Flicking her eyes to the irritated Hyuga still pinning her down with a single arm, Louise decided that if a woman of her position had come to visit, it would only be proper to hear her out. Nodding, Louise relaxed onto the bed and sighed in annoyance, "It's not as if I'm going anywhere soon."
And you already sat down, I doubt you'd leave if I said no.
"No, I suppose not." Though her face was mostly covered by striped cloth, the heroine's eyes and body language were more than enough to get her amusement across. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out and offered a blue and silver wrapped rectangle. "Here, you're probably starving." Leaning in, she continued in an overly dramatic whisper, "Between you and me, hospital food is just as bad as they say on TV."
Blushing as her stomach growled at the mention of food, Louise accepted the bar with a curt 'thank you' and began to quickly eat the chocolat treat as Miss Militia talked. "Anyway, I wanted to thank you for everything you did the other day, you saved a lot of lives... many of them friends of mine. For someone as young as are to push herself so hard when you didn't have to, that was awfully noble of you."
Withholding a scoff at the woman's choice of words, the pinkette shrugged in indifference. "I couldn't just leave the job unfinished. I'm not doing this for appreciation."
"Which makes it all the more impressive." She said warmly. "Unfortunately, not nearly enough parahumans have your sense of duty. This city is rather representative of that fact; we have more villainous capes than any other city of our size. Drug dealers, a self-styled dragon man, and of course the heart of this country's Nazi problem."
There's that Not-see thing again. It sounds as if there's some pandemic causing blindness... I'll need to speak with doctor Bailey about organizing supplies for cure disease potions before leaving.
Putting that aside for the moment and meeting the woman's oddly scrutinizing gaze with a quirked brow, Louise asked, "Not to be rude, but is there any specific reason we're talking about this all of a sudden? I may have healed a lot of people, but I can hardly cure the source of these 'not-sees'."
"Well, you've certainly grown more confident since we last spoke." The heroine laughs. "Not that that's a bad thing, I suppose Glory Girl was bound to rub off a bit. With recent events, I just wanted to make sure you and your grandfather understood the danger you're in as independents. Have you thought about my offer?"
Honestly not remembering whatever the woman was talking about, Louise shook her head, causing Miss Militia pinch her masked nose. "A good team could be a life saver and we'd love to have you and your grandfather." She gave the silently reproachful Hinata a nod. "Your friend is welcome too, of course."
"I have a team." The Hyuga said flatly, looking to Louise with clear expectation on her face.
It would take many more sweets to coerce her into placing herself that deep under the watchful eye of a potential enemy. Shaking her head, Louise answered, "No thank you, I have no intention of joining in on this civil war. It's not personal, I just can't commit to something like that at the moment. Between working here and helping my family, my schedule is going to be pretty full."
"I see." Standing from her seat, the camouflaged woman reached out and offered her hand. "That's a shame, but to tell the truth, I expected that to be your answer. I need to get back on patrol, but again, thank you for your help."
Looking down at her own chocolat stained fingers, she briefly contemplated licking the rare delicacy off of them before settling on a slightly more dignified response. Curling her hand into a fist, she held it out facsimile of Espinoza's bastardized handshake. Thankfully the woman wasn't insulted by the peasant gesture... If anything, her easy bump of knuckles in response made it seem to be the proper choice.
"Be safe, the Undersiders might come looking for revenge after what you did to Tattletale. If you change your mind or need help or even just need to talk, you're more than welcome to call at any time." Miss Militia proposed in parting, to which Louise nodded her acceptance. It may be unlikely, but it was nice of the woman to extend the offer.
Minutes after Miss Militia left the room, Hinata activated her magical eyes for a moment. Convinced they were alone in the room, the younger girl whispered seriously, "There were small machines in that ration bar she gave you."
"Wha-" The Vallière girl started, being cut short by a small and calloused hand over her mouth.
"You can't trust them. There are armed guards stationed outside... t-they've been there since the Dallon sisters left and refused to answer my questions. I... had to cast a weak genjutsu on them to be allowed in and people keep trying to separate us. This is too suspicious and that woman clearly hoped to use subtle threats and your exhaustion to get you to join her village's nin." She sounded panicked and a bit desperate for the pinkette to understand.
Status: Hungry
Magicka: (14000/14000)
Choose 1:
[] Stealth mission: gather your belongings and escape unnoticed with Hinata.
[] To the Dallon House.
[] To the lair de Vallière!
[] Let them posture and play their games, you've missed three days worth of happenings and the city could be exploding all around you for all you know.
[] Try to find your datapad-phone thing and search for local events on the... internal nets? Interconnecting nets? Whatever it is.
[] Quiz/use Hinata to gather information.
[] You've been contaminated and could be moments from dying horribly, this calls for desperate measures... and lots of magicka.
[] Write in.
