(1507) Avis and Miach

[Miach]

The fact that Avis sort-of-relaxed at the sight of him made Miach's smile broaden. No matter how he saw it, it was only positive in his opinion.

They weren't quite surrounded by people, but it didn't mean he wanted anyone to overhear what he would say. With a nod toward a quiet corner, he lead her a couple of steps away, and assuming she followed him, spoke his mind quickly. She was not one to beat around the bush.

"Well, there are three separate things, really. Here's the list..." he started with, shrugging. He was confident she'd handle it rather easily.

"First, I got from Striker that if I wanted some weapon training, you were the one to go to. And I would very much like to know enough to handle myself in a pinch." he paused a bit, looking at her for any reaction or hint that he should stop. Lacking any, he would go on.

"Second, you may remember when I asked about Sympathy countermeasures... well, I would still like those, I got to say...

And third, there's GLO..." there he paused, because that might be somewhat more lengthy.

[Avis]

"GLO's my cabal's territory," she shot back at him, hands rising out of their cotton nests so her arms could cross over her chest. "If you have any new information I'll take it, but if you're wanting in on the operation then you're too late. Already have plans and adding more people is going to mean revising those, and we've all already pissed too much time away already."

"As for weapon training, I don't know if you've got what it would take," she continued, weight shifting subtly to the left. "If you're training to use a weapon, you're training to kill. You understand that, right? I mean, doctor's have to take a do-no-harm oath, don't they? You sure you wanna break it?"

The sympathy could wait. Bargaining could take awhile, after all, but honor and oaths were far, far more important.

[Miach]

Avis's strong reaction had an unexpected effect upon the Acanthus, and he retorted back as quickly as she had

"No." he said, standing erect, and looking straight at the Arrow.

"No, I'm not out of this, whether you like it or not. I've already handed what information I have to Ermac, and will keep on doing so, but I will be part of it.

You've not tasted their bullets yet, have you ? or have you been abducted by them at your office ? unless you've been experimented upon for weeks ? Or maybe you've Seen firsthand the effect of GLO upon an unsuspecting mortal ?" he didn't let her speak before he finished his sentence

"So. No." there was no way he'd be pushed out of that. Weapon training or sympathy were far from his mind until that had been cleared.

[Avis]

Steel, blood, imprisonment, torture, and chemical molestation. Even with all that she knew about the Banishers, even though she knew that oppression pulsed rhythmically at the heart of their beliefs, it was still hard to fully grasp the reality of the sheer fucking evil that they enacted, and to accept that there were people out there, people in supposed institutions of higher learning, in a country that supposedly loved freedom, that would be willing to do such things. Her mind grasped at that thread of understanding, intellectual fingertips twining through it, calloused palms gliding against it, and the harder she pulled at the thread the harder it pulled taught, and bit into her psychic flesh. Bit deep, sunk beneath skin, blood welling from the cuts as it slithered it's way up her veins to twine around her heart.

Her ribcage expanded, buoyed by the influx of air and all that it touched, but no words were lashed to it's exhale. Instead, the air carried the venom her mouth had first conjured away and gave her mind time to construct a response that would be more than an attack on a victim.

"Miach," she began. "You...Look. Information has a shelf life. An expiration date. Like everything else in this reality, it fades if it's not acted on. My cabal has a lead. We are following it. If you start messing about, someone who's face they obviously know, if they've attacked and abducted you, someone who they probably have spied on with sympathetic links built when they experimented on you, someone who's also struggled for how many months to act on this? If you want me to taste their bullets, then by all means, butt in, because if you do then you'll fuck up what we're doing, and the price of that might be death.

"So. How about this. I burn as much sympathy away from you as I can, and in exchange you let us attack the GLO infrastructure. Otherwise, I won't burn your sympathy away, and then they probably will spy on you, and by spying on you spy on me and my cabal, and then know how best to try and kill us," she finally countered, drab eyes levelly meeting his.

It was a low blow, sure, using the guilt trip, but the only way to truly win an argument was to make the opponent want to give up, and that meant going for the throat. Miach, well, the pyre had effectively bared his jugular, and like the ghost of a Wolf, Avis would try to put her teeth on it.

[Miach]

Since Avis had made an obvious effort of self-control before answering him, and because the Enchanter thought she really had some sort of empathy, he did the very same, and did not bark back at her all the thoughts that crossed his mind. Reining in his frustration, his fear, his rage, he tried to lucidly hear her argument.

He carefully didn't look at her though as he ticked off a couple of points from his fingers. "First, by your own reasoning, you should burn sympathy from me no matter what, to increase your odds of succeeding. And our faces are a Lie too, you know..

Second, unless I'm mistaken, you have not yet reviewed my intel from Ermac, so you might want to do that before telling me to buzz off. We may have different angles, for instance.

And third, unless I'm mistaken again, your Cabal is sorely lacking a real healer... Is it really safer without me, then ?"

Of course though, she was correct that he could have been compromised in ways unaccouted for... it would be worth double and triple checking later... but he just couldn't let it slip now.

"So... please take some time to consider those, and only then tell me you're sticking to your guns." he finished, trying to sound reasonable and peaceful.

[Avis]

"You've already got a cabal, don't you, Miach? Unless you're wanting to drop them and potentially join the Veiled Threats then your offer to be a healer doesn't mean shit. My cabal already knows what we're going to be doing to stop GLO," she told Miach, arms uncrossing so a thumb could be jerked towards her heart, "and cabals are what this consilium recognizes. I don't want to fucking coordinate when I don't have to. I want to act, and since my cabal's already got a plan, back up plans, multiple leads, as well as Ermac and his testimony, since he's in my fucking cabal, we've got everything we need to actually do that."

Oh, and as far as burning the Sympathy off of you," she continued, arms crossing again, "you of all people should know that nothing happens in this society for free. The Mysterium doesn't just hand out fucking library cards, now, does it? No, it always wants a cut, so guess fucking what? If I'm going to be doing you a favor then I want something in return. In this case, I want you to put your feelings aside and let us actually fucking do something for once. If that doesn't suit you then tough."

[Miach]

Torn between manic laughter and tears of despair, Miach struggled to remain somewhat composed, if barely. "This is foolish ! When you tackle something like that, you don't wave away additional help ! I hope you'll succeed, and I'll be there to help if you don't, but this is the kind of reasoning that'll get you killed ! Do you think it makes any difference to the Banishers which Cabal's blood they're shedding ?"

"And I can't agree to your bargain." No matter his need, it would mean being put back on the shelf... and he just couldn't do it anymore. But she was right that nothing was free.

"At least not until you tell me what you intend to do with what Ermac collected - for free..." because survival mattered more than some outdated ideas. The Mysterium wasn't about silly bookkeeping. It was about meaningful bookkepping.

[Avis]

"How about," Avis asked, letting her voice trail off into a multi-second pause, "...No. All you need to know Miach, is this: we are going after GLO. If you do, too, you risk our operation. That's it. Simple as that. You have your own cabal. If you want to do something to hurt the Banishers, great, then plan it with them. If your cabal isn't willing to do that then, well, find a new cabal."

Bare, scarred shoulders jerked upwards in a shrug. Really, it was as simple as that.

[Miach]

It seemed that what seemed like sound common sense to Miach looked like an unbearable hassle to the First Talon. So be it, then. He didn't want to hinder their operation, and imperil anyone, but if she couldn't at least point him in the right direction...

"Me and my cabal will do what we feel needs to be done." he replied to Avis's statement. But before he could explain further, Ermac joined them. Apparently, in the heat of the moment, they must have spoken a bit more loudly than he'd have liked.

"Ermac, good seeing you. We were indeed talking about GLO..." the doctor paused, eyeing Avis. Should he throw accusations or not ? Deciding against it... "And the intel I gave you ?"