Professed Intention and Real Intention

There was a small club just off of the AFW campus, known for its techno beats and array of youth wearing bright colors that were often listless until exposed to these techno beats. Cyberia. The dance floor is always full once night has fallen and the children of the city come out. Miscreants, most of them, she knew many of them had an official 'record' with local law enforcement.

It had been two weeks after [url=http://afwrpg.informe.com/forum/the-ring-f8/lain-vs-cirno-t3656.html:92r6xcdg]Lain's Ring Debut Match[/url:92r6xcdg] she had healed up from the major injuries sustained. Usually, Kawaii matches did not grow so brutal, or bloody. She knew this, but the limited sampling she had undergone had proven otherwise. Her nerves were a little on edge, physical pain like what she had experienced at the end of Cirno's boot was like nothing else she had survived. The little hacker had gotten a note from her savior, the great Godhand, also known as Seraphim Harmonia. The note did little to calm her fears about going back into a live ring again, but it did make her smile.

She smiled even enough to send a message back to Seraphim.

It had been two weeks because she wouldn't go to this club showing any bruise or scratch. Someone might get the wrong impression. Might be a knight hiding among the colorful youth. Regardless, she was back at Cyberia, doing one of the things she loved. Acting as the party disc jockey. With both hands, she could play records of whatever she wished, she had control over the shifting lights, mesmerizing the youth with her wicked beats. Presently, [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PykmzNvNXZY:92r6xcdg]it was her standard fare.[/url:92r6xcdg] Lights shifted between reds and yellows, as her eyes looked over the mass of dancers. She displayed an aura of calm confidence here, she was in control, even if she wore a bear shaped beanie on her head.

((Is it sad to say that I own that CD? XDDD ))

It had become pretty eventful for Seraphim ever since she arrived back in the AFW. Match after match, she was back onto her streak of fights, making sure to take no prisoners and defeating anything that came her way. And yet, the once great Godhand had been lacking the same spirit. She fought in the ring, but something about her had always seemed… hollow since her return. The girl still gave it her best, but she just seemed to be lacking that same energy she constantly carried, like something about the girl had been truly changed during her absence in the AFW. For a bit, Mai Nagasawa was able to bring out the brighter side of Seraphim, the same girl who lead White Gale as the mighty Godhand. But once her time with the girl was over, Seraphim had quickly resumed her blunter, uncaring aura. Around others, she could find that spirit, but when alone… well letâ€s just say she was her own worst enemy.

But today, hopefully for a little while, the girl could forget that. She had never expected to get the kind of response she did, but Seraphim had gotten back a very strange message from Lain Iwakura. The girl was really just someone that Seraphim sent a letter to out of brief concern, just to make sure the kawaii would come to a decision on staying in the league or not, and to see if she was okay. But what she got back… letâ€s just say it peeked Seraphimâ€s interest.

And so, here she was arriving to a place called Cyberia, clearly not too pleased by the thought of going here. Seraphim had a few places she liked being; rooftops, her apartment, city streets, or the ring, but she wasnâ€t too fond of clubs. Hoenstly, it was going to be her first time entering one… None the less, Seraphim tried to dress somewhat appropriately. It was normally the kind of attire she took when she did roof-hopping; parkour as it was called, which Alison had taught her back when the girl was alive and healthy. But today, Seraphim figured it was just about as good as she could do for this kind of atmosphere. She was currently garbed in a very impressively designed [url=http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e28/ShadowOfIce/Shadow%20Tatsumi%20Kimiko%20Yomi/Seraphim_Ready_For_Anything.jpg:e2sdxvrb]outfit[/url:e2sdxvrb]; black baggy cargo jeans, a blue sleeveless shirt tucked into that and tied with a belt that had brass knuckles as it's buckle, and a white hoodie that was scorched with red and blue flame designs, helping to bring out the colors of her skin, eyes, and hair, really fitting the average sized girl who had her famous little black, leather patch over her right eye.

And so, she stepped in, ready for-

“…Ah fuck thatâ€s loud.” A cigarette between her lips, keeping it unlit for now, Seraphim cringed her crimson eye when she came in, not liking the idea of being around so many people. Just how the Hell was she going to find Lain through all of this? …Great, and a few people were already starting to recognize her. This was not how she wanted to take her day off, she just wanted to find Lain and go somewhere else, these kinds of places annoyed her, the music was one thing, but she just hated being among a mindless mob like this… It was one thing in the ring, but here…?

Indeed it was very loud in the club. The monotonous pounding of the beats could be heard a block away and above ground. And of the thumping, Lain Iwakura was a philanthropic queen, though she did not join in the revelries of her minions. While they bounced and bobbed and made hand gestures that gave them some form of primal connection to the music, she seemed to not respond to it at all. Only the constant blasting of her little eardrums was what she felt of the music as the vibrations seemed to penetrate her very being.

Her eyes picked up on the woman almost immediately, her white hoody was a clear give away, and produced a slim smile upon the hackers lips. Everyone here wore all sorts of colors, the whole rainbow was represented, which meant that there was no place for white or black. This is part of what attracted attention to Seraphim, and those that did recognize the woman did not linger long, as there were spectral ponies and flavored sound to chase after in their listless mindset. She didn't leave her station immediately to go to the former Godhand, after all she couldn't just stop the music. Lain was in a central location, raised above the rest, and could be spotted with a cursory glance across the dance floor. The kawaii hacker did not really expect the woman to come, even after she has been told the woman would absolutely come to the club. It seemed her persona was interesting enough to draw the woman out.

The hair that fell to the left side of her face, the only long part of her otherwise boyish bob haircut, was brushed back out of her face. Was Godhand going to be her friend, too? The girl would like that, as even after all the connection failures she'd made in her life she was still willing to try to make a new connection. The Wired said that Seraphim was pure and not at all self serving.

This was definitely not Seraphimâ€s forte. She was a tolerant person, but she had limits. And had it not been for the fact that she planned to meet someone in particular here, Seraphim would have never come. She passed this place a few times, and it never interested her even slightly. In fact, as much as someone would never have guess, Seraphim preferred opera style music, classical, and gospel, who knew? Still, she tried to keep her temper to herself, and fortunately aside from a few people wanting to ask her questions, the rest left her alone, while those who pried into her business she just shrugged off or moved through, their words being just the wind to her. Back in her days of trying to really make a move with White Gale, she would have been more appreciative to her fans. But right now, she was a girl with almost no care in the world. Or at least, nothing else but Lain right now, curious about the hacker ever since she got that message.

Cigarette lingering still in her mouth, she was tempted to light it, knowing this place was going to stress her out in just minutes, but she resisted, her teeth lightly biting into the brown colored stick between her lips, as she started to look. Moving through the crowd slowly, her crimson eye glanced around the large dance floor, every now and then cringing from the lights around. She tolerated it as best as she can, the feather-white haired girl continuing to look through, even knocking someone down half by accident, the other half out of annoyance. And that was when her eyes met with the tomboyish looking girl at the DJ booth.

‘Shit… sheâ€s a mixer? No kidding, whoâ€d of thought.†Quirking a brow up in surprise, Seraphim started to move closer to the girl, the crimson eye meeting Lainâ€s, as she started to move up to the booth, both hands in her pockets as she stayed silent. Hopefully she didnâ€t have too many people watching her. But from how she came in and went strait to the center, people probably would have thought of it as something a little off.

Someone walked up behind her, and she turned to speak to them. Her lips moved, but those on the dance floor couldn't hear a vowel over the music. The hacker had no reason to project her voice. The person eventually turned and went back to the unknow back, away from the dance floor, though they didn't remain hidden long. This person returned to the dance floor and made their way easily through the crowd. They clearly belonged there, ducking under flailing arms and sliding into a similar dance when necessary to speed her movement to the white hoodie. Lain watched from her veritable throne of music, but her attention was clearly still on continuing the digital mixery of audiophillia.

"DJ says," spoke the person, a woman in a tight red cami and big brown cargo pants with long black hair, "There's a table topside with yo name onit. Yo wanna me ta show ya? Or ya wanna keep not feelin' de beat?" She looked stronger than most of the youth in this club, probably a bouncer... but likely no threat to the Godhand.

She gave the woman plenty of time to respond, but regardless of the response, she'd motion for her to follow. A metal spiral staircase took them 'topside' to a level where they could watch the dance floor. There was a bar up her, a couple small tables, and some youth snogging one another at some of the tables. The sound wasn't so invasive up here, though it was still quite loud it no longer seemed to vibrate one's very soul.

Once they were upstairs, the [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFwQFdAsGGA:2kuar067]song shifted[/url:2kuar067], and Lain finally got a replacement to take the reigns of the throne.

Keep not feeling the… beat? Ugh… yea, this was clearly not her kind of place. But did she really stick out that badly? Probably, the thought alone caused Seraphim to heave a dull sigh, faintly annoyed by this all. She never was good at blending in a crowd, whether it was because of her albino traits, or because of her limited experience in the world, having been in the streets, prison, and a church-orphanage, there really were still a lot of things that the girl wasnâ€t used to. Seraphim had times where she played it off pretty well, heck when she ran White Gale, she was never a leader before in her entire life! And yet, she managed to pull it off, that is… until that one fateful day.

Slowly the girl shook her head, ridding her mind of such thoughts, before she looked at the woman in red and brown, before giving a small shrug. The DJ was inviting her then, eh? Seraphim even looked past her for a moment, only to see Lain was departing from the tables. Yea… everything seemed alright to her, they were probably going to another room. ‘And thank God… another minute of this and Iâ€ll lose it.†Quickly, Seraphim nodded, still biting onto her cigarette that stayed unlit, before following the woman up the metal staircase, keeping her head a little low since she was paranoid about hitting herself on the spiral stairs above, even though she was of average height.

Entering the bar-like structure, Seraphim paused for a moment, quirking an eyebrow. She wasnâ€t much for drinking, but at least it was quieter. Although.. there were some people up here who obviously wanted a private area for a reason. Eh, go figure, it wasnâ€t her sort of thing to be around people doing this, but sheâ€d ignore it. Seraphim was always more focused on the idea of people keeping that stuff private, but even she had tendancies at times, so she knew she shouldnâ€t talk.

For now, Seraphim decided to wait. She took her hoodie off, revealing she had a sleeveless blue top underneath, and a long sleeved red shirt beneath that, keeping the pale girl nice and warm despite the atmosphere. She decided because of the environment, it was okay to smoke, so she took a seat at one of the bar tables, and lit it up, taking in a long inhale of the soothing tobacco, a faint scent of cocoa coming from it as well, helping to settle the white-haired girlâ€s nerves as she sat there. She just waited for Lain now, blowing off smoke and trying to relax. She still didnâ€t even know what to say, but a part of Seraphim felt like she should be up front, and tell Lain to quit the AFW. The other part though wanted to help her, two egos of Seraphim at war with eachother. The old Crimson Eye, the Heel who just took everyone down and out. Or the Face known as the Godhand who protected anyone she possibly could in the league from Heel Organizations. She was in limbo… afraid of what side sheâ€d end up on once she fell.

Once the woman was seated, Lain did not keep her waiting very long at all. The Godhand likely only got two puffs out of her little smokestick, before Lain came walking up. Right arm held her left arm as she walked, nervous as to what this meeting might entail. There was no longer a calm control over the world, like she had exhibited while upon her throne. No, she seemed to have reverted to the scared little girl Godhand had met on the ramp. She stopped by the bartender and raised two fingers. Wordlessly, the tender produced two bottles, ice cold and sweating already in thw heat of the club. They were clear, and had a label with a mountain.

Lain carried the bottles to where Seraphim sat. The chill filled her fingers as she walked, causing a shudder to run up her spine just before she placed one of the bottles down on the table infront of Seraphim. Her lips moved, but her voice was drowned by the music. If the woman could read lips, she'd understand what was said, 'It's not beer, that's next round, yeah?' She smiled meakily, 'Thank you for coming. It means a lot.' Sure, it was loud here, but Lain should have been able to talk over it.

The girl wasn't as listless as the rest of the youth. She was aware and focused on her surroundings for longer than a few fleeting moments. The hacker took a seat across from the woman and pulled her left knee up to her chest, so she could rest her chin upon it. The single strand of hair fell infront of her left eye as she looked over her guest for a long (and possibly awkward) moment. "Welcome to Cyberia," she finally said loud enough to be heard now that they were sitting.

As Lain was approaching, Seraphim didnâ€t turn to face her, the girl didnâ€t let anyone in her blindspot, her crimson eye catching Lain from the corner of her gaze, but she never actually gave the girl her full attention. In fact, Seraphim seemed to even now carry that blunt aura of hers, taking a long exhale as she saw the girl, noticing her nervous behavior. ‘Jeeze… at the tables she looked confident, but she really is just a chicken-shit…†Starting to think she just may have been wasting her time with this one, Seraphim was giving a very small time window for Lain to do something to catch her interest. Five minutes at most maybe? Even though she was a selfless young woman who looked out for other people, especially those who fell victim in the ring like Lain, Seraphim was a busy person. That, and the selfless attitude she forged over the months back in her first time at the AFW seemed to fade, the girl being nothing but a remnant of her former self it seemed. But deep down… she still did have the raging fire of the Godhand in her. After all, if she didnâ€t, Seraphim never would have come in the first place, right?

Seeing the drinks put in front of her, Seraphim didnâ€t take it. Instead, her gaze just had a bored look at it, raising her brow with a dull interest, a light clank of the ice cubes coming a few seconds in the silence as Seraphim left it untouched and it was already starting to melt a little. Still watching Lain now though, she barely managed to hear her say anything. But fortunately, Seraphim could get the gist of what she was saying. She actually was rather adept in reading lips, mostly because her little gang in the streets had to do it often, both to keep away from the police, and to keep quiet during their little thieving operations. It was all just done to survive though… Seraphim and her group never did anything harmful.

Getting the ‘thanks†out of it, and that it wasnâ€t beer, Seraphim gave a small shrug, still not looking directly at Lain. Seraphimâ€s gaze seemed… distant actually, looking at the glass for now before she got her welcome, not sparing much attention to Lain, like she didnâ€t even feel like they should talk anymore. Still, she wasnâ€t going to be rude, even if she did want to be distant, and the girl spoke, even if her tone was a tad bland, nothing like the Godhand that Lain read about on the Wired. “Why did you invite me here? …And stop staring, or I wonâ€t be the only one wearing an eyepatch in the next five minutes.”

The admonishment shocked the little hacker, widening her eyes first in fear of leaving this place with an eyepatch and then turning her head away from the Godhand to make sure that wouldn't be the case. "I... I like this place. Everyone seems to connect here more than anywhere else." Her big brown eyes had suddenly found the detail of her little water bottle incredibly intricate and worthy of her attention. There they remained so as to not discomfort the arguably most powerful woman in the whole Friction league. Ingredients: Water. Hmmm... who would have guessed. Lain new better than to believe such information. Truly pure water was nearly impossible to manufacture and could kill a drinker, but knowing that there were minerals and trace amounts of chemicals in the water made people lust for some fantasized version of ancient human history: where 'water' was just 'water'. The bottle of water, and even gifting a bottle of water had etiquette. Never open someone's bottle of water. Like most etiquette, this was borne from a need to avoid subtrfuge. Had Lain opened Ms. Harmonia's bottle of water she would have had a prime opportunity to 'lace' it with something. Lain never would do such a thing, at least never that she knew... but Lain's would never and the bottle's could never were two different beasts entirely. So, etiquette.

"What I mean is, this place is the place to be according to the Wired," she said. "I thought you might find it enjoyable here. We..." she looked up to address the wrestler directly, but when those brown eyes met with the Godhand's patch, she remembered that she wasn't to do such a thing and looked back down at her water bottle, "We could go somewhere else if you prefer..."

Figures, this girl was spineless. Then again, she was in the kawaii league, so courage wasnâ€t really a needed asset she supposed. It certainly would help, but it didnâ€t matter as much. She was probably still spooked from Cirno anyway, the match being nothing like what she would have expected since the blue-haired girl had taken out a wooden sword during the match and treated it with such a brutal cruelty. If Seraphim hadnâ€t come at that point… well, she just didnâ€t want to think about it.

She still didnâ€t touch her drink, taking another long drag on her cigarette, trying her best to keep calm. Sure, they werenâ€t at the dance floor anymore, but she still felt like this place in general was making her uncomfortable. Connect with everyone? Unless Lain meant shallow sex on the dance floor and getting close just out of lust, well sure. …Then again, that happened in the AFW sometimes, even Seraphim got a little close to a certain someone during her match… But, she shook that thought away, taking a long sigh and shaking her head, hoping to calm Lain down a little. Maybe she was being too harsh? “Look just… forget it, this is fine. …Sorry, Iâ€m just a bit on edge. I only just got back from… well shit, you probably know, you seem to know a lot about me from this ‘Wired†thing you keep mentioning.” Seraphim wasnâ€t very technically adept. She could do the basics with computers, but she never really seeked around the internet, hence why she didnâ€t know what the Wired was. She even tried to make it sound like she wanted to know about it a little in her words, but she hoped that even though her words were still a bit blunt, she could at least put Lain at ease. Her words almost a bit exhausted in how she spoke with that long sigh, she just shook her head, leaning an elbow on the table and putting her forehead into her hand as her white hair fell forth some, looking a lot like a tired and worn out soldier who just didnâ€t know what to do anymore.