World Tree MUSH

    Kafka stands impassive in the center of the Matrix dias. Fu Xuan looks absolutely shaken to her core, while Welt, March, Stelle and Tingyun arrange themselves to one side.

    Stelle steps up. "Has Kafka pulled one over on us again?" she asks the short pink-haired Diviner.

    "Kafka has nothing to do with the Stellaron, but you... it's you..." Fu Xuan tears her eyes away from Kafka, to look at Stelle. "Hah!! Absurd! I'd never have throught it..."

    Stelle pinches the bridge of her nose. "I sense more Fu Xuan riddles on the horizon..." she bemoans.

    "Ask her yourself-- take as long as you wish." She turns, and starts walking with purpose. "I must report this to the General immediately. Excuse me." once she's clear of the group, she breaks into a run, tiny legs carrying her far faster than one may expect.

    Welt steps up. "I know you have many questions for Kafka... go on." he urges, gesturing toward Kafka as he looks at Stelle.

    Stelle looks around at the gathered... "I'm guessing some of you also have questions, so... lets do this." she says, turning and leveling her golden eyes at Kafka.

    The spider lady, on noting the expression and gaze of Stelle, dips her chin and gives a surprisingly tender little smile, her entire demeanor shifting to a much less rigid frame.

    That sure happened. Clara looks between Kafka and Fu Xuan absolutely baffled.
    "I have a lot of questions." Clara says raising her hand patiently like a schoolgirl.
    "What just happened?" That is the one first and foremost on her mind.

    Jessica scratches her head. She does have a question! "But if you're not here for the Stellaron, then why did you bother to come here? Actually... why DID you come here after going to all the trouble of getting us here?"

    Give her a minute. She'll figure something out.

    Talia is also quite lost. "I feel as if we've missed a few chapters to this." She muses, "Just why ARE you here, Kafka?"

    As Stelle approaches, Kafka smiles a bit. "Hi, Stelle." she says, looking the young Trailblazer up and down. "You haven't changed a bit." She does spare a glance for the others. "I'm sorry you have to see me in such a sorry state." she adds.

    "You don't look in that sorry of a state to me." replies Stelle with a narrowing of eyes.

    "Really? That's good. I wouldn't want to affect your image of me." She then looks at the other questions. "What just happened, is the Master Diviner traced my line of fate, and found one thing staring back at her." She meaningfully looks at Stelle. "I couldn't speak to her on the train, because Elio told me I'd be able to speak to her here." she explains. "She does seem to have a lot to ask me."

    Clara nods, seemingly understandingly. The Diviner checked Kafka's fate. Sounds like it makes sense.
    Except it doesn't.
    So... What was staring back at her?" Clara asks. "The sins of her past???"
    Clara. Clara no.
    "So wait. Did you set up this whole situation deliberately just to talk to her?"
    Clara yes!

    Jessica... is mostly a grounded person, but she's seen a lot. Now she frowns, puzzled. "You all sound like you're doing some kind of complicated thing for prophecy or something. Couldn't you just... use a radio or something? That seems a lot simpler."

    "This one does wonder why the complicated means," Bi De admits. "Is there something you needed Stelle to see before you spoke to her? Or is this simply a game to you?" The rooster hops up to stretch his wings.

    "I distrust all this divination," he admits. "It is a useful skill, but too much reliance on it is a weakness. A true martial artist should forge his or her own path."

    "Some people just don't think to write." Talia sighs in exasperation. "But surely there's reasons for this."

    "Oh I could have contacted her at any time, but the Script gave me an opportunity for a face-to-face meeting." explains Kafka. "I am, after all, Destiny's Slave... or a follower of him." she explains sardonically.

    "So... what did Fu Xuan see?" asks Stelle, folding her arms.

    Kafka's eyes shift subtly. "Elio said he foresaw three questions, but that would be the same in essence. If I were to hear one of them, I would then tell you the objective of this trip in all its detail." replies Kafka. "Since you asked one of the three questions, it means everything is going smoothly. Are you ready to hear my answer?" she asks.

    "The Loufu's Stellaron problem is not directly linked to us. But if you look at it from Elio's perspective, you can't say the Stellaron Hunters are completely innocent. We foresaw all this long ago, but chose to remain indifferent until the time was right for us to get involved." She shrugs her shoulders, adjusting her wrists in the bindings. "Diviner Fu was surprised because she discovered three truths: One, the Stellaron Hunters are not enemies of the Alliance. You know this now, though you refuse to believe it."

    Clara is digesting this. The Stellaron Hunters aren't responsible for what happened here... Directly. But are responsible due to INACTION. Close enough.
    "Well. If that supposedly proves Kafa isn't an enemy..." She murmurs.
    "It is pointless to detain her. She is already getting what she wants, in this moment, right now." Svarog considers.

    "Agreed, there's more important matters at hand." Talia whispers to Svarog, "So it seems no hard feelings, Kafka." She smiles thinly at the purple haired woman for a moment. Destiny has a weird sense of humor it seems, and a roundabout approach to things.

    "And the other two?"

    Jessica is actually confused, "I mean... honestly it just sounds like people are upset at anyone trying to get a Stellaron." She glances at Svarog, then back. "Not totally without reason, they do seem kind of dangerous. But I never thought anyone here was evil. A lot of times it's just people not talking."

    She huffs, "But that's not really what I'm good at anyway. I just shoot things!"

    Kafka looks to Talia, and gives her a, not unkind but rather condescending, smile. "Two, Someone else brought the Stellaron into the Luofu and activated it- a result of internal unrest and external aggression. Traitors on the Luofu and enemies from outside want to overthrow the Alliance. The master diviner is in a hurry to find the General... presumably to inform him of this fact." She shifts again... and those with keen eyes might spot her working her wrist restraints very subtly so they loosen.

    "However, that's all the master diviner knows, because Elio withheld key pieces of information from me. He foresaw the Divination Commission using the Matrix of Prescience against me. To guard against setbacks, he ensured I knew only what he wanted the Alliance to know in this moment."

    "As for number three," she giggles now, a coquettish gesture, "Even in their wildest dreams the Xianzhou Alliance could never have guessed it." She takes a breath to steady herself again, bringing the spasms of laughter under control. "If the Stellaron Hunters aren't the cause of all this, then why are me and Bladie even here?"

    She dips her chin, and that soft expression melts away, like a wax mask under sunlight. "... We're here for you." she says, staring directly at Stelle.

    'We're here for you'.
    "What?" Clara blinks.
    "... Are you... Are you saying you're going to take big sis Stelle away?"
    Oh man that makes Clara AND Svarog bristle.
    "... Threat index raised." Svarog intones ominously.

    Talia instinctively steps in front of Stelle. "That's not going to happen."

    Jessica peers uncertainly at Kafka now, when she says that. "So um..." She thinks rapidly, then decides to go on the offensive! "When you say that, you mean you're going to be joining forces with us and travelling through space on the train and stuff, as an ally helping us all but with just enough shady actions to make us sometimes doubt your motives?"

    She isn't just being silly here, actually. She's throwing that out to try to get around the 'we foresaw your questions' thing to see how much they'd claim.

    Bi De steps between the others and Kafka. "As you can see, we are all quite protective of Stelle. I think it would be best if you quickly clarified what you would like to do, before any misunderstanding can get out of wing."

    Kafka chuckles at the bristling... "Oooh, made some very good friends. I'm impressed. Even Elio didn't foresee this clearly." she says. "Relax. It sounds ridiculous, and it's no wonder that Fu Xuan doesn't believe it either. But the Matrix doesn't lie. The Stellaron Hunters appeared on the Luofu, Bladie was arrested, and I was brought to the Matrix of Prescience, all of that, was to bring the Astral Express Crew, and their out-versal friends, to the Xianzhou." She tilts her head, staring at Talia curiously, then turning to Clara and Svarog, giving each of them a lingering gaze. Then to Jessica, and finally Bi De. "In the future Elio chose, the power of The Hunt(Lan) is indispensible. That's why the Express had to come to the Luofu and achieve something important for the Alliance. You had to establish a connection."

    Kafka rolls her shoulders. "That's why we had to trick you to come here. I needed you, to meet the Luofu's General in person and help him resolve the Stellaron crisis. I needed the Alliance to owe you a favour. That way, in the future, at the most critical moment, the Xianzhou would offer you their help."

    She smiles ruefully. "What do you think? Surprised? The notorious Stellaron Hunters did all that just to make you a hero of the Xianzhou..." She closes her eyes, the smile turning wistful. "Quite the plot twist, no?"