15[20:13] While the sound sets your every nerve aflame, making you wonder if this is what dogs suffer when the hunter's whistle is blown, the sight of the rapidly expanding dome of pure darkness is oddly soothing to look at. It instills a sense of peacefulness that you might meditate for years to attain. Serene and inviting, like slipping into a warm bath. Perhaps that's why so much of the crowd 15[20:13] is just staring as it drags them ilm by ilm into the dark. 15[20:14] A shop assistant stares on blankly, not even flinching as a piece of fruit from the stand she works at bounces off her head as it's pulled from the pile to hurtle into the void and vanish. The broom that was the focus of all her life's stresses and pains hangs forgotten and limp in her hands. 15[20:16] Guards approach, swords drawn but similarly forgotten, sleepwalking towards the penumbra. [20:20] 07It's beautiful, isn't it07, Dryas thinks as she puts one foot in front of the other. 15[20:21] At the Governor's residence, downstairs, a fight's started, or finished, depending. Ragara Kou is sprawled out in her own foyer, lip bloodied, and the Commodore advances, giving off every intention of striking again. The guards outside scrambling, the guards inside stunned, Daizo sticks his neck out to survey incomplete pictures of two non-overlapping disasters. 15[20:23] Upstairs, meanwhile, the gods are in their Heaven and all is right with the world as Iselsi Piu clings to the ceiling over her quarry, who has stepped out of her office at the sound of the chaos outside. She's alert, with a heavy-looking jade baton in her right hand... but the doom she's alert to may not be her own. [20:23] 10A volcanic eruption would have been preferable, to be quite honest.  15[20:25] Dryas is tempted by the serenity of the void. Zhangyu, who some have argued doesn't really enjoy *anything*, is unmoved. What does he do? [20:28] 6First step is to hold others back from it. Dryas, where are you going. Stop that. After that-- well, let's stop Dryas from making a mistake first. [20:29] 10Interfering in the tussle between the Commodore and the Governor is unlikely to make Daizo any friends and almost 100% likely to make a bitter enemy of one of the elders. So it stands to reason the best option here is to investigate whatever the hell's going on outside.  [20:30] 14Bidh droch fhortan a ’tuiteam. 15[20:34] Daizo has to walk directly past the two elders to get outside. Does he just... do it? 15[20:37] How does Zhangyu attempt to impede Dryas? [20:43] 10Step 2: Probably get punched a few times.  [20:55] 14The drop goes clean, the Chain finds purchase around the target's neck -- but she can't lock it in. Did the woman get a hand up? Piu kicks her in the back of the knee to force her down. 15[20:57] Ratel: "DAIZO, MOVE!" 15[20:58] Kou: "THUG!" [20:58] 6He starts out by simply trying to hold her arm, but when that doesn't get her to stop - shift over, grab the other arm, lock the first, secure the second -- he'll lift Dryas off the ground if he has to, but she's not going anywhere. [20:58] 10Step 3: The argument. [21:00] "Hey!" 07Dryas protests, kicking her legs in the air and twisting her torso for a moment until it starts to hurt too badly. "How dare you?!" [21:02] 07Dryas: "I want... I need to get a closer look! Put me down this instant!" [21:02] "No." 6Zhangyu just forcibly drags-slash-carries Dryas away from the void to a location where she can't easily see it. [21:05] 07Dryas, getting increasingly irritated: "Scoundrel! Brute! idiot! Lummox! Drop me, you himbo!" [21:05] 10Daizo: "Enough! Set aside your grudge for five minutes and look out the door—" 10Is he going to have to break out the aphorisms? Will they even listen to reason right now? [21:05] 07(It's unusual for her to drop into Low Realm like that) [21:05] 6...himbo?!? 15[21:06] Even now, Dryas can't bear to look away from the void. The medal on her chest thrums and grows so cold it almost burns. 15[21:06] The Perfected Principle of Consumption: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxNmEHtJmwk - ♫♪♬♪♩ [21:10] 6Zhangyu: "Stop this." [21:11] "I will not let you hurl yourself into -- whatever that is. Do you understand?" [21:12] 07Dryas: "Just a taste, a caress!" [21:17] 10Daizo adopts a booming, resonant voice. "As Her Imperial Majesty said, only fools pursue petty strife when their town is burning down around them! We are representatives of the Dynasty! We have a duty to the mortals in our care!" [21:18] 6She doesn't. Okay. Time to -- he lifts a knee up to Dryas's back and pulls her arms closer, the hold becoming actively painful now -- "Stop. This." [21:19] 10Daizo: "And none of us are served by a schoolyard brawl!" [21:22] 07Dryas, in the middle of a graduate-level schooling in brawls: "Dragons' balls, Zhangyu," 07she gasps. "Alright. Alright!" [21:23] 6He'll drop the knee but maintain the hold. "You aren't about to go dashing off towards the void?" 15[21:23] Piu gets the drop on Hedrin, the lock is flawless... but the spy wriggles too fiercely in the assassin's grasp for the smooth finish a garrote requires. It's that damn baton - now crackling with essence and filling the air around the two women with the smell of a coming storm. Hedrin can only graze Piu with it, but it stings like a burning torch. Hedrin cries for help, but between the 15[21:23] exertion strangling her voice and Daizo's own booming report, no one hears it. [21:23] 07Dryas: "I'm over it. Whatever spell it cast. You can hit me twice as hard if I'm lying to you." [21:24] 6He'll finally release the hold. "Welcome back." 15[21:26] In fact, Daizo's voice *does* mobilize the guards... to swoop around him and help Kou to her feet, one on each side as if she were a tiny capsized boat. Ratel glowers, but wipes her knuckles clean on her dress uniform before pulling out that giant flame piece and shouting "MOUNT UP!" back up the stairs. The twins come barreling down. [21:26] 07Dryas drops to a knee, panting from the experience. "Whatever that is, it's incredibly... evil isn't exactly right, but probably close enough. We have to do something." [21:30] 6Zhangyu: "But what?" [21:30] 10Daizo: "Do whatever you want to me later, but I couldn't just let it pass. Where's Salim?" [21:33] 07Dryas: "You stopped it from eating me. Let's make sure it doesn't eat anyone else." [21:35] 6Zhangyu: "...I can only grapple so many people at once. But I'll try." [21:37] 07Dryas: "Throw a barricade around if if you have to. You can throw them one at a time or something. Let's go!" 07She scrabbles back around the corner to face the Orb again. 15[21:37] Ratel looks back up the stairs. No third person emerges from the room. "FUCK!" 15[21:37] "Daizo, go find him. Check upstairs." [21:37] 14The baton hurts. Almost knocks the wind out of her -- but Piu's been hit in the stomach before. And finally, she's got the Chain tight around Hedrin's neck. [21:38] 10Daizo: "Got it." [21:40] 10He sprints up the stairs. More fault Ratel's for taking her eyes off of the man for a second, but there'll be time enough to grumble about that later.  15[21:44] Daizo checks upstairs. The meeting-room is empty, the windows still shut. [21:45] 14And there's the baton again. 15[21:45] Hedrin continues to swing the baton around, but her movements grow more and more erratic as her screams for help grow hoarser and more starved for air. [21:46] 10Assuming the man doesn't have some supernatural ability to close shutters from the outside… Back to the hall. Left or right? Left. 15[21:48] As he emerges from the meeting room, Daizo hears a woman screaming upstairs. [21:49] 10Screw left and right, up. 15[21:51] People and objects pulled past the horizon of the void seem to shrink and disappear. Guards, civilians, animals, children... vanishing one by one. What are Dryas and Zhangyu doing as Ratel, the twins, Kou and her soldiers rush into the thoroughfare? [21:55] 14When it comes around the time, Piu dodges it, bites down on the Chain to hold it, and wraps an arm beneath Hedrin's own, locking the joint before re-establishing control of the garrote with both hands. Hedrin's air pipe closes...and Piu kicks her knee again, this time breaking it with a soundless scream from the spy-bureaucrat and driving her down into the wire. 15[21:56] It sounds like she's trying to clear her throat to spit, very loudly and rudely. [21:56] 6Zhangyu places himself between the void and the nearest person... and begins hurling whoever is closest away from the void. Get out! Go! [21:56] "Na cuir a ’choire ort fhèin. Cuir a ’choire air Taigh Iselsi." 14 [21:57] 14Then Piu lets her go. 15[21:57] The body falls. The baton sizzles one last time, scorching the carpet before it too goes dark and cold. [21:57] 14She catches the body before it hits the floor, and withdraws back into the empty office. [21:57] 14Baton, too. [22:01] 07Dryas leaps onto a half-overturned vendor cart, kicking a papaya into the darkness of the Orb. "Good morning, Abalone!" 07She shouts. She hums for an instant to find the key. "You better think! (Think!) Think about what you're tryin' to do to me!" 15[22:04] How does Piu leave the body disposed in Hedrin's windowless office, with its books and maps and... the manifest of the Defiance? [22:04] 07Dryas, averting her gaze from the Orb to the crowd for a moment - "Think! Think! Think! Let your mind go, let yourself be free!" [22:05] 14She props the body up in Hedrin's chair, but leaves her in as dignified a position as she can; this was personal, as all House Iselsi killings are, but it wasn't personal. The dead don't require shame. 15[22:05] One by one, the people turn from the void to look at Dryas. Some of them look consternated. Some of them look wistful. Some of them blink blearily as if rudely awoken. [22:05] 14Though Dusk earned it. [22:05] 10Daizo's anima springs up as he takes the steps two-at-a-time, trying to block out the horrible thrumming outside and pinpoint even the softest sound. The screaming's stopped. That's bad. [22:06] 14Once the body's posed, she'll look at the manifest. [22:06] 6Zhangyu will continue hurling people who seem like they haven't gotten the message. Except -- Dryas has his attention, too. 15[22:08] It's opened to the senior staff register, and almost all the names are crossed out - only PIU, V'NEEF; SAMPERSON, MIK; and SALIM, MNEMON remain unmarked. Tucked beneath the heavy book is a sheet of fine, write-a-special-occasion-letter parchment, covered in blocky symbols Piu doesn't recognize. 15[22:08] Piu can hear the stairs down the hall groan under someone very large moving very swiftly. [22:08] 14How easy is it to secure on her person? [22:08] 14Because it's time to go. 15[22:09] She's strong enough to carry it, but it's too bulky to conceal - she'd have to keep it tucked under her arm or something as she fled. [22:09] 07Dryas doesn't mind the attention. She adds a few gyrations in and spins on her heel, arm raised in defiance of The Orb. "Let's go back, let's go back, go way back to way back when. I don't even know you, you couldn'a been too much more than ten. I ain't no [esteemed monk], I ain't no [accredited sage], but it don't take too much [wisdom] to see what you're doing to me." 15[22:09] That's for the manifest. The paper is just a sheet of paper. [22:12] 14Take the paper, rip out the senior staff roster and take those pages too, then leave the manifest. 15[22:12] By now, only the produce isn't enraptured by Dryas, as a stack of coconuts collapses and rolls into the void in single file. [22:13] 6Zhangyu will punt at least one of them as far as he can. Freedom. [22:13] 14They'll know what's missing, but knowing and proving are two different things. [22:14] 10There will be no pina coladas in Abalone tonight. [22:15] 07A grim situation, but barely better than oblivion. [22:18] 14Heavy feet on the stairs. There's only a few people that could be, and she doesn't want to be here when any of them arrive -- but luckily, now she's out the window, down the wall, across the courtyard, up another wall, across two rooftops and out into the city. [22:19] ======== [22:19] THE LIST [22:19] ======== [22:19] Mnemon Dusk -- DEAD [22:19] Mnemon Hedrin -- DEAD [22:19] XXXXXX XXXXXX [22:19] XXXXXX XXXXXX [22:19] XXXXXX XXXXXX [22:19] 14She shuts the door behind her, of course. 15[22:22] Daizo thunders onto the upper floor, and sees an empty corridor, all the doors shut... but a singe mark on the carpet near one about halfway down. [22:25] 10As good a place to start as any, although there's a creeping feeling of dread as he opens the door. Is it too late… 15[22:25] As everyone (including Ratel and the twins, and all of Kou's soldiers but not Kou herself) marvels at Dryas's performance, behind her the thrumming, whining void begins to shrink, drawing in on itself steadily until ot vanishes in a pinprick of darkness. A heartbeat later the ground seems to ripple like quicksand and a tangle of disoriented but seemingly hale bodies rises like sprouting 15[22:25] plants. 15[22:25] Dryas's ears ring as the sound of her medallion finally quiets. [22:27] 14She absolutely needs to establish something of an alibi. Which means getting back to Caedus as soon as possible, and loudly getting into bed with Caedus as soon as possible, and hoping people are fuzzy on the timeline. [22:27] 07Dryas blinks owlishly a few times. "Thank you, Abalone," 07she finishes, with a sweeping bow. 15[22:29] Daizo finds Mnemon Hedrin, looking so composed and serene that if it weren't for the blood seeping into the throat of her white frock you might mistake her for meditating. 15[22:30] Ratel: "REPORT!" [22:30] 07She drops down from her place atop the fruit cart. "What the hell was that?" 07she asks the Commodore, the Governor, Zhangyu, the twins, anyone else paying attention. [22:32] 14...It also means getting out of this get up before she makes the ship. Piu does so at her arranged dead drop, 4emerging in her usual slightly-risque athletic wear. [22:32] "Ah, excuse me, Commodore." 07She composes herself. "I don't have the foggiest idea what just happened. We returned from a successful hunting trip this morning to find half the city in chaos. Briefly, perhaps, the entire city. As you may have observed." 15[22:32] Piu knows Caedus is on the ship, and it's a few leaps over streets in disarray; Ted's distraction seems to have blown over, and there's no sign of a new destroyed building or crater or people screaming in horror. She gets asked by the sailors on watch if she has any idea what's going on in the city. 15[22:33] Ratel: "What was the character of the chaos?" [22:33] 14Ideally she'd get onto the ship without being seen by them. 15[22:34] The Governor shoves past Ratel and Dryas to comb through the tangle of people slowly returning to consciousness. "Where are my sector captains? Captain Kwok! Captain Ghou! REPORT!" [22:34] 10Dread gives way to shock, and shock to icy chill. 10Salim… you're not going to wriggle out of this one. [22:34] "The hostel burnt down overnight, apparently? And then, whatever that Orb was. Something terrible. Sorcery or Anathema? I don't know." 07She is already looking for clues, however. Perhaps someone has stolen the Carmine Road and misused it? [22:37] "It -that Orb - exerted a powerful hypnotic effect. I nearly walked into it, myself, until Zhangyu here gave my arm a little twist to snap me out of it," 07she continues. [22:37] 6Zhangyu: "Horrid. It ensorcelled Dryas as well as... all of everyone here." 6It was both arms, for the record, but he's not exactly going to correct her here and now. 15[22:37] And so she does. Piu clambers out of the water and through a gap in the patrols to get belowdecks unseen. [22:39] 4She'll make sure to emerge, yawning, from her chambers in front of a guard, and casually mention she's been sleeping for the past few hours, and where's Chief Petty Officer Samperson? [22:39] 4She'll make sure to be dressed memorably. 15[22:39] Dryas studies the scene. It's clear that whatever that sphere's origin, it has left no physical trace of its presence save the people and animals on the ground. Even the splinters and dust of the fruit stalls that happened to be directly in its path are gone. Luckily, everyone seems unharmed... [22:42] 10The noise and tremors outside appear to have stopped. He'll look around the room, taking care not to disturb anything.  15[22:42] ...except, Dryas performs a quick head count, checking against her recollection of the scene before the void enthralled her, and it's clear that the people being helped to their feet and seen to by the Governor's medic are not all of the people who crossed the threshold. There's that shop assistant, still clutching her broom, but the shopkeeper herself is nowhere to be seen. A trio of 15[22:42] Guild officials, Nn Tloc's men, were making the rounds for consideration on the thoroughfare. They're gone too. So is the old physician who ran out to help. Most notably, not a single one of the nearly two dozen guards and watchmen can be found. [22:45] "The governor will have a hard time locating her men," 07Dryas observes to the crew of the 07Defiance07 and its Commodore. "And more than a few others, although most who wandered in are here again." 15[22:45] The sailor, red-faced, eyes averted, clears her throat and says that the Chief Petty Officer is in the infirmary with the burned sailors. [22:46] 4Perhaps getting a step closer than she has to -- she's just, uh, bathed, so she smells pretty good, too -- "Wonderful! Thanks!" [22:46] 4She heads that way. 15[22:46] Ratel: "Is there any pattern to those who were taken?" [22:47] 07Dryas, snappily: "People of authority. An old physician, every single one of the guards, a shopkeeper, and three Guildsmen. Contrast with the shop assistant there, with her broom." [22:48] 6Zhangyu: "Awfully selective for a bizarre void." [22:49] 07Dryas: "Indeed. A carefully targeted attack. But why discriminate?" 15[22:51] Daizo combs the room. Hedrin is freshly dead of a gruesomely slit throat - whatever made this wound was like a string of tooth-like blades drawn through the neck - with a jade baton on the floor beside her. She sits in front of a desk piled high with notes and a book that Daizo realizes is the manifest of Daana'd's Defiance. A few pages are torn out - the ones that register the senior 15[22:51] staff, that is, the Chosen among the crew, including the hearth, the twins, Ratel herself, Samperson, Caxi and Salim. 15[22:52] Ratel: "Politically motivated?" 15[22:53] Kou: "Seal the city. Shut down the harbor. No one gets in or out. Am I clear? Put warships on the edge of the harbor, patrol the smugglers' coves. The Fusiliers have a floating kill order." 15[22:53] One of Kou's men clicks his heels and runs off to convey the order. 15[22:55] Piu finds Caedus sitting on a flimsy chair between the beds of the two comatose sailors. He seems to be taking the time to do some paperwork, and looks up late enough at Piu's entrance that if she had a mind to she definitely could have gotten a serious hit in first. [22:55] 10The staff manifest? But what purpose would that have— oh. 10Oh. [22:56] 07Dryas clears her throat. "Governor, how long do you anticipate this order to last?" [22:56] 14...? Is he hurt? [22:56] 14Beyond the obvious. [22:56] 14His response time shouldn't be impaired. [22:56] 10Daizo whispers"Commodore. You didn't…" 15[22:56] Caedus doesn't seem injured. [22:56] 10Did she? [22:57] 4Airily: "Chief Samperson, if I could have a moment of your time." [22:57] 4She leans in close, and doesn't precisely whisper: "If you're up for it." 15[22:58] Caedus shuts the ledger with a quickness. "Lead the way, Lady Piu." [23:00] 4It's very obvious what they're leaving to do, 14but he's probably not surprised when the hedonist strumpet act drops as soon as the door shuts in her quarters. "Mission complete. No collateral, no alerts. Body's probably been found by now, but I had a chance to go over her office once." 15[23:00] Kou: "Until the culprit is found. Is there a problem?" [23:00] 10There has to be a reason for all of this. For the moment, he'll retreat from the room and join the group outside. If he passes any servants he'll suggest they should stand watch outside the door. 15[23:00] Caedus: "Good work. What'd you find?" 15[23:00] One of the twins whistles as Daizo enters the thoroughfare, and Ratel turns around. "Where is Salim?" [23:01] 14She'll open a drawer and place the pages down on the bedside table. "These pages are the senior crew register. They were in the manifest of this ship, which was, for some reason, in Hedrin's office." [23:01] "Note their contents." [23:01] "I did not have time to take the full manifest, and I wouldn't want it on my person anyway. Letting it be found in Hedrin's office is more provocative." [23:02] 14She produces the other page. "And then there was this." [23:02] "I don't know what it is. The jargon is strange." [23:02] "Likely a spy cant of the Eye." [23:03] 10Daizo: "I didn't find him. I heard a scream and ran up to the third floor—Hedrin is dead." [23:03] "The window was open. He may have escaped through it." [23:03] 07Dryas clears her throat, approaching the delicate subject with the delicacy required. "No, your Excellency. No problem. Schedules, timetables, deliveries, can all be modified. Of course this heinous attack must be answered and avenged." [23:03] 07Dryas' mouth slams shut as soon as Daizo speaks what he just said. 15[23:04] Caedus takes the papers. "Eliminating suspects. We need to decrypt this note. If this is a work-in-progress she could have already passed a preliminary report up the chain." [23:04] 10Daizo's going to watch Ratel's response to this news very carefully. [23:05] 14Piu: "Very true. Politically, Hedrin's death frees Kou to act. That could be good for us...or, really, really very bad." [23:06] 14Piu: "Anyway. My cover for the kill: I was sleeping in my cabin aboard the Defiance, with all officers with rank capable of compelling my presence offship, until I woke, horny, and went and got you from the infirmary. We had loud sex. Hopefully by the time the alibi is checked, all the crewmen and women will be fuzzy on the timeline." 15[23:07] Ratel: "MotherFUCKER! What can his game plan possibly be?" [23:07] 14She arches an eyebrow. "Are you fit for purpose?" [23:07] 14This is said seductively, but a different sort of seduction than 4Piu 14employs. 15[23:08] Caedus responds by pressing her into the wall. "Doctor said I should avoid anything strenuous. So if anyone asks... you did all the work." [23:08] 14She grins, and it's on. [23:09] 10Daizo: "I'd like to know that myself. If he's responsible—where is he getting his orders from now?" 15[23:14] Kou: "I'm sorry, what?" 15[23:14] She's facing Ratel and Daizo now. [23:16] 14When they're done, the entire ship has heard them -- or heard of them -- and Piu is truly and completely exhausted. [23:16] 10Daizo repeats. "Hedrin is dead. Throat slashed, with a serrated blade—a shark's jawbone for all I know. In the circumstances I'm inclined to believe Salim slipped the leash." [23:17] 14She will fall asleep snuggled against Caedus's chest until otherwise disturbed. 15[23:18] Kou: "Whose leash?" [23:18] 10Yes, Daizo's probably re-igniting the fistfight he smothered earlier, or worse. [23:19] 6Zhangyu: "For fuck's sake." 15[23:21] Ratel: "...we have reason to believe Mnemon Salim is a double agent. He claims to be an assassin hired by Mnemon herself. He confessed to me the killing of Mnemon Dusk." 15[23:24] Ragara Kou's eyes practically bulge out of her head. She opens her mouth and closes it, inarticulate in her fury, looking for all the world like a frog that's forgotten how to breathe through its skin. [23:24] 10I distinctly recall asking, 10Commodore, is this wise?10 at the time, and here we are… 15[23:24] Ratel: "Get mad later. We've got a world-class assassin on the loose." [23:25] 14Two true. [23:26] "More than one," 07Dryas murmurs with a meaningful glance towards Hamoji. [23:27] 10Daizo: "If we catch him again… pull the trigger on the firewand this time." [23:28] 07Dryas looks right into Daizo's eyes but doesn't say anything. For now. [23:28] 6Zhangyu: "I will break all of his limbs." [23:30] "Your pardon," 07she mutters peremptorily as she breaks away from the others and storms back into the governor's manse. [23:30] 10Where's Piu? Daizo closes his eyes for a moment and feels out the hearthbond… somewhere near the docks. Maybe on the ship? 15[23:32] The Governor is tapping her foot rapidly, hyperventilating as her eyes dart around wildly, peeking under every booth, down every alley, and into the soul of everyone brave or foolish enough to make eye contact. When she speaks, her voice comes out strained at first, almost inaudible, like water trickling out a crack in a dam. "Since you're all here, Maybe You Can Solve The Problem 15[23:32] Yourselves, You USELESS, IGNORANT SLUTS! HE'S IN LEAGUE WITH THE ANATHEMA!!! FUCKING WHY WOULD MNEMON SEND AN ASSASSIN AFTER HER OWN DAUGHTERS! TAKE YOUR BONY ASS AND YOUR MISFIT CREW AND FIND THE ANATHEMA AND THE ASSASSIN! COME BACK WITH A BODY OR COME BACK AS ONE!" [23:32] 6Rude. [23:33] 07Dryas winces a bit as she jogs down the halls of the manse, up the stairs, through the halls... 15[23:34] Dryas is able to find Hedrin's office, and the body within. [23:35] 10Really? Honestly, really? This just makes Kou look weak.  [23:37] 10What he says is: "As you command," 10and goes off and gets Zhangyu to fill him in on what exactly happened out here. [23:39] 6Zhangyu will rattle off a battle-trained sitrep without a second thought. This is normal. 15[23:41] Kou's men march off, two bearing Kou on their shoulders in the absence of the official government palanquin. [23:41] 10Daizo: "So, to summarize: an enormous black orb that exerted a compulsion on everyone around it to enter, but which only consumed… inanimate objects and people with authority?" 15[23:41] Ratel pinches the bridge of her nose for what feels like a very long time in the circumstances before she says, "What do we know about the Anathema?" [23:41] "What in blazes?" [23:43] 6Zhangyu: "That is about correct, yes. We almost lost Dryas but I - well." [23:46] 10Daizo: "Heheheh. The chickenwing?" 15[23:46] Ratel snaps her fingers in front of Daizo's eyes. "Hey! Focus. What do you know about the Anathema?" [23:47] 6Chickenwing works every time. But the Commodore seems upset, so Zhangyu isn't going to brag right now. 15[23:48] Dryas studies the room. The facts Daizo described mostly match up, but the conjecture... doesn't. For one, Dryas can tell that the body was not killed in the chair, but dragged in from the corridor while bleeding, based on the way blood spread through the frock and the singe of the baton on the carpet outside. The air is thick with the smell of blood and parchment. Hedrin wears a 15[23:48] delicate perfume that's almost buried... and there's the trace of the Governor herself, who smells like a smoky peat bog. 15[23:50] Dryas is just about to leave without catching any strange scents, but as she stands in the crossbreeze between the open doorway and the open window down the hall it hits her, ever so gently. Piu. [23:51] 10Daizo: "Gah! Sorry, sorry. Er, Ted." 15[23:53] Ratel: "What kind of name is 'Ted'? It sounds like a rude onomatopoeia." [23:54] 6He is. [23:54] 10Daizo: "It really does, doesn't it?" 15[23:54] Ratel: "Okay. Where can we find him?" [23:55] 10Daizo: "Hinokuni. He's there almost every night, as a spectator or a fighter." [23:55] "We haven't seen the fulle xtent of his fighting abilities, however. Caxi defeated him by ring-out." 15[23:55] Ratel: "Okay. Brace yourselves for danger. DRYAS!" [23:56] 07Dryas makes her way to the window and looks out. In the dense, heavy air of the manse she leaves a trail of plum blossoms, and her footprints leave rose vines scrabbling futilely for purchase in the stony floor. She gives another sniff. Piu was here, wasn't she. She scowls again at the call of the Commodore. [00:02] 10Daizo: "By the way, Commodore… The Defiance's ledger was still in Hedrin's office, but someone tore all the pages of the staff manifest out of it. Does this make things easier for us, or harder?" 10He really doesn't want to suspect Salim of acting on Ratel's orders, but in the circumstances?  15[00:02] Ratel: "I have no idea. Why would someone rip those pages out?" [00:03] 07Dryas makes her way back through the manse to the street level, where her burning anima banner has the possibility to inflict considerably more chaos. "Commodore," 07she grunts when she has returned to the street. 15[00:03] Ratel: "Dryas. The Governor has charged us with finding the Anathema, on the theory Salim is with him. Are you prepared?" [00:04] 10Daizo: "…To confuse the record of our activities in Abalone, perhaps." [00:04] 07Dryas: "The Anathema? You mean, the one they call 'Ted'?" 15[00:04] Ratel: "Yes." [00:05] 07Dryas, cryptically: "To catch a fish, you must have the appropriate bait. Where is V'Neef Piu?" 15[00:05] Ratel looks around. "I don't know. I'll have the twins check the ship." [00:05] 10Daizo: "Probably on the ship." [00:06] 07Dryas: "Keep the twins with you to make sure he doesn't strike again. Daizo and Zhangyu, come with me. Commodore, we'll all four of us meet you at the burnt out hostel in half an hour." [00:07] 10Daizo: "The hostel? Why? Ted will be at Hinokuni." 15[00:07] Ratel: "I trust it will make sense when we're together. Go." [00:08] "Don't want to tip him off by someone like the Commodore showing up there," 07Dryas points out. [00:08] "Mm. I suppose you're right." 10Intrigue really isn't Daizo's strong point. 15[00:09] Dryas takes the hearth back to the ship. [00:09] 07Glowering all the way. She is furious but silent. 15[00:09] The look on Dryas's face parts the sea of sailors. [00:09] 6Zhangyu just nods to Dryas. This is - jeepers. 15[00:10] The door to Piu's cabin is shut. [00:10] 07Three sharp thuds on the port. [00:11] 14When the door opens, it will be Chief Petty Officer Samperson leaving. Up to him how he plays it. [00:11] 14'Bashful' might work. 15[00:12] The door opens, Chief Petty Officer Samperson is there, looking hastily dressed and a little chastised at the sight of Piu's hearthmates. "Ah. Lady Dryas. Lady Piu is, ah, resting. Should I..." 15[00:12] "Let me just--" he starts to squeeze past them - no mean feat given how broad Daizo and Zhangyu are. [00:13] 10Awkward, but it's not like this has been a secret to anyone with ears since they shipped out from Bittern, which already feels like another life. [00:13] 07Dryas, on observing he is wounded: "Go to the infirmary, now." 15[00:13] He opens his mouth as if to protest, but on seeing the look on her face he just walks off. [00:14] 07Petals flutter through the air as Dryas and the men shuffle in to the, especially now, particularly cramped quarters. [00:14] "Hearth-sister Piu." 07Dryas states. [00:15] 14Piu is sitting cross-legged on the bed. It doesn't take a mindreader to get the mood. She won't insult them. "Hearth-sister. Hearth-brothers." [00:15] "Make sure the door is closed. Try not to yell." [00:15] 07Dryas has been thinking about how to begin this conversation. "Well, we all fall in love. But we disregard the danger, though we share so many secrets, there are some we never tell." [00:16] 14Piu snorts. "So why were you so surprised?" [00:17] 07Matter-of-factly: "Your lover sees the stranger in you." 15[00:17] NEXT TIME: Better off Ted