"Or..." Taking a deep breath, you plunge forward. "We could do something else. If we go public right now, Chen will die, and Ran Yakumo will swear eternal vengeance on us or something like that. Or, maybe worse, Chen won't die, and Houraisan will tell Ran to call us liars, or - "

"You wanna save the cat," Mokou interrupts.

"You want to find and rescue Chen?" Yuyuko mildly asks.

"She wants to save Chen!" Merlin Prismriver claps her hands together and squeals in delight.

"It could work," Lyrica adds (though Hina shakes her head).

Silence falls for a moment, until Orin begins to cackle. You nod. Lunasa quietly buries her face in her hands and mutters "Oh god."

"We-e-elll." Stretching, Mokou stalks over to your side and claps you on the shoulder. "Called it from Stone Cold. But hey, listen. The cat's dead. That or as good as. Kaguya doesn't fuck around, and she's had a lotta time to play."

"Not dead," Yuyuko corrects, but this only deepens Mokou's frown.

"Maybe she's just catatonic?" Orin continues to laugh, until she finds Mokou's elbow in her sternum.

"Right," you sigh. "Well, isn't it at least worth a try, if she's not dead? We need some sort of proof, or nobody's going to believe anything except what the news throws in their faces. You read what the papers said today, right?"

"Don't need everybody to believe it, just need to get it kicked off. Moriya and Hakurei, whatever's left of them, they'll do the rest. Assuming Hakurei doesn't up and die." Mokou frowns, cuffs Orin again for good measure and addresses Yuyuko. "Reminds me, you never did mention who you were backing to win anyhow."

"Oh, no one." Yuyu cuts the singer off there and addresses you again. Her apparent amusement with the proceedings nearly matches Orin's, and for a second it looks like Mokou wants to punch her, too. You're glad to answer her query of "What else?", though - familiar territory again.

"Meiling, the Scarlets, and the yama." You make a triangle with your fingers, visualizing the players. "I can't help but notice Meiling's not here. The Scarlets seemed like they might have been moving in on her last night, but the cops were there pulling a sting on them. Then Lilith Black shows up and stops us, out of nowhere in the middle of the night and the middle of nowhere, but she doesn't do anything. It doesn't add up. Do you know, uh, anything about what's going on there?"

"Our new sister is busy today, and the yama are chasing smoke." Yuyuko takes her fan out again and waves it lazily. When it becomes painfully apparent that that's all the answer you're going to get, you reluctantly nod and move on.

"This Kant business?"

"Meaningless." That, too, is dismissed with a wave of the fan - and a pronouncement of finality. "Yukari Yakumo will not return to this city."

You bend your head in acknowlegement and take a step backwards. The awkward silence makes an awkward return, this time punctuated only by Orin's humming. Everyone waits for Yuyuko, and Yuyuko Saigyouji waits for... something? Nothing? Her own time, you suppose. She seems to have turned her head upwards to stare at the cloud of butterflies beginning to drift around the ceiling.

"So," Lunasa says spontaneously.

"So," Yuyuko agrees, her attention on the insects unwavering.

"So I'll see about getting a venue. What time tonight?"

"No."

"No? Tomorrow?"

"When we have retrieved the cat." Yuyuko's eyes don't leave the butterflies. A flame wicks and flickers within them, twisting like the violinist does in her shock.

"Sister, you can't be serious. This is it? This is her? This is your secret weapon, our crackerjack sister who demolishes Youmu and everyone else and is too precious to associate with the likes of us? And she lets Black of all people witness her and doesn't do anything about it, and her almighty plan is to 'rescue' a dead cat?" Sarcasm drips heavily from Lunasa's tongue, making her sisters titter. Yuyuko puts on her best imitation of Youmu and does not respond. You do likewise, albeit mainly out of surprise, and it's Mokou who finally answers.

"Looney, you got some kind of problem with Stone Cold?"

"She," Lunasa grits through her teeth, "is, RE, TAR, DED. This plan is retarded. Is there even a plan? Or are you just going to throw darts at a map and pick one of the, oh, several dozen secure Eientei buildings, have it be the one you want, somehow sneak in and find this cat, who is undoubtedly tortured to the point where it looks more like jelly than a goddamn cat, and bring the cat jelly out to put it on display for the whole city? That's the plan?"

"More or less. They will also destroy the facility, of course." Yuyuko nods, stoic in the face of this outburst. You, well... you try your best to shrink into a ball while still standing upright, finding comfort only in the fact that nobody else seems to mind. This is, however, also rather disturbing, and provides scant comfort indeed.

"They!" Lunasa barks an acid laugh. "So now we're risking more than one sister on this. Hey, Orin! You're not the dumbest sister here anymore! Good job!"

[ ] They?
[ ] "They" meaning _____________, of course.

------
Please pardon the abysmal quality. Trying to keep this going, at least. I hate writing lots of dialogue.