2024-04-06: Those Who Fight

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<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

The Adventurer's Guildhall in Adelhyde is an ideal place for Drifters to discuss business away from the prying ears of--well, of people who can't at least pretend to be adventurers. It's not perfectly secure, but it's not as if all of them have Cecilia's ear to be discussing this in the royal chambers, either.

It's almost noon, but what's here isn't lunch. THere are holes in the walls as ever, but it's been restored well. Lily Keil is at a table with a drink--a large table, one with room for a number of people. The prisoners have already been transferred. And she put out the word that there was going to be a time to discuss what happened.

The bar has other drinks. There's food available, but Lily has already eaten, for her part. She intends to be able to talk.

Lily is dressed in black and gray, dark clothes with military surplus vibes; an armored jacket, a wide belt to hold her sword and pistol, and a button-up beneath the jacket, along with sturdy boots--her usual knife holstered there.

Her golden eyes are serious. "...So," she says. "Once everybody sits down, we can begin."

"Cecilia has the prisoners; there's no update yet from any government what's going on next, though at this point, I suspect at least Aveh and maybe Kislev too are going to disavow their operatives." Pause. "...But we have been scouting where this 'automaton' supposedly is--and we've uncovered some concerning information."

"If you've got anything to add to it, sure. Otherwise, I'll get into it myself."

Dog sits at her side, curled on on the floor chewing on a bone that is best not investigated. 

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    "There once was a woman from Adlehyde, who came to town all with her hat tied. But below she was bare, and there in town square, she stood up and declared --"

    So that's Magilou, the jester-witch singing bawdy songs in the corner, quite soused. (It's fine, she won't have a hangover. She forces Bienfu to deal with those.) Conveniently, the camera cuts to Lily before she can finish her song, and by the time she's finished talking --

    -- there's Magilou, sauntering up behind Lily to lean on her chair. "Oh, do get into it," she encourages her, with a lazy grin. "This sounds great."

    It's not great, Magilou.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

The attack the other day has lead to a lot of busywork. Jacqueline's main focus hasn't been the prisoners, however - those are in better hands, so that particular situation is out of hers. Her main focus has been on assisting the townspeople in the aftermath - but now that she's done all she can there, she can turn her attention to what caused all of this in the first place.

That automaton... What is it? Why is it active now? And what is its purpose?

Hopefully, this meeting will shed some light on the matter.

And so, Jacqueline is seated at the table with a drink of her own, listening intently as Lily speaks. Jacqueline nods, consideringly.

"Yes, that seems like what they'd do..." She replies with a frown. The automaton has been spotted, it seems... She doesn't have anything to add, so she listens intently - though she does spare a glance toward Magilou. 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida managed to get word through to the deputy director of Energy Nede's police force. She has been assured that word of the unfolding situation is making its way through the appropriate branches, and the authorities in Kanto will respond appropriately. Ida has no idea what form this will take. For now, she's returned to Filgaia.

    She sits at a table near Lily, tucking into a hearty plate of buckwheat waffles, bacon, and sausage. She's wearing jeans, a duster, and a buttond-wn shirt, and she's doing her best, as usual, to ignore Magilou's background antics.

    "Concerning information," Ida repeats. "What did you find out?"

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    Citan is not drinking, himself. He intends to talk.

    Seated at the table, his arms folded across his chest, he keeps his attention on Lily as she calls this general meeting to order. He might well have glanced in Magilou's direction... once. Lifting one hand as she asks if anyone has anything to add, he fidgets momentarily with his spectacles, then clears his throat.

    "Yes, as a matter of fact. It is regarding the subsequent analysis of the information we, ah, obtained from the Kislevi encampment near the rift," which is to say the encampment perched on the ruins of Lahan, "You might recall it yourself, Lily. ...It would seem that those orders were connected with some anomalous squadron movements to the north. Which," he continues, "may have been the inciting incident behind our recent turn of events. Yet, that also begs the question: what about Kislev's movements provoked Aveh to take such extreme measures in retaliation? I do not doubt that the war was destined to run 'hot' once again, and yet..." 

<Pose Tracker> Rille Felis has posed.

Rille Felis spends a lot of time in the Adventurer's Guildhall and places like it.

She doesn't, technically, have a membership and so she is, equally technically, a Geohound and not an official member, but there's a bit of overlap and she's never done anything in the Guild to get her thrown out of it. She simply never joined.

Plus, she actually pays her tab when she has money, which puts her ahead of about a third of actual guildmembers, statistically. Please ignore the fact that, right now, she is on the 'broke' part of her cycle and does not actually have anything worth paying with; she's spent too much time in Nede and they don't pay in anything a Filgaian would recognize as cash.

Rille spent some time recovering before she came here, but is looking much better today, having been patched up since the ... encounter in the small town. She had rather been hoping for lunch but, well, you can't have everything.

So she's sitting at the big table, having carried a stool over instead of taking a proper seat - chair backs and her enormous tail do not get along, and for that matter chair arms and the oversized rest of her don't always either. It puts her up too high and she's hunching to try to make up for this, which only makes her look bigger, which only makes her hunch a little more and bring the ridge of scales across her shoulders, just visible with her sleeve-removed shirt, and the back of her neck into prominence since she's leaning forward.

"I wanna hear," Rille says. "I haven't been able to look around a whole lot, I stick out and anyway I was too sore the first day." No surprise there. "I knew Kislev was moving troops - it's part of what I came to warn you guys about, back on the boat - and that means a bunch of stuff, but I don't know what they're up to NOW. I want to."

She glances over at Magilou, who she does not know, when she comes over. She has actually done that a couple times, when the dirty limericks got loudest, but this time she says, "Great ain't the word. You know her?" That last to the others, Lily primarily. 

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    Ruth, the sharpshooter that helped put a stop to the Avehan Gear assault only just arrived, after having chosen to roost along the countryside to keep watch out for the dangerous automaton as stated by one of the prisoners. She didn't move from her spot for days, which... given her true nature, is normal for her. (The irony that she's a fleeting savior of a settlement caught in-between an endless bloody feud is not lost on her.)
 
     She doesn't look any more inviting coming in, heavily dressed in too many layers with her hooded shawl over her head.
 
     "Adlehyde's soldiers took over watch," Ruth says. (She would have said so over empathite to the ARMS members who were in the vicinity, but this is her first time saying such to anyone else.) Her eyes don't meet anyone's, as she shuffles to take her seat after a few awkward seconds to resist the urge to just keep standing straight and looming over those she can.
 
     'You know her?'
 
     "You can never forget her," Ruth says in... defense? Acknowledgement? Resignation? Of the witch. "I saw no further movement during my watch." 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Gwen is there, of course. Her usual laidback demeanor is toned down; while she's not being actively dour, she isn't lobbing limericks UNLIKE ONE PERSON(S) HERE.
    
    Sitting down, the courier's busy quietly munching on a bowl of crisps, downing them with something non-alcoholic (for now). She wants a level head for whatever happens next, and, well, there's a delivery she's going to need to make after all this.

    "Thank the guardians." Gwen sighs in relief when Lily confirms. "Though I'm missin' a few pieces of this puzzle here-- what 'automaton' are we talkin' 'bout here? Why were the operatives here? Last time a shitstorm like this happened, Lahan got blown up."

    And speaking of Lahan, Citan has some nuggets of infomation.

    Rille asks about Magilou, and Gwen grins. "She's Magilou. If she's spoutin' jokes, that means shit hasn't hit the fan, yet."

    Belatedly, regarding Ruth, Gwen frowns. ".... Thanks, by the way. You were that mystery sniper, right? I was facin' the Gears, so I couldn't look behind me." 

<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.

Hannah and Zephyr helped with the scouting! Zephyr has the ability to gain vertical height to see long distances, and the ability to stay out of the range of most attackers. Hannah, meanwhile, has an empathic bond with Zephyr that she often forgets to explain to most others, but that lets her relay Zephyr's findings to others.

For now, though, she and Zephyr are here. Hannah is dressed in a short green dress, a black, hooded robe, and her well-worn hiking boots, with pink, curly hair and green (non-glowing) eyes. She's got a drink in front of her, but Zephyr, a red-tailed hawk, is perched on her shoulder tearing into... well, some kind of animal. Probably.

It might be a monster of some kind, but don't worry about it. (Zephyr worked very hard and earned himself a treat.)

"You already know everythin' I've got to share, Lily," says Hannah. With all the scouting.

She gives Magilou a sideeye. "We got a village fulla people who had ta evacuate 'cause Aveh and Kislev brought their stupid war into Adlehyde. There ain't a lot about this situatinon that's 'great'."

Citan has information to share regarding Kislevi troop movements, and Hannah snaps her fingers. "Oh, right. That reminds me, I might have somethin' to add to that, too."

She looks to Rille and gives her a nod. "Glad to see you're back on your feet."

But she's got a few words and a nod of acknowledgment for everyone else as they come in, then settle down to let Lily talk. 

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    There was only so much that could be done to help the villagers. Once the Gears were stopped, and the soldiers corralled, and the fires extinguished, there was only the cleanup. Lan helped with that for a while.

    The Guild building is old, and still battered from the attack years ago, but it's comfortable too. She's been listening to Magilou (and humming along occasionally, when she hears a tune she recognizes), but has been more focused on eating her lunch. It's a folded piece of bread with vegetables and roasted meat inside. Unlike Gwen, Lan doesn't have anywhere to be afterwards, and so she has a glass of beer to wash it down.

    "It's not Azoth, then," she guesses, because this is the first Lan has really heard about any automaton too, and he is one of only two she knows about. The other is a novelty sparring robot in the fairgrounds at Meria Boule and even Lan can kind of figure that it isn't worth people fighting in Gears over. 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily doesn't answer Magilou's bawdy song. She doesn't seem to be paying any attention to her at all, and that's probably the most clear clue that Lily knows her: she lets Magilou saunter up behind her without so much as a twitch.

She glances at the others as they settle down here. "...Yes, I recall," Lily says to Citan then. "The anomalous movements to the north almost certainly relate to what Hannah and Zephyr uncovered for us."

"We know her," Lily confirms to Rille, as wel as intending to give her the information she's looking for. When RUth sets up, Lily nods. "Good."

And Gwen, "That's the question."

Lan though, "Yes--that's correct. It's not Azoth."

"We were able to confirm the existence and presence of this automaton--and I don't think it's on either of their sides. Quite the opposite. It's..."

She looks down into her drink for a moment, shaking her head as if to dispel something.

"It's a Gryndille-class assault tank," Lily says. "That is to say, a Zeboim-era machine designed to search, destroy, and kill. One of these was used a few years back to try to assassinate the Kaiser... and if I don't miss my guess, the same man is behind this one as back then."

"...They're incredibly dangerous. And they only come from a few places. And under the controls of a few. THis one, I believe, is under the control of Dietrich Keil. ...Formerly of the Kislev Army. Last I saw him he was with Odessa," she says.

"...But apparently he survived the fall. I don't have confirmation that it's him, but he's the only one I know of with the means and knowledge to use machines of this nature."

"These things are strong enough to take on Gears. And it's on the loose." 

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Magilou points double finger-guns and a wink to Rille. "Besties!" She says this as Lily steadfastly ignores her.

    What that says is left as an exercise for the reader.

    When Hannah says they're discussing a war, she just says: "Oh, I know many things." Why she just happened to be drinking here, on this day...

    She straightens up, folding her hands behind her head, tapping a pointed toe to the ground. "So," she says, to Lily, again -- and she's still basically standing behind her, which is so rude -- "it's personal, huh? Just tell me one thing --"

    Magilou leans over the chair, to look at Lily, upside-down. Her jester's hat dangles precariously as it defies gravity. "Do you want to abnegate it, or will you arrogate it?"

<Pose Tracker> Rille Felis has posed.

"I heal quick," Rille says, slightly defensively, to Hannah. And indeed she does, though she also had treatment and was down for a bit. Mostly she's just never had time to waste recovering, so she tends to be up and about a bit earlier than she should be; she might still be bruised, but nothing's broken, so she can come on down to the meeting.

Rille looks *right back* at Magilou. One of her tufted ears flicks.

"We can't be besties until you teach me the rest of the limericks." Rille's tone is very serious - so much so that it must be a bit. "I only heard about half of 'em." She grins, showing pointed teeth - not feline or reptilian, quite, but definitely pointed, especially along the front from the heavy canines forward. "Rille," she says by way of introduction, and leaves it at that.

Rille does not have food because, as mentioned, she was on the broke part of her cycle, but she's also too proud to say that, so she picks up her mug and takes a long drink from that instead. She sets it down a few moments later, apparently thinking.

"I don't know so much about Odessa, but if Kislev thinks it's theirs they're not gonna stop until they get it back. Or it's broken, I guess, but they'll probably take it out on anyone nearby in that case." Pause. "And might anyway, honestly," she adds, "they're kinda vindinctive."

"Okay. What can I do to help? I mean, I don't know about THIS tank, but I know how to break stuff. Does it stop to pick up fuel or ammo anywhere?" Rille is thinking sabotage, though her idea of sabotage is more 'load up the bombs and start the fight early' than anything tricky that won't be noticed. 

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    'You were the mystery sniper, right?'
 
 5tA smile creeps on Ruth's lips as the stress of her left shoulder sees her roll her bring her opposite hand underneath the clothing layers to massage it. It's a smile of profound shame and guilt, so as it follows it just stays on her face.
 
     "Who else," she says. She doesn't take any food or drink for herself among the offerings, as Lily explains the situation. Her left hand tenses at mention of Zeboim-era machinery, considering how much of that has played into the fall of Celesti.
 
     He's another remnant of Odessa on the loose.
 
     "What would he want with such a thing?" She asks of Lily. "Let alone... who would be supporting him, if it's him."
 
     She offers nothing else in the moment as she continues to massage the ache in her left shoulder. 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline nods to the familiar faces, but her attention soon returns to Lily as she speaks. Gryndille... Jacqueline's brows furrow. That's a familiar name. If that's the sort of thing they're dealing with... They have a big problem on their shoulders.

And what's more - Dietrich Keil...

...Jacqueline dwells on that for a moment. She doesn't need to ask the obvious question. Instead, she nods toward Ruth.

"Yes - do you have any idea what he might be after?" Jacqueline asks. "And... as for the unit itself... does it have any weaknesses or vulnerabilities we would be able to exploit?"

One thing's clear - they can't sit back and let it run around unhassled. 

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    There are of course various other factors at play in the conflict beyond the 'natural' tendencies of nations sharing borders to chafe. But these are -- presently -- of secondary concern.

    The fact that there is an apparent war machine bearing down on Adlehyde's border is far more pressing in the immediate sense.

    "Do you? Then I should be interested to hear it, Miss Curie," he says as Hannah remarks she has something here. But speaking of the topic of discussion itself--

    "Another machine of that model... I see. As I recall, there had been a few prototype models in Shae Ving. Yet, this is akin to Gryndille itself! ...Still, I wonder," Citan muses aloud, frowning in thought.

    "...If your father's intent was to assassinate the Kaiser last time, what is staying his hand this time? What about the situation has shifted? Is his intent no longer Kislev alone?" He pauses. "That is, assuming it is your father who has control over the machine. If it is another, then we have another unknown factor at play."

    Yet, he rubs his chin at Magilou's comment. "'Fair' is debatable, of course, but arguably Lily does have a legal claim..." he remarks, entirely straightfaced.
    As if this were an innocent thing to state. 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida eats her waffles, and listens. So far, nothing puts her off her appetite. There's enough time between her and the near-massacre to provide a cushioning buffer, and yesterday, she spoke with her alienist about 'traumatic memories'. The woman had strange insights into something Ida's largely known as 'shell shock', made famous in Aquvy by the Celesti Civil War, and personally relevant by her own mother.

    And Ruth Pauling.

    And there it is. "Wait," Ida says. "More of them? Did they--does he have access to another facility in the Ash Hare sequence?" Ash Hare, Shae Ving, others. All part of some global network. Ida glances at Citan. More prototypes? That's ominous.

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    It's a relief to hear confirmation. Azoth has enough problems!

    "Gryndille-class assault tank," Lan echoes under her breath, trying to commit it to memory. It doesn't mean anything special to her, but Lily's expression and mannerisms alone make it clear - it means something to her. And Lan slowly clues in to possibly why that might be, when the name of the tank's likely-as-not boss is revealed. Keil. The same name as...

    Well, Citan just comes right out and says it! Still, Lan's mouth thins and her eyes crinkle at their corners.

    Her sandwich-thingy is mostly eaten when she wipes her hands off on her napkin and pushes away from the table quietly. "Be right back," she whispers to Gwen, with a hand briefly resting on the courier's shoulder. Skirting quietly around the table, she comes up to Ruth's side. "Hey. Can I try and help?" she whispers, a finger already pointing at the sniper's painful shoulder. "At least, I won't make it any worse. There's a ley line that branches near the rotator cuff." It's such a funny name for a joint! Sure, there's some rotating that goes on, but she never did figure out what was so cuff-like about it. 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Gwen grins back, with a slight wince. She was helping Lan free that one pilot from one of the Gears Ruth shot, after all, but it helped break the spell of violence.

    It still came with death, but that came with the territory. Gwen nods to Lan as she slips away, with a smile grin.

    Lily reveals what the automaton is. Gwen frowns, squinting her eyes slightly. "That guy. Odessa ain't really a thing anymore, but I don't think he's fallen back into Kislev's ranks after a stunt like that." She folds her arms. "I mean, there's.... other groups formin', but none of those have any interest in the war here."

    Gwen pauses briefly when she sees Lan offer Ruth a shoulder rub, turning her attention back to lily as she mentions what these things are capable of.

    "... Lily, there's at least two people here in this room that can take on a Gear." Gwen is holding up two fingers, as if to further illustrate her point. "In theory, anyway. N' it gets messy when there's more n'one. Point bein', we're already at an advantage. Once we fill out the info on the whys, whens, n' wheres, we'll have 'im back to square one." 

<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.

Hannah gives a little shake of her head to Lan's mention of Azoth. "I know he c'n change hisform an' all but this definitely ain't him. Ain't his M.O. or nothin' either."

Lily explains, though, about what the automaton is, and Hannah reaches down into her bag to pull out a journal, flipping through... all manner of things, from scientific writing, to calculations, to crest graph diagrams, and even a few maps. But it's one of the more recent pages she opens it to, to put it out on the table. It's a pencil sketch of a robot with spider legs, a huge claw on one arm, and a canon on the other arm. "Don't recommend gettin' close enough to draw your own picture." Wait, then did Hannah get that close?

Magilou professes to knowing many things. "I'm sure ya do," Hannah says dryly.

"No need to be defensive, hun," says Hannah far more gently to Rille. "I meant just what I said. You catchin' that bell was a mighty fine feat, an' I'm glad it didn't lay you down longer'n it did."

And then Rille encourages Magilou to finish the bawdy limricks, and Hannah just sighs.

Hannah gives Citan a nod, "Would be mighty glad to in a moment, when we get to it." Hennah flips to the next page, where there's a roughly drawn out map of the area and a line indicating a path. "There's about where Zephyr spotted the thing. This roughly looks like its path currently, but... no accountin' for if whoever's pullin' the strings might change their minds later." 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"Kislev will absolutely want it," Lily agrees with Rille. "They're still stung that a bunch of 'traitors' rescued the Kaiser from it," she says. "If they see an opportunity to reclaim it for themselves, they will take it."

She pauses, and then looks at Magilou. "...You're right. It's my responsibility, and you all deserve to know why. I'll get to that. In the meantime..."

"To answer your question, I intend to destroy it. Dr. Uzuki has convinced me the folly of trying to use machines like this to our own ends--even if we can turn them on Solaris, we might destroy the world we're trying to save in the process."

She loks to Ruth next. And Jay. Why would he want it? "Power, of course. He might be aiming to make Kislev and Aveh's war spill over, and plunge the entire contintent into chaos in the process. Presumably so he can come in and clean it up with more of his excavated machinery." She shakes her head. "But it's guesswork. It's not the only machine like this he has, and I expect he's planning something bigger than just destroying villages."

Back to Rille. "We're working on tracing its movements. I know of a few places where it could stop to resupply... but Keil knows that I know them, so he may have arranged alternate sources. I've seen how strong you are, though. If you're willing to take the risk, I think you could help us destroy it for good."

Lily shakes her head at Citan. "I don't know. I think he's thinking bigger than Kislev, now. He must be. He has things now that can contend with much more than a nation."

A legal claim. "...Right. Because 'Sharon Wyatt' created these machines, five thousand years ago, and I have her face and memories. They belong to 'me'. But that also means that they're my responsibility." She looks at Ida. "I don't know. Has he found another facility? Did he get and restore one of the prototypes from Shae Ving? It's hard to say."

She shakes her head at Gwen. "I have no idea what upgrades he's been able to give it; we can't assume that because we've destroyed one before that it'll be easy this time. Especially since... It's incredibly mobile--much moreso than any of us would be on foot. When we destroyed the last, we were able to take advantage of some code irregularities. Those have presumably been patched..."

She watches Lan move to help Ruth. That's good.

"If I can get close, I think I can lock it down--but I can't do it alone. I'll have to spend all my energy making sure it can't escape. Like I said, it's much faster than previous models."

A pause. "...You might ask why we can't just let this be Kislev and Aveh's problem--and what happened the other day is why. I believe whoever's controlling it is intentionally acting along the border to try to inflame tensions with other nations. And Adlehyde can only ignore so much. And there are already casualties, even if this machine isn't what destroyed that village."

"And..." She looks up to the ceiling. "Yes. Keil is my father. I'm in this, no matter what." 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Power... Jacqueline frowns. Of course.

"So much destruction, purely for selfish reasons..." She mutters, shaking her head. Something bigger... Jacqueline doesn't know what that could be, but she doesn't like it. She listens as the others questions are addressed. And... it looks like the most major vulnerabilities they know of would have already been dealt with. For the rest, they'll have to leave it to Lily to give them an opening.

She nods in agreement, though.

"Yes, I agree. We can't pretend it's not related - not when innocent people have already been hurt." She says. "As for me... Adlehyde is my home. They've already made it personal for me."

She nods quietly, then, as Lily insists she's in this no matter what. ...She doesn't blame her for that. 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    "We ain't been twiddlin' our thumbs either, tho." Gwen's gaze softens. "But I get what'ca mean. We got lucky the first time. We can't be dependin' on luck again if we wanna nip this all in the bud."

    Lily further explains, and Gwen nods. "It ain't just 'bout the machine, sound like. We got two sides real eager to not be the one starin' down that barrel, even if it means blowin' up some innocent civilians. A lot more'll die if that thing gets captured n' used, and if neither of 'em get it, we got this wildcard who may not care. So, it ain't like we can appeal to either nation-- not that I wanna endure bein' close to that Shakhan asshole anytime soon."

    Looking at Lily as she reveals her father, Gwen holds up a chip in her right hand, and gestures with it. "... Don't change things in my eyes or change how I see you, Lily." She lapses into a grin, then, chomping down on a chip and sending it down with a drink of her glass. "If anythin', I'm surprised you didn't just walk out of a mountain fully formed, hehe. But yeah, if you can use my abilities, count me in." 

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    Lan comes over to Ruth with an offer to help, and Ruth has to turn her head so she can hear Lan's whispering at all. The offer to help with a ley line over a rotator cuff. Some awkward time passes. In the years she was with the Etones, just about every method in reach was used to ail her distressed shoulder from years of... well, war, like they're facing down right now.
 
     "...If I deserve that kindness," she talks herself into it. Ruth takes her right hand up against the Symbological bindings she has helping tie the sleeve of her too-large overcoat. Complex Symbols of Nedian make go off as they slacken, which she takes to put around one of the pockets on her person. She pulls the shawl off, showing her elf ears poking out prominently from her dull copper hair. Then... she undoes the buttons to her overcoat, enough to wrangle free her left arm.
 
     She hasn't done this before in front of anyone, but apparently it's not that big of a deal with how she's doing it casually now.
 
     Underneath, she's wearing layers of rags - all of various material make and weight that come together to something that counts as an outfit. (Magilou might draw this as a likeness, if not exact, to someone she's known for a long while.)
 
     This is so Lan can reach her left shoulder easier. It's a bit awkward to balance aheavy rifle against her back like this, but she manages.
 
     Lan will catch her tensing again as Lily relates what the presumed controller of the weapon might do, and get out of it... but given her nature, she's always tense.
 
     She listens as best as she can as Lily details the challenges involved - the machine's immense speed relative to almost any one of them. The mention about the likely culprit being Lily's father doesn't seem to openly register to her.
 
     "I know my role here," something she's said in resignation before when she moved to defend the village. As much as she struggled with knowing the inevitability of reliving her worst days as her worst self over and over... it did feel like she had a place then, that kept her from sinking further.
 
     "I'd be more of a heartless monster if I didn't," she's speaking to herself more than anyone. 

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

f "Mazhigigika Miludin do Din Nolurun Dou, at your service!" Magilou grins, to Rille. "... Magilou, for short. I'll teach you later~" Oh no, she winked AGAIN. She's a menace.

    (She's still quite drunk.)

    She grins like a shark, when Lily says she's going to destroy it. "That's the plan, huh?" She asks, as she straightens up. And she cackles like a hyena -- just, absolutely cackles -- when Citan picks up what she's putting down. "Heh... heheh... ehahahahahahahahhhh!"

    She leans on Lily's chair, and says: "One day, a man died. His body rotted in the ground, and his soul seeped down into the earth... and then an angel slipped from the cracks, and he did not wear his face, and he did not think his thoughts. Did the man walk the earth again...? Think about that."

    (She does, in fact, appreciate Ruth's outfit.)

<Pose Tracker> Rille Felis has posed.

"Yeah, well..." Rille has gotten the 'monster' insult more often than she'd like to admit. And she *does* heal fast. Getting called a freak leaves a mark, even if that's not how Hannah meant it - which is the only reason Rille is acting more embarrassed than angry as she rubs at the back of her neck, under her shaggy hair.

"Hell of a name," is her more grinning response to Magilou. "I'll stick to the short name or I'm gonna get tongue-tied."

It didn't even occur to Rille, who has no family she knows of and got her second name half because she needed things to put on a form once and half as a joking nickname that turned serious, that the Keil was the same as Lily Keil. (Did she even know Lily's surname?)

But now that someone has *said* it, Rille looks somewhat startled at the revelation. She has whatever the opposite of a poker face is, most of the time; she's surprised, not entirely pleased, but Lily seems at least moderately above board. Her expression slips more to disbelief when Lily says she has the face and memories of someone five thousand years old, and her ears droop a little. But everyone else seems to take it as proof. They even know places Rille has never heard of to talk about it.

Well, she says she doesn't want to steal it. Small mercies, Rille supposes.

"I'll help." Rille's response is immediate - as soon as she's asked. "I don't like what Kislev's doing. When they go to war, it's always people who don't have much that suffers worse. When the press gang comes around, who's gonna miss some scum from the lower blocks? When the place starts rationing, or shipments can't get in, who gets to eat boots first? Everything I hear about Aveh's no better. Doesn't sound like this guy is either, even if he's not actually with either of them."

Even if Rille doesn't believe Lily about *some* of it, she believes enough to do this. Especially given what else she's said. 

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    "I didn't know what kind of automaton it was," she shakes her head at Hannah. But when she only knows two of them to think of in the first place, he's just where her mind went.

    ...Why would it be Lily's responsibility? Lan frowns. Weren't they created five thousand years... ago...

    Who was Sharon Wyatt? Lan has heard of reincarnation, of course. Sometimes people are reborn instead of resting. But to have the memories and face of who you had once been... And that's if it's not something more sinister at work. Maybe it's a coincidence that Lily's father is using the things that Lily's past self created!

    But probably not.

    Ruth begins the arduous process of unwrapping her left arm, the one that pains her so. "Why wouldn't you?" Lan wonders out loud, but it's rhetorical. Surely there are answers that would be valid, but she's right here. And Ruth is right here. That's reason enough for Lan to try.

    Unseen by most, energy gathers at the tip of Lan's index finger. She traces the line the knob of Ruth's lowest cervical vertebrae to the dip of her shoulder. Down two inches, and left to the tender place where repetitive stress has worn her down.

    She presses firmly, her own body's energy flowing forth to soothe and untangle the knot that chronic pain has tied Ruth's into. "I can't fix the damage, but this should help with the inflammation for a while," she whispers, brows furrowed as she concentrates. It's over in half a minute, and then Lan is patting Ruth's shoulder with a calloused hand before giving her a cheerful smile and going back to her sandwich (and Gwen). 

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "Of course," he answers Hannah, pleasantly enough. There are more than a few bits and pieces that will have to be gotten to when the time is right.

    "I see," he says, when Lily suggests that her father must be thinking bigger. "No, without question, I believe that is the truth. He is no longer 'satisfied' with a small prize like a nation," he reflects aloud.

    At his remark, Magilou breaks out cackling. Citan remains as mildly neutral as usual at glance but is that... a glimmer of amusement in the man's eyes?

    But Lily says she'll destroy it. "That may be wise... especially if we cannot determine any 'failsafes' that Commander Keil might have installed in the machine. I do not think he would deploy something of that calibur into this territory without a backup plan, or simply as a 'rescue effort'. ...That man has already demonstrated himself to be ambitious and canny."

    After all, Dietrich Keil survived Odessa's fall despite the heights he had climbed to in that organization. He should not be underestimated.

    "Speaking of the war between Aveh and Kislev," he voices, in the wake of Gwen and Rille's own comments on the war, "there is another matter..." He glances sidelong at Lily. "You recall what we had learned in the Ethos Headquarters in Aquvy, correct? Solaris is invested in manipulating both sides against the other... and prolonging the war." 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida's worried about Sharon Wyatt in the past. Is she like Fei, somehow? Or is there something else at work here? She takes both revelations--that Lily has Sharon's memories and face, and a father in Dietrich--in perfect stride. It's not news to her, as unnerving as the former can be.

    She eats the last of a strip of bacon, and focuses on a solution, rather than Magilou's cackling laughter.

    (The cackling laughter creeps down her spine anyway, and her thoughts start to skitter in response. What does Magilou know about Sharon, if anything? Wait, does Citan know?)

    "So our job, then," Ida says, keeping her public face intact despite the uncertainty, "is to destroy that thing, and keep whatever's left out of the hands of people who would weaponize it themselves. Do you still know how to completely disintegrate matter, Lily?"

<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.

Kislev will want it. "Nobody needs power like that." But Lily is already planning to destroy it, and Hannah nods. That is definitely good to hear.

Hannah was looking at her notes, but her head snaps up when Lily says Sharon Wyatt made them. "You're kiddin' me," she says flatly. "What'd she even want 'em for? ... How many pots did she have her fingers in, anyhow?" Nanomachines, magic research, now robots?

And then Hannah frowns, deeper, as Lily mentions her father is, presumably, the one involved. "Imagine that's gonna make the next reunion a mite complicated."

Hannah watches Lan make that offer to Ruth, curiously... but only for a moment. When Ruth starts to remove her overcoat Hannah looks away. She already spied on her once, in a vulnerable moment. She's not looking to do it a second time.

Rille being embarrassed is not what Hannah wanted, of course. "It's alright, hun. Sorry if I caused you any inadvertent stress."

"It's a fair question," Hannah says to Lan. "Solaris gettin' 'im back means he's a risk again..." She grimaces softly. "Much as I'm loathe to say it, but... ain't gettin' nowhere if we don't face facts."

Citan brings up Solaris, and Hannah frowns at that. "What's their gain? Keepin' people distracted so they can't unify to oppose 'em?"= She flips back through her notebook to a slightly earlier page, showing a detailed map of Aveh territory, with a military base, and more notes about the supply depot on the page facing it.

"Found some intel in the Lahan camp about a supply depot an' went to investigate. Place was a Kislevi supply depot downright abandoned, not a soul in sight. 'Cept Amaterasu, of the Veruni. Said she was hopin' to find Aveh soldiers for sport, an kept insistin' we were tresspassin'. When Kislevi soldiers finally showed up, they didn't pay any attention to her."

"Whole damn thing don't make a lick of sense, but I ain't sure how it fits into the bigger picture."

It shouldn't surprise Hannah that Lily knows how to disintigrate matter, given that she's shared her technique for doign the same to energy, but it does. Hannah looks at Lily with a contemplative frown. 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Adlehyde is Jay's home. That's enough. Lily remembers only vaguely what it was like, having a home. It seems long distant by now. "Fair enough," she says. "I won't leave you out."

Gwen is right about how they're growing too--but, "...Heh." Lily says to Gwen. "I was adopted, if it helps."

A pause. "But that's right. We can't rely on the Kaiser or the Prime Minister; either will just use what they can to their own ends."

Magilou... is Magilou, as ever. Lily watches Ruth for a moment--who accepts a kindness--and, well, "You do. We'll need your power."

But Magilou... SShe gives a riddle, or a parable, or something. The cackling she can do away with; the story about the man... "I..."

Lily shakes her head. "I don't know."

Then, she spots Rille's startlement. "We're not on good terms," she explains dourly, "Since he used the last one of these he had to kill my squad. I'm ex-Kislev military, too. But I have no loyalty to either him nor Kislev anymore."

But Rille will help. Lily nods. "...You're right. He's not any better than either of them." Lily hadn't seen the plight of the poor in Nortune; she was always in the richer districts. But she recognizes the experience in Rille's voice, at least. "...Definitely no better." Her own poker face is rather better.

Citan says her choice is wise; she appreciates that much. "True," she says of failsafes. And her expression darkens, when he invokes Solaris. "You're right. These people have a right to know that. Solaris is manipulating both sides. I've seen them actively at work in Aveh... But they're manipulating Kislev, too." She frowns, at Hannah's addition. "So the Veruni are involved, too..."

Ida's question gets a nod. "I do. And I know the plans for the original model, so I can get around its failsafes if we can disable it, and there haven't been more added. I intend to fully destroy it, scrap and all." A pause. "Sharon Wyatt made AI for a living. She made various machines; some of them for war, some of them were for more peaceful purposes. These were designed to clear out anomalies. There were a lot of dangers in the Zeboim era. ...Only some of them were other people."

"...I don't know what other vulnerabilities it will have. It's shielded against electricity; my father may have installed harder armor than it used to have."

"But we have to make sure it stays out of Solaris's hands, now, too. Especially Solaris, but also Kislev or Aveh; any of them might be able to reverse-engineer the technology, given the time."

"...My plan is to cut off the battlefield from local space-time. That will ensure it has nowhere to go... but it'll also ensure that none of us have anywhere to run, either. We can only do this when we're completely confident." 

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Magilou regards Lily, with one eye closed. "If it's that important to you, I might just have to get involved..." ... why does that sound so ominous?! "... since you owe me an answer, now, after all." THAT'S EVEN MORE OMINOUS!

    She points her finger-guns at Citan, and she knows. She knows many things. She did just tell Hannah that, after all!

    But largely, she leaves the heroes to figure themselves out.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline nods back to Lily. That's all she'll ask for - she'll do whatever she can to help in her own way. She continues to listen, to the questions of others and Lily's responses. Solaris and the Veruni... She doesn't know what the Veruni's interests in the war might be, but Solaris's are evident.

And, indeed - they would have an interest in this, too, and they're the last ones who should.

"You can do that? Remarkable..." Jacqueline says, impressed, as Lily explains her plan. Cutting the battlefield off from local space-time... That's truly an incredible feat. She's curious, but she suppresses her curiosity for now while they have a more important topic at hand.

...But as she says - as incredible as it is, it's a strategy that leaves no possibility for retreat.

"...I see. Then we should prepare to the fullest when we can." Jacqueline replies. 

<Pose Tracker> Rille Felis has posed.

"I dunno much about Solaris or the Veruni. Just what people've told me." Rille tends to just say whatever crosses her mind and this is no exception. Which may be why her voice raises when she starts to straighten up: "But if those assholes out there are trying to keep a war going for no reason other than - than because they *can*, because they're gettin' something out of it and they don't have to shed their own blood, so they think it don't cost anyone anything - "

Rille realizes she is getting close to 'too loud' (honestly, probably went past it, but the Adventurer's Guild is used to Drifters getting rowdy) and drops back down to her seat with a heavy thud.

"Screw 'em," she finishes. "I'm in. But if whatever barrier you put up leaves me stuck there 'til I die I'm gonna haunt you," Rille says, directly, toward Lily.

It might be a joke. Maybe.

Probably not actually. 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    "So mountain it still is!" Gwen says, with a grin.

    Her quip is followed with a more sober look.

    Gwen frowns. "I remember readin' in one of Auntie's books. The fields of Kislev have a lot of artifacts from past wars, so for a long time, they had the upper hand. When Gears started gettin' used, that made things get equal for a lil' bit. 'Bout when Shakhan came t'power, that switched 'round. I wonder if Solaris came in then, with their Gebler forces. Maybe it's always been this way, since it makes sure these places with their tech don't start becomin' 'nother Shevat. One's enough."

    She itches the back of her head, then downs the last of her drink. ".... Welp, can't use electricity then. Or force sounds like. Might as well try t'punch an armored sandworm."

    But Lily has _time_. "So, we get one shot, sounds like! But we'd still need t'figure out how t'get to that creamy center, eh?" 

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    Ruth sits perfectly still as Lan helps with her shoulder pain. She can't tell the method exactly being employed, but she's more rooted in place with Lan's question of why wouldn't she, because... she can't answer that without spinning into logical circles and contradictions.
 
     An answer never comes.
 
     The inflammation goes down thanks to Lan's help, bowing her head at the gentle touches.
 
     "Thank you," she says, as she goes about the process of slipping her sleeve back on. This used to take much longer to do, having to tie things by hand. Retrieving the removed Nedian-made bindings from the pocket, a quick invocation of some sort (if that's what her mumbling is - and only if) and some flashes of Symbols later, it tightens around the sleeve and twists enough so that it comfortably(-ish)fits.
 
     Tension returns almost immediately as Citan reminds of Solaris' hand in the Order of Ethos, nearly undoing Lan's work in the process.
 
     "It hits too close to what's left of home," she admits aloud, even at Lily's mention that her power will be needed - and the extent of which Lily wants to plan the weapon's fall.
 
     She'd laugh about how ridiculous it sounds had she not extensively worked alongside Lily from time to time in expeditions... and Gwen brings up the idea that they might be influencing possible new Shevats to instead go down in a hell of infighting and endless war.
 
     She helped see Zoara take their turn in failing to use the leftover 'gifts' of Zeboim to better ends, all right.
 
     ...
 
     She nods her head, just the once. 

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "Precisely that, it seems," he answers Hannah, shaking his head. "So long as the people of the surface are divided, then they cannot hope to stand against them. ...This is also the reason for their attempts to meddle in the alliance between Shevat and the Al Bhed. Shevat, after all, is the only nation that can withstand their might..." Creasing his brow, he glances up towards the ceiling. "I believe you are right, Gwen. The balance of the war shifted once Gebler lent overt support to Aveh. Perhaps... it was merely a 'rebalancing' of their game..."

    Hannah, though, has information of her own, namely that it should seem that the Veruni are in cahoots with Kislev as well. "...Is that so?" Citan replies, arching an eyebrow as if this were news to him. "Well.. this certainly complicates matters, if this indeed reflects the attitude of the Kaiser or even among part of the Kislevi armed forces..." he muses, bowing his head as if to think this over. "Whatever the case, we shall need more information, first. Perhaps... hmm."

    There's one way for them to get more information about the war, but it's without question a risky one.
    It's also one perhaps best left for another time.

    "...Regardless," he says, that faint amusement not quite leaving his eyes when Magilou pops finger guns in his direction, "first things first. We will need to deal with this 'Gryndille' before we can think about anything else. ...Well now." His eyes widen, ever so slightly, and his mouth twists in a slight but worried frown.

    "If you are certain, Lily. Still, it may be the best way to avoid causalities." 

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    Lan doesn't concern herself too much with how they're going to disable the tank. Lily will tell her what to do when there's a real solid plan! For now it's enough to have a good idea. And that idea...

    ...well it sure is an idea. A crazy one! But Lan doesn't think anybody but Lily (or Magilou, but it would be a wildly different experience altogether) could make it work.

    "No matter what, we can't let Solaris have it." It's really... all there is to it, isn't it? And no surface nation can be trusted with it either - probably not even Adlehyde. What about the future, after Cecilia? What about their children's children's children?

    Some things just... Lan makes a face, but silently works on her sandwich some more. 

<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.

"Seems that way," Hannah affirms to Lily. "Mighta been a fluke, but... mighta not been."

Her own expression grows dark as Lily mentions the automatons were built to clear out anomalies. She looks down at her notes, suddenly feeling uneasy.

'Anomaly' is her least favorite word, these days.

Hannah nods as Lily shares her plan. She nods like 'cut off the battlefield from local space-time' is somehow a completely normal sentence to her. "Makes sense. We should make sure we got all the reinforcement we need before goin' in. Ain't gonna be able to call in any cavalry. You gonna be up for maintainin' that without resortin' to... more extreme power sources?"

She's only seen Lily cast that particular spell once, after all.

Hannah nods to Citan as he confirms her guess about Solaris' motives. But Shevat is the only nation that can stop them... Very quietly she says, "Energy Nede could, too. Though... I get the sense they ain't got an appetite for fightin' these days. Not that kind, anyhow."

But she nods, again, as Citan takes in the news of possible Veruni involvement. "She was the only one I saw, so... can't say for certain or not if it's all of 'em or just her, but I can't imagine she'd be actin' without purpose regardless."

"I'm in, of course. Me'n Zephyr can help keep tabs on things until we're ready, maybe help figure out any alternate supply points they might be usin'. Even if we can't fix the blasted war we c'n at least help keep the status quo an' not let things get worse." 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    This is the most unsettled Ida's ever been by a drunk woman making finger-guns. She eats three more bites of waffle in haste, and scoots her chair so Magilou is out of her viewing arc entirely. She doesn't have the luxury of doing that with the face of Sharon Wyatt.

    "That's good," Ida says. "This is not something we can fool around with. As I recall, the original Gryndille took the entire pack of Wolves to bring down, didn't it?" She still remembers the hole it smashed in the Kaiser's summer home. And Hannah gets a look of surprise. Ida says nothing, because she happened to be biting into a sausage at the moment, but from the eyes up she's clearly unsettled. "So they're getting involved? Or was she out on her--no, they wouldn't ignore her if..."

    Somehow, Lily telling everyone she's going to make a spatial containment pocket is far more predictable. "I'm in as well, of course," Ida says. "I don't want that thing wreaking havoc or falling into the hands of another bad actor."

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Violating physics is a normal day for Lily. Don't worry about it. Not as much as Magilou demanding an answer, at least. Lily turns to look at her, over her shoulder. "...All right," she says. "We could use the help."

An answer... Well.

Jay is impressed, but Lily nods at that. "It's something I'm working on. Ways to neutralize the Ten Wise Men that aren't raw force. There's only so much I can do against their Symbology, but if it buys us even moments it's worth it." That's not... the only reason she's been working on that kind of spell, of course. But it is one of the ones she's concerned with them now. "I've been able to use similar spells to safeguard people from danger before."

Rille is loud. Frankly, Lily thinks it's warranted. "That's exactly why Solaris does things like that," she says. "...I hate them."

Then she looks Rille in the eye. "If you haunt me, I deserved it. I'll make sure we're ready."

Gwen's additions get a thoughtful look from Lily. "That could be," she says. "I know Shakhan if no one else is aware of Solaris's help." A pause. "Those things might work--it's just not espcecially vulnerable to them."

Ruth... it hits close to home for her. "I can imagine," Lily says. "We'll make sure it doesn't do to Ignas what happened to Zoara. That's why it has to be destroyed, not re-used."

Citan seems surprised at what she suggests--but, well...

"I am. I see no other path to a decisive victory. So I'll need you all to protect me while I channel the magic--if I let it go, then it can probably just break free in a few moments."

Lan is... sure. Lily nods to her. Lily can't read her mind, but she agrees with her anyway. She is too blunt to spare Hannah's feelings, meanwhile. "No," Lily admits to her plainly. "I'll have to transform, using the form that Asgard unlocked in me. But I can control it, now. I've been practicing."

"So Hannah and Zephyr and the rest of us who can will be gathering intelligence. If we find its path, and find a place to sabotage it, all the better. If not... it's the direct approach."

She nods to Ida. "It took everything we had to take it down. We're stronger since then... But it's had upgrades, too. Keil has access to ancient technology--Zeboim, as well as Elw. He's definitely enhanced it since then."

"...I don't trust any nation with technology like this. Honestly, I don't trust even us with technology like this. It's too easy to decide what's for the 'greater good'."

"So I'll keep you all posted. Prepare as much as you can. When we strike.. We have to make it good."

"If we're lucky, we can find the man behind the machine, too. It won't be finished until we take out the source. ...That means finding the other facilities... but it also means dealing with my father, once and for all."

"...Good luck to all of us."

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