Summer turned, rather wobbly, as she heard Killian Decker speak behind her. She pointed her finger at him, ever the pointer since she became intoxicated.

"If it isn't Mr. Dicker- hiccup- Decker? Wait, which was it?"

Oh, whatever. She'd remember later.

"Nah, he definitely has potential. He just doesn't need to be distracted is all. So, is BARNABY FINCH the only one you're betting on then, hmm? No one else interesting you?"

Killian Decker & spectra

☉

Yoshiro lifts her chin in a polite nod to priam conrad as he passes, resisting the urge to light up another cigarette out of respect for those present. She never did catch his name. Her dark eyes scan the room keenly, checking first the number of exits, then flicking toward the observation deck with a vague curiosity, wondering at who sent the summons that brought them to this location. It does seem a motley collection, but she has done far more with far less before, and the prospect of squeezing blood from a stone has never troubled her.

As if on cue, the hair on the back of her neck rises, and she turns just in time to catch Elisabeth Fiorelli glancing in her direction. It strikes her that there is something vaguely familiar about that woman that she cannot quite put her finger on, save that everything in the blonde woman's demeanor is giving her old money and too perfect. She meets the other's gaze for perhaps a half-second, dark brow arching in a way that tugs at the butterfly bandage sealing it shut, and raises her hand in a polite wave of greeting before returning to her conversation with The Fixer .

"Dozen or so," Yoshiro responds with a noncommittal shrug, as if she had truly lost count in the process - a distinct possibility. A confident smile crosses her features as she confides, "Negotiations with a rival company are falling through. They're a bit upset about us folding their lieutenant into an origami swan. You know how it is."

"If you're looking for work-" she adds conversationally, allowing the sentence to hang with the assumption he will intimate her meaning.

participating! open to interactions

☉

Elisabeth Fiorelli left their group to console klaus anchoret - no surprise there on either part. Elisa seemed naturally maternal, and after Klaus' panicked display on the beach... well, his vomit was unfortunately expected. Why had he forced himself to come here, knowing his anxieties?

His response to mint frost was polite but brief, an answer to his probing question. "Just Bee, actually. Short and sweet. Mint is also kind of cute, too, by the way." It made Barnaby think of sipping mojitos poolside somewhere tropical. But was this energetic man actually that refreshing?

All the new players that had arrived in the meantime were given a friendly nod, though there were too many now to greet individually.

Izydor Baranowski was given a companionable pat to the shoulder as Barnaby passed. Before he left Izzy, though, his eyebrows lifted in an expression that could only relay, 'What the fuck are you doing here??' They would definitely connect here in a bit.

Eventually Barnaby, too, would make his way to the edge of the examination room, stopping just beside Felix Gallagher.

"I see you found the stowaway, Felix." He said casually, placing a hand on the taller man's shoulder as he leaned down.

"Eris?" A whisper proffered to the silhouette in the darkness.

"I thought that was you in the shadows." Barnaby flashed the young girl a conspiratorial smile, his tone friendly with hints of amusement weaved in. Releasing Felix's shoulder, he bent down to better talk with her.

"Does Mr. del Mar know you're here? It'll be very dangerous soon... I'd hate to see you or Reiner get hurt, l' ange."

participating

☉

[attr="class","giada"]

[attr="class","giada b"]

[attr="class","giada i"]she arrives late, flushed, and slightly smelling of alcohol. truthfully... she forgot all about this and had to leave happy hour... anyway!

by the time gia manages to get herself in functioning order, she's joining the clusters of people in the center of the room. one particular body sticks out enough for her to weave through the masses. and when she approaches, she's reaching a hand out to brush against CIAN MAHER 's arm as an announcement of her arrival.

"hey handsome," she purrs, flashing a bright smile. she settles next to his side, probably hovering a little too close but there's a lot of people and she's not necessarily sure what this is. it seems she isn't the only one, either. her head pokes out a little further past cian to turn her attention to @elliott . "oh, hi elliott! nice to see you again, cutie."

wait, everyone has pokemon out. is... is she supposed to too? in her defense, she didn't read the invite fully... with slightly fumbling fingers, two cats join her side. and naturally, they gravitate to rubbing against her legs before shifting over to rub against cian and elliott. cuties.

CIAN MAHER & spectra
participating, pray 4 me

Mint, who had been more or less wondering how long he should let this imaginary friend charade with Felix Gallagher go on, turned back to BARNABY FINCH once he spoke up. He flashed a grin at the taller rocket, “Hehe, thanks, I’d hope it sounded nice.” He said before trying to tune back into the greater conversation. But it seemed just as soon as he’d shown up it was already breaking up. Which was good. He dind’t really know many of these grunts anyway and they seemed to need to handle their own business.[break][break]

He's not about to try to help klaus anchoret either, more grossed out than anything. He turned to Cygne as she piped up and laughed a little before replying with, “Aww of course they have feelings! Some are just…slower to show them than others.” He spoke from experience. Cacio had taken a while before he allowed Mint to pet him, much less cuddles on the couch. Though now Cacio was the needy one, pouting whenever Mint forgot to indulge him or got up too many times. “Ah, good luck then!” he said as he watched the girl walk towards another newcomer. She seemed nervous too. He dind’t blame her. He remembered oscar clayton from their mission together. Despite how sickly he looked, he was still capable beast. And of course, priam conrad he recognized a bit from his fighting in the Tree of Life. He paused curious at giada morgan as she stopped near @elliott , awing at the cats she let out before looking back at the rest. [break][break]

The others just looked like they knew how to fight, which was fair. Most people weren’t like him- scratch that. He didn’t think most were like him but form the looks of it, a few might be. As the smell of something better than puke flooded the arena he decided to mosey on over to his friend. “Don’t indulge him and his imaginary friend Bee, that’s so lame!” he said, moving to Felix’s side and giving him a soft shove at his arm. “When I said you were boring I didn’t mean pull something like this!” he added. He’d spoken too bluntly at the skating rink but…maybe it’d done more damage than he’d imagined. [break][break]

It's not that hard to clock Eris, the one brain cell they shared vibrating the closer he got to her. But she’s sort of positions weird, and it doesn’t take much for mint to step past Felix in a way that he hoped added more cover to the girl and her partner. He looked directly at Barnaby, tilting his head to the side before speaking up. “Eris, what did you hide and where do I need to stand so I don’t get it on me?”


[break][break]

+ so many taggs [break][break]

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[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Summer Atreides making her way into the CONTROL ROOM was a mild shock. Though not one that he acted on harshly, considering his fondness for the woman. Instead, the royal bids his BUTLER SINISTEA to go and ensure the door was securely barred from entry to anyone else without prior authorization and a keycode.

His attention shifts to Lulu Flint afterwards, and he notes a lingering look on her expression. It's easy to surmise what it's for as she turns away to begin her examination of the pirated and modified technology employed. Remiel doesn't care for the source either, but at the end of the day... SILPH CO made tech found no where else in the world. The project they were undergoing had use of some of it.

Turning back towards the wide viewing panel, the admin gazes down at the growing number of participants filling the stadium. The turnout was more than he'd expected, quite frankly. But had any of them really known what they were signing up for? He figured not.

But it was no matter: failure was a great teacher. It would weed out those who had yet to grow, or those who just didn't care enough to give it their all. Battling avatars, anointed warriors chosen by literal god-like beings, required nothing less.

Suddenly, a voice buzzes out to him from the mic in his right ear:

"Preparations complete, sir. EX-Program SNY-20 showing no sign of system errors. Focus band sub-system operational."

Remiel raises one hand to the mic to respond: "Splendid. We'll begin now. Send in the girl."

S.P.E.C.T.R.A + PROCTOR

☉