come_sailaway | DECEMBER EVENT PART THREE: WITH THE DAWN OF REDEEMING GRACE

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DECEMBER EVENT PART THREE: WITH THE DAWN OF REDEEMING GRACE

[the voice from the imaginary loudspeaker resounds again.]

I do believe that’s the best you all can do. Hopefully it will be enough… Gather in the lobby at your earliest convenience. There, you will find an elevator. It will take you to your next location. [pause] Mind the severed heads.

[the elevator they find in the lobby is not one that had been there before: it is strange, a bit too large and industrial for what is generally a Victorian manor. nothing will compel them to board it, but… hey. if you stay behind, you miss out on all the fun, right?

and the fun starts here. because, as soon as they board the elevator, and the door closes, it drops.

not that far. not enough to harm. certainly enough to startle, especially after it evens out, before plunging a few more feet. the effect likely wears off after the fifth time it does this.

eventually, the elevator stops completely, and opens to a large, mostly empty room. in the center is a large circular stage, ringed with enough podiums for everyone that went on the excursion - living and dead. some of the podiums are covered in white sheets; one might notice that the number of dead corresponds directly to the number of covered podiums.

the Captain is present, of course. he sits on a raised throne separate from the circle, dressed in a suit a tiny bit different than his normal one. he sits with one leg crossed over the other, looking down at them with a completely neutral expression.]

You may take your places. [he gestures magnanimously, then holds up his hand; please reserve the expected freakouts for after his announcements, thanks.] The game is very simple. You have the evidence; put it together, and decide on the guilty party. Only a unanimous decision will bring you the justice you seek. [a faint smile] The one you always seek, at least.

[another gesture]

Questions. Comments. Threats against my life. Concerns.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I'm sure I'll be fine." She replies to Ylva. "My magic likely isn't that far off from what I sensed by Tendi, so I might be one of the few who can hold it without severe consequences."

After all, her magic is darkness and death too. It could be painful, but unless it's an instant death, she can probably heal from it. She takes the offered piece from Dedue and focuses on it, reaching out with her own magic to see if anything happens.

Crabb still specifically hands over her own piece wrapped in a handkerchief because she agrees with Ylva re: not touching the metal with your bare skin if you can help it. Though if Valdis is going to do some magic crap who knows maybe she'll just go ahead and touch it anyway...

"Can't call this one a finger," she's not even sure how they deduced that about the other one, "but it looks like it's the same thing. So..."

Two pieces to sense stuff off is better than one? Probably?

Valdis accepts Crabb's bit of metal and hands back the handkerchief. She focuses on the two pieces, placing them both in one hand.

Death.

A very strong sense of it. It doesn't react to her magic touching it in any significant way, almost like the magic is no longer active, just a slight tingle at the most, but she has no idea if that is actually the case. Interesting.

"This metal is infused, or...affected by Death Magic. It's the same magic I found in the hallway with Tendi. You said Dimitri had this? And, Crabb, who had your piece?"

"That," she nods her head vaguely at her, "was hidden amongst the debris from the fight in the newlywed's suite. Hard to spot, but..."

She shrugs, this is literally her job. Of course she found it. Regardless, that means it was connected to Watson.

"Does death magic explain the weird— black bruising and stuff?"

"Not that I can remember in my world. But I suppose, based on what happens if anyone tries to use my sword except me, that if someone not...attuned to the gauntlet, or whatever that came from, tried to use it, it could hurt them."

Revelations usually burned people.

"Then if someone was using this— thing, gauntlet, whatever, while killing people, then it either belongs to them or they're probably hurt too. Yeah?"

That feels like somewhat stating the obvious, most people use weapons that belong to themselves, but...

"Or tainted somehow, but I can't go around throwing death magic at people to figure out who. It might be taken the wrong way."

No one should react well to being touched by death. The four who offered her their soul energy were either absolutely insane or trusted her way more than they should.

"Hey, if it got us the answers, who knows. People might go for it. What's a little death magic, we're debating executing someone anyway." Can you tell she's feeling just a little bit jaded by having to do this farce to try and figure out who murdered one of her friends. Can you. "Anyway. Still. Might be something to keep in mind. Way to verify, if we narrow this down."

"Well, I don't want to be the one on the chopping block. Dying in a fight is fine, being executed is not."

The lack of control over her own life is a terrifying one, even if she places little value on it.

"I can help verify, but it's not a good primary plan."

"I was thinkin' more who's gonna care about you usin' a little death magic when we're supposedly signing up to kill someone else at the end of this anyway, it's all just grim. But mostly I'm being a lil bit bitter about this whole mess."

Look, she hates this. But she hates not knowing, and she can't imagine leaving Johnny not knowing what happened to Watson, and...

"Anyway. Back-up plan. We ain't even got a single name seriously in contention yet."

“Yes, he did,” Dedue informs her, relieved that he’s somehow gotten out of having to say Dimitri’s name despite his very awkward description of the discovery of the finer.

“He was clenching it in his fist. We had to pry the hand open.”

Valdis has been paying attention to everything everyone is saying, it was, at one time, part of her job.

"He's very strong if he can do this to metal."

Strong enough to strangle Tendi, maybe. But the boy was dead now, so perhaps Nobunaga is correct about his possession theory.

“Yes. He possesses a Crest that provides additional strength,” Dedue says.

“In Fodlan, some of the nobility are born with Crests which grant them special abilities,” he clarifies.

“Pulling off a metal finger is within his realm of ability while alive. However, the Crest no longer works after death. This was proven by our ability to pry open the hand.”

The information offered is something to file away for later. but it doesn't offer much help to their current goal, except establish that whoever killed Dimitri had to have been stronger than him.

"Do you have any idea who among us might be able to best him in terms of strength?"

“The two I know who are most capable of defeating him in physical combat are SecUnit and Erin. I have already interrogated Erin on the subject, as she also possesses magic. It could not have been her. Her magic is such that any attack the dagger would have attempted would have slid off without impact.”

He shakes his head. “However, I would like to add that I am new to the ship and do not know everyone’s capabilities.”

Edited 2022-12-29 23:49 (UTC)

At that it could not have been her Cassandra does look up, not at Erin but across the room at Crabb.

Only for a brief flicker, still expressionless, and then her gaze falls again.

After earlier— yeah, she catches that look.

She seriously considers asking Dedue what she told him, just to be sure how this is being confirmed, but for once she finds her tongue tied. She tries to just let herself have the relief.

"Just to cut in," Erin murmurs. "Best might be putting it strongly. Dimitri's physical strength is, frankly, terrifying, and it's always going. Head to head, I'm not sure I win an actual fight; he can outlast me, and I need to focus to stay strong. That said..."

Erin takes out a sheathed knife and gently tosses it to Dedue. "You've got a good arm. Care to demonstrate what you saw for the people? It's best if evidence is clear."

Dedue catches the knife. Understanding her meaning, he unsheathes it and throws it straight at her.

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crushed_pearls - 2022-12-30 01:49 (UTC) - Expand

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not_the_last - 2022-12-30 03:24 (UTC) - Expand

Anyone could have strangled Tendi if she was half asleep -- and they were impossible to, phaser because they aren't actually alive. Plus, Oda kind of thought that maybe Dimitri's corpse stabbed the trolls.

He doesn't now.

He's got a new possession theory.

"We owe him a great debt, truly," a solemn nod for Dedue. "I'd like to do something meaningful for him when we get back." Meaning also direct him the right way, because Nobunaga's few interactions with Dimitri had been pretty tense. Shocking right, Nobuanga rubs people the wrong way?

"Valdis, can you track that magic to the rest of the gauntlet? -- I want it noted, I know the owner wasn't in full control of it, and would never have wanted this to happen. I don't think we need to execute it, nor owner. I wonder if we couldn't arrange to leave it here as a haunted guardian instead." Nobunaga's eyes and face don't even leave Valdis for once to give away who he's actually thinking of. Because Oda has no idea who the armor belongs to. He only assumes it's not himself because he has all the gauntlet fingers. But the level of rage, and the victims involved were clearly not chosen by anyone with deliberate intent. Not even the Captain picking straws at random. And he might have a couple ideas about the very few people with death magic and especially death magic magnets such things could latch onto.

"Boss," That'd be to Yato, though it's 1/2 a joke, given the relationship Gods and Shinki had, "Between me and Revelations we can probably take on a cursed artifact or--" a full armor with sword... "15, right?" Hahahah he might die in the process. His eyes DO move now, looking at Teyrey, because he didn't intentionally ask her to join him to be soul battery for Valdis but... Shit happens, right? Back to Valdis, and for the first time all day, his red eyes light up with his usual excitement.

[Ari Tayrey catches that look, and she's up on her feet in an instant, blanket and papers discarded. Yes, she'd been expressing her disapproval of all this through sitting in the corner and working, but folding paper takes very little of her attention. She'd been taking in every word.

She nods. She still detests every bit of this ridiculous magic talk, but her feelings about certain people's inability to express themselves more precisely are unimportant here. Ari will do what's needed.]

Nobunaga was not going to die, he wasn't going to allow that.

"If it has to do with spirits, then they could be exorcised." Yato said simply. "Shouldn't be a problem really."

He wasn't afraid of getting blight and besides, it could be fixed.

"I probably can."

Valdis glances at Nobunaga as he speaks. His words seem to make sense in some way, but it also has a very strange ring to it. She turns her full attention to him, not knowing what he is thinking, or whom he is thinking of. But she tips her head.

"Can You take off your gauntlets, Nobunaga? I just want to compare this metal piece. See if it could have come from a gauntlet."

Edited 2022-12-30 00:08 (UTC)

"Well, we the know the finger did. But if this is a European piece, then it could still fit other parts. Kote are rather more specialized." LALALA all the nationalist pride.

But he walks it over to her, despite his instant reflexive desire to throw at her head and see how well she caught it, like throwing a knife at Stede Bonnet to see if he carried a fan for protection (he did not. Loser.) Now was a bad time to seem to be declaring war on women he was asking favors of.

Funny thing about the kote, though... they don't have individual fingers like European gauntlets. They go all the over the fingers, but almost like a mitt, and then the fingers are left flexible underneath. Due to the nature of katana fighting rather than rapier and the like. Like everything else of Nobunaga's time period Japan, there's a great amount of emphasis on minimizing resources with maximum efficiency. So individual gauntlet fingers? Nah. Excessive and unnecessary.

He also takes off the Falconry ledge, since you couldn't have the gauntlet without it first. "I don't even know why I keep putting it on," he admits a little sheepishly. "It's not like Haguro is just going to show up no matter how I whistle." A MAN CAN DREAM.

Quite wise to not throw things at her. She knows they aren't the same, but she wants to see if he has any visible taint on his hands. At the very least, she can rule him out and he's also one of the people who has given permission for her to use her magic on him, so it's not like he can feign anger about it.

She takes it from him, but looks directly at his hands, trying to get a sense of if he has the blackened veins Dedue described.