eastbound | audio; un: hopscotch

Entry tags:

audio; un: hopscotch

I know who killed Vataz and the others. It's--

[Her voice is strained. She sounds as though she's in pain and out of breath.]

It's complicated. We need to be cautious not to worsen the situation any further. Someone else was killed. A woman. Her death is what started it all. There's someone else I need to question; I'll be able to share more once I have.

[There's the soft thud of someone's back hitting a wall.]

For now, young men should stay out of the Wards and the Keep, if at all possible. The killer can't distinguish between its true target and other men who appear similar. And don't go down into the glacial lakes. It isn't safe.

[Another pause, followed by a wince.]

If any medical personnel are able to spare supplies, I could do with a bandage.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She switches over to audio, since it's hard to type while also staunching bleeding.] Right now, making a name public will only encourage vigilante justice, of one form or another. A course of action can be discussed once we have all the facts.

[ Fine, fine, audio it is. He sounds faintly annoyed. ]

You aren't dealing with the entire population of a city here, you're communicating with us. Not trusting the people you travel with is hardly going to endear you to them. I'm not certain what makes you think someone will abruptly run off and murder Haiva, but by keeping information to yourself all you're doing is risking it being lost when hell itself erupts from under us and more people die. Besides which, a lot of what you are carefully avoiding say is known to plenty of us already. I watched the sirens summon their creature, consuming a mirror made of dark water. Anyone who has dealt with them, which several of us have, are already aware they're hunting specific people. Haiva was obsessed with a siren, and that siren is dead. None of this is a secret.

It isn't distrust, it's caution.

I don't know everyone in this group well, information has a way of spreading, and the situation is already tenuous. I don't want anyone else, including Haiva and the sirens, getting hurt. And Haiva deserves a chance to explain himself.

I'm going to speak with him as soon a-as. I. I need a few moments.

I've already spoken to Haiva, I was in the midst of gathering to share what I learned but I can place it here.

Haiva told us he found a siren in the cave, claimed he was in love and offered her marriage. She shared the gift of her tribe -- to read between the lines, the mirrors they kept and used to give themselves feet. Mirrors of those sort grant wishes -- we've encountered them before. He used it and obviously found he could wish himself back strength. She joined him, they planned a wedding, but she refused him more of the mirrors and they argued. He claims they argued in the forests, but made up. She gave him more as a bridal gift, but then 'tragedy struck' and Rathakku's armies attacked, she died, and everyone at court was suspicious of him but Deimar made it all go away.

Reading around this, I don't believe Haiva. She was seen fleeing out of the keep in the first place, perused. The stream was haunted by a figment of her that desperately did not want us to grant Haiva the flowers that would bring him to full strength. His personality has... altered, since he was healed. Quite drastically so. I believe he's a decent actor, was feigning the kindly persona for sympathy, and that he killed her to gain the cure.

That tracks with what the siren told me.

Her name was Massarir. The siren told me that Haiva promised to marry her, then killed her and stole the sirens' mirrored glass. So they've summoned something called a Jatharin from Hell to kill him. Only this Jatharin, instead of killing Haiva, has killed six other young men who had nothing to do with Massarir's death. I suppose they mean to keep summoning it until it finally gets it right.

[ He briefly considers making this public again, out of sheer stubborn spite, but she is wounded. He has some pity. And he's made enough of a public spectacle on this post that he's had his two minutes of attention (attention is important, it makes your hair shiny).

The important thing is he's climbed very high on his high horse and feels great about it! And, very importantly, nobody who knows better has come to point out what a hypocrite he is. All the better. A great 10/10 day for him. ]

I saw them summoning it. It's operating with a loose enough description that it will chase anyone who fits the broad spectrum, which at least makes it easy to distract.

I'm assuming the siren didn't take kindly to your questions.

The siren didn't take kindly to my refusal to kill Haiva myself.

I'm sure, from their perspective, you are protecting Haiva. Given how many soldiers here boasted about eradicating all the mermaids, and how Haiva is upheld as good and kind, I'm quite sure they tire of a lack of justice.

I've no doubt. But executing Haiva, not even bothering with a proper trial, without witnesses, based purely on the sirens' word and 'reading between the lines'... that wouldn't be justice.

And what of the friends and families of the sirens' victims? They've lost loved ones over a conflict they had no part in.

[There's a pause while she rustles around for another cloth to put over her wounds and takes the opportunity to think. Her scowl is audible.]

We've got to find a way to ensure that the sirens won't kill anyone else and that no one will go after them. Too many people have died already.

You might benefit from a moment to consider your surroundings. A desire for a trial and justice is admirable, but Alem is falling. Hell is breaking through from underneath is. A trial is the priority of nobody, and Deimar is protecting his brother.

I wasn't seriously suggesting we try to stage a trial, I-- [She cuts herself off. There's no reason to get angry with Wrathion.]

The sirens won't be satisfied until Haiva is dead. But you're right, we can't put him on trial, and I'm not convinced that executing him would be the proper course of action even if we could.

So we. We imprison him. [Where?] We make sure that he's stripped of his titles and his possessions. Keep him under guard by people who aren't loyal to him. And convince the sirens to call off their demon. [But even if they could, that won't work forever. There's no good solution here. She huffs in frustration.]

How do you plan to keep him imprisoned, when we won't remain here, and Deimar has been protecting him? How, for that matter, do you intend to see him stripped of titles when his brother protects him and is king? His word is law.

And what do you suggest?

I'd suggest leaving it to his own people to protect him or not protect him. Make sure the jatharin don't find the wrong people, that nobody else uninvolved comes to harm. There's no reason to also protect Haiva.

But that would just be an abdication of responsibility.

Are you a judge in this city? A law maker? Is deciding the fate of criminals here your responsibility?

W-- No, I. I have a responsibility to help people. I can't just look the other way.

Then prioritise helping the innocent caught in this web, not protecting those who cause harm.

I can do both. And preventing Haiva's murder now will protect everyone in the long run.

You're sure of that?

Yes.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

audio; un: hopscotch

audio;

audio;

audio; private

audio; public because he cannot be sassy about secrets and keep it private lol

audio; private purely out of stubbornness

audio; private

Re: audio; private

audio; private

audio; private

audio; private

audio; private

audio; private

audio; private

audio; private

audio; private

audio; private

audio; private

audio; private

audio; private

audio; private

audio; private