[ May 17, 2091. It's been a busy day here in Red New York City. The current time is early evening and the velvet blue darkness of night is being held at bay by the (proverbial) neon of places of entertainment. ] [ One such place is Laser-Momo's, a place well-familiar to many of the people in this merry band. Having been assured by Mad Hettie that she would oversee the safety and reconstruction of Box City and its citizens, the plan was to retreat to a safe space and discuss the happenings of the day so far. ] [ Unlike Kat and company's visit two nights ago, the place is packed to the gills. Lights flash, and the bass beat of a Mexicali-Scottish fusion techno rave thumps into your heads and your chest cavities. Valerie is the only one to usher you in, with a smile and a wave; her compatriot is apparently detained elsewhere, and even Momo is too busy to do more than wave one arm your way as you enter. ] [ So many questions to be answered and decisions to be made. Such as, for example, where to sit. Game start! ] * Zak looks at the crowd. "Bumpin' soundgrind... almost no place to park." Yeah. Wanna go up? * Katherine rolls her eyes. She's still in suit, helmet at her side. She looks at the group and then says to Roch, "Yeah. Find a seat. I'm going to get out of this metal." * Zak shrugs. "If we gotta. Sound makes it hard to think, which is kinda nice." * Rochelle nods and heads upstairs. She knows this place intimately, for some reason; she can probably find a relatively empty nook. * Katherine glances to Yue and then Xavier, before replynig to Zak with, "You're just gonna drink anyway," and heading off to talk to Momo and get out of her suit. * Yue brings up the rear, and doesn't look particularly adjusted to busy clubs. She is an adult, though, so she doesn't engage in whining and instead tunes the camaraderie of the place out of her head as she glances behind. * Zak shouts over the crowd at Kat. "YEAH, LIKE YOU WON'T?" He sulkily follows Roch. (Sorry, was cleaning up after dinner.) (It's fine. Had enough time for Zak to get all pouty at Kat. :D) ( :| ) [ Xavier looks... remarkably placid, all things considered. He follows behind Rochelle, apparently confident in her ability to find a table. ] * Rochelle ascends to the fourth floor, which unlike floors 1-3 is not a bumping and grinding mess of people. There's still music and a bar, but it's considerably less busy. (Phone!) (Dammit, now all the people who want to talk to Xavier are gone!) (What were we thinking!) * Zak follows Roch! When they reach floor 4, he flings himself into an empty booth and thunks his head against the wall. "Space Jesus, what a day that was." (Back.) [ Arriving on the fourth floor does actually get Xavier to walk off in a random direction; he steps over to an empty table and pauses, running his fingertips across the tabletop, before he turns and espies Zak sitting down and follows, having a seat himself. "Things have been... busy," he agrees. ] * Rochelle doesn't respond to either of them in specific, instead asking more generally, "Want a drink?" (if you make me do more bartending i will seriously shiv you) (Nah. Roch is going to go off and get them their drinks specifically to avoid you doing more bartending.) (... but then all the people who want to talk to Xavier are gone!) (Then finish taking off your damn suit and get up here!) (instead of talking like this doesn't concern you!) (I'm working on it!) * Zak holds up three fingers. "Triple-tall Midnight Rambler on the rocks, extra Roch-twist." He's clearly learned something about his sister's bartending. * Yue eyes Xavier's behavior for a moment, before moving towards the bar. Sorry, Rooks, someone is going to sit outside of the table. It presumably isn't far away from the table, though. (The fourth floor of Momos is not... large. I'm sure Yue can participate from a distance.) (The better to sneak up on the oncoming combat from.) (Yeah.) * Rochelle nods. She looks to Xavier. [ He turns to Roch for a moment, then shakes his head. "Water, I think. My head's... sort of messed up enough right now as-is." ] Okay. * Zak looks over to Xavier. "No trojan, man. That really you in there, pajama-boy?" * Rochelle walks off to get drinks, calmly ignoring Yue on the way. (Very friendly.) (I so am!) (It is Roch.) (Hey, she CALMLY ignores her! That is a vast, vast difference.) (Yue's not hawking nail polish.) (Rochelle not being calm about anything would be very weird.) [ Xavier leans back in the booth, resting his head against the seat and looking up at the ceiling, before turning his head toward Zak. "That..." He sighs. "I don't really know." ] .... trippy, dawg. How do you not know if you're you or someone else? * Katherine comes up to the table as Zak says that, having successfully ditched her suit, but not her guns. That'd be incredibly silly. She tosses her satchel into the other side of the booth, then thunks down across from Xavier and gives Zak a look. "You'd be surprised." [ There's a brief second as X looks over at Yue, before turning to Zak and opening his mouth to reply. He's cut off by Kat, who gets an even look from him, mouth closing. ] (So right now, Kat's sitting next to Zak and across from Xavier?) * Yue is definitely taking some amounts of side looks, so the look gets returned to the X. She looks pretty passive, all in all, which might be a good thing. (No, Zak is next to Xavier and both across from Kat.) (Okay, where Xavier sat wasn't too specific, so I just assumed across, since booths tend to fill that way. ^^) (At least, that's what I got from 'turning his head towards Zak.') (Kat | empty [table] X | Zak was my guess) (Don't look at me, I sat down first) (I'm awesome!) (This is why bar = advantage. Everyone is in a line!) * Katherine glances to Yue for a moment, but her eyes come back to Xavier. After a moment, she gives a weak smile and says, "Well, you're not all there. I can still think straight." * Katherine then side-glances to Yue again and mutters, "... mostly." * Yue has the faintest quirking of eyebrows at that, but pays it little mind. (The voices in my head want to kill you. Ssh.) [ Xavier leans forward, folding his hands on the table. His eyes get heavy-lidded for a moment, until he finally clears his throat. "Zak, let me ask you this." He turns his head again, glancing at the Krogstad sibling. "What is it that makes you... you?" ] (I AM THE VERY MODEL OF A TC INDIVIDUAL, MY PSYCHE HAS BEEN TRAINED ON ACTS BOTH PSYCHOTIC AND VISCERAL) (ATC the Musical 2: Electric Boogaloo) (Aw yeah.) (*dies*) * Zak cranes his neck for his sister... no luck. He'll have to answer this one sober. "Uh... I guess. I mean, I think like me. And I talk like me. Nobody else talks like me." (That... is true.) * Katherine rolls her eyes and says in a staccato fashion, "Skills. Powers. Family. Experience." (Bad Kat! No cribbing off your wiki page) (*snort*) * Rochelle returns now, drinks in hands. She sets them on the booth table and divvies them up: a glass of water for Xavier, a very tall glass of deep blue liquid with a cloudy swirl and ice stacked high for Zak, and a light green drink in a much more standard glass for herself. She sits next to Kat and has a sip. * Rochelle glances at Yue as she does so, and her gaze lingers for a moment, before sets her glass down and starts picking at her nails. [ A faint smile at both of those, though Xavier's now-blue eyes dart to Kat briefly at the mention of 'family'. "I can say I'm... 'pajama-boy'... because all the things that made Threnody are... well, in my head." ] * Zak takes a sip of his drink, and grins. "Tres spastic, Professor X. You back for good, then?" * Katherine moves over for Roch, meeting Xavier's eyes for that moment. * Yue seems to be thinking from the stem of the question as well. Perhaps as a way to idly jog the mind in downtime. * Rochelle stops picking at her nails, instead opening her satchel and pulling out a datapad. She taps at it, putting in information. [ After a weighty pause, and indeed meeting Kat's gaze unflinchingly, Xavier lets his head fall and looks at the table. "That depends on... you guys, I think." ] * Rochelle stops mid-tap and looks at Xavier. "Why?" * Katherine frowns a little and says, "You got some insight? Last few days have been pretty blind." [ Again, his head is tilted back, and eyes are closed; head turned to the ceiling, Xavier exhales sharply before bringing his head level again and speaking. "His... Xavier's... 24 power. I know a bit about it, but I can't really explain it. He can make it so that what makes him... 'him'... is... flexible." A pause, and a look of concentration before he turns to Kat. "The... sniper rifle. You saw him do it." ] * Rochelle blinks, thinking about that, then goes back to tapping away at her datapad. * Zak chugs his drink, shuddering as the nitro kicks in. * Rochelle has another sip of her drink, while she's at it. * Yue is more called to attention at that last moment, but she still plays it cool. * Katherine squints a moment, then, "Wait... so he just... soaks up other people and thoughts?" Sympathy? [ A shake of the head. "No. It's not telepathy... I'd recognize how that feels. But for a second, there's a... connection. He and something else... the line between what 'he' is and 'it' is blurs." He pauses, then nods. "Sympathy... well, that's as good a word for it as anyway. A kind of hyper-accelerated empathy." ] * Zak blinks. Then he pokes at Xavier's hand. That could be rough. [ Xavier makes a 'tch!' sound of surprise and pulls his hand back, looking at Zak with one raised eyebrow. ] * Zak grins. "Seems solid enough to me, grok?" * Katherine glares at Zak, then rubs her temple as she says, "Well, if that's what Platina wanted him to soak up... so why's it up to us? He can't let you go?" [ For a moment, Xavier doesn't respond. Eventually, however, he fixes his gaze on everyone, in turn: Kat, Zak, even Yue... the last person he looks at, however, is Rochelle, and he asks in a clear but sad-sounding voice: "What do you think happens, when you die?" ] * Rochelle stops at her tapping, and she just looks at Xavier. She opens her mouth for a moment, then closes it and shakes her head. * Katherine frowns as she glances to Roch for a then smiles wanly as she looks back to Thren and murmurs, "Finally get a good night's sleep." * Zak looks up at the ceiling. "I used ta think we vanished. Guess that's far inval, uh?" * Rochelle slides her datapad to the center of the table, face up. Yue is too far away to read it (unless she gets a good vantage point and has super vision or something), but the others can. She stands. "I need to go," she says, and then walks off. Probably for the bathroom. (for a moment, then) * Yue tilts her head and answers that question for herself in her head, then watches Roch go. * Katherine looks off after Roch for a second before looking down to the pad, musing with a faint smirk as she looks, "She's not drunk enough for feelings." [ Xavier is too distracted to read the tablet; he looks at Rochelle leaving and his face is very clearly filled with guilt, but he forges on in a somewhat tight voice regardless. "My memories are fuzzy. There's... black. And then fragments of things, starting with when Xavier picked up my... stone. But there's one key thing." ] [ Now he turns to Kat. "'She' is gone." The 's are audible. "And the voices. All of that. The *memory* of it is there, is pure, but I don't feel it. Not anymore." ] (Before I respond to that, what's pad with the saying?) (Getting to that.) * Rochelle 's datapad says the following: "auras gold me kat zak x" Next line: "yu is green turns gold slow" Next line: "thren dims x gold" * Zak just looks confused. Good old loveable Zak. * Katherine squints at it a moment, then looks back at Thren and says quietly, "I figured. Like I said. I can almost think straight. Which means I'm not fightin' yours too." * Katherine chuckles weakly. "Figured death'd cure it back then. Good to know for sure." (Give me just a sec.) (Also: *shakes Yue until RP falls out*) (Don't scramble her!) (Don't hate on me. :( ) (Just be glad it's not a session with just Rochelle and Yue.) ("..." "..." "..." "..." "... yeah?" "Yeah." "Kay.") (AWESOME.) (It'd be epic.) (Maybe Roch can paint Yue's toenails.) (I am the expert at painting nails, this is true.) (If we stretch out the parenthetical statements much longer Todd will kill us all in our sleep) (Shuriken fly into everybody.) (He said he wanted us to wait.) (So now the parentheseseses.) [ For a second, Xavier's gaze goes toward the now-gone Rochelle, and he gives a little sigh. "My point is that this is... a mistake. I don't know how it happened. It's not SUPPOSED to have happened. I don't know why, or even what's going on. Xavier doesn't either." And at this point, he turns to Yue, the unknown element (from his POV). ] * Yue lets out a brief noise and wheels around on her bar stool, and slowly remarks to the table, "So I gather... this friend of yours ... Thren ... has misplaced his body, or somesuch." * Katherine looks over at Yue and says flatly, "Death does that, yes. I know where it is, but that has nothin' to do with anything." ... we don't have to go GET it, do we? * Yue pauses, and goes, "Oh." She tilts her head slowly. "And this Xavier is also an acquaintance?" (Zak's hilarious, Zombie!Thren!) (, -> .) (IT IS A LEGITIMATE QUESTION) * Katherine snorts and says, "More a mission, but he's got a body. Sharing." [ That gets a faint smirk out of Xavier. "Xavier is me. Er, 'him'." He pauses, then sighs. "*This body* is Xavier's. I'm an... uninvited guest." ] * Zak takes another gulp of his drink. "Man, I hope we don't have to go get it, because his mom would be mad, and she is TRES ULTRA SKEEZIX. Scares the Space Jesus right out of a dude..." (Says the future Europope.) (She's a god, she's allowed to be scary.) We'll live. Well, maybe you won't. * Katherine then looks directly at Yue. "What are you getting at?" [ Only Yue -- who Xavier is facing -- can see him squint his eyes shut *tight* at Kat and Zak's exchange. ] * Yue looks directly at Kat, although the eyes clenching does get some attention from her, and remarks, "Curious. It isn't too easy piecing history from your talk." That's because there's a lot of it. (Please forgive me if Xavier talks a little slow but I'm doing a lot of things at once right now.) (but you know, people can like... talk to each other e_ea) * Katherine chuckles for a moment, before saying, "Just met you today. Usually takes a while." She frowns a touvch and adds, "We might have a while. Dunno what Roch's new color code is." * Zak looks around. "We know where she went? She's been kinda tweaked lately, 'm worried about her." He drains his drink. * Yue raises her eyebrows again and glances at the bathroom. "Trouble?" * Katherine then sighs and says to Zak, "You can go crawling through bathrooms to find her. She sure ain't dancing." * Zak scowls at Kat. "ONE TIME you catch me, and you gotta keep bringing it up." * Katherine snorts and glares at Zak in return, saying, "You gonna go? Or you gonna keep stepping in it?" [ Xavier shakes his head. "Let her go. I unsettled her." A pause, and he looks at Zak. "You in particular should know why that question bothered her." ] Yeah, I know. Part of why I'm worried. [ "Finding out I can't stay like this is going to be even more rough on her." ] * Katherine snorts and looks off to the side for a moment. "Yeah, rough on her." (You're going to get to experience that death thing first hand if you keep this up, Kat.) * Yue blinks, and turns around back towards the bar and her... oh, she didn't order. Haw. She puts her hand on her forehead for a moment. (It's Kat.) (Kat's a bitch!) (She's angry at things!) (AND A BITCH) (Fuck if I can't play it right with one character in my entire damn life.) (STOP ANGRY BE) (I EAT HAT) * Katherine looks down at the tablet a moment, scratching her cheek with her claw. After a moment, she says, "Don't think you'll have to explain it, Thren." * Katherine points a claw at 'dims'. "Think she picked it up. She does that, you know." [ After a second, Xavier gets out and lets Zak out of the booth. "Go get her," he says calmly. "There's..." He pauses, then sighs. "Just go get her." ] (I am confident in Zak's ability to yank Roch here.) * Zak nods, and leaves the booth! (Do you want another channel for Zak charging into the women's bathroom?) (Fake being drunk!) (HA ha ha. no, do it in here for log sake unless you plan to have a LONG EXTENDED DISCUSSION in there) (Ha, okay!) * Zak espies Roch, and employs a Scorpion-like grappling spike to lure her back! "C'MERE!" * Yue stares towards Zak and questions, "Is he... quite serious?" (Wait, oops) (Not how this works.) (*laughs*) (HA.) * Katherine doesn't say anything as Zak leaves, pulling her claw back from the pad after he sits down/has looked. She does say to Yue, "He's a self-unaware jackass. He's perfect for it." Maybe he'll get a phone number. * Zak walks towards the women's restroom. As he goes, either the alcohol hits him suddenly or he takes Kat's parenthetical advice, since he starts to stagger slightly and lists to one side. He slows up slightly as he nears the door, but picks up enough speed to bust it open fast enough to catch anyone on the other side unawares. "HEY, ROCH, YOU IN HERE?" he bellows. * Yue blinks. Pause. Blink blink. "Whatever." (Yue entering Squall Mode...) [ Xavier sinks back into the booth, then sits and leans forward on the table. "I should be happy, shouldn't I? Back from the dead." ] * Rochelle peeks her head around one of the stall doors after a moment, and fortunately (or unfortunately?) for Zak, she seems to be the only one besides him there. "You're in the women's bathroom," she points out. * Katherine looks back at him, then says, quietly, "Why?" She then adds, quickly, "What's happy got to do with anything, Thren?" * Zak looks around. "Not the first time. Still disappointed there's no free candy. C'mon, sis, you gotta get back out there." * Katherine rubs her face and adds, "Probably feel guilty about X. You would." [ That statement gets an almost disgusted sigh out of Xavier. "I forget, you've never been happy about *anything*, have you?" ] Why? (This is awesome, it's like the greatest ATC2 arguments reprise tour) * Rochelle seems to follow Zak's advice, though, as she goes to wash her hands. * Katherine glares at him and says, "Few things, Thren. Been happy about a few things." (Hahaha.) Cause you're part of it? More than I am, though Hettie convinced me we're all part of it. * Katherine leans back and then adds, "Moments, you know. Happy in the long term? Why? What'cha gonna do? Go see your mom? Write a book?" * Zak stands behind Roch as she faces the mirror. "You ought to know that, too." [ "Find a few more," Xavier says calmly. "Death made one thing absolutely clear: there are no second chances. We both know this is... a fluke. Some extremely strange thi--" ] [ That stops Xavier in his tracks, before he stares at Kat and says, quietly, "You really don't know, do you? How this ends." ] * Katherine looks back at him, into his eyes, and says intently, "Well, I thought I was gonna be the one dying. Not really good at seeing the future, am I?" * Rochelle looks in the mirror, so she's looking at Zak. She doesn't say anything, though, instead washing the suds off and then drying her hands. She looks at her nails for a moment before turning her gaze to Zak - for reals, not in the mirror. Do you think... * Katherine sighs and finishes, softly, "Moments, Thren. Those I can manage." (More, Roch?) [ A significant pause, and then Xavier shakes his head. "Find more moments, then. Death... you know, *right now*, I'm thinking more clearly than I ever did in my own body. But that's beside the point. Am I a 'soul'? What makes me, 'me'? What makes Xavier the person he is? This is nothing but *coincidences*. In real life there are no second chances after death, Kat." ] * Rochelle collects her thoughts, then repeats, "Do you think what I did was right?" (I was about to say, how would i know, but then again I saw it.) (Then again you did, and from her vantage point as well as Kat's!) * Katherine looks back into his eyes and replies, "There's no second chances in real life too, Thren. All it takes is one good mistake." She throws up her hands. "Fuck. You hated it when I drank, I stopped drinking. Mostly. Never mattered. Most sane one of us I ever met, and you're the one who ends up dead." * Yue starts to mentally tune out. This is pretty personal stuff. The wall ornaments and the line of drinks can keep her occupied instead. * Katherine then squints her eyes slightly in pain, hand to her temple. [ After a long-ish pause, Xavier says: "Twice." ] * Katherine looks back to him. "Twice?" [ In response, Xavier just looks at her intently. He doesn't say anything more. ] * Zak rubs his spiky hair with one hand. Ice chips fly off it. "I dunno, Roch. They were brothers. You know more about fate than I ever will.... but I know a blood feud when I see one. Don't know if that squares it kosher with karma, but pajama-boy'd never have forgiven you." * Katherine looks back at him, then reaches over with her claw and grips his clothing. "Dammit, Thren, I don't think we have time for cryptic." There's a hell of a lot on my mind right now. Help me the fuck out, here. * Rochelle nods, thinking about what Zak said, then walks past him and pushes the door open, heading for the booth once more. [ Lowering his head, Xavier simply says: "The dead should stay dead, Kat. So they're going to." ] * Zak follows Roch, bumping into a girl on the way into the bathroom as he does so. "Hey, chizzix, how you doin'? I'm the mayor of Twilight..." After she elbows past him, he shouts back at her, "Call my office tomorrow, they got my cell number!" * Katherine is silent a moment, then says quietly, "Doesn't really give you a reason to be happy, Threnody." (Haha.) (I love Zak. :D) (Oh, Zak. You are the fan favorite of this season of the ATC show.) (See, that's our Zak.) (That's Our Zak would be the title of his sitcom.) (WOO SITCOM) (Also woo fan favorite.) * Zak stops at the bar for a refill, so Roch will get there first. * Rochelle approaches the table and sits next to Kat again. She's looking... well, blank. [ Xavier opens his mouth to say something, then stops when Rochelle arrives. Zak hasn't shown yet, so this is his chance to get up and out of the booth. He stands, looking at Kat and Roch for a moment, but saying nothing. ] * Katherine looks up at Roch, then scoots over to let her in before looking at Thren. After a moment, she asks, "How long?" * Rochelle blinks at him. "I just got back." She looks at Kat, then back to Xavier. ( I can't start a conversation! DON'T MAKE ME.) (AFK) * Zak sits down next to Yue, drink in hand, eyeing the people at the table. "We figured out what's goin' on yet?" (HA HA, ZAK ATTACK) (GO ZAK GO.) (SHE'S KINDA SEXY FOR A WETWORK ARTIST. WAIT THEY'RE ALWAYS SEXY.) * Yue lets out a brief noise as she watches Zak whirlwind his way out of the bathroom, and then looks more surprised that he's suddenly beside her. "... hello." You gotta start with hello. (Back, sorry. Something kind of big and heavy fell on Dre's head, and I had to make sure he was okay. x.x) (Yai.) * Zak waves with his free hand. "Don't think we've met." [ Xavier shrugs. "I don't know. I'm leaving, though." His eyes flicker to Zak for a moment, then Yue, then back to the table. "I could 'stay'. But that would mean Xavier would be asleep, or gone, or... whatever, for the rest of his life. I suppose if it was what you really wanted, I could do that. But none of you strike me as the type that would effectively kill someone to bring another back to life." ] (*sighs at the ding* What got cut off.) (Nope, you made it.) (You made it!) * Katherine manages a weak smile and says, "You've met me before, right?" * Rochelle ignores Kat and says, right after her question, "But I need to talk to you." * Katherine lets out a weak chuckle, having said that, and then a soft sigh. She looks to Roch a moment before squeezing her eyes shut. * Yue stares to Zak and tries to keep tabs on Xavier and Kat's conversation. "No. No, I don't think we have." [ That gets a curious glance at Roch from Xavier, mostly because it was not what he expected to hear. ] I'm Zak. Krogstad. Mayor of TC, I guess. For now. * Rochelle adds, and maybe this will work, "Please." * Katherine reopens her eyes a moment, then says quietly, "We're on a mission, Thren. It's not... like a swordarm would be amiss, or anyhting." * Yue dryly remarks with a sighy exhalation through the nose, "Lovely. Tell me what you do all day as mayor." ("Play Bejeweled the 64th".) (Zak likes Bookworm Adventures.) * Zak sips at his drink. "Try to keep the place from exploding in gunfire, mostly." (But he doesn't do well. Chillax is not in the booktionary.) (Are you kidding? I HATE that game! I spelled hyperquadrasleythinball and it didn't take the damn word.) * Rochelle stares at Kat for a moment, then stands and grabs Xavier by the arm, dragging him to another part of Laser-Momo's (assuming he lets her). It's just like what she's been doing for almost the entire campaign! (STUPID ROCH AND HER DRAGGING THREN AWAY) * Yue even goes with the 'ah'. She has a keen attention to detail. "Now I know who to blame for the rubbish job, then." (WOOT!) (NO WONDER I HATE YOU) (WELL I HATE YOU TOO) (HOORAY YOU CAN STAY AT MY HOUSE) (AWESUM) * Zak frowns. "Hey! It's been three months since the last incident. YOU try keeping a bunch of pseudo-anarchist slicks and sleeks in line." [ Xavier pauses, then lets himself be dragged along. ] * Katherine looks after them leaving, her ears twitching. After a few moments enough for them to get away that Thren won't scold her, she looks down at the table, then mutters to herself as she draws on the table idly with her claw, "Tryin' to keep him around, Roch so you can do whatever the fuck you two do. Thank you, Kat. You're welcome, Roch." (Someday Kat's going to get a bill for a floor's worth of tabletop formica.) (Ha ha ha.) * Yue stares back at Zak. Flat face. Few seconds' silence. "Lovely." * Zak scowls and turns back to his drink. "Space Jesus. Place is in all out state of warfare for twenty-odd years, nobody blinks a goddamn eye. Poor schlub steps up to try to fillax the cracks, suddenly it's his damn fault." He turns back to Yue and points his finger at her, using the hand holding the rather comically-sized drink. "You grok my text, sucrose, I'm gonna MAKE somethin' of the place." He sighs. "If only I could get that book done." (It's not a beer hall, but it's good enough for revolutionaries!) * Katherine gets over her drawing on the table after Zak's little monologue, shakes her head, and then looks over at the two of them. "So. Yue. What's it mean that you're the 'other one'?" (Maybe she'll tell Kat everything rather than deal with Zak! GOOD JOB ZAK.) (HUZZAH) (Wait QQ) (QQ less.) * Yue listens to the Zak Rant astonishingly patiently, but when Katherine addresses her, she puts her giant metal-coated hand up to Zak's pointed finger to set it gently down onto the counter. "Come again?" * Katherine says, "The guys. Brokkr. Eitri. Eitri said you were the 'other one'." You work against 'em before? Woulda been nice to know. (QUICK, someone shop the text "GROK MY TEXT, SUCROSE" onto a picture of Bogie) (We'll get it made on cafepress) (Ha.) (HA.) (I would buy it.) * Yue stares at Kat again, and then away. Then back at her again. "It would imply that I have associates, wouldn't it?" * Katherine shrugs. "Might." Been a lot of coincidences today. (One day, I am going to make a drug in the ATCverse that makes you actually say what you fucking mean. Whoever designs it will win the fucking Nobel prize for extreme awesomeness.) * Yue turns back towards the bar and says, "There you have it, then." (You mean... truth serum?) (Quit whining.) (I love this shit.) (NO.) (QUIT YOUR FUCKING WHINING.) (>:C) (YOU ARE NOT FISH SHE IS FISH) * Katherine snorts and says, "So what about those two?" * Yue tilts her head slightly and says, "Never engaged them before." * Katherine is silent a moment, then says, "Anything else you wanna fill me in on? Platina's people are coming for him tomorrow. Might be a good idea to know what the fuck we're doing." * Yue tilts her head again and offers, "If I find out, I will inform you." (http://img.4cham.net/a/atc/grokmytext.jpg) * Katherine grits her teeth a moment, then rubs her face. "Right, sure." (HA ha hahahaaaaaaaaa.) (That's great!) (Ahaha. Y'all can continue to kill time, the other channel may... take a bit. ._.) (If you need to bail for sleep we can pick it up next week.) (I feel horrible. :P) (I've run out of things I could have heard to pursue with Yue.) (Seriously, all we got is 'She's got a partner.') (I know who her partner is! Possibly. But I cheat.) * Katherine glances off after Roch and Thren again, then back to Yue. "Pretty nice hardware." * Yue rubs the back of her neck idly. She glances at Zak, more for her own sake. 'cause you can't tell when you keep your eyes off off a rambunctious. "Yes. Rather wish I brought my suit for this, though. No matter." [ Kat's phone rings. ] * Zak is drinking. And sulking. * Katherine starts, "If this gets longterm, I'm sure--" her phone rings! She reaches for it as she finishes, "--we can go get it." She looks at the caller before probably picking it up. There's only a handful of people she wouldn't answer, after all! [ It's not an actual phone call; it's a text message (or the future equivalent) from Platina. Short and to the point: Timetable adjusted. Arriving late this evening. Arrange site for pickup. - P ] * Katherine looks at it a moment, then mutters, "Fuck. She got in a hurry." Who, the metal lady? Yeah. * Katherine exhales upwards. "Need to pick a place to meet." * Zak rubs his head. "....package isn't really in condition, is it?" * Katherine shrugs. "No. No he's not." * Katherine looks over towards X and Roch. "And I'm sure they would love me bugging the two of them to say shit." She lets out a sigh. "I'll give them a few." * Yue lifts herself up and stares towards Kat. "Better now than never for that call, wouldn't you think?" She steps towards the bathroom, which everyone seems to be using for everything other than what bathrooms are built for. * Katherine looks after Yue for a moment, then to Zak and murmurs, "Fuckin' weirdos, Zak. Don't know why I do it." * Zak shrugs. "Seem to be born into it." * Yue gets into the stall and dials 140.85. (Yue. Turn off the IRC console.) [ It rings a bit, before someone picks up. "Go ahead, Rohay." Let's hear it for caller ID. ] * Katherine 's hand clenches, and she replies lowly, "Not funny. Not at the moment. Fucking space jesus, Zak." She exhales upwards. "Happiness. Hnh." * Yue responds quietly, "Talk to me more about DRAUPNIR's team." * Zak shrugs again. (Okay, I need to go to bed like an hour ago) (Invent an excuse to walk off camera? We'll be done shortly.) (No reason for Kat to talk to he.) (It's not a real problem, is it?) [ There's a moment of silence, before a different voice responds. "Not much data. Mercenaries, we think. Why?" ] * Zak spies a cute pair of girls walk up to the floor out of the corner of his eye. He talks to Kat without looking at her. "... be back later. Make sure sis is okay." And he wanders off. * Katherine glances over to him, then mutters, "Sure, Zak. What the fuck ever." She squeezes her eyes shut, and after a few moments says quietly, "Dammit, Thren." * Yue responds, "Some type of arrangement with Parker, the target and a meeting. Might be contact with them." [ "Stay with them." That response is immediate. "Have you learned anything new?" ] * Rochelle comes walking up the stairs not long after Zak runs off, Xavier in tow. Once again, she's dragging him... well, not quite dragging, but she is holding his hand and leading. Her eyes are bloodshot. [ Xavier looks... placid as ever. He glances at Kat when they arrive, noting the absence of Yue and Zak. "What's the next move?" ] * Yue remarks, "An individual and friend of Parker's unit seems to be present in the target, as I mentioned last report... 'Threnody', they called him." [ There is an audible "..." from the receiver at that. ] [ It is followed by: "You said 'IN'?" ] * Yue seems nonplussed by saying weird shit. That's just her for you. "Some type of personality splicing." * Katherine looks back between the both of them, noting Roch's eyes, then rubs her face and growls, "Platina changed the time. She wants Xavier tonight." [ "Maintain current status, then," the voice says after a delay. "Will advise. We need to do some research. HQ out." ] * Rochelle looks to Xavier at that, some worry showing. [ That does get a blink. "That doesn't make sense." ] * Yue snaps her phone shut and lets out a brief noise, before pulling up and out of the stall. She even flushes. Detail, again. She walks out to see Roch and X back. * Katherine replies, "Makes plenty of sense. She was lookin' nervous." [ "Not nervous enough to wait a day, though. What would make her change the timetable?" ] * Katherine exhales out through her nose, then looks to Yue, before back to X. "New players." * Rochelle turns her attention to Yue as well, and her expression goes to blank. She lets go of Xavier's hand, moving to the booth and getting her things. This entire thing's spinning out of her control, I think. Might mean she could tell us something. Or kill us all. * Katherine rubs her temple. "May not be happy, but it sure as fuck ain't boring." * Yue raises her eyebrows as she moves back to her stool. [ That settles for a bit, before Xavier finally says: "Well... where are we meeting her?" ] * Katherine replies, "Wanted to check with you first." She glances to Roch, then back to him. "You sticking around? Or... this gonna be it?" * Rochelle is back with them, stuff in order. She, too, looks to Xavier in askance. [ "It's not a question of if, it's a question of when," is all he says. ] * Katherine frowns and snaps, "It's a question of when for everyone. Is when now or not?" She exhales noisily through her nose. "Because if we're not really gonna hand you OVER, we've got a whole different problem. There's still noplace better than Box City or the run-down segments of town." (Oh god, I've thoroughly depressed myself listening to that song now, Ard.) (Sorry. I'm listening to it, too. x.x) [ Xavier shrugs, then glances at Yue. "I'm sorry you appear to have been dragged into all this, somehow." ] * Yue stares back towards Xavier for a while, and then replies, "It's my mission." [ A blink. He decides to ask the question, apparently: "What mission?" ] * Katherine looks over at Yue too for the question. She still looks annoyed and tense, unsurprisingly. * Yue pauses, and is put in an odd spot over the two. She maintains focus and remarks flatly, "It's confidential, still. Terribly sorry." [ That causes Xavier to turn to Kat with an expression of undisguised surprise. ] * Katherine looks back at Xavier and replies, annoyed, "_I_ am not a telepath, and _she_ does not like to fucking talk. I met her about two hours ago." Like I said. Spinning out of control. * Yue stares again towards Kat and remarks, "You have my rifle and my word. If you want more than that... that is your own issue." * Katherine glances to Yue, then back to Xavier. [ "Then what, if anything, does your mission have to do with us?" ] (Hm, running longer than expected. We'll wrap it up shortly.) * Yue goes for the cold sell and says, "Common targets. Better to have strength on hand than not." * Rochelle stares at Yue for a long moment, blank look for cold look, then just says, "Why don't we leave her." * Katherine replies, "Because she's right. We've worked with less stable people before, Roch, Thren, huh?" A faint smirk. * Katherine then mutters, "Fuck, we are less stable people." [ Xavier looks troubled, that's for sure. He doesn't exactly laugh at Kat's comment, or Yue's, but finally shrugs. "I suppose in the end you just have to trust in people." ] * Yue remarks impassively, looking out of one of the bar's windows, "Deceit isn't my game. If I can't tell you something, it is because I can't. That is all." * Rochelle looks at Kat and Thren like they're crazy, possibly because they are. "You can't be serious." * Katherine looks over at Roch, then half-smiles at Thren and says, "Commitment. Capability. Openness. Trust." She then shrugs. "We can work on openness." [ An eyebrow goes up, but Xavier says nothing for a moment. "Alright. Can we not meet in Box City itself? We've... done enough, there." ] * Katherine nods and says, "Yeah, s'why I was thinking the more busted up part of town." (Cna we set a place and call it a night? Splitting my focus is starting to take a toll.) (Yeah, I was thinking there were those parts of town with the rickety fire escapes and such?) (Add a little brain flu, and there's got to be some holes in the world, as it were.) * Yue stares towards Rochelle. Her pupils shrink for a brief while as she stares at her, then back to normal. "You can trust my aim more than me. I wouldn't care if you didn't." * Rochelle is completely unintimidated, and she says, "I'll go find Zak." Putting words to action, she leaves to do that! [ Xavier nods at that, then sits back in the booth and shuts his eyes. A lot to think about. ] * Katherine looks after Roch, then looks to Xavier and asks, quietly, "She gonna manage?" as she starts to text Platina back. * Yue lets out a brief 'huh' at Rochelle leaving. "Oh well." [ "Yes," Xavier says. "I think so." ] * Katherine nods back at Xavier, absently murmurs, "Good someone is," and then finishes sending the message before throwing her phone back at her bag and rubbing her temple. "She's an odd one, Yue. But so are you. It'll work out if I have to shake you both like maracas to do it." (SPACE maracas.) (Shake it like Space Jesus!) * Yue looks back to Kat and manages to remark, "You wish." A pause. Back to dry. "Where's our destination?" (Oh god say so we can goooo) * Katherine squints a hazel eye at Yue, then says, "Older part of town." (Hooray!) [ And so the place is set. What are Platina's real goals? What is Yue's mission? What's the fate of Threnody, or Xavier, or both? Answers may only be found... next time. Session End!]