Shiro's pronouncement didn't faze Abel all that much. Not truly sure of what to do, he was glad for someone a little more familiar with the situation at hand to provide a course to take. “Oh, okay.” Throughout his friend's instruction, he tried to establish eye contact, but proved unable to as his ally seemed either too nervous or too conflicted to meet his gaze for more than a couple seconds.
He wasn't the only one listening, though; the faunus girls paid heed to Shiro as well, and with renewed hope heard his words. Clearly, the squirrel girl still trusted Abel about as far as she could throw him, but his wound had signaled his fallibility in her mind, and his partnership with Shiro proved he wasn't out to get faunus, as she initially feared. Meanwhile, Coral's features were graced with a slight smile, for it looked like she had managed to convince someone poised to prevent her and her friends from being able to receive treatment to let them follow their own paths.
With Shiro finished speaking, Abel gave a curt nod. “Sure thing.” He turned his back to the three faunus and began to walk away, palming his scroll and composing a message as he did.
To: Gren Orchid, Sapphire Rode
From: Abel
Subject: Pull Out
Everything's clear on our end. I'm not totally sure of everything here, but I don't think we have any jurisdiction here. There not doing anything awful here, just a surgery, not just for faunus who think it's the only way, but also for those whose traits make life uncomfortable for them. I guess we'll leave it to other authorities to see if everything is legal and all that here.Nearly done now with the composition, Abel found his text interrupted by an incoming one from Sapphire. His eyes narrowed at the nonsensical subject, and after saving his own message as a draft, he took a look at the team leader's. Despite the abhorrent typos, the message's alarming contents were pretty easily decipherable, and they sparked a whole new slew of doubts in Abel's mind. Guards? Sure, there had been security cameras, but hadn't Gren taken care of those according to his earlier message? Bringing up his draft, Abel added more to it before sending, though he erased and redid more than half of the message after thinking of a better way to phrase it.
Shiro + I are pretty sure this is a legit establishment. If it is, any more dmg we do will be bad news for us. If we don't fight the guards, we might be able to get off as misguided. We should prob get out of here as fast as possible. S, meet me by the stairs where we entered.Abel headed in the direction of the stairs as indicated by the emergency escape route signs on the walls.
-=-=Sapphire, Pop=-=-
Pop rolled his eyes at both Sapphire's words and her renewed readiness for combat. “There will be no blood. You act as if Faunus are universally disliked, as if all people, all their corporations, all their governments, and all their armies, are simply waiting for an excuse to erase us from existence. True, I am an optimist, but hardly a blind one. Why do you think I have guards in my clinic? Or
backup files of my research elsewhere? If it ever passes that my work may pose a threat to anyone's way of life, I will personally hit the kill switch. That you could assume that I'd blindly throw my work at the world and expect sunshine and roses astonishes me—but then, let's take a look at you. I doubt you're eighteen, and yet you speak like a disciple of tragedy and pessimism, and fight like one with no belief in honor or sportsmanship. It reeks of personal experience. But looking at you, and hearing your level of education, you are not of the streets. So how could a well-born girl become so bitter, without hope, and without sympathy for anything but your own moral code?” Here he sighed. He had been aware of Sapphire doing something shifty behind her back, but couldn't guess what it might be aside from calling for help from her friends. Anticipating a surprise attack any moment, Pop removed his reading glasses and slipped them into a jacket pocket.
“Something must have happened to your family...or perhaps your family happened to you. Beyond that it is hard to say. Bottom line is, you are trying to challenge something that your own experience makes you think that you understand, but you clearly do not. I am prepared for what will come my way; I do not need you to tell me I am not, and to make my judgment for me. You wish to fight?
You will lose. As a final act of civility, I will allow you to land the first blow, if only so that when I call the police afterwards, I can say with a clear conscience that I acted in self-defense.”
Pop took another step forward, so that only three feet separated him and Sapphire, and he was close to blocking her into a corner. He raised his fists, but true to his word, did not strike. Instead, his aura flared briefly, a soft scarlet glow, to signify that he was ready. At that moment, Sapphire's scroll received Abel's delayed message.
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