"What's the significance of 'villain' in your culture, then?"

"It's a sort of designation. There are Heroes, Rogues and Villains. They represent the spectrum of how we use our powers."

"I assume heroes are the ones who do as the state demands, and villains are outside that structure? Where do Rogues fall?"

"Rogues tend to be people that... don't get in trouble with the law, but also aren't working for the Protectorate. The Protectorate are the good guys." She rolls her eyes. "Mostly I was a rogue because I wasn't about being a gang leader, war lord -- or what have you -- and I stuck to myself. Sometimes I worked for hire... But I never killed anyone or annoyed the Protectorate, so they were content to let me be. Most times."

"Are the Protectorate your Hidden Villages, then? Here those with power work for the Hidden Villages, directly for the daimyo, or rarely in the monasteries. Loyalty to your Village is absolute. I would be termed a villain, here, for disobeying orders and striking out on my own; the actual content of my actions is rarely mentioned. Here... Sound is in an odd position, being a relatively new village, but most would name your actions in line with the orders you have received, and therefore as expected or even heroic. Most anyone who doesn't have a leader they swear fealty to is termed a missing-nin, though there are a few rogue-nin who have never known a village."

"We don't have Hidden Villages. But the Protectorate are funded by the American and Canadian government, so I suppose it's comparable. I don't work for them, I don't really work against them either. I just kind of... do what I want without rocking the boat. Usually. I've had a few warnings."

"That sort of arrangement is rare, here. The villages prefer to be the only ones operating in each given territory."

"Villains are a little more territorial. I've had a bit of a free pass because of the nature of my power, and because my Uncle is an evil dick and people want to avoid interacting with him. So they sometimes overlook my presence."

"Interesting. Your uncle?"

"Killed my mother while she was pregnant with me, and then later went on to kill my dad. He's a cape with the power to connect himself to other people, stealing their powers and their lives. Well. The latter only if you kill him while he's connected to them. But -- whatever. Nobody likes him and nobody wants to piss him off."

"Annoying, to see useful powers like that wasted."

"His whole life is a waste. His powers reflecting that is just par the course."

"Not someone the world will miss, I presume." Orochimaru would like to dig into what makes these "parahumans" tick.

"Nope. Feel free to travel to my home dimension and capture him for experimentation."

"Dimensional travel will need to be solved first, but that opens up new and exciting horizons!"

Akhlys smiles.

"How goes the road to purification?"

"There have been several promising leads, and I suspect I have successfully removed the influence from the little time I spent there, although for proper testing I will have to see how it holds up to more thorough exposure - perhaps whoever works best for a conversational partner would be an appropriate test there - "

"Somebody new? Might as well get a start on making friends and influencing people."

"Alright. I'll send someone by."

She nods and sits down to wait and pet Audrey.

Eventually someone does show up! (Rather promptly, actually).

"Hello. You'd be Akhlys? I'm Dan, Orochimaru-sama sent me..."

"Hey. We're going to go to another dimension. You cool with that?"

"Sure thing." He's getting paid, after all. He thinks technically this is overtime, but, hey, money's money.

She shifts and smiles.

"So I'm going to start talking a bunch. Could you tell me when you start to feel... badly. If your head starts to ache, or you hear things that aren't me?"

"Alright. Anything else?" Usually he's on the "politely" escort people to a base team, this is definitely an interesting turn of events.