2024-04-06: A Little Light Recon

• Log: A Little Light Recon
• Cast: Redi Hayworth, Rebecca Streisand, Dean Stark, Avril Vent Fleur, Kaguya
• Where: Adlehyde - Town Center
• Date: April 06, 2024
• Summary: The Vanguard does a little recon on Redi. It goes... well, it goes.

---

<Pose Tracker> Redi Hayworth has posed.

Adlehyde has rebuilt, after the conflict with the Metal Demons years past. The marketplace is thriving; the newly made Zil Padon District represents the worldwide effort in assisting, thanks to the Adventurer's Guild. It is both the city people remember and a completely new city.

And after Dean, Avril, Rebecca, and Kaguya arrived, a few inquiries confirmed that at one of the newer inns, there was a girl wearing a Lacour Postal Express hat who came in with a Paladienne.

Which, in all likelihood, is Redi and Yulie.

Yulie is out at the moment, but Redi is at the inn. She is in the common room, currently with her bag on a chair nearby -- and her hat resting on a chair next to her. This time in the afternoon, she is the only one in the room -- there's a staff member sweeping the hall outside, but the kitchen isn't open.

Redi is looking over a newspaper, brow furrowed. On the table are a couple of letters in envelope.

<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.

Behind Redi, a shape swings down silently from the inn rafters. Twintails hanging upside down, legs hooked over the rafters as Rebecca Streisand hangs upside down. There's a long moment of assessment as if making sure the patrons of the inn don't catch sight of her.
 
Then slowly she pulls out the Portal Gun and fires it at the ground right behind her chair.

Mission Redi theme: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLo9k8Gifb0

With her other hand she drops a pebble which vanishes into the oval hole that appears.

That, is in and of itself - the signal.

'Go go!'

Rebecca promptly swings back up, catching her twintails up before anyone is likely to see her.

-=-=-

Cut to earlier:

"Okay we found her. I know you're all in favor of the direct approach - but what if she freaks out? We don't want some big ghost mess scaring everyone. How about first we do a little..."

She looks towards Dean, Avril, and Kaguya, before saying the word that spurred this whole mess:

"... recon."

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    "We should just ask her," Dean was saying--but then Rebecca points out that there might be a big ghost mess, and based on what they've been told before, it might be something Redi can't actually control. He frowns, folding his arms. "Well... I guess it can't hurt?"
    
    ---
    
    And so, when a pebble drops out of a portal, Dean makes like he's leaning down to tie his shoelaces (does he even have shoelaces?) and pops his head through the portal. He looks left, looks right; drawns Twin Fenrir and shifts the bullet cartridge to the Detector--and fires, letting a green informational overlay take over the room and show various hidden things. Most of them are coins. There's a secret door somewhere.
    
    He pulls his head back and moves out of Avril's way. "I dunno if it got anything about her," he whispers.

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "Hmm," Avril had mused, considering the relative merits of the direct versus the fact-finding approaches. "But would it not be better to approach her with our concerns? Yet..."

    After some brief consideration of the matter, Avril had finally nodded. "...You might be right, Rebecca. I can think to my own experience of learning who I truly was. It was a shock. And yet, if we do not ask after her circumstances directly, we will not be able to help her. Perhaps there is something we can learn from her without asking," she had said. "Let us try, in that case."

    ---

    And now, when a pebble bounces up out of the portal, Avril first waits for Dean to finish what he's doing before then ducking under the table herself, ostensibly to search for something in a cloth bag just by her seat. What she actually does is duck through the portal with her mirror.

    Its surface shimmers with a mysterious, arcane light. Avril pauses but a moment to gaze into the glass before likewise withdrawing.

    "..."

    There is a long moment of silence once she re-emerges.

    Silently, Avril shakes her head. Answer hazy, try again later...?

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya is having none of this, of course. Absolutely none of it. She does favor the direct approach, actually.

So while the others are messing with their portals, Kaguya steps up to the common room, pausing for a moment before she looks to the staff member. "...Hey," she says, acknowledging them, and--

Then she walks in. "Hey Redi, how's it going?" Kaguya asks, casually striding up to her. She is dressed in ordinary Filgaian clothes, her weapon not visible.

She comes to a stop, and puts her hands on her hips. "So, I had a question."

Pause.

"Are you a zombie ghost? It's cool if you are, I like you anyway. I'm just checking."

<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.

The plan is going great, first Dean doing his part - which who knows, it could reveal secrets? Secret doors.
 
Secret ghost doors.
 
Then Avril acts, and she has so many spiritual powers that it's always impossible to know what she'll pick up just by trying to utilize them.
 
Rebecca waits with bated breath.
 
And then- KAGUYA!
 
She makes a noise, repeatedly whispering and waving her way, "Psst- psst-!" Before mouthing 'Kaguya!' and shaking her head back and forth, but there's no stopping hurricane Kaguya once she's made up her mind. And so she asks-!
 
And Rebecca swings down, upside down again her twintails dangling under the force of gravity, "We talked about this! Ixnay on the ombiezay hostgay!" Rebecca has the Portal Gun in her hand, and is currently gesticulating it upside down at her.
 
Pause, she turns her neck at that inverted angle to look at Redi - freezes for half a heartbeat - then...
 
"Heyyyyyy Rediiii."
 
The portal gun is slowly drawn back behind her back until it's hidden - poorly.

<Pose Tracker> Redi Hayworth has posed.

Redi's eyes blink.

She gets a funny feeling -- a sixth sense, as it were, that something is amiss. She turns her head.

Looking over the back of the chair doesn't reveal anything; but she looks, just after the visual overlay shoots over the room. And here.

She stands up, looking around, and misses the holographic display by her feet -- reflecting in Avril's mirror.

    NAME: ?Redinamarie Cantilaesca Damariana Shizuruya Hayworth
    TYPE: Unknown Specter
    LEVEL: 30

Suffice to say, Avril's study of her -- and that display -- confirm one fact. Redi is, to be sure, not actually a human. At least, in the strictly spiritual sense.

Redi almost starts to look down at the floor -- the glint of the mirror catches her eye -- but then the door opens. Redi looks up, blinking at Kaguya. "Oh, hey, Kaguya," she says. It's bright, if... not as bright as usual.

Then Kaguya asks her question.

Her eyes shoot wide open. It isn't with a baffled look, but one somewhere between panic and anger. The things Xander told her, once, come to mind.

"E-Excuse me?"
And then her head whips to the side -- as Rebecca swings down, speaking to Kaguya. And with a gun in her hand. Redi takes a nervous step back. "W-What is going on!" she demands. "Why were you hiding in the rafters! And why are you--" She points at Kaguya. "--asking weird questions!"

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    When Kaguya goes in to do the direct approach that she and Dean and Avril had been leaning towards at the start, Dean shoots his head up and knocks it on the back of the chair. He grabs his head, Twin Fenrir vanishing, and hisses in pain. Now Rebecca's jumping out to try to warn Kaguya off, but Redi's right there...!
    
    He grimaces again when she starts to get upset. Pretty understandably so, in Dean's opinion. He scoots away from the chair and the portal and gets to his feet properly this time, offering a hand to Avril to help her up as needed--that mirror always looks so heavy. There's info in its surface, too, and Dean leans in to read it.
    
    "'Unknown Specter'... so she really is some kind of zombie ghost?" he murmurs. Also, that's one heck of a name. He can see why she goes by Redi. But what's that ? before it all? Is the Mirror of De Soto not sure?!
    
    Then there really is nothing for it but to ask directly! Dean gives Avril a nod. "There's no point in hanging back now. Let's go over there and explain everything before Redi gets mad," he says.
    
    And so he walks over himself. "Hi Redi! Hey," he says, rubbing the back of his head. "So, first off, sorry for scaring you! We didn't mean any harm; we were just worried you'd get upset if we just came up and asked. But Kaguya did that anyway, so there's no point in beating around the bush anymore. Next..."
    
    He pauses, then looks over at Avril, as if to prompt her to explain about that fateful encounter they'd had at a certain graveyard.

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    --There. There it is. It's no vision revealed to her in the depths of the mirror's dark glass, but rather a reflection of the holographic readout itself and translated by the mirror's more arcane properties into something that reads the right way around (this, itself, is proof that Avril's mirror really is magical, honestly).

    And then Kaguya walks in. And then Kaguya takes the direct approach.

    Avril has suddently transitioned to sitting upright in her seat, her hands folded primly over the mirror in her lap, its glass surface facing downwards. Slowly and carefully, she turns her gaze upwards at the point where Rebecca is hanging from, then back to Kaguya, then to Redi. "..."

    Her attention turns at last to Dean. "...Yes, we must," she agrees, stooping to tuck the mirror away and gather up their things as she hastens to join Kaguya and Rebecca both at Redi's side.

    "I am very sorry," she begins, bowing her head. "We had thought that asking you directly might be difficult for you." She pauses, glancing sidelong at Kaguya. "We encountered an old friend of yours named Clara in Hilton. She was paying her respects at your grave. She told us what had happened last June, Redi."

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"I've never ixnayed on the gay in my entire life," Kaguya says, "And I don't intend to start now."

That's all she says to Rebecca, as she instead looks to Redi, and realizes just how bad things might get. "That's..."

Dean's earnestness helps. So does Avril's apology.

"I thought," Kaguya says of asking directly, "That you deserved to hear it straight instead of us dancing around it. But that's just me." Pause. "I do see why they'd want to spare your feelings, though."

She pauses. "Yeah. Avril's got it. We went to Hilton, and... heard some bizarre stuff. I'm not saying you're not you--but whatever happened to you, the Veruni were involved, and that means I need to stop whatever they wanted to accomplish."

"So I needed to know if you think you're a zombie ghost or something. If you aren't sure, I can run some tests or whatever. Do science."

"Either way..."

She hesitates. "You're my friend, so I don't want to keep learning about something like this from you."

<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.

"You..." She gives Kaguya this look like she's sprouted a second head, "... Wait..." Moments later she's turning bright red.

That's not important right now-! "Okay I uh-" Rebecca puts both her hands out as if to gesture with her palms, "Just calm down and we'll explain everything - promise."
 
It takes her a moment to realize putting both her hands out reveals the gun again. To which she makes an exasperated noise at her error, and just, lets go of the rafter, doing a little flip in mid-air to land on both of her feet lightly, and NOW she holsters the gun once gravity is on her side again.
 
Also there's a BLINK as the portal just ceases to exist and is replaced by the inn's floor again.
 
Dean however, enters just in the nick of time and starts explaining - and she nods quickly, as if to agree 'Yes it's all Kaguya's fault' but - then stops doing that as she realizes how bad this looks.
 
(Look 'Yes it's all Kaguya's fault' is a very well honed instinct from years of it actually being her fault.)
 
Avril comes in behind her with the apology and Rebecca stays quiet, letting her explain what prompted this because she understands that she has accidentally escalated this - and now it's time to let people deescalate this.
 
Kaguya keeps adding to the explanation, and Rebecca resists the urge to ask Dean and Avril what intel they got from the 'Recon'.
 
"Right so..."
 
In this moment Rebecca looks up, and makes eye contact with the person who had been steadily sweeping - sweeping in the hall. That person locks eye contact with her, and just 'sweep' 'sweep' - Rebecca just sighs, then puts her hands together, and juts her head sideways.
 
The person keeps sweeping, sweeping - and eventually Rebecca takes out a ten gella coin and with a flick of her thumb and forefinger, flips it across the room. The person catches it - tucks it away, and vanishes out of sight to the rhythm of 'sweep' 'sweep' sweep'.
 
"... so now that things are actually private - I apologize myself for uh - yeah, all that - it was my plan but... you know - you worry after you hear a tale like that? Would you mind if we just had a nice calm chat about this whole thing?"

<Pose Tracker> Redi Hayworth has posed.

The mirror is, indeed, not sure. But whether Redi is really Redi is a question she doesn't know herself.

She turns her head, eyes blinking at Dean and Avril, they both come into view, fairly suddenly. Her mouth hangs open for a moment, and then she hesitates. "Uh..." She starts to say that it's fine, but there is a moment of uncertainty.

Is it fine?

Avril explains more -- Redi flinches at the explanation. She freezes up, for a moment; it's not as bad as it was when she first learned, but she still hesitates. "Clara, huh..." She looks down for a moment, then she looks at Kaguya.

"I... don't think she's wrong," she settles on. "I didn't know for a long time, until I came back -- went for the first time." She looks back up at them, pale blue eyes looking back at them.

"I didn't run any tests or... some science thing," she admits. "But it explains a few things. I--I didn't lie about it. At least, I... didn't mean to lie about it."

<Pose Tracker> Redi Hayworth has posed.

She looks at Rebecca, then. There's a glance at the person sweeping -- as they move away -- and then she looks back at Rebecca. Redi swallows, before she nods. Just a talk, she tells herself.

Redi nods at her. "...Sure," she says. "I'll... try to answer questions. At least, as best I'm able, right?"

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    Dean nods along as Avril explains about Clara and what happened last June. He wasn't sure he could put it delicately, and he trusts Avril to be better at that than him. Though Rebecca's better at that than him too, most of the time... Arguably the only person here who isn't is Kaguya! But she's not without kindness either, with that offer she makes to science up a solution. Rebecca puts her portal gun and portals away, pays off the janitor, and asks for a quiet, calm chat about it all.
    
    So Redi responds in kind. She does flinch, and Dean's eyebrows furrow with concern at the sight, but she doesn't freak out or anything. "It must've been really confusing for you. It sounds like it was confusing for everybody," he says. "I can't even imagine how I'd act if I were--in that position." A more tactful thing than he was about to say, reminded by the fact that Avril and Rebecca are right there. "This stuff... I'm betting Xander and Riley know about it and that's part of why hang out with you, huh? They've got problems with--" Dean gestures vaguely in the air. "Spooky things messing up their lives, too."
    
    He lowers his hand. "So... I guess the first question is--what happened? We heard what Clara had to say, but we wanna hear your side of things, too."

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    Avril, for her part, barely seems to bat an eye at Kaguya and Rebecca's exchange. Is it that she isn't embarrassed by such a thing, or is it instead that she didn't get it...?

    Yes, Avril is known to be blunt, true enough, but she is far from unkind. It is not perhaps a delicate approach that she delivers to Redi, but it is an honest one, and one that is taken with care.

    And besides, the most important thing is to own up to one's own mistakes, when such is warranted and deserved.

    "It is as Kaguya says. ...We cannot say that the story we heard is the absolute truth. Yet, we must know. You and your friend deserve that much."

    Redi hesitates. What person wouldn't hesitate, when hearing something like this?

    "If you are prepared to talk, then we are prepared to listen. If you are not ready, however, then we shall wait and speak of this another time," Avril tells her, glancing the once towards the vacated hallway. "Still, if you are ready to speak, are you fine with doing so here?"

    Even if the sweeper has departed (thanks to Rebecca's intervention and a small portion of their funds) is this the most comfortable place to talk to someone about their possibly not even being alive in a technical sense? Then again, it isn't as if anyone else is in here...

    She frowns pensively. "But Dean is correct. We know only what we had heard, and we cannot discern the truth based on one person's telling. Might you tell us what you remember?"

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Under better circumstances, Kaguya would definitely laugh at Rebecca's blush. But this is serious enough for her that she doesn't. It's not important right now.

And to be fair, yes, many things have been Kaguya's fault. And in this case, Rebecca has the clever idea to make things mroe private. Still, when Redi finally answers her...

"I believe you," Kaguya says to Redi of lying about it. "I bet you didn't know a thing about it. She said you didn't remember stuff. ...If you want to find out what's up with you, I can try. But only if you want to. And even then I can't guarantee anything; I'm a botanist, not a mage."

But if Veruni technology was involved, then...

Dean is compassionate about it. Of course he is; Kaguya wouldn't expect much else out of him. But what he says about Xander and Riley starts to make sense, too.

"Avril's right," Kaguya says. "You don't have to talk about it, either. But if you are willing, we want to hear it. And..."

"Well," she says, "Full disclosure, I promised your friend that I'd get to the bottom of this. And that promise extends to you, too. If you'll accept me butting in, I'll help."

<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.

Rebecca watches Redi for any signs of deceit - or possession as it might be, after all - she wants to believe she's on the level but all this weird ghost stuff is... spooky!
 
People are supposed to die when they are killed.
 
But as Redi talks she doesn't get that sense from her, instead nodding to her. "I getcha." She says of her not meaning to lie about it, "And I appreciate it, yeah."
 
Dean talks about Xander and Riley and Rebecca isn't surprised that he shows compassion towards their situation - she doesn't think it's gonna be quite that simple anymore, but it makes sense to her too.
 
Avril offers waiting until she's ready, and she nods, "Well we did kind of ambush you - so yeah. It feels only right to give you that chance to - get your head on straight first."
 
But Redi had said she was willing, so she decides to just follow up after Kaguya ends up talking on it on 'accepting her butting in' and Rebecca mutters, "Might as well ask if she accepts that natural disasters are just passing through." Because Kaguya's gonna Kaguya, accept it or not.
 
"But... just like Dean - I want to hear your side about it, what you can." Rebecca decides to ask to something hard, first. It may not be the kindest approach - but it might be the easiest way to assess if they could potentially have... problems going forward in this conversation, "She told us you were - confused when you first came back. Said horrible things. Do you remember any of that?"
 
A beat.
 
"She also said there were folks in town noting the attack by the Spectres like it was some - experiment. We suspect they were Veruni, given... you know."
 
A gesture with a hand because well... it's pretty obvious why they think that given how they all met.

<Pose Tracker> Redi Hayworth has posed.

"Yeah, they... know about it. They came along... that's probably why. Since they've had something like that happen," Redi says. "Even if it winded up being different than expected."

She frowns for a second, but she doesn't elaborate yet. She looks at Avril, and Redi hesitates again -- there's a look around -- but then she considers that Rebecca bought the silence of the one person working right now. "Here's fine. I'll... try."

She looks at Kaguya -- then she hesitates. "I... don't--um. I don't know," she says. "I don't... even know about this magic and this sort of thing. It was some ghost monster, but... that's all I know."

It's not quite an acceptance or a rejection of her offer -- but Redi, really, isn't sure yet.

She looks tense, Rebecca can see. And, for that matter, she is a little younger than them -- nineteen, maybe twenty (or, technically speaking, much less) -- and has the look of someone trying to not panic. If it is an act, it's a good one.

But, a specter might be a very good actress indeed.

"So..." Back to Dean's question, it seems. "A few months ago, there was an attack on Hilton. I thought I was hurt in it, by those specters. I... blacked out back then."

She frowns. "I woke up in Aquvy, in a ruin with one of those Elw teleporters. My memories were all jumbled after the attack, but I thought it was the trauma."

She hesitates. "And I was cursed--or, at least, I thought I was." Redi holds a hand out, making a little violet and crimson flame dance on her palm.

They probably remember that.

"It took awhile for me to get back to Ignas. I went to Nede, first," she says. "With Yulie, then we met up with our friend Hicalu, after we got there. And then with Riley and Xander, we went to Hilton. It didn't go so great. And then it winds up..."

She glances down. "...I guess I got the re--the previous Redi's memories," she says. "And if I am a ghost, it explains the gaps in my memory, the curse, and everything else. I don't... remember any of the stuff I did before I..."

She swallows. She can't quite say it aloud. "...you know, after the attack, when she... died." She swallows. "And before I woke up on Aquvy."

She looks at Rebecca, again, and she stays quiet at first. Redi swallows, then shakes her head. "I... I don't remember at all. But... I don't think I said terrible things," she says. Her voice is quieter. "I think I did them. Mom had an... eyepatch on. When I came back to Hilton and she t-told me..."

That she wasn't her daughter.

Her voices catches and she breaks eye contact. 'You don't have to say it,' Yulie told her, once.

She squeezes her eyes shut and tries to remember that. Her eyes open again, but then, she blinks -- it takes a second for that other thing she said to register.

"People were... taking notes on the attack?" Redi asks, her voice quiet. Hoarse, even. "...They were Veruni?"

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    Avril and Rebecca point out that Redi might need some time after they ambushed them, and Dean grimaces as he winks one eye shut. "Ooh, yeah, that's a good point. You don't *have* to answer right this second." But Kaguya inputs about them having promised to get to the bottom of this, and he nods firmly. "Yeah, that's right. Even if we talk later, we definitely want to help find out the truth."
    
    Rebecca mutters about Kaguya being equivalent to a natural disaster, and Dean laughs a little. That humor fades as she goes on about what all they heard from Clara about what happened with Redi in a little more detail. And...
    
    Redi decides that here and now is fine. She tells them her story--shows them her flame. She talks about meeting up with her various friends--and Dean remembers how Hicalu might be cursed or something, too. It was something he overheard and caught a glimpse of in one fight or another, but these things are chaotic, and he doesn't remember that well. Technically speaking, he's never properly met Hicalu, though to Dean this doesn't generally matter. But if he is, well... Yulie's not cursed, he doesn't think, but it'd made sense for a former Etone to try to help a bunch of people struggling with curses, in his opinion. Or... something similar to curses.
    
    It's clearly hard for Redi to talk about. The part about her mother... "It's okay. Clara passed that part along already," Dean reassures her quietly. He did tell Redi they wanted to hear her side of the story--but there's no point in making her repeat something they already know. Something that's clearly hurting her.
    
    But then, they get to the end. "We think so, yeah," he replies of the Veruni observers. "We don't know what they were after, but... like Rebecca said, it'd explain why they targeted you that one time, right?"

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    Here is fine, Redi affirms, and Avril nods as if to say she understands.

    "Yes," she says, glancing sidelong at Rebecca. "We had hoped to learn more about your circumstances, first, but..."

    But perhaps their plan might have needed a little more tact from the start. Though, that might have been the case however they approached it-- perhaps there was no 'good' approach?

    She had considered bringing up her own circumstances -- about how shocking it had been to learn who she really was. But at the same time, this would be like comparing apples to oranges: better the example Dean had made of Xander and Riley's circumstances. There might be shock in her having learned who she was and what she's done, but that can't truly be compared to the things Redi is grappling with.

    And so on this particular facet, Avril remains mum as Rebecca explains more about what they had heard from Clara.

    "Yes," she says at last. "It sounds as if you were not the only one who was attacked. And it seems that there were others there as well. We cannot confirm that they were Veruni, but the circumstances suggest they may have been," Avril concludes, glancing around their little group.

    Redi says that she will try. "That is all we can ask of you," she says. And then she explains what she knows -- what she can remember. And in full, for the first time, the full series of events of what happened: from the attack, the gap following, and all the way up to her return to Hilton.

    It's the crack in Redi's voice that does it. "Redi, I am so sorry," Avril says, reaching out a hand that hovers near to the other girl's shoulder, as if uncertain if it would be best to proceed. "Clara... had told us," she says, keeping her attention fixed on Redi. "If it is the same, then you need not..."

    It's much the same sentiment that Dean expresses. She trails off. Her hand remains there, as if she were frozen in space.

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya hears Rebecca's mutter. She peers over at her sidelong. "Hmmmmmm."

She's not going to say she's pleased to hear it. ...Not under these circumstances, especially.

Her expression flattens when the Veruni come up again.

Kaguya, for her part, is technically about a hundred and forty. But that's not important right now. She believes Redi; she doesn't think she's just a specter.

"Yulie and Hicalu are cool people," Kaguya nods along.

The 're--' Redi. Kaguya frowns sympathetically. The flame doesn't faze her, though. SHe does remember it. And she's seen a lot of horrors.

"...Clara said she felt bad," Kaguya offers, in case that helps. But the rest... she looks to Avril. Avril, at least, can comfort her better. Kaguya waits, for a moment, before--

"We're pretty sure it's the Veruni," she echoes. "It would explain a few things, yeah. So that's why..."

"If my people hurt you and your village, I'm going to do something about it. You're a person, one way or another. I believe that." There's no 'if she's wrong.' "...We're going into Veruni territory eventually," Kaguya says. "If I find any records, or information..."

"I'll tell you what I can."

<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.

Rebecca meets Kaguya's gaze in that moment, not speaking but perhaps implying 'What do you want me to say?' She's not taking it back at least, not to someone who called herself the 'Damsel of Disaster'.

Redi tells her side and Rebecca this long look, then nods when she describes what happens, breaking eye contact. She makes a gesture of raking her fingers through the side of her hair, "Yeah it's fine." She agrees with Dean, but can't quite meet her eyes for a bit after, like it's her fault for that, even if needed to be done. "... I'm sorry too." She finally says, after Avril.
 
Indeed, they all think it was the Veruni by - just the cause and effect. It feels likely, letting the others take over on that part.
 
Especially Kaguya, "Yeah I figure if they're willing to divert from hunting Avril for you - that says nothing good about what they think would happen if they got you."
 
Eventually she eyes Redi again, then - she decides to ask another question. "So are you still... employed? Your friend kind of made it sound like you were like - reported dead?" She pauses for a moment, "Are you doing it because it's your job or..."
 
She doesn't say it, but perhaps it's easy enough to guess.
 
'Because you don't know what else to do.'

<Pose Tracker> Redi Hayworth has posed.

"Ah, yeah... thanks," Redi tells Dean, in regards for what Clara already tell them. A little tension leaves her shoulders, and she looks between them.

She looks down, still shaken -- then she blinks, when she feels the hand on her shoulder. It didn't quite register, at first. She looks up.

She manages a smile, then. "...Thanks," she says. She looks back at Kaguya -- Redi's eyes blink, once. "She... did? I-I wasn't sure. She panicked, when I saw her last time, and..."

And then it all went worse.

She looks at Rebecca, then, and she shakes her head. "It's... all right. I mean, I get it, you... had to find out," she says. "And, um, I... I know it's gonna happen again. Thanks for understanding."

She quiets down.

"Yeah," Redi says to Dean, regarding the Veruni. "It would. And... and thanks, for coming to help me then." Her voice quiet for a moment. "I just--I had no idea. I thought it was... just one of those random, horrible things that happens, sometimes."

The questions it raises, though, make her brow furrow already. "If others were attacked, too..." What Avril said earlier. "...Then it's more than just me."

She hesitates, before she looks at Kaguya. Redi weighs it in her mind, for a moment. "I... I have to find out. I mean--not that I don't want you to look and help. But..." She looks down again.

"...There's someone I owe it to," she says. "A few someones, but her especially."

Redi pauses, then, at Rebecca's question. She scratches at the back of her head. "Before I came back to Hilton, I just... thought I'd keep doing it and clear things up when I got back. Now..." She looks at the letters. "...I'm not sure. It was a really good job."

Then she sighs. "And the mail is really important, you know!"

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    Rebecca makes a good point about the Veruni being willing to hunt Redi over Avril. "Oh geez, I didn't even think of that," Dean utters, eyes going wide. He glances at Avril--better that she talk about that stuff herself... especially since she looks distraught, that hand hovering frozen partway to Redi. It seems like Redi welcomes the touch, though, and Dean offers them both a smile.
    
    "You don't need to thank us for that. It's natural to help people who need help," he reassures Redi. "Still, you're welcome."
    
    He blinks when she says there's someone she owes it to to find out the truth. "You mean someone besides Clara?" he wonders. If she meant Clara, she'd just say she meant Clara, right?
    
    "The mail *is* important. If you don't know what's going on with yourself, you may as well deliver mail!" he adds. This apparently makes perfectly sound logic to him.
    
    He nods to Kaguya. "Yeah. We've got a lot of things we're doing. What's one more?" He crooks a smile. "If we're heading into Veruni territory anyway, we may as well!"
    
    He looks back at Redi and rubs a finger under his nose. "So what're you gonna do for now? You've been traveling around with Yulie, right? D'you two have a plan you're working on?"

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    Her hand lingers there for a long moment before she finally dares make contact with Redi. It only stays as long as feels appropriate: a fleeting instant under the rising sun.

    "You had told me about what had happened with Yue and Amaterasu's attack," she says, looking over at her friends. "And it is true: they must know that I am in the area with all of you, but not once have they come after me, only Redi." Her gaze turns towards Redi, and she explains, her expression rueful, "I am the long-lost queen of the Veruni, though I recall it not. My memories were damaged or lost upon my reawakening to this era," she explains gravely, a tale that would seem an absurdity without all the context that ought come along for the ride with it, and yet...

    "They seek me to use me as figurehead," she explains. "I have resisted their attempts to apprehend me and return me to my throne thus far." And now they have begun to instead make their move and see if they can't turn the tables, rather than wait for the Veruni to force the situation for them.

    "She did," Avril affirms, joining in with Kaguya's statement about Clara. She had. "She wanted to say that she was sorry, too. It sounded as if you had saved her, when you were both attacked. I do not believe she has forgotten that. And I do not believe she thinks ill of you." What had happened between Redi and her mother was terrible, if understandable in its own way, but that did not mean that...

    It didn't mean that all her old relationships had to be peeled away and cast upon the wind. Perhaps, when all was settled, she could someday meet and talk with Clara again. ...Perhaps.

    "Yes," she says, when Kaguya speaks of their ultimate plans. "There is much we must do. If they have been the cause of what happened in Hilton, or are in any way connected... then I promise you that we will uncover what we can."

    She nods. "Yes. Though the others did not survive as you did, it seems. Which is not to say that the same could not have occured elsewhere," she adds, frowning. "If the Veruni have anything to do with what has happened, then," she pauses here, thinking back to what everyone had said the last time. "...Then we must put an end to it," she says in the end, her expression grim.

    But even this too solid flesh must melt on its own way: Avril's expression softens and she again reaches towards Redi but this is not a hand to console but a hand extended in anticipation of another's grasp. The catalyst is a simple one: Dean speaks of what Redi will do now -- of who she'll travel with. And Rebecca asks Redi about her current job. What does Redi have here? What does Redi want? And if she is going to travel again, then...?

    "We are happy to investigate on your behalf. Yet, this matter is your own as well, Redi. Might you not come with us? More hands working together make for lighter work," she says, gazing into Redi's pale eyes.

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

It was Distress! ...She might've said Disaster too, though. It's like her.

Diverting from Avril is notable, though. The question of the mail, too, is a good one. But before that...

"Yeah, she obviously felt bad. Conflicted. She isn't sure what's what."

She decides not to mention that they left flowers on Redi's grave.

"We do," Kaguya says, need to find out.

A random, horrible thing... "Most of those aren't so random," Kaguya says. "It sucks, but... there's a lot of people who do them on purpose. For their own reasons. They always seem like good reasons in the moment, too... But there's nothing that justifies them, in the end."

She shakes her head.

"Someone she owes it to...

Kaguya does not talk about the mail, though she smiles when Redi says it's important, her first smile in this. IT's the sort of smile she'd call someone a dork with.

INstead, she looks to Avril, and nods.

SHe adds nothing to it. Instead, she adds her silent resolution to Avril's invitation, watching Redi with a quiet expression.

<Pose Tracker> Redi Hayworth has posed.

At first, Redi doesn't answer Dean's question. It might seem like she is avoiding it -- and she is, to an extent. It is hard to say aloud. She looks back at him.

The talk about the mail being important makes her smile. "The... other Redi," she says, a little quieter. "The other me. I have her memories, but... I'm not her, either."

Then, there is the question of what Yulie and her have been doing -- about whether there is a plan. "Not much of a plan, no," she says. "I... didn't take it too well. Yulie's been trying to keep me distracted. And Hicalu, too... there's something I promised I'd help him with."

Redi looks back at Avril. Her eyes widen a little -- and then a lot. "The... long lost queen of the Veruni?" she asks. "I-I did think you had a kind of regal bearing, but... like a saying..." She trails off, then she smiles. "...Well, that can't happen. It wouldn't be right to use you like that."

She hesitates, though. If they came for her, over Avril, then... she must be a priority.

She looks down, when Kaguya speaks about many such events not being random. "...yeah," she says. "I have to find out the truth, then."

She looks up at Avril -- then down at her hand. Redi smiles, before she takes her hand and shakes it. "I'll come with, if you'll have me."