2025-11-21: Beard Not the Lion of Gold
- Log: Beard Not the Lion of Gold
- Cast: The Assassin, The Gold Lion, The President of a Major IT Company.
- Where: A Conference Call
- OOC Date: November 20, 2025
- IC Date: August 13, 2012
- Summary: One of the leaders of the New World Order has found recent developments a little upsetting...
"Would someone care to explain /why/ Wakaba Isshiki's research is still out there for everyone to see!?" The rising anger in the Gold Lion's voice was unmistakable, on his current conference call with his associates. "It was /your/ job to monitor for references to Cognitive Psience online!"
The President of a certain prominent IT company cleared his throat, "We've scrubbed the web of most of the references to Cognitive Psience, save the original post. All deleting it would do is alert them to our presence on their site. We must consider the possibility that they have a printed hard copy and if so, then it would be a pointless waste of time."
"So instead you're wasting /my/ time with your useless meandering? I'll decide what's pointless or not!" The Gold Lion snapped at him, and the IT President wisely kept his mouth shut. "Have you yet discovered who is behind posting it?"
"We're working on it, Sir-!" "If I might interject." The Assassin stated bluntly, "While I have yet to ascertain the identity of whoever posted it, I've discovered who is actually behind it. It's Tamaki Uchida, of the Kuzunoha Detective Agency in Sumaru City's Aoba district."
He did smile on the other side of the line, before saying to the IT President, "That should be sufficient for you to do your job and find out who actually posted it, correct? I can't be expected to do everything."
"Ah. Y-Yes. I'll get right on that." The IT President stumbled, before the Gold Lion stated, "You'd better." The Gold Lion ended the side of the call with that man, seeming to rein his anger in, before addressing the only other person left on the line, "This Uchida woman... I assume that means you already know how she came upon this information in the first place?"
"Not yet- though I have my suspicions. I believe some academic researcher stumbled upon one of Isshiki's earlier papers in a school library."
The Gold Lion growled in frustration, "That damnable woman... that even with all of our efforts, her work might still be out there and compromise all we've been working towards." He didn't seem to care that it was fully /impossible/ to remove all of her work everywhere.
"You know what to do, then." He said to the Assassin, nothing implicit about that order, "It's not quite so simple a matter as 'removing' everyone involved." The Assassin replied, tone even. He knew he was taking a risk pushing back on the Gold Lion's orders, "I don't believe I asked if if was SIMPLE!" He snapped at him, but the Assassin kept going, "Tamaki Uchida is a Persona User- and a pillar of the Sumaru City Rumormonger community. I can't make a quick jaunt over to Mementos, and give her a /Mental Shutdown/." "And what does THAT matter!?"
"Furthermore-" He continued, not raising his voice, but beginning to sound irritated, "-I believe the research they've come into is only her earliest material. The threat to you- to us- is /insignificant/. But killing this woman will make waves which might point /directly/ to us- to you. I believe it's better to let it go, unless she comes into something of greater import."
The Gold Lion's voice had a dangerous edge now, like he was severely testing him now, "And you have proof of this?" "Nothing material, yet. But I've already questioned the Shadow of one of this woman's friends." He says smoothly, in a placating tone, "What they've found is truly little more than the most basic of the basic precepts of cognitive psience. Nothing of true concern."
The older man was silent for several moments as he weighed this, the Assassin holding his breath as he was banking on him being reasonable, before- "Be sure of this. And if it turns out to be more than that... take care of it."
"I'll see it done."