"It's mercy, compassion, and forgiveness I lack, not rationality."

[lightningbride]

[There's a familiar girl walking the streets of Luceti today with an intense, focused expression, newly returned from her mallynapping. But those who know her will quickly realize that something is very off. Very, very off.

The more innocuous difference is that she's taller, with longer hair and a more mature face, though she still wears her yellow-and-black striped jumpsuit. She's also toting around a katana -- an odd choice, considering her weapon of choice as a Hero.

Ah...Heroes and HeroTV. That's where things start to get interesting with this one. If you come up and talk to her, maybe you'll find out just how interesting they are.]

Comments

[lostinmyway]

[Yeah, good luck getting an answer out of her.]

Hmm.... Let me see.

[lightningbride]

[The normal Pao-Lin would laugh this off, realizing belatedly who she's talking to, but this isn't the normal Pao-Lin. So she'll wait a bit for Grune to answer her.]

[lostinmyway]

[She'll be waiting a while....]

[lightningbride]

[...what is the matter with this woman? Hmph, whatever. Pao-Lin doesn't have time for this, doesn't have time for airheaded people who may or may not remind her of a certain dead friend of hers -- ]

That wasn't the real Pao-Lin you were talking to, then. She must have been lying to you.

[lostinmyway]

[And back she comes to the present moment.]

Oh, no, she wouldn't do that. She's a very good person.

[lightningbride]

Not as good as you'd think.

[And she'd know, of course.]

[lostinmyway]

[Grune shakes her head.]

I know that's not true. [She gives Bride-Lin as stern of a look as she can manage. ...Which isn't really much, but.] That's not a very nice thing to say about her. You should be careful, or you're going to hurt her feelings.

[lightningbride]

[Okay, this isn't getting her anywhere. Subject change!]

Have you heard of anyone named Maverick around these parts? Or Rotwang?

[Pao-Lin's not optimistic about her chances of getting any useful information out of this woman, but it couldn't hurt to try.]

[lostinmyway]

Hmm....

[She thinks about that for a bit, getting distracted from scolding the young woman.] Have I?

[lightningbride]

[Tch. This is definitely a waste of her time.]

Maybe not. Sorry for bothering you. Hope you have a nice day.

[She begins to walk away.]

[lostinmyway]

It's all right. [Her voice is subdued.] I hope you have a nice day, too.

[She'll watch her go. There's something wrong with Pao-Lin--she can just tell. She needs to find one of her friends so they can think of what to do, because they can't leave her alone to be sad. They have to do something.

Eventually, she walks away as well.]