A Stray Weed

[empress_without_a_throne]

[The excursion to Russia proved... eventful, just in all the wrong ways.  Volya's uncle was dead, the poor boy himself went through hell at the hands of Lilica, and then there were the Lady's Good Men and Loni's group compounding the insanity.  Still, the death toll could've been much, much worse.  And SolSavior itself certainly helped kick butt out there, and stand up to enemies Mizuki knew she wouldn't have been able to otherwise.]

... Just how hard is it to have sane priorities in a situation like that?

I thought it was obvious, but between the Knights and Loni... I'm not so sure.

Comments

[caressthedarkness]

I am not so certain, either...

Right now...we can only hope that such a situation will not be repeated.

[empress_without_a_throne]

Unfortunately I'm not sure that won't be the case. Both Lilica and the Lady's Good Men's commander escaped...

Still, as I was telling Asagi, the fortunate thing with one-trick ponies like them is knowing they're also not going to be changing their tune anytime soon.

[caressthedarkness]

I was...surprised...

After hearing that Mr. Gavin's ESUN group had defeated a section of the Good Men...I did not expect them to still be in possession of such an ability...

[Cause Cicero was difficult enough to deal with.]

[empress_without_a_throne]

Still, we did good out there. Even when the FightSaber was hijacked we were able to disable it without huting Loni.

Well, except for his pride, but I'd say he deserves that.

[caressthedarkness]

I wonder...

Perhaps, they should work with us as well...

[empress_without_a_throne]

You really would want them here?

After Loni called for a party at the worst possible time?

[caressthedarkness]

Well...they are a good fighting force...

Even if they are not very good at social matters...

[But hey, if Seta can do it, they can learn!]

[empress_without_a_throne]

You say that, but after what happened out there I'm doubting the "good fighting force" thing.

[caressthedarkness]

To be honest...even I am lost in situations like the one we faced...

It could be that, like me...they are not accustomed to fighting foes who do not depend on just strength and numbers to achieve victory...

[In other words, anything other than a head on battle.]

[tiger_ken]

It's probably because each group is used to doing things its own way, so when someone appears to call them out on them...

[Ken shakes his head with a sigh, his arms folded behind his back.]

Of course, their 'own way' for someone like Lilica is apparently to give an obvious psycho no oversight.

[empress_without_a_throne]

If she's being that overt in her behavior I honestly don't know how or why the Knights haven't done something about her yet. Or even why they thought binging her into their ranks was a good idea in the first place...

A the ery least though, at least Sarah's shown she has some standards.

Incidentally, how's your arm?

[tiger_ken]

Maybe they thought she'd turn out like you. A monster turned angel and all that.

[Ken... steps back a bit though, at the mention of the arm.]

Its... gonna be fine. Just have to ignore the ache for a while.

[empress_without_a_throne]

I wouldn't go so far as to say "angel" but thanks for the compliment.

And that's good to know about the arm. That was my fault... I should've known shifting control to you without suppressing the Abyss Sanction would've caused some feedback. It won't happen again.

[tiger_ken]

...Actually, I was going to ask...

Once its better... and assuming nothing comes up... would you be able to do it again?

[...He is utterly serious.]

[empress_without_a_throne]

... When you're up for it. Even if it's not a tremendous health risk, I'd rather not put you in unnecessary pain.

You're not just wanting to do this due to some sort of "pain equals training" logic though, are you?

1/2

[tiger_ken]

No, no! Its just... well...

[Ken seems almost fearful at Mizuki's possible response to that notion.]

2/2

[tiger_ken]

I was thinking... maybe I could... figure it out. I mean, my family were the only ones associated with Solaris who really got control, so its understandable its never come up before, but... Well... see...

[Ken stumbles over himself, trying to explain, before deciding to just directly explain the conversation he had.]

A point Dido brought up to me is like... what would ki - or the equivalent - be in other forms of life. But I think that whilst there's certainly different makeups - 'flavours' - as it were... there's some underlying elements that could be... commonly manipulated, as it were.

[empress_without_a_throne]

So you mean...

Experience the flow of Void Energy during the Sanction to better understand how to control you own?

[tiger_ken]

And... perhaps... learn how to control void energy too, even if briefly. I mean, it'd be like learning how to fling about acid, but...

[empress_without_a_throne]

Don't hold your breath on that, Ken. I've had ten years to try to get used to Sol energy, and you saw what a mouthful of tea did to me.

Being part of a circuit is one thing, it's another to be the one taking the reigns of that kind of power.

[tiger_ken]

I know, I know. But the thought is... interesting. You gotta admit that much at least.

[empress_without_a_throne]

Well of course. SolSavior itself unites the two energy sources together, after all, and we saw what the Sol Salvation did to Saturnia.

But on an individual level are just too diametrically contradictory.

[jianai]

Clarity is such a rare commodity sometimes, isn't it?

[empress_without_a_throne]

Well, you need a certain amount of self-awareness... and in a time like this when there's so many threats and you have to take steps to keep them from knocking on your door, some people can't bother wondering if they're being too hardline.

[jianai]

This state of mind, when you do not really consider other people, or do not treat them exactly the same way as you treat yourself, as if they weren't "real" human beings...

Is actually a very human way of thinking.

[empress_without_a_throne]

Unfortunately, yes. People are nothing if not imperfect... be it bad habits, clumsiness, a bad sense of direction, or pretty much anything else.

I even remember a particular philosopher once saying "nothing's complete without a flaw"...

Still, disregard for life's not something we can just turn a blind eye to.

[jianai]

I agree. Everyone is flawed, but some flaws are hard to accept.

Let's see what we can do around fixing them, shall we?

[empress_without_a_throne]

Or at least making sure they don't get countless innocent people killed.

[majestic_keiki]

The evidence suggests it's hard.

...

But most people are still less petty about it than Loni.

[empress_without_a_throne]

Wonder how much oversight he actually has...

[majestic_keiki]

Clearly not enough or he wouldn't get away with behaving like that.

[empress_without_a_throne]

... And bringing his team into the Unity Group entirely feels like a double-edged sword. On one hand, it might actually do him some good to be on a tighter leash, on the other hand...

Who'd be able to stand him actually lodging with us?

[majestic_keiki]

Nobody?

Ilinka seems okay, but the other two should have their military commission removed as a menace to society.

[actuallyselfish]

"You're not the only one who's bugged by this." Dido says emphatically.

"What the heck are the Knights doing, employing a villain of the week on their staff? Where did that Lilica fellow come from anyway?"

[empress_without_a_throne]

She's like what I said. During the time that Solaris was fighting against the Great Black Void and there was a... modest amount of overlapping and sharing of notes between them and the Knights... there was a group known as the Black Garden.

Lilica was their leader.

[actuallyselfish]

"The Black Garden...? Blegh." Dido says with a shudder."I'm surprised she didn't make any gardening puns while attacking Volya."

She holds up a pinky to her mouth. "You know, something like: 'Time to prune this bush....Permanently! Oh Ho Ho! '"

Her impression's not too bad, actually.

[empress_without_a_throne]

I'd take that over what she did do to him. I'm still not sure what that Zone entails... but screams like that never mean well.

[actuallyselfish]

"As far as personality powers go, it's all kinds of bad." Dido agrees. "Volya doesn't seem to want to talk about it."

She stews on that a moment

"What was the Black Garden's goal, anyways? Destruction of the world? Domination of the World? Cultivation of magical thorn bushes?"