Stunning Reveal (UN Meeting)

[Darastrix]

"Nobody is making your people 'sit out,'" Lucifer said mildly. "I believe all of us are free to act on our own as we see fit outside of a concerted effort. For my part, I doubt there are many among my own people who would wish to be involved. They are slowly adapting to the increased amount of people crossing our borders, but I cannot see them willing to stray far from their homeland. Especially to make contact with a currently hostile group of foreigners."


Oh fuck this, Schuldig thought. He could ask Sunray directly instead of waiting on Jonathan. On second thought, he reflected, glancing at the guard's sparring thoughts, he could ask Emerald later. He hadn't bothered her in a few months.

~Think Trevor would like some cheese with that whine?~ he asked Jonathan.

[Deleted]

Layla glanced at Thelon, but kept her face neutral.

"Perhaps," Layla glanced to Trevor. "There is a better way to use Clears in this situation. I fear that while I can understand where you might be coming from, the second these people realize what a Clear is, if they don't know already, nothing we say will convince them that we mean them no harm." She kept her tone kind and sincere. She had no personal beef with the clears, or with Trevor.

[Devon]

"I'm saying with a group of elementals on his side, a clear should be able to focus on an attacker long enough to wear him down and ensnare him. It isn't like I'm saying I want to enslave these people, it is just a precaution to hopefully stop any bloodshed if things get out of hand." Trevor nodded to Lucifer, "I understand, but I do want some of my people to go on this expedition. I don't think their involvement will have a negative impact."

[Kender Bard]

Thelon made a frustrated sound and pulled himself away from Lya again. "Power wise, they will have no impact. As Cascata said, unless you're going to be putting a large number of Clears on the damned boat, no matter how long they concentrate, if the free-will outweighs the ensnaring capabilities of the Clears, guess who'll win."

And since Trevor seemed to be confident that the Clears could be selective with their auras now, or at least made no move to deny the fact, he felt a twist in his stomach at the thought.

"If you just want to stick them on the boat so you feel like you've got a hand in things, then fine, they won't be able to do anything anyway except offend the islanders if they know about Clears." He shut his eyes tight and went back to his chat.

Thavan kept his damn mouth shut at this point as he was beginning to smell rising tension.

Jonathan made a surprised look, then a tiny grin at Schuldig's comment. He certainly seems to want to be a part of this expedition just to prove something, if you ask me.

[Deleted]

"And if you saw a man with a his sword drawn, staring down on you, and had only his word that he wouldn't use it, you would stand there defenseless and trust him? I'm not sure you understand what we're meaning. It may not matter what we indend, it's how they perceive the presence of one such as a Clear." She sighed. "I believe Thelon is right in this matter."

[Kender Bard]

"How about this," Thavan said. He probably shouldn't talk but he had a thought. "Just have some Clears aboard who are good at weaponry. They can serve as guards. Since their aura isn't going to be effective anyway, it seems, then don't use it. Nobody will know they're Clears. I mean they could just be Elementals with their signs under clothing or something. Then we get guards, Reave gets to participate in the expedition, and the islanders have no reason to think we're out to get them."

Cascata hesitated, then gave a slight nod. "That sounds fair."

Thelon opened his eyes. "Lya has agreed to send some Winds so long as we're not asking for an army."

"Six or seven will do," Thavan suggested. Thelon nodded.

"That she'll agree to," he informed the group.

Thavan seemed pleased with this. "So to recap. We're going to have a Ronduin made boat, focusing on speed, with Waters and Winds to speed an emergency retreat if necessary, and Winds with possibly Minds-"

Twilight nodded.

"-to relay our diplomatic messages from a safe distance."

"Aye," Twilight, Thelon, and Cascata agreed.

[Devon]

Trevor leaned back in his seat, and nodded his head as well. "Agreed," he said.

[Deleted]

"Sounds about right. And the risk should be minimal as long as we don't get any closer than we have to. I'm afraid I can't offer much from my people, outside of perhaps some food and supplies for the journey."

[Darastrix]

~No doubt. Considering the history here, I'm not surprised. But pushing hard against the folks that have every reason to be wary just to be involved ...well. It'd be like us asking Anarlina for an alliance right after Lucifer came to power and bitching after the inevitable "Fuck no".~


Lucifer merely nodded. It seemed a sound idea, and with his people uninvolved, there was little to no risk for him in any case.

[Northen Light36]

Evanlyn nods but she has little to add and she's lost in her thoughts. Given the clear hostality between Cascata, Thelon and Trevor, she's rather glad Shadow did refuse to join the UN. She has a feeling his presence would have been adding fuel to the fire.

[Kender Bard]

Jonathan offered Schuldig a faint smile. You have keen observations. They make men great guards. He winked.

"That's good then," Thavan stated. "Milady your help with supplies would be greatly appreciated. That being said, I think we can conclude our business here. Some of us-" he glanced at Twilight "-seem to have other matters to attend to. I will be getting in touch with people as I need to. Mother Cascata, if you're not in a hurry, perhaps we could chat at our leisure?"

"Aye," Cascata agreed.

Twilight moved over to be closer with the Mother and murmured to her, "My Queen requests you visit us in Anarlina as soon as it is convinent for you. I'm going to be leaving with my Mind guard as soon as he's able - tomorrow morning. If you like, I could leave Jonathan with you to be your escort."

Cascata raised her brow slightly. Twilight's phrasing had indicated he prefer Cascata not return home from Ilyamen and instead head straight to Anarlina. A bit pushy, but with how antsy he's been, she wondered if something important wasn't going on... "Aye, I'd like that."

Jonathan smiled at Cascata.

"Thank you, Cascata," Twilight said, sincerely. "Jonathan, you're at your leisure now. I'm going back to my rooms. Thank you all for having Anarlina at this meeting." He bowed his head and made a very hasty retreat with the Mind dogging his footsteps. Jonathan leaned back in his seat. He didn't feel like running off.

Thelon touched his signs and simply teleported away after thank Evelyn for hosting the meeting.

[Deleted]

Layla rose from her seat. "It was a great pleasure to meet you all. And thank you for having Humontis here" then to their hostess, "And thank you for hosting." She bowed slightly and started on her journey home.

[Devon]

Trevor thanked Evelyn and Thavon and bid the other leaders farewell as he left to go back to Reave.

[Darastrix]

~They make men great lovers, too,~ Schuldig said with a wink of his own. Hey, the man walked into that one.

Lucifer rose and thanked their hostess as well, leaving with Farfarello to rest in his rooms. Schuldig, he thought, have Crawford make a note that we need to contact Anarlina about when would be convenient to send Nagi.

~Yeah, it's obvious something's up. I'll ask Emerald what it is later.~ Schuldig stretched slightly and dug out a small package, leaning over to tap Cascata on the arm with it.

[Kender Bard]

Cascata glanced over and smiled at Schuldig. Her eyes flicked to the package and something like hope flared up in her eyes. "Yes?"

Jonathan blushed. Well, he'd earned that. Coughing lightly, he got up to go stretch his legs elsewhere.