Good chances it won't be, from what I hear about Kowloon.
[ Being familiar with the underground back home, literally and figuratively, Yuri can well imagine it's going to be a challenge. Aigneuse has given them a location to check, which narrows down their focus significantly, but a casino in a city known for its criminal populace sets certain expectations.
The fortunate thing is that they're all capable of defending themselves and know to stay on their toes. Things could be far worse. ]
Whole lot of...well, my kind of people down there, certain standards aside.
[There’s a little blip of curiosity from her at that last comment. She’s gotten that sort of impression from him after passing mentions of what his old home was like in past conversations, but the lack of details left her mostly wondering. Gavial’s been down to Kowloon just a few times herself, but it was enough to get a feel for the sort of place that it is.]
At least that means you’ll know better how to navigate things around there than me, at least.
[Not that her rough-and-tumble ways necessarily stand out in a city like that, but she’s a bit too brash when it comes to her idea of an investigation. But if things go south, she’s at least confident they could all handle it. Might be best if they don’t let things get to that point, though.]
Only been down there a couple of times, but it gave me the impression that they don’t really care for Meridians. At the very least, I’ll have your back if anyone wants to start shit with you two.
I've been hearing sentiment toward Meridian's only soured lately, at that.
[ Terribly inconvenient for their purposes, but there's no denying that it could be worse. With Gavial around, they have a Zenith presence, not to mention all of them are capable fghters. Gavial's a capable healer to boot, so if things do go sour they can patch themselves up in a worst case scenario.
Not that he wants to think that a likely outcome, but his busy mind is ever at work thinking up contingency plans. ]
Provided it's at all like the underground I know, I've got a few ideas. Between your comments and Byleth's, it doesn't sound too different. Venue's larger than Abyss is — at least the populated bits.
[ Abyss runs deeper and further than any of them are entirely sure of. The risk of getting lost if one delves too far runs high. ]
[Well, if attitudes are only growing worse down there, then they’re going to have their work cut out for them. Who knows how much of a help her Zenite presence will provide… but if it isn’t much, then Gavial’s got a couple of fists real good at talking too. Y’know. “Talking.”]
Ha, well let’s try not to get lost down there.
[The place feels like a maze to her, but she’s a lot less used to cramped cities and underground tunnels than others.]
The place we’re looking for is hard to miss, at least.
[Big damn place compared to a lot of others in the cramped city. If things take them out beyond that, though… that’s when they’ll need to tread carefully.]
Definitely beats wandering the whole area looking for clues.
[ Saves them time, trouble, and some risk to have a measure of focus. How much it spares them from the latter two remains to be seen, but Yuri has used his wit and charm against people who were determined to hate him before. He'll try it again, should they need it, if only so violence is a last resort.
Putting targets on the backs of friends concerns him. If they can do this quickly and discreetly, so much the better... But can they? ]
I'll be reaching out to my contact, now that Byleth's better. But I wanted to check that you were alright first. Lot of people had a hell of a rough go in that labyrinth.
[For what it’s worth, Gavial’s fine with making herself a target. Girl doesn’t know the meaning of ‘keeping a low profile,’ but she’ll try her best not to make too much trouble for the boys.
She hadn’t realized Byleth had run into trouble down there, as their recent conversation had been brief and down to business. Yuri taking the extra time to check in on her makes a lot of sense in that case.]
Yeah, I’m fine. Got out of that nonsense well enough. Ha, had a worse time back in Yima’s basement just before that whole mess went down, really.
[If she sounds a little mad about that last part, it’s because she is!]
[ Byleth certainly did. All the time he needed to recover had led to them talking about his little investigation to begin with, even. Thank the goddess (even if Byleth doesn't understand why Yuru would think such things) he's mended with time. ]
Yima's basement, huh? Sounds like there's a story behind that.
[ Perhaps to his credit, Yuri doesn't directly ask. However his curiosity is obvious. It sounds like Gavial had gone on some sort of aventure and the fact that she isn't too happy about how it went suggests all manner of things.
At least he knows that Gavial got through it, whatever it was. ]
[There’s the mental impression of a sigh. She won’t exactly turn down the chance to bitch about it a little bit, especially with his curiosity this evident.]
An embarrassing one, I guess. Me and a couple others got roped into some monster-hunting duty down there. Place was a real pain in the ass to get through.
[She’d gone in there expecting a fight! Physical obstacles! But not only did the place itself deny the latter, the damn monster didn’t even give her a chance for a fight either. Well, technically it did give her one—just… not the one she wanted.]
Monster-hunting...in her basement? That's one hell of a task to be issued.
[ Who would have thought that Yima housed monsters in her basement to begin with? Not that Yuri had really contemplated basements in general, but it strikes him as odd all the same. ]
What made it so difficult?
[ Tough as Gavial is, this part is difficult to imagine. ]
[Maybe it makes more sense when the basement is really catacombs… but then, who has spooky catacombs beneath their house? Someone with a big-ass fancy manor, that’s who.]
I’m convinced the place was haunted. Played mind games with us, so it took longer than it should have for us to find the dang monster.
[Should she be talking about the spooky secrets beneath Yima’s house with someone from Meridian? Well, it doesn’t matter to her—and Yuri is her bud.]
And to top it off, when we finally found the thing, it got in my head and made me fight the others! I didn’t even get to fight it!!
[She might be more upset about that than any other aspect of this, judging by her tone. #Priorities]
So the thing was manipulative and a tease? That'd be pretty damned frustrating.
[ Getting the run-around, being pitted against friends, and not being allowed to get even is one hell of a combination. Gavial has his sincere sympathy there. He'd be put out too, especially the being used against allies bit.
Small wonder it's a vexing memory for her. ]
Hell of a thing to have under her estate... Did it escape or something?
[See, he gets it. At least it turned into a successful mission, even if it wasn’t the best outcome for her.]
Nah, not sure how it got down there in the first place. Place is like a maze. [Not unlike a certain Oracle arena, hmm,] But the others managed to take it out, after they took me out. We passed the Shard over to Yima once I was back on my feet.
[Such a casual way to mention she’d died… but as she sits there having this mental chat, she does reach up to trace her fingers along the new scar across her neck without thinking.]
Yuri isn't able to suppress the moment of concern that flits through their Communion, even though good sense tells him it's in the past. He doubts he'll ever quite adjust to others dying, temporary though it may be.
Though the feeling can't be helped, he does avoid making a useless comment. ]
[It’s hard to miss that concern, and Gavial can’t help the knee-jerk reaction to brush it off. She’s here, she’s back up and running, it’s all fine in the end. But knowing that death would be coming for her—in a more permanent way—much sooner than most others thanks to her Oripathy means that even before experiencing the ephemeral form it comes in for Shard-bearers here, she’d learned to accept death for the inevitable fact that it is.
Not everyone is so resigned to it, though. So she backtracks a little with a very brief sense of gratefulness for the concern, as necessary or unnecessary as either of them might see it. Better to leave it all unspoken, and focus on the rest.]
…Yeah. Yima mentioned they reminded her of someone she once knew. Wouldn’t be surprised at this point if it really had been.
Considering we got a good, long look at what too much Discord can do to us, I'd have to agree.
[ Who knows what else can happen to them? For that matter, they can't be sure that being experimented on is an unusual or unique event. It could well be that the leadership had even sanctioned such things in past generations — since somehow there are generations at the end.
How that is, he couldn't rightly say. Probably some nonsense about time. ]
Can't say they seem terribly concerned with our wellbeing in general.
Think they’re concerned in their own kinda way, at the very least.
[Whether that be the self-serving sort of concern in the interest of their own goals or… well, maybe something genuine. Gavial recalls the way Yima had laid her hand on her cheek when she and the others had met with her after their mission. How it had left her with a distinct feeling of assuredness…
She dismisses the thought.]
Either way, the more we know about things, the better we’ll be able to puzzle things out. Hopefully this little trip of ours will get us at least a few answers.
That's the hope. We've had too few answers when it comes to this place.
[ And regardless of what those in power think about how much they need to know, they shouldn't be kept in the dark like this. What they're expected to sacrifice warrants more than that.
Ultimately, they'll have to get that information on their own. ]
Once my contact gets back to me, we can get underway. Hopefully, we'll get something we can use out of the endeavor.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[ Being familiar with the underground back home, literally and figuratively, Yuri can well imagine it's going to be a challenge. Aigneuse has given them a location to check, which narrows down their focus significantly, but a casino in a city known for its criminal populace sets certain expectations.
The fortunate thing is that they're all capable of defending themselves and know to stay on their toes. Things could be far worse. ]
Whole lot of...well, my kind of people down there, certain standards aside.
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At least that means you’ll know better how to navigate things around there than me, at least.
[Not that her rough-and-tumble ways necessarily stand out in a city like that, but she’s a bit too brash when it comes to her idea of an investigation. But if things go south, she’s at least confident they could all handle it. Might be best if they don’t let things get to that point, though.]
Only been down there a couple of times, but it gave me the impression that they don’t really care for Meridians. At the very least, I’ll have your back if anyone wants to start shit with you two.
no subject
[ Terribly inconvenient for their purposes, but there's no denying that it could be worse. With Gavial around, they have a Zenith presence, not to mention all of them are capable fghters. Gavial's a capable healer to boot, so if things do go sour they can patch themselves up in a worst case scenario.
Not that he wants to think that a likely outcome, but his busy mind is ever at work thinking up contingency plans. ]
Provided it's at all like the underground I know, I've got a few ideas. Between your comments and Byleth's, it doesn't sound too different. Venue's larger than Abyss is — at least the populated bits.
[ Abyss runs deeper and further than any of them are entirely sure of. The risk of getting lost if one delves too far runs high. ]
no subject
Ha, well let’s try not to get lost down there.
[The place feels like a maze to her, but she’s a lot less used to cramped cities and underground tunnels than others.]
The place we’re looking for is hard to miss, at least.
[Big damn place compared to a lot of others in the cramped city. If things take them out beyond that, though… that’s when they’ll need to tread carefully.]
no subject
[ Saves them time, trouble, and some risk to have a measure of focus. How much it spares them from the latter two remains to be seen, but Yuri has used his wit and charm against people who were determined to hate him before. He'll try it again, should they need it, if only so violence is a last resort.
Putting targets on the backs of friends concerns him. If they can do this quickly and discreetly, so much the better... But can they? ]
I'll be reaching out to my contact, now that Byleth's better. But I wanted to check that you were alright first. Lot of people had a hell of a rough go in that labyrinth.
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She hadn’t realized Byleth had run into trouble down there, as their recent conversation had been brief and down to business. Yuri taking the extra time to check in on her makes a lot of sense in that case.]
Yeah, I’m fine. Got out of that nonsense well enough. Ha, had a worse time back in Yima’s basement just before that whole mess went down, really.
[If she sounds a little mad about that last part, it’s because she is!]
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Yima's basement, huh? Sounds like there's a story behind that.
[ Perhaps to his credit, Yuri doesn't directly ask. However his curiosity is obvious. It sounds like Gavial had gone on some sort of aventure and the fact that she isn't too happy about how it went suggests all manner of things.
At least he knows that Gavial got through it, whatever it was. ]
no subject
An embarrassing one, I guess. Me and a couple others got roped into some monster-hunting duty down there. Place was a real pain in the ass to get through.
[She’d gone in there expecting a fight! Physical obstacles! But not only did the place itself deny the latter, the damn monster didn’t even give her a chance for a fight either. Well, technically it did give her one—just… not the one she wanted.]
no subject
[ Who would have thought that Yima housed monsters in her basement to begin with? Not that Yuri had really contemplated basements in general, but it strikes him as odd all the same. ]
What made it so difficult?
[ Tough as Gavial is, this part is difficult to imagine. ]
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I’m convinced the place was haunted. Played mind games with us, so it took longer than it should have for us to find the dang monster.
[Should she be talking about the spooky secrets beneath Yima’s house with someone from Meridian? Well, it doesn’t matter to her—and Yuri is her bud.]
And to top it off, when we finally found the thing, it got in my head and made me fight the others! I didn’t even get to fight it!!
[She might be more upset about that than any other aspect of this, judging by her tone. #Priorities]
no subject
[ Getting the run-around, being pitted against friends, and not being allowed to get even is one hell of a combination. Gavial has his sincere sympathy there. He'd be put out too, especially the being used against allies bit.
Small wonder it's a vexing memory for her. ]
Hell of a thing to have under her estate... Did it escape or something?
no subject
[See, he gets it. At least it turned into a successful mission, even if it wasn’t the best outcome for her.]
Nah, not sure how it got down there in the first place. Place is like a maze. [Not unlike a certain Oracle arena, hmm,] But the others managed to take it out, after they took me out. We passed the Shard over to Yima once I was back on my feet.
[Such a casual way to mention she’d died… but as she sits there having this mental chat, she does reach up to trace her fingers along the new scar across her neck without thinking.]
no subject
Yuri isn't able to suppress the moment of concern that flits through their Communion, even though good sense tells him it's in the past. He doubts he'll ever quite adjust to others dying, temporary though it may be.
Though the feeling can't be helped, he does avoid making a useless comment. ]
...So this monster had its own shard?
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Not everyone is so resigned to it, though. So she backtracks a little with a very brief sense of gratefulness for the concern, as necessary or unnecessary as either of them might see it. Better to leave it all unspoken, and focus on the rest.]
…Yeah. Yima mentioned they reminded her of someone she once knew. Wouldn’t be surprised at this point if it really had been.
no subject
[ Who knows what else can happen to them? For that matter, they can't be sure that being experimented on is an unusual or unique event. It could well be that the leadership had even sanctioned such things in past generations — since somehow there are generations at the end.
How that is, he couldn't rightly say. Probably some nonsense about time. ]
Can't say they seem terribly concerned with our wellbeing in general.
no subject
[Whether that be the self-serving sort of concern in the interest of their own goals or… well, maybe something genuine. Gavial recalls the way Yima had laid her hand on her cheek when she and the others had met with her after their mission. How it had left her with a distinct feeling of assuredness…
She dismisses the thought.]
Either way, the more we know about things, the better we’ll be able to puzzle things out. Hopefully this little trip of ours will get us at least a few answers.
no subject
[ And regardless of what those in power think about how much they need to know, they shouldn't be kept in the dark like this. What they're expected to sacrifice warrants more than that.
Ultimately, they'll have to get that information on their own. ]
Once my contact gets back to me, we can get underway. Hopefully, we'll get something we can use out of the endeavor.
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Sounds good. I’ll make sure I’m ready for a little field trip, then.
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[ Surely, they can wring some intel out of this. ]
Thanks in advance for coming with us, Gavial.
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[Says Gavial, the trouble-magnet.]
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[ He does't know yet how much trouble Gavial finds. ]
Remind me sometime to tell you about our run-in with a spider, back when we were all tiny.