In general, Satori spends most of her time either aimlessly drifting on her own, or staking out isolated places, equally alone. Or sometimes being obnoxious at people with her abilities.

By any of those traditions, her current behavior was highly out of the ordinary. Especially the friendly smile.

Satori picked out a decently-sized courtyard in the fringes of the City, and was there with a companion this time - an alien puppy.

"Sit, Okai!"

Teaching tricks to pets is usually a matter of rote repetition or tricking them. Not so, though, if you can understand what the pet is thinking. It sat, as much as a creature with tentacles for legs could sit. Satori extended her hand.

"Now, shake my hand." Okai looked at her hand blankly for a second, before her master picked up on what she was thinking. "No, there's not a treat in it.　It's about respect." Another pause. "Maybe next time." Pause. "Maybe a better way of thinking of it is that I'm the leader of your pack now." Pause. "I suppose, yes." Pause. "I miss them, too."

It was like listening to one side of a phone conversation. However, Satori and her new pet did seem to be getting along quite well, as they moved from one trick to the next, stopping between for conversation. It wasn't at all clear how well the puppy understood her, but she was at least happy.

The sensoriums made for a convenient training ground for all the right reasons, but most of all because they allowed Motoko to cheat. It hardly seemed fair for the world around to be controlled by whatever constituted the strongest mind, or the most established, but on these proving grounds, as ever, fairness was not part of the equation.

The world was a sleepy summer day, warm with cicada song and dry, ragged grass, knee-high in places, scorched to the earth in others. An abandoned, decrepit skeleton of a Soviet military base dominated the landscape, dotted here and there with holes like dark hollow eyes among the crumbling walls and roofless, exposed innards. Once, this place had been alive, and now it was as bleached as bones in the grass, as nature retook what man had conquered.

Here and there the rusted-out remains of tanks slumped where they had been abandoned. Red paint, incongruously fresh, marked a series of them as targets at the far end of a carefully 'makeshift' firing range, though most sat aimlessly, unmarked and unattended. The place nearest the door was dominated by one such tank, perhaps in slightly better repair than the others, and perched upon it was the reason for all the fuss and trials. Major Kusanagi folded her arms and leaned her back against the treads, casting a sidelong look at what was left of Section Nine.

It was going to be a long day.

[ OOC: Wait for Subthreads, please. OKAY, GO GO GO GO! ]

"I may not be captain anymore, but I like to know people, and wherever I get shoved with this election, I'm gonna keep making it my business to keep knowing people," said Cybil, leaning back against one of the desks. She'd caught Leon in the Precinct and now it was time for the rundown.

"And you also make it your business to know people, Kennedy. So spill--who are our Persons of Interest as of late? Any interesting new faces?"