Atlantis

[Bloodedge]

"Good," Akashi said, letting the Mermaid be on her way. Even with his obvious sense of supremacy, Akashi retained enough of his original self to have faith in her ability to at least complete the tasks she was given. He didn't care much for the other matters initially, but he now intended to see that Miki's plan went through as well, even as he prioritized the outcast of Atlantis.

Once the queen was on her journey, Hikari presented her curiosity about the goings-on. Her query was a respectable one, at least. Indeed, she once again confirmed her relation to him with this. He even grinned cheekily when his response came. "Because the outcast is the key. When two species live together and hate each other, where do they find common ground? What's the one thing that they can agree on? Neither of them wants to be the other. So, then... what do they hate more than the other?"

[Apollymi]

And with that Seriri disappeared into the Kingdom to do her research. Beyond this, Hikari was now questioning the choice of finding the outcast. And instead of being met with hostility from Akashi, she was simply given a series of questions to help her figure out the answer to the question she'd asked originally. This was very much an action her brother often took, instead of simply giving her an answer he allowed her to work her way through by giving her a series of leading questions. 'Hm, if two groups are together and hate each other, then they tend to find commonality in the hate,' the young woman mused silently. 'They choose to hate each other, they also want to affirm their feelings, so both would hate contradictions....' she thought a light coming to her eyes for the first time which was devious. "Oh, the Outcast is both things. Proof that they can exist happily together, so they don't like him... he's like heresy for both groups. So, his placement near the royalty of the area will cement the coexisting society, right?"

The lass' question made Miki smile, she was indeed reminded of the girl Tsukiko her childhood friend by interacting with Hikari. It was quite surprising, but such a line of thought also affirmed Miki's earlier thoughts that there were several clever people within the Kingdom currently. This would make it potentially a lot easier to get everything done in a more timely manner perhaps. Speaking of that was the main problem currently occupying Miki's mind, though the discovery of her alternative username was also something which floated around in her head as well. She supposed she should have seen such a discovery coming eventually, but given none of the other leaders knew her personally, she hadn't had to worry about anyone understanding the connection between her two selves. Perhaps it didn't really matter so much in the long term, perhaps it did matter quite a bit... whatever the case, she needed to focus on something besides the potential bad outcomes right at the moment.

[Bloodedge]

There it was. He knew she'd come to the proper conclusion with a few simple mentions, and the act of her doing so seemed to spark something deeper within Akashi's being, far beyond the Dragonoid himself. Was this... pride? No, it certainly wasn't his. Or perhaps... even a bit belonged to him as well. Whatever the case, his grin widened slightly. "The primary source of fallen society. The leading cause of war. Prejudice. Difference of species, difference of abilities... difference of status. It's the flaw of mankind to be unaccepting of others' flaws. Even a Dragon wouldn't be such a moron. Historically, the oppressed will always rise and overthrow the oppressors. Then... they will eventually become the oppressors to another..." Akashi sighed, closing his eyes before reopening them to mere slits. He seemed to space out for a moment, though it also didn't seem to be entirely his doing. "That is what ended my kind... the Dragons."

He'd gone on a bit of a tirade. Eventually though, he regained enough of himself to address the legitimate issue at hand. "The outcast won't accomplish anything by being in the palace. They will be useful for something else entirely, and that will be the glue of society in Atlantis."

[Apollymi]

What came next from Akashi was one of the more in-depth analysis Miki had ever heard about people. And she'd heard a lot from a very different perspective, her eyes widened lightly as she heard these words but she accepted the truth of them fairly easily. 'Sou ka, definitely the right one for the people problem...' she said to herself, there was an obvious appreciation in the lass for his words, though she didn't outwardly express this. She was still sitting in this lad's lap and still thinking over several potential problems. She hadn't missed the fact that he'd mentioned the fall of Dragons and wondered if the lad had insight because of being this avatar or if he had more knowledge from game play. Whatever the case, she was sure she'd get the details on it a bit later. Though he seemed somewhat spaced out in the passing moments.

Hikari seemed to beam just a bit as her theories were at least partly confirmed. Though she was mistaken about the usefulness of the 'Outcast' apparently he would eventually be an integral part of the society at hand. "Sou ka... that clears that up then. Arigatou, Nii-san!~" the raccoon girl chimed. She turned then and looked at Miki's face, finding the lass to be deep in thought, but apparently not worse for wear. She already accepted the other girl as the best possible match for her brother, watching how she dealt with Seriri in the moment further confirmed the lass' niceness. With this in mind there was something else that needed to be done, which would mean the eventual leaving of both Hikari and Karna, and it was something the raccoon girl was trying to figure out how to mention in the next few moments.

[Bloodedge]

"Hmph," was Akashi's only utterance of response to Hikari. It wasn't a malicious reaction at all, which was much better than what could be said about most. It seemed he'd properly accepted this one as well, even if in a very different manner. Everything seemed in order here now... except for the matter of Hikari and Karna finding a potential cure for the Devouring. Hikari herself didn't seem to know when or how to present the idea of them leaving, but...

That's what Karna was here for.

Ever the wordsmith, Karna took the moment of silence in the group at large as his opening. He walked up to the throne in an utmost casual manner, looking the Dragonoid in the eye whilst bowing just slightly. Akashi quirked a brow, wondering what this jester could have wanted. Then, just then... perfectly chosen words slipped past Karna's silver tongue. "Yeah, so we're heading out for a bit. Gotta find a magic bitch to do magic stuff. K bye~" he said, immediately turning on his heel and beckoning for Hikari to follow.

[Apollymi]

In the moments that passed it seemed that Akashi at least wasn't violent at being referred to as the raccoon girl's brother. Ever the chivalrous savior, Karna stepped in to clear the air and get the pair of them moving towards whatever their goals were unknown to the pair of individuals atop the throne. His choice in words caused Miki to chuckle and Hikari to look shocked but at his beckoning she went along. 'Yosh! Nice save, Dick-sensei!~' she mentally chimed as she placed Fiona atop the pillow at Miki's side and turned to take the stairs. "Hikari-chan, heads up..." she said Miki after watching the lass take the steps two by two to head off. The young raccoon girl turned around to find a bag of coin flying through she opened her hands to catch. "Arigatou Miki-nee!" she said "Ja ne!~" she finished up more than willing not to say anything else.

'I mildly wonder what they are up to... oh well, I guess it will come up sooner or later,' Miki thought to herself. Though she'd provided the duo with about 100 gold coins for their trip she hadn't really bothered asking what they intended to get up to. Her disagreements with Karna aside, she knew the lad wasn't necessarily a bad person. And that he only really managed to annoy her so much because of the type of person she was, still that had been a fairly funny exit and she couldn't really deny that at all.

[Bloodedge]

And thus, Karna and Hikari would be on their way out of the palace. Akashi hadn't bothered questioning this. If they wanted to go about their way for whatever reason, they were free to do so. Hikari may have been considered weak, but she could surely handle herself. If not, that pest of a jester could make himself useful without a doubt.

And just like that, Akashi and Miki were left alone at the throne, excluding the chick of a Filolial. The Dragonoid's tail began to write gently in its place atop the Lancer, as Akashi himself rested his head atop the back of his left hand. All they had to do now was wait, but in the meantime, Akashi could have sworn there was something else of major importance to address. "Now, I think we were discussing something..." he said casually, almost as if bored by the atmosphere already.

[Apollymi]

They were alone, again. Miki was distinctly aware of this now more than she was when they'd gone off to the Obelisk together. At this very moment, she was still sitting in the lad's lap, with no one around as witness but their small bird companion, who after looking around for a minute decided to roost quietly atop the pillow which felt so familiar to her. Over the course of the next moment or two, the blonde lass became acutely aware of the tail wrapped around her and wiggling in her lap. There was something about this moment which was somewhat comforting, and though Akashi himself had a bit of a bored air, it appeared he hadn't truly forgotten the discussion they'd been having before this moment. There was the mention of her alternate username which though she didn't really want to discuss, seemed to be a topic that should be addressed sooner rather than later. "MisakiNeesan... that seemed to be the next thing you wanted to talk about, in the middle of getting Atlantis set up..." Miki mentioned rather calmly if she was being honest. This was a strange conversation to have with another person, but she supposed there were worst cases to have to admit things in, than simply admitting that she'd previously popped up on online leader boards and arcades he was found on for her own amusement.

[Bloodedge]

What was that thing they were talking about? Amidst all the hullabaloo, Akashi seemed to have legitimately lost it. It was right at the tip of his tongue, yet he couldn't grasp it fully, and then... Miki spoke. The first thing to leave her mouth was the username: MisakiNeesan. Indeed, that was her other identity. What many arcade-goers viewed to be the potential end of his original self as Geno Killer, was... her.

However...

His expression remained entirely unchanged. There wasn't so much as a twitch in his eye before his gaze casually shifted toward Miki. For whatever reason, he continued to boast the demeanor of an unamused emperor of some sort. With all of that, he stared at Miki for several seconds, unmoved yet again, before he finally opened his mouth to retort. "MisakiNeesan? Why would I care to talk about that?"

[Apollymi]

A few seconds of silence followed the sentence spoken by Miki. Was this another strange game to him. She noticed he had a bit of a supremacy look. In this very moment he seemed to be using it as a shell. But, it was kind of hard to pull of hard superiority properly with someone sitting in your lap, at least this was the way Miki thought about it while being seated as such. Another grin spread across the blonde lass' face, "I don't know, could be the fact that you stopped when it was said in recognition. Could be the fact that you repeated it in broken syllables, like you figured something out. Could be the fact that you almost stared a hole though me when I instinctively reacted to it..." she listed in a manner with noted sarcasm. "Or you don't really care at all, I could have imagined all of those things... guilty consciences being what they are," the girl said giving a rather casual shrug. She wasn't necessarily a liar by any means, she was very cut and dry, either he wanted to talk about it or he didn't, but she had already thought though it logically and found it to be one of those strange things about her which could have fallen to obscurity without ever mattering. A cheeky smirk came to her face soon after and she had one more thing to say. "Or you had something to say about me tagging all your scoreboards... that was just for fun by the way. I don't want your title or anything..." she said with a bit of amusement in her eyes and voice.