Kyra Hyral's Volcano Lair

Kyra Hyral's Volcano Lair
Date of Scene:	11 June 2013
Location:	Archades - Lower
Synopsis:	Minette goes to ask Kyra Hyral for advice. Kamon goes sans pants. Kuwabara, kuwabara.
Cast of Characters:	Alma Hyral, Kyra Hyral, Kamon Lionward, Minette Odam

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Minette Odam has posed:
There is a knock upon the the door to the Hyrals' temp apartment. "He-hello?" Minette's voice can be mutely heard from the other side of the door. A moment later Minette's face fills the view hole as she gets right up into it in a futile attempt to see through it. She has as much success at this as everyone, ever. Which is to say 'none'. "Is... is anyone home? I was in the neighborhood on business... heard you got a new place. So I figured... I should bring a housewarming gift? Kyra? Are you there?"

Kyra Hyral has posed:
There is a knock at the door. Kyra startles suddenly from the couch she had been laying across. She looks, simply put, like crap in the wake of yesterday's volcano lair infiltration. Kamon may or may not be nearby-such as sleeping on one of the actual beds in the apartment behind a closed door.

Shoving off the couch, Kyra heads over to the door and peers through the view hole only to be treated to HUGE MINETTE FACE OH GOD. Nobody should have to see that!!!

After a few seconds the door rattles and Kyra pulls it open. "I'm here, I'm here." she says, scratching her head. That red hair of hers is pretty scruffy-looking right now.

Minette Odam has posed:
"Here you go!" Minette cheerfully exclaims as the door opens. Kyra opens the portal to find a half-dead bushy-green plant shoved into her face. It is in desperate need of water and also probably a larger pot. "Ta-da! It was... uhm. The best I could do on short notice. It's all... plant... like. And stuff. Yay?" There is yellow mixed in with the green of the leaves, typically a sign of malnurishment.

Minette retracts her arms, pulling the foliage out of Kyra's face, and it is only then that Minette gets a good look at Kyra. "Heeeeeeeeey." Her head cants to the side, sending the bells in her hair a-jingling. "You don't look so good." Her tone carries more amazement then concern; she isn't used to people named 'Hyral' displaying mortal characteristics.

Alma Hyral has posed:
After their infiltration of a certain Volcano base occurred that was definitely not the top secret lair of the head scientist of the Murasame Zaibatsu..

All the stimulants from her sister and the anti-fatigue potion that had been given to her by someone that was not DRAGOON MAN, wore off almost simultaneously. The result was likely an almost instant faceplant.

So Alma Hyral had no idea how she got back home. All she knew is that she'd slept for far longer than it was probably decent for any human being to do so. She traipses out of one of the smaller bedrooms in a manner that makes her look almost like some undead monstrosity from a zombie horror film. The bun on her hair is almost entirely undone, and most of her hair is wildly unkempt, with no effort having been made to tame the stray locks. She's currently making coffee. Only to realize the judges had only supplied decaf...

She squints at the can, as if it were a betrayal.

And then she peers over at the door, her vision doubling. /OH SWEET COSMA TWO MINETTES/

But then she comes back into focus and Alma Hyral just, smiles at her, her voice soft, carrying with it still a hint of exhaustion, "Hey Minette. It's good to see you. Can I get you something?"

She gives the plant another look which makes her wonder if the thing had been infested by some Chaos beast, "Um, I'll take that. It'll look, lovely, in the kitchen.." As she tried to spare her sister the indignity of having the foliage shoved right in her face.

Kyra Hyral has posed:
Kyra stumbles backwards awkwardly as a plant is shoved at her. Instinctively, her hands lift beneath it to catch the potted plant. "Uh. ...thanks?" She peers at the plant in her face, immediately noticing its sickly appearance. Casually, she steps backwards just as Minette yanks it back.

She takes another step backwards and awkwardly motions for Minette to step inside. "Had a rough night." Kyra says in a 'yeah I don't want to go into details about this' sort of tone.

Thankfully, Alma is here to be far more personable than Kyra.

Minette Odam has posed:
"Oh, good. I'm glad you like it." Minette replies, handing the poor thirsty plant off to Alma. "I was worried, you know? That it wouldn't look good in the apartment. 'm not really great with... that sort of thing and all. Wanted to get you guys something a little nicer then a plant, but you can't, like... buy anything in this city lately. You'd think that more shops would be open in the middle of the day."

Minette stands there, awkwardly, in the doorway. She sniffs once, an idle motion. Then she scratches at the back of her head because she doesn't know what to say and so subtitutes a pointless physical gesture for words. Thankfully Alma asks a question. "Oh, well. I stopped by to talk, actually." A pause. "To Kyra." She clarifies. She's still standing in the doorway.

Alma Hyral has posed:
She takes the poor thing over to the kitchen, and immediately fills a cup with water, giving the parched earth within the pot a quick drink. It definitely needed it. "Um, Minette there's.. the city was just attacked by Alexandria, Bahamut, and Odin, there aren't many shops actually.. open."

From the kitchen she just looks up from what she's doing over to Minette and Kyra, "Oh, uh.. would the two of you like some privacy?" She enunciates each word in Kyra's direction as she doesn't feel like her sister would want to be left alone with Minette.

Kyra Hyral has posed:
"Uhhhh...this city's kind of recovering from being viciously attacked." Kyra points out quite bluntly. "A good number of business kind of, well, collapsed. And stuff." Lifting a hand, Kyra runs it through her hair, trying to smooth out the random little tufts sticking out here and there. It doesn't work and they spring right back up immediately.

Kyra motions for Minette to come in again before caving and saying, "Here, come inside."

She glances to Alma and shrugs casually, "I don't care either way." She kind of has a feeling that Alma might wind up eavesdropping.

Minette Odam has posed:
"Oh." Minette replies to the statements of the obvious in a tone that suggests that it wasn't actually particularly obvious. "Hrm... maybe I should let Mr. Murasame know. Less competition means easier start-ups... a-a-anyway... oh, yayifications! I mean, thank you." She's nervous about something but many are of the opinion that this is Minette's natural state of affairs so it may not raise particular suspicions.

Minette comes in with an almost tentative air, looking about at most everything in the room, including up at the cieling and staring at some minutae imperfection that no one would notice unless they were looking for it. "Oh, so, uh... what I really wanted was a request." Minette explains. "Uh... not for you to ma--okay, starting again." Minette plops down on the couch. "I need one filled. That is to say, help. I'm asking for it, rather. Asking you... godddsssssss, this is hard."

Alma Hyral has posed:
"I'm sure that Souji is already around, making his business deals." She busies herself at some mundane activity in the kitchen. Not actually fixing anything, but just organizing and rearranging things that had been provided to them by the judges. Then she continues by moving over to the small fridge and doing the same.

Actually if Kyra had told her to make herself scarce, she probably would have gone back to sleep but.. since she doesn't care either way. She just nods at her. And then Minette makes her suitably awkward request, and Alma straightens herself, giving Minette a peculiar look, "Do you need her to make you some sort of alchemical potion or something?"

Kyra Hyral has posed:
With what little she's experienced of Minette, she's struck Kyra as a little weird. Socially awkward even. So her behavior, even here, seems not too out of line. Kyra keeps a straight face too, even when Souji and his company is brought up. Patience of a saint?!

The apartment is super sparse and messy. They were just moved in mere days ago so it isn't a home at all. This may make things even more awkward.

"So a request." Kyra leans against a small table with a pair of chairs at it. "What do you need help with?"

Minette Odam has posed:
"Oh, totally." minette replies to Alma, craning her head around to look over her shoulder. "That's why I was in the area. See, the Archadians like, /really/ need weapons right now. Like in a bad way. And we have a whole bunch of those to sell. They get weapons, we get money. Win-win." Minette is much more certain of herself when talking about her job. As cold as that often seems to others. Though she hasn't noticed that part. "But if local retail has folded, there's a new market there we could take advantage of..."

"Oh! Right." Minette turns around again, frowning a little. Unable to just sit still like a proper adult, she crosses her legs underneath her; she does not take off her shoes first despite sitting on someone else's couch. She is wearing a skirt and her decency is maintained only by being in a room with women and by leaning forwards in a slouch with her arms resting in her lap. "So... so like, you know Kamon pretty well, right?" She asks this of Kyra. Tenatively. Nervously.

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma Hyral would actually close her eyes briefly, she didn't really want to make her real opinion known on the Arcadian Empire buying weapons from the Murasame Zaibatsu, so her smile was only a little phoney, "I'm sure the Empire will be very appreciative of your services.."

And then the issue of Kamon comes up, and at first Alma seems oblivious...as she continues to reorganize the fridge, but then she actually drops something awkwardly as comprehension dawns. A small glass container shatters on the floor, splattering some tomato sauce, as she quickly takes a step back, wondering in the back of her mind if it was one of Kyra's failures, but luckily.. it was not, as it didn't appear to be eating a hole through the tiles. "I-I'll.."

She looks towards Minette and especially /Kyra/ nervously. She definitely didn't want Kyra to know of her role in... what she asked Kamon to do, and this subject could hit perilously close to that. She swallows audibly, "..I'll get s-something to clean that up..."

And then she retreats to a nearby closest of cleaning supplies, retrieving a dustpan and a mop.

Kyra Hyral has posed:
"Oh yeah. Very appreciative. Since they're basically at war with Alexandria now." Kyra seems nonplussed though she isn't entirely excited at the thought of Souji profiteering from an ongoing war. That was business, though. "As for the local businesses, I bet they just need some time to get back up on their feet."

She's heard about the stuff going down in Narshe. Yeah.

"Do you want anything to drink?" Kyra thinks to ask after Minette has plopped herself down on their couch. She's about to tell Alma to go get something when Minette continues. She needs help. With Kamon.

Her eyes narrow just a little. "Oh yeah. I know him pretty well. Why you ask?"

Minette Odam has posed:
Minette goes, 'KYAH!' and half starts out of her seat as the jar shatters against the floor. Nervous much? "Ayaaaaaah." The calculator lets out a long sigh. "I am so spazzing out it isn't even funny right now. I think maybe water, please."

"Hm. Need some time... we'll have to move quickly. If the board would hurry up and vote we'd get the standing capital that we needed t--anyway, that's something else, entirely."

"So, so, right. Like... I..." Minette sits there, biting her lower lip in thought. Her fingers drum against her legs rapidly as she attempts to formulate the words in her head; this is clearly hard on her. And then words just burst forth from her suddenly like a waterfall. "Okay, so like I have this huge crush on Kamon and every time I talk to him I don't know what to say so I end up acting like a total dork and I want to get to know him better and I just don't know what to say without looking creepy and I don't wanna look creepy because so many people already think I'm a total spazzoid creeper and that's a really hard thing to live with and I'm just really in need of help here!" One big, torrential, run-on waterfall.

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma abandons thoughts of cleaning up the mess for the moment putting the mop and dustpan down, instead grabbing an empty glass, carefully moving around the splattered pieces of the jar and sauce on the ground, then filling it with ice cubes. She then moves over to the sink and fills it with water, and then hands it over to Minette. And then she just stands there, staring in horror.

It was like watching an approaching train, about to crash into another one in slow motion. She'd seen this before.. where Minette was so self-absorbed she literally had no idea how others around her felt at all. It had happened once in a discussion of Souji and Tira..

She had no idea how to answer this question. Thankfully it wasn't directed at her. But, in her mind, she almost wishes it had been. She could then say something suitably trite and supportive..

Kyra on the other hand...

Alma stepped away, and waited for her sister to answer the question. She just hoped that she'd think of sparing Minette's feelings..

Kyra Hyral has posed:
"Right, some water." Kyra pushes away from the table, intent on procuring the water herself since Alma is now quite busy cleaning up a dropped item. Strange how she dropped that item right around when Kamon's name was mentioned. Kyra starts to wonder a little but dismisses the thought.

She grabs some simple glasses from the cupboard and goes about filling them just as Minette suddenly blurts out in a horribly awkward diatribe how much she wants to get to know Kamon. Due to a crush.

To Kyra's credit, she doesn't drop any glasses. Her hand does tighten signicantly against it. "That /hussy/..." she murmurs under her breath. When she turns back to face Minette, there's a curious look on her face.

"Wow, you have a crush on Kamon? How..." pause, "...adorable. Sooo you've come to me to hear about what he likes and stuff. Man, normally I'd just tell you to suck it up and ask him yourself buuuuuut...I know Kamon."

She walks over and hands Minette a glass of water. "He's kind of shy. But I'm also not even sure he's really in the market right now, if you know what I mean."

Minette Odam has posed:
"Thank you." Minette, the brazen little hussy, replies as she accepts the glass. She downs it in one go, her throat bobbing up and down rythmically. She exhales contentedly at the end of it all; that was needed and hit the spot.

Minette blushes as Kyra describes her crush as 'adorable', accepting the other girl's words at face value. She balls her fists up, rubbing her knuckles back and forth against each other in worry. "I've /tried/ asking him directly, I keep dorking it up. And... yeah, I'm like... really shy, too." She was standing outside the door for like twenty minutes before she screwed up the courage to knock. This stuff is genuinely hard for her.

"Eh?" Minette's tone shifts to that of confusion. "I didn't expect he's be on the market. I mean, he doesn't have a house to sell, or any kind of fungible assets for that matter. I'm... not sure what that has to do with anything, though?"

Alma Hyral has posed:
She goes back to the kitchen, beginning to clean up the broken shards of glass, and sweeping that and as much sauce as she can in the pan. She doesn't catch what Kyra says /initially/, but she definitely senses the subtle undertones in her words. Something was up and...

Wait, off the market?

Some part of her exulted as she realized that her sister was likely the one who had taken him off the market. But she tries not to show any indication of that. Above all things Kyra must not know what she'd asked him to do There's just a flicker of emotion in her eyes.

And then Minette sounds, so very confused about what that means, and so she states in a soft voice, "Off the market means that he's dating someone.."

Kyra Hyral has posed:
Kyra, for a few moments, almost feels sorry for Minette. Shy and socially awkward-she's the kind of girl the audience would root for in one of those teen movies featuring that awkward shy girl. The kind that usually involve a make-over halfway through the film.

She hears the confusion and Kyra palms her face with her free hand. "No, no, not that kind of market. Like. The boyfriend market. It's a metaphor."

Alma chimes in to explain further. "Yeah. So I hear. He hasn't told me anything about actual dates yet."

Minette Odam has posed:
That sound? That sound that you just heard at the end of your conciousness, like a hammer being thrown through a pane of sheet glass in the distance? That was the sound of Minette's ego shattering. The accountant is silent for long moments, staring up at Kyra through her sheet-like glasses. This is one of those rare times when Minette is glad that her glasses can fry ants; they help hide her face.

"Oh." Minette quitely mouths.

There is some more silence. Minette doesn't know what to say; she's made a fool of herself again. She tells herself that she ought to be used to it by now; that it's her own fault for getting her hopes up. Why should this have been any different then normal? Minette inhales a slow breath, then exhales a slow breath, and replies, "I didn't know that." In a quiet, too calm voice.

Alma Hyral has posed:
The sound of silence and awkward resonates throughout the room, and it gives Alma pause as she ceases cleaning up the mess.

She looks up, and her heart just wrenches inside of her. Minette and her were similar in a way. They were both rather hopeless on this subject. Except that Minette had actually worked up the courage to try to talk to someone about the crush she had so she could act upon it. Alma kept.. waiting for it to fall in her lap, just because she was so frightened of what would happen if she did.. just, this. And now Minette had gotten shot down, which was like the representation of her worst fears for herself.

And so she can figure out rather easily how Minette feels, as she glances over to Kyra, giving her a look like /Say something, please!/.

But then she turns back to Minette.. and just states quietly, "I'm.. sure it's not.. " An awkward pause, "...Minette it's.. there will be.."

/OTHERS?/ Even she couldn't think there would be others. Heck, she was having a similar problem with the boy she had a crush on who thought she was weird, awkward, and suspicious. There's no way she thought there would be others for herself. So how could she think there would be for Minette, who was just about as hopeless as her?

She just trails off, lapsing into an awkward silence.

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Which is precisely when the other bedroom door opens, annnd... there's Kamon.

To be more precise, there's Kamon in his underwear.

When the huge amount of shrapnel that was Kamon's blood and the pieces of iron affixed to his skeleton came shooting out of his body the other day, Kamon didn't really have much in the way of 'clothing' left intact. He's got a bandage wound around his chest and recently-healed wounds all over his body, his hair is a complete mess, and he's holding onto the doorknob for support. It's as if he's afraid he's going to collapse at any second.

He starts to open his mouth, but upon further introspection, decides to close it again. He clearly was not expecting Minette to be here.

Kyra Hyral has posed:
Oh /no/.

Kyra can practically /see/ Minette's word implode within her. It's not a sensation that she herself has experienced but she can tell from the very long awkward silence that follows. Here she was, gushing to someone she actually didn't know all that well about how she has a HUGE CRUSH on Kamon and Kyra in turn, well...

A small part of her does feel satisfied. But the rest of her feels pretty awful. "Yeah." Kyra says quietly. "I mean...well he usually keeps to himself. I'm sorry, Mine-"

The bedroom door swings open and Kyra immediately goes rigid. Ever so slowly, with the most spectacular 'oh shit' look on her face, she turns to see Kamon standing there, mostly naked to boot.

'Nice.' part of Kyra thinks. 'I like the messy hair look.' 'Oh, he's looking a bit better.' another part of her thinks.

Kyra's mouth snaps shut.

Minette Odam has posed:
Minette falls into the traditional refuge of those trying to hold back a sudden upswell of negative emotions; humor and self deprication at that. "Oh, ha ha... did it again! Silly little Minette, going after someone's boyfriend again. Man, you'd think I'd learn or something. Good thing I didn't talk to his girlfriend about it, that would have been really awkward, r-right?" The waver in her voice shows the lie for what it is, though, and she gives an awkward, half-hearted laugh that does nothing to reinforce the falsehood as truth.

"I should be going." Minette announces, abruptly rising to her feet. "Yes. Lots of work to do. Numbers don't crunch themselves, Mr. Murasame is relying on me. Needs me, even. Zaibatsu couldn't function without me, after all. So. Got to get going, thank you for the glass of water."

And then there's Kamon, practically naked. There is that really long, really awkward moment where a man in his underwear enters a room full of women. The wheels in Minette's head turn a little slowly. Her head turns from Kamon to point at Kyra. And then back to Kamon.

Kamon, disheveled, like he just--
Kyra, disheveled, like she just--

Minette's hands raise up and she starts making a series of gestures, talking with her hands in defensive gestures as she stumbles to find some kind of words. They don't come, the best she manages is a few choked mewls that don't get past the word 'I'. There are a few 'ah' and 'oh' and 'ugh' sounds in there, jumbled about like a pair of sneakers tumbling around in the dryer.

Alma Hyral has posed:
In response to all that awkward waterfall of words, Alma Hyral just walks after her as she's about to rise, "Minette..wait.."

And then Kamon appears. In his underwear. Alma began to suddenly believe that Whyt was standing in the room, invisible, just pointing and laughing silently at the endless tide of terrible.

She quickly blurts out to Minette, "It's not what you think! H-He was mortally wounded in a fight. We.. healed him. Brought him back here to recover."

There was no way Minette would believe that, even if it was the truth, but she still puts it out there.

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Kamon's thought process starts at 'need water badly' and ends at 'why is minette here.'

About three seconds later, it jumps to, 'oh god minette /and/ alma /and/ kyra /and/ i have no pants on, what is even happening'.

"Uh --" Kamon manages. He works his jaw. Each time he starts to say something, he decides against it. None of these seem like good ideas. Every time he starts to believe one of them is, he instead discards it in favor of a perfect answer to all their awkward problems. This goes on for a while. Eventually, he settles on nodding slightly at Alma.

Then, very slowly, he begins to turn around and sliiide back out of the room before he gets Minette Knuckle Instant Hell Murdered.

Kyra Hyral has posed:
Kyra starts to grimace. With each self-deprciating remark Minette makes, it gets worse and worse. Heck, Minette even starts to stutter which she's basically never heard before. She feels SO BAD for her. So bad!!

But at least she's leaving. Inwardly, Kyra is screaming for this very awkward moment to end. Except this awkward moment has now entered overtime with Kamon around.

Kyra starts to flail. With the glass in her hand, that means water is flung everywhere haphazardly. "It's not what it looks like!" she blurts out, "We didn't just...he's just here becase...last night we infiltrated a volcano lair and..!"

She looks to Kamon helplessly with a BACK ME UP HERE PLZ look on her face. And he sloooowly edges back into the bedroom.

Minette Odam has posed:
infiltrating secret volcano lairs

Minette stares at the floor for a while. The floor boards are sensible. Orderly. Neat. They make sense. She can internalize them to herself and, unlike the people in the room, understand them. Volcano lairs. They must be lieing to spare her feelings. That's the only way Minette can process the claim in a way that doesn't make her want to scream, so it's the explaination that she inwardly settles on to herself. She's vaguely appreciative of the attempt, even though it isn't a very good one, in an academic way somewhere in the back of her mind. But there it is, right in front of her. Potential boyfriend lost before he was even found. 'Off the market', right. Dating someone else already.

and it is always a Hyral

"I..." Minette looks up and forces her voice to come to her throat. "I HOPE YOU BOTH ENJOY THE PLANT VERY MUCH TOGATHER!" Her voice raises in pitch and tamber, growing more wavery with each syllable. When at last the whole statement passes her lips, Minette turns and bolts for the door.

Alma Hyral has posed:
"KYRA!" She states that more sharply than she might have wanted to, yeah she didn't really want the rank and file at Murasame Zaibatsu to start wondering /which/ volcano lair they'd infiltrated. There couldn't be all that many, could there?

Suddenly the thought occurs to her that in every single volcano in the World of Ruin there is some evil mad scientist who has a volcano lair. The thought gives her considerable pause.

Kamon retreats with only an awkward sound, not even a real word, and Alma suddenly wonders if the invincible Odynar warrior isn't quite as.. invincible as he appears. Then again, that perception was kind of ruined last night anyhow when Legion literally pulled his blood out from him and snapped his bones in twain.

Once again states in an almost plaintive timbre, "Minette, wait!"

And then she'd follow after her, She'd actually follow her as far as the hallway outside, assuming she kept running.

Kyra Hyral has posed:
Feige is probably going to tattle on them later ANYWAY, given what happened! But Alma is in luck. Minette doesn't believe them-well, not precisely. Maybe she believes Kamon infiltrated Kyra's volcano lair last night.

Minette screams at them, though honestly, it isn't the worst thing she could have screamed. Or done. In the back of her mind Kyra's a little worried that Minette would REALLY flip out at her and after yesterday, she wasn't prepared for an actual fight. While Alma might run after her, telling her to wait, Kyra does not follow.

She palms her face again, setting her now empty glass of water down on the counter.