Don't Revenants essentially live forever? Eternal imprisonment... Do people check in on them? What are the operations like on... Prison Island."     "It depends. Revenants from the cardinal bloodlines live longer. Theoretically forever, but it isn't as though we have a way to verify that. Between Horrors and the inevitable bloodthirst and frenzy that follows, a few hundred years, at most, is a more realistic life expectancy." "Might be something to do first? Get the roads safe? Not everywhere has a warpgate, after all..."     "Quite! And if that is the goal..." She indicates a few spots on the map, trailing south from the Sanatorium. "A number of outposts and villages have fallen in recent years, ones the main paths pass through. Clearing them out... isn't likely to bring people back to their homes, if they yet live, but it'll make tips here safer." "And so, there is a risk of... revenants increasing their numbers... that is, their population, in the absence of such restrictive agents... do you suppose, doctor?"     "I... suppose," Holly admits, hands tapping the table idly as she stands. "But that would be... self-defeating, in more ways than one. Blood is already at a premium. What is there to gain by making more of us?" A sigh, finally. "Whether I understand the intent or not, I do have to admit it's a possibility. That there's Revenants out there building armies, or trafficking humans. I dislike the thought, though."     Well that's nice. Surely that'll make them stop!
White	Riku's wave... Well, it surprises White a little bit, for a moment. But it's not hard to wrap her head around the idea that someone who characterizes themselves around their capabilities and nature as a hero-type, with an inherited name and duty and all of that, would be more forgiving than most. It takes her a moment, but she does lamely return the wave, albeit with a hand full of apple slices so she can't really spread her fingers properly. Even without knowing each other well, that last encounter had been pretty bad for both of them, so... It feels best to just let it slide off her back as long as Riku's willing to.      The ongoing 'sex cops' bit, on the other hand, seems to be engaging White's mental barriers at full power; Roland doesn't seem to have much to fear from her even making expansions to the topic as he is. 'Trying to maintain appearances by looking disinterested' is basically an automatic function of White's parallel minds at this point, since they can take any weird joke or observation and run it into the ground inside her head in record time, thereby making it unfunny enough to ignore! ... Which is, maybe, a bit tragic. It's a bit like trying to control your diet by running every piece of food you find through a meat grinder first so that it isn't appealing... Then again, for someone with what's basically X-ray vision and an army of tiny marketable spies, it's probably best that she never give off any impression of even *percieving* certain subjects..?      When Holly answers her, White nods in acknowledgement of the difference in voice first. She has her hands full, so she lifts one arm slightly so that one of her spyders can poke its face and front legs out from extraspatial storage, along with her usual phone; the case is all black, with a couple of small halloween-themed stickers. "Digital... Transcription. For while I'm... Working."      When her question is answered, White nods again slightly, taking a moment to finish eating the mushroom she grabbed from Kukuru's cooler and wipe her fingers on a small cloth- made on the spot within a few moments of silk-conjuring without much fanfare. "Not strange... Small monsters... Orbit large ones... For easier hunting. It can be... Difficult... To erase a pack of monsters. But if the leader is gone... Then you don't need... Specialists, to finish the rest. The weaker ones... Won't be as bold... Either. Probably." She takes a quiet breath, like she's become winded from speaking even at her meandering pace. "... Less territorial conflict... Means they become... More predictable, too. Less likely... That they push each other... Into your territory."      That was a lot to say about monster horde management, but only because it's something that's 'easy' for White to think about. She almost even frowns a little about the talk of the Bureau, when that comes up. She has a few thoughts at the same time, but the one that manages to sneak out of her lips is, "It sounds hard... To keep revenants fed... Compared to vampires. The populations... Are really unfavorable... For everyone, it sounds like." Too few humans, too many revenants, however you put it. White's secretly a little glad that within the System, vampires had already been wiped out at one point before Sophia. Not because of a preference for humans, but just... Geez, she can't imagine managing to keep all of them fed and sane, and there's no WAY most of them would be as cool about going hungry as Merazophis is. White's kind of glad she never got a taste for humans herself, really... Actually, didn't she kind of ban Sophia from 'reproducing' too? Wow, that has to stay an inside thought forever, doesn't it?      Well, back to practical matters. It doesn't look like Holly's starving or ravening or what-have-you, so the more selfishly useful thing to know is how to kill a ghost- which someone else asked already. Yay! We love glowing weakpoints. Even when those weakpoints glow because they are actually candles.
Riku Asakura	'She's still not happy that I'm out here. But we talked.' Riku nods to Skipper, "I'm glad you talked.  It's good to be open and honest about things.  I hope you take what she said to you to heart, because Beast Breaking is both serious and dangerous business.  But you seem to have your heart set on being a hero, so I want to encourage that from you!" 'Thank you, Asakura-san.' "No problem!" He says back to Tamamo with a wide grin.  He's happy for Tamamo and Lilian, especially because they seem to be happy together! At White's wave, Riku smiles at her and seems to take things in stride.  For him, forgiving is easier than holding onto a grudge, at least.  Grudges are tiresome, and despite this, he has already worked with Schneider a few times, so it'd be silly to hold things against White! 'They all have candles as part of their anatomy. Destroying those candles destroys the spectral body.' "Oh, phew.  That's good.  So destroy the candles and destroy the horror.  I think I can remember that!" Riku says with renewed energy while eating some of the fried mushrooms that Kukuru provided.  It's a big relief for him to know that even ghosts can be destroyed here, as opposed to other places where they can just turn invisible and leave. 'Those who don't run afoul of the Revenant Hunters first, yes.' Riku nods. It's a fine line to walk here.  That and with what Petra is saying, he's concerned for Dr. Holly's safety should she be successful in curing the Horrors.  He doesn't have any proof, of course, so he just has to wait and see; maybe he's wrong, though.  That would be good! 'That's why your help is invaluable.' Riku smiles and nods to Holly.  "Right, I'm happy to help in any way I can!" 'Quite! And if that is the goal...' "That seems like a good idea.  Clear out the villages and towns and keep the roads safe so we can move around more easily and perhaps even get your supplies back.  Without warp gates, though, this is going to be a slog.  Still worth doing, I think!"
Holly Asturias	"Well, then, of course."     "One moment~"     Holly pulls out of her bloodstream, via fancy gushing spirals of golden blood, her phone. She tappety-tap-taps on it, and then sets it down on the table.     It isn't long after that NICOLE peeks into the room. Wearing the full blue scrubs of the clinic, mask still on, including goggles, she's got flaming red hair and grey eyes, and stands out amongst the rest of staff as only one of two without red eyes - or vampire fangs, for that matter.     "Doctor? Am I-- oh."     She sees the crowd.     "RIGHT that was tonight. Uh. Hi again! I'm..."     "Nicole, my precious, wonderful right-hand!" Holly zooms from her position to briefly cling to Nicole, in a completely normal and affectionate manner. Then she pushes her towards the table, down her back.     "Yep, that. I... haven't met some of you? Sorry, hang on. Doctor, what did you need me for?"     Holly blinks. "Hm? Lilian was praising you to her amazing wife. That would be--"     Nicole, who has eyes and can see, smiles and nods. "Oh no wonder you kept singing her praises," she says towards Lilian. "I see it. And I bet I'll hear it too."
Angela	''There might not be much to note this time.'' "Mm. Petra's here though." Tiphereth answers, as if that her very presence might indicate there's something worth taking notes on. Or maybe Tiphereth just knows that Petra gets really in deep when learning about the cultures and deals of other worlds so there's decent odds of her digging something up even today that Holly might not have even thought was worth talking about. Roland is a little hesitant to be pulled away but upon seeing a serious mouse-face, he just sort of gives in and follows after Skipper. ''Do you... need me to rescue you?'' Roland, who is technically not allowed to leave Angela's employ and is largely allowed to leave the Library because he's been on good enough behavior and came back enough times that Angela doesn't think he'll run away or, at the very least, trusts that Petra would make any attempt to just leave real trouble for him--nonetheless seems surprised by the question. "I... don't know what you're talking about." But he does pause before adding, "Nineteen is still a kid to me. I get that some places expect you to be professional-grade with a sword before twenty but--" He frowns, not really sure how to voice his disquiet about the mercenary economy he's a part of. "When I'm in real danger I'll call, alright?" He lies. ''Are you a need-to-know type or a know-too-much type?'' "I'm a philisophically opposed to bits type," Tiphereth answers. "Though that's also kind of a bit--" Roland points out. Tiphereth sighs, "Need to know type." She gives as an answer largely because she doesn't know exactly what Natsuki is asking actually but figures an answer of some sort will soothe over the meeting. ''Oh dear... Who are those? Are they the sex cops' friends or ours?'' Roland thinks Kukuru is playing along with the bit and so answers, just as 'seriously' as before. "The sex cops serve the interests of sex capital." ''To take the sex cops seriously for a sec.'' Tiphereth quirks an eyebrow at Holly as if to say 'see?' ''What? Don't look at me! I'm human!'' Roland's intention wasn't to imply Lilian had ghost ancestry but Lilian's vehement denial reminds Roland that she DOES have like ancestral ghosts just chilling around. It seems distressingly plausible Lilian might be part ghost all of a sudden. But to voice that would make him sound like an idiot so instead he says, "I wasn't--trying to imply you were a ghost, Lilian. Sorry." It's Roland's turn to give Skipper an arched eyebrow look when Lilian agrees with him that nineteen is a kid. ''I dearly hope that they aren't actual spirits corrupted into Horrors.'' This makes Roland worry even more. It feels like Holly, the person who is supposed to be the biggest expert, also doesn't really know exactly all these details. She might be a brilliant doctor but if you don't think to ask the right questions, all those brains aren't gonna help much with the problem. He grimaces visibly at the answer but would also like to hope that actual ghosts aren't being corrupted or anything so he doesn't press harder. "A long time." She tells Holly. "Does the ... effects of the Resurgance spread more quickly in the prison?"
Angela	''White's secretly a little glad that within the System, vampires had already been wiped out.'' Unbeknownst to White, Roland is feeling pretty glad that whatever is going on with the Blood Fiends, they are still managing to be very rare within The City. Do they have their own sex cops? He doesn't know but he supposes he has some experience as a 'Revenant Hunter'. He is not going to mention Blood Fiends have managed to hold off on growing in number, however, because he's a little worried this will get people calling The City sexless again which, as the one project moon character who is confirmed to have fucked, feels like a bit like an attack on him sometimes.
Tamamo	'It's so wonderful to make your acquaintance!'     "A pleasure." Tamamo makes the slightest bow, which somehow works, even in a Western-style evening gown.     'If you find yourself with spare time after the little meeting, our hot springs remain at both of your disposals, of course.'     "Hot springs, was it...? Lilian did mention something of that kind." Tamamo turns to catch Lilian's eye, the question of 'shall we?' implied.     'We gotta we gotta we gotta we gotta!'     "Well, then! I suppose we must. I hope there to be good sake. One can hardly find full enjoyment in hot springs, otherwise." What a dangerous viewpoint.     '...Alessandro Gobbo, a few times. He's... I'm unsure, to be truthful. Hard to read. A bit severe in tone and stance.'     Tamamo leans in to speak softly to Lilian, "A chairman of the repression committee would be, I suppose?" Back to conversational volume, "Is 'frontier management' the primary duty? What does 'frontier' entail, in this context, as opposed to more settled lands?" Should have checked the world map before arriving. Classic oversight. But then, she was a bit busy.     'Otherwise they forget, and must be re-trained.'     Tamamo turns over this idea, not quite (yet) slotting it into place. "I shall give this due consideration."     'Regardless if it is confusing or not I would eagerly endeavor to understand it...'     "Oh, it is no great matter, Mr. Fritillaria. It is only that the family name I have recently adopted is held by another here." If Dandy was listening when Riku spoke, he may have picked up that context already.     'It'd be for... the puppy best.'     "Perhaps so." Tamamo's tone is solemn, though she smiles. "She shall likely turn to another motto in due time, as is the way of cultural expression, though I imagine she shall always have these words somewhere in her heart." Petra will always be doing her puppy best... probably, Tamamo thinks. If not, she'll just have to be set straight.     At some point, Tamamo takes a seat and listens to Petra explain the situation, theories included. "I am only more... confused, I suppose one might say, now... by the notion of this being a 'frontier,' if it is also the only area not entirely transformed by a cataclysmic event. Just what, and where, is the remaining population?" She had assumed there to be a more sizeable civilized area, by the presence of restrictive authoritarian bodies.     "As vampires were mentioned, I do need to ask... Dr. Asturias, do revenants have a particular aversion to sunlight, whether in ordinary or particular circumstances?"     'But then, Revenants were known to be weak to the sun not long ago, so . . .'     "Just recently, and yet, no longer...?" Tamamo will think on how to judge that, but it's not the worst answer.     From there, returning her attention to Petra, "That the blood of the Horrors should suffice as well as that of humanity... is the blood of revenants no different? Does it only need to be 'blood,' of any kind? This does rather change the overall impression. Among these plans... discovering the nature of 'that which is a Horror' stands highest in my own priorities. Other matters will depend on this."
Holly Asturias	"So, you're not against that Bureau yourself? If you've got to live here, I understand the situation, but..."     "Should I be?"     Holly looks at Natsuki like she's an alien.     "They provide arbitration between our kinds, they ensure humans aren't being mistreated, that Revenants have blood... even if less so, of late. They even fund parts of my operations here. My duty is to my research, and to bettering the situation for all of us. I can't help but feel like 'standing against them' would... presuming it's possible, simply make things worse."     She doesn't want to find out if they can just show up on her doorstep and raze her clinic to the ground. Not especially. Not until she's done, anyway.     "But I acknowledge, as Petra highlights quite well, that things aren't perfect either. There's certainly something going on."     But what, she couldn't say. "Look, Doctor Asturias here's not super in the loop on the government of the world, since she's just specialized into medicine here."     "Mhm," she nods happily. Petra got most of it right! There's nothing she feels a pressing need to correct, at least. Except... "Oh, but, um, that's just a guess! I just have a feeling that Doctor Asturias is gonna get murdered by the Revenant political leaders if she makes any progress on curing the disease. Sorry,"     "I truly hope not. But I'll sleep with an eye open." other Revenant family heads besides Asturias     "On that subject!! The seven cardinal bloodlines are Superbia, Gula, Luxuria, Ira, Acedia, Avaritia and Invidia. As part of my research, I desperately need blood samples from the other six - not just any member will do. I need someone as close as possible to the center of the family tree, or at least, a Revenant of considerable power. Luxuria, obviously, is already handled, being my own. Superbia is the bloodline of House Voda, and I may have a contact who can help - the same magistrate I mentioned earlier."     She points in the broad direction of the 'Sunken City' region on the map, down south. "I've heard that the Gula bloodline has a champion in charge of a very sizeable band of Revenant and human survivors trying to retake portions of the city from the Horrors."     But as for the rest, she frowns. "I do not know where to begin looking for the others." "Also, there's a broken down amusement park full of monsters, and I want to climb up the Ferris wheel."     "OH! Yes! My, if you go, I *must* accompany you. I know my way around. There are some sizeable Horrors there, though, and it's quite cold up there, so pack warm. The climb takes close to a hour." "--Oh my god did she say pathos?"     "Are you familiar with the terminology?" Holly looks at Lilian, a bit curious. "Here, Pathos refers to an emotional imprint left by the living on the land. Universally these are net-negatives; a murder, a tragedy, a zealous crusade. It leaves a sort of miasma, like Ichor in the air, and it can influence the behaviors of people - and Horrors - within. We've always thought the whole forest was under some manner of Pathos, but... I'm a doctor, ahah. A bit limited in what I can do about this." "Digital... Transcription. For while I'm... Working."     "Oh how clever! I understand completely. We never seem to have enough hands for all the things we want to do, do we?"
Lilian Rook	'A chairman of the repression committee would be, I suppose?'     Lilian nods, then whispers back, "Not to be a Petra about it or anything, but his name is Gobbo." She pauses, performing a few quick memory rolls. Bryce's middle name is Alexander which is the root version of the Italianized name Alessandro and Alexander means-- "Defender of man? Isn't that a little on the nose?"     'I wasn't--trying to imply you were a ghost, Lilian. Sorry.'     Lilian stares at Roland like-- She forgot for a second. "Oh." Hmm. There's not really a noble way to brush this off. "The only way a 'half-ghost' would be a thing is a symbiosis of ghost and vessel, as in the case of certain undead and many haunted objects old enough to harbour a nascent will. Like--" Well. "Like the candles, I suppose? Odd."     'I'm a philisophically opposed to bits type'     "Then you'll fit right in with the sex cops." Lilian smirks, Britishly.
Petra Soroka	"Revenants too dangerous to be free but who don't warrant execution for one reason or another are sent there."     The name 'Prison Island' calls to Petra like sirensong. "Uh huh. Dangerous how? Ever been? Who's to say what dangerous really means? How are they given food, or is it *witheld* from them?"     She's fully Red Dwarf moding here. The official story on every single aspect of this entire world has become suspect to her. "No way vampire tease and denial medical university prison is real."     Having it commented on externally, by Lilian, makes Petra's doomed fate feel much more sealed than it did when it was just inside of her head. Inevitably, she's going to end up on vampire sex prison island, and who knows what'll happen to her there, but for now she protests. "It's just because of my deductive skills! My clever deductive skills!" "I was asked to take notes. Apparently Roland didn't take any last time."     Tiphereth really is the most trustworthy Sephirah there is. Petra nods at her approvingly, and then gives Roland a faux-disapproving look. "Reaaally? He didn't?" Hypothetically this would be Petra's fault, as Roland's immediate superior, but she's kind of split the Patron Librarian position with Roland by her absence. "Well, Roland, to make up for that, you should write summaries for that long series of sociology essays we got in recently, so that we can browse them more easily." "I'm being sarcastic, by the way."     "The government killing-branch, which, by the way!" Petra points emphatically at Lilian in agreement. "Is made up of the class of person that's fully dependent on having the metaphorical arms supplied by someone higher up in the hierarchy! Who's giving their powers to the Association of Revenant Hunters, huh? Who's really in control? Anyone got a record of that?" "They all have candles as part of their anatomy."     Petra frowns. She bends over, propping up her elbows on the table to peer at the 'Undead Forest' part of the map suspiciously. A Silver tendril surreptitiously spears another mushroom and brings it over to her mouth. "Well, now, what's up with that? I feel like details explanations about the specific strains of Horrors can probably wait until we've actually fought one ourselves-- if the Bureau's pulling back from protection duties, or if they're being sabotaged, or anything, then we should have a chance soon, right? But what you're saying is, there are themed 'categories' of Horror subtypes, which are then influenced within those categories by the former person's magic?"     "See, that actually feels relevant to know. Because in my head, I was comparing them to Distortions-- the Light, the transformation, the everything-- but that's really more similar to Abnormalities, isn't it?" Not that this dichotomy is the only way Petra can think about these things, but she still hasn't seen a Horror, and the comparison is one that's helpful to most of the people here.     "Top-down categorization implies top-down determinism. As in, Abnormalities were extracted through particular, industrialized means, sorted into categories not just by the labels we gave them, but also loosely by the process of creating them. Distortions, happening passively through the environment, don't have any preexisting categories at all. There being, basically, 'species' of Horrors, implies a lot, I think?"
Petra Soroka	"I know someone who is, and who might be quite happy to explain-- ah, he's a magistrate for the Bureau."     "Hell yeah. I'd talk with him." Greedy little plot hook guzzler. She's so hungry for plot hooks! "Hot springs, was it...? Lilian did mention something of that kind."     "Oh! Yeah! They're really nice!" Petra bounces up and down on the balls of her feet and claps her hands together. Why are you excited! You're not invited! "There's a super pretty view, too! Uh, we might have drank out all of the Sanatorium's stocks last time, but I've got alcohol with me." "What does 'frontier' entail, in this context, as opposed to more settled lands?"     "Yeah, right? Weird name." Petra circles the whole map with her finger, the radius around the Sealing Spire. "As I understand it, this whole situation is the Frontier. Doctor Asturias said that there are scattered smaller communities before, but nothing large, and Nicole said that her-- oh, hi Nicole-- her place where she used to live just had a few dozen houses." "I see it. And I bet I'll hear it too."     Sometimes women can just be summoned by the call of other women, and then get pushed around and displayed like a show dog. Nicole and Petra are allies in spirit. In an unnecessary extra introduction, Petra holds her hand out in Tamamo's direction like she's walking the red carpet. "Yeah! That's Tamamo-no-Mae! Lilian's wife!" She makes a secondhand pleased 'huhu' when Tamamo talks about her *new* family name. "Dr. Asturias, do revenants have a particular aversion to sunlight, whether in ordinary or particular circumstances?"     "They did before!" Petra helpfully supplies, then jabs her finger in a seemingly random direction to Tamamo, pointing towards the library in the three dimensional space of the house. "Uh, it was a long time ago, though. I was gonna keep an eye out for details when going through the library collection with Doctor Asturias." "Does it only need to be 'blood,' of any kind?"     Petra shakes her head, then crosses her arms in front of her body in an X for good measure. Being cartoonishly overexaggerated is a side effect of being hyped up on her fixation. "Nope. If I remember right, Revenant blood does work. Animal blood doesn't-- only sapient, or formerly-sapient in the case of Horrors." "But I acknowledge, as Petra highlights quite well, that things aren't perfect either. There's certainly something going on."     "Oh, I'll get to the bottom of it! I'm not a doctor or anything, but snooping around like this is the best way I can contribute to the global well-being besides just, like, fighting stuff." Sentences that come before Petra causes something disastrous to happen, either to herself or others. "I truly hope not. But I'll sleep with an eye open."     "Might wanna keep your results close to the, chest, though." Petra blinks and hesitates, revving down her gear slightly. "Um, I'd probably make efforts to obscure how much 'progress' you make in the future. And maybe even limit how much your staff knows." She waves to Nicole, who's nice, so she's exempt.
Lilian Rook	'I do not know where to begin looking for the others.'     Suddenly, after a lot of borderline cuddling with Tamamo instead of commenting on the situation, Lilian interjects "Oh, not to worry." looking completely serious. "You've made a good impression on Bouanich, and she's a fantastic diviner. Leave the finding to her and--" Lilian raises a hand, tries to figure out a gesture that conveys 'obtaining blood', then frowns and slowly puts her hand away again. "The rest to me."     'Are you familiar with the terminology?'     "I know what the word means." Lilian says, as if she's suspicious of being intellectually underestimated. "Actually, even in the supernatural sense, most of that is exactly the same at home. Only it's not restricted to murders and genocides." Blinking, she glances towards Petra, and makes a little sigh of recognition. "Well, you're doubly lucky, because my beautiful wife is the premier expert in everything to do with curses, posessions, spirits, secret magic, and everything that can be done about them!" She actually puffs out her chest more when she's bragging about Tamamo than herself, huh. "And, if you don't mind me saying, a savant in all of the healing arts. So that'll be as good as done once she sets her mind to it!"     'It's just because of my deductive skills! My clever deductive skills!'     "No you stupid whore; I came up with that one!" says Lilian, weirdly light-hearted about calling Petra a 'stupid whore'. "So that has to be her doing! Or like--" Her volume suddenly drops. "They aren't . . . There aren't any . . ." She glances left and right, just to check. ". . . About prisons, recently, are there?"     'I feel like details explanations about the specific strains of Horrors can probably wait until we've actually fought one ourselves--'     Lilian has already fished her pendant out from under her dress. Twirling it idly around her finger, she says "There's a very quick way to exclude half the options."     'Uh, we might have drank out all of the Sanatorium's stocks last time, but I've got alcohol with me.'     Lilian holds out her hand. "Then where is it Petra?"     'Doctor? Am I-- oh.'     "Nicole! Hi!"     'Oh no wonder you kept singing her praises,'     "Right?!" Lilian nearly kicks her chair over just standing up. "I was praising you for being such a hardworking sweetheart and for helping Doctor Asturias so diligently, of course." Well. She didn't specify that. But. "And for clearly having excellent sense! When are you off next?"
Kukuru	"She's altering the timeline!" "She is? Oh, congratulations! Developing new powers is something not a lot of people can do and deeefinitely not so fast, that's for sure. "I'm being sarcastic, by the way." At least one person in today's audience goes "Ohhh." Of course it's Kukuru. "Hi Kukuru~" "He-llo, Liliaaaan~" Kukuru wiggles her fingers back at Lilian, easily amused and even more easily pleased. More importantly, it distracts her from the topic of sex cops! "They all have candles as part of their anatomy. " "That's suuuper different from the ghosts back home, then. Hmm... Oh! I wonder if we can just yank them off...?" Kukuru suggests as she looks over at Holly, reaching out and grasping an invisible candle before pantomiming tossing it away. "Oooor... Oh, oh. Would it help if we brought some of them back for your research? If we pull them off, or gather up  the ghost stuff..." Kukuru pauses to munch on some of the snacks she got from Holly's dining tables earlier. She's had plenty of her own food, so she's more eager to try something different! "a person who turns into a Horror here ... seems to produce this spectral variant" "So that makes it double important to keep anyone from turning into one. Otherwiiise..." Kuxkuru purses her lips. "One becomes two, and you're also down someone that could've worked to stop them instead. And with blood already-yeeaeh. At a premium..." She scrunches her face up a bit, still stumped to any potential solutions that don't involve human ranching. "That there's Revenants out there building armies, or trafficking humans." "Those kinds of groups sure would be a strain on what's left, mhm mhm." Tapping her chin and closing her eyes in thought, Kukuru's thoughts linger on the possibility of rogue revenants before she looks back up at Holly. "If we do end up running into any of them  while we're helping you, what do you want us to do about them?" "The sex cops serve the interests of sex capital." Now big money interests are involved? Thanks to Roland's revelation and Kukuru's herness, her head is starting to spin a little, and a quietly upset noise comes out of her after a moment. "That's terrible... It should be open and free, not under that kind of control. That's just gonna make people unhappy and breed resentment..." "Hi again! I'm..." Predictably, the arrival of a returning face bring Kukuru's mood right back out of the dump it was in earlier. "Oh! He-llo, Nicole. Mhm, mhm, we met last time and took a nice long soak. Come, come, we're talking about loooots of important stuff here today." She invites, holding out one of the not-tupperware mushroom and meat containers to her as well.
White	Hearing about the bloodlines and the origins of horrors and so on and so forth is... Well, a bit more nuanced than White would like, but it is what it is. To try and boil down what sounds like a steadily more complicated situation every time Petra talks, White quietly adds to Lilian's own recommendation of relying on Matilda and herself. "If there are... Concerns, about identifying... The correct people... I should be able to help. By discerning... Their family, and name... But only in person." Then as a sort of afterthought White muses, "Revenants losing their... Vulnerability to the sun... Sophia is similar. Revenants... Sound fairly different... From vampires, but... Not as much, from a Progenitor." Isn't it weird to call Sophia a progenitor of anything when she's banned from- you know what, let's stop that thought there.      "... You even manipulate... Your blood, similarly. But I'm not sure... There's enough in common to... Be useful to your research." Sounds like they could find out, though.
Holly Asturias	"... Less territorial conflict... Means they become... More predictable, too. Less likely... That they push each other... Into your territory."     "I've heard some people describe Horror movements as 'migration patterns'. I'm rather unsure if there's any truth to such a science, but Revenant Hunters in particular use those predictions for their patrols. Or so some have claimed. So... there might well be something to that." "It sounds hard... To keep revenants fed... Compared to vampires."     "Compared to fiction, yes. We feed on the Ichor contained in blood, moreso than the fluid itself. If blood keeps decently well in a fridge, Ichor is very volatile. For a Revenant's purposes, blood goes 'bad' within a week at most. Often, less than that. And so by the time we receive it, it's to be consumed, not stockpiled. If one were to develop the means to keep a blood's 'life' longer, it would change everything." Sadly: doctor, and not that kind. She's not even found a lead yet. "A long time." She tells Holly. "Does the ... effects of the Resurgance spread more quickly in the prison?"     There's a long pause, as Holly considers the implications of locking Revenants in a prison complex. Or people at all. What if there was a Resurgence-like event there? Or even just a single, contagious, Horror?     "... I certainly hope not. Or that if it does, their staff is equipped to handle it. Otherwise, that island may well be nothing but a Horror cage now."     The threat of being sent to the HORROR CAGE is just as bad as jail. "Is 'frontier management' the primary duty? What does 'frontier' entail, in this context, as opposed to more settled lands?"     "The Frontier is the whole of this map," Holly explains, along others. "It's what's left of Earth. The rest is either flooded, completely hostile to life, or overrun with so many Horrors that there's no point venturing outside of the Sealing Spire's protection." "That the blood of the Horrors should suffice as well as that of humanity... is the blood of revenants no different? Does it only need to be 'blood,' of any kind? This does rather change the overall impression. Among these plans... discovering the nature of 'that which is a Horror' stands highest in my own priorities. Other matters will depend on this." "Nope. If I remember right, Revenant blood does work. Animal blood doesn't-- only sapient, or formerly-sapient in the case of Horrors."     "Revenant blood... works, with a little caveat. Mixing blood from different bloodlines within our bodies can cause serious internal damage which our regeneration won't outpace. And, obviously, if you extract blood and Ichor from a Revenant, you are starving them in turn, and then they must feed, or die." That's a crime!!     Probably?     "But you're most correct! Discovering the true nature of Horrors would be absolutely pivotal to my research. I've always theorized that there's a direct link between the generational degradation of Revenant blood and Horrors, even though Resurgence events occur in humans, plants, animals, and inanimate objects as well. There are links, aesthetic - gold, masks - and through substances like blood and Ichor. It's... difficult to study, though, and some of it plays outside my expertise."
Riku Asakura	'I truly hope not. But I'll sleep with an eye open.' "Better safe than sorry!" Riku says to Holly.  Who knows how deep the conspiracy goes!  Petra is talking about it like she's an expert, so it has to be true, right?  Also, someone at the top is always corrupt, so it might be one person, or a cabal of them!  Hopefully, they can protect Holly and bring back the smiles of this world! 'Nicole' Riku waves to Nicole as she enters the dining room.  "Hey Nicole, nice to see you!" he says to the right hand of Holly.  He smiles at her the same way he seems to smile at everything, brightly and with earnestness.   'Are you familiar with the terminology?' Riku sure isn't, but he listens to both Holly and Lilian explain things.  It's interesting, but also a little sad when you think about it.  Those awful events can leave such a wound on the world that ripples into the future. 'Otherwise, that island may well be nothing but a Horror cage now.' That brings a shiver to Riku's spine.  "That'd be awful, I can't think about how that'd be... unable to get out and forced to be close to someone who's sick with no way out..." he shivers again.
Tamamo	Lilian leans in and whispers... and Tamamo smiles sidelong, and squeezes her hand. "Perhaps~."     '...a disaster that wiped out the whole Earth outside of...'     'Terrifying, truly. There would never be an end to Horrors then.'     "Much like the presumed situation outside of the range of the sealing spire, then?" Dire.     'The seven cardinal bloodlines are Superbia, Gula, Luxuria, Ira, Acedia, Avaritia and Invidia.'     "I do believe I hear a theme. Pardon, 'other six'? Ah, Luxuria is... I see. Do you happen to know the origin of 'cardinality' in bloodlines? It might be slightly useful to know if the names were applied earlier or later in history."     'I do not know where to begin looking for the others.'     "Has it been some time since you were at... that is, since there was an opportunity for a large social gathering?" It's a little hard to delicately ask how often someone 'goes out' in a pseudo-apocalyptic setting.     'We've always thought the whole forest was under some manner of Pathos, but... I'm a doctor, ahah. A bit limited in what I can do about this.'     'Well, you're doubly lucky, because my beautiful wife is the premier expert in everything to do with curses, posessions, spirits, secret magic, and everything that can be done about them!'     "Oh! We may have some expertise in such matters, between myself and Lilian." She has to downplay just a little bit, by long cultural habit, only to instead expound on that expertise afterward. "Between spiritual communion and appeasement, border demarcation, and purification... there are a number of skills that might be applied to deal with such matters, if such would be valuable. I would not recommend such efforts merely for the sake of securing a place that will remain empty, to be clear."     She's got other places she's already spending time purifying and drawing mystical boundaries, after all, and it's no small work. "If they are lands to which we do expect a return, or if there are, shall we call them, 'living' curses involved, however..."     'Not to be a Petra about it or anything, but his name is Gobbo.'     Quietly in return, "I would not wholly presume a coincidence in naming until after learning something of their bloodline nobility. It sounds rather purposeful, no?"     Presently, Nicole arrives, and is first squeezed, then pushed about to be presented. "Hello, Ms. Nicole. It is a pleasure to meet you. Ah, is it the case that we have already been introduced, then...?"     'I was praising you for being such a hardworking sweetheart and for helping Doctor Asturias so diligently, of course. When are you off next?'     Tamamo confirms, "She has had nothing but good things to say." That's true, but it's also a fact that they've just had a weeklong honeymoon coloring everything either pink or golden.     Glancing at Lilian while still turned towards Nicole, "For the hot springs...?"     'Animal blood doesn't-- only sapient, or formerly-sapient in the case of Horrors.'     "I suppose we could confirm this by finding this hypothetical tree Horror, and determining whether its blood was potable." Probably somewhere up there in the list of the weirdest things Tamamo-no-mae has said with total seriousness.
Angela	Roland is now a little less certain that Kukuru is in the joke but if he mentions that, Kukuru could reveal she wasa just building on the bit even more and totally destroy him. No, he must keep quiet. He blinks a little at Lilian because his off the cuff question about half ghosts was not something he expected to be treated so seriously. "Really?" He asks. "No I guess that makes sense...If ghosts could have vessels I'm sure they'd seek them out." Tiphereth prides herself on being competent and reliable. She is furiously writing down at this point, and occassionally crossing something out when she accidentally starts writing something silly someone is saying that she thinks is going to be serious before she's inevitably disappointed. "She's right. You should practice writing summaries so that writing them comes second nature to you later." "Sure thing, boss," Roland says, having learned at this point to not complain about this sort of thing. It could cost him an arm and a leg. Or all four of his limbs. "If you don't do a good enough job I'll drill into you how to properly analyze them. But I expect you to be able to manage them the next time." "Yes ma'am, I'll do my best ma'am." Roland answers but can't stop the grimace this time. Roland does lean back though. This really all feels a little too familiar. Maybe not the ghosts and such... Maybe vampires is just one of those things that's really similar across the multiverse?
Holly Asturias	"Uh huh. Dangerous how? Ever been? Who's to say what dangerous really means? How are they given food, or is it *witheld* from them?"     "I have no idea," Holly so helpfully says. "Perhaps Valentin can explain when I can manage to have him over. Or, heaven forbid, Alessandro." Less pleased about that one, but she has to admit he'd be better placed to answer a lot of questions. And it might be funny to watch Petra (and the others, but especially Petra) antagonize him. "But what you're saying is, there are themed 'categories' of Horror subtypes, which are then influenced within those categories by the former person's magic?"     "That's correct. Horrors are divided in different subspecies. Who or what turns into a Horror influences the outcome, but the environment, their history, their powers, can all play into the equation too. Certain bloodlines are more likely to produce certain Horrors, and then there's the lingering... Pathos, curse, or whatever it is, creating spectral Horrors in this forest." "and Nicole said that her-- oh, hi Nicole-- her place where she used to live just had a few dozen houses."     "Hi Petra!"     At the inquiry, Nicole confirms by getting closer, peeking at the map, and trailing a gloved finger a bit southeast of the Sanatorium. "Around... here? It's about two hours of walking from here. Not that there's anything left but graves there. I went back with the Doctor, a few years after, to build them. It was a nice little... take a deep breath and move on moment, you know?" "Dr. Asturias, do revenants have a particular aversion to sunlight, whether in ordinary or particular circumstances?"     "My, thank you Petra for being such a wonderful little student! That's quite right. A brilliant scientist found a cure for us, though I remember little else. I'm *certain* we have an encyclopedia somewhere with this information."" "Oh, I'll get to the bottom of it! I'm not a doctor or anything, but snooping around like this is the best way I can contribute to the global well-being besides just, like, fighting stuff."     "Thank you for your willingness to do such hard work!"     It's genuine! Holly appears to be debating hugging Petra.     She's *sooooo* strong for not giving in. "Um, I'd probably make efforts to obscure how much 'progress' you make in the future. And maybe even limit how much your staff knows."     "We talked about this," Nicole pipes up, instead of Holly. "Had a whole all-hands-on-deck meeting too. Unanimously we agreed to take the risk. We're here to make a difference and fix things, not cower and hide. There's no one here who wouldn't give their life for the cause," she adds, a spark in her eyes.     "Well... there's one," Holly says, bitterly, glancing upward.     Nicole puts a finger on Holly's forehead.     "And he doesn't matter right now. So hush."     Holly pouts, but concedes. "You've made a good impression on Bouanich, and she's a fantastic diviner. Leave the finding to her and--" "Well, you're doubly lucky, because my beautiful wife is the premier expert in everything to do with curses, posessions, spirits, secret magic, and everything that can be done about them!"     "Excellent," Holly nods, regaining her smile. She even brings a hand up to wipe one of her eyes. "You truly cannot understand how much this all means. So many different doors thought closed now wide open. That I might be able to see *results*, finally..." She clears her throat, and Nicole gives her a supportive shoulder pat. "And for clearly having excellent sense! When are you off next?"     "My, she can be off right now. I'll handle the last of her shift."
Lilian Rook	'do believe I hear a theme.'     Lilian widens her eyes fractionally. Staring into the middle distance, after six seconds, she softly swears.     'For the hot springs...?'     "Well, I'd meant just to talk and catch up, but I wouldn't object?"     'Really?'     "Am I the type of person to lie for no reason?" Lilian . . .     'Certain bloodlines are more likely to produce certain Horrors'     Her head whips right back around. "Oh my god seriously?" Lilian gasps. "Hey. You won't be bothered if I run a few tests too, would you?"     'My, she can be off right now. I'll handle the last of her shift.'     "Oh excellent!" Lilian claps her hands together.
Petra Soroka	"If blood keeps decently well in a fridge, Ichor is very volatile. For a Revenant's purposes, blood goes 'bad' within a week at most."     "I wonder...." Petra turns to Tiphereth to consult, finger to her cheek. "We don't really have any scientific data on Ichor, obviously, but don't you think the Heart of Aspiration might do it? With its cardiac output, we could only sustain a small portion of blood, but hooking it up to some storage device to make a personal supply of unspoiling Ichor could be useful, right, Doctor?"     "I'll ask Ange about loaning it," She concludes. "The book's on my floor anyways; should be easy. We'll have to have Doctor Asturias actually check the... quality of the Ichor, though?" "I suppose we could confirm this by finding this hypothetical tree Horror, and determining whether its blood was potable."     "Right! I've got no idea what a plant-based Horror could look like!"     Petra claps her hands together and swivels to Holly again, bringing up what might get her to the double digits of plans today. "Oh! Yeah, we should totally try that purposeful infection thing on a plant. I'd wanna see the process of it too, and it's kind of, unethical, for me to study your patients that way, probably. Lots and lots of things to do...." "My, thank you Petra for being such a wonderful little student!" "Thank you for your willingness to do such hard work!"     Petra puffs out her chest, with a prideful 'huhuhu' all but audible. This would actually be a circumstance where it's okay to hug her-- but she's not wearing a shirt that says REWARD ME WITH PHYSICAL AFFECTION IF I DO A GOOD JOB, so there's no way to communicate that! This world is so difficult, sometimes. "Had a whole all-hands-on-deck meeting too. Unanimously we agreed to take the risk."     "Eh-," Petra awkwardly interjects. "I mean more that it's totally possible there's spies already planted in the staff. A dozen's too many people to know for sure." "Well... there's one,"     Too hyped up on her own supply, Petra's mouth moves faster than her brain. The moment she registers that this is about Holly's dad, she automatically starts saying, "Well, he might anyw--" before cutting herself off and pressing her lips together. It might be rude to talk about studying the gradual but inevitable decline of someone's indeterminately shitty dad for the sake of scientific progress. "Then where is it Petra?"     The Silver quietly slips back into its bottle, with Petra innocently seeming confused for a moment. "Oh, um, the sake? Well, it seems like it'd be rude to take it out in the middle of a meeting, right?" She still doesn't move when the topic changes to the hot springs.
Holly Asturias	"I do believe I hear a theme. Pardon, 'other six'? Ah, Luxuria is... I see. Do you happen to know the origin of 'cardinality' in bloodlines? It might be slightly useful to know if the names were applied earlier or later in history."     "If I remember my stories correctly, the seven cardinal bloodlines - and their houses - were originally regional. Different needs and environments must have led to a major genetic drift between them, such that we're now almost incompatible. They were formally introduced by the Progenitors, the allegedly seven most powerful Revenants, one for each bloodline. It was a means to unify Revenants in a sort of political system across the world, that we might better survive. Back before we could walk in daylight, and were actively hunted by humanity." She says we a lot, but... "Of course that's all centuries and centuries before my birth. It's what I heard." "Has it been some time since you were at... that is, since there was an opportunity for a large social gathering?"     "There hasn't been one in my lifetime. Or if there was, I wasn't invited. The Resurgence was unkind to Revenantkind too, and... the sacrifice of all seven Progenitors to stop it, essentially left every house without any sort of leadership for a while. House Asturias is... essentially me at this point. Me, and countless cousins I barely know scattered around the Frontier. And a few I do know, working here with me." "Oh! We may have some expertise in such matters, between myself and Lilian."     "I understand. You are the expert, and so I'll heed your instructions. If we're to find what ails the forest, I'd like to do it as safely as it can be done." "She has had nothing but good things to say."     "Oh...?" Nicole turns just a bit red, but decides to internalize it, put her hands on her hips, and stand straight and tall rather than fluster. "Mm, I'm pretty amazing. The Doctor'd be sooooo lost without me."     "Quite!" Holly agrees, nodding vigorously. "Hey. You won't be bothered if I run a few tests too, would you?"     "This is one situation where I firmly believe that we need more cooks in the kitchen, not less," Holly replies to Lilian, all smiles. She even taps her lips for a moment, before teasing: "Ah, but no drinking Revenant blood, yes?" "but don't you think the Heart of Aspiration might do it?"     "Oh? I've never heard of such a thing, but if you believe it can help, I'll make time for it. If the blood is human enough in composition, even if it only has the bare minimum of Ichor in it, food is food. It'd be a big deal." "... You even manipulate... Your blood, similarly. But I'm not sure... There's enough in common to... Be useful to your research."     "Even if there's only a small amount of similarities, I'd actually love to study the blood of offworld vampires. It might be possible to isolate the drift that occured in our bloodlines and figure out what our blood 'used' to look like, if there was ever a single bloodline." "I mean more that it's totally possible there's spies already planted in the staff. A dozen's too many people to know for sure."     "Oh," comes the combined, brief realization from both Holly and Nicole. They look at each other for a moment, and then Holly speaks up. "I... dislike the prospect of lying to my staff. I trust everyone here. If one means to become a problem... they know I won't let them get away with it. I'll take the risk."
Regulus	''But don't you think the Heart of Aspiration might do it?'' Tiphereth sets down her pen so she can think. It's been a while since she's had to monitor 'A Work' on an Abnormality but the rules for the various Abnormalities rise up in her thoughts as easily as recalling a birthday. "So long as they ... draw it consistently for at least thirty seconds. Naturally, we don't really have much information on it being used as a blood supplement for vampires--it isn't entirely without risk. But I can't imagine Angela would say no--if nothing else, determining whether or not it is effective--and healthy--would be good science. It should count more or less as akin to human blood. We might want to go into the book first..." Tiphereth realizes she's sort of getting into the weeds and shakes her head. "Considering the possibility that it could help ease the shortage, it is worth the minor risks." "It doesn't sound too scary as an Abnormality. Does it try to eat people or something? Or rip the hearts out of other people?" Roland asks. "No, the Heart has easy to satisfy requirements and even when the rules are broken, it isn't too much of a disaster, it just sparks anxiety and panic amongst the one attuned to the Heart. As far as Abnormalities go, it's almost entirely a benefit to the facility--though naturally, it didn't produce much Enkephalin." "Still kinda surprised we were all using monster juice to power our shit." Roland admits. ''It'd be a big deal.'' "It may be possible to derive an EGO from it that produces it--it'd be a bit of a hackjob, but you can draw multiple EGO from an Abnormality versus just the one Heart."