Turn 27 - And it shows them, pearly-white
You decide that if you are going to channel ba for this conversation you are going to go full bore. Even if it is audio only, the setting influences the reactions.
Therefore, you take the call from the tea room that you had had added to the palace. In fact, you decide to go the whole hog, wear traditional dress, and sip tea while conducting the discussion.
You are glad of that when it turns out to be a video call, not a mere audio call, and the setting becomes a subtle statement in and of itself.
Your interlocutor is not quite what you expected, however. For somebody who looked like they had just come back from a Viking raid was not who you expected to hear from as a representative of the Dragon. He was also wearing formal dress, in his case a rather dramatic formal kimono with his paired swords racked to the side, framed by a large picture window showing the dramatic landscape of Griffin V behind him. And also with tea.
You stare at each other, the interval mostly explained by the long comm delay between the two planets, but also a show of cold formality. You carefully keep your expression schooled into utter cold reserve, keeping your face blank of any emotion.
After a few moments the DCMS officer, a tai-sa if you are reading the rank insignia correctly, breaks the silence. “Greetings from the Dragon. I am Tai-Sa Anton Gustavson.” he says formally. “It is my honor to serve the Dragon as commander of those forces assigned to the pacification of this system.” his eyes glitter a bit.
You incline your head slightly, but up, not down, channeling ba at her most imperious. You pause a beat, and keep your voice cold and impersonal, and your expression utterly blank. “And I have the honor of standing against the Dragon.” you say shortly, pausing again then deciding to troll very slightly. “General Jacqueline Griffith, and it is my honor to lead the defense of the free people of Griffin’s Roost against the rapacity of the Dragon.”
You otherwise keep your expression perfectly cold, serene, and utterly implacable throughout the transmission delay between the two planets.
You can tell when your response reaches him, his ‘inscrutable samurai face’ isn’t nearly as good as yours, and he visibly twitches. “We could spend the next several hours of this transmission window exchanging insults, or in productive conversation.” he finally says after a few moments in which he visibly composes himself. “I have been ordered to neutralize the threat you pose to the Dragon’s claws. I can either do so by crushing you on the field of battle, annihilating your ability to wage war, or convince you to stand aside and refrain from threatening the Dragon in our quest to reunite humanity under the wise guidance of House Kurita.”
He goes silent then, obviously thinking that his statement should be intimidating.
It isn’t.
You have a nearly perfect ‘inscrutable poker face’, ba and Sergeant-Major Ngo had drilled it into you. You very deliberately let silence linger, enough that he knows you aren’t reacting to his words despite them having reached you, then you allow a tiny break in your expression. A cold, hungry, smile.
“I see.” is your only response. No sense responding to his threats, ignoring them and effectively dismissing them as trivial and beneath notice would be far more effective than raging or snarking at him. “You seek an impossible dream.”
You again go silent, letting the transmission delay do its work, and once again he twitches, his eyebrows beetling down as he looks angry. “Do not think to mock the Dragon. You will be removed as a threat. One way. Or another.”
You deliberately take a sip of tea, not changing expression in any way. With a tiny, nigh imperceptible flick of one finger you signal Sekhmet, who pads into the camera's view and settles behind you, giving the Kuritan commander a cold, feline glare.
“You will try, Tai-Sa. We obviously disagree on whether or not you will succeed. Now, unless you have something productive to offer rather than empty posturing, I do believe this conversation is over.” you reach over and rest one hand on Sekhmet’s massive paw as the grifftiger extends her claws.
You wait out the transmission delay again, keeping the same icy cold expression on your face.
Tai-Sa Gustavson simply glares at you, then reaches forward and flicks off the camera, cutting off the signal.
Well, that was productive.
A few days later there’s another Periphery Studies protest in Griffsport. This time a couple dozen protestors march up and down in front of an apparently randomly picked convenience store chanting about if they concentrate real hard we can defeat the Dracs with weakness, followed by rousing choruses of ‘No Lettuce No Peas’ for some inane reason. It takes a few hours but the ‘research assistants’ in the nice white coats are able to get the tenured faculty back on their bus and back to campus with no further fuss.
Mt Griffsport continues erupting spectacularly, the lava flow has been fully contained and is channeled to the ocean, where it puts on a beautiful pyrotechnic display of lava meeting sea water. The entire area is restricted for safety reasons, but the videos are amazing and incredibly popular on holovision channels. The scientists tell you that it is quite likely that this eruption will continue for some time.
The House of Commons has proposed some new legislation that, while popular amongst their own membership is rather less so amongst the Lords. Specifically a set of tax incentives for farmers to grow food crops rather than luxury crops. Right now farmland is at a bit of a premium, the new territories on Castor and Pollux have helped, but right now most food on the planet comes from high density farms outside Griffsport, combined with intensive aquaculture and fishing.
What the Commons would like to do is incentivize farmers and ranchers to grow crops and herds that are intended for the table for common citizens, rather than exotica that appeal to the wealthy but are too expensive for common folks to make a staple of. The objection in the Lords seems to mostly be an issue of ‘elite’ vrs ‘common’ interest. They like their fancy dishes and exotic ‘healthy’ foods and disdain the ‘common’ staples, and incentivizing such ‘worthless’ foods seems to offend them. Several of them sniff that the commoners need to embrace a pure vegan diet in order to ‘be healthier’ and ‘be more conscious’.
[] Side with the Commons - Increases population limit by 2, reduces Health by 1, reduces Economy by 1, increases Approval Change by 1, +10 Support Commons, -20 Support Lords
[] Side with the Lords - Increase Health by 1, increase Economy by 1, Approval Change -1, -20 Support Commons, +10 Support Lords