BZPRPG: Kentoku Archipelago

 

IC: Ageru Tamachan (Odaiba, Ageru Lands)

 

"No... I don't think so," Tama replied, a little unsure, "last thing I remember when I was in Sado was Dastana Arsix declaring her clan's seccession from the empire. That's why I'm going home, too, I need the second opinion on that"

 

 

[Odaiba, Inside Ageru Lands (Hatchi)]

 

“This was at an earlier time,” Hatchi said.  “Before the Rora’s assasination.  Perhaps you were not yet in Sado.”

 

IC: Ageru Tamachan (Odaiba, Ageru Lands)

"That'd make sense, that recent visit was the first one in a very long time," Tama replied, "I'd been away for a while"

Tama didn't think it over to give one of her usual vague replies. The second the words left her lips, though, she immediately realized that Hatchi would probably make something different out of them than the usual people she served that line.

IC:

.:Yeah, well, I choose a ###### of a time to go off on some adventure and leave you on your own, now didn't I?:.

-Void

IC:

.:Can't argue with you there. I picked the wrong time to attend one of the Rora's parties.:.

IC: Higashi

"You got any bandages on ya? Blood isn't that sexy when it's in your mouth."

IC:

One arm wrapped itself around a sister's shoulders and squeezed.

.:I'm sorry you had to see that, sis. Really.:.

-Void

IC: Another cough. "No I'm not carrying any #### bandages! Call a-" Askha gulped down another breath of air, "medic or something!"

 

 

IC: Ageru Tamachan (Odaiba, Ageru Lands)

 

"That'd make sense, that recent visit was the first one in a very long time," Tama replied, "I'd been away for a while"

 

Tama didn't think it over to give one of her usual vague replies. The second the words left her lips, though, she immediately realized that Hatchi would probably make something different out of them than the usual people she served that line.

 

[Odaiba, Inside Ageru Lands (Hatchi)]

Hatchi nodded.  “I’m not so fond of the capital myself, but it is where the deepest purses are,” she said, not even bothering with a quizzical eyebrow raise.

IC:

Desdemona Umbaline was unable to sleep.

It wasn't discomfort - physical, at least - that kept her awake. Skinny girls like her could turn anywhere in Sado into a place to crash. Even she was surprised to find it so easy.

Not that she had been sleeping in alleys and side streets - for very long. When she considered that it was more likely than not that someone loyal to the Empire might find her curled up in a sleeping ball late at night and drag her back to her sister before she even woke, the Chojo decided that it would probably be best to start getting creative. After that little epiphany, she'd started portioning out coin - one or two nights every couple of weeks she would buy herself a bed and breakfast for a night, get herself off the streets. Or she would spend some time to hoist herself up up onto a roof and lay as low and prone as possible, surrounded at all sides by starlight that bored into the shimmering crystal. In a pinch, she would sleep inside a cart left by some merchant in the Markets, and clamber out before dawn. Those were the nights that left her with the least sleep and her back screaming, but she was a Battlemaster and a good princess and would not complain, even in her self-imposed exile.

Self-imposed exile.

How dignified could you make running away sound?

She had been scared. Scared of what Yumiwa would do on a whim, terrified that Rayuke wouldn't stop her, upset that Masa was helpless to change his mind - and above all, distrustful of Inokio. Inokio, the fidgety but steadfast presence at Yumi's back for Desdemona's entire life, had gone behind their backs and tried to get Yumi to start picking at the scabbed flesh that held Kentoku together at the center. The Twins, Des had argued passionately, are dreamers. They're young, capable, charismatic, maybe even good people...but all they have is a dream. Let them see that they need us, and they'll come back to the table. Then, once we have the Dastana back, we can make all the changes you want. Just wait. Please, please, wait. And don't hurt anyone. But Inokio had gone to Yumi anyway, and Zuto Nui only knew what he had told her, because when she had asked the Battlemaster, the Imperial Executioner and his assistant what had been said, she received a unanimous cold shoulder. Her. The Chojo.

Her conclusion hadn't been hard to reach.

Chest fluttering in fear and stomach sick at the thought of spilled Dasakan blood, Des had fled her tower at long last, and made her way into the greater city of Sado. At first, it had dazzled her - the most beautiful city in all the world, surely, and with all these exciting places that Mother and Yumi had never let her stick her head in. But it was only days later that she had grown homesick, and soon her whole world and future was predicated on the edge of Yumi's decision - a decision that, as Des' disappearance dragged on, seemed to take longer and longer. Finally, when the word came, it sent Desdemona's heart fluttering. Yumiwa had ignored Inokio - maybe even taken her advice! It was only a matter of time before Yumi sent people out for her - or at least put a bounty out on information for her. She'd want her sister back eventually. Or Rayuke would find time, after rooting out the cause of Inokio's sudden change of heart. She'd seen Masa once, in the Gardens, even if the blind assistant hadn't seen her. Des had bet it was only a matter of time before she was on a carriage home, appreciated at last.

...

Maybe they're just busy, she remembered thinking after a while.

...

The Fursics could still have some cards up their sleeve.

...

They're working on who killed Mom!

...

They...they...they sent someone.

Misplaced pride it may have been, but Desdemona, much in the way that a child refuses to look or talk to anyone until a parent is kind to them, didn't want to crawl back home like she had just realized that no one had thought to keep an eye out for her. She wasn't ready to be so humiliated.

Instead, after she realized that no one had thought to keep an eye out for her, the girl who had been named after the kindest angel and the greatest queens found herself growing cold and bitter. The moon in the skies above filled, grew dark, and filled again before she knew it. And still, she wasn't home.

She found herself bereft of purpose, for the time being. By now, after over a month, Desdemona had started to become a familiar face in Sado at nighttime; there was no way she could be recognized as anything but noble, and so she had started being forced to give out the name Vilda Masayoshi (Vilda for her slim, sad, pretty looks and Masayoshi for the fact that Des could think of no one she wanted with her more at the moment) but she knew that disguise would never hold up. She had to leave Sado. Her family at Oki might take her, she considered, or they might just send her back to the family. She knew she would never cut it living as a hermit at Odaiba. For one night only, she even considered going to Iki and asking to advise the Twins. The Kentoku Republic, as they had coined their fledgling government, was winning new clans by the week, even stealing from the fringes of Imperial territory. The Fursics had not taken in five rebellions what Yumiwa had let the Dastana take in one. If they were doing good...

In the end, though, she'd decided against it. The world thought so little of the bony freak in the palace tower to begin with...and betraying her clan for those who had torn the Empire asunder would only leave her name as a target for spit in the history books.

That left one place in the Empire to go, and the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. The name, pounding in her head like Mom's funeral bells, was what was keeping Desdemona Umbraline awake.

Kozu.

She had never been to the island of the Fursics, and neither had Yumiwa. But Mother had gone, during the last Rebellion, and so too had Rayuke, Ayiwah, and Inokio. Rayuke and the Commodore were old soldiers, and were too loyal to say anything, but after much pleading from herself, Yumi, and Hanako, Inokio had divulged that the island was a jewel, untouched by the rampant industrialization of Sado or the overwhelming wilds of Odaiba or Oki. Even the bloody ruin of the five Fursic Rebellions (all of which had ended with a resounding sack of the Fursic complex built against the mountain at the island's center) failed to touch their beauty for more than a few generations. By now, Inokio said, it was probably back to normal - smooth beaches, wide grasslands that sat in the sun and flourished, the closest thing you could find to a paradise outside of Sado's own Imperial Gardens.

It was also, Desdemona had learned through hearsay, where Toroshu Nera had fled, with her sister, her entourage, and the Battlemaster Sheika, in a cold rage after the announcement of the Dastana's pardon. Only Kuno remained, alone on Sado and easily bulldozed, and even his time ran short; Rayuke had promised to look into the murder of the courtier and the failed plot on the Hogo Toroshu as soon as things were resolved with Mother's murder. But Nera...

The more she thought about it, sprawled atop a cold crystal roof with a hood pulled up over her head, the more things made sense. 

Why had the Fursics not stepped in on one side or another, even when they had a chance to strike out on their own? 

How could Jasik have lied to Rayuke?

Who can fake a Soulsword? 

Nera...her sister...her entourage...and the Battlemaster Sheika.

Inokio had once told Des that she was unmatched in natural ability...but when it comes to savagery and creativity in battle, I've never seen anyone quite like Battlemaster Sheika. You have her talent, Des, but you have a crown, a name, a large heart. All of these, Sheika lacks...and all of them, she has always detested.

Every Soulsword was taught to manifest their energy in an incorporeal form, devoid of anything that could be considered a weapon. All of them in history had claimed their own Soulsword, unique in shape and hue. Except for Jasik Dastana.

Sheika had trained both twins herself, and made a fortune doing it.

Just like she would make a fortune off of a war, whether the Dastana or the Fursics came out on top.

But they were old, old and set in their ways. They hadn't counted on Arsix's level head, or Jasik's diplomatic charm. They had counted on the Twins baiting Yumi, and they had planned on Yumi chomping down, as easily as she would on a cherry crumb cake. And then, when it hadn't worked...

They tried with someone they knew she'd listen to.

"Oh..."

Desdemona's stomach tightened into a knot.

"Son of a ######." It was the first time she'd ever cursed in her life.

How long had they all been played? Months? Years? Does it all go back? Before me, before Yumi, before the Twins or Kuno or Hana, back to when Mom and Dad were young? Have we ever controlled our own lives, or were they doing it all for us?

These were the kinds of questions you often asked yourself on the Kentoku Archipelago, but rarely had they felt so sinister.

Everything in her body screamed to head back to the Imperial Palace. Hug Yumi, hold her close, tell her everything she suspected about their lives since the moment that the Chaotic Six had washed ashore. Pull Masa into her tower and lay her head down on the assistant, let herself be soothed and comforted into taking back her title as Chojo. She wanted to hear Rayuke's bass of a voice read her a bedtime story, one about Valkyr fighting off Shinushya, or the Umbralines of old. She wanted the Empire together. She wanted the Empire destroyed. She wanted...she wanted...

I want to be a girl again, Desdemona Umbraline thought, eyes welling with fluid, I just wanna be a girl with a mom.

Every reason why that could never happen was sitting on Kozu. Right. Now.

She sat up on the roof and put her arms over her knees. Her head found its way to the sky, up to the full moon, and she remembered an urban legend that Rayuke had told her about Shinushya once. They get in people's heads when the moon is at its fullest, her Uncle had chuckled, and then they play trick after trick on you until they've had their fun, and they decide to gobble you up whole!

He would end the scary story by tickling her abdomen every time, mimicking the feel of little teeth on her little stomach. She would giggle and giggle until she was out of breath.

Goddess, forgive me.

Before dawn, she had stowed away aboard the first supply ship out to Kozu.

I think they're in my head.

-Tyler

IC:

I’ve experienced a lot of frustrating things. Trying to tie my boots, for example, is a big one. Laces blend in with the rest of the boot. Even when I’ve got them I have to tie from memory, hope I get it right. Even with the most specific sonar information, information that lets me act as though I can almost see, tying my boot laces takes a few tries. Anything to do with my eyes is probably right up there on the list, under talking to Inokio and dealing with nobles.

The top ten items combined haven’t got jack ###### on trying to find someone that no one seems to want to find. When nobles disappear, manhunts tend to occur. Mobilizations of Menti en masse to find the missing person and bring them home safely. Wars had been started over less. If Yumiwa had disappeared from her bedroom, from the moment she was born to right now, every Umbraline in the Archipelago would have been looking for her. Every Umbraline, every Hogo, every Menti with a little loyalty to the crown. Some without it, too, if they were looking to earn a favor. But Desdemona? Desdemona went missing from her tower nearly a month ago, and it was almost like no one noticed.

I went to Rayuke. Tried to. My ward is never around anymore. He dismisses me from his company and tends to his plants day in and day out. I don’t know what’s gotten into him, and I don’t have time to ask. Inokio couldn’t care less, and I wouldn’t go to him looking for my cat. And Yumiwa… Oh yes, our Rora herself. The Chojo’s sister. I’m not sure she even bother making a show of looking, let alone actually looking. Not that she’d ever look herself. That’d require putting down her crumbcake and getting up off her pampered two ton ######. She’s far too delicate for that. She spends her entire life walking amongst the people, and when they need to believe she’s their supporter most she holes up in her throne room.

She came to find me in the Gardens. Desde did. She spoke to me, but I was too slow. She left a trail and I almost had her, but I lost the trail in the Markets. I wandered through every alley for days, spoke with every merchant, and bribed so many Saihoko for information I was probably poorer than they were. Still nothing. I couldn’t find her. Couldn’t find her myself, and couldn’t find anyone to turn to.

So I took a third option. Rayuke has allowed me unrestricted access to everything but his innermost sanctum for years. And I wasn’t looking for his bonsai trees. The seal of the Imperial Executioner is kept in his desk, in the top right locked drawer. One key is on his person. The other is on mine. Two weeks after Des first went missing, orders from the Executioner’s office to find the Chojo made their way into the hands of Hogo patrol captains. All information was to be given to the Executioner.

And with his increasingly reclusive habits, that meant it all came to me.

Even with my ‘official’ Hogo patrols, I still couldn’t find her. But I found where she’d been. Several inns, with rooms rented by ‘Vilda Masayoshi’. I can guarantee that no Vilda Masayoshi exists, and if by some chance she does, she’s never stayed in Sado. And she certainly didn’t match the Chojo’s profile. But even those leads went nowhere. She is the most gifted Menti seen in countless generations. If she doesn’t want to be found, no one is going to find her. She could use Sighteye to make them unable to see her, or Willhammer to make them forget they ever saw her.

Maybe I’ve looked right at her. Maybe I found her, and she made me forget. Maybe she wasn’t even in Sado anymore, or maybe someone got to her. Dozens of these maybes. More than I can count, and I can’t stop thinking about them. All I can do is keep looking, hoping she’s okay and trying to mask my rage at how little anyone seems to care.

And when I’m resting, one question persists. Why did she run? What could possibly make her, after all she’s gone through, run away? Through her family’s treatment, through boredom, through her own mother’s assassination, she stayed. She was more loyal than I ever could be. What could have changed? What could make her so scared or so angry? The truth is that I don’t know. I know about every high profile investigation in the entire palace. I know about the Tribunal interviews that have been done, every lead, and every suspect. We started with the servants first, thinking their quiet access might have given them the opportunity. Then the kitchen staff. We had been starting in on the Hogo, when Yumiwa made her announcement.

Then the Tribunal petered off. Rayuke withdrew. And Inokio stayed by the Rora’s side. But it was actually in those notes that she found her suspicions. The Chojo, from the moment her skills had been refined enough, had been the Rora’s early warning system. A guardian overhead, keeping an eye on everything that happened around her. Not one person could withstand her will if she chose to take a closer look. She disappeared so soon after the Tribunal began that, maybe… Maybe she found something. Something she didn’t think she could trust any of us with.

The moment I realized that I was alone, against an infiltrator somewhere in our midst, is about when I stopped being able to sleep. And the moment that I realized that there was no help to be found anywhere in the palace. The only person I could trust had become a recluse, Yumiwa would have me clapped in irons, and Inokio… Inokio hadn’t been seen for days. Ironically, Yumi had started searching for him.

…

I’m doing something reckless. I really am. Even for me, what I’m doing just barely toes the line between “necessary” and “treasonous”. I have no love for the Empire. Even less for the Rora. But Lord Rayuke and Desdemona, them I am loyal to. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t. And I hope Rayuke will understand why.

Iki couldn’t be more barren. And my spine is cold, even in the sun at noon. Probably because there isn’t a person on this island that would mind ending my existence. The last time I came here was at Rayuke’s side, with all the authority of his office behind me. Now I come with no authority but my own. Maybe that’s why I came fully armed.

Maybe the arms are why the guards outside the Twins’ estate are truly very unhappy to see me.

IC: Maripi - Rooftops, Sado

Status update: Docks in sight. Hopefully Somei will be there...For a second I wonder if Askha won't be there, but then I remember that last time I checked I was the one in a pile of rubble while she ran off ahead. Typical.

IC:

"First Son? The Lady Masayoshi, of the Clan Umbraline, assistant to the Royal Executioner, is outside. She...humbly requests some of your time this afternoon."

Jasik was lounging in one of the seven solars in the Dastana compound on Iki, facing southeast towards the crystalline gem that was Sado in the distance. In lieu of a window, a large red curtain had been bifurcated and pulled to the sides, so that a balcony yawned from the end of the hall down to the rocky coast and sea below. A dozen guests could have each taken up a bubble of space in the room, but for the moment, it belonged solely to Jasik, his book, and a flagon of wine on the table beside his velvet couch.

At the sound of the Dastana announcing an audience, Jasik's head turned slightly to the left, then down to gaze upon himself. His face split into a familiar smile.

"We've all logged some travel miles this year," he found himself muttering into his chest. "Send her in, Cyrunei."

The Dastana lingered where she stood atop the stairs. There were four of them, short and squat, that turned the center third of the audience chamber into a box with furniture arranged. Jasik sat propped up on pillows, like a panther lounging in a menagerie, and turned quizzically to face the Menti addressing him.

"Yeah?"

"It's...it's just...your wounds, I thought...would you..." She looked flustered. "...Shall I tell her to wait while you cover up?"

"Is that it?" Jasik laughed and slid down the couch slightly before standing up. The muscles in his chest and armed stretched under skin that stretched tight and raw, sending him hissing in pain. "The wounds need sun and fresh air to heal, Cyrunei, the Datsue insisted. Besides, it's just a shirt. And besides-besides," he added, smile growing slightly mocking, "doubt I'm her type."

Regardless, the First Son pulled on a pair of riding boots while Masayoshi was escorted in. When she stopped at the same stairs as Cyrunei, the Imperial Executioner's assistant located Jasik with her sonar, flicking the handle of the wine flagon with a forefinger.

"Can I offer you some?" he asked politely. "Birthday present from Kuno Fursic. From the private stocks of Rora Yusaria I, of Blessed Memory. The current Rora's...grandmother? Great-grandmother. The last one to occupy the office of Chojo before reigning Rora, so whichever that was. Described by historians who knew her as the sweetest, most beautiful Umbraline to rule for a thousand years. But she was weak, too, and in the second year of her reign she picked up a toxin from a jealous girlfriend, put aside for an Ageru. Died within another ten. They only figured it out just before I was born." Jasik poured one cup of wine before Masayoshi had even framed a reply, and took a sip of it with a stifled grin.

"Seems like the palace is a terrible place for little girls like that."

-Tyler

IC:

"Great-grandmother, yes."  My crystal cane made a quiet clack off of the stone floor every time it hit, half a dozen times while I used it to navigate a little further into the room. I don't really need it. I already knew where he was, too. But I used it when last I saw them, and I'll just let him keep guessing. Turned to face him once he spoke, purposely overshooting just a little so my 'gaze' was just to his left. I didn't let him get a rise out of me, either. I know what he's trying to do. He won't get what he wants. "Her sister Yusira was Rora first. Inseparable, until one died. Then the other. They were an oddity for the Royal family. Caused a bit of a conflict over who would be Rora and who Chojo. They were twins, you see."

I'll just let that hang there a second.

"A small one, perhaps. I have traveled quite a ways, but I will have more to travel before the day is through." One way or another, that was true. Back to Sado, perhaps, or to one of the other islands. It depended on what I learned. But I won't spend a single night under this roof, no matter what. "That's why I'm here. One of my wards has fled the palace, under some suspicious circumstances. Perhaps she's still in Sado. But even if she is, she is afraid to come back. Afraid, I think, of who might be waiting there."

"I'm not here to talk politics, Dastana Jasik. None of the royals will tell me what I want to know, even if they knew. And the Fursics, curiously, have disappeared into their little stronghold. All the while your secession grows." I paused a second, deciding exactly how blunt I want to be. Then I remembered the line about little girls.

"You didn't kill the Rora. I was here when Rayuke cleared you of that. You're a prick and a ######, and I can't say I haven't thought about wiping that grin off your face. And yes, I know you're grinning. But you aren't an assassin." My grip tightened on my cane a little, while I paused for a breath. "But I think, if there's anyone who knows what happened it's you and your sister. I don't care about your secession, as far as I'm concerned you have a point. I don't care if you knew, either, because you're no longer a subject for me to punish."

"But Desdemona is my charge, and the palace is my domain. Something has threatened them both, and I will root it out. You can save me some time."

IC:

"I have no idea what happened." Jasik shrugged easily and doubled back to the flagon, pouring a thimble cup for the visiting Umbraline. "I haven't spoken to your little princess since the night her mother died, and even then I don't remember saying much more than hi. Desdemona, Desdemona...too bad she's not a twin. We may not have had to split the Empire down the middle. I wouldn't count her out, though. She's a strong Menti. You've felt it, haven't you? The little sense of deja vu when you walk by her? You see a curtain flutter twice, hear her voice crack an extra time when she squeals your name...even as a man I've never felt so laid bare in my life. That, and she's sharp. Sharp enough that I know what I would have done if I were her - I would have figured it all out for myself. Maybe I did."

Jasik sighed theatrically and handed Masayoshi her small cup of wine, turning his back to her and walking back down the stairs into the pit-like center of the hall.

"If only there were someone who had put the whole thing together months ago, your whole search could have been avoided," he said forlornly. "If only there were some captivating, firebrand student of history who let heavy-handed, ambitious, dyed-in-the-wool First Son ###### like Kuno and Jiyu make jokes at his expense for not wanting to grab some decorative little title like Steward. If only there had been someone who realized that old people just plain kinda suck, and that they want to be so much better than the kids these days that they play right into our hands. If only you and Rayuke had thought to ask more than one question at a time, then maybe your princess wouldn't have had to run away in order to put the picture together. If only someone had just once stopped to ask, Hey. Jasik. What do you think is going on?"

Jasik turned with his upper body and finished his cup of wine with a trademark friendly smile.

"Go on, Lady Masayoshi. Ask me. What do I think is going on?"

-Tyler

IC:

He wants me to ask. He's enjoying this. Being able to hold it over me, over Rayuke by extension. Remind us how much of this is our fault. Rub it in our faces, and make me get down on my knees to learn what he knows. Remind me that I'm foolish and useless, that he's smarter. Play coy, draw it out so he can enjoy the moment as long as possible before he tells me what I want to know. Maximize how long he can feel superior over us. Make me say the eight words that will give him unmatched satisfaction.

I wouldn't let Inokio treat me like this. I'd shove his words right back down his throat until he regretted ever uttering them.

I wouldn't let Rayuke talk to me like this.

I wouldn't let Desdemona, and she would be appalled if she ever did.

I'm here in his home, on his island, in his Republic. Standing in the lion's den, surrounded by people who'd love to see me punished for the crimes of my Empire. I'm risking accusations of treason, my standing, and my life to come here and continue my mission. Unbending every bit of pride I have just to stand here and bargain for what he knows. And he wants the satisfaction of making me ask for his opinion, play his game to get what I need to know. Make me know how far I've fallen to be here, asking these questions. I understand why. We killed his mother. He wants what payback he can get. I wonder if he realizes he's acting like what he and his sister hates. Like the smug noble, above all the concerns of the rest of us. Knocking us down for his own pleasure. 

I wonder if he realizes that the quivering of my blades is the Mindarm that I'm keeping myself from knocking him down with. Or how much I want to hit him. But he has what I need. I've taken too long already. So if my pride is what it takes...  So be it. Doesn't matter.

"If you make one more remark at the Lady Desdemona's expense, you will regret it." Neutral. Neutral, Masa. I took a small, soft breath. "... What do you think, Dastana Jasik?"

IC:

"The case looking into your mother's killers is still ongoing." I commented, marginally less stiffly. I couldn't see him, but I could tell something had changed in his demeanor. Enough to make me a little less tempted to end him and cause an international incident. And I emphasize with him a little more than I'd like. Having someone who hurt you wander around, knowing they're not going to do anything... Bound to be worse for him. "It's being handled by the Executioner's office. Which means it's my job. They'll be found."

"That said... What do you have?"

IC: Another cough. "No I'm not carrying any #### bandages! Call a-" Askha gulped down another breath of air, "medic or something!"

IC: Higashi

"Don't worry, I gotcha surface wounds, but there ain't really a medic around right now, but that coughing up blood thing? I think you might got some serious stuff happening inside."

IC: "Well," Askha uttered through her clamped jaw, "you and I agree on something! You're Hogo, call one in!"

Her hand went back to applying pressure to her side. Needed to get more blood. How thick-masked was this woman? Well, her soulsword was a fist, so Askha mentally slapped herself for not seeing this coming. "I can tell you anything I know, I just... this hurts..." Askha coughed again, making it sound as wet as possible.

IC: Higashi

"I woooould, but you complain like a Hapaka in heat."

IC: Askha spat to the side. "I'll have a clear head when I don't have a jagged piece of crystal tapdancing over my ribs."

[Odaiba, Inside Ageru Lands (Hatchi)]

Hatchi nodded.  “I’m not so fond of the capital myself, but it is where the deepest purses are,” she said, not even bothering with a quizzical eyebrow raise.

 

IC: Ageru Tamachan (Odaiba, Ageru Lands)

"The deepest pockets and the shallowest hearts, the way I've heard it said" Tama remarked.

IC: Higashi

IC:

"Oh! Right." Jasik clapped his hands together and rubbed them for a second, already turning away to one of the other corridors that branched into the expansive hub that served as the Dastana compound's heart. "Almost forgot why I was in such a good mood."

Gesturing casually to his assistant Cyrunei (and wincing as his arm came back down too hard onto his side) the First Son started to walk down the aforementioned corridor. His voice carried down the hall back to the blind Umbraline, punctuated by the oily sliding of locks and the creak of a door. 

"You know, it's a funny thing they don't tell you about Battlemasters. Most of them? They never learn to throw a punch in their lives. Oh, their minds, sure...there's not a more fearsome weapon in all the world than a Battlemaster's mind, right, Lady Masayoshi? They got all those old proverbs about it. But you disarm them, and there's not an easier thing in the world to hurt...except maybe children." There was a muffled thud, and a yelp of pain. Jasik's breath began to escape in hisses, and a sort of dragging sound began approaching the solar. "They can't hit, and they can't take hits. I never knew why, but Sheika...Sheika taught me before I was old enough to smile. Battlemasters are the chosen of Zuto Nui. She gave us our minds, and the Disciplines with which to honor her. Every Battlemaster is just as much an avatar of Zuto Nui as a Rora. But it was Zataka that gave us bodies. And we children of Zataka can have some funny ways of worship."

Jasik had been dragging a particular Menti - one he rolled down the three stairs that led down to the center of the room. The Dastana followed and pulled up the Dasaka until he was sitting on his knees. An eye was swelling, and blood streamed down the same side of his face from a gash that had been half-tended to. He wore crystal cuffs and a tight gag with a knot that propped his mouth open.

"Right, Inokio? You slimy little ######." Jasik gave the bag of the gag a tug (Inokio squealed) and walked back to his couch, sitting down with a huff and kicking his feet up along the sofa's length. He was still smiling, but now his dark golden eyes were smoldering. His expression had become a leer, mocking and cruel. "After the Vilda ###### was set free, Arsix and I decided that we were being...ushered out of the picture, somewhat less than politely. You came to the Dastana for information, my lady? I have all the answers I could ever want...and I got them all from him. And now I'm giving him to you. He's all yours. Jail him, kill him, put him on a leash and make him read you his poetry. I really don't care. I just never want to see him again."

-Tyler

IC: Askha slowly began unbuckling her harness with the hand she wasn't using to staunch the bleeding. "Sure, sure. You're going to have to ask that Plangori for my falcata back, though."

While she did so, Askha kept her eyes on Hanabe and Higashi, switching between the two.

IC: Sydelia perked her head up when she picked up on the Ideatalk requesting a medic. She wasn't too far, in the royal gardens. She began repacking her satchel as she responded. She could use a break from the gossip of the day.

:This is Fursic Sydelia, I'm a healer. Where are you?:

IC:

Let me be clear about something, right off the bat. I don't trust Dastana Jasik.

So when he hauls out our missing Battlemaster, bound and (somewhat) beaten, like a trophy I've got a few thoughts. The first being that holy Zuto Nui is that cathartic. The catharsis goes away the instant I realize that he was plucked from Imperial land. Maybe even from Sado. That the Dastana could take him without anyone figuring out what happened, that they could do it on land under my guard, where my charges work, live, and sleep. Overwhelming. All of it's overwhelming. Too many worries, too many thoughts, to handle at once. One thing at a time.

"Believe me, I'm familiar with the children of Zataka's... methods." A little venomous, maybe, but it's not for Jasik. He deserves it. A knife slides easily from its sheath at my waist, and I haven't even lifted a finger. The First Son (both of them, actually) stiffen, whether they wanted me to notice or not. But it's not for either of them. It glides through the air, hilt first, towards the Korae Battlemaster, flipped around as though with a flick of the wrist to cut the gag at his mouth. Not that he was going to get a chance to speak just yet.

"You have ten seconds, Korae," The knife hovered halfway between us, point towards him. "To tell me something worth my while."

IC:

Inokio looked fit to either vomit or kill somebody.

"I can get you onto Kozu." He gave Jasik a glare full of vitriol and then back to Masayoshi. The vitriol only dropped slightly when he saw the blind assistant. "If...you don't plan on freeing me, and bringing this...maniac" - Jasik rolled his eyes and sipped at his wine - "to justice, then I can get you onto Kozu."

"See?" Jasik piped up. "Perfect. Will that be all, Lady Masayoshi?"

-Tyler

IC:

"Dastana Jasik is not an Imperial citizen. Justice for his crimes is the discretion of his own nation's arbiters. I'm sure they will be informed." I ignored Jasik, for now. He can wait a moment. It only takes a few steps for me to get good and close to the Battlemaster, and crouch down to his level. I had words to exchange with him. 

"Did you betray us?"

IC:

Inokio was silent for a long moment, holding the opaque visor of Masayoshi in a stare that was clearly trying not to shake. It was an effort to keep his right eye open.

"I forsook Order, in the name of Power and Honor. Clan Korae serves all." He closed his eyes briefly, and it was a struggle to open them again. Saying the words aloud felt toxic, even now. "I served Yusanora first, then my charge Yumiwa. Our goals have never been...entirely dissimilar. But I also served the information that led the Rora to Nera Fursic's assassins. I would have done the same for her daughter. I served Yumiwa bad advice on Mata Nui. I served her bad advice on the best way to deal with these cutthroats who attacked me, bound me like a dead elk, and brought me here to rest in a closet for days. But is that what you want to hear? Or are you waiting for a confession about your weak little princess? Because that I do not have."

-Tyler

IC:

"That isn't what I asked. I asked you a simple yes or no question. So now I will ask another, and after that another. And you will give me exactly as much information as the question requires, no more and no less. I do not have my ward's Rode, Korae, but I will know if you lie to me. But before that..." I reached up with my left hand, finding one temple each under my thumb and middle finger. The clasps depress easily, just as they were designed, and the visor separates from my face easily. The dim light that I can still register would be distracting for most, but I learned to ignore it a long time ago. And right now nothing was going to distract me. Inokio found my right hand around his jaw, forcing his head up. Forcing him to look me in the eye.

"If you insult the Chojo one more time, you will find out just how much I hate you. How little, really, I have to restrain myself from. Now." My eyes narrowed, fixed on where I knew his face to be. "Do you know who killed the Rora? If you do, who was it? What would you have done to Yumiwa, and to Desdemona?"

My grip tightened on his jaw.

"And what was your reward?"

IC:

"Sheika." Jasik mouthed the name along with him, along with a quiet curse. He was staring into the depths of his wine cup, face pensive again. 

"Yumiwa wasn't ready to rule for decades. A strong Empire...has always been my wish. But Yusanora catered to one daughter and locked the other away, and as she grew older she grew blinder to the damage she caused the Archipelago. With the enmity between sisters at an all-time high, putting one on the throne would have spelled disaster for the Umbralines and allowed someone forcetul to ascend to the title of Rora. The Dastana were meant to serve as an impetus for conflict, but they took a...special kind of glee in shirking their parts."

"Heh heh heh." Inokio glared at the other First Son and mouthed something softly before continuing.

"After the conflict had grown too much for Yumiwa to handle, I would have killed her myself - the other end of my accord with the Fursics. I have always...sought...knowledge, Masayoshi. There truly is no fiercer weapon than a Battlemaster's mind. With years of practice, the right tomes, the right minds alongside me...I was promised knowledge of the fourth Discipline under a Fursic Empress. Imagine how sweet it would be! To wield the same arsenal as the heroes of old! The life of a spoiled girl, compared to our species regaining its grasp on our own abilities...Yumi seemed a fair price to pay. But Desde..."

Here, Korae Inokio faltered for the first time. Never before had he looked into Masayoshi's eyes and seen what the very name of the Chojo did to the Executioner's assistant. The truth would go badly for him...but Inokio had always been valued for his counsel, hadn't he? For his perception. Suddenly, he perceived his life ending very, very quickly, no matter how he answered.

"Early on, my hope was that this would all be too much for Desde. She wanted the family half of the Imperial Family very badly, but none of the baggage that came with it. With no mother, no Hana, and Yumi growing more erratic by the month, in a perfect world she would have leapt right from her tower. I suppose we have you to thank for making sure that didn't happen. I must admit, the girl meant little to me. She would have died before she produced an heir - that, and I think the experience itself might have killed her. By herself, Desde was never a threat. And if there's one thing that Yusanora assured, it's that Desde was always by herself."

-Tyler

IC:

I wonder if he can hear my heart. 

I can. It's all I can hear. The beating, pumping, pounding of the blood in my ears. I can feel it pound harder, faster, more furiously. I can't even hear my own thoughts over the seething red of my mind. I haven't been able to hear anything but his answers, punctuated by the beating percussion flooding my senses, for almost a minute. A full minute while he keeps going, and going, and going. I think he can tell. He hesitates, and I know why. The poet has ceased his refrain long enough to appreciate his situation. As much as I appreciate that pause. It is only a brief respite, however, because he launches into the last answer. The one I've been waiting to hear. And then i don't hear anymore.

"Tell me, Korae Inokio." My grip tightened on his jaw, painfully so, before I let go completely. "Do you know what a First Son is to me? What it means to all the people who sided with the Dastana, who stay in the Empire because they don't know anything else?"

"We are children of Zataka to you. We are faulty gemstones set in the ornate crystal crown of this land."

"No." I can faintly hear the loose objects closest to me quiver and clatter, rocking shaking in their places. The knife behind me spins slowly in the air, almost thoughtfully. "Calling you a gemstone is too kind, and calling you faulty is too weak. You are a self-entitled, narcissistic thug with delusions of being something more. A glorified guillotine that learned to write amateur poetry. I hate First Sons, but I would gladly house one in my own quarters before I breathed the same air as you. You're a rabid dog that tried to bite that hand that fed you."

"Let me make something clear, because it seems like you and everyone else in this world forgot. A life is a life. You are not worth more than a Dashi, or a Saihoko, or a Ringti. Yumiwa is not worth less than your ambitions. The knowledge you seek is not for the good of our people, it is for the good of your greed. Being better than the common masses isn't good enough for you, no, you need to be a legend. You want to the whole world to remember you for all time."

My voice drops lower, colder than it has ever been. Surprising, that it didn't reflect the seething fire building in my heart.

"So you appointed yourself the judge of what is fair, the jury to your own decision, and the executioner of those in your way. You're not one of them. I could cut you down right here. I might have regretted it, but you're on tile. Nothing to stain." Slowly, I click the visor back into place. "But I need you. You're going to get me onto Kozu."

"And then I will let Desdemona decide, whether you die or I banish you from Imperial lands. And if Desdemona is no longer with us, you will join Yusanora. I expect she'll have words for you." I stood, casting the Battlemaster from my mind. He wasn't worth acknowledging, now. I'll deal with him later.

"I thank you for your assistance, Dastana Jasik. I will ensure it is not forgotten, and I will repay the favor one day. But if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

IC:

"I'll be waiting with baited breath. Take some grapes or something. If you're going to be storming Kozu or listening to his poetry, you're not gonna want an empty stomach." Jasik waved at the captive First Son cheekily and slowly coiled his fingers, one at a time, into a fist. The Korae Battlemaster had been staring at Masayoshi without expression for a long time, but at the sound of Jasik's voice, he looked up. Inokio's face grew tight.

"My deeds will be accounted for by the Chojo, Dastana." Inokio made the name sound like a curse. "Enjoy your victory. Enjoy dancing on the bones of this great Empire. Enjoy getting away with it all. But I answer to Zuto Nui, as do we all. One day, I only hope the Great Spirit will make you answer her, too."

The First Son crossed his arms over his bare, bandaged chest and stared at Inokio for a long time, expressionless. Then he grinned.

"Maybe. Throw in a bad word for me, then. You'll be meeting her first, old man. Cyrunei, see them out. With some grapes. Bye, Lady Masayoshi. Drop by sometime - we have a lot to look forward to around here."

Jasik's cheerful smile followed them all the way from the couch out of the solar.

-Tyler

IC: Higashi

"Nah, he can keep it," said Higashi casually. "Ya probably gonna get tried and executed, yaknow? Unless ya can spin a good yarn."

She took out the traditional Mashtet knife that she had earlier confiscated from Maripi.

"Did the same to your girlfriend," she explained, watching the light shine off its surface. "Took everything, except yaknow, that. I forgot to ask her consent before she booked it. Real fast one."

Fursic? Your cousins were fun. Killed a number of them before.

IC: Sydelia frowned as she followed the general direction of the Hogo's Ideatalk out into the city. Well, it wasn't so different from the respect she normally got.

:I'm adopted, so I highly doubt it. Did you wish to insult me more, or do you actually require a healer?:

IC: "You must be fun at parties. Ever considered taking that act on the road?"

Askha tried to cover the fear in her voice. Not at being promised execution, people promised they'd kill her at least twice a week. If Sydelia was on her way, she was screwed. A stay in the Imperial prisons awaiting the headsman looked comparatively nice. That traitorous ***** was psychotic.

IC: Higashi

"I was actually serving security at the party when Yusanora was assassinated."

Her voice had turned murderous. Higashi didn't bother to hide the overwhelming anger and guilt and pain and icy, burning desire for vengeance.

"The act's ta' throw people off," she explained, her relaxed, conversational tone returning without missing a bit. "Not great for amusing people that well. A cousin of mine nearly took my head off earlier today."

Calm down sweetheart, just need some healing mumbo-jumbo up the wazoo.

"Say, your eyes look sketchy. What's up?"

IC: The Mashtet focused on Higashi, sizing her up. "You were there? Well, I won't call you out for screwing up your job if you don't call me out on screwing up mine. And as for your cousin, that might be another thing we have in common if Sydelia gets here. She's a nasty bit of work. Belongs with the Fursics, at least."

IC: Higashi

"Your screw-up was in aiding and abetting scum," said Higashi bluntly, harshly. "Mine was failing my liege. They're not remotely comparable."

It was a failure. Her failure. Her clan's failure. The failure of every single person there who had fallen short in their abilities. The failure they shared in allowing their Rora to die.

And then she was chipper again.

"Still, that's some real ... Fursicism? That the right word, yeah. Fursicism, right there. She really that crazy, though?"

IC: "You've got that wrong. I was working to ensure my family stays out of the gutters. I was told to help someone escape, so I did. Not all of us have the luxury of having our leash held by the ruling clan of the empire."

Most of the pain had left Askha's demeanor. "And yes, she is that crazy. She was a real sadistic piece of work before she defected, and I don't imagine her time with the Fursics did anything to improve her. Our clans didn't exactly have the greatest of relationships."

IC:

I gave the Dastana First Son a faint nod on my way out, once I'd forced Inokio to his feet and gotten him moving. His servant actually did hand me some grapes after she led me out, but I didn't pay too much attention past a few words of thanks. I tucked them into my bag and focused my efforts on keeping the Korae towards the docks.

"For your sake, you'd better hope Desdemona is still alive."

IC:

"You will be the one who lives without her, not I." Inokio sat in Masayoshi's boat meekly nonetheless, hands behind his back and shoulder blades propped on the nose of the boat. "Yumiwa will never forgive you for this, you know. It will always be your word against my memory. Which do you think wins, Assistant?"

There was a pleasant breeze off the starboard side of the boat, so the Battlemaster angled his body so that the salt wind blew across his face. The cut on his face stung at the weather's touch, but it had been days since he had seen sun or sea, and a soft sound of contentment escaped his lips before he could stop it. Why should he, anyway? The woman clearly planned to kill him unless the princess spoke on his behalf, but if Desdemona had gone to Kozu, she had clearly meant to take things into her own hands to begin with. Besides, the girl had no strength at arms beyond her mind - considerable, almost supernaturally so, but not infallible, and Desdemona was no killer. 

To please her bodyguard, though...

There was an unnerving thought.

The best thing to do was make sure that the three of them didn't return to Sado. Killing Masayoshi now would deprive the party of a skilled sword - seven, he thought dryly - but would also engender suspicion from Desdemona instantly. The wounds from Inokio's distinctive Soulswords wouldn't help, either. A skilled Willhammer attack would be a cleaner option, with no evidence, but it would have to be done soon; the Chojo spent half of her life dawdling on the mental plane, and would recognize either of them instinctively. That was, if the Chojo was alive. She can't be.

But if she was...

If he brought back Desdemona and a dead Masayoshi, the girl truly would never trust him again. No. The best option was to take care of them both, if everyone actually made it off Kozu. Desdemona had a slim neck. Inokio abhorred physical violence, unlike the dirty boxing thug he called his previous captor, but snapping it would even the playing field tremendously. Though, he considered for the first time, there are the physical disadvantages... Inokio had never been particularly muscular, and days in captivity without food or water had left him weak. Even the pleasant weather left him dizzied in a mix of pleasure and shock, like the feeling that lingers after a long, deep nap.

He had time to think about it. Patience was required here; patience and the soft, sure hand that had guided the Rora for decades.

Step one - keep Masayoshi out of her element.

"It's almost funny. I have spent much of my life dabbling in poetry and music, Masayoshi - enough to know that there are only a handful of reasons to rescue a sad young girl at the end of the world," he opined. "Since you've never been shy of arguments with me, there's nothing to fear from asking frankly. What's yours?"

-Tyler