2023-12-08: Golden Dawn

• Log: Golden Dawn
• Cast: Philia, Ethius Hesiod, Azoth, Kaguya, Magilou, Mariel, Grace Harvey, Jacqueline Barber, Margaret, Dean Stark, Avril Vent Fleur, Ida Everstead-Rey, Holly, Hannah Curie, Billy Lee Black, Gwen Whitlock
• Where: Kattelox City - Downtown
• Date: December 09, 2023
• Summary: The Ten Wise Men have escaped to the only place that hasn't been corrupted by Drifters. ... ... ...SPAAAAAAAAACE. Anyways, Tron Bonne and Roll Caskett have a plan. To build a rocket.

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<Pose Tracker> Teardrop has posed.

    Last week, Mason's Endless Emporium -- which just so happened to stumble upon the Sorcery Globe and parade it around as a tourist attraction -- came upon attack from mysterious assailants bearing hitherto unknown levels of technological sophistication: the Ten Wise Men.

    A pitched battle ensued in Kattelox's Downtown, but thanks to the timely intervention of the Drifters, casualties were reduced to a bare minimum. But the time for licking wounds is over, because where Kattelox mistakes are made -- Kattelox will do their part to correct their error too!

    Fortunately, it just so happens that the seed of hope to pursue the Ten Wise Men -- who have absconded into the New Moon, the Black Star, Marduk -- also lies in Kattelox:

    The core of an ancient, Zeboim-era rocket that was dug up from within the Main Gate, with incomplete instructions found in the Sub Cities from the ancient dwellers that once inhabited Kattelox.

    It's a far cry from functional, but seeds are known to grow even under extreme adversity. Over the last week, various hands have come together to refurbish, repair and make functional what will be a historical event in Filgaian history:

    The first manned launch into space!!

    Only...

    ...

    ...

    wiggle wiggle, wiggle wiggle

    Data (a foot tall robot monkey that perpetually does a dance) sighs over the heated yelling ringing over the table.

    "I'm telling you your design's too complex. I've made working models using nothing but a busted-up Guild Galad car engine and an old vacuum cleaner!"

    Tron's mouth trembles as she stares at the red-clad, blonde-haired girl standing across her.

    "We can't just -- we need a solid foundation that's reproducible!" Tron yells back. "If something happens to the Drifters or the rocket, we need to at least try to have a backup!"

    Roll shakes her head to go, "Time's of the essence, right?! Those villains are going to try to do something bad up there -- we don't have the luxury to make those kinds of accommodations!"

    Data tiptoes on his little feet. "Eek, eeek! It's simple, really... if you would just listen to me, I could show you--"

    The two girls glare daggers at the little round robot.

    "You stay out of this, Data!"

    The force of their yelling is enough to bowl the poor monkey off the table, as he sheepishly shimmies away to one side.

    "We don't need this much cargo space -- we're lifting a small group of people, not a group of Gears," Tron points out.

    "If you'd just listen to the engine I proposed, it'd have enough power!"
    "Not everyone has tons of money to build your kind of engine!"
    "The fate of the world's at stake here--"

    A Servbot leisurely walks by, carrying a box. "Miss Tron's fighting agaaaaain..."

    Maybe...

    Maybe intervention would be wise here.

<Pose Tracker> Philia has posed.

Towards the back of rocket-preparation area is a strange individual.

They're a little hard to place in general. They have fine features, more towards the feminine side in facial features; their pale blue hair is longer in the front than the back, though they wears a light purple robewith a hood that obscures much of their head. Their eyes are a pale blue.

That robe covers a white dress. They look around the gathered Drifters, Diggers, and other interested parties -- and their wrist has an ornate golden bracelet, as they nervously brush back some of their hair.

"Time is of the essence," Philia murmurs, softly, though it may be overhead. "And they are arguing... perhaps this too is the nature of mortals."

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Ethius has been in an awkward position a few times over since the Demetrioi incident, and now feels as though a spotlight is bearing down upon him every passing second after the ambush against Grace and her spaceship... and now, the Ten Wise Men. There's been a lot to chew on after all that's been said and shared, and now there's the matter of the need to restore a salvaged rocket so that it can get to the 'Black Star.'
 
     The Symbologist from beyond the stars has been standing dutifully not far away, or rather... sitting, he's still recovering from some of the inflicted injuries from that skirmish.
 
     "I assure you that even for solved problems in even routine matters, there is no escape from argument." Ethius says this without looking behind him, laboring under the assumption the voice contemplating the nature of mortals must be a Seraph. It wouldn't be a Seraph he's familiar with (or anyone, for that matter), but his mind is too occupied with a number of factors and issues to do something so simple as look over his shoulder and confirm this is a complete stranger.
 
     He wonders if matters would've changed if there were someone they were trying to help off the moon, but doesn't voice the thought out loud, because some legends aren't meant to be told.
 
     ...
 
     He has been primarily inspecting components as they're refurbished and presented to make sure they won't explode on the spot. Ethius is technically not a rocket scientist. (Sabotage is more of an art form.)

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Azoth hasn't left the area since the battle, repairing himself the old fashioned way and getting enough recharge from a friend to keep from having to seek out any more 'advanced' repairs. The Ten Wise Men... what a curious group. And here is an even more curious group... arguing, while poor little constructs are caught in the crossfire!

He winces in sympathy as Data falls from the table.

But he smiles at the robed stranger, Philia. "Yeah, they're like that. Because they care very deeply about this, but have separate convictions on what would be the best for everyone involved even if their objective is the same."

He turns his attention to Tron and Roll. "What are the actual time and money value differences we're looking at between our options?" Azoth gestures to himself and others. "Maybe there are a few minds and technicians here who can cut down on some of these problems too, yeah?"

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya wasn't here for the fight, but she sure came after that, when she heard what had been there. An ancient rocket...

Once, Kaguya would've found it to be her chance to finally get off Filgaia. Now, she's more concerned with preserving it than escaping it. And...

She is not a rocket scientist, but she has a lot of relevant expertise. For one thing, Kaguya is one of the few people capable of working with the computer systems necessary to make these calculations. For another...

"Look," Kaguya had said at one point, "I've actually lived in space. I know the kind of shit you need."

There are others, though, who have also lived in space, and Kaguya has focused her efforts on doing the parts that they don't already have covered.

And right now that means...

Kaguya watches two of the most important people on this mission arguing with each other. She thinks about throwing something.

"Girls, girls," Kaguya says, "You're both big-brained. But by my calculations if we don't take off soon we might as well just try to blow the whole moon up. Which we don't have the munitions to do."

She checked. Twice.

"Anyway I got Grace's computer systems working about as well as they're going to work," since she got Avril to help with the translations, "And I need some of that engine's power for the guns that are going to blow us open a door."

"So chop chop! If you gotta fight it out fight it out! My money's on Roll though--sorry Tron, she's just got the killer instinct."

"Or we can use MY design for the guns..."

Kaguya is helping(?).

There are some things she hasn't been able to get working, of course--but she's doing her best.

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    "A thousand years ago," Magilou sighs, where she's perched on a no doubt critical part of the rocket and shows no sign of helping with it all, "we could have just jumped on a teleporter, you know. Unfortunately..."

    She shrugs, and flops backwards, resting her head behind her arms. Her jaunty witch's hat (NOT a jester's hat!) tilts to one side in the process.

    "... well, I'll tell you this for free. You won't choke to death when you get there! So good luck getting there~!"

    Is she saying they can breathe in space?

    How does Magilou know they can breathe in space?!

<Pose Tracker> Mariel has posed.

This is, technically, not the first Filgaian manned launch into space. It's not even the first manned human launch into space. It can't be; they found the rocket, they found some of the instructions, and neither one of them exactly sprang from the ether fully-formed and never used.

Mariel doesn't have the heart to remind them of that. It *is* the first one in centuries, after all. They deserve some support.

Unfortunately, despite being of an age and a people who have definitely engaged in space travel significantly more advanced than a junked rocket carting as many people as they can jam in there, Mariel does not actually know anything about how to build one, or the technical details beyond thrust + up = space, eventually.

What? She's a florist, not a rocket scientist.

At the moment she is sitting on a large wooden crate that, presumably, contains something rocket-ish. Her feet don't reach the ground, so she has them resting against the side of said crate as she perches forward. Her bag is at her side, her staff resting against the box next to her with its crystal catching the light occasionally.

She is absolutely not getting involved in that argument. Her ears are flattened down against her head, or at least into her hair. "I'm sorry," she says, apologetically. "I don't think the resources I have here would be very useful..." They're not making it out of wood, she doesn't have any of the Kizim Fire left after her soil purification system, and a flower might make people feel better, but it won't get anyone to Marduk.

"...oh, actually, there is one thing; I can help with air circulation on the way there." Of course Mariel knows that part. She glances at Magilou, thoughtfully, then clarifies, "You might not choke *there*, but for getting there, you need to bring some air."

<Pose Tracker> Grace Harvey has posed.

    Grace Harvey does not give a damn about some wise men or the sorcery globe or the fate of Filgaia or any of that.

    What she *does* care about is getting back into the stars, and right now, this is her best hope. So she donated time, expertise... and a significant chunk of the remains of her home. Most of the internals of the hab unit were now sitting in a secure garage in Kattelox, but the heat resistant plating, the oxygen generator, and even a chunk of the controls and systems- well. In as much as they were compatible. Which. They largely weren't. But an extra mechanic is always useful- and a pilot moreso.

    But for the... fourth? Fifth? time this week, Tron and Roll were fighting. Of course they were. There are rings under all three of Grace's eye's- she's been working overtime on this- especially since there's so little time and the ever present risk of Solaris coming in and killing the whole plan.

    "Are y'all going on about this again?!" She slams her hands on the table. "Unless you're planning a one way trip, this thing needs to work both ways. I'm not planning on hanging around stranded again for howevber long it takes you to build a new one AND find a new pilot!"

    It's rare to see Grace so angry, and Bea, at her feet, let's out a beep which Azoth and Data can tell means 'Calm down, it'll be okay!'

    Still, Bea does trundle away from the fight zone, towards Azoth. A trill of beeps, asking if he's okay. The little mining droid seems worried.

    Magilou's statement gives Grace pause. "Waitwaitwait you can all breathe in VACUUM? Is that a thing you can all do? And *this* is the first rocket your current society has built??" Grace shakes her head.

    "...That'll be helpful," she asides to Mariel. "The Hightailer's one is made for a much smaller ship. We'd. Probably be fine. Roll said we'd be fine. But, y'know. Backups are good."

    She turns her attention back to the fight. "So here's the way I see it: We go with the plan that gives us the best chance of coming back, and if we have to cut cargo space we cut cargo space! It's not gonna be a long trip, we're not packing for like a three-month trek or anything, right? And if we don't have what we need well...."

    Grace shrugs. "Either you find us some rich sponsor we can fleece, or I borrow Tron's brothers and her little guys and we get what we need while you two work it out!"

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

The Ten Wise Man proved to be foes of incredible power and skill, and despite their best efforts, they were able to take the Sorcery Globe and flee to Marduk. Given their talk of conquests as the 'rightful ruler of the universe', Jacqueline doesn't want to think of what they indeed to do with its power... and thankfully, it seems as if efforts are in place to figure out a way to pursue them!

Jacqueline may not be a technological genius like Roll, Tron, and some of the others gathered here... but what she is is an alchemist of amazing aptitude. She can produce whatever propellant or other chemicals they need, given time and resources. This has occupied most of her time, but she does occasionally find time to venture out to check on everyone else.

And today she does so...

...to find Roll and Tron in the middle of arguing. Jacqueline sighs, then glances toward the side as she hears the quiet murmuring of a hooded figure she doesn't recognize. Jacqueline chuckles.

"...It's alright. It doesn't seem like it, but we get some of our best work done this way." Jacqueline comments. She doesn't know them, but the use of the word 'mortals' has certain implications. She sends Data an apologetic look, then back to the argument at hand.

"Ah, Miss Caskett, Miss Bonne..." Jacqueline says, raising her voice a little. "The mixture is almost complete, however... in order to make the final touches, I'll need to know what I'm working with so I can make the necessary adjustments."

It's not technically correct - she could probably figure it out on her own, but she figures that making the situation a little more pressing might give them incentive to figure things out quickly.

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

 
Why is Margaret here? She wanted to support her girlfriend. Also, she likes fireworks.

For some reason, she is smiling with a benign and knowing expression at the fury between Roll Caskett and Tron Bonne, standing off to the side.

What has Margaret contributed to this effort?

'PUT YOUR BACKS INTO IT-'

Labor! A good twenty-two people in suspiciously color-coordinated clothing have appeared. The Hounds of Hell are providing more than their share of completely legitimate, organized-crime-free background labor! Yes, sir, no matter where you look, some jerk - or two or three - is doing something constructive while wearing cheap purple clothing.

"Don't be absurd," Margaret tells Grace. "We've built thousands of rockets for festivals and signalling purpose. This is the same idea, after all!"

Margaret takes a moment to lean over and ask Magilou quietly, "Have you actually done something like this before? Even something tangential. I mean we're not that far from Lunar, perhaps someone did this from Lunar to get to Filgaia. I heard one of those sky-kingdom people drove their ship there." (Margaret has only heard rumors of Solaris, but they don't seem to be likely to help.)

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    Dean had been there when three of the so-called Ten Wise Men had attacked to steal the Sorcery Globe, so naturally he's pitched in his help with getting the rocket working. He's no rocket scientist, so that's mostly been made up of heavy lifting and maybe pounding some metal plates in place. Things of that nature.
    
    Of course, right now there's a fight breaking out about how actually spaceworthy this rocket is. Dean rubs a finger under his nose as he watches this with a grimace. People he knows and people he doesn't know weigh in on it, but Dean doesn't know anything about the topic of the argument, and it seems too important to butt into just to tell them to calm down...
    
    He blinks over at Magilou when she weighs in on the topic, though. "Wait, what? Hey, we still have teleporters! Why can't we just use them now?"

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    Avril hasn't left town since the incident occured. Dean was involved, for one, and for another, well-- this is certainly one of those things they can't let slide. Whatever these Wise Men meant to do with the Sorcery Globe, it couldn't be good for Filgaia, Lunar, or anyone else involved. It's just that there was also one rather complex, important issue they had to solve first, and quickly:

    How are they meant to get to the Black Moon, precisely? Some of the records from the Zeboim era had suggested that once, people had traveled into space around Filgaia, but it didn't seem as if anything was left of the apparatus that got them up there. Gears certainly wouldn't work with some sort of impellant: it was necessary to reach escape velocity to take off from Filgaia, which is a thing that Avril had explained perhaps to a few blank looks.

    But then someone had discovered a Zeboim rocket, and someone else had a somewhat damaged spaceship, and Kaguya and Ethius remember a thing or two about space travel, and so:

    Avril has been doing her part! Which has been largely to translate Zeboim-language computer systems to the modern tongue for Grace, a thing she has taken to like a fish to water. It feels very much as if she has done this several times before, she's found as she's worked, which has led up to the current moment in which two girls are having an argument.

    "Kaguya is right. We all desire the same thing, do we not? I understand your desire for safety, and I understand our need to make haste," she says to both in turn, "yet, might we not find some compromise between the two?"

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida needed some time to recover from the injuries she sustained in the initial attack. The aftereffects of Jophiel's horrible Symbology--not to mention getting sliced open by Zaphkiel as a parting shot--had her down for a few days. During that time, she sent a few urgent messages via the Memory Cube. Those messages have borne fruit.

    Isabel Eco, Ida's aunt, is one of the Shift Chiefs in the Thames' hangar; she's restored Gears that were dredged from the depths of the ocean to full, gleaming functionality. Adam Everstead-Rey, Ida's father, is likewise an engineer and expert at ARM restoration, even if this isn't precisely his field, either. The two of them have spent most of the day up on the scaffolding around the rocket, inspecting the exterior for flaws--the better to use the heat shielding generously donated by Grace. Right now, they're all the way up on the nosecone, two distant figures in Thames jumpsuits. (Marco Eco, Ida's uncle, is inside the rocket, doing the same for the electronics.)

at's Ida up to? Well, she was checking in on her little sister Sylvia, who was helping with the calculations needed to get the rocket off the ground, and then this happened.

    "Roll," Ida says, "I understand where you're coming from, but--" Kaguya cuts in. Ida's lips twist. "We can't afford to cut corners." In the background, Sylvia rubs at her temples and sets her calculator down. Mentally filing Magilou in the 'to be addressed' box for now, Ida takes a deep breath, turns to Avril, and nods. "Exactly."

    "Ida, I'm going to get some air," says Sylvia. She rises, walks past Tron and Roll, and almost bumps head-on into the strange hooded figure lurking nearby. She lets out a soft cry of surprise, followed immediately by a startled, apologetic "Excuse me!"

    "...Sylvie?" There's a lot going on, but Ida is the Big Sister, and is not one to let her little sister's surprise go unattended-to. She approaches the figure as well.

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    Somewhere in the back a fairly suspicious pale-haired lady of Ignan descent has largely been intermittently pestering the ones working on the project with questions about achieving orbit and what sort of thrust is needed.

    Occasionally, Josie is helpful in disassembling scrap. Penelope, on the other hand, is never helpful for a second: some screws have gone missing over the course of the week's work.

<Pose Tracker> Holly has posed.

Holly has cleaned herself up since the fight. She had a rougher time than she'd like to admit, but that's more shaking the rust off. As far as she's concerned it could have gone worse. Still, she's floating along, looking around. Looking for a place to take a seat and listen in. She's got her little notebook and.. she's still using conjured ink like a pen to write. Hopefully the book doesn't become cursed. One should also ignore the obvious doodles in the margins whenever something has stopped interesting her. The notes themselves are quite precise!

<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.

Hannah's been taking it easy for a few days, recovering from the fight, and her unexpected magical flare-up. She's mostly recovered emotionally, at least, due to spending some time with some close friends of hers.

Having an interesting and challenging problem to work on also helps.

When she caught word that there was an effort to construct a rocket to get to Marduk--a real live actual working rocket!--how could she pass up a chance to see that?

Zephyr, on the other hand, is... less than thrilled at the prospect of getting in one. The current argument over redundancies and safety systems is not exactly warming him up to the idea, either.

Hannah is scribbling furiously in her notebook, making various calculations. The curly pink-haired girl is standing just off to the side of the argument, with a red-tailed hawk perched on her shoulder. The hawk looks to her and chirps, and Hannah sighs. "Zephyr," she mutters. "they're tryin' their best. There's a lot at stake here."

Hannah doesn't have rocketry experience, per se, but she's been pouring over the various plans and proposed schematics, and feverishly trying to absorb everything in a very short amount of time.. She puts her notebook down, with a hand sketched diagram on it. "Look, if you arrange things like this, wouldn't that streamline the design a bit?" She chews on the end of her pencil. "Unless I'm missin' something..."

<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.

Of course, an enemy who claims to be the world's true master would bother Billy Lee Black. His whole life has been torn asunder by people bickering over such crowns, and he's precious little interest in that particular evil taking a new form. For his own part, Billy's mostly spend the intervening time aiding the displaced, tending to the wounded, and ministering to the frightened. But, in the end, these aren't days where prayer alone will send a man to space.

Which is why Billy walks in with a cardboard box covered in doodles of flowers. "I got Mamoru and the rest of the orphans to put together whatever decent parts we had in stock. A lot of this is old Etone gear, it should be high spec. Going to have to buy fresh materials for Renmazuo after this..."

He wanders up and sets it down heavily. "...I disinfected it," he promises.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Gwen, like Azoth and many others, didn't have a fun time following the fight with the Wise Men. Her healing process likewise locked her to Kattlelox, though it's meant that she's been present to help in some ways, such as helping 'charge' Azoth a little.

    Standing and looking over the progress of the rocket with arms akimbo, she still looks a little pale, but that's just her usual complexion! And also her getting back to normal. There's other things off too-- her blouse isn't pressed quite as well as she'd like, being a stained back-up due to her earlier one being shredded. Her hair's more bedheaded, and shels still yawning, inbetween stuffing her mouth with a muffin in her left hand.

    Which is why she's not helping, clearly. Also, even Gwen has second thoughts about getting between the likes of Roll and Tron. Not until others have stepped in, that is; up until this point, she was content to eat and look at the rocket.

    "Dean has a point. If the problem's been solved once already--" Munch. Swallow. "--I mean, like, Lunar's in space, n' Filagaia's in space for Lunar, so haven't we technically traveled through space already? So it's just goin' to another space. Or is Marduk like goin' to the sun?"

    How does she know about the concept of a sun?

    "I mean, I remember Auntie Frea's books 'bout talkin' 'bout stars and suns, so maybe we can't stand on them because we'd get burnt? I know Filgaia is called the 'blue star', but we're not a star like the sun." Munchmunch, swallow. "Also, like... gravity, right? How're you gonna get 'round that until you get to Marduk? Also, like, Lunar had gravity, so I guess Marduk'd have it too, so many it's just until the gravity of Marduk's strong enough to grab the rocket? But then, how'd ya land? N' what if Marduk's got people on it we can't see from here, like Lunar does?"

    Munch. "Teleports'd be a lot safer."

     Gwen is helping

<Pose Tracker> Teardrop has posed.

    Tron and Roll both don't seem to be aware of the mysterious figure in the white dress lamenting the situation, though Data peers up towards Philia for one moment longer than you'd expect one to.

    As for the parts? They're... mostly fine... well, if Ethius keeps a keen eye on Roll before she sticks two explosive things together in that trademark manner of hers, a fine line between madness and genius.

    Grace's cry, Azoth's sobering question, and Avril's entreat at a compromise, however, brings them back to the ground, a third party finally cutting them from the thick of tensions.

    "Right now, we're looking at... a 580,000 gella difference," Tron remarks to him. "I understand the urgency, but... well, let's say it's not the first time I've gone on a misadventure because of debts. I suppose I won't be shouldering this myself, though." Tron has a looming peer towards Ida, Isabel, and Sylvia.

    Might the Everstead-Rey family have a solution here?

    Somewhere, Tiesel is still yakking it up at cartoons.

    But nothing! Kaguya's actually lived in space! She lives and breathes (well, no, don't breathe space dust) this!

    Kaguya's got a vote for Roll, though, which just seems to put a damper on the voice of reason (?!?!?!) in the proverbial room. Roll pumps her fist and says, "Thanks, Kaguya, Avril, Grace! Let's see what the computer's got -- oh, I love the design of those guns. You're right in that even if we can get up there, if we can't breach the exterior at all, knowing they'll have defences... we haven't even started thinking about active shielding. You have ideas, Miss Kaguya, Miss Grace?"

    Grace points out that the rocket needs to function both ways unless they plan on being stranded there. And Mariel can assist with oxygen. "The rocket's oxygen tanks were all punctured when we discovered it. They won't do. I'm glad you have a solution, Miss Mariel, Miss Grace," Tron nods, between the Elw's solution and the oxygen generator. "And this heat shielding... well, I won't call myself an expert on re-entry, but I'm trusting your calculations."

    Roll seems quite interested in the Hightailer's control systems. "It's a good thing you had the controls, Miss Grace... it would've taken a lot more time to translate the busted up controls from the original rocket. look, Tron, we need to make a decision since Miss Jay is blocked by our indecision."

    Hannah, as well, contributes her suggestion with the diagram -- and Tron's eyes light up. "Oh, keen eye, Miss Hannah. If you use this kind of setup, you can improve the power to heat efficiency by... I want to say about eighteen percent..."

    Tron takes one deep breath, and then nods. It seems like there's a clear choice, even to her, and she might've been worried about other things. "... all right! We'll go with the bigger engine, and we can later worry about knocking over a bank or two once the world's saved. Miss Jay, I'll math out the strength of the propellant for you."

    The Servbot taking meeting minutes writes:

    Resolution: Big Engine, Paid for by Crimes (!?!?!)! and Rich People

    A Servbot stares at the box of parts Billy brings along. Then, conspiratorially, he whispers to a friend Servbot: "Goopy Wels-covered Gear Parts, oooo..." "Gooey!"

    He disinfected them, Servbots!!

    Tron and Roll are pointedly trying to not pivot to the topic of teleporters that Dean and Gwen have brought up because holy crap they're in the middle of building a rocket and if you think they're going to be deterred from building a rocket because a much more reasonable solution exists--

    Data peers up to Magilou as she points out they won't choke to death when they get there. "Eek, eek... so there's oxygen up there?" A pause. "How did you figure that out? Do you know about the Black Star, eek?"

    Said like someone who isn't hiding a whole nonsensepile of secrets, Data.

<Pose Tracker> Philia has posed.

Philia smiles back at Data. It is a mysterious, slightly sad smile they give Data.

"Ah," Philia answers Azoth, and somehow, that says a lot through their tone. Understanding, knowing, and some level of surprise.

They wrinkle their nose for a moment, at the talk of air. They looks from Mariel, then to Magilou.

"I believe she means that Marduk will have an atmosphere that is breathable for the species here," Philia says. Their eyes dart to Grace. "I'm an oracle. I've... looked to the stars. I believe that the Ten Wise Men will have little trouble with a vacuum."

Then, they look at Jacqueline -- and they hesitate a moment, but remember what Azoth said. "Then... their passion does them credit. I suppose I'm unused to that."

Philia does consider the topic of teleporters.

"It is likely they are disabled," they say. Their eyes close, for a moment. "My sight is limited. But... you should know that I do not see a way the teleporters could work. Something is sealed within Marduk -- and I believe it necessitates this direct approach."

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    In the last few days, Ethius has had to have a mental inventory about which mundane objects would be in more dangerous hands between Roll and Shalune. He stands up and walks towards one of the nearby assembly benches to give an appraisal of some of the proposed navigational system components.
 
     "This one's missing some screws," he remarks. A certain pigeon knows why.
 
     He's kept a strangely stiff upper lip to the things Kaguya's been talking about in the open, which may register as strange given what happened between them on Mount Liverfeast. He hasn't been bearing down on Grace (nor been bore down upon) over the donation of salvaged material, though, as talk comes of breathable air (initiated off-handedly by Magilou remarks, as so many stunning pieces of information tend to be), teleports, and their ilk...
 
     "Even if they did," Ethius still doesn't look over his shoulder towards the oracle because now he's certain there might be more wrong with this component than just missing screws, tapping his gloved fingers along the periphery of this indeterminate but undoubtedly advanced component, "teleportation is... delicate, and requires a multitude of failsafes on either end. I would not put it past them to sabotage it outright if it were an option." It's not, and he doesn't have to go over some of the intellectually horrific aspects of what can go wrong and what could happen. Which is just as well.
 
     He's had enough horror today from what the proposal was involving a specific kind of pen light.

<Pose Tracker> Mariel has posed.

"It's better to be safe than sorry," Mariel agrees with Grace. "But no, we can't breathe in vacuum. The New Moon is an artificial satellite and it has air, or used to, and I do know how Elw make the systems for that; they should be fine unless someone's intentionally destroyed them." With that, she then goes quiet for a little bit while the argument progresses around her.

Why don't they use the teleporters?

"I don't know of any on Lunar," Mariel suddenly pipes up again, "but I do know of the ones on Filgaia. Or, well, that they once existed."

Data asks Magilou, but Mariel chooses to answer even though she wasn't quite addressed. She considers her words before she speaks them. "Marduk is... very old," she says, eventually. "That's the original name of the New Moon, you understand... anyway, it was built for a purpose by Elw and human together, and the original purpose wasn't needed anymore. There were some things that were very dangerous there."

"So some of the teleporters were turned off, deliberately, for safety. A few remained, but they were destroyed during the Metal Demon Wars..." Mariel looks apologetic. "So we can't use them. If there are any still working, I don't know where they are... and if they exist but aren't working, they'll be as hard to fix as the rocket will be, and we would probably need more Kizim Fire to start them back up. And that is assuming they kept calibration after being shut down... Those are teleports on Filgaia, though. If there ever were any on Lunar, I don't know about them."

She at least tries to answer Gwen's questions: "Marduk has gravity, there are places to land and connect, and - " Pause. "It shouldn't have people, but they ran there, so I have to assume it has at least three. It does have dangers of its own, in addition to whatever they brought there."

This may be Mariel's way of agreeing with Philia, who she is clearly trying to identify now.

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Magilou throws out some generous breadcrumbs, over the top of her head. If a bird were to come and collect them, who is she to stop her? She'll befriend Penelope yet. You'll see.

    And she laughs, when Grace decides they can breathe in a vacuum. "Give it a try!" She encourages her, blithely. "I bet you can, too!" Don't tell her she's talking about a space station, Marie-- "OH COME ON!" She yowls, as someone else breaks in to ruin her fun instead. She looks up to pout at Philia, before flopping back down.

    But she looks up to pat Margaret on the cheek, with a sly grin. "Oh, it's neither Lunar nor Filgaia. No, this is a black star, hanging lonesome in the sky..."

    One eye shuts, as she glances over to the rocket.

    "... but that's no star. That's a space station!"

    She laughs, and stretches out, flopping over the piece of machinery. "Dean, you're quite welcome to march up to Artorious's Throne and challenge Althena's Guard to get access to the teleporter we used last time, if you don't believe that," she adds, when Philia explains why the teleporters are unlikely. "I bet it'll be easy!" It will not.

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya has tried to be nice to Ida's family. Being Kaguya, she has had some mixed success. At least she didn't hit on Sylvia.

Kaguya does enjoy it being said that she's right, though. Especially when Avril says it. It feels all important!

"Almost 600 big ones," Kaguya says with a whistle. "Well, we can rob a bank or something, it's fine."

Is it fine?

Dean's question gets a, "Do we have any teleporters that go there?" she wonders. "Like, recalibrating an Elw teleporter is-"

Pause. "Hey Mariel, you can't do that, right?"

Pause. Looks back to the others. "Oh huh," she says to Magilou. "That's convenient." SHe steps around to peer at Hannah's design. "Nice work."

"We can't breathe in vacuum," she explains to Grace. "It's something special about Marduk, aparently."

Then she says, "...And if we can save the planet, I'm still willing to fix up this rocket so you can try to get out, OK? I just.. can't go with you. I've got too much stuff to settle here."

An... oracle?

Kaguya tilts her head over at Philia.

"Oracle, huh. Well..."

"I think you're right about that one. That's why we've got the reserve crew resting instead of helping us, right? So we can be prepared to fight harder than we ever have."

She doesn't say it--but she thinks EThius is right about teleportation anyway.

And besides, "Dean, don't go challenge Althena's Guard."

"...I didn't know the Elw did space shit too." Pause. "...Mariel. Level with me."

"Are we expecting teleporter mazes? Because I hate teleporter mazes."

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

 
"I had thought the problem with teleportation was that you need something on both ends," Margaret addresses the voices calling for teleportation. "So even if we could have a teleportation system-- You know, one of those runic installations..."

Margaret pauses to look at Mariel for several seconds, with a hopeful smile.

Back to Gwen and Dean and others: "Anyway, we'd have to send people over somehow to set it up. So we'd need the rock"

Margaret freezes completely at the sum Tron brings up. ("I don't think there's that much money in the entire world," comments Dollie the healer, from atop some scaffolding, holding a clipboard.)

Mariel has more information, which is at least more illuminating. "So it's possible there is a teleporter there, so it's not going to be a one-way trip," Margaret comments towards her. "I'd be concerned about bringing fuel to return..."

At this point in her musings, Margaret's cheek gets pap-papped a bit. This completely ruins her cool mature image for a moment, and she has to turn her head away for a moment afterwards. ("I second that, don't go picking fights right this moment.")

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    It really is a good thing that Avril's here too. Rebecca's about also, just not here right this second, but Avril's the one who actually understands this level of technology. He gives her a hopeful look when she weighs in on the argument along with Kaguya and several others.
    
"--hey wait, let's not *actually* fight. We've got more important things to be doing than duking it out!" Dean protests after Kaguya places her bets. He nods along with Ida. "Yeah, Avril's right! Let's just... find a happy medium!"
    
    He's going to have to rely on someone else to figure out what that happy medium could *be*, though. Like Hannah, who offers a new design to the rocket. Dean leans over to peek at the sketch. It looks all right, but he sincerely can't make heads or tails of it as far as aerodynamics go. Even so, when Tron praises her design, he gives Hannah an encouraging smile and a thumbs up.
    
    "Great job, guys!" he says, though, because *everyone's* helping out on this one.
    
    Philia weighs in on the teleporters--specifically, that they're probably disabled. Magilou confirms it with a solid point about how the specific teleporter she means is going to be guarded, with Kaguya nailing in the final point with how they'd need to recalibrate a teleporter for it to be any use. "Oh," Dean says, disappointed. "Fiiine, don't worry, I'm not gonna go challenge Althena's Guard." Gwen was really backing him up on that one, too...!
    
    Then: "Wait, who are you?" he asks Philia.

<Pose Tracker> Grace Harvey has posed.

    Of the many things Grace is, she's not a Filgaian linguist. Years of dependence on the Auto-Translation systems of outer space have not helped there. So having Avril to translate has been *very* helpful indeed. At least she mostly listens.

    Yes she has been taking photos with her tablet and adding notes so she has a quick reference sheet for when they kick off.

    It's very important to know when, say, everything's on fire, for example.

    Grace was also present when the other techs were pulling apart the Hightailer's shielding. She had to be there to instruct them how to take things apart without damaging them.

    She only ducked off to cry several times.

    She's also still been avoiding Ethius, but mostly cause he's creepy and scary and TRIED TO KILL HER. OVER A BANK ROBBERY. What kind of asshole kills someone over robbing a bank!?

    Gwen's question, however, gets Grace talking. "Well, I mean, most stars are like, balls of gas so there's nothing to stand ON, but yeah also they're impossibly hot. The sun's just a star, after all. There's a whole bunch of them out there. And like, even if they were just rocks, a lot of them don't have air or have different air or have like. Air that kills you if you breathe it but is fine for the locals." She pauses. "Though, uh, we definitely don't have time or money to make vacuum suits for everyone and uh. I'm keeping mine. No offense but like, it's made to measure and all that."

    Maybe Kaguya can gelp there.

    Grace lets out a sigh of relief. "Finally, someone's talking sense." There's no problem you can't solve with crimes. Still, she blinks at the hooded figure's comment. "Well, that's something. Lemme guess, Terraformed some time like Lunar must have been?" She looks to Magilou. "Or have you been there through some cool secret way, Miss Magilou?"

    Magilou is full of cool secrets, it might be possible. Cool people can do just but about anything.

    Grace blinks again. "...Wait. A satellite? REALLY?" All three of her eyes go wide. "...how in the heck weren't you guys on the galactic stage? How'd everything get so backwards and bad?" Grace shakes her head. "Whatever, I definitely feel a bit better about the whole. Helping with this. Just. No narcing, okay? If anyone asks you made it yourself."

    She does smile a bit more genuinely at Kaguya's offer. "...Thanks. I'd really appreciate that."

<Pose Tracker> Mariel has posed.

"I... might be able to reactivate one that's already set? But I can't aim them myself," Mariel admits, when Kaguya asks her. "Certainly not at Marduk, which moves, relative to Filgaia, *and* is defended. But it might be possible to *leave* Marduk by teleporter. I think I could probably activate it from that side."

She glances at Grace. "We chose not to," she says, softly. "We're connected to Filgaia too deeply to want to travel away from it. So though we got to space, we never - to my knowledge - went further than our own system... rarely further than the Moon."

But the important question: will there be a teleporter maze?

"...there may be a teleporter maze."

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

...It's kind of nice to see everyone here working together toward a common goal like this. Jacqueline can't help but smile a little. Everyone has something to say and/or contribute, and she sits back and listens... and then, looks back to the board as a decision is finally reached.

...She grimaces a little at the necessity of crime, but...

...For this, she can let it slide. She'll try not to think about it.

"Excellent, thank you." Jacqueline replies, offering Tron a smile. She looks toward Philia, then, assessing them.

"You're an oracle?" Jacqueline asks, with interest - and then nods, offering them a smile at their understanding. But the issue they raise... "Something... sealed. That is a problem."


...For now, she decides to focus on taking notes. It might help them all later.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Sylvia blinks, owlishly, as Philia explains who she is, and what she saw. She glances over her shoulder towards Ida, eyes widening--expecting her big sister, the one who's been living in this world of Drifters and ancient secrets, to explain this.

    Ida shrugs. "That's... good," she says, as Philia explains. "One less worry off the table." Her Gear flightsuit has a sealed air supply, but she's never tested it in conditions as cold as space.

    Tron's glare keeps boring a metaphorical hole in her head. Ida finally caves. "You're right," she says. "I'd just--need to speak with Father, but I think if it keeps us all safe..." Including his precious daughter, who will absolutely be boarding the rocket.

    Another pause. Ida looks at Magilou. "...space station?"

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

'Ah' indeed. Azoth may not know all of Philia's nature, but he nods along sagely with their words all the same.

Azoth looks to Bea, nearly startled at first. His smile grows subdued as he beeps back to her, communicating his operations are normal rigth now. Then he wilts a little further, beeping another apology.

But if Solaris did want to interfere... well, for now, Azoth has his override orders, and a nonzero chance a piece of him could feasibly be on the New Moon. Likely? No. But wouldn't it be terribly embarrassing if there was and he never looked? Something was on the Silver Star and this is a Zeboim piece of tech that's getting them to Marduk. These are the loopholes Azoth must work with.

A Big Engine! And 580,000 gella! Uh. Hm. Azoth blinks a few times. "Oh. That's... a lot? I still don't have the best grasp of economics." He bought a rock at quite the premium once. And he'd do it again. "Can't really put a price on saving lives, though..." Such a naive robot, some of the time.

"I can assit in refining the calculations. And um. In crimes later?"

There may be a teleporter maze.

Azoth brightens up, eyes wide as he beeps in excitement.

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

 
Margaret looks pained at the prospect of a teleporter maze.

<Pose Tracker> Teardrop has posed.

    Philia dispenses with advice that seems uncannily insightful. Just who is she? Tron and Roll are too rocket-brained to really question things like this, though -- they're not exactly the Drifters who're going to have to vet the quality of the information coming from mysterious sources.

    "Huh? I'm pretty sure I had that all tightened up..." Roll muses to Ethius on the unscrewed device, unaware that a DASTARDLY pigeon has been interfering with the work at some point or another. "Thanks for doublechecking for us, Mister Ethius."

    Data, unfortunately, doesn't know Mariel well enough to draw the parallel to address her specifically, but is glad that she pipes up. "Made by Elw and human together... and contains very dangerous beings, eek eek..."

    Tron does chime in, at the revelations of Magilou that it's a space station, with air and everything, and Mariel's explanation of what it is: "Well, that's convenient. Because I sure was not confident about being able to fit you all in space suits with personal oxygen tanks that also wouldn't impede your combat abilities. I guess we'll just make sure the rocket is airtight and protected."

    Margaret's worry about fuel for a return trip has Roll thinking. "Well, I assume Miss Jay will be one of the ones going up. And in many ways, going down requires much, much less fuel than going up, and the device will be different besides. I think it'll be okay! Now, not burning up, as I've heard happens..."

    "You're right about that!" Roll chimes in with Azoth on the topic of saving lives and the cost of doing so. "You're also all Diggers, the next big find is just around the corner!"

    Wasn't the 'next big find' what started all this?

    On the topic of teleporter mazes, though, Tron looks undeterred. "Oh, listen at the lot of you! You sound like rookies! All you have to do is leave one Servbot as Teleporter #1, and then a second, and a third..."

    Tron, not everyone has forty adorable friends for that...

<Pose Tracker> Philia has posed.

Philia looks at Azoth and smiles. Then, they say softly: "01010100 01101000 01100101 01111001 00100111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101001 01101110 01110100 01100101 01110010 01100101 01110011 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00101100 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01111001 00111111."

They do so without blinking an eye.

Then, they glance at Mariel, then nods. "Philia," they say. "An oracle. I... foresaw the arrival of ten individuals. And a ship going to the sky to meet them. I thought I would come to offer what help I could."

Then they look between Magilou and Mariel, for a moment. "A space station, then..." Their eyes settle on Magilou. "It sounds as if there were teleporters on Filgaia and Lunar both... but no longer."

Or, at least, not accessible.

They stay quiet on the subject of teleporter mazes.

Instead, they look towards Jacqueline. They smile, after a moment; it's a distant and mysterious smile. "Yes... I see some of what lay in the future. I am what is called a 'psychic.' Unfortunately, I know not what this... sealed thing is."

They sigh and look distant. "...There is much I do not know."

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    It seems like they've managed to get through to the two of them. Avril glances over at Dean and flashes him a grateful smile. They've all come so far. It would be a tragedy if they couldn't find some way to work together on this, all the way to the very end.

    Knowing the three of them, Rebecca is probably out doing the important part of getting them basic supplies, which probably include food: Dean and Avril are perhaps the two of the three most prone to work straight through a meal and realize all too late that they are starving, actually.

    Tron, in the meantime, quotes a price for what they'll need to cover the gap between what they have and what they'll want to get to before launching this at the Black Moon (a spooky place, that might well be a satellite, actually?). Avril tilts her head like a mildly confused dog and asks aloud, in front of everyone, "Is that a lot of money?"

    Some of the ways of the modern world, Avril has managed to glean by now. Money... not so much.
    (There's a reason that Rebecca also manages the shared wallet. ...It's for their own good.)

    Are the teleporters available? Magilou suggests that it would be difficult to fight their way in and Avril frowns, turning her head towards the helpful oracle that has been guiding them along their path. "...Something is sealed in..." She furrows her brow. "Yes," she says, with conviction. "I believe that is so." How does she know that, precisely--

    Avril just has a feeling that's right.

    But wait, who is that mysterious prophet, anyway, as Dean points out?

    Avril looks over at Philia and regards them as if seeing them for the first time. "...Yes. I do not think we have met?"

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Gwen nods along with Philia-- while they are a new face to Gwen, she has already assumed everyone else knows them, until Philia explains otherwise. "Nah, don't worry 'bout it. A little peek's better than nothin' at all. N' that's good, though! I mean, unless we can make the rocket be a thing that can go both ways. I was assumin' it'd be like a normal rocket where it'd, uh... go into the sky n'... explode." Gwen gulps. ".... N' wait, a vacuum?" Mariel now gets to see the look of horror on Gwen's face, as she considers that space *may not have air in it*. "Maybe we can... hold our breath..." She trails off, munching again into her rapidly dwindling muffin. "Nah, that can't be it."

    Ethius presents another terrible thing that could happen: teleportation failure. ".... Y'mean... teleports can fail?" Blinkblink. "So, then, it ain't just as simple as it not workin'-- it *could* be workin', but maybe we'd warp someplace bad, or..." She looks nauseous.... and takes another bite of her muffin, now listening to Mariel's far more calm explanation of things.

    "So we're just... teleportin' slower, with a rocket. In a space with no air."

    "Teleporter mazes're a lot more hospitable than bein' stuck between planets with no air," Gwen says, finishing her muffin. "Besides, you just keep goin' left, right?" gwen is helping....

    The courier thinks, on something that isn't the lack of muffin in one hand. ".... 'Bout the only thing I can offer is a boost of energy, buttt there's a lotta stuff that could do that a lot better than little ol' me by my lonesome."
    

<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.

Hannah looks pleased when her calculations bear fruit. "Whew. Glad I had that figured right, then." Zephyr chirps encouragingly to Hannah.

She doesn't turn to look at Philia, but Zephyr is doing that for her, starting at the oracle with curiosity. His head tilts a little and he chirps, and Hannah makes a 'I dunno' noise.

"Well we know the... don't wanna call them Wise Men." Hannah makes a face. "The three jerks have some kinda teleporter of their own... They got in and out pretty quick. But maybe they got somethin' other than the Elw teleporter network to call on..."

Marduk might have at least three people, Mariel says. "Might be 4. They were communicatin' with someone, too." A pause. "Miss Mariel? Do you know what the energy dropoff of Ley is in orbit? I know my Crest Sorcery works on Lunar, but there's also clearly a large amount of magical energy there, so I ain't sure if that's makin' up the difference or not..."

Hannah smiles to Dean when he offers the thumbs-up. "Thanks! How you been doin', Dean? Feels like it's been a spell since we talked last."

When the topic of getting back comes up, Hannah comments, "Gonna need less fuel to escape Marduk's gravity than it does to escape Filgaia's, anyhow."

<Pose Tracker> Holly has posed.

Holly has been dutifully documenting everything and as the meeting has gone on, the doodles in the margins have disappeared and the writing has gotten more precise and legible. This has gone from personal notes that she might reference to something she definitely thinks needs to be stuffed into some kind of record for future use. The fact that it's so small she's about the only one that's probably going to get used out of it (Aside from Cirea) doesn't cross her mind. Besides, maybe they can transfer the notes or something.
 
 To Hannah's suggestion of a teleporter, she offers a different idea, "Maybe some kind of projection?" Though she immediately kaiboshes the idea with a scribble in her book, "Though the one we dealt with wasn't that kind of vibe was it." She shrugs. Making a note in the margin just in case.
 
 She does turn her head to look to Mariel. Ignoring the urge to go pester her about other historic things. For now. She might have a talky fairy to contend with in the near future if she doesn't get distracted enough. (She will.)

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    "By teleporter, of course!" Magilou tells Grace, cheerfully. "I would have gone on my shikigami, buuuut, it's a one-woman ride." So it wasn't just her, going up there?

    Whether Magilou can fly to space under her own power is a mystery she leaves entirely unexplored.

    She smiles, to Ida. "That's right. The space station... Marduk. It was easier when it was a star, huh? Never thought I'd be back there..."

    Magilou sighs, looking up to the ceiling, stretching up a hand.

    "But if the Ten Wise Men have gone there... the danger's not only those Ten Wise Men. No... they'd certainly be arrogant enough to unleash what we shuttered, back then."

    She closes her eyes, hand draping over her head.

    "... maybe I ought to switch sides... or maybe I'll just have a nap."

    SERIOUSLY, MAGILOU?!

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"Thank you for your honesty," Kaguya says to Mariel, and stares into the middle distance for a good five seconds straight.

"Anyway," she says, "In news that I don't hate..." She looks to Grace and Mariel, and shakes her head. "I lied, I hate this news too. The Veruni left Filgaia, a long time ago. Because we helped fuck it up and decided to leave someone else holding the bag."

She scowls. "I'm not doing that this time."

Pause. "...I'm not actually sure how the Veruni never ran into your folks, except that space is really big," Kaguya says with a shrug.

A return trip... "If we can teleport back that's handy, but we do want to make sure to bring the rocket back, too. Grace needs it. For re-entry, we've got her heat shielding, at least."

The next big find...

Then Kaguya turns to Tron and the screen briefly goes black and white on a close-up of her face. "Teleporter mazes," Kaguya says.

Pause. "Anyway," she says, "That is a lot of money, Avril."

She considers Philia. "Well, you're not claiming to know my romantic future so you might not be a quack," she says, but there's no venom in it. "...I hope we don't disappoint you, whoever you are."

She glances Holly's way, and then, "Nah, the rocket's the best approach probably." Then, to Gwen, "You definitely cannot just hold your breath. And my containment suit's ruined, so I'm relying on this air too."

Then she looks over at Magilou. She's been back, and what they shuttered...

"It's fine," Kaguya says to Magilou. "We got this. I'm not just saying that because I'm an arrogant genius, either."

"...Believe in us."

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    "Oh, okay," Dean says to Philia. He gives them a broad smile and a brisk nod. "Nice meeting you, Philia! I'm Dean. Dean Stark! And don't worry about knowing stuff. That's what we're all here for--to come together and help each other on the things we don't know with the things we *do* know. We'll figure this all out together!"
    
    He catches Avril and returns her smile with a grin. She and Rebecca are definitely the prime examples of what he means. That's your best friends for you! Though everyone here is contributing a lot, of course.
    
    It's also thanks to Avril that Dean simply doesn't bat an eye at the concept of Philia being a psychic who just knows things, mystically. Case in point: Avril being quite certain that something's sealed in.
    
    Dean scrunches his nose at Gwen's take on the whole teleporter thing. "If we're going the long way, it's not teleporting, is it? The whole thing about teleporting is that we're *not* going through space." With or without air. Dean then shrugs, though. "Oh well, that's not really what matters, anyway!"
    
    The matter of money... Dean's *better* about it than Avril, but Rebecca is definitely the one who manages the collective purse, even if he frequently is the one who goes on the actual shopping errands. Good thing Ida's on top of that, even if it is because of Tron's pressuring.
    
    He crooks a grin at Hannah too. "I've been good! I've been helping out how I can with this whole stuff," he gestures at the room at large, "so I've been keeping busy. How 'bout you?" He brightens when Mariel says they might be able to *leave* Marduk by teleporter, at least. "So we just have to get there. That's not as hard!" (As Kaguya implies, it probably will be that hard.) He pauses to give Magilou a curious look. "Oh, so you've been there before?" A slow frown as she weighs her options. "Definitely take a nap!!"
    
    He's less enthusiastic about the prospect of a teleporter maze, but... given that cheery look on Azoth's face, at least *someone's* happy about it?

<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.

Billy is used to dealing with children, and says: "Oh, no, much worse than Wels goo. It's the stuff that comes out of children who forget to wash their hands."

Having thus menaced a robot with disintegration at the hands of human gunks, Billy settles into his place and considers the ongoing thoughts. He's not useless with tech, but it's clear they've got people much better than him on hand, so for the time being...he coasts. "A space station..." he mutters. "Like Shevat, but even higher? Incredible. Not even Solaris has tools like that," he says, incorrectly. He scowls, faintly, a furrowing of his pale brow. "A fine throne for the latest few to claim themselves as king to sit upon."

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    "It's easy to miss the sound of screws dropping," Ethius tries to give a reassuring set of words to Roll. He's watched the two of them put these things together, and he's impressed that the two of them have collectively ensured the correct size of screw and washer has been applied consistently, but these screws being missing...
 
     He might have to call an emergency meeting for an impostor. (Above and beyond the one he needs to speak about before everyone departs.)
 
     He looks over his shoulder at last to Gwen's concerns about how teleports can fail, and says in elaborate, thorough, collegiate-level detail and sophistication on the subject...
 
     "Yes."
 
     He looks back forward.
 
     "Depending on the complexity of the signal communications and wiring - and whether the maze encompasses a small space as opposed to hurling us all over the surface of a celestial body - a proper teleportation maze should be navigable." It's the truth, it's one of the specific kinds of devious puzzles the Spectral Lens has been good at parsing.
 
     He sets down the latest component put back in the lovingly-called 'do-over' pile, which was just a damaged zeboim-era container that still had the letters 'D' and 'O' stenciled.
 
     BONUS EXISTENTIAL HORROR: One of the boxes that has been brought to bear for transporting components is brightly colored blue, and is full of images of small children smiling and laughing in a swimming pool along a truly horrific flat-bodied horse-headed... thing. It's made of a strange cardboard-metal hybrid guaranteed to never biodegrade, rust, or lose coloration. One of the Zeboim era's greatest designs of decadence and excess.
 
     Philia claims to be an oracle and speaks of a future involving a vehicle. He shifts his weight, betraying some small discomfort about some matters being set in stone regardless.
 
     He stops as Magilou approaches - and is - in luxurious comfort talking about dangerous possibilities of something deeply familiar to her being loosed.
 
     A hand goes to his forehead.
 
     "Solaris went through with the least helpful action for everyone involved that day with Miss Grace's spaceship." He could've ended the sentence at 'for everyone involved' and it'd still be correct.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"That's right." Jacqueline confirms, as Roll mentions her assumption that she'll be going up. "We should have enough for a return trip - but even if not, I can always produce more now that I know what I need to optimize for."

Philia introduces themself, and Jacqueline smiles.

"Jacqueline Barber. It's a pleasure to meet you - we need all the help we can get right now." She replies, and considers. Philia sees some of what lies in the future... but not whatever is sealed. Jacqueline considers this with a frown.

"I see... We'll have to tread carefully, then. Still, even knowing there's something to watch out for is better than nothing..." She considers.

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Azoth returns Philia's smile with one of his own, eyes softening: "01011001 01100101 01110011 00101110 00100000 01001001 00100111 01110110 01100101 00100000 01100111 01110010 01101111 01110111 01101110 00100000 01100110 01101111 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101101 00101110."

It's a telling, and comforting, conversation.

Azoth turns to the Servbots with enthusiasm. "You guys love them too, then?" That is NOT what Tron said. "And you too, Mr. Hesiod? Right? Right??" That is also not what Ethius said!

But it seems there is much still to know. And something sealed...

"...If you'll allow it," he says to Tron, Roll, and the others, "I'd like to see if I can directly interface with the controls. I may be able to provide a little extra firepower that way."

There are a bucket of reason not to allow Azoth to do this, however genuine he is being right now, and he knows it.

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

 
"We will? But it's going to be the same distance, won't it?" Margaret asks Roll. ("I really don't know. I'm not asking a silly question.")

After this, Margaret looks back to Magilou... and her brow furrows a little. She steps over towards her. "If you're tired, then I'll be sure to help you get comfortable," Margaret says, which comes in the form of shrugging her jacket off her shoulders, letting it slide down, and whipping it up (mostly with her left hand, which still works normally) in order to gently rest it over Magilou's torso and, with a subtle flicker of auroral light, cross the sleeves (which are soft wool) over her eyes.

"She'll fall asleep in ten minutes or so," Margaret advises onlookers, turning her back on Magilou and putting her hands on her hips. (The right one has a sort of metal brace around the wrist with some leather cushioning and light articulation.)

Margaret's eyes flick towards the hideous thing on the imperishable box. "What the Vile Tribe is THAT?" Margaret asks, lip curling at the sight of whatever Fiend the children seem to be wallowing with.

<Pose Tracker> Mariel has posed.

"An oracle..." Mariel rarely trusts fortune-telling of that sort - it's too easy to fake - but she does at least consider Philia for a few more long moments before she speaks again.

Nobody (except Azoth) seems to like the teleporter maze. ...Well, Mariel wouldn't mind it. Any kind of exploration that doesn't involve combat is fine by her. But overall the general attitude seems low.

Maybe that's why the Elw use them so often.

If what Kaguya said about the Veruni is a shock to Mariel, she *almost* manages to not let it show, though her expression does flicker for a moment before she catches herself. She doesn't seem happy. "I... see," she says, before making a note to sit Kaguya down and ask her to explain everything.

Given how well Mariel gets along with Kaguya (frequently not very) this is not going to end well. She can feel it in her ears.

She'd try it with Magilou too but she doesn't think, somehow, that would work. "I haven't been to Marduk myself," she says, before giving her a *look*; if she knows what's shuttered up there, because she put it there, then...

...no, the timeline doesn't match up, she thinks to herself. Even for Magilou, who is old. She's not THAT old, four thousand and change. "I think," she says after a moment, "that there is more than just what you shuttered up there."

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    There are many, worse things one can spend half a million Gella on. "Sylvie, can you get Father?" Ida says. Sylvia nods, but leans in, and whispers to her older sister:

    "You didn't tell me any of them were from other planets."

    Shock flashes through Ida's eyes. The worst fate: being caught keeping secrets from your inquisitive little sister. "Yes, because it's not the sort of thing we want spread around, and--"

    "You don't think I can be discreet?" Sylvia's lips purse in a wounded little pout.

    "All right," Ida says. She clears her throat. "Kaguya, this is Sylvia, my little sister, you've seen her around. She's the math genius of the family." She urges Sylvia forward. Sylvia starts beaming. Ida steps back, and leans into the Empathite crystal tucked into her collar. She speaks in a whisper, but she absolutely quotes the sum Tron gave, and her tone suggests it's not optional. Engine successfully funded?

    "I'm helping with the thrust-vector calculations," Sylvia says. There's still a hint of shyness beneath the bravado, but she's been told she's been smart since she was little, and if she doesn't make good on this, pivotal moment... then where will she be? "It's good to meet all of you!"

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    "It's not like we have any other choice but to believe in you!" Magilou chirps, to Kaguya. "So you'd better not let us down!" Who is we? Before she can explain any of that, lo, Magilou is covered by a jacket. "Bedtiiime," she sing-songs, and goes still. Is she already asleep?! That stops her from commenting on Grace's ship being destroyed, at least.

    But Mariel points out that there's more up there, and Magilou says, under the jacket, helpfully: "Z z z... I'm too asleep to say anything else about what was up there... z z z..."

    Yes, she's saying the word 'z' over and over.

    (Yes, she's alternately saying it 'zed' and 'zee' so EVERYONE gets mad.)

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    Penelope has been subtle. Months from now, they'll find an pigeon nest in the rafters, full of the missing screws. They may never understand why.

    "So a teleport may fail, as well... perhaps it is for the best that we attempt this method. It does not seem that we would manage this any more swiftly by throwing ourselves at Althena's Guard." Assuming it would even work, for all their attempts to break through that wall.

    Avril, unmysteriously, doesn't appear to be too surprised or confused by the concept of a 'space station'. Indeed, it's like this is -- another -- concept that she is somehow intimately familiar with! "So there may be teleporter mazes there..." She looks thoughtful, somewhere in the happy medium (again) between the delight and horror of the others.

    (It's just that Avril thinks, to herself, it's an Elw space station. Human-Elw, to be accurate. But she knows by now that the Elw enjoyed their teleporter mazes.)

    Kaguya, of those here assembles confirms to Avril that yes. Yes, that is a lot of money. "I see..." Avril muses, furrowing her brow as if in deep contemplation of this.

    Their mysterious guest introduces themself to her and some of the others. "Philia, is it... I am pleased to meet you, Philia," Avril says, inclining her head in a formal nod.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Belatedly, Gwen offers, "I am tryin' to save up a nest egg after the money I blew on Lunar, so... I could commit some money." She frowns, folding her arms. "Hardly the sort of bank you'd need to recoup the costs, though." It's a good thing they have friends like Ida, though! "

    Everyone begins introducing themselves to Philia. Ah! Gwen forgot! She straightens the bow on her neckline and, with a friendly grin, says, "Gwen Whitlock, super courier. You could say I'm a bit of a teleporter myself!" Despite what Dean says, hush! .... Though Gwen does give me a good-natured wink to let him know he's not in the wrong. "Marketing yourself is always important! But only in business."

    And this ascends that.

    Turning to Sylvie, Gwen waves a finger. "N' some things have to remain hidden before the facts can flush 'em out. I wouldn't have believed anyone was from space a few years ago. But these people," she says, her face softening into a more realistic level of cheer, "are people I've known for several years. On top of that, places like Lunar shifted my perspective from Filgaia being the only place there was. And that, too, was because of the wonderful people from those places. So. Now we got even more that's on the line to protect. We're gonna need you guys, on top of it all." Her kind smile twitches as Magilou 'Zeds' away to seeming slumberland in the background. "... Though some of us like to play keepaway for a lot longer than's necessary, fer sure...."

<Pose Tracker> Grace Harvey has posed.

    Too attached to Filgaia, huh? "Weird, but okay." The idea of being so attached to a planet is alien to her. Especially a planet like this.

    "So, what, are we talking like. Some super space monster jail or something?" Grace takes the only interpretation she can of the little monkey robot's advice. "Sounds bad, honestly. I don't like it."

    She pauses as Philia declares herself a psychic. "...Okay, sure, ghosts are real here, I guess psychics might be too." She shrugs. "Honestly, where I'm from they're either frauds or like, algorithms and they have to have that on the disclaimer, y'know?"

    On burning up, Grace nods. "Yeah, that's typically gonna happen on re-entry to a planet. For a sattelite, not so much? It might have it's own atmosphere but it's not gonna be a problem for... the Hightailer's parts. She was a runner, getting in and out of atmo on and off was her trick. She would have been fine coming in here if not for..." She stops. Maybe that's something too heavy to drop right now.

    "Huh. I mean, that'd work if we had the keys but like... don't those things drop you in the wrong place like a third of the time here."

    She pauses at Kaguya's admittal of what the Veruni did. "...But you never got out of system?" Hrrrm. "...I wonder if..." Ethius mentions Solaris, and Grace looks down. "...Yeah. The Hightailer couldn't take everyone, though..."

<Pose Tracker> Teardrop has posed.

    Tron starts to sweat in a mildly ace attorney-like way as Avril asks if that's a lot of money. "Well, I suppose it isn't a lot of money if you managed to turn over one Humanoid Typhoon, in the grand scheme of things... ..."

    Roll points at Gwen to say, "Gwen, you've got the truth of the matter. When you put it that way, even walking's like teleporting... slowly!"

    (Somewhere unrelated, a Drifter claims to have teleported to the top of a ruin. His friend yells: "You didn't teleport! You just climbed up the ladder!" The Drifter pointedly does not listen to him.)

    A Servbot with a big smile on its face tells Hannah: "If you don't wanna call them Wise Men.... you can call them Wiseguys!"

    The Servbot writing minutes compares notes with Holly. "Ooh, your ink's nice... I've only got a 2B pencil."

    Tron peers at Kaguya's intensity and is forced to just quietly nod at it. "I get it, you must've seen some real nasty ones...!" She folds her arms. "Well, I can't afford to part with my Servbots, so you'll have to figure that part out yourself."

    The Servbot collectively stare at each other as Azoth asks if they love teleporter mazes. A moment later, one shouts: "I love curry rice!" "I like paper airplanes." Oh dear...

    Azoth also asks about interfacing with the controls. "Oh? Yeah, we can run tests and make sure you're compatible," Roll points out. "I was going to leave the question of who'll be driving up to you lot."

    If there's a reason to NOT do this, Roll sure as heck doesn't know.

    Sadly, Ethius, they might never figure out who amongst them was responsible. Penelope's just that mysterious, having her own pitstop and everything.

    Tron does stare at the blue box and peer with some terror: "What is... this thing on the side of the box....?"

    Billy scandalises the two Servbots who guess incorrectly, and their faces, somehow, turn blue. "Children who don't... wash their hands!" "That's super icky!" "Iiiiicky."

    Margaret asks why that is, even though it's the same distance. "Well, going up a hill's more effort on the legs than down, right? It must be the same way!" says the mechanic who's never gone to space, but assumes it must be so.

    She also had to be told that you'll catch fire when you re-enter the planet. She nods at Grace mentioning that they'll be fine, since it's one of the Hightailer's strongest points. They'll just have to trust in that...!

    There's a sigh from Tron at Ida's eventual acquiescing, however. "Don't feel as if you have to weigh the entire weight of the world, but I certainly can't reject the role money can play here."

    But the call is made through Empathite, and the two wait with bated breath... and then Sylvia also mentions she's helping with the calculations. "The more sets of eyes we can get over it, the better! Over or undershooting it's all the difference, after all," Roll pumps her hand up.

    Data recalls one facet of Mariel's explanation and wonders: "What was the original purpose of the station, Mariel? Was it to seal dangerous things, or did it exist before, eek eek?"

<Pose Tracker> Philia has posed.

"01001001 00100111 01101101 00100000 01100111 01101100 01100001 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101000 01100101 01100001 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00101110," Philia answers Azoth.

They nod at Hannah, in regards to the amount of fuel they will need. "This seem true," she says. "Though... I am not an engineer. But I trust in your abilities."

Then, they look at Avril, and they smile. "Mm. Yes. Though we've not met, I've heard much about all of you."

They look at Dean, then smile. "I am... glad to hear that," they say. "I suppose I've grown unaccustomed to such things."

Being an oracle is lonely, perhaps. They look at Jay, then, and they nod. "A pleasure, as well, Jacqueline Barber," they say. "As you say. But... tread boldly, too."

Then, they look at Gwen, and--

--they get hung up on the right thing. "...Ah. You are a teleporter?" they ask. "How very impressive. This must assist you in courying."

Is courying a word?

They look at Grace, then -- and they smile. Enigmatic as ever. "I am no fraud, I assure you."

Then, their head snaps towards the Servbot. "They. Are not. The Wiseguys."

Philia seems firm on this point.

They frown when Magilou seems to waver. "There... is no switching sides. These ten... they do not mean well for either of your stars," they say. "For any world in the star ocean. They will bring only death. There is no way but forward, I fear."

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya recognizes the Younger Sister Dynamic when she sees it more or less imediately. And of course, "Technically I'm not actually from another planet," Kaguya supplies helpfully. "I was born on a spaceship, when my people had already left the other planet."

Kaguya extends her hand for a shake. She's masc enough that that's her standard greeting, anyway. "Nice to meet you. I like someone who knows math."

A pause. Thrust-vector calculations.... "Hmmm, OK. Cool. You can look over my math; I'm technically a botanist, not a rocket scientist..."

Then she makes a face at Gwen. "Ugh. I hate it when we get all sappy."

But Magilou: Well. We. She hears that, all right. It's not just Magilou. And of course, she...

"No," Kaguya says, "We got out of system. We just went the other direction from where you guys were, apparently. I gather that Filgaia's on like, the edges of your space?"

Then, she regards Azoth and Roll. "...Sorry, Azoth," she says. "But I'm gonna have to insist we don't hook you in. Bringing you with us is enough risk--and one I'm happy to take--but..."

She shakes her head. Then she grins at Tron. "Yeah, I wouldn't give up the Servbots either. THey're cute, huh?"

Avril just happens to know a lot of things. Kaguya is used to that. She nods her way, and lets her cover being nice to Philia since Kaguya's not so good at it.

Instead, she looks to Mariel's surprise, and then.. well, they can talk later, if she wants. Kaguya's not going to force the matter.

"This is why I'm gonna triple check my guns," Kaguya says, of there being 'other stuff' up there.

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

With Philia's response, Azoth smiles a little broader. If they might learn a similar lesson, then that's for time to tell.

Azoth thrusts a fist in the air. "Yeah, curry rice, paper airplanes! What else?" He's accepted this fate. Wait. Blink. Curry rice? "Even you guys can eat?!" Is Azoth the only robot who can't?!

With his offer he is... rejected. By Kaguya. He frowns, eyes closed. "...Well, I don't really have any logic I can openly give you in argument. Listen. You don't have to be happy about it. If you need someone on ground control, and that's less risky for you, or me not involved at all..." He glances around at the others before settling back again. "...It's more important to me everyone be able to do this with confidence."

<Pose Tracker> Mariel has posed.

Mariel, of course, meant it more literally than Grace is probably expecting, but she's not going to go into the whole speech about [bonds] that she seems to have ready at the drop of a hat.

"It's not their fault," Mariel objects to Grace, out of some kind of cultural pride. "Most of them have not been maintained for between five hundred and one thousand years. It is more surprising that they still work at all... but they are easy to misalign."

Magilou has decided to take a nap rather than answer further questions (or, at least, take a 'nap'). This leaves Mariel as the one most likely to answer this sort of question. "Well, it was mostly before my time..." Because Mariel, too, is not exactly old enough to remember its construction.

"I know that, originally, it was built for other purposes. But after the collapse of the Zeboim," so she means Marduk was *really* old, "it was hard to maintain; the humans did not have the equipment or the infrastructure to work with what they had built there. So, yes, they put some things that they did not want to roam the planet there. I've heard that one of the Golems might also have its resting place there... to keep them in."

"Which is why I am more than a little worried. If the Wise Men are there, they might have found something. And if they aren't fighting it, it either isn't a threat to them - which may, of course, mean it's still sealed - or they've found a way to use it." Mariel shifts, a little uncomfortably. "Marduk was left alone for a reason. I don't like going to it now, but I can't see any way to avoid it."

<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.

Hannah nods to Holly. "If those were projections they sure felt real enough." She's got the burn marks and a charred jacket to prove it.

Hannah gives Dean a smile that's only a tiny little bit tinged with worry. "Oh, been keepin' busy... Been workin' on a little bit of a whole buncha different things. I did manage to catch up with Miss Barber, and..." Her face darkens for a moment. "... also the Fangs," she mutters. "Dead end there, but got a lead, of sorts?"

Zephyr chirps insistently at Hannah when Azoth replies in binary to Philia, and Hannah finally looks up from where she's scribbling notes and glances between the two. "... Huh."

Hannah waves to Sylvia. "If you wanna help with some of those I got some of the specs over here. Maybe you can double check some of my figurin'?" Hannah's busy scribbling away and triplechecking some figures.

Hannah looks to the Servebot who makes the suggestion of calling them 'Wiseguys'. She... seems to be giving it some serious consideration before she finally nods. "Yeah, that'll do."

Hannah looks back to Philia. "Youve' heard... about all of us?" There's a bit of a skeptical look. "... Really?" Who'd have heard of little ol' her, after all? "... Name's Hannah, by the way. An' this--" she nods to the hawk on her shoulder, "--is Zephyr."

Zephyr chirps cheerfully at Philia.

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

 
"Hm," Margaret says, skeptically. "I see. So it's a matter of this Marduk Space Station place being uphill from here -- so coming back will be easier. Yes, I understand everything now." She turns her head afterwards as if to look at Magilou or perhaps see if she's entered some kind of tonic shock from exposure to cheap suitclothes. No: She seems to be sleeping.

When she says Zed, Margaret looks over her shoulder. After that, and back, with her eyes narrowing to thin slits of accusation.

"Why would they burn up? The atmosphere doesn't typically burn things unless you set fire to them," Margaret comments to Grace. "Should we try to carry water to keep the outside damp?"

A pause then. Margaret looks towards Mariel. "... Would anything still be alive up there in a place that small? After... what was that era, three thousand years?"

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Sylvia's mouth makes a little 'o'. Charm school told her that acting so openly... curious about the intimate details of another's life is not something proper ladies do, but right now, she can't quite bring herself to care. "It's so good to meet you," she says, taking Kaguya's hand in hers and giving it a firm shake. "It's all calculus. Well, mostly calculus. But they found some flight data in the rocket's computer, so it's not as if we have nothing to check against!"

    Ida turns back to Tron, and flashes a thumbs-up. Money get! "Thank you, Father," she says, so everyone can hear. "I'm glad. I love you." She flicks off the Empathite, and nods. "Honestly, despite his misgivings about me going up there, I think he's more excited about getting this thing in the air than he's willing to let on." That's an oblique way of answering Tron's very relevant comment, but...

    Anyone who knows Ida knows that her relationship with her family's history and money is... complicated.

<Pose Tracker> Holly has posed.

Holly glances sidelong at the Servbot and holds the 'pen' up and twirs it between her fingers before slapping it between her hands where it disappears. She grins, "I make my own." Clearly enjoying an excuse to show off. The 'pen' is recreated right after though and she says simply, "Haven't used a pencil though. Too big." She holds her hands out. Then she adds, "Well too big to write with comfortably even if I do kinda do things with the fountain pens and-" she goes on for a few, clearly distracted.
 
 Still, she pauses, catching herself sooner rather than later and states simply, "Could fill an ink well for you if you have one." It's not cursed. She's pretty sure it's not cursed. Just magic! Magic ink anyway.
 
 To Hannah's comment she nods. "It's why I scratched it out, though-" she does do the ink trick with her hand again, the free one. Spinning it around slowly in a globe before scowling, "I do a similar trick kinda. I manifest the curses because it keeps the idea firm in my head and-" she stops. "It doesn't matter. I do things weird." She dismisses the thought, but the notes are added back in. Something to poke at, in more ways than one.
 
 Finally, Phillia's comment on the Wise Men only bringing death gets a flat, "Why call them wise at all then." and some muttered curses. The non-dangerous kind.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    With the current share of necessary inspections for components pre-installment taken care of, Ethius starts back towards where he sits in order to keep resting off the recovery of his wounds during the battle with the Ten Wise Men, and only then does he actually see Philia outright. He doesn't voice his initial misconception of what they were talking about out loud.
 
     "It would have been easier to contact outside assistance." Outside assistance? Beyond the barricade stationed about the very edges preventing entry to this part of the galaxy? Solaris not stealing the technology for itself is... fine, and in line with what would normally be the goal, but to prevent Grace, her loved ones, Homer, or himself from leaving...
 
     ...
 
     He doesn't voice anything about what Kaguya's saying, despite being in earshot of it, as he sits with his hand on his forehead again habitually.
 
     "The Ten Wise Men - at least, the one I was engaged with - was insistent that they only had ten to their number," Ethius speaks as Philia mentions about 'these ten.' "The level of information access they've had in the small amount of time they have had to... reacclimate, speaks to access of resources and capabilities almost none other could have."
 
     "Logistically, it is beyond any world's capabilities I'd be aware of."

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"Of course. We'll move forward cautiously, but boldly." Jacqueline replies with a nod toward Philia. "As confident as they are, the Wise Men aren't going to let caution slow them down, so we can't afford that, either."

Whatever happens, they'll just have to be ready to face it... but then again, that's just how it's always been for them. They'll manage, somehow.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

"Ehehe." Gwen rubs the back of her curly head, bashful and also a little embarrrased. "Well, it's more the perspective."

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    "Ehehe." Gwen rubs the back of her curly head, bashful and also a little embarrrased. "Well, it's more the perspective."

    Nodding towards Kaguya, Gwen's smile widens. "So you like my usual self? Awww, Kaguya, I'm glad I wormed my way into your heart!" She coughs. "But, I mean, Wiseguys, Wisemen, what matters is that there's ten of them, they're organized, n' we gotta be twice their number at the very least if we wanna have any hope of gettin' to their level."

    She folds her arms. "On a more serious note, you guys noticed they were real surprised we had the level of ability to resist that we did? Those parts have been updated, yeah, but I wanna believe that's an ace we got on our side of things. They had the element of surprise, but so do we, even now. They'll be prepared for anything we throw at them that we threw previously, so we gotten conserve the things they don't know 'bout for when it matters. Strike hard enough n' you'll only need one punch t'do the deed, you get what I mean? We need to know if they even know what Veruni or Elw are, or that Lunar exists in the way we know it. If they're goin' by sight alone, they may not even know it's inhabited. I don't know what advantage these'd hold, but it could mean if they start watchin' us from afar, we might need t'choose where we exchange information."

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "I see..." To be fair, Avril did spend the last several thousand years on ice, and when she was queen her budget would have been effectively 'yes', but still. There's a reason Rebecca manages the budget.

    (Does this mean she doesn't quite comprehend how large the price is on her head? It's more likely than you think!)

    ...Which speaking of her wanted poster, does give Avril some brief pause when Philia states that they have heard of her. But, she soon realizes, they're familiar with more than just Avril. They've heard of all of them. "So what we have done has reached so far..." Avril muses, frowning faintly. This is not an unfortunate thing, no, but...

    "We appreciate your assistance, Philia."

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"I know," Kaguya says. "And if I thought you were a danger to the mission more than you're an asset, I'd ground you and be the bad guy myself. ...But we need you. We need you more than we risk bringing you."

"That's about how it is."

She regards Mariel thoughtfully. "So, real bright side news here. That's a lot of not great options. But, it is what it is, right?" Then she looks to Margaret, "Not all the things that'd be sealed up there have to be 'alive' to be a problem."

Then she looks to Hannah, and gets a little concerned about her but doesn't voice it for now.

Kaguya though is not a proper lady, so she's happy to share. "Yeah," she says. "And good. On both counts."

She grimaces when Ethius mentions 'beyond any world's capabilities he'd be aware of.' "Yeah. It's past even my people at our height. I don't know where these wise men come from or why they are the way they are..."

"But Gwen's got a point. We can surprise them. And that's what we'll have to do."

<Pose Tracker> Teardrop has posed.

    The Servbot pouts on having his idea turned down. ... but the seeds of rebellion are hot in his heart. They're the Ten Wiseguys in his heart, damnit! But, even though Philia objects, Hannah seems to accept it. Yes... yes! Victory!

    Tron folds her arms with pride to say, "Of course! They're my precious forty--" "Aww, Miss Tron thinks highly of us...!" "--g-get back to work!"

    "Football!" "Bicycling!" "Comics!"

    But when Azoth asks if they can eat, the assembled stare at each other, their faces drooping.

    "Wait... can we eat?"
    "I--I think I heard Miss Tron say we just have a scanner hooked to a small database of sensory outputs..."
    "I--is that why we only have Curry Rice and Lunch A to D and Ice Cream?"
    "Have everything we have known about food been just... a lie?"
    "Is the illusion of eating worse than not knowing about eating...?"
    "Does the man who dreams he is a butterfly truly understand whether he dreamed he was a butterfly, or whether he is a butterfly now dreaming he is a man? Is the girl who answers phrases in a foreign language from a book of phrases in that language truly speaking--"

    Miss Tron blows on a whistle. "Servbots! Ice Cream time!"

    There's a collective "Yaaaaay!" as difficult philosophical quandries is summarily forgotten.

    Data listens attentively to Mariel's explanation. "How dreadful... it seems like many people end up with the same idea, to trap those they don't want to deal with in space, eek-eek..."

    The monkey also looks at Kaguya. "The only commonality point we have is the Sorcery Globe, which they had a different name for..."

    "Beats me," Roll admits about the topic of re-entry. "Maybe it's an ancient Fire Barrier cast by civilisations that predate us! Listen to me, and I'm supposed to be the science gal!"

    Tron nods at Ida. "Well, he can at least be confident we're crossing all our t's and dotting all our i's. ...missing screws notwithstanding."

    The Servbot looks excited at Holly's offer for an inkwell. They will surely use this to write and not just end up with ink all over their face and get scolded by Tron. "Yes, yes!"

    "If they can listen to us from all the way up there, then I'm afraid there's little we can do about it, eek-eek..." Data muses to Gwen. "But I imagine they are distracted by whatever plans they seek to enact, now that they have the Sorcery Globe."

    Tron and Roll look to each other, then the former claps her hands together.

    "Well, while the Servbots are on break, we'll collate all the information based on the choice of engine and re-run the simulator Grace and Avril has going, and then we'll get outputs everyone can work with," Tron points out. "And once that's done and double-checked... it'll mostly be all the hard work of actually putting the thing together! I'm counting on all your capable hands here!"

<Pose Tracker> Philia has posed.

"Well... not all of you, specifically," Philia answers Hannah. "But I've heard of Drifters saving Filgaia before. And I recognize some of them. And..." They look at Hannah, pale blue eyes mysterious for a moment. "I do not doubt you will do the same, Hannah Curie."

"Who can say?" Philia asks Holly. "A declaration, perhaps. Or a hope, which went unfulfilled."

Then, they look at Ethius. They are quiet for a moment -- conflicted, perhaps. There is a glance in Azoth's direction, for some reason, and then they nod. "They are... dangerous. From all that I have seen in my vision, they could cost Filgaia and Lunar both dearly."

They look down, for a moment, then.. Then, they look back -- at Tron and Roll, then at the many gathered here.

"I place my faith and trust in all of you. So do the people of this world," they say. "Our hopes ride on you."

They nod -- and then they turn, walking away.

It is some distance away that they straighten their back out; they stand taller, and then they press a finger to their ear. A glimmering set of golden Symbols appear -- and a holographic communicator appears.

"Mr. Firmament," Philia says. "I've made contact with the ones here. The ones I mentioned before."

A man's voice, distorted across space, speaks back. "Are they as strong as we hoped?"

"...Yes," they answer. "Are... you sure about this?"

"We need the type of strength I've tried to cultivate." He hesitates. "Let's see what they're made of, Philia."

"Mm. Yes."

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Azoth gives Kaguya a single, firm nod, his expression heavy with the gravity of her words, none of it lost on him. And from her, especially, they weight is greater. To not yet know if this faith is misplaced or not... All any of them can do is gather more data and await the conclusion.

Philia, too, has their hopes riding on this in a sea of unknowns. But then there's that glance in her exchange with Ethius, and Azoth tilts his head to the side without the data for conjecture.

The Servbots experience an existential crisis. Azoth stares at them, then stares at Tron, then stares back at the Servbots. One can see the horrors calculating behind the lenses of his eyes. Their last dilemma presented, its implications clear despite being cut off, makes Azoth flinch, a distorted, weak beep of distress escaping.

Ice cream time ends the crisis. For the Servbots.

Azoth remains unmoving, gazing into infinity.

<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.

Margaret has a question about reentry. "It's the friction. Goin' from space, with no atmosphere, into an atmosphere, the air pushes back and..." Zephyr chirps at her and Hannah stops. "... Right."

Did she just let Zephyr interrupt her?

"Think of it like... rope burns. Your hand moves through air jus' fine, but if you're grabbin' onto a rope and movin' it, it feels like it's heatin' up. It's like that, but much bigger."

"... And the water won't help 'cause it'll just boil in the vacuum of space anyhow."

Hannah has a soft smile for Holly. "I mean, as I was so recently reminded... we're all a little weird, ain't we?" She can almost say that without any moodiness threatening to bubble up within her. Almost!

Long as she doesn't try to call anyone here anomalous...

Anyway.

Gwen has a point about the surprise advantage they might all hold, if the Wise Men aren't familiar with all of the oddities Filgaia and Lunar have to offer. "Maytbe... but it's kinda hard to say what they do and don't know. The one I was fightin' claimed to know..." Hannah hesitates and looks down at her notes.

This is not the setting she wants to be blabbing all of her secrets in. Then again, it's not like half the people here didn't have the chance to see her magic incident anyway.

"... claimed to know somethin' about me," she finishes, vaguely. "... so we can't necessarily take that surprise factor for granted. Not sayin' it ain't there at all, just... don't take it for granted."

Zephyr catches Kaguya's look. He doesn't seem to move or make a noise, but a moment later Hannah looks in her direction and then looks down again with a slightly despondent frown.

Ancient Fire Barrier... "Well, if you had a material that could withstand a high amount of heat, like maybe.... ceramics? But you could also use some symbology to reinforce things... That's not my forte, but I can ask around Sielje for a specialist. Bet you could get some grad students to jump on it right quick."

Hannah pauses, and looks to Philia curiously. "... Didn't go givin' you my last name, now did I...?" She's not sure whether to be suspicious or not, but decides to err on the side of not, for the moment.

But Tron and Roll seem to have settled on a plan, and Hannah goes back to crunching numbers and inspecting designs. There's still a lot of work to do.

<Pose Tracker> Holly has posed.

Holly does let the little servbot gather up an inkwell of sorts which she promptly fills with the ink she always manifests. There's a dull thought that the wet stuff might not stick around, but she's never thought to store it!
 
 Hannah's given a nod and she says wryly, "Who isn't?" Keeping it thankfully short. She almost went on a neat little tangent about-
 
 Phillia's response is given a simple enough nod though, "Works for me." keeping it simple while she still largely focuses on notes!