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Yumi Yumi The way up to Yumi's shrine is uneventful, past red torii gates surrounded by a small, well taken care of forested area. The air smells clean and untouched from the smog of city life while the nature around looks filled with life, the rainbow colors of leaves around in the Fall atmosphere as the path is lit by everburning torches casting an amber glow around the area. At the top of the path sits the large shrine area. Multiple buildings, some in some states of repair while others look like they've taken the test of time and passed with flying colors dot the landscape, a few of them with torn talismans on them and some with fresh paper. Bonsai trees dot the area as well, trimmed and taken care of and the main shrine area, the donation box, the bell and right behind it is an incredibly large building, seemingly of importance as it looks to be the most well kept building on the property.

Yumi and Garnet herself stand a few feet away from the entrance, near what looks to be a handwashing station with ladles.

"Welcome to the shrine." Yumi and Garnet say in unison before giving a soft bow before Yumi starts up again, "It's good to see you all for the first time, I can finally place faces to names and voices." she turns a bit to Garnet, nodding some before the fox starts to head off.

"Yea, I get it. I'll go get the building ready." Garnet mutters with a slight huff, "If you brought stuff for the ritual, I'll go ahead and take it."

"Garnet, we have guests after a long time, please behave." a soft cough from Yumi, "You have time to relax before we get everything started. I can do my best to answer questions if there are any."
Calvin Nash      Calvin arrives in uniform and in his truck. The light pickup's whine-rumble dies down as he pulls aside, drops into park and cuts the ignition. There are two passengers--both in the bed. The truck rocks on its suspension, old leaf springs and chassis complaining as one of them, a huge, white three-headed dog that stands shoulder height to Calvin, hops out.

    The other passenger is a bleach white skull as large as Calvin's torso, which doesn't hop so much as hover, and which is home to a large green snake with ruby red eyes.

    Calvin's handshake after ascending the steps is firm and brief. "Chevalier Calvin Nash. We spoke on the broadband. This here, " he says, gesturing to the skull, "Is Loa. Go-between for the living, the dead and the divine."

    Loa dips downwards in a nod of recognition.

    "And this here's Cerberus, hound of Hades, guardian of the underworld. These two wanted to come along and see your work. Thresholds're real important to 'em." He lifts his right arm and flips open the screen of a bulky wrist computer, tapping in a few commands. A moment after he authoritatively hunt and pecks the enter key, a swirl of green binary and data artifacts deposits a twine tied pouch into the thin air. He catches it before it falls and offers it to Garnet.

    "Inscribed cedar wood chips. Smoke keeps away unclean things."
Petra Soroka     Petra is here pretty much entirely because it's extremely simple to appeal to her pride. The offhanded mention that Yumi made, without explanation, when instigating the conversation that led to this visit, that she was 'looking for Petra', means that Petra simply couldn't not respond to the summons. Even though she doesn't know Yumi, and even though she's not particularly specialized in shrine maiden activities (besides doing whatever Tamamo tells her to do), how could she refuse? And let one of her fans down?

    On one hand, this is a shrine, so some sort of decency clothing-wise seems expected. On the other hand, there's something about this being hell, and a shrine ran by demons, that makes Petra assume that it's going to be less robe-and-hakama, and more silk-and-ribbons. Also, Petra would be doing a disservice to her image if she arrived overly clothed when she wasn't explicitly requested to.

    And so, to her dismay upon seeing nice bonsai trees and a clean shrine instead of a flaming underworld temple, the Calvin Klein band of her sports bra is clearly visible past the cutout sides of her tank top. She wears that tank top-- printed KICK ME on the back-- with baggy harem pants, and a corded compact mirror hanging around her neck. Lugged in one hand is a big sack of fresh-smelling herbs, which she holds out for Garnet upon greeting the pair.

    "Yo. Petra. I've got some, uh, sage picked from Lilian's place."

    After a minute, when prompted for questions, Petra blurts out, "So, like, what's the vibe here?" Because Yumi has a lot of skin exposed, actually??? But she's got miko-esque sleeves? "What's the tone of this place?"
Trudy Grimm     "I must admit, despite my time spent in Tamamo's presence, I know precious little of the Eastern rituals or rites," The speaker is Trudy Grimm, a fur-wearing young woman in black and dark green passing beneath the Torii. She pauses after a few paces, taking in the nice crisp atmosphere, "Oh, but how refreshing it is to not be in yet another desert or Allfather-forsaken sauna of a jungle."

    Her shoes, metal and hoof-shaped, click on the stones of the path as she moves further into the shrine grounds.

    "Thank you for the invitation, Yumi, Garnet. I am Trudy Grimm, a humble witch of the woods," The grumbling of Calvin's pickup has her stepping aside to glance back and watch him park and disembark. One hand rests on the tome hanging by a strap at her side; the other rifles through the mass of small beads and charms dangling off her opposite hip. After a moment, she extracts one and lifts it up to eye level.

    "Ah, this should do nicely. Granite. Solid, grounded, of the Earth."

    While Calvin steps up to introduce himself and his Demon companions, Trudy collects a few more of the same dull gray beads, then cups them in her hands and blows; producing a faint green glow. Lifting the charms up again, they now sport runes glowing softly in pale green; "Eiwaz, the rune of Death; and Thurisaz, the rune of Protection. These should keep anyone safe from misbehaving spirits." Eyes closing, she holds out her hand palm-up, the leather straps of her beads tucked between her fingers, "Take one if you like."
Petra Soroka     Then Petra impulsively says, after Calvin introduces his fucked up little demon guy, without even turning towards him, "Loa these nuts onto your face." She couldn't help herself, despite *knowing* Loa already.
Natsuki Nuki Having been convinced that something interesting might happen if she tagged along with Calvin, Natsuki had decided that she wouldn't mind visiting 'someone else's' shrine if only to see how someone else from truly out-of-town did it. Hearing about demon shrines in the Japanese style, the interest for her was doubly piqued by at least having a default opinion and a local taste for it.

There was only one problem: Natsuki wasn't coming from the same place as Calvin, as she did not need his help to appear at a location. She did that entirely on her own!

A stormcloud gathers over the base of the steps, before the torii gate, and lightning strikes down onto bare ground. Within the energy, resolving out of the crackle, is a being, who appears with a muted boom more akin to announcement than deafening peal.

And that being is holding her phone and chewing gum, groaning. "Where *is* he?" Natsuki asks, thumbtyping rapidly into her flip-phone with clickytacky noises. "This is going to be *work* if he doesn't show. He better not be stuck with Red Dogs on the interstate or something idiotic." She continues to complain, stopping at the gate and looking up before continuing on up the steps at a power walk.

Natsuki 'Lady Nue' Nuki is, currently, a 5'8" Osakan woman with waist-length blonde-white hair with a pair of tiger ears atop her head, fierce red-iris'ed eyes, a dark eye-mask pattern about her eyes she styles with eyeshadow over eyelids, and sharp eyeteeth. She wears a white collared shirt with the first two buttons boldly open, a styled long grey jacket with black trim and gold highlights with a slit down the back to release a black serpentine tail with a second red-eyed head at the end loosely alert and personally annoyed to be here, and a grey skirt with ruffly socks into puffy flat boots. Both pockets of her jackets lightly bulge with Objects, one with talismans and brushead poking out.

Reaching the top, Natsuki is first on Calvin when he's at the top, patting him on the shoulder with the back of her hand. "Oi. Did you park around back? I've been texting you?" She questions, before she looks to the synchronized hosts and nods, bowing back a the appropriate height. "Thank you for receiving me."

Manners! She looks at Petra, and then at her sage, and then makes a puff-of-breath snerk and click of the tongue before returning to Yumi and Garnet. "What's the shrine dedicated to?" She asks, curious to the cause.
Futaba Nuki One of the visitors to Yumi's shrine is a fairly normal-looking visitor: A tanuki! One with a gold bangle around its waist that's not very normal-looking at all, but it's still every bit a raccoon dog. The visitor trundles about lazily while taking in the sights leading up to the gates, peering up at them with a brief wriggle of its face and a little nudge of a leaf on its forehead. It pauses every now and then on the way up to the shrine, sniffing the air, staring at the torches, or just lounging around the trees to see who's coming in and out of the place.

Once it hears voices and sees faces both familiar and unfamiliar, however, it starts running for the shrine proper with large bounds in each step. It tumbles briefly before rolling to a stop behind Calvin and Petra, scurrying behind the former's truck hastily as if to hide its presence for a second. A moment later, Futaba comes out in her usual brown track jacket and shorts on, blowing some dirt off her bangs before raising her hand in a casual wave while coming up behind them and Trudy.

"Hey there! Name's Futaba, Chevalier with the Paladins. Didn't get a chance to talk, but I heard you've got some stuff goin' on here. Figured I'd drop by and welcome ya to the area." She greets with a broad smile, then stuffs her hands back into her jacket pockets. "Got some extra salt on me in case you need a-"

"Loa these nuts onto your face."

Futaba looks away, and her mouth disappears. Can't laugh without a mouth, although her body does shake a few times.
Regulus APPLe on the other hand is just eager to make himself useful instead of fretting the whole time. And he came alone! No Regulus is with him, even. He volunteered himself for cleaning and arrived uqickly after the call went out. APPLe, by the by, looks like floating apple wearing a collar and bowtie. He is also wearing glasses. And he is also an apple. He has two stick figure arms which are wearing enormous (relatively speaking) puffy rubber gloves around his hands. He has brought along a mop and some other assorted cleaning tools that he's carrying along in a bag across his back ... ... well across his ... shoulders? Arms. They're hanging off his arm.

"Oh I am not so easy to offend, ma'am. This APPLe is ready to get to work as promised. " He spots Calvin and Cerberus the hound of Hades. "Oh my, is this one of your demon companions? Greeting to you, Cerberus, to see you in the flesh rather than on the page is quite an experience for me."

He bobs his entire body in Petra's vague direction. "Hello to you as well, Miss Petra." The apple is an anxious apple.
Petra Soroka     Petra didn't expect to be *sage-shamed* by Natsuki today! If she was going to be shamed at all, she expected it to be for her (apparently elementally-justified) restless goofing around, or for the fact that pretty much her whole chest and midriff is visible any time a breeze comes by, but not for *Lilian's sage*. Natsuki is *just* cool enough that a side-eye and snicker is wounding.

    "Huh?? This was specifically asked for, by the way! Unless you were laughing at me because of how funny I am, which would be correct to do."

"Hello to you as well, Miss Petra."

    Without Regulus nearby to bolster his silhouette, APPLe is *hypnotically* grippable. Petra starts surreptitiously shuffling towards him as he talks. "Hey, APPLe. Regulus is still locked up?"
Futaba Nuki Spotting Natsuki right nearby, meanwhile, puts a brighter gleam in Futaba's eyes as she slides right over behind the larger woman. Literally, even, as in she doesn't actually move her feet while just translating sideways to glance between her and Calvin with a curious purse of her lips.

"Text messages? Oh, oh! Were you planning on a tag team in case anything comes up? We could get a whole stable running at this rate." She comments with a firm nod of her head, as though it's a done deal and she's not just trying to inject herself into things.
Natsuki Nuki "Oiiiiiiiiiii-" Natsuki drawls, groaning into her tone. "You're so fra-gile, Petra. I can't even think you're amusingly cute with your little bundle? I'm sure it'll *work*, and be very precious, but you're like an eager little doggie to this prospect of helping someone and then you're trying to rival up to me? It's..."

She laughs again, huyu-huyu. "You've got too many main-girl traits now to be my rival." She explains, cryptically.

Why was that disqualifying?

Futaba, of course, silences any pending explanation. "Don't just slide up to me!" She complains, scoffing. "I was coordinating what we're going to. Otherwise he's only available on weekends and I'm busy most weekends." Derisive, final, unquestionable. "Anything that comes up is going to get stomped to the curb with this group, anyway. I won't even have to do anything!"
Sarracenia      Sarra arrives in the Dyna, a wooden aircraft similar to an Osprey. It zips by overhead, propellers making plenty of noise, before the twin engines on its wings swivel into the VTOL position. She lands beside Calvin's truck and the loading ramp in the back lowers as she exits. Unlike a few of the others here, the princess's red royal gown covers nearly every inch of her skin below the neck. The only part that isn't covered is a small area of her upper arm between her poofy sleeve and her long black gloves.

     So, it is quite a shock to her when she ascends the stairs and finds the two shrine guardians are...much less covered. And of course Petra. The princess stares a few moments in disbelief, then her eyes focus on Garnet for a few moments before she squeaks quietly and quickly looks away as her face turns red. Still, she tries to introduce herself. "Ah...h-hello! I am Princess Sarracenia, Ruler of the Sundew Kingdom and partner with the Concord." she says, curtseying to the pair. Which usually includes a graceful twirl, but Sarra stumbles a bit this time due to being flustered. She doesn't fall over, but the twirl turns into more of a two-step before she recovers.

     Only to then be asked by Garnet to hand over offerings. So, Sarra has to look toward Garnet again to avoid being rude. She makes sure to keep her eyes on Garnet's face, sweating a bit. This is even less material than Schneider wore! "Um...G-garnet, correct? I believe we have spoken, however briefly, on the radio." Sarra would not come emptyhanded to something like this, but knowing little about shrines and rituals and things like that, she just reaches into her purse and pulls out...a lovely gift basket! It looks to be professionally prepared, but the items within are far from being bath salts and body lotion. Inside are green and red mushrooms, raccoon leaves, fire flowers, and other such common Pipeland power-ups. "These items promote healing and power. I am sure they will make a worthy offering." she says, gaining a smile finally. "Ah...just be careful when handling them. If you squeeze too hard they may imbue you with temporary powers instead of the shrine."

     'Loa these nuts onto your face.'

     Sarra, being the sheltered, innocent, princess that she is, is very confused. But, she's not -as- sheltered as she used to be, and when she realizes that Petra is unsurprisingly making a crude joke...Sarra ponders with a flat expression doing what it says on the back of Petra's tank top.
Trudy Grimm > "Oh, oh! Were you planning on a tag team in case anything comes up?"

    "If this becomes some sort of ridiculous wrestling event, I might have to excuse myself," Trudy asserts without moving her hand, "I don't know if I have it in me to tolerate squared circle nonsense today."
Yumi     Calvin gets a firm handshake from Yumi as she's introduced to him and the two passengers. She, honestly, doesn't even question the floating skull or the three headed dog considering what's been going on in the Netherworld. "A pleasure Calvin, Loa, Cerberus. Yumi reaches over to give Cerberus a gentle pat upon the heads, showing no fear against the three headed puppy. With the bag dmaterializing of wood chips she gives a brief nod as Garnet looks towards it... then at Calvin.

    Garnet was going to say something until Petra makes her way with the sack of sage. "AH, this is Petra in the flesh." Garnet's looking a bit more miffed at all the bags coming in and starts to say /another/ thing, but Yumi raises a finger, "It's a shrine? It's... not like the ones outside of the Netherworld. I didn't do any research on the clothing habits of people, but considering... there seems to be a bit that I need to learn."

    "You know, I think I'm goin..." and with Trudy dropping in Garnet holds her words a moment as Yumi nods towards Trudy, "My want of assistance and resupply has not gone unheeded it seems." as she takes a bead, "I appreciate the offering, Trudy. We can use more of these possibly in lieu of my talismans."

    Yumi and Garnet both give a soft grin, there was something curious about Natsuki they just couldn't pin at the moment, Garnet's own ears perking just a bit... "It's our honor to have guests here, as for who's here?" There looks to be an unsure face upon the demon miko, and a look from Garnet, "Wait, you don't know?" "It's... not like you know either." "What's... that supposed to mean?!"

    Garnet grumbles a bit, and more so when she notices Futaba, an actual Tanuki... and they carry salt. There's a sigh from the fox as she gestures towards the ever growing pile of things she's going to bring to the stores. "Yumi, I'm going to go get a cart... I'm sure there's going to be more. Are they delivery people or..." "GARNET! Just.. just go get the cart." a quiet mutter "disrespectful fox." is quipped as she nods towards Futaba, "We'll gladly take i...t?" pause "Where did your mouth go?"

    Upon seeing APPLe though, "I might have seen the most unique thing so far." she mutters but upon seeing the cleaning supplies, "Oh, you're APPLe!" beat "If you want to get started..." she points to one building in the back, it definitely needed a clean and it lacked the same warding charms that other buildings, even the dilapidated ones, had. "We'll join you in a moment!"

    With the noise of an airship's propellers overhead, both of the 'Netherworld Duo' look up and then towards the entrance as Sarracenia comes in. The wild disparity between clothing styles between the Princess and the two Netherworld Residents is incredibly obvious, more so when Garnet watches Sarracenia turn away. "Rude." the fox mutters, "Yes, I'm Garnet." as she takes a look at the curious basket. Mushrooms, leaves, flowers? "T..thank you. I'll store these over in Yumi's room."

    The activity that started up gives a soft grin from the demon miko's face as she looks to Garnet, "Get... the cart." she orders a bit more firmly, as Garnet rolls her eyes, heading off towards the storage building... "Fiiiine, maybe it'll get the flower princess to bloom up a bit." Yumi sighs, "Well, it's not going to be too eventful hopefully, but we'll have some dinner after this all. With the majority of you all, I think I can divvy up the tasks needed."
Regulus APPLe is distracted from Petra's KIck Me tanktop by Trudy wearing metal hooves. He adjusts his glasses like he's not sure he's seeing things right, like maybe that it's some trick on his mind that's being played on him, so he's pretty distracted by Petra's approach until she speaks up, though he's still oblivious to Petra's scheming. Fortunately, he has no legs from which to kick Petra with and he is also a gentleman so he is both unwilling and unable to make the attempt.

"Ah, yes, she still is until the trial is complete. I imagine she would have informed me, I'm just about tempted to investigate myself but the Captain was quite firm that I not enter Foundation grounds."

''I might have seen the most unique thing so far.''

"Ahh, begging your pardon, I am an Awakened, not a 'thing'. Mr. APPLe if you wish to be formal, but just APPLe is fine if you'd rather be casual." There's so many grabbable opportunities but he'll probably move to cleaning soon because of Garnet's offer! "I, for one, am eager to get started." He's probably attempting to distract himself from the trial and the absence of Miss Regulus in the first place.
Lilian Rook     All it took was one careless word. Lilian went from being presumed some sort of overlord, to agreeing to it with only mild embarrassment, to having her wife alter an outfit she made forever ago to fit her at twenty six of god's own years old, and had to show up in it at an actual shrine run by an actual shrine maiden.

    She would be a lot more distressed, frankly, if it didn't turn out to be demon fashion to greet guests like this. And Petra weren't such a fuckup about assuming the total opposite of her.

    Lilian arrives only barely after her, having apparently forced her to packmule a big bag of sage the entire way here for no reason other than wanting to show off how much she has and not wanting to carry it. Her wife's lovingly enthusiastic* tailoring job has stuck her with what could probably be called an 'action miko' outfit by someone uncultured. She got down the colours, the mo and kosode, and the protective knotwork in the correct places, then long ago trimmed it down until her then-naïve vision of what mobility a swordfighter must need expressed itself with a skirt charitably interpretable as a suggestion of the red hakama at best and getting carried away with visibly fancy silk leggings.

    Even the sleeves are cut through and tied down to the extent Lilian would put in a gun in her mouth before trying to sneak into a normal shinto shrine like this. Her iconic hairpin actually kind of fits, which is half the problem. For the second time since having to take Emiya Shirou to a WcDonalds, the words 'gacha character' enter Lilian's brain, and she ends up trudging up the stairs as if she imagines herself to be thirty-nine and about to embarrass herself wearing risque cosplay in front of a bunch of nineteen and twenties.

    "Oh thank God--"

    'Loa these nuts onto your face.'

    Lilian fails her empathy roll, but thankfully, fails her volition roll as well. Swatting Petra on the back of the head interrupts whatever else she was going to say herself.

    "My my. What a crowd. Nash and Grimm I understand, but Natsuki--" Lilian looks right past her, meaningfully. "Surely you aren't here on sister-minding duty. And APPLe? Really now?" Her eyebrows almost disappear into her bangs. "By yourself? Did Regulus try and fail to sneak out, or are you considering switching to a more reputable operation after how the Rebellion turned out?"

    'I didn't do any research on the clothing habits of people, but considering... there seems to be a bit that I need to learn.'

    The words. They sting Lilian's ears. She hastens to say, "Ah, don't worry about it. Hardly anyone does anyways." just to save herself the grief.
Natsuki Nuki "Oh!" The tiger-eared woman pauses and turns, clapping hands together as she grins in polite apology-tone. "Did I not say?"

Shifting to place one hand against arched over open collar, Natsuki rolls smoothly into an introduction: "I am Natsuki, or the 'Lady Nue'. Concord partner, occultist, etcetera. I'd think I'd need to justify myself but Sarra's here, so," She shrugs. "Here for the sights. And I heard you had a problem, but your coffers overflow!" She laughs again, huyu-huyu, and sighs, turning to look away only to spot--

Lilian in the Action Miko getup. Stunned for a moment by Lilian serving a look like that and not having been poisoned by gacha games with characters dressed like Colgate tubes. Instead, well:

"I suppose you do qualify as tending to a shrine, don't you..." She mutters, in the same way someone might utter 'damn, I didn't know she had game like that' or 'impossible, such power??' as a sotto voiced undercurrent. "Work date with Calvin here. Plus, as far as problems at a shrine go, I'm actually an expert. My lacking-seriousness sister is the successor to my time as the temple's minder, and so..."

She shrugs. "I think they're cool. Problem?" She asks, turning that back on Action Miko Lilian with a drawling-amused challenge.
Futaba Nuki Futaba lets out a little snicker at Natsuki's complaint, holding her hands up in a 'okay, okay' motion while she stands in place normally without sliding around anymore and drops half an inch. "Fair 'nough... Oh? Dang, that's rough. Anything ol' Futabers here can help with and take off your plates?" She asks with a sly glance between Natsuki and Calvin, stopping just short of doing the whole arms-around-the-shoulders thing. For once, she's not looking to get turned into an accordion, and there is the undercurrent of genuine interest in seeing where that all goes beneath the usual layer of Futaba-ness.

"And yeah, we'll lay anything out flat with everyone here. We got brains, brawn, magic, holy power, nutrition..." Futaba pauses slightly at that last one as she stares right at APPLe, then shrugs. "The works!"

To Yumi, Futaba taps on the leaf inspicuously stuck to her forehead while her mouth reforms back on her face. There's no cool shimmering effect or anything when she just transforms that bit of her face, either, just flesh reshaping itself quickly like some kind of color-changing paste. "Mmh? Oh, don't you worry 'bout that. That's just a thing I can do. Real convenient, in case you need a second cart on hand."

To illustrate, Futaba doesn't turn herself into a gross flesh-cart! No, she just transforms her hand into a scale model of a handcart, sliding it up her arm to show that the wheels really turn with proper axles and everything. It's even got a little gold ring around the handle and a leafy motif along the surface that look rather similar to her own forehead leaf and the bangle on her right wrist.

"... Among other things! Anyway, yeah, I'm ready for whatever needs a hand or five. Looks like y'all's got a good grip on what needs doing already, so lay it on us."

The distant look on Futaba's face suggests, however, that her mind is already on the food.

"Surely you aren't here on sister-minding duty."

"Yo, Miss Rook! Nah, nah, this one was unplanned. But between the two of us, you know we'll get it done!" Futaba boasts, knowing full well that she doesn't actually know what 'it' is just yet. She does a brief double-take upon spotting Lilian, too, first looking over to greet her and then looking over again a second later once she realizes something.

"... Huh. Cool drip!" She comments, definitely thinking and eye-saying with her gacha-poisoned mind 'cosplay?'.
Calvin Nash     "I will convey your request," says Loa to Petra ominously.

    "He's bluffin'," Calvin informs her. "They won't answer without no offering."

    Natsuki's presence draws a smile from him. "I seen," he says, on the topic of her message. "I just parked downhill. You didn't see where I sent one back?" It just now sent due to being an image file sent from scavenged 90s technology to her cell. At least the file size is small! It's a grainy greenscale picture of Calvin giving a smile and a thumbs up. The sunglasses are still on.

    "Natsuki's here cause she makes everything better by bein' there, " Calvin says to Lilian. "So whatever levels we're workin' with just went up. " Calvin 'My Meter is Top or Zero' Nash turns and gives Natsuki a nod like he just dropped a generational bar. "Ain't that right, baby?"
Regulus ''By yourself?''

APPLe shimmers a number of gloomy colors on his fruitflesh. "Ah, no Miss Lilian. The Captain insisted I not be pulled into the trial myself. I was hoping to distract myself from my worries for a spell. By my understanding the protest did what it set out to do but, ah, as the Captain says--that often includes a period of imprisonment. Fortunately, the Captain is well accustomed to making do in a jail cell."

The APPLe pauses as if he just realized the strangeness of that statement after saying it. He clears his nonexistant throat. "Ahem, that is, at the very least there should be no surprises for her there but worry not, once the trial ''is'' over I intend to look after her to the best of my ability once more." His immediate guess is, at least, that Tamamo did provide the outfit Lilian is presently wearing or, at least, either contributed it or pointed her in the right direction. It would almost be a little silly otherwise.

''Nutrition... The works!''

"Ah." APPLe adds. "Please do not look at this APPLe quite like that when you speak of nutrition. He spins circularly in place.
Trudy Grimm     It isn't that Trudy is wearing hooves, it's just the visible parts of her boots look like hooves and have metal soles. The fluffy fur-covered leg warmers aren't helping, though. As APPLe explains what he is and why he's here, Trudy ties a loop into one of the leather straps she's holding, then slips it over APPLe's stem so it can hang like a little necklace.

    "If anyone in this crowd needs a charm of protection, it is most definitely you." Her tone is a bit dry, yet sincere. Maybe the charm against wayward spirits will also keep him from getting eaten-- on purpose or on accident.

    She hears Lilian's voice but is busy sorting out her charms and ensuring she has enough to look, speaking as she works, "It does look as if we have an abundance of occultists, spiritualist, and witches. Even if Lilian were the only one present, your shrine would be in good hands, Yumi." Only now does she lift her gaze, "Speaking of--"

    Trudy pauses to take in the intensely stylized outfit with the slightest tug back of her head in surprise.

    "Heeeello, Lilian." Okay yeah that caught her off-guard. She doesn't cough or clear her throat, only inhaling through her nose and straightening her posture, "You pulled out all the stops today."
Lilian Rook     'I suppose you do qualify as tending to a shrine, don't you...'

    Lilian, brainpoisoned in a different way, skips several steps at once and dolphin logics her way to "You know what they say. Happy wife, happy life." as a response of ambiguous seriousness and yet terrifying aura.

    'Work date with Calvin here.'

    Lilian raises her eyebrows at Calvin.

    'I think they're cool. Problem?'

    "The Lady Nue? In the Underworld? At some Japanese-influenced hell shrine?" Lilian laughs. "I only didn't know you did sappy hometown visits."

    'Dang, that's rough. Anything ol' Futabers here can help with and take off your plates?'

    She shoots alook at Futaba exactly like she's about to ask Natsuki if she can ditch her annoying little sister who ruins every joke and go drink with her instead.

    'nutrition...'

    "Don't enable it."

    'Yo, Miss Rook!'

    "And it's Mrs. to you." Lilian says, putting hand to hip, aggressive contrapposto, just so that the rings catch the light and all. "Whatever in God's name you mean by 'drip', I haven't the foggiest and I'm certain I'll regret knowing."

    'So whatever levels we're workin' with just went up.'

    "You think you're so smooth. You genuinely think you're such a down-to-earth badass."
Petra Soroka "You've got too many main-girl traits now to be my rival."

    "But I'm so, like, corrupted," Petra, the eager little doggy, insists back to Natsuki. "That's the whole archetype. I'm antihero *and* antivillain. I keep 'em guessing."

"Otherwise he's only available on weekends and I'm busy most weekends."

    More conversational than bratty, Petra finds both Calvin and Natsuki pretty cool individually, and when they're a paired unit, her approval only gets higher. Talking in a game-speaking-with-game way, she simply overrides Futaba's place in the little social cluster to pick up her thread with Natsuki instead.

    "No, that's so real. These kinds of things are so useful for that. I mean, it's part of the gamble, you know, that sometimes you get called out for something that's frustrating bullshit or takes way more time than you think, but being *just* enough work to justify itself, while still kind of just being a hangout, makes 'Elite work-date' a whole--"

    She's distracted in rambling about something that's probably contextually unrelated, when Lilian arrives in her full miko outfit. She drops the topic mid-sentence to bound over and orbit her, only seeing the outfit *on* now for the first time.

    "Oh my god-- hi! You got it on! What?! It's so pretty!" For many reasons, Petra has to rein in the true extent of her praise and ogling, the latter of which especially would get her buried and her spirit ritualistically banished, but seeing Lilian in weird new outfits is like a holiday, it's cause for celebration.

"Ah, yes, she still is until the trial is complete."

    APPLe is saved from Petra's hands by her stealth animation being interrupted by Lilian smacking her across the head. "Ack-- oh, yeah, you'd have basically nothing to do, huh? Especially since it's gotta be sorta sketchy going back to the Suitcase while it's being held like that. No wonder you're bored."

"It's a shrine? It's... not like the ones outside of the Netherworld."

    "Well what *is* it like!!! What's your genre! You're--" Garnet being a nearly naked fox woman, grumbling as she takes the sage and fetches a cart, and Yumi having her whole-ass torso exposed, sets one genre, but they're acting extremely mundanely! "I-- think since we're meeting you at your home, it's *your* clothing habits that matter more?"
Petra Soroka "I will convey your request,"

    Despite being smacked, Petra bursts out cackling at having the floating skull respond like that to her joke. "Now I wanna give an offering, though! We've got so many offerings here; *one's* gotta work."

"Fortunately, the Captain is well accustomed to making do in a jail cell."

    Petra nods in deep sympathy. The sentence she says is meaningless, yet burdened with a heavy weight. "City girls make do."

"Whatever in God's name you mean by 'drip',"

    "It means outfit," Petra helpfully translates, as if she's ten years younger than Lilian instead of just four. "Her tone and word choice is wrong and her attitude is gross, but the outfit *is* really cute."
Futaba Nuki "Please do not look at this APPLe quite like that when you speak of nutrition."

"Eh? Oh, don't worry, bud. I make sure none of my food talks before I eat any of it." Futaba assures APPLe with a firm nod, reaching over like she's about to clap him on the shoulder firmly only to realize she's not sure where his shoulders are. Is it the base of the arm stick? Are those even hands? The more questions she asks in her head, the more that appear, and she notices her folly soon enough to just stop thinking entirely.

"So do you transform, too, or do you just... Is that all of you?"

"And it's Mrs. to you."

"Oh, right! Sorry, Mrs. Rook!" Futaba chuckles airily, whistling a little at the gleam of the rings at just that right angle. She's considers holding her fingers out like she's doing the finger-camera thing, remembers that she could just turn her hand into a camera if she wanted to, then reconsiders after the moment's already passed.

"High quality fashion, Mrs. Rook. Like if someone says 'nice drip' or 'dripped out'? That means they like your style." Futaba explains, nodding quickly after Petra's explanation before puffing her cheeks out at the rest of what Petra's saying. "Hey, hey, she looks cool in that, too!"

"Ain't that right, baby?"

"so they're already...? Mm, mm." Futaba murmurs to herself with an understanding nod and closing her eyes. Her heels go up half an inch, and she slowly slides backwards to withdraw and give Natsuki and Calvin some more space.

God, she feels so cool right now.
Lilian Rook     'I was hoping to distract myself from my worries for a spell.'

    "Ah. Understandable." Lilian says, not quite soothing, but at least commiserative. "It's been a difficult couple of months for your group as well, I imagine." She tries thinking about 'if it were Tamamo in jail' and then discards it for the obvious connotation, then thinks 'if it were Petra in jail' and has to cough and shake her head to dislodge that one, and after 'Strawberry Princess in jail' makes her struggle not to laugh, Lilian gives up entirely.

    "Hey don't say 'make do'. That's so scary."

    'Heeeello, Lilian.'

    Lilian narrows her eyes like it's a challenge. "Grimm." she says, and nothing else first.

    'You pulled out all the stops today.'

    "My wife did. I don't know why she was so eager to update this one-off from years ago, but--" Lilian fretfully turns one way, then the other, looking down her sides. "I swear it used to be a little longer on me back then. I don't think she fully accounted for my build these days." She looks like a MiHoYo bestseller. She looks like she should be doing dimensional cuts with a six star rarity katana and the little red cords are all physics-enabled.

    'Oh my god-- hi! You got it on! What?! It's so pretty!'

    "You'd say that if I showed up wearing a burlap sack." Lilian says, already instantly soothed. "You're certain it isn't too daring?"

    'I-- think since we're meeting you at your home, it's *your* clothing habits that matter more?'

    "There's no room for my sidearm, after all." Lilian opines on the side slit, staring directly at Petra.

    'Her tone and word choice is wrong and her attitude is gross, but the outfit *is* really cute.'

    "What does clothing have to do with dripping? Hello?" Lilian says, upper-class-Britishly.
Sarracenia      'Fiiiine, maybe it'll get the flower princess to bloom up a bit.'

     "Flower princess?" Sarra asks in confusion. Sarra is a princess, but no one has every compared her to a flower before, and she didn't bring flowers. Her dress probably looks a bit flower-like, but Sarra doesn't consider it flowery.

     A snake in a skull is a bit unnerving to Sarra, but a big three-headed dog isn't. While Yumi pets one head, Sarra tries to pet another. "Do you talk?" she asks Cerberus. She hasn't been able to understand an animal since the great deer in the storybook world, but that doesn't stop her from trying! Of course, he might just talk normally.

     It is always good to see Futaba and Natsuki, and Sarra offers a smile to both. "Hello, sisters Nuki! It is good to see you both!" she says.

     'Natsuki's here cause she makes everything better by bein' there, So whatever levels we're workin' with just went up. Ain't that right, baby?'

     Sarra giggles just a bit, but less in a mocking way and more in an 'oh my~' kind of way. "It thought it was quite smooth, for the most part." If Calvin is trying to give Natsuki the 'rizz', Sarra is always happy to help foster romance. "And Mister Calvin -is- rather down-to-earth and cool. Not to mention heroic!"

     Sarra also loves fashion, and Lilian is wearing quite a fashion statement! It was made by Tamamo, so that is automatic points. Sarra's appraising gaze is sure to be taken wrong. "It looks quite good on you...Lilian." Sarra sounds as if she is going to try saying 'Mrs', but balks at the last second. Petra's orbiting is a bit unnerving, but Sarra tries to ignore it. "Tamamo did quite a good job."
Yumi     "Oh, I meant no offense. Just never..." beat "Mr. APPLe." Garnet finally takes over "Okay, follow me..." she mutters.

    This was ... definitely a lot of people she didn't expect here and a few she did expect... and then Lilian shows up wearing their own miko getup. Yumi looks up and down, giving a firm, approving nod, "The overlord shows up." comes a smile as she looks towards the packmule with the load of sage.

    "Whoever done you up has done a good job of it."

    'Ah, don't worry about it. Hardly anyone does anyways.'

    "Oh, ok. I won't worry then."

    There's a turn towards Natsuki, "Lady Nue? A pleasure. Though I never expected to see a Princess here." as she turns to give a look towards Sarracenia.

    A turn towards Futaba and she nods, "If you don't mind helping Garnet get the bags Lilian has dropped off to the stores, we can soon get started."... and then she turns her hand into a handcart and she raises an eyebrow. "Oh. You turn into things too like my Garnet."

    As if that explained everything.

    And now she's pelted by questions from Petra... "Ah, to answer that, let's head over there... to the building. I'll need a few of the sage sheafs, the wood chips...." a pause, "We'll need to place a few warding talismans over ... there and there and there... " as she points to the corners of the building.

    Yumi blinks at some of Petra's questions, "It's just... a shrine? It's pretty basic as far as they go." Yumi does look down at her own getup, "It's easier for me to move in this. Especially when wielding Garnet. I might be a miko but I also have to defend my Overlord and the property they own... along with my shrine."

    Yumi turns her back to the group a bit as she keeps walking, "I don't forsee a problem with everything, and with everyone here seeming to be in good spirits, the Princess's embarrasment aside, I don't think it will create a weak barrier." there's a bit of a nod as she looks at the marble Trudy gave her, tucking it in the sarashi she wears.

    
Yumi Yumi says, "Overlord, if you'd like to do the honors of placing the first warding talisman?" Garnet finally makes her way back, with a few items in tow... offering a warding talisman to everyone present. "Place these along the building's exterior while Yumi moves to prepare. APPLe, can you clean the front of this building. Sarracenia..." Garnet hmms a bit, looking up and down the princess a bit more, "Can you prep a small fire right .... here?" as she makes an X on the ground with some twigs.

    Over in another building, a pleasent scent wafts its way over, the smell of homecooked food coming with the wind change.

    Garnet continues with the instructions as she hands a book over towards Yumi, the book looks very old and worn, as if it's been used many times and read religiously. "Trudy, those warding marbles. Can you place a few more around the fire? Futaba and Natsuki, I need you two to take my place and take these sheaves of sage, light them on fire and walk parallel to each other in front of the building."

    Thinking, who else was Garnet missing. Calvin and his partners. "I'll need you to throw those wood chips into the fire every so often to keep it going. Your partners can sit near Yumi while she does her own work.""
Regulus APPLe has no idea how close he came to his doom. "Well, while it is true there is little to do, I would hesitate to call it a matter of boredom, MIss Petra! I am beside myself with worry!" He then exhales out a little sigh as he states in agreement. "City girls do make--."

''Hey don't say 'make do'. That's so scary.''

APPLe, a Gentleapple, shifts smoothly. "--the best of the situation" He considers, briefly, that Regulus making the best of the situation might be seen as even scarier, but it's too late to turn back. The words have been spoken. "For myself, remaining in a single place for a long period of time, it does not bother me, Mrs. Lilian. But the attempts of the Foundation to disrupt our efforts were no easy load to bear and even harsher to see the burden on Miss Vertin's friends--and the volunteers who merely volunteered because they thought it was the right thing to do. If it turns out our efforts were not in vain, then I pray they can carry their heads held high. And if not..." Well, then that's that. The simple act of pushing people out of a door can be enough to make a fatal statement and years of imprisonment would be even worse for the Captain. "So I assure you, your political efforts have been seen and appreciated. By myself, doubly so."

''I make sure none of my food talks before I eat any of it.''

"Sensible." APPLe assures Futaba. "Transform? I am afraid not. Some Awakened do have body prosthetics, like the lovely Miss Bellwhistle, but personally I make do with these limbs. Oh I do hope the good lady is doing well, the Captain and I are accustomed to being under such durress, but she is a sweet soul who has not so much as pushed over a rubbish bin." He covers his glasses with his stick finger hands for a moment, letting out a long uneasy sigh.

He's not really in the mood to talk fashion. It's not exactly the APPLe's specialty, for starter's, but it's making him lament Regulus's absence who would be eating this up. He can't be the one to grumble about it, of course, it wouldn't be proper after he's already spent a good deal lamenting the present circumstances.

"That she did. Your wife is very talented." He says.

He floats after Garnet with his gear. "Yes ma'am." He says. And then when given further instructions by Yumi, he sets down his items and lifts up the cleaner fluid. He is a bit nostalgic for the Ahn Cleaning Day Adventure. It's like he's dancing in the air as he works but not efficiently, it's like there's an invisible partner that's supposed to be there dancing and cleaning alongside with him.
Lilian Rook     'Do you talk?'

    "Oh my god." Lilian turns to look at Petra and points in Sarracenia's direction. "Oh my god she can talk?! There's a talking princess!"

    'Tamamo did quite a good job.'

    Bit dropped. Praise for her wife! "Well that's only natural. She's perfect in every way, after all." says Lilian, who is now locked in on having to rock this now. "But she's gotten even better. This is just a resize of an old item. You should see what she can do now."

    'The overlord shows up.'

    Even more gas! Hand on hip, Lilian tilts up her chin, and a mere microadjustment of her posture bombards the area with Heather radiation on par with a suddenly screwdriver-less demon core. "I approve of your attitude, so I've come to pay a little respect."

    'Oh. You turn into things too like my Garnet.'

    Lilian raises an eyebrow, and suddenly turns her head to Petra. Mouthing 'My Garnet?' that clearly sort of undermines whispering it in the first place.

    'Overlord, if you'd like to do the honors of placing the first warding talisman'

    Lilian, who has placed warding talismans at Tamamo's behest like a zillion times, experiences a neuron activation that would be genuinely embarrassing were it more obvious. Being called Overlord makes her want to show off, though! So when she receives the talisman, Lilian smirks, brandishes it between two fingers, then flicks it up into the air, upturning her palm and dramatically snapping her fingers. The talisman--

                -----[stop]-----
    "Hup."

    Lilian stands up on her tiptoes, snags the talisman back out of the air, flicks it once from the wrist to straighten it out, and bats it off with the back of her fingers for good measure. Humming a merry little tune to herself, she goes strutting off to the shrine perimeter corresponding to the first pillar of the traditional array, and kneels down with extra special care not to let any of her hanging fascinators touch the dirt. Smoothing herself down for a second, she carefully places the talismans, presses it flat with a practised swipe from her fingertips, then bounces back up, pleased with her handiwork.

    "This is so easy." Lilian crows to herself, skipping back in line to find her own footprints, meticulously step back into them, and repeat the fingersnap gesture for accuracy.
                -----[start]-----

    --mysteriously disappears, only to be found in exactly the right place the moment anyone goes looking for it. Lilian uses the same hand to flick a lock of hair back over her shoulders.
Natsuki Nuki 'while still kind of just being a hangout, makes 'Elite work-date' a whole--'

Natsuki is appreciatively considering a retort to 'antihero *and* antivillain, having wound up with: "Oh, they're certainly guessing!" Before Petra entirely turns off from their conversation, moving from interested in her to fully invested in Lilian. The shift makes Natsuki go wide-eyed for a moment and then 'tch' with a muttered curse under her breath that causes the rapt attention of her tail about leg onto Petra. Glaring twiceover, Natsuki rolls her eyes and carries on.

Lilian aura farming as a shrine maiden (in hell) has a particular aura to it, especially when she turns it on Natsuki specifically. "O~i," Natsuki returns at a drawl, eyes lightly narrowed but otherwise humored. "This isn't beautiful Osaka. If I want a sentimental home trip I can just take a walk!" She claims. "There's not a pier and a smoking uncle within a stone's throw so it's not home." She adds, chortling in birdsong.

'So whatever levels we're workin' with just went up.'

"Ex-actly! Really, I'm an expert at concentrating levels." She jokes lightly, returned to a good mood by Calvin.

'You think you're so smooth.'

"Isn't he?" Natsuki asks, amused, tone clear and even proud. She appreciated a man with thumbs-in-beltloop easy confidence. 'Earnest' came in a lot of flavors, and of course the alternative fashionist from Osaka wanted a loud Yankee cowboy.

Accepting a talisman, Natsuki looks down at the make of it, turning over the working to check the full quality before snapping the paper taut with a practiced flick and very faint curling with fingers. "I've used talismans before." She nods, before actually being assigned...

The same job. Oh they must be thinking this is a great idea. She didn't even introduce herself with her familial name! She was--

Yet it was meant to be as in short order Natsuki had some of the sage she had been not too long ago making comments about and is in step with Futaba!!

"Break pace and I'll end you."
Trudy Grimm > "My wife did."

    "Ahh, of course. While your sense of style is impeccable, such Eastern finery is well within Tamamo's expertise. Her work is immaculate as always." It is after all similar to Tamamo's own outfit, though clearly for a swordfighter instead of a priestess. That's what Trudy has determined, anyway. A matched set like this is beyond cute. If only she could witness Tamamo wearing the other half to complete the pair!

> "You're certain it isn't too daring?"

    "Certainly not," Trudy wasn't asked but she offers her thoughts on it anyway, even as she busies herself with Yumi's request. 'Warding marble' is a funny name for a protective charm, the witch sees no reason to make a correction. What she does is offer an alternative, "Rather than a little marble, I'll provide some proper guardstones."

    Though it does involve a skeletal arm reaching up out of her shadow to provide a fair-sized rock, which is a *little* out of place here on a shrine, Trudy does set about carving Algiz-- Divine Protection-- into the flatter face with her fingertip and some magic. In this way she fashions a circle of runestones with the runes softly glowing, ready to contain a modest blaze.
Futaba Nuki "Transform? I am afraid not."

"Dang. Ah, not a dig against you or nothing. So you're an APPLE Apple, huh...? sick." Futaba says with an approving nod, giving APPLe a gentle pat on the back. "You got a Captain, too? Huh. And this Bellwhistle... You should take her to one of those wreck rooms, if you and your cap ever get a chance. Might be a good intro to wreckin' things for this gal."

"Yo, Princess!" Futaba greets Sarracenia with the same kind of smile she's given, raising a hand in a casual wave as well while still sliding backwards. She does stop eventually, at least, once she hears Yumi addressing her, although she does spin in place once on her heels in the literal sense with a brief wave of her arms to steady herself.

"Whoa.. Ah. Sure thing! Yeah, bigger hands make light work." With an affirming nod and perking up at hearing that Garnet can transform as well, Futaba slides over to join her while that thought lingers in her mind. "So what kinda transformations do you usually go for? Something that keeps your recognizable, or whatever comes fastest?  Been a hot minute since I've met another one, so...!"

The curiosity is evident in her tone and her eyes, and she demonstrates her own preferred method of transformation when it comes time to move all the stuff with Garnet: Form over function! Futaba's tail wobbles as it reshapes into a handcart, elongating to fit whatever she can that won't fit into Garnet's cart. She still pushes it with handles that loop across her front, although there's definitely a level of inefficiency here with having to use that tail-as-a-cart at all.

Returning with Garnet afterwards, Futaba takes one of the warding talismans and holds it close to her face while studying it. "Along the walls.. Ah, yeah. Me and Natsuki can handle the ones up front while we get these up, then." She affirms with a quick cart-wag, only then remembering to turn her tail-as-a-cart back into her tail and her shoes-as-heelys back into shoes before she accidentally slams into someone.

With flaming sage in hand and suddenly wearing a shrine maiden's outfit of her own that she just decided to transform into between shots, Futaba starts to move at the same pace as Natsuki, taking the same kinds of steps that had already been drilled into her for so long.

"Don't worry, we got this! I had this stuff down pat even when..." Futaba trails off, her usual chipper demeanor sinking a bit at realizing it's been so long since they've last done this together and why. That's soon followed by it picking right back up once she realizes they're still in sync after so long.

"... So! Calvin's treatin' you good, sounds like?"
Petra Soroka "Hey, hey, she looks cool in that, too!"

    "You lose *all* credibility to comment on a woman's style when you're making a gross horrible *flesh car* with your hand."

    For all their time knowing each other, this is one attitude of Petra's towards Futaba that has never changed. That horrible day with the flesh couch has never left her mind. She points accusingly at her, and a rivulet of Silver metal coils out of her tank top and down her arm.

    Just to flex, the droplets of Silver roll off her finger into a floating glob that contorts itself into interlocking gears and wheels to form a toy-sized car. "Unlike me, who can make a car out of beautiful and clean metal. Nyeh."

"I don't think she fully accounted for my build these days."

    "That's okay. She was right to do it like this." Petra immediately chimes in, suspiciously.

"You'd say that if I showed up wearing a burlap sack."

    "And I'd be right!" To the question of whether it's too daring, Petra side-eyes the two world-natives, then slides back to make pointed eye contact with Lilian. "If anything, you and I might both be obscenely overclothed."

"There's no room for my sidearm, after all."

    Distracted and caught in the act, Petra fails to backfill the whole context of Lilian's sentence when she startles away from staring. "Huh? Do you need me to-- carry it?"

"What does clothing have to do with dripping?"

    Petra is high off of some sort of unmedicated comedic haze today, and she opens her mouth to blurt out something inadvisable. She freezes just before making a sound, then just says, "Well."

"Oh my god she can talk?! There's a talking princess!"

    "Woah! Really! Where, where!" Not even overhearing Sarracenia talking to Cerberus, the way Petra so perfectly slides into the joke with Lilian is indistinguishable from her actually believing it sincerely.

"Oh. You turn into things too like my Garnet."

    Another side-eye to Lilian. When they simultaneously mouth the word 'my' at each other, Petra stifles a sudden laugh, covering up her mouth with a hand.

"It's easier for me to move in this."

    "Is it?? Is that it???" Petra seems dissatisfied with this answer, but it's, like, *way* too rude to point out that a near-stranger's pussy bones are showing. "I-- just feel like, when I dress like that, it's definitely not because it's easier to move around in."

    It's also kind of rude to be hung up on these stupid questions while there's a ritual to do! "Oh-- wait, sorry. Talismans in the corners, right?"

    Petra scampers over ahead of Lilian (walking) to place the talisman she was handed in the second corner. Because Tamamo always prefers to give the duty to Lilian-- or literally anyone else as a secondary option-- Petra basically never gets to place down little warding talismans like this!
Futaba Nuki EARLIER
"What does clothing have to do with dripping? Hello?"

"Oh, that's just the word they use. Drip like clothes, fire like lyrics, you know?" Futaba 'helpfully' tries to explain to Lilian, although even she realizes there's a gap the longer she thinks about it. "Never heard anyone callin' swimsuits drip, though. Hm."
Regulus ''So you're an APPLE Apple, huh...?''

"Close, miss. I am an APPLe Apple." The Awakened explains patiently. "The Captain had heard of those 'wreck rooms' and seemed excited by the idea, though I think she saw it as an opportunity to rifle for parts..." He isn't sure how Bellwhistle would feel about a wreck room himself but he supposes there is hardly any harm in asking. He isn't so sure how he himself would be in a wreck room, he doesn't exactly have much strength in those arms of his, but he could cheer her on.

He moves onto scrubbing.
Petra Soroka "I am beside myself with worry!"

    "You can be bored while you worry! In fact, you kind of can't do much else, because if you could then you wouldn't be worrying so much."

"Isn't he?"

    Having successfully fallen into orbit around Lilian, Petra's path can gravitate back outwards to interact with other people again, like a particularly clingy cat. Despite her proclaimed misandry and heterophobia, Petra loves romance and gossip too much to *not* engage girltalk with Natsuki about it, and she's really much worse at hating men than she likes to appear.

    Surveying nodding, hand on her chin like she's struggling to interpret Rothko, she looks over to where Calvin's messing around with the fire. "I guess so? I mean, I can't tell you I *understand*, but-- I see the *point* of that kind of yeehaw-purity. A guy thinking of himself as cool and suave is *such* a narrow line to walk, but as long as he's *actually*, like, thirty percent as cool as he thinks he is...."

"While your sense of style is impeccable, such Eastern finery is well within Tamamo's expertise."

    Petra helpfully informs Trudy, "You're not supposed to say 'Oriental' anymore. She's Japanese." Why is she even picking this fight.
Lilian Rook     'But the attempts of the Foundation to disrupt our efforts were no easy load to bear and even harsher to see the burden on Miss Vertin's friends--and the volunteers who merely volunteered because they thought it was the right thing to do.'

    Lilian makes an uneasy sound, then rocks her weight from one foot to the other. "I'll admit, I hardly had time to see. Gathering up what I had for the trial, sitting in for meetings, discussions, rewrites, and amendments, coordinating with Tamamo and Z on who to approach, doing background research, setting up contingencies; all of that took hundreds of hours, much less the full time job of making as certain as I can that Mesmer Jr. behaves herself." Lilian says. It's all true, but a bit of a cope about the fact she never even got close to the Rebellion's occupied building.

    'So I assure you, your political efforts have been seen and appreciated. By myself, doubly so.'

    "You needn't mention it, but it's gratifying to hear all the same." says Lilian. "It's rare that I can employ my political acumen to help anyone so directly. I had my reservations at first, but despite its horrendous bloat and several nasty characters, I think I might just believe that the Foundation is something where positive change can sometimes come of," She scoffs, laughing through her nose at the absurdity, "Voting."

    'That she did. Your wife is very talented.'

    "I'm certain she'd love to sew a thing or two for a few Suitcase residents as well, you know."

    'There's not a pier and a smoking uncle within a stone's throw so it's not home.'

    "Alas. Even if I lit up, I'm not even old enough to be your aunt." Lilian says.

    'Isn't he?'

    She rolls her eyes, but smiles all the same. "He has his moments, certainly."

    'Her work is immaculate as always.'

    Yes. This is a good day.

    'Certainly not'

    For some reason, Lilian has an easy time trusting Trudy on this. Her fashion eccentricities are like, having an undead weasel for a fur collar or whatever. It's just like good, honest, trustworthy Rita, insisting that showing bare back isn't indecent at all.

    'Unlike me, who can make a car out of beautiful and clean metal. Nyeh.'

    "Careful now. The Doctor will hear you." Lilian says. Whether she means Eggman or Thorne is unclear.

    'If anything, you and I might both be obscenely overclothed.'

    Lilian just openly stares at the Calvin Klein Line, then drifts her gaze up to Garnet and Yumi, before deciding "How?", clearing her throat, and saying "I suppose I'll have to keep it in mind for later. There's nothing I detest more than falling behind in fashion."

    'Huh? Do you need me to-- carry it?'

    "No. I think the devil would start talking to you."

    'Well.'

    Lilian raises her hand threateningly for a second a half, then cough-laughs.

    'I-- just feel like, when I dress like that, it's definitely not because it's easier to move around in.'

    "Your greed disgusts me." says Lilian, still laughing. "You should train with a weapon until Scáthach will take you. The sex comedy situations that'd create would rewrite the book."

    'Drip like clothes, fire like lyrics'

    "Beg pardon, but Sakura has been talking about the five elements all day, so I can't help but think of something else."

    'but as long as he's *actually*, like, thirty percent as cool as he thinks he is....'

    "Well, Wood and Water are allegedly natural complements." she says, gesturing as if to connect to the two points.
Yumi Garnet, fortunately didn't hear the 'my Garnet' part of Yumi's conversation, more focusing on getting people prepped for their role in the whole thing. "Jeeze, this would usually take us all day and then some. We'll have this knocked out in a breeze." comes the fox's commentary on the whole thing.

    APPLe's cleaning is noticed and Yumi smiles as she makes her way towards the brazier being made by Trudy with the bigger stones. Yumi's slowly watching everyone, but when Lilian puts up the first talisman, she tilts her head a bit. When the talisman disappears from the snap, she blinks and goes to get ready to pull another one, until she sees it at the proper location. "You will never cease to amaze."

    Garnet turns towards Futaba, "Oh, I'm usually turning into Yumi's sword or bow. She can't use normal weapons... or touch normal things. SHe melts them practically." she smirks, watching the 'nuki turn into basically a hand cart. "Ah, a tool-nuki. You're useful. I like you."

    Yumi turns towards Petra and nods, "It really is it. But I'll look into other clothing options later." she hmms softly and shakes her head before kneeling down in front of the stone brazier. At least until the word 'Mesmer' is muttered, causing a visible shudder from the hell miko, "I don't like that person..." she quietly mutters under her breath, opening the book. "Okay, this..." she mutters, convinently ignoring the 'sex comedy' line from Lilian.
Calvin Nash You genuinely think you're such a down-to-earth badass.
And Mister Calvin -is- rather down-to-earth and cool. Not to mention heroic!
Isn't he?

    He does think those things. He also thinks that holding his authoritative posture throughout those assessments is humbly letting the praise breeze past him, and that Natsuki can't tell that he is appreciatively side-eyeing her from behind his sunglasses.

We've got so many offerings here; *one's* gotta work.

    "Wine's a classic."

    "Dance is also appropriate for the spirits you appealed to."

    Calvin nods. "Mhm." He pauses. "I wouldn't," he then warns. "Not right now."

Do you talk?

    "When the mood strikes me, or the need arises." Cerberus' speech is understandable as human--as one might expect, it is an archaic form of Greek, parsed through the Understanding. When he speaks, wisps of flame escape whichever of his three mouths does the speaking, and the edges of his words are influenced by the inhuman shape *of* his mouths--every so often there's a canine snort or a settling of the chops.

    Calvin follows Yumi's point, thumbs hooked into his belt loops, then nods. His purposeful stride communicates that he knows exactly where he's going, when in truth his pace is carefully calculated to not overtake Yumi. He takes the talisman from Garnet with a stiff nod once she returns.

    "Got it," he says, having been given his instructions.

    "Thank you for indulging us."

    "Indeed. I look forward to seeing an old tradition with fresh eyes."

    Loa just kind of floats ominously near Yumi. Cerberus is able to sit, and does--his tail is a bony and serpentine thing very much unlike a dog's. If anything, it looks like a spinal cord or something from the era when dinosaurs walked the earth, old and primal. It curls around him when he sits, easily the length of his body.

    Calvin does as he's asked, throwing a few cedar chips into the fire every so often with a stern frown. He appears to be muttering as he does so. One could be forgiven for thinking that it's sour grapes over being on fire duty, given how Calvin is--but the muttering is too rhythmic, too regular, to be minced grievances.

     Anyone with sufficient knowledge of occult and esoteric symbols will recognize that the ones carved into the chips come from a variety of mystic paradigms. Some are obviously Hebrew characters, others may be of Afro-Caribbean origin, others still from indigenous North American peoples, and yet more seem oddly contemporary by comparison--horseshoes, for instance. Cedar wood is a natural insect repellent, but the symbols on the fragments imbue the repellent with supernatural properties to ward off things that feed on mortals in more deadly ways that mosquitoes. The smoke isn't unpleasant--it's complex and woody, yet fresh and fragrant despite being burnt, almost inviting, so long as you're not something it's meant to repel.
Trudy Grimm > "You're not supposed to say 'Oriental' anymore."

    "I didn't?" An actually bewildered Trudy has to stop mid-Rune Carving to stare at Petra. After a moment, she returns to the matter of Guardstones, "You're right, she is Japanese. I'm not sure how or why you heard 'Oriental' though."

> "You will never cease to amaze."

    "Lilian is consistently and reliably amazing," Trudy backs up Yumi's assessment without hesitation. It's been a while since she's worn a coat of magically reanimated weasels, but such an image would tend to stick in anyone's mind. Trudy is the sort to prefer the creepier side of cute things for her own style.

> "Mesmer"

    "That girl needs to spend time outdoors," Trudy places the final guardstone for the firepit with more strength than necessary, "*Desperately*."

    Trudy then crouches down with her hands on her knees, minding the fire while Calvin feeds it, only half-listening to what she determines to be prayers or sutras of some sort she is unfamiliar with. The man works with demons, so she trusts him to know what he's doing.
Sarracenia      Sarra takes a talisman and moves to join the line, a small smile on her face. It is nice to help in such a simple task and to talk with people outside of a life or death situation.

     'Oh my god she can talk?! There's a talking princess!'

     Sarra's smile once again turns to a deadpan expression. She might no longer be in good spirits. Her expression lifts slightly as Lilian starts going on about Tamamo, but returns when Lilian's talisman disappears mysteriously and Lilian starts preening like people don't already think she is the most amazing thing since sliced bread.

     'When the mood strikes me, or the need arises.'

     Sarra flinches in surprise despite her asking if Cerberus could talk. She smiles quickly though. "Oh! Uh...well, it is nice to meet you! Oh, I hope you do not mind the petting." She blushes a bit, realizing it might have been a faux pas.

     'Can you prep a small fire right .... here?'

     Sarra blinks in surprise. "...make a fire...?" Sarra hmphs haughtily. "Can I make a fire? Why, fire and explosions are what I am known for~!" she says, her spirits raising again. She reaches into her purse, and with a flourish pulls out...a fire flower! The large flower with a glowing red oval outside surrounding a white interior with cute, almost plushie-like black eyes. She gives it a squeeze and in a puff of white smoke she is in even more fiery colors than before. Oranges and whites have taken over much of the accents and hems of her outfit. She holds out a hand, and a baseball-sized fireball grows and then floats there in her palm. "Just point me toward the would-be fire!"

     It is then that Sarra realizes...Garnet just drew an X in the dirt. Sarra blinks, then is quiet a few moments. "Wait, you mean...make the -entire- fire?" she asks. This is something that requires actual menial work and getting one's hands dirty. Or gloves. "Er...I see. Um...do you have a supply of firewood?" Sarra looks around uncertainly. She will carry and place the logs if needed, though she will be quite prissy about it, before lighting it with a summoned fireball.
Lilian Rook     'I wouldn't. Not right now.'

    "Oh? Why not?" Here we go. "You aren't afraid of showing Natsuki your moves now are you?"

    'You're right, she is Japanese. I'm not sure how or why you heard 'Oriental' though.'

    Lilian, loath as she is to indulge Petra's catfighting at the moment, sighs regretfully, and says, "I suppose 'Eastern' is sort of a synonym when you repeat it enough. Shinto is rather specific in location; we're not speaking of Buddhism." She stops just to marvel at how often Buddhism comes up in her life these days. It must be the time loops.

    'You will never cease to amaze.

    "Hmmhmm~ You're a quick study, I'll grant you that."

    'I don't like that person...'
    'That girl needs to spend time outdoors,'

    "I'm afraid touching grass won't fix it." Lilian sighs a second time; this one rasps with an edge of pent-up aggression. "The Mesmer Group truly outdid themselves with that one. It's best that you just stay far away from her. It'd take all day to try and explain."

    'Wait, you mean...make the -entire- fire?'

    Oh but wonderful, blessed Sarracenia is here to save the day! This situation never fails to cheer Lilian up! "Well of course. What else could she mean? Just the orange parts?" Lilian says, already quietly elated. "It's hardly a difficult task. Children learn to do it at camp. Your ancient ancestors managed with a rock and some sticks, even. It's just a little handicraft."
Natsuki Nuki Futaba gets walked like the dog Petra is by people regarding her divine child shape-warping abilities, and Natsuki doesn't add on to that because that way she can merely bask in the universe being right about Futaba (being a little weird about it) and her being a perfectly shaped and ideally formed creature. It's easy to keep this feeling up, even while striding with lit bushel, because she had drilled until her pace was set so deeply into her that it didn't matter that time had passed or it wasn't their temple.

In a way, she's proud.
In another, when Futaba starts getting reminiscent about it, Natsuki almost expresses a faint near-sisterly sympathy while her tail droops behind her.

'... So! Calvin's treatin' you good, sounds like?'

"Are you asking if he's being kind and considerate to me, or fucking me right? Because I can't tell." Natsuki deadpans while marching with sage, looking at Futaba out of just the one eye. "You want to ask Calvin? About his big Yankee American dick?"

Her eyes return to center. "Think about the questions you're asking. Would I even begin to *be* with someone if they sucked? Do you think it's a power scheme? Power schemes aren't boyfriends." Natsuki scoffs.

If her evil cursed tail was to be asked, boyfriends COULD be power schemes, as a treat, but it wasn't the vocal half tonight.

'A guy thinking of himself as cool and suave is *such* a narrow line to walk, but as long as he's *actually*, like, thirty percent as cool as he thinks he is...'

Petra's orbiter status downramps to satellite at Lagrange point and she pivots back to Natsuki, and Natsuki just smiles toothily. "So if he's near-infinitely confident, he's thirty percent of basically infinity. Do some quick maingirl maths on that, see what it comes out to."

'Well, Wood and Water are allegedly natural complements.'

"Well if you want to get classic element about it, but a gal and a yankee is just as natural a compliment." She can't cross her fingers showily while carrying sage, but, they cross for point despite. That she's being checked out while she's saying so is quite presumed and happily additive to the moment. It's part of the bit!
Lilian Rook     'Are you asking if he's being kind and considerate to me, or fucking me right? Because I can't tell.'

    Lilian rolls her eyes. "Yes you can. It's your sister." she says, correct in several senses and also unfortunately incorrect about a few things. Natsuki making an Example out of the whole thing sort of renders moot any need for followup, so Lilian politely waits for her to be finished, then looks square at Futaba to say "And don't ask him anything. He'll try and play it off all chivalrous and stoic but he'll turn bright red and Hellbiker will be telling us all about it for weeks."

    'Do some quick maingirl maths on that, see what it comes out to.'

    "Oh that should be easy for her. Petra already knows what infinitely confident and cool looks like."

    'Well if you want to get classic element about it, but a gal and a yankee is just as natural a compliment.'

    "And you somehow bagged the only one who opens the door for you and tucks in his goddamn shirt too."
Yumi     With Trudy and Calvin maintaining the fire, Garnet turns to Sarracenia as her dress changes color with a curious look. Noting that flower, she turns back to Yumi's building... "Are... all of the flowers and things you gave Yumi able to do that?"

    Yumi nods at Lilian and finally moves to start focusing with everyone chattering and focusing on their roles. Yumi traces her fingers along the words of the book and starts mouthing every word in it, the book glowing a soft red.

    "Don't worry about the red." Garnet mentions, "She's just focusing. That book is one of the few things she can hold too without it turning to dust." the smoke starts swirling around from the burning sage Natsuki and Futaba are holding along with the wood being burnt from Calvin's offerings.

    "We're not familiar with 'wood' element, closest we come up with is Fire, Water, Wind and Star. And that's gonna take a day to explain." Garnet comments with the whole 'natural compliments' on those Chinese elements.

    Yumi's chanting gets a slight bit louder, not enough to drown out the chatter between friends(?), acquaintences and royalty as the placed talismans start glowing that same red, framing the building with red lines before giving Garnet a soft nod.

    Garnet takes one more talisman "It's too soon." she whispers towards Yumi, who keeps chanting, turning to the middle of the building, "I said it's too soon, Yumi." lines start connecting then radiating towards the middle of the building, forming a small circle, Yumi's eyes narrowing more. "Not... yet... you've done this many times..."

    The book continues to glow red, getting brighter and brighter as Yumi concentrates, Garnet slowly strolling up to the building like it took too much effort to even get out of bed this morning. "Almost..." Garnet whispers...
Trudy Grimm > "I suppose 'Eastern' is sort of a synonym when you repeat it enough."

    Closing her eyes, Trudy tilts her head slightly to the side, "You think so... Then I'll remove it from my vocabulary." Now Eastern shall only be a direction! ...or a particularly large paddle steamship.

> "I'm afraid touching grass won't fix it."

    "Still worth a try. Whether or not she's eaten by wolves is outside my power." Trudy pauses, turning her eyes skyward following the puffs of cedar smoke, "Although..."

    Another moment passes; Trudy's skyward gaze shifts again, following Lilian again, "Would the wolves be fine? Certainly she isn't *that* poisonous."
Petra Soroka "I suppose I'll have to keep it in mind for later. There's nothing I detest more than falling behind in fashion."

    "Right! We've gotta study and be prepared for next time!"

    The only two examples of local world fashion they have are the two people right in front of them now. Both because Lilian is in a miko outfit like Yumi's, and because Petra frequently postures herself as Lilian's weapon, Garnet's clothing choice seems like the natural result to compliment their pairing, but that would mean that Petra is suggesting that she show up almost completely naked.

"No. I think the devil would start talking to you."

    "Hey, we're already in hell right now! That's probably a good thing!"

"Well, Wood and Water are allegedly natural complements."

    "Oh my god, she's been talking to you about that too? Isn't it *adorable*?" After enthusing, Petra mumbles to herself, "I need to get people's birthdays. And where they were both. Maybe what the Sector needs is the two of us *matchmaking*."

"It really is it. But I'll look into other clothing options later."

    "Do you, like, know the internet?" If Yumi doesn't, then the way Petra says it doesn't make it clear that it's an object and not a person at all. "I don't really know what your, like, social technological cultural vibe is like, here. Do you even have that much of a society or is it just you two?"

"You're right, she is Japanese. I'm not sure how or why you heard 'Oriental' though."

    "Huh?" Rather than hostile, Petra looks genuinely befuddled at Trudy, brows drawn together. "Yes you did. You did say that. And I mean, like, she's not Chinese or anything. There's other people that are Chinese and that's different."

"I'm afraid touching grass won't fix it."

    "Only touching the bottom of the ocean. And a cloud of fleas." This mantra is, instead of being a demonstration of Petra's hostility towards Mesmer, actually a technique for suppressing it. When that ritual ends, she hisses in annoyance at Mesmer still being on her mind. "God I hate her. It's so annoying when everyone's actually right about hating someone."

"Um...do you have a supply of firewood?"

    "Don't you live in the middle of a jungle, princess?" Naturally, that wood would actually be much more inconvenient for starting a fire, but Petra's never had to start a fire in a jungle before.

"So if he's near-infinitely confident, he's thirty percent of basically infinity. Do some quick maingirl maths on that, see what it comes out to."

    "Holy shit." Petra performs it in exactly the same way as 'b-bakana?!' drawing back with her hand over her mouth in faux-awe, with a smile underneath. "But I've already got a mathematical proof ready for you, and she's riiiiight here."

    "What *is* up with the maingirl thing, though? I feel like I'm usually throwing 'tertiary'-- is it growing out my hair? Because the longer hair *kinda* does do that."
Regulus ''You can be bored while you worry!''

"...I suppose I just didn't wish to think of it like that, but I see your point. Perhaps the Captain is more honest and understanding of the correlation than I was." APPLe sounds strangely a bit relieved while saying so. "She has such a knack for getting into trouble--and has such a knack for wiggling out of it--that I worry she'll put too much faith in the latter one day."

''I hardly had time to see.''

APPLe bobs a bit more, with an affirmative energy. "We all had our parts to play, perhaps the next time we catch up we can be a bit more patient with one another. The Captain is unaccustomed with the 'cold equations' that the Foundation finds so necessary, but the people of the Foundation do not exactly fear that the Storm will take them away--outside their investigators, a startling few face the Storm as directly as you and Team Timekeeper have."

"Rather, the fear is existential, that the absence of time moving forward and the peculiar elusive nature of the Storm's workings makes an excess of rules and laws comforting--even as they gum up the works. You say 'there are rules' but in the end even much of what we determine to be 'Law', simply because we haven't seen an alternative, is actually upon closer inspection an enduring theory we haven't found the exceptions for. In the end it was just a theory that rain travels down rather than up in defiance of our understanding of gravity--but it was a 'Truth' that humanity could rely on and it being taken away must be quite discomfitting."

He seems to realize he's indulging his tendency to amble. "By which I mean, the Foundation needs people like you who can readily navigate bloated systems rather than simply lull onself into a comfortable rest among them. I know it seems like the Captain is just indulging her tendency to rebel, but she's wanted to trust in Miss Sonetto's faith in the Foundation--or at least in her faith of it's capacity to improve with the effort of the people therein. She feels this is her way of lending a hand to the Foundation. And you."
Regulus ''Voting.''

"Hah, well... I may not believe in voting on its own, but I do believe in the efforts of many working in concert with one another." APPLe admits.

''But the important thing!! GARMENTS!!''

The APPLe is a little embarrassed as his fashion options are pretty limited. "I will be sure, should Mrs. Tamamo be as gracious as to provide her with a garment, that Regulus shows appropriate grace and gratitude. Though she'll no doubt be pleased if the others receive such gifts. She has decided to shape herself into someone devoted to the wellbeing of her fellow Suitcase residents."

He's now wiping down his area to see if there are any other places who need a second work over.
Futaba Nuki "You lose *all* credibility to comment on a woman's style when you're making a gross horrible *flesh car* with your hand."

"I can make it outta other stuff!" Futaba replies with a put-upon pout, flicking her tail once and covering her mouth to hold in a yawn. There's still that telltale eye-flutter, though, but she does turn her tail into a wooden handcart briefly before turning it right back so she can keep in step with Natsuki.

Seeing Petra using the Silver, though, does get a dopey smile out of Futaba. It's a different kind of dopey than her usual, too, like she's getting a morale boost just being reminded of that despite the nyeh-ing. "God, Dimo's really cool with the Silver, too... Alright, you got me. I'll make it non-fleshy next time.""

"I think she saw it as an opportunity to rifle for parts..."

"I mean, if it's already busted junk, I don't see why not. Not like folks're sending stuff there so people can use it for anything else, though, if she's lookin' for anything good. You want the tech scrap bins for that." Futaba informs APPLe, taking out an ancient-looking flip phone for emphasis. "That's how I snagged this old thing. Still got an obscure little beat 'em up I touch every couple o' months on this."

"Beg pardon, but Sakura has been talking about the five elements all day, so I can't help but think of something else."

"Oh! Yeah, I getcha." Futaba nods quickly in understanding, even if she's missing some key details like that conversation. "Nothin' to worry about, Mrs. Rook. You need any other slang figured out, me or Petra'll can  give you the rundown."

"She can't use normal weapons... or touch normal things. SHe melts them practically."

"You're the weapon, huh? Good opportunity to turn the brain off, I bet." Futaba laughs again, scratching her chin after a moment in deep thought. "I can see it working out, yeah... Turning into something tougher than anything else, reacting and tripping up whoever you're gettin' swung at? Or catchin' 'em off guard, making whoever think you're just a plain ol' sword when-"

Futaba chops the air with her arm, and then her arm extends from the bottom of the swing to suddenly reach upwards and grab something from below. "-shaPOW right up in there."

"Are you asking if he's being kind and considerate to me, or fucking me right?"
"Hellbiker will be telling us all about it for weeks."

For once, Futaba actually gets stunlocked by something Natsuki says! Her face freezes up, and her body's just taking those steps on practice alone while her brain processes what's been said extremely slowly.

"... Ew. Ew ew, ewwww!" She shakes her scrunched up face rapidly, not wanting to have her thoughts anywhere near that longer than absolutely necessary. There's even a gagging noise coming out of her when Lilian follows that up, and then a loud "AAAAAAH DON'T WANNA NO WAY AAAAAAH" followed by more loud humming from Futaba to try and dislodge that course of thought entirely.

"Would I even begin to *be* with someone if they sucked?"

Eventually, Futaba does settle enough mentally to process a proper conversation again, although her already gray-ish skin is still remarkably whiter. "N... No, you're not the type to pull that. If you wanted to do a power grab, you'd just do it straight." She admits, seeming a little more relieved once that thought is fully formed neough to say it out loud.

"... Doesn't mean I can't worry anyway, though." She mutters under her breath a little bit afterwards. She looks up, however, once she sees the book glowing extra red. Although Garnet had told everyone not to worry, the ominous glow from the book and talismans alike combined with Garnet's murmuring about the door have her starting to wonder about if it is, in fact, nothing to worry about.
Futaba Nuki "We... Don't want to open it. Got it. Do we need more talismans or something to hold it shut?" Futaba calls over while she continues the steps, already letting her arm wibble around a little in anticipation of having to turn it into something or another on short notice.
Yumi >"Do you, like, know the internet?"

    Garnet shakes her head "No." is all she says to Petra before she gives Yumi one more look. The demon miko nods once more and Garnet places the last Talisman. The red slowly starts to lose its pigmentation, shifting into pink, and slowly into white as it radiates out from the circle. "And there..."

    Yumi keeps up her little chant until the entire wall glows a soft white before fading into nothing, the talismans disappearing and the book shutting itself. "And that's good for another month or two." she mutters, the fire going out on its own as she leans back, hands on the ground and book in lap.

    "Sorry about taking so long on this, but this is faster than it usually takes." turning towards the others, "I did promise a dinner and I believe the rest of it's finished by now."

    Garnet, however, turns back to Petra, "Its just us two at the shrine, honestly. THere's probably more demons out there who managed to escape the Netherworld after the fights, but right now, it's just us."
Lilian Rook     'Oh my god, she's been talking to you about that too? Isn't it *adorable*?'

    "Oh, naturally." Lilian says. "Chuyao talking about the Pavilion's swordsmen again got me itching to go practice a few things I've been keeping very experimental so far, and Sakura came out to see me and decided to share a few more things about Chinese philosophy with me." She touches the side of her face, and tilts her head. "I suppose I looked very excited."

    "Obviously she's already done the readings and all. She was a bit fussy about the Earth part, but it seemed to conform to her expectations overall." Lilian pauses, then claps her hands together. "Oh Matilda would love this wouldn't she? I should get Sonetto's birthday out of her."

    'God I hate her. It's so annoying when everyone's actually right about hating someone.'

    Lilian's mood falls. "It just feels disgusting, doesn't it? Being on the same side as the rank misogynists because she just genuinely sucks that badly."

    'What *is* up with the maingirl thing, though? I feel like I'm usually throwing 'tertiary'--'

    "Rider?" Lilian doesn't even wait for an answer. "You're multiclassing genres at this point, I think. It has to be your charged relationship with the alluring dark foil-type who is clearly your senior and superior but seems to have a special eye out for you amongst the group because she treats you differently from the others."

    'She has such a knack for getting into trouble--and has such a knack for wiggling out of it--that I worry she'll put too much faith in the latter one day.'

    "Well, I'm sorry to say my friend, but that's why she has you." says Lilian. "I know you must've heard that a million times," Presumptuous. "But it's true."

    'outside their investigators, a startling few face the Storm as directly as you and Team Timekeeper have.'

    "Trust me. I've noticed." she says, with a bitter edge. "Some of them are putting it on, too; trying to separate themselves from the arcanists, or even the other arcanists. I'm not a fan." She reaches for an ornament at her hip that she isn't wearing, then pumps the brakes. "But after meeting Z and a few others, I do begin to see why Vertin believes in it. For all the inevitable flaws of being a democratic bureaucracy, there are points of light."

    'You say 'there are rules' but in the end even much of what we determine to be 'Law', simply because we haven't seen an alternative, is actually upon closer inspection an enduring theory we haven't found the exceptions for.'

    "What I'd give for them to listen to you like they would a human." Lilian sighs.

    'it was a 'Truth' that humanity could rely on and it being taken away must be quite discomfitting.'

    "But, unfortunately, I see that you as well are cursed with understanding them too well." Lilian says with a bitter smile. "Twelve years is enough 'interesting times' to change anyone. It's natural to yearn for it all to go back to how it was, but trying to stay the same as always, as if you can manifest it, is the demented little ritual of the criminally comfortable. The only way you can keep your precious 'stability' without changing a thing is by forcing everyone around you to absorb the turbulence."

    "If the vaunted 'Light of Human Reason' was ever worth anything, humanity is certainly fallen. Thrown into the dark once again, they seem to find lighting up a match too much effort, and prefer to shut their eyes and imagine they can see what's around them instead. I'm certain their ancestors would spit on them."
Lilian Rook     'By which I mean, the Foundation needs people like you who can readily navigate bloated systems rather than simply lull onself into a comfortable rest among them.'

    A subtle sort of spell breaks. Lilian looks to APPLe, a little confused, and smiles gently. "No need to preach. Regulus may annoy the everloving piss out of me sometimes, but I know that it isn't 'rebelling' that means so much to her. Even though she seems to take it as just another part of her identity, I know that she's always rebelling because there's always something that needs to be challenged. I don't think it's pointless at all."

    'Hah, well... I may not believe in voting on its own, but I do believe in the efforts of many working in concert with one another.'

    Lilian isn't really the fistbump type, but she does give APPLe a little nod. "I'll make certain Tamamo hears of the compliment."

    'If you wanted to do a power grab, you'd just do it straight.'

    Lilian can't quite fully suppress the meangirl giggle.

    'We're not familiar with 'wood' element, closest we come up with is Fire, Water, Wind and Star. And that's gonna take a day to explain.'

    "Oh. Baffling." says Lilian, blinking. "I'm actually very curious to hear the explanation now.

    'It's too soon.'

    Her second blink is different. "Is something wrong?" Her fingers rise to the black chain hanging from her throat, the pendant tucked beneath her clothing for the time being.
Sarracenia      'Well of course. What else could she mean? Just the orange parts?'

     Sarra lets out an annoyed 'nnng' as Lilian so cheerfully insults her in the middle of all this. "I am -quite capable of making a fire! I was just not expecting-" But, she is distracted by...

     'Are you asking if he's being kind and considerate to me, or...'

     Natsuki throwing out two scandalizing phrases in a row pulls Sarra out of angry state and THROWS her back into completely embarrassed state. "N-natsuki...!" Sarra says in one of those urgent whispers brought on by disbelief. Of course, everyone else just rolls with it, which just makes Sarra blush more. How is everyone else so calm about it?! And how can Natsuki talk like that at all, much less to her sister?! At least Futaba has an appropriate reaction!

     're... all of the flowers and things you gave Yumi able to do that?'

     Sarra is brought back from her mortification at least some by Garnet. "Hm? Why, yes! It is a common gift basket for new Multiversal friends." Sarra says, cheerfully. "Though, she should be careful. The red mushrooms will make you about twice as tall as you currently are. She could break something, and it likely will not be herself! Then there are the green mushrooms, which are powerful healing items. Fire and ice flowers, which are rather self explanatory. And of course, a few leaf power-ups, which will grant raccoon ears and a tail along with the ability to fly! Not to mention how cute they are!"
Natsuki Nuki 'Yes you can. It's your sister.'

"Every part of a moment is teachable." Natsuki returns, in aside to Lilian. "Neither is proper to just out and ask me at someone else's temple. I am a living curse and a storm embodied and am carrying out temple tasks and can absolutely take care of myself when it comes to anyone or anything I take liking to, and so clearly she's asking about the physical relationship."

'What *is* up with the maingirl thing, though? I feel like I'm usually throwing 'tertiary''

"So your corrupted disaster act only goes so far when you're really almost an 'extreme, icon woman' archetype with a little rough edging for persistent characterization. That there's an unattainably cool and perfect character the maingirl is after but can't ever acquire? Classic." She chortles, huyu-huyu. "Trust me, you're basically a piece of toast in the mouth and an untucked shirt on one side away from being perfectly on-model."

'... Ew. Ew ew, ewwww!'

Futaba, stunlocked beyond time and space, breaks pace, and this releases Natsuki from containment. Turning, she keeps one humanoid hand on the bushel of smoldering sage and reaches with her other for the back of Futaba's neck. As she reaches, her tail follows, lassoing the younger Nuki for a good shaking.

"Oi! What the hell do you mean, 'ew'? Your two options are 'how is the dick' and 'is he hurting you' and sister there is a correct question and it's the first one!!" Natsuki hisses at a barely-restrained stage whisper, lest she bellow like thunderpeal at her fool of a relative.

"Do you think he is? Hello Biker isn't required for me to wring your neck! I'll get his bike out and run your ass over with it myself! Get right! Pick a god and get right before them, because I'm gonna get you wrong if you keep this up!"

'Doesn't mean I can't worry' gets a teakettle chirp from Natsuki, and an absolutely put upon look up and out to the other ritualists. "One moment please, I might have to kill her. Please understand." She offers with a little chin-dip of a headbow, and then returns to harassing Futaba by pressing her palms to Futaba's temples and rattling her with tail assistance. "Thiiiiiiink!"

This, too, is a ritual.
Yumi > "Is something wrong?"

    Garnet shakes her head, "Just timing, it's all. She does this a lot. She thinks she can rush it some."

    > " Hm? Why, yes! It is a common gift basket for new Multiversal friends."

    Garnet nods here too, "... Yumi with a tail." and she starts laughing, "That's rich. Only way she'll get one if she reincarnates into a Nekomata or one of my kind." Yumi stares at Garnet before shaking her head.

    "I know it took a bit, but thank you for your help everyone. Usually this takes me a day or so to do, but a few hours is all it took this time. Don't have to worry what's behind this building now for a good amount of time too. Now, who's hungry?"
Regulus ''I know you must've heard that a million times.''

APPLe has no mouth to smile with but if you watch the way his body bobs through the air, you can sort of get at his mood, even the subtle parts of it, especially when he adds voice to them. "Less than you might think. But I suppose you could say our elements work well together."

Of course, Regulus doesn't have APPLe right now, hench all his worrying, but there are enough people over there that maybe someone can handle the role on a temporary basis. Or the stakes will subdue Regulus accordingly just long enough for it to work out. The cleaning seems to improve APPLe's mood considerably, or maybe it's the conversation, or both, in such a way that his mood can be observed but he really did need to get out of there for whatever reason you might give it.

"Vertin too is a part of the Foundation, even if she is keenly aware of it's foibles and even if the Foundation seems to have trouble understanding that." All Vertin had to do to earn APPLe's loyalty was save Vertin, obviously, but he is an old apple. The trouble these young ones have to endure and the work they take upon themselves is distressing even if there's some inspiration to see such courage and determination and even passion in a world seemingly determined to drain it away.

Points of light. Like stars against a dark night sky. But boy do stars shine, even from a distance.

"An Awakened can be quite inflexible in their own ways. I used to be more involved in the sciences, but the Captain has encouraged me to be more understanding of the unorthodox methodologies."

''I see that you as well are cursed with understanding them too well.''

"The Captain has grown to understand as such as well." APPLe demures. "I am not surprised you see the cost of that yearning, though you remind me of the parable of the cave with that metaphor. The shadows we snuff the match to avoid seeing may prove to not be so frightful once we find ourselves willing to move out from the cool comfort of the dark." He does not argue that the ancestors would not spit on them, though. He's noticed that while everybody hopes for a better future for those that follow them, they are not always so pleased to see what better futures can turn men into.

''Regulus may annoy the everloving piss out of me...''

APPLe is relieved. It is likely certain that he dwelled so much on this conversation in the first place because he knows that Regulus and Lilian has had some seriously difficult moments, particularly in the aftermath of the Storm, but he considers the connection between pirate and paladin to be something he ought to make his own effort to protect. He knows how Regulus can be and that her tongue sometimes outpaces her mind and that her emotions can be turbulent like the seas--especially lately as she struggles with now being two eras removed from her own.

"Thank you, Lilian. You put an old apple's mind at ease."

He finally pulls his attention back to Futaba and considers how to really explain that he doesn't really know the difference between the various forms of 'wreck room'. "The Captain does prefer to tinker and take apart. If the machines in question are in good condition it may be quite a temporary condition as she works her way into an understanding of the devices in question."