07: Meeting

Madotsuki glanced at the two people sitting around the table, trying to stay calm and dignified.

To the left is Empress Urotsuki; though, given her current demeanor of leaning back in a chair and resting her legs on the table, most people wouldn't see he as a leader at first glance. The woman had a grin on her face, looking friendly at first glance, but the Queen knew that the smile is like that of a wolf. She knew that the woman would, if she wanted to, jump out of her chair and try to kill them. But she didn't to do that - because they were friends.

To the right, arms crossed, slightly fuming, is Sabitsuki. In the past, they only shared correspondence through letters, and it wasn't until that Rust was confirmed to not be airbourne did they have a proper meeting. Sabitsuki is always pale. And angry. She is both less and more volatile than Urotsuki: less so because she still preferred peaceful solutions, and more so because she had more buttons to press.

Dealing with them was tough at times - especially when there's disagreements.

"I refuse to kill him." Sabitsuki insisted. Currently, they were all discussing the recent troubles in Sabitsuki's territory, and how even when things were beyond her control, she would be blamed for everything and lose an upcoming election. Urotsuki is currently trying to be as unhelpful as possible.

"Why not? Just assassinate him and you'll be the only real candidate." Urotsuki said with a malicious tone. "Of course, they'll know you're responsible - so your citizens will be too scared to step it up!"

"I run a democracy, not a police state!"

"Oh, they can't be the same thing?"

"Please, calm down." Madotsuki called over them, trying to calm tensions and quell Urotsuki's less than ideal suggestions. "Governments need to be run calmly. Peacefully. If you stage an assassination... things will be thrown into chaos..."

"Then Sabitsuki can fix the problems and be re-elected as a hero, problem solved," the empress said.

"They'll know I caused Smile's death in the first place, dipshit!" Sabitsuki yelled.

"Please, no cursing at the table. But I agree with you."

Realizing that Plan A (for Assassination) isn't going to get off the ground, Urotsuki throws her arms up. "Fine, fine. Have it your way, you damn pacifists."

"Language."

"Whatever. But just keep in mind... my offer's still on the table~"

"I'll leave it on the table, then." Pale-haired sighed.

The queen looks around the table, nodding to herself. The other two seem annoyed with each other and with her, but the situation is no longer escalating beyond that. "While there's no way our countries can really help in your situation - besides assassination," she paused, looking in Urotsuki's direction, "I at least plan to continue supporting you. You can expect that our trading deal is still in place."

"Pfft, I can do more than that, we can rewrite contracts to make sure you have more resources." Urotsuki offered. "Maybe if you feed them more, those ungrateful bastards will remember who's feeding them."

"I kinda doubt it... but that I can appreciate." Sabitsuki nodded. She paused, thinking a bit. "In return, I'll give you more money for medical research - you scratch my back and I scratch yours, right?"

This was one of the topics Urotsuki and Sabitsuki can readily agree on, Madotsuki notices. The young empress set up research for medicine, motivated to help somebody close to her; with the Rust epidemic, Sabitsuki bought into her program and is the biggest contributor, in hopes that it leads to a cure for Rust; while Madotsuki has no real personal stake in it, she still donated occasionally, as she's seen far too much suffering in the Rift in the past that it's simply the right thing to do.

"Haha, of course. Hey, get this, this one time we found this guy in the robe that looked like a block of cheese with a mustache - like a hipster, you know." Urotsuki rambles, "We just haaad to kill this guy, his existence was a crime to good taste. Well, his body had these chemicals and we dissected the corpse and we tried to experiment with it for our medicine. We tested it on this guy, and guess what?"

"What?" Madotsuki questions, finding herself forgetting why they were originally there.

"The motherfucker just starts talking and talking, rambling about art house films - the hipster was contagious. He starts ranting about how our nation lacks any true culture - and you know, he's right. And so, that's how a Hipster Cheese helped start art programs."

"Weird shit happens in the Rift, Urotsuki," Sabitsuki said, foregoing any formal title for the empress. "I remember this one time when..."

And so, their serious meeting ended up devolving into a show of young rulers gossipping. At one point, Madotsuki ended up joining in, because she wouldn't blame them for taking a break from national problems and engaging in nonsense.

They are young humans. They weren't mean to rule anything. It was the Rift and circumstances that made it so. They needed to take breaks, and just talking is much better than their stressful dealings. This was honestly the reason why they still continue to meet or haven't broken into conflict - they could talk to each other, comprehend each other, and relate with each other. Urotsuki's smile had turned sincere, and even Sabitsuki had laughs at the stories being told. The young queen forgets that she's a queen for a while, just so that she can hang out with them.