Seeing that she is still working through the situation in her head, you decide to cut in. "Ignoring petty things such as criminal records and an inordinate confidence in deception skills that are rather lacking, you seem to be a decent young woman, so... would you like to make a deal?"
"What?" She asks, snapping out of her daze.
"A deal. An agreement, accord, arrangement. A social contract, if you will." You elaborate slowly for the child's benefit, watching as her mind starts to catch up with the world around her. When she gives you a wary glance, you can't help but chuckle.
As if a trespassing ex-terrorist has any right to give you, a nominally law abiding citizen, that sort of look.
Frowning at your amusement, Blake asks, "What's so funny?"
"It should be obvious that I am laughing at you." The answer doesn't do much to improve the expression on her otherwise objectively pretty face, so you relent before she can voice her offense. "Is it not hypocritical of you to be so suspicious of a businessman's offer when you yourself just confessed to being a criminal? No matter, I simply wish to help you help me help others."
To her credit, the cat-girl casts off her annoyance easily enough when the real meat of the conversation is presented. Sitting up straight and flicking her ears forward, all of her attention focuses on you as she needlessly replies, "I'm listening."
As if you couldn't see that much.
"Groups like the White Fang are made up of three types; leaders, fanatics, and regular citizens who allowed themselves to be recruited out of desperation or the recruiters taking advantage of their beliefs." You begin, noting her nod of agreement and expecting she fell into the latter category herself. "Anyone attacking the White Fang will reinforce the belief of the others, enabling them to justify their actions and increase recruiting efforts."
"We can't just not fight back! The police have to do their jobs and Hunstmen have to protect the city from threats." The girl snarls, to which you roll your eyes.
"Yes, yes, and I was not suggesting such an action... or inaction, as it were." You wave her off, noting that the excavation behind you is going at a good pace. "I happen to be in a position to offer an alternative to the desperate, but what I need is somebody with information and contacts within their organization to let them know that there are other options."
Looking away, she argues, "I left all that behind. Any info I have is outdated; passwords changed, hideouts moved, codenames discarded, scrolls wiped and rest. Even if I could get a message through, none of them will listen to a traitor."
"Trust me, before I left my homeland and became Louise's teacher, my own people were starting to become something similar to your White Fang. They raided villages, kidnapped children, sacrificed women to our gods, and generally took out their pent up frustrations on those they deemed acceptable. It was the height of folly and I refused to take part in it, becoming something of an outcast in all but name and an open opponent to Chieftan Madanach after... Well, it doesn't matter. Still, there remained those who would heed my word if ever I chose to speak to the clan."
"I... I don't know."
Shrugging, you ask, "Which is more important, your people or your pride?"
"This isn't about pride!"
"Of course not, that is why you are struggling with what should be a simple decision." You say with a taunting smirk.
The cat-girl squints as she examines you with unblinking eyes for a long minute, causing you to ask, "What are you staring at me for?"
"You don't make any sense. The others all talk so highly of you, the Perse twins keep messaging me to brag about helping you make some kind of combat stimulants and Louise completely adores you from what I can tell, but you've got to be the smuggest asshole I've met outside of my team. I can't even just write you off like that though because you're also doing more than most even think about for Vale's faunus... at clear risk to yourself."
"What kind of grandfatherly figure would I be if I just left others to suffer?" You ask rhetorically. Clearly, that would make you the kind unfit for guiding young minds, as anyone not willing to capitalize on the misfortunes of others is an unforgivable failure when it comes to the necessary pragmatism needed for rearing greatness.
Of course, you don't expect or intend for others to interpret your choice of words in such a way. No, most people would agree with your statement, but naively fail to ferret out your own feelings on the matter. Moral hangups and all that rot. "At my age, one reserves the right to be smug and snarky at will."
As intended, Blake nods in acceptance of your words. "I suppose."
"So do we have a deal? You spread the word, share what information you have with Hinata so she can pass it on to her fellow ninjas, and generally help out where possible. In return I shall have my people discreetly hit the White Fang's resource stockpiles, provide aid to any who leave the organization, and whittle them down to a shell of their current selves."
"Alright." Blake says firmly, standing and tying up her ears in a complicated maneuver.
Just an 'alright' is kind of anticlimactic, but you accept it for what it is. Motioning her toward the inactive portal, you reach a hand out and power it up. "Well then, I look forward to a productive relationship. As an added caveat, I shall refrain from mentioning any of this to the law enforcement on the condition that you do the same in return... not that anything my company is doing is illegal, but who knows what the future holds."
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Standing in a forest clearing a few miles away from the chasm, the two of you are as isolated as possible in such a short notice. After all the building and scheming lately, a bit of simple magic instruction is the perfect thing to give your mind a break from more important matters. Unfortunately, Cattleya and Louise are busy, so you have to make due with the Inuzuka boy-man-lich. Though he is fortunately more subdued than he once was.
The benefits of his pet dying, you guess.
"I believe you are ready for your first summoning." You tell Kiba after a quiz on the basic principals of necromancy, as well as magicka in general... though the second was less of the focus considering his people's Chakra studies already involved the very basics of magicka under another name.
Drooping skin around the face that to an untrained eye would look like simple fatigue reveals a growing need for preservative measures, but the fact that he hadn't applied his lessons to his own body is his own fault. The magic slows the decaying process down, but he'll either realize the mistake in time or be forced to painfully transfer bodies if he doesn't wish to die again from too much decomposition. You're not going through the trouble of resurrecting him a second time when you can just tell the others that it won't work.
"Alright, time to bring you back, Akamaru."
Stopping the boy from casting anything, you slap his arms aside. "Stop, you fool! This is your first attempt, do you wish to risk destroying his soul?"
"What? No! I-" Kiba splutters, looking at you with horror.
Palming your face at his blatant disregard for the lessons you'd written down for him, you sigh, "Just focus on summoning the spirit of somebody who died nearby."
"Right." He replies, lifting his arms and channeling the absurd amounts of magicka that his soul had been piling up in the undead flesh to create a swirling maelstrom of Padomaic flames.
The main benefit of lichdom, other than limited immortality, is that the body being injured from using too much magicka at once at once isn't too much of a concern. If a limb burns away it can be replaced easily enough. If the entire upper body explodes from too much magicka, that would merely be a setback. So long as some flesh remains to tether his soul, a lich can continue 'living'. This makes the magicka capacity and throughput of a lich on par with the the likes of Divayth Fyr, a mage who has been casting spells since before recorded history... though his body is accustomed to wielding power on par with gods and his knowledge is unparalleled, unlike a lich that simply ignores the cascading damage.
Nevertheless, Kiba's blunt force approach of conjuration works with his altered state of being, whereas any other novice would have failed and probably burnt off their hands. Well, his hands do combust, but he hardly notices. Just shy of pulling himself out of the realm and into Oblivion, his storm collapses in on itself and leaves a confused looking woman in its wake.
"I-I'm alive?" She asks herself, not seeming to have noticed either of you yet.
Her body is transparent, but just barely. With how solid and colorful she is, it's clear that the boy put far, far too much magicka into the spell. The fact that she actually has an impact upon falling on her rear is evidence enough and you give Kiba an incredulous look... to see that his arms are completely gone, along with everything below his shoulders other than his spine. His worry is evident as he tries to speak, but no sound comes out.
Shaking your head, you turn back to the short, cloaked woman and wonder what to do about this new development. For all the power put into her conjuration, you still have to consider this a failure. The idiot obviously didn't even bother trying to bind this woman's spirit to his control, a potentially fatal mistake for a novice that can't properly defend himself. There's no telling how long she'll remain on this plane after the amount of magicka put into conjuring her or what will happen to her when she dispels... if she dispels. Honestly, the boy probably could have completely recreated her body from pure magicka with a bit more effort, something that while an amazing achievement for a novice, registers to someone like you as obscenely wasteful. There are easier and less costly methods of creating bodies, after all.
Status: Healthy.
Magicka: (650/650)
Choose:
[] Dispel it and chide the boy on proper safety measures.
[] Leave her free and explain the situation. You can always deal with her if she becomes a problem and perhaps she can be of use.
[] Summon that Dremora merchant and barter this apparition for something nice.
[] Write in.
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A/N: Somehow, Kiba's luck is both good and bad. He didn't summon anything horrible for you guys to deal with, do the secret thing I can't talk about, or even suck himself out of Remnant, but he still rolled bad enough to destroy most of his body in summoning a single ghost. It's like Louise's training all over again.