Empyrea

[Elesariin]

Dawn beamed up at her briefly. "Okay!" She seemed to have forgotten her assertion that the Workmen could protect her... Or at least she wasn't bringing it up. Still holding onto her new friend, she looked curiously over at Jesse.  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Martin scoffed in Mason's huge, overgrown face. "I say, kind...sir? Sir, if you could break this parasol, then I would gladly concede the fight to you. As it is, I can't see any way that you would."

Indeed, the umbrella in question was much, much more than a mundane rainshield. It was Martin's weapon of choice, though Mason didn't know it.  

[thegoodsamaritan]

Jasper, once again, had decided to do what he did best: shut up and listen to the idiots bicker. And he didn't like what he heard.

Enslavement. Weaponization. Conquest. Who the HELL do these people think they are?? Okay, so the Workmen had an army waiting for them, but the MADmen brought the Infected. Couldn't anyone just ask nicely anymore? He looked at Ton'yell, currently holding Dawn, the newcomer to their little gang. The more, the merrier, he thought grimly.

He sighed dramatically, and walked over to Ton'yell. He gave Dawn a bright wave, which he hoped was reassuring, and spoke to Ton'yell. "Okay, so they're both idiots. But, the MADmen are the worse of the bunch. I don't like their methods, especially where the Infected are concerned. It's cruel, it's stupid, and it's just causing more chaos. I think we need to do the safe thing and go with the Workmen. I mean, honestly: what if one of their cronies decides to bite us? Where are we then?"  

[Elesariin]

Dawn frowned up at him. "The Workmen aren't idiots," she said, sounding quite affronted.  

[NativeForeigner]

Carpenter was about to protest Dawn helping with the fight, but Ton'yell seemed to handle that rather well.

Maria, in turn, went to answering Ton'yell's question, "We do our experiments and research wherever possible, we do, usually at Martin's castle, it is. As for scientists, we only have a few, we do."

Maria quickly turned her attention to Arthur, "We tried all the medicines we had, we did! None of them worked, we had to resort to bleeding and amputation. We weren't just gonna leave our people behind, we weren't, and we can't just destroy the portal, how would we get back? Everything we've done needed to be done, it did."  

[Venom3001]

"Even the part where you systematically cleared populated zones with waves of the infected?" Mason retorted.  

[SirBayer]

"You have acted in the wrong. If you want help, surrender. Here. Now. I can bring a medical revolution to you, if I can but get home. You give up, I make real progress towards maybe healing your people. Sound like a deal?" Arthur leaned back, closing his eyes.  

[SiberDrac]

"Those answers don't mean anything! That's useless! Jesse, let me at her, I'm gonna give that idiot a lobotomy if I have to to get answers!"

"Shut your whining, you dumb broad."

Jesse was simply in awe of Mason, and the rest of the Workmen. This was all turning out remarkably well for him. He felt on top of the world - if one of those infected suckers tried to get him now, he wouldn't have the slightest problem beating the living hell out of it.

He kind of glanced at the budding relationship between Dawn and Ton'yell, ignoring Alex's briefly-felt pang of jealousy. Mason was the more important focus. He laughed at the umbrella threat. "Snap it like a twig, Mason! That pansy's got nothin' on you!"  

[Isa-sama]

Ton'yell kept her arms around the girl while listening to Jasper. She agreed that the two sides were acting like idiots, but she wasn't going to straight out say that in front of Dawn. "I don't think he meant to say that they were stupid, but that they weren't being as rational as they could be, Dawn." Which was the equivalent of stupid, but at least this would appease the girl.

She looked at Jasper with a wry grin. "Staying with the Workmen is our best option. After listening to everything, I think we'd all be safer with them."

She'd have said more if it wasn't for Jesse egging Mason on. "I doubt the umbrella is all that it appears Jesse. I don't think that the fight would be an easy one..." Since he was right beside her, she laid a hand on his shoulder. "We shouldn't be egging on a fight. Especially since we're trying to get as many answers as we can out of them," she told him.  

[NativeForeigner]

Maria pouted, she was probably going to lose most of the people in the room. Those three were going to stick together, the other three were going to stick with the Workmen, that left Gregory, Henry, and whoever Max could get.

She could try once more, "Well, Mr. Doctor, you we can't surrender, you do, those punks'll just toss us out or kill us once we do, they will. But if you're so bent on helping us, then why don't you help us? It'd be much appreciated, it would."

She glanced around, almost nervously, "We're taking too much time, we are, Munkwon's soon to be here and we really must get going..."  

[Elesariin]

Dawn smiled up at Ton'yell. "Oh. Okay!" And that was apparently all it took; the girl was cheerful again.  

[SirBayer]

"Classic. Accuse the victim." Arthur shook his head. "You lay down your arms, you get me home for what, twenty minutes? Give me a reliable way to get some medicine to you and I will help you, even if they will not. But if you fight, you cannot win - not the way I can give you. Hell, I can produce stuff that would revolutionize your world without even going home. But I won't give a bit of it to you unless you disarm. Is that clear enough for you?"  

[Elesariin]

Dawn glanced at Maria, her expression puzzled. "Miss Maria? Don't you want medicine? Then everyone can be better, and you can go home, and Sheppard can stop being so grumpy, and Hunter can stop jumping at little noises, and..." She kept going.  

[NativeForeigner]

"We can't get you home." Maria explained, "It's not possible and it won't be for quite some time, it won't. And we can't surrender, the Workmen don't take too kindly to us, and there are more than just they who dislike us, there are. The most we can do is keep the fighting to only when necessary and keep you out of it.

You're medicine would not revolutionize our world, trust me, we've seen your medicine. We've tried your medicine. Your medicine failed, just as our did. We need your help to find a new medicine, we do, one that will work."

Maria seemed to have calmed significantly down, now, and she did her best to enunciate her words and spoke sincerely.

Maria smiled at the girl, "Of course we want the medicine, deary, we just need help finding it."  

[SirBayer]

"You've tried ours. But you're still bleeding. I find that... hard to believe," Arthur sighed. "However, I suppose that there's little option. In some way, if that's true, then... well, I may be able to help. My employment was somewhat specialized, but..." Shaking his head, Arthur turned to them. "One or both of you must lay down arms. I am unwilling to believe that you will do it, and I know that if that's so, the Workmen can't afford to do it either. If that's the case, then I must choose a side, and I choose the right one. I've made it clear; I hope those who have not will choose the same. Let's finish this up."