Arabesque Retreat [Cadets]

Considering who it is they were talking to, Gozai found himself somewhat... disappointed at how these two were apparently such.... simpletons. The topic of food, pizza of all things dominating much of the exchange. He found that the mere mention of pig demon sausage being used as filling on pizza, and by extension the implication of eating demons, very nearly made him feel physically ill.

"I appreciate the generosity, but I grabbed a bite just before leaving for here, so I am good as far as food goes." He lied, it had in fact been a good several hours in between him boarding the train, and him having his last bit to eat. It was hard to keep his voice level. Admittedly yes, he was getting kinda hungry. But when his option were going hungry, or eating demons... He'd choose the former.

IT was somewhat interesting to hear though when the... female? would explain how things worked here. Such crude methods, really quite fitting for a cesspit of demon-lovers, he thought to himself, letting his prejudice and confirmation bias shape his opinion further. Off course he wouldn't say that, and as long as there wasn't any mind-reading demons or some other stupid shit like that, then his own thoughts certainly wouldn't cause any problems. Hell, mind-reading could probably be cause for a political incident in and of itself.

He would merely nod to what Susan was explaining, before chiming in himself. "It is as Officer Groves said, though I've heard of incidents that could fit the description of, to quote your own choice of words "swinging your metaphorical dick around."" He would speak, the mask of a small smile upon his face. However, before he continued, his red eyes shifted to Susan.

"Officer Groves, would it be impertinent of me if I were to share what I know of the sewer incident with these? I believe Officer Frost was involved." The albino asked of her, slightly gesturing toward the two wardens.

The topic of sunscreen came up again, from Susan specifically. And well, there was nothing really to disagree with, save for maybe her choice of words, but he wasn't about to argue. "I did apply some suncreen before I left for the train station, the strongest I could get off the shelf. But it isn't going to last the whole day. And well, if I had to die by the time I hit my thirties, and I had the choice to cross off one potential cause from the list of things that'll probably kill me, that would be melanoma" His tone would indicate that it was an attempt at dark humor. A rather poor one at that.

D-demon Pizza? Isaac had to take a moment to consider that. They were from another world or something right? Could it be safe to eat? From the research Isaac had done, the presence of demons could warp nature and wildlife, and now that he knew that Isla's magic kept the Demons away for most of the day, it made sense to him that that must be why Endymion could grow actual crops and normal livestock. Suddenly that tidbit of information was immensely more powerful.

He had to say he wasn't particularly pleased with the woman's calling his home dystopian. He knew what that meant. It wasn't a good thing at all. Order was necessary in these times. You couldn't just go around beating everyone up whenever you felt like it. Unless you were Domionan, apparently. The differences were staggering. Still, they were friendly enough, engaging even, and he wondered if he'd be able to come visit the wardens at a later date. He could likely learn a lot from them combat-wise.

Gozai and Susan each turned down the snacks in turn, but a voice in his head echoed. "Don't be to hasty, boy. We gain power from consuming the essense of demons you defeat in battle. Perhaps by consuming their flesh in this form we could gain some energy." Samyaza said from the sword on Isaac's back. Isaac craned his neck as if to listen, likely seeming a little strange to those around who weren't familiar with the Forgotten bond.

"Yes. Consume their flesh so we might gain power." Gadreel's voice came, harsh and insistent. Isaac shook his head. Seriously, you two.

"I'll try anything once, that's my motto. With pizza, anyway. I'm not gonna go get it though. We're here for a reason. Can't leave her highness alone." he replied to tag with a smile, seemingly not put off at all by his demonic appearance. He seemed friendly even, and Isaac found himself accepting whatever snack it was he was offered. It was rude to turn away food shared in good conscience. Part of this mission was trust between the two cities right? Their practices might be different, but they both did what they could to survive in the post-divide world. "Sure thing. Thanks." Isaac took one pretzel and popped it into his mouth, munching pleasantly.

He disregarded whatever look Susan might give him. She was great at business, but not so great-it seemed- and just being friendly. That was fine. To each their own, but he was getting a little tired of the looks she gave him when he did his best to be friendly to the people they were meeting.

When Gozai mentioned the sewer incident, Isaac shook his head. Despite his words, his tone was soft and friendly, still. "Lets not talk about that, Gozai. I was there, and some aspects of that incident probably shouldn't be shared." He was thinking, of course of the Psychosis spell that had been used. Something he'd found out later was indicative of a faction called Infinite Jest, which was a dangerous and mortal enemy the Cadets had to face on their own. Isaac wasn't usually one for superstition, but words could have power, and he had a baseless worry that talking about Jest might bring the scourge to these people, and he couldn't have that.

SQ Gained:

"Aw hell, we got ourselves a gourmet here, eh? I think we're gonna like ya, dude. Anyone that's up for any pizza, is A-Okay in my book. Except, pineapple. Screw that shit. What do ya call yourself?" At first Andrea smirked upon noticing several of the Cadets making a pass on the pizza. Well, initially, at least. The silver-headed dude with the fuck-off sword on his back caused her to raise an eyebrow at first. Even T.A.G. found himself staring at the guy. But they both broke out into an amused giggle. For the first time, some outsider was willing to give it a taste of something rather too exotic for most appetites. Demon pizza wasn't so bad that you'd immediately die, but you'd certainly have some reaction to it if you were unlucky. But them's the breaks, really.

"Didn't anticipate the rough trip, huh? Shit sucks, but it is what it is. Sorry Shura didn't come any earlier. Sandstorm made it a pain to get anything ready, but he always makes sure to come out in time." She found herself raising an eyebrow at Susan. before pulling out a carton of cigarettes and shaking a single one out for Susan to take. When the Cadet took it, she flipped out a zippo lighter to light it. It was odd, usually the train trips were safer at this time of day. Raiders didn't bother going after trains, especially on such higher speeds. Their vehicles couldn't take the stress of it for long. Maybe they were changing up their tactics. Though what was even more odd was this prissy office woman wasn't above smoking. Weird.

"Oh, you mean those weird Purse Owner powers that come out like ghosts. 'Like woooooo, I'm coming to get youuuuu for rebelling against Our Pristine Orderrrrr! Cursed be on youuuuu!' Like that but with cops and terrorists, right? Do you guys ever have a punching match while screaming battle cries like that one Japanese anime?" T.A.G. curiously asked as he pantomimed the motions of a ghost with his shaking demonic claws before doling out a viciously almost-faster-than-the-eye-could-see flurry of harmless punches in the air.  There wasn't any bit of malice or sarcasm in his tone, just sheer interest of a world different from his. It wasn't every day you got to see someone who got to spit out a ghostly entity to fight on their behalf. It was mostly just demons and their summoners duking it out over whatever battle they sought after. "Me? Never seen a Demi-Fiend, have ya? I got into a program that fuses people with demons. Joined cause I was bored and it sounded fun. Now I got a demon in my head too. Speed Demon says hi, by the way. Oh and, Andrea. Don't ya have some of that cream for him?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, you weeb. You can have it the rest, I got more back home." Andrea pulled out a small plastic bottle and handed it to Gozai. Though as Isaac did try to keep the attention from being brought to what appeared to be a private subject, it was too late from piquing her interest. "Hey now, we're all friends here, right? T.A.G. and I could use a good story. Our bosses are gonna take a while after all, right, T.A.G.? Oh and, hurry up and order some pizza. Our guests are starving, skip on the kebab this time, brat."

Some small prayer of hers had been answered and Andrea did in fact smoke. She would assume that many people here did. Their King did and those would seek to emulate him, plus what she knew of desert culture. Idle hands and all that, anything to occupy the boredom. In any case she was far beyond the formalities, they were nothing more than typical soldiers with too much time on their hands, nothing at all like the organized guard of the Queen. She just didn’t care anymore.
”Thank you,” came her reply as she bowed her head for Andrea to light the cigarette. The nicotine was… well it wasn’t CALMING. To be calm in this situation would take a saint of grandest magnitude but it did take the edge off.


Susan faintly sucked on her cigarette, such a dreadful day already. Fortunately there was no shortage of ash trays in an office such as this, she found herself hovering around one to flick her ashes. It wouldn’t do to be untidy in the midst of a new kingdom. The guest and the host each had responsibilities to be on their best behavior, each as accommodating to the other as humanly possible. But Susan had to roll her eyes at the hybrid simpleton. She was simply surrounded by those, it seemed.
”Persona, yes. An apparitional manifestation of the inner self. I would still equate it to psychic powers, it’s not as far off from the truth than you believe if my own theories are correct. And I am very sure someone has certainly wasted their time trying that out but verbal commands do hasten your control of them. It’s all in the mind, tying verbal control to psychic actions engages more of your brain in the task and makes it easier but they basically do as we wish them.”

Susan placed a hand on her hip with a slight grimace, the cigarette hanging from her mouth. She couldn’t help but be blunt, even if it was interesting that they would fuse demons and humans but also that people would volunteer to be abominations. She wasn’t one to judge, however. In a sense they too were unnatural and volunteers to become something that wasn’t completely human themselves if Professor Hugo’s colleagues were to be believed. Though it was very disconcerting that a demon spoke in his own mind. That was just dangerous.
”No, no I have not Tag. Endymion does not have a very high opinion over demons in general, most consider them the purest form of evil but unfortunately that is the public opinion. I equate them more to forces of nature, neither benevolent nor malevolent but certainly dangerous if left out of control.” Susan thought for a bit as she puffed, returning to the conversation. ”I’d have to say if you were to visit for joint training something would need to be arranged. The public outcry alone would be ugly, any guest to Endymion deserves better despite inclination. But that would indeed be an unwise idea to just show up in jeans and a T-shirt and frighten the local populace.”

It was answering a question no one asked but she was looking toward the future, beyond this singular meeting and into possibly working together. They could learn from one another. Likely not much but something. Then came the “metaphorical dick swinging”. In this case it was less about the concept and more about swapping stories about who was more of a hardcore force as soldiers would do. Susan honestly thought this was pointless but boys will be boys. Even Andrea, let’s be honest here. Fairweather showed surprising judgement in somewhat realizing when to shut his mouth and show tact but as long as their underlying problems did not show there would not be much harm in it, she believed.
”By all means, Kurosoko. We’ve nothing better to do to pass the time. Please fill in the Wardens about how Officer Frost apprehended a dangerous terrorist once. Leave all embellishments in, of course but remember: clandestine. Certain things should not leave the Cadets of our fair city for fear of giving the wrong impression or circulating information the enemy can get ahold of.” The short woman stared at the albino intensely as she spoke. Yes, she was asking him to lie. The Wardens did not have to know about their failures and they certainly didn’t have to know about Infinite Jest that undermined them at every turn. It would make them look bad. They had an image to uphold.

Gozai found himself hoping more and more that the rest of his time in this city wouldn't have to be spent with these two. The female had an attitude that he was very quickly getting fed up with, and the other... Was a crime against the world, so yeah, not the best babysitters.

Gozai stayed silent for the most part during the conversation. It was offering him some interesting insights into these people, Susan in particular, but there wasn't really anything to say he thought would add to the conversation. There came a moment when the nature of... WHAT Tag was became the topic of discussion. Gozai merely nodded, silently, masking he sickening feeling in his stomach as he soaked in what details the demi-fiend gave.

He had not been born that way. No, he'd volunteered. Out of boredom. And some sick, depraved fuck had not stopped to think that maybe whatever ungodly process the fusion had entailed wasn't a good idea to begin with? So as to avoid an outburst expressing his disgust at the thought, he resigned himself to an internal debate on whether his original hypothesis of the other being a natural half-breed was better or worse than the truth.

He would offer Andrea a low "Thank you" as he was given some sunscreen, the tide of stupid apparently finally dying down.

He would give Isaac a nod to acknowledge his opinion on the matter, not that he'd asked for it, before  turning his eyes to Susan, to whom he also gave a nod. "As I said, only what I know. Admittedly I did not have time to read the whole report in detail, skimming over much of it, as I had an essay to hand in the next morning that I'd yet to finish writing at the time." He would speak to the senior Cadet, though making note of the discrepancy in her description of the outcome, compared to his recollection of things. He could only assume she was intentional with it, as he'd gotten the sense that she was far too measured and careful to make such a glaring mistake on accident.

Indeed, the outcome had been... Unfortunate. But he imagined that wasn't the part the two simpletons would care for. The youth would then clear his voice, before turning his gaze to the two Wardens. "Now, as Isaac already mentioned, he was there that night, but there was another Cadet there as well. I believe we could call him the centerpiece here." He paused briefly to shoot Isaac a look. "No disrespect meant, Isaac." He owuld say, before nodding slightly, and looking over to the two again.

"Anyways, this other Cadet, his name is Albrecht Frost. I've had the privilege of fighting under the mans command on one occasion. Now, officer Frost usually wears this full suit of armor, and has this big mean-looking with a penchant for cutting through demons butter and shooting more lightning than should be legal." He would pause briefly to catch his breath. "Now as officer Groves here already mentioned, demons are not exactly well regarded in Endymion, but from what I've seen of officer Frost, he hates demons with a passion. Passion with a capital P. He's honestly one of the few people who I've seen who have managed to awe, fear, and respect in me at the same time. But that's getting off track." Gozai wouldn't mention it allowed, but he saw some qualities to aspire towards in the senior Cadet.

"But, what happened was reports of a strange individual being out at night reached the police, and a squad car went in to investigate. The officers attempted to apprehend this individual under suspicion of her being a terrorist. Now at this point another terrorist sprang up from... Somewhere. Probably crawled out of some hole like the rats they are. This second terrorist then promptly attacked the two police officers, setting their patrol car on fire, before retreating into the sewers. Again, like the rats they are. Gozai paused again to catch his breath and give the others a chance to keep up.

"I bleieve officer Frost was the first Cadet on the scene, followed by Isaac. And like the good, aspiration-worthy Cadet he is, jumped into the sewers to follow after the two pests. There was a brief chase, in which the two terrorists- Yes, the first individual I'd mentioned turned out to be a terrorist as well. The two two terrorists resisted officer Frost's attempt to apprehend him in the process. So what did he do? He collapsed a sizable portion of the sewer down on all three them. And walked away from it alive." Another pause, not only to catch his breath and to let the info soak in, but also to formulate his next words.

"Now, the second terrorist, the one who'd assaulted the police, was dug up from the rubble and taken into custody.Now here's where my skimming of the text comes back to bite me, but I believe the other terrorist might have outright perished in the incident. Feel free to correct me if I recall wrong here, officer Groves." He shot Susan a look, giving a moment if she'd something to say.

"Anyways, that's just about the short and sweet of it. I imagine officer Frost's MO in the situation could certainly be characterized as some metaphorical dick swinging, wouldn't you two agree?" He then asked, gesturing with one hand toward the two Wardens.

Isaac grinned as his willingness to try demon pizza was received well by the two wardens. He had to say he liked them. They were rough around the edges - sure, but they were fun, and exotic, and they seemed nice enough. They may lack a little discipline, but people had different strengths. "Isaac Fairweather. Pleasure." He chuckled a little at their giggling. They probably didn't think anyone would be willing to try that pizza. Certainly his two companions weren't about to. Which was about what he'd expect from Gozai. Susan likely planned to avoid food the whole time they were here if they weren't offered it directly.

In either case, the matter of pizza was settled, and they moved onto the topic of Tag. Susan had received a cigarette from the woman, and was smoking a little off to the side near an ash tray, and Gozai had received sunscreen. When Tag mentioned what he was, a tension rose in the air among the Cadets. The Wardens, who weren't expecting it, may not have noticed, his comrades hid it well, but Isaac could tell- or perhaps he just expected- that they were taken aback by the revelation. But to Isaac, it wasn't that much different from himself. His sword fed on demons and spoke to him in his head as well. It wasn't that strange. Isaac shrugged to himself. "Hey, if it works it works. My sword talks to me too. I don't have a Mental Apparition, instead my bond with this weapon grants me power." He wouldn't go into it more than that, but prid pro quo required he say at least this much. In his opinion, anyway.

He turned to the other Warden. "And your power? Do you summon demons? I had heard it was a specialty of your group. If there's any info on that you could give us, We'd appreciate it. Our princess had expressed curiosity in the mechanics involved." He added genially.

It was then that Susan told Gozai to go on with his story.


Isaac did his level best to attempt to believe that his pride had not just been deliberately insulted in front of their hosts, by Gozai. "None Taken." Isaac had said, unamused, as Susan allowed Gozai to defy his own better judgement. His arms folded, and as the tale spun on, His expression soured. It wasn't just that the facts were wrong, but also that he himself was left completely out of the tale. He'd gotten a promotion from that encounter, as it were. He could see the objective here. "Dick swinging" indeed. Lying poisoned the atmosphere, but seeing as Susan had encouraged it, Isaac stayed quiet and didn't attempt to amend anything. They didn't want to seem divided in front of the Wardens - not any more than they already did, that was.

Instead of saying anything, Isaac breathed a sigh and turned to look at the stairs, wondering how the conversation was going with the princess and her father. He was worried about Maria, and wanted to get her home as quickly as possible so she could rest properly. And after this mess, the sooner they left the better.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it. I'll see if Papa got any ready to go." T.A.G. groaned at her while flipping out a phone to start making the order. He was sure to give her the stink eye, but all it did was cause Andrea to smirk even deeper. As he was busy making several orders, the Warden rolled her eyes at Susan. Not so much at the Cadet, but at their subject matter.

"Oh yeah, those idiots will always come swarming like a bunch of maggots when they think they can get their hands on you. I don't know how they do it, but they always got goons out there in the sand dunes. But I guess looting is much lucrative nowadays. Or they found some losers somewhere out there, probably hatching out some goon egg nest or something." Andrea agreed with Susan as she watched the Cadet begin to smoke. Though it truly was a wonder how they kept maintaining their numbers. An unforgiving wasteland surrounding Domiona was ridiculously less likely to support a significant population, even for the long term. But perhaps it was true, idiots do tend to breed like crazy. The thought of it caused her face to sour.

"Oh mah' Satan. It's just like one of my Japanese animes! Ha! That's awesome! I want one! Ya mind showing us yours?" T.A.G. broke out in laughter just around the same time when he broke off from the call. There was also a twinkle in his eye, hoping to see what exactly a Persona was like. Sure, they used demons around these parts. But those guys can't innately read your mind, it took practice to synchronize. In one moment, after Isaac introduced his blade, T.A.G. was there. But he suddenly disappeared from their eyes. The sound of tapping on Isaac's metallic blade heralded his position as he curiously eyed the sword. "Ya got a big'un there, buddy. What do ya call him?"

"Oi, T.A.G. stop touching things that don't belong to you. Ya ain't a kid anymore." Andrea frowned at the boy. When he responded back with a bare tongue, she could begin to feel her brow twitching. But, she found herself answering the Forgotten's question with a sly grin. "Yeah, it's a thing here. I summon mine from a C.O.M.P. on a program. I hate to break it to ya, but I dunno much about it. Just started coming out when the Divide began and the Boss was one of the few who got it first. With it, he decided to take charge and the rest is history. Was for the best, shit was bad before Sebas came in. Then he got here wanting to kick ass and chew bubblegum. Which one do you think he ran out of first?"

The answer was obvious. Andrea chuckled at it, but soon to began grimacing at the memory. Even the tapping from the blade began to slow as the demi-fiend didn't look upon that memory kindly. In the midst of his reverie of tapping on the blade, both Wardens blinked at Susan. She began to admit. "Hell, I ain't surprised the folks over there hate demons. But I thought all of you guys by default had unhealthy hate boners for them. You guys ain't all too bad after all. I guess it's just your boss that has a stick up his ass. Yeah, sorry about us being dicks."

"Sorry." T.A.G. chimed in as well.

SQ Gained:

Though their initial newfound respect would waver when they began to listen to Gozai's tale. But, they were much more fixated on what it entailed instead. There was anticipation, and a bit of awe in their faces. But so was the amusement mixed with skittishness. "Dick-swinging? You mean Dick-smashing! Dude, I ain't a slouch. But collapsing the sewers? Now that's some shit I ain't touching."

"Does this guy by chance look like a Knight? I can already hear a Gregorian Chant muffled in the background out here." Andrea giggled nervously as she began to pull on the hem of her collar. There was something that felt threatening about someone with an abject hatred for all things demon and being able to collapse entire sewers. There was a feces joke to make here, but even that was just tasteless. "S-say T.A.G. how 'bouta ya go get those pizzas?"

They were serious about ordering pizza. Normally such a thing was a hospitable but hollow offer, it was the offer itself that was important in these situations. The host provides, the guest declines, but sure, to heck with it, bring on the pizza. Normally it would irk Susan if she had any cares left to give but this was no longer the case. In fact she'd lost most of her read on the situation but the businesswoman was okay with that, so long as it ended before she was completely fed up. Certainly she thought he would be eager to interject with his involvement in those events but she felt the eyes digging through the side of her head even if she hadn't looked. Perhaps he was miffed that Kurosoko was the one to tell the story while he himself was in it but that was also acceptable. He could be the one to feel annoyed for a change.

"I don't believe I can say outright but I will say the odds look favorable from what I've heard of this morning, Kurosoko." Another lie of course. Technically a misleading statement. It wasn't in a very good position to be in, if any info leaked and reached Endymion and they were proven wrong it could deal more damage than simply looking bad in front of the police force of another city, which she was trying to avoid. It was all one big mess, the fate of the terrorist should have been left up to assumption. Seriously, she needed to arrange training on information protection. Leaks have long been a problem.

"Mmm. Likely near the tracks for opportunities like this last one. From what you've just told me and what I can assume I can imagine that someone in such a harsh environment may need to take desperate measures for survival. I wouldn't be shocked at all if they subsisted on demon roadkill." It was a disgusting thought but incredibly amusing to Susan, to her an interesting conjecture on how someone would survive in the desert with its natural lack of resources. That and that she could prove to best Andrea at her own game from bringing the pizza up in an attempt to gross them out. She brought her cigarette to her lips to hide her smirk with her hand. The short woman did assume that at least someone would want to see their capabilities, this supposed power of Class Zero and the Cadet corps. That was typical of meetings such as this: both sides wanted to show off and look impressive. Fortunately for her she was accustomed to such meetings and had learned to be preoccupied with what they could gain from it. Insight, partnerships, opportunities... and Fairweather had the right idea. For once.



Susan shrugged to Tag, giving an abnormally piercing look to Andrea contrasting her typical stony face. It was mostly on accident. Mostly. But what she said had gotten her thinking about the Eternal Divide and what was possible.

A computer program that could summon demons was definitely interesting and a marvel on how it worked. Though... Susan believed she knew the answer from everything she had seen and observed. Princess Serenity would be overjoyed to hear that she may have possibly found a way to reverse-engineer such a program or create one themselves. What was more interesting was the timely release of this program and its origin. It just so happened that directly after the Eternal Divide happened, an event that summoned demons onto Earth, a device was released that just so happened to be able to summon demons onto Earth. It was all very convenient. While humanity was indeed resourceful Susan could not believe anyone could work that quickly without major resources after the world ended. Possible... but not very likely. The businesswoman mentally filed this away for a later time as she dealt with the apology.
"He has good intentions, as are most people in Endymion well-intentioned. Well, with the exception of specific people who undermine our peace but you can't really blame the average person for being a little prejudiced towards something that's taken their families and livelihoods. Soooo no need to apologize, you are very right to assume that. I am far from the norm but yes, certain other Cadets share my sentiments."

The short woman looked on with curiosity as the Wardens seemed to be skittish about Officer Frost's immense power. As they should be. If he had been brought along for this trip there would be a trail of bodies in their wake.
"Of course. With angel wings and a holy sword." Another ghost of a smirk curled at her lip with a puff of air escaping her nostrils.

The chowderheads seriously meant to order some of that... Stuff? He hoped these were the expection and not the norm. What kind of healthy person of sound mind and- Oh, that's right. Living alongside demons like this, pretty much disqualified much of the inhabitants here from that category. Sebastian seemed fine, presumably being more or less part of the royal family meant not partaking in that kind of depravity was expected.

Gozai's eyes were briefly out of focus as his train of thought had trailed off. But he'd blink a few times, his still reddened eyes glancing briefly at Isaac. The other had been strangely quiet after he'd finished telling the little story, which given what he'd seen previously, Gozai found quite odd. Tag meanwhile had proven to be...even more of an annoyance with his comment on anime. Now, the albino wasn't one who really considered or took pride in his nationality, which is why he was wondering why the comment bothered him so. Probably just his bias wanting to find any reason to dislike this... Thing.

Andrea at least continued her role in being the sensible of the two. She wasn't necessarily wrong about some nursing an "unhealthy hate boner" toward demons, though Gozai personally found the notion of such views being "unhealthy" as being somewhat offensive. Oh well, more thoughts to keep to himself, just like his own view of demons. They didn't need to know. "Apology accepted, even if it wasn't really necessary to begin with. The two cities we come from grew upon very different foundations, and were nourished by very different cultures. I'd be more worried if there weren't some thing where we didn't see eye-to-eye." He spoke, faking a smile.

We may have our differences, but in the end we serve a similar goal, to uphold order and protect the people under out watch from those who would seek to sow chaos through skill, discipline, and perhaps the occasional bit of collateral damage. Wouldn't you two agree?" He threw in some humor at the end there just so as to hopefully not come off preachy. Though afterwards he felt like he'd need some mouthwash to clean out the aftertaste of the sanctimonious bullcrap he'd just spun.

But at least there was some hilarity that the two derived from the story, Tag in particular seemed impressed by the sheer destructive power. "Was it a little excessive? Perhaps. But that's the problem you run into with with rats that are too smart to step into traps, you need to get creative with them."

Andrea's reaction was something that came as surprise though. Well, it's understandable, considering the kind of mess that would come if Frost was here. But he gave the female warden a nod. The urge to inquire further was there, but he decided against it.

"That sounds about right, to each to their own. And sometimes a woman's gotta eat. Desert's a shithole as it is. Smart people just make the best out of it, even if your usual desert punk lack a brain cell." Andrea agreed with her with a low chuckle. Demon roadkill, what a laugh. But she likely wasn't wrong in this dump hill. It was survival of the fittest around these parts, but a little toned down in the city. After hearing that their apology was accepted, a smile grew on her face. The woman simply shrugged at Susan and Gozai. "Heck we're all just a bunch of people with lives. It must've been tough for you guys too in the Divide. Demons out there can be a pain in the ass. As for us Wardens, yeah. I guess we're here to make sure everyone respects Sebas' huge dick like how you work for the Queen. That's one common ground we got with ya' Cadets."

"Oh my Satan, he's an actual angel, isn't he? I know jokes are great and all, but really? I don't know how you guys do it, but those guys are such stuck-up asswipes." The demi-fiend shuddered and hissed in distaste, even Andrea's expression soured. The more they talked about this Albrecht person, the more they were glad they didn't bring him along. There was enough murdercults to deal with in these unnatural times. "They don't hang out in these parts with all these demons out here. Probably better that way, really. Ya just can't talk sense into most of 'em. But that makes beating them down much more fun, ha ha!"

There was a look of relish spreading on their faces, looking back at nice and cherished memories. But with Susan, making a caveat to revealing her Persona, T.A.G. was looking expectantly at Andrea. The Devil Summoner smirked as she began to bring out what appeared to be a cellphone. "Oh, it's gonna be that way, eh? Sure, Calypso could use some fresh air. Let me--"


Footsteps could be heard tapping from above. Looking up, both Cadets and Wardens saw the one and only Princess of Endymion descending down the stairs, stony-faced. The cheeriness so characteristic of her was absent. Each footstep was one that made it loud and clear that she was in not a stellar mood. Though Sebastian was not present with her, strangely enough.

"That was fast. Going so soon? I was going to order some pizza for everyone." T.A.G. raised an eyebrow at her direction, but also appeared to deflate a little at how little time it took for business to conclude. Aside from her own followers starving, he really wanted to see these spectral Personas for once in his life. Serenity only gave a pointed look at the Demi-fiend, who only shrugged back at her.


A voice spoke coming from the hallway connected to the room. Shura arrived calmly to the scene with Maria following behind. The markings that were present earlier were now gone and she seemed to be in a better condition. Maria gave a nod towards her fellow Cadets and to the rest of the Wardens, but she grew cold towards T.A.G.

"It be like that, huh? Orders from the Boss?" The Devil Summoner inquired as she sympathetically ruffled T.A.G.'s head while glancing back at Maria with an amused smirk at her attire. She really couldn't help herself.


Shura crossed his arms and gave a pointed look at Andrea, as if telling her to behave. The Warden quickly acknowledged his gesture with a sigh, but the Summoner didn't give up just yet. She spoke mostly to the Captain, but now to everyone else. "Can't it just wait a bit? It's gonna be a while 'til they're ready. I know some of our guests here want to see how a C.O.M.P. works and T.A.G. wants to see what these Persona-thingies are like. How about it? Could be your last call to see how it works."

Serenity, even as cross as she was, had to pause in thought. On one hand she did have a bit of curiosity how those things worked. Though she silently glanced at the Cadets to see how they wished to proceed.

Despite all misgivings Kurosoko was noticeably taking great pains to "play the game" as it were. Business, ingratiating yourself with another party, however it's referred to but Susan was well aware he despised them from his reaction on the train. It was honestly impressive and relieving that a this Cadet could hold tact, from her own experiences it was around a 50/50 whether or not someone new to the ranks was an arrogant thug or focused on what was truly important: accomplishing objectives for the broader security of the city. Which included Cadet image, possibly even most importantly if some of her theories were correct on how Persona manifested. Though his judgements were a bit biased for her tastes but no one was perfect and no Cadet took after herself anyway and it happened to be pleasant to have someone on the same page at least a percentage of the time.
"It is human nature to fight for survival, no matter the odds or situation," the businesswoman droned, tapping her ashes into the adjacent tray, "Or what the definition of survival is. There is nothing new under the sun." She thought that summed things up neatly but pursed her lips at the rambunctious hybrid, though she remained stoic, detached, and absent as she often did. Her comrades of course and anyone else who knew her for any length of time could probably tell how agitated she was but that was the beauty of resting bitch face: strangers had to play the guessing game.
"...It's easier than you think, I deal with them on a regular basis. More often than not they like to project, once you realize that it becomes ammusing."
...which was the nicest and subtlest way she could think of to also refer to Tag as a stuck-up asswipe.

It was incredibly frustrating being surrounded by people who happened to relish this kind of work. Susan hated the violence and she was in the minority. In a perfect world she would not need to carry a gun or fight at all but this was not a perfect world, people disregarded common sense and decency and frankly? It was aggravating. Engaging combat with criminals wasn't fun in any way, it was a necessary evil. What was fun was when everyone followed intelligent rules and quit wasting her time and effort. An eyebrow of hers raised as Andrea was about to give her what she wanted but it seemed she would not get this either.

Princess Serenity happened to appear, along with Maria, and neither appeared to be any sort of enthused. Good, that meant she wasn't the only one pretending to be civil here while choking back a testy attitude. The Princess had been clear that she was not enthralled to be here and Maria was more than justified to feel the same. Feeling her own brand of irritation and with the tension thick enough to be cut with a pencil eraser Susan would not press for any sort of display about the C.O.M.P. or disservice the royal family in her wishes. Serenity's word was law. They were done here. The short woman ground her cigarette into the tray quickly, she would not take up any more time.
"...that is unfortunate, but we are departing," Susan echoed, taking the Princess's pointed glare as directive to deal with the Wardens on her behalf, "Unless you plan to be swallowed by the desert in the next few years there will be other opportunities. I believe I have all the information we need already in how it works already, a demonstration is unnecessary." The C.O.M.P. summoned demons. They already knew that, seeing it for themselves likely was not about to teach them anything new if Andrea herself was not aware how it worked. Besides, the shorter woman had been rolling this around in her head and she had seen similar methods. All it would take is a little experimenting and reverse-engineering to replicate, but this was a diplomatic exchange. Not a technical demo.
"Warden Andrea, Warden Tag, it has been a pleasure talking to you. I'm still open to cross-training opportunities if Captain Shura and Captain Julius agree. Schedules permitting."

Given were they to leave at that moment Susan would not mince words and give any farewell handshakes she needed to, but would stay nearest to Princess Serenity and receptive. Of course, she knew she would have piqued her curiosity by claiming she knew how the C.O.M.P.s worked. Although her goals were entirely selfish. Susan was aware that a change of topic and a discussion on the science and method behind computers that summoned demons would be a more relaxing end to this entire pain-in-the-neck trip than a silent car filled with brooding so powerful that it could start raining indoors just to set the mood.

"Easier, right. Maybe for you, but I ain't got time fo' any of that jibba jabba. " The Demi-fiend muttered with a shrug as he raised a brow at Andrea cracking a smirk. Maybe being all prim and proper lent some affinity with those holy assholes, but certainly not to him. But being in Domiona, he could care little about some dainty angel roaming around these parts. Though what he did care was his missed opportunity. "Oh c'mon! Not even a quick peek?"

Serenity geared her stony expression towards the jumpy Warden. But a pointed glance from the Warden Captain quickly shut him up and dropped the entire conversation to his distaste. He gestured both the Princess and Maria over towards the entrance, bidding them to leave and so they would begin to without a single word and even without wasting any much more time with the Warden Captain following. Though the austere superior gave a curious glance at Susan before following after the two women.


"Hell, sure. Don't think any of us are against it. Any scrap with you guys sounds fun. Promise to have the pizza ready next time, though. 'Til then, don't let the scorpions bite on the way back." Andrea returned an amused gaze as she waved at the Cadets began to leave with T.A.G. who still was remarkably cross at the missed opportunity.