Longing For Lauderdale

"You're right. Thanks for reminding me. You're a cave goblin," Joshua chuckled back at her as he gingerly helped her back up. He continued to watch over her with a sense of concern behind his smile. She seemed utterly tired, but that was to be expected after such an ordeal. Hopefully she'd recover soon. But it was good to see her starting to come back to being the same old self... just like good old times. Simon and Rinna, they were really the only ones he cared for and it made him whole again to have them back.

The Nyarlathotep Child looked over at Sentinel and gave him a nod. He never asked this guy to find them or even help. But it was great that he did, or else they would have been screwed and Rinna would be lost forever. It was a thought Joshua didn't want to have in his head right now. Right now, he had gratitude for his assistance. So he was willing to explain why they ended up here, it was the least he could do to show his gratefulness. "Azami had a tip-off on where to find her. Then the rest was history. Thanks for the assist earlier, by the way."

Joshua didn't bother to ask why and how he found them here. But maybe he'd explain why. Though of course, he already did. Zachary. His face grimaced at the news, saving Lune was going to be far more difficult than he imagined. Then he remembered something what Adiyna said...


Did Zachary have a way to get to the Core? If so, that is pretty worrying. But, the other option of getting stronger seemed very suspect. Joshua took a glance at the item that Azami acquired. Seeing how it was a power that Rinna gained, then maybe... Just maybe...


There was some kind of worry that Azami might lose herself in the process. But, the options were getting increasingly smaller the more they wasted time and this was a golden opportunity. Especially when Rinna said Hecate's power could open up the path to the Core. Now they needed to deal with a few other things.

"Let her have the body, Rinna," he spoke to her, "We have Lune to save from Zachary. Azami can hand the body back to Nozomi and fix this whole thing or something while we're at it. You and I owe her for helping us at least. It's not like she has an ulterior motive to end this world anyway. Remember, you don't owe Isla a goddamn thing after leaving you here to rot."

Joshua looked back at Azami with an apologetic smile, "I'll stay behind for now. I'll come catch up. Save some shit for me, won't you?"

"You'd be right. Everything I do has a reason behind it. That doesn't mean I'm going to tell you that reason though." Alphonse thought he was entitled to the truth, but it didn't matter to Azami. She was aware of his involvement with Isla and she wasn't about to give her enemy any of the information or progress which she had worked so hard to attain. For the first time in a long while she was in complete control of the situation; there was no way she was going to relinquish it just so he could send everything she had been fighting for crashing to the ground in the name of the status quo.

Rinna's offer was... a little worrying. The "or something" at the end of it wasn't exactly reassuring, especially since this was the person who likely understood the nature of the stone best. But Azami wasn't about to waste time thinking over every little possibility. She had risked tooth and nail for this power -- it was the main reason she had come here in the first place. And with it being vital to achieving her goals and saving her world from the Core, she was more than ready to give it a shot, even if shoving a demonic pebble down her throat didn't sound like the most pleasant, safe, or enjoyable way to go about things. "No. There's no need to apologize. It was... frustrating dealing with you at first, but your mistrust wasn't unjustified. We are strangers, after all, and even people you think you know can be more than willing to stab you in the back for their own ends. So I can understand why you acted the way you did. I'd probably do the same were I in your shoes."

She was ready. It was time to proceed. Or it would have been if Alphonse didn't try to butt in once again. Azami remained silent, but the scowl on her face spoke well enough for her. When he finally finished his little speech, she was feeling more than a little irked. "Fuck. Off. I didn't ask for your opinion. Of course you'd say it's risky because you and your precious minister don't want me getting that kind of power. Of course you'd say Zachary discovered the location of the body because that means you can lure us out into a trap and take it for yourselves. Do you think we're stupid? Even if he did know where it was, why would he tell you for free? No. You got the information from someone and that someone is clearly the one who forced Rinna into this shitty situation to begin with! It's Isla who sent you here!"

Goddamn it. This whole thing had gone to shit. Joshua's suggestion didn't appeal to her at all. She needed to deal with Isla and Zachary herself; she needed to find Medea and do what she had done here. But what other option was there? One of the minister's lapdogs was here in front of them and even if he didn't retrieve the body himself, he'd be able to tell her and those aligned with her about its location. They needed to get the body somewhere safe before he could, preferably back to Nozomi, and with no other means of transporting it this was their best bet. "Fuck it. Let's do it. Gimme the body I'll head there alone with it. It's troublesome, but that's just the way life is I guess. Always finding new ways to make things difficult..."

Her mission was what she needed to focus on. She couldn't bother dwelling on parting ways with Joshua no matter how either of them felt about it. Just getting to the Core wasn't enough however: she needed someone to handle things in Azores for her. "If that's what you want then I won't stop you. But if you're sticking behind then would you mind handling Isla for me? I need someone to do it. Aside from the obvious reasons why, I'm sure that 'Medea' that Hecate referred to is her demon, which means that killing her might get us a similar stone to this one. If you could retrieve that and put a stop to any chance of Zachary getting his hands on one, that'd be good enough, but if you can also find some way to get it to me then it'd no doubt be a great help. I need all the strength I can gather. If you've still got stuff to deal with here after defeating her then you can send Simon over with it, assuming that's alright with him." Hopefully he'd agree, but if not then there was no helping it. Either way, she had to act and she had to do it now. Swiftly she'd cram the rock into her mouth and resist the urge to spit it out, instead trying to force it down her throat with a hard swallow. Whatever happened next would be worth it if she could get Hecate's power under her control.

Action:

Relevant(?) Strengths/Weaknesses:

Like Rinna, hearing about Lune caused him to grimace. He knew that the girl was working with him. But would that change once Rinna arrives? Well, whatever the case, just sitting around and arguing wasn't going to fix anything. He spoke to Azami, "I'll worry about that later. I'm sure Rinna wants to go get Lune. After that, we can figure something about Isla once we can secure her."

Joshua nodded at the rest of the people inside this dank tomb. "Let's move out and get this shit over with."

[Exit, unless something happens]

The android eyes narrowed at Azami when she spat back, did she really think that? There was no way she was that paranoid? However, every action she was taking was screaming how unstable she was? She didn't trust him, she's super defensive, and she broke away from a group in order to seek out her own goal. In other words, she was not a team player. This was worrisome, it was now clear that she had some ulterior motive, and she was willing to sacrifice just about anyone to get it. If that was the case then they would have to tread very carefully.

He looked toward Rinna and gave her a nod, "To Zachary then?" He said, he could agree with that. That meant that he could bring Nozomi back to Shunnosuke, which he should likely warn Rinna about. All she had to do was likely just let Shunnosuke hold him, and just hang on to Nozomi and everything would be better. The android would choose to ignore Azami's ire, surely she would come to realize how foolish her accusations were. If he were to defend himself then she would likely be more paranoid, so let's try this approach first of all. He wasn't sure if she would believe him anyways. He followed Joshua to see about helping take down the person that was truly evil, Zachary.

(Exit)

To see her warnings ignored wasn't just disheartening, it was troubling. Alphonse was a clear threat. Even disregarding the knowledge that he was working with someone who they had turned against, the fact that he somehow knew to come here in the first place was troubling enough on its own, and yet no one paid any mind to it. And worse yet, Rinna still continued to refuse to give up possession of the body despite everything that was going on. Biting down on her lip, Azami took a deep breath and tried her best to keep cool. Lashing out wouldn't solve anything and would more likely than not make already shitty matters worse. For now, despite how idiotic this course of action was to her, she'd comply.

"If you aren't going to let me cross over with the body then I'm sticking with you and the rest of the group. If it falls into the wrong hands we could all be screwed, so I'm not leaving until this civil war bullshit has been dealt with."

With a sigh, Nyarlathotep's Wild Card would merely shake her head and follow closely behind the group while grumbling quietly to herself. She made sure to keep her eyes on Alphonse though. Maybe she was being paranoid, but you could never be too careful. All she could do at the moment though was hope that the Band of Revolutionaries wasn't blindly charging toward its end.