Description: Rainbow (1979). Yurika stands at the gates, between what is safe and what is not. For years, the young girl has stood there, wringing her hands with worry and concern about the what ifs and maybes. Then someone came and held the door open so the young girl could look within. And Yurika saw. And Yurika hesitated. The gate was closed. Time passed, and Yurika left to live, and learned where she belonged. In time, she again stood in front of those gates, and someone came to her and held the door open. And Yurika stepped forward.
Elle. Flowers.
Okay, yeah, those aren't things that tend to go together. Flowers are beautiful, delicate. Sometimes dangerous, but in a way that's subversive. They're colorful and can represent the renewal of life and the promise of splendor. They can represent mourning, or loss. They can mean a thank you, a goodbye, a hello, an 'I love you'. They can mean a lot of things, dpending on what kind of flower, how the flower is presented, and even what the circumstances are around the presentation.
In contrast, Elle usually means one thing: if she's there, something bad is going to happen. Maybe not now, maybe not even in a long time. But the fact of the matter is, she's just not a good omen.
Some creative people would probably call her many things. A herald of chaos, a person with a seriously devolved super-ego, a complete pragmatist. The more uncreative people just call her profanities. But in the end, it all means the same thing: Elle is just a horrible, broken human being who leaves a lot of unpleasantness laying around wherever she goes.
But nevertheless, here she is. The greenhouse is here, naturally, so leaving it forces her to deal with the onslaught of color and scents and the occasional wandering bee. And normally on any other day, Elle would walk by (or through) them without so much as a blink. Most flowers hold all the fascination to that than grass, dirt, pavement, asphalt or whatever unimportant things hold for what happens to be on the ground whenever she steps on it.
But right now she's looking at the flowers as if trying to absorb something from the experience. It's not an expression of concentration, but a blank, empty face devoid of anything that looks like the usual mechanical thought that occurs in her head. It's a general survey of the area in general, as if there's something /here/ floating in the air that Elle is waiting to appear so she can grasp it.
It's a unique expression for her. Normally it's not one that graces her features, much less in the middle of the night where all that's there to show the flowers is the bright spotlights overhead... but this is the best time for her to look at them without interference. And that really is Elle's immediately observable characteristic, isn't it? The woman's stance, appearance, and constantly appraising look generally wards people away from her like a talisman. Elle is alone. Whether she enjoys it or not is entirely open for debate, but she certainly cultivates the right look and attitude to keep it that way.
Quite unlike the flowers that currently have her attention.
Yurika, contrary to popular belief, is not very big on flowers. She knows enough for proper flower arrangement and that's really about it, really. And in Seijyun, well, they're very important, and therefore she's brought it upon herself to at least keep her eye on them.
Obviously she isn't pleased that in the end she ended up having to house Elle there. Really, she doesn't know all that much about the womans history; she's done a lot of things while Yurika was still in her 'blind' phase; and she tried to read up on some information on Blackjack.. To no avail. But one thing that she's certainly aware of is that where Elle goes, trouble brews not long after and it's made it, how do we say, difficult for the musician to get a good nights sleep.
Well, at least Kurenai hasn't caught anything yet. That was something.
So the mercenary, she's probably not been outside for longer than fifteen minutes before there's the sound of maryjanes clopping along the stone floor- No sound of a gate creaking, suggesting that someone went over it instead of opening it. So much for not having any interference? "Miss Elle," comes the voice of Yurika Kirishima as she draws closer to the woman, within her gloved hands a silver canteen used primarily for hot liquids. It wouldn't take a genius to guess that inside of it would be tea. "I wasn't certain if you drink tea or not, but I thought perhaps you may like some before I went to bed." a pause, "Although I was also wondering what you were up to out here." Hey, at least she's honest.
Well, the sentiment is appreciated anyway. Elle doesn't usually drink tea. For her, it's a steady diet of candy, caffine and the occasional processed beef or pork product or whatever stray vegetable that manages to wander in front of her during mealtime. So while she's not picky, she's not terribly varied either. For her, food and drink are afterthoughts, necessary for life, but pretty much just a formality. She'd gladly eat paste if it provided any nutritional value.
Still, she takes the thermos without so much as a comment on it, opens it, and sniffs the tea. It smells like tea, not that she'd know what tea smells like. But it doesn't smell suspicious. She closes the thermos up again. It'll be tested before she drinks it. Yurika may be her host, but it doesn't mean Elle particularly trusts the Seijyun leader. After all, you don't make it too far in the business if you trust every tea put in front of you.
"Flowers," Elle replies. "They're special." It's all she can really offer right now, and as a result doesn't particularly dwell on it. She instead moves on to topics of more weight. "Actually, I need to talk to you anyway. There's something that I'm trying to do. Lots of somethings. I know, big surprise, right?"
The cold woman turns to face Yurika, thermos tossing from one hand to another as she speaks. "It'll be a minor inconvenience to you in the short run. However, if you're smart as I think you arem then you'll see the implications right away. It'll pay for you haveing to put up with my stay tenfold, and give me the opportunity I need to make what I want happen."
The tossing stops, and she looks at Yurika dead in the eyes. "It's time to come out of the rabbit hole, Alice. The fact of the matter is, the Jabberwocky's on this side of the looking glass. You ready to start making real deals now? "
Yurika didn't do anything to the tea, Elle would find out after running those tests. It's just a simple, 'boring' green tea. But it's prepared well, better than what one would get at a chinese fast-food place at least. Yurika's dark eyes shift to the flowers Elle mentions of, and seems a little surprised. Is there some sort of warmth in that cold heart of hers? Or is she just catching a case of the 'elegant'; that does tend to happen around these grounds.
"Is that so," the musician replies after the first statement. "Very well, I'm listening." Now.. Elle gets bonus points for her Looking Glass reference. Though the 'fact' that this would make housing Elle even more worthwhile gets her undivided attention. Hmn but to 'come out the rabbit hole?'
That was what Yurika had intended to do, quite soon in fact due to some interesting bits of news that had reached her ears.. But knowing Elle, she had likely dug even deeper; Yurika's small smile suggests she's amused.
But she's not. She's mentally preparing to keep her jealousy of Elle's network as low as possible.
"You know Hotaru. Or at least, she knows you. Right now, she has a refugee camp set up north of here. They're constantly under attack. I need Seijyun to put up with the refugees to gain Hotaru's support in a project I'm putting together," Elle explains, turning back to look at the flowers. Her affinity for them at the moment is difficult at best to really read. There's clearly some display that Elle's reaching for something she's not quite grasping.
After this final attempt, she gives up, and focuses her full attention of Yurika. "I'm going to send a convoy of armored transports down there to pull the refugees out. I need some of your girls to assist with that, and it'll be dangerous. I can't guarantee anyone's saftey in the maneuver. The second NESTS and Shadaloo see heavy movement, they're going to respond. I'll send in some dummy trucks, use alternate routes, but eventually, everyone will wind up here."
She gestures to the school, "This is, bar none, the safest location in Southtown. You know it, I know it. It may look like a girl's school, but it doesn't take a tactical genius to see how it's been set up. It's easily the most heavily fortified area. The trees keep heavy troop formations from entering, built of ninja combat. It keeps armored cavalry from entering. The main point of ingress and egress is a single driveway that acts like a choke point."
"If you /were/ at any risk, which you're not, this would look like the safest place to be," the mercenary says, her dry voice giving words to thoughts that Elle has had for a long time. "And having those girls help me out in bringing those refugees here will cover me, reduce my exposure to the picture and increase yours."
Elle tilts her head, tooking at Yurika with a completely unreadable expression. "So tell me what you think that means."
"Miss Futaba, yes.." Yurika murmurs. She's not a favorite, nor a 'problem child' or anything, but there are reasons for her to keep tabs on the young martial artist now and then. She remains poker faced for a while, though at first she wasn't liking where the merc was headed at all.
And the musician isn't sure what Elle had difficulty reaching for.
Finally, though, the perplexed Yurika cannot hide itself; ok sure, it was just explained that Hotaru's support was needed, but.. Still! After she's done looking surprised, a gloves hand raises to the musicians chin thoughtfully; elbow propped in the opposites palm. Hmn.. It was true, there was no risk. And there was no doubt to Yurika that soon things -would- be coming to an end.. After another moment of silence her eyes glimmer a touch, and then a more genuine smile forms on her pale features. "Miss Elle, I believe that you've made an offer that I cannot refuse. If I'm thinking correctly, this is quite an opportunity to get a head-start on the exposure I've been looking to gain." she murmurs.
"Very well, you'll have my cooperation, I'll have to get word to the other girls as soon as I can." Yurika murmurs, ".. Exactly how much time do I have to get everything prepared?"
"A day and change," Elle replies flatly. "Any longer, and somebody will notice, and any shorter, and Hotaru won't have time. I'm telling you: there is a slim chance people will end up dead. That means refugees and your girls alike. I don't have a problem with that. None of that means anything to me. The questions is, are you ready to make that decision?" The stare she gives Yurika is dead and empty, but adds all the weight of an executioner's axe to her words.
There's no risk to housing the refugees, but there's a risk in getting them. As the mercneary stated, she needs cover, and that's going to be provided by Seijyun high girls. That will place them directly into the line of fire. Once a firefight starts, Elle can't promise anything. That's the nature of war, and why it's what it is, and not just a fun way to pass the weekend.
Yurika's reaction is favorable, but Elle wants the younger woman to know precisely what she's getting into. This shouldn't be an underaking that anyone makes lightly. Even Elle would think long and hard if she was going to be suffering casualties. Good help is hard to find after all, even if she's not emotionally invested.
"Realize this. You make this decision, and there is no turning back. You're part of this mess now, and you're committing people, not yourself, to this action. The decision to sacrifice other people isn't a road you walk down without giving things up. The goals you reach at the end are totally dependant on how you walk that path." She looks down again at the flowers, and stoops to pick on, twirling it with her fingertips, her voice quieting as she falls into thought.
"So I'm asking you again: is this a decision you want to make? I can handle this without you... but I'd rather not. This is an opportunity. You identified it exactly correct, which means you're ready to make these decisions." The flower is tossed to the ground, and then crushed under her heel. "But are you ready to face the consequences afterward?"
Yurika's dark eyes narrow a touch; not out of anger, but out of a moment of concentration. She did let the excitement get the better of her, but was death being a possibility ever something that Yurika had a problem with? Well...
Not entirely. When it came down to it, it was a rather selfish decision. However she's not entirely selfish, she figured out in just seconds how Seijyun as a whole, faculty, students and all would benefit from this.
She's also convinced herself not to be frightened by such a word. She had convinced herself that she would be able to 'make difficult choices for the better end'.
Yurika gives a gentle sigh, as she then realizes that if this ends up getting out of hand with Shadaloo, she risks getting into really reaaally big trouble. That makes the musician nibble on her thumb briefly. "I believe I have already stated that you have my cooperation," she notes, her heart pounding.. So hard that it feels like it will jump out of her throat.
"That should be more than enough time, I'll certainly have everyone ready by then.. Mn.. It will be difficult for me to get sleep tonight, that's for certain.." Yurika raises her gloved hand to her forehead, trying to relax herself with a long, drawn out sigh. "It doesn't matter if I'm ready or not in a way. What is, is that I can keep my end of the bargain, which I have no doubt I will.. This is a unique step forward that I will, literally, never have again."
Bold words. Just not ones that are usually taken in this direction. Elle doesn't immediately respond. Instead, she just nods once, mulling over the reaction she got carefully. Yurika has definitely changed. There's nervousness, certainly. But hesitation is gone. She's made her decision to place others at risk for some sort of benefit that comes to her in some way, shape, or form.
Regardless of any of Elle's thoughts on the general wisdom of the action despite being the one who proposed it to Yurika, one thing is clear. The girl has middle management potential written all over her. As a mercenary commander, it's imperative to find a person that can be presented with options and make a choice based on the circumstances. Sometimes you make the wrong choice, sometimes you make the right choice. But making any choice at all is better than waiting for the situation to resolve itself or indefinitely waffling for a better opportunity.
And as for Shadaloo?
Elle's not done planning yet.
You wouldn't think she'd share everything with Yurika, would you?
"Good. I'll need two girls per truck. I want girls that think well under pressure and can manage to control a situation. Most of all, I want individuals that know how to be team players. Hand pick them if you have to. If any of them grandstand, act a fool, or otherwise put this operation jeopardy, I promise that it won't end in anything but tears," Elle indicates, her tone shifting ever so slightly to 'command' as opposed to 'negotiation'. The subtle speed and tempo change is something only someone so musically inclined as Yurika could pick up.
"Most of all, I want complete cooperation with Hotaru. And I want these refugees cared for. They've been through enough, and I'm making sure they're armed. They'll pull their weight here. They've been defending themselves for weeks if not months. You need to give them room, though," which covers that base nicely. There will be definite culture shock here, as these people will not be really ready for life at Seijyun after all this time, and it behooves Elle to ensure a smoother transition than most.
The thermos tosses from one hand to another once more. "When we're done with this mess, come talk to me," her rasping voice sounds like she's musing, but that's a little presumptuous. It's more like the entertaining of a passing thought. "If you want to get even farther in this business, I think there's something we can work out. There's no reason you have to be like me in order to acheive your goals."
She pauses, flipping the thermos with one hand.
"Not when there's already one of me here."
Yurika's thumb withdraws and simply settles in front of her lips again, very slightly shaking but not letting a single word escape her ears. After all, she doesn't really like moving without some sort of plan, she's quite pleased that Elle has most of it togeather; that keeps her from stressing out over too much.
Culture shock? Not just for the refugees that much is for certain, but again that is certainly experience that Yurika feels the girls here should have- That, however, is a road down a different path she had been writing out. Again that ties in rather nicely. "You won't have to worry, the tension here is so thick that even the most troublesome students will be cooperative- But I'll handpick them regardless, one can't be too careful." the musician murmurs, the gears cranking.
Elle's final words cause Yurika's brows to raise, one could almost see the question mark flashing over her head but.. Well, whatever the issue is, it's being held until things calm down so she won't worry about it until then. ".. All right," she agrees curiously; because really, the final words were very effective, almost malipulative. The musician then gives the mercenary a light curtsey. "Then I shall take my leave. Enjoy the tea."
That actually was a good point to wrap up; she needed to walk.. A nice long walk, as she felt she was going to burst otherwise.
Log created on 00:01:15 05/15/2009 by Elle, and last modified on 23:08:02 05/16/2009.