video | un: wooden sword & un: widow

[vdovy]

[ It is late in the night when the video feed goes live. The scene: a spacious, gilded room in one of the lux summer villas where Messalina's infiltrators have been stationed. Warm candlelight illuminates Yelena, standing with her hands on her hips in front of Natasha, who is seated (if you can call it sitting) in a large, ornate chair with her legs hanging over one of the chair's intricately carved arms.

The pair of them have looked better. Yelena's crisp patrician attire is wrinkled and in some places torn and Natasha only seems presentable because her clothes are dark enough to mask bloodstains. Their faces are smudged with dirt and their hair, once carefully braided back, now resembles a bird nest, complete with loose leaves and small twigs. ]

We've just finished cleaning up after Alir. Again. [ Natasha runs a hand through her hair and makes a face when her palm comes back streaked with blood. Next to her, it's Yelena's turn to address the network. ]

He could have been exposed tonight, or any other night, the way we've all had to cover for him.

He's a problem. So the question is, what are we prepared to do about it?

(OOC: Default color dialogue is Natasha, red dialogue is Yelena. Tag around, threadjack at will. Alir is the shapeshifting demon impersonating Senator Maximus Faustus. Nat and Yelena are opening discussion up between Messalina's infiltrators, most of whom have had to pick up after Alir's appetites, but other party members are welcome to chime in.)

Comments

un: absterge | RARE VIDEO

[downswing]

( Behold the unrivalled beauty of Lan Wangji........ shoveling. And shoveling. And shoveling.

So many glorious, rotting, aromatic remains.

How much can one demonic creature feast upon, you ask.

Lan Wangji has yet to reach that limit. But stills, stunned, when the communication comes through, because — )

You also, on this night? ( How much does this wretched thing eat? )

[vdovy]

[ Yelena's expression mingles frustration with disbelief — a "you must be kidding" sort of look. ]

Okay, see, this right here? Perfect example of why this arrangement is not sustainable.

[redhourglass]

( coincident eyerolls from natasha )

We're lucky he hasn't eaten anyone important yet.

( yes, yes, she knows everyone is important. there's a stain on her pants she can't identify and she smells like the inside of someone's stomach. dark humor is how she copes. )

[downswing]

All men — ( Shovelshovelshovel. ) — have importance.

[downswing]

He is wished alive.

un: headless ragdoll | audio

[matermali]

[ Quietly. ]

He needs taming.

[vdovy]

Taming can be interpreted many ways.

[matermali]

He needs a leash.

un: widow | video

[redhourglass]

You think that — ( natasha picks at something on her shoulder. oh, wait, it's intestines. joy. )

Can be tamed?

[matermali]

[ She's seen so much worse, but that's gonna ruin those clothes. ]

To that, I dare not make a guess. Should we not still try? It isn't as if we are powerless.

[ She hates limiting stunning monsters in their glory, if anything she prefers to set them loose, but...she isn't a fan of indiscriminate murder on the streets she's walking, either despite setting all the demons loose on the entire world please ignore that. ]

un: ut malum pluvia | audio

[somebadnews]

[ What are they going to do? Chat about it with the peanut gallery, apparently. — Not that he doesn’t know that Alir is a problem, but it’s one they need to be smarter about. ]

You don’t do anything.

It’s not ideal, but act too quickly, and the whole thing falls apart.

[vdovy]

He eats the wrong person and it all falls apart anyway.

[somebadnews]

Which is why some of us need to be keeping better tabs on him. Does anyone know where he is right now?

audio

[downswing]

Men have fallen apart.

[somebadnews]

...I'm not saying he isn't an issue. As much as I enjoy our quality time together, it's obviously counterproductive.

un: abwhorent / audio

[wifedup]

I say we slay the beast, politics be damned.

( Says the Ghost Valley Master, who very much corrals his own monsters- . )

What exactly is the benefit for letting it live?

[vdovy]

Well, I don't think we have any other shapeshifters to impersonate Faustus, so he is useful. But he is teetering on the edge of causing more trouble than he's worth.

[wifedup]

And why exactly do we need someone to impersonate Faustus? For Messalina's own gain? Clearly she doesn't care what any of her ilk are up to, why should we support that?

( It has taken him some time since his arrival to find his feet, he still does not know the group at large very well. But, he's interested in the decision making here. )

un: strange

[rehandle]

I'm sorry, I must've missed this memo - the heart-eating, man-hunting demon I've heard so much about is masquerading as Faustus?

[ Somebody please... fill him in... ]

un: witchful thinking ☾ audio

[nochnaya]

[ A deep, deep sigh. ]

Does anyone know how exactly he came to be in possession of Faustus' body?

un: widow, audio

[redhourglass]

You know, in between picking up body parts, I didn't ask.

( the snark, it's not personal )

[nochnaya]

[ No personal offense taken! Wryly: ] Yes, that is a very time-consuming activity.

I was thinking that if Faustus was replaced once, he could be replaced again. Perhaps with someone more biddable.

un: pillar of the heavens | audio

[inkfire]

Can he be replaced?

[vdovy]

I assume it can be done with magic but we need someone both able and willing.

[inkfire]

And we can't just ask around to find someone. [ a pity ] What else can we do with him?