ElfCollaborator

Suddenly, Michi approaches behind Ceridwen and Argos. Their facial expression is, obviously, hidden. Their voice is relatively calm, but given their relatively imposing presence, that isn't exacty reassuring.   "No control? You give them too little credit. They aren't mindless fools, that we can see clearly enough. They understand honor, they understand right and wrong, and they understand orders. I don't begrudge them for fighting their war, I begrudge them for dragging those who had nothing to do with it into their misery. If I, or Johanna, told you to massacre innocent children because we were starving and they had food, would you do it, knowing it was wrong? Would you do it because they told you to? Would you not even begin to question your orders? He ordered them to, yes, but they did it. They could have run, they could have stood their ground and maintained their honor, but instead, they went along with what they were told to do because they were told to do it. You speak as if justice and doing what is right are two different things. I feel they are not; people choose to believe they are because it helps them sleep at night to believe that justice is simply to follow the laws with no concern as to what the spirit of them actually means. If you genuinely believe that they didn't understand that when they chose to go along with what is being done here, you give them too little credit."

"So much for stealth." This really, really wasn't how Lenore preferred to do things. If she were the one planning this, she'd have used the explosion to draw the guards away (too many to fight and in any case, Lenore wasn't a fighter), take the wagon while the people weren't looking and run with it. A direct fight wasn't a good idea; they were outnumbered, there weren't many veteran fighters among them at the moment, and they knew the terrain better than everyone bar Phoenix. Then again, she wasn't planning this. Phoenix had better have known what he was doing. This was already going to be messy, and Lenore would prefer not to have her first collaboration with Virtuous be her last. L4

  "I don't feel that letting them go unpuished for their crime would serve justice. What happened to them was unfair, but it gives them no right to do injustices unto others."

Empi groans, before shrugging. Not like she had anything better to do. "Fuck it. I'm in. Besides, there's either the possibility of some handsome reward here or you'll curse us with magical carnival gap juju until we do it anyway. Or you don't and some other unfortunate joker's got to do it instead. Damn am I NOT doing what I'm paid for."

  "They should face justice, but not by our hand. Their actions were dishonorable, but it does not make it our place to dishonor ourselves as a result, and in any case, killing them will not undo their misdeeds. Of course, it is not my decision."

  "Last I heard, fighting on the wrong side had nothing to do with attacking a random village out of your way. And don't all people believe they aren't worth prison? What makes your case so different that the lives of others ought to be beneath yours?"

  "You have been weighed, you have been measured.....and you have been found wanting! Begone!" Michi heads to H7 and assists in the burning of Kiba

Empi lifts an eyebrow at her surroundings. Not bad, this place was. Pretty similar to the Japanese branch. Crazy bastards, they were, every one of them. Rich, with a taste for fine art, but crazy bastards. Empi never dealt with them personally; that was Negotiations, as opposed to Matchmaking. The faeries in that department were sneaky little shits. Nobody particularly liked them, but then again, Empi's department wouldn't have nearly the monopoly on love affairs it did if Negotiations hadn't done its job. Of course, when the price for sealing the deal was the memory of a summer's day and the price for breaking it was to be chased by those gremlins the company called 'repo men' down in the Erl-King's pizza-filled basement cave, nobody wanted to cross Negotiations. But that carnival was a world away, and Empi was in a wholly different carnival right now. "Indisposed how? We talking 'terrible hangover the likes of which have never been seen before' indisposed? 'Actually has a girlfriend but doesn't want to leave bed' indisposed? Surely they can't possibly be the only people around here who could deal with......whatever it is you dragged us here to deal with."

Empi, probably mostly unchanged, looks fascinatingly over at LOTUS and Ritsu. The other things about this place didn't quite faze her; working for Venus and being surrounded with all sorts of "personalities" made Empi pretty hard to wow in the supernatural shenanigans department. Especially when stuff like this happened every other day back home. However, the current victims were too easy, too funny for Empi to pass up a comment. "Oh. Ohohohoho. I could have fun with this. Please, please tell me this is intentional."

Gabriel, standing right next to Perlita, is also looking in mild awe at the city. He hadn't seen places like this except in paintings and in the alien spaces, but it was the fact that this was practically dime-a-dozen for them at this point that made all the difference. Then suddenly, people. "Uh....do people normally fall out of the sky here? I'm pretty sure that's not how that works. Right?"

G9

"Just wait it out, Scarlet. Don't make her job too easy."

"Whoa there, Minstrel. I'm sure the only rough ride Scarlet's looking for at the moment is on the back of a horse. And Knight, don't worry about it, she didn't mean that. Though, I'm surprised some starry-eyed girl hasn't come along to and offered to, uh, elucidate."

"Hm. How do you figure we're taking on the whole prison? We're not exactly flush with numbers." Indeed, Lenore had given this some thought. She wasn't a fighter, and so most of her plans generally involved avoiding as much fighting as possible. She hadn't quite figured out how Kane operated yet, either, but as he was willing to get into the thick of things, she figured he planned to go in there swords drawn.

"It wouldn't make for a great story, but I'm not keen on going to prison. Phoenix, you've cased the place, right?" Lenore wasn't one for having such a large crew for a prison break. She, personally, would keep the crew to a minimum; one or two in the prison directly, to open doors, probably bribed, a getaway man with some horses for a quick run through the forest, two men conducting the break in directly, in addition to communication with whoever the target was. The masks were also a tad much. Anonymity was in obscurity; walking around with obvious masks, while the price of entry into Virtuous, was worse than doing without one. She simply hid her eyes with a plain russet cloth, with some holes cut out; not the most elegant or glamourous mask, but then again, if she really was trying to disguise herself, it wasn't going to exactly be that these fools would recognise someone whose normal prowl were the parties of Perusian nobles and the palaces of Perusian clergymen wearing what amounted to sackcloth.. Still, Phoenix was the boss, and she'd agreed to following his orders when she cast her lot in with the group. Patience was a virtue. Trust him, for now. The others? The guy on the horse seemed most trustworthy; he didn't seem like the lying, thieving type, just from looking at him. The others, she needed to read them a little longer than that to figure them out.

Anima and an Iron Knife for Lenore, jack-of-all-trades for criminals.

Gabriel looks more than slightly confused as he looks around at the veritable rogues' gallery of people around him. "Uh. Wait. Judge? Goddesses? What? Please explain a little more for those of us who uh.....don't come from.....Planeptune?"

I8

"......if I'm right in assuming, it was less 'invading' and more 'sending a guy up there to prove America had a larger dick than the Russians, plant a flag there and coin one of the most famous phrases of the century'. Although again, considering that this is news to me, I'm sure good ol' Neil Armstrong had a few things to discuss with the moon people."

".I'm not much of a fighter, myself. Still, I 'll see what I can do for you, and we'll call it even, yeah?"

Empi just stares at Masako as if she'd said she was Theodore Roosevelt just come back from having a drug-fuelled orgy with Pennywise and Cleopatra. ".....okay, i have to ask. What kind of carnival is your world like? I thought shit got crazy with succubi sorority parties, but invading the Moon?"

".....yeaaaaah. Still got books. Man, you really ARE behind. It's going to be a treat to catch you up."

M8

"......yeah. I'm not sure I'd stay here, honestly. We still got things at home to deal with. But.....it would be the right thing to do, to stay here and help. Stuff like this was never my strong point, huh? Always a little indecisive. Anyway.....I'm sure Malachi's got things handled. It's Malachi."

Empi returns the flat look Iowa gives her with one of disbelieving puzzlement, before understanding. ".....the hell are you from, the 1800s? Actually, that would make way too much sense, thinking about it. You still believe in that fairy cold iron bul....stuff, which people stopped seriously believing like a century ago in my world, you think 'multiverse' is a made-up word, I'm assuming you don't know what cellphone reception or a cartoon is either, and also you think Irish people still believe in fairies. I'm guessing.....you're from around the early 1900s, based on what you're wearing. Effective when I left home and ended up with these people, it was the year......2017. An entire century's difference, if I'm right. We're also obviously from different worlds, considering I've never seen anyone look like you except people in period dramas and plays, and considering where I'm standing, that dress -cute, by the way- looks real authentic, and you've obviously never heard of fairies who don't run screeching away from iron like Superman runs from kryptonite. Well, looks like you were born a little too early to see rock and roll, penicilin and the Internet. At least you'll be glad to know Irish people still make great whiskey."