[Miyabigaoka] The Gleaming Crest

[Apollymi]

Jinx finished her cigarette in the time it took Kurama to finish making Roze capable of accepting a meal. Her eyes still closed as the last drag was taken and she ashed it out in the nearby receptacle which she'd chosen this seat for. Upon hearing what Roze had to say about her opponent, Jinx could only nod. She knew all about causing damage for damage sake, and that woman could have done way worse, and wasn't really trying which made the whole thing way worse by comparison. "I couldn't even see that bitch moving, and I wasn't in the fight," mentioned, Suzume who found such a show of strength to be extreme. "I could see her moving and I wouldn't have been able to react to it, plus, water and electricity is a bad match up no matter the way it's sliced," mentioned Jinx who had time to observe and knew well how bad this could have gone if anyone but Roze had tried to take that one.

Soon enough they were presented with glasses and told they couldn't have their drinks the way they desired. Jinx pouted but accepted a tall glass of water sipping from it slowly before she spoke. "Yeah, yeah, Water Queen here. I am pretty sure I know how hydration works. I'm just fucking thirsty, but fuck all if I should be allowed what I want," she complained in her normal manner but didn't put up nearly the amount of fuss one would have come to expect. Suzume had a very similar complaint. "I was trying to save you some trouble, I'm going to want a couple more at least. But if you want to do a whole bunch more than necessary, I guess, I won't complain," she said though her statement was in and of itself a complaint. There would be about 20 minutes of downtime before they got to eat, and both Suzume and Jinx looked back and forth between each other and Roze thinking about their day and how they'd come to have such an interaction.

[Bloodedge]

It was almost twenty minutes before the silence was broken between the three women. Roze was the one who decided to speak and address the fight they'd all been through. "Hey... sorry about all that. I dragged you two into a fight, thinking we could win and get this all over with. But..." Her statement would never see its end. Though Kurama was distant, the acoustics in the room allowed him to hear what was being said from the kitchen. This type of speech would not be allowed today. "Oi! This place wasn't made for moping around, y'know? Save the sad for another day," he called out. In a matter of moments, Kurama's present guests would hear three plates hit the counter. If one looked his way when he spoke, they would be able to note steam masking his form for a moment. The smell of beef, lobster, butter, and various vegetables permeated the Den as the Flame King's arms gently moved about to situate each of three plates. "Aaaand rested~," he said. Soon, he was walking from the kitchen into the open area. He carried a plate in each hand, as well as a plate resting atop his left forearm. Though Jinx and Suzume had each requested different dishes, all three plates were identical... albeit containing the desired items of each person. As he handed out these plates, he decided to explain the dish, since he hadn't prepared such a thing in quite some time. "Ladies, for you this evening, I have a fine pan-seared filet mignon and poached lobster tail dish, drizzled with a creamy, buttery Bearnaise sauce. I've also prepared a mashed potato volcano that overflows with a rich and delicious puree that primarily features, of course, spinach and baby carrots." Instead of handing out plates directly, Kurama's foot dragged a small table of sorts from underneath the chair of each person he served. The plates were placed on these tables individually, only for all three tables to be raised from the ground and locked into place. After sliding them to each woman's fore, he excused himself again to retrieve the bottles for refilling all three beverages of choice. "I hope everything is to your liking. Anything else before I slick my hands with oil?"

[Apollymi]

Roze's apology came to both Jinx and Suzume and both of them wound up looking a bit confused. But before either of them could speak on the matter, Kurama was dropping plates on the counter and speaking up about how they were presently in a place which wasn't made for moping so such things should be left for another time. A smile spread across Jinx's face as her eyes cut towards their blonde male companion and she waved it off. "Naw, fuck that, I'll do what I want, and sit here and pout all night and there's nothing you can do about it!" she said though it was mostly in jest. Suzume managed to scoff just a bit as she turned her glass up. "Nobody asked you to apologize, I mean, we could have just said no, probably... I don't know..." said the redhead which was her way of rejecting such things. She and Jinx both knew they would have gone along regardless of the plan or the likelihood of it failing because it was simply how they were, if nothing else, they had a lot of information to work with now and that was something more than generally expected.

Moving right along soon enough the ladies were presented with amazing looking dishes. All of which they'd never really seen before but fit perfectly what they'd asked for. A large grin settled on Suzume's face as she took in the view of this meal and saw that her glass was being refilled. "I mean, that's a lot based on what we asked you, not complaining or anything... thanks," she said waving him off, though she maintained wide eyes at the quality of the dish before her. She needed nothing else between now and the end of her meal and she was more than content to attack it without need of further interruption. "Arigatou," mentioned, Jinx who had only this word to say before she went in on her meal as well. Jinx was already used to the amazing quality of meals prepared specifically by this man, she'd seen it a bit more often than most so she didn't have commentary about it. Beyond this she was starving quite literally given the state of her body and her previous round of vomiting even so she'd be more than content to enjoy this meal and let Kurama do whatever he needed for Roze in the immediate future.

[Bloodedge]

"Really? Gomen; I couldn't think of anything that would take less than twenty minutes," Kurama replied to the words of Suzume. Roze, who'd already begun eating to take her mind off the pain, chuckled. "I don't think that's what she meant. Sankusu." Upon filling all glasses and serving all meals, Kurama freed his hands and took a spot standing behind Roze. The white-haired woman was content with her meal and beverage, and was only made more so as a pair of oiled hands began rubbing against the points of most intense annoyance on her lower back. "Blunt trauma too? Must have been one hell of a fight. What sort of Rising Road rider fights like this?" he asked. Roze, after wharfing down a chunk of lobster, sighed before responding. "It wasn't Rising Road. Aomine has people from the other towers around the world." These words placed an expression of shock upon Kurama's face. He understood the fact that Aomine had underlings to act as his team in the upcoming Parts War, but he had no idea things were this serious. "So... he has other versions of us in that army of his..."

[Apollymi]

Suzume looked up from her meal when Kurama spoke. She really hadn't meant it was too much, but like, it looked like more work than what they'd asked for, Roze seemed to understand this and clarified a bit and the red haired young woman nodded. "What she said," she chimed in seeming to enjoy her meal with wide eyes as Roze got the worst of her kinks worked out. They began discussing the nature of these newer people involved with Aomine and, Roze explained that these people weren't like themselves. "That one was like the one I fought, nanobots. Likely came out of the same tower, they use their bodies as weapons. So that electricity was different from the sort of thing that Lamb Chop would do, the one I fought straight up just used his blood... kinda freaky," mentioned Jinx who found the whole thing about that tower to be invasive, even more so than the things she'd been apart of. On the matter of Aomine having other versions of them, Suzume managed to chime in, "He... is still just bored.The others seem to be like us but more advanced in some way. But that could just be true because of the way the Towers were created," she said as she ate a bite of lobster. "Actually, he managed to look happy and like his old self for a second there... when he thought I might actually be able to do something about his new road," she mentioned. This whole thing wasn't good Aomine hadn't started off as a bad apple, he'd just become one when it became obvious he was outpacing everyone else. She wondered if it was still simply the case that he was looking for a challenge, though she didn't agree with it at all, it would make sense of the sorts of people he was surrounding himself with. When Suzume said this Jinx's eyes widened and she stopped eating utensil mid-air between her face and her plate. It was Suzume's mention of Aomine's apparent happiness in the moment he was using his new trick that settled in the likeness between that man, and Roze's younger brother. Beyond that it cemented in her head why she couldn't blow him up as she originally planned to. "Fuck."

[Bloodedge]

"Nanobots? Ugh." The idea that one of the towers connected to Trophaeum used nanotechnology to empower their equivalent to Gravity Children sent shivers down Kurama's spine. Beyond the outcome that sort of thing had to have on their abilities, the fact that their predecessors would do such a thing was downright creepy and immoral. Of course, three of the four people here had been participants in something far worse, but that matter did not subtract from the shock factor of the current information.

Kurama continued meticulously working toward easing tension and restoring the normal feeling of Roze's back. Over time, she began feeling more capable of shifting about in her normal fashion. She ate mostly silently throughout her treatment, while both she and Kurama learned new information about the fight Suzume had against Aomine himself. This wasn't all too bothersome, but Jinx's reaction warranted a glance with narrowed eyes and furrowed brows from Roze. "Bitch, if you're gonna sit there with a face that says you just thought of something, and the first thing out of your mouth isn't the thought, we're gonna have a problem."

[Apollymi]

Jinx had looked in Kurama's direction and knew for certain he felt the same level of 'ick' at the idea that their predecessors had done such a thing to someone else, and that it'd been invasive on the same level as the experiment several of them had participated in. But that wasn't a matter for right now. Soon it was brought to Jinx's attention that she was making a face and having an idea directly in front of the trio other gravity children. A frown came to her face as she put her fork down and rubbed a hand over her face. "I guess you're feeling better, you can shut that shit right the hell up, I only just now thought about it," she said. "And you're not going to like it when I get to it," she said frowning slightly before she sipped from her water glass. "That entire time while everyone else was fighting I was trying to blow up Sunshine like I did the Boy Scout and I couldn't," she said very calmly as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"That trick requires a break in flow, to insert the bubbles into, it's why it was easy to get to the kid I fought, but Sunshine doesn't have that break, I could ask the Angels, but I feel they'd say something like... 'The Bright One's heart beat is perfect'. Ya' know in typical them fashion," she said rolling her eyes and waving her left hand about. "Anyways, I couldn't just blow him up on the spot which I was going to do to save us some trouble, and I realize I've seen that sort of flow before... the kind without break... on that brother of yours after he got his shit together," she said directly. "He smiles about that shit. Doing super destructive shit awe inspiring shit... and doesn't see a problem with it. So... whatever you three are together..." she said without giving a direct conclusion sure that all present would come to it in their own time. She went back to eating in this moment. "All isn't lost on that trick by the way, if we could throw him off a bit, I could still blow him up from the inside out."

[Bloodedge]

"If you just thought about it, you should have just said it! Fuck, you and your need to draw attention before you say shit!" she chanted. Such had always been the speech pattern of the current Sky Queen when she was impatient, but it was an attitude that had gone unnoticed for quite some time now. Hearing it here after the ladies' battle against Aomine caused Kurama to chuckle from behind the white-haired woman. "I think a moment of shock is fair for a revelation; especially one involving what you all just went through," he said, prompting Roze to scoff through a mouthful of steak. "To hell with that, and you. More hands, less mouth... for now," she replied.

Apparently, Jinx's realization had nothing to do with how they fared in the battle itself, and everything to do with what Suzume had observed in her specific fight. Roze had not yet made this connection between Aomine and her own younger brother. Now that she was forced to think about it, though, there were some stark similarities between who Shoichi was, and who Aomine used to be. Her eyes widened as she visualized a younger Aomine growing into the current Shoichi. "That's..." She was almost totally lost for words. Was it now possible that her own brother could become the next menace like this? If that were to be the case in the future, she would feel some sense of responsibility toward bringing him down. Kurama, being able to tell she was bothered by even the slightest twitches beneath the skin, spoke up before she allowed her own thoughts to go too far. "Really? Don't tell me you're thinking something dumb, like oh no, I'm going to have to kill my own brother if he turns into that."

[Apollymi]

"Whatever bitch, you're just being impatient and we all know it," mentioned the Water Queen who soon went back to eating. She of course, realized the propensity of her statement to cause unease, but it wasn't something she thought about past it's original moment. She'd spent enough time with Shoichi that she didn't think he'd become what Aomine had, and it was all in his approach to people that made him quite a bit different. "Worthy of the fucking pause, ain't it? But don't think about it too much, I don't think it will actually be a problem," she said. Only for Kurama to affirm the woman had indeed been thinking something truly outlandish, but it wouldn't be Roze who seemed to have a problem with it, but instead it would be Suzume.

"Yeah, you can say that, doesn't make a bit of difference, no one saw Aomine ending up the way he did either," she said which made Jinx smirk. "Yeah, but... they are different in the way they deal with people. Don't get me wrong, I think Fly Boy is kind of fucking stupid, but... he wouldn't go ape-shit 'cause his friends weren't strong enough, he'd help them out. That's the difference. Dumb ass idealism at its finest," she said which made Suzume look at the other young woman for just a few seconds before scoffing. "Fine, I suppose Aomine did basically say if any of us could take him, we wouldn't be trying to kill him... I guess that means we wouldn't have to, because he'd be happy and because of that we would be too, by some twisted logic," Suzume said, all of it being way more thought than she'd normally give such things. Aomine's likeness to the Second Generation's Sky King wasn't something Suzume could have noticed, apparently Roze hadn't noticed it either, Jinx had but she'd spent a considerable amount of time with the boy so she had the most hands on experience. It made Suzume wonder what all the younger Sky King had done in the presence of Jinx to make her give him such shining reviews.

[Bloodedge]

"Call it what you want; you should still get to the point faster." Roze managed to say this much even while recovering from the shocking revelation of prior moments. According to Jinx, the thoughts she had were of no real concern. Suzume was the only other person in this group to entertain the thought that this was possible. Though Jinx's words were undoubtedly the most trustworthy of the bunch, considering her experience with the Sky King, Roze couldn't simply shake the idea. "I'm with the bird on this one. The kind of growth Aomine had isn't really conducive to bringing other people up to your level." It was about this time that Kurama finished Roze's treatment, and moved away from her. In doing so, he thought to add a bit of insight to the discussion at hand. "Two against two, then? Maybe the answer is for the person most closely related to both people to find out for herself what the chances are?" His question was rhetorical, but more of a leading question at the same time. Both he and Jinx had ample reason to believe the young Sky King would not go the same route as their Sun King, and Suzume was the only one in the group to have anything beyond just a doubt. If she were to fish out the truth in her own mind, it would surely shed some light on the nonbelievers of whichever direction she leaned in the end. "Now then... next?"