Still Not Safe #2 [M&M 2nd ed]

[kamikasei]

"No questions, sir." Cat tries to conceal her relief that Todd won't be at the conference, but she doesn't try very hard.

"Yeah - we should probably all go see her."

[Tengu_temp]

"I think I'll head to my room - I have things to do. Say hello to Laura for me, okay?" By things Emi means taking a shower and/or going back to sleep, not necessarily in this order.
Laura probably won't feel comfortable with a whole crowd visiting her at once, anyway...

[Drascin]

"Well, drop me a note on what I'm not supposed to say as soon as possible, commander" Andy nods.

"And yeah, we really should go see Laura" Andy says as he begins heading for the door.

"Things to do huh? I understand, believe me. Give my regards to your pillow" Andy whispers and winks as he goes by Emi, and keeps going, with that joking grin the group has probably already learned to recognize.

[TooManySecrets]

"Sir, I do have a question."

She pauses.

"What's going to be done about Thoughts of Ascension?"

[Cubey]

"We must find out who are their members, and neutralize them. They also must have bases of operation somewhere. I hope that the person you captured during the last mission will betray a lot of information to us, but we have several other threads that our agents can pursue in search of results. The recording of the mission was being sent in real time to another location, and it is being investigated as well. My apologies if this sounds vague to you. I wish I could tell more but parts of this operation are restricted to everyone but those who participate in it. And we do not plan to involve any Shifters in the operation - your job is to stop Shifting Entities. We have operatives who are trained to deal with humans."

"Aah, that just answered the question I was going to ask!" Akira scratches the back of his head after hearing the translation to Japanese. It seems his question was the only one the Japanese squad wanted to ask, because nobody else has an inquiry to the Commander.

(If those of you who didn't post yet have a question for the Commander anyway, you can write it anyway and I'll answer it flashback-style)

As you leave Clayton's office, you see that Frank Symes is gone already. Taking the lift down is possible with all people at once, although it gets a little crowded so some of you (especially Lorne) might have decided to wait for the second elevator.

"A conference? Sounds very stressful, will you be alright?" Akiho asks her female teammate playfully, receiving only a slight nod in response.

"Fighting other humans... I didn't sign up for this..." On the other hand, Kazuma is quite stressed.

"Hey, we won't actively attack them or anything like that, right? But if they attack you, you have to fight back or be killed." Says Akira, before facing those of you who take the lift with the Japanese team.
"Let's visit Ericks-san!"

It seems that your comrades from Japan plan to visit Laura as well.
"Oh, where are you going?" Akiho sounds disappointed seeing Emi depart, but does nothing to stop her. The building where Laura Ericks is resting is close enough, so there is not a lot of time for chatter. Entering the structure and finding Laura's room is not a problem for you.

And when you enter the room, you find Laura sitting in a bed. She is not alone though.
"Shifting Entities. How many people die because of them, and how many due to other causes? Will the Thoughts of Ascension become a major cause like disease, violence or hunger?"
These words are aimed at you, as you enter. The one who says them is a person who stands by Laura's side. A person you know well, perhaps better than you'd hope for: Devon.

[Tengu_temp]

"See you. I'm going to my room. Talk to you later." Emi feels a bit guilty for disappointing Akiho, but she swats the feeling away - it's her life, she's not obliged to go with the rest and can do what she wants.

[Fri]

"Yes." James' voice is sharp and precise. "Left unchecked, I believe the thought of ascension will be more dangerous than the SEs. The SEs are aliens, natural disaster. They don't think like human, just as how hurricane don't think about its victims.

The Thought of Ascensions are humans. Unlike hurricanes, they can, and will direct their chaos. That's why, left unchecked, they're more dangerous than the SEs."

[Matar]

"Ya know, were fighting an idea right? Killing them won't change anything." Todd walks towards Laura and Devon with a smile on his face. "An ideal! Butting heads against ours, and only the one with the strongest force of will and passion will survive!" Todd pulls up a chair next to Laura and (If she's awake) ruffles her hair. "I really don't think killing them will change anything, after all, you can't kill an idea. And! How ya feeling Laura? Any better? 'Cause we miss ya girl." Todd leans in and whispers, though it's loud enough for everyone to hear "I think Ben missed ya the most. He was all emo."

[kamikasei]

Cat simply ignores Devon and smiles at the woman in the bed. "Hi, Laura. Feeling all right?"

[Cubey]

"Number of deaths caused by Shifting Entities are miniscule in comparison to other, Earthly causes. Of course, if not stopped they will eventually kill everyone anyway. I want you to realize the difference of perspective, whether you look at humans in numbers or treat each person differently."

However, Devon's talk gets ignored by the Japanese team, maybe because they do not understand or want to listen to her. Anyway, they focus on Laura more.

"Ericks-san! Are you alright?"

"Yes... I am fine. I'm sorry." Laura smiles, trying to hide her embarassment. "I did something really reckless and because of that, you had to leave me behind. You went on a mission and I wasn't there to protect everyone. But you are safe anyway, I'm glad."

[Matar]

"Number of deaths caused by Shifting Entities are miniscule in comparison to other, Earthly causes. Of course, if not stopped they will eventually kill everyone anyway. I want you to realize the difference of perspective, whether you look at humans in numbers or treat each person differently."

"Sweety, you can't teach someone something when you aren't willing to learn things yourself. Anyways, no matter how many of the ToA we kill, it won't change anything. You can't just kill an idea like that, it's impossible."

Todd then speaks to Laura with a grin on his face.

"It's fine! You sound like you need a hug, like badly. I would, but hun here" Todd glances at Devon when he says that, having a blast teasing her. "made my hugging arm sore. Soooo... Ben! I think you should take care of that for me."

Todd laughs a little, obviously enjoying making Laura embarrassed, and Ben mad.

[ChronicLunacy]

Ben Brooks

Todd was, in fact, succeeding, but instead of dragging Todd out of the room by his collar, Ben went around to the other side of the hospital bed. "Hey, Laura." he smiled, settling a hand over hers briefly. "I'm glad you're alright. Don't worry about the mission. You deserve a little rest. Besides, we did alright up there." he remarked, leaving out any mention of Patricia Heinrich. Laura probably already knew the details, but bringing up the casualties would just make someone like her feel guilty for not being there. She was a lot like Emi in that regard.

[Cubey]

Laura lowers her gaze, a blush creeping on her cheeks.
"Alright. I'll try not to worry too much. The situation was very stressful recently, that's all."

"Ericks-san, you should visit us more often!" It seems with Emi's absence, Akiho decided to focus her enthusiasm on Laura.

As for Devon, she stays quiet.

[Drascin]

Andy bops Laura in the forehead playfully. "It's so stressful because you keep trying to stress for everyone. Leave a bit to the rest of us, will you" he grins.

[Cubey]

"I just don't want to lose anyone..." Laura's tone is mildly apologetic, but warm and she seems to be content that you came to visit her.

"Like our previous team?" Devon asks, her tone more sharp than usual. "I do not plan to see that happen either."

"H... hey..." Akira tries to protest, but stops as he hears everything of what the Shifter had to say. As for Laura, she looks very surprised, shocked even, by Devon's words and says nothing.

[ChronicLunacy]

Ben Brooks

"Christ, Devon," Ben scowled, "You and Todd are a match made in heaven. Both of you are social retards." He turned his eyes toward the dark woman. "None of us have to be reminded of what happened to the other team, alright? We appreciate your resolve, but it's a painful subject, especially for Laura. Try to be more tactful." he said softly, but the undercurrent in his voice made it apparent that he was holding back and really just wanted to start yelling at her. Everything she did rubbed him the wrong way.

[Cubey]

"Do you care about this? Pretending the past never happened will not erase it." Devon is back to her usual, emotionless tone. It sounded almost callous.
"Instead of trying not to accidentally hurt anyone's feelings by mentioning a supposedly taboo topic, you should focus on making sure the situation from the past does not repeat itself."

[kamikasei]

"I imagine there are other places you could be pursuing that focus, then. Why waste time berating us when you could surely be up to something more productive?" Cat asks, pleasantly enough.

Spoiler

Show

Diplomacy - (1d20+8)[16]

[Cubey]

"I will take action then. And so you should, deciding what to do by your own rather than waiting until someone else orders you." Devon starts to move.

"Shouldn't you apologise? Wait!" Despite Akira's protests, she moves through the door and leaves.

"Devon..." Laura whispers painfully, her gaze low. Members of the Japanese team look at her, especially Kazuma and Akiho, uncertain of how should they react. They are exchanging a few words, but since it's in Japanese you cannot understand it.

[Matar]

"Babe, don't take this the wrong way, but nothing you do is going to stop the ToA. They're an idea. You can't stop something like that off with fighting them directly."

Todd pictures himself fighting against a giant scrabble board. The words "Shifting Entity", "Human", and "Armor" are on it. Todd is giving it a powerful uppercut. 'Man... that would be awesome.'

"Also? You needs a hug!" Todd attempts to hug Devon before she leaves. With youthful passion!

[Cubey]

Devon sidesteps Todd's hugging attempts, as if avoiding an attack. Stepping into a wall if there's a need (and there probably is), giving an expression of surprise to whomever was looking at her.

[Matar]

And there is a need. Todd's hugs are as relentless as they are cuddly! When Devon steps through a wall Todd begins to crack up, laughing and grinning. He wipes an invisible tear from his eye and says between the laughter.

"Hahaha, oh man. That was hil-hehe-hilarious. Oh man, I love ya Devon. You're just *Laughs some more* just too much fun."

Todd exhales and plops into a nearby chair, a little tired out from laughing so much.

[Cubey]

Todd's actions bring a smile to Laura's face.
"I... can't remember seeing Devon dodge something so carefully. Not even an enemy in combat."
Although slight, the smile is natural.

The Japanese team discuss the situation, with Akiho wondering about something loudly and Akira sounding like he's explaining. Which is followed by the energetic girl giving Kazuma a hug, mirroring Todd's attempts, to the boy's distress.
The two others remain quiet.

[Drascin]

Andy gives Cat a stealth thumbs-up and sincerely congratulates the girl "Smooth handling of Ms Walking Bomb there" he winks.

Then, as if he had said nothing, he steps back into the main conversation without missing a beat. "Yeah, Todd can have that effect on people" he says, trying very hard to black out the memories of the time he had to tackle a naked Todd himself out from his head. Yeaurgh. It still grossed him out weeks after the fact.

[Tengu_temp]

If someone is going to pass next to Emi's door later that they, they will hear guitar music coming from behind it - mostly sad and melancholic songs.

[Cubey]

Laura looks more serious.
"I know everything that happened - during the mission, the attack on our base in Japan. It must be hard for you all. I... must get up as soon as possible. And Devon is right, we must do something. But, what should we do?" She wonders loudly.

"Ah! I'm sorry, I seem to ignore you too much." She faces the Japanese team. "But... I don't know Japanese at all. Maybe we should get a translator."

"It's okay!" Akira responds, and Akiho begins her usual chatter. Kazuma seems too shy to speak up, and the two others are stoically quiet.

(You are free to timeskip if you don't want to talk with Laura anymore. The next important event happens on early afternoon, unless you initiative something of your own in the meantime, that is.)

[kamikasei]

"Don't worry about it, Laura. The Commander's told us he has other people going after Thoughts of Ascension. We're just to focus on defending ourselves while we deal with SEs. Don't let Devon make you think you need to do everything yourself."

Cat talks with the group for as much longer as they stay, trying to cheer Laura up a bit and steer the conversation away from any action they need to take against ToA. It's not until they're leaving that she offers Andy a quick thanks, before heading back to the dorms and thence to the gym. Absent the formal classes and exercises, she spends the time in her own training regimen.

((Happy to timeskip however suits.))

[Matar]

"Psh, mock me all you like. One day, you shall all fear the terrible might of The Hugs!"

Todd goes around hugging people. Starting with Laura, and skipping only Cat. Everyone is filled with huggy goodness! Afterwards, Todd invites whomever wants to join him in filling the world with huggy goodness and leaves the room, hugging (Or trying to hug) everyone he sees to pass the time.

[kamikasei]

Cat stares after Todd, looking entirely nonplussed.

[Fri]

"And that... was something that won't happen everyday."