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| − | [ST] As Prudence closes and relocks the door, Obligatory is left alone with his thoughts (and bread). Around him, the airboat is quieting down as even the most die hard gamblers head off to their bunks. Most of the crew sleeps too, aside from those who aren't tending the craft above or pedaling it below.
| + | Delete. |
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory gulps down the bread, mindful of Prudence's warning that she could get in trouble. The bread fills his stomach with warm gratitude. He had an inkling that Prudence had allowed anger to lead her down the wrong path, but sleepily full and with a bunk no worse than he would have had otherwise, he is left optimistic of his chances of pulling her gently back to righteousness.
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| − | [Fish] Fish sits against the wall of his cabin, right next to the door, holding his head to the earpiece of the tin-ear and waiting. He had a book out, glancing at maps and old stories to help pass the time until he couldn't plausibly have a light anymore. He didn't get much chance to read anymore - couldn't in public - but he had a book or two secreted in his luggage.
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| − | [ST] Fish hears nothing for a long time other than occasional rustlings. The sailor on duty in the armory next door has a nasty, ragged cough. The members of the Boar tribe next door are loudly boasting over their past conquests, interspersed with occasional bits of raucous laughter. The people of the tribes are used to rising early and going to bed the same way; staying up late is a rare luxury
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| − | [ST] for them.
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| − | [ST] As the hours pass, their laughter quiets, replaced with loud, unremitting snores. Fish feels a lethargy begin to steal over him. He's extremely sleepy.
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| − | [Fish] He pinches himself to stay awake - plenty of time to sleep in the morning. Now was the time he needed to guard. He imagined Ralinona's reaction if he let the girls be killed in the first night of the journey, then hastily jerked back from it - the arms and images of sleep.
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| − | [Fish] For a few minutes more he resists, and then a far happier, far sadder dream of his old life and his old wife comes to him in its stead, and he can no longer resist.
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| − | [ST] Meanwhile, Obligatory drifts off into a more natural state of rest, which is interrupted by a loud, strangled shout. A moment later, screams fill the airboat along with the splintering of wood.
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| − | [Fish] He leaned against the door now, drolling with the sedative. He'd left it unlocked, in case he needed to rush into the hall at a moments warning.
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory starts awake,and his eyes widen in alarm. It was Jeral! Whoever he was! Prudence must be putting her plan into action. "Let me out!" he shouts, leaping to bang on the door. "I can help! Let me OUT!"
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| − | [Obligatory] He tests it.
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| − | [ST] The first Winter Fish notes of the disturbance is a tremendous pain in his forehead as his cabin door is kicked open. The world swims before his eyes, something cold and sharp is at his throat. Through sleep-clouded eyes, he can see the unattractive and bug-eyed woman who entered the ship with her massive companion.
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| − | [ST] "Get up. And don't try anything."
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| − | [ST] Obligatory's pounding draws no response. He hears another shout from above, the clash of steel on steel, Lady Amelia's grandchildren crying. Utter pandemonium. Something strikes the door on the far side.
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| − | [Fish] He gurgles at her, trying to breathe through the drool filling his mouth. He curls tot he side spitting it up accross the floor as his wits slowly return.
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| − | [Fish] Had he been marked? He heard screams flying over all the ship. Worse then, or better for his mission, just maybe.
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| − | [ST] From next door to Fish there comes a tremendous crash, thick shouts. The Boar tribe is fighting back. Then there is the unmistakable sound of steel sinking into flesh, and the sounds of fighting cease.
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| − | [ST] The woman looks down at Fish, giving him a desultory kick. "Don't try fighting." She cocks her head towards the wall. "It doesn't work. Lie there, arms and legs out."
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| − | [ST] Obligatory notices blood beginning to seep under the door.
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| − | [Obligatory] He draws back horrified. Prudence, he thinks, full of shocked pity. You are no longer a sister of the Quiet. He bends down. "I know medicine," he calls through the door, though there is too much blood, too much. "Open it- I can, I can try to help...."
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| − | [Obligatory] He rests both hands against the door, and then his forehead. Someone was dying and he was trapped by...by some stupid barrier!
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| − | [Obligatory] He gives in to grief only a moment, then is wiggling a spare piece of wire from his tattered shoes. "Don't die," he says, stern as he can manage, and inserts the wire carefully into the lock.
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| − | [ST] There is no response from the figure on the other side of the door. Shouts rise in timbre and volume as more passengers are pulled from their rooms and hustled down the passage to the common room. Children are crying, their grandmother trying vainly to hush them.
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| − | [ST] Fish can't tell much about the woman from her stance - it could be a show of bravado, or she could be ready to take his head off; it's unclear. What he does hear is a shout from across the hall: "The whores have locked their room, have Jeral bring the key-!"
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| − | [Fish] He takes a moment to start breathing, then rolls over to the wall. He could barely manage that. Or at least that was the coordination he showed. More true than he wished.
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| − | [Fish] Damn, they were after the whores. How many?
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| − | [ST] Obligatory's makeshift lockpick is no great piece of work, but neither is the lock. After a few moments of work, it clicks open, and the door swings inward under the weight of the man leaning against it.
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| − | [Obligatory] He stoops immediately to check the man for breath.
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| − | [ST] He's one of the airboat's sailors, a slash covering his throat from end to end. He's bleeding everywhere. He struggles for breath, his eyes wide and panicked, but he is unsuccessful at securing it.
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| − | [ST] Heavy footfalls enter Fish's room, approaching him. Someone kneels behind him - he feels the presence of someone close. Then the man's hands are on him, patting him down perfunctorily for weapons. "You're alone in this room?" The man asks brusquely.
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| − | [Fish] "Yes" he rasps, hoping semi-copherently that they woudl ignore the book.
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| − | [Obligatory] "Be at peace," Obligatory says comfortingly. "I will endeavor to aid you." He reaches into his pocket and draws out the needle and thread he carried to mend holes in his clothes. He doesn't let his hand shake; he owed it to the man to seem competent and confident. There was no one else.
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| − | [Obligatory] Hiding his dismay, he strives to hold the man's throat closed with one hand, sewing uncertainly with the other.
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| − | [ST] The book doesn't draw the man's notice, but Fish's ice chisel does. He jerks it free violently enough to yank Fish an inch or two off the floor, giving a short laugh. "I don't know why they bother to collect the weapons anyway." He stows it in his belt, standing up.
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| − | [Obligatory] He goes neatly from one end of the wound across his throat to the other. Yo Ping watched benignly, or else some other kind spirit, because his hands do not shake and he sees exactly where the wounds are.
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| − | [ST] "Listen, old man, there won't be any trouble as long as you don't fight. This vessel is now under the control of Governor Jeral of Nabradia."
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| − | [ST] The man's eyes bulge as Obligatory works feverishly at his wound. He tries to scream, and a fine spray of blood mists Obligatory's hands. But then, mercifully, darkness descends upon the sailor, causing him to black out from the pain as Obligatory finishes stitching his wounds. Blood is everywhere, Obligatory's hands, clothing, the floor. The man has lost a lot of it, and may very well succumb
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| − | [ST] to infection if he does not receive more treatment, but he yet lives, a testimony to Obligatory's skill.
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory sighs in relief. His hands are sticky and covered with blood, but it is a righteous color, now. He looks around and frowns. He could not leave the man out here. He leans down, and with a grunt carried the man in his arms to his bed. He lays him out carefully and leaves, shutings the door behind him with a shudder at the bloodstain . He would check on the sailor; now there was need for a Quiet to bring peace.
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| − | [ST] "A wasted effort," a hard, flat voice says from the hallway. Obligatory looks up and finds himself gazing at one of the merchants from 'Cherak', a short man with hard, flat eyes, an unsmiling mouth, and a dark bowl of close shorn hair. He holds a naked, bloody sword in one hand.
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| − | [ST] "The life has flowed out of this man, and you waste the last few moments of your own trying to shove it back in."
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| − | [Obligatory] "If these are the last minutes of my life," Obligatory says, meeting the man's eyes, "Then they were not wasted."
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| − | [ST] "I suppose not," the man muses. His voice does not change in inflection. "They will entertain me."
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| − | [Obligatory] "Why do you want to kill me?"
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| − | [ST] "Fun."
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| − | [ST] "Falloe, enough," a brisk voice says from behind him. Another man steps into view, younger, taller, with short blond hair, blue eyes, and a close-cropped beard. "Leave this one. He's of the Quiet."
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| − | [Obligatory] What did that matter? No Quiet would help such people commit more murders. Not and continue as one of the People. Obligatory Sunshine decides to refrain from bringing that to their immediate attention.
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| − | [Obligatory] "It is unusual we are left alone," Obligatory says in a neutral way.
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| − | [Fish] He pants slightly, and nods. They were dumb enough to let him live? It was a different man, he saw. A man. Well, he should have known with the noise the boy made - the woman moved too well for it.
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| − | [ST] "You are weak," Falloe supplies. "You would do wise to accept Governor Jeral's mercy. He has a fondness for... your kind."
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| − | [ST] "That's enough, I said," the other man says briskly. "Go with Falloe, to the Common room. Do not tempt him."
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| − | [ST] "I wish he would."
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| − | [Obligatory] "I will endeavor to avoid provoking him," Obligatory says carefully. He steps around Falloe, giving him plenty of room, on his way to the Common. He hesitates. "Please to not kill the injured man. He cannot impede you in any fashion, now. There is never reason for cruelty."
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| − | [Obligatory] He inclines his head slightly to the man, putting his hands together, and proceeds to the Common Room before the other man can skewer him. "Are you Governor Jeral?" it suddenly occurs to him to ask the blonde man.
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| − | [ST] "Yes," the man says distractedly, looking into the room where the injured soldier lies. Blood covers the front of his traveling furs as well. He seems to be staring at something far away. "Go now."
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory inclines his head again, politely. Jeral had broken his promise; he would not forget it. He leaves for the common room.
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| − | [ST] "What'll we do with him, Solomea?" the man asks of Fish. The woman gives a grunt.
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| − | [ST] "Tie his hands up, take him to the commons with the others. Foolishness."
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| − | [Fish] They'd left - missed - the flamepiece. So he was right, not all as competent as the woman, and her harried or lazy enough to not do the important things herself. Or she wasn't worried about him particularly - just took his room by chance. He hoped it was that, but he couldn't plan by it yet.
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| − | [ST] Even as the man kneels and begins lashing Fish's hands together with a piece of stout cord. "Watch what you say about the governor, woman."
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| − | [ST] "He pays for my opinion, he gets it. What about those whores?"
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| − | [ST] "Still waiting on the key," someone else supplies.
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| − | [Fish] He waits for the woman Solomea to stop paying attention before rolling meekly, but tightens the muscles in his forearms as they tie him - natural enough and when he relaxed the bindings would be that much looser. If they didn't tie him tight enough for it to matter, so much the better.
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| − | [ST] As Fish shifts, he makes the mistake of moving his left wrist so much that the poorly tied knot actually slips. With a grunt of frustration, the man hastily grabs another cord and lashes Fish's wrists together again. It's a clumsy, ridiculous job, but it's still very tight. A moment later, the man hauls Fish to his feet, shoving him towards the door.
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| − | [ST] "Wait," Solomea says. Her free hand darts out, and cold fingers sink into Fish's face as she turns him to face her. "Raven. He's one of the Dead." She gives Fish's face a vicious squeeze. "Aren't you?"
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| − | [ST] Falloe shoves Obligatory ahead of him needlessly. A piece of cold steel pricks at his back as he is ushered towards the common room. "Jeral is right. You don't want to give me a reason."
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| − | [Fish] He smiles sourly, though the muscle movements weren't really apparent with her hand squeezing. "Was, they threw me out for getting old."
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| − | [ST] "I don't believe you," Solomea says. "If it was the way I wanted, I'd kill you right now, you understand? You've got nothing but Jeral's idiocy to thank for your life. And if you try anything, I promise you, Hort will tear you to pieces."
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| − | [Obligatory] "I won't," Obligatory mutter fervently. And he had practice not giving people reasons. He doesn't even turn his head around as he stumbles forward.
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| − | [Fish] He nods, her hands stopping him mostly. But she could feel it.
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| − | [ST] "Remember it." She lets his face go, shaking her hand as if with disgust. "Jaff, take him to the common room. Watch him."
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| − | [ST] Fish is pushed out the door and briskly down the hall. The doors of the rooms on either side have been shattered. A look into the Boar Tribe's room shows him an abbatoir. The only door still sealed is the room belonging to Lily and Peach. A trio of the merchants from 'Cherak' have gathered there, vainly trying the knob.
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| − | [Obligatory] "I hope you can find peace," Obligatory says sincerely to Falloe, just before he is shoved sprawling into the Common Room. He catches himself with his hands on the floor, kneeling for a moment in truth before he climbs to his feet again.
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| − | [Fish] He smiles to himself, then hides it quickly, letting the man take him but letting his muscles be mostly lax, making him half drag him. It was an annoyance he could manage and hid his returning strength besides.
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| − | [ST] The two men are led into the common room from opposite directions. It looks remarkably untouched - the nailed down furniture has not been disturbed, and almost no fighting has gone on here. Only the body of a single sailor lies sprawled over a table, blood puddling beneath him. The ship's passengers are nestled against the far wall, in various states of shock and alarm.
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| − | [ST] Gambler Denn barely looks perturbed despite his bound hands. Lady Amelia's three grandchildren are wailing, huddled up against their grandmother. She looks at the Cherakians with real hatred. Hector seems half asleep now, though his servant Jens is quite alert. A scattering of other passengers, tribespeople, glare sullenly.
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| − | [ST] "Against the wall, both of you," Falloe says. "With the others. Jaff, Garrett, watch them." A pair of guards nod, remaining as Falloe moves on down the hall and out of sight.
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory risks a kick by kneeling down to check the man's pulse, then rises, shaking his head sadly. "What is the purpose of this?" he asks the woman with Trout. She didn't seem as obviously mad as his captor.
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| − | [Obligatory] He moves obediently to the wall.
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| − | [ST] "Wrong person to ask, little man," Solomea says. "I'm in it for the money."
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| − | [Obligatory] "Who isn't in it for the money?" Obligatory asks innocently, seemingly unaware of the double meaning.
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| − | [Fish] Fish flops back against the wall, trading bruises for apparent weakness. And hiding his hands. He started working at the bindings immediately, as much as he could without gross movements.
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| − | [ST] Solomea does not reply, instead moving to the end of the hall, shouting down the stairs. Her voice carries back. "HORT! We got problems up here!"
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| − | [Obligatory] "Are the ladies all right?" Obligagtory calls out after her.
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| − | [ST] She does not answer. A moment later, she moves back into sight, followed by the enormous, heavily muscled, and hairy man.
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| − | [ST] They depart down the hall towards Lily and Peach's room. Meanwhile, the children begin to sob.
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| − | [ST] "Well. I didn't bet on this," Denn says quietly to Fish.
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory crouches down and soothes one of the little boys until his sobs subside into sniffles and a trickle of scared tears. "This is very alarming," Obligatory agrees seriously, overhearing him. He rises. "Does anyone know why they are here? What they want?"
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| − | [ST] "Sit down," Jaff says, "Or I'll tie your hands too. Just cause you're Quiet doesn't mean you get the run of the place."
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| − | [ST] "These accents are strange," Lady Amelia says. She seems grateful for Obligatory's attempt. "They are not Haslanti."
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| − | [Obligatory] "Why would being one of the Quiet mean I get the run of the place?" Obligatory asks, lowering himself down into a crouch and patting another tearful little girl on the shoulder.
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| − | [ST] "The boss's woman put in a good word for you," Jaff answers. "You're ruining it." The other man chortles at the comment.
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| − | [Fish] He doesn't say anything to Denn, playing at being dazed and confused. Cheerful or even bleak joing amongst the prisoners would not reassure their guards. And they probably needed to break free now or soon if they were to save the women. What the hell had put him down like that? SOmething in the food? If only he'd been able to move proper while the idiot boy was looking him over for weapons.
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| − | [ST] A half dozen ragged looking forms are led in from above and below. The crew, including Captain Caraway and the First Mate, Fennel. As they are arranged against the south wall of the commons, Fish realizes that the tell-tale whickering of the ship's propellers has ceased. They're floating dead in the air right now.
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| − | [ST] "Hey!" Fennel shouts. "Why are his hands free? Why's that fucking Kneeler getting better treatment than us?" A chorus of angry and sullen shouts rise from the sailors, more at the situation in general than Obligatory's role in it.
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| − | [ST] If Denn notices Fish's silence, he doesn't heed it. "Does it feel like someone stuck your head in a bell and rung it?"
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| − | [Fish] He grunts in a drawn out way, nodding vaguely - more of them? Well, that was more likely when he thought about it. He'd have noticed them slipping something into his food specifically.
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| − | [Obligatory] "Maybe if we knew what this was about, everyone would be easier and no one would feel the need for violence," Obligatory says, his eyes flicking from red-faced salior to the weapons in the thugs' hands.
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| − | [ST] "Violence is a necessary tool," Falloe says.
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| − | [Obligatory] "No it's not," Obligatory says quietly. "And you know it is not. You only fight people because you like hurting them; I have seen that in you, as I have seen it in others. It is a sickness, and a pity you for it. But violence is never necessary."
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| − | [ST] "You will get your answers in a moment." Another of the merchants says, a woman this time, her short, red hair streaked through with gray. "As soon as-" She flinches as there is a splintering noise down the hall, followed by a piercing scream.
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| − | [ST] "Sawa, d-"
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| − | [Obligatory] "Surely they won't hurt the ladies," Obligatory says anxiously, listening to the contrary evidence.
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| − | [ST] There is a guttural roar like nothing human, the whoosh of a flame piece, the sound of a short, sharp scuffle.
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| − | [ST] None of the others says anything. The woman shuffles her feet uneasily.
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory's hands clench, in agony. "Perhaps I can go there," he says desperately, his precise diction slurring a little in his hurry. "Perhaps I can negotiate some peace-"
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| − | [ST] "Sit down, or die," Falloe says. The woman opens her mouth, but he cuts her off. "Sami will not stay my hand. Nothing will."
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory hunches his shoulders a bit, crouching further down, but his eyes are rivted in the direction of the hallway.
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| − | [Obligatory] "Where is Prudence?"
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| − | [ST] "She is unharmed," Sami answers. Behind her, the massive Hort emerges from the hall, splattered with blood. His hair smolders, and his left shoulder is reddened and charred. He holds Lily and Peach in each of his massive hands - they struggle vainly against his grip.
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| − | [ST] "Flame piece," he says flatly when Solomea tosses him a questioning look. Lily sinks her teeth into the back of his left hand. Bright blood flows down pale skin. He doesn't seem to notice.
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory shoots to his feet, only the presence of the murderous Falloe stopping him rushing forward.
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| − | [ST] Hort gives the two women a shove. Tripping over their own feet, they stagger against the wall. "That's all of 'em," he grunts.
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory Sunshine looks relieved.
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| − | [Fish] They didn't mean to kill them, at least not immediately. There was that. And they were bringing them to the rest of the prisoners, not off on their own to use or get information from. Maybe they weren't after them?
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| − | [ST] "Now, if you'll all wait just a moment," Sami says, trying to sound comforting. "The governor will speak with you. You will not be harmed."
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| − | [ST] Peach sobs softly. "You liars! You killed Sawa, you KILLED HIM-"
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| − | [ST] "Quiet her," Falloe advises. "Or I will."
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory goes to her and takes her hand, looking at her urgently. "He is mad. Now is a time to be Quiet," he says softly. He feels a pang; Sawa had been engaged in a dishonorable profession, but he had seemed a decent man. Perhaps, if he had lived longer, he would have grown wise and lived righteously.
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| − | [Obligatory] "Sawa would want you to be safe, yes?"
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| − | [ST] She sniffles slightly, burying her head in his chest to muffle her sobs. Denn shoots Obligatory a piercing glance.
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| − | [ST] "How did you do this?" Captain Caraway says quietly, as if to herself. She seems to have cracked. "Caught us completely by surprise. Gods, how did they get into the armory? It's always locked..."
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory wraps an arm awkwardly around her, holding her and letting her cry it out.
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| − | [ST] Amelia's grandchildren begin to cry again, writhing against their bonds uselessly.
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| − | [ST] "I wish to apologize for frightening you," Governor Jeral says, striding into the room. He stands straight, trying to appear regal. Next to Sami, Falloe, and the others, he mainly looks young. "I am Governor Jeral of Nabradia. I want to assure you that you shall not be harmed."
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory's gaze drifts from the crying children to the dead man on the floor.
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| − | [ST] "This vessel now belongs to the Republic of Shanarinara. It will shortly change course, bound southward for Nabradia. When it lands, you will all be allowed to disembark. Haslanti must regrettably be kept as prisoners of war, but the rest of you may go about your lives as you will."
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| − | [Fish] He tries not to look at Denn. Joking in a crisis, that look at the Quiet when he went to the woman - was he interested in her? Beyond as a man? The suspicions resurfaced, but it wasn't the time to do anything about it, or worry for that matter.
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| − | [Obligatory] "Why have you done this? Why have you killed these people?" He considers asking about Prudence, but it seems wiser to conceal her involvement with the man for now.
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| − | [ST] "We killed only those who gave us no choice. Who fought, and would have killed us. That is no crime. I have taken pains to insure minimal loss of life."
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| − | [Obligatory] "You chose their deaths when you chose to take the ship in this manner. Violence is always an evil. Why have you done this?"
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| − | [ST] "Your League is our enemy. Your airboats are a powerful advantage. To take them, to study them, is to strengthen ourselves against your aggression." He shakes his head. "But it is not your aggression, is it, friend? You are of the Quiet, I know; their war is not yours. Let it remain that way. I promise you safe passage, Obligatory Sunshine. Prudence has spoken highly of you."
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] Peach continues to sob into Obligatory's chest, but he can't fail to notice that the others near him draw away slightly.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] WHo was prudence he wondered? It didn't seem like he was in league with them, but someone they trusted trusted him.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "Has my sister seen the blood on your hands?" Obligatory says, his voice becoming very grave and cold. He continues holding Peach, and some part of him wonders if Sawa were special to her.The day was even more tragic, if it were so.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "She will understand, in time," Jeral says, not ungently. "As will you." He turns, barking out orders, suddenly a changed man. "Split the hostages up. Take the sailors above. They will need to instruct us. The sot, the old man, the gambler, the blind woman, and the captain in one cabin, the rest in another."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] He was not sure what to do. The airboat was of little matter, next to a life; yet it did not seem that this Jeral, however well-intentioned, had the means to see them all there safely. Felloe was a murderer once already. Yet a violent uprising was as bad; it was a predicament. He would trust in Yo Ping and watch for the opportunity to help, he decides.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "You better be good for this shit, Jeral," Hort snarls as the groups are led out. Solomea dabs at his shoulder with a rag, pulling away straps of bloody, charred flesh. "Been a while since I took a hurt like this."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Are you getting slow?" Solomea teases.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "I didn't expect a blind woman to have a piece-"
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] A pair of guards usher Obligatory, Fish, Fennel, Peach, and Amelia and her brood back down the hall towards the cabins. Peach recoils again as she sees Sawa's limp hand extending from the doorway of their chambers, but it is not there that they are taken. Instead, the group is ushered within the largest of the cabins. Before entering, Obligatory's hands, too, are bound. The soldier Sami does
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] so, almost apologetically, then ushers the group within.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "This is our room," one of Amelia's girls says, seating herself on a plush sofa with difficulty. Her grandmother drops near her. Sami steps within, then swings the door shut behind her, and leans against it.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "This wouldn't have happened in the fucking old days," Fennel snarls. "Before we took on passengers." He spits at Obligatory; it misses, striking the sobbing Peach in the back of the head. She doesn't seem to notice.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory grimaces a little at his new bonds. He supposed it didn't matter much; he would not have hit anyone. He ignores Fennel and addresses Sami. "Couldn't you loosen the bonds of the children, at least?" he asks quietly. "They are children. They are not even Haslanti children. But they are very scared, and uncomfortable."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "I can't, sorry," she genuinely does sound sorry. As she comes near, the children start to sob again. She kneels before them, smoothing away tears with one gloved hand while another fishes in her pocket.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] He feels a sudden, frustrated flare of angry that he can't even hug Peach to comfort her.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Shhh now, it's all right, it's all right. I won't hurt you. No one could. Shhh." She draws out something in a wrapper and clumsily unfurls it - a bit of chocolate. She moves down the line, breaking off a tiny piece for each and putting it in their mouths. "There, just be good now, babies."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Thank you," Amelia says with a stony glare.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] The children chew and swallow, but continue sobbing. Sami draws back from it. "I'll be right outside," she says, retreating, though it is not clear if the statement is meant to threaten or comfort. She slams the door behind her a little too loudly.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory shakes his head, frowning.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] He moves to the window and looks outside it.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He glances around. It seemed too much to think they'd left a spy instead of just leaving a guard in the room. "THis is your room, anything we can use in here? I think I can get the bindings soon."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] Peach is jostled slightly as Obligatory moves to the porthole. He sees little outside but a white, shining expanse of glittering snow far below, and the moon rimed forms of the clouds above. The airboat bobs, twisting lazily in the wind.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] Amelia gives a grunt. "I always keep a knife in my traveling chest, but good luck getting it open in these." She strains against her bonds. "You damn Haslanti and your wars."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Shut up, you fat bitch," Fennel says, surly. "Half my crew is dead, you ain't lost so much as a pound."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "War is a spiritual disease. There is little point to blaming the carrier, or the infected. Only in seeking to cure the disease," Obligatory intones.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] His gaze turns to wander around the cabin, looking for a small glass object of some kind- something that could be broken *easily.*
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] Obligatory's eyes settle on a small, multicolored glass swan that has been left on the floor. He doesn't see much else that fits the bill - glass items were not commonly unpacked during a journey.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "Lady Amelia," Obligatory says politely, walking over to her and lowering his voice. "Do you mind if I break your swan? I may be able to cut our bindings." Though he was reserving judgment on whether to cut Fennel's.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] She laughs, but it's a bitter one. "That's a Chiaroscuran Glass swan, my boy. You won't break it, unless you plan on dropping this entire airship on it. You'd only break whatever you hit it with."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] "Don't make a loud noise doing it," he says softly, "I can feel mine giving."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Prudence," Fennel says suddenly, angry. "It was that Quiet WHORE, I know it. She sold us out!"
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] He glances at Trout, his eyes widening. "Ah. Then perhaps I will wait for you."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "After all we did for her."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory looks at him. He consider keeping silently, but the man is restrained for now so he says, "You do not know what she has done, or not done. You used violence against her, and that it is the wickedness of it, that violence breeds violence. I regret that her anger has led her into sin, even if the sin is mere naivete."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] And, he suspected, dallying with one who is not her betrothed. A girl that age would be betrothed, too, if not yet married.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] Fennel only glares. "I treated her like what she is. What you all are. Her actions only prove it."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] Peach wipes at her face. Her veil, wet with tears, rests uneasily against her burned jaw, revealing things perhaps best hidden. "Listen... Obligatory, all of you. That man, Hort. He's not human. Some fell blood is in his veins."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "Fell blood? How do you know?"
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "He shrugged off a blast from a flame piece like it was nothing. He was so strong. He t-tore Sawa ap-apar-ap..." she sobs again, burying her face in her hands.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] "Hey," he growls, looking at Fennel, then the otehrs in turn. "Don't fight. Not us, anyway." He grinned wolfish.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory bitterly resents that he cannot even hug her. He presses his lips against her hair and turns to the others.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He glances at Oblivious "demon means you can kill him, eh?"
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] He just looks at Fish with his wide blue eyes and shakes his head slightly. "I have an idea," Obligatory says hesitantly. "Of how to resolve this conflict without brutality. Trout, you seem a clever man, and I think you could help. But I don't want more death. More injuries."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "The... woman has a point," Amelia says. "Say you're not hallucinating and we can slip these bonds, what then? Do you mean to storm the ship with a... uhm," she clears her throat. "With us?"
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] "They'll sleep sometime. Can't get too far too fast without a proper crew. I bet they put the fell-blood in the engine room, too, tire him out."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He shrugs. "I'm not sure yet what to do - maybe wait till thigns're quite, snatch the guard outside the door - thats one down and one weapon. I tell you this, we make their 'city,' we're dead." He looked at each, to impress that fact on them, looking as certain of it as he wasn't. No time for them to ahve doubts.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He looked back to Oblivious, glared more like. "And my name is Fish."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "Murdering people in their sleep is not a plan," Obligatory says cuttingly. "And anyway," a bit of innate practicality shines through, "they'll sleep in shifts. No, I have something different in mind."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] "Call me Trout again, maybe I gut you like one," he smiles lighter than the remark deserved. "And I didn't say we wait for the guard to sleep, just wait for most to sleep, for their attention to be elsewhere, then we snatch the guard. He don't ahve to be sleeping."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] "Whats your plan then? Just ask them to stop?" he asked skeptically?
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] And with less laughter than the boy perhaps deserved.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory blinks. "Oh? I thought someone called you Trout. My apologies. The point is, we need to defuse the conflict by removing the prize. Then there will be nothing to gain by violence, and perhaps everyone will act more sensibly and go home."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "Cut holes in some of the floats. We'll sink and land in Haslanti territory. They can't carry it home with them. They'll flee for home, and we can do likewise."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "Only one or two of us need be put at risk by climbing out the porthole into the rigging." He nods at the window.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He nodded slowly. "Think you can make it out that hole? I'm not sure I can." THe boy had some bravery, at least. He didn't mention the other thing - that some of them, children especially, might not survive a landing like what seemed likely, that the hijackers might get desperate - would, probably. If they could manage it, it was still a good idea.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "I think I can. Once I'm out of my bonds," he adds.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Are you QUITE certain we won't have... a hard landing?" Amelia says, out of deference to her grandchildren.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "I don't know much about air boats," Obligatory admits, looking at Trout- at Fish and the sailors.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He drags his hands free with a flourish. "Soon enough, lad" he grins. "We shouldn't need much of a hole, hey - maybe you go up into the rig, cut a bit, and stay up on the bag to see where she goes, tehn cut more if it isn't down. If you make it to the top of the bag, they won't be able to see you to know you're up there. There'll be ropes over the top"
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Are you fucking crazy?" Fennel snaps. "You're gonna let this Kneeler cut a hole in the fucking bag? They MIGHT kill us. He WILL kill us!"
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "We could also simply submit to capture," Obligatory agrees. "Perhaps Jeral has control of his crew."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "If I go up there, have you any advice on what to cut, or how much?"
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Fuck you!" Fennel screams. The children flinch back from him, hiding behind their grandmother. "If you lot think I'm letting you send him out the porthole, you're crazy. I'll scream. I'll scream for every hijacking sack of shit on this ship."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He darts to the man, claps a hand over his mouth. "Shut it," he growls, quiet and with all his menace. "You'll get the fucking guard."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] It wasn't hard to manhandle a bound man. He looked to the door.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] After a few minutes of staring, it seems clear that the guard didn't hear anything. In fact, at that very moment, Sami busy berating Jaff for stomping on her foot.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] Fennel seems to have lost all restraint, he screams silently against Fish's palm, thrashing violently, but is borne back and subdued.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "Don't hurt him," Obligatory puts in anxiously.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] "I won't kill him," he says, not entirely reassuringly.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory frowns. He stumbles forward and crouches down awkwardly by Fennel, his hands still both tied behind his back. "Please be quiet," he says. "Let us talk this through."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] Fennel's reply is too muffled to be understood, but the spirit of the statement comes through well enough. He glares venomous hatred at Obligatory.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] "He's panicked. I have to keep him quiet." He fumbles with Obligatory's bindings with his other hand - he was the only one crazy enough to go out the hole, so he needed to free him. And if the boy was gone, he'd have more options for the rest. If they landed with a weapon or two, that'd be a good thing.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] With a muffled scream, Fennel lurches, slipping away from Fish for just a moment to launch a kick at Obligatory's belly.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He clamps hold of him tighter. "Get back, he'll kick hisself out." The kids started to cry from the smell the coward had made pissing himself. "Let me get at yer hands there."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory grunts, holding on to his stomach and backs away.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory, finally freed of his bonds, goes back to the window. His stomach still ached."If they hear..." he says slowly. "If they hear, do not resist." He hefts the statuette of chiarascuro glass in his heft, turns, and hammers at the window.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] As Obligatory shatters the window, the howling winds outside blow back splinters of glass into the room. Slicing into unprotected flesh. Peach gets a sliver through the back of her hand, Fennel one in the same leg that kicked Obligatory, and the largest of the children in the left shoulder.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] The girl looks down at the shard sticking from her shoulder and begins to scream, loudly.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory Sins scrunches his brow. He hadn't realized the glass would fly inward like that. Poor girl. Her screams meant he would have to hurry.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] Rubbing away the blood at his temple, he crawls through the porthole.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He was too far, and couldn't really hold on to the struggling man and get to the child at the same time. "Quiet her," he hissed, then complained louder about scared little kids in a bored tone, hoping the guards would ignore it all.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] A sheet is wrapped around his Obligatory's torso and angered to a bed. He had tied it around his waist, and he looked like nothing so much as a Realm senator with a very long sarong. It might catch him if he fell before he got to the wrigging. Might.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "Wish me luck," he says to the others, and slides out the window, balancing his feet on the porthole ledge and gripping the side of the ship with desperate strength.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] As Obligatory clambers out the porthole, he is immediately struck with the devastating cold. It was bad enough blowing into the cabin, but here it is even worse - massive, apocalyptic, capable of killing an unprotected man in minutes. He clings against the hull like a limpet, wind howling around him.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] Meanwhile, Sami works at the lock in concern. "Is something wrong in there?"
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] He grits his teeth and climbs, inching his hand up the side of the ship to curl his fingers around the ridge of a plank. He hadn't realized the wind would be so bad. Not near so bad. He raises one foot, than another, to the top of the porthole and it already feels too late to retreat.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] "Just kids crying." If he could let go of the Mate, he could hold the door, or something. Maybe he'd need to - drawing the hijackers to their cabin would at least give time for Oblivious to crash the ship. He couldn't let the guard see the porthole. "One of them fucking shat herself, and it smells awful." It seemed vaguely plausible, for all he knew of kids, and bad enough the man might turn back.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He tightens his arms, cutting into the Mate's neck. He'd need his hands free in a moment, probably. "He'll live," he whispers to the staring children. He'd try for it, anyway, but the bastard was going out.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] As Fish's grip tightens, Fennel's eyes bulge out. The children scream louder as they roll back, and then the man is dead weight in Fish's arms. As he falls, senseless, to the floor, the door opens, revealing the guard. Sami looks into the room, her mouth open in astonishment as she gazes at the scene within.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He tackles the woman, as quick as he can, going for her mouth or throat.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory creeps up the side of the ship plank by plank, jamming his fingernails into the small spaces between boards. He was whimpering wordlessly to himsef; the wind had torn away his sheet, and it whipped back and forth below him, hanging from the window. Maybe he could catch it as he fell, though his fingers are stiff with cold.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] Sami doesn't even see Fish in that moment. The first thing she notices, in fact, is the screaming child. She's three steps into the room, her mouth already open to ask what's the matter, when he strikes.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "What's going on in here-?"
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He grabs at her desperately, trying to make sure she couldn't rasie the cry.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] It gets harder as his fingers get stiff with ice.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] He almost loses his grip entirely, and only hangs on by desperately clawing at the side of the ship with his fingernails, and jamming his feet in a long rivulet of cracked wood.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] He pants. He knew, with chill certainly, that he had come close to death.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] His shoes fall all his feet as he drags them out of the crack in the wood, first one than the other tumbling into the misty clouds below. It turns out to be a lucky loss.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] He grips more easily with his feet, and the crack in the wood he discovered is a long flaw that widens as it reaches upwards to the rigging. Obligatory climbs more easily until at last, he grasps the lowest ropes of the rigging. He smiles with chapped lips.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] His hands snake around her throat and mouth, pulling her to him, and silencing her scream. She was inside the door, she was silenced, but only for now, and he couldn't let either change.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] The two women in the room are not idle. Amelia, though her hands are still bound, races past Fish and the struggling woman, pushing the door around as softly as possible and throwing herself against it. Peach rummages in the shards of glass upon the floor, lacerating her fingers as she grabs one and begins to work at her bonds.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] Sami screams, but only a thin hissing emerges. Her eyes narrow, and she lurches to the side, slamming her hip into Fish's groin, and then lunging violently backwards, trying to shake off his grip. Their quiet, desperate struggle is mirrored in the eyes of the watching children.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He hangs on, knowing the tricks to subdue someone like this. Her hip med his as he shifted slightly to meet it, and he guided their fall to the hard bunk, the two of them making a thump, but nothing so loud that it woudl travel farther than the child's screams.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] Amelia leans her back against the door, bracing it, though no one seems to be coming yet. Peach's bonds finally fall away as she lurches forward. Her gaze falls upon the Chiaroscuran swan, followd a few minutes later by her shredded fingers.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He makes sure they fall on his back - it hurts for a moment, but then she's lying on top of him, no purchase for her feet flailing in the cneter of the room, so she can't move near as much - no leverage, no strength. He grins, and concentrates on keeping her over him, and making sure they didn't turn so she could kick on teh wall - to make noise or to get free.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] Peach moves across the room determindedly towards the struggling pair. Her hands are trembling, her eyes overflowing with tears. She hefts the statuette high above her head, then brings it down upon Sami's forehead, again and again and again.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He nods. "Good girl, you. Its a sad thing, but it needed doing." He says it with quiet conviction, and reassurance, he hoped.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] Sami goes limp in Fish's grip as the blows rain down.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] The statuette hits the ground with a soft thud. A moment later, Peach joins it, crying harder now.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "I never- I n-never did that before, to anyone, I never-"
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] The violence has made the children finally fall silent. Though Amelia continues to block the door, there seems to be no immediate need - no one has come running.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He continues to comfort her, surrupticiously tightening his arms, cutting the woman's air. He couldn't be bothered later keeping track of her. In either sense of the phrase.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "They'll notice her missing before too long," Amelia points out.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He nods. "Maybe we can get a weapon or two first, guard the cabin. We needed time to make sure the boy could make it." Or have a chance. "Anything after we start dropping is a grace. Hell, once that happens, they won't be worrying about us for a while."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He lets go of her, and carefully extracates himself from her dead, limp, limbs. Now to gag the Mate. They couldn't let him wake screaming, and he'd keep his word if he could.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] The children are still staring at the corpse, weeping silently.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] After a moment, the youngest walks over to it, fishes in its pocket for the chocolate, and withdraws, looking back with owlish eyes.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He stuffs enough in the man's mouth that he'd have trouble making any noise, and ties it in place with a ripped up pillowcase. Then he grabbed the sword, then to the door.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Hell of a thing for a child to see," Amelia says, moving out of Fish's way. "But there's nothing for it, I suppose. Don't eat that, sweetness."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He nods, with silent respect. A hard woman, but did what needed doing. He hadn't forgotten how she'd moved to the door.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He paused before opening it. "Quiet, all of you," he cautions. He opened the door quick and silent and poked his head out just far enough to get an eye out, looking in both directions cautiously.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Now dry your tears," she says to Fetching Peach, firmly but not unkindly. "I had seven daughters and they all stopped crying when they were half your age."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] not much for maiden's tea? Or before her current work?
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] Fish's glance shows that the hall is, for the moment, empty. Could Sami have been assigned to watch both cells? After a moment's glance, though, he hears the snatches of a conversation. Someone is descending the stairs from the deck. The massive man, Hort, and Solomea, engaged in heated conversation.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Son of a bitch doesn't know what he's doing-"
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "He's paying well, that's what he's doing, and we're holding up all right so far."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He pulls his head back in, and closes the door to a crack, so he could keep listening.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "They should've all been failing to fly by now. Especially that damn Raven. He'll be trouble, Hort. Bad trouble."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "I'm not worried about the raven. But I agree with the other part. Leaving these people alive is asking for it. I almost think he intends to send them home when it's over. Fucking bumpkins."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Well, we'll have more to spend in Nexus when this is over-"
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] Gradually, the conversation fades away as the pair descends the stairs to the third deck. They haven't noticed the lack of guards, or else have chalked it up to incompetence.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [Fish] He breathes relief. He glances back "get the dagger from the chest, and Peach, you get the guard's. If they're back before I am, hold them off. And don't loose the mate."
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] Meanwhile, Obligatory continues to climb the railing, his fingers rapidly numbing as he scales his way upward. As his head draws near the top deck, he is arrested by a pair of voices. He recognizes Prudence at once, and Jeral a moment later.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "You promised no one would be harmed, Jeral. You promised."
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "I know," his voice is soft, defeated. "I thought- I didn't know they would resist, even drugged. We saved as many as we could. I even spared that bastard of a mate. What more do you want?"
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] He hesitates. It was ordinarliy a sin to eavesdrop, but it was a greater sin to risks. He would have to talk to the Elders about Prudence; therefore, he would hear her speak candidly.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "This was supposed to make things better," she continues. "Now, I feel nothing but grief. This pains me. I wonder if it will be thus for all the Quiet. You have killed, and I have aided in that slaughter. My hands are red with sin."
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "I don't care. It doesn't matter to me. It never has. We will be together. I will show you the Governor's Estates at Nabradia, and no one will harm you or hurt you again. Prudence, wait, don't--" Footsteps, rapidly retreating. Obligatory feels the railing jostle as the man leans against it.
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory stills his breath, willing the man to walk away.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Governor, this is foolishness." Felloe. "It is my duty to serve you as the Wardens have ever served the Governors, but I do not do so willingly. You risk much in the name of re-election. You try to seize a Haslanti warship with a handful of campaign managers and a demonblooded maniac. You are a fool. I hope the Red Gulls defeat you. Truly, the Blue Goats are the repository of the fools of
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] all Shanarinara."
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] Perhaps, he thinks, Jeral would be susceptible to persuasion. The man knew he had lost Prudence. Perhaps he would want to redeem himself in her eyes.
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] If his hired murderers would let him.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "I do not care if you serve willingly," Jeral sighs. "I only care that you serve. I will not lose my position, nor Prudence. Now go, Warden. Be about your business."
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] Retreating footsteps. The men are departing.
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] He couldn't talk to him with Felloe about anyway, Obligatory thinks, continuing to climb once they are safely gone. Not if he wanted to finish a sentence, leastways.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] Lashed by the wind, Obligatory makes his way grudgingly upwards, buffeted by the winds. By the time he crests the bag, he can no longer feel his fingers and toes.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] Wind howls and screams around the gasbag. It strains over its wicker frame, creaking powerfully.
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] A small hole, he thinks. It needs to small. He wraps his legs around the frame.
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] He spends some minutes praying to Yo Ping. Then, three limbs wrapped around the wicker frame, he begins sawing at the canvas.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "I did not tell the others."
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] Surely that voice was not talking to him. He looks down.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] A figure stands atop the gas bag, bent almost double, advancing towards Obligatory methodically. Felloe.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "I saw you from below, climbing. Plotting. Something."
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] No. "You want to kill me. So you kept silent in a quiet treason. Yes, I understand you. I wish you no ill, but I do not think your desires will bring you happiness in this life, or the next."
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] He eases back. A hole. Just one.
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] It wouldn't matter if he died, if he could just make a hole the right size. Except for his sisters, he thinks with a pang, but he can't worry about them now.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "You are going to cut a hole in the airship. You will kill the innocent with this plan. Do you accept that?"
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "I won't kill anyone. The ship will land, and no one will have reason to hurt anyone else any more."
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "Fish says it it is not. I trust him more than you; he is a hard man, but he is not diseased as you are with unhealthy appetites."
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Believe that if you wish. Funny, the things a man needs to believe to sleep at night. You will see. That is, if I let you do it. If I don't kill you first."
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "You are not a sailor. You are from a land without airships. I do not think you understand the system well." Obligatory looks at him. "And I do not think the situation aboard ship will calm down if we continue; I think it will get more violent."
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] Yo Ping, bless the blade.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Would you defend yourself, or simply die? I wonder." The man reaches for his belt, throws something across the expanse to Obligatory - a sheathed blade. He draws another. "I wonder."
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] He stabs the airship and carves out a neat and precise hole. The gods would protect the innocent.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] Air billows from the hole in an explosive rush, blowing Obligatory's hair back. A tremor runs through the vessel. Falloe continues to advance, slowly, methodically.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "You won't see how many people you just killed," he says, flatly. "Consider that a mercy, if you want. Few ever do."
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "I do not understand your lust for murder." Obligatory Sunshine says, continuing to back away. He ignores the blade.
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] He grips a rope lashing against the side of the airbag and slides down. Ropeburn tears at his hands. He hits the deck with a thunk.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] Falloe follows, landing on the deck a few feet behind Obligatory. "You can't run from me. From this."
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] He doesn't even bother to retort. He just sprints away to the staircase.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] Felloe follows, not even breathing hard as he hurtles down the staircase after Obligatory. The common room and hallway are currently deserted, not that Obligatory has much of a chance to process this as the man follows on his heels. The airboat gives a sickening lurch, dropping quickly now. On the deck above are numerous cries of alarm.
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] He hurtles through the common room, jumping onto a table and sending earthen plates and knives scattering across the floor rather than trying to go around.
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] He sees an open door and he leaps for it, running through and slamming the door behind him. He doesn't even glance at the room's furnishings of accoutrmenets, only presses his back against the door and digs his heels in.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Your life is worthless," Felloe says, hurtling the same table. He is bearing down, implacable. "You will not fight for it."
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] The door lurches as the other man crashes into it.
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "My life is worth more," Obligatory says, panting, "because I know life is too precious to murder for."
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] The door jolts and hellishly begins to open for a moment before Obligatory's weight smashes back into it, closing it.
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "Give up. Surely...we can come...to some peaceful-" he puts his shoulder against the door, it was ridiculous they didn't have deadbolts -"resolution!"
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] An inch of gleaming steel bursts through the door, quivering next to Obligatory's eye. Felloe only grunts in response. A moment later, the blade withdraws.
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "Yo Ping in the Serene Lake..." Obligatory swears, startled into blasphemy. He turns and presses his hands against the door, so that his back wasn't against it, and waits for Felloe to put his weight against it again.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Death is peaceful. You seek it for yourself. Value it above the necessity of violence. Do you seek it for others?"
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] The attack does not come.
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] He is confused. "I want no one to come to harm. I am of the Quiet." He says the last a trife slowly.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Look out your window. Living is harm. Suffering. All animals struggle for it, and we are nothing but Creation's greatest animals. Do you think yourself too noble to kill? Do you think yourself more than an animal?"
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] For a moment, there is only the lurching of tha airboat's fall, the screams from above. Jeral and several others race past in the hall and dart up the stairs behind Felloe, but neither group pays the others heed.
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "Is that your sickness? You think of yourself as a beast? Death is only a transition from one life to the next; that is why it is worthwhile to seek serenity in Creation, because it is only life that is eternal."
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Do you like that blind lady?"
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "I saw you with her. I watched. Beasts always watch."
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory speaks, low and ferverent. "We each of us contain within the seed of the perfection of Creation. We plant it through kindness and generosity to others."
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory pauses his instinctive sermonizing. "She is a lady with a good heart." A knot of dread twists in his stomach.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "A good heart. You know I don't care. Come out and fight, or I will kill her."
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Do you like the one in the veil? Come out and fight, or I will kill her."
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "Why would you do that?" His mouth is dry.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Do you like those little children? The fat lady? Come out and fight, or I will kill them. You will kill them, through your inaction. You see?"
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Because that is what I do." He speaks calmly, as if everything isn't falling down around them as he speaks.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Fight me or kill them."
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "I see you are mad," Obligatory says heavily. He opens the door and backs away from the killer.
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Why are you backing away?" the man advances into the room steadily. He does not draw his sword. "Will you not fight, even knowing this?"
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "What can I give you, to make you put up your sword?" The muscles are bunched up in his shoulders. His posture is tense, wary, ready to spring any which way. "You will kill me, and then them, for spite?" he is amazed.
| |
| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Not for spite. You don't understand. Of course you don't. This is your last chance. Stand against me, or they will die. Simple as that."
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "I do stand against you," Obligatory says, lifting his chin. "In the way of my people."
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] "Then you have killed them, boy. I will tell them this." He takes another step forward, sword raised-
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "The gods will provide for the righteous and the merci-"
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| − | | |
| − | [ST] And the Honor strikes the ground with hammerblow force.
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