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Riku Asakura	Once more, the AIB has called out for aid.  For those who don't know what the AIB is, it's the Alien Investigation Bureau, an off-planet agency that investigates alien criminals and is attempting to keep this Earth's culture from being influenced before they can themselves become a space-faring civilization.  Though they do not usually handle giant monsters, today seems to be an exception. Zenna has picked you up at the primary warp gate in a black limo and hands out a tablet.  He speaks, but his mouth does not move, infact he does not emote at all.  "The monster on the screen is named Zandrias, that's their species name; we don't know what the name of this one is in particular.  They tend to roam space and only rarely come to a planet." On the tablet is a monster with solid red eyes and arms that connect to wings.  It looks more like a wyvern that can stand like a human on two legs.  "It being here is odd, but we don't think it's related to the Little Stars or to Kei Fukuide.  For one, it's out far too remotely.  It also seems uninterested in the nearby city.  It doesn't appear to be searching for anything, just roaming." "We also contacted an alien Zobetai named Nabia. The Zobetai are known for being able to read minds, so we hope to be able to figure out what it's doing here and then see if we can get it back into space.  We do have to be careful; we don't want to provoke it, but it is still a giant monster and is dangerous even if it isn't trying to be.  We are also worried that Fukuide might get involved." "If you have any questions, I'll take them now before we get there." ------------------ The drive is a bit of a one, because the area you are taken to is a clearing in the woodlands surrounding the city.  There are other AIB cars here, as well as Moa Aizaki.  Moa is in her AIB outfit, which is mostly a man in black outfit.  She is near a young woman who has a T-shirt with a band on it and black and white checkered shorts.  This is Nabia, because she is forming balls of orange energy from her lips, attempting to send them to the monster in the distance. Zandrias is quite far away at this point, and as far as other giant monsters people have seen, he's a head shorter than Geed is at his maximum height.  The sounds he makes are a high-pitched screech as he waves his arms around at the strange orange balls gathering near him.   Nabia frowns, shaking her head. "Zandrias is too far away.  Can we get closer?" she asks Moa, who looks unsure.  Moa recognizes you all and, before she can answer Nabia, turns to face you all with a proper bow.  "Thanks for coming.  It seems we're still a bit far away from Zandrias."
Sarracenia	Princess Sarracenia, who is now queen in all but name, still answers the call from the AIB. And she still wears her usual outfit, that red royal gown with the puffy shoulders, tight fitting torso, and billowing skirt. Even her crown remains the same, just a small circular golden crown with some rubies set into it.      There is one change to her outfit since the coronation, though. She is no longer wearing her eyepatch. And the eye that was underneath is...green instead of blue. If one looks very closely at it, it looks a bit...off somehow.      She takes the tablet once they are inside the limo, then listens to Zenna. The whole mask face thing is a bit unsettling, but she has met him before so she just eyes him a moment before looking at the tablet. "Would it not be more proper to call it 'a Zandrias', then?" she asks as they ride. She thinks for a moment on any other questions that should be asked, then lets out an 'oh!' as she thinks of one. "If they have been encountered before, do we know what we should -not- do as it might see it as some kind of threat or challenge or something?"      The drive being a long one does make Sarra a bit antsy. She's never been a patient one. Her foot is tapping only a few minutes into the ride, and she has pulled out her phone to start doing some online store browsing after a few more. As it takes even a bit longer she pulls out a pre-packaged sushi plate and, being the tourist that she is, uses the fork that was provided. She is at least kind enough to offer any other passengers some. Not from her plate, but a whole plate of their own if they wish.      Moa greets them once they have arrived, and Sarra curtseys politely as well. "I am glad to help." she says to the thank you, then looks toward Zandrias. "If you need to get closer we could escort you. We should probably still stay hidden as best we can if even those orbs are bothering it." Sarra huffs softly even at her own suggestion. "...why does it come down to stealth so often...?" she says softly in annoyance.
Petra Soroka	"I'm just saying," Petra is in the process of gossiping with Lilian beside her and the girls on the screen of the Eggpack on her back, "It's kind of the funniest thing ever to go from Kepler to an 'Alien Investigation Bureau'. Like, look, I've got the file here-- keeping Earth's culture from being corrupted by aliens. I'm such a brave and noble advocate for the people of Earth." "The monster on the screen is named Zandrias, that's their species name; we don't know what the name of this one is in particular."     "*Woah*. He looks *awesome*. Nika, are you getting this?"     Petra whistles when Zenna shows the screen, adjusting the straps of the Eggpack with her thumbs. A blob of Silver that's slowly orbiting her spaghettifies into a cable, prongs on either end crackling with electrical differential as they reach towards Zenna's tablet and Ruble floating nearby, to give Nika a direct view of the image of the Zandrias without screen polarization.     "So do they normally have names? I mean, like, culture, intelligence, sapience-wise. He's just a big guy isn't he? No shared language, sure, but how receptive do they tend to be to, like, projected intent and empathy and everything?" "We also contacted an alien Zobetai named Nabia."     "Cool. Are they also greebly like that?"     Petra settles in for a ride, and only after a few minutes, with the Eggpack on her lap, does she voice a thought that she's been working through ever since Zenna brought the name up. "I think Fukuide is the guy who's trying to fuck Riku's dad?"     Petra, for this trip, has dressed up in her battle standard of a slutty graphic t-shirt (reading DON'T PET ME I'M SAPIENT, which might recontextualize her earlier question?), and low-riding jeans that half-expose a waistband imprinted with CALVIN KLEIN. She's in a pretty good mood, and good health too, after a week long escapade that involved more Blooms than could be counted before, so she's kind of bubbly the whole drive to the forest.     Petra doesn't know Moa, and doesn't really have any opinion about her on contact. It's fine to have government agents sometimes. Maybe she's got some dynamic with Riku that could make her interesting, but for now Petra will not remember her name.     Nabia, on the other hand, gets her to double-take. "Oh-- wow, I was expecting someone a lot less-- yeah, alright. Closer."     Petra waves her hand towards the air, where Zandrias (she's still admiring the absolute size of that thing) is flailing at the orange energy balls. "Does that hurt him at all, or is it, you know, just surprise and not getting it?"     Either way-- Petra's not going to throw the whole plan away even if the orbs hurt, though she'll frown a bit-- the problem's the same. "Er, I could get *you* closer just by carrying you with the Beauty of Ash, but that probably wouldn't be safe without the whole escort team. How about, um, I get up in the air with the Beauty of Ash, and lead him towards the-- that big hill over there? You guys climb up it, and then you can get closer and be sort of head-height."
Angela	Previously, Roland and Malkuth were the primary Librarians involved in the adventure. But Angela actually kind of got to know Ultraman Belial a little and now that she's actually awake (albeit with the: Now needs to sleep like every day debuff) she can actually pay a visit to Riku's world and see what the heck is going down over there. Since Roland is exhausted from the trip, and Tiphereth seems to need some time to reflect, and Malkuth recently got 'booked' while protecting her unconscious body, Angela has decided to basically go on this trip on her lonesome, having come along with Petra and is carrying her book along with her as well. She's missed Petra during her long trip and also sees this as an opportunity to have adventures with her again. Angela would be more nervous about meeting someone who can read minds but honestly she knows too many people who can just read minds these days that her expectation of privacy with regards to her mind has somewhat eroded from her early days. It's just not practical. Besides, few people probably want to read her mind not because of any defenses but because of the material downloaded on the hardware. Maybe once she unlocks the power of forgetting. "It is quite humorous." Angela agrees with Petra's gossip. "I wonder if it is always possible to blend in to the 'genre' once you've started growing accustomed to what you see." Maybe she's thinking of Arthur's 'infinities' weighing him down. Angela looks at the Zenna for a moment but is always a little wary of trusting in an apparent monster's empathy even if by appearances they have it. "Or perhaps did you pick the name?" ''I think Fukuide is the guy who's trying to fuck Riku's dad.'' "His Woz, his herald." Angela nods, confident in this. "I wish him the best." ''CALVIN KLEIN.'' No, Angela reminds herself, different Calvin. "I also wish to know about the 'deal' with the orange balls." Angela agrees, intent on supporting Petra's inquiries but also just kind of curious herself. "Are they a form of--" She was about to say White Damage but now that she knows someone named White she ultimately shifts to, "Psionic assault." ''Get *you* closer just by carrying you--'' "May I came along?" Angela asks. "I may be able to draw some information from Zandrias."
Petra Soroka	"I wonder if it is always possible to blend in to the 'genre' once you've started growing accustomed to what you see."     "I mean, yeah, right?" The one ding on Petra's health bar is the slowly increasing grey portion-- actually reflected in the rudimentary HUD she's began fucking around with for the Eggpack display in the Dragon's Garden-- caused by sustaining Angela's presence outside of the Library.     The Petra-HUD will be upgraded with time. But Petra isn't a graphic designer and also she doesn't really know how to get her stats. Maybe White could help?     "If it's a, situational tone that exists, then it's a situational tone that people are adapted to. If you're capable of paying attention, then you definitionally can, right?"     Petra is in a long car ride with Sarracenia Sundew! However, she is in too good of a mood for this to get her down! It's about thirty minutes into the drive-- by which point Petra has certainly already acknowledged Sarracenia verbally, probably several times-- when she suddenly double takes and stares at her face.     "What the fuck? You have eyes? Two eyes? When did-- how long ago did *that* happen?" Petra stares at her in shock, apparently only having just now looked at her face properly.     "Did you press a button? Did you, fucking, extort a genie? What's going on here?"
Lilian Rook	Lilian spends the earliest part of the drive reflecting on why being picked up in a limo has somehow become something noteworthy to her.     Of course, she wasn't actually driven around all that much before joining the Paladins, because the use case for cars living in her world is a fraction of that here. The scattered times it #-1 FUNCTION (ANIS) NOT FOUND been useful, a limo was just sort of a formality. Most places she needs to get to quickly are better off reached on her own, so a vehicle is a matter of 'reaching it comfortably, while multi-tasking', which a limo is arguably the best choice for, other than a private jet, and yet the last dozen times she's travelled on wheels, it's been someone's truck or van, a train or bus, and one time her big sister's possibly stolen APC? Should she even count the horrid thrift store spaceship?     'The monster on the screen is named Zandrias, that's their species name; we don't know what the name of this one is in particular.'     Lilian zones back in midway through the contractee's briefing, which is where she should have been paying the most attention. She decides to deflect from the fact by saying "Oh my. If they have individual names, won't you get in trouble for calling them 'monsters'?" unfortunately somewhat like your problematic aunt. "I suppose you don't have HR breathing down--" She pauses, then tilts her head. "Alien resources? Hm."     'Like, look, I've got the file here-- keeping Earth's culture from being corrupted by aliens. I'm such a brave and noble advocate for the people of Earth.'     "Well, people are always forming this that and the other to protect the last of something." Lilian says to her accomplice in bullshit, then laughs quietly as if it's funny. "Doesn't it feel like we're doing a bit of insider trading somehow?"     The Eggpack's video display is currently set to . . . the inside of a house somewhere? A slightly down-angled view from the corner of a room, perhaps from a shelf, capturing slivers of an eastern-style beneath the sprawl of cushions, bean-bag chairs, blankets, books, videogames, consoles, notebooks, binders, bagged candy, plastic peripherals, and mechanical spare parts. The small, delicate-looking woman in the background, dressed in absurdly pretty-if-cumbersome Japanese formal, looks as though she would have liked to clean it up, but the enthusiastic blonde girl currently hammering away at rhythm game inputs on a touchscreen has only one concern:     "Hey Petra is is okay if I get to see this? This is like ¶MiB/Red Scare/If I Told You I'd Have To Kill You¶ right? And they already hired someone else to-- wait am I even hired or is this ¶paid in exposure¶ or are you hired and we're ¶drunk texting¶?"     Every so often, the girl on the screen says something that sounds like a random phoneme, yet comes across in your head as 'a complete, helpful, somewhat exoticising, explanation of a foreign phrase from a language you don't speak that happens to have a word for exactly this concept'. She neither comments, explains, nor seems to notice. Listening feels sort of like you're rapidly gaining fluency in something by reading subtitled media.     'Nika, are you getting this?'     "Oh!" The girl pauses and drops her controller, jumps up, jogs up to the camera, blocks the view with the top of her head, then presses a pair of buttons like a cellphone. "Saved!" comes in tinny and muffled from being under the speaker.%
Lilian Rook	'I think Fukuide is the guy who's trying to fuck Riku's dad?'     The other woman sighs. Lilian starts to laugh, but presses her hand to her mouth when she hears it; then starts coughing because it's difficult to hold in now. "Was this necessary information?" she says. This prompts "Was it useful?" from the blonde, which is reciprocated with a smile and a ritualistic "Was it kind?" Both of them giggle.     "I suppose it matters very little. Perhaps they hope to drive out the lesser corruption with a more corrupt individual by far, hm?" she says to Petra. "Like extinguishing a fire with a second nearby blaze?" Lilian side-eyes Petra's outfit, and says "You can just say 'scare them off' you know."     . . . . . . . .     Arrival at the scene begins with Lilian stretching her back, arms, and legs, all with the same arch, and Nika finding it so satisfying that she copies it at the table, causing Sakura in the background to yawn by contagious habit. The introduction is accompanied by the background patter of "Oh do you need coffee?" "Oh? Thank you, I'm fine." "Um, ¶the other stuff¶?" "No no no, you just looked so comfortable . . ." and so on and so on.     'Thanks for coming. It seems we're still a bit far away from Zandrias.'     Despite this, Lilian is, loosely, on the job. Reaching the cordon at a brisk clip, she stops to absorb Nabia's 'look' all of once, says "Xion-type." very quietly, and then asks "What's the issue? Is the alien actually dangerous or is someone ordering you to stay back?"     She glances up at the flailing and screeching, then quickly adds, "How is the information conveyed? Does it need to touch the energy constructs?"
Angela	Angela thinks the health bar is honestly really helpful. Without the healthbar, Angela is a lot more worried about the strain she puts on Petra but if there's a health bar, then that means she can get a good feeling for when something is 'too much'. But she has made some progress, at least, so she's wondering if she's less of a burden on Petra as a result. If she's sleeping, will that slow down the debuff? "I'd like to think so, but it seems for some experience can be an interfering trait." ''What the fuck? You have eyes?'' You can practically hear Angela's neck creak as she observes Sarracenia. "... Did you return to your egg form and regenerate?" Angela asks.
Lilian Rook	'Did you press a button? Did you, fucking, extort a genie? What's going on here?'     "Excuse me? How are you shocked?" Lilian was going to completely ignore it, but now Petra is distracting her! "You're the genie she extorted last time!" She makes an irritated noise! "The time before last now! I guess!"     'Did you return to your egg form and regenerate?'     Hearing the tones of something Spicy, Nika comes running from the back of the room again, and dive-grabs a pale blue controller plugged into nothing from the sofa. Using it, the mechanical arms on the Eggpack tap Petra on the shoulder, tug her towards facing Sarracenia again, and the operator says "That's ¶public enemy number one¶ right? The constitution lady." in gossipy-excited tones. Just saying 'the one' would have frankly been more polite, but metacontextual exactness gets in the way of manners.
Sarracenia	Sarra certainly took notice of Petra as soon as the group she often thinks of as the torturous trio joined the limo ride. But, much like Petra, Sarra is in a pretty good mood herself. Not to mention Petra was recently nice to her, and that goes a long way toward Sarra not being toxic. She has been idly listening to the conversation about genre jumping while silently judging Petra's outfit. And also pondering why putting 'don't pet me' on a shirt makes one instantly consider petting the person.      It is so long after they entered the limo that when someone finally -does- notice her eye, Sarra is no longer prepared for it. Sarra blinks in surprise, caught with a sushi disk between her lips. She is frozen for a moment, trying to decide if she should put it back or continue eating it. She settles on eating it, and there is several long moments of chewing before she can swallow and speak again. When she does, there is a slight smug but also happy smile accompanying her words. "It was a coronation gift~" she says before her smile goes deadpan at Angela. She makes sure to eye Angela with both eyes just to annoy her. "Queen Meresankh provided it." She seemed like she was ready to talk all about it, but after Angela's comment Sarra doesn't feel like it and her usual grumpy frown that the trio are more familiar with than her smile returns. She instead busies herself looking out the window and finishing her sushi.      At least until being accused of extortion. Sarra starts to say something, then remembers she made a promise about saying things about it, even though Lilian apparently knows already. She lets out an angry 'mmmmph' and just returns to looking out the window. "...public enemy..." she grumbles.
Riku Asakura	'Would it not be more proper to call it 'a Zandrias', then?' "That is probably more appropriate, yes." 'If they have been encountered before, do we know what we should -not- do as it might see it as some kind of threat or challenge or something?' "Treat it as a very large wild animal: no sudden movements, no irritating it.  Taking a wide berth is also a good idea, unless we have to get closer for some reason.  Slow, deliberate movements are the best ones," Zenna says, his face not expressing anything. 'So do they normally have names? I mean, like, culture, intelligence, sapience-wise.' "Unfortunately, we know very little about them.  They tend to stay in space.  They form pods, as far as we know, and tend to stay within their clusters.  The smallest we've seen is two, so one being by itself is really rare.  They are mostly peaceful, from what we do know of them, and tend to stay far away from developed centers like cities." 'Are they also greebly like that?' Zenna doesn't emote, but he does tilt his head slightly at the question.  "I am afraid I don't understand the question." 'I think Fukuide is the guy who's trying to fuck Riku's dad?' Zenna does not know who Riku is. "If you mean Ultraman Geed, then yes.  We are sure he is in league with Ultraman Belial." Though behind that mask, he does file the name away for later.  If they know the human form of the Ultraman, it would make things easier for him. 'Or perhaps did you pick the name?' "I did not pick the name.  However, someone else in our organization has.  I am unsure whom," Zenna admits. 'If they have individual names, won't you get in trouble for calling them 'monsters'?' Zenna, who has the sense of humor of a block of wood, doesn't smile or even laugh.  Instead, he shrugs at the comment, "Kaiju is probably a better term, but it seems to be more local, so I have used monster instead."
Riku Asakura	------------------- Moa nods to Sarracenia, taking a moment to consider things.  However, Petra suggests climbing the hill and waiting for her mech to lure the Zandrias towards it.  Thinking on that, Moa nods.  "I think this is a good idea; it puts us out of being underfoot." Nabia, on the other hand, looks at the hill and sighs, "Man, that's a long climb.  I guess that's safer than just walking under its feet, though!" She also looks at Petra and beams.  "Oh, a real human!  I think you're the first I've met that wasn't Moa!  You can call me Satoko!  A real human name, which is popular right now in the galaxy!" Nabia, now Satoko, turns to face Angela as she asks about the orange balls of energy.  "Oh, those?  They are a medium that we use to see into each other's minds.  At home we don't need them, but with other creatures we need to send a little of ourselves into them to make a connection," Satoko explains.   Satoko also takes a moment to look over Angela's 'look'.  She seems to want to get a look at her from all sides before making a judgement.  "Is this an Earth fashion?  I haven't heard about this at all!  Very cool!" Zenna and Moa look confused when Nika's language comes through their head like a language they don't speak.  Satoko, on the other hand, looks really into it!  "I've never experienced language that I can feel in my head!  That's so cool!" Moa speaks up to Lilian as she asks about the situation.  "Well, it is a large creature.  We don't want to provoke it, so we're trying to get close enough." Satoko, on the other hand, answers the other question.  "Yes, my energy needs to touch the kaiju; it allows me to connect to its mind so I can feel what it's thinking," She says, and as an example of it, she presses her lips to her hand and launches one at Moa.   "Should you be thinking about whoever Riku is on the job?" Satoko says to Moa, who looks flustered by the callout.  "Hey, I'm not!  My head is on the job!"  This causes Satoko to frown and cross her arms. "You shouldn't lie!  We don't lie on Zobetai."  To which Moa looks a bit more frustrated, "That's because you can read each other's minds.  It's different here on Earth; we have things we want to keep to ourselves!"   Satoko shakes her head, confused, "I don't get it at all."
Riku Asakura	--------------- The agents of the AIB, Moa, Zenna, and Satoko, climb the hill to get ready for Petra's plan.  Satoko finds a clear view of the area, so she can prepare her magical balls to try and touch Zandrias.  Zenna looks as impassive as always, Moa looks flustered because of Satoko, and Satoko doesn't seem to have a care in the world.   Zandrias, on the other hand, sounds slightly distressed.  Occasionally looking up at the sky, but then looks down at the ground like it's dejected or something.  He doesn't seem to care about the city, instead moving aimlessly around the forest.
Sarracenia	'I think Fukuide is the guy who's trying to **** Riku's dad?'      The word gets censored in Sarra's mind, and she winces a bit at the crudeness. She also gives Petra a narrowed side-eye at using Riku's name around these guys. Until Zenna just says 'yes' to the question. Sarra coughs in surprise and shock. She starts to say something, then hesitates. Maybe Petra is using the word in the less vulgar context? She huffs again and looks out the window even harder.      'How about, um, I get up in the air with the Beauty of Ash, and lead him towards the-- that big hill over there?'      Sarra isn't sure she likes that plan. "If it is like a wild animal, isn't something else approaching it going to make it skittish?" she asks. Climbing the hill isn't a bad idea either way, though. So, she joins the others in climbing. Except, she doesn't climb because that is menial work. She pulls out a cloud and hops on, then offers clouds to the others. "Here. This should make it easier." she says, handing one to Nabia/Satoko in particular since she sounded about as excited as Sarra is about climbing. "If we want to get even closer I suppose we could use these cloud power-ups to fly in quietly. Would that be too risky?" Sarra watches Satoko for a moment as she works. "If you need to concentrate, I can carry you on my cloud." she offers.      'Should you be thinking about whoever Riku is on the job?'      Sarra blinks in surprise. "You know a Riku?" she asks before thinking about it, then realizes that was a dangerous thing to ask since it could somehow lead to Riku getting discovered.      Sarra watches the creature after that. It looks up, then down dejectedly. Sarra hmmms. "...these creatures...do they usually walk around so much?"
Petra Soroka	"Doesn't it feel like we're doing a bit of insider trading somehow?"     "Oh my god, *exactly*." Petra giggles, finding that inordinately funny for some reason. "But watch out for the sell!" "Hey Petra is is okay if I get to see this?"     "Oh, yeah, it's totally fine." Petra has long since become inured to the casual dramaticization of Elite activities transposed onto everyday nouns-- though Petra has kind of always ranked 'soldier' as a more mysterious and prestigious position than 'government agent', so it's not like her scale was ever sensibly tuned. She pats the hand of the Eggpack with carefree disregard.     "Because the ¶Concord/What I say goes¶ gives me permission anyways. Really the whole, contracting Elites for a mission thing is a bit stupid and complex and convoluted economically but all that matters is that it's ¶questboard¶ which is how we all know to show up." Oh no!!! Whatever Nika's doing is spreading!     Nika's other question makes her actually consider it, because the dynamics of taking... sort of civilians along, on missions like this, by just video calling them in, is really a bit weird once you think about it too hard?     "Uh... you could get paid if you want? Oh, actually, I think the easiest route to that would be if *I* hire you, and then the Concord just pays you? Which would be kind of funny. I was just thinking that this is, like, the same thing as being on call in a grocery store, which people do." "Perhaps they hope to drive out the lesser corruption with a more corrupt individual by far, hm?"     Petra folds her arms across her chest and heaves a dramatic sigh. "I just heard, like, that Fukuide guy was doing some forbidden love thing with him, because of his evil priest-style devotion." She made part of that up and convinced herself of it retroactively. "So, of course I'd win." "You're the genie she extorted last time!"     "W-well--! Yes! But this is like, five things at once!" Petra protests, but as usual, bringing up one thing she can be bullied for pretty much cuts the wind out of her sails entirely. "It was a coronation gift~"     "Oh. It's prosthetic." Petra doesn't seem to take that information in any positive or negative light, just satisfied on the face of it that it explains how it happened. Frankly, that makes perfect sense-- she just expected some sort of cartoon regeneration nonsense, like the Abnormality eggs.     "... Second question, how the fuck did *that* happen? We've got time. Did you, like, do something? To your parents? Or... for?" She adds that second option with so much preemptive doubt that it was definitely an afterthought. "That's ¶public enemy number one¶ right?"     "Yeah, that's her." Petra installed an extra microphone in the hands of the Eggpack, which is mostly for directionality in the sound and better coverage, but *also* serves the purpose of being able to bring a mechanical wrist up near her face and gossip in a quieter voice as if there's physical proximity. "She's *so* weird. Just watching her do stuff is really funny sometimes, as long as she's not being nasty."
Petra Soroka	"They form pods, as far as we know, and tend to stay within their clusters."     "'Pods'...." Petra murmurs in faint awe, eyeing the giant monster through the forest canopy. She is imagining something completely incorrect, like lumpy grape-shaped cocoons enveloping them for some beautiful metamorphosis. Zenna's next sentence wipes that happy imagination away. "Oh." "If you mean Ultraman Geed, then yes."     Petra narrows her eyes, wincing at the thought that she might have made things... worse for Riku? Is that something she can feel bad about? A little bit, at least. She decides to completely stonewall the comment, believably or not. "Huh? Maybe?" "Oh, a real human!"     Everyone else here could also conceivably count as human, or be disqualified on some grounds or another. Should Petra take this positively? She *is* pretty cute, and also an alien, and also has good Xion-esque fashion sense.     Petra plants one hand on her hip and waves at shoulder-height with the other. "That's what they call me. Hey-- Satoko, I'm Petra. Are humans, um, fashionable in general? Or are you just a big fan of the syllables?" "Yes, my energy needs to touch the kaiju; it allows me to connect to its mind so I can feel what it's thinking,"     Petra is so familiar with space-telepaths, and she feels compelled to share this fact. But she has to do this in a way that doesn't diminish the credit she's already gotten by being a real human. Also, she thinks Zobetai sounds like a horrifying place that she's opposed to on a fundamental level, but she can't make that feel important right now.     "I, uh, used to live off of Earth, with tons of telepaths. Not a lot of lying going on there either. So I guess there's a correlation."     Anyways, the most important thing is that Petra is going to get into her mech and zoom around a giant monster in order to bait it closer to people that want to help it. In her mind, this was what she wanted for the Beauty of Ash when she was a *pre-teen*, so, like, it's a big moment. When she breaks the mirror hanging around her neck, the iridescent glass form of the mech spills out around her, hunched over in the clearing to not poke out over the top of the trees. On its back is the strap for securing the Eggpack between its shoulders, and in its arms is Angela, who she's sort of obliged to carry or else the health bar that Nika can see will start ticking down much more rapidly.     <Okay! See you soon!>     The mech darts upwards at a steep angle, accelerating from standing still to rocketing through the air without a jet engine roar or shockwave. The thrice-human-size mech starts looking smaller and smaller as the other group goes up the hill, seeing it in perspective with the Zandrias. Zipping around like a silent bee, the Beauty of Ash catches the attention of the kaiju by moving and sparkling with the sunlight, slowly tempting it in the direction of the hill, or shepherding it if it's more inclined to run away.
Angela	Angela is smiling as she gives Sarracenia shit. She gives the Eggpack a small fond pat like an old friend. She doesn't seem to be all that bothered by Sarracenia having two eyes. You can just get eye replacements in The City, after all, ocular augments are incredibly common. "I see. You've made a friend." She doesn't actually know if that's true or not but she can't imagine Meresankh, a Partner with like an undead army and scarabs, feeling compelled to give Sarracenia an eye instead of doing so of her own free will. ''If you mean Ultraman Greed, then yes.'' Did Riku say his identity should be kept a secret? ... She doesn't think so. Ahh, she doesn't really want to keep track of any more secrets right now either way. It's such a hassle. She isn't troubled by referring to kaiju as monsters and such since people more or less use monster interchangeably with Abnormality and sometimes Angela if someone's feeling really spicy. ''Angela's look'' Angela is just wearing her Librarian uniform but she did bring some EGO pages with her so she could swap outfits in a second. Angela is very adaptable with the EGO drawn from Abnormalities--much like Gebura--so she doesn't tend to worry too much about her personal attunement with the EGO at her disposal. "It has been determined I am almost certainly from 'an Earth' but it is very different from this one." The closest comparision she can think of right now would be Calvin's world, actually. "But, ah--thank you?" She doesn't get complimented on her killer (literal) outfits all that often. "It seems like you are attempting to commune with the creature to learn more. I don't need to touch it to learn, but it would be a more indirect method than a direct psionic link. Petra has a plan so we'll stick to that but if you are struggling to connect, I will try my method. ... Your look is excellent as well." She almost forgot she was supposed to share a compliment like that back. And then she enters the Beauty of Ash's inventory, periodically examining the Petrameter to get a feel for it's depletion rate and get a feel in her mind for the maximum time they've got for this particular outing. "Luring the kaiju around while keeping just out of reach feels a bit like play." Albeit with maybe larger than usual stakes, but she's not too concerned. If it comes to it, she can use one of Audrey's pages to make sure that the kaiju never reaches The Beauty of Ash which is a bit against the spirit of fair play but is in the spirit of not getting bonked by a giant monster.
Lilian Rook	'Queen Meresankh provided it.'     "Oh gross."     "Lilian . . ."     "Wh-- No! I mean because it's like, evil, space pharoah crypt implants!"     "Heh."     "Nika."     "They don't match."     'If you mean Ultraman Geed, then yes.'     Lilian nearly chokes on her own saliva. Nika goes from catty giggling to 'falling over sideways and vanishing under the table' laughing. Sakura pulls her legs up and rests her cheek on the arm of the sofa. "Truly it is only that Earth struggles to understand love." she sighs, which makes Nika laugh even harder.     'Because the ¶Concord/What I say goes¶ gives me permission anyways.'     "Okay! I didn't join the Concord though."     "You're not allowed to until I do."     "You-- have plans?"     "No no, I just don't want anyone else thinking it'll be cool if they beat me to it."     "Petra joining the Concord is kinda ¶cool/I call shotgun¶ though."     "That's because it makes her like my herald."     "Herald? ¶Boss Music¶?"     "You get it."     'We've got time. Did you, like, do something? To your parents? Or... for?'     Nika uses the Eggpack arms to squimsh the sides of Petra's head, so it's like someone is getting up behind her to whisper right into her ear, and says "It's ¶daddy issues¶ time." in an incomprehensible tone of inside-joke dialect.     'She's *so* weird. Just watching her do stuff is really funny sometimes, as long as she's not being nasty.'     Sakura sighs, lays her head down on her arms, folded over the sofa arm, and says "Please be sure I don't end today feeling sorry for her." halfway like a chiding parent.     'I've never experienced language that I can feel in my head! That's so cool!'     A minute later, Nika has crawled her way back up onto the kotatsu that's sat there since the second day of the Kepler trip, flops forward over it, says "Thank you! I thought all ¶language/semantic meaning¶ was inside peolpe's heads! What's ¶externalized/tangible/contextually observable¶ language like?" and successfully snags her touchscreen back again. "Nika, I think it's just a figure of speech." "Oh I know."     'Well, it is a large creature. We don't want to provoke it, so we're trying to get close enough.'     Lilian finally tears her attention away from the eggpack to stare at, again, the cloud of orange bubbles, ostensibly agitating The Creature. She limits herself to one hand on her hip and a toughtful "Hm."
Lilian Rook	. . . . . . . .     'You shouldn't lie! We don't lie on Zobetai'     'It's different here on Earth; we have things we want to keep to ourselves!'     This is instantly the most interesting thing all three Blooms have heard today. Nika sits up, Sakura lifts her head, and Lilian turns to actually look at the argument in real space.     "What do you do instead of lie? Can you ¶not talk¶ with your mind?"     "Be that as it may, it's impolite to shout it for everyone to hear."     "That name belongs to one of your coworkers, doesn't it Lilian?"     "Yes. I think if I'd heard that he'd still not understand anything, but it's the principle of the thing."     "Of emotional privacy?"     "Of bystander consent."     "Hah~"     'That's what they call me.'     "Nobody calls you that." Sakura murmurs. Lilian closes her mouth, which she had just opened to say the same thing. "Humans aren't terribly interesting." she says, followed immediately by the evil impulse to say "Unless you're the sort of person who loves television shows about airplane crashes and engineering disasters."     For some reason, neither of the other two women seem to have an opinion; or at least thing that discourse is interesting enough to distract from Petra throwing down the mirror-- which prompts a round of giddy-anticipatory cheering from Nika-- and settling in for quote unquote "Kaiju tag."     'Luring the kaiju around while keeping just out of reach feels a bit like play.'     "Yeah!"     Thankfully, Angela is being dragged along, so she can hear Nika go on with "It kinda ¶what alternative?¶ because there's nothing you can call it because ¶play¶ is kind of a behaviour that doesn't fall under any other behaviour and it just emerges automatically if you have-- I'm gonna steal a new friend's words okay-- ¶some intelligence/cognizance of god's creation¶ and not if you don't. So basically it's impossible for ¶life/intelligence/friends¶ everywhere to not all do play, like by definition and everything, even more than we're sure they'd need water, and so like the entire idea of ¶suspension of disbelif/The Magic Circle/rules for fun¶ just automatically ¶transcends/obsoletes/unifies¶ every kind of ¶boundary/cultural difference¶ if you think about it."
Riku Asakura	'You know a Riku?' Moa, looking off guard, looks at Sarracenia and asks right back, "You know a Riku?" She pauses, and then explains, "The Riku I know is a little brother to me; we grew up together." Riku DID mention he had an older sister figure named Moa.   Satoko, on the other hand, whistles and shakes her head, "You don't think of him like a younger brother!" This causes Moa to look even MORE flushed and stomp her way to Satoko.  However, before that, Satoko throws one of her balls at Sarracenia.   "It's the same Riku," Satoko states suddenly.  This causes Moa to approach Sarracenia. "You know Riku?" She asks, half exasperated and half curious. 'Can you ¶not talk¶ with your mind?' Satoko shrugs, "We don't lie.  It's very taboo to lie on Zobetai."  Moa, on the other hand, is confused because someone said that Lilian was Riku's coworker.  "What do you mean coworker?" 'Are humans, um, fashionable in general?' "Huh?  Oh yeah, in the galaxy humans are very fashionable.  Their culture is so interesting, and there are a lot of foods here you can't get anywhere else.  Also..." Satoko lowers her voice, conspiratorially, "Getting a human boyfriend is very much in!" She looks extremely into this thought.  "Though I wonder if there are any that are single..." 'Humans aren't terribly interesting.' "Not true, they are very interesting," Satoko says, crossing her arms.  "They have all sorts of interesting fashion and food."  It seems it's more a fashion thing for her, as opposed to actually being interested in them. 'So I guess there's a correlation.' "See!" Satoko says, making Moa look uncomfortable.  "I think keeping thoughts to yourself is important.  Sometimes a white lie is better than just crushing someone's dreams..." Moa says defensively.   'But, ah--thank you?' Satoko beams at Angela, nodding along with her long-winded explanations.  "Yes, I am, but if you can learn more about it by just getting closer and not touching it, then that'd be pretty cool!  Though that might put me out of a job, haha..." When Angela compliments her look, she smiles again, "Thank you~!" 'Nika' Satoko turns to the Eggpack and looks confused.  Isn't that just language?  "Um... isn't that what we're doing now?  I'm more used to internalized language.  Sharing your emotions with someone without the need for words rather than trying to get through to someone with them... but your way of speaking is something else!  It conveys the meaning without being gummed up by language's inefficiencies."
Riku Asakura	-------------- When Petra gets into her Mech, Satoko looks very amazed by this, jumping up and down in joy at seeing a human summon a mech and then just fly off.   Zandrias, on the other hand, isn't so much impressed by the approaching mech as it's curious.  It lets out another loud screech, and it's wondering if it has stopped because of the mech approaching it.  At first it seems bashful, holding its arms over its face before screeching again and seemingly charging the Beauty of Ash.   Of course, a few steps into the charge, when the Beauty of Ash dodges, it will trip and fall on its face.  Picking itself up and sitting on its butt, it looks ready to cry.   In fact, in a few seconds it's thrashing the ground around itself, seemingly throwing a tantrum because it fell over and skinned its knee.
Lilian Rook	'The Riku I know is a little brother to me; we grew up together.'     "See? Now you're the asshole. She was thinking about her little brother."     "Mm? You knew already, but chose not to say?"     "Of course."     'You don't think of him like a younger brother!'     ". . ."     "Please. Give me a break."     "I didn't say anything."     "I forgot okay!"     'Huh? Oh yeah, in the galaxy humans are very fashionable. Their culture is so interesting, and there are a lot of foods here you can't get anywhere else.'     "Beg pardon? 'Human culture'?"     "Are we doing ¶planet of the hats¶ right now? Because it's totally obvious why you can't write every planet having the same variety as real life. That's ¶to bake a cake, first you must invent the universe¶."     "No, no, I'm genuinely curious."     "Indeed. The perspective of 'what is, culturally, human', would help me imagine answers to several soon-to-be-necessary issues."     "Plus I'm morbidly curious."     'Getting a human boyfriend is very much in!'     Lilian sighs and rolls her eyes. Nika inexplicably chooses to catcall "Gayyyy!" Or at least it's inexplicable until a third person can be laughing from the next room.     'Um... isn't that what we're doing now? I'm more used to internalized language. Sharing your emotions with someone without the need for words rather than trying to get through to someone with them... but your way of speaking is something else! It conveys the meaning without being gummed up by language's inefficiencies.'     Nika's approach changes instantly. While she still can, she throws out "Oh. Sorry! You're actually ¶think before you speak¶ I guess! Sharing emotions sounds cool. I guess that's really ¶efficient/pragmatic/speedrun¶ and super ¶tutorialized/clear and unambiguous¶ but I think it's kind of sad not to ¶play¶ with talking to people. I guess ¶semantics/context/heuristics/experience/perspective¶ gets in the way a lot of the time but using it is kinda half the fun right? Like you can ¶talk/play¶ flashy or smooth or technical or beautiful and stuff."
Lilian Rook	Petra surely Did Not Ask, but as soon as the Beauty of Ash has taken off, Nika is gamer stanced on the floor, controller in her lap, and has both the Eggpack's little arms gripping convenient bits of glass to pretend like-- well no she actually is trying to steer Petra around. Her only notice of intent is "Remember. No inverse controls."; the rest is silent expectation.     There's no practical reason at all; her 'piloting' isn't any better than Petra doing it herself. Really, she just wants to be part of playing with a kaiju. Which makes her suddenly feel terribly culpable when it--     "Fell over?!"     "Welcome to Elite work. Do you understand why I call it a circus?"     "A-ah. Ahaha . . . Perhaps more of a four-panel comic, at the moment?"     Lilian, confidently, authoritatively, and pretty much baselessly, declares "So. It's wandering around here because it's looking for its mother, isn't it? It must have gotten lost specifically around here; or rather, at an orbital trajectory that would have caused it to land here, if it's from space. That obviously means it isn't a threat, right?"     "Do you know for certain it's really an infant?"     "It'll be so lame if it is and I didn't say it in time."
Riku Asakura	Satoko looks confused at the conversation about Riku.  Moa, on the other hand, is just becoming more flustered, and the source of her embarrassment is a VIP, so she can't just do something about it.  Her face says it all; it just reads 'please kill me now'.   Satoko is also confused about the 'Gayyyy' comment, but it's probably lost on her because her understanding of human culture is superficial at best.   When Nika's tone changes, Satoko listens to Nika.  "Play?  Is..." Satoko looks like she's going through a very heavy thought process.  Like something is actually challenging her very worldview.  "So because you can't feel each other's minds, it's become like a game to understand the meaning?" This is possibly the first time Satoko has put any REAL thought into what it might be like to be human.  Imagining having to use communication in such a way.  "I think I get it.  What do you do about people who just lie to hurt people then?"
Angela	''Yeah!'' Angela decides she doesn't mind Nika and the other Blooms using the Eggpack finally. She has largely been quiet about it, but she's felt a little weird about others using the Eggpack. She figured that she was being a little ridiculous about it and saw no reason to bring it up but this is why she's been a little pat-patty on the Eggpack and generally being close to it. It's not something she needs anymore, but it's an origin point of precious memories. It seems Nika enjoys making use of it. She should be happy that the Eggpack that helped her is now helping Nika. She doesn't have to let the worst of her thoughts rule her. But all the same. It's nice to have gotten Nika to be excited about a conversation, honestly. She nods her head, paying close and intense attention to Nika's words over the kaiju, in fact. "Even more than water?" She asks, looking over to the kaiju for a moment. Do kaiju need water? She supposes she's not really sure. And even to the point, she doesn't really need to worry about it so literally so long as it feels emotionally true. "You haven't met Fragments before, have you Nika? I think they're someone who represents some fo that innate sense of play even amongst that which might be otherwise difficult to comprehend. Petra's been friends with them for some time." Even if it sometimes sings the notes that makes pain happen. "Though I suppose, if it is truly that vast, then they might not be particular special in that they play, shrimply to the extent that they focus on it." She thinks for a moment and adds, "Does using multiple phrases to represent a singular idea, albeit one with multiple concepts feeding into it, feel as though you are expressing with more clarity?" ''Getting a human boyfriend is very much in!'' "Do you wish for a boyfriend or are you just trying to enjoy the culture you're inmeshed in." ''Though that might nput me out of a job, haha..'' "I am not in need of another job, so I will try not to interfere with your work unless itp roves necessary."
Sarracenia	'... Second question, how the fuck did *that* happen? We've got time. Did you, like, do something? To your parents? Or... for?'      'It's ¶daddy issues¶ time.'      Sarra's teeth clench and she lets out another annoyed 'mmmph'. "It was always going to happen. It was merely time. And, for reasons that I hope are obvious, I am not inclined to discuss the matter any further with this group."      'Oh gross...'      Sarra hmphs. "I would much rather have someone I can trust do it than someone who's motives are money or adding another bit of ammunition to their arsenal. And what is the worst that might happen? I become some immortal robot person?"      'Nika and Sakura banter'      At least they aren't as bad as the other pair. Sure, one is still heckling Sarra every now and then, but they aren't screeching or tag-team insulting her. One sounds more like Tamamo than anything. Except for that thing about making sure Sakura does not end up feeling sorry for Sarra. As if it would be a failure of some kind to feel sympathy for the princess.      'You know a Riku? The Riku I know is a little brother to me; we grew up together.'      'You don't think of him like a younger brother!'      'It's the same Riku.'      It is Sarra's turn to look frazzled. She flails her arms at having her mind read so unexpectedly and without consent. "Wha-...u-um. Well, yes I do know a Riku. We are...friends?" She sounds uncertain for some reason. "I met him while...a-a while back. He is quite noble, possessing a heroic soul. He mentioned that he was living on instant ramen and I found that unacceptable. So, I provided him with plenty of proper ingredients and cookware." It would probably be obvious even to Moa that Sarra is trying to be evasive. "He...did mention someone like an older sister. I did not think it would be you! Does he...know what you do?" Sarra then looks to Satoko. "Please do not do that without asking!"      'They have all sorts of interesting fashion and food.'      Sarra perks up a bit. "Oh! I have quite a lot if interest in fashion and food, myself! Being a princess does rather limit what I can actually wear out and about, but I quite enjoy designing dresses and trying new foods and drinks! Riku even suggested we go to a restaurant he frequents so I could try authentic sushi!" Sarra doesn't really think about how that could come across to Moa until after.      'Gayyyy!'      Sarracenia is very confused by all of this talk and how having a boyfriend is somehow gay. Not to mention all of this thought and intent and such being sent with the speaking is starting to give her a headache.      'So. It's wandering around here because it's looking for its mother, isn't it?'      Sarra blinks, then mmphs and crosses her arms. She was totally going to say that but now she can't. Though, that brings another thought to mind. "...if this is the baby...how big are the mother and father?"      'Getting a human boyfriend is very much in!'      "Boyfriends are not fashion accessories..." Sarra says with a bit of a sigh. "It is doing both yourself and whatever boyfriend you might get to approach the relationship as such. A boyfriend should be someone you respect, who makes you feel safe and respected, and who you would keep safe in turn. Not to mention someone you can be yourself around and have fun with!" She sounds more cheerful and energetic toward the end, no doubt picturing someone herself who meets those qualifications.
Petra Soroka	"That's because it makes her like my herald."     "Yeah, I'm mobilizing the legions. I'm staking out territory." Petra nods along enthusiastically with Lilian directly saying what had only really been implicitly understood before. If it was any organization besides the Concord, then outright stating her aim as being increasing the political and material control of a non-faction member would be effectively treason, but that's exactly why it's the Concord. "Please be sure I don't end today feeling sorry for her."     While squimshed by the two robot hands on her cheeks, Petra lifts up a thumbs-up and aims it towards the camera over her shoulder. "Yup, that won't be a problem. I've got a whole library of sympathy-undoing things. They're just also mood-worsening things so I don't wanna pull them out early." "Nobody calls you that." Petra hesitates, then giggles, fist up to her mouth. "Yeah, they usually call me something else."     The mood that Lilian has been in since Kepler is warmly appreciated by Petra each time her newly intensified apocalyptic smugness crops up, but it also makes her think nonetheless. She won't point it out around Sarracenia, but she'll have to make a note of it to talk with Lilian about later. "I'm a fan of a few things humanity's had a hand in creating, at least," Which is the most loaded possible way to refer to Lilian herself. "Please. Give me a break."     For whatever reason, this back and forth between Sakura and Lilian draws Petra into this conversational thread, side-eyeing the two of them nervously. "Huh. Weird. I think we shouldn't do anything with this information." "Their culture is so interesting, and there are a lot of foods here you can't get anywhere else."     As the obligatory real-human here, Petra nods along slowly with Satoko's fawning over 'human culture', coming to the same question that the Blooms have. "So like. Is there an TV show about humans or something? Because I'd *so* see how that would make 'human culture' seem like a thing. Otherwise I don't know what that could possibly be. As far as I'm aware, human culture is ¶law of large numbers¶ and ¶ninety percent fatality rate¶."     Eventually Petra decides, because humans are being praised and by interposing herself briefly into humanity (the praiseworthy version) she can also be praised, that some things about humanity can be good. "*I* have interesting fashion." "Though I wonder if there are any that are single..."     Petra freezes, and then quickly reassesses some assumptions she'd made. Blandly, she replies, "I wouldn't know. I've never looked." "I guess ¶semantics/context/heuristics/experience/perspective¶ gets in the way a lot of the time but using it is kinda half the fun right?"     "Yeah! What's Zobetai-nn..? ¶poetry/literature/knock knock jokes¶ like?"
Petra Soroka	It's actually totally fine for Nika to just sort of steer the Beauty of Ash while flying. When Petra's accelerating towards the Zandrias, there's a floaty Star Fox-like feel to the momentum of it; tapping a crystal ear or shoulder-spike leans the Beauty of Ash in that direction as a curveball of acceleration on a hockey puck, but the difference from any sane flight sim is how vibrantly responsive the Beauty of Ash is to every input. Like it's got magnified joystick sensitivity, the telekinetic push that Petra envelops the mech in switches smoothly and sharply in an instant, face-tanking inertia to turn on a dime with distinctly UFO-like control.     If Nika steers an angle too sharply, the Beauty of Ash follows through exactly as she intents, but with the squealing rapport of glass shattering on impact with air like concrete. The blue health bar underneath Petra's has a touch of graphic design passion put into it. First, it splinters with lines of black over the blue, which slowly fill back in blue after a moment to regenerate, but heavier damage fills in the little mosaic shards black. "and so like the entire idea of ¶suspension of disbelif/The Magic Circle/rules for fun¶ just automatically ¶transcends/obsoletes/unifies¶ every kind of ¶boundary/cultural difference¶ if you think about it."     Carrying Angela in her arms, and Sakura and Nika (in a screen) on her back, Petra is responsible for physically hauling three people around plus herself with the output of her mech. Telepathy, at least, doesn't sound out of breath at all, though she is a little bit distracted with circling around the Zandrias. <Every ¶cultural difference¶ originates from ¶rules for fun¶, I think. I read a book about that!!! I should show you it. Fragments gets ¶run and jump/play a game!¶ even without understanding anything about, like, physical embodiment or Earth or language or anything though-- you'd like them. They're really ¶cute¶.>     And then the Zandrias falls over!!!! The Beauty of Ash freezes midair, then frantically circles around over where the kaiju fell, beaming a stream of semi-comprehensible telepathic concepts towards it.     <¶Ah!/Oh no!/Whoopsie-daisy!¶ ¶gravity/weight/the invisible demand¶ ¶A little scary!¶ ¶Sorry/Are you okay?¶> The Beauty of Ash, heedless of the kaiju still being theoretically dangerous by virtue of being several times larger than it, floats down to get within touching distance. The faceless crystal-shaped head tilts towards the hill that the others are on, single eye flattened in its head.     Treating this space kaiju as a child means projecting as much of a soothing presence towards it as she can, so even when her Nika-speech efforts fumble and fall short, she keeps up with a stream of unintelligible but soft-toned telepathy while getting near enough for it to tough her. <Dirt and rocks hurt, right? ¶I know, I know¶., but ¶dirt/Earth's face¶ is soft, see? It's just surprising. Nowww we just need to walk a little farther....>
Lilian Rook	'So because you can't feel each other's minds, it's become like a game to understand the meaning?'     "Kinda, but not really just to do that." says Nika, hurrying to get through what she can. "Sometimes that's actually the whole game, but talking to people doesn't always gotta be about making them understand the ¶critical path/bare bones/directions¶ though. Sometimes it's just the specific ¶way you phrase it/route through the level/do a cool flip¶ and sometimes it's how you can connect it to other ¶topics/opportunities/stunts¶ and sometimes it's even just ¶prompting their emotion/sidequest¶ instead of yours? I think it's a waste to only ever communicate because people have to know things."     'What do you do about people who just lie to hurt people then?'     "They suck. I'd get Lilian to punch them."     "Nika?!"     "What? I can't punch 'em myself. If you just wanna hurt people then ¶get punched/talked shit get hit¶! It's simple!"     'Does using multiple phrases to represent a singular idea, albeit one with multiple concepts feeding into it, feel as though you are expressing with more clarity?'     Nika blinks at-- well, the back of Angela's head, through the feed. Her flat stare clearly corresponds to not really knowing what Angela is talking about, but trying to reverse engineer the closest possible thing that makes sense.     "Everything is ¶like/next to/between¶ other things. That's, like, ¶triangulation/metaphor/a second opinion¶. There's not always a perfect word for everything right?"     I would much rather have someone I can trust do it than someone who's motives are money or adding another bit of ammunition to their arsenal.'     Sakura, who really has no dog in this fight, tiredly asks "Hm? Whose motives would be money? Are you not with the Concord?" She even rouses to blinking half-attentiveness, away from the screen, because Nika has control of that now, and just tries to direct the audio with the pink controller on the endtable next to her. "I apologize, but I've no idea who you may be suggesting as alternatives. All I know of the lady Meresankh is--" You can easily imagine her raised hand. "--Nika we talked about repeating that." "But it's so funnyyyyy!" "I would think that the worst is that your body eventually rejects the implantation, no? You would become severely ill, or suffer brain damage. It isn't so uncommon a story for those seeking accessible prostheses on an individual basis.."     'Please do not do that without asking!'     "You'll regret it." Lilian says, nodding sagacious-dire to Satoko.     'Riku even suggested we go to a restaurant he frequents so I could try authentic sushi!'     "Oh."     "You see now?"     "'Public enemy' . . ."     'Yeah, I'm mobilizing the legions. I'm staking out territory.'     Perhaps a week on a space yacht has loosened Lilian's social gears a little, because her response to something like that wouldn't normally be a public "Cutie." followed by "You sound like such a dork."     'Yeah, they usually call me something else.'     "We don't repeat those either." says Nika, who may be trying to make the running theme a new joke, or may just be able to infer from first principles.
Lilian Rook	'Huh. Weird. I think we shouldn't do anything with this information.'     "Hm? What information?"     "I've already forgotten whatever would definitely make the radio even more stupid if I still knew it."     '*I* have interesting fashion."'     "Be that as it may," Sakura says, definitely copying Lilian. She has a little head posture for it, if you can actually see the screen. "I would suggest against using your fashion as an inspiration or a reference. The effect on intergalactic television would be devastating."     'Every ¶cultural difference¶ originates from ¶rules for fun¶, I think. I read a book about that!!!'     "What about all the ¶rules for rule¶?"     "I'd think that would suggest the cultures don't 'differ' in those?"     "Oh right. You're right. So only the good parts."     "Well, at least the parts that needn't go without saying."     "Who's Fragments? Is it someone we can ¶beach episode¶ like last time?"     A ways away, while Petra fussily 'does her best with kids' (which, actually, Lilian puts fairly high faith in), Lilian gestures Satoko-ward and towards the big crying monster, and says "Now would be a very good time. Would you please come with me?" She doesn't even have to carry her around as a 'teleporter' at this rate. She just gets to walk a Paladins bodyguard strut up to the kaiju.
Riku Asakura	'Do you wish for a boyfriend or are you just trying to enjoy the culture you're inmeshed in.' Satoko actually THINKS about this one, because before the words with Nika she would have just said something like 'Both'.  Now it's actually meaningful because she's starting to realize there is much more to Earth and humans than meets the eye.  "I do wish for a boyfriend," She says, honestly. 'I am not in need of another job, so I will try not to interfere with your work unless itp roves necessary.' To this, Satoko smiles.  "Well, I am glad for that.  I'd rather be sent here than to other planets in the Milky Way." 'Wha-...u-um. Well, yes I do know a Riku. We are...friends?' Moa listens to Sarracenia dodge around the question.  She looks slightly suspicious.  However, when she mentions that he is 'noble,' she laughs a little as if in on some joke.  "That sounds like him.  We both grew up on Don Shine.  In fact," She says proudly, "I was the one to introduce him to it!"   When she mentions saving Riku from his own bad habits, she nods, thoughtful.  "That explains the calling for recipes recently," Though she starts putting two and two together.  "So did he take a job for the Paladins?" looking at Lilian and then back at Sarracenia.  "Like support staff?" 'Does he...know what you do?' "Um..." she starts to say before Satoko chimes in, "Nope!" Moa looks to the ground.  "No, because I don't want to drag him into this life."  She knows what she does is dangerous.  Riku PROBABLY thinks the same way as she does about her.   'Riku even suggested we go to a restaurant he frequents so I could try authentic sushi!' Moa looks disappointed now, muttering to herself.  To people who get close enough to hear her, she's muttering, "There is no way I can compete against a Princess..." Though when Lilian and Nika mention Sarracenia as a 'public enemy,' it causes her to narrow her eyes at the Princess. 'Boyfriends are not fashion accessories...' Satoko looks thoughtfully at Sarracenia.  "Do you have a boyfriend?" 'Is there an TV show about humans or something?' Thoughtfully, Satoko considers how to explain this.  "It's like... that app on the phones people have here on Earth... what was it called again... TicTok?  Yes, that- we have a device that lets us send our thoughts through the internet. We've been interested in Earth for a long time.  So all of that interest has its own channels, and sometimes we get information from people who come to Earth." '*I* have interesting fashion.' "Mmm!  Yes, you do!  It's different than my own, but I like yours a lot too!
Riku Asakura	'Yeah! What's Zobetai-nn..? ¶poetry/literature/knock knock jokes¶ like?' Satoko has to really think about how to explain this.  "Well... our literature really sucks.  We feel each other's emotions, so we don't feel the need to write a lot of stuff down besides histories.  Why write a story when you can just experience it through the eyes of another person?  I think I like that about Earth; they write so much down... paintings and books and poetry." "I think I appreciate it more now that I understand the mind of a human better, thanks to Miss Nika." 'Sometimes that's actually the whole game, but talking to people doesn't always gotta be about making them understand the ¶critical path/bare bones/directions¶ though.' This really challenges Satoko's mind, because her people are so open to each other and themselves that the very idea of not knowing things is foreign to her.  It's like knowing things is so understood, but here humans communicate without ever guaranteeing that they'd be understood.  Maybe that's why her culture is so fascinated by humans.   "Wow, I never thought about this before.  I guess I never had to, with how open we are with each other.  Knowing things is just so... natural.  But the idea that it's more than knowing things..." She looks thoughtful.   'I'd get Lilian to punch them.' To this, Satoko laughs.  "So liars are bad, but not all lies are..?  So like any other words, lies are just part of the web your language is?  Wow..." 'Would you please come with me?' Satoko nods, walking towards Lilian.  Obviously she was important and strong, or else she wouldn't just make the offer to come with her.  Moa scampers after her.  "It's my job to look after her too," She says, in response to any disagreement with coming with.
Riku Asakura	------------ Unfamiliar feelings are transmitted to Zandrias.  A combination of comfort for his fall and attempts to get him to calm down inadvertently have the inverse effect.  It becomes apparent very quickly that they don't communicate through telepathy.  So it is very likely those screeches it was making were LIKELY how they actually communicate.   Slightly frightened that ideas were coming into its head, and the fall caused it to act irrationally.  It flails from side to side and starts to flap its wings.  Instead of flying, it creates a burst of wind, trying to get anything around it away from it, overreacting in probably the worst way.  Despite this, the attack is mostly harmless to the Beauty of Ash.   Then, oddly, it seems to envelop itself in a topaz crystal.  Almost like it was transmuting itself.  The newly formed crystal starts to bury itself quickly, before pushing itself deep underground.
Angela	''Someone who's motives are money--'' "I suppose Roland would say something like 'You can't trust that motivation because you never had to worry about it.'" Angela says to Sarracenia. "Personally, if someone's motive is 'money' then the transaction is pretty simple with trust corresponding with the amount of money provided. I would guess the motive of 'money' in of itself is perfectly reliable and trustworthy but it is when the presence of money to a degree that it loses meaning, that is when untrustworthiness enters the equation." ''Everything is like/next to/in between'' Angela, who does not have eyes in the back of her head, seems to take Nika's answer as a proper one so communication might have happened after all. "Yes, I suppose that is true. I often find proper articulation difficult because of word use being infinitesimally off from the true meaning I am hoping for. I think I understand." ''They're really cute.'' "Honestly, Petra, you've helped me rediscover an appreciation of more than one Abnormality myself." ''You see now?'' Angela doesn't see why Sarracenia eating sushi with Riku makes her a public enemy. She contemplates why this might be the case. Because sushi is more expensive than ramen noodles and Riku primarily eats ramen noodles? Or is she trying to seduce a younger man? Does that correlate back to eating sushi? "You're the best herald in the world." She tells Petra. She then wonders if she could have done something with herald, there, like saying 'herald/best friend/sister'? Mm... She's not sure she's ready for adopting that kind of clarity into casual conversation. Honestly she wishes 'beach episode' had a few extra phrases connecting to it because she has no idea what a beach episode is. She's been to a beach before, but she's really hoping for a beach series herself. "Fragments is a fuzzy/sketchy/childhood drawing." Angela does her best. "They are a friend from space, covered in hearts, and fond of singing." ''There is no way I can compete against a Princess...'' Offhandedly, "Don't worry, yes you can, but you might wish to go easy on her." She feels like she can really appreciate Satoko's desire to be in a place where things are happening instead of sent somewhere else. Don't steal the job, it's fine. She is just happy to be with good company, really.
Sarracenia	'What do you do about people who just lie to hurt people then?'      'They suck. I'd get Lilian to punch them.'      Sarra hmphs, then nods in agreement. "Indeed. Lying in general is bad enough, but people who lie just to hurt people should be punched at the very least." Sarra considers herself exempt from this because she doesn't lie. Being wrong isn't lying! And is pretty sure at least two of the Torturous Trio do or have lied just to hurt people.      'Hm? Whose motives would be money? Are you not with the Concord?'      'I would think that the worst is that your body eventually rejects the implantation, no? You would become severely ill, or suffer brain damage. It isn't so uncommon a story for those seeking accessible prostheses on an individual basis..'      'I would guess the motive of 'money' in of itself is perfectly reliable and trustworthy but it is when the presence of money to a degree that it loses meaning, that is when untrustworthiness enters the equation.'      "This was a sensitive procedure." Sarra says, nodding lightly to Angela. "Merely paying some doctor you do not know well to do such a thing is taking a rather large risk. They may place their profits above your health. They may not be as qualified as advertised. They may simply make a mistake. Trust is imperative. As for the rejection risk, it is minimal. As I understand it, such non-organic implants are not even recognized by the body as something to reject. If it were a real eye that had been implanted, then perhaps."      'So did he take a job for the Paladins? Like support staff?'      'There is no way I can compete against a Princess...'      "Er...something like that?" Sarra says. She can't be the reason another bit of information gets loose! She just can't! Especially about someone who is possibly a friend but she's never sure because he likes Lilian more than her! And also lying is unheroic! Sarra rubs her hands over her face and makes a frustrated sound. Then, she notices how Moa took the sushi thing. Sarra blinks, then holds her hands out in a 'wait a minute' jesture. "It is not like that! We are merely friends! I am certainly not his type! He has practically said so himself! So, please, there is no reason to be concerned about me!" she says emphatically.      'Do you have a boyfriend?'      Sarra blinks in surprise, then looks over at Satoko. "Not at this time, though I have had boyfriends. And failed attempts at getting a boyfriend before that. So, I can say with certainty that treating them as a mere accessory does not work very well and is likely to leave both you and he disappointed."