2020-06-09: Know The Enemy

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<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

The Black Wolves are on the Thames. The Karlsefni, as a rule, does not dock in any city. Leon might risk it at the Thames... but no, any city is a liability.

At the moment, four of them plus a guest have gathered in a workshop just off the marketplace. Lily is at work -- and Leon, too, who has been working on some blasted project of late. As is his wont, he doesn't really share the details until he finishes.

He steps into the common area of the workshop and wipes his brow with a towel. The workshop is a small place, with a crowded entry room -- but there is a table, and chairs, and a few drinks out. Argus found those.

Leon takes a glass and has a long drink from it. "Gets bloody hot in here," he opines.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily at the moment is kneeling down beside an engine making some adjustments, a wrench in one hand and the other steadying a part. Her hair is bound back with a ribbon; she is working quite a lot with this thing at the moment, and the parts are visible for a frame for the engine, too.

But it's not all together; the workshop isn't quite big enough for that at the moment yt.

She doesn't pause for a drink this time, but there's an empty glass that suggests she has recently.

"Heh. It does. I could cool it down," she offers, moving from her position bent to see a part and sitting up straight, lifting her hand palm-up and letting mist trace along her hand. 

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    This is wise decision, as far as a certain country doctor is concerned. There is little that can be done to absolutely cloak the Karlsefni -- eventually, one of their enemies will discover it and the Black Wolves' use of it -- but they can reduce the odds of that happening by keeping it far from cities and settlements.

    And if it does become discovered... well, Aquvy is a big place. Perhaps a similar strategy (at least in the general logistics) to a certain group of sand pirates might be warranted.

    Lily isn't alone in the workshop. Citan has been in, as well, watching Lily work and making a few observations/suggestions where appropriate. Machinery and engineering are a bit of a hobby of his.

    "I suppose it is," he remarks, as Leon says it's gotten hot in here. He doesn't seem as if it's bothered him much -- perhaps he'd just tuned it out, somehow? "The airflow is a touch poor in here... but it cannot be helped. It is the nature of the Thames, I am afraid. It would be difficult to introduce the proper ventilation."

    He watches Lily for a moment as she works her arte, but it's hard to say at a glance if he's merely interested in how she does it, or there's something else behind it. 

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly is sitting in a pair of working culottes and a cloth shift, having abandoned a dress and any thoughts of replacing it with a boiler suit, lest she, herself, boil. She answers Leon with a little bit of a groan, her tongue all but flopping out of her mouth.

The best that she did was put together a big chunk of ice into a water pitcher. This took some doing. It is already half melted. She picks up a glass of water and takes a long, leisurely sip.

"I'd say it was the humidity... but I think that would be a lie," she answers Leon.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei is here! But he's being quiet for the moment because his irl family is slightly more evil than his character's family. Nevertheless, he has a nice big cup of ice water which he sips on with excruciating slowness.

He smiles at Elly and says, "This really hits the spot. Thanks Elly."

Ssssssip. 

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

"I wouldn't complain," Leon says, with a glance in Lily's direction. He takes a seat at one of the tables. He glances up at Citan, his head tilted to the side. "It would require rebuilding the whole bloody thing. I doubt anyone alive is up to that task," he admits, before he leans backward.

He nods to Elly. There is a glance at Fei -- it pierces the veil between worlds and communicates good wishes regarding certain family members -- and then he looks back at Citan.

"Doctor Uzuki," he says. "While we have some privacy... I've been meaning to ask you a question. You said, once, that you have a connection to Solaris. Could you tell us more of this?"

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily is content to get direction--she hasn't worked on cars much since the war, and part of the exercise is practice. Mchinery, engineering... They are, apparently, important skills of her old life. The hmidity...

"It would," Lily agrees, and then lifts her hand; her arms glaze over in blue circuit-like lights, and the temperature in the room sinks, a cool mist spreading around the group. ...But not on the machinery itself; that'll still be pretty warm, so it's not perfect.

"...I'm interested in the subject." 

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    Citan, for his part, simply shakes his head. "Indeed..." Not only would it take someone with the ability to redesign the entire ship, they would need to have the laborforce, funding, and materials to accomplish it. As the majority of the crew appear to be content with the way things work here now...

    While they have some privacy, however...

    "...Ah," remarks Citan, glancing over at Leon, then at Lily. "Yes, it does appear to be overdue..." He crosses his arms over his chest, then turns his attention over toward Elly and Fei. "...Particularly since this does concern many of you, now. Hmm... now, I suppose I should start from the beginning? As I have said previously, I am a citizen of the Empire of Solaris. To be more specific, I was born into the Third Class." He pauses a moment, glancing over Elly's way, perhaps to allow her to interject.

    "To properly fight against an enemy, you must first know the enemy. ...Thus, this, you should understand: there are three social classes within Solaris. The First Class represents the 'elite' among the country -- the 'pure Solarians', one might say. Second Class citizens represent the rank and file. As for the Third..."

    He pauses again, as if in thought. "...The Third Class is drawn from the surface dwellers. 'Lambs', as some of Solaris might call them. They form the laborforce for Solaris... regardless of how advanced Solaris may be, they still need people in order to run a country. There are not enough of the First or even the Second Classes to do what must be done. Thus, they select from those of the surface." 

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly takes a deep breath and lets it out as Citan brings up the topic of Solaris. It is not a pleasant topic but she does not speak against it further, nor show much more distress. It gets easier every time, Elly thinks.

"Yes," Elly says. "You could think of it as a 'pyramid,' with the third class citizens at the base of it."

She sips the water. "... Were you born in the city...? I suppose you might not know," Elly asks Citan, before swerving away from a possible tender topic. "Some people live there for generations... my own mother, my birth mother I mean, I believe she was one of them."

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon looks at Citan, then at Elly. He nods at her explanation of the Third Class. The lowest of the low, then. He nods his head, then glances downward for a moment. "I see," he says. "So... individuals taken from Filgaia, to serve Solaris."

Slaves.

"I imagine that I've killed my share of Second and Third Class citizens, then," he says, quietly. Quietly, but he doesn't sound as troubled as he should when he speaks of killing.

But Leon never sounds all that troubled when he speaks of such things.

His brow furrows. "You escaped Solaris, then?" he says, looking back at Citan. "Or... is there more to it?"

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei blinks, lowering his glass of ice water as his player finishes family nonsense. He kind of looks over his shoulder to see if Citan is looking at someone behind him but--well--of course that's not what's going on here.

Fei has SOME understanding of Solaris just from osmosis at this point, but he actually doesn't feel the strong need to quiz Elly on the topic. He figures it makes her uncomfortable to spill beans on them--or at least, at some point it seemed that way. As it stands, Fei figures if there is something important about Solaris he should know--it will either try to murder him or Elly or Citan will share it.

"So there's surface-folk in Solaris too." Fei says.

Wait did he not get that yet?! He knows Kahm! But well maybe he figured Kahm dyed his hair or something?? Regardless.

He gives Leon a strange look for a moment but then focuses back to Citan. "Wait--Oh wow."

He may have been assuming Citan was 'second' here. 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily listens over the topic of social class in Solaris, rather than those of the surface... and how it includes those of the surface. She frowns, at that, thoughtfully.

"Likewise," Lily admits to Leon. She wonders too of escape--of born in the city...

Ah. So Elly's mother...?

"It's in keeping with their general attitudes towards surfacers," Lily admits. OTherwise though she mostly listens for the moment. 

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "Yes. Not only as the work force. They also conduct experiments," he says, when Fei speaks of Solaris also containing people from the surface.

    He shakes his head when Elly asks a particular question. "I believe I was born there, but as you say, it is impossible to know the truth." The reason why, he doesn't elaborate upon, merely implying that the reason is something that Elly should be aware of.

    He appears to evaluate her in some capacity, then, as she speaks of her birth mother. The last time she had spoken to him of it had been...

    When he had evaluated her after she had severely overreached with her Ether. For a First Class citizen, recovery from that would have been straightforward. But, if what she had said was true...

    He nods at Leon's assessment. "Yes."

    He doesn't comment on Leon's remark that he must have killed several Second and Third Class citizens. Instead, when Leon asks if he escaped Solaris or if there is something more to it--

    "Both, I suppose you might say. I ultimately managed to escape, but before that... There are two ways for a Third Class citizen to improve their situation. The first is to have proven their family 'loyal' over generations, whereupon their lineage will become promoted to Second Class. The other is to join the military. In my case... I was selected for the officer's school, Jugend. Those with particular talents may become elevated, assuming they have another to vouch for them. In my case, that person was... Kahran Ramses." 

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

"... After a while, I don't know if their loyalties would be with 'the surface,' any more," Elly says, looking at her glass of water. This melancholy thought seems to be all she has to say; she finishes the glass, and then looks back towards Citan as he continues on.

She blinks several times.

"! The Commander??"

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon glances at Fei for a brief moment. He didn't know this either.

But Citan drops a bombshell; Leon's eyes widen for a moment. Then, he glances down at the table, and raps his fingers against it. "Kahran Ramses... yes, I remember him. Then, he assisted you, when you entered the academy."

He hesitates for a second. "I've little love for the man," he says. "But from all I have heard, he cares for his subordinates. There is something to respect there. But... you still chose to leave, Doctor Uzuki?"

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei's hand twitches faintly when Citan mentions the experiments. Fei doesn't seem to notice.

"Over generations...?" Fei blinks. "That's...crazy. They can't even be sure First Class Solarians are loyal, so why go all that far to ensure a third class citizen is?"

He kind of hangs his head a bit and exhales out a long sigh.

"Jugend huh..." But then his eyes widen "Ramses!? Really?"

He sinks back in his chair, taking a long drink of his water. "Man..." He says. "That guy. Why does he hate me so much?" He assumes it's because he's Id, but to be honest not even Loren seems to hate Fei because he's Id so he has to assume it's more than that.

He thinks for another moment. "Wait, he's an important guy right? Like a captain or something?" Oh geeze Fei. "What's his deal?"

He looks to Leon. "He really doesn't like me." He tells Leon. 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"I wouldn't blame them for being more loyal to the home they know, even if it's a hard one. That's just how it is sometimes. Particularly if your parents and their parents were there. " So Lily at least can see Elly's point about the loyalties. But... That's a surprise too. Lily considers this man.

"I was a little... not myself, at the time I met him," Lily admits. "So I couldn't say much about the man one way or the other." Or maybe 'impaired' is the better word. "Yeah, the Commander I think."

"It is notable that you chose to leave, though. Not everyone would." 

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    He nods, at Elly's outburst. "Yes. Kahran Ramses, the Commander of Gebler."

    He answers Leon thus: "At that time... I believe he had been a new student there, himself. We were classmates -- him, myself, and another whom you might know. Sigurd, of the Yggdrasil." He hesitates. "But it is not my place to tell his story. I mention this only because he and I are similarly aligned in this cause. Very few manage to escape Solaris, but he is among them."

    He continues, apparently answering Leon's second question in a roundabout fashion. "Back then... he represented something important for us. He had a dream: he wished to transform the nature of Solaris and do away with the class system. Thus, anyone with the proper talent could become one of the elite, rather than having this assigned by birth. He may have sponsored us for Jugend, but we chose to align ourselves with him. We shared his dream."

    He glances away for a moment, though, then shakes his head. "...Thanks to him, we were assigned roles in the government. That... is where we learned certain aspects of Solaris that had been concealed to us before. Its laborforce... its experiments on the surface-dwellers... Ramses' dream would not put an end to these practices. Indeed, the very nature of Solaris requires them. So that is why..." 

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

"The vast majority of Solaris never even thinks of leaving," Elly says quietly. "They don't know anything different. If I hadn't joined Gebler I probably would have never left, or thought of leaving, either."

She takes a deep breath and lets it out.

"... was this before he became the Commander?" Elly asks Citan, a little slowly. (Leon and Lily can probably tell this one: This is the moment where you realize that a commanding officer did not just appear by magic one day in a position of authority.)

Did he know my father? Elly wonders, before blinking several times, looking towards Fei for a moment, then back towards Citan. "... then it would only improve things if you were already 'part of the system'?"

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

"It gives them something to work for. Hope of a better life can inspire a lot in people, even when it's in vain," Leon says, with a shrug of his shoulders at Fei. He looks at Elly, then nods. "It was similar, for Lily and I. We never dreamed of leaving Kislev, until it was forced on us. Now... hard to imagine doing otherwise."

He glances back to Lily, and then he nods his head at her.

Not herself... he remembers those days.

"Sigurd, too?" Leon asks. "I'm surprised. I met him, of course. I never would have thought he was Solarian." He assumed him to be from Aveh, all things considered. He wrinkles his nose, though, and looks back at the doctor.

Aspects of Solarian life concealed from them; the crimes that Solaris has committed on Filgaia, and to its own citizens. "...I see why you left."

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Oh, Commander, Fei thinks. Maybe Ramses is always mad at him because he can't keep his deal straight. Well, no, he's pretty sure it's Id related but wasn't Id an ally? Ughh. "Man, when you say it like that, he doesn't even sound like that bad of a guy." Then Citan mentions the experiments on surface dwellers that Ramses wouldn't stop. "Oh." He says. "Okay nevermind, I guess."

He thinks on Sigurd, and back to this time on the Yggdrasill.

** FLASHBACK **

Fei picks into Bart's room, looks around a bit, sees Bart isn't there. He walks over to Bart's bed. He stares at it.

He looks around again.

Then he jumps on top of it and repeatedly hops up and down.

The door opens and Fei quickly rushes over to the side of the room as Sigurd opens the door.

"Fei...are you jumping on Bart's bed again?"

"...No?"

** NOW **

"He's got special training..." Fei murmurs. "That explains so much."

He then blinks twice and adds, "Wait uh...Though."

He looks to Citan. "Um, the way you say that... It's like you're saying Solaris can't exist without the crimes it commits. So...how do we even stop them? There's a lot of innocent people there, right? Even prisoners who need help. Even if we could just...destroy Solaris, how could we just..destroy Solaris without...destroying Solaris? How do we even fight them beyond just sort of...enduring them?" 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Sigurd... Lily knows him; she recalls that piece of information, considers it against her knowledge, and nods. It's not Citan's place to tell the story is something she can accept.

There are times she'd have had a stronger reaction than 'not her business', but those aren't today. It's gonna stick in her mind though.

"Mm-hm," Lily agrees with Leon about Kislev, and what it was. "I wouldn't have thought so either," Lily admits on Sigurd, but then considers. "Transform Solaris... I can imagine, an ideal like that." Imagine, at least--it's not really how she's ever been inclined to think. Not in quite that way.

Maybe that's why... No.

"So it seems he decided he could live with it. What he represents to you is something I can respect, but..." Yeah. Nevermind there.

Fei's question brings a frown to Lily, as she nods along. "That's a good question--but even if we did have a plan, how do we execute it? We don't know where to strike." 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei hides his sketchpad under his butt but the faint outlines of a comic he drew that goes like

PANEL 1: *sketch of the wolves and citan in front of a giant building that has the word SHEVAT on it* 'We made it to Shevat!' sketch-fei is saying.
PANEL 2: *picture of team Black Wolves being launched cannon travel style towards Solaris*
PANEL 3: *picture of Fei punching some guy wearing a crown in the nose*
*PANEL 4: *picture of team Black Wolves surrounded by a crowd going 'Yay we're free!'*

"Um." He says. 

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "Elly is correct. Even those of the Third Class rarely consider leaving. It is simply..." Citan pauses, as if he were thinking back, himself. "...the way things are."

     'I never would have thought he was Solarian', Leon says, of Sigurd.

    Citan regards the young Captain for a long moment in silence.
    But ultimately he looks away. "..."

    Perhaps there are some things best heard directly from the person in question.

    Something by his mouth twitches when Elly has that particular reaction. "Yes. Back then, we were only students."

    Elly makes a key point, then. "That is correct. Whether you call them First Class or the talented, the system you would create would amount to the same thing, in the end..."

    Fei raises an important question, however -- one that Lily chimes in on.

    How do you fight a thing like Solaris? How do you save who can be saved from a place such as that?

    "It is... no easy undertaking. To be certain: even with their limitations, they have several advantages. The size of their military, the capabilities of their military, and of course, the fact that one cannot simply walk into Solaris..."

    He continues: "My suggestions is to make contact with Shevat. They have been fighting Solaris for over five hundred years. Though, as you well know, Elly, making contact with them will be no mean feat." He glances over at her, as if he expects her to explain why. 

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

"... Well," Elly says, "the Metal Demons stopped being 'the Metal Demons,' didn't they? They're Hyadaens now... people are working to overcome the past. It's imperfect... maybe it would fail, but..."

She leans over a little to pour more water. "Taking people... human experimentation... those things could stop. I don't know how these things worked in any detail, but... in Solaris, there was always food when you were hungry, and medical care if you were hurt, or took ill. The water was clean, and there were pretty landscapes, even if they were small things."

She settles back. "... I do know a little bit about the recycling technology," Elly continues. "I don't know if it could save Filgaia."

"But I think it could help people," Elly says. "And I don't see any reason why it couldn't be shared. People who needed surgeries could go to - to New Solaris, or whatever - and -"

She trails off, because she's being kind of prompted. Elly blinks a couple of times, straightens up, and says, "Yes... Shevat is surrounded by."

"Um," Elly says. "I feel strange to say it so baldly. It's surrounded by a powerful energy barrier. We assume they have some mechanism for ingress and egress - but as far as I know, all that *we* know is that if they have teleportation technology, it isn't very long range. However, even a distance of a few kilosharls would be sufficient to avoid the barrier."

"So, we would need to find some way to make contact... maybe we could ask Vinsfeld Rhadamanthus if we could borrow the Sorcery Globe?"

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

"It's a problem. Solaris is so much more than Gebler. It's so many people--and complex. I wish I knew a good answer to your question, Fei," Leon admits, with a shake of his head.

He looks between Lily, Elly, and Citan. And then he wrinkles his nose, and glances downward for a second. "Shevat," he repeats. "A powerful barrier, you say? Well... I doubt that Rhadamanthus would oblige us. But--" He shakes his head once. "Maybe it is worth trying to find an agent."

He leans back in his chair, and looks at them. "Or some other means. I think it's worthwhile to pursue, at least. They could offer us advice. And maybe assistance."

He sighs. "If we ask nicely."

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    Citan is, at first, quiet as Elly speaks about the good aspects of Solaris. About the things they could do for the world, if it were revised on a scale beyond what even Ramses had envisioned.

    "...I see," he remarks simply, at last.

    He remains, as he has throughout most of this conversation, completely poker-faced.

    But then, as he asks her to elaborate on the nature of the barrier around Shevat, Citan nods. "It is a... similar technology to the one that Solaris uses, though deployed in a different manner. Without the means to communicate with them, we will not be able to gain entry. If we can find an agent," he says, as Leon makes his suggestion.

    Which is when Elly makes a suggestion of her own. If the Sorcery Globe had been used to transport them to Lunar--

    Citan looks, for a fleeting moment, taken aback. Is this not an avenue he'd considered...!?

    "Hmm... though of course, the main problem lies in merely utilizing the object."

    To say nothing of other, perhaps equally important considerations, such as 'will this get them all killed somehow for some bizarre and arcane physical or magical reason'. 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Well I don't think I ever punched Vinsfeld in the nose," Fei says. "He might, like, not say no. Though he might not uh, let us do it for free if he doesn't see the inherent profit in it. I don't know the man but he seemed kind of..."

Fei trails off because he's not as woke as Lydia.

"Self-authority focused?"

He also briefly wonders what recycling is but assumes it's some sort of bike that bikes for you thus the re-cycling.

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