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[Network] username: leonskennedy | ota

[The camera angle isn't the most flattering, hinting that the tired looking young man isn't too used to camera phones.]

Hi. My name's Leon Kennedy. I'm new. I know a handful of people here are new too but some have been here before. I guess, I'm hoping to talk to a few people who are returning about the things you know about this place. Talking over this thing is fine but I'd prefer to meet in person.

Anyone who's returning who'd be alright meeting in person, I'll throw a drink on me into the deal. Your choice, beer or coffee.

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We're back to magic. [She tuts softly and sighs.]

Let's fix that a little bit, shall we? Since clearly we're not gonna eat right now- [Devi drops her boots and slides out of the booth, leather trench coat flaring as she straightens it out with a little shake.]

But not in here. I like this place and I'd like to be able to come back.

[It's impossible to miss the roll of his eyes.] Sure.

[He looks confused at first, watching her get out of the booth, and looks a little put out as he sighs and gets up. At least, he's already paid.]

Fine. Lead the way.

[Lead the way she would, outside and onto the street. She waits for Leon to get fully out of the building and a little way away from the door before she turns around. And promptly levetates.]

You think I got a jet pack, Leon? Wires maybe? [She holds up a finger and flares her other hand in a roll, manifesting a basketball sized ball of bright purple kinetic energy.]

You got science for this? A checklist I can fill out of my symptoms or somethin'?

[She leans in a little, one foot lifting a little and tucking behind her other calf.]

You wanna fly, Kennedy?

[He'd had a few guesses as to what she might show him. His money had been on something to do with fire. Levitation doesn't seem to shock him though and he crosses his arms.]

I'm not a scientist but all of this could be science. Just because I don't understand how you do it, doesn't mean I'm going to call it magic.

[He scowls when she asks him if he wants to fly.] Do. Not.

I met a little girl who could make fires and put monsters into a trance by singing. [She'd been infected of course.] It wasn't magic. [And it hadn't been magic when she'd turned to dust in his arms either.]

I told you before. Semantics. You can call this whatever you want. Whatever makes you happy.

[It was Devi's turn to roll her eyes, fingers coming together to smooth over the bottom half of the sphere and launching it into the air where it goes high before exploding in a flair.]

Oh I see. You're one of those. [She sighs.] What a fucking drag having to trot out those specifics - what's wrong with calling it by something easy until it's figured out by nerds able to find a root source? Are you gonna say that every time? 'That guy shot electricity out of his fingertips like fuckin' Emperor Palatine, but it wasn't magic, it's just science no one can even begin to understand?

You're still wrong by the way, but I can see it'll take something Special to move you.

[Leon can't contain the snort of laughter.] Are you really trying to use Star Wars to convince me magic is a thing?

Also, yeah, I'd say that shit in the science fiction movie was science.

[He just shakes his head, arms still crossed.]

We're just going to have to agree to disagree here, I think. Like I said, call it whatever you want, but I'm not calling this 'magic'. It's ignorant. I'm sure ancient people also thought magnets or aerodynamics were magic.

[Her eyes narrow at the first, lips curling at the edges but it all breaks into an impish grin at his very logic, very annoying point.]

It's a big multiverse. I hope you're ready to see some real shit.

[She straightens, shoulder squaring, chin lifting with a flare of her hand out towards the city, back to being the showman.]

The city runs on the pyramid in the basement and subbasement levels. It generates a bubble that keeps the city safe from the monsters and wasteland of horror that lives outside. Our being here is what keeps the place safe. Tear down the construct and you utterly destroy this world all over again. I think that's what we did, in the end. After the assault on the Tower.

[Her hand falls and she drops back to the ground unceremoniously.]

So maybe don't do that unless they give us good reason. Welcome to enlistment in the Balance.

Edited 2023-07-10 02:35 (UTC)

Sure. I think I'll manage. [He says flatly.

Honestly, Leon's ability to roll with the punches is one of the things that had kept him alive so far. He was great at compartmentalizing, for better or for worse.

She has his attention now though, the first person to bring up that there was something beyond the City.] It's protecting us... And using us to create that protection?

[Well, that complicates things.]

Huh... Why not tell us that when we arrive? [It's mostly rhetorical. He certainly doesn't expect her to have an answer to why the Magistrates kept the secrets they did.]

[Devi shrugs.]

They're dramatic and some- most sane and reasonable people might object to being used in such a way. This is the honeymoon period. Let everyone get settled, quiet. [A hand slips out, lazy fingers brushing back and forth across the air to match the airy, dream like tone she carried for it all.]

Lull them into jobs and routine, security in their surroundings for the day to day to function almost peacefully. [Until it doesn't. Her paintstained hand gets tucked away again as her tone drops back to normal.]

It is something that you can touch though. Just a short little flight, in any direction you like.

Whoa, whoa, wait, you can't just say something like that. What do you mean we're being lulled into a false sense of security? What happens?

[She seriously couldn't just casually bring up something like that and then leave him hanging.]

Really? I thought... I thought someone said you could try to keep going in one direction and you'd just end up back where you started. The barrier's a physical thing? Like a wall?

[Looking over sidelong, Devi grins.]

Oh, you caught that huh? Well I shouldn't get to far ahead of myself anyway. What you're telling me is already in contradiction and this is a brand new canvas. I could just be telling you old and outdated news.

So I'll amend what I said to 'used to be able' to touch it. Always have to leave room for possibilities.

Hey. No. This isn't something to smile about. Outdated or not, it still sounds like it'd be valuable intel. So, what the hell are you talking about?

[He'd rather be prepared for something that never ends up happening than be blindsided.

He pauses, giving her a nonplussed look.] What do you want? You want to hear me say you're magical, or something?

[Ohho, an admonishment. The stones he had in his ignorance about how ridiculous she was was impressive. Her grin stays, despite the proverbial newspaper across her nose.]

You don't enjoy a good fight like I do, clearly. It's absolutely something to smile about.

[The question made her laugh, a bright, bellish peel of sound.]

Oh, Leon. Of course not. What I do is actually scienced out. For the most part. Though that doesn't include the shit I went through to get it. I don't want anything. I'm just happy to be here.

[He is not appreciating any of this. Do you see his angry face and his crossed arms, Devi? Do you?!]

A good fighter wouldn't turn down a chance to learn something about their opponent.

[All he can really do is narrow his eyes at her antics. Finally sighing in defeat.]

Fine. Keep it to yourself. But I'm obviously not going to get anywhere here.

It was great meeting you. Good luck with your magic. [He grounds the words out like someone is forcing him to conclude this with unfelt pleasantries complete with an empty, forced smile.]

[For the level he was on, Leon wasn't wrong. But the fear of being overpowered, the fear of being killed wasn't something that lived inside Devi D anymore and it hadn't lived there for more than a decade. She doesn't blame him for the opinion, and she understands, but their situation isn't the same.]

You shouldn't make your face do that, it looks painful. [Utterly unbothered by his discomfort-] It's not likely that the dome will be broken down any time soon. It needs to take the abuse first. Then you can worry about the endless hoard of creatures waitin' for us out there. Statistics are useful here, believe it or not.

Which is why tryin' to take it down yourself is kinda a shit idea. [It wasn't said cruely, just pointing out fact.]

[He rolls his eyes at her snide comment, reacting in kind.]

I'm not talking about hoards. And I'm not talking about wanting to fight anything on my own. I'm talking about maybe having a chance of survival when I, or someone else, is attacked. [Maybe now she'll understand why her secrecy is infuriating him. In his mind, she has information that might be the difference between surviving and dying, even if death here is only temporary.]

I've talked to two people who've had run ins with those things. That's statistics enough for me.

[Her eyebrows lift a little, the humor of the whole thing starting to creep away.]

I am. That's what's outside that dome, Leon. That's what we're being protected from by being here in the first fucking place and if you think a couple in the streets is bad, wait until there's no bit of street that they're not covering.

Two people who've had run ins with demons aren't shit for statistics of when a break in the dam is likely to happen for the entire pocket universe, that's not even correlating data. You want stats on the low level creatures here? Shoot 'em, they bleed, basically. Nothing special there that a skilled person can't handle.

A break in the dam? You just said the dome wasn't likely to break and, sounds like, if it does we're fucked anyway. [He doesn't see any point in even worrying about that and he's really not sure why she's so hung up on it.]

Well, it definitely mattered to those two people. And yeah, that's what I asked - how to take down one of them. [He doesn't look placated by the answer, brow furrowing as the information he's getting doesn't seem to be lining up.]

You're sure? Nothing special about kinds of ammo or where to shoot them? [He really wants to believe there's some piece of the puzzle he's missing. ] One of those people I was talking about said it didn't seem to care when it was shot.

They're strong as shit and durable as shit and you better have a hellva good aim if guns are the way you're goin' and plenty of ammo to match - stay in the light, stay out of the shadows, that kind of things. [But they were still small fish in the greater whole of the argument.]

It's not likely to, at least not as it stands now but that shit is just as likely to change if you go charging around the Tower- [Which was really her point here-] and if it breaks and you're already in the 'we're fucked' category, I've got some objections to your general constitution, Leon. Which really is a shame, I was almost starting to like you.

Strong and durable. Alright, nothing I'm not used to. [He's used to most of the things he's fighting taking multiple head shots and being deadly as hell. He is hoping to pick up a shotgun soon, maybe he'd look into a rifle as well.]

Charging around the Tower? Didn't have any plans to do that. [He was curious about it, for sure, and, honestly, part of him wants to just go talk to the entity that was this city.] Yeah, I don't really give a shit what you think about me. [It's not even said with any malice, he just really doesn't care.

He'd be fighting tooth and nail but it sounded like a baseline human, even as well trained as he was, didn't have much of a chance.]

[Devi's head pulls a little eyebrows lifting.]

Great! Well good fuckin' day to you too. Good luck- [she says it with a wink before lifting off.]

I'll be sure to come bug you when shit hits the fan again, see how you're takin' it, big man.

Edited (icon change bc I forgot I had this one) 2023-07-30 01:40 (UTC)

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[Network] username: leonskennedy | ota

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