2023-02-26: Joint Assault

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<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

It won't be long now, by anyone's estimate. Many others are likely getting themselves ready or doing a last check of their gear -- from what Josie's understood, the next step will be to launch themselves at the Heimdall Gazzo directly via the Chateau's own... devices.

She's got a pretty good idea of what that's going to entail, given what it had been like from the opposite side the last time around.

She, herself, is not getting ready. Rather instead, she's taking the moment to smoke a cigarette. With her gear and ARMs returned to her, she's as ready as she'll be.

Leaning against the conference table, she gestures to the others here also waiting for the signal, for the direction to head 'below decks', as it were.

"Don't suppose any of you kids want a light? Or a drink?"

There follows a long, pregnant pause.

"...How old're you kids, anyhow?"

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

Zhang Xiumei is checking her gear over.

This isn't strictly necessary. With her Biometal activated, she doesn't need that. She is wearing her battle armor; black mesh suit, with white and green armor over it. A crystal in the chest glows. So do her eyes, which are a brighter green than usual.

But, she does overthink -- and overprepare -- for everything. So she makes the Pulse Saber's hilt appear, in a burst of data cubes, and looks it over. She looked at the gun, earlier.

She looks up at Josephine, fixing her with a bright-eyed stare. Literally; her eyes are a little uncomfortably bright.

"I'm twenty-three. I don't smoke, though," Xiumei says. "And... I shouldn't have anything to drink right now, no."

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor Klein is in the conference room, too. Her nose wrinkles at Josie's smoke, but since she's not the only one who ever has in this conference room, she doesn't tell her not to. It's a thing, though. She should be getting ready, but...

She's already about as ready as she's going to get, frankly. Tense, she's already at a knife's edge; it's a matter of calming herself mostly. And calming herself is something that 'talking to others' has always been good for.

"Twenty-one," Eleanor answers. "I don't, either. And I definitely shouldn't be drinking." Eleanor may be a bit of a lightweight.

"...But by all means, enjoy. Whatever gets you prepared, I suppose."

She walks over to Xiumei. "You're all ready?"

She is in ordinary clothes--or at least, mostly ordinary. One of her rings protects against fire; a necklace against ranged attacks, an enchantment on her dress makes it as hard as steel... Little magics like that are what protect her, rather than bulky armor.

"Though I suppose I can't blame you assuming I'm younger..." She looks closer to eighteen. But she's an elf.

<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.

The alien tree rodent otherwise known as Juni is fiddling with her rifle more than anything else. Pausing every few minutes to sight down the scope, check her wrist, then adjust something else. Sometimes the barrel extends out, sometimes it returns to a carbine. At least once it made an ominous hum as she tweaked something else with a screwdriver.
 
 "I see in the dark." Is her first reaction to the question of needing a light. "Kind of." Then an ear twitches and she realizes what was actually asked, "Never tried it. Figure it's a bad habit to be in if you're huddled under a leanto for three days waiting on a target." There's a pause before she adds, "Also don't know what it would do to me smoking the stuff here."
 
 "Twenty three in my math." She taps at her wrist a few times, "Twenty seven local math." Before getting right back to work. "That's without getting into other oddness though."
 
 The rifle is set aside and she stands up, brushing herself off. Checking the table. "I'll take the offer of a drink after though. Some of the stuff here's not bad."

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"I'm twenty one!" Lydia says. She started adventuring way back in chapter one and five years have passed since then! That's right, it's been five years since Lydia has been apped on Dream Chasers! And that makes her twenty one! Wow!

She says, "I'll have a drink, Josephine!" She even raises her hand up. She did not start drinking at 21, she started drinking at 14, but she is also made of robots now so she probably won't be too messed up by drinking right?

"Oh man but smoke is good for you, cleans you out." Lydia asides to Xiumei.

The twenty one year old Lydia is still marvelling at the fact that she is in a flying house. "I wonder if you can get flying house sickness."

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    Ruth has long since habitually cleaned out her rifle (...physically, not so much metaphysically) and her sidearm prior to the meeting. Her Crest Graph suite isn't slated to be terribly relevant before she channels a completely different kind of sorcery that comes with her, well, being herself, but it is a habitual and disciplined thing she has kept even in the face of her circumstances.
 
     She's not dressed any differently than usual beyond whatever sort of accessory slots Ashley decides she needs occupied by recent Lydia purchases. Her eyes don't meet anyone's, which is normal enough for her as she takes her place near the conference table while the Chateau is in transit through the skies.
 
     "...I should be forty-six," should? Ruth looks like she's in her late thirties. She has aged far less gracefully than Margaret, who is (unknown to her) of similar age.
 
     "But some days you still... never really leave." She tries not to think too much about how many nights will be filled with her seeing what she might up there. "...I already have some Kuko Berries."

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "That normal?" Josie says to Xiumei, gesturing her way with her lit cigarette. Perhaps she's referring to the glowing eyes, or possibly even the whole... deal of it all.

    But she confirms -- as does Eleanor -- that neither of them are given to smoking, and certainly aren't drinking right before a mission. "Steadies the nerves," Josie claims, shrugging her shoulders. "But never you mind it, eh? 'Least none of you kids are under twenty..."

    Not because they'd be minors, mind. Josie has never let that hold her back. It has rather more to do with the fact that she, herself, is getting closer to 40, and she is a human.

    "Yeah?" This is to Juni. "Maybe you should, like. Might do you some good." She grins, toothily. "Better'n some bad habits I could mention, yeah? ...So, where're you from, then?" She does appear to be using a different sort of math.

    "That's Josie," she sighs, shaking her head at Lydia. "Here," she adds, holding her cigarette loosely between her lips as she tosses her flask Lydia's way. "Hand it her way after, yeah?" she says, jerking her head Juni's way. "Though, how'd you get caught up in this business, kiddo? Last I recall, you were robbing banks or the like. Though... wait, let me think..."

    Something rustles in the bowl sitting in the middle of the conference table. There amidst the wax fruit is an intruder-- or, well, Penelope the pigeon. She is attempting to murder a fake apple.

    "Never quite been my thing," Josie remarks, of the berries. "But whatever floats your boat, right? So, what's your story? How'd you get up in this mess?" She and Ruth are perhaps of a similar stripe, even if some of the particulars of their stories are quite different. "Yvvie's doin' fine enough, as it happens."

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"Definitely not," Xiumei says to Eleanor, with a small smile. She nods, as she comes closer; she stands up straighter, and the Pulse Saber's hilt winks away. "I am. I've gone over everything twice. I've packed the usual batch of restoratives, plus a couple of unusual ones..."

She looks down at Eleanor's hands. Her fingers take in each ring; she looks over the dress, and the places she knows runes and wards should be. She keeps track of that, too.

She glances at Juni, then, and she blinks. "Really? You do? Ah--that must be useful..."

Then, she looks at Ruth. She tilts her head for a moment -- and then she smiles, for a moment. "Miss Pauling, whatever age you should be... I'm glad you've found your way to us. Especially on a day like this."

She looks at Josie, then, and nods. "It's part of the armor. Varius and Avile--"

A voice chimes from her; the gem in the chest armor glows, when he speaks. "She has severe myopia. I've corrected for it using a set of holographic lenses which lets her see without glasses."

"Y-Yes, what Varius said," Xiumei says, with a sigh. Then, she nods. "I did start when I was nineteen, though."

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"Oh I thought maybe that would be too informal." Lydia says. "Now that you're not trying to shoot me in the face anymore I want to be respectful. So you ... don't go back to trying to shoot me in the face."

Josephine has a way with kids (Lydia was a kid at the time).

Lydia catches the flask and takes one singular (if long) swig of it before offering it over to Juni after.

"Well, I mean, to be totally honest I was mostly robbing the bank to cheer Kaguya up." Lydia explains. "She was uh--she had a really bad run of it and I thought just doing some crime would help her feel like she got a bit of revenge and maybe make life feel a little less unfair? I don't know how effective it was..."

She admits though, "I might've done more crime though if you hadn't shot me in the face! So now I try only to do prosocial crime instead of like... free-wheeling crime."

She gives Josie a thumbsup. "Anyway, I need Kamui to taste some mustard so we have to save her so she can taste the mustard."

A pause. "It's a science experiment."

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"Father enjoys a pipe sometimes," Eleanor answers as to the matter of steadying the nerves. "But I never got into the habit. The residue can be harmful on pages, you see..."

And she is a big book person.

Drinking... Hmm. "Oh, I've been drinking for years," Eleanor says. "That's how I know not to mix Crest Sorcery and alcohol. Let me tell you, the stories I could relate..."

Then she reaches out to squeeze Xiumei's hand, at what she said earlier.

"Well, I can't say I aparticularly approve of crime," she admits. "But..."

She wonders the same of Josie, in a way. She knows some of the story, but...

<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.

Juni Vandrer rubs her chin as she says, "I have enough vices, I just can't buy half of them here and I'm having to learn what actually tastes good all over again." She makes a dismissive gesture and mostly mutters to herself.
 
 "Elsewhere." Is her response to the question about her point of origin. Pointing up towards the sky, "It is! Until it isn't. You get blinded kind of easy in some places though. Lots of.. lights the locals don't have issues with." She taps her integrated goggles, "You get used to wearing these a lot though so..."
 
 The armor talking gets a tilt of her head. "Yeah? I know with the right build you can get a similar correction in our gear. Does it short out easily or have excess battery drain?" referring to the holographic lense thing. A point of curiosity! And more tech-y talk for the time being.
 
 "Robbing a bank to cheer someone up?" is the reaction to that tidbit. "I mostly stuck to government sanctioned crime myself. You get better toys that way." She says that deadpan.
 
 "Magic and alcohol's like guns and alcohol. Incredibly unsafe and occasionally funny. I'll second not recommending it though."

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    Ruth watches Penelope attempt to attack a wax fruit while Lydia enthusiastically engages in vice. Not that Ruth can judge, on that front. There are many fronts she can never truly judge, because... yes. She seems content to (externally) veg out, when Josie asks of how she got into this mess.
 
     "...One day, Marivel gave me an empathtie radio." Ruth looks up, just a bit. "After Halim, after everyone was aware of who I am," who, not what, "I felt even more... listless. Lost. Someone asked me what it was I deserve, and... I couldn't answer then."
 
     She turns her head away a bit from Xiumei and Eleanor alike over there.
 
     "Elise started to shut herself away. I just... kept chasing all the suffering around me." Her eyes close. "I won't go into the full details, but. I found a place for someone like me." And someone she can never bring herself to accept.
 
     "He's doing fine, is he." She acknowledges. She works up something like a smile for it. Had anything played differently, she might have been part of the entourage storming a negligent(?) Goddess' Holy City.
 
     "..." Silence follows for a short while after Xiumei's gratitude. "Thank you."

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    That wax apple will never be the same again. Penelope may be disappointed when her attempts to 'remove the wax from the fruit' result in the discovery that it's all wax.

    "Same thing," Josie tells Eleanor. "Used to favor a cigar, myself. But they ain't the sort of thing that comes cheap-like, right?" She shrugs, helplessly.

    "Don't you worry or none, kiddo," she tells Lydia. "I ain't about to shoot you in the face. Or in the back. Unless you've come at me, like. Right?" With her cigarette dangling from her lips, she pantomines firing a gun with her left hand, blown smoke off the barrel at all.

    "Is that right? Well, now I've heard it all! For the money, d'ya mean? Or the," she gestures, generally here, "act of it? I've heard some gets their jollies jumping off cliffs and the like. Ain't like I've room to judge!"

    There's a long pause.

    "Mustard? Huh. Don't that beat all. ...Don't think I've ever met 'Kamui', speakin' of." She's heard the name bandied about -- especially just lately -- but...

    "Huh. Seems handy," she replies to Xiumei. "Ain't had trouble with my eyes yet, but my old man needed glasses." She grimaces -- though not at the possibility of needing glasses someday. "Figure it's a matter of time." Her lips split in a grin. "Though, only if'n I live long enough for it to matter and all, yeah?"

    Still, she waves a hand at Xiumei's comment about age. "And I started thereabouts myself, like. Ain't a problem, that." Her smile turns crooked. "Just don't care for some reminders, yeah?"

    'Elsewhere', Juni says, on the matter of where she's from. "Sure enough," is Josie's response as she, herself, glances towards the ceiling. "Still, if it's vice you're lookin' for, ain't a better place to start than Guara Bobelo. Though, s'pose it depends on your tastes...?" There are some Josie goes all in on, and others she engages in rarely. Or not at all, as the case may be.

    But, ah, here at last is Ruth's story of how she got wrapped up in this business--

    "So one thing led to another, eh? ...Guess we're two peas in a pod. Ain't a secret I was up with Odessa, but I don't suppose it'll surprise you I weren't a true believer." Her lips twitch. "Far from it. If I'd known Antenora was the one I was fixin' to kill, I'd've done from the start and cut out all the mess." She gazes up towards the ceiling and the trail of smoke that travels to those heights. "Still. Guess it's given me some insight in how they work, for better or worse. Which is why dear Nora invited me!"

    Now she's just doing it on purpose.

    "That, and... better face 'em head on than get a knife in the back in some lonely alley. Or have the lonely alley get blown sky-high, the way it's looking."

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

Xiumei squeezes Eleanor's hand back in kind. She smiles at her for a moment, and then she nods once. She isn't much for crime, either.

"Yes, smoke damage on books and paper is a serious problem," she adds. "Certainly can't risk it around the library."

She glances at Juni. It's Varius, though, that speaks: "No. We've got a power system that's not going to run out from that."

He doesn't explain the details, though.

Then, she looks back -- and she smiles at Ruth, with a nod of her head. "Of course, Miss Pauling."

She looks at Josie, then tilts her head. "It is only while I use the armor. Otherwise, I'm in glasses, but... they're not ideal in the middle of a fight," she says, with a sigh. Then, she hesitates -- but she nods.

She can get that, a little. Things were very different when she was younger, even by a few years.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"The act of it," Lydia says. "It wasn't really about the money." She grimaces as she says it as she knows it's pretty out of character for Lydia Seren to do things with a potential money payout and then say it isn't for the money. "I mean money's nice and all, but I just wanted her to be happy...." Among other things but it seems that Kaguya is doing pretty alright right now. She's not really sure HOW--but she does seem better. Maybe it's a matter of attitude or she found a better treatment option? Honestly considering how Kaguya was doing when Lydia met her FIVE YEARS AGO, she honestly should be just plum grateful that Kaguya isn't showing signs of slowing down. But she knows how quickl y these things can go sometimes the moment you relax.

"Yeah I talked with Azoth about foods he liked and he seemed to really like mustard. I tried giving Gami mustard and she just seemed to think it was okay and I...think mustard may have helped murder Demetrioi? I'm not sure honestly, maybe results inconclusive there. And Kamui? Well, Kamui was sick so I couldn't get her mustard for the experiment."

She pauses. "Also she's like, awesome, so--like--I don't want her brain to be melted in sadfeels."

She glances to Ruth, frowning. She reaches over to pat her hand.

Pat pat.

She looks up at Ruth's face and then verrry slowly pulls her hand back.

She pats her knee once.

"Yeah I don't htink I really got reason to go after you," Lydia says. "You're actually super terrifying to fight."

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"True," Eleanor says of cheap. "I imagine they don't." What could a cigar cost, Eleanor? Five dollars?

But she listens to the rest. The matter of Xiu's glasses, and others... But the story.

"You killed Antenora?" Eleanor wonders. She is no longer thinking of smoke damage. "...I knew you were different from most of the others in Odessa, but that's more than I thought. That was your plan all along, to find this 'right person'?"

Maybe that explains some of how she regarded it before...

'Nora'. Eleanor sighs, frowning in a little -_- face.

"You do have expertise relevant to the mission. And we've discussed it."

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    Ruth is noticeably stone-faced (a pun ruined by her presently behaving and keeping herself contained) at mention about Guara Bobelo being a den of vice. Her gloved hands squeeze one of the Crest Graphs she's holding, but that's about it - and not in a horrifying 'bottled emotion about to break it' way.
 
     Lydia approaches, and touches her hand gently.
 
     There is a reaction. Ruth draws her hand back with a jerking motion, and there's a moment when Lydia looks to her face and sees her eyes go wild, for a moment. It's one Ruth doesn't let one see head-on for long before she turns her head.
 
     ...
 
     Her knee seems okay to pat. Her long skirt is well-worn but feels comfy to the touch.
 
     'You're actually super terrifying to fight.'
 
     "...Some are more terrified that I live." Ruth's voice is measured compared to her emotional reaction moments prior. Among other difficult feelings, among the people of Zoara. There is a reason doorbells are far more common than door knockers in that neck of the... once-woods-now-blasted-desert-wasteland.
 
     "So you were," she says to Josie of her revelation. "I don't know what keeps them together... or what used to." Many are just worn, old, discarded soldiers who fought for a world different than the one they ended up helping build (or destroy), but even then...
 
     "Are you afraid of what you'll see there?" She asks of Josie. "From what you know... or what you can guess?"

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "Yeah, I can imagine. Was rough enough using goggles in operations, yeah?" And those come with a strap! She doesn't know how those who wear glasses manage in a fight, honestly...

    "So for the sake of its own sake?" Josie says, the corner of her lips twitching in a little self-amusement for... its own sake. "They say money can't buy happiness, but I've always found it at the bottom of the right bottle," she quips, shaking her head. "Still... I get it, kiddo. Been in the same boat, nearly, even."

    So robots like mustard. ...Well, some of them, anyway. Or at least, results inconclusive about robots and mustard and their well-being... "Huh," Josie says, because what do you say to that? "Don't that beat all."

    But Eleanot picks up on a particular thread, namely--

    "Sure did. Well, you'd rightly say I'd had help, yeah? But..." She smiles. It's the sort of smile one might well call cold. Or even empty. "Anyway. It's done and dusted. She's dead and... I ain't, yet." She nods. "Sure enough. All I wanted to, right, was find 'em and kill 'em. But it got messier'n I wanted. Still, I'm through running. If someone's gonna get me for what I done -- for any of what I done, let 'em try."

    She doesn't intend to go down easily.

    "Oh, that's easy," she tells Ruth. "Some of 'em are true believers -- they've fallen for Vinsfeld's message hook, line and sinker. Others, well, they got roped in someway or another. No choice in the matter, or they were like me. And others... well." She smiles, mercilessly. "Some of 'em just wanna make the world hurt."

    But is she afraid?

    "Wouldn't call it 'fear', nearly. More like..." Josie shakes her head. "...Dunno what I'd call it. Some decent enough folks there I knew. Some were even a fair sight better'n me. Guess it depends on if they cut and run, or died, first..."

    She takes another long drag, her gaze on the ceiling.

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"Then... that's what Vinsfeld meant. When he said we took someone from him," Xiumei says. She is quiet, for a moment. "How horrible, that... he'd use her death as a justification for... this."

She reaches over, taking one of Eleanor's hands, and gives a squeeze. It might be at the face she made when Josie used her nickname.

"I couldn't imagine," she says. "I hardly like going for a jog with them."

She nods, though -- and Xiumei quiets down for a moment as Josie answers Ruth. Her brow furrows, for a moment, and then she glances downard. "...I suppose you might well run into someone you knew. Is... that going to be a problem for you?"

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    'If someone's gonna get me for what I done -- for any of what I done, let 'em try.'
 
     "They never will stop trying," Ruth adds somewhere in there as Josie gives the rundown on the census of Vinsfeld's mustered forces, and with that....
 
     "Conflicted," she keeps it succinct.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia says, "Eh." to Ruth. "I mean, what, are we gonna say 'wow you should be dead because you're spooky?' That's dumb as fuck."

She doesn't find Ruth spooky enough to get rid of that belief at least.

She nods to Josie and then says, "Happiness, huh. Happiness for me is funding my true love and then I don't know going on lots of adventures. But I have a problem, Josie..."

She shakes her head. "There are too many hot people! Like EVERYBODY I RUN INTO is super sexy. It's kind of ridiculous, actually. And the worst part of it is--some of those super hot people are actually super sweet too! I didn't think there would be so many people with both of these traits at the same time!"

Lydia frowns as Xiumei mentions that Antenora's death is what was meant by something being taken from him. "Well I mean." She says. "He took a lot of other people's loves from 'em by raging a super war and teaming up with an actual demon king, so."

She shrugs both shoulders. "If he cared so much about 'er, maybe he should've watched out for her. MAybe what he was really in love with was having her under his control. That's my take."

She leans back. "Man, though, seriously. Like. So many really pretty people out there."

<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.

Juni Vandrer holds a hand up belatedly, having been absorbed in a particular problem with a diagnostic. That takes priority before a mission and all that. "Vices I've got no problem with. I like the rum here. Had it on a few uh, stops. This has that vibe of roughness around the edges. You don't want too much, but if it's too clean it lacks heart." That's mostly to Josephine. "Back home we had a fruit-" she holds her hands out for size. About a softball for reference. "Dark colored. Red or really deep crimson. You broke it open with a stick to get at the edible bits. That was tasty in drink for too." She pauses. "Dunno how to describe the flavor.
 
 "Worked with plenty of people on both sides before. Nothing new. Nothing to worry about." Juni's already met another potential grey goo scenario candidate, what's one more! Probably best she doesn't know right away.
 
 To Ruth, she pipes up, "Some never escape the life and march on until they're gone, a report on some office squatting bureaucrat's desk or until they're drummed out for making too much noise. I don't count the political clout chasers though." Juni being more open might.. not make a lot of sense all the time. In hindsight.
 
 "Fitted and synched up between a computer buddy and the rifle. Works without the other two, but at limited capacity. Got a mask that seals to it too, but I uh, don't wear that as much." She shrugs. Supply issue's a pain.
 
 "Mustard's the yellow stuff right? I like it. Got that really bright taste. Goes good with some lizards out here." She nods. Field cooking is best cooking. "Not... sure why a robot has a taste for it though."
 
 Juni tilts her head and says in a less flippant tone. Something more serious. "Sad state of life all over isn't it?" That's said to Zhang and the chat about using a death for leverage. "More things change the more they're the same really though." And with that she stands up and brushes herself off.
 
 In a slightly more chipper tone, "Offer's still out to gear check any ARMs. A bit different than my usual paygrade, but.." She remembered the right term this time!

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"You're a better person than you think," Eleanor says to Ruth. "You help people.' But they never will stop trying... Hm. Maybe that's so. But Josie seems committed. and Xiumei takes her hand, and Eleanor smiles at her briefly.

Then, back to Josie.

"I see," she answers. "Well, we've had that talk," she says. "For today... I'll be relying on you."

he nods. Xiumei has a good question, but...

"I guess even Odessa takes all kinds."

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "Rum? Ain't bad, but I prefer harder stuff," Josie tells Juni. The stuff in her flask certainly has a kick.

    Lydia admits that she has a problem, though--

    "...Oh yeah?" Josie manages to keep a straight face. "Can't say I've ever had the problem, like. But then, don't think I'd know 'sexy' if it bit me!" Forget keeping a straight face: she's out and out managed a lopsided grin. "I'd say 'go with your heart' or somethin' like, but that ain't ever steered me right... relationships sure are a pain in the ass, huh?"

    "Yeah. It was me."

    Josie doesn't even shy away from it.

    "But fair's fair. Antenora took someone important from me, too. So pardon me if I ain't sheddin' a tear for him."

    They'll never stop trying.

    "Sure won't. So they'll have to pardon me if'n I greet 'em with first." With what should be clear.

    She's silent for a moment when Xiumei asks her if she's going to have a problem fighting against the remnants of Odessa.

    "Nope." Her gaze slides sidelong towards Xiumei. "Call me heartless, if'n you want. I've already betrayed them that mattered more, so you wouldn't be wrong. But, here's my reasoning, if you mind it. Maybe there's some still in their lot that's good folks. But... if it's them or the world, I know what I'd pick."

    She sighs and at last, stubs out her cigarette.

    "Won't tell you what to do, neither. But, I'm thinkin' we've no more time for hesitating. This business Vinsfeld, what he's tryin' to do now... it ain't what my sister would've wanted. And that's what I'm sticking with."

    Her sister? No, she hadn't said. But perhaps some of them can guess, based on what she'd said before.

    She glances at Eleanor and bares her teeth fleetingly. "Relyin' on me, eh? Well... I can live with that."

    There's a sound at the door: several voices, conversing hastily just outside it.

    "...Speak of the devil. Sounds like it's time."

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"I can't imagine," Xiumei says. "I doubt we can know someone just by what they say to everyone. Whatever the reason, he has to be stopped."

Then, she looks at Eleanor -- and she nods her head. "It would seem so. I suppose... in that, they're not so different from ARMS. But the comparisons end there," she adds.

She looks at Josephine, then, as she explains more -- and Xiu considers it, for a moment. Then, she nods her head.

"I understand," she says. "I'd pick that, as well, I think. I--"

She glances at the door. Then, she nods. "It sounds like it is. Let's get ready, everyone."

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia gazes at Josie with sparkling eyes as she says the truest words that have ever been spoken by anyone ever.

"Yeah... A pain the ass...!" Lydia says, in awe.

But then her shoulders droop. "But I still want to have one. That's the dilemma. And the heart's always mucking things up or getting itself confused. But I got no choice! Gotta listen to it! It's really got me in a bind, Josie."

It turns out Lydia actually kinda enjoys Josie's company when they aren't actually at odds! And, you know, she actually had a chance to get to know her without it being in the middle of some crazy Dig.

Lydia hops up to her feet. "I'll help clear a path for you guys to get to Kamui! Don't you sweat it!"