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[color=8882be][b]Event:[/b][/color] Metropolis But It's Dinner
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Evil Eye was wearing a hint of a smirk as she headed out with Ingrid. The sun was not quite setting and it glowed golden through the canopy of the artificial forest. [color=de5400]"Nothing quite like a formal dinner, huh?"[/color] She shook her head a bit as they made their way deeper. Finally, the pair came to a small clearing with a single picnic bench. 

On edge wouldn't begin to describe Ingrid's nerves. They were all separated from the start, one-on-one with the blackguard. Her mind wandered as she could only guess where Niallus and Trypano were going as they left her sensing range. But she was here with Evil Eye and being rude would get them only closer to death. [color=8882be]"I prefer more casual lunches actually, much less stress."[/color]

Ingrid slid into her seat, doing her best not to ruin the beautiful clothes she was given. It was still a gift after all, [color=8882be][i]even if it was laced with poison,[/i][/color] Ingrid acknowledged.

[color=de5400]"Listen,"[/color] the Black Guard admitted as they took seats across from each other. [color=de5400]"I'm not going to pretend to be your friend or anything or act like have your personal best interests at deeply heart here. I've lived..."[/color] She trailed off and furrowed her brow. [color=de5400]"six-hundred thirty-eight years and it still messes with me sometimes, but I don't regret a shred of it, to be honest."[/color] She sighed, and it lingered in the increasingly golden air. At least mosquitoes were scarce at this time of year. 

[color=8882be]"638 years… Hopefully it was well lived,"[/color] Ingrid commented, unperturbed by the long life. Though not regretting it gave her some pause. Death was part of life, growing old and watching the young become old was all part of it. [color=8882be][i]Could someone be happy if there was no end?[/i][/color] Ingrid questioned before coming back to the conversation. 

[color=de5400]"You and me, [i]now?[/i] We might look only a few years separate in age, but we're worlds apart."[/color] She shrugged. [color=de5400]"The life experiences I've had? Crazy."[/color] She pointed to her eyepatch. [color=de5400]"What's behind here? Ain't it something, I'll tell you."[/color] She smiled mischievously at Ingrid and drummed her fingers idly on the tabletop. [color=de5400]"Thing is, and the reason I volunteered to talk to you, is 'cause we weren't all that different when I started out. Paragons know we weren't, or your Quentic gods, if you prefer."[/color] She smiled apologetically. [color=de5400]"Sorry."[/color] 

[color=8882be]"No offense taken, I'm sure that both exist,"[/color] Ingrid rested her arms on the table and said it as if it was the most obvious truth. It was evident Evil Eye was trying to win Ingrid over, at least to Ingrid it was.

In the distance, others had their own discussions, but this was a small bubble within the greater reality for just the two of them. [color=de5400]"The Twins aren't perfect."[/color] Evil Eye scratched sheepishly at the back of her head. [color=de5400]"Truth be told, I used to kinda have a bone to pick with them, but I've come to respect them."[/color] Her eye met Ingrid's for a second as she traced something along the table's aged wooden surface with a fingernail. [color=de5400]"It's 'cause they understand how the world works."[/color] She nodded as she spoke. [color=de5400]"People might cheer for the lofty statements and those soaring ideals but, at the end of the day, they're not what really moves things forward. The work of being in charge is difficult and dirty. It almost always involves decisions that'll cause some harm to someone, [i]somewhere[/i] for a desired good. I know a lot of people from the Twin Continents balk at our magic policy. It... took a while to reconcile myself to it too but, overall, to be honest?"[/color] She made sure that their eyes met. [color=de5400]"It works."[/color] She tapped the table with her pointer for emphasis. [color=de5400]"It really works."[/color] 

Ingrid listened genuinely to Evil Eye, whether she was earnest or not, she was trying to present herself that way, so Ingrid obliged and openly listen. Ingrid couldn't help but speculate that she may have lost her eye to that 'bone' she had with them or how she ended up serving them. [color=8882be]"And I'm sure that it has, Evil Eye,"[/color] Ingrid felt a slight bit of embarrassment from saying such a silly name but continued with a rebuttal, [color=8882be]"I just think that there are better ways what is being done. Even if you can't let then use magic, why not at least train them. At least the ones that would be disposed of otherwise,"[/color] Ingrid's mind went back to Yong at the dinner having no idea that he could be disposed of with one wrong move on our part.

A moth fluttered between them and both watched it for a split second. [color=de5400]"Thing is, everyone wants to be the star of the show, the hero of the story. They can't accept their own flaws and failings. Me?"[/color] She pressed her fingertips to her chest. [color=de5400]"Well, I'm a huge bitch, to be perfectly frank. This is the nice version you're getting. Trust me."[/color] She rolled her eye. [color=de5400]"What it all means, though, is that they can't accept that they shouldn't be making the decisions. They can't accept that maybe others - stronger, smarter, better in judgement, or just better positioned - should be making them. So they use whatever tools they have, selfishly, to undermine, to seek advantage for themselves."[/color] 

Ingrid smirked, [color=8882be]"I think I been called a bitch more than once at this point, more 'Extra' than anything else,"[/color] Ingrid found herself relating to Evil Eye. Evil Eye struck a sore spot. This mission Ingrid tried to play nice. She let boundaries be crossed for the sake of cooperation. Not once did she conspire yet there was always Maura. When was Ingrid not worried about her twisting things to her advantage? [color=8882be][i]I wanted so desperately to work together. I put up with insults not only of me but of my nation. Of my lover that Maura was apparently friends with. All Maura did was use. Fuck that bitch.[/i][/color] Ingrid took check of herself though there was no doubt that Evil Eye noticed. That's her specialty after all. 

She made sure that her conversational partner was paying attention for the next bit. [color=de5400]"So this is where it's all leading: we want you to join us. The sanguine council does. We're impressed by you. [i]I'm[/i] impressed by you. Not everything, mind you, but overall, you're exactly the kind of person we look for and we've been scouting you for a couple of years now."[/color] She smiled. [color=de5400]"Sorry for the intrusion, but what say you?"[/color]

All the other thoughts left as she heard the offer. It was a lot. She had studied the sanguine council in the forked tower and had seen the presumed upper members in the Zacqoria ruins. [color=8882be]"What do I say…"[/color] Ingrid was obviously thinking. [color=8882be][i]Years huh? Must have had a lot of nothing to report with me being stuck in my room for the most part. Why not then? I was a shut in and malleable. Maybe I'm still malleable. No, Manipulatable.[/i][/color]

[color=8882be]"I don't think I can be a sanguinaire. I have my best friend and lover to worry about here and some other concerns."[/color] Ingrid said not in a flat no but more trying to keep the dialogue open.

Evil Eye rose. [color=de5400]"'Other concerns?' Sounds like a 'no'."[/color] She straightened her slightly rumpled clothes. [color=de5400]"I can say I tried."[/color] She shrugged and stepped over the bench. [color=de5400]"We're going to make Retan a better place, with or without you, Ingrid Penderson. No vengeful dragon or religious zealot or shapeshifting anarchist has the right to interfere with our country and tell us how to live, and we're strong enough to resist them."[/color] Her voice had turned just a shade bitter. Perhaps it was the sort of polite, noncommittal rejection that she'd been told to expect. 

[color=de5400]"And we're building a new army too,"[/color] she added. [color=de5400]"All those unwanted or uncared for kids you're talking about? We're raising them, teaching them magic, giving them purpose. You can fight against us, but you'll have to answer to the future you've stolen from them."[/color] This seemed... oddly personal an issue for the Black Guard. She shook her head, backing away, about to turn and be gone. [color=de5400]"You can sell your potential short and settle for mediocrity and being stepped on by those with sly words and entangling money, but at least don't stand in our way. Us ten - us Guard and the exemplars - we're shifting the ball. We're in the Twins' ears. We're changing this place."[/color] With that, she was done, and turned fully to leave, holding back with only the slightest hitch in her step. [color=de5400]"You can still be part of it. The last bit was - if I recall correctly - your idea anyhow. It could use you as its driving force, or you can fight against the future you want."[/color]

Ingrid believed herself to be reasonable, but she apparently was not, with Evil Eye walking away from the table. Ingrid showed no emotion other than maybe a slight guard with Evil Eye getting up. 

It was then Evil Eye began to grandstand to Ingrid, [color=8882be][I]and it was lame.[/I][/color] Ingrid listened and only raised an eyebrow. [color=8882be]"So you take what I said as a 'no' and then grandstand on my concern. Only to then offer it?"[/color] 

Ingrid looked at Evil Eye in disbelief for only a second before shaking her head, [color=8882be]"I hope who ever wins can help Retan."[/color] 

[color=8882be][I]Cause Paragons and the Pentad know 638 years wasn't enough education for you at least.[/I][/color] Ingrid had nothing else to say to Evil Eye though she was left thinking that things [I]could've[/I] been different.

[color=de5400]"You never really cared, or you'd have made an effort, you stupid girl. 'Some other concerns'."[/color] Evil Eye laughed bitterly, pivoting on the spot and making air quotes out of it. [color=de5400]"You might as well have said 'Oh, I can't because I have friends and, uh... you know, etcetera'!"[/color] She waved her hand in mocking dismissal and stalked forward, pounding on the table. [color=de5400]"The Twins are literally building the world you claimed to want and offering you a part to play in it. You think they weren't listening in on almost everything all of you foreigners said? You don't think that's why they had me - someone who suffered through what that [i]kid's[/i] suffering -"[/color] She pointed vaguely in the direction they'd come from.  [color=de5400]"- come here and [i]make[/i] the offer you so flippantly refused before I even had the chance to spell it out!?"[/color] 

She flipped her eyepatch up and there was one of those hideous powergazer eyes beneath it. As she did, the air around Ingrid turned truly [i]freezing[/i]. Plants wilted and browned. Frost coated the ground and any lick of wind stilled. [color=de5400]"You're only all pissy because I didn't stroke your ego and assure you that you were the star of the show and would be in charge or some shit. Yeah, those words earlier were intentional. And yeah, governments totally put random foreign teenagers with no experience in the field in charge of statewide programs. No wonder my briefing for you included an 'ego' warning."[/color] 

She was backing away, but she did [i]not[/i] disappear down the bend in the path as she had perhaps originally intended. Something here had struck a nerve, and deeply. Evil Eye's energy swelled now, to [i]enormous[/i] proportions. [color=de5400]"It's all a fucking front with you people. It's all a show. You don't [i]actually[/i] wanna help people like us. You just wanna grandstand as the 'hero' or the 'goodguy' and feel good about your shitty selves. Now I'm [i]glad[/i] I tested you and figured that out."[/color] Her face went from heated and flushed with anger to cold. The bottom half of it split in a cruel grin. [color=de5400]"My name was given to me by someone else, you know, and I don't usually enjoy my work, but this time - I think - I really, [i]really[/i] will."[/color] Her 'evil eye' began to glow. 

Ingrid had turned to Evil Eye since it seemed she had more to say. [color=8882be]"Refused?"[/color] Ingrid looked at her dumbfounded, [color=8882be]"I didn't refuse anything, I wanted to talk about the little things."[/color] Then when she started to spell it out, [color=8882be]"You just went on and on about knowing you aren't the star, I know that!"[/color] Ingrid stood up. [color=8882be]"I knew that for awhile now. My concern was the treatment of people like Yong if you couldn't put 2 and 2 together."[/color]

As Evil Eye lifted her eyepatch, Ingrid never broke eye contact. Even as Evil Eye drew to stupendous levels and Ingrid could feel that same sickening that happens with Benny and Jocasta, Ingrid didn't draw. [color=8882be]"I'm not scared of some powergazer eye, it's not even the worst eyes I've seen all year."[/color] Ingrid let her talk more. [color=8882be]"I want to help. My concern was the treatment of people like Yong and the only 2 people I love here. If that's too much to talk about because you care about this as well than I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I struck something so dear to you."[/color] Even as Ingrid was being threatened she didn't back down, she didn't hesitate to stand for what she said.

At the very precipice, Evil Eye relented. [color=de5400]"[i]Paragons[/i], you sure have a way of showing it."[/color] The glow faded from the eye that had lent her her moniker and she breathed. [color=de5400]"This is..."[/color] She trailed off for a moment and flipped the patch back down. [color=de5400]"Kinda very personal for me, so I'm sorry too, okay?"[/color] She rolled her eye. [color=de5400]"There. I said it."[/color]

She sauntered back over to the table and plunked herself unceremoniously down on the bench. [color=de5400]"You're worried about the others? Then talk to them. They're all intelligent, reasonable people, right?"[/color] The air still hummed with energy. [color=de5400]"They've all received offers."[/color] She shrugged, a bit of the impish charm from earlier returning. [color=de5400]"They refuse, then maybe they're not so bright after all, and you need to crack 'em upside the head."[/color] She shook hers. [color=de5400]"We don't wanna hurt them. I won't give you some ironclad promise because, as you've learned, nothing in life is set in stone, but we'll go nonlethal unless our hand is forced."[/color] She smiled, and her eye darted about surreptitiously. [color=de5400]"It's going to be alright. You'll see. There's... a plan."[/color] She added cryptically, a Cheshire grin blossoming on her face. 

All at once, then, there was a great expulsion of energy, and Ingrid tensed, ready to defend against some sudden sneak attack, but it was nothing of the sort. [color=de5400]"I've just shut out [i]everybody[/i] who could be listening, and there are at least a few."[/color] Evil Eye spoke quickly. [color=de5400]"Ingrid, this is a plan centuries in the making - it's the luxury we have as sanguinaires."[/color] She was leaning forward conspiratorially [color=de5400]"I'm sworn to secrecy on this, but the silence is killing me. The Twins are not the badguys, even though they play that part onstage. Everything's about to change if we can pull this off. That's why the Progenitor's turned on them: they're breakign ranks. They're on a different side. He's here, [i]now[/i], for what it's worth: that mysterious handsome guy."[/color] She shook her head. [color=de5400]"He and the school are counting on you as dupes to overthrow them. The others, like Wu Long and Ash are just opportunists with their own selfish goals. Those reforms that you want?"[/color] She grinned and... winked? It was hard to tell with her. [color=de5400]"Ready to go in full, and they're just the tip of the iceberg. We're gonna make this world a better place! We want you in on it and, yeah, there's a bit to gain personally as well."[/color] She smirked. [color=de5400]"Nothin' wrong with that, is there?"[/color]

Ingrid sighed in relief that she wasn't going to get destroyed by an omega blast, [color=8882be]"I tend to piss people off with how I talk. Old habits die hard."[/color] Ingrid took a seat back at the table, before giving a small smile and a nod at the apology, resisting the urge to say sorry again.

Ingrid rolled her eyes, [color=8882be]"I'm worried for some of them. Not all,"[/color] Ingrid tried to make abundantly clear. [color=8882be]"Though I will try. They are my schoolmates and even if I hate one of them to bring back bloodeagling. I hate for a mission to have casualties."[/color] Ingrid appreciated her trying to say that they don't want to hurt them but Ingrid was unsure about some of the Black Guard but either way, [color=8882be]"Thank you Evil Eye-"[/color] Ingrid paused, [color=8882be]"Do you have another name you prefer or are you fond of that name? I personally dislike names based off of my physical traits."[/color]

Ingrid leaned in to listen to the plan. She had speculated it might be a tear in the Black Guard but a tear between some of the Elders and Progenitor. Now that makes sense. Ingrid nodded along to the pretty boy being the Progenitor even though it terrified her. [color=8882be][i]Ooh I hope that he doesn't know that I let his Ex out of the sleeping chamber.[/I][/color] She sat back and contemplated. Before she was even done she looked at Evil Eye, [color=8882be]"Well, thank you for the trust. I won't be sharing that."[/color] She went back to weighing it and she came to a conclusion. [color=8882be]"If you would have me, I'll help. What do you need from me?"[/color]

'Evil Eye' smiled ruefully. [color=de5400]"People used to call me Linlin."[/color] She blushed. [color=de5400]"Always thought it sounded too cute. I ain't that cute, am I?"[/color] She laughed nervously. She shook her head and leaned back, crossing her arms.

Then, it came time for the main offer. [color=de5400]"We need your strength. One way or another, there's going to be a fight.  Everything that we have planned depends on us winning it. I know it's not fair to ask you when I hardly know you and we've spent half that time at each other's throats, but... you and the others: we need you to help us fight against the threats that surround us: the Nikanese, Brother Ash (who's still very much alive), Wu Long, and..."[/color] She swallowed. [color=de5400]"Maybe even your fellow students if it really comes down to it. I expect none of you will try to kill each other, and you can help make sure of it."[/color] She reached out and took Ingrid by the hands across the table. [color=de5400]"Thank you,"[/color] she said. [color=de5400]"You have no idea how much your trust means to me."[/color]

Ingrid gave a smirk when Linlin said she wasn't cute, screaming the 'Oh really to her'. But her expression soured as she brought up having to fight her fellow students. [color=8882be]"I can't say that they won't try to kill each other. Maura is a central figure to 2 of them and I can say for certain that she [b]hates[/b] me."[/color] Ingrid let that sit there not for Linlin but for herself. She was coming to terms that she might need to kill her fellow students. [color=8882be]"I can only hope that she was self serving here. That all of them came around,"[/color] Ingrid gave a not too optimistic smile. 

Ingrid weighed the information Linlin had entrusted to her and knew that there was a chance the people that held the plushtail oil might have stayed with Wu Long. She leaned in to whisper to Linlin, [color=8882be]"Linlin listen, since you trusted me, I'm going to trust you. We found the Plushtail oil that you guys put on our cloths. Thing is that Yalen and the others could get it off of them. They have the Plushtail oil."[/color] Ingrid didn't feel completely right sharing that but if it could secure the people she loved, fuck the other ones.