Mysteries of Daraku

(Holy fucking Hades, dude! XD)

(I did enjoy Bezerk for a time. But wow, never knew that!)

"Of course. I just do not like to discuss such matters with complete strangers after all." Kathrynne responded, sounding half way between a statement of fact and an apology. "We intend to, and to a certain degree already have, place powerful allies into positions of power across the world. Though certain 'principle participants' may not initially be willing to do so, we have various ways and means of ensuring compliance." She explained. "I'm sure you are familiar with some such methods, as a midara." She added, to Ixana. "Of course, we much prefer to have willing allies. Hence, this meeting."

"As for what we intend to do, once we have established these links, we are going to asset dominance. Conflict may be resolved by having a simple hierarchy. Anarchy cannot ever work. And democratic systems just create new areas for conflict. Therefore, we are looking to found a true meritocracy." She continued, pausing briefly to sip her wine, and allow questions and comments.

Jane finished noting down whatever it was that she was writing, and closed her pad. Victus began to lean back, clearly having heard this tale many times before.

Ferro examined each of them, his eyes focused moreso on the girl with the note pad. She seemed somewhat off. "May I ask what your method of ensuring compliance is then?"

(Yup, I mean literally after 20 years they finally healed Caska)

"Oh? And what would those methods be mmm?" Ixana leaned forward, "If you say it's similar to what midara's do, I'm interested."

Kathrynne simply smiled.
"You surely do not expect me to divulge all of Daraku's secrets to you, without receiving something in return, do you?" She questioned, her tone amused. "Unless, of course, you wish for a demonstration. If you were to, say, offer your consort." Her gaze shifted to Ferro. "Mr. Griffith, was it?" Her gaze shifted back. "Then perhaps we could do two birds with one stone. You would get to see our methods, and we would receive an appropriate prize for it."

"No way, absolutely no way! Dixi was in disagree, "Mmm, sorry but no,but if you want to make a demostration, why don't you try it on me? or is your method a bluff?"

Ferro was not at all okay with being traded over and narrowed his eyes at the dolled up lady. His hand reached up to his necklace for a moment as he tried to process what to do. It could make their ruse crumble if he were to reject her offer, but at the same time it might make just enough sense to decline. Even still, if their methods lead to anything akin to what happened with Lasciel, that could end badly.
Then he heard Ixana reject her, only to then suggest herself. He hoped she knew what she was doing. Thankfully just before they went hunting for Daraku, Ferro asked Adrianna to make more purifying talismans, so they at least had that.

"As I said previously, we prefer prefer to have willing allies." She responded, using the exact same tone of voice as she had when previously saying it. "It would not be such an issue if you were willing to part with a consort, as that would be of no great importance, but for a midara such as yourself, we would much rather come to some sort of agreement." Kathrynne frowned.

"Of course, do not mistake our wish to do things amicably for weakness. We will do whatever is necessary to achieve our goals. The fate of the world literally hangs in the balance, after all." She added. "Which leaves us with a question. We have information that you are interested in. What can you provide us with in exchange for this?"

Once again, Jane began to write something down, her expression unreadable.

"I'm offering myself, isn't that enough?" Xana was showing clear signs of irritation, as if these people were underestimating her.

Yumi still listens from the shadow but does not act, a trained eye is curious if what if that secretary's note is an important factor to piecing together the puzzle. She herself didn't exactly buy into the 'save the world' cause and even if they are genuine, there are too many supposedly good intent to save the world that just does not work, whether due to too much resistance from opposite force, straying from the original path, or simply an unforeseen consequences beyond the original planner's anticipation.

"My dear, of course you are, but offering yourself has no meaning unless it's accompanied by something else. After all, anyone can just say they are 'with us' when it suits them, and suddenly decide to be against us when things get tough." Kathrynne commented, taking another sip of wine. "We require collateral, or proof of loyalty."

From the shadows, Yuri was having difficulty making out Jane's note. However, what she could see was that, as Jane stopped writing, the next line on the paper was filling with text.

"You recognize me as her consort and yet you don't seem to understand that entails a significant other," Ferro argued. "Implying love, something not easily replaced." He was going to work off this woman's assumptions for now, as she's opened up a golden excuse as to why Ixana wouldn't want him to fall to them.

"Oh... honey. You are HER consort." Kathrynne responded to him, condescendingly. "It's so sweet that you think she's in love with you though." She glanced knowingly at Ixana. "It's very kind of you to let him think that though. Clearly you've put a lot of work into this one. I can see why you wish not to part with him."

That irked Ferro something fierce, evident by the rather...unhappy look on his face. He might not have known her, but he knew his mother loved his father for certain. Why would a circumstance like this have to be different?

"I'm running out of options...", "We are NOT giving them Ferro, so think about something else.", Xana bite her fingernail, "No need to break his dreams darling and I'm not giving him up, so if you don't take me... well, we are out." she tried another aproach with a different kind of bluff.

Yumi decided to stop picking apart of the fallacies of Kathrynne's philosophy of cooperation with how she is treating Ferro in comparison to Ixana and start focusing on tactics. It is clear that a conflict is likely to occur and she needs to see what each individual is capable of.

She tries to see for two things mainly: if any of them have any particular armament or protection, and how their posture, involuntary action such as facial feature, and position (for best method to strike out of sight), all of this without trying to compromise not being seen as she still wants the element of surprise.

Kathrynne blinked at that, clearly surprised by her response.
"You do realise you will be giving up your free will, right?" She asked, clearly thinking there must have been a miscommunication here. "And once you know about Daraku, there is no 'out'." She added.

Jane closed her notepad, looking more annoyed than worried. She had clearly seen a lot of conflicts, and saw the pair as little threat. Victus had tensed up slightly, his hand instinctively sliding behind him to his sword. He looked less confident, but something in his eyes suggested that he wasn't 'all there'.

"That if your little trick works you mean." She said taunting her, "Also I would watch out if I were you, I don't like threats and your companions... well I can feel they see us as threats."

"Are you two sure about this? What if THAT happens again... I... I don't want to...", "It won't happen again!" said both Dixi and Xana at the same time.

Ferro glared at Victus and inched his hand closer to his staff, ready for a fight if it were to come to that. There is no out, huh? Well, a certain angel would beg to differ.

Her observation surmise that the man may be a thrall or being puppet-ted in a sense saying that he seems a bit vacant, not exactly a rare sight in these land. Unfortunately she had little information on what method may be used so she watches for any synchronized movement between the man and either of the woman. She suspect the secretary as the other one seems to have her attention occupied with Ixana and Ferro but did not rule her out either.

Her hand move to her sleeve to unfolded two fans, getting ready to deploy it at the two women.

"And here I thought that, perhaps, you were capable of being civil. Clearly you are incapable of holding back hostility. I suppose that leaves us with little choice here." Kathrynne put down her glass and snapped her fingers, and the entire area seemed to shift. First, the band disappeared. Then, the drapes. The table was the next to go, along with Kathrynne's glass. Finally, the chairs vanished, as she, and her 'associates', rose to their feet. No obvious verbal cues were given, but a sharp eye would notice Jane pointing at Ferro, very briefly, when Victus looked to her.

(And here's where I must be the bearer of bad news. I'm going to be away for the weekend, with limited access to the internet. I'm heading to my first ever LARP event! So, unfortunately, I'm going to have to leave you with this cliff hanger for now. Mostly because I still need to actually give these folks some moves :p. How are y'all enjoying it so far?)

(Damn, that stinks ever-so-slightly. This is going fairly well to me.)
Ferro pulled his staff out, ready to take Victus on. "Funny, you're the one who doesn't seem to take compromise well," he retorted.

(Oh, and question. Do you want to know what they can do, or do you want to fight them blindly? :p)

"I'm not the one grabbing my weapon, aren't I?" She said pointing at the men besides Kathrynne, "But... oh well, I tried my best~" Xana's wings and tail started to fade, "Your turn then Dixi~" once they were gone, the playful look on Ixana's face was gone, replaced with a serious and somewhat pissed off look, "Alright, if damn plan A doesn't work... let it be plan B!".

Dixi summoned her gauntlets and prepared herself for a fight.

(Whichever you feel is best.)