War.

War.

Postby channe » Sun Feb 26, 2012 8:51 pm

(EDITED: Yeah, I have no brain.)

The movements of soldiers, and farmers who would be soldiers, in the night -- quiet movements, nothing that would alarm the crowd.

[i]Two guards from the Meetinghouse taking a prone Aleksei River to the Rememdium.

A detachment of guards to the Meetinghouse, there to stand, instructed to let no-one in on pain of arrest.

Guards sent to the home of Kerrak al'Nerun, there to bring the man back to the Meetinghouse for questioning, upon orders of Defense councilmember Agnieszka Kaczmarek.

And Agnieszka herself at the barracks where she used to preside, ringing the war-bell, the Myrkenites on rotation that week being roused from their beds.

It's a drill. Isn't it?

And the news: Treachery from Thessilane.
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Initiative D

Postby Glenn » Mon Feb 27, 2012 2:02 am

Almost simultaneously, notes would arrive to the Chief Constables of the Detective and Street Branches of the Constabulary and the rather put upon man who had previously been in charge of the militia before Renea entered the picture and Agnieszka reentered it. Even though it was in the middle of the night they had already been stirred by the beginning of activity.

Agnieszka Kaczmarek, while talented and passionate for the defense of Myrken Wood, is, unfortunately, on occasion, a raging and violent drunkard and as such unreliable on her own. This is partially why we have set up a system of checks and balances, especially in light of the fates of previous Councilors for Defense. In the unlikely event that she simultaneously brands her both of her Defense Committee members as traitors, you are to act as follows:

- Gauge the situation to the best of your abilities. Is there an army at our doorstep? Are Channelers attacking us? Have a horde of drow come up from the ground?
- If the answer is yes, follow all of her orders pertaining to the defense of Myrken directly and with haste. As I said, her loyalty should not be put into question.
- If the answer is no, be on guard, be prepared, but do not act upon her orders until you hear from me. If any have already been acted upon, countermand and delay what you can. I will be in touch shortly.

I trust in your judgment and discretion in this matter,
Glenn Burnie


There was a reason Glenn had insisted that the former militia leader had been kept on staff below Renea and Agnieszka both. Such grudges tended to be useful in situations like this. There were similar letters discussing both Renea and Kerrak. He didn't really trust any of them on their own.

Constables would arrive to meet the guards well before they reached Kerrak's abode, due to a fourth note that Glenn had written while on the move. There would be a loud turf war of sorts, chests sticking out, batons waving, braggardly comments made. The constables, lead by the Jacobs brothers, had been informed to delay the militiamen at all costs. Delaying was enough, especially since none of the guard wanted to go anywhere near a channeler. The countermanding orders were surely on their way, right?

Agnieskza had specific orders on what to do if Kerrak went traitor. She wasn't to do any less than kill him herself. That she hadn't gone to do so was just another sign to Glenn that she was not fully capable, currently. There were SIGNS and processes for something so extreme. More than that, there was ego. If there was truly a crisis, she should have damn well went to him. There WAS no army at their gates. There was enough time to do more than send a note before acting all upon her own. One did not bruise Glenn Burnie's ego lightly in matters of HIS Myrken and HIS Government.

Therefore, he had no regret as he climbed up to the tower that housed the bell. It was a narrow space. perhaps seven feet deep and seven feet across, fifteen feet up. The wind would batter at both of them and he would glare at her with cold, crystal eyes. "Stop, Agnie." She likely would not have heard his approach over the din. "One does not meet 'Trechery ' as you so put it, this way. If we have been attacked with scalpel and a surgeon's skill, we do not meet that with a hundred hammers. We do not declare war without the Council. We meet treachery with treachery. And YOU do not send Myrken into an unstoppable doom without me. Stop and explain things to me, slowly and carefully, before we get any deeper into this. Kostroma will latch on to any declaration, any action we make. We need to be sure." There was the slight undertone to threat in his voice, but he was reasoning with her. This was their time, and so much as he loved anything or anyone save for Myrken and its newly minted Princess, he loved the farmgirl before him.
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Re: War.

Postby channe » Mon Feb 27, 2012 2:51 am

"Kostroma will support you. If he doesn't, he's a fool." She doesn't even greet Glenn, and, indeed, the bell has been silent for a little while; there is enough stillness around them that any townspeople living around the barracks aroused from sleep may think it's just a drill, as happens now and again. Agnieszka herself is sliding on a black pair of leather gloves, sitting on a bench, re-tying her shiny black boots. Next to her are an impressive selection of pointy objects -- the ruby-pommeled saber that doesn't leaves her side, a main gauche, a dagger. She bites her bottom lip, finishes with her right foot, and places her hands on her knees, staring up at him.

Aleksei is going to kill her, really, but after Renea's stunt the secret'll get out anyway.

"The message you had me send the Baron? He sent back a book, a book that stank with evil; I didn't want to worry you with it, or even let you get close. He said that inside there was a ritual to banish the demon that has a hold on Aeryn's soul. It -- it just felt dangerous, Glenn. Magical. Evil. It's my fucking job to keep you from that kind of danger. I didn't hunt down Aeryn years ago when I should have, I ran off to Razasan so things wouldn't hurt so much any longer -- so it's my fault, Glenn. I was going to take care of it for you. I let my feelings dictate what I was going to do. Which is why I joined the King's Own in the first place, so that shit didn't happen. And now I'm doing it again." She pauses, and the wind howls as she looks out of the belltower, over the darkened, snowy plain. She takes another breath.

"Aleksei was fully capable of pulling out the book's secrets. If Renea hadn't interrupted us, I would have had Aeryn in gaol by breakfast." Her eyes flicker back to Glenn, and hold his gaze. This time, at least, she's not trying to outmaneuver him. "She stumbled in. Drunk off her ass. Broke Aleksei's ward-circle. Without the circle, I couldn't hold myself back from speaking the name of the Eight, which was all it needed to free itself." One hand goes to her head, rubs her temples; stays there, cradling her forehead. "I tried to stop her. She fought me. She went for the book -- to take it from us. She fled. And then -- Feul, you remember him -- he'd been sent by the Baron, he'd been waiting outside the entire time; he spoke the name of the Defiler, the old gods that we now need to fight. They all work for the very devil --"

She pauses here, stops, wrings her hands together, and stands. She turns, picking up one dagger and sliding it into her boot. "None of my agents can find her anywhere; the men on the Ringwall saw her riding off in all haste for the Derry border." And unspoken: to Thessilane. "There are demons loose on Myrken once more, Glenn. Demons sent to us by Baron Christoph al'Nerun, the whole shitbag suggested to us by his father Kerrak. And it's worse than that. I should have listened to Ariane, but I was young, I was distractable, I was distracted -- This is what they've been planning forever, since before you came here; oh, they've played me, they've played us all like goddamned viols." She's working herself up into a right lather, she is, so she pauses, takes a breath -- "They know how our defenses work; they once *ran* them. This is only the beginning of the endgame. I should have seen it. Aeryn only came close to me because he knew he could get to me. I was only raised as high as I was in the Brotherhood because I was a patsy. I'm not talented. I'm not special. I am no Councilwoman. I can't help you. I'm a whore. That's all I am."

The wind howls.

"I'm going to kill Kerrak, now, to put him back in the ground where he belongs." The main gauche goes into the other boot. She reaches down for the swordbelt. "And then I'm going to kill Aeryn. And then I am going to kill Jons Feul. And that's only the beginning of what *I* am going to do to make this right."
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Re: War.

Postby Glenn » Mon Feb 27, 2012 4:10 am

He'd never heard Agnieszka speak so many words at one time in his entire life. Tired, ragged, broken, battered. His Agony and so full of words. To be honest, he was proud. She had put together such an amazing puzzle. She had pierced together such disparate pieces. Of course, there were things unsaid, so many things unsaid, but Glenn Burnie was no fool. He knew them well.

She had not taken the book to him. This was not because of emotion or some desire to protect him. This is because she didn't trust him with power. This is because that damned Lamai and her tainting words. Because Agnieszka was not just religious but doubly so after her time in Razasan and she did not trust her governor, her friend, one of the only people in this whole world that could possibly care for a woman as positively wretched as her. She thought him soulless and that he would take that power for himself, would use it to fight his enemies and solidify his hold over her people, THEIR people. Was he hurt? No, his love for her was unconditional. It wasn't her fault that she was who she was. Not really. Not here in Myrken, not after what she's been through.

"It was a book." Simple. Plain. Straightforward. "A book. If someone is sick, you take them to the remedium. If there is a book, you take it to me." Aleksei was going to kill her? No, he was going kill Aleksei. Agnie was Agnie. Aleksei should have known better.

Glenn Burnie was usually full of words, but now, he had let Agnie talk. Now his sentences were quick and simple. "Agnieskza, your feelings are your strength. Tempered. That's why I made a committee. That's why I would work WITH you." She didn't seem overly possessed, overly tainted. No she was INTROSPECTIVE. That was good. If he had gotten her soul back just for her to give it to some demons, then he would be the one to kill her, not Aleksei. He'd enjoy it too. Flaying. Flaying sounded right.

That he could picture flaying her, who he loved unconditionally, and still meet her gaze with his own crystal clear eyes might have been unnerving. "Was she drunk or not? It matters little. Your note told me enough. I sent Giuseppe after her. He'll get the truth. That's what he does." Speaking of flaying. "If she's a traitor, she'll never reach Thessilane alive." Cold, simple facts. He may have been doubting some elements of her story, but he still trusted her and her judgment enough to act directly.

She talks and she talks and then she calls herself a whore, and he lets it happen. It's so damn impressive, her linking all these things together, her, little Agnie Kaczmarek, the girl with the kitchen knife, the bully with a badge, the murderess who freed her family, the dead woman, the soul-trapped king's own, the prodigal daughter returned... coming up with that. And furthermore, how did she even know what a viol was? If she was a whore, she really was a fetching whore in this light, as the dawn's sun was beginning to rise. Really, it was all he could do to not beam at her with pride. That insane smile of months past threatened to come back over his face. But for her sake, he fought it off.

For her sake, he found that bit of his soul that was still attached. She was armoring up, and his hand would suddenly be reaching for her cheek, tender, warm given the weather around them, as if he was about to kiss her. His face closed in and maybe he was, but instead, finally, he let his words flow. "It's too much. So much of what happened was due to chance and outside influence. Kerrak's insanity due to the drow. His death. Karolinger hunted through the woods. Burel not being outright attacked by the crown. The dragon assaulting Cristoph. Lamai. Everything fits Agnie, but only if you ignore everything else. Too much chance. Otherwise, Kerrak wouldn't have stayed quiet for as long as he did, for instance. There's a thousand things like that. I'm not saying that there isn't a conspiracy at play here, but I would discount both Burel and Kerrak's involvement. Vanidor would have smelled this on Aeryn when he was at the enclave. It doesn't go that far back, Agnie. I know you want to blame yourself, but if it went that far back, there would have been so many better opportunities to capitalize on our weakness. We'll squeeze the truth out of this and we'll destroy these demons, carefully and on our terms and without sending Myrken to a war we can't win unless it's absolutely necessary. We'll destroy them. And Jons too. And probably Aeryn." He was so close to her still, and if she hadn't run in the midst of his words, his arm would go around her waist, drawing her in further, until their faces were inches apart, noses almost touching. "and I'm sorry for that. You just tried to do this without me, Agnieszka Kaczmarek. And that means that whatever comes next, you have to do it with me."
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Re: War.

Postby channe » Mon Feb 27, 2012 5:48 am

A fetching whore.

The bare, cold light of early morning curves around his hand against her back, and strands of her black hair catch the gusts of frigid wind. And she thinks: This is how it has always been, one way or another, for those like you. Ariane showed you the only way out of being their whore, but you were young and stupid and thought you knew everything and told her to get stuffed, and so: this is what you get. This. Constantine Kostroma. Aeryn Karolinger. And Glenn Burnie. Men with power, and you, their dishrag. This is your fate.

And she's quiet, perhaps, for longer than Glenn may wish; and when she moves, it's to tilt her chin up, to look him in the eyes -- and one hand goes to the back of his head, and if he'll allow it, to pull it forward and apply a kiss to his temple. It has no romantic intent; it is the chaste kiss of loyalty seen at Court, a Court where she saw such things -- massive, worldly entertainments full of viols and magical illusion, the exquisite pain of the Flagellant's Tower, the burning soul of the Bright at the very center of all things, and the ocean. Oh, the ocean, as vast and empty as the plains to the south of Myrkentown and the soul of the governor that transferred her from one master to the next.

"Chance is the way God and the Devil trip their way through the world," she says, quietly, her voice barely above the screeching wind. "We can't escape what is meant to be."

An assent, however roundabout, to his last statement.
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Re: War.

Postby BetaFlame » Mon Feb 27, 2012 6:04 am

Once the man awakens, Aleksei is not long to stay in the healers. No, there was much to do, and little time to do it. He could still feel it, like it was crawling over his skin. The was disgusting. It was... he finally croaked out words, "These.. are not my thoughts." He sits up in the bed slowly, looking around. Glenn had said he would end up here eventually. His hand went to the side of his head. Oh, lords, such a headache. He had to be careful with his thoughts. Slowly, he reached down to the bedside, feeling around till his found his right boot. He pulled it up and pried the bottom of the boot off, and inside the false bottom was a small vial, full of a gold liquid. The vial was pulled out of the false bottom, and he looked into the vial.

"Gods, I hate this stuff." He slips the sword out of the sheath, and nicks thumb across the blade. He squeezes a few drops of blood into the vial, and swirls it for a moment, then.. the liquid fades from gold, to silver to white.. then finally clear. He stares into the vial for a few moments, before he finally downs it. He bites down on his hand and doubles over. The pain the stuff caused him. His whole body seems to shudder for a moment, and only his teeth buried in his own hand keep him from screaming out against it. As it is, blood is drawn from the bite, dripping off his hand. He eventually settles, and looks.. worlds better.

He draws another shuddering breath and glances toward the window. His mind replays the events from the night before over and over in his head. He had failed. He should have anticipated that another would be drawn in. Made the wards bigger. Not held back his power out of fear.

Hastily, he pens a little, pulling his notebook and charcoal from his cloak.

Glenn,

I assume you know.

Would have come to get you, but I Was afraid Agnie would not bear the delay - she is rather impulsive. You know about my nature, I felt I was qualified to deal with the situation. I was almost done with reading what needed to be read to deal with this.. mess. It was actually well under control.. until Renea showed up. She barged in, was and mentally attacked by the Book. Agnie tried to draw her into the warding Circle I made on the floor to protect her, only to disrupt the lines. That's when the whole mess when to hell in a hand basket. I don't know which fell prey to the influence first, but someone uttered forbidden words, and Summoned something.

I was left with bad choice and worse choices. I went with what I assessed to be the lesser evil.

I do not know if I was mistaken in that assumption, but we will never know.

Renea destroyed my plans through ignorance, but I take the responsibility of the failure on my own shoulders.

On the upside, I know how to trap The Seven Plus One. And I can track what was summoned.

On the downside, I might have helped unleash yet another Unspeakable Evil.

Oh, and remember what I said about my greatest failure? I think I owe you a new answer, because.. that is what I must become, now.

-Aleksei


The letter is sealed, and Glenn's name scrawled on the outside. The whole thing is written in the same code they had been using for the better part of a week now. He stands and slides his boots on his feet. His shirt was ruined, but the cloak is gathered up and pulled around his shoulders. He heads for the door, fully intending to leave. Brushing past anyone that tries to stop him. He looks healthy enough now, whatever he drank earlier having run its course while he penned that letter.

A guard is flagged down and the letter put in his hand, "This goes to Glenn. No one else." The guard looks at the scholar, thinking the man had lost his mind a little. Aleksei had helped him rebuild his home.. he had been friendly, and kind. Now, his eyes were cold, and distant as he made for his house.

He would find a way to make this right. It was time to stop pretending, stop playing games. He thought he could hide as Aleksei the scholar, the friendly absent-minded professor. Forget the things that lived inside him. But that was not meant to be. No matter how hard he tried, Myrken kept wanting him to become that which he hated.

Fine. You win Myrken. Aleksei River, 3rd Knight of Rodel would meet your challenge. And so he goes into his borrowed home to prepare. Agnie had not been wrong when she said there was war. She had just been wrong about between whom.

The man turned Celestial had declared war on The Eight.
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Re: War.

Postby Glenn » Mon Feb 27, 2012 6:15 am

The wind whipped about around them. Time seemed to slow down as she stared him in the eyes and he stared back, unyielding, without shame, without guilt, with such regard for her, but it was his own thing, something that she could feel but not understand. A language she could not read. In truth, she didn't need to. She was Agnieszka Kaczmarek and she would think what she would think, truth be damned.

She leaned in and kissed his temple, and then, finally, his eyes shut for just a second. Perhaps he would feel what he would feel too, truth be damned. His soul stirred for her, the second time in as many minutes. But her words, oh, her words were meant for him and no one else. "We prepare. We react. We survive. All the gods and all the devils. The God, the devil. All they can do is throw every terrible thing in the world at us, Agony." His eyes had met hers once more, and the tug of his face was a bit to the left, not the manic smile but a slight, confident grin. "And all we can do is spit in their faces when they do."

Just as suddenly as he had advanced upon her, he drew back, still grinning, still staring straight at her. She could think what she would. She would think what she would. "Come on then." As he drew back he reached for her hand, that same hand which had been at the back of his head just a moment before. "We have some truth to work out and some gods to spit at." Another few seconds of silence between them, with just the wind between them. "And Jons to kill. I've always hated bullies." And what a smile he flashed her then, some private joke between them that she likely didn't have the knowledge to understand.
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Re: War.

Postby channe » Mon Feb 27, 2012 12:51 pm

And who would really know what went on in the mind of Agnieszka Kaczmarek? Not Glenn Burnie; not Constantine Kostroma, no, not even he; not even her own mother. And what she was thinking now echoed of another black-haired woman with steel in hand, her countrywoman, and oh, what a fool she'd been.

But she could no longer be that fool.

He turns, reaches for her hand. And maybe she's just still a little shellshocked by the whole affair, by the blatant invasion of her privacy, by that signal that he was just like everyone else -- and she felt right, for a moment, so right that she'd kept the book away from him at the same time that she knew that if she had to serve a master, Glenn Burnie was the one close enough to the side of the Bright, despite his... deformity. And that tugs at her own theology, it bothers her, it makes her second-guess every single step she takes --

And then she reaches out for his hand. "Imagine," she says, "what will happen when I slaughter the devil himself."

She follows.
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Re: War.

Postby Glenn » Mon Feb 27, 2012 4:28 pm

"You and me against the world, Agnie." What did it mean to belong to Glenn Burnie? It meant you did your best. It meant you became all that you could. It meant that you did not lean upon any crutch or god or magic to do so. You spit in the face of the devil himself (and god as well if he happened to be passing by). She belonged to him, but then he belonged to her as well. That was the difference. In Myrken, if you were alone, you were as good as dead. Agnieszka Kaczmarek came from a large family, many of whom were still alive. Glenn Burnie was sold in the womb. This was his home and she, as much as anyone, was his family. They would lean upon each other.

"Come on." His voice was soft, kind even, as he squeezed her hand. "Let's go. I just put this thrice damned government together. I'm not going to see it fall apart without a fight."

The note arrived as he was en route to the Remedium. Messengers had canvassed Myrken to find him. Some had, yes, gone towards the sound of the bell. He groaned slightly after reading it. "Well, good. At least all of you are blaming yourselves. Personal responsibility is a good thing to have when you're an official. It also means no one ever blames the Governor." Despite her big words, despite his big ones, he was light with her. Just like old times, right? Maybe he was trying to overcompensate for her sake, but that was hardly the act of a soulless man. "Aleksei's about to act unilaterally, though," his voice softened. "That means by himself, Agony. We're going to make sure he doesn't do that, because that rather defeats the purpose of HAVING a government in the first place."

Somewhere in there, he'd finally let go of her hand, probably when reading the note. She could ask for it again whenever she wanted though. She and so few else. It wouldn't be long before they reached Roschen's former shop, the building repurposed to be Aleksei's home. Hopefully he was still human in there. "Agnie, bang on the door. You're louder than I am."
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Re: War.

Postby channe » Tue Feb 28, 2012 2:50 am

Sold in the womb. And in the sweep of secrets the man gathers for himself, what of the secrets he holds? Agnieszka normally does not question pasts, unless she has some reason to hold a grudge against you; but she is from a family and culture where roots are paramount, where you knew where you came from. Someday, she'll figure it out --

-- but right now, it's bare morning on a street that is only beginning to wake. She steps up to the door, balls her fist and bangs on the door three times. "Aleksei!" she hollers "Aleksei, you magnificent bastard! Glenn's not mad at you." She shoots a look at Glenn that says 'no, Governor, you're not mad at him.' She then turns her loud attentions back to the door. "I'm good at killing things. Let me help you."
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Re: War.

Postby BetaFlame » Tue Feb 28, 2012 3:23 am

Really, there was no need for all the pounding. He had been expecting Glenn, though no so much Agnie. That surprises him for a moment, before he just steps out of the way, "Well, no reason to stand in the street, come in, come in," before letting them in the door. The place looks like a wreck. There are papers, books, notes, maps, drawings.. everything under the sun. But, its clustered here and there. Grouped by project, and topic. To a trained eye, it was ordered chaos. To anyone else, it just looked like a god awful mess.

Another odd feature of the place.. the inside seemed too big. It was disorienting. It was a gift from Eleanor before she had left him there. Anyone familiar with the place would notice the inside windows did not match up to where the outside windows should be, yet you could still see outside them.

There were some changes to the man himself. The most notable was the sword belted to his waist. It was the length of a long sword, with a hilt designed for one or two handed use. The blade itself was curved. The hilt was elegant, wrapped in black leather, and held in place with a silvered metal cap. The cross guard was small, just enough to protect a hand from a blade sliding down, and made from the same silvered metal.

He still wore his glasses, and had changed into a long sleeved black shirt. The high color covered most of the back and sides of his neck. His heavy layered cloak was hanging on a peg next to the doorway. It must be odd for them to see him with out it. The sleeves are rolled up past his wrists, to his forearms. He's been working. He just finished assembling the sword when they got there.

"Well. Eventful evening."

He cleans off a couple of chairs and moves them over to the only surface free of papers - his dinner table. He puts on a pot to boil, and prepares coffee for them all, "I can offer some coffee, but I don't have pastries or.. or those cucumber sandwiches this area seems to find so interesting. I don't entertain often, my apologies. But, please sit." His smile is nearly the same, friendly, but there is a touch of sadness in his eyes as well.
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Re: War.

Postby Glenn » Tue Feb 28, 2012 3:48 am

Agnie was not a particularly introspective person. In fact, Glenn would be terribly surprised if she knew what the word meant, but were she to think back on today, would she understand the governor's actions? Likely not, and for good reason. So much had hit her all at once. Lessons missed until they were far too late. Truths uncovered after all these years. Coming close to kissing the man who was her best friend's betrothed was likely relatively low on that list.

But look at her. Look at her now. This was a woman who had been preparing for her own death just an hour before, who had been lacing up the instruments of war, with nothing but failure and inevitability and loss in her heart. She thought her whole life a lie and herself only the most minor player in it. A bit character in her own life. A patsy. A nothing. Here she was though, knocking on that door, facing whatever would come next as a totally different person. The soulless bastard who had given her back her soul had managed some sort of emotional alchemy to get her to this point, but there they were. Her lips had touched his temple. His hand and taken hers. And there they were.

"Aleksei." Glenn took a look around and allowed himself a slight smirk. "oh good, you've made Suede's shop even more outlandish and unnerving. Excellent. He'll likely poison you wholly out of professional courtesy now." He brushed past the man, brushed past any further pleasantries as well. There wasn't time for such things. He had pulled his Agnieszka back from the brink. Time for his Inquisitor. A slight pause to examine that sword. Professional courtesy. His rapier was at his side. If things had gone differently, he and Agony would have settled an old, old question.

"I received your letter. Apparently, I am not angry with you," and quite the smile for Agnieszka at that. "Especially if you never do that again. You have the warding but I have the people skills, and apparently both were needed last night." He sat down in a chair backwards, suddenly looking as youthful as he actually was. Amongst these two, with all that was now against them, there was little time for formality. Surely, somewhere, Ariane was disappointed in him. She likely would have thought this was exactly the time for formality. Well she could be governor then, if she felt so strongly. "Now, though, we need to deal with the fallout."

"First, you've yet to fail at anything. I will not accept that sort of eventuality as of yet. If you were working alone, perhaps,but you are not. You are one of us now, and you have to deal with the consequences of that." One of which is Glenn's charismatic browbeating. "What you gained us last night, if your letter is any indication, is the KNOWLEDGE we need to deal with this, and we can use that knowledge as we are, the science of it, the ... the.." Ah, but did he ever hate magic, even the clinical use of it, the use without the sacrifice in exchange for power. "tool. We as humans, can use the knowledge you gained to track and trap what has been unleashed. We will work together. We will shove seven plus one molten hot pokers up the rear ends of seven plus one uppity devils." Myrken's best, most loving greeting.

"Before that, though, we need to figure out exactly what we're up against. Agnieszka is certain that we face some level of conspiracy. I think that is certainly indication of that. The question is of scope." Aleksei wasn't truly trained for politics and intrigues. Of them, only Glenn was, and he was trained by a mercenary assassin and a manipulative devil made flesh. "I need to know if you think the book was a trap meant for Myrken or if it was sent in good faith and what happened last night was sheer, unfortunate happenstance." It was CRISTOPH's intentions and through those, Kerrak's, that he was questioning, then, not Renea. One way or the other, her fate was already sealed.
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Re: War.

Postby channe » Tue Feb 28, 2012 4:19 am

"It's a trap," she says, ignoring most of the unnerving aspects of the building and dropping with a muffled whump into a nearby chair. She crosses her arms and stares first at Glenn, then at Aleksei. Yes, look at her now -- sublimating all her feelings into action so she can kill everything that's gone wrong; then she'll deal with the emotional fallout. Sure. Somewhere down the line. Just like Ariane never did.

At any rate, she shrugs at the mention of cucumber sandwiches. "You told me not to read it. But what you read can't hardly matter now. The deed is done. What do we need to do?"
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Re: War.

Postby BetaFlame » Tue Feb 28, 2012 4:52 am

He flinches at the shop and shrugs. He didn't much like it either, "Actually, this wasn't my doing. Do you remember Eleanor? Well, before she vanished into the night, she.. did this. I find the extra space useful, though a more than a touch odd. I don't know how to undo it, short of tearing down the building. If you think this is unnerving, you should see the basement." He comes over, putting down some cups and pouring coffee for them. It smelled fairly fresh, he must have a supplier somewhere. Sugar was put down as well, and after a quick trip to another room, cream. It was cold. The man had some luxuries, it seems. Then again, he never claimed to be a monk. He just liked water.

"My failure, as it were Glenn, is wholly personal. When I left Rodel, I tried to leave behind.. certain aspects of myself. Ones I told you about, and ones poor Agnie here had to witness without any warning. Sorry about that," He gives her a little weak smile as he settles into his own chair. "It seems that.. no matter what, we can never leave parts of ourselves completely in the past. So, I will simply accept what I am is not who I am. As much as I dislike having this.. thing inside me, I cannot pretend it is going to go away. I tried to get rid of Aleksei the Knight to become Aleksei the Scholar. I can be both." A long winded speech, to be certain, but.. he needed to say it, and to possibly the only two people in this godsbedamned town he could trust. "Besides. Myrken's had enough demons. Maybe its time for a counter balance." He blows the steam off the top of his coffee and takes a drink. Warm felt good right now, and warm water was just.. not fun.

He leans back in the chair as Glenn asks his question, and his goes quiet. He has to replay the events in his mind again. Mostly, the entrance of Renea. That was the key to the whole thing. He glances toward Angie, and shakes his head. "I disagree. Renea.. is like me in someways. I lack the personality to be a spy. So does she. Too straight forward. No, last nights events were the product of a woman too far in her drink abusing to power to bully a pair of guards into a room that she was being barred from. I seriously doubt the book was sent purely in good faith, or the warnings would have included what sort of wards to use. If it wasn't for the knowledge.. ahem, acquired, from my religious order at one point, I would have been powerless to make the wards I did, without calling on my Celestial first." He takes another drink of the coffee as he considers what to do next. "As to what I read.. I think I can still apply it to both.. whatever was summoned, and to Aeryn. I can.. feel the thing. Whatever it was. Its like oil on my skin. I think I can track it." He looks uncomfortable all the sudden. He shifts in his seat in wrinkles his nose. In truth, he could more than just feel it. It stank. He could taste the corruption in the air. It makes him pale just slightly.
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Re: War.

Postby Glenn » Tue Feb 28, 2012 5:21 am

Tea was much preferred in Myrken, and Glenn Burnie had SUCH good reason to avoid it. He also had good reason to avoid chocolate. Because of the two he tended to avoid coffee as well. It was usually favored only by outsiders anyway. Really, no one wanted to see the governor hopped up on caffeine. He had internal wells of determination and energy, possibly caused by that near soulless state. It was hard to get overly tired when you didn't feel much at all.

Yes, he did remember Eleanor. It was a shame she hadn't stayed. They could use every hand right now, especially one that could do this. He was loathe to admit it, yes, but not fool enough not to accept such help when offered.

Oh, lovely. Aleksei was having a major existential crisis over this. Agnieszka the whore. Aleksei the knight. Maybe he should draw Zilliah and Catch into this. Zilliah the demented fairy and Catch the happy broken unicorn. Hm. Maybe Glenn WAS a little over-tired from getting up when and how he did. Still, he knew the job of Governor had risks. Anyway, then. Aleksei needed to say his speech and it was listened to patiently with nods every few seconds to let him know that it was being listened to. "There is scholar and there is knight, and both are well and good," says the scholar with the rapier, "but ... force of great arcane power is probably not what we need. It never, ever goes well here. It gets twisted and contorted in all the wrong ways." The governor knew it was ultimately futile, that Aleksei would not believe him, but it still had to be said. Then, when it all went wrong and Glenn had to put the knife through his friend's back, at least he could feel a little better about it all. He had tried. Here, sometimes that was all that counted.

"I only have the bare facts about what happened, Aleksei. Your letter, mainly. I imagine that the two of you won't let me examine the book." And some real annoyance there. Let the thrice-damned thing TRY to possess him. Just let it try. He'd gnaw on the pages and then piss on the thing until it stopped. "I'd like to see the letter that came along with it though. The idea that the book itself was sent to do us harm is unnerving. It could be Cristoph just being a right bastard, or it could be an outright and official move against Myrken. More likely, though..." and this would have been a far easier conclusion to get behind if he had seen Jons. He hadn't. It still came to him, but only now and not earlier when it might have done a bit more good (for Renea, for instance). "Is it likely others could be possessed already, as Aeryn is? This may not be a Thessilanian plot, necessarily, but one by a number of possessed individuals originating from there."

Unfortunately, another matter was immediately more pressing. "We're not going to outright imprison Kerrak. He would have suggested Cristoph and the book earlier if he was part of the plot. I feel strongly about that. It doesn't mean we can trust him yet, though. Aleksei, in one matter and one matter alone, I want you ready to bring forth all the wards you have at your disposal." More annoyance and frustration. This is not what Glenn wanted. "Agnie, we NEED to be able to trust Kerrak. We're going to have to bring Rhaena to see him and discover is he is telling us the truth."
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