Tom D02s14

TheTale: Day Two - The Dead of Night.
TheTale: A bitter cold outside the manor. The streets are empty - but for the huddled masses underneath every archway and in every alley.
Eris‘ just can’t seem to stay away from the palace it seems - she's not too fond of staying out in the cold this late at night, and begins heading back there as soon as they leave Maria's house. Time to talk to the defense - they're never supposed to rest, right?
TheTale: Oh, the defense rests all the time. It's the prosecution that works her eternal vigil.
TheTale: There's distant giggling, over wine, somewhere in the halls of the palace. Before you head out into the cold again, towards the Court of Wishes.
Zen has decided to accompany Eris, this time without his armor so just some simple plain clothes
TheTale: In the light of candles burnt low, standing in the middle of the coliseum, Kline makes her eternal case.
Charlotte: "Now that's some Tenacity."
Eris: "You look a lot different when you're content to look human."
Zen: "I do, but I feel a bit vulnerable like this…"
Zen: "But I figured the outfight might not be the best thing to wear when talking to Kline"
Eris‘ comes to a stop at the railing overlooking the pit where Kline and her desk rest, before leaning over and calling out to her. "Got a few moments, darling?"
TheTale: The bags underneath her eyes could fit dodos. She sneers, breaking her stride in mid argument - "Does it look like I - you know what? The prosecution requests a recess."
TheTale: …And normally, like all the other 16,111 times, she would have gotten "Motion denied" …
TheTale: But tonight? In this cold?
TheTale: "…Motion accepted. The court takes recess."
TheTale: …It’s probably the privilege of a Pure Heart.
Eris‘ flashes Kline a smile, then hops over the railing and makes her way over to the desk.
Zen waits until Eris heads in, then rests against the railing himself, just watching
TheTale: She plays with all the little cat-figurines, each in a row, spinning them on the edge of their bottoms, as the defense attorney leaves.
TheTale: "You’d smell good," Kline says. "If it weren't for all the death on you."
TheTale: She turns her nose towards the motionless skeleton judge.
TheTale: "First time the creaky thing said yes, though."
Eris: "Ah, one would think being lock up here you'd have started to become immune to that particular scent…?" Eris shrugs, hands up. "Well, I tend to get my way when I ask for things polietly."
TheTale: She balances one of her figurines upon her pointer-nail, looking towards the empty audience. "Is that what you're here to do?"
Eris: "My friends and myself had wanted to ask you a few questions, as it happens!" Eris claps her hands together once, then gestures back towards Zen, Charlotte and Lin.
Eris: "Particularly about Leves Chime and Plenes Atlsie."
Zen heads down, since Eris introduced them already, he nods to her
Charlotte curtsies politely to her.
TheTale: She licks her fangs. "Like I recall every corpse I'm keeping buried off the top of my head?"
Eris: "I have it on good authority that you have a bit of a personal connection with Leves, and I imagine Plenes would stick out in your mind, given the crime she was charged with."
TheTale: She tugs at the sleeve of her jacket a little. Her tail flicks. "Yes. Plenes Altsie. Attempted shooting of the queen. She's four foot five, and, assuming she shot from the doorway where she was discovered, for her to make the shot she was executed for would be essentially an impossibility."
TheTale: "Nevertheless, despite the lack of motive, she's remained buried deep and championless, despite the considerable interest the Altsie family would likely have in dredging her up."
TheTale: "Of course, isn't that in of itself an argument against her revival?"
TheTale: "If what the kingdom says it needs is leaders, brave soldiers who can unite the forces and march to victory…"
TheTale: "…Someone with a conspiracy arrayed against them would simply be a waste of time and effort."
TheTale: "IE, her case fails simply on the cause self-evident: Does Prospero need another victim?"
TheTale: "As for Chime, I've defeated a few dozen cases against her. I suspect I could do it in my sleep, now."
TheTale: "If you'd like to bring another one, I'll welcome the chance for a rare nap."
TheTale: "…For her, I meant to say."
Eris‘ laughs into a hand.
Eris: "What are the issues surrounding her? We didn’t get too many details on Chimes."
TheTale: Kline approaches Eris with a sway. "Challenging me without doing your homework?"
TheTale: "Stupid girl."
Zen just watches, waiting on Eris' reaction to that
Eris: "Challenging…? No no! I honestly haven't a clue what they're accused of, or why you put so much zeal into keeping them dead, is all!"
Eris: "And I figured… well, who better to ask than you?"
TheTale: Her hand flashes out, leaving the thinnest of red scratches along Eris' cheek.
Eris‘ smiles. "Oh, am I supposed to flirt first…? I confess I’m not quite up on my court ettiquette."
TheTale: "I'm not stupid. I know that you want them, and I know it goes through me."
Eris: "I wasn't implying you were stupid, dear." Eris lets out an exasperated sigh. "Honestly, there's no reason to be hostile."
Eris: "I would like one of them out, yes. Would you like to know why?"
TheTale: "Sure."
TheTale: She paces away, twisting one of her shackles around her wrist.
Eris: "Word may or may have travelled down here already, but there is a new man in charge of the captain of the guard. His mind has, shall we saw, been corrupted by the influence of a demon bent on the total erradication of this world, as well as fused with a fiend." She pauses. "And it will do its best to accelerate the war effort, which is good for precisely no one."
Eris: "Now, we have the Queen's partical concent to remove this new Captain… as soon as we have a replacement lined up. The two people I inquired about were three of the people we were looking into for that purpose."
Eris: "As it would be ever so helpful in our efforts towards stopping the war, while killing the demon in question."
TheTale: "Stopping the war…"
TheTale: "You know, some days, all that keeps me going is knowing that…"
TheTale: "Every single smug face I look at is going to end up gurgling blood in the snow."
TheTale: "In five years or fifty."
Eris: "On the other hand,"
TheTale: "Yeah."
Eris: "If there was no war, there'd be no reason to keep you here."
TheTale: Kline shakes her head.
TheTale: "What, you think they could find anyone else to do this job?"
TheTale: She turns her hands up.
Zen: "More like there'd be no reason for this job"
TheTale: "Not everyone can go first."
Eris: "I'm sure some jealous and slighted noble would be up for it. Perhaps not as good at it as you, but."
TheTale: "When there isn't enough for everyone, you have to make decisions somehow."
TheTale: "That's the truth so ugly they can't accept it without putting a demon tiger in front of it."
TheTale: "Even if the war stops… they won't let me go, you know?"
Eris: "I'm sure I could convince them otherwise."
Eris: "And if not I know I could set you free myself."
Eris: "Or maybe Zen." She rolls a shrug.
TheTale: "You could, couldn't you?"
TheTale: "And either way, it's not like I can imagine your stupid face gurgling blood in a snowfield."
Eris: "It's true, I'm far too dignified for gurgling blood."
Zen: "It'd take a lot of work" it's not clear which previous phrase this is a response to
TheTale: "Try Plenes Altsie, then."
TheTale: "And get me out."
Eris‘ nods, while extending her hand towards Kline.
TheTale: She takes Eris by the hand and pulls her into a kiss.
TheTale: And then, pushes her against the desk.
Zen takes a step back, and mutters something to himself
Linlea quirks an eyebrow before glancing at Zen.
Eris` is, admittedly, caught a bit off guard and doesn’t really react for a moment, and when she does it's simply laughing into Kline's mouth.
Charlotte lets out a wolf whistle before giggling.
TheTale: She draws back and smiles.
TheTale: The judge pronounces: "The recess is ending. Guests are to leave the court."
Eris: "I seem to be gaining an awful lot of admirers since coming here, haven't I…?"
TheTale: Kline keeps her hold on Eris's wrist, and kisses her again.
TheTale: "You are to let the guest depart, or you will be held in contempt of court-" The judge pronounces.
Eris‘ shrugs helplessly, but returns the kiss.
TheTale: Kline pulls back, spit on her lips, for just a moment -
TheTale: "I AM in contempt!"
TheTale: And then she is shot, by crossbow bolt, through the heart.
TheTale: Falls to the floor.
Eris: "My."
Eris: "Well."
TheTale: …
Zen intercedes- No, this probably happens too often, maybe it was too fast- He’s just halfway there by the time it strikes
Eris‘ pushes herself up from the desk.
Eris: "That’s one way to ruin the moment!"
Linlea stares at the two of them before shaking her head. "Kind of glad I stayed out of that one."
TheTale: One of the cat figurines on Kline's desk glows, and rattles, and Kline steps herself out.
TheTale: Bags under her eyes are gone, at least.
TheTale: "Get out of here," she says, with a flick of her tail.
Eris‘ gives Kline a grin. "Worth it…?"
Zen rubs his forehead, sighs and walks off "(This is just so…)"
Linlea follows after Zen. "… that whole migration thing still weirds me out a bit. Not used to it, I guess…?"
TheTale: "I needed one. Better than most ways of getting it," she says. She shuffles through her papers. Gets ready to resume.
Eris` waves with her fingers before leaving. "Toodles!"
Zen: "It’s weirder when you need to help them out for a couple of weeks and then they turn out not even looking the same"
Zen: "But after a while you get used enough to it, and you can call people without their face"
TheTale: Eris: There's a little bit of monster blood on your clothes.
Zen: "Either way…" he looks at Eris "This is about to involve both a mouse and a cookie at this rate"
Eris‘ is glad it’s the dead of night and will be spic and span by morning, yes.
Eris‘ catches up with the others, throwing one arm around Zen’s neck and the other around Linlea's. "How so?"
Eris: "It seems pretty cut and dry to me; we get Maria's uncle to plead a case, Kline doesn't argue it, Plenes is up, we get Kline out in a few days. Simple!"
Zen: "Queen asked for a new guard captain, Kline asked to get out of here, you can bet we're likely to be asked to find a replacement for kline"
Zen: "And keep snowballing from there"
Zen: "So… We're probably going to have to brute force her out of here"
Eris: "Kline can go on the back burner for a few days! It's not like it was implied by me or expected by her that she'd be out tomorrow."
Zen: "Hope it's the case"
Linlea scrunches up her face before glancing to her side. "If it really does start to snowball we can just nip the problem at the bud. Hopefully without making too many enemies."
Zen: "Why do they even keep Kline here, though"
Eris: "Well, as she said!"
Eris: "Someone's got to make arguements against people cutting in line."
Eris: "It'd be utter chaos without someone doing her job."
Zen: "Yes, but keeping a prisioner of war with a burning intent to see that nobody ever actually gets a spot as the one doing her job"
Zen: "Sounds really strange"
Eris: "That's the beauty of it -"
Eris: "Kline is invested in screwing them all over equally."
Linlea: "So what's the plan tomorrow, then?"
Eris: "So if no one can win against her… the line stays orderly, and people are revived in the same order they die."
Linlea: "Point of order and all that."
Zen: "That… Sounds like about a hundred times more work than required to reach a worse final outcome"
Zen: "It would be far simpler to simply rule that there will be no cutting the line"
Zen: "It would be far simpler to have a human do this job"
Eris: "Mmm. Well, for tomorrow I imagine our first step is getting Mr. Atlsie to court, then doing everything I sai a small while ago. Then killing the demon, of course."
Zen: "Honestly, this is just a circus so people can point their hathred at her I imagine"
Zen: "But good plan"
Eris: "Tut tut tut."
Eris: "Compared to any other member of the court? It's hard to imagine her getting involved in bribery and corruption. And she enjoys her work, or as much as she can given the circumstances at least, Zen. It makes sense."
Eris: "Even if it's, ah, somewhat cruel."
Zen: "It… Still doesn't makes sense to me"
Zen: "You say it's hard getting her involved in bribery" he looks at her "When you effectively just did it"
Zen: "…"
Zen: "But it's probably too late for this talk"
Eris‘ nuzzles the side of her face against Zen’s. "That's because you're a precious cinnamon roll."
Zen: "We're getting her out of here anyway"
Linlea shakes her head. "I'd consider a lot of things that are handled out here cruel, for what it's worth."
Eris: "Oh no doubt, this place is a mad house."
Zen: "This world was specifically engineered to lead to suffering on both sides so unsurprisingly, Linlea"
Eris: "But at any rate, I don't think we had any further plans for the evening?" A glance between Zen and Charlotte.
Linlea: "How does that make you feel, though? This is YOUR world, isn't it?"
Zen: "My plan is sleeping well for now"
Charlotte shakes her head. "Sleeping sounds good."
Zen looks at Linlea "Makes me feel pretty bad, honestly"
Linlea: "I'm afraid we're two time blocks too late if sleeping well was your plan, Zen." She smiles.
Zen: "What, you need more than three hours of sleep?"
Eris: "I think you're technically supposed to get between six and seven… but." She rolls a shrug as she releases Zen.
Eris: "We'll meet back up at the manor in the morning."
Zen nods "I'll see you then"
Linlea nods. "I'm heading back to the caravan."
Eris: "Correct!"
Charlotte: "See you in the morning."
Linlea glances at Eris before shaking her head.
Eris: "What?"
Eris: "You're not jealous are you…?"
Zen: "She wanted to be your first kiss"
Zen: "But Kline stole that from her"
Eris: "Pshaw, as if that wasn't discarded ages ago."
Linlea: "Nothing about that was a question. And if you were responding to Zens remark that was already a response to yours… you just have a certain way of speaking, I guess."
Eris: "Oh, no, I was in fact speaking with you." Eris sqeezes her arm around Linlea a bit, then starts heading for the caravan after waving goodbye to Zen.
TheTale: The caravan.
TheTale: It's late at night.
TheTale: Except for Alice, on the walls, watching over it with her crossbow, no one's awake.
Linlea nods to Alice. "Really appreciate you chipping in like this."
Eris‘ gives Alice a nod, then a salute.
TheTale: She salutes from her perch. She’s wearing a blanket over her shoulders - in for the long haul.
Linlea: "Probably common sense, though. It's everyones ticket out of here."
Eris` then goes to turn in for the night. They can check in with Sophia and the others in the morning, no sense in waking them.
TheTale: Rest while you can.