Cold, Hard Truth

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The Valparaiso Denizen leading Koudo through the back alleys of the City of Ruin would poke his head out of the end of the alleyway that was right before the high metal gates of what looked like a factory. The walls were reinforced several times and too high for any normal or weak person to jump or fly to. It looked like a metallic fortress, much different from the rest of the city, though the buildings of Valhalla did match its semblance in a lesser form.

(Think 'Iron Town' from 'Princess Mononoke.')

The mysterious Valparaiso Denizen, of haggard appearance and tattered breath, but of keen perception and memory of longevity would lift his hand up out of the shadows of the back alley and out into the light of the streets, pointing directly at the metal fortress. "There," he said, not diverting attention from the gate, "... That's the place what changed this land. Where them robots are coming from." It almost sounded painful for him to even speak of it, or perhaps to look upon it, with all the memories that flooded before it was erected and all the changes that were forced after it was established. It was a lot to have on the pallet for one as old as this one. He couldn't help but feel like the life was being sucked out of him just by being near the place. "... I can't help ya get in, though," he warned, raising his hands up. "... That place ain't nothin I'm trying to get mixed up with after all I done seen." Clearly, he knew much more than perhaps many of the Valparaiso Denizens, especially the ones that remained or stuck around. More than any common thug or heathen running around.

Out of the Broken Homes Orphanage came a person that was clad head to toe in yellow garb and hidden behind a large yellow shield so the image could not be seen, and was standing in the entrance to the orphanage. This man, a Yellow Rook, was the envoy of the dolls at the time, and was sent out on their behalf.


"Take it easy. We don't want any trouble," the Yellow Rook would say. "I don't know who you are or how you got in here, but I'm the one looking after this house right now." He peeked from the other side of his shield cautiously. "Nothing is out of the ordinary here. Move it along! Things are fine."

From Wei's perspective, when he looked over towards where the voice came from, he could see the meek looking figure behind a giant shield. Just the idea that this person carried a giant shield showed a lot about their character, as a person, without Wei actually knowing them at all. What he did know was that the gaudy yellowness of this person's clothing seemed very familiar to him. Unfortunately, he couldn't be sure if those were just memories from the other world.

He turned his body fully and leaned his shoulder against the wall of the building he was standing in front of, "You're a Deacon, right?" He added on to Chita's intimidation tactics, which he hoped were unintentional. Honestly, if they couldn't talk to a Tensei that was in charge of this Factor, then he could very well extract information about the changes from the Deacons that rolled over for a new authority.

The man behind his large yellow shield sprang up suddenly, shocked that anyone would know about the 'Yellow Deacons' at all. "What? How did you know about us?" In spite of the yellow garb that they all donned, the meetings that they'd had in secret were only known in Valparaiso to the actual Yellow Deacon members, themselves. It wasn't expected that word got out, and if it did, then only the Valparaiso Denizens that were not part of the Yellow Deacons knew. The only way for them to have known was if someone had gotten wind or told them before they defected from the street life. That was exactly what the Deacons feared. "What business do you have with the Yellow Deacons?"

Now Wei couldn't just come out and say, 'Oh, my special ops spies told me.' It wouldn't bode well, though he and Chita definitely had the upper hand with the way that this man chose to respond to his question. Wei could hear the quiver in his voice and sense the nervousness in his shield wielding stance. He wouldn't call him green, but he certainly wasn't a master of the weapon just yet. Probably new, Wei didn't think the Deacons got away without losing a few of their good, strong members in the process. It was probably the same for any other gang that rolled over as well.

Casually, Wei closed one of his eyes for a wink and shrugged his shoulder as he straightened up and slowly began walking over to his partner in crime, Chita. "Take it easy, buddy, we're not here to cause any trouble." It took him the time it took for him to reach Chita to complete that sentence.

He smiled and continued, "I'm a former Valparaiso Denizen myself, ya know? Maybe I did a few jobs for ya crew. Helped with a couple hostile takeovers of Duke territory. Gotcha an audience with the Golden Bruiser of Champion, the only real champion in that place. We probably shared a drink or two down at Euphoria." He snapped his fingers actually at the mentioning of Euphoria actually. He had completely forgotten about it, and figured that even if Champion went under, there was no way the party had stopped down there. The club wasn't even, really, a part of Valparaiso. It was constantly shifting and movin'. If they got shutdown in one place, the party just moved somewhere else.

"Hey, how is Euphoria anyway? The girls still colorful and lively like my Witchlin' friend here?" He asked, gently tapping Chita on the back as a signal for what he was talking about. Bring about the fun social place, and dropping a few generic references to things this man would know about was Wei's attempt to build rapport with this kid before he started probing for answers.

The Yellow Rook would continue to hear out the man claiming that he was a Valparaiso Denizen that had once worked with the Deacons before. If anything, he couldn't be trusted because he was from Valparaiso, but it seemed like he had some sort of prior history. Even so, the Yellow Rook that contemplated behind his large yellow shield was not exactly swayed. For all he knew, this could be the person that was secretly outing them, or had already done so in the past. It was better not to engage with him or lead him inside.

"I don't recall," the Yellow Rook said, turning his head away. "I generally keep my personal business to myself." Talking about random idle chitchat wasn't what he was here for, and though he may look inept, he remained where he was at the door of the Broken Homes Orphanage, preventing anyone from entering or exiting.

"Hmm." Wei hummed to himself, stroking his beard as he did so. He casually glanced towards Chita, noticing the considerably hard time she was having with holding herself from exploding. No amount of bottom lip biting and holding her tongue could disguised the vexed machinations of her unruly flame. No matter how much she grew, it seemed she was still a very short fuse.

He didn't pay so much attention to her, however, as much as he had to the fact that for a split second the man behind the shield's attention was diverted. It was a quick, short thing, but Wei could see it. It was important to note every small detail when it came to negotiation.

Chita getting hotter by the second could actually work to their benefit. If she couldn't hold it, siccing her on the entirety of the Deacons that remained wouldn't be a problem. Wei believed in her unbridled power, more than he believed in the fact that he had a high enough charisma stat to schmooze this schmuck with the shield. He just needed to find an angle, and the friendly one wasn't working.

He sighed, audibly so, folding his arms after he did so and closing his eyes. "That's really bad. That's really too bad, I was hoping we could help each other out. All we wanted was information on why Valparaiso has changed so much." Really, and truthfully, that was all he wanted to know, Chita was kinda just along for the ride. At this point, it didn't even matter why she'd decided to stay.

"Look, the business I deal in is information. Legit and straight up. I'd be willing to part with who outed you guys." The good old, eye for an eye approach was always the best when it came to people you didn't know in Valparaiso. Of course, there was nobody that actually ratted them out besides themselves. He supposed that they just didn't train these chaps like they used too. Roaming the street in those bright yellow colors and then just outright telling someone you didn't know you and your boys were who they thought? Wei had to thank his high luck stat as well.

Unfortunately for the other end, the Yellow Rook was only just a middle man that was sent out to do the bidding of a higher authority, and therefore had no such interest in nor use for any extraneous information, no matter what it may be, unless requested from a superior. However, he did lift his shield up from the ground, as if he were going to move. It still covered about the full span of his body, as well as the doorway, and there was only a tiny space between it and the ground when lifted. "I don't really have any use for any information like that," he said. Though, the tidbit about someone being involved on the outside might have spurred such in the future, but not until the Yellow Rook actually made it back to his superior. As it stood, none of that information was relevant unless the Yellow Rook went to the superior first. Otherwise, it was more or less like talking to a wall.

The Yellow Rook's attention seemed piqued when the man spoke of why Valparaiso was changing. This was something the Yellow Rook knew a bit about, though details were not full. "What will you do if I answer you?" he had to ask, knowing that just telling people everything, even if it seemed to be the best way to get them off your scent, didn't always end up being helpful if they used the information for something that could harm the Yellow Deacons in some way. Until he knew what they needed the information for, all the Yellow Rook saw was a hazard to part with this kind of information, as little as it may be, due to his own standpoint in the whole project. A little information could go a long way.

A person in tattered clothes, which looked like a small child, would crawl from underneath the shield of the Yellow Rook and step outside and walk toward the two. He stood far away from them, but watched them carefully.

Nah. That's where Wei folded, physically unfolding his arms and shrugging. "Ya already said you don't need the info I was gonna throw down in exchange, chief." If the kiddo didn't have any need for the information that Wei could trade him for the information that they desired then there was no trade. The kid didn't need to know what Wei wanted to do with the information. Certainly it had nothing to do with the Deacons at all. In fact they were a very minuscule part of this whole endeavor. Wei didn't actually think they would have come into contact with them, but Wei wasn't giving anything up.

Even better, the kid basically told Wei that he wasn't a front man, but a back-up singer by not balling. Higher ranked types always had need for information, no matter what it was, so saying he didn't really have any use for information about who might have ratted them out was a big out right there. The chickens weren't gonna come home to roast, but that was fine.

Wei turned around, nudging Chita to do the same. He knew there were other living beings close by, but what had just come out of the house wasn't that at all. "Yeah kiddo, keep playing with your toys. We'll find something else that'll tell us what we need." At this point though, he was expecting an explosion from Chita the likes of which he hadn't see yet tonight. With her around, there wasn't any need for him to get his own hands dirty, because she liked playing in the mud.

Tifa lowered her eyelids, her eyebrow twitching a bit as the negotiations seemed to be going nowhere fast. "That's it..." she said rather decisively to herself, clenching her fists and crumpling them into her folded arms. She took one step and disappeared, voiding herself out of the area and appearing inside the building, which she knew she could have done a while ago, but didn't feel like going through the whole issue of having all sorts of unnecessary commotion go on around her. Her own desires were to get to some sort of information that she could use against Tear, and she was getting it before she left. That much was for certain. How Wei was getting in was beyond her, but she wasn't yet so steamed where she would have destroyed the building and everyone in it just for being alive and nearby.

Besides, at the end of the day, she could easily just make a distraction with her sudden appearance and cause a panic, then void herself away and appear elsewhere so that Wei could get inside when everyone was in an uproar. Whether or not it worked out like that and he came to the same conclusion was already beyond her because she'd already taken the first steps on her own. She was already inside the building.

"Ah, suit yourself!" the Yellow Rook said in a tone that seemed pleasant. "Have a nice day!" he cried out as the two of them started on their way out. It was only moments later that the companion of the man had suddenly and seemingly spontaneously disappeared, which was shocking to the Yellow Rook. "... Where did your friend go?" The two of them were clearly supernatural to some degree, so they definitely had some special abilities, but the Yellow Rook had no idea what they could be nor how to distinguish them. He was not the highest of his rank nor the best of the recruits, but he did his job as well as he possibly could given his own circumstances and limitations. It seemed to be getting the job done, as well, since they hadn't gotten in. He was concerned and cautious about the area, however, once the woman disappeared. "... Bring her back," he said somewhat nervously.

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Suddenly, in a flash of bright light, a woman in black denim jacket and shorts with a fiery white ponytail on her head would appear in the center of the room, staring at all of the dolls with a relatively disgruntled expression on her face. "Look, you don't want me to have to get rough around here, so I'd suggest you just do what I say." As terrifying and demanding as it was an approach, considering what she anticipated the dolls to do, she would deal with their judgment of her as it was doled out. She wanted to see what they would do. Tifa stomped her foot a couple times, causing the whole building to shake heavily, in case she didn't have their attention.

What went on inside of the building was audible to the Yellow Rook. The woman from outside had infiltrated the interior and was causing trouble to the dolls. They all called to the Yellow Rook for help. The one that was already outside, though, would continue to tag along with Wei, trailing behind him like a small child.

Wei, with his back still turned to the underling, dropped to the ground to sit with his legs folded and his hands rising on his thighs. He had a huge smirk on his face, knowing exactly what Chita had done, but with his back turned there was no way this dude would be able to tell he was happy about this outcome.

He rose his hands out to his sides, shrugging as it were. "Wish I could, bucko, but ya didn't give us what we needed." He didn't necessarily expect Chita just to run wild. If she was gonna do that, then she probably would have just destroyed the building. He did expect that she'd find someone that was of higher authority and properly extract information in her own way.

Wei saw no need to go inside the building himself, honestly he didn't really want too either. There had been the nagging ping in his head and glint of a familiar chakra signature inside the building, but it wasn't a big enough thing that he felt the need to investigate. If he was needed to extract Chita, then he'd look into it.

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When the Yellow Rook heard the cry of the dolls in the Orphanage, then saw the woman who was once outside standing right in the middle of the floor before him, his eyes widened and he called out to the nearest dolls to come stand beside him.

Nothing behind the shield could be actively seen from the outside, but it sounded like there was something going on inside of the Orphanage, now, after the woman appeared inside of it.

Outside, though, the small child in tattered clothes would approach the sitting man and gaze at him from afar. Sooner or later, the young one spoke up to him and asked, "Are you my friend?"

From underneath the shield, someone looking similar to the first that crawled from under it would appear, then start walking over toward where the first one was, but stood completely opposite of he and the sitting man, right in front of his back so that he could not see.

Chita was definitely making a ruckus, as expected. He wasn't sure what was so valuable inside the place that the guy with the shield stood so resolute in protecting, but he had to give the man his props. Wei had seen these robots and while they were cute and all, he didn't necessarily consider that they could be valuable to anyone. He stroked his chin, mulling over that while he mentally applauded the stalwart defender of these robots.

He didn't have much time to mull over it though, as he heard a faint child like voice come from behind him. They weren't close, but they were definitely within earshot. "I wouldn't be opposed to being so. I just wanted to ask the big guy keeping you all safe when you moved in, is all." Wei answered, hoping it came off sincere and non-patronizing. What he said was another way of asking when the mechanical city nestled itself into Valparaiso and when, exactly, the robotic purge began.

Now that he thought about it, considering the guy with the shield's disposition, he was starting to think that maybe only good natured people remained. The people that were run off probably weren't the ones doing just what it took to survive, but relished in the thrill of lawlessness. Still, there were probably loads more good natured people that had been displaced, like the old guy that led him here in the first place.

"Oh." The two kids looked at each other, then turned around. Another of them was already walking outside, but the one that followed the first one was walking back inside, now. "Okay," he continued, with his new partner standing next to him now. "I've lived here forever." He looked over to his new companion and said, "Right? We've lived here forever, right?"

The second child was silent for a while, then nodded her head. "Yes, last I remembered." There was a blank expression on her face. "I've never lived anywhere else." She didn't know there was anywhere else to live, except outside. "This place has never moved." It was the same building that had been there the entire time.

"Hmmm." Wei mulled over that new information as well. According to these robotic... children, they had never lived anywhere else. Now this could mean quite a few things; they were telling the truth and they really didn't know anything else, they were programmed to believe they had never lived anywhere else which would make the previous statement technically true as well, or there was still something fishy going on.

Wei turned around, sitting back on the ground but choosing to face the orphanage this time to get a look at these robotic children. "You there, little one," He called out, signaling to the one that was the closest to him, "Could you come here for a second, please? I promise, I will not cause you harm of any kind." He said as he waved a hand to call the little one over to him. He needed a closer look at at least one of them. If he could physically touch one, he might be able to discern their original origins with his Infestation Chakra.

The children would look at each other and stare for a long while. Sooner or later, another one of the children would emerge and stand in a different spot around the man, this time in clear and plain vision for him to see. The children grew silent, but backed away slowly, getting a bit more distance from him. "That's what they always say." It seemed like from past traumas and abuse, the children were very wary of what others said to them, and were naturally fearing and non trusting of strangers, even if they appeared nice. They stared blankly at the man.

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As it stood, the Yellow Rook was at the mercy of this woman because she appeared inside of the territory, and he didn't want to fight her while there were the orphans around. Instead, he tried to coerce her into leaving, but it didn't seem like she was going to go. He didn't know what to do now that she was here and not listening except to give into her demands. "Fine! You may pass," the Yellow Rook finally said. He called the other dolls to bring him his yellow shield. "Just don't do anything and don't touch anyone," he warned, "Or else you'll be the one in trouble!"

Dark clouds appeared overhead.

Wei stopped waving, dropping his hand and his head when the children answered. He huffed a small laugh, scratching behind his head and looking back up at the children. "Yeah, that's is what we all say, right? We adults always say that we won't hurt you, that we'll keep you safe, right?" He stopped scratching his head and rested his arms in his lap.

"We say it all the time. We won't harm you in anyway, but we always do. Maybe on purpose, maybe accidentally, but we do. Eventually we all do." He sighed to himself, thinking about a few minor personal things. "I mean, just look at this situation. Me and my partner came here. She's rampaging inside of your home and I'm willingly choosing not to stop her? No matter what pretty words I use, I'm hurting you guys aren't I?"

When the doorway was cleared, the orphans took notice of this and looked to their companions that stood inside, once blocking the entrance to the orphanage. Among the dolls were actual orphans of whom many of the dolls had been in the likeness of, similarly to a typical baby doll one finds in the stores. The dolls were there to keep the actual orphans company, who were blended in with them and taught them systematic things, such as how to be orderly and organized at youth. One of the children that stood before Wei was a doll, and the other was an actual orphan, but both looked like they were flesh and bone, or perhaps doll.

The actual human orphan was the one that would walk toward the man and grab his hand once the door was no longer blocked off, whilst the other would guide the both of them inside. Because the actual orphans were systematically integrated with the dolls that were provided for them, they were mixed in with the Mechanica based on following systematic procedure and not defined by their organic makeup. The real child that had Wei's hand would urge him to get up from his place so that he could be taken inside by the doll that was already functioning on systematic protocol regardless of what the humans decided to do.

Wei was thinking about how, exactly, he was going to live his life in this place. Initially, he was continuing to carry out this mission because it was a prime directive from a greater version of himself. However, once Koudo was ripped back to Vescrutia, his "control" over Wei was severed. Wei held all the same power as Koudo, substantial amounts of power that he barely had a comfortable grip on, but none of the other things; responsibility, goals, aspirations or family.

Seeing these orphans, hearing what they asked him, and then listened to the word vomit that was his reply made him think about himself. Before he was found, and absorbed by, Koudo he was just a being tossed aside by the specter of a woman that continued to follow him around. It was later revealed that she was Koudo's mother, and his own creator, and, in essence, she hadn't protected him. He supposed, in a way, he was much like these orphans. The only difference was, they had inorganic companions, how like identical to them, to keep them company. Maybe he was more like the bots... After this, Chita would return to where she came from, and Wei would have to figure something out.

He looked up from his deep thought, the warmth of a hand much smaller than his own drawing him out of his own head and back to the situation at hand. "Right, right. I'm coming. I'm not as young as you young ones. I'm just a wandering old man." Logically speaking, he was created as a hypothetically representation of what Koudo could be, before he was actually born, so he was older than Koudo. At least... 6 or 7 years so. There were others like him, representations of what the other Tamura siblings could be as well, and he was the youngest of them as Koudo was the youngest of his own siblings.

He let the little one take the lead, figuring he could investigate the familiar chakra signature that he sensed inside the Orphanage now, since he seemed to be being allowed entry. He didn't drop his guard any, but he appeared quite relaxed and serene.