It took a while, first rushing to turn off the device, then going to open all the (limited) windows, lamenting the fact that the smoke could cause a bit of problems for sake of her secret hideout… she liked this place a lot, good location, nice space. It would suck to need to relocate for something like this.<br/><br/>While her and Beth moved around the small building doing damage control, Akira was easily heard coughing, feeling the effect of the gas. Hortence sympathised, she’d managed to almost blind herself working on the device.<br/><br/>Once the smoke had been cleared, Hortence sat down Akira on a small chair, helping her to stabilise her breathing. Beth brought her some water and a sponge, which Hortence soaked and placed over Akira’s eyes. It took the girl a few moments to regain her composure, but once she did she all but exploded in a passive aggressive speech that took Hortence by surprise.<br/><br/>Hortence was quite happy Akira couldn’t see her face as she stood there, considering what the girl had just said, the scornful glare that was hiding behind her mask was less than the standard she held herself to.<br/><br/>She stood there, looking at Akira for a moment, clenching and unclenching her fist. Then she crouched down, bringing herself lower than Akira on the chair. She spoke calmly, “There are a few things you need to know when in this world. The first” she flicked Akira’s ear, it wasn’t hard, but she was wearing a metal glove, so the experience was much less than pleasant. “don’t touch machines you don’t understand, especially with your power. If you shake a single important cog in some of the finer or less well made machines as much as a millimeter, it could lead to catastrophic results.”<br/><br/>It looked like Akira wanted to say something, but Hortence continued “secondly, I already told you I’m a criminal in the eyes of the bourgeois, if a soldier came to reprimand me or my crew, I would not hesitate to kill him, to protect my people, or myself. Smokey there” she pointed to the still smoking machine “leaves me with the alternative to possibly escape such a situation without need to kill a dusin people, but I guess that makes me mad”. The sentence was ended as a statement, not a question.<br/><br/>“second thing you need to learn” Akira slowly went to flick the same ear again, making Akira put a hand to her ear and move away, allowing her other hand to flick the unprotected ear. “this world is dangerous. I see death every single day, people that deserve it, people that don’t, mostly people that felt safe because they didn’t know better, and before you think to run to Raffy for protection, I assure you that she experiences death at least as much as I do. I don’t know what it’s like where you’re from, but people die here, so don’t loose your temper and do something stupid because you can’t act like a grown up.”<br/><br/>Hortence got up, “the Crimson Rose is my organisation, we’re a small team of specially trained previous lowlives who have banded together for the shared mission of protecting what we hold dear. Our home. Until I know I can trust you, that’s all you’re learning about my team, for their safety, the location of this base is also very important to us, I suggest you think twice before taking anyone else here”. Hortence looked at Akira for a few moments of silence, letting what she said linger for a moment, before she turned to leave the room. She needed to cool off before continuing with Akira, something about her got under her skin…<br/><br/>Beth looked at Akira with a sympathetic smile “yikes, she can be a bit scary when she gets like that huh… she means well though, she’s like a mother most of the time, she’s so worried that we’ll go out and hurt ourselves that she gets mad. It’s because she cares”.<br/><br/>Beth looked a bit lamentful as she handed Akira a bottle with water. “drink, you need to get that stuff out of your system” she said, putting a caring hand on the girl’s shoulder.<br/><br/>Beth waited for a few moments, for Akira to drink, then continued, looking away from her, clearly either embarrassed or ashamed “I’m sorry if I freaked you out… I’m not normally like that, it’s just… we didn’t know what to think, Hortence being dragged off by Raffy after being injured… I was so relieved to see her and I just… I know it’s strange, I’ll try to act more properlike… I’m sorry”.