2023-04-17: ...come to mE
- Log: ...come to mE
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Rena Lancaster, Leina Ashta, Michele Luio, Banagher Links, Anita Rosetta, Kaworu Nagisa, Ujico Issa, Elisa Kafim
- Where: Mir Ghulam Hashemi Castle, Ilam, Krugis
- Date: 2023-04-17
- Summary: The Silent Calling has been holding meetings throughout the Earth to help improve people's lives -- through meditation, mindfulness, philosophy, and charity. The Oracle who sees their future is Yuliana Kafim -- and joined by their Priestess, Elisa Kafim, they tell the people of Krugis about the sorry existence of Newtypes and the redemption they hold for them. Is this pity really better than the hate Yuliana used to espouse..? (Content warning: Cults.)
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Lost?
Alone?
Confused?
This world is a cruel place. War claims or changes those closest to us; some of us, never loved, have no love left for others. You have questions you have never asked another soul, looking down the barrel of a gun designed to destroy the Earth.
Why?
Why is this happening to me?
You know the malice of this world already.
Perhaps you are even cursed to know for certain.
There is hope.
There is silence.
It is only in the fortress of ourselves that we can reclaim our love for humanity. The cacophony of this world has made monsters of a thousand saints. It must not claim you, too.
This existence isn't all there is.
We can save you.
Join us...
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzlHPlq8hIs Yuki Kajiura - Sis Puella Magica!
It began three weeks ago. Flyers much like this one, distributed to various communities across the Earth -- though not, notably, to any Spacenoid holdings. Salvation is a chthonic thing.
They've been run by various people. Federation holdings got to see a lot of their Messengers, Alma Stirner and Wen Yuan -- and only, notably, those two -- running workshops on meditation and self-improvement and solipsist philosophy. They represent the Silent Calling, and it seems, for all intents and purposes, largely harmless. It may well be too tempting for people who've lost their way, but the Call demands no tithes and seeks no favour. Indeed, even in the short time they've been doing this outreach, they've offered several instances of charity to the communities they've visited -- offering free dinners with their speeches, most frequently, or warm clothes to wartorn southern nations so the coming winter won't be quite so uncomfortable. (Waterproof clothes, as well, for countries going into monsoon season instead.)
It's the non-Federation holdings who have seen more of the Silent Call's mysterious Oracle -- who, as it happens, is the Federation fugitive Yuliana Kafim. She gained some notoriety after the media publicised the REA's laboratory crimes for a news cycle, but she seems much healthier in the flesh than she did in those recordings. Wearing a tiara with golden dragon's wings stretching out behind her ears and a distinctively ridged black-and-green cloak, she preaches about strange and impossible things, at times with a fervency approaching madness. Her passion is beyond reproach, and this alone is compelling to many.
(They speak of their Head Priestess; she has not been seen.)
With almost a month of preaching behind them, enough of these meetings have been held for the truth of who's behind them to have spread into casual gossip. There's the traditional friend-of-a-friend who went to a meeting, of course, and social media hashtags blowing up -- and various organisations adding to their dossiers on Yuliana's movements after her suspicious actions at JOSH-A. By now, everyone who wants to know why they should be here has had enough time to collect or chance upon the information.
A few people might have even received invitations, if they've earned particular favour. After all, tonight...
The Mir Ghulam Hashemi Castle employs an open courtyard design; it has stood here in Ilam for over 300 years, a cultural touchstone icon which Azadistan failed to destroy. As the sun sets, the Silent Calling has bid the community come to this courtyard to hear the Call, kept safe by walls of enduring stone. The crumbling remains of planters suggest that there was greenery at the centre, here, once -- but the ravages of time have made them little more than impressions of the place a garden once stood. (A deeper hollow, at the centre, might have been a pool instead.) There is little to interrupt one's eyeline, then, in this square... though tables have been set up near the walls, laden with Kurdish and Lurish dishes, rumen kofta and torkhineh and jegervaz and makash.
Standing by those remnants of that pool, Yuliana Kafim does not tower over the crowd. Indeed -- at a modest five-foot-five, she has to look up, to see some of them. A crew with dull green eyes and few thoughts between them have brought in sound equipment to ensure that everyone can still hear her; her microphone is clipped to the cloak's spines wrapped about her neck, in obscuring fashion. She is eminently approachable -- touchable, even, though the way she sweeps that cloak about her does command a certain measure of distance. It seems to move even when she isn't grasping it; surely some robotics are behind it.
"You've denied your 'self' too long," she says, animated, entirely gripped by her solipsist ranting. "This world demands you fight, and for what purpose?! To defend your home as the men who claim to stand for justice stand aside? To win another man's war? Die for me, they say! Die for me, for your blood is only good for oil in my machine! They should not ASK this of you!" She points, with a dark hand decorated with rings -- the finest amongst them set with onyx and diamonds and emeralds, around her right ring finger. She's married, in the Zaftran style. "They demand this denial of your core existence, and supplant it with their own! They would infringe on your sovereign existence for the sake of their own greed!"
Yuliana straightens, and sneers, with unveiled disdain. "Did the rot at their hearts come from space? I cannot know. But I know that this same violation is echoed in humanity, now, infringing on our Earth from the greater universe. It plagues us, corrupts our sisters and our brothers -- condemns them to a life of torment and government torture. The 'Newtype,'" she concludes, hands clasping together. "The phenomena is real. There are people who can violate the sanctity of your very soul just by touching you -- just by seeing you. Do not think that your secrets are safe if you just stay out of the Federation's laboratories. The Newtype is the most terrible weapon the Federation -- and Neo-Zeon -- wield." She has not forgotten her feelings towards Neo-Zeon, no.
Her eyes narrow. "Do you think it a fairy tale? Why, then, would the REA create me? You have all heard, I am sure, the tale of my origins. Why would the Federation create a weapon to fight something which does not exist? I was invisible to these sensitive souls... because I deny their transgressions." She shakes her head, and smiles, beatific. "But you need not hate them," she assures the crowd, with strange prosody. "No -- pity the Newtype, the victim of space's retaliation against man, made victim twice over by the powerful men who would use them. Pity the Cyber-Newtype, created to employ these transgressions, though they were normal humans at their birth. Forced to violate your 'selves' -- though to all official accounts, they do not exist!" She swipes an arm out, spinning, as her cloak flutters around her.
"But I do not come to you to spread fear and doubt," she assures them, the anger in her voice calming, as she spreads her hands. "Only to warn you of the erosion of your soul, day by day, imperceptible. Look, here," she gestures, to the crumbling stone of those planters; there's no hope that they would keep a tree's roots from growing outside of their bounds, now. That message could be taken two ways. The way Yuliana teaches it is: "In a hundred years, we will not know anything grew here at all. The stone of the ground will be as the dirt of the garden. And this, I tell you, is a sad thing. You would be forgotten." With firm direction, she insists: "I will not have it."
Hand to her heart, her black robes pooling at her elbow to show the gold and green and purple bracelets about her wrist, she gestures with her left hand. "You are worth more than fertiliser for another man's dreams. I hope that you will join us to recapture the strength within yourself -- to know the shape of you, that you cannot be moulded for the sake of another. We hope to show you that you need not fear facing yourself, in the silence. Yes... I wish to help you to safety, just as I was once protected. For my soul, too, was crushed in by that horrific war-machine -- I, too, heard those in power demand I die for the sake of their progress." Her fingertips spread, as she smiles. "I reclaimed myself. As can you."
She steps back from the semi-circle of the crowd around her, and her hands fall down, spread palms out. There are fine jewels strung across her midsection, strings of rare beads which stand out against her black robes. "I am sure you have questions," she offers them, benevolent. "Or perhaps you are simply hungry -- please, feel free to eat. Consider it a gesture of our goodwill, entering your space as we are." It's a figurative gesture joined with a literal one, one hand spreading towards the tables by the courtyard walls.
Her passion seems to have dimmed, at least momentarily, to allow the crowd to speak.
Will you?
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena had a bad feeling the moment she found the pamphlet. It wasn't from any Newtype sense -- it was more of the normal sort of dread, the sense that something is very wrong with what it promised. Several somethings.
So she came -- not alone -- with sunglasses, a floppy news cap, and a brown leather jacket. It hides her face well enough; she still sits in the back of the crowd to be sure. She gathered what information she could online.
She also has a sidearm tucked into her jacket.
The Three Ships Alliance has a responsibility to the world. They have to try to protect it.
She heard a little about Yuliana's newfound health and passion. She has been fooled before by her.
She looks around the courtyard the castle, taking in the crowd. She hesitates a moment, when Yuliana starts on about Newtypes. But it's not quite the same.
She doesn't speak, though. She considers it -- but she wants to get a sense of what the crowd is thinking, first.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
There are times in one's life when one celebrates the technology of the future as marvels of the times.
Then there are times like today.
>hey i got this invitation, what do you think?
>Attached File: Invitation.txt
>okay i'm gonna check it out!
Leina checks the time stamps, "Yesterday? Minovsky interference must be bad." Tap tap on Invitation.txt.
Suddenly she sits up straight as she reads through it, "Excuse me!? BANAGHER!"
Leina's last meet up with Yuliana went, a little poorly. And it wasn't so long ago that Alma tried using Void Crystals to mind control her and Mineva.
Dialing up his phone number just resulted in a familiar tone of 'We're sorry, the party you're trying to connect to is unavailable. Please-'
Hanging up, she checked her watch and did some calculations against time zones, "SIX HOURS FROM NOW?!"
-=-=-
There's something particularly cruel about using the Republic of Krugis to spread a new religion. After so much time caught within religious War from people who coopted that cause to line their pockets.
It may not be the most appropriate dress for fitting in within the region itself, but she comes dressed in a sage green, smocked knit one-shoulder jumpsuit, a purse draped over it, and cream colored flats. A jeweled barrette of a bird rests in her curly hair.
She's had to already avert three pick pockets. Each time met with some gilla offered instead. Hopefully that went towards warm meals rather than a giant cut being taken by some ringleader.
She can't solve the problems of the poor in Krugis. Still she reminds herself to try and bribe more officials to get Yumi relief aid here.
The castle she enters, sticking along the fringes, until she spies Banagher, walks up to him and lightly touches his arm, "Don't react too much. We don't want to draw too much attention." She tells him quietly, "I got your message late, bad reception and worse interference."
Her eyes keep forward on Yuliana. Listening to the speech, she frowns thinly as she blames the rot on space, as she speaks of Newtypes being the violation. In her experience, it was far more often the other way around.
"Yes there's definitely some kind of denial here." She says, mutely, lips near Banagher's ear. Yuliana calls upon the crowd for questions, for them to speak.
Part of her wants to. The rest of her knows it'd be the worst idea to let Yuliana see her right now after what happened between them not so long ago.
<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.
Michele Luio needs more information on her rivals. Those hunting Rita...and Yuliana Kafim is a dangerous one. When she learns she's now a religious leader holding sermons, Michele books a day off to go. She has Brick be nearby in case of an emergency, but doesn't bring him in. The castle is quite lovely, but it's not a day for sightseeing.
The heiress is dressed 'modestly' for once, spring jacket and scarf, as she listens. Pity the Newtype, but give hate to their mere existence too. It's going to rile up anti-Newtype sentiments for sure. When questions are asked for, she moves to answer with one.
"We are to pity the Newtype, a transgressive weapon, but what if one was to be among this crowd? What would you say to that?" She's not trying to draw attention to *herself* - she knows that Yuliana saw right through her.
She needs to know exactly what this church is doing in regards to them. Could Yuliana have a deeper motive for Rita?
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Frowning down at one of said invitations, Banagher Links thinks over his options. Yuliana has been very kind lately -- though that doesn't erase the trauma she's enacted on him and his girlfriends in the past. He knows Yuliana can't be trusted. But she's also a very useful ally, and one with horribly intimate knowledge of the process of conditioning and de-conditioning. Something that might save Puru-1 once they finally catch her.
Pulling out his phone, Banagher snaps a picture of the invitation, sending it Leina's way. He promised he's not going to do stupid things on his own anymore.
>Hey I got this invitation, what do you think?
>Attached File: Invitation.txt
And he waits.
...
And waits.
>Okay, I'm going to check it out!
>Love you!
---
Dressed in a nice pair of jeans, his HaroCon staff shirt, and a fluffy hoodie, Banagher feels... a little under dressed. Oh well. The food is very nice, and he helps himself to a little of everything. Trying new food is always exciting.
Turning at the touch to his arm, Banagher's face softens into a gentle smile upon seeing Leina. "I didn't think you'd join me. You look beautiful, Leina."
Twining his fingers with Leina's, he nods at her request. "It's fine. I'm just glad to see you."
Yuliana begins to speak, and Banagher listens, his expression turning from curiosity to distress as her message goes on. "We've got to say something. She's completely wrong about Newtypes! No one is trying to violate anyone, except those monsters running labs."
But Leina asked him not to react. To not draw attention. Banagher grimaces, squeezing Leina's hand a little more tightly.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Eight had spoken of Yuliana's meetings, and Rena had found one of her pamphlets. Anita is... pretty much in agreement. They should probably look into this, and she has no intention of letting Rena go without some sort of backup, just in case.
And so, Anita joins Rena in the crowd today. She's always the type to dress casual with outfits that mute her form, and now is no different. Today, that's a black hoodie and baggy jeans, both worn with ages. Her hands are presently in her hoodie's pockets, and the hood is worn up. A black facemask covers her nose and mouth... and, unusually, her eyes are different. A different size and shape - and a dull brown, in contrast to her usual dark blue. An advantage of cybernetics, one supposes. It's just enough that if one isn't completely familiar with her, they might not be able to recognize her at first glance - and her usual easy attitude means that her expression doesn't change at all as Yuliana gives her speech.
She has to give her one thing, she certainly has a way with words. It's just another thing that makes her so dangerous.
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
THEN
Pehaps you are even cursed to know for certain... Though Kaworu has no intentions of going along with this Void Cult, he must admit, that is a powerful phrase, now as it was before. But...
This existence isn't -- and then it continues -- all there is.
It's no shock. Many things repeat over and over. But this time, this part is just a little different.
He considers the flyer he reads on the concrete wall before him; then he considers the date and location of the meeting.
NOW
Kaworu admires the Mir Ghulam Hashemi Castle and its grounds, hands tucked into his pockets of his very ordinary school clothes as he walks to and fro to inspect new details. Indeed, he makes no effort to hide or disguise himself; anyone who knows him and sees him will recognize him. At the same time, he doesn't approach anyone yet, either. Likewise, the tables full of food he observes from a distance without approaching to partake, nor does he stop anyone else from partaking.
At last, he looks over at Yuliana and her sound equipment, standing at ground level rather than any kind of podium, and listens to her speech. As rhetoric, it starts out well--with a genuine pathos on the nature of Lilim. But from there... Kaworu doesn't know if Yuliana is lying or if she is simply misguided. Either way, she conveys her passion well, from her tone to her word usage to her metaphor about the roots among the stones. Lilim do so often fear the vastness of the cosmos, just as often as they covet it.
It does strike him as strange that she could say these things and still find and be found so dear by Rita.
At last, she invites the crowds to eat and ask. Kaworu looks out towards those assembled--and in particular, those who accept that invitation, and what they do and ask. There are several here he knows, but none of them are, technically, here for him.
<Pose Tracker> Ujico Issa has posed.
Officially, Ujico isn't here. That is, she didn't come here on behalf of Celestial Being. She is here, though, with her mouth full of something she can't pronounce but she really wants to know the recipe for. Maybe she can ask Yuliana later. It doesn't occur to her to be suspicious of the food - after all, she's [broken bread] with the Kafims before, in a different castle, on a different continent.
And Ujico was hungry, anyway.
Ujico knows that Yuliana has no fondness for Newtypes - it has something to do with what the REA made her, if she understands everything correctly. There's no guarantee that she does. She licks sauce from her fingers and listens, increasingly worriedly.
(Of course, some of what Yuliana says is correct. Old men - sometimes dead men - demand that they die for glory, for wealth, for things she can't even begin to imagine. It itches inside her brain, the call to be angry about it. Uji takes a slow breath.
And raises her hand when the call comes for questions. "I don't think they need to be pitied. They're just people, living their lives." That's not a question, Ujico!!
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
In dark robes, towering above many thanks to the delicate heels she wears, comes a woman. The high collar of her robes frames her face; pointed ears, dark skin, green eyes. The elaborate horns of her headdress glleam in the light. And she is a Presence, to be sure, calmly walking from the shadows. She is visible now:
Elisa Kafim.
"What if there were a Newtype among us?" Elisa repeats, her voice calm, soothing. Her jewelry clacks lightly in the dim, shining as light illuminates her.
"These terrible, horrible weapons, why..."
Elisa spreads her hands, and her perfectly manicured nails extend, her palms up to the sky. "We would welcome such beings with open arms."
"It is not the Newtype's fault that they transgress. It is not the Newtype's sin that they were created. Who among us asked to be born as we are?"
"No," Elisa says, "We would welcome them, for who needs silence more ardently than those whose worlds are constantly under siege? Those who are constantly subject to the horrible whispers that come of this violation?"
She smiles, warmly. She has the correct number of teeth. She looks to Rena, as if through Rena. She looks to Leina and Banagher, serene. And she looks to Michele, quite seriously.
"Our peace is for all."
Anita and Kaworu, too, receive her attention, and Kaworu might see the way her eyes pick up the light, almost like the reflection of a cat's eye. Almost. And Ujico... Dear, dear Ujico. She speaks of pity. And not pity.
"But," Elisa says, "Is it not kind to offer them regard for their struggles?" One might notice, at this point; she does not need the sound equipment to project her voice. "Is it not kind, to offer pity to those suffering? To those who would be used?"
"But pity alone would not be enough, you are quite right. They are people, as well. And we have more to offer than pity."
Elisa steps toward the center. "I am the Priestess," the half-Meltrandi says, inclining her head and spreading her arms once more in something like a bow. "Welcome, all. Welcome, seekers and the curious. Welcome, doubters."
"We have room for you all."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Rena has done an excellent job, hiding herself.
Perhaps it's all the more cruel, then, that Yuliana's gaze settles right... on... her, as it passes over the crowd. Her eyes narrow, just so, and she smiles.
Oh, don't think she knows it's RENA, in there.
She just sees the empty space where something ought to be.
(An advantage she cannot ply over Anita, standing beside her, who could have been anyone at all.)
So too does her attention fall on Leina -- though she recognises her, at least. She smiles, to her, as well. "Be welcome," she bids them all, and perhaps she bids that charitable girl most of all. Banagher, too; she's glad to see him here, to hear the message.
Oh, it's not their fault.
Many of the crowd do partake in the dinner the Calling has provided; Leina isn't wrong about how unfortunate this region's luck is. Kaworu will note, watching them, that the food is hot and nourishing and good -- they seem to be enjoying it. It's also suitable to the region! Ujico doesn't need to be suspicious of it at all; she'll find it very tasty, and without any indications that something other than the standard ingredients have been added. The Kafims, it seems, are not in the business of poisoning their functions.
Her Sight glimpses no tears into nonexistence, as her attention falls on the space around Michele -- no, on Michele, speaking up. She is kind enough not to call attention to it. Certainly not when someone else commands so much attention, stepping from the shadows... as if Elisa were always here, beside her.
The Priestess' Oracle smiles, looking to her, and the wings of her tiara compliment perfectly the horns of Elisa's own headdress. Instantly, it is known: they are two parts of a whole.
A whole which Elisa offers to Michele -- to everyone.
"There is hope," she agrees, when the Priestess' welcome ends. She answers Michele's concerns with Ujico's: "Yes, we well know -- the Newtype wishes only to be a person, only to live their life." Here, she smiles, to Ujico. "And through us, all things are possible."
She spreads her arms, and bids them: "You will see."
To most of the people here, it's a promise for the future. But to a select few -- the sensitive and the Awakened -- they will know, immediately, that it is an immediate invitation.
Those wings at Yuliana's headdress are hollow, fit about her ears. Hidden in the gold, her fins unfurl, lifting up, straightening.
Have you ever stood beside Yuliana? Have you known the silence? Know it, now. The entire Castle knows the isolation within themselves, as she spreads her frill and her influence, annuling psychic connections and empathic insight.
She offers this, and she smiles.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena has found it a little weird that Anita has different eyes. She got so used to the blue ones -- fell in love with them, really -- that seeing them changed is a tad unnerving. But, it's also a very effective disguise.
She glances sideways at Anita, considering for a moment, but she can only guess at what she is thinking. It's probably not that far from what Rena is thinking.
She shifts, though, when Elisa looks at her -- through her -- and she tenses for a moment. Yuliana looks at her, too. Does she know? Do they both know? She looks sideways at Anita again, before she looks back at Elisa and Yuliana.
When Ujico speaks, Rena blinks. And she starts to tense, more, when Yuliana does something -- something she can't see, with her headdress, but that she can feel. She grunts, a pained noise; it's like Yuliana's usual effect.
But magnified.
She closes her eyes shut, leaning over -- head against Anita lightly.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"Thank you." Leina tells him quietly, even as Banagher tells her we've got to say something, suddenly her grip on his arm increases in pressure. Even if it's not harmful.
"No. Not here. This is not the forum to speak out against her. We're in Krugis, so much human trafficking goes on here. If anyone gets wind that you are one, then they'll see you as a quick payday."
Leina tells him quietly, "And Dr. Kafim's mind control abilities are subtle. There are so many people in this crowd who might be capable of it. And we wouldn't know."
She's somewhat heartened seeing a few friendly faces. Renalle for example, and even Kaworu. She's also happy enough to let Michele distract away attention.
However, it makes her anxious. What if this was all some giant trap?
Her eyes flit over to Elisa, giving Dr. Kafim a curious look at her words. "Interesting." She notes quietly before noting to Banagher, "Since Dr. Kafim is here, Banagher, we have to be extra cautious. Whatever Alma did, she is so much more skilled at it."
Yuliana's eyes meet hers briefly, but Leina doesn't say anything, she just lets her have the floor, here in her place of power.
The moment the frill goes up, Banagher can feel Leina's grip on his arm tighten, even before that silence strikes them. It's dizzying, nausea inducing. She is however, very used to it.
She knows Banagher isn't. So instead her arm slides around him to hold him up. "Steady love. Steady." She tells him, quietly.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Familiar souls brush against Banagher's consciousness. He isn't sure if he should greet anyone here -- Leina is so worried about being noticed. But should any of his friends look his way, they'll get a warm smile.
Even as Banagher starts to gather his thoughts, trying to come up with a powerful enough retort to convince the minds of people here, Leina squeezes his arm tightly.
"Nnh..." Banagher grumbles. Leina's right. "I can't just do nothing, Leina, this is awful, and--"
Yuliana and Elisa both turn their gazes on the young couple. The hair on the back of Banagher's neck stands up in fright.
"...they know we're here." He murmurs, positioning his body so that he half-blocks the Oracle and High Priestess' views of Leina. "But I don't think they'd let anything bad happen, would they? We helped save Yuliana."
Said High Priestess answers a few questions, then raises her arms. Banagher's eyes widen, realizing what's about to happen, and he steps in front of Leina all the more, as if he could block the wave of silence that washes over both of them.
Nausea, dizziness, that awful migraine-inducing silence. It's as though Leina's been torn from him, even though she's still right there by Banagher's side. Gravity twists and reality spins.
Leina's arm keeps him on his feet, but just barely. He clings to her, eyes squeezed closed as he tries to reorient his place in the world without the senses he's relied on since practically before he could walk.
"S--stop it." Banagher calls, opening his eyes enough to speak to Yuliana. He isn't yelling, but his voice carries enough to be heard. "Newtypes aren't your enemy. They're not -- violating anyone! Being a Newtype is about your connections with others, not -- not hurting someone. Not being a weapon! It's not our fault men in power tried to turn us into weapons!"
He dry heaves, taking a few breaths to recover.
"Just like it wasn't your fault! Newtypes, Naturals... Our enemy is the same. Rich, powerful people who only care about satisfying their greed, no matter who suffers for it!"
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
As Elisa arrives to answer the questions posed to Yuliana, Kaworu regards her. She regards him back, and he does indeed see the backlight in her eyes and her correct number of teeth. Lilim like to say the devil knows its own, but neither of them are quite that, are they?
She's also well-spoken; there is a distinct presence to her, regardless of her size. And, observing the food prepared and eaten, there doesn't seem anything amiss with it, though he hadn't thought there would be. (That being said, there is a difference between being poisoned and being drugged, but that doesn't seem to be an issue either.)
Hope, Yuliana says. Hope is vital to Lilim, it's true. The two of them will be a force to be reckoned with--already are, really. It's easy to predict that these wives will gain a great amount of influence in this era if they are left alone... even before Yuliana unfurls her power with the clicking of the wings of her tiara.
It's only a surprise in the sense that it's grown much stronger. Kaworu doesn't outwardly react--he's walked through the Void and come out the other side--but he does look around at the others in the crowd. Some of the reactions are subtle, like Rena leaning on Anita; some make themselves loud, like Banagher calling back to Yuliana with his words. Kaworu's gaze flicks to Leina next to him. Whatever reassurance she was trying to give him doesn't seem to have landed.
The tilt of his eyebrows turns rueful. He knows that feeling well, too.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Anita doesn't make a movement toward the food. She doesn't expect it to be poisoned... but, she'd rather not risk partaking of the proverbial pomegranate, either.
A tall woman in dark robes emerges from the shadows. Anita's attention is drawn to her immediately. There's something about her that demands one's attention. This is where her expression shifts, just slightly - eyebrows raising in surprise. She, too, is an excellent speaker, offering peace. She is the Priestess. She seems warm, friendly, even.
And Yuliana... Anita tracks her gaze. She glances sideways, catching Rena's eye as she looks toward her. And then Rena grunts. She can see, feel her distress. She doesn't, can't, feel the silence herself - but she can tell that something has happened from the effect it has on her.
Anita's stance shifts just slightly, to offer Rena better support as she leans her head against her. A hand carefully slides out of hoodie pocket, coming to rest on Rena's wrist and holding it gently, as if to offer and anchor.
Her attention is on her for a moment - before shifting to Banagher, as he speaks out through no small amount of effort.
Anita winces, just slightly.
<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.
As the Priestess comes and gives her answer, Michele gives a thin smile and a nod. She's 'satisfied' with that answer.
But when the wave of Yuliana's aura affects the Newtypes among the crowd, Michele has a split-second decision to make. In the end, she decides to clutch her head, replicating events she saw back in the labs, of pained children and teenagers. Her acting is spot-on, and among other's pain, it's hard to tell she's faking it.
Something about what Banagher says about greed hits her in the heart. She's not usually this fragile...but she knows and cares about a Newtype, even if she'd deny it, so...
"Hey- h...hey. Starting a fight here isn't going to help anyone."
Much more casual than she'd usually go. The discomfort she's having to embody helps.
<Pose Tracker> Ujico Issa has posed.
Who among us asked to be born as we are? Ujico's jaw tightens.
Pity. It's a sour word. "Regard, yeah!" she continues, "Sympathy! Empathy! But not pity. Do you want people to pity you?" She's... not angry. Not with Yuliana or Elisa. She's literally just asking, because Ujico wants to understand, and she doesn't.
Yuliana lifts her arms, and something happens. At least, it must be happening. Ujico can't feel it, but--
A familiar voice rises. Bana-ji? "Excuse-me," Ujico says by rote, and starts shoving politely through the crowd in the direction of Banagher's voice. "Excuse-me, excuse-me." He sounds sick. Is he alone? Why is he here?
Ujico pushes until she finds them, and is visibly relieved to see Leina with him. As well as "Uh. Kaoru!" she mostly-remembers. "I mean. Hi. She's doing the thing again. --You're hurting them!" she calls out to the Kafims, frowning. It feels bad. It feels bad to be here where Yuliana is hurting people, even though Yuliana doesn't know it hurts. Because she wouldn't if she knew, right??
Oh, whatever!! "Yuliana, Elisa, cut it out!" Why are her fists clenched like this?
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
Elisa, for her part, does not eat today. She has offered; she does not need to take of these resources herself. No, she is focused on their guests. On those who come together; those who came apart.
She notices Rena's pained noise, with her keen ears. She notices Leina's tension.
Indeed. Kaworu and Elisa are both... something different. What is that that they know?
Does it have to do with the way Rena and Anita are closer in that moment, after Rena winces? Does it have to do with the way Banagher speaks his passions? Ah, that...
"Do not be alarmed by this young man!" Elisa says quickly, stepping towards Banagher as if to shield him. "Yes, he is the very thing you fear. Yes, he is one of those whose very nature rends reality. But does he wish to harm you? No. And in the presence of my dear Oracle, he cannot. Yes, he is 'safe' here, as you all are--from him, and from those who would use him against you."
"...How kind," she says, "That one so cursed would still think to safeguard and protect those without his deformity. Truly, we can see that there is hope for all."
"It is true, of course. Those who think only of mankind's 'evolution', leaving behind the people here, with us now. I say to you: there is room for all in the future my Oracle sees."
She regards Michele, who of course, has such discomfort. Such pain. And she mentions sarting a fight, and so, "Do not worry. It is right and good to speak one's mind at a meeting such as this. How can we understand each other if we do not speak? How can we come to know one another if not through dialogue? To shortcut such a vital process as understanding, such an important thing throughout humanity's history..."
"Ah, and not only humanity's..."
But Ujico speaks. Ujico speaks up, and tells them to stop, clenches her fist. "Ah, my dear," Elisa says, and swans to her, reaching out for her hands. She says nothing of sympathy or regard now. Instead--
"Look upon those in the room. See the many who are not hurt. The many who can partake of this blissful silence, secure that their most private ideals are theirs alone, until they choose to share them."
"It hurts," Elisa agrees. "It hurts when one has to suture a wound closed, does it not? Or when one must straighten a bone so that it, broken, may heal correctly."
"It hurts when the body is sick, but that pain is a sign that our immune system fights for us. So it is here, and now. There is pain..."
"But I tell you, friends, that on the other side of that pain is healing. On the other side there is truth. There is peace." Elisa smiles, full of tenderness. "...And we wish to share it."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
They know her. Oh, they know her. There, that woman listing against her wary companion -- it would be more satisfying to know her for Renalle, but it is a victory, all the same. A victory, to see Leina's grip tighten, to see Banagher step in front of her as if her presence were a wave which could be parted.
She is a victory. Witness, Kaworu, the glory she has claimed. Is she not a shining jewel, here upon humanity?
And there is pity, in her gaze, as it falls on Banagher. Elisa moves to shield him from the crowd, and Yuliana steps forward and gestures, to them all, with spread arms and open palms. She could not plan for Banagher reacting to his invitation this way -- but certainly, she was able to make certain assumptions.
"I see it is hard for you," she says, on the heels of her Priestess' reassurances -- and her gaze tracks to Michele, just the same, as if speaking to her pain as well. "Worry not. It is difficult to live a normal life, after being disturbed for so long. We would not demand you adapt so easily."
Ujico addresses them directly, and her look, to her, is sympathetic. Luckily, it comes with that imperceptible shift in reality -- as Yuliana changes whatever it was that spread her influence, and empathic information is restored to the courtyard as she pulls herself back beside herself again. (Inside the wings of her tiara, her frills fold up, underneath the skin behind her ears.)
"My Priestess knows well the arts of healing -- the pain which reparations can at times involve. But I see your struggles, and I will not enforce salvation on you long, today." Is it a kindness to Michele, that subtle little cue that the silence has faded? It might be. "But know that hope is possible -- and the future will be brighter than today." A reassurance which might not be, to some of the sensitive souls in the crowd. (Though, of course, there will always be some normal humans like Anita who have been taken in by the Newtype menace. Has she not eaten the pomegranate, already?)
"Because there are truths," she says, bringing her hands together over her heart. Does she have one? (Elisa knows she does; has cradled it, between her fingers. But here, as she reaches the crowd --) "Truths this world has not known, could not have known. A path towards peace and equality for all... I want nothing more but to share this with you."
Her smile is so delicate, in this moment. "I hope you will listen."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena takes a few, deep breaths. Having Anita's hand on her wrist helps; she gets her mind centered on that. She looks up, too, and then her eyes widen. She knows that voice.
Banagher.
She didn't sense him here, but with Yuliana's presence, that is hard. She looks at Elisa -- listening to her speak -- and she swallows. Then she grits her teeth, sets her jaw, and glances at Anita. She gives one quick, brief nod.
"There's nothing wrong with him," she says, speaking up loud enough for her voice to carry. She looks at Elisa, then at Yuliana. "I think you're confused about what Newtypes are. We're not made, despite some people's best efforts."
She frowns. "And we're not injured, just because of what we are."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"There's a time and place Banagher. We pick and choose our battles every single day." She tells him, "Do you know how many times I've had to run from protests, because I had the instinct the police were about to turn on the crowd?"
Leina looks Banagher's way and tells him quietly, "I don't know Dr. Kafim's heart enough to say how far that sense of gratitude goes." She murmurs.
It's quite a lot, to keep Banagher steady when you're not quite centered yourself. She had to live as a Natural for ten years of her life, and she's probably been exposed to Yuliana's aura more than most Newtypes.
Still it's hard, and as Banagher starts to speak up, "Banagher..." Leina warns again softly, as if to head it off at the pass, but he does say it. And she can't even refute any of it.
He speaks from the heart, with the same conviction. In another time, another place she might be saying exactly the same. However right now, her eyes are looking around the crowd, as if sweeping it for threats. People who might act out.
They snap to Dr. Kafim immediatley as she responds, marking Ujico and Kaworu as probable allies if something goes wrong. Her hand moves to the side of her purse but doesn't dip inside.
She receives a curious look, but she understands the tactic. This manipulation playing to the crowd. How much of this does Elisa actually believe? How much of it is her playing to Yuliana as well?
There is quiet for a time, as if waiting, and Ujico's efforts cause Yuliana to remove that influence. She allows herself to take a breath, "Are you alright?" She murmurs quietly to Banagher.
Well so much for not having any attention upon them. However, she decides that passion and fire will not do much against this crowd, "I'm not sure I'm convinced, Mrs. Kafim." She says to Yuliana, "In our conversations together we spoke of the truth of how hollow the human heart can be."
Leina says finally, expression a touch pensive, "We arrived on this truth in different ways, and both required a certain violence be visited upon both of us."
There is a sense of mildness, as if they were simply people engaged in a conversation, having a very minor philosophical disagreement.
"It honestly always sounded to me as if there were many paths to the truth you offer. In that sense, is there actually a more correct path to arrive at it?"
There's a small tilt of her head to the side, "These people can't experience the world the same way you do either, after all."
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
A victory... Yes, perhaps. But for whom?
Kaworu smiles at Ujico as she pushes herself through the crowd to join Banagher and Leina. "Hey, Ujico. It's been some time," he replies.
The rest he doesn't respond to directly, letting her shout at Yuliana and Elisa as she wills, coming to Banagher's defense as he speaks up in defense of himself and others like him. He glances sidelong at Michele as she casts this as starting a fight... but there's no need to say anything to her; now that this has happened, Elisa and Yuliana move to position Banagher and Newtypes as pitiable aberrations, and more Newtypes like Rena speak up to defend themselves.
Kaworu is of course no Newtype at all. He does not feel it's his place to join in on this discussion. But he does watch over it carefully--regarding Leina as she offers her counter, offering Banagher a soft look as he recovers, and noting how Yuliana withdrew her power when Ujico askedtold her to. Is that a kindness? A concession? Or a mask for a limitation?
Yes. There is much still to observe. This is only the foundation of more conflict to come.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
"W--what?" Banagher looks to Michele, baffled. "I'm not trying to start a fight? Why would you say that, I--"
Ujico approaches, and is given a grateful smile as she stands up for him -- for all the Newtypes in the room. Banagher has to fight down another wave of nausea, but he's thankful for her, all the same.
Banagher recoils as Elisa rushes over, putting his free arm out as if to bar her from approaching Leina. "What are you saying?! I don't rend reality, I'm not -- I'm not going to harm anyone!"
Are people really afraid of him? Banagher scans the crowd, the worry on his face slowly turning to fear.
"I'm not cursed... We're not cursed. Or deformed." He pants, nearly falling over again. "Being a Newtype has let me save lives! There's a light... inside everyone, every single person. Everyone has the potential to become a Newtype, and hold that light. I'm sure of it!"
Banagher winces, bringing a hand to his head in an attempt to ward off the migraine splitting his skull.
"'m not... disturbed, I--"
Rena speaks up in his defense, and he glances her way, grateful. In every situation, Rena has been brave and capable... Banagher is really, really, thankful for that in this moment.
Banagher sighs in relief as Yuliana's silence retreats. He almost thanks her -- but clenches his mouth shut. Straighten up, the young pilot squares his shoulders, looking at the tiara-clad Priestess with determination in his eyes. He wants to refute her offer for healing, but -- with the migraine easing, he realizes what a precarious situation he's put himself and Leina into.
"I'm sorry." He murmurs to Leina, wrapping an arm around her shoulders protectively. "That was so stupid of me. It was like I couldn't help myself. I'm okay now. Do we need to get out of here?"
No matter what happens, or what it'll make people think, Banagher won't let anything happen to Leina. He'll play the part of the monstrous Newtype if he has to if it keeps her safe.
As ever, Leina is by far the more eloquent of the pair. Pride enters his smile as she speaks. Banagher stays quiet -- not wanting to cause more damage -- but squeezes her shoulder to express his support.
<Pose Tracker> Ujico Issa has posed.
Elisa sweeps towards them, and takes Ujico's fists into her hands. Ujico's first [instinct] is to pull away. She does not. Ujico has become much, much better at controlling herself. It's something that makes her proud. It takes willpower to unclench her fists. But Elisa is Yuliana's wife and you have to be polite to your friends' spouses.
"When they talk about it, it doesn't sound like a wound." It didn't hurt, until Yuliana hurt them. Ujico knows the shape of a wound. Not this one in particular. But how it feels to hurt and hurt and she hates it. She hates it, she hates--
Her hands are limp in Elisa's. It feels bad. She hates it.
But Yuliana listens, and lowers her arms, and whatever is wrong - the dampening field she's only been told about, because Ujico is no Newtype - stops affecting people. Ujico's hackles lower a little bit, cautiously. Her horns stop feeling like weapons.
There are so many people here regaining their equilibrium, afterwards. There are so many people like Banagher and Leina and Lucine. "They're not monsters. They're not [deformed]." Maybe she should be quiet. Ujico, judging that enough time has passed for it to be polite(?), tugs her hands free and steps back from Elisa, tugging anxiously at her jacket sleeves. Personal space!!!
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Anita stays still, giving Rena as much time as she needs to recenter herself. Rena catches Banagher's voice, too - and when Rena looks up at her with a nod, Anita nods back and offers her a slight smile. Very slight - it might be easy to miss underneath her mask, but though her eyes are different someone familiar with her features might notice it.
She turns her attention back to the speakers, to Elisa and Yuliana, as Rena speaks up. She knows it can't be easy for her.
"...A shortcut... I dunno. Different, maybe. Is it so bad that some people have different ways of expressing themselves?" Anita considers out loud. Her voice is muffled somewhat by her mask... but, she doesn't expect it to hide herself for long, now that Rena's spoken up. "...There's as many ways for people to connect as there are people. And I think that's alright."
She can't experience it herself, but she isn't going to envy those who can.
<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.
They would not demand they adapt so easily. Elisa looks sad, as Rena speaks up to her. "You need not accept what we say," she says simply. "It is, of course, your prerogative to believe as you will. Certainly, I would hate to think that a thing I possessed through no fault of my own were harmful to others. I would hate to think that I could be a danger, without desiring to be such. And any would struggle with such an idea when presented to them by strangers."
She looks to Banagher and smiles. "There are many lights in this world. But what of the comforting dark? What of those who do not wish this 'light'? You would still impose it upon them?"
The hollowness of the human heart... "Ah," Elisa says, "But it is not the hollow of which I speak, today. It is the fullness of the human heart."
"There are many truths in this world," Dr. Kafim says, inclining her head to Leina. "There are many paths to them. ...This is the path to the truth we would share. We invite those who wish to walk it with us."
"I would not presume to tell people what they can, or cannot experience. We are all different, after all, and it is that difference that we must treasure, must nurture, in the face of those elites who would try to make us all the same."
She does not focus on Kaworu, for now. No, if he wished to interfere, he would have. He is observing... and that is well enough for Elisa.
There must be witnesses.
Elisa makes no move to force Ujico to keep her hands in hers. When she pulls back it is easy; there is no resistance. "It is the inherent selfishness of this 'light' that I call into question. It is the nature of light to spread; it is the nature of light to change that which is around it. But the comforting, soothing dark allows us to become ourselves, allows us to share when we will, and not when we will not. It is natural for light to spread... But is it 'kind'? Is it 'right'?"
"We ask these questions in search of those who will understand the truths we offer. To those who do not wish it..."
"In turn, we wish you only peace." Elisa inclines her head, bowing once again from the waist, her arms spread as if holding up the weight of the very world.
"You have spoken of the Newtype phenomena saving lives. And yet, how many lives would have been spared if not for its existence? How many lives would have been able to continue, if not for those such as Char Aznable, returned from the very dead with his dread power intact?"
She holds up a hand. "Ah, perhaps I say too much. I wish only to bring these questions to mind. To let those who will ponder them. Those who would not... You are still welcome to eat at our table, but we will not impose upon you. You may go, if you wish."
Then she inclines her head to Anita, as she speaks up as well. Is it bad? "Indeed, there are many ways. When one does not force it on the other... Why, I have no complaint. But is it not the nature of that light to press itself upon others? After all..."
"We came to offer silence, to offer relief from this phenomenon, and yet so many have come to center their own experiences, over those trampled every day by the 'gifts' the Newtype offers."
"Forgive me," Elisa says, raising her hands as if in peace. "...I should not say so much, so soon. I wish you all well. But I tire. I must go, and rest, that I am ready to perform my duties." She bows, once more, humbly, with a small smile.
Is it so small? She has so very many teeth.
"...Our Oracle," she says, "May also be tired. Shall we go and comfort those who require it?"
She turns, and begins to walk quietly back toward the shadows, her jewelry glinting in the dim.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Ah! There. That woman... it's Renalle. It's a testament to Yuliana's acting chops that her smile remains beatific, rather than the sort one wears when dishing out a beating. "Newtypes? You are not made by man -- no. What made you this way are the furthest reaches of space, pushing in..." Her fingers curl, inwards, one green nail after another. "... grasping."
She smiles. "Earth, our final refuge. And we would make it strong." But not today, it seems. Not today, because Ujico asked. They're friends, after all.
Ujico and Banagher both insist they're not deformed -- not monsters. She is so, so sympathetic, looking to the both of them. (Why is she looking at them both, together? Is it because Ujico helped him? Perhaps.) "When you have lived with deformity all your life, does it not strike you as the norm? When you have been wounded since your youth, do you recognise your scars?" She asks, and asks so gently. "Do you see, my dear? I tell you this: my Sight is clear." And her eyes are, in fact. Endless green and pupilless, as if in mockery of the most connected Newtype. They weren't like that... before.
But there, the hollow human heart...
"Yes... it is a violent thing," she says, with sympathy, to Leina. "These visitations of violence upon us... perhaps, if this world were less cruel, the Revelations would have been easier to receive. Would that it were." She shakes her head, gesturing, to her. "We will simply have to create that kindness." Does she think it a kindness? She certainly speaks with fervent belief. "And perhaps, one day, all will know the truths that I share."
Then again, she's fooled so many of them before. Rena and Anita, Leina and Banagher... she's never fooled Kaworu, but perhaps that's only natural, as similar a creature as he is. Yuliana wonders where he's hidden his frills.
"Is it right?" She asks Anita. "For one method of connection to stand over the others? Is that fair?" She bows, herself, palms spread wide. "I won't presume to tell you. I only mean to ask."
She steps beside Elisa, and lays her hands on her arm, smiling softly to the crowd. "Our Priestess has the right of it," she says. "Please, eat as much as you like... there is food enough for all. I hope you will enjoy your evening. I hope you will come listen to us, again..."
So she is led into the darkness; and if anyone thinks to follow, they will find nothing but shadows there.
The food is neither drugged nor poisoned, hot and inviting.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"You're not." Leina agrees with a whisper to Banagher, letting Rena take over for a time. And instead her fingertips brush along his arm, comfortingly.
"It's done." She says succinctly and very softly when he apologizes, "They want to paint you as the opposition for the crowd. Us against them. You accidentally played into that."
She is a touch irked at him, but she also doesn't expect him to understand how budding demagogues work. Even if this doesn't work, it at least deescalates away from the 'Us vs. them' mentality in a crowd that would be far too tilted against them.
She focuses on him though, because if she feels the fingers of Elisa's power brush up against Banagher's mind...
Still, Elisa's approach is shrewd in her counter, and Leina eyes her with a certain, let's not say 'like' but more 'respect' of her tricks. She even looks mildly amused at the idea of 'selfishness' when they're pushing solipsism.
And Yuliana, Leina gives her a solemn look, not quite like she's playing into this, "Your own form of kindness. I see." A kindness to people Yuliana does not even regard as fully real.
A kindness as real as the people she creates it for.
Still, she lets her have the last word, it is better that they not cause more of a scene. They at least deescalated the sense of tension, even if it unfortunately might draw the crowd in more.
In the end, as the two depart, she smiles, offers a tiny wave, "Have a lovely evening." And immediately pulls Banagher towards Rena, Annie, Kaworu, and Ujico.
"I think it might be wise if we all left as a group tonight."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena looks at Banagher and Leina -- worried, but glad that Banagher at least seems to have recovered some. Leina being there, too, makes her a little more relieved. She looks at Ujico, then, and her eyes are widened for a moment.
She tenses when she steps back.
But only tenses. Rena glances to Anita, and there's a sense of relief, hearing that from her.
She looks back at Elisa -- and she glowers, when she speaks to her. Her fingers curl a little into a fist at her side. "I don't harm others by existing. Don't mistake one person's choices for all of them," she says.
She folders her arms -- then she glances at Yuliana. She frowns when she says that, and keeps frowning as they both walk away.
Then, she looks at Leina, and nods. "Good idea. I don't trust anything about what just happened there."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Elisa says it's alright, when it's not forced onto another. Yuliana wonders if it's right for one method to stand over the others. Anita massages the back of her neck for a moment.
"...That's a matter of perspective, I guess. I've never looked at it that way." She replies. They are tired - and, they depart. Behind her mask, Anita frowns and looks toward Rena, her expression searching as she tries to get a feel for how she's doing.
Leina approaches with Banagher in tow, and Anita nods right along with Rena.
"...Yeah. I think you're right about that." She agrees with both of them. Just in case.
<Pose Tracker> Ujico Issa has posed.
She's spoken up enough tonight. This isn't a protest, where she knows what to say and how to say it and what sign to carry. But Ujico's words made a little bit of a difference today, even if it didn't really... fix anything.
She watches Elisa and Yuliana leave, quietly. "..."
"...Would it be okay if I came too?" she asks Leina, who is right and they should leave because everything is gross. Everything is bad. She wants to go home. But she manages a smile for Rena, because it's important to put others at ease even if you don't feel at ease. Also because Ujico knows that some people are weirded out by a ton of tattoos and rings and even horns.
She probably isn't going to get that recipe, is she.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Having regained his senses, Banagher simply bites his tongue and looks away as Elisa refutes his words on the Light of Possibility. Yuliana speaks of his 'deformity', and Banagher's free hand clenches into a fist. His heart burns with unsaid words, but Leina's safety is far more important.
He doesn't watch as they exit, keeping his golden eyes on the crowd, waiting to sense or see any hostile intentions.
"I walked right into their trap." Banagher says, ruefully. "I made all of us look bad..."
Banagher easily moves with Leina, clinging to her as tightly as she clings to him.
"I'm sorry, everyone. I was so stupid." He says as they arrive to the group. "Let's keep each other safe. And... thanks for having my back. Ujico, you're always welcome with us."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Her relief is palpable as Annie and Rena agree, "Thanks. Krugis is dangerous enough as is without having to worry about other... factors."
An eye is sent Ujico's way, "Absolutely. We don't know what kind of people marked us, so it's better if we're not seen as easy prey."
And then an eye slides sidelong to Banagher, as she shakes her head as she tells him, hushed, "Banagher - you really do have to be more careful about marking yourself as a Newtype, especially around people you're not familiar with."
After a short pause for emphasis though, she does add, "But even if I'm a little frustrated that you didn't listen, I get it. In a different setting I'd argue the same way. They were acting specifically to provoke that kind of reaction out of the crowd."
She offers a fond smile, "You're not used to dealing with people like that." And indeed, even though Leina was, she still kind of played in their hands too, just in a much safer way, she realizes that.
"... Anyhow, Western entrance in three minutes." Then to head off any temptations towards eating the food, "We'll grab a bite once we're across the border if anyone's hungry."