Tea Time [CLOSED]

Walpurgisnacht arrived at her given address a solid thirty minutes early, only to discover instructions that would lead her on something of a goose chase across the city and then some. The woman couldn't help but smile at the misdirection. It was an entirely suitable countermeasure for this sort of meeting -- and no doubt it was not the last one that she would encounter on this particular evening.


The woman was dressed rather simply; incognito, to be sure, but not in the villainous sense. Her blood-red cloak was tucked away under a light jumper; in lieu of her oni visage, she wore dark-tinted sunglasses, a hospital mask and a backwards baseball cap. They were all various shades of strange red; even the hospital mask was the lightest, palest shade of pink, comprised as it was of her own blood. It was a little odd, if one paid it a substantial amount of scrutiny; to a casual passerby, though, the color combo would simply seem modern chic.


Once the foreign-tempered villain arrived at the cafe, the presumed ultimate location of her meeting with this Marionettist, she took a moment to survey the terrain. She couldn't help but smile beneath her mask; it was, after all, much to her taste. It looked like something that she might have found back 'home', in the placid provincial villages and more temperate climes of Germany or France. She spoke her code message to one of the waitresses, who quickly ferried her towards the secret room.


She flexed her fingers just before she entered; the jumper dissolved, allowing her cloak to unfurl properly, and her headgear morphed and merged into her characteristic half-mask. The lower portion was left unformed so as to allow for easier conversation -- and, more importantly, for the drinking of tea.


"You needn't apologize for intelligence, she insisted, offering the other villains a rather grandiose bow with one arm tucked beneath her breast as her cloak billowed behind her. Not only does it make a great deal of logistical sense -- but it's also rather chic, is it not? I always have been fond of the dramatic, despite my propensity for operating in the shadows."


She approached the table, then, placing her hands upon the back of the empty chair provided to her. Her slender fingers curled around the wooden back, bloodstone nails gently tapping upon the surface. "May I sit?"

“...as you saw, the demographic for this place is females, Sen.”

Aya replied with a slight roll of his eyes. He knew full well how much alcohol was “enough” for the other which was… not a humane amount in any measure. He personally didn’t drink, (apart from that one time…) and ordered himself a muscat iced tea instead. He sent the order via the phone situated on the wall, there was also a small concealed dumb waiter on the far back wall.

“Well if you like, I can bring some Isopropyl Alcohol from my lab if you want that much alcohol…”

He wasn’t actually sure what would happen if Sen drank that. It may do some harm. Maybe not. Hey, sounded like a good experiment, he had never really thought of what happened if Sen consumed toxins…

“...it might actually be a rather interesting experiment…”

The violet haired villain mused, a glint of excitement flashing across his grey-violet eyes. There was still many things he didn’t know about the other male, things he hadn’t tried, things he wanted to know, no, he needed to know everything… it was just a matter of getting Sen to agree to trying them as for some reason the man was a little weary of letting him do what he wanted.

“...alright, as long as this meeting goes without any issues we can go and have the abominations you claim to be edible.”

With the kinds of things the black haired man consumed,he was pretty sure that 99% proof alcohol wouldn’t be fatal, at the very least…

Once the woman arrived (so it was one person, adult and female. Thank god it wasn’t some teenager…) Aya nodded, indicating the chair opposite him.

“Please, do sit down. What would you like to drink, eat?”

The menu listed many teas, many flavoured black tea imports from France and England as well as unusual single origins from parts of Asia.

“So I have to ask you rather directly, Walpurgisnacht, are you the same one I have seen spoken about on the internet, the one, or part of group that is responsible for assassinations of politicians, influential company owners and other persons of that sort of nature? And...what brings you to Japan?”

He supposed usually small talk should be first but...he wasn’t that polite, unfortunately.

Sen didn't often treat these meetings with any sort of care, at least to outside eyes. He would likely appear bored or distracted, hand propping up his cheek while he slouched lazily where he sat. Careless of etiquette and manners. Truthfully, he had come thinking it would be more like some of the other meetings, where they would test the strength of their new acquaintances against his own, but he was sadly disappointed. The one good and controllable quality about his quirk was that it was fairly good for testing out another opponent's abilities. It forced them to reveal what they likely preferred to keep quiet because if they were going into the fight against Revenant half-cocked and not prepared to test themselves and survive, he would gut them like a fucking pig. Regardless of whether or not it was a practice spar or a real battle, he fought with the intention of ripping them apart. Aya didn't complain, most of the time. If they could survive a spar with him, they weren't savvy enough for the club (or at least how Sen considered it). It seemed fair, but perhaps he wasn't a good judge of fairness. Then again, Aya was not offensive in the least and yet he had survived.

Despite looking bored and thoroughly without fucks for the contents of the topic (and he was quite bored with it all), he paid attention. It was as his parents often told him, pay attention when people speak. Sometimes, unwittingly, their words offered inflections of weakness. Information was powerful and although he was a fighter far more than a strategist these days, he still regarded such lessons with utmost importance. He enjoyed being two very different people, one loud and eye-catching and the other thinking, thoughtful beneath the surface. One was more powerful than the other of course, but the other was not forgotten.

"So you're a revolutionary, huh? Your lot comes a dime a dozen these days.  People with codes means limitation, not sure I like that. Limitations aren't useful. And so what then is your code?" To each their own, of course, the Hive hadn't been made to limit those with limitations, after all it was simply an organization of connections. She was not useful to someone like Revenant who had no limitations and no concern for the dogmas of other people, but that didn't necessarily matter to the Hive because no one was under the service of another person. Someone would likely find her useful, but at the same time he couldn't quite help but drag her beliefs through the dirt. "See I don't care that you believe in anything so much as I care that loyalties to a code have a tendency to conflict with loyalties to your friends. If say I were to be like one of those vile wicked people you speak of, what would keep you from acting very un-friend-like in return?" 

Celica smiled pleasantly as the others made their observations. Their conclusions and concerns were, ultimately, somewhat predictable; they were the sorts of observations most commonly leveraged against someone with a vision like hers. She couldn't help but chuckle as The Marionettist spoke of government control; it was a reasonable conclusion to reach as far as her motivations went, but it couldn't have been more incorrect.

"I have no interest in power -- at least, not in the formalized, procedural sort." She shrugged her shoulders. "And I have no intention of leading any sort of widespread rebellion. Rebellions are, after all, messy and burdened with human cost." She closed her eyes, choosing to revel in the taste of her tea for a moment instead of proceeding further with her explanation. It was, to the locale's credit, expertly brewed -- and they used whole milk, much to her happy discovery.

"As for the ever equitable exchange," she said, "I simply want connections. Information. Insurance that my endeavors won't accidentally step on another villain's toes. I'm not interested in turf wars or clashes of conscience. It has always been my opinion that there is no use crying over -- what is the phrase? Broken cat statues?" She afforded Sen a pointed look, her lips curling into the slightest of smiles.

"As for the chance that your ideals contradict mine -- I'm not too concerned about that. My targets are those whose deaths would shape society the way that I feel it should be formed. Government officials, social actors, et cetera. If someone is trying to poison the well of society with further stratifications -- well, then it seems far easier to simply silence the voice than to try and counteract the ramifications of their political action." She glanced between the pair. "I am assuming neither of you are pro-corporate politicians with large social followings. If that assumption is correct, then I have no doubt that we will never cross blades due to a conflict of interests."

To be honest Aya didn’t really get what the lady wanted, but he supposed he could analyse it in his own time and understand. If the female was sane, then she would fall into several groups. And if she wasn’t...well, then she would fall into the other- unpredictable. Either way, he supposed it was a good thing they made contact, as on the off chance she really was who she said she was, it was good to keep tabs on people in the circuit.Specially as, both their combined lack of compassion for humankind and general hate for them may in due time cross paths with people like this person.

The people who knew of the two always seemed rather confused as to why they worked together but it was simple- they were both the same kind of awfully selfish people. Infact, it was selfishness that had brought them together in the first place. In Aya’s opinion, one could usually not trust someone to do something for others but you can always trust someone to do things to their own merit. In 99.7% of humans, the last person one would betray was themselves, and that was a solid enough number for him to trust someone who was doing something for themselves.

So it was a little suspicious the lady was being very vague with what she wanted, but well, it was acceptable parameters to proceed. In actual fact, the people on their own hit list may be people she wanted gone too, but for them it was purely selfish reasons of personal revenge and freedom rather than anything useful to anyone else. Though if interests matched...that may be a fortunate coincidence?

“We have various sources of information, whether it be on the internet or on the street, so that would be no problem. And what kind of services do you offer in return?”

He asked after taking a sip of his own iced tea...when he paused. That was… a rather strange analogy… cats? A sinking feeling of dread took over him at the mention of the certain cursed animal, and violet-grey eyes shifted over to his partner in suspicion. No, it can’t be…

The look on Sen’s face and the words he uttered said it all.

The long haired villain took a slow breath in his eyes closing, and slowly exhaled as he opened his eyes again before he gave the black haired man a look that spoke rather clear words if one was used to him and his mannerisms.

What in the world did you do while you were gone??

Fiercely he ignored Aya's rather piercing expression, reading those words, having them fill his head and yet he could not admit that he had attempted to fight a group of children over a fucking cat statue. Instead he searched through the pockets of his jack and withdrew a cute little cat figurine attached to a key chain. "It was well worth the trouble." It was such a happy looking cat, how could he possibly not threaten to destroy for it?

"I prefer to go through them, but I was in a bit of a hurry." He grumbled with a shrug. It didn't matter anymore anyways though his wounded pride said otherwise. It said: Kill this woman, she saw you at a shameful period of time. He had been without Aya to give him substance or solidity. He had been lost and seeking comfort from a cat statue. HOW WAS THAT CRIMINAL EXACTLY? He still didn't look Aya in the eye though, of course, shame and all.

So instead he focused on the other woman, partial between intrigue and desire to murder thee. She was fairly boring to him, if only because assassins should never have to be formal nor have to abide by any codes but their own, he should know. Though he was less assassin and more circumstantial murderer capable of controlled killing but unwilling to commit to it. I'm rather talented at leaving little mess.

Why did that feel like a personal jab.

Don't like this lady, Onryo chimed in oh so helpfully. He agreed though.

The woman's lips curled into a prim, but satisfied smile. "Quite so," she agreed. She finished her tea, setting it down on the ground before standing and affording the pair a deep bow. From the inside of her cloak, she fished a business card; with the flick of her wrist, it spun idly onto the table -- impressively landing just between the tower of scones and treats and the teapot, text and images facing the pair of villains across from her.

The card itself was fairly lackluster. Comprised of simple white card stock and printed with black ink, it showed a pair of coordinates and a small missive: 'light the lamp to see the way.' "There is a lamp post at that coordinate, disconnected from the city's mainframe. Beneath the fifteenth rivet from the bottom, on the north facet of the post itself, there is a button that will illuminate the lamp for twelve hours. Should you wish to speak to me, light it -- and I will appear there at midnight the following evening. If you wish, you can also leave a note in the compartment, hidden by a panel between the sixteenth and seventeenth rivets on the same side."

She then profferred a deep, pleasant bow, offering the pair a full, toothy smile and a gloved hand pressed forwards at the apex of the motion. "I look forward to doing business with the hive! Just consider me your busy little killer bee~"