[b]Crystal and Eli[/b]

Eli takes one of the ‘sandwiches’ and raises it to her lips. She stops just as she’s about to taste it. “Hey, wait, is this just soap?” She squints at the flower suspiciously and takes a huge chomping bite out of it, and swallows. She looks satisfied. “Yeah, it’s just soap. You definitely shouldn’t eat this. Sorry, Pink, thanks for trying, though.”

“Thank you for the warning?” Crystal asks cautiously, and Eli’s mouth froths with bubbles as she takes a gulp of tea to wash it down with. “Are you quite alright?”

“It’s just soap.” Eli shrugs. “Anyway, so what am I writing here?” 

“Isn’t that against journalistic ethics to ask?” Crystal teases, leaning back playfully in her throne. Again, Eli shrugs. 

“I mean, it sounds like you’ve got a cool plan, and I could be a part in it. I don’t want to fuck it up by being out of the loop, you know?” Eli looks to Pink. She doesn’t explicitly mention the elevator conversation, but it’s obvious she was listening and took it on board here. “What do you want me to write?”

Crystal fidgets and squirms and tries to get a cushion more underneath her but it won’t get quite right, and in frustration she throws it over her shoulder and away from the throne completely. “I’m too close to this now. I just want to know how it looks from the inside, to the people it’s actually for. I don’t need a sycophant writing propaganda, I need [i]feedback[/i].”

“I get like that trying to read my own writing, too.” Eli agrees. “Just, doesn’t telling me what you’re trying to do kind of ruin it?” 

“I’m more of the mind that if you understand my intent, you’ll be a better critic of if I’m achieving it.” 

Eli makes a note of that, too. “So you’re asking me to be totally honest, then?” She wipes more soap bubbles from her lips. 

“I suppose I am, yes.” Crystal stands from her throne, finally. It’s a stiff motion, she needs to stretch her joints after doing it. Her gown is very, very diaphenous. Eli is unaffected by the somehow-more-erotic-than-naked unicorn doing yawning stretches in front of her, and continues to write her notes.  “If you can promise me that this conversation never happened, though, and you can write me a piece for all three nights, then I can promise you that I will give you a full interview on-the-record. It’s an offer I will be very selective in making.” 

“Damn. I mean, deal, but this was going to be a lot of today’s. Now I’ve got to figure out how to gonzo this.”

“I’ll leave you to it. I’ve got tonight’s finale to prepare for.” Crystal declares. “You’ll want to see it.”

This would be Eli’s cue to leave - as for Pink, Crystal might appreciate the handmaiden if she wants to do another Irish switchout. 

[b]Leather:[/b]

“Knightly’s been recalled to the main office in Zeus, right now. I can’t go with you while I’m still doing this-” Leather gestures to the exhibition, “I call tell him you’re coming, if you really want to go now.” He takes White’s arm and writes a phone number on it in soot. “Just message me if you need to ask anything, and tell me if you find anything. I know it’s bad to say I hope you do, it’s not something anyone should hope for, but it’d do a lot for my piece of mind. If this is what wondering if you’ve been hacked feels like, I hate it more than I’ve hated anything.”

Again, whoever goes there can’t be here. Who’s the mission group for the crisis offices? 

[b]Wasteland Sky:[/b]

I think this calls for montage: Buying the tickets, getting Monk her weapons on the way, taking the train to Selene, and getting those weapons [i]through customs[/i] onto a ship to Thrones. 

Then they’ll be on a bus for a bit, your choice if you want to handwave that or if you want to talk to Monk more on that bus.